Chapter 10

Author's Notes: Thanks again to my favorite boeties for following and commenting on this one. It means a lot to me…now, on with the show!

Outside the Raven, things had gone eerily quiet, as if every warlord, gangster and thug in the city was suddenly holding his breath, waiting for the others to make the next move. No gunfire, no distant crump of anti-aircraft or mortars. Just silence.

On the inside, it was a hive of busy activity. The girl was actually making herself useful for once, carrying tools for Crowe and Drake as they worked to cobble together the hatches, doors and shields, fetching ready rations for them to eat, and lending a few words of encouragement along the way. The two mercenaries, who'd thankfully taken a moment to wipe their soaked heads, were joking away, swearing at one another playfully after their fight a few minutes before. It had been just another one of their many little disagreements. They liked to resolve disagreements with their fists, not with their words. Kruger sat in the pilot's seat, brooding and going over the readouts on Lorelei's comm pad versus the Raven's screens again and again. Whenever one of the others called over to him for his opinion on something, he just grunted. Fok. How am I supposed to think with all that noise?

He knew the illusion of harmony wouldn't last. They had to get the hell out of there, and fast. Time was really running out now. The fifteen minutes Drake had promised had dragged into a half hour…now a full one. 2245 hours, Elysium time. Barely enough time to fly up to the torus, land in some out of the way spot, devise a strategy based on the situation at hand, and carry out a successful assault. Not to mention an assault without armor, shields, or any of the usual toys. This one would be a hard nut to crack.

"…and then, she tells me, 'keep my fokken broekies,' you earned 'em!" Crowe finished the punchline to one of his stupid jokes, slapping his own knees, and Drake chuckled. The girl laughed too, though probably more at the gunner's high-pitched snort than the actual joke.

How anybody could be laughing at a time like this, Kruger didn't know. He liked a good dirty joke as well as anyone, but this wasn't the time or place for it. "Let's hear a little less fokken laughing and a little more working over there, eh?" he said irritably.

"You always used to love that one, boss." Crowe peered out from under his welding goggles. He seemed crestfallen.

"So?"

"So," said Drake, gesturing at Kruger with an electronic torch, "just because we're on a mission doesn't mean we can't have a little bit of a jol. Jesus, ain't we been through enough today to deserve a laugh?" His exposed flesh, mottled purple and black with bruises and cuts, spoke the truth of his words.

If Kruger hadn't absolutely needed the little Dragonfly comm pad, he would have smashed it to bits right then and there. He picked up the first thing at hand-the now empty plastic bucket- and smacked it hard against the side of the ship's wall, where it shattered. Crowe, Drake and the girl all spun around, startled from their moment of jollity.

"You don't fokken get it, do you?" he snarled, his voice becoming more furious with every syllable. "This op is compromised. Those fokkers have a head start and everything they need to bring that bliksem torus down, if that's what they want. They could be up there doing it right now while we sit around like a bunch of idiots. That place is our fokken lifeblood. We're sure as fok not going to get paid, or ever work again, if that happens. You think that's funny? Eh?" The veins in his forehead and neck were bulging wildly as he spoke, and his hair seemed to stand on end. "Go ahead and fokken laugh, then. I'm just going to keep it real." He grabbed his stealth cloak and pistol and stormed outside, seething, past his men and the girl.

"Where's he going?" Crowe wondered after the terrible moment of silence which followed.

"The boss just needs a sec, boet. You know how he gets. Leave him be."

Lorelei had already scampered off after Kruger. Her face was grave, as if she'd been personally wounded by his outburst and wanted an apology. Ignoring Crowe and Drake's muttered protests, she squeezed her way through the half-open rear hatch and out into the night.

It was chilly, colder than she'd ever been before. The jacket she wore only took the sharp edge off the wind, nothing more. She shivered. A moment later, teeth clacking, she found what she was looking for: the glowing tip of a cigarette, and the disembodied edges of Kruger's angular face and beard, floating in the air under the cowl of the cloak.

"If you so much as fokken look at me right now, I swear…" He didn't turn around to look at her, hardly moved a muscle, just puffed away. The smoke was a small comfort, one which helped him forget how famished and thirsty he was. His voice was as low and dangerous as an asp's hiss, his body tensed and rigid.

"I'm not looking at you." She swallowed hard, collected herself. Bit her tongue to keep from saying something that might set him off, like smoking is bad for you. Remember, never show fear. "What's going to happen to me if my home's gone? If the bad guys blow it up, or something?" It had been on Lorelei's mind ever since she'd realized the real trouble they were in. She had to know, and the words came out before she had a chance to edit them.

A dry, mirthless laugh. "Then they blow it up, and guess what? You won't have a home anymore. No more pretty house with a perfect lawn. And you know what else? I won't fokken care, meisie. You can do whatever you want, go wherever you like, because I'll be long gone by then. I'll still have plenty of stupid marks who want, and need, my services. You?" He scoffed from beneath the cloak. "You won't stand a chance here in this world."

