Meanwhile, Rha rolled into a small crevice, fortunate enough not to get stuck. Tuu went off and told him to stay behind for a few moments. He looked over the alien in front of him who looked around for a few moments and left soon after. His visor recorded everything, including a peculiar insignia they were all wearing.
Tuu, meanwhile, saw a massive holding pen from his elevated position. Other Irken, mostly drones, but a few disarmed and roughed up security from the freighters. No sign of anyone IIA alive. Though there were some IIA related items lying about, including one rather bloodied helmet, a strong indicator to their likely fates.
Rha came over the comms, whispering, "What do you see? You get what we need?" He was a bit tense, obviously from nearly getting caught.
The Marksman, cloaked from view, surveyed the open expanse through his optic.
"Relax...this would go quicker if you assisted rather than followed, you know." He made light of his anxiety. "...and I think I found the status of the crew...well, crews. Lots of Irken down there. Few hundred, easily. Drones of different flavors. Few security personnel, too. Wonder why they took them prisoner. No one takes Irken prisoners."
"Slaver ring maybe? But that wouldn't make sense…" He rolled out and moved in a bit, finding a datapad sitting on an unattended table. Grabbing it from cover behind some crates, it looked to be a log, but it wasn't in Irken...or Vortian for that matter. "Got something. Maybe the boss should see it. I have no idea what language this is." He started moving back only for someone to come to the table, someone rather important looking as he looked for the datapad.
"Who moved the Cap'n's log?!"
"Bwuh?" One of the nearby individuals spoke up. "Nobody."
"Well, it ain't 'ere! Look around! It's gotta be 'round 'ere somewhere! We don't find it. Cap'n's gonna break our legs!"
"Rha…" Tuu uneasily started over their comms. "As much as I want to get intel on these guys, we have to be discreet. The less on-edge they are, the looser the fingers are to take from them. You read me?" He asked for his understanding, quietly slinking along the catwalk overlooking the large holding pen substituting for a prison population. "...still...why keep them alive? The moment the Control Brains figure out what's happened, they'll deactivate them. Atmospheric interference and being underground may be causing issues with that...do these guys know about the Empire? This is a surveyed world within our borders, after all...even if it's awful to be on."
Rha quickly made a copy of the contents into his own systems and left the log on top of some crates. "Took care of it," He moved back to where he was before. "Interrogation? Torture...sick amusement? I don't know. This is strange to me." He watched as the others looked, one of them spotting the datapad right where he had left it.
"Oy, got the log!"
The one who first noticed the log came over and took it. "I swear, I find 'ho moved it…" The man walked back to the bench and put it where it was previously. It looked like that was the end of that.
"What do you think we should do? We can't just leave them here."
"Asset retrieval is not part of the mission. You heard the Lieutenant." The sniper reminded him, scanning the area, taking a headcount of walking patrols and stationed sentries. "These crews are already presumed lost with their vessels. We've seen the wreckage of the one. Records show four more listed as missing and yet to arrive to Destructia. Not enough wreckage for four vessels that size. Meaning they are either on this world somewhere or hidden elsewhere."
"I don't like this already…"
Tuu stopped, lowering his rifle and turned his head in the direction where Rha was located. Maybe not visible, but where he showed up on his HUD.
"Remember that talk we had? Don't tell me you're going native on me, too…"
"What would you expect in their situation? Some help maybe?" Rha sighed, "I just know the Commander would want to do something. Leaving them here to whatever fate this seems...wrong."
"You and I both know their fate is already sealed. Like I said, this planet's atmosphere and being underground is probably the only reason why they're not dead yet. We can't help them, Rha. They're Drones, anyway...they'll just make more."
There was a long silence on the comms, Rha feeling frustrated and helpless at their predicament. "Let's just wrap this up already so we can go."
Tuu wasn't completely obtuse. As he moved through the facility, he kept their conversation in the back of his mind. After some time, he finally spoke again.
"Look...what I said was pretty...cold. Just stating facts, Rha." He attempted. "...suppose it couldn't hurt to see if we can't get one of these guys isolated and ask them what's going on. Just...don't get your hopes up, alright?"
"Yeah...lemme see if I can't get close enough." He took a breath and went back in, weaving through various crates and other objects until he could get close enough and stay in cover to turn off his cloaking device. "Pssssst." He tried to get the attention of one of the drones or security units within, "Pssssst."
A haggard, weary-looking crewman's antenna perked up, fatigued eyes turning to see the startle of his life, jumping back and falling over in surprise, stammering as he pointed. He saw antenna sticking out of the scary-looking soldier's helmet. Irken. The Spec Ops insignia on his uniform. Relief?
"Wh-...who are you?!" He hissed, looking around. "Where'd you come from?!"
"Shhhhh, keep your voice down." Rha couldn't afford the unwanted attention. Looking around and content nobody was reacting to that outburst, he took a breath of relief. "Came from outside, sent here to investigate. Can you tell me what happened?"
"Uhh...well…" The Drone rubbed the back of his neck, trying to remember. "I don't know much, to be honest. I worked in Maintenance on our ship. Didn't really have too many viewports to the outside. I just remember the alarms...Captain's warning of hostile borders. Ship Security and IIA tired to repel them. T-they were overwhelmed. All that's left is the crews of all the ships they've stolen. They keep us here."
