Athena woke up to find Adrianna sleeping not far from her, now wearing a new shirt instead of the black Imperial Army uniform. Most likely the shirt came from within this house. Athena stood up and turned to the marine beside her.
“Dash?”
“I’m Click, sir.”
“Yeah, sorry.” Athena tapped her forehead. She could recognize marines through the links she shared with them, but she was feeling a little drowsy. “You guys should really get some paint jobs. I can tell you apart, but no one else can. How long have I been asleep?”
“About 5.5 hours, sir.”
Athena nodded and stood up. It wasn’t much sleep, but she felt a lot better already. She looked out of the window and saw the day was bright already. A day on Sierra Prime was much shorter than one, say, back on Earth. She turned and made her way to the bathroom. A few minutes later, she returned to the living room, having taken a quick shower and changed into a new shirt Adrianna kindly left in the bathroom.
For the next half an hour, Athena chatted with the adjutant and Rum and developed a plan. By the time she was done, Adrianna was awake as well, and she quietly whistled when she saw the shirt Athena was in.
“You like it? I saw it in the closet upstairs and I knew it was gonna look pretty on you!”
“Well, it is a bit tight, but I guess we have bigger problems to worry about.” Athena shrugged.
“I am guessing you didn't get what you wanted from the airfield?” Adrianna asked, remembering Athena’s explanation of the attack on the airfield.
“No. Things are going to be more difficult than I thought.” Athena admitted.
“So what’s the plan now?”
“Our next goal is to head to the Henderson Province.” Athena pulled out her paper map and pointed to the location of the province to Adrianna. “It is around 400 kilometers away from here. The province itself has little strategic value. A large portion of it is just desert. It also happens to be in the opposite direction to the Royal Province where the capital is located relative to the Imperial position. It is of limited value to both the Venya Imperium and the Kingdom of Decima.”
“So why do we want to go there?”
“The Henderson Province is the home to a number of smaller shipyards and a pair of medium shipyards. It may be our way off this world.”
“Huh. I see.” Adrianna nodded. She knew most likely Athena wasn’t talking about taking the ships the shipyards were building and using them to leave. Athena clearly had something else in mind, and Adrianna trusted her to know what she was doing. “But even if the Henderson Province isn’t as defended as, say, the Royal Province, there is guaranteed to be increased security. Dozens of fully armed and armored soldiers…” She glanced at the Terran marines. "They will not be able to get there unnoticed."
“You don’t have to worry about us, lady.” Rum simply shrugged. “We will find our own way there.”
“You and I will be moving on our own.” Athena continued. “We will have to ditch our weapons and armor here too. Two women will seem like a much smaller threat, but I agree we will likely still encounter questioning, which means we need a cover story. “
“And I’m guessing you’ve come up with one already?”
“Of course.” Athena smiled and handed Adrianna a sheet of paper. “Memorize it. That’s our new identity.”
“Let’s see…” Adrianna looked down at the paper. “Refugees fleeing from the Beta Regions. Left in a hurry and our IDs got left behind. Always a good sign…oh, we’re a couple?”
“Well, we obviously don’t look like sisters.” Athena shrugged, a little embarrassed. "We have different hair colors. Different height. Different facial structures. I guess one of us can be adopted, but there is really no point in complicating things."
“Relax. I’m not really complaining.” Adrianna smiled briefly before setting the paper down on the desk. “But even if we say we lost our IDs, they will just be able to check the databases for our names and fingerprints.”
“And they will find matches in the database,” Athena replied confidently.
Before Adrianna woke up, Athena had consulted the adjutant. The adjutant, as the product of the much more advanced Terran civilization, had quite the hacking ability. It might need some time to hack into military networks or databases, but civilian databases often had many more vulnerabilities.
“It seems like you’ve got things all figured out.” Adrianna nodded and stood up. “When are we leaving?”
“As soon as possible.”
A day later, Athena and Adrianna found themselves driving down a main road toward the Henderson Province in a four-wheeled SUV. The SUV came from a car rental store dangerously close to where the fighting was going on. The store owner fled already. The clerk left behind casually handed Athena and Adrianna the key to the car and pocketed the credits Adrianna paid her without really counting the amount. Athena suspected that with all the shootings going on, she wasn’t going to be at the store for long either.
