Chapter 16: Landfall - AC-02

The shuttle jolted violently.

Yan clung tightly to the heavy-duty strap above her, keeping the wall to her back as she looked around the lit and pressurised cargo hold. Isabella was sitting cross-legged to her left. Across the enclosed space, Neon and Luke were deep in conversation.

A fine dust lingered in the air around them, leftovers from the ore that this vessel was transporting just hours before.

Only their rented atmosuits kept the particulate matter out.

Without them, Yan suspected that their lungs would have been torn apart within seconds. If they did not die from that, there was always the lack of oxygen to worry about.

With nothing better to do, she glanced down at the baggy suit in question.

It was a two-piece garment that shone a reflective silver. The first piece covered everything from the neck down. The second was a separate headpiece with a reinforced glass faceplate. Each suit also came with a weak shield belt.

She shifted uncomfortably.

Her suit felt old and flimsy, the fabric barely thicker than the bodysuit she was still wearing underneath. The mask seemed to work fine, although the two hours of oxygen strapped to her back were a bit worrying. Now that they were near the end of their three-hour-long journey, they had already burned through the only change of oxygen tanks they had gotten their hands on.

Finding more oxygen would be a priority once they made landfall.

The vessel rocked again. Neon cursed as the momentum slammed him against the closed doors.

Finally, the turbulence subsided.

Yan asked, “What was that?”

Nursing his shoulder, Neon replied with a pained chuckle, “Probably microasteroids. These transports are sturdy things, built to sail right through. It’s normally not a problem since they handle non-breathing cargo, but today, we get to enjoy the ride.”

Grunting her thanks, Yan focused her attention on the new timer ticking down in the bottom left of her vision. There were ten more minutes to go before they reached AC-02. Above that, her new credit balance floated: “2,012 cr”.

With some time to spare, she did a quick visual check of their weapons.

Luke had gotten his hands on a second-hand pump-action shotgun that was now slung over his shoulder. His old Prometheus-issued pistol hung by his belt, retrieved from the Narius Port authorities’ holding cells.

Neon had the laser assault rifle he looted and, unsurprisingly, he also had two entire belts of grenades strapped diagonally across his suit. At Yan’s behest, most of those were lighter on the explosive spectrum. He had proudly shown off an entire assortment of flashbangs, plasma grenades, smoke grenades and a few he called “electro-scramblers”.

As for Isabella, she had her bulky metallic shell buckled across her back, covering her oxygen tank. According to her, it contained all the tools she would need to make on-the-fly engineering fixes. In her hands, she held a pneumatic dart gun designed to fire Quick-Heal darts.

Finally, Yan looked down at her knife. It was still securely in the sheath that came with her shield belt. She had made sure to retrieve it from the holding cells.

“Ma - ma’am,” Isabella stammered, interrupting Yan’s observation. “I was wondering… why are the three of you together if you aren’t part of a crew?”

Yan shrugged off the new title Isabella had given her. She did not like the responsibility it carried but with how close they were to disembarking, she was not going to make a fuss.

Deciding that there was no harm giving Isabella a highly abridged version of the events, she replied, “We used to work together. Our station was attacked and we happened to flee in the same pod. Your captain did not see fit to separate us afterwards.”

Yan’s explanation was scant. However, Isabella did not seem to notice. Instead, she said, “You mean my ex-captain. My contract with him expired at the end of our last trip.”

“I see, and that’s why you wanted to join us? Why not renew your contract? Harvey probably needs all the help he can get now.”

“I… the Silent Sail was my first voyage into the stars. I’ve always wanted to go out there, you know. See the world! But there is no world to see onboard a freighter. We reach some place, maybe get a day of shore leave if we’re lucky, and leave.”

Mentally, Yan sighed. This girl had no idea how many people wanted the peaceful life that she was describing. But who was she to judge? Yan did not think she would settle for such peace either.

Isabella was still talking, her excitement mounting, “So - so, that pirate attack was the most exciting thing ever! I was in the engine room but the tension, the panic, the pressure…!”

“People died, Isabella.”

The younger woman sobered up quickly. “I know… I’m not saying I wanted it to happen. I’m just saying that it reminded me of my reason for going out into space - into the embrace of Mother Void. Then, I heard about how you saved the day.”

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Yan could see the dreamy look on Isabella’s face. Feeling distinctly uncomfortable about the attention, she decided to change the topic.

“Come to think of it, Faust seemed to know you. Were you familiar with his gang? Why didn’t you warn us?”

“O - Oh… I was going to! But in all the rush of seeing my parents again and talking to you about the crew, I… forgot. The Devil’s Pact has never threatened me before, back when I was in Narius Port. I… I didn’t know how powerful they were.”

Her words rang true and Yan found herself nodding. The impression that Isabella had given her so far was that of a sheltered girl. Yan would not have been surprised if Isabella’s parents had tried to keep their daughter as far away from the criminal underbelly of Narius Port as possible.

There was a beeping in Yan’s mind. Her focus shifted down to the elapsed timer in her vision.

Right on cue, the shuttle slowed. Silence descended.

Luke pulled his shotgun into his hands and pumped it. Isabella followed suit, pumping air into her dart gun and loading a single green dart into the barrel. Neon slipped an energy cell into a slot in his rifle. Yan drew the knife from her belt.

She looked down at the crude piece of steel. She could do with an upgrade soon.

Her mind went to the Lightning Sword that she had left with the Narius Port authorities. As a power armour accompaniment, the handle had proven too large for her hands. Besides, even if she could hold it, there was no way to activate its titular ability without plugging it into the smouldering wreck that was her new power armour.

