They snuck along the hallway, keeping to the shadows. Silence reigned over the facility as the trio moved along the corridor to the next system terminal. Maia and Skyla kept an eye out as Marco hacked the system even though they didn't need to, as the nearest camera was out of sight and the nearest guard on patrol route would still some way away. They had a little time before they were in real danger.
The Rilgarian worked quickly and efficiently, making all the necessary changes to the system that would enable step 1 of their plan to go ahead. But it wouldn't work without a key code, and that's where Skyla came in.
Once he'd set it all up, Marco indicated for Skyla to get in position, gesturing she had two minutes for the next guard to come around and a further two minutes until the other systems picked up on the exposed terminal.
The Lombax crept back out into the hallway, as silent as the night itself. Her fur colour blended perfectly with the walls so she moved under the cover of relative camouflage.
There was a pillar that jutted out of the wall, providing the perfect hiding place. Slipping in beside it, she made sure no part of her body was visible, and then waited.
A matter of seconds past before she heard what she'd been waiting for – footsteps. She listened intently. They were heavy and flat sounding, a Snivelakian. Her mind raced as she calculated how many seconds she had until he reached her position, how she would strike best with the element of surprise and how she would overcome a reptile 5 times her size. The footsteps were even and sounded almost mechanic. With any luck, this meant the guard would be a regular on night shifts and therefore would only be half alert. He'd be carrying standard equipment, a gun (strapped into a holster) and short knife (unstrapped and usually on the belt). She could make use of the knife. The nose was a good place to aim, as Snivelakians had sensitive muzzles. But she needed to avoid a cry of pain...
His shadow came into view and her mind came to its conclusion in a split second.
Darting from her hiding place she seemed to materialise in front of him. Her fist shot up, smacking his muzzle square on the nose. But before he could yell her knee came up to pummel him right in the gut, temporarily winding him and muffling his grunt of pain. The guard doubled over and with lightning reflexes, Skyla whipped the blade from his belt and leapt onto his bent back. Raising the blade she brought the butt down on the reptiles head as hard as she could. The creature let out a low groan and swayed violently, but didn't fall. His hands rose clumsily in an attempt to dislodge her. Raising the blade for the second time she hit him again with every ounce of her strength. Another groan escaped the reptile but it sounded like more of a sigh. The guard began to topple as his consciousness left him. Springing from his back Skyla landed beside him as he crumpled to a heap on the floor without another sound.
The Lombax immediately set about stripping him of all his security cards and details. A light hiss from nearby told her she had about a minute or so to hide the body and rejoin her friends. Pocketing all she'd found she hooked her arms under the guard and hauled him towards where she knew there was a loose panel in the wall.
It took longer than she'd have liked to stuff the unconscious guard into the wall, but it was done efficiently thanks to her training which had fine tuned her muscles. Once done, she made sure her work was undetectable, Skyla hurried back to her friends.
Marco held out his hand and she obediently placed all the security details in his palm. Turning away from them he began flicking through cards. Selecting one he was back into the system, lost once again in the wires and codes.
Maia eyed Skyla's pocket warily and the Lombax looked down. To her surprise, she saw the hilt of the guard's knife protruding from her pocket; she must have put it there without thinking. She shrugged at the Cazar who rolled her eyes with mild disapproval.
About a minute later there came a satisfied grunt from Marco. Replacing the panel he glanced up at them,
"All set. We're on a timer now. You're sure your security details were accurate?" he addressed Skyla. The Lombax nodded,
"100%." The Rilgarian nodded back,
"Let's go."
Marco's plan consisted of carefully timed movements through the facility, avoiding main patrol routes and sticking to the shadows. Thanks to the security details Skyla had collected, the Rilgarian had been able to hack all the nearby cameras on the first part of the route they were taking. So their movements went unnoticed as they tiptoed through the hallway to their next terminal where Marco would repeat the hack for the next part of the route.
They made it to terminal three with no problems, but then Marco had a warning for them.
