Each section of stairs felt like it would be the last that Connor could handle but he pushed himself to keep pace with Hamilton who was the oldest of the squad. Sounds of other firefights reached their ears periodically signifying that the pirates were not yet defeated and gave him comfort in knowing that the Sharlah couldn't focus their defense only on his group.

  "This is it! I think?" Hamilton said as they reached the top.

  "They're behind us! GO!" Liz screamed from one section below and sprayed on fully automatic down the stairs.

  "Come on! In! Now! Seal that hatch and hold it!" Hamilton ordered and Connor pulled the huge metal slab closed before twisting the huge wheel to the right to lock it.

  "I'm glad they have a mechanical backup. The translator doesn't work on written words. I don't know what this panel says." He said.

  "Where are we?" Ruo asked as she looked around the large space. It was sparsely decorated and had a large metal table with chairs in the middle. A screen hung above the table along with some dim lights.

  "Some kind of meeting or common room outside of the bridge, I think." Hamilton said. "It's not uncommon, keeps the rabble out. There, that must be it."

  He pointed to another large steel door on the other side of the room. This one however, did not have the mechanical wheel as a backup locking device. There was a screen above the door with something written in red symbols. Connor could hear shouting outside of the door that they had come through and suddenly felt like a trapped animal. He probably would have been pacing like one as well, if he wasn't trying to hold the door's locking wheel. So far it hadn't moved.

  "SHIT!" Hamilton hissed.

  "What?" Connor asked

  "It's fucking locked of course."

  "You didn't think it would be locked?"

  "I did think it would be locked Connor, that's why I brought my fucking torch but it's gone!"

  Connor remembered when he lost it in the prison and had been the one that yelled for him to leave it. They shouldn't have, but in the panic of the moment and with the Sharlah being alerted to their presence, it was the only option. Kang and the other people in his cage wouldn't have let them have it back.

  "Shit! They're going to get through eventually, I can't hold this door forever, aahh!" The door's lock wrenched hard to the left taking Connor with it and sending a shooting pain up his wrists and forearms.

  "They're using the panel to unlock it, help him!" Hamilton called to Ruo and Liz who were already moving.

  The wheel jerked to the left again but this time it barely moved before gently turning right again. The door must have had a safety mechanism to guard against obstructions. There was more shouting and then weapons fire from the other side.

  "They're trying to shoot through it!" Connor yelled and Hamilton started to pace with his hands on his head.

  He turned and shot the bridge panel but nothing happened. "FUCK!"

  "Wait, that's English! There's people out there!" Liz said with wide eyes.

  The screen on the display came to life showing three humans and two naked Sharlah standing on the other side.

  "RUO LET US IN!"

  Ruo gasped and her face darkened. She whispered " Lieutenant Zhao."

  "Who?" Connor asked.

  "My second in command on the Bao. Don't let them in!"

  "What the fuck do you mean, let them in!" Hamilton ordered.

  "NO! They'll kill us!" Ruo stepped back from the door. "They'll kill us, they're traitors to Tiantang!"

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Kang reached up toward the camera and waved the plasma torch back and forth. "Ruo let us in, we know you're in there."

  "Ruo why would they kill us? They need us and we need that torch." Liz said.

  "They are not your friends. We left them in their cage remember? Don't you see the Sharlah standing there with them?" Ruo pleaded.

  "Yes because you told us Kang was a traitor there too and those aliens were in cages just like him. Whether or not he is, his life depends on us right now." Liz replied.

  The camera showed Kang kneel down and a blinding light emanated from his hands.

  "Ruo they're cutting the door. All they're doing is wasting the fuel, open it now Connor." Hamilton said with authority.

  Connor pushed Ruo back from the wheel and turned it quickly to the left. It groaned open and there stood five cold faces looking straight through him. The humans were armed with Sharlah weapons and the Sharlah bared their teeth.

  "Thank you." Kang muttered.

  Hamilton took charge. "Listen, Kang, Zhao, lizards, I don't know anything and I don't care anyway. I need that torch right now and I'll do anything to get it so hand it over and lock that door behind you. We're gonna blow through this one and fuck up anyone inside, what say you?"

