Titans
[46] MERC

TIMESTAMP: 03:30, March 13th, 2122

LOCATION: USO Headquarters, Province 2, Earth

There’s a scary sort of ease with which we break into the hangar bay, almost as if we’re meant to. We set off no alarms, come to no dead-ends, run into to no late-night security. One might say the universe left out a clear path for us, one where each successful door opened was its way of whispering, This is what you were meant to do.

This is what we were born, and raised, and trained to do. And now we’re breaking all the rules to do it.

We hack through the final door and emerge into the hangar, our footsteps loud on the polished concrete floor. Every sound is amplified; every cough, every ruffle of fabric, every whispered word vaults around the massive cavernous space, lit up by ceiling lights high above. Along the back wall there’s a long strip of windows the overlook the place, but I can see no one through them. Even still, I can’t help but feel exposed.

“Cal–”

“Got it.” He runs to the back of the hangar where there’s a small control room. Among other things, it holds the controls for the lights, as well as – and most importantly – the controls for the hangar doors, which will need to be open if we’re to have any chance departing.

The rest of us keep on. There’s only three large ships docked and we head for the furthest one, the largest one – a long sleek masterpiece, curved and coloured a metallic dark grey. Only the best for this mission. Which makes stealing it all the more inconceivable.

“Holy shit,” Lilith says, echoing my thoughts. “We’re actually doing this.”

Atara shushes her.

The ship ramp is all rolled out and ready when we arrive, as if waiting for us to board. Atara marches on ahead, Lilith happily following after her. I send a look back – at Cal in the control room, at the windows high above, at each entrance to the hangar bay. When I replace that everything is as empty and silent as when we first arrived, I follow the girls in.

The deeper I go into the ship, the more my worry dissolves, stripped back by years of walking these same halls, taking the same turns, visiting the same rooms. Most people grow up in homes with their family but we – we grew up on this ship. And the more I recognise how much of a home it is to me, the better I feel about stealing it in the dead of night. Because really, how can you steal something that’s already yours?

Before following Atara and Lilith through to the control room, I make a stop at my quarters. We’ve taken this ship on a few spins around the planet and my things are still nestled away, ready for the next departure. Clothing and medical kits, photographs and books. Even an old laptop, tucked away in a drawer under a pile of shirts. I triple check everything to make sure I have what I need. It’s not like we’ll be able to come back if I’ve forgotten anything.

Satisfied, I join the others in the control room. Atara’s already taken her spot at the helm and Lilith sits in one of the seats, helping to do a speedy check of all systems before we boot up the engines and start making a lot of noise.

“What’s Cal waiting for?” Lilith says.

“Probably for us to get the engine running.”

She blinks at me. “Wouldn’t that–”

“He can hack the alarms that might be triggered by our engine start up, but not the ones for the door. They’re under the guard of too many firewalls. I suppose in case of scenarios just like this.”

“No time like the present, then,” Atara says and fires up the ship. A familiar vibration runs through the ship, thrumming louder and louder as the engines heat up.

Right on cue, the hangar doors let out a groan and start slowing rising. At the same moment, an alarm rips through the air. The sound is muted in the control room, so I can only imagine how deafening it must be beyond the walls of the ship – loud enough to wake up the entire compound, no doubt.

“Is Cal in yet?” Atara says anxiously, leaning forward to see around the side of the window.

“I’ll get him,” I say, and run back through the ship, down the halls, my feet heavy on the metal flooring. At the ramp, the sound hits me full-force – an ear-splitting siren, mixed with the roar of the engines and the grating of the hangar bay door. Lights around the space flash a blinding red, and the windows high on the back wall reveal guards running full-steam for the doors.

“Cal!” I yell. He’s jogging, halfway to the ship. I catch movement out the corner of my eye and discover the doors we hacked through just minutes prior are now wide open. I expect to see more guards, stun-guns out and ready to fire. Instead I see something a million times more horrifying, something that makes my heart drop in my chest until it hits rock-bottom: Garen himself, storming towards us.

“Cal! Behind you!”

Cal takes one look over his shoulder, spots Garen, and starts sprinting. Guards emerge from behind Garen and run towards the ship. “Stop!” one of them yells. Cal doesn’t stop. He crosses the last of the distance between himself and the ship and vaults up the ramp.

“Tell Atara to pull up the door.” Even this close, I have to shout for him to hear me. He nods once, and without losing momentum, keeps running.

Meanwhile, I pull out my own stun-gun, kept handy on the side of my belt. As the nearest of the guards approaches the ramp, I line him up in my viewreplaceer. Eyes wide, the man realises what I plan to do and raises his own firearm. But I beat him to it. There’s a zing! and he drops to the ground, unconscious.

“Atara!” I yell. More and more guards are streaming towards us and still the door hangs wide open. I shoot down a couple more guards before they start shooting back and I have to take cover off to the side. When I pull out again, a guard – a big burly man – is lumbering up the ramp towards me. I shoot but my aim is way off. The stun ray evaporates harmlessly into the air.

The man takes advantage of the opportunity. As he lines me up in his sights, I realise with a sort of calm detachedness that he’s going to beat me to a second shot. Then out of nowhere he collapses, toppling off the ramp and onto the ground.

I look back. Lilith stands with her gun raised, feet planted shoulder width apart, a fierce look in her eyes. She shoots down five more guards with deadly efficiency before the ramp door finally starts to lift up. We keep firing and ducking until the door rises up above our heads and seals shut. Instantly, it’s quieter.

“Thanks,” I say, breathless.

“You need to work on that aim.”

“Last time I checked, combat was your specialty, not mine.”

She shrugs. “It’s everyone’s speciality now. Lest you want to spend the rest of your life in prison when we get back.”

“They’d probably put us on death row.”

She stares, almost absently, at the door. “Yeah. They probably would.”

The ship jolts awkwardly forward. “Guess that’s our cue,” Lilith says. We jog back to the control room where Cal is already strapped down into his seat. I take my position, Lilith doing the same.

“Why aren’t they shooting?” I ask as Atara manoeuvres us towards the hangar door. It’s two-thirds of the way open, but it’s not nearly wide enough for us to fit through.

“It’s the ship,” Cal replies. “They can’t risk damaging it, especially not a week before it’s due to set sail on the greatest voyage ever known to man.”

Lilith scoffs. “Cocky much?”

“It’s factual knowledge,” he replies, frowning.

I stare out the window and by chance spot Garen striding along a raised platform. He doesn’t have the look of shock I’d hoped he’d have in his eyes. Instead there’s only a burning anger, messily veiled by a surface of calm. The gravity of our situation sinks in. Even if we get away with this today, there’s no way we’ll be able to delay the inevitable. At some point, we’ll have to come home. At some point, we’ll have to face the music.

We’re getting close to the door. With our help, Atara conducts a quick flight check. My heart thumps away in my chest, in tune with the siren.

All of a sudden the hanger door jolts to a stop. “Crap,” Atara exclaims. “I should have known they would do that.”

“Can we get through still?” Lilith asks.

Atara doesn’t answer. She pushes on the throttle and we pick up pace, launching roughly forwards. Everything is shaking; the world is booming. I lean forward in my seat as we speed toward the exit. There’s an uncomfortable screech where the top of the ship brushes against the low-hanging door. I look to the side where I get my last glance of Garen, standing in silent rage. And then we’re out and careening down the airstrip, picking up speed.

Lilith hoots. Cal appears delighted. We pick up off the ground and shoot up, up up, into the sky. Without a backward glance, we leave it all behind.