Cyberpunk: Bad Company

Chapter 2: Wanderers

Lynx rockets up from the ground gasping for air, her head snaps in all directions with her eyes wide in panic. She is surrounded, not by steel or iron but by dirt, dry shrubs, and… weird spiky tree things. Not miles below a warring hive city, but under a bright rising sun occasionally broken up by a shadow she tracks to a large windmill like structure. She rises to her feet before falling back down to her hands and knees as she feels her stomach's bile race up her throat and out of her mouth, onto the ground below. She clenches her eyes while noticing that as stomach acid leaves her body, a feeling of clarity and calmness fills it places. After a few seconds, Lynx coughs and spits out what's left in her mouth and opens her eyes to have them widen in surprise at what's in front of her. What would normally be her day's rations, was replaced with an inky black void that shines an iridescent rainbow, along with little specks of light that someone would see in a star night. Lynx's brain races to realizes what she is looking at, it starts to disappear as it seeps into ground at a rapid pace. When it does, it's too late to analyze it as it completely vanished earth, leaving not a single trace behind. She stares at the spot where her stomach acid used to be before she carefully raises to her feet again and scans her surroundings. Lynx is at the top of a hill that's for sure, to her right is the warm morning sun, but to her left is a large city that sends holograms into the sky. She searches herself for her weapons and finds that they are tucked into holsters where they belong. She also notices that none of her squad mates are within eyesight. "Lynx to Bad Company, respond." Lynx orders through her comm bead, she waits a few seconds for a reply from anyone before speaking again. "Commissar Lynx to a Bad Company, can anyone hear me?" she waits some more before hearing the unmistakable sound of vomiting.

Lynx reaches the crest of the hill, following the wretched sound to see at the bottom her companions on a dirt path in various states. Dekker and Neriom are talking together, K is treating Nils wounded leg with an unconscious Oros close by, while Stryker is helping Lance expel his own bile. While K works, Nils spots Lynx and yells "Hey, there's Lynx!" as she points her out. The members that are not preoccupied look up to her as she descends down the hill to the road. "Where are we, Dekker?" Lynx asks as both Dekker and Neriom approach. "We don't know Lynx" Dekker responds as Neriom adds in: "Aerial scans of the surroundings suggest the outskirts of a city not of imperial origin." Lynx nodes a bit at the information "What about Xeno origins?" Neriom shakes her hooded head "None of the structures match any Xeno structures that I have knowledge of." Lynx can agree with that, none of the buildings look like they were made by the Imperium, but there is a more important question in her mind now. "Why did you not respond to me when I called through the vox?" Lynx probes to Dekker and Neriom. "We couldn't hear you ma'am. The vox seems to be dead thanks to our current… situation." Dekker answered just as Neriom joins: "The comm beads were harmonized to the Macharius's vox caster. With its abstinence, I will need to synchronize them to Stryker's vox unit to activate them again." Lynx could understand that, after all, K did scavenge them from the Macharius's last crew. With that in mind, Lynx turned to Stryker for her next question. "Stryker, have you tried contacting any imperial forces?" Stryker looks over her shoulder to respond as she pats Lance's back "I was not able to make contact with anyone on any vox channels." Neriom speaks after her "I also was not able to locate any Imperial or Mechanicus noosphere to contact." Dekker shakes his head before he voices Lynx's thoughts "Lynx, all things considered, we're on our own." Lynx pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs "I see. Let me think for a bit…"

She, along with the rest of her team, are on an unknown alien planet, without contact to the rest of the Imperium, and with only a few rations to go on. All and all, it's not the worst situation Lynx has ever been in, but it's still less than Ideal. For right now though, she needs to find out where they are in the galaxy and that starts with them getting familiar with their surroundings. If she remembers correctly, there were two landmarks that could benefit them, a large tower like building far into the distance and a much closer board, trying to push some type of product in a language she couldn't understand. After a few seconds of mantally debating, she decides to move them to the tower, thinking it will have some type of useful information for them. But that all requires them to walk and have their equipment.

"K, a word please." Lynx barks out to K. He nodes to her and finishes his work with Nils by giving her a syringe before joining her group with a salute. Lynx nodes before saying "At ease. What's the status of Nils, Oros, and Lance, how are they looking?" K without a second to spare blankly states "Nils was given a stimm shot and will fully recover with it, Lance looks to be coming down from his nausea." He juts his head to Lance who is currently getting back onto his feet with the help of Stryker before continuing "and Oros is in an unconscious state." Lynx raises an eyebrow to that "Do you know why?" he shakes his head and states "No ma'am, but considering that we were all unconscious when we got here, I'll say he will be fine when he wakes, other than having immediate nausea." Lynx then looks to Dekker. "Do we have our weapons and equipment?" Dekker nodes his head questioningly "Yes ma'am. Other than the melta bombs, all weapons and equipment have been accounted for, surprisingly." Lynx nodes her head and says "Very well then." before clapping her hands, get the rest of her team's attention. "Ok, listen up. We are in foreign land, without contact to support or any imperial forces. So for the moment, we're alone. However we do know there are a few places we could investigate for information and that's what we'll do." she then turns to Lance "How are you feeling?" Lance spits on to the ground before speaking "A lot better then when I first got up." she then turns to Nils "And how about you Nils?" Nils carefully gets onto her feet with Dekker's help before picking up her weapon. "I'm good n-no-" is all Nils can stutter out before falling to her hands and knees to vomit out the same black ichor that Lynx puked out.

Lynx snaps her head to K and asks "Has everyone done this?" K nodes his head in confirmation "Yes ma'am. As soon as someone wakes up and tries to stand, that happens." Lynx stares at the black pool of Nils' ichor as it dissolves into nothing. "Be close to Oros until he wakes. If we all did that then he will too." Lynx orders K before he gives her a quick salute. She then turns to Lance "Lance, can you please carry Oros?" Lance looks at her and asks "why me?" Lynx takes a sigh of frustration. "Because as much as I hate to admit it, you're the strongest of us." she states to receive an "Aww thanks Lynx! You're the be-" from Lance before Stryker punches his arm. Lynx then speaks out again "Alright. get your things, we'll move out in bastion 220 formation." before they could Stryker asks "What about the vox problem?" Lynx looks to her and says "There is a tower in the distance. When we reach it, we will make a temporary operating base and you'll have the time to look at it with Neriom. But for now, we need to find a place to get our bearings." Stryker, satisfied with her response, helps Lance and K carry Oros before the group begins to march, with Lynx and Dekker in the front while Stryker, Lance, and Oros are in the back.

