SPleen-n-monkey presents,
Near the core Imperium-Confederacy-Musashi border. Morinth’s ship,
The Avalon, had been traveling some time at beyond light speed. Unlike Dominion capital ships, the smaller ships equipped with FTL drives were ones to use a cryo-sleep system. It was an optional system to use but for these long distance runs, sleeping through was always preferred. Luckily with the advanced computer systems and what they call a “light sleep” state of rest, it was easy to wake someone in the event of an emergency without the sleep sickness that one would’ve experienced on the sleeper colony ships of the olden times. This long distance travel was like the many other Morinth had taken but as the ship was nearing the destination, computer systems awoke the two operatives. Morinth was first to awaken with the Musashi’s Rong awakening moments later.
Morinth rolled out of the pod onto the floor. “Ow.” She was quick to shake it off as she pulled herself upright. A few quick wiped across her eyes brought some focus as the darkened ships lights started to flicker to life. “Computer, Situation report.” she said plainly.
A male voice sounded overhead, “All systems online, fuel reserves replenishing and no foreign detection noted. We are currently passing the edge of Core Imperium space towards the sovereign state of Musashi.”
“Alright, resume automated pilot and keep course and speed.” Morinth said as she made her way to Rong.
“Where are we?” Kau Rong asked as Morinth approached. She was sitting cross legged on the floor, her eyes closed and a calm expression on her face. A sheathed katana was propped up against her left shoulder, her right hand touching the sheath. Since the two women had boarded the ship Rong had clearly felt no need to wear her mask, which was currently hidden away someplace.
Morinth wiped her eyes once more before answering, “At current speed we are ten days from Musashi’s border. We had to slow down even more when we got close to the old second Imperium.” she said. Morinth offered her hand to help Rong up, “You hungry?”
“A bit, yes” Rong said as she opened one eye. She hesitated for a moment before accepting the offered hand, rising to her feet. “You look like you could use a few extra hours of beauty sleep” She commented with a small smile as she looked at Morinth. For her part she looked mostly well rested, though that illusion was shattered when she stumbled after having risen to her feet.
A hand was quick to catch Rong before could’ve fallen on the floor. Morinth did her best to keep Rong upright, “I take it your people do not use sleeper pods for long distance travel? Eh, no matter. Right through here is the galley. Yes it’s an couch, yes that is an old display with holo-tapes and yes that is a potted plant, do not judge.” she said sternly.
“We tend not to travel far” Rong commented as she sat down on the couch. “So we have little use for ‘sleeper’ pods.” She slipped her braided hair over her shoulder as she looked the galley over, giving a slight shrug. “So what is on the menu this morning? It is morning, right?”
“It is morning, on some planet somewhere. All of my clocks are tuned to Dominion set time, so technically it’s about.” she looked around for a moment before locking on to the small gamma ray oven. “Ah yes, about mid afternoon.” She smirked and walked towards the cooling unit, opening to reveal a well kept mess. “So… hmm. I’ve got some. Ew” she said, pulling a clear plastic tray onto a nearby counter. “Well, and here we have… ew” she followed, adding yet another clear container to the table. “Ah! You’ll like this, never mind.” At that moment Morinth felt frustrated for not checking her supplies before leaving, instead just assuming someone had cleaned and filled it for her.
After slipping the containers into the disposal, she opened the dry foods cabinet, “Oh here we go. And you’ll probably love this. Noodles!” she smiled, completely missing the potential racism she just blurted out. “Let me get a dish and I’ll get some cooked unless you want something else.” she turned to look back in the cabinet, “Looks like noodles is about all I got left.”
“Morinth-san” Rong said after having watched her companion rather unsuccessfully procure a meal, “perhaps we should gather some additional supplies the next opportunity we get. Not that I dislike noodles, mind you, but I would prefer to eat something else during the duration of our ride.” By this point she had undone her braid and begun to brush her hair. “Maybe buy some of that chicken we had the other night with Faust-sama. You can eat chicken with utensils, right?”
“Well.. you can.. But what's the fun in that.” she said with a smug look. “But hey, who am I to judge.” she followed, almost trying to convince herself more than Rong. It didn’t take long for the smell of chicken to fill the entire ship. Morinth was good at two things more than anything, killing proficiently, and cooking. A strange combination.
“Alright Rong, Feast your eyes, A whole mess of chicken, I put some sauces that I could find on the side.” She said while setting the plate in front of Rong. Morinth then turned and fetched a drink for her passenger, “This Rong, This.. This is a rare drink among the Dominion, hailing from the ‘north western’ part of the galaxy. It tastes like.. Water and something delicious.” A tall bottle was sat in front of Rong, “It’s like an orange, or something like it. You know what an orange is, right?”
