10 Chapter 10: Looking for Friends

I drift in space in my Ucello between the Motley and Planet Paxes. I don't engage my 10X-Thrusters yet, I have to check something first. I open the file that Titan typed out and scan over what it says.

"...mass-produced chip can be installed into any ship to enter the Gateway. We only have one CN-Gateway, but your ship needs the code to use it first. It fires like any type of ammunition, so any photon cannon will be compatible. Our engineer can..."

There. I highlight the part about being compatible with any photon cannon and edit it slightly.

"...mass-produced chip can be installed into any ship to enter the Gateway. We only have one CN-Gateway, but your ship needs the code to use it first. It takes a bonded photon cannon to fire, so only our personal jets can use it. Our engineer can..."

I save and close the file. Nothing personal, Titan, I want the help but I don't want to be pushed aside. I engage my thrusters and enter the Paxes atmosphere into suborbital flight. I pass over Xesowah and input Paxes Defense Force military stations into my radar. Several of them pop up, but one of them is the biggest of them all. I tag it as my destination and head for a city called Esrens.

I remember Esrens. It's where I was going to be sent to be processed as a Paxes soldier when I went to join up. That mess with the manslaughter charge stopped me from being fully processed, and I still hold some resentment towards the Defense Force for kicking me out.

The Ucello hovers over a landing pad that's semi-filled and drops to park. I climb out and take a look at the building I'm about to enter. Large, complex, imposing, everything I'd expect from the main station. My shoulders slouch when I see a group of cadets running laps around a track. That could've been me at a time.

I circle the lot until I find a laser-powered fence blocking the entire main building and its front entrance. Doesn't look like they're letting anyone in that isn't a soldier or cadet. I knew this wasn't going to be as simple as asking a receptionist where to go.

I pull out an emergency ration, the LLB-Infiltrator. It's one of the most expensive things in the mercenary market, and I only have one and can't afford another. Using it would allow me to become transparent and let light pass through, but not solid walls.

"If I use it to sneak in, I can just get kicked out when I'm leaving." With a tear rolling down my cheek, I use the LLB-Infiltrator and turn transparent. I test it by putting a hand through one of the lasers, and instead of searing pain or vaporization, it passes right through as if it was never there. I jump right through just in time before its effects dissipate and I am returned to normal.

"Goodbye 120,000 credits. That was one hell of a birthday gift, guys."

Not a soul noticed. I press against the wall of the building and peer around the corner. I'm ruling out the ground level as a possible entrance, the entire yard is swarming with soldiers. No, I have to get in through an upper floor.

I step back and notice several windows I can try my luck at. The pattern on this wall should be deep enough to let me shove my fingers in. I pray that no one will notice, and then I begin climbing the wall slowly.

I get to a window. Locked. I go higher. Locked. I keep going until I find another. Too many people on this floor. I'm pretty high up, a fall would break my legs or kill me.

Higher, another window, an empty floor. Jackpot. I push it open gently and crawl inside like a snake; no noise as I touch the floor.

To the left and to the right of me are empty. I press my P.V.D to contact the Motley.

Me (Personal): "I'm inside, but they're not seeing visitors today. I had to use my birthday present to bypass a security laser fence."

Cheq (Personal): "Goodbye 120,000 credits."

Me (Personal): "That's what I said."

Cheq (Personal): "I can't get a read on the interior of that building. I wouldn't expect to, military security and all. Do you have any idea where to go?"

Me (Personal): "Most of these processing stations have an office on the top floor. It's a good thing I started off higher than the first floor. I'll head up until I find an important-looking door."

Cheq (Personal): "That's a good a plan as any. I'll try and help with what I can from here, but don't expect much. Good luck."

There are just rooms around me, so the staircase has to be on the other end of this hallway. I stay low and start moving. A door opens up and I dive for a nearby trashcan that's hopefully big enough to cover me. I hear footsteps head in the opposite direction, they fade out, and I peek around.

Empty, and my heart is racing. I follow where they went and see a staircase going up and down. I even see the cameras installed into the corners of the wall and ceiling. I have no chance of staying outside of their view, I just hope nobody is actually watching the monitors.

