Echoes of the Past

Chapter Forty Two - Part Two

Chapter Forty Two: Hard Choices - Part Two 

Conveyor belts and machinery covered the vast factory floor. Sam landed on a metal walkway on the second level, which connected to other walkways with staircases that criss-crossed over the factory. Gunfire tore through the air as guards fired from cover at the Oneron soldiers, who swung through the air, blocking with their Light Shields and throwing back blasts of Light as they flew. Only six soldiers had entered the forge, making their way through each floor, while the others remained holding back the guards outside. So far there had been no signs of James or Jaxx.

Soldiers had ushered out several workers in white coats through a side door. Sam made sure that the workers who posed no immediate threat to them were let out, and the soldiers would detain them for arrest and questioning later. That was before more of Jaxx's guards showed up and opened fire on everyone.

Liana dove overhead, sending a double stream of Light Beams with both hands over the machinery and equipment, which erupted in explosions of glass and metal. She landed beside Sam, the large sword on her back clanging on the railing, and ducked beside a low barrier.

"Most of the upper levels are cleared," she said, raising her voice over the gunfire. "We're wasting our time here. Jaxx may be gone already. Maybe with James."

"I'll go lower," Sam said. "Search the ground floor again. There may be lower levels we missed."

Liana cursed, wiping hair from her face. "We don't have enough people to search thoroughly."

"We'll do all we can."

She nodded. "I'll let Aris know that you and I will search the lower levels." Her eyes remained on him, in a moment that seemed to freeze time, before she turned and dove into the air.

Sam watched her fly. He knew the look. She was glad he was there with her; that he was back to his old self. And he was glad to be there too.

Sam spun as someone landed beside him, but held his sword back when he saw it was one of their soldiers.

The young man held up a device. Its screen showed an electronic readout of the area it pointed at, including the rooms beyond. The images showed the block formations of the rooms around them in real time, and the structure of the tower, as the device pointed in different directions. "General, you have to see this."

"What is it?" Sam asked. He saw a blinking green light in a room above as the soldier held the device up.

"Heat signature that matches Higero Jaxx's patterns. Located in an office on a floor above."

Long windows were on the higher level where the light indicated. Sam searched for Liana but had lost her within the chaos. He turned back to the young soldier.

"Any signs of James?"

The soldier shook his head.

"Find Captain Kallo and inform her I'm going after Jaxx," Sam said. "The priority is to find James Island. All men are to focus on him. We can't keep getting distracted by fighting Jaxx's guards."

The soldier nodded briskly, though looked uncertain.

Sam studied the upper windows, which were over sixty feet up. Heading up there would leave him exposed, but he had no time for a safer route. He shot upwards and pushed off the wall beside him. His Light Shield blocked a few wayward energy blasts, before he fired his grapple hook onto an upper beam and pulled himself up. Streams of hot energy shot upwards as more weapons turned on him. He fired down several Light Shots, mostly as a distraction, and soared upwards. He released the grapple hook and shot it behind him onto a roof girder, then allowed gravity to take over and swing him back with the momentum, feeling exposed in the open air. More gunshots focused on him as his swing brought him to the back wall, where he planted his feet and pushed off with great force. He swung forward in a wide arc, then released the hook as he came up and dove through the air for several feet. He braced himself as he crashed through the window, falling into a roll.