Chapter 21: Preparation

'Yes, Sir. Confirmed, I am in pursuit and have placed a marker.'

Soon after they got on the Aquarian ship, Cellica went off to a room in the back and established a secure communications link with her supervisor in the GBI.

'Yes, Sir, understood.' Cellica swiped off the conversation and left the room.

'So?' Rydel turned as Cellica returned to the common area. Dolon also came in a few seconds after Cellica does after leaving the tracking on autopilot and bringing the distance display and monitoring to the hologram in the common area in the middle of the spacecraft.

'I have let my superiors know about possibility of a raid in between here and Hyperion. But once we get to Hyperion, we probably need to stay away and let the GBI ground agents take over.' Cellica explained the bureaucracy of the department, 'I had to go through some annoying pathways if I were to take action on the ground.'

'But you have the documents ready right? I know you too well.' Dolon leaned back in the chair and said.

'Of course, but I was hoping that I don't need to use it.' Cellica said.

'I agree. The less we show them, the more of an advantage we would have over them. We are still in the dark as to what they can do and why, so it's probably best to...' Rydel followed up the conversation and looked at Dolon, who picked up on his signal.

'...to stay back and keep a close watch. Am I right, Cellica?'

'Argh I get it.' Cellica threw up her hands in protest, 'it's really quite tiring, you know?'

'I know you can do it.' Rydel bumped her in the shoulder with his fist, 'I will treat you to some potato wedges.'

'You'd better.'

Apart from the ships usual monitoring at the cargo ship nearby, Dolon also turned on the all direction scanner for any possible incoming ships.

For ranges outside the scanners reach, Cellica will cover it as she sits in the middle of the ship in a meditation trance and monitors the surrounding space. When she's focusing on her job, Dolon pulled Rydel aside.

'How's your progress with the artifact?' She asked.

'I think I would make you proud.' Rydel leaned against the wall and gently massages his wrist. He told Dolon about the details of his confrontation with Zel and how he came away with it.

'So you are saying your space-based artifact interacted with his?' Dolon's eyes were widened at the discovery, 'what kind of interactions are you talking about?'

'It felt like some sort of resonance.' Rydel shrugged it off. In hindsight, what happened was a bit scary but he's glad that he has handled that calmly, 'when it clashed...I was thrown into a strange.....space.'

'Interesting. That's something to note down. Uncontrollable and violent reactions between artifacts of the same type...' Dolon nodded as she took out hers and waves it around a bit, 'there is really no knowing what happens with artifacts, right?'

'Yeah. Intel is everything here.' Rydel agreed, 'I think I acted a bit reckless before, since it hit so close to home quite literally. We all have to be much more cautious out here.'

'Well, do you want to go a few rounds?' Dolon got up from the table and points outside, 'I have rigged one of the bedrooms for an extended exercise area, wanna do some combat training?'

'With one of the best in the galaxy?' Rydel jumped up, 'hell yeah!'

'Argh!'

As Rydel's face touches the soft and squishy surface one more time, he just decides to lie there and rest for a good while.

'I thought you are going easy on me?'

'I thought I WAS going easy on you. My bad.' Dolon reaches out with one of her lower arms and pulled Rydel back up.

He has seen Dolon fight in last year's War Games tournament, but seeing it from the perspective above versus in person is so different. Dolon's movements are smooth yet somehow irratic, random yet calculated. She knew exactly what she's doing, and Rydel's rusty space force basic training stand no chance.

'I don't really know what I can gain from this, other than knowing how to fall without hurting myself.' Rydel got back into a ready pose once again and prepares for another fall, 'I am pretty sure my mindset is one thing, but I am just not that skilled.'

'That, I can help with.' Dolon shivers of joy and excitement slightly and stood up tall, 'I was just getting a basic feel of your abilities. Now, let's get you started with no being taken out so easily first.'

'Yes. That would be ideal.' Rydel lowered his body weight and maintains his balance in between his feet.

'Before we start though, if we were to engage in some sort of action, know that we want to avoid it at all costs, if we can. You are not trained for this, so you need at least many months if not years to be competent with close quarter combat. You are pretty good in general with quick thinking and reflexes, you just need to build the rest of you up.' Dolon laid everything out plainly, 'let's start with some simple close quarter defense strategies. First rule, spacing!'

To really drill in the concept of keeping a safe spacing, Dolon kept on pressing Rydel with arm taps and cornering, and all he had to do is to stay out of the long reach of the Aquarian for longer and longer duration of time. Rydel even mixed in some evasion footworks from the sports he played. Eventually, he loses focus slightly and didn't move out of the way in time and got tackled by Dolon.

'What a tackle by the veteran player Dolon!' She commentated on the play of the match with an exaggerated sports announcer voice, 'the rookie had no chance!'

'Alright, again!' Rydel pushes her aside and got up. With the flick of a button, the shape of the room changes, and the game continues. About an hour later, Rydel was able to fairly consistently keep a safe distance with Dolon, and she made a few sticks out of the wall's soft material to simulate the blades.

