“You sure this is a good idea?” Elyria yelled over the howling wind. They’d spent the better part of a day figuring out how to open the ramp while the ship was still airborne. In the end, they’d had to brute force it. Wedging the door open just far enough for the gryphons to fly out.
“It was the only option we could come up with,” Ronin said with a shrug. “Besides, you have wings. What are you worried about?” He added jokingly, elbowing her lightly in the side.
“Hands to yourself, White Flame.” Elyria said, edging away from him. “And who’s worried? I just wanted to make sure you weren’t going to come crying to me when my team gets all the kills.” She added, sticking out her tongue as she flew towards the gap. Reaching the opening, she hooked a rope around the ramp’s edge, before flying out of sight.
“Everyone good?” Ronin asked, looking at the assembled team. He was nervous, not sure if this was the best option, but knowing it would have to do.
“Yes sir,” K6 said. “We’ve got your back sir, don’t worry.” Ronin nodded at the yokai woman, a word Ronin had looked up and discovered was a term for supernatural entities such as demons. Something he had every intention of inquiring about with Owl Two when this was all over. Even so, yokai team 01 seemed proud of the name, so who was he to judge.
“I have no doubt of that, K6.” Ronin said, clasping the team leader on the shoulder for a brief second before motioning her up the rope.
K6 led the way, with Dandelion following right behind. Then Knuckles ascended the rope, followed by a glaring Jackson. Ronin checked as each person climbed out to be sure they’d remembered their PCP .50, the ten-foot braided cable clipped to each person’s equipment harness, and the pot of fast drying glue. Satisfied they had all their equipment, he turned to Whisper and Stone, who were riding the gryphons Leo had lent them.
“How about you?” Ronin asked the duo of scouts who had become his eyes and ears since Owl Five was no longer with him. He didn’t spend much time with the goblins, since Whisper liked to be alone, and Stone liked to socialize with Karr’s squad. However, he enjoyed their company when they did get together for the odd meal, or to play a game of POWF. “You two have the hardest job, so is there anything you need?” He wanted to ask them if they were sure they wanted to do this. He knew that wasn’t an option though.
“Nah boss,” Stone said with a confident smile splitting her green face. She’d cut her hair even shorter than the standard pixie cut the goblin’s favored. Now it wasn’t any longer than Ronin’s own, about finger length. “You just leave it to us; the scouts lead the way.” She said cockily, before jumping onto the gryphon who’d been equipped with armored plates as thick as they could make them and still allow the winged lion to fly. Nodding, Ronin turned to Whisper.
“We won’t fail you, my lord.” Whisper said, in a voice that barely reached Ronin’s ears over the sound of wind ripping through the compartment.
“Then good luck out there,” Ronin said, waving them on. He watched as they flew from the compartment, K6 pulled out the rod they’d wedged the door with and it slammed shut, leaving the compartment in deafening silence.
Ronin looked up at the compartment’s roof, imagining he could see through it to the team beyond. Each of them would be spread out, looking for good recesses they could use for cover. He could see them in his mind’s eye, even now using the glue to secure the ten feet of braided cable to the ship’s hull. He couldn’t stop the fear that one, or more, of them would fail to settle down before the wind swept them away, or the glue would fail at a critical moment, and they would be lost to them forever.
“Don’t worry, boss.” K3 said quietly next to Ronin’s ear. “We tested the glue on the ceiling remember. It’s going to be fine.” Ronin nodded reluctantly, looking up at the ropes they’d hung from the ceiling. Each had a loop on the end, for someone to grab and swing from. It had been Karr’s idea to double up the experiment. Now they knew it would hold, they had an opportunity to work on their upper body strength by swinging from rope to rope and grabbing each ring in turn.
“Who’s worried?” Ronin asked, unconsciously echoing Elyria from moments ago. “I’m just ready to do this. I don’t know about you, but I was getting bored without any action to keep the adrenaline flowing.” Ronin spoke the last line louder, letting everyone hear him. As he’d hoped, they let out a cheer at his words. He smiled at them all, as the landing song began to play.
“We are in position, awaiting orders.” K6 said over the radio. Causing a wave of relief to run through him, whatever he said to K3.
“Let’s do this.” Ronin shouted, before turning to Karr, “sergeant Karr, you have command.” He said, giving the more seasoned commander control, for the battle. Ronin was still learning what he didn’t know, after seeing how well Karr did in small group tactics, he’d be a fool not to take the opportunity to learn from him again.
“Ok everyone,” Karr said as the ramp opened. “This isn’t a drill or a game. No warning shots, shoot to kill. Infantry, stay beside your designated exosuit. Exosuits, do your best to keep those shields up. All our lives depend on it. Now let’s move.”
