Entrapment

"... Fall back! All squads, fall back to the Armoury! The Tech Plant is lost!"
"All remaining armour units, regroup at the north road leading out of Heyoka Tech! Prowlers are advancing from the south-east; we need to cover our retreat!"
"The Galaxies are circling back! Find cover!"

Bulldog rounds began to rain into gun deck again, as the last of the AA turrets were finally destroyed. Only a squad's worth of Vanu Sovereignty soldiers remained at the very top of Heyoka Tech Plant. All in all, it was a disastrous night on Amerish.

"Come on, what the fuck are we still doing here?!"
"I can fix this! I can fix this!"
"Forget the fucking turret, we got to get out of here! We're sitting ducks!"

A newly constructed VS Valkyrie was in the midst of taking off from the Tech Plant's landing platform, when a TR Galaxy flew around the gun deck to block its escape. Within moments, the aircraft and its six occupants were obliterated by the Galaxy's right wing Bulldog.

"Oh god..."

Echo-3 drops his repair tool in shock, before getting pulled away from his ruined turret by a desperate Echo-4 Heavy.

"What the fuck's wrong with you?! Get up!"

The Heavy went in to pick up the stunted Engineer, but stopped when he finally noticed the blood which was dripping from under the Engineer's helmet, from his deaf ears. Fragile as he was in his current state, Echo-4 decided it was reason enough to abandon Echo-3, to flee with the others who were frantically racing for the grav-lift and teleport tubes. Unfortunately, as Echo-7 could see, it was already too late to escape.

The Infiltrator was chucking the last of her grenades down the grav-lift, in an effort to slow down the TR soldiers that were riding their way up. They most definitely had taken the ground floor, along with the only exits that didn't involve falling to one's death. Echo-7 fell backwards from the lift shaft, as a few bullets cracked by that were meant to suppress her.

Damn it.

Sliding herself behind a NS crate, she peers over it to spot Echo-4 in front of a teleport tube, which had just closed its door to begin a teleport sequence. Past all the smouldering Bulldog impacts and corpses, she then saw him turn back, and without even thinking, he started to run for the grav-lift in a blind panic, allowing for a barrage of Bulldog rounds to pinpoint him. Echo-4, followed by Echo-3, were destroyed in a flash.

Echo-7 turns away, her back and Stalker Cloak generator pressed against the crate. She grits her teeth and draws her suppressed Cerberus, in an effort to pull her focus away from what just happened.

Focus, think. I still have a pistol with two batteries and my cloaking. Where can I go?

Her head was spinning with adrenaline, searching for a way to escape the overwhelming odds that were travelling up to her.

Hide, I have to hide! Now!

Without a proper plan, the Infiltrator signals her implants to engage her Stalker Cloak. She then springs to her feet and starts sprinting away from the grav-lifts, staying as close as possible to the roof arches as a measure of cover. She carefully gauges her cloak's energy level, which was displayed on her right eye, as it continued to drain from the swift movements she was making.

I can make it. Keep moving! I can make it to the end of the deck.

It was easy going without any heavy armour to weigh her down, made even easier with the use of an Agility mod that used nanites laced throughout her muscular structure, to optimise her physical exertions. Altogether, Echo-7 is afforded a few crucial seconds by the time she reaches the end of the gun deck. Glancing back at the way she came, she spots the arrival of several TR Heavies, who are tagged by the Targeting mod built into her helmet. Red Overshields activate, which glint from a distance, as they move to secure their immediate vicinity. The squad numbers around a dozen, but of greater concern to Echo-7 then just their firepower, were the darklight torches that some of the Heavies were using, lights which had the specific function of revealing cloaked Infiltrators. Clearly, the small walkway of a destroyed AA-turret was not going to be a good enough hiding spot.

Crouched, and holding as still as she could to allow her cloaking to regenerate its charge, she cranes her head around in search of a way to avoid the current floor altogether. Darklights start to flick their way more and more towards Echo-7's turret station by the time she settles on a possible direction; up, towards where a TR Galaxy loomed.

The roof, it's my only chance!

