The ship's vents was too dusty and cobwebs infested every corner, making Artur question if this was truly an imperial ship if it can't even afford a cheap vent cleaning session.
His earpiece starts to crackle and then a soft feminine voice proceeds to speak.
"Turn left right here and go straight, there you'll find the cargo hold entrance." Sam informs him through the earpiece.
The whole ship starts to vibrate and grumble causing Artur to accidentally hit his head on the walls of the vent. Judging from the noises and the alarms, Artur concluded that the ship must have detached from the docking station.
His body starts to panic as the thought of being trapped inside an Imperial transport ship for days was dreadful for a boy like him.
"You told me this ship was not supposed to leave until next week..?!" he restrained a shout, as he confront Sam.
Silence was the only thing he received from the A.I.
Artur was about to move on until she finally speak.
"There must have been a change of plans from the bridge, do not worry Artur, there are several shuttle pods placed by the ship's dock, I can hijack one to send us back safely to Teshurk." She suggest.
"Alright, I guess that would be my best option for escape." he replied.
As the young thief continued to move, the wind gets stronger as he heard the violent spinning of a ventilation fan sending gusts of wind at his way. Reaching the end of the tunnel, he silently slip out from the vent , falling down the hallways without making a noise.
In front of him was the entrance of the cargo hold, it was locked and requires a key card to be opened, the one which all of the ship's guards carry. While figuring out his options, Artur heard footsteps echoing from behind him.
Artur quickly flatten himself against the wall, and then pressed a button on the side of his belt, camouflaging his entire body. The hallway's intersection revealed two armed guards suited in black armor, their helmets cover all of their head, and their helmet's visor glows red illuminating the dim hallway.
Both of the guards systematically marched down the hallway, progressively becoming closer to the cargo hold's entrance. Artur held his breath, his heart beating faster when he felt their intimidating aura as they walk past him. The guards stopped at the cargo hold entrance, the other one slid his key card against the lock and the hold's entrance opens. Before they could proceed inside the hold, Artur's camouflage belt starts to flicker erratically and soon faded out, making his whole body visible. With overflowing fear, he firmly nudge his entire body to the wall, wishing in his mind he could just slip inside and hide himself completely. Beads of sweat starts to build up on his forehead until the two guards finally went inside.
Before Artur could even feel the joy of relief, he soon realized the entrance was about to close, he hurriedly slip inside as the metal doors slid shut, with his thin body he easily went in.
Unfortunately his careless footsteps alerted one of the guards.
"What was that..?" he quickly turns his head around.
"Hmm..." the guard looks at his companion.
"I swear I heard something."
"You must be imagining things."
the other guard replies.
Fortunately Artur hid just in time behind one of the many metal boxes inside the cargo hold.
The hold had four guards including the two guards earlier, patrolling inside. Artur surveyed the whole place to find his main objective, stealthily maneuvering at every security camera blindspots. There it was in the middle. If his contractor was right, this humongous metal container hides his target.
The container almost reached the roof of the ship, towering at roughly seventy feet tall. It also had a key card lock but it didn't have the same model as the cargo hold's lock earlier. The lock had a sleek white color and a diamond shape, it was smooth to the touch to the point Artur's fingers just slips when he tries to apply pressure. He almost felt hopeless until he felt a slit at the side of the lock; a cord socket.
"If you plug me in I could try to override the lock system and unlock it for you." Artur almost jumped at the sudden suggestion of Sam.
Artur gave her no reply, but he reached inside his pocket to grab the HoloPhone where Sam resides. Plugging in the HoloPhone's cord, Artur jacked in Sam. Artur waits patiently beside the container. A few minutes pass and he grew more and more anxious. He turned to check his surrounding, but Sam finally unlocks the container with a silent click.
The container's door slowly slide open, the dark insides of the container revealed a gray foot of a mech. Artur impatiently removed Sam from the lock and headed inside. Pressing a button on his transparent visor turned on its small lights, illuminating everything Artur looked at.
