Headin' into the forward section of the 'Monster', I had to check the nav systems. That and some other little things I added to the console. "After all the stuff what happened with the hunter and all, I figured it'd be quiet. Was pretty far from it. We had mercs roll into town. A bunch of off world hard noses. Val hired em to watch the shop after one of his shop keepers got hurt. Can't much blame him.... Cept these folks were doin' more'n they needed.... Like doin' patrols through town. The residents didn't much like it. Was bad 'nough we had the 'liance doin' patrols too. Now these yahoos."
"Next thin' we know, we got us a warbot goin' after folks. It killed a bunch of citizens over its reign of terror.... All for lookin' for Raids. Green chasis and all arms. Green death.... Dav and I got all shot up by it one day and Jai was barely able to help us...." I shook my head on that when Dav told me 'bout it later. "We barely had time to do anythin' a few days later when it attacked us. It asked a question b'fore it opened up on us.... Where was her sister Raids...... Like we'd know. Raids was offworld at the time. The other one, called Ravish, opened up on us again, and leavin' us holed for the second time. Don't know much know what all happened that second time....", Pullin' up on one of the consoles, I checked the hidden equipment under it. Eergency beacon, back up nav, and a longer range comm.
"Was hurtin' a lot after what all the doc had to do. Then Cath was on me again, 'bout me bein' her bro. I can't figure what all is on with that.... Not sure..... She don't look like kitten that much.... Maybe... Hell, I don't rightly know." Had to check the lockers to make sure we had supplies. "Gorram warbot come by for a third strike on us. And a few of us drove her off. By the forth time we had numbers 'nough to take her down.... One of those times when I was hit again.... Lily jabbed me with a pretty big syringe.... Next thin' I know, I'm feelin' real good... Like I wasn't even hit. Had a feelin' I knew what it was, but wanted to be sure.... Lily nodded to the question.... Yep.. Nanites. They helped me b'fore, now they were workin' overtime. Healed up some of my scars and wounds over a few days."
The ship was ready, so I haeded to the office to get a couple of small arms to tuck away on board.... In case. "In the end.... AuroraBlue showed up durin' Ravish's last attack. The merc were shootin' at anythin' that even moved. Hittin' townsfolk, us.... And AuroraBlue. A little one.... When it was all done, those ta ma duh huen dahn were celebratin'. They didn't care they shot a child... Or anyone else for that matter... I went to AuroraBlue when she suddenly got up and started to attack everyone with her blades. Hell, she even went for me. Somethin' in her musta went wild..... Raids was there and ignored the whole thin'. She got what she wanted from the other warbot then run off into the wastes..... No ones seen her since."
"Had to stop AuroraBlue from killin' anyone.... Don't want her killed by someone bent on revenge for somethin' I knew she wasn't in control of. When I found her, she was ready to cut me up again. For once I can say I did a gorram stupid thing. I laid down my gun and moved toward her. She was wild eyed and slashed at me, but I didn't care. I needed to try to reconnect with her... Her human side. I went to my knees and told her if all she wanted was to kill me, then do it. She came close then dropped her blades and came to me. I could feel the confusion she was feelin'. She hugged me 'bout as hard as I did her. I held onto her while showin' her what Ravish done to the folks.... to me and Dav. What AuroraBlue done to folks in her rage. We both had a few tears over it."
I coud hear another transport comin' in. 'Liance patrols again. "Had to deal with the aftermath of it all. Dav was barely talkin' to me. Blamed me for AuroraBlue bein' wild.... Said somethin' 'bout Cath bein' part of that too. Aiya, what all'm I s'posed to do. I got a company to keep runnin', a little one who age regressed physically, a girl who thinks I'm her bro, a crew what needs coin to get fed, and still tryin' to get work for em. I can try to be a Pa and all, but when you got a little one whos evolvin' at a scarey rate..... Well it ain't easy. AuroraBlue ain't like other kids. She's got a lot of knowledge locked up inside her head. She can 'read' comuters and 'lectronics. Talk to em. And she and I got a link... Now that's somethin' I can't rightly explain. I can feel what's goin' on with her like she can with me."
Shruggin' cause I couldn't explain it, I looked out the window. "The 'liance and the townsfolk drove off the mercs. Wasn't pretty. They'd caused as much damage and near as much death and injuries to the folk here as the warbot. Someone was gonna have to pay for it... And I think Delta run off to save his own hide cause of it. He ordered em to go all out to get the warbot by any means. Makes him responsible for the whole mess." Didn't like the idea of him tryin' to order me away from helpin' protect the township either. "I ain't in his little band. He was thinkin' he could order us folk 'round. Only one who gave me orders was my Pa, that I'd listened to." But then there's Seana. Her I got respect for... Her I'd listen to.
