5th June 2311 10:31 EST - The path they took was only wide enough for two abreast, but it still didn't stop the soldiers from keeping their spacing. For the last ten minutes, Jason and Aurora had been reminiscing their endeavours since they last saw each other. With Aurora's long term rehabilitation and Jason's inability to reveal much about the missions he went on, it didn't take them long for them to catch up with their tales.
As they trudged on the rocky path with a massive drop to one side and a cliff to the other there was a brief awkward silence.
Jason's conscience was gnawing at him and tearing him up inside. He felt he had abandoned his colleague and never at any time had he tried to resolve this. Now had to be the time, for there was no telling when they would have the opportunity to meet again.
Deactivating his helmet he called toward Aurora. "Aurora, I'm sorry."
She turned and smiled at Jason. "What for?"
"I let you down on Loki and I was not there for you when you needed me, I feel responsible for all that happened."
Aurora let out a light chuckle before frowning. "Loki was never your fault. We were not meant to survive that mission and we achieved the unachievable." she hesitated slightly "But yes, you were not there when I needed you. Six months I spent waiting for them to grow a leg while you played hero, another four before I could use that damn leg properly. I heard nothing from you and I thought the worst."
Jason remained silent.
"I thought I had let you down by not being at your side, but now I realised that I had simply been traded for a better model." she said spitefully while looking towards Donnelly.
Donnelly didn't react to the comment and fortunately, her helmet disguised her expressions, but Jason knew she would be angered by that comment.
"Hang on!" Jason responded, "I didn't replace you, there's been a lot going on."
"I'm sure there has!" Aurora's frown seemed to disappear but the venom in her voice hadn't. "Maybe after the mission if you've got five minutes of not playing boy hero you can tell me about it."
She turned briskly away from Jason but before he could respond he felt the slight touch on his shoulder. Looking around he spotted Donnelly shaking her head slightly.
Donnelly was right, there was no point in being drawn into the argument at this time. Aurora had every right to be angry that Jason hadn't supported her when she needed it, but her desire to have a more serious relationship with Jason was clouding her judgement. At this time she would be too emotional to see common sense.
Re-activating his helmet, he returned to the task of locating Achilles.
The walkway expanded so that there was space for the team to all congregate, it was a perfect chance for Turner to gain a SITREP on the situation.
"Pendergast?" Turner called towards Aurora. "Is this where you last saw them?"
"Yes sir, " she replied, "We lost visibility just as they came into this spot."
"Donnelly, check the area, maybe they've continued on along the ridge?" ordered Turner.
Donnelly used the various tools built into her visor to study the area. Despite all the technology that was at her disposal, she could find no trace of the Ceti's.
"Are you sure they went this way because I have nothing?" she asked with a hint of exasperation, also aware that it would undoubtedly cause unnecessary friction.
"I don't make this type of stuff up." Aurora paused before continuing "Ma'am" frustrated by both the question and the person who asked it.
Turner, being astute, could see that tempers were starting to flare, and with a priority target on the loose, he needed everyone at their best. "Muller, report."
Muller had been left at the beginning of the ridge on overwatch duty and had been examining their trek very closely despite being a few kilometres behind. "You're almost out of visibility, therefore there's no way to determine where they could have gone from your position. Systems confirm that they indeed walked along that ridge so it seems they have just simply disappeared."
"Goddammit!" cursed Turner.
"Could they have descended the cliff?" Jason asked.
"As stated before, unlikely." replied Aurora. "That forest is full of deadly carnivorous beasts. You'd need to have a death wish to go down there."
"They can't have just vanished!" Donnelly exclaimed, frustrated.
"And I'm telling you that they wouldn't have gone down there!" Aurora responded with a slightly raised voice.
Donnelly moved aggressively towards Aurora, things were starting to get to a tipping point. "So what, you think they climbed the cliff?"
"You're the so-called expert, you work it out." Aurora burst out, pushing Donnelly out of her comfort zone.
As things were about to drastically escalate, Jason shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. "QUIET!"
There was silence as everyone's focus was ultimately on Jason. Donnelly and Aurora had become self-aware of the stupidity of their argument, but Jason wasn't stopping the argument; it was something else.
"Do you hear that?" he asked.
All that could be heard was the sound of the wind brushing against the trees far below in the densely populated forest and the whistle it left behind as it pushed past the ridge.
It was nothing out of the ordinary, just wind and a faint rustle, a rustle which sounds like it was rubbing against the dusty ground floor, a rubbing that sounded a lot like a footstep, footsteps that were not coming from the soldiers on the ridge. "AMBUSH!!"
Before anyone could react, the cliff wall came to life as the darkened blue armour of five Ceti warriors appeared to materialise in front of them. As they decloaked, their frightening Sceptres extended to show their razor-sharp blades and their blades went to work almost instantly. The crimson display of blood covered the dusty floor and with it, two Blue Ravens and one Crazy Tiger had fallen to their knees and to the ground lifeless.
