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Catherine ended her work by spraying a thin sealant on the small cut, her movement slow and precise in an effort to soothe the older females watching her treat the girl. "There you go all better." She gently said, her voice light as she ruffled the girl's ears, quite thankful the armour's helmet hid her face. "Now be good and go join your people." She finished.
Vattitha watched in sadness as the girl pawed off towards the grouping of silent Voktlix. For the past hour, they had spent their time patching up the more severely injured, and while most were silent to her questions, some had made the offhanded suggestion that she just may be a traitor to her people. "Your smile is as fake as mine." She said, looking over to her mentor. "Even with the helmet, I can see it. I guess for doctors; it's something that's rather common to practice. You don't have to hide your thoughts, though. I know it's wrong she's here."
Dr. Baker shook her head as she observed the grouping, happy to see that the larger of the Voktlix seemed to watch over the younger one as she joined her comrades. "She should be worrying about what shirt to wear to school tomorrow or what the local fad is. But you're mistaken; it's not wrong, only tragic. My people would do much the same or worse if pushed into a similar corner. It only saddens me she hurt herself due to our interference. Even if it was just a scraped shin."
"Can't go to school when your village is destroyed." Ankiah interjected, walking in between the two armoured doctors. "No one is saying anything other than claiming that I'm a traitor and suggesting I may be an aliens whore. Though I don't know what business it is of theirs to wonder what I do with Antigone behind closed doors." She laughed out, waving the lady in question down. "Resima isn't doing any better either unfortunately. None of them want to risk their little operation."
"Well, what do we do now?" Vattitha asked, her task of healing the injured finished at a record pace thanks to her armour.
"The Captain is debating with the bridge crew right now." Caithen said, walking over to the three Voktlix. "I think they're leaning on just giving them back their Briolb weapons and letting them go."
Vattitha looked over to the large pile of guns, then back to the group of bound and angry Voktlix. "Why would they do that? Wouldn't they just shoot at us?"
"Wouldn't do them any good." Ankiah said, looking over the shoddy weapons. "Perhaps it's a show of trust? I mean, we can just keep flying to the harbour and ignore them if they show up and shoot at us again." She guessed with a shrug, looking over to her kneeling Mech. "I'm kinda useless here right now, so ima go sit in my baby. Have fun, you two."
"Your baby, is it now? Who's going to be the feeder when we get home?" Caithen jokingly replied. "I think it should be me. You know, since I'm bigger." She added with a laugh, thrusting her chest out but nearly doubling over as Ankiah flipped her the bird from over her shoulder. "Should have never taught her that one."
"You're flat as a board, ya shit." Ankiah finally yelled, shutting herself into the Mech.
"You seem awfully calm for the situation we're in." Vattitha stated, looking over the armoured Terran with curiosity. "Most would be rather confused at the lack of direction."
"You get used to it. Right doc?" Caithen replied, slapping Catherine on the shoulder.
"Yes. Military operations can sometimes be more about 'hurry up and wait' than actually doing anything." The doctor replied, expertly crossing her legs.
A crumbling of rocks and a loud splash rang through the area, prompting most to look over to the source in terror as a massive metal biped began stomping out of the water. It was nearly twice the size of the regular one, with two large discs on its shoulders. And to the horror of all but the normal bi-peds, it was stomping towards the prisoners, holding a sharp-looking short spear and a large shield, only to stop one step away from crushing a female's foot as she sat defiantly in its presence.
"Looks like that pilot is pissed. Wonder who's in the guard armour." Caithen said, looking over the credentials and nearly gasping at the ID. "That's the Captain." She whispered to the two doctors, noticing their confusion as well.
"Which one of you is the leader!" Michael demanded, slamming the butt of his spear into the ground as he looked over the group, though only silence prevailed once again.
Slowly pulling his spear out of the ground, Michael began pacing around the group, closely scanning each one's reaction as he stomped by, making sure to put extra weight into each step in an attempt to intimidate them. " I don't have time for this shit, you know." He began, stopping to eye a jittery female. "All I wanted to do was get to the harbour, maybe meet with some boat dudes for some information. Then make my way to the next continent. But then you guys come along, and not only are you shooting at us with Briolb weapons, we can't even scan you properly." He continued, stopping to looking over the group again.
