X-10: Kito's Story

As with all my stories… DA is the property of 20th Century Fox, James Cameron and Chris Eglee.

Prologue:

Kito watched as the stranger jumped into the midst of the circle, disabled Lydecker, grabbed Tima and jumped to the nearest roof. All of it was completed with near perfection before he, before anyone could react to his presence. Kito stared frozen as several of the others finally reacted and pursued them across the barracks roof toward the perimeter fence. He knew he should be with that group lending his support but was unable to make himself move.
Belatedly he snapped out of it moving toward Lydecker's slowly recovering form to lend assistance. He held out a hand and assisted his commander to his feet, looking back only when Lydecker looked strong enough to stand on his own. Kito caught one last glimpse of Tima as she disappeared over the perimeter fence and faded into the surrounding fog. He barely made out the sound of the tires squealing on a vehicle as it left the area.
Kito turned back toward Lydecker just in time to get coldcocked by the butt of Lydecker's gun. Kito spun on his heels unbalanced and landed heavily on the ground on his hands and knees, "What do you think you're doing soldier?" Lydecker growled angrily.
"Providing assistance sir," Kito answered automatically.
"Assistance?" He repeated incredulously, "Where are your priorities? What is protocol for a rogue Manticore soldier?"
"To subdue by what ever means necessary, to render the rogue no threat. Then to terminate the rogue expeditiously," Kito quoted by wrote as he looked at a spot on the ground. He knew he had been wrong… now what would Lydecker do to him?
"And what did you do?" Lydecker spit quickly chambering a round in his gun and pointing it at Kito's temple, "you greeted her! You stood by as she neutralized three of your brethren…" Lydecker leaned in his eyes narrowing, "That is treason, soldier."
Kito met his eyes only momentarily, then looked down again. He was too much the good soldier to argue the point with the man whom he considered his father, "Yes sir, I deserve whatever punishment you see fit, sir," He responded crisply rising to his feet and stepping into the barrel of Lydecker's gun.
Lydecker's eyes searched Kito's face for long moments, then pursing his lips he said, "I don't think that is going to be necessary, Kito," Lowering the gun, smiling the false smile that told Kito there was something else he already had in mind for him to do.

Chapter One: Graveyard Patrol

It was the third day of a very long and boring patrol around the perimeter of the complex and the several outbuildings that were no longer in use but still in need of being kept vacant. Kito sighed, "How undignified for a Manticore X-10," He thought unhappily. He should have known what Lydecker's smile would have meant for him. The most demeaning thing on the list… there was always openings in the nightly patrols of the grounds. Worse yet he was going to have to do this for a month straight to make up for his mess up.
He was still puzzling over why his reaction to Tima's presence had overwhelmed his training. It was so imbued in him that nothing should have interrupted his agenda and set of directives, especially in the face of Lydecker himself. Yet he did, essentially refusing to capture and kill a fugitive from the program, branding himself untrustworthy in the process.
He could pinpoint the moment when he balked… when Lydecker had pulled his gun on Tima telling her in no uncertain terms that she could not come back. Worse she would have to die for being responsible enough to try and return… to want to come home. He could not reconcile that within himself, despite his want, his ingrained need for Lydecker to be right, always. Tima had wanted to come back, she wanted to be a part of the team. What kind of directive turns down a returnee?
Kito mused over the thought for most of the night, doing the rounds by wrote, taking in all the mundane details of each buildings security and each section of perimeter fences conditions for his log. All the while he actively thought over the events that lead him here to this juncture. They played over and over in his mind like one of the ancient LP's he had heard about skipping in his head.
Finally he shook himself free of that thought only to move on to an equally disturbing thought.
He thought about the strange man who had come to Tima's aid as Lydecker was about to shoot her. Kito had never seen the man before. He had pored through Manticore's "Yearbooks," the files kept on every Manticore ever conceived looking for the man, and yet was unable to find him. He wasn't Manticore that was for sure, even if he moved and reacted like one, there was no way. He had wanted to pose the question to Lydecker, to satisfy himself that it was not a soldier from another nation who may be on a parallel course with their Biosynth technology. He was afraid to at this point, afraid that it would overstep his bounds as a soldier. Lydecker did not look highly on independent thought past intuitive combat decisions, and would probably frown on Kito looking into this matter at all. He had therefore remained silent, only mulling over it in his mind and coming to drastically different conclusions about the existence of another similar project somewhere else in the world.
Kito was pulled reluctantly from his thought as something out of the ordinary caught his attention.
Moving across the courtyard was the solitary form of Lydecker headed for one of the buildings marked as sealed on every map he had ever seen of the base. Kito's eyes narrowed as he automatically froze.
Lydecker move with a purpose toward building 241 and reaching the door keyed the lock and stepped inside. Kito could only stand there and wonder. The windows were boarded up tightly allowing no view of the inside and the door was sure to be locked while Lydecker conducted whatever business he had there. Kito kept close tabs on building 241 as he continued his rounds. Every circuit his curiosity grew about what Lydecker could possibly have going in that building that the rest of them were ignorant of. He was well away from the building in question when he saw Lydecker return to the active part of the compound.
Kito cursed himself silently for not being in a better position to reconnoiter when Lydecker had exited the building. But he knew that there were eyes on him even if he couldn't see them and therefore he could ill afford to be caught hovering around the building, not as much trouble as he was already in.