Neo Chronicles: Black Void
Episode 31: Planet Raid
Table of Contents
Mera's here for some reason. She hardly gives me any time to get settled in.
Dang.
Before she says anything, I start off, “Again? Look, I done told you. Nobody knows.”
She asked me to keep her secret. I done already forgot what that secret was. I really don't care. There're way more important things on my mind.
“I understand. I trust you,” she responds all hesitant like. “It's just,” she takes a pause, checks to see if the door closed behind her—darn this lady for bein' in my room right now—then continues. “I've never had anyone to talk to about this.”
“Okay?” I respond.
She clears her throat. “I know you don't understand,” Her voice softens, “but could you at least listen? I just need—I could really use—a wall right now.”
A wall? A wall? Don't you got four of those in your room? I bet it's a lot more space there, too. C'mon now. Why does she need this now? Why am I here now? The raid's about to get goin'. I gotta meet up with Carlos. This is jus' bad timing all around. What do I do?
“Fine.” I sigh. “Might as well start from the beginning.”
Maybe I need this? Don't intend on payin' her much mind, but while tunin' her out, I can set some things straight in my head.
“My family didn't have much growing up. On my home world, the women were treated with little respect. At our best we were the property of men. Soon after my father left, my brother died of a terrible disease. It was a longterm illness that we all saw coming, but when it finally happened, we were still unprepared. Desperate for a way to receive financial support, my mother started dressing me—a then youngling—as a boy. This opened the door to many opportunities for me and my family. I was able to enroll in law enforcement, and then later on join my planet's space fleet.”
“Then the pirates hit.”
“Then the pirates hit. My particular vessel was out on a casual patrolling mission in between worlds. The pirates jammed our communications and caught us unawares. We fought back, but ultimately were overtaken by their sheer numbers.”
“That's how they work.”
“And it worked well. Most of the crew fought until the last breath, but when it was clear that there was no chance of surviving the encounter like that, we ultimately surrendered.”
“Join or die?”
“It is a very effective recruiting method.”
“So that's why you're here. A'ight, I get it. So what now? And you still act like a dude for whatever reason because –”
“You may be unaware of this as a male of your species, but I have found first hand the many opportunities men are handed for simply being men. And while some societies and civilizations may not be as oppressive towards women as they are on my home world, this principle still holds true in many, many other places. Count yourself lucky.”
Well dang. Now I feel bad. I'm really not sure what to say next. I know a thing or two about oppression and unjust treatment from back home. We got our own form of that when it comes to different skin tones. Being of the darker variety, my mom's always told me how people'll treat me because of that. Lots of history involved in that. But I didn't even think of how that same type of—what's the word—prejudice goes out to all the girls of the world. Makes no sense, but then again.
Prejudice never does.
The pause is starting to become awkward. I'm still reeling from the lesson I just learned, but from the looks of it, Mera didn't mean to cause me any discomfort. I'm glad she did though. Really, I am. Always be sure to check your privilege.
Mera sighs. “I didn't come here to discus gender inequality with you. I just – I'm not sure why I came, honestly. Sorry to intrude.”
“Ayo, if you ever do need to talk,” what am I doing? “about anything.” No, stop. Stop before it's too late! “I'm here for you. I may not have much to add on, but I'll always be here to listen.” Why Lawd, why? Why did I just offer her that? You know how much I hate talk.
Maybe she'll turn it down.
“Thanks,” she says. “I'll remember that.”
Dang it.
She leaves soon after that.
About a half an hour later, clean up a bit, splash some water on my face, grab my sword, and head on out.
They done told us what's gonna go down. The fleet's gonna warp in a few vessels at a time so as to not raise suspicion. Most are gonna orbit Pnelenix. It'll look like we're comin in to dock for some supplies. Y'know. Ordinary type stuff. Nothin' strange. Then the main ship with the captain and his most trusted is gon' head on down planet-side. They gon' dock, they gon' land, an' then hold the whole place up.
Pnelenix ain't no big place at all. It's maybe two or three steps above bein' a dwarf planet. It's got its own orbit, an' it's cleared its own neighborhood, but still, it's a tiny lookin' thing. These pirates come in with enough guns and force, it ain't gon' be no trouble holdin' it up long enough to stock up on some supplies an' clear out before the space cops bust in. We'll be out in no time.
Or at least they will.
See, me an' Carlos got other plans.
