Another month had passed, Commander Reeves was doing better mentally but was still physically weak. Very weak. There was something about how the Elders kept her in that suit, doing god knows what, that damaged her body. But the doctors were working hard on restoring her to her former self. It would take some time, but they were pouring their hearts into it.
A few times she had walked around the ship, against doctors' orders, to get familiar with her surroundings and then the crew. A band of rag tag misfits, but she understood that was all they had to work with in this budding resistance. She surprised a few were surviving members of the befallen XCOM. Even more so when she recognized a few. It always brought her to tears. Happy tears, knowing that not all was lost when the bases fell.
A few times she had even left the ship to get familiar with the haven that they had taken residence in, much to Bradford's annoyance. It surprised her how well hidden they were, especially with the ship they were slowly working to get into the air permanently. The thing was massive. Had to be some alien tech cloaking and shielding the thing from any scans done by ADVENT. Something to ask when they were more willing to talk about it. They were worried about "information overload" for her.
Her walks around the ship had mixed reactions from the crew. Some were hopeful, some doubtful, and others not too sure of what to make of the "skeleton" walking about. But as she slowly got better, she began to voice her opinions on what to do when she overheard talks about supply raids; even the doubtful saw why they poured so much manpower and supplies into finding her.
Bradford couldn't help but smirk at all the doubters. Her tactical mind was sharp as ever.
Hopefully that mind of hers would be the edge they needed to win the war.
Bradford was making his usual rounds around the ship; making sure the crew was in order and making sure the respective troops were getting their squad together. A raid was going to take place within the hour. They had finally tracked down for a particular item Shen had been pushing them to find and got one of the local cells to help them stop the ADVENT convoy.
Towards the end of his rounds, he stopped by the mess hall to get a meal. It wasn't a meal for him — though he downed down juice and jerky — but for the Commander. It was about that time of day for him to pay her a visit and had a feeling she would be hunger for something. With a tray of food in hand, he headed off to her quarters.
Once at her door, he knocked. "It's me, Central. I mean John." He announced before entering. Sometimes it was hard to shut off his military brain. As he entered, he was happy to see she was awake and from what he could tell she was on the computer. Probably catching up on what she was permitted to look at. Though a little worry entered his heart seeing how his shirt hung off her frail body, but he quickly put that out of his mind.
"Hmm?" Jynn's senses were still a bit off as she didn't hear him announce himself. "Oh, hello John." She preferred to call him by his first name in private. She turned her chair to face him. Her voice was still a little hoarse.
"Hope you had a good sleep, Commander." He chuckled once he reached her.
"Mostly decent," she rubbed her eyes, "and remember it's Jynn in private."
"Good, and sorry, force of habit." He felt like he could never get used to calling her that now that she was back. Just felt like the right thing to say.
"Mm hmm." She nodded.
She eyed the tray in his hand. Her nose twitching, picking up a scent. Smelled like breakfast, but she wasn't so sure with how shot her senses were. "So, why the visit?"
He raised a brow before chuckling. "The usual reason." He set the tray down on the desk, doing a quick bow like a butler. A moment to be silly. "And to bring you some food."
"Mm hm. Silly." She softly chuckled. She looked at the tray. Looked like scrambled eggs, toast, some jerky and juice. Looked like the usually food they had started serving her; it was a step up from the easy to digest gruel they had been making for her. With fork in hand, she prodded the eggs first. Real, powder, or fake?
She furrowed her brow at the thought as she continued to prod the eggs. Not like it mattered sense she couldn't taste much. But these looked oddly fluffy. A few more prods before she finally stabbed a piece and took a bite. "Huh!" They were fluffy, rich, and full of flavor. Something she could finally taste. "Real… fresh… and flavorful."
Bradford chuckled at her reaction. "The haven just got some hens." He pulled a chair over to her and sat down. "So fresh eggs and maybe a little meat for as long as we are staying here."
"That's great." She liked the sound of that. The crew probably loved it. "Already better than the eggs at the old base."
"Right." He chuckled. "Breakfast was never great back then."
He held back a snicker as he watched her scarf down the eggs, tear into the jerky, before finished off the toast and juice. Looked like her appetite was coming back.
Jynn let out a hearty burp which caused her to blush. "'Scuse me."
He laughed a little. "You're fine."
"So how's the crew?" She asked as she wiped her face.
"Crew's more or less fine since you made you last walk about." He said. Best to leave out the fact a selection of troops were getting ready for a raid. She didn't need to worry about that. Yet.
"Good, good." She nodded. "How's Shen's work going with the reactor and flight systems?"
"She says it's still awhile to go before we can have this ship permanently in the air without having to make frequent stops to make sure the reactor doesn't go 'haywire'." He used air quotes. "And she's still looking for a part to speed things up." He glanced down at his tablet. "And hopefully that part will help with getting the other Skyrangers repaired as well." He mumbled under his breath.
