Loyal Soldier

General Rome waited until the mercenaries were in the airlock before jumping to his feet and grabbing his duster and respirator mask. "I'll be back," he said to the waitress as he ran to the door into the motel. He swung the duster over his shoulders as he stepped into the lobby airlock, then pushed the respirator mask to his face as he hit the button for the outer airlock door. As he stepped out into the swirling sand, he pulled the strap of the respirator mask over the back of his head, and the mask pressurized. Across the lot, a vehicle had just landed. All Rome could see through the sand were the lights, but based on their spacing it had to be a truck or a bus.

He saw the shapes of the mercenaries moving around near the pub's airlock and ran out into the sandstorm at a right angle to the vehicle so the mercenaries wouldn't see him. When he couldn't see them anymore, he curved back towards the vehicle. It was a bus, a long-range transport, the type usually used to connect smaller settlements to major hubs. Someone was climbing out, several people. General Rome ducked under one of the short wings that supported the turbofans, and crept up behind the new arrivals, he couldn't see the mercenaries anywhere. Rome pulled out his pistol and dagger but left the dagger's plasma-blade turned off as the light would immediately alert everyone to his presence.