“Anything?” Ronin asked Elyria over comms. They’d been searching for a few hours already but hadn’t found any signs of the tunnel into the ship’s hangar. Ronin himself was crawling along the cave wall near where the waterfall had been, desperately looking for any hint of an opening in the stone. Sadly, that hadn’t happened yet.
“Nothing,” Elyria said back after a moment. “I asked Whisper and Stone as well, there isn’t anything around this lake. It looks like time and erosion has wiped away all traces of the passage.” Cursing, Ronin punched the stone he was resting against. Dust chips exploded around him, along with a few sparks. Regretting his action immediately, Ronin inspected his suit’s hand for damage. It was scraped and dented but otherwise unharmed.
He cursed himself for his impulsiveness. If he’d broken the suit’s hand, he’d have lost precious time and materials making new pieces with the portable fabrication unit. The portable fabricator was incredibly handy, but it wasn’t as fast as the big one in the dropship, nor was it as precise. Looking at the small crater his fist had left in the stone wall, however, still gave Ronin a thrill. It was hard not to feel exhilarated when he thought about just how powerful these suits were, and he wondered if enough of them might have given humanity a chance against the lizards. He supposed he wouldn’t know until they showed up. Which would happen in just under two days… that thought brought his wandering mind back on task.
“What do we do then?” He asked, bitterness plain in his voice. “We can use the maps from our world to pinpoint the tunnel entrance, but if we have to dig to get to the ship then we’ll never make our deadline. Not to mention how impossible it would be to make the opening big enough to accommodate the dropships.” He looked at the large body of water that now took up a large portion of what had been farmland in his own world and cursed again.
“There’s a noticeable current running from here to the far end of the cavern, boss.” K3 said, pointing at the water under where they were currently clinging to the rocks. They were at the approximate location of the waterfall. Ronin frowned, squinting at the water. Yes, there was a current.
“I see it,” he said at last. “But what does that matter?” He was still frustrated and couldn’t understand why his bodyguard was pointing out something so inconsequential right now. Of course, there was a current. The water had to come from somewhere after all. It was probably flowing through some underwater tun… “Oh, there is still an opening down there.” Ronin said, his brain catching up with his mouth at last. “But how do we get down there?” He asked, frowning down at the water. In all his time on earth, and in his pocket world, swimming wasn’t something he’d ever needed to learn how to do.
“We’ve got the breathing masks, and a ton of compressed air tanks.” K3 said with a shrug, “it wouldn’t take much to modify them in the fabricator for better water use. They would work as is, but if I was going to spend any length of time down there, I’d prefer a seal designed for water. Then…” Ronin listened while his friend, bodyguard and adviser laid out a plan. Nodding in understanding, Ronin’s frustration of a moment ago washed away in his enthusiasm for this new plan.
“Elyria,” he said into his comm once he and K3 had hashed out the plan. “Could you grab my tablet and zip back to the fabrication unit please? We’ve come up with an idea to search the lake itself, but we need to make a few changes to our breathing masks to do it. I was hoping you could get the prints started early so they would be ready when we arrived.”
“What’s this?” She asked in mock indignation, “making plans without me, how bold of you.” She zipped down to them from where she’d been canvassing the caves from above. “Sure, I’ll go load this and get the machine printing some stronger seals while you land bound lugs walk back to the city. Just don’t expect me to go swimming with you, my wings are fantastic, but going for a dip might not be the best thing ever for them.” Without waiting for a response, she snatched the tablet from Ronin’s hands and was gone.
“I see you two are getting along better,” K3 said with a smirk. “Glad to hear it boss,” he added with a heavy smack to Ronin’s shoulder that he barely felt through the armored suit. He frowned at the giant kaldarr, who didn’t look any larger than he did in the suit.
“We had a moment,” he said thinking back on his breakdown, and Elyria’s comforting words. “I wouldn’t say anything’s really changed though.” He was both telling the truth and lying a little with that last line. True, they hadn’t spoken about their feelings or anything like that. Heck, he didn’t even know if she really had feelings for him in that way. Yet, something had definitely changed between them. Perhaps it was all in his head, just him letting go of the awkward tension he’d felt around her for some time now.
