Frank moved swiftly down the corridor, Artok followed closely behind, while the rest of the group remained at the corridor junction.
“Stop there!” Anna said,
Frank slowed to a jog and raised his hand to signal to Artok to stop, before coming to a stop himself, “Where is it?” He panted as he bent over, putting his hands on his knees,
“You need to work out more!” Anna joked,
Frank gave a half grin, half wince, in amusement as he stood up straight again,
“Look to your left!” Anna said, before Frank could manage the sarcastic comment, he was clearly about to come out with,
“Okay!” He said as he looked to the wall beside him, “What am I looking for?” He added as he looked up and down the wall carefully,
“Look for the panel EE15666, it’ll be down near the ground!”
Frank kneeled down and inspected the panels, “Here it is!” He said softly as he ran his hand over the panel, “How do I open it?”
“How should I know!” Anna said after a brief pause,
“That’s not all that helpful!” Frank replied, “Where’s Golgi?”
“He’s in the armoury! Hold on!”
Frank got back to his feet as the communicator fell quiet,
“What’s happening?” Artok asked calmly as he peered carefully down the corridor,
“This is the panel!”
“Great! How do we open it?”
Frank shrugged his shoulders,
“What does Anna say!”
Frank grinned as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “You don’t want to know!”
“Typical!” Artok growled, before moving over to the panel, “It was this one right?”
Frank nodded his head agreeably,
“Right!” Artok snarled as he put his pistol back into it’s holster and grabbed hold of the sides of the panel,
“I think it’s magnetically sealed!” Frank suggested vaguely as he took a couple of steps back from Artok, who was starting to, almost glow pink in effort,
Artok made no response, other to growl, very loudly,
“Frank!” Anna’s voice, loudly, boomed,
Frank winced, as he put his hand up to the ear piece, “What!” He replied angrily,
“There should be….”
Before Anna had a chance to finish the sentence, Artok feel backwards, panel in hand, and a loud crack echoed around the deck,
“What the hell was that!” Anna exclaimed,
“Got it!” Artok grunted in satisfaction,
“We’ve got the panel open!” Frank said, as he extended his hand to help Artok up,
“What!” Anna replied in amazement, “that hatch was magnetically sealed!”
“I know, I told you Artok wasn’t completely useless!” Frank teased as he helped, a very tired looking Artok, to his feet,
“Yeah!” Artok grinned, “Just imagine what I could do to your head!” He added with a big grin on his face, before dropping the panel on the ground behind him, “What now?”
“Good question!” Frank replied, “Anna….”
“There’s not much time to lose! Look in side the hatch and push the small button just in side!”
“Artok, look for a small button just inside the hatch!” Frank said to Artok, who was crouched down at the open hatch anyway,
“Ahhh…” Artok hummed thoughtfully as he carefully inspected the inside of the hatch, “Here it is!” He proclaimed,
“Next problem!” Frank sighed, “How are we going to stop these Damn Pats taking pot shots at us?”
A deep thoughtful sigh came from Frank’s ear piece, “Well I would have suggested closing the panel!” Anna replied sarcastically,
“Not sure that’s an option any more!” Frank replied, even more sarcastically, as he kicked the twisted piece of metal, that used to be the hatch,
“Get the rest of the group over!” Anna said quickly,
“Why?”
“Just do it Frank, we don’t have time for a debate!”
Frank turned to the group, who were starting to look distinctly nervous, this could have had something to do with the fact they were, very quickly, running out of ammo, Frank whistled loudly to get there attention,
“What?” Terouln yelled across the corridor,
“You lot ready for a road trip?” Frank yelled, with a big smile on his face, “What are you planning?” Frank asked Anna, as the rest of the group, one, by one, started to move towards them,
“You see that emergency door just in front of you?” Anna asked,
Frank hummed thoughtfully, “Ah yes, what about it?” He asked as he looked at the large archway that spanned the width of the corridor,
“I don’t have much control over the security on that deck, but I can get that door closed!”
“Yeah!” frank said thoughtfully, “But what’s to stop them opening it again?”
“Your going to blow up the controls!”
Frank grinned in amusement, “That’ll work!”
“Frank!” Artok shouted,
“What?”
“The lift’s here!”
“Get in!” Frank replied as he started to direct the rest of the group towards the lift, “Anna close the door!” He added, with a certain cense of urgency, “Hold on!”
