Futuristic Blacksun (Notorious x C.DEX)

[C.DEX]

Dayle stared. 


"You want to just... walk right in?" She asked. "Just plug in, in front of a Head, and just... disable the engines?"


She scoffed.


"You know, you don't seem that bonkers upon first meetin', sweetheart. Did you hear that, Lucy? Vitor wants to dress me up like the Exodon he just reverse-curbstomped. I don't think that'll-"


Suddenly, footsteps sounded down the hall. The pilot let out a small gasp, then retreated back into the mineral storage room. It was too late, however. One of the two Enactors cocked his head to the side, his eyes catching the disappearing form of Dayle. 


"Halt. Who is that? Identify yourself." One of them questioned.


In the side room, Dayle scrambled to undress the unfortunate, unconscious Exodon. She ripped his cloak away from him, and threw it over her shoulders. She pushed her metallic arm out of the cloak, attempting to highlight her augment. 


In her other hand, she held the rifle close to her body, obfuscated by her cloak. She had just finished when the Enactors reached them, luckily traveling at a meager pace. 


@Notorious

 

[Notorious]

"That is C-2341, Enactor." Vitor rumbled, resuming his crusader act. The crusaders and enactor was quite similar, while Crusaders were favored for their brute force and undying loyalty enactors were favored for similar, but opposite reasons. They were peacekeepers among the Exodolites and while the Crusaders had superior combat abilities Enactors in numbers were some of the dangerous opposition the empire offered. "We do not keep records of everyone on board, Crusader." One of the Enactors spoke, clearly having a distaste for Vitor in his voice. "Identify yourself C-2341, what is your purpose?" "C-2341 is a techno-mage, frail and puny in body. But powerful in the mind with advanced augmentations and knowledge." Vitor spoke bluntly, when Crusaders and Enactors were in the same room there were generally disagreements and bitterness over who was more superior. "We're on a mission from-" "I did not ask you, Crusader. I asked C-2341. Show identification and clearance for this level. Now."

 

[C.DEX]

Frail and puny in body? The pilot shot a glance up at the masked Crusader, threatening him with her eyes. Then, she looked to the Enactors, and tried her very best to look frail. It involved slumping over the gun she hid in her cloak. Her metallic arm shifted back under her protective layer, and she pulled the ID card from her pocket with her right hand. Then, she poked it out of the slit in her garb, offering it to the Enactor. Her eyes shifted to the ground. For a moment, she looked absolutely pitiful.


Dayle cleared her throat. "My purpose is to be delivered to the engine room." she said, her voice without her standard drawl. For a moment, she panicked. She hadn't a clue what exactly was on that ID card. "My orders from... Knox - require that I be there ... five minutes ago." she stammered, her standard, cocky confidence completely gone.


"Praise Damaris." she threw in, for good measure.

 

[Notorious]

The Enactor looked at his partner, then back to Dayle, then to the identification. "Where is your handler aug?... Says here, their name is Arc." "Scientist Arc had to report to General Knox for a debriefing, I was sent in his stead to protect C-2341. You are delaying our mission, Enactors. You have proper identification. If you wish to delay us further, go to Knox. Out of our way." The Enactor that had rarely been speaking held out his hand in front of Vitor. "We are on the same side, brother. We are only doing our jobs." The other Enactor wasn't having much of it but they were all on the same side after all, it made no sense to delay the two further. "I apologize for my tone, you know the pressure that is on Crusaders and Enactors alike brother." "As do I, Praise Damaris." "Praise Damaris." Vitor replied in response, putting his hand on the 'puny' Dayle and gently pushed her to walk in front and stood behind her looking the part of a guardian. 


After they cleared the hallway Vitor let out a sigh, "Thank you Captain... If looks could kill you gave me one when I said frail and puny. Anything to a Crusader or an Enactor is puny as they are-" He restrained from chuckling at how sarcastic the words he was about to say were, "Closer to our Lord and therefore more enlightened and powerful. Nothing personal. You did great though." Lucy was listening in over the comms and couldn't help but laugh, "Capn', this fool is INSANE. First he gets you all dressed up then instead of breaking their faces he makes YOU act!" Her giggle was contagious as she could barely restrain herself. "RCN is up our asses, get a move on! We're running out of time so they've given you the go ahead to go loud if y'all want. If Vitor wants to play more dress up give him a punch for me Cap!" 

 

[C.DEX]

"Darlin', I'm still packing under this robe." Dayle said. She pushed her rifle upwards, still concealed by the cloak, and tapped Vitor's hand with it. "Next time, you're wearing the dress."


The pilot straightened out her back, assuming her confident stance once again. She gave off a cold shiver. She had never interacted quite so personally with an Exodon before, unless interrogations counted. Things were a little bit different under duress, however. Though the experienced pilot would have liked to say she was without worry the entire time, she would have been lying. For a moment, the two walked in silence. Then, she spoke up. "Lucy," she started. "Be prepared to take off without us, alright? We've gotten mighty far, I'm not sure how well they'll react when the grid goes down. Hear?" 


She forced a smile into her inflection. "We're getting a hurry on, though. We're almost at the engine room. How much time do we have left?" she pried. "Dispatch? Have any of our agents been compromised? Still green?"

 

[Notorious]

"Captain Dayle still green but not for long, you and Vitor need to get a move. The sooner the engines are down the better." Dispatch came in immediately, keeping tabs on the situation closely. "No one has been compromised but we've had some close calls. Our spy on board is trying to reach extraction but the other teams are blocked off by Enactors. It seems to us Captain Knox knows something is going on. Any moment the ship can go on high alert so we're changing the mission perimeters." 


They entered the engine room and noticed it was crowded with guards of all kinds and a single man in a plain suit taking note of all the ongoings in the room. With a datapad in hand he was roaming, checking every nook and cranny as his inspection continued. "We need those engines disabled by any means necessary. Your mission details as follows: Stealth is no longer a necessity. Shut down the engines at any cost. Dispatch out." Vitor looked to Dayle and sighed, "I tried my best to play it the stealthy way, go Captain... The control terminal is up there. They will not be paying attention to you in a moment." Vitor broke away from Dayle and took a step towards the middle of the room. The auditor looked up from his datapad at the giant hulking Crusader walking towards him. "Curious... We were supposed to have only one crusader on ship. State your business here on the engine level." "I'm here on business for Captain Knox. He requests your prescience as soon as possible." The auditor smiled, "Of course, we shan't keep the general waiting much longer. Praise Damaris." The auditor said with a smile. "Fuck Damaris." His smile disappeared. "What did you just say?!"