I head upstairs slowly and pass a whole floor. I keep going up, another set of footsteps are coming my way. No place to hide, I need to sprint back down. I have a plan. I step on the safety rails and grab onto the edge of the upper staircase. I swing my leg way over to the opposite wall into a full split and use my other leg to cling on to the upper staircase.

This hurts. A couple of service-dressed soldiers come down the stairs talking to each other. Once they pass my hiding spot I wait for them to face the wall for the turn and swing my body over the railing, and quickly lay on the upper floor. They don't see me, they keep going down.

Cheq (Personal): "Nev, your P.V.D just showed a spike in pain and adrenaline. Are you okay?"

Me (Personal): "Remember how I said you need to practice to do a split? It turns out you can do one if you really have to."

I climb up more and more with less disturbance. I hit the end of the staircase and peek around the final floor to see what's my new obstacle. There are several rooms here, but one piques my interest. A door with two soldiers standing on either side. They don't look armed, but I don't want to risk checking.

Me (Personal): "I've got a problem."

Cheq (Personal): "I'm all ears."

Me (Personal): "I've got a couple of soldiers standing guard on the final floor, presumably the room I need to get into."

Cheq (Personal): "Any chance you can hop out of a window and circle around the building? You should be high enough so nobody on the outside would notice."

Me (Personal): "Not a chance. Any windows on this floor would be in sight of the soldiers. You think my stun gun is good enough to take them?"

Cheq (Personal): "Your stun gun can only neutralize one target at a time. If you get one, you need to let it recharge for a second shot. I think a trained soldier would take you down before they let that happen. Are there any vents around?"

Me (Personal): "None from where I'm at. Also, I don't want to do that again."

Cheq (Personal): "Hang on."

I can hear him leave from his chair. He comes back after a few seconds.

Cheq (Personal): "I've got a bit of a dramatic option to take."

Me (Personal): "How dramatic?"

Cheq (Personal): "I'm going to fake an Angel Vanguard attack."

I struggle to keep my voice a whisper.

Me (Personal): "Are you crazy!?"

Cheq (Personal): "Aiden's ship is still in the hangar, and though I'd love to break it down and build with its parts, I can also send it into the Paxes atmosphere as a drone. The soldiers will spot it, prepare the base for defensive maneuvers, and likely blow up the ship with no pilot on board."

Me (Personal): "That's definitely extreme. If they find out it was us, they'll lock us up for life. Okay, I'm ready."

Cheq (Personal): "Don't worry about it, I never scrambled the AP-EC on the coding, it'll still look like a genuine Angel ship. All right... it's going. Entering the atmosphere in seven seconds."

My heart pounds through my ears. I get ready by sliding beneath the railing and doing the same trick without the split. A loud siren blares through the building, and like a robot running protocol, the soldiers immediately sprint for the stairs.

They pass my hanging spot and I pull myself up before they start going down. I catch a glimpse of everyone in the yard from the window. They're setting up a front line like they've been waiting for this day.

I make it to the door they were guarding. Should I kick it in? I'd get shot coming in like that. Should I knock? Too polite. I grab the knob and open it to see an older man wearing a dress uniform decorated in ribbons and medals. It looks like I caught him in the middle of collecting files from around his office.

"Who the hell are you!?" He drops all the papers he's collected and whips his blaster out of its holster.

My hands shoot up above my head. "Don't shoot! I've got a report I need to give you. It's about the Angel Vanguard."

"You didn't answer my question."

"My name is Nev. I'm a mercenary with Lux-Roulette."

He seems unimpressed. "Lux-Roulette. I've seen your team's name under the third-party hires. How is it that you'd have anything to do with the Vanguard?"

"It's all in the report, sir. I'll even give you our mothership's transmission code if you need to call for additional information. You shouldn't though, it's all written out just for you."

I see him bite his cheek. He pulls his arm in and points his barrel to the side. "All right, put it on my desk." He steps to the side and I do as I'm told. "Does that file explain why there are Angel forces this deep into the galaxy?"

I think about the trick Cheq pulled. I also think about how it might not be a real Angel right now, but they have the ability to show up anywhere they want and eventually, that'll be right on Paxes' front door. "Yes. It'll even tell you why they never set off the security breach during entrance to the galaxy."

Cheq (Personal): "Nev?"

Cheq's voice crackles from my P.V.D's speaker.

Cheq (Personal): "I've got some bad news."

