Xenoblade X: Interim

by Classic Mecraphone

The problem with happy endings is that nothing is ever truly over. With the Ganglion under the thumb of a ruthless new leader, and the unpleasant reality of Cross's past being brought to light, NLA's brief moment of peace has ended. Rating: contains themes, language and violence prevalent in the game

5. Chapter 5: Initial Breakdown

Chapter 5: Initial Breakdown

"The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day."

― David Foster Wallace, This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life

"…and you found her on the Floating Reefs? How in Wroth's name did she get up there?"

"After spending more than a year with them, you eventually just stop asking how or why the Nopon do anything they do and just roll with it. She probably just rode on a Jacul's back or something along those lines."

"The Nopon never cease to amaze, do they Lieutenant?"

"Both for better and for worse. But yah, amazement is as good a way to describe it as any."

I hear Julun laughing over the comm.

"I would like to meet this Chiroro. She sounds like quite the interesting personality."

"She certainly takes her business seriously, I tell you that."

I had initially thought that Julun and Vi would be all over the war stories and stuff that I had gone through over the past months, but surprisingly they have the most fun hearing about the more mundane and sometimes stupid things I've had to deal with in NLA.

From Ni Zain's introduction to the world of cooking, to Chiroro and Felicia's hair adventure, to the Nopon's fireworks display for Elder Nan, all manner of weird stuff you run into on Mira.

I think they're amused by the idea of me, the guy who's respected by both of their role models, running around the city being an errand boy.

Well what the heck. I think it's kinda funny too.

I check our location on FrontierNav and give a small nod. About twenty minutes out from our target. I glance in the back seat where Celica and Mia are asleep and raise my voice.

"Ok girls, time to wake up and get ready to move."

They both stretch as they wake up and I quickly avert my eyes as Celica stretches her back and pushes out her chest. The bodysuit she wears is a great piece of engineering, providing free ease of movement and protection similar to a bulletproof vest. It also tends to accentuate the wearers 'physique', of which I'm still rather shy around.

Blushing in front of everybody wouldn't exactly preserve my authority as Squad Lead. Dear God I'm a pathetic man.

Yawning Mia asks, "We almost there Chief?"

"Yup, twenty minutes or so out. Time flies when you have good conversation buddies."

She grins and turns towards Julun who's in the front seat.

"Chief telling you guys about more of his crazy adventures on Mira? Forget the stuff he tells you, I have the real juicy stories he's way too embarrassed to tell anyone."

I snort at her words.

"Oh please, I'm dying to hear about all these supposed scandals that you were a part of. Hit me with your best shot."

"I didn't say that I was a part of them. But I am a pretty good friend of Lin's…"

Ok, this means war.

"Say what you will Mia, but I do seem to recall rescuing you from both a Jacul and Ganglion prison cell…in fact I can recall the stench you-"

"Ok ok! Sheesh Chief you play really dirty sometimes."

"Events exist that scare Cross into threats? Captain Slovity would be quite interested in these I think…"

"Oh now don't you start as well Julun, I don't know any dirty secrets of yours so I'll have to resort to benign neglect."

I hear muffled snickers from Vi and Celica, with Celica then saying, "If you're interested in rather humiliating stories about our great leader, then I believe I have the greatest one yet. He and I were on a Prospector mission in Noctilum when we ran across a Simius-"

I jerk hard on the steering wheel and her story is cut off as everyone gets thrown to the side.

Vi comes over the radio from the gunners platform going, "What was that, did you encounter anything Lieutenant?"

"Nope, just an Ovis crossing the road."

I look at Celica in the rear-view mirror with pleading eyes.

"E tu, Brute?"

"I'm not familiar with that saying. Another Earth custom?"

Mia smiles and benevolently says, "Ah let him off the hook Celica, he's about to fall apart here."

In a not-so-subtle whisper she then says, "Tell me about it later!"

I give a resigned shake of my head and focus on driving. Being the target of a horny female Simius in heat was mortifying in a way that beggars my powers of description.

---

It's been two and a half weeks since we had our first mission together in Noctilum, and I find myself surprised at how quickly we've come together as a team.

Dare I say, how quickly we've come together as friends?

Julun is the Mother of the group, having taken over my usual role of middle of the pack coordinator. She's my equal, if not better, at small unit tactics and quick decision making. She also has an open and friendly attitude, and never hesitates to listen to what the rest of us have to say. She's also just as likely to shoot down any dumb ideas we have, but that's part of her charm.

Her taking over my previous position freed me up to be in the vanguard alongside Vi.

At first I was a little concerned whether Vi would be able to comfortably fit in with our group, Wrothians aren't exactly known for their vast repertoire of sarcastic humor and petty digs, which Mia and I are constantly engaged in. But he surprised me yet again by adapting to our more informal chain of command and even joining in on the fun. He plays the straight man most of the time, but will occasionally dish out a well timed joke, often at my expense.

My only problem with him is that he still insists on calling me Lieutenant.

Mia hasn't changed a bit since when I first met her, but then she doesn't have to. She's the ice breaker of the group, smoothing over any difficulties we have in communication with her borderline oblivious levels of friendliness. She makes Julun and Vi feel welcome in the way only an irrepressibly optimistic joker can.

Even if they don't understand half of her jokes.

Celica is, for the lack of a better word, the translator for our group. As a Xeno who's spent a lot more time among Humans than either Julun or Vi, she helps the two of them with Human concepts and values that don't translate well into their own culture. Add in the fact that she's used to dealing with Mia and I, especially our unique brand of humor, and she's the one who can help them figure out what the two Human idiots are even talking about.

In hindsight I'm very glad I decided to accept her into the squad.

And now we're in for our first real trial-by-fire as a team. Until now we mostly just took on the random collection mission or Indigen hunt, slowly getting used to each other, but playtimes over.

---

After Chausson's announcement that the Ganglion had a new commander priorities shifted drastically for NLA.

Rather than evenly spreading out the cities resources, we're back on war footing with the lions share going to the arms manufacturers and their subsidiaries. NLA's continued expansion will have to take the backseat for now.

Not too many people were happy about this, as they seemed to have convinced themselves that the Ganglion were beaten, but griping pretty quickly ended once news of several raids against BLADE outposts was released. Most people seem to get it now, it's them or us.

What this means for me and my team is that it's now our turn to shine. Our first counteroffensive against the Ganglion is fairly simple, with a few concentrated assaults against some of their outposts surrounding the Badr Basin and Anvil Sandplains, while one larger force moves on Badr Stronghold itself.

Taking out these bases will be our first step towards the Anvil Rock One stronghold, and then eventually Cauldros. My team's objective is a small listening and observation outpost that serves as a key relay between the western and eastern bases of Sylvalum. Our assault is timed to begin ten minutes before the main force of ten Skells and two platoons of heavy infantry attack Badr Stronghold, hopefully keeping the Ganglion from mounting any sort of effective defense or alerting other stations of our movements.

A delicate operation that relies on me and my team pulling our weight and getting the task done right.

Well, at least I have the right people for the job.

---

"How's it look Vi, anything out of the usual?"

"That depends, is it usual for a Ganglion base to seemingly be devoid of Ganglion?"

I frown at this latest bit of unpleasant news.

It'd taken us about an hour after we hid the car to slowly make our way to the base's position and set up our ambush, but unnerving situations kept popping up.

First was the fact that there seemed to be no Ganglion aircraft in the sky around this area. While we weren't exactly being conspicuous, there's usually at least a Fal-Swo patrol every two hours surveying the area, watching for groups such as ours. The fact that there's nothing in the skies is more unsettling than if there had been Ganglion patrol craft.

Add in this latest bit that apparently there are no people manning the station and I'm more than a little paranoid about this expedition.

Scowling I think about this for a second before addressing the whole team.

"Vi, Celica and I will move closer so we can get a clearer scan of the base, see if thermal or sonar gets us anything. Mia, Julun, you keep an eye out for us. If anything looks out of place to you, I want to know about it right away. Keep your eyes peeled guys."

I get a chorus of terse acknowledgements and frown. Everyone else is apparently feeling a little on edge as well.

"Vi, Celica. We're still ahead of schedule a bit, so take it nice and slow. Let's see if we can find out what's up with the base."

I'd like to believe that the Ganglion just got lazy and decided to sleep away the day inside the main building…but every instinct I have is screaming that things have gone sideways here.

Celica and I engage our Camo systems while Vi does his thing and we slowly advance on the compund, carefully watching for any signs of an ambush.

Silent as a tomb.

I demagnetize my Delta Retic and link it's scope into my helmet display. I pan over the base and don't see any overt thermal signs. In fact it looks like the base has been abandoned for a day or two. I decide to risk an open transmission, even if only to get a faster response from HQ.

"BLADE HQ, this is Cross from the Sylvalum vanguard squads. We've arrived at the Ganglion relay station but have encountered no signs of Ganglion anywhere. Please advise."

I wait a few seconds and receive only light static in reply. It could be that my message didn't have enough strength to reach HQ…or the signal is being jammed.

