Pioneers: Creation

No Quarter

No Quarter





         The damn planet was swarming with MMC.  It was nothing less than what’d been seen around Dardel and was only a small portion of a full fleet, but it was still more than enough to take care of most problems which might turn up.  But then, from what Preesly had seen, Tamaki’s ship was more than enough to slip by.


         “I have located them.  Your military has them completely surrounded,” Nell said, his long, scaled face appearing on the viewscreen.


         “I’m not getting their frequency anymore.  Bastard must’ve disabled his transmitters.  Again,” the former soldier replied.  The radio chimed in and Preesly accepted the connection.


         “Unidentified ships,” a pale little human of some sort said, his face appearing beside the Sventh’s.  “Terla VII has been blockaded off for the time being.  We request you make no attempts to approach the planet or any MMC vessels.”  The Terran frowned at that.


         “Just so,” Nell said.  “With such overwhelming third party forces we would make little difference.”


         “Agreed.  We’ll wait,” Preesly said.


         “Thank you for your cooperation,” the radio man said before cutting his connection and Preesly felt his frown grow deeper.  What the hell were they to wait for exactly?


         Tamaki’d take off, burn the fleet again and, unless Burlai was tracking them some other way, get away with barely a moment’s trouble.  On the other hand, if they blew the ship, Tamaki, the princess and everything they stole would be taken with the damn thing, if the info hadn’t been sold already.  It was a no win situation.


         “They must cripple it while it is grounded,” the lizard growled.


         “And hope there are no backup systems.  It’s full of surprises as is.”  Nell nodded stiffly and the pair fell into silence - watching, waiting.


-------------------------


         “Why did you bring her here?”


         “You’ve kept her here this entire time?”


         “I can’t believe you’d bring that psychopath back aboard in this situation.”


         “What use could you possibly see out of keeping her here?”


         “What use could you possibly see out of bringing her here?”


         They certainly knew how to drag it on.  To Kenshi it was just a lot of screeching while he tried to figure out what the hell to do next.  Probably take off fast before they reset the demo charges, but beyond that...


         “Well at least I can fix this ship!”


         “Well at least I’m not ugly!”


         “Shut up!”  Quinn and Ruki glared at him while Alanya’s look of intimidation turned toward him.  “Quinn’s here to fix the ship.  Ruki’s here to help keep people from stopping Quinn from fixing the ship.  Ruki, stop bitching.  Quinn, stop arguing with the psychopath.  Now, statrep.”  Still, they only stared.  “Now.”


         “Transmitters are down,” Quinn said, looking away.  “I fixed the transmitter to the repair system, but I haven’t turned it on yet.  The programming is extremely odd.  I can’t be sure if I’ve reversed it or sped it up.”


         “Is there any fast way you can test it?” Kenshi asked.  She shook her head.  “Then switch it on.  If things get worse we’ll know.  Otherwise we’re wasting time.”


         “Fine,” she said.  “I’ll keep a close eye on it, but if this ship takes any more damage you might not be able to take off.”  And with that she left the room.


         “Ruki, tell me you have an escape plan other than ‘shoot things.’”


         “You wish.  What the hell else do you think I can do against a fleet surrounding me?  Besides, I thought you were the one with the grand scheme.”  Kenshi winced as he reached his hand up to rub his face.


         “We’ll try breaking into hyperspace then.  Buy some time to find a good landing zone we can hold out in.”


         “Not very reliable, Kenshi.  I expected more from you.”


         “Our options are limited.  If you think of anything better I’m all ears.  Until then...”  At the pirate’s lack of response he turned away and went for the cockpit.  Upon lighting up the viewscreen he didn’t especially like what he saw.  Lots of chaos and a whole lot of people looking at the side of his ship.


         ‘Still setting up charges.  Time to move.’


         The ship revved up more loudly than usual as he powered on the Quicksilver.  A wounded girl’s groans.  This was going to be ugly.


         “Think she’ll actually make it out of the blockade?” Ruki asked, stepping beside him.


         “I have no idea.  For all her damage I might as well be back in the Raven.”


         “That doesn’t sound so bad.”  He shot her a strange look.  “What?  It’s possible.”


         “Should have figured you for an optimist.”


         “Always knew you were a pessimist.  Does that make me smarter?”  Kenshi scowled and jerked the ship into takeoff, though Ruki still managed to retain her balance.


         “Underestimated as usual.  Tsk tsk, Kenshi.”  Then the ship tilted and shook violently as an explosion sounded through the walls and Ruki did lose her balance.  “The hell?” she asked, catching herself on his seat as the Terran jammed the accelerator forward.


         “I think it was an orbital shot.  They’re trying to cripple us,” he said, eyes roaming the viewscreen as he cleared the mini skyscrapers of Jerdal City.  Radar was still out meaning he was flying and dodging blind.  This was a God damn chicken shoot.


         “These are guns, right?”  He looked back over his shoulder to see the pirate sitting in the yet unused navigator’s seat.


         “See for yourself.  I’m a little busy to give a tutorial.”  Then he felt the distant rumble of Quicksilver’s blasters firing and, despite himself, he grinned.  Shooting into a wild turn, he aimed for the stars.


