“Okay, enough’s enough.” Flitter stood from her chair, shaking her head. “Minerva, get a search party together and look for Lemons while I run first section through the armours.”

Looking up from her breakfast momentarily, Minerva nodded once. “I’ll have the guys fan out and look for her, though I get the feeling she’s gone awol.”

Furrowing her brow, Flitter pulled a curtain aside and stared out at the pure white world outside the mess hall. “You mean with the one man she was with?”

“Yeah.” Minerva finished chewing down her salad. “They were going on a walk a few days ago. He probably convinced her to run away. Wouldn’t take much convincing, considering we’ve been cooped up on this base for months, with death waiting for us back home.” Minerva didn’t look up at Flitter as the other woman turned and stared at her for a long moment. “Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that we’re fucked.” The sergeant murmured softly, almost to herself as she prodded at the remaining croutons on the plate.

Slowly sitting back down, Flitter laced her fingers together and let out a quiet sigh. “We have to try, Minerva. What’s the alternative?” Flitter looked up toward her sergeant. “We leave everyone to die? Abandon them? What if we stay? We lose this base, sooner rather than later. We spend the rest of our days doing mercenary work for an arms dealer, never fitting into this crazy world. Maybe people start looking into us… start seeing that we don’t fit…”

“I…” Minerva paused for a moment, before letting her fork fall to the plate. “Look, Captain. I know what we need to do. We all do. I’m just saying that… maybe some of our guys aren’t as all about it as you are.”

“They all made their choice, coming here. We can’t stop now. Get a team together and check the area for Lemons, I’ll chat up Kleese and Walter, see if anyone has this mystery man’s number.” Rising again from the table, Flitter took her plate to the line, and set it down for the washers to see to. Heading back into the barracks, Flitter couldn’t help but reflect on Minerva’s words. Giving her head a gentle shake, She let out an irritated huff as she entered her room, just as her omnilink chirped.

“Falenas.” She didn’t even bother checking the number as she began changing into her winter gear. The snow was kicking up and it the wind managed to chill even her to the bone. It was going to be a lonely, cold Hearths Warming.

“Merry Christmas, darlin.”

Caught off guard, Flitter almost tripped over her own boots as she looked to her omnilink. “Jack!”

“The one and only.” He smiled lightly at her through the video link. “I can’t talk too much, I don’t know how long it’ll be before my ass gets chewed out for making a call.”

“Where are you?” Flitter asked as she sat down on the edge of her bunk, pants still around her ankles.

Looking off the the side briefly, Jack let out a breath. He looked different to her. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but he looked… off. “I can’t say. I really can’t.” He sat down against something that groaned against the weight. “I’m sorry I ran off on you.”

“So why did you then?” Shifting her omnilink a little more, Flitter scrutinized Jack’s face.

“I couldn’t bring any of you into this.” He murmured softly. “Couldn’t endanger you like that. I’ve gotten stuck into some deep shit, Sparky. It was… the only way forward I could see.”

Frowning gently, Flitter ran a pair of fingers down the hardlight display. “Jack…” She hesitated, wanting to gently chastise him for throwing himself back into the fire for her sake, but held herself back. “Will I be seeing you again soon?”

Smiling softly, Jack cast his gaze down the hall both ways. “Yeah. I’ll be there when you need me. Anyways, I should get going, just wanted to wish you a merry christmas.”

“Hearths Warming.” She corrected, hiding a small smile.

“Not calling it that.”

Letting out a quiet giggle, Flitter felt herself smiling brightly for the first time in a long time. “I love you, Jack.”

“I…” He hesitated, hard, the words almost slipping from his lips before he stopped himself. “I gotta go, Flitter. Stay safe.”

“I will, Jack. Take care of yourself, please.”

Smiling a bit more, Jack stood. “Don’t think that’ll be much of an issue any more. Bye Sparky.”

With the call ended, Flitter flopped back into her bunk, a smile still plastered on her face. “Merry Christmas, Jack.” Allowing herself a moment of rest, she pushed off the bed, and finished changing into her uniform. Lacing up her boots, she pulled her coat close, and set off to meet the others.

Entering the training hangar, she was pleased to see everyone in section one prepared for her orders. “Today’s the day, ladies and gents!” A cheer went up among the collected soldiers as the protective tarps were pulled free from the power armours by the technicians. “Four by four, line up and prep. Link suits on and hair tied back!” Flitter followed through with the order herself, more than eager to slip into her command armour and take it for a test run through the snow. Her armour blossomed open before her as she approached in her linksuit; climbing inside saw it closing carefully around her, and sealing in tight like a second skin. Her HUD glittered up, momentarily flooding her view as the startup sequence initiated.

“Microreactor’s reading a hundred percent, Captain. Take it for a spin.” The tech stood back as Flitter slowly pulled from the rack, her armour finally able to rest on its own weight. Lifting each of her arms, before letting them drop as she rolled her neck and shoulder, Flitter smiled to herself as she hopped in place, testing the servoes.

“Careful Flitter, you bounce around too much and you’ll distract the techs.” Taven stood next to her, testing the jet deployment on his new armour.

“Wha- Oh shut up.” Flitter lightly punched him in the shoulder. “How's it fit?”

“Like a dream. The sims don’t prepare you for the feeling.” Taven’s faceplate lifted, showing his face and the edge of his mohawk. “What’s the call?”

Looking over at the others as they all entered their armours and tested them out, she opened squad comms and spoke through it. “Once you’re all squared away, head outside. We’re going for a run, then we’ll be testing out individual processes.” Setting off, Flitter kept herself at a brisk walking pace as she left the hangar, sealing her armour entirely against the cold. The internal heaters kicked in just as a blast of frigid wind struck her. “Beautiful weather for a flight, eh Taven?”

“It could be raining hellfire and brimstone, and I’d still be giddy to fly again for the first time.” Taven rolled his neck as he tilted his head toward the sky. “Almost can’t believe it.”

“Just a few more minutes, gotta run through the systems and make sure nobody’s going to die. The weather could be nicer, but it is what it is, right?”

