Slingers (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 1)

Chapter 14

The squad of Resistance fighters swarmed around the large steel door leading to the hangar of the base. The raised their rifles and placed several charges on the door, getting reading to break in. They placed them on the wall, the magnetic clamps activating, and they twisted the small handles on the top to arm them. "Get clear!" The Resistance soldier shouted, and the squad got away from the door, the leader having the detonator in his hands. But, before he could press the button, the doors strangely enough actually began to open on their own. The Resistance members looked up, confused as to what was happening. They heard two ion motors revving up, and saw two speeders race out from the hangar, zooming past them. Edvard and Elicia had never ridden a speeder before, but they seemed to be doing well for their first time. It was like riding a bike, except flying a speed of nearly 50 miles an hour. They kept their resolve as they gripped the handles tightly, afraid to fly off or crash into a nearby hill. They sped across the plains of crystal and gravel, narrowly avoiding firefights between Resistance and GDF forces. Elicia thought back to the quick conversation she and Edvard had before they had made their escape. They had made it into the hangar, and saw a small cargo hopper. Edvard rushed over to it. "Come on!" He motioned to Elicia when she stayed motionless. "What are you doing? We can't leave them here!" "This is our opportunity to get rid of those morons for good! We don't need some stupid legend to make us rich!" "It's not about money, Ed! You don't just leave people in a warzone!" "Those people tied us up and gagged us, and now you're feeling sorry for them?" "Edvard! There's self-preservation, and then there's having some basic human decency!" Another explosion rocked the base, and Edvard looked into his sister's eyes. He sighed. "Even if we were to help them, they're all the way over at the mines. How are we going to get over there fast enough?" Elicia turned and saw the speeders, causing her to smile.

Dante stared at the blank visor of the figure that he had been following. He had activated the Renegade's cloaking device when he got close to the surface, and stayed a good distance away from both the GDF ships in the atmosphere and the ground forces. Once he saw the ship land, and the figure emerge, he placed the ship in hover and jumped, but was too late to stop Nolun from getting injured. Damn it...he had put too many lives at risk already. He wasn't going to let this one go to waste. He saw the girl take Nolun away, but the interesting thing was, even though he had made quite the entrance, the masked figure didn't seem the least bit interested in who he was. He was more focused on the two others that were limping away. Dante saw the two packs on both their backs and connected the dots. He wants the Pieces...the GDF  are going after the treasure too...As the figure began to walk away from Dante and towards Nolun and the girl, Dante rushed forward in front of the figure and swung his right-handed sword at him. The figure didn't even stop walking as he swing his katana to block it. Dante kept thrusting and swinging, trying his best to stop the figure's walk, but he seemed to keep blocking every move he made with almost mechanical precision. Then, Dante began to move faster, starting to swipe at the figure in a hailstorm of blades. The tips of his swords couldn't even be seen. Then, finally, the figure stopped and blocked both of his blades with a single stroke. The three blades clashed together in an explosion of steel, Dante gritting his teeth and straining to break it, while the figure seemed to break his masked facade, and seemed to be straining as well. This continued, neither side letting up, until finally both of them were pushed back by their own strength, skidding backwards. Dante put his blades together in an X-shape, the classic sign of initiating a duel. Strangely enough, the figure responded by putting his sword in front of him, a sign that he accepted the challenge. The two stared each other down. And they lunged again.

Andress had been running for only a short time, but she already was tired and exhausted. Her arm was beginning to twitch and malfunction. She would have to get Bunker to check- She stopped herself. Bunker was...she shook her head. She felt Nolun shift and groan next to her, the cut on his chest still leaking badly. She had tried her best to plug it up, but it wasn't working. If she didn't get him medical attention, he was going to bleed out. What the hell had he been thinking? She looked down at him, his eyes slowly beginning to glaze over. He was going into shock. Her eyes widened and she began to press down on the wound, making him cry out. "Serves you right." She muttered, and then heard the sound of engines over her head. She looked up and saw the twins ride in on two speeders. "You alright there Red? Thought you could use a hand." Edvard looked down at them with a smirk. Andress looked back up at first with anger, then a tiny little smile. "Took you long enough." She said. They lowered the bikes and Elicia saw Nolun. "What happened?" "No time. Dante and Bunker are over the hill. We need to get them and get the hell out." Andress jumped on the back of Elicia's speeder, and Edvard hoisted Nolun on his. The two of them sped off, until Andress looked up. "Wait! There!" She pointed and everyone saw what it was. The Renegade had just decloaked automatically above them. They made their speeders ascend up to the ship's open cargo bay, and Andress ran to the pilot's seat. Elicia carried Nolun to the medical bay, and Dewey strapped him down. "You all really need to get a less deadly hobby." Dewey remarked. "Hang on!" Andress shouted as she took the ship down. As she got in closer, she saw that Dante was fighting against the masked man. They didn't appear to be moving, yet she could hear the strikes from in the cabin. They didn't have time to land. "Edvard! Take the wheel!" Edvard nodded and ran past her into the cabin, while Andress clipped a line onto the winch on the floor of the cargo bay, and ran out jumping down with another line. She saw that Dante had been knocked back, and was about to go in for another swing, but she clipped the second rope onto Dante's back, and reactivated the winch, pulling the both of them back up just before the masked man could reach them. They were flung into the cargo bay. Dante grabbed her and shouted. "I had him!" "You were going to die! Nolun's safe, we need to go!" "The other one...your friend...his body..." Andress looked at him confused, then her eyes widened. "Edvard!"