“Alright,” he said, when they were gathered in front of him. “You know why we’re here. We all knew the guys we lost well. Some of us knew them very well. But that didn’t stop the Nostra. That didn’t stop them breaking into our base, and butchering our friends. I guess they thought we weren’t strong enough to retaliate, or that they’d be able to wipe us all out.” He paused, to look at the men and women in front of him. “Well, they were wrong. We’re a small group, but I know I can trust each and every one of you, and that is why we’ll beat these guys. And we will beat them. It’s obvious that it’s us or them now. And I say it’s going to be us. So. Are we ready to have a little fun?”
Some smiled, some grinned, and some just had resolved expressions on their faces. None made much noise, however, being too professional to draw undue attention to themselves. Satisfied that they were in as good a state of mind as they could be, Nero turned his back, and headed to the alley opposite. Talyah and Nate came close behind, followed by the rest of the group.
The building was the next street over, and was entirely unremarkable. It was just a rundown concrete and metal structure, only three floors tall, and with no obvious signs of habitation. However, if you looked closely, there were hints. The door was clean, an obvious tell that it repeatedly slid open and closed. And the ground outside the door and building were cleaner than would be expected, as if repeated sets of feet kept too much dirt from settling.
Nero halted, holding up his augmented arm to stop the others. Turning to Nate and Talyah, he looked them in the eyes, seeing their determination. “You know what to do, guys.” They nodded, and gestured to their assigned teams. Talyah took her ten guys around to the left of the building, down the small adjacent alley, and Nate took his down the right. Nero was left with five, to go in the main entrance.
He looked them over. Jerad was with him, as dependable as ever, and the other four were also good people. Onon, a small woman, deadly with her hands, was with him, as were Koegan, Cauld and Abia. Those three looked intimidating, and were very good in a fight, but they were actually rather soft guys most of the time. Today, though, they looked ready for violence.
“Ready?” Nero asked, knowing the answer before they responded. They nodded, and moved forward with Nero. He was constantly checking the windows of the building, but didn’t see any signs of movement as he approached. He wasn’t expecting to see any, either. If anyone was in there, they wouldn’t want to risk being spotted in the windows.
The main door was metal, but wasn’t designed to withstand any force. Nero gestured for Koegan to come forward, and he did so, bringing out the small laser cutter. It was only a matter of a few seconds before the powerful laser cut through the locking mechanism, and the door could be slid open manually.
Koegan did so, once Nero and the others were in position, with their laser rifles aimed at the door. Nothing happened; no shots were fired at them, no one rushed out, and indeed, there was no light on in the building. Nero carefully crept forward, entering the building, his holodisplay highlighting any possible dangers once inside.
The room they entered was empty, and obviously hadn’t been used in a long time. There was no furniture, and no signs of it having been lived in. “Next room,” Nero said, gesturing for the others to move forward with him. He opened a channel on the communicator. “Tal. How you doing?”
“We’re in Nero,” came her reply. “No sign of anyone yet.”
“Nate?” Nero asked.
“Same,” came his answer. “I’ve just got darkness over here.”
“Okay, converge on the centre. We’ll head upstairs as one.”
Nero’s team made their way through to the next room, a central hall in the building. In the centre of this space was a circular staircase, made of transparent plexlon, spiralling upwards to the top of the building. Talyah and Nate appeared from opposite directions.
It was at times like these, Nero reflected, that he wished miniature drones could still be found. But they had disappeared from the black market years ago now. He hated going in blind.
Taking point, Nero was first to climb the stairs. He climbed slowly, his rifle pointed upwards, checking for signs of movement, augmented legs making no noise at all on the steps. Again, there was no light on this floor, and all the doors were open to the rooms. It looked deserted, just like the first floor.
“Tal,” he whispered into the mic, “check this floor out. Nate, with me.”
He carried on up the stairs, up to the top floor, still with no signs of life. Then he heard a faint metallic noise, and possibly the sound of a voice. It came from behind a closed door leading off of the landing, and a glance at Nate suggested he’d heard the same thing. They fanned out, with five guys going into the room to the right, which had an open door, and another five moving to the closed door of the room to the left.
Nero whispered into the communicator. “Everyone move in on go. Three... two... one... go.” Koegan again slid the door open for them, and Nero, Nate, Onon and Abia burst into the room. Nero took everything in in a moment, noticing the bright portable work light set up, the game spread out on a table, and the five men sat around it. They looked up as Nero burst in, surprised expressions coming to their faces, and looked again as the team from the room on the right also burst in, from another door.
The fastest among the game-players began to reach for their weapons, but they weren’t quick enough. Nero and his team opened fire, punching the men full of laser holes before any of them even got their weapons up. It was over in a second, and with no casualties to Nero’s team.
“Clear,” Nero said into his communicator. By the looks of things, these five men were just guards of some sort. A skeleton crew to man the building. Some job they were doing, Nero thought. “But why were they on the top floor...?” he muttered to himself.
“What was that?” Talyah asked, coming into the room from behind him.
“What? Oh, nothing Tal. Find anything on your floor?”
“No, Nero. It was deserted, just like the ground floor.”
