M009
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lost star
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Bolt lowered his binoculars and thought over what he'd seen. One part of him loved the fact that he'd gotten to see his mech in action. The carnage and destruction had given him so many ideas. The rest of him was utterly enraged. Some dipstick had sabotaged his mech! They hadn't even done a good job of it! Just a damned explosion in the knee? Not only was it obvious, it was absolutely trivial to repair.
He wanted to message Lilly, but the girl seemed very occupied as she clambered out of her downed mech. That sort of thing had to be done carefully considering the awkward angle it was at from the damage. Actually trying to speak with her at that point would be both suspicious and endanger her. Instead he pulled the camouflage tarp closer over himself and adjusted his mask to be sure the seal was fine. Then he settled down to wait. Right now he was letting the salvage instincts come into play. He wanted to see what they did with everything before he made a decision.
There was an order to things after a battle. First you recovered the pilots. Lilly looked like she was being taken prisoner by the Royal. This wasn't common, nor was it good for the pilots typically. Lilly was a pretty and young girl as well...
Only sense and caution kept Bolt from making a rash decision. He did not have a mech. Lilly was also important. She was not going to be turned into some toy like the more belligerent Royals did. (The ones that sometimes ended up shanked in the middle of the night.)
After the pilots had been recovered, the victors typically tried to pickup what they could. Bolt noted that the Rats that had been piloting the other mechs were completely ignored. The Royals recovered their mech with relative ease and speed, denoting long practice at this sort of thing. That was his opening. He just had to follow them and he'd find out where they were going. They'd have less sensors and alertness than the still active mech and he could find out where they took Lilly.
It took time. The sun was setting by the time they finished and he managed to follow them to their base. It was as expected, a prefab camp right next to the buildings that consisted of the only city on the planet. Sloppily done, with the bare minimum of guards, and set next to one of the larger and more expensive buildings. The noble had likely commandeered the thing for himself, which was actually what they were there for.
The young man pulled back into a small hole just in sight of the area and pulled out his comm. He sent a text to Lilly. 'Saw the fight and end. You need help getting out?'
'I'm in a noble's camp. There's a hundred people here. How could you help?!' The text didn't convey much emotion but it did convey enough.
Bolt's face stretched into a smile as he surveyed the area. 'Pretty easy actually. You in the big building?'
'Top floor, corner room. One entrance, guards outside. Bathroom's fancy with good running water, which is what I'm using to cover me talking, but I can't do it forever.'
The plan came together easily. 'Give me until 3AM and then get to the window.' He sent.
'What sort of-shit gotta go.' The text stopped there.
The young man snorted and got back into his vehicle. His plan was very simple and something only a native could pull off. There was a tactic agreement of more than a few things on the planet. One thing was that Noble camps were great for loot. They were also a great way to get killed too. It led to a rather peculiar situation that he would need to exploit to get this rescue going.
A few hours prep after the sun set he approached that situation. On one side was the noble's camp. It was a sprawling area of pre-fabbed buildings and walls, lit up like it was daylight and patrolled by a few guards armed with rifles and other weapons. On the other side, more than a few Rats lurked in the shadows just far enough away that they weren't in the line of fire or that obvious.
These weren't the educated Wrench Rats or Biter Rats. These were the dregs of a planet that was already filled with dregs. Poor, improvised, desperate. People that could and would shoot or stab for something shiny to feed an addiction or just feed their bodies. They were not particularly good people, and even the most harmless trash scavengers carried a knife and were more than a little ready to surge into violence for some reason or another. They were the true rats of the world, and what people frequently thought of when the visited the planet.
Seeking them out was dangerous even for Bolt as a native, but his size and the obvious equipment he had was enough to make them wary. Bolt had spent his life lifting heavy parts. He was not a small lad, and combined with his furs and mask he looked outright intimidating. It was enough to let him approach without immediate violence, and his obvious native origins let one of to them hear him out.
The one to meet him was an older fellow. Wrinkled, covered in cloth, and smelling of old garbage. His gaze was not friendly, but he carried no weapons, which meant he was willing to talk rather than try to rob.
