Slingers (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 1)

Chapter 27

Gottlieb was sitting at his desk when the power came back on. He then activated the special group of security cameras from his touchscreen, which were the special ones that looked into the vault. No one else could have possibly known that they existed, which were exactly their intention. When he activated them, he got an ugly surprise when he saw that the Piece wasn't there. He sat up in his seat and clenched his fists angrily. He knew that there was a reason for this. Those two soldiers that had been in there earlier had been too suspicious. He should have gone with his gut an detained them. He rewinded the video to a few minutes after the explosion, and his suspicions were confirmed. The two soldiers that had been in the office earlier were indeed the ones who had taken it. He couldn't tell who they really were due to their masks, but he would have bet any number of credits that they were two members of the group of Slingers that had escaped from his grasp before. He found an angle where the serial numbers on the armour of the two soldiers was visible, then ran that through the security database to locate the soldiers anywhere on the ship. The cameras had a match, and then played a video showing them getting off a dropship from earlier, that matched the same type as the ship that the Slingers used. Then, they had taken two prisoners up to the security room. He zoomed in on the prisoners, his eyes widening. Koil Barton and Andress Lovecraft. This was all just an elaborate plan. They were the ones going after the Pieces. He pressed the intercom. "All units, this is Director Gottlieb. Send a security team down to the security room, immediately. Shoot to kill." He then fast-forwarded to a live video feed of the two soldiers and a man with a sword on his back open up a lift and begin to climb down to the security room. Gritting his teeth, Gottlieb tried to locate Project EO, but his signature wasn't anywhere on the base. Gottlieb activated his intercom again. "I need my personal team to report to my office." He pulled out his pistol and cocked it. If you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself.

As Nolun descended through the dark elevator shaft, he could hear the sounds of a firefight below. He saw the entrance to the security room below, but there was no real way to get to the hallway without going right through the soldiers beneath them. Then Nolun spotted a vent that he assumed led to the hallway. He motioned to Dante, and he saw it and kicked it open. Since Bunker was too big, Nolun motioned for him to wait until the all clear. Nolun and Dante slid into the vent, and found the exit was right behind the guards trying to get inside the door. Nolun broke open the vent, and landed behind them with Dante in tow. The guards turned around and saw the two of them, and Nolun saluted. "Howdy." Dante drew his swords, and before the guards could even move, he ran forwards and cut most of them down, while Nolun shot the rest with what was left of his rifle ammo. After the gun was spent, he tossed it to the side and took of his helmet. "Way too stuffy for me." He walked up and knocked on the door as Dante sheathed his blades. "Hey there captain, you mind opening up? You left a couple of dead guys out here." The security door swung open and Andress ran out, dropping her rifle and wrapping her arms around Nolun, holding him tightly. Nolun was surprised to say the least, and returned the hug hesitantly. Andress looked up at him and smirked. "You took your damn time." The two broke up and Koil stepped out, holding a rifle. "Everyone alright?" Nolun nodded, then looked up. "Bunker, it's all clear!" The large armoured man dropped down from the shaft into the hallway, and walked up to Andress, hugging her. "Good to see you again boss." Andress smiled, and looked at everyone. Her face changed into one of worry. "Did you find the twins?" Nolun looked down and shook his head. "What about the Piece?" Koil asked, and Bunker slung the container from around his back, and opened it to reveal the Piece inside. Everyone nodded begrudgingly. "What now? We can't just leave the twins." Bunker said, but then Dante spoke back. "We might have to." Andress walked up to him angrily. "You can't honestly be saying-" "No, listen! Look around you. This entire ship is in chaos. We either leave, or every single GDF member that's on this ship will come and kill us." Andress looked down and clenched her fists. Dante was right. She couldn't risk their lives. Not again. She picked up her composite rifle and walked back to the lift, not saying a word.

Elicia woke up feeling like she had just been squished between two large asteroids. As she tried to stand up, she hit her head on something metal, making the pain worse. As the ringing in her ears cleared, she began to recall what had happened. As her brother had shot the soldier who dropped the grenade, she had seen what it was and quickly pulled her brother beneath one of the shielded energy tanks that was next to the console. The things were built to contend against ion energy powerful enough to atomize an entire moon, and they could certainly stand up to a small explosion. Her quick thinking had saved them, but had knocked them unconscious in the process. She shuffled out from underneath the tank and pulled out her brother's knocked-out body as well. She took off her helmet and his helmet as well, and listened to his chest. He was thankfully still breathing. She shook his shoulders. "Edvard! Wake up! Come on!" She slapped him across his face a few times, and even though this was slightly cathartic to her for all those times he had screwed up cons or made fun of her, it didn't seem to be working. She was getting worried when she heard voices entering the ruined room. "Search everywhere. The intruders are inside." Elicia hefted her brother's heavy body up on her shoulder and walked as quietly as she could behind the tanks. She suddenly walked right into a GDF soldier and headbutted him before he could react, and others rushed over. She dropped her brother and tried to fight them off, but they drew their stun batons and prodded her several times in the stomach, sending sharp and tingling pain through her body. She cried out and fell to her knees. She put her head down, and heard a gun click against her forehead. Elicia looked up without fear, no stranger to being held at gunpoint, and saw a man with grey hair wearing what looked like a GDF Director's uniform pointing a pistol at her. "Well, well," he said. "What have we here?"