They flew northward. A few hours after the sun went down they arrived at the iron works, a massive broken structure rising far above the tallest hills like a old world pillar in the middle of the desert. Walls crumbling, pipes rusted, windows broken and holes in the roof and walls made of red bricks, countless cracks adorned its massive walls. The ship broke trough the roof of a nearby garage building, it was so old and weakened that it fell apart like paper met by rock.

But no one could see the hole on the ground so it made a good hiding spot. They set up within the large building, scouting the whole place for traps and good ambush spots. It was difficult to see anything in the pitch blackness, and the light illuminated copious amounts of dust floating in the air, large industrial machines laid broken and rusted beyond any hope of repair. The only lifeforms that had set up residence in there was the tunnel ants and some insects. ‘Well there’s no shortage of hiding places. Good news is that there’s no one here, the place is clear.’

‘Good, when they arrive I want the ringleader still alive. Whoever that is, is our only lead to the head of this operation. Once they have been eliminated the target on our backs are gone.’

Juan went up on the roof, watching the landscape on the roof trough his night vision binoculars. Hours after sun down he saw movement, a dust cloud from a moving vehicle.

‘They’re coming, northeast.’ alerted the others on the radio and they got into position, setting up above the northern main entrance on stair cases, platforms and the wide steel beams that held up the whole building. The door opened and the floor lit up by their flashlights. A gang of around fifteen entered, all heavily armed but seemingly relaxed and casual, like they had done this a hundred times already and expected no trouble.

After a short while they started to look confused. ‘Where’s Gunther? He’s supposed to wait for us!’

‘Probably raiders or problems with tires. We’ll wait here.’

On the beam right above them was Jack, taking out a flash grenade. Everything closed their eyes and looked away as was their plan. She pulled the pin and dropped it. The blinding flash came as soon as it hit the floor, all of the newcomers screamed and shielded their eyes. In less than a minute the crew gunned down everyone but the bald man with a scar across his left eye that looked to be leader. As soon as his vision slowly returned to normal Kel already had her gun pointed at his head. ‘Ok grandpa here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to answer all our questions or I’ll puncture your limps one by one until you can’t move again for the rest of your life.’

He held up his hands, behind his head and got on his knees while keeping calm. ‘Ok ok I know how this works. This isn’t my first rodeo kid.’

Jack removed his gun and searched him for hidden contraband. ‘First question, whats your name?’

‘Bob, pretty simple ey?’

‘Second! Why were you supposed to meet Gunther here?’

‘Arms dealing, he always gets the good stuff.’

‘Third! Why do you need the guns?’

‘Are you kidding me?? Who doesn’t need all the guns they can carry in this shithole of a world?’

‘We know there’s something bigger going on, he’s dealing in Empire made weapons. So I’ll ask again, why do you need them?’

‘Look I don’t really care who made the guns I just pick em up.’

‘Pick em up huh? So who’s paying?’

‘If I tell you we all die.’

‘We’ll take that risk, now answer..’

Bob sighted heavily, he was pretty fucked now anyway..

‘Javelin, they’re buying the guns.’ the crew all glanced at each other nervously.

‘Ok then...where are you supposed to drop of these guns?’

‘Some kind of old world military sight. A bunch of hangars, barracks, labs and this huge ass flat field that they tested weapons on. Its to the north west of here.’

‘Is it Javelins headquarters?’ Caleb asked suddenly.

‘Fuck if I know, never met em.’

‘Alright then, what’s next cap? Shall I just put him out of his misery?’ ‘Hold that thought.’ She looked Bob right in the eyes.

‘What’s the defenses of that place? How would someone get in unnoticed?’

‘That’s gonna be hard, they guard that place day and night. Cameras, mines, drones, automatic guns you name it. Although for a price I might be able to help ya out..’

‘Is that so?...what price? And is it worth it?’

‘It might be...if you’re planning to walk out alive that is..all I ask is to live. You drop me off somewhere safe after we’re done and I’ll get ya inside.’

