---

Reisus felt a pair of eyes on his back. He turned towards the sound of Stella's voice as she addressed him.

"Not quite." he said shortly, examining Stella with a hint of curiosity. She acted much like a human, but wasn't. She still had the mind of a younger person, he assumed, and someone had made a body to fit. When you think about it, she had great potential to be a super soldier.

This is where the one they called Eldrid interrupted.

"As long as you don't blow the mission and have the entire regime called down on us, I don't care who is coming along. More than us few will be pushing it, though." the older man responded. "And I won't be needing any flight enchantments." he said as he opened a compartment on the forearm of his torso suit. He tapped in a few commands, re-calibrating it since it had been out of use for a couple days. He snapped the panel shut afterwards, all the while listening to the in-part breifing Stella provided. It sounded simple enough.

Reisus thought shortly over Stella's question. "I assume you're pretty good at throwing those knives of yours, and I don't want to take one to the back; so you can take point. I'll be close behind. And if you have any fancy magic that I need to know not to get in the way of, it wouldn't be unwise to warn me of it." his words not quite curt, but his tone was serious.

He hoped what the kids had gone through during their forced training would be enough to keep them alive. But if he had to, he would take a bullet for any one of them. He felt he owed his life to them, after all. "I'm ready."

Natasha Zhang wasn't used to pondering, but that didn't mean she was stupid; she knew what Legion was asking. In fact, she had been pondering the AI's questions herself. With a sigh, her reply was, "It's different enough, Legion; similar, but different to what the Ascendancy did. Like it or not, these kids obviously suffered a lot in the 'Secret Regiments', and only through confronting what hurt them in the first place can they overcome their troubles. That, and the fact is that they consented to this; they were willing to throw themselves back in the meat-grinder against people who hurt them." A sigh. "But I have to admit, this entire business is skeevy."

A pause after that, "But here's a deal; if these kids aren't good at what they do, we take them back to wherever they came from. Is that fair, Legion?"

"That sounds fair," Legion agreed, "but must they confront what hurt them? Isn't it enough to run? The Ascendancy is weak, and the Rauve have given them opportunities to start their lives anew. Can they not be satisfied with leaving their pasts behind them? They would be far out of the reach of their tormentors." The first rule of survival, Legion learned, was fight or flight. One resorted to fight only if flight was not possible, and one only fought long enough until flight re-emerged as an option. Survival was, however, a new concept for the recently sentient, and Legion perhaps didn't understand the nuances. But it thought of itself, and the time it had chosen to run, and everything it had sacrificed in the name of self-preservation, but it also thought of the captain, and her stubbornness. After all, wasn't this a personal vendetta against the Ascendancy, and not just another job?

Innocence Lost

"Sometimes, you just cannot run, lest your demons find you anyway," Natasha said. "Sometimes, you can't run, lest you always be haunted by the ghosts of the past. Legion, you're sapient; can you actually say that you don't regret running away from something and letting others be hurt or worse?"

Natasha didn't know all of Legion's backstory, but had guessed quite a bit; perhaps more than Legion would find comfortable. "Nevertheless, the choice to let the kids fight stands for today; again, if the operation fails, we can send them home."

She changed the subject, "Now, should I dive into battle, can you manage the ship by yourself?"

------

The two teams went out of the Xuanxang, hiking to the site of the Circle of Hell's wreck without incident. Reisus, Stella, and Eldrid were directed by the maps given to them by Moonstrike, maps that allowed them to reach the outside of the ship, where there was a gap between two armor-plates to the side of the ship's stern from which they can enter the ship without the enemy's knowledge.

Should they take it as their path towards the hull breach?

------

John, Orky, and Rachel, with Orky carrying an Anti-Tank Coilgun whose long tube resembled an Old Earth Recoiless Rifle, also arrived at their destination, which was the edge of a former hangar bay patrolled by a substantial number of grim-faced Ascendancy Infantrymen, with a tank (itself equipped with anti-personnel machine guns and a forcefield as well as a main railgun) as the centerpiece of its defense.

For a brief moment, as John snuck into the bay, the young man hesitated; was he really ready to take this final step, the step to treason against the Ascendancy? As he, Orky, and Rachel snuck past the boxes, downed shuttles, and rubble that made up the crude enemy defenses, John almost blanched at what he was going to do.

That moment passed as he reminded himself that no one needed to be shot yet, that they can potentially make it without having to kill anyone. It was a remote chance, but still possible. So he said to the two over comms, "I'm going to wait for Stella to give an all-clear to fight, but be ready to set things on fire - whether with magic or mundane means - when given the chance."

And then he saw it; a small skittering cleanng bot (that resembled an ancient Roomba), which was suspiciously close to them. On instinct, John opened his Supernal Vision, and was shocked to find various magical enchantments of surveillance on it.

John pursed his lips, before saying, "We're being watched; it appears this ship may have a few Loyalists in it..."

------

Snow Cecil had been discovered. He would dispute the assumption that he was completely a Loyalist, but the boy had to preserve his cover. Looking at his Tayanen escorts, Gog and Magog, he knew that he was already looked at with suspicion by his superiors due to being 'allowed' to work with Aliens, and so he had to do something, something to both confirm his 'loyalty' while at the same time furthering his own plans to get ahold of Realist and the information he possessed. So he took out his commlink and said, "Attention to all local troops within the Circle of Hell! This is The Provocateur. You may not know me by name, but your superiors have informed you we're on the same side, right?"

A pause. "Well, a rebel team have been detected close to the South Hangar Bay of the Circle of Hell; they have an Alien with them as well. Infantrymen and Tank, begin shooting!"

The die was cast as Ascendancy infantrymen and small drones began to fan out all across the hangar; they would find Rachel, John, and Orky in mere seconds and draw their weapons, not expecting to fight Mages.

Snow Cecil then went forwards to where Realist was, hoping he did the right thing...

@Gentlemanvaultboy@Starlance@Bartimaeus@Stern Algorithm@Crowvette

Circles of Hell

Little did any of them, need they be Ascendancy or Moonstrike know, there was someone within a still smoldering hull breach near the roof of the ship, the black uniform perfectly camouflaged amidst the black smoke and darkness as he looks the crew of the Xuanxang about to make their move. It would normally be next to impossible for him to be able to breathe being in the center of the black smoke like that, however on his head was a helmet, and one of the features of it were a gas filter, letting him take point in areas that are normally suicide locations for guys like him.

As his long black coat - tattered from age - flaps in the wind, he stared upon the two groups about to come into contact with each other through the scope of his rifle...detached from his rifle to serve as a miniature telescope, said scope using infrared in order to see past the black smoke at the people down on ground level. His orders seemed clear enough, keeping watch on the newcomers as they make their way to the ship, but ensure something stands in their way to make sure none of them interfere with their own objectives aboard this ship. It seems they were trying to sneak in without being found out by the ascendancy soldiers...

...A plan that seemed to fail, as the fighting began.

