05-25-2021, 07:39 PM
(Jointly written with Lauchenoiria)
After a harrowing effort to escape from the Tiazō and into the streets of Tlālacuetztla, pursued by almost every law enforcement and military force present in the capital, the Auroras and Huenyans had managed to get back to Zipacpepe and disappear into its warren of streets and alleys. Not without further casualties; a Shorn One, sent to perform a delaying action to allow the rest of the team to make it out, held off an entire platoon of pursuing soldiers before throwing himself at the enemy headlong in one final glorious charge.
Back at the safe house, the members of the team that had survived were gathered somberly in the main room. Tlalmaxxi, as the nominal leader of the team, sighed. "I am sorry," she said after a moment. "I thought I had prepared us enough for this. I clearly failed."
"They took Samantha, at the end," Riley said, white as a sheet. "A worse fate than Lily's, probably. And it was too late. Calhualyana already knows about... we are all dead. This is my fault, I said we had to hurry. Oh Goddess..."
"This is no one's fault," Huatli said, her voice sounding as much as if she was trying to convince herself of that as she was everyone else. "We just went into the most secure site in Xiomera. We knew casualties were highly likely. But losing two Auroras....." her voice trailed off.
"I did not save Lily. And I did not save Cozamalotl," Temexay said, his voice devoid of all emotion. "I have failed, more than anyone. When we return to Chuaztlapoc, I will return my weapons to the Shorn Ones and go to the temple of Huītzilōpōchtli."
"After everyone we've just lost, Temexay, sacrificing yourself will benefit no one," Tlalmaxxi said softly. The Shorn One did not respond.
"All of us need to stop and breathe for a second," Yawen spoke up, looking around at everyone. She had drops of blood on her cheek and a cut across her forehead from a knife fight with a stray guard, though it had dried in by now. "This was a long shot. It is improbable that things will go perfectly every time."
"Calhualyana knows what?" Maricela asked Riley sharply all of a sudden. "Too late for what? Tlalzixiūhxa is alive. Cozamalotl was alive. What, exactly, was too late?"
Riley said nothing. Maricela hadn't known about the Robinson affair. She had been Tlalzixiūhxa's friend in training and invited on this mission for that reason. It did not mean that Riley, or the others, intended to reveal their true loyalties.
Tlalmaxxi was likewise confused by Riley's words. Even the princess of Huenya didn't have a high enough security clearance for the Federal Intelligence Service to let her in on that particular secret. "Calhualyana most likely knows about any internal Huenyan secrets that Yauhmi's former spokesperson may have been privy to. Along with details, possibly, about how Auroras are trained, which she will undoubtedly use if she can to make her own forces even stronger," Huatli replied. Her expression gave nothing away.
"This is unfortunate," Yawen replied, trying to steer things onto safer ground. "However, we have rescued our primary target, and we all went into this willing to make sacrifices. We were all willing participants. And now we need to get out of this country before they track us down."
”Agreed, and also, before we blow the cover of our hosts here in Zipacpepe. If the government hasn’t tracked us here already,” Huatli said. “We may get to leave, but they’re going to still be here, and I would prefer not to have their lives on my conscience on top of the ones already there.”
Tlalmaxxi nodded, returning to business. “Getting out will be considerably harder than getting in was. The police, security forces and military will all be alerted. Also, if I know Calhualyana - and I do - she will take this raid as a personal insult not just to the Empire, but to herself directly. She will stop at nothing to track us down.”
Tlalmaxxi picked up two paper maps, one of the capital area and one of Xiomera as a whole. The paper maps were incredibly anachronistic, especially to a Xiomeran, but they couldn’t take the chance of using electronic devices at this point. “Our best path out is to split up, like we did before, and take back roads through the country to Zapotlán as quickly as possible. Speed is what will save us now, not subterfuge - we have to get to the border and get across before the government’s dragnet is fully in place. We get across the border and rendezvous in the Canal Zone, and from there go to Huenya. If anyone presents a roadblock to us, we remove the roadblock by any means necessary. The time for subtlety is past now - it’s a race and we have to get across the border before Calhualyana finds us.”
"We ought to discuss the uncomfortable elephant in the room," Yawen reluctantly spoke. "If something goes wrong, if you're about to get caught and see no way out... each of us must choose whether we wish to have a permanent exit strategy as a backup."
