Long after the sound of the Corporate's vehicle faded, the pilot released a long sigh of relief as she restarted the engines.
"If we're lucky, we'll only run into one or two more on our way," she said.
"They patrol these caves that often?" Cewi questioned.
"They used to keep guards and outposts everywhere they could, but the war has gotten bad enough they can't waste soldiers on that anymore. Instead they opt for frequent, randomly timed patrols to catch anyone sneaking in. It's only thanks to our early warning system that we can avoid them at all," the contact answered. Already she'd guided the crawler back into the cave and resumed the journey.
A couple of hours passed, and little was said during any of it except for the next three times they had to pull off for Corporate patrols. Even then, the only words spoken were a warning and nothing more. Their contact was happy to sit in silence the rest of the time, and with the tension of their chances of being discovered, no one else really cared to break it.
Nearing the three hour mark, their contact spoke again, but it wasn't about a patrol this time.
"It's going to get a little uncomfortable while we squeeze into the old underground highway. Hang on to something," she said.
Lus instinctively grabbed his seatbelt, and everyone else did the same as the crawler started up a wall. In the next minute, it moved to be on the ceiling, and they were all hanging in the air, only their safety belts keeping them from crashing into the roof of the vehicle. Wsr was murmuring whatever complaints she could get out with her frame pressed into the harness holding her in her seat.
There was some scrapping as the crawler pushed itself through a very narrow crack, and then it righted itself as they emerged into a smooth, carved tunnel designed for travel. The crawler sprinted across the flat ground with ease.
They must finally be within the city boundaries, and Lus hoped it wouldn't be much longer until they arrived at the safe house. The body odor was getting to be unbearable, trapped between two Kremel for all that time.
His hopes were not in vain, and it was only ten or so minutes later when the pilot slowed the vehicle to a stop.
"We are near the stairwell. I'll point it out, but I won't enter the building with you," she said gruffly. "Move fast. A patrol could come at anytime."
"Right. Just as we discussed. And in 41 hours we'll meet you here for the return trip," Cewi confirmed.
The Kremel nodded with a grunt as the door opened. Lus sprang from his seat, eager for a little fresh air. Anything had to be better than Vlqtrn's armpits.
It was rather dark out in the tunnel, with just a few sparse emergency lights to provide faint illumination to the smooth cement walls, floor, and ceiling. Cewi-Bano came out after him, her narrow eyes scanning the space as though she expected an attack. He couldn't blame her. After all those near misses with patrols, it felt like the Corporate army could jump out of nowhere to arrest them. The rear cargo door opened, and Lus began pulling their belongings out while Cewi remained vigilant. Vlqtrn and Wsr soon joined him, but it was only after all three had reloaded their burdens that Cewi came over to grab her share.
True to her word, their contact led them to the metal door which opened to the stairs leading up but went no further. Cewi offered nothing more than a simple dip of her head in farewell before taking point in leading the team up into the building. The door slammed closed behind them with a certain finality in its clank.
Somehow Cewi-Bano knew exactly where to go even as they emerged into a proper basement, and without a pause, she guided them to a second set of stairs. From there it was another four stories before she stepped into the hallway of the building.
The floors were wooden, but many of the planks were beat up or starting to rot away. The walls were a dark gray with several splotches of poorly matched paint in patch attempts while the lights were even dimmer than what Kremel and Nemarians normally liked. Cewi led them to the first door on the right and used an illusion chip on the rusty door scanner to get access. The illusion chip wasn't really a chip, but rather a small, square device made to pass scanners when there was no one to see to keep the Runners chips from behind associated with it. Even if their chips did bear false identities, it was better to keep their mark on places low.
The lock clicked open, and Cewi entered the space first, her hand on her concealed pistol. Wsr came next with her hands in loose fists. Lus followed behind and tried to remain on guard, but he wasn't sure what anyone was expecting. Vlqtrn came last, tugging the door closed behind him.
The apartment was in as poor of shape as the hallway, with the same blotchy paint and uneven floors. At least the lights were a little brighter so Lus didn't feel like he was going blind anymore, but the furniture was minimal and questionable. Normally Lusac wouldn't be so picky, but looking at the beat up sofa with bits of stuffing showing, he questioned if lyce or some other undesirables lived there.
"There are two rooms. Wsr and I will take the one on the right, Lus and Vlqtrn, on the left. Drop your stuff off and then meet back here in five," Cewi commanded.
They all did as she ordered, and Lus discovered that his assigned room would barely fit him, Vlqtrn, and their stuff. In a stroke of mixed luck, there wasn't any furniture to avoid, but that also meant there were no beds either.
"Good thing we brought sleeping pads," Vlqtrn noted as he slid one massive backpack off his shoulder.
"Yeah. Guess Cewi knew we wouldn't have much to work with here. Do you want to be by the door or the window?" Lusac waited to drop any of his load until the Kremel had decided.
"Window, I guess, since that's where my stuff is." Vlqtrn offered a good-natured smile that Lus returned. He was definitely better than dealing with Dasht again. While Lus considered the Nemarian a friend, he still managed to get on Lus's nerves during any kind of extended interaction.
Back in the main living space, Cewi and Wsr were already waiting. Cewi motioned for both of them to take seats at the small square table near what qualified as a kitchen.
"Wsr and I are going to go check out the guard schedule around the museum. Vlqtrn, get your equipment set up for a test for tomorrow. And Lus…" She turned to look at him with a knowing smile. "Why don't you make us something to eat?"
Lus chuckled, but Cewi's face warned that it was only partially a joke.
"Would you like Ration A or Ration B?" he said.
"We brought enough food that you should be able to do a little better than that, right Chef?" Wsr patted him on the shoulder.
Lusac shrugged. "I don't have any recipes with me. I can't promise anything."
Cewi shook her head, still grinning. "Do the best you can. We'll be back in two hours, and I expect something besides jerky and nuts to eat."
She and Wsr stood. They left the apartment after reminding the two men that they were not to leave under any circumstances. Vlqtrn then retreated to the bedroom to drag out his computers and hacking equipment while Lus dug into their provisions bag. Cewi probably wasn't going to like what he produced, but he knew he at least had to try.
She wasn't impressed with the sandwiches he had put together two hours later when she and Wsr returned, but she did concede that it still qualified as better than the original rations. Of course, not even his system recognized it as real cooking and he didn't even get [XP] for it.
After the small meal, they all went to bed so that they could be up at a reasonable time to do their reconnaissance inside the museum, but Lus found it hard to sleep after only being up for a few hours. Still, he did eventually fall into a restless sleep despite Vlqtrn's obnoxious snores.