Transfers

"I am delaying." Mercedes J-54 said softly as she held Vina tight. The Executive had come down to see her partner off. "I... part of me doesn't want to go. Wants to stay. But..."

"We all have our duties." Vina said softly. "But know this. Whatever you choose, however you choose... You will always have a place here. A home to come back to and raise your child. I will try to keep the place going while you are gone."

Horatius was on edge. He wasn't sure why. He had been on edge since Mercedes had woken this morning. But something was bothering him. Something... off. He had actually taken time to armor up and grab weapons from a locker before escorting Mercedes J-54 down to the airlock where her ride waited. He wasn't overly pleased with the Tetra, Detron and Prova that were available, but he had made do with far less. He had checked them and they all worked. Mercedes was nearly bubbling with excitement mixed with trepidation so he hadn't shared his concerns with her. He also hadn't expected Vina to be able to get free, but he should have. The Executive defined stubborn.

Something was wrong. Horatius was sure of it. But no matter how he looked, he couldn't see anything. His weapons were not in hand, but they were close. Security was tight. Both Vina's and the transport crew. Two of Vina's guards watched her back. The automated systems were live, all four turrets scanning for threats. But...

"Ma'am." The leader of the escort who had been sent for Mercedes J-54 said softly. "We have a schedule to keep." He moved like a veteran. The four other guards looked like they knew what they were doing too. The two MOAs were essentially overkill with four Flux Rifle armed guards at the ready. "I am sorry, but we have to go."

"I expected the Reverend Mother to be here." Vina said as she released her friend. "Is she busy?"

"Yes." The leader of the escort said quietly. "I don't know what. But she told us to be on guard."

Horatius forced himself not to stiffen. That... wasn't right. The Reverend Mother wouldn't tell people to be on guard. She would expect them to be. All the codes checked out, but... Vina hugged Mercedes J-54 again and the younger woman smiled indulgently as the Executive cried. Horatius took a chance and activated his com.

"Reverend Mother." He said in a sub-vocal tone. "Urgent."

"Horatius?" The reply was instant. But... She sounded sleepy? What the-? "Problem?"

"Did you send a transport for Mercedes J-54?" Horatius asked softly. A gasp came from the other and he sighed. "We have a problem. Someone hacked our codes."

"Sitrep!" She snapped in his ear.

"Transport arrived." Horatius said in that same barely audible tone. Mercedes J-54 trying to calm the flustered executive covered his voice nicely. "Two MOAs, five guards. They said they were her 'escort'."

"You were supposed to be her escort whenever you got off your silly ass." The old woman snapped and he could hear consternation beginning behind her. She was raising the alarm. "Gut feeling?"

"A snatch." Horatius said quietly. "Snatching Mercedes J-54 before she is protected in the colony. Any number of executives would kill for pure human DNA."

"Vina?" The Reverend Mother said slowly. "We can't lose either of them."

"We won't. Get here fast." Horatius said firmly and then stepped to one of Vina's guards. He keyed for a private channel, blessing the closed helmet he had worn despite it's not quite right fit. "We have a problem." The guard did not react visibly, but his voice was tight when he spoke.

"What kind of problem?" The guard asked.

"That is not a Clergy transport." Horatius said firmly. "Don't move!" He snapped as the guard tensed. "If you instigate, they will kill Vina. It is probably a snatch on Mercedes J-54. Get Vina back to the door, and get her out! Do not let her back in here no matter what happens, clear?"

"Clear." The guard said and the channel cut. Then he spoke aloud. "Executive? You are needed." Vina looked at him as Horatius stepped forward. "There may be a problem with one of the air circulators."

"Oh, not again!" Vina said sourly, but to Horatius' relief, she gave Mercedes J-54 another hug and stepped towards the door. "Which?" She asked, her tone resigned.

"They are not sure." The guard said as he and his cohort, who must have just been brought up to speed, moved to flank her. "Either the A-43 or the G-12." Horatius tried not to groan. Those were Corpus codes for 'enemies present'. Well known codes.

