Moving the crates was surprisingly easy for Alex, all that cultivating was clearly paying dividends. He wasn't even closed to winded after packing the truck full, and it only took him ten minutes.

Alex signaled to Fisk that he was finished, and the two met up at the front of the truck.

"Can you drive?" Fisk asked.

Alex shrugged, "I've driven cars where I'm from, but I'm not sure if vehicles operate the same here, and I've never driven something this big."

"You'll be fine," Fisk said and led Alex towards the interior of the vehicle. He couldn't help but note the truck was eerily similar to semis back home. The tractor unit was a bit more bulbous looking and the wheels were significantly oversized, but the trailer and general look of it were straight off the highway.

They entered the cab, and Fisk directed him to sit on the left side, where a jade orb, reminiscent of the orb on Skaya’s ship was built into the dashboard. Alex tentatively reached out and grasped it. A blue interface immediately came to life on the truck’s windshield.

“You’ve got the first step down,” Fisk said, “Now just will the vehicle to move. If you need it to turn, just think about it turning. It’s simple enough.”

As simply as that, Alex and Fisk started moving forward towards a tunnel at the back of the cavernous room. The truck was almost completely silent, the only noise coming from the whir of wheels on the ground, and the creaking of the chassis as the vehicle flexed to account for the moderately uneven ground.

“What do you plan on doing when we get out of here?” Alex asked, trying to break the silence.

“Just focus on driving,” Fisk replied.

They sat in silence as the truck rumbled down the tunnel. After a few seconds of driving, the tunnel ended at a fork. Left went up, right went down. Without consulting Fisk, Alex turned left and they continued on. They ran into several more intersections, and Alex always took them toward higher ground. He just hoped that was the right move.

After several minutes of driving, they eventually popped out into another cavern. This one dwarfed the previous. They were greeted with the sight of a fleet of trucks, a vehicle that looked vaguely like a helicopter, but with the blades swept backward, and dozens of people rushing to load up the trucks. Towards one side of the cave were a series of large tents.

As Alex and Fisk entered the cavern, they were ignored at first.

“Just keep driving, act like you know what you’re doing,” Fisk told him. He pointed towards an exit at the back of the cavern where they could see diffuse sunlight entering the cavern, “Aim for there.”

Alex, somewhat shocked at what he’d seen, listened to Fisk’s instructions. He tried to drive inconspicuously too, whatever that meant. They made it probably halfway towards the exit before their luck ran out.

A man dressed in a red uniform with several black badges on his chest stepped in front of their truck and held up his hand. His face held the determination of a man used to being obeyed.

“Run him over,” Fisk said without pause. Alex looked over at him in surprise.

“Seriously?”

Fisk nodded.

Alex cursed and willed the truck to accelerate. With a low whine, the truck shot forward, moving significantly faster than before. Alex had just enough time to see the man’s eyes widen in surprise before human and truck collided. A wave of red shot out from the man’s body being crushed like a bug hitting a windshield.

“Don’t slow down,” Fisk told him, “Now they’ll know.”

Over a tense series of turns, Alex rushed the vehicle towards the exit. Just as Alex was starting to relax and think no one had noticed their casual act of manslaughter, they rounded a corner in time to see a squad of armed men aiming rifles at them.

“Faster, and duck!” Fisk shouted out. Once again, Alex obeyed his verbose new friend.

The truck, which had to be pushing eighty miles per hour up to this point, blasted forward once more. As Alex hid his torso behind the dashboard, the windshield shattered and light flashed above him. Flecks of molten metal rained down the duo.

Alex yelled in fear, Fisk roared in defiance. They felt two dull thumps reverberate through the cab, and the two of them sat back up. They were clear of the squad, but the damage to the truck was extensive. The windshield, and therefore the HUD, were gone. The front of the truck that Alex could see was a smoldering, molten wreckage, and Alex could see through the truck into the trailer behind him. Fortunately, the truck didn’t seem functionally impacted by all the damage.

Alex willed the truck to accelerate further, and they rocketed down the road towards the exit. Blasts of light began to shoot past them.

