Retribution (The Devon Trilogy 1)

by Out of the mind

Thirty years ago, her grandfather ignited the Succession Wars. The results? Complete autonomy of Mars and the recognition of the Settlement Defense Front as a legitimate government entity. Everyone during the SDF's control was expected to do their duty against the forces of Earth. They were expected to only do their duty and generally not cause a disturbance within the Front its

7. Chapter 6

AN: Thank you guys were reading this chapter. As before there are songs that go along with it. The first one is a carry-over from the previous chapter (10 Feet Down (Feat Ruelle) by NF), and the second song is "Beat Saber" by Jaroslav Beck.

As always, I hold no ownership or claim over the songs, Call of Duty, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, or its characters-except for Devon. Enjoy!

It was a mad dash to the other side of the room and despite being the second person to enter the room, Devon was towards the back of the group. The Marines in front of her sweated every possible hiding spot and double checked to make sure the bodies were actually dead.

"Hanger secured!" Omar yelled out as he crouched. "Squad on me!"

"Dev, hustle it!" Reyes yelled from the door.

"On it!" she yelled back, as she picked up the pace and jogged it to the door. She caught the look from Omar as she met up with the group. It was mixture of relief and disgust. But she ignored him, like she always did. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the Jackals rising from their holdings below the hanger floor.

"I see Jacks with our names on 'em." Salt said, before turning to the Guardsman stationed at the door. "Let's get that door open, trooper."

"Roger, Lt." the Guardsman replied as he turned and unlocked the door before moving out of Reyes' way. Dev chuckled quietly to herself, earning a brow raise from Salt.

"This is going to be fun." she said. Reyes pushed down on the lever with almost effort and the door swung open.

"You got clearance for lunch prep?" Salt asked the guardsman as they flooded the room.

"I do, ma'am." he replied.

"Fire us up for send off."

"What's your course of action?" Omar asked Reyes as they walked to the lift.

"We're gonna board a SetDef ship and take it down." Reyes answered. "Ground phase of the operation is over, SGT. SCARs are goin' airborne. Time to earn your wings."

"You got some spine, Captain." Omar gritted.

"What are my orders, Raider?" Dev asked, surveying the jacks as Omar shouted orders for the Marines to stay put. She turned to look at him. "Jackals are twin-seaters."

"There are three Jackals out there, Lt." the Guardsman interjected. "You'll be good to engage as well."

"You're coming with, Dev." Reyes ordered.

"Affirmative." she replied, jogging to the lift.

"You think we'd leave you out of an air fight, Devon?" Salt asked as they entered.

"If it meant holding ground," Dev shot a pointed looked at Salter. "yes." As the lift began to move, Reyes paired everyone up: Ethan and Reyes; Salter and Omar. Dev he let fly solo. He knew better and it would borderline on torture if he did. She was a crazy son of a bitch, doing maneuvers that would turn stomachs. He learned that on his first flight with her. Salter faired better, took three flights for her to loose her lunch.

"Why does she get to go by herself?" Omar asked, tossing his head at Dev who had taken up position in a corner opposite of him.

"Because no one can sit through her flying." Salter chuckled. The lift came to a stop and everyone headed for their assigned jackals. Dev's was at the front and right next to Salt and Omar. She wondered if there was just a little bit of satisfaction coming from Reyes at seeing her and Omar bicker.

"Don't be too trigger happy, Devon." Reyes warned, as she climbed into the pilot's seat.

"Fuck you, Raider." she told him, throwing her middle finger over her shoulder in his direction and scrunching half of her face. Salter chuckled.

"You know she's not going to follow through, right Raider?" Salt said "She didn't obey Raines' orders."

"Never hurts to try." he replied.

"It was a waste of valuable oxygen." Dev retorted as she powered everything up. The hanger was filled with the high pitched whine of the engines as the sound bounced off the walls. The lights dimmed just before the hanger door opened to the chaos that still raged outside. "SCAR Three-One, what's your status?"

"We're getting out asses handed to us, One-Three!" Yazzie answered, almost screaming in their ears.

"Affirmative." Reyes replied. "SCARs are prepping to launch from the hanger."

"Roger, One-One." The alarms began to go off as a red light overhead blinked at regular intervals.

