“We’re coming up on the control room now, what’s the situation from the bridge?”
“Cloud Nine’s remaining forces are rallying to the exit gate as we speak. Granted it’ll take them a hot minute to traverse the walkways and curtain walls, but I don’t need to tell you just how undermanned we currently are.”
Sumiye couldn’t even blame C274 for going on ahead, not in light of Kircher’s update on having lost contain on the engine room. Because if the worse had come to pass and the Crusader crippled, better to have it happen as far away from the castle as possible. Somewhere they could hypothetically still conduct a speedy transfer of crew and cargo onto the two remaining Crusaders.
“See to it that C362 has someone shadow our reformed guest. The more dire our situation the more inclined she might be to reconsider her place in all this.”
“Already taken care of Commander. On the topic of our ‘reformed guest,’ she’s advised us that Officer Warren, whom accompanied Officer Ayfer on our little operation, reopened his wounds and will likely require assistance returning to the Crusader.”
A truly aggravating development that wouldn’t have taken a clairvoyant to surmise given the security officer’s inclusion on the most recent injury report. Something she’d brought up then reiterated when the finishing touches were still being applied to the plan of sending a small team in. Though she could also understand the need to keep Officer Sigurd, the only other real candidate, onboard for the sake of sustaining until the exit gate. The alternate proposal of plucking an officer from one of the other two Crusaders being passed over due to the absence of any real rapport between Lux and anyone outside C362. The lone exception being the Commander himself who had far too many responsibilities to justify sending. Especially at this late stage of the run.
“We’ll handle it. In the meantime I need you to focus on keeping what’s left of the convoy intact and our escape route secured.”
“Naturally. YOU just remember to avoid any unnecessary confrontations. Because aside from the enemy converging on us there’s also the shelf life of the cargo we need to take into consideration.”
“And that’s why they pay you the big bucks.”
“Relatively speaking.”
“Wait you guys are getting paid?!”
The voice of C362’s pilot unexpectantly infiltrated the conversation.
“In that case when’s the best time to negotiate my cut?”
Followed soon thereafter by their reformed guest. How lovely.
“Officer Katsurn, please refrain from moving channels without express permission. But as long as your present do advise Redcliffe of the importance of staying at his post even with the convoy currently stationary. Likewise, I’d appreciate it if you could turn your headset over to our engineer Ms. Roe. While I’m sure Lux only had the best of intentions when she turned it over to you, I’m sure you can understand why we’d rather keep you in the dark on matters pertaining to our flight from here.”
“Playing hard ball I see. Not that I have much wiggle room for negotiations without my benefactress.”
Someone had gotten awfully comfortable during their short stay onboard. Bantering over the comms so naturally. You’d be forgiven for forgetting she was a full-fledged raider when the day begin.
“We have eyes on the control room and what appears to be two downed individuals just out front. Moving in to confirm their identities now.”
With each new bit of information that flowed into her headset from the various perspectives the Head CO could feel her desire to step out onto the deck grow. If nothing else because she wanted a better feel for their immediate surroundings. Namely the amount of natural defilade being provided by the limestone pillars dotted around the area the convoy was currently parked. But it was their lack of knowledge on that very subject that drove Sumiye to err on the side of caution and remain in the bridge for now. None too keen to find out via trial and error. Didn’t mean she couldn’t sulk. On that note some sort of commotion reached her over the headset.
“Fuck, hold fire! That better not have been Lux!”
“Now’s not exactly the time for trigger discipline Commander. Need I remind you we are in an enemy encampment. And I’m sure you’d agree that Officer Ayfer knows better than to exit without following basic room clearing protocols.”
“...”
“Commander?”
What is this? The one time he decides to shut up?!
“Ms. Endellion this C274. Apologies for the delay. Things got a bit messy but we’ve swept the Crusader and dropped anchor roughly 1 km out. How would you have us proceed?”
“Recoup and reload. Soon as we reconvene we’ll have you resume pulling the convoy through the final leg of the route. And do me a favor and switch off the main channel for the time being, save for any urgent updates relating to cargo status or enemy movements.”
“Reading you loud and clear command. We’ll contact Riga in the meantime.”
“Appreciate it.”
With one situation under relative control, and one less voice in her head to boot, the Head CO shifted her attention back to the commotion over at the control room. Not that Lautnor was giving her much to work. A troubling departure from how their conversations usually went both on and off the clock. Her platinum blonde superior often contacting Sumiye over a wide variety of what she’d initially considered inconsequential matters. Boasting to her about how he’d negotiated the price of a used lamp down to name a somewhat recent example. And why would a Convoy Commander whose job necessitates constant traveling purchase something you’d find in a dusty office setting?
“Oh, this beast isn’t for me. I’m sending it along with some other items back to my old workplace. Those cells get awfully dark in the winter you know. Makes reading a good book difficult when you’re trying to pass the time. Speaking of books, guess how much I got this hardcover for...!”
