Nice Shot

Okani slammed down the accelerator. At the same time, the four motorcycles surrounded his speeding Mercedes in a tight diamond formation. Their riders' throttles were twisted wide open, and their pistols were loosened in thigh holsters. Amelina's black car, with its rear window already blown out, rushed forward a few moments later. Yan leaned out, spitting fire from his OICW, aiming for the hydrogen fuel cells that drove the cars in pursuit. He focused his fire on the unmarked vans, which were probably transporting Lek's private security, purposefully avoiding the marked police cruisers.

 Nayla and Luna separated from the lead group upon noticing the intensifying firefight behind Okani. They made a sharp turn and retreated against the direction of the pursuit in order to assist Yan and Amelina. Yan fought hard; one of his shots hit the lead van's hydrogen cell as Nayla and Luna got closer. Instead of exploding spectacularly, it vented quickly, which caused the car to slow down almost immediately. Two cars in pursuit crashed into its back end.

 Luna swerved her motorcycle to pass Amelina's speeding car and motioned for her to roll down the passenger window. Once it was open, Luna grabbed her M16 rifle, five extra magazines, and a small box of fragmentation grenades from the storage compartment of her bike. Then she made the bold decision to match speed once more, grab the window sill, and jump bodily into the moving car. Moments later, her abandoned motorcycle fell onto the highway and vanished beneath the treads of a police hovercraft that was pursuing it.

 Yan got over his astonishment fast enough to make a sardonic remark. "Rental company isn't going to be happy about that bike."

 In response, Luna worked the action of the rifle and brought it to bear out the broken rear window. "The rental company can go screw itself," she said. In less than 30 seconds, she and Yan were able to disable two additional pursuing vehicles.

 Nayla, in the meantime, served as a decoy by boldly swerving her motorcycle across the highway lanes, attracting the majority of the enemy fire. The pursuers, who included guards in the vans with heavier machine guns and police officers with pulse pistols, had at last started firing back successfully. Only two shooters were left concentrating on Amelina's roadster as the majority targeted Nayla's unpredictable movements.

 Ahead, Kieran readied himself for their compelled departure via the barricade. He charged forward, balancing his shotgun, which was full of grenade rounds, on the low windshield of the motorcycle. Nora was at his side, dropping timed grenades along the roadside in a methodical manner, so that they would explode as the main group of pursuers went over them. Her strategy was successful in taking down three police hovercraft, but she was unable to observe the results. Okani continued to drive his strong sedan, extracting every last bit of speed.

 The next overhead sign read: Solyn Prime Spaceport, Docks 45-94: 500 meters.

 With the police roadblock now in plain sight, Kieran picked up speed once more and passed Okani. He fired after taking careful aim. Three concussion grenades propelled by rockets roared in the direction of the frantic officers. Stone shrapnel flew as the projectiles struck the hurriedly constructed concrete barriers and exploded. Three officers were injured, and two officers were immediately killed. Okani, Kieran, and Nora rushed through the roadblock's opening.

 As their pursuers slowly retreated or broke off, Yan, Amelina, Luna, and Nayla trailed closely behind. Shortly after crossing the spaceport exit sign, a stray bullet pierced the exhaust system of Nayla's bike, forcing her to exit the highway. Just behind her, Amelina's vehicle veered onto the exit ramp.

 A few seconds later, they screamed into the spaceport docking area. Amelina skillfully set up a temporary barricade by parking her car next to Okani's Mercedes. Kieran decided to stay outside, prepared to fight with his friends, even though he had already lowered the Kyara's main ramp and fully charged the ship's systems. Yan hastily gave his extra daggers to Amelina. The seven of them hid behind the parked cars.

 The remaining chasers, which included three security vans and one police car, skidded into the docking bay a few seconds later. A coordinated barrage of gunfire was let loose by the seven companions. Only the police car and three vans survived the initial conflagration, as three more vehicles were disabled and metal tore through metal. They fired some more, knocking out the police car, but the vans screamed to a stop just outside their line. The fighters ducked lower behind the cars, drawing their melee weapons in anticipation of the next move. The sound of heavy footsteps approaching was followed by the slamming of van doors.

 A harsh voice said, "Get up and leave your weapons on the ground!"

 "Come and get us, bitch!" Yan responded with a provocative yell.

 The taunt fooled the guards. The cautious but forward-moving footsteps approached. Nora struck quickly and low, her sword cutting through Okani's ankles as the first guard turned the corner of his Mercedes. He let out a cry and was immediately silenced by Nora, who stabbed him in the neck with a dagger.

