Kazuki twisted around, using his back-armour to block several attacks as the walls and energy shields of the simulation bay veered upwards, trapping Kazuki from Claire and Quinn, stuck in the sim-bay. Quinn immediately tried slamming his shotgun into the shield as the simulation bay moved into a full blown arena, blocking Kazuki’s path.
‘Arbiter, can you fight your way out of there?’ Archius asked.
‘Shit! Arbiter! What’s the fuck plan now?’ Claire asked, firing backwards as she took cover from a team of flanking smugglers, throwing Quinn into an indent.
‘Arbiter! Watch out, they’re probably going to unleash something on you,’ said Eliza. Archius was just about to hate it, thinking it to be merely her worrying… But no, this was well warranted, it was a real risk after all.
‘Yeah, yeah,’ Kazuki said dismissively.
He walked up to the edge of the shield, looking it up and down as the walls of the bay opened up, unleashing a swarm of drones and smugglers. He quickly took cover, hiding as a full blown war exploded in the simulation bay.
‘Can’t ANCHOR through it! Archius! Status on the leaders?’ Kazuki asked calmly.
‘Docking Bay One, ventral hangar!’ reported Archius, thinking… Kazuki will have to catch up. ‘Lazarus, Epsilon, you can take the emergency shafts around.’
‘And me?’ asked Kazuki, grumpily.
‘I’ll—You… I’ll guide you. I’ll try to use Krystalink to disable the sim-fight,’ said Eliza, twisting to look at Archius. Her rose-red eyes were filled with fervour and determination. “Archius, you don’t mind looking after Quinn and Claire, right?”
She looked like she was panicking, on the surface at least. Though Archius had a hard time seeing beneath those focused eyes.
Eliza took out a Krystalink thumb-drive, courtesy of Sato. It had special markings on it, Imperial era technology and breaching net codes, it should get control of some of the systems within the dead-hulk of a cruiser.
“Don’t worry about me, you deal with Kaz.” said Archius, slicing into the communications, ‘Epsilon, Lazarus, take the maintenance shaft to the left. Can you two remember a sequence?’
‘If it’s numbers then it’s a no go!’ said Quinn, ‘But if it’s coloured shapes then fuck yeah, maybe?’
‘I’ll… do the remembering,’ said Claire. Yeah, probably for the best, Archius thought.
Archius couldn’t tell if Quinn was joking or not, though he pinned it down to the absurdity of his response. ‘Alright, left, down, right, down, forward, left, right, right, up.’
‘What, what? What?!’ asked Claire, busting into the maintenance shaft with Quinn as gunfire still raged across the grounded vessel, each vibration sending shakes through the walls - dust and ice kicking off and falling. Kazuki had started moving, cleaving a path of death at Eliza’s command. Though it’ll take him a bit until Eliza clears the sim-bay; and he was faced with dozens of smugglers and drones, not exactly the most worrisome situation.
He facepalmed, changing the cameras to the maintenance shafts as he directed the two through the tunnels. There were a few smugglers hiding away in the shafts, most fought back, but some surrendered.
‘Hands up!’ shouted Claire, aiming her rifle at a group of surrendered smugglers, in a small maintenance chamber.
They complied, but as quickly as they did, Quinn cut them all down. They were killed, yet Archius wasn’t exactly one to complain about the killing of prisoners, in fact he’d prefer it: it means that they won’t be bogged down by people. But Claire had something different to say.
‘HEY!’ shouted Claire. Her moral compass always gets in the way of the mission, he never understood why she was Kazuki’s chosen commander.
‘Don’t have time. We need to get to Leon.’ said Quinn, that’s the spirit, Archius thought.
Claire clicked her tongue, in frustration, but agreed to the logic. They need to get to Leon before he flees.
Guiding them through the maintenance shafts, they went further down and down, to deck after deck as the structure continued to rock with each explosion, the war out in the halls still unceasing. But as they got closer, the shaft got tighter. Rumbling started, the hulk is starting to destabilise. There was no grav-stable field keeping the damn ship from collapsing, and no shield protecting it from outside gunfire and projectiles. It’s a good thing they didn’t bring any of the cannons to bear.
By the time they reached the final hall closest to the docking bay, the shaft became so thin that the two had to shimmy their way through. Quinn was at front, violently throwing himself through the carnage, smacking his armoured plates between both the wall behind and front as the pipes in the shaft shook from the pressure. Explosions continued to plague the vessel, some even shaking the dust and frost within the maintenance shaft, probably smells like old mould..
