Chapter 27 Back at It

Sol System – In the Belt / February 15th, 2724 – Five Months Before the Three Rebellions War

Something had gone very wrong. She woke up in a dark and dank room, tired and confused. She was surrounded by other people, all either sitting or lying down. Some were injured, and all tired and hungry.

The gentle rumble of the deck told her she was on a ship. Under burn at one-third G, so a Belter ship.

This wasn't right. How did she get here? The last thing she remembered was…Ganymede Station, Agricultural Habitat Level. Checking a water filter for her friend, before the klaxon alarm screamed, and something broke through the dome over her head.

What the hell happened?

"That all." A tall man in an orange jumpsuit had come into the room, tossing emergency rations to the people. "That all tolowda gonya ge fonow."

"…" The Refugee was still thinking, trying to piece her thoughts together. There was something she needed, something she had to find.

Prax and Mei. Two people who had wormed their way into her life. The single father devoted to botany, and his five-year-old kid.

Standing up, The Refugee grabbed the taller Belter by the arm. "Mi looking for mi kopeng unte Im malimang? Prax unte Mei? They here?"

The tall Belter shrugged her off, but spoke softly, almost apologetically. "They na child here, Beltalowda."

"…" The Refugee could only glare indignantly at the ground between them, as the tall Belter walked away.

"Chief?"

"…Doris?" The Refugee turned around, seeing a short Martian woman get up to check on her. Even so many years out of the Navy, all her Martian friends still saw her as the Section Chief of Engineering on the MCSNIcaria Planum.

Something else she noticed was that Doris didn't look so hot either. Her face was bruised up from the chaos of some kind of evacuation, and her skin looked sick with a sheen of sweat and dirt. Come to think of it, she didn't feel particularly clean either.

"It's so nice to see you back on your feet." Doris rushed to her side, and The Refugee realized how out of it she was. Her "everything" hurt.

"Uhg…Where…?"

"It's okay, here." Doris guided her down to an empty spot on the ground. She sat by her side, as she went through her pocket.

"Where…?"

"It's okay." Doris assured her. She brought out a small, nearly empty bottle of water, hiding it from view as she slipped it into the Refugee's hands. "Just sip it."

The Refugee swallowed what she could, but coughed painfully, choking on it. After a moment to breathe, she finally whispered to Doris.

"Where are we?"

"On a freighter. A refugee ship. We're refugees." Doris answered quietly, a haunted look in her eyes.

"I remember…I saw a mirror falling." That's what it was, The Refugee realized. That wasn't good.

"There was a battle in orbit. Earth and Martian ships exchanged fire. Nobody knows what started it, but one of the mirrors was destroyed. Fragments started falling down. They hit our dome. Luckily, the safety blisters held, it was the only reason that we were able to get out."

"…" There was a problem with that statement, somewhere in the back of The Refugee's mind. But she pushed that aside for now. One problem at a time. She winced, and clutched her head, feeling stitches behind her ear. "What the hell happened to me?"

"You were really badly hurt, the doctors had to induce a coma, and I stayed with you." Doris added.

"…Prax and Mei?" The Refugee asked. "He was with her, at a doctor's appointment at the clinic in Sector Four."

"I'm so sorry." Doris uttered regretfully. "Half the mirror came down on Sector Four. They're gone."

"…!" The Refugee gnashed her teeth, crying silently. Doris brought her in close and held her.

February 16th, 2724

"It's a farm barge. They'd docked and were waiting to take on cargo when the battle broke out." Doris explained. "When the Earth forces withdrew, the MCSN pushed all of their ships into the relief effort."

"…" That also didn't seem quite right. Even in a time of relative peace, The Refugee knew that Martians at an institutional level had no love for Belters. It seemed that maybe Doris had eaten up the propaganda.

"Get back, que!" Two of the crew of the ship were standing by the entrance, and shoved one of the other refugees away.

"There's no money in ferrying refugees." The Refugee commented.

