Untold Stories of a Galaxy - Kysaek: The Beginning

“Initiate rapprochement” Kuren said. She steered the Jupiter straight towards Trayden. “Distance?”

“We’re about to hit the 150,000 kilometre mark,” , Dios replied, in her capacity as co-pilot and navigator.

“I’ll bring us to within a hundred kilometres and then we’ll have to wait for an opportunity,” , noted Kuren. For a ship like the Jupiter, especially military and technologically advanced, fifty kilometres in space was a few steps and it was heading for a beautiful sea-dominated world.

That’s how beautiful, indeed beautiful, this planet was, even from the distance of space. After filthy space stations, the dark expanses of Sector Seven and the hellish chasms of Themis, Trayden was a feast for the eyes. The world shone almost bright blue, in the light of its warm yellow sun, and amidst the great oceans, there were dot-sized islands and extremely skinny continents that stretched through the water like crooked lines. This peaceful sight, however, was deceptive.

“Are you sure this will work again?” asked Kysaek. She felt a little queasy, but that was not due to a lack of confidence in her pilots, but in the small PGI fleet waiting in Trayden’s orbit. Twelve warships, after all.

“Certainly not, but confident,” Kuren said. “Actually, all we have to watch out for are the PGI ships and sensors.”

“But that’s just your theory. It’s better if no one notices us.”

“The rest should have no reason to be interested in us unless we get too close to their territories,” Kuren said. At least that was her thesis.

Trayden was not Central and there was no overflow of space stations here, no columns of civilian shipping or a substantial protective fleet. Every company here fought for itself and around the planet and further away from it, there were individual warships or small formations and space stations were the exception rather than the rule and mostly insignificant supply depots rather than a real possibility for docking or a defensive installation.

“Or if those are allied with PGI or want to take our bounty” , Kysaek noted. That option was equally given. “So it’s better if we’re not noticed by anyone.”

“You’re stressing yourself out too much, it’s unhealthy” , Dios felt. “I once heard worry makes wrinkles in you people. Ugly, aged skin.”

“Well, then I’m glad I’m not a man.”

“Why?”

“They also lose their hair when they’re stressed.”

“I suppose it’s bad for men, but your worries are really unfounded,” , Dios reiterated as a possibility opened up and it was into the hot phase of the push.

“And your opinion is based on what?”

“On enemy weapons” , Dios replied, with a dash of gallows humour. “If they spot us, we’ll have it over with in a second.” Approaching Trayden, she and her sister employed a trivial but effective trick they had used once before today.

All it took was a cosmic wave. An invisible anomaly, more common in space and harmless to today’s ships, into which the Jupiter could dive. As a scout ship with a low energy signature anyway, it became a part of the wave, so to speak, which could be detected by any radiation meter, but which no one would raise an alarm about without reasonable suspicion - after all, it was a natural cosmic event and, depending on the environment, such a wave sometimes occurred several times in short intervals. It concealed the Jupiter as it penetrated and entered the atmosphere unseen, but to avoid detection, the scout frigate had to evade any enemy radar. That meant she had to make a significant reduction in speed and fly close above the crystal clear ocean waters split by the Jupiter’s power.

“We can get to within forty kilometres, then comes the sound sensor perimeter” , Kuren said fixedly. Using the cosmic wave trick, she had earlier approached the PGI fleet and tracked their frequencies, pinpointing the location of the company’s only facility on Trayden. Unlike in space, however, she had to follow different rules of the game on planets with an atmosphere to avoid being caught.

“I have a good landing site here, just outside the sensor perimeter” , Dios reported. “A cave big enough for the Jupiter.”

“Caves are a great place to hide,” Kysaek replied. “Take us in.”

The landing site of their ship, however, was more a cross between a bay and a cave, an estuary that surged into the hollow of a cliff, on an uninhabited island.

“Mhhh, I haven’t smelled that in a long time” , Kysaek sighed as the loading ramp opened and the scent of fresh sea water met her. In addition, she felt the glorious warmth of Trayden’s sun rays on her face. She felt that the paradise planet should have been more of a place of recreation instead of a world used and dominated by corporations.

“I like this a lot better than the Davoc district on Central” , Tavis said relaxed. “Too bad we’re here for a different reason.”