Chuckling lightly, Taven tested his thrusters just ever so slightly, letting them flare and warm up. “At least if someone does eat it, it’ll probably be into a snow drift.”

“It’s all about the silver linings, or in this case, the snowy ones.”

Running her team through a battery of tests and exercises, Flitter continued to test the armour she’d bet her planet’s survival on. She ran JSOG ragged, unwilling to let anything go wrong due to negligence on her part. They were good soldiers, her soldiers. As far as she could tell, the armour was holding up just fine, and all the time in the sims was paying off for everybody as issues remained minimal. Soon, it was time to get into the more advanced techniques.

“Okay, Taven, let’s run through flight controls, take it away.”

Standing across from the others, Taven extended his thrusters and microrepulsor banks, letting them flare softly and warm up. “Okay… just like the sims… just ease into the throttle-” He let out a wheeze of surprise as he lifted off the ground, the internal gyroscope keeping him vertical and stable. “Hah! Lookit this!” He waved his legs back and forth, hovering a foot off the ground.

Smiling inside her helmet, Flitter watched the one winged batpony float around, getting the handle for hovering. “Mind on task, Taven. Take it up with Talon Squad.”

“Aye aye! Come on Talons, let’s test out this human crap!” Opening up on his throttle, Taven only managed to let out the smallest grunt of surprise as he rocketed upwards, thrusters howling.

On the ground, Flitter watched as the sergeant plowed through the cloud layer, laughing like a maniac. She could hear the pure joy in his voice as he did his best to command his squad through formations and maneuvers, but it was hardly needed. Once the pegasi had a handle for their new armours, they handled flying like pros.

“Fireball Squad, head south and test out spells with the armours. I want a full breakdown of what we can and can’t do. Stress those armours to the maximum. Baron, you’re on them. Breaker squad, I want six runs through the obstacle course, same thing with you guys! I want a full sitrep by noon!”

“Oorah.” Jessica spoke from behind Flitter as the other two squads set off with their designated leaders.

Turning, Flitter lifted her face plate and dismissed the hardlight HUD. “Hey Jessica.”

Grinning as she rocked on her heels, clad in a heavy parka that the wind snatched at, Jessica watched as the others left. “I heard you’re missing one. Wally ran into town earlier.”

“Yeah… Come on, let’s get out of the wind.” Motioning to the training hangar, Flitter opened the door, allowing Jessica to slip in before her. “A Private of mine by the name of Minty Lemons disappeared with one of the volunteers, she hasn’t been seen in two days. She’s about this tall-” Flitter gestured to her armoured breast. “- and has two tone yellow and green hair.”

“Oh yeah, I remember her…” Jessica leaned against one of he munitions crates as she rubbed her chin. “I think she and Dominic were hitting it off…”

“Dominic? Alright… Maybe ask around and see if anyone has his number? I need to know if she ran off with him or what.” Flitter crossed her arms and looked down as she kicked off some snow from her treads.

Smiling faintly, Jessica leaned forward ever so slightly, getting a little too close to Flitter’s exposed face. “Whatcha gonna do if she did?”

With a sigh, Flitter closed her eyes for a moment. “I don’t know. Remind her of the choice she made. Her responsibilities to her planet and her unit.”

“You sound like my old XO.” Pushing forward, Jessica prodded Flitter’s nose, causing the power armour clad woman to scrunch up her features. “I’ll shoot Dom a message and see where it goes. The weather’s supposed to be getting worse, so uh… you might wanna reign in the boys for today.”

“I’ll let them finish up with the training today, but I’ll call back the search team.” Flitter sighed quietly as she brought her HUD up and watched as her various teams worked. The command unit in the armour fed her amazing amounts of information, from the vitals of individual squad members, to their ammo counts and helmet cams. “Heads up, squads. We’ve got a blizzard rolling in, so double time the tests and head in asap. Sergeant Aegis, call it quits, we’ll look again when the weather’s less shit.”

A chorus of affirmatives came through her comms, earning a little grin from Jessica. “So, any plans for Christmas? Drink and snuggle up with someone special?”

Rolling her eyes, Flitter idly flicked Jessica’s parka covered breast, earning a startled gasp. “Jack’s off doing something, somewhere. Once the guys have finished their training, they’ve got the day off.”

“Y-yeah, but what about you, girl?” Jessica rubbed her chest through the parka as she asked.

Pausing for a moment, Flitter blew a soft raspberry. “I don’t have any plans. You?”

“Hot chocolate, romance flicks, and my hitachi wand.” The woman grinned as she waggled her eyebrows. “Wanna join me, Angel?”

“Angel?” Flitter made a face as her eyes flicked over to watch Taven’s helmet cam as he dove through a cloud bank and ripped by the forest, pulling a complex high G maneuver. “I suppose I wouldn’t be opposed, but your clothes are staying on.”

“Psh, spoilsport…”

Scoffing, Flitter crossed her arms under her armoured bust. “Jessica, I’ve seen you naked more than I’ve seen you clothed. If I didn’t know better, I’d assume nudity wasn’t a human taboo.”

Grinning lightly, Jessica laughed enthusiastically. “And you’re the only alien here I haven’t seen naked! The martyr turned you into a prude, didn’t he-” The woman squawked as Flitter idly swatted her already sore tit. “Ow! Stop that!”

“No, stop lewding my soldiers.”

“Never!”

Lifting her hand again, Flitter broke a smile as Jessica pulled away and shielded her chest. “I’ll see you shortly, I need to see how Simoh and Yuma are getting on with Aurora.”

Pulling on her hood again, Jessica nodded. “Sure, meet me at my room in a few hours, and bring snacks.”

Leaving Jessica behind, Flitter sealed her armour again before setting out back into the growing blizzard. Once outside, she paused, and looked around. The base was blanketed by heavy snow, and if not for the huge ship squatting down on the runway, and the barbed wire fences, it would look like something from a postcard. Flicking her eyes over to the helmet cams and positioning tracker for her squads, she watched them for a minute, getting used to the near overload of information the command and control suite her armour afforded her. The earth ponies in Breaker Squad were making great progress in getting used to the raw power the suits afforded them, over their own natural abilities. Fireball Squad, the unicorns, were training in tandem with offensive and defensive spells, going over every possible angle to see what the armour would and wouldn’t allow. Talon Squad, the pegasi, were chasing the storm.

