Officer Aeryn Sun – Special Commando, Icarion Company, Pleisar Regiment, and Prowler pilot, clenched her pulse rifle to her at port arms and tried not to show the disgust she was feeling on her face. Her attempt to keep her features a disciplined blank was interrupted by a mutter from the female commando at her right side.
"Frelling alien scum."
"Stow that dren, Henta, and just do your duty," Aeryn warned in a side whisper.
Yal Henta turned slightly to look at her friend and teammate.
"Doesn't this assignment gris you off in the least. Aeryn?" Henta asked quietly. "We should be slapping those scum in irons or executing them. Not collaborating with them."
"We have our orders, Yal," Aeryn replied sternly. "Now drop it or I will put you on report for negligence of duty."
Henta scowled at her friend, but ceased speaking and went back to standing at attention, her own rifle held tightly across her armored chest.
Inwardly, Aeryn heaved a sigh of relief. Yal's dedication to the Peacekeeper Charter was commendable, but bordered on the fanatic on occasion. It wouldn't have been the first time Henta's perspectives had gotten her, and Aeryn, into trouble when she spoke out of place. Since Aeryn had been promoted a grade above her in rank, she was able to curtail most of Yal's enthusiasm, especially around their commanding officers.
Still the other commando had a point, Aeryn considered as she returned her gaze to the scene that was playing out just before her. "We should be wiping these bastards out instead of having dealings with them," she thought privately. Still, orders were orders… and High Command must have a reason for sanctioning this clandestine meeting… so it was not her place to question.
Almost as if reading her thoughts, one of the metal-clad monstrosities in the party they had met raised it gaze and regarded her with red, electronic-aided eyes from its metallic visor-mask.
"Goddess frelling Syndicate dren," she thought silently despite her resolve.
The group that was meeting with her commanding officer, Tauvo Crais and the Intelligences Officer, Venn Stoxll, consisted of a Bavarian trader calling himself Yozziks, a male Black Syndicate operative whose named the Peacekeeper didn't catch… and a trio of armored Enforcers under the command of a reptilian female she heard called Val'Cirrus, who wore the more elaborate garb of a master assassin.
As a Peacekeeper officer, Aeryn would just as soon have shot the entire lot and made the Territories a better place for having done so. However, Peacekeeper Command needed the material the unit had been dispatched there to collect. Material strangely enough only covertly available readily through the criminal underworld, the Scarran criminal underworld to be more exact.
The thought made her want to spit in contempt… if it wasn't almost amusing that it was the Scarran Imperium that was the Peacekeepers' greatest adversary, outside of the Nebari.
And here was the Syndicate being ever so helpful in supplying the PK's with goods that were more than likely required for some secret weapon's research designed against the Scarran regime.
"Never underestimate the fact that these lower species will value the monetary credit over cultural loyalty," she thought with increasing disdain.
Just then two of Yozziks's crew approached the meeting, struggling to carry a large storage trunk between them.
"Here is your shipment now," said Yozziks, as his crewmen set the trunk down in the center of the group.
"Open it," commanded Stoxll.
The Trader waved for his men to do as the PK officer had instructed. One bent and tripped the locks, then swung the lid opened.
"One hundred sakron of high-concentrate Denean Onlux, as ordered," the Trader captain told the group.
Aeryn blinked in surprise, she knew that compound, but more commonly under is Sebacean name, Chlorium – one of the five forbidden cargos aboard Leviathans because of the anesthetize effect it had on them.
"Excellent. High Command will be pleased." Stoxll replied.
The unknown Syndicate man turned to Yozziks. "You followed the precautions we directed exactly?" he asked.
"Certainly," the captain answered. "The cargo is untraceable. No manifests or paperwork. The only souls who know of it are my two crewmen here and myself."
The Syndicate man smiled. "I'm pleased. You shall receive your reward straight away, captain." He turned to the Master Shrike and nodded.
"Eradicate them," said the reptilian woman in her cold raspy hiss of a voice.
Aeryn nearly jumped out of her skin at the ringing sound of blades being unsheathed from arm braces. The trio of armor-covered Shrikes moved in with blinding speed and ran the trader captain and his men through before they could even scream.
Henta let out a small gasp, heard only by her friend as the bodies hit the ground. Aeryn was sure that Yal's finger was tightening on the trigger just as Aeryn's own was doing on her own pulse rifle, anticipating the order to open fire on the Syndicate scum.
The order never came as vicious blades slid back into their gauntlet housings with the same eerie chime that they deployed with. The three Enforcers returned silently to their prior places behind their master without word.
The man who gave the order to eliminate the trader and his crew looked up and smiled coolly at Stoxll.
"And that wraps up all the loose ends and fulfills our end of the deal," he said.
Crais had a look of barely contained rage on his youthful face at the event.
"There was no need to kill those men in cold blood," he near growled.
Stoxll held up one hand to halt the younger man's deluge of ire.
"Remember you place, Lieutenant," the officer said tightly. "Security required it. And those men were of little consequence in regards to this operation."
"Still sir," Tauvo insisted, "We could just as easily have taken them into custody and placed them in maximum detention for the duration of the project."
"That was not your call, Lieutenant. Need I remind you again of your duty? Or should I relieve you of your command, and place someone more inclined to follow orders in your place?"
"No sir… there will be no need for that," Crais said through clenched teeth.
"Very well then. Carry on," Stoxll continued.
Crais turned stiffly and walked the short distance back to his twelve-man unit.
"Unit assemble," he barked as he came closer. The men fell in around their leader and awaited orders.
Aeryn could tell that Crais wasn't particularly happy with the way this assignment was going, but like any good Peacekeeper, he knew when to put his personal feelings aside in the end and focused on the mission.
"Our assignment is to escort this cargo back to a prearranged coordinate for extraction by Marauder under a stealth victor," he revealed to his troops. "Because of the nature of this research material, we cannot remove it from the planet by conventional means. Which means we have to avoid detection by civil authorities. This is a black ops, people… we are to terminate any witnesses to our departure with extreme prejudice." The look of disgust on his face at the thought of killing non-combatants was plain.
"However, I am positive that there will be no need to exercise that directive during this operation, as our exit venue will take us out through the Uuberrian Wastes, and away from most populated areas."
One of the other men in the unit muttered a curse under his breath at the information… and Aeryn knew damned well why anyway, as she was just about to curse herself.
"Lieutenant, you can't be frellin' serious?" put in another commando. "That place is a rad-blasted wasteland full of mutants, crazed indigents, bandit raiding parties, and goddess only knows what the frell else?"
"We are Peacekeepers, Hellenman… or did you forget that?" Crais demanded. "There is no place we fear to go, or no opponent we fear to take on. Do you wish to resign your commission, or would you prefer I just shoot you here and now for cowardice in the face of the enemy?"
"No sir!" snapped Hellenman hurriedly. "Never that, sir."
"Very good then," Tauvo continued on, "As added security, the four Shrikes will be accompanying us to the dust-off zone as part of the arrangement we have with their… people."
The commander let the venom he felt show in the way he pronounced the name "Shrikes" and his obvious contempt for the Syndicate reveal itself in the way he said "people."
Despite knowing better, Aeryn felt she had to ask, "Sir? Are you sure we can trust them on an operation that is obviously important to Peacekeeper Command?"
Crais regarded her with a neutral stare for a few microts before answering.
"Frell no," he said, and then spat on the ground at his feet. "We don't trust those bastards for a microt, and any man who lets his guard down for an instant while we are on the move I will personally skin alive. This is the hand High Command dealt us on this assignment. We use the Shrikes as scouts and rear guard, let them deal with any resistance or traps in our way while we protect the cargo. Let them take the causalities first and we get our collective eemas out of here intact if we're able."
"They could always have accidents on the way," Henta put in. "Whose to say what can happen out in the Wastes?"
"Yes, sir," added Hellenman. "I like both those plans. Let the Syndicate trat-das spring any ambushes, and any that survive we kill before we dust off."
