The IR beacon led to the crest of the ridge that overlooked the plains below. It stood a couple hundred meters higher than the plateau where the imperial base had been dropped, and was just over a mile away from it. Hidden on the ridge was a corsetta class ship painted red with white moon images on it. Kinsey thought it looked familiar but she couldn’t place it. Reaching the ridge had been a lot harder than she had expected. Another storm had swept the plains shortly after she and Yarin Donolly, her ASF partner, had started climbing up the ridge. The sudden deluge of water washed them into a small canyon. The canyon filled up with ice cold water which took them far too long to climb out of. Yarin was forced to abandon his armor.

The survival uniform she had found in the survival kit wasn’t enough to ward off that kind of chill. When they were able to move again both of them had numb extremities, hurting ears and were coughing terribly. The only way Kinsley knew they had arrived at the beacon was because of the ship; there would be no other reason for it to be at the exact same spot as the IR beacon. It gave her more questions than answers. The men inside the ship had made a small camp outside of it, and were obviously waiting for people to arrive.

“Yarin,” Kinsley said, “I want you to approach those men. They look like they’re expecting you guys. I know that it’s a high risk—”

“ASF is high risk,” he snorted and strode into the clearing, coughing. The men welcomed him into the camp with caution, and only let down their guard after they confirmed his identity. Kinsley didn’t know if it was curiosity or if he was gathering intelligence when he asked who the men were and what was going on. They were from the Red Moon Mercenary Guild, hired guns that did whatever their employer asked no matter how illegal or immoral. They also raided other ships along the fringes of the Empire and sometimes were bold enough to attack the ships coming through the gates that linked the Astrian Empire to its allies: the Benetir Kingdom and Arcanist Alliance. They were officially branded by pirates and a hefty reward was offered to anyone who could capture them.

The men took Yarin inside their ship, giving Kinsley an opportunity to follow them without being seen. For such a small ship there weren’t that many people that she saw, and none of them were particularly observant. Kinsley managed to duck into a corridor that led her into their hangar. She didn’t see anyone inside and made her way to one of the consoles. Depending on their security she might be able to find out what they were doing here besides waiting for Imperial Cadets to arrive.

Her PUC made it easy to get into the mercenary’s system. When Kinsley had joined Intelligence she had met the requirements to go into espionage. Her old life in the Kingdom had paved the way for her to quickly pick up how to break into systems without leaving a trace, navigate enemy territory without being found, and kill silently when necessary. There had been lessons in seduction as well skills Kinlsey hoped she would never need to employ.

A message appeared on her PUC as she broke through the last of the security walls. [“Who are you?”] Kinsley swore to herself. She looked around the hanger when she heard the sound of footsteps and talking come from further into the ship. She moved out of line of sight, even though it meant disconnecting from the console.

[“I could ask you the same question.”] Kinsley replied.

[“Tara Simmons, Imperial R&D”] the next message said, [“I was kidnapped while helping test out a new energy source for ship engines. Since I saw you connect to a low security console, I hoped you weren’t with them.”]

"Did you see the girl in the clearing!" A voice called. "Kid said she's a blonde with pink tips in her hair!"

"Not yet, she's Intelligence isn't she? Probably the sneaky type. We need to sweep the ship. Hey, get the kid looking for her!"

There was a lot to unpack in with that statement. Kinsley recognized the name. Her classes weren’t like the others, they were hands-on and she followed her mentor on the cases he was working on within the Empire. Jaina, her partner, was apprenticed to the same man. He had investigated the disappearance of a girl a little older than Kinsley with the same name. A genius inverter who often did her own testing in the field. Yavin had betrayed her. Kinsley watched where the mercenaries were, careful to keep out of sight.

[“I’m a cadet attached currently to the Danelar Naval Officer’s Academy,”] Kinsley wrote back, [“Any idea on why this ship is here?”]

[“From what I gathered they are here to do some poaching, both of animals and from the DNOA. They also have a contract to kill two princesses. Sol in the Mecha Corps and Nova in the starfighters.”]

Text was hard to determine any kind of truth or falsehood. This person she was talking to had some way to message her on the PUC, or it was just being sent to her PUC from her ID Band.

[“Forgive me for being skeptical, but I need some way to verify your Identity”] Kinsley wrote. A few moments later she received a verified profile from Dr. Tara Anne Simmons, Imperial R&D. It didn't come from the PUC, but was sent directly to Kinsley's Imperial ID Band. Kinsley loved the Imperial ID band system. Many people found it oppressive and only used it because it was law. She thought it was fantastic for situations like this. Kinsley saw Yavin go outside, the other mercenaries stayed within the hanger, likely out of sight of anyone who would have been in the clearing.

"Hey, Kinsley! Go ahead and come out! These guys can help us! Laney sent them!" She heard Yavin yell.

Kinsley sent her profile to Tara via the band. [“Kinsley York, Imperial Intelligence in training. I think my luck has finally turned around. Is there a way that you can tell me what you know and help me rescue you, and stop these guys from killing my friends?”]

