Ruz spoke with Kitra while the other members of RED-2 helped Prism and some of the burlier True Twins take the red crates off the tele-circle. They moved them to the edges of the storage cave. The circle needed to be clear for the next round of personnel and equipment.

  “You look like the leader Prism told us about.” Ruz had said to the confident True Twins woman before approaching her.

  “No leaders here, just people with bigger personalities than others.” She’d replied with a hand placed on her hip.

  Prism watched the two of them speak rather calmly to one another. Ruz and Kitra lacked the eccentricities they showed when they spoke with him as they discussed the situation within Sguvi. Prism tried to listen in on their conversion with his enhanced hearing, but he was interrupted by one of the members of Ruz’s team.

  "He isn't always a loud-mouthed asshole." One of the Red Wolves said to Prism as they bent over to pick up a crate near the alien.

  The Disdüti-born man had skin as dark as charcoal, which was even darker than Wadaw's. Each pronounced feature of his face, from his wide nose to his full lips, were the same dark color. He had black hair braided tightly against his scalp that ran across his head in patterned rows. The rows converged at the back of his head into a small round puff of coarse black hair, like a rabbit's tail. It was similar to the puff he had coming down from his chin.

  “Is that so?” Prism raised an eyebrow at the man.

  "We haven't talked much before. I'm Cril." The man said with a gentleness that Prism wasn't used to hearing from other mercs.

  "I remember your names." Prism started pointing to the other members of RED-2, starting with their square-faced, mustached leader. "Major Ruzuda Nuato" Prism then pointed to the team's youngest and biggest member. The ponytailed giant had a large weapon swung over his shoulder. "Sergeant Speet Rutafet" Prism chuckled when he pointed at the next man, who was staring back at him and Krill like a deer in headlights. "Major Utcao Ernli" Prism finally turned his finger to the person beside him. "And you, Major Cril Gignisvirk".

  "I'm impressed. You even remembered our titles; that's no small feat." Cril stroked the long tuft of black hair on his chin a few times before he carried his crate away from Prism. Prism lifted the last crate on the tele-circle with ease and rushed it over to join Cril’s on the far side of the room, opposite its wide tunnel entrance. Cril nodded to Prism before giving the alien the slightest of smiles. "We're all glad that you got us and the gear here safely." Cril gave Prism's shoulder a soft pat. The two of them were the same height.

  "Did you feel any discomfort during the teleportation?" Prism saw Cril shift his weight from one foot to another, as though the question itself made him uncomfortable.

  "It was a lot rougher than the other tele-circle trips we've made, I'll say that. I felt like I was falling backwards the whole time." Cril shrugged. "The feeling went away the moment we materialized here. I don't think it matters much to me or the others. You warned us that it’d probably be a bumpier ride than we’re used to."

  "I’m glad you were paying attention..." Prism didn't know what else to say to the plain-speaking man. "You're so different from Ruz."

  "We've been keeping each other in check for over 15 years. Opposites attract, after all."

  Cril watched Ruz turn away from Kitra and look over at him from across the room. The two nodded to one another before Ruz resumed speaking to Kitra.

  "I suppose they do..." Prism felt strange all of a sudden. "I'm sorry if this is too direct, but are the two of you...together?"

  "The two of us? Oh no. The four of us are together." Cril said flatly.

  "Uhh..." Prism furrowed his brow. "I mean, like, together romantically."

  Cril wrapped his fingers across the back of Prism's neck before leaning forward and saying, "I know what you meant."

  Prism felt his mouth drop open at the man's boldness when Cril started to move his face even closer. Prism then felt another person's hands toss Cril’s hand from his neck.

  "Don't toy with the boy's heart like that. He looks terrified." Utcao's airy, accented voice cut through the tension. "Public displays like that would be harshly punished in Vadam."

  "It's a good thing that we aren't in Vadam then, isn't it?" Cril smiled with his lips and his eyes as he began play fighting with the shorter Utcao.