-------------------------


         The first shot did little to Tamaki’s strange ship aside from slow it’s takeoff a bit.  Terrace frowned at that.  He’d ordered the reduction in power, but to have so little effect proved just how well armored the sleek grey beast was.


         “Bring the cannon back up to full power,” he said, never taking his eyes from the enhanced viewscreen.


         “It won’t make a difference,” the weapon’s operator said.  “He’s moving too erratically.  We’re more likely to tear the city apart before we hit him.”


         “Cease fire and do it anyway.  If he gives you a clear shot, take it.  I want a gunship on him.”


         “Sir, a squadron...”


         “I said a gunship,” the Commander snapped, glaring at his navigation officer.  Silence fell over the room.


         Then, “Aye sir,” from the radio man before he relayed the order.  Moments later a nearby gunship broke into the atmosphere in a downward burn which might’ve crashed into Tamaki if not for a wild spiral from the sleek ship.  Immediately dozens of plasma blasters began their potshots at one another and, Terrace was afraid to note, Tamaki was getting in more.  A lot more.


         “That’s a Corlan class gunship, correct?”


         “Yes sir,” Baragossa spoke up, glancing from the screen to his should-be subordinate.


         “Then they have a heavy blast cannon.  Tell them to aim for the engine.”


         “Aye sir,” the radio man said again and again relayed the order.


         Terrace stood quietly, statue still as the fight raged on.  Tamaki was making mincemeat out of the gunship.  Shields were down, the hull was compromised enough that it wouldn’t be space-worthy without major repairs and already it’s return fire was withering.


         Then, in a sudden red flash, the odds evened.  The blast ripped true into Tamaki’s engines and the entire ship keeled and slowed at the impact, black smoke trailing from the thrusters, yet it still flew, if awkwardly.  And the fight raged on.


         “Order them back.”  Again there was hesitation.  This damn crew could kill itself the way it followed orders.  “Admiral Baragossa, does your crew have trouble hearing?”  The older officer didn’t react in the slightest to the insult.  At the very least Terrace had to hand that to the man.


         Instead the admiral simply yelled at the radio man, “You heard the man, order them back.”  This time there was no hesitation.  The radio man relayed the order briskly, though he clearly didn’t like it.  The commander didn’t care.  He was more worried over the odd look the man was forming.


         “Sir, they’re ignoring the order,” he said a moment later.  Terrace watched the duel drag on, the hits both were taking by the second.  Tamaki wouldn’t be leaving atmo like that, they were just readying to blow each other’s already damaged ships to pieces.  The fight was pointless.


         “Ignored or not received?” he asked.


         “Ignored, sir.  I’ve got a steady signal.”  Now Terrace had to try to keep from scowling.  Probably wasn’t trying hard enough.


         “Bring their captain up on screen.”  A second later it was no huge surprise Rivera was the face he saw staring back.  So his rage at the chain of command went as far as insubordination.  Interesting.


         “Commander Burlai, I am in the middle of...” Rivera started.


         “Pull back.  That is an order,” Terrace interrupted gruffly.


         “But we...”


         “Captain Rivera, are you questioning a superior’s order?” Baragossa snapped.  The captain’s tan face went red from his neck to the tips of his pointy ears.


         “Yes sir,” he said before cutting the com.  The admiral’s look toward Terrace was a healthy balance of helplessness and surprise.  The commander only continued to scowl.


         “Take out Rivera’s engines,” he ordered.  Again the damn hesitation.  “Gentlemen, we are in a combat situation.  The next man to not do what he is told will face court martial now fire on Rivera’s God damn engines!”


         “Yes sir!” the weapons officer shot off and a second later that fully powered blast cannon was sending an orbital shot down to the already near crippled MMC gunship.


         It was like watching a hot nail poke through butter.  Only on a much larger scale and followed up by an explosion which sent the ship careening into the forest floor hundreds of meters below.


         “Send in a medical team,” Terrace said in monotone to the grim-faced crew as they all watched the twisted wreckage settle.  “Keep an eye on Tamaki and tell me when he lands.”  Then he turned away without waiting for acknowledgment.  Somehow he doubted anybody much cared for such trivialities at the moment.  Killing your own wasn’t going to be looked upon favorably by much anybody.


         ‘Why can’t you people just follow the fucking orders?’ he thought, suddenly very tired.


-------------------------


         “What the hell was that?” Ruki asked, standing to watch the enemy ship fall out of view.  Kenshi had no answer for her, though his face was suddenly very pale, Alanya noted.


         “We’ve taken too much damage,” he rasped.  “I can’t keep her up.”


         “Like hell!  Where the hell do you think you can go?”  His look back at the pirate was more than a little disturbed.


         “That’s why you’re here,” he said grimly.  Ruki quieted down at that.


         ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ the princess wondered.  Then the Terran’s eyes moved over to her.  He stared for a moment, expressionless, as if deciding on something.  She felt her cheeks go red in discomfort under that look.


         “Alanya, get Quinn,” he said and she was quick to carry out the order.


         The blonde engineer was still in the corridor, huddled up against a wall with a data pad in hand.  She was angry - that was easy enough to see - but now the princess could see a trace of something else on her face.  Distress.  Hopelessness.