"Nozzles are good. Engines good." Reyes checked over the radios.

"Coast Guard's getting overrun." Omar said.

"Tigris needs air intervention." Ethan reported.

"One step at a time boys." Salter reminded. "We secure the base, then we assist Tigris." It was a nightmare outside, the air was filled with short-lived explosions, Jackals and Skelters chasing each other in a game of cat and mouse. The towers that lined the external runway in front of them, were dark and tall masses that loomed in front of the dreary backdrop of space, giving the impression that torrential storm was on the horizon and coming right for them.

"Divide and conquer won't work on this one." Dev interjected. "Our numbers are too small and their's is too big."

"Let's thin 'em out then." Salter replied. Dev looked over at Salt to see the pilot smiling like the cheshire cat. She remained impassive, knowing the expression was another way to get a rouse out of her.

"Go for launch." Reyes said. Dev didn't need to be told twice as hit the throttle hard and zipped out of the hanger.

"There she goes!" Salter laughed through the comms. Dev took on the first skelter that had the unlucky business of being in her sights. She took him out with a missile.

"The only way we're holding this port is reclaiming air superiority." Reyes said. "Let's clean this up and drive SetDef out of this airspace."

"Already on it, Raider." Dev replied as she took out another. There were no shortage of targets to pick from and they were running around like little ants after their colony was knocked over. The Skelters were desperately trying to keep their hold over the port, seeing as they had lost the ground advantage. She knew what would become of those that survived this battle-if they weren't captured and made it back to Mars. These pilots would mostly be court martialed for defecting from the battle, striped of their rank, and sent off to some place where they and their family would never be seen o heard from again. Devon would know, she had been placed on those escort runs more than a few times. Though, thankfully for her, they were rare. Devon continued to splash targets left and right, almost as if it were too easy. These Skelters weren't even putting up much of a fight.

"Let's stay on 'em." Reyes ordered. "We're pushing them back."

"They have reinforcements. Stay sharp." Salt informed.

"Two down." Reyes called out.

"That all?" Salt joked. "I'm on four."

"I see your four and raise you to seven, Fever." Dev countered, impassively as she blasted another out of the air.

"What the actual fuck, Devon?" Salt griped. Dev chuckled.

"I was the first bullet out of the barrel." she replied.

"You usually are." Salt said.

"Raider, I don't think these gents were prepared for us." she called out.

"Oh yeah?" Reyes replied. "And why do you think that, Satan?"

"Bloody hell you're right she's Satan." Omar commented, knowing that she would've heard it. Devon angled her jackals to the left to avoid her right wing from clipping one of the towers. The Skelter behind her, didn't do it in enough time and took off half of his, sending the jet into a hard barrel row into the tower to his left.

"Well, they probably thought the forces that attacked Geneva would have done their jobs." she explained. "So, they sent a couple of greenies to take the port." She caught several flashes off to her right and saw a Skelter fire out several missiles heading straight for the Jack pursing him. Thankfully, the pilot shot out his flares and was still able to continue fighting.

"Their missiles are guided. Coast Guard Jacks aren't set up for this." Reyes said. "Tigris, we need something to even playing field."

"Roger, SCAR One-One." Tigris's Nav Officer, replied. "We have a missile supply drone ready. Mark your position for delivery."

"Raider, we'll cover you while you get the drone." Salt said.

"Roger, Salt." Reyes replied. "Tigris actual, position marked."

"Affirmative, supply drone inbound." Dev keep herself in Reyes' area and did her best to deter any enemies from coming at him. The supply drone was almost the same as the runway assist drone on Ret. It had thrusters on the underside to keep it afloat and gave steering control. But, instead of another set of thrusters on its back, it had a crate of missiles on top of its arms. The arms extended outward and pushed the payload into the holdings before retracting and flying back to Tigris.

"That's cool." Dev said, looking over at Reyes. He looked back at her and gave a lopsided grin.

"You look like a kid on Christmas." he retorted before taking off to catch the nearest Skelter. Devon stay planted where she was at for a moment, confused.

"Wait." she said. "What's Christmas again?" She quickly sped off towards the nearest skelter and let loose her cannon, Salter laughing at her all the way.