It was unlikely Imperial forces would be going around burning down buildings and shooting civilians, but nothing was certain in war. Bullets and missiles didn't distinguish between soldiers and civilians, and there were always soldiers from both sides who might be in the mood for some casual war crime.
After spending a few seconds feeling bad for the store owner, Athena hopped onto the vehicle with Adrianna, and the two headed for their destination. Just in case of trouble, they took a remote road that only appeared on military maps instead of the main provincial highway. How remote? Well, for hours they wouldn't see another car. All they came across were farmlands and, from time to time, small towns and villages. Athena wasn't even worried about potential bandits. If there were bandits counting on finding prey on this road, they would go broke very soon.
Initially, Adrianna said she would drive, and Athena was fine with it. However, as the car began cruising down the remote road where it was the only vehicle present, Athena quickly began regretting the decision.
“Ummm…Adrianna? My love? Why don’t you let the auto-pilot do its thing? It’s there for a reason, right?”
Athena said as the world raced past from outside the window. She glanced at the panel and saw the vehicle was going at 150 kilometers an hour, a number that made her flinch a little. The hardware of cars had improved a lot through the centuries, but human reflexes were more or less the same. If this car crashed into something, the only question would be what her cause of death would be.
“Yeah, sorry.” Adrianna apologized and let go of the pedal so the SUV could slow down. “I have never had a chance to drive like this. You know…for a while, I actually wanted to be a tank driver.”
“Aren’t tanks much slower?”
“Yeah, but if you crash into something in a tank you’ll have a higher chance of survival. If you crash into a tree or something when you’re driving an MSV you’re guaranteed to die.”
“Huh. You seem to have put a lot of thought into surviving crashes.” If it wasn’t for the fact that she was in the car, Athena might smile. She also made a mental note to maybe give Adrianna a gift when she unlocks the siege tank. Hell, Adrianna might even enjoy driving around a hellion or a vulture.
“Well, on a lighter note, it’s refreshing to finally get away from all the explosions.” Adrianna shifted the topic as she took her hands off the steering wheel and stretched her arms in the seat. “You never realize how quiet the world can be until you leave a battlefield.”
“That’s true.” Athena agreed.
That was when they both heard it. Several loud bangs, one after another. The source of the sound was a distance away to the right of the road. Athena turned and glanced in that direction. It was an open field as far as she could see.
“Is that…” Adrianna slowed the vehicle down until it came to a full stop.
“Yes.” Athena sighed. What were the odds? “Gunshots. Sounds like a shotgun.”
“What are we thinking? Imperials?” Adrianna posted the question before quickly answering herself. “Unlikely. Imperial forces rarely use shotguns, and that didn't sound like any of the shotguns they do use. Also, any infiltration team that uses a weapon as loud as a shotgun should be disbanded immediately.”
Athena paused for a second as she received some information from the adjutant. “The Kingdom of Decima allows its citizens to own certain firearms for self-defense purposes. These firearms include shotguns. More likely than not it’s some civilians.”
“Should we go check it out?” Adrianna was not in the mood to go save some civilians from bandits or home intruders, but she still turned to Athena for her opinion.
Before Athena could answer, there were another two shots, followed by an abrupt explosion from the distance. Athena frowned and summoned two roaches under the ground. She had kept the roaches in the game since their movement speed underground was slower than the SUV she was in.
As the roaches moved toward the source of the gunshots and the explosion, Athena turned to Adrianna. “Let’s wait here for a few minutes.”
“As you say, boss.” Adrianna leaned back in her seat before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a slip of paper. Athena glanced at it and saw a PEI number.
“It’s from the girl who rented us this car,”
“Aren’t you the womanizer?” Athena grinned a little.
A minute went by before Athena suddenly sat up straight in her seat. She had received a response from the two roaches, and to say she was concerned would be an understatement. She quickly snapped around to Adrianna, her tone clearly telling her friend she was serious.
“Turn right and head in that direction. Stop when I tell you to.”
In the 38th century, many systems would have certain planets designated as agricultural worlds that would supply food to the rest of the system. That being said, many wise governors would still have large pieces of farmlands on their most important worlds. The cost of transporting food across the system was just one thing. There was also a very valid concern about what would happen in the event of a siege. If either the agricultural world or the important world was isolated, hunger alone could topple the strongest fortifications. No amount of defense satellites or anti-ship missiles would work if everyone had starved to death.
