Dang formatting... Some italics didn't get through right in the previous chapters, so hopefully things won't be too confusing here. Oh well.
Let the Abydos Arc commence!
Chapter 5: Alpha Mission
It took hours to reach Abydos. The helicopter ride there made me feel the city's size more than any numbered measurement or picture on a map. Seeing white concrete and a clean urban city slowly give way to abandoned houses engulfed by desert sands was a foreboding contrast.
The GSC-appointed student flying my helicopter was silent upon our approach. Covered as she was head to toe in a helmet, uniform and rebreather goggles, I didn't get to see much of her save for her halo: Another double circular pattern, with four rectangles within the inner circle connecting a central dot in the middle. If those were supposed to represent helicopter blades, then that was abstractly prescient.
My pilot was a little more open at the start of the flight as I learned that she would probably be my pilot for SCHALE anytime I tried calling for a copter. I thought about building up a relationship with her, if only to prevent awkwardness, and engaged in some conversation.
And then I asked her when was the last time she went to Abydos, and she shut up. She didn't talk much after that.
Making things even more awkward, due to the potentially hot LZ within the radius of the academy, I was to be set down about 5 kloms away. Very inconvenient given the cargo I brought with me, but with the picture being painted of the situation, I refrained from comment, rolled with the punches and simply let my mind wander.
I had much to think about Abydos and the students of the FTF. One of them in particular, especially with her favored weapons. But she was just one issue among many.
Eventually, we touched down in an empty, sandblasted neighborhood, the desert dust everpresent across every street and house. The sands were already an unpleasant sign of potential sandstorms. We could use those to our advantage, but the utter lack of people disturbed me. If the siege upon the academy was so bad that people abandoned their homes, I was not going to be in for a pleasant time.
I unloaded the cargo from the inside, feeling very displeased about the whole thing. I was supposed to cart this assortment of medical and ammunition supplies to Abydos five kloms away and simply pray to the Emperor that I wouldn't be ambushed by some gangers on the way there.
When the pilot asked if it was OK for her to leave, I gave her a pleasant smile that had the very much intended effect of sending a chill down her spine. I was gratified to note that I could see that reaction even under layers of life support and protection.
"There are no problems between us, miss. I will have words with your superiors soon enough."
She seemed to have felt more crushing pressure from hearing my simple words than flying me all the way here, but I didn't particularly care for that. She was dusting off back to the GSC. I was left to pick up the pieces here.
The copter's blades spun and blew the usual winds of liftoff, a rare spot of cooling in this desert, and then flew away, leaving me alone with the cargo.
I sighed. That was enough of future endeavors. I had this particular farce to deal with right now.
I was about to take a look at my smartphone to begin making my way to the school, when my palms suddenly tingled. A strange wave of nausea slammed into me. I didn't feel any dizziness or significant discomfort for the entire flight, so what was this? Was it the heat? Was the need to vomit hitting me all at once? What was going on?
"What's wrong?"
Horror gripped my entire being at the soft voice, even seizing upon my throat like a vise and leaving me unable to breathe. Memories of the Tomb World under Simia Orichalcae, with necron pariahs engulfing my soul with primal terror, surged through my panicking brain. My head shot up in abject alarm to see who was coming.
It was a young woman girl looking at me with regret concern. Her long, flowing short, simple silver hair, kept out of her dichromatic pupils (black on the right, white on the left, with both irises blue) by an azure cross-shaped hair pin, framed her face as the rain poured sun shined down on her from above. The abhuman ears of a silver wolf stood tall atop her head, completely still shaking slightly as she came upon me. Above that, a fragmented, black simple blue halo in the form of a crosshair crowned her head. As she stood above me, her elegant, lifeless ebon gown black uniform and blue scarf made her the very picture of a harbinger of death normal student.
She held a gun to my head bare, compassionate hand out to me, her other gloved hand grasping the handle bars of her bike.
"Are you OK? Let me help you up."
For some reason I couldn't possibly fathom, that very last random detail combined with her genuine offer of aid completely dispelled the unnatural fear gripping my very soul. Utter relief swelled through me, and I gasped for the air of life.
"Thank you," I said to the girl, and as she entwined her hand with mine she was easily able to assist me in rising to my feet.
