The Silver Fox's Guile: A Story of Uprising

Chapter 19

(Six hours later...)

"...Huh," Jackson mused while everyone sat in the conference room he had brought us to previously, "It seems like you lot have been through a hell of a bounty."

"You could say that," I grumbled after I had taken my helmet off, only to smile and pat the top of Alannah's head when she used me as a pillow, "We hitched a ride on a transport full of Soldats and infiltrated Muspelle's station. Thanks to Boreas' hard work, Ali and I were able to get to Muspelle. However, he wound up being torn apart by his own creations."

"Again thanks to my awesome work," Boreas chimed in, smirking to himself as he reclined back into her seat.

"Yes, thanks to Boreas' awesome work," I confirmed, "However, we found more useful information while we were still on the station." I slid the tablet I had taken from Muspelle's room over to  Boreas, "I forgot to tell you, but I found this after our target got devoured."

"Holy shit, you got Muspelle's personal tablet," he murmured, eagerly accepting the tablet and busting into it, "Oh...This is a treasure trove, my friend! Now we have even more to work with!"

"So...Care to tell me what happened after you escaped the space station?" Jackson prompted us, leaning forward in his seat with a curious light dancing in his miscolored eyes, "I hate to halt your rambling, Boreas, but I'd like to know what happened between Muspelle's untimely death and your return to the Sovereign-Breaker."

And so we told him about how we went back to Nyxis and helped the people we had freed from Muspelle's station. Turns out almost all of them were from the colony, so they were more than a little jubilant when they saw their neighbors once again. The bar tender that had helped us managed to find her brother amongst the survivors, which warmed my darkened heart. When we were done on Nyxis, we instantly left for Jackson's flagship. Alannah may have protested and tried to force me to seek out a medic, but we left anyway.

Once we were done catching Jackson up, he didn't respond. Several moments later, he finally found his voice: "You didn't seek out a medic? Even after all of the punishment you subjected yourself to?"

I shook my head. "I'm still alive, Jack. I've been in worse conditions before, so this is nothing."

I heard Alannah growl in frustration. "Nothing? Cylus, you left a trail of blood behind you when we were hauling ass back to the transport! I almost dragged you out out of the damn cockpit when I saw you sit down in the pilot's chair."

I kissed her on the lips and chuckled. "Your concern is appreciated, my love. However, I wanted to make sure everyone got away before I started worrying about myself."

"You selfless, humble paragon of revenge," she grumbled, crossing her arms across her chest and pouting. "It doesn't hurt to be a little selfish at times...For instance, when you're bleeding out from several stab and bullet wounds."

I shrugged. "You said it yourself: we would've needed duct tape, hope, and a priest to patch me up any better than what you managed."

She lightly socked my shoulder. "Shut up."

"Alright," Jackson cut in, shaking his head in disbelief, "Tell me what you found, Boreas."

When our loony hacker friend didn't respond, we collectively looked over at him. His eyes were glued to the screen of the tablet he held in his hands, and his eyes were owlish in size as he skimmed over a document.

"Um...Boreas?" Alexander prompted him, shaking his shoulder, "I suggest you check your pants...It suddenly smells very bad in here..."

"It's probably you, you twat," Boreas growled, "Given the fact none of us have taken a shower in the past two days, I'm sure we all smell abhorrent right now."