  Utcao, who had a large red birthmark around his right eye, skipped backwards to escape Cril’s attempts to grab him. Though most of Utcao's straight black hair was cut short, two curled bangs that ran down over the tan-skinned man's forehead bounced with each step he took. Prism watched the two men playing around like little boys over half their ages.

  "Cut that out over there! I'm trying to make a good first impression!" Ruz shouted at Utcao and Cril. Kitra turned around to see Cril release Utcao from a headlock. Utcao, being the team's analyst, stumbled forward under the weight of his dronepack. After a few clumsy steps, he was able to stand up and wave at Kitra. The look she gave Utcao was enough to make the Vadam-born man shrink away in fear.

  "Don't mind them," Ruz said to Kitra. "Boys will be boys."

  Prism heard Kitra groan before she walked out of the cave, leaving the room quiet and anxious. Through all of this, Speet had begun to diligently check that everything within the crates was undamaged and functioning normally. He was just as tall as Ursun, and Prism began to wonder if the two of them were related.

  “The world can’t be that small, surely…” Prism thought, smiling to himself.

  "What'd she tell you?" Cril walked over to Ruz and shouted so that everyone could hear him. Prism was struck by how differently the man was acting.

  "We're heading out with her tomorrow morning, right before the rest of RED-1 gets back. We'll be taking the long way round to Zazi, going east through the mountains. We'll be amassing a small army along the way." Ruz explained with mild irritation.

  "Shit, we really drew the short end of the stick, didn't we?" Cril rubbed his calloused hand across his face and sighed. "The Adagadis are treacherous sons of bitches to climb, and they're full of military outposts."

  "You forgot about the plasma beasts. There will definitely be plasma beasts." Utcao solemnly said.

  "I didn't forget about them..." Cril flicked his hand behind him without even turning around to look at Utcao. "Are you excited to fight against one of those plasma fuckers, big guy?" Cril turned to say to Speet.

  Speet placed a roundrone he was examining back into its crate. He wiped some sweat from his brow and moved his light-brown ponytail off his shoulder. He then looked over at Cril and Ruz, who were standing next to each other. The tall young man's droopy, hazel eyes seemed especially kind to Prism. Speet mumbled something to himself before clearing his throat and scratching his scruffy face.

  "Yes I am, sir." Speet said with a respectful nod.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  "How many times have we told you not to call us "sir"? We're all equals on this team, no need for that polite bullshit." Ruz yelled at Speet, making the man rub the back of his head and look down at the ground.

  "He's been on the team for two years and still hasn't gotten that. He's hopeless." Cril smirked, his teasing words sounding as sweet as honey. “He’s just a big ole’ country boy from the Ruskedan wheat plains.”

  Speet lifted his shoulders and leaned his head back. “I am what I am,” he said in his low, bassy voice. He was used to the ribbing.

  Prism could see the dozen or so True Twins still in the room listening to the men's colorful conversation with great interest. Prism wasn't used to so much cursing and innuendo, but he too found it entertaining.

  "Prism, you look like shit. Take a nap or something." Ruz pointed at the cot Prism was in earlier.

  “I have to help RED-4 when they get here. A nap won’t help, anyway. I’d need a whole day of sleep to feel 100% again.” Prism shook his head and pointed at the empty tele-circle.

  “You’re lucky I can’t order you around, even though you’ve only got the rank of Red Wolf.” Ruz snickered.

  He turned his back to Prism and started talking quietly to Cril, who winked at Prism while chewing some gum that he’d pulled out of a pocket on his utility belt. Prism hadn’t seen anyone chewing gum of any kind on ?ba before. As mundane as that fact was, Prism filed it away in case it became useful later.

  It took an hour for the engineers of RED-4 to appear upon the tele-circle after Prism sent a simple all-clear message through it. Communicating through the tele-circle entailed sending a brief telepathic message to a communications officer within the Auxiliary. The four women arrived with far more equipment than RED-2 had shown up with, including two large, wheeled 3-D printers that were bigger than cars.

