This is the End For Now

They were all dead now, mostly, Xanthiana couldn't determine if the Ark brain could/would reanimate them as she had to snap some necks and impale some of them on various hanging machinery, so in theory they could be brought back, but she had done her part. She was bleeding from various injuries, Elly was trying to tell her to slow down, but she couldn't, she had a job to do even if the virus killed everyone on the planet, at least she'd have the satisfaction to herself that she had done her part to try and stop it.

Xanthiana had one bullet left in the sniper rifle, she had saved it for the last ark zombie. Rushard was there, standing with none of his usual swagger or ego. He was just like the rest, a barely functioning zombie, whatever power the ark brain had, had, it was mostly gone, it seemed with each zombie Xanthiana killed the ark brain got weaker and the zombies got dumber. The last few had barely been able to function, not enough to not hurt her of course, but not enough to be much of a threat.

"You could just leave him." Elly almost sounded sad at the nearly brain dead Rushard lurching their way.[

"No I can't, because he might recover, or put simply even he doesn't deserve to remain like this." Xanthiana took aim with the rifle, it was just as she always imagined it. Well not really she had hoped he would be giving orders or shouting at someone to stop her or something. Instead he was lurching and broken, just another shell of a person wounded by the ark tech that was more lethal than just about anything else in the new world. the bullet hit him right above his right eye and it sprayed his brains out behind him onto the humming machinery of the ark brain. As his body hit the ground the ark brain flickered an image in front of Xanthiana, the image was badly damaged barely functioning, but it looked to be that of a young female human, though Xanthiana was sure that was just to play against her emotions.

"Why are you doing this? You're votan I'm trying to save this world for you." The voice was barely there, Elly informed Xanthiana the ark brain was dying.

"Not like this, the war is over, this virus will only harm our people not save them." The ark brain frowned.

"At least you're a votan, finish me as soon as I am destroyed the virus will be halted, you win." Xanthiana did as ordered, she had saved one grenade and tossed it at the remains of the ark brain. She didn't turn around to see the explosion, it made her sad that it had come to this, sad that the world had forced them to be at issue with the ark brains instead of working with them.

Xanthiana left the ship and just sat down while it burned. She was hurt, bleeding, but she'd be all right Elly told her as much, eventually things would be all right, and so would the rest of the planet. Well that or everyone would get killed in a horrible apocalypse, either or really.

** Authors note, this will be my last Defiance blog for a while. I enjoyed writing these, but my heart just isn't it to as much much. It's hard writing in someone elses universe, and I feel I'm not doing the universe justice. So thanks for the journey my three readers, I hope you liked it!

Ark Brain Problems

Xanthiana had her rifle out and she was scoping out the targets down below. She could make out Rushard's men, they were all walking really weirdly near a salvaged piece of ark that had been clearly dredged out of the water (Xanthiana could see sea weeds and such still on the ark) she didn't know how they had gotten it to shore, but that was irrelevant, it was ashore and spreading the illness. The people were moving very oddly though, not exactly walking in a normal manner at all.

"What's wrong with them?"

"Their infected with the arkbrain, its controlling them specifically to protect itself."

"How do you know that?"

"It attempted to do the same thing to you, but after our last contact with ark tech I've modified my device to avoid the code it sent out." Xanthiana was proud of the ego device, she didn't even know it could do that.

"That's quite impressive."

"Well you don't like having your agency robbed of you, neither do I." Xanthiana could see down below the men had seemingly taken notice of her, probably because the ark brain after it failed to take her over made them aware. Xanthiana took aim and blew the first ones head off, the rest didn't seem disuaded at all instead they opened fire, but the ark brain controlled people were very inaccurate, she was able to kill three more of them before they even came close to her position.

"Impressive Xanthiana, I'm consistently pleased with your ability for marksmanship."

"Thank you Elly, I can't farm, I'm a terrible cook, and I style my hair like I'm not paying attention in the morning, but killing people its something I'm born to do." Xanthiana was running out ammunition, but she was running out of people to shoot sooner so the ammunition wasn't an issue. Xanthiana almost felt bad because the Ark Brain clearly didn't understand tactics or cover or literally anything to do with combat, she finished the last one off with another head shot and then made her way towards the ark. She had five rounds left and some explosives she hoped would be enough to stop the Ark Brain.

"I'm feeling better about our chances Elly, I think we can handle this."

"My scans of the ark show at least twenty people still inside."

"And there those good feelings just went."

Too Late

"My analysis of this subject shows it died of a massive nano viral load." Xanthiana had to carve the creature up for the EGO device to do its work, she felt like vomiting from the sight of all the entrails.

"So just a weapon, well that's good to know, surprising it took down a volge, but it was bound to happen may its rotten soul burn in whatever hell they have." Xanthiana didn't know much about the Volge, she did know they were basically killing machines that had no problem murdering human or votan.

"No its not just a a weapon, its a virus specifically targeted at killing things. I'm guessing we're too late and the ark brain has been unleashed." Xanthiana's heart sank, her mission was hard enough, it was even worse if she had already failed.

"But it killed a votan, the weapon was supposed to kill humans."

"It is supposed to kill threats to the votanis collective, and the Volge are certainly a threat to your people, they are a threat to everyone." Xanthiana got back into the car and started it up, she may have been too late to stop it from starting, but she could still attempt to stop it from getting worse.

"We don't even know if we can kill the ark brain Xan, this is a fools errand." The other ark brain had given her something, infused her with something, she could still feel it winding inside of her.

"I know that we have to try Elly, if not us no one else will be able to help." She could hear the little voice inside of her sigh.

"And if we fail."

"Than we can say we went out doing something good, which is unique in this world anymore." Elly seemed to like that answer and it made Xanthiana feel better even if it was a lie. She drove on, and hoped, just hoped, the plague hadn't gotten too far.

A One Votan Job

"This seems like folly to me." Elly had come back after the ark brain was finished giving Xanthiana instructions on what to do, the EGO device was not happy with the situation. Xanthiana was driving hard, the Arkbrain told her she didn't have a lot of time and she trusted it for good or bad, she figured bad, but she was a pessimist like that.

"Which part? The part where we are taking on long odds by ourselves, or the part where if we fail an ark brain will unleash a virus on the area that will make the entire bay area completely unlivable for non votanis people forever?"

"Both!" The plague didn't really concern Xanthiana as much as a votan weapon killing humans in general concerned her. If the weapon was unleashed she was certain a new war would start up and this time no one would survive it.

"I can't have the ereps involved or they'll blame the votans, and I have no connection to the votanis collective, and or they'll want the weapon for themselves just in case. And as far as the weapon, well I'll be fine if we fail so you know we'll keep living."

"You're such a pessimist."

"Of course I am, if you had my life story you'd find it hard to believe in anything good in this, holy shiiiiittttt." Xanthiana slammed on the breaks and almost collided right into a Volge. The creature was just standing in the middle of the road like a lost animal, it didn't even seem to notice her at first. She sat frozen in the car, her hands gripping the steering wheel.

"Do they normally just stand there?" Elly broke the silence, if only in Xanthiana's head.

"I've never seen a volge in person before, I don't know what I'm supposed to do other than turn the car around and drive in the other direction as fast as possible." The volge stood there in the road not moving still, Xanthiana didn't know the creatures to travel alone, then again she had little actual experience with them outside of campfire tales.

"Do you think we can kill it? I'd love to study a Volge."

"I can kill anything given enough time, the bigger question is, can I kill it before it annihilates me with some volge horrible, I have no idea." The creature lurched once and the collapsed, it was of course surprising to Xanthiana. In theory anything can get sick and die, Xanthiana didn't know shit about the volge let alone what could kill one.

"Quick we have to examine it!"

"Why?"

"Because whatever killed it might be fatal to you as well."

"So you want me to examine the corpse and possibly get infected."

"There's some optimism assuming you already aren't infected."

"Elly please, don't be you for just like a little bit ok."

Ark Brains

The wreck didn't look any different the second time around. It still smelled bad, and aside from it being darker inside Xanthiana didn't see anything that jumped out as especially dangerous. There wasn't any new sound or presence. She was about to ask Elly to find Deliah when she spotted the older woman on her knees sitting there like she was praying. Xanthiana approached her but couldn't seem to shake the woman out of whatever trance she was in. Then the ship went unnaturally quiet, and Xanthiana couldn't get a hold of Elly in her own head. And then Xanthiana's long dead, half remembered mother appeared.

"I mean you no harm Xanthiana." The voice wasn't her mothers, but Xanthiana didn't remember her mothers voice.

"Get out of my head Ark Brain." Xanthiana didn't know much about the computers, only they were the basis for the EGO tech and that some of them were extremely dangerous.

"You must listen to me Xanthiana, there is a danger here, other Votans are about to access an Ark ship they should leave alone."

"Why tell me, why not Deliah she's with the Erep." The image of her mother shimmered for a moment.

"She does not have an ego device, I've used some of my remaining power to remind her of her childhood, but I can not communicate with her like I do with you. This also concerns the Votanis Collective, if that Ark ship is breached and what is contained unleashed the earth will never be the same, and the votans will be to blame." Xanthiana wanted to tell the ark brain to fuck off and find someone else, but she couldn't, she couldn't let the world get worse than it already was.

"Ok, tell me what I need to know." The road to hell was paved with good intentions was an earth phrase, but it seemed to be the only one that made sense considering the situation.

Death Politics

"There is nothing in there just medical waste and instruments." Deliah had pulled out some instruments from her roller and was preparing to go inside the arkfall, Xanthiana felt the need to try and tell her not to bother and they should just blow it up before it caused more pain.

"To you and your EGO device I'm sure it looked like nothing, but the Earth Republic has been tracking this fall for a while and if our intel is right there is very important things inside of it." Xanthiana wanted nothing to do with it. The smell was getting worse than it had been when she arrived.

