15

Current Combat Strengths

LCF; 16 Security Officers, 8 Engineers, 4 Communication Officers, 1 Convoy Commander

Casualties (Deceased/Incapacitated/MIA); 0/0/0

Raiding Party [Quiet Murn] (Projected forces); 30-45 Party Members (15-20 Voltiguers, 10-15 Demenaguers, 6-12 Hussards), 1 Party Leader

Casualties (Deceased/Incapacitated/MIA); 0/0/0

Anti-Faith Factions 1 & 2 (Dubbed Terrorists by New Kantler); 67 civilians (CoM projection)

Casualties (Deceased/Incapacitated/MIA); 3/5/3

It had taken a little over 5 hours, but they had reached what would be considered the final stretch of the route. Warm ups were over, not that Lux would label shooting at untrained civilians as an acceptable warm up method. Although it had offered its own unique challenges, particularly her attempts at scaring or injuring the faction members instead of outright killing them.

On more than one occasion she'd witnessed members fleeing right into a comrade's line of fire, resulting in panic and injury. At one point Evan had fired several warning shots only to watch on as the members lost themselves and fled in the wrong direction, in this case over the edge of a cliff face obscured by the foliage.

It wouldn't surprise her if security officers aboard the other Crusaders had been less forgiving. For whatever reason people often seemed to forget that guns and rifles were invented for the sole purpose of killing people efficiently. One couldn't simply point it at someone and act as if they had done nothing to warrant some form of retaliation. Simply put, many security officers considered the act of pointing a rifle at someone or something to be the same as pulling the trigger. In which case the survivor came down to whoever shot first, assuming they weren't lousy shot.

Generally speaking Lux wasn't any different. The only difference this time around being information about the anti-faith faction had reached them beforehand, softening both hers and the others desires to lay waste to whoever threatened them. But deep down the idea of letting someone get away with pointing a rifle her way repulsed her. So much so it became necessary to contrive reasons doing so would be beneficial. One such method she used to subdue the unpleasant sensation was telling herself that conserving ammunition for the actual raiding party attack would be the preferred strategy. As luck would have it that did end up being the case.

In other news, Lux hadn't known that another sharpshooter would be crewing this convoy and felt a small amount of irritation with Cade for failing to mention it this morning in the loading yard. She recognized the irritation as unjustified, not like Cade could have known save for going around and checking the belts of every security officer. You want to talk about a way to get shot. Yet Cade always seemed to pull information he shouldn't have access to out of nowhere. No point in overthinking it, everyone had their sources. Including her.

If anything Cade should be the one upset with her due to her inability to identify the other sharpshooter. In her defense one didn't acquire a sharpshooting qualification by attending sharpshooting school with other sharpshooters, nor did any of the Federation Academies she was aware of have a sharpshooting club photo day.

The only way to acquire the sharpshooting qualification to begin with was by taking a specialized course made available exclusively through recommendation. The course would be held off academy grounds at the closest military institution and taught by highly skilled instructors. The not so subtle reasoning behind this was to encourage students to enlist in the Council of Mitigation's military branch after completing their 2 year LCF service requirement. Lux's circumstances at the time of her training had been a bit more unique, stemming from the unconventional way by which she received her recommendation. Looking back more than a few loopholes must have been taken advantage of, to say nothing of the under the table exchanges going on in the background.

Regardless of how she got it, Lux was far more cavalier about flexing her sharpshooting qualification than others. She never tried especially hard to hide it, to the extent it was safe to assume that her name was circulating among crews in the Western and Northern regions. At the very least her moniker had become known, one she'd acquired as a graduation gift for emerging top of her class for the security division. Such monikers had also been gifted to the top students of the communications and engineering divisions in her year.

Both her and the other two had been subjected to the whole graduation shebang of being called onstage one by one to stand beside each other, cheers ranging from genuine congratulatory remarks to sketchy inside jokes. Safe to say some had enjoyed the pageantry of it all more than others. From what Lux recalled she'd spent the remainder of that day with a few others in the nightlife district at a bar owned by a former graduate who'd since moved on from the LCF. Where in exchange for hanging their recently secured graduation certificate on one of the establishment's walls they could eat and drink as much as they wanted for free.

During times like these, the supposed calm before the storm, Lux found herself wondering if she'd ever return to the bar and see her certificate again. Not that she wanted it back or anything, just thought it'd be fun to see if anyone she knew had also traded the manifestation of their hard work and achievements in for cold drinks, greasy food and good company for an evening.

Speaking of drinks, food and company...hopefully Belveer had some quality joints in walking distance from the station. It being her first time in New Kantler she couldn't be sure. Well, even if the first place doesn't work out just go to another until you're satisfied. Fortunately her usual companions weren't picky. Her contemplations were cut short by the unmistakeable sight of a raiding party converging on the horizon. A call went out across the convoy as the mass on the horizon suddenly split into three distinct lumps and charged their direction.

An easygoing tune escaped Lux's lips as she readied her rifle and moved into a standard combat position. Her initial zone assignment being the strong side front deck. A starting position that leaned on the conservative side in an effort to guarantee both sharpshooters made it through the inaugural onslaught and reached the rocketeer on the other side. Looks like it was time to put that sharpshooting qualification to some use, lest it end up on the wall of some far away bar as well.