Nasty Nate huffed and puffed as he ran out of the tunnel, following closely behind the conductor, who in turn was following the pointy-eared Belaine, the woman floating through the air instead of running on the ground like a civilized person. The purple on her skin had vanished when they were partway outta the tunnel, but Nate had no idea what coulda caused that. She seemed pretty chipper about it though, but anyone would be after getting cured of a disease like what she had. A wide open plain greeted them, once they left the tunnel, broken up by only a few wilted trees and some deep snow. The land they emerged into wasn't like what he'd remembered when they'd first crashed here, the deep purple of the soil was rapidly shrinking away, what could be seen of it beneath the snow anyhow, and the trees were slowly falling into clumps of ash.
Belaine hovered in the air, staring over the shriveling ashen wastes with open shock, her crimson eyes wide, "It's all disintegrating, turning into ash." She said, seemingly to herself, "By the Pillars, the curse truly is lifted!"
"Not a curse, a disease." The conductor stated, shaking his head, "There is no such thing as curses."
"I find it curious that you can deny the existence of such things, look at what is happening before us." Belaine told him, gesturing to the ashen wasteland, "No disease could cause this."
The conductor tilted his masked face towards Belaine, the glowing red eyes of his mask locking onto hers, "Magic cannot be real." He told her.
Belaine didn't reply, opting to just gesture to herself, still floating above the ground, cocking an eyebrow. Nate's own eyebrows rose, expecting the conductor to crack back at her, but instead the man remained silent. He glanced back at Belaine, but as he suspected, Nate couldn't see any kinda thrusters keeping her aloft. After everything he'd seen while trapped in this crazy eye-world, maybe magic was real. If it was, then he wanted to learn it soon, the ladies would flock to him once they saw that he could shoot lightning out of his hands… ooh, or lasers from his eyes, that could be a real hook.
Maybe he could learn how to make himself even more handsome? That wasn't really possible, Nate was already at the apex of male beauty, the mirror told him so every morning, so maybe he'd skip on that spell. Lightning hands, laser eyes, ooh, flying would be pretty sweet, or super strength. Ah, he's getting ahead of himself here.
First things first, they had to go rendezvous with Thirty-Seven, then go pick up Mike n' Cat. Nate smiled, all this suffering will have been worth it once he could see his bro again, he was sure Michael felt the same way, that guy certainly needed a pick-me-up after all this bullshit they went through. Then there was Cat, sweet mercy, he sure was glad she made it planetside, alive no less.
Hoplite, Michael, and Cat, finding out all three were alive and in action, had filled Nate with a euphoria that made him wanna dance. He couldn't do that now, the Conductor would have his ass on a plate if Nate busted moves while in op. It'd have to wait until they got some downtime. The other humans, sixty in all, let out some cheers as they saw an FMC approaching from the distance.
"Soldiers, get ready for pick up." The voice of Hoplite crackled over the radio, "Let's get you out of here."
The gathered Ternans then began cheering, save for the conductors, of course. Nate himself let out a gleeful cheer, the conductors apparently unable to to quiet down their Choirs. It was almost like they wanted to cheer as well, but if they did, they didn't show it. The FMC, a large box shaped flying vehicle, descended from the sky, landing before the cheering Ternans. After a moment, the ramp lowered, revealing Hoplite Thirty-Seven standing there, a shield in his hand and a massive sword magged to his back.
Damn, when Nate was a kid he'd always wanted a Hoplite action figure with a sword, but there had only been guns. Ah well, the rocket punch had been more than cool enough on its own. When Nate and Mike were kids, they had always pretended to go on operations with their Hoplite figures; who'd a thought that dream would become reality one day? Hoplite just stood there, staring at them from the ramp, that elf girl he'd seen earlier right beside him.
It seemed that the purple had left her skin too. Aside from the dark-cloaked gal, there was a plate armored blonde man, a red headband keeping his hair from his brow. He held his head in gauntleted hands, not looking up at the gathered Ternans. There was another blonde in there, a gal with pointed ears, though less pronounced than Belaine's or the dark-cloaked girls were. She wore silvery plate mail, a long sword sheathed at her back. Her long hair was matted down with blood and dirt, she sat beside the blonde man, knees drawn to her chest as she openly wept.
Nate's lips tightened to a thin line at seeing that. He hated seeing women cry, made him feel all sorta wrong. He nearly moved to go talk to her out of instinct, but held back when Hoplite stepped forward, the cloaked elf girl following closely behind. Damn, she was practically walking on his heels, and that look in her eyes! If he didn't know any better he'd say that she was in love with the guy! Nate shook his head at the thought, someone fallin' in love with a Hoplite? Ridiculous.
…Though the way she looked at Hoplite sort of said it all. That smile, those eyes, Nate understood women, and even if they were alien mutant women, he could tell that she had a thing for Hopps. The big guy would have to break her heart eventually, it just wasn't appropriate to feel that way about a super soldier.
"Where is the yugoro?" Hoplite asked.
"Lost him in the tunnels sir." The lead Conductor replied quickly, "I think he died in a cave-in."