Ronin tucked himself in tight beside one of the six exosuits, K3 on the other side. They’d taken each of them in turn into the large fabricator and equipped each suit with a large shield that covered most of its body, each shield had a pair of wings sticking out to either side as well. The infantry stood behind the wings, holding their rifles. It wasn’t the prettiest thing Ronin had ever crafted. In fact, they’d basically printed out the bioengineered armor plates and glued them onto the extra supports they’d added, along with counterweights, to keep the exosuits from tipping over under the weight of the shields. Still, Ronin was confident the shielding would hold up to a few shots at least. Considering all the testing they’d done in the last several hours.
Ronin readjusted his grip on his PCP 1.0 as he finally caught sight of the enemy ship. They’d landed tail on to them, same as the color force had. He wondered if it was a human custom, he was unfamiliar with. Before the thought fled his mind entirely as the enemy ship’s ramp opened enough for him to see who was inside.
Exosuits. Four of them. Only these weren’t the skeleton units that left the operator exposed to enemy attack. No, these were fully armed and armored suits. Ronin couldn’t even see the operators beneath the armored plates that looked like bare metal, which made the suit appear to be a medieval knight. Not only that, but Ronin actually gulped when he saw their weapons. Each carried a massive gun in their hands. Two of the suits held a multi-barreled piece that Ronin recognized as a gatling gun, remarkably similar to the ones mounted on the Kaldarrian drop ships. The other two held huge guns that looked more like the cannon that topped Ronin’s truck than any gun he’d seen before.
Ronin was so captivated by the four armored suits, that he almost missed the four heavily armored figures standing behind each of them. They were dressed in all black heavy armor complete with helmets. Carried massive shields that covered their whole bodies, and PCP 1.0’s in their other hands. They looked like a super advanced SWAT unit from pre fall times. If Ronin had any doubts before about why they were following them, they were gone now. This unit was purpose built to decimate ship’s crews in close quarters actions, just like this one.
“Overwatch, hold your positions. Exo-Units, focus on middle left suit with the cannon and give it everything you have. Condensed fire, center of mass.” No sooner had the words left his mouth, then the twelve people flanking the six slapdash armored exosuits opened fire. Well, almost twelve. K3, Karr’s squad and the rest of yokai team 01 fired off rounds from their PCP 1.0’s instantly. Ronin, Bunny, and Chip were a little late to the party, only getting their rounds off by the time the faster shooters had already dumped three rounds into the armored exosuit.
They’d caught the SWAT teams off guard, firing as soon as they had an open line of sight. So, it wasn’t too surprising when the exosuit went down under a hail of thick slugs. Unfortunately, the element of surprise was over. All the infantry SWAT units had their shields up now, and the armored suits were returning fire with a vengeance.
Ronin swore he felt the ground tremble and his ears ring, when the second cannon armed, armored suit opened fire. The round blasted into the exosuit at the far end of the line from him. The heavy round going right through the improvised shield, hitting the operator in the chest. He went down in a spray of blood, taking the suit and the protective shield with him. The two members of Karr’s team were now exposed and went down to a spray of machinegun fire from a second armored suit.
“Second rifle, focus far right, second unit with the cannon.” This time, at Karr’s order Ronin obeyed instantly, dropping his nearly spent PCP 1.0, and pulling a second from a rack, which had been purpose built into the wings of the shield, to hold weaponry. Everyone Opened up at once, firing in a concentrated volley into the armored suit’s center of mass.
Like the first suit who hadn’t fired at all, it went down without getting the opportunity to fire again. It didn’t die alone, however. The enemy, who was slowly advancing, had focused fire as well, all their rounds concentrated on the next exosuit in line, the one that hid Bunny and Chip. As the rounds tore through the shield, Bunny, acting much like her namesake, hopped behind the next suit in line. Chip, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky.
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“Nooo,” Bunny said with a shriek, as Chip’s body was torn to bloody rags in a matter of seconds, thanks to the volume of shots that ripped through it. “Chipmunk, baby no.” Ronin heard her clearly, because none of the pneumatic weapons made much noise when they were fired. It wasn’t like the rifles the kaldarr had fired at them in Valley’s Pass, with the thunderous noise and clouds of thick smoke.
All that changed, when the deranged woman sprang out from behind cover, wielding a .45 ACP 1911 in each hand. She ran at the enemy, screaming for all she was worth, pulling the triggers so fast it sounded like a rolling wave of thunder crashing into war gongs. The loud noise took the enemy off guard, and they momentarily stopped firing on the third exosuit, as they all swiveled as one to focus on Bunny’s charging form.
