Watching the war unfold on the vessel from thousands of miles away, Archius simply waited. He'll demand more from Osmond, yes, but timing is key to this. Osmond will comply, or he will die. Either way, the gunrunners will be destroyed. Whether or not he must reward one insignificant asset is irrelevant; yet with the time limit: the situation may become critical.

The SPTU and AGENCY were pursuing the vessel, having stopped their barrages in case a stray plasma lance exploded the reactors, dooming those on board to a freezing death. He looked at a 3D Holo-Print of the Crescento, hovering in the centre of the command deck. A dozen dots littered it, AGENCY assets - along with coloured dots for areas of importance and areas of resistance.

"Time's ticking…" Archius heard Eliza mutter to herself across the command table.

His eyes skidded towards each blot. 'Excalio, take your team and retreat through the seventh chamber, draw as many smugglers into the secondary store-hold.' ordered Archius.

'Archius?' Yjara, another of Heimfall's sub-commanders, shouted, 'You insane? We're pinned down here! We move! We die!'

'And you'll die regardless if you stay there,' said Archius, giving Yjara a taste of cold reality. 'Haul your asses somewhere else, regroup with the others, spam grenades for all I care, it'll give the armoury something to do later.'

He watched from the hacked-cameras, seeing her team pinned in a hall. Half were already dead, chewed down by heavy machine gun fire. 'Rendezvous with the others, buy as much time as possible for Arbiter's team to strike the bridge.'

'Ya, ja! Whatever! Just highlight a few other sections for us,' replied Yjara. Archius highlighted the allied forces nearby as the team started to fall back, trusting his judgement; wise move, he thought.

They needed time. Archius watched from the cameras at the reactor and engine rooms. Smugglers were putting up stiff resistance, and without the Fourth of the Seven Merc's presence in those areas, casualties were projected too high for a full assault. But still, they needed to stop the vessel. There was only one option left: Kazuki's spearhead. The bridge was everything. If the smugglers get out, then who the fuck will know where they are? This was it, a race against the clock. Everything depended on this, and Archius needed to use his card sparingly.

Another voice crashed through the uplink, 'Overwatch! We've captured the starboard gun-stations on deck two.'

Before Archius could even give his own answer, Eliza interjected, 'Splendid job, take your teams and rendezvous with the other units, reinforce the assaults on the reactor room, double time it!'

They complied. Hmm, maybe Eliza was getting better? It was a rough first start for her, Archius thought, but she does persevere. The hell of the boarding was nothing to the deafening silence on the command bridge. Lilly, Sato, Archius and Eliza simply sat, responding to chatter as they heeded through a hundred voices.

"Make sure you don't get handler fatigue like Sato," commented Archius. Eliza glanced up at him, before giving him a confident thumbs up and a smile… Ugh, she's overestimating herself.

And time was ticking, he needed to contact Osmond. It was his ace up his sleeve, the one asset that may prove vital in the end-game. Deducing from how Osmond didn't tell him of the blind-jump idea, it seems that either Leon decided on the spot, or it was planned.

Both were realistic opportunities, but nonetheless, Osmond may be playing a dangerous game… and it may seem that he'd have to rely on more heavy handed approaches, blackmail was all fine and dandy, he thought, but it's much more fun getting into the thick of things - sadly such an opportunity rarely shows itself with such tight deadlines. It'd be a shame if Osmond betrayed their deal, but it's his loss. He looked towards Eliza.

"Hey, Liz," Archius whispered, leaning towards her, "Can I ask you a favour?"

Eliza twisted away from her monitor, sliding the part of her uplink above her ear off, "Pardon? Sorry, I couldn't hear you."

There was a fire in her eyes.

Archius leaned in even further, lowering his voice in turn. "Swap with me."

"What? Why?! Look, I'm fine, I don't feel tired at all, if you're worried about that." Eliza blurted out, feeling her pride harmed, "Come on, you can trust me, right? I handled the P-2 Op quite nicely, thank you…"

"No, no, no…" Archius sighed, putting on fake faces. It seems she'll need some convincing. "I need to make contact with my eyes."

Eliza scratched her head. "Why can't you do that by yourself?" asked Eliza, slowly leaning in as she noted Sato looking up from her command-station.

"I need precision for this, Kaz's team has the highest chances of meeting him; and I need someone skilled to monitor the other teams."

A mixture of truth and lie melted into his words. Sure… he needs someone skilled, but her? He pondered for a moment. His internal face soured, as his dead outward expressions did nothing but hold their fake facade. She was skilled, that was objective. She's learnt too much for him to dismiss her…

Archius hated it.

Eliza paused for a moment, before twisting her head back to the monitor. "Hey, you're a better handler than me, right? Sure, I've been learning with Sato… but two months is nothing compared to a year, you have served for a year, right? And… flattery will get you nowhere." Her eyes dotted towards him and back, as if avoiding his gaze.

