Shep, sitting in the assault bay of the shuttle, tried to immerse himself in meditation. Two noisy dwarves were only a minor annoyance to the captain. His mind wandered too far in his thoughts to let them go and detach himself from the world even for a while. No matter how hard he tried, it only resulted in breathing exercises of dubious content. Instead of calming down, the captain only lost his ephemeral calm more.
"They've gone after her!" – this one short message brought big problems. "However, it's always like that with Zinaida. Every word is a stab in the eye," Shep thought ironically, trying to understand why he had angered the universe so much.
As the head of the expedition, he had enough on his plate. Accustomed to working alone or in a small team, the operative simply found the role of expedition commander burdensome. He understood that there was no one else to put in charge, but it didn't make it any better. Not only was there secrecy, but the commander was thus taking the captain's ward out of the line of fire. The further from the center, the less chance of catching a bullet from "his own" Miranda. Her very existence irritated some too much.
If fanatics simply wanted her dead, then for others, the fact of her appearance caused only irritation. Even his team initially took the girl with hostility! Is it worth mentioning what emotions a clone of a too significant girl evoked in ordinary citizens once they knew who she was?
The captain, taking a deep breath, stopped tormenting himself, admitting that meditation was frankly not going well. "Even deeply ingrained actions can fail if there is chaos in the head. However, this will not save him from trouble. If Zinaida has contacted him, then someone serious has taken up the matter. Otherwise, she wouldn't even have bothered to warn him. She doesn't suffer from excessive coddling…" Shep reasoned logically.
Ignoring the snuffling of the two "checkushkas," as the expedition members aptly nicknamed the dwarves, the captain once again considered his actions in his mind. As the expedition commander, he could confidently state the absence of liquidators among the personnel. He, along with the detachment commander and the entire analytical apparatus of CERBERUS, had thoroughly vetted the candidates and their resumes, excluding the presence of random sentient beings in the crews. Even new citizens were checked by counterintelligence, although it was standard protocol.
Consequently, the liquidators would arrive either on a supply ship, which was also unlikely, or on their own vessel. After that, they would conduct reconnaissance, find the target, and draw up a plan before eliminating. Therefore, by removing Miranda from the ships, he eliminated the possibility of blowing up the expedition's vessels. There was no need to fear a saboteur secretly boarding. The "Normandy" had an AI on board, for which there were simply no blind spots.
The abandoned station already had a hundred percent chance of an ambush. It seemed that by descending with his assault team, he was exposing his ward, but at the same time, they both no longer had to hold back, not constrained by iron corridors or compartments. In case of an attack, they could use their abilities without restriction and strike at wide areas…
"I don't like the unknown and waiting… It's like jumping with a parachute. You've done it before, but every time, until you push off the plane, you're nervous!" – Shep sighed, casting aside his doubts…
Risa narrowed her eyes at Freya, hissing again, clenching her teeth. If she weren't a higher life form, she would have resorted to profanity!
"How can a creature only slightly above me make so much noise?!" – she thought. "Compared to her, even the wolf-headed ones with their howling seem quiet!"
"Clang, glug, crunch!" – was her reply. The maiden had achieved the near impossible, making minimal (for her) sounds that spread through the district like a thunderstorm, making the intelligent cat freeze once more.
"I shouldn't have joked then… Shep didn't appreciate my witty joke!" – Risa berated herself. She only wanted to lighten the mood by drawing attention to her magnificence. The captain, who was in a not-so-cheerful mood, might have even appreciated the joke, but he assigned her the task of giving the newcomer a basic education. It was then that the felinid truly learned the craft of an instructor…
If she had no complaints about the young dwarf's physical parameters or character, she had questions about her ability to shoot and move quietly (or rather, their complete absence)!
Freya was strong, like any representative of her race. Even a fighter who had undergone special modifications (unless he was a dolok, shark, or krogan) couldn't punch through the gusset of a mid-class armored spacesuit, squeezing the delicate contents like hydraulic tongs with a bare palm. At least, not on the first try and without a spacesuit himself. Therefore, the intelligent dog, who had made a lewd joke about the girl, didn't even try to dodge.
However, the lesson that dwarves didn't need to jump to hit hard was learned instantly, and Risa herself only approved of putting a boor in his place, although the subsequent "peace" drinking party slightly spoiled the impression of the act. If you add that Freya, alone, not only outdrank the entire landing party of the "Normandy," having a bet with her the size of a barrel of synthesized beer… and after that, she didn't even stagger, proudly leaving the bodies lying in heaps on the deck of the кубрик!
Shep, in the morning, did not appreciate the condition of the paratroopers and, without much thought, organized exercises with full gear, forcing everyone to march to the operatic singing of an Asari diva, howling so much that Risa's fur stood on end. While the paratroopers, barely recovering from their hangovers, only dreamed of an end to their torment, Freya simply ran at the end of the disciplinary column, and only because her limbs didn't allow her to develop a faster speed. Unlike others, the dwarf wasn't familiar with the torments of a hangover. After yesterday's "feats," she felt perfectly fine, though a bit out of breath.