"Any reason why? We gathered these are scavengers and pirates. They do slavery? You see any others or is it just Irkens?" This really seemed puzzling that there'd be this many kept alive. It's like Tuu said...nobody takes Irken prisoners. "What are they doing to you down here?"
"They...separated us by our assignments. The uniforms make it obvious who was just part of the crew and who wasn't. Ship Security and IIA unlucky enough to still be alive were...tortured. Information? Cruelty? I dunno...I just know they were separated from the rest of us and we never saw them again. They showed us their bloodied uniforms like they were proud of what they did...intimidate us. I haven't seen our Captain...or the other Captains. Not sure if they suffered the same fate or not. Could be interrogating them for information...could be keeping them alive in case they need someone at the helm. I don't know."
"...Shit." He huffed and shook his head. "You have any idea how long you've been down here? Hear anything useful?"
The Maintenance Drone shook his head. "I...not sure. Weeks, for sure. I've lost track. I'm more worried about them not picking me out for one of their sick little games. They've picked two of us at random several times to fight for their amusement...to the death...suppose the ones that die are the lucky ones at this point." he solemnly acknowledged before looking back to Rha. "Y-you gotta help us! Save us! We can't stay here!"
The realization.
"...you're here to save us...aren't you?"
"Corporal…" Tuu warned lightly, listening in. "Remember what I told you...and wrap it up...some of these guys are wondering why that guy is talking to shadows and are starting to move to investigate."
"There's not much we can do with just four of us…" He seemed to ignore Tuu's warning. "Look, we can pass this on to someone who can do something. I trust him. He ca-" Just then he was cut off as someone seemed to notice him from behind. Grabbing him by the ankle and giving him a sharp yank out from his hiding spot.
"Well, what've we got here?!"
Rha reached for his sidearm but was interrupted by a sharp kick to the head, followed by a couple more for good measure. "Hey, tell the First about this. Captain's going to like the look of this one." The pirate proceeded to disarm Rha and drag him away as another one of the pirates stood in front of the cage.
"And don't the rest of ya get any bright ideas about any 'rescue!' You're gonna net us some big money for whoever's going to pay for you to go slave away somewhere!"
Just as Tuu was about to reprimand Rha for filling the Drone's head with false hope, he watched in horror as he was abruptly made and quickly dispatched. Rha's biometric signature read as unconscious on his HUD. A growl of frustration came forth, looking down the optic of his rifle. Did he take the shot and tried to rescue Rha? Doing so would blow their cover entirely, raise alarms and the security level for any future attempts. All of this over a bunch of Drones and a few ships the Empire wouldn't even miss!
Before he could fire, Rha and his captor disappeared from view around a corner, heading deeper into the facility.
"Ikvedo strutta!" He hissed a curse at Rha's insistence to take such a risk before throwing his rifle onto its magnetic latch on his back. The long-drilled practice of activating comms and relay the situation took over, only to stop realizing Volx and Haxx couldn't hear him. Did he risk seeking Rha out by himself or go for the others and return?
"...hope you stay alive long enough so I can kill you," He growled, making his frustrated decision as he took off in a sprint, seeking to come back with help. Superior numbers were not on their side and as confident as he was in his skills, they would be expecting more. May as well come back with more than they could handle.
Haxx and Volx were dressed once more, the heavy weapons specialist planting one last kiss on her lips for the time being before donning his helmet once more. "We've gotta do that more often. Beats doing it alo-" He was cut off by the sound of some heavy footfalls coming down the cavern, grabbing his SMG and taking cover. It wasn't a walk...it sounded like a sprint. He was fully prepared to pull the trigger until he saw Tuu come running in. "Oh, you're back. Guess we can go now…where's Captain Explosion?"
Tuu, winded, took a few deep breaths as he saw his teammates stand down from the naturally unexpected return.
"Rha's captured. I'd have radioed, but, caves."
"How?" Volx all but demanded as she immediately got back to business, taking up her rifle to join the two of them.
"The...idiot thought it was a good idea to interrogate one of the Drones in the holding pen. He was visible to talk with the guy. Guards caught on and he was burned."
"Burned? Actually burned?" Haxx asked as he checked his ammo pouches.
"What? No, not ac- Look, if you want to see him alive again, let's go, now!" Tuu said, irritated before taking off back down the same tunnel he arrived from. "This way!"
Volx looked to Haxx momentarily, immediately regretting her decision to not go with Tuu instead to do recon. She felt guilty, especially after what she and Haxx had done in their absence. Not another Devastis. They got lucky then. No, she refused.
She didn't need to tell him to move it, she simply followed after Tuu.
Haxx looked around at the empty cistern and then heaved his head in frustration, "Ah, hell…" He grabbed his bayonet, slipping it into its sheath, and followed Tuu and Volx, "Damn it, Rha."
The trio made their way back, now the pirates really seemed to be on guard. They figured if there was one, there must've been more. Haxx stopped behind cover, looking in. "So...please tell me you have a plan other than shoot our way through until we find him."