The higher the sun rose into the clouds, the further Bad Company walked into the unknown. The walk itself was quiet with not much conversation. Mostly because the team was focused on scanning the rolling landscape for anyone or anything hostile. Just as the group reached the crest of a rather small valley, Lynx would motion for the group to take cover before she would kneel behind some rocks and shrubs, then take off her cap. "Lynx, what's happened?" Dekker would ask in a whisper. Lynx would quietly speak back, taking out her Magnoculars before looking through them. "We got hostels on the objective. You and Nils look over the rocks." Dekker would swiftly motion Nils to crawl up to them."What's happening?" Nils would ask as the two peeked over the rocks they hid behind. Lynx said, while observing the tower through the Magnoculars "Can you see the people at the base of the tower?" Dekker would take Lynx's Magnoculars and slowly peek his head to see through them, while Nils would bring up her lasgun's scope to bear on it.

True to Lynx's word, Dekker and Nils can visibly see traitorous cultists under the tower, or what look to be cultists. Men and women in black and green-ish blue clothing carrying what Nils thinks are auto guns in the same colors. Not branded with the sign of chaos or engaged in some type of sadistic actions, but scavenging the tower and a few containers for its resources, with what Nils thinks are their vehicles parked off to the right. To be honest with herself, they look like a mix of cultists and bandits. "Well, what are we thinking?" Lynx asks the twins. Dekker would be the first to speak, while still observing the enemies. "They look like cultists or one of the cartels on Malo." Nils would confirm her brothers thought. "I was thinking something the same thing." Dekker handed the Magnoculars back to Lynx and said "They don't appear to have any signs of corruption, just a lot of skulls on their vehicles, or whatever those things to the right are." Lynx would look to Dekker and shrug her shoulders "All three of us know how looks can deceive the eye." Lynx would look back through the Magnoculars at the suspected cultists "Nonetheless, they still look like a problem we should take care of." That is something the three can agree on.

Nils looks back through her weapons scope and remarks. "The enemy's force is focused on the far back of the tower." Lynx thinks for a moment and inquires. "Why? Do you see anyone in the tower Nils?" Before she could respond Dekker interjects "Yes, I saw a few pass by the windows at the top. They seem to be looking for something." Lynx moves her attention to the top and sure enough, there are, along with a few enemies on the roof as well. Lynx begins to formulate a plan of action to take the tower, they could just try brute force, but they could call for reinforcements. Alternatively, they could try and quietly take them out one by one, it would save them the ammo and resources, but also be slow. There's also a high likelihood of them getting caught by the cultists and be forced into a fight. Lynx debates her options on how to approach and, to her, taking them out one by one is the best option in all cases.

"Nils, you stay here with Oros and over-watch us while we secure the tower." Lynx said before looking back to the rest of the group. "We attack from the left, through the crevice, and to the containers. There is a fence but we can get over it quickly. Move from cover to cover and use CQB weapons only, we don't want to draw attention from the enemies, especially from that tower. Understood?" The group would nod their heads to her with a "Yes, flesh temple." from Neriom. With that, Lynx would wordlessly order her troops to follow her as she fixed her cap back on to her head, while Nils lied down and propped her weapon on a dying shrub.

Lynx's eyes were glued to the top of the tower, scanning its roof and windows for anyone to look out over them. When someone did appear in the windows, she motioned the group to quickly take cover. She watched the cultist for a few moments before they moved out of sight and motioned for her troops to continue, dashing from cover to cover as fast as they could before climbing the fence then pressing their bodies against the containers. Lynx peers around the side of the container and analyzes what to do next. Three targets were in front of her, two of the enemies are currently talking as one works on what a vehicles while the other talks to the other, behind them was the last cultist leaning against a Rockrete wall. There's a big open space around the two next to the vehicle that allowed the enemy against the wall to spot any attack made against the two, but the wall of containers they're up against could prove useful. Lynx pulls her head back and quickly creates a course of action. She looked at the rest of the group and said "Lance, go around these containers and remove the guy against the wall." Lance would gain a murderous smile before taking his machete from its sheath and begins to squeeze in between the fence and the containers as Lynx continues. "K, Dekker, when Lance does remove the cultist, rush the two closest to us." Dekker nodes his head and shoulders his bolt gun while K tightens the bayonet at the end of his lasgun. When they finish, Lance is already creeping closer to the lone cultist as Lynx swaps places with K and Dekker.

Dekker and K poke their heads out to watch as Lance was only feet away from his target. He quickly closes the distance between him and his lone victim. The cultist turns his head hearing Lance's approach, but it is too late as Lance drives the tip of his razor blade sword through the bottom of the man's jaw. The two cultists who were fixing their vehicle turn to their ally just to reach for their weapons before the one closest to the vehicle is pinned against it as Dekker repeatedly stabs them with his bayonet. The one still standing, redirects her attention to her stabbed friend before K drives his bayonet into her neck causing her to fall to the floor as K pulls it out and drives it into her chest. As K pulls the Bayonet back out, the rest of the group follows Lynx as she passes. "Great work, you three." Lynx says, passing Lance wiping the blood off of his sword with the shirt of the dead cultist. She looks at the door to the tower as Stryker looks it over and tries to pry it open only to fail. Stryker then turns to Lynx and says "Door won't budge, Lynx". Lynx opens her mouth to say something just as Neriom jumps in "Second entry point detected on the second story." Dekker puts away his bayonet as he walks up to the rest of the group. "You mean above us, Neriom?" He says to get an exacerbated "Indeed." From her. "Hey, I saw a couple of promethium barrels next to a generator thing." Stryker remarks. "Someone could use the barrels and climb up the generator." Lynx can agree, she did see the same barrels and generator while walking past the rockrete wall. She turns to Lance and states "Lance, can you help the rest of us up there?" He looks at her and shrugs his shoulders "Do you really need to ask Cap?" He gets onto the barrels before climbing the generator. He stands a full height before crouching down and extends a hand to the group. "Stryker, join him up there and cover us, will you?" Lynx asks to get a quick "Sure." in reply. Lynx's head then snaps to Dekker "Dekker, cover us while we climb." she orders, he nodes then falls to one knee before raising his bolt gun up. Lynx walks next to the generator, cups her hands, and squats. "Neriom, you're up first. I'll be last." she said. Neriom strides to her, placing a metallic foot into her cupped hands and climbs up the generator. Soon followed by K, then Dekker, then finally Lynx.

Now together again, the group marches into the old dilapidated tower, with weapons up and ready to fire. They climb up the rusted and decaying staircase, before reaching a doorway that leads to the top. Lynx whispers loud enough for the group to hear "Get in and secure the area." before the rest of the Bad Company signals their confirmation by a thumbs up. Lance is first through the doorway, peeking out to ensure that no cultists are in the room, then slowly walks in, soon followed by the rest of Bad Company. Lynx then signals to the group to split up and secure the rest of the tower.