“Taven, you’re heading right into the blizzard, what’s the plan?”

“These suits are amazing!” Taven replied over squad comms as his wingmen stuck to his side and matched his maneuvers. “Currently cruising at angels five, turbulence is choppy but we’re handling. I want to dive right into this storm and see exactly how far we can push these suits!”

Shaking her head, Flitter began to chastise Taven, before stopping herself momentarily as she considered things. “Alright, but no fancy flying. If it gets too rough, pull out, that’s an order.”

“Copy that, Captain. Ascending to angels six and entering the storm.”

Watching momentarily as the squad ascended to six thousand feet, Flitter smiled momentarily as she set off again for the ship, intending on checking on her specialists. Kicking up to a light jog, even the driving snow and dense powder on the ground didn’t slow her down with the suit assisting her. Closing the distance, Flitter gave her jump jets a brief shot, bouncing to the open landing bay ramp. Inside, one of the huge Ogre drones was ambling about, carrying Aurora. The woman was on her back, suited up with the light armour she’d been provided. Her AR helmet was strapped on tight, and her hands motioning too and fro as she directed the horde of drones like a maestro conducting an orchestra. She was humming happily as she directed flying Osprey drones through the halls of the ship, working on her fine control.

“Hello Captain!” Aurora called out from her prone position. “Don’t mind my babies!”

“Babies?” Flitter moved aside as a Calliope scuttled by, manueving around another stationary Ogre drone.

Setting the drones to their standard automated programming, Aurora flipped her visor up and smiled. “My babies! Watch! Six, Twenty, bodyguard routines on VIP!” As she spoke the order, a pair of Osprey drones buzzed over, and took position over Flitter’s shoulders, covering her back. “I’m so proud of them, they listen so well!”

Stifling a noise of annoyance, Flitter popped open her face plate, but left her HUD activated. “I noticed you haven’t been coming to the barracks much, is everything alright?”

“Mhm!” Now hanging upside down off the carry rails of the Ogre she was seated on, Aurora smiled at Flitter. “I’ve been sleeping on the ship. I’m closer to my drones that way, and I get to know the ship better.”

“Good to hear.” Flitter leaned on the side of the stationary Ogre. “Next week, I want you running with the combined arms squads, training and doing maneuvers with them and your drones.”

“Finally! I’ve been waiting for a chance to show off!” Aurora’s wings materialized through her armour as she attempted to dismount the drone, but only succeeded in tripping over herself and falling to the deck gracelessly.

“Quite the show.” Flitter teased mildly as she helped the tiny woman off the deck. “Where are Simoh and Yuma?”

Shaking her head, Aurora pulled the AR helmet back down, and began flicking her fingers back and forth. “Aft launch deck.”

Nodding, Flitter patted her shoulder. “Keep up the good work, Aurora, and don’t forget to eat. You can take the day off if you want, it’s Hearth’s Warming after all.”

“Thanks Captain, but I haven’t worked a day since we’ve arrived!”

Smiling faintly as she walked for the Aft launch deck, Flitter called out to the scrawny tech. “At least one of us is enjoying themselves.” The deckplating of the drop ship clanged softly under Flitter with every footstep as she made her way through the bowels of the ship. Entering the launch deck, she began walking between the drop pods as they rested in their cradles. The oblong pods looked aggressive and ominous, painted dark grey with red warning signs sprayed on to needed panels. Flitter didn’t know exactly how they were supposed to make the fall from orbit anything short of instantly lethal, but she’d be putting her trust, and life, into their metal confines. Voices drew her attention away from the pods as she ran the tips of her fingers across their shells, reminding her of what she was to be doing.

“-and as we were exploring, and Miss Olivia was shopping, a pair of people suddenly pulled guns and began to shoot at us!” Yuma was sitting before Simoh, with her back to the whip thin man, who was braiding her hair idly.

“So what did you do?” Simoh asked as he twisted her deep brown hair into meandering whimsical braids.

“Well we shot back, clearly, but I just reached forward, grabbed Miss Olivia, picked her up, and a table, and ran!”

“While you were being shot at?” Simoh glanced up, giving Flitter a gentle head nod to acknowledge her existence.

Nodding excitedly, the huge minotaur woman had to lean back again so Simoh could continue. “Yes, and the gunmen followed, yelling something about orchestras and gunfire, I’m not certain, but I believe the leader of the pair was quite mad. So we got into a roaming gunfight in this little city- Oh! Captain Flitter!” Yuma stood, nearly taking Simoh with her. “You’ve come to visit!”

“That I have.” Flitter smiled as she leaned against a handrail. “Sounds like you had quite the adventure with Olivia and her crew.”

Smiling brightly in return, Yuma clasped her jet black cybernetic hands before herself. “Yes. We had many adventures, and I look forward to the next one we’ll have. Did you need something from us?”

“Well, I wanted to check in on you two first, see how you’re doing and how training is coming along.”

Simoh remained seated as he fixed his t-shirt and leaned back. “Well enough. The rifle I was given is…” He trailed off for a moment, before finding his words. “Excellent. I’m not used to having so many shots at my disposal.”

“Tell me about it, Is there anything you would change about it? I know you went with a conventional rifle instead of a power gun.”

Simoh nodded, his eagle eyes remaining locked on Flitter. “I do not like the other guns. Too many flaws. The rail weapons are heavy and limited in ammunition. The lasers suffer in the environment, and plasma marks where you are. I have chosen the twenty millimeter caseless anti-material rifle, with free floating barrel, muzzle break, and full length recoil system.”

Smiling faintly, Flitter nodded to him. “And the ammo? Did you get that?”

“Yes.” Simoh reached into his bag, and produced two fat drum magazines, one marked silver, and the other red. “Titanium full metal jackets and tungsten jacketed high explosive dual purpose penetrators, for mask wearers and progeny respectfully.”

