1:2:10 Undulia (Part 2)

“Thank you.” Lore waited for Rhu’Anui to take a seat. “The conglomeration has shown that, despite your differences, despite or perhaps because of your history, humanity and the Sat’Mach can co-exist.” A murmur started with the council and circled the spiral. “Thank you for listening.”
“I was expecting something a little longer.” Rhu’Anui grunted as they stood. “However, I stand by your optimism.” They moved closer to the shield. “May I?” Lore nodded. They approached and knelt before it. “As this outsider has said, this shield is our history but we forget that it became its strongest when we shared that history with humanity.” Rhu’Anui raised the shield and slammed it against the floor. There was a strange heat coming from the front of the shield that had been conducted through the handguard. “A shared history that still protects us to this day.” Rhu’Anui chuckled. “It may have taken the humans a decade to drive us underground but I truly believe that if we go in peace to them in their time of need, that damage will be more than made up for in a matter of months.”
Lore’s necklace suddenly awoke and began directing Lore to stand behind Rhu’Anui. They agreed and were just in time to feel their breastplate heat up slightly. They looked at the spiral. Standing at the front of the Middlethem crowd, looking rather out of breath and annoyed, Alex stood; Their pistol at their side, two shots taken.
“Councillors, I gift the shield to you.” Lore started, their eyes following Alex along the spiral. “It is yours to do with as you please but I implore you listen to me. Now more than ever.” Lore vanished in a flash of white, momentarily appearing in front of Alex before returning before the first light had fully faded. “To fight humanity would be to sink to their level. Middlethem code states that this is a peaceful zone, none have breached it, yet one of the oldest Middlethem has just tried to assassinate Rhu’Anui.” Lore removed Alex’s pistol, enabled the safety, and tossed it across the table. Two absent lights in the grip indicated that it had been discharged. “Rise up, do what you have always done, be the protectors.” Lore struggled as they fought Alex’s hands behind their back. Char removed her pistol from its holster and fiddled with a dial on the side. She settled for a medium stun and fired a thin, golden beam at Alex. They fell to the floor with a meaty thud. “Thanks.”
“Is this not proof that even down here, we cannot co-exist?” Tau’Poss slammed their foot through the panel beneath them.
“No. This is proof that Undulia doesn’t want you to.” Char barely hid her annoyance. “Undulia appointed them to the Middlethem, Undulia gave them their weapons. She probably also gave them orders to try and stop anything like this, coming together.”
“We will take all that has been said under advisement. I recommend you dispose of the body before it goes bad.” Tau’Poss rose to leave.
“Alex isn’t dead. They’re your prisoner.” Lore tried to pick up Alex’s body. They lacked the strength. “You’re going to have to take them… Sorry.”
“I will ensure they are looked after.” Rhu’Anui threw the shield over their shoulder and took Alex’s body into their arms.
Lore turned to Char, “that’s the foundations. Hopefully they took on board the right bits.”
“Now what?” She returned.
“Now we skip to the good bit. But first…” Lore held out their arm for Char to grab. They both disappeared.

It was bloody cold. In the bitter frost of the Illian tundra, they stood at the mouth of a cave. Two bikes waited for them.
“Not so stupid now is it?”
“That still remains to be seen.” Char snarked.
“Come on.” Lore mounted their bike. “You’ll need to be closer than that, like we practiced.”
Char sighed. “You know I love how much smoother Breaching becomes when you’re carrying a half tonne bike between your legs.” The sarcasm was so thick that even Lore could pick up on it. “If I throw up, it's on you.”
“It better not be.” Lore and Char chuckled together.
“If we survive this, we should get a drink.”
“I…Don’t drink but I appreciate the sentiment.” Lore held out their arm for the hopefully the last time. After the flash subsided, Lore checked their Breacher; they were almost back when they had started. Their bikes idled over the algae of the oxygen fields as Lore readied themselves for the next stage in their brilliant plan. Char readied herself, dry heaving and eventually producing a small quantity of sick.
She looked at them, shaking her head. “Don’t you dare.” She knew what was coming.
It was almost instinctive. Lore hadn’t planned on saying anything. “You missed.”
“Now what then?”
“We’re going to ride towards the city, head over to the Military Guild building, wait for the transmission to begin and then, we’re going to hightail it out of there and hopefully, the chase pans out as planned.”
“And that plan is?”
“The Illian documents contained a full inventory of everything both ships brought with them. The second ship was carrying an experimental armoured reconnaissance weapons platform. A massive tank designed for the wildlife of the Illian tundra.”
“And it’s relevant because…” While Char was enjoying the more confident Lore, she hadn’t missed the not knowing aspect of their relationship.
