Flames shot out of Flint, covering the entirety of the landing bay. However, they passed over Veerna and her companions without harming them, although Yulia screamed like she was really getting burned. The men in front of them who weren't burned immediately swiftly dove for cover.
In the meantime, Chris grabbed Melody's hand, pulling her behind a stack of crates. Veerna and Yulia dove behind the ship, while Don and Suzan took cover behind Flint. Flint didn't exactly seem keen on hiding, even with the injured Xander in his arms. "Flint, dear, you do have a passenger," Veerna called as a reminder to him.
Flint muttered under his breath and joined Chris and Melody. Don and Suzan just barely made it to where Yulia and Veerna were concealed. "This is not what I expected when we got here!" Don complained.
"Quit whining, Donny," Veerna said off-handedly. She had her two pistols in her hands, still crouched behind the crates. "We've still got about ten of 'em. Letting your flame die down, Flin?"
"You know me too well for that, Vee," he responded, totally deadpan.
"True, true," Veerna agreed, chuckling. The flames were now dying down, and the Federation officers were peeking over their protection in a way that seriously reminded Veerna of the Earth prairie dogs. Glancing around her own protection, she saw five of them lying dead on the ground—toasted like marshmallows. She prepped her gun. "Yulia? Donny?"
"Yes?" Don said. Yulia responded only with a whimper and hid her face.
"Stay here." Veerna shot to her feet, crossing her arms over each other, firing at the men who had come up. None of them were expecting such a suicidal move, and they dropped like flies before even thinking about returning her fire. By the time she ducked back into cover a moment later, five of them had been shot. Whether it was fatally or not, it didn't matter. Even a minor wound was enough to take someone out of action.
"Nice shooting, Vee!" Flint called.
Veerna flashed him a grin. "Do you expect any less from me?" she answered.
"Can we focus?" Chris shouted, popping up and firing at one of the braver men. He'd never be brave again, Veerna thought with amusement. The captain was a surprisingly good shot.
"I'm multi-tasking," Veerna replied. "It's relatively easy, if you try."
"I ... I just ..." Don didn't seem to know a response to that.
Veerna wasn't looking for a response anyway. She peeked around her cover and crinkled her nose. "Little cowards," she said dispassionately. "If they wanted to arrest me, why didn't they send people with spines?"
"But ... don't they have to have spines?" Yulia asked tentatively.
"Figure of speech, Yulia," Veerna told her. Raising her voice, she yelled, "Come on out, you yellow-bellied, lily-livered cowards! You can't hide from me forever!"
"How can they have—" Yulia began.
"Figures of speech, kiddo," Veerna interrupted. "Here. Hold these." She shoved her guns into Yulia's hands. She pushed Don next to Yulia, a situation that neither of them were particularly comfortable with, and leaned towards Flint's hiding spot. "Flin! Throw me a ball, eh?"
"Veerna, I really don't think a ball is going to help," Don began.
However, the metal object that flew the air and landed squarely in Veerna's hands was most definitely not a toy ball. It was made of metal, had a red button on it, and was blinking menacingly. "On three, Flint, dear," Veerna said. "One ..."
"Two," Flint said dully.
"Three!" Both Veerna and Flint stepped clear of cover, lobbing the "balls" at the remaining Federation soldiers. In the two seconds that Veerna instinctively counted, the bombs exploded, the Federation men's screams of pain cut off abruptly.
"And that," Veerna said, dusting off her hands, "ends that. Everyone good?"
"You killed them!" Melody wailed. She had her face buried in her sister's shoulder, resulting in a muffled voice.
"Of course I killed them," Veerna said impatiently. "What choice did I have? It was kill or be killed. Flint understands."
"I'm so glad," Chris snapped, her voice practically dripping with sarcasm. "Because Flint is such an excellent role-model! Murderers, the both of you. I have half a mind to walk out of here and never see you again!"
Veerna sighed. "Need I remind you, Captain, that Xander's life is in Flint's hands—quite literally, in fact. So, if you wanted to wander off, can you at least wait until he's well?"
Although the Federation captain scowled, she still didn't admit defeat. However, Veerna raised one finger, remembering. "Also, didn't I see you shooting at the Federation fellows? You're no better than me, Captain Chase."
Chris's scowl deepened, but she didn't say anything else. Suzan held on to the young woman's arm, as if convinced that she was the only sane company around. Well, she might not have been wrong. Being sane was no fun. "Okey-dokey, Flin, dear. Shall we head for the hospital now?"
