Chapter 35
TASK
SFS POLARIS
Task is on his feet in the bridge before the alarm even sounds, having seen the six intruders enter through the hangar on the underbelly of the ship.
They were not as discreet as they thought they were.
Perhaps a less skilled assassin would have missed them, dressed entirely in black, faces covered in black masks, only their eyes showing.
But Task has been trained to be observant, and he’d spotted them almost instantly on the footage streaming to his Prism.
“Colonel,” he calls across the bridge, voice steady, even as he watches the intruders creep along the dark walls in the hangar, remaining in the shadows to try to avoid being seen. He doesn’t know what they’re here for, but it’s very clear they aren’t supposed to be aboard the Polaris.
Voss looks up at him from his own Prism, raising his brows.
“We have company in the hangar.” Task gestures to the Prism in front of him, narrowing his eyes as the group pauses. The one at the front of the pack leans forward around a corner and upon encountering an engineer, shoots him on the spot. “We should move. They just took down one of our engineers."
Voss doesn’t waste time, standing from the desk and moving toward the sliding door. Task is on his heels, checking his belt for his lumi-daggers, finding one of his sheaths empty. He forgotten he’d given it to Kit, and now he’s down one. Voss has picked up his pace, beckoning Task to follow him.
They make their way through the hangar, into the boarding vestibule.
They need to stop them before they make their way into the ship proper — the galley and lounge are just on the other side of the boarding vestibule, and there are Lumarian citizens there, entirely unaware that the ship has been boarded by adversaries.
Not to mention, the medical bay is on this floor as well.
Task jumps the last few steps, careening into the vestibule.
He tears his surge-saber from the sheath at his back, while Voss does the same.
Before either of them has time to ground themselves, prepare for the fight, the largest intruder is launching himself at Task, springing forward off the ground with his surge-saber above his head, preparing to strike him.
Task steps backward, thrusting his own surge-saber forward to absorb the energy force of the assailant’s. The two surge-sabers emit a high-pitched whine as they crash into each other, the assailant momentarily jarred by the force of the energy that surges back into him.
If Task can get close enough, he can wield, but until then, the surge-saber is his best option.
The assailant rushes forward again, recovered from the blow, swinging at Task, who blocks him easily.
The man jabs again, bringing his surge-saber high overhead, but Task reaches up to block him, already seeing the man’s next move.
Task spins on his heels, holding the saber behind him to once again absorb the assailant’s jab.
A flash of white and blue light arcs through the air as he turns and blocks again.
He can’t see Voss from here. He’s unsure what is happening, save for the shouts, the panting, the periodic thrum of the surge-sabers clashing.
He reminds himself that as a colonel of the Force, Voss is very much capable of taking care of himself.
Right now, he needs to keep focus, get close enough to this man to touch him.
He darts forward, dodging another blow that the man aimed too high, allowing Task an opportunity to slide under his raised arm, swiping at his exposed side.
Task’s surge-saber makes contact and the man hisses, but doesn’t fall.
Task didn’t plunge deeply enough for it to be fatal, but he’s close enough now that if he can just grab his arm —
A loud clatter echoes through the room.
He’s momentarily distracted, his eyes leaving his assailant as he looks over his shoulder at the noise behind him. It’s not Voss, but Kit, tripping through the open door and sprawling into the vestibule with wide eyes.
He wants to simultaneously shout at her and run to her, but he can do neither, because the assailant has taken advantage of his momentary distraction and sliced his own surge-saber across Task’s upper arm.
Task hisses, releasing his weapon from his hand instinctively as the pain lances through him.
He thinks he hears Kit yell his name in the background, but he’s zeroed in on this moment, on the death this man promises him.
The man comes forward again, arcing his weapon to slice across Task’s stomach, and Task drops to the ground, rolling out of reach as he struggles to grab the surge-saber he’d dropped.
He hears another shout but ignores it. He can only focus on what’s happening in front of him, make sure that he eliminates the immediate threat, which is proving to be much more difficult than he originally anticipated.