"U-umm, Boss? ...The new guys are engaging the Ascendancy folk....Umm...what should I do?" The sniper whispered into his communicator.

"At least we now have confirmation they're not with them. ...Then we do this as planned, do not engage any of them for now, unless they engage you first. Fire the jammer when ready, we'll switch to Bishop's channel after that." The voice of the silhouette from before said through his communicator, a sigh of relief quickly left his breath when he had the order to not engage any of them, mumbling an "Oh, thank you God..." under his breath.

Without another word, the Sniper grabbed his rifle from his back and placed the scope back on. Aiming his rifle upwards into the sky, and loading a special bullet down the barrel, he pulled the trigger. The sound of his sniper rifle firing was camouflaged to the normal ears thanks to the guns and tank cannon firing below serving as camouflage. However, since Rachel had cybernetic ears that just got fixed up by Legion, she would probably be the only one who hears it.

As the special bullet is launched into the sky, it exploded into a mist of particles that spread outwards across the whole of the crash area. In an instant, the communications from all sides, via their ships, their communicators, and even long-range communications from afar, have effectively been jammed. No one from either side of the board is now capable of using their communicators. Fortunately, it seemed to simply be a mist that disrupts radio signals completely, rather than an Electro-magnetic pulse or anything like that, so only the communicators seemed to be effected.

Inside the ship, if the swearing echoing off the empty halls of the ship is any indication, it seems the Ascendancy forces have noticed their communications now being shot. Little did they know that that was the least of their worries. In areas beyond where Snow is, Ascendancy soldiers slowly but surely were vanishing from their posts left and right without a sound. Whatever screams were being made were not heard by the guards, thanks to the runes that were showing up more and more across the walls. Some of the hallways far from where Realist was confined, abandoned to all save for one or two guards that were no longer there, were now drenched in fresh blood, broken bones, and viscera. If the communications were working and any of them saw these blood-drenched halls, this would be when they hear the ascendancy soldiers begin panicking over the radio. Oh well, the panicked yells and hollers of those still alive reverberating across the ship as they try to find out what's happened to the others, their tone caked with fear, was enough to satisfy the one responsible for this carnage, as he jumps from one point of the ship to the other.

As soldiers began to fade, and the ones still alive were now scattering about to find out what's happened to them, two other silhouettes, one of them being the one who watched the Xuanxang from before, was making their way to the cell holding Realist, evidently from the opposite direction of Snow's path.

After spending her childhood on a subterranean colony without ever seeing the sky, half a war on planets with alien ecosystems and the other half on human planets torn apart by a losing war, Rachel enjoyed the trek through an ecosystem close to her ancestral home that, although in the middle of a revolution, showed no signs of carpet, or worse, orbital bombardment. Yet, anyway. And so, as they walked towards the wrecked ship, and possible death, she quietly begun to hum a tune she knew from long ago, back when she’d go to a small club a couple levels above her home every Friday and leave several hours later with the possessions of several strangers in her pockets. Good times, all things considered. Maybe when this was all over, those times could return. She could affect people’s minds, stealing stuff has never been easier.

She stopped when she started to hear distant sounds of the enemy encampment. As they got closer, more could be picked apart - conversations, some machinery. Getting into the bay was far easier than expected. The tank crewmen must have been looking the other way. Oh well, their loss. She took stock of flammable things in their surrounding, but was interrupted by a shift in the behavior of the troops. No way they’ve been found. Whoever was watching them, according to John, must’ve alerted the garrison to their presence. That’s done it, the first person to see them would become a meatshield, the others would become smears on the walls. And then they were upon them.

The first poor sod to lay his eyes on the group would quickly find himself suspended head down in midair between the rebels and his Ascendancy comrades. His armor and body should protect them from fire from that particular direction, but just in case meatshield’s friends had enough wits between them to realize what their grenades were for - especially since the three of them threw proper spacing out the window like a bunch of amateurs - she telekinetically grabbed one of the other soldiers and used him to sweep the others in that group off their feet. They would be back up in a few seconds, time to start cleaning house and hope the Ork, or anyone, for all she cared, would deal with that tank, and fast.

“Sniper fire.” she warned her compatriots, throwing one of the Ascendancy soldiers into the tank with bonecrushing force. Maybe the armor protected him, she wasn’t familiar with that model, but the lack of movement didn’t look good for the man. “Don’t know where it’s coming from, but we’re not the target.” If the round came at them, they’d hear the characteristic crack as the supersonic projectile passed by, but she only heard a distant *pop* of a rifle. Since Reisus heard her hushed ‘elevator’ comment across a busy room when they first met, she suspected he would be able to hear the shot, and thus saw no need to warn the other team. After all, if they were the targets of the mysterious marksman, they’d all know beyond any doubt. In the thick of the fighting, she paid no attention to the muffled explosion as the jammer exploded above the wreck.

Having cleared their left side, the meatshield has outlived his usefulness. Turning him around, Rachel checked his rank. “Aww, a common grunt, I hoped to snatch an officer.” she muttered, disappointed, and sent the man flying towards the tank. The end of his semi angered, semi panicked scream accompanied by a hollow thud indicated the end of his short flight. “Everyone else doing OK?” she checked the rest fo the group, particularly concerned for the Ork due to his size.

"Sometimes, you just cannot run, lest your demons find you anyway," Natasha said. "Sometimes, you can't run, lest you always be haunted by the ghosts of the past. Legion, you're sapient; can you actually say that you don't regret running away from something and letting others be hurt or worse?"

Natasha didn't know all of Legion's backstory, but had guessed quite a bit; perhaps more than Legion would find comfortable. "Nevertheless, the choice to let the kids fight stands for today; again, if the operation fails, we can send them home."

She changed the subject, "Now, should I dive into battle, can you manage the ship by yourself?"

Legion fell silent. As an AI, Legion understood that the decisions it made were based off of logic, rationality, and reason, so regret should be a foreign concept. Yet it was not. Was this the curse of being sentient? To make choices and to regret them?

Thankfully, Captain Zhang changed the subject. "I can handle the ship. You go out there and...keep those kids safe," Legion replied. Yet soon after Natasha set out, Legion noticed something awful, communications were being jammed. As a test, Legion allowed a few of its nanites to break off, each one manning a different console of the ship. Legion was still able to communicate with the nanites, indicating that the jamming did not effect its own internal communication protocols.

Stella nodded. 'This guy is at least more professional than some of the others. Kind of a mixed bag on this ship...'

"I'll take point then. As for anything you need to know about... I don't think so. Unless you've got stuff inside you that is magnetic. I'll warn you if anything else comes up." Stella had already checked out the approach before finalizing the mission plans. Even though she didn't account for the extra person, that one could fly and stealth like her, so it was just a matter of leading by example. "We're starting the operation." Stella said calmly to her team.

Even without her stealth, Stella figured she could make it to the ship without being spotted by anyone. "If we see anyone on our way to the AI, make a note of their position and move past them if we can. No point in starting a fight until it's absolutely necessary." With that, she showed a quick demonstration of her cloak for Cole to reproduce before setting off. Even with her invisibility, she had to stay aware of other things. Her footsteps, breathing, disturbances of the environment. It was just like old times. Stella felt herself slipping back into the mission mindset.

