Lost Drop - Tidings of Joy

Tidings of Joy

This one was going to be a massive sci-fi style space opera in the same vein as Restless. Similarly to Restless, I hid a spot with it that I just stopped feeling it, which is unfortunate. I really did like the MC of this one and the side characters. She’s probably one of my favorite MCs to date, to be honest.

— — —

“Um- boss? A-are you sure this will work?” One of her guards pulled at his clothes and hesitantly called out to the short girl leading the group.

Unlike the usual advanced plate that he usually wore, the man was dressed up as a magician. The guy practically screamed grizzled veteran. She even lended him her usual top hat to complete the look, though it did little to take away from his stocky form. She was most concerned about his disguise failing.

”Course! And how many times have I told you, Pulsey? Call me Joy. Say it with me now. Joy~” She snickered, enjoying the group’s discomfort all too much. The bells atop her jester hat twinkled lightly with her laughter.

“Joy.” Pulse, the sergeant and doctor of the group rolled into one, sighed and shook his head. “I still don’t see how we’ll get past customs like this.”

She just laughed at his concerns like they were a joke. Her laughter spurred Jackal, the insane melee expert, likewise into a fit. Unlike hers—which was light and cute—his laugh was heavy and unhinged. It was a good thing the guy was dressed up as the haunter of the troupe. Probably wouldn’t have been able to sell any other role.

Joy exaggeratedly nodded her head a few times, face completely hidden behind her rebreather shaped like a jester’s mask. Her eyes twinkled through the eye slits. “Trust me. My original troupe smuggled all sorts of things through PDF checkpoints.”

“Probably shouldn’t be admitting to that.” Pulse sighed once more. She got the feeling he was getting more and more depressed about being assigned under her as the days passed. If he had an issue with that, though, he could take it up with the people who conscripted her into Pyrewatch.

”My baby will get through, right?” Forge, the only one lacking a proper circus outfit since he was the ‘pyrotechnician’ of the group, asked. He kept glancing at the crates he pushed on a grav-sleigh like they could vanish at any moment. A pair of goggles pressed down onto his head and a rebreather dangled from his neck. Both were stained with soot.

“Relax. I’ve done this plenty of times.” Joy skipped around the group like a child. “Or, at least, watched my old circus leader get us through. Can’t be that hard, right?”

Asher, the sniper and only other woman in the group, sighed and shook her head. Her mechanical eye glowed for a moment as she easily looked through the crowd toward the customs guards up ahead of their ‘troupe’. “Better say our prayers now, boys.”

“I still don’t see why we can’t just go under the legion’s name like usual.” Forge rubbed at the crook of his elbow.

Pulse just sighed. He’d start getting wrinkles at this rate. “How many times have we been over this? Were you not paying attention during the briefing?”

”No.”

”Ugh- what is wrong with you people.” Pulse pulled at his face. “Triple PT for a week assuming we get out of this. Our brigade is under strict cloak and dagger protocols.”

”Haah…” Jackal joined Pulse in his disappointment. “Why couldn’t we just be assigned to trench warfare? Everything is so much easier there…”

“So is dying.” Joy muttered under her breath. She’d never had the pleasure of trench warfare herself, but she’d heard the horror stories.

And finally the last of the group, Crow the acquisitions expert, spoke up like he was scared of being left out. He was a ratty little man, and that vibe fit pretty much everything about the guy. “A-are you sure me bom-“

Pulse punched Crow just before he could finish speaking. The ‘illusionist’ doubled over into a trembling mess. “Idiot. Don’t say that word here. You know how on edge they are about that kind of thing?”

Joy skipped over, helping the ratty thie- acquisitions expert up before the duo could make much of a scene. She leaned closer, the smile of her jester match catching the light. “Best you just don’t speak, savvy?”

”S-savvy.” The small man muttered under his breath and fell in line with the rest of the traveling troupe. 

Joy took a step back to look over her group and nodded her head firmly. This would work. They’d be fine. Her strategy of just going through security outright was so much better than the other squads trying to infiltrate from the space port. Or, at least, she thought so. 

The commander hadn’t really given them instructions. It didn’t help this was their first official mission since being gathered up like stray sheep. Sure, she had a couple months training since being plucked from the burning remains of her circus, but that didn’t mean she was up for this! 

Still, she forced a smile and skipped ahead to the front of her squad just as they reached the customs officials. The Planetary Defense Forces scattered around the place watched her group with interest. It was hard not to be the center of attention. Traveling troupes were extraordinarily rare in the galaxy with constant warfare and all.