He stretches his arm to reach the surge-saber, when a boot stomps on his forearm, pinning it to the ground.
Task lies there, panting, letting the man think he’s won, waiting for him to bring the surge-saber down for the killing blow.
Seconds pass slowly, but then the assailant adjusts his footing, letting up on Task’s wrist slightly — and he throws his weight across his body, reaching for the man’s leg with his free arm, grabbing hold with his hand and opening the well in his chest. The man’s pain rushes into him, but Task barely has time to notice it, feel it, before he’s rebounding it.
He forces it back out of his palm into the man, gripping his leg until he can feel him seize up and scream, his own pain overtaking him, freezing his limbs, wrapping around his heart.
And then he goes still, crashing to the ground like a pile of bricks, and Task scrambles out of the way to avoid his body.
Blood rushes in his ears as he pushes himself up from the ground, glancing over his shoulder again.
Kit is in the doorway, hands over her mouth.
“Kit!” he calls, trying to catch his breath and keep an eye on the clash to his right, where Voss still battles two assailants.
He needs to back him up, not be concerned about Kit right now. “Go back through that door. Now!”
But Kit’s face is hard as she looks at him, and she reaches down to pull out a lumi-dagger from her boot.
What the hell is she playing at? “Fuck, Kit, get out of here!” He senses someone coming at him before they make contact and he dodges the blow, dancing to his left as he shouts at Kit again.
“Kit! Do not make me say it again. Get out of here!”
Instead of leaving, as he’s explicitly told her to do three times now, she’s running directly for them at full speed. He swears under his breath, continuing his dance with the assailant, feinting to the left and then diving right as he tries to figure out what Kit is doing.
Suddenly, she’s past him, sliding to her knees as she swipes the lumi-dagger across the back of the man’s ankles.
The man lets out a howl as he tries to take a step forward, stumbling to the ground directly into Task’s path.
Task reaches for him, throwing open the well again, absorbing the pain until it prickles in his fingertips, letting it build — and then pushing it out, back into the man who is already worse for the wear, thanks to Kit.
As Task kills the man, he locks eyes with Kit, who is staring at him, mouth slightly ajar as she watches the assailant’s life slowly drain away.
Before he has a chance to say anything, try to explain what just happened, another shadowy assailant is moving towards them — towards Kit’s unsuspecting back.
Task is on his feet, swiping his saber from the floor, stepping forward so that he is in between her and the remaining intruders.
He quickly looks around. Two are down. Voss battles one; one lies unmoving at his feet.
There are two left — both coming directly for them.
“Get behind me!” He’s shouting at her, pushing her behind him, eyes wild.
One of the men darts forward, his surge-saber extended, swinging diagonally and lunging not at Task, but at Kit.
Task’s right arm stings with pain from where the surge-saber lanced him earlier, but he pushes it away, shoves it into the well with the other pain he’s collected this evening.
His chest feels sore, almost like it might burst, but he can’t think about it yet, not as this man is coming for him, for Kit, a look of mean vengeance in his eyes.
The assailant jabs his surge-saber forward, attempting to get past where Task stands.
Task is forced to dodge, leaving Kit exposed.
The man easily disarms her, swiping across her wrist with his surge-saber.
She drops the lumi-dagger, shouting in pain as she grasps her wrist and scrambles backwards.
Task pivots, trying to insert himself between Kit and the man, grasping his surge-saber with both hands and bringing it down over his head.
The man ducks, but Task is ready, already anticipating the man bobbing back up and readjusting his stance so he can deal him another blow.
“Task!” Kit screams — and before he can process what’s happening, he’s enveloped in an overwhelming amount of pain, his entire energy shield breached as a surge-saber slashes its way across his chest. He stands, unsteady, before he stumbles to the floor, holding his chest as blood begins to pour from it.
Kit
She saw it happening, tried to stop it. As Task was battling the assailant who was trying to get to her, the other had disengaged Voss and run up on his left, forcing Task to pivot so that he was blocking her from the assailant, leaving his entire right side exposed and allowing the other to slash across his chest.