"Clear." Dekker announces to the room after wiping the blood off his bayonet. Lynx nodded her head to him and said "Good. Dekker, Lance, go down stairs and remove the rest of the filth from the area." The two walk through the door way back down the stairs before Lynx continues "Neriom, Stryker, work together to fix the vox caster. We need it operational to be combat effective. K signals Nils that it's clear to come. K salutes before walking to the window while Stryker takes the vox caster off her back, falls to a knee, and begins to work on it with Neriom. Neriom, with gentle care opens the vox caster to reveal the wires and circuits that make up the heart of the machine. "I see." she says as she observes its insides. "What's wrong?" Lynx questions over Strykers shoulders. "The machine spirit suffered 15% damage to its internal systems and has not been appeased in quite some time." Neriom states before turning to Stryker "Care to explain why you have not brought the spirit in for restoration, flesh temple?" Stryker turns to Neriom and remarks "Well, when you're out in the field for more than a few weeks without a Enginseer, behind enemy lines, It tends to get hard having to bring it back for repair." she looks back to the vox caster "But it looks like my field repairs helped a bit."

"Yes, flesh temple and in doing so you have also run the risk of striking a cord with the already tempered spirit." Neriom asserts with her metallic voice. "How long will it take to completely restore it?" Lynx asks. "It will take some time for the rite to be completed. Then we will test it." Neriom declares. "Very well. When you're finished, there is a dataslate you could use in the room to the left." Lynx notes to Neriom. "I trust you will use it to investigate our current… predicament?"

"Indeed, flesh temple. I will be under my investigation soon enough. Now, allow us to return to the task at our… appendages." Lynx nodes to Neriom "I agree, shout if you need anything from me." Lynx says before taking her weapons from her holsters and walks down stairs to join her comrades in the removal of traitorous scum. Neriom lays the Vox caster flat on the floor as her metallic hands dance across the inner workings of the machine. "Oh besmirched machine, hear my calling." Neriom states, as her cold almost lifeless eyes stay glued to her work. "Forgive thy operator for thy sins against you. For she has done so for good reason as she has been away from priests of the Omnissiah, in traitorous lands defending his will against the heretic, the xeno, and the mutant with you." When she has completed her work, she reaches behind her and retrieves a few cables before plugging them into the caster. She then sits on her knees, puts her hands together, presses her index fingers to the grills of her mouth, and begins to let out sounds of screeches and static that only a machine can make.

Meanwhile, Stryker watches Neriom as she works on the Vox caster before she begins the rite of restoration and appeasement in binharic. Striker takes the pause in time to scan her surroundings and the land around it. The landscape was long and dull, dotted with small minuscule buildings, and cut in half by a Maglev line. However, this desert is not what caught her eye, it was the mini hive city in the distance just behind it. The city's large, blocky, spire-like buildings rising into the sky like titans. Her eyes spot large bright holograms displaying propaganda for random, bizarre products, each one more provocative than the last, reaching out to the blue sky above it all. These holograms were practically unavoidable, thanks to the stale matte gray that painted the rest of the structures of the city. Stryker instead, looks over the rest of the desert, noticing a small fenced off farm and smoke rising from under a bridge. It is not long until she gets lost in the scenery and loses track of time before something red below her catches her eye. She then looks down to search for her team, noticing the fresh corpses scattered around the area in pools of crimson. Her eyes scour the scene before they land on Lance slitting the throat of a poor unfortunate cultist, as their blood splatters across the side of a Maglev. "Clear!" Lynx yells out, as Lance's victim falls to the floor clutching their newly opened neck. "Regroup in the tower and we'll go from there!" she finishes. Stryker looks back to Neriom, still crouched by her vox caster in stoic silence.

K is the first to come back into the room as he walks in, falls to his knees, and begins to search his medicae bags. Then Dekker comes in, cleaning off the blood from his bayonet, before he leans against a wall "Any word on our comm beads?" he asks her. Stryker shrugs her shoulders and responds "Don't know. She fixed its internals and is now appeasing the thing." Dekker nodded his head in acknowledgment "Ah well, somethings better then nothing, I guess." Neriom's synthetic voice interrupts their idle chatter "Stryker, the Machine spirit has completed with our requests and is now ready to be synchronized with your comm beads." She extends a hand to Stryker "Lend me your comm beads so that I may start the harmonization process." Stryker does what Neriom asks, reaching to her headset before handing them over to her. Neriom gingerly takes the headset and begins to fiddle with them. Lance is the next one to walk through the doorway. He wipes off the blood on his body with a dirty rag before leaning against the frame of a window missing its glass. "Sup, any word on the beads?" he asks, tossing the rag out of the window behind him. Stryker turns to him and states "She's working on it, should be done soon I think." He swiftly claps his hands together with a satisfied smile "As long as some things get done, that's all that I need."

Dekker ears seem to pick up as he starts searching his pockets and bags. "Looking for something, Dekker?" Lance asks, seeing him rummage through his belongings. "Yeah, I got a hankering for a Iho stick right now and I think I used my last one on Malo." Dekker lifts his head up to Lance with a questioning look and quizzes "Just in case, you two got any?" both Lance and Stryker shake their heads "Thought so, it's alright." he says pulling out a crumpled up cigarette box to flick it open. He takes two fingers to reach in and take out its last cigarette before tossing it to the floor "It was just a thought." He says putting his stuff back together again. Neriom stands up holding Stryker's comm beads and caster, she then holds out the beads for her to take. "It is finished, flesh temple." she says as Stryker takes them and puts them on before Neriom's voice comes through. "Can you hear this?" Stryker takes them off and replies "Yeah, loud and clear." On queue, Neriom shoves the vox caster into Stryker's arms with enough force to have her take a step back as she continues "My attention is required elsewhere. I'm sure you can synchronize the rest of the machine spirits together, so I will leave you, flesh temple, to it." Neriom then turns and walks into the room Lynx and asks her to investigate. Stryker then looks to the rest of her teammates and asks "Ok, who's first?" Dekker steps up and passes his head set to her. She takes it and then gets to work.

"Step aside now please!" Lynx orders as she walks through the doorway soon followed by Nils carrying a still unconscious Oros on her back. Nils along with help of Lynx, lowers Oros to the floor before Lynx props up his head with his backpack. She then pulls down his mask, revealing that everything that was not covered by the mask was covered in dirt. "Ok, he's ready for when he wakes up." she said looking over her comrade before dropping his grenade launcher on the floor next to him. Lynx looked to Nils and ordered "Nils, go to the highest point you can and see if you can see any points of interest." Nils barks out a "Yes ma'am!" before taking the stairs to the roof. Lynx looks to the rest of the remaining team "Where's Neriom?" Dekker answers her question as takes a puff from his now lit cigarette. "She's in the other room working on the dataslate." Stryker adds in "She also fixed the vox." She hands Dekkers comm beads back to him and extends a hand to Lynx "Hey Cap, pass your comm beads over, will yeah?" Lynx takes off her pointed cap, revealing her short blond hair before taking out her comm beads from her ears and passing them over to Stryker. Lynx puts her hands on her hips and scans the room, just in time to catch Oros moving. Without a second thought, Lynx strides to her waking ally as his dirt covered eyes flicker open. She kneels down to his side as he speaks "W-what? Where am I?"

