Read Archipelago Ranger :: Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - Raid on Gaia (3)

– A few minutes earlier, main lobby –

Quin sprinted out of Lieutenant Ivory’s office. He left the door open behind him.

As he approached the stairs, a soft voice called out to him.

“Hey, Quin!”

Quin looked over and saw a familiar face. It was the other Trial Ranger, Hayden Kelly. He continued running as he replied.

“I’m a bit busy now, Hayden.”

“Where are you going?” Hayden asked, chasing after him.

“Down to the holding area. Mariah’s in trouble.”

“Huh? Mariah?” Hayden managed to catch Quin by his shirt, “Wait!”

Quin stopped, “Wait for what? You got a plan or something?”

“No, but…” Hayden paused for a moment, then resolved himself, “I’m going with you!”

“Seriously? You know you were placed with the researchers for a reason, right?” Quin asked as he started to run off.

Hayden chased after him again, “I know I can’t fight, but at least I can use my head. Don’t tell me that your plan was to just charge straight in.”

Quin hesitated to respond, before finally giving in, “Fine, but be careful and stay behind me.”

Hayden responded with a slight nod.

They continued running for some time, observing all of the guards scrambling to the main floor, while all the non-combatants evacuated. By the time they got to their destination, they saw that all of the guards were posted around the entrances into the room, aiming at any door.

Quin and Hayden attempted to slip past them, before being stopped by someone.

“What are you doing? We’re setting up an ambush,” said one of the guards.

“We don’t have any time for that, Mariah’s in trouble,” Quin attempted to brush past him before being grabbed.

“I see, so that’s what you think,” the guard responded, “See that’s the problem with you Rangers, you don’t listen to anyone. I’ve heard from Lieutenant Ivory that they let Trial Ranger Sampson go. So you just wait here while we do our-”

The guard stopped mid-sentence and put two fingers to his earpiece for a while, “I see. Understood.”

“We’re going in,” the guard said, “Trial Ranger Quin, Trial Ranger Kelly, turn on your communications, Lieutenant Ivory has something to say to you both.”

“Tch. Fine,” Quin said as both he and Hayden turned on their earpieces, “What do you want?”

<That’s no way to talk to your superior, but I’ll ignore it for now. Quin, Hayden, we need you to get down there to back up Mariah. Initially, I thought that she was just going to stay down, but she’s foolishly moving to confront them, and it seems like she’s lost her earpiece.>

“Is that all? We were already going to do that, though.”

<I’m sending a team with you, Lord Vath will of course be following.>

“Lord Vath?” Hayden was surprised, “Is that the guy who’s been following us? The Eizik Vath?”

He looked to the tall Yujunoan to confirm, “I suppose we can’t really count on your help here, can we?”

“I’m afraid not,” Eizik shook his head heartfeltly, “We’re still waiting on approval from a higher-up on Earth.”

<Anyways, I need to make this very clear. Do not under any circumstances fight them head on. Quin, you’re the best in the station with a propulsion harness, I need you to get in there and pull Mariah out as fast as you can if push comes to shove.>

“Got it.”

<Hayden, I don’t want you fighting at all, but it seems like you really want to do this, and you have a knack for using whatever is at your disposal and thinking on your feet. Be sure to stand back. Support Quin and the others in any way that you can. I'm counting on you to make the right calls.>

“Understood.”

Quin, Hayden, and several guards entered one elevator, and there was another group entering another elevator. Eizik fit himself in as well, and it began to move after the doors shut. The inside of the elevator was soft and cushioned.

“I always hate doing this,” one of the guards said as he walked to the wall furthest from the door. He grabbed onto one of the handles on the wall. The others followed suit, save for Eizik, who stood in the middle of the elevator with his arms crossed.

Those who worked with or lived on Gaia know that these elevators are not ordinary. The holding area was in one of the several spinning disks that line the station. Each disk is forty-eight stories in depth, but because the centrifugal forces would differ as one travels further down, every twelve floor interval is a separate section, spinning at its own rate. Because of this, it was impossible to move from floor to floor by simply walking. There was a complex system of lifts to transfer people and objects between floors.

Even with all this in mind, the Galactic Coalition believed it to be an optimal way to do things.

The first reason was that it saved a lot on artificial gravity costs. The energy that it takes to maintain gravity in the middle of space for a 4.3 kilometer stretch was immense as it was, so any opportunity that they had to not have to use it was always being looked into.