“Quite the improvement over that old muzzle loader. Yuma, how have you been getting on with Aurora? Will you be able to keep her safe on the field?”

Nodding quickly, Yuma thumped a massive metal hand against her chest. “Yes! It’ll be my honor to!”

Letting out a small breath, Flitter gave them both a smile. “Good. Keep at it, you two. Next week we’re beginning combined arms training, so I expect you both to be there. Oh, and feel free to take today off for Hearth’s Warming.”

“Thank you, Captain!” Reaching forward, Yuma embraced Flitter, and lifted her off the deck, armour and all. “Send Jack my love, and take care of yourself!”

Grunting softly at the manhandling she was receiving, Flitter patted Yuma’s back. “Will do. Okay, put me down, I’ve got lots to do.”

Saying her goodbyes, Flitter set off again, her mind buzzing with everything she still had to do. The task ahead of her was nothing short of astronomical by any account, and she had less than a year to make up for it. Tromping off the cargo bay ramp, Flitter walked into the blizzard, setting her mind to her coming trials.

The chime of Flitter’s omnilink earned a strained grunt of annoyance from the woman as she continued her pull ups, dead set on finishing her set. As her omnilink ringtone reached it’s last dingle, She dropped to the floor and answered, covered in sweat and wearing her workout clothes. “Falenas.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Flitter could see the snowy blonde hair of Olivia Voronin. “Good afternoon, Knight Captain. Are you busy?”

“I’m always busy. What can I help you with, Miss Voronin?” Flitter wiped her brow with a towel, before turning her full attentions to the woman on her commlink.

“I have a bit of a situation, and I was hoping you could help me. I’m transporting equipment across the ground, and we decided to hire on some local mercs for additional deterrence. Issue is, is the mercs were a little too bloodthirsty for my liking, so I let them go. John’s worried that they’re going to try and raid the convoy now.”

“So you want me and a squad to come out and dissuade them?”

“Precisely.”

Already heading out the door into the fresh spring air, Flitter gave Olivia a single nod. “I’ll gather a squad. I assume you have transportation prepared? Our ship is still grounded until Kleese can find a pilot.”

“I knew I could count on you.” Olivia smiled as she shifted in her seat, giving Flitter a fine view of an alien desert. “The Halcyon was already on it’s way, it should be over earth within two hours. I look forward to working with you soon.” As the call ended, Flitter set off for the training ground.

Sticking two fingers between her lips, Flitter let out a shrill whistle to draw the attentions of her soldiers. As they put pause to their activities and came over, Flitter cleared her throat and spoke out loudly. “I need a volunteer squad to assist Miss Voronin with some hostile deterrence. Any takers?”

Many hands went up, with most of the crew more than willing to get off the base for awhile. Nodding in approval, Flitter looked to Minerva. “Sergeant Aegis, build a combined arms squad with Yuma. Sergeant Varennikov, you’re holding down the fort. Keep the training going, and see how the search for Lemons is going. Kleese mentioned something about Dominic’s family, so follow through with that.”

“Aye aye, ma’am.” Taven nodded to her, but seemed a little unhappy about it.

Turning to the group at large, Minerva began calling out names, swiftly building a squad. It took hardly a moment before they were ready, and following Flitter back to the hangars to prepare.

With only a short wait for the ship, and a hurried boarding, Flitter braced in her armour as the Halcyon shot back into orbit. The crew on board were working quickly and efficiently, checking cargo straps and loads to ensure they hadn’t shifted in the swift entry and exit of atmosphere. “Jumping to Lightspeed in sixty, all hands, strap in!” The pilot’s voice called out over the intercom, sending the crew into a further frenzy.

Looking around nervously, Flitter lifted a hand to flag down a crewman, only to be ignored as they hustled by. “Come!” Yuma patted Flitter’s armoured shoulder. “Follow me, this is my favourite part!”

With the squad in tow, Yuma quickly walked for a designated section of wall, and began to strap in the armoured soldiers with heavy duty velcro straps. With barely enough time to secure herself, the ship seemed to lurch, before accelerating so swiftly that it squashed Flitter against the inside of her armour, and pressed the air from her lungs. Gripping her safety straps for everything she was worth, Flitter held on for dear life as Yuma laughed and tried to push back against the brutal acceleration.

Then, as swiftly as it had come, the acceleration ceased, and everything returned to normal. “What… the fuck… was that?” Flitter demanded breathlessly as she leaned forward, placing her hands on her knees.

“We are at light speed!” Yuma exclaimed happily. “That was the dampened acceleration, and we are currently enroute to our location!”

“It seems you remember your shit, Yoomy.” A man’s voice called out, earning a brilliant smile from Yuma.

“Sal!” Yuma turned on her heels and enveloped the tall blonde man in a bone crushing hug, lifting him off the deck. “I missed you!”

Laughing as he patted her back, the man named Sal made himself in her arms. “We missed you too! Me, Sol, Mil, and Mal were just talking about you.” He patted her cheek caringly. “We’ll have to have some drinks again when this mission’s over. Who’re your friends?” He gestured to the group as he lounged, looking comfortable.

“These are my comrades, Knight Captain Flitter, and her JSOG. We’ve come to help Olivia with her problem.”

“And here I was hoping you were back for good.” Sal sighed whimsically, before hopping out of Yuma’s cradling arms to offer a hand to Flitter. “Sal Oshini.”

Taking the hand with care to not crush it, Flitter shook. “Why aren’t you on the ground with Miss Voronin?”

“The boss lady?” He motioned for the group to follow him as he began to head deeper into the ship. “They sent me back to make sure you were all appraised of the situation on the ground. Locals were worried about an attack from xeno pirates, so they reached out to VLI. We’ve got a good bundle of ground to air interceptor missiles on the trucks, so that’s a thing.”

“Why didn’t she just fly in?” Flitter questioned as they all piled into the elevator amd started up out of the cargo bay.