"We don't know soldier." She announces to him as K sits on his knees next to her. "None of us know, but we do know we're not on Malo any more."

K waves one of his hands in front of him and asks "Can you see my hand Oros?" Oros sits for a few seconds before saying "Yeah, I can." K then raises three gloved fingers and continues his investigation. "How many fingers can you see?" Oros scoots back and takes a few more seconds for his eyes to adjust "S-six…? No- no three… yeah three." he says in confusion causing K to reach for the canteen in Oros's backpack, take it out, unscrew the cap, and pass it to him. "Drink." K said, as Oros stared into the lifeless lens of K's gas mask. Oros sits up as both K, Lynx and whoever was next to the three backed up. "Why? I don't feel too bad." He says as Lynx extends a hand to him and simply asks "Need a hand?" Oros smiles and takes her hand. In one swift move she pulls him up to his feet, just for him to rush to the open window, throw his steel helmet off of his head, and throw up over the side. After a few seconds, he turns back to the two as he wipes his mouth with his yellow sleeve as K wordlessly holds out the canteen again. He grabs the can, takes a small sip from it, washes out his mouth, and spits it out of the window. "Thanks doc" he utters weakly before taking more drinks from it. "Your bag and weapons are right there." Lynx states, using her hands to gesture to his stuff. "Thanks Lynx." he says, putting on his gear.

"BY THE OMNISSIAH'S GEARS!"

A loud synthetic voice cuts through the Idle noise of the tower, causing all members of Bad Company to instinctively draw their weapons for an attack. Stryker is the first to respond to the voice "Neriom, you good?" After a few seconds she gets a response that all members can hear. "IMPOSSIBLE!" Lynx, with her weapons ready, carefully peek into the room where Neriom is working with her back to her. Lynx looks to Lance and uses her head to motion him in. Lance takes his sword out and slowly approaches her. "Neriom, are you good?" he asks looking over her shoulder, seeing one of her metallic tendrils connected to the dataslate. With his empty hand, he gently grabs her shoulder and has her face him. Her eyes are wide and quickly darting from place to place as if she was looking over as much information as possible. "Hey Neriom!" He says tapping the flat side of his weapon against her hooded head. Her eyes stop moving and snap onto him before saying with nervousness "Where is Commissar Lynx?" Lynx steps into the room with her bolt pistol lowered, but still ready for anything. "Present, did you find out where we are?" Neriom's head snaps to her before retracting her tendril back "Affirmative, but also something most troubling as well." Lynx approaches her hesitantly before standing in front of her as the rest of the team enters the room to clear it "And what would it be?" Neriom turns back to the dataslate, then her metallic hands flash across the screen as she announces "From my investigation, we have fallen victim to a warp temporal paradox that has sent us to the 21 century, in the year to 2076." Lynx raises an eyebrow before adding "What do you mean?"

"I MEAN, because of our battle with the traitorous forces, we have been sent 37,924 years into the past!" the room falls silent at the news, allowing Neriom to continue "Farther back then the battle of Malo, farther then the fall of Cadia, farther than the Horus Heresy, then the Great Crusade, OR EVEN FARTHER THAN THE EMPEROR'S EXISTENCE!"

"LIES!" Shouted Dekker, stomping over to Neriom before being blocked by Nils. "You lie, where is your evidence for such a thing happening!?" Neriom grabs the dataslate and holds it for all to see "I will not lie nor hide our predicament like a coward! I have scoured the noosphere the planet's inhabitants call the 'internet' using the dataslate and found that the inhabitants of this world do not use High or Low gothic, but an extremely primitive version of Gothic called 'English.' These natives have not united humanity under one banner! In fact, they have only recently seen the errors of trusting the infernal Silica animus, they have not yet developed any version of the lasgun, they have so far ONLY been able to colonize the planet's moon! You want evidence, flesh temple!? Then look!" She just put a steel finger to the screen of the dataslate "What does this say!?" she taps the screen opening a new page "How about this!?" she backs out and opens a new screen "Or this!?" she continues to open and close pages or sites in rapid succession while asking "How about this!" before stopping and turning to the rest of the room with crossed arms. All eyes stared at the dataslate as the room was deathly silent as all present absorbed the newly acquired information. After a minute of silence, a quiet, muffled, yet quivering voice breaks the quiet "Th-there's no emperor?" In a flash, all heads snap to the origins of the voice to see K standing eerily still while staring at the metal floor. "No-NO, the Emperor has to be here! How else have we gotten here in the first place!?" Dekker spits out for all to hear. "How do we get back if Psykers don't exist yet?" Stryker counters. "Frag that! Here's a better question, do we even need to serve the Emperor?" Lance retorts, sparking a heated argument amongst the team as all parties begin to yell and shout over each other. The only exception to this was K, who was just staring at the floor motionless.

The fighting continues until a loud bang silences the room. All eyes turn to Lynx with her smoking bolt pistol in the air and an unchanged stoic face, wordlessly promising death. "You did not answer my original question, where are we?" Neriom regains her composure and says "We are on, what the inhabitants of this world call 'Earth', a planet that will be known in our time as Holy Terra." The room fills with stunned faces, with exception of K. "Oh." She says wide eyed as before her eyes seem to light up at something. She holstered her bolt pistol with an air of determination and took the stance of an officer preparing to give their troops a speech. "Do all of you not see what we have on our hands?" She looks around the room to her allies. "We have been given a mission of utmost importance by the Emperor of Mankind. One that requires us is to be sent into the past, far farther back than his own existence."

"Lynx, did you not hear Neriom? He does not exist yet, how are we to serve his will if he is not around yet?" Lynx tracks the origins of the question back to Lance "How do we serve without the Emperor around? Are you saying that all these years of killing, fighting, and dying were all for nothing, Lance? That, just because you cannot see him then or now, means that you shouldn't fight the heretic, kill the demon, and abhor the witch?" She takes a long pause as she stares into his eyes. "He has entrusted US, a handful of moral guardsmen, with a mission that is more important than all of us combined. What that mission is, I do not know, but…" She takes a step closer to Lance as she eyes him down, stopping only a foot away. "What I do know is that this mission he has ordered us is vital. Vital enough to send us far into the past to defend not just Malo, or guard, or the galaxy, but the future domain he will build off the blood, sweat, and tears of his most honored servants." She spins around on her heel to address the whole room. "You all know me and have served the Emperor alongside me for far too long to know that I will not lie when I say our mission will be difficult. We are far from the Imperium of man, without any way back, with limited supplies, and most importantly, with no sense of what our mission or this world entails, but I will tell you this." She takes a step forward then puts her hands behind her back, seemingly radiating with honor, determination, and a sense of duty. "I will not fall until it is done and I would be honored to exact his will with the team I have spent the majority of my life with."

