Scapegoat Options

[Dantrag]

This is in no way TES related, but I figured I'd share anyway. It's already finished, but I'm going to post it in small parts so that it's easier to read.

-----------

Scapegoat


“You’ll do it, or you will face a court marshal.” The gruff General McDowell commanded threateningly.

“It’s a civilian ship!” replied a young man of eighteen, sitting in a chair with numerous electrodes attached to his head.

“Damn it, Cedric, the Russians are using it to transport weapons! Fire now!” McDowell shouted angrily.

“Yes, Sir.” Cedric replied reluctantly as he flipped the single switch on the arm of his chair.

Instantly, the image of General McDowell’s angry face was replaced with a view of outer space from the vantage point of a starship’s bridge. He was seeing through the eyes of the ship’s captain, made possible through the use of a chip surgically implanted in the Captain’s brain. Cedric was now accustomed to the feeling of having a passive role in someone else’s body, but at first it had been one of the strangest feelings he had ever experienced.

“Fire.” He commanded, repeating the general’s order through the captain’s earpiece.

“Yes, Sir.” The Captain replied.

Cedric had no sooner seen the explosion than an entire fleet of Russian ships pounced on them, seemingly out of nowhere. The United States had attacked a civilian starship. More than enough cause for war.

“Retreat!” Cedric shouted at the captain.

The captain hesitated, panic obviously setting in.

“Retreat!” he repeated again, this time more forcefully. Cedric’s vision was reduced to static before he flipped the switch to return to his own body.

“Wake up, Cedric,” a thick German accent woke him.

[Dantrag]

Wow. I forgot I waws sharing this one. Here's the next update. (four months later)

-------

“And what will killing him achieve?”

“Mr. Black, this country is ruled by the rich. They control everything. And the get richer by feeding like leeches from the lifeblood of the common man. Cops don’t help; they’re paid by these wealthy ones, the one percent of America that actually has the power. And when one of the members of this wealthy elite makes a potentially revealing or disastrous mistake, there is always a lesser man to take the fall. You know this better than anyone, Mr. Black. McDowell did the same to you, two years ago.”

Cedric fell silent, mulling it over in his head. After a few long moments he finally spoke. “The end justifies the means.”

“Let’s get down to business then.”

Cedric learned then that the SCA was actually made up of real soldiers. Their base of operations held many advanced weapons and other technologies. His hope for the future began to flourish in his mind as he envisioned a United States in which there was true equality and a community that worked together, rather than competing with itself.

Cromwell pushed a button on his desk, causing a three-dimensional hologram to appear on the desk.

“This,” he explained, “Is McDowell’s vacation home. He is supposed to arrive at noon today. You are going to make sure that he doesn’t.”

“How?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” Cromwell said with a smirk as he stood up. “Follow me.”

Cedric followed his new employer out of the office and found that he had no idea where he was. The cityscape outside the large window was an unfamiliar one. He and Cromwell stepped into an elevator.

45, 44, 43,…3, 2, 1. He watched the digital numbers silently as the elevator descended to the lowest floor of the building. Cedric assumed it was underground, since he saw no windows as he exited the elevator and walked down the hall. At the end of the hallway, Cromwell opened a set of double doors.

The first thing that caught Cedric’s eye was the all-too-familiar chair. It had a switch on the arm of it, and a set of electrodes sat neatly on the seat.