--Point of View: Katie--

“I sure hope he is okay in there.” I said to myself as I crept back and peeked through the reactor access window. Crim was just standing in place. Was the mana too much for him?

“Crim! You okay in there?” I yelled, wondering if he could even hear me through this thick, heavy steel door. The answer came right away.

Crim whipped his head around and gave me his trademarked kind of shrug and toothy smile before bounding further into the room and out of sight. I do not know why I was so worried. Crim had more than proven he was tough. Whatever he was was sturdier than anything I had ever seen.

Tom was waiting for me once I managed to rip myself away from the window and return to the main control desk. He was furiously typing, swapping from one keyboard to the next as he tried to do the work of a small team by himself. A one man engineering crew.

“How is it looking? Any luck?” I asked, curiously leaning over his shoulder to watch whatever he was doing. I understood most of it but the sheer speed he was working at made it hard for me to catch more than every other word.

“Thankfully everything looks to be in working order besides that final reactor. Once Crim has that fixed we should be good. The only thing we need to do now is prepare the gate. Let’s go.” Tom said, rising from his chair and motioning for me to follow.

The gate was monstrous. The sheer scale of it was had to fathom. Sure, we had bigger ships and structures, but something about it was awe inspiring. Not only was it made of unknown metals, it incorporated carved stones, what looked like wood, and several forms of crystal that I could not identify. It was a work of art. As we approached you could make out the faintest hum that slowly great louder as we approached. I could feel the hairs on my arms and neck rising, a shiver traveling down my spine.

Tom started work on the nearest console when we arrived at the base of the structure. I looked around for another.

“Its up top. On the platform.” Remarked Tom without looking away.

“Got it.” I replied as I jogged around to the ramp and started my way up.

The stories this thing could tell I thought to myself. I wonder just how many people this gate has transported throughout the years. I’m sure it served the old ones well. Now it was our turn to make use of it.

The second gate console was stationed right at the top of the ramp, center of the gate itself. I immediately got to work, yelling back and forth with Tom as we relayed instructions to each other. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until a large explosion sent me crouching down for cover. It was hard to make out the source of the explosion at first, the large open room caused every sound to carry. I spotted them first.

“Droids! They are breaking through on the west side. Must be some sort of freight elevator! We need to hurry.” I called, yelling as loud as I could. The racket was threatening to drown me out.

“Agreed!” called Tom back, “I will go back and check on Crim. We will not have much time to prepare the reactors.

“Good, go! I can finish up here.”

I started to work faster and faster, but my hands just could not keep up with me. They were shaking. My nerves were starting to slip. The sound of explosions and blaster fire to my left was taking its toll one me. Would we make it in time?

“No, now is not the time to doubt myself. I can do this. I know I can do this.”

I took a few deep breaths and did my best to calm down. The shaking lessoned. I resumed. The destination needed entered. We did not know the location of another gate, or at least one that was operational. Digging through the commands, I was lucky enough to discover the coordinates for the very last teleport was still saved within the machine. Where did it go? It was impossible to tell but anywhere was better than here.

At that thought, I heard the familiar sound of paws smacking the pavement and glanced over to see Crim rapidly approaching.

“Crim, thank goodness! Is the last reactor ready? As you can see, we are running out of time.” I shouted, a slight smile forming on my face. It was good to see he made it.

“Yeah, I noticed. The reactor is fixed. Tom is starting everything up. He’s afraid we may not have enough time though.” He replied, his ears twitching wildly before laying flat.

I nodded and picked up my pace again so I would not keep Tom or Crim waiting. Only a few more steps to go anyway. Once the destination was set, we only had to wait for the reactors to prime the gate, hit the button and walk through.

“Crim, go tell Tom that everything is ready…” I called, turning towards Crim but he was not there. Surprised, I whipped my head around until I found him. He was sprinting towards the elevator.

“I’m going to stall them as best as I can!” he called out before really taking off.

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He shot forward like a bullet, a red streak against the otherwise bleak surroundings. That idiot! He barely survived one let alone how many managed to fit inside that elevator. It could be dozens of them.

“Crim! Come back you fool! You do not need to do this.” I shouted but it was halfhearted. The reality was that we probably did need more time and he was the only one that was going to make that happen. He was strong. Very strong but that did not make it any easier for me. I did not want to see him hurt again.

I gritted my teeth and turned away, running back towards the reactor control room to assist Tom. There was nothing I could do but get the gate working and praying that Crim comes back to us in one piece. All of a sudden, the room practically shook as another explosion sounded from the elevator. I craned my neck around to try and make out what happened and practically stumbled over. The elevator door. The very door the droids were having trouble blasting their way through, now had a Crim sized hole in it. Did that idiot just plow himself through a steel door? How hard is his head?

