The Shadow

CHAPTER 18 - DRAGONS ARE COOL

Z groaned as the noise stopped, collapsing onto the ground. She fumbled for her blaster, pointing and aiming at the door as a squad of clones entered the room. Zero didn't bother to set it to stun as she shot them. They didn't move as they went down one by one, and by the time they were all down, Z was standing up. She stumbled closer, every sound muffled and impossible to make out. She stared down at the bodies, shining white armour marred by smoking blaster bolts. Shots she had fired. Now she knew she had crossed the line. Zero was too disoriented to realize just what she had done.

She abandoned her mission, she couldn't entirely remember what it was, and moved down the hallway. It was empty, and the reasonable part of her brain knew it was because of the firefight her brothers had caused. She leaned against a wall, and noticed the data port a moment later.

She was holding a data spike.

Z jammed the spike into the port, watching as it steadily drained information. As the spike downloaded, she steadily began to become self aware. She remembered why she was in the building, what her mission was, and what to do. Her hearing though, that was still muffled. So much for her helmet blocking out sounds. She'd have to ask Tech if he could make it stronger. She switched her blaster to stun after a moment of hesitation. Killing five clones was enough for a lifetime. Enough for hundreds of lifetimes. She glanced back down the hallway, grateful it was still empty before pulling the data spike out.

Z slid the data spike into one of her empty vibroblade sheaths on her thigh, and then she ran. She ran through the endless twisting gray corridors for what felt like minutes. She finally hit the shipyard, watching as blaster bolts flew back and forth. Her squad really had trouble with not getting into firefights. She couldn't really criticize them. She caused most of them.

She moved through the ships, trying to figure out a way to get around them without getting shot. Trying to go around the Marauder in any way put her in the firing range. But going above...

Z began to scale up the side of the Marauder, using whatever she could find for footholds. The ship was clearly not meant to be climbed on, but she made it work. Z gave one final push and crouched on the top of the ship. She braced her shooting arm on her knee and flicked down her rangefinder. It was easy to shoot down the unsuspecting regs this way. She only felt a bit guilty, but it was important that they survived this. She wasn't losing anyone else. Omega was making her way towards the ship, why they had let her leave it Z had no clue. She knew she had to cover the kid, and that she did.

Hunter ran out to meet the girl, providing better cover fire than Z could, and the two ran back onto the ship. Z slid down the side off the vessel, grabbing onto the doorframe and swinging inside of the ship as the ramp slammed shut. A second later they were lifting off the ground and blasting into hyperspace.

She thanked any celestial being she could think of as she set down onto one of the chairs, pulling off her helmet hesitantly. Now that she wasn't worried about life or death, she could feel the blood around her ears, some of it dry, some of it still wet. It didn't seem like a lot which was a good thing, that meant her hearing would come back sooner rather than later. She had been through this a few times before, none of them pleasant.

This time, she could handle herself.

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"RUST!" Z shouted in alarm, the 9-year old girl crouching down next to her brother. Luminary was defective, with almost white hair and insanely sensitive eyes and skin. He wore clothes that covered everything but his head constantly, and now it didn't seem to help him. Z had dealt with his seizures before, they all had, but this one had been particularly long and particularly violent.