‘Lazarus… pipes.’ started Archius, watching from the monitor as he saw a light up from the pipes. He called out the growing pressure just at the right time as a dozen pipes burst forth, spewing out steam and gases, stabbing through the shaft. It created a makeshift fence, fuck.
Quinn glanced back at the trapped Claire, separated from him. But instead of a light-hearted joke that’d make Lilly pissed off, he offered help. ‘I have thermite, move back a bit.’
‘No! Epsilon, get a move on! I’ll deal with this myself, I have a bunch of thermite,’ said Claire, nodding at Quinn as she shimmied her hands down her pockets. ‘Look after yourself, alright?’
‘I don’t intend on dying here…’ said Quinn, ominously. Maybe he should have divulged Quinn’s past to the rest of the relevant parties… Well, too late. No one asked him before, and it seems it may be problematic.
Reaching the end of the tunnel, Quinn slammed down on the maintenance shaft door, phasing it open as he crashed through into the hallway. Swapping cameras into the hall, he watched as Quinn crashed into a firefight, hiding as a team of smugglers fought a group of operatives, firing down the halls. The walls were frozen, with bolts gleaming off in all directions.
‘CATHING… FUCK!’ Quinn shouted, sliding his shotgun out as he fired down towards the armed smugglers. He had taken a stray bolt, but shrugged off the pain.
‘Epsilon, cross the hallway. You’ll never get through that fucking mess, take the storage room and go through the vents. Leave that shit for the rest of the section-projects.’ ordered Archius.
Quinn hesitated for a moment, looking down the hall once again as he jumped out, suppressing a barricade as he lunged to the other side of the hall. He gave the door one look, wondering if he should listen as he looked back at the team of operatives, fighting hard to gain ground as they pushed up. They took casualties here and there, but they were dishing out more than adequate punishment, Archius thought.
‘Epsilon. Go through that door.’ Archius dropped any sense of formalities and niceties within his voice. A cold attitude filled the air as Quinn felt it ripple along his uplink-cord, sending a shock through him.
And like a good operative, he complied, entering into the storage room. It was empty, frost and dust all over the place as icicles hung from the corners of the ceiling. He shook from the coldness, but persisted towards the large vents. The lights were dim, but things were still visible. ‘Take the vents, got it? It’s a straight-run to the docking bay.’
‘Cathing fuck, you don’t need to baby me.’ remarked Quinn, ‘Like, come on! I’m not a kid like you.’
Archius shot back with his own remark, ‘Then what about Arbiter? And hey, I’m old enough to drink now, you know that!’
Kazuki was only a year or so older than him, but of course no one could call him a kid. At least not to his face. It’s the same with his nickname… No one calls him Contract-Breaker, at least those that he isn’t already going to kill. Insulted or fearful, it didn’t matter to him, or Kaz.
Quinn pressed himself through the vents. it was far more narrow than the maintenance shaft, but it was doable. He eventually pushed himself through, exiting out on the other side as he fell behind a group of crates, the cold floor hitting him.
He was in the shuttle bay. Everything was going exactly as planned, now all he has to do is get Osmond to backstab Leon. The shuttles of the docking bay were leaving, stacked with cargo. AGENCY air support shot down most of them, but a few got through, escorted by arming drones and suicide drones. But air supremacy was challenging, drones on both sides duelled in an air battle out in the blizzard as explosions rocked across the ship, sending vibrations that even the camera picked up. There was one shuttle left, refuelling. Leon stood by it, along with Osmond and three guards.
‘Archius, Permission to engage?’ asked Quinn, taking cover behind the crates, reloading his shotgun and preparing to inject himself with stims.
Archius watched the situation. They were refuelling, the bar attached to the pump was about half way. Gunfire raged on through nearby halls, yet the smugglers seemed calm - except for Osmond. They were far from the fighting, if Quinn got into any trouble he'd be alone. And they had time… If Kaz or Claire got there, it’d be wraps.
‘Negative, wait for reinforcements then engage.’
‘But they’re going to escape,’ said Quinn, moving closer to the edge of the crates. Leon was organising a few things to be carried on board the shuttle.
He didn’t seem to be a coward, after all he was still here even though many other shuttles had left. The gunrunners were probably saving as much merchandise as possible. That or they were preparing for operations of their own.
‘TOO… SLOW.’ Archius heard Leon’s voice through the camera, ‘Have you pirates ever raided a ship before?! Fucking worthless men the Board sends…’
Two more individuals came into view. They wore less armoured garb, they seemed to be a part of the Corsairs, or at least a subgroup of a subgroup of it. Pirates were never organised, not even the Purple Fleet, operating out of the Eclipse. The two were hauling crates, with distinct paint marks over their faces.