Me (Personal): "Cheq? What's wrong?"

Cheq (Personal): "Is there anyone around you that could hear me?"

I look at the man, I never learned his name or his rank. I reduce the volume at which Cheq's voice will project.

Me (Personal): "Yeah."

Cheq (Personal): "The plan has some extra additives."

I lower my voice and turn away.

Me (Personal): "What are you talking about?"

Cheq (Personal): "It's not just the Angel drone in the atmosphere. A real armada just showed up. You need to get the hell out of there right now!"

Me (Personal): "A real Angel Vanguard force here? Now? Why?"

Cheq (Personal): "It looks like they're picking now to test Paxes' ability to defend themselves. You're caught in the crossfire, and we can't go down to help without being targeted by both sides."

I run outside of the office and back to the window with a view of the yard. In the sky are several Paxes and Angel battle jets attacking each other in split-second combat. On the ground, even the freshest cadet is handed a photon blaster to crouch behind cover and shoot at incoming ground units. It's a full-blown battlefield out there, and I don't even have a gun.

Me (Personal): "I don't think I can just walk out of here."

Cheq (Personal): "I'm going to wake Titan up, I'll be right back."

The man puts a hand on my shoulder, I turn to see Titan's report and some papers in his hand. "If we hired you in the past, I trust you can use a blaster?"

"I was afraid you'd ask that."

"I'm not sure how you got here, but I doubt you can just leave the way you came in. I'll give you a gun, and you can fight your way out of here, or you can help us repel these Angels."

I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, but now I'm presented with the opportunity to clip some wings early. I'm good with a gun, sure, but I'm no trained soldier like Knight. "All right, can I get a promise that your boys won't shoot me?"

"If they see you firing at Angels, you're their friend."

Without another word, he takes off and I chase after. He stops at a secured door and interacts with the security panel by playing Rock, Paper, Scissors with it. It looks like you have to win in a specific pattern, though I did not pay attention. He wins three rounds and the door opens.

The walls carry racks of weapons ranging from standard to explosive. I take a rifle and some cooling gel.

"Is that all you're taking?" he asks.

"It'll be all I need to get to where I'm going."

I race down the stairs and leave him behind, both eager and nervous to get outside. I'm not dressed like a Paxes soldier, and I'm not dressed as an Angel, I hope that's enough ambiguity to not be shot on sight. I get to the main entrance that was so well guarded when I got here, I try to remember Knight's advice, breathe in deep once, then run through the automatic doors.

Almost immediately, a photon blast nearly takes my head. I stumble and crawl-run to the nearest barricade to take cover. It's already in use by a young woman wearing a cadet's uniform.

"Who the hell are you?"

"That's twice I've been asked that. I'm on your side."

"Then you're a friend to me." She pops out of cover and fires her rifle down the center of the yard where piles of foot soldiers are trying to rush in. "I'm kinda glad this interrupted my two-mile run."

Titan (Personal): "Nev!? What's going on!?"

It's Titan, his voice is hasty and frantic.

Me (Personal): "Angel Vanguard is here, and I'm stuck on the battlefield with Paxes troops."

Titan (Personal): "Sit tight, I'm coming!"

Me (Personal): "Bad idea, without a Paxes Defense Force AP-EC, their systems will automatically target you as an enemy. Unless you're secretly a Defense Force soldier, your best bet is to stay up in space."

Titan (Personal): "Dammit, Nev, it's not like I can just leave you down there. What, you want me to brew up some coffee to sit and watch? Hold on, I'm gonna go wake Knight up."

Why is everyone sleeping? I turn back at the young cadet to see her sprawled on the floor with a massive burn mark on her face. Gone too soon. I peek my head around the side with my barrel aimed and take potshots at a few Angels too far in. They go down, I slip back behind cover.

I see more cover closer to the parking space where I'm docked. I peek again, get in a running stance, and make a mad sprint for it. As I run upright, several missed shots trail behind me, they must have snipers in the back. I slide on the grass and huddle behind the assembled refractor shield.

Titan (Personal): "Nev, I got Knight to work the orbital scanner. He can mark targets for your radar. You're gonna have to use your combat visor to see them. You did bring it with you, right?"

Me (Personal): "Never leave home without it. Thanks."

