Chapter 23 The Rival? And The Ronin
Sol System – In The Belt – Independent Ship Karakum / 2736 – Eleventh Year of the Three Rebellions War
Five hostiles, baring down on them. Three Belter ships hobbled together with shotgun PDCs and external missile racks, and two Martain built ships of the line, a corvette and a destroyer. A hunter-killer squadron sent by Marco Inaros, just for them.
The Karakum was a good ship, a Martian built frigate shaped like a hexagonal brick, fifty meters long, and armed with six PDC gatling guns, two missile launchers, and a keel mounted spinal railgun. However, having previously engaged an improvised missile carrier, their PDC rounds were at twenty percent, their torpedoes were nearly depleted, and one of the forward PDCs was disabled, the ship needing to be brought into port to fix the weapon.
Plus they were hours away from running out of fuel at this burn rate.
It didn't help that they were trying to escort an unarmed civilian vessel with friends onboard. This was a fight they couldn't back down from…and couldn't win.
"Adjust course for the center of the formation. I'm targeting all five." The Captain of the Karakum declared. They were currently on a very noticeable two-G burn, gravity pulling her down into her seat sharply, but not unbearably. "The second I start launching, take us up to max burn for as long as the fuel holds out. We'll go right past them."
"Spreading the love around, lot less likely we hit anything." The pilot complained. "The smartest sk-…the smartest Belters are probably on that destroyer. Better to throw most of what we got at them."
"The goal is to fly through them, and buy as much time as we can for the Razorback." The Captain clarified. "We're not trying to win."
"…I'd rather win." The Pilot shrugged. He and The Captain laughed.
The five ships closed on the Karakum from all sides, leaving no chance to escape. Then something unexpected happened.
The smallest ship in the Free Navy task force, a lump of scrap barely considered corvette weight, fired one torpedo, which swung wide and struck one of the Belter made light freighters in the flank, doing minimal damage and knocking it's drive out.
"…?" The Captain raised a finger in confusion, as she had been prepared to fire off her remaining torpedoes.
"What the fuck?!" The Pilot shouted. "It's go time! Fire!"
"They're firing at each other-"
"Good, let's help!" The Pilot demanded.
"Get ready to come about!" The Catpain ordered. This battle just got even more interesting…and survivable.
The Karakum cut thrust, and flipped end over. It left a sick feeling as her stomach floated up and spun. Then the ship rocketed towards the now confused Belters at ten-Gs, burning hard. She felt forced down heavily in her seat, eyes hard to use. The only thing keeping her going was the excitement of what was to come, and the cocktail of gravity resistant drugs mucking up her system. The fight was on.
The two forces rapidly closed distance. Five thousand clicks. Four thousand. Three thousand.
That tiny Belter ship fired her remaining seven torpedoes, targeting…the Martian built corvette flying Free Navy blue. The Martain ship flown by Inaros loyalist, the Koto, suddenly had it's two PDC gatling guns overwhelmed, and barely shot down all the missiles in time. The distraction had been deadly though, as the Karakum had come at her flank, and fired twice with their railgun.
The Karakum's railgun fired a ten-kilogram shell with such force, that without the main drive active to counteract the force of it firing, the ship would have been sent spinning out of control from recoil alone. The smaller Martain ship was sent tumbling with new holes bored through, it's systems dead.
The five versus one was now looking more like one versus one. One ship disabled, one ship disarmed, one disengaging, and one killed, and they had only fired twice. This was now far more in their favor.
"Corvettes out!" The Captain announced as they closed distance with the rest of the fleet. "Approaching target lock on the heavy!"
The remaining Inaros loyalist ship, the Martain built destroyer Serrio Mal, was similar to the Karakum right up to amid ship. It sacrificed speed and maneuverability for massively expanded forward missile bays, and an additional eight cell VLS launcher in the nose.
The Karakum launched four torpedoes, while the Serrio Mal launched twelve. These weren't shitty Belter made torpedoes designed for disabling ships either. There were high performance Martian torpedoes loaded with high-yield nukes.
Two of the Karakum's torpedoes detonated early, catching four of the Serrio Mal's torpedoes in their detonation range, leaving glowing balls of burning blue nuclear plasma in their wake. The Karakum then fired with two of her PDCs, destroying two torpedoes with 40mm caseless-Teflon-coated-tungsten shells. She then spun, presenting her other three guns to destroy the remaining six torpedoes. It was a tactic to prevent any one of the PDCs from running out of ammo too early, and leaving the ship exposed.
Then, another unexpected thing happened. The Belter ship that had lost thrust at the start of the battle fired all sixteen of it's torpedoes, right up the tail pipe of the Serrio Mal.
Desperately using it's four rear PDCs to spray long streams of fire towards their back, the Serrio Mal was distracted as the Karakum came about, pointing their nose at the ship.
As the Serrio Mal finished cleaning up the traitorous torpedoes coming at them from the rear, the Karakum matched speed, and started orbiting the larger ship. It fired once, twice, three times with it's railgun, leaving long molten scars through the ship's hull, and boring all the way through. The Serrio Mal's guns desperately tracked the Karakum, trying to lead a shot, but were too slow as the smaller, more nimble ship unloaded round after round. Four, five shots, and the larger ship lost thrust. The sixth shot went through the reactor, and set it off.
The Serrio Mal disappeared in a nuclear fireball.
"…Nice to see these Belters stab each other in the back instead of us for once!" The Pilot cheered.
"None of the Belter ships are targeting us anymore." The Captain pointed out calmly.
"I can't wait to hear this story!?" The Pilot wondered excitedly, curious as to why these Belters chose this moment to rebel against Inaros.
The Captain opened a radio channel to the remaining ships in the AO. "Belter hostiles, this is Karakum. Shut down your reactors and stand down immediately or we will engage. Acknowledge."
As they had a moment, the Karakum started taking scans of the remaining ships, and The Captain noticed that she recognized one of them, the one that had thrown this whole battle out of control, and allowed them to survive.
The Tynan. Ashford's old ship.
But…Ashford was dead. Spaced by Marco Inaros in a failed assassination attempt before the start of the Three Rebellions War. So why was his ship here, and who was her Captain?
Then, the Captain of the Tynan called.
"Klein, this is Drummer." Answered another old friend.
Rubicon III - Grid 086 - Independent Mercenary Hangars – Western Belius / Tuesday, Claudius 4th, 3175
Between getting new clothes and knowing that her friends and master were there for her, V was fine enough with letting 621 sleep in her own room, so long as she tucked her in, and called her that special word.
That didn't make it easy for Uzi though. If anything, V would silently demand to hold onto Uzi like her own large doll. V seemed to feel both extremely protective of Uzi, and comforted by her presence.
