The Pens of Niverton

[BrotherBear]

A uniformed figure appeared around the corner. Slipping deeper into the shadows, David silently praised these police on their determination to catch him. He had let them follow him for the past 15 minutes, drawing them far away from the landing zone. The only problem was, they had called in a blockade to cut him off. The police had erected spotlights around his position, removing all of the shadows in a wide arc; leaving only a few shadows in the middle of the arc to hide in. Eventually they would send a search party in to find him, and he had nowhere to go.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, he thought to himself. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his communicator. He would have to get the ground team to create a little diversion.

[font=fixedsys] ‘Ground team, this is David. Come in.’ He whispered into the communicator.

‘This is ground team, we read you David.’ A female voice replied through the small device, which he recognised as Alisha Rodriguez.

‘Did you get all 10 of the girls I sent Alisha?’ He asked, quietly.

‘We got em all David, you did a good job. One of them had a few grazes, but we dealt with it.’

‘Good, cause now I need your assistance. I got myself into a bit of a jam.’

‘What do ya need us to do?’

‘I need you to create a little diversion somewhere, to get these cops off my back.’

‘Diversion? You got it. We’ll need a few minutes to set it up, wait out.’

Switching off the communicator, David once again looked around. The police were preparing to move, he could tell. He hoped he would be able to hide until the diversion was launched, otherwise he would have a nice trip to a cell somewhere. He looked around, checking once again for an escape route; and spotted something that he had missed before. It was a sewer access hatch, barely visible underneath a large dustbin.

Moving as silently as he could, David moved slowly towards the bin. It was half empty, thankfully, meaning that it would make less noise when moved. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that the police were finally moving into the darkness towards him. He had no choice but to hide in the sewer.

The dustbin made a high pitched squealing sound, and even though it was barely audible, it went straight through David. He glanced over his shoulder again, and thanked the stars that the police didn’t hear the horrible sound; but they were getting very close. He hurriedly pulled out a small knife from his pocket, with a small, but strong, blade capable of cutting through even bone. He inserted the knife into the small crack running round the edge of the cover, and pushed back – lifting the cover silently. The sides of the cover were caked in years of filth, and the smell that erupted from the sewer as the lid was removed was repulsing. Still, David had no choice. He lowered himself into the hole, and clung to the slimy ladder fixed to the wall. When all but his head remained above ground, he locked his knees around the ladder, and gently picked the cover back into place. A sudden light almost made him drop it, but before it could come closer he gently manoeuvred the cover back into place.

Trying not to breathe in the putrid stench, David listened and waited. He could hear men above him, searching every dark corner, every shadow and then checking again. These men were thorough, and would find him very soon. He took his penlight out from his pocket, and positioned it in his hand in a way that shielded the light from above. He did not want to risk a few stray beams of light giving away his position. The small tunnel leading down into the sewer was just that, so tiny it was impossible to move his elbows more than a few inches. The walls and the ladder were slippery with slime and filth, so thick it turned everything green, and David was soon caked in it. Shining his light down, he felt his heart drop. Below him was fast moving sewage, which looked very deep. With another lurch, he saw that the last dozen rungs of the ladder were missing. Either he waited for the police to find him, Alisha’s diversion, or he dropped 20 foot into raw sewage.

David decided to wait. He had no idea if he would be able to find an exit if he ever entered the sewage, and he stood a chance if the police found him. If there was only a few, he felt confident he would be able to take them down. For the time being, he had to wait for Alisha and the rest of the ground team to make their move.

After what seemed like hours, he heard a noise that made him stop breathing. Someone was standing on the sewer cover. He could hear rustling above him; it seemed as if the police were searching the dustbin. Just as he came to this conclusion, the brim of the cover was lit up. It appeared the police had found his hiding place, and were about to search it. David readied himself to fight, pulling out his knife and positioning himself to vault out of the small opening.

He waited, but the police never came. Instead, he heard a loud explosion somewhere far away. Alisha had come through for him, even if it had taken a long time.

[font=fixedsys] ‘You and you!’ Someone shouted above him. ‘Stay here and find that kidnapper! The rest of you, come with me!’

