Hunting For The Orion

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 16, Post Number 400

-Inside Mister Burke's house, the third floor, 12:00 P.M.-

"Welcome to my home, Miss Jarnefeldt. It has been awhile since we last met." Mister Burke warmly greeted Leona while standing behind a desk with a computer monitor on top. In the center of the wall behind him a projector screen was hanging and ready for use. He was clad in a three-piece gray business suit with black dress shoes... he was dressed more formally than normal.

The Wizard Saint was clad in her green, gold, and white outfit with bike shorts on underneath the skirt. The boots that matched her outfit were currently sitting on a special mat in the foyer because she had taken them off at the door to avoid tracking dirt through Mister Burke's home. Leona wore her Argent Gloves on her hands and carried Ses Revanche in her right boot. She also had her Ranger Laser Rifle slung on her right shoulder and her backpack of supplies on her back. Inside her backpack sat her SHG-IV Smart Glasses in a protective pocket and a change of clothing.

"Hello Mister Burke." Leona greeted her client. She had been hired by Mister Burke for a job, but the job notice she had received was vague. He had promised to tell her the details only when they met face-to-face, which was why she was here.

"If you are ready, I would like to discuss what I hired you for." Mister Burke said to her.

"I am ready, Mister Burke." Leona indicated that she was paying attention to him.

He wordlessly dimmed the lights in the room and turned on the projector hanging on the ceiling in the center of the room. Mister Burke then turned his attention to the computer monitor on the desk. He typed rapidly on a keyboard and schematics of a weapon appeared on the projector screen roughly eight seconds later.

It was a sleek-looking rifle with a scope, but most of the technical details had been labeled REDACTED. Judging from the look of the schematics, it was different from conventional lead-firing rifles by not having any visible place to load ammunition. Leona suspected that she was looking at a laser rifle, but it was impossible to tell for certain.

"A thief has stolen a valuable prototype weapon codenamed Orion. The tracking device hidden in the case has indicated that the prototype was taken to Forgotten Deserts. I would like you to find it and bring it to me." Mister Burke informed her that she was being hired to retrieve a prototype weapon made by his company. Leona now understood why the job notice was so vague. He had wanted to minimize the number of people who knew about the Orion.

"OK, Mister Burke. I'll retrieve it for you." Leona accepted the mission. She had benefited from his generosity when she received her Ranger Laser Rifle complete with a detailed manual free of charge. That weapon had been a big help to Leona so far and now she could help him out. Mister Burke gave a small smile that seemed to glow in the dim light.

"Excellent. The tracking device indicates that the Orion was taken deep into Forgotten Deserts. There may or may not be bandit activity in the area, so caution is advised. I do not care how you deal with the bandits... my only concern is the Orion's retrieval." Mister Burke informed her of the approximate location of the prototype and gave her permission to deal with the bandits she might encounter any way she saw fit. Leona nodded in understanding.

"I'll head there right away, Mister Burke." Leona informed him. He smiled again.

"Excellent. Do be careful out there, Miss Jarnefeldt. I have no information on how many bandits are in Forgotten Deserts or what weapons they may wield." Mister Burke warned her to be careful because he had no information on potential threats she might encounter in Forgotten Deserts. Leona nodded and turned to leave the room. She was almost at the door when Mister Burke called to her.

"Before you go, please take this company iLac with you, Miss Jarnefeldt. I will keep in contact with you for the duration of the job and offer you guidance." Mister Burke's voice bade her. Leona paused at the door and turned around to see him holding out a burgundy company iLac for use with her SHG-IV Smart Glasses. Leona walked over to him and took it, then took off her backpack and carefully set it on his desk before opening it. She put the burgundy iLac inside the special protective pocket in her backpack and closed it up again.

"Good luck, Miss Jarnefeldt." Mister Burke bade her as Leona left the room.

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-Forgotten Deserts, two hours later-

After flying from Shirotsume on the back of Winged Lion and landing on the northern edge of Forgotten Deserts that was closest to the Neutral Grounds, Leona had finally arrived in Forgotten Deserts. She was only mildly fatigued from the flight, but the heat could be more of a problem. It was rather hot here and she was wearing a long-sleeved outfit top that was a light color but still trapped heat, albeit not as badly as a dark-colored long-sleeved shirt. She was tempted to switch to her green tank top, which she had put in her backpack along with her khaki shorts.