"No!" Crais cut them off with a sharp gesture. "Command arranged the Master Shrike and her triad's cooperation in this part of the mission. We honor the bargain as it is. We will not be the ones to break it and any Peacekeeper who does will not live to be court-marshaled… that I personally guarantee.
"However… if they betray us in the Wastes in any way or form… we will kill every last one of them. Is that understood by all?"
Aeryn snapped a "yes, sir" along with the rest of her teammates. Feeling a little bit better that Crais was no fool concerning the possibility of treachery by the Syndicate… and that he would not fail to take the appropriate action should just that turn of events arise.
The parts of the operation for the Syndicate man and Stoxll finished; they parted ways with the unit and headed for a more direct route off planet through the commerce port. The remaining group headed off toward the edge of the wastelands to begin their journey. The Master Shrike conferred with Crais about the best way to cross the untamed plains to their destination.
"Officer Sun, take point on the trail," Crais order as the group formed up to set off.
The reptilian Master Shrike turned to her three charges. "Triad – hunt mode," she said.
Aeryn saw the tiny lights on the control collar of the closest Enforcer alter their color pattern. Suddenly all three of the assassin's went from their stiff attentive postures to ones that appeared minutely more active as their armored heads briefly shifted as if scanning their surroundings – almost as if they had woken up in some way.
"812 and 395, guard our rear flanks. 457, accompany the scout forward," Val' Cirrus then continued. "Make sure the Peacekeeper does not get lost… or fall off a cliff." The reptilian woman chuckled in a low hiss.
Tauvo glared at her. "My people can take care of themselves without your help, Syndicate scum."
Val'Cirrus seemed amused rather than insulted by his comment.
"You know… you are quite appealing for a soft-skin," she rasped. "Perhaps when we are finished with this little hike… we can spend some time exploring some diverse entertainment?"
"Over your dead body, fenik," Tauvo replied with repulsion.
Val'Cirrus graced him with a smile full of very sharp teeth.
"I wasn't aware that Sebaceans ate their mates as well," she teased.
Aeryn was mildly curious to hear more of the exchange, but she had followed her orders and moved out of range along with one of the Shrikes that had broken away from the trio. The one that accompanied her was head and shoulders taller than she was. Overlapping plates of dark armor and a large black cloak covered all of its features. The visor and helmet made it difficult to be positively, sure but it was mostly humanoid as far as she wanted to be bothered to determine.
Surprisingly it moved with soundless light steps, even along the rock and branched littered trail way.
They rounded a turn in the path and lost sight of the others, Aeryn knew the main group would give them another micron or two before following behind the mismatched pair.
They moved silently for over two metra down the trail before coming to a place where the path split around a massive rock outcropping. The Peacekeeper consulted a map of the area on her hand comp and discovered the paths combined again on the opposite side of the rocks a half-metra further on.
They couldn't leave part of the trial uninvestigated so she used basic hand signals to indicate to the Enforcer that he was to check the right hand pathway while she took the left side.
The Shrike moved off without a word, and Aeryn travel along her lane, glad to be given a brief respite from her unwanted partner. The short hike down her part of the detour revealed nothing of interest to cause alarm. She reached the end where the rock face started getting lower to the ground before it ran out in a series of large rocks and boulders and the trails became one once again.
She scanned the area of the trails but failed to locate the Shrike anywhere within view. Aeryn smirked to herself thinking the assassin had fallen behind her progress…or perhaps had run into a trap along its side of the outcrop. She was just about to key her tactical comm to report the missing Shrike as she moved pass the last of the larger boulders and a tiny scratching sound caused her to spin around, bring her pulse rifle to bear on the possible threat.
Instead she found the Enforcer perched on top of the rock, cloak spread out over its half crouching form, making it blend into the stone in a strange way. It tilted its head at her almost in a curious way, regarding her with red visor eyes and ignoring the rifle pointed at it.
"What the frell are you looking at?" Aeryn barked to cover the fact she'd almost been taken unaware.
The Shrike as usual didn't reply and the Sebacean woman idly wondered if they could even talk. She decided she didn't care if the beasts could speak or not, and then lowered her pulse gun and turned away to continue down the trail way.
Before she could take a step, metal clad fingers reached out and dug into the heavy pulse armor of her shoulder, bringing her to a halt. Aeryn reacted instantly and spun, bringing up her rifle to point right between the slightly glowing eyes of the Shrike's facemask.
"Hands off, frellnik!" she snarled.
The assassin released her, and casually reached down for a loose stone on the boulder next to it. With a casual toss, it threw the makeshift projectile several samat further along the path in front of her.
The stone hit the ground and Aeryn heard a tiny snap.
Suddenly the foliage along one side of the trail erupted and a huge tree trunk with metal spikes driven into it smashed a wide berth through the undergrowth along the lane.
Had Aeryn taken those few steps, she would have been turned into paste and the results impaled on the spines of the mammoth chuck of lumber.
"Frell!" she exclaimed. She then angrily turned on her companion. "You could have just warned me."
The Shrike shifted its head to the other side, as if to say that's precisely what it had just done.
Aeryn's return scowl didn't seem to affect the assassin in the least; instead it just turned and set off along the path once more, moving silently even with all the metal encasing its body.
The Peacekeeper called in a scheduled report back to the main group and traveled on for another two metra before her tactical scanner begged for her attention with an urgent beep over her tact-comm. She unclipped the main portion of the scanner from her combat-harness and read the display's data. The Sebacean woman frowned and asked for a topical view of the information it supplied. Once the fuzzy hologram appeared and she glanced at it she hissed out a command to her partner.
"Halt!"
The Shrike paused with one armored boot in mid-air, caught in mid-stride. The metal faceplate swiveled in her direction to regard her.
"Don't move," she instructed as she crept closer to the Enforcer, holding the scanning device low to the ground. Within a few hentas of the surface the hologram cleared up to show her exactly what her combat honed instincts and experience told her she would likely find.
"A Kalbitt mine," she explained as she eased closer to the ground and withdrew her large combat knife. "Non-metallic casing. Plasteel trigger mechanism. Napalmic explosive charge. No ferrous metal components to give the mine away to conventional scans. Detectable only if you scan for the accelerated decay of its explosive parts." She lectured, more to remind herself of the device's construction then for the benefit of the assassin with her. The soldier gently poked the ceramic blade of her knife into the ground in a few places under the Shrike's upraised boot. On the forth probe she felt the blade hit the mine's casing.
"Carefully… set that foot back behind you and move away while I prepare to disarm the mine," she instructed. "The good news about a Kalbitt is that there can only be one in the immediate area. Any more than one and their combined decayed charge particles destabilize each other and they prematurely detonate."
The Shrike moved back as it was instructed and silently observed her as she unearthed the mine.
Once the device was cleared she used her scanner to probe for any other traps attached to the mine. When she found none, she used the tip of her knife to pry off the detonation cap. Once the cap was free the mine was disarmed, and she smashed the chemical charged detonator with the bunt of her knife to render it useless. The entire operation had taken Aeryn less than forty microts from start till she placed the body of the mine conspicuously on a large rock along side the path to alert the rest of the unit that a mine had been defused on the pathway.
Strangely, the Shrike paused and squatted down by the device. The Peacekeeper watched as it did something to its facemask, the glaring eyes changed from red to green, then through several other tints before settling on a blue glow. Aeryn realized then that the assassin was dialing through some visual spectrum that would allow it to detect more to the Kalbitt mines.
"So you are capable of learning," she said with a slight sneer.
The Shrike twisted its head to regard her and then rose to its feet. If it took offense to the remark, it gave to outward sign.
"Are you ready to push on?" she asked as she hefted her pulse rifle to the ready position across her chest. To her surprise the assassin gave her a single slight nod of is armored head. "Then move on then," she ordered.
The pair had been to the move for another quarter arn when Aeryn tact-comm clicked for her attention.
"Officer Sun, situation report," Crais demanded.