"What happened?" she spoke once more, and for some reason I wasn't reduced to a choking wreck at the sound of it. "You were standing there just fine and then suddenly you were in pain."
I placed a hand on my head to clear the dizzying spell, and then it was gone. "I… I'm not sure." And I genuinely wasn't. Why was I even afraid of… Whatever I was afraid of? "Perhaps it was the heat," I assured her, even though I knew in my heart that it was not. I shook my head and looked down at her once more, meeting her two-toned eyes with my own monochromatic ones. "Thank you miss. You are… Ah. I see." I'd seen her already in the MomoTalk profiles connected to Ayane. The access badge of her academy, the insignia of a triangle encircling a radiant sun symbolizing the district of Abydos, confirmed it for me. "You're Shiroko Sunaookami, the field captain of Abydos' Foreclosure Task Force, are you not?"
Her eyes widened a tiny fraction at hearing her name. "Yes I am. How do you know me and why are you here?"
"I received a request for aid from your school. It's under siege and you need supplies, yes?"
Her eyes shot up, first staring at me and then to the cart at my side, then back to me once more, the movement of her hair revealing a pair of normal human ears adorned with blue earrings. Four ears? Was that normal for all the beast types around here? Did they hear better? "You're the Sensei from SCHALE? Cain-Sensei?" she continued, interrupting my thoughts.
"One and the same," I confirmed for her.
"I see. You actually came…" The sheer disbelief at the fact that I was actually here to help made me wonder just why, oh why, that was so unbelievable.
How. Very. Interesting.
She shook her head. "Anyway, we have to get you to Abydos ASAP. I'll escort you there." She walked over to the cart and began rummaging through it for ammunition compatible with her autogun.
"Thank you, once again," I replied. "It would be difficult making my way there like this." I looked around at the neighborhood. "I didn't think the siege was so bad that all the people here left their homes."
I looked back to her to find Shiroko twinging in pain at my words. "They didn't run because of that. They left here years ago."
I froze. This was far, far worse than anything I could have expected. The fact that the academy risked being taken over by a local gang due to lack of supplies… No, the fact that the academy of the supposedly largest district had, as Arona said, fallen on such hard times that it could even conceivably fall to a single gang was a travesty. The siege wasn't even the biggest problem. It was a symptom, not the cause.
But if all these people were gone...
I didn't want to ask. But I knew I had to confirm it for myself.
"And the students?"
Shiroko punctuated my question with the snap of her gun's charging handle being pulled back. The silence that followed was deafening.
When she turned back to me, the frown on her face was tinged with sorrow.
"We're all that's left, Cain-Sensei. The Foreclosure Task Force are the last students left in Abydos."
—
By the Emperor's Grace, we came upon the school to find it devoid of all attackers, but I came to find that the school really didn't need much to look worse. The roads outside were pitted with bullet holes and explosives, but frankly, those were the best parts in my eyes. Those were signs of an easily solvable problem.
The school itself looked more like it was succumbing to a gradual yet inevitable death.
Sand, already a constant presence throughout the district, piled up throughout the academy. Structures were weathered and browned from constant assault by the desert and worn down from lack of use. The grounds were filled with desert dust that would've been hell to walk through in sandals. The pool, potential relief from all this sand, was completely dried up and filled with… well. Pattern recognition led to sad results.
"Sorry about all the sand, Sensei," Shiroko apologized forlornly from my side as we made our way to the main building, identified by Abydos' symbol stamped in front of the facade. In such a desolate school, the emblem looked more miserable than proud. "We couldn't clean up everything."
"It'd be a miracle if you could," I said as we crossed the fields as quickly, yet calmly as we could. No sense risking our health and energy getting these supplies, especially with the difficulty of just walking through. "Don't blame yourself."
As we made our way inside, we tracked sand on the floor. Really not much of a mark against us, there was already far too much of it to go around everywhere. Many rooms were cleaner than the outside, but it was less from being sheltered from the storms and more from a clear and persistent effort of trying to keep them clean. Those that weren't used weren't cleaned, because there wasn't enough effort to spare.