"Three years on Earth and you still haven't figured out Christmas?" Salt laughed. Dev was slow to respond as she focused on the skelter. This one, was a bigger struggle to take out as the bastard jump around everywhere but her crosshairs. It didn't help that he tried to fly her into the towers a few times and sometimes the same one.

"No." she replied. "Just because I've been there for three years doesn't not mean I know everything about your ridiculous little holidays." She jerked her jackal again when he tried to fly into another tower. Though, she finally caught him when he emerged form the side. "Yes!"

"They're not ridiculous" Salt defended.

"How?" Dev retorted. "You spend wild amounts of money on gifts that won't last for very long. Its wasteful. And sometimes-its for a person that you don't even like!"

"Oh yeah?" Salt countered. "Well, what holidays does SetDef celebrate?"

"Fleet Week, Grandfather's Birthday, and the Anniversary of the Front's repurpose for autonomy." she explained.

"Why not its creation, Lieutenant?" Ethan asked, innocently. She sighed.

"Because the Front was originally create to quell off-world rebellions." she explained, tired of this conversation. "It wasn't until my grandfather took it over that it became the organization it is today." Dev could hear Omar on the other end mumbling a curse towards her.

"Actual, what's your status?" Ferran radioed in.

"Sweeping up, base is almost clear!" Reyes replied. "Few more left. Let's X'em out and go help Tigris."

"I got one!" Dev yelled as locked onto the remaining Skelter.

"And I got the other." Salter echoed. Dev weaved in and out of the tower trying to keep the locks on the skelter, but like the last one, it was a challenge. "Splash one. Dev we're waiting on you."

"Trying, Fever." she replied. "But, this one doesn't want to die." She angled her jackal up to fly above the skelter and gain speed by opening her thrusters long enough to get ahead before diving down and letting off a few missiles. She had to pull hard on the joystick to avoid colliding on the ground. She almost successful except for the underside of the jack scrapping against the ground. Devon gritted her teeth at the loud screech, something that was akin to nails running along a chalkboard. A mid-range clap of explosions burst into the air as two SDF ajaxs made the jump into their AO.

"Shit, gunship." a Guardsman cursed.

"SCARS, we got Ajaxs in the battle zone. Engage those gunships." Reyes ordered.

"It'll be easier if you to go to for the engines." Dev said. "There's less artillery and if you blow one, the entire ship goes with it."

"Rog. Dev your with me." Reyes order.

"Affirmative, Raider." she replied. "I'll hit up close."

"Rog." Dev opened her thrusters and gunned it for the nearest Ajax while Reyes and Ethan hung around just outside the gun's reach, providing covering fire. She turned her jack sideways so the cockpit window faced away from the ship and fired off several missiles. The missile hit one of the rear engines, but did little damage.

"Damn, I thought one hit would work." she said, as she swung around for another pass. "They must have added more armor."

"Keep hitting them." Reyes replied. "They can't keep taking hits forever." Devon kept bombarding the Ajax with everything she had, coming close a few times to getting hit herself. Reyes and Ethan did their best to keep artillery preoccupied on them. She focused her fire on the engines and in three more passes, the Ajax was obliterated.

"That's one down." Devon called out.

"One gunship remaining, sir." Ethan told Reyes.

"Salt, you and Dev making passes on the Gunship." Reyes ordered. "Coast Guard, Ethan, and I will draw their fire."

"Roger, Raider." Salt called in.

"Roger, One-One." the guardsmen chimed in. Dev zipped up to beside Salt and Omar's jackal and nodded before they split off to take on different parts of the rear engines. It was a tag-team effort: Dev would fire off a missile and pull back just as Salt and Omar would come in behind her and deliver their own payload. Ethan, Reyes, and the Guardsman slowly destroyed the Ajax's weapons system, having taken eighty-five percent of it offline by the time it exploded.

"Hell yeah!"

"Well done, SCARS, well done!" Omar cheered.

"Port it secured, Captain" Ethan informed.

"Affirmative. SCARs, RV for orbital launch." Reyes put out.

"Copy that, One-One." the others replied. Everyone pulled up to Reyes' position, pieces of the Ajax floating about without course. Dev pulled up beside Salt and Omar.