[“Absolutely.”]

=+=

“The cadets have a base,” Dalton Snowden reported, stepping into the office of Duncan Trosk, “and that beast is getting closer.”

“A base?” Duncan asked, intrigued, “Now that is a golden opportunity. It extends the time we can stay here, maybe we’ll do a little big game hunting while we wait for the Everlight to leave. How many of our new recruits have arrived”

“I thought they were supposed to be gone by now,” Dalton replied, crossing his arms, "Not many, I think we have half a dozen that have made it? One just arrived about fifteen minutes ago."

“They failed to keep Peregrine in check. Imperial Command now knows about the situation and has ordered more resources to aid in the rescue. The Preservation Society got wind of it and they’re trying to block some of the efforts, afraid of poachers,” Duncan scoffed.

“What do you want to do, Captain?” Dalton crossed his arms, “I still don't know why you captured that bird."

“That was just an opportunity that I couldn’t refuse. Right now, that bird is also going to keep us safe. It will make us millions on the black market, or it could get me in good favor with Admiral Uller, he likes pretty, exotic things. Since we’re not sure if the princesses are dead, we’ll have to pay the base a visit. While you’re there might as well resupply. Take your men and finish the job, leave no witnesses. Remember where we are, I disabled the beacon once I got word of what’s happening. The last thing we need is to be discovered.”

“Can I use our toys?” Dalton asked.

“I really don’t care,” Duncan said dismissively,” Just see that they’re dead. One’s a blonde nymph, the other’s a black haired half-breed eladrin. Doing the universe removing those two aliens. Half breeds, what man in his right mind would go for some alien?”

“This has been a lot of effort for two girls,” Dalton commented.

“That just means a bigger payout for us,” Trosk said, “I’m not sure who hired us, but apparently they paid a lot of money. We're also going to get a very nice bonus for each one of those girls. Go make sure they are dead. As long as the Empire doesn't find us here, then we can wait until everyone else is gone."

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Dalton nodded and then paused, “One more question. This planet kills all communications. How in the void do you know anything about what’s going on off-world?”

Duncan smirked, “Rule one about being in the Red Moon, my boy: Never underestimate Jaxion Skorv or Benjamin Uller.”

=+=

Kiera remained in the planning room after their meeting was over. Her goal was to make sure they got home, that they lost as few people as they could. The thought of risking their lives on the planet had resulted in sleepless nights. The day before a group went back to the wolf den camp and brought back everything that they could be recovered. Kiera had been surprised to see the wolf furs on her bunk. There were no officer quarters; they took up room that could be used for more important equipment. Sleeping altogether also built team unity. Tamalyn had done some segregation when the base did not; she found curtains to hang on the woman’s bunks and set times when the men couldn’t use the showers, with a few exceptions. The bandersnatch hides and corpses from the second attack had been recovered as well. They didn't need the foul meat from the creatures but the hides were worth keeping. The diceros horns were also brought back and put in base storage. They were going to be kept as souvenirs with each of the branches getting a horn, at least four of them.

The base shook, this time more violently than before. Was the cryoebersisk attacking them again? She really hoped that no one had turned the beacon back on. It shook a second time, then a third. The running lights on the floor and ceilings turned red, an alarm sounded through the room and the intercom came to life.

<<”Attention all cadets! We are under attack, everyone to defensive positions! Repeat, we are under attack! Everyone report to their defensive positions!”>>

Kiera stood up and made her way to the command module, halfway there Riley appeared and lifted Kiera into her arms and carried her the rest of the way. “Report!” Kiera ordered as soon as they arrived. She and Riley had been chosen to command any event from the module while Locke and Corbin would lead the cadets into battle.

“From what we can tell there are two Jaegers and an Orion on the plateau. There are ground forces with them. Thanks to the flying lizard we don’t have the top cameras to give us a better visual. No obvious markings on any of the mechs, but Jackson swears they’re Imperial.”

“Show me the visual,” Kiera said. Riley set her down on the command chair and then moved over to one of the stations, giving out an order over her PUC.

Kiera could clearly make out three mecha heading towards them on the plateau. They were like the ones they had been training with, obviously Imperial Mechs. The coloring was off, instead of red and silver they were painted with white with red circles and crescents. The camera distorted as the base shook again, then twice more.

“The Orion is using an ion rifle,” Kiera said, “They’re trying to knock out our power and the door at the same time. The Jaegers are using standard plasma rifles. What’s the status report?”

“Doors holding at eighty percent, dispersers are doing their job, that ion blast is having no effect on us ma’am!” the cadet called. "I don't know what they think they're doing trying to kill power; the doors won't open without power."

The base shook again as a cluster of missiles exploded against the main door. Kiera couldn’t see where they had come from, and now she had lost all visual of their enemies, “Did that breach us, Jackson? Do we have any eyes looking for the cryoebersisk?”

