No Fixed Address

"Those people...you mean that weird backwater cult?" Kazue asked incredulously.

"Is it really a backwater if there's no wa-"

"Get to the point, stupid."

"I thought I was the catty one."

"That's real funny, kid. You know what happened to jokers like you in-"

"Salantis III?"

"...I was gonna say the jungles of Narvit, but that works too."

The two of them laughed. It'd been a while since they shared a moment, and Victoria was glad to see that things hadn't changed much. Kazue was still a rich girl with a bloodlust tempered by her desire to live up to her family's martial history. And Victoria was still some wannabe rebel without a cause type who never really could take anything too seriously.

"So, are we done here?"

"Yeah." Victoria slid her a slip of paper. "Here's the coordinates for the planet. Word is we're looking for some powerful artifact. Cultists who worship that ancient alien civilization are already digging it up, thinking it's their hottest new find. We're getting paid big money to bring this in, so expect lots of trouble."

Kazue pocketed the paper slip and said, "It's always a simple job with you, isn't it Vicky?"

"Anything else is too hard. You know me: I just love shooting my way through life." Victoria replied with a grin.

The pair stood from the table and split. The bartender noted that they hadn't ordered a single thing since they'd arrived. Outside, Victoria made her way back to the ship. She looked at it through a window, seeing the pin-up version of herself painted on the side with the name "Red-tailed Runt" under it. It was a result of losing several bets in a row on what should've been a sure thing. She still thought Kazue rigged it to this day.

The ship undocked as she put the course into the navigation terminal. They took off with a half-hour trip ahead of them, which gave her enough time to go over her kit. She noted that the dig site was in a ruined city. That meant a lot of cover and places to get ambushed, but nothing was without risk. Victoria went into her armory and donned her work clothes.

For an urban terrain, she put on a pair of good jeans and a black t-shirt. External elbow and kneepads would be essential in the concrete jungle. A large plate carrier went on over her torso, fitted with state-of-the-art flexible armor inserts. She put on some long socks and then donned her combat boots. A pair of hard-knuckle gloves completed the ensemble.

Her primary weapon was a carbine with a small dot scope, a suppressor, and a foregrip. Her sidearm was a large-caliber revolver that went into a drop-leg holster on her thigh. She also took a small knife, just in case. Several other implements like grenades of various effects and red chemlights went into various pouches, alongside ammo magazines. She also threw on an assault pack with some MREs and other tools inside.

Victoria left the armory and noticed the artificial gravity was adjusting itself. Which meant that they'd entered the atmosphere and would be landing within minutes. She'd made sure to put in a route that brought them down far enough away not to draw immediate attention, but close enough to get there quickly. Victoria had missed getting out in the open air.

The garage was next to the armory for ease of convenience. Victoria had picked up a few toys for herself in her time as a mercenary. Today she figured that there would be a lot of tight corners to get through, but there was no guarantee about getting out the way she came in. So the choice was obvious: the reconnaissance motocross bike. She took the scarf and dust goggles from the handlebar and hopped on. She started the bike up and let it idle as she walked to the intercom.

"Mitsuri, open the back garage when we land and keep alert! I'll be back in a couple hours, maybe!" She told her.

"Yes, madame. I'll ‘hold down the fort’ as usual."

The garage airlock opened up into a gust of wind and debris. Scrap papers and dust kicked up around her. Victoria revved the engine and then let go of the brake. She practically shot out from the open door and onto the wasteland of the surface. The ruins of the city were before her as she took off as fast as the bike would go.

It took her back. These cultists were a nasty number. The small engagements Kazue and her had were vicious. They were small in number and heavily armed. They would clear out entire swaths of the surrounding forces on both sides before doing their "sacred work." But Victoria never met a problem that couldn't be solved with proper application of high explosives and the violence of action. She learned from the best, even if Kazue had a hard time admitting it.

Speaking of Kazue; Victoria pulled up her commlink and dialed the fox girl's number. The reception was spotty at best, but if they were within range, it'd ping. She continued on into the city limits. The destroyed skyline littered the area. Glass and concrete were strewn everywhere, and she was starting to wonder if this artifact had something to do with the destruction.

The bike took to the terrain well. Victoria wound her way through empty buildings and under partially collapsed overpasses. Clearly it had been a planet that had no love for flight. That was fine, as she preferred to travel by ground as well. The streets were choked with debris of all shapes and sizes, and the roads had collapsed into sinkholes along the way. But, within a half hour, she caught something on her bike's mounted long-range survey reader.

Registered biological signals were in the area. Seems they weren't late to the party afterall. She moved towards them until she was about a hundred and fifty meters away. She ducked the bike into an alley and killed the engine. After she stowed the bike, went on foot towards the digsite. Her commlink pinged as it registered Kazue's encrypted signal. She was coming up behind her on her own mode of transport.