“Staying low on the radar. Things are getting busy on the frontier, and that means more eyes on. We’ve got three times as many customers, and six times the potential of being caught. With the recent attack at Telesair IV, the Boss Lady wanted extra security, but that’s just turned around and bit us in the ass.” Sal shook his head lightly as he entered the lounge, and gestured to the couches. “Feel free to get comfortable. We’ve got a little over an hour in transit. I’ll come get you before we drop from FTL, and give you a briefing then.”

“What about ammo?” Minerva spoke up, watching the man with narrow eyes. Mythic and Baron stood behind her, though they were busy checking out the bar.

“Any ammo you expend will be replaced, naturally.” Sal grinned. “Yuma, are you staying with them or coming with me?”

Yuma paused, seemingly torn. “Are your brothers on board too?”

“No, they’re dirtside with the boss.”

“Then I will remain with JSOG, for now.” Yuma sat down on the couch, nearly launching one of Flitter’s squad with the sudden pressure change.

With a nod, Sal turned, and exited the lounge, leaving the group behind. When he was gone, Flitter turned her head to Yuma, and perked a brow. “So, he seemed pretty friendly with you.” As the disguised minotaur heifer squirmed at the question, Flitter walked to the bar, and eyeballed the selection of drinks.

“Well, yes… He and his brothers are good friends of mine. The four of them are all identical, however, which makes telling them apart difficult…”

Minerva lounged back in her power armour as she stared at the door the man had left through. “How good of friends?”

“T-that isn’t any of your business…” Yuma murmured as she got up and helped herself to a drink.

A sudden laugh broke from Baron as she glanced up. “You don’t need to be an empath to feel the sexual tension you two had. Now the question is, how many of the four have you had?” As Yuma turned a bright cherry red, Baron laughed. “Wow, all of them? Yuma!”

“It was only once!” Yuma cried out, making distressed minotaur noises.

“You go girl!”

As her squad bickered and bantered back and forth, Flitter managed a soft smile as she poured out a small glass of whiskey, and began to taste it. It was rough, and hardly to her liking, but it lent her a soothing warmth and served to calm the concerned knot settling in her stomach. Closing her eyes, she forced herself to center as she sipped at her drink again. It wouldn’t be long now.

True to his word, Sal returned just as the ship gently lurched, dropping out of FTL over a muddy ball of a world. The squad murmured amongst themselves as they looked down toward it, through the coldness of space. After a moment, Sal cleared his throat, and drew attentions to the holographic map. “This is the situation. We have a convoy of eight trucks, with two people per truck currently, and an additional gunner in the leading and trailing truck. Currently they’re holding up close to a mountain pass, letting the planet’s short night roll by. Miss Voronin confirms that nobody has approached yet, but we’re still erring on the side of caution. The eight of you should be split up among the trucks or flying in overwatch, but I won’t tell you how to do your jobs.

“What sort of kit were the mercenaries packing?” Minerva leaned forward to idly prod at the map.

“Conventional caseless ballistics; rifles, machine guns, buzz bombs, that sort of thing. We didn’t see any heavy ordnance in their vehicles, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have any. Our biggest concerns are the center trucks, which are carrying missiles, munitions, and other high explosive party favours. If those trucks get hit and we suffer a detonation, it’s a good chance we’ll all die violently within a few seconds.” There was a pregnant pause as Sal adjusted one of his webbing straps. “So try not to let that happen.”

Nodding slowly, Flitter copied everything down into her armour’s databanks. “Rules of Engagement?”

“If it’s a civvie, leave em be but don’t be afraid to stick a gun in their face if they won’t fuck off when we tell em. If they’re a Blackwolf Merc, you’re weapons free. They ain’t supposed to be anywhere near us, so them approaching is an act of aggression. Shoot to kill, because they will too.”

As the squad nodded in understanding, the pilot chimed in over comms. “We’re in orbit now, shuttle’s prepped and ready for launch.”

Tossing up his helmet and catching it as he plunked it down on his head, Sal grinned as his mask sealed to the helmet, and began emitting a holographic skull across the blank faceplate. “Let’s rock and roll.”

The shuttle rumbled and rocked as it plunged through the atmosphere of the planet below, the thick clouds causing the shuttle to rattle with each one punched through. “Four minutes out!” The pilot called out.

Nodding, Flitter turned, and pointed at her one pegasi operative and Simoh. “Now! Bail and circle at Angels ten!” The operatives saluted as the shuttle bay door slid open, and wind roared into the cabin. The two operatives bailed out the door, jets deploying once they were clear. Watching as the two blips on her HUD descended to ten thousand feet and pulled into a holding pattern, Flitter nodded to herself and prepared for landing. It was only a few short minutes before the shuttle set down, and the doors opened again. Flitter and her squad quickly left the ship before it lifted off again, and took off for orbit. Alien desert surrounded them on all side, with craggy redstone mesa’s reaching up toward the sky like ancient bone fingers.

“What a shit hole.” Minerva muttered as she held her rifle at low ready, her helmet scanning slowly back and forth.

“It’s our shit hole now. We own this desert.” Setting off at a brisk pace, Flitter jogged off toward the convoy of trucks that sat in the shade of a huge redstone outcropping. Sal was quickly on her heels, with the rest of her squad following along closely. As they approached, a figure wearing a white arid environment suit waved them down, before adjusting their wide brimmed sun hat.

The white clad figure turned out to be Olivia, who wore a bright smile under the shade of her hat, in addition to a comfortable and fashionable liquid cooled suit. “Hello hello! I’m glad you could all make it!”

“Have fun.” Sal waved to the squad as he split off, and approached a trio of men wearing armour identical to his, save for the holographic skulls each had over their faceplates.

Nodding once to Sal, Flitter opened her face plate as she approached. “Good morning Olivia. How are you?”

“Lovely, just lovely.” Olivia smiled cutely up toward the power armoured spec ops leader before her. “You fill out that armour very well! Come on, let’s get your people intermingled among mine, and get this party rolling!~”

Smirking momentarily as she closed her faceplate, Flitter brought her power gun to a low resting position. “That’s why we’re here.”