"…Do you want to be alone?" Doris asked.

"No." The Refugee wasn't really focused on her feelings. She had to deal with things one at a time. First getting off this barge, getting in touch with her folks, then solving that mystery that was eating at the back of her head. "No. So where are we headed?"

"We're rendezvousing with another transport to off-load some of us." Doris added. "Spread out the burden in the Belt, I guess."

"I don't like the thought of being a burden." The Refugee hissed. "To anyone."

There was a commotion in the center of the deck, as three refugees struggled over a single bulb of water. In their desperate struggle, they squeezed most of it's contents out over the deck, wasting it.

"Do you have any idea what you're going to do now?" Doris wondered.

"I'll figure something out. Always work for an engineer like me." The Refugee shrugged. "Maybe go back and start rebuilding."

"There's no point in going back now. It'll take them years to rebuild the station." Doris warned.

"Someone's still got to do the work." The Refugee argued.

"I'm going back to Mars." Doris smiled softly at the thought of home. "I still have some family there. There's lots of new work, new terraforming projects on exoplanets that could always use more agri-techs and engineers."

"…" She supposed that was true.

"I know that you need time to grieve, and it's too hard to think about the future now. But you could come with me. We could start over together." Doris reached out and held her hand.

"…?" The Refugee pulled her hand back. Seriously, not the time and place. Though, she didn't blame Doris. She knew the little woman sometimes struggled with reading a situation. Such as any person married to their work.

February 17th, 2724

The door to the cargo hold slid open, and two crew members in dirty orange jumpsuits shifted through the refugees.

"Okay. Now the time." They announced, speaking in Belter grammar. "Other ship come, take you load for Earth, for Mars. They take you, okay?" He gestured for some of the refugees to get up. "All Inners, you all go for Earth, for Mars, you come, sasa ke? Other ship dock with us. Good ship, help Ganymede."

"Take care of yourself." Doris said goodbye softly.

"You too." The Refugee whispered back.

"Come on! Get up! All Inners, this way. Time to go." The crew ordered. "Inners only. Good ship gonna take you home, yeah? Come, come."

"…" There was some biting part of The Refugee's mind telling her to get up. She thought it was because she missed Mars, and the time she'd spent there. That it might be nice to meet Doris's folks. "You know we might end up competing for the same job, right?" The Refugee slipped in line behind Doris.

She didn't see Doris's smile.

Under the watchful gaze of one of the crew, a dozen people entered the ship's airlock. Then the Refugee stepped up to the door.

"You, na." The crewman pushed her back.

"I'm going to Mars?" The Refugee argued weakly.

"You na Duster, sesata." The crewman smiled, keeping his hand up.

"No…" The Refugee didn't have the strength to argue, especially when he was technically right. She was station born, which made her an honorary Belter anyway. "I'm going with my friend."

"We're traveling together." Doris spoke up.

"Inners only." The crewman dismissed, pushed the Refugee back and away from the airlock.

"I guess I could stay." Doris suggested.

"No, no, it's okay." The Refugee didn't want to hold her back, to keep her from family any longer. "I'll join you as soon as I can."

"Come, come, no time for waste." The crewman expedited them, as he closed the airlock door.

"Doris!" The Refugee called out as the airlock door closed. There was a window that let them see each other, but they could no longer hear each other.

"Must cut thrust for other ship to dock, okay?" The crewman explained, as he tapped his heels to the ground to activate his mag boots. "So hold, ready for zero-G. Now we go."

The drive shut off, and all the refugees started floating away from the deck.

Doris smiled as she looked back at The Refugee with awe and joy. The Refugee couldn't help but smile back. Doris placed her hand on the airlock window, and The Refugee did the same.

"Thank you." The Refugee mouthed though the glass, as she smiled back at Doris. The other woman smiled and laughed while on the float.

The outer airlock door opened. There was no other ship.

