The Universe, 3029

[Charles Maxwell]

I stepped into the Goblin tank and pulled off my helmet, shaking the sand out of my hair as I did so. No sooner had I done so than Octavia Incendio was standing before me, an expression of fiery wrath on her countenance.

"Next time you think you might be running the risk of reducing us all to hamburger meat, Captain, I would appreciate being forewarned," the Baroness seethed. "Traipsing inside that container after its tampering was apparent was a  completely foolish maneuver and could have seriously jeopardized our mission. That the SRM charges were facing the wrong way was our only saving grace."

"Thanks, Baroness - your concern for me is touching," I deadpanned, eliciting a confused expression from Octavia. Before she had a chance to formulate a response, the comm unit in the crew compartment crackled to life.

"Don't be too hard on him, Octavia," Alyssa's voice interjected. "I was just on the radio with Schuster, and if they hadn't gotten a look at that transmitter, we might have been hosed. But since they did, I was able to pull a sensor replay from the drone. And it picked up a high-band RF burst coming from the container, directed back at Haven, just moments before the detonation. I can't tell you where the receiving station is, but based on the relatively low power of the signal, I would think that someone would need to have line-of-sight on the transmitter. And that suggests a tower somewhere."

Incendio glared at the wall unit for a moment before returning her gaze to me.

"Do you have any leads, Chase?" the Baroness asked, eyes locked with mine.

"No, I'm afraid I haven't had the opportunity to ask the locals for a tour of their evil underground," Alyssa responded. Octavia rolled her eyes.

"Fortunately, I've come to learn that the criminal network is fundamentally of a similar character no matter where it exists in the universe," she began before whirling on her heel to face the driver's compartment. "Bishop! Take us back into town!"

"Captain?" Weyland asked as he slowly leaned out of the driver's seat, twisting around to look toward me with a mixture of agitation and bewilderment. 

"If you would be so kind, Lieutenant," I replied, casting a 'mind your manners' glance at the Baroness before returning to the task of evicting the Spindrift Desert from my attire.

"Aye, sir. I'll rally the troops and roll us out."

Fifteen minutes later, our convoy was tracing a long, winding line across the umber expanse, plying across the sun-blasted sea of sand toward the town we'd left behind only hours before...

[Baroness Octavia Incendio]

These mercenaries had no sense of self preservation.  Jenkin's continuing employment was becoming less of a mystery and more of an portentous omen. Or harbinger of doom.

As Captain Maxwell seemed to not appreciate my voicing of legitimate concerns,  I elected to be the bigger person and quietly plan my legwork during the journey back to town. 

Back in the underground urban sprawl, I immediately hopped off the vee and checked to make sure my earpiece was working before approaching Maxwell. 

"I'll get information from the underground. The rabble tends to have gossip."

"That seems reasonable. Take Bis--"

"I'll be more effective alone.  That's all,  Captain."

"Baroness, we don't know this area.  There's safety in numbers."

"With all due respect,  Captain,  I am more than capable of handling myself," I retorted. "After the earlier incident,  likely safer!"

Without waiting for a response I turned on my heel and headed down an alley before anyone could try to interfere.

---------‐--------------

In the Twycross Underground

"Schuster, do you copy?"

A hiss of static greeted me,  and a few seconds later I heard Schuster's voice. "Yeah, I hear you."

I waited a few seconds to see if he would add anything else,  but nothing.  Seemed the storm knocked the manners out of the crew.

"Give me a rough map of the area or points of interest."

Another silence, before, "The buildings aren't exactly up to code, and they just build everywhere,  but...a warehouse to the east,  and a few bars that direction that seem to be popular with the underground. The first is two blocks up and over, the Desert Rose"

"Good.  Once I get our answers I'll return with a game plan. Turning to PTT."

"Is going alone really..." Schuster's voice paused, then continued. "Actually,  you do you.  I'm sure we would just get in your way."

I chalked up the less than polite tone to the earpiece reverb, and headed towards the aforementioned bar.

The streets were mostly empty,  with people not meeting my eyes.  Snippets of conversation were useless. The bar should have better odds.

A sudden scuffle erupted behind me, and I turned to see a man thud to the ground less a meter away. 

I darted to the body and crouched down checking to see if there was anything I could do.  No pulse. 

"He was followin' ya for a while. You're welcome."

My eyes flicked over to the new voice. A figure leaned against a crumbling wall,  tossing a bloodied chunk of brick into the air and catching it repeatedly.  They sounded young,  female.  Could be just what they seemed.  Or, a voice modulator. Perhaps a trap. All I could see were gray eyes. The rest of the face was covered in a scarf, dark clothes blending in with the shadows.

"Your altruism knows no bounds." 

"Oy, who said anything about altruism? I saved your life. Gimme your earpiece."

I frowned. Not a trap,  but a scam.  A surprisingly involved one considering the corpse at my feet.  Still, this matter was beneath me.  I turned my attention back to the body.  "Leave me. I have no patien--"

The shard of brick grazed my cheek as it zipped by me,  shattering into pieces against the wall.  I barely had time to scramble to my feet before the girl was next to me, a knee aimed for my stomach. 

She barely reacted as I blocked with my cyberarm, immediately shifting to a left hook that connected with my very real - and now very sore - right bicep. Mangy urchin. 

"Stand down!"

Still no response, which was more annoying than the actual fight. I wouldn't be able to reach the earpiece for the PTT function at this rate. 

Enough was enough. "You'll have to forgive me," I said,  activating my arm's hidden blade. It sprung free, piecing her shoulder,  and I quickly brought my other hand to my ear.  "Captain, there's-- what the hell?!"

To my shock the girl flung herself toward,  digging the blade deeper into her shoulder as she closed the gap between us. Impossible,  she should have jumped back to distance. What psychopath--

A hand gripped the side of my head and slammed it into the wall twice in rapid succession. An explosive pain darkened my vision as I slumped to the ground, and the shadowy form of my opponent knelt down and ripped the earpiece away

"You'll have to forgive me. That's what you had said, right?" 

Her voice sounded far away,  and as I tried to stand I felt another sharp pain.

Then... nothing.

[Claire Voltaris]

My instincts had been spot on. Whoever this prissy person was,  they were foreign to the planet. They walked with too much purpose, the arrogance of someone used to taking.  Life weighed down people here,  obvious even in my short stint. Add in the gear and all signs pointed to being part of whatever ship had landed.

I turned over the earpiece in my hand before trying to put it on,  hitting buttons to determine how it worked, before rifling through the pockets of my quarry.

"---ness, report. What's going on?" A male voice suddenly sounded in my ear,  sounding concerned.

"Hey buddy! I--"

"I repeat, what's going on?" The voice became muffled, as if turning to someone. "No answer,  can we get a location?"

I pressed buttons, and a sudden beep startled me. "Oy, fuck that was loud."

"Baroness, what's going on?"

"Your friend is dea--" Glancing over,  I saw stirrings of life and blinked. Guess I wasn't going to get that coat of hers. "Scratch that,  just KO'd. Head harder than the brick wall it seems.  You the ship that just landed?"

There was a silence on the other line, before, "Tell us where you're at and we'll pick her up.  No questions,  no retribution."

A good offer but useless. "Mhm, no.  I want off this Blake-forsaken planet. Either we both go or neither of us do. You have ten minutes to decide."

I pushed a button on the earpiece and looked down at the KO'd "Baroness".

"Noble, huh? Might be worth losing out on picking up that package.  Ransoms can be lucrative."

[Charles Maxwell]

"Your friend is dea-- scratch that,  just KO'd. Head harder than the brick wall it seems.  You the ship that just landed?"

