CHAPTER 10:

Delta One, Trilliant

6:00, 50 Km offshore Kashkur

"Uh, Marcus, you hear that shit?"

Cole's voice came over the radio. Marcus had been asleep, for once, but had left his earpiece in. Before he could respond Anya poked her head into the cabin.

"You may want to get out here. I think we've been spotted."

"Stranded?" Pulling himself up, he checked over his lancer quickly, and came to the front of the boat. Dizzy had slowed way down, but the engine was still loud enough.
"I think so. It sounded like interference, but when I cycled through the open channels, I think I found them. I can't tell if it's a boat, or from a settlement. But it definitely wasn't COG."

He scoffed. "Can't be something that doesn't even exist anymore." He rolled his neck and scanned the horizon. "Diz, anything on the radar?"

Dizzy came out from the wheelhouse, shaking his head. "Nothin' yet, but that don't mean they ain't out there. We've only got about an hour till we hit shore. We was waiting for you to get up to see…you wanna radio in and make sure there's a nice welcoming party, or just go in quiet and hope we don't get any unexpected guests?"

Baird's voice filled their ears. "Hey, rise and shine folks. We've got company. Coming up fast on our six."

"Dizzy, man the wheel. Be ready to get us the fuck out of here. Anya, Carmine, with me." Marcus stalked towards the rear deck with Anya and Carmine close behind. Lancers in hand, they all squinted towards the direction Baird had said the threat was coming from and waited in tense silence.
Anya spoke quietly from next to him, but she didn't dare move her eyes. "Should we try to radio them? Assess the threat?"

His voice was a low rumble, still dry from fitful sleep. "If they don't radio us, they're a threat."

A small vessel appeared on the horizon. A rapidly growing dot speeding towards them. Marcus pressed a finger to his ear, his voice rumbling deep in his throat. "Hold your fire, but make sure you're ready to discourage them from giving us any trouble."

"Thanks, Sarge. I hadn't thought of that. I was just gonna roll out the ramp and invite them on board." If Baird was worried, his voice didn't give it away. Anya took that as a comfort considering how much closer they were to the approaching boat. Maybe they saw something she couldn't. She found herself wishing she grabbed the binoculars on the way out of the wheelhouse, but she certainly didn't intend on going for them now.

Amirale Enka was far enough away that Anya could barely make out the figures standing on the rear deck. It was hard to miss Cole, though. The incoming vessel had slowed and was now bobbing in the water a few yards from their boat, slowly closing the gap. The radio was eerily silent for far too long for comfort. Anya pressed a finger to her ear. "Baird, do you copy? What's going on over there?"

She waited for a response, staring over at Marcus. His eyes hadn't moved from the unknown intruders. "Should we turn around and go back to them?"

He shook his head once, staring hard into the distance. Carmine spoke up from her other side. "If they were in trouble, they would radio. Maybe they just recognized Cole and asked for an autograph."

She nodded hopefully. Come on, damn it. Answer me. "Baird, Cole, anyone receiving?"

A single shot rang out in the distance, followed by a howling scream.

Marcus growled. "Dizzy, get us over there. Now."

The engine roared to life as the boat lurched forward and turned. The spray from the ocean flew up around them as the jogged to the front of the boat. Just as they got within a reasonable sight line, Cole's voice filled their ears, barely audible over the engine.

"Whooo, didn't know that little boat could move that quick. Don't worry, baby, party's over. Just some locals who don't really know the polite way to say hello." The screaming was still going on in the background.

Dizzy slowed down, but maintained his course towards them. Anya began to speak, but Marcus cut her off. "Wanna tell me what the hell is going on over there?"

Baird's voice broke through. "Just dealing with the garbage. But hey, look! They brought us a boat."

Trilliant sputtered as Dizzy cut the engine, pulling up right alongside Enka. Marcus stepped across the deck before they even came to a complete stop.

Anya followed close behind, taking a quick survey of her surroundings out of habit. The unknown boat was now tied up to the rear deck rail. Jace was standing with his lancer aimed at three large men, all with their wrists bound behind them, lying flat on their stomachs. One of them was whimpering, and a small puddle of blood was forming under his leg. Baird looked incredibly pleased with himself, as usual, checking them over for weapons. Cole was securing a fourth man, who was putting up a struggle, but having no luck. Sam climbed down from the roof of the wheelhouse with her longshot slung over her shoulder. She spoke up first.