Fist met face, face cracked from the force followed by body flying through the air. The auditor's face caved in from the force of Vitor's punch, flesh and bone pulverized in a fleshy mess. It happened so fast that many in the room didn't even realize what was going on until they came under fire from the crazed Crusader in the very center of the room. Flashes from energy weapons returned fire at the mad crusader as engineers started to return fire but none were quite the match for Vitor. This was what he lived for, what he had been created to do. Someone was running to spring the alarm at a control terminal near the door but whilst firing with his energy rifle with one arm Vitor reached to his side and pulled out a standard pistol, firing a traditional bullet at the one running in the back of the head. He holstered the pistol and continued to fire, providing covering fire for Dayle whilst cleansing the room from the Exodolites. 

 

[C.DEX]

C-2341 rose, dazed. He jerked upward, then pushed off of the ground, attempting to regain his balance. With quite a deal of effort, he stumbled to his feet, clutching his head and cursing under his breath. His hand kept tight to his scalp, attempting to stop the ache and trickle of blood. His vision blurred, and he stumbled out into the hallway.


"Wasn't particulate. Not particulate," he grunted. "Arc-" he started, looking around, before realizing he was alone. Alone, and hurt. For what reason, he wondered, oblivious. A certain emotion crossed him; one that he was familiar with; anger. Again, his thoughts blurred, and he clutched his head. He fought down his lunch, and began to make his way down the hall. 


From the distance, he heard the unfamiliar bang of a pistol. 


Dayle's breath caught in her throat when Vitor announced his intentions to her. Her hands clutched her rifle, prepared to place it in position. Then, she remembered. They were in the engine room. When Vitor's fist met the auditor's face, she took off up the stairs, onto the platform above them. Her feet pounded against the metal tiles below. When she got to the top, she stopped, in awe. It wasn't visible from where they entered, due to a well-placed overhang, but the engine was massive. Perhaps three stories, by her own estimate. It was a flex-engine; top of the line machinery, and the biggest core she'd ever seen in a ship. For a brief moment, she was intimidated. Then, she remembered she had a mission. And Oeutune-4 was depending on them. 


Her presence was noted by a nearby engineer, who, realizing something was amiss by the gunshots and screams below, raised his pistol on her. He hesitated, unsure if she was friend or foe, and in that moment, she raised her rifle and shot him. His face fell, contempt and anger in his eyes. Then he fell, dead.


Dayle moved toward the panels in front of her. It had a slew of ports, and a manual panel to the far left. Won't be needing that, she thought to herself. She threw her rifle onto the top of the panels, and then jacked in, sitting down in the chair afforded to her. Her arm was yanked forward, and she gave a pained grunt.


"I'm in, Vitor. Dispatch. We're hot, but the alarms aren't triggered."


The pilot closed her eyes, and patched herself into the ship's computer systems. Quickly, her mind raced through the CCTV. She located the engine room door, and then initialized a close on it. Behind Vitor and company, the door slammed shut. The bolts locked into place, cutting off a fleeing, injured engineer in his tracks. He turned in place, gun to his side. Then, looking upwards, he caught a glimpse of the true reason why the invaders were there; the cloaked Augment, jacking into the engine port. He raised his pistol, and fired a few shots at her from down below. 

 

[Notorious]

"Perfect Captain!" The dispatcher replied to Dayle, excitement in her voice. "Disable the engines and our boys will FTL jump to your location and light the ship up. You two will have very little time to make your escape but you already knew that. Keep us posted, out." Vitor seen the engineer taking shots at Dayle and raised his rifle to fire but it was overheated from taking on the entire room of engineers and guards. He tossed it to the side and charged at the engineer, his feet stomping on the metal grating beneath him causing the loudest racket as he ran at the man. He turned his pistol to Vitor and fired, three shots hitting his armor and bouncing off or simply leaving black scorched marks. Vitor tackled the injured engineer and rammed him in the wall with the force of a vehicle running someone over, his suit propelling him faster than humanely possible. The engineer slumped to the ground, dropping his pistol and quickly succumbing to his injuries. "You okay Captain?!" Vitor asked, trying to keep her covered as best he could and all things considered he was doing a fine job. He ran back over to his rifle and picked it up, taking cover behind an engine block and shooting any stragglers that appeared. "We should be clear Dayle, you alright?" With the engine block closed they were going to be able to make swift work of the ship, as long as the other RCN operatives on board weren't exposed. 

 

[C.DEX]

"C-2341! What happened?!" Arc hissed, grabbing the young Augment by the arm. C-2341 jerked himself away from the neglectful Scientist Arc, and pushed past him. One of his eyes shut tight, from the pain that his steadily developing migraine was bringing. "Wait, C-2341. Stop!" Arc commanded, grabbing for the young subject again. As soon as Arc made contact with C-2341, however, he suffered a deep electrical shock. It jolted him away, sending him to the floor. Without a glance backward, the Augment trailed away.


He reached a door, its positioning central to the ship. His hands patted his side, before realizing that his ID had been taken. He devised the same tactic again, and placed his hand onto the identification panel. The jolt from his hands made quick work of it, and the doors to Telecommunications slid open.


Dayle's mind snapped back to the present, but she was unable to pull herself back into her body enough to answer Vitor's question. "Yes," she started. "Or no, but I can't feel my body right now. This ship is too big. I can't focus on that." she said, her voice ringing over the RCN comm. "I'm disengaging the topmost engine cells. ETA is two minutes for the whole girl. Non-essential parts of the ship will shut down, folks. Here's your warning." she said, still broadcasting to any RCN agents that were on the ship.


The behemoth in front of her groaned, then as called, its topmost floor went dark. The lights flickered off, and then the backups came on. Bright red lights flooded the hallways, rooms, and bridge. Somewhere on the ship, someone sounded the alarm, and a loud droning began to permeate its cacophony throughout the Dredge.