I could not help but shake my head with worry as I typed in the last few commands before heading back towards the control room. Halfway there, I saw Tom poke his head out of the doorway, probably to check on the commotion.

“Crim is buying us some time! We need to get this thing up and running, now!” I cried, running past Tom to look at the progress he was making.

“I have already started the priming process, but it is going far slower than I would have thought. Its going to be at least ten minutes.” He replied, his face also wrought with worry.

“That long?, but..” I was cut off by a thunderous howl that threatened to deafen everyone in the building. It was so loud I could feel it thump against my chest like a strong wind.

Both Tom and I ran back out of the room just in time to see Crim leap out of the elevator door, a droid hanging limp in his maw. He quickly tossed it aside like a ragdoll before lunging at his next opponent. There must have been three dozen droids still standing. They were all slowly filing out of the elevator through the hole Crim had created. He used this to his advantage and periodically slashed at anything coming through.

“Is it just me or does Crim seem bigger. Well, bigger than usual?” asked Tom, giving Katie a sideways glance.

“Now that you mention it, yes. He does look a bit different. Is he glowing?” I asked, taking note of the strange aurora that seemed to be emanating from his body. Was that mana?

“Yeah, I do not know what is going on but thank god he is on our side. I just hope he can last.” Tom remarked, glancing back inside at the large overhead display that was ticking down. Seven minutes left.

“We just have to believe in him.” Was all I could manage to say.

Crim was ferocious. He lashed out in every direction, swiping with his massive claws, kicking with his hind legs and even biting through a couple of the droids if they got too close. All of this while under constant fire from their arm cannons. It was a bloody battle. Even from this distance, I could make out the large chunks of flesh that were being seared off with every hit only to be replaced moments later by new tissue. Magic was both amazing and frightening to behold.

Tom and I watched for a few more minutes as more and more droids started to crumble but at the present, there did not look to be an end in sight. Droids continued to pour out of the opening in the elevator like an assembly line. Just how many were there actually? Would Crim be able to keep this up? I could tell he was slowing down, whatever force was driving him was beginning to dwindle. This needed to end soon.

“Its ready!” shouted Tom, reaching over to shake my shoulder as he pointed back into the room. My eyes followed to the big monitor that now showed “Gate Primed. Ready for transport”

“Well, its about damn time,” I shouted back as I turned to call to Crim. “Crim! Its ready!”

I did not know if he heard me at first, but his tail shot up straight in a sort of response. I think he did. I motioned for Tom to hurry up and we both booked it as fast as we could towards the gate controls. All I needed to do was hit start and we would be in the clear. Or at least that is what I imagined would happen. Nothing told us if the gate itself took time to startup. It was a big risk but one we had to take.

“Do you think he will make it? You had to have noticed he is starting to wear himself out.” Remarked Tom as we ran, both of us keeping a very close eye on the battle happening nearby.

“Of course he will. We just need to have it ready for him when he gets here.” I answered, winded and distraught.

Crim was indeed slowing down, it was becoming more and more obvious as we watched. His wounds were taking longer and longer to heal, and his movements were becoming sluggish. If he did not end this soon, we would all be in trouble. Thankfully, Crim seemed to understand this as well because he suddenly leapt towards the elevator door and bit down on an exposed half section. With one mighty tug, the whole door was ripped from its frame in an almost impossible manner.

We could finally see just how many combatants were left. There were still dozens of the droids, now free and readying their cannons to fire on Crim. He did not give them even a second to prepare though. With what strength he had left, Crim spun on his heals and whipped the massive door around like a flail, taking out the few stragglers that remained near him. Then, with an almost Olympic skill, hurled the sheet of metal like a frisbee into the elevator. The droids had no time to react and nearly half of them were split in two. The remainder lay buried under the rumble.

“Go go go!” Barked Crim as he had already turned and began sprinting towards us.

I frantically started the gate with a few simple commands and waited. Nothing happened at first but moments later, a wash of blue light enveloped the whole room as a field of energy traveled from the top of the gate to the base. It moved and looked like water, giving off a very strange light. I wanted to reach out and touch it.

“What are you waiting for, hurry!” cried Crim as the sound of blasters started up again. The momentarily trapped droids were already freeing themselves and heading our way at a greater speed than I would have thought.

I moved past the console and ran for the portal, Tom following just behind me. My entire body ached as I struggled to push myself forward. Lasers were firing all around us now that Crim was not the droids only target. We would die instantly if we were struck. Just then, two loud thuds sounded next to me. Crim was there. He had just taken a shot for us.

As I started to call out to him, everything went quiet. We had entered the portal. Warm light bathed across my tired body and the sensation of weightlessness appeared out of nowhere. I was also traveling very, very fast. I do not know how I could tell, but all my senses told me I was anything but standing still. Looking to both sides of me, I saw Crim and Tom. They appeared just as confused as me. Thank goodness. We had made it.