Starspeaker IC (Closed for silvertongue217)

"Mmmm older woman" he said grinning and finishing up turning off the water to dry himself off.

"You okay?" He asked noting her far off look and popping his head out "you look like your deep in thought"

He turned to grab his boxers... Then realized he hadn't brought any in! He swore narrowing his eyes and glancing at her before shrugging. He wasn't exactly shy about his body and so he stepped out clearing his throat to make sure she knew she needed to turn around if she didn't want to catch am eye full.he stepped out naked stretching as he did.

"Its to bad we won't be able to get a bead on the damn orb until we get to the asteroid belt" he said "speaking of which samantha! Whats our ETA?"

"Exiting hyper space in ten minutes" her cool reply came

"Hmm? Oh nothing." Vera said, snapping out of her frustrated thoughts. It was kind that Jase cared enough to pop his head out of the shower. Though when he stepped our Vera turned away. Not because she didn't want to see what was on offer, but because he had paid her that respect and she wanted to return it.

"It is good you tracked it at all. It is handy that we can get an idea of where it is before going in."

"Well I wasn't going to take it on a hostile station without some insurance" he said shaking hios hesad and walking naked towards his room.

He found a pair of boxers and shorts and turned pulling them on before joining her

"Let's gp get some sleep" he said yawning "we can tackle thing thing in the morning with some sleep and a better handle of where its at on the station"

"Good idea, sleep makes most things clearer." Vera agreed, she turned and too a few steps away before stopping. The strange words of that drugged out Klugorian popped into her mind. That she would find true love on this mission. She turned and dashed back to Jase, pressing one hand against his chest fingers splayed over his warm fresh skin, and brushed a tentative kiss against hiss lips. This was unlike the others- they were cheeky, passionate, erotic. This was different. Curious, hopeful.

"Goodnight Jase Crestfield." She whispered with a soft smile. She turned away, as she did she snatched a last look at the number on his brand before heading back to her own room.

As she shut the door behind herself she sighed. This wasn't true love. This was business.

He kissed her back blinking and watching her go

"Goodnight" he ssaod softly shaking his head. He turned going Intl his own room flopping down on the bed and closing his eyes

And dreaming of her

His alarm woke up him a blissfully eight hours later. He rolled out of bed stabbing it before sitting up.

"How's the skies Samantha" jase said getting up and going to his gear

"We have incoming chatter it would seam PEACe took the bait" Samantha said telemetry from the sensors flicking across his iris "I'm relaying it to her as well" she saoid her tone businesslike

"Great" jase said ignoring the attitude "prep the canon so we can insert in" he said sliding his outfit on and stepping oiut of his room.

Vera Starborn

Ten minutes after kissing Jase good night Vera had changed into a a plain singlet and shorts she had purchased and was settled onto her bed with the wrist computer from her armour in her lap. Now that they were out of hyperspace and heading towards the belt, she would have a bit of time to search the archives. The information on her unit was only public knowledge information and that specific to her mission, anything else would have been blocked to protect PEACe in the instance she was captured and her assets hacked.

It didn't take long for Vera to pull up the wanted list. There would be little on there about Kolift Station- as Jase had said, it was one of her council's dirty little secrets. The warrants for the escaped prisoners, though? They were there for the entire universe to see.

There were a lot of warrants to sift through. Vera let out a heavy sigh at the sheer amount of people who had slipped through her fingers; from criminals to traitors, they all weighed heavily on her consience. Most of them were highly dangerous, and she had failed to contain them.

Instead of starting from the beginning she cut the search parameters down. He said that he was twenty six and he escaped when he was ten. She set the dates to 15-17 years from today and she managed to narrow it down significantly. There were still dozens of warrants but it made it easier.

~*~

An hour later Vera was three quarters of the way through the warrants for the second time. The first surf revealed nothing of interest at all. She yawned as she considered giving up. She'd had a busy twenty four hours, and the information was unlikely to help during her raid tomorrow. She shifted her screen from the view of the record of one female inmate at Koloft to a male. She was just about to flip forward when she stopped, squinting at the screen on her wrist. With a newfound determinations he cast the image from her wrist computer to the projector on her contact lens and smiled.

