"No. Smells like ozone, " Aries says in a grim tone. Without hesitation, he flips the table next to him and yells. "Get down!"
"My equipme....." Alashie starts to yell but is interrupted by a loud, echoing sound similar to a sword being unsheathed. A spike comes flying through the roof so fast it seemed that it wasn't there one second and the next it was impaled in the floor amidst all of the stolen equipment. The 8-foot long spike was formed in the shape of a thunderbolt; the insignia of the Federation. It happened so fast and quietly everyone except Aries just stared at the thunderbolt.
"That's an incendiary rail! Get. The. Fuck. Down! Xiànzài!!!" Aries screams getting up to grab Jelun by the collar. As everyone scrambles behind the table the rail explodes. The crew can feel the heat from the blast and bits of debris rain down. The far door and the bay door come flying open and Federation soldiers come flooding in.
"What the hell. Shénme tā mā de. Que el bloodclot!" Xavier says
"The hell is that!" Jelun screams at the same time.
"No time to explain,Aries says "There's a Fed warship above us and we have to move." He peeks over the edge of the table to see the soldries approching the blast zone. "There's 12 of em on the breach squad. More outside. They haven't caught us on their scans yet. Our only out is the loft." Everyone stares at him uncomprehendingly. "Xalissa, a little cover fire?"
"Now that I understand." Xalissa says with a slight smile. She pulls a pistol from her boot and stands up. "Hey Federali!" she yells as she opens fire hitting three soldiers before they shoot back. Aries grabs a rifle that was on the overtuned table and joins Xalissa in shooting after taking cover from the hail of return fire.
"Yídòng!" Aries orders over the gunfire. Alashie, Jelun, and Xavier run for the stairs as bullets bounce all around them. They take cover behind the solid safety rail halfway up the stairs.
"Come on ya'll!" Xaveir screams at Aries and Xalissa pulling out his pistol and shooting wildly in the soldier's direction.
"Hurry" Alashie screams. She couldn't make out any of Aries and Xalissa's conversation but she sees Aries point to the stairs and Xalissa shake her head no. "Cmon! The fuck are ya'll waiting for!" The soldiers were bearing down on their position. Xalissa gently put a hand on Aries' cheek as he lofted a grenade over the table they used as cover. The explosion took out some of the soldiers. How many Alashie didn't know but when her vision cleared from the bright flash Xalissa was at the bottom of the stair crawling up. Aries was running in the opposite direction.
"Xa where's he going!? What's he doing?!" Alashie yelled desperately.
"Keep moving!" Xalissa screamed with authority. The group creep to the top of the stairs and Xavier peeks out at the top.
"The coast is clear" Xavier announces. When the group gets up to make a run for it gunfire blocks their path from the warehouse floor below. A few bullets ricochet into the stairway.
"Hey. Look. Those are elastic bullets." Alashie points out.
"So!" Xalissa says while firing behind them at the bottom of the stairs.
"So they not trying to kill us"
"Yeah. Just fuck us up real bad. Ever been shot by an elastic bullet?" Xavier answers
"Well maybe we should just..." Alashie is interrupted by Jelun yelling a battle cry that sounded strangely like a strangled cat.
"Pou Lalin!" Jelun screamed as he grabs a rifle from seemingly nowhere and stands up opening fire. The soldiers below are forced to take cover under the huge amount of bullets from Jelun's twin gun barrels. Everyone begins to move along the path to the loft while Jelun lays down cover fire. About halfway there Jelun is hit by two shots in the shoulder and three in the midsection. He leans on Alashie as they burst through the loft doors. Xalissa is already checking the door to the roof.
"Let's go. It's clear." Xalissa says in a low voice.
"Strange nobody's up here" Xavier comments while reloading.
"Yeah well you know what mama used to say about gift horses and shit. Come the hell on! How long you think it'll take them to get up those stairs?" Xalissa returns. The group go up to the roof and sure enough there isn't a soldier in sight. Alashie looks up and freezes at the sight of the Federation warship hovering less that 100 feet over the roof.
"Holy shit." Alashie whispers. The ship was as long as a city block. It was as tall as it was long and at least half as wide. Guns, shield generators and all sorts of tech Alashie didn't recognize jutted from everywhere on its surface. It didn't look like any of the smaller sleeker Federation ships Alashie had seen. It was a hulking mass of metal alloy with two huge launchers on the front that Alashie recognized as rail guns. The smell of ozone clogged her nostrils.
"Yo! You done sight seeing? We gonna have to jump to the next roof."
"I can't make that jump." Jelun groaned as he collapsed holding his midsection. Xalissa looked at him for a few seconds then shrugged. She took off at a sprint and cleared the 6-foot gap between buildings.
"Um...well gracias por the cover fire back there loonie." Xavier says as he takes off over the gap.
"Guys what the hell?!" Alashie screams after them with her voice cracking. The door bursts open as soldiers from below take up position. Alashie tries to help Jelun up only to have him fall back down after two steps. Once more she tries and Jelun cries out in pain. She hears a soldier say "Over there" and looks at Jelun not knowing what to do.
"Elastic bullets right? They not gonna kill us. I'll protect you Kawaii" Jelun says
"I'm sorry." Alashie says with tears in her eyes. She takes off towards the edge of the roof. She hears Jelun screaming no and cursing in creole behind her. Up ahead Xalissa and Xavier provide cover fire as the soldiers see Alashie clear the gap. The three crash through the rooftop door of the building.
"Hold on" Xalissa says as she pulls out her communicator.
"We gotta go Xa. They gonna be on our asses. Probably coming from below too." Xavier says. Xalissa ignores him and swiped the hologram furiously. The Sailor Moon character runs up to a holographic projection of a huge cannon. She does a few poses in front of the cannon and then disappears. From outside of the door the group hears rapid gunfire.
"What the hell is that?" Alashie asked.
"That old turret drone you put on the roof way back. I hacked it. Guess you being so paranoid worked out for once. Vamanos." Xalissa leads down the hall with her communicator in hand. "I've almost got the feed from the security cam.....Lā shǐ!" The elevator at the end of the hallway opens and 3 soldiers inside open fire as soon as they saw the group. Taking cover in doorways Xalissa hands Alashie her gun. "Point and click mami. Just like playing Battlefield 2125". Xalissa swipes on her phone creating more anime sounds of battle. The elevator where Alashie and Xavier have the soldiers pinned all of a sudden plummets down the shaft.
"Xa did I tell you how much I love that game?" Xavier comments as they move down the hall again.
"There's more coming!" Xalissa yells looking at her camera feeds. A split second later soldiers come through the stairwell.
"What now?" Alashie says desperately while shooting. Xavier kicks in the door he is taking cover beside. Alashie and Xalissa rush in as Xavier continues to return fire.
Xalissa looks at her communicator. "We can jump to the next building through the window and go building to building till the end of the block. Hopefully that'll give us some distance."
"Tīng qǐlái hěn chǔn. But we don't have a choice eh? Go!" Xavier says. Xalissa takes the gun from Alashie and shoots out the window. Without hesitation she runs and effortlessly crashes through the glass of the next building.
"Piece of pie" Xalissa calls across the gap "C'mon!". Alashie and Xavier look at each other and take off running at the same time. Five feet before the window ledge Alashie hears a gunshot and simultaneously feels an excrusiating pain in her lower back. Xavier was making the jump as Alashie crumpled forward. Her vision was blurry as she tried to stand. She could hear Xalissa screaming at the top of her lungs "Lashie! Lashie! Lashie!" but it sounded far away. She heard her friends cursing in Mandarin but she couldn't make out any of it. Another gunshot from behind her as everything goes black.
