“Ok. Levi?” Ezra asked. The merc tending to their downed colleague looked over briefly, not even flinching as a stray bullet whizzed overhead. The sound of gunfire was deafening - there was a concerted firefight happening somewhere nearby.

“Mobile.” Levi confirmed before looking back down. He wrenched the assault rifle out of his colleague’s hands and placed it in her lap. He pulled out her sidearm and placed it in her right hand. He slapped her face lightly and her mask’s optical modules slowly focused in on him.

“It's loaded - watch our six.”

The female operator slowly nodded from her prone position.

Levi gave a thumbs up to Ezra, walked round behind the woman and grabbed a handle on her suit behind her neck. He hauled her into a sitting position with her legs trailing out, and dragged her towards the front line.

“You still want to do this?” Ezra asked Darnell. He nodded immediately.

“If I don't get this done, we’re all dead anyway.”

“Ok. Stay on my shoulder - don’t lose contact in the smoke.” 

Without waiting one second to confirm Tyreese understood, Ezra emerged from cover in attack mode and his team spread out around him. Darnell rushed to get behind him as they entered the smoke.

[hr]

Vigdis’ flechettes were not particularly accurate, but they didn’t need to be. With fifty vicious points in each round, it was inevitable that some would find the target. At least three dozen flechettes whizzed into the expanding smoke cloud, ricocheted off the floor and sliced into the calves and lower thighs of the first soldier huddled behind the droid. They let out a primal scream and collapsed on the floor clutching their legs.

The droid didn’t stop. It unclipped a riot gun from its thigh holster and fired a bright blue baton round at Vigdis from round the side of its shield. The other people behind the droid just stepped over the writhing figure on the floor and continued. The third man spotted Eva and her mech among the last cargo crates. Knowing how much of a threat a machine like that could be, even without weapons, they immediately grasped for the grenade launcher on their back.

Eva put one of the final crates between her and the 40mm grenade that was fired towards her. The crate was shredded in the ground-shaking explosion and fell from her hands. She picked up another box and hurled it through the smoke at the advancing troops as Fret stumbled back up the ramp towards the ship. Facing being left behind if she delayed any more, Eva clanked up into the crowded shuttle bay as well.

Zey chucked Fret onto the floor in the corner of the shuttle bay, then moved out of the way as Eva’s mech packed into the claustrophobic space.

“Mr Chappel, Eva, you good?”

The cargo they’d managed to salvage had been tied down for the most part, but there still wasn’t a whole lot of manoeuvring room with the shuttle taking up most of the floor. The air stank of acrid smoke and gunpowder. Rounds had stopped pinging off the metal hull of the Jotunheim, but the sound carried on somewhere nearby.

“Vigdis, raise the ramp then get strapped in. Everyone should get strapped in somewhere! There are jump seats either side of the shuttle. Are they still out there? Don’t let anyone else aboard.” The civilians were bunging up the service corridors on the other side of the airlock, so it made sense to Zey for the last people inside to stay put and not add to the chaos.

“Bosko, I'm heading back to the bridge. Start the launch sequence!” Zey punched the airlock control panel and the doors whooshed open.

[hr]

The riot droid was seven foot tall and built to hold the line against a crushing weight of people. Unfortunately though, the crate that Eva had thrown was full of heavy spare parts. It bounced off the deck once before sliding straight into the droid, knocking it clean over. The two gunmen behind it dived out of the way. It was when they got up that they realised that the people covering them from either side of the blast doors were still shooting, just not in the same direction. They were shooting at people behind them.

Then the gunfire stopped, and the noise from Jotunheim’s engines began increasing from a low rumble towards a crescendo.

The two masked killers looked at each other, then both turned and ran for the Jotunheim’s ramp, barely visible through the smoke. 

It was too late. Bullets flew through the murky depths and into both their backs. The men collapsed dead on the floor. The Israeli operators and their benefactor stepped quietly and quickly through the smog. One of them dispatched the wounded man with flechettes in his legs with a bullet to the head. Another operator emptied a magazine into the riot droid as it struggled to its feet, sending it into critical failure.

“There it is!” Darnell shouted, breaking into a sprint; the soldiers around him reluctantly followed suit. As they approached they could hear the ramp’s mechanical parts working - it was nearly halfway up!

“Don’t shoot! We’re Tamerlane! Lower the ramp!” Darnell shouted over the din, waving his arms. The ramp didn’t stop. He turned to the mercs.

“Give me a leg up!”

Ezra had to make a split second decision. He needed to be aboard this ship, with or without his team.

“Ok, I'll go with you. While we’re inside, hold this position.” He directed the last part to his team, with a grim finality.

Without hesitation, the soldiers moved to hoist Darnell and Ezra up so they could grab onto the ramp as it moved towards 90 degrees. They tumbled into the Jotunheim’s shuttle bay with a loud crash, moments before it hissed shut.

“More of them are coming, get ready!” Levi ordered, peeking round the side of the ship. The three able-bodied mercenaries got ready to defend the hangar. The engine noise was overriding everything.