Unknown Flint Mountain Range
August 18, 2558
Conan Pyra saw the Ballista rain down death from her minigun on her side. In response, the pirates all began retreating, across the camp towards the area where the remaining phantom was docked. The scene of so many grey armored beings sprinting across the top reminded him of fleeing rats.
He had tossed a grenade, blowing two of the armored pirates to hell when suddenly to his left, what he thought of a corpse suddenly animated to life. The skirmisher kicked his BR85 rifle out of his grip and tried to stab a wicked purple knife into his chest. With swift movements only capable of a Spartan, he had blocked the fatal thrust, twisting the arm to give himself enough time to place his sidearm's barrel squarely into the helmet's center. Trip's shotgun lay ahead, down in the dirt on top of another skirmisher, whose skull had caved in when he had thrown the empty weapon.
"It seems that the PMCs are still holding out very hard." Aegis said over the open broadcast channel that the team shared, "Now that the lines have thinned out a little, Drew give them a chance to surrender with a promise of a ride out of here."
"And if they don't agree?" Drew asked, partially concerned.
"Then tell Riley that he only needs to hold the trigger for half a second."
Vasili knew that he was never going to be able to catch Nex Fel. Hunger now started to seriously chip away at his energy and he now found himself nearly gasping for air in a situation where he normally would be hardly panting. Looking back, he saw the worst of the battle behind him. Flashes of multicolored lights zigzagged across the air as the newly arrived Blades began hammering both parties. All in the midst of the chaos, he spotted a figure sprinting in his direction. There was no mistake in the speed and fashion that it was Aegis.
Nex had been heading closer to his phantom when Vasili broke off his chase and instead headed towards the back side of the loading bays. Every time he had to jump over an obstacle, the carbine slammed against his open skin, reminiscent of getting punched. The shock rattled his bones when he ran further, barely out of getting burns when a nearby drum of plasma exploded.
Nex was about to activate the phantom's gravity lift when he suddenly saw more plasma drums seem to rain from above. Vasili had climbed the overwatch tower with every ounce of strength he could muster and pushed the volatile material down onto the craft. The pirate lord looked straight into his own eyes when Suvorov's gave a smug sense of superiority. He quickly aimed at the closest one to the skirmisher and fired the two of the last three shots in the gun.
Plasma spewed everywhere as it ignited in a massive fireball that plumed nearly a hundred feet into the air. Overhead, the netting that previously was used to cover the entire encampment began dissolving, as the flammable material was eaten by the hot plasma. The phantom was among the wreckage, being licked at by the flames.
Nex Fel stirred from his spot in the rubble, looking in horror as his last chance of escape gone. With a look of pure rage, he regarded Vasili for the first time. He must have figured that maybe another ride was down back on the other side of the camp. The Spartan however was quicker, snapping the carbine's sights up and firing the last bullet.
A spray of blood came from Nex's torso, causing him to stumble and nearly fall. Although wounded, Nex was abnormally large for his species and having spent years of being in combat, he was able to tolerate a sizeable amount of punishment. Vasili charged in a shoulder barge, crashing into the skirmisher and sending them tumbling in the sand. Fel let out a sharp screech from getting the fine particles in his eyes while Suvorov wordlessly wiped away anything that was in his face.
"You're going to pay for that." He snarled, goading Vasili to hit him again. His stance opened up as he spread his hands in defense for what the Spartan had next.
"I wouldn't bank on it." Vasili's accent somewhat stunned Fel and he took that to his full advantage. He whipped the stock of the carbine at Fel's head that avoided it just in time, but gave Vasili the window to throw a carefully planned punch in the center of Fel's armor. His fist began throbbing as pain finally was registered in his mind, but the center chestpiece of the suit had broken.
Fel immediately unsheathed some concealed blades in his forearm suit and swung with vicious force, had Vasili not avoided in time, the sharp blow would have taken his head off. He was unable to stop Fel from driving the blade into his left arm, which a feather of body fluids exploded from. Vasili grunted in pain, watching as the blood began trickling down his hand when he started going down, reaching out at the last second, he snatched Fel's leg, sweeping the kig-yar and pulling him down with him. The feeling on falling down a pit of sorts slightly dawned on him. To his horror, he was in an empty pit for mercury. He had fallen down a smooth wall that was in a vat for storage of one of the most savage poisons known to mankind.
