"Not today." Ana said as she checked her tablet and nodded at the family waiting at the gate.
Lin thanked her and walked away, disappearing into the crowd of much taller people. The teen found her every day for the last two weeks to ask if the mining crew were on their way back. It had been six weeks into a three week mission and Lin was understandably worried, but kept it hidden as best she could. Ana was also growing concerned as there had been a slight increase in pirate activity lately, but she kept that information from the girl. There wasn't any need to tell her until there was a reason to tell her.
The last passengers disembarked with a check and a nod and Ana slipped the tablet back into the mooring on the rail before setting off to the industrial shop Lin worked at after finishing her shift with Jorvis. She spent most of her off time simply watching her handle various machinery repairs and maintenance, doing her best to stay awake through the long hours Lin worked almost casually.
Through keeping her word to Fuse to keep a close eye on her, they'd grown closer as acquaintances, eating dinner together just so she wasn't completely alone. Red often joined them when he was done with his odd jobs for the day, and his exuberant storytelling never failed to make them both laugh.
Through this daily routine, she'd gotten a more complete accounting of Lin's journey with Fuse and gained a better understanding of the man he had become since she'd last encountered him. It was surprising to her that they'd only met just under a year prior, but had already been through so much. The thing that concerned her the most, however, was how Fuse never seemed to be in good shape for long. He'd recover just in time for something else to happen.
"Going to see that woman again?" A voice said, shaking her from her thoughts.
"Evans? What're you doing down here?" She asked, suddenly on guard, her eyes glancing around for the others that had been suspended alongside him.
His dark eyes looked more sunken than they had the last time she'd seen him and he'd lost weight. In fact, most of the station's security were looking more ragged lately. Something she hadn't given any thought to until just now, but Evans interrupted her before she could give it anymore thought.
"The pirates were last spotted at the Meridian Belt. Apparently they caused some trouble for the miners working there. A vein collapsed a few weeks ago." He said darkly. "Looks like some of our brothers were still down there."
Ana's chest tightened and her heart sped up. "Are they-"
"Last we heard, they called off the search once the air supply expired. We're expecting the survivors back tomorrow if they don't run into anymore trouble."
Ana's jaw clenched as she nodded. There wasn't any need to ask why they were just giving up. Without air, it was unlikely there was anything left but bodies to recover. Evans' grim expression peeled back into a cold smile. "You'll never guess who one of the ones down in the hole was when it collapsed."
Seeing her expression, his smile faltered. "What's wrong, Hart? Are you sympathizing with the enemy? Oh, wait, I forgot. You're friends now."
"Get out of my way, Evans." She said, moving to walk past him, but his hand clamped down painfully on her arm.
"We're getting a headcount later today. We'll know how many of our brothers to mourn." He said, his tone sending chills through her. "Of course, if some miracle occurs and he's among the survivors, I wouldn't count on a happy reunion."
"What're you talking about?"
He laughed and squeezed her arm tighter. "Like I said, pirate activity's increased."
"Evans, did you-"
He released her and started walking to the lift. "One way or another, Keystone will be avenged. Our brothers have all agreed that he can't make it back to this station alive."
Ana stared wide eyed as Evans gave her one last smile before the doors closed. She hesitated only for a few seconds trying to wrap her head around what she'd just heard before bolting through the corridors toward the refinery where Lin was working.
The teen looked up at Ana's frantic shout and set her tools down just in time to be grabbed by the larger woman. "They- The Keystone veterans, they're going to kill him! Pirates attacked the mine, and if he didn't die in the mine, they're gonna attack the ship!"
Lin blinked. "The Keystone-"
"Yes, they've been working with pirates to coordinate an attack to kill Fuse! Evans all but admitted to it five minutes ago!"
The teen's eyes widened in shock, then she smiled. "Kuro won't let that happen."
"No, you don't understand!" She groaned in desperation. "The other miners are either Keystone vets or rebels! They're willing to give up their lives if he survived the mine collapse! Lin, this whole thing is to target him!"
"He'll put a stop to it." She said with absolute confidence.
"Wha-"
Lin pulled herself free of Ana's grip and sat back down on the stool. "Kuro's got Yolanda with him. And she's way stronger than Eve. If he can't convince them they're throwing their lives away for nothing, she'll beat it into them until they understand what they're doing is stupid. And from what I understand, pirates out here don't just blow ships up when there's resources they can use aboard. I'd be more worried about what Yolanda'll do when they get back and less worried about if they'll get back."
Ana could only gape at her, but Lin wasn't done yet.
"I don't think it's safe here anymore, though. And I'm sure Kuro and Yolanda will have that figured out by now as well." She smiled as she picked up what she'd been working on. "You and Red should come with us, because I don't think it'll be safe for you now that you don't hate Kuro anymore."
