The crew of the Saltpillar expressed no jubilation as they left the other ship. Though their victory was secure, they no longer felt any sort of joy from their doings. Not that they had ever derived joy from them in the first place. The exception to this rule, their captain, who was, quite obviously, grinning with a bit of bloodlust as he removed the jack of the first Cypherite named by Chaz "Conneron" Stallin.

As they left the landed craft they had sought after for over a year, their captain seemed emotionless. Dead, even. A light, which they all might have said graced his eyes was gone, and in its place was only the fire of what many recognized as madness. The crew, however, recognized this madness as the necessary sort, and dedicated themselves to it, though their eyes were not entirely dimmed as his.

They approached their own ship, which was landed nearby, still recovering from the Electromagnetic Pulse it has discharged in order to down the other craft. No sooner had they entered it than the captain directed his operator, a tall, muscular, and shaggy looking black man, in his next action.

"Wanzer, send an encrypted message to New Zion that the Damascus is down and en route to the Machine City. Tell them to keep traffic of the tunnels it will be taking clear. Backcopy that to EPN, too."

"Alright, cap," he spoke in a husky timbre and set off to his chore at the multiple, code-streaming monitors of the operator's console.

"Okay, Coul," Neoteny turned to the rest of his crew and brushed the shaggy brown hair away from his eyes and back into a neat ponytail which he quickly fastened together with a dirty rubber loop. "Watch the guns while I get us out of here..."

"No problem, sir," Microcoulomb, the third and final member of the Saltpillar's skeleton crew, responded with a slight nod as she walked away from him and started climing the ladder to the ship's turret.

"Neoteny?" came the voice of Wanzer.

"Yeah, Wanz?"

"Looks like radar's picking up Zion, Merovingian, and Machine-aligned hovercraft approaching this area."

"Well, being that I don't intend to die today, I think I'll take us out of here."

"Not a bad plan, cap. Also..."

"Also what?"

"Nevermind. I'll read it to you as soon as we get out of this mess."

The Saltpillar wasted no time in escaping from the tunnel where signal tracking the Damascus eventually went dead.

"Goddammit..." Neoteny mumbled to himself, scratching his chin. "Just what we needed - interlopers."

"We'll find another one, cap," replied Wanzer.

"I know... It's just a pain in the asss. This isn't something we come by frequently or easily, obviously. Maybe we should've stayed and blasted the cavalry ourselves."

"And get frosted by the squiddies following up the Machinists? Or even get laid out by one of our own? Not my cup of tea."

"They're not our own anymore, Wanzer. They decided we're not welcome in their flock. That we still try to kill their wolves is our choice, not theirs."

"I know it's just..."

They both looked down at the floor for a moment in simultaneous anger, guilt, and sorrow at their current position within the politics of Zion. 

Neoteny's face snapped back up and looked Wanzer in the smooth black skin of the top of his shaven head.

"I forgot to ask you to backcopy the message to Lock's personal channel as well. I'm still convinced we can win Jason over."

"Sure, cap. I don't know how well that'll go, I mean, you know his position on the whole Morpheus fiasco."

"That was then, this is now," he replied, clearing his throat, "Jason's a practical bastard who sought the destruction of the Matrix as much as anyone else in the old days. He realizes that now is the same as then. He probably sees things the same way I do. It doesn't hurt that he's freeborn, either. Plus, he owes me one."

He grinned slightly and Wanzer joined him for a moment,  before the remembrance of the other message swept over him.

"Cap, about the other message..."

"Oh, what was it?" Neoteny asked, with vague concern.

"A bounce-back from Zion command. It says:

Crew of the Hovercraft Saltpillar under the designation of ex-Zion Captain Neoteny. You are hereby ordered to return your vessel to New Zion's docks and submit to due process for your crimes which include but are not limited to:

Theft of a Zion Military Vehicle
Theft of Zion Military Intelligence
Failing to appear for a Zion Military Court Marshall
Coercion of members of the Zion Military
Genocide
Crimes against Humanity

Failure to appear at the docks of New Zion and willfully submit to the authority and due process of the New Zion council and military will be met with orders to apprehend your vessel in the Real. Further appearances of your character within the Matrix will result in execution of the order for your death.