Fuck… Kaz revealing his true nature to her must be the worst thing that happened to him this year yet. Archius whispered, "This is important… Just let me handle Kaz's team."

She grumbled for a moment, letting Archius know that she wasn't budging on the matter. Why can't she just be obliged like a good little handler? But again, she was the type of person to not yield to him. "Look, this agent of mine is very important. And I need to overwatch Kaz's team to know when to make contact, I want you to, you know, oversee the other teams whilst I'm doing that."

Hopefully reason would see to it. But she shook her head. "I'll tell you when they're close to the bridge." Her crimson eyes looked away, hiding away what she thought.

Eliza was being irrational here, obsessive even… He did trust her to overwatch him, but if she's this hellbent on keeping Kaz to herself, then said trust might as well not exist. Well then, he thought, time to use a bargaining chip.

"I guess they're right, you really do rely on him," said Archius.

"Huh?" Eliza's head turned on a swivel. It seems he got her attention. "What are you insinuating?" asked Eliza, her eyes thinning as she realised Archius hit the mark. She had a look of envy on her face, a vicious stare that he didn't think was possible for her; but then again, his initial assessment of her was that she was more vicious than what she leads on.

Archius shrugged. "Don't worry, I'm just borrowing him for a bit," jeered Archius, "You said you understood coordinating with us, I need you to coordinate with me, you coordinate with the other units."

Archius deliberated on pushing her further… But confronting her and accidentally revealing more past trauma he wasn't aware of might harm her. Kazuki would kill him if he broke Eliza, deliberately or not - direct or indirect. And that probably wasn't an overstatement, Archius knows Kazuki started this rebellion for her.

Before Archius could say anything, Eliza leaned backwards. "Look, please, you can trust me, alright?" reiterated Eliza, trying to multi-task several drones at the same time. She was trying to prove something, and it didn't work; because she misunderstood him.

Archius placed a hand on her shoulder. "Eliza, this isn't about trust." he asserted, "I've told you before, remember? You're strong, hardy even, thick-headed…"

"Did you just call me stupid?" Eliza had a disgusted look on her face. Fuck… that is what thick-headed means, right?

Sato looked over at the two of them, grumbling as she flicked her uplink off. "Can you two get back to work already?! Don't offload your share of the work to me!"

Of course, she only cared about the work, not the fact that they were arguing in the first place.

Stolen novel; please report.

Lilly snarled a look at the two as Eliza froze in place.

Archius nodded at Sato, then twisted back at Eliza, speeding up his voice. "I trust you, Liz, you've proven yourself within the AGENCY more than ever. But we need too coordinate."

"We're doing that already... The teams are working perfectly... The..."

"The gunrunners have no reserves, we're pressuring them on all sides, yes!" Archius remarked. "But I need you to swap with me. One decisive blow." He held his hand out, showing his five fingers, then clenching them into one fist. "One well timed punch, for that: I need to talk to my eyes. This is what I was talking about, Eliza, you need to work with me here... Don't be greedy."

Time to see if his hypothesis of pampering and throwing affirmation onto her works.

Eliza paused for a moment. Pulling on her heart-strings might have been a bit harsh, but if it works then it'll be for the best - especially since Kaz isn't here to berate him for it.

Eliza owes Archius a little bit, especially for helping her back during the Loyalist Crisis. Saying she didn't trust him would be counterproductive - and straight up mean, which she wasn't.

A second passed as Eliza deliberated on the thought herself. "Fine," she said. "I guess I was being greedy, wasn't I?"

Archius shrugged. "Sometimes being greedy isn't a bad thing," Archius said. "No hard feelings?"

It looked as if she bit down on her pride and finally understood that letting emotions get in the way of things may lead to… bad results. At least to some extent, Archius thought.

She nodded. "It's for the mission, is it not?"

Archius nodded.

"Then there's not exactly much room for arguing, is there?" Eliza remarked. Archius chuckled, nodding.

"No there is not," he replied. Eliza is finally getting it through her thick fucking skull! Congrats... Only took her until now, it seems.

"What's the status on your teams?" she asked. The question caught Archius dumbfounded for a split second as he cleared his throat... Huh? Oh...

A secret smile bled onto Archius' inner mind. "Pinned in the hallways leading to the reactors and engines, several MG nests are slowing them down."

Eliza furrowed her brow and nodded. "Alright," she said. It lacked any of her normal cleanliness or hospitality, simply one word that solidified her grit.

They traded monitoring links and displays; the two swapped roles. Finally, Archius thought - turning to the monitor as he swapped interlink channels.

