Silccer's Tarksun held up an arm, shielding itself from the snowstorm that was assaulting his visual sensors. The blue of his paint stuck out like a sore thumb on the side of a tall white mountain. Just in front of him was Ira, also struggling to make out anything in the storm.
"Your thermal picking anything up?" Ira sat staring at a completely blue thermal screen.
"No." Silccer seemed on edge.
"This island is a total bust, not worth the swim we had to take to get here. Speaking of, does your Tarksun get kinda slow to move for a little bit after coming out of the caramel stuff?" Ira took a swig from a small flask tucked away next to her seat.
Silccer didn't reply.
"You listening?"
"Yeah, it gets slow."
Ira pouted her lips. "What's up with you? You been quiet."
"What planet are you from then?"
"One of the Addaer planets I think? Not sure."
He took a moment to think, "you don't know which planet you're from?"
"Nope, place was a shithole anyway."
"So, how'd you get here?"
Ira paused to think of something plausible. "I lawfully used public transport."
"I'm sure you did."
"How'd you think I got here? Stollen ship of course." Her Tarksun waved its hands up.
He fought back the urge to read her her rights and attempt to arrest here right there and then.
Some long seconds passed by, "why you in the Vanguard? You seem like more of a mouse than a solider."
Silccer's mind flashed to the image of a man smiling as he reached down to him. His hair was white, and his uniform a striking mix of white on blue. "Someone I looked up to told me to."
Ira chuckled, "wasn't even your choice?"
"It was. I could've not signed up. But I wanted to... I don't know. Be like him, I guess."
"Still not very original, if he exists, why copy him?"
He sat in silence, regretting even engaging her in conversation. The caramel blob in the top right of his HUD had nearly changed size. "You know there's pretty much no chance you'll meet the Empress, right?"
"Won't know if I don't try."
Silccer winced. "So you have no plan at all? Just arrive near the Homemaker, ask to see her, and then wing the conversation?"
"I always knew I was going to have to fight my way to the top." Ira smirked. "Why do you think I'm in a Tarksun?"
"You're insane..." His eyes widened. "How'd you even get a Tarksun?"
"Came to me in a dream. Or from the skies, whichever one sounds cooler." She took a moment to realise how sarcastic she was being. "He's called 'Vanquish'."
"Vanquish?"
"Yeah, means to defeat something thoroughly. Pretty fitting, I think."
Silccer sat in silence for a bit. "Mine's called Rain Hunter."
"Wait, your name is Silccer, and your Tarksun is called Rain Hunter? Are you entirely themed around the Silccer bird? Oh! Wait, let me guess! The Silccer can only fly when it rains, right? So I assume your Tarksun is only useful when you have a sword? That's why you did nothing in the last fight!" Ira slammed her head back into her seat. "Damn, I am smart."
Silccer was taken aback by her surprisingly sharp intellect. "Yeah, you pretty much got it."
"Cool nod to be fair, but kinda sucks that it's based around you being useless without a sword."
"I'm not useless. I shouldn't be anyway. I hesitated back there, but I am not useless without my sword." He looked down at his empty scabbard.
"Well, here's a good chance to prove it." Vanquish pointed towards a shape just ahead of them.
Silccer zoomed in on the object before a voice confirmed his gut instinct. "Unidentified Tarksun in range. Unable to scan."
"I assume it's another one of those guys that made the caramel stuff. They're all yours." Vanquish stood aside, gesturing for Silccer to take to the stage.
Rain Hunter's head lowered. He started to walk toward the potential enemy. It didn't take long before the shape became easier to visualise fully. It was a Tarksun, potentially shorter than both Rain Hunter and Vanquish, but made up for it by hovering mid-air. It looked to be wearing a white cloak, perfectly straight and reaching down enough to cover its whole body. The veil revealed a thin but elegant silhouette of a body underneath. It turned as they approached, the entrance to its hood entirely dark as though a void.
It blended in perfectly with the surroundings, almost invisible if it wasn't for the thermal sensors Ira and Silccer had been using. They stopped about 400ft out, staring at the floating Tarksun.
A comms line opened to them both. Ira was the first to accept, with Silccer following suit.
"Is it true that you aren't affected by Gohada?" A calm female voice came through.
"Huh?" Ira barked back.
"The Ritual Breaker. Gohada. You aren't affected by it?"
"Ha! Yep, ain't got no stupid blob or whatever that big guy was talkin' about." She boasted.
"How were you able to achieve this?"
"Ranged attacks don't work on me, so I assume your ritual counted as an attack."
The woman paused. "How come your Breaker is that strong? Gohada should overpower most other Tier 2 and above Breakers."
"Maybe your Breaker is just shit?" She pouted.
"Implausible. There must be another reason. I wish to see this Breaker of yours."
"You dumb? No, plus, my sidekick here is gonna kick the shit out of you first." Ira gestured to Silccer again.
Silccer ignored Ira's taunting, "your involvement in this Ritual Breaker makes you a murderer of billions. I will bring appropriate justice to you as one of the many strongest soldiers of humanity. You WILL face a life of incarceration." Rain Hunter stepped up, his hands coming up in front of him but not quite forming fists. With a tense of his arms, sharpened claws extended out from his fingers.
"I don't intend to fight you. It's a two versus one, and one of you is potentially utterly immune to all forms of ranged assault. Powerful as I may be, facing you without prior preparation would be careless. I propose a conversation, followed by an exchange of information that would benefit both sides."
Silccer relaxed but maintained a trained stance. His feather-like plates ruffled and twitched as redundant systems stopped snow from becoming trapped in the mechanisms underneath. Ira folded Vanquish's arms, annoyed by the sudden halt of a potential fight.
"What do you have in mind?" Silccer conceded.