"Yes I will. I'm smart, and I'm brave. I could do tech stuff for a living, you know?"

Kruger arched an eyebrow, looked at her from the corner of one eye. There was a contingency plan, of course. If the worst happened, and Elysium went down the shitter, he'd still find a way to profit. He always did. In fact, the backup plan had been slowly marinating in his mind all day long. I may not have a thing for them that young, but there are plenty of pervy bastards who do. Stun her, drop her off at one of the higher-end places in Bangkok or Shanghai. One genuine little blonde Elysian girl, citizen marker intact, never touched….how you like them apples, eh? I'd make more on her in a single day than I usually would in a year…and I'd never have to see the annoying little meisie again. Two birds with one fokken stone.

"You're looking at me weird again. Stop it," said Lorelei, her voice wavering. She looked less like her aunt and more like what she really was: a terrified, lost, sleep-deprived kid.

"And how is that?" Kruger asked her, weirdly amused by her terror. It went against his twisted personal honor code to kill one so young. Still, the thought was tantalizing. The taste of her fear, and the surge of her rapidly pumping blood, would be exquisite to his senses.

In the smoggy, chilly night air, Lorelei blinked once. Yes, she was clearly afraid. Tears, and the wind, stung her eyes. She was also looking back at him with a curiously studied expression, as if she was able to see right through him as he could her. Few people had ever done that to him. Fewer still were sane, and only one was alive.

"Just…weird. It's creeping me out. And home? I don't think I want to go back home," she finally said, quietly but firmly. "I don't know where I want to go, but it's not there."

It was the very last thing Kruger expected her to say. The girl had no idea how lucky she was. She'd been born into a world where she'd never have to be hungry, sick, or crippled. Like she'd won the lottery of life without having to buy a ticket. It was a privilege millions died for, killed for, screwed for, spent their whole lives working to pay for. And she was willing to throw it all away? "You're not only annoying, you're fokken crazy," he said sardonically, pulling at the last of his cigarette and tossing the butt to the ground. "They every tell you that?"

"Yeah. Well, not like that, but they did."

Christ, if I sold her to one of those places, she'd break into a thousand tiny pieces. Such a strange one. Like her fokken auntie. She wouldn't last a week…but I'd still get paid, wouldn't I? That's what counts.

"Look up there. You see that, meisie?" Kruger said to the girl, pointing upward to the smoky night sky. The torus was nearly directly overhead. It was usually the only heavenly object, other than the moon, which could be seen from the heavily polluted Earth anymore. And it was spectacular as ever: a glowing, sparkling five-pointed star surrounded by its outer ring. The very fact that it was up, and the lights were still on, was encouraging. It meant the insurgents hadn't crippled the systems…yet.

Lorelei was captivated. It was one thing to look out of her bedroom window every night and see the sapphire beauty of Earth; it was quite another to see her own home from so many miles away. "It's amazing! I think I can see my house from here!" she breathed. "That is so cool!"

She couldn't, of course, but Kruger didn't correct her. "What you see there is where you belong. I don't belong there, and my boeties don't fokken belong there. You do. If I have to knock you out again, I don't care what the fok it takes. Once we get there, if we get there, you're staying." He knew full well Delacourt would outbid any sorry madam or pimp in East Asia for the girl, but it wouldn't hurt to test the market. Plus, I doubt any cathouse, no matter how posh, can give me the kind of weapons I want as a reward. Hell, I might even be able to get a new gunship in this deal if I play my hand right.

"Why can't I come with you?"

It was a good thing Kruger had finished his last cigarette, otherwise he might have choked on it. The girl's sense of humor, it seemed, was just as sick and twisted as his own. "You actually need me to answer that question for you?"

The girl stared at him, hands on hips. At least she wasn't touching him. "You could use me. I can do all kinds of stuff. I promise I wouldn't get in the way…"

Kruger snorted. I'm not the only one who'd be able to use you. I bet you can do 'all kinds of stuff.' "Too fokken late for that."

"…and I really know my tech stuff inside and out…"

"You want to know what happened to the last poes comm guy who pissed me off? Did the boys tell you yet? I broke his fokken neck."

"Seriously, though. I could help you."

He wasn't about to give her points for originality or style or artistry, but fok, the girl was persistent. Sometimes that was a useful quality. Other times, like now, it was merely an annoyance, like a mosquito in a dark room when you were trying to sleep. "If I tell you why, you have to shut up from now till the time you get home. Otherwise, all bets are off. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Then get the fok down!"

Kruger, with his keen vision, had spotted the little drone a split second before; it was tiny enough to be mistaken as a moth by most people. It even looked like a mechanical insect. He, as he always reminded himself, was not most people. With a single, massive shot from the tiny silver Asgari pistol, Kruger reduced the mech to a pile of smoking metallic waste.

Well, that's one way to kill the little bastard. This thing would take down an elephant if I asked it to. But it means someone, somewhere, has seen us. That droid had a cam in it. Fok…now we're really out of time.