The room remains silent as its occupants consider her words. Oros steps up and sighs "Aw well, frag it. It's not like we're going back to Malo anyway." All of the occupants of the room turned to him. "What? Honestly, it's better than just sitting here in this damn tower until something or someone finds us."

"He's got a point, guy's." all eyes snap over to Stryker. "Let's also not forget that we are on Terra, Holy Terra. In a time that would have most tech-priests froth at the… grills?" The room's attention was swiftly moved to Neriom to gauge her reaction to Stryker idea. Neriom herself was staring wide-eyed at the floor, as if she had just uncovered a dataslate that could change the war of the Imperium entirely. A few seconds passed until her head shot up at Lynx, eyes full of renewed determination. "I, Enginseer unit #3271 Neriom, in the name of the Omnissiah, for the glory of Metalica, will join this most holy of quests." Lynx debates whether to say something about that before Neriom shoves a metallic hand in her face. "But know this flesh temple, I do this for the Omnissiah's will. Not for you, or your team, or the Imperium, but for the safeguard and preservation of the technology of this era." Lynx shrugs her shoulders at her transparency "Understandable, and of you K?" She watches him from the corner of her eye, a few deathly silent seconds pass before he signals his cooperation in the form of a salute. "Very well then."

"Wait a second. Neriom, how do you know we're on Terra? If we're in the past, then that means that humanity has not explored the galaxy yet." Dekker asks, soon followed by Lance "Yeah I was thinking something close to that." To this, Neriom twirls around to the dataslate, their hands flash across the screen before pulling up a star map and allowing the room to see it clearly. "From what I have seen, humanity has only just started colonizing Terra's moon. However, the exploration of the surrounding planets has not stopped." With a few taps of the screen she zoomed in closer to earth, allowing them to see the planets farther away. "The surrounding planets have been identified with the ones surrounding Terra, specifically the planets Mars and Pluto. From what I know of the planets close to Holy Terra and Mars, both this time's Mars and Pluto are in the same locations as our times: Holy Mars and the early defense planet of Pluto along with the constellations in their vicinity." Neriom claps their hands together, letting out a metallic clang "I calculate a 90% likelihood we are on Holy Terra, with a 10% margin of error." Dekker and Lance look at each other with uneasiness before Lance begrudgingly states "I guess we're in."

"Splendid." Lynx said, clapping her hands together "Then let's finish what we need to do here and go." She then snaps to Stryker, preparing to hand out orders to the rest of Bad Company. "Stryker, may you please finish the rest of the team's comm beads, if we get into a fight, I want all of us to be able to hear each other as clearly as possible. Dekker, inform your sister of our situation, if she has any questions she can pass them to Neriom." She then turns to Neriom with an air of authority. "Neriom, since you are able to read this times texts, you will need to be our spokesperson until we are able to get a direct translator. So for now learn as much as you can of the native dialect." Neriom shakes her head "That will not be necessary Commissar, I have already loaded as much as I could of the local dialect."

"Well done, then I would suggest you assist Stryker in synchronizing the vox chaster to the comm beads, or alternatively you continue to gather information." Neriom nodes in respect and turns to the dataslate again. Lynx then turns her attention back to the rest of the group and announces "K, scavenge as much as you can of our rotting adversaries. The rest of you, guard the area until we're all ready to head out. Dismissed!" In response the group salute her orders before dispersing.

The group continued to work as a well oil machine, as the minutes went by. Neriom had discovered some more information about this world's past, but not by much as most of it was locked behind paywalls or something called "Netwatch." Dekker had to comfort Nils in her existential dread that came with what the true scope of their situation was, but when it had passed Nils was ordered to investigate the surrounding areas for any points of interest. K had requested Lance's assistance in carrying most of the looted weapons and equipment. Weapons in the form of stubbers and low grade explosives, most of which he'd hand over to Oros and Neriom to be further investigated. K had also discovered a few inhalers that had something close to the official medicae sign, he had decided to collect them just in case they found something or someone that could identify them. When mid-morning came, Nils returned to tell Lynx of the surrounding areas.

"And that's all I know so far ma'am. In my opinion ma'am, the containers under the bridge look to be the best place to search. Could be some good resources we could use in the future." Nils said to Lynx as she took in the information. "Why not the gated farm?" Lynx asked. "The fence is too high, electric, and from what I saw, had things that I would guess to be landmines hidden in the grass and dirt. There's too many to not be spotted or ambushed if we try to get around or through them." Lynx stands silently for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders "Alright then." Her hand then snaps to the comm bead hanging off her ears. "Vox check, one, two, one two. Can anyone hear me?" A moment of silence could be heard before a voice came through. "Yes ma'am." from K soon followed by the rest of Bad Company along with the clear as day synthetic voice from Neriom. "Rally back up in the tower, we will move out soon." Lynx would command, soon followed by the rest of the group would affirm her orders before she addressed Nils. "Do you have anything else that might be of use?" Nils would shake her head "No ma'am, that is all." Lynx would gently nod her head to that "Good, stay here until everyone is here." Nils salutes and leands against a wall to wait for her team to arrive.

When they do, Lynx begins to brief them. "Alright, here's what's going to happen. All of us are going to move out of here and head west to a place that is suspected to have more resources or information on what to do from there. Emperor willing, we will hopefully know what to do from there. Questions?" Nils looks over the rest of Bad Company to see their reactions and that goes just as expected for veterans of the guard. Most of whom nod their head in understanding to her orders. "I do ma'am." Oros said, getting the attention of the room. "See now that we are on a finite amount of ammo, at least for us stubber folk." he looks to Dekker and Lynx. "What do we do for ammo?" Lynx thinks for a second, searching for a solution before looking to K. "K, what did you get from the corpses?" K walks over to Lance and tugs on a weapon he has slung over this back. "12 weapons, ma'am. 4 autoguns, 3 combat shotguns and 2 pistols for use with enough ammo to supply you three for the next few battles. The rest are unusable." he looks to Lynx, waiting for her next words. "We will come to you after the briefing and take the weapons we will use. I will also expect you to give us the appropriate ammunition." K gives back a quick salute before Lynx truns back to Oros "If the Emperor is willing, I hope we will be able to make our own ammunition in the future, but until then we need to scavenge until we find a more stable ammunition source." Oros accepts her words before Lynx addresses the room again. "Any more questions?" she pauses for a moment to wait for someone to say their peace, when no one does, she finishes "Ok, we will use the standard vox channels for communication and we'll move in standard patrol formation in five. Dismissed."