 

[Notorious]

The RCN agents started to scramble now and gun fire was heard throughout the whole ship. The leeches from earlier were successful as RCN strike teams were placed throughout the entirety of the ship. Captain Knox crossed his arms and grunted, looking at the security feeds to see Renegades roaming the ship. "Enactors... Take care of our guests. Send a strike team to the engine deck and get our ship back online. If they disconnect the engine then we're stranded and vulnerable for attack. DO. NOT. LET. THESE. HERETICS. WIN." When everyone on the deck froze Knox raised his arms up in the air and slammed them down at his control panel. "DO AS YOUR TOLD!" He roared, causing everyone to scramble at their captain's outburst. 


Enactors started to swarm the intruders, open firing without hesitation and cutting down Renegades left and right. Their weapons were so much more advanced even though the Renegades had the advantage of ambushing them the Enactors were simply too strong for most small arms fire and needed heavier weapons to be taken down. Explosions rocked the ship as some of the abandoned leeches were detonated once their crews were slaughtered, two could play the game of preserving their technology. "Give us the signal when to retreat Captain Dayle." Dispatch said, speaking to her while monitoring the activity on the ship. "We will hold position to keep the Enactors from breaching the engine room but we need it down ASAP!"

 

[C.DEX]

"I'm trying- hold tight! Just a few more seconds!" she cried.


The second floor of the engine shut down. The emergency lights went off. A quiet but ever-present hiss suddenly silenced itself. The vents slammed shut. No longer was life support being fed to the rooms. Dayle's brow contorted in concentration. On the other side of the engine room door, men stood active. For a moment, they seemed frozen in time. Then, an Enactor barked an order at them. His voice carried through the door; Dayle wouldn't be able to hear it, but Vitor certainly would. 


"Burn a hole in the door, Soldiers Marcy and Quint. Everyone else, go around. Kill them quickly, before the operation is compromised." The Enactor said. "Now!" He yelled. His body of men sprinted away, looking for an alternate entrance to the engine room.


Amongst the commotion, Dayle was working hard. Her arm shifted in place constantly; metal rods grinding against each other, locking, unlocking. A fine line of sweat coated her brow. They were cutting it close. She wasn't entirely sure what the RCN had planned for after she shut off the engine, but she certainly hoped it was good. Things were looking particularly bleak.


"Lucy," she started, "Lucy, I need you to do a lick. Above my coordinates. Disengage from there," Dayle said, fear in her voice. "Ease in like I showed you. Or don't. As long as you open up the passage and keep it hot, okay? We're not going to be able to come by your way, and your position could be compromised." she said. "If you can't lock on within the next minute, I need you to leave without us."


"Dispatch," she started. "Send whatever agents you can to our location. We're being surrounded, and we can only hold the doors for so long. Disengaging final cell!"


The massive engine slowed down to a thrumm. It began its descent into death. Light by light, it blinked off, and then completely stopped. Ambient noise disappeared. For a moment, the only thing that echoed in the massive engine room was the scattering of footsteps, and shouts from beyond the door. Dayle thought to herself; had she done it? She had completed her part, certainly, but even so, shutting down a Harvester in its entirety was not an easy task. Then was the matter of escaping alive.


"I don't hear the pitter patter of my backup, dispatch. I want to hear those feet, you hear?" She said, breaking out into a conflicted smirk.


@Notorious

 

[Notorious]

"We're sorry Captain Dayle... Everyone else is disembarking from the ship now or they're too far from your position. There will be no back up, we can't risk it." The dispatcher said quietly, remorse in her voice but a cold hard, calculated undertone ever present. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S NO BACKUP?!" Vitor roared into his communicator. "We're sorry Vitor, we just don't have the resources and we can't sacrifice any more men on this mission. We've already lost upwards of 20." "IT'LL BE 22 IF YOU DON'T DO YOUR FUCKING JOB!" As if their luck couldn't get any more worse, the main doors to the engine room were being pried open by an Enactor with augmented metal arms. He was slowly raising the bulkhead doors with a massive display of strength, surprising even Vitor. Dispatch was deathly silent now and unfortunately that meant they were on their own, it was truly nothing personal it was just the needs of the many outweighed the needs of Vitor and Dayle. 


Vitor slid across the floor, holding his energy rifle in hand and open fired underneath the door causing the soldiers to back up and the Enactor to activate his shields. The shields deflected the energy blasts into the hall causing a ricochet effect that ended up taking out an Exodolite behind him. "DAYLE PATCH OUT WE NEED TO MOVE!" While Vitor was busy keeping the doors covered Lucy had detached from the ISS Dredge and began to fly to their location. She was hovering rather roughly but with the engines out on the ship everything was suspended in space, making her approach a lot easier. "Just hang in there y'all... I'm not leaving you!"

 

[C.DEX]

The engine went down.


The ISS Dredge went dark. It only took a moment; a moment of conflicted infighting and espionage, before the red emergency lights flicked off. Before the RCN and the Exodons were bathed in darkness, nothing but their helmet lights energy weapons permeating the shroud that encompassed them. For a moment, many let off of their triggers in confusion. For a moment, the fighting stopped. But not for long. 


"Dispatch?" Dayle started. "Dispatch?! The engines are down, dispatch. Tell me what you need us to do - just don't leave us, please. We're outnumbered." 


The silence was deafening. The pilot's breath caught in her throat. She uttered a small croak. When she opened her eyes, the ISS Dredge was pitch black. The only light that peeked in was from the Engine Bay doors, which were being pried open violently by an Exodon. Shutting the engine down meant that those doors wouldn't be power-sealed. Her attention divided; half went to keeping the ship powered down, and the other half went to grabbing her rifle. She twisted her body painfully in the chair and set the fore-stock on the chair's arm, attempting to aim it and interface at the same time. 


"Open fire, Vitor. Every-fuckin'-thing you have. Hear? We can still make thi-"


Suddenly, a surge of electrical power shot through Dayle's body. She was ejected from the interfacing port; hard. She shot back, and landed hard on the floor behind her. Her rifle flew out of her hands, sliding through the open rails and landing neatly infront of Vitor.