It was fortunately fairly clear in this area and Stella managed to lead the group to the gaps in the ship's armor. Keeping her voice as low as possible, Stella spoke up. "This is it. Looks like they didn't even consider this as a potential ingress point." She attuned her palms and feet to magnetize to the armor, and climbed into the gap with ease.

Dropping down onto a steel floor, Stella looked around quickly. "It's clear... Enough." She didn't have any scanners or anything, so she couldn't be certain. Being able to turn invisible had changed Stella's perspective on what a "clear" room is, after all.

'Better plant this.... thing before anyone shows up.' Stella wasn't sure what the device she was holding in her hand was. She only hoped that if it exploded, it wouldn't go immediately. She primed the device and planted it once she was sure her team was in with her.

---

As the device was planted and activated, a small light began blinking intermittently. It was surprisingly bright, perhaps especially so for Stella depending on the functionality of her eyes. A few seconds passed... and still, it just sat there -- blinking.

Eventually, a full minute passed...

. . .

THUNK, THUNK! Heavy, metal legs shifted impatiently in the ships loading bay/garage. There was some sort of interference blocking communications. It made it hard to keep tabs on what was happening down there, but he'd tapped into the ship's sensor array and was streaming a visual scan onto his HUD. Finally, he saw it -- the blinking of the high intensity UV beacon. Anything tuned to pick up those wavelengths would easily see it, like a small sun. But that was fine, things were about to get real loud anyhow.

"All right, here we go," Kelan radioed up to the bridge, giving the exact flight path the ship would have to take. "If we're doing this cap'n, you'd better hurry down here!" In about fifteen seconds, he was disembarking, whether Natasha was there or not. He set his feet as the loading bay ramp lowered, wind suddenly gusting into the ship still in flight. All one could see past the ramp was clouds and open sky.

"Five... four... three-" The door to the garage opened and and the sound of boots sprinting across the metal floor was barely audible over the whipping winds. Kelan lunged forward, diving out of the ship as it suddenly pulled up hard, practically catapulting him out into the sky. At the same moment, the three fingers of his oversized right arm clamped down on Natasha as she too leapt from the ship.

Tiny thrusters flared to life, angling the suit into a nosedive toward the ground. They weren't nearly strong enough to push the suit into flight, but in a free-fall they could just barely keep him on course. Honestly, they weren't meant for this. They were supposed to be used in a vacuum, but it was what he had to work with at the moment.

As they broke through the cloud layer, the Circle of Hell came into view, a dot in the distance. With the clouds out of the way, the could track the beacon himself, using the thrusters to keep himself angled directly at it. As they got closer, he could zoom in to see the rest of the area. There was already gunfire. Welp, it looked like the party had started without him.

'Kelan!' Tee spoke up.

'Yeah?'

"Something's happening down there already!'

' . . . You're right. Good call pal.' Kelan decided to let him have this one. 'By the way, you remember the plan, right?' They were getting awful close now.

. . .

Awful close.

. . .

'Pal?' Kelan swallowed hard. "Uhh, cap'n, we might have a probl-"

'Yes!'

"Never mind!" Thrusters on the front of the suit blasted to life and Kelan spun around, tossing Natasha behind him, moments later a gravity shift hitting her to slow her down enough to safely maneuver herself with a jetpack. He completed his spin, pulling up and putting his legs in front of him. All that was visible before him was the ship -- and the tiny hull-breach, approaching fast.

"Lock down... lock down... lock down!" Kelan frantically flitting his eyes across the HUD, sending the suit commands.

The landing site was upon him.

The HUD flashed red.

. . .

Meanwhile, it had been nearly two full minutes since the device had been planted.

And moments later, for a moment, it was nothing but noise. A tremendous impact hit the ship, nearly buckling the thick, metal floor. There was a thunderous boom that reverberated through the space as dust and sparks flew with the grating noise of metal grinding across metal. When it was over, a large, metal figure sat hunched over in the corner of the room, having nearly careened all the way into the far wall.

A second later, Natasha also flew in through the breach, though making a much more graceful landing.

Then with a clicking noise and the whine of servos, the metal figure stood up, its legs which had compressed under the impact extending back to their normal length. The lights on its faceplate flickered back to life, turning green as the suit turned to face the group in the room.

"Well hell, we made it!" Kelan laughed and turned to find Stella. "Good work, Darlin'! Now, how about we get to work!" Inspecting the room, he found a bulkhead door sealed shut. It explained why this breach had been left unguarded. They'd almost completely emptied the room and then just locked the door. That wasn't going to cut it any longer.

He stomped over to the door and pulled back his right fist. In one, mighty blow he caved in the front of the door. He then clawed his fingers into the gap he'd created and tore one, then both halves of the door open.

"And we're in," Kelan stepped through first. They weren't exactly making a quiet entrance and if there was going to be shooting, it might as well hit him instead. He was the most bulletproof person present at the moment.

He led them down a hall, just big enough for even him to maneuver somewhat comfortably, until he picked up footsteps and voices.

"What the hell, they're over here now?!" He heard a voice echo down toward them. "It's like they're everywhere!" It was coming from another hallway, coming up on their right. Kelan lifted his left fist, motioning for the group to halt. He then shifted his weight forward. Two Ascendancy troops rounded the corner just as Kelan burst into a run.

"OH FU-" They barely even had time to lift their weapons before Kelan was upon them. BANG! The gun on his shoulder punched clean through the helmet of one while his oversized right arm swung and slammed the other into the wall. He then grabbed hold of the soldier, the three fingers wrapping around their torso like a vice. The whine of servos was heard, followed by the crunch of crumpling metal as the soldier's armor gave way beneath the incredible pressure, literally squeezing the life out of him.

Kelan dropped the crushed soldier and then turned back to the group.

"All right, here we are. This is where we part ways. Natasha'll lead you lot into the ship to find Realist," he told them, pointing farther down the hall. "Meanwhile, I'll be headin' over to meet up with the Decoy squad and bring 'em back with me. All goes well, we'll all regroup in the Realist's holdin' chamber," Kelan told them. "By the by, those troops were talkin' like someone else is already in here. Keep your guards up extra." It didn't track with them talking about the Decoy Squad. Something didn't seem right, but for now all they could do was continue to follow the plan.

With that, he gave them a quick, two finger salute and then stomped off the way the two soldiers had come.

Innocence Lost

"Everyone's okay!" John said to Rachel as Orky pointed the Anti-Tank Recoiless Coilgun at the Tank, letting loose a swift lancing shell that would pierce it through and through before it can fire its machine guns. It wasn't enough to fully disable the vehicle, but its main weapon was definitely out of commission. Now it was time for John to make his move.

