X42: Tip of the Spearhead

Sparks shuttered off Kazuki's exospine as the drones continued their work. Any stings to his skin felt like burns. They continued to bump into his back as a dozen shuttles shot out across the void. He could see the Ptolemy-2 Station creep into view across the artificial horizon. 

The bastion of commercial centres and trade made him feel dread. Even so, he made a promise, a contract, to Eliza. But he didn't know if he could uphold it. His breath was ragged as his mechanical organs had slowed down from the impure energy in his exospine. 

'All forces, make your final preparations.' commanded Kazuki, sliding plasma cartridges into his WRIST-SHOT, 'Shoot to kill. Twenty thousand standardis to every Loyalist head.'

"Tch…" Amyé groused, crossing her arms as Claire injected her with a HANG-OVER injector, making her sober as she sluggishly shook her head.

A spark clipped his skin as one of the drones was knocked around from turbulence. He threw his hand backwards instinctively, smacking the drone to the wall as it made a loud booping noise, spinning around in the air. Kazuki slowly apologised, "Sorry about that, little one."

The drone made a low-humming boop in sadness, approaching Kazuki and continuing to repair his back. "I know… It's not your fault."

Claire looked over at Kazuki across the shuttle. "Your back, do you think you'll need a hand?" She was covered in bandages, yet still took the time to care for Kazuki… He hasn't exactly noted it but Heimfall's culture really did become more interconnected and friendly. Probably because he killed its last commander and replaced them with Claire, someone who cares much more about her men.

"No." said Kazuki, "I can handle myself. I'll be slower but no less lethal."

"Ah, finally," Claire continued, placing a few injectors into Kazuki's vest plate, storing them as the vest-plate's mechanisms loaded them into his auto-jector. Then she added some more… Then some more, Kazuki stopped her. "We can finally catch up to you now. But are you sure you'll make it through?"

He contemplated for a moment. He was sluggish, slower and weaker. He couldn't beat Svenn back on the skyliner, what chance does he even have now that he's crippled? Doubts set in, but he must try to kill him, or at least stop the bombs from going off. It clashed with his first contract, nonetheless he must see this through for that to be accomplished. 

But if he dies, who'll protect the Delmara siblings?

"I don't know." Kazuki fretted, in a low tone - to himself and Claire.

"Kazuki, we'll look after Eliza…" Lilly trailed off, mumbling to herself for a moment. "Don't take it another way, alright? She got us some shiny new stuff, alright?"

"Pfft." Quinn let off a snicker at Lilly's lack of self-discipline, but quietened up when she glared at him across the shuttle.

"I see," said Kazuki. "So Eliza… she's on board?"

"Huh? Yeah? She said she wanted to 'pay off' the damages."

His eyes thinned. "Okay… I'll keep Eliza overseeing my team." said Kazuki. "She's a fast learner, faster than me."

"'Course she is!" interjected Quinn. "She knows how to play politics! I mean, just look at our armour."

Despite both Petra's death during the rebellion and Riharia's recent death, Quinn seems to still focus on the mission. That's good, Kazuki thought. He can't deal with emotions, especially here and now. 

Tirax-Genesis, high quality for sure, but at the end of the day it's still armour. Even as Claire snarled and grumbled, he couldn't care less. The gear was in storage, last time he saw them. Maybe Eliza bribed them… no. She's far too bright to stoop that low. Now that he thinks about it, he's never seen her broken - she's been hurt, but never shattered - he hopes he never has to.

"Don't tell her." said Kazuki, "This is probably going to be my last operation…"

Even Quinn wasn't willing to slice at the tense fog, his eyes a doubtful, regret-filled cyan. Out of everyone, Quinn had the biggest change of expression… Riharia died in vain, Kazuki thought. But now? He won't let all of their sacrifices be in vain. 

Everyone knew that Kazuki was on his last legs, he hadn't recovered enough. Time was his enemy. And now, death's come for him. But maybe it was time for him to retire, Kazuki mused. Hopeless dread burned away at him.

The shuttle's hologram projector burst awake, shining down and formulating its polygons into a 3D hologram of a security guard. They stood firm, looking at the occupants of the shuttle as they croaked, 'This is Ptolemy-2 Docking Control to shuttle AJFA001, we are requesting you turn your convoy around until you gain proper access codes to port, over.'