“Yeah, that’s just the kind of guy you are isn’t it...”
Which is why she was certain the man’s silence wasn’t meant to antagonize or worry her. Something had happened to the headset or he was being silent because he needed to. So she’d leave him to it, and make sure the convoy would be ready to leave as soon as the entire roster was accounted for. Maybe even inquire about joining the Commander on his next foray to the local trade market.
“Fucking hell...securing control room now! We’ll be inbound to the convoy within two minutes!”
Sumiye covered the mic both to conceal a sigh of relief and organize her thoughts, at which time Lautnor seemed to sign off for the time being. Or so she thought until his panicked voice filled the channel.
“Alert the crews that we’ll be moving immediately after returning! Have the engineers adjust the reversing levers to account for a cutoff of at least 75 percent! We need to put some distance between us and this place fast in lieu of some recent developments!”
“In that case wouldn’t an earlier cutoff better serve our needs as it would allow us to reach our top speed faster?”
“Evacuating the castle grounds takes precedent over reducing the total transit time! Trust me on this!”
“Understood, relaying orders now.”
“Double time you two, Faust here is the only one allowed to be dead weight!”
“Not funny!”
Rather than panic or speculate over whatever had the Commander spooked, the Head CO actually felt a tad revitalized as she moved to inform both crews of the flight plan. Whether this was relief at the relative safety of her comrades or anticipation over tackling her next task, Sumiye couldn’t say for certain. But the all too familiar shade she happened to spot steadily gliding its way over the castle ward as she passed by the mouth of the bridge put a marked damper on it.
“Not that we’re competing Commander, but we seem to have a bit of a situation brewing on our end as well.”
*
[Several Minutes Earlier]
Even at such a late stage in their grand endeavor to secure passage through JJ Morg’s magnus opus, Lux still couldn’t bring herself to trust the ‘former’ Cloud Nine member. Even if from the outside it seemed like the two got along well enough. And it wasn’t because she suspected the woman of being a double agent or anything along the lines of a schemer. Rather the blonde suspected their tall glass of water was operating in a state of limbo since they’d picked her up along the route.
Her overt support of the Federation crews coming from a place of self-preservation rather than a genuine desire to reform or atone for her party activities. Something it hadn’t even crossed Lux’s mind to condemn as it was possible she’d consider a similar route if the roles were reversed and she suddenly found herself captive of a raiding party. Though if opportunities as juicy as the one that had just presented itself occurred, she’d most certainly drop the act and turn on her captors. And what better way than to flee the room you were currently pinned down in.
Which is why in the waning moments of the woman’s sprint out the doorway, Lux played with the idea of putting a well-placed round in the back of her head. It would have been easy enough given how effective bantering had proven in lowering the former raider’s guard. But with Faust’s condition deteriorating by the second she couldn’t afford to dispose of a seemingly amicable ally. So instead Lux made the conscious decision to restrain her cynical musings and decided henceforth to operate under the assumption that Legs wouldn’t undermine or betray them. As such she gave the woman both her headset and instructions for parking the Crusader. Essentially a show of good faith on the blonde’s part in exchange for the directions to the exit gate.
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Next thing Lux knew the door was being blown off its hinges and the woman, putting those legs of hers to use as she hurdled an amalgamation of her former comrades who’d bunched up just outside the door. The security officer subsequently following a few steps behind so as to deliver a witty one-liner as she thinned the herd. With only one of those in attendance having the presence of mind to continue watching the door and subsequently take evasive action in response to her sudden follow up. In other words a prime candidate for being among the first subjugated. Though in this particular case Lux had already settled on blasting whoever was in front to help obstruct the way inside. And this disgruntled individual with a ponytail happened to be at the back of this kill squad.
She didn’t stick around in the doorway long enough to see if that would stay the case as a hail of return fire sent her diving back inside, the two party members she’d targeted at the front of the pack long since having crumpled to the ground.
“Well, that’s two down...though I doubt the remaining four will be quite as forthcoming.”
Among the hail of rifle fire dismantling the front of the structure, Lux’s light blue orbs flitted over to the form of Faust beside her. The man having taken up a position on his back with his rifle pointed between his legs at the doorway.
“Prop that arm up dammit!”
Lux whisper screamed the directive at her colleague, tugging the sleeve of his injured shoulder upwards.
“Unless your plan is to make them slip in a puddle of your own blood!”
“If they think I’m already dead, then...”
“Then what?! You catch one or two of them unaware before the third puts you out of your misery! Reinforcements should be here shortly, we’ll hunker down in the adjacent room until then.”