The group immediately went their separate ways with Lynx, and Oros approaching K and Lance. Stryker approaches Neriom about something while Nils sees Dekker approach her. "Feeling better sis?" he inquired now standing next to her. "Yeah, but not by much though." Nils replicates as Dekker leans against the desk next to her. "I can understand that. It's not everyday you get sent this far back in time." Nils says nothing as she now stares at the floor, deep in though. Unable to take her mind off the thought of the Emperor not existing, or what could exist in this forgotten era. Her thoughts would be halted when Dekker's voice would catch her attention. "Thinking about what's out here?" Nils looks at him and nodes "Read my mind actually." He gives her a playful punch to the arm and says with a smile "Aw don't worry about it Sis. Think of it as a scouting and recovery mission. After all, the Emperor sent us here to do… well, something."

"Yeah, but what exactly are we to do here though, just walk around looking to start a fight?"

Dekker pauses for a second before turning round to the view of the unavoidable hive city in the distance. "Honestly I don't know, but I know that so long as we keep our faith strong, we will see it to its end." Nils looks out to the city with him. "I hope so." Lynx then calls Dekker out and orders him to retrieve his weapon. "Listen Nils, don't worry about it for too long. The Emperor is with us no matter where we are. We will move out soon, try to occupy your mind with something else for a bit." Nils smirks at him as he walks over to K. Nils herself raises her lasgun and gives it a look over.

Soon the group had rallied next to the maglev before following the road close to it. They didn't have to travel far to find the containers, being marked by a large plume of black smoke rising into the sky. The group would pause and took cover behind the pillars supporting the bridge, quietly observing the scene ahead. From what Nils could tell from a distance, it looked like a scrap yard or a waste management area. Her violet eyes observed made of two long containers with metal dishes and antennas poking out of the top. She spied what looked to be a container similar to the other two that appeared to be heavily damaged by artillery bombardment, and a lot of dismantled or rusted… groundcars? Bad Company slowly moved out of their covered positions and crept closer to the containers, eventually spreading out to cover more ground. "Clear, I think." Oros announced throughout the vox for Lynx to retort "Are you sure Oros? Has anyone checked the containers yet?." Nils raised her hand to the side of her comm bead to respond "No ma'am, but if anyone is willing to take the right one, I'll check the left."

"Affirmative. Dekker, cover her when she cracks it open. Lance, take the right one with Oros." Nils approached the long container with Dekker at her side, the two would walk on the steps before looking over the door. At first glance there was nothing wrong with it, other than the fact that there was no button to open it, or knob, or any good way to crack it open. Nils scans the door's edges, thinking it might be possible to just pry the thing open. Dekker has his new auto gun in his hands as he watches his sister examine the door "Hey Nils, any ideas so far?" Nils examines it for a few more seconds before she spotted a few small but noticeable divots in the door, as if someone opened it with their bare hands before. "Yeah, I think I do." She said grabbing on to the door before preparing to pull it open. "Get ready. I think I can just pry it open." Just as Nils had requested, he prepared his auto gun and aimed it at the door, while Nils grabbed. "Ready, Dekker?" Nils asked, side eyeing her brother as he replied "Yep, ready when you are." Nils mentally prepared herself, said "Ok. Pulling in three, two, one!" In one swift move, she had pulled as hard as she could, digging her heels into the steps and gritting her teeth as she pulled. "Come on… you… bastard." she spoke out through frustration. "Come on Nils. is that all you got?" Dekker asked, causing her to pull it harder. Just as Nils felt like her arms would rip off, the door slid open causing her to nearly fall off the steps. But that didn't matter anyway, because she found herself looking down the barrels of a gun.

Immediately, her training kicked in as she dove out of its way just as the person shot the weapon, spraying what would have been a lethal shot of pellets at Dekker if they were not narrowly missed. In response, Dekker pulled the trigger of his auto gun, firing off a single burst of four rounds. Each round hit the stranger, making him grunt in pain as he ducked for cover. As expected for Nils' allies, the members of Bad Company practically ran for cover before training the sights of their weapons on the out of sight shooter. The person on the inside could be heard shouting at them as Dekker ran behind a fenced off storage tank. Dekker pressed his back against a fence before the man fired again out of a window next to the door, hitting a fence that surrounded a storage tank. Meanwhile Nils crawled to the corner of the container and prepared to use her lasgun.

"Bastion 2-20 now!" Lynx barked out before calling out "Dekker, Nils, you two hurt?" Nils ran her left hand over her uniform, checking for any bleeding or pain before yelling back "I'm fine!" soon being joined by Dekker "Still alive, Lynx!" The group then heard more shouting coming from the container as another blast of pellets flew past Dekker. Lynx looked back to Neriom and called for her: "Neriom, you know what he's saying?" A few seconds passed before the calm, synthetic voice of Neriom came over the vox caster. "Our adversary had said 'Get some, you Raffen fucks.' What ever a 'Raffen' or a 'fuck' means." Nils tried to peek around the corner before another shot hit the ground next to her, causing her to pull her head back as the man roared out again. "This time he said 'You want to see Jesus, bitch?'" Dekker would add "Do we kill him or what!?" into the conversation before Oros spoke up "Hey Lynx, this could be a good time to get information. That is, IF we take him alive!" Nils searched her person for anything that could help but to no avail. "We could throw a smoke and charge him?" She questioned through her vox bead until Neriom's voice rejected the idea. "To attack him in such a way is not just dangerous but completely idiotic, flesh temple. There is a high probability he will prepare for the attack with a counter of his own." An audible sigh of annoyance could be heard before Lynx would call out "Neriom, what is the likelihood of just talking to him?" A confused Lance snapped his head to her in a flash "Are you serious, Lynx? The fragger just shot at us!" Lynx would retort back "Because we have invaded his property. Just as the green skins have invaded a Imperial planets, he is protecting his personal domain." Lynx then looked back to Neriom and yelled out "Just tell him we have just want to talk!" Every person of the comm beads could feel Nerioms eyes roll before saying in annoyance "Fine, Flesh temples." Neriom would then stand silent for a few seconds as another wave of pellets hit the frame of a rusted ground car before speaking in the man's native language.

