Dimension

Chapter 16

Chapter 16!

Hello, amazing people! 

These next couple chapters are super important... welcome to the first of two!

(I hope my update schedule isn't too annoying. "Update Schedule"... yeah. Sorry!)

Here goes nothin'!

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The entire armory was blanketed in a deep red. A vast cylindrical cavity now dominated the entire rear quarter of the Axion- the railgun slug which had gone through was clearly visible in the reactor casing, a hole several feet in diameter which had gone straight through the reactor's heart.

Hence the auto-eject kicking in.  

Jarik lay flat against a bulkhead, watching a weapon rack recede into the floor. The electricity cannon he held in his hands hummed dangerously, emitting a soft blue glow. 

It was a weapon he had never used before. An anti-armor cannon, designed centuries ago to crack the hulls of tanks. Why Filion had one- well, it didn't matter to Jarik. These troopers were well equipped- he didn't trust pulse rifles to guarantee a kill. 

Besides, he thought wryly, who didn't want to shoot huge bolts of electricity. 

"On your knees!"

In less than a second Jarik had dropped to a crouch, heaving the over-sized weapon in position over his right shoulder and flicking off the safety. Sparks exploded out of the muzzle, lancing off in hundreds of directions and ionizing the air around them, yet remaining unnaturally silent.

"Hands on your head!" 

They- whoever they was- weren't addressing him. But they were close. Just around the corner, it seemed.

It was almost certainly someone part of Filion's crew. And almost certainly about to be executed. 

For a moment, Jarik hesitated. He had no reason to help these people. He shouldn't even be on this ship, or anywhere near here, for that matter.

But, as he tried to explain the conflicting emotions inside, he was a detective, was he not?

That wasn't his job, he retorted to himself angrily, but by that point he had already decided.

"Fuck." 

The electricity cannon powered up to full and Jarik sidestepped into the corridor, weapon slung down like an old fashioned minigun, crackling as tendrils of energy burned marks into the wall paneling. 

It was the pilot. Her face was a blank mask as a soldier behind her pressed an incendiary pistol into the back of her neck, filling the corridor with the smell of burnt flesh. 

The cannon surged with energy and a huge bolt of electricity jolted forwards, narrowly missing the pilot's face and disintegrating the man behind her. To her credit, the pilot didn't seem fazed at all by the fact that Jarik had nearly killed her- she rolled to the left, grabbing the late soldier's incendiary pistol and firing it as she stood, punching a hole through the faceplate of one of the remaining soldiers while the second was annihilated by another blast from the electricity cannon. 

Before Jarik could react, the pilot had the pistol aimed squarely at his forehead. 

"If I don't see your hands," she breathed, "I'm melting your stupid face."

Jarik's arms shot up. The electricity cannon slammed into the floor, still sparking with excess power. 

"Hey-"