“You can enjoy the time until we start,” Kysaek replied. Before it could even begin, she needed information. “Is the drone ready to launch?”

“Everything is working, but there is one obstacle,” Dorvan replied through his bot. In his steel arms he carried a reconnaissance drone just half the size of Kysaek and similar in design to the SIM Jupiter 33. Its wings, however, were not extended as far and thanks to its small size, it was difficult to detect as an object by the sonic sensors. Normally, the probe was fired directly from the ship, but it wasn’t that that was causing Dorvan grief. “Dios, Kuren and I have just registered that there is a frequency-jamming barrier around the target area. No radio signal is getting through. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I thought you were intelligent, Tin Bucket?” asked Vorrn, whom the mere thought of what was coming seemed to make a little more bearable. “A secret research facility that blocks signals is far from pointless, it’s clever.”

“I’m afraid you’re missing an important point that led you to make that assumption,” Dorvan countered subtly. “The barrier is not created from the inside out - it is switched from the outside in.”

Clueless as ever, Kysaek inquired. “Can anyone tell me what that means?”

“If I understand our metal friend correctly, it is not the research facility that is the source of the jamming signal,” Thais said. Dorvan nodded at her and she understood his doubt. “Usually something like this means siege, when you want to prevent your opponent from getting help. It would be strange if a jammer wasn’t inside the facility, but outside.”

“Does that mean our drone is useless?” sighed Kysaek, kicking dusty ground away. This stank to her.

There was no reason for it to, though. “No, not that,” Dorvan agreed. “We just can’t control it directly, and we have to programme it for an automatic flight and wait for it to come out of interference again so it can transmit.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

“There’s a risk though - we can’t see what’s happening with the probe. It could be grabbed and bugged without us knowing and if it transmits-.”

“Let’s get out of here quickly if something comes. Surely they would know?”

“I will focus all my capacities on the return of the drone and anything suspicious.”

“Very well, let’s do it!“, Kysaek agreed with everyone and had the plan executed as discussed. She sent the nimble reconnaissance drone out on its flight and all she could do was wait, as she so often did, and did so on the cave slope below where the water lapped gently against the bay.

“You know what I’ve been wondering for some time?” wondered Tavis.

“I suppose the question would be what we’re all not wondering, but let’s hear it.”

“Dorvan. We really are incredibly lucky with him. What would we have done without his brilliant skills?”

Kysaek returned the astonishment to the Palanian. “I have hitherto thought Se rather a man who always keeps everything before him in view and does not dwell on things done.”

“So it wasn’t luck? ”

“I didn’t say that, but do you also wonder how much bad luck we had? Because I think plenty.”

“I beg your pardon,” Tavis pleaded. “It doesn’t run so deep with me, because I wasn’t there from the beginning.”

“There is nothing to forgive and to answer your actual question, we would have just found another way then,” Kysaek said confidently, when she was just so close to a good lead. “You, Thais, the twins and Doctor Askar all have your skills and ideas can always be had.”

“And you don’t? And what about our new friends?” inquired Tavis as he glanced at Vorrn, who was sunning himself on a rock and baring his teeth at the Palanian.

“Dorvan is out of the question and Vorrn hasn’t been around long enough, so I don’t know what to expect and what concerns me,” Kysaek thought aloud, dismissing it with a smirk. “You do what you can and not too much of that.”

“Hehe, you do what you can,” Tavis repeated, patting the spot on his arm where he had been wounded on Themis. “Like fighting big, bad monsters?”

“To be fair: I’ve had the pleasure before, but this thing is a huge surprise package.”

“Oh, that shouldn’t be a complaint, though I must confess I could have done without the wound,” Tavis replied, lowering his hand again. “Keep doing what you can, just maybe, a little faster?”

Kysaek got a signal on her vortex cuff. “Well, I’ll have a chance to do that soon.”

When the probe finally made contact with the Jupiter again, there was no sign of trouble. “We’re not being targeted,” Dorvan reported. “And the drone is sending us a lot of pictures, very interesting pictures.”

“Interesting means important.” replied Kysaek tensely. “Show us how important.”

