The Next Day

“Everything alright, up here?”

“Looks like smooth flying, Colonel,” Captain Travis replied as he glanced toward Saito. “No problems so far.”

“I-it flies, um, r-really smoothly…” MacTavish added quietly.

Saito looked down at the Researcher, whose hands were currently on the yoke of a modern Nimalian aircraft. Travis occupied the co-pilot position, with both of them looking forward through the narrow canopy upon the blue skies above and rocky mountains below. The late morning sun shone through their east-facing window, but was fortunately high enough in the sky to not actually blind either pilot.

A few hours had passed since the group had taken off from the Bleeder base aboard the aircraft found within the base’s hangar. The craft itself was clearly a cargo shuttle, with enough space to carry over a hundred people — but more importantly, the craft was obviously a modern military design. Travis had identified it as a Plell-3-L, a “large” variant of the NSD’s standard Plell-3 shuttle, used for all transportation between spacecraft and a planet’s surface, or between two locations on a planet’s surface. How the Bleeders got their hands on a contemporary vehicle still in use by the NSD was a mystery — one which prevented Ralak from piloting, as she had no experience with the craft whatsover. MacTavish and Travis were the only two well-versed enough in piloting shuttles and aircraft to control the vehicle, and as such, they were now the ones to guide the craft toward their destination on Treséd’s northeast coast, nearby a long range of mountains known by the locals as the Eastshield Mountains.

“I gotta say, though,” Travis spoke up, drawing Saito’s attention back to him. “This shuttle is really smooth flying. It doesn’t even feel like we’re moving!”

“It has inertial dampeners, doesn’t it?” Saito replied.

“Well yeah, but still. You won’t find inertial dampeners on any SERRCom aircraft, but the NSD has them in all of their shuttles. It’s kinda nuts.”

“The Nimalians also use anti-grav in everything. I think every single one of their cars are hovercars, for example. I always knew they were more advanced than us, but this still somehow surprises me…”

“We got pretty lucky this shuttle was just sitting around in that Bleeder base, though, huh?”

“On one hand, yes…” Saito muttered, “but on the other hand, the fact that the Bleeders have one of these things tells us that they’re being aided by a group with significant pull. The NSD does sell some of their equipment to Nimalian organizations, but they’re much more selective about it than, say, the Black Suns. They wouldn’t sell a shuttle like this to just anyone.”

“Th-the registry was, um, wiped, though…” MacTavish said.

“Which just means that whoever bought — or stole — this thing knows how to cover their tracks. More importantly, we need to assume now that the Bleeders have access to more advanced tech than just powered armor. They might have mechs, tanks — fightercraft, even. Ugh.” The Colonel released a wary sigh. “…We had better find a substantive lead on these coasts.”

“Well, we’re pretty close, now,” Travis said. “The Plell-3 and variants come with a Nimalian version of our PCS. It isn’t quite as effective, but it should still let us get pretty close to our destination without anyone detecting us. Once we land, we’ll probably only have to drive through maybe 10 or 20 kilometers of foothills to reach our destination.”

“Alright. I’ll leave the two of you to your flying, then,” Saito replied, finally turning away from the two pilots to exit the shuttle’s cockpit. Now in the passenger compartment, he took a quick look around; Hackett and Ralak were sitting near the front of the compartment as they looked over the team’s equipment in preparation for more combat, while Liask and Obra sat towards the back, their heads down in what appeared to be quiet conversation. Just behind them was the hovercar that CSF-1 had used to reach the Bleeder base, strapped in and brought along to be used for the final leg of their trip — though even with the hovercar present, the empty space in the shuttle was massive. The craft’s interior had a surprisingly clean, if dusty, design; unlike most Earth or SERRCom cargo craft, the Nimalians seemed to have less exposed paneling or machinery. Furthermore, while the shuttle’s exterior paint job had been scrubbed — leaving only the bare, gray metal — the interior still bore the NSD’s official colors: royal blue and nature green with red trimmings.

After taking a quick look around, Saito stepped up to Hackett and Ralak, prompting both women to glance up at him. “Everything look fine, Major?” he questioned.