“Whatever you say boss,” K3 said, not bothering to argue with him. “So, what are you going to do while me and the others search the lake?” Ronin looked at him in surprise, a look that only got a laugh from the large kaldarr, “ha-ha, come on boss.” He said, scratching his thick whiskers. “We’ve known each other for a while now. I saw the look you made when I mentioned swimming. You can’t swim, so what? It just means there’s something else I’ve got to teach you. It also means you have to sit this one out. I’d sit it out to watch your back too, but since the elf doesn’t want to get her precious wings wet, I think you will be in capable hands.” The grin he shot Ronin next nearly dripped smugness. “So, what are the pair of you going to do while the rest of the crew are working?”
K3 poked good naturedly at Ronin until they got back to the city. It was all business after that, with the kaldarr putting his game face back on for the city’s inhabitants. Ronin heard some of their voices drifting over while he walked towards the storage room his people were still set up in.
“What’s so special about that guy that has the Priest letting him have the run of the place?”
“I don’t know, but what’s with that bodyguard? His face looks like a pig, it’s disgusting…”
“…an orc man, I read about them in an old book. Be careful though, they’re supposed to be really evil…”
“…they wearing? I don’t recognize the cloak design. Some kind of bloodthirsty beast from before the…”
“Those are goats, moron. No, they were plant eaters, hit each other with their horns for mating rituals I think…”
“Don’t let it get too you boss,” K3 said gesturing not only to Ronin, but those following him as well. Ronin blinked, realizing his hands were clenched into fists and the sound of creaking metal was drifting up from them. He unclenched his fists, and looked around sheepishly, only to see the faces of his followers. They wore expressions that screamed violence, and Ronin realized he wasn’t the only one who could hear the crowd.
“Lori, did I hear you got the best of Jack the other day and won an Owl Three card?” He asked loudly, trying to change the subject.
“…My lord? I… Yes, my lord. It was a hard battle, but he couldn’t withstand my scout squad.” She said, catching on after only a second.
“Hey, that wasn’t a fair match.” Jack called from a few rows back. “You didn’t have anything in your deck apart from goblin scouts, Owl team armor, and Mark V’s. By turn four you were dealing so much damage I couldn’t even keep a character on the board.” That got the crew distracted and talking about POWF. It kept them too busy the rest of the walk back to pay attention to the mutters from those around them. Ronin nodded his thanks to K3, who’d snapped them all out of their anger, despite being one of those most targeted by the crowd.
“You made it, I was beginning to wonder if I had enough time for a nap.” Elyria said, once Ronin’s and Leo’s people had all been gathered together in the storeroom again. “I’ve got all the seals printed, and the Doc is putting them on now. You will be off again in no time… also, she added a small camera to each of the masks. So, we will be able to watch and record what you see down there.” Everyone but Ronin, Jaya, Elyria, Mycroft, and Locke took masks and headed out after that.
Ronin paced the room for the first ten minutes after they’d left, checking his tablet every minute or so. It was pointless, he knew, since they wouldn’t even reach the lake for close to an hour, but he didn’t like being left out like this.
“You know what,” Elyria said after he’d walked the same path for the hundredth time. “I think you need to get some exercise. Jaya, take him outside and give him a good workout, will you? It’s been well over three hours since his last sparring session, and Jackson isn’t here to keep him in line.” Ronin’s face paled at the thought, and he tried to back out as best he could. There was no getting around the women, however, since Jaya seemed as eager for the bout as Elyria. With a sigh, Ronin popped the latches on his suit, ready to get his butt kicked for the next hour at least.
It had been as bad as he’d thought. Jaya wasn’t as flashy as Jackson in her attacks, but that made it even harder for him to see them coming. She’d just go from a combat stance, to picking him up off the floor. They didn’t make it the entire hour, since the enthusiastic Jaya had pushed a little too hard in one of their bouts and broken his arm at the elbow. It wasn’t anything that wouldn’t heal in a few hours, especially once he’d made use of the med unit, but it sure hurt like hell. He was walking back towards the storeroom, an apologetic Jaya at his side, when he heard voices drifting from the room. Ronin kept walking, until the subject registered to him, and he froze in place, holding a hand out to Jaya to keep the silent woman back as he listened.
