Chapter Thirteen

Kabier woke earlier than she expected, and couldn't get back to sleep. Instead of persisting, she slowly got out of bed and armored up, after which she checked her weapon. Her AK50M8 was still in pristine condition – surprising, considering how much it had been through. She walked out of the room, intent on heading down to the armory Kyle had installed beneath the house, when she ran promptly into Elenwen. She was fully-dressed in a green-colored suit of MASRA SOPIS armor.

"I see you have your armor figured out," Kabier commented.

"Had one of the troopers show me," Elenwen admitted. "I was about to head down to the armory, grab a weapon."

"Any idea what you're gonna get?" Kabier asked.

"Considering it's just you, Faasnu and I against gods-only-know how many Dominion and Necromyan troops," Elenwen replied, "I feel I'll need something along the lines of what you have – a weapon with... how would Faasnu say it? An integrated Sound Suppressor?"

"Then you'll want to have a look at the RX Kalashnikov or RX Hybrid Rifles – a number of them have integrated suppressors," Kabier suggested. She and Elenwen headed down into the armory, where Elenwen got a good look at the weapons Faasnu stored there. One rifle in particular caught Elenwen's eye; it had a bullpup design, an integrated suppressor, an integrated, independently-firing Kadgeron pulse disruptor, a mounted, toggling laser sight, and a variable-zoom ACOG.

Elenwen picked up the weapon and held it as Kabier said, "Ah – the RX Hybrid H6M2. Good choice. It fires 7.62x45mm Titanium-tungsten AP rounds."

Elenwen picked up a magazine and loaded it in the receiver, cocking the weapon as Faasnu came down into the Armory. He was dressed in full armor and had his H3M2 in his arms.

"Thought I'd find you two down here," he said as he stocked up on ammo. "Figured out how to get the armor on, did you?"

"As I told Kabier," Elenwen answered, "I had one of the troopers show me."

"That's fine," Faasnu said. "It took me a week to figure out how to get my armor on first time I used MASRA SOPIS Mk IX suits."

"It has an energy shield that protects me from damage, yes?" Elenwen asked.

"Among a number of other features," Faasnu affirmed.

Kabier stocked up on ammo herself, and said, "We're burning daylight, here – we have to get to Morrowind soon, before the Dominion learn we know of their listening post there and decide to move it."

"She's right," Elenwen admitted. "Where's the transport?"

"Waiting for us on the pad, so let's get going," Faasnu replied. The armored trio made for the landing pad outside the city, boarded the transport, and were off to Morrowind...

It was well into the afternoon when the drop ship touched down on Morrowind soil. Faasnu, Elenwen and Kabier got off as the pilot said, "Sorry we can't get you any closer – we wouldn't want to risk the enemy knowing you're coming, would we?"

"We'll contact you once we have the enemy listening post neutralized," Faasnu responded.

"Affirmative," the pilot stated, and the drop ship lifted off, vanishing into the sky.

"Well... we're on our own, now," Kabier said.

"We'll be fine," Faasnu assured her. "Now come on; we've got to get to Tear."

"Don't you think we should wait until nightfall before we assault Tear?" Elenwen inquired.

"If my time is right, we should hit Tear right at nightfall," Faasnu responded. "We'll activate PCDs and slip inside the perimeter, take out whatever guards stand in our way, sabotage the listening post, and high-tail it out of here."

"Then let's not waste time chit-chatting here," Kabier suggested.

The team moved through the grasslands of strange plant life and stranger animals. Surprisingly, none of them made a move against Faasnu, Kabier or Elenwen.

"Tell me something, Faasnu," Elenwen requested, "What's the dragon-shifter home world like?"

"It's a beautiful place," Faasnu answered. "Not at all unlike this world – the only real city on Dragon'taan is Draco City. There are other small towns, all of which have a certain purpose as to why they were set up where they were. I, myself was born in one of those towns – a quiet little suburb called-"

"Quiet," Kabier whispered. Faasnu looked and saw it – a fire team of Luranni Marines. Faasnu, Kabier and Elenwen quickly activated their PCDs, vanishing from sight. To further conceal their presence, they took cover near some bushes. The three marines chattered in their native tongue, complaining about the day and the hot Morrowind weather, wishing for some action until they passed out of earshot.

