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Krystal and Chase: Stone Ghost

Part two: The Tower

Chase pulled Krystal behind a corner as Storm darted around the other into a long hallway. As the smoke cleared, four robed figures came into the room, their glowing eyes looking around. Chase watched them carefully, noting that the figure were Reapers.

"Do you have a plan, Chase?" Krystal whispered.

"When don't I have one?" Chase replied softly, a devilish grin playing on his features.

Krystal shook her head, not wanting to answer Chase. She knew how unpredictable he could be even with a plan.

As the Reapers scanned the area, Chase silently drew his Stinger. As he brought the handgun to bear around the corner, the fox was careful not to expose anymore of himself than he had to. With a soft click, he switched the handgun to its three shot burst.

"When I fire, get ready to fire." Chase told Krystal, "Keep as much of yourself hidden as you can without compromising accuracy. We'll need to take them down quickly."

Krystal nodded and pulled her rifle to her shoulder. Chase motioned to Storm across from them to cover them. When the wolf nodded, Chase fired.

With a bright flash of gunfire and the loud explosion of three bullets leaving the barrel of the pistol, a Reaper fell, three holes moving up from the chest to the head. When it did, the other three brought their guns to bear and opened fire.

Energy pummeled the stonework supporting the building, but as much as the Reapers tried, they could not penetrate the stone walls between them and their targets. After a few seconds, one of the Reapers stopped firing. While the other two kept firing, the third bot lowered its gun, extending the four long claws on its other hand.

But as it rounded the corner to strike the two mercenaries, it found Krystal's gun aimed at its chest plating. Before it could react, the vixen had fired a quick, three shot burst from point blank range. Without hesitation, the vixen pointed the rifle around the corner, firing off a full clip into the last two bots, their armor already damaged from Chase and Storm.

When they fell, the three came back from around the corners. As Krystal reloaded, Chase examined the destroyed enemies.

"Is there any possibility of any other survivors?" Chase asked.

"I don't know." The lieutenant replied, "But if there are, they'll be either too afraid to help or too confused. Once that strange fog came in, we lost all communications with each other and the robots attacked. Even if other security officers are alive we'd have a hard time contacting them."

"Should we call for backup, Ronin?" Krystal asked quietly, "If there's as many as Lieutenant Matthews says, we'll never get into the mines in one piece."

"Never say never." Chase grinned, "We've gotten into tougher situations than this and lived to tell about it."

Krystal nodded, remembering some of her first missions with her partner.

"Besides," Chase continued, looking out the destroyed door, "the fog's still too thick. If the pilots couldn't get a signal to the carrier from the LZ, there's no chance we can."

"You have a carrier in orbit?" the lieutenant asked.

The vixen nodded, "It's more of a large civilian transport, but yes."

"And you two are the only team down here?" the wolf asked.

"The higher-ups didn't think the situation would be like this." Chase explained, "They assumed that the Sev`fel would have left a small security force, not the entire battalion of robots you say there are. But either way, we're going to get the rest of the survivors. There was another team on the carrier in case we needed back-up to complete our mission."

"So...we are going to call for that back up?" Krystal asked.

Chase nodded, "The pilots said there was a communications tower that was poking up above this fog. If we can get to it, we should be able to get a signal to the carrier and get some reinforcements. If we're lucky, someone will know how to get the thing working."

* * *

As the three left the safety of the building, Chase noted that the fog wasn't only messing with their communications equipment, but it was also beginning to play havoc with the motion tracker in his helmet. Static and ghost movements played across the radar display, showing dots where there was nothing. With a sigh, the fox turned off the display on the visor.

But oddly, the journey towards the tower was uneventful. No enemies came rushing towards them from out of the fog or buildings surrounding them, the silence only broken by the soft sounds of their footsteps and the occasional robotic cries of the Reapers that kept the three well aware of their presence in the colony.

"I don't like this." Chase said as he checked into another alleyway, "No sign of any Reapers or colonists. Something's very wrong here."

Krystal simply nodded, keeping her rifle cradled in her arms as Storm kept an eye behind them for any flanking Reapers. But the robots were nowhere to be seen.