“I’ve had oranges before” Rong answered as she reached for a piece of chicken, a large smile plastered over her face. The smile somehow got larger after she took her first bite. “Morinth-san, if you ever need a job that doesn’t involve killing people…” She took a few more bites before changing the subject. “Any news about the war?”
Morinth gave a toothy grin as Rong complimented her cooking and after taking a few bites herself, “The war.” she chuckled, “I should ask which one. In regards to earth, last I heard the fleet was positioning for the initial invasion. I saw the images of attack ships preparing a ridiculous number of drop pods and oppressors actually planning to enter the atmosphere, something that is rarely ever done.” She took a moment to take another bite and spoke with her mouth half full of food, “Granted, this is a pretty big event for my people.”
After she had finished chewing, Morinth leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. “What about your nation? Have your people fought the confederacy before?”
“No” Rong said with a shake of her head. “Nothing official at least. We… haven’t fought a serious war in decades.” She let out a long sigh. “I suspect that our military’s leadership will either act too cautiously or far too aggressively. Likely the Confederate military will be the same. Unfortunately I suspect our military will act overly aggressively. Still…” She shrugged. “Most of us in Musashi never imagined going to war with the Confederation. I suspect the Confederation was the same way.”
Morinth shrugged, “No one ever imagines going to war but it’s seemingly as common as breathing. I just wonder how bad it could really get. In your time in the service, what's the best combat you’ve ever been in?”
“Me personally?” Rong’s eyes seemed to focus on something that wasn’t there. “I’ve… fought my fair share of battles. Few could be described as anything but ‘bad’. There was always something going on at our borders. And someone inevitably had to deal with it….” Her voice trailed off, her gaze focusing on a section of the wall as she let the silence hang.
“Well hey, let me tell you a really cool story.” Morinth’s eyes lit up in excitement. “So I had to use a foreign high caliber marksman rifle to stage a.. Well classified mission. So I’m watching the front door of this palace thing and these two guys come walking out. They were just gabbing away.. Gab gab gab until I saw the one start lighting up what looked like a cigarette. I know, I know those are rare especially on the fringes but yeah.” she took a deep breath, “So I pulled the trigger right? The guy's head just blew up. The best part was, his eyes came flying right out of his sockets in to the other guys face! He screamed so loud I could hear it nearly a mile away!” she chuckled, “Oh good times.. Good times.”
“That is sick” Rong said, letting out a soft chuckle of her own. “Not exactly a specific story… but you just have to see the look on someone’s face when you cut into their companion while still cloaked. It's a mixture of confusion and fear. Its as if they know they’re supposed to be afraid, but can’t tell what to be scared of.”
Morinth gave a nod, “I hear that. The look of pure surprise and it’s even worse when they surely can't know you’re there but look right at you with fear. It can be really creepy. At least you didn’t get caught though.” she sighed, “Sometimes all we have is the mission, ya know?”
“The mission…” Rong closed her eyes and shook her head. “Was never good enough for me. I always needed someone to fight for. You know? Someone who could validate your actions, no matter how horrible.”
“I know exactly what you are saying. It’s one of the reasons I admire Faust. No matter what I have to do to complete a mission, he at least shows understanding and him having a very obvious, open and well defined objective. Easy to relate to, easy to draw strength from.” She turned and looked at the same spot on the wall Rong had been staring at, “I used to work for a nation that had its morals in a tailspin. One week something was loved and next it was frowned upon. Really messes with one's head.” Morinth had taken a deep breath and was preparing to change the subject as to lighten the mood. Right as she had opened her mouth, the Male computer voice sounded. “Warning, sensor pings detected across the hull. Dropping out of light speed.” Morinth snapped upright and darted towards the cockpit, “Shit shit shit, where’s it coming from?”
“The small moon ahead. It appears to be a request for assistance from any passing craft.” the computer replied.
“Hey, Rong, what do you make of this? Rather odd that right in the middle of nowhere an automatic SOS would be active.” morinth asked.
“Odd indeed.” Rong agreed. She already had a firm grip on her katana, despite the fact that they were in no immediate threat. Not that it would be useful in the situation anyways. “What are you thinking Morinth-san? We could just ignore it, but if it's some sort of trap perhaps we should spring it before someone else does.”
Morinth gave a concerned look to Rong, “Then let's spring it first.” One wouldn’t feel the high G turn Morinth took as it mattered not in the vacuum but now they were on a straight line to the barren moon. On the surface was a landing pad and what seemed like a partially subsurface bunker of sorts. After engaging the stealth drives, the sensor pings ceased as they were harmlessly reflected. Upon further examination, the facility looked quiet. A small communications dish was attached to the top of the bunker entrance but aside from that, it was a plain sight.
