HAWK

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: DELIVERANCE (4/6)

The shuttle came to a stop and opened up into a corridor.

'This plan's gonna get us all killed,' Mack grumbled as he poked his head outside.

'You need to activate your veil,' Astrid instructed Kas. She touched a finger to the side of her visor and dragged it upwards. The words 'VEIL: ACTIVE' appeared in bold green text in the top right of her vision.

'Clear,' Mack said. 'Let's move.' Without waiting, he exited briskly through the shuttle doors and out of view. Astrid's little firefly body fluttered after him, leaving Kas alone in the shuttle.

'Come on, Kas,' Astrid said in her ear. Kas took a deep breath and followed after them.

The tubular corridor was much like the one Kas had been escorted through on her way to first meet the governor, though this time it felt much smaller, as though they were walking a tighter circle. Captain Mack set a quick but controlled pace which Kas matched by his side, giving the impression they were headed somewhere important. Astrid drifted just ahead of them, though only Kas could see her.

There were no people in the corridor, but Kas would rather have faced an army of them than what was currently stalking her way.

The three panthers walked in a line, the rear two following in their leader's footsteps. Mack didn't slow and Kas didn't dare leave his side, so against her instincts, they continued their brisk walk straight towards them.

'Don't run,' Captain Mack reminded her.

I'm not stupid... Kas wanted to say, but she kept her mouth shut. She glanced down and confirmed the nightstriker was still attached to her forearm. It would be next to useless if she were forced to use it, but it at least gave her some reassurance. The panthers padded nearer until they were close enough to pounce. Kas kept facing straight ahead, but behind the safety of her nitroglass, her eyes gazed unblinkingly at the leader of the pack. It was a powerful beast, slightly bigger than the two behind it, though it wasn't a patch on Kymeira. The number P-011 was printed on its side. To Kas's horror, it suddenly looked right back at her, its green eyes staring into her own as though it could see her soul. Kas's breath caught in her throat as she averted her eyes. She looked straight ahead and focused on Astrid hovering several feet away while the panthers faded from her peripherals. She saw her heart rate rising on her visor's HUD.

'Relax,' Astrid said. 'We're nearly there.'

Sure enough, Captain Mack soon came to a stop outside a silver door marked 'LOCKER ROOM B-5'. He touched his hand to the palm reader and the door unlocked. Kas couldn't have gone inside quick enough.

The locker room was a large rectangular space, thirty-feet long and twenty wide. The two side walls were lined end-to-end with lockers, each with different soldiers' names printed on their doors. At the end of the room was a doorless archway.

'Astrid, you go do a recon,' Mack said.

'Yes, Captain,' Astrid replied, and she immediately flew through the door and out of sight.

Mack turned back to Kas. 'Alright, let's get you padded up.' He walked past her towards a locker marked 'S. VALE' and pulled it open. Kas looked inside and saw it was stocked with carbachrome plated armour. Mack handed her one of the bigger pieces: a vest front, matte-black and rigid. She took it and held the shell against the front of her torso. It sensed the federal artifibre and pulled tight against her body, just as the nightstriker had done. When something green flashed in her peripherals, she glanced up and to the right to see a small vest symbol had appeared in her visor with the number one-hundred at its centre and the name 'S. VALE' above it.

'Get the rest of your pads on,' Mack said and he turned and walked away towards the arch.

Kas stepped up to the locker and retrieved a bunch of leg and arm plates and started attaching them to her skinsuit. The lightweight plating covered her muscles and gave her limbs a modular appearance, providing her with excellent protection without restricting her speed.

By the time Kas had finished attaching the last of the plates to her legs, her visor's HUD showed a full-bodied green figure complete with limbs. She looked to a mirror on the wall and noticed Vale's name was printed in small grey letters on the front of the vest.

'You done?' said a voice. Kas turned to see Captain Mack standing behind her, still dressed in his camo-gear.

'Aren't you suiting up, too?'

'I'm not the one who needs a disguise. Now let's go over this plan one more time because once we're out there, we--'

The sound of the door opening put a sudden end to the conversation.