"The Will of Minos"

[Joe Manning 0]

The operations center at Tranquility's Guardian precinct was in full activity mode despite the images being displayed on the situation screen. One of the city's tallest structures, a twenty-four story high-rise office building near the very center of the Commerce District, was belching smoke into the air from a flaming hole no more than four stories from the roof. The explosion that had shaken the city's support platforms just five minutes prior had taken a chunk out of the tower's northern corner; the flames would be visible from all of the city's more populated districts, and the smoke would be visible everywhere. An explosion at the base of the tower would have done more damage; that was clearly not the bomber's intent.

 

Emergency response was one of the responsibilities included in the Guardians' Tranquility contract. Lawmen on the ground were already moving people out of and away from the targeted building, and shuttles were flying in to extinguish the blaze and rescue trapped survivors. Surrounded by her precinct staff coordinating response efforts at their stations, Marshall Amanda Savoy watched several views of the scene on the situation screen, including surveillance recordings that showed the blast from many angles. The recordings, combined with reports from the field and sensor analyses from her staff, made it clear that this explosion had not been accidental.

 

"Minos ... " she mumbled to herself.

 

The rescue efforts would come first. On-site investigations would come next. There was little doubt in Savoy's mind that the cult leader known to be on Tranquility, the terrorist whose presence in the city had prompted the decision to seal off the colony, was behind this.

 

"Ma'am," Savoy looked over at her second in command, Constable La'nok, who was hovering over the Lawmen at the comm stations. "We are receiving an audio-only transmission. It appears to be coming from within the city, but it is being bounced between and simultaneously broadcast from over thirty comm relays throughout Tranqulity. We are not the only ones receiving it."

 

"Find out where that transmission is coming from!" Savoy ordered. "Put it on speaker."

 

A deep, electronic voice -- heavily computer-modified by the sound of it -- came over the ops center's speakers. "Citizens of Tranquility, this evening you have witnessed the will of Minos made manifest in the great financial center of your decadent city. As the majestic skies of this fair world are darkened by ashes of the corporate greed and vice that have tainted the Hyades cluster, know that the cleansing you have witnessed is but a small sampling of the full capabilities of the Rainmakers.

 

"You may think to blame us for the destruction that has been caused and the lives that have been lost. But know that this attack was not unprovoked. The Rainmakers choose to reject the authority of the Guardians. We were here long before the Guardians were formed, and we will be here long after they have been swept out of the Hyades cluster. They are nothing more than mercenary thugs who exert their false authority at the bidding of wealthy usurpers who dare lay claim to colonies that are rightfully the property of the Federation. Now these brutes who value only the weight of the latinum in their pockets presume to hold us all prisoner on Theta Tauri. The blame for any loss which is suffered this night falls upon the Guardians.

 

"Know that the attack you have just witnessed is only the first that we have planned and the least devastating. Until the Guardians lift their unlawful blockade of the planet, this city will feel another attack every hour, each more terrible than the last, and we will -not- limit our targets to commercial centers. It is our desire to return the Hyades cluster to its rightful rulers, not to cause the deaths and suffering of innocent people. Know that every hour that you are kept prisoner on this planet, every tragedy that befalls your city, every innocent life that is swept away, will be further proof that the Guardians do not value your lives but only the wealth that they suckle from the teat of their wretched Taurus Brother masters.

 

"Know your true enemy if you wish to avoid the cleansing rain that we shall bring."