Chapter 83: Ch.25
I spent a few hours in my room talking to Adria before sending her off with my ring to create a guild amongst this galaxy. It will be the assassin's guild and for the first few years it will be mostly replicator assassin's sent out.
She spread and programmed them amongst all the core worlds with the specific mission to build and sustain the guild, making it official. I was marked by their program as Naga, the head assassin. They would defer to me in all things and were never to target innocent lives.
Those with wealth could buy their services in secret for a steep price. The crew of firefly and myself along with most big shots were off the list for acceptable contracts for the time being. They had orders never to reveal their mechanical nature to anyone.
In point of fact, they had human blood put in them for that very reason. Those that spoke of the assassin's guild openly were to be silenced as it would become a secretive guild. Only Mr.Universe and those on the short list would get away with it and survive. Even then only the innocents and the Serenity crew were really safe.
I hacked and funneled funds from hundreds of criminals and rich fat cat social elites to get them the start up cash to begin buying safe houses and secret shops where they could gather intel and meet potential clients in secret. They were authorized to use poisons found in this galaxy to eliminate their targets if necessary.
Their programming allowed for adaptability when it came to efficient killing so long as it didn't cross it's base code and laws written into it's core matrix. An hour after I set up and finished hacking the first jobs came rolling in as the 'guild' had people all over the galaxy and they were efficient with the sub-link that allowed for data and memory sharing all across the galaxy.
Within the first day we were on Higgen's moon, over a hundred missions were carried out without incident, three of which were high enough profile to spread word of a new player. I'd continued working on the teleporter while I was entertaining River.
She was hiding from Book as she'd seen him with an Einstein hairdo and ran screaming for some reason. More freaked out and disturbed than scared but then it was a little understandable.
He did look crazy and worse off mentally than River when his hair was like that. She'd ran to my room and locked herself in with me while I worked, refusing to open the door for Book or Zoë.
I told them it was fine as she could help with the calculations in some areas. Book was still hesitant to leave it alone but Zoë wasn't about to hang out outside my door all day while I worked.
Mal and Kaylee came back for a bit with Wash and news about Jayne being some sort of hero here. He planned to use that fame to sneak the cargo to the ship before we got off this stinky mud rock.
When Mal asked if I could help pack the cart and get it to the ship I shrugged and set down the data pad I was using. It went off without a hitch till we went back for Jane and Simon who both got caught up in things.
Jayne's old partner was causing a ruckus and pointing his gun at Mal when I appeared next to him. I cut the gun in half with my vibro blade and took his head with a flick of my wrist before telling Mal. "See, only crazy and desperate people like him. Now I wonder which that makes us?"
Mal snorted. "Probably both."
He turned to Jayne. "Get back to the ship, we're leaving."
He nodded and I flicked my wrist once more, splitting the clay statue of Jayne in half. I snorted at him. "You've let the fame go to your head and these people don't need you taking advantage of them any more."
He held his tongue when he saw the look on my face. I grabbed Simon and helped him up before leaving with Mal. We left the stinking mud rock with relative ease as the grounding lockup codes the magistrate had tried to use on Serenity was annihilated by a virus I used to crash their system and transfer all money into the accounts of the few people that had them working in the mud swamps.
The magistrate effectively lost power and control as we left. Greenleaf was the next planet we stopped at and where we dropped off the cargo. It was there that Mal and the rest got words of whispering about the assassin's guild.
Nothing concrete and only enough to know there are people out there taking contracts on others for money. Adria had returned my ring to me a while after we departed and had the assassin bots picking orphans off the streets to train them into assassin's.
They were indoctrinated with one core value. Follow the contract, never accept one on the short list member's and absolutely always follow Naga's orders. To disobey Naga means death for all you hold dear.
In exchange they were given food, shelter, training in all the arts and a steady supply of jobs and money. Not to mention if a contract wasn't upheld by the client, they and their family would be killed to set an example of blood.
Those raised and completed training would be given their first contract to complete along with whatever technology and supplies needed to do so. Each human assassin would receive an advanced ship that could out fly anything in the sky currently.
Each ship had cloaking technology and a return beacon should the assassin end up killed instead. All assassin's we're trained to withstand all kinds of tortures before being assured that their brothers would come for them or in the event of their death, avenge them.
Their families or whatever children they had would, upon their deaths, be taken care of and given the option of joining the guild. There was no leadership above the bots and me so the bots that were replaced by humans would return to me until only five remained.
They would continue to run the guild in my place unless I decided otherwise. All assassin's we're given ranks upon completion of training and their first contract according to their proficiency. Their code was simple, Brothers in arms to end the lives contracted to Naga, the god of death.