“IDs?” The customs officials called out. The PDF spread out and started searching through all the equipment and boxes of supplies they’d brought along. Most of the boxes were stuff they’d need for the circus. The other- well, smuggling wasn’t a concern for no reason.

Joy skipped ahead of the group. She was the squad leader now, although it didn’t look like it from a far. She was three-quarters the height of her squad and far younger to boot. She casually splayed her hands, flicking out several IDs. To the untrained eye, it looked like they just appeared out of thin air. “Here you go!”

The official watched her, smiling at the small trick. “Impressive, little miss. You in charge of this group?”

”Of course!” She stretched her hands above her and dramatically waved them down like showing something off. “I’m the troupe leader!”

Pulse stepped up and coughed lightly from behind her, muttering quietly to better sell the act. “Ringmaster’s daughter.”

”Ah, I see.” The official’s smile still held that warm tinge. It was hard not to. Joy just had a jovial vibe about her that pulled in others. It was… annoying. It made it really hard for her to be serious.

He took the IDs and scanned through them. Joy wasn’t too worried about it. Although the commander didn’t give instructions other than to get onto Scorpio-5, she was given access to the thirteenth legion’s full list of assets. The IDs were practically real by this point.

The official found as much when he scanned through them. He casually passed them back. “Six travelers seeking entry. One child. Five adults. Came from Kravin System aboard the pilgrim ship Momento Mori? Is that right?”

”It sure is mister!” She snatched the IDs, making them disappear back down her sleeves. The pilgrimage vessel Momento Mori was the ship the thirteenth legion was using to infiltrate this planet.

The official nodded his head and clicked around on a data-slate. “Then if there’s nothing else, you-“

”Sir!” One of the PDF called out to the official. “We found… a heavy flamer?”

The official’s smile immediately cracked at the edges. Joy quickly formulated an excuse. “It’s-“

The lie caught before it could even take off. She felt a burning in the back of her throat for even attempting to commit such a deed. Right- it’d been months, but she still hadn’t gotten used to her new restrictions. She glanced at Forge nervously twitching every time the PDF touched his baby.

”It’s for pyro-technics! Really give us some zazz, you know?” She elbowed Pulse in the side. “You have the permits?”

”Um- right.” Pulse dug through his pockets. She’d planned for all of this in advance. He pulled out a thick stack of permits for every item that the group had and dug through it. Eventually he plucked out the right one. “Here.”

The official’s strained smile relaxed slightly at hearing the reasonable excuse and seeing the permit. He checked it through the system. It was good. “You’re free to-“

”Sir!” Another guard called out, cutting him off mid sentence. “There’s tons of guns in here!”

”They’re disabled.” Joy quickly pointed out. Before even coming down on a shuttle, they were taken care of by Forge. “Purely ornamental!”

And that was true. Sure, with a bit of work from Forge they’d turn into killing machines once more, but that last part didn’t need to be said. No one needed to know what exactly they were trying to bring down to the planet, nor how much damage it could potentially do.

“Here.” Pulse handed over a stack of permits for each of the disabled guns. Although they were non-functional ‘props’, they were still guns.

”Right.” The official sighed and looked through the stack of permits. His smile had completely disappeared at this point. One of the guards pulled up two ornate revolvers, neither of them disabled. “The six shooters?”

Joy waved a theatrical hand toward Asher. “Be amazed by Master Marksman Thresha! They’re part of the show.”

Asher smirked and fired off finger pistols. She had a badass vibe to her that really sold the whole act. “A bullet a day keeps the neighbors away.”

The official sighed and checked the permits again. Sure enough, there were a couple for the ornate six-shooters. “If there’s-“

”Sir!” A call cut him off for the third time. “These crates are full of alcohol!”

In the back of the group, Crow fidgeted uncontrollably. She shot him an evil look. When the little rat said he’d carefully disguise all his bomb making supplies, he promised it would be completely unnoticeable. “Heh- you know how nobles like their fire water…”

”Uh-huh.” The official was fully frowning now. His expression dipped with weariness. “You have permits for that too, I assume?”

”Somewhere in here.” Pulse shuffled through the permits. He scratched out his head and set them down on the customs counter to check all of his pockets. Eventually, he found the rest of the permits. Why did magician coats have to have so many damn pockets? “Here.”

