“We need to escape somehow, get to the base's ships, I have an idea, It's a little risky but we need to get our belongings back from the prison storage before commandeering a vessel” Ellis roared over the screams of the escaped convicts.

“Can you make an explosive large enough to blow that wall?”

“I think so?, I'm not sure, with Shaw’s help sure,” I replied.

"Try, but make it hasty John" he screamed.

With that said we sprung into action tying together several fuel cells with the battery of a nearby power conduit, strapping it to the brick wall we back up and waiting, in the meantime Ellis ran towards the prison storage lockers and emerged victories, having blasted through the automated robotic security he exited with a half disassembled Sparky tied to his back and three small crates in his hand.

"What's that?"

"You're clothes, put them on"

I slid into an alcove and placed on my makeshift armour and fatigues, grabbing hold of my pistol and knife. It was good to feel their familiar texture and weight in my hand. Once dressed we then converged down the hall and took cover in a nearby open cell.

“How do we detonate it?” I asked.

“Simple, we shoot it” Shaw replied.

"Take cover" Ellis cried.

Raising her gun she fired a single well-aimed bust, the bullets speeding through the air to plant themselves deep into the battery core and putty. For a split second, we all waited in complete silence before an air-piercing screech penetrated the chamber, shrapnel and smoke flooded through a gaping hole, the smell of burning metal wafting through the room.

Exiting through the blast hole with our fingers continually pressed on the triggers of our guns we entered a larger network of tunnels. We sprinted through the complex, fighting for almost every inch of ground, the tenacity of the soldiers we battled was unbound however we followed the crumpled map blasting consoles and doors until we had reached what seemed to be some form of the open hangar, we passed through a massive cascade of areas, botanical gardens, ancient libraries and armouries.

Able to slip by mostly unnoticed due to the fact the prison riot had gotten out of control to the point of anarchy we finally reached a vast room, inside were several ships, five were interceptor class and two others large green semi-rusted troop-carrying vessels.

The three guards stationed at the hangar's control room were soon subdued by stun shots paralyzing them in seconds. Casting a firm glance around the chamber Ellis lured towards an orange-sprayed vessel.

“A modified X-12 interceptor? Is that even legal with the laws of physics? What is that, a Starkiller ship engine, what the, how is that possible, the residual energy??” Shaw questioned.

"Can you drive it?" Ellis questioned.

"Not sure to be honest" she replied.

“Don’t think about it, that's probably one of Zin’s elite speed crafts, possibly stolen from the gambling raceways that the collective"

"What is that?" I asked pointing at a thin line of stripes on the side.

"Doesn't matter, just get in and fly" Shaw shouted.

I cast a look across what my friends pawned to be our saviour, it was small inside, only a cockpit seating four and an engine and storage room, obviously it was meant for escort missions, not long amounts of time yet designed to hold enough provisions and lodgings for day travel.

Clicking the sleek, silky orange ship's hatch open, we heard a satisfying hiss as Ellis and the rest of us climbed into its satin interior. Collapsing on the seats with exasperation I waited for Shaw to make her way to the front, leaning forward she removed the front two panels and hotwired the space-craft the comforting hum of a working engine flowing through the still air. Behind I could sense some form of control was being regained by Zin’s befuddled forces, having subdued the entire prisoner population except ourselves, an injured Zin had barked for his troops to man every anti-air cannon the compound had while a small army approached the entrance of the hangar.

Using the ship's lower guns we kept a bottleneck on the only entrance however it was useless, these were no cowards or bandit scum, they soon blasted their way out of the vent system and started to take cover around the various crates and vessels around us. In the distance I could see a DX10 encampment machine gun being planted, its high-velocity bullets soon to tear through our steel hull like paper and riddle us with bullets. An announcement stabbed through the air blazing across the intercom system.

“PRISONERS SUBDUED, ALL UNITS, ALL UNITS REPORT TO BATTLESTATIONS PREPARE FOR AIR ATTACK, I REPEAT PROTOCOL-31 ALL UNITS REPORT TO BATTLESTATIONS AND PREPARE FOR AIR ATTACK, SQUADS CENOY, RIKER, DEPLOY FIGHTERS AND DEFEND COMPOUND,

I REPEAT PRISONERS SUBDUED, ALL UNITS, ALL UNITS REPORT TO BATTLESTATIONS PREPARE FOR AIR ATTACK, I REPEAT PROTOCOL-31 ALL UNITS REPORT TO BATTLESTATIONS AND PREPARE FOR AIR ATTACK, SQUADS CENOY, RIKER, DEPLOY….”

The announcement was muffled from my ears as a giant shockwave violently shook the walls of the militia base. Pieces of concrete crumbled from the ceiling to fall into a thin dusty powder below.

Inside the cockpit, Shaw had seated herself in the pilot’s chair, her hands twitching around the controls almost uncertain if she should engage thrust, with the sound of bullets echoing across our exterior ricocheting through the control room, Ellis shouted.

“We have to get out of here you fool! drive!”

“You don't understand, he probably has an armada out there, we will be killed"

"What do you think well do better in here?" he barked.

"I'm a good pilot but I can’t work miracles,” she said nervously.

“I’ll fly then..” Ellis mumbled shuffling to the co-pilot’s seat.

“No, I've seen you, you're a worse pilot than me, I'll have to do my best"

"I can do it" I cried.

They both turned around to pierce questioning eyes at my collapsed soul. I stared back with my eyes still orange, my pupils dissolved in the maze, still disconnected from half of myself. I slumbered out of my trance, startled by their proposition.

“But you've never,” they began to mumble.

“Look we have no time, I'll just get in the seat and pull my memories” I muttered.

