Part III: Escape
Time seemed to slow to a crawling pace. I sat in my cell, watching the clock through the shimmering yellow light of the barrier. Just as Hildebrandt said, a new pair of heavily armored guards replaced the old ones at 1900 hours. Thirteen minutes to wait. I'd never deliberately absorbed energy before. I was anxious as to whether or not I'd be able to drain the barrier in less than three minutes. Ten minutes to go. I wiped my sweating palms on my thighs and sat on the edge of the bunk in anticipation. Seven minutes to go. I tapped my fingers on my knees as I continued to wait. Four minutes. I knew I was sweating with nervousness. I wiped the perspiration from my forehead and stood up. I began to pace, glancing at the clock each time I turned. One minute left. I stood facing the barrier, muscles tense, fingers flexing. I was ready for a fight.
Just as the clock blinked 19:13, I could sense a change in the barrier's power frequency. My Fusion Suit erupted from my skin, and I thrust my hands into the energy field. An intense tingling feeling rippled through my suit and into my spine. I felt the energy of the barrier being siphoned into my body. I was so captivated by the sensation, that I didn't immediately notice the guards snapping into action and charging their weapons.
The barrier finally ran out of power, and the guards started to fire. All of my senses were heightened by the infusion of energy. I dodged the beams as if they weren't even moving. I slipped behind the guard on the left and grabbed his shoulders. I pushed him so that his beam blasted the other guard. The latter was down. I ripped off the first guard's helmet and grabbed his neck. I drained just enough power out of him to knock him out.
"Fire in the detention area. Alert. Fire in the detention area," droned the computer voice along with the now blaring alarms. I raced through the hatch of the detention area before the blast doors could seal it off. As I rounded a corner on the way to the docking bay, I found myself faced with six Federation soldiers.
I reflexively put my right arm forward and pulled at triggering mechanisms that weren't there. I'd forgotten that I didn't have an arm canon. The thing that surprised me more than my mistake was that one of the soldiers went down having been hit by a blast. The soldiers seemed to be as stunned as I was. I aimed my hand at another and focused my energy. A more powerful blast threw him back into the one behind him.
It was an incredible revelation: I didn't need an arm canon anymore. I stopped hesitating right there. I charged toward the soldiers, blasting each with enough to keep them down, but not enough to really hurt them. I raced along the corridors, blasting another trio of guards. By now, I could feel my energy dropping. I may not have needed my arm canon anymore, but I was expending a lot more power by firing without one. I took a sideways leap into a room to avoid an oncoming group of guards. By pure chance, I'd hidden in a battle equipment room. I put my right hand into a new arm cannon, strapped on an energy pack, and latched on a helmet.
I slipped back out of the armory and continued on my way to the fighter bay. I managed to avoid the additional security teams that were combing the ship looking for me. Instead of trying to use a hatch to enter the bay, I morphed into a ball and made my way in through the ventilation ducts. When I returned to my normal form, I snuck quietly to one of the open fighters. I needed a distraction, but my arm cannon was not configured for missiles yet. Just as I thought of that, I felt my Fusion Suit connecting with the weapon. I felt linked mentally to the cannon as it rewired and reconstructed itself to be missile-ready. Incredible! I aimed at a fighter across the bay and fired.
The explosion drew the attention of everyone in the bay to the destroyed fighter. I used the moment to climb into the fighter I stood by and prep it for launch. By the time the crewmen realized new alarms were sounding for an unauthorized launch, I was already in the air, aiming my charged weapon systems at the bay doors. I punched the throttle as soon as the blast was off. A mere fraction of a second would be all the shields needed to put up an emergency field around the bay, but I was already out of the ship by then. My fighter streaked out into space, away from the ship. Suddenly, a huge bolt of energy shot past the fighter. The capital ship I'd just fled firing on me. I brought the ship around and sped toward the ship.
I had the navigation system plotting a jump to Ceres II as I charged the capitol ship. My weapons were fully charged, but I had not intentions of trying to destroy the ship, only disable it. I targeted the ship's jump engine and fired the full blast. The engine erupted and vanished in a cloud of vapor. Next, as I turned toward my jump route, I fired a volley of smaller bursts at the ship's communications array. The antennae and dishes were destroyed, and I kept flying toward my jump point. My assailant continued to fire near misses at me, but they would be unable to follow me or notify any other ships of my escape.
I hit the jump control as I reached the correct point. A burst of acceleration shook the fighter, and it shot off at near-light speed toward Ceres II.