“A'ight ese,” Carlos pulls me aside in the hallway, “So it's like this. Once they touch down, there's probably gonna be a fire-fight. Ain't no way in Hell a whole planet's jus' gonna turn over cuz some space pirates ask 'em to, right? There's gonna be resistance no matter what.”
He stops talking as a couple of decked out, bulked out, rhinoceros lookin' dudes pass by. Then he starts back up in a lower tone, “but that's the thing we gonna be countin' on, ya feel me? The longer the shoot out, the better. We'll give 'em like, what, five minutes. They should be in the thick of it by then, right?”
He's put a lot of thought into this. Always schemin, always hustlin. I can respect that. There's still plenty of freestylin in his plan, too. Not so sure if that's good or bad, but the bare-bones is enough for me to be on board with it.
I nod my head in agreement then walk off.
A few moments after, the big moment finally comes. Our ship is among one of the first to warp into Pnelenix space. I managed to wander my way into the main deck area of the ship. All the usual suspects are here: rat alien I don't know, elephant alien I don't know, four armed alien I don't know, and a few dozen or so more. The majority are at their stations tending to the ship's functions. They keep it movin' while the rest of us watch on the big screen that's projected in the center.
It's exactly like they said. Pnelenix is small. If I were to compare it to anything back home, I'd guess it was the size of a whole continent. A big continent. Maybe Eurasia? How big is Eurasia? I'm not one for traveling, so I might be off, but who's really counting?
There's a small moon orbiting it. Doesn't look like it has any inhabitants. It looks like just a small piece—and I mean small in the sense of how a moon usually is—of floating green rock. It's smooth on one side and porous on the other.
A few other ships warp into being. Some of them ours, some of them some others. All and all, things look normal. Normal looking's good. Normal's right. Normal is something these pirates can use.
The captain and his most trusted are in the room. They're gathering the last few bits of their equipment. Empty crates, plasma guns, ammunition. Y'know, everything you'd need for a raid. I see the captain look over in my direction. Then I realize he's not actually looking at me, but at Scion. Scion happens to be standing behind me. The captain makes his way over to him.
“Are you sure this is the best option?” the captain asks in a whisper.
“Sir, this is our only option,” Scion responds equally as quiet. “I wouldn't have recommended it if not for our dire need.”
The captain sighs. “Understood. I'll need you to stay here. You man the fleet from up here. Keep an eye on everything. If something happens, get everyone you can out of here alive.”
“Of course.”
About an hour or two later, more ships have warped in and the captain and his crew of twelve have headed planet-side in a small transport ship. That's when things get interesting. And by interesting, I mean completely crazy.
Out of nowhere, a bunch of other ships pop up. One by one, they're materializing. It's not something as grand as them warping in. No, it was like they were already here. They were were like parked cars, and now their lights are turning on. Were they? No, can't be. How can it not be? They were cloaked. They were cloaked and waiting. And if that's the case, then that means –
The whole room quakes. I'm standing in the main deck area of the ship, watchin' it all go down on the big screen. The de-cloaked ships are lighting up and firing lasers and missiles and all manner of artillery like crazy.
The room quakes again. It's enough to knock everyone in here off their feet, myself included. I'm not sure what I should be doing. Then it quakes again. By now, I notice that there's a loud siren going off. It's wailing is barely enough to drown out the shouts and yells of everyone on board. I see the people running frantic. Like they're running to put out a fire.
What's that smell? Oh crud, there is a fire!
The lights in the room are all in that danger red mode. As if we didn't already know there was danger.
“What's going on?” I hear someone ask.
“We're under attack!” another voice responds.
BOOM
Next thing we know, there's a huge explosion. The ship quakes again as a result. Huge rumbling. Loud commotion. “We're being boarded!” someone from the control section shouts out. “They're in the south hall! B-13!”
I know that hall. It's close by Carlos's room. Oh shoot, what if they got him? What if they didn't and he left? Would he leave me? He probably would. No, I can't let myself think that. I gotta get to him and see if he's alright. Forget how I feel about him. The right thing's still the right thing.
So I rush out of the room and get to the hall as fast as I can.
The halls look terrible. I see exposed wires, sparks flying, and some fallen debris here and there. The pirates are doing all they can to apply some quick and dirty patch work. One such pirate, one of the barbaric ogre persuasion looks to me and shouts some gibberish that roughly translates to “Whaddaya standin' around for? Help!”