Jack thought about it closely, this could obviously be a trap. But his information could also be their key inside, a tricky situation..

After almost a full minute of thinking she hatched a rather risky plan. ‘Ok then “Bob”, you got yourself a deal.’ She then tied his hands behind his back. ‘Welcome on board!’ They almost dragged him of to the ship and took off, leaving the run down iron works behind.

Jack locked him inside a tiny, empty storage room, his hands tied to a pipe connecting the roof and floor.

‘Are you sure about this cap?’

‘He’s our only source of info, don’t worry I got a plan in case things go to shit.’ she said before going to docs medical bay..

*

A few hours before sunrise they arrived close to the base, setting the ship down behind a large cliff and continued on foot until they could see it in the distance.

The ground party was led Kel, followed by Caleb, Juan and Bob who’s still tied up.

‘Ok they got pretty even single inch of the borders either watched or booby trapped in some way. As I figured there’s only one way in, see that small mountain right behind the communications tower? We need to climb it and get onto the roof.’

‘And how can you know they don’t have the mountain booby trapped as well?’

‘I know cause I was here when we took this place a couple of months ago. Figured no mere raider would climb it and mutants would not care, it was a “natural defence” sort of deal.’

‘Fine then.’ Kel untied him and handed him the climbing gear which he told them to bring. ‘You lead the way, just know we’re watching you closely.’ Bob shrugged his shoulders and started walking. ‘Juan take place up on that cliff there, watch the outside for us.’

‘Got it.’

Caleb and Kel followed, starting with climbing up the cliffs by hand around the border of the old base till they got to the mountain part. Bob fired of the grappling hook and once making sure it was secure they started ascending.

It took them a while bore they were right above the com tower, the actually satellite tower standing on top of a large, white concrete building. Bob secured the hook and let the longest rope fall down, it was just barely enough, stopping shortly above the roof. Once everyone had slid down, having to drop the last few meters, they had to descend down a ladder on the side of the roof onto a metal staircase going along the walls. It was now they had to keep quiet they the guards could be clearly seen on the ground. Once they snuck all the way down the ladder they reached a locked a door, Kel signaled them to watch the guards as she lock picked it. Caleb was even more far more nervous now than he was in the underground lab. One wrong move they would have a hail of bullets coming their direction. After what felt like a eternity the door clicked and Kel slowly opened it. Once peeking inside she signaled them to enter. The corridor was small, the walls close to together but at least it was lit up. They slowly moved along the walls, listening for every tiniest sound. Several times they heard footsteps and once saw the shadow of a patrolling guard around the corner but never spotted one directly. Eventually Bob managed to lead them to the control room, signaling there were a total of 3 people inside. Everyone knew they had to be taken out quickly. Kel took out small throwing knifes and handed Bob one combat knife. Bob went in first, they had no idea of his betrayal, at first Caleb thought it was a terrible idea. He had the perfect opportunity to betray them but when the sound of a body hitting the floor sounded Kel charged in, throwing her knifes and instantly taking out the other two with one head shot each.

Caleb closed the door behind them, the room was filled with all sorts of technology. Computers on one side, some kind of rectangular data devices standing along a entire wall, two wheels spun the long data sheets, the lower parts had all sorts of wires attached to them and below that was slots for data ships. Some were attached while many others stood empty.

A pillar stood in the middle of the room, on the side of the data processors were a large desk that mostly stood up as a wall leaving very little room for table space. In front of its seat were hundreds of little buttons and small lights, Caleb identified it as a control panel, probably for most, if not all, communications for the base. The data sheets must have had weeks, if not months, of recorded data and they probably had a storage somewhere else, it was like Javelin to keep decades worth of collected data spread out over places like this.

Caleb went over to a computer and searched the vast library of information for any mention of them, Kel was confused at to how he immediately managed to navigate all that data, not even Gregor was that good with computers. He was a genius at machines but data was always harder according to him.