“Initiate imaging,” Dorvan’s bot buzzed and became the mobile projector again, with its glowing eye and its holographic, perfect images.

The PGI research facility they were looking for was on a plateau and surrounded on three sides by a settlement that probably had room enough for close to four to five thousand inhabitants, but even the drone’s first long-range images painted an unforeseen scenario. The complex, which occupied a good third of the entire building area and was surrounded by a ten-metre-high steel wall, had raised an energy shield and smoke was rising from the settlement. Many houses bore battle damage and on the outskirts of the village the buildings were already no more than ruined outlines in the ground.

“This is to my liking!” rumbled Vorrn. “Look at this!”

One thing quickly became clear. Whatever was going on there - PGI was no longer in control of their property. At two points of the compass, outside the site, the corporation had set up positions and the turrets of those positions were aimed at the facility. To the north rose a broad mountain, too steep and with no apparent path for a foot march, and the west was a long sandy beach to the vast sea. One of the fronts ran along a hulking range of hills to the south and had the lion’s share of heavy weapons, an alternation of guns and missile batteries. They stood a kilometre apart, with one unit for protection, while the second position to the east served as a base, a collection point of military vehicles, romps, mobile house units and four to five battalions of PGI soldiers.

“See?” commented Dorvan. “There’s the transmitter.”

“Yes, he’s right,” agreed Tavis. The source of the jamming, a knobbly antenna marked by flat interrupt modules, was at the company’s base.

“So what’s going on there? Anything on that?” asked Kysaek.

“Starting search,” Dorvan replied, rapidly running through the recordings. The probe had circled the complex once, with nothing useful to see at first, until there was an unmistakable eye-catcher.

There they were, the creations of the first. “This looks bad,” Kysaek murmured. Amidst the ruins, a horde of Runners leapt and climbed over the broken buildings and charged towards a PGI patrol. The monsters punched, bit, scratched and kicked and let out their screams, but the soldiers knew how to deal with them. At least up to a point before they were overrun by the sheer mass and beaten to death. “Another experiment that seems to have gone wrong.”

“But where is their leader?” questioned Dorvan. “Without a First, their soldiers are nothing more than mindless beasts.”

“Well, all the better.”

“You don’t understand. If there is nothing to lead these creatures, what would be the point of a jamming signal? Who would try to call out from the facility? And who activated the defensive shield?”

If there had been a First, it would probably have been seen. Their smallest war machines, their actual vessels, were level with small office buildings and would have taken up a good bit of space in the complex. “I hope you’re just not advancing a theory now that there’s a core in the complex,” Kysaek fretted. There was a chance that the First had no shell and instead it was just its core, its memory, its ego, hidden in the facility.

“It’s a variable that’s 99 per cent likely,” Dorvan said, but then suddenly changed his mind. “... I stand corrected - zero per cent.”

“Why are you veering so violently?” asked Thais.

“The drone has not detected any specific energy that would indicate a First. Ever since the Solaris War, probes have come standard with the technology to do that.”

“I remember,” Vorrn added. “Their soldiers don’t have anything like that, but whatever the nature of a First, as long as it was active, it gave off a unique, enormous energy trail that couldn’t be hidden by any known material. Unfortunately, that wasn’t discovered until later in the war, but it often warned everyone later of an attack and saved many lives.”

“Very often,” Thais nodded. “So it’s not a first, but someone activated a shield and whoever it was is PGI’s enemy.”

“It’s not like I’m as old as some of the others here and I don’t have battle experience,” said Tavis, who was definitely too young to have been in the Solaris War. “But couldn’t it just be an outbreak of wild beasts? After all, Dorvan himself said that a First must control them. Who would the monsters fight for that they wouldn’t attack as well?”

Re’Lis interjected. “How good is your knowledge of the war?”

“Fragmentary, at best.”

“Then remember this, young man: Solaris started the war and was able to control the soldiers of the First. PGI is researching this technology and may have found a similar way.”

There were too many possibilities and pondering got us nowhere. Answers had to come at last. That was Kysaek’s will. “If we only guess, we won’t get anywhere! Let’s find out!” she determined. “Thais, Dorvan and Doctor Askar are right! There’s no sneaking or cheating our way through this either, so let’s go straight in!”

