Veronika returned to consciousness quickly and saw the others standing nearby. A squad of town guards were talking with Creed, who was no doubt filling them in on the fight.

“What were they after?” One of the older lakionian guards asked with a heavy frown.

“This Casey Fodder.” Creed grunted as he gestured to Veronika.

She tossed up her arms. “Fine. Put a bullet in my head. I’ve already died once, doesn’t make a difference to me. But if I’m what they’re after, the Concordat won’t stop and will attack everything in their path. Wouldn’t it be in your best interest to get me out of here alive?”

“The Casey Fodder has a point.” An older guard nodded, agreeing with her suggestion.

“What point? Better off killing her!” Another guard argued.

“While she’s alive, she’s a decoy.” The older guard smartly answered back.

“Glad someone here is using their brains.” Veronika commented. “I did promise to help. If you cleverly drop hints of where I am, that will take the heat off here.”

“That’ll take them to where the others are that need rescuing. The last thing we need is to bolster their ranks.”

“Oh. A diversion. Two teams. One decoy. Give those Concordat brutes a good run around. The other the true infiltration unit.” Simone excitedly piped up with her analysis.

“Exactly.” Veronika flashed a cocky grin at the men. “So, who wants to play decoy with me.”

Creed frowned, confused and unsure about the clone’s interest to help them. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because... I said I would?” Veronika said as if she had just answered a stupid question.

She heaved a weary sigh. “If I’ve brought trouble here, then I need to take it away. It’s only right.”

Creed’s middle eye twitched with surprise, but he quickly masked his expression with a grouchy frown.

“I’ll come to keep an eye on you.”

“Just one?” Veronika joked and then coughed it away when he continued to stare at her, unimpressed.

“Shepherd, I shall accompany you.” Scot volunteered, but his aid was instantly rejected by her.

“It would be better you go with Simone.”

“I agree.” Kran said as he stepped up to them.

Scot nodded. “Orders acknowledged.”

Creed looked concerned and tenderly approached Simone, who was wheezing for breath. Veronika noticed and approached her.

“Get away, Concordat. You’ve done enough!” Creed snapped at Veronika as he held Simone, who looked pale and weak.

[Scanning...]

A light scan from Veronika’s eyes ran over Simone’s body, which was being held in Creed’s arms.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

[Depletion of glucose and spirit energy. Nothing to be concerned. She will recover after a some rest. However, her meridian network is weak and thin. The summoning would have drained a lot of her power. Your body condition isn’t much better. I suggest you rest too] System noted.

“No. The longer I rest is a civilian dead,” Veronika soberly whispered.

“You’re in no shape to lead us. If you tell us the way, we can take it from here,” she coolly said to Simone.

Simone shook her head and pushed herself out of Creed’s arms. “No. They have my mother. And I know a discreet way. Stealth network. Undetectable.”

Creed stood earnestly before Scot and bowed with his request. “Please protect Simone with your life.”

“Acknowledged.” Scot answered, with a tone that made Veronika’s lips twitch with a smile. It was a tone that matched Creed’s earnest.

Kran stared firmly into Veronika’s eyes. “If you are genuine about helping, I’ll update your terrain maps with a route you can use.”

He activated his digital gauntlet and waved it over one of her hands. Streams of data flowed through Veronika as a network of fine lime-green lines of light. A terrain map of the area opened up in her mind. It was an entire underground network of the suburb region of the Expanse called Noel, where the Bing Bing mine was located.

[I could extrapolate a direct route to the mine]

Veronika nodded as saw a concealed way through the junk mountains. They could use the cover to conceal their approach.

“Where has the most Concordat troops?” She rubbed her chin as she mulled over an idea.

System narrowed down the focus to the left side of the area behind the main mine entrance. Veronika frowned as an uneasy feeling descend upon her.

“System, that’s where I came from.”

[Yes. Maybe we can learn more about why you were shot, other than on an order of being useless.]

System suggested she could organize her Concordat data to show where the forces were last stationed around the area.

[It is highly unlikely they would move from the base until they have completed an objective]

“Right. That’s where we’re headed.” She turned her attention to Creed. “You’re up for it?”

Creed frowned. “Up for?”

“Didn’t you want to shoot off some Concordat heads. We’re gonna head to where the forces are the thickest around the mine entrance to take off some heat.”

Kran rubbed his chin and said, “But it will still leave the mine itself heavily guarded.”

Veronika called up a terrain map of the mine area. Her eyes cast a terrain scan for everyone to see. She called down an overlay of Concordat Forces locations to pinpoint them on the map.

“Where would be the likely area to house hostages?” Veronika asked, but she lacked the confidence to tell them that there was the option there could be no one left.

The mine was arranged in circular levels, with the exterior main entrance running down into a large mine adit of the first shaft.

System zoomed in on a large central room behind the mineral laboratory on the third floor, underground in the mine. It looked like a conference room. There was a concentration of red dots around the area to indicate a heavy surrounding of Concordat soldiers.

“Simone’s team can take the secret passages to the laboratory and secure the hostages. We can fight our way into there, and clear an exit. Then we all make sure everyone comes out alive. No one left behind.”

“Huh.” Kran stared at Veronika, trying to understand who she truly was. “For a kid, you talk like a veteran soldier.”

“I’m a clone. Made to be a super solider from the best traits. But I couldn’t fire a gun properly. So my magical brush-pen and some strategy is my best weapon right now,” she smugly answered.

Kran laughed and slapped her back. “Knowing you can’t fire a gun like a Casey Fodder has earned you some points of favor.”

Some of the men let out their laughter and back chatter about Concordat morons can’t clone a soldier to fire a gun.

“Yeah, yeah. Well, let’s get back to the plan. The more you laugh about this Casey Fodder, the more time the enemy has to endanger hostages.”

The mood became sober again as strategies and plans were laid out and agreed upon. Everyone moved out when they were clear of their roles and set to their tasks.