"Bloody idiots thought they could pull one over on us. Told us they were from Anvil Gate. Funny thing, though. According to them that settlement is gone. Odd, since we just talked to them this morning."

One of the men on the ground started streaming profanities briefly before Baird kicked him in the side. He grunted and fell silent as Sam continued.

"They told us to go ahead and follow them, and started asking where we came from and who we were. But since they're not the smartest boys, they didn't happen to see me up above. One went for his side arm and I gently convinced him that was a poor decision."

"Crazy bitch took a shot at me! She fucking shot me!" The bleeding man writhed around on the deck, trying to find a position that wasn't putting pressure on his leg.

"I grazed you. If I wanted to kill you, you'd be a dead asshole, not a whining one. Now shut it."

Baird came over to join them. "Yeah, if Granny were here we'd have four dead assholes, and no screaming ones." He looked over at Marcus and waved his hand in front of his face.

Marcus was staring at the fourth man, now planted flat on the ground with Cole kneeling on his back and Jace tying his wrists. His eyes were narrowed, and ice cold.

"Earth to Fenix…"

The fourth man snapped his head up. "Fenix?! Fucking…Fucking Marcus Fenix."

Marcus stared hard, unmoved.

"How the fuck did you manage to get out?"

Marcus clenched his jaw. "Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing."

Cole stood up and brushed his hands off on his pants leg. "Someone you know?"

"We've met." The tension in his voice was clear. He kept his eyes on the man, leaning forward like he was about to say something.

Sam leaned over to Anya and spoke softly. "Anya, you know that guy?"

The man on the ground whipped his head over to them and stared briefly before bursting with laughter. Resting his head back on the deck he shook it as his laughter turned to soft chuckles before finally dying out. Catching his breath he looked back up at Marcus and jerked his head towards Anya. "So, that's the desperate psycho? I guess I'd spend years waiting to get back between those legs, too."

Anya's jaw fell open. Before anyone could blink, Marcus cleared the gap between them and yanked the guy up by his arm. The momentum carried them back to the deck rail, and Marcus pressed his forearm to his throat, forcing him back as far as he could physically bend over the rail. Pulling his pistol from its holster, he held it to the man's chest with his free hand. All the arrogant bravado had evaporated from his expression as he gasped in pain, struggling to breathe. Marcus' voice was low and even. "You have a short memory, Campbell."

Anya came up behind him, desperately trying to find words. "Marcus, who..." her voice trailed off, her mind lost in a sea of questions. Campbell turned his head towards her, finally able to catch a breath as Marcus eased his arm back slightly.
"So what the hell is wrong with you that you'd wait years for this asshole? Or are you just that good in the sack?"

Marcus brought the butt of his pistol up hard, and it connected with Campbell's jaw with a sickening crack. He would have crumpled to the ground if it weren't for Marcus holding him up. Grabbing his shirt with one hand, he pulled Campbell in close to his face, pressing his gun back into his chest. Baird and Cole scrambled across the deck and stood on either side of Marcus. Cole leaned in, always the level headed mediator.
"Whoa, baby. I know the Cole Train may be missing somethin', but I don't know that you need to kill this son of a bitch to prove your point. Why not let him pick up his teeth and we can drag his sorry ass back to Hoffman and see what he wants to do with him."

Marcus' expression went blank. The mad dog fury was gone as quick as it came, and he was back to his normal, steely gaze. Ice cold and totally unreadable.

Baird leaned over and spoke quietly, just loud enough to be heard over Campbell's groans. "Hey, why waste the space? Why not toss him over with the rest of the trash? Stranded scum is Stranded scum."

Sam would have laughed at the interesting dichotomy; Baird and Cole, the devil and the angel, if she wasn't so nervous. She didn't appreciate being left out of the loop, and looking over at Anya she knew she was feeling the same way. Whoever this guy was, he knew Marcus well enough to know what to say to set him off. Maybe he wanted to die.

Campbell spit a mouthful of blood on the ground and managed to pick his head up and meet Marcus' eyes. "Yeah, fucking shoot me and get it over with. Show everyone else just what kind of a bastard you really are."

"Oh, I know what kind of bastard I am."

