While Baxter was taking up position behind the refreshment stall Naomi and Jax were exiting the shopping center. The exit that Naomi had picked was across a narrow service road from the palace. A burnt out delivery truck sat a few meters away. Right where she had said it would be was a service door. She turned to Jax, “I’ll go first, see if it’s locked.” Before he could ask her why it wouldn’t be locked, she bolted, covering the distance in no time. He watched her fidget with something for a few seconds until she straightened and turned to wave him over. When he arrived she said, “Not very good locks.”
He looked down at the control panel that looked pretty robust to him. She opened the door and he went in first. He tapped his earpiece. “Rudy, tell our friends we’ll be there soon. They need to be ready to move.”
“Copy,” the droid replied, then added, “We lifted off and are hovering near the camp. It was getting a little crowded at the LZ.”
“Rebels?” Jax asked.
“Them, then the Militia looking for something to tip the scales in their favor. The upside is there was a lot of shooting and there are fewer of both sides now.”
Jax nodded. “Okay, stay sharp.” He looked at Naomi, who nodded. “Bax, ready when you are.” The only reply was the zip-crack sound of railguns firing. He turned to Naomi. “You know your way around this place?”
She wiggled a hand. “I’ve only been once, but I have a good memory.” She pointed ahead. “I think this should end in the main reception hall. From there, we can get to the stairs. The administrative level is two or three up.”
The main reception foyer was littered with bodies: rebel and militia. The signs of a running firefight were everywhere. Chipped marble, burned wooden furniture, and more.
While it had been relatively quiet on the first level, the sound of gunfire echoed into the stairwell by the time they reached the second floor.
They skipped the second floor, exiting the stairwell on the third. More signs of firefights greeted them. They saw no sign of anyone alive.
“If you could hurry up, that’d be excellent. I’m running low on slugs,” Baxter said in Jax’s ear.
Jax ran a hand through his hair. “We gotta go.” He turned for the stairwell. More gun fire sounded from somewhere above.
“Fall back, Bax. We’ll make our way to the hovercraft.”
“Copy.”
Jax turned to Naomi. “We gotta speed this up.” He pushed open the door and looked over his shoulder. “Clear.” They both left the stairwell. “Okay, where to?”
Naomi shrugged. “How would I know? The one time I was here, the tour didn’t include the broom closets.”
Jax spun in a slow circle, then stopped. “Thomas Chen!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Are you crazy?” Naomi hissed.
“Thomas Chen! Get your ass out here now!” Jax shouted again. He turned to Naomi. “We’re in a hurry.”
Two men in deep maroon uniforms rounded a corner. “Hey!” one of them, the taller one, shouted.
The shorter militia man added, “What’re you doing here? Who are you?”
From behind the two militia, a heavyset man of possibly Japanese descent leaned out around a large display case of medals and trophies. “Uh, excuse me, I’m Thomas Chen.”
The two militia spun. Jax raised his pistol and shot both of them in the back.
“Jesus Christ!” Naomi hissed. Thomas Chen ducked back behind the display case.
Jax turned to her. “Relax.” He held his pistol up, showing the slider set in the grip. “Stun.” He turned toward the display case. “Hey, Tommy, come on!”
The man leaned back out. “Naomi?”
She waved. “Hi, Tom. Are the others with you?”
Laura and Joel came out from behind the display case. “Please help us. They’ve been fighting on each floor.”
Jax waved them over. “Well, come on. We gotta go.”
An explosion rocked the building, forcing the group to stop short of the stairwell Jax and Naomi had used.
Jax turned away from the door, smoke wafting up through the seam between the door and the frame. “Yeah, that way is probably not viable.”
“Up,” Naomi said. She pushed past Jax to the door and pushed it up. Smoke bellowed out. She looked over her shoulder. “The roof has to have a landing pad of some sort.”
“And? You said it was too dangerous to fly in,” Jax protested.
“That was then—”
“There’s another stairwell,” the man, Joel, said. “When we were meeting with the governor, I saw him use it.” He pointed down the wing the two Militia men had come. “That way.”