When the three finally reached the communications tower Krystal noted their location. From what she remembered about the colony map Hiigan had given her to study the pervious night, the tower was one of the west most structures in the colony, close the inner walls that defended it. Unfortunately, this was also the first major system to lose contact with the corporation shortly after the initial attack by Sev`fel forces.

"Ronin?" Krystal asked, careful to use Chase's call tag instead of his name around Storm, "Are you sure this is safe?"

Chase shook his head, "I don't think so. A communications array is a valuable asset to any force. If it's functional, it'll probably either be crawling with robots, or they'll come as soon as they realize we're inside trying to get a link to the carrier."

Krystal checked her S32 rifle and smiled. A full clip already inserted and three more clips on her side along with a frag grenade and her pistol.

"Alright, ready." Krystal said.

Chase nodded and looked to Lt. Storm, who gave him a 'ready-for-anything' look back. After checking his pistols, the fox placed a hand on the door and tugged, but to no avail. It had been locked up tight. But as the fox holstered his weapons, he took up a round object and placed it at the door, telling Storm and Krystal to stand back.

* * *

Inside the tower, the bottom floor was mostly empty. The reception counter had been mostly blasted away during the initial take over by the Reaper robots under Sev`fel orders. But a desk beside it was still intact since the computer on it had proven useful during the attack. For now, the transmitter was deactivated, the signal having been shut off shortly after the takeover as a sign of a lost colony.

But now, as a Reaper unit inside floated by the door, it was completely unaware of what was about to happen. As it patrolled, its sensors picked up a beeping sound near the front doors. As it went over to investigate, the beeping grew more urgent until it stopped suddenly. Then, the doors exploded inward, the force of the blast blowing the robotic unit back into the wall across the room.

Three bullets sped out of the smoke and found their way into the Reaper, two in the chest, one to the head. The smoke filled the room as three figures ran through it, using the now thinning smoke as cover. Once it had cleared, Chase, Krystal, and Storm were taking cover behind the reception desk.

"That blast probably registered in the Reapers sensors." Chase said, "So, we have two options. Either run up blind and take out any resistance to reach the communications relay, or we can search down here for a security office. With any luck, it'll have surveillance equipment on the upper floors we can use to asses the threat levels."

Krystal thought for a second before answering, "I say we find the security office. It would be better than getting outnumbered upstairs."

Chase nodded, "Lieutenant?"

"I'm with her." Storm answered.

"Alright, let's see about a security office then." Chase said, "Cover me."

As the fox stood up, he saw that the desk had a built in computer system. As Krystal pointed her rifle towards the doorway, Chase began to run through the systems self-diagnostic programs to be sure nothing was damaged.

"Ok, let's see what we've got." The fox said to himself as he opened the folder holding the map of the ground level, "Bingo. There's a security office down the left hallway. The rest of the file for it is damaged. If I didn't know better, I'd say those bots cut this system off from the rest of the tower."

After shutting down the computer, Chase reloaded his Stingers. But as he did, a loud cry sounded from outside. The metallic sound rang through the building, telling the three they didn't have much time.

Chase cursed under his breath, "Alright, change of plans. Krystal, go with Storm to the security office. With any luck there'll be monitors, weapons, and something to connect to the com-links in our armor with. Contact me as soon as you get there."

"On it...wait, what about you?" Krystal asked.

Chase simply looked to the destroyed doorway, "I've got business to take care of."

"Oh no, no way." Krystal replied, "I am not going to leave you here to fight those things."

"Krystal-"

"No Chase. I won't leave you."

"Krystal, you-"

"I won't leave your side again!"

"Krystal!"

The vixen's eyes widened. In all the time she had known Chase, he had never yelled at her before like that.

"I'll be ok, promise." Chase said, "All that matters is that we get to the com relay on the top floor in one piece. If I'm not back here in ten minutes, go up without me. You know I can handle myself."

Krystal's ears lowered sadly, knowing she couldn't change her friends mind. With a depressed sigh, the vixen nodded as Chase patted her shoulder.

"Besides, when have I ever done something irresponsible?" the fox asked.

Krystal gave a soft smile, "I have a long list. It's alphabetized and dated."

Chase shook his head, "Ok, when have I ever done something irresponsible and not come back to you alive?"

Krystal nodded, "Never."