A plan to Vorrn’s liking. “Ha, so it shall be!”

“And how did you have that in mind?” asked Thais, clearly in favour of the direct plan.

“You fly the Bolt Dropper,” Kysaek replied. “There’s no chance PGI won’t notice us and try to intercept, but if we fly in like lightning, we’ll be at the facility before our opponents can react properly.”

“I don’t think I can fly back.”

“You won’t need to,” Kysaek anticipated. There was no room for illusion on her part. “We’ll probably lose the transporter and that means there’s no way back. We’ll have to make our way to the facility and take whatever is waiting for us there as it is.”

It was no fight, but Kuren’s aviator’s heart was bleeding. “You want to crash another vehicle?” she grumbled, “We just got the Jupiter and her little baby.”

“A sacrifice for the greater good and if we don’t get it back, you’ll be out of here!” clarified Kysaek, patting her hands together as if after a job well done.

“Who we?”

“You, your sister, Doctor Askar and Dorvan. We won’t have any means of contact, so we’ll take the probe with us, but if you don’t hear anything new or there’s any sign of danger after 48 hours, you’ll leave on the spot.”

“And do what?”

“Hope that someone listens to you,” Kysaek murmured thoughtfully. She didn’t believe it herself, but she didn’t let on and it was her contingency plan, her last resort. “You have the footage from the drone. It’s not much and doesn’t prove anything conclusively and PGI could make up any tall tale or even destroy this place before help arrives, but maybe if we fail it will help you.”

Kuren was not comfortable with the idea of leaving anyone behind. “You have the risk,” she said, “and because we are the weakest, you leave us behind?”

“Your strengths just lie elsewhere,” Kysaek pointed out. Dorvan would have stayed anyway, but she understood enough about technology to comprehend that the Davoc’s remote-controlled bot wouldn’t work because of the jamming signal. “And our hacker is keeping watch with his battle machine here. I see you as our reassurance, our last hope if we screw up.”

“A back-up without a backbone,” Vorrn snorted snidely. “Pathetic.”

“One more word like that and I’ll pop you!” said Kysaek harshly, meaning it. She would not allow the Hishek to degrade the trust and achievements of others like this, so she spoke his language. “Was that clear?! Are we clear now?!”

The Hishek did not miss the word choice of the questions. It was the same one he had used on the ship and Vorrn narrowed his lizard eyes like a hunter on the prowl. “Just take me to the facility.”

“Shall have!”

From now on, there was no waiting, no hiding, no sneaking in secret, no trap set. Sneaking up, in a siege like this, Kysaek considered far more dangerous than the current, immediate route anyway, and unfortunately there was no right time for such a test, but this was an opportunity, an extreme opportunity. She had to see how far people she trusted with a lot could take her. At Vorrn’s suggestion, she had Thais fly a wide arc so that the Bolt Dropper would enter the sound sensor range from a different direction and PGI would not be able to trace the trajectory back to Jupiter. At the same time, Dorvan had advised leaving the drone on standby at the point of entry as a means of contact. Radio traffic, however, could stand out, and anyway, the probe would have had to fly out and back into the jamming area each time to transmit messages to the other position. But if Kysaek could somehow get her hands on a good, non-weaponised laser, she had the option of an ancient form of communication - Morse code. She didn’t know anything about it, but Dorvan had written her a program for it in a minute and Tavis would be able to install the laser.

“Hold on tight!” warned Thais. “We’ll be there in sixty seconds!” She kept heading for the western long beach as the embattled scene rose on the plateau before her.

“Unknown transporter! Turn back immediately!” an unfriendly female voice contacted the Bolt Dropper. “You are in a danger and no-fly zone!”

“You don’t say!” retorted Thais, witnessing a veritable missile show of battery positions! Her Bolt Dropper was not the target, however, but the complex’s powerful energy shield, which withstood the continuous explosive hail without any problems. Still, it became a problem for Thais as their landing zone was close to the southern slope of the shield and the blast waves in the air shook their transporter. “Now we’re in trouble!” she announced. Projectile anti-aircraft weapons from the complex grabbed Talin’s aim and gave her a good broadside. “We’re going down!” Her transporter was on fire on one side and she could no longer keep it aloft, but she took full advantage of its capabilities.