"I presume she means by that is going critical and blowing us to kingdom come?" She shook her head.
"Yes, she's trying to not make us too concerned by that."
"I see." She raised her hand to her mouth to stifle a chuckle. If only the senior Shen were still around. She wondered how her father would have reacted to that comment. Probably the usual look of 'are you serious' he would direct to some of the enthusiastic scientists and engineers. Especially towards Vahlen. She quickly snickered to herself as faint memories of some meetings came to her mind. Especially anything dealing with that Meld.
Noticing how often a quick glance at his tablet was slowly turning into several as they talked, she couldn't help but raise a brow and look at it. She had a feeling of what was distracting him.
"So how's the preparation for the team that's going on the raid going?"
She knew? How?
Bradford's head quickly jerked up, eyes wide, when she asked that. "How did you–?"
Jynn tapped the computer monitor. "Saw it there." She smiled. "You're still using old passwords, I see."
He rubbed the back of his head. Not a smart idea. "Right…" He let out a slight chuckle. No sense in not telling her now. "The squad is nearly prepared for the raid."
"Four people?" She turned to her computer and brought up the operation file.
"Actually, five." He nodded.
"Five? Huh." That surprised her. "How experienced are they?" She started bringing up the operation to see the assigned soldiers.
"Three experienced soldiers and two rookies." He answered.
"Sending rookies in on this mission?" She found that interesting.
"They've had their training, and it's about time they got some proper combat experience." He said. "Besides, this raid should go quickly."
"If the setup goes well and ADVENT isn't able to call in backup." Jynn corrected him.
"Right…." He tugged on his collar. She had a point.
"Well," Bradford picked up the empty dish tray, "if you feel well enough… you can come down and watch how the operation goes." He offered.
"Oh," she perked up, "finally letting me into the nerve center?"
"Yes," he rolled his eyes, "just was following doctors' orders with the bedrest and what not."
"Uh huh." She chuckled. "Or are you worried I'm not ready for the action?"
His eyes narrowed. "Jynn…"
She chuckled again and waved him off. "I'll be down there within the hour or so."
"Jynn I–" Another have wave and her turning her back on him silenced him.
He let out a disgruntled sigh. "Fine." No talking to her now. He left the room.
Once outside the room, he let out another sigh and shook his head.
"Still stubborn… like the old days." He chuckled. How much he missed that. "And still a damn people reader."
"I heard you, Shen. When we get the thing you'll be the first to know." Central said.
The Bridge was swarming with activity as the operation was underway. Firebrand and the squad were nearly at the destination, and the resistance members that started the ambush were barely keeping ADVENT occupied at the moment.
"They're almost at the drop point. I will let you know Shen, so far it hasn't been damaged." Central responded. "I will keep in touch." He ended their link.
Central looked around. So far, no sign of the Commander. He guessed she wasn't ready yet. A mild relief for his mind.
"Central, incoming message from Firebrand." One of the Bridge crew said.
"Patch her through." He nodded to them and tapped his earpiece. "This is Central."
"This is Firebrand," she responded, "we've reached the LZ."
"Reading you loud and clear, Firebrand," he nodded, "proceed the deployment."
"Roger that."
So far, so good.
"Alright, let's look alive people!" Central made sure everyone's attention was where it needed to be. "Let's get this done."
In no time, the squad was deployed and on the ground, heading to the target. With ADVENT still distracted by the resistance, they had the element of surprise on their side. Though Central took note of a drop ship that was coming in. Looked like back up was arriving early.
"Eyes sharp. Looks like they have backup." He relayed to them.
"Got it, Central." Kelly responded. She spotted the drop ship and watched what fell from it. She held her shotgun tight. "Huh, two stun lancers, one soldier, and one captain… Lovely."
"Keep an eye on that, don't let them catch you by surprise."
The squad continued to move through the mess of cars with a little guidance from Central, doing their best to avoid breaking concealment. Those camera drones for areas like this were quiet handy. He kept track of the ADVENT they encountered. So far a total of 12 of them were there. Thankfully, only two Stun Lancers to deal with, but now there were two Captains in the mix. Annoying. That would amplify their coordination.
As they got closer to the target, a harsh crackling sound filled the air and began to disrupt their comm-link. Following the crackling, the ground shook for a moment before the crackling died down.
"What the–!" Kelly bit her tongue to keep her voice low.
"The hell?" Iris, the specialist, grumbled. He quickly ducked behind one car. Already he was whipping out his tablet and instructing his Gremlin to scan the area.
"What's going on?" Central eyes frantically scanned the screens for the disturbance.
"Something's going on up there. Even ADVENT looks confused."
They carefully peeked around, trying to see what was going on. Another car obscured the view, but whatever was behind it was glowing an ominous green and sparking. There were a few ADVENT soldiers cautiously walking towards whatever it was. From the sounds of it, they were calling in another crew to come in and stabilize it.
"Oh. Don't tell me…" Central grumbled. He had a feeling what it was and what was wrong. Shen was going to kill him.
