The sky above Cinnegar was an inferno.
Lasers, flak shells, falling craft, and burning flame. As the Gehinnom came under attack, warriors across the city were mobilised, ready to repel the Alliance. Their attention was fixed upwards, watching the starships and aircraft explode into pieces. Once in a while, some might have spotted strike teams quietly descending the atmosphere, and some might even be intercepted by fighter craft and anti-air systems.
Hate to be up there with them.
Staff Sergeant Ronval 'Rusty' Rubat took a deep breath before donning his helmet, balancing carefully on the wobbling wooden craft as it exited a covered canal and into a stream flanked by dead reeds. The SIA, of course, had already filtered agents into Teta days ago, and Rusty had been given the privilege of joining the fight. Though support of Teta's resistance groups did not technically fall under SEAFOAM's jurisdiction, SpecDiv was happy to pull the ex-Army sergeant out of his usual role for a quick excursion into the heart of hell due to his 'specialisation'.
The man at the front of the wooden raft signaled in the dark. Rusty's helmet allowed him to see the man's hands:
one minute to drop-off. The agent checked his weapon and kept himself hunched over, weapon up and scanning the surroundings as they glided lazily down the brackish stream. The raft carried a third agent, and behind them were two more rafts. Rusty's left hand shot out to grab the side of the raft as it wobbled again, glancing at the heavy cargo situated in the middle of the rafts that unbalanced them so. Gifts courtesy of the people of the Alliance.
The dim orange flame-haze of the city bathed the stream an infernal colour as it wound its way through and under the outskirts of the palace district, and Rusty tried not to think about the screams of mass death taking place at the hands of the Sith in preparation for the invasion. The anger steeled his nerves and sharpened his senses in cold fury.
The rafts floated onward, winding past an abandoned bridge, its shadows cutting black shapes out of the waving orange light bathing the water surface.
Shapes?
<"AMBUSH!">
Blaster fire rained down on the rafts, and the agents took evasive actions. The rafts' engines, heretofore quietly unused, roared into action while the operatives snapped their guns upward, pouring fire back up. Several Mawite warriors were blasted off their perch, falling into the water as the rafts sped past.
<"Skinner, rear cover! Chatal, raise our contacts on comms, they know we're here!"> Rusty called into his communicator. The agents on the rear raft pointed their guns rearwards, blasting another Mawite off their vantage point, while Chatal, in the second raft, began broadcasting a warning.
<"Striker 8 to Red Knight, code yellow, code yellow. Displace to alternate rendezvous point-">
Rusty opened fire upward into the sky as Maw droids floated towards them from the sky, their blasters wildly missing the mark. The floaters scattered, a few taken out by the Reaper chain blaster of one of the SpecDiv agents on another raft.
The rafts sped past the embankment that would have been their rendezvous point: instead of an empty stony shore, several Maw soldiers crowded the embankment, flinging explosives at the raft, who easily dodged it. The explosions, however, would definitely draw attention. The din of the explosions died down, but the cacophony of the rafts' engines were joined by unfamiliar mechanical whines from behind. Looking back, Rusty's heart sank as he watched an armoured patrol boat speeding down the canal towards the rafts, searchlight mounted on its front, its light sweeping the up and down the canal.
<"I'm spiking my raft."> Skinner radioed.
<"Don't do that, we just need to outrun to the inner tunnels!"> Beyond this section of open-air canals were a series of covered sewer tunnels, too low for the patrol boat to follow.
Rusty watched as the burly man began planting charges on the crates on his raft to the rear.
<"No time! They'll be right on top of us in seconds.">
Rusty opened fire at the Maw boat, his rifle's bolts impotently scratching the hull of the patrol boat as it gained on them. Return fire almost took his head off, but it only damaged his helmet. Rusty cursed, pulling his helmet off, just in time to see the patrol boat suddenly explode. A fireball annihilated half the boat, splitting it wide open and sending its crew into the air. Rusty's HUD had to dim to keep out the bright glow.
What the-
Along the raised sides of the canals, Rusty spotted the silhouettes of two wheeled off-road vehicles smashing through the reeds. Improvised munitions mounted on their rear opened fire again, cutting down the Maw drones tailing the raft.