Approaching her AA-turret wreck, she steps to one side of the machine; it's occupant still in the process of being deconstructed by nanites. Pistol holstered, her hands and feet are trying to find suitable grips on the turret in order to hop on top. She's wary of the wreck's jaggedness and heat, which was all suspended 100 metres above ground level. Fortunately, with her nanoweave armour and powered shielding to provide protection, she is able to use an exposed armour panel and a gun barrel to pull herself up belly first. Planting her hands on top of the turret, she slowly pushes herself back onto her feet, while trying to remain calm even as TR Heavies approached from one turret station away. She stands to her full height, while trying to keep her balance atop of a turret that was beginning to creak and crumble. Daring not to spare another second with a shaky bend in her knees, she leans forward to then leap for the roof.

Her hands latch onto an edge, her torso and legs impact the curved roof. She is briefly stunted, unable to pull herself clear, with nerves that weren't doing her any favours.

Come on! Don't you fucking die like this!

Eventually, with a pained grunt she was trying to keep silent, she pulls herself high enough to get a leg up, with moments to spare. Darklights sweep the turret station, as she crawls along the roof to sit against one of the Tech Plant's two spires. Echo-7 was safe for the moment, giving her a chance to focus on simply breathing, to allow her adrenaline to settle. But in having the chance to rest, something began to stir in her mind, something she was too preoccupied to notice in her haste, a presence she could feel through the Vanu Proximity Network. She quickly scans the squad display on her left eye, to find that there was in fact one other VS soldier by the designation of Echo-11, who somehow was still alive. Echo-7 is able to positionally sense and pinpoint the survivor in moments, but to her horror, it was a position that would not to be safe for much longer. Slipping over a roof beam to peer through a roof slit, she could see Echo-11 hanging onto the edge of the gun deck for dear life while cloaked. A female voice flickers over the radio.

"I... I can't hold... argh."
"Cailly... I can't reach you..."
"Run... just run..."

Echo-11's voice held a sense of fear, yet acceptance.

"... I'm sorry."
"... Don't say sorry... make... make them pay..."

One way or another, Echo-7 knew that Echo-11 would be dead very soon, either through losing her grip or being discovered. As it suddenly turned out, death by darklight was what reached her first.

"Contact, Cloaker!"

Red bullets rained in on Echo-11, with one landing a headshot. Her shield and helmet manage to stop the bullet from going all the way through, but the impact was still enough to stun her, coursing her to let go of the Tech Plant.

"Ahhh- "

Echo-7 averted her gaze and switched off the radio.

"Tango down. Continue the sweeps, there's probably more hiding up someone's ass."

The shock of losing her comrades in quick succession was taking its toll on the now lone VS Infiltrator. She was consciously aware of how close she was to her tipping point, in that her shock was starting to evolve into rage. She was trying her hardest to fight against it, by trying to remind herself that from all the decades of fighting, losing her cool now was only going to get her killed.

They'll be ok. They may be out for a while in the Rebirthing Network, but they'll be alive soon enough. They'll be ok...

Remaining cross-legged against her spire, she continued to internalise her thoughts over and over again. It was a meditative technique she disciplined herself to remember, in times where she would often be hidden but alone, with no help that could reach her in time. Such was the life of most Stalkers.

She gave a long exhale, shutting her eyes for a moment to calm herself, to restrengthen her presence of mind. Her breathing slows over the next minute, which allows her focus to return to the humming of the TR Galaxy from above, and the footsteps of the TR Heavies from below. Tentatively, she opens her eyes again to assess her situation.

How do I handle this? How do I escape?

Redeploying through rebirthing crossed her mind, but as usual, it wasn't a particularly favourable option in terms of having to still die. It was effectively a controlled form of suicide, which nevertheless brought a lot of pain, even if it was suppressed through implants. She remembered how whenever she was brought back, how excruciating it was to suddenly have every system in her body jump-started again, even if the pain only lasted for minutes. Worse still, she could even remember the times she spent in darkness, while waiting on some distant server to be rebirthed. No sight, no smell, no sound, no touch, just a cold, unforgiving pain she could not shut out until it was her turn to come back.

In essence, no matter how committed anyone wanted to be for their faction, rebirthing was something that most Auraxians wanted to avoid at all costs. The fear of death, humanity's most potent evolutionary instinct, made all the more unforgettable through multiple lives. If Echo-7 wasn't being ordered to redeploy, she would gladly take her chances with staying alive to escape the TR occupation.