Ana stared at the sword Lin was holding as she stuck it back in the furnace. "I-"
"We're friends now, right?" The teen asked as she pulled it out and set it on the bench before picking up a file and scraping it across the curved edge.
She worked diligently while Ana's mind processed everything. After two hours, she slid the completed blade into a sheathe and admired her work before looking over at her. "Well?"
"You have probably the most unshakable faith of anyone I've ever met." Ana replied.
Lin smiled broadly. "It's all I've got."
~
The following day, Red, Lin, and Ana watched the security force gape in disbelief as the mining ship docked. The men and women piled out looking beat and haggard, but resolute as they waved Winston forward. Several more people limped or were carried out of the ship with various injuries. One man in particular was supported by the very people that nearly had Lin jumping over the railing to the deck below.
Fuse and Yolanda looked as if they'd been through a war. Injuries covered their bodies, but they insisted Winston look after the others first before limping after him, relieved of their burden. But at that moment, the security force raised their weapons.
"Tch! Fucking cowards." Ana spat.
But the men who'd disembarked first formed a barrier between the two wounded warriors.
"Bergman, what the hell are you doing!? He's the enemy!"
The foreman, Bergman, stepped away from the group. "Not anymore."
"You had a mission, soldier!" Evans shrieked. "We agreed!"
"You're right. But you weren't there."
"He fought for us." One of the women said, stepping forward as well. "We tried to kill him and he still fought. For us."
"Can't let you kill him now." Another man said, joining the others.
Ana watched as Fuse and Yolanda leaned against one another for support, confused by what was happening. But Evans and the other officers were already at the edge of sanity, so nobody was surprised by what happened next.
Evans drew his weapon and shot Bergman in the head. As a sign of their resolve, none of the others moved, which only served to sever the last thread holding the officers together. Lin took a step back when Fuse's eyes caught hers.
"Lin, what're you-" Red started, then caught her arm. "You'll never make it there. I've got it."
He took the sword she'd been about to throw and hurled it just as Fuse started to move. Yolanda properly grabbed a sledgehammer from the supply crate behind them and swung it like it weighed nothing, hurling it into the chest of one of the officers before dodging the hail of bullets coming her way.
Both soldiers made their way to the front lines without hesitation despite the miners desperately trying to hold them back to keep them safe. But they were too strong and the numbers too thin now. Fuse leapt over their heads, catching the sword and turned into a blur of motion that Ana couldn't follow while Yolanda's knuckles bled freely from the force of the blows she delivered to their new enemy.
But as quick as it started, the action halted when the station gave a massive shudder and an alarm started going off. Lin and Red covered her ears and looked around as an explosion ripped a second of the station away. The hull of a ship appeared in it an instant later, sealing it from the vacuum of space.
The hull opened and various humanoid creatures poured out from it, firing weapons indiscriminately. Ana grabbed Lin and punched Red in the shoulder. The frozen teen shook himself free of his trance and they began running toward the barracks, which served as a bunker.
"Kuro! Yolanda!" Lin screamed.
"They'll be fine, now stop squirming!" Ana shouted back.
They slid under the door as it closed and rolled free to look up into the face of the station commander. He helped Ana to her feet and thrust a rifle into her hands. "Bunch of damn fools."
"What do we do?" Red asked.
He looked over at the two teens. "You two get into my office. It's the most secure position in this station. That door'll hold, but not forever."
"Yes sir!" Red said, saluting and grabbing Lin's arm, pulling her along behind him.
"Kuro!" She shouted, trying to pull free, but Red was stronger than her.
Just as they disappeared down the hall, the door began warping. Ana readied her rifle while the commander simply stared at it angrily. "Sons of bitches."
"Agreed, sir."
"If what I was hearing about Fuse is anything close to true, I owe him. Even if those people are dead already, he brought them home." He said, raising his weapon as well.
The door wrenched free from its moorings, ripping a much larger hole in the process. Before Ana's finger could squeeze the trigger, fire burned through her chest and she fell back staring into the dead eyes of the commander, a smoking hole the size of a fist in his head.
"There were two kids. Find em!" A voice barked in heavily accented English.
Ana felt numbness spread through her, but a quick test of her muscles showed they still were willing to obey her. She raised the gun and fired in the direction of the voice before rolling quickly to her feet and emptying the clip between the two others she saw by the hallway before diving for the weapon that dropped from the pirate's hands and fired three more shots, dropping two more bodies.
Wheezing and with her vision swimming, she staggered forward until she was knocked sideways by another burning impact. She tried to raise the weapon, but only found blood pouring from her elbow. Cursing, she got as far as her knees before she felt the burning in her neck and fell face first to the steel floor.