Aeryn made a halting gesture to her companion and focused on reporting to her superior.
"We are approximately three metra ahead of the main unit. We have encountered mantraps of both the improvised and military ordinance kind."
"Acknowledged, we have just passed the location of the improvised spike ram," replied Tauvo.
"We have also encountered a Kalbitt mine two metra further on the path from your current location. We have encountered nothing else since then."
"Noted, Officer Sun… do you wish a relief man to take over point?"
A part of Aeryn nearly bristled at the thought of giving up the point position. Crais hadn't meant anything degrading by asking if she wanted to be relieved of the post. It was merely good and proper tactics to rotate point men to give the position a fresh pair of eyes. The Peacekeeper glanced at the Shrike, knowing it wouldn't be rotated out, and she was going to be frelling damned if she were going to be out lasted by Syndicate dren. Her superior had asked if she wanted to be changed out instead of ordering her to stand down; Crais was relying on her judgment to weather she could carry on or not competently.
"No sir… I'm good to push on for awhile yet," she replied.
"Very good, Officer. Carry on with your orders. Contact the main unit should your situation change. Crais out," the unit commandeered signed off.
Aeryn hefted her rifle. "Let's go," she said firmly to the Enforcer.
They traveled another quarter metra down the overgrown pathway when the Shrike suddenly stopped dead on the lane. It slowly scanned the surrounding area from left to right. It lowered it cloak hood as Aeryn came up even with it.
Recognizing the signs of alertness, the Sebacean woman flicked the safety of her rifle and settled into a combat crouch, the muzzle of her weapon sweeping the region before her.
"What's wrong?" she hissed, after making her own scan of the area and finding nothing.
The eyes of the Shrike's visor had shifted from blue back to red.
"We are being stalked," the Shrike's electronic voice announced, startling her. Aeryn had all but accepted the Shrike was mute.
"Where?" she demanded. The Enforcer continued to scan the area for a few microts before responding.
"Unable to target-lock life-form," the Shrike answered finally. "Permission to engage in live hunt to eradicate target."
'What the frell are you talking about?" Aeryn said irately as she continued to turn from side-to-side in an attempt to keep all approaches to their position covered. When she swung around in the assassin's direction again, she found it gazing down at her as if waiting.
"Permission to engage," it said again.
It was then that the Peacekeeper realized that the Enforcer was seeking her authorization to hunt out whatever was out there. The tiny status lights on its control collar raced as it failed to analyze the situation with no valid sensor input, and then defaulted to its base function of seeking directions from the nearest authority figure it deemed to be in charge. And that figure happened to be her in this instance.
"Frell yes, you nargging machine," she finally said with clear annoyance at the tech design error. "If it's hostile, engage it for yeti's sake."
"Complying," it said as it dropped its cloak covering. For the first time, Aeryn got a clear look at the Shrike's armor. The design was scale-like with over-lapping plates that shifted with the assassin slightest movement, making it hard to focus on its outline details very well. The Enforcer scanned the heavy forest around them for a few microts more before settling in on one direction. The lethal blades sprang abruptly from it arm braces, drawing Aeryn's attention to them for the brief moment she had before the Shrike charged off into the brush away from her.
Remembering mission protocol then, she tapped open her comm link.
"Tac-comm, Tac-comm, this is Alpha point," she called, "We have enemy movement – repeat, enemy movement. Approximately two point five metra from your current location."
"Acknowledge, scout," replied Crais immediately. "We are halting and digging into defense positions. What is your current status? Have you engage the enemy? Report!"
"Negative, sir," the Sebacean woman replied. "The Shrike detected an unknown opponent or force trailing us, and has moved in to engage it. I am currently holding a forward guard position and awaiting results from the Shrike's probe maneuver."
"Very good, Officer Sun," respond Tauvo Crais. "Hold your listening position. Keep your comm link open and report as soon as you have more Intel on the situation."
"Yes, sir," Aeryn said as the link switched over to stand-by. She searched the foliage over the barrel of her pulse rifle, but found no trace of the Enforcer or whatever it had gone after. "Where the frell are you?" she muttered to low for her comm mic to pick up, not sure if she was meaning the assassin or the entity stalking them.
Sweat poured off her forehead and stung her eyes as she continued to watch, with nothing happening she soon made the decision to move off the path into the undergrowth to begin her own search sweep. She paused for just a microt to take her hand off the fore-stock of her rifle to wipe at the sweat running into her eyes. The movement of her hand and arm swirled the still air around her, bringing with it a musky scent she hadn't noticed until then.
Close behind her a dry stick snapped.
"Frell!" Aeryn barked as she half turned, letting herself fall backwards into a shoulder roll. Something massive and covered in dark matted fur rose to its hind feet and roared in rage at having its nearly successful ambush foiled. Huge muscled limbs, tipped with long curved claws, raked deep furrows in the ground where she had been just a split microt before. The Peacekeeper briefly wondered how something so big could have crept up so silently behind her as she automatically attempted to bring her rifle to bear on the creature. The sling of her weapon tangle with a thorny bramble she had rolled against, snagging the gun and costing her precious microts.
Just as suddenly, the brush to one side of the path erupted with a form covered in blackish gunmetal armor plate. The Shrike stormed the animal broadside, driving the creature sideward with the combined weight of its body and armor. Both sets of brace blades stabbed inward, making the beast scream in pain and fury.
The assassin's surprise attack bought Aeryn the time she needed to rip her rifle free from the low branches. She scrambled back to her feet, bringing her gun to bear on the rumbling nightmare before her. The thing stood chest, shoulders, and long muzzled head over the tall Shrike. It screamed again, revealing double rows of sharp fangs within its jaws, swiping at the Enforcer with dagger-like claws, several henta long.
The Shrike darted in and out, digging in its own set of metallic claws, however it didn't escape the fray totally unscathed. Aeryn saw the assassin take more than a few nearly crushing blows. A few times the creature tore away pieces of the assassin's armor when it connected with one of its heavy swipes. It wasn't long before she saw scarlet blood flying away as well as the creature scored better strikes on the Shrike.
"Get the frell out of the way!" she shouted as she maneuvered around for a clear shot at the beast. Part of her said she should just shoot and not worry about hitting the Shrike as well. Given the tactical situation, that would have been the smart thing to do, as officially she owed the assassin no loyalty. However, it had just saved her just a few microts before and she found she couldn't bring herself to repay it by just opening fire on both the combatants if she could avoid it. "Get out of the frelling way, damn you!" she barked once more.
The point was rendered moot a split microt later as the massive creature connect solidly and sent the Enforcer sprawling away from it. The Shrike landed flat on its back and the mutant beast howled in victory as it sprang forward to finish its bothersome foe.
"Frag it!" Aeryn growled as she made the attempt to bring her rifle to bear and knowing instinctively she was going to be too late, the thing was just too fast. It took only a single step forward before it was over the Shrike, swinging its huge forepaws upward to deliver a killing blow to the prone assassin. Out of the corner of her eyes, Aeryn saw the Shrike draw both knees inward toward its chest. At the same moment she saw another set of smaller blades deploy from the heels of the Enforcer's heavy boots. Immediately it drove both feet forward, driving the heels and the blades sprouting there into the tree-stump size knees of the animal's hind legs.
The creature ceased its attack, and reared upward and shrieked its new pain to the sky. Aeryn saw her opportunity then and dialed up the power on her pulse rifle with a flick of her thumb. She rushed forward, unleashing a torrent of firepower into the creature's exposed chest.
Pulse bolts burned their way through the thing, filling the surrounding air with the smell of burning flesh and singed fur. Aeryn found herself screaming a wordless war cry as she moved in, walking the stream of pulse bolts up to char through the monster's throat as well. The beast stood for a few microts absorbing the gunfire, then toppled over backwards, long dead before it hit the ground. The Peacekeeper closed in to stand over the thing, allowing the pulse rifle's charge to run dry before she was satisfied the creature was no longer a threat.
