Go time. Archius’ heart pumped adrenaline. He twisted to his right, looking up at the smuggler that he just talked to. Fear filled their eyes as they made a motion to draw. Foolish mistake. Archius flicked a throwing knife from his bobble, launching it as it hit its mark.
Twisting to the other one, they tried to charge Kazuki. Rushing from the side with a knife out, but Archius made sure that his plans failed. Intercepting, he jabbed a second throwing knife into their neck; Kazuki twisted around, and finished them with a bullet to the head.
“I had that!” snapped Archius, wiping blood off his face. Shaking his head, he glanced at Kazuki, pointing at the marks of blood along his cheek.
“Shut up.”
Kazuki grumbled to himself as Archius jabbed him in the arm, walking over towards the control panel. He pressed down on the communication relay command signals, turning the signal vectors from the smuggler’s Imp system to that of a public relay. The alarms on the whole ship slowly sounded at the unauthorised access. But the work was done. He jammed a cracker into the keyport, igniting the module with a virus.
Kazuki grabbed spare magazines from the dead criminals, as well as anything he could find. Sadly, none of their armours fit him, his exospine got in the way. As he was scavenging for anything he could use, the elevator doors closed, digital lights above it flicking on.
“They’re coming. Get ready,” ordered Kazuki.
Archius nodded, sending out a ping… No response. Come on, Sato… That damn workaholic must be listening in! Either her or Liz! One of them has to be! No response… RESPONSE. Positive greenlight from Sato. The Iron Will and Prometheus are to launch operations.
Though the two vessels are to remain in orbit: Narisa might be a dead-weight planet with no connections to the major lanes, but it seems Sato wants to play it safe.
“Greenlight!” Archius shouted, sliding to the other side of the room, grabbing a spare pistol from one of the control decks as he peeked his head towards the elevator doors.
“How close are reinforcements?” asked Kazuki. “How long will it take?”
“Uh, close?” Archius shrugged, activating his uplink as the elevator doors creased open. ‘This is Kingpin, I have Arbiter! Exfil on our location, now!”
A tide of smugglers, corsairs and criminals poured forth, blasting away as bolts and plasma crashed through the air. But as quickly as they all entered, Kazuki claimed first blood; then second; then third. It was only on the fourth kill that Archius managed to snipe one at the back. The two created a kill zone as those entering were cut down, though a spare few took cover behind a few consoles and bannisters. But any that tried to move forward were cut down…
Slowly, they started to etch forward, forcing themselves into the fray as more and more devoted criminals were killed. As the tenth body rushed forward, they hit the first successful shot: Archius’ shoulder. But their small success gave way to nothing as they fell to the ground, brains splattered by Kazuki. Archius reeled from the bolt wound, pressing himself back against the wall.
Kazuki gave him one look, noticing that he’ll have to pick up the pace as Archius gritted himself to the pain. Fuck, it hurts! He didn’t have cybernetics, but neither did they. But with the crackling of gunfire, a voice called out.
‘Air cavalry’s here!’ shouted Quinn, pumped up and full of energy.
‘All forces engage and eliminate all hostile assets,’ ordered Lilly, as the wall opposite the elevator collapsed from an explosion. Debris, snow, frost and steel jabbed into the room, a blue haze entering Archius’ eyes.
A flurry of plasma bolts and laser fire flung through the room, splattering anyone between the wall and the elevators into a red mist. The cavalry’s here, and finally: the end is in sight.
∗ ∗ ∗
Bloodied smoke and mist was kicked up - lingering in the air. Turning his head towards the massive gap in the wall, Kazuki saw a team of AGENTs pour in, filling the room. They scoured through the remains of the room, terminating any leftovers. And in under a second, they already started to breach the adjacent rooms, making short work of the armoured criminals. Their gunshots muffled the shouts and cries. Kazuki slowly walked to the entry point, watching as Quinn exited out, along with Claire and Amyé.
“Welcome! A little bit late, I must say. Where’s the rest?” asked Archius, staggering over as he pushed through them, placing himself down onto the shuttle as it hovered at the breach.
“Lilly’s taken command in your absence,” said Claire, nodding to Kazuki, “We have two sections storming the lower cruiser from the cargo bay and three from the upper. We’ll still be outnumbered, but that’s to be expected.”
Amyé flick-shotted Kazuki a new uplink from across the room. He caught it, pricking it onto his remaining ear, the nerves frying into an interlock with the commlink. They all wore thick coats over their armour and contractor battle jackets.
‘Arbiter to all stations. Hunt down their leaders. Detain or terminate the rest. I really do not care,’ ordered Kazuki.
“You injured?” Claire asked, taking various needles from her exoskeletal carry pouches and shooting bolts from her Pharm-assist into both Archius and Kaz. The stims hit immediately.
