AN: Howdy, here's another chapter, sorry that this one is short. Sorry that all the chapters are short. I'll try to get my word count up. Any ways, um, enjoy!
Himalayan Mountains, Earth
Commander Shepard, and her Blue haired Blue eyed companion had just left the complex. They'd reached the surface. They'd wandered into a snowstorm. They'd wandered into what was supposed to be an ambush.
"I Can't see a damn-"
The Blue haired Sailor tackled Shepard. Where Shepard had been there was now a steadily expanding ball of eldritch flame.
"Sorcerer", hissed the blue eyed young woman.
It was supposed to be an Ambush. Planned by the sanest, as in not totally gibbering mad, members of the Rapine storm operating in the area. However, some one else had crashed the party.
"WRRRRRRRYYYYYY!"
"What the hell was that?", asked Shepard.
"Friendly forces", responded the blue haired woman.
"KILL THEM ALL!"
"Was that?"
"Yes", responded the blue haired woman yet again.
There was a low shuddering boom. And a head, a heavily tattooed head, landed right in front of them. Close enough for them to see it through the snowstorm.
"That's the sorcerer"
A Blood stained figure shuffled towards them. They were hunched down, covered in camouflaged garb, and they had a long cloak.
"Who are you?" hissed the figure. They had an accent, like Tali, so in spite of the present circumstances Shepard took an immediate liking to them.
"I am the thoughts, memories, and hope of Sailor Mercury. This is the Commander. They're a Chimera, a stable Chimera, and unless you take us to Crystal Tokyo an terror that has possessed my body will fully awaken"
"So neither of you are undead?" asked the figure with a feral grin.
"We are not revenants", responded the blue haired woman.
"I like you then."
"Nashwa! What did you find?", called a voice through the storm.
"One conjured entity. One Chimera. Both, currently, non hostile!"
The sharp grin of the figure expanded, "Do you have sisters?"
The Blue haired woman and the Commander both shook their heads. The figure laughed.
"Knowing that, I still like you. So if I have to kill you. I'll stab you in the face. Not in the back. And if you survive that . . . I'll burn you to death", explained the figure. As if it were some kind of compliment.
"She pretty much just proposed to you", whispered the blue haired woman.
"Oh", said Shepard, "Well I'm flattered. But I kind of have some one waiting for me back home"
"Picture?" inquired the figure.
"I don't have one on me"
The figure grunted, "My partner is at camp. I will show you. If we survive the trip"
"If we survive?"
The Snowstorm intensified. So the blue haired woman had to scream her explanation to Shepard over the howling winds.
"ALL OF THE LOCAL BASES HAVE BEEN OVER RUN. CLOSEST SECURE BASE IS IN GOBI DESERT. FRIENDLY FORCES PROBABLY FROM GOBI DESERT, LOTS OF ENEMY IN AREA!"
"OKAY!" screamed back the Commander.
The storm continued to intensify overhead, only for it to suddenly abate. It just stopped. When the snow stopped falling, when the wind ceased it's roaring, Shepard and the Blue haired woman found their feat.
Bodies were scattered here and their. Slumped in the snow. Or cast against a jagged rock. Bits and pieces of flesh stuck out from the white and black expanse. They lent some extra color to the scene that lay before them.
Some of the hands, feet, and stumps of tissue stuck out at strange angles. They bore some resemblance to new plants bursting free from the soil. Turned this way or that way in search of the sun.
" The Ember will pick us up soon. Then we can hit this place with Napalm. Burn the bodies. It's the only way to be sure"
"Sure of what?", asked the Commander.
The Cloaked figure bared her teeth.
"Sure they won't get back up. If you shoot the heads, if you aim for the limbs, or deliver massive trauma to their central mass then they still get back up. Burn them. You have to burn them"
"It doesn't look like they'll be getting up any time soon"
Hot tears were rushing down the face of the cloaked figure. "You have to burn them. You have to otherwise they- they"
"Hey, its okay", said the Commander, "if they do get back up then we'll just kill them again. All right. Listen, it's going to be okay"
"You sound just like him", sniffled the camouflaged figure, "my first partner. I thought that I could save him. I was wrong. I had to kill them eight times. Then I learned. You have to burn the bodies"
The figure smiled, and said something else. Their was voice was covered up by the sound of propellers spinning. The sound made by a large craft getting closer. When the cloaked figure spotted it, she stopped smiling. But, she didn't look unhappy. She looked . . . relieved.
