Once the last pair, Micheal and Bunny, had shown up, we began to make preparations for entering the door at the base of the tower.

"Benjamin, Bunny, you two are the best shots, so I want your mag-rifles at the ready in case we end up in a shooting match," I told them. "With Micheal and Sarah leading the way, that leaves Carrie and I to watch the back and keep any ambushers off everyone else. Clear?"

As they all accepted my line-up for us, I approached the door and prepared to open it and allow them to file in.

"If we see any doors, we try to lock or block them until we either have to double-back or have no other choice," I told them. "We're looking for the way to the gravity drives and that means that we can't afford time for exploration without risking being left alone on this planet with an entire people that want to kill us. Cai and the other Cybers all agree that we've got around two hours before the engines get this planet moving fast enough to be an issue. After that we've got maybe thirty minutes before we're out of range of our fleet. Let's try not to run it down to the wire."

As I finished speaking a timer appeared in a corner of my display and I opened the door.

Without waiting for me to finish opening the door completely, Sarah and Micheal pushed into the corridor on the other side and established that there wasn't anything dangerous to us. Yet.

Waving for us to follow after them, they began to move quickly down the hallway and deeper into the tower. And the ground, if the slope was anything to go by.

On and on we walked, moving at a steady, quick pace that ate up the distance as we moved through the bare, empty corridor before we came to a landing that lead to a series of stairs that lead up or down.

"I'm guessing we want down," Sarah said as Bunny and Benjamin swept their rifles across the upper areas and checked they were clear.

"Gold star," I said. "Cybers and scans put the gravity drives deep in the planet's lower levels."

"I hate stairs," Bunny griped as we all began to troop down them. "How many of these do you think we have to go down?"

"No telling," Carrie told her. "Now quiet, we don't want anyone to find us cause we couldn't shut up."

In silence, we made our way down flight after flight of stairs, before I called a halt and peered over the railing on the side.

"What are the odds of making it to the bottom alive?" I asked Cai. I couldn't see a bottom with how high we were.

"While the larger gravity drives are active, I do not reccommend trying to use the Seraph Drive to shorten your journey," he told me. "It is likely that you will be grabbed by the gravitational forces the drive commands and then torn to pieces."

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Charming, stairs it is," I sighed. "Don't suppose anyone brought rope and clips? I'm tired of taking the long way."

"None of us expected to have to do something like this," Carrie pointed out. "We'll just have to suck it up and move faster. Besides, the Rif'nay'fex had to leave some way for people to get down there for maintenance and such. There's probably an elevator or something somewhere that we can take."

"I guess you're right," I sighed, silently apologizing to my aching legs. "Onward we go."

We continued down before, as if summoned by Carrie, we ran into a pair of Rif'nay'fex engineers moving up the stairs. Bunny dropped the first with a well-placed round to the head, and Sarah and Micheal quickly subdued the second one.

"Search him," I ordered as Benjamin traded places with me and Bunny moved past the trio taking up most of the stairwell. "We're looking for some sort of key card, or device that allows access to certain areas."

"Something like this?" Sarah asked as she waved a cube at me. I could see Rif'nay'fex symbols across it and what little Cai was able to translate for me clearly said "Access."

"Perfect," I nodded. "Now we need to find out what to do with him."

"Seems wrong to kill him while he's at our mercy," Carrie said, looking at me. I didn't reply to her.

"What if we tied him up and left him here," Micheal suggested.

"Do you have anything to bind him with?" I asked. "Something that he won't break through?"

I could tell by the way he looked away from me that he didn't. I sighed.

"I don't want to kill him, but we don't have enough of us to keep him from doing something stupid if we take him with us," I said. "Let's take him with us and see if we can't find some sort of closet or something to put him in."

"I'll keep an eye out," Sarah said as I pulled the unconcious alien man over my shoulder.

"Benjamin, take my place at the back with Carrie," I ordered. "Everyone else, same positions as before."

With nods, Micheal and Sarah raised their shields and began to move forward, passing Bunny who began to follow after them with her rifle at the ready.

We moved deeper into the complex and eventually came to a pair of doors with a keypad beside them. An elevator if I'd ever seen one.

"Do we just hold the cube up to it and it works?" Sarah asked me as she approached the doors.

"Maybe," I told her, shrugging my cargo into a more comfortable position. Looking back at me, she shrugged and held the cube out to the keypad.

With a hiss, the doors opened and we piled into the elevator before a problem occured to us.

"Which button do we press?" Bunny asked. As the smallest of us all, she'd been forced into a corner and happened to be closest to the controls.

"Just pick one and we'll see how it works out," Carrie suggested.

"Okie-doke," Bunny nodded before hitting the first button. The doors that had just closed, opened.

"Maybe not that one," I suggested helpfully, causing Bunny to glare at me from around Micheal.

The next button was much more useful. It closed the door.

"Third time's the charm," Benjamin said as Bunny pressed another button. With a slight lurch, the elevator began to descend and we were on our way.

"What's the plan if the doors open and there's a bunch of guards?" Sarah asked.

"Benjamin, try not to deafen me," I told the larger man. "Everyone else pile out and get room to start kicking ass.

"Makes sense," Micheal agreed with me. "Shield wall, while you set our prisoner down?"

"Sounds great," I agreed with the man.

With a short hiss, the doors of the elevator opened and we came face to face with a group of five guards.

"Someone had to say something," I griped as Benjamin raised his rifle and fired. Right next to my ear.