"That was close," Kabier whispered.

"The enemy presence in Morrowind must be more extensive than we thought," Faasnu said. "We must be careful not to attract attention."

"I thought that the enemy presence in Morrowind had been destroyed," Elenwen commented.

"Apparently not," Kabier said.

Faasnu, Kabier and Elenwen resumed course for Tear, keeping their PCDs active and avoiding patrols as they went along...

It was well into nighttime when Faasnu, Kabier and Elenwen reached Tear. As expected, Necromyan and Dominion forces were crawling all over the abandoned city.

"Holy shit," Kabier commented. "That's a pretty heavy defense force for a listening post."

"Yeah," Faasnu agreed. "Makes me wonder what they're up to down there."

"You think they know we're here?" Elenwen asked.

"If they did, I think we'd be hearing about it by now," Faasnu replied. "Still – we need to get down there, sabotage the listening post."

"How are we to sabotage the post with so many troops down there?" Elenwen queried.

"We'll have to thin their numbers somehow without-" Faasnu began. He was interrupted midsentence when an explosion came somewhere to the northwest, and the base alarm went off. The reason was plain to see.

An attack force of Dunmer elves were assaulting the Dominion and Necromyan positions, and as they did, troops drew away from their posts in the listening post to fight their adversaries. The listening post was, more or less, undefended.

"That was convenient," Kabier commented.

"The Dunmer down there are buying us an opportunity we can't afford to waste," Faasnu said. "Let's move – PCDs on."

Faasnu, Kabier and Elenwen vanished in their PCD cloaking fields, and headed down into the listening post. They began to set high-grade explosives on important structures – armories, supply points, communication equipment, everything. It was as they were making their way into the listening post in the base that Kabier noticed something.

"Faasnu – see the wires?" she asked.

"Yeah," Faasnu answered. "They run throughout the entire base."

"They've got the entire place rigged to blow," Elenwen surmised, "We don't have much time."

Faasnu, Kabier and Elenwen entered the listening post building, and immediately after they entered, the doors shut and locked.

"Shit!" Kabier cursed. "A trap!"

"Traps work both ways, babe," Faasnu said. "Watch this." Faasnu gathered his breath, and shouted, "Fus... RO DAH!"

The windows all shattered simultaneously, allowing Faasnu, Kabier and Elenwen a portal of escape. Before they did, however, they shot out every console in the room. An alarm blared afterward, and a new line of information appeared on Faasnu's HUD.

"Dammit!" he exclaimed. "They've armed the explosives throughout the base! We have three minutes to get the hell out of here!"

The team leapt out one of the shattered windows, and immediately came under fire from Luranni marines. Faasnu, Kabier and Elenwen immediately took cover and returned fire.

"This isn't good," Kabier commented, "They've got us pinned down."

"Faasnu," Elenwen yelled over the gunfire, pausing to shoot a Dominion soldier that wandered too close, "Any bright ideas?"

Faasnu didn't answer directly, instead shouting into the sky, "Od-ah-viing!" Almost immediately afterward, the crimson-scaled Odahviing came roaring in, seemingly from nowhere. He breathed a breath of fire on the enemy troops. The Necromyan and Dominion troops scattered like rats.

"You called?" Odahviing asked with a smile only a dragon was capable of.

"No time for jokes, old friend!" Faasnu said as he, Kabier and Elenwen jumped onto Odahviing's back, "This place is about to blow!"

"Can you get us out of here in thirty seconds?" Kabier asked.

"Try and stop me!" Odahviing answered as he took to the sky. He roared, and vanished into the nighttime sky, and no one looked back when the explosives in the listening post, both set by Faasnu and his team and set by the enemy, detonated and buried the entire base in a pile of rubble...