"You called for us, sir?"
Jora and company stood in front of the entrance to a rather plain-looking, cube-structured, and centrally located stone building. Before the Empire had arrived, this spot that stood at the center of their town had been an Adventurers Guild, of sorts. A place odd jobs were requested and accepted by the town's inhabitants or those passing through.
Now it had been rebranded as the central office of the Guard, and the location where the [Captain of the Guard] resided almost full-time.
"Come in," the [Captain] called out, allowing the three to enter.
His eyes scanned the trio, Jora unmoving while the other two looked around the room with no small amount of disgust plain on their faces. Tatiana and Jiun knew better than to voice their complaints, but that both disliked the current regime was no secret.
Certainly not to the [Captain], either, who watched on with an unconcerned expression for a few moments before resuming the work at his desk.
"You are to band together with Tren and Michel's squad and head into the western forest."
A simple sentence that sounded fairly innocent, yet Jora could already feel the heat emanating off Tatiana's glare. In response, the [Captain] resumed his paperwork, no further elaboration done, wholly ignoring them once more.
Jora's eyebrow twitched a little, knowing they'd have to ask for more detail if they wanted it. It was a tactic the S5 liked to use to remind those under their employ who held the power in the relationship, forcing you ask for more information. The man before him didn't care either way if he chose to embark without further details and would let them head west without any if they wanted to as well, waltzing to their deaths. It was effectively killing two birds with one stone, in their eyes. Either the mission got finished and they saved themselves having to explain, or a few insubordinate troops died and there were less dissenting voices around.
Still, though Jora had never cared too much about it, that wasn't saying the same for the rest of the guard. Many had gotten severely injured or killed after running out the door and being hit with special conditions to the task or ambushes that could have been avoided. An entire half of the Bruskar population had died off to their pride in this manner, so for Jora, it was worth the simple ask.
In addition to that, the [Captain] was a bearable man. He didn't withhold information out of spite or take pleasure in the small back and forth like others from the Empire. It was simply his job, and so he did it.
So Jora asked.
"May I ask what for, sir?"
The [Captain] met his eyes then, expressionless as he tilted his head a bit, then looked back down to his desk and again resumed whatever he'd been working on prior to their arrival.
"The scouts sent to investigate the energy fluctuations perceived three days ago have produced concerning results. Your three squads are to investigate and bring back more detailed information, technology found, and any non-hostile lifeforms you find, living or dead."
Jora sighed a bit, shoulders slumped forward in expectation as he watched Tatiana's mouth finally open, eyes wide and head slightly tilted to the side.
"Oh so it's our turn to die, then?"
"If you die on assignment that's your own-"
"That's bullshit and you know it. Tren would do everything he can to get us killed," she interrupted with a hiss, taking a step forward and planting her hands on his desk with a loud bang.
Jora moved to grab her, but two men in the large Combat Suits beat him to it and within seconds, she was pulled back and held aloft by both her arms. Instead, Jora grabbed ahold of his brother to hold him back from attacking the two other men.
The [Captain] hadn't even flinched.
"You take care of outside city shit yourselves when it's important or the [Credit] haul will be large but when it's some search task you always take an unrelated squad out and they don't return!" Tatiana continued, struggling in their grip. "Funny how you don't let people take on tasks like a guild anymore, but whenever an opportunity like this comes up, it's always, 'can you annoying non-Humans please march to your death?'!"
"Your squads use far outstrips the dissent caused by keeping your group around," the [Captain] replied with a wave of his hand, finally glancing up as the men let her go suddenly.
Tatiana fell to her knees, eyebrows lifted as her mouth and eyes opened wide in surprise at the sudden release and blatant admittance of the [Captain]. Jora let Jiun help her up, similarly flabbergasted.
"You may act independently of the other squads if you wish," the [Captain] added in before any of them could speak. "I would have suggested a split up anyway. It is imperative that you cover as much ground as possible in this search. You three are better suited to this task than my men."
The three of them regrouped a bit, taken off guard again by the tone and intensity of the [Captain's] stare, and the permission to split up. Not only had he not dismissed the topic and sent them away, he'd basically given them the go-ahead to hide and use any [Credit] gains by not forcing them to stay with others that would tag and report every kill.
Looking forward after checking on Tatiana, Jora was surprised to see the [Captain] still eyeing them firmly, waiting for an acknowledgment to his last statement.
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Jora nodded hesitantly, the other two following suit after. Creating a larger scene here wasn't going to benefit anyone.
"That is all, then. Someone will come get you when it is time to move out. You are dismissed," the [Captain] finished, resuming his paperwork as the three of them nodded and began moving for the door.
"Sir," Jora started, eying the papers again before glancing back up to the [Captain], "Do you mind if I ask what is so important?"
"I do. You are dismissed," the older man replied, tone showing that no further conversation would be had as he was ushered out quickly.
Outside, the other two were waiting, turning in line with Jora as they made their way back toward their lodging.
"Must be really important what they're looking for, then, if they're willing to look past that," Jiun commented, waving his arm at Tatiana as Jora patted her on the shoulder, the younger woman still visibly livid and rubbing at her arms where she'd been grabbed.
"I don't give a damn what they want. We need to leave, maybe even after finding and destroying whatever it is they're hunting for," Tatiana cut in.
Jora sighed and shook his head.
"Leave and go where, Tati?" he asked, motioning around them. "Each nearby city is controlled by them and if we don't go East or South, we die in the forests."
"Better that than-"
"Oh, shut up!" Jora cut in, pausing his legs and snapping a bit at her behavior, her eyes going wide. "Just... shut up. Stop. Please, for one damn moment. That's not better. I don't want to see you both dead."
