The train was supposed to arrive at the station at exactly eight-thirty am. The time was a quarter till nine. The train was late. Cantar's window of opportunity to switch out the art pieces shrunk with each passing moment. He sat in his booth, mind racking pros against cons, his fingers idly tapping against the table in front of him. Normally there would be two other passengers seated across from him with another passenger to his right, but he had lucked out on having to share a booth. The pro side of his mind proposed pressing one of the table's buttons to summon a display where he could choose from a wide array of programs. He could set the display loud enough to cover his movements from there. The con side reminded him that each booth was soundproof and discarded the idea.
He moved the blinds and glanced out his window. Eager for inspiration of any kind to take him. Instead, he was greeted with the boring eisrem crystal formations the train was currently passing through. He had once been an awe-struck tourist, taken captive by their stunning pearlescent hue as most tourists had been on their first visit. He now saw them as an eyesore and chose to close the blinds. Once again his mind entertained the idea of turning on one of the train's programs, though he knew he'd likely stick with watching the news. He knew he'd need something, anything to deal with the mind-numbing monotony of the train ride.
Deciding to indulge this thought, he pressed a button on the table and a moment later the screen rose from a slot in the center of the table. He fiddled with the button that controlled the channels and switched from program to program until he found the news channel. On the news, they were running a segment on a group called The Skav. They were pirates of the worst kind. Leaderless. Following those who made the most grandiose hedonistic promises. The segment's focus was on a recent heist they pulled in which they stole various art pieces and artifacts on the Vlaxxcaltan people from the art museum on Creche. While the news hadn't disclosed specific pieces they had stolen or why, there appeared to be a trend of museums and ships transporting various art pieces and artifacts being raided. His mind, choosing to indulge in a fantasy, imagined himself finding the missing art pieces and fencing them off for a hefty sum. He imagined himself being free of his mysterious employer's demands as he could hide from him. He wasn't even sure why he had taken the contract in the first place.
As the train exited the eisrem tunnel, blue light peered past the curtains. He thought of pulling back the curtains again for possible renewed inspiration but decided against it. As his mind pondered the idea of calling for a drink, the train shook violently. He had never experienced the train shake this way and for a moment he entertained the idea of the Skav boarding the train. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities, he was planning on switching out the art pieces he had been contracted to by his employer. But the Skav nor the train's crew should know of any art pieces as he had paid a large sum of europa to remove them from the train's cargo manifesto. As the train shook again as if an explosion had gone off, he fell onto his table. As he stood up, opened the booth door, and exited, he was greeted by other passengers who had the same idea he had. As the train shook again, the pit in his stomach grew larger.
As silly of an idea that the Skav were in the process of boarding the train seemed, he wasn't one to leave things to chance. He squeezed past patrons standing in the aisle pushing past those who refused to move and gave them a half-hearted apology. When he reached the back of the train car, he opened the backdoor - and was greeted with a gun pointed at his face. The Skav had arrived.
As the hangar bay opened up, Shane bounced in place as she rolled her shoulders. She was wearing her favorite Unifier jacket. The white one with the golden Elkaran on the back with the antlers that held the galaxy in between them. Tahel, the team leader, had jumped minutes prior. Jayce had asked to see her before she jumped. He had given her a handful of small orbs he wanted her to try out for field research. He ordered her to use them on any Skav she deals with or in a tight situation. She was grateful but annoyed that Tahel hadn't waited as she asked her to as she wanted to jump together. It almost made Tahel's comments on her embarking on missions alone hypocritical. Almost. She kept the orbs in her jacket pockets, her mind acutely focused on the mission objectives. First, secure the front of the train, which Tahel was certainly taking care of. Second, clear out the passenger cars and ensure all passengers were safely accounted for. Third, eliminate all hostile threats on the train. Fourth, secure the unregistered cargo and report it back to the main Unifier ship. Standard mission objectives.
The ship was high enough that she had anywhere from a minute to a minute and a half to enjoy the fall. Allowing the wind to take her, she turned her back to the wind and allowed it to carry her out of the ship. As she fell, the wind hit the back of her curly hair she found herself smiling. Despite the chaos to come, she felt at peace with her current predicament. Looking out to her left, she saw the twin suns that basked the valley in their vermillion glory with the azure blue sky serving as its compliment. She could even see one of the planet's rings albeit faintly at this hour. As silly as it sounded, she was easily enamored with the beauty of the planets the Unifiers would travel to. She recalled the beauty of seeing the planet Philli and being enamored with its pink skies and milky white rivers. Its sister planet Fillipi boasted flora life that reached well into the planet's troposphere. As much as she would like to continue taking in the breathtaking view, she knew she needed to focus on the task at hand and shifted her body so that she could assess the situation below.