The official scanned through them once more. Like the last set, they all passed with flying colors. The troupe weren’t smugglers. They had authority from the planetary governor for everything here. How they got the governor to sign off on stuff was beyond him, but a circus would be great for morale. The governor’s palace probably just hand-waved it without looking.

He didn’t immediately speak, instead waiting for a moment in case his men found anything else. No one said anything. “Alright-“

”Sir!” A guard hesitantly called out from beside Jackal. He had a metal detector in his hands beeping erraticly. “This guy is covered in knives.”

”He-“ Joy just shook her head in disappointment. Out of everything that they brought to be stalled like this. All the explosives, guns, and equipment, only to be brought down by simple knives?! It’d been going so well! She sagged her head in defeat.

”I’m a knife swallower. They’re all for the act.” Jackal casually said and stood straight up. He pulled one of the very sharp and very deadly knives from his oversized clown jacket and casually shoved it down his throat. He pulled away his hands, revealing the knife completely vanished down his gullet.

Joy watched him in stunned silence. She’d seen sword-swallowing before, of course. The one in her old circus used retractable or dull blades covered in oil. Jackal, the mad lad, just raw-dogged the knife without even a second’s hesitation. Her heart was in her throat while he performed his trick.

Jackal turned in a slow circle and then carefully extracted the knife once more. He wiped it off and held it out to the guard with an eerie chuckle. The guard grabbed the knife in a stunned stupor and pressed his finger against it. “It’s real.”

A round of applause spread out through the watching folk around the customs checkpoint. Both citizens, PDF, and the rest of the squad alike were stunned by the casual feat of Jackal’s. Then again, she guessed it wasn’t that much of a surprise the hoplophile even figured out how to swallow them. Hard to be closer than that.

Joy immediately jumped on the chance, waving her hands cheerfully and theatrically pulling Jackal into a bow. “Thank you, thank you! Come see the Halbringer Troupe in the capital! Admission is cheap!” 

“They’re just knives. Let them through.” The official waved a casual hand. It was a bit of corruption on his part, but no one called him out on it.

”How knife of you!” Joy cheekily called out and moved back to the customs counter. The PDF guards and squad slowly packed everything back up.

Pulse finally pulled his hand off his face, muttering just quiet enough that Joy could hear over the clamor of the crowd. “Idiots. I’m surrounded by idiots. By the pyre, how are we getting through with this?”

Joy just smirked and nudged him with her elbow once more. “Told ya. Now, onward!”

The troupe passed through the custom’s checkpoint without much effort-

Ding! Ding! Ding!

The alarm went off when Pulse tried to pass through, immediately causing the PDF soldiers to tense up and stop him. The official read the report aloud. “Military cybernetics? Now why would you having something like that? You’ll have to come with us for questioning.”

Pulse, for his part, looked absolutely mortified as the nearby PDF zeroed in and apprehended him. He shot a look at Joy as if begging for help. She just smirked, the motion hidden under her mask. Oh how the mighty had fallen. 

The rest of the squad knew better than to laugh at their sergeant. Quadruple PT wasn’t a thing they wanted to go through again. They kept completely neutral faces, though the slight twitches at their eyes gave them away. Crow in particular had a hard time holding it in.

”How long have you known this man, miss?” The custom’s official asked her. Joy twisted her head innocently like a young maiden taken advantage of. Of course, her mask hid her wide grin. “He joined the troupe not too long ago. Is something wrong, mister?”

“I’m afraid so. Would your troupe mind waiting while we question him?” The official held absolutely no suspicion for the rest of the group. It was purely directed at Pulse.

“Of course not! We’re all devout citizens of the republic. Just let us know if you need anything!” She cheerfully called and theatrically waved bye-bye at the despairing sergeant.

— — —

Chapter 2

Joy snickered. She just couldn’t help herself. The sergeant came out of holding looking much worse for wear several hours later. He was let through customs after far too much work on her part. And tickets. She gave out a bundle of tickets for free. Potentially several hundred Sparks, gone just like that. So were her dreams of having money independent of the legion.

”Laugh it up, boss.” Pulse handed her the aged top hat she loaned him.

She flicked off her jester’s hat. Her hair, black with red stripes, flared out behind her. It was cut short and shaggy, like it was hacked off with a knife. She gently placed the top hat back on her head, feeling its comforting security once more. The jester hat was nice too, but it couldn’t beat her hat. “Thanks.”

“Yeah yeah… so what’s the plan now?” Pulse looked over his shoulder, eying the passing travelers with wariness in his eyes.