It was certainly a strange set of circumstances, hugging the big Murder Drone girl quite intimately while they slept. But Uzi would be lying if she said she didn't like it. It wasn't something she was used to, true, but it wasn't something she hated either. She was, reluctantly, quite fond of hugging her new friends on this hostile and scary world. That was something she'd never done on Copper IX.
N, on the other hand, wasn't doing as well.
He was very happy that Uzi and V were essentially unspoken best friends at this point, and could find comfort in each other. He was very happy they had a caring and fair master who went out of her way to make sure they felt safe and happy.
But he still felt like a failure.
He couldn't stop Doll. He didn't come up with any plan to save Uzi. He'd been powerless to save V, to keep her from being…tortured. It left him feeling inadequate and impotent. As a man, it ate at his soul feeling like he hadn't done enough. Was it him, or this world? He was a Disassembly Drone, a powerful micro-arsenal of highly focused death, and yet he'd been so powerless and helpless to do anything to keep his friends safe.
He hated that feeling. There wasn't much he could do. Not now anyway. But maybe he could learn something.
Getting out of bed, he quietly made his way up to 621's room. Sometimes he worried about the Hound too. Didn't she ever sleep? He almost always found her awake, hard at work with one thing or another.
"Uh…good morning Raven." N called out, not particularly confidently.
"Mmm, morning N." 621 grumbled, obviously distracted.
"So Raven…I had some questions?" N sheepishly approached the older woman.
"I figured as much." 621 shrugged.
"Yeah…so how can I be stronger?" N questioned.
"…Well as a machine, you are physically capped at whatever strength your creators imbued you with, but I suspect that wasn't what you meant." 621 reasoned. "You're asking how to be more confident and assertive, right? So that you can confront threats?"
"Oh…yeah." N nodded. "Back on Copper IX, I was always able to get away with being really passive and easy going because hunting Workers was a safe and easy job. But…almost everything we face here on Rubicon is a dire threat. I…need to be better prepared, especially if I want to protect my friends."
"Well…you're already part way there. Just remember that you have to consider everyone on this planet as a potential enemy." 621 declared.
"E-Everyone?" N frowned.
"Everyone." 621 confirmed. "Never ask 'if' someone plans to fuck you over, ask 'how' and 'when'. Consider that everyone is looking for an angle to hurt you and your friends."
"Even…even someone like Carla?" N wondered.
"Carla…has allowed herself to become emotionally compromised because she finds you and yours 'cute.'" 621 stated coldly. "But she is first and foremost a businesswoman. She rationalized taking in Worker Drones by putting them to work as indentured servants, and she treats them well to motivate them and prolong their usefulness to her. But if any Worker Drone crosses her, then she won't hesitate to send her new Hound out to hunt."
"I…see." N considered that sadly. "Um…? What else can you tell me? I know you were an admiral before-"
621 stood up sharply, and glared down at N. He shrunk on himself, feeling correctly that he had made a mistake.
"Do not mention my former rank unless I bring it up." 621 demanded. "Much like my name, I sold that part of myself off long ago. I have no rank of honor or command. I am a Hound, designated C4-621."
It was not as angry as she'd been the previous day when V had asked about…someone else's title. That didn't mean that 621 wasn't pissed. She just wasn't yelling at the moment, at least.
"I-I'm sorry Raven." N bowed his head, hiding his eyes.
"…" 621 grunted, and put her hand under his chin, forcing him to look up at her. "And do not cower when you've made a mistake. Stand and accept it."
"Yes Raven…" N nodded, a bit more sure of himself.
There was a beeping at the console, signaling a message.
"Go wake up your squad, Stray Two. We've got work to do." 621 ordered.
While N went down to wake up Uzi and V, 621 checked to see what they would be doing today.
Engage the Doser Fraction – "Cinder" Carla / Reward 100,000 COAM
"It's finally show time!" Carla greeted with her usual enthusiasm. "Today is make or break, tourist! The Junker Coyotes are pouring everything into taking Grid 085 and 086 from me. Fortunately, I have you and that new little Hound of mine to deal with them. While Tessa defends Grid 085, you'll be tasked with defending my main base of operations. Be advised, that they are using RaD MTs, straight off the black market. They might be a pack of dumb animals, but at least they know quality workmanship. Anyway, you know the score, you made this mess, now you get to clean it up…and get even at the same time. I want to see you really break those damn slobbering rats, body and soul. Oh, and another thing, I'd like to split up your squad a little. While I'm keeping my eyes on the exile, Sparky could serve as your Operator, and I'd like to borrow Shepard to help guide Saber, since this will be their first combat sortie. Otherwise, good hunting, tourist."
"Raven…" Ayre whispered in her head. "You should comfort V before you go out. She'll be apprehensive, going up against the Coyotes this time."
"…" 621 grunted, but agreed. She stepped out of her room, and found Uzi and V reluctantly getting out of bed, having just been awoken by N. "Stray Squad!"
"Y-Yes ma'am!" They stood at attention nervously. It was their first mission in days, and after they'd had an exceptionally bad turn of their luck.
621 waited until she had descended the stairs, and stood before them. She spoke just a bit more softly than usual. "We'll be once again going up against the Coyotes, putting them down like the rabid dogs they are." She stepped closer to V, and spoke much more softly. "V."
"Y-Yes Raven?" V answered back hesitantly, as she stared up at the taller woman with pained hope.
"Just be my eyes, setara." 621 requested. "No need to get your hands dirty. Stay high and keep a watch on things for me. I need you, Stray One."
"…Alright." V nodded confidently.
621 nodded back to her. Then she continued with her briefing. "Uzi, Carla's going to be busy keeping an eye on her new Hound. I need an Operator, you up for it?"
"Oh, uh, yeah! I can do that!" Uzi shouted confidently after a moment of confusion.
"And N, Carla's new Hound and Stray Four are going on their first combat sortie together. Why don't you go give them a hand for today?" 621 suggested.
"Uh, alright. I don't mind helping J and that Tessa woman out!" N saluted. "I love doing anything!"
"Mmm." 621 hummed. "You've got your matching orders, Stray Squad. Move out!"
Grid 085 - RaD Mercenary Hangar
Tessa was rather reluctant to leave the warm embrace of J so early in the morning. She adored her little Drones. They were cute and sweet and she worried over them and their future on Rubicon.
She was devastated to hear what had happened to V, but there was nothing she could do about it. Carla demanded she stay in Grid 085, and she could not defy her master. She could only hope V's new master was doing all she could to look out for her.
As much as she wanted to stay in bed, cuddling with J, Carla demanded work of her, and she could not refuse.