         “The engines are totaled,” Quinn send, tossing away the data pad.  “It’ll take too much time.  The game’s up.”


         “Kenshi wants to see you,” was all Alanya could muster then bit her lip.  A humorless laugh escaped the blonde’s throat as she stood.


         “I’m sure he does,” she said, walking past the young princess in a rage.  Alanya dropped her gaze at the engineer’s passing and caught sight of the datapad on the ground.  It was hooked into the wall Kenshi had shot up earlier - the repair system.  Gingerly, she picked it up only to see a single set of numbers printed across the screen.


         17 09 07 13


         And even as she watched that last two sets of numbers counted down second by second.


-------------------------


         “Do you have any idea how much damage your bloody fight has done to this ship?!” the ugly one said upon entering the room.  God, she was annoying.  Like another one of those pencil pushers with a steel rod shoved up their ass and the only reason people took it was because she had tits and a pleasure center the majority happened to find...well...pleasurable.


         Personally, Ruki just wanted to take said rod, pull it out and beat it over the head of the girl.  Stupid grating accent.


         “Is it working?”


         “It doesn’t...”


         “Is it working?” Kenshi asked again, this time more sternly.  Oh sweet Kenshi.  Always was the demanding type.


         “Yes,” Quinn said, red with anger.


         “How much time?”


         She frowned, said, “17 days.”  Ruki grinned at Kenshi.


         “All that you hoped for?”


         “At least something’s working.” he replied, turning to look at the display in front of him.


         “Aw, you are an optimist.”


         “Guess that makes me the smart one now.”  Ruki blinked, cocked her head.


         ‘Did he really just make a joke?’


         “You don’t get it do you?  Two and a half weeks!  There’s no way in any hell the MMC will allow you that much time.”


         “That’s 17 days for full repair, correct?” Kenshi asked.


         “Well...yes...”  Ruki had to share Quinn’s bewildered look.


         “How much time for partial repair?”  Now she had to grin.  Smartass.


         “Namely hyperdrive and stealth systems,” she continued for him. 


         “Considerably less, but it’ll still be much too much...”


         “How long?” he asked again.  And just like that the blonde’s anger came back.


         “I don’t know!  There’s no way to tell.  None that I can figure out at least.”  Kenshi nodded, thinking.


         “You really up for this, Kenshi?” Ruki asked a moment later, for once serious.  “I don’t want you pussying out on me last second, ya know.  Things which might kill me tend to upset me.”


         “There’s no choice,” he said slowly, not turning around.


         “You’ll have to kill.”


         “I know.” he snapped then leaned his head down.


         “What are you two talking about?” Quinn asked, though it was Alanya the merc turned to as the girl entered the cockpit.


         “Why, don’t you see?” Ruki chirped, all smiles.  “We’re gonna kill every little MMC who tries to get near the ship until it’s all ready to fly.”


         The looks of horror were sooooo worth Kenshi’s dirty glare.


-------------------------


         Terrace was already looking at the pictures when Card and Rykov entered, all frowns and displeasure.  So he was growing even more unpopular.  Wonderful.


         “He’s landed,” Card said simply in greeting.


         “So I see,” the Commander replied, setting the photos aside.


         It was a typical landing spot, at least as far as Tamaki went in a combat situation.  Part of the ship to a mountainside, the rest to a thick forest, all downward hills, leaves and snow.  The mountain was too steep to expect anyone to flank them, winds too heavy and trees too tall to expect decent air support.  All they could do was keep the damn ship crippled with orbital strikes.  Beautiful for a fight, but what was Tamaki thinking?  And Ruki, for that matter.


         “The medical team has reported, sir,” Rykov said and it was plain to see his discontent and impatience.  Didn’t bode well for the gunship crew.  Terrace waved for him to continue.  “There were no survivors, sir.”


         “The price of insubordination,” he said grimly and neither man looked happy with the comment.  “Disregarding orders would have killed a high priority hostage.  With Tamaki and Ruki it could also get you killed, and not just by me.  I will not tolerate these mistakes lest they occur in a much more important circumstance.  Frankly I don’t give a damn if you two and all those placed under my orders don’t like it.  These mistakes cannot happen.  Understood?”


         “Yes sir.” the pair said together, still clearly displeased.


         “Dismissed.”  Stiffly, his aides saluted and walked out at the order.  It took Terrace a few minutes after to calm himself enough so he could relax back into his seat.


         ‘Just like Tamaki would’ve put it,’ he thought, smiling cynically.  He remembered it all right.  When things got down and dirty you did what you had to to get things done.  Ruthlessness was far from the way of the MMC.  Of the Terrans, oh yes, but rarely the MMC.


         Terrace had never known Terran military training, though.  He’d been one of the first to ship out past Terran territory after the war, but it’d been far from enough to convince him from joining the MMC.  Training seemed tough back then, but hindsight’s 20/20.


         Things had been a cakewalk.  The MMC was hardly made up of the best and brightest.  Some had ideas of glory, some wanted out of one bad life or another, most were just idiots.  They were undisciplined, tactically and strategically inferior to most everyone.  The only bright spot was their superior technology to other nations and even that was far from it’s potential.  Any pirate or merc could easily find equipment much better than what the MMC provided - aside from a few key devices - if they had enough will.


