ExSol Ch. 02

Nina approached Dawn's table with the plate of food she'd acquired from a nearby restaurant. She dropped her plate onto the table and it landed with a rattle of recyclable cutlery. She watched the androgynous pilot for a few moments, hoping to get some bluster out of them but instead they simply looked up at her curiously and with a sense of impenetrable calm.

"This one would be pleased to be of assistance with or without the theatrics, miss." Their voice was soft and had a smooth flow to it that seemed practiced to the point of being unnatural. Like the pilot themselves, it had a genderlessness to it that had to be intentional.

"This one? You talking 'bout you? Mebbe ya got some robot who's watching and yer... narratin' on your... uhh..." She trailed off as the logic of her own snarky comment got away from her. The pilot remained as unperturbed at her failed attempt at a joke as they had at her intrusion.

"Dawn is this one's name, and they are the only one you are speaking to, though the reason for your accostation remains a point of interest." Dawn offered a clarification, acting like the way they were speaking and Nina's comment were both perfectly normal. Nina scowled at their demeanour, wondering if they were outright batty or just trying to mock her. Well, if it was a ribbing she was getting, then she'd figured that she deserved it for ruining her joke.

"I saw you. That machine of yers, out by that big 'ol Talon fortress. You were pokin' around some place you shouldn'ta been, actin' like you knew you shouldn'ta been there." She cut to the point. Her attempt at levity had failed and it wasn't her strong point anyway.

"Dawn is not currently accepting contracts, Miss, nor will they for the duration of their stay upon this planet." They looked down at their hand terminal and flicked a finger across it, the electronic sounds of a video game responding to the motion.

"Nah. You don' get it. Yer breakin that fortress out of a behavior pattern. My boss thinks I did it, he's firin' me over it. Yer also breakin' local law but I don' care quite so much 'bout that one."

Dawn was quiet for a few moments, and finally they looked up at her slowly, an unreadable look in their eyes, but one that was unmistakably different from the poker face they'd been wearing. "Dawn does regret causing you harm, Miss, but there is little this one can do to atone for that harm."

"That's where yer wrong," Nina huffed a little at the non-apology, and pulled out the data drive that she'd made on her way to visit the Neo-Venutian. She placed it on the table, then took out a Zenith encoder and hooked the two devices up. "This is yer Mech's nav data. I need you to decrypt it for me so I can prove to my boss that yer not some stupid-named ghost. Ya also need me to remove the docking clamp I put on that stupid-lookin' Mech of yers." Breaking into the hangar where Dusk was stored had been tricky but not impossible. Dawn had chosen their hangar for discretion, something out of the way. It hadn't been graced with the most iron-clad security Abrandia had to offer. The particular dock that housed Dusk had especially compromised security, though the docking administration had yet to realize it.

Dawn's eyes went wide, and they stared at the little drive, going pale, if that were even possible considering how pale they already were. "You... went into Dusk's hangar?"

"Piking right I did," Nina smirked at the flabbergasted androgyn, reveling in her victory a little.

Dawn dived for the drive, trying to snatch it off the table, but Nina was too fast. She grabbed it before they could and moved it out of reach. Nina expected Dawn to beg a little, or try to grab it again, but instead they actually looked past Nina. Without a word of explanation, they pulled a hand-held Plasma caster out of... somewhere and extended their arm. Nina swore and reacted, both ducking down and kicking her chair backwards. The motion sent the flimsy plastic chair tumbling to the ground and she winced in pain as the air was forced out of her lungs. The weapon discharged with a hissing noise as a magnetically contained bubble of plasma streaked through the air towards its target, which apparently wasn't Nina.

A van had been driving up the street towards them and Dawn had fired straight through the windshield. A sliding door on the side of the vehicle was thrown open and someone who was definitely a mercenary tumbled out holding an assault rifle. The Van itself crashed into a nearby building and crumpled a little, but not enough to do more than rattle the other passengers who hadn't dived out. Nina bolted to her feet, taking a step back and looking over at Dawn who had aimed the weapon at her now.

There was a moment of silence as Dawn hesitated, and then winced and lowered the weapon. "They think you are Dawn's contact. They will kill you."