"Good work, Marines." Omar congratulated, as they primed for the launch. "Get a transport set, we'll link up at the Retribution."

"Copy that, Staff Sergeant." Brooks replied.

"Good luck up there, Lt." Kash said, aiming the comment at Salt.

"Ooh." Dev smiled, looking to Salt.

"Oh, shut up!" Salt yelled.

"Hey, button it up you two." Reyes ordered. Dev looked over her shoulder to Reyes with a raised eyebrow and stuck her tongue out. Salt laughed as they launched.

"Ooh, Raider, you're gonna have to discipline her when we get back to Ret." she joked. "Dev just stuck her tongue out at you." Reyes let out an audible sigh. Salt and Dev lead the formation as they climbed, the two exchanging thumbs up to each other before racing to the Moon's orbit.

"Raider, Tigris is taking port engine damage. Request immediate support." Ferran called in urgently.

"Actual, Raider is inbound to board and disable enemy warship. Stand-by." he reported in.

"What's your infil plan, Captain?" Omar asked as schematics to the Ares Vallis loaded onto their hud. SetDef destroyers were all laid out the same. It saved time on creating a new set of schematics and they would know ahead of time exactly what materials they would need and how much. The same with with the Ajaxs and carriers. The only exception to the rule was the Olympus. But, it seemed Salen was the exception to a lot of things. Three tiny blue dots flew alongside the Vallis' port side as Reyes explained the strategy: they'll bail out on the port side bow and clear out enemies on the way to the bridge where they would breech to take it and the combat systems out.

"Copy. After shutdown, we exit through the cargo bay." Omar finished.

"Affirmative." Reyes said, as an image of Tigris pulling up alongside the Ares came onto the screen, red arrows coming out its starboard and hitting Ares' port. "Tigris engages when we're clear." The briefing finished just as they came out of the launch sequence. Beyond, they could see Tigris amid debris from orbital observation stations and other ships. Devon could've sworn she saw bodies floating about too, their shuttles no doubt caught by SetDef as they departed for wherever their destination was.

"Got our Big Bandit, twelve o'clock high." Salt announced.

"Eyes on. Tigris, we're visual." Reyes radioed to Ferran.

"Copy visual. Covering fire!" she replied. Tigris' rear mounted gun swiveled to cover their rear flank as they went by. Salt stayed at the head of the group and lead them into the assault. Dev hung back behind Reyes, making sure if they were pursued, they would have to go through her first. Salt lead them through the debris field, funneling through whole portions of destroyed ship parts.

"Watch your flak!" Salt warned, as small pieces of debrief pinged off their jackals.

"You know, Boss is not going to be happy with all the dings she's going to have to buffer out these." Devon reminded.

"I'd rather have Boss be mad at me than dead." Salt retorted. As they exited the bulk of the debrief field, they caught sight of the Ares. The weapons systems did too as it shot wildly, hoping to get them.

"I see it!" Reyes said. The Coast Guardsman in the jackal flipped into Dev's one o'clock view before being obliterated. A large chunk, the wing most likely, shot past her cockpit, tearing her jack like cool butter.

"Whoa!" she yelp as she tried to avoid other pieces.

"Coast Guard jack is down!" Reyes yelled. Their jackals buffeting around the closer they got to the Ares as its smaller cannons tried to pick them off.

"Drop zone's coming up!" Omar announced, as they pulled jackals to skim the top of the ship.

"Boost out in three, two, one. Go, go, go!" Salt yelled. The three of them turned the noses to point towards the ship as the cockpit windows opened and they pushed themselves out. "One-Two is away!"

"One-one, away!" Reyes reported in. Dev grabbed her NV4 from her rear holster as she pushed herself harshly out of the seat.

"One-Three, away!" she chimed in. The space around them was filled with cacophonous cannon fire as the Ares' multiples turrets and missiles fired at their jacks and warships.