The bottom-most cell of the engine began to flicker to life. Then, the second cell. Then, the third. At an astounding rate, the ship began to come back to life. The emergency lights came on, and then the lights lining the hallways and rooms came back on. Dayle's eyes were blurred from the shock, but she could see what was happening. She attempted a crawl, back to the panel, but with every muscle she worked, her body screamed in hot pain.


"Engaging Fission Laser." a voice came, over the loudspeaker. It sounded dull, pained, and familiar. C-2341.


"Establishing trajectory."

 

[Notorious]

"No.... NO!" Vitor screamed, knowing exactly what was about to happen. Hearing C-2341's voice over the intercom made his heart sink into his chest, if only he had crushed the kid instead of showing mercy. This was on him. There was nothing any of them could do as the engines roared behind them and the Renegades abandoned the ship all in one sweep. The engine bay doors opened wide now, their temporary defense completely shattered as power was resumed. Vitor dived for Dayle's rifle and tucked underneath his left arm with his energy rifle under his right and open fired on the Enactor who breached the door. With the combined power of both guns at once it tore through the Enactor and into his men behind him. Vitor roared as he cleansed the hallway only to get shot in the back causing him to stumble to the ground and on his knees, they had found an alternate way in. 


The shot luckily was deflected by his armor but he would have a bruise where the blast hit him. He spun around and fired once with Dayle's rifle, striking his target in the neck while continuing his suppression fire on the doorway where it seemed like more and more Exodlites we're pouring in. "You have to be kidding me..." Vitor grumbled, taking cover behind a generator while engaging what felt like the entire ship's worth of soldiers. He looked up to Dayle and seen how exposed she was on the platform and knew this could be their final stand. "I AM COMING CAPTAIN!" Vitor shouted, running out of cover and returning fire while taking a few hits. His shields were starting to weaken but he refused to go out like this. He ran up the staircase, his feet booming on the metal stairs further polluting the room with noise along with the constant gunfire.  Vitor ran over to Dayle and took a knee in front of her, activating one of his Crusader augmentations and held out his hand towards the gun fire. An energy shield appeared from his gauntlet and started to absorb the fire, it would be able to hold for some time but with the ship back online things were looking grim.


"Are you alright Dayle?" Vitor said, blocking the attacks that were flying towards them and ensuring their safety at the cost of the enemy advancing their position. 

 

[C.DEX]

"Scientist Arc," C-2341 started, over the intercom. "I apologize for using my power core on you, but it was essential to the mission. Please retrieve me," he said, before coughing weakly. "Cooperation means delayed termination." he continued, as if repeating a mantra.


C-2341 was leaned over the Telecommunications panel. He took in a deep breath. His face contorted into a deep grimace. For a moment, he considered the actions of what he was about to do. He considered Arc's promise; that he'd be saved from termination. If he survived. Just like the rest of his promises. Then, he considered his anger for the intruders; they wanted to stop him at any cost. But why? Why were they attempting to stop Lord Damaris' will?


"Trajectory ... Established." he said, weakly. "Firing."


The young techno-mage poured all of his power into the ship. Then, he fell backwards.


...


Down on Oeutune-4, crowds gathered, pointing at the Harvester in the sky. Many knew what it meant; it was a Rebellion outpost, after all. Few fled, and what few did were struck down in the middle of the sky by Exodon strike teams, their debris littering the grounds below. RCN law enforcement corralled their citizens into bunkers, basements, ships, and the like. Some took off, racing away from the contact point, attempting to make headway in running from the inevitable.


Trade stopped. Eyes glanced up toward the sky. The radios reared to life. Quickly, the RCN began flooding with calls from Oeutune-4, about the Harvester in the sky. Were they to leave? Were they to stay? Had the RCN completed their promise; that there was nothing to worry about, and the Exodus could never attack a planet so tightly entwined with the Rebellion?


The sky flashed red. Then, a laser pierced it. The citizens of Oeutune-4 had a moment, just a moment, to clutch their friends and families. Then, a wave of death sweeped across the horizon like a nuclear winter; burning, then freezing everything in its path. What people survived the initial blast would soon succumb to the earth-penetrating radiation, heat, and deathly cold that followed.


From the ISS Dredge, Oeutune-4's skies flashed white. Then red. Then black.


The radios went silent. All the protests originating from the sieged planet ceased.


...


"Vitor, Vitor. I'm fine! What happened?!" Dayle screamed.


"Oeutune-4 has gone silent, Captain Dayle." Dispatch replied, finally.


"Fuck! Fuck! No, it can't be happening. It's not gone!" she said. "This is your fault, RCN! 20 lives - 22, now, over what?!" she screamed. She grabbed Vitor's arm, pushing off of him, and shoved herself bodily into the panel she had been jolted away from. She shoved her burnt augment into the port, crying out from the pain of doing so. After a short bout of resistance, the port took. No jolts, protests, or announcements from C-2341.


The ISS Dredge shook. Hard. Dayle carelessly panned through the CCTV, then found the front. She patched herself in. On the viewport, a diagram of the ship came up, not unlike the one that appeared on the front of the Gaius. Then, a voice came over the announcements.


"Engaging FTL drive. Please enter coordinates."


Numbers flew across the viewport, to the surprise and dismay of every Exodus Pilot in the room. They grabbed their respective panels, attempting to force the raging jack-pilot out of their system.


"Confirmed. Entering hyperspace."

 

[Notorious]

"Stop that order NOW!" Captain Knox shouted, pacing about the bridge as he watched his pilots helpless flail about trying to stop the hacker in their system. "Sir.... We can't! They seem to be patched in directly. We're trying to pin point the location." Captain Knox snarled, if looks could kill this one would do that and then some. "Nobody insults my leadership... Insulting the sanctity of my ship and our holy mission is as if directly insulting our lord himself..."


