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“Raven?”
The voice is welcome, 621 thinks, but unexpected. By this point, she and Ayre have grown to have an understanding; no talking during pre-operation checks. Even if she is an augmented human, capable of processing battlefield data far faster than any normal person with enhanced reflexes and thoughts, some things are too crucial to be attended to with anything less than the utmost attention. Like, for example, the state of NEVERMORE, her second body, her armour and power and lifeline, which has seen her through so much, and must hold if she is to make it another day on God-forsaken Rubicon.
Then again, this is no normal operation, is it?
So 621 turns her attention away for a few moments from the checks and attunes her thoughts with Ayre’s. As usual, the field of her vision turns slightly red; she relaxes in her cockpit seat, idly watching the figures and lines flashing across the displays as she switches off her retinal HUD.
<<I’m listening.>>
“Sorry to intrude…” Ayre sounds bashful, but determined. “I know what you’re doing is important; first time anybody’s used that stun launcher in live combat."
<<I'm sure it'll work properly. V.II Snail's a bastard, but he doesn't seem to be a stupid one.>>
Ayre sniffs at that. "I'd rather we had nothing to do with Arquebus, after our run-in with Swinburne."
<<Hey, Rusty's not so bad.>>
"All he does is flirt with you!"
<<Flirt?>> 621 notes the sudden emotion in Ayre's voice, and cocks her head in mock innocence. <<We barely know each other - heck, I don't even think he knows what I look like.>>
"Sorry, bad joke. It’s just - I’m worried, Raven. Are you sure you’ll be alright?”
Nobody will see 621 smile; the oxygen mask that has covered her mouth for years ensures that. Yet she’s sure that Ayre can see it from her unique vantage point within her head. Just how does she manage to do that, come to think of it?
<<Don’t worry. It’ll be like any other mission, won’t it? And we’ve faced plenty of strong enemies before.>>
Indeed. BALTEUS, just after their first meeting, spitting missiles and fire until all she could hear was the warning sirens within her battered cockpit; SEA SPIDER, stabbing with Coral-tipped legs like a beast alive; the sleek enforcers of the PCA in their huge modern HCs, lunging behind mighty shields. NEVERMORE endured their onslaught; Ayre held her firm; she overcame them.
“I suppose so,” admits Ayre. “I should have more faith - apologies. I’ll trust you. But please, make it through this. Because I reckon - once this is over, I have something to tell you.”
<<Why not now?>>
“Not the right time. Our Contact is strong, but it won’t resist, well, the worst case scenario. You need to focus on the fight.”
<<Okay.>>
“Good luck, Raven.”
<<Cheers.>>
Ayre withdraws, just as Walter opens the channel to check in. 621 goes back to doing what she has always done.
***
The Central Ice Field is silent at last. The Ice Worm is felled, spilling the Coral inside out into the atmosphere. The red particles mix with the white snow, drifting down in a display of two-toned beauty.
621 watches it, blinking, in the aftermath of Ayre’s revelation.
<<Your family, huh?>>
“That's why I'm so focused on reaching on the Coral convergence. Those you see right now…” Ayre sounds distraught. “They’re orphans now. Rubicon has made far too many orphans.”
<<You mentioned the worst case scenario. Does that mean that if I went down, then->>
“Yes. I’d be scattered again in the Coral tide. Alone, drifting, helpless.”
<<You’re scared.>>
“Yes. Yes, I am, Raven. I don’t want to go.”
<<How did you live before you met me?>>
“At that time, I don’t think I knew what life really was. Coral and humanity are so, so different, that it took meeting somebody special for me to learn.”
621’s heart skips a beat. And, although it really shouldn't, she swears she hears a change in the thrum of NEVERMORE's reactor.
“Thank you, Raven,” Ayre whispers. “For teaching me just how precious life is.”
Instinctively, 621 moves her gloved hand to the chest of her flight-suit, placing it over her heart.
<<Glad to have helped.>>
“I’m asking so much of you every day, Raven - when for you, I’m just some… alien. How can you?”
<<Because I’m not a good person.>>
“Don’t say that.”
<<Oh, you know it’s true.>> 621 laughs noiselessly, mirthlessly, tightening her grip on her armoured chest. <<You’ve seen what I’ve done before we met, and after.>>
The STRIDER, the Dafeng test pilot, the Wall's defenders...
<<I’m a merc. But if, just this once, I can think of something besides money and kills and Walter’s jobs, and do something good for a good person, then I’ll have done something worthwhile with my life. Guess I'll have lived up to the expectations of that oldster at the spaceport, eh? Talking about the will to choose and all that - well, this is my choice.>>
“Raven…”
<<I promise - this life is yours, Ayre.>>
“… Thank you.”
A warm wave spreads through 621's ravaged, altered, inhuman body, the equivalent of - what it's called? 621 hasn't had one for so long.
Ah.
A hug.
How nice it would be, to stay like this forever.
But the world won't let that happen. Walter’s helicopter is descending now, the herald of war, the reminder of the jobs and missions that Rubicon still has to offer. Along with it, all over the Central Ice Field, come the dropships and carriers of brutal Balam and arrogant Arquebus and insane RaD, ready to continue the Coral War and trample each other into the snow. Their violence will stain the planet red, just like the Coral upon the drifts.
Still, let them come, 621 thinks. She's got a name to live up to, and a lady in need.
She reaches out a hand - and feels joyful tingling in her skin, as Ayre takes it and holds her firm.