Seeing this, the captain merely rolled his eyes in suffering, muttering something under his breath. Risa's ward returned to her rosy-cheeked and cheerful, ready to frolic further. Seeing this, the cat decided to cool her down a bit and could think of nothing better than to take her to the shooting range. It was there that the maiden's phenomenal accuracy, or rather, her complete lack thereof, was revealed! Pistol, assault rifle, rifle, carbine – everything lay firmly in her hands, but stubbornly refused to even hit the target! In despair, the felinid handed her ward a shotgun…
As soon as the dwarf felt the "proper" weight, her skills seemed to change. The heavier the weapon, the more accurately the target was hit. It got to the point where Risa bet with her, losing spectacularly in the end. She couldn't launch a grenade launcher rocket like a stone across the water's surface.
There was another trait that simultaneously appealed to the intelligent cat. Dwarves were stubborn. If they gave their word, they kept it to the end. And now Freya tried to be quiet, snorting, clanking her armor, and gurgling from her ever-present travel keg of foam, but she tried… True, it didn't help much, but she appreciated the felinid's intention, somewhere deep down.
"If only the situation were conducive to these attempts!" – she thought grumpily. "Everything here is held together by a word of honor… The captain wouldn't be himself if he didn't take on the most dangerous area of responsibility."
A copy of the Citadel, nicknamed "The Tower," was in a deplorable state. Although its mechanisms worked, everything around bore the echo of past events. The Harvest and the subsequent battle had destroyed the station too severely. The structure was heavily damaged and could collapse at any moment, especially in the most worn-out places. This had already happened several times, and each time dozens of skaven technicians died under the rubble.
The skaven themselves did not attach much importance to these deaths, and their fallen comrades perceived their demise as something natural, but the entire expedition was left with an unpleasant aftertaste.
"Even though death hasn't been the final point for many years, it doesn't mean life can be treated as something worthless," – Shep lectured them, not accustomed to losing his comrades.
"This place is like a burial ground…" – Freya said directly, making Risa involuntarily flinch.
"I agree," – the cat expressed her thoughts more elegantly and courteously.
As if confirming her words, a tremor ran through the entire power grid of the segment, making the ancient metal groan.
"I don't like any of this…" – the maiden didn't finish speaking before being interrupted by a mental message.
"Contact!" – echoed throughout the "Collective," mixed with the captain's fury and excitement, preceding an explosion that shook the station segment once more.
Without a word, the ladies rushed towards the smoke and chaotic gunfire, seasoned with the sounds of static discharges.
"I'm not a child!" – Risa thought, climbing onto the roof in a couple of graceful leaps. Using her tail to maintain balance, the cat ran, jumping over the dark chasms of dead streets. Freya didn't bother with that, simply breaking through, smashing through the dilapidated walls of elven buildings with her body, leaving a pillar of dust behind her. She compensated for her short legs with fervor and an unwillingness to break her oath.
Less than a minute later, the two fighters reached their goal. The scene that appeared before them was as comical as it was pathetic. While the robots assembled from various junk subconsciously evoked a threat, forcing immediate readiness, a little girl, albeit riding a bear, struck with her strangeness, not fitting into the surroundings.
Her colorful sundress and cheerful laughter were out of place in this ancient crypt.
"Don't look into her eyes!" – the felinid yelled at the dwarf. This was quite difficult to do, as the slanted eyes on the girl's black face looked in different directions, each living its own life, giving her negroid face an indelible charm.
With a roar, raising a cloud of dust, an old house, leaning with time, soared upwards, crashing with all its might into something with ears. Freya could swear on her sideburns that she saw a skeleton with clicking teeth in an empty window, which jumped out like a fish just before the impact.
"Weak!!!" – the enemy, laughing madly, broke the structure thrown at him. "Jeez! The praised 'Argentum' is too weak!!! Ha, I'll show you how it's done! You lack madness!!!"
Right before the maiden's eyes, who had fallen into a slight stupor, this… creature uncorked a canister, pouring its entire contents over itself, only to set it on fire a moment later.
"Let's get hot!!!" – spewing liquid fire from all openings in its body, the madman rushed at the captain.
Jumping so far that he covered a good thirty meters, he instantly closed the distance with the operative, delivering a series of blows with his ears, emitting a stream of napalm from his mouth.
"Bear-bear!!! Kill them all!!!" – the girl shouted joyfully, jumping off the neck of her transport. Standing on her crooked legs, which were bent almost in an arc, she dodged a sniper rifle shot from Risa sideways. "Missed! Missed!!!"
With absolutely insane laughter, she ran and ran up the wall, climbing it like a cave cockroach, and, remaining on the bridge, rushed at the cat, twisting her head so that it looked almost between her legs.