Out in the darkness of space a lone leech was desperately trying to latch back on to the ISS Dredge. Captain Dayle's words of leaving in one minute echoed in Lucy's mind as she tried to latch on to the ship but with it entering hyperspace the ship began to move quickly forward. "Oh no.... No no no no..." Vitor was defending Dayle and heard Lucy cut in as she spoke to herself. "Leave Lucy! You have overstayed your welcome. Save yourself." "IF THE RCN WON'T HELP YOU TWO THEN I WILL!" She shouted back at him, her voice cracking as she stammered it out. Vitor sighed, "Dayle and I have a job to do Lucy. They've already won the battle... We're going to win the war. We're fighting a losing battle and if we die in this place I am going to do so by making sure they lose too. While shouting a huge fuck you to the heavens and to that fascist Damaris." Lucy shook her head, while Vitor radiated confidence and was fine dying a warrior's death, Lucy refused to lose her Captain and Vitor. "I can do this! Just you keep those damn shields up and I'll scoop y'all up!"


The Dredge was going faster and faster, with how big its engines were it was able to propel itself faster than the Gaius could initially keep up with especially in Lucy's hands. The radiation from the fast moving Dredge caused communications to go down and not even the Captain could guide her on how to latch on or even tell her to fly away. "I can do this... I CAN DO THIS!" Lucy shouted, punching the Gaius faster than she had ever flown it before and overshot right past the engines. "FUCK YOU!" She shouted, overcome with emotion as she missed her target. The ship was going to enter hyperspace any second and if she didn't latch on she would be stranded next to a dying planet. She lowered the Gaius on a random part of the Dredge further towards the front and ground it against the harvester. "Sorry Dayle..." She whispered, deep in concentration as she successfully latched on in the nick of time. 


Captain Knox shook his head left to right as the ship suddenly entered hyperspace, the coordinates on the charts going haywire as whoever was doing this to them was scrambling their system almost as if they were in a fit of rage. "This has become... Personal." Knox said quietly, looking up at the screens. "Lt. Sevchenko, you are now acting commander of the bridge. I am going to deal with our intruder problem." Before Sevchenko could even utter a word Knox stormed out of the room and headed directly for the armory.


As he stormed through the Dredge a dying Renegade was bleeding out on the ground when Knox made eye contact with him. "HERETIC!" He roared, rearing his leg up high then stomping it down with such force on the poor renegade's head that nothing remained but bits of skull and brain matter. Knox walked through the sliding doors of the armory and walked directly to the back, jamming his card into the reader and going to a private section in the back. There on an armor stand connected to the wall was a shining set of Crusader-class armor, the latest of its kind and designed to enhance the already powerful crusader to new heights. "If you want something done right..." Knox grumbled, stepping into the suit of armor backwards and let the technology do the rest as it wrapped around him and made an airtight seal. He took a step off the armor stand with a loud thud practically shaking the room. Knox started to make his approach to the engine room after grabbing a heavy rifle, going to take care of the renegade problem himself. 

 

[C.DEX]

The ISS, shortly after, left hyperspace. The communications roared back to life, some yelling commands at the remaining RCN soldiers onboard, some requesting clarification on what exactly happened. Most wanting to know why, if only for a second, the ISS Dredge disappeared from space entirely. Why it was off of the radar. And then, why it wasn't only on the radar, but it was on the radar of the Space Habilitation Station, RCN-1.


The home base of the RCN. It was huge; bigger than the Dredge, by a long shot. Not only that, but it was where retired RCN pilots, soldiers, and technicians lived. It was where missions convened, at the end of the day. It was where Dispatch lived, eat, and breathed. It was where refugees from foreign planets - tied together by a common bond - lived out their lives peacefully, for the most part. It acted as a hub and a beacon; and a Harvester had never dared attack it before. Whether that was due to their secretive nature - because it had always been moving - or due to its sheer mass and firepower, was to be decided.


"Dispatch..." Dayle started, exhausted.


"Captain Dayle." Dispatch replied.


"I brought her to you." the tired Captain gasped.


"Yes, Captain Dayle. We see that. Sending reinforcements."


"Only when your hand is fuckin' forced, you are." she hissed back. "Lucy? Where are you? Did you get left behind? Lucy, if you're there ... If you're still near Oeutune-4, you need to go. There's got to be strike teams at your location."


Dayle shut her eyes tight. Her mind raced back to the ISS Dredge, though she had barely enough energy to stand, let alone interface. For a moment, she thought back to what had happened when the Gaius first latched onto the Dredge. Then, she looked for an atmosphere alarm. For a moment, she fell hopeless. Then, she noticed a blip; faint, but there.


"Lucy? Are you in the front? Vitor - help me up. We're going home." Dayle said, with a pained grin. She ejected herself from the jack-port, then attempted a stand.


In the hall, the downed Scientist Arc struggled to get to his feet. What really woke him was the incessant stomping, and it was getting closer by the second. The disoriented man adjusted his glasses back, then glanced backwards. What he saw frightened him. Again, he stumbled backward. "C-Captain Knox!" he nearly shouted. "The - ... what happened?! Why are we -" Arc stammered, glancing out the window. "RCN-1." he said. "We must evacuate, sir. We accomplished our mission, thanks to my work on the Augmented, but the RCN has too much firepower - we can fight this battle another time!"

 

[Notorious]

"Captain... CAPTAIN DAYLE?... VITOR?!" Lucy exclaimed, dizzy as all hell and dazed at the captain's seat. "YOU'RE ALIVE! I CAN'T BELIEVE WE MADE IT!" Lucy did a little dance in her seat, ecstatic that her friends had made it out alive. Vitor coughed, "We aren't out of it yet Luce, got a lot of ground to cover before we can reach your location. Lot of hostiles in the way too probably." Lucy grinned, "Well hurry your asses up! I'll keep your seat warm for you Cap!" Vitor let out a soft chuckle, "Be there as soon as we can." Vitor walked over to the Captain and lent her his arm to stand stable, "You kicked some ass Captain, let's get out of here." They made their descent down their stairs and crossed the mountain of bodies that had accumulated from Vitor's rampage. The others had already retreated, the sight of RCN-1 was too terrifying for even the toughest of Exodites. Escape pods began to jettison from the ship and hit hyperspace, the ship was compromised as the RCN reinforcements flew in and took out the engines permanently. The ISS Dredge was a sinking ship now, it was only a matter of time before the RCN operatives escaped too and the ship was obliterated.


