Gatherer

Altas

Date: 3940, March 11th. Planet Ymet. Exact location unknown.

The old pre-Bioderm era Scout continued to accelerate far above the sky. Lying on his belly, Altas clutched the controls, making sure not to suddenly fly out, as there was no canopy. The old Scouts were nice in the fact that they emitted little in the way of energy signatures for enemy craft to detect. Too bad they were horrid in every other aspect. However, that was not important for the time being.

"Aight, so how do ye plan on ripping apart, what is it, 14 guys?"

"I felt fourteen, yes."

"Right, and you have three weapons, all which have little ammo."

Altas took stock of his equipment. A Disc Launcher magnetically attached to his left leg, and a Grenade Launcher to his right. His old Beam Rifle, which had been heavily modified over the centuries, remained attached to his back on top of his Shield Pack. A small number of mines and grenades remained attached to his 'belt' where his torso met the hips.

"I have enough," he replied.

"Ok then, Mr. Smart-ass, how d'ya intend on getting' inside the fighter perimeter?"

"By doing this."

Altas reached over and flicked a switch, and then rolled out the side of the Scout. It banked off into a turn and flew away. Altas continued to plunge forward at an alarming speed.

"You do realise you won't survive this fall, don't you?"

"If I do not execute this correctly, yes," he replied calmly.

"Oh crap, you ain't gonna do what I think you are!"

Altas opened up a small flap on his back, pointing downwards. Inside was what looked to be like a small engine.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!"

Flying through the fog, the mountains unrolled under him. Altas pushed his knees together and adjusted his feet and hips to the appropriate settings.

"What the hell were ya thinki-"

Altas slammed onto the side of a mountain peak. His momentum however, went downwards. He skied down the mountain at a ludicrous speed. The momentum threw him over the next small ridge and straight forward.

Activate, Altas thought.

The engine powered up, sending green energy shooting down and forward. As the momentum threw him upwards, he would shut the pack off, allowing gravity to pull him back into line. The energy, however great considering he was a Cybrid, was quickly consumed, and would not be enough to survive the next step.

The second step was something Razor would need to be thanked for. A miniature reactor capacitor, installed in the lower torso, would recharge Altas' energy reserves, but not have the flaw of the model from the previous millennium of possibly damaging the reactor, something rather fatal and detrimental to Altas' well being.

The capacitor activated on Altas' command, throwing his power to maximum. The Blood Eagle and Empire dropships came into view. Fortunately, the Empire had left the hatch to their ship open.

"Activate," he said, withdrawing his Beam Rifle, and executing a half-turn in mid air.

The Shield Pack activated, giving out a rhythmic pulsing. It wouldn't last for long though. As a few men shifted from their attention stances, Altas zoomed right by them, right by the turrets, and right through the hatch and into the wall.

After pulling himself out of the wall, he took advantage of the confusion to fire his Beam Rifle into a Peltast, throwing him off the edge of the hill, and most likely leaving him there. The Blood Eagle and Empire soldiers finally reacted as Altas dodged to the side as a disc crashed into the spot he previously occupied.

Altas tore a mine and a grenade off his belt and threw them down the hallway. The grenade automatically armed itself in mid-air. A Blood Eagle Hoplite rounded that same corner in time for the grenade to set off the mine and utterly destroy him.

Altas placed his Beam Rifle onto his left leg and took off the Disc Launcher in the process. A Peltast snapped around the corner, firing a few chaingun bursts before taking cover back behind the corner. Altas dodged the shots while running forward. He fired a disc into the far wall near the Peltast, who let out a scream. Turning around the next corner, he ended up at an elevator shaft. Most elevators from this era tended, like this one, to be a platform with no ceiling, or door for that matter, that raises and lowers. He jumped and activated his jetpack, flying straight up to the top. He threw a mine down to the bottom of the elevator, and fired a disc as a Peltast ran in, ripping him to shreds.

Altas ran straight forward, towards the command centre. He placed his last mine on the doorway, then ran back and shot it with a disc, destroying it. Inside rested an unarmed, unarmored man.

"You are the leader of the Empire's operation in this area?" Altas asked harshly, taking a better grip on his weapon, solely for the purpose of intimidation.

"Ye-, yeah. What… what do you want?" he asked, trembling.

"The credit keycard."

The man fumbled around in his pockets for a second before producing a small translucent blue keycard. Altas plucked it from his shaking hands and plugged it into a small slot that opened up on his left arm. He quickly transferred all the money that was accessible from the keycard into various fake accounts, and then circulated the money to even more accounts. This money would then go to various 'Ghost' accounts, which were normally invisible to banks and the like, but still accessible at any time. A small percentage of money would be lost in this process, but the remainder would be untraceable.

"Thank you," he said, throwing back to the man the now defunct keycard. "Now if you'll excuse me..."

Altas fired a disc into the window, shattering it. He then dove out.

"Perhaps you should leave them a present?" Altas sensed a hint of humour.

"Yes, I think I will."

Altas removed the remaining grenades off his belt, and threw them back into the command centre, where several screams from the Blood Eagle troops soon followed.

Something whizzed by Altas' ear. He turned to see his Scout, having completed its programmed course, decelerating and hovering in front of him.

"I think its time ya'll blew this joint"

"Yes. Let's get out of here."

Altas hopped into the Scout and flew off, leaving a stunned, and yet amazed group of warriors behind.

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