Two years ago

An ice cold wind blasted Sinril in the face as he walked down the ramp of the ship, it was Imiea’s strange way of greeting him. His face scrunched up and his eyes started to water. He pressed down on the button on the side of his helmet and the two halves of his mask converged and fused together in front of his face. There was a split second before the mask’s display powered on when he stared back at the reflection of his eyes in the goggles.

“Sinril.” He didn’t recognize Cirion coming down the ramp behind him at first because of the mask’s voice modulator. “You ready for this?”

Sinril threw his hood up over his helmet. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

“Alright good, let’s go catch up with the others.”

They ran as fast as they could, using the terrain to stay undetected. The jagged hills jutting out from the ground provided the perfect cover. The terrain would be near inhospitable were it not for their armor. The freezing winds never stopped blowing, and the whistling almost sounded like the planet was speaking to them. Sinril saw a black silhouette disappear behind a boulder and sighed with relief as they finally caught up to them. The followed the shadowy figure behind the boulder and met up with the rest of their five-person strike team. They stood on the edge of a cliff overlooking a large Coalition outpost below them.

“Do you two have the charges?” Julisa, the strike team leader asked.

Sinril nodded, patting the pouch on his belt. “All set,” he answered.

“Good, now get going. His ship will be here any time now.”

Without another word, Sinril and Cirion started sliding down the cliff side. They dug their heels into side to control their descent. They landed at the bottom gracefully. Sinril froze when he saw a four Coalition soldiers on a patrol only a hundred meters away from them. One of them pointed at the strange figures but when they looked back they were nowhere to be seen. They dove behind a patch of rocks. Sinril’s heart pounded as he heard them getting closer. He grabbed the bow off his back and snapped the string on.

“Julisa, four of them heading our way, you got them?” He whispered over comms.

There was a pause when all he could hear was the footsteps of the soldiers getting closer. Then, three silenced shots hit their marks and their bodies landed on the ground with a thud. Sinril and Cirion shot up from behind the rocks, pulling back the strings on their bow all the way. The strings clicked past the primer and the green plasma bolt drew back with the string before they both let go and two silent shots landed firmly in the last one’s chest.

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They carried on to the base, using the rocks to cover their approach. They sat behind a rock only a few meters away from the fence. Above them, a watchtower rested on the edge of the fence and a lone sentry stood watch. Sinril raised his arm and held down a button on his wrist, a red light appeared above it and a red dot sat firmly on the sentry’s chest.

“One in the tower, I have him marked,” he whispered into his communicator.

He saw a bolt of green plasma speed towards them, and the sentry did too. But it lodged itself in his chest before he could react.

They ran over to the fence, running up, pushing themselves upward, and grabbing onto the edge of the tower. They heaved themselves up into the tower, and took a moment to catch their breath, but they paused as a ship roared overhead. A royal Coalition shuttle hovered over the base’s landing pad before lowering itself down. The moonlight bounced off of the ship’s gold accent trim, making it shine more than it already was.

“He’s here,” Sinril said as they looked down at the ship.

A ramp extended out and the newly crowned King Vandran came down with a pair of soldiers on either side. The orc looked a lot taller in person, not to mention more heavy-set. A Coalition officer walked towards them and bowed before they started walking and talking.

They jumped down from the tower and started making their way towards the landing pad. Sinril’s heart smashed itself against his chest, desperately trying to break free. With each step they took, the compound felt more cramped. He could hear the soldiers’ breaths, and see it being pushed out past the oxygen filters in their helmets. Everything and anything they could see was something they could use to hide, and it still didn’t feel like enough. They finally came up behind a building only a few meters away from the landing pad. They did a quick check to look for patrols and rushed over to the ship. Sinril has spent a week studying each component of this class of shuttle, and it was finally going to pay off. He took the charges out of his pouch and carefully placed them in strategic spots; the landing gears, the fuel line, the cockpit, and the engines.

“Julisa, the charges are all set, we’re headi-“

Sinril stopped, frozen with terror as a Coalition soldier stared straight at them and ran for the alarm. He reached for his bow and tried to take a shot. He yanked the string down and jerked it back. He heard the click and immediately let go, but the plasma bolt dug into the ground only a few millimeters from the soldier’s feet, and his fist slammed on the button. Sirens blared all around them and soldiers started rushing out. They dove for cover behind a crate to avoid the torrent of plasma bolts heading their way. A squad of soldiers rushed over to the shuttle and started ripping them off the hull before crushing them with their boots. Suddenly they saw King Vandran and his escorts running back toward the shuttle. Sinril looked him dead in the eye as he reached for the designator on his wrist and placed the laser firmly on his chest.

“Julisa he’s marked, take the shot!” he yelled.

He waited for the shot to come, but when it did, it breezed past the top of his head. They ran up into the shuttle and took off. Sinril reaches for the detonator in the hopes that they’d missed one of the charges, but the empty click when he pressed the button only filled him with dread and dismay.

“You two need to get out of there, now!” Julisa ordered.

They sprinted as hard and fast as they could, dropping a couple of smoke bombs behind them and coming out the same way they came in. They threw everything they could get their hands on behind them to block their path. Plasma bolts sped past them as they jumped and dodged to avoid getting shot. High explosive rounds shook the ground as a gunship buzzed their position. Cirion grabbed a stun grenade from his belt and dropped it as his feet. They scrambled up the watchtower and leaped out, rolling as they landed.

“That’s it, we blew it,” Cirion said.

“Hurry up and come back so we can get out of here,” Julisa said. “This isn’t gonna end well.”