"How is he that energetic?.."

"No idea.."

"Master sure is amazing!"

"Less talking more walking people! Terra keep up or be left behind."

"Yes… SIR!"

With only 2 days until the time Dax was supposed to appear and stand some sort of trial at the archangels sanctuary he had suspended Terra's alt.i.tude training as he picked up the pace over mountain top after mountain top towards the sanctuary. Dax's group now also consisted of the 64 REX-Delta model 165-A25S Reaper combat drones that kept a tightend 1 kilometer perimeter around the crown princess, as the treats they had encountered in the isolated and desolate mountain region had greatly increased in magnitude. Even with proper equipment and a steady oxygen supply provided by Dax the royal knights and Dax's own group had no experience of mountaineering, leading to the current phase of movement that was far too slow for Dax's liking.

"Marcus do I need to carry you?"

"N-no."

"Then keep up."

"Can't we take a break?"

"We just took one 4 hours ago, I want to be over this mountain top before sundown. That way we can slow down slightly tomorrow."

Judging the conversation over Dax ran ahead, grabbing a rifle on the way off Alice's exoskeleton on the way.

"M-monster…"

Seeing Dax run ahead at 60 kilometers an hour in snow up to his knees, Marcus unintentionally voiced his inner thoughts, making the crown princess Teresa that was being carried by the royal knight Marie snap out of her own daze.

"Yeah he sure is extreme… Are you okay Marie?"

"I'm fine your highness."

Getting a formal response in return Terasa put a pout on her face as she retorted her favorite royal knight.

"I told you to call me Teresa when we're on this trip."

"Okay, T-Teresa."

Over the trip Teresa had gotten quite a bit closer to Marie, as she had thought Teresa a lot about traveling in the wild, something a sheltered princess like herself had never done before.

"Are you blus.h.i.+ng Marie?"

"Shut up Marcus!"

[CODE YELLOW, SECURE VIP IMMEDIATELY.]

"Here we go again, tighten up Marie"

Hering the more and more familiar voice of ICI sounding from the exoskeletons speakers, Marcus noticed that Dax had formed a firing line about 200 meters in front of them with 10 drones. As the group came to a full stop about a minuted pa.s.sed without anything happening, then as if waiting for a lapse in judgement ICI's cold voice sounded once more.

[CODE RED. HOSTILE CLOSING RANGE, CREATING FIREMISSION PRIORITY 1, TASKING COMSAT-1 FOR TRIANGULATION AND TARGET ACQUISITION.]

"f.u.c.k, Marie I'll cast defensive magic! Get behind Alice now!"

Marcus and Marie had gotten quite familiar with ICI's thermonology over the trip, coursing them to fully realize what was happening at the moment.

"What is it this time Dax!"

"A lesser dragon Seems to have noticed us! ICI mark treat for killshot 2 klicks out, use the R04!"

[CONNECTING TO KINGSTED FOB… CONNECTION ACTIVE, SENDING ONE TIMES HYPERVELOCITY KINETIC SELF CORRECTING KILL VEHICLE, TARGET CORRECTION FOLLOWS: RELATIVE GRID 20 09 A4, SPLASH 125 SECONDS.]

"You heard the terminator Terra, what do we do now?"

"I don't think now is a time for a test Dax!"

"And I share that incentive Teresa, but with me needing to keep all my attention on keeping her royal highness safe I find it completely adequate to make Terra do the target corrections, besides this is something I've drilled with her a lot~"

Turning to Terra to prove his point she had already put on a reaper's mask and was busy doing target adjustments.

"Relative grid 20, 09, A4… ICI plug me into the satellite."

[CONFIRMED, BIOSIGNATURE LOGIN APPROVED. RELAYING FROM GUARDIAN ELECTRONIC WARFARE DRONE TYPE 144 'ALBATROSS'…. CONNECTION ESTABLISHED, RAW DATA FEED AT 50 MS RELAY DELAY, SYSTEM ONLINE. WARNING: TRAINEE LIMITERS ENGAGED, DIRECT DATA DOWNLINK LIMITED AT 1TB/SECOND TO AVOID MINDBLEED.]

As ICI connected Terra to the observation satellite in orbit above them her vision changed to a birds eye view that quickly was flooded with information.

"Oh yeah I see it now, it's a young brown forktail dragon…. Looks to be female, we've properly entered her taratorry, that would explain why she looks so p.i.s.sed. Well that works out in the end, ICI adjust kill vehicle 2 degrees left and bring it in 200 meters."

Finding her target, a young female dragon about 5 meters long heading towards them, Terra made final corrections on the targeting.

[ADJUSTMENTS CONFIRMED. SPLASH 10.. 9.. 8..-]

"Correction 1 degrees right!"

A few seconds before the railgun projectile hit the dragon suddenly s.h.i.+fted to the left, moving it out of the projectile's self correction range.

[ADJUSTMENT CONFIRMED, SPLASH 3.. ACTIVE GUIDANCE ONLINE, 1.. SPLASH, TARGET DOWN, MOVING TO DAGER CODE GREEN, ALL CLEAR.]

Watching the dragon almost split in two as it was. .h.i.t with a hypersonic projectile right between the wings Terra breathed a sigh as she pulled of the reaper's mask, making Dax turn to Teresa with a large child like smug on his face.