Shepard, Shepard didn't look relieved. The good Commander was amused. Because the craft veering towards them looked like a nightmarish mish mass of an Kodiak, a Gunship, an a Tomkah, and no less then 8 ancient looking propellers. Also it looked like some one had strapped 4 over sized missiles beneath each of the vehicles wings. The thing careened towards them with all the subtly of a flaming Krogan.
However, when it was right above them the turbo props cut out and the thing started to hover. Shepard initially balked at this. Then she noticed that the thing was built around a centrally mounted duct fan propeller. In other word they put a big powerful spiny thing in the middle of it so that the Franken craft could float above the LZ. It was a neat design feature. But Shepard knew that a well-placed rocket could take out that centrally mounted duct fan propeller, which would make the Craft plummet like a rock.
Why would any sane designer permit a Structural Weakness like that?
#
Anami Research Facility, Mars
"I have this! Word from the front line troops, telling us exactly what they need to fight these Serenity damned wars!"
The scientists and technicians looked up. Had he gotten in again? They could have sworn that they put a new combination on the- ah; it would appear that he'd leapt in through a broken window.
"Commodore Rotmistrov, we did not expect you back so soon! And what's this you are handing me, a note? A note that says Fire on it, I see Commodore. We'll make these changes-"
"Right this very moment!"
"Of course Commodore"
"Because this is what the troops on the ground want. What they need. You aren't second-guessing them are you? Do you think that you know better?"
"No, of course not" responded the scientist who had spent 10 years of her life fighting on the front lines.
"Are you second guessing me?"
"Mmmm- I would never"
"That's what I thought. I'll review your new designs in 4 weeks time. Keep up the good work"
The scientist watched the Commodore swagger away, leap up, and crawl through the shattered window from whence he came. That window was supposed to be Wyvern proof!
"How are we supposed to add more Fire to the Ember?"
The borderline alcoholic scientist turned towards her peer, and she felt some small part of her die.
"We'll have to delay our safety improvements. And use the space to install two more flamethrowers. Unless he barges in with more requests we should still be able to add in a self-sealing fuel tank by the end of the month. We'll just have to make it more compact. We'll just have to work very very hard"
"But we're always working hard!"
"I know Asya. I know".
#
Gobi Desert, Earth
The sun was going down. The Marian ember had just landed back at the base. Its ramp went down. Its semi-expendable cargo disgorged. Most of the Skraeja clambered to their respective hootches, and the Lady of fire headed off to her chambers. Also of course Ora's partner went with her.
Malivnosky purposefully left the written report in the Ember for some one else to pick up and deliver, Nashwa was suddenly very tired, and that left everything up to Skraeja Mal.
She happily snatched up the report, and thought to herself that by delivering it to the leader she would gain some honor. Because, that is how it works.
Mal also greedily held onto the hand of the tall guest known as the commander. Having such an impressively massive worrier in her hootch would make all the other Skraeja jealous. They'd be jealous of her.
They always made fun of her for not having a partner. But, since she didn't have a partner there was room for the big one. There would be room for the cold one too. This was perfect. She'd deliver the report in the morning. She'd sleep with the tall one tonight. Everything would be perfect. Everyone would be jealous!
"Please, come with me, I will show you to your quarters"
Skraeja Mal's lips parted to reveal her very sharp teeth. Martians had sharp teeth. But she had the sharpest teeth here. Surely her teeth, and her impressive natural fitness would impress this commander.
At the academy they called those two things her redeeming features. Well, if they could redeem her then surely they could impress the tall one.
"Commander, how many people have you killed? I bet that you've killed a lot"
"If you count the destruction of the Bahak system then I've killed over half a million"
"You must be a true worrier then. To have killed that many"
"I did what I had to"
"There's no need to be humble commander. You can boast about your great deeds. I don't mind"
The last part of that sentence, where she mentioned that she didn't mind, she'd picked that up from Venesians. Mal heard that it made you sound sensitive. She heard that most sentient beings liked it when you were sensitive. Although . . . it looked like the Commander was not happy with her statement. So she tried to reassure them of their martial prowess by saying-
"I can tell that you are a killer Commander. Just like me."
This Commanders expression continued to darken. Mal couldn't figure out why they were acting so weird. All of her sisters liked it when she complimented them.
"Maybe you're right", the tall handsome one suddenly admitted.
The tall ones armored body shifted. They walked effortlessly into the night. Their grip on her hand intensified. And they repeated those beautiful, powerful words, in a gruff distant voice. Which told her that they weren't really here. They were visiting the ghosts of past battles. Like all the old veterans did.
"Maybe you are right"