Bolt didn't lead with pleasantries. "Got some time for some crumbs?" He began simply.
He got narrow eyes and a frown in reply. "What's a Wrench like you doing here leading with that?"
Bolt shrugged and glanced at the lit up min-fort in the distance. "Something in there that I want. Ya know the deal, show me your holes inside and you get the crumbs."
The old man spat to the side before he replied. "Ain't stupid, pay now."
"Some now, some later." The young man held up a ration. "Crumbs, then this." He held up one of the blank comms he had.
That more than anything else got the old man's attention. Comms might have been easy to make for Wrench Rats, but they were still valuable, and frankly a Wrench Rat's comm was doubly so. They tended to be custom made for the local environment and were almost considered a local trade good.
"Throw in another crumb and I'll lead you." The man said after a moment.
"Done." Bolt replied and turned to his vehicle. A second later two ration packs flew through the air towards the Rat, who made them disappear into his dirty clothing in an instant.
He didn't quite trust the man, but Rats were canny and had a decent amount of ingroup loyalty. Not enough to not betray one another for the good cheese, just enough to like insiders more than outsiders. Also Bolt was giving them a really good deal. He wasn't telling them to risk themselves, just show him one way to get in. There were plenty of those.
This made the next step relatively quick and easy to get to his target. He was led into a fissure in the ground that wound halfway around the camp and through a hole that led into a small basement of one of the buildings that was inside the permitter. From there it was a simple matter of climbing a ladder out of the basement and he was past the walls and practically right next to the big building.
Inside wasn't that different from outside really. The prefabbed buildings were generic and unremarkable. The ground had been paved with the bare minimum, and there was dust everywhere. This late, there was absolutely no people out at all, and only the guards at the perimeter were awake.
"Got you in, now pay." The old man practically ordered Bolt before he scurried back the way they came, one comm richer.
Bolt surveyed the area. The guards might have been non-existent in this area, but it was lit up enough that he was sure the ones in the watchtowers could see him if they looked this way. He pulled out his binoculars and flipped though the settings carefully. He then looked up at the big building that Lilly was in.
It took a few minutes to locate the area she was in. Thin walls and a good idea of where she was made it relatively easy. Corner room, third floor. He could actually see her through the window, pacing. He supposed it wasn't surprising that she couldn't sleep. That did make things easier.
These buildings were old things, made up of a specialized brick-lookalike, they were durable and insulated. Frankly they were also the cheapest construction one could do. There was no security features at all on them, and they had a wealth of flaws. This meant that all Bolt needed to do was pull out a hook, some rope, and scale the wall practically in plain sight.
It was more than a little dangerous admittedly. All it would take was one guard looking his way, but Bolt was fairly certain that all of them were looking outside. He made sure to be quick about it though, and was breathing hard as he reached the window.
"Hey." The young man said as he met her eyes through his mask.
The girl said nothing, just met his eyes with genuine shock. Bolt didn't mind. He needed to be a bit careful and not make noise as he pulled out one of his cutting tools and began to carefully cut out the window.
Eventually the silence got a bit much for her. "I dunno what to say." She admitted quietly.
"Don't need ta say anything." The mech designer, and now infiltrator responded. "Now since you're tiny, you should be able to get out through just this." He finished the cut and carefully pushed the parts into the room before dropping down on the rope to give her room.
Lilly made a rude gesture but grabbed on and they both lowered themselves to the ground carefully. Mission almost successful. He just needed to recover the rope to leave less evidence and then he needed to do was guide them to the exit. First though.
"Spare robe and mask." Bolt handed Lilly the items in question. "Get them on. So far as everyone's concerned, your just another Wrench Rat."
The girl nodded quickly and threw the items on. Then Bolt began to guide them to the basement. It was a paltry disguise, but the rats outside the base wouldn't even care, assuming they even saw them as they left. Two Wrench Rats in their robes weren't the most standard thing, but they were frequent enough that it wasn't worth noting.