“That it does, sir,” Hackett replied. “We didn’t use much ammo when raiding that base, so we have more than enough for another few engagements. Travis made sure to top up the battery on our guns before we left, too, so we have nothing to worry about, there. And on top of that…” The Major softly tapped a box by her seat with her foot. “…We found a couple sets of powered armor left behind in that hangar. They won’t be a perfect fit for our two stowaways, and their batteries are lower than I’d like, but at least they’ll have something.”

“Good…” Saito nodded as he passed Liask and Obra a brief glance. He then looked down at Ralak, who was still wearing only her beige desert robes and black gloves, with no energy shielding to speak of. “Are you sure you’ll be fine without protection?”

“I’d be useless in a fight if I had energy shields,” Ralak stated. “I’ll be fine.”

“I suppose… but still, be careful. Who knows what we’ll find at our destination.”

“A hundred captives?” Hackett suggested.

“MacTavish did say that the Bleeders were holding plenty of hostages until recently…” Saito mused. “And half of the hangar certainly looked like it was being used as some kind of ad-hoc internment camp. Not to mention the size of this shuttle… the Bleeders were definitely moving large groups of people.” He looked back to Ralak. “Is this common, with the Bleeders?”

Ralak remained silent for a second, her head down and hands clasped in front of her. Eventually, without raising her head, she answered, “…human traffickin’ ain’t new to the Bleeders. We’ve… done it before.”

“’We’?” Hackett echoed while staring pointedly at Ralak.

The Tresédian didn’t acknowledge Hackett’s remark. She responded only with silence and a forlorn sigh before turning to look at the expansive cargo compartment in which they all sat. “…But I ain’t ever seen it on this scale, before. Usually, Bleeders only capture people to have someone do hard work for ‘em, or to…” She grimaced. “…Anyways. Bleeders usually never have that many hostages, and most of the time, they don’t move ‘em around all that much. Flyin’ out over a hundred hostages… that just ain’t like the Bleeders that I know.”

“It’s abundantly obvious by now that the Bleeders have outside backing,” Saito pointed out. “We can likely assume that all of the hostage taking is part of the deal the Bleeders made with that entity. Do you have any idea who they could be working with?”

“No. None. But I don’t know much about the world outside Treséd, anyways. You’d be better off askin’ Davídrius, or Selind.”

“I see. What about Strén — what can he do? That Chaotic who killed herself back at the base claimed that Strén was there just a day before we were, so we might run into him. So any information you have on him is good, like his capabilities, or if he has an Overdrive.”

“He didn’t have one 20 years ago — not that I ever heard of — but who knows if he got one in the time since. We know that Feral has an Overdrive, at least. Accordin’ to Davídrius, it lets her activate all of her Chaos abilities at once, with only one word: ‘Chaos’.”

“Oh, great. Chaostechnic Overdrives are always the most fun. But…” Saito eyed Ralak doubtfully. “…Not to pry, but I’m a little surprised that you don’t have an Overdrive of your own.”

Ralak grunted in response. “…Never been in the position to unlock one. I was always the one forcin’ other Chaotics to unlock theirs.”

“Right…” Saito nodded, and then sighed deeply. “Well, as for Strén… if we don’t know whether or not he has an Overdrive, then we have to be ready for the worst. Best case scenario, he doesn’t have one — or he does, and it’s something basic, like Strength Break.”

“You know our luck doesn’t work like that, sir,” Hackett said.

“You’re right. Given our track record, lately, he’ll have an Overdrive as powerful and wide-ranging as Kaoné’s,” Saito remarked.

At this, Ralak turned to look at each of Hackett and Saito, her expression blank. “…You really have a lot of experience in combat,” she eventually said.

“That’s just military training, for you,” Hackett replied.

Ralak’s gaze lingered doubtfully on the Major. “…Is that true? Your team dealt with that Bleeder base with basically no effort. You could definitely have handled the base without me, that’s for sure. Can any military squad do that?”

“We did have a heavy equipment advantage,” Saito pointed out. “Energy shielding and contemporary weaponry will always make short work of a group with no shields of their own. With that said, I can’t speak to how well a ‘typical’ military squad would have done. Typical training in SERRCom is for infantry to give Chaotics a wide berth. Our team, CSF-1, was supposed to be the first in a line of spec ops teams specifically trained to fight enemy Chaotics and support our own — hell, that’s where our name comes from: Chaotic Support Fireteam. So we’ve had a lot of training in that regard.”