A man, thirty five at the the age of his escape. His registration number was one before Jase's. His hair was a deep brown, and he had familiar green eyes. His face was slightly different though- the jaw and eye shape not quite the same as Jase's. It wasn't Jase- Vera knew that much. Whilst scientists had managed to work on the process of artificial aging, reversing the process was another story all together. Their best work at this stage would not be able to keep the man in the picture looking the same age for sixteen years. He would most likely appear in his mid thirties at the youngest.

The man was classified as non-dangerous. A political prisoner.

Interesting.

Vera scanned the prisoner's details and inserted them into a new search item.

There were dozens of articles.

Before being taken into custody, prisoner *** , otherwise known as Wilson Crestfield and his wife Lauren were both award winning scientists. In one article there was a picture of the two together. Now there was no doubt who Jase was. The picture was a stationary one, but it didn't fail to capture the innocence and hope in his parent's eyes.

Vera settled in to her bed to read the articles about his parents. Suddenly Samantha made more sense, as did Jase's penchant for tinkering and improving his tech.

Jase's parents had been taken to Kolift for failing to acquiese to PEACe's request for aid. They denied the council their services on principle and were therefore classed as rebels and jailed accordingly. Vera could only imagine they where sent to Kolift for their exceptional intelligence; if they weren't so brilliant they would have ended up in a standard prison camp and theirs (and Jase's) life might have been entirely different.

Though that didn't explain how Jase came to be in Kolift. He was too young. There was no one allowed there beneath the age of 18. At least, that was the policy.

Vera scrapped the specific search on Jase's parents and decided to search for whatever information she could find on Kolift's other inmates, wanting to see the age range they fell into.

~*~

It was a black hole of information, and Vera got sucked in far too easily. At some point during her search she fell asleep, slumping to sleep in her bed.

PEACe are on approach to Merian's station. Prepare for departure.

A curt voice interrupted Vera's deep slumber and she started awake. Looking around she realised that she had fallen asleep and she sighed. She started up her Contact Lens receiver and looked at the article on the screen. She didn't even remember opening it.

What she did remember was that there were quite a few warrants for Kolift with no date of birth for the prisoner or clear mug shot. It was concerning. The destruction of Kolift had been a complete catastrophe, there was a lot of information lost or destroyed, but this much? Her gut clenched at the thought as memories of that terrible time during her reign flashed through her mind. It had been the first meaningful thing she'd done upon assuming leadership. Upon learning of the unethical genetic experimentation happening there. She knew what it as like- to have her body used against her will- she didn't want that happening to anyone else.

Yes, Vera had her own share of experimentation. The cells and hormones necessary for Avery's existence were taken from her before she was of an age to consent. Her father's cronies had also done their best to give her any of their treatments that had even a minimal chance of success. While painful and against her will, they turned out to be useful in her career. Useful in stopping the same thing from being forced upon anyone else.

Thanks Samantha Vera projected to the AI. She knew it wasn't necessary, but she needed Samantha on her side as well. Though that was probably wishful thinking. AI's couldn't be seduced. Well, not so far as Vera knew.

Vera was closing down all of her research files when she noticed an incoming message from Kace. It was a long one, with a list of coordinates, which made Vera very pleased. Instead of reading it she decided to focus on the issue at hand. Retrieving the orb. They could worry about the next step when they had completed this one.Vera changed into a fresh set of clothes and pulled on her armour. She looking in the small mirror in her room and ran her fingers through her hair before braiding it. Thankfully she had a spare tie in the small medical kit on her utility belt. She wished she had some pins to get it completely up and out of the way, but it would have to do. She then pulled on the boots that Jase had given her before heading into the kitchen. She prepped them a quick meal, finding her way around his kitchen easily now that she had watched him prepare two meals. She also filled two cups with cool drink of water. She was starving but she went to seek out Jase before eating. She remembered how groggy he had been the previous morning and smiled, clearly not a morning person. Luckily she had lots of practice with such routines, so even though she was tired from the terrible sleep and late night, she was still as alert as ever.

Avery Watersmith

Aboard the PEACe Mothership

Avery watched the progress of the investigation crew with interest. They were just about to dock on Merian's station. She had managed to get the appropriate people to respond to the SOS without much trouble, but there was still a sick feeling in her gut.

