Reyna cackled quietly to herself as she fiddled with the thrusters to stabilize the stolen ship, doing her best to maintain its trajectory behind the large hunk of space debris, probably a piece of another derelict ship. It was an easy enough task to do - and one she'd done hundreds of times - that she didn't have to dedicate too much brain power to it. She was more concerned with the comms and the impending verbal frustrations of the UPR captain in pursuit of "his" property. But in this time of war, Reyna's people needed it more for the long road ahead.
They'd been playing this game for the better part of three weeks: flying through asteroid fields, hiding amongst the dark energy clouds, and hiding their power signatures to catch the other unaware. A game of cat and mouse that neither could get enough of, but for entirely different reasons.
To make matters worse, Ghalt couldn't even find the necessary anger to make this chase end any sooner. Fatigue was an easy enough thing to blame, but he would be lying to himself if that was the real answer. No, it was a reason he'd never admit to anyone, not even her. He saw how she played loose and fast with her life, never staying in one place long enough to settle down. No attachments, and though he respected her ruthless methods in accomplishing the impossible, they weren't on the same page when it came to authority. She wasn't an emotional risk he was willing to take.
"Losing steam, Captain?" her teasing voice came across his personal intercom, having grown tired of waiting for some kind of reaction out of him. "We can always stop for a breather if your stamina's no up for handling it."
Ghalt scanned the surrounding area in search of the ship, but found nothing. She was pulling one of her stunts again, and though he was used to this trick by now, he still had no idea where to start looking. It was a field of debris, all metal, and that meant scans would tell him nothing new.
"I can keep up with the best, Reyna. Even you." The smirk crept into the corner of his mouth as he waited to see what she would do next. Playing the waiting game was a risk, as he could never tell when she would sit for the long haul or exercise a great deal of patience. Charging forward could also spell disaster if this turned out to be a trap.
Reyna, on the other hand, folded her arms behind her head, cocked her feet up on the control panel, and grinned at the view screen. Ghalt was sitting right out in the open, neglecting to hide his presence, and that meant she could maintain the ship's position without being found until the moment was right.
A battle of wits begun, a waiting game that the Valkyrie was sure she could win. The UPR captain, on the other hand, wasn't much for patience, not when he was operating on a time frame to get the ship back. It was just a derelict, an old flagship that was of little use to the UPR, but it was still theirs. And with the Valkyrie's ingenuity and a Ring of talented people, it would be easy for her to repurpose it for herself, as well as learn even more of the UPR's secrets.
Reyna checked the time on her display. Any second now.
"You asleep over there, Reyna? I thought you were itching for another round?"
"Oh, I'm always ready to play. I just don't want to jump the gun if we're not on the same page."
"Then we're at a stalemate here, aren't we?"
"Hardly." Reyna fired up the engines, veered the ship to the left, and exited the field of garbage and asteroids. She made no qualms about trying to hide her departure; in fact, she was betting on the captain giving chase. What kind of game would it be if he didn't?
Ghalt noticed the thermal flare of her engines on his monitor, and turned his ship to follow with a smile. A flagship was full of firepower, but it could hardly be called fast. He could easily catch up to her within the hour, at most. Less, if he decided to go with the boosters.
That's when it came out of nowhere: a shard storm a mile wide, large glistening orange chunks of mineral sailing through the empty space between their ships. He'd been so busy paying attention to her that he hadn't noticed the small blips on his radar.
It was a beautiful sight to behold, the glittering crystals refracting the star's light as they took their usual route towards Ekkunar. But for once, Ghalt found himself furious. At this rate, it would be a little over an hour before the storm finished. He could go around, but that would take just as much time, and with the size of his ship, he couldn't risk it getting damaged over some stupid chase.
"S**t."
Reyna must have heard his swear, because he heard the distinct sound of a blown kiss over his intercom before the ship wheeled itself away from its previous course and sped off in a different direction.
The pirate queen cackled in amusement at the Captain's frustrations. It was so easy to get him ticked off, and doing so always made for a great show. Sure, this was probably a bad time to pull such a prank, especially during a war, but someone had to keep things light amongst their ranks. And it wasn't as if she didn't need the extra ships either. The UPR had plenty, and one less wasn't enough to hinder their rescue efforts. Ghalt would be pissed at her once they got back, but that never lasted long and she'd have a great story to tell the rest of her Rogues.
