Chapter 13

Missy was surprised at how well she was holding up. During her first day at the Academy, on her first jog, she had collapsed in a heap after three minutes of steady running. Now here she was, on an uneven and dark jungle floor, and she'd been jogging for an hour. She wasn't even the most out of breath of her teammates; Aimee was huffing and puffing just ahead of her.

It's because of how resolved I am to save Preston and my squaddies, she thought valiantly, but in reality it was probably more due to the fact that Captain Appet had pushed her as hard as she did. It had only been five months, but Missy thought of herself as an entirely different person now. The type of person who would risk everything to save the people she cared about.

Jackson drew up to a halt in front of them, reading a small screen in his hand, and the squadmates slowed to a walk, catching their breath. Missy glanced around to confirm they were all there, Jackson, Aimee, Li and herself

"The beacons are saying they're just a km or so away," he whispered, "we try to be quiet from here."

"If they have guards watching what do we do?" Missy whispered back, "Terrans have always outfought Orbitans when we've engaged in firefights."

"The drones have been able to catch Terrans by surprise on every planetary run. They haven't ever had lookouts before, they won't now."

"They've never taken Orbitans prisoner before either," Li muttered.

It only took a few minutes of walking before the Terran village came into view. Large buildings, all rough tan stone and wood, sat in a ring around a clearing. Most of the windows were dark, but there were lights flickering in a few, similar to torchlight but in different colors.

"No lookouts," Jackson said quietly.

"Can you get a close enough signal to see which building they're in?" Missy asked. Jackson looked at the screen, then pointed.

"Second floor. All together," he replied, "Alex was separate from them for a little while, but she's back with the others now.

"You don't think they're being tortured do you?" Li asked, "taken out one at a time to pump for information?" Aimee smacked his head with a significant glance at Missy.

"Its alright," Missy watched the windows on the second floor steadily, "whether they're being tortured or not, were here to rescue them, so their suffering is over now. Let's move."

They broke from the treeline at a fast jog, staying quiet and low to the ground as they went. Missy kept a sweaty hand on the butt of her dart pistol, but the noise of weapons would instantly draw the whole of the village down on them. If she needed to fire it, chances were she would already be as good as dead. Even so, the weight of the weapon on her hip made Missy feel just a bit better as she flattened herself against the wall of the stone building. Jackson, Li, and Aimee moved along beside her as she slowly slid along the wall until she was next to the wooden entrance.

Missy's mouth was dry. It was an odd thing to notice at a time like this, but it was uncomfortable.

I don't know a thing about what's behind this door, Missy thought, silently lifting the beam that held it closed, I could be walking into a room full of Terrans right now. I could be seconds away from my death. She swung the heavy door open and slipped inside. Bare of decoration, huge and stone, the room was thankfully empty. Missy breathed a sigh of relief as her squadmates slipped in with her, observing the building's entrance hall. Doorways lined the walls, but there was only one stairway. Using Academy sign language, Missy indicated that the rest should follow her. The stairs were dark and quiet, and even though they were trying to move silently, the sounds of four footfalls echoed in the stairwell. Missy held up a hand to stop her squaddies when they reached the head of the stairs, and she peaked around the corner. Halfway down the hall, two guards flanked a large wooden double door.

"Two hostiles," she signed to the others, and then before she lost her nerve, before she gave herself the chance to chicken out or back down, she moved into the hall.

Even as she hurtled down the hallway Missy tried to keep her footfalls quiet. She drew her dart gun as she ran, hoping she wouldn't have to use it and alert anyone else. The hallway seemed to stretch out as she ran, it seemed like an eternity to close the distance between her and the guards, and every second she expected them to turn and raise an alarm. Clearly they hadn't been expecting any action at all, since they didn't notice her until she was almost on top of them. The closest guard only had time to open his mouth in surprise before the butt of her gun slammed into his cheekbone. Despite Missy's hope that her momentum would bring both guards down, the other was able to skip back to avoid the two bodies hitting the floor. He wasn't yelling for help, but he was muttering something under his breath, words that seemed to prickle on the inside of her ears without her being able to hear them at all. Missy watched in horror as his hand started to glow, but Li and Jackson both slammed into him before he could complete the action. He struggled, twisting his body to try to gain leverage, but Li wrapped an arm around his neck to lock him into a hold, and it only took a few seconds before the man slumped to the ground.

"Do either of them have a key?" Missy whispered. Aimee and Jackson searched the pair roughly, digging into pockets and the pouches at their waists. Aimee she shook her head, but she looked pale.

"Missy, that purple thing the general had, that looked like crystal ... did it look like this?" The object that Aimee held up was almost an exact replica, in dark blue instead of purple. Missy wordlessly nodded.

"We can process what that means later," Jackson broke in, "right now we need to figure out how to get that door open quickly and above all, quietly."

"Typical Jackson behavior," Julia whispered from the doorway, causing the squaddies to collectively jump, "trying to come up with a complex plan without checking to see if the door is open."

Missy clung to Preston as if someone would try to tear them apart at any second as the squaddies discussed their options in quiet voices. He didn't seem to mind, keeping one arm firmly wrapped around her waist as well.

"So as long as we can make it to the ships, they can't stop us from leaving the planet?" he was saying.

"As far as we can figure, yes," Jackson nodded firmly, "as long as we're headed straight up towards the fog and they don't already have something in the air, we can get to the cloud cover, and they probably won't follow us through. We can even leave for the ships the same way we came, assuming there aren't any patrols around the village."