The landing on the long, battered road was far beyond rough and fast - it was a real endurance test for the Bolt Dropper! It trailed a trail of sparks and stained the ground pitch black, but the machine survived and came to a stop. However, it was no longer usable.

“They’re coming!” warned Thais. “Out, out, out!”

PGI’s blusters were on the approach, though they were also being fired at by the complex, and the passengers of the break-landed transport hurriedly exited the machine.

“Let them come!” roared Vorrn. He had rushed out first, but was still close to the transporter and stretched his mechanical weapon arm to the sky.

While the Hishek shot at the bluster, Thais took the longest to get out because of the cockpit. “They’re way too fast for you!“;she said, and saved herself by joining Kysaek and Tavis in a broken house.

The warning was ignored by Vorrn and the bluster fired missiles at the Bolt Dropper. This finished off the transporter and the Lizard flew into the front of a house with a trail of smoke because of the force of the explosion.

The enemy air units, however, fled from the onslaught of the complex defences and Kysaek rushed to her impetuous warrior. “Vorrn?! Vorrn?!” she shouted, amid collapsed steel plates.

The call went unanswered. “That was a short partnership,” Tavis groaned in frustration. “We’ve got to keep moving!”

“We’ve got the minute!” retorted Kysaek, and was about to use her prismatics to lift the walls when a pile of scrap metal stirred.

The strength required underneath must have been enormous, for moving the plates again and again was not for lightweights, and Vorrn burst out of them, bellowing. “What is it?!” he asked untouched, sooty and filthy. “What are we waiting for?!” Neither serious nor minor injuries had been sustained by the hishek from the free flight.

“Just you Vorrn, just you,” Kysek growled. What had she been worried about anyway? “That could have gone badly!”

“You want teamwork - I gave you all cover.”

“On foot and without air defence against blsuters?!”

“Wasn’t the first time and don’t measure me against them.”

“He’s still alive!” interjected Thais interruptingly. “Can we go now! I can hear the sounds already!”

It was doubtful, however, exactly which sounds were meant. All the sounds together, were the sound of war, terrifying and devastating. More likely, though, the Talin was referring to the gasps of the runners not far away as they dashed and leapt, and they were not alone. Higher-pitched sounds whistled up, but they were no less sinister, sounding like shrill birds.

“That’s all we need!” growled Vorrn. “I hate those pus sacks! Let’s go kill them!”

The aim of landing, however, was to make their way to the complex and somehow get in, not to go hunting. That was unnecessary anyway. The path up the slope turned out to be unruly and was by now besieged by small PGI units. The Corporation must have been desperate to take this path to the facility, but they were fighting far more than monsters of the First running amok. Humans, Talin, Davoc and Calans in badly overpainted camouflage green armour, fiercely resisted the Corporation’s troops. They did not act like real soldiers, however, and most of the work was done by the Runners in numbers, supported by the hovering Cluto.

The Cluto were another variant, from the First’s arsenal. From their pointed beaked mouths came the shrill screams and they were repulsive, bloated lumps of flesh, slightly larger than a human’s head and they were preferentially attacked. Whether they were hit by bullets or plasma charges, it didn’t matter, because a hit immediately burst them like balloons, full of thick, dark blue blood. If the Cluto made it to an opponent, however, the short, slimy tentacles hanging below them grew rapidly and wrapped around their targets’ heads. Their pointed antennae penetrated the PGI helmets in barely ten seconds and, like a parasite, they then controlled the respective bodies.

But the Cluto and Runnter were no more than temporary distractions. They killed enemies, but the creatures were mainly the cannon fodder of the unknown fighters, while the more were in retreat and PGI advanced despite losses.

The retreat made it extremely difficult to make contact with the strangers, but for Kysaek it was just as much an opportunity. “We can catch PGI from behind!” she said quietly. The enemy ground units were apparently not forewarned, despite the aerial surveillance. “Vorrn, you have the most firepower! Launch the attack!”

