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A hundred meters or so down one of the unused tunnels away from the main chamber, Colonel Wayne stared up into the darkness of what had once been an elevator shaft. Flitting about in the shadows, Gaius would occasionally catch a glimpse of leathery wings, hear a short high chirp. A family of bats had taken up residence in the mine before the Knights had moved in.

Typically, planetary explorers had a tendency to classify life forms as a loose approximation of Terran animals, relying on physical features rather than any actual genetics. If it had wings, it went down in the book as a "bird." If it had fins and lived in water, it was a "fish." If it had scales, it was a "lizard," and so forth. He'd seen a few different alien "bat" creatures on various worlds, but these appeared to be actual Terran bats, brought over during Espia's colonization no doubt. Their sudden appearance had struck him with an oddly hopeful sensation.

Gaius was never one for superstition, but a bat was part of his family's old coat of arms, going all the way back to the pre-spaceflight days on ancient Terra. While Colonel Wayne's lineage was never officially noble, his ancestors had been wealthy industrialists and aristocrats, dedicated to the greater good of the people around them. His parents had told him stories of an old folk hero, a distant ancestor of his apparently, who took the family crusade for a better world even further, becoming a crime-fighter and adventurer. He never took the stories all that seriously, but ever since hearing them, Gaius had been fascinated by bats, and considered them a good omen.

And a bit of good luck was what the Green Knights needed.

While the raid on the Espian Guards' supply depot was successful and would allow them to hold out for a while, it was ultimately a half-measure. The Guards still had them outnumbered and outgunned, and sooner or later the Crimson Fists would zero in on their location. In a stand-up fight, the Knights could only delay the inevitable, unless they found a way to tip the scales in their favor.

Worse, Lt. Lyons had been monitoring comms chatter, and had picked up several messages from the Espian Guard regarding the actions in Yuzhny Portveyn. While the details were sketchy, it sounded like Governor Xiu was dead. That meant two things: that their original employer for their contract was no longer alive to pay them, and that the full brunt of the Guards would be coming back up North before long.

The Green Knights were going to need to make a big move, and make it soon.

[color=SandyBrown][i]"Sir?"[/i][/color] Sergeant Dalton's voice crackled over the Colonel's personal comm.

[color=Olive]"Reading you, Sergeant,"[/color] he responded.

[color=SandyBrown][i]"Sir, we've picked up a couple more visitors, sir,"[/i][/color] the deep, gruff voice of the Sergeant rumbled, always beginning and ending each sentence when addressing Colonel Wayne with the age-old "Sir Sandwich" formality common to Taurian ground-pounders. [color=SandyBrown][i]"Sir, they surrendered without a fight, and said they came looking for us, sir. Sir, one of them's a fighting man, the other looks, talks, and smells like money."[/i][/color]

[color=Olive]"I'll be up there in a minute,"[/color] the Colonel answered. [color=Olive]"Til then, don't let them out of your sight."[/color]

The Colonel glanced back up at the bats, and wondered how good of an omen they really were. This was the second time someone had managed to track them back to the mine since the supply raid; if this place was compromised, the Green Knights would need to pack up and move to another location before the Guards and the Fists came knocking. Traveling over land was going to be a huge risk with NPDRE fighters still patrolling the skies, but staying in one place until the enemy walked up to their doorstep was suicide.

Gaius walked back up the tunnel with a purpose, and called out when he entered the chamber.

[color=Olive]"Green Knights, high alert!"[/color] he bellowed. [color=Olive]"We've got another visitor. Could be nothing, could mean more are on the way. Chief Aadil, I want as many supplies as possible loaded up and ready to relocate. And I want the 'Mechs spun up and ready for--"[/color]

[color=ed145b]"Oh, I don't think that's going to be necessary, Colonel Wayne,"[/color] a woman's voice cut in, not yelling, but with an authority that carried throughout the cavern nonetheless. [color=ed145b]"It [i]is[/i] Colonel Gaius Wayne, isn't it?"[/color]

Entering the mine's main chamber, flanked by Sergeant Dalton and two of his best men, was a white-haired woman who was dressed as if she'd heard of the idea of the outdoors but had never experienced it. With her was a gruff-looking man who didn't appear to be too much younger than the Colonel, and who carried himself as a seasoned soldier. A woman of means, and a man of action. Apart from the fact that they had their hands in the air and no fewer than three shotguns aimed at them, their body language suggested a casualness as if they were out shopping.

[color=Olive]"Depends on who's asking,"[/color] Gaius said, approaching the pair. He glanced over at Hugh, the newcomer they had picked up in the wake of the raid, to see if these were friends of his. If they were, then Hugh was a hell of an actor, as the look of surprise and suspicion on his own face didn't suggest any familiarity. [color=Olive]"Care to explain who you are and why you thought it was a good idea to walk into an active military operation like you own the place?"[/color]

[color=ed145b]"That's because I [i]do[/i] own the place, my dear Colonel,"[/color] the woman said with a gracious smile. [color=ed145b]"Forgive me, I suppose a proper introduction would do. Cassandra Jeong, Executive Vice President and board member of the Aqua Vitae Corporation, as well as owner of a quarter of the neodymium mines on this continent. I'd hoped for a chance to make an introduction through more proper channels, but recent events have forced me to take more direct action."[/color]

As all eyes fell on Ms. Jeong and her cohort, Colonel Wayne's poker-face was set in stone. [color=Olive]"And how'd you manage to find us?"[/color]

[color=ed145b]"A combination of things,"[/color] she answered casually. [color=ed145b]"Namely the data from the seismic sensors my surveyors have across the area, and my dear Jonathan's exceptional skills as a tracker. I highly doubt Premier Federov or his lackeys have the resources and the know-how to repeat our success, so you needn't worry about them following suit."[/color]

[color=Olive]"So we know who and how,"[/color] the Colonel said, eyeing the woman whose poker-face was far more expressive but just as inscrutable as his own, [color=Olive]"but not the why. What's the point of seeking us out? Is this a threat? A shakedown? An extortion?"[/color]

Cassandra laughed dryly. [color=ed145b]"Isn't it obvious, Colonel?"[/color]

She risked moving one of her hands to lower her sunglasses, amber eyes looking over each of the Green Knights with a mix of curiosity and hunger like a cat.

[color=ed145b]"[i]This,[/i] Green Knights,"[/color] she said, addressing all of the mercenaries in the chamber, [color=ed145b]"is a job interview."[/color]