"We're not very helpful there," Alex commented, "I'm the only one who's been out of our cells, and I haven't seen much that would be helpful."

"Then we'll need to hope we get lucky," Jackson said decisively, "now, do we leave through the door or the window? We didn't run into anyone on the way up, but there's no guarantee we'll be as lucky going down."

"I won't be able to take the drop from the window," Tess said quietly, gesturing to her leg, "I re-broke it in the crash."

"Then we can-" Jackson began, when a voice from the other side of the door interrupted him.

"Tha? Kor? Where are you both? You'll catch hell if you're in there with the PRI" prisoners, trainees The words hit Missy's mind while seemingly skipping her ears, buzzing through her head and almost knocking her over. Missy cried out in shock and surprise, as did Jackson and Li. She covered her mouth but the damage had been done; the door opened and a burly man with bright blue hair looked inside. There was a split-second of hesitation before Aimee sprang forward to hit him with her gun, but it was enough time for him to pull his head back and slam the door in her face. The man spoke a muffled word, and the edges of the heavy wooden doors rippled, fusing together until the double doors became one single piece across the doorway. Aimee sprang back with a curse, and Missy gaped.

"They know magic?" she squeaked, as on the other side the man shouted for help, "the Terrans can do MAGIC?"

"Not important right now," Jackson moved quickly, picking up one of the furs from the beds nearby and wrapping his hand in it, "we need to start moving now. If we're lucky we can hit the forest before they catch sight of us." He smashed the window open with his fur covered arm, clearing away bits of glass until there was enough room to get through.

"It's going to be a really rough landing," Alex was already at the window, giving advice over her shoulder, "tuck and roll and hopefully we don't break anything-" she stopped, eyes wide in horror. Missy followed her gaze and came to the same realization. Tess won't be able to escape that way.

"It's alright," Tess said, her voice quiet but resolute, "I would slow you down anyways, you need to be quick now that they're after you."

"We can't just leave you here Tess," Missy protested, when suddenly the sound of bells, deep and loud, began echoing through the village.

"I'm sorry Tess," Alex's face was drawn and tight, "we'll try to come back for you."

"Don't," Tess said, "after the first rescue mission they'll be on the lookout for another. They'll kill you next time."

"We can't do this!" Missy said again, but even as she said it she knew it wasn't true. There was no way to get Tess to the ships, and trying would only force more of them to share her fate. Alex leapt from the window, and a few moments later Jackson followed her.

"Go Missy," Tess looked serene, her back straight, "Whatever they have waiting for me, I can handle it if it means the rest of you can escape." Marcus climbed to the window and jumped.

"I'm not going anywhere," Julia murmured, putting her arm around Tess. First Aimee, then Li jumped from the window, leaving only four of them left.

"Get the fuck out of here, even you Julia" Tess looked close to tears, but Julia turned resolutely to Missy and nodded. Eyes watering, Missy went to the window, pushing Preston up to the window first. With a final backward glance at the two girls standing alone in the large prison room, Missy jumped.

Even with the roll at the end, the pain blossoming in her shoulder told her she'd bruised something. Missy pushed it to the back of her mind as she looked around for her squaddies. Preston was at the forest's edge, beckoning to her, and she broke out into a full run after him. As soon as she hit the treeline a sudden green light burst on a tree nearby, lighting the the forest around her.

"They're on us!" Preston shouted, and the squaddies broke into a full run. It was dark and the ground was rough, but Missy kept up a pace she never would've been able to before. Mournful deep bells continued to ring from behind them as she reached for Preston and grabbed his hand. Her shoulder pounded with a dull ache as they ran together, sometimes dragging him, sometimes being pulled along as the terrain beneath their feet shifted. The air was lit with a shock of blue light, and a tree in front of them froze, it's swaying branches stilled and the leaves coating with a thin layer of ice. Missy risked a glance over her shoulder just in time to yank Preston down as a purple bolt flashed over his head. It hit the ground with a muffled thud, kicking up clods of dirt that drifted through the air in slow motion.

"Hold on! They're up ahead! They're cutting us off!" Alex's voice came from further ahead than Missy thought, and she started to slow. To her left, Alex ran past her, shrieking,

"It's a trick! That's not really me! Keep on straight!" Missy couldn't tell if any of her squadmates had fallen for the fake Alex voice, but she kept on forward, plowing into the darkness and bracing herself for a trap at the same time. A green flare shot above the treetops, hovering in place and casting an eerie light down on the forest. On the one hand, Missy was glad for the light; it let her see that all of the squaddies had kept on running straight. Aimee and Li were holding hands a little ways ahead of her, Alex, Jackson and Marcus had spread out and were weaving nimbly through the trees. On the other hand, if Missy could see them, the Terran's could as well. Her worries were confirmed when a spear of blue light arced through the air and buried into the ground a few inches from Alex.

If they can see us, I can see them, Missy reasoned. She let go of Preston's hand and spun, dropping to one knee and taking careful aim. For a horrifying moment she couldn't see anyone, but a Terran with blue hair moved into sight, and Missy fired. The gunblast echoed through the trees, and the Terran grabbed at his chest where the dart had hit, barely able to grunt before the sedatives shot through his bloodstream and dropped him heavily onto the forest floor.

"They've got WE!" instruments to fight with, dangerous implements "get those lights out!" Missy was scrambling to her feet even as the Terrans shrieked their orders, helped by Preston yanking her along. The green light above them winked out, casting them in darkness again. Puffing a sigh of relief, Missy started running again. The shooting and response had taken only seconds to perform, but hopefully it would buy her and her squadmates some small amount of safety.