She stood taller than he did by a few inches. Her poofy dark hair looked like the midnight sky. Astral slowly brought himself downwards with his eyes to the rest of the lady. Her burly arms stuck out of her outfit, a long flowing coat covered her torso. Her skin was a milk chocolate as her silver eyes gleamed into his soul. She was staring directly into him as he walked forward to be closer to her. "You are the one I am waiting on, presumably?" Her cheeks reddened as Astral walked past. "I will be ready for you three at the briefing table." He moved forward as he felt a hand grab his shoulder from someone shorter.
"Mister, that isn't very nice to ignore a lady." He turned around to be greeted by a girl slightly shorter than him. Her pink curly hair ran past her shoulders as Astral hopped backwards. "I will have you know if you begin to boss me around there will be intense consequences. Flamerock will have to pay me double."
"I will pay you triple to tell me who you are." Astral stood straight up as he looked up and down again. Her skin was tanned instead of dark, her eyes had shifted from the silver hue to a light brown. Her coat fit her perfectly as she held her hands on her side.
"You couldn't afford the rate I would give you." She snickered as she tapped her fingers on her side. Anxious to get a move on and an apology from the man in front of her. "Besides, the money isn't why I have stayed." Her complexion and eyes didn't falter and shift from him as he lowered his eyes to meet hers.
"This is Neopolitan Lamper. Mercenary extraordinaire who has figured out galactic travel as well as you have." Sienna appeared on Astral's shoulder as Neo turned to the side and crossed her arms. Looking away from the two. "She really doesn't have much listed data on the reason why she changes forms. But she is still human, just not as pure as. Not you but the others you work with." Neo's ears perked up as Astral nodded.
"We have something else to worry about, sorry for keeping you waiting. But if we are raiding a mine, we need high quality armor and weapons. As well as a fundamental understanding of them. You hand them some toys, they will play with them and hurt themselves." Astral gave a light nod. "Sorry about the initial meeting. It's not fair to either of us to be on the wrong foot to start off with." He passed her as she looked up at him. He entered the tent as she followed quickly behind as the three men were still getting ready inside of the shuttle.
"This facility is two parts. The aerial platform that ships out the ore and gas from shuttle pads on the top side. Then the basement level where they get the natural resources from. Both parts need to be taken into our control, while freeing those currently in the mines." Sienna made the table fire to life as the holograms of the schematics fired to life.
Astral studied the blueprint for a moment. "No destruction? These missile pads will make any aerial approach impossible from a twenty mile radius. That's if we have a good ship. Let alone the fact this design was thermal regulated. They spot any approach we could be bombarded without even knowing it." As his eyes darted across the schemes Neo transformed once more. Shrinking down shorter, her hair turning a silky white as it hit the floor. Her jacket puffed out and became oversized. Her eyes turned a bright pink as Astral looked at her for a moment then back to the main piece.
"Delta had a plan. With a skilled pilot, we could get within a few miles of the mine and crash close enough to no longer be under the threat of the missiles. We either get blown up in the air or we make it close enough to start liberating the mine and taking it back to our control." Neo's tone was quiet as Astral paid very close attention to it. "We have our pilot, and the shuttle, we should try it. I have a good feeling it will go well." She bobbed her head up and down as Astral watched in amazement.
"Is that also the plan Sienna?" Astral asked lightly as the three men entered the tent and looked at the fortress in front of them. Sienna flickered green for a moment as Astral sighed. "It has been forever since I have flown. Let alone being the top pilot." His mind slipped away for a moment as he pictured a test of ships in space. Shaking loose they all looked at him with confidence. "If this is the plan. We need to make a few preparations. I can fly whatever we need. No matter what we use, we will be hit by those missile systems, just a matter of time. We need crash booster seats, and a bit of magic." Astral nodded.
"Magic can only be so useful Astral, do you think it will require alot?" Neo asked as he gave a thumbs up.
"When it comes to the crash seats, I just need to bind them to me using a magical chain. I will hopefully survive the missile, so we can rely on me getting the last few miles based off me gliding to the basement. If done correctly we will glide to the bottom of the basement and need to work our way back up." Astral hovered his fingers in the middle of the hologram.
"The amount we have to go through for robots, won't that be too much for just five people to handle?" Jenkins asked as the other two rolled their eyes. "As a point defense facility, it would also want to keep all of its assets safe. With that, landing below and being stealthy increases our odds of picking them apart by a significant amount. Can your magic make us invisible? Could put decoy bodies inside of the shuttle to make it more believable."
They all paused as Astral got a chuckle. "There was a reason you were picked, there it is, once the shuttle is hit, prepare for silencers and move around as stealthy as possible. Make sure to also check your crossfire and watch out for fuel pipes. Hit one of those and we could turn this entire continent into a bunch of islands." Astral tapped his side as his pistol now sat magnetically to him.
"Take care Astral, keep them safe." Sienna waved goodbye as Astral and the others walked out of the tent. Sienna looked at the hologram one final time. 'They can do this. Astral has to do the hard carrying once again. But this time the risk is minimized.' She sighed as she looked back at them as they boarded the empty shuttle.
"Everyone buckle down and strap in. This will make you feel like you are on a roller coaster. At your feet are the crash seats. They will surround you and your surroundings in a padding to help with impacts. In this case, its to prevent a fiery death from an explosion that would level a continent." All four of them looked at Astral in the pilot's seat as they began to question everything.
"Oh and Mr. Macho man up there is supposed to just take it with no worries?" Neo had shifted back into the girl with pink hair.
"Have you sat between two suns crashing into each other?" Astral turned his head over his shoulder as Neo crossed her arms. "Besides, my suit is rated for more extreme things than just a couple of rockets. I improved my armor to the point where I should be immune to even the most potent rounds we make." The four all wondered what it could be. 'Here goes nothing, muscle memory, hold true for once.' He relaxed and dropped his shoulders as he rested his hands onto the joysticks for the shuttle. Easing his hand upward the shuttle fired to life as they left the ground.