The only thing Dia could feel was her heart, thumping in her throat. She was running, her side vision blurred as he dashed across the hallway with just one thought in her mind: she had to escape, leave the ship alive. That was her mission, the last the captain gave her.
The empire had to know what happened here.
"Dia! Stop! The turbolifts!" Jenkins shouted from behind her.
Dia slowed down, her legs hurting as her feet skidded on the floor like was she skiing.
"We don't have time, Jenkins!" Dia shouted to her when she stopped.
The turbolifts---the Siren's elevators---were dark, offline just like half of the ship's systems. They had done something to them, just like they had done with their communications, weapons and their damn shields. Dia couldn't stay here; she had to move, reach those escape pods close to the cargo bay.
"And how do you expect to cross half the ship and reach the pods with those things waltzing around?" Jenkins replied, her words sarcastic but she looked calm.
It was like she was the soldier and Dia the tech, not the other way around. Dia had always envied her for that.
"Now please, keep watch while I fix this mess." Jenkins continued while she bent down near the turbolift's control panel, removing its metal sheet with her magnetic screwdriver.
"Fuck" Dia muttered, biting her lips. "I don't like this." She said, taking out her ordinance sidearm from its holster.
The security team was guarding the docking bay, but she knew they could do little except slowing them down. They would be here soon.
I should be with them. She was the rookie, a newcomer transferred here just a week before the beginning of the mission. Many of the others in her squad had years of service, families waiting for them at home. They should have been the ones to run, not her.
"I know." Jenkins replied, her tone sympathetic like she knew what Dia was really thinking. "But even if you were there, you could have done nothing." She said while she kept messing about with the turbolift's wires.
Dia gritted her teeth. She knew Jenkins was right, but she still didn't like it. Above all, she didn't understand why the captain had been so categorical in saying she, and no one else, had to be the one to bring the message.
"Done." Jenkins said, calling her attention back to the present. "Now it should ope..."
But at that moment an explosion shook the entire ship, throwing both of them on the ground.
"Are you alright?" Dia asked her when stood up, her hand searching for her laser gun.
"I am fine..." Jenkins started, but those words died in her throat.
They heard something coming from the side of the hallway leading to the docking bay. The unmistakable noise of laser fire.
"Better to move." Dia said as she retrieved the gun from the floor and pointed it in that direction.
Jenkins nodded, her lips tight as she began to put the metal sheet back in its place.
The noises kept coming closer and closer until they could hear the steps not far from them. And then screams, human screams.
"Jenkins..."
"I know!" Jenkins snarled. "This thing is stuck, but I can fix it." She repeated, in her voice an accent of that stubbornness Dia had learned to know well. "He just needs some convincing."
He? Dia's lips parted. In Jenkins book, if there was a problem a man had to be responsible for it, and her "convincing" usually ended up violently. Just like in this case. Dia saw her plunging a crowbar between the turbolift's metal panels before starting to jerk it.
"Faster" Dia hissed.
She could hear the vibrations on the floor under her feet.
Something was coming, something heavy.
"I'm almost..." Jenkins panted as she put all her weight on the crowbar. "done!"
The turbolift opened, and at the same time, they saw someone running toward them. An imperial soldier.
"It's here! Run!" He screamed on top of his lungs, his eyes impossibly wide. "We have to..."
Dia watched him with horror as a laser beam went through him just below his waist splitting his body in half, his legs still running for a meter or two before falling apart.
"Go inside." Dia said quietly to Jenkins, but she wasn't looking at her. She kept watching the concentration of pure brutality which just turned around the corner.
A Collective mech.
It looked humanoid, and at least its shape it was. Its head was disproportionate, too small for a body of that side. It seemed like a big toy, even a bit funny to look at, at least until you saw the gatling lasers on its bionic arms, the rockets on its shoulders and the blowtorch coming from the holes on its palm. When it started running Dia opened fire, six-hundred pounds of robotic dreadfulness coming directly toward her.
The mech didn't even fire back, Dia's laser beams bouncing back to her when they hit its shields.
Shit! She ducked to avoid the ricochet and rolled on the ground when the mech was about to run over her.
"Target acquired." The mech buzzed. "Primary directive: elimination."
However, it wasn't looking at her, but toward the turbolift. Dia glanced that way.
Jenkins?! Why is she still here? And then Dia realized why.
She was keeping the turbolift open, waiting for her. The mech raised his mechanical arm, the gatling laser over its dull gray metal flashing red as it pointed at her.
However, Jenkins didn't move. She squirmed and shivered, her small body like that of a child compared to the mech's seven feet. And yet, despite everything, she still kept her finger on the elevator's button, preventing it from closing up.
Damn it, Jenkins! You'll get yourself killed!
Dia had to draw its attention and fast. She started opening fire, though she knew it was pointless, but the mech's head just creaked a bit, its sensors focusing on her for a second or two before turning back on Jenkins.
It analyzed me and calculated that I am not a threat. But who could blame it? Maybe if instead of shooting it, she started spitting on it she would get better results.
But Dia no time to think about that, she had to move. She was without options, so she ran toward it and did the only thing she could think of at the moment, the kind of thing that can either make someone gain a medal or an entry in a mental institution.
She jumped on its back.
For some reason its shields didn't flare up this time, while the mech itself froze for a second or two like its synthetic brain couldn't predict the possibility someone could be so brave, or dumb, to do something like this. But then it recovered, its steel hand grabbing back at her ankle as it first lifted, and then threw her, against the wall.
Dia flew like a ragdoll on the wall and then down on the floor, her head ringing while she tried to stand up. She was at its feet, completely at its mercy, but the mech didn't finish her off.
"Analyzing target." It said while it scanned her, giving her the time to recover. "New parameters initialized. Calculating options."
New parameters? What?
But it didn't really matter. Now she had a chance.
Dia took advantage of the mech's size and slid on the floor between those huge metal legs. Then she sprung up and broke into a run, dashing toward the turbolift.
She was coming closer and closer to it, Jenkins reaching out for her hand when the tech looked behind her, her green eyes widening with shock.
Dia hadn't the time to look back, she just felt the air moving and pushing her over the side. It was an air jet, coming from the mech auxiliary weapon. A non-lethal solution for a tool built with just one purpose: death.
"Please stand by, completing the scan." The mech synthetic's voice said.
Now it says please? She was just some steps away from the turbolift, but she wasn't sure the mech would start firing for real if she ran, maybe hitting Jenkins in the process.
"Abnormality detec..." The mech started to say when someone pulled Dia away, and then pushed her inside the turbolift.
Jenkins.
"What are you..." Dia started to say, but at the same moment Jenkins pushed the button to close the door, and right after, the mech grabbed the tech by the throat. When that warm liquid splashed on her face, Dia stood still, too shocked to think or believe what she was watching was real.
But then reality started to set in and she saw it; Jenkins severed head rolling on the floor in front of her, the mech throwing aside her headless body like it was a piece of trash. The turbolift started closing, the mech turning toward her.
"Primary target detected." Its robotic voice resounded in the chaos of her mind like a trumpet blast. "Directive..."
The door closed, and Dia woke up screaming.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
