Slingers (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 1)

Chapter 23

The ship silently flew out of the open hangar of the Dreadnought, the entrance looking like a gigantic mouth that was releasing the ship from it's clutches. The entire ship was silent, as everyone on board was hit by the full implications of what they were doing. They were not only going rogue from the GDF, but they were also now technically enemies of the Resistance. They were either about to take part in the bravest and boldest mission of their lives, or be sent on a suicide mission. Dante and Bunker were sitting in the cabin, steering the ship, keeping on the same course, until they were out of range of the Dreadnought's scanners. "Alright, here we go. Disengaging the Phantom Drive." Bunker said, and pulled the lever, making the ship decloak. The Renegade, which before had carried a slightly rusted gunmetal grey look, now was the sleek, white and chrome look of a GDF dropship. Dante steered the ship close to the atmosphere of the large planet that separated the Dreadnought and the GDF carrier. The electronic interference would allow them to remain relatively hidden until they needed to reveal themselves. As they rounded the planet, they saw the large fleet of carriers drifting through space. Dante kept flying with a determined look on his face, and Bunker gripped the controls reassuringly. Once they were in range, they flew out of the planet's atmosphere, making them visible to the ships. Sure enough, a voice came over the radio. "Unidentified craft, this is the Avalon Zeta of the Galactic Defence Federation. Make yourself known or you will be shot down." Bunker came over the radio. "This is dropship 11-34-DFG9. We're transporting important prisoners for the GDF, but we've gotten separated from our convoy. We request docking for fuel and resupplying." There was silence for a bit as the operators verified the ship's number, then the voice came back. "Roger that DFG9. You are cleared for docking in Hangar 2-B."

The ship's thrusters boosted upwards slightly as the ship came in for a landing in the small hangar. A security detail along with the Deck Officer watched as the ship successfully docked, and the cargo bay behind it walked out with two soldiers in GDF uniforms and helmets walk out, carrying two prisoners, a girl with long red hair, and a boy with silver hair, wearing a Resistance uniform. Both were handcuffed and being pushed along by the two soldiers. One was small, average size, while the other was relatively bigger. Quite large, in fact. As they walked up to the Deck officer, they saluted, and the smaller one spoke, the mask and voice speaker slightly muffling his voice. "We request temporary storage of these prisoners while our ship refuels." The Deck Officer looked skeptical. "I'm sorry, but any incarceration of any prisoners on board this ship has to be cleared with the Director first." The smaller one sighed then looked at the Deck Officer. "C'mon man, just cut me a break here. We've been stuck out there in space for almost three days. We just want to get home. And I know that we don't want have to go through all of that repetitive paperwork. All I want is a warm bed and hot meal. Just let this one slide under the radar for now. I'll put in a good word for you back at HQ." The Deck Officer was a bit intrigued. He was a bit of tired of all these new procedures. With everything being so hectic lately, what with the Director arriving and the AU Prerogative being stored, and all the new squadrons and ships landing here, he was sure that one wouldn't be missed. He stared at the two soldiers. "Fine. Just make it quick." The small soldier nodded. "Thanks man. Appreciate it." He walked off with the two prisoners and the large soldier. The Deck Officer motioned to the security officers. "Search the ship." They nodded, following standard procedures. After a long time, and few banging noises coming from inside later, they walked back out. "Ship's clean." The Deck Officer nodded. "Carry on." As he walked off, the two front officers gave each other the thumbs-up, their blonde hair and blue eys showing through the visors. The third one pulled out a large sword sheathe and slung it across his back, hiding it behind the mask and GDF chestplate. The three of them walked into the base.

Nolun let out a silent sigh as they made their way off the hangar. He pushed Andress ahead, and gave her hand a gentle squeeze, which she returned. So far, the plan was going well. Bunker and Koil had managed to procure the plans to a ship of this design from the Resistance database, and they had memorized it so they could make their way through without being spotted. All they needed to do was to find the location of the Dorado Piece, and also figure out how to get out without bringing the entire ship down on top of them. But first, they had a bit of another and unexpected problem. When the Deck Officer had mentioned that a Director was here, Nolun's heart had frozen. If a person that highly ranked was on this ship, security was going to be even tighter then they had previously imagined. Nolun grit his teeth. There was only one other way out of this. Nolun muttered into the secret comlink hidden in his helmet, that everyone in the crew could hear. "Guys, there's going to have to be a change of plan. There's a Director on board." Koil nodded begrudgingly, and muttered under his breath so that anyone walking by couldn't hear, but Nolun and the rest could. "If one of them is here, then they'll have boosted security around the Piece. Now, the Captain and the Director are the only ones who can open the safe. We have to get both codes now." Andress looked up at Koil slightly. "How are we going to do that?" Nolun muttered to the both of them, along with the rest of the team. "The only thing we can do. We'll have to find both of them and steal the codes ourselves."