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'𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫'
━━ -ˋˏ★ˎˊ- ━━
...GOVERNMENT DISTRICT, CORELLIA
TO BREAK a window was simple.
If the lock was easy enough, the pane could be popped out of the frame. A tiny pry bar could be slid between sash and sill, the glass lifted without a sound if the angle was right. A thin, practiced twist and the latch released. Theoretically, it was a quick and painless way in or out — neat, efficient, antiseptic.
As Lyra's body smashed through the glass of the twenty-third story window, she knew it was never simple.
In a fluid arc, her momentum sent her in a dive towards the lower levels of the city. Corellia pulsed below, acrid and dripping neon. Speeders raced, their mechanical whir competing with the sound of the security alarm that had been triggered in the building. The grappling cable snapped taught as it bit into the metal above her. She swung back in, ten stories below where she had started her evening.
The fire escape shuddered under her weight and sang; the sound of metal on metal was loud enough to drown the last thin echo of the alarm. She came to a controlled stop, breath hammering, then detached the cable with fingers that had no tremor in them. The pursuers above—voices, running steps, the sharp bark of orders—were still climbing into the wrong hallway.
Inside the legislative building, the architecture was designed to impress: vaulted ceilings, gray stone arches, gilded lamps. When she moved again her footsteps were swallowed by threadbare runner carpets, shadows lengthening like ink. It was still quiet here.
"What took you so long?" Georgie said as he stepped out of the shadows. "I could have had this building demolished by now."
Lyra looked down the hallway to their left. All that drama above, and still no one was pursuing them down here. "I told you, no explosives tonight."
"And has anything exploded?" He fell into step next to her. "No it has not."
Hallways that were once a drab shade of gray were electrified with red light as the alert finally sounded. Every shadow was banished in the brightness, and the ear-splitting alarm echoed tirelessly. Meant to warn of imminent disaster, it was pointless now. Death had come the moment her squadron crossed the threshold.
Aliyah leaned against a wall, blaster in the grasp of her black-gloved hands as she peered around the corner. The sound of ion fired had ceased. Three uniformed bodies lay pooled in blood.
"I took care of the guards," Aliyah explained, breathing heavily. "The officers are still inside the room. We won't get very far getting the data unless we take care of them first."