"Of course I do, I'm not you." Tuu responded as they all moved, transitioning from cover to cover with their cloaks active, invisible to the naked eye.
"Tuu, stow it. Focus." Volx chided him, as she cast a glance at Haxx on her visor, his outline still visible. He could see her in similar fashion as she drew a hand across her neck. Leave it. Not worth it. More important matters to attend to.
"Did you see where they took him?"
"Negative, Ma'am," Tuu answered, checking corners. "What little information he gleaned from the Drone doesn't exactly fill me with confidence, either...really wish Vard was here right now. He could tap into their comms and figure out where he's at."
"We'll make due," Volx responded. "...would really like to avoid fighting the whole base off if at all possible. Keep it quiet until we're made. Silent takedowns only." She emphasized, trading out her primary for the sheathed virboblade combat knife out of her kit.
Haxx shook his head, drawing a short spike bayonet cooked up for the particular weapon he had and fixed it. What a day to forget his combat knife. He then made sure his safety was on so he wouldn't accidentally blast off a round in a struggle. "I'm good to go. Let's go save Captain Explosion. Ship won't be the same without him."
As the three special forces operatives began their desperate search for their captured comrade, the man of the hour was quickly stripped of his gear. That was the most interesting part about another bug man. A separate bug man from the rest of the lot. He arrived after they did, undetected. He had to have friends. More shiny toys to acquire. The bug man was taken to the more secure wing of the facility where the "VIPs" were held.
The magnetically-sealing door whisked open, Rha dragged by his ankle unceremoniously by the large alien. He was still unconscious, limp as he was lifted with ease.
"'Ere. Found ya a new 'ne to talk to." He grunted, tossing Rha's body into the room at the floor's center. "Get comfy, bug-man." He chuckled darkly before locking the door on his way out.
The others looked at Rha, then to each other. Some mumbling about him possibly being dead on arrival. That was until he stirred and rubbed his head. "Agh...that hurt…why's everything white?"
"He's alive!"
A handful of other Irken moved from their bunks, milling about the room to see their newest arrival. Without his equipment and only his undersuit, he looked like another unlucky soldier.
"Don't crowd him! Let him breathe!"
"Who is it? Is it Captain Xor?"
"No, it's not…"
"Who is it then?"
"I don't know! He's...new."
"Hey," One of them addressed Rha. "Who are you? Where'd you come from? You weren't on any of the freighters, were you?"
"Not part of our crew, that's for sure."
"Not ours, either."
He groaned, still rubbing his head, feeling a little blood from where they split his flesh open. "Really hope that's not a skull fracture on top of this…" He didn't bother trying to get up, he just kept laying there. "Corporal Rha, Spec Ops."
"Spec Ops?! Out here?!" One of them said, surprised. "You're here to save us?!"
"Get real, Gar...the Empire wouldn't send special forces for us…"
"Even if he was...he's in here with us...not exactly giving me optimism for a rescue."
"Still leaves the question...why is he here?"
"Why else? The Empire was probably worried about their "precious cargo" and wanted to know where it was going."
"Doesn't matter," Gar challenged, turning his attention back to Rha. "...you okay, Corporal? Aside from the obvious, of course."
"Well...I'm bleeding from what I can tell...so I'm going with...not really." He paused, trying to look around then closed his eyes. "The room's spinning…" Focus, he had to. "Look...we were sent here for intelligence, to find out what happened...but...I really thought we couldn't leave you guys like this…" He opened one eye, slowly. "Can any of you give me more information on why you're here? I couldn't get much from the drone out there."
"The common theme seems to be our ships were boarded by these guys. Pirates or something. Take control of the ship, bring them down here and...beyond that, we don't know. None of our cargo manifests had anything really worthy of interest. Basic building components, mostly. We were destined for Destructia."
"That and they've separated the flight crew from the maintainers. They have everyone else in some big open pit thing. They've kept everyone that can actually fly the ships alive...for now."
"Unless they killed Captain Xor-"
"Shut up! You don't know that!"
"They took him somewhere other than here and they haven't brought him back!"
"That doesn't mean he's dea-"
"Quiet, both of you! Look...arguing about anything isn't going to help us." Gar huffed, looking back to Rha from their forced bunkmates. "There's...more of you, right?" He queried in a hushed whisper.
"He said there were four of them...probably shouldn't have blurted that out. They could be listening."
"Something tells me they're not that smart."
"Smart enough to capture five freighters from the Empire."
"Well...four technically. The other one's spread across the surface out there."
Rha blinked, "Hold up, hold up...you're telling me they didn't turn your other freighters into scrap? They're keeping them operational? Why?"
"We...don't know. Granted, they are spaceworthy still...and massive...but they're mostly just...cargo hold space. Big, empty. For carrying things."
"I assume that's why we're not dead yet, either...maybe they need us to pilot them still."
"Until they figure out how to, then we're good as dead."
"Either way, these jerks stole our ships and are holding us prisoner. I've heard passing comments about trying to sell us into slavery...they do know we're Irken, right? Like...when the Control Brains find out about all of this-"
"What if we escape? Get the ships to Destructia, just as planned? We'll be fine, right?"
"The shipment's already late. That's a deactivation if I've ever heard one."
