Anna reached into the small crawl passage and tried to open the hatch leading to deck 64, she groaned with effort as she pushed the hatch as hard as she could, “Stuck” She murmured to her self as wondered to her self why the designers had decided to omit any kind of opening mechanism on the inside of the emergency lift hatches. A look of growing irritation crossed her face as she looked around the lift for something to help her wedge the door open. The lift she was on was almost entirely pitch black, a small control panel on a short vertical bar glowed dimly in the gloom, the only other light was from her own wrist torch, which she moved quickly around the lift platform as she hunted, the eerie green glow of the safety light behind her gave the area a rather unsettling atmosphere. “Okay!” She finally exclaimed as she grabbed hold of a long horizontal safety bar attached to the lift just above the short crawl, she took a long deep breath as she moved her feet on the lip of the crawl space, she bent her knees before launching her self backwards, and swinging on the bar she was launched forward with a tremendous force, as her feet made contact with the hatch a loud echo reverberated around the shaft as the hatch burst open, Anna’s momentum carried her through into the well lit corridor, she still some how managed to, more of less, land on her feet, and without pause she drew her pistols from her holster and pointed them in opposite directions down the corridor, which stretched off in both directions for what appeared to be an eternity, there was also a corridor leading for a shot distance directly in front of her, which appeared to be one of many connecting corridors which regularly left the long main corridor. Anna turned and closed the hatch door behind her, she paused for a second as she made her way to her feet and looked out the upwardly curved wall of glass, which was only split up by large structural bars which jutted there way into the corridor. A thoughtful look crossed Anna’s face as she turned back to the corridor, there were several corpses lying around, a sight which Anna had come to grimly expect every where she went now, there were also several large scorch marks that will have been caused by weapons fire. As Anna approached the corpse slumped up against the corner of the main corridor and the shorter corridor, Anna saw what she had hoped she hadn’t “Blast marks!” She exclaimed as she crouched down to inspect the troopers chest, “How….” She questioned looking up into the shorter corridor, a look of horror appeared on her face as she caught a glimpse of two patrol troopers entering the corridor at the far end. She leapt behind the wall and took a deep breath as she primed her pistols. The faint sound of the Patrol troopers feet were audible as they slowly made there way down the corridor, she could also hear them faintly whispering to each other as they made there way towards her, “Damn!” She muttered as she looked up and down the long corridor, just before she could move a very faint beep became audible beside her, the sound of the pat troopers foot steps halted,
“Do you hear that?” One of the Patrol troopers asked in a low, nervous voice,
Anna gritted her teeth as she looked around in a panic trying to find what was beeping. Her eyes caught the ear peace that was hanging loosely from the dead troopers ear, there was a small green light flashing on it and the beep seemed to be coming from the tiny speaker, Anna grabbed it and put it on here ear and pressed the side, a small boom mic. Extended a couple of centimetres from the ear piece and the beeping stopped,
“Anna?” The voice of Golgi boomed into here ear,
Anna winced as she struggled to turn the volume down, “What?” She whispered, barely audibly,
“I’ve got you!” Golgi said reassuringly,
“What?” Anna repeated quietly,
The sound of the troopers moving became audible again, “It was nothing!” The other trooper said loudly, “Come on Let’s go and report in!”
“I Mean I can see you!” Golgi explained, “I’ve got complete access to the security grid on this deck and I can see you on the camera just in front of you!”
Anna looked up at the ceiling just above the hatch she had came from and smiled, “What are those troopers doing?” she asked questioningly,
“But we haven’t done our patrol!” The other trooper objected,
“They're arguing about their patrol about half way up the corridor, just stay still!” Golgi suggested,
“Listen! If you want to go and get your self killed that’s your business, I didn’t sign up for that!” The Trooper said as he moved his way down the corridor,
“They're going!” Golgi said excitedly, “Listen, turn right and go down the corridor, I’ll direct you to the control booth!” He added,
“How much control do the Pat’s have on this deck?” Anna whispered angrily,
There was a brief pause, the sound of the patrol troopers feet echoing slowly into the distance was the only really audible sound, “They’ve managed to disable the security cannons on about half the deck, but I can direct you past them, once you reach sub section 8, the anti intruder cannons are still operational you’ll be okay.” Golgi eventually replied confidently,
“What about the Pirate troopers?” Anna asked curiously,
“They’re all dead, or away fighting the Pat’s! I’m all alone, I’ll direct you here then we can help the others escape!”
