Renegades (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 3)

Chapter 7

Dante had dealt with almost every GDF soldier in the area. Every single one of them had been overwhelmed by the sheer firepower that the crew was wielding. Dante looked around for Elicia, Andress, and Nolun, hoping they were ok. Dante saw two soldiers firing at the Renegade, hoping to take out him and Trace that were behind it. He looked over at Trace and nodded, looking over at the line of soldiers still walking in. Trace fired off a couple of shots, trying to keep the flow back. Then, all of a sudden as the new line of soldiers began to cock their guns, the ship shuddered, and everything suddenly shifted, along with the lights in the hangar shutting off, with the much harsher emergency lights plunging the room into a cacophony of shadows. Everything that wasn't tied down, including the Renegade and the Swift, along with Howren's shuttle, began to float into the air, along with the guards and the crew, some flying back against the wall when they fired their guns. Dante looked over at Bunker and Koil, who were flying upwards from their cover behind the Swift. Bunker grabbed onto a strap that was tied to the ground, and grabbed Koil as well. Dante pushed off of the Renegade, then moved his swords outwards, pointing the tips out in front of him. He went through two of the floating guard's chest, then pushed off of another floating one into two others, and kept doing this chain to almost every guard in the room. Finally, he managed to take out the last one, and just in time, as the gravity finally restored itself. Dante dropped back down to the ground, on both his feet, and looked over at the three others by the ships. Trace was staring at him with her eyes wide, and Koil and Bunker were looking unsurprised at Dante's skill, but impressed regardless. Dante stood up and sheathed both of his swords. "Room's clear." He muttered.

Nolun, Andress, and Elicia burst into the room, and saw before them an entire floor full of dead GDF soldiers, with various stab and bullet wounds in them. They looked up and saw Dante standing over most of them, and Bunker, Koil, and Trace standing by the Swift and the Renegade, which were slightly askew due to the gravity shifts. "Did we miss the party?" Nolun said, looking over all of them. Dante stared back at Nolun and gave the faintest hint of a smile. "I'm afraid you just did." Bunker looked at Andress, nodding at her. "Did you get it?" Andress opened her bag, and pulled out the golden cube, it's shimmering sides lighting up the hangar. Trace smiled widely and did a fist pump. Bunker and Koil nodded, both of them smiling. "Nice work. Now what say we leave before-" Koil said, before one of the blocked-off doors to the hangar exploded, making all of them stagger and be knocked back. Then, several GDF soldiers stepped through the new hole, all of them dressed up in black leather armour, wielding several advanced weapons, all of them aiming at the crew. Almost immediately, they began to fire bullets that seemed to be charged with a powerful form of energy, making everything they hit explode with power. Nolun ducked behind the Renegade, grabbing Andress and the Piece. He fired his repeater, trying to make the new arrivals stay back. The GDF Elites didn't seem to be perturbed by it, as they continued to fire and advance. Just as soon as they were about to get close enough, a large blast from a laser took out several of them. Nolun looked to the right and saw the Swift fire it's chaingun at the group of Elites. Koil was in the cockpit, and was motioning to the group of them. As Nolun ran up the Renegade's ramp, he saw something that shocked him. He saw that one of the Elite masks had broken off, and the face he saw underneath looked very familiar. It was the face of Mister Zero.

The Renegade and the Swift flew out of the hangar, the ship being rocked with explosions behind it. Andress managed to get on the comms as soon as she left the Eden Omega's airspace. "Dreadnought, this is the Renegade! Do you copy? We have the Piece on board, I repeat, we have the Piece on board!" The Dreadnought came back over the mic almost immediately. "Renegade, this is Dreadnought. We are receiving you, and we have your location. We're sending out a squad to escort you back to the ship." Andress smiled and responded. "Understood. Renegade out." The Swift flew alongside the Renegade, and saw the Vulcan-class fighters start to move around them, taking out as many Interceptors as they could to protect the Renegade's flight path towards the Dreadnought. The front hangars opened up on the large patchwork ship, opening up to let the Renegade in. Dante and Nolun were firing back as much as possible with the cannons. They finally managed to make it into the hangar, with explosions and ships flying by rocking the large dropship. The hangar doors had barely closed when the order came out through all of the comm units on every Resistance channel. "Attention all units. Return to the Dreadnought immediately." Andress looked and saw several Resistance dropships coming up from the planet, being protected by the Vulcan fighters, taking out all the GDF interference in their path. They flew back into the safety of the Dreadnought, and many of the soldiers cheered. As the Dreadnought began to finally move out, the crew of the Renegade looked down at the smoking GDF carrier, it's once shining silver and chrome hull now almost ruined with the craters and scorches that had been delivered by the Resistance forces. Andress and the rest of the crew walked out of the Renegade, with the Dorado Piece in hand. Waiting for them, naturally, was General Kovak, who was standing at attention with two other soldiers. As much as Andress didn't like it, she saluted, along with Koil. "At ease." Kovak said. "You managed to recover the Piece safely?" Andress nodded. "Yes sir." She pulled the cube out again and handed it to Kovak. He looked over it, then nodded. "Excellent work, Captain. I'd say this could be considered as a victory." Andress gave her best smile. "Yes sir." As the Dreadnought began to fly away from the system, Andress wondered if any battle they fought was really a victory at all.