  Only two of the women wore helmets, and their combat armor lacked some of the pieces that the other teams had. Their armor seemed more like hard overalls than combat suits, with plenty of straps and pouches full of the tools of their trade. They'd all previously worked within the engineering division before becoming RED mercenaries. They held their PAWs like any other experienced merc would.

  The smallest of the women happened to be their leader.

  “Boys.” She gave a dainty wave as she jutted her curvy hips to the side. Her long brown hair was braided into a crown that sat above her heart-shaped face. Prism had always thought she was far too cute to be a trained killer.

  “The beauty queen has arrived.” Cril nodded to her while he leaned his elbow on Ruz’s shoulder.

  “Former beauty queen.” The woman held up a finger and smiled. Her voice was high-pitched, incredibly girly, and pleasing to the ear. Her looks and her attitude could charm anyone, Prism thought.

  “Ms. Lyubi Tiche.” Ruz walked over and took her small, gloved hand like a gentleman would.

  “Mr. Ruz.” Lyubi giggled. Prism found it hard to believe that she was 38, given her girlish appearance and personality.

  All eyes turned back to the tele-circle when it came to life again just after Lyubi spoke. Prism ran forward and reached his arms out before him. His eyes squinted and his lips pulled back in a snarl.

  He took control of the mana-to-matter stream, dragging the human-to-be to a small section of the circle that was free of debris. Incorporeal, the person appeared as a diamond of pure white light that flickered like a candle in the wind. He felt his hands shake when the woman began to materialize. A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead as he made sure that she was safe and in one piece.

  Both Lyubi and Speet ran to his sides and held him up in case he collapsed.

  “What’s wrong with him?” The lady asked in a loud, raspy voice immediately after she fully materialized.

  Her spiky brown hair was cut short, with a braided bang coming down from the left side of her head, down beside her green left eye. Her face was tough yet pretty, with baggy eyes that showed the wrinkles of wear. Her brown skin and monolidded eyes told most that she had Esdegonian heritage. She wore an orange jumpsuit with numerous tools dangling from its many cloth loops.

  “He told all of us not to teleport unless we were sure that the circle was empty.” Lyubi shook her head and pouted at the woman.

  “Lieutenant Commander Qisyit Dabisol.” Ruz said in a sardonic, sing-song manner. He shook his head at the lady in the jumpsuit, then shared a look of exasperation with Cril.

  "Cut it with the full name and title, Ruz. You know I hate that formal shit." Qisyit tilted her head back and scrunched up her face at him.

  Prism gripped Speet’s meaty arm as his wooziness started to leave him. The alien took his head off of Lyubi’s soft shoulder and stood up straight, patting both of his helpers on their backs.

  “Thanks.” Prism said gently.

  He looked down at Lyubi and then up at Speet. He found their extreme height difference to be quite amusing for some reason.

  “What’s the big problem? Don’t these tele-circles of yours normally compensate for items already being on them?” Qisyit rolled her eyes and approached the three of them.

  “Every spell I put into this tele-circle is just to make it function in this weird cave. Sorry, but it lacks all the normal bells and whistles you’ve all come to expect.” Prism scratched the rough hairs on the top of his head and tried not to look at Qisyit while he explained himself. Her casual rudeness and rough attitude had always rubbed him the wrong way.

  “Your magic can do anything, until it can’t. Big surprise.” Qisyit flippantly flicked her hand at him. She grabbed Lyubi by the waist and held the slightly smaller woman close to her. “Where’s this “Kitra” at? We need to get to work improving this hole in the ground they call a base.”

  "Why'd you trouble yourself with coming out here, Qisy? I told you that I can handle it." Lyubi placed her hands against Qisyit's small bosom and looked up at the lieutenant commander.