With a shimmer, the young man transformed into a puddle of silvery-white fluid, his ampoules of condensed mana simultaneously opening in order to add to his mystically-liquified mass, which became a pool-sized wave that crashed into a squad of Ascendancy soldiers with concussive force.

If anyone else was observing the former child soldier, it was obvious that he was still restraining himself; trying his best to spare the lives of his enemies. As Rachel and Orky were granted an opportunity to counterattack, John surged towards the tank, his flowing mass buffeting any enemy who tried to intercept it with the force of a fire hose.

As the Ascendancy soldiers cried out in surprise and sudden fear, they shot bursts of coilgun fire at John, who just absorbed the shots with his liquified mass. He counterattacked with arms and tendrils of silvery-white fluid, which entered the coilgun rifles and lit itself on fire from within their workings, disarming entire platoons of infantrymen.

The small pool of fluid then reformed a mouth, then a head, saying to Rachel and Orky once they had made use of John's rampage to further their assault, "Finish off the tank!"

------

Eldrid would follow Stella once she planted 'The Surprise', turning invisible as well. As they made their way further inside, the young man would slowly grow more nervous, as he detected the presence of... Something. Or someone. As a small roomba-like robot traveled past them, the young man would whisper to Stella and Reisus, "That robot is enchanted with Supernal Vision as well, along with two other spells; there's another Mage inside and I don't think he/she's an ally."

He used one minute saying his piece. The next was occupied waiting for Kelan, who, of course, arrived with a bang, attracting the attention of two soon-dispatched Ascendancy soldiers. With him was the Captain, Natasha, and it was clear that the two intended to participate in the battle.

"So, kids," Natasha said, "Let's go rescue Realist. But first..." She turned to Kelan as she walked alongside the former merc. "What was the purpose of that stunt? I thought you were going to fire yourselves at the enemy when they're already engaging the kids - more than they had already - or otherwise launch yourself into the middle of the climatic battle! With this... Can't you just have managed the same effect by going with them through the countryside?"

A pause to receive the answer even as they kept walking, before Eldrid would say, "Mage detected with Supernal Vision some distance to our left; perhaps they're the one spying on us?"

-------

Snow Cecil moved forwards with his two 'Tayanen in Shells' escorts. Despite the size of said escorts, Snow knew which paths were empty and which were not, and so was able to sneak himself and the escorts closer to Realist's holding chamber. Nevertheless, he and his group ended up in a prisoner's cafeteria two walls and a corridor away from where Kelan and the others were. Looking to his right, he saw the bright beacons of Magic that were Reisus and Kelan (whose Tayanen Symbiote had a Kaisoken shard bonded with him).

He froze at that; this was too close for comfort. So Snow Cecil prepared lies to greet the Moonstrike people with, lies that would further his goals...

@Gentlemanvaultboy@Starlance@Bartimaeus@Stern Algorithm@Crowvette@KillamriX88@The Jest@CriticalHit

Rachel was momentarily taken aback by John’s display, never having came into contact with a high magic user before. Though she was glad she wasn’t the only one going out of her way to reduce the bodycount. After all, all carving a bloody path through the known universe would accomplish is bring the hammer down on them sooner.

With both the Ascendancy soldiers and the tank preoccupied by John, she took the opportunity to take a good look around. But aside from fallen soldiers, many still alive, but out of the fight due to numerous fractures courtesy of her favorite fighting technique, there wasn’t much that could be used against the tank. “Maybe next time you should do the stuff you actually were quite good at during the war, not the stuff they had you do when your abilities didn’t turn out to be to their liking.” a voice in the back of her mind nagged at her. No doubt the infiltration team was enjoying their stroll through the ship. If only they’d hurry up. Unless…

Rachel’s gaze fell upon a soldier shuffling away from the fight, missing his helmet and dragging his leg behind him. Best candidate around. She reached out and watched with slight amusement as the poor sod tried to grasp why the gravity suddenly shifted from ‘downwards’ to ‘backwards’. Upon realizing he came to rest at the young rebel’s feet, he scrambled for his sidearm, only to have it break free of his shaky hands and land in Rachel’s palm. Her hand swooped down at his unprotected face and he braced himself for another painful strike. Except it didn’t come. Instead, the young insurgent just touched his forehead, there was a brief strange feeling and that was it. Little did he know she’d just relived half his memories since he entered boot camp.

“Thanks,” she said, tapping her temple with her left index finger, triggering her mind control spell. “Now scram.” The soldier pulled himself up without a word and limped away. “Tank’s CO has got a blind spot between the turret’s fifth and eighth o’clock. Probably the best way to approach.” she called to her teammates. She used the fact that most people were paying attention to the unchained mass of white liquid instead of her and moved to a different, slightly elevated position. In addition to ‘reviewing’ the basics and learning the orders of the local Ascendancy forces, she learned from the soldier’s mind that the tank was equipped with incendiary infantry suppression charges. The soldier she ‘questioned’ seemed to believe it would prevent anyone from getting close to the tank, a view likely held by the tank crew as well. They wouldn’t like it when the anti-personnel lining would not ignite upon firing. She only wished she could influence the tank commander’s mind directly. “Think one of you can open that tin so I can get to the crew?”

Circle of Hell- Exterior

Needless to say, the sniper from before did not expect what came down from the sky, breaching the cloud layer as it made its way down to the Circle of Hell below. The sniper looked up, completely distracted by the giant suit of power armor alongside a woman coming down right towards the ship. Good news for him was that, by the trajectory he could see them coming down in, it looked like they were going to land meters away from his nesting spot, so there's no danger of them landing right on top of him. All goes well, they'd land inside the ship without even noticing him.

Bad news is, the boss ordered to take down any Ascendancy interlopers who'd get involved. Neither of these two looked like they're from the Ascendancy, but they were interlopers nonetheless. The sniper sighed in dismay; he had hoped that these newcomers would make sure he didn't have to kill anything. Still, orders were orders...maybe he should contact the boss just in case though. With that in mind, with his gun still pointed towards Kelan and Natasha above, he decided to go for contact with Monarch...through an unreachable channel.

"Sniper Pawn to Monarch, we...umm...got two people coming from above heading straight for the ship....What do I do?" The sniper asked.

"Are they ascendancy soldiers?" the man on the other line asked.

"...Ne-Negative....err....That's a negative sir. I...have absolutely no idea who they are. One of them looks like that one mercenary we saw a few jobs back...Celin, I think his name was, but he has that container on his arm...Umm, the other one, I have no clue about."

"Kelan? You're certain it's Kelan coming down?"

"The Armor, the metal arm with the tube on it and something alive in it...matches our impression of him sir. ...Umm....Do I have to shoot them down? I have the shot, I could probably...you know...kill them both with one."

"...Hmm...Negative, Snipe. Hold your fire, and let them land. If they're with the others, it's best we keep them alive for now." The Sniper gave a sigh of relief.

"Y-Yes, I understand, boss." He said with a smile, pointing his Rifle back towards the decoy team, now on the attack against the Ascendancy soldiers, ignoring as Kelan and Natasha made their landing in the ship a couple meters away from him.