As she allowed the ship's engines to idle and drift aimlessly for the time being, she pondered on a good place to hide it again. Somewhere the captain would least expect it. Ironic, but not too obvious. Bliss seemed like a good first choice, but she'd had enough of its cold temperatures to last a lifetime. Ekkunar was still rife with violent Eldrid who, despite being thankful for the UPR's help, were still wary of outsiders. Still, the warm climates were tempting and it would be the easiest place to hide the ship amongst the thick foliage and swamps.
It was in the middle of her daydreaming and mental planning that the alarms started to go off.
After an hour of staring at the shower of glittering orange crystal, Ghalt through the engines into drive and set course to the ship's last known location, hoping that he could find something to go off of and get his ship back.
Soon enough, he saw a familiar shade of green; it was small, but it was unmistakably from the flagship, spinning lazily in space. Then he found another piece, then another, and Ghalt could feel his joy being engulfed with worry. Sensors revealed the presence of deionized particles - the results of a battle, and that spiraled his panic deeper into overdrive. He couldn't lose that ship.
Worse: he couldn't lose the Rogue Commander either, not doing this critical time.
Piece after piece he found, in an almost calculated trail left behind int he trajectory towards the planet he had seen so many times in his dreams: Tempest. A trail was a more positive note than scattered pieces, as it meant that Reyna was still alive.
The question remained, however: why would she be foolish enough to venture so close to Jennerit territory, in a ship she knew would get shot down? The first answer: because she was Reyna. Put a wall in front of her, tell her it's unscalable, and she'd defy every expectation to get over it or around it... even if that meant blowing up the wall outright.
But he found no signs of Jennerit ships in the area either, and he hadn't known her to be a bad shot. He considered calling Deande to help him with the ins and outs of Tempest, see if she'd heard anything about a trespassing UPR ship, but there was the risk that it would give away her cover and he needed her within reach of Rendain for as long as possible.
He was on his own for now.
He chanced using one of the encrypted UPR transmission signals, to stay under the Jennerit's radar.
"Reyna? Reyna, if you can hear me, please respond."
Static, and then a swear.
"Why, if it isn't Ghalt." Her voice was cheerful enough to dissuade some of his worry. "I knew you'd follow me to the ends of the universe, but aren't you a little unprepared for this kind of fight?"
"Dammit, Reyna, this isn't a joke. Do you need help? Are you surrounded?"
"What do you think, big guy? I'm in Jennerit territory, your ship's guns are out of commish, and all I've got on me is my pistol. Some help is the least you could offer."
Ghalt massaged the bridge of his nose. On one hand, this was the kind of fight the Valkyrie jumped headfirst into, odds be damned, and still escape with more than she'd left with. She'd gotten herself into this mess, and he was half-tempted to leave her there to sort it out. But even with the knowledge that she could handle herself, there was still the ship to worry about. The risk of it being taken by the Jennerit didn't amount to anything good.
He sighed as he set a course for far side of the nearest moon, using a page from Reyna's manual to keep it hidden, and took a shuttle down to her location: right in the middle of the mining district. His stomach bottomed out at the speed of his descent, but he needed to get in fast before their systems detected his presence and locked him out.
Red lights and alarms soon flared to life, the shuttle shaking and groaning as it finally broke atmosphere. One miscalculation, and he would be mushy meat paste splattered all over the inside of a flattened chunk of metal.
All for some ship.
All for some woman.
He cut the engines at the last second and threw on the thruster, the kick putting a toll on his knees that he was going to feel for weeks. His stomach did the same, but with the added flair of nausea and dizziness that he didn't have time to deal with.
Once it touched ground, he was outw ith his shotgun primed, the red light of the sky bathing his surroundings and making it difficult to pick out one thing from another. Even the green of the flagship was muted, but there was one thing that stood out: the orange speck of light from the Commander's eyepatch.
"Reyna!" He charged over as he kept an eye on his surroundings. She, on the other hand, was looking nonchalant about the whole thing. he could see smoke rising from the ship behind her.
"Don't get too excited to see me just yet. We gotta get our asses off this planet first."
True, they could just hop back on his shuttle and get the heel out of there... but there were no alarms yet. No vibrations of large Thrall heading in their direction. In fact, the whole thing was too quiet. Had their presence not been discovered yet?
This wasn't an opportunity they could pass up, and it was one Ghalt had been looking for for weeks. The situation presented to him had been dropped into his lap like a belated birthday present. There was no way they could just leave.
"Or we could cause a little hell," he suggested with a casual half-smirk, his ire towards her temporarily forgotten, his gun resting on his shoulder.
"You had me at 'hell'," she cooed up at him, eyes aflutter.
"... you mean at the end of the sentence?"
"You're ruining it." Reyna rolled her eye and drew her hun, the flirtation in her voice gone.
