040: Take What You Can – Nine
Elytra had been as stunned as the guard, but not Nevara. She moved with precision, one hand grabbing the zymeth by the back of the neck, the other plunging a syringe into their midsection. Panic had the zymeth's nostrils flaring, mouth opening in shock, but their eyes quickly lost focus, and in a matter of seconds they'd slumped over in Nevara's arms.
"Do you think they had a chance to call for backup?!" Elytra hissed, moving to help Nevara hoist the alien up. Unconscious, they were an awkward dead weight, but they needed them out of the stairwell in order to make good on their escape.
"Hopefully not," Nevara told her, nodding her head over in the direction of some benches arranged before some paintings, "Let's hide them under there. Out of sight from the others, and they can crawl out when they come to."
All long, willowy limbs lolling helplessly in their grasp, wrangling the slim alien - narrower than even Nevara's species - proved tricky, but they persevered. Halfway to the hiding spot, Nevara got in contact with Pryseia.
NEVARA: We just had to subdue a guard. Not sure if they got an alert off before we rendered them unconscious.
PRYSEIA: As far as I can tell, we're in the clear. The guards stymieing my progress have moved for nothing.
ELYTRA: Good. But also bad. We're hiding them now before heading up, so your path should be clear.
PRYSEIA: So long as no other guards decide to linger where they shouldn't.
"The predictability of where guards will be stationed is the only advantage of robbing a military installation over a civilian one." Nevara said as she finished shoving the unconscious guard under a bench.
"That doesn't make me want to steal from a military base." Elytra huffed, getting a single quiet laugh out of the other woman.
"And so it shouldn't. The drawbacks are far greater."
They returned to the cart a moment later, Nevara ducking into the stairwell to ensure there were no more surprises waiting for them while Elytra watched their backs once more. Aside from the pair of them, there was no one to be seen.
As they tipped the cart at an angle in order to get it up the stairs, Elytra couldn't help but feel disappointed by what she'd seen of the Zymeth. The most technologically advanced living race in the galaxy, yet they'd had no problem whatsoever in neutralizing the electronic security measures they had protecting their museum. And the living zymeth they'd encountered had been an annoyance more than a threat.
A reputation was a powerful thing, if this was all the Zymeth had to show through their actions. Disappointing indeed.
Rhea and Malakh made it to the mech wing of the museum without encountering any other personnel. This was a blessing and a curse, because it made things easier for them in regards to the completion of their mission.
But it made it harder to come up with excuses to not do something about the tension building between them.
"Do you wanna get any more in character stuff?" Malakh asked from where she was crouched, scanning across the room to see if any guards were about, mentally mapping a path around where she knew the security cameras could see.
Rhea was right behind her, practically spooning her with the proximity of her own crouch as she ran her own scans. Leaning over to whisper in her ear - completely unnecessary given that they could communicate either by voice or text with their Longan Units, helmeted as they were and all - she curled a hand possessively around the other woman's hip as she said, "May as well. We did want to start dropping hints for the future, after all."
Malakh trembled under her hand, barely restraining herself from doing something about that. She only allowed her tail to loop sinuously around Rhea's waist as she replied, "Then you better get into character, babe, Bathory and the Hand aren't anywhere close to this yet."
Moving was honestly the last thing Rhea wanted to do, but she pulled herself away regardless, her hand trailing up Malakh's body the entire way. Standing up to her full height, she ensured her camera was trained on her as she surveyed the room.
"The security in this place is not anywhere near as complete as I expected it to be." Bathory spoke aloud, "Their arrogance will only serve our ends."
The Hand reached forward from her crouched position, swiping a hand through the air. On their HUDs, and for the cameras, a filter was applied to show exactly what and where the security measures in this part of the Bakiz Institute were located. "Your arrogance will lead to your downfall if you aren't careful." She growled, shooting the Chancellor a glare over her shoulder before standing to make her way to their target.
Bathory followed after her a moment later, the sensual sway of her hips completely lost on the Hand, focused on their task as she was. "Confidence, not arrogance," she corrected, "And it is well earned, I can assure you."
"You've done little to show me."
"Do you want me to?"
They were in front of the Storlayacas now, and the Hand turned to Bathory, the tight coil of her body making her ire apparent. For the camera, at least.
Rhea knew Malakh was holding herself back from pouncing for an entirely different reason.
Stepping up next to the Hand, Bathory waved a hand down her forearm, a virtual keypad appearing in its wake. She began typing on it with the speed of someone who knew exactly what they were doing, and one by one the security measures around the mech they were after vanished from the HUD and camera displays.
As the last measure was disabled, Bathory gave a slight bow, extending a hand as if asking for a dance. The Hand was motionless for a moment, before she stepped forward to begrudgingly slip her hand into the other woman's.
The moment she made contact, however, Bathory gave a tug that had the Hand twirling into her arms, one slipping down to hold her by the waist.