Nina looked over her shoulder, the mercenary who'd fallen out first was rising to his feet and two more were wobbling out of the ruined van. She didn't take long to make up her mind, especially when one of them pointed at her and raised her weapon.

"Bereaver's tits, go!" She pocketed the encrypted navigation data, and ran, following on Dawn's heels. The two of them bolted off the balcony and around the corner as the goons' rifles roared behind them. There was a soft whine as several bullets but into the wood and ceramic around them as they turned the corner. Nina suspected that the only reason they hadn't been cut down in that initial volley was that the mercenaries were probably very disoriented from their crash.

"Dawn does not know the layout of this city," They hissed softly at Nina as the two ran into the alley. Dawn turned around only for an instant to fire off a shot from their plasma caster. The weapon probably was a single-shot design optimized for taking out small robots and vehicles, and it would certainly struggle to deal with five goons armed with automatic rifles. Still, superheated plasma flying at a person was definitely enough to make one think twice.

"There's some smugglin' tunnels a few blocks away. We kin lose the goons in there." Nina double checked their surroundings to make sure they were where she thought they were. "Can that thing of yers slag a welded plate open, actually?"

"Dawn will be very disappointed if it cannot," they muttered, following behind Nina as the two of them dashed through the alleyways of Abrandia into the industrial district, even as city-wide alarms began to blare in response to the unauthorized small arms fire. Nina's atheleticism allowed her to outpace Dawn to the next cover point almost immediately, and she turned around a little bit confused, seeing that Dawn was limping a little bit and struggling to move quickly.

Rifles popped and bullets whined as they impacted with the steel walls around the two of them as the mercenaries came into line of sight. Nina cursed and ducked instinctively, and she heard Dawn fire the plasma caster even as she scrambled around the edge of the warehouse they were next to in order to break the shooters' line of sight. Dawn scrambled around the corner a moment later, and Nina muttered to herself as she looked around for the right building.

"There. That building," She looked over at Dawn to make sure they were paying attention and froze for a moment. Dawn's tidy, minimalistic white shirt and pants were soaking through with blood. Two bullets had struck Dawn in the leg, and another in their side. They were panting and groaning softly, the plasma caster hanging limply in their grip at their side. Nina stared at them for a few moments, feeling a cold chill settle over her.

She should leave them behind, let the Abrandia militia or the hit squad pick them up. She'd get away easily, and the worst she'd have to deal with would be Sam firing her, but Dawn's death would possibly serve as proof of their interference anyway. She would never have resorted to killing the strange pilot to resolve her issue with Sam, not on her own. But this... all she had to do was run away and save herself.

"...Heck..." she muttered.

With one swift motion, Nina surged forward, using her superior strength and height to sweep the bleeding, weakened stranger off their feet and into her arms. Dawn put up no resistance, they just moaned softly in pain as she did. Warm blood soaked through Dawn's clothes into Nina's and she clutched them close as she bolted for the warehouse with the tunnel entrance.

"Ay, stay with me, enby," Nina jostled Dawn gently when they went a little bit limp in her grasp. The plasma caster Dawn was still clutching in a death grip was probably Ascension-coded and Nina wouldn't be able to fire it herself.

More alarms blared, announcing the arrival of the Abrandia militia. The sound filled Nina with both dread and relief. The militia showing up meant that their assailants would probably call off the chase, especially since they'd actually hit Dawn three times. It also meant that Nina had another group to avoid, since the militia catching her with a half-dead offworlder would definitely be a violation of her parole, even if this specific scenario wasn't written into the agreement.

"Hey, hey, wakey wakey. Need ya to melt off this panel." Nina shook Dawn again, directing their head towards the loading dock hatch that had been bolted shut since last year. Dawn looked at it sluggishly for several moments before they weakly raised their arm, pointing the plasma caster at the panel holding the dock shut. Nina quickly took a few steps back to create some distance, and Dawn fired, the superheated matter burning a hole through the panel. It wasn't totally free, but it was close enough for Nina to give it a strong kick to break off the melted bits of steel still holding it shut. She pushed up the sliding door with one arm enough to duck under it, and let it slam closed behind her.

"...No... Hospital..." Dawn croaked weakly, tugging on Nina's jacket and getting their bloody fingerprints all over it.