“… I’m still a little shocked by the seeming personality shift though.” Elyria said to Mycroft, as the women sat in front of the laptop, watching the divers on the screen with their backs to the open door. “When I first met him on the ship, he was cold, in control, and not afraid of anything. He drank wine constantly and seemed to ooze power from every pore. He started to change after we visited Ronin’s home cave though.” Ronin watched through the open door as Elyria rubbed her arms with her hands, and he blinked at her use of his name. She never called him anything but White Flame to his face.
“I saw how much going back there affected Ronin, so I can kind of understand. It seems unimaginable, to have lived one’s entire life stuck in that tiny hole in the ground… But the White Flame snapped out of it after a while. With Leo, it seemed to shake his confidence. He stopped being as bossy, started asking for Ronin’s opinion, and has pretty much deferred leadership of the mission to him at this point. Hell, he even gave him all the suits’ you guys captured, along with prisoners and his injured lionids…. I guess I’m just curious what’s going on with him. It all seems so, wrong.”
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Ronin waited for Mycroft to answer. He’d been wondering about that himself for a while now too, where had the cocky, self-assured Leo they’d met on the ship go. Why was he acting so differently now?
“He wouldn’t be happy if he knew I told you, so keep it from the kid, ok?” Mycroft said in a quiet voice, still staring at the screen. Every once in a while, one of her tentacle arms would dart forward and change the camera’s viewing angle to a different diver. “For starters, Leo doesn’t even drink,” she said with a scoff. “The wine glass was an affectation he picked up after we left the Priest’s temple city. He’d made several enemies when we were forced to leave, and no I’m not going to talk about it, so don’t ask.” She said, clearly seeing the curiosity in Elyria’s eyes when the younger elf turned to her.
“Look, I met him after he’d been crystallized for a while. I don’t know the whole story since he won’t talk about it much. What I do know is he lost people in his bid to gain power and influence on the ship. A couple he only ever called by name once.” Ronin’s heart skipped a beat at the words, and he had to bite his lip to keep himself in place. “They’d gotten on the wrong side of Stanly’s honor duel bullshit shortly after arrival, and they didn’t make it… Leo withdrew from the ship’s power games after that, going to a time dilated world open to everyone, designed to teach the beetles history. That’s where I met him. We stayed there for quite some time together, you see after we met, he…”
“As much as I’d love to hear about your time together,” Elyria cut in before the Doctor could go on a tangent. “That doesn't explain why he’s acting this way now.”
“Kids these days are so impatient.” Mycroft muttered, so quietly that Ronin almost didn’t hear the words. “Ok, fine.” She said, throwing up all six of her arms in defeat. “Bear in mind this is only a guess on my part ok, but losing the couple affected him greatly. You said he started acting differently after you visited his home cave? Well, that doesn't surprise me after what that freaking program that keeps hacking into my laptop said.”
“What he said?” Elyria asked with a frown, “what do you mean? Owl Two talks crap constantly, I’ve learned to tune out everything that isn’t important or else I get agitated.” A sentiment Ronin could agree with, but at the moment, he really just wanted the Doctor to spit it out already.
“It called your boyfriend, Robert Jones, you remember that?” She asked, waiting for Elyria to nod before she continued. Ronin, who’d grabbed Jaya’s arm at some point, was squeezing it so hard the mute woman had started to whimper before he noticed and let go. “Well, he named the couple once. He’d had a few too many drinks on the night after we’d gotten kicked out of this place, and he said this wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t lost them. He started to cry, a shock since it was the first time, I’d ever seen that of him before, but he just kept apologizing. Saying he was sorry, over and over again, to Mark and Amanda Jones. His behavior confused me too, until I heard Ronin’s name. Then I started to wonder if…”
Her words were drowned out with white noise as Ronin sagged in on himself. Finally hearing what he’d suspected, but hadn’t wanted, to be the truth. His parents were dead. They’d run afoul of that heartless Stanly and his pocket world stealing scheme. Blood pounded in Ronin’s ears as rage filled his heart. Stanly, he needed to kill that man, but how? If he hadn’t already left on the government ship, he would be out on the surface somewhere, soon to be taken out by the lizards. He wracked his brain, trying to think of a solution to his problem, to the point that he barely noticed the hands on his face.