Resima walked over to Caithen and the two medics, avoiding looking suspicious as her Captain continued with his act. "What's he doing?" Resima whispered as she sat down with the three females.
"Not a clue." Caithen replied, though secretly enjoying the show.
Michael spun around to continue his pacing, his spear thrumming off the ground with each step he took as he continued his angry rant. "You know, I'm on a tight schedule. I need to make sure your people don't attack us when we make landfall to begin our counter-invasion AND to make sure they're not picked off by Stydun doing so... Not like your kind would care about other people's worries, though. Considering you send children into battle."
"Ahh... Not sure if this is smart or brilliant." Dr. Baker said, leaning back in her deployed med chair.
"If the leader is a dull-witted, it's brilliant. If not... Well, he's about to make more enemies. Not that it matters at this point, I would venture." Resima added, folding her arms as she watched things play out.
"So now I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place." Michael continued. "Seeing as your leader is a coward who would hide behind children rather than chat like a civilized being. That leaves me no other choice than to tie you up and leave you here so you don't follow us. Well, maybe I'll drag you into the forest, so you're harder to find, seeing as you have a way to survive it... Though maybe I'll wash that gunk off you first. I bet it's real itchy." He finished, waving a few marines over.
"Brave talk for one so big."
Michael turned his back to the crowd, sending a command to his suit and ejecting himself from the armour, eliciting a gasp from the captured group of Voktlix. " There. Now you can quickly kill me if you wish. Mrs?"
"None of your business." The shocked female replied, eyeing the furless alien.
"Great. Answer my questions, and I'll let you go. If not, I'll wash this gunk off and toss you into the forest." Michael replied confidently, standing within his suit's shield system.
"You may ask. But I may not answer." The female responded, her eyes thin as she studied the strange alien.
Michael nodded in reply to the female, thinking a moment on his first question before asking. "Alright, first. How are you avoiding the Stydun in the forest? I'm betting it has something to do with your groups or the gunk you're covered in."
"Next."
"Does it have something to do with the gunk you're all smeared in?" He tried again, though, knowing she wouldn't answer this question either.
"Pass."
"Where are you all from?"
The female sighed as she attempted to stretch her legs, hardly paying any attention to Michael. "How many questions will you ask? This is rather dull."
Michael kicked a loose stone into the water in annoyance. Though these people were obviously itching to be free, they were also against supplying him with anything useful, and it was starting to get to him. "Listen. I said it before. I need information so that I can bring it back to my command. If I don't get this information, your people may get hurt when we clean your planet of the Briolb."
"The Briolb. Is that the name of the other invaders?" The female asked, her face going serious.
"I'm the one asking the questions. And we're not invaders." Michael replied with a smug grin. "The information I have suggests that if I follow this river, I will arrive at a harbour town that has strong connections to the central continent. Can you confirm that?"
"You are incorrect. The harbour town has been occupied, and it's people are being taken into the sky. At the rate things are going, there won't be many people left for you to kill when you get there." The female replied, her eyes studying Michael for any hint of happiness or excitement.
"Fuck you and your stubbornness." Michael responded as he turned around and quickly jumped into his armour. "Everyone back on the ship now! Set in a course to the harbour town, leave these idiots here for the ones still hiding in the trees and prep all soldiers for urban combat." He ordered, running towards the ship and jumping onto the runway.
The female sat there stunned at the sight. The alien invaders were moving back to their ship at an insane pace, most jumping onto the extended platform as the giant machine waited patiently at the bottom.
"What's going on?" She asked, looking around at the stunned group.
"They just left us here." Another replied, making eye contact with one of her people hiding in a nearby bush.
"What if... What if they were telling the truth and that furless alien is going to save Yluogate?"
"Than we would be indirectly responsible for killing our own people." The leader replied. "Regardless, we must get this information back to base. Perhaps the aliens can save more towns if they're here to help." She added, watching the large machine walk up the platform and into the ship.
