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"It would hardly make sense to send the leader of the Crimson Rapiers out without the rest of the Rapiers to back her up," Teyin replied dryly. "No, you will each be leading a squad of soldiers in. Vayu, you have several Rapiers on call at the moment, don't you? If you two don't have any people willing to serve under you, feel free to pick a couple from the local army base."
"And I am sorry for asking you to do this. It must be done, however."
"Very well. Just wanted to know the score. Needed something to do, anyway. Going slowly mad in the bars."
"Also, didn't you read files? Only left active pilot of the Crimson Rapiers is myself. Only one plane left, too. Have a spotter and a mechanic; damn good, but crazy. Nobody else would enlist or post men there."
"Spotter and a mechanic will do just fine." She waved the complaint away. "If all goes according to plan, you shouldn't even need to fight."
"Don't worry. If you all do a good job, it'll do nothing but help your reputation."
"I've got a pilot in mind and as you said, it shouldn't be too hard to find another teammate at the local army base."
Tristan had kept silent during the whole thing, but he was visibly shaken at the possibility that he might have to kill civilians. The fact that his...comrades seemed so relatively eager to go and do so also shook him. However, he knew better than to question a UPF general on their office.
"Any intel on the factory or the locality you could provide us with, ma'am?"
"Quite a bit."
General Teyin sorted through her folder, looking at several sheets of paper.
"We don't have much of a presence on Traibunza, so I am afraid that you won't have much of a support base. We do have several agents on the planet- namely, we have several Intelligence officers scattered around the various colonies, tracking Fer'au's movements there. One Intelligence officer, who will be your contact with us, runs a store called Irileth's Arms and Armour. Contact him for any information you need from Intelligence.
"The facility is located several miles due north of the town Welsin, which you will be arriving in. The facility borders Vess territory, and indeed, the facility is open to the Vess. The facility is bordered by high walls on all but the two entrances, standing at a good fifteen feet high, preventing an assault by native fauna from all but the two entrances or an aerial assault.
"The facility's budget shows that they have several dozen mercenaries hired for security, but these mercenaries swap eight-hour shifts, so only one to two dozen mercenaries are working at any one time. The scientists live on-base, and rarely venture off base. However, these are only the reported security, and I am sure I don't need to tell you about how rare it is for reported measures to accurately reflect the real situation.
"The project is headed up by one Doctor Thomas Smith, famed for his work with the Ineins, a GenEn species located on Ysmath. We have little information on him, but Intelligence may have more.
"That's all I have for you."
"What do we know of these mercenaries?"
"I know very little about them," Teyin replied. "That is Intelligence's specialty, I am afraid. Everything I have told you comes from military reports- plans of the building for when we required housing for the soldiers who guarded the people constructing it, reports of the areas around each of the colonies by the guards hired to protect merchants. For anything more specific, you will have to speak to Irileth, or scout it out yourself."
"How about a timeframe, if any?"
"Well, it would be preferable if you could ensure their loyalty before they defect. If you want a more accurate timeline... You'll be working with limited supplies, and the longer you stay, the more likely it is that you will be noticed and eliminated. Try not to take more than two weeks, three if you try to remain inconspicuous."
"How small is our budget?"
"Budget?" Teyin was confused for a moment, before she sighed again.
"I can assign you a budget of twenty thousand for the mission. That's the best I'll be able to do."
"Any other annotation you would like to make before you throw us onto the nether void, General?"
"Just don't die," Teyin replied.
"Fine by me, General. We'll be doing your dirty work soon and hopefully we'll even have time to bring you that coffee and those slippers you want! Be seeing you."
Tristan stood up and was about to leave the room. But he then decided to ask one final question: "How...tight are we supposed to work this one out? And who do we report to?"
"Tight?" She blinked presumably, and let the scathing remarks pass. "That's up to you, although I suppose it would be easier if you worked together. I am not going to be overseeing this mission directly, so you can work as you see fit, so long as you remember the guidelines I outlined earlier."
"When you have settled the situation, one way or another, I expect you to report back to me directly. While you are there, if you need to report anything in, you can report to Irileth, and he will be able to report back to me in your stead."
"Very well then. So...Ms...Rebecca and...Vayu. Would you like us to go on the carpool lane up to Trailbonanza or whatever and do some dirty work or would you prefer to do it on your own?"
"I wouldn't mind working with you and I agree with the General; we should make sure our squads are all on the same page, but I think we'll need to keep some distance. That way if any one of our squads goes down the other two can still complete the mission."