Behind her, the Shrike was climbing to its feet as she ejected the spent Chakan magazine and replaced it with another from her equipment-laden duty belt.
The Peacekeeper turned to check on her strange companion. The assassin was battered and bleeding from multiple wounds. Several sections of armor had been torn off, and the flat black ballistic cloth underneath shredded to near ribbons, revealing skin with a Sebacean flesh tone. Its red visor eye-lens flickered, indicating that the device had been damaged in the fight. She also made a note that several of the status icons on the assassin's control collar had shifted toward red, obviously indicating a malfunction of some type. That regulating device had also not come through the battle unscathed and she briefly wondered if that might present a problem for her mission. An uncontrolled Shrike very well may spell disaster.
The assassin didn't appear to be a excessive threat for the moment however, and with more time now to mentally review the last few microns, Aeryn came to a new conclusion she wasn't very pleased with.
"I'm not sure whether to thank you… or shoot you for using me as bait," she told the Shrike as she engaged the safety on her rifle.
The Syndicate assassin merely tilted its head at her and reminded silent.
"Don't give me that mute dren," she finally spat. "I haven't forgotten you can talk."
The Enforcer's head slowly leveled itself as she glared at it.
"Proper tactics," it finally replied. The hitch in its electronic voice revealing even more damage to the armored helmet it wore.
Aeryn felt her lip curl up in a partial sneer as she realized, given an unknown opponent she couldn't properly track, she also would have used the Shrike as bait without a second thought to force the enemy to reveal itself. The assassin had just come up with the solution first and applied it.
"Proper tactics, my eema," she near growled anyway. "Do that again and I will shoot you."
Before she could add any more threats, the Shrike's lens flickered one last time and the visor went dark. Without comment, it reached up and did something to make the section of visor covering its eyes retract into its helm. Aeryn could now see its eyes clearly.
They were a strange blue with a silver tint to them, unlike anything she'd ever seen before. From what little else she could see of the Enforcer, it appeared humanoid, but not Sebacean – not with those frelling odd eyes. She had the impression it might be male, but wasn't willing to bet any pay-chits on it just yet… not that she really cared or anything.
The Peacekeeper was somewhat relieved the assassin couldn't be Sebacean. She wasn't sure what she would do with the knowledge that one of her race had been enslaved by the Scarran Black Syndicate as one of their killers. She wasn't sure what Crais or any of the others in her unit might do if they learned one of the other Enforcers did in fact turn out to be one of them. Tauvo Crais would probably order the Master Shrike and the non-Sebacean assassin's killed in an attempt to rescue the lost Sebacean… Central Commands orders to cooperate be damned.
She would fight in that case if given the order, but after seeing this lone Enforcer battle that mutant creature, she was sure that her unit would take heavy losses attempting to take out three Shrikes and subdue a forth one for recovery.
"How badly are you hurt?" she asked her unwanted partner, again focusing on the task at hand and the need to evaluate the damage to their small two-man team. She stepped forward and professionally probed the wounded area across the Shrike's chest that appeared to be the worse to assess the injury.
"I am operational," the Enforcer replied flatly. It's voice slightly muffled by the rest of the battle helm now that it seemed to have also shut of its electronic communication device as well as the visor. Despite not being totally clear, Aeryn mentally noted and filed the fact that the voice sounded of the male gender to her as well.
She took in the torn flesh of the assassin and observed that its wounds had ceased to bleed very much. She concluded that apparently they hadn't been as bad as she first thought.
"Can you continue to travel?" she inquired next. "Can you complete the mission?"
"Yes," came the answer immediately in that toneless voice.
Again she was struck by the maleness in the tone, and pushed the thought out of her mind. It didn't matter what he was… what it was. It was a Syndicate assassin, a thing to be despised and detested for even existing. She would be damned if she'd start thinking of it as if it were a real person.
"Good," she replied, all business now. She tapped open the comm-link and filled her commanding officer in with all the facts as to the outcome of the combat between the Shrike and the mutant.
With a few more moments, and with some reassurance that she was fit to remain on point, the Peacekeeper and the Shrike moved forward again.
Some distance behind them, the main unit geared up to move out as well.
The pair had moved along the trail half a metra further when Aeryn noticed her now silent again companion seeming to be having some difficulty. The Shrike had gradually slowed its pace until it had moved from slightly ahead of her on the path to a few steps behind her.
Out of the corner of her eyes she had seen the assassin pause in their march for a few microts several times to shake its head, as if to clear it. She had seen countless sparring partners make the same gesture after an unexpected blow to the head in training. Now the creature had began waving back and forth in its step as if intoxicated as well. Both oddities had increased several-fold in just the last micron alone that she had focused on the assassin, until Aeryn could no longer ignore it.
The Peacekeeper turned to the Enforcer and halted, the muzzle of her pulse rifle pointed skyward but ready to react in a split microt if needed.
"What the frell is wrong with you?" she asked irately.
In answer the Shrike took another step, only to stumble that time. One armored hand going to its head as if injured somehow.
"What's…" she started again, just as the big assassin buckled and went to its knees, all gracefulness leaving the creature as metal plated kneecaps loudly snapped deadfall branches and plowed into the muddy ground beneath them. The soldier grimaced at the unwarranted noise that broke the still like a shuttle crash, well aware that any enemies in the vicinity now knew their exact location. The Shrike managed to catch itself up on one arm before totally falling prone on the ground.
Aeryn's first thought was that the Enforcer had been more seriously damaged in the battle with the forest mutant that it had let on… or perhaps even truly knew for itself. The tiny status icons on the control collar still flared mostly red, but most of them were now flashing on and off quickly for some unknown reason.
"Frell!" the Sebacean woman muttered to herself as she stepped closer to the fallen assassin. "You said you were operational just a few moments ago," Aeryn spat as she looked down at the Shrike. "If you were lying to me, I will leave you here to rot," she threatened.
To her ever-growing annoyance the creatures either seemed to not hear her or to be ignoring her, while it continued to hold its head as if it hurt.
"Fine!" she finally hissed, and straightened up. "Your 'friends' can come for you then." She then turned to leave and continue her mission… only to pause a few steps later. "Yenti damnit!" she swore and looked back at the assassin who hadn't moved at all. She shouldered her rifle and walked back over to the fallen being. "Can you hear me at all?" she asked in clear frustration.
Again, the Shrike gave her no visible response to her query. Aeryn's lips turned into a scowl, but it was more from the helplessness of the matter than contempt at the moment.
"Frag it," she said and moved over the assassin to get a better look at the problem that was inflicting it. She had never left a downed comrade in the field, and she'd be damned if she start doing so now… even if it was a goddess-damned Shrike.
"Let me see if I can help," she instructed. She had a vague idea of how the assassin's armor probably worked, and she gripped the bottom half of the face visor from under the chin-guard and tugged forward. Like she hoped, the piece slid forward a bit on a hidden seam. She then pulled upward once it cleared and it disengaged from the rest of the helm.
Aeryn had intended to remove the battle helm to better assess the Shrike injury and condition. It hadn't occurred to her until that moment that the visor locked into its upright position that she would also finally see the Enforcer's entire face for the first time.
Her mind started to focus on just that end, only taking in the assassin's eyes that abruptly flared bright silver, surprising and stunning her for a split microt from paying attention to anything else.
Suddenly she felt the creature's palm slam into her chest, her own armor taking the blow and absorbing the power from it, but still the concussion sent her tumbling backwards onto the ground. She had a vague glimpse of the Shrike yanking its visor back down into place and hearing the metallic click as it locked again.
She was also vaguely aware that she had only gotten a good enough view of the Shrike to confirm it's maleness… no other features or details had been clear to her in that bare microt or so the visor had been opened.
Aeryn didn't have much more time to dwell on the missed chance as battle-trained instinct took over and warned her of danger. She drew her pulse pistol without realizing she had done so.
"Easy!" she barked as she leveled it at the assassin.
