Alpha Squad - Vecto: Voyage

Part 2.2

(Previously: Trip and Cutlass offer their assistance in finding a missing child.)

Cutlass and Trip ran over to help.

"Arr, need any assistance, me lad?" Cutlass asked.

"You two can go on ahead," Erich said as he clicked a portion of his suit to activate his boosters. Two lengthy panels fanned up from the back of his Echelon suit as rockets ignited. Energy blasted to the surface and propelled him to the floor above, leaving his two friends behind. He hovered over the surface and cut off the boosters, landing on the third floor, which appeared littered with shopping disks and left-behind merchandise. The floor was empty, unlike the usual bustling crowd--as it had been completely evacuated and blocked off.

"Timmy?" Erich called out, slowly walking on the desolate floor. "Timmy, your mom has been worried sick trying to find you. ... I'm here to help you."

Nothing.

"Timmy, if you're hiding, don't be scared. I'm here to help."

Another voice echoed back. "If you're looking for the kid, I returned him to his father."

Erich looked down the wide hall, over toward the right half, to see a figure approaching. He wore a buttoned-up, white, tunic-like shirt and had a long black ponytail. He appeared somewhat Asian-looking, Erich thought, and was about his age, seventeen.

"Well glad you could help out," Erich said loud enough for him to hear as the guy approached. "The name's Erich Botland."

The man stopped and bowed. "You may call me Feit," he said. He then walked over to a railing and looked at the floor below. "Looks like they've about locked off the second floor now. Only one more to go."

"So do you know anything about the enemy?" Erich asked.

"Yes. They are pirates called the Blood Claw. They boarded the ship on portside, and it seems they plan to take it over."

"You mean they're on the ship?!" Erich said. He spun around to leave. "I gotta help fight them!"

"Don't worry," Feit assured him. "They're being--how should I put it--well taken care of. ... What we need to do now is--"

Before he could finish, the ship shook; this time the impact was closer, followed by another rumble. It was the sound of several blasts this time, striking the dome overhead. Erich and Feit quickly looked up to see a space shuttle headed for the dome in a head-on collision. The Corona wasted no time and fired back with streams of blue, red, and yellow energy, but it didn't stop the shuttle from coming. It was approaching fast, rapidly firing at the dome to break through, until at last it burst through the thick ceiling--not by the blast but by the sharp nose of the ship. It shattered yards of the thick, translucent, metal-like protective dome overhead--the only thing protecting the citizens below.

"Watch out!" Feit yelled.

(With another part of the ship breached, how are Erich and Feit going to survive the inevitable suction into space? Find out more in the next installment of Vecto: Voyage!)