"And I'm not about to start now. Just find that security office, and I'll meet you guys upstairs." Chase said, patting her shoulder.

The vixen nodded again quietly, her heart still begging her to convince him not to leave her again. The last thing she wanted was to lose Chase again.

With a sigh, the fox turned towards the doorway and checked his pistols again. Both of the Stingers were fully loaded, fifteen armor-piercing bullets each for a combined number of thirty shots. Without a word, the fox walked to the doors as another robotic cry sounded in the distance, another soon after.

"Keep her safe Storm." Chase said as he exited.

The wolf nodded and the two began their search for the security office.

* * *

It took a couple minutes, but the two eventually found the door labeled 'security'. But Krystal quickly realized something else that had just become a major problem. The door was locked by a pass coded lock.

Krystal dropped to her knees and began to type in anything that could be the right code based on what they had seen on their search. As she worked, Lt. Storm watched the hallways for any sign of the Reapers. It took a few minutes but, finally, Krystal managed to figure out the code. With a satisfying click, the door opened.

But, to their dismay, the security office lacked any sort of communications equipment or weaponry.

"Looks like the Reapers cleaned this place out." Storm observed as Krystal sat down in front of a large monitor.

"They didn't destroy everything." Krystal said with a sigh, "The main terminal is still active. Plus it's still attached to the rest of the tower."

The vixen ran through some of the programs on the screen before her, a smile forming as she found one in particular. Storm looked at the program and smiled as well.

"Perfect." The wolf said, "Let's see how those tin cans like that one."

* * *

On the floors above them, Reapers were patrolling each level, searching for anything of value to their creators. As they did, on the second floor a Reaper was examining an automated turret. The sensors array within the defense system were very much like it's own, having friendly/hostile reprogramming capabilities to prevent friendly fire incidents.

But as it examined the gun, it noticed a soft, green light under it, indicating the turret was now active. But since it wasn't firing, the gun was not a threat.

Suddenly, the turret opened fire! Within seconds, fifteen armor piecing rounds had embedded themselves within the Reapers upper body, the turret having unleashed it's deadly firepower right up from the chest of the bot to the head. Within seconds, it's targeting systems found another Reaper and once again unloaded another deadly hellfire of high powered rounds.

All throughout the building, the security defense turrets had come online, mowing down their newly acquired enemies as if they were made of butter. Bullet after bullet was pumped into the robots, having been caught off guard by, what they perceived as, low to non threat level targets. The fight didn't last long.

Within minutes, the entire building had been cleared of Reaper units. The bots lay strewn across the floor on each level, filled with holes from the turrets. The turrets swiveled slowly from side to side, scanning for more targets. But after a short time, the guns returned to their cradles, waiting for the need for their assistance to rise again as they reloaded themselves.

* * *

"That certainly did the job." Krystal said as she kept the program running, "Now it should be easier to get to the communications array on the top floor."

"Now if only we could find the stairs." Storm nodded, "Or better yet, an elevator."

Krystal nodded and stood up.

* * *

As the two walked back into the main lobby of the building, they were surprised to find a fox standing near the destroyed reception desk. Smoke gently wafted from his handguns as he reloaded them. His armor was scorched, black slashes across it where energy rounds had struck. But a soft, red glow began to slowly retake his body.

But what really got the two's attention was the remains of tens of Reaper units, torn to shreds both by the twin turrets that now sat in their cradles above the reception desk and the fox. The wall behind it had burns all across it from the Reapers guns.

"Good thinking finding the turret controls." The fox said, "You two have no idea how much that helped."

"Just glad you're still in one piece." Krystal smiled.

"More or less." Chase replied, holding his arm, "I got hit when the shield system failed. Hiigan wasn't kidding about their firepower."

Immediately, Krystal was at his side, examining his arm. At least, until Chase pulled it away from her seconds later.

"It's nothing to worry about." Chase stated roughly as he did, "It won't kill me."

"I still worry..." Krystal replied softly, her eyes and ears lowering a little.

Chase patted her, "Alright, I'm guessing from the sounds a few seconds ago, the tower's going to be pretty clean. Let's get to the top and get a link to the carrier for some reinforcements."

Krystal and Storm nodded as Chase once again brought up the map of the lower floor from the computer nearby.

