Author's Notes: Before I start this chapter, let me apologize to every science fiction work I have ever read/watched/played. Something feels eerily ripped off at this point, but I don't know what. That's a good thing, right?
Enjoy.
Escape and Evade
Tyler watched as the attacking raindrops pattered on the car window, sliding down at the merciless hands of gravity, but sometimes merging with others to form a much more resilient defense mechanism against falling. Recently, him and Agent Rotte had gone over basic concepts and procedures for the operation, including identity, orientation, and goals.
To catch Warlord Freeman, they needed to follow a plan; which involved inciting opposing factions against the aggressor in order to neutralize him. Tyler had to change everything; his clothes, his gun, even his name, today would be the first day of the operation, and he couldn't wait.
"So who are these… friends we'll be taking off with?" The former detective asked.
"Just a few smugglers who are going to lead us to our destination. They're not exactly first-class, but at the same time, there's nothing we can take that would be less suspicious. It's notoriously difficult to get where they're going without a certain amount of trust; fortunately, I've been easing into their scope for the past month, they'll be familiar of me and by extension, complacent of you." Agent Rotte said intrepidly.
"Right, and where exactly are they going to be taking us?"
"If I told you everything you might act suspicious. The less you know the less potential you have to mess things up."
That answer only confused the lupine, but in his world of intuition and planning, he knew that deep schemes sometimes were driven by less than obvious methods into their eventual molds.
"You are just one of my acquaintances, ready to get away from Corneria and join one the many warring bands in the disputed sectors." Agent Rotte spoke as if he had developed an entire lifetime for Tyler to fill. "Your EOD training and former military experience is an asset held in high regard among rogue militias and private contractors alike; furthermore, you've severed all connections from the Cornerian forces ever since you were discharged a few years ago and now you're clean."
"Sounds about right…" Tyler noted. "almost too right."
"We need to set a balance between truth and fiction. Whatever comes naturally along with your experiences and at the same time fits an artificial narrative we create is usually what we go with. If it's already built in your subconscious, it's easier to become that than trying to become someone else completely."
Tyler nodded. "Makes sense." He not only sounded but looked tired. "I just want to get this whole operation started, ever since Doles got off the planet I…" He sank into a yawn.
"You've been eager to chase him down?"
"Yeah… that. Let me make one thing clear about this Weiler, I also have my reasons for taking him down. I will follow orders and what not, but remember I'm still trying to solve a murder here."
"As long as it doesn't conflict with anything, do what you want."
Tyler looked outside of his window once more to see the distant city start to fade. He knew that he may never again see that beautiful city, however expensive it was to live there. Outside of the denser commercial area in the center was the sensibly packed residential sections where most of the middle class citizens resided. Tyler was lucky enough to live in one of the many high rise buildings which formed a web of demand amongst potential buyers looking to escape mediocrity.
The boundaries of the main city was widely accepted to be the section where the mountainous began to ascend, forming a canyon-like roadway which an endless stream of traffic took no delay in filling.
"You see that sign up there?" Agent Rotte pointed to a slightly inconspicuous roadside marker on the top of a proceeding ridge. The statue next to it looked to be of some importance, but the lupine knew not why.
"Yeah, what about it?" Tyler asked.
"That memorial marks the spot where the city officially began. That same ridge was where an ambitious pack crossed over long ago to find an unsettled land to call their home. They journeyed through bitter winter snows, torrential rain, weaved past constant war, and climbed these very mountains to reach this point. And today, their settlement is still here, modernized for all of the Lylat to see."
The small memorial passed from sight.
"Huh… never heard of that story… " A wandering thought flew inside the wolf's mind. "do you think… I might be related to the original settlers?"
"Could be…" Agent Rotte speculated. "Anything's possible."
The drive away from the main city took about an hour. At this point, they were far enough from most passive signs of civilization, and the rain had mostly passed.
"We're almost there. A couple more miles and we'll be at the spot." Agent Rotte said as he began to pull into a nearby service station.
"wh- why are we stopping now?" Tyler shifted in his seat and swerved his head around.
"Because, it would be very strange if we pulled up to the meeting site in a vehicle." Agent Rotte answered, smiling at the lupine and hoping he understood the implication. The government vehicle pulled into an open garage at the back of the station. "There will be a change of clothes and some other equipment waiting for us in the closet."
"You've sure planned this part out."
"And after that, we'll continue on our way… without the car."
"You mean?"
"Yep… we're walking."