In the twelve hours that had passed Vera, Claus and Oren had failed to check in. Now that they had a ship closer to their last known whereabouts they were closer to getting a read on their' where abouts. All three Vital Scanners were not responding; either their owners were dead or they had been deactivated.

She was listening in on the communication between the PEACe ship and the station and the buzzer went off on her door. She allowed it to open, looking up from the screen, annoyed at the interruption.

"General Starborn," Avery said with a distracted nod. The man that stepped into the room laughed haugtily.

"You're formal today Vera," he replied, the door sliding shut behind him. He was tall, much taller than Aver, and his hair was a brown that matched her natural colour. He looked very similar to her's and Vera's mother.

"Sorry Uncle," she said, refocusing her attention on the man before her.

"I know you're busy. You always are. But I thought you'd want to see the proposal for action on Magaroth."

"It's late," Avery snapped. She didn't mean to be curt, but her uncle's timing couldn't have been worse.

He put the data pack on her desk.

"I know we were meant to be taking action by 13:00 tomorrow, but the Council wants your final approval tonight."

"Are you serious?" Avery asked, looking at the word count on the document he had given her. There was no way she could get through that and monitor the investigation at the same time. "They finalise it two weeks late and then want me to get it done quickly?"

"You know the council," Her uncle said with a shrug before wishing her a good day and leaving. Avery sent a call out request to Tomas and then changed her screen. Instead of monitoring the investigation she pulled up Bomber's file and located him on surveillance. He and Jackson were sitting in their bunks playing cards. She could see her own anxiety reflected on their face as he tapped his foot impatiently against the mattress. As far as he knew, Avery was missing (soon to be presumed dead). Their romance was only fresh, still new and filled with a sense of wonder. What would happen if Vera was gone? If Avery was forced to remain in her position for the rest of her life? She would have to leave Bomber behind, let him think she was dead. She cursed her own stupidity- she should have known better than to think she could attempt a normal life.

Vera had done the same ten years ago, and it had gotten the only man she'd ever loved killed.

Another buzz at her door had her rush to shut down the files. Tomas may be Vera's closest confident other than herself, but Avery would not trust him with the knowledge of her secret relationship with Bomber. She wouldn't trust anybody with that except for Vera.

"You requested my presence?" Tomas asked, looking up at the screen to see the progress of the invasion being displayed.

"Yes, General Starborn just delivered the information packet of regarding Magaroth mines. Vera mentioned it to me in her brief, but she wasn't expecting to go this long without checking in. "

Tomas nodded.

"Yes, the Council and the Chancellor disagreed on that. She wanted all of the management stripped of their titles and banished from the system. She wanted them exiled for their crimes. That planet relies on the mining for it's income, so she didn't want the workers forced from their livelihoods. Instead, she offered to contribute council funds to create better education and processing facilities, so any miners that were victims of abuse could relocate their positions if necessary."

Avery nodded. Her job as a Special Agent kept her busy. She tried to keep abreast of the current political climate as best as she could, but it was impossible. She wasn't sure how Vera fit all of this, plus the knowledge needed for Avery's role, in her memory. Tomas was always around to help though, and Vera usually returned from her missions or at least checked in at convenient intervals to catch any gaps in Avery's knowledge.

"What did the council want?" She asked.

"A cover up, what else?" He laughed, shaking his head. "They're used to your parent's methods. Ten years on, and only three council members have come around to Vera's ways. They want to pay off the management so they'll take forced leave and pay the miners for their silence."

Avery rolled her eyes. Everyone was paid to shut up, it seemed.

"If you send me a copy I can go through it too, just to double check," Tomas offered. Avery nodded and sent a copy through to him immediately before returning her attention to the Aridia Investigation.

Jase ran into her in the hall surprisingly bright eyed and chipper

"hello beautiful wonderful morning" He said leaning down to kiss her lightly before taking her hand "come on we dont got a lot of time" he said dragging her into the mess. As he went he wondered how he felt about this stage of their relationship, no one had said they were dating to the other yet they seemed to be in that stage kissing each other at liesure and being intimate. He wondered if he should stop but then cast it aside knowing if she didnt want it to happen.....