"So this is what you do, track down ark falls and kill raiders?"

"Mostly the ark falls, I'm a scientist at heart, but you can't be that in this world and not have a fast trigger finger." Deliah attached a gas mask in front of her face and offered Xanthiana one.

"No thanks I've been inside, no need for a return trip."

"Going to watch my back I take it."

"Sure we'll call it that." Its not like Xanthiana was in a rush to go kill Rushard, she wanted to of course, but wanted to savor the moment for a bit, let the dumb bastard think he's going to achieve victory, and then kill him without him ever knowing she was there. The fantasy was one thing that kept her going. Xanthiana didn't suspect anyone would be coming not with the smell from the ark fall and the smoke from the burning bandit vehicles, that usually tells people even in this shitty place to stay away.

"She might be right, there could be something VBI might want in there."

"And if I cared about that I'd go inside, but since I don't, and extension you don't Elly, we stay out here." Xanthiana was way more interested in picking over the corpses of the raiders.

"Why are you ok with picking over these corpses but not the ones in the arkfall?"

"Because these ones are fresh and I sort of know where they've been, the ones in the arkfall are gross and I have no idea where they have been or what killed them." It made sense to Xanthiana, but not Elly. Xanthiana had fully picked over all the corpses when she began to worry about Deliah. She hadn't heard from the human in what felt like a couple hours and she figured there would have at least been occasional chatter about something.

"Elly I'm going to regret this but scan for Deliah for me."

"She's in the arkfall same as she was, hasn't moved in like thirty minutes though."

"Shit." Xanthiana checked the magazine on her rifle and turned on her flash light, something was wrong in that Arkfall and sadly she was going to have to be the one to check it out.

Shootout at the Old Arkfall

"My name is Deliah by the way." The Erep soldier was dug in by the arkfall, Xanthiana was up top providing over watch with her rifle. The bandits looked to be in the twenty to twenty five range based on vehicles and the limited scans Elly could provide.

"That will come in handy, I can mark your gravestone now."

"It's better than we did for you Votans, mostly just left you rotting, maybe pissed on the corpse."

"In Castithan pissing on the corpse is considered a great honor." Xanthiana could see the raiders coming over the hill, she took a breath and sighted up on the lead car's driver.

"Really?" Xanthiana fired and the drivers head evaporated, his roller swung wildly out of control and smashed into the one next to it causing a bit of a jam up. It didn't stop the raiders from coming, but it would at least slow them down and make it easier for Deliah down below to handle.

"Oh yeah, its why I always tell every Castithan I run into I intend on pissing on them when they are dead, sometimes even before they are dead." Deliah laughed and then the sound of her voice was drowned out by the sound of gunfire. The raiders had pulled their remaining vehicles into a barricade, and they were trying to figure out Xanthiana's position when Deliah hit them from below. She managed to kill a couple before they adjusted to her firing position and pinned her down.

"You still up there?" Deliah croaked out, she sounded a bit hurried.

"Doing my best to kill these guys, but they are dug in very deep and keeping out of my scope."

"Well if you can figure out a way to help me out I'd surely appreciate the effort."

"Just like a human asking a Votan to help them out of a rough spot." The raiders were dug in tight. She had sniped them as best she could from where she was, but trying to relocate somewhere else might put her in the line of fire for the raiderss. But if she didn't Deliah would certainly be dead and as much as humans bothered her, that grizzled erep lady entertained her and that was more than enough. She slid down the embankment and came up firing she caught a couple surprised raiders who hadn't position to adjust to her firing from a different place. Deliah seeing her chance as they turned to face Xanthiana popped up from her fortified position and caught the raiders in a cross fire, she threw some grenades in for good measure The few raider who survived attempted to flee and Xanthiana killed them before they made it very far.

"Glad you didn't take too long to help me out there." Deliah looked a bit dirty, but otherwise unhurt.

"Didn't have enough of a bladder load to send you off in style, figured had to save you until I did."

Always Harder Than It Looks

The erep's roller was not exactly standard issue. All the windows and doors had been reinforced with big metal plates and the tires were larger with traction meant more for off road than trail driving. Xanthiana couldn't make out how many were on board, but the roller was small, so no more than two. She was laying prone with her rifle trained on the roller as it approached the arkfall. Elly could tell her the passengers didn't have EGO devices or even active radio signals, and they appeared to be alone. The roller stopped and one woman in armor got out, she had her hands up cradling a rifle above her head, it was the universal signal for surrender.

"I'm not here to harm you." Xanthiana was kind of surprised, while she wasn't in full cover she thought she'd hidden herself well enough. The woman's voice was broadcast from a speaker somewhere in her armor, she was wearing a facemask, so Xanthiana couldn't make out what she looked like.

"Can you tap into her com system to respond?"

"Affirmative, one sec let me connect you, and go ahead."

"This is Xanthiana Roeyka of VBI industries, we claim this salvage." The fact she didn't actually work for VBI as much anymore was something she just left hanging there, its not like VBI would notify the ereps of that. The soldier lowered her rifle and took off her mask, she looked old, probably around fifty, which was a bit strange for a foot soldier even in the shitty world they lived in.

"Thank god you weren't some raider, I caught site of your rifle glint and took a chance, I figured if you were a raider you would have just opened fire to start." The older soldier walked toward the arkfall, Xanthiana kept her rifle trained.

"I could shoot you you know, no one would know."

"You could, but you aren't, you VBI sorts are jumpy, kind of dick holes, but not flat out murderers. Besides you'll need my help." Xanthiana laughed, whoever this old military chick was, she had guts.

"And why do I need your help?"

"Because there are raiders coming, I got in front of them, hoping to check out what's here before they got here, but I can see its way too big to snag it and take off, so we'll have to defend it until support arrives, and it's easier to defend with two than it is by yourself." It was a fair point, and Elly confirmed the Erep's statement, there were more people incoming.

"You have a deal."

The Scent of Death

The smell was overwhelming. It was a rancid odor of burnt metals and plastics, combined with something organic burning. It was enough to almost have Xanthiana retch. Elly offered to turn off her olfactory senses, but she knew that would put her at a disadvantage versus whatever remained in the arkfall. The interior looked like a lab of sorts, or it was before it crashed, there were all kind of tools and tables scattered around, the smell appeared to come from whatever they had been experimenting on.

"Elly scan the equipment in this room, give me your best guess on whatever it was they were doing in here."

"That's going to be difficult to determine with my data on file Xan, the Earth Republic only has rumors of Votanis experiments, no actual proof, you might know more about this than I do."

"I rather doubt that Elly, I was a foot soldier, a good one in my own estimation, but I just used the weapons, I didn't design them." Xanthiana didn't want to take another step in the room, if what was being developed in there was biological weapons she didn't want to get infected by whatever they were testing, even if most of the votan's biological weaponry seemed to target humans to the exclusion of Votans, there could be other horrible shit in there like hell bugs.

"This appears to be a morgue of sorts, most of the instruments are used in autopsies, I don't believe you have anything to be afraid of for biogenic weapons."

"Unless what they were investigating was the cause of death in a bio weapon."

"There is always that." Xanthiana smiled to herself, making Elly question herself with regards to her analytic analysis was always funny to her, even if it was frustrating to the EGO device. For the most part there didn't look to be anything to salvage, other than the bags of waste that Xanthiana was not in anyway going to root through. She was just about to leave when a blooping sound went off in her head.

"What in the hell is that noise?"

"I was alerting you to the presence of an intruder approaching the arkfall." The ego device seemed cheerful, Xanthiana was less so.

"Couldn't have just told me?"

"You have your way of doing things I have mine." Xanthiana shrugged knowing that much like she enjoyed frustrating the EGO it did the same to her. She exited the arkfall and took up her rifle, she could see the runner in the distance it looked military, possibly earth republic.

"Looks like we're about to have a visitor." Xanthiana racked the rifles slide and readied herself, even if the arkfall had nothing inside of it, she wasn't just going to turn it over, not without someone paying for the privilege of course.

Arkfall

"SHIT!!!!" Xanthiana swerved the car out of the way as a large piece of ark wreckage smashed into the ruins of the highway directly in front of her. She slammed on the brakes and swung the car to the side, she could hear the tires spinning and failing to grip what was left of the road. She narrowly avoided the crashed ark wreckage and ended up putting the car into a ditch. The smoking wreckage in front of her did not lookinviting or safe. Whatever it had been in orbit it was now a twisted metal ruin which could have something good or bad inside of it.

The car was pretty well stuck in the ditch, Xanthiana tried to get it out by throwing it in reverse but she was going nowhere fast. She frowned at the steering wheel, she was about a hundred miles north of paradise and didn't know of any locals who could help her with the car. She also knew that ark's tended to bring out ark hunters, and other local scum. Not to mention whatever was in the ark itself.

"Sorry about that Xan I didn't have my ark tracker online." Xanthiana couldn't be too angry with the AI, the only reason it had gotten as sloppy as it had been was because of her interference and humanizing the device to herself.

"Next time a little more warning than arkfall imminent." Xanthiana's neck hurt from the sudden stop, but she'd deal. She was just glad she had started wearing her seat belt or things could have been a lot worse. She opened the car door and surveyed the site. The wreckage was letting of a huge plume of smoke alerting just about anyone in the area to its crash site. It looked like part of a ship instead of a full ship, but Xanthiana wasn't the best at determining votan ships to begin with despite having traveled on one.

"I'm updating my files to reflect that, do you want to check it out?" Xanthiana had her rifle out, it wouldn't do much good inside the cramped quarters of the wreck, but it was the only weapon she had bullets for.

"Not really no, this always feels like tomb robbing to me, but better us than the next asshole, so I guess we'll be going in." She made her way to what looked like an access point and took a deep breath, she really didn't like stepping back on the ark ships, it reminded her of a lot of bad memories.

