Relias: Uprising Page 35

  He parted back through the group and led them out the door and into a branching hallway. Around the next corner they emerged on a long catwalk that ran along the length of the ship, spanning the main aircraft hangars below. Down below, the hangar was relatively vacant. While the typical Legionnaire battlecruiser was packed to the throat with fighter aircraft and high-powered infantry weaponry, this battlecruiser had only a handful of Machbikes and a single, decades old Blackshredder that wouldn’t stand a chance in any dogfight it entered. Instead, the hangar was being used as an easily accessible cargo hold, using that in favor to the actual cargo hold due to its exceptional ease of access. There wasn’t much to pack so those bestowed with the task of loading the cruiser weren’t concerned in the least with the conservation of space.

  On the opposite side of the catwalk they entered an area that was a stark departure from the ship’s typical, bland industrial aesthetic. It was carpeted, the walls were dry-walled and painted and there was even wood paneling and oak doors placed along its length. Only twenty or so yards down the hall past the main hangar was a set of double doors, these ones elegantly framed with gold-leaf door handles. Merino pressed his thumb on the control pad next to the door and the lock clicked. He opened the door just enough for the others to know it was open, making it obvious that he wasn’t going to open it for them.

  It was the war room. At the center of the long room was a large glass table with green light that illuminated the glass and the grid drawn thereon. Placed at several points along that grid were varied sized objects of different shapes and colors. A multitude of tall, thickly stuffed chairs were tucked neatly and evenly beneath the table. Merino patted on the backs of several chairs on his way to the head of the table in a nonverbal request for all of them to take a seat. “Except you guys.” Merino said to Morlo and Muldoon. “Chairs aren’t built for guys your size.”

  “Well.” Morlo suspired deeply, looking subtly hurt. “I’ll just stand right here, then.”

  Everybody was seated, turning their attention towards Merino with none more attentive than the members of Rush. Hendrick leaned back in his chair, pressing the supports to their limits as he made himself comfortable. Sable sat next to him, expecting to receive one of his typical wry smiles at her presence though she was ultimately unmet by one. Hendrick’s attention was on the dark skinned Enforcer standing at the front of the table. With his lack of attention to her, Sable took it as a cue to listen.

  “So… here’s how it’s going to work.” Merino began, looking back and forth between both sides of the table with a purposeful look. “In two days we’re taking off. We’ll be fully armed and supplied for a week though we won’t need supplies for much more than a day. The trip to Pyre will take us around ten hours. Once there we’ll suiting up in Legionnaire armor. One of the oldest and most cliché moves in the book but it works, by god. The central Furo reactor is only a quarter mile from the Fourth District Pyrian Shipyard where we’ll be docking. I’ve got security clearance for eight people.” Merino gave the Ditrinity an unremorseful though artificially apologetic look. “I only had passes for me and Rush. But you guys look more experienced than they do so I’m sure some of them would-“

  “Hey, what you sayin’!” Muldoon exclaimed.

  “Nothing.” Merino responded. “Just-“

  “He’s saying you suck.” Morlo elbowed him in the side and chuckled.

  “I’m not.” Merino intervened quickly to quell what would undoubtedly be a fierce and strident argument. “but if you haven’t heard the stories of the Ditrinity and Hendrick the Helldog then you haven’t-“

  “Wait a min.” Kristik said, his paradoxically gruff and comical appearance changing entirely. His eyes went wide and he looked to Hendrick in a complete loss of words. “…You’re that Hendrick?”

  Hendrick’s eyes shifted back and forth uncomfortably. “…that Hendrick?”

  “The Helldog!” Kristik exclaimed like a kid meeting his childhood hero. “You the guy behind the Legionnaire Helldogs! Hell, you might as well have been called the founder of the Legionnaire! You’re Hendrick the Helldog!” Kristik shoved a chubby finger towards Hendrick and looked excitedly over to Muldoon. “He’s Hendrick the Helldog!”