As the craft began to land, dust kicked up gently into the air before coming to a stop. It was quiet now as the two sat at this moment, prepared for the worst. Morinth activated the ships active camouflage in an attempt to stop anyone from finding the parked Avalon. The Computer acknowledged a command to activate automatic defenses and should Morinth’s and Rong’s life signs go dark, it was to automatically return to the nearest dominion outpost. Things were squared away in terms of contingencies, now it was time for action and when Morinth led Rong to the small ships rather impressive armory, all of Rong’s weapons were waiting for her.
“Well Ms. Rong, I’m assuming you’ll take the stealthy approach?” Morinth said in an amused tone before entering the bulky armor that stood at the end of the room. It was not meant for sneaking at all with the powered fists being three times larger than an average hand. Furthering the disregard for stealth was the addition of a high caliber assault cannon and attaching a back mounted, deployable shoulder pod holding five high explosive rockets. To any normal person, it would seem as if Morinth was getting ready for all out war.
“Stealthy interrupted by moments of explosive violence” Rong corrected, amusement noticeable in her voice as well. She removed her clothes, seeming to not mind being bare before Morinth, before grabbing the set of kunoichi armor she had brought all the way from Musashi. “And is it safe to assume you’ll be kicking in the front door Morinth-san?” Rong asked as she wiggled into the almost skin tight armor. After covering her body she put on her armor’s face piece, which covered the lower half of her face and had two large antennae like pieces that went over her ears. “Good to go” She said as she attached her katana to her waist. “So what’s the plan?”
Morinth smiled as she pressed a button on the wall of the armory. As the button depressed, the clanking sound of metal wheels sounded whilst a metal door slid down. “You said, I’ll be kicking in the front door?” she said before reaching into the case. After a moment of wrestling with an object inside, she pulled out a black box and laid it upon the ground. She hummed a moment before a blinking light started and then deployed a strange rifle like weapon that was quite taller than either woman. “Yeah, sounds about right.”
“Let’s take a look at the area real quick.” Morinth said, pressing yet another button that brought up a flat display of the area immediately surrounding the Avalon. “There’s only one way in. And it’s sealed pretty tight. Doesn’t seem to have been tampered with from the outside though.” She shook her head, “The inside will get pretty tight if I remember these old facilities. I’m thinking we take a position on this ridge and knock on the door, see if they answer.”
“Sounds like a plan” Rong said as she grabbed a spotting scope from Morinth’s armory. Ten minutes later the two women had positioned themselves on the aforementioned ridge, Morinth with her rifle and Rong with the spotting scope. “We’ve got a three mile per hour wind going towards the west” She said as we looked at the targeted wall through the scope.
Morinth grit her teeth as she gazed down the massive scope of her weapon. As Rong spoke, she adjusted a few things on the scope and then after a moment of silence, the trigger was pulled. Dust kicked up as hot air vented off the barrel and with a split second blinding light, A solid beam of energy shot forth, burning a massive hole in the door and exploding within. After which, Morinth had a very wide smile. The door itself began spewing atmosphere for a few moments before it became a vacuum like the moon. “Alright Rong, I think we have our way in.” she said, setting the beam weapon who’s barrel was still glowing orange, onto the ground.
“That we do” Rong said after a moment. She eyed the entrance, expecting something to happen. When nothing did she narrowed her eyes. “This smells bad.” She commented as she moved away from the ridge. “I’ll head down first and see what I can find. Try not to shoot me.” And suddenly the space where she was appeared to be empty. As she approached the building she couldn’t help but shake her head, resisting the urge to mutter “You could have told me it was an energy weapon…” She wisely remained quiet as she reached the opening. She was cloaked, which did remove some of the risk involved with poking one’s head into an opening that a likely enemy was watching, but certainly not all of it. She reached through the opening with a single finger, using a small camera fixed on the in to take a look at what was on the opposite side of the wall.
Unsurprisingly a pair of men had set up a defensive position on the far side of the hallway that the onetime door had led to. Rong took a moment to check the hall before coming to the conclusion that there were no advanced sensor around. At least none that would detect her. Drawing her katana, she began to walk slowly down the hall, taking care that she didn’t brush up against anything. Something as simple as scuffing the floor could give away her presence. Thankfully neither guard noticed her as she walked past them and their defensive position. She took a moment to look around, making sure no one else was nearby before turning back to the guards, taking a moment to line up her swing and, with one fluid motion, cutting through both men at once.
She then froze instantly, waiting for something to happen. When nothing did she sheathed her blade, returned to the entrance and de-cloaked so that she could wave Morinth in.
After being waved in, Morinth took a moment to examine the very dead soldiers. “A double kill, Nice.” she said smiling, “Well, that’s odd.” She said, examining not the precise and deadly slash from Rong, but the symbols on their armor. “This symbol, Rong. I don’t recognize it.” She pointed to a strange almost serpent like black line with a red triangle backing it. “Does this mean anything to you?”