A bunch of things happened at once. The leader of the 'escort' cursed and reached for a pocket. One guard grabbed Vina, turning to place his armored bulk between her and the imposters as the other hit the door control. The rest of the 'escort' gawked for just a moment. Just a moment too long. Horatius drew. He threw himself forward as his Detron came off his hip, the weapon tracking onto the right hand MOA. Mercedes J-54 gave a squeak that turned into a scream as he slammed into her, knocking her down and his pistol roared. The MOA went down, not even sparking and he was tracking on the other as the humans went for their weapons. The security turrets... powered down!

"Mercedes!" Vina screamed as her guard literally threw her through the door that had just opened. Both of her guard hustled out of the room as Horatius' second shot tore the second MOA to pieces moments before it's weapon could finish locking onto him.

"Stay down!" Horatiius grunted to Mercedes J-54 as he tracked onto a human target. The crewman was unlimbering his Flux Rifle when Horatius' shot blew half of his arm off. Then the escort leader had a weapon out. Some kind of trank gun. He gave a shrill scream that cut off as Horatius fired again. He fell, his unarmored head a smoking mess.

Then it was all fire and fury. But only for a moment before three tongues of fire touched him nearly at once. Darkness roared up and grabbed him.


An eon or a moment later

"Leave him! We have to go!" A harsh voice pulled Horatius back to pain filled awareness. He couldn't move. He... couldn't see. His HUD was dark. His arm was on fire. His chest. His gut. "Grab the girl and let's get out of here! Now! The override codes won't hold the systems with them aware!"

"He killed..." A younger, angrier voice sounded.

"Go!" The first voice commanded.

"Horatius!" Mercedes J-54 was crying, screaming, cursing. "Horatius!" Her cries were cut off by the sound of a hatch. They had taken her!

Horatius called on his training and fought his way back to full consciousness. He hurt. Everything hurt. But he was alive. He hit his com.

"Don't let them leave! Disable their drives!" He groaned out. "I need my 'special' pack in airlock twenty six! Now!"

"Commander Horatius." Vina said quickly, rage and fear warring in her tone. "What is going on?"

"Not Clergy." Horatius said with a grunt as he rolled to a sitting position. "Didn't feel right... I checked... Not Clergy... Black ops snatch team!"

"Black ops..." Vina cursed vilely for a moment. "What can I do?"

"Try to use the facility defenses to disable the ship's drives." Horatius sat for a moment, his head swimming. "They don't want her dead. They want her alive. They will have a plan to evade the sensors." The door hissed and a guard came running in, a bundle in hand. He laid it down at Horatius' feet and back away slowly. Horatius slowly lowered his pistol. "Announce yourself next time, moron. I nearly killed you." The Special Forces operative said harshly.

"Sir, you are hit." The guard said slowly as Horatius dropped the pistol and reached for his pack.

"No shit, Sherlock." Horatius snapped as he started pulling stuff from his pack. The Marlock pistol that was one of his most prized possessions. A trophy and an excellent weapon. The silenced Burston replaced the Tetra on his back. His own highly modified Prova replaced the standard one. The specialized helmet that took the place of the standard issue one. He rose and slid his assault harness over the spacesuit. It was... scorched in three places. The armor had diminished the beam's effectiveness, but not stopped them. He was alive. "Executive Vina, do not let that ship leave. If it gets far enough away, it will spoof the sensors and we will never find her. Not in time anyway."

"Sir, you are hit bad." The guard pleaded. "Let me... let me do something."

"Get out." Horatius snapped as he moved to the airlock. "Unless you want to go 'Dutchman'." The guard stared at him and then broke and ran. Smart kid.

"Commander..." Vina sounded very upset now. "You can't..."