"No jokin'" Nina agreed grimly, finding an empty workbench in the dim light and setting Dawn down upon it. "They'd have questions neither one'a us wants to sit for." Dawn nodded and groaned softly as Nina pulled out a multitool and used it to poke a hole in Dawn's shirt. A few quick rips tore Dawn's shirt off, revealing a compression undershirt beneath that was similarly stained red. It was actually keeping enough pressure on the wound in Dawn's side that it wasn't bleeding as profusely as it could have, and was quite possibly the reason they were still conscious. Nina ripped a few strips of cloth out of the shirt and used it to wrap and bind the bullet holes in Dawn's leg just to slow the bleeding down. She gingerly tied another around the through-and-through in Dawn's side even as they gasped in pain and squirmed on the surface of the bench.

"D-Dawn knows the young miss did not have to save them..." they breathed weakly as Nina finished applying the bandages and tossed the spare bits of blood-soaked cloth into a corner.

"Hrmph. S'fine. I need ya, after all." Nina grumbled, and started looking around for the hatch that led into the tunnels beneath the industrial district. Her mind raced with ideas and possibilities of what she needed to do next. Keeping Dawn alive at all would be difficult and time-sensitive. She could try to find some unlicensed surgeon in the Abrandian underground but she had no more contacts there, she couldn't pay them, and she probably couldn't trust them, either. They had medical equipment back at Nina's camp and Sam had enough medical background to treat bullet wounds, but getting there was the problem. She couldn't exactly drive her bike through the checkpoint with a dying, bleeding person on the back, especially with the administrative lockdown that was sure to come.

"Yo, weirdo, do you think you could pilot that Mech of yers if I get ya to it?" she asked after she pried the rusty hatch open.

Dawn looked over at her from the work bench and blinked a few times, processing her question before answering. "Yes... Dusk has an auto-medic installed in the cockpit that could staunch the flow of Dawn's blood. This one would not be combat ready but that should not be necessary."

"An' it's stealth, right? It can slip past the checkpoint?" She went over to them and lifted them up, cradling them a little more gently in her arms this time and heading over to the hatch. It was dark inside the warehouse but it was darker still down the steep stairs into the tunnel.

"The authorities may notice Dusk's passing, but should have difficulty giving pursuit." Dawn exhaled softly, relaxing a little in Nina's arms without going limp like they had before.

Nina grunted in response and turned on the light on her hand terminal to navigate her way through the dark, damp tunnels. She re-traced her steps fairly easily, having taken a similar route through a different entrance earlier that day. She arrived at another hatch that she'd apparently forgotten to close properly, and she easily shoved it open without having to put Dawn down. The hangar was empty of people, but the compact Mech, Dusk, took up the entire far wall. Dusk was about eight meters tall, standing a bit higher than Twinshya even though Twinshya was probably twice the size. It was humanoid like most ExSol-crafted Ascension Mechs, but somehow managed to be alien and foreign at the same time.

Every human-made Mech Nina had ever seen out of Abrandia had square, blocky frames with heavy armor plates and modular parts and weapon systems connected to the torso. Dusk was sleek, slender, and its weapon systems looked almost like strange, oversized growths emerging naturally from the humanoid frame. Dusk had no pieces that looked like a head attached directly to the torso, but the missile rack on the left shoulder looked almost like one that was just far too uncentered. The vibroblade was grafted onto the 'elbow' of the right arm and it extended far past the hand. It would have touched the ground if the limb was positioned differently. It was clearly able to pivot around it to get different cutting angles with a design Nina could barely even comprehend. The plasma caster on the left arm was the heaviest one she'd ever seen on a Mech that size and she wasn't sure how its power grid could possibly supply it properly.

Nina helped dawn climb into the cockpit situated in the center of the Mech's torso and stepped back as the hatch closed and auto-medic started to work. A short while later, the Mech's external speakers came on as the machine powered up. "Thank you, Miss. There is a cargo compartment located upon Dusk's back that you can ride in. This one regrets to say that the ride will be somewhat frigid, Dawn's Zenith burns hotter than most and Dusk must cool itself to compensate."

"Figures," Nina muttered as she went over to the hangar's control console and logged in with the dummy administrative account she'd hacked together earlier that day. She released the docking clamps on Dusk's legs and the Mech stood up to its full height. It walked away from the dock's far wall and then kneeled down, the aforementioned cargo hatch popping open for her. She groaned again when she saw that she would basically be riding in a trunk, and then, resigned to her fate, climbed in.