'This is the fourth of the seven, representing the interests of the AGENCY and Anagora Judiciary on behalf of the Anagoran Judicial Forces. The Ptolemy-2 Station is to cease its active functions and engage in total lockdown in preparation for boarding.' ordered Kazuki, remembering the script he had to read back on Fallatai.

"Traffic control, fucking hell." Quinn commented, "You still remember that speech?"

'What is the meaning of this?' demanded the guard, 'We are aware of what happened to the Crhristendo skyliner. Tell me, do you have a warrant to search the station - and for what?!'

'We do not. But what choice do you have?' asked Kazuki, 'We have confirmed reports of multiple Clandestine terrorists on the station. Under the Ptolemy Anti-Terror Ac—'

'You need not remind me of my statutes, sir.' said the guard, 'We will investigate these claims further, for now please sit tight until you gain PROPER access codes!'

"Fucking bureaucrats…" mumbled Claire, disgruntled at what was going on as she toyed with a small medipack she had strapped on her vest-plate, the liquids moving around.

The guard turned around to face someone in their own room. But to everyone's surprise, they froze. Their stuck-up attitude faded away as Lilly looked across the shuttle at Kazuki, asking, "What's going on over there?"

'Kent… what are—'

They fell onto the ground as the holographic projection ended the moment that a spark of alarms blurred online. The station was compromised.

'Shit, the Loyalists are starting to storm the station,' reported Sato, showing up a display of the station cameras she had hacked. A dozen Loyalists were pouring out of station vessels and large containers, attacking the security and killing every non Loyalist in sight, civilian or not. 

'They're going after the civilians,' remarked Eliza, showing some remorse for them, 'We have to do something!'

'And we will.' said Lilly, 'But we have to focus on the objective. Eliza just stay focused and give us some good callouts.'

'They want to divert our attention to the civilian sector.' stated Kazuki, to the surprise of everyone on the uplink. Divide and Conquer. 'We'll have to split our forces to deal with this problem.'

'Kazuki,' Archius started, 'We have a problem. Senator Delia's saying she can no longer provide us with her protection… She says that the police are coming to deal with us. My friends in the CRIS have little jurisdiction over this but…'

'I'll… try and hold off my dad,' suggested Eliza.

'Okay. Continue with the operation. We'll deal with the consequences later,' said Kazuki. One victory for the AGENCY was all they needed. 

Looking forward once again, Kazuki could see the station etch closer as Karl flew past the hovering magnetic interlocks and bubble shield protecting the interior from the vacuum. And as the convoy of space-faring shuttles started to diverge into their respective groups.

'All forces. Diverge into sections. Deltastring and Heimfall will land at the closest infiltration point. The rest will clear the commercial section.'

The shuttles continued, he could see the shadow of the Phoenix's Fury far away, overshadowed by the Battlestation Ithilos in the distance. He has one card up his sleeve, a gamble. If all else fails, Kazuki can request his father's assistance. But he didn't know if he'd respond. Even with the chaos that was about to unfold, the defence stations, bastions, warships, traffic lanes and space colonies stayed motionless. All indifferent.

∗ ∗ ∗

The energy gate faltered as five shuttles slammed through, charging into the station's cargo bay hangar. Bolts and plasma flew from all sides as security, Loyalist and AGENCY forces fought in a three-way skirmish. But it was quickly decided who won. The shuttles activated their gunpods as drones dove past them. Autolasers turned anyone not in cover into a fine red mist that lingered in the air.

Meanwhile those that remained were slaughtered by the AGENTs that flowed off the ramps. Kazuki watched as the hostiles were all terminated within the short few seconds. He stepped out, walking down the ramp. He attached his helm-mask on, hooking on the oxygen tanks to his back as tubes connected to the back of his respirator.

'Cargo Bay secured.' reported Kazuki, 'Vallé, take Deltastring and fight your way to the staff quarters. Heimfall, use Deltastring as the anvil to your hammer.'

'We know!' Lilly shouted over to Kazuki.

