Across the Universe
Part 5
[All standard disclaimers apply.]
"Pidge, no!" Lance moved to head to the door but Shiro grabbed his shoulder, holding him back. "Shiro, what the hell!"
"We're not going to be able to get through those doors," Shiro said. "She's fried the mechanism and she's the only one that can hack it."
"So we're just going to leave her here!"
"We're going to get her back," Shiro promised. "But we can't help her if we get captured, too."
Lance glanced at the doors, indecision tearing at him. But after a moment, he sighed and gave a slight nod. "Okay."
"Get moving," Shiro said, giving the Red Lion's paladin a shove.
Lance began running towards his Lion with Shiro at his heels. He kept scanning his surroundings for incoming sentries. But he also murmured a prayer for the teammate they were leaving behind.
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As soon as the doors closed, Pidge fought her way to another set of doors. She was glad to find the room empty. She jabbed her bayard into the door's mechanism, sealing herself inside.
The rate of shots being aimed at the doors told her that she didn't have long. She brought up the computer in her suit. She quickly made sure that Hunk, still on the Castle of Lions, had all of the data from hub's mainframe.
Once she was satisfied that the mission's objective was satisfied, she opened a program labeled Killswitch. Her hand hovered over the button to initiate the program. Then the doors shuddered under another volley of shots. With a sigh, she activated the program.
She remembered when she had proposed the program to Hunk. It was after Allura had been captured by the Galra. Pidge had wondered what the Galra or any other enemy would be able to learn if any member of the team had been captured instead of the princess. She and Hunk as the technology and mechanical experts of the team respectively carried the most information on their computers. It was information that they did not want falling into the wrong hands.
She had proposed to Hunk installing a program that would wipe everything except for a homing beacon. Hunk had initially balked, saying that she was being paranoid. But Pidge had persisted. Finally Hunk had relented and helped her code it.
A glance at the screen told her that the wipe was complete. With a sad smile, she activated the homing beacon and then closed the screen. She almost felt naked without the computer, missing it already.
The shots at the door continued, making the metal buckle. Pidge made her bayard re-appear. She took a position away from the doors to wait.
She didn't have to wait long.
One of the doors fell in with a thunderous bang. Sentries began pouring into the room. Pidge fought back, taking out one robot after another.
But it was only a matter of time until she was overwhelmed. She took pride in the fact that she was surrounded by a pile of shattered robots when a laser blast caught her in the shoulder, slamming her into a wall. Before she could scramble back to her feet, a robot stood over her and shot her again, plunging her into darkness.