Raivyn had just finished loading up the hovercraft with D’Jarric and Doc Manford when Van and Reclan arrived back at the camp.
“We’ll all be going,” she announced. “Most of the expensive stuff is coming along with us since we need to set up additional beacons anyway. If the Collective wants to ransack a few tents they’re welcome to it, especially since the Wingspan can bomb them from orbit.”
“Well hello to you too,” replied Vanbrook.
“Shut up and get in the back,” she shot back. “Doc already called shotgun.”
“We have a last-known location where Drixen’s signal went dead. It’s about an hour or two away, but after we get there we’ll have to start searching.”
“If he’s in an area of particularly bad signal disruption I could actually use that to our advantage,” suggested Reclan.
“How so?” asked Raivyn.
“I can use a compass to pinpoint the area that’s giving the most interference. It’ll take a few data points and some rather impressive math to account for the poles, etc, but once we’re close a few minutes of driving in circles should let me triangulate the problem area, and hopefully our pilot by extension.”
“Excellent. Use the ride to get things prepped. The longer he’s out there the less I like his chances.”
The hovercraft, an all terrain utility craft or ATUC, was a boxy sort of car with wide set circular headlights and rounded fenders housing the hover propulsion units. There were two seats in the front, storage on one side of the bed and a bench for three passengers on the other. The hover tech allowed for quiet travel over any reasonably even terrain with less than a sixty percent grade. It had no mounted weapons, but everyone aboard was ready to fire on enemies at a moment's notice.
Skirting the forest and staying by the edge of the mountains made for a fairly smooth ride, but Van could swear Raivyn was hitting ditches hard on purpose, causing the craft to dip violently and jostle the poor suckers in the back. He gave a look to D’Jarric as if to say, can you believe her? But all he got in return was one of DJ’s trademark sunny grins. As he looked around he was pretty sure he saw Raivyn smirking in the rearview mirror.
***
Far away, Drixen leaned back against a tree, trying to keep an eye on all the reptilian boar apes. They were testing his defenses, trying to find an angle where they could get in close for the kill without risking getting shot. He had counted twelve, none of them any smaller than the 7 foot beast that lay dead at his feet. Growls erupted into hoots and roars. One ape stepped forward and caught a bolt for his trouble.
"Eleven left!" shouted Drixen, half mad knowing he couldn't fend them all off. The roars grew to a crescendo and the whole troop rushed him. He fired almost randomly into the crowd, causing an explosion of splinters as a bolt struck a tree by one of the apes.
Two of the apes closed in on him. Drixen hit one square in the chest but had no time to take a second shot. He could practically feel the claws rending his flesh already.
Over his shoulder he heard shouting, and a bolt of golden energy smashed into the ape that had nearly reached him. Taking advantage of the surprise attack, he turned and ran towards the field, where he saw the welcome sight of the special squad piling out of their ATUC. He cut left to give them a line of fire and then made an arc towards the safety of numbers.
A Human female, petite and commanding, held one hand to her head and the other outstretched towards the boar apes; a tall, broad Solarian male stood in gleaming metal armor, shooting golden bolts from his hands; a tall Human male held a massive revolver in both hands and wore a sword over his shoulder; a Dromean female tapped away at a tablet, drones whizzing over her shoulder towards the enemy; a lanky masculine Robot shouldered a rifle, holding himself as if he had all the time in the world.
Meeting up with them as they walked forward, he turned to fire. To his surprise the apes were all leaving, scattering into the darkening woods. A drone sent an arc of electricity towards the ape nearest it, causing it to shriek as it fled. The Dromean chuckled.
“Looks like they’ve had enough,” said the Human male, holstering his pistol. “You must be Drixen, good to see you alive. I’m Vanbrook, that’s Raivyn, D’Jarric, Reclan and Doc Manford,” he continued, indicating his squadmates.
“It’s good to be alive, and that’s only thanks to you folks, I thought I was chow for… whatever those things are called,” he said, taking a seat right there in the mossy ground. The medicine in his bandages and the bloodloss were kicking in, and he felt ready to lay down in the mud and fall asleep.
“Oh, no you don’t,” said the robot, “I’m gonna have to look at that wound and I ain’t doing it kneeling down in a bog. Now are you gonna get up and walk or do we need to carry you?”
Drixen tried to stand, but his legs were rubbery and the ground was soft. D’Jarric steadied him and put an arm around his shoulder, leading him to the ATUC. Doc loped along beside them silently.
Vanbrook had to laugh at the robot's complete lack of bedside manner. Ever since the Singularity Wars, nations that observed the IGC had barred everyone but sapient robots from building sapient robots, to keep them from being exploited. In return, the robots had agreed not to take over major digital infrastructure and keep their consciousness confined to their bodies. Over the centuries this resulted in robots becoming an integral and celebrated part of many societies, but it also led to robots having increasingly quirky personalities, like the ones working as medics but lacking all people skills.
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Doc removed Drixen's bandages to examine the wound.
"Well, son, you discovered those things, what do you want to call them?"
"The boar ape things?" Drixen asked.
"Hittanian boar ape. Good enough. We'll add it to the bestiary. DJ, can you and Van get one of the corpses? The eggheads are going to want a specimen."
"You got it, Doc," replied D'Jarric.
As Van walked over to help D'Jarric, Reclan leaned over and whispered to him.