"Lazarus, Artillerist, on me. We'll head to the reactor.'' Kazuki said, looking at two of his operatives.

"Reactor?" asked Claire, relocking her plasma rifle whilst Lilly and Quinn led Deltastring. "And us? We're flattered."

"The reactor is the highest point of failure. Take it out, the station falls."

"Did you plan this whole mission out for them?" snapped Amyé, following Kazuki as he walked towards one of the blast doors, bursting it open with a charge.

"No." said Kazuki, entering into the hall as he took point.

Almost immediately, Loyalists turned the corners, stopping their advance through the hall. Claire threw herself into cover as Amyé stayed near the rear. All the while, Kazuki started into a pace faster than a jog as he rushed forward. But sparks sputtered out of his exospine as he fired back at the Loyalists.

"Fucking hell," remarked Claire, shooting Kazuki with a stimulant bolt. "I told you not to overuse it. Come on, let us handle some of the burden."

"Don't die." Kazuki demanded, to the surprise of the two as he twisted into an indent at the wall. Loyalists continued to push forward down the steel-framed, grated hall. 

Amyé slid over to Claire as Eliza called out, 'Arbiter, Lazarus, there are six Loyalists converging on your location.'

A fresh air of professionalism was nice for Eliza. A callout wasn't much, but it'd help. Claire remarked, "Sure, Arbiter. Dying's boring, let's not die for now."

Amyé seconded the notion. "Too little time and too much to enjoy… other than alcohol."

Kazuki nodded. Peeking out of cover, he fired his carbine at the Loyalists. His aim wasn't as good, he thought. But now was no time to lament over that. 

"Move up." Kazuki ordered, the trio pushing forward as Kazuki activated his deflector shield. His auto-jectors activated. Stimulants and adrenaline curved across his veins and blood vessels

Six more Loyalists rushed into the hall as they ran in through a connected hallway. But that did nothing to stop the Loyalists already taking cover to be dropped as the team rushed forward. The reinforcements tried to batter them back with shockwaves and volleys of bolts and plasma, yet Kazuki continued pushing forward. Firing his carbine, he reached them. At that moment, it was over. The Loyalists were minced up in combat. Kazuki acted with no mercy. Those left bleeding were allowed to bleed to death.

As more corpses piled onto the floor of the hall, more Loyalists started to focus on him in a panic. This gave both Amyé and Claire perfect angles as they fired at them. Amyé's rifle sniper turned any Loyalist into paste whilst Kazuki kept them busy. Activating his shield, he deflected numerous bolts as he knelt down, whilst simultaneously triggering a nano-bomb. 

Slamming it against his shield, it deflected off. A crash scattered nanobots that scuttered the Loyalists. The nanobots swarmed the Loyalists. It ate them from the outside, then the inside. Their screams quickly became muffled as the machines tore through their vocal chords. They quickly vomited blood, through their masks. A few were able to tear them off, but it was futile. 

Walking past them, Kazuki executed them. A mercy killing, he thought.

But as the last fell, Eliza shouted, 'There's more! Watch out, they have shotguns!'

Kazuki ducked backwards as four Loyalists poured forward, blasting at him, who was scrambling into cover as Claire dragged him behind a small barricade. 'Good call.'

'Artillerist, if you hit the pipes it'll cause a distraction,' suggested Eliza over the uplink. 

'On it!' replied Amyé, taking aim down the hall from cover. She released both breath and trigger, sending a high-powered bullet down the hall. 

It slammed directly into the pipe. Penetration was accomplished, before it started ricochetting across the hall and slamming into all pressure points with precision.

'Arbiter, Lazarus! You have a chance!' said Eliza.

Kazuki vaulted over the barricade, past dead bodies as steam poured out from the pipes. Claire pushed upwards, following him into the smog. Frantic gunfire sprayed across the hall as the two got into close quarters. Slashes were thrown, bullets were sent. But as the smoke died down, the Loyalists were all dead.

The sight gave him no respite as Claire heaved a breath of relief. 'Keep moving. We are on limited time. Eliza, check on the reactor room.'

'Roger that…' Eliza skimmed through the camera system, 'Found it. Security's holding off a small group of attackers.'

'And of Svenn?' asked Kazuki.