“No problem, take your time, it’s not like there’s a ship full of Pat’s bearing down on us!”
“I said hold on!” Anna snapped,
Frank sighed, as he crawled, feet first into the hatch, till he was lying on his stomach, his rifle, trained on the corridor, “Come on!” He whispered quietly,
“Frank, tell some one to enter the code…” Anna said in a distracted voice, “8124-64! Golgi and I’ll be waiting!”
“Enter the code, 8124-64” Frank yelled as he looked into the hatch, as he did, a blast hurtled past him, “Son of a….” he exclaimed as he looked back down the corridor, a dozen Pat troopers had spilled out into the corridor and were taking pot shots at him, “Anna!” He yelled as he returned fire, he fired a rapid fire of shots in the direction of the troopers, before pulling his head back into the hatch to avoid several blasts, that hit the wall, near his head, “Anna!” He reiterated, angrily!
“Got it!” Anna yelled excitedly as a loud thud echoed around the corridor, “Blast the panel!”
Frank leaned out, he could see the Pat troopers moving quickly down the corridor towards the door through the large glass panel in the middle of the blast proof door, “Right!” Frank said as he took aim at the panel on the other side of the room, he pulled the trigger, a large blast hurtled it’s way across the corridor and made contact with the panel, blowing it to bits.
Frank crawled onto the lift, there wasn’t much breathing room, Frank moved to the side, to stand beside Artok, who was standing beside the small control panel,
“What now?” Artok asked curiously,
Frank raised his eye brow as he looked at the dimly lit control panel, “Push execute?” He mused thoughtfully,
“Fair enough!” Artok said, before pushing the button,
The lift creaked, and groaned loudly, then, with out warning jerked and started hurtling it’s way downward, every one of the lift fell backwards onto the railings and grabbed hold, very tightly.

It was only a couple of minutes before the lift started to slow, and eventually came to a halt,
“Am I the only one that feels sick?” Frank asked queasily, as he held his stomach,
Before the group could respond, the door leading to deck 64 swung open, the group, in unison, trained their weapons on the hatch,
“I….!” Golgi stammered nervously as he stared, six rifle barrels in the face,
“Golgi!” Frank sighed as he lowered his weapon, “Didn’t your mother ever tell you to knock!” He added jokingly,
“Where’s Anna?” Susan asked as she stepped forward, and tried to peer past Golgi,
“She’s just coming!” Golgi replied, before bending down and picking up, a rather large, and long, hold all, “Take these!” He added, before passing the bag through to Susan,
“Sure!” Susan replied as she took the bag, “Bloody hell!” She added, as she struggled with the weight of the bag, “What have you got in here!” She wheezed as she passed the bag, along the ground, to Terouln,
“This and that!” He replied, pushing his way onto the lift,
“This and that doesn’t weigh that much!” Susan replied angrily as she helped Golgi to his feet,
Golgi made no response, other than to pat down his clothes, and shrug his shoulders. Before Susan could make any more comments, Anna’s face appeared at the hatch,
“Hi guys!” She said merrily as she swung her self feet first onto the lift, “I hate to worry every one, but the Pats are circumventing the security, by going round the open corridors!” She added, in a false upbeat voice as she got to her feet,
Frank frowned as he smiled nervously, “And, you didn’t think of this before?” he asked questioningly,
“Well….” Anna said as she pushed her way in beside Frank, so she was standing next to the control panel,
“Well what?” Artok snapped,
“Well, I thought of it!” She replied in a distracted voice, as she entered a code into the panel, “But, I was hoping they wouldn’t!” She added with a big smile on her face,
Frank smirked and opened his mouth to reply,
“Every one going down?” Anna said cheerfully, before pushing the ‘Execute’ button, “Hold tight!” She added, before, firmly, grabbing hold of the rail behind her,
The lift launched into action, creaking and groaning, under the weight of the group as it hurtled it’s way downwards, the group held onto the railings for dear life, as floor by floor flew past them. Almost as quickly as it had started, the lift bumped violently to a halt, sending every one clattering into every one else,
Terouln, was first to his feet, he had somehow found his way to the area nearest the entrance and he leaned into the narrow passage and force the door, by hitting it several times with the butt of his rifle, open, “Air!” He proclaimed in relief, before falling out into the open room.