The base shook again before Jackson could respond, an alarm blared and warning screens appeared showing a breach. Kiera swore. The attack had come in the form of cluster missiles striking the doors where the mecha had been attacking with their ion rifles. The mecha wouldn't be able to enter the base, it would be up to Locke and Corbin to repel any ground troops.

"The mecha look like they're moving to target our beacon," Jackson said. "They're not using those ion rifles to cause disruption, but for ion painting. Probably means they have a missile array rather than a fourth mecha."

Ion painting. That gave Kiera an idea how they were going to be able to defeat the mechas. Corbin and Gargax hadn't been able to take down the beacon yet. That would be their way of calling the cavalry.

“Activate the beacon,” Kiera said.

“Ma’am?” Jackson looked over his shoulder, “Why would we—”

“Activate the beacon!” Kiera ordered.

“Beacon activating,” Riley said from her station, “You sure about this, Kiera?”

“Absolutely, Do we have any kind of status on the enemies?” Kiera asked.

“They’ve entered the base, blast doors were deployed blocking their progress, there has been no engagement yet,” Edgar Poe reported. Thunder sounded overhead, and then again. Heralding yet another storm.

Being blind was not something that Kiera liked. She didn’t know who the enemy was, why they were attacking, or what they were doing here. Just when things had started to go their way. A three day break and back into the fire. She had been studying everything she could about the base, none of them had much experience with this kind of operation. Once it was over they would have to install new cameras to the roof and send a message to the Major. Kiera was sure they could find a way to rig a communications buoy to a rocket pack once Gargax had fully recovered.

“Commandant, the mecha are disengaging,” Edgar reported

“They’re leaving?” Kiera asked.

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Jackson asked.

“Kill the beacon,” Kiera ordered. The calvary had arrived, and the enemy was using at least one ion weapon. The base shook as more thunder roared; a small price to pay to turn two enemies against each other.

“The beacon is offline,” Riley said, “But it’s not because I killed it. Our gamble paid off but we paid for it.”

“As long as we survive,” Kiera said. They’d have to find a new plan to draw the eborsisk away, and now they had an unknown enemy to deal with. She was grateful that Gargax needed another day to be fully recovered before they could go on their mission, and that she had delayed in having the beacon removed to give everyone another day of R&R. Maybe they could go out and find the Bird of Paradise, that would get the monster to leave them alone.

“Edgar, do we have a status report on the siege? Did the soldiers retreat when the mecha did or are they still trying to breach?” Riley asked.

“Let me check the internal sensors, had to reroute some power to prevent a short out when the beast—”

The base moved before he could finish his sentence, power flickered and died. They were thrown from their chairs and sent tumbling over the command module slamming them against walls, consoles, and even the ceiling. This wasn’t the eborsisk this was something else, Kiera didn’t know what was happening, only that their short reprieve had ended and the mercenaries were attempting to finish what the planet started.

=+=

The explosion of the remaining artillery missile banks was covered completely by the barrage of cannon and missile fire from the corsetta. Neither Kinsley and Tara couldn’t believe their eyes. The base was gone, a hole was blasted into the side of the plateau and the storm above them was only getting worse with lightning now striking from the clouds. After meeting up they had decided to hijack a mecha to get to the base that had appeared after the last storm. Before they could leave two white haired men had come into the room, one of which had a terrible dye job, followed by two dark haired men. One of the dark haired men climbed into the jaeger they were in. Kinsley shot him. Tara flew them after the other three

<<“Where the hell have you been!?”>> one of the mech’s asked, their voice angry, using the intercoms was the only way of communicating.

Before they answered, another group landed on the plateau. <<“What are you morons standing around for!”>> an even angrier void shouted from a mech that Kinsley couldn’t identify. It wasn’t like any of the others. The speaker didn’t bother to wait for an answer, <<“Get down to the ground and make sure that the Princess died in that attack! We’re going to manually search every inch of that wreckage and slice the throats of everyone we find. I want a team to go off the plateaus to search those. Snowden, take your team and search the ground, Mine will search what we can see in the plateau.”>>

The mecha who had yelled at Kinsley and Tara relayed the order. Tara followed them. Kinsley was only slightly surprised the inventor knew how to pilot a mech. Her proficiency with the vehicle, however, was unexpected. She flew better than some of the mercenaries. There were a lot of questions Kinsley needed to ask the red-headed engineer; Kiera would likely love to talk to her as well. Then again, there were few people that Kiera wouldn’t want to talk to, her lover was the most social of all butterflies Kinsley had ever known.

“When they get out of their mechs we should give them the same treatment they just gave my people,” Kinsley said. A troop carrier joined the mechs flying towards the base of the plateau. Another one landed on it.

“That would be stooping to their level,” Tara said quietly, obviously not comfortable with the idea, “

“I know,” Kinsley said, “But they’re trying to kill the people I care about. Their level is the only thing they deserve.”