  Muldoon frowned and folded his arms. “I heard.” He said unenthusiastically. Throughout the remainder of the briefing, though, Muldoon would take the occasional shocked and impressed glance at Hendrick which possessed the same sense of long-held wonder that Kristik’s had.

  “We done being stars truck?” Merino was obviously annoyed. His mood had been tainted after nobody wanted to listen to him talk about his ship. “Alright then. So where was… right. We dress up as Legionnaires, use our security passes and get into the reactor. It’s massive, by the way. Not sure how many if any of you have seen the Pyrian central reactor but it is substantial beyond reasonable description. It’s a large central reactor with a three-quarter mile buffer zone which is nothing more than amplified space that multiplies the power output nearly a dozen times over. That’s where we’re taking you.” He pointed to Seraphine. She shrunk into her seat, making it clear that she was uncomfortable being thrust back into the center of attention. “You just have to be in contact with amplified space to be able to use it, right?”

  Unsettled but always one to cooperate, Seraphine nodded. “Well, the closer I am to the amplifier the better. Touching it is what works best.”

  “What I thought.” Merino said. “So quick change of plan. We aren’t standing in the wide open space, we’ll be pretending to inspect the central reactor and the measures being taken to ensure its security.” Merino grinned and sniggered. “Pretty ironic. So Seraphine here’ll stick her pretty little hands on the amplifier, take out the Commune and Legionnaire Leadership and basically everybody that she can before she tuckers out. We keep her hooked up to the thing just long enough to get what needs to be done done without us having to carry her out of there. We get back to the cruiser and take off a couple hours after we get there. The cruiser’s scheduled to make a supply drop outside of Demondrak, that’s the other side of the world for the geographically impaired, a point which should take us as far away from the fiery shitstorm that’s going to go down after the fall of the Commune. We rendezvous with the Darks at a position that they’ll give us once we cross into the Morstin Province and we’ll be home free. No Commune, no Legionnaires. Any questions?”

  Hendrick was quick to raise his hand. Merino hesitantly called on him. “What?”

  “So how exactly will we be getting out of Pyre after we kill of the guys at the head of the Commune and the Legionnaire?”

  “I just told you. We get back to the ship and take off to the Morstin province in northern Elvytica.”

  “Okay…” Hendrick said, the tone of his voice suggesting uncertainty with the plan. “So let’s construct the circumstances in Pyre after we complete the operation, if I can. We are standing in the center of a massive subterranean space more than a half-mile in diameter.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And we’re just chillin’ there, standing around minding our own business, and all of a friggin’ sudden every person considered important or powerful in this world just drops dead.”

  Merino was becoming uncomfortable with Hendrick’s illustration. “…yeah.”

  “Yeah? So don’t you think that there might be at least a tiny bit of alarm expressed on the parts of the Commune and the Legionnaire? I mean, Pyre is the most Legionnaire-infested city in the world and I’d bet my brawny balls that the moment President Lynch turns off like a bad light the entire city’s going straight into lockdown.”

  “Yo, he’s right.” Muldoon expressed. “That’s Legionnaire protocol.”

  There was a sudden rumble of debate throughout the room.

  “Why’d it have to be Pyre?” Serenity asked with discomfort printed clearly on her face.

  “Two thirds of the world’s reactors have been built or at least retrofitted with amplifiers.” Pontious stated.
“Why’d we choose Pyre?”

  Merino held up his hands in defense at the flurry of sharp questions that flew his way. “That was Alighieri’s call, not mine. But Pyre was most likely chosen because it’s the only reactor that had an amplifier capable of magnifying Seraphine’s abilities to such a massive degree. Any other reactor would make it impossible her mind to reach more than a couple miles, much less all the way to Pyre where Lynch is which, basically, is the main target of this whole operation.”

  Everybody was talking, the prominent subject being the immense disapproval over their escape plan. The more the conversations went on, the more frustrated Merino became. It wasn’t until his upper lip started twitching that he expressed his own disapproval, though not for the plan.