Engage the Doser Fraction – "Cinder" Carla / Reward 100,000 COAM
"You excited for your first combat sortie, exile?" Carla called excitedly. "I certainly hope so. It's going to be a long day for me. I've got Junker Coyotes muscling their way in both Grid 085 and 086. Your job will be to defend the Drone Sanctuary, and keep the Coyote's filthy hands off my property. Have your little one fly a scout patrol, to keep an eye for whatever might come your way. My sources are saying Grid 086 will get hit harder, but don't let your guard down. Oh, and another thing, I asked the tourist to lend you Sheperd for a bit. He's had a few missions already under his belt, so he'll know what to do, and keep an extra set of eyes on your back. Anyway, I'll see you in a bit. Good hunting, exile."
"J, did you hear that? We'll be working with N today!" Tessa cheered.
"Mmm." J grumbled. "I suppose…it will be good to see him again."
"J…in this case, he is your senior in experience, got it?" Tessa reminded her. "This is our first big mission together, so let's not let Carla down, okay J?"
"Okay. Got it boss." J nodded at Tessa.
Engage the Doser Fraction – "Cinder" Carla / Grid 085 – Western Belius / Tuesday, Claudius 4th, 3175
Launching nearly directly from her hangar, Tessa and J met N in the loading area near the Worker Drone Sanctuary.
"Hello J! Tessa woman!" N called cheerfully. "Oh, you're using that AC?"
What Tessa and J had done for the last few days was repaint the tank AC 621 had brought to Grid 085 the previous Wednesday in a white and grey color scheme, and replaced the "Delivery Boy" cruise missile launcher for a regular twelve cell VLS launcher.
"Hello N! Good to be working with you!" Tessa called out joyfully from within the AC.
"N…" J hissed. "Per the orders of my master, you're taking point on this op. You'll be the main scout, keeping overwatch on things while I support. Don't let me down."
"Don't worry J! I've got lots of experience scouting for ACs!" N assured her.
"Hey there kids!" Carla called excitedly over the radio. "You having fun there catching up with Saber and my exile, Sheperd? Good, because you've got a lot of incoming. Mostly light stuff, so it should be plenty easy for you to deal with. Sheperd, spread out and start counting the incoming threats. Saber, loiter over the AC and keep an eye on your master's back. That tank AC is tough, but slow to respond to flanking attacks. Exile, don't think too hard about killing these Coyotes. You've got big guns and a lot of armor, so just plow them down. How copy?"
"Copy!" Tessa, N, and J responded.
"That's our que, let's go J!" N led the way, spreading his wings and quickly taking flight.
"Ugh…" J hissed, but spread her wings and followed.
"Alright! This is Bad Dingo, launching!" Tessa announced, activating the combat mode on the AC.
/MAIN SYSTEM: ACTIVATING COMBAT MODE
The tank AC rocketed forward, ready to intercept the Coyotes forces.
"Got lots of RaD MTs inbound." N noted. "Also…heavily modified BAWS light MTs?"
"Punchers and Kickers." Carla clarified. "I thought it would be funny to up-armor the most useless of the BAWS MTs into decent threats. They're faster than normal MTs, and dangerous at close range, so don't get complacent exile."
The base model BAWS bipedal MT, sometimes referred to as a chicken walker, was a slow and ponderous machine armed with a single 30mm autocannon. The "Puncher" was instead armed with two 60mm autocannons, while the "Kicker" was armed with two three-cell bazookas and a pair of pile bunkers on it's ankles. Both of the RaD modified MTs were also much quicker than the standard variant, and more heavily armored.
The Coyote scouts noticed Tessa arriving, and announced her presence.
"Hey! We got an AC!" One of Coyotes shouted in surprise.
"Never seen one like that before." Another Coyote purred. "Must have got a sweet deal from Carla!"
"Send in the Punchers and Kickers!" A woman shouted angrily.
Several platoons worth of MTs started pouring down into the loading dock, with Tessa holding the line. She sent several high explosive shells into their lines, blowing them away and forcing them to scatter.
"It really makes me wonder why my custom MTs keep ending up in Coyote hands. I'm going to have to look into that later." Carla noted calmly.
While the Punchers kept Tessa's attention on them, the Kickers moved into flanking position, all the while, RaD built tetrapod MTs started raining missile volleys across the docks.
"Tessa, keep an eye on your flank, those Kickers are moving in!" J alerted her.
"Yep, I see it!" Tessa responded appreciatively, backing off slightly to keep the Kickers MTs from flanking her. She gunned them down with a back mounted gatling gun.
Carla had planned this operation well, as throwing MTs, even custom, heavily upgraded MTs against a tank AC was a worthless endeavor, as Tessa proved by mowing through the Coyotes lines.
"D-Damnit! This wasn't part of the plan!" One of the Coyotes cursed.
"Can't stand the sound of a whining Coyote. Finish them off, exile." Carla demanded.
"G-Got it!" Tessa hissed, getting annoyed with the distant MT's firing missile volleys after her. She moved in closer to engage, firing one of her own missile volleys, the VLS launcher bypassing the frontal armor of the enemy MT, and killing the first one.
"This should be an easy first mission for you, exile, so I withdrew my own MTs for the moment. So don't embarrass me and lose your head now." Carla informed her casually.
Even with that warning, Tessa got a bit power drunk, as she blasted MTs apart with high-yield ordnance. Charging down another of the missile armed RaD MTs, she ignored the Kicker next to it, that managed to get in close enough to fire both pile bunkers into the side of Tessa's AC, causing it to stagger.
"Ah!" Tessa shouted as she lost control for a moment. The remaining Coyotes moved in to try and capitalize on the easy prey.
"Tessa!" J screamed, and dove down to get between Tessa and the enemy MT.
"J! Wait!" N tried to warn her against that action.
But J wasn't listening, and dove down on the Kicker MT, getting behind it to fire her pulse-wave laser directly into it's knee joint, destroying the component and toppling the MT. Unfortunately, in doing so, she'd made herself an easy target for a Puncher MT, which fired on her.
J blocked the shot with her wings, which saved her life, but destroyed her wings, and sprawled her out away from Tessa's AC.
"Hey! Someone go squash that dumb bug!" The Coyotes called out, and changed targets.
"Sheperd, you better get in there." Carla advised calmly.
"Yes ma'am!" N answered promptly, diving in after J.
The Puncher MT that shot J down lined up on her, and tried to trample her under it's feet.
"Don't fucking touch her!" Tessa screamed, and plowed into the Puncher MT, crushing it under her treads. She then turned around and fired both artillery cannons over J's head, destroying another pair of MTs, then racked the enemy line with her gatling gun.
N swooped in near J while Tessa provided covering fire, and picked her up in his arms, dragging her to safety far above the battlefield.
"Got you!" N cheered as he saved J.
"Hmm! Y-You dork!" J hissed indignantly, and let slip a soft, "Thanks…"
"No problem, J!"
With J safety off the field, Tessa was free to eliminate the remaining Coyotes forces. She switcher her VLS launcher to multi-lock mode, and fired a wide barrage of missiles across the battlefield, destroying the smaller MTs and staggering the heavier ones. With their support wiped out, Tessa made quick work of the remaining MTs, blowing them up or gunning them down with the heavy weapons on the tank AC.
