Mongol Resistance (Il Clan, Jade Falcon occupied Kuritan Space)

"Ugh, feels like someone taped my head to a RAC and went full auto."

Lifting himself from the vehicle dash he was faceplanted against, the 23 year old Outworlder rubs his forehead as he takes stock of his surroundings. A gasp preludes the flurry of military fatigue covered slightly tan arms as he realizes he's still in the cockpit of the Onuris Attack VTOL he regularly pilots. A VTOL that is currently grounded in a forest clearing on a planet being invaded by angry Jade Falcons.

"Fuck, come on, you pile of drowned rat bolts!"

The VTOL's engines try to sputter up, but the residual energy fluctuations from the TSEMP Cannon he was hit with, in addition to the damage from hitting the ground, had taken its toll. He does manage to get the comms system up, which he quickly utilizes.

"Command, this is Buzzer, come in."

Radio silence echoes the eery lack of combat in the vicinity.

"I repeat, this is Byron "Buzzer" Zweller, of Raven Alliance's Outworlds Lance, does anyone read?"

Still nothing. On further inspection, the planet's sun is in a different location in the sky than last time he checked his heading pre crash. Realizing that his seatbelt didn't prevent him from going unconscious, he looks at the side wall where it's supposed to be anchored. All that's left is a broken piece of plastic, and the harsh reality that his lancemates have already extracted.

"Shit."

Zylah was starting to regret all the choices she'd made that led to this point. She was a 26 year old citizen of the Taurian Concordat. Standing at 5' 4" wearing dark clothing with black hair  and purple highlights she certainly had an emo vibe going which was so very out of place here in Kuritan space. There was only one thing that could get her here so far away from home. Money, copious amount of money. Which she won! It had been a miniature war gaming tournament that had a setting in the far future where sci-fi ai played a much larger role in warfare. But none of that money was helping her now.The savage Jade Falcons had fucking taken over the place and put everyone to work either growing crops or manufacturing metals for their war machine. Somehow she'd become an unwilling citizen of Jade Falcon and wasn't allowed off planet. She felt more like a criminal put to work in labor camps.

Zylah refused to be a domestic cog in their war machine and wanted home. Thankfully there was an opportunity, a very risky one. Desperate times called for desperate measures though. She was not only a tactician and strategist, but also adept in more clandestine ventures. She'd actually planned to use the money to enroll into the Kingdom of Twilight's University which was renowned in the periphery for its cutting edge technology and espionage. Now the funds were being used to smuggle Lux civilian upgrade kits and other military contraband on the trade ships coming in to deliver industrial supplies. Zylah had also sent out a number of coded messages using innersphere culture to ensure the clanners couldn't break it.

One radio hobbyists sent Zylah a strange codded message he'd recorded during the invasion. Zylah wasn't able to decode the whole thing but she did gather the location and that it had been a battle of some sort. The little resistance she was putting together was going to need every spare peice of scrap they could get so even if it had been picked virtually clean there was bound to be plenty of useful parts left. Taking a mechanic with her to survey the place the two snuck out on a hovercraft.

Sure enough they found the tell tale signs of cratered earth and the scorched metal of a battlefield. There was a surprising amount of mixed clan and innersphere tech. The mechanic Lee was pretty sure this was Raven Alliance equipment. Making sure to survey in a wide searching pattern they didn't want to miss anything and though it cost much in time the reward was well worth it. A seemingly undamaged combat VTOL just sitting there in the forest. The Falcons must have missed it in their haste to conquer the next planet on their way to Terra. As Zylah waited for Lee to take his time geeking out and inspecting the VTOL for damage she suddenly felt the unfamiliar yet instinctive terror of a gun muzzle pressed against the small of her back. Slowly she raised her hands up in surrender. "Don't suppose I could bribe you to let me go?" She asked mostly rhetorically. The fanatic Falcons and clanners in general seemed not to care about personal wealth at all, only so called honor and glory.

Byron had been out foraging for food when he noticed the Kuritan and young woman of as yet undiscovered origin. He ran a hand through his black hair, rather dirty and slightly greasy from his time being stuck out in the wilderness. Taking the stealthy approach, he waited until the Kuritan was far away from the woman to approach her from behind, pressing his sidearm into her back. Safety on, he didn't want to take a life if he didn't have to.

Raising her hands up, the woman spoke, "Don't suppose I could bribe you to let me go?" It was clear from the unsteadiness and wavering in her voice that this was no soldier, nor were they native to Kuritan space. Chances are, they were in the same boat he was, stuck on a random planet with no real way to get home. Damn Jade Falcons would make sure of that.

"Money's not gonna do me much good with the situation I'm in. You're clearly not from Clan Jade Falcon; none of those bastards ever surrender easy. However, you're not Kuritan like your friend over there. What are you doing stuck in Kuritan space, and more importantly, what are you doing poking around my bird?" Byron made sure not to be overtly aggressive in his tone, but still stern. He also tried to make it clear he was a "freeborn", as the Snow Ravens put it. Shouldn't have agreed to be bait for their stupid covert op in Kuritan space. Additionally, if the Kuritan was any good at noticing emblems, he'd notice the Outworld's classic iconography on the sides of the cockpit.

Mentally Zylah knew better than to let her guard down but the moment he insinuated he was no friend of the clanners or rather the Falcons, Zylah let out a sigh of relief and relaxed her tensed muscles. That did mean though the possibility of him being from the Raven Alliance was rapidly increasing. The enemy of my enemy is my friend never before felt so applicable. Also he was using contractions so he probably wasn't a test tube baby. "I partially decrypted some intercepted messages and found a battle had likely taken place here. Me and my friend were going to see what we could find to help the resistance. If you're willing to pledge your services I can try and see about getting you a ride off the planet after we break the hold on the spaceport." Zylah offered. It wasn't like he had any other options. Any rescue operation by the Ravens would likely be perceived as a declaration of war or batchal or whatever they called their stupid religious stuff.

Suddenly Lee came around the other side of the VTOL was his own pistol raised at the pilot and consequently herself too. "Lee wait! He's probably a friend."

"Still don't have much of a leash on your Kuritan pal there, huh?" Backing off from the woman, Byron flips the safety off his pistol before pointing his gun at Lee. "Listen here, wannabe samurai, best make whatever shot you wanna take count, lest you get two in return. Besides, even if you did somehow unfry the navigational system, you'd still need my pass code to get my VTOL moving. Much as I hate to admit it, my Snow Raven 'allies' probably aren't coming back for me, and I'd rather work with ya than merc ya."