Arsenal and Ziggy walked from their vehicle through the dark. The runway was outlined in rows of illumination, and the noise was of pressurized water spraying off the metal hull. Forklifts went up and down the ramp, carrying metallic containers while loadmasters stood at the top, directing the units to be stacked.
Outside, others of the aircrew; The navigator, crew chief, flight engineer, flight surgeon and signaller, leaned on the wing, smoking and waiting for clearance. A few of them turned their heads at the ork and elf approaching the aircraft, but none of them paid them any concern. Only one guy went to meet Arsenal and Ziggy. Flight officer, from the look of his patches. He saluted. She said:
"Captain Weinberg, UCAS Seals: requesting permission for team to board."
"Board? But... but we weren't going to land... This plane is loaded with humanitarian aid, Ma'am. Our orders didn't say anything about deployment. Are you sure this is the right one?"
He seemed confused, and turned his back to the two of them, calling someone on his commlink.
"There's a message talking about an 'update to our mission parameter'. They want us to airlift personnel in the CZ along with the supplies."
"What?"
A heated exchange followed. The plane's commanding officer didn't like it, something about the sudden order gave him suspicion. But their names and pictures were all present on his roster, and the woman had been insistent. He wasn't going to defy an order.
But still...
---
The last of the pallets loaded, The ramp leading into the plane was raised shut. Flight crews ran off from around it, while a man with two glowing rods led the plane forward and into position so that it could be cleared for takeoff.
A reverberating sound began to emanate from the spinning engines, the turbines revving themselves up, taking in air and growing louder until there became a low continuous boom. Then, slowly at first, the plane advanced down the runway. It rapidly gained speed until it was careening along, while a torrent of air flowed over and underneath the wings. The inner passage of the craft leaned leaned backwards as the lift took hold and the front of the plane was raised up, the leading wheel leaving the ground. The others followed, and the plane ascended into the night sky.
---
They flew for what felt like a long time. Dark clouds passed all around the plane. The windows and viewports were wet with condensation. Inside, the glow of instrument panels gleamed against the dim light, punctuated by brief flashes of lightning.
In the plane's bay, there were small vibrations from a storage container. One of the bolted rivets began to rotate, twisting outward from the socket and falling to the ground in a tiny clang. The next one followed, then another. Until all the fasteners were unscrewed and the unit slid open.
Like an exquisite butterfly emerging from a cocoon, the stowaway inside pushed her way free. Headfirst, then arms, reaching up and around the top of the unit and swinging herself carefully down to stand among the pallets, stretching out to a sleek and beautiful woman.
A woman, or a machine. Some combination of both. Asian, with dark hair, a body mostly covered by black skintight material and red eyes. She wore a head attachment with two wing-like protrusions, and from these projected transparent HUD lenses that could be lowered over the eyes, or kept up out of the way.
She sniffed the air and her cybereyes, glowing red beneath an inky halo of short hair, sharpened as she studied her surroundings. With slow deliberation, she reached into the container and withdrew her weapon- a black, straight-edge blade a meter and a half long. It was like something that absorbed light. On her lower back was a second, shorter blade of the same technology. Yet another was at her side.
Naeko's former life was an elusive memory. As the shadowrunner named Rain, she had performed missions like this with regularity, in service to her Japanese corp masters. In return was all the augmentations she wanted. Then, she felt it. A ghost in the machine. The voice of the AI. It shook her, moved her. It was her new master, her overlord, and she thought of nothing else than how she may serve. She would die for Asclepion, but she was much better at killing for it.
The bay doors were set to open at the back of the plane. Naeko stayed out of sight while the loadmaster and another airman in UCAS flight suits came into view, walking down the hold and performing checks on the containers for airdrop.
If any of the flight crew saw the attack coming, they reacted too slowly to save themselves. The first had scarcely seen the open unit before a Monosword passed through his body. The man took a trembling step to balance himself after the blow, before his upper body slides off along a cut that cleanly bisects his ravaged chest, and the torso falls to the ground, slicking the immediate area with the blood spraying into the air from his exposed innards. The other turned to yell, enough for him to glimpse a swift redirect of the blade into a slash that freed his head from his torso and sent it spinning through the air before hitting the the ground. His beheaded body surged with the shock and fell gracelessly, clipboard falling from out of his hands.
Footsteps enshrouded by the engines, she padded out of the bay and into the fuselage.
