The Phantom Crew

Part Three

I awoke to the sound of my data pad going off, I was being called by Grendar.

"We've got company, some gang looking lowlifes apparently tipped off the UEE, they've got soldiers going door to door on the lower levels, apparently looking for a group of six fugitives, I take it they mean you?" he informed me as I was slowly gaining consciousness.

"They don't know when to quit do they? Thanks for the heads up, you got a route we can take out of here?" I asked him as I jumped out of bed.

"Yeah, there's an old service staircase down the end of your floor, the service tunnels lead towards the hangar bays. Good luck and Katana? Don't get yourself killed" Grendar said with a caring tone.

I jumped up and hurriedly put my suit on, grabbing my gun and helmet as I ran to the door, peaking through the peephole in time to witness a squad of fully armoured soldiers stacking up in front of Pine's room. I flicked through the data pad on my wrist and called Lex until she answered.

"The UEE found us, they're going room to room searching for us, they're about to breach Pine's room, wake the other's and head down the rear service stairs on my signal, I'll deal with these few and meet you when I can" I quietly ordered Lex through my data pad.

I readied myself, standing behind the door to the hallway with my weapon ready, waiting for the perfect moment. The soldier at Pine's door lifted his leg high and crashed it into the door just as I launched my door open, catching the five soldiers by surprise. I fired a handful of rounds into the closest soldier, his armour took all the damage but it knocked him back enough for me to take on the next soldier, I got up close to the second and emptied the remainder of the mag into his chest, winding him and knocking him down like the last before I spun around and launched my recently emptied handgun at the helmet of the third soldier, dazing him enough for me to close in and launch my fist into his visor as I relinquished him of his rifle allowing me to use it as a club on the dazed first soldier and the startled fourth, I turned to take out the final soldier, the one that breached Pine's door, only to see the rudely awoken Pine smashing a metal pipe into the helmet of the now unconscious soldier.

"What? he ruined my beauty sleep!" Pine said in reply to my startled look.

"Get your psychotic arse down to the hangar bay, we're leaving" I told him quickly.

I pushed up to the main staircase as Pine rushed past me, I opened the door and peaked down the stairs to see a full unit of soldiers marching up. I went back through the hall door and grabbed one of the unconscious soldiers rifles, I ran through the maintenance door and wedged the rifle in the grab handles of the door as I escaped down the stairwell. I rushed down the stair case, level after level until I heard a mess of shouting and banging coming from the levels above me, the soldiers were closing once again. Once down on the hangar level, I shot through the double doors and rushed through the large, hall, I spotted the entry way to the landing pad the Phantom was on and sprinted towards it.

"Katana, you there?" Red called out on comms.

"Yeah, running down the hall now, get the engines going" I replied.

Just as the words left my mouth the doorway I had just left burst open, an entire platoon of soldiers had just broken through and were now hot on my heels. The Phantom's engines roared to life ahead of me as I ran as hard as ever but a screeching alarm echoed through the hall, the hangar doors were closing above the Phantom, they were trying to seal us in.

"Go! Take off now!" I shouted through the comms.

"We can't just leave you Katana" Red responded, clearly in distress.

"Either I go down or we all do, go now!" I ordered.

Several distressed voices came through but they clearly understood the situation, the Phantom rocketed upwards and out of the hangar, disappearing off into the sky as I made it into the now empty hangar, I fell onto my knees just as the clanking of boots on metal floor behind me became deafening up until the buttstock of a rifle collided into the back of my skull.