“It’s bigger than every door on this planet. Illia was designed before The Protectorate chose to adopt the metric system, as such, it was designed in imperial. The tank was built post metric and the designer didn’t know the difference between the notation for feet and inches. The tank is nearly four times larger than the biggest door on this planet, well, except for its hangar door.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“We bait Undulia into following us with the tank. She forces her way out of Celreagaire, destroying the wall and then she continues and destroys the dome.” Char nodded along. “The area we’ve chosen to have the fight in is just close enough to see from Celreagaire but far enough away that any missed shots from either side could be easily deflected by people standing along the outer wall.”
“The Sat’Mach.” Char exclaimed.
“Exactly. Undulia shows her true colours and the risks she would be willing to take to prevent the spread of differing opinions, she tears up half the settlement and the Sat’Mach prove themselves worthy defenders and allies. Those who are against Undulia ally with the Sat’Mach, led by Rhu’Anui, and then they make a better Illia for all.”
“Complex and optimistic. If it works, a whole lot of people will be happy.”
“And if it doesn’t, those same people will be pissed.” Lore gave a nervous laugh. “I really hope they didn’t have it disassembled…”
“I wouldn’t blame them.” Char smiled. “If it didn’t fit anywhere, why build it in the first place?”
“It came pre-assembled. With the colonists in cryo, there was more than enough room to carry everything good to go. Only thing that they carried disassembled was the materials for the expansions; concrete, rebar and stuff like that.” Lore shrugged. “Hope you’re ready for a run. If the tank still exists, she wouldn’t use it if we were on bikes. No point chasing us in a tank when we could easily get out of weapon’s range.” Char agreed.
Char grumbled the whole way back to Celreagaire’s boarder. The smell, the distance, the company, Char made Lore aware that she wasn’t happy that they weren’t Breaching the bikes. She watched as the energy gauges depleted. When they set off, the batteries were nearly fully charged but by the time they had reached the outer walls of the city, they were nearly a quarter depleted. Lore did the maths in their head and, with their escape factored in, they reckoned that there would be just enough to complete their mission in both the past and present. They dismounted at the wall and stashed their bikes by the door.
“Did you get Tolan’s card?” Char looked at Lore’s expression and knew the answer immediately. “See you in a minute then.”
Lore was gone for less than a fraction of the time and when they returned, the doors opened. “Sorted.”
“We could have just Breached through…”
Lore shook their head. “It’s about optics at this point. There can’t be any doubt that we were here or that we weren’t in any danger. They see us disappearing and reappearing then in a few weeks, it’s a hoax. It will hopefully be worth the effort.”

The roads were empty; not a person nor military vehicle in sight. Lore looked to Char, she looked back. Hand in hand, they walked the empty streets. They weren’t alone. Watching them from above, a group of children still in school; their teacher joined them as they marvelled at the travellers using the roads at an unauthorised time. It was the beginning of the end. The children’s attention was quickly returned to the front of the class as the smart screen displayed Lore’s picture. Every smart screen did. Around the colony, at the exact same moment, regardless of what had previously been shown on it, every computer, television, tablet and screen showed a picture of Lore’s face from just after their trial. There were three pips before their speech began.
“People of Celreagaire, I am Lore: Former Inquisitor of the fifty second order. I’m talking to you today to dispel some myths…” They could hear it faintly as it played in every building around them. Lore and Char continued walking. Still facing no resistance. The speech came to an end as they approached the turning for the Military Guild’s front entrance. Once more, silence. From that silence, despite the glass hemisphere and perfectly clear sky, a crack like thunder shot through the streets. All at once, every lock on every door was activated. Lore and Char were trapped on the streets and the civilian population were trapped wherever they were. Lines formed by work exits yet none of them even tried to open the door when their shift officially ended, they just waited, watching as a now known criminal walked past. The anticipation was killing them. Every step felt like swallowing another butterfly, causing hurricanes in their stomach but they carried on. Char’s hand had an almost grounding effect, keeping at least half of them centred on the task. They approached the walkway to the Guild building. The front entry way acted as an airlock; with both sets of doors sealed, they couldn’t hear the banging and clattering of the officers trying to escape. When they saw Lore they stopped. Just for a moment, they watched as Lore came closer. They weren’t sure whether to move away or continue in their attempts to break free. Their minds were soon made up. They fled but not from Lore. They didn’t need to turn around to know why the officers had vanished. The static in the air told them everything they needed to know. Lore took a deep breath, strengthening their resolve, before turning to face the source of the electricity.