         Tamaki had been no typical MMC, aside from the fact that he’d cut midway through SEALS to join up.  He’d been ruthless yet calculating.  Almost robotic yet...determined.  And he’d thrown so much of the anarchy and stupidity around him away.  He performed near perfection and demanded it of those around him, even superiors.  Always to get the job done.


         ‘What are you trying to get done, Tamaki?’  Terrace knew he was looking to be blind-sided.  It was obvious Tamaki planned to fight, yet how could he possibly fight off so many, even with Ruki?


         ‘How do you overcome a superior, undisciplined and cowardly force of pissed off soldiers when you have superior training, position and firepower?’  When he asked it like that he thought it might be more merciful pulling the trigger himself.


-------------------------


         “You’re not serious,” Quinn said for her.  “You cannot actually be serious.”


         “Oh I am,” Ruki said, grinning, and suddenly Alanya didn’t like her quite so much.


         “Kenshi, you picked her up just so you...”


         “Yes,” he hissed out, obviously annoyed.  There was a pause.  Ruki was smiling, waiting for a response, Kenshi was too annoyed to say anything, Quinn was speechless and Alanya was right beside her.


         Then, “Well that’s just bloody perfect.  You want to sit down somewhere, wait for them to come and try to hit you with a rock and your plan is what?  Hit harder?”


         “Yep,” Ruki sang.


         “Kenshi,” the princess finally spoke up.  The huge man picked his head up and looked at her, his face blank of any emotion.  “Why are you doing this?”  He looked around slowly, his eyes resting on each of them.


         “Yes, Kenshi,” Quinn spoke up.  “What’s the story?”  Again he glanced around, from Quinn to Ruki, helplessly staring at her while she stared curiously back, and finally to Alanya once more.


         “Aiston Malcom wanted data from the Titan.  Do you know what that is?”  Alanya nodded stiffly.  She’d heard bits and pieces.  It was practically a legend, she knew.  A battle station beyond any ever created before.  “On it were blueprints for the ship.  Only one reason you’d want blueprints is to make something with them.  Now I’m no expert on Malcom’s monetary capabilities, but I do know he managed to hire Ruki which requires good connections and a great reward so he obviously has enough.”


         “Barely enough.  Well, for me,” Ruki said with a cruel, crooked smile which showed off one elongated fang.


         “He has enough connections and influence to get a copy should the MMC take it back,” he continued.  “I could destroy it, but there is little point.  Malcom, or somebody close to him, has enough supplies to create a titan.  If not that then an entire fleet of smaller ships.  He’s a danger with enough red tape and connections to stand between the MMC and himself that he might as well be untouchable.”


         “And so you’re the only one who can stop him,” Quinn said, disbelieving.


         “How egotistical, Kenshi.  Whatever you need to tell yourself to keep alive and free, right?” Ruki added.  The Terran scowled at the pair.


         “Who the hell else is going to do it?  No cop has the balls and ability to take him down.  No MMC will think him a big enough danger when he goes underground.  Then who is there?”  When there was no response he continued.


         “But here I am in a veritable scrap pile of a ship.  I can’t go anywhere.  Hell, I doubt I could even break atmo.  There’s a fleet up there prepared to shoot down anything which flies meaning no other attempt in any slower, weaker ship is gonna get me any farther so I can’t so much as get off this damn rock.  Yet I can’t die or be locked away ‘cause who’s gonna pick up the slack?”


         Nobody said a word.  All stared at the scowling Terran, none of them having an answer.  Seeing there was no more argument, Kenshi turned back around and pulled the ship into a turn.  Ten minutes of silent, tense and turbulent flying later they felt the landing gear thump down against the ground, the viewscreen showing a snowy picture before them.


         Still the silence stayed and again Kenshi’s head leaned down and Alanya remembered how beat up he’d been recently.  Here he was, preparing to face off against God-knows-how-many MMC with God-knows-how-many injuries and little sleep.


         ‘I should have never followed him,’ she thought, not for the first time.  He’d left her behind for a reason and now here she was; a liability standing next to a guy trying to save the better part of the galaxy and his hand-chosen helpers.


         “Quinn, get back to work,” he finally said.  “I need this thing working fast.”  The blonde didn’t say or show anything as she left.  “Alanya, go relax.  Ruki and I need to plan things out.  You don’t want to know the details.”


         She bit her lip and felt it trembling.  This was too much.  He turned his head, looked at her from the corner of his eye.


         “Alanya?”


         “Sorry,” she said, feeling the tears well up.  “I’m sorry.”  With that she walked out as fast as she could, catching Ruki’s frown as she went.  God, why had she been so reckless...again?


-------------------------


         “The girl’s certainly emotional,” Ruki said, looking back at Kenshi as soon as the hatch shut.


         “So are you.  Only you are much more outspoken when you’re upset.”  She grinned toothily at him.  Little bastard.


         “Watch it.  I’ve backstabbed people before.”  He looked at her long and hard at that and she knew he was having thoughts of gunning her down.


         ‘Not again,’ she thought.  Never again.