"I've got sights on the prize." Archer, the sharpshooter, had broken off from the group, when they landed, to find her perch. She had found a nice, sturdy tree to call her home. She preferred the height advantage and to keep her distance from the rest of the squad. Made the enemies think there were less of them and let her pick them off like flies. "And looks like it's a tad damaged. It's sparking up a storm."
Central quickly switched her view to the sharpshooter's. There was the power converter they were looking for on a flatbed truck. And it was crackling with energy. "Dammit." It didn't look good. Shen would kill him.
"Iris, have your Gremlin scan for energy readings." Central ordered.
"Already on it. Daedalus is moving." Iris responded, tugging on his blue scarf to keep his voice from being obstructed. Always, thinking ahead. With a little direction from him, his Gremlin, hovered on over to the power converter. Avoiding detection from ADVENT. "Oh." There was worry in his voice. "Buddy, keep your distance! Energy levels are spiking and climbing."
"Hell," he pinched the bridge of his nose, "you guys set up for a takedown, I need to contact Shen." He grumbled.
"All right, affirmative." Kelly responded. "Let's get these stun lancers out of the way first. You've got the captain next to the package in your sights, Archer?"
"In my perch, looking right at 'em, just give me the sign." She chuckled. Her finger was hovering over the trigger, just waiting for the order to drop the bastards.
"Good, good. Iris you're good where you are, Copper carefully swing around the side so you can get a shot from behind them, and Errol go on the other side of that silver car and get a grenade primed for the other captain and that group of soldiers." Kelly directed the squad. "If timed right, that car will get caught in the explosion and wipe them out. She was a fine leader in her own right.
"You're speaking my language, Quiet." Errol hummed as he moved, fingers searching his bandolier for the right grenade for the job.
As the squad prepared for the setup, Central contacted Shen and relayed the information to her. He also her patched into the comm-link so the squad could hear her too.
"'So far it hasn't been damaged', you said?" There was always some snark from the young engineer.
"Shen now's not the time." Though he knew he deserved it, he was in no mood for her snark.
"Sorry," she chuckled, "I'll see what I can do. If one of the soldiers can get up close and access the core, I should be able to power it down."
"Alright." A small sigh of relief. "That's a job for you, Iris." So it wasn't a total loss.
"Got it!" Iris prepped his data pad. "Daedalus is already working, just feed me the data that I don't know, Shen."
"But…" Shen paused.
"But what?" Central's brow twitched.
"With how unstable the energy levels have become, there is a limited amount of time we have to power it down before it explodes."
"Great…" He grumbled. "There's always a catch."
He felt a tap on his shoulder. "Central. Sir." A voice quietly called him.
He looked over his shoulder. It was one of the Bridge personnel. "What is it?"
"It's Commander Reeves," they said, "she's coming down."
"Seriously?" That surprised him. He quieted his mic. "Where is she?"
"Just outside, sir. She's talking to one of the doctors."
"Okay," he paused, taking in a deep breath, "okay… get a headset ready for her and then direct her over to me."
"Yes, sir." They nodded and headed off.
"Okay… okay." Central muttered. His mind was racing. Now she was going to be here. She was just outside. How was she going to react to this mess? He took in several deep breaths to calm himself. "Worry about the chastising later, John. Back to more pressing matters."
The power converter was sparking and glowing once more, causing the ground to tremble.
He didn't like that.
"I'm in position." Kelly said.
Looked like she was ready to pull the trigger on the ambush.
"Archer, still have that captain in your sights?" Kelly was carefully eying the captain who was near the power converter.
"Yep." A chuckle escaped the sharpshooters lips. "Scope notched right between the eyes." she licked her lips and grinned. "Ready on your mark, Quiet."
"Good, they need to go first." Kelly said.
"What did I miss?" Central unmuted his mic.
"Just about ready to spring the surprise… waiting for that one stunner to walk back over here." She responded.
"Alright," he nodded, "don't take too long. We don't know how long until the converter will blow."
"Seven minutes and counting." Shen interjected.
"Okay, another adjustment to the algorithm… No sweat…" Iris grumbled.
"Oh, great." Central had forgotten he still had her connected to the call.
"Well," Kelly chuckled, "just have to worry about that Lancer in the heat to things."
"Everyone get ready." Kelly said. She shifted her sights onto the soldier next to the captain. "Errol."
"Got one of my special ones ready." His finger flicked the ring to the safety pin repeatedly. "Getting anxious, some of these cars are smoking and one of these guys is real cautious."
"Roll and run, then get back over to Iris and Copper." Kelly relayed. "Now!"
"Got it." Errol kissed the grenade. "Do your work baby."