From the look of things, Tahel had the first objective under control. To the untrained eye, she looked as if she were flying gracefully as she destroyed Skav ship after Skav ship that pursued her while avoiding gunfire from the Skav within the train. Shane focused her mind on the mission objectives to drown out the alluring calls of the staff. It wasn't gifted to her. It had been gifted to Tahel. Melka's orders. Tahel used the staff as a makeshift bow and shot light arrows at the ships, and shot Skav within the train. She looked like a pristine goddess come to save the unworthy mortals at best, and a showoff at worst. She rolled her eyes at the display and though Tahel would never hear her admit this (she'd rather take it to the grave) she was an effective leader and she envied her. She envied Tahel's ability to effortlessly be a vignette of beauty, brains, and brawn. The beauty found within Nixim women, the brains to lead the team, the strategies, and the ability to make precise calculations with her movements she learned from Melka, and the brawn gained from a decade and a half's worth of learning then being an archer.
With the front of the train cleared, she watched as Tahel flew towards the back of the train where the cargo was being held given the number of Skav ships dropping of Skav raiders. This meant that the first objective had been secured and the fourth objective was on its way to being secured. Which left objectives two and three for Shane to handle. She ignored the third objective. It might be the way the Unifiers did things now, but it wasn't in the past. Somebody has to live up to Melka's example. Might as well be her.
Her time to decide on which Skav car to hit first was cut short as the Skav's fire drew upon her. As she dove towards the car closest to the front that contained the Skav, bullets grazing her, she grits her teeth, mind racing through her database of stored DNA, and quickly shapeshifted her body into a lycanthrope Raikor with extra fur and slammed into the train car, rattling the entire train. The metallic bullets rip through the extra fur and enter her body. She winces and pain and lets out and lets out a debilitating scream that paralyzes her attackers. She wastes little time assaulting her assailants with overwhelming ferocity as she slams them around the train car. Making sure not to kill them or cause significant injury but just enough pain to make them consider a change in careers. Once the car was secured, she took a second to change back, her body and jacket riddled with bullet holes. This was her favorite Unifier jacket too. She takes a moment to force out the bullets and shrapnel in her body, as they make a plinking sound as they hit the ground. Undamaged upon impact. It'll be good for the reports.
While her body regenerated from the damage she took, she reached out into her jacket pocket and took out one of the gadgets Jayce had given her. She recalled he had told her to squeeze down onto the orbs like she was crushing it then toss it at a Skav. She dragged the unconscious Skav raiders towards the center of the car, their guns and other weapons removed from their persons. Then she squeezed the orb and tossed it onto the pile of unconscious Skav. It blinked red and then engulfed the unconscious raiders in a stasis field. She whistled, impressed at his tech. She looked at the Skav within the stasis field and a flesh tendril came out of her shoulder blade and pulled a random Skav out.
She didn't have a preference when it came to what she was about to do, but usually, she preferred people or creatures that didn't smell like they hadn't doused themselves in booze. She had pulled out a portly-looking man and placed her palm on his chest. Dozens of tendrils shot out of her hand, consuming the man's very being until there was nothing left. Her mind was flooded with memories of the man's life including memories of how he joined the Skav, how his family was born into the Audits, and how he saw the Skav as a means of delivering retribution to his oppressors. He never did get around to that last part. Too focused on getting high on Dragon's Dust she guessed. The man didn't have any friends in the Skav, but he did have debts. He wouldn't be missed. In her mind she was doing him a favor.
With his essence in her system, she transformed herself into him. It was painful, the first time usually was, but he was now the man he had consumed. His name was Randal in his past life. His body didn't feel great as he jumped on the tip of his feet and decided against using Randal as a possible form to change into. He shifted back into Shane and she consumed Randal's profile but kept his memories as that came with the whole Zeitar single hivemind thing.
As she left the train car, she was greeted by the door to the next car. Unlike the one she had cannonballed into, this one was a passenger car. She tapped into her earpiece and whispered, "Jayce, you there?"
"Stellar landing as always, Shane. Stellar landing as always." Jayce teased. The man behind coms was her equal in age at twenty, but he wasn't a fan of field missions. He worked best behind the scenes behind a screen, helping his friends in need and opening paths they couldn't see without his assistance.
"Shut it. You have access to the train's cameras right? I need to see into the next car."
" About that. Bad news, they've shot out the cameras. They knew what they were doing. Good news though, the train has ghost cameras."
"Ghost cameras?"