***

Dawn enabled Dusk's stealth field immediately, even before the hangar door opened. Doing so was a tad risky, the Mech's reactor couldn't function at full capacity unless Dawn flared their Zenith harder, so they'd have to burn into the battery reserves to use functions like the stealth field. Firing their Ascension that hard would probably freeze the strange girl to death when Dusk's cooling system compensated, though. Much as Dawn was prepared to let her die to finish the mission, it would be easier to get medical care from her colleagues if she was alive. Plus... it would be a burden on Dawn's conscience that they didn't much want.

Dusk slipped silently through the streets of Abrandia's industrial district towards the city limits. With the stealth field on, they were almost completely invisible to radar scanners and only a human staring very intently looking for a strange shimmer in the air would be able to notice its presence. Several Abrandian militia patrols were moving around, questioning people and searching for the source of the disturbance. Dawn had no indication that they'd caught the assassins who had come for them, but they'd still detain and question Dawn if they found out they were the target. That kind of set back would keep Dawn impounded for weeks or months, and that was time they didn't have. They moved swiftly but carefully towards the wall, avoiding groups of people and keeping enough distance so that people wouldn't hear Dusk's footsteps through the sound dampener or notice the telltale shimmer as it moved. Eventually, someone would notice the Mech's movements. One could not move an eight-meter tall machine through a city without someone noticing.

Several people did seem to notice, turning and looking and squinting at Dusk as Dawn approached the wall. Perhaps the level of cultural awareness around the stealth technology was a factor that Dawn didn't account for. On Neo-Venus, a security officer seeing a strange stealth shimmer would immediately sound the alarm, but these people just shook their heads and went back to what they were doing. It was when Dawn approached the city perimeter that Dusk's stealth display lit up, confirming that an X-ray scanner had penetrated the stealth field. Fortunately, at this point, it was too late.

Dawn dropped the stealth field and activated the gravity manipulation to launch the mech up into the air and over the wall. Target locks started to resolve, and connection requests streamed in so rapidly that Dawn would have been overwhelmed with how to try to respond coherently even if they were so inclined. Dawn was ready to engage Dusk's anti-missile capabilities, but there must have been a good amount bureaucratic confusion within the Militia's ranks because no missiles came.

Dusk hit the ground running, subtly pulling itself forward with the gravity manipulators to improve its ground speed. The big lumbering Tempest Mech, Titan, was too far away to lock on with its Disintegration Beam, and Dawn had only to re-activate their stealth field once they were far enough away to render most other weapons ineffectual. Autocannon and plasma caster fire came from stationary emplacements around the city, peppering the ground around Dusk and testing the limits of its deflectors. Dusk's power reserves dipped down to 30% and Dawn flared on their Zenith a little bit to alleviate the power drain. From within Dusk, Dawn heard the crass young woman curse and yell a little bit as the Mech's heat sinks kicked themselves up a notch to compensate for Dawn's increased body temperature.

Abrandia's military was purely defensive, and was ill-equipped to deal with a fleeing stealth Mech, so the pursuit dropped off almost immediately. Dawn took their machine up into the hills towards the Talon fortress and dropped the stealth field, lowering the Mech's power drain to essential systems only.

"Sounds like we're clear," The crass young woman's muffled voice came from within the storage compartment.

"Dawn..." Dawn wanted to say something in return, but a jolt of pain ripped through them as they spoke. They flipped over to the auto-medic readout and saw that their blood pressure was still dropping well below what it should be. Instead, they simply typed 'Yes' into a text-to-speech engine and let the robotic voice ring throughout the Mech's interior as an answer.

By the time Dusk walked up to the edge of the wrecked observatory that was the crass young woman's camp, Dawn could feel themselves fading. Power reserves were at 8% simply because Dawn had not fired back on their Zenith for the crass young woman's safety, and a horrifically outdated and patchwork Pulse Mech was approaching them along with a connection request. Rather than try to speak, Dawn simply lowered Dusk to its knees, powered it down, unlocked the storage compartment housing the crass young woman, and allowed themselves to slip from consciousness.