CHAPTER 6

VESTIAN OUTPOST

THE REEF, ASTEROID BELT

THE REEF WARS

Kira grabbed her tray of food and looked around the mess hall. Most of the Awoken's forces had made it out of the battle in one piece, but some of the Awoken in the mess hall were still recovering.

Kira spotted Sedra at her usual spot, sitting alone. She wasn't sure if Sedra had seen her, but she smiled and made her way over.

Sedra looked up at Kira to see her smiling at her. Sedra managed a weak smile in return and looked back down, her cheeks turning slightly purple as she blushed.

Kira quietly giggled and sat across from Sedra. "How are you doing?"

"I'm good…" Sedra sighed, "I guess."

"I'd hope so," Kira smiled, "you did really good out there."

"I just… shot down some ships."

"But if it wasn't for you, my Corsairs and I would be dead," Kira slowly reached across the table and gently rested a hand on Sedra's shoulder, "I know you couldn't hear it from high up in the sky, but the Corsairs were all cheering once you took down those skiffs."

"R-really?" Sedra stuttered, finally looking up to face Kira, "they were cheering for me?"

"Yeah," Kira gave Sedra a warm smile, patting her shoulder before pulling her hand back, "you seriously did a good job out there."

"Well…" Sedra looked down, her weak smile growing larger and turning genuine, "I was happy to help."

"Keep up the good work. Trust me when I say this: we can't win the war without you."

Although the Awoken would be able to continue without Sedra, Kira didn't know if she herself would be able to continue without Sedra. What had started as pity, and the desire to help another Awoken, had turned into love. Though Kira had a crush on Sedra, she didn't know if Sedra felt the same way, so she decided to keep it to herself for the time being.

"Right… I'll try not to die," Sedra managed a quiet chuckle.

"Good. That's all I needed to hear."

HIGH PLAINS

TANGLED SHORE, THE REEF

PRESENT

Seja laid down on her stomach at the edge of a cliff, holding Kevak's rifle which he had given her to try out.

"Top scope is adjustable, use this dial on the side," Kevak showed Seja, turning one of the dials, causing the scope to zoom in further.

Seja nodded and turned the dial as Kevak instructed. She centred the scope's crosshairs on the head of a vandal belonging to Ketstar.

"Other scope provides scans of the enemy, vital signs, armour and shield strength, that sort of thing," Kevak laid down beside Seja, "most vandals do not use shields, so do not worry about this one."

Seja nodded again, glancing at the second scope to the side of the main one. As Kevak said, she didn't worry about it. She looked back through the main scope at the vandal's head and rested her finger on the trigger.

"A wire rifle is powerful," Kevak explained, "hold the trigger and it will charge before it can fire. Sometimes charging can alert enemies, but we are far enough away to where they won't notice. Now you can fire."

Seja held the wire rifle steady and pulled the trigger back, allowing the rifle to charge. Arc energy formed at the rifle's muzzle, and electricity flowed along the barrel as it fired. A shot fired out at an incredible speed and seared through the head of the vandal in the distance.

"Whoa," Seja breathed, looking away from the scope. The shot moved so fast that it seemed like it immediately hit the target when it fired, and the vandal's head didn't explode like usual either, the shot put a hole through its head instead.

"As I said, very powerful," Kevak chuckled and held his hand out.

Seja took Kevak's hand and got back onto her feet. She looked down at the wire rifle for a few seconds longer before handing it back to Kevak.

"I will get you your own wire rifle if you want," Kevak said as he put it on his back.

"No… it's fine," Seja shook her head, "I'm not sure if snipers are exactly my thing."

"That is alright," Kevak nodded, "just let me know if you need anything."

"I will."

As the two talked after killing a large number of Ketstar's forces, Kevak received a call from Veskras.

"Kevak. Bring Seja back to the skiff, something has just come up," Veskras's deep gravelly voice sounded over Kevak's radio.

"What is it?" Kevak sighed.

"We've found a group of Ketstar's men somewhere they shouldn't be, and there are a lot of them. Something is going on, and Spider wants to see what Seja can do."

"Alright, we're on our way into the open. Lock onto my signal and pick us up," Kevak nodded, then he turned to Seja, "did you hear him?"

"Yeah, I heard him," Seja started to grow nervous. Not only did she find out she had to prove herself to Spider, but she was also going to be part of a big operation when it was only her first day on the job. And only her third day as a Guardian.

