Smoke and Mirrors

The Garrison

'I'm going to message mum and ask her to meet us near the moon,' said Keith. 'Hopefully she still has the ability to get here.'

They then quickly dressed, grabbed their weapons, and hurried out the door.

It was a twenty-minute walk to Lance's parents' house. Keith waited on the footpath as Lance hurried to the door and knocked. He didn't want to go in and see Marco and hoped he wasn't the one who opened the door. Thankfully, it was Rachel.

'Lance, why did you knock?'

'Listen, I don't have time to explain.' He handed her a set of keys. 'Give these to mama or papa and ask them to look after Nero for us.'

He turned and hurried back to Keith, and they headed off into the darkness. When their datapads started ringing minutes later, they ignored them and turned them off.

At a nearby club, they found a taxi and were dropped off at the edge of town, and in sight of the Garrison lit up in the darkness.

There was not a lot of cover between them and the fence surrounding the Garrison.

'Our best bet would be to try the 'escape route', Lance said.

There was a way in and out of the Garrison through the stormwater drains the students named the 'escape route'. Guards patrolled it, but it didn't stop students getting out to go and party in town.

'We head to hanger B from there,' said Keith. 'The Admiral's ship is usually prepared and ready to go all the time.'

'Okay, we can do this,' Lance said.

They jumped when a car skidded to a halt behind them, and Luis and Marco jumped out.

'For fuck sake, Marco, get back in the fucking car,' snapped Luis. 'You shouldn't even be here.' He turned his attention to Lance. 'What the hell's going on?'

'Just go home, Luis,' said Lance. 'We'll be back as soon as we can. How the hell did you know where we were?'

'It wasn't hard. The only reason you'd give over keys to your house was if you were going off world.'

'Fine, yes we are. Now get out of here, we don't have time to piss about.'

He and Keith turned and headed towards the Garrison. They were both angry when they heard footsteps behind them.

'Go home,' hissed Lance. 'You can't come.'

'Where are you going?' asked Luis.

'To the Milky way. We need to check something out. And keep your voice down, sound travels out here.'

'Come on, Luis,' said Marco. 'Leave him to his delusions of being a hero.'

'Here, take the car and go home,' Luis said, shoving his keys into Marco's hand.

'Don't be stupid,' said Marco. 'You can't go with these two idiots; you'll get yourself killed.'

'Neither of you are coming,' snapped Lance. 'Get out of here before you're found.'

'Nope, I'm coming with you,' Luis said.

'Ugh, no, you're not. Please just go home,' Lance said.

Keith stopped and turned to them. 'Look, if we get caught, we're likely to end up in the brig. We don't want that to happen to either of you.'

'Who asked you, you little piece of shit,' Marco snapped.

'Don't you talk to him like that,' Lance growled. He started to advance on Marco until Keith pulled him back.