Rydel went for the classic combination of a hand held force shield and knife combination that the space force teaches, and the two continued the training.

Dolon's movements were even more unpredictable and scarier with sticks in her hand, and Rydel had finally understood what makes her a master. Despite the full activation of the shields, he is still full of openings and gaps for Dolon to take advantage of.

'Time out, time out!' Rydel stepped back and dropped the arms to his sides, 'this isn't even fair, you have about what, four more arms than I do?'

'Well, the number of arms just means we have to fight differently. A good fighter adapts to the fighters, the environments and the context.....' Dolon shrugged her shoulders, 'do mind that we are not in water right now.'

'Fair.' Rydel stood back up, 'do you have any tips?'

'Use what you have to your advantage.' Dolon said so vaguely, 'I can see at least one, but you have to be the one to see it.'

'Something's up.' Cellica knocked on the side of the door and alerted the two. They returned the makeshift weapons back onto the wall and headed towards the cockpit.

'It's a bit hard to see, but in an asteroid field an hour from where we are now, there are quite a few ships hiding around.'

'Is it near any acceleration gates?' Rydel asked.

'Not really. Maybe they have some methods of pulling us out of the wormholes. We have to be careful.' Cellica answered, 'I suggest we wait until we get closer to see. If they are pulling the cargo ship out of the high speed, we will drop out a bit later as well. I will send the signal to GBI once we are out then.'

'Cool.' Rydel and Dolon agreed and anxiously awaits the approach. Rydel haven't heard of anything capable of pulling ships out of high speed worm hole traveling in between acceleration gates, but anything is possible with artifacts involved. He wonders what the hell Zel and that organization is planning.

Going back a day and a bit to Zel, he was once again in a similar situation after just taking up the mission to still the high energy stabilizer. Lady Lily has left him in her bedroom for some work and he was just lying there and chilling. Suddenly, the slide doors opened and Lady Lily walked in.

'Do you want to get paid?'

'I would never say no to that.' Zel responded, 'our deal isn't over yet.'

'Nope, but we are formulating a plan to get it back, and we need your help in this.' Lady Lily walked towards her dresser and picked up a rose red lipstick. She runs it along to edges of her juicy lips and checks her look in the mirror.

'Me? What could I be of help? Also.....getting it back?' Zel put all his clothes back on and got up, 'I am merely a failure at this moment.'

'Well, forces out of your understanding are at play here, that's why you failed.' Lady Lily looked at Zel through the reflection of the mirror, 'but this time, it will be even on both sides.'

Zel followed Lady Lily out of her room and headed towards a meeting room. On their way there, a massive bold heavily tattooed human male joined the entourage. Lady Lily greeted him as he nodded at her and the moved on. Zel swore the big guy glared at him but he wasn't so sure.

Maybe the guy is just stressed. Life is stressful.

They have arrived in a big meeting room after a few turns and a quick elevator trip. There are already a few different officer and commanders sitting there and talking with each other. They all stood up when the three entered and sat back down.

'Alright, give me the update.' Lady Lily took a seat at the end of the table and gestured for Zel to join her on the left while the big guy sat on the right.

'Yes, ma'am. Right now, the high energy stabilizer would be transported from Vulcan towards Hyperion in a cargo ship. We will get the details soon, but basically we plan to stop the cargo ship and get the container from there.' One of the more senior looking officer reported.

'Give my dear guest the details.' Lady Lily looked up and the hologram of the star charts and demanded.

'Yes, ma'am. With the help of Sir Deva, we will pull the ship out of worm hole travel, and sneak aboard with the help of Zel. Get the container, fabricate an accident and get out of there.' The officer explained as a short animation of how the interception would go down is shown.

Sir Deva? Is that the big guy's name? Zel turned his attention away from the animation and looked at the big guy, who's staring right at him, this time for sure.

'Any questions?' Lady Lily looked around, and then fixated on Zel, fully expecting him to speak up.

'Yeah, right, a few.' Zel took the chance, 'first of all, how do you expect me to help you sneak in? There is nothing special about what I do. By the look of your...'

'Oh Zel,' Lady Lily interrupted with a knowing smile on her face, 'there's absolutely something special about what you do. You possess a powerful artifact that only you can use.'

She knows! The artifact resting within him gasped, but despite the inner turmoil, Zel merely signed slightly. I told you!

He knew there is no point denying, or lying.

'How do you know?' He asked curiously, 'i am sure I keep it under wraps quite well.'

'Come on now.' Lady Lily chuckles, 'we know it the very first instance you activated your power. The little black box?'

'Ah.' Zel nodded in understanding. The little black box was the black cylinder he used to both make contact with Lady Lily as well asverifying the high energy stabilizer, 'that must be some type of rather high energy detection technology too... I couldn't even figure out how it works.'

'Compared to what we are about to do, that's nothing.' Lady Lily pulled out the pen from her chest pocket and put it on the table, 'but don't be alarmed. We are all allies here.'