Undoubtedly, the TR were making preparations to change the network controls for Heyoka Tech Plant, to prevent any VS from rebirthing in. Such a change would also involve the teleporters being restricted to TR personnel only, which meant that she only had a small window of opportunity for if she wanted to use the chamber beneath her. Teleporting was nowhere near as painful as being rebirthed, seeing as they used direct transport conduits between any two teleporters. The only problem was, was with who she would find on the ground floor once she travelled through. For all Echo-7 knew, she could be walking straight into an open ambush. She slowly shook her head; the teleporters were not an option.

Looking next to the grav-lifts, she felt it was possible to sneak over the roof to get above them. But to then enter the lifts, she would then need to time a jump that would dodge any darklights still circulating the gun deck and the lifts themselves. To that end, if she was somehow successful, she would then have to stalk her way through the first floor, to find a way to climb the rest of the way down. Alternatively, she could even try climbing down the Tech Plant from the very top to avoid the TR altogether, but this naturally held the greater risk of falling to one's death.

Both options were Echo-7's best thus far, even with all their dangers. Refusing to leave her roof altogether would likely be certain death, seeing as the TR would soon conduct a more thorough sweep of the Tech Plant with Light Assault soldiers. It would only be a matter of time before she was found, time which was quickly running short, as a deep rumbling began to grow from beneath Echo-7. A jarring noise, which outgrew the hum of the TR Galaxy, soon vibrated from the nearby spires, as the Tech Plant's systems renewed themselves. Red lights pulsed upwards into the air from their peaks, signalling Heyoka's final transfer to the Republic.

She watched on, as the red lights in the night eventually dimmed, bringing the roof back into relative darkness and silence. But beyond the loud sights of defeat for her Sovereignty, something else in front of Echo-7 caught her attention, something which immediately froze her in place. Just as the lights were dying down, there then came the distinct refractions of a cloaked Infiltrator who was moving around ever so slightly... who was not on her side, and was only a few metres away.

Has he seen me? Where is he looking?

Her eyes were unmoving, as she tried to pinpoint exactly where the enemy's outline was, while slowly reaching for her Cerberus. He was mostly in cover, crouched behind a roof beam, who curiously was observing the TR below. Echo-7 had a hand on her pistol when all of a sudden, in a quick and quiet motion, the enemy Infiltrator had decided to slip over his roof beam towards her! He arrived close by to Echo-7, and immediately froze, sighting the new danger that was now sitting a metre or so away from him. Giving no further regard for subtlety, both Infiltrators instinctively drew their pistols on each other, but neither one dared to disengage their cloaking to shoot, not while the TR loomed over them. If either Infiltrator tried to shoot through their own cloaking, the bullets would fracture the enclosing Nanomesh that was needed to completely bend light around themselves, coursing an energy draining decloak to occur. Thus, they remained where they were, locked in an Auraxian standoff, with neither Infiltrator showing any signs of backing down. A good 20 seconds pass by, without so much as a blink beneath their respective masks, before they eventually calm themselves.

"... NC?"

Echo-7 was the first to break their silence, in muttering the New Conglomerate's abbreviation. There was a pause, until in response, the enemy Infiltrator nodded his silhouetted head.

"... VS?"

Following up on his compliance, Echo-7 nodded back as well. They kept their voices low, with the humming from the TR Galaxy serving to mask their sounds. Pistols were still raised at this point in time... until finally, the NC Infiltrator chose to withdraw first. He tilted his weapon away to spread apart his hands in an open arms gesture. The VS Infiltrator follows suit by lowering her own pistol.

"I guess this makes two of us stuck on a roof."
"Why here?"
"... To live."
"Why are you here, at this Tech Plant?"
"... I can't say, but I think me being here is the least of your problems."
"You really think so?"

Echo-7 clutches her pistol tighter.

"Yes, I do."
"... So what then?"
"Well... we're both stuck on the same roof because of the Republic."

The NC Infiltrator casually points at the TR Galaxy above them.

"Right now, that looks like your biggest problem, our biggest problem."
"What's your point?"
"I think it's obvious."
"... You think we should work together? To escape?"
"A pretty good plan don't you think?"
"For you perhaps."
"... I could say the same thing."

The VS Infiltrator breathes a sigh of annoyance.

"Do you trust the Republic more than me right now?"
"... Fuck you."
"Hm, so what then? We're just going to sit here and wait for the Light Assaults to find us?"

Echo-7 fell silent, as she simply stared with contempt from behind her helmet.