  “That’s what we’re doing.” He said sharply and matter-of-factly. “Don’t like it, don’t come along. You’ve all been volunteers til this point so there’s nothing stopping you from leaving right now.”

  “Yeah, there is.” Hendrick stated. He pointed at Seraphine and kept disapproving eyes on Merino. “Her. No matter what happens, she has to go. Nothing’s gonna keep me from going. I just want to make sure we won’t get gang-raped on our way out of that reactor.”

  “Well that’s the plan.” Merino stated bluntly, walking towards the door. “You guys can go ahead and make a decision whether you’re still going. I’ll be in the bridge.”

  Everybody watched him leave. The doors slammed behind him and the room was quiet. After silence it was Pitt who, naturally, broke the uncomfortable silence.

  “…are all Enforcers butthurt little girls?”

  They stuck around on the Battlecruiser only a small while longer, feeling a desire to explore that massive vessel without Merino’s incessant narration. The one place they actually wanted to go, though, was to the upper deck, an exposed area on the uppermost level of the cruiser that gave any passengers or crew members a place to get much needed fresh air.

  From the deck, the rest of their dock was visible. The central walkway stretched for miles in both directions while the throngs of bustling workers that crowded them only got thicker as the day wore on.

  Helios were everywhere. From their vantage point (which was limited do the size difference between their Mysto cruiser and the Helios that flanked them) they could see nearly a dozen other Helio cruisers, coming, going, or hovering at dock, their coloration getting lighter and lighter the more distant they became. From where they stood on the upper-external deck of the cruiser the sounds of work and organized chaos were quiet and muffled, lost in the breezy open air.

  Before leaving they were called to the landing bay, met with a Battlecraft and an enthusiastic Captain Price. With a humored salute she greeted them, directing their attention to the large crate that was being unloaded and set outside the ship. After going over a list of the contents, including food, steel-reinforced ropes and tens of thousands of rounds of ammo, she made small talk, happy to talk to somebody outside of the Dark community. But after a warming, refreshing conversation she explained how she was running supplies and troops to and from Styne; the assault was becoming heavier with every day. After a quick goodbye she took off, her Battlecraft taking a sharp left immediately outside the hangar and zipping off to the northeast. And after a brief conversation with the ship’s workers, a discreet delivery of the care package was organized for later that night.

  They had their fill of the cruiser and left the shipyard, keeping discreet and talking only amongst themselves. On the tram back to the entrance of the port they were approached by a Legionnaire, a young Skirmisher, who told them he knew them from somewhere. Without the man’s knowing, Hendrick readied his combat knife and was prepared to use it at the drop of a pin.

  But the man wasn’t threatening. He was just the opposite, in fact; he was welcoming. Though their faces were probably familiar because they no doubt occupied six of the top ten slots on a large number of ‘most wanted’ lists, the Skirmisher noticed their familiarity and mistook them for fellow Legionnaires. Only Hendrick and Sable spoke, though Morlo had a tendency to want to chime in every now and again. They used the story Sable had used at the gate with the Legionnaire checkpoint. Hendrick and Morlo could back the story up with details of their own, seeing as how they were fighting right alongside her during the battle in question. The Skirmisher, though having heard of the noteworthy battle, was unfamiliar with their names. Lucky enough for them.

  He was a nice guy. Actually, that was an understatement. He made an effort to include everybody in the group, though when it was clear that the others wanted nothing to do with him he focused his efforts back towards Hendrick and Sable and held no animosity towards the others. It was a shame he was their enemy; they could’ve been really good friends.

  The groups went their separate ways once they left the shipyard. Most everybody decided on heading back to the hotel, the idea of sitting around being lazy and watching TV was too much for any of them to pass up, especially considering the massive journey they’d just undergone. Hendrick was disappointed. He hated being inside, especially in a place that he’d never really seen before. He asked around to everybody and all gave the same polite declination. Even Muldoon and Kristik, who now spoke to Hendrick like an old friend, declined his invitation. But, seeing that Hendrick would most likely be heading off by himself, Sable volunteered, making it look as though she had better things to do. Her poor acting sent a clear message to Hendrick and he happily welcomed her along.

