Oniv opens his communication device and calls to the rest of the team.
"Dern, Clara, do you copy? Is everyone ok?"
"This is Dern. I am good over here, I see you pinned down in the information center."
"Good. Clara, what's you're status?"
We hear nothing on the other end, so he calls again.
"Clara, do you copy?"
Still nothing.
"Ok, if you can hear me, we are making our way to the escape pods, wait for our signal."
For a mere moment the silence continues, then the splash of bullets begins again. Wood continues to shatter into thousands of pieces, cause us to duck gain and shield our eyes. 30 seconds would go by before the shooting stops. Now is our chance. Angel places her hand on the ground, then twists. All the lights shut off again, and the fire suppressant system activates, sending down plums of compressed gasses and vapors from the ceiling.
"I cannot see." One soldier yells, "Anyone have a visual?"
Angel peaks over the desk first, firing multiple shots through the smoke, then ducks back down. The entire room lights up in smoke and debris as more shots are fired at our desk. We reposition to a more secure area of the desk and wait for them to stop firing.
"Alright, lets go." Oniv says.
He jumps over the desk first. I follow behind with Angel leaving last. The smoke and debris covers our exit and we head for the escape pods. We arrive at the doors with Dern already waiting for us.
"About time you got here." He says.
"Have you seen Clara?" Oniv asks.
"Why do you even care?"
"Dern!"
"Guys, we need to go." Angel interrupts, opening the door.
Suddenly an alarm fires across the room. It screeches loudly, enough to hurt my ears. Everyone starts to yell, and we hear footsteps heading into our direction, followed by gunfire. They have been alerted by our presence. We all run through the doors and Angel shuts it behind us, then shoots the panel.
Before we get a chance to move, someone is already waiting for us. There standing at an open pod is Clara, smiling to see us. We all nod to greet her, everyone except Dern, who disconnects his sword from his rifle and pins her against the wall, holding the blade to her neck.
"Dern! Dern! Stop!" I yell.
"Get off me!" He yells, pushing me with his other arm before returning his attention to Clara. "How long were you going to wait before telling us."
"I was going to tell you. I just didn't know the right time." she says, struggling for air.
"Bullshit! You think I am not onto your lies?"
"I am not lying."
Angel observes the door. The people on the other side begin to shoot at hinges.
"Guys, we need to go!" She says.
"I am not letting her in the pod, Oniv."
"We'll talk about this when we get to the surface, we need to go!" Oniv says
"I'd rather just kill her here."
"Then you'll never get the answers you are looking for. Get in the pod. We'll integrate her on the surface."
Dern stares at Clara for a few moments. Then he huffs and removes his sword, remounting it to his rifle. Clara thanks him but he doesn't respond, he just boards the pod. The rest of us run inside to and Angel activates the evacuation sequence. The door to the pod shuts and seals, just as the front doors blast open and everyone swarms the pod. A count down begins then reaches one, ejecting the pod outward before the gravity of the planet pulls us toward it.
The pod smelled old and felt claustrophobic, as if no one has been servicing or cleaning this thing in months. There were no windows on the sides of the pod, only a digital screen that comes online above us, giving our only source of light in the dark pod. It gives us a view of the station as we pass by it. It's bottom thrusters fire all at once, and its top thrusters only fire from one direction. It starts to move, blocking out the sun as we continue to fall before we are low enough to get out of its shadow. It's rotating. Slowly though. I don't know why, most of it guns sat at the top of the station facing down toward the planet. It's an odd move to say the least. The heat shield finally deploys, blocking the view screen. Everything goes dark again, and the pod violently shakes as it passes through the atmosphere. Angel reaches for my hand and grabs it. We hang on tightly and I close my eyes to help with the dizziness from the shaking. Then we wait. It's going to be a long way down.