"... Look, what's your name?"
"... Echo-7."
"Nice to meet you, Echo-7. You can call me Ranger-3."
"So there are more infiltrators like you? Spying on us this deep?"
"If you like, sure."

Ranger-3 started to shuffle over, to sit next to Echo-7. She fidgets with her pistol on instinct but stops, upon recognising the danger that still remained around them.

"It'd be easier to hear each other out."
"..."

A similar fate of a damaging decloak would occur if either Cloaker tried to engage in melee combat. Their concealment was the only thing that lessened their guard towards each other, as Ranger-3 sat side by side with Echo-7. She made no move of her head to acknowledge his presence.

"I saw what happened here, I saw everything from when they attacked. At least a platoon's worth..."
"They were hunting me just now, I know who's here."
"Then you damn well know we'd stand a better chance against them if we work together."

Ranger-3 tilted his head at Echo-7, who still wasn't looking to him.

"I don't want to die, Echo. I'm guessing you're not a fan of rebirthing either? Is that fair to say?"
"... Yeah," Echo said, finally tilting her head to look at Ranger, before peering up at the stars and the gas giant that filled the night sky. Ranger taps around at two magazines for his suppressed Desperado pistol.
"One in the chamber, these two, and a knife. That's all I got. You?"

While not dying was something both Infiltrators could agree on, Echo still felt hesitant about revealing what personal assets she had left to defend herself, to an enemy. Nevertheless, here was an enemy infiltrator that had just given away his.

"... One spare battery... one already loaded, and a Lumine."
"Not much to work with huh?"
"... Not much at all."
"Hm... well at least a truce has to count for something huh? How about it?"

The VS Infiltrator looked to her squad listing, then to the map of Heyoka. They both reinforced how well and truly alone she was, with a NC Infiltrator who she had little reason to trust with her life. But ultimately, as the TR continued to bustle around on the gun deck below, what little trust there was, was going to have to do.

"... I guess... if there is ever a chance, for anything good thing to come of this night..."
"Likewise... Vanu's finest, I take it?"
"... You flatter yourself."
"Well I mean, we both managed make it here, that should count for something."
"I'll believe that once we get out of here. Maybe if we climbed down over that side, that way."

Echo pointed past the Tech Plant's north spire, where the structure sloped away towards thin ledges and a shear drop.

"Hmm... The lifts do seem too busy at the moment. You ever climbed that way before?"
"Once."
"Successfully?"
"No."
"Oh."
"... It was a long time ago. What about you?"
"Never tried it..."

Ranger stops mid-sentence, to spare a glance towards what he thought was a Light Assault, jetting around close by. Echo slowly stands up.

"... Guess today will be my first time."
"I'll lead."

A newfound sense of urgency overtook both Infiltrators, allowing them the chance to stifle their distrust for each other. Their time was running short, as the TR were presumably about to launch a Light Assault search team, to hunt for any stragglers.

Turning their backs to the gun deck, the two Infiltrators climbed up and over their spire's support structure, to then slide down onto the other side. What came next to Echo's knowledge, were a series of ledges. The first had some semblance of an enclosed railing, while the second had none at all, which Echo was the most wary off.

Over 30 years ago, I fell from such a ledge. Take it nice and easy this time.

She eased herself off the spire to hang off the edge, readying herself for the first ledge. With a small swing in her legs, she falls and lands as she anticipates; knees to the ledge with arms braced against the railing. She shifts to one side to allow Ranger to land right behind her.

"Next ledge is this one, the narrow one," said Echo, pointing over the edge.
"... I'm guessing this is the one that kills."

While the drop wasn't as big as the first, it didn't give much clearance for bending knees. Nevertheless, there was no time to turn back for the two Infiltrators, as the sound of jetpacks was becoming more apparent. Echo turns to Ranger.

"Uncloak, I can lower you down."

Ranger looks back up for a moment to check if he could see the TR Galaxy that still was humming away; he couldn't. Satisfied with where they were, he willingly uncloaks, followed by Echo, before going first over the edge. With both hands, Echo holds on to Ranger's left wrist, and carefully lowers him while resting her torso on the railing to take his weight. His feet touch the ledge, and with what little room there is, he leans against the wall to keep his balance. Peering back up at Echo, he signals to her to let go; now it was her turn to get down.