Artur froze at the sight of the mecha, it had a gray shade however, it was still radiating with metallic beauty. He was mesmerized not because this is the first time he saw one, Artur have already seen mechs plenty of times, however it was the first time he saw one this close. The feeling of being so small in front of this giant machine of destruction made by the hands of mankind, for him it was sublime.
Upon closer look, this mech was standing at sixty feet high, its legs were unusually wider and thicker instead of the more lean and thinner Imperial mechs. This mech also had no weapon present at its arms, hands, legs, nor back.
Artur decided to climb from the foot of the mech to reach its cockpit to download its data. When suddenly the ship's alarm started blaring, interrupting his quest for the cockpit.
Hurried steps of the guards echoed throughout the cargo hold, making him anxious and so he instinctively drop down from the mech's knee and peek outside. The first thing he noticed was the red lights violently flickering as the loud sound of alarms accompany it.
[INTRUDER ALERT] was constantly repeated throughout the place by the speakers.
His heart skips a bit from the phrase, but then all of the four guards headed for the exit, giving him hope that he still remains undiscovered. A face of relief completely turn into concern as he recalled that he didn't have a key card, and all of those who possess one are leaving this area.
Artur hurriedly tried to make it for the closing exit, with fear of being indefinitely trapped in here fueling his action. His mind steels its resolve to abandon his objective in exchange for his own life. As Artur narrowly slip out from there, one of the guards across the hallway heard his loud footsteps and aims his photon blaster at his way.
"Stop right there!" he commands.
Artur threw his hands in front, demonstrating his lack of threat. The other guards caught ahold of his presence and proceeds to aim their weapons at him. The guards slowly approached, their blasters still pointed at his direction. Artur stood frozen still, until a huge armored shuttle pod emerges from the wall, and hits one of the approaching guard, killing him in the process.
The sudden appearance of the shuttle pod stole all of the guard's attention from Artur. The remaining guards quickly backed away from it and shifted their aim to it. The pod's snout shifted open and revealed numerous soldiers clad in white armor suits, their helmets had no visor instead it had three horizontal slit. Artur knew those familiar helmets, since it appeared on every television since the crisis called Uprising of the flightless Swan back in 3506 AD, these soldiers are rebels from Earth.
The hallway falls into chaos as the two sides open fired at each other, armors pierced by rays of photon blaster, chunks of metals burned, fleshes vaporized as they were hit.
A stray blast of photon almost hit Artur's head, however he quickly activated his holographic shield from his left forearm and deflected the shot. As the chaos continued, a mini map popped out from the side of Artur's visor.
"Here's the fastest route to one of the shuttle pod." Sam suggested.
Artur didn't bother to reply as he quickly ran away from the crossfire and headed for the shuttle pods. As he turned to a corner, a sight of blasted and burnt shuttle pod somberly welcomed him.
Not a single pod was functional, and numerous lifeless body of both black and white armored soldiers was on the floor.
Artur was frozen in shock, until loud explosions from the outside and the constant wails of the alarms knocked him back to his senses. With his heart beating fast, he grabbed a key card from a dead Imperial guard and ran back to the cargo hold.
As he grew closer to the earlier intersection, the sight of bloody aftermath greeted him, however Artur didn't bat an eye and only continued to move forward.
As he went inside the hold, a deafening crash of metal made his ear hurt, and made him stop from his track. He saw the rebels have uncovered the mech from its container and one of them was getting ready to get inside. Artur quickly grabbed a multi tool from his thigh pocket and starts to tinker with a makeshift grappling gun attached to his right forearm.
"Please work this time..!" Artur aims for the open cockpit of the mech and shoots a hook attached to a thin but sturdy wire from his grappling gun, and hooks onto the headrest of the seat from inside the cockpit. "ALRIGHT!!" Artur jumps in excitement, which quickly turns into horror as the wire pulls his arm and his entire body towards the cockpit with force.
Artur zooms past the rebel soldier who was climbing the mech, as he was pulled completely inside.