Preparations of a kill-code designed for your signature based on information stored within the Zion mainframe have already begun."

He stood and looked at the screen displaying the message blankly.

"Cap..?"

"I saw this coming. No doubt the Machines and the Frenchman are after me as well."

"What about EPN and the Cyphs?"

"EPN are mostly on our side, if you haven't noticed. The Cyphs prefer to do things the way they've done them in order to get their name."

"Right... What do you intend to do?"

"Oh, I've got plans..."

He folded his hands together behind his back and walked onto the command deck to maneuver his decorated vessel anywhere but back to New Zion.

Operatives of the System,

You are hereby charged with the removal of the Terrorist operative known as Tom "Neoteny" Slayboughn from the Matrix. You are authorized to use any means at your disposal to ensure that this individual's campaign of code bombings comes to a cessation and that the affected resources and individuals are no longer afflicted by his attacks.

We have already dispatched several crews of Cypherites under our direct orders to attempt to terminate Mr. Slayboughn, but it appears that they have failed. As is has become public knowledge, their hovercraft have returned to do slightly significant damage to our city via overcharged EMPs. As such, further endeavors in the Real short of direct, hovercraft to hovercraft combat have been deemed inefficient.

While it may appear that your efforts in the Matrix against this terrorist are also inefficient and have no lasting effect, we assure you that this is no longer the case. We are currently working on developing a kill code for this individual's neural pattern. You can help us develop this kill code by forcing the individual to reconstruct within the Matrix.

When the code is finally developed, the Machinist operative most consistent in dealing the killing blow requiring the subject to reconstruct will be given the single-use kill code and charged with the elimination of the target.

Good luck, operatives.

Efficiently,

Agent Gray

To those in service of the Merovingian:

It has come to our attention via some of our more upright operatives that a madman from Zion's old line of employ - "Neoteny," I think his name is - has gone off and placed code bombs around our place of residence and merriment.

We can't have that, now, can we?

For some reason, the Merovingian has decided to leave the task of his elimination up to worthless operatives like yourself, rather than to simply send the Twins or Beirn to do it for him for some god forsaken reason...

The reasons for his elimination? Oh, fine, I suppose I can dull them all down for you little gun-toting ground-runners. Cozy as it is in the Trainman's little construct, we prefer to do our business in the large city in which we currently reside. This place is also our number one source of profit, and without it, our operation would suffer a bit of a loss, wouldn't it? Now there's a good little listening idiot.

While it is impossible to permanently eliminate this imbecile with a simple bullet thanks to that bumbling dead faux oligarch, Danielle Wright, the Merovingian has decided to invest some of our hard earned resources into a kill code which will be wasted when fired by hands as shaky as yours.

Hmph. He should have listened to me and - yes, yes, well...

In order to formulate this kill code, you will need to force him to utilize his Emergency Jackout Procedure. The Merovingian will, foolishly, entrust whichever of his operatives causes this the most with the kill code and the task of eliminating Neoteny.

Now, I don't need to explain how to force an EJP, do I?

Signed,

Flood
The Chateau
20 February

Attention Warriors!

The Zion council has issued a shoot-on-sight order for ex-Captain Neoteny of the Hovercraft Saltpillar.

While this may be hard for some of you to comply with, as you may have served with Captain Neoteny in the past, we feel that it is entirely necessary to do this now. He has completely gone rogue from the Zion Military and refuses to comply with court marshalls and direct orders, and is to be considered a radical acting under his own direction.

In order to protect the bluepills we are attempting to awaken, Neoteny's campaign of code bombing must be stopped.

To those of you who believe that this effort may, in any sort of way, lead us towards winning the war against the Machines, Command along with the Zion Council agree that this isn't the way we want to win the war. We aren't prepared to make the sacrifice of millions of human lives simply for our own. There is a better way out there.

As ex-Captain Neoteny has failed to give himself up, we have begun dilligent work on a kill code which will end his life permanently. It is always sad when a valued member of the Zion Military rebels and must be dealt with in such a harsh manner, but this is not the first time it has happened, and this is not the first time it has been dealt with in this way. It's simply what we need to do to protect those who can't protect themselves.

