Slingers (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 1)

Chapter 5

Andress Lovecraft brushed some of her fire-red hair over her ear and kept welding the rivet down to the side of the steel hull. After sealing it in, she wiped some sweat off her brow and looked down at the wing of the ship she was currently sitting on. The Renegade was her pride and joy, a stolen dropship that she had slightly modified over the years, but was now widely regarded as one of the fastest ships in the New System. Or at least she thought so. "Hey boss, how're things going up there?" She looked down to her right to see Bunker looking up at her from below one of the main engines. Bunker was her right-hand man. She and him had stolen this ship originally, and they had kept it running for as long as she could remember. To say that Bunker was a large man was putting it mildly. When the two of them had first met, she had never imagined a human being could be as tall and big as he was. And he certainly had the strength to match. She had seen him throw men clear across rooms more than once, and that was certainly enhanced by the armour he wore. It was modified from several pieces of GDF Riot Control armour, that was mainly used to control outbreaks in prisons. It could stop bullets, withstand explosions, and increased his already formidable strength tenfold. She and Bunker were good friends, and they would risk their lives to protect each other. Andress was one of the more successful Runners in the New System. A Runner was someone who used their ship to sneak into GDF-controlled territory and steal supplies to sell on the black market. The Renegade had been chased several times, but never caught. After this refuelling stop on Rykkak, she would take the ship to Primus IV and pick up plenty of materials. "We're almost ready. Just a few more patch-ups and we're free as a bird!" Bunker smirked and walked back into the Renegade. Andress was about to go back to welding, until she heard a large explosion to her right, which caused her to turn around.

Nolun and the Inferno pushed their way through the crowd, keeping their eyes fixed on the two blonde-haired thieves running ahead of them, and trying to keep ahead of the GDF soldiers closing in. "If they get to the spaceport, they'll get away!" The Inferno grunted. "Tell me something I don't know." As they rounded the corner, they got a good look at the spaceport, with multiple ships taking off or landing, and crew members milling around looking for parts or cargo. The one thing that caught Nolun's eye, however, was the excess amount of GDF drones flying around the airspace of the spaceport, and the GDF soldiers stationed there calling out and pointing at Nolun and the Inferno, and also the twins. The drones trained their guns on them in the crowd, and opened fire, hitting a few civilians, but before one was about to hit Nolun, there was a flash of black and silver, and the sound of metal deflecting off of metal. Nolun opened his eyes to see the Inferno standing in front of him, both of his swords in an X position. It took Nolun a few seconds to realize he had deflected the bullet. "Go, run!" The Inferno shouted at him, and Nolun ran across the crowded platforms, looking around for the twins. Unfortunately, the GDF soldiers surrounding the area made it difficult to look for them. Then, he spotted a flash of blonde to his left, and saw the two of them running towards a small planet hopper, with the girl clutching his bag. Nolun couldn't reach them in time, but he did see one other option. He drew his repeater, and aimed at the exposed fuel container on the side of the hopper. He unloaded his clip into the tank, and got the result he wanted a few seconds later, with a large explosion rocking the platform, knocking both him and the twins back.

Andress was blown back due to the explosion, and would have fallen straight to the ground if Bunker hadn't caught her. "You alright?" Andress nodded and got down out of Bunker's arms. "What the hell's going on?" "I don't know, but there's GDF units all over this place. If we get spotted, we're Cuttroa feed." Andress nodded. "Prep the ship for flight. We're leaving." Bunker nodded and ran back inside. Andress dusted herself off from the explosion and bent down to pick up her welding tools, until she hear a gun click behind her head. "Don't move!" The voice said. Andress dropped her tools and put her hands up. "Turn around. Now." Andress did so, and saw a boy about her age, with dirty brown hair and blue eyes wearing an aviator's jacket and goggles, panting and pointing a repeater at her head. He had a bag with something inside it slung over his shoulder. "Are you a pilot?" Andress nodded. "Good. You're gonna get in the ship, and get me off this planet, no questions asked. Now." Before Andress could ask what was going on, a gunshot from a shotgun pierced the air, hitting over her head, causing her and the boy to duck. She looked behind him and saw a blonde boy and girl, one of them wielding a diamond- barrelled shotgun, glaring at them, both singed by presumably the explosion from earlier. "That bag is ours!" The girl yelled. The brown-haired boy pointed his repeater back at them, taking his eyes off of Andress. "I stole it first!" He yelled before Andress hit his head with the welding tool and throwing it at the twins, knocking both of them back. She was about to run to the ship, when a man wearing a long black coat and holding two swords in his hand rounded the corner and picked up the brown-haired boy. Oh great, what now? Andress thought. The man in black looked at her. "Get him on the ship. Now." Andress thought that he was the type of man you didn't disagree with. She grabbed the brown-haired boy and dragged him onto the ship, with the man in black close behind. "Bunker, take off, now!" She felt the Renegade's thrusters shudder as the ship began to hover, but before the hatch could close, the two blonde twins jumped onto the ship, and the man in black didn't appear to move at first, but he was suddenly holding his swords to the twin's throats. Andress pulled her rifle off of the wall and cocked it, pointing it at the group. "Ok then. What's gonna happen now, is that you're gonna tell me what the hell's going on."