The group spread out, finding vehicles to clamber up on to. Flitter mounted the front vehicle, riding with Olivia, John Chambers, and Hans Drescher. “Gutentag, Knight Captain.” Hans waved lightly with his eight foot tall combat form, which was magnetized to the top of the truck, and carrying a rotary cannon.

“Good morning Mister Drescher.” Securing herself to the vehicle, Flitter keyed onto the VLI comms, and was immediately bombarded with chatter between groups. “Sergeant Aegis, how are you faring?”

Over the briefly quieted chatter, Minerva spoke up as Flitter brought her helmet cam feed up. “Dandy. I’m straddled next to some weird human woman.”

“I am not weird, I am sexy!” Vikki’s indignant riposte earned some light chuckles through the comms.

Smiling lightly, Flitter commed her air cover. “Talon Flight, what’s your situation?”

View of blue skies and stretching alien desert popped up in the corner of her hud as Simoh commed back. “All clear, Knight Captain. Lots of cloud cover and no flak.”

“Copy. All operatives, hunker down. Miss Voronin, we’re ready to go.” Flitter sat on the reinforced cab of the transport truck, aside Hans as she rested her power rifle across her lap.

“Excellent~” Olivia purred into her headset. “Mister Bellewood, let’s get this convoy rolling.”

“Aye aye, ma’am!”

With a lurch, the trucks set off one by one, their heavy, deadly cargo swaying gently within. Leaving the protection of the canyon walls, the alien sun began to beat down on the white trucks as they rumbled into the desert. The barren landscape stretched on forever before them, with only a solitary two lane highway to guide them.

“All Shooters, report.” Flitter spoke into her comms as she flicked through body cams and orbital feed with little motions of her jaw.

“Shooter Two, All clear mid.”

“Shooter Three here, clear rear.”

“Talon Flight, scopes are empty.”

Nodding once, Flitter returned to gazing out into the distance. “Solid copy, keep the eyes on.”

“Training must be going well.” Olivia chimed in over comms as she tilted her hat up so she could see Flitter through the sunroof.

“We’re making progress. We’re starting drop pod training soon.” Flitter slowly scanned the area ahead of her, watching for any waiting soldiers trying to ambush the convoy. “How have things been?”

Kicking her feet up so they rested on the dash, Olivia smiled. “Busy. Very very busy. A lot of people want guns now, despite the UN trying to convince everyone that the attacks on the frontier are one offs.”

“You don’t think they are?”

“No.” There was a brief pause. “Any fight that Ernest Blackburn is involved in, isn’t cut and dry.”

The name pricking her ears, Flitter leaned forward slightly. “I know that name. Care to explain?”

“Blackburn’s paramilitary outfit deployed again recently, slaughtered a whole pirate base on their own when the UN patrols couldn’t oust them. Rumor mill says that he’s made new super soldiers, and people on both sides are getting nervous.”

“Why?” Flitter’s mind flicked briefly to Jack, and the thing he was involved in that he couldn’t talk about.

“Because when Blackburn gets an edge, he cuts his enemies with it, and his enemies number in the trillions. The UN doesn’t want another war, and our neighbors won’t be so forgiving if one of ours commits another alien genocide. Hence people panicking and buying enough ordnance to start a war. Which makes it look like we’re gearing for war.”

Smiling briefly, Flitter gazed out into the sun bleached alien desert. “And it’s all good for your business, isn’t it?”

With a soft chuckle, Olivia tipped her hat back down. “Only time will tell, Angel.”

Falling into silence, Flitter sat back, and allowed herself a moment of rest as the trucks trundled on, and on, and on.

“All shooters, report.” Several hours later, Flitter called over comms as the alien sun baked her armour.

“Shooter two. We’re fine.”

“Shooter three, all clear boss. We gonna see any action?”

“Talon Flight. Knight Captain, we’re seeing a suspect area ahead, could be nothing but we might want to reccy it before we roll in.”

Pausing for a moment to mull the idea over as she keyed into the cam feed of Talon flight, Flitter commed Olivia. “Air cover reports a suspicious section ahead. What’s your call?”

Humming softly, Olivia didn’t respond to Flitter as she made the all-call to the whole convoy. “Pull over, we have recon to do. Everyone stretch your legs and secure the area.”

With a light nod, Flitter keyed the pegasi above. “Talon Flight, this is Shooter Actual. Take a peek at that area and let me know if we need hooves on the ground.”

“Solid copy, Shooter Actual. We’re heading in for a closer look.”

Lifting off the truck, Flitter let herself fall to the cracked tarmac below, letting the hydraulics in her armour absorb the mild impact. “Shooters two through five, spread out and scan the area. Sergeant Aegis, on me.”

“Aye aye.”

Flitter paced to the edge of the road, and gazed out at the endless desert. Behind her, she could hear the truck doors opening and slamming as Olivia’s crew piled out to stretch their legs. John Chambers and Olivia were approaching Flitter as Minerva jogged up.

“Knight Captain?” Minerva glanced at the pair of humans, before following Flitter’s gaze out into the endless desert. “We haven’t seen anything move for hours. Are we sure there’s anything out here?”

As Olivia and John stopped abreast from her, Flitter mulled over the question. “Before everything... happened, Jack used to tell me stories about his service, and I watched almost all of his combat videos. He told me about how the people who lived in the deserts on Earth used explosives hidden underground to disrupt convoys, and launch attacks on the soldiers there during the chaos. Add on to that, Jack’s use of active camouflage cloaking technology… I don’t think we can trust our eyes entirely here, Sergeant.”

Humming softly, Olivia scanned the Horizon. “We haven’t had a guerrilla war against other humans in decades… Those sorts of tactics might not be as widespread now, but it’s a good thing you brought them up.” She glanced over to the man next to her. “John? Get Mil up front of the trucks, looking for triggers while JSOG clears the area.”

“Right away.” The big man nodded under his modified HRT armour, before turning on his heels to head back to the convoy.

Glancing to Minerva, Flitter smirked at her, and gave her a swat on the armour plates covering her ass. “Welcome to the suck, Sergeant. Embrace it.”