The man would respond with another series of shouts as they let out a blast of pellets again. "He said he would rather die and take everyone of us with him then to make a deal with us 'Raffen Shiv, fuck heads.'" Dekker would bark back "Then tell him that we're not, whatever these Raffen Shiv are!" Neriom then stayed silent for a second before calling out to the man, who in turn responded with another round of shouts. "He said that he calls 'bullshit'. We tried to break into his and his companions' residence with weapons the Raffen use." Nils muttered under her breath before asking "Does he want anything from us to say 'Hey sorry for trying to rob you?'" Neriom talked back to the hidden man before they speak, prompting Neriom to translate "The owner of this area wants us to come out with their hands up. Apparently these 'Raffen Shivs' have a particular dress code." Nils peeked out to Dekker, seeing him share his confusion. She then looked to the rest of the group to cover for her; they also shared in her confusion. After a moment of silence, Nils noticed Lynx pass her weapons to K. "I'll do it." She said standing up, dusting herself off, and walking to the man with her gloved hands in the air for him to see. "You gotta be kidding Lynx, really?" Lance objected, with his lasgun locked onto the doorway. "This guy takes a pot shot at Nils and we just talk to him?" Lynx slowly moved to the container, as she retorted "He did what the rest of the guard would do if some dreg broke into an armory with the intent to rob it. If he fires on me, the refractor field will take it and if not then the flak vest will." She closes the distance from her position to the door only stopping just an arms reach away as the rest of Bad Company waited.

The first thing Nils saw as she peeked around the container was the barrel of the person's weapon aimed at Lynx's ever stoic face as she stared at its user. The man would tell Lynx something in his primitive language before Neriom could respond, causing the gun's user to thrust the business end of his gun at an unaffected Lynx. "What does he want, Neriom?" Lynx would yell over her shoulder. "He wants ME to reveal myself, flesh temple." Nils could see Lynx roll her eyes before saying "Do as he says, please Neriom. If you are worried about yourself then stand behind me so that the refractor can take it." Nils' eyes darted to Nerioms location just in time to see her maneuver through the piles of scrap before slowly creeping up on Dekkers cover. She watched as Neriom activated her power ax before walking to Lynx's back and looks over her shoulder. The person had said something in an annoyed voice allowing Neriom reply to them, they continued to talk before Lynx would ask "What is he saying?"

"He has asked if this was some sort of jest. That the people that would try to break into his domicile would be a 'Nazi officer' and a 'chrome junkie.' I am merely trying to explain that you are not a 'Nazi' and that you are the leader of this kill team, or as he calls it a 'Edgerunner' crew. Whatever those are." Lynx peeked over her shoulder to Neriom "And is your explanation working?" Neriom pauses for a second before saying "... Somewhat." The two look back to the owner of the property as they speak again. "Our great friend here wants to know what we want from him." Lynx pauses for a few seconds before saying "Tell him that we are here looking for work, but we lost the main roads." Neriom, as requested, relates Lynx's exclamation, causing the man to let out course of what Nils can tell is laughter, before it slowly dies down for him to speak. "He said that if we think he'll take that as an excuse, we must be a… 'gonk?'"

"Then tell him that it's true and that you got us here, but our groundcar got disabled forcing us to walk." Neriom relayed Lynx's words to the man, causing him to bring his weapon to his hip. Nils could hear the seriousness in the man's voice as he talks to her leader and the enginseer. Neriom stood quietly as if trying to come up with an answer, prompting Lynx to ask "What did he say, Neriom?" She stayed quiet for a few more seconds and said "He asked if I was a part of a 'nomad.' specifically a group called a 'Technomancer.'" Upon hearing this, Nils raised an eyebrow, then decides to ask "Nomad? You mean like the roaming bands of bandits on Malo?"

"Indeed. However, there was little I was able to collect from this time's Noosphere about these bands of nomads, they do not have much of a good reputation. As for these Technomancers, I have not seen much information about them either." Lynx turned her head to Neriom while side eyeing the man in front of her "Just say you are one of the Technomancers and use me as cover in case he does something drastic." Neriom inches closer to Lynx and spoke in the man's dialect. The man said something before pointing his weapon at a large green box and continued to speak in what Nils could tell was a more threatening tone. "He wants me prove my word by restoring a food dispensary servitor or else he will and I quote 'will paint the dirt red with blonde here.'" Lynx for her part was completely unfazed by the threat and only said "Do it, it's not like he will do much to me."

"And if he does?"

"Then I expect Oros to show him the error of such an action." She said after turning her head back to the man. Neriom turned to the green box and started moving to it while stating "I will relay your last order when he is successful in taking your life." Nils watched as pieces of Neriom's white and red robe were picked up by the breeze as she walked to the machine, all the while Lynx stairs the man in the door way down. Nils, looked to Oros as he put down his auto gun and pulled his grenade launcher from his shoulder and propping it on the rusted ground car he used as cover. Nil's eye darted back to Neriom looking over the servitor before taking a mechadendrite and slipping it into the machine. She then knelt to it and put her hands together to begin the rite of restoration, while Lynx was staring down the man as if it was just another day in the regimental H.Q., getting yelled at by her superiors for Bad Company's "creative interpretations" of their orders. Lynx just blankly staring at words with a bored expression as she stood at point blank range of a combat shotgun. Meanwhile, the rest of Bad Company was patiently waiting for what would be next to come, with a few readjusting their stance or their aim.

A glint light off of Neriom metallic hand catcht Nil's attention as Neriom stood up and walks to the side of the dispenser. She watched as Neriom takes off its side and laid it next to her. A few minutes later, she placed its side back on and walked to its front before falling to a knee and doing the same to its bottom panel, while only speaking in binharic. As Nerioms lower arms disappeared into the machine's bottom, she gained a more frustrated look to her as arms swished up and down. Her frustration turns to disgust when Neriom ripped one of her arms back, revealing a new bright purple stain on her already somewhat dirty robe. With the same arm, she reached in and took out a strange looking bottle before standing up, throwing it as hard as she could into the distance, and fall back down to a knee. She then knelt back down, puts her hands back and tore out a wire before tossing it away. Neriom then pulled the bottom plate closer to her, reached back in with one hand, placed the plate back on, before putting her mechadendrite back into the thing and praying again. A few minutes later, she pulled herself back up with her power ax, hit a button on it causing the machine to say something, before walking back over to Lynx and the owner of the property. Both Nils and Lynx observed Neriom say something to the man as she tried to mask her frustration with a calm voice.

