Chapter 25

The space plane in which the cache is contained is being attracted to the hostile enemy shutte.

The pilot tried to fire up the thrusters to the maximum but it's almost to no avail except of slowing down the attraction.

The captain organized the remaining 13 men to squads of 3. They will fight and look for each other as the enemy capabilities are "unknown".

Each of them has a standard battle suit provided by the government. A simple helmet with a targeting visor, communication modules, thermal, and night vision capabilities.

For the armor, they have it much better compared to their mercenary counterparts. They're using a thick vest that can properly spread the kinetic energy once hit by the bullet preventing immense pain.

For their gun, they are using a heavily modified assault rifle with holo sights, and laser pointers.

The captain cocked his gun and did final checkups as the shuttle finally got glued to the hulls of the hostile plane.

Each of the soldiers have their standard assault rifle, a pistol for sidearm, and finally a combat knife.

And before they know it, an explosion suddenly happened which broke open the main entrance to the shuttle by force.

Powerful sucking force can be felt as the soldiers searched for something to use as a support to prevent themselves from suddenly flying away.

The overall look of the interior of the shuttle is like that of a normal passenger plane but it only has 15 seats and a thick wall separating the storage and the passenger

"Hold on!" shouted the captain on their comms as the sucking force is suddenly getting weaker and weaker and a weird passage way was seen latching itself on the door and thus connecting both space crafts.

Some people clutched the headrest of chairs, some hugged walls as the sucking force is just too much to bear.

"Captain! I don't wanna die!" shouted a fairly young soldier who hugged his rifle and started to cry like a baby. The soldier strapped himself using his belt on the foot of a chair.

The captain is getting annoyed by everything but before he can say anything, sounds of gunfire was heard. The emergency lock didn't work, nothing is working including the brain of his men.

He knows that at least 4 of his men here are rookies who hasn't seen proper combat.Heavy sounds of footsteps was heard and then a full auto fire. There's no stop, there's not even a pause for reload. It sounded like hell to the rookies. But this sounds confirmed one thing to the captain and that is...

The enemy has already entered their space craft and are now firing against them.

"Take cover!" shouted a soldier which prompted everyone to search for a suitable cover.

Luckily, everyone managed to find something to hide upon. But as they were catching their breath, another barrage of gunfire was then heard.

The soft leather and cotton was riddled with bullet holes. Iconic sound of ricochet was heard everytime a bullet hits a solid metal surface.

The captain immediately tried to find his pocket watch. By looking at it makes him calm down. It let's him keep his cool on all manners of situation be it big or small. He is taking cover behind the division of the rooms between the passenger part and the storage.

He searched for it and while searching, it suddenly slipped out of the pocket and did a nosedive directly to the floor.

He moved fast but not fast enough as the button like thingy on top of the pocket watch was thw first one to hit the floor. The moment it hit the floor, something happened.

Something like a slowing down of things. Luckily, it only lasted for a fraction of the second and the captain catched it just in time before it bounced a second time.

He then looked at it if it has any damages and was relieved that it has not. He certainly felt the weird slow down sensation but can't explain it so he tried to replicate what happened earlier.

He pressed the button on the pocket watch and as expected, the weird sensation of slowing down happened once again.

He looked at the watch with both shock and awe. It's not a dream but a reality. This watch can make things slow down or fast something that can be described as almost fantastical.

The pocket watch is something like a family heirloom that dates back on the time when their family is still part of the French Empire. It was first given to his great great grandfather as a gift for becoming a "made man". The capabilities is unknown to him, his father only hinted that it can change how the status of the whole battlefield.

On the opposite end of the shuttle, the mercenaries which number to 20 are firing their weapons like some sort of maniacs or psychos.

They never bothered about ammo conservation. They went all out and held the trigger by their finger and wished thay a bullet will land a hit.

Though it may seem like unprofessional, it's technically isn't. Their whole mercenary group follows the battle doctrine of using your superior and most of the time absolute firepower to try and gun down an enemy behind cover especially if the cover is almost as thin as a sheet of metal. Topple this with the fact that they're fighting on a tight space, it will be an absolute effective tactic.

But if this doesn't work then they'll move in for the kill and finishing the job the normal way. Although they're technically toying with them, that just shows how confident they really are.

Their employer on the other hand immediately ordered a ceasefire after the second. magazine as ammo will or might become a problem later on.

"Ceasefire! I said ceasefire!" shouted their employer in the comms which everyone obeyed and the whole plane suddenly seemed all quiet except for the excessive amount of smoke permeating the air. He felt a slow down, however, he don't know if he's the only one who felt it.

"You, go tell them to surrender. I don't like making this whole thing long." said their employer after regaining his composure and throwing the thought at the back of his mind.

The captain then nodded and cough slightly.

"If I were you I will surrender the cache. If you do, I'll even consider sparing your lives. How's that?" shouted the captain of the mercenary group after he was given this order by their employer.

He was most likely given this task as he looks intimidating and his aura speaks of his achievements in this kind of life.

But there was no answer, nothing but the weird sound of at least three metal bouncing on the ground.

"Fuc-" the captain of the mercenaries performed a tactical roll to the side and at that exact moment, a flashbang exploded, incapacitating them.

Everything looked weird, he felt dizzy and he can't open his eyes properly.

"Fire!" their enemy suddenly open fire as their assault rifle tore through the air and these mercenaries can only shrink themselves as small as possible on their cover to evade the hail of bullets.

They hid on leather and cotton seata which obviously offered no protection but they have to do with what they got.

"Stun grenade!" they heard another shout as the sound of pins hitting the ground was heard.

The captain knows and everyone on his team knows it'll spell the doom for them once the stun grenade hits them as the enemy is getting nearer. So out of desperation probably, they stucked their head out and started to open fire even if the initial effects of the flashbang still hasn't completely wore off.

An ensuing gunfight suddenly happened. The guards jump to the nearest cover but that's without at least two of them getting gunned down by the hail of bullets.

Back to the side of the guards, the captain tsked in his mind in annoyance. He clearly communicated with those stupid men to throw the stun grenade once he said the word fire.

But they didn't like some bitch and he has to shout it for them to even return to their senses and do it.

"Anybody got a flashbang and a smoke?" asked the captain on his comms which someone immediately answered.

"I have a flashbang sir, and an incendiary grenade sir! We can flush them out using these two and probably even fry some." replied a soldier on the communication modules which made the captain nod slightly and immediately formulated a plan on his mind.

The captain screamed in anger on his mind. Earlier, he was asking if people has managed to equip utilities with them but only those two who's now dead rookies answered.

"Okay, let's do it like this!" said the captain on the comms after some thinking and calming down. He then outlined a quick plan to flush them out of their hiding and fire at whoever moves.

Quick, easy to understand, and impossible to fail. They can only fail if someone suddenly lost all his brain cells.

The captain peeked out of his cover to see where his enemy are. But as he was peeking, a shot rang through his ears and he immediately took cover. Lucky for him he managed to evade the bullet who hit his cover.

He then took out his magazine and reloaded to a new one to ensure he wouldn't run out of bullets suddenly.

"Now!"

The captain shouted on the comms and a weird clanging of metallic objects was heard followed by an intense fire and a small explosion...