Somehow the Shrike had gotten up on one knee and its right arm was drawn back, brace blades out and ready to strike. "I was only trying to help, damn you!" she continued to explain, thinking the creature must have misunderstood her gesture as an attack.
The Shrike didn't waver for a few microts, however she noted that the icon lights on the collar had began to flash and strobe in some new pattern. She had heard that the armor of High Syndicate Shrike was pulse weapon resistant, and she had no doubt that this was the case with the plate the Enforcer before her wore. Her only chance for the moment if the Shrike choose to proceed with the attack, was to hope that enough of the plating had been torn away to allow a few of her pulse bolt to strike home on the assassin before it sliced into her.
The pair stood frozen like that for what seemed a cycle – each posed to kill the other.
Aeryn focused on the only feature she could make out, the only part of the assassin that wasn't covered in dark gunmetal colored metal – its eyes. She adjusted her aim for that very area, wondering if she were good, or lucky, enough to hit the assassin there as it rushed toward her.
The Enforcer's eyes narrowed, but not in murderous contemplation, as she would have thought. They seemed to have a far away look, as if the Shrike were in some deep mental struggle.
The racing collar icons caught part of her attention as they sped up. At the same time she realized her finger was tightening every so slightly on the pulse pistol's trigger. She didn't know for sure what they meant, but she decided they had something to do with what the Shrike would do next.
If they changed any further, or became more excited with their dancing – she would fire… and hope for a good hit
Just as she finished the thought, the lights suddenly all flashed on steady for a microt – Aeryn's finger started its squeeze on the trigger. She glanced up to the Shrike's eyes, surprised for a instant when she saw pain there – her trigger finger froze in place with just a hairbreadth left to go before the gun fired.
Simultaneously, all but two of the status lights went completely dark on the collar and the pained look in the assassin's eyes died. Abruptly the tenseness in the Enforcer's posture seemed to run out of it as it almost seemed to slump a bit. It's armed hand lowered and the blades retracted back into their brace housings with an oily snick. Aeryn backed her finger of the trigger in response as well.
The creature's eyes faded back to that blank unemotional cast, leading the Peacekeeper woman to believe that the control collar had indeed been the cause of the last micron's new problem. She concluded that the device had probably defaulted back to some backup protocol as a last resort after it couldn't successfully reach a solution to whatever had been causing it to malfunction.
She briefly wondered at the idiotic methods of the Black Syndicate to equip their Enforcers with mind control devices that could break down at any moment. Then decided it didn't matter much what an organization of low-life criminals did anyway.
Aeryn rolled back to her feet, frowning now with the new delay in her mission. She kept her pistol ready until she retrieved her rifle from a nearby bramble. Now better armed, she edged forward to reassess her companion. As she drew closer to the still kneeling Shrike, she caught the faint scent of metal burning, and knew some electronic component of the Enforcer's collar had probably been seriously damage, if not outright destroyed.
The assassin didn't seem to notice her standing beside it, so she cautiously poked it once with the barrel of her pulse rifle.
"Are you able to go on now without anymore frelling hitches," she asked grimly, "Or do you prefer I just save myself a lot of aggravation and lost time by killing you now?"
The creature slowly turned and looked up at her and blinked once. Officer Sun then realized it was the first time she could recall seeming the Shrike even do something so mundane as blink like a normal person.
"Eradication… is not necessary," the Shrike said in a low rough voice as it slowly rose to its feet. The woman's gun muzzle tracked the assassin as it stood. "Malfunction has been cleared. Protocol reestablished. We may proceed."
"Just frelling great," Aeryn drawled with an upraised sarcastic eyebrow. "Just see that it stays that way."
"Acknowledged," the assassin replied colorlessly.
For just a brief flash, Aeryn could have swore she seen the Enforcer wince as it turned away from her. Somewhere she once read some silly dren about the eye being a window into a person. The Shrike's eyes were strange blanks for the most part – but she knew physical pain when she saw it in another's eyes.
It was one of the things a soldier lived with all her life.
The Shrike was up and moving for the most part, which pleased her greatly as it allowed for her to continue on with performing her duty and current task.
She made a new mental note on an already long list to keep an even more alert eye of her own on the assassin, to see if anything else happened. Something was causing it pain and anything she learned might be useful to the Peacekeeper Intelligence Branch, so it was her duty to observe and report it.
However, she was getting damned tired of it interfering with her job of walking the point-position for her unit at the moment.
She just might have forget the data gathering and eliminate the Shrike if it became much more of a liability.
The pair trudged on for a couple of metra more without incidence. The Peacekeeper female was beginning to relax her guard slightly on her armor cover companion. The Shrike kept up with her pace, though obviously not as sure-footed as it had been when they started out on point.
The assassin didn't move as smoothly as before, and still once in awhile paused for a few microts to shake its head as if clearing its thoughts.
Aeryn Sun allowed herself a small smile.
"It appears we're not so damned indestructible after all," she murmured to herself as she observed the
Enforcer.
If the assassin heard her comment, it offered no indication. It merely moved forward, pausing only for an instant here or there to examine the trail – when it was looking as if it were trying to get rid of a headache. The rounded a long curve in the path and almost immediately the left side of the surrounding area dropped off into a deep valley. Even from their current position, the Peacekeeper could already see the sheer drop off. A glance to the opposite side revealed a likely steep hillside, heavily covered with green leafy cover.
The Sebacean woman instantly disliked what she saw.
"Hold," she muttered to the Shrike, and then discovered she need not have given the order. The assassin had paused and was regarding the area before them also. She sidestepped closer to the tall assassin so she could keep her voice lower.
"A perfect place for an ambush," she said. The Enforcer tilted its head minutely to glance at her and then slightly dipped its chin in agreement. Aeryn studied the area, but could find no way to get around and out flank the suspected ambush positions. The unit was coming up behind them fast, and there wasn't much time left to them to decide what to do.
Somebody had to clear the zone if it was a trap, so it might as well be them.
She assessed sending the Shrike through first, but after considering the shape it was it, disregarded the idea. The assassin was heavier than her… and wounded, the creature was obviously not as graceful as it had been. She alone of the pair had the best chance of moving stealthy along the trail, and possibly surprising any enemies waiting for them there.
She pulled a point-marker from a thigh pocket and keyed in the simple warning code for an ambush/kill-zone area. Then planted the slim stick-like marker into the ground just off the trail. If it was a trap and she and the Shrike were killed, the marker would trigger the field scanning device carried by another soldier in the main unit and warn them of the danger ahead.
"I'll go first," she instructed the silent assassin. "Give me fifty… 'grenclik'," she added, remembering the Scarran distance measurement. "And then follow behind. Understand?"
The Shrike gave her the single dip of its chin once more.
Aeryn allowed herself a moment of hesitation with trusting the Syndicate operative to back her up. Then decided there was no point in worrying about it.
Still, she couldn't help herself but to mutter "And don't leave me with my eema hanging out if it all turns to dren," as she moved forward in a tight combat crouch.
Officer Sun ignored the rivulets of sweat that ran from her forehead down over her face, and instead focused solely on the combat sights of her compact pulse rifle as it swept the foliage before her. The constant cover sweeping of her weapon was only broken by quick glances at the ground in front of her to scan for trip wires before shuffling into that area.
It seemed like nearly a half-cycle, but was really only a quarter of an arn when she found herself halfway through the suspected ambush area. Every so often the Shrike would move up and then squat down on it hunches as it scanned the rest of the area around them, taking particular care with their back trail.
Aeryn allowed herself a brief sense of satisfaction. At least it was smart enough to keep a look out behind them.
A tree trunk twice as thick around the middle as she was, lay along the hillside, with it broken twisted end protruding slightly into the path. The shattered end stuck out far enough that Aeryn had to adjust her movement to dodge around it.
Just as she was making that transition around the obstacle, she caught moment out of the corner of her eye.
