Outlaws (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 2)

Chapter 2

Gottlieb watched the monitors across the main deck, and clenched his fists in fury when he saw the two ships deftly avoid the laser fired from the ship. As the smaller craft, no doubt piloted by Koil Barton, continued to buzz the control station, he saw the Renegade break through into the hangar bay, and landed. He saw a group of people walk out. A blonde boy and girl who looked very much like each other, a man in a long black coat wielding two black swords, a man in a large suit of armour, and a young boy in an aviator's jacket holding a repeater pistol. Metreo. He had brought that band of Slingers back for her. Gottlieb turned away from the screen and walked briskly out of the door and towards the lift. They had come back and just walked straight into the lion's den. There would be no escape for them this time. He could not fail again. They would come for her, and when they did...that was when he would strike. He walked inside and closed the lift doors, then brought out a keycard. He swiped it into a terminal on the lift controls, and the lift began to move down at a much faster speed. When it reached it's specific floor, Gottlieb was prompted to input his thumbprint and retinal scan. When that was done, the doors opened, and he walked into the maximum confinement level of the Independence Zero. This place was kept for only the most extreme of prisoners and cargo that the GDF had in their possession. And this prisoner was no exception. He walked past a few guards at the door, and input his thumbprint and retinal scan again, and walked up to the person being held in the electrostatic shackles. Her long red hair was flowing over her face, as her head was bent forward in exhaustion. Gottlieb tilted her head upwards, and looked into her eyes. Andress Lovecraft blinked wearily back at him, and he chuckled slightly. "You've probably heard the alarms. Your friends have come for you. But don't worry. They won't be staying very long." Andress looked up, and mustered all her strength to spit in his face. One of the guards pressed a button on a console, and electricity crackled through the shackles. Gottlieb wiped the spit off of his face while Andress screamed in pain. Gottlieb walked out and motioned to one of the guards. "No one gets in this room."

Nolun ran through the hallways of the huge ship, firing at as many of the GDF soldiers as he could. Behind him, he could hear the clanging of metal, and the steady thudding sound of Bunker's heavy gun, which signalled that everyone else was still following. As he turned a corner and kept running, he thought to himself that the ship had been a lot bigger than he had anticipated. When everyone on the Renegade managed to intercept the message that Andress was still alive, thanks to Koil, they had decided that going after the rest of the Pieces was pointless without her. It was admittedly a suicide mission, but they had agreed they were in this together. They weren't about to leave each other behind. Andress would have done the same if it was one of them. So, they began to track her down, by first following the same course that the shuttle carrying her had taken after the destruction of the Avalon Zeta. They managed to find it at a GDF refuelling outpost, which they raided, and and managed to retrieve the plans to where they were headed. Koil was surprised by the results. He had mentioned something about a secret GDF project, something that he had only heard rumours about. Even he didn't know what it was, but he knew for certain that that was where they were holding Andress. And from that moment, it didn't matter to Nolun. He was going to get her back, no matter what. It took weeks to get everything together, but they had found them.

As Nolun kept moving, a GDF soldier stepped out from behind a corner and aimed his rifle at him, but was shortly stabbed through the chest by a flying sword, which pinned him to the wall. Before Nolun could even blink, Dante came after it and pulled it out, making the guard slouch to the floor. They were at the end of the hallway, and Bunker, along with his upgraded armour, was standing at the entrance on guard. Nolun, Dante, and the twins ran to the lift entrance, and Elicia pulled out her computer and began to type out code with blazing speed. She was hooked into the terminal that controlled the lift, and after a few minutes, the lift doors opened. Elicia looked up at Nolun. "That should take you down to the maximum security level. I can't open the safe door from up here, so you'll have to figure something out." Nolun reloaded his repeater and smirked. "Don't I always?" Edvard stood up and cocked his shotgun. "Go get her, loverboy. We'll cover you." Nolun rolled his eyes and smiled inwardly. He stepped into the lift, and nodded to Dante and Bunker. The doors closed and he went down. He pulled out a ordnance grenade, and as soon as the doors opened, he tossed it out, and it exploded into several small stun darts, which took out every guard. As Nolun walked out, he saw the terminal with the retinal scanner and the thumbprint reader. He looked at the guards, and then hefted one over his shoulder, and opened his eye for the scanner, and placed his hand on the reader. The door opened, and he saw two other guards. Nolun quickly threw the body at them, and shot both of them before they could recover. Then he saw her. His eyes widened, and he quickly ran to the terminal, and shut down the shackles. She fell out, and he quickly caught her. Andress groggily opened her eyes, and then they widened when she saw Nolun. He smiled warmly, happy to see her again. "Hey Red. Miss me?" She stayed in his arms for a moment, then reached up and hugged him tight. Nolun noticed that her mechanical arm had been severely damaged. He heard her mumble into his shoulder. "Y...you came back for me, you moron." He smiled and hugged her back. "Can't have a ship without her captain." The two broke the embrace, and he lifted her up. She staggered, and Nolun handed her a rifle. "Can you shoot?" Andress looked at it, then cocked it. "Right now...I could fly."