“I’ll live,” stated Kazuki, shrugging her off. He glanced down at his hands… They were shaking. He grabbed one with the other, steeling his muscles. Remain calm, he told himself.
Quinn reloaded his shotgun, charging more plasma cartridges into the chamber. Archius exchanged a nod with Kazuki as he slammed against the wall of the shuttle, flying off - leaving the blizzard to be amidst the swarm of shuttles outside. Explosions and gunfire continued to shift the citadel, each vibration felt in Kazuki’s boots.
“Arbiter, when we get to him, let me take his head off for you!” shouted Quinn. “Save us a few seconds.”
“You’ll get your chance, don’t worry, we’ll save the fucker for you,” Amyé mocked Quinn, repriming her sniper rifle - twice her size. “You down for drinks later? Same place?”
“Focus on the fucking mission,” said Kazuki, moving past them as he snatched several magazines from Claire’s belt..
“Not now…” Claire grumbled, smacking Amyé on the top of her helm-mask with a thud.
At least she wasn’t getting drunk on the mission.
“Only if we get the bastard.” stated Quinn, annoyance gritting through his teeth as he shouldered past Amyé, holding his shotgun with one hand.
Amyé merely shrugged, yawning as Claire walked up to Kazuki, slapping one of his vest-plates on him as it engulfed his torso, expanding outwards and sealing itself shut.
“I’m surprise you remembered,” said Kazuki.
“Pfft, I’m not done babysitting you yet, you’re lucky one of your guards weren’t here, they’d probably bring the whole package,” commented Claire. She passed him a spare ICAPAD.
His vest-plate was far more advanced than any of his men’s, though only because of the complex nature of his life support system and exoskeleton. Kazuki tightened the steel splint-bracings around his legs.
“They roughed you up?”
“It’s nothing,” Kazuki said, sliding one of Claire’s injectors onto his belt, “Artillerist, go down to the cargo-hangar. You have a special mission. Take position somewhere safe and ensure no smuggler leaves the slaughter.”
“It won’t be enough,” Quinn muttered to himself, catching the eye of Kazuki.
“Cargo bay?” Amyé nodded, running over to one of the elevators, “Yeah, yeah, give young me the boring job.”
“You wanted higher statistics for your BCA-card, right?” asked Kazuki. Amyé chuckled, scratching the back of her helmet as she nodded.
“At least you get to have a scoped weapon, Rivera ain’t never letting me get a scope!” complained Quinn, flicking up his iron-sights as Amyé laughed at him.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“Haha, go fuck yourself!” Amyé shouted, pointing at Quinn as the doors slid shut.
Kazuki tapped Claire and Quinn to his fireteam, the ICAPAD lighting up as he formed a temporary Phalanx Team. Glancing at the org-charts, he could tell that things were chaotic, with the addition of fresh units on the field. He slammed down on the call button as his small fireteam stacked up on him. It was small, but cracked. An ex-marine vet and an ex-criminal.
Claire pulled up her bandana, ensuring it covered her whole neck. “Maybe she doesn’t for a very good reason,” she said.
A moment of silence filled the room as Kazuki turned to Quinn. “You keep breaking the scopes when breaching.” stated Kazuki, it was quite a simple reason and he wondered why Quinn failed to grasp the concept.
“Alright, where are we headed, then?” asked Claire, fixing her painted helmet.
Quinn interjected, “Just make sure that the rat doesn’t slink away.”
He saw logic to the point, nodding as he agreed with Quinn. As the elevator doors opened, the team flooded in. “I will overlook your eagerness.”
Quinn nodded. Kazuki understands that Quinn probably knows more than what he’s saying. But as long as Leon is dead, he doesn’t really care. Though he does understand the want to avoid the matter of the past, most out of all.
Kazuki activated his ICAPAD, watching the situation across the diagonally tilted vessel unfold. Archius and Sato were directing the forces overall, with Lilly taking operational head. He was fine with that, she was competent. But now that he thought about it, he worried about Eliza… He must have put some strain on her, disappearing like that. It wasn’t unusual, but it must be strange for her.
‘Arbiter! Glad to see you’re back!’ shouted Eliza, her voice speaking up on the uplink. Any worries he had disappeared, though he didn't know why they existed. He worries too much… For a moment, Kazuki thought that he should let himself relax for once; but his psyche refused.
Kazuki hid his relief. ‘Keep my ICAPAD updated. I want eyes on Leon, now.’
‘A group of gunrunners are heading to the ventral shuttle port!’ said Lilly, ‘It’s probably them.’
‘Red hair?’ asked Kazuki.
‘Yeah,’ interjected Sato. ‘It’s them alright, the fastest way to get there is through the primary junction artery, it’s one hell of a fight though.’
Slamming on the elevator control panel, the elevator zoomed up. Claire stood ready, steadied; but Quinn was twitchy. But as long as they eliminate the gunrunners, he was fine with Quinn having his own goals.