Tuu was right, Rha just shook his head in frustration, but it only increased his pain as he did. "I hate to say it, but we all might be screwed here...not only are you late, but it looks like all of your shipment is offloaded. You show up empty-handed and late? ...Yeah, that's a deactivation. Meanwhile...for all I know, one of my team is already telling the others they may as well leave me here. I don't like their odds, even with stealth considering my injuries."
"...so why are we still alive then?"
"We've been over this, we don't know."
"No, the running theory is the signal can't reach us down here."
"What signal?"
"The deactivation signal!"
"...I guess that makes sense...so does that mean we're...fine down here?"
"I wouldn't call this "fine"..."
"I mean, underground...on this planet...with the skin-peeling, flesh-tearing storms and ionized atmosphere that causes like...a bajillion lightning strikes."
"When you say it like that, death sounds preferable…"
"Yeah...I mean...they do realize that the second they take you above ground...there's going to be a massive pile of Irken corpses and not slaves, right?"
"We haven't corrected them because they'd probably just kill us for fun at that point."
"They're going to find out eventually when they try to force us above ground."
"...what if we didn't?"
"Wha?"
Gar stood up, addressing his fellow crewmen and compatriots.
"Listen. Hear me out...we're fine down here...relatively...but if they plan on taking us to the surface, we'll all die."
"So you're suggesting…?"
"Stay here."
"Stay here?"
"Yes, stay here!"
"...and do what?"
Gar growled, seeming to be the only forward-thinker in the room...not unlike a certain Corporal's allies. The same people Tuu warned him may be turning traitor on them.
"Look...you all said it...we're good as dead as it is. The Empire will kill us...let's stay here. This base."
"As prisoners?"
"No."
"They already killed anyone who knew how to fight them, Gar...we're just freighter crewman. Drones."
"Do you want to die as Drones or fight and maybe win?"
"Someone...bandage my head here," Rha growled but smirked...these people...no, Tuu was wrong. If he had to make a choice like these drones? He'd make the same choice. If that made him defective, so be it. "You want to lead an armed revolt against these pirates? I'll help out however I can with a severe concussion and whatever else is going on with me."
One of them went to one of the bunks, pulling a pillow case off of the pillow and tore it into strips for makeshift bandages.
"Maybe your friends can help us." Gar mentioned as he and another carefully wrapped Rha's head.
"Gar, listen to yourself! You're going to get us all killed!"
"We're good as dead anyway."
"That doesn't mean I want to die faster!"
"So you want to stay here and die slower then?"
"Well, n-no-"
"Then quit whining like a smeet fresh off the robot arm!"
"How are we going to even fight them? None of us have ever used a weapon in our lives!"
"Our ships didn't even have guns, Gar!"
"Can't be that hard, right?" Gar reasoned with an uneasy laugh, looking to Rha. "...they got like...billions of you guys out there with them…"
"Yeah, billions of them dying."
"Will you shut your noise tube?! We'll...come up with a plan...or something."
"You don't even know!"
"At least I'm trying! I don't know if you've been paying attention, but there are way more of us than them. Sure, they're bigger...and stronger...and meaner...but they'll...eventually...run out of...ammunition?"
An attempt was made.
"Yeah...so... what you need to do is use some improvised weapons at first, until we can pick up some of theirs. I'll have to teach you on the fly. I need my equipment back. I had a plasma rifle with a grenade launcher. Would come in rather handy." His equipment...the other reason he needed to lead this. "Look, some people will die, sadly. But, better to die standing on your feet than subjected to...whatever this is, right?"
"Yes! That-" Gar pointed to Rha. "That's the kind of thing I was getting at. Right there! If we're going to die, die on our terms! Not theirs!"
"We're not soldiers, Gar! We're d-"
"No! You're Irken. He's Irken, I'm Irken, you're Irken!"
A silence fell over all of them. His words were starting to get through to them. They were all dead men. Good as dead the moment a clear communication signal got through to their PAKs. If their captors took them off this planet, that was for certain...but if they remained on it...no signal could reach them. They would remain alive...but doing so was not going to be without sacrifice.
"...Gar's right."
"Yeah...unfortunately."
"So we're in agreement...any ideas for improvised weapons then, Mr Soldier?"
Rha looked at Gar, slowly, blinking at him. "They really screwed up your assigning. You have some real leadership potential there. Wouldn't be the first case I've seen in my line of work." He stood, slowly, pushing past the pain and walking over to some chairs. He broke off the legs With some brute force, followed by the support backing, throwing the pieces to the others. "There you go."
"...This is a club."
"No, it's the foundation of a melee weapon you can stab someone with. Just start grinding one end of these against the floor and get these sharpened to a point. Crude, but effective."
Gar picked up one of the broken chair legs, somewhat sturdy piece of hollow metal tubing.
"Sharpened...like a knife?"
"So just...rub it on the floor until it's sharp?"
"Yeah, make an edge thinner on it...the thinner it is, the sharper it'll be."
The prisoners immediately squatted down, starting to grind their improvised weapons against the metallic floor. Scratching, scraping, and the occasional screech filled the room as their weapons began to take shape. Sharpened, hollow poles. Simple. Crude. Effective? Possibly. Only one way to find out.