Kevak took his helmet off and gave Seja a reassuring smile. He could tell she was nervous even if he couldn't see past her helmet, and he firmly patted her shoulder.

"Do not worry. Spider already trusts you, and so do I," Kevak nodded to her, "I will be at your side. Just do what you can to hide your powers, and we will all come out fine."

"Okay… this will be fine," she repeated, taking a deep breath.

"Let's go, Veskras is waiting for us," Kevak put his helmet back on and made it out to the open with Seja at his side.

Veskras landed the skiff in the plains and waited for the two. Kevak climbed into the skiff and sat where he sat before, and Seja got in behind him at her seat. Veskras flew the skiff away once they were in and set it on autopilot before turning to both of them.

"Ketstar has a small gathering of forces in Grestiks Valley," Veskras opened a map on the skiff's dashboard that displayed the location he was talking about, "they are dangerously close to one of Spider's warehouses, but they have not yet attacked it. We believe they are going to attack, and if they are we need to know to know their plan. That's where you two come in," Veskras turned to Seja, "Spider wants you to get the plan out of their captain while Kevak keeps watch. And please, do not trade places. Spider is watching."

Seja nervously rubbed her hands together and nodded, "I'll do it."

"Good. Failure is not an option," Veskras turned back as they landed near the valley, "if things go wrong, call Spider. I will not be waiting for this to happen. Now go, get this done quickly."

Seja took a deep breath and nodded. She climbed out of the skiff and looked around for Ketstar's men. Kevak got out after her and stood at her side while Veskras took the skiff away.

"Veskras landed far away, so they wouldn't know we're coming," Kevak said, and began moving through the valley.

"I… I don't think I can do this," Seja sighed while she followed Kevak.

"Sure you can," Kevak reassured her, "interrogating isn't that hard. You must be vicious, but understanding at the same time. Make threats that you won't follow through with when your target tells you what you want to know."

Seja slowly nodded and stopped moving when she heard voices ahead of them. She slid her pistol out of its holster and rushed behind a rock, and Kevak did the same with his wire rifle. Seja slowly peeked above the rock she was hiding behind and saw a gathering of Fallen who were wearing the colours of Ketstar's syndicate. They were talking amongst themselves, but Seja couldn't understand them. She looked over at Kevak, who put a finger to his mouth, he didn't want to risk anything that could give him away. He then raised his hand and began counting down with his three fingers. Three… two… one…

Seja grabbed a shock grenade from her belt and hurled it into the centre of the group once Kevak reached one, and the group dispersed. The explosion of the grenade took two dregs with it, whose bodies dissolved into pure arc energy, but the captain leading the group was unscathed.

The captain rushed backwards and started shouting, frantically looking around for where the grenade could have come from, and it was backed up by two vandals. Kevak moved from his rock to another where he could get a better view, and fired at one of the vandals with his wire rifle, taking it down in a single shot to the chest. Seja vaulted over the rock in front of her, getting into the open, and fired off five shots at the other vandal, killing it as well.

With the rest of the group dead, the captain was all that was left, and he didn't plan on going down without a fight. He reached behind his back and grabbed his shrapnel launcher, a powerful shotgun that violently fired shards of burning metal. He aimed at Seja and fired it three times, the loud boom of the gun echoed throughout the valley.

Seja dodged to the side, avoiding the first shot, but was knocked back by the second, and lost her shields to the third. She grunted and rapidly fired the rest of her pistol's magazine into the captain, taking its shields down with ease.

The captain's shields exploded, and once it was vulnerable it was hit in the leg with a shot from Kevak. The captain fell forward and roared, throwing the shrapnel launcher aside, and drawing two swords that were sheathed on its belt. He lunged forward and swung his swords at Seja. Seja ran backwards, barely missing the first sword, but getting slashed across the chest by the second. She screamed and fell onto her back, clutching the wound.

The captain triumphantly shouted and raised its swords to bring them down on top of Seja, but was shot in its upper right arm by Kevak. The captain dropped the sword and stumbled backward. Kevak shot him in the other leg, and he dropped onto the ground.

"Seja!" Kevak shouted, making his way over to her.

Seja rolled onto her stomach on the ground, holding her wound tight. Her Ghost wouldn't be able to heal her without revealing that she was a Guardian in front of one of Ketstar's men.

"Are you okay?" Kevak asked as he crouched next to her.

"N-... no," Seja coughed out.

Kevak closed his eyes and sighed, reaching down. He grabbed her helmet and slid it off her head so she could breathe better.