Leona decided against it because she did not want to risk sunburn, so she would bear the heat a bit longer. At any rate, she did not have time to waste. She dispelled Winged Lion and took off her backpack, then set it on the sand. She quickly located her SHG-IV Smart Glasses and put them on, then powered them on. The glasses went through a brief boot-up sequence that took only a matter of seconds before it was complete. She made sure that the video feed was off before speaking.

"Hello? Mister Burke, can you hear me?" Leona asked Mister Burke as she looked around her for any signs of life. There was no one in the immediate area except her.

"Yes Miss Jarnefeldt, I can hear you perfectly." Mister Burke replied. She was pleased to hear that because she was relying on him to guide her in the right direction while she combed the area in search of the Orion.

"OK, I'm in Forgotten Deserts now. Which direction do I need to go?" Leona asked him. She heard rapid typing for a few seconds and a couple of clicking sounds before he spoke again.

"You will need to head southwest through the desert. The tracking device indicates that the Orion is somewhere in the interior of Forgotten Deserts." Mister Burke informed her which way she needed to go. Now that she had a direction to go in she would begin walking southwest. She began putting one foot in front of the other, the crunching of sand beneath her boots audible to her and likely to Mister Burke as well.

"OK, I'm going southwest now." Leona informed the client that she was on the move.

"Excellent. I will monitor your progress and keep you pointed in the right direction." Mister Burke informed her. Leona was not used to having someone watching over her, but considering the expanse of desert she was about to travel, she appreciated the help. She had not been to Forgotten Deserts in a long time and would need all the help she could get.

-Deeper in Forgotten Deserts, two hours later-

Leona had been walking for a little over two hours and had not heard anything from Mister Burke. She assumed that since he had not said anything to her that she was on the right track. Leona kept going while listening out for Mister Burke and felt the wind pick up a little. It picked up just enough to blow her hair about but not enough to cool her down, which was a disappointment because she was more than a little hot from traveling in a desert in the middle of the day.

"Miss Jarnefeldt, are you still there?" Mister Burke asked the Wizard Saint, breaking the silence that had prevailed for a little over two hours.

"I'm still here. Am I wandering off course?" Leona affirmed that she was still with him before asking if she was still heading in the right direction.

"No Miss Jarnefeldt, you are still going in the right direction." Mister Burke replied. Leona was relieved to hear that she was still going in the right direction because she would hate to learn that she had gone drastically off course. Getting back on course would take time, time that the thief could use to take the Orion further away or even disappear with it. Speaking of the thief, Leona had a question to ask of the client.

"Mister Burke, has the location of the Orion changed at all over the past two hours?" Leona asked Mister Burke. She heard rapid typing and a single click.

"No, not at all. The location has not changed at all." Mister Burke replied. That bit of news gave Leona hope. It might not be too late for her to retrieve the Orion without having to fight outlaws for it. If she could retrieve it and get back to Shirotsume without fighting that would be fine with her.

"OK. I'll keep going then." Leona said to him before going silent. She still had a lot of ground to cover before she reached her destination, but at least she was heading in the right direction.

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-Deeper in Forgotten Deserts, three hours later-

At this point Leona had been traveling in the Forgotten Deserts for five hours and was sweating quite a bit. She was more than a little miserable and just wanted to find the Orion before the local outlaws did. Leona really wanted to change into her tank top so that the heat would become a little more bearable, but the sound to her Smart Glasses headset was still on and she did not want to alarm Mister Burke by turning it off. She was also concerned that the moment she turned the sound off to change her top she would miss something important from her client, so she would just have to endure the heat.

Leona kept walking in silence and occasionally wiping the sweat from her forehead. The wind blew a little here and there, but only enough to rustle her hair and kick up small clouds of sand that hugged the ground. It never blew strongly enough to make her feel a little cooler.