The fact that I still went by Osiris was probably the my best line of defense against being found out. When we left Greenleaf it was time to head to Ariel, a core world where I'd 'get' the power source I needed to use the teleporter and where Inara would take her physical exams to renew her companion license.
We spent three weeks taking the long route to avoid alliance eyes and problems. Along the way I completed the teleporter and showed it to Mal. We moved it to his quarters which were in fact my old quarters.
I moved into the second shuttle after agreeing to pay Mal rent at the same price as Inara paid and allow them the use of merchant guild tags and benefits. I saw no problems with it and agreed easily. It was a bit awkward to grab a shower but I promised I'd have showers installed in all the rooms and even both shuttles when we landed on Ariel.
I already had the replicator drone builders in place with a naquadria mark five generator. When we reached Ariel a lot of talk was flying about when I left with Mal to meet my 'contacts'. It was all centered on the mysterious deaths and a rumored assassin's guild killing and taking contracts.
Mal made light conversation saying. "Folks kill each other enough as is and now they're making a guild out of it?"
Sighing I told him. "Perhaps they're evening the scales. Providing a service where the demand is so high. The rush and fancy people kill just as quickly as the dregs. This way everyone's fair game so long as you have the coin."
He shook his head. "Yeah, and the back lash is the innocent bystander."
I chuckled. "I've yet to hear such a thing. So far all they talk about is assassins in the dark and killing whomever they're paid to kill, no matter the world or view. Hell, from all the rumors flying around, they don't even kill the witnesses. It's as if they don't care who sees them do it, so long as it's done."
I knew better of course as the replicators could change their faces and even size and gender. They were just robots after all and Adria had given them access to everyone's profile from the Milky Way galaxy and Pegasus.
Not to mention the fact that they can take the image of whomever they see. The only people they can't mimic are the short list members and my wives. All the rest is fair game. We met with the bots in the first twenty minutes and sent them to do the repairs and upgrades to the living quarters while we took the generator back to the ship.
The ship became swarming with workers for a couple hours until all the upgrades I wanted installed in the shuttle and the showers were done.
I hooked up the naquadria generator and told Mal. "It has a casing to prevent radiation leaks that is stronger than the hull of this ship and guaranteed to last well beyond our lifetime. Using it only for the teleporter doesn't even begin to tap into it's full energy output when used right. It could in theory power a city for a very long time. A small ship like this could be made to run strictly off of this generator indefinitely."
He and those that were with us were stunned. Jayne has finally been told about the teleporter after is programmed it and locked out any chance of using it as a weapon. As it was, River ended up loosing her marbles for a bit and cutting my hand and arm up a bit when I stopped her from slashing Jayne.
When she saw it was me she hurt she started whimpering and loosing herself more until Simon patches me up and I showed her I was fine. Even then Mal pulled Simon aside and spoke to him about confining her to their quarters indefinitely.
Later that evening Simon came to us with a job of his own and one that made each of the crew excited. "I want you to help me get River into the hospital and into the 3-dimensional hologram scanner chair. That way I can see what exactly they did to her and hopefully repair the damage later. She's getting worse and this is my only option now. In exchange, I'll tell you what medicines to steal from the hospital's storage rooms and where they'll likely be."
I agreed to follow along with it and go in for a check up for the merchant guild records. Once inside I told them I could find my way to the larger storage rooms where they keep the backup supplies.
I would tag them and we could load up Serenity with enough medical goods to supply several worlds in the outer rim. Depending on how much they managed to empty out from the main storage rooms of course.
I showed them the tags I'd made and how to use them along with how to call for a automatic teleport to the ship with the devices. I went for my check up in my shuttle and arrived a few hours before they got the emergency transport up to code and their lines memorized.
I spent half the evening getting poked and prodded by doctors while they assessed that I was in near perfect health except for the obvious knife slash on my hand and arm. When the appointment finished I simply walked to the backup storage room and hacked the door locks to let me in.
Their sensors and scanners couldn't detect me because of the enochian script on my body and boy did that help out. I only used a subtle mental suggestion for any and all guards and hospital personnel to look away from me and ignore my presence.
I scored big as I read the list of drugs Simon had suggested I steal. I spent hours tagging boxes of drugs before I got the signal and heard the feds fumbling about. They all teleported our except Jayne, Simon and River.
Jayne had broken their tags by 'accident' and apparently called the feds for their bounty. I sent the tagged boxes to Serenity before emptying out the entire basement of drugs and medical supplies into my ring.
