The sky was dark, moonlight bashed against the walls of an old Detrid fortress, beams of light breaking through the windows and slits that covered its sides while the harsh winds swiped against the castle in an attempt to tear it down.
With a confident stride, Nellia strode through the halls of the said fortress. Clothed in fitted military attire that wrapped tightly around her figure, her soot-like hair flowing behind her, she passed by fellow soldiers that were working and moving about in the halls, some offering her greetings as she did so.
With her usual blank expression of indifference, she nodded to them, not bothering to halt her stride, making her way to the office of the person in charge of the fortress.
On one side of her hips was a bulky handgun while a blade was on her other side, and strung across her back was a large and bulky gun; none of these weapons seemed to slow her down a bit.
As she got closer and closer to her perceived destination a glare began to take hold of her eyes as she worked to prevent her face from contorting in anger.
Halting at the large and slightly aged doors, Nellia took a moment to calm herself, she would not allow him to catch a single glimpse of emotion on her face, she did not want to be forced to deal with his ignorant comments.
Lightly knocking with the back of her fist, she sighed, her face returning to its usual blank expression that made those around her feel as if they were being looked down upon.
The door slid halfway open before it stopped, struggling in its attempt to slide open fully. Seeing the state of the door of the officer in charge's office caused Nellia to sigh in slight disappointment before forgetting about it and stepping into the room.
Standing in the brightly lit room, that slightly shone in luxury, black metal rimmed the chairs, tables, and the large desk at the back of the room. If she were to look up she would note how the ceiling tiles were all completely that black metal with slight gold accents.
The black metal that was littered across the room was a mineral mined in the mining collectives near the fortress here in the western collective. It was a mineral desired by many nobles of the Twenty-Nine Collectives, they saw the mineral as a display of their power and influence due to its rarity, harder to find than the second highest grade of energy crystals.
Glancing off to the side her gaze landed on the leanly built man that stood next to a window outlooking the entire fortress and its courtyard; in his hand was a glass filled with dark red liquid that he swirled in boredom.
"... Sergeant Warnet."
Making her presence known, Nellia did a hand salute, tightening her right fist up to her chest, a salute different from the other as it was the salute used in times out of combat, otherwise, her hand would be up to her forehead, above her browline.
Turning to the woman, the man had a smug grin tug on his lips as he walked over to stand in front of her, looking her up and down, taking a good look at her figure that was dressed sharply in her tightly fitted uniform before taking note of the weapons strapped on her body with a raised brow.
"Mm, at ease..."
Following his words, she took her fist from her chest and placed her arms behind her back, standing still while ignoring his quizzical gaze that did nothing to hide the lechery behind them.
"You called for me."
"Yes, I have a new assignment for you..."
Following the Sergeant to his desk, Nellia stood in front of it as he placed his drink down and shuffled around the mess of files covering it, pulling out a thick file with her along with a few other names strewn about after hers.
"Now, I understand that this might be a bit too difficult for you-"
"It won't be."
Having been interrupted, Sergeant Warnet paused, analyzing Nellia his lips twitching and his brow furrowing in irritation - an irritation that he had to experience with this particular woman a multitude of times, she held little respect for him.
"Did I give you permission to speak?"
Stepping in front of her he got in her face, peering into her eyes while sending her a vicious glare clicking his tongue while a look of contempt took hold of his face.
"Don't speak unless I say you can, do you understand?"
Hiding her discontent with the man and preventing it from showing in her eyes Nellia merely nodded her head.
Nellia was not a person who made her emotions known, but her superior who was in control of this stronghold was someone that drove feelings of anger and scorn out of her. She did not hate him, no, she despised his existence.
He was a man of unbearable arrogance, and overconfidence, not to mention that he was a religious zealot that made constant comments toward her niece, assuming they were on the same page.
All she wanted to do was stuff a fist down his throat, crush him under gravity, rip him into shreds, erase his entire existence from the world, but... alas, that was not something she was allowed to do, she would be court marshaled and executed for crimes against her superior; she had to be patient.
The day would come soon, when either he dies, or she rises to greater or equal standing to the man. Then she could give him all that he deserves.
"Right, now the assignment that headquarters has sent for you is to take place after six moons, well, the last half of it that is. for your first assignment, you are to go out into the Jura forest and deal with a group of smugglers, they snuck here from the original base of operations. They are a broken-off branch from a much larger smuggling organization that was dismantled by the Bavel family.
