(Recommended listening: Final Flight Instrumental by Postition Music)
Juno leaped into action, grabbing Lupus around the waist and Vela by the hand, sprinting towards the hallway that led to the bridge. As they reached the open doors, the front of the ship exploded, blasting the three Jet Force members down the hallway.
Juno skidded to a halt in front of the room to their quarters. As he righted himself, he though about grabbing weapons. Too risky, Juno shoved the idea out. We can't, not while the ship is exploding around us. Too much can go wrong. And if Vela has the idea to grab weapons, she'll never leave the ship.
"Come on!" Juno shouted to the other two, grabbing Vela and ushering Lupus down the hallway, past their room. He breathed as sigh of relief when he realized that Vela was too stunned to remember that they had weapons.
Meanwhile, the drones at the front of the ship continued to fire on the defenseless Starship, causing massive secondary explosions. The lead Drone ordered the soldiers to continue firing, until there was nothing left.
"How the hell did those rockets get past our shields?" Vela gasped as they ran full speed towards the back end of the ship. It didn't make sense to Vela. Their shields had been up since they entered the atmosphere.
"They're low-velocity rockets," Juno explained. "The shield won't stop something that isn't traveling very fast; that's why we can normally walk right through! Someone has been teaching the Drones some new tricks!"
"What are we going to do?"
"First, we're going to get outside. Then we'll regroup." Juno was in auto-pilot, his training kicking in. He could feel his war zone mentality returning bit by bit. He began taking longer strides, and his back straightened. His breathing evened out, and his thoughts became sharper. This wasn't his other self… this was Juno.
"Roger that," Vela replied. She had sensed the change in her brother's pace, and it was instinctively influencing her own. She felt her muscles loosen and her eyes focus. She reached up to her head and undid her pigtails without breaking stride, her shoulder-blade length hair extending behind her.
Lupus could feel his body ache. It felt good. He'd been with the twins since they'd been born, and though his age had started to show on Earth, now that he was on Goldwood, Lupus' old war dog spirit began to seep into his joints. Pain was his friend; Age was a close companion. Lupus' body seemed to float forward as his legs seemed to move with a speed where his feet were touching the ground again before they even left.
The team reached the back hatch of the ship, and Vela hit the open switch.
Nothing happened.
She tried again. And again. Nothing.
"I think the power's out," Juno offered.
"No shit, Sherlock," Vela returned.
Lupus tilted his head at both of them. Now what?
A high pitched humming caught all of their attentions. It was coming from the other side of the hatch! Juno motioned to the others, and they positioned themselves on either side of the door, ready to ambush whoever (or whatever) stepped through.
A glowing orange blade pierced through the rear hatch like a knife going through hot butter. Juno and Vela stared at it's tip with wide eyes as it proceeded to cut a circular hole in the door effortlessly.
Vela and her brother's eyes locked. We can't fight something like that!
The hole cut from the door dropped to the ground, and a large white lump of fur appeared in the gap. Juno and Vela's eyes locked again, except this time with looks of confusion. What the hell?
Minding the hot edges, the lump of fur entered, along with the rest of his body. Wearing simple clothes, the creature in front of them was without a doubt a Tribal! The Tribal had taken a few creeping steps into the ship before it had the mind to check behind him.
He instantly spotted the team, and his humongous eyes widened even more. "Jet Force… Gemini?"
"Uh…" Juno glanced at Vela, who shrugged. "Yeah, we are."
The Tribal straightened. "Come with me if you want to live."
Outside, the Tribal hurriedly pushed the team towards a man sized hole in ground, hidden in the shadow of their ship. The Tribal jump in feet first, fearlessly. Lupus jumped in next, followed closely by Vela, then Juno. The ship continued to rock and swoon under the endless barrage of rockets from the Drones, who obviously weren't convinced the team was dead yet.
The team found themselves in an underground tunnel, just tall enough to keep Juno from hitting his head on the ceiling. Two other Tribals, both female, stood further down in the tunnel, and both their eyes lit up with joy when they saw the Gemini team.
"No time to reminisce," the male Tribal took the lead. "We need to get out of here. Let's go!" He turned on a flashlight he had in his pants and led the way through the tunnels. They hadn't taken more than fifteen steps when Vela abruptly stopped, causing Juno to nearly run her over.
"What is it?" he asked.
"My Tri-Rockets…" she whispered. She whipped around to go back only to be stopped by Juno. "Juno! My gun is back there! All my ammo is back there! Let me go!"
"That suicidal talk, Vela!" Juno stood firm. "Let it go, you have plenty back home! And I'll get you a new gun, like I promised, okay?"
"No, Juno… I thought this might be our last time off-world!" she paused, then continued. "I brought ALL my ammo!"
"You wha- oh, shit!" Juno wrenched Vela off her feet and bolted down the tunnel. "Run faster! Run fa-"
Juno's cry was drowned out by an explosion that caused the entire tunnel to wobble, as if the walls and floor were made of jelly. Juno shone his own light behind them, where the supports for the tunnel had all shattered, and dirt had begun raining down from the ceiling.
The Drones relentless onslaught had finally reached their quarters, where Juno, Lupus, and Vela's sorted ammo had gone up in flames simultaneously, including all of Vela's two thousand, six hundred and twenty three Tri-Rocket rounds.
"Go, go, go!" Juno screamed, as the tunnel collapsed around them.