"So, to summarize," Quynh Nhu said, calmly unwrapping a fresh lollipop as if they were discussing the weather, "we're in a stolen train with a hole in it, a very angry repair-bot is about to catch us, and the big bad guys at the finish line know we're coming. Did I miss anything?"
Minerva: You neglected to mention that the train is now broadcasting a priority alert signal that effectively paints a giant 'SHOOT HERE' sign on us for any patrols in the area. But otherwise, your summary is accurate.
"Okay, so it's a 'SHOOT HERE' sign with a hole in it," Quynh Nhu amended, popping the lollipop into her mouth. "That's fine. Adds a little spice."
Pham Tuan, however, was not fine. "What do we do, Leader? We can't fight a drone and the whole outpost at once!"
Lin Ming looked at the tactical map on his HUD. He saw their train car as a blinking red dot. He saw the rapidly approaching maintenance drone. And he saw the fortress, now only a few kilometers away. A desperate, utterly ridiculous plan began to form. It was stupid. It was reckless. It was perfect.
"Minerva," he said, his voice taking on a dangerously calm tone. "How powerful is the train's magnetic field? Can you... overclock it? Just for a second."
Minerva: I can reroute emergency power to the primary electromagnets. This would cause a massive, temporary surge in the magnetic field. It would also likely fuse the train to the track and cause a catastrophic system failure. Why do you ask?
"No reason," Lin Ming said cheerfully. "Tuan, remember how I said that hole you made might come in handy?" He pointed at the three unconscious Madakaros nobles on the floor. "Get ready to throw out the trash."
He then turned to Quynh Nhu. "Get your grappling rifle ready. And try to look like a normal, everyday tourist."
"A normal tourist?" she asked, baffled. "We're on Mars! In a stolen train! Being chased by a killer toolbox!"
"Exactly," Lin Ming said with a grin. "Just act natural."
He looked at his own reflection in the darkened window. He drew Thuan Thien from its wrap. "Alright, Minerva. On my mark."
The maintenance drone came into view. It was a large, spider-like machine, easily the size of a hover-van, scuttling along the track behind them at incredible speed. Its central optic glowed an angry red.
"Now, Tuan!" Lin Ming commanded.
Pham Tuan, without question, grabbed the three unconscious bodies and, with a mighty heave, hurled them out through the jagged hole in the side of the train. They tumbled through the thin Martian air and landed in a heap on the tracks directly in the path of the oncoming drone.
The repair drone, whose programming was 99% 'fix broken things' and 1% 'avoid minor obstacles,' was not equipped to deal with three unconscious nobles suddenly appearing on the tracks. Its threat-assessment processors fizzled. It slammed on its magnetic brakes, skidding to a halt just inches from the pile of spoiled aristocrats.
"Minerva, NOW!" Lin Ming roared.
Minerva: Overclocking magnets. Have a nice flight.
An immense magnetic force erupted from the bottom of their train car. At the same time, Lin Ming held Thuan Thien aloft. He wasn't channeling any complex elemental energy. He was just using the legendary sword—a blade made of a divinely forged, unknown metal—as the universe's most attractive lightning rod.
The magnetic pulse had nowhere to go but up.
The train car violently repelled itself from the track, launching vertically into the thin Martian sky like a champagne cork fired from a cannon.
"YEEEEEE-HAAAAAW!" Quynh Nhu screamed, a mixture of terror and pure, unadulterated joy on her face. Pham Tuan just held onto his seat for dear life, his knuckles white.
They were airborne. And now, they were falling.
The Madakaros outpost was directly below them. Alarms were blaring across the fortress. The guards on the outer walls looked up in complete confusion as a battered maglev train car fell out of the sky towards them.
"Quynh Nhu, grapple! Aim for the main communication tower!" Lin Ming yelled over the rushing wind.
She was already on it. She leaned out of the hole, her pink hair whipping around her face, and fired her rifle. The magnetic grapple shot out, latching onto the communications spire with a solid thunk.
"Hold on!" she screamed.
The line went taut. Instead of crashing into the fortress, their train car swung wildly on the end of the line like a giant, deadly pendulum. It swung around and slammed sideways into the upper floors of the fortress's outer barracks with a cataclysmic CRASH of metal and alien architecture.
They had arrived.
The good news: their landing had breached the fortress wall, creating a convenient, albeit very loud, entry point.
The bad news: their arrival had been slightly less subtle than they had planned.
Lin Ming, Pham Tuan, and Quynh Nhu stumbled out of the wreckage of their train car into a scene of utter chaos. They were in a corridor of the barracks. Alarms were screaming. Madakaros soldiers were running around in a panic. No one had expected an enemy to literally drop in on them.
Lin Ming calmly straightened his jumpsuit. "See? Like normal tourists," he said to a shell-shocked Quynh Nhu. "Creating a memorable entrance."
A squad of Madakaros soldiers finally spotted them and raised their weapons.
Before they could fire, Quynh Nhu, now in her element, took cover behind a piece of a wall and opened fire. Her plasma rifle shots were precise and deadly, punching through the surprised guards' armor. Pham Tuan charged, a diamond-hard juggernaut, scattering the remaining soldiers like bowling pins.
Lin Ming ignored the grunts. His eyes were on a much bigger prize. Through a shattered window, he could see the main data hub of the fortress—a massive, pulsating tower of light and energy in the center of the outpost. That was their target.
He pulled up his HUD. "Minerva, are you still with us?"
A smiley face popped up on his display, this time looking slightly frazzled. Minerva: My consciousness has been transferred to your local comms network. My former transport vehicle appears to be... indisposed. However, I have successfully piggybacked on the fortress's internal network during the initial impact chaos. I am inside their system. It's a mess in here, but I can guide you.
[SYSTEM MISSION UPDATE: Fortress Crashers!]
[New Objective: Get to the data hub and let Minerva do her thing.]
[Bonus Objective: Try not to blow up the entire fortress before you get the data.]
[System is speechless. Just... wow. This is not how heists are supposed to work. 100/10 for style.]
They had no stealth, no element of surprise, and had just crash-landed their ride into the enemy's living room. But they were inside. The heart of the Madakaros war effort on Mars was laid bare before them. The most audacious, most idiotic heist in the history of the solar system was now in full swing.