Joy looked at the rest of her squad through her mask, inspecting each of them. “Pfft! Hehehe…”

A silly laugh broke out of her, making the rest of the squad shift uncomfortably. The ones that were here, anyway. Jackal, Asher, and Crow were out doing other things while Forge and her worked on getting Pulse out.

It was just so funny to her that these normally super serious soldiers of the thirteenth legion, Pyrewatch, were now dressed up as a circus and taking orders from her, who had almost no actual tactical or combat experience. Never in a millennia did she think she’d be in this position. She always assumed she would live and die with the circus, not go galavanting around with one of the republic’s legions. 

Of course, anyone could recognize it’d be a bad idea for someone like her to take the lead in a tactical operation. If she was a normal person, that was. But she wasn’t. Not anymore, for better or worse.

“C’mon. Crow got us a ride. Asher and Jackal are down with him.” Joy headed off toward the elevators leading out of the building. “After that, we’ll get set up.”

Forge handed over a bunch of equipment to the sergeant. While he was locked up, the mechanic had repaired some of the guns and equipment they snuck past the customs offices. It was just small arms and their Sub-Orbital Communicators.

”Other squads check in yet?” Pulse took the brick like Soc and stuffed it into one of the many pockets across his uniform.

”No.” Joy toyed with a lock of hair, pushing it behind her ear. “Artist and Priest will probably be out of contact for the next couple days. Broadsword Squad should be checking in soon though.”

”Broadsword’s plan was to orbital drop in, right? I’m so jealous…” Forge sighed and messed around with his goggles as if to comfort himself. “I was trained to do that, you know? Ended up taking a bus to the front lines instead.”

”Heh- really?” Joy smirked at the mechanic. “That’s legion intelligence at its finest.”

“Ahem.” Pulse shot a superstitious look around the elevator. The legions held an exceptionally high position in the hearts of the republic. “Boss.” 

“Yeah, yeah… not like I made those jokes before I was gang-pressed into the legion.” Joy shrugged halfheartedly. “What are they going to do now, fire me?” 

“Or lock you in a brig.” Forge commented. He turned quiet when her gaze locked onto him and went back to tinkering with a Soc.

“Whatever.” She didn’t bother arguing. They both knew as well as she did that getting any kind of punishment over something so minor was out of the question. Now that she was one of the legion’s few Avowed, it’d take something way more before anyone even looked at her. Or less considering her loft position.

They arrived at the bottom of the towering building and stepped out onto a highly congested road. Busses and public transport took up most of the space, though there were a few private transports here and there. After a bit of searching, they found the rest of the squad in a large vehicle.

Forge took the lead toward the large vehicle. ”I’m impressed. Actually got something useful for once.” 

“Don’t be.” Pulse patted the mechanic on the shoulder. “I doubt Crow would scorch up like that again. Not after Asher nearly plucked his eye out.” 

”At least they’d be matching!” Joy snickered and darted ahead to the car. Shotgun was already taken… but she had the authority in the squad. There was no way she was going to be squeezed into the back with the rest of the squad. “Move it, Jackal.”

The man looked at her. His eye twitched like he might commit an insubordinate act, though eventually waved a hand in surrender and got out. “Fine…”

“Yay!” She hopped into the seat and buckled in. “Um- you got my slate, Forge?”

”Hm?” The mechanic looked up blankly for a few moments. “Oh- yes, ma’am.”

The guy dug through one of the several boxes of supplies until he found it and passed it up to her. “Thanks.”

It took her a second to remember how to turn it on. The advanced tech just felt weird to operate. Before being… extracted from the circus, she’d never interacted with much beyond a radio, let alone one of these things. She was just an average citizen after all.

”Um-“ Joy eventually pulled up a map, zeroing in on their next destination. She waved it to the driver, Asher. “We’re headed for Trinity Theatre.”

“Are we- no, there’s no way, right?” Pulse asked hesitantly. “The whole traveling troupe thing was just an act to get through customs, right?”

Joy tactfully remained silent. That silence stretched on, making all but Jackal shift uncomfortably in their seats. The melee expert was too busy looking at himself in the reflection of a dagger to pay much attention to what the rest of the squad was doing around him.

”Boss-“ Pulse cut himself off. “No, Joy… it was just an act, right?”

”Heh- oopsie?” Joy flinched and rubbed at the back of her head. “Did I not tell you?” 

“No one's said anything.” Asher started up the vehicle and pulled out onto the narrow streets. “We were assigned to Jester Squad and haven’t heard from anyone but you since.”