"You never minded costing good men their lives, so why worry about 'just another stranded'? "

Marcus scoffed, and an eerily calm look came over him. He let go of Campbell, who had to struggle to keep himself upright, using the full support of the rail behind him. Returning his pistol to the holster he looked over at Cole. "Yeah, tie him off to the rail. We'll let Hoffman deal with him. Maybe he can lock his ass up. I'm sure he's got something that functions as a prison there." He spared a meaningful glance at Campbell, whose eyes were full of hatred, and turned towards the Trilliant. He motioned for Carmine to come over, and started to hoist up the wounded prisoner, who immediately yelped in pain and started shuddering, trying to hold his injured leg up and not fall over. Passing him off to Carmine, he grabbed Campbell by the arm and pushed him towards the deck of the neighboring boat. "Watch it, now. Wouldn't want you drowning before we get you back to base." Campbell started to speak but Marcus shoved him over and he fell with a thud onto the deck.

Anya crossed over behind him. "You sure you want him on the boat with us? Why not leave him with Baird and Cole?" She tried not to sound too concerned, but her face betrayed her.
"I don't want him over there running his mouth."

Carmine had secured the wounded man to the back rail and came back for Campbell. "Don't know how fast his mouth can run, Sarge. You got him pretty good." Campbell spit again.
"Not good enough. Keep him quiet. Tape his mouth shut if you have to." Carmine nodded and pulled Campbell towards the other man who was quietly whimpering like a wounded animal.

Anya came up close and spoke quietly. "You going to tell me who that is?"
"Prison." He grunted. His tone didn't invite further questions, but she pressed a little harder.
"That doesn't really tell me much, Marcus."
He rolled his neck and stared over at her briefly before returning his eyes to Campbell. "Prison warder. We didn't really get along, you could say."

Grabbing his elbow, she tugged him gently towards the front of the boat, out of the eye line of everyone else. Once they were clear, she turned to face him. "Look, I know you're never going to tell me what the hell happened to you in there, and I've accepted that. But you could at least tell me why you were ready to shoot him."

"He was running his mouth."

"You mean about me? So what. It's not the first time it's happened." She stared up at him, silently begging him to explain.

"Well, it's not the first time I tried to persuade someone not to, either."

She shook her head and chuckled, which earned a raised eyebrow from him. "You're not doing a good job of hiding what's going on between us if you fly off the handle when a random stranger makes a comment."

His jaw twitched slightly and he stepped closer, towering over her. "Who's trying to hide anything? And he's not a random stranger. We have history. He knew what he was getting into."

She raised her hand and pressed it to his cheek, brushing against the jagged scar. "He have anything to do with this?"

His whole body tensed up as he closed his eyes and turned his head slightly away. It was all the answer she needed, and she knew it was all he would give her. Sighing heavily she dropped her hand to his chest and patted his armor. "Ok. Well, then maybe you should have shot him."

Baird shouted from the rear deck of the Enka. "Uh, when you ladies are done discussing what color to paint your nails, you wanna come join us?"

Campbell and the wounded man were tied off to the deck rail, and Carmine and Jace were helping Cole secure the tow line from the small speedboat they had showed up on. Baird was leaning against the rail, deliberately trying to look impatient.

Marcus and Anya stood across the gap between the boats as Carmine finished tying the line and hopped over to join them. Baird tossed something to Marcus. "Short range radios. Handhelds." He jerked his head towards the men tied off to the rear rail of the Enka. "Want me to use my charismatic good nature to find out exactly where they're from?"

Marcus shook his head. "No point. We're still on course for Anvil. We keep going, and when we get there we can see what Hoffman wants to do with them."

Sam spoke up from behind Baird warily. "Think we ought to radio in and let them know we were being followed? I wouldn't fancy any surprises waiting for us at the docks."

"You think these radios were picking up our transmissions from yesterday?" Marcus turned the handheld radio over in his hand before passing it back to Baird.

"Gee, I don't know. Why don't I ask them?" Baird walked over to the smaller of the two men bound on board his boat. He couldn't have been more than twenty five, and looked like he'd had a rough life. His light blonde hair was long and unkempt, tucked under a bandana that had slid out of place during the struggle. He now stared up at them with wild eyes, like an animal caught in a trap. He probably would have chewed his own arm off if he thought it would get him out of there. Nudging his leg with his foot, Baird snapped his fingers in the guy's face. "Hey, jackass, how did you know where we were?" His eyes darted back and forth between them, and finally to the man tied next to him, who simply shook his head. Baird snapped at him again. "Don't look at him, look at me dickhead. How did you know?" He leaned down towards him, lowering his voice. "You know we're gonna find out anyway. You may as well just answer. Trust me, you'd rather answer to me than to someone where we're goin'. Some of those folks don't really like your kind."

