Inferno

9 - A Sinking Feeling

Several things happened at once.

First, the Titans took notice of Tobias and Gates running for the cargo lift. They hefted their guns, and prepared to stop them from getting past.

The second thing that happened was a flash of light in the sky as the three Titans that he'd called in broke atmosphere, and hurtled down to the top of the ship below. Under normal circumstances, any object falling with the mass and speed that a Titan did would go right through the ground and create a massive crater. Luckily, as with pilot kit technology, there were precedents in place to prevent that.

So it was because of that technology that the Titans did not completely break through the hull of the ship, and send it sinking into the depths below. Instead, they landed in a defensive line in between the IMC Titans, and the Militia.

Finally, Tyra and Vale sprinted forward to eagerly hop into their respective Titans waiting cockpits, and keep up the defense of both the extraction point and the other Militia pilots. KT watched as he sprinted past her with Gates, and they dove into the cargo lift as it descended down into the hangar.

"KT, I need you to help Tyra and Vale with defending the other Militia!" he ordered.

"Understood, Pilot. Stay safe."

He nodded subconsciously and turned to Gates. She shrugged helplessly. "What's the plan, Four? We intended to steal the data with twelve people, not two. How the hell are we supposed to manage this?"

He frowned under his helmet. "We'll find a way. We have to. Everyone's depending on it, so failure is not an option."

Gates tilted her head. "You know, you've definitely proved yourself in my eyes. It's a privilege to work with you." He looked up at her as she praised him in that English accent of hers.

"Save the compliments for later, you're making me think we're not gonna make it out of here." She chuckled slightly, bringing a slight smile to his face.

The cargo lift finally left the shaft, and began to descend tot he floor of the hangar some sixty feet below. He pointed out a door at the far end. "That way is to the bridge."

"But we've got a hangar of IMC between us and it!" chastised Gates. He nodded.

"Yeah, that's why we're not going that way. Follow me!" Without waiting for her reply, he dove off the lift and into the hangar below. He tossed several smoke grenades, causing many of the IMC soldiers to spin wildly around looking for him. Sliding forward through the fog, he shot at where he thought his target was. A quick glance behind him confirmed that Gates was still following him closely.

His hunch was confirmed when his sliding took him into the far wall, and a bullet-ridden vent cover was seen on the ground, having been shot from its position. Ducking, he quickly entered it.

"A maintenance shaft?" questioned Gates. He nodded.

"Yeah. These shafts run all over so that the engineers can fix any ventilation problems. I figured out a long time ago that there's one major flaw with them; a certain person, say, a Militia Pilot, could work their way up to the bridge nearly undetected from anywhere on the ship and nobody would be the wiser."

Gates laughed. "Of course you would have thought about something like that. I hope that if you find any similar flaws in the Griffin, you won't hesitate to voice them."

"No problem."

...

KT was not happy.

First off, she was going into battle without her Pilot. It was necessary, yes, but that didn't make it feel any less odd. For the duration of the mission, she'd likely be concerned for his safety, analyzing chances of his survivability, and generally be slightly more inefficient than she would be if her processes were completely devoted to the task at hand.