An Alien Entanglement Pt. 03

"Okay, those guards should be rotating between shifts right about.... Now," Spider replied. No sooner had she spoken the words than the security guards left their post and disappeared around the opposite corner. "Hurry up and get in there and get the data. I interfered with the nearby cameras, but you only have a little bit before the security team notices something fishy." Waiting a second to be sure the area was clear, the crew hastily made their way to the doors the guards had left unguarded.

Ashe could now see that there were actually two sets of doors barring further entry. Jericho once again configured his hand and plugged it into the console; Spider once again performed her net wizardry. But this time, the doors failed to immediately respond to her efforts. Keanu uneasily said, "Spider, could you hurry it up? We're sitting ducks out here." Ashe agreed with the big man's sentiments. They were caught out in the open; at any moment the next rotation of guards would be arriving.

"Cool it, will ya? Aaannnd done," Spider said, just as the doors slid open. Jericho and Ashe quickly went on ahead, while Keanu followed them closely behind, covering their rear as they entered.

Once inside, the doors shut behind them. Ashe methodically scanned her surroundings from left to right, seeing a very long room filled with rows of databases and servers. "Alright, the data we're looking for should be in section D, compartment 310 Alpha," Spider instructed.

Jericho promptly made his way to the designated location, as Keanu and Ashe followed. Once there, Jericho went to the nearby console and plugged himself in. "Ashe, grab a hard drive from that rack," he instructed. Ashe nodded and stepped over to the nearby wall where stacks of empty hard drives were stored. Pressing a button to disengage one of the storage devices, Ashe grabbed the medium sized rectangular unit and rejoined Jericho.

"Insert here," Jericho pointed. Ashe nodded and inserted the drive into the empty access unit. Jericho immediately began accessing the server's data for download. Ashe scrutinized her robotic teammate as he worked.

"Heh, this job is a whole lot easier than I expected," Keanu chuckled, pointing his heavy rifle down.

"Job isn't done yet. We still need to get out of here," Ashe reminded the large man. Keanu just nodded.

Several tense minutes ticked away. Spider tuned into the comms channel and said, "Jericho, is the data almost downloaded? Cyber security is getting real tough here. I can't mask your download for much longer before they find out what you're doing. And the next set of guards will be arriving soon."

Spider's query was followed almost immediately by Jericho's terse response of, "Done." Ejecting the drive, he picked it up and attached it to a hook on his hip. "Inform Azrael we are on our way out."

"Affirmative," Spider replied. "Make your way up to the surface level and proceed as planned."

Exiting the server room, the team had just begun their cautious retreat down the hall, when they heard the next shift of guards coming from behind the corner. The delays in opening the doors and downloading the data had caught up with them! "Camo, now!" Ashe hissed to her teammates. They each quickly activated their camo devices, vanishing into thin air. They hugged the wall to avoid bumping into the oblivious guards. Ashe held her breath as the guards nearly brushed her body as they made their way to their post in front of the server room. Once the guards were safely past them and had resumed their positions in front of the door, Ashe and the crew relaxed and proceeded with their main exit plan.

-

Meanwhile, Glux prepared to set his own master plan in motion. Knowing the exact time and date the team intended to pull off their job, Glux took the incriminating evidence he had stolen from Gemini's office and waddled his way to a local Peacekeeper station. Entering through the sliding doors, he made his way to the front desk. As he walked, Glux drew the eyes of the on-duty Peacekeepers. They eyed him suspiciously as he waddled on toward the station's front desk. The 'metalheads' watching him like a hawk made Glux profoundly uneasy: Ulgoidians were a rare and disfavored species. But he focused on his role: he was just being a good civilian, doing his duty and reporting a crime.

A pretty humanoid receptionist with dark blue skin, full red eyes, and jet black hair looked up from her seat behind the desk to see Glux's rather unpleasant form. She was taken aback, looking slightly repulsed. But snapping out of her distaste, she said, "Ho- how may I help you today?"

"Glux would like to report a crime," he stated. The lady raised her eyebrow.

"Umm, okay. What kind of crime are you reporting?" she asked.

"Stealing. Bad people are stealing," Glux answered. Due to his unfamiliar and unpleasant form and his odd manner of speech, the receptionist was having difficulty taking the little alien seriously.