I felt a chill go down my spine at the words. Delivered with a spiteful, spittle-laced brogue, there was no hint at all that this person - whoever she might have been - was bluffing. We'd switched vehicles at the spaceport before driving into town, and I now I gazed up into the driver's compartment of the Hover APC toward Bishop, who narrowed his eyes with fury.

"Give me a bag of guns and ten minutes. I'll have her back on board," Weyland hissed, a bloodthirsty vengeance in his tone.

Lieutenant Jaeger, listening intently to the radio traffic beside me, cast me a worried glance. "I don't like the idea of sending anyone into a civilian center with guns blazing. Collateral damage aside, we have no idea what kind of a powder keg this town might be."

I nodded in reply before addressing the unknown speaker again.

"Tell us where you're at and we'll pick her up. No questions, no retribution."

There came only a momentary pause before the speaker replied. "Mhm, no. I want off this Blake-forsaken planet. Either we both go or neither of us do. You have ten minutes to decide."

The comm unit emitted a double chirp, indicating that the channel had been manually closed. I punched another button on the comm unit, opening an encrypted channel to Warrant Officer Chase.

"Control, I don't know how much of that you heard, but I'm hoping you can get me a triangulation."

"I got most of it, and I'm working on it now," Alyssa replied. "The headset is still kicking out a homing signal, but between the atmosphere causing all kinds of signal bounce and the layout of this town being so cluttered and disjointed, I'm only going to be able to get you the general location. I'm afraid a specific street isn't in the cards."

"General location is better than nothing so long as we can have it quickly," I acknowledged. Even though the abductor claimed she wanted to deal, there was nothing stopping her from relocating somewhere that would be more advantageous to her and less so for us. While we waited, I looked to Orlex and Nick.

"Options?" I asked.

"If you're asking me whether or not I can hack this person's brain and get Octavia back, I'm afraid that's even outside of my abilities," Schuster replied. "I'm going to defer to him."

"Alright, fair enough. Lieutenant Jaeger?"

"There's something off about all of this," Orlex responded. "The minute Octavia steps off the transport to start asking around about the cargo, she gets yanked by one of the locals? That hardly seems random. Someone's been watching us; whether or not they're directly associated with the people who took the shipment is incidental. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's a good chance they know more about us than we do about them. That makes a recovery operation inordinately more dangerous than it normally would be."

"Alright, so we can't roll knee deep with people, but we also can't take the chance of simply saying, 'ok, fine, you want a taxi ride, come on over' and then jump whoever this is when they show up," I agreed. "So that leaves a precision operation."

"Provided that Chase can get us a location, I think that'd be the best option," Jaeger offered. "You, me, and Nick go in, since we've got the most ground experience out of this immediate group other than Bishop, who we need here to facilitate a tactical escape if things go south. We get a lay of the land, and then we effect an evac the same way we'd do with an extraction raid."

I nodded grimly. "I can get behind that. I hate that this is falling on us in broad daylight. I can't think of a worse setup for covert ops."

The comm unit chirped again. I glanced at its display before replying.

M.V. Hurry Up Bessie - ENCRYPTED CHANNEL

"Eden here. I hope you have some good news for us, Control."

"Yes and no," Chase answered. "The good news is, I've triangulated the signal to that large warehouse complex three streets over, beside the water tower. If you look out a window right now, you'll just be able to see its tin roof."

I maneuvered to one of the Hover APC's portholes. Glancing out into the glare of day, my eyes traced across the skyline until a dingy, rusted, battered silo with innumerable graffiti marks came into view. Just below it was the long expanse of an old, dilapidated warehouse.

"I see it," I confirmed.

"Good. Now, here's the bad news - that warehouse also seems to fit the bill for a likely receiver of the alert tripped off at the salvage site. That's an indication that whoever this abductor is, she's likely not acting alone, and that you may be up against some stiff resistance, given how hard they managed to hit with a booby trap alone," Chase explained.

"Lovely," I grumbled. "And you're saying that she's inside that warehouse?"

"I don't think so - not yet, anyway. The location seems to be resolving to an alleyway on the building's south side - more or less. If you want, I can send a drone up to try and get a better look," Alyssa replied.

"I've got a feeling that will attract more attention than we can presently afford," I answered. "Go ahead and get one on ready status, but don't go wings up until or unless we request it. What we could use your help with is keeping this hostage-taker busy when she calls back on the team comm. Tell her we're willing to negotiate, but drag out the details about where she's going, what she's bringing with her, where we can meet her, what kind of guarantees we have - anything you can think of to keep her talking. Meanwhile, we'll try to roll in from either end of that alley and assess the actual situation."

"You got it," Chase confirmed. "I'll do what I can."

"Meanwhile, I want the three of you," I continued, pointing to Levi, Mallory, and Bishop, "to be on hot standby to receive injured and clear us out of here."

Levi's eyes widened.

"Hopefully, that won't be necessary, but it's always better to be prepared," Doc reassured the man.

"Indeed. Lieutenant Jaeger and Sergeant Schuster - let's roll out," I nodded. "Let's see if we can get the Baroness back in one piece - and perhaps our cargo while we're at it."

[Bill the Beast]

Haven Dust-up Dome, Twycross
December 12, 3029

 

I changed into my gi in the Dome’s musty smelling locker room. The guy I was supposed to fight wasn’t even here yet. This huge wrestler lady I met on my way in said she was there last night, and the other belt contender couldn’t get in because he’d never won a belt before, and then management made him clean the whole area outside the dome because his gorilla dumped trash everywhere and pooped on the wall. This was going to be an easy fight.

 

The space under the Dust Up Dome’s bleachers was a training room that the regulars called The Pit. It smelled like sweat down there, and there were cracker crumbs, bits of popcorn and sticky patches from spilled sugar drinks mixed into the dirt floor. The selection of free weights was pretty damn good, though, and the stretching mats  had sheets of tar paper hung over them so that they didn’t get all grody like the rest of the floor.

 

I did my stretches and beat up a punching bag as a warm up, and then checked the clock. It still wasn’t time for my match yet. I thought about testing out my bees in the gym, or maybe in the locker room since bees chasing after naked people would be even funnier. But I wasn’t sure how to get them back in the travel hive in time for the match.

 

Instead, I practiced my battle yell while I kept wailing on the punching bag. My first kiai yell surprised a couple weightlifters so much that one guy’s weights clanged onto the floor, and the other guy dropped the bar on himself while doing the bench press. He was freaking out kicking his legs around and struggling to get the bar off of him - it was hilarious.

 

Then Ba Ba came down from the arena after setting up my monkey snare traps, and the time for fun and games was over.

 

“Have you done your forms and meditation, Billy?” Ba Ba asked.

 

One of the idiots who’d dropped weights on themselves when I started yelling hollered back “no, he’s just been shouting and hogging the good punching bag!”

 

“It’s a kiai, you butt-brained snitch!” I shouted back at him.

 

“Language!” Ba Ba screeched. “Your competition starts in half an hour, this is no time to mess around! Now show me Mauling Lion-Dog Form, double-time!”

I did the form three times over, until Ba Ba was satisfied that my kicks were high enough and I’d landed the stomps with enough energy. Then I did Charging Bull, and Raging Goose, and then Ba Ba made me sit and meditate. One of the Dome employees called me up to the fighting rink before I got much meditating done, which was fine by me - sitting still thinking about nothing didn’t seem like it’d help me fight any better, and also it was boring.

 

The guy who worked for the Dome led me upstairs to a big empty room with a big doorway covered by curtains. I could hear the noise of the crowd and smell their popcorn and chilli dogs. I could also hear the announcer talking to the crowd, but so far he was just reading off ads. I sat down in the folding chair and waited.