"Scans on full, good luck Xan." And into the belly of the beast Xanthiana went.

Just Like Old Times

The sign out front of the ruined convenience store read "Ammunition" there were a couple guards and a thin as a reed human behind the counter. Xanthiana needed sniper bullets, her rifle had a couple magazines, but she knew she'd need more if she hoped to kill Rushard and his men. The ammunition store just happened to be near by. The reed thin man had a name tag on that said Andrew, he looked like the result of years of inbreeding, his guards were probably family as they shared similar appearances even if they were bulkier.

"I don't see anything here worth buying miss." Xanthiana had the rifle and pistol she had gotten from top notch, as well as some magazines of pistol ammunition. It should have been enough to get a couple magazines of sniper ammunition, but Andrew thought differently.

"Come on, this is top quality merchandise." He looked at her with an unsettling stare, she felt revolted just being there. Elly was similarly grossed out by Andrew offering her all sorts of bio indicators he was a scummy person.

"You're top quality merchandise, these guns are just pieces of shit you stole from someone else, but if you want some bullets well I'm just sure there are things you can do for them." His smile gave way to rotten teeth and even from across the counter she could smell his breath as foul. She was about to tell him where he could stuff his additional services when a whoop came from outside, it was the kind of call raiders made. The two guards ducked behind the counter, Andrew did so as well.

"My aren't you three the bravest bunch."

"Fuck you lady, raiders killed my whole family." Xanthiana smiled, she saw an opportunity.

"Well I'm sure hiding behind the counter will scare them off, tell you what Andrew I need to check my sights, but I'll make you a deal, if I kill these raiders you'll give me the ammunition I want for free, and as a showing of my affection I'll let you keep the raiders gear." It was a more than fair deal that the weasel had to think over. Such was the problem with humans outside of cities, they all wanted to get more than they deserved.

"What about a fifty percent discount?"

"How about I leave the raiders to kill you and your guards and then take what they leave behind?"

"I see your point, kill them and I'll give you the bullets." Xanthiana would have shook on it, but the guy's hand grossed her out in ways she didn't want to enumerate. She went outside with her rifle and went prone. Elly gave her the indicators of the raiders. There were five of them on a busted up roller approaching in a straight line. It was pretty much shooting idiots in a barrel, but she would have to adjust the rifle's sights, hopefully the sound of the roller would cover the sound of the bullets missing their mark.

"I'm ready to provide telemetry Xan." Elly showed a line from the barrel of the rifle to its intended target. Xanthiana took aim and fired, the bullet whizzed to the right of the intended raider. She adjusted her sight, took aim and fired again this time it hit dead on and the raiders head vanished. The raider to his right noticed a second too late as the next bullet took his head off as well. The other three bandits were in the roller themselves, noticing the blood sliding down the rear window the driver swung the roller wide right, but it just brought it skidding to a halt and lined up the final bandits perfectly. The bullet exited out the drivers window after having splattered the remaining occupants.

"I believe we have a deal." Xanthiana said with a smile.

"I think I see why you had to bury your rifle Xan." Elly sounded almost scared.

Ellensburg

There wasn't much to Ellensburg anymore, even after the battle that burned the town to the ground no one had seen fit to rebuild. A row of half working wind generators slowly turning in the breeze seemed to be the only motion in the area, not even hell bugs wanted anything to do with the burned out town. Xanthiana killed the engine at the city limits, her memories of events there still raw.

"Ellensburg?" Elly asked like the child like entity she was.

"A human settlement, mostly refugees at the time, my commander suspected there was a militia force inside the town, we had it surrounded. The people tried to tell us there were no soldiers here, but we did not believe them."

"And then a fire started?"

"We set the fire, it was the optimal solution, burn the town down, kill everyone trying to leave, I was the one put in charge, Rushard had plans somewhere else, he told me for every soldier we lost I'd get a lash on my back. I didn't want anymore wounds, so I chose the route that put no one at risk. Well no one from our side anyway."Xanthiana made her way from the car to a small graveyard, she had acquired a shovel along the drive and began digging at the grave marked "Quigley".

"I'm still at a loss as to why this caused you to stop using sniper rifles."

"It was my last battle Elly, at the time, I figured I wouldn't be needing it again."

"That can't be it, you've killed several people when I've been with you, didn't seem to have a problem doing it either." Xanthiana sighed, the little EGO device just loved to pry.

"I haven't killed a child since I've been with you Elly. And that's what I did here, there was a mother running with her son, she made it pretty far before I got her, the boy couldn't have been more than three didn't even try and run, he just sat their crying at his dead mother, I killed him too, one right through the head, figured it was better to kill him than leave him to the ravages of this planet. I didn't know their names, but the mother had a dog tag of 'Quigley.' And so I buried my rifle and defected. I left the military shortly before the conflict ended anyway, in a way I've been doing penance ever since." She dug up the rifle, it seemed to still be in working condition. Down the side she had inscribed until peace in irathient. Sights were off, but she could adjust them.

"Wow that's horrible."

"I know, but I was wrong, the war never ended, it just changed it's focus, its now us against this planet, and I assure you Elly, I play to win." She took the rifle and ammunition and left the grave dug up, someone coming by might think bad thoughts, but Xanthiana didn't care, she had a mission, and she planned on fulfilling it, one high powered bullet at a time.

Back To the Worst Mistake, Not The First

"So we're just leaving?" Elly's voice was like that of a child being told to leave a toy behind. They had been driving up the ruins of a highway that was marked by signs indicating it was the 5.

"That's the plan, pretty sure killing an Erep officer is against the law, and I also need something from up north." The highway was mostly in tact, which was surprising considering the war and the fauna, it was probably helped by survivors using the road as a way up north, and so it was still being maintained as much as people with small arms and crude tools can maintain a roadway.

"You didn't even give those votan's a chance to thank you."

"They wouldn't have thanked me, it was my fault they were strung up in the first place."

"Come on Xan you can't blame yourself for Cobb, he would have killed those people if not for you."

"You don't know that, I just know that because he thought he could play a sick game those people almost died. I need to stop running from my past Elly, I need to confront it, and put a bullet through it's stupid smug Castithan head."

"You make that sound like your past has a name."

"It does, he was my owner in my past life in the Votanis Collective, and he's the one running those mercs." There was a pile of stone in the road way and Xanthiana had to swerve roughly out of the road to avoid.

"So why are we going up north if the person you need to kill is back where we left?"

"Because I left something up here I'm going to need down there, I told myself I wouldn't use it anymore, but clearly I was wrong." The road up north was going to get rough, last time Xanthiana was up there it was even worse off than where she'd come from, but hard or not she had to retrieve her rifle and then she'd make sure to bring the sons of schtako down.

"Where are we going?"

"To the sight of a massacre, my first one." She gunned the engine and drove on in silence, the little EGO device only piping up to suggest alternative routes.

The Curious Demise of Cobb

It was raining pretty bad when Xanthiana pulled up to the farm house. She could see an erep vehicle out front but no people. She also saw Sagaran's roller, it too was empty, no sign of him or Tex. Elly was running scans of the area, but she wasn't coming up with anything. Something felt wrong, it wasn't the mercs, that much she was certain, she hadn't run into them very often, but this didn't seem their style, too indirect from what she's seen of them. This was something else entirely.

"You said Cobb said to meet him here?"

"Yes he gave specific instructions."

"And yet Cobb is not here."

"Correct, Cobb has apparently stepped out." Xanthiana sighed, she didn't want to have to be here to begin with, and now it was even worse that Cobb wasn't even there. She was about to get in her car and drive off when suddenly Cobb dialed her in.

"Are you hear now cat lady." Xanthiana sighed.

"Yes Sergeant against my better judgement I have arrived, what do you want?" The tone of his voice was a little off putting, Cobb always had an accent but now it was more pronounced, he almost sounded drunk.

"Come to the back of the house I left you a present." Xanthiana didn't like where this was going, but she figured whatever game Cobb was playing if she didn't play along, things were about to get bad. She got to the back of the house and there was a sniper rifle sitting next to the railing, the bad feeling in her stomach immediately got worse.

"What's going on Cobb?"

"We're going to play a game you and I, if you win you and your votanis parasites get to live, if I win, well the opposite happens."

"Xan I've done a scan I've found the farmers, your friend, and his companion, they are currently five hundred yards away with what appears to be nooses around their necks standing on chairs."

"Fuck you Cobb I'm not playing your game."

"If you try and walk off that porch I'll put two bullets right into your ugly eyes, you'll play my game or you'll die, now I know you aren't experienced with a sniper rifle so this will be your first lesson, you got ten shots for five people that gives you two shots a person, or if you don't particularly care for any of them but one, ten for one! After your first five shots its my turn, I'll be shooting the chair legs, now I'll even be fair and wait till you have failed to kill each of them." Xanthiana felt so angry, but she knew it did her no good, Cobb had set this game up, and she was but a player.

"I can help you Xan, with the aiming."

"Elly I don't need your help."

"You said you don't know how to use a sniper rifle."

"That's not what I said." Xanthiana took up the rifle and sighted it down, the rain made the shots hard, but not impossible, the rifle was of human make with a bolt action slide, probably a hunting rifle. Cobb was an asshole though, the bullets in the hands of an amateur would in no way be able to cut one of the ropes as he claimed. "Elly I'm going to need you to do me a favor, Cobb is out there, I'm sure he's masking himself somehow, but he won't be able to mask the shots, can you triangulate from where he's firing from?

"In theory yes, but you'd have to be able to shoot him Xan, I doubt the Sergeant will make it easy."

"Just do as I say please." Xanthiana took up the rifle and propped herself on the railing. The ropes were attached to what looked like an old metal swing set, which was rusted but still holding steady, it looked to be her best chance to get them all down at once.

"I'm waiting on you cat."