Elsewhere, Captain Knox looked at his feet to find the scientist Arc pleading with him to flee. He was nearly at the engine section but for this he could wait. "Scientist Arc...  Interesting that your augmented techno mage was the one to fire the cannon knowing that the bridge was disabled. He single handedly furthered our cause, do not bring up that he was YOUR work. He was the work of the Exodus, our people..." Knox was staring at Arc with a look on his face that pierced right through the scientist, if Arc thought the crusader from earlier was scary Knox was a completely different story. He was absolutely terrifying in more ways than one. "I can smell the fear on you, Arc... What are you afraid of?..." Knox smiled at him, the tension in the air was beginning to be too much. "You said we accomplished the mission huh? Does this look like an accomplishment to you?" Knox grabbed Arc by the head and slammed him against the window, showing him the massive RCN station and them open firing on the Dredge. "You mention accomplishing the mission, thanks to you work... But saying we have to evacuate too? That is failure to me and failure to our lord. And I do not feel sympathy for failures." Knox dropped Arc and did something so cruel and heartless that it would have even moved the Emperor. He kicked Arc to the ground then stomped hard with his boot right into Arc's ribcage, an unarmored man against a heavily augmented boot usually meant instant death but no... Knox didn't want him to die. Not yet.


Knox stomped just hard enough to shatter Arc's ribs and puncture major organs in one fell swoop, bone protruding from flesh and a quick mist of blood sprayed the crusader's boot as he withdrew. "Looks like I stepped on a bug. Whoops." He said with a smirk, kneeling down to look Arc in his eyes. "You are spared... but you will forever remember your failure here today..." Two Enactors were nearby as Knox's backup and he waved them over. "Your life now is in these two, loyal citizens of Exodus' hands. I'm not going to kill you... But they don't have to save you." Knox turned his back on the mortally injured scientist. "Have to take care of some more roaches you two. Do what you will with the scientist then abandon ship. I won't be far behind." 

 

[C.DEX]

Scientist Arc screamed out. The Enactors shied back for a moment, before rushing in to drag the Scientist away. They weren't gentle with their grab; they had been given the all-clear to abandon the ship, and by hell, they were doing it. A long smear of blood streaked behind the struggling scientist, whose blood-curdling screams pierced the halls.


"Not quickly enough," Dayle started back. "We'll be grateful now, but when we get back to RCN-1 ... Well, Oeutune-4 is gone." she said, solemnly. 


The Captain steadied herself on Vitor with her metal arm, using the other one to grab her rifle. Before she did that, however, she tore the cloak off, throwing it to the ground. That was enough of that, and she didn't need a reminder of her failed mission. She wondered - was it doomed from the start? Did they not have enough time? She accomplished her mission. She shut down the engines. "Thanks, Lucy-Luce. Proud of you, girly." she said, a faux smile on her face. "Had our back when the others didn't. And you licked it! A little helter-skelter on your location choice, but hey, a lick's a lick." 


The two made their way out of the engine room, just early enough to miss the sparks and debris flying up from it being barraged by RCN craft. Dayle stumbled, then steadied herself again with her rifle. With a cursory glance back, then forward, she broke away from Vitor and prepped her weapon. "I'm alright!" she said, pepping up, and raising the gun to eye-level. They trawled down the hallway at a respectable pace. Every once in a while, the ship would shake hard, a result of the RCN battalion swooping in to clean up the mess. 


"I imagine I'm going to face some sorta ... Official reprimand, from RCN. Given the gift I gave'm, and their rampant appreciation of it. If I'm taken out of the roster, dear, I want you and Lucy to take the Gaius." she said.


Then, something caught her eye. It rounded the corner, and it was absolutely massive. Dayle quieted, raising her gun. It was Captain Knox.


She opened fire.

 

[Notorious]

Knox held up his hand, and like other Crusaders, had a kinetic shield augmentation that either absorbed energy blasts or could shoot them back at whoever was firing. "Get down!" Vitor said, pushing Dayle out of the way as Knox returned fire by redirecting her own fire back at them. Vitor couldn't believe his eyes, he hadn't seen another crusader in a long time and to see that it was someone he was familiar with made everything more daunting. "Is that Heretic Vitor?" Knox said, continuing to press forward slowly but surely. "Looks like you got yourself a friend. So you two are the ones who ruined my ship... Expected, coming from the empire's best. I've heard good things about you Vitor, how many successful missions we put you on." He smiled as Vitor clutched his gun tightly. "Don't you miss us? Our lord is quite forgiving... Our emperor not so much but who can blame him. You're a heretic and they must be cleansed." Knox open fired back at them pinning them down around the corner with no where to run. Vitor looked back to where they came and sure enough flames were creeping up on them from behind. "Dayle... We gotta get around him... There's no going back. Lay down suppression fire, I can take him." And with that Vitor rounded the corner ready for a fight.


Knox grinned widely at him and they both charged at one another, meeting in the middle of the hallway and slamming together. Vitor went flying to the ground to Dayle's horror, usually Crusaders were evenly matched but something about Knox set him apart. "We may be cut from the same cloth Vitor but you gave up your faith, your people... Your emperor! And for what?..." He smiled, "Some chance at getting back at us?" Knox kicked Vitor in the face sending him sliding across the floor, his armor leaving scratch marks on the ground as he slid. Blood dripped down Vitor's face as he stood back up, wincing in pain. All things considered he was lucky compared to other of Knox's victims, his body was very resilient but with the added strength of the armor he was wearing Knox was something else. 


Vitor and Knox continued to battle while Dayle covered Vitor but even with the two of them combined they were no match for Knox's shields and augmentations. While Dayle fired Knox held up his kinetic shield and while it was being weakened he was able to deflect anything she was dishing out. Vitor placed his rifle on his back and opted for hand to hand combat, something that Crusaders were trained for. It was as if he was fighting a mirror, every single move Vitor had Knox had an answer for. And then the big one hit.


"That looks like it hurt..." Knox taunted while Vitor was down on the ground, roaring in pain clutching his chest. While it wasn't visible, Knox was able to pierce through Vitor's armor and punched him directly in the stomach. It was as if a speeder had collide with him at full speed how much it hurt. There was no doubt in Vitor's mind that his ribs were broken and from the other physical injuries Knox had dealt to him it seemed impossible they were both actually crusaders. "Technology has advanced since you left Vitor... We are more powerful than you... We are more ruthless than you. We will stop at nothing to complete our mission and destroy every heretic that stands in our way." Vitor looked up at Knox, blood dripping from his forehead caking his face in dark red blood. He spat at Knox, blood spraying on the captain's face and it only inflicted a laugh out of him. "You're kidding me, right?"

