Episode 3: Phantom Raid (Final Part)

_Kestrel / Ship Hallway

"Hey! Just where are we heading to?" one of the surviving trainees who had followed after us asked.

"Cargo hold!" Marco answered.

"Why there? Why not go to where the soldiers are? They'd surely protect us and guide us to escape pods." the other trainee pressed on.

Marco clicked his tongue. "I didn't ask you to follow along. If you wanna go over to the soldiers, then be my guest." he replied in an annoyed tone.

"Hey, I was just asking." the trainee relented.

"Why ARE we heading there?" I asked, perplexed. I was also confused about Marco's choice of destination.

"Some Training Frames are lined up there as cargo. Figured we could use em to escape. They're much better than pods anyway. At least, they have decent propulsion systems. You won't get to become a helpless sitting duck." he explained.

"What if there are also enemies there?" I asked again, seeing as he's willing to explain now.

"There probably aren't. Not at the moment anyway. They won't risk damaging the hold if it's the items stocked there that they're after. They seem to be pirates after all." he replied once more.

I was still a bit bothered by how sure Marco sounded, considering the situation we're under. But I decided not to think further about it anymore. I don't have the luxury to get distracted by such worries right now.

***

We soon reached the entrance to the cargo hold in relative safety. It was locked though.

"How do we enter?" I inquired.

Marco suddenly fished out a card key from his pocket and swiped it at the panel controlling the lock. The gate slid open without a hitch.

We all looked incredulously at Marco. Just where did he get that card key?

"Swiped it from a dead crew member earlier. Now hurry and get inside." he nonchalantly explained and urged us to enter.

After all five of us survivors went in, Marco operated the panel and closed the gate once more. "Hurry and find those Frames!" he instructed. We combed through the area and found the units in question.

They were stripped down Grisham models. 'They sure remind me of my former school.' I thought inwardly.

"Ryuu, you board that one. Ross, Layne and Hamish. You three take those. I'll take this one." Marco instructed. We all nodded, went to our respective units and booted them up. I checked the propellant reserves and found the fuel cells to be full. That's something to be thankful for, at least.

"Ryuu, there should be some signal flare rounds around here somewhere. Find them and cobble them all together. You three get those crates over there and use them to bar the gate. Hurry!" Marco ordered through the comms. We obeyed them almost instinctively. Man, Marco really has a knack for being a leader.

We hurried with our escape preparations, knowing full well that the clock was ticking against us.

***

"We have reached the hold sir."

"Mm. Open it up. Finding the [L.D.F.] is of the highest priority. Search each and every corner."

"Aye, sir!!!"

***

We had just barely finished our preparations when the entrance gate swung open, revealing the enemies outside.

We immediately fired some spare signal flares at them in order to distract them. Marco finally finished opening the rear cargo hatch. Once he did so, all of us activated our thrusters and sped off the ship.

Once outside, we hurriedly reversed direction and fled towards the direction of the Velmar-Caldinus border.

When pulse laser fire, superheated plasma rounds and missiles started raining towards us, Marco detached the crate strapped on the back of his mech, and detonated all of the other signal flare rounds we'd gathered. The void of Space suddenly got filled with countless multicolored explosions. We then took the opportunity to speed up away from the area.

***

"There's no one in pursuit! I think we did it!" Layne exclaimed in excitement.

"Fuck! I thought we were definitely goners." Hamish chimed in.

"Hell yeah! Let's find some friendlies nearby. Some of them must've already received our ship's distress signal." Ross suggested.

"Good idea. Let's do tha—"

Before Layne could finish speaking, his unit suddenly got a hole opened through its torso and and exploded.

"LAYNE!!!"

"Shit! Where'd that come from?!"

Two more blasts tore through the void almost immediately—

"AAAAAHGH!!..."

"NOOO!!..."

Hamish and Ross were both shot down.

It happened far too suddenly. Before I even knew what was happening, all three of the other escapees were done in.

Bright golden energy blasts fired out again. Marco's unit suddenly shoved mine out of the way.

I only remember seeing another explosion bloom. Then my vision was filled with golden brilliance.

And then faded to absolute darkness.