His head hit the the edge of the seat, as he was now in an uncomfortable position with his body upside down. "You damn kid!" The rebel caught up with Artur and grabbed a photon knife from his belt and tried to stab Artur in his neck with both hands at the hilt of the knife,however Artur activated his holographic shield and stopped the knife from hitting its mark. The grappling gun eventually unhooked from the headrest setting Artur's left arm free, he then quickly position his left hand at the struggling soldier, and then Artur's gadget from his left glove produced an electric shock powerful enough to knock the rebel out from the cockpit.
Artur shifts his body in to a more comfortable position on the seat, and erratically swipe the sweats on his face from the previous encounter.
"Why are you hijacking this mech exactly?" Sam asked through the earpiece.
"You got a better idea?!" Artur impatiently answered while anxiously looking for the turn-on switch from the sea of blinking buttons.
"None." Sam replied
"How do I even make this damn thing work?!" Artur grew more impatient.
"Jack me in, Artur."
Sam suddenly suggest, it had a strange tone that Artur couldn't refuse. Without a question, Artur then proceed to plug Sam's cord on the mech's central control system, jacking the A.I in.
The lights in the cockpit flickered out making it impossible to see from the inside. Suddenly the cockpit entrance closes with a loud crash, and the buttons and numerous lever started to glow a blueish shade illuminating the insides of the cockpit.
[CENTRAL CONTROL SYSTEM ACTIVATED]
Sam's soothing womanly voice echoed throughout the cockpit as the lights inside fully switched on making the entire cockpit's interior visible.
[ACTIVATING SYSTEM ENGINES]
[MAIN ENGINE ACTIVATED]
The mech grumbles as the main engine started running, making Artur firmly grip the two levers in front of him.
[THRUSTER ENGINE ACTIVATED]
The thrusters on the mech's back, behind the knee,and elbows released a straight line of smoke as the engine start up.
[RESERVE ENGINE ON STANDBY]
Finally, the mech's in full operational state.
"How did you do that?!" Artur was stoned in amazement.
"Alright, let's get out of here, Sam!" Artur commands.
After sitting still in awkward silence for a few seconds, Artur grew impatient once again.
"Sam what now-"
[UNFORTUNATELY I'M UNABLE TO MANIPULATE THE MOTOR SYSTEM]
Sam suddenly speak up.
"H-Huh?" Artur stutters as he never piloted a mech before.
Sam then puts on a holographic screen in front of Artur, showing instructions of piloting a mech. The first image that caught Artur's eyes was the one with a lever motioning forward indicating that it would make the thrusters function.
[THE PILOT HAVE TO CONTROL THE MECH EXTERNALLY]
Sam explained while Artur was still fixated on the screen. The instruction window minimized and revealed another screen showing the eye view of the mech. Artur saw the rebels through the screen, still attempting to climb the gigantic mech.
Without a word, Artur pushed both the lever with force, and the whole cockpit grumbles as the mech's leg and back thrusters burst out raging flames of fire until it became more concentrated and slowly pushed the mech upward. The rebels fell to the ground as the mech launched off. The levers violently vibrate at Artur's hands, and he pushed a button at the side of the lever making the mech fire its head beam positioned at both its temples, vaporizing the roof and making it easier to ram through. The gray mech emerged from the ship and out into the infinite space.
Chaos.
Everywhere Artur looked, it was the only thing he saw.
Explosions echoed throughout the battle zone, beams of lasers and blasters was coming from all direction, mechs of black and white fought, gigantic photon swords met each other producing blinding sparks, photon blasts pierced through cockpits sending surges of blood into the empty space. Artur quickly tried to get away from the battlefield, however as he turned away, a squad of black armored mech was quickly approaching him.
Sam adjusted the mech's radio frequency to overhear the squad's conversation. "A prototype mech, that's our target no doubt." A man with a deep commanding voice speaks through the radio. "We only need to restrain the mech, ready your disruptor guns." he continues.
Artur was about to put the thrusters to max power until he saw another squad of white mechs approaching him with haste. Artur panicked as Sam picked another squad conversation, and another one, another one, and another squad was picked until Artur's cockpit was filled with deafening mumbles of the mech pilots approaching him.
He only had one thought on his
mind; he's screwed.