HAWK

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: BREACH (3/6)

Upon exiting the station, the F-88 was met by a distant frenzy of fire and light. Many miles away, swarms of X1 fighters were chasing clusters of Wraiths and firing at them with everything they had. The Wraiths were scattering in all directions, though none appeared to be returning fire - they were simply trying their best to avoid being hit.

Not intending to join the battle, the stealth-enabled Infinity Fighter navigated under the station and rotated so that the IRIS filled the viewport. The big blue bubble was beckoning, but the F-88 wouldn't be able to penetrate it without help. It continued to turn until another shape occupied the centre of the viewport - a colossal white ship with a wide flat head that looked like the blade of an axe. Across its side were four words in large black letters:

INTERSTELLAR RIFT - IMPULSE SHUTTLE

The Infinity Fighter sailed towards it.

* * *

The conveyor zipped along the tunnel at a fast running pace, following the smooth contours of the path without so much as a wobble.

Kas was so far holding up well, but she knew it wouldn't be long before the acid in her muscles started building up and she'd be fighting the need to let go. She looked across at President Mantana and saw him breathing in slowly through his nose and then out through his mouth.

'You OK?' she asked.

'Fine,' he breathed. 'I do a lot of rock-climbing.'

Yeah, but upside down...?

A rumbling sound like a distant stampede alerted Kas's ears. She tilted her head back and looked at their inverted path where a dozen X1's were running towards them. The conveyor sensed their approach and slowed.

Don't stop... don't stop...

The X1's split apart like water on a rock and ran past the now crawling conveyor. Kas tightened her grip on the bar and dug her toes hard into the fissures knowing it would be a bad time to fall out.

The stampede passed in seconds, but even once they'd gone, the conveyor didn't accelerate.

'C'mon you piece of--'

The vehicle turned sharply and started down a corridor, picking up speed once it had straightened up. Kas was disheartened to find her arms and lower back were already starting to burn.

The conveyor slowed as it turned another corner, then another, emerging into a much smaller corridor than the one before. If they encountered any more X1's, the machines would have no choice but to run over the conveyor. Kas didn't know how good the suspension was on her ride, but she didn't particularly want to find out: she and Mantana were already close enough to the floor as it was.

'How much further?' she asked as her arms and legs started to shake.

'Nearly there,' Mantana replied. 'Just hang on.'

They turned one more corner before the conveyor coasted to a smooth stop. Kas took one quick look around to confirm the coast was clear before letting go of the bar and falling to the floor with a hard thud. With her muscles still burning, she rolled sideways and out from under the car.

She stood up and found herself in a slim corridor barely twenty metres long. It was lined with ten doors, five on either side. Mantana popped up on the other side of the transport and gathered his bearings.

'They should be behind one of these doors,' he said.

'How do we know which one? They don't have any windows.'

'It'll be the one that's locked.'

With no time to waste, Kas and Mantana began testing the doors. Each door opened into empty, square rooms that reminded Kas of her cell on Eidol. After checking four doors already, Kas was starting to think they'd come to the wrong place and that Worm and Captain Mack were being held elsewhere, but the next door she tried didn't open at all.

'Over here,' she said. Mantana rushed over and confirmed the door was locked before nudging Kas out of the way. She watched as he pushed a square on the wall which lit up with the outline of a hand. Instead of putting his hand on it, he tapped twice sharply, then once, then twice more. The hand disappeared and a number-pad appeared in its place.

'My palm-scan's been removed from the system,' he explained, 'but they might not have changed the security code...' He quickly tapped in a six-digit number too fast for Kas to see. To her great relief, she heard the door click as it unlocked and Mantana pushed it open.

Worm and Captain Mack were sitting together in the corner.

'Kas!' Mack exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. 'What's going on?'

'No time to explain, we've gotta go.' She turned back to Mantana. 'Can you get us to the hangar?'

'The hangar? Maybe, if there aren't any X1's.'

Kas turned back to Worm and Mack. 'You two ready to run?'

They both nodded.

'Let's go.'