“Former Inquisitor Loren…” Undulia’s voice surrounded them, broadcast over the local public address system. She couldn’t be seen but Lore knew she was right in front of them. The tank was much larger than they had expected. Although they knew its exact dimensions, it did little to prepare them for the metal monstrosity that hovered before them. Nearly twenty feet wide and fifteen feet tall, it was less of a tank and more of a floating fortress with enough integrated weaponry to clear any area of any resistance and enough armour to ensure anything that survived wouldn’t win the war of attrition. The electric motors whirred in motion as the carrier’s skin came to life. Panels unlocked and retracted allowing a series of turrets to emerge. Nearly a hundred barrels took aim at Lore and Char. They thought it was over but for the final reveal, the carrier had to reverse slightly. From the front face of the vehicle a telescoping rod emerged. Once fully erected, the public address system started to crackle. “I have always wanted to actually drive this thing. We’ve kept it ready for the last ten years but we’ve never had an excuse to use it. I reckon a renegade Inquisitor trying to raise an army is justification enough.” Undulia sat back in her control chair, smiling to herself. “It’s like this city was built for this. The streets are perfectly sized and the corners are just wide enough for the turning circle…” She gave the perfection a chefs kiss. “Absolutely fantastic.” Four officers dismounted the carrier and drew their weapons. A further six appeared from behind the carrier on speeder bikes. The ten officers moved a pace closer to Lore and Char. “You’ve got until you leave my sight then we’re going to get you.” She cackled.
“Fair enough.” Lore was doing their best not to give anything away. They nodded to Char and with her hand in theirs, they walked away. They maintained a leisurely pace until they reached the point of no return. They could still see Undulia’s carrier and she could still see them. “Ready to run?” Char increased her grip on their hand and nodded. “Right then.” Lore exhaled, closed their eyes and then took a long, deep breath in. They held it as they took that step before transitioning to a sprint. Immediately, Undulia set herself in motion, her entourage barely making it back onto the carrier before she sped off towards Lore and Char. Weapons hot, she began firing in their direction indiscriminately. Several of the shots came very close to grazing their heels but the debris they created was doing more damage. Thankfully, the corners and lack of long straights meant that the carrier was unable to reach full speed and its size meant that the speeder bikes would be unable to pass. Lore scanned Tolan’s card and waited as the door unlocked. Although they had a moment before the carrier was within weapons range, the door taking its time still worried them. They made it through as the carrier began turning the corner. Lore looked down Undulia’s barrel, knowing that she was aware of the position she was in. Undulia halted her advance for a moment as she watched Lore and Char speed off on their bikes.
“Get me four more bikers.” Undulia snarled. “They’ll know where I’ve gone.” She raised her foot off of the clutch as she accelerated. She disabled the limiters and the warning sensors as the outer wall approached. She cut through it as if it weren’t there. The carrier was fine but the same couldn’t be said about the wall. While the area she had collided with was relatively small, because of the structural supports, it ripped even more out. The plains of the oxygen fields ahead, the lead they had created would soon be nullified.
“Bloody hel!” Lore shouted over to Char as they watched Undulia barrel  towards them. For such a large vehicle, neither of them had expected that it would be able to accelerate so quickly. They too put their pedals to the metal and watched as their speedometer’s needles climbed ever higher. The islands and the algae blurred into one green mess below them as they eventually reached their top speed. Two of three walls passed, they only had a moment before they would be at the airlock. Undulia and her bikers rode in formation, confident that their firepower and the sheer intimidation would be more than enough to eventually stop Lore. There was less than thirty seconds between them. They couldn’t afford to stop to use the airlock but they were running out of room to decide. A shot came dangerously close to Lore’s ear. They heard its entire journey from barrel to their ear but they saw everything after that. The shot hung in the air, motionless. The floor below had unblurred and their bike stopped. Lore looked over to Char; despite everything, she didn’t seem too phased by the current situation. Lore dragged their bike closer to hers; it felt like it weighed ten times what it had when they first mounted it. They positioned it a safe distance from Char’s, just like they had practiced and began accelerating. Lore tapped at their Breacher. They waited for time to resume, confident that they were ready. Time resumed and Char’s face went from calm and collected to confused. They didn’t have time for confusion. Lore held out their hand, she grabbed it. With moments to spare they vanished in a flash of white, reappearing on the other side of the glass dome. Undulia’s bikers started to slow. Their commander did not. Although she hadn’t changed anything, with her bikers pulling back, it was as if she sped up to charge through the glass walls of the oxygen farm. The dome sharded down on Undulia’s troopers before disappearing into the snow. Powdered glass fell on the algae pools and, for the first time in thirty years, it snowed on Celreagaire. Cracks formed and crept across the dome as more and more of it fell; nearly a third had been damaged with kilometres of glass falling. So far, history was playing out exactly as Lore wanted it to. It was only a matter of time before the next big decision would be made for them. They only hoped that worked out just as well.