There was something hauntingly wrong about an abandoned school where your footsteps could echo through the halls because there was no conversation, activity, life to drown it out. Was this really the academy of the largest district in the city? What happened here?
And why would these gangers want a place like this?
Eventually, we made our way to a club room, the meeting room of the Foreclosure Task Force. Shiroko parked her bike a good distance away from the double doors, then knocked on them.
"It's me everyone."
"Shiroko! You're back!" A high-pitched voice sounded from inside. "How was your patrol?"
"No enemies this time," she said, and I could hear her voice getting brighter. "We got supplies."
Gasps of utter shock and even excitement could be heard. "Really?!" A delicate voice cried out. "But who could have… Wait, is it from SCHALE?!"
The doors slid open, and the student running through halted at seeing my large figure, towering over the girls with their desperately needed requisitions in hand. "Ayane Okusora, right? Your request for supplies has been received."
"Cain-Sensei…" the sharp-eared treasurer who made the request said in surprise. "You actually did come…"
"Hold on, it's him?! The so-called Sensei who saved the city?!" A second girl came out with narrowed, suspicious eyes. She too wore Abydos' black blazer uniform, skirt and badge, though I could see the beginnings of tight shorts for better protection under her skirt. Her long, black hair was tied into twin tails with blue bows. Her right leg was protected by a black leg wrap, and while Shiroko had a single black-green glove, she had a black-red glove on each hand. Most significantly, her head was topped with two abhuman feline ears that twitched rapidly at the sight of me. And of course, there was her halo. Just like Shiroko's, it was a crosshair, albeit a red one with the cross-lines set diagonally. "He looks way too shady!"
Serika Kuromi. A 15 year old first year, she was the treasurer of the group, and clearly not as trusting as the rest. Then again, her conviction wavered upon seeing that I had indeed delivered, so maybe it wouldn't be so hard to convince her. Plus, she was right: I was absolutely shady.
"Now, now Serika! If Cain-Sensei brought us supplies, we should thank him for coming all this way!" A third girl called from the back, her long blond hair partially tied into a bun on the left side of her head. While she had the same white undershirt, the black blazer was abandoned for a thick yellow cardigan, enhancing her profile. 'Large' was definitely the word for her, as she stood taller than her peers. Her… assets were also large, but that needn't be noticed for much longer. What did go noticed was that she seemed to mostly resemble a baseline human. Then there was her green halo, a double circle with three drop-shaped objects around it that made it resemble a fairy sprite. "Serika, go call Hoshino and bring her over!"
Nonomi Izayoi. Another second year, though she had no special position within the FTF. From what little I could see, she provided balance and emotional support.
"Fine, fine, Nonomi, lay off!" Serika groaned, shooting me one last dubious look before going over to the next room. "Ugh, is she sleeping again?!"
I glanced at her, taking her suspicion with ease. How long has it been since anyone acted that way towards me? That kind of distrust was just as I expected from being a commissar, though it has been over a century and a half passing where that was no longer a reason anyone thought ill of me. My association with the GSC, plus authority comparable to being a commissar and an Inquisitor, really made that suspicion familiar and justified.
Also, the gunfire coming from outside was altogether far more distressing.
"The Kata-Kata Helmet Gang," Shiroko growled as she unclipped her autogun from her bag, painted white and black with cyan highlights on the charging handle and firing selector. "They've come back for more."
Nonomi picked up a huge, white-framed, black-barreled rotor cannon imprinted with the academy's symbol and began loading it with ammunition from the cart. "Now that we have everything we need, this'll be a cake walk!"
"Don't be complacent just because we've been resupplied!" Ayane joined her senior in perusing the cart, though with a few taps on her tablet that led to a floating drone accompanying her.
"Hoshino, get your BUTT in gear! The Helmet gang is knocking on our doors and we've got to kick them out!"
Serika's rants were punctuated by her dumping her supposedly unconscious load onto the nearest chair before going off to load up on magazines for her autogun. Said load slumped onto the table as though nothing was wrong.
"Ugh, interrupting a nap? Rude. Hate the Helmet Gang…"
The narcopletic had pink hair that reached down to her waist, though a particularly large strand formed a cowlick that curled in front of her like a bird feather. She stretched her body as she woke herself up, revealing a white undershirt supported by a tactical brace, and finglerless gloves protecting her hands. She had black shoes with white laces and ankle length socks.