“But we’re still the only Chaotic Support Fireteam in SERRCom,” Hackett added. “I think the higher-ups originally envisioned a much more cooperative relationship between us and the Eximius Vir… but when they turned out to be as incredibly powerful as they are, they pretty much made the idea of CSFs obsolete. They don’t need our support.”

“Ha ha… true,” Saito responded with a bitter chuckle. “I don’t fault the kids, of course, but I can’t lie that it sometimes feels like we’re only around to babysit them.”

“But you were still able to take on that base, all on your own…” Ralak said. “I barely did anythin’. If Liask and Obra hadn’t been there, I probably would’ve done nothin’ at all… you outsiders sure are somethin’.”

“We try our best,” Saito replied with a smirk, only for his expression to rapidly collapse into a frown as he looked back at Liask and Obra. “Now that you mention them, though… they seem disturbingly unfazed by everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that they saw us kill a dozen people right in front of them. Liask couldn’t have been standing more than a meter away from that one Bleeder that Travis headshot. And yet, they seem fine… We’ve been trained to handle this, sure, but normal civilians? I’d expect them to be in shock, or disturbed, at the very least.”

“Even trained soldiers as young as they are wouldn’t be able to watch what we did and walk away unscathed,” Hackett added. “Hell… I’m not sure I do.”

“I see…” Ralak muttered, her gaze briefly shifting back toward the two young Chaotics before returning her attention to Saito and Hackett. “That’s just how things are in Treséd. Most folks have been through a Bleeder raid, or otherwise seen someone die from exposure, or hunger, or thirst. Liask specifically… I know she’s been through a Bleeder attack. I think she lost both her parents. Came out of it with only her older brother… so she’s no stranger to death.”

Saito shook his head in disbelief. “I can believe it, but that’s fucked up. Something has gone terribly wrong, here, if kids their age are already so used to death and corpses that they can look a dead body in the eye and not blink.”

“I agree… but there’s a long time ‘til things can be better, ‘round here.”

“It wouldn’t need to be a long time if the rest of your planet actually gave a damn about you.”

Ralak shrugged. “That’s just the way it is.”

“Then the ‘way’ needs changing,” Hackett declared. “And we can start by killing this Strén asshole.”

“Here’s hoping we’ll actually get a decent shot at him…” Saito muttered.

As the three continued talking, Liask and Obra eyed them from the back of the craft, watching as Hackett continued going over her equipment while still participating in the conversation.

“…Outsiders, actually helpin’ out…” Obra muttered. “I can barely believe it.”

“You can’t just assume all outsiders are bad,” Liask replied. “Even Pierce and his friends wanted to help us…”

“Pierce? Tch.” Obra turned back to Liask, a scowl upon his face. “You’re still goin’ on about that asshole? Even after you finally broke it off?”

“I didn’t break anything. I just… needed to stop lyin’ to myself.”

“What?”

“Nothin’…” Liask shook her head. “…We’re goin’ after Minilas right now, that’s what matters.”

“Right… well, at least you finally got your priorities straight,” Obra replied. “Now we just gotta hope that Minilas is with the group we’re chasin’. I swear on the sands, if she ain’t okay, then when we get back to Tresnon, I’m givin’ Davídrius and Selind what-for!”

“Obra, please, calm down,” Liask insisted. “I wanna see her again, too! But it ain’t anyone’s fault that she’s been gone this long. No one’s but the Bleeders.”

Obra bristled. “You can’t be serious. If the Defense Force was takin’ all this seriously, then we would’ve found Minilas by now!”

“It ain’t that simple. This stuff takes time. That base we were just at… it didn’t used to be a Compound, it wasn’t on any maps. Hell, it was in a part of the wastelands that people usually don’t go through. I think we’re pretty lucky that Ralak’s friend even heard about it.”

“Her ‘friend’, right. You mean the Butcher of Rek?”

“Obra…”

“Tch…” He leaned back in his seat, still scowling. Eventually, he replied, “…sorry. I’m just… argh. Minilas should never have been kidnapped, you know? And now she’s been with the Bleeders for a damn month. It’s been too damn long.”