‘That’s fine,’ commented Kazuki. “They better be ready.”
He glanced at Quinn. He could only hope that whatever Quinn was thinking wouldn’t get in the way of the mission. He muttered to himself, “Something burns in everyone…”
∗ ∗ ∗
Archius watched from the frozen abyss up above. Shuttles were still leaving the Iron Will, as the destroyer scanned the planet from orbit. He watched from the screen monitors attached to the observation halls as he squeezed by teams of AGENTs.
A full scale assault like this only happens in the most desperate of circumstances, mostly when all other options have been exhausted… But this time? It’s protocol: if Kazuki is ever captured, ram against the door; Archius was one of the few that Kaz gave the key to the full list of executed protocols.
The fleet they inherited, forcefully, from Clandestine was large, probably one of the largest private fleets in the galaxy, in terms of war-vessels. Engineers, crew-hands, drones and operatives were all flooding towards the shuttle bays. But him? He was going to the command deck, entering the chamber as Sato, Lilly and Liz were already working away, with a dozen drones aiding them.
“Status?”
“Lower sections are mostly secured, criminals don’t have their mercs with them anymore?” asked Sato.
She looked up at Archius, her face pale with handler’s fatigue, along with additional duties that Kazuki normally took over, such as being the tactical linchpin. Was he a good strategist? Probably, but field work was what he did best, leave the grand war strategy to Sato and Martinez, Archius mulled it over, wondering what he'd be like as a commander.
Eliza was managing Kazuki’s team, whilst Lilly handled the rest, though Archius could tell through her constant crossing of arms and boot-tapping that she wanted to be down there, even if it was a frozen fuck-scape. It was an efficient configuration, Archius thought, he’d prefer to directly oversee Kazuki’s fireteam.
Archius sat down. Connecting himself to the uplink, he spoke with certainty, “The criminals exterminated them, not the smartest move, to be honest.”
“Well, that’s good for us?” Sato paused, then simply nodded, somewhat confused on why they’d do that.
She didn’t necessarily understand the depths of the paranoia within the Narisan Gunrunner’s ranks... He connected himself to the situation, monitoring Kazuki, Quinn and Claire, whilst also scanning the cameras, drones and footage reels for Osmond.
He’ll let Liz take control of Kaz’s team for now, see how she acts. His focus is on Osmond; the key to a swift victory - that is: if he complies through the chaos.
“Fuck’s sake!” Lilly cried out angrily, looking up from her series of monitors and station at Archius “So I called in reinforcements for no reason?”
Archius shrugged. “Their involvement will speed things up, commander,” said Archius, turning towards Liz.
Lilly grumbled but acquiesced. Turning his face back to Kazuki’s team, Archius watched intently. They have the highest chances of finding Osmond, his pawn.
And if his sacrifice must be done to ascertain victory it will be done, without hesitation. Cold professionalism engulfed him as he sank deeper and deeper into the pool of interconnecting uplinks, listening in to Eliza’s overseeing and the wave of monitors that scoured the citadel’s frozen hulls, many parts of its hull were broken.
The storm outside blew up, freezing any circuits and bolt heat plastering the walls.
Kazuki’s team burst from the elevators, sending smugglers to the wall and floor. Their speed and shock outmatched the heavy weighted armours of the crims. They slowly slid forward, from cover to cover along a large hallway, towards the crashed cruiser’s hangar.
He could barely see anything, with the blizzard obscuring sight for these fighters. It was cold, harsh and brutal.
Anything from daggers, bolts and nades were thrown at them. But that didn’t stop them, every smuggler put between them and their objective was thrashed aside. Yet as they turned a corner, an explosion rocked the entire citadel, with a splatter of stray plasma bolts hurdling throughout the halls.
‘Overwatch, any faster way through?’
Before Archius could answer, Eliza shot in, ‘Negative. The other ways have more smugglers, this is the fastest route, least crowded routes will take you on a merry-go-round.’
Surprising. She was being professional, maybe Eliza did do something about that pep talk he gave her on Kaz’s behalf… He can’t even remember what he said, not like he really cared all too much beyond completing a task. His eyes skidded from her back to the monitor, he knew that she made some promise of some sorts to Lilly, but it seems she was upholding it.
‘Alright,’ Kazuki said, ‘I’ll clear the way. Lazarus, Epsilon, cover me.’
‘What the!? You’re injured!’ shouted Claire, shooting a healing agent bolt into Kazuki. ‘Why don’t you let Epsilon take point?’
‘YEAH!’ Quinn shouted, firing from cover as he pushed himself down to avoid a hail of bolts, whizzing down from a barricade of smugglers along the freezing, condensation filled halls.
Kazuki stayed silent for a moment, twisting his head to his subordinates. ‘Negative. I can shrug off more punishment than both you combined.’ The logic was sound, Archius thought, but he lingered a little too long in thought there for it to be just that.