“Can’t say it does” Rong said after eyeing the symbol for a moment. “Hmm…. They have fairly decent equipment. Certainly not cutting edge, but nothing I’d expect simple pirates to have either.” She looked over both guards, checking for anything that might indicate who or what they worked for, but found nothing. “I suppose we’ll just have to make a trail of bodies until we solve this mystery. Do you want to knock on another door or should I open us a path?”
“I’ll let you take the reins on this next door. Be careful though, these people have to know we are here now.” Morinth said while walking towards a rather obvious destroyed door panel, likely from Morinth's initial knock. “I’ll cover you.” she said, Kneeling in the massive armor still brought her to just above Rong’s height.
Rong looked at the door panel, then up at a ventilation shaft, then down to where Morinth was standing. “Pardon me Morinth-san” She said right before she jumped onto Morinth’s armored form and used her companion as a springboard to leap into the ventilation shaft. “I’ll see you on the other side” She said as she began to crawl through the shaft.
Of course, as one would expect on a facility built on a moon, the building’s ventilation was designed to block off sections of itself should there be a breach, thus Rong was not surprised whatsoever when she came to a blocked off section of the shaft. She looked at the ‘bulkhead’ for a moment before, rather awkwardly, drawing her blade and plunging it into the bulkhead, making a small hole through which the atmosphere on the other side could escape. Once the atmosphere of the other side had been vented she used her blade to cut the shaft’s bulkhead enough that she could crawl through.
After a few minutes she found herself looking down into a control room. She could jump down, right into the sights of the five armed men in the room. But that would just be silly. Instead she focused on the control panel, finding the controls that would open the door for Morinth and, reaching out with her mind, activated those controls. One of the men cursed as he realized the door was opening while the other four rushed out to deal with the ‘two’ intruders. Rong waited for the men to leave before kicking down the ventilation cover and jumping down right next to the very startled and alone man. He had only a moment to gasp out in shock before Rong freed his head from his shoulders.
Morinth watched as the door opened and took a defensive stance. The Four men, expecting a two on four fighter, split into two groups to handle each threat. Morinth however caught them as they began to diverge, bringing her mighty 25mm assault cannon to bear. The first shots put huge dents into the wall before striking one of the soldiers in the leg, removing it completely and sending the dead body rolling to a stop.. The men realized that they were spotted and took defensive positions themselves, Two hiding behind a very well placed shipping container and another behind a set of barrels. Morinth wasn’t confident that Rong could take on all three soldiers at once as they were already prepared for combat so she did her best to suppress the three with heavy weapons fire.
Rong had followed the three men from a respectable distance as she didn’t want to be blown away by Morinth from accident. She watched as the fight began to take form, watching for patterns from both sides. Taking note of when Morinth changed targets and how long she fired on individuals. She then waited for Morinth to target the lone soldier before diving for the two hiding behind the shipping container. They might have been protected from Morinth, but their backs were wide open for Rong. She became visible for a moment as her katana sliced through one of the men, cleanly cutting through his lungs and heart. A moment later she was invisible again, the second soldier turning to find nothing cut the two pieces of his comrade. And then Rong was suddenly in front of him again, her blade cutting his rifle in half, and taking a hand in the process, as he stumbled away from her and into the open.
Morinth was hesitant to actually engage a target as initially she had no idea which direction Rong was going to take. Luckily her comrade had caught on to Morinth’s strategy of timing shots long enough to take advantage of it. There was no doubt as to where Rong was when Morinth watched a unarmed, and un-handed man move out from cover in pain. Morinth was indeed impressed before unloading a few rounds into the man, sending the body against the wall. She then turned her attention to the one hiding behind the barrels who was now aware of Rong. He thought he was safe behind the cover and was raising his rifle to engage Rong, who from this angle was very open. Before he pulled his trigger, the barrels shook violently as Morinth placed well aimed rounds through them. The Soldier winced for a second in pain as his head burst into pieces from a direct hit. His body fared no better as it slid lifeless across the floor until splattering against the wall.
After a few moments of waiting, making sure no additional threats were incoming Morinth broke the silence, “I wish I had a sword.. You make it look so cool.”
“It is pretty cool” Rong allowed. “So long as you don’t accidently cut hand off or something. And before you say anything… it's surprisingly easy to cut yourself and not even realize it.” She let out a sigh as she appeared next to Morinth, seemingly appearing from thin air on the opposite side of Morinth in which her gun’s barrel was pointed. “Also…” Something seemed to flash across Rong’s eyes as she sheathed her katana. “My sheath won’t be able to re-sharpen my blade after a few more uses.” She approached one of the dead soldiers and grabbed his sidearm. “Better to be safe I suppose. So what next?”
