"Jothee, what the hell is going on over there?" John shouted into the comms, sitting up on the edge of his seat the moment he heard the sirens blare.
Looking out of the forward portals of the transport pod, John, Aeryn, and Zhaan watched as every exterior light came on and several guards, armed with pistols, tasers, or stun-bag guns, converged on a single location. Jothee and Zell were both stronger than humans, but there was no way they would be able to take on three guards each, possibly more now that the panic button had been pushed.
"I told you it wouldn't work," Aeryn said from the pilot's seat, starting the engines. Jothee and Zell were both too impulsive to handle a job like the one they had been tasked to do.
"Well, you can call me on it as much as you want later," John stated, sitting back in his seat. "But we gotta get over there now."
Aeryn immediately increased power to the transport's engines, lifting it off the deserted side street where they were hiding, but just high enough to retract the landing struts and extend the main engine pods. She lowered the craft to mere denches off the pavement and flew over the street, banking left and flying the quarter mile toward the prison. Flying along the street, it was hoped that the local radar operators would mistake the pod for ground clutter – very large ground clutter – and not alert the military.
As they approached the prison, they saw that the outer and inner gates had been pushed open and were hanging at odd angles. Further in, they saw Jothee and Zell doing their best to hold off the prison guards, never giving the guards the chance to use their guns and tasers.
Aeryn put the transport in a sharp left turn and flew it through the open gates, trying to keep up their appearance as a ground vehicle. However, the craft was wider than the opening. The treblin side engine pod slammed into the guardhouse, shattering it, the wood raining down on top of the unconscious guard on the floor inside. The hammond side of the craft tore the hanging gates off their tracks and ripped off a nine-foot section of the outer fence and a seven-foot section of the inner fence. The outer gate caught on the transport's forward hammond side landing strut, the inner gate catching on the central landing strut, while the outer fence section caught on the engine pod and the inner fence section fell to the ground. The transport dragged both sections the entire distance to the facility, igniting sparks as they scraped the concrete.
As they flew past the fight taking place on the ground Zhaan leaned over the steering column and firmly asked, "Aeryn, what are you doing?"
"What do you think I'm doing?" she answered.
"Jothee and Zell need us."
"We don't have time to go back," Aeryn stated, glancing back at Zhaan. "We don't have the manpower, either."
"John?" Zhaan anxiously asked, looking at her human friend.
"She's right, Zhaan," John answered immediately, but sadly. They couldn't risk going after the two. It would slow them down and time was something they didn't have, especially now that the alarms had been tripped.
Defeated, Zhaan stood back and waited for Aeryn to land the pod.
Reaching the large knoll in front of a side entrance, Aeryn retracted the engine pods and extended the landing struts, forcing the sections of fence they had dragged to fall away. As she did so, John activated his comms and said, "Get ready and shut off all your electronic gear."
As soon as Aeryn landed, she immediately began to shut down all systems while John pulled a small, pen-shaped remote out of the pouch on his belt, his thumb on the trigger atop the remote. Once all systems were shut down completely, Aeryn nodded to John and he pressed the trigger.
----------------------------------------------------
"Jothee, what the hell is going on over there?" the young Luxan heard over the comms as he pushed the inner gate open, tearing it from its track. However, he was too busy to answer. An enforcer was running toward him over a grassy knoll ahead of him, a baton in hand. Four other enforcers followed some distance behind.
He signaled to Zell to come up, then charged at the enforcer, running to the knoll. Nearing the guard, Jothee suddenly dropped to the grassy ground and slid feet first. The human didn't have enough time to react and Jothee knocked his feet out from under him, sending him crashing to the ground, dropping his baton. Spinning around on the ground, Jothee tried to kick him in the side of the head, but the human ducked, grabbed Jothee's calf, and tried to punch him in the groin. Instead, Jothee twisted his free leg around the guard's arm, keeping him from throwing another punch. Twisting around slightly, his leg still around the man's arm, Jothee immediately threw a hard kick into the enforcer's side, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him to let go of Jothee.
As the human released his leg, Jothee let go of the prison guard's leg, then rolled back and stood up. He immediately massaged his tailbone and staggered back a bit in pain because the tip of the qualta blade had dug into him while he rolled back.
Unfortunately, that hesitation gave the enforcer time to recover and find his baton. He grabbed it and stood up swinging. Reacting quickly, Jothee jerked his hips back to avoid the baton, then quickly threw a punch across the human's jaw as he straightened out. The guard ignored the blow and the pain and swung his baton back around. Jothee blocked his arm, his hand at the inside of the human's elbow. He then reached across with his other hand and wrapped it around the enforcer's hand and forced him to hit himself in the forehead with the baton. The guard stumbled back slightly, a gash on his forehead, but Jothee didn't let go of. He pulled the man back to make him hit himself again, but the guard gave a quick kick to Jothee's gut, forcing the Luxan to release him and wrap his arms around his abdomen as he cringed in pain. He stumbled back slightly, giving the guard a chance to regroup.