Pulling the pin, he carefully yet swiftly pitched the grenade underneath the car he was hiding behind and towards the ADVENT troopers that were in front of. Immediately, he doubled back, nearly tripping over his feet. He wasn't the most graceful guy as he was a large man, and his patched together demolition armor didn't help. But he was deceptively nimble for his size. Had to be, since he knew his grenades could pack a punch. Especially the particularly special grenade he chose for the deed. It wasn't going to mix well with elerium powered vehicles. But he was counting on that. A nice big explosion would be the result they all would love.
TINK. TINK.
What a sweet sound to Errol's ears.
The grenade bounced as it rolled under the car. The noise caught the attention of one of the troopers. They started to look around for the metallic sound. As they turned, they caught a glimpse of something moving between the cars.
"What was that?" They pointed in that direction. "Someone's over there!"
"You couldn't be more silent?!" Kelly noticed the soldier pointing in Earl's direction.
"Not with that grenade!" Errol responded.
"And your girth." Archer teased.
"Eh! I'm fun-sized!" He tried his best to stifle a laugh, but a loud snort sneaked out.
"There!" The attentive soldier spotted Errol and drew their gun to shot. That alerted the others
"Crap spotted." Errol growled. "But it should be going off in a second."
Kelly sighed and shook her head. "Archer, take the shot as soon as that grenade goes off."
"Don't worry." She chuckled. "They'll be on the ground in a second."
TINK. TINK. THUNK!
"Hmm?" Another trooper felt something hit the side of their foot and looked down. At first the circular object confused them. Then it clicked. Horror set in. "Grenade mo–ARGH!"
BOOM!
What ever concoction Errol mixed for that grenade was exactly what they wanted as it didn't play well with the surrounding elerium-power cars. The four ADVENT troopers went up in a fiery explosion that rocked the ground. The three nearest cars erupted into a bigger inferno and knocked a few of the other vehicles around. Scratch one captain.
"Damn it, Errol. Not those grenades…" Central commented. Looked like Errol was pilfering from their Elerium supply to modify his grenades again. "Good thing that was no were near the converter."
"Sorry!" Errol laughed. He wasn't ashamed, but rather proud of his work.
"Right." Shen agreed.
"ARGH!" A voice cried out. The captain near the package crumpled to the ground. Particles of their shattered helmet scattered along with some brain matter and that orange blood. With both down, that should make the rest easy pickings.
"The captain is down." Archer relayed. "So far 5 down and out." She shifted her attention to the others.
"Good!" Kelly immediately took a shot at one trooper near the downed captain, but barely clipped them as the trooper quickly retreated into cover. "Dammit. Need to close the distance." The draw backs of a shotgun. She dashed back into cover as they returned fire.
"You've got five minutes left before the converter goes." Shen spoke up.
"You guys heard Shen. Get over there!" Central said.
"We're on it." Iris grunted. He peeked around a car and immediately ducked back as a hail of bullets came his way. Those ferromagnetic rounds were leaving sizable dents on the car. "Just have two guys in the way, BULLETS, and someone's busy dancing with a stunner! COPPER!? KILL THEM ALREADY!" Seemed like Copper missed their initial chance to take that annoying unit out.
"Dealing! With the! Lancer at the mo–ARGH!" Static filled his comms and went dead. His tango didn't go too well.
"Copper!" Iris cried out. He quickly doubled back to avoid more incoming fire.
"I'll go get him and that lancer!" There was venom in Errol's voice.
"Leave him and help Iris get to the converter!" Central barked.
"But-"
"Do as I say," Central said harshly, "time's running out on that converter and if you don't help Iris get to it or else all of you won't be making it out alive."
"…Yes sir." He was reluctant to follow orders, but he had a point.
Errol fiddled with his bandolier again, detaching several grenades and quickly loading them into his launcher. "Let's see how they like these!" He laughed darkly.
"Errol!" Iris didn't like that anger. It meant one thing. "Don't you dare!" Iris looked over the shoulder.
TINK. TINK. TINK.
TINK. TINK. TINK.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"Watch it Errol!" Central yelled. He wasn't too happy to see cars flying across the screens.
"Be careful with those damn grenades!" Kelly barked, barely dodging some shrapnel flying by her.
"I may be able to tag that lancer so you guys can focus on the other– Shit! Quiet!" Archer glimpsed a black blur heading towards Kelly. "The other lancer is coming up behind you!" Archer exclaimed.
The hairs on Kelly's neck stood on end hearing that. Her eyes darted, quickly surveying the area. She felt they were close.
SHHZT!
Too close. From the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar red glow and all too familiar sadistic grin.
"Whoa!"
By a stroke of luck, she barely dodged the shock baton. The baton crackled red hot with energy as it swept past her right side. Kelly stumbled away from the lancer, barely having time to recover as it swept at her once more like an angry hornet. "Shit!" She knew it was going to hurt.
BANG!
"ARGH!" The lancer cried. Helmet fragments and blood scattered about. Their body crumpled to the ground.
"Gotcha!" Archer chuckled.
"Thanks for the save." Kelly took a few breaths. "I owe you one."
"I'll take some whiskey when we get back on the ship." Archer chuckled.