"I've got you," said Ranger, raising up his right arm.

Echo took a deep breath, before rotating herself around to hang off the railing.

Nice, and easy.

She cranes her head to the left, towards where she was expecting Ranger to be. Releasing her left hand to hold with just her right, she clearly sights the small distance she had to drop, before releasing herself completely from the railing. A hand quickly pushes into her back to keep her close to the wall as she falls, which helps her to successfully connect both feet to the new ledge. But as she feared, her knees bend into the wall to push her off balance! She had only a second to react, within which, Echo allows her right leg to give way, to fall against the ledge chest first. Her shields cushion the impact, but now she feels her left leg beginning to slip. She tenses her arms, pressing both her hands down as hard as she could, just as her body was about to slide off. Just barely, against her shifting momentum, Echo manages to cling on.

"Aghh..."

She held herself in place, her Agility mod working hard to aid her strength. Ranger kneels down to try to help her back up.

"Wait, no..."

She scanned what was beneath her, and quickly notes that there is no point in trying to climb back up, when she could clearly see the last ledge they would have to swing to.

"... Move left, move."

Surmising that she would have to move around the Tech Plant's nearest corner, to line up with the wide but somewhat sloped ledge, she begins to shimmy to her left, with Ranger crawling close by.

"Is the next ledge around the corner?"
"... Yes..."

As they rounded the Tech Plant, Echo was becoming increasingly concerned with where the TR Light Assaults were. She flicked a glance every now and then towards the gun deck, sighting nothing through the cover of night.

"Here."

Soon, the Infiltrators reach where they need to swing from. Ranger slides himself off to hang beside Echo, who was already swinging herself for the next drop. With enough gathered momentum, she lets herself fall towards the slanted ledge, landing feet first before seating herself in one motion, to halt the risk of sliding off.

... Not this time.

She carefully shifts herself away from the edge, before peering back up to see Ranger trying to swing down, as darklights began to shine down from far above! He quickly lets go to land awkwardly with his larger weight, unable to get a proper grip against the sloped surface.

In reaction, Echo grabs and pulls at Ranger's left wrist to stabilise him. His scampering stops, and finally, he's able to get himself seated alongside Echo, in cover against any search light.

"... Thanks," said Ranger, as he sighed with relief.

The two Infiltrators take a breather from their new vantage point, where they could clearly see the expansive layout of the Tech Plant below, now mostly quiet. A few sectors still remained in ruin from the Terran's earlier onslaught, which wasn't anything that nanotech couldn't repair over the course of an Auraxis day. To their right, were the central grav-lifts that ran from the gun deck to the ground floor, along with two Republican soldiers who were guarding the lifts from an elevated first floor position.

"There's our way down..." muttered Echo.

Directly beneath, there stood one of four support legs that connected to the main body of the Tech Plant, a leg that Echo and Ranger knew they could use to traverse to the first floor. They turn to each other, in silent agreement on what was to come next, before going on to properly note the other's appearance outside of their cloaks for the very first time.

Echo wore a Darkstar Scout helmet, which had a sweeping visor that was tinted black, while Ranger wore a Windhelm helmet, a nanowoven mask fitted with goggles. Both Infiltrators wore additional composite armour and bore camouflages that were fitting of Amerish's environment, with a few hints of purple and blue that reflected their respective factions. But looking closer through the night, they both could see that their composite armours weren't just of conventional metal. Their platings had a subtle distortion about them, a dark shimmer that was characteristic of metals being infused with Auraxium; the mark of a seasoned warrior.

The Infiltrators readied themselves for the next drop, their biggest yet. While survivable, it undoubtedly was high enough to damage their shields, in order to soften such a fall. Echo slid herself forward, continuing to take point with her Agility mod to assist, and allows her legs to slip off, to fall for the Tech Plant leg. She lands hard over a flat surface and tumbles forward onto her right shoulder to roll out the rest of her momentum, leaving her shield half depleted. Ranger lands close by in a similar fashion, with similar results to his own shielding. He raises a hand to signal for Echo to wait, to allow for his shields to recharge.

Around a minute later with their shields regenerated, they both cloak and slide themselves off the Tech Plant leg. They carefully navigate along structural beams and joins, staying as low as possible, before they finally reach a small crawl space that gave them an overlooking view of the first floor. For the Infiltrators, it wasn't a very encouraging sight.