We leave as soon as the sun dips below the horizon, the last of its rays fading from the sky. The air is cool, crisp, the night quiet. The perfect cover for our mission. We move in silence, all of us piled on the floating transport device. It's a far less crowded ride with only the ten of us, and we're able to spread out more, sit more comfortably.
Alistair is driving, his hands steady on the controls, his eyes focused on the path ahead. Maren is next to him, pointing out directions, giving instructions. The rest of us are in the back, our weapons at the ready, our nerves on edge.
Hestia is next to me, her body tense, her hands clenched into fists. She's scared, I can see it in her eyes, in the way she keeps glancing around, as if expecting danger at any moment. I reach out, taking her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. She looks at me, and I try to give her a smile, to show her that everything will be okay. Even if I'm not sure of it myself.
The journey is... different, at least. We're still hugging the violet coast, and so even when it's daylight, it won't be too hot, not until we're heading for that supply depot. But that's small comfort. A part... a big part of me would rather be facing down another two-to-three week transport ride where we bake in the sunlight than....
This will be...
Real combat. Even if we're fighting mostly robots and automated systems in this place...doesn't that make it more dangerous, not less? It's not like we can surprise or demoralize machines. Though, these energy based weapons are probably better against machines than guns would have been back home. I think.
I swallow, looking down at my legs.
And then, Cal begins singing something loud and enthusiastic in Russian.
"Eshelon za eshelonom... Put'-doroga shiroka. Komandarm velel – i tochka!" Cal rocks back and forth, singing into the moonlight, completely ignoring the startled stares of the rest of us, "Mashet belen'kim platochkom. Donu sinemu ruka." He pauses, looking around at our tense faces, his eyes gleaming in the violet dark.
"Cal, what the hell are you doing?" Kael hisses, jabbing the older man with his elbow. "They'll hear us."
"We're miles out still." Jess says, shaking her head. "With the sound of the ocean next to us, it's unlikely we'll be heard."
"I'm hearing it." Kael grumbles. "And I'm not liking it."
Cal claps along to a beat that only he can hear, "Nas s toboyu, Voroshilov, Zhizn' pokhodnaya sdruzhila! Vmeste v boy leteli vskach: Vspominaet vrag s toskoyu... Boy pod Beloy Kalitvoyu!"
"Does he know he's not speaking English...?" Ben murmurs, glancing over at me, as if I could possibly know the answer to that.
"Come on!" Cal barks, slapping his knee to keep the beat. "Sing! Machines don't have hearts to break, but we do! So we sing for them! Za Tsaritsyn! Za pobedu!"
"We don't know the words, you damn old coot." Alistair snaps, not even looking over his shoulder. "Stop bellowing, you'll draw the damn fish out."
Cal pauses, his chest heaving. He looks at our confused, tense faces, then softens. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. "Ah. True. You are not Siberian. You do not know the old songs." He takes a deep breath, his voice dropping an octave, losing the rough Russian accent for a moment. "Then we sing the one everyone knows. The one about the night."
He starts again, but this time in clear, rough English: "Dark is the night, only bullets whistle across the steppe... Only the wind hums in the wires, the stars flicker dimly..."
I still don't know that one. But at least I can understand the words. It's a soldier's song, a dirge. And it's... fitting. We're going into battle, into the unknown, and we might not all come back. We might join the ranks of the fallen, the lost. We might...
Hestia's hand tightens around mine, and I look at her. She's staring at Cal, her eyes wide, her expression... sad.
I take a deep breath, and then I start to sing. Not well, I've never been good at singing. But it can't be worse than Cal.
One by one, the others join in. Kael, Jess, Rhea, Leo, Ben. Even Alistair adds his voice to the mix, his deep baritone blending with ours. Maren keeps her eyes forward, but I can see her lips moving, silently mouthing the words.
I still don't know the lyrics, or the song, but some of them seem to, and Cal just keeps repeating verses so eventually we can sing along. When the song ends, there's a moment of silence, of reflection. Then Cal starts up another, this one more upbeat, more energetic. It's the one he started with, and completely unintelligible to me. But we're already singing along, so the rest of us either hum or stumble along and say whatever the hell we think he just said, butchering the vowels until the words he says sound more like 'Egg-shoe-lon'. Cal doesn't correct us; he just sings louder.
At some point, I lose track of time, and... that's not a bad thing right now, I think.
Eventually, his singing abruptly stops, breaking into peals of laughter. "Ah! You pronounce terribly! You put the song to shame. HA." He is grinning at the rest of us, apparently... not offended, despite his words. "Molodets! Is excellent."
"You're delusional." Leo says, shaking his head. "That was. Truly. A horrible, horrible attempt."
"Leo, my friend." Cal slaps his back. "Is not attempt! Is art!" Then he pauses and looks at the sky. "But. We are close. And we must be quiet now."
That sobers everyone up, fast. No one says anything else.
We approach the factory, our singing giving way to a tense, heavy silence. We can see it in the distance, a dark, hulking shape against the lighter grey of the sands. It's not... menacing. I'm not sure how to explain it. It's just a building. It's not even very large.
But we know what's inside of it. And that...that's the scary part.
Alistair slows the transport, bringing us to a stop a safe distance away. We all get off, our weapons at the ready, our bodies tense with anticipation.
Rhea steps forward in front of us, holding up a hand. "Who's fired at enemies before?" She asks, voice a sharp whisper.
Jess raises her hand, as does Leo, Kael, Cal, and Ben. I hesitate, but then slowly raise my own. I've only done it once, and it was an alien. But it still counts.
Rhea nods. "Alright. Don't mean to step on your toes, Boss-girl. But I'm going to take point on this. Watch for an opening, fire at anything that moves." She looks at each of us, her gaze hard, serious. "No hesitation, no mercy. If you're scared, use it to shoot. Don't freeze, don't flee. The battle doesn't stop, no matter what, until the only things moving in that place is us or them. Forget that, and this will be the last thing you do."
"Fuck." I hear Alistair murmur.
That... that isn't really a helpful thing to say. The fear that ebbed before rushes back all at once.
Cal clicks his tongue. "Do not listen to her."
"Cal-"
"You will survive." He walks ahead of us, next to Rhea. There's a manic gleam in his eye. "You will shoot enemies. You will not be stupid. You will not die. Do not fear. You are the winners! There is no other option."
He grins. It's not exactly a cheerful smile. It's feral, and strange. Somehow, that's more comforting. Like he genuinely believes it. "We are not dying today."
"Hell yeah..." Jess says, her rifle held close to her chest.
I swallow, and I look at Hestia. She's staring at me, her eyes wide and afraid. I nod at her, trying to project confidence, to hide my own fear. I don't know if it works, but she nods back, her grip on her weapon tightening.
"Alright." Alistair says, stepping up to join us. "You heard the man. Let's go kick some ass."