“With pleasure!” the Hishek replied. Vorrn had already unlocked his mechanical arm cannon and grenade-firing, clunky pistol. Like a bountiful buffet, he slammed into the guileless back and sides of the PGI units. Blood flowed profusely, flesh flew about and metal from Stormbots scattered on the ground, but Vorrn’s fierce rate of fire had its disadvantage with this quantity of targets. His arm cannon had to cool down in between with this volume, and reloading shells took time with only a free, short Hishek hand. A time Vorrn had to spend hiding, but he had merely made a start and provided a distraction. The ruins offered many, good attack positions for his rear guard to spread out over.

Kysaek, Thais and Tavis were in separate places, but not too far apart, and intervened in the fray - the beginning of a debacle for their opponents.

PGI now had to fight on several fronts and was only really protected from the front. Splitting their attack force made the company soldiers more vulnerable because more Runners and Cluto were now getting through their defences and every casualty made their ranks falter more. It was no guarantee of victory, however, as PGI fought all the more doggedly. After all, these were not thugs or inexperienced militia, but experienced soldiers, but the same was true of their new adversaries.

Vorrn’s fighting skills were already beyond question and for Thai’s prismatic skills, the ruins and piles of rubble, especially the big pieces, were pure projectile paradise.

Tavis was not a trained soldier, but he knew how to fight back and was hardened. With his tried and tested sticky bombs, of which there were different types, the Palanian inflicted damage on the enemy ranks. He blinded them and scattered the magnetic bombs on what was left of the supporting walls and pillars in some houses. Their collapse not only shattered more forces, but took even more cover from PGI and drove soldiers into the open.

It was a situation Kysaek could exploit from above a house. She only had to target those fleeing with her assault rifle, but despite the heated battle, she had a good view from here. “Be careful!” she warned, “they don’t discriminate between us and them!” Her warning referred to the indefatigable Runners and Cluto. With dwindling PGI numbers, the creatures had set their sights on Kysaek and her companions, though perhaps only twenty of the monsters remained.

As the remnants of PGI retreated completely under the protection of Toben, who could barely shoot so close to the complex and had to dodge more anti-aircraft fire, the creatures scattered around the area. A handful chose the visible paths, nothing that couldn’t be managed. The rest, however, disappeared into the shelter of the ruins and it was difficult to gauge the direction of attack of the monsters, although their sounds were unmistakable.

Unlike the PGI labs, however, Kysaek no longer feared her opponents too much. Runners who suddenly leapt at her like athletes from all angles did not drive her into flight. The last of them, however, engaged her in a scuffle and, snapping his mouth shut, pushed her back to the edge of the first floor, below which shooting was in progress.

Tavis was there and from the shadows, at the Palaian’s back, a Cluto hovered silently and treacherously at him.

The control beast was close to the man’s head, extending its tentacles, when suddenly it was buried by the falling Runner and cried out as it burst.

Panicked, the Tavis turned and saw the dead Runner in front of him. He counted one and one fixed together and raised his head.

Kysaek’s breathing increased and he gave him a half-baked salute, which Tavis returned with an indecisive and grateful wave of his hand.

The luck of having only one Cluto around was unfortunately not in Thais’ favour. She tried to escape, but the two meatballs with her were persistent and corralled the Talin in an alley. She fired at the beasts, but they nimbly dodged each attack. Quick-witted, she immediately pulled off her helmet before one of the puppeteers greedily sank its tentacles into it. Thais savagely hammered him and his bonnet against the wall, but she had no chance against the next Cluto. He could practically kiss Talin already and had the feelers on her skin when the monster suddenly went up and plunged Thais’ face into a pampy pool of dark blue blood. “Pfff, irghs,” she disgusted, eyes blinking. She huffed, puffed and barely dared to open her mouth, but she had plenty of time. Not a creature or soldier was left and the noise of battle shrank to distant arguments.

“Blue aliens made up of only women ... that would have its appeal,” Vorrn said at the sight of the newly coloured Talin. He was standing in one of the houses with his magnet pistol drawn and had saved her life.

“I pass,” Thais murmured in disgust as she cleared her eyes and mouth of the blood. Everyone gathered around her and apart from her feeling good, apparently nothing had been hurt.

“Are you all right?!” inquired Kysaek nonetheless.

“He could have shot earlier if he wanted, but after ten showers I’m sure I’ll get over it.”