'Uh.' Eliza paused for a moment as Kazuki approached the end of the hall, opening the door into a massive lookout section of the station, with civilians hiding behind the benches and vending machines. One wall was completely glass, showing out into space as light sprinkled in as stars. 'Positive on… one person with white hair.'

'Might be Svenn, might not be,' commented Archius, 'Go with your guts, Arbiter.'

'Svenn… It's him. It has to be him.' said Kazuki, walking into the observation deck as the large windows allowed for the sight of Anagora to come into view. The thousands of lights on the eternally awake planet gleamed back at him. Amyé took in the sight for a moment as Claire took point.

'Loyalist reinforcements coming your way,' said Eliza as the path started to curve up into an incline, allowing for a larger view of the space. Kazuki nodded as he pushed forward. Across the hall, a dozen or so Loyalists fired at them, taking cover behind the seats and support pillars. Civilians were cowering and fleeing across, a few were gunned down. Vibrations sent shockwaves up into the catwalks above the observation deck.

He was in no mood for any sort of fools play, slowing him down was more annoying than anything. They were in the big leagues now. Activating his exospine, he used the limited cracked energy to boost himself forward. His exospine crackled with sparks and energy, injecting cocktails of stims and releasing steam as it expanded. 

Rushing forward in a violent frenzy, he threw civilians into cover as he acted as the spear of the attack - ducking forward closer to the reinforcing Loyalists. Civilians hiding within the deck started to flee, using the contractor's arrival to their advantage. Yet some were cut down within the crossfire, killed by the uncaring fire of the Loyalists. 

"Get in there!" Kazuki shouted; Claire rushed forth, interposing with civilians caught in the crossfire, her armour deflecting bolts primed to split torsos in twelve. 

Amyé did what she did best: kill. But Kazuki was meeting thicker and thicker fire as he got closer to the Loyalists. He had to take cover. He had to. If he continues like that, he'll be cut down. 

'Need some help!?' asked Quinn, over the uplink. But before Kazuki could respond, a hail of fire rattled downwards from the catwalks, shredding through the Loyalists. 

Glancing up, Kazuki saw Quinn's small team suppressing the Loyalists. He gave the Contract-Breaker one glance. Kazuki nodded, leaping forward. This was it, he has to reach them. Rushing across the deck, he fired volleys into the Loyalists as they took cover or returned fire.

With their attention on the other team, Kazuki terminated through them with bolts to the heads, necks and joints. The hail of fire stopped as the final remnants sprouted up, aiming at Kazuki.

Yet as muzzles zeroed in, high calibre bolts narrowed in from across the deck - Amyé's sniper. Those that stood now fell, leaving Kazuki standing alone. Claire shouted to Kazuki. "HEY! Didn't you say to let us handle more of the burden?"

"Yeah. I did. Let's get moving."

Kazuki twisted back to Claire as she was helping a young girl walk, slowly guiding her towards the exit and away from one of the civilian corpses. He hid the sourness in his face.

"Shh… just follow everyone else, please," whispered Claire. "They'll help you, we're going to stop the bad guys… you can't come with us."

'We'll be joining with Vallé's push to the central bay!' shouted Quinn, leading his team away across the rafters, into side maintenance shafts. "Don't you dare slack off now!"

Despite his joking voice, Kazuki knew that Quinn spoke true. He can't slack. He cannot give up. Not now. Not after so many dead. 

'Good work, Epsilon'

The civilians were finally evacuated as Claire helped them through. The sight of them both lingering and fleeing hazed his mind and memory, for a moment. And in confusion, smoke slowly filtered out his helm-mask, exhaling out steam wasn't a good sign this early into the operation. He hoped that Lilly's divisions had more of Eliza's attention, considering her excessive worrying.

Claire facepalmed, slapping the mask on. A shockwave was felt throughout the station as Kazuki turned to look out the massive windows. An eruption of bombs expanded throughout the lower-gravitational chambers. Looking out, the hull started to flick off.

'They're starting to blow the station up! Centrifugal Chambers Five through Nine are compromised.' said Archius. 'GET A MOVE ON!'

'Shit. Eliza, status report on the reactor.' Kazuki pushed onwards as he approached the door at the end of the hall.