"Bridge dead ahead, sir!" Ethan called out. They hadn't bailed out too far from the bridge, but they were already facing heavy resistance as they floated to cover. Tangos began to flood out of just every opening there was

"Rog, let's get there!" Devon used her grappling hook to get her to cover quicker as the bastards took every chance they could to gain a shot on her. When she peaked out from cover, her HUD would track each enemy with a orange box. She grateful for the update the techs dd before all this shit went down, their asses would be in deeper trouble than it already were. The SDF troopers were less coordinated as they let the zero gravity move them. She could see the advantage, because they moved around so much, they were a harder target to track and thus harder to fire on. But the draw was they were never behind cover and in the end, that drawback costed them their lives. They leap frogged it like in Geneva, moving up piece by piece to clear everything out the section out. It was slower than what it usually was as they took fire Skelter's making passes over them. Reyes called for Tigris to suppress them and the destroyer did the best she could. Devon caught movement to her left and saw a tango floating up from one of the opens. She had begun to raise her rifle to fire at him when she saw the grappling hook. She aimed at the soldier and used it to pull him towards her. Once she had him, she gripped the edge of his visor and it ripped off, pushing him away to suffocate to death.

"Now we're talking!" Salt cheered behind her and used the move on a soldier close to her. They continued to their movements to the bridge, taking out tangos left and right. Reyes used his grappling hook as well. But instead of ripping the protective mask off, he activated a frag grenade attached to the unlucky soul's rig before pushing him away. The soldier vanished in a short lived explosion of fire and blood. Salt made it to the bridge first followed by Omar and Ethan. Reyes and Devon brought up the rear. Salt and Omar took up a position on the starboard side of the bridge while Ethan and Reyes took the port. Reyes had looked over his shoulder to Dev and motioned for her to follow him. She was grateful, having avoided confrontation with the Staff Sergeant.

"Their blast shield are up."

'Speak of the devil.' Dev thought.

"I'll short circuit them." Ethan called out. Reyes readied himself with a blast charge as he hacked into the Ares' computers The shields suddenly lowered, revealing the entire bridge in front of them. Some of the SetDef bridge members scrambled to get away from the windows as they saw Reyes place the charge and activate it. At the Captain's console she could see the ship's commander, Bradley Fillion, yelling to the others. She had only met him a handful of times, but knew enough know. Though, she had been in the business of knowing information. The charge blew the window out, sucking shards of glass and people into icy space. Once the entry was clear they moved in. She caught of glimpse of Fillion struggling to catch his breath as he flared about mid-air, before his body went limp from asphyxia. Life support systems kicked in the instant the bridge lost pressure and put up oxygen from the vents overhead.

"Force in. Let's go!" Reyes yelled. "Staff Sergeant cover the entrance. Ethan, shut down primary weapons. Dev, Salt, scope the windows."

"Aye sir." Ethan and Dev said simultaneously. Dev took up a position at the window she had entered and Salt with her window. She struggled to keep herself from floating out, bracing her feet against the adjacent window and lightly pushing off. She hadn't noticed that Ethan had reneged gravity until she almost fell flat on her ass. She looked over her shoulder to the bot and glared at him.

"Warning next time!" she hissed. Ethan turned his head sideways.

"Sorry, Lieutenant." he apologized.

"Oh, tough it up, Martian." Omar chided.

"Fuck off, pillock." Dev shot back.

"Enough." Reyes said firmly, shooting looks between the two.

"It ain't gonna happen, Raider." Salt laughed as she walked up to Ethan. Reyes merely shook his head and went for Fillion's ID card. Dev was about to pass the man as Reyes went for the card when Fillion sprang back to life. It was a struggle as Fillion enclosed his hands around Reyes' throat, madness and murder showing brightly in his eyes. Devon was the closest to react as she unsheathed her knife and plunged it into Fillion's jugular. When she withdrew it, she and Reyes were sprayed with arterial blood. creating irregular patterns across their visors. Fillion's hand slacked as his blood and resolve quickly drained from his body and began a messy pool on the floor in front of him.

"Captain are you alright?" Ethan asked, as he came up beside him. Reyes nodded still in shock.

"I'm good." he breathed. "Thanks, Dev." She glanced up at him as she put her knife back into the sheath, acknowledging the thanks. She tossed her head to the lift as if to say to get a move on. Reyes gave a small nod as went for Fillion's ID card again. Thankfully, he didn't spring to life again. She hung back for a bit, a shine catching her eye. It was Fillion's cross. She yanked it from his neck without a second thought, snapping the thin metal chain and stuffed into a pocket on her uniform. "Tigris Actual, primary weapons are down. Moving to secondary."