Anna paused thoughtfully, “The others?” She asked,
“They're safe!” Golgi said comfortingly, “They're just getting to deck 50, where engineering is!” he added,
“Good direct me!” Anna said as she slowly made her way to her feet,
“Oi!” A loud voice boomed from the far end of the corridor,
Anna spun round, several patrol troopers had emerged from a corridor quite a distance from her, and were now running towards her, their weapons raised, “damn it!” She shouted as several blasts eminated from the troopers rifles, “Oh crap!” She exclaimed as she flung a panel beside her open to shield her self from the blasts, the panel shook as the blasts hit it, Anna paused and looked at the heavy scorch marks on the inside of it, “Blast proof!” She sighed with relief, before giving the inside of the panel a quick kiss, “Right then!” She exclaimed before spinning her pistols once on her fingers. She leapt to her feet and took aim at the approaching troopers, she launched several blasts, which hurtled their way down the corridor, hitting one trooper after another, each being sent flying by the impact, Anna jumped quickly to her right as several blasts flew past her, she released another volley of blasts, before leaning round the corner and firing at the rapidly approaching troopers.
“RUN!” The voice of Golgi yelled in her ear,
Anna turned and started to move rapidly up the corridor, several blast flew past her, she swivelled her hips so she could see what was behind her as she ran up the hall, several troopers were in close pursuit, she raised her right pistol and launched several blasts, the troopers dove for cover as one of them was hit, “Take cover!” Golgi yelled, Anna turned, several troopers came running into the corridor in front of her, “CRAP!” Anna yelled as she pirouetted behind one of the large mettle support struts, several blasts thumped the other side of the strut, several more whistled past her from the other direction, Anna fired a few shots and took out a couple of the approaching troopers before rapidly spinning out into the corridor to face the direction of the troops that had appeared in front of her, she raised her pistols and opened fire, the troopers tried to return fire, but Anna was too quick she moved rapidly, ducking from side to side, taking cover where ever possible, before continuing down, blasts continued to rain in from behind her,
“Turn up this one!” Golgi yelled as Anna approached a turning,
Anna rounded the corner, a trooper stood directly in front of her, sweet poured from both there heads, the difference was, while Anna was tired, the trooper was scared, he struggled with his rifle, fumbling with it as he tried to raise it, Anna reacted quickly and kicked him firmly between the legs, the trooper groaned with pain as he started to drop to his knees, “You owe me one kid!” Anna panted coolly, before knocking him unconscious with the handle of her pistol. The trooper fell backwards, blood trickled from a small cut on his temple where Anna had hit him, Anna smiled contentedly, as the sound of troops running got louder, “Mind if I borrow this?” She asked, before putting her pistols away and picking up the troopers automatic rifle and started to run quickly up the corridor. Anna listened carefully for the sound of the troopers, “Where are they?” She yelled into the mic.
“There just about to round the corner!” Golgi said instantly,
Anna dove into a corridor and stood to regain her breath for a second, “How many?” She whispered,
“Four, but more are coming!” Golgi replied quickly “Two on the left two on the right!” He added,
Anna took another deep breath, “Let’s go!” She said menacingly, before rolling out into the middle of the corridor, she ended kneeling, facing the oncoming troopers, who tried to raise there rifles, Anna, already had, she launched a continuous volley of rapid fire down the corridor, cutting down each of the troops before they could return fire,
“Go!” Golgi ordered, “Take the next turn on the left!”
Anna crawled quickly to her feet and ran quickly up the hall, as she was tuning the corner several blasts whistled past her, “How far!” She panted,
“Keep going!”
Anna ran as quickly as she could, sweet poured from her whole body, “How Far!” She repeated as she passed the fourth turning,
“Turn right!” Golgi yelled,
Anna slipped and slid into the wall on the left hand side, she groaned with pain as she staggered into the corridor to her left, just before the troopers rounded the corner, “Where are they?” She groaned as she nursed her ribs,
“They’re coming towards you rapidly!” Golgi said concernedly,
“How many?” She asked as she reached a closed blast door, blocking off her route down the corridor,
“At least twenty!” Golgi replied solemnly,
“Why is his door shut?” Anna snapped as she looked around the short corridor,
“Decompression!” Golgi replied, “There’s no atmosphere on the other side, it’s been automatically sealed!” He added apologetically, “HIDE!”
Anna dived behind a jutted out support beam in front of the door, and crouched down cradling her ribs,
“They’ve reached the junction!” Golgi said quietly, “They’re trying to work out where you went. They seem to be having some kind of debate, Oh no!”
“What?” Anna groaned quietly,
“They're coming to check the corridor you’re in!”
