Discoveries

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

07/31/96:

Time had found myself half inside a wall on my ship. I was
busy working on some of the conductor nodes for the new
sections of the hull, and wasn't paying attention to what
was going on. Which was the reason why I didn't hear anyone
coming until I felt someone grab my leg.

I jurked my leg, and pulled myself out of the wall. Looking
up I found Page standing above me with a very concerned
looked on her face.

Sitting up against the wall I asked, "what's wrong?"

She held out a PADD, he paw was shaking badly. "You need to
read this."

I took it from her, and read over the information on the
screen. It was a compilation of memo's and notices from the
Hammerhead data base (or at least it said they where from
there). I read over the first one on the list.

It was a long so I only skimmed through it. As I did so I
could feel my face becoming more and more pale.

Basically the memo covered what they called the
'catastrophe' on Catarn, and how they had lost most of some
major product as a direct result of mine and Becky's actions
there. It ended with the suggestion that I should be killed.

I looked up at Page.

She looked back down at me. "There are at least two-hundred
memos and reports there. Half want you dead, the other half
want to use you."

I slowly set the PADD down. "What else?"

"Well, the suspect Rathal knows about them, and they don't
trust me or Rachel."

"Is that why your shaking?" I asked, sounding a bit dumb.

She shook her head, sitting down next to me. "No Fox, it's
something else I found." She picked up the PADD and hit a
few buttons on it, then handed it back to me. "Take a look
at that."

The PADD down showed lines and lines of data, most of it I
wasn't able to understand. "No idea."

"That was the last thing I got from the HammerHead's system
for it died. It's a formula for a drug, it's a pain
inductor, and I think it can actually youthen people a bit."
She slumped a bit. "I ran this through the medical computers
that had the all Council members in it. 58 members show
traces of this."

I paled even more. "They use this to control the Council
members. Just get them to take it and bang, you have them
permanently."

She shook her head. "Not exactly permanently. The drug by
it's self can't latch on like it needs to. Normal it would
just pass right through your body. But if it's mixed..." she
trailed off.

I leaned forward a bit. "Mixed? With what?"

"Bliss." she whispered. "Extremely high quality bliss."

I nodded. "And the Hammerheads are the main agency against
Bliss, so they have an endless supply."

She nodded. "They just need to mix the first dose with the
bliss and there hooked. It would take nanites to remove it,
but no one has perfected it to the level needed."

I closed my eyes. This was new I didn't want to here. "So
they made this drug on Catarn, and when Becks and I stumbled
onto it they destroyed the planet instead of taking the
chance that we knew to much."

She placed her paw on my knee. "Fox, there's more."

I opened my eyes again, and looked at her hard. "What?"

"Well..." she twisted her paws together a bit. "They control
58 members, and from the memos I've been able to match of
ten agents of the Hammerheads in the Council, including, as
you suspected, Tran."

I tilted my head a bit. "68 members. They need two more for
the majority."

She nodded, as she stared shaking again. "Fox, there have
been rumors that that two of the none-corrupted members will
be replaced in about two weeks. It looks like there
replacements are already under the control of the
Hammerheads."

I threw my head back, banging it against the wall. "70
people, 75 percent, the majority." I looked at her. "Tell
Rachel and Thal this, and I want to know when the next
meeting starts, before it starts."

She nodded, picking up the PADD. "I will Fox. Be careful
ok?"

"I will."

She stood and headed out of the ship.

I closed my eyes, things where happening so fast, and I was
falling into the center of them again. It looked like
everything was about to come to a head.

And all of us; Rachel, Page, Rathal, me, and I felt Oriana
was coming along for the ride too. All of us, we where all
about to dive head first into the fire...