"I'm at the converter!" Iris let the rest know. Errol was providing him covering fire… Well, more like grenades with the occasional bullet spray. At least he was keeping the destruction away from the converter. "Patching you in Shen to make this go quicker. Daedalus did most of the work but there still some rerouting that needs to be done. Sent you the algorithm."
"Got your signal." Shen chimed in. "This doesn't look too tricky. Should be done in a few."
"Good." Central responded. At least getting the converter powered down wouldn't lead to unnecessary deaths and a loss for them getting the ship in the air permanently.
Everything was going fairly well as they went to take out the last of the troopers and secure the packaged. Though there was something eating at the back of Central's mind. He couldn't shake it but just couldn't figure it out. It was like he was forgetting something. He rubbed his chin and grumbled. What was it?
A tap on his shoulder caught his attention.
"Commander Reeves is about to enter, sir." One of the personnel told him.
"Alright." He nodded and turned his attention back the screen.
A moment passed, and then he started to remember something. "Wait, a second…" Something slowly stated to click. "Did I ever authorize her to have clearance for here?" He mumbled.
A moment later his eyes went wide. It had finally clicked in his mind. He had been keeping her from entering the nerve center of the ship as she recovered. Mostly doctors' orders, but even he knew that would be too much for her. His eyebrow twitched as he grimaced. "Oh crap. I didn't."
He quickly turned. "Tell her to wait a seco–"
ATTENTION: UNAUTHORIZED PRESENCE DETECTED
The ship AI announced as red light and sirens filled the air in the Bridge. Who was it? Couldn't have been an attack of some sort, none of the other alarms were being triggers. Sensors were clean. So, all eyes turned to see who it was.
It was the Commander.
"Dammit…" Central cringed as their eyes met. Not the way he wanted her introduction to the Bridge to go. "Commander. Give me a second." He raised his hand, telling her to stop. He knew he wouldn't hear the end of it later. "Execute Echelon Protocol."
"Attention: Senior Command Exchange Confirmed." The ship's AI announced.
Like that, the sirens stop and the familiar blue light filled the room again. Everyones eyes were still on Commander Reeves until several of them noticed Central glaring. Best to go back to work and pretend nothing had happened. Central shook his head. He knew he wouldn't hear the end of this. Especially once Shen found out.
"Commander." He approached her. "Sorry, I had wanted that to be a little more… ceremonious."
Commander Reeves let out a chuckle. "Well, you've been fairly busy and I've been mostly out of the loop and recovering." She was rather amused than annoyed.
"Right…" He nodded.
"Though the sirens did snapped me to my senses." She chuckled again. Her eyes darted around the room; everything felt so familiar and distant at the same time. Like a blast from the past but with a future twist. It was all overwhelming, to a point.
"Really?" He raised a brow. Not a response he was expecting.
"How is the operation going?" She asked, glancing at the screens. Avoiding his gaze and question.
"Mostly well." He narrowed his eyes for a moment. Questions for later. "Come see." He gestured for her to follow him.
"Mostly?" She had a feeling he was sugarcoating things. What she saw on the screens had her suspecting something had happened. She fiddled with an ear piece one of the personnel gave her earlier. It took a bit to get it in her ear. "Why am I so nervous?" She thought.
"We've had a few hiccups." He somewhat admitted.
"A few?" She questioned. Her suspicions grew as she saw the converter spark up again and noticed the nervousness of Iris as he tapped away on the device and his Gremlin flew around the thing frantically. She managed to get the earpiece in and soon heard the chatter of the troops. It confirmed her suspicions.
"A few?" Shen chimed back in on the conversation. Perfect timing.
"Shen." Central grumbled. Sometimes he wondered why she liked to heckle him, but he would be lying if he said he didn't mind it. She was like a niece to him.
Shen chuckled. "Hey Commander, Iris and I just got the converter's power under control. Don't have to worry about it exploding on us now."
"Too close!" Iris let out a sigh of relief. He was double checking the converter for any other damage. "Way too close. This thing better be fully stabilized for the trip back."
"Oh, quit you're worrying, Iris." One could feel She's eyes roll. "It's stable and I've uploaded info to Daedelus to make sure it stays that way. And no tinkering!"
"I'm not that crazy to attempt that here."Iris shook his head. "Just checking for anything else. Got some dents that need to be worked out."
"Dare I ask what happened?" Commander Reeves glanced at Central. She held back a chuckle at the banter going back and forth between the two engineers.
"Well," he let out a grumble, "the package got a tad damaged when the resistance cell sprung their attack."
"A tad seems to be an understatement." She commented as she noticed the destruction to the surrounding area.
"Errol got a little grenade happy in the squabble." He explained. "And one soldier got knocked down."
"Right, Errol the Grenadier. Resident demolitions specialist." She nodded. "Just one soldier down?"
"Yes, Copper the Ranger." Central nodded.
"Alive or dead?"