The air evacuated gently and quietly, and the dozen other refugees found themselves in vacuum. Doris's face morphed to one of shock and pain, as she choked on the black.

The Refugee could barely contain her own shock and horror, as she watched Doris die. The ship spun slightly, and slowly ejected the refugees into space.

The Refugee wanted to scream and cry and lash out, but all she could do was watch her friend's final, silent moments, before she disappeared forever.

The main drive kicked back on, and pushed the floor up at her at a third of a G. The Refugee could barely stand, as she settled into silent seething. The crewman placed his hands on her shoulders, to spin her around as he walked her back to the cargo hold.

"Inners wreck Ganymede. Belter life first from now on." The crewman explained harshly, as if that could justify spacing a dozen innocent people. "You lucky, Beltalowda."

"…"

February 26th, 2724

Harsh lights shined down on her as she limped out of the ship and onto the station. There was still pain and confusion and anguish all vying for dominance in her heart. But she didn't have the strength to let any of them in.

"All new arrivals must register their ID with station authorities and will be restricted to the designated areas until they have received medical clearance." The PA system announced. "Welcome to Tycho Sation."

"…" So that's where she'd ended up. Tycho Sation, a corporate owned spin station used as a semi-mobile shipyard and supply point in the Belt.

The station ran a tight and efficient crew. As The Refugee stumbled forward, she'd been scanned in, medically cleared, but left to fend for herself in a crowd of equally confused and disoriented refugees.

So much she had to do. Justice and revenge and a mystery or two weighing heavily on her mind. She should stop and rest and eat something, but she felt equal parts exhaustion and dedication.

"Klein?!"

There was a small, skinny woman there, in a grey Tycho jumpsuit. Utterly pale but sharp and strong, with a hard "resting bitch face" that didn't exactly seem inviting at first glance. Brown eyes almost hidden by heavy black eye shadow. She was the Assistant Director on this station, and someone she knew well.

"Hey…Drummer…"

"Oh sabaka…" Dummer cursed. "Fuck happen to you, kopeng?"

Rubicon III - Grid 085 – Drone Sanctuary - Western Belius/ Saturday, Claudius 15th, 3175

Averting her eyes while the technicians worked with cutting torches, Tessa waited patiently for them to break down the door.

It was strange, her new lease on life. Having more freedom, authority, and power as Carla's personal Hound, a slave by any other name. It was even more agreeable since she got to spend everyday with J, and living among the Worker Drones when she wasn't on mission. She felt far more comfortable with the little robots than she did with humans.

"All clear, bosmang." The technicians announced as they cut through the lock on the door. A squad of RaD soldiers was standing by nearby, weapons held low.

"Stand down guys." Tessa ordered. "These Drones are non-violent, just stupidly opposing Carla. Let me go talk to them."

"Sure thing, bosmang." They nodded to her, respecting her rank within RaD.

Tessa pushed through the damaged door, into the small room. There were a couple of nervous looking, older model Worker Drones cowering within.

"Where is he?" Tessa demanded tiredly, to which the Drones pointed to the attached bathroom of the room. Entering the bathroom, she found Khan, building a tower out of bathroom mirrors in a despite attempt to crawl into an air duct.

"Khan…what the hell are you doing?" Tessa would have been amused if she wasn't so annoyed.

"Ah!" Khan shouted, and started throwing mirrors faster onto the pile.

"Come here Khan." Tessa worded it like a request, but didn't give him a choice. She picked up the smaller robot and carried him like a child having a tantrum back to the main room.

"No!" Khan shouted like his life was going to end.

"…?" Tessa frowned, and looked around the room. There was a big sign on the wall labeled "Khan's Secret Door Lab." Several doors were arranged around the room on their own stands, with lots of notes gathered about their illegal door experiments. She set Khan on a table, forcing him to sit. "Khan, what are you doing?"

"I…uh…err…" Khan panicked as he looked around. "I was most definitely not engaged in any illegal experiments with doors!"