"Cobb I want you to know I've never really taken much pleasure from killing, I've done a lot of it over the years, but when I kill you, I'll take so much pleasure."

"You can try pussy cat, you can try."

Xanthiana fired the first shot wide, it hit the dirt with a thud, Elly popped up helpful indicators on her vision but she shrugged them off, she missed on purpose. The next one slammed into the support of the swing set, but didn't do enough, she could hear Cobb laughing that she hadn't come close to any of the ropes. The third shot hit the other support, it also didn't knock down the structure, but she could tell she had damaged it and that one seemed to be the weaker link from what she could see, for the fourth shot she missed entirely.

"My rifle jammed Cobb you'll have to give me a second to unload it."

"That'll count as a shot cupcake, now watch a real man in action." Cobb's shots were all to the point, each one weaked the chair of each person swinging from a rope, one of them even hit three chairs with one shot. He was not playing around.

"Elly did you get a reading on those."

"It'll take me a moment, I'm calculating, stall." Xanthiana sighed.

"Cobb this rifle is really jammed, can you give me another?"

"If you don't shoot in the next thirty second I'll kill all of them and then you."

"Elly."

"I'm working on it Xan, one moment."

"Time's up." Cobb's opening shot knocked the leg off one of the chairs and the farmer young daughter started twitching. He seemed to stop to appreciate the young votan hanging as he didn't fire another right away.

"Elly!"

"GOT HIM!" In front of Xanthiana's eyes a line drew from the gunshot up to a spot on a mountain. Xanthiana fired five shots in quick succession, each slammed into the support base Xanthiana had tested earlier, on the fourth shot it snapped and the whole thing crashed over, but the fifth was just to make sure.

"Hey Cobb you might want to learn how to speak english, I said I had no use for one, I never said I didn't know how to use one." With her final shot Xanthiana put a bullet into Cobb's surprised face. She cycled the bullet out and the casing hit the ground with a thud, the rifle was empty and Cobb was dead.

"Wow that was pretty amazing Xan."

"Thanks Elly, though I did break a promise to do that, I guess I am truly damned now." Xanthiana sighed and went to check on the people who almost got hung. At least if she was damned it was for a good cause.

Never Any Time For Yourself

"Here is all the shit you asked for, please for the love of all the dead bodies in your drive way find a way to cure this shit." Xanthiana was put off, she had spent all of her ammunition, the armor had taken several swipes, and the shield she had been loaned was destroyed. The only thing that she really had anymore was her health and with several cuts taken from the infected she wondered about that too. Eren was like most of her kind more interested in the work than the results of it. She accepted the supplies and went back to what she had been doing, not even a thank you or offer of help. It was enough for Xanthiana to question whether what she went through was worth it in the first place.

"I believe she has the supplies we can use to fix ourselves up." Elly was always focussed, the little computer seemed perfectly content running from one threat to the next, it was comforting and annoying to Xanthiana. But the EGO was right and there were bandages and antiseptics to use, and not taking care of herself would not make things any better. So she bandaged up, managed to scrounge up a couple magazines of pistol ammunition and made her way back to her car. The car had seen better days, she had to use it to finish off the last couple of infected and they had mangled the hell out of the front of the car.

"Ok so at least now, now we can finally just get back to doing what we can to get the hell out of this place." Xanthiana was about to gun the engine when Elly spoke up.

"Uhh about that Xan."

"Hit me Elly, don't sugar coat it."

"I've got Sergent Cobb on the line he says he needs your help." Xanthiana sighed and took her foot off the gas.

"Where?"

"Back at that farm house we saved from raiders."

"You'll have to be more specific than that Elly, put it up on the map, and tell Cobb I'm on my way." Xanthiana wanted to just ignore everyone, but she knew, just knew doing so would screw her and so in the face of a huge storm she drove on towards the farm house.  If anyone she thought, maybe this will be the way to get back on the Ereps good side and that meant the way to fatter contracts with less problems.

Incompetence Is No Excuse

"Tell me again how you lost my quarry." Rushard was standing in front of a group of refugees he'd had workingthe docks to try and dredge up the crashed ship. The subordinate he was addressing was miles away and he was using the EGO device to talk to the man, even though he wasn't vocalizing what he was saying, he still was pacing and waving his hands about, which amused and terrified the refugees. It appeared the well dressed Casithan was insane.

"She unleashed some kind of monster on us sir." Rushard was upset, he didn't want to be upset, but he was upset all the same.

"How many men did I send your way again?"

"Fifteen sir."

"And you're telling me, fifteen of you FUCKING MORONS COULD NOT POSSIBLY APPREHEND ONE GOD DAMN IRATHIENT BITCH!?" He had taken to actually shouting instead of just saying it in his head, the refugees flinched at the sudden yelling.

"Sir the creature was huge."

"I don't give a shit, clearly you're still alive, clearly it wasn't so big you couldn't kill it, CLEARLY YOU COULD HAVE CAUGHT THE BITCH I WANTED YOU TO CATCH!" Rashard suddenly felt like the collar on his shirt was too tight, he could see the refugees staring at him and he waved his hand and they scattered.

"Sir we only have four people left, the creature is dead we think." Rushard hated incompetence, he hated being told something didn't go as planned, and he hated most of all that the Irathient bitch was still out there, possibly about to mess up one of his plans.

"Well then the four of you better get that bitch or don't come back." He wished there was a way to slam the EGO device down like any other communicator, but there wasn't, so at best he could just cut off the communication and consider that the final word on the subject. "Now my lovelies, you were telling me you couldn't get my ship out of some sediment?" The crowd of refugees who had scattered reformed, fear in their eyes.

"Sir the ship is just too deep, we don't have the equipment to lift something that heavy."

"You don't? Oh well why didn't you say so." He got close the refugee who had spoke and shot him in the head. "Does anyone else think you don't have the proper equipment to get that ship? No? Good NOW GET ME MY FUCKING SHIP!" Rushard was still fuming, he didn't want to be angry, but something in the back of his mind told him he better deal with that Irathient who had killed his men now, or he'd be screwed later. After all she was his slave, and she had to respect her master.

Problems in the Rear View

"I'm not judging your results Xan, but I believe we might have wanted to stick around and destroy that creature." Xanthiana had fled immediately upon coming out of the mine leaving the mercenaries to deal with the hulking creature of the 99'ers. She was helped by them ignoring her and focusing on the rampaging beast, but Elly just had to be the voice of reason. Xanthiana was driving down the road, having gotten to her car and gotten out of the situation as soon as possible.

"I'm sure the mercenaries can handle it, and if they can't its not like one creature can destroy all of paradise can it?"

"I don't believe this is what we call an optimal situation Xan."

"Elly you have to work with me here."

"I'm just saying Xan, we shouldn't flee a situation we could help with." Xanthiana breathed out heavily. The ego device wasn't wrong in a traditional sense, but in the world that she lived in it was wrong in every sense of the word. In the new world the only person you help most was yourself in Xanthiana's experience. Her even helping the members of Top Notch was a bit of a stretch for her, but she had to pay them off, it was the one thing in the new world that seemed to bite you in the ass more than anything else, owing anyone anything.

"Tell you what Elly, next horrific creature that is killing mercenaries we'll stop and help, deal?"

"I have a feeling you won't honor this deal at all, but deal." Xanthiana had no plans to honor that deal, or hope that the deal would come to be honored at all, but it got the EGO off her back and that was important for the moment. The drive back to Top Notch was pretty uneventful, so much so that Xanthiana let her mind drift for a moment and almost slammed in to a make shift barricade being swarmed by what looked like a horde of people.

"What the shit?" The horde looked to be infected, probably with the disease that she had been sent to get the supplies to help combat.

"Careful Xan, they appear to be infected with an airborne mutagen that has made them rabid." Xanthiana had stopped the car short of the barricade, and so far the infected had not noticed her, but she didn't think that would hold out.

"Options?"

"We ran before."

"As good as that sounds Elly, I think if we don't stand and fight here there won't be a here to come back to."

"Oh sure ignore the giant interesting monster, stay and fight the horrible plague, you make no sense Xan."

"Clearly Elly you don't know Irathients at all." Xanthiana checked the ammunition in her rifle, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

Mutant Mutilation

"Puny smelly thing in my home." The creature looked to be stitched together from all sorts of people and then reinforced with cybernetic parts. Why the 99'ers had created it was anyone's guess. The creature lumbered out of where it appeared to have been sleeping and slammed a fist into the ground. Xanthiana didn't wait to see if it was hostile, she opened fire with her rifle, the bullets impacted but didn't seem to do much to the creatures flesh even with the acid impacts. Xanthiana kept on the run, the creature due to its size and the limits of its flesh seemed slow to get up and move around, which was a minor benefit considering Xanthiana didn't appear to have a means of hurting it.

"Options?" Xanthiana had grown so used to talking to Elly in her head, she was a bit surprised to have said it out loud.

"I'd suggest an escape." Xanthiana scanned the room quickly and didn't see any exit, which raised the question of how the huge monster got down here in the first place.

"Well if you can find an exit in this room I'd surely appreciate the heads up." The mutant had gone into a charge, Xanthiana side stepped it and it slammed hard into the rock wall causing the ceiling to shake over head bringing down part of the room. Xanthiana had forgotten about the crate of parts this job was originally about, she spotted it in the middle of the room miraculously unharmed, for the time being anyway.

"Structurally the room appears to be weakest in the northern section, if you can get the creature to damage it further, you should be able to use that to escape."

"So you want me to stand in front of the northern wall and hope the creature destroys it?"

"Well its either that or hoping the ineffectual bullets you are shooting will suddenly work."

