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* "How clever..."

Resigning herself to the fact that she would understand none of this - and that she had probably picked the wrong ship to hijack - Lars took back her computer and followed Firestorm's instructions, leading them out of the prison and up towards the control room. The corridors were eerily quiet, only one lone Cybermat passing them on the way there as they pressed up against the walls to avoid being spotted. It either didn't notice or didn't care. This made the hairs on the back of Lars' neck tingle. It was a sure sign of danger if the enemy were confident enough to LET you walk into their fortress, unimpeded.

They eventually stopped at an elevator.
"This leads up to the main control room," Lars said, studying the map, "But when we get there we'll have nowhere to hide. It'll be straight into battle..." she took a nervous breath. This was not how she fought her battles. She used stealth and surprise and - if she could manage it - no violence whatsoever. She was a computer hacker. However she seemed to be in good company for violence.
"I think we might want some sort of plan." *

*Firestorm grins

"thanks. Why dont i change into my dragon form and distract them? They will find it very hard to do damage to me and i am very fast. That should give you time to get in unnoticed."*

*sephy walks in after her.
'Hmm yes, that would be a better idea.
Do they take your organs out?'
Her hands retracted inside her sleeves for a moment, and then came out again, with a tojo blade in each hand.
(for those who don't know, they are like small buzz saws and they spin. around and around and around.)
'okay.'
She turned to firestorm
'Be careful.'*

*The door of the Elevator opens.
The Cybermen freeze as they see The dragonman, breathing fire at them. Lars and Sephy ran around the side, Lars to the main computer, Sephy close behind, activating her tojo blades and staying close behind her to cover her.
'Hurry,' SHe whispered to Lars
'I'm not sure how long They'll be distraced for.'*

*Lars stumbled and rolled her way to the console, untangling her tool kit from her belt as she did so. She used her blaster to shoot off the bolts again - praying she didn't hit anything important on the inside. As she was wiring her computer into the system, a cyberman swung it's fist at her head. She ducked just in time and Sephy sliced off it's hand with a spinning blade, showering her head with sparks.
"Careful!"
Lars stuffed a tangle of wires between her teeth as she fiddled with the controls, uploading her own set of instructions to the main ship drives. It wasn't easy; never mind the security blocks and a thousand different encryptions - she didn't even understand their language! Patching everything through the translator program she'd been messing with in the elevator was slow work - and meanwhile there was the sound of chaos all around her as Firestorm and Sephy fought tooth and claw (in some cases literally) to stay alive and keep the Cybermen back. Over it all she could hear the lifeless yet furious voice of the Cyberleader blaring out commands. She thought of the organ-less corpses again and doubled her efforts.*

((Ouch, that's nasty...))

*Lars reels at the kick to the stomach but hardly has time to cry out before the control room begins to depressurise and she slides across the floor towards the open hatch. She notices her pocket computer - still wired up to the console - and grabs for it on the way past, clinging to it for dear life. The air is fast disappearing and she knows she has to close the doors. Hitting buttons furiously she only manages to open the door to the elevator shaft and the rest of the ship. There is a rush of air through the room and she takes a gulp before it is gone again. She spares a glance for the others. Firestorm has dug her claws into the floor, desperately holding herself together whilst bleeding badly from the stomach. Lars couldn't spot Sephy - she only hoped she hadn't been sucked outside.

Knowing she'll never get the door closed again in time without knowing the sequence, Lars instead does a scan of the Cybercruiser. She finds her own ship - still attached to the hull. Using the Cybermen's communication systems she sends it a message. Her hands are hovering over the controls - ready to send a second signal to the pirate fleet - when she feels a pair of crushing metal arms lift her from the floor, ripping out her computer as they do so. What little air she has left is squeezed from her lungs. She feels the world spinning as the arms tighten, carrying her towards the Cyberleader. Her sides feel crushed, her vision begins to blur... but then she hears a sound and turns in time to see her beloved, battered ship pulling up outside the open hatch, it's boarding tube stretching out to connect to the Cybercruiser. If she'd had any breath left she would have shouted with joy.*

*One thing the Cyberleader has failed to realise is just how resourseful Firestorm is. Once more detaching her spirit, Firestorm glides invisbley round the pod, checking out the controls to the cages and memorisng them. She brings herself back into her body and sends a mental call to her firelizard, Shadow.

Shadow instantly ermerges from between outside the cage carrying out the instructions that Firestorm is giving him through thier mental link. He succeds in deactivating Firestorm's cage but not the others. She quickly sets about subdueing the cybermen in the pod

"Sorry guys, but i cant work out how to free you. Any ideas?"*

(('Between' is an area between destinations, that firelizards and dragons travel through when they teleport. It is dangerous to stay there for long periods of time. As to whether Firestorm can go between, she chooses not to but can if it is vital to do so.))

((I remember reading all those Anne McCaffrey novels... how I miss those dragons...))

*Lars jams the wires from her pocket computer into the panel on the back of the cage lock. A few button presses later and the remaining cages flicker and vanish... but at a cost. The power it took to overload them burns out her computer and with a nasty hiss and the crackle of smoldering circuits it dies. She sticks it in her back pocket - maybe she could give it a proper funeral later.
"Get out to the ship!" she shouts at Firestorm and Sephy. They run for the door. Lars looks around. In the corner is the last prisoner - an unconcious humanoid female, the same one who was in the cells. Lars runs over and tries to drag her to her feet but her legs won't support her and her foot wedges into the corner of ther cage. Time is fast running out as the timer goes into the last thirty seconds. If they head into the planet's atmosphere her ship will be ripped to pieces.

Giving up on the girl with a furious curse, Lars runs for the exit. She's nearly across when a hand swipes across her face, pulling her backwards. A badly damaged cyberman clings to her, holding her back. She struggles against it's grip but can't free herself. The seconds are ticking away - she can't afford to lose her ship! She does the only thing she can do with her arms pinned down; she sinks her teeth into his arm with a furious snarl.

Much to her surprise the cyberman lets out a long robotic scream and releases her. It's arm has begun to melt, two deep holes in it's armour oozing out foam as it's suit shrivels and blackens. Lars doesn't have time to watch. She rushes out of the pod and into her own ship, spitting out foam and melted metallic fibres on the way.

"Hang on!"
She doesn't look to see if the others are strapped in, she just kicks the airlock shut, leaps into her seat and hits the acceleration lever. She hears the rip of metal as the boarding tube is torn away from the hull of the cybercruiser and the whole ship judders. They're just in time. They curve away and up at the same time as the escape pod bursts free from the rest of the ship which begins to break apart as it hits the atmosphere of Telos. The pod slips through undamaged and disappears into the swirling mass of clouds far below.*