A rudimentary understanding of Physics can be useful in warfare.
Xander Park -- Port Trinity - Mars
Xander Park was named after Alexander VonGrippen. A patch of forested woodland that had been carefully cultivated so that it actually felt like a real patch of woodland in the heart of the massive city. A dark place that, during the long Martian nights had become a haven for the strange and bizarre.
The rush of light deposited them in the middle of a park. A flock of seagulls burst way from them, shocked by the sudden arrival of three people out of nowhere that late at night. Masconi lifted the PKD submachine gun and knelt. The TER-SEC uniform had been Edward's idea; she wore his badge pinned on, the silver star on the shield reflecting the light as she shifted, checking to make sure no one had seen her arrival.
Edward shook his head as he trotted past her, his hands in the pockets of Darien's leather jacket. "Relax, it's the middle of the night and it's Xander Park. No one with any sense comes here at night, and those who do certainly won't be running to the nearest metro cop or TER-SEC officer to report what they just saw." He grinned remembering many a sleepless night hanging with the weirdoes in the park.
"Personally, I'm with Wing Com..." Kyr balked and straightened up to his full five feet four, "Sorry, Inspector Masconi, here. Safe is alive..." he shook his head, looking over at Edward's jacket, striking falcon patch, winged sword and Captain's insignia. "Are you sure no one will notice you in that?"
Edward shook his head emphatically. "People see what they want to see, and as long as I don't want a person to see me, they won't." He smiled. "Like the last time I was here, I'm not worth noticing."
Masconi smiled grimly, "we need to move quickly, if R-403 has been impounded..."
"It's not going to be at the impound lot," Edward responded setting off across the grass to the footpath, "This is Mars, things don't work like they are supposed to here. Everyone knows that if you have your ship impounded, chances are its been sold off to the nearest chop shop for spare parts, its how the cops supplement their wage packets."
Masconi stopped him shrugging out of the FTL-relay backpack she had on her back, searching for somewhere to put it, "We can't check every chop shop in the Combine."
"Actually we can," Edward replied simply, smiling at Kyr and then back to Masconi, "Least I can."
"Can you also tell me where our boys are?" Masconi asked as she knelt beside a patch of trees, unfolding a small shovel and began to dig. Her first thought was to hide their only way home as deeply as she could to ensure that it wouldn't be discovered. And judging from the other freshly dug mounds of dirt around, no one would notice one more hole in Xander Park.
Edward reached out a hand to mess up Kyr's hair. "I don't have to, he can."
Kyr closed his eyes and winced knowing exactly what Edward was hinting at and not liking it one iota, "Oh no, not that, its demeaning to my people..."
"Please?" Edward bounced on the balls of his toes.
"Look, you have to understand that bloodhounds and Sniffers are trained for years... and..." he looked at Edward's powerful big blue eyes, "No."
Edward's eyes got bigger. "You once told me your older brother was a bloodhound."
"Yes," Kyr grumbled feeling his resolve beginning to weaken, why was it Edward seemed to be able to talk him into everything he knew was wrong? "But you should have seen how badly he got teased for it... Come on Matt, there's got to be another way."
Kyr sighed as Edward's eyes moistened in that particularly potent way that tore at the heartstrings.
"Puppy dog eyes are not supposed to work on me," the Kaynin muttered, "Okay... but so help me if you two ever tell anyone about this..."he looked at both of his companions threateningly.
Edward grinned. "Let me find the ship, you two..." he looked about and then back at them, "Stay put and try to blend in." He vanished.
Kyr sighed, walking over to a park bench as he sat down, crossing his legs under him. "The things I do for that boy."
Masconi smiled as she bent back to work burying the FTL-Relay trying to say as little as possible about the relationship that existed between Kyr and the boy Prince. Thick as thieves, and alone and separate Kyr was a model officer, if reluctant and a little awkward socially. But when combined with one over exuberant Engineer, an explosive catalyst at the best of times, the two could always be counted on for entertainment.
* * *
Edward bobbed and weaved his way through the crowds on the busy Trinity streets. Trinity didn't sleep, not on the main drags. Lights, prostitutes and casinos. It was like Vegas had exploded, the worst humanity had to offer all congregated in one single place and festered. Whitewashed and shined up so that it sparkled attractively, waiting to attract the next deviant to pass by.
Edward had grown up on Mars - well, Elias had. It was disconcerting to have two sets of disjointed memories in his head. Edward had never been to Mars, his Grandfather had ensured that he had a better education. But for Elias... those streets had been his education.
