[hr][color=009496][h1][center]Tahlia Spade[/center][/h1][/color][hr] As Rend left the room, Tahlia noticed that Rend's behavior had changed drastically from the time that they first met, and even when they were in the chamber where their "hearing", as it were, was held. Possibly now he was starting to realize how insignificant he was now that they were the last humans alive, and they were effectively at the mercy of these aliens. Despite how much she hated him at this point, she wondered if maybe now he may be of some use, since his delusions of grandeur were seemingly beginning to crack. Regardless, she was going to exploit every vulnerability Rend had. She figured, if any of the crew weren't going to let him simply die, then she might as well try to mold him into a productive member of the crew. What else could she do at that point? Upon his departure, Tahlia looked across the table at Owen. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed to get something off her chest. [hr][center][h3]24 September 2048: Syria[/h3][/center][hr] [i]By this point it had been several hours since she left the FOB. It was the dead of night, and Tahlia's trek into the Syrian countryside had been fruitless thus far. She was glad she had a half-decent sense of direction; she must have traversed upwards of 15 klicks already. She made sure not to lose her orientation though, and to try not to be more than 7 or 8 kilometers from the base. She had started to circle around the point at which she estimated the base to be. She remained wary, knowing that the New Daesh fighters were a bit too good at hiding and tracking people. She did her best to cover her tracks. Occasionally, she would even have to hide from a friendly patrol. For obvious reasons, she didn't want anyone to know where she was, friendly or not. She only hoped that she was better at hiding than anyone else was at searching. At one point, a humvee came within 100 meters of her. Upon hearing it's unmistakable engine, she immediately dove behind a small ridge to stay out of sight. It didn't take long for it to pass, at which point she continued her search. After another thirty minutes or so, she began to hear gunfire. She sprung into action, picking her pace up from a walk to a fast jog, heading towards the sound. She wasn't entirely sure, but she thought it sounded like AK fire. This was it. She was going to get her first kills. She was going to rid these bloodthirsty maniacs from the world. In that moment, she changed her mind about not re-enlisting. Now she was coming back, come hell or high water. Her adrenaline was pumping as she approached the source of the shots. They had since ceased, but if she could spot whomever it was that took those shots, she could stalk them as long as she needed to. She came up to a hill, behind which is where she estimated the shots to have come from. She got down as she approached the crest of the hill, continuously getting lower until she was prone and watching over the valley below. She spotted the jihadists moving away from her position approximately 400 meters out. There was no way they'd know where she were at this distance. She lowered the bipod on her designated marksman rifle and set it on the dirt in front of her. This was it. The start of her vengeful campaign against these zealots. She looked down the scope of her rifle, making a couple of adjustments to the reticle before settling it on one of the fighters. There were five of them. She figured she could take out three before they figured out where the noise was coming from. She thought through the range, elevation, and windage calculations once more before flicking the safety off. [color=009496]"Say goodnight, fuckstick."[/color] [b]*BANG*[/b][/i] [hr] [color=009496]"Owen, I think I should talk to you about something. I may need your help with some... issues I've been having lately. I've been..."[/color] She trailed off for a moment. She sure as hell wasn't about to tell her about what happened in Syria, but she did need to talk about how she was holding up as of late. She could deal with it as long as she needed to. She could always find something else to keep her going, but she knew it wasn't healthy. She had thought that the hearing would have represented progress, unlike the last few weeks. She thought they would finally move forward in some way, but after what happened, it felt like they had taken a step backward. Benji was still nowhere to be found, and now Echo was probably equally as bad off with the little stunt she pulled. [color=009496]"Don't know how much you could tell, but I haven't been handling the last couple of weeks too well. I don't want to talk about it right now, but sometime later. Right now we still have bigger fish to fry."