The troopers climbed out the back of the transport and split up. A few headed towards Fooks, the other toward the hangar. "Not that long ago, while checkin' out a sniper location with Bram, we spotted a bot by the transport hub. It was movin' strange, so I decided to go check it out. Bram covered me in case it went for me. It didn't..... Was in bad shape. Its skin was worn off and the clothin' was old and pretty dirty. it was damaged from what I could see of it. voice was all tinny and rough. Said it was 'awaitin' retrieval.' From who it didn't say. But from what it was sayin' it was doin' somethin' like Lily..... Gatherin' information. Data gatherin' for downloadin' to a main unit. Said some other stuff too... Like the project was reactivated... On Hale's, I think it said.... Got me to wonderin' if Xoxo or Lily did somethin'. Lily maybe. She had that Ardra program inside her for a spell. The bot said there was somethin' down in the wastes too. Wasn't sure what that was, but the bot led me down there....
"There was a place... Old and unused for a long time.... Not a destiny buildin' either.... Had some power source I saw only once b'fore...... Salvaged from a ship out in the asteroid field 'round Mac's Drift..... Gave the thin' over to Dex to research..... Never did find out what all it was. But it effected the bot. The thin' started havin' trouble standin' and talkin'. Then it shut down for a mo... Maybe was overheatin'. Wasn't sure... Then it 'woke' up and said a bunch of stuff rapid fire b'fore tellin' me it was downloadin' the files. Wasn't sure what all that ment. I didn't want to leave the place, so I headed back out to find Lily. She might be able to shed some light on what all was goin' on. Bythe time I did, the bot'd left."
"Some doc with red hair come and was askin' a load of questions on the bot and then wanted me to give blood and tissue samples... No way was I goin' to get my own self cut open for bits. Blood for my own self in an emergency sounded ok.... but givin' to others? I wasn't so sure on that... No tellin' what all is floatin' in my blood after all the experiments....Wasn't goin' to take the chance someone gettin' sick or turned into a mutant like they done to me. No tellin' if it might happen either... better to not take no chances."
Troopers were comin' along the walkway outside the office now. Figures..... Got to come in and haunt me. "Then there was the transport for Xoxo..... Didn't much like that little ride. Albion's a might too close to the core for my likin', but my crew needed to be paid. When we got there, Bram landed us on the clinic landin' pad. We went in to drop off the stuff but no one was 'round.... looked like the place was abandoned..... It was clean and stuff was new in there... But no folks.... No doc's, no nurses, no patients..... Nada." One of the troopers come in. I just glared at him. He took a look 'round then wandered on outside with the rest of em. "We dropped the stuff and left. By that time Rita'd gone off to check the other places. She'd found a small crate of guns....... A crate we ended up takin'. Yeah... I know.. Another thin' they can get me on. Minor by what all the 'liance think I done."
The troopers went on in next door, then over to Jai's office. Wonder what all they were lookin' for now.... It weren't me.... Or we'd be fightin' 'bout now. "Then the other night, got a call from a feller I hadn't seen in a while. Big old feller.... I can't r'member his name, but he r'membered me. Knew I was a mechanic. Asked me to travel to Mu Draconis to help fix a bot. It was somethin' to do, so I packed up a tool kit with what all I thought I'd need and took a shuttle out there."
"When I got there, the bot looked like it was overheatin'. When I popped the access panel on it, sure 'nough, it was. The tubin' for the coolin' system was leakin' all over. Took a while to repair, but nothin' too bad. The chasis was a lot like the old minin' bots, but the insides were..... well, state of the art from what all I could see inside it. Makes the stuff inside some of the minin' bots look like relics from Earth That Was. The bot said it was from somewhere on the edge of the verse. Maybe built by settlers from another gen ship way back when.... I don't rightly know. Wasn't that big into history or the like."The troopers headed for Firefly's next... They tramped on across the landin' field on their way there. "When I got back, Dav said somethin' 'bout the job with Jet. I know Jetfuel.... Knew him from Mac's drift when he blew in..... Elix said somethin' that got my head buzzin' a couple ten days back..... Jet was workin' with the merc's as a backup.... allies. Now it got me to wonderin' if this's was a setup. Delta didn't much like how folks here drove him off... I'm pretty gorram sure of it.... Maybe if we send Rita in ahead to scout it out, we might have a little adjvantage. We'll just have to wait and see....."
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