They pulled the crates onto the shuttle, filling it up as Quinn shook his head. Archius assured him, ‘They’re still refuelling.’
‘But still, better now than later. They can escape even if the tank’s not full.’ said Quinn, checking his pistol as Leon slammed down the tip of his shot-axe onto the floor, clutching a pistol with one hand. ‘I have to stop them…’
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Disobeying orders, Quinn slowly moved out from the crates.
‘Jariking hell! Get back,’ ordered Archius. But Quinn turned off his uplink. And all that was left was radio silence.
He watched as Quinn walked out into the middle of the room. The Jari was he doing?! They turned towards him… Quinn unsealed his helm-mask, taking it off as vapours poured off.
Silence.
Wait… this might be interesting, Archius thought. But interesting was something he didn’t need. Not now, he needed Leon dead. He tapped his ear, connecting himself to Osmond… But as he tried, it failed. The communication relay connecting him to Osmond cut short. Fuck, what the fuck? He tried breaking through, only for the same Imperial firewall to crack in place. Quinn’s on his own… What a shame, Archius thought, he was a good operative.
‘Quinn?’ Osmond uttered, as Quinn pumped his shotgun, aiming at him.
He stopped in his place, as everyone else aimed at Quinn, except Leon, who simply glared at him. Leon spoke, ‘Quinn? After all these years… you’ve come back, the three of you… fleeing from what we’ve built?’
‘Everything you burned,’ Quinn snarled, focusing his iron-sights on Leon’s head. Leon’s armour was littered with backup pistols.
Leon slowly placed one finger out, slowly shaking it as he chuckled maniacally to himself. ‘I get it now… you’re not running back, you’re here to destroy me, you and your army of foreigners, you traitor…’
The last time an army of foreigners came to Narisa, it turned into a nuclear wasteland… But Leon’s paranoia only seeked to anger Quinn. Come on, distract him long enough… Archius looked at Eliza’s monitor, Kazuki was speeding forward. He was getting close.
‘I never wanted to come back here! You paranoid-cath… you brought this onto yourself.’ said Quinn, his head twisting to Osmond, ‘Like back then… Osmond, why the fuck are you still with him?’
Leon slowly turned to Osmond, expecting an answer from him. Osmond’s face was wracked with grief and stress. Two friends from an old past… This was on the dossier report on Quinn, back then it was but an irrelevant fact. But now, its relevance was of utmost criticality. Quinn’s actions right now could determine the entire operation. If Quinn died, shame for sure: but the AGENCY can weather his death, like it did with so many others.
Osmond gasped out an answer, his voice quivering, ‘Quinn, please, join us. I… we want you… you remember the dream, yes?!’
‘What dream?! You’re no better than the barons.’ Quinn snapped, a look of disgust on his face at the pathetic friend that lay in front of him. ‘Those bombs… You sick fucks… it really was you?!’
Bombs? Archius raised an eyebrow… Oh? This was rather new information, but what information would it lend to?
‘Quinn… what are you talking about?’ asked Osmond, his face nearly as pale as his hair.
A vein bulged in Leon’s temple. ‘WHAT ABOUT YOU, THEN?! WHERE’S PETRA AND RIHARIA?!’
Quinn gritted his teeth, hiding his displeasure at the question. There was only one answer to that: dead. Both were killed as sisters-in-arms to Quinn. Archius could only imagine the burden he felt, quite literally: he rarely felt comradery. But Quinn shook his head.
He stared them down, stating with a firm voice, ‘They died protecting others.’ Fingers were on the triggers, and all it took was a single whistle blow to turn the entire stockpile into one large fireworks display.
‘To serve those in power.’ remarked Leon, ‘Who was it? Navy? Mercs? Army? Which benevolent overlord did you sacrifice the two of them to?’
Now, it was time for Quinn to get angry. His fingers itched, posed to maim Leon beyond even Claire’s medical expertise. ‘SACRIFICE? They chose this life, and so did I.’
‘Not by choice.’
Quinn went quiet… He thought for a moment. He was right, most people had no choice in joining the military. Conscription was still a thing, and those that left had nowhere to go; it was a simple wealth check: higher education or bust; the cruellest joke ever played by this Republic. But even after they leave, what skills do they have?
They’re good at killing, providing training and experience: and there's an industry for them; either that or work a dead-end job for sub-par wages.
Quinn really chose the wrong time to stop being a hot-head, Archius mulled over by himself.