Even if the injured officer opposed Lux dragging him along, he couldn’t muster even close to enough strength to keep from being pulled across the stone floor. A floor already littered with bodily fluids and a pair of incapacitated party members he felt his body brush past. Resigned to his unpleasant fate for the near future, Faust decided to allocate whatever little strength he did still possess to pulling the trigger of his rifle should someone enter through the doorway as they relocated deeper into the control room.
And no sooner had they hauled themselves into the initial scene of the crime did the sounds of multiple footfalls storm into the room behind them. Prompting Lux to practically throw her beleaguered accomplice against the back wall so she could focus on covering the turnstile from the doorway. Regrettably however the Cloud Nine members were wise to the adjacent room’s vantage point of the gate’s controls and didn’t provide the security officer any freebies. Posting up at angles she wouldn’t be able to target without venturing further from the cover of the doorway. But to maintain such an advantage meant they wouldn’t be able to advance and undo Lux’s work on the turnstile. A stand-off by all intents and purposes. One that stood to benefit the home team as it gave the rest of the castle garrison time to converge on the parked convoy. Or blow up. Whichever came first.
“Oh joy...”
Lux ground her teeth as she cast a subtle glance in Faust’s direction, watching him struggle to stay cognizant of his surroundings.
“Faust, you probably don’t even know where the fuck you are at this point, but just in case...don’t tell Cade about the stunt I’m about to pull.”
The blonde quickly shed her Federation short jacket, turning it inside out and balling it up until what appeared to be a crudely sewn target was visible. The muscles of her other arm visibly contracting as the appendage bore the entire weight of the feronetic rifle being brought up into a ready fire position. A tongue jotted out the side a pair of soft bronze lips as Lux ran through her plan one final time in her head. At least that’s what appeared to be happening until she abruptly turned to face the male officer once more.
“Please do put it in your report though, and feel free to embellish your depiction of my heroics. Not that you’ll need to. Oh, and if you still insist on telling Cade something, make it the fact I used the word embellish correctly in a sentence. I’m close to cashing in on a bet.”
The injured officer soaked the young woman’s words in with an exhausted expression, feeling but unable to properly express how both irritated and impressed he was with his crewmate’s war-side manner. Faust then watched as his colleague proceeded to whisper something seemingly to the coil side of her rifle’s barrel, just before a veritable smile overtook her features. Catching him somewhat off guard as there was no previous record of the sharpshooter exhibiting an inclination toward pregame superstitions or rituals related to her work.
“Pull!”
Lux’s uniform jacket was promptly hurled through the doorway and into the connecting room, multiple firearms training on the newly introduced object as it traveled through the air towards them. Trigger discipline won the day however as the Cloud Nine members present were content to watch as what appeared to be a clump of fabric soared through the air harmlessly, unaware a target decorated the side opposite them. Soon forgetting about the mystery projectile altogether as their primary mark stepped out from the doorway behind it looking unimpressed at the room’s lack of participation. Though she would still take plenty of pleasure setting off the chain reaction from her end.
And before the Cloud Nine members could so much as graze the petulant young woman stood in the doorway, a round from a standard issue feronetic rifle was finding its way into the center of the scuffed depiction of a target. The jacket detonating soon thereafter. Every person in the vicinity not named Lux flinching away from the center of the control tower in a delicious combination of utter confusion and alarm over what would befall them in this semi-vulnerable state. A justified concern as the sharpshooter was already within striking distance of one member. The desire to conserve ammunition earning the scruffy looking raider a harsh blow to his solar plexus after an initial pass of the rifle’s butt saw him disarmed. Lux then proceeded to kick the wayward firearm from where it had bounced off the stone floor at the next closest raider.
By dumb luck the firearm traveled higher than expected and hit the second man in the forehead, eliciting a satisfying thunk sound. Before she could capitalize further however the same raider from outside with the ponytail materialized in her peripheral and threw a roundhouse that forced her back a few feet as she moved to guard. In homage to the kick’s form and in an overt show of confidence at the situational shift in fortunes, Lux had the gall to whistle in appreciation at the blow. Unconcerned by a potential throwdown with the man who’d shown to be a far greater threat than the other Cloud Nine members the group had encountered thus far.
“The hell did you just do woman?”
“Curious?”
Lux’s tone may have come across as playful or even teasing, but her body language was anything but. Like a predator ready to pounce at the first sign of weakness. Something that didn’t escape Logan Hite as he stared her down.
“Or maybe your buying time for more reinforcements. Though I should warn you time isn’t exactly on either of our sides.”
The party leader assumed she had been referring to the shelf life of the convoy’s cargo with that comment but found himself second guessing himself at the subtle look of pity dotting her features. Like she knew something he didn’t. He pushed those doubts aside as a member of his party helped the other who’d taken the rifle to the face back up.
“Her buddy’s in the back room, go finish him off while I handle her here.”