Morinth lowered her weapon and the two walked into the command center. It was littered with electronic equipment including what was obviously an video monitor leading to the exterior. It was fixated directly on the Avalon. “If they knew we were coming-” But before Morinth could finish her thought, a group of men slowly made their presence known by banging on a door to Rong and Morinth’s left. The lead shouted, “Check the monitor! We aren’t armed!” His claim was validated and Morinth held her hand over a button to open the door. “What do you think? Check what's above the button. Either let them through or gun them down.”
“The controls for this levels automated ceiling turrets.” Which further confounded Morinth as to why they weren’t used in their initial assault.
“Odd…” Rong muttered. “Think those thugs were in the process of taking this place over? Perhaps having taken it from these guys?” She gestured towards the door. “Let’s let them in and see what they have to say for themselves.” She drew her katana, but chose not to activate her cloaking device, as she positioned herself by the door. “Ready when you are.”
Morinth gazed one last time at the automatic turret panel and monitor before pressing the open button carefully. As that occurred, a Yellow light began flashing in the room and the blast door behind them sealed. “Pressurizing” could be heard faintly overhead and within seconds, the room now had atmosphere. As the yellow lights faded, the door opened revealing four men and a woman who slowly departed. “Oh thank heavens.” said the man who had spoke to them through the door. “I am Doctor Magnusson. And these are my colleagues. I never imagined someone would actually come.”
“Why would no one come?” Morinth said, slowly cocking her head to the side.
“Because.. Because we are so far away from everything.” he said, gulping as he spoke.
“Sure, sure yeah. We detected the signal back on Epyen and came as fast as we could.” Morinth said, obviously lying to them. She knew something wasn’t right and was making sure Rong was alerted to that fact.
The man took a more professional stature and motioned for his people to go back into the facility. “I’m so happy that forces arrived from Epyen so quickly. I hope you excuse my demeanor earlier. We have all been on edge since barricading ourselves in the facility. I.. I do have to hurry back and help get our equipment ready for transport. Before more people come back.”
Morinth gave a puzzled look to the man, “We have a cruiser incoming right behind us for extraction. They will take care of any evacuation that you need. Just sit tight, you’re fine.” The man took a deep breath, almost startled by the prospect of a government warship coming in. He nodded though and headed back into the facility. With a quick motion, Morinth broke the activation button for the automated defenses and turned to Rong, “Alright. Epyen is on the other side of the Dominion. What the hell is going on here.”
“Too sloppy to be from a decent intelligence agency or special forces” Rong shook her head. “Either one would know to make sure its field agents knew something as basic as what the closest inhabited worlds were.” She slowly sheathed her katana, her eyes seeming to focus on nothing as she thought. “Criminals perhaps? Clearly not local. But not local as in this side of the Dominion or not from the Dominion at all?” She tapped her foot once before adding “I can’t distinguish their accent from yours, which implies that they have either been practicing for years or come from the same region as you. Is your accent what would be considered normal for Dominion space? For that matter what about the remnants and Second Imperium?”
“Heh. I have a very core world accent. And I can tell you right now, these guys aren’t from out here.” She said while still staring at the open doorway, “I say we follow him. We still have the upper hand here so we can find out what is going on.” She nodded towards the door and started ahead of Rong.
Morinth was quiet as they moved down the facility, taking in every detail on the way. The innards wasn’t complicated at all being more or less a long single hallway with a couple bunk and storage rooms attached to it. The one thing Morinth was quick to point out is that the bunk rooms seemed empty. As the duo arrived at the final room at the end of the hallway. The Lead man seemed startled once more when the two walked through the door. “Oh, Oh did you come to help us? Or is the ship here.” Morinth paused and then spoke, “Our ship is still maybe an hour out.”
“But it wants us to be ready to head out the moment it arrives” Rong said. She had changed her own accent to something very close to Morinth’s core world accent, as if she had been living in the region for a few years but still had the remnants of some other place’s accent. “How many of you are there and how much of your equipment are you bringing with you?”
The lead man turned to Rong, “Well, it’s mostly data files. Most are encrypted as we had to place it on lockdown when we were attacked.” He turned his back to Rong and began typing on a large display. The symbols that were entered weren’t akin to any that had been seen before by either Rong or Morinth. The Latter was becoming uneasy in the situation as she began swaying slightly in place. Her senses were going off left and right, something was so very wrong, and her comrade knew it too.
“Now, I suggest we head towards the surface, your ship must have arrived by now?” he said, motioning to the others to begin moving their equipment. “If you would be so bold as to lead the way?” he said, pointing at the stairs. Morinth was the first to turn towards the door but before she could, a small display built on the inside of Morinth's suit’s collar showed an outside view of the facility. Above, a strange ship had arrived and was positioned directly above the facility. The Avalon had engaged its stealth drives and had reported passively locking on to various points on the alien craft.