 

The contestant waiting area was really weird. There were pipes on the walls, and lines painted on the floor, and there was a big drainage grate in the middle for some reason. There was also a sign on the wall that said Caution: Beware of Zamboni. I guessed that was why they called it a fighting rink instead of a ring; some dofus had tried to start a hockey rink on a desert planet.

 

Then, the announcer started announcing the main event. I got up and did my stretches one more time to make sure I’d be loosened up and ready to rumble when it was my turn to go out.

“Listen up, Havenites!” the announcer said over the loudspeaker. “You fortunate few are here to witness a historic event: the very first d’juulu match to ever take place in our little town!” There was some whispering, and the mic cut out and then back on again. “I’m sorry, modified d’juulu, which is even better: in addition to the traditional traps, each contender will be aided by his chosen fighting animals! Lean in close, and witness the spectacle of two mighty warriors facing off for the Haven Dust-up Dome black belt, for their honor, and for victory.”

 

“VICTORY!” echoed a shrill voice just beyond the curtain. I was certain it was my dear Ba Ba.

“In this corner we have the established contender. Winner of over twenty different venue belts, black belt since age nine, and renowned martial artist and cage fighter throughout the known galaxy: Billiam ‘The Beast’ Jameswater!”

I charged out through the curtain and up the rickety stairs onto the fighting platform. I threw my arms up and paced a circle as the crowd cheered. Then I made a flying leap back the way I’d come and grabbed the metal cage frame over the doorway and climbed up it. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Ba Ba beaming up at me from the coach’s bench as I climbed up to the ceiling of the cage. From that vantage point, I could see the pulleys where Ba Ba had made the Dome employees hang my traps for me. I flipped myself around to face forewards, climbed a few bars forward monkey-bar style, and then let out a thunderous roar and dropped all the way down to the floor. I landed in a perfect horse stance. The entire platform shook and the panels of the cage clanked inside the chicken wire wrappings that held them together. The crowd went wild.

The Dust-up Dome was growing on me fast, even though it wasn’t even a real dome. These people didn’t know that the Solaris City Cage and the New Foundation Arena wouldn’t let me compete because I had a “reputation”. They didn’t know or care that I’d never become the Babe Ruth of beatdowns I’d dreamed of being. I was a real champion martial arts fighter in their little town, and they were thrilled to see me, no questions asked.

The applause died down a bit, and the announcer continued. “And in this corner we have the up-and-comer. A mech warrior and champion Solaris jock, setting aside battles of machine and missile to compete man-to-man, fist-to-fist for his very first black belt…”

Edited August 31, 2021 by Bill the Beast

[Orlex Jaeger]

Somewhere between the Desert Rose and a "warehouse" district, Haven
Twycross - Lyran Commonwealth
December 12, 3029
_______________________________________________[/i]

I stood at the entranceway to an alley roughly 2 blocks from the Desert Rose, a bar that was likely Octavia's intended destination before her current predicament, and also happened to run alongside the back of a warehouse that potentially matched what we knew of the looters that stole our shipment. An unwelcome coincidence and one we couldn't just ignore, the likelihood of this new aggressor being somehow tied to group that lifted our now three times stolen LosTech shipment was much higher than I was comfortable with. I was once more glad I had decided to go a little heavy on the weaponry for what was supposed to have been a quick retrieval from out in the desert. Leaning up against the sandstone wall, one of several brick structures in this area of town, I waited non-chalantly for Maxwell to indicate he was in position on the far end of the alley and likely not blending in as much as I thought I was. Two short beeps on the comms, the signal from Captain Maxwell that he was ready, I reached up calmly and adjusted the collar on my duster with both hands as though shaking dust from the long jacket while discreetly activating the military comm unit on my left ear.

"Bastion here, in position Eden," I said almost sub-vocally, the vibration based mic easily and clearly picking up the words, while using a separate encrypted channel on the comms due to the Baroness's assailant having easy access to our normal one.

Based on Alyssa's intel we had decided to split into three for our approach to the alley and warehouse, Maxwell and I would each go to an end of the alleyway and enter from the East and West, respectively, while Schuster was going to find a way up onto the rooftop of the buildings along the south side of the alley in order to get a view from above. The plan was to encroach upon their last known position from every direction we could to minimize any chance of escaping and hopefully overwhelm the assailant before they could spring a trap or get reinforcements. It was a good plan, but even the best laid plans rarely survived enemy contact and this one was very hastily put together.

"Rebus here, also in position," came Schuster's response immediately afterwards.

"Copy that, Eden in position," answered Maxwell, "Move in."

With a pointless but habitual nod I slid fluidly into the alleyway, the open duster blowing out behind me as the gentle breeze caught the large leather jacket for a moment. Using the wind to my advantage I reached in to my back and unholstered the KTS bull-pup shotgun that had been stored on the small of my back and brought it up to a ready position. The plan was to move quickly, using our element of surprise to its greatest advantage, as such the compact design of the pump-action shotgun, combined with the close quarters of the alleyway, made it the ideal weapon for such an engagement. The alleyway itself was vacant but far from empty, the dusty path was littered with debris, a mixture of regular trash, discarded building materials, and miscellaneous rubble, and the noonday sun gave the whole scene a bit of an ancient Terran Wild West feel, being on a desert planet just compounded the feeling. I half expected to see a tumbleweed roll across the alley and hear a twangy guitar belt out an iconic tune but there was nothing but a bit of blowing sand and a rusty dumpster.

Halfway down my side of the alley I came across another set of dumpsters, these ones still in usable condition, and had to jog around them as I continued my way deeper, clearing the small corners quickly before proceeding in case someone was lying in wait. After rounding this set of dumpsters and its associated pile of debris and trash I could make out the shape of a person leaning against the wall of the alley some distance ahead, they appeared to be near an opening in the alleyway itself, most likely leading into the warehouse compound to the north judging from my limited knowledge of the layout. From this distance, and with the assorted desert-wear the person was wearing there was no way to know if this person was the one we had been speaking with about Octavia or just some random person, or worse a guard for the aforementioned warehouse. They seemed to be waiting for someone or something though, so that was promising, and he was standing near an even larger assortment of dumpsters, several of which were open, and had more than a few large piles of building materials and rubble strewn about them.

"Eden, Bastion, I've got something," came Nick's voice on the encrypted comms, "One contact in the alleyway, appears to be alone, but something's not right."

"I see them Rebus, explain," replied Charles.

"Hard to be certain from here but they appear to be male, pretty sure the Baroness's captor sounded female earlier."

"True, could have been a modulator though, keep an eye out for anyone else, I'm approaching," stated the Captain before asking, "Bastion, we'll come in weapons hot but hold fire for my mark."

"Roger that sir, ready when you are," I replied closing to a distance where I could engage the unknown contact if needed.

As Maxwell and I closed in on the person I saw them look first towards the Captain, their posture straightening sharply before the took a step back and snapped their head in my direction. I got a good look at their eyes as he did so, their posture, body type and facial features suggesting they were male at this closer distance, and saw nothing but fear and shock in them as he staggered back against the wall.

"W-w-wait!" he stuttered out as he pushed back against the wall, Maxwell and I still closing in from either side though carefully keeping our distance, "D-don't shoot!"

"Who are you?" demanded Maxwell, as the man held up his hands.

"Fuck this, she didn't say anything about guns or mercs. I'm out!" the unknown man nearly cried before doing his best to slip past Maxwell, who kept his rifle trained on him even as he stumbled and ran down the alleyway back the way Maxwell had come.

"Well shit, I doubt he would have been useful anyways," I said as I came up beside Maxwell.

"Yeah, he likely would have passed out from fear if we'd made him stay, and I wasn't about to shoot a civilian just to stop him," replied Maxwell with a shake of his head.