“Here!” The voice of Golgi sounded as he threw his bag, gently, out the hatch,
“Where are we?” Artok snapped, as he made his way into the dark room, as he looked around, it appeared, they were in some kind of storage room, although it was, very poorly lit, he could make out the huge storage containers running the length of the huge room, across the room, an advanced crane system was in operation, this was obvious by the network of rails and junction that stretched into the dark gloom of the room, “I’ll ask again!” He added as he helped Golgi out, “Where are we?”
“Were in the main parts bay!” Golgi said as he moved past Artok so he could have a look down the isles between the huge containers,
“Great!” Artok replied Sarcastically, “Where’s that?”
“Deck eighty one!”
“Isn’t the ship on deck eighty?”
“Yup!”
“So why are we on deck eighty one?”
“Simple, I found the part.” Golgi paused as he peered at the ceiling, “I sent the drone on it’s way. But the system failed as it was distributing the part to the repair drones.”
“Great! So your ships dead!” Terouln sighed in frustration,
“Have a bit of faith!” Golgi replied reassuringly, “The main panel’s over there, I need to reinitialise the system!” Golgi said, pointing over to his right, at a panel in the near distance,
“We’ve a problem!” The trooper yelled as he struggled out the hatch,
“What?” Frank asked, as he helped the trooper out the hatch,
“The Pats are up their!” He replied, as several blasts his the lift,
“Hold down the lift button!” Golgi said calmly as he slid the bag over to Frank, “There are explosives in their, blow the lift up!”
“How will we get to the ship?” Artok snapped angrily,
“There's a lift a couple of meters from the control panel, I can hot wire it!” Golgi replied smuggle as he turned and moved towards the panel,
“Some one go with him!” Frank snapped as he leaned down and opened the bag, “What’s your name?” He asked the trooper, who had his finger on the lift call button inside the hatch,
“I’m Private Vetis!” The trooper replied nervously, as the faint sound of the Pat’s threading death faintly echoed in the lift shaft if they didn’t surrender immediately,
“Know anything about explosives Vetis?” Frank asked as he removed several clips for the pistols and sat them on the floor beside the bag,
Vetis looked at Frank and shrugged his shoulders,
“Me neither!” Frank said, before laughing and dropping a large, now armed detonator into the bag, “Mind your self!” He added, before throwing the entire bag onto the lift platform,
“I do know. That might be a little bit of an over kill!” Vetis stated nervously as he backed away from the hatch,
Frank grinned as he slammed the hatch shut, “That’s kind’a the idea!” Frank bent down and picked up the ammo he had removed from the bag,
“What now?” Vetis asked as he took some of the ammo from Frank
“Now?” Frank paused thoughtfully as he stood up, “Now, I’d run!” He added, before, quickly, running towards, the rest of the group, who were now only just in sight in the gloom,
“Good plan!” Vetis smirked as he followed Frank.

Frank slid to a stop behind Golgi, and the rest of the group, who appeared fixated on a small control panel, “Hey guys!” Frank said,
“Frank?” Golgi said questioningly as he turned to face him, “Wh… Where’s my bag?” He added nervously as he looked between Frank and Vetis,
“Somewhere between us and them!” Frank smirked,
Golgi’s eyes bulged nervously, and before he could shout at Frank, a violent shockwave rattled the floor, before, a very loud explosion echoed around the room, in the distance a huge bulge got blasted into the hatch entrance, and a faint black smoke could be seen emanating from between the seal’s,
“Well, no one can accuse you of doing things by half Frank!” Susan said jokingly,
Frank smirked and shrugged his shoulders, “There are times I love my job!”