"Huh, okayy. Just fill out this form and we'll do the best we can," she said, pulling out a paper from under her desk and placing it in front of him. Glux sensed that he was just getting a bureaucratic brushoff, so he got straight to the point by slapping the holo unit he had stolen down on the middle of the desk in front of her.

"What th-, what is this?" the lady asked.

"Evidence," Glux replied.

"Oh, okay, uh, we'll put this under investigation just as soon as you fill out the form," she responded, still not taking Glux at all seriously.

Sensing that his time was just being wasted, Glux cut to the chase by simply turning the hologram on. The projection of the data farm sprang up, filling the air around them, immediately drawing the attention of several Peacekeepers. One of them strode up to the front desk and said, "Liara, what the hell is going on here?"

"Sorry, Lieutenant, this civilian just went ahead and activated his 'evidence,'" she timidly replied. "He says 'bad people' are stealing something." The Peacekeeper turned to inspect the hologram. Looking closer at the projection, he examined the intricate markings and points of the schematics.

Slowly realizing what these schematics portrayed, he exclaimed, "What the hell... These look like the blueprints for a Naval Intelligence data farm. This blueprint shouldn't even be allowed in the hands of civilians." He glowered down at Glux with severe suspicion.

"Glux got this away from bad people that are planning to steal from here!" Glux quickly explained, not wanting to be labeled as a suspect for having possession of the hologram. "Brought it right to Peacekeepers!"

"You need to hurry! They are stealing right now!" Glux emphasized.

In response to this commotion, a crowd had gathered around the front desk. The Lieutenant backed up so he could examine the hologram once more. The more he studied it, the more he saw that this wasn't the work of just any amateur, this looked very well planned out and very professional.

"Uh, Lieutenant? What do we do?" the receptionist asked.

"Shit, this nasty little alien troll might be on to something..." the Lieutenant muttered. "Liara, call up the Security Bureau and inform them of suspicious activity at the data farm at Stillguard. I'm gonna go ahead and inform Colonel Pentecost what's going on." The receptionist nodded and immediately pressed her earpiece to call the Security Bureau.

"Stop standing around and get ready for deployment just in case this report turns out to be true!" the Lieutenant ordered the milling group of Peacekeepers who had been watching the show. As he hastily strode out of the lobby, the crowd of Peacekeepers broke up and rushed around the station: they seemed fired up now that there was the prospect of some serious action.

Glux smiled deviously at how well his plan was working. As he was turning around to make his way to his back to the sewers, the pretty lady called after him. "Hey! Where are you going?!" Glux couldn't afford to waste time, he needed to reach the crucial position in the depths of the sewers before it was too late.

"Go catch the bad people!" he said to her, waddling away from the front desk as fast as he could.

The lady stood up from her chair, but before she had a chance to alert anyone to Glux's departure, her call to the Security Bureau went through and she was forced to sit back down and inform them what was happening. Exiting the station, Glux ran back to the sewers. His two hearts raced with the realization that his master plan was on the verge of succeeding...

-

As they carefully made their way up the stairs, Rosebud called into the comms channel. "Uh, guys, I've got increasing movement on the surface. Security personnel seem to be in a rush. Did you guys alert anyone?"

The crew stopped where they were and tilted their heads in confusion. "We didn't alert anyone, what's going on?!" Ashe asked, feeling uneasy.

"Shit, the fuck?!" Spider muttered.

"Guys? How copy?! What's going on up there?!" Ashe urgently asked.

"I got a bad feeling about this," Keanu said, prepping his weapon.

The silence from Spider and Rosebud continued. "Guys?!" Ashe reiterated, sounding more distressed.

"Shit, they are running a diagnostic on the servers! They're gonna know what we took! You guys need to hurry up and get to that service exit before they lock down the facility!" Spider shouted.

The crew immediately rushed up the stairs to the upper levels. "You guys better get ready, I think we're gonna have a shootout!" Keanu warned. Ashe's mind raced as she flipped her mindset into full combat mode. She knew what they were up against, so she needed to be on her A-game.

"You guys need to hurry. They're calling more soldiers back into the building," Rosebud warned. The crew double-timed it toward the service exit. But even if they were able to make it out to the surface of the base, they would have to tread carefully: they needed to reach a small blindspot on the outskirts of the facility. From that location, they could break outside the base and back into the city.