  The Sharlah couldn't understand a word of what had been said and they shifted nervously on their feet, their black eyes roaming over the new humans.

  "Yes, lets do that." Kang said and recklessly tossed the torch to Hamilton without ever taking his eyes from Ruo's stiff form.

  "What's with the lizards?" Hamilton asked.

  "I don't know why they were in prison but they were treated just like us. They seem to want out of here and they're the ones who killed the guards outside." He said and held up his alien rifle.

  One of the Sharlah turned to the other and spoke.

  "He said he thinks Skald is behind that door." Connor said and the Sharlah stiffened at the word Skald.

  "Can you understand me?" It said directly to Connor.

  Connor nodded yes and hoped that it was a universal gesture. He knew the Sharlah didn't have a translation device so it would only be a one way conversation.

  "Human, I am with you. I was a.. rebel. I did not want to invade your world. They captured all of us and use us as food. There were many, but now only a small number remain."

  Connor nodded again as everyone watched.

  "Listen to me, that is the bridge, there will be heavy resistance but your friends can not use the Sharlah weapons. They are too dangerous to use in such a sensitive area. They are also biometrically locked to Sharlah DNA, we will have to take the bridge by brute force."

  Connor repeated what the alien had said and all eyes turned to them.

  "Kang do not arm them!" Ruo said with command in her voice.

  Kang turned toward the door and pulled the trigger but nothing happened. "They're right, I don't think I can use this." He threw the weapon into a dark corner and Zhao followed with his. His face was bruised badly and he was glaring daggers at Ruo.

  "Connor ask him about our guns." Hamilton said.

  "I can't talk to them, I can only listen. I'll show him." Connor said and held up his shotgun along with a loose shell.

  "Yes, if you are careful. You may cause damage to the equipment inside but you will not fully destroy it or cause a breach." The Sharlah said. Even through the translator, it sounded exhausted.

  "We can use ours, just try not to hit the equipment."

  "Alright listen up. There's no lock on that door so we have to cut through. They're obviously going to know that we're doing it, so they'll be ready. When the door is weak and ready to go, we're going to -"

  The door to the bridge ripped open with explosive force and Sharlah troopers poured out. Hamilton was caught flat footed and fell backward, already firing his rifle into the mass of black armor and gray flesh. Connor emptied his shotgun and swung it like a baseball bat at the first Sharlah to close the distance to him. The alien screamed and fell at his feet but the next one leapt over it's comrade and hit him like a truck, sending both of them to the ground.

  Ruo backpedaled and ripped her last flash grenade from it's pouch before throwing it to the center of the room. It went off and turned the world into a bright summer day for a split second before it morphed back into a grim and depressing metal coffin.

  Connor was blinded but he knew where his enemy was and pawed at his leg holster for the Sharlah knife that he kept there. The trooper shrieked as he pressed the burning blade through it's side armor and into it's soft flesh where he assumed a rib cage would be.

  Liz screamed from somewhere behind him and he was on his feet before the limp Sharlah had even died. The trooper moaned and tried to crawl before going still on the deck. Connor blasted through another Sharlah that was looking the other way and leapt onto the back of another who was holding Liz down and punching her faceplate with an armored fist.

  The visor held although a crack was running across it but the concussion of the blows was still felt through her helmet. Connor stabbed wildly at the back of it's neck and it howled, trying to buck him off but Liz fired a burst into it's stomach and it crumpled in a blue streaked heap.

  Connor sat up and took stock of the fight with eyes wide open. Liz was okay but her visor couldn't take another hit, Hamilton was down but still alive, Connor was armed with only his knife. Kang was dead and two Sharlah had removed their helmets and were ripping at his bare stomach. Zhao was being held down by another trooper and was reaching for Connor’s shotgun but Ruo.. Ruo kicked it away from him before meeting Connor's gaze as she stepped away. She froze and her cold eyes bore straight through him.

  Suddenly he was airborne and didn't know why. He could see the whole room for a moment. It looked like they had almost won. Almost. The impact of the wall was tremendous and nearly sent him out cold but the floor was next. He looked up and saw a red cape flow past before a kick to the helmet sent him into the bla