Blade. Scrapper. Part 6.. Damantha Makarova
be safe…» Wolfin’s voice sounded in Serena’s earpiece.
«I will, Wraith. Thank you for trusting me to let me go on my own…» the woman replied, glancing aside to Hunter and Lindon running beside her towards the outpost gate.
«I trust my Captain. And I trust my crew to keep my Captain safe when I’m not there…»
Serena heard Hunter and Lindon smirk, and didn’t answer.
Considering the circumstances they paired up the people as best they worked together. Including Taliesin and Dean, who would work well, if the Ilarian would be worth trusting. This was his test in working in a team after being long on his own.
As for Lindon, Hunter and Serena – they set off as a separate crew, later splitting up and checking the first of the buildings and halls they came across.
«This is… odd…» Hunter came through a few minutes later, as they were inside. «The place is barren…»
«No signs of a struggle?» Serena asked.
«I mean, I saw a couple of blood stains here and there, but other than that – nothing…»
«Blood means battle.» Wolfin growled. «But where are the bodies?»
Serena slipped into a room and saw it being a research hall, filled with broken glass pieces on the floor, some screens burnt through with shots and blood smears on the wall. She walked in, noticing the strange lack of anything that would be usual for a place like this. There were no information tablets, no samples in the refrigeration unit in the corner, nothing at all.
Continuing her path, she growled:
«Group two, you may enter. Take a thorough look around. So far we have no luck finding anything.»
«Copy.» John replied.
Serena knew that whatever happened in this outpost must have been brutal. And though there were guard towers and guards, for some reason there weren’t any signs of heavy battle. Nor were there any corpses left behind.
«I’m in the barracks.» Lindon reported. «They seem to be unused for at least a few weeks.»
Serena tensed up – were the students gone so long? Or were they still somewhere out in the wild of Kargalan, going through training and without a single worry about what happened at the outpost?
As the time passed, Serena began feeling more and more worried that there weren’t any signs around, except for the blood left.
When they finally reconvened in the middle of the outpost, Wolfin noticed Serena deep in thought.
«Nothing?» she asked her mentor.
«Negative, Captain.» Wolfin replied. «The place has been stripped…»
She glanced at her other men and saw them shaking their heads and frowning.
«Phantom! Skies!» Serena ordered, activating her jetpack. «Take the northern direction, I’ll take a look south.»
«Yes, Captain!» Lindon nodded.
They jumped up, ascending into the skies, and Hunter couldn’t help and admire how swiftly they both flew with the newly obtained «wings’.
Serena flew, searching the ground with her eyes and noticing a pattern appearing among the rocks. Something came through there – something big and bulky.
She descended closer to the ground and saw what could be easily be overlooked from afar – tire marks of a vehicle that was definitely equipped with special tires that allowed to mask their passing on such a surface.
«Phantom, on me. Tracks here.» she reported. «Everyone else – return to the ships, now!»
«Yes, Captain.» Wolfin’s voice came through.
«We’ll update you once we find something.» Lindon added, catching up with Serena.
The faint trail led them away from the outpost, and the Captain started wondering how it could be that a vehicle so massive in size could have been overlooked by those, who were within the outpost walls. By the looks of it, the vehicle stayed by the outpost for some time.
What really happened there?
«Shadow, did you manage to get into the outpost frame?» Serena asked, slowing down to get a closer look at the trail that seemed to have stopped for a bit, as if the infiltrators took a short rest at the spot.
«I have good news and bad news, Ghost.» Laneth replied. «Which would you prefer first?»
«Start with good…»
«I did manage to get into the frame. However…» Laneth fell silent for a few moments. «The bad news is… the files are heavily corrupted.»
«How heavy?» Lindon growled under his breath.
«Extremely.» this time it was Wolfin who answered.
«Copy.» Serena gritted her teeth.
For a while they were flying silently – the trail led far away from the outpost. Lindon started to think they might have stumbled on some old trail, but Serena wasn’t as sure of it.
Finally, the trail turned towards a rocky mountain ridge, and the woman frowned, glancing about and not finding any signs of a camp or anything of the sort at all.
«Spread out.» she ordered to Lindon.
Though, concentrated on finding the tracks and any hints to what the vehicle was and who it belonged to, the woman fell deep into thought, wondering if there was something else at play.
Suddenly, Serena felt a heavy impact hitting her back, and this threw her aside, sending her tumbling in the air. When she hit the ground, a short and pained scream flew out of her, but immediately she continued her tumble, sliding down a steep and rocky hillside.
In the dizzying whirl of rocks and air she noticed how it suddenly turned from light to dark and then in a flash someone caught her, and they almost immediately slammed into a hard surface, throwing them both into darkness.
Chapter 4. Search
Hunter tried hard not to panic – both Serena and Lindon went radio silent over an hour ago. And though Lyssandra followed their trajectory, they weren’t able to find any traces of the two.
«Ghost!!!» Wolfin grew angrier by the minute. «Ghost, respond! Phantom!!! Where the fuck are you guys?»
Kayla gritted her teeth, glued to her working place with the scanners:
«I’m sorry…» she whispered. «I can’t find them…»
Wolfin took a deep breath and stepped to the girl, kneeling in front of her and tried to smile to her softly:
«It’s not your fault, little bug. I’m sure they’re alright.» he sighed.
«Please tell me you found them!» Cipher connected to MSS Lyssandra, and Hunter met his friend’s gaze with a deep frown.
«Negative.» Wolfin grimaced, standing up and facing the screen. «I take it, you found nothing too?»
«Not a sign of either of them anywhere.»
«And the tracks they were following?» Hunter gritted his teeth in frustration.
«They disappear by the mountains.»
«Scanning?»
«No results.»
«Shit.»
«Uh… Uncle Wolfin?» Kayla’s voice sounded aside. «I think I found… something?»
Wolfin leaned to the screen and noted the tiny blip of some sort of an energy source on the ground near the mountain. Frowning, the Veluthian enlarged the picture and saw what looked like a dimly glowing shard that lay among the rocks next to what reminded of a piece of some