Well she wouldn't let it happen

"Sorry for the crash course but our windows short and rapidly draining" Jase said moving into the room and grabbing the breakfast

"Samantha bring it up and show her where the map is located"

A schematic of the station appeared in 3D and seconds later a pulsating red dot began to blink and glow faintly around the middle of the station

"Thats where its at not to far from where we left it which might mean it got lost in the shuffle however thats also where merians forces are"

"And the blood pack still have control of much of the lower levels" Samantha chimed in appearing as well "latest intel suggests that its a mad house in there"

"merian will probably work with PEACe" Jase said "but the blood pack there going to fight inch by bloody inch so our best course of action is to get in get out and get the hell out of dodge"

"The canon has been prepped Jase" Samantha said shooting a gleefull look at Vera as if she knew some thing she didnt "were ready to go when you guy are"

"The canons how we will be getting on station" Jase said turning to her "i dont want to risk the falcon and lose it like we did your ship its why i left it the last time she could handle the ships roaming around but its to risky so we will be taking another route in"

"Have you ever been shot out of a canon and into space?"

Jase was certainly peppy this morning. Vra followed as he tugged her through the shop, snatching up breakfast when he did amd observing the map and the news about the blood pack. It wasn't anything they shouldn't be able to deal with, but it would take a great deal of effort. As she ate she made quite to commit the map to memory. With any luck they would all be too distracted by PEACe's interference.

When he mentioned being shot in by cannon she did a double take.

"Excuse me?" She choked on the food she had in her mouth. Coughing, she looked at him warily. "Shot out of a cannon? No... Can't say I have."

He was crazy!

Jase laughed and so did Samantha both noting her shock

"Come on" he said taking her hand and tugging her over to the main room. He waved his hand and a hatch split open directly in the center.

"This is old tech from before PEACe and if the empire knew I had it they'd kill me" he warned her leading her down the ladder. They were in the missle bay and weapon area, larger packs of missles and munition were bolted down and affixed to the wall in the center however were two tubes each big enough to fit a human.

"Back in the day the marines used to have a special sub sect called hell divers they were called that because of their method of emntry which was totally covert" jase explained coming over top a equipment rack and tossing his a backpack.

"They would use these canons which using the metal body armor allowed them to use e
electro magnetics to launch them selves like a bullet they would use these packs tp control their descent and path though only course corrections"

He turned her fixing the pack on her back before turning back and sliding a helmet on her head it flashed then a series of markers appeared on her HUD.

"Samantha aims us but make sure you stay on the coourse" jase warned her putting on his own gear "when it flashes read the pack will begin maximum burn to slow us down our targets the maintenance hatch same one I used to get on" he explained.

Vera blinked a few times as the looked around the launch bay. He was right, this method of travel had been outlawed long ago. As he buckled the gear onto her their trajectory flashed on the HUD, courtesy of the fact she was now connected to Jase and Samantha. His warning to stay on course was particularly ominous- she had just told him she had never done this before, how could she know how to stay on course with out any training on doing so? The fact that Samantha was aiming her gave her extra cause for concern.

"You do know there is a reason this was outlawed, right?" She said, watching him prepare with far too much glee. Then, projected into his mind only; 'You are aware that Samantha hates me?'

"Even if she hates you she isn't going to let you die" jase said answering her out loud

"Correct Samantha?"

"I would never do that" can!e Samantha tense reply

"See nothing to be worried about and since were both on the same path killing you means killing me" he reminded Samantha as he pulled her over to the tube.

"Trust me you'll never forget this" he said picking her upon and placing her in the tube before climbinginf into his own

"Five minutes until launch" Samantha said on the loud speaker

"Great," Vera muttered, "I am filled with confidence." She squirmed around in the tube and tried to swallow the ball of anxiety building in her throat. She flexed her arms and legs and then concentrated on using the HUD to study the schematics of the gear he had given her and get an insight as to how it was used. To her surprise, there small but powerful thrusters located in a number of spots on the gear. There were even thrusters in the boots Jase had given her the day before. His boots seemed to be part of his standard gear, so she wondered just how often he did this. Either way they didn't appear to have much choice- there was no better way to get onto the station unnoticed, and their window of opportunity to do so was ticking away with every moment they waited.