Jumping at the swat, Minerva stuttered and tripped over her words momentarily. “U-uh, y-yeah, right Flits. I mean, Knight Captain.” Clearing her throat, Minerva rocked on her heels. “So uh…” As she spoke, the communication line chirped, and Simoh cut off the woman.

“Knight Captain, we’ve cleared the target area. There are tracks, but no hostiles. What are your orders?”

Pausing, Flitter keyed her mic. “Are you on the ground?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Get in the air, now! The enemy could be using cloaking tech.” The brief pause left Flitter on edge, before Simoh spoke again.

“Gaining altitude. I have been using the separate vision modes, but have picked up nothing.”

Letting out a soft sigh, Flitter closed her faceplate again. “Better to be safe, Simoh. The convoy will begin moving again soon.”

“Understood.”

“On me, Sergeant.” Flitter motioned to Minerva, who was quick to pick up the rear. “Olivia, my scout reports the suspect area has seen traffic, but there are no hostiles present.”

Climbing into the leading rig, Olivia gave Flitter a little wave before she adjusted her hat. “Then we’ll continue onwards! Mil, are you ready up front?”

One of the Oshini brothers waved from the ground, his holographic skull having an X across it’s forehead. “Yeah. Let’s get this started.”

Clambering up on to the lead truck, Flitter keyed her squad comms. “Flare, Sandstone, Lee, I want you three prepared with shield spells, the moment it kicks off I want shields up. The rest of you are weapons free in any case.” A short smattering of affirmatives responded as the trucks lurched forward, and began to crawl after the man in front as he walked the highway, watching for IEDs.

As the distance between the convoy and the suspect area grew smaller and smaller, Flitter found herself feeling ill at ease as she scanned the horizon. The sun was cresting high in the sky, forcing her environmental control unit to work double time to keep her from cooking alive in the suit.

“Knight Captain.” Simoh spoke softly into her ear. “I see shimmers, to your west, two hundred meters.”

Casually panning her view to the west, Flitter narrowed her eyes and magnified her vision. For a moment, there was nothing, but then as the wind picked up ever so slightly, she could see a faint shimmer against the rocks as light and sand gently toyed at the edge of a camo cloak. “All shooters, one hundred and seventy two meters up on the west side, camo cloak spotted. They don’t know they’ve been made yet.”

“Good eyes.” John Chambers rumbled softly. “All hands, prepare for a fight, but keep it lowkey. Expect fire from both sides. Fire when ready.” A murmur of affirmatives came from the convoy as everyone prepared for the imminent fight.

“Hundred meters…”

“Shields ready.” Flare called up from the middle as the three unicorn operatives prepared to cast.

“Simoh.” Flitter spoke. “Open fire.”

The distant crack echoed softly from high altitude, moments before the high powered 15mm round slapped into the cloaked object, and a massive fireball detonated across the highway. Allowing herself to relax instead of tensing, Flitter turned as Mil raised his hands to defend himself from the blast, but found the deadly shrapnel impacting a shimmering green shield. Fire began to blossom from the desert, spattering and spalling off the shields as the JSOG operatives set to work.

“All shooters-” Flitter raised her rifle, letting her crosshairs settle over a point where muzzle flash had flared momentarily. “Aim for the muzzle flare. Weapons free.”

Her shot exited the barrel of her power rifle, and crossed the distance in a moment; the cloaked mercenary it impacted was flung backwards, his body trailing superheated offal and vaporised blood. The shrill whistle-howl of a buzzbomb smashed into the shield before Flitter, level with her legs. As the warhead detonated prematurely, Flitter could see the deep cracks appearing in the magical protection around them. It would only be moments now.

“Focus firepower left, fill them full of daylight!” Flitter called as she dismounted the semi, impacting the tarmac as she fired another shot. “Watch for the muzzle flashes!” The plasma roar of her weapon was muted within her helmet as targets sprung up on her HUD, but while the noise of the battle was keyed down, the concussive thrumming of Hans’ rotary cannon served to nearly rattle her teeth as the big cyborg dropped off the truck and landed next to her. His muzzle tracked back and forth, spewing tracer fire that would occasionally find purchase in body armour and flesh.

“Shield’s coming down, one minute cooldown!” Sandstone called out. “Three, two, one!”

The shield collapsed with the sound of shattering glass, but served as a surprise to nobody. Pushing forward, Flitter crossed the meridian and stuck herself to a large stone to serve for cover. By now, multiple target marks had sprung up on the cloaked targets, fouling their advantage.

“Vehicles, around the bend!” Simoh called out as a pack of armoured trucks appeared ahead of the convoy, their turret gunners opening fire. Heavy slugs shattered the tarmac around Flitter as she stood, sprinting to better cover. As she dove, a round struck her in the chest, knocking her off her feet and sending her tumbling to the ground.

As she grunted, and tried to push up off the asphalt, hands grasped her drag handle, and hauled her out of the line of fire. Grunting as tracers spat by overhead, Mil pulled Flitter into cover as he returned fire. “Nice landing! Looks like the plate caught it!” The man sounded amused as he sprayed rounds at the oncoming trucks.

“Thanks for the assist, I’m fine.” Pushing up, Flitter shook her head, and keyed her comms. “Yuma! I want these trucks gone! Flare, Sandstone, assist!”

“It’s my time to shine!” Yuma’s enthusiastic tone gave Flitter a momentary smirk as the big woman leveled her weapon at the oncoming vehicles, and loosed a shell downrange. The heavy round struck the leading truck, shattering it’s engine block and sending it tumbling as it’s ruined driveshaft dug into the asphalt. Magical fireballs quickly followed, setting two more of the trucks ablaze. As the flaming wrecks careened toward the convoy, a shimmering green shield leapt up from the ground, and the burning vehicles smashed into it at speed.

The fire fight was beginning to grow more sporadic, as the mercenary hostiles began to retreat back into the sands to lick their wounds. Slowly approaching Olivia’s side, Flitter scanned the battlefield as she held her rifle at low ready. “I think they’re through. Any casualties?”