The other soldiers reacted just quick enough to avoid the well-executed attack. Laser fire from the overwatch team rained upon the enemy allowing the team to identify their attackers
The first Ceti, donned in full battle gear, had a yellow glow in various points of his armour. The glow signified rank and his rank would suggest it was the target codenamed Ajax. Three more were in normal uniforms and had already scattered out to make harder targets. The final one had a red glow, one of significant rank which could only mean one thing.
Codename Achilles.
He danced around overwatch's sniper fire, predicting every shot as if it was nothing and glided towards his next target, Aurora.
Gliding like a ballerina, but attacking like a viper, the Ceti quickly overwhelmed Aurora, striking so viciously that it wasn't long before she was on her hind legs with a Sceptre high above her preparing to make the final blow.
As the Sceptre came down upon her, a body flung itself into her, pushing her away with tremendous force from the blades before they could find their target.
Achilles seemed to growl as he watched his target sprawled along the ground a few feet away from him, just in front was his new target. A ready and waiting Jason Scharn.
Picking himself off the floor, Jason shook his wrists until bursts of blue focused light extended from both of his arms into short sword moulds. He stood upright before positioning himself into a stance ready for combat.
Achilles seemed to nod in appreciation briefly before running towards Jason, bouncing from side to side in order to disguise which direction the first attack would come from. Launching himself in the air, Achilles raised his sceptre high before spearing it toward Jason.
Jason was equal to it, swiping away the attack before counter-attacking with his other sword, but Achilles just twisted himself out of the way as if the reply was insignificant.
At this point, the Ceti started to circle Jason. As Aurora managed to get to her feet Jason made sure he stood between her and the target and if there was any chance to go on the offensive, now was it.
Jason edged forward slicing high towards his foe before blocking low expecting the counterattack. As his light beam twanged against the metallic sceptre, Jason had to almost instantly deflect another attack before deflecting another. Just as Jason had made one offensive gesture he was almost instantly pinned back on the defensive.
Nearly two decades of extensive martial arts training could not prepare him for this encounter. Achilles was extremely quick and agile, his reflexes were superhuman and his footwork was extraordinary. His abilities were far superior to what any human could ever achieve.
Jason was now constantly on the defensive, slinging his arms up, down, left and right as if his life depended on it, it was only a matter of time before an attack breached his defence.
Fortunately, a brief respite came in the form of Donnelly, but Jason knew, despite her excellent martial arts expertise, she would struggle against this immensely superior opponent.
Achilles attacked his new quarry aggressively, pushing Donnelly backwards with every attack. Her left arm housed a shield made of energy and it was being battered incessantly by the sceptre, waves of energy rippled on every hit.
She grunted in agony as her arm tired from the attacks but every time someone came to her aid, the superhuman agility of the Ceti was enough to disorient Donnelly's helper and return to his initial foe.
"Goddammit!" she cursed as she was pegged back further. Taking a quick glance behind her she realised she was only a few steps from the edge of the ridge.
Initially trying to move to one side, Donnelly was manoeuvred backwards as the Ceti swung to his sides. She then tried to go on the offensive but to no avail, the Ceti pushed back the attack as if it was nothing and then pressed forward more aggressively.
Her heart was racing and the adrenaline pumping, it would not be long now before she reached her end. It irritated her that her life would end too soon, she still had so much to do and things to say. Now she would never get that opportunity.
She briskly looked backwards and all she could see was the extensive drop to the forest below. As she raised her arm one last time to repel an attack she screamed with anger towards the Ceti "COME AND GET ME!"
The Ceti raised his sceptre ready for the final attack, his stance was prepared and his movement graceful, he would make this end quick.
Suddenly there was a roar. Flinging his head toward the noise, the Ceti hesitated briefly as he saw Jason launching himself at the attacker. With pure momentum, Jason picked him off the floor and flung both himself and the Ceti over the ridge to the forest below.
Donnely didn't move and just stared at the humming shield. "No" she quietly whimpered.
Aurora sprinted over to the edge as Turner cleared up the remaining hostiles. "JASON?" Aurora screamed looking down the long fall below.
As Donnelly turned around and deactivated her helmet she could see no sign of Jason or their target Achilles.
"JASON!?" Aurora called again but more fervently than before.
"No! Not you!" Donnelly whimpered to herself falling to her knees.
"I've got no sign of them." Turner responded as he used his sensors to try and detect them. "It would be a miracle if they had survived."
"No," Donnelly responded. "Not Jason, he can't, not now, not like this." her eyes glistened as she tried to hold back the overwhelming sadness that was now consuming her. She looked up towards Aurora, whose tears had glistened on her cheeks, Donnelly was shocked as Aurora kneeled down with her and embraced her like a long lost sister.
The embrace seemed to be the last line of defence Donnelly had from emotionally breaking down. She let out a broken sigh before her tears streamed down her face. The cries from her mouth could not be stifled, encouraging Aurora to embrace her harder.
Turner let out a sigh as the sound of wind and crying seemed to flow around him. "Raven Nest, this is Raven Alpha." he hesitated briefly before continuing. "Detroit and Stuttgart. I repeat, Detroit and Stuttgart."
Turner had given the official confirmation that the mission was a failure and had lost a man in the process. In one fell swoop not only had they lost Achilles, but they had also lost the Raven Knight, Lieutenant Jason Scharn.