Freya shook her head again, trying to dismiss the thought of the complete madness of what was happening, almost getting hit in the visor because of it. By presenting her shotgun at the last second, she blocked the blow from a spiked club, twice her size.
"Bad dwarf…" – grumbled the giant, on whose head a bucket proudly sat, swinging again for a blow.
"Don't hurt the little ones!" – the shark, whom the dwarf remembered as Mo, said, knocking him down.
The toothy intelligent shark, groaning from exertion, lifted the fleshy carcass, slamming it headfirst into the station floor.
"Bad fish!!!" – the giant boomed with a child's intonation, as if not feeling the blow, swinging his club at Mo again. The shark didn't wait for the blow, but opening his maw, bit into the opponent…
"U-ha-ha!!!" – the dwarf laughed disgustingly, returning the girl to reality. It was hard not to get ready when a crooked and rusty axe flew past your face. This time, Freya didn't ponder the absurdity, but simply shot, leaving only two smoking boots from the little one before the robots piled on her…
"Leave me alone! You have jam all over your hands!!! I'll have to groom my fur!!!" – Risa cursed again, dodging the girl's lunge.
In flight, the cat aimed and fired. The heavy bullet entered the bear directly in the bridge of its nose, completely tearing apart its skull, but the animal merely purred happily, continuing to walk towards Miranda, who was alternately trying to bind it with polymer or stop it with telekinesis. Whole pieces of flesh fell off it, growing back right before her eyes, only briefly revealing a steel skeleton. Even when the girl set the polymer on fire, the beast didn't react at all.
"Burns well!" – praised the intelligent rabbit, burning in both senses of the word, praising her efforts. "The Power of Youth ignited within me! But that won't save you! I'll play with your guts until dawn!"
The figure in the green suit, engulfed in flames, shattered Shep's polymer shield with a spinning kick, splashing it. The operative himself barely managed to catch the heel of his opponent. The mutant was very fast.
Twisting, the man grabbed the mad creature by the ears, simultaneously drawing his pistol. With a quiet hiss, plasma burned through its head…
"Oh, yes!!! More!!! My Power of Youth has ignited. I want to bring PEACE and LOVE!!! Come on, burn me harder!!!"
With a paw strike, the madman knocked the weapon out of the captain's hand, but he didn't lose his composure and countered with electricity, causing a wave of ecstatic cries…
A whirlwind of hissing fury descended upon another cluster of robots. Six hands wielded swords so skillfully that their blades literally blurred in the air. The weapons seemed to feel no resistance from the metal. Only rustling and creaking accompanied the severed hulls.
"I don't like tin cans. They have no blood," – the naga stated calmly, crushing another dummy with a tail strike. Entangling a dozen robots with his body, he crushed them. Pressing them to his chest…
"We can't be killed by ordinary weapons, argent…"
"Shut up!!!" – Shep roared, straining to spread his arms, tearing the mad rabbit's mouth apart. With another effort, the two halves of the body twitched in his grip. Seeing that even this couldn't kill the madman, the captain telekinetically rolled a ball of unthinking flesh and sent it flying with a mighty kick. While still in flight, the monster, laughing madly, began to reassemble itself into a whole…
"We'll have cat stew for dinner!!!" – the girl smiled, crossing her slanted eyes at Risa. "But first, we'll play!!!"
An alien will rudely intruded into the felinid's mind, but she resisted. Unleashing her claws, she slashed the half-breed of negroid and Asian blood across the face.
"Ouch!!!" – the girl only managed to say, losing an eye. "Bad kitty!!!"
She didn't have time to do anything to the intelligent cat. Miranda had already blown her brains out. Dodging a clawed paw that flew too close, the girl was again thrown back by a stream of polymer from the persistent bear.
"I love playing lobotomy!!!" – the girl laughed, her wound healing before her eyes. "But the bear didn't like it at first, and after the third time, he liked it!"
As soon as she let go of the cat, she took advantage of it. Using the fact that the bear was turned away from her, she leaped onto its carcass. Dodging a paw, she pushed off it, attaching an explosive charge to the animal's head in mid-jump.
The explosion was quiet and mundane. The headless body fell to its knees, but didn't collapse completely. Moreover, the lost part of the body began to grow back vigorously.
"Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai-menu!" – Freya shouted at the top of her lungs, gripping the axe more firmly. The heavy axe head entered the beast's body with a crunch, severing a paw. Swinging again, the maiden cut off the monster's second limb, beginning to chop it methodically.
"This is not right…" – the crazy girl drawled, watching this scene. "Pah!"
A drop of acid, fired faster than sound, was supposed to pierce the maiden's head, but at the last moment, her mentor blocked it with his body. The liquid that hit literally devoured the old dwarf's body in moments, granting him almost instantaneous death.
"No!!!" – Freya tried to catch the settling dust with her hands…