"They're cameras that run on a different light wavelength Aldrum can't see. And since most people are Aldrum, ie most people look Human, it's invisible."
"You… don't have ghost cameras hidden around the ship do you?"
"With Tahel as our leader? Not a chance." She could hear him typing into his keyboard then heard a satisfied grunt from him. "Okay, your train car's connected on ghost camera four. Standard passenger car. Eight private booths, seats four in each."
"So that's thirty-two hostages?"
"If it was at full capacity. There's fourteen hostages. Eight Skav."
"Any Skav using the booth for cover?"
"Possibly. Give me a sec," he must have done something on his end because she could hear one of his programs activate, "yeah, all the Skav are hiding in the booths."
"Waiting for an ambush."
"There's hostages in the center aisle. Can you see them?"
Shane peaked into the doorframe and noted there were six hostages in the center aisle, bound and gagged. They didn't look physically harmed. Emotionally distressed, but physically fine.
"They're using six of them as bait," Shane muttered. The situation was messier than she had hoped. Her mind entertained the idea of Tahel struggling with this situation until she remembered that she'd likely use the staff to make a way to clear the room with ease. That or come up with an elaborate plan. Which Shane hereself wasn't bad at.
"Any way to draw them out?"
"I don't but you still have the gadgets I gave you right? The small orbs?"
"Yeah," Shane reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful. There were eight left. Exactly what she'd need to clear out this room, but she didn't know how many passenger cars were left to clear out, "Got eight left but don't know how many passenger cars are left after this one. Mind giving me a head count and Tahel's whereabouts?"
"Give me a sec." She could hear the clicking of his mechanical mouse in the background. "There's two left after this one. Tahel's already secured the cargo hold and the other passenger cars. She's currently clearing another passenger car. It'd be one of the ones you'd have to clear out if she wasn't there. After this car, you should be converging on the same car.."
"Got it. Thanks, Jayce." She cut the call and thought of ways to handle the situation as cleanly as possible. If she was fast enough, she could throw the orbs into the booth doors before the Skav had any time to react, but the few-second delay would be costly. She thought of talking them down, but they were Skav. They weren't exactly known for their negotiation prowess. With the first plan, even if the hostages were stuck in the stasis field, she could pull them out and leave the Skav in. She pressed into her earpiece again to get Jayce's attention. "Jayce, you there?"
"Always am."
"How many seconds does it take for the orbs to detonate?"
"Give or take three seconds. What are you planning?"
"Gonna try something real quick like."
"Why do I have a sneaking suspicion it's something dumb?"
"Don't you have any faith in me?" Shane pleadingly asked in a teasing manner.
"I'm a Rejectionist." Jayce coldly responded.
She rolled her eyes and cut the call once again. As crazy as it seemed, it just might work. She slid open the door to the next car quietly, then shot out two tendrils from her shoulder blades to the back wall. She pulled herself back into the prior passenger car to build tension, crushed the orbs, and then flung herself towards the back wall of the next car. Before any of the Skav had a chance to react, she quickly spun and flung out the jacket's contents into the booths as she slammed into the back wall face first as the stasis orbs went off. She immediately checked each booth to see if her plan had worked. To her surprise, the hostages inside the booths were frozen in stasis fields alongside their Skav captors. She let out a small victory chuckle, her face repairing itself as tendrils sprouted out of her body and pulled hostages out of the stasis booths. The now-freed hostages looked at her with concern for their would-be savior. That and disturbance as her face repaired itself.
"Everyone, there's no need to be afraid anymore, The Unifiers are here." She said with a bloody smile. Their concerns were not dispelled and appeared to have worsened. She cupped her fingers and put on her most professional voice. "I know, I know, not the most orthodox rescue, but you're safe now. Please head to the front of the train in a single file line, and wait for the Unifiers to clear the train. Please and thank you." They didn't know whether or not to listen to the woman who flung herself face-first into a back wall, but they followed her orders regardless. She even got a few 'thank yous' and a 'thank the Forger we're safe' from the passengers.
Once the passengers had left the car, she made her way to the next car. She was supposed to convene with Tahel on this car according to Jayce's intel. And true to his intel, she could see the woman peering into the glass from the other side of the car. Unlike the other passanger cars, the Skav and the hostages were in the aisle. Seven Skav, seven hostages. The Skav were on edge, likely from hearing their comrades being decimated and their plans going awry. She could see the corpses of Skav Tahel killed on her assault outside the train. They were jittery and a jittery hostage taker is a reckless hostage taker. Shane used two tendrils to hold onto the train as she looked out to the right side of the train. There she saw light arrows that were priming themselves to be shot into the train car.
