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Krystal and Chase: Stone Ghost

Part three: Not an option

Chase began pacing once more, glancing out the windows over the fog covered colony. Since the drop ship had disappeared into a blind spot behind the tower, none of them realized what had happened. But regardless of that, Chase knew something was wrong.

"That fog goes for miles." The fox thought as he resumed pacing, "Even if we did get some reinforcements, there's no way we'd ever see them coming. But I can't just stay here and do nothing until they arrive."

"What's on your mind Ronin?" Krystal asked.

"I'm going back down." Chase said, "Someone has to see if this 'Kunoichi' makes it here in one piece."

"Then I'll go with you." Krystal replied.

As she got up, Chase gently forced her back down into the chair.

"No, someone has to stay and watch the com signal." Chase explained before she could say anything, "Just keep me on your mind."

Krystal sighed and nodded, knowing exactly what Chase meant. Just as she had on many other occasions, the vixen would have to use her unique gift to keep an eye on her partner. As much as she didn't like having to watch him that way, it was a very effective tactic.

"And me sir?" Storm asked.

"Lieutenant, you stay here and make sure my partner doesn't come after me." Chase smirked, "She's crazy like that."

The lieutenant nodded as Chase walked out of the room, drawing his Stingers. If anything did get to the tower, he'd make sure it was taken out.

As Chase made his way down the steps, a loud explosion took the fox by surprise. Although it had sounded close, the shockwaves from the blast apparently didn't reach the tower. None the less, Chase checked his Stingers and ran down the rest of the stairs.

* * *

A block away from the tower, Bianca stood, looking up at the large structure that was able to poke up above the strange fog. From what she had been told before boarding the drop ship, the tower was where the Ronin team, and their survivor, was located. But now as she scanned the streets in front of the tower, she saw the bodies of Reapers strewn across the street near the front entrance.

"Must have been some fight." She said softly to herself as she examined one of the robots, "I guess the Ronins really did have some trouble down here."

Suddenly, she heard something close by. Turning, Bianca found herself confronted by a figure a few feet away. Immediately, her right hand fell to the hilt of her sword, the other laying on the grip of her Stinger handgun. But as she did, the robed figure simply stood there, as if it was unaware of her presence. It had its head lowered so that Bianca couldn't see under its black hood.

"And who are you?" Bianca asked.

For a few seconds, the figure simply stood. But then, its hooded head raised up, revealing two lifeless, glowing, golden eyes. As it raised its left arm, Bianca realized that she was confronting a Reaper!

With the same metallic cry she had heard shortly before the drop ship had been destroyed, the Reaper attacked! But as it's claws were just about to strike, Bianca's sword was pulled out of its sheath and moved to block the Reaper's strike.

To its complete surprise, Bianca slid away from it's claws, pulling her blade as she spun. As she turned, the blade bit into the robot's shoulder plating, cutting through it as Bianca completed her revolution. The Reaper fell to the ground, it's robed body now in two pieces, cut cleanly from the left shoulder to it's tail-like torso.

As it lay sparking on the ground, Bianca sheathed her sword. She had hoped the mission could have gone off without much violence, but then again, she realized Hiigan didn't usually get any mission without something to destroy.

But as she turned away, the vixen felt that something wasn't right. If the bots outside the towers destroyed front doors were anything to judge by, there should have been more of these bots. As she realized this, Bianca looked towards a nearby rooftop. With a groan, the pink vixen found that she had fallen into a simple trap.

Lined up along the rooftops were several more Reapers. All of the robed bots were watching her, their glowing eyes tracking her as she slowly backed up until she was against a wall, her hand reaching for her blade again. As she did, one of the Reapers cried out, it's metallic cry echoing through the fog. At that sound, they attacked! The Reapers dropped from the rooftops, racing towards Bianca with their claws fully extended!

"Oh great." Bianca thought as she drew her sword, "Now I need help!"

The first few bots attacked quickly, only to be cut down with a few quick strikes from Bianca as she moved, dodging past the energy shots from the Reapers who were still on the rooftops. But as she danced around the shots, the vixen noticed that more of the robotic units were arriving, racing out of three of the buildings that surrounded the tower.

While most of the Reapers stayed just outside of her striking range, the ones that did stray too close were cut down before they could even bring their sharp claws to bear. Bianca's sword flashed quickly, the blur of the blade being the last thing any of the Reapers could track before the steel bit into their comrades.

"This isn't working." Bianca thought as she drew her Stinger, "There's too many of them!"

Once she had drawn the lightweight handgun, the Reapers close to her drew closer, but not close enough for her blade to reach. But now, she had a slightly better chance of surviving.

For a second, the pink furred vixen examined her opponents. From what she could see so far, there were just over a hundred of these Sev`fel robotic units, and she only had fifteen bullets per clip, she had to be very accurate. Even though she had four extra magazines strapped to her side, there was no chance the Reapers would let her reload in time to fire again before bringing her down.

"Here goes nothing!" The vixen thought as she shifted her stance.

