Ark 7: The Sariel

Chapter 6: Growing Cold

"A nightmare might force you awakened.
The tough life might force you awakened."
― Toba Beta

Disaster seemed to follow us home from the Arcadian. The Sariel was in turmoil, as Las and I headed to debrief the Chief called us via our commlinks.

"Jax, Las, do you copy?" I heard his voice over the comm.

"Las here, I've got Jax with me. What's the problem, all hell has broken loose down here!" Las replied.

"We need help holding these people back, it's chaos in the Public Center, an armed rebellion! Get up here now!" Chief yelled over the comms.

"On our way!" Las said as he took off at a run.

"Las! Las we're just Engineers! We aren't supposed to fight!" I yelled as I caught up.

"Jax, we're part of the Security Core. This is our job" Las replied as we ran up the first of four flights of stairs leading to the Public Center above.

"We have to stop by the armory then, it's right beneath the Center. If we have to fight we will need weapons." I said as we neared the hallway that led to the armory.

"Got it....wait....I don't have an access code to the armory, only Riots Specs do?" Las looked at me as we arrived at the blast door.

"Don't worry about that, I can get us in" I pressed my thumb to the print scanner and punched in a code.

"Wait...how did you-"

"I programmed myself in awhile back, the code is the Security override, works on every door aboard The Sariel" I cut Las off as the door slid open.

"Wow, glad your with us man.....let's get some kit!" Las said, I could tell the adrenaline had started flowing through his veins, I could feel it in mine as well. We may not be trained for this but that doesn't mean I'm not getting excited, my first combat situation!

"Aight Jax, let's go!" Las started as we started to run up the last flight of stairs. We arrived at the door to the Public Center, all we heard on the other side was chaos, screams and gunfire. Las readied to open the door, as soon as we both were ready Las opened the door. We rushed out and spotted the Chief with a group of Riot Specs hunkered down behind a low wall. They were taking fire from a group of rioters that managed to get weapons, Las and I moved to flank the rioters while Chief and his team kept them distracted.

"Jax you get the two on the right, I'll take the two on the left, we split those in the middle once the flanks are gone. Got it?" Las looked at me once we had found a spot to hide before we attacked.

"Yea...I...I can do this" I said, my voice shaking from the adrenaline.

"Ok, wait till they start firing at Chief, then we attack" Las said as he prepared his rifle. The rioters started firing at the Chief, Las and I popped out of cover, Las took down both of his targets. I froze, my sights trained at the back of a man, can I pull the trigger? Can I take another mans life? I am technically responsible for all those who died aboard the Arcadian, but this? This was different, this I am personally responsible for killing a man, a man I will watch as he dies. As I hesitated the rioters swung around and fired in our direction, I pulled the trigger but it was too late. A round caught Las in the chest, I heard the umph of the air escaping his lungs as he fell back.

"LAS!!" I fired off three more shots before I spun to face where Las had collapsed. I dropped down and pulled him behind the cover we were using, I went into autopilot, I scanned over Las's body looking for all injuries and assessing them, the main injury was where the round had made its impact. The wound was located on the left side of his chest, and it was bleeding, bad. I racked my brain for any way to treat this, I couldn't think of anything, I was panicking every time I tried to organize my thought all I could see was my best friend laying there in a pool of his own blood, dying. I was to preoccupied worrying and trying to stop the bleeding I didn't notice the shadow behind me, with a audible thwack I fell to the ground and blacked out.

A/N: Any reviews are welcome, votes appreciated. But in truth, just reading it makes me happy, spread the word so we can turn Ark 7 into something big! P.S. JaseMurray this ones for you, and HA I tricked you! Troy isn't dead.....yet.....