I climbed over the navigation chair and lay limp on the soft leather. Pulling my seatbelt on I went through a pilot’s checklist, my mind barely able to recall, flipping an array of switches and grabbing the throttle, the craft whirled to life, soon hovering a few inches off the ground.

“Here goes nothing”

Cranking the speed up to maximum we left the hanger past supersonic, tearing through the air at an insatiable momentum, behind us, the extensive compound could be seen, several glass domes, atriums and rectangular concrete buildings surrounded by a vast and lush jungle. It was weaved into the trees, a splinter of anti-air cannons and trails, you could see a nearby clearing and road spanning into the distance, possibly connecting the militia to some backwater settlement and eventually to the sprawl of villages and wreckage that made up the planet's populous.

Once I had grasped those controls, my sweaty palm gliding across the console, my eyes staring with determination at the narrow escape which could be our doom, I had expected the worst, I had expected that the moment my vessel exited the iron doors a chaotic swarm of bullets and ships would soon devour us, plummeting me into a mortal life or death combat of extremities, I had expected to enter a fight like none other, to brave the dangers of the afterlife and be tailed by a virtual wolf pack of Zin’s battle-hardened bloodthirsty loyalists.

Instead, once I hovered above the airspace I was met with nothing but peace, tranquillity and an eerie silence, the sound of echoing guns could be heard blazing, yet our ship was not riddled with projectiles, and my body was not mutilated with a barrage of energy, nor the hull tarnished by the mighty power of our enemies, instead, I peered through the foggy glass to see a thick stream of gunfire directed at a massive object hovering in the sky. It cast a shadow across the land, speedily blanketing the ground in darkness, its intense might and glorious nature dwarfing Zin’s command. I knew what it was, I didn’t have to look twice, it was an Epsilon ship, a collective destroyer, a craft of immense vanity and pure utter power feared by the enemies of this regime, but why would it attack the compound, a single burst from the Orbiter would have rendered this place inoperative, nothing but a smouldering crater, perhaps shields would be the reason yet, what quarrel did the collective have with Zin? he was a moderator and a way for them to control the population, the ideal resident of a broken world.

The strange thing was, the ship simply hovered, no troop transport’s or gunships descended out of its steel bomb bay doors, no droids or shrapnel cars of soldiers could be seen fired into the concrete the walls of the compound, it was simply the ship itself attacking, this wasn’t an invasion, the ship wasn’t meant to capture the outpost or surely a small infantry would have already braved the blazing fires of hell embarking on a conquest of blood.

It cut into the shield around The Legion’s protector, but was slowly making progress, facing the full force of Zin’s armada it was half a burning wreck, but whoever piloted that monolithic craft did not care if they lived or died. They only had one goal, to destroy and at all costs necessary. I examined a navigation screen at the center of the instrumentation, the coordinates for Ionus-Major were not far, perhaps a few hours travel.

However the general’s enemy would not let us escape that easily, although pre-occupied by a full-scale air battle, several fighters had been redirected. They were MN-12s, not nearly as fast as us at our top speed but still deadly.

Ducking into a barrel roll I dodged their first barrage of energy before we engaged in a knife fight, turning on flaps I dropped behind them and quickly pepper-sprayed the air, my weaponry not matching the calibre of their own. I became a demon of the sky, swirling and weaving through attack after attack, I anticipated the moves of my enemies, and pulled stunts of unimaginable feats, with lightning-fast reflexes I dropped speed to half and shot down the first fighter, a thick cloud of black smoke exhuming from its skeletal remains.

The other two fighters that had flanked it information then followed, dropping speed to lock-on missiles, I knew what I had to do, cranking the throttle downwards and pushing down on the steering I plummeted towards the wasteland below completing several barrel rolls as I did so to evade further attacks, then once I was only a mere few meters off of the ground, I waited for whoever would dare take this dangerous path, they seemed to hover above me, unsure of what to do, I could tell it was only a matter of time before they attempted to bomb me or force me into the ground in a strafing run. I knew what I had to do, but I wasn’t sure if I had the skills, sweat glistened across my brow, my hand twitching on the controls, and the ship, going supersonic, was only a few meters away from the mounds of garbage which made up the placid surface, above the six were in formation, all behind me with one trailing further behind.

The one closest to my tail released a flurry of projectiles, I cranked sideways just in time before releasing flaps, falling behind to retaliate with my gunfire, this penetrated two ships behind and sent them spiralling into the waste to form a crater of smoke. Turning around I went for another pass, this time the enemy was ready, but they did not know, they had no clue of the training I had received the pure macabre insanity of my actions and soon one by one they dropped, their ships ripped from mechanical life as my bullets lacerated their engines and vanquished all.

I was one of the best pilots on the planet, able to think twelve steps ahead of my enemy and outpace them at every move, we engaged in swarm combat, no one knew what was happening, but I simply swung around to face my enemy head-on, climbing in altitude until frost formed an icy coating on the glass, then I dropped, cutting power to fall like a deadweight to the surface, reigniting just in time to blast the remaining three crafts to smithereens. My skills as a pilot were unmatched to none but the collective bred warriors themselves.

Once the final enemy had been buried in the empty sands below, I swung around one last time to point in the direction of Ionus-Major before sliding the gear together and streaking across the clouds. Yet when I looked behind me, threw my eyes towards the military base that now was blanketed in flames, I saw something horrific, the Epsilon ship had turned around, it was no longer laying waste to Zin’s forces, it was moving, moving at a terrifying speed as it crossed the expansive ground and sped towards us, it was at that moment I knew why no collective soldiers had disembarked.