"If we give them time, they will either mindwipe her or impregnate her. Maybe both." Horatius said firmly. "If the transport tries to leave, blow it's engines off. You... know what she would want, Executive." His vision was fuzzing, and he directed his suit to administer a stimulant. It warned him in strident red letters that he was exceeding safety protocols and he overrode that with a quick flip. "I am the only chance she has. If they get desperate... you know the Board's policy." 'No negotiations with kidnappers'. He checked the screens and yes, the ship was close enough.

"I... I know." Vina was crying. "Don't die, Horatius. She loves you too."

"Oh, I am not going to die today, Executive Vina." Horatius said as a familiar feeling stole over him. Power. Familiar power. The pain faded. Rage made a hell of an anesthetic. "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil! FOR I AM THE BADDEST MOTHERFUCKER IN THE WHOLE DAMN VALLEY!"

With that, he hit the 'emergency vent' command.


Assault

It was crazy. It was exhilarating. It was beyond stupid. And... It was the only way.

The outgassing of air from the room threw Horatius about like a ragdoll, but he had trained for such. The ship was still close. They had to know what would happen if they tried to flee. Very few people tried to kidnap Corpus members anymore. It... never ended well for the kidnappers. Even if they managed it, no ransoms would be paid. Tenno took captive occasionally, but never for ransom. But this wasn't a kidnapping for ransom. This was worse. Whatever they wanted Mercedes J-54 for, it wouldn't be good. The only thing that Horatius and Vina had going for them was that if the team who had taken her had wanted Mercedes J-54 dead, they could have killed her easily anytime. They wanted her alive. Probably for her ability to bear children.

Not necessarily sane, but alive. Women didn't need to be sane to bear children after all. The machinery would do it all. Who cared what it would do to the woman's mental state even if her snatch hadn't driven her crazy?

Horatius cared. He shouldn't. But he did.

He flew through space. His assault harness provided limited ability to correct his course, but he would use it sparingly. It also augmented his shields significantly. His specially modified helmet looked like normal Corpus issue. It was anything but. His HUD picked out the ship's hatch as he flew towards it and he turned, setting himself as the hull grew in his view.

Then he hit. The pain was an old friend. He rode the pain, his anger fanning further and further. He had taught himself early on how to hate and when. It was one of his best kept secrets. His magnetic boots activated and he took a quick step towards the airlock he could see nearby. Then another. Then he was at the airlock.

Corpus codes were standardized. But... there were number of sensors at any airlock that would allow any crew to know instantly that the airlock had been opened. That was fairly important on a spacecraft after all. Even Grineer would want to know when an airlock had been accessed. Tenno did not use airlocks until their missions were done. Horatius was not Tenno. But he didn't need to be.

A quick override code, one that was hard wired into every single airlock built by the Corpus and the outer hatch opened with no difficulty. Corpus Special Forces and Clergy operatives often needed access to Corpus ships under less than ideal circumstances. So, he knew the hardwired accesses. And... since he knew this kind of transport... He knew where to go. As soon as the airlock equalized and the inner hatch opened, he was gone.

The largest Corpus black ops team that Horatius had ever seen had been ten people strong. This...wasn't black ops. He encountered his first opponents before he had gone one corridor from the airlock. They...were not alert. The patrol had no idea he was there until four quick bursts from his silenced Burston, fired fast enough to be almost non-stop, had them all down. He didn't have time to be gentle or subtle. Not that he would have anyway. None of his targets would be able to sound an alarm. Not the two MOAs, not the two crewmen. Not with their helmets -and what was under them- blown away. He found a small room with a terminal and hacked in, using more Clergy codes. He accessed the security feeds. Lots of crew. Lots of them, but... few armed. Then his guts froze. Mercedes was being laid in a pod of some kind by two of the men from the 'escort'. She looked... still. Life readings, so she wasn't dead. But... He snarled as one of the men produced a large pair of shears and started to cut her garment off. Another was...shaving her head. Several MOAs stood around protectively.

A red light appeared. Someone was using the com. He keyed to listen. What he heard...was not what he expected.

"What the hell is going on?" A loud voice snapped. "What did you do?" The female voice...was not familiar. But it had to be the officer in charge of the transport. She sounded... terrified.