 She muttered, "I hate doing that," as she cleaned her blade.

 In order to verify that the remaining guards were now grouped together sufficiently for a charge, Nayla looked underneath the vehicle. Using rapid hand signals, she communicated the tactical assessment. All seven fighters exploded from cover and charged their stunned opponents on a silent, collective count of three.

 The sudden, fierce attack overwhelmed the nearly twenty guards, who were obviously ill-prepared for close-quarters fighting. In his element, Kieran, a master of defense against multiple attackers, killed six opponents with deep, incapacitating slashes with his rotating bladed staff. With a single blow, Yan's enormous broadsword sliced through two guards, resulting in five total kills. Amelina, Luna, Nora, and Nayla covered each other's flanks while working in unison. Three were killed by Nayla's accurate blows, four were rendered incapacitated by Luna, and three more were killed by Nora. Even Amelina defeated one guard with surprisingly skillful use of Yan's knives.

 Less than two minutes passed during the vicious altercation. When all was said and done, Nayla was the only one hurt; a stray bullet from a desperate guard had become lodged in her shin's thick muscle.

 Then an unforeseen event occurred. Previously believed to be disabled, one of the security vans roared to life and raced in the direction of the docking bay exit. Even from a distance, it was clear that Cyran Lek was behind the wheel.

 The only one with a gun left, Amelina, responded immediately. Grabbing the electromagnetic rifle by the shoulder, she found a target on the back of the van's driver's cabin and squeezed the trigger. As projectiles streaked in the direction of the escaping vehicle, the rifle fired with its distinctive, almost silent whoosh. After a violent swerve and a precarious two-wheeled teeter, the van crashed into the ferrocrete wall enclosing the docking bay.

 Sparks from the crumpled bodywork instantly ignited the hydrogen gas that was escaping from the van's ruptured fuel cells. From the side of the wreckage came a steady jet of fierce flame. All seven of the companions instinctively ran in the direction of the crash site. Cyran Lek's lifeless body fell onto the pavement as Yan yanked open the driver's side door. Blood gushed from a dozen entry wounds grouped in his back, soaking his glistening black senatorial robes crimson. From the corner of his mouth, a drop of blood trickled out.

 Amelina covered her mouth with her hand in shock as she gasped. Yan hurried over to her side and put a reassuring arm around her shoulders.

 "Nice shooting," said Nayla, pragmatically as usual.

 Unable to speak, Amelina simply shook her head slowly.

 Luna flatly said, "He deserved it," as she knelt down for a moment to feel for a pulse that she knew wouldn't be there.

 "Yes, but…" Still trembling a little, Amelina stammered.

 Nora whispered, "The first time is never pretty," remembering her own discomfort following their mission on Syltran 4.

 Kieran reminded them urgently, "We still need to leave," breaking the solemn moment.

 The others followed Kieran up the ramp into the Kyara, slowly waking from their daze. In three minutes they were in the air, soaring through the atmosphere of Solyn. They needed somewhere to go, somewhere to hide.

 "Doryn 7," Nora proposed right away.

 Kieran tapped into the navigation database of the ship. "Description: Methane atmosphere, mining world. The population is mostly Srenyei and human. "What's there?" Unaware of the Srenyei species, he inquired.

 "An old friend," said Nora. "We served in the same military unit back in the day."

 "And he has absolutely no loyalty to the Core government?" Yan applied pressure.

 "Are you kidding?" Nora laughed. "He made his fortune stealing from them."

 "So, this friend is a criminal?" Nayla raised an eyebrow in question.

 "He prefers the term 'information broker'," Nora explained.

 "Yes," Luna cut through the semantics with a dry interjection.

 "What's his name?" Kieran inquired, getting ready to enter coordinates.

 "Zayn Zolvaris," was Nora's response.

 Kieran had to suppress a laugh at the ridiculous moniker.

 "It's okay," Nora commented, observing his response. "He's… a little weird." She looked around the group. "Any better ideas?"

 Her question was met with silence. Kieran's gaze returned to the pilot's control panel. "All right, then. It's Doryn 7.

 Several quick keystrokes later, the Kyara banked hard. In order to move them into interstellar space, Kieran activated the ion storm drive. Nayla turned on the long-range communications array as they sped away from Solyn, sending the entire decrypted dataset that had been recovered from Lek's computer to a safe, pre-configured recipient. As a precaution, Kieran turned on the ship's external armor plating as soon as the transmission was verified.