He felt a pang of regret as he remembered what Rikard had said, about everyone who had ever... That meant the man and woman who had 'raised' him.
He shivered, sinking deeply into Darien's warm leather jacket. He'd escaped Mars, he'd found love and he was going to live happily ever after, just like in a movie. He loved Darien, he was safe with him, and he wasn't some half-scared, stoned kid, trying to get the hell off of Mars.
There was a reason they called it "the Drag", and Edward tried to lift his spirits again. He just needed to figure a couple of things out, and then he'd know where to go. He stood, recognizing the street that he was on, thankful that in three years Mars hadn't changed much. If he was... then that put... he grinned and vanished again, re-appearing in the outer office. He looked up at the bureaucrat behind the desk, startled by the sudden, spontaneous appearance of a stranger in front of him.
* * *
Administrator Jorten was buttering a scone when the high-pitched whine reached his ears. Standing uncertainly, he reached for the heavy pistol he kept stashed in his desk drawer, just as the glass doors to his office shattered as his receptionist flew through them. The alien being,crashing to the foot of his desk.
Jorten lifted the pistol as a young man in a leather jacket and a 49ers hat stepped through the door.
"Matt Elias?" Jorten frowned in surprise as he lowered the gun, recognizing the young man's face.
"Hi," Edward responded with a cheery wave, "We need to talk." The gun hissed and spat in Jorten's hand as it bubbled, the barrel inside the weapon melting. Jorten stared at it a second before he tossed it down, stepping back away from it as the acid inside the weapon melted through the deck.
"W-what do you want?" the Administrator asked, gaping at his former employee "You... I..."
"Tried to kill me, last time we saw each other." Edward shrugged, "Then you had me hunted across known space... which reminds me, you still owe me two weeks pay. Plus a severance package..." he bounced on his toes again, hands thrust deep into the big pockets of the leather jacket.
"Is that what this is about?" Jorten stared at the shattered doors and down to his crumpled receptionist, "I can write you a cheque..."
"Yeah, and knowing you, it'd bounce faster than a kangaroo on speed." Edward shook his head. "I want the ship you just bought from TER-SEC."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jorten said hesitantly.
Edward sighed. "K, let me explain this to you. Easy way, you tell me and I leave you to go back to your business... Hard way..." he nodded out of the large window as one of Jorten's private luxury yachts exploded with a rush of concussive force tearing apart a couple of sports shuttles next to it.
Jorten spun, his jaw dropping open at the demonstration, closing his eyes realizing that it had been one sight of one of his most expensive ships, destroyed.
"Try again? Or do I have to work my way through your ship manifest, starting with the next most expensive ship you own?" Edward grinned again, "Do you still have that classic Dreknar Speed clipper? You know, the one worth..."
"Oh all right," Jorten sighed as he turned back, "It's down in the shop... the red one."
"See, that was easy," Edward smiled, "Darien was right, I should have tried this when I came to you for a raise..." He stopped and plastered a stupid grin across his face. "Smiles are free." He smirked again as he vanished, leaving a startled Jorten to collapse into his chair wondering what the hell had just... He scooped up a comlink and placed an emergency call through to a friend of his in TER-SEC, Inspector Bobby MacKay.
* * *
There was a rush, and a boom, and there, in the middle of Xander Park R-403 appeared like a giant predatory bird, giving the seagulls their second scare of the night. Masconi blinked once, looking at the damaged Raptor, his wings still locked in the down position, his gears extended as its ramp descended, an enigmatic engineer hopping down to the grass.
"I found it replied," he said with a grin.
"Inconspicuous." Masconi's eyes were wide as she began to shake, her hand clenched around her weapon as she pointed. "This is not what I meant by inconspicuous!"
"What?" Edward blinked, "I didn't fly it here."
"Masconi's right," Kyr said glancing about him and back at the livid, vibrating Wing Commander, "I think the local authorities might just notice the new lawn ornament in the middle of the park..."
"Well, we needed to find the ship, so I found the ship and brought it back..." Edward shook his head at their reactions, not exactly sure what he'd done wrong, "besides we have more important things to worry about than..."
"Than the imminent arrival of a lot of police officers?" Masconi offered her eyes blazing as she shrugged.
"Yeah actually," Edward responded, pointing up to a cluster of bright stars in the sky, just out by the orbit of one of the Martian Moons, Phobos probably.
"What?" Kyr blinked peering up at the cluster of stars realizing they looked a little odd.
"Amsus warships, cruisers probably from the intensity," Masconi replied, her anger abating as she began to cursing, "What are they doing here, I thought Sephradon had the Amsus fleet mobilized hunting down Riley..."