~X~X~X~X~X~
"You know, I don't mind walking, but this is a bit of a hike." Tyler said, panting intermittently after crossing another brook and stepping over a large boulder.
"Relax O'Donnell, it's not like you're the first one. Besides, it'll lower our suspicions and make us look really desperate. This is supposed to be an unauthorized launch, we wouldn't want to leave a bread crumb behind; which is exactly why you need to act like you're worried about 'them' being on your tail."
"Alright Wyatt." Tyler replied, using the newly accepted cover name instead of the agent's real one.
"No, you're not saying it right. You should say it with more respect, with more… fervor."
"Sure thing Wyatt."
"Better… for the record, you should act real scared around me, pander to every whim, you know. That'll be convincing right? And as long as they see me as alpha, you won't have to involve yourself too much at first."
Tyler said nothing.
"Excellent, you're doing a good job already." Agent Rotte smiled with content. "Keep it up."
Another ridge of untouched land later and the two saw below them their destination. "Hold on, there it is." Agent Rotte pointed to the small spaceship grounded in the flat clearing. Next to the ship, a couple of figures could be seen loading crates and checking the exterior for anything strange.
"That? That's our ride? Are you sure it can even go airborne?" Tyler wondered.
The ship itself was quite ugly. Basically the general idea of the design was three long lumps, with the one in the center residing above the ones beside it.
"They sure think it can." Agent Rotte scanned the area. "C'mon, let's get down to meet 'em."
The ship's crew noticed the two agents walking down the hill when they got to about the halfway mark. They waved to make sure it was who they were expecting to meet them.
When they reached the bottom, Tyler nervously stood two steps behind and one to the right of his comrade, unsure how to approach the new figures.
Waiting for them was an impatient blue jay, who despite looking like he had been waiting for days; spoke in a laid back manner. "I told you to be here earlier, what was the hold up?"
Agent Rotte initiated a defensive gesture. "We couldn't draw attention to ourselves by getting here in style. That's why we had to spend the night in the backcountry."
"Yeah, I could tell from the dirt on your clothes, did you guys get something to eat?"
"There were some berries we munched on a few miles back, but we haven't eaten anything else." The canine answered.
The blue jay rolled his eyes. "There are some ration bars inside if you want them. It seems my crew won't eat anything that doesn't come out of a restaurant." The bird's last words were spoken louder so that everyone nearby could hear.
The loud sound of metal slamming into metal rang through everyone's ears. "What the hell… Wyatt, could you go lend butterfingers a hand? It seems he has trouble inserting a simple capacitator ring."
"Alright… Thanks again Alex…" With that, Agent Rotte walked off towards the nearby ship to aid the struggling ocelot.
Tyler now stood alone and silent. The blue jay gave him a strange look before awkwardly pacing around him in a circle not once, but twice, and then headed back to where he began to face him directly. "So… we haven't met." He noted, folding his feathered arms. "I'm Alex, but you can me X if you want."
"Susi… I'm Susi." The lupine acknowledged.
"Well Susi, nice name. So what brings you to Avaluuk station?"
"Is that where we're going? I mean… Wyatt didn't tell me much about our destination… I just want to get the hell off of Corneria."
Alex cackled briefly. "You've never heard of Avaluuk? Well that's understandable… I mean it's not the biggest post past the line, but it's full of everything you'd expect; mercenaries, pirates, whatever. But nobody sets foot onto the station without a purpose, that's the fastest way to wake up in a frozen bathtub missing a kidney." He neared closer to the lupine. "Do you know what it's like to have a replacement organ? It's like having to piss orange soda." He said in an eerily flow.
"O…k, I have my own reasons, I don't plan on losing anything."
"Come on, you owe me this. I'm giving you a special opportunity by flying you over there and your friend's paying for it not you; the least you could do is tell me why."
Tyler looked back at the blue jay, this time he looked really annoyed. "I just want to get away."
"Fair enough." Alex turned and began to walk away. "Be on board in twenty minutes."
Tyler looked up at the wide Cornerian sky. How huge, how deep it looked. He never had the time to see everything he wanted on this planet, never cared to go to parties, or see what the city had to offer. Tyler only longed for it now, as he was preparing to leave it all. His heart rate rose as he realized once more why he was doing this. It was Vixy, the murder; such a simple act had led to this. And now, Tyler was ready to chase the guilty party all across the Lylat. For a while, the lupine contemplated his life, from the Fichina incident to his EOD days up until his eventual settling on Corneria, it felt like a tight set of events had led him to this moment with some sort of purpose. His ears twitched at the sound of him being called inside the ship.
