Heritage

Heritage (Chapter 27)

Chapter 27 - Ethan

"Alright, here's the plan: we'll first head to the gym lockers to get you two more suitable clothing. Then, we'll make a run for this quadrant here," I say pointing to the northeast quadrant of the map.

"Why there, Dad? That place is swarming with Sekrid," Leon asks puzzled. I give a smirk

"Exactly. That's where Damien is going to make his move, the path of most resistance. When he makes an entrance, he makes a damn entrance. My guess is he's going to mount the docking ship up against the damaged exterior of the wall, here, then he's going to place some explosives, and take the rest of the wall off," I say finishing my explanation.

"So, does that mean we're going straight into a kill zone?" Stella asks.

"I know it sounds bad, but we just have to time it right, and make sure we don't get caught. When we get there Damien should be blasting through at any second, we'll be alright."

"Dad, that plan is nuts, you're going to get us killed with that type of stunt."

"Actually...not exactly, there is a way we could get there without them seeing us," Elena says, adding her two sense into the conversation.

"What do you mean?" Stella asks.

"Well, there's maintenance shafts that run under the floors all throughout the ship. If we move through them, then we should go completely undetected if we're quiet enough," Elena explains.

"Hm, I completely forgot about that. That's a great plan babe," I say giving a bit of a smile at the idea.

"Alright, so do we have the plan settled then?" Leon asks.

"Yeah. Get to the gym, do what we need to do there, and then head to the northeast quadrant of the ship though the maintenance shafts."

Everyone nods in agreement and Leon stands up, slowly cracking the door and peeking out of it, making sure there are no threats in sight. He gives the thumbs up and we all slowly move out of the darkened room, sticking close to the wall like holographic decorations that are projected on to the wall.

We slink around corner after corner until we reach the gym. We treat it as a haven, moving inside of it as quick as possible. Leon and I watch the door as Stella and Elena rush behind the lockers, changing quickly.

After a few rustling noises and a couple bangs of the locker door Elena and Stella return to us, ready to go. I look at Elena, running my eyes up and down, staring at Stella's shorts and t-shirt that Elena is currently wearing.

"We have seriously got to change the cadet dress code for the gym, because that is way too short," I say shaking my head.

"Hahaha! Well, at least it gets the boy Cadets to go to gym on time," Elena responds trying to lighten the mood. We all manage to crack a smile and lightly laugh before getting back to business and opening the door slowly. Elena immediately takes the lead and quickly walks in front of us, scanning the floor.

"There you are," she says with a satisfied grin.

Grabbing a concealed handle mounted on the floor, Elena pulls up, opening the hidden door, and revealing the maintenance shaft.

"Quickly, get in," Elena says with a quiet but hurried voice.

Stella and Leon enter first, Then myself, and then Elena. Elena takes the lead once more, taking us to the northeast quadrant.

After crawling for nearly thirty minutes, we finally reach our destination, looking up through the small vents as Sekrid soldiers pass over us. My heart begins to pound in suspense and I quiet my breathing, trying everything to make sure the Sekrid soldiers don't find us. With as confined as the space is in the shaft, we'd be torn to pieces by the gunfire, it was priority to not be caught in this situation.