"... right." He cleared his throat; he was never good at this stuff, especially when she was right in front of him. "We should see what we're working with here and make the best of it. But don't think that this lets you off the hook."
"Of course not." The sarcasm in her voice was rich as she gave him a dismissive wave over her shoulder.
Scouting proved to be easier than he'd imagined, and he knew with the Valkyrie watching his back, she'd have him covered in no time. That overshielding gauntlet of hers had saved many a neck amongst the Battleborn, friends and not-so-friends alike, so he knew she wouldn't let him down.
It wasn't until they cam within sight of the door to the large factory that he realized there was going to be a problem. He gestured for Reyna to stop and took refuge behind the nearest structure.
A single Thrall, as wide as he was tall, hefted a single turret gun in his hands, his great horns sweeping back and forth with the turning of his head as he surveyed the area before him. One large tooth jutted out of the corner of his lip, the other broken in half and dimpled his lip in a way that gave him a disgusted sneer.
"You wanna ask him out on a date? He looks like your type," Reyna whispered from behind him with a nudge to his arm. Always with the jokes.
"Other than busting right in through the front door, you got any ideas on how we should play this?" he asked, uninterested in entertaining her suggestion. He trusted her instincts for espionage more than anyone else. She had a penchant for guerilla warfare, especially when the odds weren't in her favour.
"What about up there?"
He followed the upward direction of her point, and saw several conveyer belts connected between different buildings, all carrying various sizes of rocks and minerals into the guarded building. Then an idea struck him.
"Hold on to me."
Reyna dressed him up and down with an incredulous look.
"This ain't the time for-"
He didn't give her the chance to finish whatever comeback she had; he pulled her against his side as his hook caught the edge of the conveyor belt and yanked them from the safety of the ground. Reyna knew better than to yell out in surprise and give away their position.
His landing was graceful enough, and he soon relinquished his hold on her before things became too awkward. Or if she decided to retaliate. Small as she was, Ghalt knew what she was physically capable of.
Inside the facility was much different from its exterior: well-lit, noisy, and there was the stink of chemicals and processing fumes that forced the two Solus natives to cover their noses. Another important difference was the number of Thrall inside. Though they were smaller in comparison to the guard outside, they were heavier in number, each carrying boulders across their backs to various machines and vats for processing. For the two experienced Battleborn, this was too many for them to deal with on their own.
They slipped off the conveyor belt the first opportunity they could get, and hid behind one of the large pipes that pumped the smoke and fumes out of the building.
"Now we just need to find something to break," Reyna whispered from behind a gloved hand still covering her nose, her single eye searching the facility.
"What about the belts?"
"That'll only stop production quote for maybe a day. We need something bigger."
Ghalt spotted the twinkle in her eye; she was looking for something explosive, that could probably set the whole building ablaze. That wasn't what he'd had in mind when he'd suggested coming in here, but he could see the draw of wanting to make things flashy. not only would it halt Rendain's plans for months, but it would make a great distraction for getting the flagship running against and getting off this planet.
Reyna, on the other hand, just wanted to have a good time.
"There." He pointed towards a large black structure, with several wires and tubes connected to it, running along the floor in various directions. "That looks pretty important."
"Good eye."
Ghalt felt his face flush at the compliment. It wasn't often he got those from her.
She was about to jump down from their hiding spot when his hand latched onto her shoulder, halting her progress.
"I got a better idea." He grinned and pulled one of his many scraptraps from his supply bag, tossing it around in his hand. "We don't even have to get our hands dirty."
"Lame. I don't think one of those is going to be enough."
She had a point. They were pretty good at taking out a swarm of minion bots and Thrall runts, but against something that big, they were going to need more.
"These suckers can go invisible, right?" Reyna queried.
"...?"
"Give me as many as you can put out."
"Reyna..." Ghalt wasn't convinced her train of thought was going to a good place.
"Do you want this done or not?"
"I'd prefer if you let me in on this little plan of yours." Yet, he handed over the one he'd produced and started to dig around for another.
"Now where would be the fun in that?"
Not wanting to argue for much longer and miss their window, he handed her three more of the traps. She was off in a flash before he could have his answer, however. The large bundle in her arms looked heavy and unwieldy, but she managed to make it around the room without dropping a single one.
Just as she was about to take off again towards a new hiding spot, Ghalt noticed another Thrall turning in her direction. HIs pulse stuttered in his chest, but he knew he had to keep his cool. One slip-up could cost more than just this impromptu mission. Calling her on her comms device was out of the question; he opted for something that would blend in with their surroundings, a sound no one would question.