"True, at least we're likely in the right spot, assuming the 'She' he mentioned is our captor we're looking for," I answered.

With a nod Charles keyed his comm while I moved to investigate the opening in the alleyway towards the warehouse, "Rebus, contact was a bust. You got anything up there?"

"Negative Eden, Bastion is checking out the only item of interest, appears to be a back entrance to that warehouse. Alleyway is full of trash but not much else," came Schuster's response.

After acknowledging Nick's assessment the Captain moved to my position and we continued investigating the rear of the warehouse. There were no guards or any signs of recent activity back here but that didn't mean much as there was likely multiple entrances and the presence of exterior guards would likely draw unwanted attention from the other locals. The building itself was surprisingly solid despite its dilapidated look, there were definitely portions of the building that were abandoned to the elements for an extended period of time but this particular entrance was rather robust looking. The exterior was heavily weather worn and looked to be little more than layered sheet metal bolted and/or riveted on top of further sheet metal but closer examination revealed a solid frame inside with evidence of a brick or concrete core in some parts. The door itself appeared to be a salvaged blast door securely mounted inside a makeshift steel frame that was not rusted at all and only mildly weather worn, at least in comparison. Several narrow vertical slits in the structure provided limited views inside and were the only form of windows accessible from our location, assumedly the narrow profile was designed to help the building weather the frequent sandstorms and high winds. Through one of the slits I spotted something promising, as opposed to empty or dust covered crates and empty floorspace seen through most of the windows this one was showing the edge of a pile of much cleaner looking equipment and a few smaller crates, nothing definitive but it was the best we had so far. Calling Captain Maxwell over he examined what he could through the window as well, picking out a detail I had missed and spotting what appeared to be the gold and black emblem of Irian Technologies on one of the smaller crates.

With this discovery we had at least located our missing shipment, however we still had no idea where Octavia had been taken or the location of her assailant. Time was running out as we approached the 10 minute time-limit the Baroness's captor had laid out and while we didn't suspect she would immediately kill Octavia, based on our interaction so far, there was no telling what she might do to make her point should we refuse her demands. The most likely scenario was that the captor had moved the Baroness into the warehouse for 'safe keeping' and was potentially laying in wait for us.

"Alright, so we've got our missing shipment located and a likely location they could be holding the Baroness in," said Charles as we reconvened.

"What's next? Bust in guns blazing or do we bring in local authorities?" I asked, not really wanting to bring in locals but not sure how the Captain wanted to play this.

"About thrice-stolen goods? Probably not the best play here," chuckled Captain Maxwell.

"Point taken, guns blazing it is, now how do we get in? I didn't bring THAT kind of firepower," I replied.

Charles smiled knowingly before opening our encrypted comm channel, "Control, we've located the stash but still nothing solid on Exile, do you still have a read on her comm unit?"

"I do Eden, it's still reading the headset in that same area. I'm showing all 4 of you in the same vicinity currently, I could get a better resolution on location if we had the drone up," replied Alyssa.

"Let's hold on that for a minute Control, I have a feeling our captor isn't working alone and likely moved Exile into the warehouse. We're going to breach and clear, if we still have nothing on Exile by then we'll bring up the drone and deal with the consequences," said Maxwell over the comms.

"So Bastion, think this will get us through that door?" inquired Charles as he unveiled a breaching charge from somewhere on his person, "had it for the container in the desert but we didn't end up needing it there."

"Oh I think that will definitely do the trick sir," I smiled as I gestured towards the door.

Charles moved quickly to the door and expertly set the charges, the breaching charge itself was a set of explosives laid out in a circular pattern on an adhesive pad designed to be attached to most any wall or door and then remote detonated to either destroy the door itself or damage the frame and/or wall enough to remove the door from the equation entirely. With the charges set Maxwell and I retreated to safe distance and took cover behind the sandstone wall on either side of the alleyway entrance towards the warehouse. As Maxwell thumbed the detonator the comm sprang to life with what sounded like a shouted warning from Nick.

"Eden, wait--" came Schuster's voice but was cut off abruptly, though it didn't seem to be from the explosion itself as his voice cut off moments before the breaching charge detonated.

******************

Nick was kneeling on one knee at the raised edge of the rooftop, the sandstone building sporting a series of crenellation-like sections rising above the rest of the raised rooftop edge at the corners of the building, and used one of those structures as both support and partial cover as he continued to survey the alleyway below while Orlex and the Captain discussed breaking into the warehouse. Something was off about the nearby dumpsters but he couldn't quite put his finger on it, true there were more of them but it was close to the warehouse entrance so that was to be expected. Several of them were sitting open, their large lids flipped up against the sandstone wall and obscuring the fact that they were rather far from the wall itself, but again the open lids themselves weren't that odd. That was when he noticed the unusual pattern in the dusty dirt path making up the alleyway floor, the constant wind had nearly erased it, which explained why he hadn't noticed before, but the remnants of what appeared to be a scuffle could be seen from above, or more precisely it looked like something, or someone, had been dragged through this portion of the alleyway towards the large collection of dumpsters. There didn't appear to be much traffic through here normally, and so there was no way to tell for sure if this was where Octavia had been ambushed or if she had merely been dragged here by the assailant, but it definitely appeared that someone had stashed something worthy of note near the dumpsters. As Nick observed this and came to that conclusion he moved to radio Captain Maxwell and Orlex just as they were detonating the breaching charge, if he was quick enough he might get them before they did and they could then investigate the dumpsters without alerting anyone and everyone to their presence.

Unknown and unseen to Schuster another figure was creeping up behind him, the lithe figure was wrapped in dark clothes and a heavy scarf obscuring their face, slipping from shadow to shadow along the rooftop as they got closer and closer to the unsuspecting Schuster. The man raised a hand to his ear, likely activating the comm unit he wore as he began to speak the shadow struck. She initially misjudged, or else this man was slippery than she anticipated as the initial tackle knocked Schuster against the raised wall but did not hit his head as hard as was likely expected. As Nick slipped free of the tenuous grasp, Claire quickly disengaged and slunk low into the corner of the roof, her legs coiled and ready to pounce as she reassessed the man standing before her. An explosion rocked the alleyway below, a controlled and clearly intentional detonation, but it distracted Schuster just enough and Claire took full advantage of it. She launched herself forward from the relative cover of the rooftop crenellation, striking with a fist aimed at the man's temple, he tried to duck but still took a glancing blow off his skull and he staggered slightly. Claire pivoted quickly, using the momentum from the glancing blow to redirect herself and launch a knee into Schuster's floating rib, the blow driving the air from him. To his credit the young man stayed standing, a fierce defiance in his eyes, he quickly backed off again and began to draw his sidearm, too slow though as Claire closed the gap immediately and jammed his hand, momentarily keeping the pistol in its holster. Schuster tried to punch the young woman, her scarf having moved enough to expose her face now, but she deftly parried his fist and then reversed it with an arm lock as she swept his leg out from under him. He abandoned the sidearm in its holster in order to use his hand to negate the arm lock as he lost his balance and the two of them tumbled to the rooftop, the impact again knocking the wind from Nick but at least the pressure on his arm was gone. Scrambling to get up Claire aggressively came at him again throwing a flurry of punches which Nick managed to mostly block or at least lessen the blows enough to have little effect, every time Nick would try to deliver a strike of his own Claire would close the gap again and either try to grapple whichever limb he was using or throw a knee or elbow aimed at any weak point she could find. A blow to the inside of the knee, a kidney strike, back of the head, even the armpit, Nick felt clearly outmatched and it was only a matter time before he buckled under the intense attacks.