* * *

High above the planet, a large transport floated quietly, keeping up their speed just enough to keep the colony under them inside contact range. While large, the carrier wasn't what could be considered well armed. Like most civilian carriers that traveled between planets and systems, its main armament was a large, rotating, quad barreled Gatling pulse cannon on the upper level. While ineffective against frigates and carriers, the weapons main job was simply to defend the vessel against possible takeover from smaller boarding crafts.

Shortly after the corporation had 'acquired' the carrier, it had been fitted with several torpedo launch tubes, several other pulse cannons, a fighter bay, a high grade warp core, and military grade shielding system. Now the carrier was a formidable foe for most enemy crafts.

As a captain watched over her small crew, a young lynx ran up to her.

"Ma'am, we've just received word from the Ronin team." The lynx panted, "They're asking for reinforcements and they have a survivor."

The cat didn't look at him, her eyes glancing down towards the controls in front of her.

"Ma'am?" the lynx asked.

"Tell Kunoichi to get her equipment. I want her planet side within twenty minutes."

The lynx saluted and ran off. As he did, the cat looked to a monitor beside her. From what their satellite has been able to observe, things didn't look good around the colony. Thick fog still covered the area, but within it could have been hundreds of enemies the satellite couldn't pick up.

"That vixen had better be as good as Hiigan says." She mumbled.

* * *

Back down in the communications tower, Chase paced restlessly. While Krystal monitored the communications frequency, he and Storm had been left to guard the door. Unfortunately, guarding wasn't one of the fox's strong points. It took the patience Chase never had learned to live with. It had been ten minutes since Krystal had sent up her message about the situation. Now, they were waiting for a reply and Chase was getting more and more antsy.

"I should still be down below making sure those bots don't get into the tower." Chase thought as he paced, his ears flattened against his head in annoyance, "If something doesn't happen soon, I'm going to go out of my mind in boredom!"

As if responding to his thoughts, the 'incoming message' signal flashed before Krystal. After calling to Chase and Storm, she let the message through.

"Dagger calling Ronin team, we are sending a reinforcement, call tag Kunoichi. Inform us once she reaches you. We will send another drop ship once we receive word of her arrival. The fog is still too thick to find a safe LZ inside the colony."

"Roger that Dagger." Krystal replied, "Further instructions until then?"

"How about staying alive?"

"Will do. Keep a channel open for us." Krystal replied.

"Roger, over and out." The link cut out.

After Krystal checked the signal to be sure it was still established, she looked to the other two in the room with her. Chase was still pacing and Storm was looking down into the fog through one of the four bay windows, one on each side of the room. With a sigh, she removed the headset that she had been wearing.

"They're sending someone down to help out." The vixen said, "I don't know who though."

"They didn't give you a name or call tag?" Chase asked as he kept pacing.

"They gave me a call tag. It's someone called Kunoichi." Krystal replied, "And will you stop pacing Ronin? You're wearing a path into the floor."

Chase nodded and stopped, instead leaning against a wall as he pulled out one of his Stingers.

"They're only sending one down?!" Storm asked, the disbelief in his voice clearly taking hold, "What the hell can one more mercenary do for a colony that is completely overrun with those things?"

"You'd be surprised." Chase said as he wiped his handgun down with a cloth taken from inside his armor, "I don't know who this 'Kunoichi' is, but whoever it is, they have got to be good."

* * *

Within ten minutes of the reply from Dagger, another drop ship headed down into the fog covered colony. But just as it did for the first drop ship, as well as for the Ronin teams sensors, the fog began to interfere with the equipment. But like most of the corporation's pilots, the two flying the craft didn't rely on their electronics to survive. They both knew that things could go wrong at any given second. And when that time came, it was their own guts and experience that would keep them alive, not a computer program.

After circling once to find the communications tower, the drop ship set down half a mile from the towers, just inside the walls of the colony. But as it did, the pilots realized they would have to drop the package and get back out of range quickly.

"Show time." One of the pilots called back to the mercenary sitting behind them, "We'll try to find a safer place to wait for the next order. Just remember that we'll be out of communication until you reach the com tower. The fog's still messing with our communications equipment."