         He looked back at the screen, watching a light snow fall, the wind blowing it near sideways.  After a moment he said, “No you won’t.”  That’d get a laugh from most every pirate and partner she’d been associated with.  Surprising that’s exactly what came out of her.


         “That’s rich!  Let’s hear this one.”


         “You’re entertained,” he rasped emotionlessly, staring blankly off into the white.  Her smile disappeared to allow a more curious look upon her face.  “You don’t want to hurt me because this is thrilling to you.  You enjoy the fighting and rarely get an opportunity to do so on such a mass scale.”  Finally he looked at her.  “Plus you’re not stupid.  We both know this blockade isn’t ending until we’re both dead or in a cage.  You need me just as much as I need you.”


         “I’ve gotten out of worse,” she said indignantly.


         “Sure.  A couple centuries ago when they didn’t realize how hard you are to kill.  You haven’t been surrounded like this since.  Not in a junked ship, at least.”  The pirate grunted.  So he had a point.


         “And what keeps me from killing you when this is done?  Or the girls?  Think you can protect everyone, Kenshi?”  He looked back at the white and didn’t respond for so long she thought the conversation might be over.


         Then, “No.”  She heard him sucking on his tongue a moment, considering his next words carefully.  “I have to trust you.”


         Just like that a beam of red plasma appeared in her hand.  Kenshi didn’t blink - didn’t even move.  Not even when she held it up against his neck.  Leaning in close to his ear, she grinned maliciously.


         “You’ve lived so long, Kenshi...”  She dragged out the end of his name playfully.  “You’ve...intrigued me.  And as you say, you entertain me.  Not anymore, though.”  No response.  Bastard had on a poker face.  “When this is done I will kill you.  All of you.”


         Finally he looked at her.  Fucking robot, for all he showed.  Then his lip quirked.  Just a bit, though enough for her to catch and he damn well knew she would catch it.


         “Unless I’ve rigged this ship with explosives.”  That wiped the grin away.


         “You did not.”


         “Yep.  I did.”  She pouted.


         “But why?” she whined.


         “Insurance.”  The pirate blinked.  A moment later she was laughing again.


         “You know Kenshi, when I do kill you I think I’ll honestly be a little sad.”


         “Thanks.  Really.”


         “So, down to business.”  Her grin turned evil.  “Tell the truth.  Three beautiful women stranded on a ship with you as the only man.  You’re not looking for Malcom, you just wanted the ultimate foursome.”  The smile came genuine on his face as he chuckled, a picture she’d only managed to see back on Midolloni City.  “Sinner.”


-------------------------


         “Pilots say no air drop so that leaves one line of attack.  We split the teams.  Head in single file, quiet.  With snow cover they shouldn’t see us coming.  Anything between us and it we take carefully and quietly.  Once we’re at the ship, breach bang and clear.  Fast.  They won’t know what hit ‘em.”


         Arch was one of a few dozen listening along as Wicks ended his little plan by cracking his pointer against the orbital picture of a sleek ship hugged up against a mountain crevice.  The idea was sound and basic enough.  Not a whole lot else you could do going uphill toward a target with only one direction to approach.


         “Any questions?” Wicks asked, looking back on the group.  Then he went stiff and saluted abruptly.  Arch turned just in time to see a tall man walk by decked out in officer’s garb.  It was a moment before he realized the famed Commander Burlai was before them.


         “Sir, I wasn’t expecting...”


         “I know,” the commander said in a deep voice.  He looked silently over the map for a moment, digesting it.  After a moment he turned to the group.  “You are about to head into a trap,” he said finally.


         “Do you intend to not send us...?”


         “Wicks, shut up,” Burlai interrupted and their Lieutenant went red.  In that moment Arch knew every man in the room hated the commander.  “Before I became an officer I was in the SEALS,” he started.


         ‘A motivational speech?’ Arch thought, disgusted.  What poor timing.  This guy was as far off as rumors said.


         “There I trained and was stationed alongside Kenshi Tamaki for well over a year.”  Now there was a new one.  Suddenly the man’s usurping made a little sense.  Certainly would do a number for rumor control.  The last theory had been kidnaping Baragossa’s daughter.


         Burlai took a moment to look over them all, Wicks included.  After that moment ended he said, “He was a great soldier.  Better than any man here.”


         “Hey now...” Wicks started then it was Burlai’s turn to go red.


         “Wicks stand in with your people.  If you speak again without my permission I’ll put you in the brig.”  That shut the man up as he moved to follow the order, awkwardly.


         “That is the exact reason Tamaki is better than all of you,” the young commander said after waiting another moment for the Lieutenant to stand in position.  “He has discipline - something you all severely lack.  When you see hell crashing down around you do you run away or do you fight?


         “When you march up those hills Tamaki will be waiting.  He will see hell approaching around him and he will fight - and fight well.  He will shoot straighter and take better tactical positions than any of you would dream of.  There is nothing to be done about this, it is simply fact.


         “When you march up those hills you will see hell crash on you.  It will be sudden, quick and devastating.  I do not doubt that many of you will die in the first attack.  The question is whether you stand and fight, keep your cool or if you will run away.


