"Expect the worst, and you'll never be disappointed"-Murphy's Law
SYSTEM 4-Lanos's Fifth moon, Sahara-Basin spaceport 2/8/2165Several days later Sev descended the gangway from his ship and placed his first footprint on Sahara, the fifth moon of System 4's massive purple gas giant Lanos, Sev checked out his environs, like everything on Sahara, and every other desert world Sev had visited, there was not an inch of ground, machine, people or structure that was not covered in gritty, coarse sand. Everywhere machines covered in coarse weave rattled away, tended by spaceport crewmen. He was blasted with heat and dust as an old tug set down nearby behind him Pey'j and Hub walked down the gangway, their weapons displayed in plain sight, for Hub his T-Hammer was slung on his back, Pey'j's Barocco D-53 cutting hammer hanging in a sling at his waist, for Sev, he had discarded his cloak and his sword's hilt and gleamed in the sunlight as it hung from the strap attached to his nano-sheath they met between the two ships. Sev paid the dock master for a trio of security bots to guard his ship and a refuel, with that taken care of the three set of into the dusty streets for a guide to the surrounding area, known as the Badlands, and not without good cause…
SAHARA-Badlands-Five hundred metres from ruins at Call--3/8/2435
The old base at Call was in ruins, having been abandoned for years, left to the scavengers, junk merchants and desert elements it was not a pretty sight, there was not a single undamaged building, overall Sev, decided the term 'ruins' was fairly appropriate. It was in the middle of nowhere, days from any marked trade routes. So why was a massive black bunker sitting squat in the middle of it? The answer was fairly clear, the dome-shaped bunker was flying the Section Skull, the flag of the Alphas. It was here that Jade was being held 'Not for much longer' Sev reminded himself. He lowered his binoculars and started towards the camp, his companions in tow…
ALPHA SECTION BASE-Prisoner's barracks
Jade had heard the gunfire even in her isolation cell someone was here! She prayed it was to rescue her before the Alphas started killing the prisoners to prevent them talking as a lot of prisoners had overheard conversations between the guards. Right now they were all locked inside the prisoner barracks, a massive rectangular structure holding hundreds of bunk beds, Jade however was inside an isolation cell, cut off from the other prisoners. Conditions inside the barracks were best described as squalid, the barracks hadn't been cleaned since they were first built and that was the way the Alphas liked it, keeping the prisoners as downtrodden as possible, crush their will to fight. On some it had worked, there had been more than a hundred suicides in this hellhole. Jade had spent the last hour listening to the fighting, trying to find out whether the beatings and 'interrogations' had crushed her own will. For the past few months, that answer had been yes but now, with the hope of freedom she had found new strength and she felt some of her old stubbornness returning.
Another hour later and a muffled yell of "Fire in hole!" came through the durasteel door at the barracks entrance, five seconds later a powerful explosion from a D-12 heavy breaching charge blew the doors of their hinges and across the room, Jade readied her makeshift shiv made in secret during her imprisonment, she decided to find her Dai-jo staff later on, the guards kept all the prisoners belongings in the storage lockers somewhere nearby. As the smoke cleared a young man stepped through, bearing a remarkable resemblance to Jade behind him a pair of people Jade recognized better stepped into the barracks "Pey'j!" She yelled out, dashing forwards into her uncle's arms, the other person was Hub, who stood with a huge smile on his face "Hello Miss Jade" he said. She turned to the third person, a complete stranger who's appearance was almost like looking into a mirror for Jade minus being covered in blood.
"I take it your Jade" Sev growled, noting that she seemed rather pale, Sev noted that he was covered in blood, none of it was his. Jade nodded weakly. "Lets get out of here" HE said to her.
"What about the other prisoners?" Jade asked.
"Dead." Was all Sev said.
ALPHA SECTION BASE-Main gates
"Frag" Sev swore under his breath, the Alphas had brought in some reinforcements, a squad of Assault Alphas backed up by a four-legged, 15 foot tall walker. Sev noted that some Alphas were carrying O.I.C.W.s, Objective Individual Combat Weapons, high tech assault rifles which had fully integrated computer systems and two barrels, one firing high explosive grenades or bullets, the other firing basic rifle rounds at a fully automatic rate of fire (ROF). "Hmm, O.I.C.W.s, I've always wanted one." Sev remarked casually. He reached for his sword in its nano-sheath on his back and drew not only it but also Jade's Dai-jo staff.
"Hey, can I have that back?" Jade asked on seeing her prized weapon. Sev immediately handed her the staff. "Thanks".
"Let 'em have it!" Sev roared, charging forwards into a hail of gunfire behind him Jade, Hub and Pey'j charged forward. Sev crashed into the first Alpha, knocking the soldier of his feet, Sev impaled him on his sword and leapt to the next guard, he made his way through the guards towards the walker, when he reached it he scaled up its leg, used his sword to cut the armour of its actuator and stuffed a heavy breaching charge in. He set the timer for two seconds and leapt of just as the charge exploded throwing everyone around it to the ground. Sev recovered quickly, grabbed an O.I.C.W of the ground and fired a burst of bullets at a group of Alphas, what he didn't realize was that the gun was on grenade mode, the gun kicked back and lobbed a high explosive grenade at the pack, throwing the trio of Assault Alphas into the air. Sev smiled with grim satisfaction, clicked the rifle back to auto mode and open up into the pack of Alphas, felling another three. He held the O.I.C.W over his back, the nano-sheath immediately melded itself around the weapon, relieving Sev of its weight, he drew his sword again and bull-rushed the remaining guard only to have his target collapse to the ground, standing behind it was Jade, looking triumphant and wearing a grin of victory. "Don't get to cocky, we've got to get back to the port, then to Hillys and try to lay low there" He could have said something more accurate like 'try to keep you alive' but it seemed to pessimistic in the light of Jade's optimism and happiness at freedom. Instead he said, "Welcome back to freedom"…