Ok I've had enough. They can court-martial me back at NLA for disobeying orders for all I care, but this is way too creepy for my tastes.

We're pulling out.

"Everyone pull back. We're calling off the mission."

There's a moment of terse silence before they start moving away from the outpost.

Vi privately comms me and says, "Lieutenant, I can infiltrate the base and find out for certain what-"

"Negative. It might very well be abandoned…or have a bomb rigged to blow the second someone get's too close. Too many things that shouldn't be happening are happening. We're leaving Vi."

He hesitates for a second before nodding.

"Understood Lieutenant."

We meet up a couple hundred meters away from the base and everyone looks to me. Julun tentatively asks, "What should be our next goal Cross? Retreat back to the main B.C. or meet with main force?"

A good question that.

"Let's head back to the car and see if we can get any luck with it's comm equipment, after that we'll-"

I'm suddenly interrupted by the comm emitting the tone for distress calls and my stomach sinks. I answer with a growing trepidation and hear, "BLADE group…Under fir…evacuate…reinforcements inbound…ierNav unreliable…all back! I repeat…"

I close the line and immediately snap out orders.

"Back to the car, forget being stealthy, let's move!"

Everyone seems to get that this mission has suddenly taken a turn for the worse and don't ask any questions. We don't get more than five steps before Celica suddenly frowns and looks over her shoulder. Eyes widening she tackles Julun to the ground and shouts, "Duck!"

Vi turns into a blur as he also tackles Mia to the ground, as she doesn't immediately get the message. I also dive onto the ground not a second before several beam cannon shots rip through the air right where we were standing a split second ago.

What the Hell? Nothing was showing up on FrontierNav so how did-

Oh. I get it.

Looks like the Ganglion are starting to appreciate the benefits of electronic warfare a bit. Whatever hit the other Sylvalum squads, I think we're about to get a taste of it.

---

I throw myself into a shoulder roll that brings me behind a boulder with not a moment to spare as a hail of enemy fire rips apart one of Sylvalums native trees that I was previously occupying. Those trunks of theirs are surprisingly sturdy, but evolution geared them towards surviving arid conditions and the occasional forager, not magnetically accelerated bullets.

I take a glance towards Vi who's sharing this particular rock with me and find him staring intently in my direction, clearly waiting orders.

Yah. Orders. That thing the Leader is supposed to give in times like this.

Christ I don't know how Elma or anyone else who runs a squad deals with this kind of pressure on a regular basis.

I shake my head and instead of complaining I try to think of a way out of this.

The initial salvo was fired from a Qmoeva that has been intermittently strafing us, flying low and at extreme angles that keeps us from focusing any sort of fire on it. It's under a similar handicap, having a near impossible time hitting us, but then again it's not the playmaker here.

The real problem is the twelve or so Marnucks that keep harassing and shelling us no matter where we go, preventing us from grouping up in one place for too long or escaping.

See, this sort of situation is EXACTLY why I'd rather fight a bunch of Prone than Marnucks. We call them the 'Space Savages' but they should really be thought of as 'Space Commandos'. They use tactics and ambushes that more than make up for their lack of the Prone's inherent strength, and is really making life suck for us right now.

If we were fighting Prone, all we would have to do is wait until they get bored and rush us, then cut them down one by one.

Not so with these guys. To make matters worse that Qmoeva took a slight detour after it's opening barrage to blow our vehicle to smithereens, so even that slim hope is out of the running. And we sure as Hell can't rely on other BLADEs for backup.

In between the jamming and other Ganglion assaults I think it's a safe assumption that we're on our own.

My reverie is interrupted by the sound of a hollow thwump and my instincts take over. Vi is right behind me as we dive away from our cover, just as a fragmentation shell explodes five meters above the ground, throwing white hot slivers of metal at the area where we were crouched, shattering the rock face and generally making a mess of the landscape in a six meter radius.

Great, they have artillery too.

"Lieutenant, we can't just keep evading them forever, sooner or later we'll have to-"

"I know that Vi. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them."

"Understood Lieutenant."

I give an internal sigh at my sharp response. No sense in taking it out on him, it's not his responsibility to think of a solution. I do the mental equivalent of counting to three in order to tamp down the beginnings of panic I start to feel claw at my mind and force myself to think.

There has to be a way out of this. So what if there's no apparent solution? Improvisation is a hallmark of mine. C'mon Cross, you can work something out…what is it Nagi likes to say?

"If you've played the game correctly and are still losing, then the time has come to play a new one with new rules."

New game…like all things Sun Tzu sounding it's easy to say, not so easy to put into practice. Plus It's not like I can just tell the Ganglion, "Sorry guys but these rules suck, we're starting over" and expect them to go home. So how do I-

Wait. That's it. Duh.

Who says we have to keep messing around with the Ganglion?

"Mia! Are there any caverns near this area? Within two or three kilometers?"

She spent a pretty decent amount of time exploring this area before she became a BLADE, if any of us should be familiar with this territory it's her.

"Uhh, yah actually, there is. It just leads to an unmapped network of tunnels though, I didn't look very far-"

"Don't worry about it that's just what we need!"

I do a quick scan of the area and see a depression that's surrounded by a few rocky outcropings. That'll work as an impromptu meeting room.

"Everyone meet up at the sinkhole forty meters behind my location, move!"

Vi and I make it halfway before another shell lands behind us and wrecks the landscape, showering us with dirt and other detrius. About fifty-seven seconds in between shellings by my count, at least there's a window of opportunity there. We make it the rest of the way without incident to find Julun and Mia already waiting, with Celica vaulting the edge not a second later.

"Ok quick briefing here. There's a series of underground tunnels nearby that we can use to throw off our pursuers and maybe even escape their notice. We'll get there using staggered retreats, one group at a time. Mia, Julun, you two stick together. Vi and Celica, you're with me. Provide covering fire for each group. If there's any questions you have twelve seconds to ask before another grenade lands on our heads."

Everyone decides to hold their tongues.

"Ok let's move and stay alive guys!"

I get a chorus of 'yes sir!'s and we all clamber out of the hole behind new cover. I take a deep breath and try to relax.

We have a way out, time to fight our way too it.

---

I unclasp my Retic and flick off the safety, which produces a small hum as it's power core comes online.

The Retic is best friend for those who aren't good at conventional sniping, such as myself. Considering my numerous talents when it comes to killing things in varied ways, I was surprised to learn that long distance shooting isn't one of my strong points.

I mean, I'm ok at it, but nowhere near the level of Bozé, and just forget Lao. That guy could pick the wings off a vesper from nearly a kilometer away. The Retic allows me to play to my strengths, which is fast and accurate shooting from mid-to-close ranges, without having to do any actual sniping.

The Retic uses an internal power cell to fire off a ten-megawatt laser in a fraction of a second, compressing the energy of a more conventional two-hundred grams of explosives into a very short, very powerful burst.

Mediocre shooters like myself appreciate this since a laser doesn't involve any additional factors such as bullet drop, wind speed and direction, or even travel time. A laser goes in a straight line, at the speed of light and doesn't have any recoil when fired, it's totally dependent on the skill of the operator.

There's some tradeoffs though. It's god awful for speed shooting, since there's a mandatory three second cool down between shots, while ammo is both bulky and unwieldy. One power cell only has enough juice for five shots, and I'm only carrying one spare. Not to mention the gun is huge, so it's not exactly a first choice for ease of traveling.

I couldn't give less of a crap about the downsides right now though, especially since my Deltas aren't exactly designed for these kinds of distances.

"Julun, Mia, go, now!"

At my command they're up and running in a zig-zagging pattern, hopefully to throw off the aim of the Marnucks still holed up across the plains. Simultaneously Celica, Vi and myself all ease out of cover and start to return fire.

I sight on one of the boulders scattered across the terrain where a lot of the fire is originating from. Through the scope I see around three or so Marnucks behind a portable barrier. Two of them are operating a field artillery piece, while a third is aiming a kinetic weapon of some variety in Mia and Julun's direction. I don't have a clear shot at the mortar operators so I let my aim slowly drift over to the third guys head, slowly breathe out…and squeeze the trigger.

With a quiet thrum the weapon fires out an invisible beam that's only visible because of the stray bits of sand in the air it disintegrates.

And, of course, the mess it makes out of my targets head. The beam catches him in the throat, and there's a brief sun-bright glare before I'm treated to the charming image of his head coming apart in a mix of smoking armor plating and frying flesh.

I don't think he's getting back up from that.

I duck back behind the rock as the Retica cycles open and cools itself, and not a second too soon either. A gauss round screams right where my head was and blows a divot out of the ground behind me.

I give a low whistle. Never try to tell me those guys can't shoot.

At least we got their attention, which was the point after all, as I can hear dozens of ricochets off of the rock we're behind as the Marnucks realize we're the ones shooting back. Julun's voice comes over my headset as they make it behind their goalpoint.

"We've arrived Cross, get ready to move in three…two…one, go!"