"How do we use these things?"
Gar held his up, looking it over. Like a knife, right?
"Just...stab? Or is there some special way you hold it?"
Rha frowned slightly, not so much at them in particular, but something he was starting to come to a realization on...He was only more fortunate than these poor drones because of his assignment. Things second nature to him are foreign to them... He shook it off. Showing them a few moves to use with the improvised weapons. "These should do until we get some real firepower. Never thought I'd be teaching drones to fight, but here I am."
"Never thought I'd get to fight like a soldier, but here we are." Gar quipped right back at him, having a little bit more confidence in what insanity they were about to attempt thanks to Rha's assistance. "...so now what?"
"We gotta get out of this room somehow."
"Make noise? Make them angry?"
"Hard to kill something that's angry."
"What other option do we have? We can worry about everything else later." Gar reasoned. "We gotta get that door open somehow."
Rha thought for a few moments then had an idea, walking over to the door and banged on it a few times. "Hey, hey, guard!"
"Shut it!"
"Where were you last night?!"
"I said shut it!"
"I know where I was, with your mom!" He didn't know what that meant, he only heard the Vortians use it.
"What did you say about my mother?!" Rha backed up clear of the door as the guard burst it open in a fury and stepped in, not seeing Rha to his left, allowing the Corporal to take his weapon and drive it straight through the side of his skull with sufficient force. He fell to the ground with a thud. Rha kneeling down to take his keycards and his sidearm and power packs for it.
"Things you learn…"
Gar and the others were barely able to act or say a word as they watched Rha dispatch the angered guard. With little effort, he drove his sharpened stick home, into his brain...and he fell over dead. No gun needed.
"Show off."
"He is the trained one here…"
"Doesn't matter." Gar observed, swallowing. "Anywhere these guys aren't armored, stab it. Keep stabbing until they stop moving….and hopefully we can work out phase two of the plan after that."
"If we make it that far."
"Not with that attitude we won't."
Rha aimed down both ends of the hall, all clear. He signaled for the others to follow as he advanced, stopping at the door to the next area. He tried one keycard, fail. Another, fail. A third, fail.
"Oi. Ya forget which keycard to use? It's the green one for this block, ya idjit."
Green keycard...success. Rha kicked open the door to a pair of them within. The drones ran after one at his desk while Rha leveled his acquired pistol at the one in the corner with a rifle and fired for headshots. He suffered some misses with his injuries but landed a few good hits to drop him.
By the time the seated one rose to the stream of Drones pouring through the door and pouncing on him, he was quickly faced with nearly a dozen different sharp implements quickly getting intimately introduced to his flesh in rapid fashion. Gar and his comrades, bellowing what could pass for war cries intermingled with their captor's howls of agony and sounds of desperation as he struggled to pull them free and off of him. His comrade was dead thanks to Rha, no backup to assist the overwhelmed.
The puncture wounds multiplied exponentially. Some were finding vital purchase, most did not. Flesh wounds. All of them bled a sickly yellow, spurting and spraying with each stab, making an absolute mess as he bellowed in agony before tripping and falling over, his cries of pain becoming gurgled until his last labored breath. Gar and those that weren't thrown free rose from their kill, wearing his blood, their hands and clothes stayed. So this is what soldiers felt like.
While they dispatched the other guard, Rha walked over and inspected the other one's weaponry. Magazine fed...though scoped, a quick check revealed it was just a simple illuminated reticle in a scope body, red easier to aim at least. He dropped the magazine, finding it full of slugs. After finding the charging handle and pulling it back slightly, he found one still chambered. "Mass drivers, old tech, still lethal." He slapped the magazine back in, grabbing the bandolier off the dead man. "Gar, heads up." Rha tossed him the rifle and the bandolier. Make sure the switch near your thumb there is on red, or the one with multiple red. Just use that red dot and aim right for the center before you pull the trigger. You need to reload, drop that magazine, throw in a fresh one from that bandolier, pull the handle back."
He looked around, finding a couple of mass driven shotguns in a weapons rack on top of that, including their sidearms and another rifle. He distributed the other weapons, showing them how to use them. At least they'd be set to go out and get more weapons now, and make their way to the others for a real mass uprising.
Gar caught the rifle, looking it over in his hands. He had seen plenty of Imperial soldiers with their weapons. He wasn't so dim to not know which end made the loud noise and was best kept away from the face. Rha's impromptu lesson filled in the rest. Take aim, squeeze the trigger, go bang. Easy, right?
"They're bound to know something's up now, we have to...do something!"
"Do what, though?"
"The others! The crews in the holding pen!"
"Gar, there are a lot of guards out there."
"So? They're not invincible. We just proved that."
"Neither are we!"
"They'll start killing them if we don't do something!"
"Precisely, Gar's right. If they're too busy shooting at us, they won't be able to kill the others now, will they? Just stick to cover."
"Cover?"
Right, these weren't soldiers. "Stay behind something solid that looks like it can hold up against bullets or plasma." He tried the exit door with the green keycard again, it worked, the door opening to another hallway. Rha seeing two ways to go. "Any of you know which way to the holding pen? I don't want to go walking right into the middle of their barracks."