[/color] As much as she hated to admit it, she felt somewhat better now that she told someone. Confident as she was, she saw no shame in seeking help when needed, and she knew she would need it sooner or later at this point. That was one of the things the Army, of all things, had taught her. The train entered a tunnel of sorts; something that she didn't recall from any of the other trips to and from their estate. The windows faded to black, the flash of the tunnel lighting filling the cabin in predictable intervals. The train began to slow down, giving the impression that they were nearing their stop. It took but fifteen seconds to come to a complete stop, and outside of the doors there were already guards waiting for them. Great, were they being brought into solitary confinement now? Who knew what they all had done to piss off the Principality this time. The doors opened, but the guards did not respond by immediately shackling them all and dragging them out of the train by force. They didn't look too happy, no doubt, but they also didn't appear hostile this time. One of them, presumably the leader, jerked his head as a gesture to follow them. Tahlia looked back between Owen, Yaz, and Rend, shrugged, and followed the guards out of the train and into the station, if one could call it that. As Tahlia followed two of the guards while the other two flanked the last person off the train, she decided to take stock. If this was a station, it obviously wasn't meant for commercial use, strictly speaking. Crates and supplies of all sorts were placed around the floor, giving the impression that this tunnel was part of a freight line or something. Tahlia followed the guards to a cargo lift of sorts. Once everyone, including the guards, were on the lift, one of them hit a button, causing the lift to accelerate up. Judging by how many floors they passed and Tahlia's own sense of distance, she surmised that they probably went up about 70 meters before the lift stopped. The doors to the lift opened, revealing the inside of what looked like a massive warehouse. Crates, equipment, and supplies could be found on various shelves, tables, and scattered about the floor in a few places, with various sorts of aliens diligently moving them all around the place. Tahlia noticed that there were large, squared-off portions of the warehouse with various markings and lights, above which cranes and other lifting equipment were suspended from the high ceiling. Tahlia deduced that they could be landing pads or maintenance bays, so that would make this a garage, or a hangar. But then where were the vehicles? The guards led the crew down a few aisles of the depot, bringing them to a large blast door on another end of the facility. The guard entered a five digit code into one of the panels, ensuring that none of the humans could see it, first. After a moment, the door began to open, revealing a large hangar with what looked like several ships laying all around the flat floor of the facility. At least, her experience with sci-fi movies told her they were probably ships. Who knew, really? Regardless, the aliens led them to one end of the facility. She knew where she was going, when she saw one of the ships with English written on the side of it. [url=https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/18/22/4f/18224faffb4c41b6f250a3cf82630f37.jpg]The Artemis.[/url] It occurred to Tahlia that she had never even seen the ship from the outside, but now that it was sitting right in front of her, she couldn't help but be filled with pride at what mankind had accomplished. This ship represented mankind's first step in interstellar travel, despite the circumstances that led up to it. It's design was sleek, but minimalistic and utilitarian; a perfect blend between functionality and form. It must have taken years; possibly decades to perfect such a design. She only hoped that they still had a chance to not let the effort go to waste. She realized that she had lost herself in thought when a guard grunted at her to regain her attention. Tahlia cleared her throat and briefly glanced at the others, expecting similar reactions of bewilderment on their faces. Tahlia gave a short whistle to make sure everyone else was snapped out of it before proceeding onto the ship. [hr][center][h3]The Artemis: The Living Area[/h3][/center][hr] Tahlia stepped up a ramp on one side of the ship, leading into a small cargo bay that she didn't even know existed. At the other end of this bay was a door to engineering. It was ironic that these aliens now knew more about the ship than Tahlia likely did. Possibly any of the crew, really. Tahlia wondered what the purpose of bringing them back to the ship was. The apparent answer to this question only opened up more questions. Upon entering the living area, Tahlia and the others were greeted by the sight of Benji and Echo. Benji, of course, was all too excited to greet them, or more specifically her, as they entered the room, even as the guards left it. No doubt they had gone to make sure no one tried to leave the ship. Tahlia was as relieved as she was surprised, as well as skeptical, cautious, and alert. What could the aliens possibly gain by letting them return to the ship? Or did they even want anything more from them. Did Benji sell them some sob story to get everyone off the hook? [color=009496]"I'm-- we're good. Surviving."[/color] She wasn't quite sure what to say. [color=009496]"Are you both okay?"[/color] she asked, noting Benji's black eye. [color=009496]"And, do you know why we're back on the ship? What did you tell them?"[/color] she asked, extremely quizzically. She didn't think that Benji would have went behind their backs with anything, but she was extremely curious to know whatever he did. It was probably more than she knew at the moment.