Anna moved over to Frank, and said something quietly to him, which seemed to amuse Frank, Vetis moved over to Golgi and started to hand out the Ammo he had been given to the rest of the group, several loud thuds emanated in quick succession, as each member of the group dropped their empty cartridges from their weapons. Wilson, however, stood on the far side of the group, he didn’t really have any interest in this cosy little reunion every one seemed to have going, he scratched his head as he looked aimlessly around the dark cargo bay, till something interesting caught his eye, there appeared to be a small metallic object, shining faintly from underneath one of the parts containers, Wilson looked back at the group coyly, then back at the strange object, it was only twenty feet away, he thought, no one would notice if he went over quietly and had a look, a vicious, greedy smile fell across his face, as he slowly, and quietly moved over to the object, every few feet, he stopped, and had a look back at the group, who didn’t appear interested in him, Golgi was working away at the terminal, Frank and Anna were locked in conversation, next to the exit beside Golgi, Susan appeared to be flirting with Terouln, in a way only Susan could, Vetis, seemed more interested in keeping watch over the way the group had come, than looking in his direction, so Wilson decided to go for it, he moved quickly, but still surprisingly quietly over to the object, he had one last look back, before checking the walk space between the containers for danger. “All clear!” He whispered smuggle as he leaned down, still facing the group, to pick up the object, “Stuck!” He groaned quietly as he turned his back to the group to try and get better leverage, He groaned loudly as he tried to dislodge this odd rectangular object from under, what ever it was it stuck under,
“Wilson!” Anna yelled loudly,
Wilson turned quickly, “What!” He stated defensively,
“What the hell are you doing?”
“I…I…” Wilson stammered, as he tried to think of a believable lie to tell, “I, er, I thought I saw something!”
A look of confusion crossed Anna and frank’s faces, as they moved round Golgi, and towards, Wilson,
“And?” Frank asked curiously,
“And what!” Wilson snapped,
“And, did you see any thing?”
“Ah….” Wilson stammered as he made his way, gradually to his feet, before he could reach his feet, a defining screech emanated around the cargo bay,
“Those thing!” frank proclaimed as he drew his pistols, “Wilson, get….”
Before he could finish his sentence, one of the creatures leapt from the dark beside Wilson. Wilson, screamed with fear as he tried to desperately get out of the creatures reach, but it was too late, the creature, used one of it’s claws and impaled Wilson through the chest, he groaned in pain as, the creature trilled in excitement, as it raised it’s second claw, to deliver another blow,
“No!” The group yelled, almost in unison, as they raised their weapons, and opened up a barrage of shots, one after another striking the creature in the side, the creature screeched in pain, before turning, so it using Wilson, as a human shield, before flinging Wilson from it’s claw and, effortlessly and clambering up the side of the parts container it was beside and disappearing into the gloom, Frank and Anna moved forward, still firing above the containers, Susan rushed over to Wilson’s, still, bloody, body and bent down over him,
“Damn it!” She yelled angrily,
“Is he….” Terouln asked as he put his hand comfortingly on her shoulder,
Susan stood up and sighed, “Frank, Anna!” She shouted,
“Yeah?” Anna asked, as the backed towards them, they seemed reluctant to take their eyes of the spot where the creature had made it’s escape, despite the obvious fact it could be any where by now, “Is he dead?” She added as they reached Susan and Terouln,
“Yeah.” Susan said sadly, “He may have been a rude, obnoxious, self obsessed little turd, but he didn’t deserve this!” She added solemnly, it didn’t seem much of an epitaph, but it was enough,
As they moved cautiously back to Golgi, who had barely looked away from the control panel to know what was going on, the sound of both the creatures echoed, it was almost like they were taunting the group, letting them know how they were about to die,
“I’m sorry!” Artok said apologetically, like he had given up hope of surviving,
Frank glared at Artok “We’re not dead yet!” He growled,
“We’re as good as!” Artok snapped as he scanned the gloom for the first sign of the creature, “We’ve got almost no Ammo, the ships dead, there’s only twenty minutes before this ship blows up”
“Got you!” Golgi yelled ecstatically, as he backed away from the console,
“What?” Susan asked,
“I’ve fixed it!”
“Well… Shouldn’t something happen?” Susan replied sarcastically,
“Oh?” Golgi said nervously, as moved forward and had another look at the panel. “Hmmm” He said thoughtfully. Before thumping the control panel, very hard, with his palm. A loud creek emanated, before the sound of a mechanical train rolling its way towards the group filled the air, “Get that door open!” Golgi said triumphantly, as he removed an emergency door opener from a small cubby hole under the panel.
“How long will it take for the ship to be repaired?” Frank asked as he passed the openers to Vetis,
“Not long!” Golgi said as he pointed to the Crain, that was now visibly moving towards a faint opening in the wall, high up near the ceiling about twenty feet from the, “It’ll put the part in there, then the part will be transported to the main bay, where the repair drones will fix the ship.” Golgi paused, “It should be ready we’re ready to lift off.”