"Fifteen cruisers, a bunch of transports and a fleet carrier..." Edward shrugged, "The Vengeance is up there as well." He plopped himself down on the edge of the ramp, leaning against one of the ramps pistons, plucking a bit of grass and chewing on it.
"Vengeance?" Kyr pressed again, "Sorry, I'm not up on Amsus ships..."
"Vengeance is their command ship," Masconi chewed her lip, "It's normally in hiding. The Amsus are paranoid when it comes to flagships, they very rarely commit them to the field, and when they do it's usually something very bad. Do you think they know Riley's planning an invasion?"
Kyr scratched his head. "Wrong planet, right? I mean, wouldn't they be in orbit around Earth if they were expecting an attack?"
"Plus the transports, that means they are planning an invasion." Masconi frowned. So far away from the front, why would the Amsus assemble an invasion fleet in the Terran system? It didn't add up, and that made her uneasy.
"We can't stay here," Masconi gestured to the Raptor, "That is going to draw attention..."
"Yeah," Edward responded, getting up, "But I couldn't just leave him in the chop shop, they were about to..."
Masconi blinked, a smile on her face as she looked back at the stars above her, and then down again at the Raptor. Edward followed her glance, then back again and rolled his eyes. "Darien's gonna kill you."
"And if that is a war fleet ready to pounce on Riley the moment he arrives in the Terran system?" Masconi asked.
"What...?" Kyr asked, lost again, realizing that there was something going on.
Masconi shrugged and nipped up and into the Raptor, coming out a few moments later with the flat black case that was stored in one of the emergency lockers, Nazzien's VLR-01. "Matt?"
Edward rolled his eyes. "All right, but for the love of god, don't miss! This'll take a few minutes to rig up."
"Rig up what?" Kyr repeated impatiently, "What's going on?"
"Come on, Doctor." Masconi flipped open the case and began to assemble the long-armed rifle, using her knife to pry open the small Nav computer's ports, tugging the ports open to her TAC-link as she set about plugging the weapon's targeting system into the TAC-link.
Kyr followed her as they jogged back towards the tree line in the park, and away from the Raptor, the doctor crouching down behind the bench, still looking confused, but keeping his mouth shut. Whatever the two were doing, they had a plan, and he was used to not knowing plans before they happened.
Edward appeared beside Masconi, sitting down cross-legged with a bowl of popcorn.
Kyr stared at him, as Masconi gestured. "Is that really necessary?"
"Hell yeah!" Edward responded, "I pinched it from the Centuari Governor..." he paused and glanced at the Raptor, "He's all rigged this should be... pretty cool."
Masconi inclined her head, lifting the VLR-01 to her shoulder and sighting in on the biggest, brightest star in the sky. The Amsus flagship Vengeance. The rangefinder indicated that the target was out of range for an effective shot with the rifle, but then, Masconi didn't require pinpoint accuracy. She locked in on the target and depressed the trigger.
R-403 jumped in a rush of light and a sonic boom.
General Simin on the bridge of his ship twitched his wings as he stood ready. The Battleship waiting in high orbit was armed to the teeth, a dark vulture that swooped upon its prey to rip through their vulnerable flesh. A battlewagon that was set and ready to lead the all-important mission for his Master. He was almost unequalled in known space for the decisive advantage he could bring to any battlefield he was a part of. He would have held a tactical advantage over even the HMS Excalibur in battle.
However, his undoing was a lost little brother, who had chosen the most direct manner possible to return to the fold.
The Raptor materialized in the stern section of the battleship, slamming at near relativistic speed through bulk heads and shredding spectacularly into shrapnel that blew forward with ballistic force, tearing its way through, incinerating the conventional fuel supply that ran the Vengeance's ion drives blowing the stern section clear off of the end of the ship. The fireball erupted forward, blowing out the aft magazines, the ordinance cooking off as that too detonated shattering the curved wings of the ship, sending them spiralling as the bow plummeted from the sky, a lance of fire that burned like a shooting star through the heavens of Mars.
"Make a wish?" Edward said, offering popcorn to Kyr.
"I wish you two weren't so nuts?" Kyr said, grabbing a fistful of popcorn as he shook his head. "So what now?"
Edward grinned again. "Well, according to the R-403 flight logs, the ship was captured at a small starport on the edge of the city, so we take you there, you sniff, and we find our missing crewmen. Easy..."
Kyr sighed as he got up. "I hate it when we say things are easy, because we all know they never are."