His Lordship, Ludo Milosevic was not having a good day. First, the station he was supposed to be managing was blown to smithereens before his arrival, and then he'd spilled hot coffee on his favorite robes. It was a wasted trip. His annoyance grew as he stared at the cold ruins of Karnak Space Station. Couldn't they send out a signal or something? He could have turned around earlier instead of dodging this minefield of burnt-out debris.

"The pod is on board, my Lord."

They had managed to rescue one lost fellow Neo-Tokyan. At least now they would be able to find out what happened.

Ludo nodded, he was about to order a contingent to accompany him to the docking bay when the ship shuddered. The lights went off.

"Now what?" Ludo screeched, balling his fists.

"We really don't know, Sir," a tech answered.

Ludo groaned, inwardly, the question was rhetorical.

A minute ticked by with no response, the lights did not come back on. The room was glossed in shades of gray. All eyes were on him. He was supposed to know what to do. He glanced around at his good-for-nothing crew. What the hell were they trained for? Useless.

The lights flickered and for a brief moment, Ludo heard a gargled gasp and a thump. There was a bit of movement out of the corner of his eye and then it was gone.

He stepped back and tripped on a heavy object that hadn't been there before.

The lights flashed on, blinding Ludo's vision in brilliant white light.

In the center of the room stood a tall man dressed in stolen Neo-Tokyan Space Navy garb. His blonde hair was definitely not regulation cut and his muscles were pushing the shirt seams to the breaking point.

"Who are you?" Ludo managed to gasp out.

The man's gaze flicked his way and settled on him and a wave of terror settled over Ludo. He'd never seen such hatred on anyone's face before, let alone a man from the lower classes. No one had dared raise a hand to him in his life.

"You're an augment." Ludo got out with incredulity. How dare this waste of space impersonate a Neo-Tokyan. He was just about to point this out when the techs made their move.

One rushed him from behind and Ludo felt a small spark of hope.

The man crushed it in one fell swoop; one minute the gray-clad tech had an arm around the augment's thick neck, the next he was flying through the air over Ludo, where he landed with a sickening crunch.

The next man didn't fare any better. He at least got a shot in, a punch that knocked the imposter's head sideways, but it was only a feint. As the poor tech pushed in, he received an uppercut to the throat. Ludo knew he would never forget the sound of a human throat being crushed.

At that, a big smile crossed the augment's face and the lights went out.

"Where is he?"

"Over there!"

It was chaos for a few moments. Ludo crawled to the wall away from the commotion. This was why the purge happened. Augments were too dangerous. If he lived, he'd make sure they put a new law through. One where augments were shot on sight. Clearly, they couldn't be reasoned with.

There was a loud thump and a strangle gurgle followed by the sound of a boot hitting the ground, another crunching sound, and then just quiet.

Ludo felt nauseated. There was a smell in the air he couldn't quite place.

The lights came back on.

"Boo." 

Right in front of Ludo, was a smiling incarnation of death wrapped in flesh, circuit, and bone.

The man wiped his hand across his face leaving a red smear across half of his pale features like war paint from an old holo flick. He sent Ludo a predatory grin which sent shivers down Ludo's spine.

"You're an augur," Ludo whispered, feeling fear for the first time. There weren't many augments that could affect a whole ship with a mere thought. There was no other explanation.

He found himself hauled roughly to his feet faster than he would have thought possible. "My dear Lord Ludo." The man's voice managed to be silky smooth and raspy at the same time. "This is a delicious piece of fucking irony. I can almost believe in Dag's god after this. Hell, I might even forgive Red for leaving me here to die."

"What?"

"You don't remember me, do you?" The blonde man smiled. "That's ok, we'll have plenty of time to jog your memory."

Ludo did the only thing any self-respecting Neo-Tokyan could do in his predicament. He wet his pants.