The guard came up on Jothee, wiping the blood away from his forehead. He raised his baton over his head and brought it down hard on Jothee's already bruised collarbone.
"Frell!" Jothee yelled, spinning around and dropping to one knee as he reached up to cradle his fractured left collarbone.
The human threw his arm back and quickly stepped around to Jothee's right side, grabbing just below the tip of the baton with his other hand. He slammed it as hard as he could into Jothee's side. Arching to his side, Jothee let out a bellow and stumbled to the ground on his side, writhing in pain, his hands planted on the side of his abdomen. As the enforcer stepped up behind Jothee, standing over him and raising his baton for another strike, Jothee reached over his head and unsheathed his father's qualta blade. He quickly raised it above his head just in time to block the strike with the flat of the blade.
Pushing the baton away, Jothee rolled over as fast as he could and swung out his legs, spinning around on his hip and kicking the guard's legs out from under him. He tossed the qualta blade to his left hand and painfully brought it back and swung it around with a muffled yell, trying to slam the flat of the blade across the enforcer's midsection. The guard rolled away just in time, but was still slashed across his right arm. Cradling his wounded arm, the human tried to get up, but the hybrid spun around on his hip again, kicking the guard across the jaw and knocking him back onto the ground.
Jothee immediately stood up, sheathed his blade, and grabbed the enforcer by the collar with his right hand, lifting him from the ground. He violently pulled the human's torso down as he drove his knee into the man's gut, knocking the wind out of him.
Seeing something out of the corner of his eye, Jothee glanced to his left and saw another enforcer aiming a weapon at him. He quickly spun around, pulling the enforcer in front of him, then rolled away as two metallic electrodes suddenly attached themselves to the enforcer's chest. The guard immediately went into a seizure as the taser pistol sent twenty-six watts of electricity through his body. As the prison guard fell back onto the ground, still convulsing, Jothee came out of his roll and twisted around, landing on his side with a cringe of pain and shot his tongue out at the other guard. The Luxan's tongue stung the man in the neck and knocked him out.
Glancing a few motras behind him, he watched as Zell dealt with two guards at the same time. The Ilanic seemed to be handling himself fairly well, but two at the same time was still pushing his limits. One of the guards also had an empty holster on his hip.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jothee suddenly saw the fifth enforcer running up to him with a baton in hand. He allowed the human to run up to him, but before the guard could get close enough to swing his baton, Jothee rolled back, raising his feet over his head, and kicked the guard in the gut, knocking him back onto his butt.
Jerking his legs back down, Jothee kicked himself up and spun around, holding his blade against his side, in time to see the enforcer standing up as well, his baton still in hand.
"Damn, you're one ugly fucker, ain'tcha?" the human said, disgusted.
Jothee stood there dumbfounded and said, "You want to stand there like that, giving me a chance to come over there and kick you up the mivonks, just so you could say how ugly you think I am?" Lowering his qualta blade, he rolled his eyes with an incredulous huff and added, "How much of a frelling idiot are you anyway?"
"What?" the guard asked, confused.
"Did you actually think I was going to speak your language?" he asked. He rolled his eyes again, then shot his tongue out at the enforcer.
Unexpectedly, the human caught Jothee's tongue, raised his baton, then violently tugged on his tongue, jerking Jothee toward him and causing him to drop his blade. Once Jothee was close enough, the enforcer tried to bring the baton down on the Luxan's shoulder. But Jothee raised his arm, blocking the weapon with his forearm as he grabbed the guard's other arm. Almost instantly, he brought his fist down across the human's head, his thumb slamming into the man's temple. He forced the guard to release his tongue and sent him to the ground in a daze.
Hearing the transport pod's engines nearing, he pulled his tongue back into his mouth as he looked up from the enforcer to the front gate. He watched as it destroyed the guardhouse and portions of the outer and inner fences, dragging sections of them along the ground.
While distracted, Jothee had his legs kicked out from under him by the enforcer who was still on the ground. He landed hard on his back, but ignored the pain and shot onto his knees and lunged forward onto the human, grabbing his collar and punching him across the cheek.
The enforcer suddenly brought his legs up and wrapped them around Jothee's neck, pushing him down onto the ground and chocking him. Sitting up, he raised his baton, then brought it down across Jothee's abdomen, causing him to cough as he already gasped for air.
"Get ready and shut off all your electronic gear," Jothee and Zell heard Crichton say over the comms.
Almost immediately, he pulled back his leg then plowed the heel of his boot into the guard's face. The human let go of the Luxan as he raised his hands to his face and slowly rolled away in pain. Once released, Jothee instantly shut off his comms, then stood up and approached the guard who was still dazed. The hybrid shot out his tongue and knocked the guard out.
Suddenly, a thunderous bang rang out from the main building and the sirens and the lights shut off, leaving the immediate area in darkness and silence. However, light was still visible through several windows in the upper floors. The generator worked as the others said it would and emitted an EMP field a little over twenty-seven motras in all directions.