"Fair point." Xanthiana went to the cave wall on the north side and shot toward the creatures face, she figured if she couldn't kill it, she might wound it or at the very least blind it. Her bullets made an impact into the eyes but didn't seem to do much damage, but they did enrage it so that it stopped, snorted, and then full on charged toward her. It was faster than before and almost caught her off guard. She felt her foot get clipped by the monster as it crashed into the wall, and then through it. The impact on her foot was enough to throw off her dodge and send her crashing into the ground.

"Get up Xan, the creature has been temporarily disabled!" Xanthiana looked up from the ground and could see the monster had impaled itself on a piece of the cavern, but as the EGO device had suggested, it did appear still functional and able to fight. Xanthiana ran back to the center of the room and snatched up the crate of supplies. She ran past the monster and found herself in what looked like some kind of run off for the mine proper, she could see light at the end of a tunnel and ran for it, behind her she could hear the creature waking up. She came into the light and found the mercs were waiting for her somehow.

"Trust me on this one boys, you're going to want to run." They laughed and then the monster burst forth and they weren't laughing anymore.

Mind If I Step Out?

The mine was definitely deeper on the inside than it had looked on the outside. So far it had appeared empty despite signs of workers tools discarded about. The smells got worse further in. Xanthiana knew Gulanite could stink, but she had no idea it could smell this awful, or whatever the 99'ers were doing down in the dark could stink this awful. It was overpowering to the point of her eyes watering.

"What is that smell?" Xanthiana started to doubt it was the rocks, and feared it was something else horrible instead.

"Unknown, I don't believe its gulanite, the mining process does not produce an odor like this, also I keep bringing this up, but the stability of this area is highly compromised Xan, we need to get out of this mine."

"Well if you can identify an exit I'd surely agree with you and we could leave." Elly didn't have an exit and Xanthiana continued on. The mine was broken up in active veins and what seemed like administration, or whatever the 99'ers would consider administration. Xanthiana decided on the admin buildings since that would possibly have a map and/or a clear indication of another entrance to the mine.

"No 99'ers currently on radar, its hard to pick up signals thanks to all the interference, so I can't say that with 100% accuracy, but I'm scanning on multiple frequencies and coming up with nothing."

"Well thats encouraging or terrifying, smell is getting worse though, maybe this isn't admin, and its actually waste processing?"

"Unlikely, from what I've scanned of the 99'ers the first thing they remove from their subjects is the digestive system."

"How nice of them."

"My records indicate prior to the madness that gripped their miners union that particular digestive track removal was necessitated by the company, without food to process workers productivity was increased 58%."

"All at the cost of their humanity, how nice of that company." Xanthiana didn't know a lot about how earth had been running post arkfall, but every time she thought she'd reached the limits of madness she'd find something else horrible. Administration was also completely empty, though the smell was getting worse and worse, it was a building sense of dread that percolated through everything. She had to wonder how the 99'ers dealt with it, but she was sure like their intestines they probably had their noses removed as well.

"Xan I just ran an analysis of the smell, I advise against continuing here, this is not administration, nor will it lead to an exit." Xanthiana was about to ask what it could be when she turned a corner and ran into a room full of body parts. It made sense of course, the 99'ers kidnapped people and forcibly turned them into 99'ers obviously all those body part had to go somewhere. Though it was more than a little alarming for Xanthiana to see them casually strewn about the room.

"This is their surgical operation."

"Correct, though this appears to just be a storage area for dead organic matter according to my analysis the 99'ers don't see it as anything more than organic waste." Xanthiana was going to make a quip about that when her footing gave way. She clanged around some access tunnels before being deposited in what looked like a large hollowed out mine shaft.

"Ow, anything broken Elly?"

"No Xan some areas will bruise but I don't detect any broken bones," Xanthiana was about to ask where they were when she heard a large growl, "Xan I'm detecting a fairly large biomass approaching." Out of the darkness a hulking cybernetic giant emerged, it looked about twenty feet tall.

"Gee you don't say."

Predictable Problems

"And that's why you never give someone a grenade and tell them how long the fuse was." The explosion had covered up Xanthiana's escape, but just barely. She could hear the gunshots from the mercs hitting near her feet as she fled towards the mine. Elly of course was telling her how bad that idea was the whole way there. The grenade had not killed any of the mercs, it went off in the air on the way back, but it did throw their aim off allowing Xanthiana to make the mine entrance relatively unscathed. Of course shortly after making it a rocket streaked from behind her and leveled the entrance thereby trapping her, but she was still alive and still had the stuff Top-Notch wanted, as good as that was with where she was currently trapped.

"I told you this was a bad idea, and its only going to get worse, the rest of the mine is currently experiencing instability, with pockets of gulanite poised to also explode, and I haven't mapped this location, our one way out is most likely closed."

""Aside from that any other good news?"

"I believe there are still 99'ers in here with us, I have picked up several of their cybernetic signatures coming from within." Xanthiana withdrew a flashlight from her gear and fixed it to the front of the rifle, Elly could boost her ambient sight, but she preferred the flashlight, it seemed more natural.

"Fantastic, so cut off from the outside, trapped with cybernetic monsters, and we have no way of getting out, today just looks better and better." The inside of the mine had been damaged by the explosion, both of them, but it didn't appear to have been in a great state to begin, which probably lead to the instabilities Elly was noting.

"You are exceptionally chipper about this Xan, do you know something I don't?"

"Nah I'm just used to these kind of situations, in the war I was trapped underground for three days with my squad."

"How did that turn out?" The mine entrance snaked to the right it was the only direction for Xanthiana to go, and she didn't feel any reason to keep whatever monster waited in the depths waiting.

"Resorted to cannibalism in the end, Sensoth are very tasty." There wasn't any noise in the mine, but Xanthiana could hear something outside, possible explosions, she guessed the 99'ers had not taken their defeat by the mercs lightly.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah but its a hunger you really can't ever get over, I mean not in polite society."

"This is really fascinating in a xenobiology kind of way Xan."

"I'm joking Elly we didn't eat each other."

"Oh well, I'm sure you had some great stories."

"I'll make you a promise we come out of this alive, I'll tell you a story about it. Now give me a map, lets find us a way out of this burial." A map appeared in her head, and Xanthiana continued on into the dark.

Mine All Mine

"I have to say your plan was superior to mine, aside from the fact that you caused an explosion large enough to alert just about everyone in the immediate and not so immediate areas." The aftermath of the gulanite explosion was pretty extensive, so much so that Xanthiana was concerned the cybernetic parts could possibly have been damaged in the explosion.

"Results are results Elly." Most of the 99'ers were dead, the ones that weren't Xanthiana mercy killed. While searching through the wreckage she was concerned about all the fumes from the burning gulanite, but Elly assured her the research on gulanite burning was inconclusive, which was really comforting to her. Xanthiana hoped the explosion would keep other 99'ers at bay, though it was more likely to do the opposite as the machines would probably want to investigate what caused the deaths of their fellow cybernetics. The rubble obscured the parts Xanthiana needed, but thanks to the EGO device she was able to track down the crate and find it was mostly intact. Xanthiana was actually surprised the 99'ers had not emerged from secret hidy hole to attack when a group of them did just that. Using a type of burrowing device from underground they emerged, six of them, at first they looked to be a scouting party, but upon seeing Xanthiana they opened up with their modified miner weaponry.

"I'm sensing multiple seismic vibrations, the miners are coming at us from under the ground." Xanthiana had the crate of supplies under her left arm and she was firing at the 99'ers with her pistol with her right, it was an awkward set up and was messing with her aim. She huddled down behind some wreckage and set down the parts to take up the rifle.

"Gee I couldn't have figured that out on my own. What kind of escape plan do I have here?"

"Bad, its open terrain made worse by the explosion, outside of that the mine is there, but considering the 99'ers are coming from the mine, and your explosion destabilized it, that would be a really terrible idea."

"So you're saying the mine?"

"No I am not saying the mine, that is the opposite of what I said Xan!" Xanthiana was about to make a break for the mine when a new salvo of gunfire erupted opposite the 99'ers. It was concentrated and accurate, the cybernetics didn't stand a chance as they were basically standing in the open. Xanthiana put her head up to see who had just saved her ass and felt her heart sink.

"Ms. Roeyka we'd be real happy if you came out with your hands up and handed over the parts you were getting for Top-Notch." Of course it was the Mercs from before.

"Can I have a moment to think this over?" The clink of a grenade near her feet was the answer.

"You have three seconds."

Operation Boom Goes the Dynamite

"This is a sub optimal operation." The 99'ers camp was a loose group of ramshackle buildings, there did not seem to be any rhyme or reason for the operation, things were just casually cast aside in some places. Xanthiana did not know much about mining but Elly assured her the 99'ers were very bad at it. They did seem to have a lot of guards around their haul, or that's what Xanthiana assumed the cybernetic monsters with large weapons were. Xanthiana had parked the car from a distance and used a pair of binoculars that the Top-Notch people had loaned her to make her assessment, Elly assured her that the EGO device could see that far with out the binocs but Xanthiana sure as hell couldn't.

"What's our play here?" She couldn't see the augments she was to steal, but the maps Top-Notch had provided had lead to this place and she couldn't assume they had sent her into to an ambush. "I mean they hardly knew her, you normally get to know a person before you try and kill them," She mused to herself.

"I suggest a forward blitz assault, we have the surprise advantage, if we kill enough to disrupt their operation we'll have time while they try and mobilize against us, then we just grab the parts and get out of there."

"Sure its not like we have no idea of numbers in there and these are some kind of cybernetic super soldiers or anything. I'm sure with my acid bullets, body armor and personal force field we can totally blitz this group and not get killed."

"That's the spirit Xan!"