"How's that?" She asked, leaning into the Hand's space.
For her part, the Hand didn't move back. She merely scoffed, looping an arm around the Chancellor's shoulders as she replied, "I assume you have a way to get us up there?"
Bathory gave a low hum of amusement, which was followed by a quiet mechanical clicking as something in her suit activated. As part of the design of her costume, Rhea had made sure to incorporate her medical exosuit into it, so all it took was a command from her Longan to have the pair of them rising thanks to her thrusters.
She took a breath to ask how they were going to get the cockpit open, but before she could even open her mouth, the hatch swung down once they had ascended to be level with it.
"It really was waiting for you." She said, turning to the woman in her arms. The Hand merely nodded, so Bathory brought them in to stand on the now open hatch.
Moving around to stand behind the pilot's chair, she gestured for the Hand to have a seat. The woman in question took a steadying breath, and promptly sat down.
The moment she did, restraints rose from the chair to anchor her in position, and a control device extend from the backrest and attached itself to the Hand's helmet, the hatch closing before them. Bathory had light enough to watch the Hand fall limp before the hatch sealed them into darkness, and then screens lit up all around them, showing the mech wing the Storlayacas had been kept in for who knows how long.
Activating the long range communication function of the Longan, Bathory announced, "We have the mech. We'll move once the distraction's been set off."
In the roof access stairwell, Elytra couldn't hold back a giddy little laugh as Nevara detached a device from her armour, flipped open the protective case on it, and pressed the button inside.
On the other side of the Bakiz Institute, the cargo ship they'd arrived in, almost empty of crates of stock that would be filling the assorted shops throughout the museum, caught the attention of one of the security drones in the warehouse when an unexpected beeping noise sounded from within. The machine barely had time to swing in the direction of the ship before the explosive that Malakh had installed blew the ship to pieces.
The force of the blast sent the smaller charges the others had hidden away in the ship's hull scattering across the entire warehouse, detonating seconds later in a cascade of chaos.
Alarms sounded across the entire facility, emergency lighting flaring to life, all of which was finally enough to pull the guards away from the item Pryseia lay in wait to claim. The second they had their backs turned, making a mad dash for the source of the disturbance, she was rushing for the display where the artifact was being held. Seconds were all it took for her to disable the security on the display plinth and pull the case away from her prize, and she swapped the audio playback device for a little trinket she'd cooked up with Viatrix.
Looking like nothing more than a black ceramic model of a double headed axe, scanning it would trigger the thin filament of explosive cord that ran through the thing, shattering it into dust, while also releasing a digital virus into any nearby electronic systems, forcing them to play a loop of the Program's sinister laughter while displaying her red avatar. More an annoyance that a permanent problem, it would make for a memorable signature to this whole escapade.
Sprinting through the museum was risky now that security was on high alert, but Pryseia didn't encounter a single guard by the time she made it to the stairwell Elytra and Nevara had already ascended. She raced up the stairs, lights and sirens blasting around her the entire way, until at last she arrived at the door to the roof, Elytra holding it wide open for her.
"Have the others made their appearance yet?" Pryseia shouted over the noise, skidding to a stop so she could anchor her pilfered artifact into the foam that was protecting the rest of their stolen goods.
"Should be soon now." Was all that Nevara was able to get out before another explosion sounded from a different wing of the museum, this one caused by Malakh launching her Storlayacas straight through the roof of the building. She landed with a crunch outside the mech wing's new skylight before jogging the mech over to them, roof tiles flying off with every step she took.
"Everyone better have all their stuff, because we're not coming back here once we leave!" Malakh joked over their Longan communicators as she crouched her mech down, extending a hand to the others gathered on the roof. Pryseia and Nevara leaped onto the open hand, guiding the hovering cart as Elytra shoved it up to them before scrambling up herself, their cameras following after her. Cupping the mech's hands carefully around her friends, Malakh jumped straight up once more, kicking on her thrusters at the apex of her leap and launching into the air.
Back on the ground, those drawn by the uncharacteristic noise from the museum witnessed the mech that had sat idle for centuries ascend partway through the sky, thrusters white hot and hands cupped before it as if in prayer, before vanishing into thin air. Witnesses would later tell authorities that they'd seen something ripple through the sky, a shape blacker than black, but security footage pulled would come back with nothing to corroborate this.
Zymeth law enforcement would be stumped, but the Thalatte intelligence officers hacking their police reports would have a sneaking suspicion as to who, exactly, had been behind this robbery. Alerts would be sent out to hunting ships before the sun rose on Ritroser the next day.
"We're out of the planet's atmosphere," Viatrix announced over the comms once the Storlayacas and all those aboard it were safely dematted into the cargo hold, "Shall I bring us into subspace, or would you prefer to do the honours, Nevara?"
"I trust you to get us safely away." Nevara replied, her normally placid voice bubbling with unmistakable cheer.
