Outlaws (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 2)

Chapter 32

The shuttle sat on the landing pad, it's once shiny gunmetal-grey hull now reduced to a dull muted shade from all of it's years of battle and conflict. It carried many memories with it, but those memories meant nothing to the GDF soldiers stationed around it. All they knew about this ship was the fact that it belonged to a group of prisoners and enemies to the GDF. It would soon be destroyed after they were executed. At least, that had been the plan until the strange order from the main GDF building came through on their comms. It was a directive straight from the High Monarch, so it couldn't possibly be ignored. The High Monarch was apparently ordering all soldiers to search the ship for a small scroll, possibly hidden in a secret area. It was strange, due to the fact that there was no record of anything like that being found on the ship, but it wasn't wise to ignore a direct order, so the small squad went onto the ship. They walked past the crate of confiscated items and weapons, and into the ship's interior. It was silent, and the group of 5 spread out to look. One soldier looked into a small compartment that looked like it could possibly contain something of value. He raised his rifle and turned on the light. As it lit up the small room, he didn't see anything at first, but as he raised his rifle upwards, something leapt down from the ceiling and grabbed his head, twisting it and pushing him down to the ground. The rest of the guards heard the commotion, and went down to investigate. They say a young girl with short black hair, holding two pistols in her hands, with a toothy grin on her face. "Alright lovelies." She said, and looked at the group of soldiers. "Let's dance."

Morticia and her Shock Troopers moved through the corridors of the Council Building, and she looked over the massacre. The two busted barricades that the hover truck had broken through were completely shattered, and looked to be irreparable. As she made her way into the Concourse, she noted the massive amount of bodies of dead or wounded GDF soldiers. They had forced their way out with a firefight, it seemed, as they had a tendency to do. Several other hover vehicles had either been disabled or completely destroyed. The carnage had seemingly begin in the garage, where they had overpowered the guards and stolen the truck and other transport in the first place. She then walked down the corridors of the maximum security area, seeing the several bulletholes and occasional sword slashes along the wall as the footprints of their escape were revealed to her. Morticia's temper began to rise as her pace increased slightly. As she kept walking, she finally came across what she had been looking for. It was the cell that Nolun Metreo had been taken to. She found two unconscious guards, and, standing against the wall attempting to catch his breath, Julian Gottlieb. She walked over to him, and as he turned his head, he saw her, and all the colour went out of his face. He stood up, and began to speak in a mix of stammers and babbles. "High M-Monarch! I-It wasn't my fault! I had brought L-Lovercraft here to witness Metreo's d-death, and then she went rogue a-and-" He was interrupted by Morticia's hand, which cracked across his face and made him stumble back against the wall. He looked at her with wide eyes, while she regarded him with a deathly glare and thin lips. "I know quite well what happened Director. You brought Andress Lovecraft here against my orders, and after analyzing her chip feed, she suffered strong emotional feedback from a rush of dopamine into her brain. I suspect this is what broke your control over her. You failed the GDF, Director. Although killing you would be an adequate punishment, I still have use of you. Guards, take him away." The two Shock Troopers seized Gottlieb's arms and began to drag him away, and as Morticia walked away, she could hear Gottlieb's cries. "Let go of me! She was my kill! You will not eliminate her! MORTICIA!"

The truck rounded the corner, and Andress's eyes lit up as she saw the Renegade sitting on the landing platform. After everything that had happened, all she wanted to do was sit in the pilot's chair, push the boosters to maximum, and fly out of there as fast as she could. Hopefully she would get a chance to do that. The truck stopped, and the crew leaped out, their weapons raised. Koil nodded to Nolun and Bunker. "You two move up front. Elicia, Dante, Andress, take the rear." They moved slowly towards the ship, all of them noting the lack of guards. As Koil moved into the interior of the Renegade, he slowly lowered his weapon and began to laugh. "Well, I'll be damned." As the rest of the crew piled in, a smile crept across Nolun and Andress's faces. Trace was sitting on the crate of confiscated weapons in the middle of the room, with the guards either knocked out or tied up in the corners of the room, one being held captive by Dewey's many robotic arms. "You took your time." Trace said playfully as she leaped down. Nolun and Andress moved forward to hug her. "You're ok..." Andress said, and then Trace shrugged. "Wasn't nothing." Elicia stepped forward, looking confused. "But, how did you know to hide?" Trace smiled. "You have your brother to thank for that, lovely. After Andress knocked him out, he woke up, and worked out a plan on the way here. I would stay in the ship, and keep it safe. Then, he'd somehow manage to get the GDF to come here. And boom! It'd all work out in the end. By the way, where is Edvard?" Everyone looked down, solemn looks on their faces. Trace's eyes suddenly were filled with understanding, and she put a hand over her mouth. "He didn't make it." Elicia muttered. Koil came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. "The only thing we can do now is make sure he didn't die in vain. And that means getting off this planet. Did your plan extend that far?" Trace smirked. "Way ahead of you, lovely. I managed to move to the main cabin and restore power, then I activated the emergency beacon, and tuned it to the Resistance channel." Koil's eyes widened. "Wait...so that means..." Trace crossed her arms. "I just hailed every Resistance ship in this sector. You wanted backup? You just got it."