 

[C.DEX]

Dayle ducked to the side, letting her lead finger off of the trigger once she realized that her shots were being deflected back at her. A bullet whizzed past her face, cutting her cheek. Another hit metal; her arm. It jerked backward, and she caught it before the movement sent her to the floor. Knowing not what to do, she looked around for something, anything. Then, she saw a door. It was jarred open, unlike the other doors in the hall. She dived for it, nearly being hit by the pummeled form of Vitor. If anything, she needed to get away. Even being in the vicinity of the giants fighting could have been the end of her. One slip, and she'd be crushed. So she ducked into the doorway, to formulate a better plan. Only, upon ducking into the doorway, she noticed something familiar. Or, someone.


C-2341. He laid on the floor of the telecommunications room, collecting his bearings. His chest rose and fell slowly. When Dayle entered, he weakly looked up, but didn't seem to have enough energy to do anything. Nothing, other than collapse. She raised her rifle, prepared to end his life. Then, she heard the crunch of Vitor taking a punch from Knox. Once again, she decided to spare the young techno-mage; not for pity, this time, but for urgency. Her eyes fell into the control panel.


It must have been what he used.


"Vitor," she said, "Grab something. Grab something now."


Dayle shoved her damaged jack-arm into the interfacing jack. A jolt shot through her; her arm was damaged heavily, both from the deflected bullets and the shock that C-2341 had shot through her earlier. She cursed at him, then pushed through the pain. What little cells weren't damaged in the engine were pouring their storage into life support, emergency lights, and the gravity generator. Just as she had suspected. With gritted teeth, she allocated those energies to steering. In a moment, the two fighting outside would feel weightless. Then, they'd feel a severe jerk, sending them against the windows, then down the hall. That is, if they hadn't grabbed something.


Dayle was not immune to the jerky movements of the ship, either. Her arm slipped out of the port soon after sending the command, throwing her and C-2341 against the wall. She grabbed hold of the doorframe, stopping her descent. The young techno-mage slipped into the hall, and before he could catch himself, he slammed bodily into the windows.


"Vitor?!" Dayle called out. "You grabbed onto something, right?"

 

[Notorious]

"I'd expect more from a Crusader." Knox said, standing above Vitor who was bleeding out in front of him. They had continued to fight while Dayle disappeared and Knox laughed. "Your friend has left you, you're bleeding out on the ground. You are hopeless.... Godless... friendless... You betrayed your people..." Knox raised his rifle and aimed it at Vitor's head, the poor Crusader was on his knees at this point just trying to buy time for Dayle to make it out. "Praise Damaris." Knox said, smiling down at Vitor with his finger on the trigger. 


"Vitor," Dayle said, "Grab something. Grab something now."


Vitor listened to Dayle in his daze and grabbed on to Knox's rifle. It was his only option and it was either going to be Knox or himself and he sure wasn't going to go out on his knees like this. Suddenly the ship shifted and they both went floating into the air, Vitor anchoring himself to Knox by his own gun. While Knox tried to fire Vitor put his hand in the way of the firing mechanism, Knox's love for older weaponry being his downfall in this altercation. Vitor pushed the rifle back right into Knox's face causing blood to shoot out of his mouth and nose that floated slowly through the air. Next thing they knew they were being slammed against eachother as the ship started to react violently to Dayle's stirring of the ship. They bashed and battered against eachother, doing more damage to one another inadvertently as they tried to steady themselves but to no avail.


The ship soon came to a halt and Knox went bouncing down a hallway while Vitor crashed into a bulkhead window, cracking the window and dangerously so. Vitor went pale, from what wasn't covered in blood, as he was terrified the bulkhead emergency systems were broken. "Dayle... Lucy... We might have a breach." He slowly stepped forward and an emergency shutter went crashing down instantly, the ship almost depressurizing killing them all in one quick sweep. "False alarm... Lucy... You might have to retreat, Knox is too strong. Dayle and me are badly injured, I can't fight this monster forever."


As if on queue, Knox turned the corner he was flung around and started to walk towards Vitor. His weapon was gone so he intended on beating him to death. "You've taken my ship. You have made me fail my mission. I am going to take something from you now." Knox charged at Vitor and was going to crush him inbetween the emergency shutter and himself, going ever closer and closer he gritted his teeth as he was about to make contact. "GYUAAAAGGHHHHH!" Knox practically screamed as electricity ran through his body, his armor temporarily shutting down and pinning him in place. His armor acted as his own personal prison as the EMP charge detonated, thrown by a lone man coming to their aid from the intersecting hallway.


"Come with me if you want to live." The man said, smirking as he said so. He was dressed in Exodlite armor but he was anything but an Exodlite. "Dispatch this is Xulu, package secured. Captain Knox is incapacitated for 60 seconds. We'll be out in 45, over." 


"Who the... hell are you?" Vitor asked, looking at the Renegade spy in Exodlite clothing. 


"A friend. We don't have time, let's move." Xulu said swiftly, motioning for Vitor to follow him. Vitor did as instructed and followed Xulu to where Dayle was. "Nice to finally meet you Captain Dayle, we gotta get the hell out of here. Y'all got an escape pod lined up or are we going to have to make a jump?"

 

[C.DEX]

Dayle swung around the doorway, kicking off of it and meeting Xulu and Vitor in the middle. She clapped Vitor's shoulder, offering a grin at him. Her expression hid a fair bit of pain; her arm was malfunctioning, shifting in place as if still in a jack-port and sparking electrically. Her cheek was bleeding, but that was no more than a flesh wound. With a swipe from her jacket, it was back to new. While she was a little worser for the wear, Dayle was, for the most part, fine. Her eyes shifted to the direction of the front of the ship. Lucy was still in wait. She offered a small smirk, proud of her girl.


