Chapter 28
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TIME:
12 MINUTES PRIOR
LOCATION:
CYSA, ORENTHIA
GATE OF CYRUS INTERSTELLAR SPACEPORT
LANDING PAD 2/DV
ASTRO DAWN
POV:
MARA
The task I was trying to complete had suddenly become much easier. My master... no daughter Lilith had taken a mission to an isolated region far from the city and far from most satellites orbits. This contract was suspicious from the moment she accepted it, the goal didn't sound strange this world was known for its dangerous lifeforms, but the contract never specified which one was to be hunted.
I had already placed the chance of Lilith being attacked while on mission at a moderate chance. It was likely but I doubted it would be all that severe with the chance of the client being hurt was low. He was after all the brother to the system governor. The chances for Lilith to be harmed if an attack were to occur however was concerningly high.
These past few days while I was monitoring the digital space of this world I have become more suspicious. The colonel who seems to always talk about Astro Dawn has been having meetings in rooms I couldn't infiltrate due to the lack of electronics.
At the same time people have started traveling to the space port to catch a glimpse of me. As you would expect, a few have tried to infiltrate and subvert Lilith's hold on the ship. Even right now I was currently under attack by someone trying to bruteforce the password. The Astro Dawn was currently physically connected to the space ports, they never gave a reason and an inspection and background check revealed the man has a well hidden history of taking bribes.
I redirect a part of my consciousness away from the human who is trying to break a password that is written in Noblesse Runethari and the modern human tongue. A satellite has just passed near Lilith with a good enough camera to actually see things in detail. What I saw was concerning, 5 vehicles approaching Lilith's position.
I was unsure how to react after all those cares may not hold as many people and was just a distraction. Designating a portion of my consciousness to keep track of the situation I prepared for a sortie. It wouldn't be safe and would risk blowing my cover,but if it was what I feared it would be necessary.
Then I received a message from a phone number I had appropriated for the satellite phone.
++SOS, ≤20 possibly hostile individuals, requesting assistance++
I read the message and contemplated it in less time than a human could even start the process of blinking. Immediately I forcefully disconnected the wire attaching me to the space port. I triggered the emergency alarm in hope that the gawkers would flee.
With an incredible roar I started to lift off the landing pad. By now the people who didn't flee in time will suffer from some rather severe burns and ruptured ear drums but I couldn't care less. I should plan an explanation that would work in case of a more than likely court martialling. As I started redirecting the ship I caught wind of the military already issuing interception orders. Though I could only feel sorry for the humans trying to stop me, they lacked any particular way to break through the meter thick armor of a scout corvette.
I started to feel it again that same anxiety I had every time Lilith went and did something dangerous in a human space station. This however was more solid, Lilith may be superhuman and extremely adept at combat but she can still be overwhelmed by numbers.
I was only six minutes away when the sensors reported the first Jet that was quickly approaching the void ship. I noticed that a communication channel had been sent but I ignored it.
After a minute of me ignoring the hails I could feel a weapon lock-on but I just continued forward. I had methods for ensuring nothing even scratched the Astro Dawn. Opening a panel I prepared one of the close-in weapons just inching slightly out of the ship.
A missile was launched and it was trying to aim for the atmosphere thrusters. Just as the missile passed a kilometer in front of the interceptor it was melted into slag. The jet tried to pull away fearing the laser but I only fired it as long as it was needed.
The military was trying their damndest to annoy me, I already heard of multiple jets preparing to chase me. I was not in the mood to humor them. I couldn't directly infiltrate them but I could make things more difficult accessing the GPS satellites in orbit. I shut them all off. I made sure it would only last a half an hour at most. We were already well past the point where a radar station would find me.
Just as I was a minute away from reaching effective range to help Lilith I was able to connect through to her MID. The connection was extremely unstable and I had to relay it through the drone she had set up. I could tell the moment she was wounded as her weapon fell uselessly to the ground yet two people remained on her side of the battlefield.
Trying to access the war automaton I realized it was too busy chasing the last person who seemed to be leading it away from Lilith. I tried to command it to return to its charge, but by then Lilith had entered to smoke.
Then I watched in horror as someone suddenly appeared inside the smoke barely a meter ahead of Lilith. He seemed to not even realize she was there but he continued to charge and knocked her over.
I felt something new as I watched him try to fight Lilith, it was anger. I almost lost myself to that anger fortunately it was not meant to be, my daughter clamping her jaw into his throat. I was so relieved I almost slowed down. But then I saw through the drone as someone doubled back into the smoke clearly hearing where Lilith and that man fought.
I entered effective range and with a feeling of dread screamed my master's name and told her to close her eyes. Just as I was preparing to fire a 300kw laser. I saw her suddenly start falling over as her MID reported something had hit her on the back of the head.
Rage and fear overtook me. I knew she would be safe. I was within weapons range but my own emotions could only think about what if I missed. Memories of my last masters flashed in my mind. I tried to suppress them but the feeling was still there. Just as I fired the laser I could feel my mind shifting. Plans are forming for the possibility Lilith died. Plans are already being drafted for how to best rid this world of its human inhabitants.
Luckily for the despicable and thoughtless pests that are the human race I hit my target. I didn't see the hit but the MID was able to report a body falling onto Lilith. Quickly starting the process of slowing down I just barely stopped in front of the camp. Already a war automaton was being lowered by the cargo lift. The other automaton was already by Lilith's side, the person it was once pursuing was fleeing the location. The point defence railgun however ruined that illusion of making it out alive. A short crack of the railgun unleashing a sabot containing hypersonic flechettes that pierced through the car and most importantly its driver. The pathetic insect was looking down stunned at a clean hole running through his chest and out the other side.
