Mira Greson grumbled as she was tossed the pack. Catching it she opened the MRE. “Come on guys, I’m sick of the stew. Can’t I go hunt a bit. We could start a camp fire and actually have real food for a change.” She knew Scott would say no. Only because they were stranded in the middle of the jungle and knew Invid and Marduke were gods know where around them. The past three days they had been sticking to trails that the others had problems with because their bikes were larger than her custom Cyclone. Only thing hers lacked is some of the armor, but she made up for it with speed.

“Maybe tomorrow okay Mira?” The man smiled at her remembering when they had gained her in their little group. She had been in Southern California three weeks ago actually. The town she had been in was ruins. The young girl had been resourceful, almost taking them out before she realized they hadn’t been trying to kill her.

She plopped down next to the custom purple and green bike, and started eating. “Tell you what, we should be coming close to a village. Why don’t you come with me?”

The young woman, barely sixteen really, looked up at him. “Really? I could use more strings for Lucy anyway.” Lucy was the other reason she had given up some of her armor. It was an acoustic guitar she had found and taught herself to play. So far it had kept them from going too crazy.

“We’re hunting supplies down.” He chided lightly as she pouted at him. “Fine, you can get new strings, but don’t get too distracted.”

“I won’t. I’ve been doing pretty good at staying out of trouble.” She brushed the hair from her face as she packed away the now finished meal into the bag everyone else had. There was a stream nearby. Being on the road so long made her long for a real bath, but the stream would have to do. Rummaging in her pack she knew the guys would stay away when she grabbed out fresh clothes. Snatching up her gun she grinned at them. “Any of you show your heads while I’m bathing I’m shooting it off.” The comment really was only meant for Tak, the other younger member, of the group who on numerous occasions shown he wasn’t to be trusted alone with her. When there were others around he behaved himself at least. It was another reason why Scott made sure they weren’t on watch together. Or that he was on watch with them. In truth he didn’t really trust Tak, but they couldn’t leave the kid behind when he had found out what they were up to.

“He tries anything I’ll deal with him Mira.” Scott chuckled as she disappeared into the woods.

The pool she found was still sunlit. She had already bathed and was now sitting near the stream enjoying a few more moments alone. Footsteps brought her attention up as well as her gun. It was Tak, followed by Brian, who was looking at something in his hand. “The power signal’s up ahead about ninety yards.”

The gun she held lowered. “What are you two doing?” She was glad she had at least dressed after her bath.

“I found a power signal, it’s faint but worth checking out at least. Boss said to grab you too.”

“Oh great, just what I want to do right before bed, go hiking through the rain forest with the two of you.” The teen pouted as she got up from the sandy shore she had been on. Brushing off her jeans she sighed. “Fine let’s go check out your power source Bri.” She waited for them to catch up to her, snagging the device he carried. “Damn, I see why you were sent to look. That’s a huge spike.” Slipping the reader to it’s usual place on her shoulder. She had left most of her toys back at camp and now felt a little better at least having her reader with her. “You know would be better if we had it so we could see it.” Brian frowned feeling useless without something in his hands.

“No way, you usually drop the comps. We don’t need this one broken too.” She scrambled up a slope being careful to watch for dangers. Getting to the top of the slope she paused, Tak scrambling up behind her, almost bumping her off the small cliff they now stood on. He pulled her close as Brian scrambled up.

“Holy…” Brian blinked. There were seven Invid Scout ships all circled around what looked to be an ancient temple. There was an entrance way leading into the ruins was a perfect circle with steps leading up to it. “Tak, Brian, go tell Scott and the others to get out of here. I’ll catch up. My bike’s faster.” She knew if they stayed where they were for the night they would get spotted. She saw a hundred yards behind the temple there was a small settlement, probably the one that Scott wanted to hit. Biting her lip she closed her eyes a moment. She’d buy the guys time. Was the least she could do at least. Picking her way back to camp she stopped long enough to grab her guitar before disappearing into the woods again.

“Mira, what are you planning?” She heard Scott beside her. “Buying you time. Go, I know they won’t kill musicians. I’ll be fine. You guys can rescue me later, I’ll try to save some of the fight for you.”

He shook his head but nodded letting her run off. He didn’t like it, but she was resourceful.

“Better save us something to do. It’s going to be hard enough to keep Tak in line.” He whispered watching her disappear.

Once she got to the cliff she kept the strap of the guitar over her shoulder, picking her way through the woods and an eye out for trouble.

Didn’t take her too long to slip into the village’s local cantina and talk the man behind the bar into letting her play a few songs for a few drinks. All she needed to do was cause enough of a stir that the soldiers would head her way.

Quest thread