Could Isabella do something about all that? She should ask.

There was a mechanical whirl as the landing pads of the shuttle were deployed. Then, the container trembled one last time as they made landfall.

The tension in the cargo hold mounted.

There were shouts outside. The sounds were muffled by the thick walls of the shuttle but these pirates were making no attempt at stealth.

“Alright, here it is! Ricono wants this loaded up within fifteen minutes!”

“Fifteen minutes? What do I look like? A forklift expert? Admiral Nikolas put her in charge of this operation and she thinks she can push us around?”

“Shut up. That’s exactly how it is. Next time, you get the Admiral to put you in charge.”

There was a lull in the conversation, then it picked up again.

“Man, that woman is crazy. Did you hear what she did to that idiot who tried to escape?”

“Wait, they dealt with him already?”

“Of course! Ricono gave him a knife and challenged him to single combat. Even told him that if he won, she’d let them all go! Can you believe it?”

“Let me guess, she wore that suit, right?”

“What do you think?”

There was laughter outside.

Luke levelled his shotgun at the door.

Yan shook her head and pushed it aside. These pirates were distracted. Her knife would do a far better - and far quieter job.

From outside, there was a shout. “Alright, I’m opening it up! You bring the forklift!”

There was a huff and Yan could hear the steel bar holding the double doors shut retract.

As the doors creaked open, the pirate outside let out a confused grunt, ”Why are the lights -”

Yan sprinted forward and dropkicked the doors. They burst outwards, slamming into a very surprised pirate.

He went flying backwards, tumbling onto his rear.

His confusion did not last long, however. Before he could shout, Yan was already jumping from the shuttle, knife in hand.

The blade plunged deep into his unprotected throat, sliding in between his gas mask and the neckline of his orange bodysuit. Blood sprayed across the rocky ground.

Pulling her knife free, Yan took in her surroundings.

The shuttle had landed in the middle of a cavernous hole dug into the side of a rocky mountain - an asteroid, she corrected herself. Steel crates were scattered about the space, each marked with the name of the asteroid’s previous owner: “AC-02 Local Holdings”.

Behind her, the vast emptiness of space was visible through an opening in the asteroid. A shimmering force field was spread across the gap, keeping out fast-travelling objects.

As her crew hopped off the transport, she cast about for the pirate’s companion.

There. A man in a similar orange bodysuit, pistol and knife at his belt. He was headed towards a number of vehicles parked near a set of closed steel double doors.

Evidently, he had heard nothing.

Her crew was spreading out across the cavern as they had discussed, ducking behind cover to wait.

This was her kill.

Reaching into her mana pool, she saw that it had refilled since the last fight. Once again, she had enough for eight Tier 1 spells before she collapsed.

[Lesser Physical Enhancement - Reflexes]

Mana coursed through her body and she bounded forwards. It countered the additional weight of her spacesuit and she sprinted across the cavern towards the pirate.

“Jack, did you hear something?” The pirate turned, calling out to his dead friend.

His eyes widened as Yan’s blade sprang towards his neck.

But he managed to twist aside, just in time. The knife sliced across his shoulder and he hissed in pain.

With the speed of a trained killer, he drew his pistol and fired. Yan sidestepped and a trio of lasers seared into the stone floor.

Knocking his pistol-hand aside, Yan stabbed at his chest, only for her knife to clang off metal. She had forgotten that these pirates had armour plates sewn into their bodysuits.

“Void take you!” The pirate shouted, stumbling back. As he brought his pistol back up with one hand, a combat knife appeared in the other.

Yan activated her shield belt and a force field shimmered into existence around her.

Her opponent hissed and fired another burst of lasers that vapourised against Yan’s shield.

Suddenly, he paused, shock written across his face. Yan knew that he had seen her crew.

Seizing the opening, she leapt forward, knife slipping under his guard to slice deep into his right arm. His pistol slipped from nerveless fingers as he reeled back with a cry of pain.

Beating a hasty retreat, the pirate cast aside his knife. His hand flew towards the radio strapped to his belt.

Just as he grasped it, Yan’s knife slammed through his hand, skewering the radio behind.

She pulled her blade and severed fingers flew, framed by a cascade of sparks.

“Hel -” Yan ended his scream with a quick slash across his throat. The pirate tumbled to the ground, motionless.

These pirates were no pushovers, that was for sure.

She heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

“Good work, boss. I would have done it without the finger-chopping, but to each their own!” Neon beamed. He was joking, of course. The man probably could not tell the sharp end of a blade from the blunt end.

“Alright, no more jokes, Neon. This is serious business,” Luke said, striding up. “We’ve combed the perimeter. The loading dock is clear.”

“Good work. Two down, hopefully the rest will be easier. Isabella, where does that door lead?” Yan asked, gesturing to the double doors.

A head of wavy brown hair appeared around Luke’s shoulder. “M - me? Oh! I think that leads to the Processing Hub! Big place, lots of machines that grind and clean the ore before sorting it out. If they are still selling ore, that place is probably still working.”

“And it’s loud, correct?”

Isabella bobbed her head up and down. “Very. In fact, you can kinda hear it from here.”

Yan paused to listen. Isabella was right. There was a dull, muted roar in the background that her mind had automatically tuned out.

“Great. Alright, people, stick together. And don’t be stingy with the ammo.” She looked around at her crew and smiled.

“We’re going in guns blazing.”