It takes me a quick second to process what he actually needs help with. I see him use his huge, bulky, muscular arms to hold up a very large, very bulky looking door. Where does that – OH! THAT'S THE AIR HATCH! If that thing falls, we're getting sucked outside! “Seal it! Seal it!” he shouts.
Seal it with what? I don't see anything. I look on the floor. Again, just rubble and debris that's fallen from the ceiling. There's a shattered piece of wall that's covering other shattered pieces of something. I run up and rummage through everything there as fast as I can. Then I see something that looks like a big version of a hot-glue gun. “That's it!” he says.
Not really knowing how or what, I pick it up and hope it works like I think it should. I am the barrel end at the big cracks in the door, and squeeze the trigger. The metal around it melts and melds all instant like. I follow along the outline of the door until it's all sealed. The ogre lets go of the door and takes a breath.
Then an explosion happens. Right in front of us. Big boom. Loud noise. Knocks us both off our feet. Takes my mind a second to process what just happened. When I come to, I see that I'm still alive. I've been knocked back to the far end of the wall. I'm underneath a bunch of rubble. There's a heavy cloud of dust and smoke from the explosion. But I'm okay. The ogre guy is on his back. He's moaning, but it looks like he's okay, too. He took the brunt of the blast.
“Move! Move! Move!” I hear coming from the hole where the hatch used to be. Out of it comes a whole bunch of people. They're all in white body armor, covered from head to toe. Helmets with dark visors for their eyes, chest plates with a wide “V” lookin mark in the center, shoulder pads, knee pads, the whole nine. And underneath their armor, some dark blue AdaptiveWear. They are decked out. They carry guns. They board the ship. Are we being raided? Is that what this is? The pirates getting pirated? Wouldn't that be something?
They're acting like soldiers. So formal like. So army like. These guys can't be pirates. When they notice the ogre trying to make his way up, they immediately open fire on him. Oh shoot, now they spot me. No warning. No demands. They see that I'm awake and open fire.
Blazing hot bullets, like some shell/plasma hybrid, cut through the surrounding rubble like its hot butter. The stray shots that don't hit me tear through the wall behind me. The shots that do hit me, while not exactly penetrating my skin, do a number on the space suit I'm wearing. Not to mention the burning, stinging sensation. I could do without that.
I pick myself up, draw my sword, hold it to the side with one hand, and try to look like I'm unfazed. If I put on a big enough act, they might buy it and back off. That's my plan. Passive intimidation. It could work, right? I hope it works. Please, let it work.
It doesn't work.
When they see that their shooting levels everything in the hall but me, they stop only to bring out a bigger gun. And what a gun it is. That thing is a cannon. Takes two of them to hold the thing steady. One is on his knee, aiming the gigantic barrel at me, the other is supporting it from the back. I hear the whirring of it charging up.
I don't know if I should move or stay. If I stay and tank the blast, then that might be enough for them to get scared and run, right? But what if it hurts? It's probably gonna hurt. I know it's gonna hurt. Darn it! Darn it! Darn it! Move!
Too late.
I try to move at the last second, but the blast ends up hitting me squarely on the right side of my chest. It's a forceful blast. Just about knocks the wind out of me. And it's got an electrical edge to it, too. Not a pleasant experience. Even though I didn't actually shield myself with my sword, I think it absorbed the brunt of the blast. It's glowing like it did. Maybe that's the reason I'm still standing.
Doesn't take 'em long to reload. The cannon's already charged up, and they fire again. I duck to the side, and roll my way up back on my feet. The blast ended up missing me by an inch, but the stuff it hit in its way – dang. Just about plows through five or six walls behind me. If they aimed that thing at a wall leading outside, I can only imagine bad things happening.
I grip my sword tightly, feel it pulsating. I run in and pull back for a big swing. They fire off that rapid fire, plasma shell noise. Like before, it stings when it hits, but I keep chargin' through. Then they fire the big one. I pull my sword in front of me. This time, it absorbs it all. I'm filled with all sorts of adrenaline now. Like the biggest sugar rush of my life. I'm on edge.
With the next step, I jump at them. My left arm outstretched, I grab on to the barrel of their cannon and crush it in my grip. They're still lightin' me up with bullets, but it ain't no thang. I spin around and smack them all with the flat end of my blade. Knocks 'em all out cold.
I look at the tunnel that they came through. I can't really destroy it, because it's keeping space outside. But if I leave it, more of these soldiers'll be runnin' through. Should I stay? Stand guard? No. This raid is happenin' all over. I gotta go find Carlos. B-13. That's where I'm headed.