She opened one eye as she yawned, revealing orange coloring her iris. When they landed on me, a curious glint came upon them, showing far more alertness than would be suggested by her drowsy state.
I was not surprised. These girls' halos disappeared when they were unconscious. Her halo, pink as her hair but with a triple-layered shape that resembled an eye, was barely visible the entire time.
My palms tingled at the very sight of her. Just like I thought when I first saw her profile, there was FAR more to this girl than it seemed.
"Well, hello there Sensei! You probably already heard, but I'm Hoshino!" She stood up and made her way to her customized shotgun: White-framed with pink highlights, a side saddle empty of any bullets to occupy them, and the emblem of Abydos on the cheek rest. She then strapped a briefcase-shaped object onto shoulder and upon seeing the name carved onto it I had to will myself not to react. "Good of you to come and bring us what we need! Mind helping us kick those girls out of our school?"
"Are you willing to do more than that?"
My simple question confused most of the girls, except for their leader. Both of her eyes opened, revealing that she had dichromatic irises of orange and blue.
"Outnumbered and lacking supplies, you still beat back every one of these gangers attempting to take your school. You are now at full strength, and you have me. Would you like to finish them?"
She understood immediately, faster than everyone else. The curious glint in her eyes gave way to pleasant surprise, before settling on satisfied determination.
"Heh. If you're willing to give a little more effort to protect these kids, little ol' uncle Hoshino here has no choice but to give a little more too."
Her appearance of a baseline human assured me little. She had far too much to look out for. She was a third year and the vice president of the Abydos Student Council. That experience and the keenness hidden beneath the drowsiness, combined with the names of her weapons, all justified my decision to keep my own eye on her.
Hoshino Takanashi: the leader of the Foreclosure Task Force.
—-
"They're right by the brick walls. Be careful everyone."
Ayane's directions sounded out through our connected smartphone link, aided by wireless earbuds that came with every phone. Of course, because it was Kivotos, such devices would be considered military-grade back in the Imperium and had good encryption if you knew how to work security. In this matter, I trusted Ayane's expertise.
She was also controlling a support drone secretly recording the view below, revealing to us exactly who was coming at us and how many.
Twenty-five of the Kata-Kata Helmet Gang. They were exactly as they described. They loved helmets and identified themselves by their signature piece of headwear. Unlike the other gangers I encountered so far, there was some loose organization to them, with low-rankers wearing black motorcycle helmets and officers wearing a combined biker helm, rebreather and goggles. It was a formality in my eyes.
Twenty-five hostiles might have seemed like a lot, but I'd faced worse odds on my first day. I had a makeshift squad I barely had any understanding of that day, and now I had a group forged alongside each other on the field of battle, one that had already repelled previous sieges under worse circumstances. Due to how critically important knowledge of each student's specialties was, I uncharacteristically did what little research I could on them before I left for the district and hammered up a plan before our sortie from the academy. So long as we were careful, this would be a trakki shoot.
"Heh, they must have run out of ammo already! Let's get in there girls!"
Perfect. They were overconfident and highly misinformed. Let's teach them how bad a combination that is.
I nodded to Shiroko. It was time.
"Grenade out." I heard the telltale clink of a pulled grenade pin, and she arced it over the gate and right to where the first wave was, a position she could determine thanks to Ayane's drone.
The bomb landed right in the middle of a group of seven. The moment they wasted looking down sealed their fate.
The explosion that followed scattered the group while alerting others to our presence. Five more gangers moved to support the fallen crowd, but would soon find themselves joining them on the ground.
"Nonomi's gonna go for iiiiiit!"
Nonomi climbed up on a fallen car and let her rotor cannon roar, swerving it left and right to chew through the enemy forces. Twelve contacts, cut down in seconds.
After that barrage, Nonomi quickly descended the car and behind the nearest wall to reload. Thinking that she was open, the next wave then followed her. Feeling paranoid about possible counterattack, several took cover a fair distance away.
"They've taken cover for Nonomi! Go!"