His sidearm went skidding across the rooftop suddenly, seemingly of its own accord as he had not attempted to draw it again, mostly due to not having a chance to, his arm was wrenched behind himself as Claire slipped to his backside and locked him up with a deep hammerlock and he was forced to one knee as Claire kicked out his leg violently. Something cold and sharp pressed against the side of his neck as heavy breathing washed over him as she leaned in close to his ear, but not close enough where he could try to headbutt her or anything.

"Now then, let's see if your friends are willing to bargain for you."

******************

"Rebus, what have you got?" asked Charles, the sudden silence after the breaching charge's explosion faded was disconcerting.

Nothing but silence, I thought I heard some scuffling sounds but when I looked towards the rooftop I couldn't see anything.

"Rebus come in, what's your situation?" inquired Charles again, looking towards me.

I shook my head, "This doesn't bode well."

"Agreed, see if you can find..." began Charles before he was cut off by a voice on our standard comm channel, the one compromised by Octavia's assailant.

"Hello again, time's up by the way. Also it looks like I've got another of your men. If you're supposed to be bodyguards or something I gotta say you're rather pathetic at it," said the unknown voice, the same one as before.

Fuck mouthed Charles, before nodding to me and gesturing towards the roof then keying his comm, "We meet again, these are less than favourable circumstances I must admit."

"Not my problem," replied the young sounding female voice, "About our deal. My terms just went up, and tell your man to stay where he is unless you want the young blond fellow to die. I'm assuming you're the one in charge and the fellow heading for the roof here is under your command."

As the unknown woman was talking I had moved down the alley, planning to get to the next set of dumpsters and use them to get up on the roof of the adjacent building then make my way back to where Schuster had been, however I stopped dead when she issued her threat and looked back towards Captain Maxwell, he held up a hand and then gestured me back.

"Good, at least you can follow directions. Maybe we can all come away from this unharmed," continued the woman.

"Best way for that to happen is to release the blond one and return the Baroness to us unharmed," replied Charles.

"I'm not stupid," came the quick reply, "You're going to lower your weapons and raise your hands up so I can see them, I'll come out so you can see I'm not bluffing about blondie here, and then we'll discuss my new terms."

Again I looked over at Charles and he shrugged, we couldn't risk Schuster's life, even if we suspected the secret robot army in his bloodstream could revive him or heal him through whatever this crazy woman was threatening to do, it was too big of a risk. Both Charles and I lowered our weapons and then raised our hands slightly, a moment later a figure stepped out from cover on the rooftop. Initially I could only see Schuster, the glare of the sun obscuring whoever was behind him, but as they moved they came into focus and I could see a young, strong looking dark haired woman wrapped in a scarf and dark clothing. She appeared to have Nick in a hammerlock or similar hold and was currently holding a wicked looked straight blade up against the side of Nick's neck, I couldn't tell from the distance but Nick's expression made it pretty clear the blade was already cutting into his skin some.

"Alright, what are your demands?" inquired Charles, still using the comms although we were close enough we could likely hear each other if we spoke loudly enough.

Before the young woman could respond though shouting and sudden gunfire drew our attention back towards the warehouse we had just blown the door in on. Instinctively Charles and I ducked further into our cover against the alleyway wall and reached for our weapons again, a series of rounds exploded off the sandstone bricks and several more ripped through the air towards the rooftop. I heard Nick yell and then saw the woman diving back into the cover she had just left, leaving Nick still out in the open as his suddenly free hand reached towards the opposite shoulder and he too moved for cover on the other side of the roof. I peeked around the corner towards the warehouse and saw four thugs striding out of the blasted in door, crude looking slug-throwing weapons in hand as the makeshift guns spat out rounds with what appeared to be little accuracy. I fired off a pair of shotgun blasts from cover with my recovered KTS, the selector switch on the buckshot tube magazine and sending two tightly packed clouds of large pellets blasting towards the warehouse, downing one of the unarmoured goons. Charles added his own blind fire from his rifle, the spray dropping another of the thugs while an additional four men charged out of the warehouse.

"Having your gang attack us from behind isn't exactly doing well for your credibility here, I should also mention you don't have nearly enough firepower to take our ship if that's your plan," called Charles over the open comm to Octavia's captor.

"These guys aren't mine, and need I remind you that it was YOU that blasted open that damned door," replied the unidentified woman, "You're the one who woke these pricks up."

"Fair, but we can't exactly take your word for it, how do we know these guys aren't working with you?" asked Charles as he continued to return fire against the new threat.

"They are shooting at ME TOO!" yelled the young woman, "Not sure what else you're expecting. Tell you what, if you survive this I'll return Blondie to you with no harm from me."

"Uh Captain, just to be clear I'm already free, and while she's damn fast I don't think she wants to run across an open rooftop while getting shot at just to try and grab me again," interjected Schuster.

"Rebus, good to hear from you, what's your status?" asked Maxwell.

"I'm good sir, minor gunshot wound, couple cuts and bruises, nothing I can't handle. Need to recover my gun though, lost it in the scuffle earlier but it should be up here somewhere," stated Nick.

"Copy that, keep an eye on our bogey there, don't let her get the drop on you again, Bastion and I can handle down here," replied Charles as we both gunned down another warehouse thug.

A much larger, and heavier set, goon came lumbering out of the warehouse now, this one was armoured with what looked like makeshift iron plating hanging off him with leather straps and a welding helmet reinforced with plates of iron or steel on his head. He carried a large, heavy barreled machinegun looking weapon with a large belt of ammunition slung into an open box beneath the weapon and a tank on his back with hoses running into a shroud around the barrel. The heavily armoured thug let out a psychotic sounding laugh that was somehow clearly heard above the gunshots and then proceeded to unload a blistering hail of fire from the machinegun that tore through the sandstone like butter, the heavy rounds sending clouds of dust billowing into the air as the ripped fist sized chunks from the bricks. The machinegun toting goon raked his fire across the rooftop, blowing out close to half of the crenellations before fighting to bring the weapon to bear on my cover, the barrel glowing with the heat of continuous fire and steam pouring off the barrel shroud as his backpack, which appeared to be some sort of liquid cooling device, struggled to keep the gun operational. I was forced to move back further from the corner as the brick was eroded away under the unrelenting assault, unable to even attempt blind firing as what appeared to tracers mixed into the belt of ammo send streaks of iridescent metal ripping through air where I had been taking cover only moments before.

"So new terms there Captain fellow," began the young woman again, presumably still trying to take cover behind the partially destroyed crenellations.

"Not really the best time miss," answered Maxwell through gritted teeth as he poured fire onto the heavy gunner, nearly everything was deflecting off the heavy plate armour and whatever drugs was keeping the thug going also meant he didn't care about any superficial wounds he might have received.

"Here me out," she continued, unabated, "You get me out of this alive, providing you survive as well, and I'll return the Baroness to you unharmed. No ransom needed. We can discuss passage on your ship then."

"There's no free ride here, I'm all for a truce right now but you're going to need to help out if you expect us to try and keep you alive," answered Charles.

"Fine," was the only response, a moment later a rock came flying from the rooftop smashing into a shoulder of one of the unarmoured goons.

Shortly after the heavy gunner's deluge of fire finally ceased, smoke and steam pouring off the glowing barrel and shroud leading me to believe the gun malfunctioned from overuse as opposed to any intentional cessation of firing. Taking the opportunity both Maxwell and I unloaded into the large man with our guns, myself having switched to solid slugs to have the best chance at punching through a weak spot in his makeshift armour. The solid slugs cratered massive holes into the armour plating but nothing seemed to be punching through yet while the full auto fire from Captain Maxwell's rifle began finding unarmoured spots to punch through. First dropping the man to a knee, though he continued beating on the machinegun and pulling at the charging handle in an attempt to clear the jammed weapon, then taking a sizable chunk out of his shoulder and completely disabling his left arm, but the weapon's sling/harness kept it in place well enough he still continued working to unjam it. Another couple rounds found purchase on the welding helmet and spun it sideways on his head before one of my slugs removed most of his lower jaw, somehow this jacked up beast was still working to clear his gun and even managed to cycle the charging handle fully, ejecting the problematic round, before the Captain's next burst found his now unarmoured neck and nearly decapitated the heavy gunner to finally stop him.