"You are approaching the Orion's signal, Miss Jarnefeldt. Keep going in the direction in which you are currently moving" Mister Burke notified her. Leona's focus on the task at hand was instantly restored and her walking pace began to quicken. The Wizard Saint took her Ranger Laser Rifle off of her shoulder and held it in her hands in case she was walking into an ambush. It was possible that the thief knew they were being pursued and deliberately left the Orion as bait to lure pursuers into an ambush.

Leona continued to walk in the direction she had been going in and eventually saw a square object sitting in the sand roughly 500 meters away. She notified Mister Burke of her discovery.

"Mister Burke, I believe that I see the Orion's carrying case in the distance. It's roughly five hundred meters from my location." Leona notified Mister Burke.

"Excellent, Miss Jarnefeldt. That distance matches up with the location of the tracking device. I too believe that you have found the carrying case." Mister Burke notified her that she had found the carrying case. Leona continued to walk at a brisk pace and eventually reached the case after roughly ten minutes of walking. She looked down at it and saw that it was a long black carrying case with no labels on it. There was a carrying handle on the top that folded into a recess on the top when not in use.

There were two silver latches, one on each end of the case. There was also a lock of some sort that looked like a miniature keycard reader. Leona had never seen one of those on a carrying case before.

"Mister Burke, I'm standing at the carrying case. It's a long, black case with no labels and a lock in the center that looks like you swipe a keycard through it. I'm not seeing any signs of tampering." Leona informed her client that she had reached the case without incident and also informed him that there were no signs of tampering.

"Excellent. That is the case I am looking for. Is the carrying case still closed?" Mister Burke asked her. Leona looked down at the case again and knelt down to examine it closely. She saw that both of the silver latches were closed. So was the keycard lock in the center.

"Yes sir, the carrying case is closed." Leona reported.

"Excellent. Unless someone managed to bypass the electronic lock in the time between stealing the Orion and taking the case all the way out to Forgotten Deserts, the Orion should still be in there." Mister Burke replied. Leona was puzzled. Retrieving the weapon prototype had been easy... almost too easy. She doubted that the thief would abandon their prize after going through so much trouble to steal it, but here it was sitting out in the open.

"I'm picking it up and I'm heading back for Shirotsume as quickly as I can." Leona informed the client of her next move. She set down her Ranger Laser Rifle and raised both hands to the sky. She summoned Winged Lion and he appeared close by. Leona slung her Ranger Laser Rifle onto her right shoulder and picked up the carrying case that contained the Orion in her left hand. She was about to climb on board Winged Lion when she heard the sharp CRACK of a rifle being fired and saw Winged Lion take a hit that grazed his back.

Leona dropped the carrying case to free up her left hand and aimed the Ranger Laser Rifle with both hands. About forty meters away a group of twelve horsemen in tan clothing wielding semi-automatic rifles were charging towards her. Leona heard Mister Burke ask what was going on.

"Miss Jarnefeldt, I heard a gun being fired. What is happening?" Mister Burke asked her.

"Some of the local outlaws found me!" Leona shouted. Bullets continued to whiz by her as she fired back at the outlaws. Even with her Ranger Laser Rifle she was not going to last long in the open against twelve men wielding semi-automatic rifles. She needed to find a way out of this mess before she was riddled with rifle bullets.

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"Get out of there, Miss Jarnefeldt!" Mister Burke shouted into the headset. Leona was too busy aiming at the outlaws and firing back to heed his advice.

"I can't get out yet, Mister Burke. I can't take off without the men being able to shoot me in the back before my flying summon can even clear the ground!" Leona informed him that she was effectively trapped. A rifle bullet whizzed by her right ear and she ducked. She fired three rapid shots at the shooter and hit him in the right shoulder once, causing him to yell in pain and fall from his horse. She heard a SLAM over her headset like he had slammed his hand on the desk and heard a muttered curse.

"Understood, Miss Jarnefeldt. There is nothing I can do on my end, so you will have to fight your way out." Mister Burke informed her that no rescue was coming for her, so she would have to fight her way out of the ambush.