“Maybe there’s a way inside,” Tavis said in a little sideways jab. “We should knock and ask or this shade of blue will still become her natural complexion.”

“Blue isn’t quite her colour,” Kysaek nodded. “But knock gently.”

“How, me?”

“Your idea, your job,” Kysaek replied. The Palanian had somewhat earned that little tit-for-tat, in her opinion. “And I don’t think these people will respond to radio contacts. Besides, you have the most charm - use it.”

“Charm... just as you wish,” the Palanian accepted without further complaint and, always covered by the rest,. cautiously followed the path to the boundary of the still active energy shield. It would have been unusual if there hadn’t been a camera somewhere, or a hidden scout on or in the wall, probing the situation.

“Stop! That’s far enough!” a loud, smoky male voice called from the wall. There was no face to it, however. “Who the hell are you! What are you doing here in this madness?! Did someone hear our distress message or are you a PGI spy?!”

That the Palanian was not immediately shot at was a good sign. “I’m not here for a message or because I’m helping PGI!” replied Tavis just as loudly. “I see myself more as a negotiator who would like to get into the facility with his group!”

“Just because you’ve killed a few PGI soldiers, we’re not naive enough to think you can’t be an enemy! We won’t just let you in! Why should we believe you and why do you even want to come in here!”

“We hope to find information here and I have irrefutable proof of our good intentions!”

“Big words for someone so far down!” the voice said doubtfully. The man was actually amused. “What is the irrefutable proof?!”

“Ever heard of Elaine Kysaek?!”

“We’re in a PGI facility here, and not completely cut off from information to boot!”

“Does that mean yes?!”

“Yes!”

“Then you know Kysaek is an enemy of PGI and she is here, here with me!” announced Tavis, pointing sternly back.

In their hiding place, however, the others couldn’t be seen or seen very well. “Very charming. He wants to share the attention with you,” Thais said casually. She was not named, after all. “Your performance.”

“That’s how he thanks me for saving him - by dragging me right into the field of fire with him,” Kysaek grumbled, but like the Palanian, she did what had to be done and came out into the open, moving gingerly and without weapons in hand. She showed her face and stepped forward in an audible voice. “Yes I am here! I am Elaine Kysaek!”

It remained silent for a moment, but it wasn’t enough for the voice. “You might as well be wearing a bio mask!”

“Personally, I don’t trust PGI with such a plan, but you have these ... Creatures of the First!” countered Kysaek. “That doesn’t exactly inspire a desire in me to come in, even though my people and I have to! PGI is our enemy too!”

“And we have to defend ourselves and use everything possible!”

“Then you must have medical bots or probes!” interjected Kysaek. “Use them to check my identity! If you see that I’m telling the truth, what’s wrong with admitting it?! We’re just four here and at your mercy once we’re inside!”

“Four?! I want to see the others!”

Tavis murmured softly. “He wants a lot.”

“But we have little choice unless we want to leave empty-handed again,” Kysaek replied in a whisper, signalling to the rear. “Come out!” A sorrow shared was a sorrow halved, or so she thought. Now she stood in front of the shield and wall with everyone, free to be shot down by possible snipers or anyone else and willing to risk a little more for her innocence. “Satisfied?!”

“Who are those two?!”

“Give me a break,” Kysaek muttered before clearing her throat more intelligibly. “That’s Thais Sapto! I’m sure you’ve heard of her as well!” It didn’t take a command from her for the Talin to make herself known.

“Yes, so slowly your group feels, yet a Hishek has never been in the news! Who is he!”

“He’s the new guy!” mentioned Tavis indifferently. “The one nobody cares about!”

The statement certainly came in handy to Vorrn while he stood guard. The Hishek seemed anything but interested in the conversation, and he cared even less about what the Palanian said.

“All right!” the male voice said at last. “We’ll send out a probe! If you all tell the truth, we’ll briefly open a loophole in the shield, but be warned! - Just because you are an enemy of PGI, we will not hesitate to kill you if you do something stupid!”

Kysaek raised his shoulders. “No, don’t worry. We have already reached the limit for that today!” she said as one of the battered houses collapsed behind her. “... I think.”