Without warning, three more bangs rang out, the last two almost simultaneously. Jothee looked toward the prison and saw several people running into the side entrance. He quickly turned around as another bang rang out with a bright flash behind him. The flash illuminated the area momentarily, making visible an enforcer firing a weapon at Zell. The guard fired three more times. In the light, Jothee watched as Zell fell to the ground, blood flowing from five through-and-through wounds in his upper body.
In the ensuing darkness, Jothee yelled and ran toward the guard as the human aimed his weapon. Before he could fire, Jothee grabbed the man's arm, pushing it up, then rammed his knee into the enforcer's abdomen. The guard keeled over, his arm wrapped around his abdomen, coughing and gasping for air while Jothee held him up. The Luxan immediately reached up to the pistol and wrapped his hand around the human's as he yanked down the man's arm, bending it. Baring his teeth, he pressed the barrel of the pistol under the man's right jaw line, then fired. Pieces of skull and gray matter flew through the air as the bullet exited the enforcer's head.
Jothee took the pistol, then let go of the guard's lifeless corpse, letting it fall unceremoniously to the ground. Stuffing the pistol into the front of his belt, Jothee looked around for Zell's body. He first came across the body of another enforcer. The human's neck had been broken, his head turned at an odd angle. Looking further to the right, he found Zell's body.
With a sigh, Jothee began walking towards the Ilanic's body. He didn't get halfway there before another gunshot rang out. Shot in the back, the Luxan fell over with a bullet lodged in right side of his abdomen.
The sixth guard had finally arrived at the area after having been patrolling the grounds on the other side of the facility. His gun still leveled at Jothee, the enforcer slowly approached the hybrid's seemingly lifeless body as he lay on his left side on the ground. However, once at Luxan's the feet, Jothee quickly rolled over onto his back, pulling the pistol from his belt, and fired at the human. Five bullets tore through the human's body and knocked him off his feet, sending him to the ground in a bloody heap.
Once the human's body hit the ground, Jothee relaxed and let his arm drop to his side. He slowly reached over to check his wound, gently probing the hole made by the bullet. He flinched in pain and let out a soft groan, then, with a sigh, let his body go limp and said, "Frell."
----------------------------------------------------
As soon as everything outside had shut down, nine people armed with pulse pistols, explosives, and syringes filled with sedatives flowed out of the transport pod and quickly made their way in the darkness to a side entrance of the prison. They gathered into the alcove around a sold metal door, five on one side, four on the other.
John glanced at Aeryn on the other side of the door from him and nodded to her, then took a breath and grabbed a mechanical concussion grenade as Aeryn did the same. His finger around the pin ready to pull it, John looked toward Zhaan, standing behind Aeryn, then nodded and said, "Do it."
At John's word, Zhaan moved around Aeryn into the alcove, took hold of the sprayer at her side on a shoulder strap, and sprayed a thin line of foam around the lock on the door. Letting the sprayer drop to her side, Zhaan pulled a syringe from a satchel at her other side, injected a small amount of chemical into the foam, then spun away as everyone else turned away. Almost immediately, the foam ignited, blinding the immediate area with bright, intense sparks flying everywhere, and burned its way through the metal door, the lock falling to the ground with a loud clank.
As Zhaan stepped back, John and Aeryn stepped into the alcove, pulling the pins on their grenades. John threw the door open and they both tossed their grenades inside, shutting the door behind them as they ran back out of the alcove. A microt later, both grenades exploded, one right after the other, blowing the door wide open with smoke pouring out of the doorway.
The nine rushed into the smoke-filled room, hearing coughing and soft moans from the people who were inside. As the smoke cleared, they found three guards on the floor behind the security desk and immediately sedated them and disarmed them of their Berettas and Sig Sauers, and extra magazines. John, Aeryn, and a Tavlek took the weapons and their corresponding magazines for themselves. Suddenly, they heard a gunshot outside. Glancing at each other, they all wondered if Jothee and Zell were all right. They jumped as another three gunshots rang out.
Both John and Zhaan immediately made their way to the door, but Aeryn ran around them, blocking their path, and said, "We don't have time for this."
Another gunshot rang out, and Zhaan stated impatiently, "Aeryn, Jothee and Zell may be hurt. We must check on them."
"Yes, they may be hurt, but we have less than a quarter arn to get Grant and leave. If we don't do that in less than a quarter arn, then a lot more of us will be hurt."
"Aeryn's right, Zhaan," John said softly before a sixth shot rang out. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, then looked toward Zhaan in the darkness and added, "We can't afford to go back for Jothee and Zell and we can't afford to split up. We need everyone where they are to break Natalie out."
As another five shots rang out, Zhaan closed her eyes in silent prayer. Opening her eyes, she sadly replied, "Very well."
"They'll be all right, Zhaan," John reassured, giving her arm a gentle squeeze.
"C'mon, we're running out of time," Aeryn stated, jogging around the two.
With John and Zhaan following, Aeryn jogged around the security desk and joined the rest of their team. The nine made their way to the short hall at the back of the room containing four elevator doors and, at the very end of the hall, a door to the staircase. But before they got two motras, they heard the distinct sounds of shotguns being cocked at the other end of the hall.