I give Vi and Celica a second's head start before sprinting out myself, since my armor will do a better job of soaking up any shots that find a target than theirs will. Not sure that I have to worry though, since Mia and Julun are packing some serious heat.

Mia has her usual Raygun setup, but Julun hasa little extra for when we figured we would be assaulting the communications compound. As the three of us sprint towards their location a sudden high pitched whine starts up and a stream of blinding fire reaches towards where the Marnuck artillery nest is located. Said fire is coming from Julun's mass driver, a heavy weapon that she manhandles around like it weighs nothing, despite easily massing thirty-two kilograms.

The mass driver she's using is loaded with depleted uranium balls the size of bb's that are heated to a couple thousand degrees celsius and then launched by magnetic rails at almost one and a half kilometers per second. When it's ammunition makes contact with any solid surface the result is truly spectacular. Take the rock the Marnuck bombardiers were using as cover for instance.

A two second burst from Julun's weapon completely shatters the rock face, tears apart one of the operators and must have hit the cannon while a round was loaded into it, since the entire plateau goes up in a spectacular display of fireworks.

I grimly smile inside of my helmet. That should convince our pursuers to be a little more respectable.

No sooner do I think that than I feel a stunning impact on my lower back that makes my right leg go numb and I barely manage to push off the ground with my left that turns my fall into an awkward roll that brings me right next to my destination.

Celica and Vi reach out and haul me behind the rock before anything else tags me.

"Thanks guys," I manage to gasp out as I stand up. My leg's a little numb but feeling is already returning.

Julun glances over at me and says, "Have dent in ass-plate the size of thumb do you."

I scowl at her.

"Totally did not need to know that. Nice shooting by the way."

"You're welcome."

I give an annoyed glance at where several of the Marnucks are currently holed up and taking potshots at us. The one advantage to leaving your rear hanging out in the middle of a firefight is that some jerkoff with a sense of humor will peg you there instead of in the head.

"Ok you two time for the next transfer. You ready?"

"Ready to run Chief."

"Alright three…two…one…go!"

They get up and running while us other three ease out from cover, weapons raised only to find…a bunch of hidden Ganglion with no clear shot at them. I frown as I lower the Retic a fraction.

What the heck is this maneuver? It's almost like they're afraid of getting hit by-

My eyes widen as I hear the thrum of gravitic engines increasing in volume and scream out, "Hit the deck!".

I throw myself to the ground and see Celica and Vi already down there. I guess having better hearing than us noise challenged humans is a pretty big help.

My thoughts are interrupted by what sounds like a thousand angry Adseculas, with a background chorus of thunder to top things off. A massive wave of heat washes over us and red hot gravel lands all around us. I sneak a glance back once the noise is over and find the rock face completely melted, only it's base standing maybe a meter high where before it had stood two. I look up at the sky and see the retreating engine glows of two Qmoevas.

Friggin dandy. Like we weren't already at a disadvantage, now the Ganglion have two Skells to mess around with. Not to mention all those Marnucks are starting to rise up out of their foxholes and ready their weapons.

Ok, time for a new strategy.

"Move guys, don't let them pin us down here!"

Suiting action to words I bodily lift up Vi and Celica and give them a push forward to where Mia and Julun just arrived. Covering each other isn't going to work too well with two Skells giving us constant harassment. If we try to focus down one of them the other will have a clear shot at burning us down, never mind all the Marnuck rifleman swarming about.

Then there's the fact that only Mia and Julun's weapons carry enough punch to knock those Skells out of the sky, which would make them easy targets for the rest of the marnuck sharpshooters hanging around here.

Talk about picking your poison.

Well when in doubt, attack.

We're still about one and a half kilometers out from our target, too far to just make a run for it, so we'll have to do something to force the Ganglion to back off, even if it's only for a minute…

I glance around at my team and feel a sudden spark of inspiration. I turn to Vi and fire off my orders.

"Vi, take everyone's frag grenades and set them up to seal the tunnel we're heading towards. We'll give you cover so just get there as fast as you can."

He doesn't look all that pleased at being given demolition duty, but too bad. Aside from me and Celica he's the fastest person we have, and if there are any Indigens hanging around the cave entrance he'll be able to deal with them quicker than Celica could.

And it's not like the Squad Leader can just up and leave his team. I turn towards everyone else and say, "Everyone focus your fire on the right side Qmoeva when it comes in for it's next run. Don't worry about the one on the left, I'll take care of it."

Mia frowns and says, "No offense Chief, but how the heck are you going to manage that?"

I smile.

"With a little creativity of course."

---

Well I said creativity, but it's more like a jury rigged desperation plan than it is a stroke of creative brilliance.

One neat aspect of my armor is that individual limb sections can be immobilized, usually to stabilize broken limbs or keep wounded soldiers from moving. I'm using these functions for a slightly different purpose now though.

I went ahead and froze my legs and torso, with only my arms free to move. Now I have a completely stable platform with no need to worry about any sudden jerks of movement that might throw off my aim.

And boy am I going to need every bit of aim assistance I can get. It's not going to help that I have about eight seconds to get used to the sensation of only being able to move my arms before the Qmoevas come in for another run either.

Good thing I'm a fast learner when it comes to this stuff. I breathe out my nervousness as I hear two sets of gravity engines come howling through the canyon and slowly let my mind go blank.

One small snag to this plan. It's entirely dependent on the Ganglion mechs entering my field of fire and staying there. The suit can be given voice or keypad commands to unlock, but it takes a few precious seconds to do so, seconds which I sure as Hell won't get.

First stroke of luck. One of the Qmoevas accelerates into the canyon straight at me, moving pretty quickly at almost fifteen-hundred km/h. The pilot's probably not too worried about hitting anything, just blasting the area around us until the ground troops can encircle us.

I'm about to change that.

Hopefully.

I slowly exhale, and raise my rifle. Time seems to slow by just a fraction as I line up the barrel with the blur that is my target…and then pull the trigger.

There's a brief flare of light and then the Qmoeva's straight dive suddenly turns into a haphazard tumble that the pilot barely manages to pull out of before smashing into the ground.

I curse under my breath and unlock my armor. I was hoping to hit one of the weapon pods on it's shoulders, which likely would have forced it out of the fight for a few minutes. Burning some of it's head sensors will only buy a few seconds until it's backups can be brought online.

The other three had better luck, with Mia managing to blow of one of it's legs after the pilot had desperately swerved to avoid Julun and Celica's volley which sent it into a violent spiral that'll take a minute to sort out.

Not that I should be complaining though. Managing to even hit such fast moving targets while being sniped at by ground troops speaks just as much to our luck as it does to our skill. I glance behind me and see that Vi already took off sprinting as soon as we opened fire.

"Smoke em' while they're still setting up!"

I suit action to words and chuck one of my grenades as far as I can towards where most of the Marnucks are setting up shop, while out of the corner of my eye I see Julun and Mia doing the same.

I say 'smoke' grenades but it's not just gas these things shoot out. There's minuscule bits of reflective metal laced throughout the mixture that mess with any electronics and do a good job of diffusing any laser weaponry.

I smile as I hear a chorus of frustrated roars reverberate throughout the canyon and several wildly aimed shots go flying over our heads. There's no wind either, so those clouds aren't dispersing anytime soon.

"Good work guys, let's get a move on towards that cave while they're still blind. Move out!"

We start sprinting towards the cave entrance which is only a short run of a kilometer away, while none of our Marnuck pursuer's shots even come close.

Look like a clean getaway.

No sooner do I think that than all of the sudden I hear several jubilant shouts and the sudden howl of a Skell class engine on full power. Despite myself I glance back and mutter a curse that would make Frye blush.

Guess I should have knocked on wood.

The Qmoeva pilot who's sensors I shot out must be a sharp cookie, because instead of waiting for his sensors to boot up he turned his main engine on our smokescreen and is using the thrust to blow away huge swaths of it, opening ragged holes that clearly expose us.

You don't need to aim a leafblower much.

All of a sudden those wild shots from before become a lot closer than I would like. I turn back around and focus on running, placing myself as best I can between my teammates and the Marnuck soldiers. A few tense seconds pass and just when I think we'll make it unharmed Celica suddenly pitches forward onto the ground.

A round caught her in the leg breaking up her stride, but didn't punch through her suit. Those things are designed to stiffen when hit, which is massively painful but better than letting a bullet ricochet merrily through your innards. Regardless she isn't going to be running on that leg for a few minutes.

Barely breaking stride I scoop her up in my arms in an improvised princess carry and hunch over, trying to make as small a target as possible.

Despite the mortal danger and adrenaline coursing through my system, I can't help but wonder at how cool and heroic I must look running like this, carrying a girl in my arms through a hail of gunfire.

Sheesh, how male did that sound?

Testosterone fantasy aside, those rounds are starting to close in on me. I feel several sharp impacts on my back that thankfully don't throw me off balance, and I don't even try to run in a zig-zagging motion, just a flat out sprint towards my goal.

The Retic is actually helping out here, helping add an extra layer of protection by soaking up a lot of bullets that would have otherwise hit me with full force.

Forty meters to go.