Anna closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she took hold of the rifle in both hands, her ribs ached, but she resisted the urge to yelp and took another deep breath. She could hear the sound of there foot steps getting gradually closer, she gritted her teeth and prepared to attack. Just as she was about to leap out a deafening siren howled out around the deck,
“Attention all crew!” The voice of the General boomed, “We have been forced to abandon ship, so make your way to an escape bay immediately.” There was a brief paused as the echo of his voice faded away, “Another thing! Patrol troopers are occupying several decks of the ship, so move with caution and if you come accross any feel free to kill as many as you want!” He snarled,
There was a nervous mumble from the patrol troopers as the sound of the Generals voice echoed around the corridor,
“Good luck.” The General continued. “And a special note to the Patrol troopers on my ship, being as you were so rude as to invade our vessel, you can get blown up with it! We’ve permanently disabled the release clamps, and if you try to force your way clear, you’ll take half your ship apart!”
Anna smirked as she tried to contain her amusement,
“Troops!” A loud voice boomed, “We’ve been ordered back to the ship!” He added,
“What about the bitch!” Another of the trooper objected,
Anna snarled quietly as she griped the rifle tightly,
“Leave her, we’ve got most of the escape bays disabled so if she wants to escape she’ll have to come down to deck 50!” The trooper laughed loudly, “You hear that!” He yelled, his voice boomed round Anna’s ears, “You’re dead!” He chuckled loudly, “Come on!” He yelled at his troops before moving away with them.
“They’re going!” Golgi sighed with relief,
Anna pushed her self to her feet, using the rifle as a crutch, “That was close!” She exclaimed as she removed her torn, slightly bloody jacket and wiped her forehead dry with the inside of it, “Where about are you?” She asked as she discarded her jacket, before making her way cautiously back into the corridor,
“I’m not far away!” Golgi said confidently, “if you continue the way I told you…”
“Straight on!” Anna interrupted in a distracted voice, as she leaned round the corner and peered down the corridor the way she had ran up it,
“Yeah! You’ll enter sub section 8 and you’ll only be a few corridors from me.”
“What about the security guns?” Anna asked as she made her way across the corridor, rifle still grasped firmly,
“I’ve just disabled them, you’ll be safe!” Golgi replied reassuringly.

The General led his troops quickly along the now darkened corridors of deck 50, Frank, Susan, Artok and Wilson remained towards the back making there way quickly along the right hand side of the corridor, a trooper ran in front of them and behind them, with Terouln running closely behind them on the left hand wall, as they turned the corner, a huge wall of glass looking into space emerged, the General, and the rest of the advanced troops were already in the main corridor and surveying up and down cautiously, the General was making several hand gestures to his troops, seemingly indicating where he wanted them to run to and in what pattern, Frank crouched down and signalled subtly with his eye brow for the others to do the same,
“What?” Artok snapped as he crouched down beside Frank,
Frank scowled angrily at him, “Shut up!” He snipped angrily,
Artok’s face turned slightly less red as he started to open his mouth,
“Don’t start!” Frank sighed angrily as he leaned over to see Susan and Wilson, “We need to escape, the escape pods are just down that corridor!” He whispered with some urgency,
“Let’s just blast our way out!” Wilson suggested,
Susan coughed in surprise, “That’s not like you to suggest something so risky!” She whispered in admiration as she patted him on the back gently,
Wilson gave an uneasy, slightly disgusted look at Susan’s hand, “I just don’t think we have to much more option!” He added, as Susan, swiftly, removed her hand from his back,
Artok sighed in disagreement, “We can’t just ‘Shoot our way out’!” He argued, “We wouldn’t get ten yards.”
Frank nodded his head in agreement, “Artok’s right! We need some kind of distraction, or we’ll get….”
Before Frank could finish one of the troopers approached them from behind and coughed, “Come on!” He commanded,
The group looked down the corridor, the General was waving every one to start moving again. Reluctantly, they climbed to there feet and moved down to the main corridor, by the time they reached it, the General and most of the troops were quite far down the corridor. Directly to there left, am emergency blast door had closed, blocking off every thing up the corridor, as far as they could make out they were about half way down the ship and moving towards the front, the corridor stretched off for what looked like miles, every one hundred meters or so there was an arch way, which appeared to contain an emergency door, which would close in the event of either decompression, or the ship being boarded to slow the progress of the invading force, as Frank looked back he could make out the front of the patrol ship, which only just reached the sealed blast door, the docking hatch was some two hundred meters back. After running, for what Frank assumed must have been about four hundred meters, as they’d passed four of the archways, the General stopped at the entrance of the main starboard escape pod entrance, a large security door had come down to protect the escape pod bay from being captured by enemies, it was a rather formidable looking door and clearly blast proof, a large rectangular window that stretched across approximately three quarters the length of the door but was quite narrow height wise, the General started to enter a security code on a panel just to the left of the entrance. Most of the troopers were located just behind the General, but Terouln, Susan, Artok and two other troopers crouched at the far side of a corridor leading off the main corridor just before the entrance to the pod bay, Frank, Wilson and one other trooper crouched at the other side, the General sighed with satisfaction as the door slid open loudly, Frank looked into the bay, the glass wall that had once seemed to run the entire length of the corridor was now replaced with a multitude of small doors which, Frank assumed, led to small three person escape pods.