Without hesitation Lux fired a round into the member who’d been being helped up, doing so while maintaining eye contact with the party leader. The playful glint that had been in her eyes seconds before a distant memory. The party member who’d been doing the assisting dropped their now deceased comrade in a delayed panic and looked to Hite for guidance on how to proceed, perhaps concerned about being the next victim. In comparison the party leader didn’t so much as bat an eye at the sudden act of violence, seeming only mildly perturbed with himself for making the careless suggestion. Rather he chuckled to himself as he brandished the firearm at Lux with one hand, the other running down the stubble of his face.
“I shouldn’t laugh, good help doesn’t grow on trees after all....”
Hite motioned for his remaining subordinate to go on the offensive as well.
“Though it has been known to come from above on occasion.”
A slew of overdue arrivals and transactions transpired in the deciding moments that followed. The first of which being the appearance of two additional Cloud Nine members via the same chute the infiltration team had utilized earlier. Not something Lux could see so much as hear coming from the same room a vulnerable Faust was diving in and out of lucidity. But the influx of actors didn’t stop there as the Convoy Commander and a security officer who’d accompanied him crashed the front entrance, stamping their arrival with calls to capitulate. Something no one had any attention of heeding as shots had already began flying between the dance partners.
Trusting her back-up would handle the main room Lux rushed back into the adjacent one, brushing off a shot that may or may not have nicked her somewhere across the ribcage. Though she did recoil at her collision with a member of the castle garrison directly over the threshold, the two similarly sized women bouncing off what felt like each other’s teeth. In hindsight she should have expected a small more agile interloper given not much else would have fit down that damn water chute.
Rather than create distance and try to get another shot off at this range, the blonde scooped the Cloud Nine member up with her free arm and drove her backwards. The idea being she’d crash the woman into her accomplice deeper in the room. Unfortunately the second member was adept enough to dodge by moving laterally, watching them fly right on by the strike the wall. They were stopped short of intervening however as Faust still possessed the verve to stick a leg out to trip them up. This second interloper, a gangly male youth, appeared to take offense at being toppled in such a unsightly fashion and sought to vindicate himself with his firearm despite the awkward angle. In response the wan security officer swung his own rifle into the youth’s, redirecting both muzzles towards the vacant part of the small room. A second attempt at aing being thwarted when the form of his chute buddy came crashing into him from the side.
The two spilled onto the stone floor and tried frantically to untangle themselves until a stern voice from the doorway advised them against it.
“Stay where you are or we shoot.”
Lautnor had appeared over the threshold sporting a fresh wound of his own across the top of his brow, as well as the beginning stages of a black eye. Otherwise the fellow blonde seemed par for the course from Lux’s enervated perspective. He looked to her and then Faust for a better understanding of their current conditions. Before navigating his way over to the injured officer while maintaining visual of the increasingly restless pair on the floor.
“I’ll carry Faust, we need to leave NOW.”
Lux took over babysitting duty with a sharp nod as the CC threw the officer over his shoulder, a groan from the man highlighting his continued effort to cling to consciousness. As the three soon re-emerged into the main room, Lux having ziptied and left the two party members at Lautnor’s behest, the sharpshooter noted they were missing at least one nuisance. Meanwhile the crewmember who’d accompanied the Commander was situated out front keeping lookout.
“Where’s that smug ponytail?”
Lautnor readjusted his charge into something closer to a fireman carry to better accommodate the doorway they were exiting before supplying an answer.
“If you kept up with the daily raiding reports for the regions you traveled through, you’d know Mr. Smug ponytail is actually Logan Hite. You know, the party leader?”
Lux scoffed as they stepped down back into the ward.
“Those reports say anything about the bastard being able to fucking teleport. If not I don’t see how his identity answers my question.”
“His position gives me a good excuse for his escape during the firefight.”
The young woman rolled her eyes then pushed past her two comrades so she could take point on the way back, recalling the directions Legs had provided her.
“Upper management schmucks and your obsessions with reports. Glad I came into a ghost writer to help with handling mine.”
Something that had only come about after the person being referenced asked to see Lux’s report for comparison purposes between divisions. Needless to say they were do taken aback by the contents, or lack thereof, they offered to clean the document up a bit before having it submitted.
“You don’t say. We’ll you’d better believe us schmucks are going to be nipping that practice in the bud.”
“Is this how you thank the gal who saved your ass back in—!”
“Oi, look over there!”
As they continued to keep pace the two comrades in arms followed the third officer’s finger towards the distant apparition working its way steadily in the direction of the convoy. Lautnor frowned and swung the mic of his headset down to contact said convoy while Lux squinted in an attempt to gain a better understanding of what she was looking at. It actually taking her a second to recall the unusual encounter from earlier in the day. Though in her defense seeing the massive specter approaching was a different animal compared to suddenly being inside of it.
“I wonder how it’ll react to the explosives?”
The CC abruptly shifted his attention from the headset back to the sharpshooter.
“I’m sorry, what’s this about explosives?”