With that, he pushed himself forward, out of the barricade as he ignited up his deflector-shield, crashing forward as he ran through the smuggler’s barricades and defences. Through the snow, and hail, smashing from outside the vessel, Kazuki ducked and weaved under bolts and blades - crashing forward into their barricades.
Archius watched as a reinvigorated, yet injured, Contract-Breaker tore through their ranks; his golden eyes beaming with fright, sending all in his way into a frenzied flight - or to their graves, both came in the same package,
Quinn and Claire had to catch up as Kazuki reached the armoury, leaving a trail of dead corpses, freezing over in the cold, and a string of limbs and body parts littered around. He always does this… Looking up at Eliza, Archius noted that she seemed… alright with all the death. Better than what she was like at the restaurant, and from what Quinn and Claire said at the train station, perhaps she’s gotten over the ‘initial shock’.
‘Archius, my gear?’ asked Kazuki, as he pulled up a barricade from the floor beside the armoury door. He hid behind it as a streak of smugglers charged him. Only for them to be cut down with his dagger and pistol, before the leftovers were cleaned up by the two operatives - hot on their heels.
‘Probably the high value locker, if you ask me,’ answered Archius.
‘Alright. Cover me.’
Quinn and Claire took cover behind the barricades and indented pillars. Yet as the smugglers tried to push forward, they were put back in place by the two seasoned contractors. Kazuki pressed down against the armoury blast door - busting through as he stormed in with a hail of hollowed piercing bullets.
Archius counted up. And at eleven seconds in, Kazuki emerged from the door, fully armed with his equipment, including his fucking scarf? The fucker really chose to bring his scarf now?
Well… It was cold, Archius will give him that at the very least! The battering storm from outside intensified, obscuring views for mere moments. The gunrunners couldn’t get a clean shot off, whilst the AGENTs could barely hit marked shots through the dazing blue hue.
Quinn and Claire were still holding the smugglers at bay, against a renewed effort that had pushed ever closer to their battleline. Armed with old, heavy Imperial war-gear, the smugglers took the brunt of the fire, though slow they were.
The group crossed out across a large maintenance deck outside, through the thick and smog - fighting from one side to the other and getting back inside from the other side… A nice short-cut, he thought.
‘Imperial armour’s bulky, you can probably disorientate them with stun grenades,’ said Eliza, speaking with her heart in it, ‘There’s a staircase leading to a simulation bay! Keep going forward and it’s the fastest route to the shuttle bay.’
Checking the cameras once again, Archius glanced at a group of crims and smugglers fleeing away from combat… Another explosion rocked the citadel, without shields they were all sent to the walls as all combatants struggled upwards.
Red hair… Pale blonde hair; Leon and Osmond. They were there, fleeing away from combat as their men did the heavy lifting. Snow and hail plastered the cameras, but he knew it was them.
‘I have eyes on the targets, they’re maintaining course to the ventral hangar. Vallé, think we can get some reinforcements down there?’ asked Archius.
‘Negative, you think Arb and those lot can’t get there on time?’ asked Sato. Touché.
‘We’ll get there,’ said Kazuki. ‘Hold the reserves.’
Following suit, Quinn and Claire pushed up with Kazuki, launching stun grenades across the hall as flashes of pain and shrieks hurled the smugglers into a panic. Kazuki charged at the stunned smugglers, his whole body turned into a weapon, every movement, slash, shot was perfectly calculated to bring the most destruction at the least possible cost.
‘Come on, bring out a little flamboyance!’ shouted Archius.
“Archius!” Eliza turned to Archius, surprised at what he just spat out. “There’s no room for bloody theatrics!”
‘Shut the fuck up…’ Kazuki trailed off, ‘Lazarus, power.’
Claire glanced down the hall as they took cover, throwing over a power charge. Kazuki caught it, ducking into a side room as he cleared it out, before interchanging his exospine’s powerpack. The three continued their rampage as the smugglers threw everything at them at every turn. But everything either missed, flicked off their shields, their armour, or simply was ineffective. It wasn’t long till they reached the staircase.
Kazuki kept fighting his way through, making it first to the simulation bay. Archius scanned the room, it was similar to that which was present on the Phoenix’s Fury, but had significantly less amenities. Alarms were blaring, and those in the room found themselves quickly dealt with - or fled.
‘ARBITER!’ Eliza shouted, as Kazuki rushed across the simulation field, creating a breach for Quinn and Claire to get over. ‘Watch out for the sim-bay.’
Shit?! Archius watched as Kaz cleared through the simulation bay, cleaving through the arena as a smuggler pressed down on lever, before having their brains disintegrate.
Archius' voice shattered the thin and temporary veil of peace. ‘FUCK, it’s a trap!’