"The next part is tricky, there are more cameras so we're on a more restricted timer, we have only 3 seconds to allow for mistakes...so you have to keep up with me. You need to be right at my back at alltimes or you will be seen. Do I make myself clear?"
Both the Cazar and the Lombax nodded in acknowledgement and moved in closer behind the Rilgarian. Marco replaced the panel, his lips moving as he mouthed seconds to keep time. He held up a hand, then dropped it and moved away with surprising speed.
Skyla was last in line (she'd insisted, much to Maia's chagrin) and sandwiched her friend in-between herself and Marco. Time was of the essence and they were doing well. When suddenly, as they passed a hallway...
"Skyla?" whispered a voice and the Lombaxes head whipped around. A figure stood up against the wall, but melted out as she had passed. Even in the dark, Skyla recognised them,
"Jaymz!"
"What are you doing?"
"Skyla!" called another voice in an urgent hiss and the Lombax realised she'd stopped. She had one second to catch up or she'd be seen. Making a spur of the moment decision she lunged for the Rilgarian's hand and yanked him towards her.
"Stay right behind me, right behind me and be quiet." Jaymz, thank goodness, was extremely collected under stressful circumstances (unless he had reason to be irked) and immediately followed her orders.
They moved on and Skyla prayed that they hadn't been spotted by any camera; it was at least another 100 metres to their next terminal.
When they finally made it, she turned on Jaymz.
"What are you doing out?" she whispered furiously.
"I was in the bathroom and when I came out everyone was asleep...or knocked out. I saw you and Maia by the panel and was going to call out when I noticed who you were with and what you were doing. When you left, I managed to reopen the doors and follow you," he explained. The Lombax blinked,
"You what?"
"Jaymz, what if you were caught?" exclaimed Maia. He raised his eyebrows,
"What if you were caught?" At that point Marco, who had hacked the terminal in record time, turned on Jaymz, eyes blazing with anger.
"You fool. You've ruined everything!" The other Rilgarian's eyes narrowed,
"You should have told me about this...I could have helped!"
"So you decided to make sure we failed, then?" Marco retorted sarcastically.
"No," Jaymz snarled.
"Well that's what you've done!" the other Rilgarian hissed. Maia put herself between the two men who had risen chest to chest in challenge to the other.
"Listen," she began, keeping her voice low, "we can't stay here any longer or they'll catch us...Jaymz, you shouldn't have followed us but you'll have to come with us or we'll be caught and...executed." Her voice was reasonably level, but Skyla detected the barely masked fear contained within, Maia was absolutely terrified. The two Rilgarians glared at each other for a minute more before they nodded curtly.
"Good. Marco, how many more terminals have we got?"
"Just one more, then we're at the entrance," he replied and with a final glare at Jaymz, moved away. They all fell into formation again and set off, Jaymz now at the rear. Their time schedule wasn't as strict now, and their presence didn't seem to have been detected by any guard or camera, but they were still on the alert.
When they reached the next terminal, they were all quiet as Marco set to work, using another one of the cards Skyla connected. The Lombaxes heart thudded so loudly she felt sure the others could hear it. They were this close to escaping the facility, thisclose to freedom...she could almost taste it.
Quite without warning, Marco let out a stream of curses that would have made even one of the coarsest guards blush.
"What's wrong?" exclaimed Maia. Marco glared up at Jaymz,
"Ask him. His casual stroll around this place has alerted not one, but two cameras who are now running diagnostics on their systems. The guards will be on our tail any minute/" Skyla's mouth ran dry. How could they be this close to what she'd always dreamed of...and yet be stopped now?
"But we can still make it, right?" asked the Cazar, concern as well as more than a hint of fear in her voice. Marco looked at her,
"Our chances have dropped...yet again."
"Then we need to move," Jaymz demanded. The other Rilgarian's lip curled and he looked like he was about to make a cutting reply, when suddenly.
ALERT. ALERT. ALERT. ALERT.