Victoria sent her a quick text message. “Approaching target location. Don't spook them yet.” She hoped Kazue understood. For all of Victoria's own brashness, she still preferred to be the one doing the surprising. Kazue, ironically, liked to go in guns blazing. Shock and awe. Coordinated assaults. Full support. She and her troops were always ready for a smackdown.

They didn't have any troops though. Kazue and Victoria were only a pair, and that meant that they had to play it safe for now. No heroics. The mercenary clambered up a building's outer wall and pulled herself in through a window. The whole thing had fallen to the street, but was caught by the opposite skyscraper, creating a tilted skybridge of sorts.

The windows were long gone. The decaying remnants of an office were cast down to the corners of the forty-five degree incline. Victoria mantled a desk and pushed through the cubicles, through the diagonal inclined hallways, and to the other side of the building. When she found a good spot, she settled in and pulled out her monocular spotting scope.

The immediate thing she noticed was that their gear wasn’t as much as she’d seen in the past. Looks like times are tough. She thought. At least a dozen armed cultists were standing in front of a large sinkhole. They wore various rigs and vests, but all had hoods on. Gray and red, with some weird symbol on the back that made her head hurt the longer she looked at it. It would be a pitched battle, but she figured they'd be able to take out at least half of them before the rest figured out what was up. Unless…

Victoria stood and packed her scope away before taking off. She headed to the bottom of the building and climbed up onto the outside of it after she could no longer traverse the interior. She scaled down the outside until she hit solid ground. It was time to act. She slung her rifle off her shoulder and took it up as she moved to get a better angle.

The cultists all stood on different levels. Some in the sinkhole, some outside, some on higher ground as lookouts. The latter were her first targets. There were five of them, and it was going to take time she didn't have. Soon, Kazue would be running in to stir up trouble.

Victoria sighted her rifle scope on the first unfortunate as she crept up behind him. She fired, putting a bullet into his skull, before rushing up and catching his body as it fell. She slowly brought it down and dragged it away from the position. One down, so many more left. She moved with a purpose as she continued to work her way around to the next target.

Moving without being seen was about being quick when need be and slow when able. It was hard to tell where they were looking, but planning the route on the fly was what Victoria was good at. Her cat ears picked up all sorts of sounds, helping her home in on her target as she moved.

There was a new sound. Moments after she fired her suppressed rifle at the second target, it was echoing through the ruined street. Victoria cursed under her breath and sighted in on the nearest target. The cultists heard it, and they faced the direction it came from. It was a golden opportunity. She popped off some shots, taking down a few of them from her position.

Kazue arrived. Her flying gunship, made by her family corporation, swung into view. The cultists immediately scattered and started firing. Victoria ducked down and listened as the gatling cannons spun up and laid waste to their numbers. After a few minutes, it was over. She waited to hear the gunship land before poking her head up. It was a small thing only meant for meager support, but it was light and fast and could carry a full team as well.

"Do you always have to be a showoff?" Victoria asked as she walked over.

"Vicky! Dearest of all my friends. Well, you know I love to make an entrance." Kazue replied, clapping her on the shoulders.

Kazue had dressed in her usual combat attire. A full battle rattle with her favorite rifle slung over her shoulder and her family's sword on her hip. Her camouflage uniform beneath a brand new armored vest. Her dark red scarf was tied around her neck.

"I know. That's why I tried to take out as many as I could before you got here, like usual." Victoria said in a deadpan tone.

"See? We have a system worked out. Isn't it great to have such reliable friends?"

Kazue's shit-eating grin was getting on Victoria's nerves. But, there was nothing to be done. If she spoke up, it would only encourage her to keep at it. At her expense, no less.

"Let's go. If they've already set up shop, there's no telling how many are inside. They may have the artifact already."

"Lead the way."

Victoria hopped down into the sinkhole and Kazue followed. The pair turned on their respective light sources and moved into the cavernous ruin of the sewers. They may have been drained in the years since, but the smell still lingered. Kazue moved her scarf over her nose, while Victoria merely went with it. She'd smelt worse, she reminded herself.

The tunnels led farther and farther in. Soon, their lights were the only things making any sort of illumination in the underground. Even worse, the architecture shifted. Victoria and Kazue noticed that the modern structure of the sewer gave way at a junction where a hole was newly made. Inside, odd looking rock formations were present all along through some kind of hall.

"Shit...look at that." Kazue breathed.

"No, look at that." Victoria corrected.

Kazue looked back at her friend with an arched eyebrow. When she followed the beam of her light to where she was pointing it, she noticed the bloodied remains of a cultist. A fresh kill.

"Always a simple job with you, isn't it Vicky?" Kazue bemoaned.

"Let's go. The sooner we get the artifact the better." Victoria shot back.

The duo moved into the hall. Their rifles up and their eyes peeled.