“And that’s why we’re here, right? To get her back. But…” Liask looked down at her own hands, staring doubtfully at her open palms. “…If Ralak and those outsiders hadn’t saved us, then we would’ve just been captured back at that base…”

“…We would’ve been fine,” Obra insisted, though his gaze diverted from Liask. “If any of the Bleeders had gotten closer to me, then I could’ve just split ‘em in half with my barriers…”

“We still need to be more careful. More importantly, the outsiders are only lettin’ us stick with ‘em since we promised not to be careless. And with how many times we’ve screwed up while lookin’ for Minilas… we should probably just stay out of their way.”

“Bullshit. You wanna just sit on the sidelines and let some fuckin’ outsiders rescue our friend for us?”

“And if we try to help, and end up just makin’ things worse, somehow?”

Obra eyed Liask for a second before shaking his head. “We won’t make it worse.”

Liask looked back at him doubtfully. “…You know… you’re more like Pierce than you think.”

“Don’t compare me to that asshole,” Obra snapped.

“Sure…” Liask muttered, though any further conversation between the two was cut short as Travis peeked into the cargo compartment from the cockpit.

“We’re here!” he announced. “It looks like there’s someone out on the coast, but if we got any closer to verify, they’d likely be able to detect us. Kirstin’s setting us down 20 kilos out; we should be able to cover the rest of the distance with the car.”

“Alright, then,” Saito replied, standing up and turning to address everyone in the shuttle. “Let’s get ready to move out, everyone! With any luck, we’re on the verge of a breakthrough in regards to cracking the secret of the Bleeders’ outside help, so let’s make sure that this chance doesn’t slip through our grasp!”

---

*

“So… we’re really doin’ this, huh?”

“Unfortunately, we’re the only ones who can,” Christeané replied, moving his flashlight around to illuminate Spike for a brief moment before turning forward. “Nayasis is a Tier 5 World, remember? We’re the only Chaotics on the entire planet, and the NSD has only a token presence.”

“Can’t say I’m thrilled about that…” Austin muttered as he swept his own flashlight across the caves in front of them. Almost a day had passed since the group had encountered the metallic bug while training on Nayasis. As it turns out, the crack created from Spike’s heavy blow had exposed a small crevice that lead down to some caves. After setting up some energy shielding to block unwanted egress through the opened crevice and then speaking with the local leadership, Davídrius and Christeané decided that a direct investigation of the caves below was in order. If there was a festering infection under the surface of Nayasis, then it needed to be dealt with as soon as possible — but the only Chaotics on the entire planet at that time were the Deans and the Earthians. And since they already had protective energy shielding with them for their training, they were as well-equipped as can be to face off with any infected creatures.

Thus, the group now slowly made their way through the dark, stuffy cave below Nayasis’s surface, flashlights in hand as they slowly and carefully inspected the area for any signs of the infection.

“Can’t say I expected our training to turn into spelunking,” Conrad commented from the back of the group.

“Oh, quit the complaining,” Pierce retorted. “If we can find and destroy the source of those stupid bugs, then we’ll be the heroes of the entire settlement!”

“Will it really be that easy, though…?” Mark questioned uneasily.

“Depends on how close this place is to a Critical Infection…” Davídrius muttered.

“Is there any way to tell?”

“The only way to know for sure is to see one of those silver dragons,” Christeané replied. “That said, you usually don’t see creatures made entirely out of nanites until a Critical Infection has already happened, or is about to happen. So… keep your eyes peeled.”

“Seems like a bad idea to go into the dark, dank, mysterious cave if there’s a chance we could get swarmed,” Austin said.

“On one hand, yeah, you’re right,” Christeané responded. “On the other hand, we’re the only Chaotics on this planet. If there really is a Critical Infection, here, then we need to know as soon as possible — and as Chaotics with energy shields, we’re the best-equipped to investigate that.”

“Yeah, but that just means that if we get trapped, then there’s no one else to save us!”

“If you don’t like it, then leave,” Davídrius retorted. “I never even told y’all to come with us, you just did.”

“O-oh…” Austin faltered, momentarily stopping in his tracks as the rest of the group moved on without him. A second later, however, he quickly jogged back up to the group, saying, “w-well, I mean, there’s safety in numbers, I guess…”

“As long as you stick close to me, or Christeané, or — well, pretty much anyone here, you’ll be fine,” Spike replied. “The only one at any actual risk of bein’ crushed by anythin’ is Conrad.”

