This was a stupid idea. Even some half-wit trainee could have seen that this was a stupid idea. She might as well have put a loaded gun to her head and pulled the trigger. The odds that it would jam were higher than her surviving this ordeal.
Even if she did survive, it wouldn’t be worth the trouble. She had passed out almost a dozen times now, by her count. The sheer forces of being slammed around at the speed the Moonrise moved at weren’t going to be doing her lifespan any favors.
When the machine finally hit the ground, Thalia breathed a sigh of relief. It was the outcome she had expected- and she had made it out alive. At least… she felt alive.
Thalia had carved out a space under the cockpit of the Moonrise during a recent remodel. Close enough that it would need to be guarded, but far enough that Ellie wouldn’t get suspicious. It was a tight fit, and far from comfortable. The worst part was that it didn’t have the same climate control that the cockpit had, meaning it was swelteringly hot.
By the time that the Hound had reached the battlefield, Thalia was already almost drowning in her own sweat. She had packed plenty of water in her bag, but it didn’t make the heat any less punishing. She had made the mistake of trying to pour some of the water on herself to cool down, but all it had done was make her clothes hot and wet.
If it was a photoshoot, it almost would have been sexy.
Instead, she was soaked with blood from being thrown against the sides of the miniature cockpit. Her body ached, and she was only really halfway through the ride. She’d have to wait in here for at least another few hours while the rebels took in the Moonrise, and hope that they didn’t cut her in half when analyzing the machine.
More than once, Thalia had considered what it would mean if these were her last moments. Dying in a metal coffin of her own design. The rebels would uncover her body at some point, and probably think of her as the dumbest Imperial to ever walk the planet. Some idiot who had locked herself into a mech and died from a heat stroke.
Thalia crawled out of the corpse of the Moonrise, looking around what seemed to be a salvage bay. It was mostly empty, but a few various other machines lay destroyed in the hangar. She recognized one of them as of rebel make, the Scarab. The head looked to be speared through, implying a less than lovely fate for its once pilot.
She wasn’t here to mourn rebels, though. Thalia threw her duffel bag off the side of the Moonrise, jumping down after it. The journey back had given her ample opportunity to patch up her more severe wounds, but the landing still hurt like hell.
Coughing up some blood onto the concrete floor, Thalia wiped her mouth. Not a good sign, but she’d likely get treatment soon enough. She’d heard enough about the doctors from Elara. As long as her brain was still intact, she’d probably be fine.
Thalia grabbed her bag off the ground, slinging it over her shoulder. She began walking towards the only door in the room, hoping it would lead somewhere just as easy to navigate. It reminded her a bit of her first day on the Imperial base, a trainee with a bag filled with everything she held dear.
Hopefully they wouldn’t take it from her, like the Imperials did at first. A tactic to weed out the most sentimental soldiers. They didn’t have the stomach to kill rebels.
Though, clearly it didn’t work. Thalia certainly didn’t have the stomach anymore, at least. Her sister made it into the program, and she all but surrendered her life to Elara.
She opened the door and was greeted by an empty hallway. That wasn’t right. Intelligence showed that the base was well staffed, even if it was getting late in the day, there was bound to be one or two people around. It was… eerily quiet.
Maybe this was just a less visited branch? She had only gotten out of the Moonrise about an hour after she stopped hearing voices outside of the machine. They were probably just elsewhere in the base.
But… as she kept walking, the only sound she could hear was her own footsteps. It was clearly a real base, the occasional boot print visible on the floor, signs pointing towards different sections of the base. Thalia was aware that there had been a mass migration by the rebels, but assumed they’d bring Elara to the new base.
Instead she was left wandering an empty base, bloody and woozy from head trauma. She had planned to blend in with a crowd, hoping she would just be seen as a new trainee. This? This was just creepy.
She finally began to hear distant sounds that weren’t just the sounds of machinery, and began to head in its direction. Any amount of interaction would be better than being alone in an empty hallway.
Heading towards the source of noise, she walked down into a section labeled dormitories. It was quieter than she would have expected, but it confirmed her suspicion. Half of the doors were left open, showing that the insides were stripped bare of everything but a metal bed frame.
Thalia continued on her way into the dormitories, finally reaching the room she had heard the sounds coming from. A wooden sign with the name Layris engraved on it. Though, the more pertinent matter was what the noises she was hearing actually were. She could hear a bed squeaking inside, and what could only be interpreted as faint moans.
Maybe the silence wasn’t so bad after all.
She had heard tales of how rebels fucked like rabbits, but experiencing it firsthand was another thing. Was it really the time to be having sex, right after having recovered your once commander? When nobody else was around?
Actually, as Thalia thought about it more, it was probably one of the best times to fuck. A celebration, when nobody else could hear? Well, besides her at least.
Only one thing left to do… knock.
Against her better judgement, Thalia pounded against the door. The sound inside quickly stopped, and she could hear shuffling before a tannish woman of slightly shorter stature than herself opened the door, wrapped in a bedsheet. She frowned, before a puzzled look crept its way onto her face.