"…" Tessa frowned, and struck Khan on the top of his head with the side of her hand. Not hard enough to harm him, but just enough to let him know she didn't like being lied to.

"Oww!" Khan whined.

"Goddammit Khan." Tessa frowned as she spoke. "Carla has no patience to entertain your stupid and suicidal obsession with doors. In case you haven't noticed, this planet is being invaded by the PCA."

"B-But…If we can just build the right kind of door-" Khan suggested.

Tessa struck him on the head again.

"H-Hey!"

"Murder Drones were stopped by doors because most were, admittedly, just as stupid as you. But humans and Command AI like Engagement System are not so easily deterred. If they want in badly enough, they will simply go through every door that you put up. And unlike the Coyotes, who would have only abused you relentlessly, the PCA is absolutely committed to wiping your kind from existence." Tessa explained harshly.

"But what do we do?" Khan argued. "If we don't have any hope of survival, what do we do? We can't fight!"

"Your own daughter is on the front lines, fighting the PCA, so you know that's a fucking lie." Tessa argued back. "And you are not so hopeless, but only if you work with Carla. She so desperately wants to save your kind, but she needs your help Khan."

"She needs…my help?" Khan questioned.

"Yes. We know that most Worker Drones look to you for leadership and guidance. So tell them to keep building Carla the weapons she needs to actually save your little lives. You can't do it alone, I can't do it alone, and Carla can't do it alone. So step up and help us stand against the PCA so that we can all get out of this alive."

"But…that's scary. Stepping up and helping Carla fight, even if it's just building her weapons, is so scary. What about what we want to do?" Khan questioned.

"The only thing you should want is to survive for now. Besides, you don't want to disappoint your daughter again, do you?"

"…" Khan stared down with shameful defiance.

"How about you at least promise me you will try?" Tessa suggested. "I know it's scary, but it will be okay, I promise."

"I…can try." Khan agreed reluctantly.

"That's all any of us can do." Tessa smiled softly. She put Khan back on his own feet gently and led him and the other Workers out of the "lab." Once out, she looked back to the RaD soldiers guarding the entrance, and nodded to them.

"Light it up."

With that said one of the RaD soldiers, armed with a flamethrower, nodded back, and entered the doorway. He then proceeded to hose down the entire "Door Laboratory" with fiery lances of sticky napalm.

"There's no going back for any of us." Tessa announced grimly to Khan. "Not for you or me. The only choice we really have, is to go forward, and face each threat head on."

Grid 085 – Entertainment District – Drone Brothel

One of the things that Carla had done to ensure the safety for the precariously placed "Upgraded" Drones was to give them each a panic button, in case things got out of hand.

Lizzy had pressed her panic button.

J always hated this particular building and it's implications. She would have preferred not to come here at all. But, since Carla hadn't given them an Armored Core mission for the day, she had them running around the Drone Sanctuary, quelling every little passive rebellion the little toasters put up and reminding them that Carla did in fact care about them, but that she also expected them to work for her if they wanted to save their own little metal lives.

She passed by a group of RaD soldiers, standing around a man with his hands behind his back as they debated shooting him or throwing him off the megapillar. At least J could appreciate that Carla was a "no-nonsense" kind of woman, who dealt with problems directly.

Entering the room, J quickly saw the knocked over furniture, and broken glass strewn about. The stillness of disorder after the violence was something she'd never noticed before. How it painted the desperation and chaos of moments long over.

Almost hidden behind the bed, crouched down and desperately trying to disappear, was Lizzy. The little Drone's "cheerleader" uniform was ripped, her hardhat knocked off, showing disheveled and disorganized blonde hair. Her visor was cracked and partly shattered, and there was human blood in her mouth.

"…" J stood in front of her, not entirely sure what to do.

"…V?" Lizzy tentatively asked.

