Pegasus (Part 117)

We exited the room and were about to go to our left when Sharon spoke.

“Guys don’t go that way!” She pointed in the opposite direction.

Leanne made to go that way.

“Are we sure we can trust her?”

The others scowled at me and went the way she suggested. We turned right and right again. A service lift was there, She looked at me with a wry grin. I smiled back.

It was a small lift but we all managed to find space inside. Then Sharon inputted the setting for the very top level.

“Be prepared to open fire! There are usually a few guards up here.”

The lift swept us upwards. There were no stabilizers so you could feel the acceleration. With each second, my legs became heavier.

“Woohoo, we’re really traveling!” I exclaimed just before it came to a halt momentarily lifting our feet off the ground.

The door began to creak open.

One of the guards had their back to us. She was wearing a distinctive blue uniform with a handgun around her waist. No quarter was given.

Bullets ripped through his torso. Her body slipped to the ground revealing two. They put their hands up, and Chrissie and Pam ran towards them to tie them up.

Pegasus (Part 115)

We ran out the door to a narrow carpeted hallway with multiple wooden doors just like the one we were after exiting.

“Follow me.” Her tone was confident. “We need to take the stairs to catch them by surprise.

We went down the hallway, turning left and then right. It was a labyrinth. Then much to my relief, the stairs appeared in front of us.

She looked back at me over her shoulder. “Quiet.” I nodded.

Each step was taken slowly. Chrissie had her gun at the ready. Then her steps grew faster. I looked up and saw that Leanne and her sister waiting for us. They waved with their gun to follow till we reached our destination.

Leanne took one side of the door and Chrissie the other. Leanne shot at the door lock, and then they barged in shooting at everything that moved. There was Innumerable shots and blood flowed out of the room.

I entered the room to see three riddled bodies. Tabitha’s face was bloodied and bruised. Still, she managed a small smile when she looked at me. I ran and embraced her.

She wasn’t the only battered woman in the room. Leanne was untying her. She was slender with long, blonde hair.

Pegasus (Part 114)

Once more with a smile, he pulled back preparing for another whack.

“Oh, this time it will be your pretty face.”

The bastard was enjoying it.

Then there was a banging sound off to the right, where my view was obscured by the wall. A sound of shot. The bullet hit Jarlath in between the eyes, and he fell to the floor.

A second later, a smiling Chrissie was in front of me. Damn, I never thought I would be so happy to see her.

“Hello buster, I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Now let’s get you out of here and find Tabitha.”

She quickly untied my hands and legs. We hugged. The pain was pulsating me, but I just managed to walk.

“We realized that something had happened to the two of you. And we decided that we couldn’t just leave you. We went into the bar, and well the girls used some of their tried and tested techniques,”

“What are they?” I asked in a hushed voice through gritted teeth.

“A bit of cleavage here, a bit of leg there. And tablets containing some very strong drugs.”

“Well, I am very thankful. Where now?

“Follow me. She’s up a floor.”

Pegasus (Part 108)

As we left the ship, we stepped onto a platform that led to elevators on the wall. Chrissie walked ahead of us and pressed the button. Nothing seemed to happen at first. Then we heard a whizzing sound coming from below; it grew gradually larger. Then someone saw the elevator just before it arrived,

An artificial voiceover speaking in Irish told us to take a ticket, to remember where our ship was parked and that it would bring us to ground level. Hearing that the ancient language once more made me feel warm inside. I took the piece of pink paper and put it in my wallet.

Much to my surprise, I felt nothing on the way down. The opaque doors stopped you from seeing any movement also. The doors opened and we walked out to a packed street and a cacophony of sounds. People brushed up against our shoulders as they tried to get past. Large buildings looked almost magical as they stretched upwards. I realised I was feeling queasy, and took a moment to get my bearings. We needed to go towards the centre of the city, and see if we could do some sort of deal to get to the Emperor’s habitat.

In one direction, there was definitely an increased density of buildings.

“This way,”

Pegasus (Part 106)

The bridge went silent as our ship descended into the back of the convoy, the habitat growing ever larger in our translucent screen. For the first few moments, Tabitha looked warily into my eyes.

Then the sound of chatter started coming in and out over the comms –

  • Come in Delta V, come in Delta V. State the nature of your business
  • Delta V here. Delta V here over. We are transporting Lithium 95 over Code 415356 over
  • You are cleared Delta V. Your convoy is to proceed

“That’s all yall have to do to get in?”

The intricacies of my calculations were lost on her. They had flown into one of the most corrupt parts of the Empire, and had taken advantage of it. The code provided was too short to be anything other than criminal. It avoided the financial pain of them having to pay their own.

They were now approaching the thin red atmosphere of the habitat.

“Buckle up,” Tabitha commanded.

Everyone complied without hesitation.

The ship began to vibrate.

Leanne and Casey held each other’s hand.

Then it stopped, and our target city of ten million souls appeared in the distance—a sea of skyscrapers jutting up to heights almost out of the atmosphere.

Pegasus (Part 100)

We ended up dragging her along by her feet.

“Come on Leanne, try to help us. Keep taking steps,” Tabitha implored.

“I’m trying,” she sobbed,

The laser fire was continuing unabated behind us.

I looked up and saw the ship we were heading to. It was not exactly what I had been expecting. It was a medium-sized craft, totally pink, with a large cargo bay entrance to the rear.

As we got close, I stopped helping to hold up Leanne and ran forward to press the button to open it. Tabitha and Leanne immediately fell unceremoniously to the ground. I then ran back, and carried Leanne over my shoulder to the ship, before gently placing her inside. Tabitha stayed tending to her, while I looked out to see if I could see the other two.

For a few moments, all I could see was the flashes of laser fire in the distance. Then, Chrissie appeared out of the corner of my eye sprinting towards me. Then she shouted.

“I’ll get us out of here. Don’t you close up till my Casey is inside.”

She darted past me.

There were more flashes of laser fire.

Then I saw Casey. She was walking backwards towards the ship returning laser fire.