"Sweet Sirius..." CS was currently betting his life through a narrow underground passage, deep enough into Erie to conceal and confuse the patrols of Liberty's occupation force, although the constant rumbling from above and the quaking of the tunnel lights certainly wasn't easing issues. It had been a few hours since sunlight was last observed and the distance he'd covered certainly wasn't mundane in the difficulty of these caves; and his backpack certainly caused some issues in tight spots.
As the rumbling quietened and the air cleared up from its dense mustiness, CS had noted the incline in the ground for the past hour and a distant mumbling from the distance near the end of the passage... A different light, a little brighter and whiter in colour, lumens highly focused, potentially a weapon light. CS slipped a large whistle from his flightsuit pocket, the whistle placed against his exhaust port on his helmet and his finger sealed the flow of air into the whistle. A ratchety and hollow bird call echoed in down the passage towards the illuminated cave ahead, it's reverberating saw-tooth felt through the air and body. The lights began to move and the mumbling ceased, within a few seconds the lights held still and barrelling down the cave in CS' direct. "Okay... Come out, slowly."
CS hadn't even drawn his sidearm yet, placing a bet they wouldn't try to blast the one carrying their next few weeks of meals. "What the...?" As one of the lights lowered, a sight of disbelief and confusion on his face. A burly top heavy fellow, with a beaten mining hat on and industrial gear repurposed for Erie's militias. "We weren't expecting you until tomorrow."
The hollowed out entrance hall into this mountain cave had quite the depth, having to almost scale a small cliff just to reach the surface entrance, the sunlight was still seen shimmering off the wet rock ceiling as they themselves hid away from anyone trying to take a peek from outside but were left with a nice view of the light dancing above. "Its going to be a few hours until dusk, 'Pigs-In-Suits' fly drones around the day to support their convoys between camps, at night time you fair a better chance but not by much, gaps in the network but those security drones..."
CS found himself sat huddled with three others on a few boulders in the center of this hollow cave entrance, the campfire was warm in this cave opening and the company with these network sentries helped break the routine. "You've brought a lot of supplies, command said you were bringing a team... Are they on the way?" The man who asked, the same rugged individual that had pointed the barrel right in his face was in the middle of cooking a campfire stew of cured meats, protein infusion with the new delivery of rations; the cave mushrooms were just a local bonus. CS was in the middle of his juice carton, the straw stuck into drink-port of his helmet. Taking it out as the individual finished speaking. "No Damien... Just me, they offered me passage in return of helping with the supply lines." Damien chortled with a loud and coarse tone that reverberated down the cave, his grin was like stretching a smile that was stronger than the power of their rifles. Before he could even speak another word, that brutish friendly manner of his served a beaten metal bowl of that bubbling earthy stew, nudging CS on the knee with the rim of that hot bowl. CS declined with a wave of his hand... Damien shrugged and didn't think otherwise, taking the bowl and passing it to one of the other militiamen before serving himself a portion.
"So then... Mr Civil Servant... Let me get this straight, they offered you passage this way if you carried the supplies?" Damien didn't stop trying to eat before speaking, the words slightly garbled as bits of meat were being chewed through at the same time. "But! That doesn't explain why you wanted passage out here." CS was just about to lift his straw back into to his helmet until he froze for a few seconds, contemplating an answer, but returned to drinking from his carton of soy-food. "Ah! N'yah-Hah! See Richard! Even he has his motives." "What makes you think you can trust those motives?" "Oh-? He is a cynic, even to himself! You bring me my food my friend, and it doesn't smell like it even touched the water in the depths! You cared more than the average cave courier... Yar'h in agreement troupe?" Damien began to hit the rim of the bowl with the neck of his metal spoon, the clanging started to pick up as the two others soon followed pace... Went on for a moment or two before they returned to eating again. "So... How about a story while we eat?" Damien returned to having that big grin on his face, his attention returning back to the helmet-donned visitor. "Fair enough Damien. You will have your story..."
The night was finally settled outside of the caves, CS was already scaling up the last bit of the internal cliff-face towards the cave entrance. "Look at him, we could have used someone like this laying the charges in the platinum quarry walls! He moves quicker than a silver-hoofed mountain goat, yet as quiet as cotton-winged moth~" Damien was acting like this was free entertainment after a good meal, watching CS climb up like he was driven by instinct. The last stretch of the climb was finished by throwing himself up sideways and rolling onto the landing above. The plumes of dust blocking the view from below as if he was a ghost within the wind. "And... He's gone! What a interesting man... Sad he never-"
"Damien!" CS popped his head from the cliff-ledge above. "Ah--! You fools, look! I said he wouldn't leave without saying goodbye!""Goodbye all of you, I hope you and the escapees you find obtain your lives back!""Farewell my masked traveler, maybe come back and we can split a bottle of 'shine together!"
CS replied with his characteristic nod, his visor shimmering the light from the cave-fire from below, similar to the light of the sunlight on the wet rocks, but with a tinted blue. Damien and the two other militia sentries waved him off, all with a the same defiant smiles across their faces as he himself ascended into the mountain surface, disappearing into the windy night.