"I'll find a way to escape, Mister Burke. I just need to make an opening so that I can fly out of here." Leona informed him. Moments after that she felt a bullet graze the top of her left shoulder and her rifle momentarily dipped to the ground from the pain in her left shoulder. She clenched her teeth and raised the rifle again, aiming at the man who had grazed her. She fired five shots at his head and hit with one of them, knocking him from the saddle.

Leona saw the rest of the men charging at her and noticed the sand they were kicking up. That gave Leona an idea.

Why not use her Storm Impact spell to kick up some sand to cover her escape?

Leona lowered her rifle, moved two steps forward, formed her left hand into a fist, channeled silver magic into it, and slammed her fist onto the sandy ground, kicking up a dome of sand that the riders rushed through. She heard the sound of neighing and saw the horses approaching her, so she needed to act fast. The first order of business was to secure the carrying case.

Leona looked around and saw the Orion's carrying case, which had been moved about three meters behind her by the Storm Impact spell. She ran over to it and picked it up by the handle using her left hand. She then ran back over to Winged Lion, aimed the Ranger Laser Rifle towards the sand cloud, held down the trigger, and fired into the rapidly fading cloud of sand without aiming. After three seconds of shooting she then turned around and hurriedly climbed onto Winged Lion's back.

"TAKE OFF!" Leona telepathically ordered him. Bullets whizzed around her as Winged Lion ran forward and flapped his wings. After about five meters of running he leaped and began flapping away from the gunfire. Leona did not dare look back at the outlaws as she flew away and gained altitude.

"Where are we going?" Winged Lion asked her once they were ten meters above the ground.

"To Shirotsume!" Leona answered as bullets flew around her and Winged Lion. The summon wordlessly banked left and made a beeline for the destination as bullets continued to fly around them. Leona could not wait to be out of the line of fire. The outlaws were firing away at her on the ground below and were missing by a wide margin, but she would not feel truly safe until she was in Shirotsume.

-Shirotsume, Mister Burke's home, two hours later-

"Welcome back, Miss Jarnefeldt. I see that you managed to fight your way out of the ambush. And you also retrieved the Orion's carrying case. That is wonderful, Miss Jarnefeldt." Mister Burke greeted Leona in the third floor meeting room of his home. Leona was hot, tired, and more than a little sweaty. She also wanted to treat the grazing bullet wound on her left shoulder. But before she did any of that she had to hand over the Orion and the company iLac he had loaned her. Now that her job was done she turned off her SHG-IV Smart Glasses.

"Here you go, Mister Burke." Leona said, handing off the case to him with her left hand. Mister Burke took the case into both hands.

"Thank you, Miss Jarnefeldt. Now let us see if the Orion is still in there." Mister Burke said. He carried the case to the desk he had given his briefing from and turned it away from Leona, then produced a white keycard from his suit's pants pocket. He swiped it through the keycard reader and a soft BEEP was heard. He undid the latches on each side of the case and opened it.

"Excellent work, Miss Jarnefeldt. The Orion is still in the case and it is safe and sound." Mister Burke said to her before closing the case. Leona had already seen the heavily redacted schematics for the weapon, so she was not sure why she was not permitted to see the actual weapon. However, she was not going to argue with him. Leona took off her backpack and opened it, then fished out the burgundy iLac he had loaned her.

"And here's your iLac back." Leona told him and handed it to him. He smiled.

"Thank you, Miss Jarnefeldt. And here is your payment for a job well done." He said. He produced a bag of Jewels from a drawer in the desk and handed them to Leona. The weary Wizard Saint gratefully took them.

"Thank you, Mister Burke." Leona thanked the client for the payment and the job opportunity. She put the Jewels inside the backpack, then closed it up and put it on her shoulders. She winced in pain from the grazing bullet wound on her left shoulder.

"Should I need your help again I will contact you, Miss Jarnefeldt. Please keep any and all knowledge of the Orion to yourself. I bid you good day." Mister Burke requested that Leona keep her knowledge of the Orion secret before dismissing her. The Wizard Saint waved goodbye and left the meeting room. She was going to go home to Silver Wolf Guild Hall and get the grazing bullet wound treated, then go to her room and sleep for the rest of the day. That was the best way to end such a brief but exciting job.

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