He must have known what he had planned as both the pirate lord and Spartan began their painful climb out. The cut in his arm hampered any progress that Vasili had made to escape, but fortunately for him, Nex Fel hadn't had much success either.
The skirmisher saw Vasili reaching for the nearest bar when he jumped over, using his teeth to try and bite his leg. Vasili let out a cry of pain, rapidly pounding his foot on the wall to dislodge them. Suddenly he found himself dipping down again; he had just unknowingly twisted the valve for the mercury flow. The bottom started to pool of a silvery liquid when Vasili had hauled himself out. Right behind him was Fel, trying to use his impressive leg strength to escape. It wasn't enough however, every time he fell back; he splashed inside the growing puddle. Vasili had twisted the valve some more when Fel managed to use his sharp claws to finally get a grip on the side. He was on him instantly, slugging his jaws with his good fist, watching as two razor teeth exploded out of his mouth along with a saliva and purple blood. With an outraged cry, Vasili wrapped the sling of his carbine that lay nearby around Fel's neck, giving him some more nasty blows before throwing the empty weapon back into the deep pool.
The weapon, although empty weighed fifteen pounds and that combined with Fel's weakened body were enough to keep him on the bottom. Vasili watched without expression as the notorious pirate leader began going into convulsions, thrashing as he fought a losing battle against the dense weight of the carbine. Finally after thirty seconds, he had disappeared into the drink and when it reached a minute, the unforgiving mercury reservoir was now still, as if nobody had ever thrown in a body to begin with.
"That's now on my top ten ways of avoiding death."
Vasili spun around, half collapsing into the arms of Aegis. "Where the hell were you guys?! For a second, I thought I had to take all these cronies all by myself!"
"And deny us a portion of the glory? Those skirmishers were either killed or fled for good." Although he couldn't see past the Solar colored visor of Trip's Air Assault helmet, he knew he was grinning. "Nex Fel?"
"Wanted me to take him for swimming lessons." He nodded at the full tub of mercury.
"Any idea where Weld could be?"
"No idea."
"That saves us the trouble."
"Sorry?"
Trip allowed Vasili to slip an arm around him as they exited the processing area out to the landing pad. A flare was ignited and immediately Drew began ordering a pelican ready for retrieval.
"As I was saying before, unless all this gold is examined and stamped by an official mint, it's completely devoid of any value. Nobody would touch it. So before Weld or whoever could even put this genocidal scheme together, he must have already been in contact with someone willing to buy it all from him. Someone who obviously was his partner in crime."
"I don't have any clue who it might be."
"Relax my friend." Trip assured him as the pelican descended with Sofia in her armor and another medic. "We'll find the greedy bastard."
"Beach secure Commander!" Conan Pyra told him over the radio, "The PMCs agreed to surrender for extraction."
"Time for us to leave before that storm hits." Trip looked skyward as the Ballista moved closer to the camp. All around them, hundreds of workers that had hid amongst the fighting had now materialized out of wherever they had been hiding. "All of us."
None of the slaves looked back at the camp as the Flint government forces had arrived for extraction. Nearly a hundred dropships were shuttling them to the nearby towns for treating. The process was chaotic, as some slaves were milling about. Although slow, it made progress as the rescue crews processed all slaves into sustainable health conditions, feeding actual food, water and plenty of rest. They had set up another camp right outside the prison one and the line of workers seemed to solidify from the densely packed crowd.
In the distance above, Trip watched for a few more seconds when two more dropships carried off their loads of slaves before heading back. He crossed into the hangar where everyone awaited his arrival, the two pelicans were now settling down with an enormous crimson colored container in between them. He scanned the crowd, noting that Adrian was absent. Francois had appeared out of nowhere beside him, carrying bottles of champagne and enough crystal flutes for everybody.
There was a popping sound as Hamed and Wheeler decided to sprinkle the fizzy bottles over everyone.
"These two decided to look at their Christmas present early." Aegis shouted over the cheering. "However, I guess everyone should know by now."
He grasped one side door of the container, using his armor's enhanced strength to pull back. The inside glow illuminated the entire hangar in a brilliant yellow sheen.
Aegis lifted one of the newly formed gold bars over his head, all while the Blades' entire crew let out their loudest victory cry yet.
I'm so glad! The story is finally finished! Still, there are many unanswered questions going through your head; What about Weld? What about the gold? Why is Meredith absent at the victory party?
Epilogue will tell what all happens in the end.