<"Red Knight to Striker 8, you weren't thinking of destroying equipment paid for by the great families of Teta, now were you?">
Rusty sighed in relief, ordering the rafts to head for the nearest embankment. No use in finding proper ditching spots, he thought. The rafts beached on the nearest shore of the canal, thuddering to a stop as their engines failed for the last time.
The SIA agents disembarked immediately, unloading the crates with practiced ease. The Resistance fighters on the buggies dismounted, moving forward to help load the crates onto their vehicles.
"
You Alliance types sure come in loud, huh?" one of the resistance soldiers, clad in dull brown armour, separated from the rest to approach Rusty.
"
Serjeant Wosal, servent of of House Du Couteau."
Chatal walked up to the pair.
"
Formalities are what they are, but I'm still going to need you to give the counter-sign."
"
I don't-"
"Don't think we'll be needing a counter-sign?" another soldier, this one in dark red, approached. Though masked, Rusty could hear the smug amusement in her voice.
"
No, ah don't think there's need for that," Rusty said, trying not to reveal anything in his voice.
Red Knight took off her helmet, chuckling. Chatal wisely said nothing.
"
Nothing else for an old friend?" the Teta noblewoman smirked.
"
Well.. you are taking quite a risk being here and now, so thank you kindly, Lady Carmina," Rusty finally said. He was beyond embarrassed at how close the task force had been to total disaster, and how she, of all people, and her cell had to witness it, and the Lady Carmina's behaviour that lay outside M's instructions. Today was not going great. How did he miss that they were spotted?
"
Just doing my job. Come on, let's get the goods to the contacts."
As they headed to the vehicles, all loaded up, the Serjeant peered closely at Rusty's unhelmeted face.
"
If you do not mind me asking, Agent, I wonder why you look so familiar..."
Now even Chatal was suppressing a laugh. Blushing, Rusty increased his speed put his helmet back on.
"
Yes, I do mind."
Location: Resistance Hide-out, District ██████████, Cinnegar, Empress Teta
The SIA agents and their resistance allies rode for several hours, turning outwards from the palace and into old, ruined sectors. As the sounds of battle continued from a distance, they went underground. Not on foot, but on their vehicles, so cavernous was the underground complex.
Rusty bit his lip as he fixed his helmet in the dark. Carmina knew what game she was playing showing off her face to the other SIA agents. He idly wondered what exactly she was planning, or if the other agents knew her secret. Well, mysteries for another day.
Or hour... Rusty could not help but be impressed as the vehicles passed under a gigantic subterranean archway, carved and filigreed to an almost nonsensical detail. At this scale, he wondered how long it took to complete, and why it was forgotten.
His train of thought was interrupted by his helmet sparking back to life. Putting it back on, the wind went out of his face and he could see a message come in:
-----BEGIN ENCRYPTION---
TU#%$UFiJw554
-----END ENCRYPTION-----
....displaying_transmission_OPERATION_HEARTSEEKER
:// O P E R A T I O N HEARTSEEKER: GATE_OF_GEHINNOM
OPEN TO ALL SIA OPERATIVES ON EMPRESS TETA
Well, Task Force Striker had its own mission, but it was good to know that things were Definitely Happening now, and besides, Rusty was happy to cap Sith if they appeared.
Carmina signalled and the vehicles stopped at an unassuming junction, one of many in the underground complex. The group disembarked and pushed their vehicles into the pathway, so wide it was. Down and down it went, until they reached stone wall. Carmina touched a few spots on the spotless wall, and it slid open, revealing a door. The group continued, and suddenly the narrow passageway seemed to open up to a large chamber, domed and with some source of light from above. Rusty's first impression was the grandeur of the simplistic architecture. His second was that it was a military base. Arrayed around them were hundreds of warriors, preparing weapons and armour and vehicles. At the centre was a young girl, flanked by guards garbed in royal armour. Carmina made her way to the front of the group and bowed deeply.
"
My lady, we bring warriors and arms from the Alliance. We are ready to strike with these heavy munitions."
Rusty took off his helmet and bowed. So this was Lady
Ariana Du Couteau
.