Episode 31: Planet Raid
Table of Contents
Mera's here for some reason. She hardly gives me any time to get settled in.
Dang.
Before she says anything, I start off, “Again? Look, I done told you. Nobody knows.”
She asked me to keep her secret. I done already forgot what that secret was. I really don't care. There're way more important things on my mind.
“I understand. I trust you,” she responds all hesitant like. “It's just,” she takes a pause, checks to see if the door closed behind her—darn this lady for bein' in my room right now—then continues. “I've never had anyone to talk to about this.”
“Okay?” I respond.
She clears her throat. “I know you don't understand,” Her voice softens, “but could you at least listen? I just need—I could really use—a wall right now.”
A wall? A wall? Don't you got four of those in your room? I bet it's a lot more space there, too. C'mon now. Why does she need this now? Why am I here now? The raid's about to get goin'. I gotta meet up with Carlos. This is jus' bad timing all around. What do I do?
“Fine.” I sigh. “Might as well start from the beginning.”
Maybe I need this? Don't intend on payin' her much mind, but while tunin' her out, I can set some things straight in my head.
“My family didn't have much growing up. On my home world, the women were treated with little respect. At our best we were the property of men. Soon after my father left, my brother died of a terrible disease. It was a longterm illness that we all saw coming, but when it finally happened, we were still unprepared. Desperate for a way to receive financial support, my mother started dressing me—a then youngling—as a boy. This opened the door to many opportunities for me and my family. I was able to enroll in law enforcement, and then later on join my planet's space fleet.”
“Then the pirates hit.”
“Then the pirates hit. My particular vessel was out on a casual patrolling mission in between worlds. The pirates jammed our communications and caught us unawares. We fought back, but ultimately were overtaken by their sheer numbers.”
“That's how they work.”
“And it worked well. Most of the crew fought until the last breath, but when it was clear that there was no chance of surviving the encounter like that, we ultimately surrendered.”
“Join or die?”
“It is a very effective recruiting method.”
“So that's why you're here. A'ight, I get it. So what now? And you still act like a dude for whatever reason because –”
“You may be unaware of this as a male of your species, but I have found first hand the many opportunities men are handed for simply being men. And while some societies and civilizations may not be as oppressive towards women as they are on my home world, this principle still holds true in many, many other places. Count yourself lucky.”
Well dang. Now I feel bad. I'm really not sure what to say next. I know a thing or two about oppression and unjust treatment from back home. We got our own form of that when it comes to different skin tones. Being of the darker variety, my mom's always told me how people'll treat me because of that. Lots of history involved in that. But I didn't even think of how that same type of—what's the word—prejudice goes out to all the girls of the world. Makes no sense, but then again.
Prejudice never does.
The pause is starting to become awkward. I'm still reeling from the lesson I just learned, but from the looks of it, Mera didn't mean to cause me any discomfort. I'm glad she did though. Really, I am. Always be sure to check your privilege.
Mera sighs. “I didn't come here to discus gender inequality with you. I just – I'm not sure why I came, honestly. Sorry to intrude.”
“Ayo, if you ever do need to talk,” what am I doing? “about anything.” No, stop. Stop before it's too late! “I'm here for you. I may not have much to add on, but I'll always be here to listen.” Why Lawd, why? Why did I just offer her that? You know how much I hate talk.
Maybe she'll turn it down.
“Thanks,” she says. “I'll remember that.”
Dang it.
She leaves soon after that.
About a half an hour later, clean up a bit, splash some water on my face, grab my sword, and head on out.
They done told us what's gonna go down. The fleet's gonna warp in a few vessels at a time so as to not raise suspicion. Most are gonna orbit Pnelenix. It'll look like we're comin in to dock for some supplies. Y'know. Ordinary type stuff. Nothin' strange. Then the main ship with the captain and his most trusted is gon' head on down planet-side. They gon' dock, they gon' land, an' then hold the whole place up.
Pnelenix ain't no big place at all. It's maybe two or three steps above bein' a dwarf planet. It's got its own orbit, an' it's cleared its own neighborhood, but still, it's a tiny lookin' thing. These pirates come in with enough guns and force, it ain't gon' be no trouble holdin' it up long enough to stock up on some supplies an' clear out before the space cops bust in. We'll be out in no time.
Or at least they will.
See, me an' Carlos got other plans.
