Contact

Weaving through the waves and waves of people, unaware of the coming siege, Genevieve was chasing Sy with great difficulty. At first, she questioned the man's motive for going back inside the Starport, but that was the least of her worries at the moment. The man was too fast and too quick on his feet, manipulating his body with great control through the gaps of people without losing his speed. Within just a few seconds, he was already out of sight.

'Am I out of shape?' She inwardly questioned. The thought was immediately cast aside, as she knew her own body. It's just that being outdone by a tech specialist, something she considered as Sy's occupation, had somehow wounded her pride.

Thankfully, the man had uttered before sprinting in the direction of the Starport without warning, the place where he was headed.

'The Gaming Center, huh?' Genevieve mercilessly shoved aside a person who was not paying attention, before climbing up to the second floor via the narrow stairs.

Sy who had went ahead, skidded through the corridor after a sudden pause from his speed, abruptly stopping at the hallway of the gaming station. The chubby child, Brian, stood at the entrance, in hand was an ice cream. He playfully ruffled the boy's hair who was amazed by his stunt before entering.

Tiff's customers were already out of their pods, forcefully ejected due to the powerful interference projected inward from orbit, cutting off any form of communications.

Within the perplexed crowd, Sy spotted Dylan and the others. He motioned for them to come closer, intentionally choosing the spot near Tiff's counter. When the mech specialists were within earshot, he calmly started, "Logria's under attack. A hostile transport ship is in orbit."

The young pioneer heard the blonde behind him gasp, while the specialists' expression instantly turned grim. He continued, "Now, you are mech specialists and can be considered as weapon tech specialists. The enemy forces might see you as a threat, and will capture you."

"Or worse!" Andreas added, his face full of creases.

"You will have to throw away anything that might identify you as one. Go to the outer rim of the city. Avoid the main roads." Sy instructed in a hasty manner.

"We'll go to your place. In the Fanick's property." They unanimously decided.

"Alright then." Sy turned to Tiff, and asked, "You have a place to go?"

"My parents have an underground shelter. Plenty of food." Tiff answered, her face ghastly.

"Close shop. Go there now. Don't stop." Sy then went to the center of the crowd and clapped his hands to grab their attention. When a few glanced at his direction, he stated in a loud, but effortless voice, "People! Go home! Avoid going near main roads and military bases!"

He exited the gaming center with the specialists in tow. Tiff followed shortly after, encouraging some of the people she knew, before grabbing Brian's hand on the way outside.

While the crowd who were left behind were in total confusion, alarms throughout the entire city blared, tacking more mess to their shambled state of mind. When they began to exit the gaming center, their comms activated on their own as an indifferent voice greeted them.

[Citizens of the Union, this is Commander Vasquez of the transport ship AO Conqueror.]

An outbreak began. Not only them, but people all over the Starport were stampeding to get outside, finally registering what was happening.

[We come in peace.]

"Peace my ass!" Andreas shouted, while trailing behind Dylan.

Sy who had speeded ahead with his superior motors, met Genevieve. The Runerie was wearing a strapped in brown coat, hugging her attractive frame. The black combat boots she wore already hinted most of the people about her martial status.

"You better give a warning before bailing out on me like that!" She joked, though, there was urgency in her voice.

Sy chuckled, "Let's get out of here. We should avoid the main exit points."

"I can jump through the third floor." She suggested, not pressing the matter as to why the man had returned to the Starport, before asking, "Can you?"

"Good thinking!" Sy led the way as the idea was better than wrestling with other people toward the exit. After a brief skirmish with a dozen of individuals trying to go down to the first floor, they reached a balcony overlooking a parking area below. From there, he could see his hover bike, out of position from the way he left it before. A vehicle had probably slammed it aside due to the urgency of the driver. In the main entrance, people were pouring out in the thousands.

After a quick survey below, Sy took the curtains from the windows, securely tying them up together, and then fastened them on the railings. The fabrics only managed to reached down to the deck of the second floor. He climbed up the metal barriers before jumping down. Genevieve was startled at his decisive action. There was a soft thud on the concrete below, before his voice reached out above, "Do you want me to catch you?"

The Runerie looked down. Seeing the man unscathed, she teasingly responded, "I would like to. But I'm not in the mood for any romantic moments. Get out of the way!"

With no further warning, she excitedly leaped down, landing on both feet, and cushioning the fall with her knees slightly bending down. Sy who was frightened by her sudden action, had dodged to the side with an impressed look on his face.

"What the f*ck!" A few people who witnessed them, thought they were inhuman. Leaping down from the third floor like it was only a couple of meters.

"Sy!" Dylan's voice could be heard above. The specialists was looking down, waving a hand. "Thanks! We can manage on our own! Go!"

Sy did not move for a second, and watched Dylan climbing down, using the curtains he tied together. Only when the specialist successfully landed on the deck of the second floor and Andreas beginning his descent, did he motioned Genevieve to get moving.

"So, you return for your fellow contestants." The Runerie said, following closely behind.

"What is your protocol for enemy non-combatant personnel after a drop?" Sy asked, increasing the pace as the hover bike was only a few meters away.

Genevieve did not answer immediately. She increased her running speed before, stopping beside the man who started disabling the safety cables of the hover bike. When he turned to her, she answered, "Engineers, specialists.. we take them in custody. They provide crucial intel, and a good addition to our workforce."

When Sy shrugged, she realized that he had planned ahead. She praised, "Good thinking!"

The duo got on the hover bike which suddenly levitated above the standard measure.

"You! You made an innocent vehicle go up like this?" Genevieve's face light up, impressed by the man. He was full of surprises. Now they can bypass the countless rampaging vehicles below. When the man did not answer, she tightly hugged him from the back in a teasing manner. She got the reaction she wanted.

"I thought no romantic moments!" Sy protested, as they sped up above the highways which slithered into a couple of sections.

"Is Laira in the grounds of The Little Auxillary Division?" Genevieve remembered her little sister.

"I left her with the girls in the apartments an hour ago! We must go there quickly. They might have went out. I can't imagine if they went there!" Sy responded.

Genevieve felt a sense of dread. The Little Auxillary Division was a tactical place to drop. Neutralizing any forces that can potentially threaten an invading force was a tactical move. She then realized something, "Girls?"

"They're my relatives."

Putting aside the topic for the time being, Genevieve looked up to the sky. Her eyes narrowed as five objects flared up, entering the planet's atmosphere. She could tell that these things were shock orbital drop pods, designed to destroy infrastructures with the speed of their descent. Urging the man to go faster, in order for them not to get caught in the blast radius, she uttered, "We gotta get out from the center of the city fast!"

"70! That's our top speed! We can't go any faster!" Sy answered as they whizzed in the air. The hover bike was rapidly depleting its energy cells without the safety cables, in exchange for double the power output of its boosters.

"Well, I'm happy to die with the man I happened to find that I like." Genevieve teased, not realizing how tense the man she was holding on.

"We're almost at the outer rim. I think we're safe."

The two passed over a sign with the written words; 'Patter's Outer Rim', astonishing some onlookers below, who wondered how they achieved such height with only just a standard hover vehicle. However, this also gave their audience a sight of the incoming invasion force. Massive objects on fire were already a few kilometers above the city, and about to make contact.