Research has already spiked massively due to contributions from warrior QuiDormit who began collecting data on Neoteny near the end of his cooperation with him and afterward. Unfortunately, much of our data on Neoteny's code signature was lost in the destruction of Zion, a signal lock, or any other sort of research that might have been helped by that information is lost. We speculate that the completion of this kill code will take further resources, and that is where we need your help.

In order to help us gather information on the ex-Captain, you will need to terminate his signal in the Matrix. When we have gathered enough information, and the kill code has been formulated, it will be entrusted to warrior QuiDormit as part of the agreement for his contribution in the construction of the kill code.

Godspeed, Warrior,

Tyndall

QuiDormit kept a low profile for the next few days, knowing full well what was to come: his meeting with the Council. He was aboard the Titan, still leery of actually going in to New Zion. He was lying on his bunk and spent some time seriously considering what he was trying to propose. He hoped that maybe, just maybe, he could convice them to accept his offer which would help him three-fold. He slowly got to his feet and pulled a disk out of his pocket. He stared at it for a minute and then quickly pocketed it again. Then, he turned and headed out of his portal, his destination the New Zion Counsil Chambers.

Though he walked slowly, he felt as if the walk flashed by him. Suddenly he was in the outer chamber. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath when he heard a voice from behind him.

"QuiDormit, thank you for coming. I was hoping to have a word with you before you went in."
"Uh, yea- I mean yes, councilwoman Dillard."
"Come, have a seat." He took a seat next to her and furrowed his brow as she sat and stared at him.

"Why? Why did you do what you did? How was that the best possible action?"
QuiDormit frowned. "I... Truthfully, I think I took the easy way out. I tend to be a man of action, though I'm learninig to think first. I am learning to be patient and understanding."

She tilted her head up and squinted for a moment as she absorbed what he had to say. "And you are remorseful?"
QuiDormit nodded solemnly. "I am."
"Not everyone agrees with me, but I am going to continue to allow RedBindi to watch over you. She is an honored member of our fleet, and I imagine she will carry your punishment out to the fullest. You have an ally in me, QuiDormit."

"Ma'am... I have a proposal... It's about Neoteny."
She sat straight in her chair and eyed QuiDormit closely. "Well then, let's go talk to the rest of the Council."

She stood and QuiDormit followed her as they headed to the main chamber. When they entered, Dillard took a seat and said to the others, "He and I have had our little chat, and things will remain as they are. He would like to talk to us about Neoteny, however."
Each and every member of the Council eyed him very closely. It was very obvious that Neoteny's name carried with it a great deal of weight.

"Go on, boy."

"Right. Well, when I stopped my... *ahem* efforts, I made a decision. I decided that I would analyze Neoteny's RSI signature every time I was around him."
The Council members exchanged looks as he continued.
"I've compiled a good deal of information. It's far from complete, but it should give us an edge... to make a killcode for Neoteny."

Excited murmurs carried around the room. West spoke up first. "This is certainly unexpected news."
QuiDormit nodded. "I will hand the disk over to the council on the condition-"

Booming from behind him, Commander Roland spoke thunderously. "Condition? You dare to give the Council conditions after what you've done and what they've done for you? I should have you put in a hole deep within New Zion's bowels, boy!"
Dillard spoke up on QuiDormit's behalf. "Let the boy speak, Roland."

QuiDormit took a deep breath. "My condition is that I am the one to carry the killcode and that I am the one to terminate Neoteny. We will never catch him in the real... I can take him out in the simulation."

More excited murmurs moved from person to person. They spoke amongst themselves for some time before Hamann stood, instantly silencing the others. "Alright, QuiDormit. We agree to your request. Give Roland the disk, and we will use it to create a Killcode for Neoteny which you will then use on him. Good luck to you, young man."

He bowed his head and turned to leave. QuiDormit looked at Roland who seemed to be far from pleased and he handed him the disk. He then saluted and headed back toward the Titan. They took him at face value, which was unexpected.

Now he just had to face what it was he had to do.