"See~ My pupil is the best~"

"I-I guess…"

"Eh, did you just praise me D"

"Come on let's move!"

Continuing on with no more major issues they made it over the mountain top Dax had set for the day and set up camp for the night while under the attentive watch of several angels.

...

..

.

---

Out in the arctic wasteland plane of the northern republic the sun had set, and the moon yet to rise. Out on a rock sheet covered in some 2 kilometers of compressed snow stood a collection of about 10 wooden sheds-like structures, precisely 3000 meters to the north of them a single figure stood up from her hide in the snow and started to closing the range steadily with rifle in hand. The figure was clad in a almost skin tight grayish black bodysuit that looked unfit for the weather, but was in fact made to function is much harsher conditions, and a pure black facemask that seemed to absorb the faint ambient light.

"ICI show me the render one final time."

Over the past 10 hours Lux had been observing the small village and taken note of all movements happening there. Those movements had given her and her ICI unit a overview of which structures were populated, and in particular which were for storage.

"So structure #2, #5 and #11 do not look to be populated… 1 in 3 chance to find a supply cache that stores food."

3 structures had been identified by ICI as uninhabited, 2 on the north side she was closing in from, and a single one on the far side of the village.

[23 zqQQM-MINUTES TzO MOrqzONRISE.]

With that ma.s.sage from ICI Lux increased her running speed to a full sprint until she was about 200 meters from the first possible cache. Walking as silently as possible while still keeping up a semi fast pace the stranded and staving marine put up her rifle as her mind emptied completely and she switched into breaching mode. Closing the distance to about a meter she found a shoodly wooden door. Without hesitation she went up to the door and kicked it in, quickly scanning the inside for supplies and treats.

(f.u.c.k!)

The inside of the wooden shed was completely empty, possibly abandoned for a number of reasons she didn't have the surplus of energy to figure out. Leaving that shed behind, Lux left the village and circled around to the next shed, that was also completely empty of food.

[9 MINUTESzzz tT-TO MOONiucRISE.]

"s.h.i.+t!.."

Having taken to long to look through the strange supplies of some sort of inscribed rook in the second shed, the starving marine now had 9 minutes to make it to the final shed before she could be spotted at a range of 2 kilometers in the pale moonlight. Needing to make that distance away from the village before that, Lux made the rushed decision to cut straight through the village instead of circling around it. Sighing deeply to herself as she realised the stupidity of the idea but still committed to it, Lux disengaged the safety on her rifle and sharpened her senses. Moving through the heat of the small village, the memoryless marine noticed some of the sheds where giving off immense heat, but only a few of them emitted light.

(So they're not burning wood to heat up their homes?... f.u.c.k!)

While wondering about the strange heating of the wooden sheds a shed in front of her suddenly lit up with light. Thinking fast the marine hid behind another building. After a minute or so of standing absolutely still the light expanded, and she started hearing careful footsteps in the snow. With the footsteps moving ever closer, the marine went over her options in her head.

(The sound of a gunshot would wake up the entire village, and I don't even have a bayonet on me.. But in the end I wouldn't need one, here it comes!)

With the footsteps nearly on top of her the marine sprang into action, like a well oiled machine she separated from her cover and pounced at the figure, hitting it in the head with the b.u.t.t of her rifle as she landed on top of while grabbing its throat to cut off any attempt at a call for help, and in a smooth and trained motion she dropped her rifle and punched the figure in the head, knocking it out cold.

(What the?..)

Only after picking up her rifle from the snow did the marine look at her victim, to see that she was just a kid, no more than 16 years old,. Snapping out of her battle mindset Lux checked to see if her victim was still breathing, then thought about what to do with her.

(She's still breathing and blood pressure, ECG and pulse also nominal…. Then what to do about this kid?.. If I abandon her out here she'll freeze to death before morning.)

Some fatom of humanity still remained in the marine and decided to make sure the kid didn't die, with that in mind she first picked up her rifle and then flinged the youth over her shoulder and slowly crept towards the house from which the youth emerged from. Breaching the house while carrying the youth Lux inspected the inside. It was a simple home, different colored exotic fur covered the walls and floor with a single small bed under a heavy layer of quilts with embroidery of creatures and landscapes. In the middle of the humble home stood a strange metallic candle like structure that emitted heat and light, and Lux decided to put down the kid next to it.

[2 MmmmaqZ-MINUTES TåO MOONRISEzz.]

(d.a.m.nit!)

After laying down the kid, the marine hurriedly closed the door to her house and moved the last possible storage location with haste. Finding the shed like wooden structure at the southern side of the village it initially looked promising.

(That's the first lock I've seen in this village… A lock means there's something to protect.)

Gripping the lock the marine used her immense strength to crack the brittle metal and opened the door to find the shed filled with foodstuff.

(Jackpot.)

Inside was filled with cured sausages, some kind of cheese and multiple bags of what looked to some kind of cereal. Grabbing an empty sack she filled it with sausages and then took another that was filled with cereal the marine's raid was complete and she hurriedly dashed out of the village towards the south as the pale moon rose, and the village inhabitants picked up their weapons and prepared to hunt a thief.