Olympus: The Agency
Faust

The reunion of Olympus Squad in the hangar bay was brief. Zeus, Phil, Allyra and Gunn were laid behind a shipping container for Epione to examine, as the rest of Olympus and their crew took stock of their weapons and of the entry-points into the hangar.

“Can’t you bring the ship back?” Riley bellowed.

“Not without risking every living thing in this sector,” Marcella said calmly. “We have an Agency warship. Even un-upgraded, the wealth of knowledge of that is enough to tell the Wights where to hit.”

“But-”

“It stays off station until we deal with this, Riley!” Epione called from her makeshift ward. “With Zeus out, that leaves leadership open so I’ll be taking over. Any objections?”

No one spoke as Epione emerged, pulling the slide of her handgun back and taking a position with her team.

“Good. Junior, stay with the wounded. You’re their defender for us, ok?”

Junior nodded and ran over behind the shipping container.

“All we have to do is hold this area for others to arrive. More marines, more civilians, anyone that can hold a gun. This is our Rome, and they are the barbarians at the gate.”

“Little weird coming from you, Epione,” Dionysus murmured. “But got it.”

“Tartarus, take a heightened position with the rifle. I’ll defer to your judgement. Enyo, Minnie, see if you can rig any internal defenses to fight for us. Marcella, Isaac, you two are our heavy hitters, so watch an entrance each. Riley, Dionysus, put you new firearm training to use and cover that entrance. I’ll see if I can’t raise anyone on the system and bring them here. Understood?”

No one spoke, but they nodded their agreement. Tartarus climbed up one of the shipping container mountains and perched himself as high as he could, earning himself an unobstructed view of the hangar bay. Isaac pushed some of the heavier equipment in front of his entrance, while Marcella positioned herself behind a sturdy barrier and dug herself in. Riley and Dionysus checked their guns and kept their eyes on the final entrance, both taking opposing sides of the doorframe. Enyo and Minnie left the group to work on terminals, trying to get the stations turrets, mines, gas systems, anything that could be used against the Wights.

Epione, meanwhile, sent a message. She encrypted it with base Alliance code and knew that she was telegraphing their position to the Wights, too. Unfortunately, she was out of options. They all were.

“This is Agent Epione of the Alliance. My squad and crew are setting up a safe zone in the west hangar and we ask that all military personnel and civilians make their way here if it is safe for you to do so. Once the threat has been eliminated, we will evacuate the station with our starship, but only once they are dealt with. This message will repeat.”

Epione looped the transmission with Belle’s help, then turned to help Riley and Dionysus guard their door.

“I did what I could for Zeus and Allyra, but they need a medbay. Phil and Gunn will be fine in time. We just need to give all four of them the chance to be.”

Belle chimed an acknowledgement, then chimed again. “You have an incoming message, Agent Epione.”

“From Alliance?” Epione said hopefully.

“The code indicates this message is from Zodiac Squad of the Agency. Shall I connect the call?”

Reinforcements! An entire squad ready to help! Epione cleared her throat, trying to calm her nerves. “Yes, connect, please”

Epione turned and walked towards the middle of the hangar bay in case the call was meant to be private. She heard the slightly heated voice of Agent Aquarius in mere moments.

“Epione? Where’s Zeus? We picked up your transmission. What’s going on down there?”

“Wights have attacked the station,” Epione began. “Zeus is wounded but alive, and we’ve set up a safe zone. I don’t know how long it will last. Can you help at all?”

“Help?” Aquarius said quizzically. “You’re asking another squad to help you? That won’t look good to Nevada, you know that, right?”

Epione paled, quite the feat for her skin. Nevada...

“So you’re not going to help?” she said quietly.

“I didn’t say that,” Aquarius said. “I’ll tell you what. We’ll keep this between us. I’ll say that we boarded to help and found Olympus was already handling the situation, we just provided some support to make it go quicker. But in exchange...”

Epione breathed in and held the air in her lungs. She had watched the fight between Aquarius and Apollo months ago, and heard of the ruthlessness of the head of Zodiac Squad. Whatever she wanted would not be good, and it would be her entire squad that would pay it.

“It just so happens I, too, require help on a mission. I’ve been tasked with assassinating a Realmic Concord official. I help you here, and Olympus helps me with my mission, then it’s as if nothing happened. Deal?”

Murder. Of course. Could Epione still be disgusted after she killed that Wight? Of course she could. Self-defense was one thing. Cold-blooded murder was another. But she really needed the help. She needed Aquarius and her entire squad.

What would Zeus do?

“He’d make the deal,” Belle said to Epione only, as if she could read her thoughts. “He only cares about getting all of you out alive. This isn’t ideal, but it is currently your best option.”

“It’s a simple choice,” Epione told herself. “Don’t overthink it.”

Epione sent an acknowledgement to Aquarius, then ensured her rifle was ready to hold the line.

“Hold the line here, Olympus. We didn’t come this far to die now.”

Aquarius received the notification, and directed her squad to gear up.

“Scorpio, a fly-by drop off would work best. Aries, Leo, Saggitarius, I want you three with me. Gemini, Libra, Pisces, you three jump afterwards and land at Olympus. Scorpio, keep the ship back. Sync.”

All of her squad members replied quickly. Zodiac Squad was ready to fight.