So focused were they on the front, on the terrifying impression left by Nonomi's weapon, that they didn't notice us moving far behind them and mantling over the walls for a perfect flanking strike.
Serika and Shiroko went first, leaping over to release a blistering twin barrage of autogun fire. Four more were taken down. Caught off-guard by the surprise attack, they were slow in adjusting their aim towards us, allowing Hoshino and I to get within deadly range.
The rattling of my chainsword paralyzed the helmet gangers even more, enough for me to smack two into nearby walls. Hoshino, trying to conserve ammo by inflicting maximum damage, swiftly darted in, slammed the gun into one girl's chest and unleashed a full burst. She spun around and hit another with the butt of her gun before letting out another point-blank spread of buckshot.
"What the hell?! We outnumbered them five to one?! What's going on?! Who is that big guy?!" The red-garbed officer screamed in horror.
"I think I know that guy! It's the Sensei who plowed through an entire city of criminals! Look, he's got the chainsaw with him!"
"We gotta go back and warn the rest! Move i-!"
They spent so much time ranting at each other rather than fighting that they didn't even notice that the rest of us already closed in on them. Credit where it's due, by virtue of making me hear about my reputation, they officially did more damage to me than anyone else in this little engagement.
Not much more credit than that though, not after we filled them with bullets and bolts.
"All hostiles around the school eliminated!" Ayane said in awe. "Incredible! Barely any ammo wasted and no casualties at all!"
"That was… Way easier than normal." Serika looked around incredulously, eyes moving from the fallen bodies to her own, unblemished one as though the idea of an easy skirmish like this was unthinkable.
"It was because of Sensei," Shiroko said with a quiet sense of awe. "He managed to handle tactics, resource management and support all while fighting on the frontlines. Incredible."
A laugh whose sleepiness did nothing to hide its mischievousness came from behind Shiroko. "My, oh my, you sound like a schoolgirl with a crush, Shiroko." Hoshino gave a friendly tap on her junior's shoulder as she began reloading her gun, notably using bullets from her pocket. The fact that her gun's side saddle was completely full, and I knew from their prep session minutes before that her "briefcase" was packed with extra ammunition as well, really showed how different everything was.
"Now, now Hoshino!" Nonomi came bustling in, her rotor cannon fully loaded. The weight of her weapon did nothing to deter her cheerfulness. "Don't tease Shiroko too much! She's absolutely right!"
"... Please ignore that." The muffled, embarrassed reply meant Shiroko covered up her face with her scarf. Well, at least she could be affected by such mundane things.
Also, she didn't need to tell me to ignore that. I really wish I didn't hear any of it. If I could lobotomize the past twenty seconds from my mind, I would. But alas, we can't have everything we want. It was flattering, but several questions about the biology of the people of this world were also accompanied by the fact that I was a 200-year old resurrected teacher and these girls were students less than a tenth of my age.
Certainly, I had no problems with a little "student-teacher bonding" and a difference in "experience" in my younger days… But that needn't be relevant to the present time.
"Secure all their weapons and confiscate all of their phones. We move out as soon as we can."
I made a distraction, and I'm sure Shiroko appreciated taking all of our minds off that particular jest. So did I.
After leaving the confiscated materiel with Ayane inside the academy and tying up the the fallen criminals, we left for the base. Rather coincidentally, the Helmet Gang's base was also 30 kloms away, just like that little trek to save the city. On the other hand, it was a significantly worse experience, because it really showed me the enormity of the problem I faced.
When I wasn't dealing with armed gangers and roughousing delinquents on my first day here, I was walking through roads damaged by gunfire, explosions and whatever else those idiots decided to have fun with. The streets were deserted, but why wouldn't they be if people were hiding away from danger, even willing to leave their homes and establishments behind?
This was worse. Likely because the battles were more centered around the academy, there weren't many signs of battle damage in the main streets of the district.
Instead, there were signs of a catastrophe.
The state of the academy and the other neighborhoods was a holiday beach compared to the disastrous state of the Abydos. Sand crept out of and seeped into nearly every hole and opening it could find. Streets were lined with it, and even the tallest buildings had sand marking them or piling up in front of their doors. You could tell where people lived simply by seeing where there wasn't sand on the roofs and front doors. They were the exception, not the norm. There was the rare shop or two that was also free of sand, but flipped a fresh "closed" sign at the possibility of a fight.