[Steve Jenkins]

MEANWHILE......

Haven Dust-up Dome, Twycross
December 12, 3029

The changing room smelled like butt, it was more like actually a bathroom with some stalls that had had the wall in the middle blew out to make a changing room inside, a changing room with a toilet on one end and some lockers on the other. Other than that it looked just like a bathroom. My boots made sticking textures as I Walked out of the stalls with my rental combat uniform on, it looked just like one of those old time wrestler outfits that was a one piece swimsuit but for guys. I was feeling Nauisea, I was all alone, there was no Sensei Ronald or Master Honda to give me moral boosting, it was just me and my Destiny........I thought about my battle buddies out in the Desert Wastes fighting the good fight, doing all of the Things that needed to be did to keep us Vibrant, now was when I had to capture Honor in their memory, but I did not have my Spirit Guides. At least I Had my gorilla.

"Mr Chuckles its just you and me now, we have to do this" I said as I Walked out of the stall and looked over for Mr Chuckles, I was Horrified to see he was licking the inside of the nasty urinal up against the wall and the broken mirror!!

"MR CHUCKLES THATS DISGUSTING, I JUST GOT DONE CLEANING YOUR DIARRHEA OFF THE WALL FOR HOURS WITH A TOOTHBRUSH, GET OUT OF THE TOILET!!" I Yelled, Mr Chuckles turned around and looked at me really confused with a Urinal Cake half inside his mouth and all kinds of bluish greenish Urinal Cake crumbs down his front, I was so grossed out that I did a 5 minute barf in the sink and then wiped my mouth with my sleeve, but then an even worse thing happened!

“In this corner we have the established contender. Winner of over twenty different venue belts, black belt since age nine, and renowned martial artist and cage fighter throughout the known galaxy: Billiam ‘The Beast’ Jameswater!”

I couldn't beleieve what I had just heard. BILLIAM JAMESWATER was back, back from a past a long time ago...............the kid who had beat me in my Belt Trial and sent me to a life of Dishonor, how was he all the way out here, how did he know that today was the day I was going to reclaim my Honor??? I stumbled around barfing in Stress, Mr Chuckles ran over and rolled around in it but I didnt care, I was beyond a horror, how could I even face him in the Rink after all these years???

“And in this corner we have the up-and-comer. A mech warrior and champion Solaris jock, setting aside battles of machine and missile to compete man-to-man, fist-to-fist for his very first black belt…”

'NO!! I'M NOT READY!!!" I Yelled out the curtain at the announcer, he gave me a weird look and then said "STEVE JENKINS!!!" A Huge spot light came down on me and lit me up, I tried to hide behind the curtain I was hiding in but the curtain wasnt long enough and I still saw everyone. Everyone in the Rink was quiet, I heard some guy coughing up in the stands.

"AH Ha ha ha" I said, I wanted to make everyone think I had did it on purpose, then I grabbed Mr Chuckles's leash and we came out from bnehind the curtain. WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS started blasting on the speakers and I Ran up to the Pit and climbed inside, all of the sudden I Was staring at Billiam Jameswater and he was even bigger than he had ever been, he had 3x as many muscles and was like 5 feet taller than the last time I had saw him, he looked at me with murder in his eyes.

"WHAT WHATS THIS STEVE JENKINS??? HOW ARE YOU STILL IN THE LIVING???" he roared in a voice like a bear "I HEARD YOU DIED ON SOLARIS."

"NO I JUST HAD A REALLY BAD MATCH AND GOT BLEW UP, THEN I GOT KICKED OUT OF SOLARIS ON ACCOUNT OF I WASN'T THE CHAMPION ANYMORE!!!" I Yelled, just then the announcer cut in and said "NO TALKING ALLOWED UNTIL AFTER I READ THE RULES. I WILL NOW READ THE RULES!!" But then Billiam Jameswater grabbed the microphone and busted it in half with his bear hands and threw it into the audience and roared "WE KNOW THE RULES, START THE MATCH!!" Then the announcer looked at him with Murder in his eyes and said "OK, WHEN I SHOOT THIS GUN THE MATCH WILL START. TWO MEN ENTER, ONE MAN LEAVES WITH HONOR, ONE MAN LEAVES WITH DISHONOR. FIGHT WITH HONOR."

The next thing I Knew there was a Huge shotgun explosion and a bunch of Bird Shot bounced off the roof as the Announcer shot the starting shotgun, I Looked at Billiam who Ripped off his uniform with his bear hands and went ripping toward me in his boots and his fighting shorts. I Opened my mouth and let out a huge scream and Yelled "GET HIM MR CHUCKLES!!!!" Then I looked where the Gorilla was supposed to be and All that was left was a tore up leash and Mr Chuckles was gorillaing away into the audience with dishonorable Ape screams of terror, I was on my own!!

"OH SHIT I'M A SITTING DUCK!!!!!!!!!!" I Screamed and prepared for Combat!!

[Charles Maxwell]

No sooner had I dropped the goon that I assumed would be the worst opponent of the moment than bursts of gunfire, intermingled with the frenzied shouts of even more startled marauders, echoed through the cavernous warehouse that was now quote bereft of a door. I looked toward Lieutenant Jaeger and keyed my headset.

"Shit," I began, raising my rifle again, "there's more coming."

"Sir, with all due respect, we've got an offer on our hands that seems to lend itself to retreat. Should we consider it? There's two - maybe four if that one's keeping her word - of us, and I don't know how many of them," Orlex replied.

A heavy-caliber round zinged past my head, exploding on the brick behind me and causing me to instinctively grip my combat shotgun tighter.

"And get shot in the back while we leave? I'm afraid that it seems the party's still in full swing." I muttered, clinging tightly to the alley's inner wall as Jaeger and I drew nearer to the warehouse's entrance. "And anyway, our stuff is right there. We should at least give it a shot." The Lieutenant nodded silently, brandishing his firearm and peering through the destroyed doors leading into the embattled bay.

"Oh, this is bad," Orlex observed. "There are several positions they've got fortified. I count at least three more guys in there. But, I think I've got an idea."  Pointing at a large, two-way mirror in the northwest corner of the bay, he leaned toward me. "We might be able to use that to our advantage. See if you can make it to whatever's on the other side of that window. I'm going to try to get into the warehouse and draw their fire."

"Roger that. Good luck," I responded.

Several more thunderous bursts of weapons fire rumbled through the facility as I barreled into the warehouse, sprinting down the building's inner wall, following it until it terminated at a heavy, wooden door, adorned with faux gold lettering reading 'Management.' I jiggled the handle, finding the door secured.

Time for some serious property damage…

Setting my rifle's mode selector to 'burst,' I took several steps backward and fired a volley of armor-piercing rounds into the door's locking mechanism. With a crack, the frame fractured, and a swift kick later, the door was open. As the unmistakable scream of an automatic weapon firing filled the air, I dove forward, throwing a rolling chair aside as I took cover behind a heavy oak desk. As I took in my surroundings, the large two-way mirror above the desk exploded inward, showering the office with dagger-shaped shards of broken glass. Several high-caliber rounds embedded themselves in the opposite wall, punching a hole through a poster promoting 'unity' in an ironic twist of fate. A hulking figure in a flak vest stood looking into the office, smoke rising from his assault rifle.