Without a word, the vixen behind them nodded, picking up her weapons of choice. Like Krystal, one look over the vixen wouldn't tell anyone that she was dangerous. Her pink fur alone through anyone off that notion. She had four, beautifully fluffy tails, rose red hair, kind eyes, and a body that would easily rival females in a more adult profession. To most, her features would easily suggest that she was a dancer or perhaps a model.

But once the vixen donned the black armor of her former training team, the mercenary side of her showed itself. She had trained with the best of the best before the corporation had employed her for a job as one of their many mercenaries. Now, Bianca seemed to change to fit the armor she now wore. The vixen had changed from the kind and loving exotic dancer some knew, into a skilled warrior.

The armor itself was a new concept to the engineers in the corporation. The light design looked weak, almost as if it would break simply by touching it. But the highly flexible, black armor over her chest, torso, and legs could withstand the same amount of punishment as the red and black armor the Ronin team wore.

Golden lines spread up from her legs, moving up to her waist where they met, only to separate again. As the glowing lines moved up her back, the vital signs on the recon HUD she had clipped behind her ear came online. The golden lines were the sign that her armor was turning itself on, connecting to the HUD to display her vital signs and a basic hit readout. If something hit her, Bianca would get a red glow on where it had hit her armor.

But even with all of the training and protection she had, Bianca was nervous. For her, this was only the second time she had ever tried to work with someone she knew well. The first time, things hadn't gone well.

The second pilot noticed her nervousness, "You ok, Kunoichi? You look nervous."

Bianca looked back to him as she holstered a Stinger 9mm handgun and some ammunition clips, "I'm going into a fog covered colony and we have no idea what the enemy is doing, where they are, or how many there are. To top that off, I have to find the Ronin team and get them back in one piece. What's there to be nervous about?"

The pilot laughed, "And is there anything better than a good fight?"

Bianca just smiled, thinking of a couple of things she could consider better than going into combat.

Her hand ran down the length of her true weapon. A weapon that, in the right hands, was equal to, if not more dangerous, than any gun. A long, curved sword created specially for her by her training team. It's steel blade had been made from the strongest steel known, but was still lightweight. The sword was perfectly balanced to allow her to wield it as she had been taught. In her hands, the katana could easily cut a Reaper to pieces.

"Opening the doors in three," the first pilot counted, "two...one...go!"

As the hatch at the rear of the drop ship opened, Bianca stepped out. But as she did, a loud, metallic call echoed through the fog. The call sent a shiver down her spine as she realized the enemy knew she was there.

Swallowing her fear, Bianca took a breath and watched as the drop ship that had brought her took off again, kicking up clouds of dust as the thrusters whine became the roar of power needed to lift the craft. Slowly, the drop ship rose through the fog, turning back to where it had come from.

But as she began her walk to the communications tower, a sound roared through the fog. It had sounded like a thunderclap, the loud booming fading into the distance. But as she turned towards the source of the sound, something caught her eye.

A ball of blue light streaked through the fog. At first, Bianca watched it, unsure of what it was. But within a split second of her noticing it, the vixen realized that it was headed directly towards the drop ship!

"They had an anti-air unit hidden in the fog!" she cursed as she watched, riveted to the ground where she stood.

Then, her fear turned to dread as the energy round slammed into the rear of the drop ship, ripping into it without hesitation. Once it had struck, the drop ship's main engines became a violent explosion! Blossoms of orange and gold enveloped the back half of the craft, forcing it to fall from the sky. Black smoke trailed its spiraling fall to the ground until the drop ship slammed into a building in the distance, the force of the impact collapsing the now burning building into another beside it.

Bianca looked away from the thick, black smoke plumes that now rose above the fog, tears forcing their way into her eyes. Immediately, the vixen wiped them away and tried to refocus on her current mission. Even without having to find the wreckage, the vixen knew the two pilots were dead.

"Now I have to finish this mission." Bianca thought as she once again looked towards her objective and laid a hand on the black hilt of her main weapon, "I will not let their deaths be in vain."

With that thought in mind, Bianca ran towards the objective, not noticing the robed figure watching her from the rooftops.

The Reaper watched her carefully, having learned from watching the other Reapers being cut down by the fox with the handguns. The others had not had enough time to learn about the enemy before assaulting it head on. This time, it would wait.