"Looks like it's over. Guess I was right to pick you for this job." Carla reported, signaling an end to combat operations. "Looks like the tourist has just about finished up as well. That was sure a doozy."
"Wait? What happened!?" N shouted. "Are V and Raven okay?!"
Engage the Doser Fraction – "Cinder" Carla / Grid 086 – Western Belius / Tuesday, Claudius 4th, 3175
"Okay um…" Uzi panicked just a little, and furious typing could be heard where she was in the RaD headquarters. "Sorry uh…never served as Operator before, ehehe."
"Just keep an eye on my sensors and my AC's diagnostics, Stray Three." 621 advised. "Stay calm. I need your eyes to watch what I can't when I'm distracted. Stray One?"
"Ah! Yes Raven?" V looked up to the AC hesitantly.
"You know the drill, setara." 621 nodded down to her. "Keep your eyes on the battle and whatever comes my way. It's a big help, having you two along."
"Thank you Raven!" Uzi and V cheered a bit at being told they were doing good.
"Don't worry." Ayre said calmly. "I'll also keep an eye on you, and pick up the slack for Uzi. We're in this together, Raven."
"Okay V…" Uzi called out. "I'm just going to call you by Carla's callsign. Specter, head up and start counting the enemy. Looks like we have inbound."
"Roger that, Sparky!" V deployed her wings confidently, and took off, flying ahead to scout out the incoming enemy.
"Raven, time to get out there and kick ass!" Uzi cheered. "Show them how it's done!"
"…" 621 grunted, and started her AC.
/MAIN SYSTEM: ACTIVATING COMBAT MODE
"Looks like the Coyotes sent us their heavy hitters." V announced, marking the enemy. "Counting four BAWS tetrapods. One sniper variant, two gatling variant, and one armored variant."
"Recommend dealing with the gatling variants first, Raven." Uzi advised. "You don't want to be suppressed by their heavy firepower. Specter, can you disable that sniper cannon again?"
"I-I can try, as soon as Raven get's in there." V confirmed.
"Don't hold back Raven, show them what you can do." Ayre added.
"…" 621 launched her AC into the combat zone, and intercepted the attacking Coyote heavy MTs.
"Hold up, Carla has another AC?" One of the Coyotes complained. "I thought our forces in the other Grid had that Hound tied up?"
"This must be one of her newbies." Another Coyoted dismissed. "Just kill them quick and we can attack the RaD HQ!"
"…" 621 targeted the closest gatling armed MT, and fired on it with double-mortars and missiles. It did some damage, but not enough as she had to evade the combined firepower of four heavy MTs. Fortunately, her bipedal AC was quick enough to dodge the worst of their shots. Having gotten through the worst of it, 621 dove back into the engagement, focusing on the damaged MT. She fired another volley of missiles and her shotgun, staggering the heavy MT, then got in close and finished it off with a swipe of her laser blade.
"One down!" Uzi announced, keeping tally. "Keep it up Raven!"
"…" 621 disengaged, and fired on the other gatling MT from long range, slowly bleeding it's armor as she dodged heavy shots from the remaining three MTs. While they were distracted, V dove on the sniper variant at the back, and planted an explosive on the loading mechanism for it's main gun. She didn't waste any time to stick around, and immediately took flight. The next time the MT fired with it's main gun, it exploded on it's roof.
"Ah, dammit! That stupid rat drone took out my main gun!" The MT pilot complained.
"Hold up, I got you!" The remaining gatling MT turned around, and tried to get a target lock on V. 621 boosted forward quickly, and speared her laser blade through his cockpit block from behind.
"That's two now. Good work Raven." Ayre added.
"Shit!" The armored MT cursed. "We're hella outmatched here! Who the hell is this!?"
"Do you think it's that mad Hound? The one who killed Kothari's brother?"
"N-No way! That chick was supposed to be an absolute psycho! No way someone like Carla would keep that beast around!"
"…" While the Coyotes panicked, 621 worked her way back towards the damaged sniper MT, and engaged it. It swung at her with it's heavy laser blade, which she was easily able to evade, and unloaded even more ordnance at it at close range, causing it to stagger. She then rushed forward, and pressed her shotgun against it's cockpit block, and fired through it.
"F-Fuck! Oh fuck!" The armored MT panicked, keeping their shield and submachinegun pointed at 621 as they held down the trigger, trying to keep the dangerous Hound away from their fragile flanks. "Come on, you want some of this motherfucker!?"
"Hang on, I can help a bit." V called out. She dove down on the remaining tetrapod MT and threw a magnetic-explosive charge onto it's left arm, then swooped under the mech and fired into one of it's rear legs joints with her pulse-wave laser. The heavy MT lost it's shield when the explosive went off, and staggered. V quickly took off again, making room for 621 to finish off the MT.
The MT left vulnerable, 621 fired a full volley of her weapons, then speared her blade through the MT, earning the kill.
"That's all of them." Ayre announced. "Good to see V doing so well. I think she likes working with you, Raven."
"…"
"Alright! Coyote heavies wiped out!" Uzi cheered. "Way to go on that assist Specter! How's it feel being back out in the field?"
"Ah…it feels good, to be working again." V answered.
"Good to hear!" Uzi smiled. "Alright Raven, proceed to…wait. New contact on radar. Specter, go check it out."
"Copy that!" V quickly followed the direction indicated by Uzi, staying high as she spotted the approaching enemy. "AC inbound, and fast. Looks like a Melander, Balam medium-weight bipedal, armed with a submachinegun, rail-rifle, four-cell launcher, and uh…a pulse buckle?"
V tracked the single boxy medium weight AC as it approached 621 in flight mode. It was red and blue, and marked as a member of the Redguns.
"Huh…? You're the freelancer from the dam raid." G5 Iguazu noticed, coming in for a landing at a stand-off distance from 621. "And here I thought I'd just make some extra scrip. Guess I can settle the score at the same time." He purred excitedly.
"Looks like the Coyotes hired an AC…G5 Iguazu, currently marked as AWOL from the Redguns." Uzi announced as she looked up the information. "Rank 19/D, not great, not terrible."
"…" 621 grunted in response to Iguazu's challenge. Just another rabid dog to be put down then.
621 and Iguazu started exchanging fire, maneuvering around each other to get their hits. 621 was more accurate and could evade better, but Iguazu had that pulse buckle shield generator, lowering it intermittently to block her missiles and mortars. They were not evenly matched, but Iguazu could at least hold his own, long enough to be a pain in the ass.
