The Deadliest Weapon
by Wedge, Co-Creator
Daxim walked to the edge of the crater.
The sidewalk in front of him abruptly buckled at an extreme angle and slanted down like a giant bowl scooped out of the very heart of the sprawling city. The pit was over a mile in diameter with everything inside pressed smooth as glass. Even the structures around the site were buckled, windowless, and stripped of paint. Everything within reach had been pulled into the center of the crater to a tiny point invisible from Daxim's vantage.
"Return to your home sir, this area isn't safe," said a commanding voice behind him.
Daxim inclined his head to find a stocky security officer with a no-nonsense posture. He meet the man's withering stare.
"I'm no threat to you officer," replied Daxim simply.
"Threat?" a forced chuckle rumbled through the officer, "we are standing at ground zero and you think I'm going to be threatened by a chump in a trench coat?"
The security officer strutted up to where Daxim stood and examined him with a squinted suspicious eye. Physically Daxim possessed qualities that most humans identify as familiar but upon closer inspection there were things that didn't seem right at all. The corneas of his eyes were oddly shaped, he had an extra thumb on each hand, and there were bumps in his skin where there shouldn't have been. "I don't believe I've ever met your kind before, let’s see some ID."
Daxim held out his hand to the biometric sensor on the Officer's handheld device. A scrawl of text began to emerge on the screen and the Officer scanned it with practiced bluster.
"Species Unknown, just what exactly are you?" asked the Officer.
"I've often asked myself that very question," said Daxim.
Unsatisfied the Officer continued his inquiry "Private Investigator," he practically spit the words out and put on his least sincere smile "by all means then, feel free to take a look around, Tactical Black Holes leave all sorts of useful forensic evidence when they compact every atom in a one mile radius into an area smaller than a pinhead."
"It's not about what was here that is important, its about what is not here," said Daxim.
"What isn't here, aside from my patience, is the cities central defense system which was at the epicenter of the catastrophe even though it was buried over a quarter of a mile underground. Now we are vulnerable to SERK raids."
"This form of destruction is not in a SERK's character, it compromises their third directive."
"Don't talk to me about the SERK, we've had had five raids here in the last year alone, and have managed to hold them off, but now this," the Officer gestured to the crater.
"I think you are missing the point entirely, the SERK are not directly responsible for this. Furthermore whomever did this was not targeting the planetary shield, although you were surely meant to think so."
The Officer's attention was interrupted by a group of children throwing stones into the crater "I'm too busy to listen to everyone that’s got a theory and toy badge, do us both a favor and don't get yourself killed digging through the rubble," and with that the Officer stomped away.
Daxim fished around in his pocket and pulled out a inch long crystal that appeared to be filled with milky white clouds. He held the crystal up to the sun, but its hue did not change. Shaking his head slightly Daxim enabled his transmitter "Red, have the others reported in yet?"
Two light tones emanated from the transmitter indicating that an encrypted link to the starship Overwatch's AI had been established. "Yes Sir, Alpha squad is still searching all spaceports in the city, and Beta squad is maintaining a net around the planet, but there is still no sign of the target: Mael Aramsis," answered Red.
"That’s because he isn’t leaving, put me through to Hock," a moment passed and the transmitter toned twice again. "Hock, change of plans."
"Dax I am not in the mood for one of your pep talks, this spaceport is mobbed with people trying to get off this rock its going to be impossible to find him in this mess."
"He is in the city, in fact he is probably closing in on your team right now, pull out of there and lets regroup on my position," said Daxim.
"What are you talking about, we've been chasing this guy for weeks, and now we're finally close enough to strike so he sets off the deadliest weapon known to mankind in the middle of the city just to throw us off his trail. After all that you wanna go ahead and let him slip away?"
"He didn't set off the Tactical Black Hole to help him escape, he did it to prevent us from seeing what he is about to do next. Black Holes are not just a deadly bomb, they also disrupt the space time in this dimension, which means we are flying blind. The Dreamer can no longer help us catch him, look at your crystal."
There was a pause and Hock's voice came back less sure than before, "So the strange little crystal is cloudy, big deal. The Dreamer is completely untraceable, how could he possibly know about her?"
"In this dimension yes, but this confirms something I've feared about for a long time."
"I don't know where you are going with this Dax, but I'm sure I'm gonna hate it."
"If The Dreamer can see everything we do and what we will likely do in the future, then whose to say someone else can't do the same thing?"
"But that would mean Aramsis cut off his lifeline too, plus he is stuck planet side since the government has declared a state of emergency fearing SERK attack, nobody is getting on or off this planet, it doesn't add up."
"Hock, do you know what the deadliest weapon really is?"
"Can't you ever talk straight? Get to the point!"
"I'm saying Mael Aramsis came here knowing we were closing in on him, he detonated the one explosive that disrupts space time cutting us off from our ability to track his movements, and he has got the SERK harassing the system so we can't leave. It was a setup from the start, and now he is hunting us. What I'm trying to tell you Hock is that the deadliest weapon in the Universe is not a bomb; its the mind."