  Hendrick bought the first large, black painted motorcycle he could find. Sable was astonished at the price of the vehicle but not at all at the fact that Hendrick had bought it. After years of knowing him Sable was well-acquainted with Hendrick’s spontaneous side.

  First they just rode around the city, taking in the sights and simply exploring an area they’d never seen before. The Ditrinity had seen most parts of the world, one of the many perks of being a globe-trotting warrior. But Leramato was a new experience.

  They rode to the outermost district of the city, the one that was home to the Leramato high life. The streets glittered white with the bluish-pale illumination of the lines of cars that travelled up and down the streets. The white buildings were adorned with massive windows and an assortment of tropical desert plant life. Palm trees lined the streets and flanked the doors. The sidewalks were crowded with the rich and the famous, all dressed up for dinner, parties, and the sleepless nights that they would all undoubtedly be having. Long, thick lines formed outside of every night club and every car they passed had its windows rolled down with the stereo bass and volume cranked up, blasting the world’s most popular and contemporary songs which added to the glitzy, festive nightlife.

  Sable clung tightly to Hendrick’s waist, pulling herself tightly against him and letting her white hair flow freely behind her in the warm, night breeze. Feeling her head rest on his shoulder, Hendrick smiled. It wasn’t the typical wry, defiant and slightly insane smile he usually sported. It was one of contentment, of relief, and for a brief moment Hendrick appeared to have a lifetime of violence lifted from his shoulders.

  She was still dressed like she had just walked several hundred miles, wearing her white camisole and loose black scrubs she typically wore under her armor. Hendrick didn’t like it. It wasn’t because she was unattractive in the clothes. That was an impossible thing to accomplish. But Hendrick knew how Sable felt, what she was thinking. With their being surrounded by the world’s supposed elite, Hendrick knew that Sable, regardless of the fact that she was far more beautiful with no effort than any of these popular and trendy women were with a day’s worth of work, felt she was unattractive, unbecoming. That didn’t sit well with Hendrick. Not at all.

  He found the most brightly lit, expensive looking place he could. Without explaining anything to Sable, Hendrick found a spot and pulled over, hopping off the bike and helping Sable off after he’d dismounted.

  Sable was confused and embarrassed. Everybody who passed stared at her, the men, the
women, and all kept their eyes on her until they were forced to either turn around or crane their necks. Sable thought it was because she was poorly dressed, unattractive. Seeing the desire in the men’s eyes and the jealousy or complete shock in the women’s, Hendrick knew that nothing could’ve been further from the truth.

  “No, Nate, I thought we were just riding I… why are we-“

  “We came out to have some fun and by god we’re gonna have it.”

  Sable hid slightly behind Hendrick, putting him between her and the passing crowd. “Yeah, I know that but… I mean look at me!”

  “You look fine.” Hendrick said. It was an understatement but he didn’t want to overdo it. “Come on. We’re gonna take a look.”

  Sable’s eyes went wider. “Oh, please no! Nate! Not in there! Not like this!”

  Hendrick laughed, grabbing her wrist and pulling her through the crowd. People dodged around them, still watching their every move. “Why not?”

  “I’m not going to go into a store like that dressed like this, are you insane!”

  How ironic. Hendrick kept pulling her. With Hendrick’s iron gripping not moving, Sable gave in and went along with it. They came up to the glass double doors. Hendrick led Sable in front of his as he pulled the door open for her.

  She was obviously shocked at the gesture, but Hendrick gave the wry smile that had been recently absent, a smile that told Sable that he had everything under control. But it was more than that. His smile said something that she had never picked up on before, yet it was the same smile he had always given her. It was then that she realized it, an epiphany that made her heart skip a beat. For everyone else, his smile was different. It was confident, defiant, while beaming with an unparalleled contentment with life. Yet the way he smiled at her now, a smile he’d given her for as long as she could remember, was different, softer. It was the smile that had once belonged to Ayla Reyrock.