Osmond reignited his effort. ‘Join us… Quinn, we can put this all behind us, please!’
‘And do what? Peddle guns for the rest of my life as a mule? Kill the competition and watch as thousands more die?’
‘Quinn,’ Leon stated, biting his words. ‘We do what they do. They kill. They peddle, deal in corruption. We do that too… you know that. But we don’t line our pockets, Quinn.’
‘Yes!’ Osmond shouted out loud, interjecting. ‘We’re doing the best we can, Quinn! You have to understand that, somewhere deep down you know we’re right?!’
‘Right?’ asked Quinn. ‘Fucking hell…’
‘Riharia… Petra… You didn’t sacrifice them, did you? No…’ Leon muttered loudly, before chuckling to himself. ‘You’re just a damn idiot… dragging them to their graves whilst you still live.’
‘SHUT THE FUCK UP!’ Quinn shouted, his voice cracking and breaking into heavy breathing. ‘JUST SHUT UP. SHUT THE FUCK UP!’
And as Osmond extended a hand, a long string of gunfire hailed through the halls. Leon looked upwards, past Quinn at the hall. And gunfire stopped, replaced with heavy footsteps. But before any of them could react, a shadow emerged across the corner.
∗ ∗ ∗
Crashing forward, Kazuki twisted with his many organs and limbs as he counted the numbers. Seven. Leon was in the back. He raised his pistol, and sent a sling of bolts down the room. It was fast, too fast, he could feel the mechanisms of his pistol break.
‘Come on, Arbiter! Shuttle’s still there!’ reported Eliza, as the guards took most of the bullets, their armour packing heat.
‘SHIT?!’ Archius raised his voice. ‘Arbiter? You’re here? Now? Fuck, why didn’t you fucking tell me!?’
Archius sounded furious. ‘Sorry!’ Eliza said.
Quinn ducked to the side, almost being hit as Osmond and Leon fled, firing back at Kazuki as he landed a hit on Leon’s shoulder. A burst of bullets came forward from Leon as he fired his backup pistols, only to swap to his shot-axe.
Kazuki pushed forward, rushing into the docking bay as Osmond fled onto the shuttle, grabbing Leon as Kazuki aimed directly at the fuel pump.
“NO! We end this now!” shouted Leon, prying Osmond off and throwing himself towards Quinn. “We take the Freemuzzles’ heads and their Contract-Breaker!”
His shaking hand pulled the trigger. The pistol flicked a bolt down the room, just as the pipe dislodged itself, it ricocheted off the wall.
But as he saw the first sparks of fuel glitter onto the floor, a machine gun lit him up. A beam of plasma shot down the bay. He was suppressed.
He caught a glimpse of Leon duelling Quinn, throwing his Shot-Axe down against Epsilon.
‘Epsilon!’ Kazuki shouted. ‘Deal with him, I’ll deal with the machine gun.’
He gave Kazuki a slight glance, nodding. Kazuki rushed out from cover, using both shield and armour to protect him. Plasma bolts flickered off his figure. Two smugglers rushed off the shuttle.
They charged him, only to be turned to paste amidst plasma and Kazuki’s bolts.
Quinn’s battle was going much worse. Whatever hits he landed did minimal damage, running out of shotgun shells. The breacher had to rely on a combat knife, ducking and weaving out from the explosive blasts sent by Leon’s combined weapon.
The fight was fast paced, Quinn had to dance around, avoiding lethal attacks. Kazuki’s shield started to fracture along the seams. Shit… He can’t take the shuttle on. A blaring light blinded him from any vital components.
Shielding for an extra second, Kazuki braced himself before rolling to the side, shooting the locks on a pile of crates. They collapsed in between him and the shuttle’s fire, plasma shattering through and turning the room into a daze of smoke.
Through the smog, Quinn activated his wargear’s shotgun, propelling up from his shoulderplate and aiming at Leon. A shockwave slammed into the smuggler. Quinn neared, thrusting towards Leon’s neck. His attack came spiralling backwards as Leon smothered out a blast from his axe, limping back from the shockwave still.
Quinn’s shield ruptured outwards, stopping any assault in its tracks.
Kazuki could see the figure of Quinn on the floor. Leon was in a prime position to kill him. This was Kazuki’s chance to end this fight. The plasma bolts flicked through the smoke blindly…
In the chaos of it, Kazuki rushed forward, his armour bouncing bolts. He’ll take Leon’s head in one swift movement. Kazuki emerged out from the smoke, right in between Leon and Quinn.
