Guardians of time: Planet of hope

Chapter 5

    It was at that moment Jarac saw two figures running to a ship at the other side of the  launch bay, one was hobbling slightly while the other was hurrying him forwards. Jarac  recognised the two figures and realised who they were. "Tarshan look! Its Vredix and  Nogar!" Tarshan looked up and saw they were heading for one of the jump pods.
    Tarshan then instantly knew where they were going. "They set these jets on fire! They are trying to get to the Dialex, they are part of the rebel group!" Every word that was  spoken had to be shouted as the roar of the flames meant it was hard to hear anything  else around them.
    Jarac acted quickly and jumped back onto the speed Jet. "Ill catch them Tarshan!" Jarac  shouted as he sped off in the direction they were running too. Jarac's face was  concentrated as he grit his teeth, dodging the masses of debris the fire had left from  some of the pods, attempting to dodge the flames from catching onto himself and the jet, weaving between the flames. 
    Vredix and Nogar had gone into separate pods, which meant that Jarac had to choose  who to go after. But both had already started to take flight, luckily jump pods were slow so they were still preparing to fly off even though they were already in the air.
    It was a long process for a jump pod to break out of a planets atmosphere as there were a lot of different checks that needed to be made. Jumping through space wasn't exactly so simply is everyone made it out to be.
    Jarac switched to  his bow, but wasnt yet ready to fire as he was still controlling the vehicle. He wanted to  get a clear shot away, and it needed to be accurate to hit the engine. He was hoping Tarshan would arrive soon to take care of the other ship, but he didn't dare look around  whilst dodging all the flames. 
    The ships were starting to move out the bay yet Jarac was still busy trying to dodge all  the flames. In the end Jarac saw the jet as too much hassle.
    He jumped off the jet, rolling forwards as he hit the ground and immediately readied his bow and fired at one of the pods at lightining speed, though he had no idea who was piloting it.
    His arrow missed the rear engine and hit the body work, causing only a minor dent in its  structure.
    Jarac in frustration shouted out a loud grunting noise with his teeth closed together and punched the ground with his fist.  The pods now had flown out the bay, and Jarac thought that they had lost them.
    That was until Tarshan showed up with a small fighter pod. It was a two man ship designed to hold a pilot and weapons operator. It had large laser blasters on the side of the ship and was a very fast and  mobile ship, filled with pure arsenal.
   "Jarac jump in!"  Tarshan shouted as he opened up the hatch on the side. Jarac quickly jumped in as they raced towards Vredix and Nogar. "Man the lasers Jarac, we can't let those two escape!"  Jarac made his way towards the top of the ship where the lasers were controlled from.
    On either side of the chair Jarac was sitting in their were joysticks which controls the direction of where the lasers pointed, on top of them were red buttons which fired the lasers.
    jarac pulled down a screen which was connected to the ceiling, and adjusted it  towards his eyes. It showed where he was going to aim the lasers, with a green target box box which moved around the screen when he moved the joysticks to help him have a more accurate aim. On this monitor were all the ships and  vehicles in his firing range.
    Jarac was set up and ready and Tarshan now had caught up to the pods which hadn't  gotten too far. The alarm around Shilo was still ringing loudly and it was obvious to see  that everyone had noticed these ships had flown out the bay. It wouldn't be long till they were being chased.
   "We dont have much time Jarac, if we don't take them out within the next 5 minutes we will be caught too!" Tarshan had his voice raised so Jarac could just about hear him over the noise of the engine.
    Jarac moved around the lasers till he got one of the pods within his firing range, but it was  difficult for him to keep them in range as they would speed up while he was trying to get on target. The chair also moved in the direction the lasers were aimed along with the screen. it was difficult and required a steady and accurate hand, Jarac was more fast rather than accurate.
    Tarshan would have been better at this, but he was manning the ship, he himself had to keep on target to give jarac a good shot.  Finally one of the pods kept in striking range and Jarac had a lock on him. He started  firing rapidly, though it was difficult for him to keep his hand still on the target, and it didn't help that the pods did not stay in one position.
    But Jarac took his chances, as soon as he had a lock he opened fire, rapidly firing lasers at the pods. The lasers glowed red as they sped towards the target, Jarac was keeping his hand on the button and trying to stay on target to get a clear hit. He was finding it hard to keep steady as the chair moved slightly to the right and left as he shot.
