Upon Vestia: Chapter Eight

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Starr held on when the airlocks were opened, keeping her position.  She waited to see who if any of the slavers would reach her first. Shane, doing the same in his position.

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Skye and Moone nodded, moving closer to the vent to be ready to get the younger kids inside

They're coming. Kay tensed, tail twitching, wings half raised. If nothing else, he made an effective shield with that wingspan.
Please tell me you have a plan.

Asher looked at all the children, who looked terribly afraid, then at the adults. "If the invaders make it in here, we need to be ready," he said quietly. "Thalia and I can provide a diversion while the rest of you escape into the ventilation."

Matt nodded. "I should be able to slow em down a bit. " He was still soaked, he closed his eyes and absorbed the water into his skin to dry off. "If you two cover me. Ellie, Sonata... Skye was it? You help the younger kids into the vents. Keep moving, we'll do everything we can to keep them away from you all." He looked at the assembled kids and tried to look reassuring. He was terrified for them.
"How many of them are there?"

Starr released that one and flew back, going to the door and hitting the button to open the door. The strobe lighting helped her to not get hit while she was moving and she threw up a bubble between her and the men so it would block the shots.

~~
Skye looked to Asher then over to Cassie "Should we go ahead and hide in there?" She asked softly

"How will you slow them down?" Asher asked Matt curiously.

Vestia told Matt how many attackers there were. "I'll tell you when they get close."

"Might be good to stay nearby for now, but start hiding everyone in the ventilation shafts so you'll be ready to flee," Asher told Skye.

Matt grinned maliciously. "Ice. Lots of ice." He studied the corridor the attackers would come down critically. "I reckon if I coat the floor in a slick layer, they'll struggle to get down here. I can also make a wall, which will slow them down." He shrugged. "Not sure how long I can maintain it, but it'll buy us time for everyone else to RUN. "

Asher nodded. "That could certainly buy us some time. Vestia, you've sealed all the blast doors you can, right?" He was doing his best to focus on the problem at hand, and not think too much about what he had to do when the invaders reached them.

"Of course. You guys are behind lots and lots of barriers," Vestia said. She shut off her audio abruptly as another shock hit her, in response to something she had done to one of Matthew's teams.

"Vestia? Are you okay?" Matt asked, who'd have thought you could actually feel sorry for a ship. But he did, he was worried about her.
His eyes narrowed. "What do these assholes even WANT?"

Skye nodded and motioned for the spider kids and Cassi and Moone to go in the vent shaft with Lillian if she was coming."Where do we go if we get past them?" She asked quietly

Vestia brought her audio back online after a few seconds. "I'm fine they're just not happy that I'm resisting, that's all." She added, "They want to enslave us all, and possibly exact revenge as well. We've encountered these people before."

"Stay in ventilation if anyone is nearby. Vestia will whisper instructions to you," Asher told Skye softly.

"Wherever you can. Vestia can hopefully guide you. Just keep running, keep hiding. They'll have to keep chasing. " Matt knew it was a fruitless task deep down, but he really desperately HAD to believe they could win.

"How'd you stop em last time?"

Asher looked at Heny uncomfortably. She wasn't going to be blasting anyone out of their cells this time. "I'm sure that this time, different tactics will be required. Matthew was very intelligent, and extremely prepared last time, he won't make the same mistakes twice."

"Well he's got more of us to contend with this time." Matt glared down the hall. "The Imperium, they'd rather die than be enslaved. It's one of the few ideals they hold I actually can agree with. " His tone was icy.

"Please don't choose suicide," Asher said nervously. "Slavery is awful, but there's always hope."

"I won't be shackled." Matt spoke flatly.

Asher closed his eyes for a moment, thoroughly distressed by Matt's conviction on this subject. There wasn't much he could say to change Matt's mind though, without telling complete lies. "There has to be a better way."

"Yeah, let's not get caught. " Matt sighed. He knew full well that wasn't going to happen. "Mark my words, i intend to make this as difficult and painful as possible for them. I will NOT let them take these kids without a fight. " He looked frustrated. "Stupid blocking teleporting. I could get reinforcements, we could evacuate.. there's gotta be a way to shut down the field."

That was a much more healthy attitude, and one that Asher fully supported. "We'll give them hell," he said with a grim smile, "I'm no more interested in letting anyone be enslaved than you are."

"Vestia said she couldn't get a lock on what they were using to bar teleportation. If we could find it.. and figure out how to disable it, we could get out of here. Not everyone but... corvus or someone could take the kids to safety." He sighed. "I can't stand this waiting. "

Asher frowned. He liked the idea, but it seemed very implausible. "And how do you propose we do that? Their ships are massive, and no doubt far better protected than Vestia. It would take incredible skill to get to the right ship, and knowledge to disable the jammer."

"That's the problem. But I can't sit here waiting to be shot. "

Asher wanted to argue that Matt would be more useful here, doing ice things. But really, he didn't think there was much hope anyway, and he and Thalia could buy time for the others well enough. "If that's what you feel you need to do, then I suppose you should try," he said softly. "It would be nice if these children could be saved."

Matt groaned. "But where do I even start? Vestia? Still no luck on getting any kind of lock on that generator? Where are all these assholes currently? "

"No luck. I'm guessing it's one of the antennas on Matthew's ship though," Vestia said thoughtfully. "They're making their way inward from all quadrants, mainly on this level."

Asher frowned thoughtfully, "Mainly this level?"

"Can you take out the antennae from here?" Matt asked, wary of the approaching raiders. "Okay, you guys cover me. I'm gonna try to set us up a few booby traps."

"Hard to get a clear shot, but I'll try," Vestia said. She began targeting trying to calculate the best possible trajectories on all visible antennas, then firing on them in rapid succession.

Asher looked at the ventilation shaft, "All right, guys, do you have any powers we can use here?"

Matt looked back at the others. "Don't suppose you've got anything useful I could use to slow these guys down? Their stupid dampening field is screwing with my ability to access pocket space. I have.. a used rail ticket... wierd.. and a lot of bottlecaps... yeah not a lot. "