She turned her head slightly and heard the whisper of sharp metal sliding from a scabbard. She spun fully to look behind her to witness the Shrike drawing a large knife from a concealed sheath in its thigh armor.
"NO!" Aeryn growled as the big Enforcer's arm snapped downward. In slow motion, the Peacekeeper saw the knife leave the assassin's hand and spin toward her. She felt the grim bite of betrayal as she fought to get the pulse rifle around to face her enemy – knowing it was going to be too late.
The Shrike had waited for the perfect moment to strike.
She could hear the blade whirr as it closed with her… and felt the light breeze as it shot by her face… then feel the wet thud as it impacted on something soft.
She turned, believing the Shrike has missed, to see the large blade buried in a section of the downed tree trunk.
Only it registered just then that the tree trunk had just let loose a horrible scream.
"Frag it to hezmana!" Aeryn Sun cursed, then lowered her rifle and let a single pulse bolt tear through the chest of the wounded man in camouflage.
The scream ended as Aeryn hugged the tree trunk for cover. The woods on the other side erupted in movement as the rest of the band of bandits sprung from their hiding places. The Peacekeeper lined up on the nearest man and sent a barrage of bolts into the bandit's vicinity. She was rewarded with another choked off yell as the body spun and fell face first into the carpet of leaves.
Her combat trained powers of observation informed her that she had at least five more possible enemies on the other side of the large log. She was attempting to formulate a plan of attack when a black swirling blur shot over the tree trunk. She didn't have to get a good look to know it was the Shrike and its cloak that she had seen. The ringing of brace blades being deployed would have told her even if she weren't sure.
Someone else let loose with a wet death cry, and she decided there was no sense in coming up with a tactical plan. She shot to her feet and bounded over the trunk to join the battle.
In cases like this it was better to act first and think later.
Aeryn entered a world that was made of crisscrossing pulse bolts and cries of confusion. The Shrike dance death between the spaced out bandits, blood flew in a wide crimsoned arch as it slew its second man.
A third attacker noticed Aeryn joining the fight and tossed off a poorly aimed shot at her. The low-grade pulse bolt struck her in the wide shoulder armor of her field battle dress. The bolt hit solidly but didn't burn through; it did however make her left shoulder and arm go numb from the impact.
Use to taking wounds in combat, Aeryn ignored the injury and pushed her rifle forward to fire it one-handedly – which was why it was designed that way for. The weapon barked from her uninjured hand and stitched her opponent straight up the middle of his body.
A quick glance showed her that the Shrike was bounding for the attacker furthest away from them. That bandit fired several time and she saw a few of the shot score hits on the assassin's blackish armor plate.
The fifth bandit had somehow closed with her and rose up out of the corner of her eye, taking her attention away from the Enforcer.
The being screamed a war cry and let loose with a blaster shot. The energy bolt barely missed Aeryn to strike the tree next to her. The resulting explosion sent wood splintered flying in all directions. A majority of them bounced harmless off Aeryn's leather-like armor, but a few splinters struck her in the face and neck.
She ignored the burning sensation of splinters in her cheek and throat as the bandit reversed the long blaster around to use the stock-end as a bludgeon against her. Aeryn counted her blessings that apparently it was only a single-shot weapon. As the attacker swung, a heavy explosion on the other side of the battlefield rocked them. The bandit's swing missed Aeryn's head, but knocked her rifle from her grasp. The Peacekeeper felt the weapon ripped from her hand as the ground shook beneath her feet, unbalancing her.
With no time to spare for whatever caused the explosion, she caught the man's wrist as he stumbled forward, meaning to take a second crack at busting her skull wide open.
Aeryn allowed herself to fall backwards, dragging her enemy down on top of her. Somehow, she managed to make her numb hand draw the big combat knife at her duty belt as she went down.
At the moment she wasn't entirely certain she actually held the blade, sure only when she trust her arm forward and was rewarded with the solid thunk of the blade biting home, and the look of surprise in the man's eyes as he came down heavily on top of her – driving the knife in even further.
Her attacker died within microts, and she had to use one of her booted feet to push the corpse off the top of her. Her first act upon gaining her freedom was finding her pulse rifle, and checking it for damage. Aeryn noticed that the woods was strangely silent now, but didn't let that lull her into a false sense of security.
She began to scan the area for more bandits and the Shrike, pausing again to yank her combat knife free of the body as she passed.
About fifty drenc from where she killed the man with her blade, she found a shallow smoking crater. Judging by the blast radius and the smell of chemicals lingering in the air she concluded it had been caused by a homemade grenade of some type. One of the attackers had probably tossed it at the Enforcer in an effort to stop it, however Aeryn decided the attempt had failed, as she couldn't find the assassin's remains anywhere nearby.
The Peacekeeper stalked forward cautiously until she came to the spot she last saw the Shrike killing one of the bandits. There she found another body, but still no Enforcer.
A quick examination of the surrounding area showed her more pulse burns on a few of the tree trunks nearby. The line of burns lead further off into the woods, indicating that someone had fled while shoot suppressive fire. She was willing to bet it was the final survivor of the raiding party shooting at the Shrike as they tried to escape and the assassin gave chase.
Aeryn cursed at the delay of their point duty, but began following the trail anyway.
She had gone less than a quarter of a metra before she hard one last shot and then a scream that was suddenly cut off. She came down a small hillside and rounded a deadfall to discover the assassin standing over a body by the edge of steep drop-off.
"Is that the frelling last of them?" she asked without preamble.
The Shrike turned her way to look, but before it could reply Aeryn saw movement on the ground behind it.
What she had at first taken for a fallen tree trunk suddenly reared and rose to more than twice the Shrike's height.
"Look out!" the Sebacean woman shouted in warning. The Shrike spun just as the serpent-like creature hissed, opening its mouth to show long venom-dripping fangs. Whatever the beast was, Aeryn was sure it had to have been drawn to the area by the fighting and the smell of spilled blood. She threw her rifle to her shoulder, but experience told her that the range was too great for an accurate shot from the melee weapon.
The creature sprang forward and wrapped a coil of its body around the Shrike's chest and lifted him into the air. Aeryn rushed forward to engage the beast, hearing the Enforcer's armor groan and the serpent started to squeeze. The Shrike had both brace blades out and was flailing at the monster, but the angle was wrong for it to make a good cutting blow.
Aeryn thumbed the power selector on her rifle all the way up, and focused her aim at the lower part of the creature still on the ground. If she couldn't shoot at the portion that held the Shrike, then she would attack the part giving the rest of it support.
The pulse gun hammered her shoulder as it spat a steady stream of bolts for about five microts and then died as the charge pack ran out. Without thinking she hit the release to drop the clip and rammed home a fresh one from her belt.
Meanwhile the beast screamed in agony as the pulse fire ripped hunks out of its lower body. Aeryn picked another spot and tore into that with several more bolts. The creature withered in pain and dropped the Shrike lower, so she picked a third section on its body and began to chop into it again.
The monster's hold on the Shrike must have loosened, as it was now able to turn itself enough to start digging its claws into the serpent as well.
Several long raking slashes finally convinced the beast to release the assassin, as the Enforcer hit the ground again, it turned fully and jabbed the monster several more times with its blades.
Aeryn had a better view of the situation from her position, and once she realized the assassin was still attacking the beast she paused in her firing to shout another warning.
"No! Wait… get out of there!" she cried.
Too late, the assassin never saw the additional danger that Aeryn plainly did. The serpent suddenly reared up in its death throws and slammed a coil of its undulating body into Shrike's armored chest.
The blow knocked the assassin off balance and right down the steep bank leading to the shear drop-off. The Enforcer attempted to stop his slid by digging his claws into the ground, but it only slowed his descent slightly. Aeryn saw the blades dig in several times, only to slip free an instant later. Just before the Shrike reached the edge of the cliff, she saw them snag on a few exposed tree roots and arrest his fall for a brief moment. Unfortunately, the blades were too sharp and they cut right through the roots an instant later.
Without a sound the Enforcer slid over the edge and out of sight.