Mia and Julun make it to the entrance and I raise Vi on my comm.

"Vi, blow it!"

"You're still-"

"I friggin know, do it anyway!"

Thankfully he doesn't raise any more objection after that and detonates the grenades, collapsing most of the entrance in a cascade of falling rock. At five meters to go I throw myself into a slide that barely clears the first falling boulder, and skid on my butt into the relative safety of the cavern. I breathe a sigh of relief right before something smashes into my helmet that knocks my head around and causes a ringing in my ears.

I wince and take a look behind me. Nothing but newly collapsed rock and dust.

"Cross, are you alright?!"

I look around me and see I'm still holding Celica in my arms, who in turn is looking at me with a scared expression on her face.

"Uh yah, I'm fine. Was just wondering what hit me there."

"That was this Lieutenant."

Vi holds out a Ganglion armor piercing round and I feel my eyes widen.

"That thing hit me in the head?"

"Well not exactly," he says as he reaches over and taps a chuck of rock over a meter wide with a neat hole drilled right through it.

"It likely pierced through this and lost much of it's momentum before striking you."

I shakily exhale. Stuff like that makes me wonder if maybe I should take up a desk job in NLA. Putting aside my shock I turn back towards Celica and set her aside.

"How's the leg?"

She winces as she stands up but stamps the ground a few times and seems to pull it together.

"Painful but it won't affect my movement. I'm all set to go."

I breathe a sigh of relief that we're all intact and take a moment to unsling my Retica and check it's condition. I wince upon taking a closer look. I count at least seven significant dents in it and three craters where rounds actually punched through the casing and made a mess of it's innards. I'm not gonna be using it again anytime soon. I sling it over my back and turn towards everyone.

I don't have it in me to abandon a piece of equipment unless absolutely necessary. Not to mention Frye and Lin would lecture my ears off if they ever got wind of it.

"Ok team let's get a move on before the Ganglion decide we might be worth chasing after all. Me and Vi in front, Julun and Mia in the center, Celica covering the rear. We're in Indigen territory now, keep your eyes peeled. Move out!"

We slide into formation and head deeper into the caves.

I try not to imagine that we're being swallowed by them.

---

Mira's collection of caves and caverns is an extensive one, to vastly understate the scope of their existence. Intricate pathways of connected tunnels span the planet, some small and barely able to fit a human standing upright, some that can handle a whole squad of Skells with room to spare. Initially researchers thought that Mira was covered with much more expansive Oceans that eventually dried up, but not before creating these vast networks of underground highways.

That theory was pretty quickly abandoned though, since more than a few of the passageways appeared to have been made by burrowing creatures, rather than rivers of water. The discovery of giant Sabulas such as Atreides and Gesserith supported this theory, and it was also hypothesized that there was deliberate construction of these caves as well.

Some of the larger caverns and passageways were a little too well conditioned for sentient use. Flat ground, squared walls and other signs of deliberate alteration seemed to suggest that the civilization that previously inhabited Mira used these passageways at will.

While none of this would mean much to us since we're trying to escape with our lives, not brush up on our geology knowledge, there's a very practical aspect to this information that might just save our hides.

When these caverns where made, either by Indigens or the previous inhabitants, quite a few tunnels were made that open up into the oceans surrounding Sylvalum. Either the Indigens wanted a drink or the sentients needed access to the outside quite often.

Doesn't really matter to me or my team, as long as we can find one of these existing routes.

And as long as we can avoid getting eaten by the plethora of insectoid Indigens that call these labyrinthine passageways their home.

---

There's a sudden rattling shriek above my head, and I tiredly fire a three-round-burst in it's direction without bothering to look up. The shriek is cut short with a surprised sounding gurgle, it's owner thumping to the ground with a dull splat.

I give a tired shake of my head. You'd think after the thirteenth or so attack, these Blattas would take a hint and stop trying to mess with us. Or at the very least stop announcing their ambush with a scream.

Taking the momentary lull to look behind me I see everyone else tiredly lowering their weapons. I frown inside my helmet.

We've been on the move for almost three hours now, and at least once every ten or so minutes we're ambushed by some enterprising Indigen that's decided we look like good eating. It's mostly just been Blattas and Adseculas that have gone after us, but these caverns can house Vivohasts and even Ictus. I'm fervently hoping we don't end up running into those things.

"How's everyone holding up?"

"Still in one piece Chief."

"No problems here Lieutenant."

"I'm still in good shape Cross. The leg's fine."

"No difficulties here."

While I respect their bravado, it's clear everyone is feeling the pinch. Heck, I had to practically force Vi away from the front of the squad, he was so exhausted. The physical aspect of things isn't so bad for Mia and I, since our Mims aren't going to tire anytime soon, but everyone else is looking haggard.

Vi and Julun are both breathing heavily, and definitely have slowed movements. Celica is holding up a bit better, but it's obvious that her leg is starting to get to a point where she can't just ignore the pain and soldier on.

Then there's the mental aspect of our predicament. First there was our hectic run-and-gun battle with the Ganglion where every second that went by without one of us getting shot seemed like a miracle, and now we've been hiking through these caves for hours, with sudden ambushes at regular intervals, forcing everyone to constantly stay alert.

That crap takes a toll on your mind, I don't care how tough you think you are. Even I'm starting to feel a little harried, and keeping cool under fire is practically my call to fame.

I make the decision to call for a break and start looking for a semi-defensible position where hopefully we can catch our breath. About five minutes later I find a small hole in the wall that leads to a cavern about seven meters across and four meters tall. Lucky break for us, nothing big seems to be living in it right now either.

"Ok guys time for a breather. In here, I'll take first watch."

Julun looks at me with concern on her face(I'm finally used to Prone facial expressions) and tentatively asks, "Are you sure? You have been in vanguard entire time."

"I appreciate the concern Julun but that's an order. Also no offense, but you look like you're about to fall over. Take a rest. We'll wait twenty minutes here then move out again."

There's no further argument as everyone tiredly files in and tries their best to get comfortable.

Vi winces as he settles down into the Wrothian meditation pose, while everyone else collapses heavily to the ground. I wait until I'm sure they're all relaxing as best they can before accessing the FrontierNav map. We lost the signal hours ago but the built in map function is still working just fine. I glance at where we are now and feel my brow furrow. While the GPS isn't working, the Comm can count steps and direction, using that info to give you it's best guess where you actually are.

There are two mapped exits to the tunnels we're currently in, but the actual network itself is still largely unexplored. We've mostly had to guess our way through here, and if our current location is accurate, we're only halfway to one of the exits. I grimace as I put my comm away and take another look at my team.

My frown deepens as I notice that everyone seems oddly subdued. Which is unusual considering what a riot of personalities we usually are. I wouldn't go so far as to say morale is low, but there seems to be a…resigned sort of feeling in the air. Almost as if no one actually believes we'll make it out of here in one piece, but doesn't want to broach the subject. I sigh as I try to think of a way to get everyone's minds off of the general crappiness of our predicament.

What would Elma normally do? Most of the time she would put on a brave face and soldier on right alongside us, not hesitating to put her life in just as much danger as ours.

While admirable, I don't think that's what we need right now. Not to mention I have no confidence in my ability to be as inspiring as Elma can. Heck, it's not even an issue of bravery. No one is even considering giving up, it's more along the lines of a fatalistic funk they're in. I rack my brains as I try to think of a way to lighten the mood but can't come up with anything. I click my tongue in irritation at my ineptitude and stare frustratedly at the ceiling. Hard to be upbeat when you're under who knows how many tons of rock…

Wait. Rock?

And we are in a Sylvalum cavern…

I grin as I turn around and look at Celica. Ok, let's give this a try.

"Seems just like Déjá Vu, doesn't it Celica?"

I try to put some levity into my voice, and apparently it works since everyone turns to look at me.

She frowns in confusion and asks, "Does it? When have we been in such a situation before?"

"Remember when you first became a BLADE? Being lost and surrounded on all sides in a Sylvalum cavern?"

A look of nostalgia appears on her face and she gives a crooked smile.

"Now that you mention it, I do recall such an event."

Julun looks up interestedly and asks, "The day you became a BLADE? I am not familiar with this story."

Mia grins and chimes in with, "I'll gladly field this one. You might never guess it by her appearance, but our darling little Qlurian here once wanted to join BLADE so that Rock wouldn't have to join the fight. After having a little chat with Commander Vandhamu he jokingly told her that completing a mission solo would guarantee her a spot. Guess what happened next?"

Vi has a look of surprise on his face as he joins the conversation.

"You attempted to do such a thing? And I thought the Lieutenant was crazy…"

Celica smiles and replies, "It certainly wasn't one of my proudest moments. And I never did end up finishing the mission on my own."

I snort at her words.

"She likes to insist that she never finished it solo, but let me know if anyone else has walked into a nest of Indigens without a single weapon, picked Selenean Sage of all things, and then lived to brag about it."

Julun looks at her in shock.

"I agree with Vi. I too always thought Cross was crazy one."