There were many pieces of farmland on Sierra Prime as well. The Beta Regions where the Imperial forces landed had many farms. Even the Henderson Province was littered with small towns surrounded by large agricultural grounds.
Tarrin was one such town. It had a population of less than four hundred, with most of them being farmers. It had two taverns that were constantly locked in a heated competition for the few customers that existed in this town, one hotel, and a few small stores. By all accounts, it was normal, and there were countless of these towns on this planet. For the small folks that lived here, war wasn’t really something on their mind. No matter who ruled this planet, they always had to pay hefty taxes.
Unfortunately for the people of Tarrin, their boring life would end one day in a rather horrific way.
“Tarrin.”
Athena whispered the name of the town as she slowly made her way down the road leading to the town. She had gotten off the car a distance away from here and left Adrianna with the vehicle, along with two roaches underground. Adrianna protested, but Athena had made up her mind. None of them had their weapons or armor, and even if they did, Athena doubted Adrianna would do too well against the thing she was moving to confront.
She took another step forward before looking down at the three corpses on the ground near the entrance to the town. A man, a woman, and a teenager. They were all in civilian clothing, and the look of terror on their face was clear as day. All of them were cut in half by what seemed like an incredibly sharp blade.
Athena kept on walking. She entered the town, and on the way, she noticed more bodies. So many more bodies. Everywhere. Women who were gutted in the stores or on the side of the road. Men who were easily cleaved in half despite their size and strength. Even children who were butchered like everyone else.
She kept on walking until she saw the culprit her roaches had noticed.
In the center of the town stood a small figure. She was a little girl. Seven. Maybe eight. But one look at her was enough to tell anyone something was seriously wrong with her. For one thing, her entire body was covered in blood, fresh and dried. The original color of the clothing she was wearing was already impossible to tell. Through the roaches underneath the child, Athena knew the girl had a number of incredibly concerning mutations on her. Sharp, dagger-like claws. Blades on her forearms. A number of unnatural bone protrusions in several places.
The little girl turned around to face Athena, the look of an animal in her eyes. As she did, she casually dropped the object she was chewing on. It was a human arm. Athena caught a gaze at a corpse not far away in a Decima police officer uniform. The corpse was missing an arm.
“What the hell are you…”
Athena woke up to find Adrianna sleeping not far from her, now wearing a new shirt instead of the black Imperial Army uniform. Most likely the shirt came from within this house. Athena stood up and turned to the marine beside her.
“Dash?”
“I’m Click, sir.”
“Yeah, sorry.” Athena tapped her forehead. She could recognize marines through the links she shared with them, but she was feeling a little drowsy. “You guys should really get some paint jobs. I can tell you apart, but no one else can. How long have I been asleep?”
“About 5.5 hours, sir.”
Athena nodded and stood up. It wasn’t much sleep, but she felt a lot better already. She looked out of the window and saw the day was bright already. A day on Sierra Prime was much shorter than one, say, back on Earth. She turned and made her way to the bathroom. A few minutes later, she returned to the living room, having taken a quick shower and changed into a new shirt Adrianna kindly left in the bathroom.
For the next half an hour, Athena chatted with the adjutant and Rum and developed a plan. By the time she was done, Adrianna was awake as well, and she quietly whistled when she saw the shirt Athena was in.
“You like it? I saw it in the closet upstairs and I knew it was gonna look pretty on you!”
“Well, it is a bit tight, but I guess we have bigger problems to worry about.” Athena shrugged.
“I am guessing you didn't get what you wanted from the airfield?” Adrianna asked, remembering Athena’s explanation of the attack on the airfield.
“No. Things are going to be more difficult than I thought.” Athena admitted.
“So what’s the plan now?”
“Our next goal is to head to the Henderson Province.” Athena pulled out her paper map and pointed to the location of the province to Adrianna. “It is around 400 kilometers away from here. The province itself has little strategic value. A large portion of it is just desert. It also happens to be in the opposite direction to the Royal Province where the capital is located relative to the Imperial position. It is of limited value to both the Venya Imperium and the Kingdom of Decima.”
“So why do we want to go there?”
“The Henderson Province is the home to a number of smaller shipyards and a pair of medium shipyards. It may be our way off this world.”