A single alarm began to blare all around them, filling the air with its noise. Skyla's heart dropped to what felt like the planet's core, they were found out - it was game over. Maia gave a sob of outright terror as realisation struck her as well - she was going to die.
The sound went straight to Skyla's soul and kick started her rebellious side.
"No," she snarled violently, causing her friends to look at her in shock, her eyes gleamed as she addressed them, "we've not come this far to fail now. We have to keep going". Marco looked at her as if she were mad, but then shook his head.
"I'm not ready to die either. Let's go." He leapt up without even bothering to replace the panel and immediately slipped into the hall. Skyla grabbed Maia's hand and pulled her along as she followed the Rilgarian. Jaymz fell in behind.
Alarms blaring, they sped towards the exit, following Marco as he sprinted down corridor after corridor. By some miracle, they encountered no guards, but they could hear footsteps pounding around them and they knew they had seconds.
Then they came to it.
Rounding the corner, they came face to face with the front door.
Originally, Skyla had been doubtful about leaving through the front door, the dramatic side of her wanting something more exciting, like a tunnel or secret door. But once Marco had explained his plan to use the front door for the element of the unexpected, and how sure he'd been about it, she'd decided it might not be so bad and therefore worth a shot.
Reaching the door, Marco practically wrenched the panel from the wall and dived straight into the circuits, wielding his tiny spanner like some sort of weapon, attacking the wires left right and centre. Skyla turned her back on the door, watching the surrounding area in case any guards should appear. Jaymz took up a position next to her after making Maia stay near the door.
"I'm sorry," he muttered to Skyla from the corner of his mouth. The Lombax smiled grimly,
"Don't be. We should have told you about this."
"I can't believe I messed this up..." he muttered, "if we die..." Skyla snorted softly,
"We knew the risks when we took this on. We knew we'd probably end up dying...but at least we'd die together." Jaymz glanced at her,
"Are you really so ready to die?" Skyla looked him in the eye,
"I've been ready for a while."
"They won't kill you, you know." Skyla sighed,
"I know...but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it." Jaymz studied her for a moment, knowing what she meant by 'crossing the bridge'. He smiled sadly.
"You're too young to die, Skyla. You have too much of life ahead of you." The Lombax clenched her jaw,
"What is a life without those you love? It's not a life at all, it's simply an existence." At that moment, a guard rounded the corner and a shout of exclamation from Marco told them he was through. Skyla glanced back and saw the doors slide open. Outside looked dark and she could see very little but fresh air rushed in to them, the wind ruffling her fur. She sighed, it'd probably be the last time she felt a natural breeze.
Something shoved her in the back making her stumble towards the door. She span in time to see Jaymz push her again,
"Go, I'll hold them off for as long as I can."
"What? No!" she tried to protest and fought against him.
"Maia!" called Jaymz and the Cazar rushed forward, wrapping her arms around her Lombax friend.
"Skyla, we have to go NOW!"
"GO!" yelled Jaymz.
"Jaymz!" cried Skyla as Maia began to haul her away.
"It's on a timer!" called Marco, already on the other side of the door and looking like he'd bolt any second. A single shot was fired, toward them, then another as the guard advanced quickly, weapon drawn. Another guard appeared behind him, then another. Jaymz locked eyes with Skyla, willing her to go and leave him. The Lombax gave a heaving dry sob and reached for him. His hand shot out and squeezed her hand,
"Go, look after Maia...she needs you," he murmured, before turning to meet the first guard. Skyla barely had time to acknowledge his words before she had to turn and flee with Maia out of the facility, the doors sliding shut behind them. She turned at the last moment to see Jaymz holding the guards back, keeping them from the panel and door and yelling battle cries as he did. Then it closed and she saw him no more.
"Skyla, come on," Maia's desperate voice reached her ears though it sounded distant. Jaymz's last words rang loudly in the Lombaxes head. She had to look after Maia. Almost robotically she turned and followed Maia away from the facility, and into the forest, the last cries of her friend, her brother, fading into the background.