A shot-axe blow down was parried by Kazuki, primed to kill Quinn. With Leon on the backfoot, Kazuki rushed forward, striking consecutive blows.
“FUCK!” Leon blocked one attack as Kazuki rebounded a shot around his guard, parrying a second strike with the muzzle of his gun. “Over here!”
Leon ducked, allowing for a clear sight of the plasma turret’s view to Kazuki. Move. Kazuki’s body shifted to the side instinctively.
His free hand latched onto Quinn, dragging him to the side as Leon retreated back ot the shuttle. Under the cover of the plasma bolts, he got on. Shit… Kazuki might not have another chance at this.
Firing into another locked crate, he allowed another series of small containers to crumble down, sending up dust, smoke and snow.
Fuck, he has to act now. Kazuki grabbed his hand tighter, forcing his muscles into a sense of cold serenity.
They were going to get away. He couldn’t allow that. His sight eclipsed the smog, seeing the intense blizzard outside. Even if they chased the shuttle down, it’ll be hard to track it without the scanners from the ships up in orbit. He had to take the shot now.
Kazuki took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment. He had to ignore the machine gun. Then, kicking himself off the ground, he aimed. And as he locked his muzzle onto Leon, a stray bolt of plasma kicked his steadied aim - onto the fuel.
His bolt flung off course.
The pool of fuel ignited.
The entire docking bay turned orange and red with a roaring fire sheltering upwards upwards. Smoke and explosions engulfed the area as the shuttle shot away, the shockwave sending the shuttle flying backwards and into the snowstorm.
‘Sato, chase the shuttle.’ ordered Kazuki.
‘On it! Our shuttles can’t stand Narisa’s extended frost and radiation both, the drones will chase after him,’ reported Sato, a dozen drones breaking off from a dog-fight to chase into the blizzard. Fuck, he missed, if only he had his combat-specs on… But no point, no point deliberating now. He has greater things to agonise over…
Only drones… ‘Countermand that order. Order the drones to clean up shop. We’ll never catch them in this storm…’ Even Kazuki’s eyes could not make out anything in the constant snowstorm outside.
And now, Kazuki stood alone. But… not really alone. Gunfire still raged across the broken hulk. Slowly, Quinn stood up, Kazuki’s glare glancing at him. They looked at each other. Quinn shook in place at the golden glare of his boss. But Kazuki… didn’t want to berate him.
“Sir, Arbiter… I—”
“Shut up.” said Kazuki, sliding his weapons into place. He reclocked his cybernetics, feeling the warm steam exit out from his mouth, forming condensation in the sub-zero air. His body was aching with pain, his reinforcements in his exospine slowly peeling off. “Why didn’t you take the fucking shot?”
Quinn quivered, lingering in the moment. Kazuki did not have time for this. He placed a hand on his pistol. And he turned towards Quinn. He thought of pulling back the receiver, but stayed his hand. He shouldn’t. He can’t.
Why?
Kazuki wondered why his limbs refused to move.
“You are an operative. Killing is apart of our job. Do not forget that…” Kazuki said. He bit his own tongue, stopping anymore words from coming out. His shaking hand kept annoying him… was it exposure? He didn’t know.
It was obvious, though it seeped in slowly: because he’s not like them, Quinn’s no gunrunner; Kazuki’s no hypocrite. Quinn’s face was struck with fear, and confusion. Kazuki knew the face well. And he sighed.
He turned back to the snowstorm outside. Quinn had his own secrets, and so did he. Lowering his voice, his eyes skidded towards Quinn. “Nevermind. I won’t press the matter, Quinn. We all have our own prized headaches”
“Thank you… Arbiter,” Quinn said, nodding at his boss, his leader, his commander in arms. Slowly, Quinn closed his eyes, and let off a frost-bitten sigh. He then spoke once again, “There… was a deal.”
Kazuki’s eyes moved from Quinn to the endless snow.
“Me… Petra and Riharia opposed it. Imperial military grade explosives that were supposed to be sent to Anagora during the siege… Apparently someone wanted it so bad that they’d paid a hundred times market value.”
Kazuki raised an eyebrow. “When was this?”
Quinn shrugged. “About a decade ago or so?” he said. “Leon had a rule to not sell any of those explosives…”
Slowly, Kazuki’s eyes caught all information. Could it be that Leon was the Supplier? Kazuki mumbled to himself.
“He said the money was too good to pass up… There was a shoot-out, Osmond sided with him, and we split.”
Silence filled the air, leaving only the faint memories of gunshots echoing across the halls.
“I see.” Was all Kazuki could let out.