“Don’t stop, just aim for the exit,” Fisk said, before twisting and sticking his torso out of the window. Alex glanced over and saw him chanting and waving his arms. Once again, a blue ball of flame was forming, but this time it was larger and growing more quickly.

Fisk’s chanting reached a crescendo and the ball of flame shot from his hands. As it left his hands, a projectile ripped through his left shoulder and he grunted in pain. The grunt was followed by a thunderous explosion. The back the truck was lifted by a wave of flame, before it slammed back down. Alex mentally struggled to keep the vehicle on the road.

Fisk dragged his body back into the cabin, grabbing at his shoulder with his left hand.

"That should buy us half a minute before they bring out the big guns."

His proclamation was followed by an explosion in the road before them.

Alex cursed and swerved the vehicle around the sudden gap in the road.

"So much for half a minute!" He shouted back at Fisk, "I'm starting to think maybe we won't make it out of this."

"Quit whining and just drive," Fisk replied.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Alex grumbled. He continued to struggle for control of the truck as another explosion rocked the side of the vehicle.

They were nearing the exit, and Alex felt a flare of hope rise in his chest. Despite the odds, they might actually make it.

Right as he had that thought, the helicopter looking vehicle he'd spotted before dropped from the sky just in front of the tunnel. The blades that had been swept back now fluttering on its sides like dragonfly wings.

---

“Commander, we’ve received reports of unplanned mining ordinance discharges in the southern hemisphere of the planet,” Lieutenant Neiss called out to Askren. Askren looked up at the lieutenant from the report on local mining operations. Based on feedback from the Silent Dawn captives, the slavers ran several mines, they just didn’t know which ones. Rather than investigating every mine they could find, they’d begun to monitor all of the mines on the planet for variances in output, personel, and any unusual activity that stood out.

“Details,” Askren replied shortly.

“The mine is a several kilometer drive from the last point of contact with the Heir. The discharges were equivalent to a standard issue grenade, or a tier three concussive spell. In total there have been eight discharges, none of which were planned according to the mine’s operative schedule.”

The lieutenant’s communicator on his wrist beeped, and he glanced down at it. Neiss’ eyes widened.

“Sir, that same mine just had two tier four level blasts. That is well beyond anything they should have in house. Request permission to investigate, immediately,” Neiss said with a smart salute.

“Denied,” Askren responded, “I’m going myself.”

---

Alex stared up at the flying vehicle in dismay. With his newly enhanced eyesight, he could make out the scar faced slaver glaring down at their truck. The man pointed at them and shouted something.

“Out of the truck!” Fisk shouted as he wrenched his door open. The man threw himself from the truck and Alex followed suit. Just as his feet left the vehicle, a low whine, a flash of light, and a dull thump preceded a thunderous explosion that blew the truck into smoldering wreckage. Alex’s body was blasted away from the truck and he slammed into a nearby stalagmite.

He rolled over with a groan. All of the recent explosions were really starting to get old. The hovering craft swayed in the air before slowly lowering to the ground. Alex looked past the wreckage of the truck, hoping to find Fisk, but he couldn’t see anything beyond the flames and pillars of smoke rising into the air.

Alex stumbled to his feet and started to limp his way around the truck. He’d neglected to grab the rifle on his way out of the vehicle, so he was unarmed and figured the ex-soldier was probably his best bet for fighting his way past scarface. On the other side of the flaming wreck, Alex found Fisk laying prone on the ground. His face was slick with blood, and Alex knew the man wasn’t going to be any help in the coming fight.

He rushed towards Fisk’s body, and started searching him. With a shout of triumph, Alex pulled the ECD pistol from Fisk’s trousers. Then he felt something pierce his right shoulder and bowl him over.

Alex looked up from his new position on the ground to see scarface staring down the sights of a rifle at him.

“You’ve been more trouble than you’re worth,” the man spat out, “Any last words before I put you out of my misery?”

Alex felt that primal rage from before rising in his chest, “Go fuck your-”

The man’s head exploded in a burst of bone, brain, and blood. His headless corpse stood for a brief moment before slowly falling to its knees and then collapsing sideways.

Alex looked beyond the body to see Commander Askren striding forward, holding an ECD rifle.

“Where the hell have you guys been?” Alex asked in exhaustion.