"Well, if I do die it'll be on you!" She called out, her nerves thrust into overdrive when Samantha started the countdown sequence.

She had a million doubts suddenly burst into her mind; as the sequence neared zero. What if this was his way of getting rid of her? Could she truly trust Samantha? How did she let herself get into this position? What would her council say if they knew the leader of the known universe was being shot from a cannon and into space?

With that last though, all others were wiped from her mind. The countdown zeroed and Samantha launched them. Vera's body froze in fear as she was propelled forward with a speed she thought only acheivable with a vehicle.

Then, the abyss of space.

Jase was a bit of am adrenaline junkie

The minute he was fired he gave a scream one thatr sounded off off both of their COMs****** rushed out to meet them black and empty. In a matter of seconds they were put of tuhe asteroid field zipping towards the station.

"I have marked the ships your going to be crossing by on the HUD' Samantha said to them both " luckily most of the are running standard patrols and so you won't come any where near them"

The path counted down in their HUD distance ticking away at an avccelerated rate. Soon they were in sightr of the station. Every once in a whole they would droift of course but jase took the lead showing her how to zip back.

"Zero barrier coming up in five four three two one" jase counted down just as the thing zeroed out. The thruster's engaged each of them straining to slow down their kimnnetic energy as the matienance hatch came into view.

The first five seconds was terrifying. Absolutely fucking terrifying. Despite Jase's whoop of joy Vera was frozen. The black abyss of space lay all around her. Her, with nothing more than a couple of gadgets that she could only hope would work. Then the path lit up on her HUD. She looked over to Jase beside her, and then she looked ahead again as they zoomed past a station, unbeknownst to everyone else in the entire system.

Then came the rush. The speed, the freedom, the ability to move faster alone than any human body was designed to. They passed a piece of rock and Vera's HUD beeped angrily in her ears, panic struck her, but she looked over to see Jase using his thrusters to gently adjust his course. With the blackness of space behind him and no reference for movement other than the feel of the speed in her bones, Vera could almost imagine they were just floating. With a bit of trial and error she mastered the finesse needed to adjust their course just as delicately as Jase did.

The station came into view. The ports were all displaying their red lights,meaning they were already closed to traffic. There was a PEACe ship off in the distance, and despite all of that it looked deceptively calm.

When Samantha announced Zero Barrier Vera's fear returned. She couldn't see any opening in the side of the station and she was headed right for it. Then she considerd the size of a maintenance hatch- how the fuck were she and Jase meant to glide through such a small space with any degree of accuracy? How were they going to stop at such a speed?

When the countdown reached three the HUD outlined the hatch. It was still impossibly small. It zipped open and Vera held her breath.

"Reverse thrust the moment you cross, " Samantha's voice spoke into her helmet. That was it. That was all the advice for her first landing?

In the next second she noticed Jase was at her side, then she looked ahead and they were just about there. A tiny hole on a giant ship.

Vera cursed as the metal of the hatch passed her and his all of her reverse thrusters. It wasn't enough to stop her immediately, and she struggled to contain the extra power in the long, narrow service tube. She heard the hatch clank shut behind them and gravity returned, thrusting her to the ground. She was thrown roughly around, tumbling down and around as she switched off her thrusters, her body and suit taking slamming into the ground and bouncing off it reduced her kinetic energy.

Then, with a loud bang the bouncing stopped and she slid to a halt. She laid there for a moment, breathing heavily as she took stock of her body, pain lanced through her as she tried to regain her sense of up and down.

Jase whooped once more having skidded to a stop a few inches from her. He scrambled tp unseal his helmet and with a hiss it was off discarded to the side as he shrugged the pack off that contained their thrusters. He pulled an orb out of his poicket and shook it turning on the light before tossing it into the air. The light revealed a mantienance hatch and an airlock to their right and tp the left was the hatch they came in.

"Man does it not get any better than that!" Jase said shaking his head and pulling her to her feet "you okay there imperial girl" he said unsealing her helmet and leaning down. The kiss he gave her was intense due to both of their adrenaline having been spiked.