Ronin thought he’d counted seven of the eight rounds each 1911 held being fired before the other gangster leader was torn to shreds in a rain of gore. She hadn’t managed to down even one of the enemies with her last charge. What she had done, however, was bring their shields down while they focused on her. A mistake that Karr quickly capitalized on.
“Overwatch, take out the infantry, now.” He snapped into the coms, startling Ronin, who was still seeing Bunny’s body being torn apart in his vision. “Exo-Units, switch to .50, middle right with the gatling gun.” As the words registered, Ronin saw he was already running behind the others, who had dropped their half empty PCP 1.0’s and pulled the PCP .50’s from the weapons rack. The sound of metal striking metal doubled in the air, as the much smaller caliber PCP .50’s were semiautomatic and could fire as fast as they could pull the triggers.
Ronin’s rifle joined the cacophony a few seconds behind everyone else’s, as they slowly chewed through the armored suit. Once a small hole opened up in the armor, it only took one lucky shot to hit the operator. Ronin didn’t think the round penetrated the operator’s personal armor, but it still caused them to lose control of the suit long enough to fall to the ground. That unit was now out of the fight, even if the pilot wasn’t dead, and Ronin switched targets to the final armored suit at Karr’s order.
During that whole exchange, the scouts and remaining troops with Elyria hadn’t been idle. Whisper and Stone, who’d landed on the enemy ship, had been forced to wait until their targets advanced far enough forward to be targeted. When Bunny made her suicide charge and Karr gave the order, the pair opened fire on the infantry from the rear.
The swat troops were already off balance after the powerful display Bunny had put on, now they were being attacked from the rear they nearly folded in confusion. Half their number turned to engage the scouts, while the rest continued to fire on the next exosuit. Whisper and Stone, fired on the ones who had their backs to them. While Elyria and K6, along with their fellows on Ronin’s ship, opened fire on everyone who’d turned around at the scout’s surprise attack.
“Lori, get behind Scott before they chew through your shields.” Karr snapped, Ronin was hearing the names for the first time, but he realized what was meant instantly, when the exosuit the enemy had been focused on, moved behind its neighbor who had intact shields.
They had to change rifles one more time, but thanks to the pincer attack, and their concentrated fire, Ronin’s people put down the SWAT teams after several more minutes of combat. It helped that each of the enemy was armed with a PCP 1.0 and a PCP .25 sidearm. Once they’d shot their initial load, they had been reduced to hiding behind their shields until at last, the final three, along with the last armored suit, surrendered.
Karr wasn’t taking any chances, ordering the operator to drop their weapons and exit the suit before he accepted the surrender of any of their people. Then, when Ronin thought it was finally over and had begun to relax, Karr’s next order jolted him back into action.
“Exo-Units, continue to provide cover and get up that ramp. We need to clear the ship before we can rest boys and girls. Go, go, go.” Ronin couldn’t see it through the man’s helmet, but he could hear the red leaves he chewed on muffling his angry bellow. He also took notes on the order, again using this fight as a teaching moment for himself. They’d had more firepower than the enemy, they’d concentrated their fire on one enemy at a time. That enemy was also the one who had proven the most dangerous, and they’d set out units to flank the foe, and attack them from behind. All things he would remember for his future battles. Now, even after the battle was over, they still had to check the field for more hidden foes. Something that Ronin knew he wouldn’t have done. K3 might have reminded him before it became a problem, but Ronin wouldn’t have thought of it on his own. He made a mental note to record all these ideas into his tablet, so he wouldn’t forget them.
Only after the ship had been explored and deemed empty of threats, did Karr let them look after the injured and dead. Thankfully, none of the injuries were serious, those who had been hit directly had all died. Those who had only been lightly injured were soon taken care of in the portable med unit. Ronin took care of that himself, wanting all the practice he could get.
“Got the numbers in,” K3 said quietly once Ronin had finished with the wounded and returned to the scene of the battle. “Three men and a woman from Karr’s team went down, along with Chip and Bunny. We captured five enemy soldiers, four of them surrendered, including the armored suit operator, and we managed to save the injured pilot of the suit we downed, before he bled out. We also lost some equipment that was too close to the ramp. Thankfully, it looks like we can fix it, but it will cost time and resources… and the ship we just took… boss, it’s full to the brim with resources. I checked the engine room, even the growth vat has a full tank.”
“There were a lot of crates in there, too many to transfer to our ship… Let’s put Karr in charge of it and get him to follow us the rest of the way. Who knows, another ship could come in handy.” Ronin watched as K3 nodded his agreement and left to see to the orders. Taking a deep breath, Ronin exhaled, looking at the splattered orange blood that covered the ramp. Where six people had stood only minutes ago.