"All right, Jaeger. What's my next move?"

"I'm tangling with the sniper out here and his friend. See if you can't get the attention of the other one."

"That shouldn't be too hard." I muttered, popping up from behind the desk, simultaneously leveling my combat shotgun's sights on my assailant's head and pulling the trigger. Three armor-piercing rounds exited the chamber, corkscrewing through the air and smashing through the man's helmet. A wash of blood and gore sprayed from its faceplate as the commando dropped like a sack of potatoes, landing on the floor with a horrific crunch that almost certainly heralded the breaking of bones. Astonished, I keyed my mic.

"That was easy."

The comm channel hissed as though a reply were imminent. Before my earpiece had time to transmit the response, the air was filled with a new sound - the unmistakable whoosh of an artillery round firing, followed by a thunderous explosion and the accompanying shriek of a metalwall collapsing. The office wall before me disintegrated into a cascade of plaster and structural members, affording me a view of the warehouse proper beyond. There, I bore witness to two surviving combatants, who stared out at the menacing visage of a Hover APC slowly moving into the building, its weapon ports glowing. The commandos immediately opened fire on the vehicle, their weapon volleys barely scratching its massive frame. The APC paused for a moment, in what could almost have passed as an incredulous stance, before delivering two debilitating alpha strikes, incinerating both men in a massive volley of hellish weapons fire. Several crates were set ablaze as the smoke cleared, casting a eerie pall across the APC's visage. I cautiously climbed through the office's window, dropping down onto the warehouse floor, and made my way toward the vehicle as its hatch swung open.

"Thanks for the assist!" I called out, not entirely certain whether the new arrival was one of our own or yet another rouge element.

"Don't mention it," a familiar, gruff voice replied. "I'm supposed to keep you safe. Wouldn't look good if I had to tell the General I failed at something so simple." As the final words echoed off the walls of the warehouse, Bishop Weyland popped into view. I sighed a heavy breath of relief.

"Now, how long do we have to grab and go before the next wave of baddies hits us?" the hulking man asked, dropping to the dirt floor of the expansive facility. "If history's any indication, we're probably good for about ten more minutes before this place is swarming with looters, cops, or both."

[Nicholas Schuster]

I angrily wiped blood from the side of my mouth as I looked up at the disguised assailant. I couldn't believe that, whoever she was, she had managed to get the drop on me twice, on an open rooftop no less. I was definitely not as prepared as I thought I was to go at it alone. My military training had taught my how to fight in face-to-face, hand-to-hand combat, but hadn't really gotten into too much detail about how to handle abductors dropping from the sky and randomly jumping me for no apparent reason. The first time, she'd pounced on me and grappled with me long enough to kick my weapon over the edge of the roof and break my binoculars before disappearing again. Now, she was back, and this time, she was coming at me with some kind of steel rod that looked a lot like the comealongs that riot cops used on some of the more unruly worlds.

"What are you, back for more? What do you even want?" I asked as I stood to my feet and faced down the masked woman.

"It occurs to me that while a single person puts me in a bargaining position, a second person makes that bargaining position even stronger, especially when taking you removes a certain amount of strategic advantage from the people with whom I'm negotiating." the woman explained, beginning to circle me. I started to realize that she was gradually moving me into a position where the only thing behind me was the ledge of the roof and the only means of escape was a gruesome three story plunge to my death in the street below.

"I don't know, there is an expression back where I'm from that goes Einem geschenkten Gaul schaut man nicht ins Maul. Inspecting a gifted horse is rude. It shows you don't appreciate what you have." I answered.

"And what is it you think I have right now?" the lady asked, feigning a lunge toward me. I recoiled instinctively and nearly fell off the roof.

"You have the Captain's attention and it sounds like you might already be in a bargaining position. Why press your luck?" I said, regaining my balance as we continued to circle each other.

"Insurance. I don't know how valuable Baroness is to your Captain alone, but I am willing to wager that worthless or otherwise, the stakes are going to go up if I have two of his people." No sooner had she said the words than she very suddenly and without warning kicked a pile of rocks, used to ballast the roof, directly into my face. The stones and dirt pelted me and blinded me temporarily.

"Aaaaaugh!" I yelled, without my glasses or shades to guard my eyes. I heard the sound of running boots thudding on the roof and felt a sharp kick as the woman attacked. As I fought to keep her off me, a thunderous explosion down in the alley below stopped the attack short.

"Blake damn it!" I heard my attacker yell, followed by footsteps running swiftly off into the distance. I slowly forced my eyes open and looked around. The attacker was gone. I peered over the side of the roof and saw a huge gaping hole in the side of the warehouse and what looked like our APC inside. I coughed a bunch and then located my earpiece. Stuffing it back onto the side of my head, I pressed the microphone.

"Rebus to Eden, are things under control down there?" I wheezed. "Because I think we're facing some complications with our hostage taker."

[Orlex Jaeger]

Looter Warehouse, Haven
Twycross - Lyran Commonwealth
December 12, 3029
_______________________________________________

Resistance from the warehouse had been much stronger than expected, while they weren't exactly skilled they did have numbers on their side, not to mention considerable firepower given this was supposed to be a sleepy shanty town. But if you've built a life fighting against, or potentially working with, frontier pirates you've likely "acquired" a sizeable arsenal one way or another. We briefly considered cutting our losses and coming back later with reinforcements but then additional gang reinforcements from somewhere within the warehouse cut our thoughts short as we were forced into direct combat once again, thankfully Captain Maxwell's well trained firepower combined with my own was still sufficient to keep enemy numbers manageable. A quick assessment of the warehouse's internal layout revealed several potentially fortified positions with a number of them manned and others unclear if anyone was currently holed up there or not, our best bet was to divide and conquer so that the enemy couldn't pin us down and concentrate fire on us.

Inside the warehouse the open areas limited the usefulness of my KTS shotgun, even when using slug rounds, and its extended reload time, due to inserting each shell individually, lead me to switch over to the GA King Slayer Gyroslug Carbine I had slung across my shoulders, another bull-pup design the compact form allowed me to retain most of my mobility and maneuverability while still providing the power of a full size rifle. As an added bonus the gyroslug rounds were tipped with an impact activated explosive warhead, nothing close to a grenade or anything but enough to ensure lethal damage and armour penetration at nearly any range. As Captain Maxwell moved swiftly to get into a flanking position through the interior of the warehouse I opened fire with my rifle to draw fire away from him, several self-propelled, explosive-tipped, rocket-like rounds ripped through the air in virtual silence leaving a telltale conical plume of white exhaust hanging in the air before the impact and subsequent detonation of the gyroslug rounds echoed throughout the enclosed warehouse with seemingly reckless abandon. Many of the rounds exploded harmlessly against the fortified cover scattered across the warehouse, although "harmless" was subjective as it still blew out chunks of the walls and sheered through the heavy slats of metal with repeated impacts. A few rounds found their targets though and the effectiveness of the explosive rounds was clearly evident, even a glancing blow was enough to remove a combatant from the fight, even if not permanently. It didn't take long before return fire found me and forced me to take cover myself, a few rounds glancing off the limited protection provided by my flak vest and leather duster. I ventured out for another burst of fire but was immediately driven back by sniper fire, my current armour provided virtually no protection against that caliber of weapon and so I was forced to blind fire my semi-auto carbine with very little success.

"All right, Jaeger. What's my next move?" inquired Charles, assumedly having made it into position in the office.

"I'm tangling with the sniper out here and his friend. See if you can't get the attention of the other one," I replied, firing off another series of blind shots.

