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The buzz of approaching drones issued up from the stairwell.
They were coming up, and they weren’t alone.
Heavy thudding footsteps climbed one step at a time, their booming clumping boots echoing up the sparse stairwell.
I peered out the window and noticed none of the guards down there.
Or any of the drones.
They would have called for reinforcements the moment they spotted us.
They would be on their way here now.
As fast as they were, it would take them some time to reach us.
That was our window of opportunity.
I kept an eye on the doorway and took aim with my rifle.
“Agatha, I need you to climb out this window and get down there.”
“What about you?”
“I’m going to hold these guys off. When you get to the shuttlecraft, tell Computer to pick me up. If there are too many guards, tell Computer to take you to New Haven. It’s a planet. You’ll be safe there.”
“No. I’m not leaving you.”
I brushed her skin with my thumb.
“You’re not leaving me. I’ll find you.”
I planted a kiss on her lips and felt the heat pulse through my body.
The footsteps grew louder and soon the buzzing drones would be even more cacophonous as they eased up and locked onto me.
“You must go,” I said. “Now.”
She looked torn but she did as I asked.
She turned and climbed out the window.
She shimmied down using the broad angles of the corrugated side to slow her descent.
Zzzzzzzzzzzz.
The first drone rose into sight and I focused my attention on it.
I squeezed the trigger of my rifle in rapid succession.
The first few bolts flew before the drone was fully in view.
One clipped its wing and twisted it off balance, knocking its own retaliatory fire into an adjacent wall.
I fired again, this time taking it through the heart.
Agatha squealed as she fell the final few feet, breaking her fall with her hands.
She turned, peered up at the window, and then bolted inside the hangar.