"Alive," he gestured to the monitor keeping track of the soldiers statuses, "unconscious. Stun Lancer got him. Lucky jab."
"Ah." She nodded.
She noticed the some squad double checking all the dead ADVENT while Iris and Errol were setting up the package to be picked up by Firebrand. "Looks like they've taken out the opposition."
"They have." He nodded. "The operation is nearly done."
"Well, guess I missed all the action." She chuckled. But she studied the screens to see if there was anything they were missing.
Firebrand had finally swung back around and lowered ropes for Iris and Errol to connect the package to it. Soon it was being hoisted up onto the Skyranger.
As Kelly did her last bit of checking, she heard groans of pain and quickly went to investigate. "Copper!" With all the chaos that had happened, they had forgotten about him.
The downed ranger was coming back to consciousness. His hand was firmly gripping his side, a nasty black scorch marked where he had been hit. Parts of his armor were cracked and the cloth underneath had burned.
"Back on your feet, Copper." Kelly helped him to his feet.
"Those things freakn' sting." He complained.
"I know." She agreed to that. "It's gonna hurt for days."
"Think that damn thing cracked my ribs." He coughed.
The two slowly made their way to where the others were for extraction.
Slowly scanning the area, Archer was doing her last checks to make sure there was no one that might surprise them before leaving. Always to be better safe than sorry when it came to ADVENT..
Commander Reeves became oddly fixated on the screen with Archer's POV. She didn't know why, but she felt drawn to it. A shimmer had caught her eye. There was something up on the hill, right at the tree line. At first she thought it was nothing, just heat waves as there were several vehicles on fire. As she looked away, she noticed movement and another shimmer. Her eyes focused on the spot. The hairs on her neck slowly rose. What was it? "Why am I so nervous?"
"That's not a heat wave…" She muttered.
"Huh?" Central barely heard her mutter.
She didn't respond, which concerned him as he noticed how intensely she was focusing on that one screen.
"You see something, Commander?" He asked.
"Hmm…" She muttered.
Again she didn't answer. He waited another moment, even nudging her a bit, but she still she said nothing. He shrugged and went back to monitoring the rest of the squad. Kelly and Copper had nearly caught up with the rest of the group. Seeing the two round around a car, Errol hopped off the flatbed and jogged over to them.
"Let me give you guys a hand." He said with a big smile. "Looks like you need it, Copper."
"Watch the ribs. Watch the ribs!" Copper coughed.
Another shimmer and then a glint caught Commander Reeves' attention just as Errol reached Kelly and Copper. The glint was all too familiar to her. It was like the light bouncing off a scope. Then it hit her. Sniper. She tensed, her blood ran cold as her hairs stood on ends.
"QUIET! EARL! COPPER! GET DOWN NOW!"
"Huh?"
"What?"
They, including Central, voiced their confusion at the sudden outburst.
The sudden shouting caught the attention of everyone in the room.
"Commander. Are yo–" Central was about to place a hand on her shoulder but she quickly knocked it off.
"GET. DOWN. NOW!" There was no change in that intensity of her command. "SNIPER ON THE HILL AT THE TREE LINES NORTH!"
That got everyone's attention pretty quickly.
The trio eyed each other before ducking down. The urgency in her voice convinced them.
"I don't see any–" Just as Archer was taking a closer look at the tree line, she caught a glint of something. "What the?"
Just as the trio ducked, rifle fire echoed through the air; a chunk of asphalt went flying, then a solid thunk of metal against metal could be heard. A few more car alarms went off, if they weren't already going.
Errol looked up and towards where he heard the impact. He let out a gasp. Just a few feet being them. There was a chunk of asphalt knocked out of the road and resting against a car. Besides that, he saw where the bullet embedded in the car door after it must have ricocheted off the asphalt. The metal crumpled inward like it was paper, completely swallowing the slug.
"What the hell kind of weapon is that!?"
He didn't want to imagine what would have happened if he was a second late on ducking. Or if it had hit him. Either way, he would have lost a body part and would be most likely be dead.
Central's eyes went wide seeing the damage done to the asphalt and car. He looked at the monitor that her eyes were locked onto, trying to see who was attacking.
"Commander, how the hell did you know that wa–"
"Not now." Commander Reeves raised a finger to silence Central. She saw that familiar glint again. They needed to act quickly. "Archer apply suppressing fire at the tree line. By that patch of yellow wild lowers."
"Gotcha. I saw a glint and I see the flowers." Archer raised her rifle. She waited for a moment, catching a sight of the glint before firing. She quickly ejected the round and fired another shot in rapid succession. And another. And another.
A quick squirt of that familiar orange blood. Then a grunted hiss was loud enough for them to hear. Flower petals scattered as what was there quickly ducked behind the tree line for cover. It was still invisible to their eyes.
"Gotcha, ya bastard." Archer chuckled.
"Archer, keep applying suppressing fire. Errol, Kelly, Copper. Get to the extraction point now!" Commander Reeves ordered.