As if a switch had been flipped somewhere, Bianca raced towards the swarm of Reapers. Before the first few could react, her blade had cut through them as she brought the Stinger to bear. Several bursts of gunfire rang out, striking the Reapers who were in the path of the bullets.

Seconds seemed like hours as Bianca danced around both energy blasts and the claws of the closer Reapers. But her first clip only lasted a few seconds. After finishing a circular strike that cut down several Reapers, she aimed and pulled the trigger. Bur when she did, the gun clicked uselessly. Without any time to reload, Bianca felt the first Reaper strike her; it's claws tearing into her armored shoulder! The vixen stifled a surprised yelp and flashed her sword, cutting the bot down before it could strike again.

But as she did, another Reaper attacked, bolting beside her and pinning her down with it's long claws. As Bianca cut the arm clean off, another slashed across her chest, it's sharp claws tearing across her armor as a third Reaper pulled up it's gun. As a fourth Reaper pinned her sword arm, Bianca groaned softly, knowing now that she was going to die.

Then, a shot rang out! The Reaper that had been holding its gun to Bianca fell, a large, sparking hole where its chest armor had been. Then, a second shot took off the head of the one that had pinned her. Several more shots sounded off before Bianca realized the shots were coming from behind her!

The vixen looked up and found a fox running towards her, firing one handgun and then the other as he moved.

"EMP!" the fox cried out, pulling a black grenade with a light blue top from behind his back after firing his last shot from the right handgun.

Bianca covered her ears and closed her eyes tightly as the grenade bounced once, then twice before detonating! A brilliant blue shockwave shot out from the grenade, sparking as it moved through the Reapers. But as it did, the shockwave caused a massive power surge within each Reaper, causing them to overpower themselves and fall, completely unable to restart their systems.

But Bianca was mostly unharmed. Although the blast had devastated the Reaper horde, all it had done to her was scramble her armor's monitoring systems. As she opened her eyes, the vixen realized that only her HUD had been affected, the screen having shut itself down when the shockwave had hit it.

"You ok?" the fox asked, putting out a hand to help her up.

"Yeah, thanks." Bianca said as she took it.

The fox pulled her to her feet, and then realized, "Bianca?"

Bianca looked at the fox, "Chase!"

Chase nodded, then shook his head, "Wait...you're Kunoichi?"

Bianca nodded, "I'll explain it all later, promise. But right now, is Krystal ok?"

Chase nodded, "She's with Lt. Storm in the communications tower. I suggest we head there in case anymore of these bots show up."

Bianca nodded and sheathed her weapons.

* * *

Within minutes, the two had rejoined Krystal and Storm in the communications tower. On the way up, Chase gave Storm an order to defend the lobby incase they were being followed. But when they reached the com center on the top floor, Bianca got the same reaction from Krystal that Chase had given her.

"Bianca's Kunoichi?" the vixen asked in disbelief.

"Why is that so hard to believe?" Bianca asked.

Krystal shook her head, "This'll sound odd coming from me, but you just don't seem like the mercenary type."

"Neither do you Krystal." Bianca replied, "But you and Chase are two of the best."

"We're far from the best." Krystal said with a smile and a slight blush, "But thanks."

"Even I have to admit, if I hadn't seen those moves out there, I'd never believe it." Chase said, "It seemed more like dancing than fighting."

Bianca smiled and touched the hilt of her sword, "Why do you think I enjoy my job so much?"

"This one or your other one?" Chase asked.

"My more exotic job." Bianca smiled, "It's both great exercise and it helps me both keep my sense of balance and think and move fluidly in a sword fight."

Chase didn't question it. More than once he'd watched Bianca dance and tease at the night club before the corporation had been attacked. The vixen never seemed to run out of surprising moves that both left the ones watching her in awe of her movements and body, but also kept her more personal areas covered until she was ready to fully show them. Now, he had seen some of the same movements, but now they had been used to cut apart the Reapers that had attacked her and defend her more vulnerable bits.

As Krystal talked to Bianca, Chase walked over to the window, looking down at the fog before tapping the window.

"Hmm...it's not that thick." The fox thought as he tapped it, "Probably only about an inch thick at the most. And I doubt it's bullet proof."

"There was an explosion a short time ago." Krystal said as Chase looked back to them, "That wouldn't happen to have been you as well would it?"

Bianca's eyes lowered as she shook her head. Her tails lowered sadly as her ears folded back.

"There's something out there." Bianca explained, "Something's outside the walls, but it's still hidden in the fog."

"What kind of something?" Chase asked.

"Something that has enough power to take down a frigate from what I saw." Bianca replied, "Something shot the drop ship out of the sky before it could leave the fog. Whatever it was, it fired one hell of an energy shot."

Chase cursed under his breath as he began pacing, "Can you tell what direction it came from?"

"We dropped behind the tower, about half a mile from it." Bianca replied, "I think it came from the west of that position."