“Who are you?” The woman sounded more confused than upset at her… alone time being interrupted.
Thalia did her best to look innocent, raising an arm to shake the woman’s hand before realizing she was using both hands to keep the blanket around herself. She quickly retracted it, scratching the back of her head. “My name’s Tally. I’m um… new here? I was wondering if you could show me where Pyralis is. I’m supposed to meet with her.”
The woman didn’t seem to buy it for a second. “We aren’t taking new trainees. How did you get in here? Why are you covered in blood?” Behind her seemed to be a taller woman in bed, wrapped up in some thinner sheets. She looked embarrassed, but was getting up to join her friend.
“Oh! I’m um. A latecomer. I was told to come to this location, but nobody was at the door? I just let myself in. I was sent the access codes. Don’t worry about the blood. It’s mine.” Thalia was by no means a good liar, but she hoped whoever this was would just think she was nervous.
Which of course, she was. Hard not to be when faced with a woman who would probably want you dead if she knew who you were and what you’d done.
To her luck, the woman seemed to buy her story, and was… ignoring the comment about her blood. Maybe it was normal around here? She sighed, readjusting the blanket wrapped around herself to extend a hand. “My name is Layris. I’m a pilot on base. It’s good to have another face around here.”
Layris. Wasn’t she dead? From what Thalia knew she piloted the Hammer, and it was thoroughly destroyed by the Moonrise a few months ago. The area was swept, and its pilot was confirmed to be dead.
She looked down at the hand that Layris had extended out, grabbing it quickly before the pause grew any more awkward. “It’s nice to meet you, Layris. I hope to have a nice time working with you.”
“Mhm. You said you were looking for Pyr? The commander’s probably busy right now. What did you need?” Layris didn’t seem all too happy to have to deal with a newcomer right now, but evidently she couldn’t think of somebody to pawn off ‘Tally’ on.
Granted, now that Layris asked what she had wanted Pyralis for, Thalia wasn’t exactly sure. She wanted to offer her help with… rehabilitating Elara, but she didn’t even know how to start doing that. What would she even tell Layris she was here for?
Maybe some honesty would help. “I was a retired biomechanic turned mech mechanic. I hoped to find some guidance on what I could do on base, especially now that everybody else is gone?”
The woman by the bedside seemed to perk up upon hearing Thalia say that she was a mech mechanic, speed walking to Layris’ side. The sheet covering her was… noticeably thinner, to the point where Thalia could see… everything behind it. She did her best not to stare, but she had no clue that the rebels were built like… this.
Before she could comment, the woman gave a little wave. “Hi! I’m Anna, another pilot on base- you said you were a mechanic? How good were you?” She seemed almost giddy.
“Oh- I’m not um. Well, it’s hard to judge how good of a mechanic somebody is, but I’d say I’m competent?” Layris replied. Anna seemed a lot more… excited to see her than her partner, which was a welcome change of pace.
Anna grinned. “Competent enough that you wouldn’t let a pilot run out into rocky terrain with her sensor array half-destroyed and not tell her?”
Layris looked back, shooting a glance at Anna. “You’re still on about him? It was almost half a year ago! You didn’t even need the damn thing!” She grabbed Anna’s hand, smiling.
“Um… no? I don’t think so. At least no pilot I had a good relationship with. Sometimes you just have to leave something a little off when they piss you off though, right?” Thalia was getting more and more comfortable, but she realized she couldn’t exactly just be herself here. She had already lied about her name, and if they asked where she came from, she’d probably lie again.
Anna nodded. “Best keep myself in your good graces then, hm?” She winced as Layris grabbed her ear.
“Hold on, she hasn’t even agreed to be your engineer. I want one too, Krill’s always too busy these days.” She looked back at ‘Tally’ and finally smiled at her. “You’d want to be my engineer, right? I pilot a much newer machine.”
Not five minutes and she was already being fought over. Were all rebels this possessive? “Well, I could probably work on both- and honestly newer mechs are probably worse to work on… a lot more work to learn their individual quirks and everything.”
“I’m taking that as a yes. No takebacksies!” Anna walked back into the room, shouting over her shoulder. She walked into a side room, and Thalia could hear running water. She sure moved on fast.
Layris on the other hand stayed in the doorway. “You’re not allowed to say yes to anybody else now, okay? You’re ours. Just say that you’re taken, don’t want anybody getting jealous.”
Thalia felt a little overwhelmed, having already been pressured into being two pilot’s personal mechanic, and she still wasn’t even sure what she was doing here. Maybe she should… slow down. “Sure. Yeah. What um. What should I do? I have all my stuff here, do I just pick a room?”
“Sure! You can pick any empty room, odds are we aren’t getting anybody else on base for a while. The pilot’s rooms are larger, and have their own bathrooms, but if you want something cozier, it’s up to you.” Layris seemed in better spirits than she did when first opening the door, at least.
“Of course. I’ll go um. Clean off. Do you know where the doctor is, by the way?”