"She might be the only Human female on the planet, but you're not the only male anymore."
Van snorted and moved on.
Raivyn walked over to the ATUC, her arms crossed and her face stern. Drixen was chatting with, or, more accurately, chatting at Doc, who responded with the occasional “uh huh” or “sure” as he worked. The pilot had short-cropped blonde hair and an alert, honest-looking face. Raivyn knew only two kinds of people had honest-looking faces; the truly honest and the truly underhanded. She’d have to keep an eye on him until she figured out which he was.
“So, you’re the famous Textbook, eh?” she asked. Drixen gave her a somewhat embarrassed smile. He was always at ease in the cockpit, but when it came to discussing his exploits on terra firma, he was at a loss.
“Yup, that’d be me. And you’re…" He shook a finger at her as he thought. "Raivyn, right? Psychic warrior extraordinaire?”
Raivyn cocked her head to the side and put a fist on her hip.
“Didn’t know you flyboys knew about us clay-siders.”
“Oh, sure, you guys are all kind of legends in your own right.” He nodded towards Van and D’Jarric, struggling with a boar ape carcass.
“You’re the ones who come down here and deal with… those sorts of things. All the wild animals and stuff. I’d much rather be in the stars.”
“I don’t know,” said Van, huffing and struggling to hold up the beast’s legs, though D’Jarric clearly had more of the weight. “I’ve heard about the kind of things that are out there in the vacuum. I’d rather deal with these things.”
“Aether beasts?” asked Drixen. “I don’t think they exist. I’ve never seen one.”
“Those are two very different statements,” said D’Jarric as he tossed the carcass on to the ATUC. “My people have records of aether beasts going back millennia. They are timeless creations of the Progenitor, though some have… gone wrong. I admit there has not been a sighting since ancient times.”
“Well let’s keep our minds in the here and now, okay?” reprimanded Raivyn. "We ought to get word back to the Wingspan that Drixen is alright. He is alright, right Doc?”
“Yeah,” the robot replied. “The wound’s not too bad, and he got universal antiseptic on it right away. It’s gonna be sore for a while but that’s the worst of it.”
“Okay," said Raivyn, "Reclan, I know comms are spotty here. Can we reach the Wingspan?”
“Uh, sure,” she answered. “Our comms have a lot more juice than what would be in a fighter. We should be able to cut through the interference.”
“Well, if that’s taken care of, are we gonna explore that big ol’ pit over by the mountains?” asked Vanbrook. "That’s kinda part of the gig, right?”
“Uh, yeah, that’ll work. Doc, if we set up camp on the mountain side of the clearing, can you look after your patient there?”
The Robot nodded. “There’s nothing at base camp I’ll need that we don’t have here; that’ll be just fine.”
“Alright,” said Raivyn. “Pile in the ATUC, we’ll head over and set up camp.”
***
Jasken was pacing the bridge when the video call came in. Despite the static, he felt a flood of relief when he saw Drixen standing over Raivyn’s shoulder. It was true, they’d lost a few pilots in the battle, but losing Drixen - losing Textbook- would have been a huge blow to morale.
“Drixen,” he said coolly. “You scared us pretty good there! Glad to see you’re alright, or at least standing. Your shoulder okay?”
“Sir, yes, sir. I had a run in with some of the local fauna. Doc Manford says I’ll pull through.”
“Glad to hear it.” Jasken turned to Raivyn. “Raivyn, you look ready to give an update.”
“Yes, sir. We found a cave or mine entrance of some sort by the crash site. Vanbrook took D’Jarric and Reclan; they’re checking it out.
“I know comms are bad here, sir, but this area looks promising. It may be a good place to set up a second beacon. Reclan says the signal is strong enough that a little EM interference shouldn’t matter, especially if she takes the time to find an optimal location.”
“Sounds good. What about the ‘local fauna?’ Do you think they’ll be trouble?”
“I doubt it, sir,” she replied. “They fled the minute they realized they were out-gunned and seemed to prefer the forest to the marsh. They’re unlikely to attack us if we stay on the mountainous side of the clearing, which is where the pit is, anyway. “Oh, and Doc made sure to pick up a deceased specimen for the biological team.”
“Who picked up the specimen?” asked Vanbrook from the background.
“Mostly D’Jarric, from what I saw,” retorted Raivyn.
“Alright,” replied Jasken, sighing. “Keep me posted. When I can, I’ll send a team to pick up the specimen and man the original base camp. It’s time we got a permanent fort set up anyway." He may have collapsed into a chair if he had been alone, but he made a point of remaining stoic in front of his crew. He reached for the comm and spoke into the fleet channel.
"Attention Blue Griffin Fleet. I am happy to report that Commander Drixen, better known by his callsign, Textbook, has been found safe and sustained only minor injuries. He will be spending some time on the Ferryman as he recovers and will be back aboard the Wingspan soon thereafter. Thank you."
Though they respectfully waited until Jasken had finished speaking, the ship erupted into cheers immediately after. The sound nearly shook the walls. Jasken allowed himself a faint smile, then addressed the room.
"Officers, I have been consumed by my duties as of late, but I have some secondary responsibilities to attend to. If anything comes up I will be in the stables with Ol’ Blue. The noble steed is in great need of some grooming."
Returning the salutes given him, he left the bridge feeling like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.