'Well, sharing is caring then. What can yours do?' Zel crosses his arms and leaned back onto the seat. Now that he's outed, he might as well see what's happening. From what Lady Lily said, it seems like that his suspicion about the artifact related technology was confirmed.

'I organize.' Lady Lily explained, then she pointed at the big guy, 'this is Sir Deva. He can move things around.'

'Right.' Seems like that's as much information as Zel is going to get at this moment, 'and what exactly do you expect me to do?'

'You seemed exceptionally good at sneaking in and out of places. That's what I wish for you to do. You will sneak a team of our operatives into the ship, and then sneak them out. Simple.'

'Let me warn you, I am not that good with my artifact. Anymore than two people would be dangerous for all of us.' Zel crossed his arms and lied, 'don't try sending a whole platoon.'

'That's ok. I understand.' Lady Lily looked at Zel right in the eye and smiled understandingly, 'a pair would be sufficient.'

'Stop playing tricks.' Sir Deva has finally spoken, and he sounded exactly as Zel has imagined, 'if you lie to us, then you will pay.'

'I do expect to get paid.' Zel shot back at him and the two entered a stare down, 'moving on, what do you mean by fabricating an accident?'

'It's exactly as it sounds.' Lady Lily crossed all her fingers and held her pen in the middle, 'we get what we want, then we blow it up.'

'Cargo ships tend to use older generation engines and ship models that are no longer fit for fast commercial traveling.' An officer explained further, 'drive failure is uncommon, but not unexpected when it does happen.'

'And that means all the crew members would be....' Zel spelled it out for the rest of the room.

'An unfortunate price of your failure.' Sir Deva answered coldly, 'got problems?'

'I thought that part was obvious.' Zel put both hands on the table and leaned forward to confront the rest of the room, 'usually, I don't care how you do things, but this is my mission. I don't want blood on my hands. I am a thief, not a robber.'

'Then you should have completed the mission to begin with.' Sir Deva responded coldy, 'if you hadn't been so incompetent and Lady Lily hadn't misplaced her trust. We would not be having this conversation.'

'There is no need for this conversation regardless.' Zel knew full well how to deal with people like that. He didn't speak without a startegy in mind, 'I will sneak you in and out to grab the high energy stabilizer, then we will do a controlled explosion within the cargo bay that's enough to damage the area but not blow up the ship. We just blame it on some faulty components. See, easy.'

The room was quiet as this is obviously not how they usually operate, with Zel the outsider calling his shots and flat out rejecting the ideas laid out by the operatives. Sir Deva was about say something, but Lady Lily raised her hand to stop him. She thought for a little while, then looked at Zel.

'Fine. We will do it your way. More details to follow. Dismissed.'

Lady Lily closed the meetings and got up to leave. Zel followed her but Sir Deva remained in the room.

Damn, you have gotten yourself involved in a bad bunch. His artifact commented, just be careful when dealing with them. It never ends well.

I know. Zel replied under his breath, I am figuring out a way to get out of here. This is already looking to be a very bad deal.

'What are you saying?' It seems like Zel's mumbling was not so subtle after all as Lady Lily turned and asked.

'Ah, not much.' Zel looked up at her, 'the Sir Deva doesn't seem to like me a lot.'

'Well, that may be because he likes me a lot.'

'...Oh.' Zel took a deep breath, great, now he REALLY needs to get away from this place.

'Ah, don't worry. He obeys me, so you would be save as long as you follow the plan here.' Lady Lily said with a formulaic smile on her face, but that only made Zel become more nervous.

What kind of a shit show did he get himself into?

'I will allocate a room for you to rest and prepare. Just sit back and relax, as best as you can.' Lady Lily stopped outside her office and quickly programmed for a direction droid for Zel to follow, 'apologies, but I need to attend to some...business.'

Zel didn't really get much resting or chilling. From the moment he entered the room, he went ahead and started doing some work on his mechanical arms and communicates with his artifact silently since he is mostly certain that there would trappings and cameras hidden somewhere in the room.

I want to money to get free, but this is getting quite out of hand. The artifact said on their situation. I never liked the others, especially the other bearers. The glove was one of the nicer ones.

I agree. Zel adjusts for the settings for the cables and prepares for use in space. After getting the red arm snatched away by Rydel, he has been using the black general purpose one, and it only has a bare-minimum grappling function.

This is new though, I never thought people would try to imitate or recreate the artifacts. I don't know what can happen. The artifact recalls it's memories of the distant past. If they are going to study me, please destroy me before that happens.

I don't actually know how to do that. Zel responsed, We seemed to have been bonded on a more fundamental level than those for the other two. And is destroying an artifact even possible?

I was in a rush, so it can't be helped. The artifact replied regrettably. Usually, a artifact bearer bonding is more superficial and usually detachable, depending on the individuals and the circumstance. Though I typically like to keep my space.

Well, too bad. Zel chuckles as he does some finishing touches on his arm and shut the lid.

If I am being honest, you are not that bad.

Awww, you are going to make me cry.