"Roger that." Ferran replied, as Omar opened the elevator's door. He and Reyes were the first down, followed by Salt and Dev. It would've been Ethan, but he was being a "gentlemen" by motioning for her to go first. Dev shot him a suspicious look but went anyways. By the time the three were at the bottom, Omar already had the door open and was scouting well ahead. The onboard announcer was squawking over the speakers nearby about them being onboard. They were close enough to the main hall that Dev could hear the heavy footfalls of the soldiers as they ran to their stations. Omar lead them down to the end of the maintenance hall, taking a left and coming to a ladder that lead down to another service tunnel.

"Combat control's through here." Ethan reported as they came upon a mesh door.

"Roger, get it open." Reyes said, nodding to Omar. The Staff Sergeant opened the doors as quietly as the squeaky wheels would allow. Devon held her breath, waiting for gunfire to spring up from below. But, they never heard it and so the group continued. They came out onto an ledge that overlooked a portion of the room. She had chuckle silently to herself and shake her head. These guys were getting denser and denser. She couldn't figure out how they hadn't been spotted as Reyes took out a frag grenade. He looked up and down the row at all of them and nodded before tosses it and letting chaos rain down.

To say the soldiers were surprised was an understatement. Most of the poor bastards were caught in the frag's damage area and those that went went still with shock. But that split second freeze cost them their lives as they Dev and Omar open fired on them. It was the quickest ambush she had ever done, the bullets only went way and none of them were hurt.

"All clear!" Omar called out as they swept the room for any surprised.

"Go to work, Ethan. Shut down secondary weapons." Reyes ordered.

"Check." he bot responded as took the strides to the control panel. He looked behind him to Reyes. "CO's card opens the board, Captain."

"Right." Reyes said as moved quickly to the other side. Dev caught the uneasiness in his voice and hesitation in steps and wondered for a moment if he was having trouble getting use to be called Captain or the shock of what happened earlier in Geneva. Either way, it was bad sign to Dev. The two worked diligently to get everything they could think of as a threat turned off. "Weapons are locked off. Let's go!"

"Sir!" Ethan called out, looking at the board in the middle of the consoles. "I found something else." The screen changed from the load out of the Ares to a holographic projection of the entire Sol System. Spread out across the map were enemy positions.

"Looks like enemy warship positions." Reyes said.

"Dev, did you know about this?" Salt asked, looking from the board to Dev. She shook her head.

"Negative. It might be a new or wartime protocol." she informed, studying the screen.

"Can you pull it?" Reyes asked as he looked across to Ethan.

"Already downloaded, sir." the bot informed, already moving away from the console.

"Solid. Let's go!" Reyes ordered. "Tigris Actual, weapons are down, moving to exfil." The dour jogged with the door where Omar stood guard and was down the corridor towards the Mess Hall. It was at the intersection that they ran into trouble when two SetDef soldiers rushed him. Devon saw Omar struggling with the one and sprinted to him. She jumped on the soldiers back and got above him, gripping his chin and gave it a hard jerk to the side. The soldier's body dropped to the floor like a weight had been tied to him. When she turned around, she saw Ethan had kicked the other guy through the mess hall window. Omar walked over to the body and gave a curt nod.

"Good work, Ethan." the Staff Sergeant said.

"Bravo Zulu, Sergeant." the bot replied. Devon glared at him as he walked away from her.

"Yeah, you're welcome, too." she grumbled. Reyes gave her a sympathetic look and tossed his head down the hall.

"SCAR team, be advised, Ares is spooling to jump form the combat zone." Ferran warned. "Get your team off that ship now, Captain."

"How much time do we got?" Reyes asked, as they moved through the dark hall cautiously. They didn't want to be jumped like before and keep their eyes and ears peeled, periodically jumping as sparks exploded from exposed wiring. The door leading into the other hall was eery and made Dev's nerves jumped as it moved to close but stoped and moved back.

"Three minutes max!" Ferran said.