"Or we could do the not stupid thing and you can tell me how I can explode some of that loose gulanite they have laying around and we can do this attack right." Elly waited a moment and then popped up instructions on how to explode the processed gulanite, Xanthiana suspected the little ego device was mad that she rejected her plan. Exploding the gulanite seemed simple enough, use the fire nano ammo from the pistol to start a fire than the chain reaction would do the rest. Xanthiana hopped down from her observation point and made her towards the mine. Elly kept a radar up, but as far as Xanthiana could tell the 99'ers weren't exactly actively looking for people to attack their mine, which made sense to Xanthiana considering they were cybernetic miners who routinely kidnapped people to turn them into robotic slaves. Her luck held out and she managed to make it to the run off of the mine where she could see some gulanite refuse.

"Elly if I ignited this gulanite can it possibly tail end into the other gulanite inside?"

"Running calculations, its possible Xan, though it will also alert the miners to your presence."

"I'll take the chance Elly, keep the radar ready." Xanthiana stepped back and withdrew the pistol, it was a burst fire, so she knew she'd waste at least four bullets when she fired, but she hoped then nano tipped slugs would ignite it in the first burst so she'd still have the remaining clip to deal with any miners who came looking. She opened fire and the gulanite exploded, a wooshing sound shot up from the run off and went right into the camp where a sequence of larger explosions went off. Xanthiana was knocked down by the force of the explosion, and then covered in exploded debris, parts of which appeared to be the former miners.

"Operation successful I believe the explosion distracted them Xan."

"Thanks Elly I hadn't figured that out."

Contractor Work

"So basically you need me to attack a camp of those cyborgs to get some parts they stole from you, so you can get to work on curing a virus that doesn't affect my kind, but kills humans very easily." Xanthiana did not exactly like the way this plan was going.

"Well we did fix your car and give you medical care Ms. Roeyka." Eren was correct, the challenger had been saved, some front end damage but nothing too bad, and she claimed they had upgraded the engine, so she did technically owe them as much as she hated to admit that.

"This sounds like a little bit of extortion." Elly tried to plead differently, but Xanthiana told her to be quiet, she didn't like being forced into doing anything, especially since that's been the only way that she'd been having to do business since she arrived in Paradise.

"Well working with us does have its perks." Eren lead Xanthiana to Top-Notch's armory. There were a lot of weapons there for the very few employees Xanthiana had seen working for Top Notch. Eren withdrew an assault rifle and a pistol and set them on a table, then she pulled up a utility belt of sorts and some body armor.

"This will go a long way to making things even."

"Rifle and pistol are burst fire three round bursts, they use nano technology to tip the bullets with a little something extra, acid for the rifle, fire for the pistol, be careful their barrels can overheat. Body armor is standard issue Erep with some functionality increased for your ego device to harden impact zones and potentially stop a round from making it through. And finally the belt, its got a personal defense shield, limited rechargeable battery though, so you can't withstand sustained gun fire, but it should be able to help you get to cover."

"Well I have to say working for you guys is a lot better than working for the ereps."

"Private sector usually is Ms Roeyka. Collect your gear and get moving, the virus is spreading and you don't want to see what it does to people."

"That bad?"

"Hurry and you'll never have to find out." Xanthiana collected her gear and some ammunition and made for the Challenger.

"Elly pull up our objective I want to be back in time for dinner." And with that the Challengers engine roared to life and Xanthiana got back to work.

Top Notch Help

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" Xanthiana woke up suddenly, she heard beeping, could see an Indogene near by managing the machines, she was naked on the bed and had things hooked up to her. Elly was trying to say something to her, but her head hurt and she was disoriented. She couldn't get anything together other than the pain and disorientation.

"You were injured when your car crashed, you have a concussion and some bruised ribs, I was monitoring you until you came to. My name is Eren Niden, no one here is going to hurt you." Xanthiana had instinctively moved to a corner of the room, even with the machines still attached she had prepared herself to defend.

"I remember something like that." The pain was still there, but the fog was lifting. The Indogene turned a dial on a machine and things got clearer.

"Good, and you are going to calm down and get back on the bed, you are hurt and you'll hurt yourself more if you don't calm down, now please calm down." Eren's voice was calming, Xanthiana couldn't tell if it was the machines she was working or just the result of getting her bearings but she did as she was told and laid back down.

"Xan they are here to help you, it's what I was trying to say, you got really hurt." Xanthiana suddenly felt very exposed, and not just because she was naked. No one else was in the room, but it looked like other people did work there since she saw an unused station.

"Listen to your EGO device Miss Royeka, it cares about you, if not for that we wouldn't have found you." Eren brought a blanket and covered her up again, in her terror she had thrown it off herself.

"How do you know I have an EGO device?"

"I was on the team that designed them for one, I thought it strange an Irathient had one until yours informed me you were working with Von Bach and they had reverse engineered their own version of it. Still its almost as good as the ones we designed."

"I don't know if I should be insulted for almost as good as they designed." Xanthiana smiled at Elly's comment.

"You'll always be the best EGO device I have Elly."

"Secondly," Eren had continued talking, "Your ego device was the one who put out the call you were injured, there were no available Von Bach personnel nor were the Ereps close enough, so we came to help."

"Who is we?"

"Top-Notch Toolshop! The best engineering work you can get in Paradise!" Eren smiled, well as much as Indogene's can smile.

"Great let me guess you need something."

"Well now that you mention it we did fix your car for you and do have a job that someone like you could be uniquely suited to do." Xanthiana sighed and rolled over, she could tell it was going to be a long day.

The Elephant in the Car

"Aren't you worried about Von Bach?" Xanthiana had been driving down the road for about an hour before the AI spoke, she hadn't seen anyone following them yet, but got the feeling she wouldn't see them so much as run into them.

"No because clearly something has gone catastrophically wrong with their operation."

"Why do you say that? I haven't gotten any alert or otherwise notice things have gotten worse."

"Elly if things were ok they'd have recalled me by now, I'm still their employee, I'm still in the area, if they were doing fine I'd be right out in front sitting next to some dumb piece of technology while bandits took pot shots at it, but things have not gone ok, things have clearly gone to shit and we're just moments away from being drug back into it on top of all the other SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" Xanthiana slammed on the breaks as a huge cloaked figure was sitting front and center in the road. The challenger slid sideways and came to a stop ten feet from the figure. She couldn't tell much about what the creature was, it was taller than a sensoth, but not big enough to be a Volge unless they had baby Volge's a thought too terrifying for Xanthiana to process.

"Extensive cybernetic modifications, present, processing information." The Cloaked figure stood up, the cloak fell away and a rather large looking drill emerged, "Files confirm he's a 99'er BACK UP!!!" Elly's voice confirmed something was wrong, the machines voice in her head practically screaming. Xanthiana threw the car in reverse and tried to back up, where she slammed into another one of the metal monstrosities.

"What the hell are these things?"

"Cybenetice miners known for dragging people off to become a part of their collective, I'd recommend evacuating the area as soon as possible."

"And lose my car, to hell with that idea." Xanthiana grabbed her rifle and exited her car. The 99'ers were about eight feet tall and both had fairly large drills, but no other weapon she could see. She had one in front of her and one holding the car in, so the priority was still to the loose combatant. She opened fire on him but his armor plating seemed to shrug off the bullets. With a deceptive speed the 99'er closed the distance and punched her hard with its cybernetic arm, her eyes swam with the impact and her rifle clattered away underneath the car. She was actually knocked far enough back that she almost got impaled by the other 99'er behind her. He casually tossed the rear end of her car out of her way and lunged with his drill.

Time seemed to slow down, Xanthiana could see the drill coming to pierce her insides, she could even make out a small piece of rust near the tip, she wondered briefly if that was blood from someone else. And then her survival instict cut in, aided by Elly boosting her adrenaline she dodged the drill lunge and the 99'ers impaled each other. Xanthiana would have laughed if not for the danger of the situation. She snagged her discarded rifle thanks to the 99'er moving her car and took aim behind one of the beasts, she could make out a part that wasn't cybernetic and fired point blank, the bullets ripped through something important and the creature slumped forward burying its drill deeper into its companion. She didn't wait to see if either was truly dead, instead she got in and drove off at top speed.

"Xan I don't believe this is safe you took a hard blow to the head." Her eyes were watering, but she didn't feel that bad.

"You can monitor.." And she lost her train of thought as the world spun in place and she passed out, her last thought before the crash was about how she had just gotten the car running the way she liked it.

Time To Listen

"Injuries sustained will kill him in a couple hours without medical assistance." Elly was helpfully updating Xanthiana on the state of their wounded prisoner. He had coughed up some blood, but outside of that and the obvious gunshot wounds seemed stable enough.

"Screw you, you cat fucking bitch." Xanthiana sighed, she had dealt with humans ridiculous belief that her people were some kind of human cat hybrid her entire life, but she never got used to how ignorantly they held to the belief.

"You're dying, I can help you, but you'll have to help me." It seemed a reasonable request to make to someone she shot, the dying man did not see it that way and frantically tried to reach for a weapon. Xanthiana stepped on his hand.

"His ego device is attempting to connect to others, should I block the signal?" Elly was her usual helpful self and Xanthiana appreciated it.

"No let it go through."

"They don't care about me, but I'm letting them know all about you, and they'll find you you stupid.." Xanthiana stepped on his throat and then crouched down to his face.

"I hope you're receiving me loud and clear whoever you are, I killed your men here, and I'll kill you, not out of any concern for the ranchers or sense of justice. No I'll kill you because you inconvenienced me, so rally your little group of dumb assholes together, you know where you can find me." She crushed his throat as a sign off. She might have been able to get more information out of him, but she doubted it, he was a follower not a leader, and they don't tell followers anything.

"I was not able to trace the signal to other EGO devices Xan."

"Its ok Elly I'm sure they'll come looking for us."

"And what will we do in the meantime?"

"Plan Elly, we'll plan because if there is one thing my time with the Votanis Collective taught me, human's can't plan for shit."