”Really would’ve thought they told you…” Joy muttered. She shifted in her seat, going over her assignment mentally once more. “Our Brigade was sent here by the legate to investigate reports of a cult in the Scorpio system. The local chapel is… uncomfortable with the situation.”

”And that leads to us putting on a circus how, exactly?” Forge asked. “Not that I’m questioning your orders, but it seems like a bit of a leap.”

”Broadsword has the planetary administration, PDF, and everything in between. Artist is checking the upper-class and merchants. Priest has the local ecclesiacy covered. That just leaves the lower and bottom class to approach.” Joy motioned to an upcoming turn. “What better draw than a traveling circus? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for most people. Even crazy cultists probably won’t miss it.”

A deep sigh came from the back. Even before he spoke, she knew it was Pulse. “Surprise, the jester wants a circus.”

Joy, being the great leader that she was, decided to overlook the insubordination. “On the bright side, we don’t have to deal with any religious fanatics, rich snobs, or boorish bureaucrats!”

”I think I’d rather face an invasion in open combat.” Jackal cut in, finally deciding to join the conversation.

”That doesn’t count.” The jester immediately shot him down. He made that comparison at least a dozen times since they officially became a squad. “You’d always rather be in open combat.”

”Mhmm. Best kind of combat.” The melee expert didn’t even bother denying it.

”The best kinda combat has lots of artillery.” Crow immediately broke into an argument. “Maybe even an orbital bombardment if we’re lucky.”

”And do what? Sit in the trenches like cowards? It isn’t a fight unless I can taste the enemy's blood!”

”Nice try, genius. Do you not remember what happened to the last trenches we were in?” Crow didn’t even wait for the other man to respond. “We were up to our ears in Scourge! They don’t even have blood to taste!”

Pulse intervened before they could go any further. He always had to ruin the party. “Cut it out.”

”Wish I could.” Joy looked up just in time to watch Jackal run a thumb across his throat at Crow. 

She decided not to interfere once more. Pulse wasn’t saying anything else, so it was probably just more of the squad’s antics. Hopefully. She’d rather not have to explain to command that one of her squad members killed the other over a petty argument. This was her first mission. It definitely wouldn’t look good.

Although… if she did a bad enough job, what were the chances she could get kicked out? She could just say something like ‘I’m just not meant for this kinda thing’. They’d drop her off on the nearest planet and let her roam free.

Hmm… probably wouldn’t work. No- it definitely wouldn’t work. She was more likely to get executed then let go now that she was an Avowed. The republic wouldn’t just let someone with powers walk around. 

She could always try and flee. Probably wouldn’t escape pursuit for long though. Not with the Legio Venatoris on the prowl. She’d been informed quite frequently during her short time in training how easily they could hunt down traitors and turn-coats.

Although the situation wasn’t great, at least she had some autonomy as things were now. And, although still dangerous, Pyrewatch wasn’t a front-line legion. Things could always be worse… She could be flung at a Scourge world. Besides, to really screw up that bad she’d have to get several squads killed at least.

The rest of the way there, Joy tuned out of her surroundings and just watched the city pass by in boredom. Like most other republic cities she’d been to, it was a wash of white buildings, colorful cloth, and aged copper. So much copper. Pipes, power lines, and anything else that wasn’t white stone was probably copper.

Colonnades and marble columns stood at every chance they could, and splendid arcs made the spaces feel a bit wider then they actually were. Buildings stacked onto buildings far up into the sky, each one more haphazardly placed than the last. Most of the white surfaces past a certain point turned gray or outright black with soot from factories scattered around the city.

Then there were the people. Most kept their heads down and monotonously moved from one place to the next. All of them looked tired like they might pass out at any moment. About half of them were covered in grease and soot. The other half was also covered in the stuff, though they looked marginally cleaner. 

From the briefing she received, this planet had a 36 hour day cycle with two work shifts cycling every 12 hours. One of the shifts must’ve just ended with the amount of people out and about. It made travel severely slow down thanks to the heavy foot traffic and trams moving through the area.

As far as she could see, it was a normal looking city. No signs of a cult or anything like that… though that could only be expected. Still, she had a not so small amount of faith that there wouldn’t be anything wrong and they were just jumping at shadows.

— — —

AN: Rereading through this, I really want to write it again. Joy was such a, well, joy to write. I got into my head a bit with this one though and messed myself up. Maybe in the future it might make a return? I’ll add it to the list of stories I might come back to.