Runaways

Staring. Lore had only briefly met their gaze but they could feel it piercing their soul. The wide eyed figure advanced from the side street and back into the main square. They were significantly taller than Lore and appeared to be built to destroy. Nothing about them had changed but suddenly, Lore felt cornered, timid and alone. Char grabbed at their hand, placing the other on her pistol.
“I owe you one.” Their voice was rusted from exposure. “Glad to see you made it off world safe too.”
“I’m sorry?” Char looked to the mountain before her then to Lore. Lore met Char’s eyes and nodded. Char gestured towards some nearby seating. “How do we know you?”
“You probably don’t. Not yet anyway.”
“Your file.” Lore spoke softly, with a voice that was only barely audible to Char. “You’re a wanted thief.” Char relayed Lore’s sentiment and upon repeating understood the conversation.
“Undulia was looking for you wasn’t she?”
“Name’s Blue.” They held out their hand. Char shook it for the both of them.
“Well, apparently we’re in need of that favour.” Char took the tablet from Lore’s bag and showed the updated objective.
“Snap.” Blue revealed a similar tablet with the same task. Blue’s tablet was the same model as theirs but looked significantly older and careworn.
“’Discuss the plan.’ What does that even mean?” Char looked up to a smiling Blue. Lore’s grip lessened.
“What did I tell you to do? And When?”
“It wasn’t me. This thing’s been in our group for nearly forty years now. Story goes that some masked traveller dropped it off at my grandparents house. First instruction was to get to the clinic. Granddad picked it up as Nan’s water broke. Saved their lives a few times among other things and even got my Mum and Dad together.” Blue took a laboured breath. “I’m guessing it means the other thing though.”
“I’m guessing so.” Both Char and Lore nodded.
“You need a mask or something?” Lore asked.
“Nah. Lived here all me life, well most of it. Two weeks on Illia doesn’t count.” Blue stood up and checked the buildings around them. “My Granddad was nineteen when the tablet came and didn’t fancy spending the rest of his life down mines. Tablet gave him the chance to do something else. Went out to space, came back in time to see me into the world and meet his son in law. Taught me everything he learnt.”
“How long was he gone?”
“Sixteen years. Said he only came back because the tablet told him to.” The smog had not been kind to Blue.
“He must have told you what he was up to?” Lore pressed.
“Oh yeah. Follow me.” Blue rose and began towards their meeting point. The clones were already assembled there which made things easier.
The door opened with a gritty clunk as the gears ground against one another. The lighting was triggered by motion sensor so the room remained black until Blue crossed the threshold. The room had a semi-circular desk and terminal at its centre. The UEP insignia was emblazoned once proudly on the faux wood surface but now sat in forgotten shame. Blue removed a stylus from under the terminal’s screen and firmly inserted it into an adjacent port. The outer doors ground shut. The inner door however opened in a more expected way, silently. Following Blue, the group remained quiet, weapons ready. The next room was brimmed with tiny cubicles, each taking up less than a metre squared. Blue pressed on, zig-zagging between the blocks of cubicles as if searching for a specific office. Eventually reaching a dead end, Blue rapped their knuckles against a nearby plant pot before lifting an empty water cooler. The dead end collapsed into the floor revealing a hidden pathway. This continued for thirty minutes by Lore’s watch with Blue finding a seemingly nondescript item or location and showing it to be more than meets the eye. After the thirty minutes, three flights of stairs, a lift, two fake offices and a real one, they reached what Blue deemed to be the end. An empty black expanse. They reached for the light switch, missed then successfully illuminated the scene before them.
“Wow.” Lore broke the silence.
The room before them was longer than it was wide and was packed with ships, all in various states of repair. Surrounding these ships and insulating the walls were crates bearing the number fifty two.
“Welcome to the Reaper’s headquarters. Your name not ours. We mostly call it The Hole.”
“This is rather impressive but is there a more direct route?” Lore tapped their watch removing their helmet. “Half an hour to reach a hidden base seems a bit ludicrous.”
“Course there is but I didn’t know if you wanted… Them… seeing this.” Blue had the subtlety of a knife to the spine.
“I didn’t even know about this. Plus, I trust them more than I trust you at the moment.” Lore pressed on towards the nearest ship. It was a small fighter ship.
“That’s one of the Valkyries. You were rather particular on this side of things.” Blue rolled their eyes. Lore had or will ruin parts of their life at some point. “’Fighter craft are to be named Valkyries till they develop a personality in combat’. So far we’ve only got two with names.” Blue threw their hand over towards the front of the hangar. “Sigyn and Sif are down there.”
Lore continued their peruse of the ships with the goal of reaching the large black ship at the centre. It looked familiar yet underwhelming.
“That’s the ship you left Granddad. The Vengeance. Capital ship of the fleet.” Blue smiled. “She’s mine.” Lore’s tablet updated. Issues.