"Ahem" samantha said in their ears "jase I'm not detecting any alarms looks like you got in no problem"

Jase growled and pulled away making sure to slap Vera's ass before pul
Ing up the map "looks like were three decks down from where the orb is at"

"Oh, did I forget to say to switch them off after a second?" Samantha's voice sounded far too smug for an AI.

Vera groaned as she took stock of her condition. According to her contact lens assessment her vitals were fine, no reported breaks or lacerations. Just a whole lotta impact on her muscles. Everything would pass.

Then, Jase grabbed her hands and pulled her up. Her head spun and she stumbled, righting herself before he unsealed her helmet. His kiss was intense and a shock, after the rough landing it took her a moment to settled her system once again. She found that Jase's kiss was just what she needed to centre her thoughts.

"I'm fine," she said aloud. 'No thanks to you,' she projected for Samantha's benefit only. The AI didn't bother responding.

Vera looked at the map that Jase provided and grinned. So far, it was looking good.

"Okay so....." Jase said rubbing and stretching his sore muscles "let's go ahead and get started we still have to figure out how were going to get off this damn station"

He reached over popping the hatch and pulling his Vulcan sub machine gun out. He scamnned the hall and noted it was clear before stepping in an motinioning for Vega tp follow.

"You want to take point or shall I?" Jase asked turning to her and raising an eyebrow "if the PEACe forces are any indication the shits about to hit the fan any second now"

Vera pulled up the station map on her lens and considered their option. She could see the trackers of the PEACe agents blinking on the map. She had no idea where the Blood Pack or Vera's people were, but the intel from Samantha before their launch gave her a good idea of where they needed to go.

"I say we go through the service shafts again," Vera informed him. It was unlikely that PEACe would consider using them- that wasn't their style. Merian might have her own people, or Blood Pack pirates crawling through them, but they were sure to be uninhabited.

"It looks as though there is floor hatch, not far from the one we used to enter the system last time. The room you met Merian in was a a subsection of a larger warehouse, walled off with pretty thin framework and cladding. We should be able to get through easily."

Vera drew her own blasters as she strode ahead of Jase.

"There's a service entry here," she said, stopping when she reached a hatch in the roof, she jumped up and pushed it aside "I suppose I could use the boosters in these boots to make the climb?" she asked "Or would you prefer to help me and get another chance to grab my arse?"

"Babe I'll never miss a chance to grab your ass" jase said snorting and shaking his head he grabbed her and lifted her up waiting until she got the hatch accessed before letting go and following her. What she said was true the service chats were biug enough to hold them and were devoid of people.

Yet jase wasn't convinced

"Hang on" he said putting a hand on her should "Samantha switch our iris to infrared"

Seconds later the view warped and revealed a criss crossing array of lasers all blood red.

"Well some ones got these hatches rigged" jase murmured "looks like there just motion sensors Samantha can you patch them"

"One second" she said as the lights began to blink

"So what do you think!" Jase said waiting to ghet confirmation from Samantha "dp you think the orb gotr lost in thew shuffle or do you think merian picked it up and is using it as bait?"

Vera was impressed. Infared in the service tunnels. Then again, this was the ship of a smuggler queen. She had to expect the low life to more tricks like these up her sleeve.

"Okay, I'm blocking them now. You guys keep moving and I'll reactivate them behind you as you go. We just have to hope no one is monitoring them." Samantha's voice sounded directly in Vera's mind.

"I think Merian is smart enough to know that orb would have been important. Whether to you or the Rebels. She may not have expected you to come back quite so soon, but she would be expecting it." Vera thought, sharing it with Jase and Samantha.

When Jase let go of her shoulder she continued ahead, keeping half a step in front of him. The lasers shut off just before she approached and shut down just as Jase passed. They were cutting it fine, but the AI was right. Too big a shut down was bound to cause suspicion. Vera motioned for Jase to follow her to the right and up a ladder. On the next level the lasers were still present, but so was the sound of pounding feet and blaster fire above their heads. Vera stopped below a grate to look up. several pairs of different boots dashed past before being closely followed by half a dozen Council issued combat boots. Good, they had their distraction.

