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24. Axel

Raz's reflexes kicked into action as she blasted a hole through one of the troops with her S-90. Axel ran at the second one and grabbed his gun with both hands before pushing it to the side. It smashed to the floor. Its helmet clanged against the surface. Axel rolled away as Raz launched another blast. The second trooper toppled back down the stairs.

"What gives Timothy?" Raz snapped. "Where was the intel?"

"They weren't on my cameras, Raz," he said.

"What? How is that possible?"

"I'm not sure," he replied. "Take this flight of stairs to the bottom and you'll find yourself in a hallway full of holding cells. There shouldn't be anyone about."

"You sure? Because anymore failures like that and we'll be the ones in the holding cells?"

Timothy didn't reply.

Axel put a hand on Raz's shoulder. "What are we going to do?"

She thought about it. "Reload your gun, I'll go in first. Any more action and you two make a runner the way that we came."

Axel reloaded and they slowly walked to the side of the doorway. Raz went first. She kicked it open and looked inside. They walked into the room with the holding cells that Timothy had described. No guards in sight.

"He's sat in the final cell to your left," said Timothy and Marcella ran ahead of them. A spring in her step as she hurried down to the other end of the long corridor.

"Dad?" she shouted as she stopped at the cell.

Axel's heart jumped. Something was up. He could tell by the way that she said it. Marcella turned to look at them as they caught up with her and looked in the direction where Hyke was supposed to be sitting. The cell was empty.

Raz scowled, she pressed her finger against the comms. "He's not here Tim. What’s going on with you today?"

Timothy didn't reply for a moment. There was a crackle and his voice came through disjointed. They couldn't make out what he was saying. They listened closer. "Th-fo-me!" he said and the line went dead.

The three stood there in silence for a moment.

Alarms in the building began to blare.

"We've got to get out of here," said Raz.

"But where's my Dad?" Marcella said, her voice wavering.

"We'll figure it out," replied Raz. She turned on her heels and ran. Axel grabbed Marcella by the hand and pulled her along as they darted back to the stairs. Footsteps came pounding from up above. Raz turned around and pointed them back in the opposite direction. They bundled back into the corridor. This was it. When the troops came down here they were done for.

"What are we going to do?" he said.

Raz hurried back to the holding cell that Hyke was supposed to be in. Axel and Marcella tumbled after her. She aimed her S-90 at the ceiling in front of the doors and let out a blast. The debris clattered to the ground in front of them and created a temporary blockade between them and the troops. Above them another corridor with a collection of holding cells stood.

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"That's not gonna hold them off for long," said Raz. She pointed her gun at the floor and pulled the trigger. It blasted a hole beneath them. She reloaded and shot again until a gap revealed through to the underground. "You're going to have to get down there and leave through the next exit. That'll take you to the Kaarzee hanger. The code is 98421. There's some vessels in there. Use them to get off-world,"

"What about you?" shouted Axel.

"I'll hold them off," she said. "Trust me kid, I've been in worse spots than this. Now go!"

He opened his mouth to argue but she held up a hand.

"Now!" she shouted. The troops smashed through the door. Axel held his breath then dangled himself down. He closed his eyes and dropped. Marcella came tumbling after.

Axel looked up at Raz. "You can climb down," he tried one last time.

"Go!" she shouted and without another word Axel and Marcella ran down the underground hallway. They didn't think, they just hurried on, one step in front of the other and, somehow, they managed to get to the next exit before anyone came after them. Axel typed in the code and they took the ladder up and out.

The hanger was dark and cold inside. They closed the hatch and stepped into the silence. It held three different spaceships but the place was big enough to hold ten more. No guards were patrolling the area. Everyone knew that the Kaarzee clan were untouchable and it was clear that even this new alien threat respected them.

But as they entered the hanger, Axel laid eyes on something he didn't expect to be there. A light came from one of the spaceships and the entrance to it had been dropped. Someone or something was in there. He turned to Marcella. "I'm going to scope that place out," he said.

"What if the aliens are in there?" she asked.

"I don't think they will be," he replied. "Otherwise, the whole place would be patrolled. My Dad once did a favour for the Kaarzee clan. If one of them is in there, then they might be able to help us out. Keep us hidden."

"Who hasn't your father done a favour for?" Marcella snapped and he had to admit he was beginning to think the same thing.

"If I creep inside, I can make sure the coast is clear before you join me," said Axel.

"No way. You're no safer than me if you go alone," said Marcella. "We do this together or we don't do it at all."

He sighed. "Alright."

They walked slowly over to the exit, making sure to be out of the vision of anyone who might come out of the hatch. Axel walked up the entrance stairway and they arrived in the living quarters of the ship. The warmth washed over them. They looked around the room in awe. There were three sections to this room alone.

The walkway brought them into a spacious area lined with places to sit and monitors to sit in front of. The place was kitted out with different stations laid out with card playing areas and sets of different kinds of casino games that could be found on Displincia. This led through to a set of couches in front of big screens that the owner could access their entertainment systems on.

A plaque in front read:

Welcome to the Homesteader, population: YOU!

The room was in pristine condition. Barely lived in. This ship was clearly meant to host an entire team of people, either that or they held a lot of parties on board. They entered a corridor which had a door on the left that led to a weapons control room.

Axel couldn't help but peek inside and take in how awesome the battle room was. He'd only ever seen these types of things in simulations. This kind of technology rivalled the human outer space battalion that his father had been part of.

What was most interesting was the fact that all of the lights were currently on in the ship but no one seemed to be around. Axel and Marcella left the battle room behind and followed the thin corridor over to the door which was marked as the control room.

It was a big triangular control room, the tech wasn't as up-to-date as he expected. This model was probably made just after the Final War ended. It was still very impressive. He ran his hands across the console in awe.

"Imagine being able to afford something like this," he said. "If I owned a ship like this, I'm not sure you'd ever be able to get me off it."

"Let’s hope your father's favour actually means something to the Kaarzee clan then," she quipped.

"Hey!" shouted a voice. "Who the heck are you?"

They turned in the direction that it came from and found that the owner wasn't a member of the Kaarzee clan. Nor was it one of the Engen'ozus. In front of them stood the form of a teenage boy with a cybernetic arm and two cybernetic legs.

"You might want to start talking," he said as he brandished his power axe.