Southern Cross by Windstar

"Tell them to stick it up their asses. We're dropping down to an Imperial island."
The faintly amused face watching her from the com screen shook his head and sighed.
"First Guardian, I hope you're pilots don't tell the Americans that word for word. I thought you
had been taught better."
It was a measure of how worried she was about Julie that Emily did little more than offer one of
her former academy instructors a small smile in greeting.
"Theo, good to see you again. Our ETA is in ten minutes, how are things down there?"
The white-haired man shook his head and his eyes flicked towards something outside of the
visual field.
"The Coast Guard and a few ships of the American Navy have begun patrolling the area between
the island and Manhattan. We bought this place to use it as a training facility and a recruiting
center. Darn hard to do more recruiting when they won't let anyone get here!"
The island located just past the southern tip of Manhattan had been used as an Army base
originally. It had then become a Coast Guard base. When even the Coast Guard gave up and left,
the entire island had been offered up for sale by the government, starting back during Bush
Junior's presidency. Guardian Command had bought the place not long after the Tiri's existence
was made known.
"I know, Theo, I know. Things will be sorted out soon enough, I hope anyway. I'm bringing
down a dagger each of Marines and jump troops to help out just incase, along with some more
equipment for you. I'm going to need a way to get onto the island of Manhattan though. Julie's
somewhere there, and I need to find her before she gets her self into any more trouble."
Theo's brown eyes narrowed slightly as he thought, and Emily was gradually aware that they had
stopped being tossed about so much, which meant that they were through the upper layers of
atmosphere and had slowed enough to begin their approach down to the Island. Impatiently she
tapped a finger against her armrest, waiting for Theo to come up with a suggestion. If he didn't,
she had a few of her own, but most of them involved a bit of bloodshed if the NYC authorities
didn't let her pass.
"Well, I suppose I could find something to sneak you through, Emie. It's not going to be a fun
ride though, but it should get you to Manhattan all right. Won't work for more than four people
though."
Emily glanced at the cockpit and the way that Ile was fighting the controls to keep the drop ship
heading straight downward at a speed that wouldn't kill them all.
"Fine, I'll see you soon, Theo, one way or the other."