'Security's on their last stands… Loyalists have attached a bomb on the main reactor pillar, it's timed? Wait… Wait. Why is it timed?' asked Eliza, curiously.

'Now's not the time,' said Lilly, 'Let's just be thankful that they're giving us a fighting chance on this suicide mission.' 

'Just an average day in the AGENCY!' grumbled Sato.

'Oorah.' Lilly and Quinn said in unison, the former jokingly grumbling. Kazuki opened the door, and was immediately blasted with a shotgun. A barricade of Loyalists stood in his way as he blocked with his deflector shield. Forced backwards, he fired frantically at them, scrambling to the side. The Loyalists were ensuring he couldn't get through the door.

"They're here! Blow it up already!" shouted a Loyalist, falling back with another. Inaudible shouts rung across the walls. 

Kazuki recovered as Amyé took point, dead engineers and staff littered the floor. Claire ran over to Kazuki as she pulled him up. The steam was already leaving him at huge volumes when she stabbed a stim-bolt into him, the cocktail of drugs and painkillers cascading around his bloodstream.

Amyé fired crazily into the room, picking off the Loyalists. A loud explosion threw everyone off their balance. The trio were knocked to the cold, steel ground.

Depressurising was already happening, with Amyé stuck to the door, grasping at it with all her life as she clung onto the frame. Her augmented brace strengthened. The hull of that whole area had been blown up. Kazuki latched onto the wall. Claire held tightly on a bolted-down vending machine.

"SHIT! SHIT! I SHOULDN'T HAVE SHOT THAT! I SHOULDN'T HAVE SHOT THAT! shouted Amyé. One hand was on her sniper as she slowly extended it out to Kazuki. He did his best to etch closer to her. Sparks spluttered out as he crawled along the wall towards her.

He extended his hand out. Amyé glanced towards him, extending out her sniper rifle. The depressurising process continued as she pressed on the barrel extension. The cold vacuum started to jab at them. Amyé held on for her life. Lights blinked on the door. She looked down at it, realising that it was going to slice her in half. 

She let off a continual stream of curses and swears.

Kazuki's eyes lit up gold. His exospine burst into green energy and sparks. He pushed forward, grabbing onto the sniper rifle. He pulled Amyé towards him, grabbing onto her with one hand. As he did, the door sealed shut. 

Gas and oxygen filtered into the room. A second of calm stopped them all. Both Claire and Amyé sprawled on the floor, coughing. Their implanted exospines blinked in vibrant warning colours. Kazuki slowly got up.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SHOOT?!" shouted Claire, staggering upwards whilst using Kazuki's to support her.

His AUG-Glasses told him that energy levels were already at half… Too low. But he has no other choice than to gamble on it. Amyé shot back at her, "Hey! I didn't know they were planning on going full P-1."

"Then what did you think they'd do?" snapped Kazuki, standing up as he looked out the window. Debris was already falling down towards Anagora… Kazuki slammed his uplink channel on. 'Arbiter to Phoenix's Fury. Open fire on the debris. Mag-Lock as much as possible. Intercept.'

A dozen or so drones passed by the windows, acting as scanners… Lilly better have not deployed some of her photograph drones, Kazuki thought.

"Fuck this… I guess we're lucky that I lift?" Amyé coughed up, before arrogantly presuming something. "Oorah!" she mockingly said the catchphrase of the marines whilst curling her arms. Strong… Kazuki thought.

Claire sighed. "I think your arm-brace did more of the lifting than your guns."

Amyé grumbled, laughing as she tried to show them off to Claire, who immediately smacked her down for the attempt. Amyé might make it as a lifter, Kazuki thought, but this pays far much more than that.

'Already on it.' reported Sato, bringing the massive behemoth into view as bolts and plasma lit up the debris. Mag-locks held as much of it together. The burning power engines and radiators of the dreadnought class vessel, Phoenix's Fury, shined brightly as thousands of bolts burnt into the debris. 'I'll deal with your father, don't worry.'

'Your… father…' Eliza trailed off, seemingly distracted as she quickly got back on track. 'Arbiter, I'll reroute you guys in a bit, recover energy and check your stims.'