Buster ate breakfast in the abandoned cafeteria, loving the quiet and lack of distractions. He usually took meals in his room when he worked for Nakuna, so he enjoyed getting to use the space for once.
He thought he would feel worse, sitting in this big empty space that had once been bustling with life. Being reminded of what he had done only made him feel more determined, more confident. He would always feel bad about the people who had died from his work at the hands of Nakuna, but he was proud of the people he had killed at Martenwol. This was a war, people died. All of them would have died just a few weeks later because of that war. By doing what he did, ultimately he had saved himself instead of being damned with the rest of them.
That was part of why he felt so light as he waited for the promised transmission from Kincade and Mirabelle. As far as he was concerned, he deserved to die along with everyone else there. In a way, it was almost like he was already dead. This was all just bonus time.
He had his multitool in one shirt pocket. His vaporizer in another. He tucked the pistol in his right pants pocket and the grenade in his left. This was it, him against the world.
He had done research. He had taken notes. Now all he could do was wait to test his hypotheses.
He didn't have to wait long. His communicator lit up, indicating that they were in range and awaiting transmission. After only a second's nervous hesitation, he hit the button to connect for a live video call.
His small screen flashed to life with the cockpit feed of Kincade's ship. He and Mirabelle were seated in pilot and co-pilot's chairs. Buster was standing at the table, holding his tablet in one paw. They looked at each other.
Buster broke the silence. "Haven't seen you in awhile." he observed flatly, looking at Mirabelle
"Yes, it has been awhile." said Kincade, thinking the panda was talking to him. "I see here you're transmitting from Martenwol?"
"Yeah. The humans scavenged everything here and they have Lance's tech too, so don't even think of messing with them. I'm out here so you don't have to go anywhere near them."
As Buster talked, Kincade flipped through his displays and tapped at scanners and notifications as they popped up. "I see you've got the Jerboa with you. Peacebound though, didn't get a chance to rearm it before you stole it?"
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The panda was trying to be careful. He didn't know how much the outside world knew about him or the attack, and in turn he knew that these two Freelancers had no idea how their initial message had been received.
"It's not a threat to you. Now, what do you want?" he asked, once again looking at Mirabelle.
"Well, we want to kill you." Mirabelle spoke up, glaring at him. "But your dad put a bounty on taking you alive, so if you surrender we'll let you live."
She smiled as the mention of his father made Buster visibly suppress a grimace. She had never met him, but years of her husband complaining and crying about growing up under his care gave her a good idea of what kind of man he was.
"Surrender, huh?" Buster thought aloud, "I have to admit, I have no idea what kind of firepower you're packing. But even if the Jerboa was armed I doubt I could do anything."
"That's right, Buster. You don't know what we're packing. I don't know how you disabled Lance's Komodo, but I do know you're not a mechanic so I figure you must be real good at doing homework. He was always a big swinging dick about his firepower, not surprised it did him in." Kincade taunted.
"You knew Lance, huh?" Buster redirected, seeing the avenue of discussion shut off, "Surprised you're not thanking me, that guy was a real piece of shit even by your standards."
Kincade rolled his eyes, "Look, are you going to surrender? If you keep trying to dig for clues, I'm hanging up and that video goes to the pseudonet. Then I'm coming for you."
No hesitation. "I surrender. Where do you want me to meet you?"
Mirabelle opened her beak to speak and Kincade cut her off. "I see even terrain, about a half hour away by Jerboa. Enough space to land, well outside of any automated defenses. Sending you the coordinates, we'll be touching down there in an hour. If you're not there outside the Jerboa when we touch down, we transmit the video and then we start hunting you down."
Buster tried to stall for time. "I'm in the cafeteria, it's going to take me like 20 minutes just to get to the Jerboa!"
"Then hurry." Kincade said coolly, disconnecting.
The panda was so frustrated that he slammed his free paw down on the table, roaring. They hadn't given him anything.
Kincade was smart, he knew to keep Buster in the dark. He also knew not to let Mirabelle talk, because she was vulnerable and inexperienced.
Wait, there was that one part. When he talked to Mirabelle, Kincade had responded. Yes, it has been awhile.
Buster jogged to the motor bay. He was incredibly thankful to no longer be as slow and out of shape as he used to be. If it has been awhile, then that meant they had met before. He didn't recognize Kincade, so he must have looked different. And he seemed to have a connection with Mirabelle.
By the time he made it to the Jerboa, he was so excited that he practically leapt into the cockpit. He remembered Kincade now. He knew who he was.
He had a plan. It was a crapshoot to be sure, and he was going to be playing a lot of it by ear. But he finally found a vulnerability he could exploit.
Not in their walker. Not in their communications. A personal vulnerability.