“A'ight ese,” Carlos pulls me aside in the hallway, “So it's like this. Once they touch down, there's probably gonna be a fire-fight. Ain't no way in Hell a whole planet's jus' gonna turn over cuz some space pirates ask 'em to, right? There's gonna be resistance no matter what.”
He stops talking as a couple of decked out, bulked out, rhinoceros lookin' dudes pass by. Then he starts back up in a lower tone, “but that's the thing we gonna be countin' on, ya feel me? The longer the shoot out, the better. We'll give 'em like, what, five minutes. They should be in the thick of it by then, right?”
He's put a lot of thought into this. Always schemin, always hustlin. I can respect that. There's still plenty of freestylin in his plan, too. Not so sure if that's good or bad, but the bare-bones is enough for me to be on board with it.
I nod my head in agreement then walk off.
A few moments after, the big moment finally comes. Our ship is among one of the first to warp into Pnelenix space. I managed to wander my way into the main deck area of the ship. All the usual suspects are here: rat alien I don't know, elephant alien I don't know, four armed alien I don't know, and a few dozen or so more. The majority are at their stations tending to the ship's functions. They keep it movin' while the rest of us watch on the big screen that's projected in the center.
It's exactly like they said. Pnelenix is small. If I were to compare it to anything back home, I'd guess it was the size of a whole continent. A big continent. Maybe Eurasia? How big is Eurasia? I'm not one for traveling, so I might be off, but who's really counting?
There's a small moon orbiting it. Doesn't look like it has any inhabitants. It looks like just a small piece—and I mean small in the sense of how a moon usually is—of floating green rock. It's smooth on one side and porous on the other.
A few other ships warp into being. Some of them ours, some of them some others. All and all, things look normal. Normal looking's good. Normal's right. Normal is something these pirates can use.
The captain and his most trusted are in the room. They're gathering the last few bits of their equipment. Empty crates, plasma guns, ammunition. Y'know, everything you'd need for a raid. I see the captain look over in my direction. Then I realize he's not actually looking at me, but at Scion. Scion happens to be standing behind me. The captain makes his way over to him.
“Are you sure this is the best option?” the captain asks in a whisper.
“Sir, this is our only option,” Scion responds equally as quiet. “I wouldn't have recommended it if not for our dire need.”
The captain sighs. “Understood. I'll need you to stay here. You man the fleet from up here. Keep an eye on everything. If something happens, get everyone you can out of here alive.”
“Of course.”
About an hour or two later, more ships have warped in and the captain and his crew of twelve have headed planet-side in a small transport ship. That's when things get interesting. And by interesting, I mean completely crazy.
Out of nowhere, a bunch of other ships pop up. One by one, they're materializing. It's not something as grand as them warping in. No, it was like they were already here. They were were like parked cars, and now their lights are turning on. Were they? No, can't be. How can it not be? They were cloaked. They were cloaked and waiting. And if that's the case, then that means –
The whole room quakes. I'm standing in the main deck area of the ship, watchin' it all go down on the big screen. The de-cloaked ships are lighting up and firing lasers and missiles and all manner of artillery like crazy.
The room quakes again. It's enough to knock everyone in here off their feet, myself included. I'm not sure what I should be doing. Then it quakes again. By now, I notice that there's a loud siren going off. It's wailing is barely enough to drown out the shouts and yells of everyone on board. I see the people running frantic. Like they're running to put out a fire.
What's that smell? Oh crud, there is a fire!
The lights in the room are all in that danger red mode. As if we didn't already know there was danger.
“What's going on?” I hear someone ask.
“We're under attack!” another voice responds.
BOOM
Next thing we know, there's a huge explosion. The ship quakes again as a result. Huge rumbling. Loud commotion. “We're being boarded!” someone from the control section shouts out. “They're in the south hall! B-13!”
I know that hall. It's close by Carlos's room. Oh shoot, what if they got him? What if they didn't and he left? Would he leave me? He probably would. No, I can't let myself think that. I gotta get to him and see if he's alright. Forget how I feel about him. The right thing's still the right thing.
So I rush out of the room and get to the hall as fast as I can.
The halls look terrible. I see exposed wires, sparks flying, and some fallen debris here and there. The pirates are doing all they can to apply some quick and dirty patch work. One such pirate, one of the barbaric ogre persuasion looks to me and shouts some gibberish that roughly translates to “Whaddaya standin' around for? Help!”