         “You must not run.  You must not falter.  You must press him.  Do not give Tamaki or Ruki a single inch edgewise.  With it they will take a foot.  And you will die.”  Burlai looked up at the map, taking it in and they all did the same, some not buying into the man’s prophecy, others remembering all too well close brushes with the elusive Terran.  All were a little more unsettled than they had been.


         Arch was a mixture of both.


         “Expect him to set up turrets.  We will do what we can to observe any movement and relay information, but do not rely on our intel.  Orbital strikes should keep his ship grounded, but you will have no other close range support.”  He turned back to them.


         “A half hour after your drop I will have a company of marines on the ground.  They will set up a perimeter and will continue the fight should you fail.  If you fail survivors are to work as aides to Colonel Horvath and Major Doyle.  Armor support will be a last resort, as will heavy air support.  We want Alanya Midolloni and the stolen intel intact.  If it’s bad enough, which it may well be, the decision may come to bomb Tamaki, Ruki and their ship.  All this we do not want to happen.  If this becomes dragged out it will be devastating.  You must end this battle quickly.”  He frowned and looked over them all.  “Am I understood?”


         Arch felt the hairs on the back of his neck bristle as he and all those around him straightened their backs and replied with a resounding, “Hooyah, Commander Burlai.”


-------------------------


         “Maybe some scary words will shut the girls up for awhile, but how exactly do you plan on staying alive for days, perhaps weeks on end against thousands of MMC?” Ruki asked as she sat down on the control panel and kicked her feet up on Kenshi’s lap.  Frowning, he pushed her away.


         “With difficulty.”


         “In other words, superior firepower.”  He shrugged, pulling out Ally’s datapad and started sifting through the items in his long arsenal.  “Unfortunately you don’t have superior firepower unless this ship has one major trick up it’s sleeve I don’t know about.  Those orbital guns aren’t letting us go anywhere.”


         “Cool.”  The bewildered look she gave him was beautiful.


         “What?”


         “Apparently I have a gun that can pick up 25 kg objects and toss them around.”  Made her look all the more bewildered.


         “Cool.”  Standing up, he headed for the corridor.


         “We have three guns on this ship facing the primary insertion area.  I think I can rework them to work as sentry turrets.”


         “You think?”  Again, he shrugged.


         “It’s not like I know all the bells and whistles.  Ally wasn’t one for giving details,” he said.  Ruki rolled her eyes knowingly.


         “You know it took me four years to find out my last ship had two stories?  I’d been sleeping in the damn cockpit!”


         He stopped at the armory and pressed the panel.  The door slid open and the long lines of weapons and equipment appeared.  Glancing at Ruki, he saw her jaw at the floor.


         “I just came,” she said.


         “Spare me the details,” the Terran replied, stepping into the room to begin sifting through it all.  Apparently it had some sort of letter-number organization which required the data pad to use.  God help him if the tiny device was ever lost.


         “It took me five decades of work to get this sort of equipment from Ally,” the pirate fumed, yet the interest was still very much apparent.  “Little twat.”  He began pulling out sentry guns.  Nothing he was familiar with, but the datapad listed excellent performance.


         “That’ll help hold them off, but it won’t do much good in the long run.  If they’re really having trouble they’ll point a cannon down and blast ‘em away,” Ruki said.


         “Every edge I can get.”  Now she was frowning at him.  He nearly flinched at the sight.  Gut reaction.  Ruki frowning usually meant pain.


         Instead she said, “You have a plan, don’t you.”  He shrugged.  “Just spit it out already.”  Glancing at the pirate, the redhead relented.  Moving further down the row he unclasped a blast cannon and a small, scoped stand under it.  Ruki blinked, looking between the two items as understanding slowly dawned on her.


         “You have got to be joking.”


         “Nope.”


         “It’d take hundreds of those to take down so much as a destroyer.  They have a super carrier up there.”


         “I’m not looking to take them down.  I’m looking to stop the orbital guns.”  Glancing between the weapons and him, she looked disbelieving.  He turned to continue rooting through the equipment.


         “Back in training there were two primary general skills we learned: killing and survival.  Everything else was secondary.  We weren’t a rescue team or peacekeepers.  We weren’t trained to capture.  Our job was killing and staying alive long enough to kill again.”  Sifting through the conventional weapons he began skimming through the rifles and machine guns.


         “You were an assassin,” she said simply.


         “Yes and no.  We were a strike team.  We could take down a single target, sure.  But what made us good was our ability to operate on a wider scale.  Mass infantry, armor, gunships, bombers, even orbital ships.”  He looked at her, saw her curiosity plain as day.  Throwing her the weapons he picked out, he continued.


         “A large scale of enemies is easy to confuse.  As long as the confusion is kept consistent you can cause a lot of damage.”  He smiled a bit.  “Figure you know that plain enough.


         “Gunships and bombers can be shot down.  Hell, a plasma grenade generates enough heat to short out most vehicle’s targeting systems if you get it within five meters.  Space craft are made to defend against plasma.  They’re vulnerable to lasers and always have been, the problem is the damage output.  They’re well armored, but not invincible.  Primarily they’re built for weapons with their energy shields as the main defense.  Get past those and you find weaknesses.  Three shots with a blast cannon to a certain point in an engine of a Larsa class super carrier will blow them, pretty much destroying all thrust capabilities.  Two near the nose will shut down primary sensors.  Two to the bridge will make the ship metaphorically brain dead.”