I found River, Simon and Jayne running from the feds while River was freaking out. I head shorted those that were chasing them and tagged them each before hitting the emergency teleport.
They arrived amongst a ton of boxes and the rest of the crew while I went on a small killing spree ending the team of retrievers that had killed the feds. I cleaned my blades after pulling them out of the two men's throats.
After that I made my way back out and to my shuttle before flying back to Serenity after making sure nothing followed me. My shuttle was just shy of intergalactic travel capabilities and that's only because I haven't plugged a potentia into it's backup power socket I'd had installed. The rest of the systems were all upgraded to the Alteran level technologically.
When I docked, I found Mal and Jayne in the cargo bay. We were just taking off now and Jayne was in the ramp area about to be spaced. I watched how Mal tore him a new one and told him how things were. That we were all crew, and to attack or betray one of us meant you did so to all of us.
When Mal let him live and left, I made my presence known as I walked into his sight. I told Jayne plainly. "If you ever, and I mean ever try turning on this crew or ship again, you won't need to fear the captain, I'll show you worse things than even the reavers could dream up. You will beg for the sweet mercy of this type of death over living one more moment. I won't wait for Mal to do anything, not will I ask permission when I begin cutting into you. Your screams will be all the notification he needs to understand what I am doing to you."
He was pale and sweating fiercely now as I'd released a killing intent that sent him to his knees. I released him from my gaze and walked through the ceiling high stacked boxes.There was enough loot on this ship to make everyone well off and I decided to have Mal take the shuttles monthly pay out of my cut.
I'd be paid up for a year and he'd get my cut, so long as he agreed at least. We spent the next two months selling the medical supplies to all Mal's contacts all over the border worlds and the outer rim. When it looked to be the last of it, Jayne made a show of buying apples and fresh fruits of all kinds for everyone to enjoy.
It was his way of making things right I'm sure but it still felt wrong. When Wash and Zoë had a fight over how Mal and she seemed so close, he demanded he take Mal to the last sell near Boros on the outer rim. We landed a fair distance away before they borrowed my shuttle to send the last of the cargo off.
I was listening to music and working out when the ambassador that Inara had been entertaining came over with her to watch me for some odd reason. When Jayne took off to go masterbate as he'd been doing since he saw Inara kiss the female ambassador, I got annoyed and jumped to my feet, turning to the females. "No offense meant but your bugging my workout and listening to the idiot that just took off groan over seeing to females together is starting to grate."
The ambassador smiled saying. "I do apologize, but when Inara spoke about you teaching her some of the things she showed me to relieve stress I had to meet the man so I'm touch with such things."
I sighed. "It took years of practice with my wives to find such pleasures. I've no interest in teaching others if that's what you're here for. The only reason I accepted showing Inara was because she looks like one of my wives."
Inara spoke up. "I am sorry Osiris, she was just curious about the things I've learned since we'd last made an appointment. I didn't mean to spill your secrets I know it's not the companion way."
I waved it off and turned off the gravity bands. "We never exchanged money, it was strictly favors and stress relief so you can relax on the companion front. It wasn't a companion I took to bed, you were a woman, nothing more or less. As for my irritation, it's not entirely on either of you. Mal was supposed to be back by now and I'm getting the feeling it's a bad sign. Hence the workout and irritability."
I turned back to the ambassador before bowing slightly before saying. "You've met the man, you know the reason, so I do hope you'll forgive me if I go shower and see what's taking the captain so long to get back with my shuttle."
Inara offered. "You can use my shower if you need, I'll talk to you in a bit."
I nodded and left her there with her client as I headed to where they came from with a towel and duffel bag. I heard the councilor speak to Inara. "You were right, he is a fine specimen though lacking in manners a bit."
Inara told her. "The manners are there when he wishes to be nice. He's a member of the merchant guild after all. He's also clearly been trained in the arts of a companion by the way he acts in bed. So focused on bringing out his partners pleasure before his own. He's a mystery wrapped in an enigma and that's just the beginning. I can say without a doubt he's the deadliest person I've ever met. A master swordsman and marksman with skills in combat rivaling trained veterans. He is by and far the best male I've laid with as well."
I grunted and ignored them as I really didn't want to hear them gossip. I grabbed a quick shower and met Zoë in the cargo hold with Jayne. We took the buggy to where the meeting location went down and found three bodies and the drugs laying tipped over the ground.
I grunted when I saw the scorch marks. "You two clean up the drugs and get back to the ship. I'll take my shuttle to Niska's space station in orbit. It's the only place that the rocket that made this after burn could reach."