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"Jack, take us to full stealth. Ops send as many drones down the river as you can. I don't care if they're detected; I want a full layout of that city by the time we get there." Michael ordered, moving into the armour cradle. "Rowan, I want a full refit to lethal weapons by the time we get to that city."
"You look, angry boss." Rowan replied, helping Michael out of his armour.
"Angry doesn't even begin to tell you how furious I am. Those idiots sat around with their thumb up their ass while we healed them, then sat there all quiet, like we're the enemy while their people are being shipped off to some other fucking planet." Michael ranted, not even bothering to dress and heading to the bridge in his nanomesh. "I won't forgive them."
Resima watched the angry Captain storm out from his giant armour and onto the lift, making sure to stay out of the way of the scrambling soldiers as they began to refit themselves with deadlier weapons. "Is he going to be okay?" She asked, looking over to Dr. Vattitha and Dr. Baker.
"I don't know; we're still getting to know the Captain." Dr. Baker replied, walking over to an unused lift. "But I can tell you he takes his job of protecting people very seriously."
Pushing up against the wall to make room for both Dr. Baker and Resima, Vattitha sighed in frustration. "From my experience, the Captain is a very caring person and hates those who put others at risk. However, I say this with only knowing him for a few days. I would also say that idiot female has made an enemy of him this day."
"Is that so?" Resima answered as the lift came to a stop, and the two doctors walked out. "How do I get to the bridge from here?"
"It's already selected to take you to the deck the bridge is on." Vattitha replied as the door closed, leaving Resima to think to herself.
"How odd these Terrans are." She thought, waiting patiently for the door to open as the plight of her people began to weigh heavily on her mind.
"Resima!" Private Renin ejected as the lift door opened. "Apologies, but I can't talk. I need to go get armoured up." He said, stepping to the side as Resima stepped off.
"Why are your people so... I lack the word. Motivated? Perhaps. To put your life on the line for a people who hate the sight of you?" Resima asked, watching as Renin entered the lift and hit a few buttons.
"They hate us because they think we're invaders. Your people aren't so bad." Renin quickly replied before the door closed, leaving Resima to herself again.
"You didn't answer my question." She silently replied, turning towards the bridge and stepping up to the door.
"This is bad." Soto remarked, looking over the broken wall and the sheer number of Briolb in the town. "They have the Voktlix boxed into a section of the city with no way out."
"The roads are large enough for a tank or a Mech to fit through. The deployment will be necessary, though collateral damage to the city will result in such actions." Jack responded, moving a drone to an overhead view.
"We'll deploy both tanks, our Mech and all of our soldiers." Michael answered, watching the battle plan form as Soto added groupings to his deployment.
"This will definitely let them in on the fact we're here, Captain." Soto replied. "We'll lose any advantage we have if they're in global communication. It may even cause them to deploy larger forces."
"Twelve minutes before arrival, Captain." Srettia reported keeping the ship low to the river but moving quickly to the designated point.
"I won't let any more Voktlix be sent to slavery if I can help it." Michael replied. "Even if I can't save them all, I will make sure to save the ones in front of me."
"Understood, Captain." Soto replied, altering his plan slightly. "It's a shit plan. But it's the best we can hope for with the limited information and time given. A lot of it will be altered on the fly during the mission, so we'll need to be in the tactical room."
Michael nodded and turned to Steven, watching as the man frantically moved his drones around the city to better grasp the situation. "Ops anything in orbit that can strike us?"
"One nearby that could be classified as a heavy corvette, nothing else." Steven reported. "Most of the ships are hanging around at low power near the station right now." He continued, only to suddenly curse and throw a large grouping of cages onto the screen. "A lot of Voktlix here. Around three hundred. They may be getting ready to ship them off. That might be why that ship is in orbit."
Soto scowled in reply to the observation, swiping his hands around his console in frustration. "Alright, gotta change the plans a bit."
Resima unfroze herself and shook her head, walking down the ramp and towards Fazreh who seemed to have retreated slightly into her couch. "It's alright. They'll think of something." She said, grabbing hold of Fazreh's hand and watching as the bridge crew argued over the operation plan.
"Next time. I'll be sure I can go with them." She quietly promised, squeezing Fazreh's hand in frustration.
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