The rest of their climb through the tunnels went throughout incident for a while. The sounds of the raid clanged around them, but they passed silent and undetected. However, it wasn't to be that simple. Up ahead, one of the service tunnels had been damaged by blaster fire from the level below. The lasers there were already fizzled out due to the damage, but there was a decent sized hole in their gangway, the edges charred and looking unstable. Every few seconds blaster fire would sound beneath, the light of the plasma ammo flaring up to light their tunnel and interfering with the infared.

They continued to trek through the service tunnels worming theoir way through the station. The troop went relatively smoothly thanks to the distraction they had set up well before hand. Jase waited however his nerves on point as he waited for the shoe tp drop. He had no doubt merian had the orb ands even if she had no idea they were coming back would have pieced together its value.

They reached the frayed shaft and jase swore tp himself. The sound of combat rang out below them lpoud clashes and burst of plasma. They wouldn't be able to cross it not without engaging.

"Samantha how far are we?" Jase though projecting it to both of them

"Ten meters down" Samantha replied "also it looks like the firefight is happening close to the orbs destination"

"What do you think?" Jase thought "engage and snatch tjhe orb?"

"Samantha, can you get a read on how many hostiles there are down there?" Vera asked. After a moment several more red dots appeared on her map in addition to the three PEACe agents from Vera's own intel.

"Eight for Jase, five for you," Samantha said, "Although can you trust your own people not to shoot you?"

Vera ignored the jibe.

"Not looking like this, I can't." She said, gaze focusing on the hole before them.

Vera ran her hand over the grenades in the bandolier that Jase had given her. She remembered the colour coding he had taught her the day before and grinned. She was once more filled with a conflicted sense of gratefulness for the genetic modifications her parents had forced on her; her enhanced memory could be a curse at times, but in moments like these it was a blessing.

"What do you say we throw a smoke, followed by a bit of a purple. We can cover our arses with the pink." Vera suggested with a wicked grin. Jase may rely on his gadgets, but it seemed like it would be a heck of a lot of fun.

The smoke would be the perfect distraction for them to get in unseen, the gravity reversing pink would throw them off and allow Jase and Vera to cross through the warring path. They could even throw up the pink shield grenade behind them to stall any pursuit. That should get them to the orb's location safely.

"Now your talking my language" jase said grinning back and grabbing his gun "let's say we stun them all on their asses I don't want to hurt your people or merians" he said handing her the grenades.

"On your mark" he said waiting for her to count it down. There was a flash of smoke and he dropped down his Vulcan giving off three rapid static blasts as the gravity grenades liftred the forces up into the ground. He shot them all down letting them crash onto the deck he didn't bother to check and make sure that the ones Vera had were down.

He knew they would be

"Well well well jase" merians voice called out from above

Twin spotlightrs kicked on revealing merian and her goons on the catwalk above she had her pistol in one hand and the orb in the other grinning as she starred the two of them down.

"Back already to screw me over?" Merian purred smirking

Vera had far too much fun battling their way through the corridor. Jase gave her the pleasure of being the one lobbing grenades, and she was thrilled to see his tech at work. Once the anti grav went off her shoes kicked in and she used them to slide across the roof, shooting down the soldiers in front of them while Jase tackled the others behind. After a few moments gravity returned, her head rushed and she switched off her boots, flipping over and landing in a crouch. They took a few steps forward and Vera cleared the effect of the smoke grenade, throwing the final pink grenade back, the shield setting up silently, a bare shimmer against the grey smoke.

Spotlights flared, illuminating a large warehouse before them. Vera looked up and gritted her teeth, seeing Merian and six of her goons up above them, grinning down like fools.

Vera laughed at Merian's comment. Back to screw her over?

"We can make this nice and smooth if you like, it seems like you're a little busy on this station right now. We can be on our way, let you deal with your business in peace." Vera called up, eyeing the woman above.

Merian's gaze zeroed in on Vera and her eyebrows arched. She put her hand on her hips and laughed.

"So she was your little puppy?" Merian asked, turning back to Jase with amusement. "It seems our lone wolf has found himself a little bitch of a girlfriend."

Vera ignored the jibe and used her lens to zoom in on the area around them, creating a back up plan incase Merian refused to parley.