Zoë frowned. "And what are you going to do when you get there? If you show up empty handed-"
I snorted. "I won't. I've plenty of money to offer the psychopathic tyrant. That'll get me in the door, after that, well, I'll get Mal and Wash back trust me. There's no power in the verse that can stop me when I'm determined."
I left them there telling Jayne as I went. "Make sure to loot the weapons and ammo."
When I got to my shuttle I flew it straight to the space station and docked. When they asked why I was there I held up some petty cash saying. "I've come to make a deal with Niska. I'm unarmed."
As soon as they opened the door I moved at nearly inhuman speeds as I cut them all down. I moved like a wolf stalking its prey as I slaughtered everyone on board the space station while I made my way to Niska's personal torture room.
I held up the body of the man I'd killed just outside the door and knocked. When they opened it, I dropped the body on the head torturer and shoved my gun in his face before making his head disappear.
The last person not tied up and bound on the station, Niska himself, was there. I asked. "Captain, Wash, you two alright?"
Mal grunted. "Just peachy. Care to untie is?"
I swung my sword and cut the straps holding them before handing my pistol to Mal as I caught Wash. "He's all yours, take your time."
Wash mumbled. "What about the rest of the guards."
I sighed. "The only living beings on this station are in this room."
Mal gave me a surprised look and I shrugged. "I take exception to people taking my crew."
He smiled and blew Niska away before saying. "Aww, I'm touched. Should I be worried you're going to-"
I caught him as well now as he nearly fell. Sighing I helped them walk to the shuttle where I told them Wash. "Fly down and pick up the crew and Serenity. Once you're back here and docked they can loot the place for weapons, armor, cash and anything of interest. Niska was a wealthy man with a lot of contacts, maybe we can use that to get some jobs later."
Mal asked. "What'll you be doing?"
I shrugged. "Stripping the dead and flushing them out the air lock before data mining his whole system for his accounts. If I can find them it should make a decent prize for killing everyone."
He grunted and laid back on my bed while Wash sat in the pilot seat. I closed the airlock as they disengaged before heading away. I got to work doing as I said. Once all the guns, ammo and body armor were in neat piles, I went to raid the computer network.
I transferred hundreds of million into the assassin's guild accounts as they began expanding once more. They would soon have a base on every habitable planet not in reaver territory or Haven, Mr.Universe's world. It simply had to much static electricity build up in the atmosphere to safely make a base there.
By the time they arrived and made port I was relaxing in Niska's chair sipping some top shelf brandy. When they came in and saw a bag of money, guns and ammo next to piles of body armor and blood painting the walls, the crew was a bit hesitant until they saw me relaxing.
Even Inara came over to see what all the fuss was about. I poured her a glass of some red wine Niska used to entertain his wife with.
When Mal got the notion of speaking again he gave them orders. "Load up everything of value and strip this place bare. We're not staying long so anything and everything that seems useful. Kaylee, you start with the technology. Jayne, you load up all the stuff in these piles. Make sure to leave the guns in Osiris's room. The rest of it we either use or sell. Let's get to work people."
I stripped the computer system and servers down and stored them in the cargo hold with half of Niska's torture tools and expensive interrogation instruments. When we finished we spent the next week selling it off to border world scum like Badger.
After that we moved on to the outer rim where we stayed quiet mostly for three weeks doing smuggling runs and waiting for things to cool down. It wasn't until Saffron, Jayne's wife, showed up again that things got complicated.
As soon as I saw her I growled low and hard enough to set her on edge and have Mal worried. Snorting I told him. "I want no part of this Dàng fù or any of her plans. You can use the shuttle if it's apart of the job but let me grab my things if this bitch is to be in it."
I turned to Inara. "Do you mind holding my important stuff in your shuttle, I know you'll be leaving as soon as we hit atmo and I don't want her anywhere near my things."
Inara, bless her heart nodded. "It shouldn't be a problem, and you're right, I'm taking off as soon as we get there. I've a few clients that I can line up."
I sighed and told Mal. "Keep her away from the engine room or better yet have doc drug her ass before dropping her from atmo."
I left to grab my things and store them with Inara's stuff. I then spent the entire time they were on mission with River, letting her read the mind arts book while we listened to soothing music. When she finished it she immediately tried to meditate. Adria sat next to her and helped her without her being aware of it.
Simon picked up the book curiously reading the first few pages before saying. "This borders on the sudo-sciences."
I snorted. "Your sister is a psychic, I'd say sudo science became science a long time ago. What they did to her tore down the minds barrier to separate emotions from feelings and senses. If she's ever to regain herself, it won't be just through common medicine. This way she'll be able to at least separate what she feels from what she sees or hears."