"Y'know I really owe ya one…" Iguazu mocked, coasting away as he used his submachinegun to keep constant pressure on 621. Each of his weapons was lighter with quicker reloads, meaning he could always have at least one gun firing, while 621 had to evade and opportunistically fire her weapons, and try and get in close. "You got lucky at the Dam, and I'm gonna prove it."
"…" 621 fired down on him with her mortars, breaking his shield, and rushing in close to fire at him with her shotgun. It did decent damage, but Iguazu managed to slip away and return fire with his rail-rifle, forcing 621 to evade again.
"You're gonna die, freelancer!" Iguazu declared, firing a long volley to try and stagger 621. In response, she sent a wave of missiles his way, trying to slow him down while she waited for her mortars to reload.
It was a tedious battle, but 621 was confident in her abilities, to be able to wear down Iguazu and cut him down.
"Raven!" V shouted. "Inbound stealth machines! Almost on top of you and G5!" She warned desperately. "Counting-AH!"
"Stray One!?" 621 broke off an attack run on Iguazu to worry about V for a second. "Stray One, report!?"
"V was just intercepted by a high-speed contact!" Uzi reported worriedly. "It's dragging her out of the AO! Shit! There's interference in the sensors! You're about to be ambushed, Raven!"
A long blue wave of plasma cut through the air on the end of a plasma whip, right between 621 and Iguazu.
"Huh?!" Iguazu broke off his attack in confusion.
"New hostiles detected!" Ayre warned. Just over a hundred meters away, was the barely perceivable shape of an invisible mech, it's laser weapons charging. Further away on either end of the transit line 621 and Iguazu had been fighting on, were several invisible snipers, noticed only as they charged their laser cannons.
"[Encrypted Traffic]." The invisible machines selected their targets, and prepared to fire.
"What the hell?!" G5 Iguazu complained. "Tsk! They're all over us! Help me out, or we're both dead!"
"…" 621 was more worried about V than either herself or Iguazu. But she couldn't deal with that right now, and had to focus on the threats in front of her. Reluctantly, she started chasing the invisible melee machine pursuing Iguazu, working together to destroy the mysterious foe.
V wasn't entirely sure at first what happened, as she had been rammed at high speed and dragged away from the AO, towards another distant transit line on one of Grid 086's subsectors. However, looking down she could see the arms of a Disassembly Drone, holding her.
"Let go of me!" V shouted, shaking off her attacker. She came to a stop on the transit line, and confronted her interloper. "Who are-! Wait…is that you, S?"
Before her, was Serial Designation S. A male Disassembly Drone from a squad on a distant part of Copper IX…and V's old memories. He was dressed like a biker with a leather jacket and black jeans, and streaked back silver hair.
However, what concerned V were the tech augments that were affixed to…no…drilled into his body. Inserted painfully into his shell at various points along his chest, arms, and legs. Even an extra visor over his eyes, that looked like it was stuck into his head, giving him an expanded optical suite, and there was an antenna attached to his back. Tech that looked similar to that used on the stealth machines that kept showing up to attack 621. And his control collar, instead of glowing in Coral red, hummed a sickly green instead.
"Hello V…" S frowned, his eyes looking dim and tired. "I'm…sorry, but I have to…dispose of you. I have…my orders."
"Like hell!" V shouted back, extending her wings. Being the subtype that she was, she knew she could evade him and get back to 621.
"I'm afraid…I can't allow that." S appeared to struggle to raise his arm, fighting against the action. A hand terminal on his arm activated.
/ADMINISTRATOR OVERRIDE
/CEREBRAL CORAL CONTROL DEVICE: HIGHER FUNCTIONS LOCKED
"Oww! Shit!" V cursed as her wings forcibly retracted and her control collar burned.
"Please…don't make this difficult." S begged sadly. "I promise to be quick about it."
"…!" V backed up, suddenly fearful again. Stuck without access to her wings or weapons, against an overwhelmingly superior foe…
But this wasn't like before. She still had her development kit for working with 621. A handful of grenades and heavier explosives, and a fully automatic .45 caliber handgun. Pulling 621's gun from her holster, V made her stand.
"Just try me!" V shouted back. "Pashangwala!"
It was difficult to ascertain, but it appeared that there were at least twelve invisible machines stalking her and G5 Iguazu. Four melee types with heavy energy shielding and plasma whips, and eight snipers with powerful laser cannons at either end of the transit line.
Uzi and Ayre were working hard to keep her ahead of possible attacks, highlighting the charge of the enemy's energy weapons with a clear and loud warning. The biggest difficulty that 621 was facing at the moment, however, was keeping Iguazu alive.
He was just good enough that he could definitely kill some of the stealth machines, but not enough to survive. It wasn't that 621 wanted him to live either. Having him around gave the stealth machines something else to shoot at, and made it easier for her to maneuver.
Otherwise, the only other good news was that she could see these stealth machines at close range, their invisibility having limited functionality during close quarters combat.
While Iguazu started pursuing the snipers at one end of the transit line, 621 bared down on the melee type on his flank. She couldn't spend too long dealing with these machines, as she had melee types on her tail as well, but she was confident in her ability to evade them. Blasting the enemy before her with each of her guns, she broke it's shield down, and ran it through the head with her laser blade.
At the same time, Iguazu loaded his weapons, and mag-dumped the closest sniper, cutting it down with a combination of 50mm submachinegun and 90mm rail-rifle rounds. He coasted away, reloading his weapons while firing a missile volley at the next sniper in the line.
621 had to disengage from Iguazu's side, defending herself from one of the melee types following her a bit too close for comfort. Boosting upwards to evade the plasma whip, 621 fired down with her double-mortar, then at point blank range with her shotgun, breaking it's shield. She then kicked it to disorient it, before striking it repeatedly with her laser blade to destroy it.
His weapons reloaded, Iguazu focused down a second sniper, and tore it apart with another long stream of bullets. Unfortunately, he had been so focused on killing the easy targets he hadn't noticed 621 leave him momentarily to defend herself, and was punished for it by taking flanking damage from a melee type he wasn't watching.
"Nnn! Dammit!" Iguazu hissed, boosting back away from the melee type and towards 621. They were still outnumbered eight-to-two, and Iguazu wasn't sure he could afford to take anymore hits. 621 was still doing fine, however, and was easily evading the enemy again and again, and was already moving to engage the next closest melee type.
He had an epiphany then, and it made him angry. How dare this damn, nameless Hound outfight him against impossible odds.
"irregular…" Iguazu spat. "If I won't survive this, then I'll take you to hell with me!"
"Raven, look out!" Ayre warned too late.
"…?!" 621 had been engaged when Iguazu decided to turn on her, at such a close range he could easily aim for her cockpit block. It was only a last second twist of motion that brought her left arm up, tanking the shots that would have otherwise killed her. Still, the unexpected attack had caused considerable damage.