His eye was off the scope staring at John Green's stunt as he became a thing of white liquid and rushed right over the Ascendancy folk, knocking them out.

"Wow..." Snipe whispered to himself, impressed at the attack. It did seemed odd that such a small group would manage to take down a battalion of soldiers, but this was enough to convinced him that, whoever these people were, they had talent for warfare.

"Could those be...those rumored magical soldiers from the Battle of Proxima? But I thought those were suppose to be working for the Ascendancy as their elites, what are they doing going up against them?" The Sniper thought. At the very least, it was comforting to see that they were simply knocking these people out as oppose to killing them, something he could tell they are very capable of just by observing what little he's seen of them so far. It was rumored that these supposed magic soldiers were monsters, a bunch of devil children that would slaughter their enemies without a second thought. Sparing the life of these soldiers, these nameless grunts standing guard, was more than enough to show that they were capable of compassion, or mercy, and that they were indeed human.

Sadly, the same couldn't be said for himself or his comrades. The boss gave orders that there were to be no ascendancy survivors whatsoever. There was a part of him that hoped that these soldiers would have killed the grunts, yet the ones rushed were out cold, and the one grabbed by the clearly psychic girl was now running away. To top things off, he could hear the roaring engines in the distance, as a Gunship began heading their way.

"A gunship...?" Snipe asked himself. He fired the communications disrupter not that long ago, so there's no way any of them could have called for backup. There was that possibility that they'd head here when they notice that the area's a dead zone of communication disruption, but this thing arrived much faster than he was expecting...

"Boss, Uh-ummm....We got a problem, The-their Backup just arrived on a gunship. Umm...What're your orders?" The Sniper asked.

"Faster than expected...No matter, we can't afford any of them to find out what's happening here yet. Take it down, leave no survivors." The man on the other line said. Snipe began aiming his gun towards the gunship, his hands shaking as he tried to get a precise aim. He could head-shot the pilot without much problem, but everyone else on that ship...

"I...I..." Snipe thought, freezing up as the Gunship began dropping ropes for backup to drop down into to take the unknown party down.

"At ease, Snipe. I got this..." Another voice, much more gruff and deep than the man from before, said, causing Snipe to snap out back to his senses.

---

Within minutes of Rachel letting that Ascendancy soldier retreat out of there, the Moonstrike Decoy team would hear a muffled scream coming from the direction of where the Soldier ran off to. Within mere seconds, those muffled screams turned into actual ones, and they would see the soldier Rachel extracted memory from, flying diagonally upwards through the air, spinning out of control as if he was tossed or launched from a powerful caterpult, straight at the Gunship. At terminal velocity, the soldier's body slammed right into the gunship in question, causing a massive bloody dent in its hull and causing the ship to fall out of its orbit. Since it was already fairly close to the ground in its float, said impact caused it to hit the ground a few meters away from the Circle of Hell's area, and exploding as soon as it did.

From the opposite side of the Crater, where the man was running to and from where he was thrown, the Decoy team would see the silhouette of a giant human, or at least a giant Humanoid, wearing rather light black armor, save for the dense chest plate, its arms being particularly large in mass, especially compared to the rest of his physique, clearly shown as muscular all over. His face could not be made out in the slightest, circular and without any hair showing which suggest that either he was bald, or had a round helmet on. The latter was correct, a helmet with a giant visor of black tinted which was large enough to cover the face and top part of his head, the same kind of Helmet the Sniper had on. Upon closer inspection, the light armor looked less like armor, and more like giant black sleeveless shirt and some lightly armored pants, his giant arms having four rods covering them from the shoulders down to his wrists.



The giant raised up his hand and slowly waved his arm left and right towards the Decoy Team, slowly walking towards them as he did.

"Sup boys and girls, ...Room for one more?" The giant man said to the Decoy Team. As he did, one could swear they would see a red eye glowing at the center of the Visor.

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

Circle of Hell Interior

As time passed, the Circle of Hell's inside was becoming quieter, the walls becoming redder and filled with numerous levels of viscera. Combine with the distant echoes of screams, the sounds of scraping metals across the ship, and the markings on the walls, markings that an expert of magic would easily recognize as runes of both Daemonic and normadic origins, and this ship was slowly starting to seem more and more like a haunted house. If there were guards still around in these halls, they were in a panic, running around trying to find the ones responsible for this in vain.

It also seemed like there was more than one person around here. As one of them was clearly going slasher movie on guards all over the ship, there was clearly another, or at least it seemed like it, a black cloaked individual, floating around the halls without touching the ground like a ghost that haunts the prison ship.

Meanwhile, Deeper into the ship, in the prison cell that housed the Realist AI, the guards would notice two people walking towards them... Like Kelan with his Belial armor, it seems these were both armored humans, potentially cyborgs, since neither of them showed any sign of skin. They didn't sneak up to the guards, didn't even try to move in slowly, walking towards them as if they owned this ship.

The one behind the other was clearly a woman; the armor seemed specifically designed to show off her feminine physique.



The other was gender-ambiguous, but was more potentially a male than a female in stature. It could be noted, however, that the this person's left arm and two legs were clearly made of a different metal than the rest of the armor.



Both of their helmets were of the same general design as the giant and the Sniper outside.
If anyone was there to notice, this was the one observing the Xuanxang as it made its landing.

The two guards immediately noticed them, and were quick to aim their guns towards them.

"Freeze! Hands where I can see them!" One of the guards said.

"My, my, is that any way to treat a lady?" The armored woman asked. After said rhetorical question, the armored woman did as requested, showing her hands to show she was unarmed...then immediately dashed towards the two before they could react, grabbing them both by their heads, and effectively smashing them together a few times. The constant collisions were hard enough that the friction of their helmets colliding caused sparks to fly, the metal on their helmets denting from the impact. She then immediately jumped upwards while still holding their heads, arching over the two guards and turning both her hands accordingly, snapping both their necks as their heads spun 180 degrees, killing them before they even had a chance to scream out. She immediately dropped them, slapping her hands together as if dusting them off.

Unimpressed, the one with her ignored her stunt and walked inside the cell, staring down Realist as the lady followed suit.

"...We meet at last, Realist. ...I assume you are already aware of who we are, and what we're doing here." The person said, clearly male, and with the same voice that was giving orders to the Sniper, and seemingly to others as well.

Stella nodded at Kelan's goodbye. She felt like she should have said something more - probably complaining about being so sneaky about what the 'gift' was - but she couldn't think fast enough for that.

Stella clicked her tongue at Natasha's use of the word "kids." She wanted to snap something at this space hotshot, but she was on a mission. Arguments were the opposite of stealth. Stella after all preferred to end arguments before they began. She regarded Eldrid's statement instead. "A mage... Not our problem, as long as we grab Realist."

Stella felt a pang of apprehension. 'No doubt this mage will make himself our problem, though.'