"Know I wouldn't leave you, big guy. Just figured shooting at him was a little bit pointless, huh?" she said, hand still clapped onto Vitor's shoulder. "I gotta say; I've never been up front like that. Can't say I like it, but it's not too bad when you have a meatshield."


Her eyes shifted to the unconscious form of C-2341. Then, she looked to Xulu. 


"We have an escape pod, sweetheart. She's called the Gaius, and she's parked out front. One more thing we have to take care of, though." she said. "Dispatch, we've captured the techno-mage. Permission to terminate? Simple 'yes' will suffice."


Her rifle, that of which she'd slipped over her body when interfacing with the ISS Dredge for the last time, was unsheathed. Then it rose, pointing blank at the temple of the hostile Exodlite. 

 

[Notorious]

"We don't have time for dispatch. Kill him, he's just an Exodlite pawn." Xulu said, pistol in hand as he kept an eye on Knox who any second could spring back up after the EMP charge. "We have about 20 seconds before big guy gets up we gotta move." 


Vitor frowned and knew what he was about to do was going to be a controversial decision. "You're wasting time Dayle." He picked up Cas by the back of his collar and hoisted him up and over onto his own shoulder. While Vitor was badly injured and looked like he had been through war he was still able to carry the light techno-mage. "We'll deal with him on our own terms. MOVE!" Vitor barked, causing them all to jump at the sudden burst in volume but nobody was going to argue with him with Knox potentially being able to move at any moment.


Xulu lead the charge as they raced down the hallway past Knox. Explosions were rattling the ship and the cabin was going to be depressurized at any moment. The lights were flickering on and off, the hallways illuminated by the LED lights on the three's weapons and clothing as they sprinted to the Gaius. Lucy knew they had to be getting close so she acted the leech's breaching charge and cut a perfect circle into the hole of the Dredge. She lowered the ladder remotely from the captain's chair, giving them a way to get up as swiftly as possible.


"We're running out of time!" She exclaimed, nervously looking at the RCN continuing to fire on their position. They were keeping it light, knowing that there were still just a few people onboard and if they failed Dayle and her crew one final time and they survived they may create an even worse enemy than the Exodlites: one that knew their every move. "The engines running, dispatch is telling me we have 30 seconds!"


Vitor's legs were giving out, slowly succumbing to his injuries but with him in lead if he collapsed it would cause not only his own death but he would block the path of both Dayle and Xulu and he refused to let them die. Not after everything they had been through while on this suicide mission. Vitor spotted the ladder and knew they were cutting it close so he stepped out of the way for the other two to make it up first. They both scrambled up the ladder and as soon as they were all onboard Lucy sealed the airlock and detached as quickly as she could. The Gaius floated away from the sinking Dredge as it started to internally explode now, sending shockwaves of shrapnel out into the darkness of space. 


"Ho-lee... Shit!" Lucy exclaimed, giggling as they just barely missed the destruction of the Dredge. The dreadful realization that this was still a loss creeped over her, but she couldn't help but be immensely relieved they all made it out in one piece.

 

[C.DEX]

End Scene 0: Enter Exodus
​

While the ISS Dredge was destroyed, there seemed to be a pact of solemn solidarity amongst the denizens of the RCN-1. Men and women disembarked from their fighters, clutching tightly their helmets and disregarding their weapons. Eyes rarely glanced up from the ground, most choosing to glass over in contemplation. The radios were quiet, other than the bare necessities. The Renegade Coalition had suffered a deep wound; something that not many denizens believed they could recover from. That day, they wore the wounds on their expressions and bodies. When the Gaius got the all-clear to land within the RCN-1, they were not welcomed. Eyes shifted upward, then down. Not one woman, man, or alien had an idea of how to treat the returning teams. Public favor was often decided by the council. Among a nation of free-thinkers, no less. 



That did not mean they were ignored. The Gaius was greeted; one amongst few. A group of four RCN soldiers among a professional-looking Corscezzi woman waited to greet the group. Prepared for a bitter arrival, her slick, boneless hands knit together behind her back, wringing eachother. She smoothed down the fabric of her pencil skirt, and waited.



When the Gaius landed, it was manned by Dayle herself. She pulled her ship to a light glide, then rolled it to a stop on the runway. There was no flair no love to her piloting; she was doing it manually, and clutching her side. When they departed from the ship, the Corscezzi woman took them to seek medical attention; Dayle had her augment removed and reserviced, and Vitor was taken to be treated for his injuries he had received at the hand of Knox. The accompanying soldiers flooded the Gaius soon after her patrons left, to receive C-2341 out of the brig of the Gaius and welcome Xulu. Not many words were exchanged between the lot.



After a few days, after the grimness and realization settled deep in the chests of the denizens of RCN-1, the team was summoned to the attention of the Corscezzi woman that had greeted them back to the massive space station. Her name, known amongst the Rebellion, was Ifrit'a'Div, though most simply referred to her as Chancellor Div. She was known amongst her people as well as the Exodons, for her time spent with the Rebellion was long. She was there for the beginning, the end, and the resurgence. For the most part, she had organized each event herself. Chancellor Div herself never met with her people, instead choosing to work behind the scenes, orchestrating movements like pulling strings. So, when she chose to deign herself to the company of Vitor, Dayle, Xulu, and Lucienne, it was a relatively big deal.



The area they were called to was nestled within the deep Political District of the RCN-1. It was a safeguarded area, with guards at every post. It was reminiscent of a clean city block, with no need for it to be any different. It stood in stark contrast to the neon-market district of the RCN-1, the block-white residential areas where many made their homes, and the laystreets where travelers rode their caravans as if in long stretches of rimworld highway. It was different in that it was plain, the buildings only differentiated by signs, and how many guards were on post on that particular day.



The interior of the building was slick and technological, however. Screens of all sort covered the walls, each showing different areas of the RCN-1, all surveilled. This is where Chancellor Div brought the newly important renegades. They sat at a table, much like a steel therapist's desk. A seat was cut into the metal of the ground, where Div herself sat. 



"Greetings," she said, her voice metallic like most Corscezzi. "I've given you all time to recuperate. As much as I could possibly give you, before it becomes necessary by public hand that I call you here."



Chancellor Div breathed in. She allowed her guests time to sit and get comfortable. They would undoubtedly need it.