"Uhhh...that way! I think…" Gar pointed. "What if we went both ways?"
"Split up? Are you nuts?!"
"This whole thing is nuts!"
"The more...noise we make, the less attention they'll pay to the others...right?" Gar looked at Rha for clarification. He was the expert after all.
"Yeah, don't make too much noise. Also not the best idea to split up. Considering I'm the only soldier here, and with a concussion, more power in numbers." He stumbled a bit as he moved forward but recovered, moving in the direction Gar mentioned. A couple of surprised pirates looked in their direction.
"How'd you get out of your pen?!"
"Uh, Borj"
"What?"
"Those look like our guns."
"SHOOT EM! SHOOT EM!"
Rha raised his pistol and started firing, aiming to keep their heads down as he moved to some crates for cover. "Well, you heard those things! You shoot them!"
Gar and the other Drones, surprised by the sudden gunfire, scrambled to either side of the hall in a mixture of excitement and terror. Those with guns wildly returned fire, their accuracy atrocious, but the quantity was a quality of its own as they had a lesson in motion about suppression. Dump enough fire on someone and they stopped shooting back.
Unfortunately, their first casualties were sustained as the putrid stench of Irken blood hit the air and a few of those with Gar now lay motionless on the deck.
"Gar, you good?!" He took a glance back quickly before looking back in the direction of the others and advanced, grabbing a shotgun off one of the dead as he moved forward. The first who dared to poke his head above cover quickly had the top half of his head blown off. As he racked the pump, the other appeared, only for his trigger to go click.
"Uh, hey, go easy, bug man."
"Nope," Rha simply shot him in the face. "That's for giving me a concussion...even if that wasn't you...I think." He huffed and threw the now empty shotgun aside and picked up one of their rifles and bandoliers. "Gar? You still with me?"
"Y-yeah. Still here...I think." He stammered. "My, uh...my rifle isn't...rifling."
"Then reload it. It's probably empty."
"Sure, reload…" he echoed, looking it over. "That's...this button, right?"
He pushed it, the magazine fell to the deck between his legs. Something happened, a start. Flipping it over, he saw the now-vacant slot. Right, magazine. Fumbling about, he procured a new one from the bandolier. He tried to insert it. No dice. Not completely numb in the brain, he flipped it over and it slid right in, locking in place.
"Okay...reloaded...right?"
"Charging handle," Rha pointed to the one on a similar rifle he just picked up off one of the dead, "Pull it back. Then you're loaded again."
Following the soldier's instructions, Gar grasped the handle-like protrusion. Pulling it back hard, he only released after it wouldn't move any further. With metal sliding across its likeness with a satisfying sound, the bolt locked forward.
"Charged...loaded? Charged or loaded? Charged and loaded?" He pondered, snapped out of his thoughts at another burst of fire from further down the hall. The alarms were raised this time. They knew something was up by now and were going to make life much harder for those that had survived.
Just what Rha expected...he was just hoping to be further along by the time this happened. "Find cover, all of you. Aim, make your shots count. Remember what I said Gar, just line up the red dot with them then shoot. You with the shotguns, just use that front sight, but wait until they get close. You have short range weapons. Everyone else...just don't get hit." He set himself up behind a nook, low enough for him to be in cover when prone but still be able to pop up and fire. "Fire on my signal. We'll really show these guys what for."
"Signal? What signal?!" Gar asked insistently as he crammed himself as tightly against the wall as possible. "We should shoot back!"
"Just shoot when I tell you to shoot, all right?! We can do this!" He looked through the sights on his rifle, seeing a large number of pirates coming down the hall. His finger rested on the trigger, taking a breath to steady himself as they entered optimal firing range. "Shotguns, keep holding! Riflemen, fire!" With that command, Rha himself started shooting, keeping his rifle on semi-auto to conserve ammo. As he fired, he muttered to himself. "Tuu leaving me here to deal with this, the dick…"
Doing as instructed, the drones-made-soldiers opened fire. Several of their captors were promptly cut down in a hail of gunfire, the others reacting quick enough to seek what sparse cover there was or spray in their general direction. Tight quarters made it difficult to maneuver and the volume of fire from both directions quickly turned the exchange into a bloodbath for both parties.
Being outnumbered, Rha and the drones were whittled down. One-by-one they continued to fall. Gar forewent reloading his own rifle, casting it aside and picking up one dropped by one of their own to keep fighting. No time to stop firing. Keep firing. Rha said to fire, he was going to fire.
"There's too many of them!" Gar cried out in desperation, his newly-appropriated weapon empty. Enemy fire kept him pinned as he slunk to the floor behind his dead friends against a structural support.
Just as all hope seemed loss, their remaining captors seemed to suffer from phantom spasms. Sharp, unnatural movements not of their own volition. From the rear to the front, they started jerking spasmodically. Falling to their knees, arms being twisted and dislocated, and...slashed throats? By the time the frontmost of their numbers realized what was happening and turned to greet them, a hail of plasma bolts from the thin air promptly cut them down.