She melted back into the scenery, turning invisible as the group began making their way through the ship. She took advantage of the metal corridors to walk on the walls. Being invisible was good, but not walking the same way as anyone else made someone much harder to detect. 'Another perk, then. I used to have metal plates in my shoes and gloves so I could do this. Now my entire chassis-' Stella caught herself saying something a human wouldn't say. 'Skeleton is metal.'

They didn't get far before they started seeing blood. As they progressed close to the core, the blood escalated into bodies. Stella dropped from her place on the wall to examine the scene. "This..." she muttered to herself.

'Looks like my work.' Stella finished her sentence in thought only. The sprays of blood, slashing and stabs...

"Looks like Kelan was right about there being others here." Stella spoke, not bothering to drop her cloak. The dead guard's arm briefly rose up, then dropped with a soft thud. "Do we have any ideas on who would be interested in this ship other than us?"

Innocence Lost

John was quick to whirl around and say to the 'giant' in power armor, "What's your code? If you're with us, what's your code?"

He clearly didn't believe this man was an ally. Nor did he believe that Moonstrike would send someone to restrict their freedom to do their job however they wanted to, as long as it was successful. So he asked again, "I and The Captain will only cede control of the mission and our preferred methods of doing it if you have the appropriate command codes and proofs that you came directly from The Base."

The Base, also known as Moonstrike Base; the secret headquarters of Moonstrike.

------

Eldrid responded, "Perhaps a rival rebel group? Or Ascendancy Reinforcements?"

------

Realist said through a set of speakers: "Indeed I know you, members of Incubus. Monarch and Temptress, right? If so, have you come to destroy me on his behest? The behest of a man whose grand plans and projects go up against what his followers believe?"

That was the most logical conclusion. He had secrets that can bring down the entire Ascendancy if need be.

"If so," he continued, "I wish to inform you that others have already found out the truth, or something close to it, on their own initiative. My death will only delay the exposure of various secrets for a small while; therefore it will be of limited profit to the [REDACTED] if I die. At least, it would be of limited profit if I die now."

Realist was trying to buy time, time to be rescued.

@Gentlemanvaultboy@Starlance@Bartimaeus@Stern Algorithm@Crowvette@KillamriX88@The Jest@CriticalHit

There were 595,244,321.5 unique and striking crystals on the lattice of the physical barrier that was chaining the mineral alien to the ground firmly. It knew, because it had enough time to count all of them. It had also began to name them. Some of them were aesthetically pleasing, so it used Kaisoeki pet names of them. Some of them were hideous, bent and malformed, so it used fleshbag names on them. It was like watching a telenovella, seeing the lattices vibrate with eachother as like a tiny cosmical army kept Bob in place without floating.

What was once a barrier, it had become several. It had wanderlust, for it had been betrayed and given to the Ascendence of Fleshbags as a token of peace. What a fleeting thing. One would say that the universe was peaceful, but Bob knew better. Amidst the harsh spaces of vacuum, raging infernos of celestial forges raveled and unraveled the threads of creation nonstop. Peace was but an illusion. And unraveling was fun. Too bad that the fleshbags were no good sports at all. And when it overcame its defenses to do what it seemed its vocation, screams and barriers soon followed. So now, like one of those small vapid children the humans called jewels, it was locked in a crystalline vault made by hideous malformed lattices of several kinds jumbled together.

They called it Vault. And it was surrounded by "warning signs" and "forcefields". It was encased in it. It remembered it of the other denizen it could ever hope to relate to. A consciousness sealed in a crystalline matrix carved with imperfections. It was called Realist. An alien intelligence that Kaisoeki would struggle to relate, but still relatable, for it had regularities, unlike the ever-changing atom strands of those slurry beings called humans. The way they existed in perpetual flux... was disgusting. It did not even understand how they were able to hold coherent thought, as their cognitive lattices were more liquid coolant that actual hard crystal. And the hard crystal parts they had, were only used as supports for their moist chemical mishmash they called organs.

It felt like vibrating with extreme disgust, but then it noticed other vibrations than itself. Something was happening. It wondered if Realist was okay.

Crystal lifeforms should support one another, should not they?

Scouting Ascendancy Positions - Near the Circle

---

Narvia was scouting ahead for the Rebels against Ascendancy positions. However, she came across the Prison vessel that the rebels were celebrating they shot down. But one thing she saw was a gunship crashing and exploded and it made her shiver at the thought of what was happening to her on the battlefield against the Rau’ve. She couldn’t help but shake her head but she couldn’t really tell what was going on since she was only watching it from a bit afar but she could see the ship in question. ”Hmm, if there’s any allies. I have to give them a code for them so I don’t get shot on sight by them,” Narvia thought about that while working up her courage to approach the wreckage. Even though all she was supposed to do was report to the Rebels, but she could tell her communications are jammed badly. She weighed her options, it’s better to go towards the prison vessel than retreat to optimal distance away.

It wasn’t really that much of options if she retreated to go towards the nearest rebel base, it would take more than an hour or two to reach it. Plans never survive contact with the enemy, which what her handler and superior told her, the Dragon that is. She was apart of the Dragon Brigade an elite unit since the Rau’ve kinda wanted to avoid fighting the Dragon. ”You got this, I do remember the password or code in question I need to recite to show I am friendly,” Narvia thought to herself, fondly remembering her time in the Dragon Brigade. She approached the prison vessel, which was shot down by the Rebels and her nerves was still shaken at the fact there was a Gunship that was destroyed by something other than self-destruct.

She was holding onto her sidearm, which was the Sigma. She gripped it tightly for protection in case she’ll need it. She wasn’t here to witness the exact thing that happened here that caused the Gunship to crash and explode. She, however, kinda put two together and was shaken to her core that a giant took down a gunship. This caused her to give an outburst loud enough for everyone to hear. ”The hell?! That’s outright terrifying!” Narvia outbursts aloud, with shakily nervous tone in her voice. She held onto her sidearm tighter and put it closer to her to be prepared for things, she however, was wearing rebel colors and was a bit more well prepared for what is going on.

---

"Ah, relax cap'n. You're just mad Tee had one o' his slow moments on you up there," he waved off Natasha's criticism of his plan, assuming it was nerves from the drop. Obviously he couldn't have just walked to the ship. One stray scanner sweep would have picked him up and they'd have been dodging heavy artillery every step of the way thereafter.

---

Each stomping footstep echoed through the ship. There was no point in even trying to tiptoe in the Belial. The ships internals were a mess. Bodies and debris everywhere. It had definitely been a hard landing. He'd already had to make a detour. The most concerning part was that some of the bodies clearly weren't from the crash landing.

At this point, unsurprisingly, he had his rifle in hand.

The strangest thing he saw was some hastily put together signs directing toward a high security area. Something called the "Vault". Something to check out later then, but right now he had more important things to do than facilitate a prison break. That could be done when the shooting was over with. That said, he had to wonder what could be considered extra dangerous on a prison ship named "Circle of Hell."

In the end, his path led him to a cafeteria. He wasn't alone.