Lorelei had covered her ears but cried in shock anyway. "Did it get me?" she whimpered.

The girl was annoying, a liability, and was far too concerned with hygiene…but Kruger couldn't deny anymore that she had real grit. She was shaken, but otherwise unharmed save for a small scorch to her left cheek. He'd seen others shit themselves or go irrevocably mad when the pistol went off at that point-blank range. "Fok, no. I got it. Now get up; we're getting out of here."

Drake had finally come out of the ship to catch up to them; Kruger could only hope he and Crowe had been finishing the repairs in the meantime. "Boss, we've got incoming. ETA five minutes or so. We don't fly out before that…"

He didn't need to be told what that meant. Grabbing the fallen Lorelei by the back of her jacket as not to make contact with her skin, Kruger shouted at his point man. "Those heat shields gonna hold, boet?"

"Guess we'll find out, sir. We did our best." Drake covered the rear with his railgun as they ran back toward the parked Raven.

Crowe was already starting the engines when they arrived back aboard. The familiar thrum and roar was a comforting sound; the men seemed to have managed that part just fine. But the scopes were going crazy; it was as if the entire surrounding area had woken up and decided to attack. Drones, plenty of angry locals, and what appeared to be a tank dotted the screens. "We still got the girls out there, boss," he said over the clamor. "Gonna lose 'em, I think."

"Fok those damn things. Get this ship up!" Kruger shouted, tossing the girl at Drake. "And get her belted in!"

For once Lorelei said nothing. Either she was living up to her promise to Kruger or she was in delayed shock after the cannon-loud shot of the pistol. She stayed docile, limp and still as Drake lifted her into one of the passenger seats.

"You're gonna be just fine, girl. Just stay out of the boss' way, eh? We'll get you out of here." He spoke low and soft to her, stroking the burn mark.

"I…I think I will," she gasped. It was shock. He'd seen it a thousand times before, but it was always heartbreaking to see it in someone so young. Drake remembered his little sister's face when the soldiers overran their shantytown years before. He tried not to think of it now.

There was no time to think, only time to act. Crowe tried to cycle through the takeoff as quickly as he could, but the ship, still damaged, was balky and slow. Drake sealed the rear and side hatches…they seemed to be holding…and Kruger hurriedly stashed away all the items that had been scattered earlier. It would be a dark irony to have survived an EMP and torture, only to be concussed by a flying storage crate to the head while exiting Earth's rough atmosphere.

"I need some more time," Crowe called out from the pilot box. "Think you okes could help me out? I'm doing everything I can here!"

Drake didn't need to be asked twice; he flicked the switch to activate the shield, which thankfully worked, if not at full power. Kruger wished he had his usual arsenal of handheld explosives. They'd all been taken from him. Instead, he sent a barrage of the ship's onboard artillery into the closest group. A moment ago, they had appeared as dark-orange, moving human shapes on screen. Now they were motionless and white.

"That's it, come and get some," Kruger hissed under his breath, with only a fraction of his usual dark glee.

"We're at 95 percent. Give me just a few more, boss…"

The two of them poured every bit of firepower they still had into the oncoming attackers. It would hold them off, but nothing more. The people of Earth were like cockroaches. You could poison them, shoot them, even nuke the bastards…but in the end, they survived through sheer numbers alone. No wonder the fokkers all want to get up to Elysium, Kruger thought as he watched an orange shape disintegrate on the monitor. Make it into their own personal cockroach colony, eh?

"Got it!" Crowe shouted triumphantly. "Here we go, hang on!" The ship's engines roared and the Raven lurched vertically skyward not a moment too soon. Below them, Kgosi's old compound was in flames again. Even without any Elysians or their associates to fight, Kruger knew, the people of Earth would gladly kill each other. He breathed a silent sigh of relief. They were up.

None of the Oryx Squadron spoke as the Raven flew higher, its angle of ascent becoming steeper by the minute. The mainframe shuddered slightly, and the readouts indicated lingering damage, but Crowe and Drake had done their jobs well.

"What now, boss? You have a plan?" It was Drake who spoke, his words coming out in a rush, as if he'd been holding his breath since takeoff.

Kruger knew what they'd do once they got there. If they got there. And he was going to enjoy it. He simply nodded at his gunner.

"What about the girl?"

Fok…every time I have a moment to enjoy, she comes up. "What about her? You strap her in like I told you?" he snapped.

"I don't think she looks so well," Drake said. "You think it's the shock still?"

There was no way for Kruger to be sure, but Drake had a point. Lorelei's face was chalk-white, her eyelids a delicate purple shade. She wasn't just sleeping; she'd passed out completely. Kruger scowled.

She'll wake up…and when she does, she's going to mean a lot of credits for me. If she doesn't? I'll just have to kill her after all. No huge loss…and I'd enjoy that almost as much.

The Raven continued its ascent, every second bringing it closer to Elysium.

To Be Continued