"Joining forces would be the action that best ensures success. Would obviously not all handle the same thing; right now, my team would be slaughtered in extended dogfight or heavy firefight. Prefer reconnaissance, extraction, distraction, hit-and-run, that sort of thing. Bad at holding the line, us."
"Agree with Rebecca; currently employ clinical psychopath as spotter. Notices things too well. Doesn't work well with unfamiliar faces, not to mention alcoholic for a mechanic. Concentrated effort, shared intelligence, but no sharing of bunks or bases. All subordinates within armsreach but shouting range of each other."
"You'll excuse me, then?" The soldier nodded at the steel faced saurian and the still apprehensive looking human.
As soon as Rebecca exited the large, somewhat sinister old army building her heart began to pound. She'd just volunteered Kurowe without his permission. Trying to rationalize her decision, she rattled off all the convincing arguements she could give him; it was a new experience, it was a chance to learn more about other planets, it was a chance to help the UPF, it was...
She sighed and got into her the old-fashioned rented car. Turning down the window to let some fresh air in, maybe it would stimulate her brain, give her a better excuse.
Kurowe was waiting patiently in the lobby of the small hotel with his nose in a big book, every once in a while his eyes lit up as he read something that interested him and he jotted it down in his notebook. Rebecca stood just out of his line of sight, still trying to come up with a convincing reason for him to go along with her. She knew there was none, she'd just grown very close to him. It had practically been decided on the day they met that they'd be joined at the hip for the rest of her life. Who else would have accompanied her on such a trip with such short notice?
" 'Rowe." She said, finally taking a seat at his table. He didn't bother to look up.
"Rebecca, how'd it go? What was it all about? Promotion? Award? Discharge? Arrest?"
"Arrest? For what?"
"You never know what kind of federation secrets you might have uncovered..."
"No, nothing like that." Rebecca laughed nervously and ran a hand through her hair. Kurowe's eyes widened.
"Please... don't tell me."
"I need a favour from you."
"Not again..."
"No, this is actuall-"
"What? We have to go to another office on yet another planet? Is this some sort of scavenger hunt? You know I left my best reference books at base and you never know what the younger kids will get up to..."
"Nothing like that, in fact if you accept we'll have to stop by base sooner rather than later..."
"Oh! Good. So what's this favour?"
"I need you to come with me on a mission, a very important mission."
"That's what the meeting was about?"
"Yes. I'll tell you all about it later but the short version is..." she brought her voice down to a whisper "We're out of our current squad and off on our own for a while on an outer Rim world."
"...'Our'?"
"Hopefully." Rebecca looked into the Saurian's shiny red eyes, ready to respond to almost any question, but was surprised to see his face loosen up and break into a smile.
"I'll come with you, since I don't trust you to go anywhere by yourself without blowing up seven or so of our best battlesuits."
"That was twenty years ago!" she exclaimed happily, alarming the entire room. Kurowe let out a big hearty laugh that only Saurian's could.
"So, just the two of us?"
"We can pick up a third at the base a couple of miles from here."
"Just like that?"
"Pretty much."
"Okay then. What about gear?"
"After we pick up a new teammate."
"Well, she seems overtly excited", said Tristan to Vayu as Rebecca left on her car.
"Either way, I'll go and talk to the crew about the mission. When can the rapiers be ready to fly, Vayu?"
"And it's "Rapier", singular. As in just me. Speaking of, what arrangement do you have to get to the destination?"
"Well, uh, use my spaceship and get my ass to Trailbronze"
Walking away, took cab back to base. Walks in, sees Ayers cleaning guns, given curt nod.
"Pariya's in the drunk tank again. No, I'm not getting her. It's your turn." Oils a barrel.
"Tough. We have a mission." Vayu crosses arms.
"What?" Ayer jumps to her feet. "Really? Been too damn long since I've seen some action. Is it a deathtrap? I love the deathtrap assignments."
"Not that bad. Code grey thereabouts."
"Eh, too bad." Ayer sets down gun part. "So when are we going?"
Vayu consults watch. "Wheels up forty-five."
"Damn. Not much time, huh. Tell ya what. I'll get Miss Banshee out this time, and when we get to where we're going, you buy me the wickedest, most barbed knife they have there. And none of that cheap shit; real steel, you hear?"
"Deal. Get going: lots to prepare, too little time."
Tristan left the General's office for his spaceship. Once he arrived and entered it, he found Samuel and Leland arguing.
"Guys, shut up. We have a mission and we need to get rambling ASAP. Any equipment you need before we go?"
"Depends. What's the mission?"