This… This wasn't natural. Not mere "climate change". It couldn't be. It reminded me less of the "city" that Kivotos claimed to be, and more like the sandblasted planet of Tallarn, and being reminded of a planet bombarded by Traitor Legions was not a feather you wanted on your cap.
I wasn't even sure if I wanted to be right. If it was climate change, then there was no saving this place, not Abydos, not even Kivotos. But if it was, which was what I bet on… Could it even be stopped?
"You thinking about a lot, huh Sensei?"
Hoshino spoke up from beside me, and just at a glance, it appeared she'd been keeping an eye on me as much as I'd meant to do so for her. I shrugged.
"The state of your home has given me much to think about."
I wanted answers from these girls, but there was no time for that. The club, no, this entire academy and district was sitting on a precipice, a knife's edge of being lost. What they needed now, more than anything, was time.
"Everyone, be careful! I'm detecting scattered groups of Helmet Gangers in a 15 kilometer zone stretching from your current position to their base! This is their turf now!"
And utterly obliterating the local gang going after them should buy enough. In the midst of this disaster, these idiot gangers were still causing trouble for this district. What were they thinking? Did they know they were contributing to the death of their district? Given the catastrophic state of things around here, beating them down wouldn't buy too much time. But it would be enough to give everyone time to breathe.
"Not for much longer." I readied my weapons, just as the rest of the squad did the same.
"We're kicking them out."
—-
It was just like deja vu.
Just like on the first day, we had ambushed small groups, tore apart roving bands of gangers and then scavenged what we could. The backdrop was even similar, with more overturned cars, makeshift barricades and copious amounts of bullet holes mingling with the chaos of the everpresent sand.
But it was an even bigger mismatch. My squad and I knew what we were doing. And with Ayane's support, we could detect them before either of us could see each other, and that made dealing with them even faster than my first rodeo here.
They could see the writing on the wall. They all knew the story of what had happened days ago, and they were playing a very unfortunate part in retelling it. Many tried to run away back to their base and were felled before they could make a single street corner.
By the time we made it to their base, they were desperate. It was no building, only a small area encircled by tires and sandbags and a few vehicles, none of which were armed. Scattered beds, makeshift tents, shelters and ammo and gun stockpiles all formed a base that barely counted as a proper headquarters. The last 25 members took cover behind tires, tables and whatever they could hide behind. The only sticking point was the red-clad sniper they positioned on the roof of a small house at the end of the zone, and we had no proper long-range weapons to deal with her.
We took our own cover a fairly decent distance away. Nonomi and Hoshino were at the front towards the right side of the base area, Shiroko, Serika and I were behind them and closer towards the left. I nodded to Shiroko. She strapped her gun to her back, pulled out the pin of one of her grenades and let it fly. It sailed through the air and landed in a small group, but the explosion only ended up taking down three. The rest took cover. That gave us the opening we needed.
"Nonomi. Suppression."
"Righto!" With her rotor cannon fully loaded, Nonomi once again swerved her cannon through the enemy lines. She took down none of them as they quickly ducked below cover, but that was OK. They were oblivious to what we were going to do next.
Due to the heavier weight of their loadouts, Nonomi and Hoshino had taken a few hits while going for cover. We couldn't afford casualties with such a limited and specialized squad, so I called for Ayane to take her other role.
"Medical drop requested."
"Right! Recovery support on the way!"
Ayane had to take on both analysis and medical support due to their low numbers, and with our enemies all accounted for, she took on the latter role now. Her drone, instead of flying high above the sky, divebombed towards her two seniors. It dropped a bomb that released a refreshing green mixture of healing chemicals, stimulants and other recovery agents that both healed the body and replenished stamina. I wasn't sure if it was due to specific technology or the powers of their halos, but the durability of haloed students was supplemented by more effective reception of healing, and any wounds the girls took disappeared.
"Thanks Ayane!"
"Feel a bit more energetic now…"
From behind her roadblock, Shiroko quickly took her secret weapon out of her bag. It was compressed horizontally, but eventually expanded sidewards to its full length.
