A myriad of stars blinked down at Lus as he waited in the bushes of the garden surrounding the museum. Wsr wasn’t too far away, hiding among the trees closest to their entry window. Vlqtrn remained back at the apartment while Cewi-Bano was camped out with her sniper rifle on a rooftop that provided her a view into the majority of the windows on this side of the building.
Lusac’s heart raced as he crouched into the shrubbery, biding his time until Cewi gave them the signal to start. It had been hours since the sun fully set, but now it was late enough they could start their mission without too much trouble. Once Vlqtrn cut the security systems, it would be time. But it seemed their tech expert was running into some unexpected problems since they were already ten minutes behind when their planned start, and Cewi-Bano had yet to say anything.
The bushes were uncomfortable, between the branches poking into his ribs and the insects that were eager to explore a new environment. A nasty ten-legged beetle attempted to burrow its way into the skin on Lus’s hand, but he was fast enough to brush it off before its pincers got a hold of him. If Vlqtrn didn’t hurry up, he didn’t know if he’d be lucky enough to catch it the next time.
“I’m in. Finally,” Vlqtrn’s husky voice sounded in Lus’s ear. They were using the same comm set up as before, though now everyone was connected instead of Vlqtrn being the single hub.
“About time,” Wsr replied in a frustrated tone.
“The security system is more upgraded than what we normally encounter. Unfortunately, it’s also compartmentalized, so I’ll have to shut systems off as we encounter them instead of doing a blanket wipe. You’ll need to be extra careful not to trigger anything until I give you the go, Lusac,” Vlqtrn warned him.
“No mistakes, Lus,” Cewi said firmly.
“I got it,” he growled. “Have a little more faith, guys.”
“Well after the recon incident,” Wsr reminded him.
“Focus, people.” Cewi-Bano’s voice left little room for discussion.
“Right, right,” Vlqtrn’s voice faded off. “Uh, so first I’ll shut off the security cameras so you guys can move around the garden freely, and then I’ll get the window locks and sensors off for the second story.”
Lus shifted among the leaves as he waited for Vlqtrn to complete his planned tasks. They were already starting late, and now with having to wait for Vlqtrn at every step, this mission was going to take a lot longer than they originally planned. Dragging it out also brought on a lot more risk, but there seemed no way to avoid it now.
“Alright. Cameras are down. Working on the window now,” Vlqtrn informed them.
“Lus and I will get into position,” Wsr confirmed.
Lusac peered out from the branches to see the Kremel emerge from the trees a few yards away. Lus crawled out from the bushes and stood up, grateful for a little more fresh air and the ability to properly stretch. Wsr muttered complaints as he took the time to brush the excess leaves and bugs from his body before he walked over to join her by the building.
They spent a few moments closely surveying the wall and planning their path to the upper window. Lus was a pretty average height for a Human, but since Wsr was over seven feet tall, their combined height would put them in a good spot for Lus to comfortably reach the target window.
“Anytime now, Vlqtrn,” Wsr said into the comm.
Lus understood her apprehension, even if she didn’t have to join him inside the building. She’d be on look out on the outside with Cewi and then be there to help him down when he exited with the artifact.
“Got it. Sorry. This system is fighting me pretty hard. Hopefully it’ll get a little smoother from here,” Vlqtrn replied.
Wsr nodded to Lus and held her two hands out to create a foothold, just as she’d done back at the warehouse during their escape. After checking his backpack was still securely strapped to him, he stepped into it, and in the next moment he was shooting upwards, balancing on Wsr’s palms several feet above her head.
The window was well within his reach, just as they estimated, and he easily slid the glass pane open and pulled himself to the windowsill. He teetered there on the few inches of metal, waiting for Vlqtrn to confirm he could step into the building.
“Blast it,” the Kremel’s voice sounded in his ear.
“No, Vlqtrn. Don’t do that to us,” Wsr responded with greater frustration.
“I can’t kill the floor systems while the window systems are off.”
“Well I can’t get into the building without both a floor and a window,” Lus pointed out.
“I’m aware.”
“Figure this out, Vlqtrn. We don’t have time to waste. Someone could see Lus,” Cewi joined in.