"Peacemaking effort to avoid rebellion against the empire. Could turn dirty. But I'm 99% sure it won't"
"You do realize you just jinxed it, right?"
"Shut up, Leland. Jinxing don't happen in the military world"
"We're not military"
"...touche. Either way, do we need anything?"
"I think we're good to go"
"Very well then. Leland! Get us to the rendezvous point!"
Rebecca sighed as she watched Kurowe give the cadet they'd picked up the evil eye. The kid clearly had never seen a Saurian before, but he put up a good act, nonchalantly gazing outside the window of the high speed hover jet they were in. They were back on their usual military planet, what had come to be Rebecca's second home. Even on this mission, she felt comfort in breathing in the air and watching the blue-green night sky.
"Good kid." Kurowe finally stated "He'll do."
"Do what?" He asked defiantly, finally looking away from the window. Realizing he'd spoken out of line, he quickly added "Sir."
"You'll see soon enough, we'll discuss it as soon as we get to the nearest Equipment Centre." Rebecca replied. As if by her command, the hoverjet slowed down and soon they were on their way into the Equipment Centre, it was disguised as a normal sports store. Little did the citizens know that it was actually a centre this planet did most of it's arms buying.
As soon as they were inside, Kurowe took one look at the counter and quickly sauntered off into the rows and rows of hunting equipment. It was too late, the blond at the counter quickly made his way over to them and grabbed the Saurian's hand.
"Rowe, Becca! Where've you been? I'm betting with that squad of yours that stole you away!" the man started, not seeming to care about whether he was heard or not "My mother isn't around today, so you'll be dealing with me."
He let out a hearty laugh and then noticed Sidik "Who's this kid?"
"Need to know basis." Rebecca said quietly, she tilted her head towards the store room and the blond smiled at her.
"Secretive, aren't we?" He led them through the back door and clapped his hands. Sidik let out a yelp when the floor started moving downwards, Kurowe gave him a heavy pat on the back which silenced him for quite a while. When the floor stopped moving, the blond ushered them into a room painted in white from top to bottom.
"So, what do you need?"
"Advanced gear, survival supplies, neccessary surveillance tech, you happen to pick up selling rations?"
"No, sorry." he said "But I can give you everything else."
He walked to one of the walls and clapped his hands once again. The walls opened up, revealing line after line of state of the art weaponry and technology "I'll just need a little info on your mission location."
"Tropical." Kurowe said "Might get cold."
"Size analysis, foreign." The lights in the roon dimmed and an infrared light began scanning the entire room from ceiling to floor. When it was done the blond said "Wow Kurowe, you sure put on some weight. You'd think being in the army would."
"Andrew." Kurowe hissed in a warning tone, Rebecca involuntarily let out a laugh.
"Eh, the gear will be ready in a few seconds. I'll get my men to load it directly into your hoverjet."
"No, we'd prefer you take it straight to our usual military base. Our ship is already waiting there." Rebecca explained.
"Okay then, I'll just print out a list and you can look over it. Meanwhile, I'd like to ask you to reconsider your alliances, we could always use you back here."
"Not around the kid, man!" Kurowe shouted.
"Oh, sorry. Shall we return upstairs to my quarters and have some tea, then?" Andrew said "Even the new kid is allowed to do that, right?"
"Of course." Rebecca said, she gave Sidik a warm smile, trying to somehow tell him that this was all normal activity for her friends, but the soldier looked angry and embarrassed. She hoped they'd have time to talk before they left for their mission.
----
"Okay, complete briefing." Rebecca began, turning her captains chair so she faced both Kurowe at the helm and Sidik who was configuring the weapons systems.
"We're off to Traibunza, short notice, I know, but we don't really have much of a choice. There are two other teams on this mission who we have yet to set up any meetings, but we'll be arriving in the same settlement so that's not a problem. Our mission is a quiet one, so no guns blazing, no obvious aggression, not even kicking a jerk in the shin. We're there to ensure the workers remain loyal to the UPF, that must go well, no room for error."
"Why is there no room for error? You're better off not knowing right now."
"Okay." Sidik smiled at the two older officers "Beats toilet brush duty anyday." He spun around to face the warious weapon's systems controls, but in a moment he'd returned to watching Rebecca and Kurowe with a confused look "Where exactly is Traibunza?"
"Rim planet," Kurowe began "Military pride is as rampant as their nationalism, natives are called the Terens and the Yess, who are both very unsettling to look at."Water and jungle everywhere. Neither of our species particularly popular round there."
"Thanks."