It was still a horribly tense affair, made doubly so by the fact that a mech started patrolling the area as they left. Bolt was extremely thankful that the robes were made for obscurement as then. It wouldn't fool dedicated watchers, but a casual patrol from the distance? They'd show up as brown blobs not even worth looking at.
Mission successful! Now came the aftermath.
He wanted to message Lilly, but the girl seemed very occupied as she clambered out of her downed mech. That sort of thing had to be done carefully considering the awkward angle it was at from the damage. Actually trying to speak with her at that point would be both suspicious and endanger her. Instead he pulled the camouflage tarp closer over himself and adjusted his mask to be sure the seal was fine. Then he settled down to wait. Right now he was letting the salvage instincts come into play. He wanted to see what they did with everything before he made a decision.
There was an order to things after a battle. First you recovered the pilots. Lilly looked like she was being taken prisoner by the Royal. This wasn't common, nor was it good for the pilots typically. Lilly was a pretty and young girl as well...
Only sense and caution kept Bolt from making a rash decision. He did not have a mech. Lilly was also important. She was not going to be turned into some toy like the more belligerent Royals did. (The ones that sometimes ended up shanked in the middle of the night.)
After the pilots had been recovered, the victors typically tried to pickup what they could. Bolt noted that the Rats that had been piloting the other mechs were completely ignored. The Royals recovered their mech with relative ease and speed, denoting long practice at this sort of thing. That was his opening. He just had to follow them and he'd find out where they were going. They'd have less sensors and alertness than the still active mech and he could find out where they took Lilly.
It took time. The sun was setting by the time they finished and he managed to follow them to their base. It was as expected, a prefab camp right next to the buildings that consisted of the only city on the planet. Sloppily done, with the bare minimum of guards, and set next to one of the larger and more expensive buildings. The noble had likely commandeered the thing for himself, which was actually what they were there for.
The young man pulled back into a small hole just in sight of the area and pulled out his comm. He sent a text to Lilly. 'Saw the fight and end. You need help getting out?'
'I'm in a noble's camp. There's a hundred people here. How could you help?!' The text didn't convey much emotion but it did convey enough.
Bolt's face stretched into a smile as he surveyed the area. 'Pretty easy actually. You in the big building?'
'Top floor, corner room. One entrance, guards outside. Bathroom's fancy with good running water, which is what I'm using to cover me talking, but I can't do it forever.'
The plan came together easily. 'Give me until 3AM and then get to the window.' He sent.
'What sort of-shit gotta go.' The text stopped there.
The young man snorted and got back into his vehicle. His plan was very simple and something only a native could pull off. There was a tactic agreement of more than a few things on the planet. One thing was that Noble camps were great for loot. They were also a great way to get killed too. It led to a rather peculiar situation that he would need to exploit to get this rescue going.
A few hours prep after the sun set he approached that situation. On one side was the noble's camp. It was a sprawling area of pre-fabbed buildings and walls, lit up like it was daylight and patrolled by a few guards armed with rifles and other weapons. On the other side, more than a few Rats lurked in the shadows just far enough away that they weren't in the line of fire or that obvious.
These weren't the educated Wrench Rats or Biter Rats. These were the dregs of a planet that was already filled with dregs. Poor, improvised, desperate. People that could and would shoot or stab for something shiny to feed an addiction or just feed their bodies. They were not particularly good people, and even the most harmless trash scavengers carried a knife and were more than a little ready to surge into violence for some reason or another. They were the true rats of the world, and what people frequently thought of when the visited the planet.
Seeking them out was dangerous even for Bolt as a native, but his size and the obvious equipment he had was enough to make them wary. Bolt had spent his life lifting heavy parts. He was not a small lad, and combined with his furs and mask he looked outright intimidating. It was enough to let him approach without immediate violence, and his obvious native origins let one of to them hear him out.
The one to meet him was an older fellow. Wrinkled, covered in cloth, and smelling of old garbage. His gaze was not friendly, but he carried no weapons, which meant he was willing to talk rather than try to rob.
Bolt didn't lead with pleasantries. "Got some time for some crumbs?" He began simply.
He got narrow eyes and a frown in reply. "What's a Wrench like you doing here leading with that?"