Eliza seamlessly went on to act as the other units' handler, her eyes alight with determination. Seems like Archius was wrong after all! To some regards. Eliza's worth was slowly creeping up; she was no longer a liability to the AGENCY.

A well oiled machine is only as good as its weakest component. Eliza was that component, but now... She was not. There was zeal in her voice; authority radiating from her eyes.

Archius... He had to stop underestimating Eliza... He took a moment to simply take in the sight of Eliza ACTUALLY being competent!

"Team work, makes the dream work... Or some shitty team building proverb or whatever," Archius murmured to himself under his breath. He hid it with a smile. He didn't even need to manipulate Eliza that hard either!

Archius clicked his uplink on, watching Kazuki's small team clear through the vessel, cleaving a stream of blood as they slammed through the hallways, clearing the rooms adjoined to the halls in mere seconds. A wave of smugglers tried to pour forward, but Kazuki sliced them up with his half-blade, whilst using their momentum against themselves.

Any others that even got close were quickly turned to ash by the other operatives. Yet one brave, poor soul tried to stab Kazuki with a sword-bayonet. The Fourth of the Seven Mercs merely parried away the attack, before interchanging the bayonet into their head, it was quite gruesome - Archius thought.

They gave no mercy, bullets flicking off their shield and armour. 'Hello… fine gentlemen and gentlewomen, I'll be guiding you for now!' said Archius.

'What joke is this?' demanded Kazuki, disparagingly negative. He let off an audible sigh of frustration as he hugged an indent at another intersection, reloading both his carbine and his power charge. Eliza's signature was on each one, it made Archius cringe slightly.

'Yeah, yeah, Arbiter. If you take a left and continue down thataway then you'll reach the bridge,' said Archius, skipping through a few cameras as he was finding Osmond. The way to the command bridge was heavily guarded, with probably tens or hundreds between Leon and Kazuki. 'It's one hell of a fight, but you guys have it.'

'Alright., Kazuki uttered one word, sidestepping bolts as his team pushed onwards, outnumbered a dozen to one, but still outmatching the less experienced crims. Their heavy, bulky armour and weapons simply made it easier to kill them, they were using Imperial equipment wrong, mainly since they lacked the skill and conditioning to use them.

He skimmed through the camera channels, cracking into their defences as flurry of combat and bullets skidded past the camera-view periodically. But Archius found his target, Osmond. He was standing on the bridge, pacing around the control deck with Leon. A timer was going down, six minutes.

He clicked his uplink into place, connecting himself to Osmond. 'I see you're not as worried. Now then, are you ready to fulfil your pledge to me?' asked Archius, crossing his legs on the command deck seat as he waited for a response.

Osmond froze in place, standing in the middle of the room. Can't avoid the reaper now, Archius jokes to himself, watching as Osmond scrambled to the side of the room. Pretending to be checking the cameras, he answered in a hushed tone, 'What do you want… just… stop, please? We're already beaten! Can't you just let us go?'

This whole charade was most definitely a personal vendetta, but Archius was fine with that… Kazuki wanted vengeance, if things blow over into a hot-war, then the contracts will flow… Archius smirked to himself, knowing that either way, the AGENCY, and Kazuki, will benefit. Sure, Kaz won't like it: but it wouldn't be his fault.

'Your associates harmed the interests of the AGENCY,' said Archius, 'We cannot let that slide. I'll be in touch, for now… take care, prepare and drink water, clears the head a little.'

He twisted back towards Kazuki's team, disconnecting from Osmond. Quinn and Kazuki led the assault. The former's expertise in CQC were only outmatched by the latter's, turning the hallway into a killzone with Claire's team to support; Amyé taking out Heavy Machine Guns, Claire's medical support: it was very much a good team. Those that survived the slashes or headshots were peppered down with WRIST-SHOT, and if they survived they'd only to be met with a secondary salvo from Quinn. Chambers and connecting rooms were being cleared out with precision, and extreme prejudice.

Archius changed over to the cameras, watching the smugglers set up a pulse-cannonade on top of a staircase on the other side of an air-lock cargo-chamber. There were two sides, with an energy bridge linking the two.

Smugglers were rushing backwards, across the bridge from the other side… Gunfire was close, as sparks of light appeared in the connecting hall - all as the cannonade powered up.

Archius tried to warn them. 'Watch out—'

As the final syllable left his lips, the pulser activated, with a sprout of energy cleaving downwards. It cleaved through a squad of gunrunners, splattering them into numerous body parts flung back into the opposing hallway. Yet as the wet splattering of human flesh faded, the guns continued to fire. And emerging from the hallway was none other than the Contract-Breaker. And he looked pissed, deflecting the beam of energy with his shield as he marched onwards.

'GO!' Claire shouted, 'Arbiter has the pulser!'