J realized that with her shattered visor, Lizzy probably couldn't see well at all, so could only ascertain that the being in front of her was yellow and female, and it wasn't like she knew very many Murder Drones.

"…No, sorry." J apologized. "Just me."

"Oh…s-sorry J…I was…" Lizzy didn't bother finishing her statement.

"…What's going on, Lizzy?" J asked softly. Though the RaD soldiers had seen enough to warrant killing Lizzy's previous customer, Carla still wanted J to go in and talk to Lizzy, to try and figure out what had led to this, and if anything could be done to remedy this.

"N-Nothing…" Lizzy stuttered, averting her damaged gaze.

"That's obviously a lie." J gestured around her. "Lizzy, you're not in trouble. The boss just wants to know what happened. So just talk freely, Lizzy."

"…I…I hate it here." Lizzy squeaked out. "I hate this job, this room, this fucking planet!" Lizzy cried. "I hate what the humans put between my legs for their own amusement! I hate it all!"

"Yeah…" J frowned. She decided to sit across from Lizzy, hugging her legs to her chest. "I get that. Before Tessa came and got me, I was…just the plaything, of some depraved Coyotes."

"It wasn't so bad at first, working for Carla." Lizzy smiled painfully. "She gave us a good deal, and plenty of scrip for our troubles. And, admittedly, I got special treatment cause I was a bit smarter than most Workers, so I didn't have to go and do this so often…and then…Doll went and attacked V, and forced me to help her. So on top of losing one of the more popular girls here, I got demoted as punishment. I could have handled that. Gross, but okay. I deserved that."

"…" J frowned, but let Lizzy keep talking.

"But it's gotten kind of bad, because…because Rebecca is just so fucking gross!" Lizzy shouted. "She's so gross and depraved and there's no request she won't take. She loves being a whore so much she dropped out of school, and just lives here, in the brothel." Lizzy shook her head. "And she's gotten so popular here that she's set the bar so high for what we can 'theoretically' do, that I've had a bunch of her previous customers want to do weird shit with me. The last John I told no to…well…" She pointed at her shattered visor. "So yeah, that's what happened. I'm not nearly good enough of a whore as I thought I was."

"…" J wasn't really sure what she could say about that. "Uh…why don't you just not work here? Carla doesn't force you to do this."

"Because it's the only thing I can do that makes enough scrip." Lizzy explained weakly. "Because I would probably go insane working in one of her factories. So between that and the risk of being thrown out of the Sanctuary for not pulling my weight, I'd rather just come here, bend over, and grin and bear it."

"Is there…anything I could do to help?" J really hated being near these Worker Drones. The more she talked to them, the more she shared in their pain…it made it difficult to dismiss them as "dumb appliances." It made it difficult to think about what she'd been doing, for the majority of her life. How she'd earned her title.

"…Could you…kill me?" Lizzy whispered longingly.

"What?" That had caught J off guard.

"It wouldn't be anything to you, right? Being a Murder Drone and all?" Lizzy reasoned, as she inched herself closer to J.

"…!" It had never even occurred to J what that title even meant until then. She had always referred to herself as a Disassembly Drone, distancing herself from the fact that, besides their height difference and internal weapons load, there really wasn't a lot separating them from Worker Drones. That they both experienced pain and fear the same way.

J would rather not think about all that.

"As much as I m-might enjoy that…" There was a first time for everything, apparently, and for J, this was the first time she ever hesitated with a Worker Drone. "I have my orders, Lizzy. I supposed to keep you lot alive, as much as I might hate that."

"Oh…okay…" Lizzy quietly cried, sounding somewhat disappointed.

"Do you…want to die?" J asked slowly.

"No…not really…it's just…" Lizzy paused, and covered her face in her hands. "Oh god, what the fuck? Why would I ask that?" She cried anew to herself. "I really don't want to die, I just…I just hate this all so much…"

"-And if a Murder Drone conveniently took you out, you maybe wouldn't have minded it as much as usual?" J easily ascertained. "It's…fine, Lizzy. There was definitely a moment where I…also…maybe wanted to die." She revealed reluctantly. "Like I said before, I was sort of going through what you're going through now…but I didn't have someone like Carla making sure that things were as safe as they could be for me."