"...I see." Hoplite replied, in a tone that almost sounded… disappointed? That couldn't be right, why would Hopps give a damn about some alien monkey? "I'm glad that you've all made it safely out of the tunnels." Hoplite told them all loudly, "I will now brief you on our current situation, pay attention."
Nate snapped to attention, along with everyone else present, as Hoplite went on a mad rambling tangent about magic, different dimensions, along with him being able to use magic, summoning a mote of Golden Fire as proof. The briefing took fifteen minutes, Hoplite not stopping his explanation once. Apparently there were gods, monsters, magic was definitively real, along with a whole other host of craziness.
What was weird was that Nate didn't dismiss these claims at all. After everything they'd just been through? Seeing Hoplite use magic himself? Whatever man, yeah, magic was real, whatever the big guy says. The gut punch was what came immediately after that explanation, something that made Nate want to drop to his knees in despair.
"My name is Jason." He said, subtly hefting his shield, "And I'm a free man now. Jyn isn't a human being, and I am his son." He told them, his tone unshaking, "All of the Hoplites are, and I won't serve my fathers will any longer. I'm not going to apologize. I'm done serving the Eighth Arm."
A long silence passed, the collected Outworlders just staring in shock at Hoplite. The joy Nate had felt was torn away, replaced with crushing hopelessness. It didn't matter that they were out, Thirty-Seven had just told them openly that he was going rogue and betraying Terna. The surviving crew of the Sparrow was doomed, humanity was doomed… his head hung, staring at the ashy ground with wide eyes.
"H-" The lead conductor stuttered, "Hoplite Thirty-S-seven-" He choked, "Please don't do this." He pleaded desperately
Nate could hear the agony in the man's voice, one that mirrored exactly what Nate felt. He glanced back at the surviving Ternans, unsurprised to see more than a few of them openly weeping. Divers, marines, the conductors, none were left unaffected by Hoplite's betrayal.
"The FMC is yours, use it to fly wherever you need to." Hoplite said, "I suspect that the rest of the Sparrow's crew landed in the Blastlands. I understand that the continent is right next to this one, good luck."
"No!" The conductor shouted, fists clenching, "You will not do this!"
"I've already decided." Hoplite told him, voice growing icy, "From here on out, I am free."
"Arrest him!" The conductor shouted, drawing his Fortis and aiming it straight at Hoplite, "I can't let you go! I'm sorry!"
"It isn't up to you." Hoplite replied, "If you think you can, then go ahead, arrest me." He challenged, back straightening.
The conductor maintained his aim, arm shaking, "Please." He pleaded again, "Don't do this."
The conductor must have known there was no way they would be able to arrest Hoplite. Even with all sixty of them teaming up, it wouldn't be nearly enough to apprehend Thirty-Seven. The other Ternans didn't raise their weapons at him either, coming to the same conclusion. After a moment, the conductor dropped his Fortis, falling to all fours before his hands began crushing the ash they landed in.
"Alistair, Twindil, Belaine we need to leave the FMC, we have another vehicle we can use." Hoplite told the three blondes, gesturing to the T-57 Rhino in the hangar, "Let's head back to the Faewood."
"You truly wish to travel with me?" Belaine asked, "I appreciate your kindness, let us be off then."
"Don't go!" A diver screamed between sobs, "Please!"
A chorus of shouts from the Ternan's followed, different pleas for Hoplite to change his mind, to remain with them, that it wasn't too late for him to change his mind. But instead of acquiescing, Hoplite simply shook his head.
"Negative." He replied, "Good luck. Nate, Michael and Cat should be emerging topside in a week or two." He said, helmet cocking toward Nate, "I suggest you all fly back here around that time and rendezvous with them. If I happen across them on the way back, I'll attempt to radio you and bring them to your location."
"S-sir?" Nate asked, "Why are you doing this?"
"Because I'm like you, all of you." He replied, turning toward the Rhino, "I want to live."
They all just stared as Hoplite and the locals he'd befriended hopped into the Rhino… before simply driving away, the massive wheels kicking up tons of ash as it sped away toward the horizon. They all continued to stare, even long after they had vanished from sight.
"...Gather inside of the FMC." The conductor said, grabbing his Fortis from the ground, "We can't give up now. It is up to us to save our comrades, I won't let a single man or woman of the Eighth Arm go missing, we're going to find private Michael, Cat and anyone else around here that might still be alive, then we'll go to the Blastlands. Once the crew of the Sparrow is back together… we'll save Hoplite."
Nate shot the conductor a sideways look, but didn't question him openly. 'Save' meant reindoctrination, most likely, but that was impossible. There wasn't a Chair planetside nor up on the Sparrow, and even if there was, there was no way they'd be able to put Hopps in one. No, the only real way to save Hoplite was to convince him of Jyn's truth, show him that that crap he'd been told was a lie. Hoplite couldn't be the son of Lord Jyn, it wasn't possible!
Yeah, that's what they would do. The other Ternans seemed to steel their resolve as well, piling into the FMC together before it took off, disappearing over the horizon and leaving the smoldering ruin of castle Blackgaze behind.