ToGL3

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==Tales from the Golden Lion AUKatya’s Quest - Chapter 3==
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11/28/3051 | Antares, Contested World
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“Your rack is sagging, Star Captain Kerensky.” Kyros said as Katya returned from the showers with her hair and torso in a towel. She tossed the damp hair towel onto him which he put on a polymer clothes horse, “You did not mention anything last night Kyros.”
Another can of FRF (Far Reach Fisheries) Shrimp Jjigae (a type of spicy stew) was slid beneath a polymer board bowing from the weight of encyclopedias and glossy magazines. “Well, the lights were dim,” She reached beside him to pull her gray garrison uniform out of the bag under her cot, “and I was not looking.”
The rustling of cloth beside him paused before he looked again as she buckled her gun belt, “Which is appreciated, Watch Officer.”
He stood, gathered his daybag, and pistol harness. “I saw it all last night. No need to pry further.”
She halted for a moment, “I will walk you out.”
“If you insist, Katya.”
They exited the central firebase to the garage, Kyros looked up at the corrugated metal roof, “I see they braced and fortified the roof since the last attack.”
“Aff, but we still cannot track down the enemy’s airmobile artillery, even with the Medusa’s RADAR.”
“They have some kind of stealth coating on the helicopters. The forest and hills clutter the return. We are still working on it, but we have not been able to shoot any of them down. It is difficult for our technical intelligence team to find a solution without a physical sample.”
Kyros opened on of his motorcycle’s ‘saddle bags’ and passed a dossier folder to her “I have this though.”
Katya took it, opening it to look through elevations and geophysical survey maps of the area. “We have been searching Antares City archives for old survey maps that might lead us to the enemy’s hiding places. I am going to follow up on some of them while I am in Alba.” 
“Be careful Watch Officer, COMSTAR seems to know what we are doing before we do.”
“I will be wary Star Captain Kerensky.” Kyros donned his helmet and strapped is pack to the back of the motorcycle, “Until then I must take my leave.”
“Granted.” Katya watched as he rode out of the firebase momentarily distracting the Star Adders gathered for morning PT.
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Kyros rode along the winding three lane country road that connected Antares City and Alba that danced along the valleys separating the Rakusian Hills. This early in the morning they were abandoned except for a few large trucks and cargo vans carrying freight and workers between them. His tire warning light turned on as a metallic ding bounced off the bike, he pulled over to the side of the road to investigate.
His front tire was flat with signs of a puncture. “I must have run over a nail.” He squawked into the helmet mic synced to the bike’s own antennae and radio. “WO Kyros to Alba Station. Mechanical difficult en route, expect delay.”
“Roger that WO. Do we need to send a GP?”
“Neg, I can patch it.”
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A few minutes later a white van pulled up beside him while he was pulling out his patch kit. The passenger shouted out to him, “You need a hand, fella?”
“No, I have it under control.”
“We’ll see about that.” The passenger produced a TK Enforce machine pistol and unloaded the whole magazine into Kyros, each shot breaking the tranquil quiet of the wilderness around them. He got out and stripped the bike of its bags tossing them into the van before speaking into his own radio as they drove off toward Alba. 
“Kill Confirmed, Demi-Precentor. 
We got the one asking all the questions.”
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