Bolt shrugged and glanced at the lit up min-fort in the distance. "Something in there that I want. Ya know the deal, show me your holes inside and you get the crumbs."
The old man spat to the side before he replied. "Ain't stupid, pay now."
"Some now, some later." The young man held up a ration. "Crumbs, then this." He held up one of the blank comms he had.
That more than anything else got the old man's attention. Comms might have been easy to make for Wrench Rats, but they were still valuable, and frankly a Wrench Rat's comm was doubly so. They tended to be custom made for the local environment and were almost considered a local trade good.
"Throw in another crumb and I'll lead you." The man said after a moment.
"Done." Bolt replied and turned to his vehicle. A second later two ration packs flew through the air towards the Rat, who made them disappear into his dirty clothing in an instant.
He didn't quite trust the man, but Rats were canny and had a decent amount of ingroup loyalty. Not enough to not betray one another for the good cheese, just enough to like insiders more than outsiders. Also Bolt was giving them a really good deal. He wasn't telling them to risk themselves, just show him one way to get in. There were plenty of those.
This made the next step relatively quick and easy to get to his target. He was led into a fissure in the ground that wound halfway around the camp and through a hole that led into a small basement of one of the buildings that was inside the permitter. From there it was a simple matter of climbing a ladder out of the basement and he was past the walls and practically right next to the big building.
Inside wasn't that different from outside really. The prefabbed buildings were generic and unremarkable. The ground had been paved with the bare minimum, and there was dust everywhere. This late, there was absolutely no people out at all, and only the guards at the perimeter were awake.
"Got you in, now pay." The old man practically ordered Bolt before he scurried back the way they came, one comm richer.
Bolt surveyed the area. The guards might have been non-existent in this area, but it was lit up enough that he was sure the ones in the watchtowers could see him if they looked this way. He pulled out his binoculars and flipped though the settings carefully. He then looked up at the big building that Lilly was in.
It took a few minutes to locate the area she was in. Thin walls and a good idea of where she was made it relatively easy. Corner room, third floor. He could actually see her through the window, pacing. He supposed it wasn't surprising that she couldn't sleep. That did make things easier.
These buildings were old things, made up of a specialized brick-lookalike, they were durable and insulated. Frankly they were also the cheapest construction one could do. There was no security features at all on them, and they had a wealth of flaws. This meant that all Bolt needed to do was pull out a hook, some rope, and scale the wall practically in plain sight.
It was more than a little dangerous admittedly. All it would take was one guard looking his way, but Bolt was fairly certain that all of them were looking outside. He made sure to be quick about it though, and was breathing hard as he reached the window.
"Hey." The young man said as he met her eyes through his mask.
The girl said nothing, just met his eyes with genuine shock. Bolt didn't mind. He needed to be a bit careful and not make noise as he pulled out one of his cutting tools and began to carefully cut out the window.
Eventually the silence got a bit much for her. "I dunno what to say." She admitted quietly.
"Don't need ta say anything." The mech designer, and now infiltrator responded. "Now since you're tiny, you should be able to get out through just this." He finished the cut and carefully pushed the parts into the room before dropping down on the rope to give her room.
Lilly made a rude gesture but grabbed on and they both lowered themselves to the ground carefully. Mission almost successful. He just needed to recover the rope to leave less evidence and then he needed to do was guide them to the exit. First though.
"Spare robe and mask." Bolt handed Lilly the items in question. "Get them on. So far as everyone's concerned, your just another Wrench Rat."
The girl nodded quickly and threw the items on. Then Bolt began to guide them to the basement. It was a paltry disguise, but the rats outside the base wouldn't even care, assuming they even saw them as they left. Two Wrench Rats in their robes weren't the most standard thing, but they were frequent enough that it wasn't worth noting.
It was still a horribly tense affair, made doubly so by the fact that a mech started patrolling the area as they left. Bolt was extremely thankful that the robes were made for obscurement as then. It wouldn't fool dedicated watchers, but a casual patrol from the distance? They'd show up as brown blobs not even worth looking at.
Mission successful! Now came the aftermath.