“Hmm,” Nero replied. “Well, let’s have a look around here. See if there’s anything of interest.”
They separated, Talyah going to look in the other rooms, and Nero going to check the room the men were playing their game in. It looked just like the other rooms to him. A few overturned chairs, some old tools on the floor, dust covering most surfaces. Except the table they’d been playing their game on. Nero went over for a closer look.
“Looking for something?” Nate asked, watching Nero examine the room.
“Just having a look.”
“Well, look all you want. But I’ve got a hankering for those tunnels.”
Standing over one of the tables by the wall, Nero spotted a small carbon cube. It was placed in the centre of the table, on a miniature plinth. He picked it up, and turned it over in his hand. It was completely featureless and smooth on all sides, except for a small marking on one side. That marking looked like a slightly rounded triangle.
“Hey, you ever seen something like this before?” he asked Nate, handing him the small object.
Nate looked the piece of carbon over. “Do you know what this is, Nero?”
“No. Hence the question.”
“This, this is incredible. You know, many years ago, when I was doing jobs for myself, I found a similar object. I didn’t know what it was then, and I traded it to someone for some food. It was only later, after that explosion in Section 24, that I got curious. See, this trader, he disappeared shortly after I gave him the object.”
“Oh?” Nero prompted.
“Yes, and you see, there was talk about a similar person around Section 24 just before the explosion. It seemed a bit of a coincidence to me, and you know, I put two and two together. I found that man again, one day, and I found out a bit more about that object I had given him. See, it was important for him. Crucial to his plans.”
“For the explosion?”
“It turned out, the cube ha
d powers. Special powers.” Nero looked down at the small object in his hands. Nate continued talking. “It allowed the bearer to do things they couldn’t normally do.”
“What sort of things?” Nero asked.
“The bearer of the cube, with the right knowledge, could turn invisible!” A grin spread across the man’s face.
Nero looked up at Nate, and rolled his eyes. “Nate. You had me going there. Turn invisible, right! You’ve never seen anything like this before in your life, have you?”
Nate laughed. “Can’t say as I have, man. But you should’ve seen the look on your face! Priceless!” He turned, still chuckling and headed out of the room, tossing the little carbon cube back onto the table as he did so. He was probably right, Nero reflected. It was just a curiosity. He left it on the table, and turned to leave as well.
It was only then, giving the room a final glance, he noticed a small cupboard. It was under one of the disused tables by the wall, and he could have sworn he saw a tiny movement from between the metal doors. Curiosity roused, he went over to the cupboard, and pulled one of the doors open. Immediately, something small and dirty burst out of the cupboard, almost knocking Nero over, and headed towards the door.
“Onon!” Nero yelled, spotting the woman near the door. “Stop it!” Onon leapt forward, her agility astounding Nero, and managed to grab the small person before they reached the door. Nero ran over to them, grabbing hold of their captive himself, and roughly span it round to face him.
‘It’ turned out to be a ‘she’. A young ‘she’ by the looks of things. It was a human girl, probably only eight years old, or so, and so dirty she almost wasn’t recognisable as a girl. She was struggling furiously in their grasp, fighting to get away.
“Hold it!” Nero yelled at the girl. His voice seemed to scare her, since she lessened her efforts to escape, even if she didn’t cease altogether. “We’re not going to hurt you. I just want to know your name,” Nero said, in an effort to calm the frightened creature down.
She looked up at him with fear in her eyes. He noted that she kept looking at his mechanical arms. He supposed he must be quite an intimidating figure. “Why are you here, girl?”
Eventually, she answered him. “Sevi. My name is Sevi.”
“Okay, good. My name is Nero. And this,” he said, indicating the woman still holding her, “is Onon. Why are you here, Sevi? You’re obviously not with these guys.” He gestured to the dead men around the table.
“No, I... I was hiding from them. They didn’t know I was there. I... I broke in to this place. I thought it might have some food in, but...”
“But?” Nero prompted.
“But, after I was in, I heard voices coming to the door. And then these guys entered. I ran upstairs, but they followed. I found this space to hide in,” she said, pointing towards the cupboard. “They came in the same room. They’ve been here for hours now. Until you guys came. And killed them.”
“You were lucky we arrived, then, weren’t you girl?” Onon said, releasing her grip on her.
The girl looked up at her, with wide open eyes. “I guess so,” she said.
“Do you have a home?” Nero asked, already guessing the answer.
“No, I live on the streets. Find what I can for myself.” She managed a slightly superior look that Nero found quite amusing.
“Of course you do. I know that life well,” Nero said, thinking back on his, and Talyah’s, early lives. “Listen, I always have need of new recruits. Able bodies. I can give you food, shelter. Drink. I can give you a life, if you want to come and work for me.”
He saw the hunger in the girl’s eyes when he mentioned food. “You’ll give me food?” the girl asked, bluntly.
“Yes. And more. What do you say? Interested?”
The girl looked at him, and at Onon, hesitantly, but the decision was almost inevitable. “Yes.”
“Great. I have a job to finish at the moment, but I’m going to ask Onon to take you back to my ship - the newly acquired one, Onon,” Nero said, looking up at the woman, before turning back to Sevi, “I’d like you to wait there for me, until I get back. Is that okay with you?”