That quick, the man turned towards him and brought his forehead forward hard, catching Baird right in the chin. "You mother…" Baird drew his fist back just as Cole caught him by the arm.
"Alright, now. Come on, Damon. Let him stew for a while. I'm sure boomer lady will get all the information you want from him, and she'll enjoy it. It'll be the best present we ever gave her."
Baird refused to give the guy credit for injuring him, and resisted the urge to rub his jaw. Instead he just nodded at Cole and turned to Jace. "I like Fenix's idea; tape their mouths shut. Don't need them deciding which story to tell while we make it the rest of the way."

Returning to the wheelhouse, Baird pressed his finger to his ear. "Baird to Anvil Gate."

The radio hummed in his ear briefly before a voice broke through. "Anvil Gate, here. Go ahead Corporal." It was the same voice from yesterday morning. Before Baird could continue, Marcus' voice rasped in his ear. "This is Sergeant Fenix. Is the Colonel around? We've got some unexpected passengers with us." Baird glared out at him through the windshield. If Marcus noticed, he didn't seem to care.

"Sorry, Sergeant. He just went down to the docks. Seems there was a bit of trouble this morning, as usual. Mataki's just down the hall. Want me to call her?"
"Yeah, that'll do. Thanks."

Baird poked his head out of the door. "Wanna stop doing that? I'm not a complete idiot. I would have made sure they weren't under siege or anything, too."
Marcus just shrugged.

The radio came back to life a few moments later. "Mataki here. Everything alright?"

Sam felt instantly comforted. It was like getting a phone call from your mother after being away for months.

Marcus looked up to Baird and gave him a look that was simply a silent go on.

Pressing his finger to his ear again, he restarted the boat engine with his free hand. "Hey, granny. Glad to see you still know how to work one of these things." He paused, somehow less satisfied by the jab when he couldn't see her response. "Anyhow, we've got some company you may be interested in. Stranded boys. Tried to tell us that you folks were gone from Anvil Gate, and asked us to follow them."

"Good to know I taught you better than to go with strange men, blondie."

"They didn't have any good candy." Looking towards Dizzy he motioned for him to turn around and carry on. "So, we're bringing them along. But seeing as Stranded are like dogs, traveling in packs and all that, we figured it'd be best if we had some friendly help at the docks when we get there."

Bernie laughed in his ear. "Don't go comparing them to dogs, now. You'll hurt Mac's feelings. How long till you land? I'll call Vic back and we'll be down to meet you."

"About an hour, give or take." Dizzy sped past him, waving his hat with a ridiculous grin on his face. "The way Dizzy's driving, better make it less. Baird out."

Author's note:

First off, I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who has been reading/reviewing/sending messages. It's fantastic to hear what everyone thinks of the story so far. As of right now (8/22/12) I have about 20 chapters completed. I've been posting on Tuesdays and Thursdays to give myself a little breathing room so if I have to miss a day of writing I'm not stressing, or rushing anything.

To address a comment I received about the Imulsion problem; I meant to post this with the last chapter and I forgot. By the time I realized I forgot I didn't want to go back and add it in and risk it being missed, so I figured I'd just tack it on to the end of this chapter. Before I started this project, I did a lot of 'research'. I read all the books, all the comics, and replayed all three games. I took notes. It was kind of sad in a really awesome way. I tried really hard to make sure I hadn't missed anything, or made any canon errors. So when I read the comment about the Imulsion I was legitimately concerned. I thought for sure I had read into it and found that the imulsion would have been destroyed by the counter-measure. I frantically started looking into it again, and kind of reaffirmed what I had assumed. According to the Gearspedia ( wiki/Imulsion) the Imuslion would have been "wiped from the face of Sera- obliterating the Lambent, the Locust and [Adam Fenix]." After reading that I was wondering if I'd have to scrap the entire project and start over because they'd have NO fuel, not even a reserve. But after going back to the cinematic at the end of the last game, you can clearly see a bunch of Ravens landing after the weapon had been deployed. If all traces of ANY Imulsion were gone, those Ravens would have fallen out of the sky like stones. So I took a little bit of dramatic license and operated under the premise that any refined Imulsion would still be usable, as the refining process could, theoretically, have killed the parasitic organisms inside the fuel itself.

Sorry that was a terribly long explanation. I just want to do the very best I can to explain why I do things the way I do if it seems that it should be a different way.

And as I said before, thank you. Thank you all for being awesome and keeping up with this story. I hope I never let anyone down :-)