"Questions of my sanity aside, I couldn't help but parallel our current situation with that lovely little adventure."

Mia gives a wistful sigh.

"Yah well it'd be great if the rescue showed up now. You're stuck with us Chief, but I wouldn't mind one teensy bit if Rock showed up to save the day. He could also bring along Elma and Lin while he's at it."

Vi turns towards me with a smile on his face.

"I should have figured that you were part of the group that went to Celica's aid. You have a strange talent for playing the hero according to Mia."

"I was in more of a supporting role that time. Rock got to be the hero while Elma and Lin did most of the heavy lifting."

Celica gives a strangled laugh that turns into a cough before managing to say, "In Cross speak, that means he actually charged several Xiphias and Cantors head on, and generally made a commotion to cover for Rock and I's escape."

Mia grins and of course adds her own editorial.

"It wouldn't be one of the Chief's plans if it didn't have the potential for self-harm."

"One of these days I hope you'll stop implying that I'm a degenerate Mia."

"One of these days I hope you'll prove me wrong."

"Alright, alright enough of the reminiscing. Julun, take a look at Celica's leg and see if you can do anything for it. Mia, same goes for Vi. He's only moving his left arm normally, take a look at his right."

Vi and Celica look at me in surprise and I growl back at them, "Bet you thought I didn't notice huh? While I appreciate the bravery, keep silent about something that could endanger your lives again and I'll give you something real to complain about. That clear?"

They both have the decency to look somewhat ashamed of themselves and nod. Mia and Julun move over to help them and I smile at the change in atmosphere. Now there's a sense of purpose and efficiency, as opposed to the half-hearted funk from before.

I turn back to the entrance and marvel at the fact that I actually pulled being a leader off.

---

Sixteen minutes later I call for everyone to get ready to move out when Vi suddenly asks, "What about you Lieutenant? You haven't taken a single moment to rest yet."

"My bodies largely artificial, physical rest isn't something I need too much of."

"I'm referring to your mind Lieutenant. Not only have you been in the vanguard for most of the time, you were also keeping track of four others."

I'm about to insist that I'm fine when I notice the other three backing up Vi. I give an internal sigh at their team solidarity.

I'd end up wasting way more time arguing with them than if I just accept their concern. And what the heck? There's no harm in playing it safe.

"Ok, ok. Keep watch for three minutes and then we're moving. No arguments."

I see a few confused looks at my mention of three minutes but thankfully no one says anything.

Like I could explain anyway.

I take off my helmet and sit in a three fingered meditation pose, slowing my breathing.

This is just one more discipline in my repertoire that I have no idea where I learned it or how it even works. Some of these things are just ingrained habits or skills, and trying to forcefully make them work is pretty much counterproductive.

The closest comparison I have for how this works is limb movement.

Think about it.

As adults, actions such as walking or sitting are automatic, we don't stop to consider, 'can I actually walk' or, 'how do you sit'?

Try to walk down the street as you normally would. Except now focus as hard as you can on the actual motion of walking. The play of muscle in your leg, of how you keep your balance, how your torso stays upright.

You might notice as soon as you start focusing on how to walk, walking suddenly becomes much more difficult. Your leg's might tense up or not even move, balance becomes difficult, and your upper body might become rigidly painfully.

That's how I am. Fighting, meditating, whatever. As soon as I start to think about how I'm managing these actions, I can't perform them nearly as well, if at all. One more mystery I just have to live with I guess.

What feels like three seconds later I open my eyes and glance at my timepiece. Three minutes exactly.

I do feel a bit better, so perhaps I'll listen to what they have to say a bit more closely next time. I smoothly stand up and put my helmet back on, lock down the seal and turn to everyone who's waiting at the entrance.

"Ok time for the home stretch people. Let's get to it."

---

I glance around nervously as we approach the caverns exit. Things have gone a little too well this past hour for my liking.

Not that it was a cakewalk by any means. For the first two hours after we left our rest area we were attacked more frequently than before. Makes sense in a sucky way, since we were probably waltzing right through the thickest parts of Indigen central. But eventually Vi and Celica we're able to hear the sound of waves and wind howling across the rim of an exposed crater, and we started trying our best to follow that. About an hour ago all our assailants just seemed to up and disappear without a trace.

I'd like to think that they finally decided we were too much trouble and left us be, but that's wishful thinking on my part. More likely is that there are bigger creatures in these parts that either force out or prey on smaller stuff. Now that our goal is actually in sight, no more than seventy meters away, I'm bracing extra hard, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Fan out guys, we're almost home free and I'd rather not screw up the endgame. Keep your eye's on the ceiling and sides. Let's move."

We slowly advance down the passageway, one cautious step at a time. I'm sincerely hoping nothing bad happens, everyone is near dead on their feet from exhaustion and we'd be at a hefty disadvantage. Twenty meters to go and I notice a decently sized alcove almost twelve meters tall and of unknown depth to my left. I raise my fist and everyone comes to a ragged halt. I signal for them to cover me and advance on the opening. I slowly peak around the corner and to my relief I only find a dark crimson colored outcropping about three meters in.

Wait a second. Crimson?

My eyes widen and I throw myself into a frantic side role that barely moves me beyond the sudden lunge of a giant Ictus that was camouflaged inside the alcove. I roll to my feet with my dual guns already trained on the approaching Ictus. At a glance this particular one only seems to be around five or six meters tall, small for it's species.

Lucky break for us, maybe he's the runt of the litter. My team lines up right beside and I shout, "Open fire!".

A deafening racket sounds throughout the tunnel and to my displeasure most of our gunfire just sparks right off it's hide, even the shots that hit it's joints do almost nothing.

Julun's mass driver is a different story however. With a shriek several rounds impact on the Indigens shell and cause a superheated explosion of bodily fluids and flesh. With a pained shriek it flinches away from the oncoming stream of fire…which abruptly stops as the weapon clacks open.

I mentally curse at our luck. The fight against the Ganglion and traipse through the cavenrs predictably left us with little in the way of spare ammunition, which leaves us a little under equipped to take on a high class predator like an Ictus.

"Mia, hit that thing where Julun wounded it, we'll run a distraction!"

"Got it Chief!"

I nod towards Vi and Celica, and we move in a rough triangle formation towards the creature, hoping to box it in. It turns towards and I notice it has a smoking hole in it's lower thorax about five centimeters deep where Julun hit it. If Mia can nail that with a concentrated burst from her Raygun we might still get out of here in one piece.

I start to advance on the thing when I notice it's acting odd, facing towards Mia with and odd hunched over posture. I open my mouth to tell Mia to watch out…a split second too late.

The Ictus suddenly bends forward and a pointed stinger shoots out with frightening speed from it's abdomen straight towards Mia. She manages to get the Raygun between her and the appendage, but it still breaks right through the weapon and knocks her to the ground, where she struggles to get to her feet, gasping for air.

That tail retracts with sudden speed, almost like a spring, and the Ictus menacingly hisses at us, open murder in it's eyes.

I feel a chill travel up my spine as realization hits me full force.

Oh. Oh fuck me…

This things a Tyrant.

No time to be safe, we need to kill this thing as quickly as possible.

"Cover me I'm moving in!"

Without waiting for a response I dart forward, hoping to take it by surprise with my speed. It doesn't even flinch and hops backwards several meters, leaving me awkwardly exposed with no place to hide. I clench my jaw as I see it bend forwards slightly, and prepare myself to dodge to the side on a split-seconds notice. And that's when I realized I've been suckered.

Instead of using it's tail it suddenly swings one of it's fore claws at me, connecting and sending me crashing into a wall. The hit didn't have much force behind it and I'm back on my feet in a matter of seconds, but in the meantime it's started advancing on my team.

Vi barely avoids a strike from it's tail, while Celica's gun suddenly cycles open, out of ammo. Julun and Mia, who's back on her feet, attempt to give the two of them some cover by firing at the Tyrants eyes but it hunkers behind one of it's claws and avoids the damage. I feel a rising sense of desperation and force myself to keep calm.

There has to be a way to beat this thing with what we've got left. That tail…something about the tail.

There's a click in my brain as I come up with a plan that's so absurd it might just work.

Hey, it worked in Shrek.

I sprint forward as fast as I can, hoping to get within a certain distance before it's tail can splatter me. It turns towards me and lowers it's head, and I suddenly drop into a slide not to dissimilar to those old montages of Baseball players back on Earth. It's tail blasts just above my head, with barely half a centimeter to spare.

Way too close for my liking.

Ignoring my own relief I latch my arms around the tail as it begins to retract, and theres a violent wrench that takes me all the way to it's back before it can react.

Looks like my hunch was right. Everytime it had struck out with it's tail it had retracted it just as fiercely, almost like a coil. I guess the muscles involved aren't used to doing things halfway. Taking advantage of the Tyrants momentary confusion, I spring off of it's abdomen and stab my blades deep into it's head through a gap in it's chitin.