"She's going for the kill shot, typical," Shane murmured.
Shane shook her head and against her better judgment and knowing that Skav couldn't be reasoned with, she didn't want to see them die. Even Skav, for as lowly as they are, deseve to live. She swallowed and ignored the pit forming in her stomach and knocked on the door leading into the train car. This, of course, earned her two blaster shots at the door. Unlike the other Skav, the one that fired has a plasma gun. On one hand, they had to be of a high enough rank to afford one. On the other hand, they likely looted it off the corpse of someone they had killed.
"You enter this car and we kill every hostage do you hear me!" the man screamed. She didn't get a good look at him, not yet anyhow.
"Not planning to without your permission friendo. Let's start with names. My name is Shabina but most call me Shane.. I work for the Unifiers The Unifiers. What's yours?"
"Shane, what are you doing?!" Tahel hissed quietly into the coms as to not alert the Skav to her presence. "I have the situation under control. Do not intr-"
"Dully noted," Shane interjected and cut the call short then turned her attention back to the situation at hand, "Now I don't want to hurt you friend-"
"We ain't friends!" The man cried out.
"We could be friends, good friends in fact. Such good friends that as a show of our friendship, I have gone out of my way to not kill any of your friends. They're all alive. A little worse for ware, but alive."
"Don't you lecture me about not killing my friends. I saw you flying around like some cartoon character with that bow and arrow of yours!"
"Friend that wasn't-"
"We ain't friends!" The man screamed. He motioned for a Skav for something and as she peered into the door's glass, the pit in her stomach grew. His gun was trained on a female hostage.
If she wasn't serious already, she certainly was now and it reflected in the panic she was masking in her voice. "You're right, you're completely right! So why don't we be acquaintances, huh? We don't have to like each other, but we can certainly help each other out. Does that work for you?"
"It might! It depends on what you're willing to give us, since we're gonna be acquaintances and all." He bellowed as the woman cried in front of him.
Each passing moment Shane could feel her chest tightening, the hum of the arrows growing louder. "Well acquaintance, I need to know your name first. It's only fair I know yours since you know mine right?"
The man grew silent, pondering on whether or not he should give up his name. Each second he spent wasting it arguing with her was a second Tahel had to prep the arrows to kill every Skav in that car.
"Jayce, you still there?" Shane whispered in panic.
"Tahel is-"
"Livid?"
"Very. Make it quick - no, I'm not talking to her Tahel. No, I wouldn't lie to you."
"Jayce, I need a scan, a-s-ap!"
"On it. Yes Tahel, I think she's being an idiot," Jayce typed onto his keyboard as he did his best to calm Tahel down. When he found his results, he switched his coms back to Shane. "Name's Destun, age thirty-seven, wanted for three crimes of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, eight counts of trafficking, and a whole list of other crimes. He's currently looking at a hundred and thirty-one years in prison. He'd be out by one hundred and sixty-eight. He'd been an old man by then. At least for Aldrum standards."
"Thanks, Jayce." She cut the call almost immediately and peered into the next passenger car's window. So far the woman was still unhurt. She till had time.
"Destun. My name is Destun, leader of the True Skav that Raz founded and the Skav he left behind when he died. Now here's what going to happen! You and your flying friend are going to go bother some other Skav's score while we leave. Otherwise, the hostages are as good as dead."
Raz. Of all the Skav he had to admire, why did he have to admire her loser of a father. "The other Skav ships are destroyed Destun, there's no chance you're exfilling out of here."
"I can call more!"
"I don't doubt that Destun, but work with me here. If you surrender peacefully, I can have your sentence reduced."
"How much?!"
She could hear it. The once faint humming turned loudly singing emanated from the arrows. Their tune were about to reach their peak.
Do or die time.
"I can get your sentence for all of this reduced to thirty, maybe even twenty years with good behavior. You'd still have a hundred and forty years left give or take."
"We both know I can't accept that offer."
As the humming grew to its peak, she could hear the arrows calling to her. The faint whispers of Melekana's - Melka's will. It was impossible to drown out yet she was trying her hardest to no avail. No time left.
"We both know you really could!"
"No, I cannot! You know, I'm starting to think that we aren't acquaintances."
"Yes we are, I need you to listen to me!"
"If Raz can go out dying for his cause, then so can we and everyone in this train car!" As he primed his gun to fire, she quickly rushed into the room.
"Destun no!" Shane screamed ight as the light arrows crashed through the glass. As the world slowed down around her, her arm moved on its own as it outstretched itself into a mass of flesh tendrils that shot towards Destun and the female hostage his gun was trained at. Her arm rushed towards his shooting hand or perhaps the gun, or even the hostage herslef. she couldn't tell in the heat of the moment. In a single second, the hostages, Destun, and the female hostage were alive.