Reaching the surface level, the crew paused just inside the doorway that led to the exterior part of the facility. As they were prepping their weapons and readying themselves to head out, the lights of the facility shut off and flashing red emergency lights activated instead. Security alerts played through the facility's intercom system, saying, "Security breach on Level 10. All security personnel, be on full alert for any possible perpetrators."

"Welp, they definitely know we are here now," Keanu said, cocking his weapon. "Rosebud, we're at the door to the surface. Is it all clear out there?"

"Uhh, yeah, go, go! You are clear!" Rosebud confirmed.

Opening the sliding doors, they exited. Once outside, they hid behind some building architecture while Jericho scanned the surrounding area with his advanced sensors. "There are twelve targets on full alert. They will definitely see us if we proceed as planned to the exit point," he informed.

"Spider, what's your status?" he added.

"Augh, shit! I'm being swamped right now! You guys either need to just make a beeline for the first exit point, or go with our backup plan! Either way, you may need to get your hands dirty!" Spider answered.

"Hell, yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" Keanu shouted in excitement. Ashe's eyes widened hearing how excited he was at getting into a firefight.

"This guy's a maniac!" Ashe thought.

"Alright, let's move it to our exfil!" Keanu ordered. Everyone nodded and proceeded with caution.

Keeping a tight formation, they tried their best to avoid being seen. With Rosebud providing them with overwatch, they fared better than they otherwise might have. But they weren't going to be able to evade detection entirely. As they reached a small junction, they bumped into a pair of guards patrolling through the area. Luckily, the crew saw them first and managed to flatline the guards before they could get off a shot. But the crackling of the team's weapons had unavoidably alerted the other guards.

"Ah shit! You got company coming your way, hurry up!" Rosebud informed them.

The crew made for their exit point at a full sprint, but were again frustrated as Azrael tuned into the comms channel. "Don't bother going to the exfil point, the Coalition's got the whole surrounding airspace under high alert. I'm sorry, but you guys are gonna have to go with plan B."

"Dammit! You can't just leave us!" Ashe shouted.

"Sorry, there's nothing I can do. This is out of my hands. Just get out of there alive, I'll try and loop around and get you once you're out of the sewers," Azrael responded. Ashe just frustratingly shook her head hearing the bad news. Seeing a guard peeking around the corner, Ashe drew her gun and sent several bullets in that direction, forcing the guard to duck back into cover. "We got hostiles at section Omega, we need immediate assistance!" Ashe heard the guard shout from around the corner.

"Shit, we need to go!" Ashe insisted.

As the crew attempted to withdraw, the guards poked their weapons around the corner, unleashing a hail of bullets. Fortunately, the accuracy of the guards was hampered by their having to fire around the corner of the structure that was protecting them. Keanu immediately laid down covering fire for their retreat. This enabled the crew to begin running again, but a hail of weapons fire was now incoming from all directions. The crew was forced to run and gun, shooting at anything that moved. Meanwhile, Rosebud began to pick off Coalition guards left and right, which afforded them enough cover to retreat back to the edge of the facility, then down the series of stairs and catwalks that overlooked the utility canal. But as they reached the open platform that provided access to the catwalks that led to the coolant drain and their exit point, they were forced to hold up again. They had virtually no cover from above: guards were already positioned at various high points that overlooked the platform they needed to traverse to reach the drain.

"You still have that battery left on your camo device?" Keanu asked.

"Negative," Jericho replied.

Ashe looked down at her utility belt and saw a bullet hole had pierced her device through and through. "Shit, mine got shot..." she revealed.

"Heh, mine is out of battery, too..." Keanu added. "Well, shit. Rosebud, can you cover us until we reach the catwalk?"

"Yeah sure. But you guys will need to be quick about it. They're too many for me to handle, and I think they are zeroing in on my position in the building. I might need to bug out soon." she replied.

"You guys need to go NOW! They're activating the Spectre Drones," Spider informed them. "Shit, oh no no no no! I think I've been made! AUUUGGG-." Spider's comms shut off.

"Shit! Spider!" Ashe shouted.

"I think she's gone, you guys need to move now!" Rosebud ordered.