It emits an enraged shriek instead of the pained one I was hoping for and starts spastically twisting and turning, trying to throw me off. I grunt and try to twist my blades deeper when all of the sudden it stops moving and there's a massive impact on my right arm that causes it to go numb. I twist my head around and see that it had used it's tail to try to impale me. Using my still good left arm I grab my Delta out of it's holster and use the last remaining rounds to try to disable it's tail.

The armor on the appendage isn't nearly as thick as the rest of it's body, and a few rounds slice through the compressed muscle, causing the Ictus's shriek to change from furious to in pain. The tail flops over, limp, and I give a savage grin inside my helmet. Doesn't look it'll be using that anytime soon.

I lose my grin pretty quickly as the Tyrant suddenly starts throwing itself against walls and jumping around with furious abandon. I drop my gun and desperately latch onto my Ralzes still embedded in it's back, trying to find a decent handhold. I'm gonna need wto arms for this and In frustration I look over at my still numb shoulder and feel my eyes widen.

The reason I can't feel my arm is because beyond my shoulder there's nothing but a ragged stump of synthetic flesh and machinery.

I've heard all sorts of stories from guys who served in the armed forces about comrades who ignored or didn't even notice lost limbs because they were so focused on something else, but said story always ended with them collapsing in shock once they actually noticed the body part was gone.

I must have a really bad attitude then, because once I see my arm is missing I don't go catatonic or lose my focus.

I get mad.

Snarling I pull myself up it's back with the one good arm and whip my right leg into a knee kick that strikes one of my embedded Ralzes directly on the hilt, driving it almost completely into the creatures back.

With a frenzied shriek of pain it jumps straight up, with me still spread out on it's back, and there's a tremendous impact that sends a wave of darkness through my head and all the strength leaves my body.

Urk…that one I felt.

Some distant, removed part of my brain remembers making a joke about a Tyrant rodeo a few weeks back.

The universe has a messed up sense of humor sometimes.

We fall the remaining six meters to the floor and I almost slide off it's back, but stubbornly fight my way back from the grey fuzz filling my head and hang on to my one sword with all I have. I hear someone's voice from far away and struggle to focus on it.

"Cross! Cross talk to us!"

Sounds like Celica…right…keep the team alive, that's the goal. My eye wanders over to the exit of the cave and I'm struck by how close it seems to be.

Some alertness creeps back into my brain as I realize that in it's frenzy the Tyrant moved so far down the cavern that it's barely two meters away from the caves opening. And from what my glazed over eyes can see it looks like a pretty steep drop off. I open a channel to my team and groggily say, "Everyone shoot the thing, force it over the edge of the cavern."

"But you're-"

"THAT'S A GODDAMN ORDER!"

Does it look like I have time to argue? Besides if I drop off of this thing it'll either go back to attacking the others and move away from the edge, or it'll just kill me and then go after the others anyway.

There's a brief lull where the Ictus seems to recover from it's jump into the ceiling, and then the sound of gunfire echoes through the cavern. It flinches away from the incoming fire and takes a step closer to the caves edge…when suddenly the gunfire stops and I distantly ear the sound of several dry clicks as weapons run dry. The Ictus turns around and hisses in open hatred, beginning to take a step forward.

I refuse to let that happen. In one of the hardest things I've ever done to date, I use every last bit of strength I have to yank myself up onto the leftmost Ralzes and put my weight on it. With a surprised shriek the Tyrant twitches in the direction I'm pushing the blade…and falls over the edge. It emits a surprised cry and starts flailing wildly through the air. I give an exhausted sigh and hug the things back tightly, snuggling in deeper.

If I can land on this thing when we eventually hit the ground, it might take enough of the force so that I'm not instantly snapped in half upon landing.

I can hope at any rate…that said, how long are we gonna fall? It's been at least six seconds by-

---

"…enant…Lieutenant! Can you…ake up fool!"

I groggily open my eyes with what feels like a superhuman effort and see a blurry image of what looks like Vi's face.

"Quit yelling, I feel fine." I mumble.

I tiredly look to the left and see the Tyrant's corpse crushed like a, well...bug against the rocks in a huge splatter of blood and organs. Mission accomplished then. Vi looks at something over my head and yells, "He's conscious, call for extraction!"

I manage to turn my neck around and see three figures descending the cliff in a rush, and I breathe easier. Looks like against all odds we made it through. I try to stand up but can't move my body. Huh. Now that I think about it, I can't really feel anything below my collarbone. Must have cracked my spine against something then. I feel a sudden wave of exhaustion pass over me and my eyes start to close.

"Lieutenant! Stay conscious Lieutenant!"

"Hey Vi…something I gotta tell you."

"What is it? stay focused Lieutenant, help is on it's way."

"Provided I live through this…start calling me Cross dammit…"

My eyes roll up into my head and a wave of dizziness hits me full force.

Blackness.

---

I wake up from what feels like a really long, really boring dream and uninterestedly look around me. Must be the Mimeosome Repair Center. I look up to the right side corner to check the serial number of the pod I'm in.

Yup. Pod seven-A. I wonder if I should put a deposit down on this thing, I've used it so often.

"Hey Immortal man. Rise and shine!"

I glance through the pod's viewport and see the familiar figures of Elma and Lin smiling at me.

"Correct me if I'm wrong girls, but I'm getting the strangest sense of déjá vu right now."

Lin snorts and replies, "Which is entirely your own fault dummy. Do you make it a habit to wreck you Mim once every couple months?"

"You could always stage an intervention if you think it's unhealthy. Never mind that, how long was I out? Wait, scratch that, where's everyone else? Are they alright?"

Elma smiles reassuringly.

"Relax Cross your team is in one piece. And it's only been about twenty-six hours or so. You managed to get everyone home safe despite both the Ganglion and Mira working against you. You can be proud of that."

"Yay for me. What about the rest of the task force? Did any of them make it?"

Both Lin and Elma fall silent for a moment before Elma picks up the conversation again.

"Some made it out but…losses were extreme. Out of the almost ninety BLADEs participating in the assault twenty made it back to the city. The main infantry and Skell forces attacking Badr were wiped out to the last man."

I can only stare.

"ALL of them?! How the Hell did the Ganglion pull that off?"

Lin's face twists in irritation and she replies, "We're still trying to figure that out. Nothing showed up on FrontierNav prior to the attack, so we're still trying to determine if that was because of the jamming or something else."

"That 'something else' sounds rather ominous little sis."

"Your telling me big bro."

Elma regains some of her levity at our banter.

"Well we won't hold you hostage here any longer Cross. A technician will probably be along in a few minutes to decant you. You have some very anxious friends waiting outside to see you, I might add."

"Oh for crying out…they better not have been waiting for me this entire time."

"Only for about twelve of the twenty-six hours."

"Thank god for that. I hope they took a chance to actually rest, they got put through quite the wringer out there."

Lin snorts.

"Says the guy who had a broken spine, ripped off arm, crushed legs, fractured skull plate and a whole dictionary's worth of other injuries."

"What can I say? I'm built tough."

"Dense is the word I'd use. Catch yah later Cross."

"See you around kiddo."

She leaves my field of view and just leaves Elma behind.

"Something you need Elma?"

"Just passing along orders from HQ. As you can imagine they're pretty busy right now, so I'm playing messenger. They gave you and your team two days of mandatory downtime, but will need you ready for action after that. Also they went ahead and named the Tyrant you ran into. They were a little unsure of whether to bother naming it since you killed it off almost as soon as you found it, but eventually they went with 'Vlad the Impaler'. Charming name isn't it?"

"I think it fits. So how's your team doing since we're on the subject?"

She smiles mischievously.

"I gathered quite the mix of personalities, but they're still nowhere near the handful you and Lin were."

"I'll take a strange sense of pride in that."

"Hence why you demanded my full attention. I'll see you later Cross, take care of yourself."

"No promises."

"Figured I'd ask anyway."

She walks off and I settle back into the pod's hydrostatic fluid.

I hope they weren't kidding about the techie being along soon to let me out of here. I feel like some exotic animal being put on display.

---

I remind myself for what feels like the tenth time not to worry about Cross. Elma and Lin had reassured me that he was fine and in his usual high, if not whimsical, spirits.

That should put me at ease, but I'm still not used to how robust these Mimeosomes appear to be. Any ordinary being that had taken the injuries Cross suffered would have been long dead, and yet hardly a day later he' supposedly healed with no injuries.

Perhaps 'healed' is the wrong word.

I glance towards where Mia is showing Julun and Vi pictures of the original Los Angeles and sigh. It'd be easier if I could relax like they could, but I can't seem to compose myself enough to do so.

It had been a harrowing thing, getting back to NLA. With Cross's body slowly fading we had initially worried that he would die before help would arrive, but an NLA transport had been in the area and arrived within twenty minutes. What happened afterwards was something of a daze as exhaustion and anxiety finally caught up to me.

my next clearest memory was of Rock practically fainting in relief as I walked off the transport with everyone else, while Cross was rushed to the Repair Center. Rock had carried me to our quarters in the Industrial District where I had practically fainted on my bed and slept solidly for the next ten hours.

Once I woke up I had left a message for Rock who was at work and immediately met up with the others to wait at the Mim Repair Center for any news.

