The arrogance also translated to the walls that were never finished. Lazy cost cutting. If any of the admins survived, they had some things to answer for. Though in all fairness, they’d probably fall back on the fact the enemy employed weapons capable of nullifying all their defenses.
“Hello?” Alon whispered, tapping the door with the butt of his gun. “It’s Alon Des! Can you hear me?”
They didn’t answer.
Shit!
Alon rolled his eyes, moving to the panel by the door. He pressed his thumb against it, opening a comm connection. “Is anyone in there? I need help!”
“Who is this?” Rissa answered the line, one of the comm techs. She’d always been nice before but the way she asked the question sounded strained… afraid… harsh. “Speak up!”
“Alon Des! I’m with the militia! I need in!”
“Impossible,” Rissa replied, “the door’s on a time lock now. We have to wait until it opens or the military comes with their special code. I can’t just let you in. That would defeat the purpose of a panic room!”
“Are you insane? Why’d you time lock it?”
“Because that’s the procedure!”
Alon sighed. “I need to get in!”
“Then wait an hour. That’s when we’ll be capable of opening it on our own.”
“Goddamn it!” Alon hammered his fist against the door. “Figure it out, Rissa! Come on!”
“I won’t even look into it,” Rissa replied. “Get out there and stop the invaders! Do your job!”
“Everyone’s dead, you bitch!” Alon shouted. “They’re all gone! Jesus Christ, do you think I’d be here if I could just go out and start shooting…” He stopped when he heard a sound upstairs. Someone was approaching fast. He swallowed hard, lowering his voice. “Someone’s coming. Stay quiet. I’ll… think of something.”
Son of a bitch!
He moved up the stairs, letting his rifle lead the way. A muffled voice gave orders. At least five people, probably more, advanced on the command center. Alon took cover behind one of the terminals, fighting hard not to lose his shit. His eyes burned with unshed tears, sweat covered his back… in the next few moments, he figured he’d die.
I delayed the inevitable, I guess. But he wouldn’t go down without a fight. His pulse pounded, making him light-headed and sick to his stomach. Still, he aimed around the edge of the console, waiting for his opponents to come creeping through.
“Hold,” a gruff voice shouted, still muffled as if through a helmet. “Anyone in there? We’re TCN soldiers here to help. Come out if you’re present!”
Alon considered ignoring him for a moment. Unfortunately, if the man proved to be telling the truth they’d have a fine excuse to shoot an idiot who didn’t identify himself. At least they don’t appear ready to kill whoever they find. Maybe. I have to take my chances. Fighting won’t do me much good.
“I’m here! Militia officer Alon Dess! I’m armed, and I’d like to stand up without being shot!”
“Do it.” The gruff voice barked back at him. “Make it slow!”
Alon stood with his hands up. “We don’t have a lot of time. I saw what those people can do out there! Our weapons… they didn’t do anything to their armor. We opened up on them and they literally shrugged it off before tearing into our ranks with laser weaponry. And I can tell you right now, it was fast.”
“How’d you make it?” A different voice asked. “If they tore into you guys with lasers.”
“I was providing overwatch,” Alon lied. “When things went south, I ran back here in an effort to find a way to protect the civilians still inside.”
“More like you bitched out,” the same person said.
“Stow that!” The gruff one spoke. “I’m Gunnery Sergeant Stefan. Did they lock down the bunker?”
“Yeah, it’s totally secure.” Alon gestured. “We have to move, sir! Those invaders will be here soon.”
“They seemed occupied with something on the other side of the colony.” Gunny stepped in, moving down the stairs. “We need to hurry our asses up if we want to get these people out of here. Hans, get down here and input the code. I’ll get the shuttle back here. Alon or whatever your name was, help them file these people out the back door.”
“Uh… sure.” Alon hurried over to the man called Hans though they all looked the same in their dark blue armor with helmets. Some of them had ranks. He didn’t know what they meant. As far as he was concerned, they didn’t look all that different from the invaders. Both sides covered themselves up from head to toe.
Too bad we didn’t have similar equipment. That wasn’t a knock on the military. He leveraged that complaint against the people that operated the colony, the penny pinchers who chose not to pay for the things they needed to protect themselves. If I make it out of here, I’ll lodge a formal complaint against the company! I swear it!
“What’re you doing?” Ryssa sounded on the verge of hysterics. Her scream through the microphone made the speaker distort. “You can’t open this up until you take care of the threat! Are you people insane? I’m locking you out! Leave us alone!”
Hans turned to Alon. “Help me out with this crazy bitch, huh kid? What’s her damage?”
“Uh… she’s scared.” Alon shrugged. “Who are you?”
“Sergeant Hans Burke. Get this open.”
“Right.” Alon hit the button. “You have to let us open the door, Ryssa! We have to get you guys out of there. I told you about the invaders. I’m not sure they can stop them. So…