It was a photography drone, white with cyan stripes just like her autogun. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and in looking for a way to give her an edge in combat, she modified it with extra features, such that it barely resembled its original form.
The camera was there in the middle, modified with Ayane's help to both take pictures and form a rudimentary targeting system. Attached to its sides, marked with the emblem of Abydos, were twin micro missile racks, fully loaded and ready to unleash their payload.
"Drone activating."
With the activator in her hands and a foot on the drone for leverage, she pushed out with her foot and pulled on the string. Its engines whirred like the chainsword in my scabbard, and it took to the skies.
She did not aim for any of our enemies on lower ground. As the sniper moved out of cover and aimed for Nonomi, the drone got her first. She was not ready to receive a face full of explosive micro missiles that destroyed her favored helmet and sent her flying out of the zone.
The utter surprise of their sniper being taken out gave us the opening needed to pour on the offense. "Hoshino."
"Yup, time to move up front." She vaulted over her cover and pressed a button on her briefcase, deploying it to its full length and revealing it as a ballistic shield, filled to the brim with extra bullets for her shotgun and a stub pistol for either emergencies or a more defensive posture. She flipped it to the side and mounted her shotgun on the sideward slot, providing a modicum of protection while supporting accurate shooting. Of course, the poor helmet heads had no choice but to try and shoot our heavily protected frontliner, but that didn't go very well when she had a ballistic shield protecting her and she was in a very fun range for a shotgun. Whether due to her powers or some synergistic technology between the gun and the shield, Hoshino's shots were far stronger, bursting into a large cone in front of her that blasted through both the cover and the people hiding behind it.
Not to say we left her alone. Once Hoshino got close enough, we moved to engage.
"You messed with our school, so we're taking you all down now!'
From my side, Serika slammed in a fresh magazine as she erupted into raging azure flames. Her powers temporarily lent strength to her bullets and increased her reflexes such that she moved, aimed, fired and reloaded faster than any of us. In a contest between the autogun in her enhanced hands and Nonomi's rotor cannon, there was little difference in how much destruction they could visit upon an unprotected squad. She rushed on ahead and began wreaking havoc on our enemies, and Shiroko and I followed suit. With Nonomi suppressing their actions, Hoshino holding down the right flank and the three of us on the left, there was no chance.
We plowed through them, and eventually, the sounds of battle fell to nothing.
"All contacts down!" Ayane confirmed happily on our comms. "We can take their supplies and finally say we've finished off the Helmet Gang!"
"We won!" Nonomi cheered once the battle finished. "Good job everybody!"
A yawn came from the other side as Hoshino retracted her shield. "Wahey… Can we go back now? I wanna take a nap."
"You always want to take a nap!" Serika snapped at her, though the smile on her face blunted any edge in her voice and replaced it with the flush of victory.
"Sensei? What are you doing?"
Shiroko's voice called out to me as I began tapping on my phone. I didn't turn to her as I finished it and kept my device.
"Making an announcement."
I looked up at the sky, now cloaked in the darkness of night. As a desert was wont to be, it was far cooler than the afternoon. I took a deep breath, once again realizing the weight of the burdens placed upon me.
"Apologies. A grave emergency has risen in Abydos, and despite my call for a week's respite, I cannot wait."
"Let it be known to all: SCHALE's mission begins now."
*Chapter 5: Alpha Mission, END*
And so it is, in the middle of a sandblasted city under the stars, that Ciaphas Cain begins his mission in Kivotos.
Just to make it clear: Blue Archive begins with Sensei receiving visions of Kivotos.. One of them is that Shiroko is going to ventilate him and Arona at some point in the future. But he forgot that entire flashback/forward, so can't blame him. Cain... remembers that a little bit more But not for very long. Certainly not enough for it to affect his interactions with her.
The situation in Abydos itself is very different from what Cain is used to. He's fended off invasions, discovered and thwarted xeno and heretic infiltration and liberated planets. He gets in, solves a problem and then he's gone. But he's going to have to deal with societal problem now. The most long-term change he's truly affected were his cadets and the 597th. He's going to have to be better.
Chapter is shorter this time. We'll see each other once more in the next installment.. Hope you enjoyed!