Reyna heard the beep and paused, pissed that Ghalt was choosing now of all times to call her. She was tempted to set it to silent mode, when she spotted the hoofed feet crossing her path. Had that just been a coincidence? She glanced up at Ghalt to find him giving her a thumbs up.
She returned a smile and a middle finger.
Through the use of the beeps to warn Reyna whenever Thrall were heading in her direction, she soon found herself a few feet away from the machine. A victorious smile on her face, she just needed to pull off this last part of the plan. Easy enough, given what she was about to do. With the help of the tech in her eyepatch, she aimed her command gauntlet back at the Captain and fired, bathing them both in purple light.
"Hey, assholes!" She quickly scattered the mines by the machine before stepping out into the open, capturing the attentions of those nearest to her.
"Think I'm lost. You guys mind showing me the quickest way to the bathroom?"
They bared their teeth in response, their hands clawed to strike.
"No? Talk about being bad hosts!"
She gave them a two-fingered wave before booking it back towards Ghalt's location, wanting to put as much distance between her and the soon-to-be bombs. The Thrall pursued, of course, and were greeted with a quadruplet of high-pitched whines. Sparks erupted from the floor and stunned them in place, leaving them confused as to the source of their current slowed condition.
Four concussive blasts and shrapnel revealed that it was not, in fact, a fault in the floor. But they didn't have much of their senses left to discover the true answer.
Bits of metal pinged off and wore down her overshield as she continued her sprint, glad that she still had a few precious seconds before it completely died. The groan of the machinery, rending metal, and deafening explosion told her that their plan had worked, and she gestured to Ghalt in passing as she headed to the front door.
The guard, who no longer had any interest in the lack of events outside, turned his attention inwards. With a huff, he stormed past the hidden Reyna to inspect what was going on, kicking aside the bodies of the unconscious Thrall out of his way. The sounds of his tiny hooves against the metal ground carried far and shook it beneath her; with the machinery dead, it was a lot quieter. That meant that they were going to have to hurry if they didn't want to get noticed.
Reyna expected pained yells, a muttered word of what had taken place and revealed her presence, but there was nothing. Only the confused and pained groans of the Thrall finally coming to.
Ghalt decided to take the conveyor belt back out the way they'd come in. He could see Reyna's small figure from above, running ahead, and the Captain couldn't help but smile. His heart was still racing, and that seemed to make the journey back feel a lot longer than it really was. Soon enough, however, the ship and shuttle appeared out of the red haze, right where they'd left them.
"Think you can help me fix this ship?" Ghalt asked as his heavy boots hit ground. He retrieved a toolbox from the storage area in the back of the shuttle and started going to work.
"Uh... sure?" She shrugged, glancing past him back at the facility. If this took too long, the Thrall would be on them before the engines were warm. That wasn't a chance they could really take.
Ghalt headed towards the burns and missing pieces of hull to determine the extent of the damage. Checking the engines first would achieve nothing if they were a lost cause, but on closer inspection, he discovered that the burns weren't from any Jennerit weapon. They were all UPR.
From the ship's own guns.
"Reyna, what the hell!" When he turned to confront her, he found the shuttle powered up and hovering a few inches off the ground. The Valkyrie was inside, smirking at him through the open door.
"Oh, would you calm down? Your baby's right as rain, no need to go fussing over nothing. I just shaved off a few parts with the guns. Nothing vital."
"For what, Reya?! Why'd you waste my time like this?!"
"Well, I know you couldn't resist a girl in distress, for one. Two, you needed to be put through your paces. Remind you what it's like to have a little fun every once in a while. And don't tell me you didn't."
The adrenaline still coursing through him provided a silent answer, reminding him that he was still alive somewhere in there. With the drudge of planning, paperwork, and staying under Rendain's radar, he hadn't realized just how much tension he'd been carrying around with him until now. It had been good practice for when the real fight would come, and gave him a little taste of what kind of work he could pull off when he didn't think so damn much.
Maybe he should thank her.
"... suppose not. Why don't you dock, so we can get out of here together?" He gestured towards the gangplank, hoping that she would oblige his offer.
"And give you the chance to slap the cuffs on me? Heh, no thanks!" With that, she gave a little wave and shut the door, the shuttle shooting straight up and disappearing amongst the red clouds.
Then it dawned on him.
"S**t."
His admiration had clouded his judgment, leaving him empty-handed. Again. Yet, he still found solace in not continuing his pursuit. As troublesome and time-wasting this little stunt had been, he'd regained some what he'd been missing for the past few months, as well as striking a blow against Rendain, no matter how minor it was.
He couldn't really fault her for that.