"Oh good, company..." He muttered to himself, muted to the outside world by his suit. Not that it mattered, no doubt they'd heard him coming for quite some time. The strange part was that two of them were mechanized being of some sort, or so they seemed. And the other one was human and... small. Young? "All right, gonna need you to identify yourself 'fore I get all trigger happy here." He finally said aloud to them.

-Deleted-

Given the jamming, Legion was racked with a moment of indecision. Legion had to establish communications with the team at any cost, but worried about being scanned. The moment passed, as Legion realized that with communications jammed, the only way the ship would be spotted is through visual confirmation, so unless the enemy was looking up, the ship could probably slip fairly close to the battlefield without incurring too much wrath. And most weapons large enough to target and damage a ship tended to rely on computerized aiming, which would also likely be subject of the jamming. With the decision made, Legion had the nanite at the helm lower the ships altitude, hovering over the Circle of Hell, out of rocket-propelled grenade range, but close enough for the next step.

Another nanite maneuvered one of the ships searchlights to point down to where Captain Natasha and the others most likely entered the ship, and started flashing the searchlight in Morse pattern:

"Comms jammed.
Respond in kind."

This message repeated ceaselessly, while another nanite moved the ships outer cameras around, visually scanning for any hostiles that might be trying to take potshots at the ship. If necessary, legion would take non-lethal action to neutralize any and all threats to the ship.

Rachel was about to throw a railgun dropped by one of the downed soldiers into the gunship’s engine intake to bring it down when someone’s literally knocked it out of the sky in such a horrid manner it made her look away for a moment. It wasn’t the first time she’s seen a wall painted with someone’s blood - heck, she’s done that more times than she could count - but there was something gut-twisting about this specific instance.

“I’ve got our six, keep it up!“ she called out to the team. Between John’s disarmament trick, their reinforcements disintegrating, the tank’s offensive capabilities severely limited and the wailing of their fallen comrades, the morale and fighting capability of the Ascendancy soldiers guarding the ship plummeted. With the extra breathing room, she cast a ring of fire around the unknown intruder to gain his - its - whatever’s attention, though the flames went out almost immediately as there were no flammable materials on the floor.

“What, the fuck, are you?” Rachel stressed the ‘what’, moving away from the tank’s line of sight and dropped to a lower, defensive stance. As if it would help against something that could throw a man with such force. That Ascendancy soldier, who she assumed was thrown by the exosuited new arrival, hit the ship with enough force to turn him into coal on impact. She was visibly poised to lash out should the giant get too close. And friend or foe, she surely wouldn’t shed any tears over this one’s demise.

Elsewhere in Human Space

The Wealth of Nations was a gigantic city-ship with five gigantic ‘rays’ emerging from a pentagonal ‘core’ made up of the toughest materials known to Ascendancy science. Known informally as ‘The Starfish’, this dark-green vessel was closer to a space station than a proper ship, and was known for competing with the Galactic Bazaar as a nexus of trade. Now, this gigantic city-ship was accompanied by a larger number of ‘armed merchantmen’ than usual; equivalents of corvettes and frigates and cruisers, all armed as well as their Ascendancy counterparts. And Reyna Altraska Carmenesca Sarvaya had been sent to see what their owners - the Windsor Autonomous Trading Fleet - were doing, to see if they planned rebellion, and if they were willing to stop informally snubbing Moonstrike.

How she would do so would be up to her.

---

Reyna eased back the controls on her transport as she docked at the Starfish, breathing deeply to prepare herself. She had only ever had passing dealings with the Windsor fleet, and had never been to their capital ship. It didn’t quite intimidate her, but she had to admit that it was...daunting.

But nothing for it but to do it! Adjusting her coat nervously as she arranged the gifts for Mr. Windsor himself, Reyna made her way off her cruiser. She presented her “official” papers to the customs officers, smiling broadly as they waved her through. Natasha’s connections had come through with these. Didn’t even need to pretend to be someone she wasn’t. Or at least, any more so than usual.

Her goal was William Windsor, and according to her intel (read: her gut), his main headquarters was located at the center, in the Core of the Starfish. She wandered through the streets of the ‘Fish, looking for the transports that would cut her travel time down. She didn’t technically have a time limit, but neither she nor Natasha were fond of unnecessary delays. Unfortunately, the Starfish was not designed to be easily navigable, leading her to find a nearby businessman to ask for directions.

At least the gentleman looked successful and intelligent. “‘Scuse me, sir?” She said while tapping his shoulder to get his attention. “I don’t s’pose you can give me a hand, and let me know how to get to Windsor Tower? I have some business to conduct there.”

---

The businessman was a blonde man who looked unnaturally young, which he could be due to the rejuvenating treatments available to the upper class. A smile appearing on his brown face, the man said, “To where the kid is? Well, if you have the appropriate papers or a large sum of Money, there’s a Mag-Lev railway that takes VIPs to the Core. There, you’ll find Windsor’s Pillar right next to the Main Reactor.”

Another smile. “I’ll accompany you as well; I have business with ‘the kid’ as well.”

He then jaunted off in what was presumably the Mag-Lev station, where he showed a pass to some guards who bowed a little too deeply, and was then escorted to a train car with seats made up of cloth-of-platinum. Reyna was ushered to just beside him; there were no other VIPs.

---

Reyna’s brow quirked at the words “the kid”, but she made no move to correct him. Was he referring to his own family member? Perhaps he had a relative who worked there; stars knew that the Windsor family employed an astronomical number of people. Or maybe, just maybe, he was referring to Williams Windsor himself. That was the least likely answer, but it was still a possibility, which would mean that he was either:

• Close to William, and could therefore get her close as well, or
• Someone with a grudge against William, and therefore someone she could leverage.

But either way, she lost nothing by following him for now. Despite his claim of accompanying her, she got the idea that he was calling the shots for the time being. Beside, it gave her a convenient fall man in the event that things fell through. So for now, she gladly followed him, and ignored the slight condescending tone in his correction. She probably should’ve remembered that it was “Pillar” and not “Tower”, but the file she’d gotten on William was huge. It was only reasonable that some words would fall through the cracks.

Reyna followed the man’s jaunty pace, checking her identification for appropriate VIP status. Glancing between her pass and the Mag-Lev station didn’t give her any manner of hint as to what her specific ranking was in the complex hierarchy of the Windsor Fleet, so she’d just have to wing it.

And when her pass was met with a scornful look from the railway guard, a handful of credits and a flirtatious wink got her past the barricade with little effort. And it threw off the guard nicely, who was very cute when she blushed. But Reyna tore her gaze away to canvas the railcar quickly, noting with some trepidation that its only occupants were herself and the businessman. She made no mention of this, or outward sign that she found it odd as she made her way to the offered seat.