"Clear!" Volx called out, her outline shimmering into view as their cloaking camouflage deactivated. She turned her attention to Rha and Gar's position further down the hallway-turned-warzone. She was picking up Rha's biometric scan...but his locator was in an entirely different part of the facility.
Rha poked his head up, seeing nobody at first aside from some corpses, then he saw Volx and the others uncloak. He heaved a sigh of relief and started walking over. "Lieutenant...Haxx, am I glad to see the both of you."
"Yeah, well, things wouldn't be the same without you, Captain Explosion." Haxx cracked at him, smirking
"Should be a Captain after what I went through." He huffed and looked right at Tuu, his pleasant demeanor changing to a glare. "Thanks for abandoning me, asshole. Good thing these drones were here to be useless , weren't they?"
"I didn't abandon you, genius. I went for help." He defended with a huff. "So they roughed you up a bit, so what?"
"Stow it," Volx chided him, looking back to Rha as Haxx covered their rear. "You good, Corporal?"
"He's almost naked-"
"Tuu, shut it. Now." The black-eyed Lieutenant all but growled at him, turning her attention back to the recently-freed. "Your kit. Where is it?"
"Fuck if I know, Lieutenant." He raised his hand to his head, looking at his hand, blood was starting to seep through the makeshift bandage. I woke up in a cell with these drones without any of it. I've been fighting through a pretty serious concussion and I know they split my head open."
"Crack your skull too?" Haxx asked, sounding serious for once.
"For all I know, probably? My vision's a bright white, but I can make do...I've come this far. I was going to take Gar and whoever's left and set the others free for a massive uprising."
"Gar?" Tuu questioned, looking among the remaining, blood-stained Drones at Rha's back with weapons. "Fans of yours?"
"I'm Gar," he stepped forward, swallowing nervously. "...Corporal Rha helped us. Taught us how to fight. There were more of us...but we're still here. You have to help us."
"No...we don't." Tuu responded unkindly. "You are not part of our mission, Drone."
"I'm not a Drone! Not anymore!"
Volx preemptively stepped in front of Tuu before he could even think of raising his weapon, pushing down on the barrel.
"Did...I hear you correctly?" She pursued, looking to Rha. "You...taught them?"
Rha's grip tightened when he saw Tuu try to raise his weapon, thankful Volx stepped in front of his path before he could introduce him to the butt of a rifle. "You did, Lieutenant. I taught them how to make an improvised weapon out of chair legs and been teaching them how to shoot on the go. Not too shabby for no combat experience...shame about Gar there. He seems to have gotten rather screwed in his assigning. He reminds me of a Sergeant I had before I joined up with you guys."
"Wait, wait, another one?"
"Yes, Haxx, it happened again."
"Who's doing the assigning these days and keeps messing 'em up like this? Never expected drones to do this well."
"Me neither, but here we are."
Gar looked hurriedly between Rha and his apparent allies. The other three he spoke of.
"Y-you need to help us. Help our crews! The ones in the hold!"
"Asset denial, Ma'am…" Tuu commented, never taking his eyes off of Gar. "Said so yourself."
"Den- No! You can't! There's hundreds of them!"
Rha looked right at Tuu, his voice cold as ice. "Tuu, I'm only going to tell you this once. I fully intend to help these drones. You even dare try to shoot one in the back. I will push both Haxx and Volx aside and drive a knife right into that brick in your head, because you clearly don't have a damned brain in there."
"Whoa, whoa, Rha, go easy."
"Time for easy's over, Haxx. Don't care if it kills me, I'd stop him."
"Rha, chill."
Tuu was largely unmoved with the exception of his attention leaving Gar and focusing on his squadmate's impassioned threats. A Soldier defending a Drone? Rha, of all people, risking his life for complete strangers of no strategic value whatsoever? It didn't take a genius to figure out the growing tension. Volx immediately sought to squash it.
"Corporal. Take your...squad," She carefully considered Gar and the others. "Find your kit. Tuu, fall back to base camp, prepare for extraction."
"Ma'a-"
"I just gave you an order, Sergeant." She interrupted him. "Until all hostiles are eliminated, we cannot proceed. We are not leaving classified Imperial equipment here. Haxx and I will continue sweeping for threats."
Tuu debated on speaking again, but decided against it. He left a lingering stare before turning about to go back the way they came.
"On it, Lieutenant." Was all he said before departing.
Rha only nodded before looking at the others. "Okay...they just came from that way...reload, grab whatever you can...then we can help the others on the way out."
Haxx watched as the Corporal reloaded his rifle on the move, followed by a bunch of...armed drones. That was the first time he's ever seen something like that, and it left him completely dumbfounded. "You sure he's all right to go it alone like that? I think those blows to his head must've done something...never seen anything like that out of Rha of all people...except maybe the part about putting a knife in Tuu's brain."
"Leave it," Volx warned lightly as they pressed on. "Now's not the time. We can worry about it after this facility is secure."
"Yeah...yeah you're right...though...I gotta admit, I'm impressed." He paused, considering their odds. "Good thing we showed up, huh?"
"You're not the only one…" Volx trailed off as she remained on point, weapon raised. "We'll regroup with him after the rest of these slavers are dealt with."