Lifting her head slightly to peek out around John, Olivia soon turned back to Flitter, and offered her a smile that spoke of a complete lack of concern. “Minor wounds and a couple new holes, nothing major. Thanks to you and your team, at least. We were completely outnumbered here.”

“I don’t think your convoy was worth this much attention.”

Taking a moment to consider Flitter’s statement, Olivia nodded slowly. “You’re right… while it’d be a windfall, they took a lot of risks and commited a fair chunk of manpower…” Rubbing her chin, Olivia lifted her head upwards. “John, do you-”

“Get down!” John yelled as he reached back, trying to move Olivia out of the way of the threat he’d spotted. As Flitter tensed, a mercenary materialised before the three of them, smashing John across the face with the haft of an energized saber. Vaporizing blood split from his helmet as the exoskeleton clad mercenary drove John into the ground, and brought the saber up in one fluid motion to bisect Olivia as she stood frozen in place.

The energized saber squealed through the air as it boiled John’s blood off while enroute to Olivia, but as it nipped at her environment suit, Flitter jammed herself and her weapon between the pair. The saber slashed through the hardened casing of the power weapon, releasing a burst of wild electricity and liquid nitrogen into the air as Flitter let the two broken parts fall. With the saber on the downswing, Flitter used her jump jets to pulse forward, rocketting her shoulder into the merc.

“Bitch!” The cloaked merc yelled, sliding back in the sand as he readied his weapon. “Get out of the way!”

As Flitter and the merc squared off, Flitter ordered the others to hold fire as she drew her combat knife. “If you want her, you’ve got to go through me.”

“Gladly.” The merc growled as he sprung forward, bring the saber down in a well trained slash, aiming to cut down Flitter. Rocking backwards on her heels, Flitter used her own knife to deflect the blow, though immediately lost a portion of it. As the merc brought his weapon around again, Flitter ducked low, and continued to close in.

The energized saber howled passed Flitter as she dipped and dodged through the practised blows, just like she’d be taught to in the academy. “You’re too slow, human.” She growled aggressively, the hint of a smile touching her lips as she used her jets to side step another slash, and deliver a lightning fast jab into the mercenaries faceplate with her cybernetic fist. “Too slow and too predictable!”

“Can it!” The merc slashed angrily at her as he fought against his own stumbling, managing to cut through her breastplate. The virulent energy caused her HUD to flicker as painful numbness spread across her chest, all while warning symbols flashed across her eyes. As she stepped back, he stabbed toward her, intent on running her through, but found his weapon only meeting air, and Flitter’s arm locking around his own. The merc wrestled and struggled to free himself, but faltered when Flitter jammed her damaged combat knife into his side, and pulled back her cybernetic arm. He had barely a moment to breath out a shocked gasp as Flitter’s cybernetic arm blossomed open, and her power pistol sprung forth. The first shot cratered his armour, but the second burned through into his guts. The third emptied his torso of organs, and the forth all but split the man in half with a detonation of steam vapor and bone turned to superhot shrapnel.

Letting the mercenary fall to the ground in two separate sections, Flitter stepped on his twitching wrist, and pulled his saber free. Switching it off, she stuck it in her webbing, before casting a solitary glance at the man’s face as it shivered and twitched through his shattered faceplate. “You’re nothing but a punk with a sword.”

Walking away from the cooling corpse, Flitter gently placed a hand across the gouge in her breastplate, grimacing as the pain in her chest refused to abate. “Report, how are we looking?”

“Clearing out the stragglers now.” Minerva responded as sporadic whizzbangs from power guns echoed through the desert.

Nodding lightly to herself as she walked to Olivia, Flitter breathed a soft sigh or relief when she saw that John was still alive, and being tended to by Doctor End. Without a doubt, he was losing the eye, but he’d make it. “It seems you were right to bring us along, Olivia.”

“So it seems!” Olivia sat down on the tarmac with a soft huff, frowning at the destruction. “Something about this just doesn’t feel right…”

“It was an assassination attempt, and an expensive one at that. They wouldn’t have brought this much firepower if they wanted the trucks intact. Do you have a bounty on your head?” Flitter leaned against the truck, and began to idly finger the hot gouge in her breastplate.

“I’d have to check… So strange… they were supposed to be reliable.” There was a brief pause between the two as they watched one of the trucks cook off, the corpses within twisted from the flames. “Can you help me up?” Olivia held her hands up, waiting. When Flitter pulled her up, the woman reached around the back of Flitter’s helmet, and hit the emergency release. As the faceplate hissed open, Olivia leaned in, and pecked Flitter’s lips with a kiss. “My Guardian Angel, saving my butt again. If you keep this up, I’ll have to kidnap you.”

Coughing slightly, Flitter rubbed at her neck through the armour. “Y-yeah… you know, just doing my job.” She cleared her throat, and tried in vain to will the heat in her cheeks away.

“It’s a shame you have to run off again, otherwise I’d love to offer you a position on my crew.” Olivia smiled gently as she rubbed soot from her pale cheek. “See to your people, and help yourselves to the dead. We’ll get the convoy rolling again in twenty minutes. Once we’re back on the Halcyon, we’ll have a private chat about your… reward.” Olivia winked as she set off, patting John’s battered helmet with care.

Breathing out, Flitter reengaged her faceplate, and set off to collect her soldiers, and a few trophies. However, as her feet hit the sand, her omnilink chimed softly. With a sigh, Flitter took the call and had it appear on her hud. When Taven’s sharp, handsome features appeared, Flitter managed a smile for him. “Taven, good timing, we just finished our firefight.”

“Well uh… that’s good!” Taven scratched at the back of his neck, before exhaling. The look on his face saw that Flitter’s smile would be vanishing quickly. “I got some news about Lemons.”

“I get the feeling I’m not going to like it.” Flitter answered tentatively.

“You’re not.” Taven looked down toward her on the link. “We found Dominic. He’s dead.”

Author's Notes:

Well, it's a thing, at least. The issue with taking such a long break, is trying to recall everything that needs to be done to tie up loose plot strings. Honestly, if there are any left when Ballad is done, fuck it.

Anyways! Making progress. Flitter has a sword now.