Lusac’s muscles started to burn from holding himself in such a precarious situation, and he mentally cursed the system that refused to give him [Strength] or even [Stamina], both of which he was in desperate need of at the moment.
“Okay. This is risky, but it’s the only way,” Vlqtrn started. “There will be a tiny delay between the window security turning back on and the floor shutting off. If you are in the air during that time, you’ll be safe. So you’ll have to jump exactly when I tell you and make sure to jump high.”
“I don’t like this,” Lus stated flatly.
“Me neither. If he lands even a few milliseconds too early, the entire mission is a bust,” Wsr added.
“It’s our only option,” Vlqtrn assured them. “Ready, Lus?”
“Ready.” Lus adjusted his position so he could easily spring upwards and forwards into the building when the time came. He refused to think about everything that could go wrong and instead focused on what needed to happen.
“Now,” the Kremel said.
Lus propelled himself up and then tucked his knees close to his body to keep them from the floor for as long as possible. In the next second he crashed into the wooden planks directly on his shoulder. He laid there on the floor for a moment, catching his breath and waiting for the immediate pain to subside, all while begging the god of his homeworld to let him have this one miracle.
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“You’re safe. No alarms were triggered,” Vlqtrn said with a sigh of relief.
“Good job, Lus. But go fast. I want you to spend as little time there as possible. The guard schedule is working against us, and we don’t have long until we all need to be gone,” Cewi said.
“Will do,” Lus breathed, trying to keep from sounding as beat up as he felt. He sat up, shook his head to clear it a bit, and then pushed himself to his feet. His right shoulder ached, especially with the full weight of a backpack on it, but he ignored it as he silently crept towards the next exhibit hall. Of course, their target was located in the central room, as far from any windows as possible. Moonlight poured in from the windows, with a few orange emergency lights adding to the visibility. It was a little dimmer than what he normally dealt with on the Argo, so all in all, he didn’t have too much trouble finding his way.
“Don’t touch the door,” Vlqtrn warned him as he approached the exit of the current room. “I’ll have to manually shut the locks and alarms off for each one, and I can hold them that way for a few seconds before triggering a secondary alarm. Just move through it once I tell you.”
Lusac murmured a curse under his breath as he paused beside the next door. This was going to take double, maybe even triple, the amount of time it should have with him having to wait for Vlqtrn at every step. It was also a little worrisome to have to move in sync with someone just using comms, but Lus had no choice but to trust the Kremel.
“Okay, go,” Vlqtrn said, cutting off the rest of Lus’s concerns.
He stepped through the door, making sure it closed quietly, even though there weren’t supposed to be any guards inside the building. It simply felt appropriate for the situation.
As the door closed behind him, Lus was thrust into a deep darkness, penetrated only by a few orange beams from emergency lights. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the dimness, but even then he was only able to make out the faintest outline of the various exhibits and artifacts which added an extra level of difficulty to an already stressful mission.
“Can I use a headlamp or flashlight?” Lus asked into the comm, keeping his voice to only a whisper.
“There are light sensors on all the exhibits. They’re actually used for preservation purposes, but they might trigger something at night so I don’t think you can risk it,” Vlqtrn supplied.
“That’s just great,” Lusac grumbled as he crept along in the dark. He kept his hands wide to keep from crashing into anything since that would undoubtedly also trigger some kind of alarm.
“You do know where you’re going, right?” Cewi asked after another minute or so.
“Yes. Well, sort of,” Lus amended. “It’s hard to see with just the emergency lights. They don’t illuminate all that much, and my eyes aren’t meant for the dark like all your guys'.”
“You might have better luck if you focused more on getting to the artifact and less on complaining,” Wsr said, and he could easily envision the smirk that would be accompanying it.
“Easy for you to say,” he said to himself rather than the comm unit. Still, he did try to move a little more quickly amongst the darkened exhibits. The shelving unit with their target waited along the far wall from where he entered, making his journey something akin to a maze with all the bumbling around in an attempt to find a safe way through. After more time than he would have liked, he arrived at the shelves, and luckily an emergency light was close enough he could see more of what he was doing.
“I made it. Am I okay to extract the target?” Lus asked.
“No. Hold on a sec. I’m still trying to hack into the exhibit specific security systems,” Vlqtrn replied.