As the group of operatives flooded into the room, gunfire erupted as the smugglers taking cover across the bridge behind makeshift barricades exploded into a frantic blitz. They were buying time, Archius noted. But as the pulser tried to move down towards Kazuki's men, he ignited a gas-flash, engulfing the entire room in a flash of smoke. The pulser swayed, its user blinded by the flash as the heat-vision of the pulse-cannonade bled into their eyes…

Kazuki marched out of the smoke, across the bridge as he started into a light jog, reinforcing his shield. 'Artillerist. Take the shot.' ordered Kazuki.

In under a second, a shot rang out across the room, louder than any of the present gunfire - and slammed directly into the pulse cannon's steel frame. Sparks fluttered, and a corpse fell. 'Got the target, Arbiter…' Amyé said, as the pulser started to sporadically fire, the corpse coincidentally pressing down against the fire trigger.

'OH SHIT! FUCK!' shouted Amyé, pulse fire scattering across the room, anyone outside of cover splintering into numerous pieces. Two operatives were caught in the crossfire before hiding behind crates and barricades. Everyone, even the gunrunners took cover - yet Kazuki did not.

He broke into a full blown sprint. Time ticking down as he crashed across the bridge. Drawing his hand-cannon, he fired it into a group of smugglers hiding from the pulser, sending molten steel everywhere. He holstered it as shrieks of pain bounced off the walls.

Quinn joined Kazuki, rushing down the bridge. 'YOU FUCKING INSANE?'

Insane? Maybe he should ask himself that question, Archius noted. A trickle of dead bodies started to litter the other side when Quinn and Kazuki crossed. Quinn slaughtered up the staircase, whilst Kazuki lingered. He aimed both down both sides of the platform, eliminating every smuggler present. Those that survived the first volley charged, desperately shouting.

Most never got even within reach, as Claire's men gunned them down from the other side, within the smoke. But one frantic smuggler clambered upwards, an arm missing. And as they charged Kazuki's back, he grabbed his half-blade and impaled him, not giving the smuggler a single thought as he continued to fire down bolts. Weaving backwards, he narrowly avoided a string of plasma bolts sent flying down from up the stairs.

'Keep going.' said Archius, watching the time count down as the engines of the vessel boosted into full speed, sending shockwaves across the floor.

'I know.'

Kazuki pressed himself against his shield, moving upwards as Quinn met stiff resistance. The two ducked out of the way of the pulse-cannon as it was sent downwards, wheels barrelling towards the two.

Both ducked to opposite sides, avoiding the cannonade as it crashed into the bridge's projectors.

Archius watched as tumbled below, off the bridge - and veering straight into the ship's shield. 'Hold onto something, that shield's gonna be fuck!' Archius said, causing a moment of panic to rush into the room - as the airlock-shield faltered.

A moment of respite turned into pure chaos as the room started to depressurise. Kazuki and Quinn grappled onto the bannisters as Claire's forces clutched at the bolted down barricades. Air slammed aside the cargo, sending it sprawling out into space… The smugglers, however, were less lucky. Those not holding onto something were quickly sent flying out of the ship. Audible screams turned to silence as the room continued to depressurise.

'ARCHIUS!' shouted Claire.

'I'M TRYING!'

FUCK. Archius tried to hack into the system, there must be failsafe. Aha! Archius thought to himself, finding the right module to compromise. Then: access denied. Access denied?! Fuck! NOTHING WORKED. Having to rely on Sato? Biting his pride, he looked up at Sato. Without looking at him, she flicked him a pendrive.

"Thanks," Archius said, jabbing it into the system as he took control of the airlock, activating its emergency gate. Sparks fluttered as the gaping hole sealed shut. Everyone collapsed onto the floor.

'This is the second fucking time this has happened,' commented Amyé. 'WE SHOULD STOP FUCKING BOARDING SPACE VESSELS!'

Silence filled the air, as the room pressurised to stable levels. The bridge was down, with an empty void left behind, where the bridge once stood. But before Claire could even account for that, side entrances into the chamber opened, with reinforcing smugglers pinning Claire's squad from two sides.

'Shit! Ambush!' shouted Claire, dragging one of her injured men behind a bolted down control module. She used her Pharm-assist to shoot stims over to the other operatives.

Two were cut down as Amyé scoped in, releasing powered-bolts into the heads of any cocky crim that got close. Archius heaved a sigh of relief, he'll have to buy Sato a drink later, though he'd prefer not to. Her usefulness to the AGENCY is the only thing keeping him, personally, from despising her.

'SHIT! Arbiter! We'll hold them off, you and Epsilon secure the command bridge, good plan, right?' asked Claire.

Kazuki nodded. 'Hold out. Archius, send reinforcements to relieve them.'

Quinn pointed towards the other side. 'Arbiter…'

'Epsilon. On me.'

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