Time seemed to slow to a crawling pace. I sat in my cell, watching the clock through the shimmering yellow light of the barrier. Just as Hildebrandt said, a new pair of heavily armored guards replaced the old ones at 1900 hours. Thirteen minutes to wait. I'd never deliberately absorbed energy before. I was anxious as to whether or not I'd be able to drain the barrier in less than three minutes. Ten minutes to go. I wiped my sweating palms on my thighs and sat on the edge of the bunk in anticipation. Seven minutes to go. I tapped my fingers on my knees as I continued to wait. Four minutes. I knew I was sweating with nervousness. I wiped the perspiration from my forehead and stood up. I began to pace, glancing at the clock each time I turned. One minute left. I stood facing the barrier, muscles tense, fingers flexing. I was ready for a fight.
Just as the clock blinked 19:13, I could sense a change in the barrier's power frequency. My Fusion Suit erupted from my skin, and I thrust my hands into the energy field. An intense tingling feeling rippled through my suit and into my spine. I felt the energy of the barrier being siphoned into my body. I was so captivated by the sensation, that I didn't immediately notice the guards snapping into action and charging their weapons.
The barrier finally ran out of power, and the guards started to fire. All of my senses were heightened by the infusion of energy. I dodged the beams as if they weren't even moving. I slipped behind the guard on the left and grabbed his shoulders. I pushed him so that his beam blasted the other guard. The latter was down. I ripped off the first guard's helmet and grabbed his neck. I drained just enough power out of him to knock him out.
"Fire in the detention area. Alert. Fire in the detention area," droned the computer voice along with the now blaring alarms. I raced through the hatch of the detention area before the blast doors could seal it off. As I rounded a corner on the way to the docking bay, I found myself faced with six Federation soldiers.
I reflexively put my right arm forward and pulled at triggering mechanisms that weren't there. I'd forgotten that I didn't have an arm canon. The thing that surprised me more than my mistake was that one of the soldiers went down having been hit by a blast. The soldiers seemed to be as stunned as I was. I aimed my hand at another and focused my energy. A more powerful blast threw him back into the one behind him.
It was an incredible revelation: I didn't need an arm canon anymore. I stopped hesitating right there. I charged toward the soldiers, blasting each with enough to keep them down, but not enough to really hurt them. I raced along the corridors, blasting another trio of guards. By now, I could feel my energy dropping. I may not have needed my arm canon anymore, but I was expending a lot more power by firing without one. I took a sideways leap into a room to avoid an oncoming group of guards. By pure chance, I'd hidden in a battle equipment room. I put my right hand into a new arm cannon, strapped on an energy pack, and latched on a helmet.
I slipped back out of the armory and continued on my way to the fighter bay. I managed to avoid the additional security teams that were combing the ship looking for me. Instead of trying to use a hatch to enter the bay, I morphed into a ball and made my way in through the ventilation ducts. When I returned to my normal form, I snuck quietly to one of the open fighters. I needed a distraction, but my arm cannon was not configured for missiles yet. Just as I thought of that, I felt my Fusion Suit connecting with the weapon. I felt linked mentally to the cannon as it rewired and reconstructed itself to be missile-ready. Incredible! I aimed at a fighter across the bay and fired.
The explosion drew the attention of everyone in the bay to the destroyed fighter. I used the moment to climb into the fighter I stood by and prep it for launch. By the time the crewmen realized new alarms were sounding for an unauthorized launch, I was already in the air, aiming my charged weapon systems at the bay doors. I punched the throttle as soon as the blast was off. A mere fraction of a second would be all the shields needed to put up an emergency field around the bay, but I was already out of the ship by then. My fighter streaked out into space, away from the ship. Suddenly, a huge bolt of energy shot past the fighter. The capital ship I'd just fled firing on me. I brought the ship around and sped toward the ship.
I had the navigation system plotting a jump to Ceres II as I charged the capitol ship. My weapons were fully charged, but I had not intentions of trying to destroy the ship, only disable it. I targeted the ship's jump engine and fired the full blast. The engine erupted and vanished in a cloud of vapor. Next, as I turned toward my jump route, I fired a volley of smaller bursts at the ship's communications array. The antennae and dishes were destroyed, and I kept flying toward my jump point. My assailant continued to fire near misses at me, but they would be unable to follow me or notify any other ships of my escape.
I hit the jump control as I reached the correct point. A burst of acceleration shook the fighter, and it shot off at near-light speed toward Ceres II.