She seemed suddenly captured in a moment she had trained for her entire life, as every fiber of her consciousness tuned to the whispers of unknowing souls a mere twenty feet from her perch. The time spent in the fields and deserts of Rubi-Ka, honing her hidden ways hunting various fauna; in various skirmishes of the Notum Wars, learning the fine art of line-of-sight advantages and concealment; and deep in the Shadows, practicing the pure unbridled lethality that characterized the life of an agent.
For Dannielle "Whispe" Age, this one single experience seemed to dwarf all before it both in magnitude and in importance.
The operation, code-named "party crasher" was hastily planned, and only her husband, Nathan "Ammicus" Age, knew of its existence. The two had debated the relative merits of broadening both the planning and execution of the operation by including others, but had elected to shroud it in the utmost of secrecy, not even informing their Director, "Eternalforce" Craddock. This latter point had caused Nathan no small amount of grief; it was bad enough, he said, that they were undertaking this operation without express direction from any official of Omni-Tek or Omni-InternOps, let alone not even clearing it with their immediate commanding officer.
"Trivialities." Dannielle had responded earlier in the evening. "This could be what we need – what Omni-Tek needs. Don't you remember all the confusion and chaos caused by the Council of Truth investigations? What if we could have stopped that? This may be our one and only chance to stop anything similar." The passion in her voice was evident, her words coming across more as a plea than an attempt at fleeting justification.
"Dannielle…" Nathan had trailed off, looking deep within for the words that might pull her back from this pervasive fixation, but finding none.
"I'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen? I get sent to reclaim? So long as you promise to wait for me there, that's the only thing I need to know." She had feigned a smile, kissed him softly, and departed for Tir saying nothing more.
A shuffling of footsteps in the main chamber of the Council of Truth building pulled her attention back to the moment. The party – in this case, the very first convening of the "new" Council of Truth – had been crashed. Had she been discovered? Did they know she was there? No one came out to challenge her presence. Though her mind tried furiously to reassure her pounding heart that her skill at concealment would suffice to keep her well protected from the cold grip of discovery, the exhilaration of the moment, compounded by a seemingly constant release of adrenalin into her blood stream, refused to take comfort in any such fact.
Footsteps suddenly materialized to her left, and she clenched the hilt of her Focus Rifle, forcing herself to remain and not to take flight from the darkened corner in which she now crouched. Four terrifying seconds passed into eternity, and the footsteps were gone.
The shear scale of the Council Chambers, with its high, vaulted ceilings and multi-tiered balconies, did not serve her nerves well. Every single movement, from the tapping of keys on datapads to the chorus of idle chatter, echoed and reverberated throughout the structure, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact direction of sounds. Similarly confounding was the source of the building's lighting; several glowing spheres adorned the centre of the main Chamber, while pyres of never ending flame lit the antechambers and hallways. This cast long, ominous shadows on the wall behind her, and at various times she had found herself become so terrified that she had shut her eyes, as if trying to will them away.
More footsteps, from her right, and Dannielle moved closer to the wall, deeper into the corner's comforting shadows. Louder and ever louder the footsteps grew, and she could feel her legs begin to tremble. Maintaining an even pace, the footsteps continued to approach, through the door at her side, and carry on.
Commander "Windguaerd" Wagner himself had wandered directly behind her, and to her heart's peaceful delight, continued on his walk through the antechamber.
The relief would not last long, however. Mere moments after Commander Wagner had overlooked her presence, the small combat datapad affixed to her left wrist began to flare deep-red with an ominous, yellow-lettered warning:
Security System Active.
Her heart leapt into her throat. Tempted by fear, Dannielle relaxed the grip on her rifle as her hand moved to the "evac" button on her datapad. Lingering for mere seconds, the importance of the operation overrode her sense of self-preservation, and she willed her hand away.
"Official Clan Representatives, please be seated at the east chamber. Official reps to the east chamber." President Cathern "Vixentrox" Flowers of Clan Whisper's Edge seemed to be calling the meeting to order.
Dannielle breathed a sigh of relief, her ears tuning in to the activity in the main Chamber. Glancing down once again at her datapad, she tapped a key and pulled up the proximity overview of the building. She quickly studied the two main concentrations of clansmen and women: a large group, numbering in perhaps the dozens, gathered in the northern antechamber, while a smaller one gathered to the east. In the direct center stood four figures, and Dannielle could not help but wonder if one of them was Henry Radiman himself.
Just as she began to look up from the display, a sudden, painful shock enveloped her entire muscular system. Her mouth opened to scream in anguish, but all she could manage was a flustered exhalation of breath as the room around her faded into black, and her life slowly slipped away...
Originally Posted by dustynova