The captain groaned and slowly sat up as he saw Seja's face. He squinted and began to crawl away with his arms that hadn't yet been shot. Kevak looked up from Seja and marched to the captain, kicking him back onto the ground.

"We're not done with you yet," Kevak snarled.

"Are you sure?" the captain snarled back, giving up on his attempts to get away, "that Awoken pet of yours is going to bleed out!"

Kevak's eyes flared. He knew Seja was going to get through this, but deep inside he couldn't stand hearing her get insulted. Kevak pushed his foot onto the captain's neck and pressed hard against it.

"She is stronger than you think, and she is not a pet!" Kevak snapped.

Seja groaned and turned away from the both of them, figuring that if they couldn't see the wound close, then they wouldn't know.

"Green…" she whispered.

Green didn't audibly respond, but he hesitated. He didn't like putting Seja through pain, so he closed her wound. Seja let out a satisfied sigh as the pain went away and she slowly got up off the ground.

Kevak turned towards her when he heard her stand up, and looked back at the captain underneath him.

"See? What did I tell you?" he said, pushing his foot harder against the captain's neck.

The captain choked and started waving his arms in an attempt to push Kevak off of him, but he was losing his strength.

"Damn… you…" the captain choked out.

"Kevak… lay off..." Seja turned around, holding her arm across where the stab wound had been so it was hidden. She stayed hunched over and strained her voice to seem as if she was still in pain.

Kevak looked at her and sighed, remembering they weren't supposed to kill the captain. He pulled his foot back but kept the captain pinned to the ground.

Seja closed her eyes for a moment, remembering what Kevak had said. She approached the captain and crouched next to his head, looking down at him.

"Listen…" she said, sounding as confident as she had ever been, "we can make this easy for you, or we can not. It's that simple."

The captain grunted and looked back at Seja as she spoke to him. He hesitated, and looked between her and Kevak for a few seconds.

"What… do you want… Ketstar is not causing trouble for Spider… I swear," the captain told her.

"You swear?" Kevak chimed in, "then what were you doing right next to one of Spider's warehouses, huh?"

"I recommend telling the truth," Seja spoke next. She reached into the sheath on her belt and drew a knife, the same knife she had found while scavenging.

The captain's breathing picked up as he saw the knife. He didn't want to be intimidated, and give up Ketstar's plans, but he didn't want to go through a slow and painful death that he was thinking these two were going to give him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"We were scouting…" the captain finally said, "looking for hidden defenses… Ketstar is running low on money… We know there is lots of glimmer here."

"And how do you know that?" Seja slowly ran the blade of the knife along the armour plating on the captain's chest, bringing it towards the captain's neck.

"There is a mole… named Yiskral… works at warehouse… told us what is inside…" the captain stared at the knife, internally panicking more than he already was.

"See? Was that so hard?" Kevak stepped off of the captain and started walking away. He gestured to Seja to come with him.

Seja nodded and sheathed the knife, slowly standing up and following Kevak. She stood close and looked up at him, the emotions in her face for once visible after he had taken off her helmet.

"Are you so eager to prove yourself that you'd risk yourself?" Kevak whispered, looking down at her with concern.

"I… I thought I hid it pretty well," Seja sighed, whispering back.

"You did, but…" Kevak closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them, "I'm worried about you. One wrong move and Spider sends you back to scavenging. You'll be lucky to get out of the Reef with Ketstar's men all over the place."

"I know, I know. But… if it helps, I'm starting to know what I'm doing. I won't do anything that upsets Spider."

Kevak slowly nodded and sighed. After standing there staring at Seja for a few seconds he spoke again, changing the topic. "So, what about that captain?"

"I'm not sure. It doesn't feel right killing him, but… I don't know what will happen if we let him go. He might tell Ketstar… and Ketstar might send people to kill us."

"Hm. You are right," Kevak looked down for a moment and back up, "we could always just shoot him again and leave him here. Either someone comes to find him or he bleeds out."

Seja exhaled. It sounded cruel to her, but it was probably their best option to leave it up to someone else to decide. She nodded after a few moments of thought.

"Alright. I'll do it, you go report to Veskras," Kevak turned and walked back over to the captain, drawing his shock pistol.

Seja nodded and walked back through the valley, towards where they were dropped off. She flinched as she heard the sound of Kevak's pistol firing, but tried not to think about it. She held out her arm in front of her and contacted Veskras to tell him what they got out of the captain.