The General ushered several of the troops into the bay, “Get to a pod and launch when you’re ready!” He stated loudly as the troopers passed by him,
One of the troopers on the far side of the corridor moved forward, but before he could get half way across the corridor, a series of three weapon blast’s hurtled their way into his chest, the trooper gave off a loud scream of pain as the power of the blast’s threw him backwards,
“NO!” Terouln yelled as he lunged forward towards the trooper.
“He’s dead!” Susan yelled as she grabbed hold of Terouln’s shoulder and wrenched him back into cover, as several blasts flew down the corridor,
“Thank you!” he panted with relief as he raised his rifle, “What the hell was that?” He added, slightly more composed,
“Pat’s!” Frank exclaimed loudly as he returned fire,
“How many?”
“At least twenty!” He exclaimed as he took cover from the dozens of simultaneous blasts, which smacked against the walls on either side of the corridor,
“Cover us as we move over!” Terouln shouted as he prepared to move forwards,
“I don’t think so!” The malicious voice of the General shouted loudly over the weapon blasts,
Frank looked quickly over at the General, who had moved his way into the escape pod bay with his rifle pointed at Franks head, “What?” Frank asked questioningly,
“I’ve decided you’re no longer useful Frank!” The General said in a delighted voice,
“I’m heart broken!” Frank replied sarcastically, “What are you going to do?” Frank asked, “Kill me?”
“Sir? What about us?” Terouln asked angrily,
The General sneered angrily as he looked quickly between Frank and Terouln, “You never had the stomach to work under my orders Major, do your final duty and I might not say you were a coward!”
“But….” Terouln stammered in disbelieve,
“But nothing!” The General snapped,
“Your sick!” Frank choked angrily,
The General chuckled loudly, “Yes! I am! I want you to die knowing your friends are going to die slowly!” He chuckled as he aimed his rifle, “Wither it’s at the hands of the Pat’s or those things, or maybe there agony will be prolonged and they’ll get blown up by the ship! I just hope it won’t be as quick as your captains death’s”
Frank sneered angrily at the General, “You better not miss!” He said defiantly as his lowered arm twitched nervously in anticipation,
The General smiled gleefully has he started to pull the trigger, “Good ridden’s Frank!” The General shouted as he squeezed the trigger firmly, before the Generals rifle could fire a pulse blast flew past Frank and struck the General on the shoulder, his arm was thrown back sending his shot into the ceiling above Frank. Frank raised his pistols and started to open fire, but the General had already pushed the emergency seal button as he was flung back, the door to the escape pod bay slammed shut rapidly, and Frank’s blasts scorched the glass in front of the Generals face.
Frank looked back coyly as he leapt to his feet, Terouln crouched at the edge of the corridor, the barrel of his rifle, smoking profusely and was still aimed at the Generals position, Frank smiled with gratitude before turning back and running over to the door, the General stood with a look of pain on his face as he steadied him self, Frank grinned defiantly,
The General pushed a button on the control panel and pointed to the panel on Franks side, Frank smiled at the General and pushed the button the General was pointing at, “I suppose you consider your self lucky?” The voice of the General hissed though a small intercom on the panel,
Frank shrugged his shoulders, “I suppose! But you shouldn't!” He replied arrogantly,
“Well, I guess I’ll have to make do with the knowledge you’ll be dead in less than forty minutes!”
Frank snarled angrily, “You better hope that’s true!”
The General grinned with delight, “See you in hell!” The General gloated, before releasing the button and struggled over to the pod nearest him, giving one last glare at Frank before entering.
Frank turned back to the group, who were busy, having a huge gun fight with the Patrol troopers at the end of the corridor, a series of blasts threw them self into the corridor, before the group returned fire, Frank moved quickly over to Wilson and tapped him on the back, “How are we doing?” He asked happily,
Wilson turned and scowled with terror at Frank, “I… I…”
Frank raised his eye brow, “Never mind!” He said thumping Wilson on the back, “Terouln!” He shouted, stepping over Wilson,
“What?” Terouln replied as he returned fire,
“Remind me to live long enough to kill that scum!” Frank joked, “What’s our situation?” he asked, before leaning into the corridor and firing at the Patrol troopers,
“Not good!”