When she was finished, the man peaked his head out of the doorway to the machine, revealing his sun sunburned skin and brown hair. He then took a step out of his container, showing off the rest of his unique body type. He looked like a human sized squat, featuring a large brown beard, a plaid shirt over a white stained t-shirt, and blue pants. He said something as Lynx as he rests the shotgun over his shoulder, unknowingly or not caring to notice it aimed at Nils, making her duck back into cover. "He said that he believes our story and wants to know what we want." Lynx groups her arms and holds them behind her back while the tension in the air was relieved, allowing a few members of Bad Company to come out of cover to watch. "Again, we are looking for work and need to know where the main roads are." Neriom translates Lynx's words, making the man swing his gun off his shoulder, and point off in the distance behind them as to explain something. "He is saying that if we want work then go get a 'fixer' for them. According to him, there's a few in the small hive city in the distance called Night City, but if we want one soon there's a groundcar repair station north west of here that has one that works for Nomads. He has also warned us not to go the farm directly west because he thinks the owned of said property is a 'creep.'" Nils leaned against the side of the man's residence, placing the butt of her lasgun on the ground and asked "How do we know for sure that it's the right place?" Neriom said for the man after she relayed her message "Apparently, flesh temple. They are located in a red brick building with a fence covering the back, as well as a big red and blue sign with the fixer's name on it."

Lynx tilted her head and clapped her hands together "Well that settles it then. Bad Company, we are moving out soon." she said, spinning on her heel to face the rest of her team. "Neriom, may you please thank the man for his assistance and inform him that we will leave immediately." Nils pushed herself off of the man's house as Lynx picked her weapons up and Neriom thanked the man for his help. Nils then walks to Dekker before jetting her head into the distance and stated "Come on, you heard the commissar." Dekker gave a small smile and said "Yeah, yeah, I heard her."

Truth be told, Lynx was not entirely confident in their situation. Her training as a commissar has paid off for most of her years, but now? Thousands of years into the past, before the Imperium, without supplies, allies, or support. All those years of experience leading guardsmen, improving their morale at its lowest, and being a prime example of what a soldier needs to in order to see the morrow, flew pretty fast out the back of the chimera, especially after hearing that the Emperor was not present yet. She debated killing Neriom right there and then in the tower for such a suggestion, but after they revealed the gravity of Bad Company's situation, it became clear that Lynx would need to run damage control. Lynx might not have know how they got here, but she knew for a fact that they could not have conflict amongst her team, especially now that they were without Imperial support. She didn't even know if this was a mission from the Emperor or not, just that the excuse will at most, keep the morale up for some time or at least, keep more zealous members of Bad Company from killing themselves. With the situation Bad Company found themselves in now, every member counted and they coudn't afford to lose another pair of hands. At least not until they had up an operating base somewhere, a steady stream of supplies, and resources.

All of this floated around Lynx's mind as she, along with the rest of Bad Company, searched for what to do next. Talking with the man that nearly killed Nils was at least helpful, giving them another destination to possibly support their future endeavors and giving them an excuse as to why they are here in the first place. However, Lynx was not thinking about that now that they just started marching through a dried up swamp surrounded by dead trees and shrubs, under the hot sun as it was close to reaching its peak above the skies Terra, instead she was thinking about a more stable way of keeping her team from falling apart. These "fixers" would definitely help with gaining supplies and resources, either by completing jobs or looting corpses of fallen enemies. Maybe not an operating base, but they could assist in finding locations to do so.

A sudden hand on her shoulder made her stop in her place and tense up in surprise. She snapped her head to the gloved hand holding her shoulder and followed it to its masked owner. "Are you alright ma'am?" K said the muffled monotone voice she knew him for. Lynx gently brushed his hand off of her shoulder and sighed "Yes K, I'm alright." K remained silent before speaking again "Ma'am, you are turning red and starting to slow down in your step. An act that could slow down the kill team and leave us open for ambush." Knowing that her bluff had been caught, she took her cap off her head, wiped the sweat off her brow, and put her cap under her arm "A little hot, but I'm fine otherwise." In an instant, K took off his backpack, pulls out a white thermos from its side, and held it up to her. "Drink, please. Dehydration will lead to dizziness, dyspnea, apathy, or headache, all of which will affect overall morale and combat readiness." As requested, Lynx took the thermos and sipped from it before handing it back. Like lighting, he snatched it back, slipped it into its rightful place, and back onto his back. He quickly stood right back up and asked "Anything else worth of note, ma'am?" Lynx thought for a second and looks at the rest of the team as they continued marching before turning back to him. "How are you feeling K?" K gave a salute and responded with a firm "Combat ready ma'am"

"That's not what I meant K. Personally speaking about… our current situation?"

Lynx stares at the faceless man for a good few seconds before he broke the silence with his answer "I don't like it ma'am. We are too far into unknown territory with no idea of what's ahead of us. We do seem to have a plan in motion, but if what you said about the Emperor is true… then…" She can hear the worry in his voice creep in, even with the heavy gas mask in the way. She had fought the horrors of the galaxy with him for too long not to catch the hints of worry in his words, even if they were dull and emotionless. "Do not think about it K. Even if the Emperor does not exist yet that does not dissuade the fact that he has sent us here for a reason and we will find it when he deems right. But for now, we need to do what we always do in unknown territory, set up a base camp and wait for further instructions." Lynx looked back to her kill team who were further ahead of them before nudging her head to them. "Walk and talk with me, K." she said putting her cap back on her head and began to walk as K did the same. "Indeed ma'am, however we are in a place where we have so little knowledge of what to expect." As he said that, Lynx followed his sight to Oros's new black combat shotgun with what looked to be a flaming neon blue skull painted on its side. "Save for those 'Raffen' we removed at the tower." Lynx turned her attention back to K and stated "That may be true, but we have just arrived here and have yet to do anything to even consider calling ourselves ready for his orders. As for our deceased foes behind us, I feel as though we will be seeing more of them soon enough." Even if Lynx couldn't see his face, she could still see the cogs turning in his mind underneath his white and red helmet. She left K to swim in his own thoughts when she saw the sun staring down at them, if she had to guess, that it would be noon in the next hour or so. That would leave them plenty of time to investigate Terra before they truly needed to seek shelter… if they got the chance. Right now though, she didn't have a very good first impression after seeing what she would normally see on the outside of a hive city, nomadic bandits roaming the wastelands, a large city in the distance, and as much sandy yellow as she needed for the next few days.

Lynx took a long breath of hot air as Bad Company walked past dead trees, dry bushes, and small dying ponds of muddy water. She turned her head back down to see a building at the top of a hill pass the trees ahead of them. "Oy cap, you think this is it?" Lance said through the vox, taking a few steps forward to point out the building. Lynx put her cap back on her head and pulled the comm bead closer to her mouth "I do not know Lance, but we shall see soon enough."

Hi there, I just wanted to start this story out with two chapters. Sorry if this chapter had a little less combat in it then the prologue, hopefully the next chapter should scratch that itch.

Special thanks to my friend imthegoober274 for helping me spot and fix the errors that you don't see.