You are to deal with these smugglers in a timely fashion. Private Lawrens, Private Lukules, and Specialist Clarkins are to accompany you, am I understood?"
"Sir, I will be perfectly fine alone. Please retract the last order."
"You go with whoever I tell you to go with, Nexus!"
Going silent with his yelling Nellia closed her eyes before opening them, looking at the Sergeant with a fierce gaze.
"Understood... Sir."
Handing the document to her, he turned around and returned to his spot at the window.
"Further details are in the file. Dismissed."
Raising her fist to her chest in salute once more, Nellia did an about-face turning in a one-eighty-degree turn as she made her way to the still-open and struggling doors, something that contrasted drastically with the entire office.
"Oh and, Coraline."
Pausing at the man calling out her rank, Nellia hadn't bothered turning around.
"If I catch you with that look in your eyes again, there will be consequences."
Not bothering to reply or send physical confirmation, Nellia continued her march through the door, her thoughts swirling in her head while her fingers fiddled with the file tucked in her hands.
***
Approaching a planning room, Nellia's gaze flickered to the forested areas outside of the fortress, Fortress Aries, the Fortress that she had been assigned to after rising to the rank of Coraline after the higher-ups saw her Transcendent abilities as applicable.
Aries was a fortress often considered the frontline base of operations during wartime. Due to having times of piece with no altercations with the Kritol over a long period, the fortress was temporarily shut down.
That is the most likely cause of its current poor state.
That is until the information of small skirmishes breaking out between the Kritol and small groups of their researchers and the soldiers guarding them returned to the headquarters.
While they were beginning to renew operation in the fortress, the Kritol suddenly struck, bringing with them a devastating weapon of ancient times, one that even the great General Bavel analyzed with eyes tinted in fear.
The fortress was finally back in operation yet she was getting silly operations that dealt with smugglers when they should be focusing on making sure that the military is prepared when the time comes for full-on war.
She didn't know who to blame for the current situation, the higher-ups, or her superior who didn't insist on doing the job his position entailed. Nellia couldn't help but think that... perhaps she should reach out to General Bavel... No.
Even though she had never antagonized the war vet, the old lady hated her family to their very roots. Even though their relationship was as is, she still had plans to have a sit-down and talk with her niece, but that would have to wait for a much better and much more opportune time.
Removing her gaze from out the window she peered at the doors that stood in front of her, theses doors were rustic and in a probably worst situation when compared to the doors of the Sergeant's office; but this was her destination, the room was set for where she was to meet with those she was to go the mission with and they were already there and most likely just waiting for her.
Stepping up to the door it slid open surprisingly easily when considering its current state, but she chalked that up to the difference in design.
Swiftly making her way into the room, her figure secreting an aura of confidence that made her appear as powerful as she was, at least in the gazes of the soldiers lounging about in the room.
"Coraline!?"
"Ma'am!?
"C-Coraline!?"
A man whose body was covered in black plating, a moderately built man who was fiddling with a small machine, and lastly, a burly woman called out in a stutter.
Quickly rising to their feet in attention, they slapped their fists against their chests, trying to give off the image that they weren't just slouching about.
"At ease."
Without a glance, she put them at ease and immediately made her way to the strategy table. Slapping the files down with a loud, Plap!, she opened it up and began to read through its contest, looking through files of the three soldiers watching her.
"Private Lawrens."
"Y-Yes Ma'am!"
Going stiff at the calling of her name, the short woman with thick arms, a thick neck, and a head full of auburn brown hair almost bit her tongue off as she responded.
"Hailing from the Northern collective you joined due to..."
"Wanting to follow in the steps of the great General Bavel, Si-Ma'am!"
Not batting an eye at her slip-up, Nellia spoke once more.
"How do you do in cold?"
"I would say I would handle it the best out of all of us in the room, Ma'am!"
"Good."
Not understanding the point behind her original question and the meaning behind her saying 'Good', Private Lawrens stared at her in confusion, an awkward smile tugging on her lips.
"Private Lukules..."
"Ma'am."
The person giving off the most confident aura besides Nellia, the man covered in black plating for skin responded dutifully.
"You are durable, yes?"
"My kind are known for their durability and endurance, Ma'am! I can say I'm one of the most durable of my people since our ancestors!"
"Good."
