Hacking the Sun - The Re-Remake

Chapter 25 Curtain Fire 2/3

Raptor went first, then Valerie.

Jessica positioned herself on the edge of the deck for a better view, then peered through the smoke using thermal vision.

"Floor 75 comes with several unknowns!" she said. "The level below that is empty!"

"You can see what's going on?" said Shannon.

"I can."

Pisces' airship began patrolling the exterior. It circled the squads' advance every step of the way, while carnage of varied degrees echoed from within. 

When Raptor, Valerie, and the team touched boots to the surface, Jess committed their thermal impressions to memory. Their wobbling forms quickly stomped to the other end of the floor, across blown office space, training rifles around every corner. A single unknown humanoid remained, and as the team advanced closer, the individual raised a handgun. Raptor fired a single shot that dispatched the unknown quantity.

"75 clear," he said into the mic.

Blood had been spilled. Instead of dwelling, Jessica upturned from the gunfire to Beelz's team on the 80th floor, adjusting the X-ray sensor until she noticed something else. "There are multiple Azareans on 77," she said. "I think they're expecting you, Raptor."

"Copy, Lynx. Raider 5!"

A breath of turbulence, then a gunship hovered into her 2:00 field of view. Its silhouette froze before its hull-mounted minigun ignited a blue flame and a deafeningly loud volley. Flinching, Jessica watched the Azareans on 77 get torn to pieces. 

When the volley ended, Raptor and his team diligently proceeded up the stairs, while an airship reinforced the room with another squad through shattered windows.

Two souls managed to survive the airship, their bright yellow outlines cowering on the floor. Jessica pressed her microphone and spoke fast. "You've got two people who I think are non-combatants, Raptor."

"All the corpses belong to Goliath internal security," he replied, angling over the dead. Further inward, he reached the cowering people Jessica mentioned. "Two civilians. Standby..."

The lights powered on. Their return cranked Jessica's nerves into overdrive as a rotating turret lowered from the center of the ceiling and set its sights on Raptor's group. She blinked.

"Geddown!"

Raptor and his people dove for cover, but two were immediately carved by a barrage whose lethal cadence matched a bell chime swooning a thousand miles an hour.

"We're pinned down!" Raptor cried.

In the middle of the chaos, Jessica activated the Vambrace. "Target that turret, Babel!" She pressed herself against the rear of the cabin to compensate for the airship's motion.

"I've locked onto its targeting parameters," Babel said.

Jessica tapped a few final keys. "Shut down!"

The horrifying noise ended. Jessica found her feet, took a position beside Shannon, and surveyed the building. Several seconds passed before the dust settled and Pisces peeked to at the remains. Raptor crouched over his subordinates, checking their pulses out of mere habit.

Jessica couldn't stop drumming her foot. "Val—"

"Checking the room now," Valerie cut off. She emptied her gun clip into the ceiling turret and watched it collapse into scrap. "You should be able to come down now."

"Right."

Fingers clasped, Shannon prayed in silence.

"Get ready," said the pilot. A soaring screech then skipped across the sky and collided into the back of the airship. Fast and fierce, the world spun. The pilot lost control.