“You made it,” Elyria said, using his shoulder as a leaning post as she surveyed the damage. “To tell the truth, I thought it was overkill. When I told you guys my plan yesterday. Looking back on it now though, I think we didn’t go far enough. Six people dead, just like that… it reminds me of my… be careful, White Flame. If they had started at the other end of the line, it would have been you getting mopped off the ramp right now. I swore to follow you tell my last day, when I made the vow, I wished for that day to come soon… Now, I’ve seen just how small my world was. I want to see more of it before the end.” After saying what was on her mind, Elyria pushed off his shoulder and flew across the gap between ships and started exploring the new vessel.
“What in the heck?” Ronin muttered out loud, as she disappeared from his view. “What does me dying have to do with her seeing more of the world…” He frowned after her, confused but not wanting to think too deeply on what she’d said because if he did…
“Ya really are a dingy crumb aint ya Joe?” Jackson said, her eyes red from crying. “Yer goons told me all about ur broad. She made a whacky vow. If you put on the Chicago overcoat, she gets the kiss off too. Besides, only gotta open ya peepers to see the kitten has a Flame for ya.” Spitting off to the side, the tough looking woman went back to cleaning up her leaders’ corpses. Ronin stared after her as she left, completely at a loss for what she’d just said to him.
“You know boss,” K3 said from where he was watching Ronin’s back. “I’m starting to believe what Mycroft told us the other day… those gangsters, they aren’t complete people…”
“What did she mean, K3?” Ronin interrupted his friend to ask the question. “I’ve read a noir novel or two in my time, so not everything she said was complete nonsense… so tell me, what she meant.” He turned hard eyes on his bodyguard, who looked like he wanted to deflect again, but finally gave in with a sigh, and answered.
“The oath Elyria swore was a death vow boss.” He said with a shrug, looking over at the newly acquired ship. “When she made it, she thought you would break the conditions she swore too… that you would prove to be a ‘kaldarr scum’ which meant in her view a murderer without honor, that she could kill you and die. But you aren’t ‘kaldarr scum’. You do have honor and you don’t kill for sport. So now she’s honor bound to follow, or serve might be a better term, you until she dies. Unless you die first, then she will be forced to take her own life or forfeit her honor.” Ronin nodded his head, hearing what had been kept from him for so long. If he were being honest with himself, he already knew what K3 had told him, he just hadn’t wanted to hear it.
“And when she said the ‘Kitten has a Flame for ya,’ she meant…”
“No, that’s enough, K3.” Ronin said, cutting off his friend. “If she is bound to me like that then it…”
“Boss,” K3 said interrupting Ronin before he could say anything else. “I think you need to hear this. Because this isn’t like what happened with Brie, and if you fix it in your mind that way you might make a mistake.” Ronin thought he heard ‘another’ before K3 said mistake, but he ignored it, wanting to tell his friend to shut up before he went on, but he wasn’t fast enough.
“She has feelings for you boss,” the kaldarr said bluntly. “She doesn’t love you though, not yet maybe not ever. She honor-bound herself to you, to make sure you never left the honorable path. Well at least not straying too far from it anyway… Point is, it’s hard to constantly monitor someone’s behavior and character, without getting to know them intimately. You are an honorable man boss; she can see that. And, I’m only guessing here, but I think you must remind her of her late husband. Something that confuses and saddens her to no end, I’m sure. Elyria is young for an elf, twenty-three maybe, in human terms, and still learning her way around her emotions… I’m not telling you this for you to do anything, I’m just letting you know. This is just like combat planning, the more you know, the more you can prepare for.” The giant man slapped Ronin on the shoulder and left him to help finish the cleanup.
Ronin stood there, staring at nothing while he thought. He hadn’t wanted to know any of that. Mostly because he’d already figured it out, at least subconsciously. He’d known, because he was developing feelings for the elf, himself. He’d caught himself staring at her while she worked on some task and making excuses to talk to her.
Just as he’d noticed how she had long stopped threating to kill him. How she would hit him when he said something stupid. How she could touch him, like just now, when she’d leaned on him for support while she asked him to be careful. Then flying off before he could say anything in return. Up until now, he’d been able to pretend like he was blind to the situation. Blind to both of their feelings because it was just easier that way. Easy, not to have to think about it, especially after the disaster with Brie… K3 had been right about that too, he might have made a mistake sending her away. He just couldn't deal with the knowledge that her feelings for him might not have been her own. When her presence had become too uncomfortable, he’d pushed her aside, under the guise of letting her be happy in a goblin city.
Shaking his head to clear it of all the unwanted thoughts, Ronin set about helping his people finish the cleanup. They needed to secure the prisoners and the armored suits. They were miles ahead of the ones they’d already captured, and Ronin wanted every piece of them they could find. He’d lose himself in research for the remainder of the trip. Doing what he could to fix those suits, while he put his feelings in order.