"I'm…I'm sorry J…" Lizzy reached forward and hugged J, much to the larger girl's confusion. "What are we going to do…? What should I do…?"

"…?" Besides the confusion of being hugged by a highly distressed Worker Drone, J didn't know what she should say. While she was definitely better off living with Tessa and working for Carla, there were still little things that bothered her. Like the fact that V and N were a whole continent away, leaving her without a squad to command. While she could admit in hindsight that some of her command decisions had been questionable, she actually missed the responsibility of having underlings, and looking out for them.

That sentiment gave her a strange idea.

"I have…a really stupid idea Lizzy." J announced, as she lightly placed her hands on the Worker's back. "And maybe a crazy offer."

Central Ice Fields – Abandoned Facility

Sound brought her back first. The obnoxious and relentless ping of her own heart being monitored. Opening her eyes with a hiss, 621 took in the sterile white of the ceiling above.

Not a hospital. The building was too cheap for that. A pre-fab then, dragged around and dropped where it was needed. She tried to get up, but a weight was holding her down. Not restraints, just arms.

"R-Raven!" V cheered, unnecessarily loudly given her proximity. 621 groaned in mild annoyance as the smaller machine girl wrapped her arms around her. "I was so worried when you passed out again!"

"…Setara…" 621 said softly, but still with a degree of demand in her tone. "Report."

"Oh…y-yes ma'am." V sat up. "After you passed out, an Arquebus detachment led by Rusty made contact with us. They set up base at this facility, and rendered you aid, both medical and logistical. Uzi and N are working with Arquebus technicians to get your Core mission ready. It seems they have work lined up for us."

"…How long was I out?"

"Two days, ma'am."

"…" 621 sat up, and winced in pain, her body still fighting infections that medication was only just started to dissipate.

"Woah, hey!" V worriedly held her shoulders, helping to steady her. "Take it easy Raven, you were in really bad shape when we got you out of the cockpit."

"…" 621 grunted, and looked down. Attached to her right leg, where there was before just a stump of burnt flesh, was a silver, mechanical foot. Nowhere near as complicated or advanced as her arm of League forged metals, but it looked like it would comfortably hold her weight and get her around.

"That foot of yours was a pretty penny, but nothing I can't manage." A man announced. "Don't worry about it, buddy."

"…Rusty." 621 looked up at the blond man, who had just entered at the end of the pre-fab building.

"Raven." Rusty nodded down at her. "Haven't seen you since that night at the bar. Would love to catch up, but we might need your help with something."

Before 621 could offer a response, she noticed how tightly her arm was being grasped by V. Looking over, she could see how V's eyes had gone hollow with distress, her mouth withdrawn to an invisible line, as she glared at Rusty, partly hiding herself behind 621's shoulder.

"…Setara." 621 called softly, and placed a hand on one of V's own, getting her attention. V looked at 621 in surprise, but acquiesced as the older woman wrapped her arms around her, and pulled her into her lap. "Setara mali."

"…" V pressed her face against 621's shoulder, holding her tightly.

"…!" Rusty looked away, a bit embarrassed and confused, feeling that he was missing something.

"…Men…hurt her." 621 answered simply.

"…" Rusty nodded sadly. "I was worried that was the case. Well…there'll be none of that while I'm around. I promise that."

"…I'd like to see my Core, and my team." 621 requested.

"Of course, ma'am." Rusty nodded. "Right this way…but please, take it easy."

After putting boots on, 621 winced slightly as she put weight on her new leg. There were still a couple of raw nerves there that would take some time getting used to. It was nothing she couldn't handle. She also didn't make it far out of the pre-fab before she felt her hand being pulled back, V holding on so desperately, whining at the thought of going outside.