It takes me a quick second to process what he actually needs help with. I see him use his huge, bulky, muscular arms to hold up a very large, very bulky looking door. Where does that – OH! THAT'S THE AIR HATCH! If that thing falls, we're getting sucked outside! “Seal it! Seal it!” he shouts.
Seal it with what? I don't see anything. I look on the floor. Again, just rubble and debris that's fallen from the ceiling. There's a shattered piece of wall that's covering other shattered pieces of something. I run up and rummage through everything there as fast as I can. Then I see something that looks like a big version of a hot-glue gun. “That's it!” he says.
Not really knowing how or what, I pick it up and hope it works like I think it should. I am the barrel end at the big cracks in the door, and squeeze the trigger. The metal around it melts and melds all instant like. I follow along the outline of the door until it's all sealed. The ogre lets go of the door and takes a breath.
Then an explosion happens. Right in front of us. Big boom. Loud noise. Knocks us both off our feet. Takes my mind a second to process what just happened. When I come to, I see that I'm still alive. I've been knocked back to the far end of the wall. I'm underneath a bunch of rubble. There's a heavy cloud of dust and smoke from the explosion. But I'm okay. The ogre guy is on his back. He's moaning, but it looks like he's okay, too. He took the brunt of the blast.
“Move! Move! Move!” I hear coming from the hole where the hatch used to be. Out of it comes a whole bunch of people. They're all in white body armor, covered from head to toe. Helmets with dark visors for their eyes, chest plates with a wide “V” lookin mark in the center, shoulder pads, knee pads, the whole nine. And underneath their armor, some dark blue AdaptiveWear. They are decked out. They carry guns. They board the ship. Are we being raided? Is that what this is? The pirates getting pirated? Wouldn't that be something?
They're acting like soldiers. So formal like. So army like. These guys can't be pirates. When they notice the ogre trying to make his way up, they immediately open fire on him. Oh shoot, now they spot me. No warning. No demands. They see that I'm awake and open fire.
Blazing hot bullets, like some shell/plasma hybrid, cut through the surrounding rubble like its hot butter. The stray shots that don't hit me tear through the wall behind me. The shots that do hit me, while not exactly penetrating my skin, do a number on the space suit I'm wearing. Not to mention the burning, stinging sensation. I could do without that.
I pick myself up, draw my sword, hold it to the side with one hand, and try to look like I'm unfazed. If I put on a big enough act, they might buy it and back off. That's my plan. Passive intimidation. It could work, right? I hope it works. Please, let it work.
It doesn't work.
When they see that their shooting levels everything in the hall but me, they stop only to bring out a bigger gun. And what a gun it is. That thing is a cannon. Takes two of them to hold the thing steady. One is on his knee, aiming the gigantic barrel at me, the other is supporting it from the back. I hear the whirring of it charging up.
I don't know if I should move or stay. If I stay and tank the blast, then that might be enough for them to get scared and run, right? But what if it hurts? It's probably gonna hurt. I know it's gonna hurt. Darn it! Darn it! Darn it! Move!
Too late.
I try to move at the last second, but the blast ends up hitting me squarely on the right side of my chest. It's a forceful blast. Just about knocks the wind out of me. And it's got an electrical edge to it, too. Not a pleasant experience. Even though I didn't actually shield myself with my sword, I think it absorbed the brunt of the blast. It's glowing like it did. Maybe that's the reason I'm still standing.
Doesn't take 'em long to reload. The cannon's already charged up, and they fire again. I duck to the side, and roll my way up back on my feet. The blast ended up missing me by an inch, but the stuff it hit in its way – dang. Just about plows through five or six walls behind me. If they aimed that thing at a wall leading outside, I can only imagine bad things happening.
I grip my sword tightly, feel it pulsating. I run in and pull back for a big swing. They fire off that rapid fire, plasma shell noise. Like before, it stings when it hits, but I keep chargin' through. Then they fire the big one. I pull my sword in front of me. This time, it absorbs it all. I'm filled with all sorts of adrenaline now. Like the biggest sugar rush of my life. I'm on edge.
With the next step, I jump at them. My left arm outstretched, I grab on to the barrel of their cannon and crush it in my grip. They're still lightin' me up with bullets, but it ain't no thang. I spin around and smack them all with the flat end of my blade. Knocks 'em all out cold.
I look at the tunnel that they came through. I can't really destroy it, because it's keeping space outside. But if I leave it, more of these soldiers'll be runnin' through. Should I stay? Stand guard? No. This raid is happenin' all over. I gotta go find Carlos. B-13. That's where I'm headed.