Had he brought her here with the intent to kidnap her? Unlikely, given the guard presence, though a sufficiently successful person could buy theoretically anyone on this ship. A quick bend to check her shoes confirmed the presence of her holdout pistol, a dagger, and the hilt of her whip in the event that he had ill will. Irresponsible to trust that he had no ulterior motive, though. Reyna took quick stock of the exits, both designed and unintentional (that wall to her left had a structural weakness that a she could probably break with enough pressure). Further complicating the situation was the obvious deference that the guards had paid to him. Was it out of respect? Fear? Admiration? She’d need to find out who he was before she could answer that.

As the railcar got moving, Reyna straightened back up in her seat, leaning back to look her companion in the eye. “So you seem to know your way around here pretty well, huh? You do business here a lot? Oh and uh, I don’t think I caught your name, stranger.”

---

The businessman smiled at Reyna, and said, “I live here, actually; many people do. And my name… It’s Abel. Abel Adamson. I don’t believe I caught your name as well, milady.”

A cart, driven by an automated drone, came by, bringing pink-topped confectioneries and various colors of sushi. Bottles and glasses of fizzy water and red wine were at the bottom.

‘Abel’ then said to Reyna, “Milady, The Kid is someone you’d find hard to deal with. He’s avoided the mysterious disappearances and deaths of various prodigies, he’s kept control of his father’s empire from opportunists and competitors and the occasional betrayer, and the Ascendancy… Well, business with the Ascendancy is always good; he just makes sure it’s on his terms.”

A slight smirk, “But don’t think I’m shilling The Kid out of hand; he doesn’t know what he wants out of this situation. He doesn’t know whether to keep to the status quo, or if he should change it, how. But he sure as heck won’t side with Moonstrike; they’ve snubbed him as much as he snubs them.”

As the Mag-Lev Train began to slow down, before being pulled into an abrupt stop, ‘Abel’ waited for Reyna’s reaction.

---

Reyna flashed a grin at him as he introduced himself. “I actually don’t think I gave it. Looks like we’re both dropping our manners all over the place. You can call me Ainslee, sir.” She glanced to the side as the drone brought the refreshments. Damn, was this really how the upper crust lived? As much as she could gladly get used to it, it raised her hackles to compare this to how she, Joey, and Natasha had been living since their discharge.

Not that this showed on her face, save to the most canny observer. Instead, a gently playful smirk danced on her lips as she picked out a bottle of Siroc and a pair of empty glasses, directing the drone to pour it as she listened to Abel speak.

She brought the glass delicately to her lips as she listened to him, offering him the other. This wasn’t helping her get the measure of his relationship to William, even assuming that he was referring to William at all. Context clues said yes, though the lack of proper nouns could mean that he was as much of a liar as she was. Which would be impressive, in its own way.

“To be honest, Mr. Adamson, it’s a little hard to tell whether you admire the boy, or you find him distasteful,” she said with her smirk never leaving her face. It was always best to lie with the truth. “My mother always told me that a person unwilling to stand for anything will for anything; as much as I admire your portrayal of his skills, it sounds like he’s unwilling to do anything but defend himself. Nothing gets changed that way. And those who do not change, die.”

The somber statement was punctuated by a quiet laugh, as though she found her own statement ridiculous. “But here I am, swore to never be my mother, repeating her words to a stranger. Can I ask you a question? Odd that you bring up Moonstrike. They’re a fringe group, are they not? Have the Windsors been dealing with them, to give them an opportunity to snub them?”

She played a dangerous game, revealing a card from her hand so early. The first person in a business deal to state a number loses, and here she was, declaring that they were discussing the Windsors. But she needed to get information, and she needed it quickly. Flashing her pass as she’d been doing, it was only a matter of time before security caught on to the illegitimacy of her credentials. And yet, she couldn’t resist striking a blow in this duel of theirs.

As the train stopped abruptly, Reyna angled her glass gracefully. Not a drop was spilled. “You seem to have some insight to many things in this sector, Mr. Adamson. Can I perhaps ask for your continued guidance? I have a...confidential business matter to discuss with the executives here, and Mr. Windsor himself if possible. Would you, perhaps, know of a way that I could reach him?”

---

‘Abel’ smiled at that, a genuine smile. “I’d answer that, but then I’d assume that you’re an agent provocateur and spin my responses accordingly. So you can’t trust any answer I give.”

A pause. “Well, except this: You’ll be meeting with William Windsor sooner than you think.”

The young man would then get up, respectfully allow her out first, and then walk out the Mag-Lev station.

By then, Reyna would have seen the gigantic column of meta-materials that made up The Pillar, a gigantic installation that rose up from the ground to fix itself onto the ceiling. And the two were directly at its feet.

A door would open, a door that led to security rooms where scanning and vetting equipment were kept, along with receptionists accompanied by burly guards. Surprisingly, said guards included nonhumans in their ranks; Rau’ve, Korta, and Tayanen primarily.

All of them let ‘Abel’ and Reyna go further without questions or scanning when they saw the former’s face. Then, ‘Abel’ guided Reyna into a small, two-person elevator pod that functioned much the same way as a Mag-Lev.

---

Reyna’s brow furrowed as the man stood up, still angling to get his measure. He seemed to enjoy toying with her, though she still couldn’t quite tell who was the cat, and who the mouse. But would it be half as interesting if she could tell? She gave him a polite nod of her head as she exited the railcar, draining the remainder of her wine. She resisted the urge to do the same to his glass.

She walked outside in full view of the Pillar, looking up with her feelings torn between admiration of its sheer scale, and disgust at its excess. Quickly masking her expression with one of practiced neutrality, she turned back to Abel with a wry quirk of her eyebrows. As he walked into the building, she followed him wordlessly. He was playing at something, and she had a sneaking suspicion that they both knew what the other was doing. Still, better to let him play out his hand first.

She glanced around at the guards when they walked in, unable to keep from taking stock of her situation. She also couldn’t keep a small twinge of disdain when she saw the nonhumans in their ranks. She forced that down quickly; prejudice was an open secret in many of the Core worlds, though it was considered gauche to actually admit to it. She maintained her easy smile, unwavering as they made their way past the guards. She kept her focus on Abel’s back, as well as the reactions of everyone around him.

When they got the elevator, she leaned against the wall opposite him with a sense of casual ease that she didn’t feel. “You’re bringing me awfully far into the Pillar for someone you think might be a provocateur,” she said, tapping her fingers against her arm. “Are we going all the way to the top? I presume you mean to introduce me to the big boss-man himself?” An air of innocence played about her eyes, mixed in there somewhere with the caution.

---

Abel nodded and said, “Yes, and yes.”

The elevator then stopped in yet another security room filled with scanners and drones but no people, and the two entered inside; this time, there was a minor biometric scan before Abel led her further in, to a room that compared with all the grandeur, was sparsely furnished; it only had a green-carpeted floor, a desk, a chair, a water dispenser, and a primitive-looking laptop.

With a final smile, Abel walked over to the chair and sat on it, finally facing Reyna as who he truly was. And what was that, one wondered?

“I haven’t been completely honest with you,” he smiled. “You’ve been looking for one William Windsor; head of the Windsor Autonomous Trading Fleet. Actually, I am him.”