Caleb found the files, a botched suicide mission with Jacks crew, file said that by surviving the trap they were now compromised and filed the crew for elimination, apparently Gunther tried to take a stab at it before they outsmarted him to. ‘Sons of bitches.’ Kel muttered as Caleb told them about the contents.

He searched up Gunther and discover his part. Indeed he was smuggling empire weaponry to them via a mutual contact code named the mole. The mole had to be some kind of insider, unfortunately the files mentioned nothing else but that, even here they operated at extreme secrecy, need to know basis only. There was to much data to look trough so Caleb told them to extract the data sheets and chips, as much as they could carry. Then he hacked and crashed the system, every other piece of data they couldn’t carry was permanently deleted. Then he made a false broadcast, warning of a incoming mutant attack on the opposite site of the base to get as many guards away as possible, then they left. The guards inside were extra careful when the warning came so Kel had to take out some of them during their escape. They got out and headed back onto the roof. ‘Caleb you first then me. Bob watch our climb.’ She handed him a gun before starting climbing. Much to Caleb’s shock Bob let them climb all the way and followed, all the way back to the ship he didn’t betray them once. Whatever the captain did seemed to work. Once they got back to the ship Jack was already waiting for them by the ramp. ‘You got the info?’

‘All we could carry.’

‘Good, get into the cockpit.’ As he walked inside Bob stopped by Jack. ‘Ok Jack time for your end of the deal. Get me the antidote for whatever your freak Doctor put into me.’

‘Sure, here you go.’ Caleb jumped and spun around at a sound of a sudden bang and saw Bob on the ground, blood seeping out of his head. She looked back at him with a serious face. ‘He would have betrayed us and sold you to the mercs, we had no choice. Out here is kill or be killed. City morals don’t apply out here.’ Caleb didn’t argue, while true the Capital slum morals were....questionable at best.. He still didn’t like it, the areas outside seemed to be all savage survival. Laws be damned in the wasteland! They took off, flying away from the high danger area. In the cockpit Caleb explained what he needed in order to decipher the data. ‘I know a place that has some stuff like that. ‘We can be there in three days so get some rest.’

Caleb went to his room and collapsed on his bed, these last few days had been nothing but hectic. Just shooting ,flying, sneaking it was all so much at once..Well at least he was still alive but for how long?

*

The next day after escaping the base, the crew went back to their normal routines. After several days of different action it felt nice to relax a little. Caleb once again checked the ship for any malfunctions, Kel cleaned her guns, doc did stuff in his lab that no one cared asking about. Rock cleaned, Juan stood guard on the roof balcony and Jack made sure the ship was headed the in the right direction. Things just rolled on like usual..

Except that the cube would still glow at seemingly random times, emitting that strange humming noise.

And matter what he did, he still couldn’t figure out a single thing about it. He COULD use the laser cutter to try and get it open but that risked immense damage to the interior so he opted out of it.

One of these times he pressed it against his ear. The cube was warm to the touch and the humming definitely came from inside, what an amazing discovery that was...

He dropped it for now and locked it inside a locker before making his rounds he heard something coming from Kel’s room. The door stood slightly ajar, giving just enough room to hear. It sounded like...sniffling. Was Kel crying? It had to be Gregor, Caleb knew that he had no idea how close the crew was to him so it made sense that the others probably mourned him. He snuck away to give her some privacy, walking back to the workshop to tinker with some unfinished inventions of Gregor’s. He had a creative mind no doubt, but why make so many blueprints and never finish them? Why make blueprints and then never even starting making the stuff even when everything checked out? He certainly was a..interesting man.

*

The first day went by with nothing happening. Soon the second came, starting like the last one. He was in the tiny and cramped workshop, tinkering with a electric heated knife when Kel came in. ‘Hey you! I need help with something.’

‘What’s the problem?’

‘Damn light in my room stopped working.’

‘Doesn’t sound to bad. I’ll take a look.’

Kel’s room was much like his own, tiny. Fitting only a bed and a desk. Guns hung on her wall, pouches and boxes of ammo stood on her desk and under her bed. Caleb got on the ladder, switched on the headlight he found among Gregor’s stuff.

