U.S.S.A HellField

Chapter 11 fire in the night

Nashierda exhaled calmly and looked at me. "I don't even want to know why she's here. I'm going back home, where it's safe"  She said trying to keep her composure, then started walking towards the exit.- "We have a vehicle, it would be much safer if I drove you home rather than walking back in your state."  She gave a defeated sigh and went on her way. - "This is why I stopped talking to anyone, people here have a difficult time seeing past...this."  Alice said with a sense of loneliness. I guess it didn't matter if you traveled to a whole 'nother galaxy, even aliens fear those they don't understand. 

I once again took notice of her damaged clothing, maybe I should bring it up.- "Speaking of seeing past things, I can see you past your clothes."  I said facetiously.  She looked at herself, mildly annoyed by the damaged state of her clothing. -"Oh, the same thing happened with my uniform after a few months; now can I get something new?"  She tore what remained off like it was tissue paper. - "Hey, I'm going to salvage what I can that's useful here and release any slaves I find. Make sure she doesn't go off on her own."  Alice nodded and went for the exit after Nashierda. 

Aside from a few weapons and that magnetic device their leader was using, there wasn't much of anything of value, which had to go for a decent amount. The tech here seemed so all over the place, they obviously had access to technology just as advanced if not more so than what we have, I wonder if they were a federation or union like that of the U.S.S.A? The rest of the cages were empty, several of them showed signs that they had been occupied not tooling ago, not much I could do for them now. -"Metis can you guide me through getting this thing off of him."  Metis scanned the device on his wrist that was attached to the rest of his armor. - "Press the symbol on the left then the middle, carefully disconnect the blue connection from the back then the red one, then you can remove it."  I did as instructed, pressed the buttons, disconnected the wires, and then removed it from his wrist. It snagged slightly on his sleeve, I was tempted just to rip his arm off to get it.

-"Hey, that wasn't so bad, what would've happened if I didn't remove it properly?"  Metis was silent for a few seconds longer than I was comfortable with. - "Boom!"  I flinched slightly at the loud reverberation of its voice. - "Hahaha, you should've seen your face...again." - "Not funny. I need to find a way to reprogram that childish attitude out of you, no more of that."  Metis just made pouting sounds. I went back outside to meet with Alice and Nashierda. - "Took you long enough, did you find anything worth taking that long?"  I showed her the weapons bag and the magnetic device in my other hand. "So that's what he used to slam that cage into me huh? That really hurt, maybe I shouldn't have gone after him, seeing as how I'm wearing a suit of potentially ferrous metal."  We walked back to the vehicle, and hardly a word was spoken between us.

I walked up to Nashierda as she was about to get inside. - "You are still going to pay me right?"  She looked at me as though I had offended her.- "Of course, It would be incredibly dishonorable of me not to."  I loaded the bag into the back.- "Good to know."  I sat in the driver's seat, Alice in the passenger, and Nashierda in the back. - "Can I take a look at that thing?"  Alice pointed at the device in the storage compartment. I nodded in response. She took it into her hands and inspected it, she seemed to be reluctant to fiddle with it more in-depth, usually when looking at anything she'd try to learn how it worked. The red sun was nearly set, and I would rather not be driving out here much longer. It didn't take us long to get back to her home, she is certainly a tough one to make it out of there no worse for wear. I parked in the same spot as before, then we walked up the path to the shack.

Nashierda made several slow rhythmic knocks on the door. A few footsteps could be heard approaching the door, but more hurriedly this time. The door was quickly opened to show a shocked Duala who was standing there, holding both hands anxiously together. - "Shierda? Is that you?"  She said, her voice crackling with joy. - "Thanks to him and...her."  She said looking at Alice, who was sitting in the vehicle since she could no longer disguise herself, I would rather not have her spook Duala.- "Why is your friend sitting out there, she can come inside."  Duala asked, poking her head around me, I had to think of an excuse. - "She is currently...indecent at the moment, her clothes were damaged in the rescue."  Hopefully, that would work. - "Oh we don't mind, I have some spare clothing somewhere."  Shit...shit.