She nodded at Rong and rose her rifle, turning towards the man who was now facing the large display. “Who are your friends?” she asked.
He took a deep breath and turned, “Some things cannot be stopped.” he said, changing his tone entirely. Morinth piqued a brow, “What?” was all she could muster.
The man nodded, “Look, those men above are coming to try and stop my people and I’s mission. It’s highly classified for very specific reasons.” he said, keeping his demeanor as professional as he could. Morinth had enough at this point and motioned towards Rong to get ready as she rose her cannon to the man’s face. “Enough lies.”
Before any answer could be given, the facilities alarm activated and the man turned, staring at the ceiling where he had anticipated the automatic defenses to activate. Luckily, the weapons had been disabled by Morinth earlier. The man smiled as the opposing forces began funneling into the base. “Who do you serve?” she asked, pushing the barrel of her cannon to his face. He could nearly see the first shell down the barrel it was so close. “Musashi? Imperium? Sacred union?” she said aggressively.
With a chuckle he said, “I serve a higher power. And what’s done is done..” he said, trying to reach for a pistol unnoticed.
Morinth snarled and pulled the trigger, splattering the man across the display. “Rong, we have to get out of here now!” she said, turning her attention to the now cowering men and women around the room. And through all of it, the sound of oncoming soldiers became clearer and clearer.
“Please tell me you have a plan Morinth-san” Rong said as she drew her katana. “And hopefully one that doesn’t involve a drawn out battle. This katana won’t stay sharp indefinitely.” She spared the cowering men and women one look before fading from sight as her cloak activated. “If you take the lead” Her disembodied voice said from beside Morinth, “I can cover your flanks and take out anyone that gets behind solid cover.”
There was a heavy let loose from Morinth’s mouth before she pointed down the lone hallway. “There isn’t much of a choice here tactically. Just uh..” She smiled a bit before bringing up her arm and deploying a small holographic display, “I’ve got a plan.” she said before pressing what was obviously an ‘upload’ key. Seconds later, yellow lights began flashing overhead and automated turrets activated from the ceiling. “I disabled direct access from this system earlier. Always have a ba-.” But before she could finish, the hallway ahead began filling with the sound of gunfire.
Morinth started down the hallway, slowly at first but then picking up speed as she reached the first bend on the way, ahead a soldier was moving to take cover from a turret, only to receive a direct blow from Morinth's shoulder. “Rong!” she shouted before pointing to two soldiers around the corner, raising their weapons towards Morinth and the man she had just crushed against a wall.
Kau Rong was already there, appearing suddenly as her katana sliced through the upper chest of one of the soldiers. She danced away, towards the second soldier, as the first fell apart. Stepping right in front of the second soldier, her left arm snapped upwards, forcing his rifle to point towards the ceiling right before he squeezed the trigger. Startled the soldier did exactly the opposite of what he should have, he stepped away from Rong, which opened the distance between the two enough for her to bring her katana to bear on him. As the man collapsed Rong sheathed her blade, shaking her head slightly before disappearing from view.
Two more soldiers, rounding a corner, caught sight of her just before she disappeared. They immediately opened fire where they had last scene her. For a moment she flickered into view as she quite audibly grunted in pain, but then she was gone again. The two soldiers, realizing that she was either dead or had moved to safety, brought their weapons to bear on Morinth.
As Morinth let up on her shoulders recent victim, she saw the two others approaching. With a snap reflex, she pulled the crushed soldier up to take the incoming fire. After a few moments of gunfire, Morinth dropped the body and returned fire. The first couple shots missed as she wasn’t aiming except to keep their heads down. The second couple shots were dead on, removing one of the oncoming soldiers arm and upper shoulder and another hitting the second soldier right in the chest, punching clean through. A subtle smirk gave way to a serious reality as the fire from the sentry turrets were dying down. Either out of ammo or being destroyed. It was clear they had to move fast.
It was strange though, Another soldier was closing fast and using light armor. As Morinth Pulled the trigger, the soldier seemed to blink from place to place, evading her fire while closing even faster and before she knew it, The soldier was standing right behind her but instead of actively engaging Morinth who at this point, would’ve been an easier target, the soldier made direct eye contact with Rong and drew a blade. Morinth left the agile soldier to Rong as another three regular soldiers made their way down the hallway and began exchanging fire..