As the second passed into the next one, there were seven dead Skav.
One dead hostage.
As time resumed normally, Shane found herself where Destun had fallen. Where the hostage lay dead. Her gaze fixated on the freshly deceased corpses. In the eyes of Destun, she saw freedom. In the eyes of the woman she had failed to save, fear. She didn't feel Tahel shoulder check her as she moved past her to assist the hostages. She couldn't hear the man trying to get her attention as he moved past her to the other cars; likely out of curiosity. She couldn't smell anything other than their bodies shutting down, microorganism by microorganism. Did the air always taste this stale? She hadn't meant for either of them to die. The thought of talking down Destun seemed silly now. He was never going to listen. She would've had to have kill him. No, she could have found another way, another option. That's what Melka always did.
Melka never failed. Melka never lost. Melka never had casualties. Melka would have never let the woman die. Melka wouldn't have let Rache die. Melka wouldn't have ever killed those senators in rage. Melka wouldn't have gone off on Turok days prior. Melka wouldn't have tried to do her own thing and disregard Tahel's plan. Melka wouldn't-
"Excuse me, ma'am?"
Shane snapped out of her trance. The bodies were gone. In their stead, a white outline where the corpses once lie. She looked up and noticed that other Unifiers were present along with people in uniforms that had the words CGPD on their sleeves. The entire car had been transformed into a crime scene. She could have sworn seconds ago there were hostages and two dead people who didn't deserve to die.
"Excuse me, ma'am?" the voice called out again.
This time Shane turned around. The man wore a white hazmat suit with the Unifier insignia on his shoulder. In his hand was a bottle of water outstretched to her. Her hand reached out for it and upon seeing how shaky it was, she gripped her wrist with her other hand to steady her nerves and grabbed the bottle.
"Thank you," she said softly.
"First time?" the man asked.
"Unfortunately not."
"Never gets easier does it?"
"It does when you can prevent it." She didn't feel like talking to the man and judging by the case in his other hand, she walked past him, leaving him and the others inside to their work. She managed to find her own way off the train and noticed that there were onlookers held back from passing the crime scene barriers. She unscrewed the lid and downed the contents of the bottle in one go then crushed it and put it into her pants pocket. She glanced up towards the sky, its beauty indelible even now in this most dire moment. She wondered if Melka was looking down on her or if she was Melka or what her situation was. She didn't exactly explain what her ascension was in the brief snippet of time they had together before she disappeared for good. What she wouldn't give for that snippet of time right about now.
She took two long, drawn-out deep breaths. One for Destun, and one for the woman whose name she didn't even know. What if she had children? A spouse? Pets? Parents? Siblings? Cousins and nephews? Uncles and aunts? The Unifiers had people for these kinds of situations, but that didn't stop her from tapping her earpiece to see if Jayce was still on coms.
"Jayce?" Shane spoke softly.
"I'm here. How are you holding up?"
By the tone of his voice, she could tell that he was worried. She felt a faint smile creep up in the corner of her mouth. "I'm okay. I need you to do me a favor."
"Tahel's mad at me for the last favor I did you."
"This one won't be as costly. I promise."
"I don't know if I should trust that promise of yours. It often gets me into trouble."
"Yeah, it does, doesn't it? This one won't though. When we get to the next spaceport station, I'll buy you whatever you want. Promise."
"Anything?" Jaye teasingly asked. "No limits whatsoever? Everything's on the table? Nothing's excluded?"
She chuckled softly. Somehow, talking to Jayce always made her feel better. "Yeah, yeah, just don't make it too weird."
"Too late for that. You already promised!"
"Okay, okay, I promise I'll buy you whatever your heart desires. Now I need you to do me a favor. I need you to look up where the deceased woman lives."
Jayce grew quiet. "Shane, that's-"
"I need to know Jayce. Please." There was silence between them as neither spoke to the other for what felt like an eternity. "Jayce-"
"7941 E Woodburn Blvd in Chasm Grove. That's the town we're currently in."
"Thanks, Jayce. I owe you one."
"You owe me a lot, but you're welcome Shane."
As the call ended, she wiped her face with her hand. 7941 E Woodburn Blvd. She didn't plan on returning to the ship as that would bring her in direct contact with Tahel and she figured she didn't have the energy or the patience to deal with her and Tahel likely felt the same way. As she began walking, unsure of how to even find her destination, she figured they would be here for the rest of the night. And with the vermillion-azure sky above her, she was in no rush. She had plenty of time, and plenty to think about.