/CRITICAL WARNING: VP-67LD OFFLINE
"…Tsk." 621 hissed in annoyance as her laser blade had taken critical damage and was inoperable. She could temporarily repair the armor with a repair-pack, but more complicated components would have to be repaired or replaced in the hangar.
"Raven! Your laser blade just went offline!" Uzi shouted worriedly. "Damn that traitor, is he trying to die!?"
"…" Down a weapon and with a new enemy to deal with, the odds were not in her favor. Even so, she tightened her grip on the controls, and stared down her enemies hatefully.
"Hang on…new contact inbound, closing fast!" Uzi alerted.
"I think it's an AC Raven! But who could…!?" Ayre had noticed that as well, alerting 621 to the incoming contact.
Before either Iguazu or any of the invisible machines could make their next move, a volley of medium missiles slammed into Iguazu's back, and disoriented him.
"What the-!? Who is this bastard!?" Iguazu cursed, turning towards the new threat.
Closing fast and low, slipping between the invisible machines, was another 2000 series AC like the one 621 was using, but with a different head part. It fired it's own double-mortar Songbird into an invisible sniper, destroying it, while it used it's heavy rifle to gun down a second.
"Don't think you can get between me and my mark!" Iguazu warned the newcomer, firing with both handheld weapons. The grey armored AC rapidly approaching just weaved between the bullets, and fired another wave of missiles that Iguazu blocked with his shield.
However, when the smoke from those missiles cleared, the new AC was right on top of Iguazu, having boosted forward when he wasn't looking.
"Huh-!?" Iguazu only had a moment to gasp as the new AC kicked him in the head, damaging his sensor suite. It then spun on the spot and charged it's left arm weapon, a pile bunker, to fire a piercing metal stake ten meters long into Iguazu's left arm, ripping the arm off the AC.
"Ack! D-Damn you-!" Iguazu shouted, but the AC wasn't done, as it rammed into the damaged AC, and knocked him from the transit line. "Goddammit! This isn't over freelancer! You haven't heard the last of me!"
Iguazu would be fine, even having been thrown from the AO. However, that wasn't what 621 was thinking about, as she regarded the interloper, the grey armored AC that she recognized.
"…Nightfall." Ayre recognized them as well, as 621 and Nightfall exchanged a nod. They were still surrounded by invisible machines, so there was no time for rest.
621 picked up Iguazu's submachinegun with her left hand, and went back to work.
Though S held a mobility advantage over her with his wings, V was still very nimble and swift. She wasn't trying to run away either, just stay out of his line of fire long enough for 621 to finish off the enemy and then come rescue her.
She had to believe that 621 could overcome the enemy. She had to.
Fortunately, there were quite a few trains here for her to hide between, so she did just that. Running from machinegun fire, V slipped below a train car and just barely dodged a missile, then kept going for more cover.
"What the hell happened to you S!?" V called out as she ran. "Who did this to you?!"
"Upgraded…by…administrator." S answered painfully. "Following…new…directive."
"Oh yeah!? And what directive is that!?" V demanded as she looked for more cover to escape behind.
S landed roughly right in front of her, wings hanging by his sides menacingly as he stared down at her tiredly, baring his fangs in a pained expression.
"Eliminate all aberrations…to the plan." S declared with hate not his own, as he set his sights on V.
V was quicker on the draw, and had fired three rounds. S swung his wing forward and blocked the bullets with his blade like feathers, then pulled his wing back to fire at V with one of his inbuilt submachine guns.
Leaping back while watching where he was aiming, V dodged between the bullets as she pulled back into cover, diving out of his line of sight around the corner of the train.
She was going to keep running, only to see a missile curve around the corner. This confused her for a moment, as the missile was going too fast to turn around and hit her, and was already well clear of her. She barely noticed that something was being dragged in it's wake however, a wire with several small objects attached to it.
V found out the hard way that those "objects" were explosive submunitions of the thermobaric type, which exploded uncomfortable close and staggered her, leaving her vulnerable.
S rounded the corner quickly and stalked after her as she tried to get up and crawl away. He deployed another weapon from his left arm, a miniature plasma whip normally used by ACs, and started twirling it about like a lasso, before he threw it at V and snagged her by the leg.
"Ksss!" V hissed in pain as the plasma whip burned her, while S dragged her back and stood on her chest.
"I am…truly sorry V." S hesitated slightly, deploying one of his long claws. "But my will…is no longer my own." He raised his claws high-
A shot rang out, and S lost his head, falling backwards and off of V. V sat up quickly and looked where the shot had come from.
Across the transit line, there appeared to be a person…no…a Worker Drone behind the scope of a high caliber rifle. There was a second Worker Drone besides the first, waving at her and gesturing her over.
Confused but appreciating the help, V untangled herself from the plasma whip and quickly ran towards the two Worker Drones. She knew S would only be down for a moment, and wanted to meet her new allies of circumstance.
The two Worker Drones were…featureless. Default white eyes that alternated between S and V imperceivably. They were wearing black tactical gear over their small frames, and carrying a small arsenal between them. Older model control collars not utilizing Coral affixed tightly to their necks. Instead of hard hats, they wore military helmets with optics affixed above their foreheads.
There were only two identifying marks on their forms. Their callsigns, which appeared to be Baggins and Gamgee, and a patch on their shoulders, with a single word.
BRANCH
"Hey! Thanks for the assist!" V greeted happily. "Be ready, S won't be down for long!"
"…" Baggins and Gamgee just shrugged dismissively, glaring at her, before turning their weapons back on S's still form. It seemed neither of them were very talkative.
V rolled her eyes, and held her handgun at the ready as well, a little more confident with any support, even if it was just Worker Drones.
Seeing as she had lost her melee weapon, 621 was relegated to a support role while Nightfall went on the offensive, hunting down the remaining melee types.
Getting between 621 and one of the melee types, Nightfall fired their double-mortar and medium missiles at point blank range, breaking the shields of the invisible machine. Left staggered, the enemy was helpless as Nightfall charged their pile bunker to full power, and thrust the weapon into the melee type's chest. The stake from the weapon ripped through the melee type, and burst out it's back. Nightfall shook it's arm, dislodging the dead machine.
"Woah…I want a pile bunker!" Uzi cried over the radio, admiring how Nightfall pulverized it's enemies.
"…" 621 had not been sitting idle. Having tracked down one of the invisible snipers, she fired on it with her stolen submachinegun, bleeding it's armor, then got close enough to kick it in the face. Fully disabled, she shoved her shotgun it it's face, and fired, putting a hole through it's big head.
Whatever these stealth machines were, it seemed that Nightfall really had it out for them. On it's way to deal with the remaining melee enemy, it unloaded both mortars and missiles into one sniper, blasting it apart. It then rushed a second sniper nearby, and fired a "half" powered pile bunker attack, which staggered the stealth machine and left it vulnerable. Nightfall then speared it's heavy rifle through the sniper mech, and fired into it's insides, tearing it apart.
