[center][h2]Death Rattle[/h2]

[i]Themerlinhawk, WInd Wild[/i] 

Megelis, Kirane

Day 1, Morning[/center]


Stopping outside of the room that Senechal had indicated Kirane was practicing in Megelis paused considering the past course of action. With a careful rap on the door he waited politely for a moment. 

“Miss Kirane. It is Megelis. I've been asked to collect you. We had a captain change. Adela will not be heading point on this one. May I come in?” Resting his left hand in the double swords on his left hip Megelis waited patiently for Kirane. He didn't know too much about her but he did know she could be trusted. The few missions they had been on together told him that she was very capable. Beyond any rumors that she was just here because of her mother. Megelis hoped the newer rumors weren't true about her having medical issues. Either way, she was up and the two of them were looking like the only real firepower. 

It was a rather interesting position to be in given that they were walking into a rather dangerous part of the Angel’s Landing. Lady Silver knew what she was doing though, at least he hoped that was the case. Kirane was a melee weapon specialist like himself but given the current mission roster Megelis suspected that he was going to be running fire support more than anything else if they actually ran into anyone. 

The training rooms were intended for just that but….
 
But when encountered with Sirius Dylan one often gets the urge to look for an emergency escape. It may have looked a bit rude to the waitress in the café – and it certainly was rude to the cleaners – but Kirane couldn’t help herself and brought her breakfast over as soon as she received it.
 
The knock on the door startled her and she hurried to shove the last remaining bite in her mouth before she shook the crumbs off and opened the door. “Mr Altoris?” Her eyebrows arched in slight surprise, two things becoming instantly clear. One, Lady Silver also anticipated trouble and two, their chances of succeeding went up a notch. Kirane felt a twinge of relief. Megelis was a good fighter and a considerate team-player with significantly better interpersonal skills than herself. They made an efficient combination which promised a smooth execution.

“Of course you can come in, though I myself am ready to go as soon as everyone else is ready.” She stepped away to let him in. Did she sound overeager? Hopefully not. “Captain Láska isn’t leading?” She asked. It wasn’t like her to take second place. “Do we have a two captains for this one? Or none?”

“One.” Megelis stepped into the room and then closed door behind him. “Captain Lanthan. I don’t know where Captain Láska has been reassigned though if I’m being transparent I didn’t ask.” The ex-soldier hadn’t made up his mind about Miriam but he was fairly certain her power at any cost ideas were generally bad for those she worked directly above. 

Standingly slightly uncomfortably right inside the room he realized that he was at least a little worried that the rumors about Kirane’s health were true but Lady Silver wouldn’t be sending her in if she weren’t capable. The two of them had done their fair share of missions together and they went well. Points for Kirane but he still couldn’t shake his fear that she might be compromised. [i]Leave it be, she’ll be fine.[/i] There was no use worrying about it. 

“Do you need anything else before we go? I think basically the rest of the team is in the staging area. We are taking Crow and Markus in to do a retrieval and hopefully you and I get to be bored the entire time.” Chuckling he felt some of his awkwardness finally fade. This was going to be just fine. 


Captain Lanthan? That was also a surprise but a welcome one. The woman was one of the captains Kirane could relate to and one she admired despite never having worked with her personally. The woman’s calm was at least as notorious as her skill – something that would be valuable in a chaotic place like the Narrows. The other two members she was already aware of and finally, with the brief explanation the puzzle clicked together. Two to do the actual work, two for backup and one making sure they don’t descend into chaos. The chances of that happening were unlikely with this set of people – although Crow and Markus both spent way too much time on their respective “desks”, she couldn’t imagine any of them disregarding orders or running off carelessly. In a relatively tight formation things should be perfectly fine.  
 
However, at Megelis’ last remark Kirane’s eyebrow twitched and she had to avert her eyes. Was he trying to be nice? Or had Lady Silver or Captain Lanthan decided not to expose her condition? Sure, they were short staffed but wasn’t this putting her team at risk? But if she spoke up, would that create panic or undermine her superiors’ authority?
 
No. She was overthinking it. Nothing bad would happen. “Yes, let’s hope we will be.” She forced a smile, meeting his eyes again. “I’m ready to go. I’m sorry you had to explicitly come to pick me up – I’ve been experiencing problems with my communication devices since this morning. Hopefully it won’t interfere with the mission. Do you know what we’re retrieving? By our party’s composition I assume it is either electronic or dead.” She said, checking the twin scabbards and her holster again while she spoke.

“Both actually. Crow is supposed to collect the spirit of the corpse laying in his lab at this moment and Markus is supposed to collect the street side data from whatever cameras were in the area.” What was that reaction? Brushing it aside as more overthinking Megelis nodded at her assertion that she was ready. With the group as small as it was there was always the risk of running into a bigger group of Stygian supporters in the Narrows but given that Sentinel should be fetching the heavier side of his arsenal for this one it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

“I hope you don’t mind me putting up in front. I just figured that with the others we have with us I might be better off providing some heavier firepower. I think Crow can take care of himself but Markus I might [i]actually have to pick up and physically carry if we need to make a clean escape and I wanted options” That and as far as he knew Kirane was strictly a close quarters operator which was dying breed in this day and age though many still maintained their abilities in melee combat. It was generally considered poor practice for Knight operators to [b]Not[/b] be capable in close quarters with at least a single weapon. Turned out not many people cared if you could shoot though it lead to most of the knights being okay at both. 

“Well if that is everything we should get going. Opening the door he held it for her. Staging area three.” He waited politely for his partner for the mission.

“Markus has to be physically present?” Kirane asked, musing out loud. For a hacker to have to leave his ‘office’ in order to get information struck her as abnormal… and worrying, given where they were going. The Narrows was no walk in the park. She could only hope Markus knew what he was getting himself into. Crow.. well, from what she knew of him, death was not his biggest worry. “I suppose a random hijacking may be a more subtle approach in the Narrows than a highly skilled hacking… Lady Silver must consider this death very significant.” Truth be told, Kirane didn’t know who the victim was or even how he died. It wouldn’t mean much to her anyway as her knowledge covered almost exclusively non-Tower individuals. 

She picked up her jacket and exited the room, appreciating Megelis’ gesture. “And no, of course I don’t mind you being the lead. I think it’s better this way. I haven’t been in top shape recently. Let us hope both our skills will be irrelevant for this but should they be needed I am not letting anyone lay a hand on our valued outlaw.” She smiled. “Or anyone else for that matter.”