Pulling one of the four Class 'B' "mini" grenades from my vest I popped the activation lever and lobbed the smoke grenade out into the open floor, in mere seconds the central portion of the warehouse was filled with a thick grey smoke winding its way up towards the ceiling, the natural convection of the air on the hot day pulling it out beyond the grenade's normal 6m radius. The breeze also meant that the smoke wouldn't last as long either, probably only had a couple minutes at best where the smoke would remain thick enough to be effective. Taking full advantage I slipped out low on the opposite side of my cover, cautiously at first to make sure I indeed had the sniper's line of sight blocked, no enemy fire meant I was probably in the clear. I crouched ran to another piece of cover on the edge of the smoke where I could just see the sniper's position, of course that also meant he'd be able to see me  so I only had one shot. Lining up the gyroslug carbine I waited for the wind to blow the smoke clear a little more before smoothly squeezing the trigger and sending the micro-rocket round blitzing through the air, a small crack of the round actually breaking the sound barrier the only sound audible across the battlefield.

Before the round reached its target, or perhaps right at the same time, a massive explosion ripped through the warehouse followed by the distinctive whine of a hover vehicle's engine as what appeared to be a Heavy Hover APC literally pushed its way into the now damaged warehouse after unleashing a blaze of fire to weaken the structure. I silently prayed that the new arrival was on our side, and judging from the reckless way they burst into the building I assumed they must be, and had my answer almost immediately as two additional enemy commandos came charging out from amongst the rubble and debris before stopping and staring wide-eyed at the unexpected arrival of the armoured combat vehicle. To their credit they opened fire rather than running, although the latter may have been the wiser choice given the situation, and while their weapons were effectively useless against the hover vehicle the same could not be said about the vehicle's own weapons. Two short, precise, bursts of heavy weapons fire later and nothing remained of the enemy commandos.

"Thanks for the assist!" called Maxwell as he exited through the now destroyed wall of the office he had been flanking from.

"Don't mention it," replied the familiar, heavy voice of Bishop, "I'm supposed to keep you safe. Wouldn't look good if I had to tell the General I failed at something so simple." As the final words echoed off the walls of the warehouse, Bishop Weyland popped into view.

"Now, how long do we have to grab and go before the next wave of baddies hits us?" the hulking man asked, dropping to the dirt floor of the expansive facility, "If history's any indication, we're probably good for about ten more minutes before this place is swarming with looters, cops, or both."

"If that," I interjected, moving to meet up with the other two men, "Thanks for the rescue by the way, the rate reinforcements kept showing up I'm guessing this warehouse has an entrance to the underground somewhere nearby, only place I can figure they were hiding that many men."

"All the more reason to get a move on, and quickly," replied the Captain, "Bishop, give me a hand checking these crates, the ones NOT on fire at least. Jaeger you get started on the ones over there. Anything marked Irian we take, the rest we'll decide as time permits."

Bishop grunted at the slight rebuke, even though it was clearly in jest, and nodded to the Captain before immediately setting to work clearing off the nearest crate and cracking it open to check its contents. A few minutes passed quickly as we proceeded to load up everything we could into the APC's personnel bay, it wasn't exactly designed for cargo but the spacious bay had plenty of room for our current needs. Bishop's enhanced strength was instrumental in moving many of the heavier crates, some of which even he struggled with, and both the Captain and I watched in awe more than once as Bishop easily picked up and moved cargo that the two of us would have struggled with together. Even with his enhanced strength though there were a couple Irian marked containers that were just too heavy and we would have had to leave them behind except for a lucky find tucked away in the back of the warehouse. While Bishop was loading the last of the crates we could move I had decided to quickly sweep the warehouse for any additional cargo but also to keep any eye out for enemy reinforcements which we fully expected at any minute. Instead, half buried behind a collapsed scaffolding, I found a GM HeavyHauler, a purpose built exoskeleton used for moving cargo, that the looters must have been using to move their stolen goods. 

As I was checking it over, and surprisingly found it operational with a half charge on its power cell, Bishop suddenly yelled at me from across the warehouse in a tone that I instantly knew meant I was in danger. I spun around to face towards an open corridor leading away from the main part of the warehouse and came face to face with an enemy soldier holding a shotgun, he was several feet away but still close enough that it might as well been point blank and yet he never fired his weapon and instead just stood there with a blank look on his face. A moment later, which seemed like an eternity as I instinctively reached for my sidearm in what felt like slow motion, the soldier collapsed forward, falling to the floor motionless, a large red smear marring the back of his head and explaining the odd blank stare. Standing behind him, casually tossing a brick in her hand, was a lithe raven-haired woman dressed in black desert garb with a scarf obscuring most of her face and looking all too comfortable given the situation.

"You're welcome," she said, in a not-quite sultry, young sounding voice.

"Thanks," I replied, still not sure what to make of the newcomer, "And you are?"

"We've already met," the young woman shot, the almost sultry tone gone and replaced by an accent I couldn't quite place off hand.

Recognition dawned on me as I realized this was the same woman that captured Octavia and had ambushed Nick only a short time earlier, I immediately backed up and finished drawing my sidearm, levelling the pistol at her head with my finger on the trigger.

"Whoaa!! Easy there big fella," said the unidentified woman as she raised her hands, though still holding a brick in one of them, "Remember I'm on your side right now."

Without taking my eyes off the woman, and keeping her at a distance I was confident she couldn't rush me from before I could fire, I called back over my shoulder, "Captain!, seems our little hostage taker has decided to show her face."

I heard what sounded like Bishop starting to break into a run before the Captain reigned him in and then two sets of footsteps approached together, "Hold on Lieutenant, she is technically on our side still."

"Thank you Captain, glad to see you're reasonable," replied the unknown woman as she lowered her hands and began walking towards him.

"Hold it right there!" I called out, thankful that she did indeed stop in her tracks.

Ignoring me, save for a perturbed sidelong glance towards me when I called her out and didn't lower my weapon, "Captain, are we not on the same side here?"

"We are, but you'll have to forgive the Lieutenant, you're track record isn't exactly the cleanest," responded Maxwell with a slight smile.

"Fair enough I suppose, though I did return Blondie to you, relatively, unharmed. Plus I just saved your man here from getting his guts shoved out the back of his spine, I didn't have to do that, I could have waited a few seconds and watched the fireworks. PLUS I jammed the door shut leading underground that Shotgun Eddie there came out of."

"I understand, and trust me when I say we are both very appreciative of that, however you still are holding a member of our team hostage and to be frank we still don't know who you are," stated Maxwell, coming up alongside me but still careful to keep a distance between himself and the raven-haired lady.

"True. Name's Claire, and I'm true to my word, I'll deliver the Baroness to you as soon as we finish discussing my passage off this Blake-forsaken world," answered Claire with what I guessed was a smile, her scarf still obscured most of her face.

"Alright Claire, maybe we can start by dropping that brick?" inquired Maxwell.

"As soon as you get Lieutenant Jarhead over here to lower his weapon, I'll consider dropping mine," snapped Claire sharply.

"Lieutenant," said Charles with a nod when I briefly glanced his way.

I lowered my sidearm but did not stow it until after Claire dropped her brick, then I looked at her and said, "Jarhead? Really?"

"I could have went for Tin Man," she smiled gesturing towards my prosthetic arm, "but it I liked the sound of Lieutenant Jarhead better."

"Now Miss Claire, about returning the Baroness," began the Captain, "full disclosure first, should you try anything untoward, the Lieutenant to my left here could veritably tear you limb from limb without breaking a sweat."

"Really?" said Claire, her eyes going wide and a tone of excitement entering her voice, before returning to a more business like tone, "He is a big one, I wouldn't mind going a round or two with him. But later, we have business to discuss first."

 

Edited September 8, 2021 by Orlex Jaeger