"Why? You're part of the team now Sid."
"Sidik, have you familiarized yourself with the weapon system?" Rebecca asked.
"Yes ma'am."
"Then get us up and running Kurowe."
"Here's your bill, darling." Quartermaster was uncommonly friendly. New too. Saurian. Uncommon. Not sure why.
Time to see the damage.
Price of the cannon was a little too steep. Hope the others saved some money for bribes and kickbacks. Also don't have that many rounds for the cannon.
"Thank you." Gives quartermaster a curt nod.
"Anytime. Say, you want to get a drink later? I'll show you my scars, you show me yours...?" Good-looking male. Easy grin. Charming. But...
"I'm Whiptail." He looks crushed.
"...oh. Sorry, cousin. Very sorry."
"Don't worry. No harm done." Smiles, but doesn't seem to help. He skitters away. I hear clapping behind me. Ayer.
"Did it again, didn'tcha? If I could break bread as easily as you break hearts, I'd be fucking fat, man. Now lemme see whatcha bought."
I sigh. "Fine. Don't really need it."
She whistles. "Shee-eet. That much for a really big gun? How many rounds-a-minute?"
"Variable. But four to six hundred."
"Jesus Christ. And you only bought so few rounds?" Her eyes widen.
"It's much worse than you think. Fighter craft regulations state that all guns should fire one thousand, two hundred rounds to one thousand, five hundred rounds a minute. This is an infantry weapon strapped to a jet."
She stares at me for a little. "Are you sure you're not trying to get me killed?"
"Thought you wanted death."
"Yeah, but a glorious death. Last stand against impossible odds, Charge of the Light Brigade. Not flying in a cardboard box with a pop-gun to fire at enemy aircraft."
I shake my head, smiling. "How silly you are. The gun is a precaution. With luck, won't get shot at at all. Stealth mission. Infiltration. Intelligence. Extraction. Painfully simple."
She pokes me in the chest. "Then why get it at all? For what you paid for it, you could have bought us all lightsabers!"
I sigh, and drag it out a little. "It's called a plasma blade, Ayer. And Kalahira knows I wanted to. But it is Rapier way. Be prepared for anything."
"The Rapiers are dead, bitchcock."
"Not while I still live. Not while I can still fly. Not yet."
"Cheeseball. Oh yeah, Pariya's in the car. Let's lug this shit back to base, then we can start plannin'."
"Fine. But you carry the guns." I take the smallest box.
"Bitch."
"We're out of the atmosphere." Kurowe informed Rebecca. The door leading to the bridge slid open, letting Sidik in. He handed the receipt from Andrew to Rebecca:
"Everything's accounted for." Sidik began "Except for the bullets, I kept losing count around 60..."
"Short attention span~" Kurowe started to sing.
"Can you make sure we don't crash into any satellites before you enter Saurian Idol?" Rebecca taunted, she turned to the younger soldier "You did well. Now get to manning the weapons systems, you never know what will show up nowadays."
"Co-ordinates, Beckster." Kurowe stated.
"That's Commander now 'Rowe." The saurian laughed her off "Okay, you should have received contact from one Commander Marlowe, Tristan. Follow those co-ordinates."
"I thought we were headed to Trailnanza?" Sidik asked.
"We are, we're getting a little help from these guys."
"Just cause we're too cheap to buy a decent ship..." Kurowe complained "And it's Traibunza kid. You know what, if it comes up avoid mentioning it so you don't get socked by the locals."
"Get over it Rowe, we're working with them now. We have to be civil and transparent."
"How transparent?" Sidik inquired with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
"Now you're gettin' it kid." Kurowe encouraged. Rebecca shot him a nasty look. There was no way she was letting this mission get off on the wrong foot.
"... Not 100%, but enough for both our plans and theirs' to mesh well." Rebecca brought up the map Commander Marlowe had sent and made an invisible circle around their location "Now kick it into gear and lets go."
Captain Tristan woke up and walked out of his bed. He left earlier than his comrades because they seemed to be too busy to leave alongside him. Sure, he could have told them, but where's the fun in that? Either way, he decided to check up with his pilot.
"O captain, o captain..."
"Oh stop that, Leland. How long till we arrive?"
"We've been in Trailbunza for approximately half an hour, sir"
"Oh, I do believe these naps are actually quite the time killers. Anyway, sit-rep?"
"Not much to say. Samuel's doing target practice in his room as per usual and I think we will need to refuel once we land there"
"OK, gotcha. We'll just have to wait for the other people to come here so we can actually plan something that isn't 'shoot everything'"