  "I can't let anything happen to you, B. Yeah, yeah; you're a mercenary, but you barely see any combat. I can't trust these dumb oafs to keep you safe in this backwards country." Qisyit lowered her voice, thinking that only Lyubi could hear her. Prism crossed his arms reflexively when he overheard the insult to him and RED-2.

  "And you're just an engineer. You don't even have a gun on you, do you?" Lyubi looked Qisyit over before giggling. "What's the real reason you're here?" Lyubi smiled and shook Qisyit like a child pulling at their mother's pants leg.

  Qisyit fixed her eyes up at Prism and Speet, who were both still standing beside Lyubi. Qisyit glared at the men for a few seconds, then shook her head and flicked her left hand in their direction. "Gnapp just got done with some extensive testing of the new meta-material suits you all wear. He's found that the meta-material may block a wider band of energies than he originally believed." Qisyit trained her gaze on Prism specifically. "Have you had any trouble with your suit? Any problems gathering "mana" or whatever it is you do?"

  Prism could hardly believe his ears. "Had Gnapp discovered a means of detecting mana?" He thought to himself.

  "Well!?" Qisyit barked after giving Prism a punch to the center of his chest. He could hardly feel it through the black shirt he wore.

  "Yes, yes I have been having problems with it. I had to take it off once I got to work on the circle. I just thought it was because I feel more comfortable naked." Prism put his hand up to stop Qisyit from hitting him again.

  "Damn..." Qisyit turned around and watched the True Twins begin to move crates off of the tele-circle again. "The old man is obsessed with you. He calls you his muse. Damn weirdo." She visibly shuddered for a brief moment.

  "So, do I just not wear it anymore? The armor, I mean." Prism put up his hands and raised his shoulders.

  "Sure, do that. You can protect yourself without it, anyway." Qisyit didn't even turn around to face Prism while she talked.

  Lyubi pushed Qisyit, causing the lieutenant commander to jerk her head back round. The brown-skinned woman found the fairer-skinned woman frowning at her. Qisyit sighed, hung her head low for a second, then looked up at Prism.

  "It's Gnapp's recommendation that you keep the armor off if it limits your effectiveness." Qisyit said rather mechanically. "Just be safe out there. We really don't need you getting your head blown off by some religious nutjobs." She managed to speak with a bit of care.

  "I appreciate his concern." Prism nodded to Qisyit in a show of grace. "Do you know how he found out about this? How he figured out my magic might be limited by the suit?"

  Qisyit threw up her hands and rolled her eyes. "Some sort of quantum mechanical bullshit, I don't know." She crossed her arms and pursed her small, thin lips. "I honestly think he's grasping here. He's got no proof of anything relating to the source of your powers. We only ever see the effects you cause, not the actual process. It's driving a lot of people in my division and the science division mad. They spend hours reviewing scans and footage of you in the field, casting your spells and absorbing your mana."

  It was clear to Prism that Qisyit was on edge. Her words offered a window into the cause. "I'm sorry that I'm the source of so many headaches." Prism shrugged and flashed his most charming smile. He watched Qisyit lower her shoulders and breathe a bit easier.

  "I'm a junk girl from Esdegon. I grew up rummaging through ancient ruins and piecing together Old World technology for fun and profit. Machines, I can understand. All of this scary-fairy mumbo-jumbo is completely beyond me. I don't waste my time thinking about things that I can't piece together. I leave that to the scientists." Qisyit played with her braid as she spoke from her heart.

  "Fair enough." Prism rocked his head back and forth like an old sage. His response got a giggle out of Lyubi. "So you just came to deliver a message to me?" Prism tilted his head at Qisyit. Lyubi stopped her girlish laughter and urged Qisyit on as she had done earlier.

  "You both think you're so clever, don't you?" The lieutenant commander smiled and patted Lyubi's buttocks. "Gnapp and I want to capture a plasma beast. You're gonna help us do that." Qisyit pointed her finger dramatically at Prism.