”I would recommend having such a strategy,” Tlalmaxxi said. “I know too well what ASI is capable of, especially since they now have help from the outside world to improve their....processes. You do not want to be captured by them. Especially now. Calhualyana will be furious about the breach, and so will ASI. They will take it out on whoever they catch.”
"Oh Goddess, Samantha..." breathed Riley, wincing. The other Auroras looked uncomfortable with the thought.
Huatli shot Tlalmaxxi a look briefly that clearly indicated the General and the princess would be having a conversation later about tactfully choosing one’s words, before turning back to the others. “We will leave in twos - no one travels alone. Amequic will supply us with anything we may need if we are captured, for anyone that wants an exit strategy. He will also provide any other weapons or supplies that will be helpful in making our way out. Once we make it back to Zapotlán, we all know the rendezvous point.” The rendezvous point in question was another safe house, this one being maintained by the Federal Intelligence Service.
All the various remaining Auroras nodded. They were all prepared for this, they knew the plan and in spite of what had gone wrong, they were professionals and could deal with that once they were out of enemy territory.
---
Over the course of several days, the Auroras and Shorn Ones would manage to escape back across the border into the Canal Zone. Not, again, entirely unscathed; two Shorn Ones suffered injuries, one seriously so, in a fight with Imperial border guards. The Xiomeran government would not gain much information from that encounter, however. None of the platoon of border guards would be in a position to divulge much afterwards.
At the FIS safe house in Zapotlán, the Huenyans would be debriefed, along with the Auroras who chose to return. It was not guaranteed that all of them would. Some of them, the Huenyans knew, would consider their part in the rescue attempt done once everyone had returned. Other Auroras might well blame the Huenyans for the less than successful raid. In any event, the Huenyans knew that they had no real hold over any of the Auroras, other than any residual loyalty to Yauhmi some of them might have. The FIS was not stupid enough to try to press the matter further.
While the Huenyans licked their wounds and tried to content themselves with what success they had achieved, however, things in Xiomera would progress much more rapidly. The Empire already considered itself a wounded beast, after the war. Now, someone had just walked up and kicked the Empire while it was down. The further-wounded pride of ASI, and the fury of an insulted Empress, would soon rise in eastern Huenya like the sun itself - and just as hot.
And Calhualyana, seething in the Palace of Flowers, was already considering how to respond outside of the Empire itself.
After a harrowing effort to escape from the Tiazō and into the streets of Tlālacuetztla, pursued by almost every law enforcement and military force present in the capital, the Auroras and Huenyans had managed to get back to Zipacpepe and disappear into its warren of streets and alleys. Not without further casualties; a Shorn One, sent to perform a delaying action to allow the rest of the team to make it out, held off an entire platoon of pursuing soldiers before throwing himself at the enemy headlong in one final glorious charge.
Back at the safe house, the members of the team that had survived were gathered somberly in the main room. Tlalmaxxi, as the nominal leader of the team, sighed. "I am sorry," she said after a moment. "I thought I had prepared us enough for this. I clearly failed."
"They took Samantha, at the end," Riley said, white as a sheet. "A worse fate than Lily's, probably. And it was too late. Calhualyana already knows about... we are all dead. This is my fault, I said we had to hurry. Oh Goddess..."
"This is no one's fault," Huatli said, her voice sounding as much as if she was trying to convince herself of that as she was everyone else. "We just went into the most secure site in Xiomera. We knew casualties were highly likely. But losing two Auroras....." her voice trailed off.
"I did not save Lily. And I did not save Cozamalotl," Temexay said, his voice devoid of all emotion. "I have failed, more than anyone. When we return to Chuaztlapoc, I will return my weapons to the Shorn Ones and go to the temple of Huītzilōpōchtli."
"After everyone we've just lost, Temexay, sacrificing yourself will benefit no one," Tlalmaxxi said softly. The Shorn One did not respond.
"All of us need to stop and breathe for a second," Yawen spoke up, looking around at everyone. She had drops of blood on her cheek and a cut across her forehead from a knife fight with a stray guard, though it had dried in by now. "This was a long shot. It is improbable that things will go perfectly every time."
"Calhualyana knows what?" Maricela asked Riley sharply all of a sudden. "Too late for what? Tlalzixiūhxa is alive. Cozamalotl was alive. What, exactly, was too late?"
Riley said nothing. Maricela hadn't known about the Robinson affair. She had been Tlalzixiūhxa's friend in training and invited on this mission for that reason. It did not mean that Riley, or the others, intended to reveal their true loyalties.