Rong charged the agile soldier, the two taking up a deadly dance as their blades flashed in between them. The two sword users would flash into view as their weapons collided, only to flicker out again as their cloaking devices reengaged. It became clear, after a time, that Rong was forcing the agile soldier back. As he lashed out with a horizontal cut aimed at her waist, Rong aerial cartwheeled over his sword. Landing in a fashion worthy of the ancient Olympics of the twenty-first century, she quickly backed away from her foe, drawing her pistol with her left hand as she did so. She fired at the soldier three times, forcing him to dive to the side, before dropping the weapon and charging him with her katana. He began to bring his own sword up to deflect her attack, but was too slow and off balance to successfully do so. Her katana caught him in the shoulder, cutting through his heart and lungs before exiting from the other side. Having ended the immediate threat to herself, she sheathed her katana and grabbed the pistol she had dropped early. Dropping behind cover herself, she used it to lay some additional firepower on the soldiers Morinth was engaging.
The Hallway was now covered in scorch marks and holes from the exchanged fire. “This is taking too long Rong, <lol we have to break through this now. Cover your ears.” and as she stopped, the rocket pods on Morinth's armor deployed. There was a silence before the roar of the engines sent the payload towards the invading soldiers. The missiles flew past the men and exploded, showering them with not only shrapnel but small incendiary grenades that exploded a mere second afterwards. All ahead was death and fire. “Well, guess I don’t need these anymore.” she said, detaching the empty pods onto the floor.
It didn’t take the two long to move through the carnage in the main room where burnt bodies lay about. Morinth walked up to a dead soldier whose mask was partially broken. Inside was something foreign to Morinth. It was almost as if the mask was grafted onto a cloned body, it had no discernible features aside from the damage done from Morinth's missiles. “What do you make of this?” she asked.
“I’m not sure” Rong said as she knelt next to the body. She eyed the mask for a moment before taking a closer look at the body itself. “These masks are a different style than what is usually found in Musashi.” She commented. “Also… the hell? Did this guy’s face melt onto the mask? No…” She poked the man’s face around the mask. “This almost looks surgical... Manufactured soldiers?” She asked at last as she rose to her feet. “This is… disturbing. Maybe we should just grab one of these bodies and get out of here before more of them arrive. We can investigate the body later.”
“Alright.” was the only reply before Morinth began hefting one of the soldiers over her shoulder. The only room left was the one Morinth had forcibly opened before. A quick button press and the door opened to reveal the alien ship with two bright lights shining on them and soldiers all around. These ones were different, carrying strange glowing rifles. There was a simple call, “Surrender.”
Rong, having been slightly behind Morinth when she opened the door and presumably out of sight, immediately activated her cloaking device. She eyed the soldiers as she moved out and to the right, counting six in total. She slowly approached the rightmost soldier, taking her time to ensure that she got around him undetected. Then she took her katana and quickly brought it down on the man’s neck. Before he could drop she caught the body, struggling against the combined weight of man and armor, and lowered it to the ground. She then grabbed his odd rifle and, using the man’s body as makeshift cover, took aim at the next closest soldier and opened fire. The soldier, having noticed that something was happening to his right, had begun to turn towards Rong, only to get caught full on in the chest by her well aimed shot. The shot knocked him off of his feet. Before his body even hit the ground Rong was taking aim at the next soldier down the line.
Morinth had to act fast as right when Rong hit the second soldier, the ship above targeted Rong with its heavy guns. Morinth pulled her weapons trigger but only heard clicks. From behind the alien craft though, a strange red light drew closer and closer until striking the alien craft, blasting it violently in half, showering pieces all over the area. Two of the remaining four soldiers were impaled by falling debris and the other two were quick to try and escape. From behind the burning wreckage, a sight Morinth had wrote off, A Dominion cruiser had responded to an emergency beacon set off by the Avalon when it first detected the Alien craft.
A strange male voice sounded through the smoke and burning metal, “This isn’t over.” and from the grey clouded veil, a tall man with light, yet heavily ornate armor stepped forth. He held a large staff and a gauntlet on his left arm. Morinth quickly drew her last remaining weapon, a low caliber pistol and fired off three kill shots, but all deflected by a shield of some sort. “Damn!” she shouted as the man seemed to teleport right in front of her. His hand held out, an array of blue fire engulfed Morinth’s armor and with a sudden burst, sent her now unconscious body to the ground. The man then turned to Kau Rong, “Hello there. I could sense your power from the ship. Impressive.”
“Says the teleporting man that can summon fire” Rong said as she eyed the man, making sure to keep her newly acquired rifle trained on his form. “Who are you?” She asked, only to correct herself “What are you? A normal human can’t be that powerful.”
The man bowed, in a fashion that Rong would be well familiar with. “I am Lau Shan.” He took a deep breath, “I suppose I’m not a normal human.” Lau then pointed the staff directly at Rong, “You should return the formality. Who are you?”
“Kau Rong” She slightly inclined her head. “Retainer to Yamamoto Yuki-hime, first princess of the Empire of Musashi.” She paused for a moment before asking “What are you doing here Lau-san?”