"Ana!" She could just hear Lin's voice shrieking and felt her body move.
Her perspective changed to movement and she saw Lin firing a weapon as she followed after them. The movement stopped and Lin handed the weapon to Red, who kept it aimed at the door as pounding took over the sound.
"She'll be fine, Red. She will." Lin was saying desperately over and over.
A strange peace overcame Ana as she watched the two terrified teens. She understood with absolute certainty in that moment that they would be fine. The monster of Keystone would keep them safe. Him and his one-armed warrior. She could rest now.
~
"Ana?" Red said, looking back past Lin. "Ana!"
Lin turned as well and wailed loudly. Her newest friend looked like she was sleeping, but the smile on her face told them that she was gone. The door finally gave way, but the moment it started to open, a blade pierced through it for two seconds before sliding out.
Red hyperventilated and he fumbled with the weapon, but couldn't find the strength to lift it as the door fell open. Yolanda glared inside, but froze when she saw the scene. Red's finger was frantically squeezing the trigger on an empty weapon he couldn't lift while Lin cradled Ana's body. It only took a second to process, but it felt like an eternity before she could shake herself loose.
"We're moving." She said firmly. "Get to your feet."
Lin shakily got to her feet first and helped Red to his. He didn't take his eyes off Ana until they were moving down the hall toward the barracks. The sounds of battle and screams of pain echoed to them and while Red was numb, Lin felt an apprehension that only grew stronger as the sounds got louder.
"Kuro." She murmured, frozen by the scene in front of her.
Even Red seemed stunned by what he was watching. For the first time, after hearing all the stories from the veterans, it wasn't the easygoing but reserved Kurokawa Fuse he'd come to know. He was seeing what they saw ten years ago in the forests of Keystone. The Wolf of Wardham.
~
"You hear about Albion?" Avery asked, tossing the tablet to him as he lay on the couch in his office.
He sat up and stared at the report. "No loss to us." He muttered. "Pirates stay in deep space."
"Look at the resident manifest." Avery said, pouring an amber liquid from a decanter and taking a sip before dropping into a chair. "See a few familiar names anywhere?"
His expression darkened. "Fuse."
"Report states two ships departed from the Albion wreckage. The mining ship which held the survivors and a personal vessel from the Stygian Empire." She said as he swiped the screen. "The headcount is missing the names of four survivors. Fuse, Lin, Cruz, and some resident named Redding Tyrol."
"His ability to survive is most vexing." Rinku said, making the teens jump in their seats. "Apologies, the door was open. Tell me about Albion, I fear I missed the opening act."
Caspar handed the tablet up to Rinku, who walked over to the desk and sat down in the chair as he read the information.
Avery downed her drink, gathering what courage she could from it before starting. "Coordinated pirate attack on the station signaled by the security force. From what we've been able to gather, since the report is scattered and largely speculative, they hired the pirates to assassinate Fuse. When that didn't work, they turned to Albion itself."
"Interesting." Rinku murmured. "I'm sure there was more to this ill conceived plan than that. These pirates appear to be a part of a larger collective. What were their losses?"
"Unknown, sir." Avery said. "But we can assume significant since they didn't pursue the mining ship and went after the ship we believe Fuse to be aboard."
"What information do we have on these pirates? Where do they make berth for refit and resupply?Who do they report to?"
Caspar looked at Avery, whose face had paled. "We don't know, sir."
"Find out." Rinku said simply, setting the tablet down on the desk and rising. "And of the search for our other frustrations?"
"The cabin had been used, but abandoned weeks ago. Any evidence of what direction they even went is long gone." Caspar said.
"Was it our friends from Spire or our terrorist trouble? Could you tell that?"
The teen shook his head. "No. But I think that's evidence enough that it was Echelon and not the terrorists. Their whole thing is invisibility."
"They'll slip eventually." Avery added. "Very few places on the continent they can hide, even in the Frontier."
Rinku spared her a look before walking from the room. He never raised his voice, but the two were absolutely terrified of failing him again. Porter and Lulu had disappeared in the chaos of the battle and after learning that Halo and Tim had changed sides, they were the last of their number. Which made Rinku incredibly dubious as to their continued usefulness as his own soldiers had largely taken over control from them.
They had spoken of desertion only once before deciding that they had a better chance at satisfying their grudges with the military's resources at their disposal. But Rinku made the temptation more enticing with every subtle comment highlighting their failures and his dwindling patience.
"Did he seem unexpectedly more interested in the pirates than the others?" Avery asked, sipping her refilled drink.
He nodded thoughtfully. "He's probably had run-ins with them in the past."
"Hm."