The visor of my armor enhanced my vision enough to see in the dark tunnel but Madison was practically blind and she clung to me as I ran. This was a far more dangerous place than I had originally imagined, and that sensation I’d had when we first arrived hadn’t changed. I felt watched and hunted. What perplexed me is that it hadn’t changed, even though we’ve been outed. I was beginning to suspect that they were keeping something here that was incredibly dangerous to Aegis. And that, that something, could sense Madison and myself. I didn’t have a clue what it could be, but we definitely needed to get out of here.
Thinking about the route ahead I tried to imagine potential ambush points and potential choke points. When I reached the door we needed I stopped and set Madison down on her feet but left 1 of her arms draped over my shoulder to help her keep her balance. “What is it?” she asked
“We’re here. Give me a second.” I said and closed my eyes for a moment. I tried to imagine some type of x-ray vision, something that would let me look through the door and see if there were soldiers waiting for us on the other side; but when I opened my eyes, nothing. I glanced around the area frantically and finally spotted something potentially useful. Below the door, off to the right was a grate. Crouching, I gripped it and used the armor's strength to pry it off. Behind it was a dark tunnel, two feet by three feet in dimension and it ran the direction we needed to go. I took Madison’s hand and led her over to the opening. “Through here, we’ll follow this and see where it goes.”
We got in just in time. Less than twenty seconds after I crawled in behind her the tram arrived at the stop behind us. “Go” I told her in a whisper just loud enough for her to hear me. It was still pitch black and she couldn’t see what she was doing so I turned on a small light on my helmet. With the light on we made much faster progress and came to a T-junction after a time. I gently placed my palm against the wall. The sensors in my palm picked up conversation on the other side of the wall, but it was muffled due to the density of the wall and I couldn’t make out anything; but from the tone and cadence of the speech I guessed that this was a checkpoint and the guards here were bored waiting for action.
After a moment of consideration I decided to end their boredom. Staying in these vents would only be asking for trouble. It’d be too easy to flood them with gas or lock us out of areas, not to mention without any kind of schematic there was no way of knowing which way we should go. This was probably as good a place to exit as any. “Madison, move back, down here.” I said pointing towards one of the side branches, “and cover your eyes and ears.” She nodded and scrambled quickly out of the way. The cannon on my right arm unfolded and wrapped around my hand and I forced energy into charging another large plasma blast. I positioned myself to the side to give Madison a bit more shelter and to create a better angle to the shot. “Three, two, one” I counted down aloud and released the shot.
I was not prepared for what happened next. Apparently this guard station was positioned on a bridge over a chasm inside the rock of the moon. As the blast erupted through the wall of the vent it shot-gunned out in a cone and the super heated plasma completely melted through four of the six supports for the bridge. I watched in shock as one side collapsed and fell into the chasm, taking all but one of the guards with it. The sole remaining guard hung onto what was left of the bridge for dear life, his feet kicking feebly while he hung over the void below. As I looked down at him a black and violet orb slammed into one of his hands and he fell screaming into the abyss. I looked over at Madison who was now crouched next to me. “I was thinking of asking him for directions.”
“Oh,” she shrugged unapologetically. My hud had been mapping our progress and from what I could remember I was fairly sure we wanted to go to the right, “how do we get down there?” Madison voiced my exact thought. The opening of the vent was directly over the chasm.
“I have an idea, but it’s a bit crazy.” I said to her and she smiled back at me. I had Madison straddle me and wrap both arms and legs around me. The intimacy of the position wasn’t lost on either of us and had the situation been less dire, something more may have come from it. I retracted my cannon, held her with my left and lodged the anchor of the grappling hook into the ceiling of the vent firmly before lowering us down a significant distance. Then I began to swing.
Back and forth, back and forth. It took a long time to get any real momentum but eventually Madison’s hair flapped around in the wind of our transit. “Hold on” I said and squeezed her tight. While we approached the peak of the swing I released the grappling hook and fired the boosters in my boots at the same time. I had just enough time to fire the grappling hook again after it had fully retracted before we would have started falling. It lodged into the ceiling above the door we wanted and I pulled us up. I held my knees up to support her from underneath while I used my left hand to hit the button to open the door.
After Madison climbed up to the hall, I followed and we caught our breaths. “You were right, that was crazy” she said with a short bark of a laugh. “Don’t ever do that again.”
A sound behind us caught my attention just in time. I turned and saw movement on the other side of the chasm. On reflex, a round shield spiraled out on my left forearm and I threw myself over Madison. Energy bolts pinged off my shield and the doorway all around us. After a moment they stopped and I peaked around the shield. Several guards were at the opposite door with weapons aimed at us. They’d most likely be calling in backup from this side, we had to move.
Using the enhanced vision of my visor I focused in on the door close button across the chasm, peaked the palm of my right hand up over the shield and fired an Ion Lance across the opening using the built in automatic targeting feature. The blue beam slammed into the door control and their door began to shut. Quickly I stood and hit the door close button on our side before they could get theirs open again. Madison still couldn’t run so I picked her up piggyback style and began sprinting down the hall. Her arms were wrapped around my neck and her legs around my waist, but I couldn’t see them because she was making herself invisible.
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I could hear voices from around the corner ahead and decided to plow through. A two-foot long blade extended from my right wrist and I rounded the corner at full speed, kicking off the wall. With my shield leading I slammed straight into the surprised group. Most of them went down and my blade swung for the couple in the back that were still standing. They all wore black combat armor but my blade passed through it like butter. Christian and Mickel were both on this base for their technical skills, and they were still in tech school training, so I was confident that neither would be sent against us. After the group was dispatched I charged ahead.