~X~X~X~X~X~
Tyler sat quietly in the worn seat, he tried not to listen too much to the constant arguing in the cockpit, but his efforts were in absolute vain. He had tried to find some sort of distraction, but the small ship was tightly spaced and uncomfortable to explore; the design was very reminiscent to an older ship design, when wide spaces were considered impractical. His seat was one of six in the central arrangement, they were positioned in two side by side columns the three seats positioned vertically. Naturally, he got the back.
"I told you, this girl's as stable as any ship in the Lylat!" Said Alex to one of the crew members whom the lupine had not yet officially come to know. "And just like any girl, you gotta know where to touch to get her started."
"You kidding? The guy who sold you this piece of junk said he almost gave it away as a bomb!" The frustrated figure hid away from identification under a tight pressure suit.
"Don't worry, don't worry! When we get to Avaluuk, this will all be sorted out." The blue jay calmly replied, attempting to extinguish the tense situation. "I'll find a good mechanic, and he'll do a good job on this ship, I'm sure."
"Oh you will? Isn't that what you said last time we went there? What makes it different now? Don't worry; I'm sure someone will be able to fix it when we get there, just like the other fifty rejections we've faced in the past!" Tyler could tell by the tone of the suited individual that he was ready to fight rather than take off.
"Relax, relax, now it's different, we've got the money." Alex turned only briefly towards the two agents. "Engineers can fix a lot of things with the right money."
"But they still can't fix stupid." The unknown Lylatian stumbled off towards the back of the ship, which honestly was not too far away since the ship itself was quite small. "I'll check to see if it's ready to go, in the meantime, make sure we're on time with the fake launch because if we're caught by the CAG, it'll be your fault." He said, alluding to the ever watchful eye of the Cornerian Air Guard.
"Yeah, I hear ya… asshole…" Alex shook his head before returning to the grand instrument panel.
The lupine was constantly distressed by inside arguments and confusing points thrown at him from the bickering crew members, but even then, he would only be more afraid if the ragtag team got along. It was all he would expect from a smuggler crew; he only hoped that it wouldn't cost him his life. He sank in his seat, hoping to get away from where he was now. It was just like when he in the army; so much waiting, so little action. He needed to speak up.
"Het, X, I don't mean to complain, but could this go a little faster?"
"Keep your tail stiff Susi, I've never seen anyone so excited to get to Avaluuk since the Big Five returned from capturing that lost caravan. Victor's in the back making sure we have everything ready to make the journey in one piece."
"Oh, is he getting our suits ready?"
"Suits?" Alex repeated in a bewildered fashion, and beak hung upon as if to say something vulgar and repulsive. "What do you think this is a flying hotel? Do you know how expensive those things are? One for each of us would cost as much as this whole damn ship!"
Tyler was taken aback at the possible notion of him being the assumed 'newbie'. He almost spoke up then, probably to say something stupid, but he was drowned out by the voice of his colleague.
"Forgive Susi, he hasn't flown much on these types of ships, I know it doesn't sound too comforting but he's ex-military too."
On most parts of military ships and on all of Corneria's fighters, it was expected to wear your basic activity suit in case something went wrong; although it had slowly become more common to be exposed, uniforms were still worn to avoid any breach of protocol. This was all that Tyler had experienced; in fact, even on his ride down to Fichina when he was being deployed he was required to wear a pressurized suit. However, most outside of Corneria's military had to settle for wearing the same street clothes on their ships and often anywhere else, as they were not funded by a continues stream of taxes.
Alex's expression unexpectedly changed to one filled with a more accepting disposition of Tyler. "Ah, another deserter just like me, eh? That must be why you want to get away, don't want to live hiding in the woods anymore."
Tyler nodded halfway. "Well that's… kind of somewhat mostly true." He admitted.
"Yeah, there's nothing more liberating than having to live on your own, build a temporary shelter every night, hunt for your own food…"
"Susi's excellent at tracking his prey down." Rotte interjected. His words could mean multiple things to Cornerians, including a stray implication that Tyler was an assassin.
"Well that's good. If you can prove yourself, you won't have any trouble finding a pack at Avaluuk." Alex said before returning to his control panel. "If we ever get there…" He then turned to look into the tight corridor behind him. "How's it going?"
"Just give me a minute… I need to coordinate the fake launch."
"What is he talking about when he says fake launch?"