621 pounced on the last sniper mech. Staggering it from a distance with her mortars, she got in close, and stuck the barrel of her submachinegun directly into it's "face", and dumped the mag, cutting it's head in half.
The last melee type put up a little fight, flinging it's plasma whip at Nightfall to keep the AC at bay. The grey AC jumped and hovered briefly, firing down with it's dual-mortar to weaken the enemy's energy shield, then boosted forward, and thrust it's heavy rifle through the shield, firing directly into the knee joint of the stealth machine, staggering it. The machine lashed out with it's plasma whip desperately and blindly, which Nightfall easily dodged back from. It used the opportunity to fully charge it's pile bunker, and deliver a devastating blow that destroyed the enemy, and threw them over the edge of the transit line.
"That's the last of them Raven. No hostiles detected." Ayre advised.
"Damn…what a fight." Uzi commented. "You should be clear Raven."
"…" 621 regarded her mysterious ally, the AC Nightfall. Twice now they'd intervened in no-hope situations. Who was this Hound, and what did they want?
Nightfall nodded to her quickly, then took off, flying away from the transit line.
"Now go pick up V, Raven!" Uzi suggested. "She's just a few miles away!"
"…" 621 activated the flight mode, and went after V.
Even with the assistance of two heavily armed Worker Drones, it was no small task taking on Serial Designation S.
With all the added tech affixed to his body, he was displaying abilities she was wholly unfamiliar with.
While one Worker Drone, Gamgee, stayed back to use their anti-material rifle, Baggins stayed on the hunt near V, using a light machinegun that seemed almost too large for them to be carrying.
After regrowing his head, S had taken off to momentarily reassess the situation, before diving down on V and Baggins. He switched one of his hands out for a pulse-wave laser cannon…or so V thought it was.
As she attempted to dodge beneath the expected wave of energy, part of his tech augments reached forward on his arm, and inserted themselves into the side of his laser cannon. S hissed painfully as the weapon that was part of his body was pierced, then aimed with it.
Instead of a single long wave of a yellow cutting laser, S's laser cannon fired heavy blue bolts of plasma. The unexpected change surprised V, and she turned to take one of the bolts to her shoulder.
"Ahh!" V shouted, but fought through the pain, enough to see S change targets and fire at Baggins. Knowing how fragile Worker Drones were, V tackled Baggins down into cover. "You good!?"
"…Tsk!" Baggins hissed as they shoved V away, and stood up, lugging their gun with them.
"…You're welcome I guess…" V sarcastically stated, before going back to getting S's attention on her. She could sort of guess the plan the two Worker Drones had, and it still seemed as though she was the priority target for S as well. So she did her part and acted as bait, and kept S's attention on her.
"Tell me something S!" V shouted as S fired on her with his new plasma cannon. It had a much narrower arch of fire than the standard Disassembly Drone laser weapon, but a much higher rate of fire, keeping V from being able to stay still too long. "Who is your master!? Why are you hunting me!?"
"C-Classified…" S struggled to speak, but did so as much as he could. "Because…you are an aberration…an unexpected obstacle…to our plan."
"…Your plan?!" V pressed for information, even as she shot at him, keeping all of his eyes on her. "What plan is that?!"
"To…achieve…Coral Release…to-" S was cut off as Baggins had finally set up across the transit line, and fired their light machinegun at S. That was the que for Gamgee to resume fire with their anti-material rifle.
"Dammit!" V cursed as whatever S was telling her was cut off by the attack. S deployed his wings and used them to cover himself from the incoming fire from either side. With no choice in the matter, V fired with her handgun, trying to disable S's limbs or the tech on his body.
Covering his face and chest with his arms, S was effectively pinned down from every side. That's when he revealed a new ability. A silver contraption hanging from his back sprang to life, and separated from him. It hovered in the air on small thrusters. The contraption looked down at V, and started firing blue plasma bolts at her.
"Oh shit!" V had to find cover again as the Orbit drone fired at her. It was another unusual piece of equipment usually found on ACs. Who had the time and resources to invest in converting AC weapons down to Disassembly Drone size?
…Well, maybe Carla would, but she seemed to prefer building unhinged industrial or utilitarian designs. The technology S was using seemed cutting edge high-tech, and caused him far more discomfort than Carla would ever willing inflict on one of her allies.
With V taking cover, S's Orbit drone focused on Gamgee, forcing the Worker Drone to take cover to avoid the plasma bolts the smaller machine fired. It was a strange piece of equipment that was surprisingly effective, separating a weapon from the main unit and giving it an elevated firing platform. V needed to take it out.
Getting back up, V grabbed some of the grenades off her belt, the same kind of smart grenades that 621 seemed so fond of using, and made up a strange and desperate plan. She preemptively switched their setting, then started throwing them at S.
The first two grenades landed low, and started releasing white smoke that obscured S's vision. S simply flapped his wings, dispelling the smoke quickly. V threw another smoke grenade, which forced S to keep flapping his wings.
"You are…only delaying…the inevitable…V." S stressed. He deployed one of his swords as he saw another grenade incoming, and slashed it out of the air.
This was not a smoke grenade, it was a live thermite grenade. Spilt open, the contents of the grenade stuck to S's sword and arm, and started burning, melting the metal. It didn't do much damage, dispersed mostly through the air as it was, but it did have the effect of fusing S's arm in it's current state, his sword stuck deployed and unable to be changed for another weapon.
As S winced in pain as he was now partially melting as well, V threw one of the larger high-explosive charges she had, and managed to get it to stick to the Orbit drone over his head.
S was knocked to the ground by the force of the explosion, as his Orbit drone was destroyed. At the same time, Baggins and Gamgee resumed fire, peppering him with light and heavy rifle caliber rounds.
"…" S glared, tired and in pain and slowly losing this fight against a coordinated enemy. "Be…careful V…my master…is without remorse, or restraint."
"Mine as well." V warned him back, seeing what he would do.
S spread his wings, and took off, exiting the area rapidly.
V breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing for a moment. She turned to thank her unusual allies, those two tactical Worker Drones in black.
Both Baggins and Gamgee ignored her, and were instead running for an open area of the transit line, weapons carried low. They were soon met by the Armored Core Nightfall, which landed in that open area, picking them both up and placing them on it's forward slope, where they held on tightly.
Nightfall then turned towards V, and…
It was a strange gesture, the ten-meter-tall war machine pointing towards it's optical suite on it's head, then at V, as it seemed to say…
Be seeing you.
Just as quickly as they appeared, Nightfall had taken off, flying high under artificial sky.
"Okay then…" V muttered to herself, trying to relax after the strange encounter, seeing S, two Workers, and Nightfall one after the other.
A minute later, and 621 came to pick her up.