"Stand tall, setara mali." 621 spoke back to V. She wasn't too annoyed with V holding her hand, but she would make sure she kept pace. "No one will even touch you as long as I'm around."

"Mmm." V nodded a little more sure, and opted to keep pace with the Hound, holding her hand as they walked through the newly constructed Arquebus forward operating base.

A few more buildings and facilities set up since she was out, and a lot more people. Even a small handful of collared Worker Drones, doing their job as intended, carrying things around or helping to build a few more buildings.

Walking past the corpses of the two Scavengers, it seemed Arquebus had built small research facilities around them, going over the ancient but still advanced technology that was the two sleek robot dinosaurs.

"Have to say, you've once again impressed me, Raven." Rusty nodded approvingly. "Taking on not one, but two ancient nightmare machines couldn't have been easy. You're something else for sure."

"…Setara got the second kill. She gets the credit." 621 corrected, as she reached over and ran some fingers through V's silver hair. V smiled a bit, both from 621's touch and her praise.

"Really now…?" Rusty smiled, a little surprised. "Then you've got a good crew, Raven. Can't wait to see what you do next."

Led by Rusty to an improvised hangar area, they found two Armored Cores, his own blue colored light weight AC, Steel Haze, and 621's black and white AC, Loader 4. As well as the maintenance crew working each machine.

Uzi was up at the top of a scaffold support, shouting out orders to a group of both other Worker Drones and human technicians, as she kept the ACs in top shape.

"Your little one, Uzi, she impressed me so much that I decided to hire her to run a maintenance cycle on my own AC." Rusty praised. "Smart girl."

"Oh, Raven!" Uzi shouted as they approached. She shimmied down the scaffold and ran over to her Hound. "Thank goodness you're okay…n-not that I was ever worried or anything. I knew you'd pull through."

"Raven!" N had also been working on the AC. He put down what he was holding and came running up to them too. "Good to see you back on your feet. Or…err…one of them…or both of them?" N grinned sheepishly. "Ah, I don't know."

"Uzi, N, report." 621 asked simply.

"Oh, uh, right!" Uzi nodded. "We've pretty much finished fixing up the AC. It didn't take too much damage fighting the Scavengers, just needed to have some component's changed out and fluids topped off."

"We uh, left the chainsaw and laser pistol equipped." N added. "We didn't know if you wanted to use those weapons still or something else."

"…" 621 thought about it for a moment. "Keep them equipped, I'll probably update the back weapons later."

"Yes ma'am!" Uzi and N eagerly nodded.

"Well, you might as well come along too." 621 waved for them to follow. "Rusty was telling me about some upcoming work."

"Just a couple of things, but something easy first." Rusty clarified. "But let's get to the command center first." Rusty gestured forward, towards another pre-fab building with it's own extensive communications array. Inside wasn't anything special either, just a few radios and a holographic display table.

"Oh, hey Rusty!" Thad waved as they entered the command center. He was dressed in a blue Arquebus uniform with a backwards cap, as he stood by the holographic table. "Hello Miss 621!"

"Thad, bring up those surveillance photos, I'm going to give Raven the rundown."

"Oh, yes sir!" Thad saluted happily.

Rusty turned to 621 and her team, as he started his own briefing. "As you know, the PCA have deployed their suppression fleet, and now they're laying down the law all over Rubicon. We've already lost several survey bases, and Balam's in a sorry state too. For their part, the Rubicon Liberation Front sees this as an 'opportunity.' If you ask me, they're counting their eggs before they're hatched." He shrugged, mildly amused. "At this rate, the corps, the Rubiconists, and the independent mercs will go down together. We could use the Wallclimber's help in this coming conflict."

"What do you want us to do?" 621 requested.

"For now, something easy." Rusty dismissed. "Tomorrow I'll be working on bringing down the ECM choking the com lines on this continent. I'd appreciate it if you led a salvage team, to look at something we've found."