“The guard’s will be coming to do their systems check in a few minutes, Vlqtrn. We do not have time for this,” Cewi urged him.
“Blast it all. Sorry, Lus. I can’t get it. You’ll have to do a local breach,” Vqltrn said after another few seconds.
“That’s fine. I have better lighting here so I should be able to handle it,” Lus assured his companions, though he had his own doubts about his abilities to perform under this kind of pressure.
Sliding the pack off his back, Lus dug into it to remove some of his tools. He tried telling himself that this was just another routine maintenance job in the fsylan tubes, but he couldn’t quite convince himself of that. Now would have been a great time for his system to do… something, but instead he was stuck with vague cooking abilities and increased charm, neither of which were going to do anything for him now.
Lusac selected the all-in cutter and the circuit closer for his task. The former was a flaming knife tip at the top of a sturdy handle that was charged with a variety of power types to allow it to cut through nearly any common place materials. It could slice things like paper, wood, and glass even if they were several inches thick while dense metals like alunitanium needed to be thin sheets or else the cutter wouldn’t even make a dent.
The circuit closer was far bulkier, being a dense rectangular box with a wire coming from one end. It was also far trickier to use, and if Lus wasn’t careful, he could blow up the system and/or himself. At this point, he’d used the closer enough in the tubes that he felt comfortable slicing into nearly any system provided he had proper access.
He took the circuit closer in hand first and set to finding some kind of entry point to the exhibits power. Once he located the wire responsible for power, he just had to get the closer attached then all power to the exhibit would be looped inside the closer for a few minutes to allow him to work as if it had been turned off.
The cable Lus needed was in a hard-to-reach area that blocked most of the light, but he was able to dig out of its hiding place enough to pull it mostly into the light. From there he used the cutter on its lowest setting to remove a small piece of the protective coating, exposing the live wires. Then he carefully hooked the closer’s wire system onto it, and within a few seconds the lights on the box informed him that power was cut to the exhibit.
Using the all-in cutter again, he returned to the protective glass. The key here was going to be finding a way to get inside that didn’t leave too much of a mess. If he was able to do it properly, he could buy the team hours, perhaps even a day or two, before the absence of the artifact was noticed given its low importance to the museum curators.
Lusac tested the cutter against the glass and found that the glass wasn’t all that strong. That meant he should be able to re-fuse whatever he cut away. A corner on the side of the shelving unit seemed to be the most inconspicuous spot for his entrance. He used the cutter on a low setting to get a neat line out of the glass and removed a circle large enough for his hand and the artifact to get through.
Taking a breath, Lus reached into the exhibit. No alarms blared so he trusted that the closer was doing its job. He managed to get ahold of the puzzle piece and bring it out of the case. Before he set to work repairing all the damage, he took this chance to truly examine the artifact they were risking so much to get. It was a piece of stone with some kind of intricate pattern carved onto it, but without any other pieces, he couldn’t tell what it was supposed to be.
“Lus, we have very little time. Do you have the piece?” Cewi-Bano’s voice sounded loudly in his ear, startling him enough he nearly dropped the artifact.
“I have it. I just need to clean up my mess, and then I’ll be back out,” he promised.
Lusac wrapped the artifact up tightly and set it in the pack. He then used a higher power setting on the cutter to fuse the glass circle back into its place. Even in the dim light he could tell it wasn’t a great repair, but with the time crunch, he couldn’t do anymore to fix it. Instead, he deactivated the circuit closer and half glued the coating back onto the exhibit’s power cable. He returned the tools to the bag, slid it onto his shoulders, and shoved the cord back where he found it.
“Alright. I’m done. Making my way back,” he reported.
“Hurry, Lus. For Suns’ sake, hurry,” Cewi pleaded.
Lus did just that. It was much easier to return to the door which had an emergency light just above it then it had been crossing to the shelving unit, so he was there in only a few seconds, waiting for Vlqtrn to once again turn off the door security.
Vlqtrn got him through, and he was back at the open window when he realized their next problem. He stared at his only exit which was currently locked behind security systems that couldn’t be turned off without switching on the security measures for the floor he stood on.
“How am I going to get out without tripping any alarms?” he asked.
For several moments, nobody spoke.