Baited Trap

There were five of them, they looked to be paramilitary, they used military tactics had weapons that were in decent shape and were all around the same build. They didn't wear a uniform that distinguished them as either corporate or Erep, but that could be because what they were involved with wasn't a sanctioned operation. More dangerously according to Elly they all had EGO devices, which spoke to them possibly being involved with Von Bach. Xanthiana was hiding in the top of the barn, she had her rifle out and a spare magazine sitting near by. The men had arrived in a truck, it looked like they were intending on capturing whoever had arrived to help the farmers based on the non lethal weapons they had out.

"I have checked personnel records, these men were slated to come with Von Bach as a security detail, but shortly after the carrier exploded this group among several others went missing." It was as Xanthiana feared, some kind of staged coup.

"Fantastic, they can't find us with their ego devices can they?" Xanthiana fingered the trigger, the men were smart not to walk in a single line, if she opened up at best she'd get two before they could return fire.

"Negative, I have disabled our locator, it was one of the first things I did back when we landed Xan."

"Perfect, what else do we know about this group of assholes?"

"Checking with the ereps, this group also was a part of a larger group that stole materials and is suspected of killing an erep officer." Xanthiana sighed and pulled up her side arm and put it next to the extra magazine for the rifle, she had the jump on them but if things went south she wanted all opportunities to murder them as efficiently as possible.

"So they have our similar capabilities?"

"Within reason, different EGO devices have different capabilities, if you can remove one I could get a look at their capabilities and specifically adjust my own programming to allow for new ones." Xanthiana shifted, three of the men were standing near each other while the other two were searching the house, if she was going to take her shots it would have to be soon.

"Kind of morbid to rip a fellow ego out of someone isn't it?"

"Its just a tool Xan, you and I are friends, but I understand I'm a tool, I'm used to make you better, if I malfunctioned you would replace me, in a way if you did the same I would replace you."

"That makes me feel so much better." Xanthiana took aim and opened fire, she had four of them in her sights, the fifth had wandered off so she hoped he would show up again once the shooting started. Her opening burst killed two and winged the third in the shoulder, he slumped down trying to find her, she let him be as she turned her attention to the fourth man a casti who ran to help his fallen comrade. She shot him in the back of the head coating his wounded companion with what little remained of his brain.

"Well that ego device is gone, try to aim for body shot kills."

"Where's the fifth guy?" She heard a hammer hit back behind her.

"Nice shooting, throw it away." Her attacker had gotten the drop her, he was standing over her with a leg behind either shoulder and his pistol pointing down at her head. Xanthiana smiled and swung her body knocking him off his feet and slamming into a nearby hay bale. "Wait." He screamed out before she shot him through the throat and kicked his pistol aside.

"He's still alive."

"You said no head shots."

"Well it'll take him one minute and thirty seconds assuming normal functioning cardiac system, maybe shoot him through the temple? It won't damage the EGO." Xanthiana did as she was told and the young attacker stopped moving.

"How's the last guy doing?"

"The surviving member has broken shoulder, his EGO is administering endorphins to keep him moving." Xanthiana took up her rifle and saw him struggling to his feet. She shot him through the knee cap and he collapsed again.

"How about now?"

"He's still combat viable but effectively neutralized, you should kill him."

"I will in time, but first we need to figure out what he knows." Xanthiana reloaded the rifle and made her way to the wounded man, one way or another he'd tell her everything.

Stealth Bugs

"I do not understand why we had to leave the car behind." The Farm definitely looked like Hellbugs had been there, there were even some dead one nearby, but Xanthiana could not see current activity as she approached. It was dark but it wasn't that dark to obscure the normally not caring to much about being seen bugger bastards.

"I just got it running again, I don't want some hellbug shit or blood or whatever else they spew out wrecking it." The challenger was safely parked up the road well away from any wandering hellbugs, it made a bit of a walk to get to the ranch on a hill, but it was worth it for the car to stay safe.

"Someone could always steal it."

"You're just a wealth of helpful beliefs Elly." Xanthiana moved from the main parking area of the ranch to the main house which was empty of people but had more hellbug bodies. That's how it went as she moved through the entire complex, bodies of dead hellbugs, spent ammunition casings from weaponry, but no people or evidence of anyone who had called for help.

"I have no current active people on my scans Xan, I am scanning several frequencies to even identify who sent the distress call, I'm not coming up with anything locally."

"Well I'll admit this is fairly alarming, either hellbugs have advanced to being hyper intelligent and not just ravenous beasts."

"Or someone else got here before we did."

"Or something else, I'm not seeing any blood from people here am I missing it?" Xanthiana was confused, she had retreated to the main house to try and seek out a basement structure or something to indicate what had gone on, but she wasn't finding anything.

"Negative none of my scans show any blood."

"I'll admit Elly I'm going to need your help on this one, I can't even begin to guess what happened here."

"My scans are showing something interesting with the corpses Xan, they are all dead by several days."

"They are what?"

"Yes can we withdraw outside I want to confirm a hunch."

"Sure It was getting creepy in here anyway." Xanthiana walked outside, what Elly was hoping to see she couldn't make out.

"Confirmed, this was an organized grab by slavers of some kind, I can make out tire imprints obscured by the hellbug blood." Xanthiana was taken a back by the revelation. Regular slavers were stupid and brutal, who would steal a group of ranchers with a fake hellbug attack, on top of that why call in a hellbug attack and then dissappear?

"I'm really confused by this."

"Perhaps you can ask the group of armed men approaching from the south Xan."

"I just might Elly, I just might."

You Can Never Leave

Xanthiana was driving down what at one point had probably been a highway, it was mostly ruined there were large sections missing and broken down pieces of equipment everywhere, but it was nice to have the freedom back. For the first time since she'd signed up for the EGO device and the Von Bach experience she actually felt back to who she was originally, a soldier trying to find her way in the world. Well until Elly talked in her head reminding her that she was now forever brain tagged with a companion and a corporate obligation to pay off the surgery. Which she thought was completely they required the surgery and stuck her with a bill for it, all at the same time!

"Xan I've got some farmers in trouble on the radar."

"Someone else can till the fields Elly we've got to get out paradise this place sucks." It did suck, she was tired of the military, the hell bugs, and most certainly tired of Von Bach even if she hadn't really interacted with him at all.

"They are apparently being assaulted by Hellbugs Xan, if we don't help them they'll die." Xanthiana really wanted to tell Elly that was someone else's problem, someone else's concern, but that's not who she was, no matter how much she wanted to ignore something, she couldn't even when it came at personal detriment.

"How much ammo do we have?"

"A little over five magazines of rifle ammo, 4 magazines of pistol, and 3 grenades."

"Fantastic, pull the farmers up on the map." In her head Xanthiana could see the farm show up with a bright red dot highlighting it.

"Should I call the military Xan?"

"No Elly, I think we got this." Xanthiana gunned the engine and sadly thought she'll never leave Paradise, not while she was breathing it seemed.

Never Say Good Bye

"You're still here?" Cobb had come by as Xanthiana was attempting to get the engine running, she had actually found some parts after trading bullets to a passing trader, and with Elly's help was almost ready to try and start it up.

"Well the car isn't fixed yet Cobb, its not like you guys can throw me out of your camp, I'm still useful." She didn't turn around, she could tell from his tone he was in a pissy mood and she wasn't going to humor him.

"We very much can throw your votan ass out of this camp, and your usefullness is something you haven't really demonstrated Roeyka, you're like the rest of your race, claiming you can do something, but haven't show an ability at all." Xanthiana flipped him off and kept working. Cobb fed up with her walked off mumbling to himself.

"Why do people hate Votans Xan?" Elly's computer diagnostics were instrumental in fixing the Challenger, in what would have previously taken Xanthiana hours to even find what was wrong she was able to see in real time what it should look like, and what it did look like. It was one of several really nice things about the EGO unit in general.

"I thought we went over this, we are blamed for the every problem wrong with earth. And in a way we did cause the current problems, but its not like the planet was perfectly fine prior to our arrival." Xanthiana didn't know a ton of earth history, but seeing how humans had basically been perfectly fine killing their own to kill votans, it at least showed they could be merciless.

"I just don't understand why there is a conflict between your races, we both are stuck on earth, we should make the most of it."

"You think that Elly, and I think think that, but both the Votanis Collective, and the Earth Government do not think that." Xanthiana checked everything over and it seemed to be in order, she was terrified though, because she really wanted to leave the military base, and if the car didn't start this time she would probably have to leave it behind.

"Why do they not think that?"

"Because if there is one thing I've known in my limited time in dealing with either group, its that assholes always rise to power and do not share it at all." Xanthiana got in the drivers seat and waited for a moment before turning the key.

"You should be in charge."

"I've been saying that my whole life Elly." She turned the key and the engine roared to life, she smiled and pounded the dashboard.

"Where do we go now Xan?"

"Somewhere that isn't here Elly, somewhere that isn't here."

Everyone Needs Some DownTime

"So you're fired." Xanthiana had just come out of the command tent. Sagaran was waiting for her with his companion Tex.

"Well I wasn't exactly Earth republic to begin with, technically I'm working for VBI." As the AI in her head kept insisting Xanthiana thought to no one in particular.

"Well you could always work with us running messages, Tex is great and all, but you're a trained killer cutter, Tex is just a farm boy with a very large pistol."

"I keep telling you whitey I'm from Arkansas, if anything you should call me Ark." Sagaran smiled and kept rolling a cigarette. He was sitting on a beat up runner, Xanthiana was surprised he drove it very far, let alone made long trips in it.

"Sorry I'll pass, I'm not much for delivering anything."

"Suit yourself Cutter, me and Tex have to split if that's ok with the brass, we got a message for Defiance."

"I don't think they care too much about what you do Sagaran, tell me how Defiance looks, I might end up there soon if things keep going to shit here."

"They just survived an attack by the Volge last I heard."