The scavenging crew for the freighter turned out to be low-ranking pirates, dealt with the same as the others. Slavers, pirates, scavengers, all alike were wiped away, leaving the only inhabitants of the facility alive themselves and the crews of the freighters. The next time they saw Rha was on the way back. He finally had his rifle once again, armor on, as some grateful drones changed out the saturated bandages on his head. At least the bleeding was slowing, but Rha wasn't sure that was a good thing. He stood up, slowly, using the crates for support. Gar was nearby with his borrowed helmet
"I'm ready to move."
Haxx looked him over, seeming to grimace a bit at Rha's appearance. "You look a bit pale…"
"Yeah...that's...probably blood loss."
"You sure you're fine?"
"I can survive until we get back to the ship."
Haxx looked something over quickly through his HUD, tapping on some menu buttons. "Based on Rem's timetable, we got a couple of hours until the next window opens up and she sends the shuttle back down."
Volx saw the Corporal's state of affairs.
"Rha, take a seat. Soon as we're able to extract, I want you in the infirmary on the ship."
Gar, thoroughly exhausted and slightly rattled from the whole affair that had taken place over the past few hours, looked among the three soldiers uneasily. The other prisoners had been freed, their captors dead, and now a lot of...uncertainty. Naturally, food and water were sought out. At least they still had plenty in their manifests and the ability to manufacture more if need be. No concerns there.
Volx took notice that he hung around closer to them than the others. Likely out of fear.
"...Gar, was it?"
"Y-yeah...er...yes, Ma'am."
"Thank you."
Confusion.
"For…?"
"Helping Rha escape. I doubt you...or him would still be alive if you hadn't."
"You're probably right about that...but…"
"What is it?"
"N-nothing...well...something," He swallowed his nerves with an uneasy exhale. "I...we...what do we do now? I'm no expert but we're all pretty certain we're good as dead as soon as we get the signal strength when we leave this planet...and it'd take a lot of ammunition to kill us all…"
"We're not going to hurt you." Volx assured him. "We have no reason to."
"You're...not?"
"No...and no one is going to force you to leave this planet. I...wish I could say you were free to go but like you said...you and I both know the outcome."
"Yeah…" he sighed. "So...what does that mean for us then? All of us."
There was some whispering between Haxx and Volx, probably some minor debate, but both definitely agreed that telling Vult was a must...and leaving High Command in the dark about them. It only seemed like the right thing to do. Rha didn't bother to listen in, more concerned with staying awake and not dozing off with his injuries.
"Uh, well...I mean, I guess you own the place now. Technically…" Haxx spoke up, finally. "Knowing who we work for, I know he won't forget about you."
"Us?!" Gar's voice almost broke. "What are we supposed to do? Just...stay here? Live here?"
"Yes," Volx nodded. "Allow me to put it this way. You seem to be smarter-than-average among your contemporaries, Gar...this planet, while surveyed, is to be avoided at all costs by space-faring craft due to the same reason we are all underground at the moment. It's dangerous and offers no strategic importance or value to the Empire. Just a wind-swept, barren rock with terrible surface storms. Radio communications are impossible due to the ionized atmosphere and being forced beneath many feet of solid rock."
"...meaning that so long as we stay here…" He remembered the discussion had in their jail cell. "...we'll stay alive?"
"That's right. You may not be able to leave...ever...but so long as you stay here, all of you...are free to do as you wish."
"Free? What's that mean?"
"No assignment. No orders. No superiors. No Control Brains. Only you and your fellow crewmen," Volx broke down simply. "...just in the short time we've been around you, I think I agree with my subordinate...I see leadership material in you. Your friends need someone to look up to for guidance."
"Me?! I'm just a-..." he realized what he was about to say and stopped, so well rehearsed...and an excuse at this point. "How will I get them to listen to me? What do I tell them?"
"Whatever you wish to. However transparent or cryptic you want to be. This is an anomaly among our people and…" She huffed, shaking her head realizing just how much like Vult she was beginning to sound. "...and as a commissioned officer in the Armada, I am countermanding protocol as I see fit...you and the others have enough supplies and resources to call this place home."
"Home…" Gar echoed, allowing it to sink in.
Rha cracked a smile from his seat. "See, buddy, I knew we could do this!"
Haxx walked over and gave him a friendly smack on the shoulder. "You're an absolute madman with a story for the ages, you know that?"
"Is that humility I'm hearing?"
"Don't get used to it." Haxx shot him a grin, oddly getting one right back at him. He walked over to Volx, looking to Gar, "Seriously, you did good. I never expected any of this...but, yeah, you got a place to call your own now. A little enclave of...somewhat free Irken. If only you could leave." Maybe one day...he had Turb's process in the back of his mind.
"So now what? Are you all going to leave?"
"That's the plan," Volx nodded. "Orders are orders. We've been down here longer than we'd like as it is. Have to return to our unit. Duty calls. With the exception of the locale...I do envy you now."
"Y-you do?"
"Freedom to live your life as you see fit? Absolutely."
"Home...freedom...safe...a haven...Haven! That's what I'll call this place! Haven's a good name...right?"
Volx only smiled at him, a rare, genuine smile.
"Fitting...your...citizens are in good hands. Best of luck in these future endeavors."