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."