"Aye, Commander." Archer kept up the fire.
"You got it!" The trio were quickly back on their feet and heading to the Skyranger.
"Let me see if I can help you out with the suppression Archer." Iris was already on board the Skyranger once the package was secured. He poked himself partially out of the cargo bay and laid down a hail of bullets around the same area Archer was firing at.
It didn't take long for the invisible assailant to strike back. Specifically, at Archer.
"SHIT!" Archer found herself tumbling out of her perch as they shot the branch from under her. She quickly covered, barely catching herself before hitting the pavement. Stumbling to her feet, she scrambled to the nearest car for cover, as more shots came her way.
"Argh!" A bullet nicked her arm. Had to be less powerful than the shot that would have killed Errol to do only that much damage. "I think I really pissed someone off. Pinned down here!"
"Oh, great…" Commander Reeves bit her lip. "Keep laying down suppressive fire, Iris. Errol, Kelly, Copper, step on it!"
"Laying down more fire." Iris hoped that could help out. How to get Archer out alive?
With their attacker distracted, Errol, Kelly and Copper made it over to the Skyranger. Errol let Copper and Kelly board first as he fiddled bandolier.
"Last one… flame round… hehehe." A devious grin crept across Errol's as he found his last grenade. "Hope my launcher can cover the distance" He hurried over to a spot he felt was in range of where the attacker was and loaded the grenade.
"What are you doing Errol?" Commander Reeves just noticed his movement.
"Giving Archer a window of escape." He raised his launcher, steadied it for a moment. "Fire in the hole!"
"I hope it's a good one, Errol." Archer peered over the car only to quickly duck as more fired rained down on her.
"Hope it works." Commander Reeves mumbled.
CHOONK!
The triggered was pulled. The grenade went sailing.
"Start moving as soon as it goes off!" He yelled before retreating back to the Skyranger.
Archer counted the seconds, waiting for that faithful sound.
BOOM!
PWISH!
"AAAaaaRGH!" A shrill cry of pain could be heard, as the flames enveloped the tree line and their unseen attacker. Its cloak flickered for a moment, revealing its alien stature. Tall, dark, gaunt and it had four arms. A mask and hood obscured its face. Though one could catch a glimpse of two large red-lenses on the white mask. Before they could fully observe it, its cloak quickly flicked back on as it swiftly retreated deeper into the forest.
"The hell is that?" Central caught glimpse of it before it disappeared. "Can't be…?"
"Record that." Commander Reeves said to one of the personnel. She wanted to study what ver that thing was later.
As soon as the grenade went off, Archer bolted to the extraction point. She made her way to the Skyranger with little issue and quickly boarded it.
"This is Firebrand. Everyone's accounted for and we're heading out." She said.
"Roger that, Firebrand. Keep an eye on the skies, picking up the chatter of ADVENT drop-ships headed that way."
"Affirmative."
Central let out a sigh of relief as he watched the Skyranger head off. The operation could have ended a lot worse. They got lucky. He cast a glance over at Commander Reeves and noticed she was still tense. White knuckles that had a death grip on the console. "Hey." He placed his hand on her shoulder.
She flinched, her head slowly turned to look at him. "Sorry about my outburst earlier."
"No need to apologize." He chuckled. "If you didn't yell, Errol would have a melon sized hole in his head and who knows what else would have."
"Right." She nodded. She slowly relaxed.
"Well," he looked around, "it'll take them about an hour to get back. So I believe now would be the best time to show you around the Bridge."
"Will this set off any additional alarms?"
His eye twitched. "Hopefully not… still wished for that to have been a bit more… ceremonious." A small grin crept across his face. He couldn't help but crack a smile at the joke.
She smiled. "Show me the ropes."
"Let me start with Dimitri. One of our Communications Officers. Takes over when I'm busy." He started to lead her to the other side of the room. "She's got a bit of a headache right now, but when she's better she will be very chatty." He chuckled. "Told her one too many stories about you and I."
"Oh, joy." She rolled her eyes. She wondered exactly what he had told her. But that didn't matter. Eventually stories of the past would be told to all. She didn't mind it if it helped with getting acquainted with more of the crew faster.
Central spent the next hour getting Commander Reeves acquainted with the Bridge, how it worked, and all the personnel that worked there. It a way it reminded her of the Mission Control in the old XCOM base, but much smaller. Yet somehow as equally busy. It wouldn't take long for her to memorize the ins and outs of the Bridge.
With the hour over and the squad almost back to the Avenger, Commander Reeves wanted to greet the troops and see what Shen had planned for the power converter. Central accompanied her.
"You shouldn't discount yourself." Commander Reeves said. "You're pretty good a leading."
"Thanks, but I don't feel like I'm made for the role." He scratched the back of his head.
"It's a role you grow into." She nudged him. "Truthfully some are more naturally inclined for leading but it's still a role you grow into."