         He grinned.  “One to a small point at the side will cut out all power from all but the most basic weapons systems.  A week downtime in a shipyard fully replacing thousands of crucial wiring tubes and panels as well as two large sections of hull.  Plus however long it takes for the ship to travel to a port with the capabilities and supplies.”  By then Ruki’s eyes were wide.  He threw her the orbital scope.


         “I came again.”


         “I work fast,” he said, smiling a bit.  She shook her head as if clearing it.


         “Even if you could take down the guns we’re looking at a week or two on the ground with a dozen ships filled to the brim with infantry and armor.  I like a good fight and all, Kenshi, but that’s pushing it.”


         “I know.”


         “So then what’s your idea past ‘kill lots’?”


         “Don’t have one.”  Ruki blinked as he checked the datapad for viable rifles.  Ally had provided him perhaps with too much.  It was difficult separating the interesting from the very good from the excellent.


         After a moment the pirate finally said, “You are a true military recruiter, you know that?”


         “You knew what to expect.”


         “I didn’t know your plan was this idiotic!”  The former soldier only rolled his eyes at that.  “Seriously.  At least a week of likely continuous combat against a force a few thousand times the size of our own.  We’re looking at no sleep, meals maybe once every day or two and a force which will probably just bomb us to hell if we actually prove a match for them.  This isn’t exactly how I planned to go out!”


         “You planned to go out?”


         “No!  That’s the point!”  Kenshi frowned.  Crazy as she was, she was right - something which didn’t make him feel much more comfortable about things.


         ‘Like I have a choice,’ he thought.  Stand and fight or lay down arms, go to prison and watch the galaxy blow itself to hell.  ‘At least I could relax with the latter.’  The thought was more tempting than he liked.


         Shrugging, he said, “I’m not standing down.  Run away with that stub of your tail between your legs if you’d like, but I’m fighting.”


         Ruki bared her teeth at him and for a moment he thought it’d be another fight until, throwing her head back, the pirate let out a short laugh.


         “You’re a real gutsy sonofa bitch, you know that?”  Her grin turned downright evil.  “One more reason we’re the same.”


         He chose to ignore that for now - he had the pirate on his side for the time being and that’s all that mattered.  Turning back to the lines of equipment he continued to sift through it all.  So much available and so much they’d need if they hoped to survive.  He wondered if they’d even have time setting it all up - if the MMC was already on their way with a hundred frozen, pissed off soldiers marching up the hill intending only to murder the two of them.


         So many choices.  Sniper rifles, assault rifles, a couple machine guns, RPGs, three blast cannons, 16 turrets, enough high explosives to wipe out a square mile - with more to spare should he need it - an orbital scope, two long range radars, 50 separate motion detectors plus terminal, AA blasters, radars, radios and...


         “Whoa.”  At the end of it all, partially hidden by a wall of high explosives and rail guns, were the exosuits.  At his comment Ruki poked her head over his shoulder.


         “Mmmm, you know how to prepare a girl for a good time, don’t you Kenshi?”


         “I just came.”  He saw her grin at the corner of his eye then move past him to take a closer look.


         There were only two, one needing to be packed in front of the other to fit in the confined space.  The front piece was a full armor set of greys and blacks, complete with a full face mask and non reflective glass HUD.  Thick armor and motorized joints from the looks of it.  Behind it was the real draw, however.


         It must’ve been close on eight feet of heavy metal.  The damn thing was a monster.  He wouldn’t be carrying any weapons with it’s lack of fingers, but he wouldn’t need to.  On one arm was strapped some sort of gatling - probably not unlike the firestorm cannon he’d tested in training.  On the other was what looked to be an RPG or blast cannon.


         “Dibs,” Ruki called.


         “My ship my rules.”


         “I’m a pirate.  Do you think I care about rules?”  They looked at each other then looked back at the twin suits.


         “Start bringing supplies out.”


         “Hell no.  What are you gonna do?”


         “You already have your exosuit.  Now I need one.”  He looked around the smaller black and grey suit tying to find an opening.


         “Spoilt sport,” she said, then promptly shut up when the torso opened up and Kenshi removed his shirt, preparing to enter.  He looked over his shoulder to see the pirate watching him very closely.


         “Get to work,” he said and she pouted, but she did as she was told.  Looked like Ruki had a concept of time and their lack of it after all.


         Stepping out of his pants and shoes and into the armor, he felt the padding inside fit itself automatically and comfortably around him.  As the torso enclosed him he felt pressure on his chest while it tightened.  It’d definitely take some getting used to.  Shoulda been training with it alongside the damn machine gun.


         Finally he placed the helmet over his head and felt as well as heard it seal him inside.  Immediately the screen inside came to life, a motion tracker with a 50 meter layout around him blinking on at the lower right side of his vision.


         “Get to work, he says.  We’ll see about that.  I’ll just take that little suit from him when we’re done,” Ruki chimed in through the headset.


         “No you won’t,” he replied then smiled at the screech she made.


         “What the hell?”  A blip on his system moved closer and he watched Ruki poke her head around the corner, again bewildered as hell.