Nodding at her brisk response, assuming she was pleased by his answer, Lukules had dawned a proud smile.
"Specialist Clowkins you-"
"It-It's Clarkins... Ma'am."
Pausing at her words being interrupted, Nellia stared the man down for a moment, her gaze boring into him as her indifferent facial expression showed no change making her seem to not care about his sudden interruption; Instead, a hand rose to her chin as she seemingly spaced out in the middle of her stand down.
"Yes, that will work..."
"...?"
Confused by her sudden mutterings the three soldiers watched her, perplexed as she returned to looking over her file, pushing their files off to the side and going over the mission data.
"Can you operate a Terra-Former?"
"..."
Clarkins was once more thrown into perplexity as her inquiry was so out of the left field that he was caught off guard, hesitating for a moment before answering.
"... I'm able to operate a Terra-Former, I can operate a multitude of varying large machines. It was part of our training to become a specialist-"
Not bothering with his overexploitation she cut him off with a wave of her hand, a small smirk stretching across her face.
"Good."
***
Bang!
Bang!
Thud!
Ding!
Clank!
"To the right!"
"To the right!"
"I said to the right!
In a loud ship workshop of the outer sanctum, loud banging and clanking could be heard along with the sound of sparks, fires, and varying materials being strewn about or put in places, Screws, nails, and nuts keeping them in place, while others were having simple welding being down onto the ships.
The only thing that rang out other than the engineers and mechanics working, was the voices that were reverberating throughout the building, them shouting things to get their work done, or them being simply overly obnoxious.
Walking into the factory was a man with reddish skin covered in blank and pink spots, with large bat-like ears. He had a full beard of white hair, while the white atop his was neatly slicked back.
His prosthetic eye was scanning all around the workshop as its red orb swiveled like it had a mind of its own while the scars that wrapped around his body were hidden under his compact space suit. It was Ergo in all his aged glory.
"Seferan!"
Ergo's aged voice traveled across the workshop as he approached one of the many mechanics that filled the building; calling out a woman that appeared to be a human with skin that of bleached lemon and her hair of the dark tides of a black sea.
In her hands was a pad that she swiped her hands across as she was filing information into a screen as she observed and fiddled with a ship engine.
Different from the other mechanics who were out of suits and revealing their rough bodies to the world, she was dressed in a protective space suit, differing from Ergo as she had a simple filter mask on her face instead of his clear helmet.
"Ergo. What is it this time?"
Not bothering to give him her gaze, she spoke to him in a flat tone, wanting him to state his business with her quickly.
Striding up to her, he crossed his arms and began to overlook the workshop, appearing lost for the moment as he took in the workers in the midst of doing the work they were passionate about, smiles plastered on the many faces of the workers.
Snapping out of his trance, his eyes remained forward.
"We have another job."
"..."
"I wanted to get my ship repaired before we attempt to go after the bounty for this one."
"Where is your target located?"
"...Ivingard."
Hearing the name that spilled from the man's lips she turned to look at him as if he was crazy.
"You, you, Ergo, the cautionary hunter is going after a Detrid target, on their home planet. Are you insane or did you just eat a Craxtic?"
"Neither, I have no choice in the matter."
"What do you mean?"
"The client is the... Kritol Emperor."
Hah? - Seferan merely scoffed at that sudden revelation before returning to her pad, she swiped through a few screens as the two remained silent before she placed the pad down and extend a hand to Ergo.
"How bad is the damage."
"It is not the worst that it has gone through."
He uttered as he took out a small disk and handed it to her. Taking the disk from him she clicked the button on its front causing an image to project above it, showing the state of his ship.
Seferan furrowed her brows as she analyzed the damage and what would need to be done before shutting it off and stuffing it in her bag.
"I can get it done and back to you by the time the Solus council meeting ends; it will cost a bit though, where is the ship?"
"That's fine, and that's fast enough, we planned to go there, so everything lines up nicely. I have the ship outside, called in a favor, my buddy from Xenov brought it over, they should be bringing it in later."
"Xenov? That Xenov?"
"Of course."
"You make friends in the strangest of places."
Haha! - "Well, you know me. Anyways, contact me once you're finished."
Uncrossing his arms, Ergo made his way out of the workshop, halting as he heard Seferan calling out to him.
"Be safe out there, alright?"
Chuckling to himself, he sent her a lighthearted smile.
"I'll do what I can."