"Hey Celica try to relax a little would yah? They said the Chief's gonna be just fine, so he's gonna be just fine! You always said you wanted to see photos of my home, I just got ahold of them not too long ago! Believe it or not it was Yelv of all people who got them from a piece of the White Whale a few weeks back. Take a seat girl!"

I sigh and do as she says. Mia's right anyway. I'm not accomplishing anything useful by stressing needlessly. I sit next to the three of them and listen to Mia's explanation.

"And this right here is Griffith Park, my personal favorite. Kinda cliché, I know, going for the most well known and popular park and all. Or maybe you three wouldn't know actually. Never mind I said that then. So what do you think guys? Cool or what?"

She flips through several images of what she likes to call 'selfies' and a wave of nostalgia drags a smile out of me. The scenery reminds me very much of home, with it's vast forests interspersed with villages and the occasional city.

Vi and Julun also seem intrigued by Mia's commentary.

"It's strange, to see an entirely different planet home to a different people, and yet feel a sense of familiarity with it."

Julun lightly punches him on the arm and amusedly says, "That is what Prone like to call 'kinsmanship'. For one so clever, you can almost be as blockheaded as Cross."

I can't help but laugh at Julun's commentary.

"Julun, you said you spent most of your childhood underground correct? Doesn't this world and city seem, well, alien to you?"

Mia chimes in with, "Yah no kidding! If I'd spent most of my life growing up in enclosed spaces and was then suddenly thrust into this place I can't help but feel like I'd be suffering a mad case of agoraphobia."

Vi lightly chuckles and says, "Who's to say she is not mad?"

"Har har. Very funny Wrothian. But valid point nonetheless. When we first arrived at this world I was indeed apprehensive. But training and discipline helped, and now I barely notice."

I nod in understanding, but Mia then hesitatingly asks, "Er Julun? If you don't mind me asking, how did you end up with the Ganglion anyway? And what made you ditch em' when you had the chance?"

Julun simply shrugs.

"Had little choice. Prone children of poor families are offered choice. Either become warrior, become expendable labor, or become…I think closest human analogy is, 'Pleasure slave'? I chose to become warrior, and count myself lucky beyond description to have been under command of Captain Slovity. She inspired many of us to leave rotten Ganglion service. And now here I am."

I feel a bitter taste in my mouth at Julun's mention of 'pleasure slave'. After Rock and I's escape from the Ganglion we once had the misfortune to see what happens to those who resist and defy the Ganglion. I often wish I could forget what happened to the women being taken prisoner, it's not something that bears description. Needless to say I can understand Julun's choice.

Vi clasps her on the shoulder and Mia smiles.

"Well whatever happened in the past I can happily say that right now, I'm a very happy lady to have you on the team Julun. And I guarantee you the Chief feels the same way."

We all go silent for a moment, no doubt thinking the same thing. While we likely wouldn't say it to his face, on account of his snarkiness, there's no doubt in our minds that Cross is something along the lines of the binding force that holds the squad together. Not to say that I couldn't have been good friends with Julun or Vi had we never been in the same squad, but Cross's personality and quiet charisma brought us total strangers together faster than I would have ever believed.

His seemingly effortless ability to lead was the guiding force for us in the early weeks. He was never afraid to play the fool for our amusement, seemingly switching between professional and irreverent at the drop of a hat. Perhaps most impressive was that he never coddled or kept things from us. He encouraged us to play to our individual strengths and always answered any questions we might have had as completely as he could.

It wasn't until our recent mission to Sylvalum, however, that we finally realized just how much he cares about us not just as comrades, but as friends. The four of us were tired and slowly losing confidence in our odds of survival, until he reminded us that there was something here in NLA worth coming back to. Never mind that he somehow noticed the injuries Vi and I were hiding, all while serving as our vanguard during the hours of constant ambush.

I can't help but give a wry grin. For a man missing memories of most of his life he's quite the impressive talent.

Julun looks back towards the Mim center and says, "Speaking of cave-mad leader, should he not be out by now?"

Mia rolls her eyes.

"Knowing the Chief he probably got distracted talking to one of the Mim techs. Give the goof some time."

"I find it strange how the Lieutenant-er, I mean Cross, can so easily talk to total strangers. Has he always been able to do that?"

Mia turns a sly grin on him.

"Finally decided to start calling him by his name huh?"

He shrugs rather sheepishly.

"Well he asked right before passing out. I can't exactly refuse him now can I?"

"Fair enough. And yah, Elma and Lin said that when he first came to NLA he could hold a conversation with anyone no problem. The lack of knowledge about Earth media hurt him a bit, but apparently not so much that he couldn't communicate with anyone. And speaking of King Doofus here he comes now. Told you he would be talking it up with one of the guys who work here."

I look at the entrance to the center and sure enough he's animatedly talking to a bored looking employee of the Repair Center. I feel a sudden surge of relief go through my chest and exhale a breath I wasn't aware I was holding in. Certainly, I knew that he was in no danger, additionally both Elma and Lin had said he was fine…but as the Human saying goes, 'seeing is believing'.

The tech cuts Cross off and hands him something before turning around and heading back inside. An exasperated look appears on his face he turns around and sees us. Getting a goofy grin he starts across the street towards us and we rush towards him.

---

I smile as I see my team all in one piece and moving towards me in a rush. I'm a little surprised at how good it feels to see them, even though by my count we've only been apart thirty minutes or so of conscious time, and probably only a day of unconscious time. Well whatever. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.

"Guess who's back from the dead guys!"

I'm kept from seeing the results of my little joke as Celica violently hugs me, knocking the wind out of me and shutting me right up.

"That is not funny you insensitive fool."

I look around at the others for help but they just grin maliciously at me. I can hear Mia whisper to the others, "He kinda looks like a yelled at puppy don't yah think?"

Trying to gather the shreds of my dignity I awkwardly pat Celica on the back and say, "Um…I'm back?"

Mia rolls her eyes in disgust and says, "Let the idiot go Celica, he's never gonna be able to dig himself out of this one on his own."

Normally I'd snap something right back at Mia, but I think she may be right that I have no clue how to extricate myself from this unknown minefield I seem to have stepped into.

Finally letting go Celica steps back and looks at me with a pissed off look on her face.

"Never do something like that again."

I sheepishly smile and reply, "Well…I'll try not to?"

"Well good enough I suppose."

She loses her annoyed look and finally smiles. I heave an inward sigh of relief and turn to everyone else.

"You guys weren't waiting too long were you?"

Julun shrugs.

"Couple hours. Perhaps less?"

"And that's a few hours too many. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that you guys care but for crying out loud. You all still look dead on your feet. Go home and get some rest. HQ gave us two days downtime, so don't worry about any emergency calls or anything. I'll send a message out later and we'll meet up somewhere to talk. And preferably eat. You guys did a Hell of a job out there, so I'm buying."

That gets a few tired smiles from everyone.

Julun stretches and yawns.

"I will take you up on that offer. Glad to see you in one piece Cross, we will talk later."

"Count on it."

"Then I shall take my leave as well Lieuten-er…I mean Cross."

A massive smile crawls across my face.

"Finally got you to say it huh? And all it took was me getting the crap kicked out of me."

He shyly grins and says, "It will take some getting used to."

"I promise to respect your effort."

I clasp him on the shoulder with a real sense of camaraderie.

"Get some rest pal, you earned it."

He and Julun head off leaving only Celica and Mia behind. Mia pointedly turns away and casually whistles to herself, not so subtly implying that she has temporary deafness.

"So uh…I just realized I should stop saying 'uh' all the time. It breaks the image of a sardonic kidder I've built up over the past year."

She chuckles and teasingly says, "Imagine how speechless you'd be left if I told everyone all it took to subdue you was an angry look."

"Please don't. A guy has to have some dignity among the few friends he's got."

"Well since you asked so nicely…"

I smile in return and say, "Shouldn't you be going somewhere right now? Like a soft bed or something along those lines? Heck, Rock's probably worried about you."

"You raise a valid point," she concedes tiredly, "I suppose I should try to rest now. But I'll have you know Rock was just as worried about you as he was me once we got back."

"Sheesh, he takes after you with all the worrying about everyone all the time."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

I sigh.

"Of course you would. Now quit wasting your time with me and go get some rest. I'll make it an order if I have to."

"If you insist, lieutenant."

I shiver as she says that.

"Oof. Please don't call me that. It was bad enough hearing it from Vi, from you it's just plain creepy."

She lightly laughs and turns to leave before seemingly hesitating for a moment. There's an awkward pause and I decide to gather my courage before gently hugging her in return.

"I'll see you later today. All jokes aside, I do want you to try to relax a little. Not as a coworker or superior officer, but as a friend."

"No fair asking like that." she mutters in response.

I let her go and she heads off towards the I.D.

I give a small sigh of relief that everyone is finally seeming to calm down and turn back to Mia. I recoil slightly as she's looking at me with an intensity that could melt armor plating.

"Don't tell me you're mad about something as well?"