It didn't take long for Lilith to be rushed to the med bay as I gave commands to the automatons guiding them as they treated Lilith. At this point I refocused onto a jet circling above us, uncertain what to do now that I have landed. I watched it as it suddenly changed course heading back to where I assume its airfield was.
The client that hired Lilith returned at that moment sprinting towards us. I could see the panic in his eyes, and behind him being dragged were four tied and bound freelances. After watching them cautiously I determined they weren’t involved. I quickly stopped dedicating a portion of my mind to observing them redirecting it towards treating Lilith.
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TIME:
AT THE SAME TIME
LOCATION:
ORENTHIA
FIELDS OF ALEXANDER
POV:
Ryder Orenth
I remember getting the report from one of my guards I left behind. I remember how the four freelancers tried to attack us at that moment only to be quickly restrained by my better trained guards. Despite that I still could only feel dread when I realized one of my hired guards was currently in danger. Normally that wouldn't mean anything but she was a system governor. If one died on Orenthia it could easily ruin our reputation of competent security.
When we finally arrived at the camp site I was greeted to the sight of the "Astro Dawn" landed near the tents. I had already heard about its unscheduled lift off. The military had tried to intercept it only for the GPS network they seemed to heavily rely on suddenly ceased to work.
Still I sent word to my brother to send someone to retrieve us. This location was not secure. The contract was already a bust now and I gritted my teeth at the money I would have to give to Lilith to keep her quiet. It all just felt like a personal failure, one I could only say tasted like ash and regret. I wouldn't be able to return to this site for a long time now that something requiring a thorough investigation would be taking place.
I stared up at the colossal void ship groaning as my tablet buzzed once again with a message. Worryingly it was from my brother and it didn't seem to be remotely happy, but wasn’t angry.
Simeon: Ryder why the hell are the satellites showing me the Astro Dawn sitting in front of your camp site!? There better be a good reason, I have the military trying to tie this incident to the failure of GPS systems! At least tell me Lilith is alive. I don't want to find myself in the shit storm that will happen if a system governor dies in our own system.
Ryder: I am not sure about the status of Lilith. I arrived a minute ago. I suspect she was brought onboard her ship if my suspicions are correct. Just remind the military to be thankful no one died and nothing was destroyed or even damaged if that's the case. As long as the GPS satellites turn back on we can force them to redirect attention towards solving that over reliance. Anyways I have to go and prepare. We're now forced to leave this place thanks to some investigators that will inevitably show up.
I look over towards the MRAP that was left behind and pinch the bridge of my nose. I was only then reminded that I would need to find a way to drop off Lilith's property.
'I guess I could drop it off once we have a meeting with her.'
Slowly we began packing things up in a hurry. We had to get everything ready before someone showed up—I guessed we had 30 minutes at most before this place was swarming with investigators. As I climbed inside the MRAP I found a thermus. Picking up the drink I opened it hoping for some form of alcohol only to cringe at the smell, a harsh metallic smell. I already had a guess of what it was, being so familiar with it thanks to my service in the military.
Slowly, carefully I poured a little of its contents onto the ground. Unfortunately my suspicion turned out to be true, it was blood. The question however was who or what it came from. I decided to take it, hopefully it wasn't what I was dreading. After all, why would a woman like that drink blood? Then he spontaneously remembered how she looked at us though. Shaking my head of the unnerving thought I went back to preparing to leave.
Soon we had stored everything inside the MRAP and I volunteered for the task of driving it back. The journey back seemed to crawl; you never realize how boring this planet is until you drive 6 hours and the scenery remains the same as the last 100 kilometers.
As we neared Cysa my attention started to fray; I just couldn't put the thermos out of my mind. Eventually I just decided I would just ask Lilith in private about it. For some reason it felt like this was more complicated than I could imagine. So complicated my own brother would be better off knowing nothing.
I saw her drink from this thermos multiple times looking almost frustrated and annoyed every time she gulped down the contents. So, either she was a lunatic who just liked drinking blood—unlikely but not worth ruling out—or something else. I mean her resemblance to that archaic myth was just too perfect though. Every feature points to it however.
As I passed into the city I firmed my resolve. I would just have to ask her about it. If she turned out to be a lunatic then so be it I'll tell others even if it meant my death. This nation doesn't need someone who gets a kick out of drinking blood to be remotely close to power even if some system governors or military suppliers have done far worse with no punishments. If she however, doesn't have a choice in it then things will get even more complicated. The only thing that came to mind about her habit/reliance on blood was the ancient myth of vampires. Surely nobody made an honest attempt at creating one. If so, why did they do that...
I shook my head. I need to prepare for the massive legal battle to come. I didn't have the time to consider what I would do if the latter was true. I mean, I mostly just thought of it because of her uncanny appearance to the old depictions of the dreaded monster. Though I guess she could just have a severe case of albinism.
'that wouldn't explain her ears...'
I spent the next few hours trying not to think about it, but I always returned to that stare. It popped into my mind uninvited, her look that felt so similar to a predator eyeing up its prey. It felt so similar to what I felt from her. I distracted myself thinking about the preparations I had to make if she decided I needed to die because I knew too much of her taboo choice in beverages.