"Stray One, report." 621 demanded softly,
"All good!" V answered promptly. "A little banged up, but no worse for wear. I'll have a uh…an interesting report for you later."
"…I look forward to it…setara." 621 nodded, then leaned down to pick V up.
"So, I take it you were able to destroy all the stealth machines?" V commented curiously.
"Sure did." 621 confirmed. "Might have had some help."
"Well I knew you could do it!" V cheered. "Hehe, mi Raven."
Grid 086 - Independent Mercenary Hangars
More than anything, V was just happy to get back to the hangar after a long day of work, and see Uzi and N again, after their work had scattered them across the Grid Sector.
"V!" N shouted, running up to her. "I was so worried! Carla had said you'd run into some trouble. She said you were fine, but I didn't know what to think…"
"Thank you N." V smiled softly. "Yeah it was a really long day, but I think I handled it pretty well. Met some new faces…and old ones too."
"Dude, don't worry so much!" Uzi punched N's side playfully. "When she's in her element, V can really handle herself."
"Thanks Uzi. And hey, you're not too bad at being an Operator." V added.
"Ah haha." Uzi smiled, almost uncomfortable with a compliment. "It's nothing. Honestly I rather miss getting out in the field. Still, what happened when you got dragged out of the AO?"
"Oh, well…" V hesitated slightly. "I was attacked by S…"
"Is that…another Disassembly Drone? What did they want?" N wondered.
"Yeah, he was also…from our assembly line. But…" V hesitated slightly. "I think that whoever his master was had him on a very short leash, and was torturing him. He had a lot of advanced tech drilled into his body, and he was in a lot of pain."
"That's…fucking grim." Uzi frowned. "What did he want?"
"He said something about 'Coral Release' and eliminating me as an obstacle to his master's plan. I'm sorry, but I wish I knew more." V explained briefly. "I also met two strange Worker Drones, who seemed to be working with the AC Nightfall…and under an organization called 'Branch.'"
"Branch?" N voiced it in confusion. "Who are they?"
"That's what Raven and I are waiting to figure out. We've sent our reports to Walter and Carla. Walter is still busy, but Carla should be getting back to us soon." V added.
621 was waiting patiently for that message, and when it came, she signaled for Stray Squad to join her, to listen to Carla's response to the after-action report.
"Good job today tourist. You and the little ones are really proving their worth. Almost wish I could hire you on full time." Carla started off with praise. "You should know Sheperd really pulled his weight over in Grid 085. My new Hound is bright and eager, but you of all people know she has a very long way to go. Both your efforts today have effectively neutralized the Coyotes in my sphere of influence, meaning both Grid 086 and Grid 085 are fully back under my control. As such, I'm keeping my promise to you, and finishing powering up the mass driver tomorrow. You'll be out of here in style!" Carla finished with the basic information, before moving on towards the unexplained variables from their mission.
"So you ran into some ghost, eh? Mysterious machines that strike from the shadows. My techs are trying to go over what scrap they've been able to recover, but all the juicy secrets went up in flames. Seems like some kind of self-destruct feature. All I know is that those machines have started popping up across Rubicon at random times, mostly seen as a mysterious shimmer of light at a distance. The fact that they've gone after you and yours three times now…that's interesting, don't you think? As for that other Disassembly Drone, S, I'm sorry to hear what's happening to him. If I can find a solution for that, I will, but I can't make any promises."
"And, of course, that last mystery you stumbled across, Nightfall and Branch. If you're wondering, then yes, I did build that AC as a rush job, well over a month ago. Someone paid top dollar to have it delivered, no questions asked. No, I never met the pilot either, just one of their associates. As for Branch…I've only heard the rumors, same as everyone else. They say that five years ago, Branch attacked the PCA orbital station LOC 31, and cut a small but consistent hole in the defense grid, enough that stuff is actually able to make it down to Rubicon…sometimes. As for their goals? No one knows. They seem to be a mercenary outfit, taking on jobs from all fractions, even me on very rare occasions. The fact that you've seen them twice now…tread lightly tourist. Just like any merc outfit, they'll just as soon assist you as they might turn on you."
"Anyway, that's all for now. Get plenty of rest, it's going to be another long day tomorrow. Say goodnight to the little ones for me." Carla's report ended.
"Seems like you're attracting lots of attention Raven." Ayre noted. "Try and be careful. Those stealth machines are already dangerous enough, but that Nightfall fights like an elite mercenary. Not someone who's ire you want to earn."
"…"
"So…we just have even more questions." Uzi grimaced. "Stealth machines hunting us on one side, and Branch doing god knows what while assisting us…for now."
"Hopefully we'll figure it out someday." N suggested with a light shrug.
"So…we're finally leaving this Grid Sector tomorrow?" V wondered.
"Yes setara, we are." 621 confirmed. "We'll be crossing the Alean Ocean, and landing in the Central Ice Field. We should also be hearing from Handler Walter again once we are prepared for our next mission."
"That's good." V smiled softly. "I could go for a change of scenery."
"…" 621 blinked slowly, and regarded her Strays. "Let's rest early tonight, and get up early tomorrow. I wanted to get some new weapons…but it can wait. Sound good?"
"Oh, yes Raven!" Stray Squad answered. Uzi and N settled down to rest, but V followed 621.
"Um, Raven?" V hesitantly asked.
"Hmm?"
"Well…thank you for coming to get me." V thanked honestly hiding her eyes. "I'm just…really glad that you care."
"…" 621 stared at the top of V's head, considering that little machine.
"Oh…hug her dammit." Ayre demanded. "You know you want to."
"…" 621 grunted softly. She gently pulled V close, and rubbed her head. "Of course, mi setara mali."
Author's Note: Finishing chapter 26 took a week longer than anticipated, but it still got done. Now with chapter 27 done, I decided to share this little mission with you all. Iguazu finally showed up, much like I promised. He just got moved around a bit. I don't really have anything else to say about this one, other than showing both Allmind and Branch moving from very early on. Next chapter is the ending of act 2, so look forward to that in like...2-3 weeks maybe.
EDIT: Oh! I forgot to mention that the introduction/flashback is from the last episode of season 5 of The Expanse.
Until then mi beratnas, abide with Rubicon!
To ChimaTigon: As much as I love Murder Drones, I might find it difficult to make another story after the events of this one. Just how I have never made another Doki Doki Literature Club story after writing OTK, these characters are now locked in and I can't see them any other way other than as what they will become in this story. If for some reason I found the inspiration to write a sequel, we might see these characters again, but until then you'll just have to settle for this story being somewhere between 600K and 800K words long by my estimation.
To magenta skelter: James isn't the kind of guy to make up emotionally attached nicknames. If for some reason he did appear, he would probably only call 621...621. All I can say is you can expect even more fucked up things on his part, even when he isn't even there. I will point out that the man did earn a new title, which should not be taken lightly.