“…Flame, hey, White Flame, can you hear me. Snap out of it.” This time, the words were accompanied by a smack, which brought him back to the here and now. Ronin’s eyes snapped to the elf, with rage bubbling just beneath the surface. Elyria must have seen it, because she jerked away from him as if she’d been the one struck. Her reaction gave Ronin enough of a jolt to bring him out of his haze.
“Sorry,” he said, blinking his eyes to clear the lingering anger from them. He’d get back at Stanly for what he’d done and have words with Leo, for keeping this from him for so long, but now wasn’t the time. No, right now he had to find the ship, or else they’d all die together. “I guess Jaya really did a number on me this time.” He said lamely, indicating his broken arm with a chuckle. “She’s definitely better than Jackson, you were right about that. Now, if you’ll excuse me for a bit, I need to use the med unit.” He left the elf, who was staring in horror at the arm that was bending in the wrong direction, as he stumbled into the storeroom and climbed into the portable med unit.
Leo had known, and he’d kept it to himself. Ronin tried to work up the anger he’d just been feeling for the man, but it just wouldn’t come. For some reason, his mind flashed back to the conversation he’d started with Lori, about winning Jack’s Owl Three card. Did Steady Aim have children on some far-off planet in his pocket world? What would he say to them, if he ran into one of them several decades, or centuries into the future? Would he come clean and tell them their father was dead, and it was his fault, for being too overconfident and inexperienced, or would he keep his mouth shut and try to help the kid out as much as possible? He thought he knew the answer, but he couldn’t be sure. So, he couldn’t bring himself to condemn Leo’s actions.
Ronin stayed seated inside the Med unit far longer than was needed to fix his arm. He needed the privacy the enclosed chamber allowed him, to think. His mind kept replaying the conversation the two women had been having, about how Stanly had killed his parents for their pocket worlds, before they’d even learned how to defend themselves in ship society. He needed to get Stanly down here, but he also needed to find the ship and save as much of humanity as he could… nearly an hour passed before he crawled out of the medical unit, fully healed and with determination gleaming in his eyes.
“Doctor Mycroft,” he said upon exiting the unit to see that all three women were standing outside, waiting for him. He’d spoken before any of them had a chance to ask him if he was ok, he didn’t want to deal with that right now. “Can you talk to the Priest for me?”
“Um, sure kid, he might listen to me. After all, it was Leo who got us kicked out of here… but, what do you want me to talk to him about?” Ronin grinned at her acceptance and told her what he had in mind. She blinked, but after a minute, nodded. “Yes, I can do that. I’ll go right now, actually. Since we’re running out of time. We’d better do this now.” After making sure he didn’t have anything else to add, the Doctor turned around and gathered up her nephew. The pair then sprinted from the storage room as quickly as they could move.
“It’s a good plan, though I can’t help but think you have ulterior motives.” Elyria said, concern clearly displayed in her eyes. “Did, you by chance…”
“Let’s not worry about that right now,” Ronin said, cutting her off before she could ask him if he’d overheard their conversation. “We need to find the ship. Has there been any progress on that front?” He was getting ahold of himself now that he’d done something about Stanly. It might come to nothing, but it was all he could do. Now, he had to focus on what he’d promised the android.
“They found an underwater tunnel.” Elyria said with a nod. “Unfortunately, the current down there is incredibly strong. They can’t swim against it and keep getting pushed back out. The tunnel is big though, it might even be big enough for the ship to get out, if they find it down there anyway.” Ronin moved past her, towards the laptop that was still open on the table.
“What are they doing now then, if they can’t swim the current?” Ronin asked, seating himself in front of the computer and flicking between the camera’s different points of view.
“K3 and Karr had a talk with Leo, and the three of them came up with a way.” Elyria said, shifting her eyes to him when she said the lionid’s name. When he didn’t respond in any visible way, she continued. “They got some rope and spikes from the locals, their drilling them into the wall of the tunnel and tying the rope off to them. It’s slow going, but their making progress by pulling themselves along the rope before putting in a new spike.” Ronin watched on the screen as K3 demonstrated what the elf had just described. Using a heavy rod to slam a spike, held by Leo, into the rock. He gripped the rod with handles that ran its length and the way he hit the spike looked more like a battering ram slamming into city gates, than what Ronin would expect someone hammering in a spike to look like. Though, he supposed it would be hard to swing a hammer through the water the traditional way.