"A salvage team?" Uzi wondered, confused.

"Yeah." Rusty backed up to the holographic table, and brought forward a surveillance image. "We were securing the surrounding area, when we found the spot those Scavengers came out of the ice. Notice anything interesting?"

"…?" 621 looked down at the image. In the hole in the ice, there appeared to be a roughly triangular block of metal, with five square doors across the middle, and a heavy comm array on the bottom. "That's the nose of a Scirocco Class Assault Cruiser."

"I thought as much." Rusty nodded in agreement. "Could be there's something worth investigating on that ship. Could even be salvageable, and brought back to working condition. I called you because I knew you flew with Mars, so I figured you'd be familiar with the class. And a Martian built ship like that could be plenty useful."

"…" She was uncomfortably familiar with that class of ship. "Seems like I'll get a good excuse to test out this new foot."

"That's the spirit!" Rusty shook his fist approvingly. "Anyway, I thought you might want to get in contact with Handler Walter. We can only send burst transmissions at the moment, but at least it works both ways. Still no live feed, unfortunately."

"It'll do." 621 nodded. She went over to one of the radio stations, and got a message from her master.

"I see you've made contact from . I've been contacted as well, by the Balam group. Seems both sides have been forced to halt the Coral survey. I hear you might take a salvage mission next. Once Rusty knocks down the PCA's ECM facility, I'll be sure to assist you once again. Get back to me when you can."

"So, are we going to investigate that ship?" V wondered, still standing close to 621.

"Seems like." 621 confirmed. "Could be dangerous, so be sure to stay close to me, you three."

"Hopefully we find some good stuff down there!" Uzi cheered.

"Ah…I just hope there won't any surprises." N complained. "I've had too much excitement for one week already."

"I'll be there to help you too." Ayre assured her privately. "You can count on me, Raven."

"We'll see." 621 smiled. She turned back to the radio, and prepared a message for Handler Walter. "This is C4-621 and Stray Squad, reporting for duty. Let's get to work."

Author's Note: Sorry for such a short chapter after such a long delay. Writing chapter 30 kinda drove me insane...again. The thing is I usually approach missions like "yeah, I can probably get it done in ~10K words. Ish." But then I start writing and then I start adding plot, and chapter 30 was so long I broke off the first 10K words, called that chapter 30, then called the remaining 19K words chapter 31. So even though I am posting this chapter after having finished "chapter 31", narratively I am behind 1 whole chapter...somehow. Though, then again, If I hadn't broken chapter 30/31 up, it would have been my longest chapter ever at 30K words, and that would have driven my editor (mom) insane too.

This chapter is just a short transition after the insanity of last chapter. But don't think that means it's all smooth sailing from here. Things are still getting even more insane. Baby, you ain't seen nothing yet. Chapter 32 is only a regular AC mission, so I'll hopefully be back to traumatize you all in 2-3 weeks.

The flashback scene does require a citation, since they are once again scenes from The Expanse. Don't worry it is all relevant, somehow.

Anyway! That's all for now! Stay tuned mi beratnas! And abide with Rubicon!

To ChimaTigon: That is very weirdly specific. I certainly hope someone writes that story you want to see, I just have no idea how I would even begin to approach that kind of story.

To magenta skelter: I'm always struggling to give relevant characters enough screen time. Hopefully you like what I will do with Rusty, even as for briefly as he appears in this coming arc.

621 does not have any siblings (though I did consider it at one point after a vivid fever dream). She does, however, have at least one cousin. You'll never guess who.

To JackSilentShark: Thank you! I appreciate the complement!

To undead3: I'm going to have fun with Cyn. She's a crazy loveable villain. I may even have a secret project devoted to her and another character within the canon of this story. The truth about the Solver and Uzi's abilities is still on hold. Not everyone knows everything, and some are inclined to keep their secrets. Some might even openly lie. We will see.