Flint nodded slowly. He really could be thick when he wanted to, Veerna thought with a little annoyance. He was just so boring sometimes. Veerna grabbed Don's arm, just to be annoying to both of them, before pulling him towards the exit. All of the personnel had fled from the landing bay immediately, and the small group was left alone.
Yulia trailed after her, tugging her indigo hair over her face in an effort to hide herself. Flint walked along with them, shifting Xander into a slightly-more comfortable position. The security officer groaned, the only indication that he was still alive. Veerna could see Suzan's growing concern and she did her best to ignore it, however much worry started to gnaw at her.
As a space pirate, her word was very important to her. She had promised Suzan she would bring her brother to a hospital safely, and she intended to keep her word. "Come on, people, let's put a little oomph in our step," she said. Suzan glanced at her gratefully, and Veerna noticed she wasn't clinging quite so hard to Chris anymore.
They made their way through the numerous, empty security checks and went towards the doors. Flint hesitated, his eyes on the clear sliding doors, but Veerna grabbed his arm and pulled both him and Don along with her, out the doors.
It was when they were outside that she realized what Flint had seen, his face paling. Smoke and dust was rising everywhere, alarms pierced into Veerna's ears, and an explosion rattled the ground not far from them. "What in the name of the stars is going on?" Chris yelled, frozen.
Veerna didn't answer. Her breath was coming faster, her normally-white complexion turning ashen-grey. The explosions, the pungent smell of smoke assailing her nostrils, the screams of people in pain, ships flying overhead ... it was all too familiar.
"The hospital," Suzan said, sounding near-panic. "How will we get Xander to the hospital?" Perhaps it seemed a little selfish, but from the expression on her face, it was obvious that it was either worry about her brother or lose it completely.
"Down!" Chris shrieked suddenly, and they all dropped to the ground as a ship flew past their heads, guns tearing up the streets and just barely missing them.
"W-w-what are we going to do?" Yulia asked, only coming up from her crouched position when Veerna hauled her up by her gloved hand.
For some reason, they all looked at Veerna, who was suffering from her own form of a panic attack. Why did they only want her advice in life-threatening situations?
"C'mon, Vee," Flint said, oblivious to her problems.
However, Flint's added pressure didn't help her at all. Before she could yell at him, though, a gentle hand was laid on her shoulder. "C'mon, Veerna," Don said softly. For some reason, his voice was calming and brought some peace to her turmoiled mind. Enough peace, at least, for her to focus and marshal her thoughts for what they had to do to escape.
She scanned the sky, watching for a minute or two as the ships buzzed around. Battleships. Space pirates. "They're space pirates," she announced. "Rulon probably put them on our tail, or just told them something could be found here. They're notoriously greedy, so it wouldn't take more than a rumor to bring them here. And they do love to blow everything up and pick up the pieces afterwards ..."
"What do we do?" Chris demanded.
"What we do is this," Veerna said, taking control of the situation. "Chris, Melody, Suzan, you go with Flint and Xander to the hospital. Flint knows which way to go. Yulia, Don, you're coming with me."
"With you?" Don repeated. "Why? We're not going to the hospital?"
Veerna shook her head. "No. Someone's shut down the shields around the planet, and the city in particular. That's why they're attacking. Get going!" she added to Flint's group, and the smuggler led them off to the left, keeping to cover for as long as they could.
"Wh-why do you want me?" Yulia asked, her voice trembling.
Veerna gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "Because I don't trust Flint with you, and I'd rather keep you safe myself."
"You don't trust Flint?" Don questioned.
"Of course not," Veerna said, raising her eyebrows at the psychologist. "He's a criminal. We spend our lives backstabbing each other. Now come on; we've got to turn the shielding back on, then blast them out of the sky with the anti-air guns."
She sprinted down the street, and the other two followed her, going in the opposite direction of Flint and his group. Either they didn't really understand what she wanted to do, or they just figured they were safer with Veerna than by themselves. Either way, she thought with a mirthless chuckle.
It was better to consider their goal than the memories that were assaulting her mind. The smoke, choking her, the screams, deafening, the smell of burning flesh and metal, intoxicating. She could feel her companions' worry and stress.
A ship flew close by their heads. Yulia cried out, but Veerna turned, waving a hand calmingly. "It's alright," she told her. "We're good."
And a bomb exploded close to her right.