Rubin’s Sky Guard | Sons of Sword

With little additional thought, Tosca followed her sisters to the royal garage. The three of them always, always, always had meals together after work, without exception. It’s been their routine for the longest of times. It didn’t matter how the day went. Every evening, the three of them shared a meal, did an activity, and then went to their separate apartments. It just wouldn’t feel right for things to change, even today.

The three ladies began their practiced path through Rubin’s Castle. The transition of architecture was stunning. Cold, emotionless, plain lab walls were quickly replaced by the tapestries, polished marble floors, and expensive displays of the palace. The regal elegance caught Tosca’s eye every time the three found an excuse to walk through.

Every now and then, there was a surprise. A new token or trophy was displayed. A new exotic rug from who knows where was placed near their path. Regardless, everything in the palace was perfectly clean and cared for. Things were definitely classier than they were ten years ago. It was nice to see how Rubin’s style changed over the years. Everything was stunning. However, the best part of the evening still had to be the time the sisters would spend eating together.

The excitement or difficulty of a day usually affected the class of meal they had. And with all the buzz throughout the facility and Adrianne’s excited tests, news about their new friend’s progress was exciting enough to warrant meal at the Bosstown Ge’s. No doubt, Adrianne learned incredible things from watching the mechanized woman in action. In any case, they probably would not hear anything about it tonight.

Work topics rarely made it into their after-work conversations; they were usually top secret. Besides, they had far too many important things to sort out, especially this time of year. The Trails were coming up. They had to get ready to face any challenge thrown their way. And while Rubin’s Trail turned out to be a wonderful and prosperous kingdom, it never hurt to have two.

The three ladies made up the active part of team Leuk Aga1n, a leading group in the royal clan Rubin’s Trail Mix. Capable warriors, they fought alongside many other champions to defend the boundaries and honor of Rubin’s Trail. However, Leuk Aga1n’s main focus was research and developing weapons for the clan and the kingdom.

As they reached the royal garage, Adrianne took the lead flanked closely by Chaeri on her left and Tosca on her right. After hearing about their discussion earlier, she was surprised that Tosca was following so closely. Of course, Tosca was the mentally tough one. She had a much stronger character than Adrianne could muster on the best of days.

Entering the royal garage also never got old. The lavish cleanliness and expensive style continued even here. Not a speck of oil or fluid was on the light concrete flooring. In the distance Rubin’s Royal Shuttle, a sleek black monster of a ship, menaced; even while resting. Very heavily armed and elegant, it was a combination of Rubin’s older and newer tastes.

As always the kingdoms standard, the simplified sketch of a red trail through the woods, took its place on all the fighter ships. It was also prominent on the king’s ship and the walls of the garage.

Spotting Dr. Yu, a few of the pilots rushed to their ships. There were a few questions from her friends about the guards following them. As a response, Adrianne told the quick story of the gankers she ran into. In the end, she was just happy to be alive and thankful that Chaeri thought to call the sky guard to help her. They were all happy for the guard’s foresight to follow along today.

Adrianne’s amazement continued as she spotted her ship among the many docked there. After the morning’s excitement with the gankers, Silent Blur was covered in scorch marks and other debris. Only half a day later, it looked as good as new. The minty-lemon scent gave testimony of the royal garage staff’s tireless work. Not a speck of soot or sap was on her ship.

Adrianne paused, Chaeri and Tosca followed suit. “Ready?” she asked. With no objections, they entered Silent Blur for another daily adventure.

#1 – Awakening #35 – Awakening #37

Rubin’s Trail Research Lab:

It had been about an hour since Chaeri Wu had someone call for Adrianne to return to the lab. It was simple enough to get others to do what she wanted. She knew why the young males around the lab looked her over so often. Her position also gave her at least a small amount of power. All she had to do was ask and whatever she wanted would be done. She saw the intern dart for the office phone when she asked him to call Doctor Yu.

AD7’s brain activity was off the charts. This was an incredibly important event for the research lab, even more so for Adrianne. Doctor Yu should be here. Is AD7 a threat? Should they try to help her? They needed to know what to do.

Chaeri knew Adrianne would have flown strait here as fast as she could as soon as she got the news. However after all this time, there was no word. Something was wrong.

Chaeri was Adrianne’s assistant though she simply refused to dress for the part. Her baggy black blouse and matching pants did not do enough to hide her curvaceous figure. Her pale yellow skin was covered in large golden yellow patches and a few pink spots. There was a large golden yellow patch on her face but it only made her look cheery. She was rarely cheery.

The door flew open and she rushed out to the lab floor. She walked briskly to the intern that made the call before, startling him. “Any word from Doctor Yu?” Chaeri spoke in her standard, to the point, tone.

“N… no ma’am,” the intern replied, “Do you want me to call her again?”

“No,” she said pausing for a brief moment, “Call the Sky Guard.”

——

Somewhere in Rubin’s Woods:

Adrianne was moving Silent Blur at average speeds, hopping from tree to tree steadily away from Rubin’s Trail. Judging from where they were and the average range of jamming signals, she should be at least almost out of range. She only had to get out of range and call Rubin’s Trail to get the Sky Guard out to help her. That is, if she needed them.

If the gankers really wanted to find her, she had no hints. No ship flyby. No energy signatures on the short range scanners. No pings for her location. Now that she thought about it, they didn’t even turn when she dove into the woods. They kept going towards Rubin’s Trail as though she were invisible.

Maybe she was imagining the whole thing. She had no real evidence they meant to harm her. They may not have even cared for her in the first place. It was out of reflex that she dived into the woods. She put some pieces together that made sense at the time. Her reflexes had saved her often enough. Every now and then, they made her look silly.

She looked on her short-range scanners again. Nothing was there, only the wild beasts. The beast usually got spooked when something noisy came near; they were calm. She had nothing to tell her that there was anything going on, only her nerves.

She looked at Captain Bubbles as if to ask it where she should go. The little sailboat inside pointed behind her to the city. However, she decided to play it safe and go the extra twenty meters before calling. That would put her well outside a radio disruption signal if they were not following her.

She continued a steady pace. She was about to climb the tree to get a better view and a good signal for the city. A sudden large energy spike appeared on her scanners; really close, really powerful. Instead of wondering what it was, she instinctively moved with all her power to change directions.

“BOOOMM” A missile hit exactly where she would have been. The blast shook the limb she was on, loosening her grip for a moment.

Time to go!

#1 – Awakening #11 – Awakening #13

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