Smiling slightly, he listened as several pairs of heavy footsteps ran away from his position. No doubt to find out what damage Alisha as caused. Once more, the light filled the edge of the sewer cover. Light suddenly filled David’s world, as he vaulted out of the hole with incredible speed. As he flew upwards, he bought his knife to bear; straight into the stomach of a startled police man. Before his victim had even hit the ground, David pulled out his tranquiliser gun and searched for the second policeman. He spotted him with his head in a dustbin a few metres away. The idiot didn’t even know his partner was dying, or that David was taking aim at his neck. A dart later, David was finally alone. Looking over in the distance, he spotted orange flames dancing into the night sky. Thick black smoke was adding to the already smog filled environment, making the night even darker.

Looking down at himself, David saw that the slime that covered him was absorbing the light of the distant fire; making him luminous. He quickly emptied his pockets, and crept over to the drugged officer. After checking to make sure he was alone, he stripped off his own clothes and stuffed them into the dustbin the cop had had his head in. He then stripped the cop and donned his uniform, grimacing slightly as he looked like a standard Policeman. After filling his pockets, he heaved the unconscious half naked cop into the bin. He then dragged the dead cop over to the bin as well, and after drawing out his knife and cleaning it on the uniform of the corpse, he heaved it on top of partner; a nice gift for when he wakes up.

Unfortunately, Alisha had placed her little diversion in between him and the landing zone; which meant he had to find another way off this planet. He thought back to when they first arrived on the planet, and remembered a landing area not too far from his position. Before he set off, he fired up his communicator again.

[font=fixedsys] ‘Alisha, this is David. Come in.’ He said into the device.

‘I’m here David,’ She replied. ‘Did our little diversion work for ya?’

‘Sure did, you saved my life, but it’s getting too hot for me to return. Tell the ship to leave without me, I’ll find my own way off this rock.’ David answered.

‘I’ll pass on the message, good luck David.’ Came the reply, before the communicator went dead.

David slipped the communicator back into his pocket as he faded into the shadows, and headed towards the landing zone. He figured that he could not be far from the site, as he had already travelled quite a distance in the right direction. Thus, he was not surprised when barely 5 minutes later, he spotted the guards at the pad. The defences around the area were quite pitiful. A couple of guards were at the entrance, and spotlights lit up most of the area. The spotlights were not that effective however, as the thick smog surrounding the city filtered out most of the light. Apart from that, there was nothing to stop him taking a ship of his choice.

David quickly found an opportunity to get inside the compound, as the guards spotted the fire in the distance. While both their backs were turned, he slipped past them and into the shadows inside the compound. Just as he though it couldn’t get any easier, he spotted the docking clamps on each of the ships. Cursing silently, he scouted the area; hoping to find a ship that was not secured.

About 15 minutes later, when David was half way round the compound, a Virage came in to land in the middle of the compound. The pilot, a woman with a slight figure, appeared to only need refuelling and some supplies; which she yelled quite loudly while opening her cockpit. A refuelling truck approached, and attached a tube to the side of the curiously shaped ship.

While the ship was refuelling, David crept ever closer, waiting for his chance to seize the ship for his own. His moment came quicker than he would have thought, and the refuelling truck was soon packing up. As it turned away, David broke his cover and sprinted towards the cockpit of the ship. The woman had not yet begun to close it, and she never even had time to scream as he fired a dart at her. He missed her neck, and instead fired the dart into her shoulder; but she was so shocked she didn’t do anything, and was soon out for the count.

Quickly, David hurled her behind the pilot’s chair, and fired up the engines of the ship. As he was lowering the cockpit, he noticed that the alarms in the compound were blaring away; it seemed he had been spotted commandeering the ship. A brutish looking ION cannon above the Guards station turned towards him. He raised the shields, and engaged the engines. The strength of the ION cannon lowered the shields of the Virage instantly, and David wasted no more time. He fired up the weapons systems on the ship and destroyed the cannon before it could recharge. Then he fired up the thrusters, and propelled himself away from the planet at breakneck speeds.

Only when he was safely back in space did he take a few moment to catch his breath, and explore the cockpit of his new ship. He punched in the co-ordinates Montezuma, and activated the autopilot. He then turned to the woman sprawled behind his chair. He searched her, and found an ID on her. Smiling, he binned the civilian ID and pulled out from handcuffs from his pocket. He had another slave for the Pens of Niverton, and a new ship. He dragged the woman to the cargo hold, and securely fixed her to a rail. The cargo hold was empty, but that did not matter. He went back to the cockpit, and fired up the communications systems.

[font=fixedsys] ‘This is David, I made it off the planet with a new ship, and a new slave.’ He said into the microphone. ‘Heading to Montezuma to regroup. Is everyone off the planet yet?’

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