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[right][hr][color=gray][b]Falcon's Reach | Nearing the NC Labs[/b]
March 27th, 2677[/color][hr][/right]
[indent]Stein remained mostly quiet as she followed the man through the command center’s stiff, barely held-together corridors. Fouren had taken lead with being more personable with the people of Falcon’s Reach, though she supposed that made sense given that he had been like them not too long ago. These were people who would’ve called her a “corporate belle” at best and a sellout city merc at worst, so she knew to keep her comments brief and to-the-point if she had anything she needed to say. There was a small tick in her brain that was trying to remind her that she was taking lead on this mission, but she knew such thoughts were non-optimal and if she acted on them the situation would not result well for the mission in the long-term.   

As the group discussed things about the Alaskan wildlife, Stein did find herself genuinely surprised. Genuinely surprised that a native of the region had no idea of the dangers of his own region. She knew Moore was a sheltered man but had he never left Smith’s Rest? Had he never heard stories of the wildlife and other dangers beyond the raider groups? How was that even possible? Stein imagined him to be a weak, cowardly man but he was still a “passable” pilot and had passed all of Graham’s tests. But knowing what she now knew it did make her wonder how capable he actually was and when it came to a [i]real[/i] firefight how long it would take until his dogged luck finally ran out.

She supposed she would have to see if today was that day.

Fouren shuffled his hands in his pockets, his eyes still set on their escort – Daniel Skarsgård. [color=808080]“We definitely need info from the pilot and tech; they'll probably know the exact location of the uplink and that’ll decide our best route through that giant ship. One last question, though, so we have enough to cover our asses out there. Have you guys seen any NC activity in the area in the past few months?”[/color]

It was a smart question. Stein figured she would have asked something similar if she was more personable. Knowing the exact raider influence in the area was ideal and if any of those raiders had NCs they would probably have to rethink their approach. If raiders could get the NC device recalibrated to attack Falcon’s Reach they could carve out a whole new sector for themselves. She now understood why Graham didn’t want to fly them in and why he had only sent the bare minimum he did. Risking three pilots was the maximum amount he could do and if the three of them died he still would’ve retained their NCs. Falcon’s Reach didn’t want the device destroyed, Graham didn’t want to take unnecessary risks, Celina wanted Falcon’s Reach to be brought officially into the New Anchorage coalition. It all made sense.

[color=AA8483]“Another settlement north of here went dark…. Two Rivers, I think it’s called. But we were kind of preoccupied to pay mind to it. Word was some kind of golden mech was tearing into them with two others.”[/color]

The man turned the corner, though Stein saw Fouren stop for a moment before he continued following. [color=808080]“A gold mech, huh.”[/color]

Skarsgård nodded, [color=AA8483]“Weird, right? Somebody really likes to be the center of attention. Never heard of someone painting their colors gold before.”[/color]

Stein had heard of the reputation of someone fitting the description that Fouren and Skarsgård were discussing but she wasn’t sure what to think about it. The man she knew of had a reputation in Fairbanks and some southern Denver-Vegas holdings. If such a person was up here in Alaska then she figured it was for a good reason like a payoff or some kind of corporate sponsorship. But Alaska was mostly barren, why would either of those things be a factor? It was a thought that she couldn’t ever have the answer to, at least, not until she fought this “golden NC” herself. She took a light breath and decided it may have been a good idea to comment on such prospects.

[color=dodgerblue]“Someone that bold would have many enemies. The reward must outweigh the risks for him to openly attack settlements in such a way.”[/color]

Skarsgård shrugged. [color=AA8483]“Sometimes people don’t think on facts and figures. I know it’s hard for a corp’ to believe that, but not everyone who raids settlements does it for profit. Hell, some assholes do it for fun. And that’s without factoring in the NC bullshit that fucks with your head. What do you call it, again? Polar Shit?”[/color]

She stifled a chuckle, [color=dodgerblue]“Polaris Shift.”[/color]

There was a moment there that Stein couldn’t disagree with the man, even though he wasn’t a pilot himself and lacked true insight about what they faced as neural combatants. People who were rotten before they stepped into the machine became much [i]much[/i] worse through time and experience and that was without factoring in the effects of a Polaris Shift. If this “golden NC” was as experienced as she believed and as arbitrary as Skarsgård suggested, then Stein wasn’t sure what he would be like. Was wealth secondary? Was his prime directive to make people suffer? What was he after? What was the goal of destroying a settlement like Two Rivers? Was there a goal at all? Was it related to the neural device they were going after? Or was it all unrelated and she was just overthinking the situation?

She supposed she would have to find out.[/indent]