         “Does that qualify as a successful radio check?”


-------------------------


         It took a good 15 minutes to separate the equipment they wanted from the rest of his arsenal.  Gave Kenshi decent time to grow accustomed to the strange way the padding along his chest pressed against him.  The helmet was off in perhaps his last opportunity to breath non recycled air, but the rest of it still felt odd.


         Ruki seemed in good spirits, considering, but it was hard to tell with her.  He always figured the pirate wore her heart out on her sleeve, but the ways she switched between anger and playfulness was disconcerting.  Still, it seemed that as long as she was around heavy weaponry she was content.


         ‘I am supplying dangerous and incredibly powerful weaponry to a mass murderer who has been my rival for over three years.  I’d think there’s a punch line to that somewhere in there, but somehow I feel I’ve already used it.’  Shrugging it off, he set the last of the turrets into the corridor.


         “That it?” Ruki asked, looking down the row of handpicked items they’d only somewhat organized.


         “Should be,” he replied as he walked back into the armory and picked up his discarded clothing.  Every single movement felt light as air, even considering his enhanced strength.  He could see himself growing weak with prolonged use of the suit.


         ‘Wonder if the nanobots would stop that too.’  Somehow the thought chilled him.  He decided he’d have to think more on his veritable immortality when all this was over considering he didn’t even know how to fill out the rest of a normal lifetime.


         “Be back soon,” he said, walking past the pirate who promptly rolled her elliptical eyes.


         “I look forward to it, sweety.  Pick up some bread on the way out.”  He flipped her off as he entered the living room.  Alanya turned to him when he came in and the red, puffy cheeks made it easy to see the princess had been crying.


         ‘Fuck,’ he thought, crossing the room, throwing the clothing inside his bedroom and finally crossing the room once more to crouch before the girl.  She didn’t say a word, didn’t even make eye contact.  The situation was weighing down and she couldn’t handle it.  Big surprise.  Bigger surprise he was overlooking it.


         “What’s wrong?” he said after awhile then grimaced a bit at the gruffness of his tone.


         “Nothing.”  He couldn’t help but roll his eyes.


         “A woman who says ‘nothing’ is lying.  It’s like predicting rain while watching a downpour.”  That brought some life out of her as she glared up at him.


         “I’m sorry, ok?!  I followed you here and now I’m a liability.  I’m a stupid, useless girl who went in way over her head and is now stuck.  Is that what you want to hear?”  Now Kenshi was the one looking bewildered.  In the face of her anger he nearly burst out laughing.


         “Is that it?”


         “Excuse me?” she asked haughtily.  Now he did laugh.  “What’s so funny?!  I know I’m pathetic but you don’t have to laugh about it!  Thanks a lot, Kenshi.”  Settling down, he smiled warmly at her.


         “Darlin’, if you weren’t here I’d be a dead man.”


         She blinked, said, “What?”


         “MMC doesn’t care about taking me alive or recovering the data.  They’re more worried about it falling into the wrong hands.  Give them the choice, they’d have nuked me long ago.  Only reason they haven’t is because you’re aboard and nobody wants to risk getting on the bad side of the emperor.”  Again she blinked, part disbelieving, part misunderstanding.


         “I’m...keeping you alive?”


         “Yep.”


         The princess bit her lip, looking away and blushing.  Under her breath he may have heard a, “Sorry,” but it was difficult to tell.  He reached a hand up and patted her head.


         “Forget about it.  Relax for the long haul and let me handle things.  If nothing else you’re the only sane one on this damn boat and that’s sure as hell a comforting thought.  Good having someone aboard who hasn’t tried to kill me.”  She smile faintly, but it was a smile nonetheless.


         “They both tried to kill you?” she asked.


         “Both almost succeeded too.”  The girl let out a tiny giggle.


         “You got beat up by women.”  Smiling, he patted the girl’s head one last time then stood up.


         “I’m gonna be out for awhile.  Don’t watch the news.  It’ll only scare you,” he said then headed out of the room.


         Before the door closed he heard a faint, “Bye, Kenshi.”  And then he was alone in the corridor with Ruki smirking at him.


         “Done flirting yet?” she asked, floating toward him.  The Terran only rolled his eyes and continued walking past her.  The pirates arms wrapped loosely around his neck as he went by.  “Shame you don’t flirt with me, Kenshi,” she cooed, dragging his name out teasingly.  “I flirt back.”


         Taking her slender arm between his thumb and forefinger, Kenshi pried the merc loose and went for his discarded helmet.


         “Spoilt sport,” she said, pouting as he sealed the helmet back onto the rest of the armor.


         “You’ll live.”


         Grabbing a pair of turrets, Ruki followed suit beside him, her mask pulling into place.  Upon opening the hatch he was immediately blasted by a gust of snowy wind which had him smiling despite himself.  Thermometer showed -16 degrees C.


         “You had to land in the middle of a snowstorm,” Ruki complained.


         “I like weather like this,” he replied simply.


         “You would.”


         “Makes me feel alive.”


         Stepping down into the snow, Kenshi could almost see Ruki in her black suit, cocking her head at him behind his back.


         “Psycho,” she said, following.