    But the lasers missed as the pod went spinning to the right of the lasers, just avoiding the shot. Jarac in frustration hit his fist against the armrest. "DANG IT I MISSED!" Jarac was  usually calm and patient, but he hadn't been thrown into a situation as hectic as this. It also didn't help that earlier he had to wait around his quarters for many hours, he was beginning to get frustrated that nothing lwas going their way. He was disappointed with himself more than anything.
    Tarshan tried to lift his spirits. "Dont  worry yet Jarac, there's still time to stop them! They aren't able to jump into dimensional  drift yet! Stay focused!"
    Jarac quickly got his game back on and attempted to get one of the pods in target range. This time he had both in range, but he didn't know who to go for.
    He turned off the auto lock system and made a decision to go for both. He first aimed to fire from left to right in an attempt to take them both out at the same time. After all he may not be the most accurate but he was fast.
    He opened fire on them moving from left to right, lasers flying at rapid speed towards their targets, but were hopeless and inaccurate missing  the target. But Jarac didn't stop to take aim, as that would give the pods time to adjust, so he kept on the onslaught of lasers, and eventually he got a direct hit one of the pods.
   "YES! I GOT HIM!" Jarac screamed with a sense of victory, he seemed to over  celebrate as he punched the air with his fist. "Keep focused Jarac! We still have one more to get!" Tarshan realised now why he wasn't yet a Guardian, he was acting like a kid in a shooter game, his maturity needed work.
    Before Jarac could look for the next target, his scanner picked up 6 ships behind them coming at high speed. "Tarshan! We got company!" Tarshan looked on his sensors and  saw that they were Guardians vessels, security vessels in fact. They weren't there for a  friendly chat we could see.
    Jarac quickly checked to see where the jumppod had gone,  only to become helpless as he saw it jump into dimensional drift and disappear.  Jarac felt defeat as he saw the vessels behind get closer, he started to imagine what  prison would look like. They had failed to stop the rebels escaping, and in the process  they had committed treason towards the Guardian council.
    He then heard the vessels  attempting to make contact with them, hearing the loud beeps from Tarshan's piloting  section of the ship, eventually Tarshan picked it up, only to be instantly shouted at  through the communication link.
   "Stand down, you are unauthorised to leave Shilo, you are guilty of treason and  treachery to the Guardian council and will be punished accordingly, anything you say now will be put against you in court. We do not wish to harm you but if we are forced, we will open fire on your vessel. Is that understood". The voice was obviously one with authority as the words were spoken with confidence. He spoke with barely a pause which meant that he couldn't be interrupted. 
    Jarac wiped the sweat off his brow, anxious over what would become of them both. He  may have just wrecked his chances of becoming a Guardian with this mission, even though it meant the future of the Guardians and the galaxy, possibly the universe too he thought to himself. He now waited for the reply of Tarshan, wondering what he would  say to get them out of this mess, or if he would just apologise and give in.
    Luckily Tarshan was not that type of person to give in, he was clever and quick thinking and in many ways was a genius. He had a plan of how they could get out of this mess.
    After a long pause Tarshan finally replied to  the chief security vessel. "I'm afraid my friend we cannot do that as we are on an important mission of the highest secrecy directly from the Ralex himself."
    Tarshan continued his speech before allowing a reply from the other ships. "Now let me tell you something my good sir, if you let us go, you will not get hurt. Like you we do not wish to harm you, although if it comes to it we will easily  do that. And i'm pretty sure by the end of this you want to see your loved ones on Shilo  but if you don't let us go....there is minimal chance that will happen."  The reply was so cool and calm from Tarshan it was as if he had practiced it, it was almost scary how cold sounded.
    Jarac was in utter shock that those words came from him, it was the most sassy reply he had ever heard, but one he would expect from an enemy. He knew  Tarshan was a man of quick witted remarks but this took it to another level.
    This comment obviously took the pilot of the security vessel by surprise too as he didn't  know how to reply to it. But it also left him very angry and after a couple of seconds waiting for a reply he finally said something over the link with a very gravelly voice, as if  with hatred. "Prepare to die scum!" He shut down the link immediately after, Tarshan called to Jarac. "I don't fancy going to prison!"