Adria smiled and I knew River was making progress now. When Simon got called away for Jayne's injury, I stood, drawing River from her mind as she grabbed my arm. "Stay."
I sighed and laid down next to her other side and she laid back with me going back into her own mind again. When the coms came on Zoë said. "The job was a success, we're swinging by to pick up the shuttles and the captain."
I stood up this time and River opened her eyes as I told her. "Confinement is over, let's go see what they made out with."
She nodded. "Simon knows what Jayne did."
I shrugged. "He's a good man, your brother. I doubt he'd hold a grudge so long as Jayne doesn't try anything like that again."
She nodded. "If he did you'd kill him."
She said it as if it were a fact and I couldn't help but smile a bit. "Go keep your brother out of trouble, I'm gonna go see what the bitch pulled them into."
She skipped off to the medbay while I went in the opposite direction to the cargo hold. There I found Mal naked and talking to Wash and Zoë. Inara passed me saying. "Your shuttle is back in place if you want to grab your things."
I nodded. "Might as well. So, why is he naked and did you get the laser pistol?"
She smiled and told me what Saffron did to him and about how they'd gotten the pistol. I frowned towards the end. "Should've just had Zoë go with them to the estate and bring back the shuttle. When the bitch turned her back, all he had to do was grab the gun and hit a teleporter beacon, leaving her there with the feds on the way and a missing artifact."
I heard Mal's voice behind me. "And if you'd said something during the planning that's what we would've done. Sounds a lot easier at least than what we actually did."
I tossed him a towel while grabbing my bags. "I warned you the first time not to trust that bitch. It's not my fault you brought her on board again, willingly. If you wanted to rob some big wigs I can crack their security codes like that-"
I snapped my fingers and continued. "All you'd really need is some tattoos like mine."
I indicated my sleeves of enochian sigils and he frowned. "Why would I need tattoos like those?"
I gave him a droll stare now. "You didn't really think I got them just for some religious purposes did you?"
His frown deepened and I sighed. "How do you think I was able to walk in and out of the hospital undetected on Ariel? These symbols, mixed and drawn correctly, make one undetectable by any means except for the human eye. Cameras and sensors can't detect me at all."
Both he and Inara were shocked now. I chuckled. "Best part is, so long as someone doesn't look at you too often they tend to forget what you look like or miss key details. To someone who's never met me before, if they only glance at me once or twice and look away, I'd be short with red hair or fat and have brown skin. The symbols emit a sort of energy that confuses the senses."
Inara frowned. "That would make you the perfect thief wouldn't it?"
I shook my head. "No, skill and practice makes the perfect thief, these symbols are just a layer of insurance."
Mal asked. "Where did you find something like that?"
I smirked. "Very far away and a long time ago with a little bit of difficulty and a lot of effort. My point is though, if you're squeamish or don't like tattoos, then simply drawing them on with marker or body paint will do as well. It'd a temporary effect, but still something you can use. The only reason I haven't mentioned it before is because I thought we were having fun smuggling stuff. Why ruin a good thing?"
Mal was caught in a tough place as he knew I was here for adventure and fun. I'd given them all a lot to achieve that very goal. Now I was giving him more, possibly even greater opportunities.
He settled on saying. "See about getting the whole tattoo copied onto paper so we can put it to good use when necessary."
I shrugged and asked Inara. "Got a brush and some parchment, it shouldn't take me but a single try, my calligraphy is very refined. I spent years doing something similar as practice. Should be just like riding a hurricane."
Inara actually blushed a little before giving me the parchment and Ink well with a brush. I slowly and methodically wrote all the sigils out in great and painstaking detail. I then wrote how and where to apply it and recommended to them. "Florescent ink and even invisible ink works the same. It's not about seeing it with the human eyes but with everything else. In a way it effects the aura people give off and blinds those that try looking at them with all other means except their own eyes that can't pick up that specific wavelength."
I sighed and slid the dried parchment to Mal. "A tattoo is the best solution unless you have a doctor willing to etch it into you rib cage. A lucky blast and the enemy can see you again if it takes off a limb. If it's only in your rib cage things tend to get interesting. A broke rib heals and unless you have them straight up removed, it is permanent. There is of course a pain factor with engraving it into your ribs-"
Mal shivered and cursed in chinese before saying. "Jesus man, that is not happening."
I shrugged. "Don't be such a baby captain. There are worse pains out there. Besides, a bit of anesthesia and you won't feel a thing until their healed up just fine."
Truth be told, every child and teen taken in by the assassin's guild would be getting it done to them with nanite help instead of surgery, upon graduation.
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