"We have to get out of here!" That voice was one he knew. The harsh voice from the bogus 'escort' team. "Get us away from the facility!"

"They have us locked up! If I try, they will blow us out of space. What did you do?" She demanded again. "They are demanding to board!"

"Need to know, navigator and you do not." The other snapped right back. "Get us clear and get us power to the portal generator."

Portal? Horatius went still. They had a portal generator aboard? Then he kicked himself. Of course they did. And the crew were decoys. Probably hired. Easy to throw away. He keyed the com. He barely recognized his own voice.

"Once chance." Everything went still over the com. On the vid, all of the black ops froze for a moment, then went back to their tasks. "Drop your weapons and live. Power up and the facility blows the engines off this tub. You are not getting away with her. Give it up and I won't kill every last one of you." He was lying. He knew he was. He wanted to kill them all. But not quickly. He wanted them screaming.

"What the FUCK did you DO?" The navigator screamed. There was no response. "Whoever... whatever... I surrender... please..." She begged. "They hired us... they didn't say..."

"Where?" Horatius snarled.

"Section 12-A." The navigator said, her tone abject. "Five of them, four MOAs. One... medical MOA... I..."

"Contact the facility. Tell Vina you surrender. Do it now." Horatius said firmly. "Oh, and you better clear the area around that section. Because I have no time to be nice." A babbled response came from the com, but Horatius was gone. 12-A wasn't far.

The hatch was sealed of course. He had charges that would burn through. But what would be the point? It would take time. Time that Mercedes J-54 did not have. He shot the security camera out of reflex and moved to the side. A quick jump had him at an air vent that he hit with the stock of his rifle. It fell apart. Then he was in the vent. He paused at the next one.

"Sir?" One of the other voices that Horatius remembered asked. Young and scared.

"Get the drip started. We can power the portal up enough for one, send her through." The voice of what had to be the team leader said harshly. A murmur sounded and the black ops man snarled. "We are not getting away! That Special Forces moron screwed everything up. But we can accomplish our mission. Status?"

"She is stable." A pain filled voice. Horatius had hurt him. Bad? "Sir... Orders are orders... but..."

"Do it." The leader snapped. "Wipe her." Horatius heard another snarl. His voice. "Oh shit!"

What happened next seemed to be in slow motion. A kick threw the remnants of the air vent cover into the room. A tiny device followed it. Even as the MOAs were turning to face the vent, the highly illegal EMP grenade went off and all five of them suddenly went limp. It also, coincidentally, killed the lights and shorted out any non shielded HUDS. Horatius could see. No one else could for a moment. And a moment was all he needed. His Burston was tracking targets. They were not people. They were targets. His objective lay on the floor. Out of the line of fire. He was in the room and sliding to the side before the first panicked fire came from one of the goons. In comparison, Horatius was ice cold as he tracked on the one who seemed in charge and two quick bursts tore the man's legs off.

They returned fire, but they couldn't see him. He could see them. It was over in moments. The only survivors besides Horatius and Mercedes J-54 were the enemy team commander who was moaning as he clutched the stumps of his legs and an unarmed ashen faced man in a medical tunic. His arm was covered in a radiation dressing. The medic raised empty hands.

"They have my family!" The man begged as he knelt. "I... had no choice..."

"You know they are already dead. No witnesses." Horatius said softly. A com chime and he spoke. "Yes?"

"Spirit, this is Vina Team Sixteen! Approaching your position with medical support!" The voice was one he knew. A good man, that guard. "Check fire, check fire!"

"One enemy combatant prisoner." Horatius said quietly. "One... unknown." He glanced at Mercedes and his heart lightened a little as he saw her chest rose and fall. "Target secured. I say again, target secured."

The hatch hissed open and Horatius turned his rifle muzzle away from the team of Vina's guards who came bustling in, weapons at the ready.

"Sir..." The guard leader sounded shocked, staring at the carnage and at Horatius who...finally let go of his rage.

He never felt the floor.