“Huh. I see.” Adrianna nodded. She knew most likely Athena wasn’t talking about taking the ships the shipyards were building and using them to leave. Athena clearly had something else in mind, and Adrianna trusted her to know what she was doing. “But even if the Henderson Province isn’t as defended as, say, the Royal Province, there is guaranteed to be increased security. Dozens of fully armed and armored soldiers…” She glanced at the Terran marines. "They will not be able to get there unnoticed."
“You don’t have to worry about us, lady.” Rum simply shrugged. “We will find our own way there.”
“You and I will be moving on our own.” Athena continued. “We will have to ditch our weapons and armor here too. Two women will seem like a much smaller threat, but I agree we will likely still encounter questioning, which means we need a cover story. “
“And I’m guessing you’ve come up with one already?”
“Of course.” Athena smiled and handed Adrianna a sheet of paper. “Memorize it. That’s our new identity.”
“Let’s see…” Adrianna looked down at the paper. “Refugees fleeing from the Beta Regions. Left in a hurry and our IDs got left behind. Always a good sign…oh, we’re a couple?”
“Well, we obviously don’t look like sisters.” Athena shrugged, a little embarrassed. "We have different hair colors. Different height. Different facial structures. I guess one of us can be adopted, but there is really no point in complicating things."
“Relax. I’m not really complaining.” Adrianna smiled briefly before setting the paper down on the desk. “But even if we say we lost our IDs, they will just be able to check the databases for our names and fingerprints.”
“And they will find matches in the database,” Athena replied confidently.
Before Adrianna woke up, Athena had consulted the adjutant. The adjutant, as the product of the much more advanced Terran civilization, had quite the hacking ability. It might need some time to hack into military networks or databases, but civilian databases often had many more vulnerabilities.
“It seems like you’ve got things all figured out.” Adrianna nodded and stood up. “When are we leaving?”
“As soon as possible.”
A day later, Athena and Adrianna found themselves driving down a main road toward the Henderson Province in a four-wheeled SUV. The SUV came from a car rental store dangerously close to where the fighting was going on. The store owner fled already. The clerk left behind casually handed Athena and Adrianna the key to the car and pocketed the credits Adrianna paid her without really counting the amount. Athena suspected that with all the shootings going on, she wasn’t going to be at the store for long either.
It was unlikely Imperial forces would be going around burning down buildings and shooting civilians, but nothing was certain in war. Bullets and missiles didn't distinguish between soldiers and civilians, and there were always soldiers from both sides who might be in the mood for some casual war crime.
After spending a few seconds feeling bad for the store owner, Athena hopped onto the vehicle with Adrianna, and the two headed for their destination. Just in case of trouble, they took a remote road that only appeared on military maps instead of the main provincial highway. How remote? Well, for hours they wouldn't see another car. All they came across were farmlands and, from time to time, small towns and villages. Athena wasn't even worried about potential bandits. If there were bandits counting on finding prey on this road, they would go broke very soon.
Initially, Adrianna said she would drive, and Athena was fine with it. However, as the car began cruising down the remote road where it was the only vehicle present, Athena quickly began regretting the decision.
“Ummm…Adrianna? My love? Why don’t you let the auto-pilot do its thing? It’s there for a reason, right?”
Athena said as the world raced past from outside the window. She glanced at the panel and saw the vehicle was going at 150 kilometers an hour, a number that made her flinch a little. The hardware of cars had improved a lot through the centuries, but human reflexes were more or less the same. If this car crashed into something, the only question would be what her cause of death would be.
“Yeah, sorry.” Adrianna apologized and let go of the pedal so the SUV could slow down. “I have never had a chance to drive like this. You know…for a while, I actually wanted to be a tank driver.”
“Aren’t tanks much slower?”
“Yeah, but if you crash into something in a tank you’ll have a higher chance of survival. If you crash into a tree or something when you’re driving an MSV you’re guaranteed to die.”
“Huh. You seem to have put a lot of thought into surviving crashes.” If it wasn’t for the fact that she was in the car, Athena might smile. She also made a mental note to maybe give Adrianna a gift when she unlocks the siege tank. Hell, Adrianna might even enjoy driving around a hellion or a vulture.
“Well, on a lighter note, it’s refreshing to finally get away from all the explosions.” Adrianna shifted the topic as she took her hands off the steering wheel and stretched her arms in the seat. “You never realize how quiet the world can be until you leave a battlefield.”
“That’s true.” Athena agreed.
That was when they both heard it. Several loud bangs, one after another. The source of the sound was a distance away to the right of the road. Athena turned and glanced in that direction. It was an open field as far as she could see.
