HAZARDOUS MANEUVERS
Orion was hauling ass down the stairs as Rio struggled to keep pace. They had already gone down over thirty floors and he was moving as if they had just gotten started walking across the desert. It was almost as if he found another gear to carry him through. Then again, his adrenaline to locate Delly was probably off the charts.
He was a bit surprised they hadn’t encountered any other alien soldiers since they entered the stairwell, but he wasn’t about to complain, that was for sure. Marius, Gordie and Andrew were a significant distance above them now, should they get into trouble.
“Heilige kak! You gotta slow down Orion. I’m no good to you, if I’m exhausted.”
He stopped and turned back to her.
“Wow, this has gotta be a first.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t ever remember having to slow down for you. It used to be the other way around.”
Rio sighed and sucked her teeth. The son of a bitch was using the one thing that always worked against her. She would never, under any circumstances, accept being a liability. She took a deep breath and resumed going down the stairs. She passed him on the way down as she could hear him moving behind her.
They continued going down levels, passing the sixth. If the alien soldier was telling the truth, now they were only two levels away from their destination. Orion moved beside her and eventually surpassed her as he reached the fourth level, first.
“This is it.”
“Thank God. All these damn stairs.”
“Look at the bright side. At least, we won’t need to work out after this.”
Rio scoffed as she doubled over to catch her breath. She noticed his backpack hit the floor. He opened it and removed a second sidearm. He placed it inside Delly’s helmet and then moved towards the exit door.
“Wait. I’m not ready yet.”
She dropped her backpack and placed it in the corner on the opposite side of the door. She took her sidearm off her hip and nodded for him to proceed. He passed her Delly’s helmet before slowly and carefully opening the door. She noticed a sliver of light bounce of his helmet’s visor as he closed the door just as quickly as he had opened it.
“Shit.” He said.
“What happened?”
“Too many guards. We need a distraction.”
He activated his telecommunicator.
“Doctor Marius, do you copy?”
A few moments of silence passed as they looked at one another.
“We do. What do you need?”
Rio silently exhaled. It was easy to lose sight of the fact that they weren’t the only ones in the belly of this damn beast.
“A distraction would be nice.”
“Copy that. Standby.”
Orion deactivated his telecommunicator and looked up at her. She handed him the helmet back.
“We better load our gear back up.” She said.
“You sure?”
“Definitely. Depending on what happens next, we might not be able to come back and get it.”
“Good point.”
<>
“You heard them. Any ideas?”
Marius was funny. In previous instances, he would have been the one giving Andrew and him the strategy, but now he was passing it along to them. Gordie didn’t know what to think.
It was possible that this was an indicator as to just how much Marius had come to respect their capabilities. On the other hand, the possibility also existed that he didn’t have any ideas, his damn self. Both scenarios definitely presented their own set of challenges, so Gordie felt it prudent to believe in the former. He took a moment before turning to his backpack. He opened it up and he smiled.
“I think I got one.”
He reached inside the backpack and pulled out one of the grenades to show it to Marius and Andrew.
“Or dare I say, four.”
“If we make it back to the Yellow Rover, I’m gonna have to grab me a few of those.” Andrew said.
“They really are the gift that keeps on giving. So how many should we use?”
“I think two should do.” Marius said. “There are several ships in this depot. If one goes up, chances are the rest will follow.”
“Wait.”
Andrew spoke up before Gordie could.
“If we use the grenades to destroy this ship, how the hell are we gonna get out of here?”
“Man’s got a point, sir.”
“All right. Lemme think.”
Marius tapped his helmet several times.
“Okay. How ‘bout this?” He pointed to the alien soldiers. “We take them with us. Blow this depot up, so Orion and Rio have enough time to retrieve Delly. And in the meantime, they’ll lead us to another way out. Sound good?”
Gordie and Andrew looked at one another.
“Again, if you guys have something better, please, I’m all ears.”
Andrew shrugged to Gordie. He knew exactly what that meant. This was probably the best idea they were going to come up with, given the amount of time they had.
“Here Drew. You get one. And I get one.”
Andrew accepted a grenade from him. Gordie took the remaining three out of the backpack and placed them on his right hip. Marius approached the alien soldiers.
“Okay boys, we just need you to do one more thing.”
“We’re done helping you vakata.”
“Oh for heaven’s sake. Andrew.”
Andrew raised the intensity on the Draconoire bracelets as the soldiers fell over in agony. They made all sorts of noise while doing so. That was a pain Gordie was thankful to have never endured.
“Since they’re not going to go quietly. Keep it up for as long as possible. Not enough to kill ‘em. But enough to get them to do what we say.”
“Copy that.”
Andrew pushed the intensity even higher as the alien soldiers yelped. Gordie put his backpack on and re-entered the cockpit.
“Let me know when you want me to open the back door.” He said.
“You can do it now.”
Gordie tapped the button which opened the rear ramp of the ship. He exited the cockpit to see the two alien soldiers back on their feet. They were still trembling, although this was probably due to the bracelets and not the cold. Marius was in front of the ramp, wearing his backpack.
“All right. Coast is clear. Witchy, come on.”
He whistled and walked down the ramp as she ran after him. Andrew pushed the two aliens to follow them as Gordie brought up the rear. He came down the ramp and stopped in his tracks. He noticed all of the different alien ships that were docked around them.
Wow, this is so cool. Never in a million years…
“Gordie, come on.”
He turned to see Marius standing in front of the exit, waving to him. He hustled over to the exit and entered. They were all inside a stairwell. Witchy was waiting on the stairs heading up a level, while the two alien soldiers were on the stairs heading down.
“All right. You two plant the grenades. I’ll watch your back.”
“You better take this. Just in case.”
Andrew passed Marius the bracelet remote control.
“Don’t dick around out there. Stick and move. And leave your backpacks. Make it easier for yourselves.”
“Copy that. Let’s go, Gordie.”
They dropped their backpacks and re-entered the hangar. Gordie gestured for Andrew to move towards the ships on the left, while he went right. He hurried over to a replica of the ship he piloted due to its ramp being down. He tapped his telecommunicator.
“I’m in position Drew, how ‘bout you? Drew?”
Gordie paused a moment as he heard footsteps coming from behind him.
“How did you get in here vakata?”
“Gordie, get down.”
He hit the deck as the sound of fusion bullets rang out. Gordie looked back to see an alien soldier collapsing to the floor.
“Oh shit. Looks like the party’s over.”
Gordie hurried back to his feet and grabbed one of his grenades. He twisted the top, activating it. He tossed it inside the open ship and took off running for the stairwell exit. As he did so, the elevator doors opened, revealing more of the alien soldiers.
“Vakatas!”
He continued running as the only means of escape was through that stairwell exit. The grenade exploded, shaking the ground which brought him to his knees. The floor continued trembling as he had started a cascade. Other ships were beginning to explode.
“Gordie, come on.”
He looked up to see Andrew waving for him to move. He got back to his feet as Andrew was providing him with cover fire. They reached the door simultaneously as Gordie opened it. The second grenade exploded, blasting them through the door. They slammed against the far wall and crashed to the ground. The explosions were still going off on the other side of the door as they got their bearings. Marius, Witchy, their backpacks and the two alien soldiers were all a level below, clear of the blast.
“Hell of an entrance. You guys okay?”
“No sir.” Andrew said.
“Well, shake it off, because we need to find a new way out of here. The locals aren’t going to be very happy with us.”
Vehicles were still blowing up as they helped each other back to their feet. They staggered down the landing to rejoin Marius and company. Now came the hard part. Getting the hell out of this place.