Nemesis, yes, that was an example of luck, fortune favored us very heavily. That does not change the fact that although he is a non combatant we would not have succeeded with as few injuries (and no deaths) had he not had the courage to come in spite of his fear. It was his friend in need, and he proved himself to be a friend in deed, not merely word.

Mr. Hollister, I am oddly unwilling to go. I am not certain why, but the thought of encountering a threat beneath the waves fills me with feelings of dread and foreboding powerfull enough to make concentradtion and focus almost impossible. We should however be discussing KonThaak's death elstwhere and leaving this topic to it's original purpose?

I suppose that it's finally time to weigh in on this.

To be truthful, I had been hoping to forget the whole incident at KT's place. But the whole truth should be made known about that and other things. It all relates to security in the field. Hopefully others can learn from my mistakes.

First of all, I'd like to say that I really was in it to help. When I made my offer of assistance after Hannah's mother died, Nemesis contacted me with an offer. She provided me with a budget for electronic and computer gear and I provided her my technical know how. I took some vacation time off work, bought a van with the budget money and headed down to DC.

I should also mention that in addition to the budget money I was provided, I recieved an allowance... a paycheck. Yeah, I was a regular mercenary all of a sudden.

I was never supposed to get into combat situations.

Most of what I did was remote or relayed through her phone. Like the time I hacked Mr. Caliburns business computer and downloaded all those files. I also set up surviellance in the Blight. Finally, I provided Nemesis with some special toys.

As you all probably know, Hannah eventually compromised her position and Nemesis went to get her. I was left behind because I could do most things remotely.

Then Gabriel put out the call to help KT. It wasn't my idea to go. Nemesis sent me. But I was still glad to be doing something to help!

My instructions were to pick up Brutal at the airport and then drop him off. I was to set up some surviellance around the house and then beat tracks to another part of town. I was never supposed to be there. But I wanted to be. I wanted a taste of the action. So I never told Brutal the whole truth about my mandate.

Then that thing appeared. My god how that thing haunted my dreams! It wasn't clear thinking that got my butt back into the van. I was scared. I wasn't thinking. I screamed like a girl and ran. I almost got into that van and drove away without looking back.

Thankfully, I regained some measure of self-control and brought the van around to take KT and the family away. Except that spirit... the one that looked like an admiral... once the family boarded it told me to go and not wait anymore.

So I did. Not because it was the right thing to do but because I was still scared out of my mind and I wanted to get out of there. The slimmest of excuses was all I needed to speed out of there. I didn't wait for Brutal or any of the others. I just got the hell out of there.

It worked out for the best at the time and I'm glad of that. I'm sad that KT later died. It makes me feel even more hollow inside. So I busy myself with work and my fiancee and it helps me to forget.

I'm not done my story. There are more things that happened afterwards... but I need to rest... and my little lady is calling for me.

I'll finish in a couple of days.

Rest well, Technocrat - in my eyes you have earned it.

Courage is not the absense of fear, but the overcoming of that fear to do what needs done.

I have seen hardened soldiers, well blooded in battle, blanche at the mere thought of having to face such a foe.

Remember,
For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost.
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost
For the want of a horse a messenger was lost
For the want of a messenger the report was lost
For the want of a report the war was lost
For the want of a victory the kingdom was lost


If you wish to avoid direct combat in the future, such is your wish.
If you ever wish to fight by my side, I will not turn you away - courage cannot be taught, a man has it or he does not.

Take your lady into your arms and enjoy your happyness, as much, and as often as you can - it will help with the dreams to remind yourself of the simple pleasures in life.

Thank you, Mr. Li and Mr. Holister for your kind words. I appreciate them and I suppose you're right. I still feel as though I need to relate everything in detail. Partly in atonement to feel better but also because I sincerely hope that my experiences, good and bad, can help others.

Things got quiet for a little bit after that. I stayed in Chicago and continued to provide electronic support to Nemesis. Not that she needed much at that point in time.

I did start noticing what I thought were suspicious characters following me around as I went about my business. I was right and as you all probably know, it was.... associates of Nemesis. They grabbed me off the street. As they put a hood over my head, I was able to fumble with my cell phone enough to dial her number. Apparently it was enough to let her know I was in trouble and she sent Brutal to come get me.

I'm not going to revisit what went down again.

It was posting here that led them to me. Apparently some members of the mob visit this site as guests and read the various threads. Perhaps their fear is as tasty as ours.

After that, I went home. Still, I've been keeping tabs on things. Which leads me to the last of the security breachs I encountered recently although this one wasn't actually my fault. Indeed, it really had nothing to do with me although I maybe should have handled things differently.

When I heard that Ron and Nemesis had walked into a church that then exploded, I figured I had a pretty good way of verifying if Nemesis was still alive. She carries her smart phone with her everywhere. One of my jobs while in the blight was to track her with it's GPS signal.

So all I had to do was remotely turn on the GPS once more.

I got one signal which told me that the phone was active and that it had travelled some distance from any churches in the DC area.

Then I was booted out of the phone. Someone else was tracking it and didn't want me accessing it. Whoever they were, they were better at this whole hacking thing than I am. I never got back in. After that first signal, I was never even able to confirm the phone still existed.

Since Nemesis resurfaced, normal access has been restored and it's like this other hack was never there. Almost like magic. I've never seen anything like it.

That's quite obviously not the part of your statement that she was referring to. She was referring to the portion that was untrue.

Seriously, this almost qualified as amusing two weeks ago. Now it's gotten pathetic and annoying.