Champions (Volume 1)

Champions Ch12 - Hijack

Champions

Ch12 - Hijack

"It hit too close to home."

"Alex has been sent up." Savvy reported. Good, we likely won't be able to do much without Alex. At least he can abandon the fighter now.

"Grace, do you think you could watch for him?" I asked, still trying to fix the connection. Grace picked up a rifle and jumped into the elevator.

"Is the signal clear yet?" I asked. It had been several minutes since we received the order but we still can't make anything of it.

"As clear as it can be while in battle." Savvy answered. I got off the terminal I was at and walked towards the radio.

I pressed the button much more calmly and spoke, "This is Sam, we did not receive your last order. Please repeat?" I called. Hopefully, we got through clearly. I pulled my hand off the button and waited for a response.

"Did you capture-" The signal bounced out for a moment, "TFS Chorus?" I assumed this was SM, but I was wondering why he couldn't establish that mental link. Maybe I was too far away?

"We have captured the TFS Chorus. We need advice on what to do next." I returned. As long as he didn't interpret it wrong, we'd be fine.

"Retreat, get out of there!" The signal cut out and we couldn't reestablish it.

"Have ship, will travel." I mumbled to myself. I walked over to the pilot seat and planted myself in it. I vaguely remember how to do this from a pirated flight simulator, but that was the only training I had. Not to mention that those were helicopters, not alien flagships.

"Savvy?" I asked. I immediately heard the beeping from when she analyzes things start.

"Push the steering mount forward to move the ship forward. Twist to bank. Push sideways to turn. Pull back to stop." Savvy explained. There is no way it can be this simple.

I pushed the three-quarters circle thingamagig forward and felt the ship lurch forward a bit. I couldn't see anything, though. The metal covering the molten glass blocked my view and there was no video feed I could use.

"Savvy, is there an energy shielding we can use to seal the room?" I asked, looking at buttons and switches as if I could magically understand them.

"The defense console is where you can activate the shields." Savvy answered. A small marker appeared on another console near the middle of the room. I looked over to the console only to be deeply disappointed.

The console took damage and was possibly destroyed. Without those shields, I can't see. I jumped around it, looking at the controls and hoping that some of them still worked.

There was a few buttons that still glowed with life. I asked Savvy which buttons were which, noting that one of them were an airlock vent. The last one she labeled was the hard light shielding for this room. I mashed that button and the room got significantly brighter as the shields were activated. The steel plates covering the windows lifted as well.

"Good. Now let's get out of here." I told myself. As I walked over to the pilot's seat and sat down. It was only moments later that I heard something hit the ground near the elevator. I turned to see a small cylinder rolling to a stop on the floor.

With the adrenaline still rushing through my body from the encounter in this room, I jumped behind another console before the grenade could explode. It discharged and I was blinded, but not exactly dead. I also had this horrible ringing in my ear.