New Elysium: Breakout

An Understanding (19)

Too many people...

His augments were working on overdrive.

The truth was they were well guarded, so much for the ragtag group of settlers, Red had assumed that lived here. He was rusty. Rusty in a way that he should not be. Rusty in a way that was going to get them killed. 

It shouldn't have mattered that they were imprisoned, he was out now. He needed to move, figure out their next course.

The fact that they had taken Ember and placed in her some sort of jail, he wasn't sure where just yet didn't leave much room in him for sympathy.

"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." The quote came from a manual he'd read while studying in his younger years before going on to captain his own ship. He chuckled ironically even as he glanced around. They were surrounded by "guards." Each had a gun. Subduing them without a fight might be a bit tricky. But the fact was, he could subdue them. Without Ember here, he had already thought of ten ways to take them down. All that was left to decide was how messy was he going to be.

Andrea had left them with Eoghan and a handful of men he had no names for. They had put handcuffs on both him and Dag. Perhaps it made them feel better. Red said nothing. Dag could rip the cuffs off in seconds if need be. And maybe he would need to do it. Red waited.

But he hated the waiting.

The seconds ticked by and he wanted to explode out of the tent.

Ember hadn't gotten herself almost killed to get them out just to get murdered by the first band of desperate people they ran into.

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They jostled her as they towed her to a gigantic hole in the ground and roughly shoved her inside. She hit the ground hard and bit back the pain even as her body took over the immediate healing process.

This was a situation she hadn't been prepared for. Her speech to Red about "Not taking it with you" seemed superfluous now when she couldn't follow her own advice. And Red had waited to see how she would react. She'd frozen, mostly in shock that there were still people here and this was what they'd been reduced to. This was her fault, this was the result of that mission years ago... 

She'd stood on the surface as it rained ashes down. 

She stared up at the sides of the pit, there were many faces, sunburned, tanned faces, eyeing her warily. Some with unmasked hatred, a few with curiosity. 

It didn't matter.

She deserved to be here, right? Ember thought of the boys back on the ship. Red could get them to New Elysium without her. She made it easier but she had no doubts in her mind that they could rig it up to fly. 

She felt The Ember resting where they'd left it. The temptation to call it to her vessel was overwhelming. But while she could have taken quite a few people on, she wasn't faster than a speeding bullet and this ship was a commercial ship created for a retired Vesper to work on. Not a weapon.

Realization hit her. She was stupid. They both were. She closed her eyes and reached out to him the same way she'd done before, flicking through channels before simply broadcasting on them all. 

Red, where are you now? 

Still in the tent, how--?

I patched to a satellite, did you think I couldn't reach you? Relief flooded her. They were going to be fine.