"Hiigan did say that they didn't know what modifications the Sev`fel have made to their robotic units, Ronin." Krystal reminded him, "Maybe this thing is new."

Chase nodded and kept pacing, his mind running through several ideas before reaching the only one that might work.

"How many of those things do you think could be out there?' Chase asked.

"I don't know." Bianca admitted, "The fog was too thick to examine the area before the drop. But if it didn't shoot at you two coming down, it must have just moved in."

"Figures." Chase muttered, "Well, it can't move too quickly or it probably would have been moved inside the colony instead of on the outskirts if you're right."

"What're you thinking Chase?" Krystal asked.

"I'm thinking of a plan." The fox replied, "But we'd need a couple of drop pilots willing to run a suicide mission."

"Most would run it without a second thought." Bianca commented, "Well, most of the newer pilots who want to prove their worth, anyway. The older ones are a bit more cautions."

"We'll probably need both." Chase said as he stopped pacing, "Krystal, get back on the com system. Once we get a link, let me in. I'll need to explain the plan to the captain. For this to work, it'll need one hell of a coordinated strike plan."

Krystal nodded, "I hope you know what you're doing Chase."

As she established the link with the carrier, Chase nodded, thinking, "That makes two of us."

* * *

After the plan had been talked over, two drop ships were being prepped for their descent to the colony. The plan was simple enough; one would fly diversion while the other picked up the teams and the survivor. But what four pilots hadn't been told was what they were distracting.

"I dunno about this." A wolf said to his co-pilot, "Something's not sitting well about this plan."

"Nothing sits well with you." His co-pilot replied, activating the shield monitors, "Besides, there's not a creature alive that can kill these birds in the air."

The wolf shook his head, "Decoy, you guys set yet?"

"Keep your panties on." A voice replied over the radio, "We're having a little trouble with the primary maneuvering thrusters. Looks like maintenance missed that again."

"Maybe you should change birds?" the wolf said, "That thing's been out of whack for weeks."

"Hey, maybe you should run decoy instead of us." The voice replied, "We can work around it. Just make sure you get those teams back here."

"Have we ever failed that?" the wolf replied smugly.

"Point taken. Ok, it's working again. Must have been stuck on something." The voice said, "Lift off in one minute."

As the wolf counted the seconds, the engines of both drop ships roared to life, a blazing orange glow lighting the fighter bay as two doors slowly opened to reveal the blackness of space before them. After running a quick weapons check, the drop ships lifted up off the metal deck, dust swirling out from under the thrusters.

"Last one down buys the drinks." The wolf said.

"Get your wallet ready then slow poke." The second drop ship pilot replied, "Cause you're buying."

* * *

As the twin drop ships raced towards the colony, the teams waited in the tower. Once more, Chase was looking out over the fog covered colony. The dark gray clouds still covered the ground, keeping any movements their enemies made hidden. But above them, the cloudy skies only made it worse. Without a clear line of sight, the fox couldn't tell if the plan would work or not.

Krystal looked over to Chase and focused. Although she had promised herself that she would never use her ability on her partner, this time she made an exception. Chase wasn't usually this silent unless something was truly bothering him. While she couldn't tell Chase's plan, she could easily sense that he was nervous, almost fearful. His mind was racing with possibilities of being attacked without being able to see where the attack would come from.

Right now, it was just the two of them in the communications center of the tower. Storm was patrolling the lobby floor while Bianca was examining some of the destroyed Reapers from the turret assault on the lower floors. With a sigh, the vixen stood up and walked over to Chase. Then, without warning, the vixen hugged him from behind, resting her head on his shoulder as her arms held her partner close.

"Thanks Krystal." Chase said, laying his head on hers.

"Just trying to keep your spirits up Chase." The blue vixen smiled.

She turned him away from the window and looked up at him. Chase looked down at her and saw that her emerald eyes had something he'd seldom seen during this mission. In her eyes was the solid belief that they would survive. If the two had been safely back at base, he'd have kissed her.

Instead, the moment was broken apart by the soft roar of thrusters and the crackling of the com link.

"You guys still alive down there?" a voice called over the links.

Krystal released Chase and replied, "Of course."

"Good, we're coming in but we can't see anything past the fog lines." The pilot replied, "Got an idea on a pickup location?"

Chase took over, "Yeah, but it'll be risky. Think you can handle it?"

"Handle some risk? Merc, you don't know the first thing about handling risks. Just give me the dang position." The pilot shot back

"Alright, we're still in the com towers. It's the only place far enough above the fog that we can see you guys. You'll need to hover just beyond the windows of the top floor." Chase instructed, "The glass shouldn't be strong enough to handle a few bullets through it. Mow down the window and get close enough that we can climb in from there."

"And what about us?" A second voice asked, "So far, nothing's taken a shot at us or got a radar lock. We're basically in the clear still."

Then, something in the fog began to glow, rising up slowly to reveal a large anti-air energy cannon! For a second it sat there, the fog rolling off of it like water as a blue glow brightened inside it's barrel. Then, it fired!