Tlalmaxxi was likewise confused by Riley's words. Even the princess of Huenya didn't have a high enough security clearance for the Federal Intelligence Service to let her in on that particular secret. "Calhualyana most likely knows about any internal Huenyan secrets that Yauhmi's former spokesperson may have been privy to. Along with details, possibly, about how Auroras are trained, which she will undoubtedly use if she can to make her own forces even stronger," Huatli replied. Her expression gave nothing away.
"This is unfortunate," Yawen replied, trying to steer things onto safer ground. "However, we have rescued our primary target, and we all went into this willing to make sacrifices. We were all willing participants. And now we need to get out of this country before they track us down."
”Agreed, and also, before we blow the cover of our hosts here in Zipacpepe. If the government hasn’t tracked us here already,” Huatli said. “We may get to leave, but they’re going to still be here, and I would prefer not to have their lives on my conscience on top of the ones already there.”
Tlalmaxxi nodded, returning to business. “Getting out will be considerably harder than getting in was. The police, security forces and military will all be alerted. Also, if I know Calhualyana - and I do - she will take this raid as a personal insult not just to the Empire, but to herself directly. She will stop at nothing to track us down.”
Tlalmaxxi picked up two paper maps, one of the capital area and one of Xiomera as a whole. The paper maps were incredibly anachronistic, especially to a Xiomeran, but they couldn’t take the chance of using electronic devices at this point. “Our best path out is to split up, like we did before, and take back roads through the country to Zapotlán as quickly as possible. Speed is what will save us now, not subterfuge - we have to get to the border and get across before the government’s dragnet is fully in place. We get across the border and rendezvous in the Canal Zone, and from there go to Huenya. If anyone presents a roadblock to us, we remove the roadblock by any means necessary. The time for subtlety is past now - it’s a race and we have to get across the border before Calhualyana finds us.”
"We ought to discuss the uncomfortable elephant in the room," Yawen reluctantly spoke. "If something goes wrong, if you're about to get caught and see no way out... each of us must choose whether we wish to have a permanent exit strategy as a backup."
”I would recommend having such a strategy,” Tlalmaxxi said. “I know too well what ASI is capable of, especially since they now have help from the outside world to improve their....processes. You do not want to be captured by them. Especially now. Calhualyana will be furious about the breach, and so will ASI. They will take it out on whoever they catch.”
"Oh Goddess, Samantha..." breathed Riley, wincing. The other Auroras looked uncomfortable with the thought.
Huatli shot Tlalmaxxi a look briefly that clearly indicated the General and the princess would be having a conversation later about tactfully choosing one’s words, before turning back to the others. “We will leave in twos - no one travels alone. Amequic will supply us with anything we may need if we are captured, for anyone that wants an exit strategy. He will also provide any other weapons or supplies that will be helpful in making our way out. Once we make it back to Zapotlán, we all know the rendezvous point.” The rendezvous point in question was another safe house, this one being maintained by the Federal Intelligence Service.
All the various remaining Auroras nodded. They were all prepared for this, they knew the plan and in spite of what had gone wrong, they were professionals and could deal with that once they were out of enemy territory.
---
Over the course of several days, the Auroras and Shorn Ones would manage to escape back across the border into the Canal Zone. Not, again, entirely unscathed; two Shorn Ones suffered injuries, one seriously so, in a fight with Imperial border guards. The Xiomeran government would not gain much information from that encounter, however. None of the platoon of border guards would be in a position to divulge much afterwards.
At the FIS safe house in Zapotlán, the Huenyans would be debriefed, along with the Auroras who chose to return. It was not guaranteed that all of them would. Some of them, the Huenyans knew, would consider their part in the rescue attempt done once everyone had returned. Other Auroras might well blame the Huenyans for the less than successful raid. In any event, the Huenyans knew that they had no real hold over any of the Auroras, other than any residual loyalty to Yauhmi some of them might have. The FIS was not stupid enough to try to press the matter further.
While the Huenyans licked their wounds and tried to content themselves with what success they had achieved, however, things in Xiomera would progress much more rapidly. The Empire already considered itself a wounded beast, after the war. Now, someone had just walked up and kicked the Empire while it was down. The further-wounded pride of ASI, and the fury of an insulted Empress, would soon rise in eastern Huenya like the sun itself - and just as hot.
And Calhualyana, seething in the Palace of Flowers, was already considering how to respond outside of the Empire itself.
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