“Is that…” Adrianna slowed the vehicle down until it came to a full stop.
“Yes.” Athena sighed. What were the odds? “Gunshots. Sounds like a shotgun.”
“What are we thinking? Imperials?” Adrianna posted the question before quickly answering herself. “Unlikely. Imperial forces rarely use shotguns, and that didn't sound like any of the shotguns they do use. Also, any infiltration team that uses a weapon as loud as a shotgun should be disbanded immediately.”
Athena paused for a second as she received some information from the adjutant. “The Kingdom of Decima allows its citizens to own certain firearms for self-defense purposes. These firearms include shotguns. More likely than not it’s some civilians.”
“Should we go check it out?” Adrianna was not in the mood to go save some civilians from bandits or home intruders, but she still turned to Athena for her opinion.
Before Athena could answer, there were another two shots, followed by an abrupt explosion from the distance. Athena frowned and summoned two roaches under the ground. She had kept the roaches in the game since their movement speed underground was slower than the SUV she was in.
As the roaches moved toward the source of the gunshots and the explosion, Athena turned to Adrianna. “Let’s wait here for a few minutes.”
“As you say, boss.” Adrianna leaned back in her seat before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a slip of paper. Athena glanced at it and saw a PEI number.
“It’s from the girl who rented us this car,”
“Aren’t you the womanizer?” Athena grinned a little.
A minute went by before Athena suddenly sat up straight in her seat. She had received a response from the two roaches, and to say she was concerned would be an understatement. She quickly snapped around to Adrianna, her tone clearly telling her friend she was serious.
“Turn right and head in that direction. Stop when I tell you to.”
In the 38th century, many systems would have certain planets designated as agricultural worlds that would supply food to the rest of the system. That being said, many wise governors would still have large pieces of farmlands on their most important worlds. The cost of transporting food across the system was just one thing. There was also a very valid concern about what would happen in the event of a siege. If either the agricultural world or the important world was isolated, hunger alone could topple the strongest fortifications. No amount of defense satellites or anti-ship missiles would work if everyone had starved to death.
There were many pieces of farmland on Sierra Prime as well. The Beta Regions where the Imperial forces landed had many farms. Even the Henderson Province was littered with small towns surrounded by large agricultural grounds.
Tarrin was one such town. It had a population of less than four hundred, with most of them being farmers. It had two taverns that were constantly locked in a heated competition for the few customers that existed in this town, one hotel, and a few small stores. By all accounts, it was normal, and there were countless of these towns on this planet. For the small folks that lived here, war wasn’t really something on their mind. No matter who ruled this planet, they always had to pay hefty taxes.
Unfortunately for the people of Tarrin, their boring life would end one day in a rather horrific way.
“Tarrin.”
Athena whispered the name of the town as she slowly made her way down the road leading to the town. She had gotten off the car a distance away from here and left Adrianna with the vehicle, along with two roaches underground. Adrianna protested, but Athena had made up her mind. None of them had their weapons or armor, and even if they did, Athena doubted Adrianna would do too well against the thing she was moving to confront.
She took another step forward before looking down at the three corpses on the ground near the entrance to the town. A man, a woman, and a teenager. They were all in civilian clothing, and the look of terror on their face was clear as day. All of them were cut in half by what seemed like an incredibly sharp blade.
Athena kept on walking. She entered the town, and on the way, she noticed more bodies. So many more bodies. Everywhere. Women who were gutted in the stores or on the side of the road. Men who were easily cleaved in half despite their size and strength. Even children who were butchered like everyone else.
She kept on walking until she saw the culprit her roaches had noticed.
In the center of the town stood a small figure. She was a little girl. Seven. Maybe eight. But one look at her was enough to tell anyone something was seriously wrong with her. For one thing, her entire body was covered in blood, fresh and dried. The original color of the clothing she was wearing was already impossible to tell. Through the roaches underneath the child, Athena knew the girl had a number of incredibly concerning mutations on her. Sharp, dagger-like claws. Blades on her forearms. A number of unnatural bone protrusions in several places.
The little girl turned around to face Athena, the look of an animal in her eyes. As she did, she casually dropped the object she was chewing on. It was a human arm. Athena caught a gaze at a corpse not far away in a Decima police officer uniform. The corpse was missing an arm.
“What the hell are you…”
