A knock on the conferrence room door startled all within. "I thought I told you guys no interruptions!" shouted the officer, his gun now pointed at Renault.  The door opened with a hiss and Silas stepped through.  "Oh, so sorry, I thought this room was unoccupied. It's such a nice place to take a quick nap on the job," he said with an apologetic grin.  Behind him, in the hallway, the two guards that had been stationed outside collapsed.<br/>The two guards inside the conference room moved to take Silas out, but stopped dead in their tracks. Rope darts extended out of Silas' suit sleeves, into their necks.  The soldiers had never even had the chance to dodge they had come so quickly.  Silas pulled the rope darts back and caught them expertly in his hands, "Oops. My bad, darn combat reflexes," he said with another apologetic grin and a formal bow.<br/>The seated officer rose from his seat and moved to aim his gun. The poor officer was too slow as Cherise lunged over the still bowing Silas, rolled on the floor toward the officer, did a headstand and hooked her legs around his neck. The officer had a moment to register what was happening before Cherise, with amazing flexibility and strength, threw him into the opposite wall behind Silas.  The officer crumpled to the floor, behind Silas as he rose from his bow.<br/>Renault, not missing a beat rounded the table and collected one of the guards weapons while Cherise and Silas moved the guards and officer into the room. "Thanks guys, but how'd you know?"<br/>Silas spoke without turning, "as soon as you left for the debriefing, they locked down the Gilded Gifthorse. I figured they would do something like this, so I slipped out and came to get you.  If all is going according to plan, the Gifthorse should have freed itself from its moorings and exited the hangar.  The idea is that we're going to hijack some mechs and rejoin them in the asteroid field before fleeing to somewhere else. We're obviously going to take the fall either way, so we might as well make ourselves scarce.  Is that acceptable captain?"<br/>"Sounds like a plan. Let's go guys."<br/>-----------------------------------------<br/>The head mechanic watched Tanr's antics with mild amusement. "He sure is an interesting one alright. Anyway, what parts are you looking for? We won't worry about the authorization, though you might want to talk with Cali about getting a permit for those weapons."<br/>------------------------------<br/>Cali waited a moment before she spoke, looking off into the distance.  After a few moments she spoke, "You know, I used to be a human being.  I suffered from an incurable illness that left my body ravaged and feeble.  At about the same time, they had developed a technology that would transfer a persons consciousness and personality onto a suitable AI matrix.  Since my body was becoming weaker and weaker, I volunteered myself for the procedure, as a test subject.  The results went beyond expectations, and I was able to become something akin to an AI. And yet, I feel as if somethings missing. Ty, do you ever wish you could leave the Demon's Cascade?