*** 10 minutes ***
Lillian joined Sir August, his son Mathew, and the priest.
"Sire." She greeted him.
"Ah, Lillian." Sir August, forever full of pomp and class had unconsciously started viewing Lillian as more than a serf. "Bishop Ricker has agreed to perform the marriage at short notice."
Lillian gently bowed her towards the bishop. Which seemed to be the correct move as the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.
"This is all very irregular." Puffed the bishop. "But young love waits for no man." The bishop didn't believe that for a second, but he was still uncertain of Sir August's aims.
"Quite." Sir August quipped back, "Now we don't need to make this a huge affair…"
The rest of his words were drowned due to a thunderous crack, followed by a wave of air pressure hitting them. Mathew stumbled, and Sir August was suddenly under the mental load as every nearby air defense site screamed murder through their data feeds.
*** 9 minutes ***
The jump ship folded into existence right on top of the bunker fortress, clearly visible from the hangar doors, it was sporting the Crest and colours of the Emperor, along with other, more insidious symbols.
Sir August quieted the anti air units, and faced Lillian. He was unmasked, a look of despair and pity written across his face. "I'm sorry my girl. We were too late."
A pair of bay doors opened under the Jump Ship, and from it a sleek and sharp machine of death fell slowly to the ground. The Warlord of The Bastard Son.
It looked malevolent as it strode towards them. Much like an elongated Black Knight of old. Its head stood proud, slatted with an black visor, vapor trails escaped between the slats.
As it approached, a hatch in its chest opened up and a man pulled himself free from his pilot seat. The Warlord provided a hand which the knight stepped onto and was gently lowered to the ground.
*** 8 minutes ***
The man who walked up to them was tall, lanky and ugly. His head shaved, his face pitted with scars. His musculature was lean, and his expression was predatory.
"August. Still up to your old tricks I see." The man's tone was mocking. He brushed away a piece of non-existent dirt from his shoulder.
"Vel." Sir August gruffed back.
"I'm assuming this is the one." He lent forward and grabbed Lillian's chin roughly, tilting her head back, inspecting her. "Shes a pretty one. I'm going to have lots of fun with her." He said with a smirk.
Mathew started towards Vel, but the hand of his father clamped down on his shoulder and gave him a warning look.
Lillian let him do as he wanted, her mind was already stretching, feeling the data flows. She looks for a flavour, of smoke and pine, Castor. She found him, he was rapidly sending and receiving information. She burrowed down on those data flows as The Bastard Son twisted her head this way and that. She got a time.
*** 7 minutes ***
Vel, growing bored of the silent women, turned his attention back to Sir August and his Son. "This one has to be special for you to stick your neck out like this August. Your favor to my father only extends so far."
"Spoken by the boy without favor."
Anger snarled across Vel Marillion's face "watch your tone old man."
"Or you'll do what? Runt." Spat back Sir August, his face a picture of disdain and hatred.
Vel's snarl vanished as quickly as it appeared, replaced with the easy smirk stitched across his face. "To you? Nothing." He said as he ran a finger across Lillian's shoulder. "But to her, anything I want."
*** 6 minutes ***
Lillian's skin crawled. Red flags populated her mind. She was in real danger now. She reached out again with her mind's eye. She could feel Castors' signals, they were hidden from the bunker fortress's sensor array. She spread her brain out thin, searching. She found something: a small unit of machinery that was creating a blind spot in the sensor net. Castor must have put it there, she offered Castor a silent apology and pushed on the unit. It was a strain on her wet ware but with effort she managed to overload it.
*** 5 minutes ***
The effect was immediate, she came back to reality, sweating and dizzy. Sir August and Vel were still trading quips. Alarms suddenly started flaring. Taccy soldiers, now running around the hangar, either getting into assigned positions or doing security sweeps, search for the intruder. One soldier approached Sir August and quietly whispered in his ear.
"Take Mathew and Lillian and put them with Lillian's family, take a squad with you and guard them." Sir August commanded the soldier and then turned his attention to Lillian, to take her from Vel, but he was too late.
The Bastard Son was already dragging Lillian out the hanger and towards his Warlord. A drop transport drone had already left the Jump Ship and was making a landing nearby, to take them away.
*** 4 minutes ***
Lillian needed more time, she didn't fancy her chances against Vel, but out of options, she reached into her chest-rig and pulled out her pistol. She barely got it an itch out of the holster before Vel viciously grabbed her wrist. He punched her once in the solar plexus leaving her gasping for air.
With one hand still still on her wrist he grabbed her elbow and twisted hard. Her forearm snapped and she screamed in the raw unfiltered way that only pain can produce.
*** 3 minutes ***
Her weapon clattered on the floor. He had her by the hair now, dragging her painfully towards the transport drone. She tried pulling away but he was too strong.
A cacophony of signals exploded in her mind's eye, the anti-air drones had found targets, hatchets snapped open and the roar of surface to air missiles tearing out of enclosures filled the sky.
*** 2 minutes ***
A couple of infantry units had now exited the transport drone, Vel threw her against them roughly. For a moment she felt like her fate was sealed. If she couldn't fight against the Vel then she had no chance against two 10 foot tall infantry drones. No human had.
They almost had her inside the transport vessel when the rectangular head of the drone to the left of her, exploded in a shower of sparks and metal.
Fractions of a second later the drone to her right had a hole put through its chest and shoulders. Dropping her to the floor.
In the distance, Castors' striker-bombers calculated approach vectors and armed their ordinance of cluster munitions.
*** 1 minute ***
Dull thunderous explosions could be heard in the distance as the anti-air missiles found their marks. The hangar was now caught up in a chaos of activity.
Vel had already climbed aboard his Warlord and commanded the drones aboard his Jump Ship to evacuate.
Lillian picked herself up and ran. She cradled her arm as best she could, the jar of every step sending jolts of pain through her. She dashed as hard for the hangar doors, praying to get inside before what was coming.
Vels Warlord knelt to the ground, a dome of pulsing blue energy enrapturing it.
Lillian ran, her lungs burnt, she was blind to the pain now.
The crack of sonic booms could be heard above as the striker-bombers tore through the sky.
Lillian ran.
*** 0 minutes ***
The world around Lillian exploded in a fiesta of fire and shrapnel. She felt a blinding sting in her legs as a jagged piece of metal graised her, opening a large gash along her thigh.
She stumbled through the hangar doors, Sir August came to her, he pulled her good arm over his shoulders and helped her limp towards the back. A taccy soldier came to help and the 3 of them managed to get to the safety of the back of the hangar.
The taccy soldier pulled a gun and placed it against Sir August's head. "How about a 5 minute head start?" He asked.