Lau nodded, “I see, one of Musashi’s finest.” He then sized her up, “I can’t say I’m very impressed.” and after a chuckle, “I am here to complete the mission that this woman.” He put his foot upon Morinth’s head. “This thing, stopped. Inside that complex was someone so very important and she just shot the guy. Why do people always have to interfere?” he said, letting his foot off her head then walking casually closer to Rong. “I could then ask you the same? Why are you here?”
“I need not answer you!” Rong spat as she fired two well aimed shots at Lau’s chest. She didn’t wait to see if the shots connected. Instead she dropped the rifle, grabbed her katana, and charged towards. She took two steps before activating her cloaking device and diving to the side, hoping that it would throw him off.
Lau effortlessly shrugged the shots with the shield and quickly lifted his staff, then slammed the ground with it. The vibration deactivated her cloak and he smirked at her, before raising his hand and from seemingly thin air, shot forth a strange energy blade. He left the staff then sprinted at her, keeping his sword low. As Lau came close, he thrust his blade forward, intending to land a killing blow.
“Shit!” Rong gasped out as her cloak was forcibly deactivated. She dove over Lau’s blade, landing in a roll, she lashed out at him with her katana as she rose to her feet. And even as she did that she reached out with her mind, took hold of a nearby rock, and sent it hurtling towards Lau’s head.
Lau recovered quickly from her slash, which had only touched its tip on the edge of his armor, leaving a faint scratch. It didn’t phase him one bit as his hand extended towards the rock, catching it and then throwing it to the ground. He then gazed at a dead soldiers helmet, raising it with his mind and sending it Rong’s way. He then dashed towards Rong with his sword low again, as he got close, he thrust himself into the air and as he started downward, he began a long slash. Right as the Helmet arrived.
Rong’s eyes reflected her genuine surprise when her sword left just a scratch on Lau’s armor. A scratch! She quickly shook off her shock and met Lau’s charge with a charge of her own, dropping to her knees and sliding across the ground as he jumped into the air. Her sword reached up to meet his as they passed each other. Unfortunately for her she hadn’t noticed the flying helmet, which struck her in the chest and caused her to shift her katana further to the left than she had intended. She still managed to parry Lau’s blade, mostly. She the two passed each other she hissed in pain, looking at where his blade had just barely brushed against her left forearm, tearing through her shields and almost slicing through her armor itself. She could feel the heat from where his sword had made contact.
She jumped to her feet and rushed Lau, her sword a flurry of activity before her. Even as she lashed out with her sword she reached out with her mind, grabbing various stones and throwing them at Lau.
He held out his hand again, sending the rocks Rong has thrown to the ground before raising his own sword. He didn’t calculate how fast she was moving though and got a well placed strike, blocked only by Lau’s Gauntlet. He did two backflips before coming to a kneeling pose. Lau slowly rose up and lowered his blade, “Pretty good. I suppose I underestimated you.” he said, nearly with a smug tone. Above them the star was being eclipsed by the cruiser, engulfing the entire area in a shadow. “Enough of this.” he said, raising his sword. Just as he started towards Rong, a sharp pain rain down his leg as a half awake Morinth had pushed a knife into the back of his thigh.
Lau kicked Morinth as hard as he could before teleporting to his staff, “It’s only a matter of time now.” he said, laughing as he seemed to just vanish into nothing.
“Please let me never see him again” Rong muttered as she sheathed what was very likely a ruined katana. “You okay Morinth-san?” She asked as she rushed to her companion’s side. “I thought you were dead to be honest.” She knelt next to the other woman as she began to check her armor, looking for anything that might actually kill her if left unattended.
After a brief moment of examining, there was no immediate threat to her life. All around them, dust began to kick up as three dropships touched down, deploying Dominion soldiers. They rushed to Rong and Morinth. The first to arrive was an officer, “Are you two ok?” he said, motioning for his men which had taken a defensive stance around the area and two medics tended to Morinth. “Who was that you had engaged with? Where did he go?”
“He called himself Lau Shan” Rong said as she stood up. “And I have no idea where he is or how he managed that little teleporting trick.” She slowly shrugged. “I don’t even know who or what he was working for.”
The Dominion officer nodded, “I’ve never heard of teleportation like that. As soon as we arrived, he disappeared off all our sensors.” He made a swirling motion into the air, prompting one of the dropships to take off and take a hovering position above them. A basket then dropped and Morinth was loaded. The officer then started towards the Dropship, “We will pick up the ship you came here on, it seems that a stray shot caught one of its engines during your fight. If you would please follow to the ship, we can get you off world.”
Rong followed the Dominion soldiers to the Cruiser above. It was a quick debrief as the officers weren’t accustomed to Musashi protocol. It however was clear that the two were heading for Rong’s home nation and as quickly as the Dominion ship came, it disappeared into the nights sky.