"Right, right." He chuckled. "But you're still better suited for it than me."
"That's if I still got it." She shook her head. "I'm still recovering."
"Hey now, if not for you sixth sense and quick thinking, I think we would have been down a few soldiers." He still wondered how she even noticed the enemy sniper. A question for another time.
"Errol is the reason why Archer made it out alive."
"If you didn't see the enemy sniper, Errol would have been dead and same with the others." He wasn't going to let her downplay her role.
"Right… I guess so." She nodded but still had her doubts.
He was about to retort as he was picking up her mood, but a commotion ahead caught his attention. They were just outside the armory.
"Why are you all just standing around?!" It was Shen.
"Huh, sounds like Shen's team is a bit slow on the draw for her." Central chuckled, hearing the mixture of excitement and annoyance in the young engineer's voice.
"I don't blame her. Especially with how long you guys have been looking for a power source like this." Commander Reeves chuckled.
As they entered the Armory, they saw Shen who was quickly going over the power converter as her team stood by, and then saw the returning soldiers exiting the Skyranger. The medics were quick to attend to those wounded.
"How's it looking, Shen?" Central asked.
"A few dings here and there, but otherwise it's perfect!" She was radiating with excitement. Finally, the last piece they had been looking for so long. Her father's work would finally be completed.
As she looked up, a tad surprised to see the Commander was with him. She waved. "We're very lucky none of Blakes's grenades got close to it."
"Yeah, lucky." He nodded. A quick mental note to tell their grenade loving soldier to tone it down with the grenades. Especially those special ones he liked to make.
"How long will it take for you to integrate this power converter into the Avenger?" Commander Reeves asked and waved back.
"Hopefully no more than a few days, Commander." She answered. "The Avenger's systems will be back to full capacity and we'll be in the skies in no time."
"Sounds good." She nodded.
As Shen continued to examine the power converter, Commander Reeves turned her attention to the soldiers. It didn't surprise her when she saw Copper being wheeled off to the infirmary. The workers already tending to that burn and neurological issues already appearing. Those stun batons could do some damage.
"He's probably going to be out of commission for a month." She mumbled.
"It's just a graze." Archer was trying to shoo away a medic treating her arm.
"It's a bit more than a graze." The medic grumbled as they continued to treat her. They would be staying put.
Commander Reeves chuckled at the sight, looked like the medic had it under control. She turned her attention to the rest. They were going over their equipment. A wise thing to do, especially after the hectic ending they had. "Congrats on a job well done."
"Thank you, Commander." Kelly nodded.
"Thanks." Iris nodded. Though his eyes were fixed on his tablet, downloading information from his Gremlin. That brain of his always looking at data. A bad habit.
"I should be thanking you." Errol laughed. He smacked his chest a few times. "A second late on your warning and my head would have been split open like an overripe watermelon."
Commander Reeves chuckled. "Right, though Errol," she paused for moment as she watched him fiddle with his empty grenade bandolier, " I do suggest you go easier with the grenades in the future. Came close to damaging the package a few times."
He was about to retort, but quickly bit his tongue. "Yes, Commander." He nodded. "Can't resist a little fireworks."
"And work on balancing your grenade mixtures better. Use less Elerium when you know you'll be around vehicles powered with the substance." She added. "Makes the collateral damage more predictable and will keep explosive car cascades on the minimum."
"Yes, Commander." Again he nodded. He was half tempted to ask how she knew he liked to mix elerium in his grenades, but didn't want to get himself in trouble. He had been pilfering from their elerium supply again.
She smiled. "Get some rest and get checked over by the medical team."
With that, she turned her attention back to what Shen was doing and wasn't too surprised to see she was done.
"Come on, let's get it inside." Shen and her team wheeled the converter out of the Armory, posthaste.
Commander Reeves headed over to Central, who was slightly distracted by his tablet. "I take it she's taking it down to her workshop?"
"She is." He nodded. "Tinker with it and work her magic."
"Just a few days and the Avenger will be in the skies." She mumbled. She looked at her watch and glanced at Central. His eyes were still focused on his tablet.
"So." She nudged him.
"Hmm?" He glanced up at her for a moment.
"Care to show me the details for the next few supply raids you've got lined up?" She grinned. It was time for her to go back in her quarters and rest, but she wanted to stay out longer. Part of her was itching for a little action, something to get her old senses going again. And the other part just didn't feel like being cooped up.
He chuckled. That look in her eye was coming back. "I'll show you everything, Commander. Maybe even let you lead one of them."
"Oh, will you now?" She nudged him again as she followed.
"Don't push it." He shook his head but laughed. "You know the doctors are going to kill me later."
"What they don't know won't hurt them." She chuckled. "Besides, I have to get back into the swing of things at some point." She sighed a bit. She still had some doubts.
"One step at a time, Commander." He placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a hearty shake. "You'll get your mojo back in no time."
She stiffened a bit before relaxing. "I hope you're right."