“Okay,” the young girl responded.
“Great.” Nero stood up again. “Well, I shall look forward to seeing you soon. Onon?”
The small woman led Sevi out of the door, down the stairs, and out to the shuttle. Nero watched them go, feeling a slightly strange mix of emotions. Quickly dismissing them, he turned back to the task in hand.
****
The entrance to the tunnels was from the ground floor. A crudely carved hole in the floor led down to the tunnel, a small set of makeshift steps taking them down into the darkness below. The rest of Nero’s team was already down there, waiting for him, all with their light strips in their clothes switched on. They looked up as Nero, and then Onon, descended.
“Okay guys, Talyah will be taking point down here. Move as silently as you can.”
They set off, Talyah in the lead. Unlike when Nero had known the tunnels, the floor was covered with water now. It smelt of damp, and the lighting obviously no longer worked. Or perhaps it had never worked in this tunnel. Nero had never been through all of them.
Slogging forwards, they continued straight for about a quarter of an hour, before they came across a junction. Talyah’s nav unit suggested they ignore the turnings, and continue straight. They also came across the occasional recessed staircase to the surface, though as Nero knew from prior recon work, most, if not all, were tightly boarded up.
At one stage, they came across a pair of aliens coming towards them. But Talyah already had her weapon ready, and she fired before the aliens could do anything. They left them where they fell.
After an almost indeterminate time, Talyah halted them. She was looking at the holodisplay of the nav unit, which displayed a schematic image of the surface world and a glowing blue pinprick. “We should be almost there, Nero,” she said.
“Good.” They crept forwards, making less noise now that the water had disappeared from the tunnels, and soon came upon a cavern. There was no lighting in it, but the light from their jackets provided a decent amount of illumination.
It looked like a storage area. Metal crates were piled up around the edges of the cavern, whilst towards the centre, there were tables with assorted weaponry laid out. It looked like the Nostra used it to store their goods, with food spilling from one crate, and what looked like medical supplies in another.
“Jackpot, Nero!” Nate whispered in his ear.
“Not why we’re here man.” Instead, Nero turned to face Abia. “Abia?”
“Very well, you know what to do men,” the beefy man said to his team. Five of them spread out through the cavern, each retrieving what looked like a small pistol from their utility belts. They aimed the devices at the ceiling, about ten metres above their heads, and fired. Translucent gelatinous balls, a deep red in colour, left the pistols, and stuck fast to the rocky ceiling above.
Nero addressed the others. “The rest of you, with me,” he said, leading them out of the far side of the cavern. Not far beyond was another set of steps - much like they’d seen as they walked through the tunnels - but from the lack of dust or grime, it looked as if these were more regularly used.
He started to climb. As he approached the surface, he slowed, listening intently for signs of movement above. So far, nothing. The area seemed deserted. Still, he proceeded quietly, until he reached a closed door at the top. Applying a small amount of pressure, the door stayed shut. Presumably it was locked. Nero took out a small laser cutter from his belt, and held it up steadily in front of the lock.
The metal melted almost instantly, and very quickly Nero was through, the door sliding open with little effort. Beyond, a dark room was visible. Cupboard, more like, Nero thought. The room was tiny, nothing more than a storage area, but completely empty.
“Tal,” Nero said, gesturing for Talyah to come up behind him. She did, and together, they squeezed int
o the small room. There was only just enough room for both of them to fit, and even so, there was hardly enough room for one to open the door, and another to aim a weapon through.
This door, thankfully, wasn’t locked, and started to slide open when Nero tried the handle. With light visible in the crack, he glanced at Talyah. She had her rifle up, and was aiming at the door, and Nero quickly opened the door the rest of the way. Talyah stepped out into the room, checking the corners, with Nero close behind her. There was no one around.
“Clear,” Nero said into his communicator. The others followed them through the doorway, emerging into the room. There was a window in one wall, looking out over a small alleyway, and another door opposite that. Much like the small room, it was almost empty.
“Abia?” Nero said into his communicator, once everyone was in the room. “How you doing down there?”
There was a momentary pause, and then Abia’s deep voice came through. “We’ve just finished. Heading up to you now.”
“Great,” Nero replied, walking over to where Nate was joking with some of the other men. Nero rolled his eyes. “It would help if that window were gone, Nate,” he said, inclining his head towards it.
“We’re not gonna look around first? Pick up a souvenir?” He grinned when he saw Nero’s expression, and headed over to the window. It looked like it was a good few centimetres thick, so would be impossible to smash. Instead, Nate fished out a laser cutter from his belt, and set to work melting the window surround. It took a surprisingly long time. Evidently, the building’s owners didn’t want it to be easy for people to break in, or out.
When the window was finally cut out, a large hole provided easy access to the alleyway outside. Nate was the first out, followed in short order by the others - including Abia, who had finally come up from the tunnels. “You guys,” Nate said, referring to his original team. “We’re gonna cover the rear. I’m afraid the rest of you get stuck with Nero and Tal...” He walked off down the alley, grinning to himself.
On Galaxy's Edge: Ascendance Page 16