"Ah, fucking hell." Dev cursed, shaking her head. "We'll have to double time it if we went to get out of here with minor dings." They were met with gunfire as a patrol met them at the end of the hall. Dev pushed herself to the wall, though barely touching it, and returned fire. Ahead, the others did the same but kept moving.

"Tigris Actual, go weapons free." Reyes said.

"Roger." she replied. "Danger close. Danger close." Reyes spurred everyone on as the timer showed up in the HUD.

"Reyes!" Devon yelled. "Observation room to the hanger is going to be dead ahead. Likely where the bulk of the enemy is going to be. Advise to toss a couple of frags!"

"Roger, Dev." Reyes yelled back. They rounded the bend in the hall and was met with gunfire, sending everyone scrambling for cover. But, Reyes merely lift the muzzle of his rifle and put two rounds in the tango's chest before moving on. They reached the Observation's room door and stacked up. Dev was behind Reyes and handed him two frags. He nodded a thanks as he took the grenades and slowly opened the door. He opened it just enough to get the grenade through before quickly shutting it. On the other side, they heard the surprised yells of the men as the grenade went out and killed them. Reyes kicked the door open and they flooded the room. Devon raced to the front of the room and looked frantically around the hanger for the cargo bay door's locking mechanism.

"There!" she yelled, pointed to a smaller room across the cargo bay. "Across the room!" Reyes jogged up beside and followed her line of sight, seeing what she was pointing to.

"Alright let's get a move-one!" Reyes yelled. Dev wheeled back and fell ass over head as a C12 fired at the room's window.

"Actual, the Ares jump is imminent." Ferran warned. "We can't hold back any longer!"

"They've been holding back?" Salt joked.

"You think they weren't, Salt?" Devon asked, as she stacked up behind her.

"Let's push to the control room. Move out!" Reyes ordered, nodding to Devon. She nodded back and punched the door's switch. The door opened and they began taking fire.

"Think we got their attention!" Salt yelled, as she and Dev took up position along the railing. Devon popped up and return fire as they shuffled along the walkway, careful not to step on each other's toes or knock on another down.

"I think that's an understatement, Lieutenant." Ethan chirped. Dev looked to her right when she heard a burst of gunfire and saw that Reyes was pinned down behind one of the crates. "Salt cover me." she alerted, as she took out an anti-gravity grenade and chucked it. The grenade exploded in a ring of electric blue that lifted the soldiers up in the air. They flailing their arms as they were lifted by the seemingly invisible force. It was actually quite funny, watching as grown men who had been train from a young age to kill, move about frantically like a distressed fish. But, the entertainment ended Devon put a bullet in their heads and their bodies fell to the floor. Salt looked her shoulder and hummed.

"Never knew they bounced when they fell." she commented. Dev looked over her shoulder with a sly smile.

"It was more of a flop than a bounce." she retorted but Salt shrugged her shoulders.

"Still funny either way." she said. Devon rolled her eyes as she moved from behind the railing. Her eyes flickered to the timer as they moved forward. 1:30. Shit, they needed to pick up the pace. A bullet ricocheted off the railing next to her as a trooper squared down behind at pillar at two o'clock and fired at her. Devon never broke stride as she took out the tango.

"Minute and thirty!" Reyes yelled out. Devon took cover behind a crate when the fire began to concentrate on her. She peaked around to gauge how to take them out when a round landed near her head. She jumped back to cover and cursed.

"Sniper!" she yelled out. The others scrambled for cover but kept firing.

"Its her!" one of the soldiers shouted. Devon cursed, they knew her.

"Reyes, things are about to get dicey for me in a second." she said over the radio. "I might need back-up."

"Too much for you to handle, SetDeffie?" Omar sneered.

"Ah, can it you nutter!" she groaned as she sank lower behind the crate as more bullets rained down. "They bloody well know who I am. The damned council probably put my photo out before the invasion."

"I'll cover you, Dev." Reyes said.

"Roger." she replied. "And SetDeffie? Where'd you pull that one out? Your mum's arse?"

"You can't fault the Staff Sergeant for changing up the name calling." Salter quipped.

"He doesn't get to be a part of that game." Devon shot back. "That's between you and I."

"You don't like an extra person in the game, Dev?" Salt asked. Devon shook her head.