"Alright! Let's do this!" Keanu shouted, cocking his weapon.

Running out into the open, the crew opened fire on the guards sitting above them, flatlining a few of them immediately. Rosebud managed to cover them until they reached a small section of the platform that had some cargo crates they could use for cover. They'd covered half the distance to the catwalk.

But then, to the crew's dismay, the nearby containers holding the Spectre Drones began to open. Once open, the Drones began deploying from their racks. Before they could draw their weapons, Keanu opened fire on a set of Drones that were still activating, but to no effect. They seemed impervious to his bullets. Now fully emerged from their containers with weapons operational, the Drones rained a barrage of bullets in the crew's direction. In mere moments, the crew would be pinned down by a deadly crossfire.

"Well, it's time to use this!" Keanu shouted. Grabbing a thermal grenade from his belt, he tossed it at a group of Drones marching towards them. As he dodged back into cover, a huge explosion ripped across the entire several-floor space above the coolant drain. Peeking over their cover, Ashe saw that the Drones were effectively disabled, but a few were still crawling towards them on partially-disabled limbs.

Rosebud picked a few Drones off by targeting the weak points in their necks. But they just kept coming. The crew were pinned down from almost every direction. The crackling exchange of gunfire between the heist crew and the security forces rippled through the night sky.

"Shit, I'm on my last couple of mags!" Ashe shouted.

"God dammit! I'm running out of explosives and ammo, we need to get moving!" Keanu added, reloading his rifle.

"Warning, QRF is almost here. We need to move," Jericho informed the two.

Glancing over their cover, Ashe saw a fuel tank sitting just in the corner of the main building. This gave her an idea. "Rosebud, do you see that fuel tank?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah," Rosebud replied, sounding extremely harried.

"Shoot it on my mark, it should give us enough cover to get to the catwalk," Ashe ordered.

"Copy," Rosebud replied, tersely.

Ashe informed the crew of her plan. Everyone quickly nodded. Immediately after she gave the word to Rosebud, a huge explosion shook the whole space around and above the coolant drain, momentarily silencing the weapons fire from the Coalition for just long enough for the crew to make their getaway. But as they ran across the last space, a QRF drop ship appeared in the canal airspace at the same level as the space they needed to dash across. As it hovered alongside them, the side door slid open and troopers began opening fire on them. Ashe was seeing the insurrectionist gunfight play out all over again, with her crew in the role of victims.

Keanu and Ashe managed to avoid the bullets as they sprinted for the final catwalk, but Jericho was unfortunately hit in the legs, rendering him unable to walk. "Shit, Jericho!" Ashe shouted, trying to run back to help him. But before she could reach him, Jericho plucked the hard drive off his utility belt and tossed it to her. Reacting on instinct, Ashe snatched the drive out of the air.

"GO," he ordered in a now glitchy voice, before shooting up at the dropship, taking out a couple of troopers.

Ashe still hesitated, but Keanu grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the catwalk. Realizing there was nothing she could do, she shook her head and allowed the big man to propel her forward. As they made it to the stairs that led to the coolant drain, she glanced back one more time to see several QRF troopers and Spectre Drones surrounding Jericho, before their gunfire ventilated him from all sides.

As they ran down the catwalk, they were met with weapons fire from the dropship which continued to track their every move. Keanu managed to draw their fire and then force the ship to back off, using the explosive rounds from his heavy rifle. But more security forces were swiftly catching up to them on foot.

Just before they made it down to the level of the coolant drain, Ashe unfastened her detonator from her belt and activated the thermal charge she'd hidden on the sewer side of the wall. A plume of smoke and debris spewed out of the massive hole she'd blown in the back wall of the coolant chamber. Making it down to that level of the drain, Ashe ran into the still-dispersing cloud from the blast and leaped through the hole in the wall. She'd made it into the sewer system!

Meanwhile Keanu was laying down covering fire as he backed down the last set of stairs. Fire from the guards, the drones, and the QRF drop ship was converging on him from the upper levels and the side of the chamber that was open to the canal, where the drop ship still hovered. Ashe couldn't understand how Keanu was still moving and fighting. Shit, heavy cover from Rosebud's was supposed to have assisted them across this last area! But Rosebud's fire was rapidly falling off...