"Then away we go!" Viatrix called out, guiding the Pelekys out of Zymeth space.
Grabbing whatever part of Pryseia and Nevara was closest, Elytra gave them a shake, laughing, "We really pulled it off!"
"We did indeed!" Pryseia clapped her on the back, "Now let's get these stowed away so we can celebrate properly!"
The three of them giddily (or as giddily as Nevara ever was) scampered off the Storlayacas' hand, shoving the cart with their stolen goods between them. As soon as they were clear, Malakh marched the new mech to stand in a berth next to Zaanlaa and Lianshae.
"Maybe lay off the goofy goober antics until after you get some more in character footage?" Viatrix said with a laugh at this display, slipping into the Program's voice as she added, "We do have an image to uphold, after all."
The three on the ground pulled themselves into a more serious demeanour as they made their way over to the walkway swinging in to allow access to their new mech, cameras hovering obediently around them.
"I will admit, I had my doubts," Queen Kaizoku said coolly as the three of them climbed the stairs of the walkway, her helmet folding away to leave nothing but her crown behind, "But you've proven to be all that you advertised."
The face plate on her helmet sliding open, General Grim scowled at her, saying, "As have you, surprisingly."
Kaizoku scoffed at that.
In front of them, the hatch to the Storlayacas swung open, Chancellor Bathory's helmet already gone as she lounged casually against the side of the pilot's seat. The Queen's Red Left Hand stood, helmetless as the Chancellor, and saluted the Queen with a fist against her chest.
"Madame Augury spoke true, this machine opened itself to me without a moment's hesitation."
Behind her, Bathory smirked knowingly, but said nothing.
"As well it should have," Kaizoku replied with a smirk of her own, "It understands the purpose of our mission, and now we are one step closer to witness it's fruition. Seer, have you a notion as to the location of our next target?"
Lifting a hand to her head, Augury convulsed momentarily, as if pulled by unseen strings. After a moment she said, "Further afield… far from here… the Zymeth Geniocracy is useless to us, for the time being."
"Then let us depart from this realm. Program, bring us into subspace." Kaizoku commanded.
The Program's glitching laugh burbled from the comms. "At once, my Queen."
With all the regal pride of conquerors, the five of them descended the walkway and made their way to the dematting zone.
And the second they were back on the Pelekys proper, Rhea pulled Malakh into a fierce kiss.
Pryseia burst out laughing at the sight, cackling, "I'm surprised you didn't do that back in the cockpit of our new mech!"
"Oh we did." Rhea smirked as she pulled away from the kiss, slinging an arm around the dazed but grinning Malakh.
"Castore," Malakh breathed, "Its name is Castore."
Elytra shook back her hood, her helmet opening up as she said, "Two left, then! I believe this is a cause for celebration!"
"A sentiment I couldn't agree with more!" Pryseia said as she clapped her on the shoulder, "Dealing with the aftermath of our mission can come tomorrow, tonight is ours!"
After getting cleaned up and changed into more casual clothing, Pryseia, Nevara, and Elytra made their way to the mess hall in order to prepare something for their celebratory dinner. As they'd expected, Rhea and Malakh arrived fashionably late, flushed with the satisfaction of their dalliance.
"We got some real sick footage on our end of the mission," Rhea said as she poured wine for them all, "You're going to be swimming in clips to use, Elytra!"
Raising her glass in a toast, Elytra said, "I'm looking forward to piecing something extraordinary together then!"
"I truly cannot state it enough, but I am incredibly proud of each and every one of you," Pryseia said as she looked around at all those in the room, Viatrix included on her usual display screen, "Stealing from the Zymeth was no easy feat, but you all deported yourselves with the skill and professionalism that will see to our success in our time to come."
Malakh gave a disbelieving cackle at that. "If anything, I think the egos of the Zymeth played a bigger part than they could ever imagine when it came to how well that mission ended up! Their security systems weren't all I feared they would be."
"That is because your skills are exemplar." Nevara countered.
Grinning back at her, Malakh replied, "Yeah, that too."
"I've touched base with a Kith station in deep space," Viatrix informed them, "It's got dry dock facilities, so we should be able to get Malakh's psychic booster installed there, but more importantly, it's got courier services that can get all our stolen artifacts back to where they belong, and the bounties for them in our accounts!"
"I take it you've already set a course?" Nevara asked, her mandibles spread in a smile.
"I didn't want to pull you away from your celebration." Viatrix confirmed.
Her tail flicking behind her with her good cheer, Malakh said, "Once we're out of subspace, we can get you linked up to Castore, see what you can learn from this new machine. We've still got two mechs to find, after all!"
"And find them we shall," Pryseia agreed, grinning from ear to ear, "Work can wait for the morrow, however, for tonight we are owed a celebration for what we have accomplished. Though we have long known of our own prowess, it shall soon be the galaxy's turn to learn just what, exactly, the crew of the Pelekys is capable of."