Secrets

Belly of the Beast

I lower the ramp. Not the whole thing just the small one in the center, big enough for one person to fit through.

When it touches downa flash grenade flies throigh the hatch. "Eyes!" I scream, an order we train for often. Everyone ducks and closes their eyes as I start to pull up the ramp. The grenade goes off and the ship lurches as Dustin tries to lift off. The floor is magnetic, strong enough to hold down The Boat. Gunshots are heard from outside.

"The bastards are trying to shoot up the plane!" Dilan cries, he's upset, it's his first plane.

"Relax! Nothing short of a warhead could scratch this thing." I reassure him. Dilan is skeptical.

"Either way we need to take those guys out. They're making it hard to complete a mission." Percey says, voicing everyone's thought.

"Alright. We need to find a way to disable their magnet so we can take off. We also need to put those fighters out of commission. Permanently. Or it's gonna be a real short trip." I begin to form a plan. "I'll bet that the magnet control is close by, easy to access by anyone who needs to leave in a hurry, be it us, or them. We also need to open the doors before we can get anywhere."

I pause while I decide who goes where. "Dilan, take Carlee and find the magnet controls and get that door open. Percey guard the ship, we cant leave if it gets taken. Geoffrey you're with me, we're going to have some fun."

A general murmur of assent is heard among the crew. Percey lowers the ramp enough to see and we take positions on either side of it. Dilan takes aim, as soon as he has a clear sightline he knocks off a target. As soon as his clip is emptied I leap out, energizing my blade. Electricity courses down the sleek metal.

I deflect as many bullets as I can while moving quickly towards an enemy, as I reach him I swing down. He's thrown off guard by my sword, he probably never tangled with one before. The man puts up his gun to block my swing but I pull back at the last minute and impale him instead.

"Count off! One!" I yell. We count our fallen foes to throw them off and to keep tabs on each other. If we know where our teammates are we know where to expect an attack from.

I move to the next man as Dilan jumps out of the plane to join me. He takes down enemies left and right, "19!" He yells.

I hear an explosion to my right and hear Geoffrey shout "Five!" After about ten minutes we've emptied the hangar. Everyone goes around checking for survivors, none. We take what ammo we can and set off on our own tasks.

"Here, a map." Dilan calls from the doorway. We run over and look, the fighter dock is one floor down and significantly larger than this hangar. Controls for the door and magnetic lock are in the control room, one floor up with a window looking down on our hangar.

"Certainty of death. Small chance of success. Whatre we waiting for?"