Tatiana opened her mouth to respond, but stopped ultimately, remaining silent and nodding after a few seconds. Jiun took a step away from her and toward Jora quietly. Meanwhile, Jora took a deep breath, then exhaled while continuing on down the street.
"The last thing I'd even want to try doing is killing a dead man, anyway..." he mumbled.
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-Stay down,- Kellin instructed, waiting for the dust in front of them to settle as they knelt as low as possible.
While currently [Equipped], he didn't want to chance that Gypsy would try and make for the trees as she already had. The fact that he could feel their [Cloak] sapping away almost 5 [Energy] a second was already a big enough indicator that she was beyond stressed.
-Scale the [Cloak] way back, Gyps. You're going to leave us empty-
-Then we should run, not stay-
-If we do that, we risk getting caught by movement anyway. Keep us hidden, but try to at least get the [Energy] use back to mid-levels-
Two beeps sounded out in his head, sounding off a bit shakily to him though he was chalking that up to his own imagination running wild. The dust had yet to settle down, but just being near the impact had dealt both of them a small amount of damage from the debris and sonic wave passing through the area.
Finally, Kellin saw their [Energy] usage drop back into manageable levels, at least for the next few minutes, and kept his eyes trained forward. Any number of things from his memory could have caused the clearing to go up like that, none of them good. The lack of flames or any indication of actual explosives was more terrifying, if anything.
When the dust finally settled, he was greeted with just how bad it was as Kellin cursed whatever god controlled his luck.
-A fucking Savante, here?!- he practically screamed, barely remembering to use their [Psionic Communication].
Standing in the middle of the wreckage of a clearing was a single figure, having already gathered the corpses of the deer that it had landed by. Taller than the Combat Suit, though a bit more lithe, the green, humanoid figure with swirls of white across its body nearly blended in with its forested background. Its two long and smooth, jointless arms neatly held all six deer, three crooked under each arm as its white hair flowed around its midsection multiple times in a downward spiral, neither interfering nor touching its body.
After a second look, Kellin realized it wasn't only holding onto the deer. Underneath its right foot was the body of a Savul Brute, almost the same height and thrice the weight of the Savante before them yet still utterly crushed despite the creature's massive durability. It was red in color, suggesting it hailing from the same den as the Swarmlings they'd fought since landing on this planet.
The humanoid creature scanned the area, four golden eyes falling directly onto Kellin and Gypsy despite the [Cloak] after a few seconds, or perhaps falling on the area it had sensed them before. Its stare was a little bit off but piercing, dangerous. Its gaze seemed to bore into them, laying them bare and demanding they drop the ability.
They did not. When Kellin tried moving back after ramping up the ability, the Savante took a step toward them, so that was out as well as they froze up again.
A minute passed, both the Savante and the Marine frozen in space in a staring contest with one side sweating more than it ever had in its thirty-two years of life. A look to their [Energy] dropping rapidly only further intensified that sweat, having reached under 50 in less time than ever before. If it didn't choose to clear out soon, they'd be in trouble.
Or maybe not. If Kellin knew anything about Savante, it was that they were a fickle and strange race.
This one exemplified that trait as it chose not to move, staying entirely still.
Kellin watched their [Energy] fall to 20, and then 10. When it hit 3, he forcefully dispelled their [Cloak] so Gypsy wouldn't be incapacitated in the event they had to run for their lives.
"..."
One breath followed a second as Kellin did his absolute damnedest to not make a sound. Nothing changed after their [Cloak] dropped, not even the slightest twitch in the thing's eyes; the only movement in the clearing being its hair flowing endlessly around it and the dust still settling. After another minute passed, the tall green being before them glanced down at its two full arms, hair slowly wrapping around the large Brute beneath its foot a few times before once again making eye contact with them for another minute, then three. A second look down to its arms and the suspended Brute behind it was the last thing Kellin and Gypsy saw of it before it disappeared into the sky above them with a leap, headed directly west, toward the Savul territory.
Kellin and Gypsy fell forward onto their hands, knees still on the ground from before. Gypsy didn't say a word and neither did he, mind racing at a hundred miles per hour to try and grasp everything that had just happened.
-I've never once in my life seen a Savante in person,- he said after a few minutes, still on his hands and knees. -Every tale I've heard of them, every picture I've seen... all dead. Every single life in the area. There's no fighting that like we are, hell I'd doubt my chances before... And a physical form, to top it off-
Silence reigned again for a few moments as Kellin checked their condition.
[Marine Condition:
Integrity: 92/100
Health: 71/80
Energy: 4/110
Stamina: 96/110]
Gypsy didn't respond, but Kellin almost didn't want her to. For all his efforts to dull the edge of her overly cautious behavior, this could be a huge backtrack for both of them.
Five minutes passed with them only turning to lean up against a small tree nearby, taking in another couple [Energy] from the extra sunlight in the area. Kellin began to think about making their way home when it hit seven, but was honestly still a bit too nervous to move until Gypsy broke their silence.
-Should prioritize heading to the Hutch for now-
Kellin nodded, ignoring how obvious that was but just not knowing how to go about it currently.
-That's true, Gyps. It might be hard for us to do that with our [Energy] the way it is though if we run into Savul,- he replied, looking back the way they'd come from, then back at the clearing.
'That was it. Right there, that was it... Dammit.'
-Stay until 18 [Energy] or forced to move by hostile entities, then move-
-Good enough for me,- Kellin replied to her suggestion, nodding once as he opened the visor and let their left gauntlet ripple back off his hand so he could rub at his face, palm resting over both his eyes while controlling his breathing as they waited.