Slingers (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 1)

Chapter 24

Nolun and Bunker held onto the cuffed hands of Andress and Koil as they walked through the corridors of the Avalon Zeta, several GDF guards and officers walking past them. They were in the belly of the beast, and Nolun was naturally feeling a little bit less than confident. The impromptu plan that they had come up with wasn't exactly the greatest, but it would have to do for now. It was the only way that they could manage to get the codes to open the vault. They went over to the area with the lifts to the levels on the ship, and called one. A door slid open, and they pressed the button to the floor that the holding cells were located on. After a short while of waiting, the door slid open again, and they walked out to a security detail that was sitting a different consoles, each showing different cameras located everywhere in the ship. They looked at the group that had just come out of the lift with curiosity. "What are you doing here?" Nolun gulped and spoke through his mic. "These two prisoners have been temporarily relocated to here for now while their ship docks." The officers look at each other then back at the group suspiciously. "We received no order of any prisoner holding. Was this cleared with the Director? Let me see your ID number."

Suddenly, all the lights in the room went out, including the monitors. Before the guards could react, Andress and Koil dropped their cuffs and began to fire the pistols that had been hidden in their restraints. Bunker and Nolun also pulled the trigger, firing shots off into the darkness. The muzzle flares lit up the room, showing all the different soldiers quickly dropping under the hail of fire. After they were certain that they had all been dealt with, Koil grabbed the small EMP device that he had placed on the console when he had walked in, and deactivated it, causing the lights to come back on. There were bodies everywhere. Nolun was a bit shaken. Sure, he could fire a gun, and had gotten into a few skirmishes in his life, but he had never actually killed anyone. Koil was a soldier, so he had experience, and Bunker and Andress didn't seem to be bothered by it. She looked at Nolun, and saw he was shaken. She walked up to him. "You ok?" Nolun nodded. "Just relax. Deep breaths." Nolun felt like she had been through this herself. Koil stepped over a few of the guards bodies to pick up the radio buzzing. "This is Command. What's going on down there? We lost contact for a few seconds." Koil put his hand over his mouth to muffle his voice. "Prisoners escaped and shot up the room. The console was disabled. We're sending up a team to the main bridge now." Koil tossed the radio to Nolun. "That's your cue." Nolun looked at Andress. "What about you?" "We'll lock ourselves in. We'll wait for your signal." Nolun nodded, but Andress grabbed his hand with her metallic one before he walked away. She squeezed it fondly. "Good luck." She said, and Nolun nodded before walking back into the lift with Bunker.

Dante and the twins were on a different level of the ship, making their way towards the shield generator, where they could create the distraction that would give Nolun and the others time to make it into the vault. Dante's wore the light chestplate over his black coat, and wore a slightly modified version of the helmet, taking the form of an elite trooper. With the added security on board, most people believed he was with the boost in security detail. The twins walked ahead of him in their armour. "The generator should be just a few more corridors down." Elicia said into her comlink, and Dante and Edvard nodded. As Dante lookepd around for the entrance, he saw something that made his blood run cold. He passed another hallway, and looked down it for any possible doors that could lead to the generator room, but instead saw him. The masked man from Nimentia. The visor on his face was slightly damaged from where he had been damaged by Koil's ship, but he was very much alive. As Dante passed the hall, the masked man stopped at the other end and turned to face him. His masked head swivelled, and even though Dante couldn't see his face, he knew he was staring right at him. Dante's hand instinctively reached for his sword, but he knew he couldn't do anything here. As if recognizing this, the masked man jerked his head to the right, as if beckoning him to follow. He walked down the hall, and Dante stared after him until Edvard broke his focus. "Dante! Let's go!" Dante looked back at the twins, then stared back down the hall to see that the masked man was gone. "You two go ahead...I have business of my own." "Dante! Come back!" Elicia said, but Dante was already halfway down the hall, then he was around the corner and out of sight.

The lift door opened and Nolun and Bunker arrived on the main deck of the Avalon Zeta. Nolun was awestruck by the massive scale of the large deck. The gigantic port that overlooked the large planet and the rest of space was incredibly large. Before it was rows of officers and GDF technicians at consoles, working on everything that made the ship move, or also exchanging information in between ships and bases. An officer noticed the lift and walked over to the two of them. "Are you the security detail?" Nolun and Bunker saluted and nodded. "Yes sir, we're from the security deck-" "Good. Because the Director wants to see you two personally." Nolun stiffened in the suit. He hadn't expected this. He hoped the director had a terminal to the main computer in his office. "Yes sir." Nolun said, as the officer lead them into a private office, and there they saw a tall man wearing a prestigious GDF uniform, which gave him the ranking of Director. Nolun saw Bunker jerk beside him, as if he was surprised to see this person. The man eyed the two of them and then spoke in a very precise voice. "You must be the security detail. I am-" "Director Gottlieb, sir." Nolun looked sideways at Bunker. How did he know this guy's name. Gottlieb also looked confused, and then nodded. "Yes soldier. So, give me the details." Nolun then activated the small device in his hand, the miniature hacking device that Koil had given him. It had acquired the signal inside the bridge, now it could look for the codes to the vault. Bunker spoke. "Some prisoners broke loose sir. It took all we could to restrain them." Gottlieb leaned forward and laced his fingers together. "And if I was to send a squad down there right now to see these prisoners?" Nolun spoke this time. "We...had to lock down the area sir! Standard procedure." Gottlieb narrowed his eyes, then was about to say something else when an explosion suddenly echoed through the ship. Alarms began to ring, and red light flashed. A technician rushed in. "Sir, there's been a major explosion down in the shield generator room." Gottlieb seemed to glance at the two of them before looking at the technician. "Deal with it. All of you." He motioned for them to leave, and they made it out back into the lift. Nolun breathed out, and Bunker talked into his mic. "Andress...Gottlieb is here."