"So better than here Sagaran?" Sagaran finished his cigarette, struck it up, and got in his runner; Tex followed shortly thereafter.

"Whatever you decide to do, stay Alive Cutter, I always liked you." He drove off leaving Xanthiana in the dust, it was getting late she figured she'd have to find someplace to bed down soon, and with the military yelling her into at least being on leave for now she knew she couldn't hang around with them.

"Would you really go to Defiance?" Elly piped up as Xanthiana walked back to her non function Challenger.

"Nah that place is a warzone, which I realize is silly saying since we are currently sitting in an active one, but they have a worse situation, politics, city life, lack of freedom, the war they are fighting is one society always fights, and I'd rather fight with rifles and bullets, than policies and taxes."

"Good because I don't want to go back east either."

"Oh you think you have a say in where we go elly?"

"I could always try to exert influence over your motor controls."

"That's not funny Elly."

"That's not what my humor matrix's claimed." Xanthiana didn't sleep very well that night.

Hostage Negotiation

"Its ok we can talk this out." The large sensoth was practically crushing the neck of the hostage he had snatched up. Xanthiana could see the fear in the smaller man's eyes.

"Gun down now I will not repeat myself."

"I believe he is serious Xan." Xanthiana liked the little moments when she was reminded that Elly was very much a child in regards to dealing with any situation.

"Do you have a suggestion?"

"Well he's only got the one hostage currently, so even assuming we lose that one the rest will be ok." Xanthiana had to appreciate the other analytical side of the computer, it decided that one hostage was an acceptable loss based entirely on numbers. Xanthiana would normally think the same, but operating under the EREP authority meant they would hold her accountable if she just shot first and asked questions later, even if since landfall that's been the general strategy of the EREP's themselves.

"So shoot the hostage?"

"Its a sound strategy and would surprise the Sensoth I bet."

"I'm not shooting the hostage Elly!" Xanthiana could have almost laughed at the argument if the Sensoth hadn't screamed in frustration at her not dropping her rifle.

"PAY ATTENTION TO ME!" It was a strange thing for a hostage taker to shout to be heard like a small child. Xanthiana shot him through the forehead and the creature slumped to the ground his terrified hostage huddled next to the creatures body too terrified to move.

"Well that also works." Xanthiana smiled that the little AI didn't want to admit there was more than one solution to a problem. The hostages were very thankful for the rescue, one in particular a Castithan with a scar around his neck and clothing that made him not look like any miner she'd ever seen caused Xanthiana to pause.

"Sagaran?" The little Casti smiled and hugged her.

"Nice to see you cutter, how are you doing?" Sagaran had an associate with him a big human with dread locks.

"Working for the Ereps, killing bandits."

"Nice of them to let bygones be bygones like that after how many of them you killed in the war." The hostages made their way out of the mine, waiting for them was a division of Ereps lead by Cobb. Elly had apparently gotten through to Cobb and he had come running. Xanthiana laughed at the situation, like most things in her life Earth was a little bit behind when it came to getting things done.

Snap Crackle Pop Dead Bandits

"Well that was easy." Xanthiana had made the jump to the guard tower, snapped the neck of the bandit closest to her and buried his knife in the guy across from him with little effort. She felt pretty good so far.

"Fantastic we have taken the guard towers, now exactly what was the plan?" Elly was less convinced the plan was a fantastic success.

"Now we ring the dinner bell." Xanthiana snagged a grenade off the dead bandit at her feet and gave a shout to the bandits in the mine. They came out running just in time for the grenade to hit the ground and explode taking out the initial wave. Xanthiana opened up with her rifle scattering the bandits near the mine entrance only to be completely caught off guard by a couple bandits emerging near the cars.

"This structure is not structurally secure!" Elly announced as the guard tower buckled under gun fire and started to tip.

"Elly activate the adrenaline burst." Xanthiana tried to keep her footing, but the tower was definitely falling over and if she didn't get off it soon it would take her with it. Elly activated the adrenaline and everything went in slow motion. Xanthiana jumped off the structure and brought the butt of her rifle down on a bandit's head caving it in. The assorted bandits were too slow, far too slow, with the adrenaline pounding in her blood Xanthiana moved around them like they were standing still. One bandit even ended up shooting his friend in the melee. Xanthiana didn't even notice the bandits were all dead until she almost collapsed from too much adrenaline. She could feel her heart hammering in her ears with each beat, she had become something else for a brief moment, she wanted to blame it on the EGO device, but she knew the truth, it was all her.

"Are you there Xan you aren't responding." Elly's voice sounded concerned.

"I'm here I was just tired for a moment." It was a lie and she knew the EGO device probably picked up on the lie, but she didn't want to admit or believe the truth.

"Bandits are 100% accounted for all dead, do you wish to proceed into the mine?" Elly seemed chipper in the face of all the murder.

"Yeah we're here to do a job lets get it done." Xanthiana hardened her heart and moved forward. She didn't see any among the dead that looked particularly leaderish, but bandits weren't exactly supporters in strict military rank showing. The mine didn't exactly look safe, probably a product of being hastily assembled post Ark fall to extract the new minerals from the ground Xanthiana surmised.

"Xan we have a large group of people up ahead, be aware." Xanthiana checked her rifles magazine, and moved forward. She was surprised at first the bandits had not moved forward, but when she came to the group of people she wasn't that surprised, they weren't bandits at all but Votan miners.

"Put your gun down." The muscley leader was a Sensoth, from his outfit it looked like he had probably been a miner prior to taking over the mine with the bandits.

"I believe that's the leader Xan."

"Ya think Elly?"

Bandit Tower Removal

"We should not have let that bandit go." Xanthiana was approaching the area the bandit had told her about. It contained he claimed the local bandit leadership, she didn't entirely trust him, but his fear of her at least told her something would be actually at the location, and it was a lot better than just killing every bandit camp with the hope that one of them actually mattered.

"He did what I asked of him and he's wounded, bandits are like wild dogs, when he returns he'll be killed by them anyway."

"That's horrible."

"That's Bandits Elly, have to harden your heart to the horrors, no need to bloody my hands anymore than they already are." The camp was of course set into a mine as they all had been, but this one definitely did have a lot of bandits outside of it, and vehicles, some of the vehicles even looked like they were still working.

"I think your heart is hard enough for both of us." Xanthiana shook off the AI's mind set. She had to, because the world post Arkfall was a shitty place and getting lost in all the horrors did no one any favors.

"Any word from Cobb?" Xanthiana did not like being out of contact with Cobb, especially not before she tried to pull off a difficult operation, but he hadn't exactly given her great instructions or any back up to begin with.

"Negative Sgt. Cobb is not returning my requests for communication."

"Fantastic I just love all the help I'm receiving while a member of the Earth Republic."

"Technically we are contractors to the Earth republic."

"Even Better, all of the having to bow to superiors, none of the actual job protection." The bandit base also had a couple guard towers, though the guards in them looked to be pretty terrible to Xanthiana. They weren't keeping their eyes open for ambush points from the cliff next to the mine, nor were they looking toward the canyon area that cut in front of the mine. Instead they were just jawing at each other like humans generally did in Xanthiana's experience. Xanthiana made her way around the guard towers, making sure this time to be more stealthy for fear of metal men. Thankfully neither guard picked up on her presence and kept on talking about something Xanthiana couldn't hear, but she figured was probably awful.

"What's our plan Xan?"

"Well first we kill these two bandits, I'm thinking snap one guys neck, and then take a knife and kill the other."

"Do you have a knife?"

"No, but the guy who's neck I snap will probably have one, if you can scan for that it would be great."

"The bandit on the right has a knife that will sufficiently kill the bandit on the left when thrown."

"Excellent."

"And then?"

"And then what?"

"What do we do after we have killed those bandits?"

"Hadn't exactly gotten that far Elly."

"I sense no way this plan will fail Xan."

The Worst Plan

"I don't feel this plan is going to be successful." Xanthiana was laying down in the middle of some wreckage she had pulled from one of the several collisions that pock marked paradise. She had attempted to make it look like a fresh collision with herself as the sole surviving wounded victim.

"I feel you aren't giving it the proper credit."

"What if a local farmer comes by? What if the authorities in the area? What if literally anyone, but bandits show up?"

"We're in the middle of bandit territory, anyone who comes this way is a bandit or has bandit like tendencies, and if someone else magically shows up we'll apologize for the incovenience and go about our way, to try this somewhere else." Xanthiana had to admit ti wasn't the best plan, but she figured a good ambush would lead the way to killing a roving band of smaller bandits so she could capture one and interrogate him proper.

"We have no cover."

"It's an ambush Elly, if we were behind cover it would be obvious that we were ambushing. Trust me, I know bandits, and I know idiots, this is plan will work flawlessly! I mean we used this in the war all the time."

"I can assume in the war you had more than just yourself doing the ambushing?"

"Hush Elly." Xanthiana did not need a robotic AI second guessing her brilliant ambush. She waited for at least an hour before she started second guessing her own plan. The sun was falling over the horizon when she heard some kind of vehicle coming close.

"We have incoming, scans show at least three men on an atv."

"Bandits?"

"Well they are all men and what little I can glean with my limited sensory capabilities appear to be dressed raggedly."

"So either bandits or.."

"WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE BOYS!"

"Bandits." The voice was loud and gutteral. She waited till they were fanning out before she rolled over with her rifle and killed two of the bandits outright and wounded the third by blowing out his knee. He threw away his weapon and begged for mercy, seeing as he had dead friends next to him it was the smart move in Xanthiana's opinion.

"Like I said Elly, most of the time this plan works."

"Most of the time?"

"Speak bandit before I send you to whatever god you believe in." Her rifles barrel was still smoking, the bandit pissed his pants.

"Whattttttttttttttttttt, do you want to know?"

Xanthiana smiled, "Everything."