I pull out a small, squared device. I push the button in the center and it extends into a long piece of eyewear I put on. It activates and connects to my P.V.D, showing me all my vital signs and, with Knight's help, enemies nearby and structures being used as cover.

Me (Personal): "Looks like it's working."

Titan (Personal): "Just get to your ship, this isn't your fight. Is there a chance you can just slip away?"

Me (Personal): "Doesn't look like it. Even if I get to my ship, I'd be blasted out of the sky."

I hear him pound something nearby.

Titan (Personal): "Dammit! Okay, keep cool, stay behind cover, lower their numbers."

Me (Personal): "I'll do what I can."

I peek back out for another shot only to have my barrel kicked and my shirt grabbed. An Angel rushed through the laser fire and made it to my far cover without getting blasted once.

His armor is sleek and white, and I can tell the helmet he dons is loaded with technology from the visor flashing with several icons. I can't see the face or any skin as it hides behind a fitted battlesuit underneath armor plating. It's like I'm fighting a machine rather than another human.

"Unit 47-B, I've found the target identified as 'Nev'," he says, his helmet distorts his voice to a more robotic sound.

I slam on his forearm with my fists, but he doesn't feel anything hiding behind high-grade armor like that. I see his elbow begin to move with hydraulics, and suddenly I weigh nothing as he picks me up by my shirt right off the floor.

"Enhanced strength too? You guys really are from another system."

"Taking out the target!"

I shove my hands between his arms, place both feet on his chest, and kick off while splitting his arms apart. He stumbles back and lets me go. I fall on the grass and grab my gun to let a full rapid-fire charge hit him at point-blank. He vaporizes, and the cooling gel I loaded begins to leak into the rifle's photon agitator.

Peeking out of cover, I see the Angels have scattered the whole battlefield, flanking Paxes and forcing them to break cover to make a new frontline. My targeting systems tell me which enemies I should make a priority. I just have to keep cool and follow instructions.

I slide to a new cover, take out two harassing a cadet behind a refractor shield. I join the cadet, pop out to nail a sniper taking aim at someone else. I advance the frontline to the side and flank a small squad. They turn to repel me, but Paxes soldiers take advantage and blast them during the surprise.

I push forward to the point of the main entrance of the front gate. Angel Vanguard carrier ships are docked right in front letting more soldiers pour out of its hull like an anthill. One man appears from inside the ship wearing no armor, but a large coat with a combat suit underneath.

I see him raise his wrist to talk into his P.V.D and my own crackles with a broadcast. It's not a public broadcast, it somehow is a hacked private channel. No one else can hear it, and I never gave permission for the frequency to transmit to me.

??? (Hacked_021): "Did you get what you wanted out of our ship?"

I push my panel to talk back.

Me (Hacked_021): "Who are you?"

??? (Hacked_021"I'm the first step we take in the dream of unity."

Me (Hacked_021): "Edgy. Why am I a target when you've got Paxes soldiers here to play with?"

??? (Hacked_021): "I know how involved you and your team are. I've been watching from the ship's camera feed. You can't live with the knowledge you've accrued, it would be too troublesome for our future endeavors."

Me (Hacked_021): "I get to be the bed bug nestled in your silken sheets? That's actually quite gratifying."

??? (Hacked_021): "You have something of ours. Give it back, or die here with the knowledge that we'll fly up to the Motley and turn it into shooting stars."

Me (Hacked_021): "The CN-Gateway? Counteroffer."

I pop out of the corner and shoot at him with a couple of burst blasts. The carrier's exterior shield prevents any lasers from actually hitting him, but it scares him enough to give him a small jolt.

??? (Hacked_021): "Cute. Real cute."

I watch him interact with his P.V.D and suddenly all soldiers begin to pull away from their separate squabbles. The battle jets in the sky activate their 10X-Thrusters and blast out of the atmosphere. Soldiers sprint back to the several carriers they came out of, the hull doors shut, and they take off to space as well.

Paxes soldiers and cadets hesitantly peek out of cover and begin to regroup among themselves. I head for the parking lot before anyone thinks to question me. My Ucello stays without a scratch; I hop in, engage the engine, and begin sub-orbital flight.

Me (Personal): "Motley? I'm starting a flight back."

Titan (Personal): "Kid, I was watching you with the orbital scanner. We need to talk."