“That well eh?” Frank joked, “Thank you!” He added gratefully,
Terouln shrugged his shoulders, “Don’t mention it!”
“How long before the ships goes?” Susan asked grimly,
“Less than forty minutes!” Terouln replied,
Frank growled angrily as he fired several blasts down the corridor, “Damn it!” He exclaimed angrily as he took cover, “I’m out!” He added slotting his pistols back into their holsters, “Wilson, what the hell are you up to?” Frank asked as he peered over at Wilson, who had made his way over to the control panel the General had used to open up the access door to the escape pod bays,
“I’m trying to get us out!” He said firmly as he pulled wires out from behind the control panel,
Frank looked over at the group on the other side of the corridor junction and shrugged his shoulders, “Pass me your rifle then!” He added eventually as he looked back over,
Wilson sighed angrily, “Fine!” He snapped as he chucked his rifle side on at Frank,
“Thank you!” Frank stated as he caught the rifle, “I wouldn’t waste your time with that though!” He added, before firing several rapid shots at the Patrol troopers,
“Why not!” Wilson snapped,
“Well, you can use an escape pod and get picked back up by the Pirates if you want!” Frank replied sarcastically,
“Better that than dead!” Wilson grunted as he pulled at a large clump of wires,
“Your choice!” Frank said,
“Almost…. Ahhh!” Wilson squealed as the panel gave off a loud bang, before several electrical sparks flew into the corridor, Wilson leapt back as he got a slight electrical shock,
Frank laughed loudly, as smoke poured of the panel, and the security door remained firmly closed, “Brilliant, we’re saved!” Frank exclaimed loudly, between laughs,
Wilson glared at Frank, “Well at least I’m doing something!” He exclaimed angrily as he walked over to Frank, “And another thing, ever since I’ve been on this freight, you’ve done nothing but make fun of me!” He sneered, “I’m sick of it!” He added, as he stood almost nose to nose with Frank, “You hear me! I’m sick of it!” He added, very loudly,
“Easy tiger!” Frank mocked as he tapped Wilson on the arm,
Wilson Growled angrily,
“Frank?” The trooper, who was crouched beside Terouln shouted,
Frank smiled coyly at Wilson, “What?” He asked the trooper as he looked over,
“There’s some one who wants to speak to you!” He said removing his communicator from his ear, “Here!” He said before throwing it over to Frank,
A puzzled look crossed Franks face as he caught the communicator, “What do I do with this?” He asked,
“Put it in your ear, the microphone will auto adjust for you!”
“One more question!” Frank added as he looked at the group, who were staring memorised at Wilson’s unexpected outburst,
“What?” The trooper asked,
“Who’s fighting those Pat’s?” He asked smiling, placing the communicator in his ear
“Oops!” Susan exclaimed, before leaning cautiously into the corridor and opening fire, cutting down several Patrol troopers, who had made it about half way down the corridor, several more dived for cover, narrowly avoiding being hit them self’s,
“Hello?” Frank said loudly as he moved away from the corridor,
“Frank!” the exited voice of Anna boomed in his ear,
“Anna! I thought…..”
“Well don’t, we both know you’re not very good at it!”
Frank smirked, “Very funny! It’s good to hear you voice, Where are you?”
“I’m down with Golgi on deck 64”
“We’re only 14 decks above you!”
“I know! We’re watching you on the cameras!”
“Cameras?” Frank exclaimed in surprise as he looked around the corridor,
“Look up!”
“Ah!” Frank said as he saw the camera, that was looking straight up the corridor at the Patrol troopers, “What’s the ships status? Did Golgi get it sorted?”
“Not quite!” Anna replied apologetically, “He’s sorted out the part and the repair bots were about to take it up to the ship when deck 81 lost power.”
“What are our options then?”
“We need to go down to deck 81 and reinitialise the power grid!”
“How did I know you were going to say that!” Frank sighed,
“It’s not all that bad!”
“Not that bad! We’ve got to climb down, how many floors…. 31!” He said, before cupping his head in his hands,
“Oh come on, the exercise will do you good Frank!” Anna teased,
Frank sighed, as he tried to think of a witty response,
“I’m kidding!” Anna laughed,
“What?”
“About a hundred meters from your position is an emergency lift, I’ll direct you to it!”