“Oh boy,” Conrad deadpanned.

“Don’t underestimate how dangerous a cave-in can be to even Force- or Velocitechnics,” Christeané said.

“And let’s not assume that we’ll be doin’ any fightin’, either,” Davídrius stated. “We’re here mostly just to scope the place out. If we find a nest, or somethin’, then we’re gettin’ outta here, not stickin’ around to fight. Y’all got me?”

“Oh come on,” Pierce countered. “Isn’t the best time to take out one of those stupid dragons when it’s stuck in a cave, where it can’t fly?”

“The flip side of that is there’s more matter for the nanites to convert and control underground,” Christeané pointed out. “Besides… Critical Infections often seem to happen in massive caverns, where there is enough room to fly. Chances are, it’s the same here.”

“We haven’t seen any signs of the infection since that one bug, though,” Mark said. “Are we sure we’re looking in the right place?”

“Funny you should say that…” Davídrius commented as he stopped walking, his flashlight directed at a patch of the cave roof — where small streaks of metallic silver stretched across the rock.

“It really is here…?” Austin muttered.

“…Fuck, I think I’m starting to sense it, too,” Pierce said with a grimace. “I hate how this feels… but all the more reason to wreck their shit, huh?”

“Like I said, we ain’t fightin’ unless we have to,” Davídrius declared, momentarily turning his flashlight on Pierce before looking forward again. As he swept the flashlight’s beam across the cave in front of him, it revealed a fork — one tunnel leading right and downwards, and the other tunnel curving off to the left.

“Looks like we’re going to have to split up,” Christeané said.

“I’m sure that’ll go well,” Conrad remarked.

“Oh relax, we all have energy shields. We’ll be fine.”

“Famous last words…” Austin muttered.

“Damn, you two are so fucking pessimistic,” Pierce retorted. “We can handle this just fine!”

“After what happened on Oriciid’kas, I’m not so sure…”

“Based on what I’ve heard, the Holres’Ket Critical Infection was an outlier in many ways,” Christeané said. “They usually don’t happen so quickly, and the dragon there seemed unusually resilient to attacks. We shouldn’t have those problems, here.”

“Bullshit. We should be ready for the worst,” Davídrius countered. “Which is why I’m—…”

“…Somethin’ wrong?” Spike questioned as he turned to look at Davídrius, who had begun looking around himself as if hastily searching for something.

“…I ain’t the only one feelin’ this, right?” the Dean questioned in a hushed tone. “Can any of y’all use your abilities?”

“…Uh oh,” Austin muttered after trying — and failing — to summon his claymore.

“Alright, well, that’s unexpected…” Christeané said quietly, quickly sweeping his flashlight beam around the cave near the group in search of something. “…A CENT field, huh? Don’t tell me the Nanocreatures have started making their own.”

“It would be very inconvenient, indeed, if they had.”

“Who’s there?!” Davídrius barked, immediately whipping around to shine his flashlight down the caves behind the group. As everyone else turned to follow his gaze in search of the mystery female voice, they all saw nothing but the stony confines of the caves… until a lone figure suddenly appeared, as if out of thin air, a figure swathed in heavy robes that obscured most of her face.

“Hello, Sentry,” she greeted with a smile.

“Shade—!” Davídrius snarled back, immediately lunging towards her — only to be stopped by an energy barrier. “What the… what the fuck is this?!”

“Oh I would so much like to explain, but unfortunately, I hear that’s bad practice,” Shade replied while pulling some kind of device out of a small pack on her hip. “Let’s just say that I saw an opportunity, and I took it.”

“It’s a good thing I came along, then,” Mark replied as he stepped forward, winding up his fist in preparation to punch down the shield in between him and Shade. “A CENT field won’t stop me!”

“They’ve never stopped anyone competent — which is exactly why I have a little something more.” Shade’s smile intensified with gleeful malice as she tossed her small device forwards. “Strén will be quite displeased to hear that you perished offworld, Sentry. But ultimately, this is for the best.”

“You—!” Davídrius began to respond, but before he could finish, the small device passed through the energy barrier and immediately exploded with a deafening boom and blinding light — followed by a thundering rumble as the rocky cave ceiling and walls cracked and buckled inwards, completely filling in the cave.