We came to a T-intersection and I poked my head out. I recognised where this was, the two technicians had been evacuated but their tools were still next to the light they were working on. It was clear up and down both sides and I turned right, heading for the opening of the hanger. Rounding the last corner an ambush lay in wait, fortifying the hanger entrance. One of the guards had an underslung rocket launcher directly aimed at my chest and I skidded to a stop. The barrel flashed as the rocket ejected and came straight for me. I had no time to react and I was sure Madison and I were about to die.
A black triangular shield appeared before me. Flat across the top, angled to a point on the bottom and large enough to completely obscure my body from the enemies. Though it was black, I could see small points of light through it, almost like stars in space. It was oddly, also slightly transparent and I watched in amazement as the rocket passed into the shield and continued on beyond me, within the black void. It hurt my head a little bit trying to understand but there was no explosion and then the shield vanished, taking the rocket with it. I heard a massive intake of breath, and I could tell that whatever Madison had just done, it’d taken a lot out of her.
Luckily the guards were as shocked as I was because they were just staring. I snapped my hand up and shot another Ion Lance from my palm. This one was perfectly aimed too and disappeared inside the barrel of the rocket launcher. The weapon exploded against the man’s side, ripping him and two others in half. I moved to the left wall and brought my shield up, doing my best to protect Madison as I could. My cannon folded out over my right hand and I fired a stream of Fajani energy bolts back. The defensive fortification that was set up had been shredded by the explosion and with no cover, the remaining guards went down easily.
I cautiously opened the door to the hanger but luckily it was empty. I ran for the shuttle, opening the hatch remotely with my suit. I set Madison down inside, retracted my shield and began to prep it to launch. When it was ready I turned to Madison. “This switch will release the clamps, take the shuttle and go, i’ll meet you at the Tempest”.
Her face went white. “What? What do you mean Jonny. I’m not going without you.” She was terrified but resolute.
“Stop,” I said, putting my hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eyes. Thinking fast I realized she was right and that idea was stupid, so i’d have to do somthing a little different. “I need to get that door open.” I pointed at the massive hanger door. “You don’t have a pressure suit and the shuttle is unarmed. If I blow that door with my armor, the shuttle will depressurize before we could get it closed. So I’m going to latch onto the hull with my grappling hook and then blow it. You're going to fly the shuttle and I am going to ride along. My suit has a mode for atmospheric shielding, so I will be fine.”
“But I don’t know how to fly this.” She said, but her objection was just a plea.
“You’ll do just fine, it handles like most small craft, it’s not that different. Just get us out into open space and head over the north pole. Once we’re in range, Taimia can take over.” I quickly got up and ran back to the exit before she could say more.
As the door was closing I heard her shout, “Damn you Jonny, I hate this idea. Like a lot, I really really-” but the door sealed before she could finish. Using the boosters in my boots I jumped to the top of the shuttle. Finding a good spot I anchored myself to the hull with the grappling hook.
Two large cannons rotated out from recesses on my back and swung up to my shoulders. Both were half the length, but the same width as my arms. I began charging them with plasma and I could feel the vibrations right through the metal armor. A new group of guards appeared at the entrance of the hanger but I ignored them for the two seconds it took me to finish charging the large cannons. Moments later I was glad I had anchored myself. The two cannons erupted with enough force that I was nearly pushed off my feet. Two balls of white hot plasma crossed the room in a flash and obliterated the hanger door, and much of the frame holding it.
Depressurization of the hanger was immediate. Men and debris tumbled through the room towards the opening. I locked the magnets in the boots just in time as the shuttle lifted off the deck and the escaping air dragged us into the tunnel. Madison did a fairly decent job piloting and soon we were clear of the moon. She turned us and put us on a direct course for the north pole. I took in a deep breath letting it out as a sigh. This was my first space walk and I looked around. Space was massive and beautiful and it made me feel tiny.
Here I was standing on the outer hull of a quickly moving shuttle, anchored by nothing but a rope and mag-boots. If I was still in the Starforce, this would get me kicked out in a heartbeat for violating who knew how many safety regulations. It made me think back to stories my mom used to tell me about my father. My parents were highschool sweethearts and had known each other since they were very young. Once as children, he had somehow tied himself to the back of the neighbors massive dog and had ridden the beast like a cowboy.
Something flashed by and it snapped me out of my thoughts and back to the present. Behind us were two starfighters closing fast on the shuttle. They were at maximum range but attempting to shoot the shuttle down. I began to return fire; the cannons on my shoulders launching two bolts of plasma, one at each fighter. Both dodged and I switched to charged Ion Lances. I forced a charge into both heavy cannons that pushed the safety limits. Unlike the plasma, the ion lances were kinetic particle beams. The one I shot from my palm hit with as much force as a strong punch, I was hoping I would be able to do some damage with them but it was unlikely.
Luck smiled on me though. The lead starfighter fired a micro-torpedo at us just as I released the charged Ion Lances from my shoulder cannons. One of the beams hit the torpedo and the shockwave destroyed the fighter. His wingman dodged to the side and narrowly avoided the wreckage. His engines flared and energy bolts began to pepper the shuttle around me. I fired the plasma on my shoulders at him in a rapid fire alternating pattern. He broke off in an attempt to avoid my shots but I saw a hole in the cockpit window as he flew away at full speed and I realized I had gotten him. I was just starting to feel better about our chances when my suit picked up movement on its long range visuals. I zoomed in to see a frigate burning full speed and headed right for us. Now, that might be a problem.