“If they’re just hauling themselves along a rope, then I should go join them.” Ronin said after ten minutes of watching K3 hammering in the spike, then switching places with Leo so the lionid could pound in the next one. “I might not be able to swim, but I can hold onto a rope just fine.” He’d even risen from his seat, ready to head off, when he felt a gentle hand resting on his arm.
“Have a seat, White Flame.” Elyria said, her voice matching her hand’s gentle pressure. “You’re always leading the charge. It makes those who’s job it is to protect you anxious. Let them do the work for a change, they’ll be happy knowing they were needed by their lord. Besides, your elbow was bent back the wrong way just an hour ago. You need to eat a few cores and get some rest. You’ll need to be in top shape soon.” Grumbling, Ronin sat back down. Be couldn’t disagree with her words, even though he was confident his arm was close to fully healed. Nevertheless, he popped a ladybug core into his mouth, shuddering in delight when the crystal melted enough for the sweet, floral flavor to meet his tongue.
“Weirds me out, how good these things are.” He muttered, as the pair sat and watched the screen, with Jaya standing silently behind them, now back in her armored suit. Elyria didn’t reply verbally to his words, but she nodded her agreement all the same. All of them were getting used to their new diet, and Ronin wondered what it would feel like to eat something else when they finally got back to his pocket world.
They watched the crew slowly progressing down the tunnel for an hour or so. K6 and Tank had rotated into the front spot and were pounding the stakes in at a pace that made K3, and Leo look like they’d been slacking. Ronin shook his head, once again marveling at how much stronger the government issue bodies the color force used were than their own.
“The Priest agreed with your proposal,” Lock said over his shoulder. Ronin jumped in surprise at the man’s proximity, not having realized he’d come back. “My aunt asked me to let you know we’d be busy at the crystallization pod, and teleportation pad now. So, don’t expect us back for a while.” The small man said with a smirk, clearly delighted to have snuck up on Ronin, before he left the room again.
“That guy gives me the creeps,” Elyria said with a shudder after the rat faced man left the room. “But the old man is going to go along with your suggestion, so that’s something.” She said, turning back to Ronin with an encouraging smile.
“Yes, it is.” Ronin said, clenching his teeth in renewed anger as he thought about Stanly. “It looks like they’re finally clearing the water, look…” He said, bringing the elf’s focus back onto the screen. Where, Dandelion’s head had just popped out of the water into another cavern. She was on stake duty when they reached the end, so it was her who got to look out of the water first.
“Lord Ronin, we found it.” She said excitedly, pressing one hand into her comm to talk to Ronin, while thrusting the other into the air in victory with the other. Since, like she’d said, they’d found the ship at last. It was so massive that Ronin couldn’t see all of it from the small camera attached to Dandelion’s mask, but he thrust a hand of his own into the air anyway. Excited at finally scoring a victory. That was until the excitement turned to dread as the current grabbed the now off-balance girl and sucked her down into the current.
“Dandelion, no.” He said, still on his feet and now shouting into his own comm. “Someone, grab her.” He watched them try, the more than fifteen people in the group reached out franticly from their place in line as she shot passed. Each hand just barely missed grabbing hold of the wood elf, as she was rapidly carried away by the current.
Ronin waited, breath held, for the wood elf, who was barely considered a teenager by wood elf standards, to be dashed against a rock and killed before she reached the open water again. Thankfully, she got swept into the center of the current. Ronin got dizzy as he watched through her prospective as she was sent spiraling down the tunnel and out into the open lake. Before he could get excited however, he saw that she wasn’t slowing down at all. The current sucked her further and further down towards the bottom of the lake, towards another large tunnel leading out of the cavern.
He forced himself to watch as she neared the new tunnel, thrashing franticly against the current. Trying to free herself before she was hauled away into the unknown. It was of no use, the current was too strong, and the tunnel opening too large. She’d managed to move over somewhat, but the tunnel looked large enough to fly a ship through, and there was no way she could get free of it in time. Ronin heard the girl, now screaming in terror as she was sucked into the tunnel and carried away.