She explosively sighs.

"You're gonna turn my hair grey one of these days Chief. How can you be so damned-oh forget it, I can't even go into detail right now."

"Did you hit your head or something while I was gone?"

"No, but I certainly feel like smashing it against something now."

She blows out a breath and then smiles.

"Ok all better now. Yelling at you is strangely therapeutic Chief."

"All it costs is my own sanity. Seriously, what where you all up in arms about?"

"Ah don't worry about it. I can tell you later. Remind me later tonight to tell you about it."

"Well if you say so. Also real talk for a moment, how's everyone holding up? I trust you of all people to be frank with me."

"Oh, well shucks Chief, didn't know you rated me that highly."

I roll my eyes.

"We insult each other practically every other sentence Mia, I think that speaks to a pretty high level of friendship and trust."

"Heh, or we just hate each other's guts."

"Don't kill the mood."

"Right, right. But back to what you were asking, I think we're all in decent shape considering everything that happened. Your call to have everyone take a few hours off is just what the Doctor ordered."

I sigh in relief.

"Glad I did so then. That said how you holding up?"

She flexes and gives a massive smile.

"Mim body Chief. I got a little shut eye and now I'm back to one-hundred percent. No need to worry about little old Mia."

"Physically a least. The mental part always struck me as a little unstable."

She sticks out her tongue at me and then excitedly says, "Oh, Chief guess what? Yelv found a bunch new White Whale data pods, and guess what was on them? My old photo album of back home!"

I feel my eyes widen.

"Get out. You finally got them? Let me see!"

She maliciously grins and says, "Nuh uh Chief. We're looking at these as a team later tonight."

I scowl.

"Way to kill my excitement jerk. Wait. That was probably your plan all along wasn't it?"

"Heh heh, score one for Mia."

I resist the urge to snatch her her comm device away while she's busy gloating and instead decide to laugh alongside her.

If you can't beat them, join them.

---

The mood in the conference room was…subdued, to say the least.

A less charitable person might say it was depressed.

Chausson scowled as he looked over the final butchers bill. While he would never pretend to be a military man, he had spent enough time working with Vandham and Nagi to understand the basics of military strategy and supply.

And this was a hefty blow indeed.

Ten Skells either destroyed or captured by the enemy, as well as some sixty-three BLADEs KIA, with all of their equipment currently unretrievable. Jack had, in his usual colorful way, described it as an, 'unmitigated clusterfuck of a disaster'.

He laid down the report and looked around the table to see how the others were taking the news.

He would say Eleanora looked unaffected if it weren't for the rigid set to her mouth, as if she was clenching her jaw.

Vandham was much easier to read, having an enormous scowl on his face as he tabbed through page after page of data.

Nagi appeared to be keeping it together, but Chausson noted that his grip on the data pad he was looking at was rather unyielding.

Startled out of his observation by Vandham throwing aside his view screen and heaving an explosive sigh, Chausson tried to think of some solution to the bleak new situation they were in but couldn't come up with anything.

Vandham bitterly spoke up with, "Well, we royally screwed the pooch on that one. And a couple dozen BLADEs got to pay the price."

Eleanora replied with, "While I agree with you that we were overconfident of our ability to engage the Ganglion on even footing, now isn't the time to be despondent Commander. The rest of BLADE is apprehensive and waiting for a clear voice to give orders. Feeling sorry for and berating ourselves can come after."

Chausson gave an inaudible sigh. Eleanora was rarely the one who had to blow sunshine in their ears, and it was a good benchmark of how bad the situation was when she did.

Nagi looked up from his screen and said, "Well I think it's obvious we can't just land a force in Sylvalum and expect things to go well. With the Ganglion this prepared any troops would quickly find themselves surrounded with no backup."

Jack gives a thoughtful nod.

"So we're going with the island hopping strategy then?"

"I feel that's the safest and most effective strategy we have available to us right now. This way we can keep travel between the city and the frontline open and keep our forces largely safe from ambush."

Chausson couldn't help but give a smile at the name of their strategy. Back in World War II 'island hopping' had been the strategy used by the U.S forces to combat Japan.

After the Japanese had proven that taking over every island one at a time would prove to be an incredibly costly and bloody exercise, the U.S. forces had instead elected to invade strategically important islands, and leave the rest isolated or cut off from reinforcements.

Chausson was smiling because while their strategy was fundamentally similar to the one nearly a century ago, it had one key distinction.

While the age old U.S. forces had largely avoided the numerous enemy held islands, the Human and Ganglion presence on Mira was astoundingly small all things considered. The plan of invading only strategically placed islands was humorous because the only 'strategic' islands were the three places where the Ganglion had set up shop.

Rather than avoiding the enemy, NLA forces would be actively searching for them. The rest of the surrounding landmasses were far too numerous for the Ganglion to occupy given their numbers.

"Then I shall prepare to let the arms manufacturers and the citizenry know what will be required of them."

Staying quiet for a moment he then added, "This next battle has to be a win gentleman. Morale across the city is low after our last operation. This is the first time in months we've had such a large loss of personnel in one go. People need some good news."

Nagi confidently nods.

"We'll give it to them Maurice. Count on it."

His part of the discussion over Maurice stood to leave until Vandham suddenly interrupted with, "Hold on a minute, we still have something to talk about."

"And what would that be Jack?"

"It's about a certain BLADE who almost punched his ticket taking on an undiscovered Tyrant in order to get his team out of a Ganglion ambush. Who, I might add, not only succeeded but also brought back useful information regarding the circumstances of the attack and mapped out a decent chunk of Sylvalum's underground passageways. It's high time we informed the kid of his past, people, and you should know it."

Chausson stiffened at Vandham's words, hoping yet again to avoid that particular topic. He gave an inward sigh at his cowardice in trying to avoid the issue and then faced towards the other three.

"And just what do you propose Jack? Are we to tell him the whole truth? Just part of it?"

"Easy. All of it. And we let him tell whoever he trusts."

There's a short pause before Eleanora speaks up with, "Commander, we've stated our feelings on this matter many times. I doubt we need a recap. But perhaps you can explain to me why you think letting the whole city know about this matter is a good idea?"

"Because I had a bit of a brainstorm the other day. You and Maurice here don't have anything to do with Cross's backstory. His whole situation is Nagi and myself's fault."

Nagi sits back for a moment before smiling.

"That's actually quite clever Jack."

"That's why I get paid the big bucks."

"Wait just a moment Jack. How in Earths name does putting the responsibility for what was done to him on your shoulders make this easier?"

"Well no offense Maurice but most BLADEs wouldn't be all that likely to forgive you if they find out you had a hand in keeping this kind of a secret from our mascot. While there'll be some animosity and mistrust towards Nagi and myself, I'm willing to bet it won't be anything we can't handle."

Frowning Chausson nods. It was a sound, if somewhat morbid decision.

"And so why am I specifically excluded Commander? Don't trust me to play along with the rest of you?"

Vandham scowls and tersely replies, "Because more than a thousand BLADEs rely on you for everyday assistance and advice. If word gets out that you willingly took part in deceiving one of our top operatives, I bet quite a few of your everyday customers are going to be way more tense and wary around you. That's not something we can afford right now."

"Then why are you so determined to go through with this? Why so fixated on taking a risk we need not even worry about?" she says very quietly but intensely.

Oddly enough it's Nagi who replies.

"Because it may very well become something we need to worry about. We've presented this argument to you before Eleanora. With so many wanting to know more about the boy's past it will eventually come to light that something is amiss. And what if one day Cross decides he wants to find out his history for himself? We have been lucky, Eleanora. He has so far displayed very little drive to find out more about himself apart from some half-hearted investigations, but what if that changes one day? Do we directly lie to him? And what if that lie is exposed? Do we want him to view us enemies who have actively tried, and succeeded, to exploit his abilities?"

He stops to take a breath and says very quietly, "Or as allies who, despite the risk that the truth may bring about, were willing to believe in him and confide in him?"

Eleanora looks as if she bit into something sour.

"I'll concede that you have a point. Time isn't on our side. But I still maintain that we should wait until our fight with the Ganglion is over before telling him."

Nagi nods in understanding while Vandham violently scowls. All three of them then turned towards the Director General, expectation evident on their faces.

"Well Maurice?" Nagi said with an intense look on his face.

"You have the deciding vote here. What is your decision?"

Heaving a sigh Chausson averted his eyes towards the door for a few seconds before answering.

"…I agree with Nagi and Vandham. We should inform Cross of his past."

Eleanora doesn't quite manage to hide her shock, while Nagi and Vandham simultaneously smile.

Turning towards Eleanora he quietly said, "I understand your reservations, but I no longer feel it's right to keep something this important from the poor man. And if he takes the news badly? Well…at least we can deal with that now, and not have to suddenly react later."

Still clearly not in agreement, Eleanora nonetheless nods her head and replies, "I agree to this decision and support it. I'll hope that my worries turn out to be baseless."

She meets their eyes one-by-one.

"Because if they aren't we've just created a very, very dangerous enemy for ourselves."