View source for Ellis Company

== 0 ==

It was a simple in and out.

The two mercenaries moved quickly. Arise took point as they got into the village, dealing out the bulk of the firepower to any of the alini frog-folk who got in their way, pushing aside wet vegetation and tribal decorations in the same motion. Martel had her back, making sure nothing followed, checking the map. They hadn't had a lot of time to prepare, but the idea was, with a mission like this, it wouldn't matter. 

The morning was wet and muggy, the coolness of the water itself a strange contrast with the air around them when it dripped on their faces, and Martel shook it off the map as they got past the last of the huts. This was the part they were after, the broad, open area before the water, with two fenced and gated enclosures a several dozen metres across, a few metres high. According to the map, they wanted the one on the left. The one with the reinforced gate, the moat, and the spikes.

Arise gave him an enquiring look and he gave the gesture to verify which one they needed to hit. The look was replaced with an irritated one.

"Nuke it?" Martel suggested, finally breaking the silence. It wasn't like the alini didn't know they were there; quite a few were watching from behind nearby huts, and it was likely even more were in the water. The way Arise had been blasting them with her magic, their target would have had fair warning, too. There would be no element of surprise here.

Arise shrugged, then smiled slightly and began the summoning. This was her favourite part. The part where she could fly, or at least experience the flight, no downsides, no danger. Martel was a more traditional mercenary, combining sword with sorcery, but Arise preferred a more specific approach, focussing on one powerful summon, and studying everything she could about the related engineering fields in order to make that one single summon ''better''.

The summon was a drone, fashioned after its technological equivalents, and as she finished the building motions, she cast it up into the air, linking her mind with its guidance, seeing what it saw. This was the hardest part, of course, getting it flying properly in the first place, and amongst the trees and foliage dripping wet with rain, it was particularly difficult, but after it automatically dodged the first few trees, crashed right through another, and tore up a whole grove's worth of leaves, she got it under control, bringing it back towards the frog-folk village with its silent, deadly glide.

Next to her, Martel tapped his foot impatiently.



 only about a metre across,






How the fuck did we survive that?

That should be our motto.

I think that ''is'' our motto.

They exchanged glances.