"On our launches, we have to slip by CDF somehow. Generally that means staging a fabricated launch somewhere else so that we lift off without having to worry about them chasing us. You've gotta be clever when doing these things. Unauthorized launches can be tricky, especially if there are military aircraft in the area."
Tyler looked behind him to see the suited crew member returning to the front. "It's good, I'd say we got a three minute buffer."
"Nice, hopefully they'll bite the bait." Alex commented as the one he called Victor seated himself in the other front seat. In the middle seat behind him and in front of Tyler was a sleeping ocelot who barely noticed it was time to take off.
"Should I wake him?" Victor asked, staring at the sleeping crewman.
"Na, the engines will do the job." Alex flipped a few small switches in preparation for takeoff. The entire ship jolted and the sound of the machine roared, waking the confused ocelot immediately. "Alright everyone, time to strap in."
As they left the planet's atmosphere, Tyler stared back at it through a small window as it grew smaller. It had never looked so beautiful to him. "Goodbye, Corneria."
~X~X~X~X~X~
"Can't believe how easy we passed them back there." Alex noted, walking carefully into the small break room. "I think we're home free, once we pass the line at least."
"They didn't even try to chase us?" Victor asked.
"Nope… just turned around and flew away." Alex mimicked the motions with a twirling gesture.
"What dumb luck." Tyler commented.
"I know, it's like we were… authorized or something." Alex continued in a paranoid sounding ideation. "No matter, enjoy the rest of the ride, and uh, Wyatt." Agent Rotte's ears perked up at the sound of his alternative name. "We'll discuss payment once we get to Avaluuk, alright?" The canine nodded and Alex returned to the front of the ship to man the controls.
"Well, I think it's about time I check up on the engine on the off chance it's ready to explode." Victor's large frame struggled to squeeze through the tight doorway and further towards the back of the ship.
The two agents were now alone inside the cramped division. Tyler had so much to ask, but he knew that talking too much could also be dangerous.
Agent Rotte leaned closer to Tyler. "Everything might feel normal now, but it won't be for much longer. Don't be distressed when the unexpected happens, I've arranged for a number of things to fall into place."
Tyler's was clairvoyant enough to understand the depths of the Agent's scheme.
"Those fighters… You made sure they wouldn't chase us?"
"I presume the pilots were told it was a covert operation, inter-government conflicts are always messy; I had to get clearance from five different sources, apparently they don't sit around all day like we tend to think."
"Huh… so what do we do when we get to Avaluuk?"
"Hold up. I can't tell you everything, can I? It needs to be a surprise? Besides, you're a fugitive trying to find work at a new place, act like it."
Tyler sighed, and then turned to see the multi-dimensional display table, where Victor had recently introduced him to an assortment of wildly confusing, excessively strange, and most likely impossible games.
"You want to try that one where the cube spins and… the other thing lights up?"
Tyler didn't respond.
"You don't want to do anything?"
"No, we can't talk, not now. I think I'll be heading to the cockpit-" Just then, the entire ship started to shake. "What was… that…" the lupine stopped in his tracks.
"I think they're here." Agent Rotte answered.
"Here? You mean at Avaluuk?"
"No, we're not even halfway."
"Then what…"
They both felt another rumble.
"Wyatt? What's going on?"
The ship shook once more, and presently, the ocelot rushed into the room screaming, "Someone's attacking us!"
"Impossible!" Agent Rotte exclaimed.
"Get in here!" Alex yelled.
Everyone rushed to the front of the ship. Out of the small viewport, the collection of nervous eyes all fell upon the large frigate which lay before them. The ship was long and rough, unlike the one they were in; moreover, it was at least twice their size. Taking a ship like that head on would be nearly hopeless with their limited weaponry.
"Jammers." Alex checked to see if the system display signal was on.
"They're on."
"Diffusers?"
"Always on."
"What do they want from us? Why the hell are they on this route, I thought you said this way was clean!"
"It is clean, that's probably why they're on it!"
Tyler's heart began to race, but Agent Rotte silently told him to calm down by touching his shoulder.
"Well what are they going to do, attack?" Victor queried.
"I don't know…" Alex picked up a transmission signal which was loosely flying around in a touchpad on the left side, which was commonly used for ship to ship communications. He read the message, and then slammed the screen.
"Damn it, they're going to try and board us!"
~X~X~X~X~X~
Author's Notes: Sorry for this chapter being so… na, it's too deep for you guys to understand even if I tried to explain it.