Inferno

8 - The Kraken

Four's Logbook

These last few weeks have definitely been busy ones. With my promotion to lieutenant, Gates and Dimitri have been working alongside me to help me work out the barebones of this plan that we and Briggs are cooking up. So far, it consists of getting a team to find out exactly where Erebus is in the first place. It's not on any charts that the Militia have, it may even just be a ghost planet; a code name for a different world they're calling it under.

So that's where the first stage of the plan comes in. Obviously, the IMC are holding this information from the majority of their troops, which means that we're gonna have to find someone high ranking to steal the information from. And where better than the bridge of an IMC frigate? More specifically, a frigate that yours truly used to serve on, and knows his way around.

I'm sure that if there's any way for us to find Erebus, it will be in the navigational logs of the frigate. Data is shared and transmitted throughout the entire IMC fleet so that, if needed, they can converge a massive presence on one location in less than an hour. Believe me, it's worked many times before. Kind of feels wrong for me to say that, actually. Forget I said anything. I'm on the right team now, that's all in the past.

—X—

Briggs nodded her digital head thoughtfully. "You're sure it will be there?"

He nodded. This was roughly the hundredth time she'd asked him this, but he understood her concern. She was trusting him a lot with this, and she was reluctant to deploy any of her forces without an assurance that their efforts weren't in vain.

"Yes, ma'am. Jantii is a main refueling station for several frigates, but my former station used to be particularly fond of it. Quite close to its patrol range. They're bound to be there sooner or later, and with the calculations I've made based on the average time between past refuelings, it should be twelve days from today."

"And if we miss this opportunity?"

He clenched his jaw. "It would be several more months, ma'am."

Gates and Dimitri looked at him from the sidelines. She nodded encouragingly. All this time, and he still had never seen her without a helmet on. He swore that she lived in the damn pilot suit.

She had grown increasingly convinced of his assertion over the last few weeks, and now she was hoping just as much as he was that Briggs would approve the plan. He waited with bated breath.

Briggs sighed. "This is so goddamn risky... and if you miss your exfil, I'm sure that you're going to overstay your welcome."

He grimaced. He knew full well what the IMC thought of deserters, and what they'd do to them. "It's a necessary risk that I'm willing to take, ma'am.

She regarded him with respect for a moment before reaching a verdict. "Approval granted. Gates, please keep him from doing anything too stupid."

"Not a problem, ma'am, I'm on it," said Gates with a cheerful tone. The monitor winked out to blackness, and Dimitri turned to face him.

"Four?"

He faced him. "Yeah?"

Dimitri grinned. "Let's do this."

...

"KT?"

The Titan came out from further in the Titan barracks to see him walking towards her. "Hello, pilot."