The second reason was that the spinning disks would provide balance to the station. It’s far easier to keep a spinning object stable than one that holds still. If it weren’t for the gyroscopic force of the station, the explosion would have knocked it off course, even if just by a little.

The elevator moved out, and the gravity that the people inside were feeling dissipated. They continued to hold onto the handles as their feet floated up off of the floor. Eizik managed to stay standing where he was, somehow. The elevator rotated ninety degrees in one direction, and a little bit in another, then a sudden jerk was felt as the elevator slowly circled around the station.

What was once the front soon became a floor, the acceleration slowly returned the feeling of gravity. Everyone in the room save for Eizik held on for their lives as they were being pressed into the ground.

Rather than falling to what was now the ground, Eizik floated off of the wall and rotated himself as the feeling of gravity got stronger. He had hardly changed his stance at all by the time that his feet gently landed in the middle of the room, avoiding landing on any of those who were struggling on the floor.

This continued for some time, getting slightly more intense with each passing second, until suddenly, there was a clicking sound, and the pressure completely dissipated. It was like they were standing on solid ground again.

The door opened, and this time it was a different opening from the one that they entered through.

Quin and the others stood up and brushed themselves off, shaking out the feelings of discomfort. They steeled themselves for battle, and began marching out, Eizik slowly following behind.

Lieutenant Ivory’s voice could be heard through the earpieces.

Quin looked dismayed.

“Are you serious?”

<Yes. There’s still time though, get this done quickly.>

“Already planning on it.”

“Let’s move it!”

The marching turned into a full sprint. Quin was in front of the group. After about thirty seconds, they had already reached Mariah’s location.

With the pirates in sight, the guards fired their weapons, and Hayden hid behind a corner. The pirates also took cover.

Quin utilized his propulsion harness, a device that lines the entire body to shoot out jets of air, to make him even faster.

Most people had a hard time using propulsion harnesses anywhere but outer space, but Quin happened to be able to take advantage of it in just about any location.

He dashed past several pirates at the front of the group that were dragging their injured comrades to safety, and located the one that was carrying Mariah.

As he passed Captain Lek, he saw his pistol aiming at him. He looked intensely at him for a moment, thinking about how he would avoid the shot, but before he could decide, Lek’s hand was hit by a beam, throwing off his aim completely.

He continued forward, mustering all he could into one single leap at Kaaran who was carrying Mariah, and put his entire body weight into one, powerful punch. He didn’t even need to make sure that he was knocked out.

Something dropped near Quin’s feet, and a mass of smoke seeped out of it. Quin looked over to see that it was Hayden that had thrown it.

“Nice one, Hayden,” Quin muttered under his breath.

Between the smoke filling the area and the suppressing fire from the guards, the pirates were hard-strapped to make any move at all. Quin noticed the opportunity given to him, and took the time to pick up Mariah and carry her away. She was far heavier than Quin thanks to her height, so it was quite a bit of effort for him.

The smoke filled the area substantially, and Quin emerged out of it unharmed.

Hayden let out a smile of wonder.

Quin was breathing heavily as he spoke, “Mission success. You could carry her at least, right, Eizik?”

“That doesn't break any rules that I know of, no,” Eizik said as he reached his arms out to gently take her away from Quin.

Ivory spoke once more.

“Copy that,” a guard said as he placed down a veil device. The thin, translucent wall that was emitted from it covered the width of the hallway.

A voice was heard from the other side of the smoke, “You’re surrounded! Surrender immediately!”

“Piss off!” yelled Lek.

“Fire!” the voice on the other side of the smoke exclaimed.

Some stray beams hit the veil as Lieutenant Ivory had predicted, and there were some yelps coming from inside the smoke.

“Damn it! Put up another veil!” Kaaran exclaimed, “We need cover!”

There was the sound of another veil being created.

“Alright, let’s get out of here,” said one of the guards.

They turned around and began to run.

Through the smoke, a figure bolted out at an incredible speed. It was Captain Lek.

He ran through the veil, and aimed his strange pistol at Quin once more.

Quin heard the footsteps behind him, and managed to look back just in time. He dodged out of the way just as the weapon was firing.

“Heh,” Lek snickered with a smirk. He turned around and ran away.

There was a cry coming from behind Quin.

He turned his head, and saw what everyone else was staring at, their mouths wide open.

Hayden was holding his hand to his abdomen, attempting to cover the gaping hole that was formed there.

He dropped to the ground.