‘Nothing serious here, just the bulb that’s busted. I have the tools the put it back together.’

‘Ok then..’ He went back and disassembled it, with a stationary magnifying glass and smaller tools he replaced the tiny copper strings that produced the light as they were burned and useless now and put the whole thing back together.

When he went back and reattached the light he saw something on Kel’s desk. It was a photograph of two people. From a distance he couldn’t clearly see who. As he slowly approached it a hand suddenly slammed down on it, stopping him from seeing it in detail. ‘That’s private!’ Kel said in a somewhat stressed voice. ‘Sorry.. Didn’t mean to pry.’

He got his stuff and quickly left before making her frustrated, whatever that photo was it was clearly VERY private..

As he went back to tinkering a thought occurred to him. If Javelin wanted that cube than surely they would know what it was? The data they collected from the base probably didn’t have any on it but maybe there was some hint? A name he could follow or something? Maybe the cube was somehow tied to whatever Javelin was planning? If they intended to use old world tech then he truly feared for the near future. Still he had no choice but to wait for two more days to find out.

*

‘So hows the boy handling himself so far?’ Jack asked Juan while steering the ship.

‘Well he’s doing pretty damn good I would say. Anything from fixing our ship to getting us that data.’

‘Well good. Seems we landed us an engineer.’

‘Ya but...doesn’t it seem a bit strange? Like he came right in the nick of time and he’s like...like Gregor you know?’

‘What are you on about?’

‘I never met anyone as good as Gregor when it came to technology, the man could understand any machine in the world by just looking at it! Like he was part machine himself you know? And Caleb is the same, he learned Gregor’s custom ship almost immediately without any sort of guidance or direction. Not even as much as a single manual...Maybe its just me but isn’t it something strange about that? Especially since Caleb doesn’t have the luxury of Gregor’s years of experience.’

‘Maybe he was trained somewhere?’

‘Ya but why would a trained engineer end up in Darktown of all places?’

‘Not sure...I just remember him telling me he came from the Capital. But the only engineers there are with the Emps.’

‘He can’t be one of them can he?’

‘He could be like me, a deserter on the run. Getting tired of seeing his work go to murder entire settlements for resources.’ Jack speculated.

‘Maybe..But I have met the Emps engineers before and not even the experienced ones was THAT good. Its like machines are second nature to him..’

‘That’s how some people are. I have met many engineers in my life, a few of them were just that good. There’s a natural gift that goes around sometimes.’

‘Makes sense although be it ironic. A natural gift for machines, the very symbol of unnatural and man made.’

‘Maybe....but its still useful. And there are other such talents. You know, like HIM for example.’

‘Ya...him...lets not bring that freak up again.’

‘Deal.’

*

‘GET DOWN!!’

‘FUCK THEY’RE EVERYWHERE!!’

‘CAP THE FUCK DO WE DO??’

‘WE SURVIVE!! THE SECOND I THROW THIS WE MAKE FOR THE SHIP!’

Kel could still hear the shooting, the bullets flying past her by mere centimeters. The explosion and them running like hell to the ship.

‘Get on quick!!’ Doc had shouted from the platform. As soon as she got on she noticed Gregor was missing. She turned to her companion still running to them. She hunkered down, preparing to cover him the last few meters before it happened. It had been big enough for dirt flying far enough to hit her face. In that split second she saw the remains, just a bloodied mess on the ground and the ramp closing behind them.

‘GREGOR!!’ The final thing her eyes saw was the monster responsible. In the distance, staring at them with those empty sockets...mocking them!

There was nothing they could do...they flew away. Bullets bouncing off the armored shell of the Dreaded lady. It had been over a week since then yet it felt like yesterday. Her Gregor, dying off by a grenade in just a split second. It almost felt like he was still there, like she could still just walk over to the workshop and see him there, drawing up some new blueprint and she could just stand there and watch him work. If only she had listened to mom and not get attached. Human attachments are a weakness and will only hurt you in the long run is what she used to say.

The fucking bitch...