"Damn it!" Aeryn growled. She waited a few microts but heard no sound of a body hitting bottom. She would have moved on with her mission, but part of her reluctantly wouldn't let her leave without being sure that the Enforcer was gone for good. It was the least she would do for another Peacekeeper and the assassin had held up its own end of their partnership.
She called the situation back into Crais and the main company halted once more while she prepared to check on her companion's fate.
The Peacekeeper detached a safety line built into her combat harness and secured the hooked end around a nearby three trunk. After tugging on the line with her full weight several times to test it, she began to creep slowly down the incline toward the edge.
On her way there, she could see that it was in fact a deep drop, and she doubted that the Shrike would have survived such a fall. The inclined grew steeper, and she was forced to go belly down to combat crawl the rest of the way to the edge. Once there she leaned over as far as she felt safe to and could see nothing.
"I guess you didn't survive that," she muttered to herself, oddly feeling sorry for the Syndicate creature. She pushed the sympathy aside, life was hard and things and people died. It was a simple fact of life in the Peacekeeper corp. She pushed backwards with her hands to work her way back up the slope. A few pebbles and small stones fell away in a shower of dirt over the edge.
It was then she heard the out of place sound – something pinging off metal.
"What the hezmana," she uttered in curiosity. Despite the danger, she relied on her rope and leaned even further over the side to discover a hidden overhang below her position.
And also found herself looking into the Shrike's sliver-tinted eyes as it clung to an exposed tree root with one hand. The blades of one brace were jammed into side of the cliff.
"Frell – me – dead!" Aeryn exclaimed. "You have more lives than a Hynerian Abber-Cat," she added. "You could have picked a easier place to get you out of," she continued as she surveyed the situation. The soldier concluded there was going to be no easy way to extract the Shrike from where he was without full climbing equipment – which she didn't have.
She was just going to have to make due with what she had on hand.
"Hold on a micron," she advised and then drew herself back up to a safer position. She quickly double checked her lifeline and found it still secure. Next she retightened all her harness buckles, and with some reluctance, removed the sling from her pulse rifle and tossed the weapon back up the slope safely away from the drop-off. She took the sling and looped it around her right wrist as tightly as she could.
This done, she scooted back to the edge and retook her prior precarious position leaning over the ledge.
Before going all the way out, she drew her large combat knife and praying it was as nearly indestructible as the techs claimed, drove it as deeply into the ground with both hands as she could.
Keeping hold of the knife handle with her left hand, she leaned out as far as she could with her right hand and lowered the looped sling down to the Shrike.
"Grab on," she instructed. The assassin looked up at her, doubt clearly present in the eyes above its face visor. "Frelling grab it! I'm not going to offer again!" she spat.
The Shrike paused only a microt more and then yanked its blades free of the cliff-side; they slid back into the brace with a cold snick. It reached up with the now free hand and snared the handing loop.
"Good," Aeryn said. "Now let go with the other hand and reach up to grab my arm."
Again the Enforcer looked hesitant, and the Peacekeeper grew even angrier.
"Damn your coward hide!" she snarled. "Do it or I will leave you here!"
The Shrike let go of the root it was holding in the next instant, and lurched upward to seize Aeryn's arm. As he did, the Sebacean woman discovered what had been impeding the assassin's action. She had not taken into consideration the full weight of the Shrike's armor when she came up with the plan.
A detail that came into full realization as the Enforcer's total weight descended on her one arm. Aeryn felt her arm dislocated at the shoulder instantly. It was only her Peacekeeper training that kept her from passing out from the pain.
"AGH!" she grunted through clenched teeth. Cold sweat broke out over her brow as the agony become nearly unbearable. "Climb, damn you!" she shouted. "Climb up my arm! I can't frelling pull you up myself!"
It seemed like forever to her, but the Enforcer must have realized what would happen, and it was already grabbing at her shoulder armor and dragging itself over her as she finished speaking.
The weight off her arm cut the pain nearly in half, but she was now wondering how she was going to extract herself from this situation with a dislocated arm.
She didn't have to wonder very long as a metal-covered hand gripped her hand that was still holding the knife handle at the wrist.
Somehow the Syndicate assassin was dragging her up the slope behind it.
"I'm ready," Aeryn said several microns later as she sat on a tree stump.
The Shrike placed one hand at her shoulder and yanked sharply at her wrist with its other hand.
Aeryn covered a scream as her arm snapped back into its shoulder socket.
"FRELL!" was all she would allow herself. "You'd make a lousy field surgeon," she told the assassin. The Shrike stepped away from her and merely regarded her with an odd tilt of its head. She tested the arm by flexing and rotating it. It was sore as all hezmana, but she had a free range of movement. They had set it back in place in plenty of time to reduce the change of serious damage.
She re-keyed her comm and reported back to the main unit that she had recovered the Shrike and they were ready to move out once again. Tauvo Crais gave her permission to carry on after asking only a few questions about their conditions and ability to remain at the point position. They were getting close to the drop zone where they would meet their transport off-planet, and Aeryn's pride wouldn't let her relinquish her duty now.
The Peacekeeper female hefted her recovered rifle and turned back to the battered Shrike.
"I guess that makes us near even," she said. "Lets try and not run into anyone side adventures shall we?"
The assassin dipped its head to indicate agreement.
"Lets move out then," she said, all business once more.
She took a step pass the assassin, but strangely she felt a light hand touch her shoulder. Aeryn turned to look at the Shrike, for some reason not at all alarmed with the contact as she normally would be.
The Enforcer looked at her, its blue eyes held a peculiar look, almost as if there were a hint of soul somewhere behind them. She found that she wished that she could see more than its eyes above the rest of the facemask. It might have let her read what the assassin was thinking at the moment. The collar's status lights began blinking in a new pattern, and those pale us tightened momentarily as if in some pain.
"Thank… you," it said in a tight low voice, only slightly muffled by the armored mask.
The look of life faded from its eyes as it removed its hand from her shoulder, then walked passed her to continue along the path that would led them to their destination.
Aeryn clenched her rifle tightly, and found herself wonder at what had just occurred. They had just connected at some humanoid level briefly. The soldier and the Syndicate monster, and she found it harder at that moment to hate the Shrike for what he was.
It was also at that moment that she realized she had stopped thinking of the Shrike as an "it" and at least gave the assassin the benefit of a humanoid characteristic. They would still be enemies when this detail was over, that would never change. But she would give him the distinction she would give any other enemy soldier.
She found it within herself to do that much.
An arn later found Aeryn Sun and the Shrike standing in the middle of a smuggler's clearing. She gazed upward to see the contrails of the transport ship marking the sky as it headed in for a landing. She lowered her eyes just as the first of the main unit broke cover at the tree line and began heading over to them.
Within a microt she found herself coming to attention in front of Tauvo Crais.
"Good work, Officer Sun," Crais said as he inspected his soldier. "Are you sure you don't want a field medic to check you over?" he asked. From any other officer, Aeryn might have taken this as a slight meaning she was weak. But Lieutenant Crais was known for insuring the well being of his men at all times. It was why he had the top convert unit under his brother, Captain Crais's, command.
"Negative, sir," Aeryn responded. "It can wait until we return to home base."
"As you were than, Officer," he commander replied. "There were no unexpected complications other than what you reported then," he went on to ask as he regarded the battered looking assassin still standing by her side. The creature regarded him with emotionless eyes and he felt his hand itch for the grip of his pulse pistol.
"None, sir. It all will be in my end of mission report," she told him.
"I look forward to reviewing it," Crais replied.
A slightly hissing voice broke in just then.
"You see, Soft-skin," said Val'Cirrus as she sauntered up; her red trimmed black cloak swirling around her. "My agent kept your weak female soldier from harm just as I directed."
Aeryn eye's turned cloudily at the insult and she found herself on the edge of a burning retort when her commander cut her off.
"As you were, Officer," he reminded. He turned back to the Master Shrike. "Keep your frelling remarks to yourself, Syndicate scum."
