“How much time we got?” I ask Luca.

“Three minutes at most, then there’s a steady stream of reinforcements coming, looks like every troop on this station is coming here, and they are ignoring the cargo bay for now”

“That’s actually good, we don’t have to worry about our escape route then... let’s move, Luca, lead the way, Santángel and the rest of the frontliners, deploy a defensive perimeter around us and extra careful around corners, c’mon, double time” I ordered around and we started moving fast.

We managed to advance smoothly most of the way thanks to Luca selecting alternate routes for evading the pirates, but we were about to run into a group of them, just a couple of corridors away from the hostages.

“How many?”

“According to a previous message, they are moving in groups of ten”

“And that ‘Mindscrew’?

“Dunno, they mentioned him a lot before but now they are keeping silent about him”

I’m not naive enough to think that a prominent figure of the enemy troops just disappeared when he was on his way to us. Probably guessed that we are tapping in their comms.

“Be ready for an ambush, they might have noticed us peeking in their system” I say as I give some pointers to our guys so that they take position in the corner just in front of us. We wait for a moment, while Luca holds an arm in the air, immobile. Then, he drops violently that arm, signaling us that the nearby pirate squad is within range, and we spring from the corners and unload a barrage of punishment upon them.

Again, the difference in quality of equipment is shown, as our weapons manage to penetrate their shields quickly and finish them off, and the couple of attacks that they manage to throw at us get deflected by the big ass shield carried by Santángel. The guy has put away his weapon and is only holding the trench device that gives us the most defense, but he’s also the one in most danger of the group.

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We don’t dwindle there and continue moving, with our target just around the corner. We have to manage the escape then, but we have some means for that kind of stuff. I glance at Luca and he nods at me, indicating that the way is clear, so we rush the remaining distance with hurry.

But, as soon as the gate of the holding bay is within sight of all of us, everyone around me stumbles, some even dropping to one knee, grimacing in pain, holding their heads. I only feel a sudden slight headache, but it’s pretty obvious that it is the work of an enemy, but there’s none in sight.

[Activating Metaphysical sense]

I hear Hallie’s voice in my head, activating a skill i didn’t ordered her to, but this is the effect of Combat Mode, and i have to thank her for that, because as soon as she activates it, i see a pinkish thread coming out of the head of everyone, and they all converge in the same point, in front of the gate before us.

I raise my rifle and start firing at the point of convergence, and I see it moving, avoiding the first plasma bolt but the other ones crash against a shield that deploys seemingly out of nowhere, but then the figure of a slender young man materializes in front of us.

My team realizes the situation and try to shoot at him, but they are still incapacitated, barely able to raise their heads due to pain.

“Jeez, what a violent lady” Says the kid with a high pitched voice, sounding like a badly oiled gear in a ship’s engine.

“Mindscrew huh?” I say out loud.

“Yes! That’s me! What an honor to be—” He’s interrupted by me as i continue firing my gun directly at him, and his shield gets automatically deployed, even if he tries to open the gate and hide behind it. I connect most of my shots, but his shield looks like it’s still holding, so this guy has a highly advanced shield, perhaps even better than mine.

“Hey hey! Wait a minute! At least let me introduce myself! And why are you immune?!” He screams from behind the door.

I use the time provided to reload my gun with a new plasma cartridge, and then aim again at the entrance.

“I don’t care” I simply responded.

I sound calm but I'm racking my head, trying to find a solution to this problem. There’s other hostiles coming, and this guy has my whole squad on the floor with a migraine, so I need to take care of him, fast.

Hallie?

[Target is a technomancer, extreme caution suggested]

Oh? That explains that weird thread. Can we break that?

[Use of Eyes of Dominion on affected targets should disable other psychic effects]

I can do that, fuck i do that for free. I walk in front of the group, and unload half of the new cartridge on the gate, almost caving it in. That Mindscrew fucker should stay behind for a moment, and I activate Eyes of Dominion, full power, on Santángel and the rest of the guys. I see as the threads come undone, vanishing into thin air, and I see a dark mist replacing it, but that also vanishes when I deactivate my skill.

“Santángel?” I ask.

He shakes his head, as if waking up, and looks at me directly “Ma’am we need to—”

“Hold the line” I say.

He looks at me not understanding my meaning, but then glances at the holding bay, and then nods.

“People! We need to defend this point for now! The commander is going to deal with a pest first!”