Chapter 41.
Not. Dead. Yet.
Sorry, school is NUTS, stage starts in 2 months.
New arc coming soon.
Raidre ran for it because she was out-numbered and out gunned…And fresh out of dets and blaster cells.
She panted as she raced through halls, when had she last been caught so unprepared? She could hear the Akk dogs running behind her, their long nails scrapping the durasteel of the facility. They clicked in quick successions, their sound ever getting louder as they drew nearer.
"Raidre? Oh my goodness! I finally got ahold of you! Where have you been?!"
Raidre gasped for breath as stitches in her sides began to cramp her breathing. She used the last of her fuel to propel her across a broken down bridge across a ravine that once connected two buildings. Her jets sputtered and died as she was propelled across the gap. He forward projection became a downward spiral. Raidre gasped, sharp with pain, her mouth tasting of copper as she spun to face upwards.
Her grappling cable took hold and she jerked with the violence of gravity and the weight of her kit. Her shoulder did not bear the weight with grace. She cried out in her helmet as her shoulder popped from her joint. Tears streamed from her eyes as the HUD died. She gasped for breath through the pain and grabbed onto the cable with her left arm. She lost purchase and almost slipped again, but panic was an effective tool. She held on for dear life, because her life did depend on it.
She looked down as she tried to catch her breath, fifty, maybe fifty-five more feet to fall. She tried to calm herself as the buy'ce became suffocating in its isolation. She needed air.
One of the Akk dogs whined as it pawed at the air in her direction. She looked up towards the sound, she groaned as she looked back up to where her cable hung on. She grunted as she began to pull. Her left arm, her off hand, shook with the effort of pulling herself up. It took three tries and she almost ripped her arm off on the second try when she fell back down to hanging on with her right arm, but she finally hung on with her legs and left arm.
She swayed in the wind a second and began to climb up with her legs. The Akk dogs began to circle and bark at her. She groaned as she pulled harder and pushed herself up more. Maybe 10 feet, she had to get herself up before the masters of the Akk dogs showed up. She would make an all too easy target hanging here for blaster practice.
Raidre had her left arm on the ledge when she heard them. Fear and panic made for great motivators. She climbed and pulled herself over the edge of the broken bridge just in time to hear her pursuers voices. She ran for it as they closed in on her and began to shoot.
She took cover and fell forward. She drew her blaster with her left and let herself fall on her back. She heard the weight of her kit crush her blaster pack, but it made no difference now that she was running on empty.
She panted on the ground as she waited.
One.
They shouted and cursed.
Two.
Akk dog one whined while Akk dog two whined.
Three.
"Where's Kuyce?"
Raidre got up and held her right arm still as she ran deeper into this second facility.
"Torian!"
Torian snapped up from his nap as Mako charged into the galley. His face was still relaxed, eyes trying to stay open as he looked at Mako. The sleeve of his shirt had left its mark on the right side of his face while drool marked his left side.
"Huh?"
"You're up!"
Torian yawned. "Can't."
Mako frowned, hand on one hip and she leaned into that hand with a pout. "Why?"
Torian wiped the drool from his face. "You know why."
Mako rolled her eyes and blew her hair from her eyes. "Torian, she's in trouble."
Torian chuckled. "When isn't she?"
Mako almost stomped her foot. "I'm serious!"
Torian stood and walked to the caf machine. "Me too."
Mako frowned as he poured himself a cup and began to sip. "She told you off again, didn't she?"
Torian chuckled again. "Nothing new."
Mako frowned again. "So why are you listening to her then?!"
He did not answer this time. Mako handed Torian her data pad. "That's her last known location."
Torian looked it over as he sipped his caf, he began to frown that telling frown, a little line between the brows with his right cheek sucked in as he chewed the inside of his cheek. He moved the map around and remained silent.
Mako nodded to herself and crossed her arms. "Lost contact with her for two hours, Gault is already on site looking for her, but he says the planet can't make up its mind if it wants to be a jungle or an icy desert. "
Torian nodded. "Mostly ice, three jungles on top of volcanic formations." He looked away from the map and back at Mako, his blue eyes as intense as ever. "Why do you think she needs me if Gaults en-route?"
Mako chewed her lower lip. "Her comm went dead, then came back online just long enough for me to hear some bits and pieces. "
Torian waited in silence, map and caf now hanging loose in his hands as his focus and attention were occupied by Mako. Mako sighed.
"I could hear shots being fired, I think Akk dogs and her panting."
Torian put both the mug and datapad down and disappeared into the cargo bay. Mako went back to the cock pit and punched in the last known coordinates of Raidre. Blizz came to sit next to her and put a little hand on her right arm. Mako smiled, but her eyes did not crinkle with the curve of her lips.
"It'll be alright. We'll get her back soon."