"Bloody hell, couldn't we have patched these things up a little better than this?" someone complained as the stolen Cutlass shuddered from temporary engine failure on one side. So far things had gone according to plan for the most part. They had intercepted a group of four Cutlass craft on a patrol and engaged, maging to disable two of them without rendering them unrepairable. They had performed only minimal repairs to the craft leaving it a shredded and shuddering mess, barely capable of flight.

 

"Stop your complaints, soldier!" Wartorn barked back at the younger man causing him to straighten his back and close his mouth. Eva smirked at the soldier. Soon he would be fighting his way through an enemy capital ship and he was worried about a few shimmies and creaks in this old bucket? She turned her eyes back to the cockpit where she could see the unnerving colour of this dying system. She was glad that they at least took the time to fix the shield systems properly.

 

"Well, will you look at that...." the pilot muttered as they came around the planet that Saito had indicated the carrier would be hiding behind. There it was, the ship they had been hunting since they left Gen. How long had it been now? Eva honestly wouldn't have been able to say without looking it up. Had she had a birthday while on mission?

 

The massive ship was still a mess. Down one side were gaping holes in the armor, likely made with the same tactic used on their own carrier. Auroras with torpedo warheads in the cargo pods, apparently - suicide pilots. Eva shuddered at the sight, knowing how close they came to ending up the same way as this wreck. The damage must have been catastrophic if it still looked this bad after all of this time.

 

"You're back early." a harsh voice came over the comms, "Whoa what the fuck happened to you?" it said as they entered the carrier's scanner range.

 

"Ambush, Sir." the pilot replied, "We were able to destroy them all, but we took casualties."

 

"Sir?!?" the voice on the comms laughed back, "Did you get hit so hard you smacked your head or something?"

 

Eva shuddered. The pilot was being too formal and had procedure drilled into him so deeply that he didn't realise. She turned and faced the system console on the wall next to her and pressed the transmit button, speaking into the console before the pilot could reply.

 

"Look numbnuts, we just got our fucking arses handed to us and we're in no mood to deal with your bullshit. Clear us for landing right now or I'm going to come and find you and introduce your arse to my right boot!"

 

Every pair of eyes on the ship turned to look at Eva and more than one jaw dropped. Even the pilots turned in their seats to gape at her. She shrugged, crossed her arms and leaned against the wall as the reply came back.

 

"Okay okay, sweetheart. No need to get your knickers in a knot. Head on in and we'll get you patched up."

 

They brought the two Cutlass ships to the front of the carrier to find the main hangar door half open. Bright flares of light flicked across numerous places of the door mechanism suggesting that work was underway to attempt to get the main door closed. The pilots dipped their ships under the lip of the main door and into the hangar.

 

It wasn't much better. In the same space that was a co-ordinated and well oiled machine in their own carrier was absolute chaos on this one. Ships were scattered everywhere in various states of repair and flight readiness with people milling around in EVA suits between them in a disorganised mess. It took skillful piloting to just get their own ships down onto the deck without crushing people.

 

"Alright listen up!" Wartorn said, "We need to move to the bridge but we have to keep a low profile. That means no marching and no rushing. This is not our home no matter how much it looks like it. These people are not soldiers but they will pick a soldier out of a crowd easily enough. Every single person out there is considered an enemy combatant but our mission objective comes first. So relax. Firearms are a last resort. Is that clear?"

 

"Yes Sir!" the group said. Eva winced at how loud they sounded and was thankful for the soundproofing of spacecraft. She picked up her helmet and put it on, her eyes glancing across the hud that came to life right before her eyes displaying an outline around every person in view to highlight them. Information windows popped up next to each person indicating stats on the visible weapons they were carrying.

 

"Valkyrie," Wartorn said, drawing her attention, "I'm told you're handy in a fight. I want you up front to handle anything unexpected that might come along. Eva nodded and stepped up the front of the group, facing the rear door of the Cutlass. Helmets all fixed they broke the seal on the door letting the air escape into the flight deck with a soft hiss.

 

The two groups made it off their stolen ships and through the airlocks without any incident. People were just too busy and distracted in the swarm of people to take any notice of the group. Since they were infiltrating a carrier that had been occupied by the military until recently military hardware was not scarce on the vessel. As Eva looked around she noticed that stolen UEE hardware was being worn commonly on the people on the carrier. Normally she would have been outraged by the sight but in this case it worked in their favor. They continued on into the depths of the enormous craft.

 

They made their way through the ship easily, far too easily for Eva's liking. For all of the activity on the flight deck the rest of the ship seemed uncomfortably quiet. They climbed up through the ship in the direction of the bridge but just as they were getting close to the bridge a series of multilayered blast doors slid shut right in their path.

 

"Ash? Is that you? It is you!" a voice came over the intercom, "Ash 'Wartorn' Carter, it's been a long time old friend. I'd know you anywhere, even through a helmet visor. I saw you as soon as you stepped off your ships. And you brought friends with you! Wonderful."

 

Wartorn groaned irritably, "Hello Sirus. I see you're stepping up from a slap on the wrist to a lifetime in a six foot square box. Why don't you open these doors so we can do this the easy way."

 

"Oh Ash," the voice replied dripping with condescension, "This is the easy way. Now turn around and say hello to my friends. They will be taking your weapons now and escorting you to the brig."

 

The group turned and looked down the hall that they had just come down. At the far end were four men with pulse rifles shouldered, aiming at them. As soon as they came into Eva's view her hud went to work. It tagged them as a threat, their outlines glowing faintly red. Since she was now at the back of the group they could not see her properly so she carefully drew her pistols out of their holders. Readouts appeared in the bottom of her vision as soon as her guns were in her hands showing their current ammunition charges.

 

She smiled and without really thinking about it she raised her hands. Target reticles came up on her hud as her pistols lifted and she squeezed off two rounds without needing to ironsight. The advanced combat systems in the suit did all of the calculations for her letting her just point and shoot using the drawn reticles to tell her where she was aiming. Two men dropped from headshots and before the other two could react Eva had put neat holes in their foreheads as well. 

 

Almost immediately the halls dimmed and flooded with red lights, sirens echoing through the ships as the bridge sounded the general alarm. Eva's suit automatically compensated, filtering the vision with a colour filter to compensate for the red and dulling the frequency of the sirens. They would be overrun soon and no amount of fancy combat suits would save them when the halls were clogged with heavily armed pirates calling for their blood.

 

"Alright people!" Wartorn shouted over the noise, "Plan B!"

 

NEXT ENTRY: Plan B