Val'Cirrus merely chuckled as if having the best time of her life. Aeryn wondered if the Syndicate leader had spent most of their journey tormenting her commanding officer.
"You are such an enjoyable distraction," the female Shrike told him almost seductively. "I really will have to see about looking you up when our business is concluded."
"It couldn't be concluded fast enough to suit me," Crais countered. "And if we ever meet again after this, I will certain enjoy shooting you down for the criminal trash you are," he warned.
Val'Cirrus chuckled again. "You have such a refreshing way for flirting," she said, "We shall have to see who hunts whom down." She turned for the first time to inspect her third Shrike. "I see protecting your Peacekeeper has been a difficult task for my underling." She walked around the tall male Shrike and probed at several places. When she came around to the front of him again, she paused and did a double take at his control collar.
"I see it has been very difficult," she said lowly, a deep frown replacing the playful grin she had wore just a moment before. She inspected the collar more intensely and her frowned deepened even more.
"Status?" she asked, ignoring the Peacekeepers now.
"Operational," replied the male Shrike immediately.
She took one more walk around the assassin, this time clearly cataloging the total damage to her minion, paying particular attention to the Shrike's helmet and the latches connecting it to the armor. When she reached the front once more, she threw a thoughtful look at the Peacekeepers, and predominantly at Aeryn Sun.
"Were you… compromised?" Val'Cirrus asked, keeping her reptilian eyes locked on Aeryn. The Sebacean woman saw the normally emotionless Shrike's eyes shift in her direction for just an instant, before resuming their regular blank stare. It was then she was sure that she, nor any of the other Peacekeepers, were suppose to have seen the faces of any of the trio of Shrikes under the Master. Her thumb found the safety toggle on her rifle and she wished she could warn Lieutenant Crais of the danger, but she instinctively knew that any indication that something was wrong would send the female Shrike at them in a split microt. She held her tongue and kept her face as blank as any Syndicate Enforcer, ready to let the jinga cards fall where they may.
"No, Master," the male Shrike responded a heartbeat later.
Val'Cirrus turned to regard her charge, doubt seemingly evident on her scaled features. Aeryn's hand seemed to grow slippery on her weapon's grip. A side-glance showed that Tauvo's hand had settled on the handgrip of his pulse pistol also. Instincts told the lieutenant that something was wrong too with the Master's question to her Shrike.
Abruptly, Val'Cirrus look of concern faded and again was replaced by her mischievous toothy grin.
"It looks like it's your lucky day, Soft-skins," she said as she turned back toward the pair. Neither Sebacean felt they need verification on what she was getting at. "It appears our business is concluded to everyone's satisfaction," she continued over the howl of the transport landing nearby. She pulled the hood of her cloak up over her head to conceal most of her features. The Shrike that had accompanied Aeryn did the same at some unspoken command.
"We shall be on our way to our own transportation off planet," the Master Shrike informed them. "Until we meet again," she said, her eyes clearly on Tauvo Crais.
Crais held his tongue and merely spat on the ground between them to show his contempt. Val'Cirrus only chuckled again in response and made a slight mocking bow to the PK commander.
"If shall keep you just as deeply in my thoughts," she told him, and then turned away in a swirl of cloak and headed back for the tree line. Tauvo Crais did not fail to notice the male Shrike's eyes again shift to Aeryn for an instant before he fell in behind the other two black-cloaked Enforcers already following the Master into the woods.
"I shall indeed look forward to your report with great interest," Crais said from beside her as they watched the Shrike disappear from sight totally.
"Yes, sir," she said, wondering how exactly she was going to write all this up.
After they had loaded the transport and climbed aboard, Crais pulled her aside and informed her that she had differentiate herself enough in the operation for him to recommend her for a new special duty assignment. She silently dared to hope it was a permanent duty back to a fighter wing.
It wasn't only until a few arns later that Aeryn wasn't sure about how to take the news of her new coming assignment. She had waited and trained all her young life to be a fighter pilot. To fly combat missions in a Prowler.
This new assignment as pilot for some secret Peacekeeper operation was meant to be an honor, an accolade for having distinguished herself on this stealth mission. The lieutenant certainly believed he was rewarding her for her performance by recommending her to his brother, Captain Crais, for the position.
She had only ever wanted to be a Prowler pilot, but she didn't dare protest to hard about the transfer or that she wished to remain where she was – that wasn't the Peacekeeper way.
Aeryn exited the transport and wandered out onto the massive landing tier of the Command Carrier's loading bay. She spied Yal Henta leaning over a safety rail and moved to join her, her boots ringing off the steel mesh decking. The sound of her own footsteps was loud in her ears despite the rest of the clamor going on in the bay as other transports loaded or unloaded. Dock-masters roared orders to deckhands and techs as she passed, all of which Aeryn ignored.
She reached her friend's side to stare out over the huge bay, across to other landing tiers and the work taking place on them as well.
"What did Crais have to say?" Yal asked curiously.
Aeryn filled her in on her new orders, and when she was finished, Henta sighed heavily.
"That's a tough break," she said, knowing how much her friend loved being a fighter pilot. "But it's not forever. You'll be back with the Company within the quarter cycle or so."
"I hope so," Aeryn added listlessly. A commotion on the same tier at the next transport over caught her attention. That ship was being off-loaded as well it appeared to the young officer. "What's going on over there?" Aeryn asked.
Before Yal could reply, Aeryn witnessed an armored grunt roughly shove a Delvian woman who wasn't moving fast enough to suit him to hurry her along the gangplank and onto the deck. The blue woman stumbled, and the Sebacean woman could see that she wore the light flexible handcuffs meant to limit hand movement instead of full body chains, meaning the Delvian and her group were most likely indentured servants or pleasure slaves being reassigned instead of prisoners.
"Servant transport," Yal confirmed.
Aeryn nodded, just as the grunt shoved the same Delvian woman again. This time the woman lost her footing and fell to the deck, probably still not adjusted to the difference in gravity between the transport and the carrier, Aeryn idly thought.
Unnoticed till then, the younger Delvian female next in line, barely more than a teenager, roared in outrage. She balled both shackled fists together in front of her and smashed them upward into the guard's armored visor. Aeryn heard the helmet clearly crack from her position across the tier and winced.
The guard rocket off his feet from the blow and landed flat on his back. Besides her, Yal uttered a grim laugh at the spectacle.
"Should have known better than to turn your back on a flex-cuffed Delvian," she said sagely. "Even the young ones are frelling strong."
Aeryn frowned as the rest of the guards rushed too late to the downed man's rescue. The young Delvian growled a challenge as the soldiers rushed her. Aeryn had a quick view of the teenager's flashing eyes before she was buried under red-armored bodies.
"Green eyes," she muttered to herself. They were very rare in Delvians, almost as rare as blue eyes in Sebaceans. She shook the thought from her head as she realized she was dwelling on that damned Shrike again.
The older Delvian woman was pleading and calling something out, probably the younger girl's name. It occurred to Aeryn that the Delvians might be mother and daughter, which would explain why the youngster had attacked the grunt that had push the older woman down.
The group eventually sorted itself again and soldiers had the raging teenager under control now. Someone had produced a full set of body chain and metal wrist shackles, which the young Delvian now wore. Another grunt had found a control pole and had snapped the thick metal collar around the girl's neck, using the long metal rod as a control to steer her.
The team was now dragging her forcibly toward the freight lift that would take them below decks. The older blue woman followed, still calling franticly and pleading with the entire group.
"Just think, your luck could be worse," Henta said. "You could be one of them," she finished while jerking a thumb over her shoulder to the closing elevator doors. "That young one's not going to last long if she doesn't fall into place soon," Aeryn's friend muttered as an afterthought.
"I suppose you're right, Yal," Aeryn agreed after a few moments thought.
The she wondered silently to herself if she really had any more control over her life than a servant or slave had over their own lives.
Or even any more control than a collared assassin had.