"I prefer to keep it between the two of us." she replied. Salt laughed.

"Dev, the sniper's out." Reyes announced. "You should be good." Devon peaked over the edge for a quick glance and scrambled out from her spot.

"Affirmative!" she replied, returning fire and glancing every other bullet at the timer. 1:00. Fuck. They were going to have to push harder if they wanted to make out in time. "Reyes, we gotta go! Less than a minute!"

"Let's go, let's go!" Everyone sprang up from their covers and pushed forward, not daring to stop when the fight heated up. They finally made it at the forty second mark, though were still taking heavy fire from a well fortified C12. "Depressurizing! Hold on!" Devon ran inside the control room and hung onto the edge of one of the consoles as Reyes pressed the lock release and pulled the lever down. The doors jerked open, causing a suction that pulled everything towards it. Crates and personnel were pulled back like an invisible string was attached to them and someone outside had tugged on it. Both Reyes and Devon were nearly pulled out as the bay loss gravity and oxygen. They didn't let go of their anchors until the door was nearly full.

"It's open, let's go!" Omar yelled, as he let go a there stair's railing and jetted to their exit.

"Tigris, we need birds!" Reyes said, letting go of the bay door controls and taking out his Volk. Overhead, the alarms began to echo throughout the hold. It was a particular sound she hated, more than the sound of her brother's snobbish voice. Whenever they did military exercises, the damn things would go off, giving her a pounding headache later.

"Copy, sending Jackals." Ferran replied. Through the absence of air, Dev could still hear rifles being firing. She looked across to the other side and found a few of the buggers still kicking.

"I'll cover you!" Dev shouted, as she brought her sight up and fired.

"Don't be too long, Dev!" Reyes shouted back. It was a weird ballet of sorts as she tried to move to avoid being hit but still enough to take the shot. A bullet, no matter how good the gun was, didn't travel very far when there was no gravity. The absence reduce the range and sometimes even the efficiency of the wound. She kept track of the others as they floated past her and went external, firing back at anyone who dared to target them. "Devon, come on! We're almost to our jacks!"

"Roger!" she responded, stashing the rifles and turned head over ass towards the lock. She could see her jackal just out of view of lock as she floated in. She looked at the timer again. It would be cutting it close, even for her. She pushed her pack to the limits and nearly collided head first into the bird, but stopped just short and climbed in. "I'm in!"

"Set. Turn and burn!" Reyes ordered. Dev quickly switched on all of the jet's guidance systems and jerked away from the Ares' hull just as Reyes gave Ferran to green-light to fire. "Tigris, SCARs are clear!" It was a sight when they managed to pull back some distance. All of Tigris' cannons are giving it her all as she unleashed her fire into the Ares' port side even as it tried to pull away for the jump.

"Copy clear!" she responded. "Engaging. Weapons loose!" It didn't take long for Ares' to explode in massive fireball. The shockwave was enough to push their jackals farther out. Devon had to wrestle with the with the joystick just to keep from going into a barrel roll and loosing control.

"Hell yeah!" Salt cheered as she pulled her jack towards Retribution's runway.

"Good effect on target!" Omar said, jumping on the minuscule celebration.

"We're going to have to be a hell of lot farther from the Olympus when it goes out." Devon commented.

"Naw, I think the Security Council will want to put it our arsenal." Salt mentioned.

"I don't want that thing in anyone's arsenal." she shot back, thinking to herself all the while. "I'll hang back while you land."

"Roger, Dev." Reyes replied. She kept her position at Tigris' rear, already absorbed in her thoughts as she watched Reyes and Salt's Jackals land. It was a bad habit, particularly after a battle and would borderline on a medical condition that could sideline her. Sometimes, she could keep it in check and even hide it away. Others times were harder, especially if there was loss involved. She inwardly laughed at herself as she thought about how soft she was becoming around the edges since defecting to Earth. These thoughts never infiltrated her mind before then and wondered if it was because she away from the overbearing authority of her commanders and family or if it was just the effect Earth had on her.

"SCAR One-Three you are clear for landing on runway one." the Tower Mini-Boss informed over the radio. Devon sighed.

"Roger, Tower." she replied as she steered her jackal for the runways.