Sanctuary II

Atlas swiped the Celestial Shotgun from Varla's hand, in the split second following, Varla grinned from ear to ear, and spun to face Ariel, she drew a dagger from her sleeve and swiped at Ariel, Ariel dodged within seconds, but the blade cut her right eye.

"ARIEL!" Atlas yelled, he grabbed Varla by the neck and threw her across the room, Ariel yelled in pain holding her eye. Atlas grabbed Ariel's hand and pulled her out of the room, picking up a pistol from the holster on the wall.

As Atlas ran into the corridor, two guards approached, Atlas frowned and shot both of them in the head, before hiding in a small alcove. Footsteps echoed toward the brig as the Red Alert sounded across the Dreadnought. A dozen or so guards ran past them into the brig, as soon as the door closed, Atlas ran down the corridor, pulling Ariel along behind him. As he walked over the dead guards, he picked up a pulse rifle.

"We gotta get off this ship" Ariel groaned.

"Working on it" Atlas nodded.

"Gimme the pistol" Ariel said, as she stood up straight.

"Your eye..." Atlas frowned, as he looked at Ariel.

"I still have one good one, I don't wanna be some damsel in distress here" Ariel smiled, though the pain still showed through.

"Okay" Atlas nodded, as he held out the pistol.

"Thank you... I mean it" Ariel smiled, as she took the pistol. The two hurried to a nearby elevator.

"What's the plan?" Ariel asked.

"Get to the shuttle bay, and get the hells out of this dump" Atlas said, as he pressed the shuttlebay command on the keypad inside the elevator. The doors closed, just as two guards rounded the corner.

"I guess we should prepare for trouble" Ariel sighed.

"It feels good to be back in action" Atlas winked, as he readied his rifle. The elevator came to a halt, and the doors slid open, two guards stood in front of the elevator, in the short corridor between Atlas and the shuttlebay.

Atlas opened fire immediately before the troopers could react, the balls of energy knocked the guards out.

"What kind of weapon is that?" Ariel pondered.

"Hmm, not too sure myself... some sort of energy rifle?" Atlas shrugged. The two ran into the shuttlebay, where four mechanics were working on one of the small airshuttles, Atlas pointed the rifle at them.

"Stand back and let us go, and you will be spared" Atlas yelled. The mechanics stepped away from the airshuttle, but Atlas chose a different one, and got in, Ariel followed.

"Right... now for the hard part" Atlas said as he started up the engines, gunshots echoed on the ship's hull, from a dozen guards who had just entered the room.

The airshuttle flew out into the open air, Atlas piloted it away from the Dreadnought. The console beeped as they flew across Sanctuary. It was the comms system. Atlas sighed and pressed the accept comms button.

Varla appeared on the screen, smiling.

"Return to the Dreadnought, and I will not destroy your craft" Varla commanded.

"No, I don't think I will" Atlas grunted, shutting off the communication. Ariel looked back at the Dreadnought, which seemed to be powering up it's main cannon.

"Uh... that's not good" Ariel panicked. Atlas looked too, and his eyes widened.

"Oh shit" Atlas shouted, he managed to get the shuttle out of the way of the main beam, but it clipped the engines. An alert sounded, and red lights began flashing.

"Atlas! Do something!" Ariel panicked.

"I am!" Atlas said, as he frantically pushed several buttons on the console, the shuttle flew into the darkness as Atlas tried to keep the craft steady.

"Prepare for impact!" Atlas yelled as the shuttle began descending, flames flew from the engines, illuminating the darkness as it flew. Atlas continued pushing away at the console.

"Oh gods I don't wanna die!" Ariel screamed.

"You forget who is your pilot" Atlas winked, as he looked at Ariel, a second later, the craft hit some heavy turbulence and the two of them hit their head on the console, as the craft continued its rapid descent.