Hades curled up to sleep in his bunk, tired after a day of studying martial arts and practicing them – physically, of course. Not to mention studying the controls of a TIE Bomber. After his promotion to Senior Crewman – which had filled Hades with jubilation and pride – he had been a busy bee. He felt as if he had to continuously prove that his promotion was no mistake. That morning he had applied for the Xeno-martial arts class, and he was told he'd receive his response in the morrow.
Hades slept peacefully – that is, until the chrono struck 2.25AM. His door slid open silently, as he dozed. Hades was oblivious to the 'danger' he was in, as four shadows slipped into his room. He rolled in his bed, causing the figures to freeze where they stood. But still he dozed.. or so they thought. The figures moved closer, and one produced a syringe – they meant to drug Hades and kidnap him. The one holding the syringe moved in closer, the syringe poised over Hades' exposed neck and – in a flash of motion, Hades erupted from his sheets, twisting the arm of the syringe holder around to redirect the syringe, into not Hades' neck, but the neck of the offending intruder. The syringe-bearer went limp almost immediately, and Hades whirled to face the other 3 attackers – only to see the butt of a blaster come crashing into his face, rendering him unconscious.
1 hour laterHades awoke in the back of a repulsor truck.. His forehead could just see a street outside the back flap of the vehicle, when a shadow fell over the back. The truck had obviously entered some sort of garage. The flap rose and Hades immediately feigned unconsciousness.
“See, what'd I tell ya? This one's easy pickings. He'll be out for hours” came a loud voice – presumably one of Hades' attackers. They muttered something about carrying him to his cell, and Hades heard the back of the truck slam open, the sound of boots on the tray of the truck. He felt hands grabbing his arms and legs , and felt himself carried helplessly from the truck, down some kind of ramp. Hades heard them push through a creaky door and the sound of boots on a metallic corridor. He dared not open his eyes for fear of discovery, and relied on hearing and his sense of direction alone. He counted in his mind.
Double doors, left turn, approximately 20 meter journey down a corridor, right turn, another 20 meter journey, right turn, down steps, through another set of double doors and right turn through a single door. Hades stopped counting as he felt himself hurled through a door, impacting solidly – painfully on the metal floor. Hades heard hushed murmurs between the two that had been carrying him and what seemed to be the guard on duty, and kept his eyes closed as his face pressed against the cold floor.
He heard the door to his cell swing closed and a manual key jingle with the lock –
manual locking mechanism? Who in the galaxy uses technology that obsolete?! Hades wondered to himself. He supposed rebels might, in their most covert safehouses on poor worlds like Nar Shaddaa. Perhaps that's where he was - on Nar Shaddaa, being punished for some wrong he had committed in his past. Then it struck him – the Vast Empire had some of the most advanced security in the galaxy, nobody was going to go to the trouble of infiltrating it, then exfiltrating with a prisoner AND a downed man, for the sake of one Senior Crewman. Putting these together, Hades reasoned that this must be a test of sorts.
He felt a bruise swelling on his forehead. Damn, he had been hit hard. He carefully opened his eyes, glancing around the cell. It was a small, nondescript room with a bed on one side and an empty space on the other – Hades picked out the marks where another bed had been bolted to the floor. So this had been a double cell, once. Hades stood up, careful to keep out of the vision of the viewing slot on the door. It was then he noticed the ceiling – or rather, lack thereof. There was no ceiling.
The sound of boots echoed in from the hole in the ceiling – approximately 3 meters high – and a man dressed in what Hades could only hazard a guess as a Rebel Uniform. The man sneered – if this was a test, it was pretty convincing – and looked at Hades.
“So, Imperial Scum.. you going to tell us what we want to know?” The Rebel
asked. Hades frowned.
“And that is what exactly?” He responded
“The security codes to the ISD Iron Duke.” the man said simply. Hades shook his head – he did not have the codes in the first place, but he wanted to retain at least some value in his captors' eyes, after all he was planning an escape even as they spoke, and if he was worth something to them alive, they would feel less inclined to kill him. The man sneered wider at Hades' response.
“we'll get them eventually, just you see.” With that the man turned on his heel and walked off. Hades waited until the boots faded – and heard a second pair of boots. These footsteps were slower, more regulated. A guard, Hades presumed. Sure enough, he saw the torso of the guard as he peered into the cell, checking on Hades. He moved on when he saw Hades was still in his place, checking several other cells down the line. Hades heard him come back the other way, not bothering to check on his way back. But he was constantly patrolling – each time he went past one way, he checked the cell, when he went back, he did not. Hades waited until he looked into his cell again, watching the torso of the man disappear once more, before he rushed into action.
He ran at his bed and leaped, one foot pushing off the bed toward the wall, the other foot pushing off said wall and launching himself diagonally across to the opposite wall, where Hades had spotted a light placement. Hades' hands just barely grasped the light fitting, and the rest of his body smacked painfully against the wall. Hades grunted, careful to keep his noise down as he levered himself up – by pulling himself up, Hades' head could peer over the edge of the cell, albeit with some exertion by his muscles. The guard was still checking cells down the line. Hades began sweating at first, as the guard checked the last cell and wheeled around, striding back along the line of cells. Hades was silent, placing his feet against the wall for better support.
He heard the guard coming back again, pausing to check the cell ahead of his – this was it. The guard's steps came closer, and his head appeared over the side of the hole. Hades grabbed the front of the guard's tunic as he leant over the cell, pulling him downward over the edge, and into Hades' cell. Hades heard his head clang against the durasteel bedframe, but knew that it was not enough to kill a man – just enough to knock him out for a few hours. Hades levered himself upward and swung his legs over the side of the cell, careful to avoid falling into the next. He looked around – thankfully there were no holo-cameras or other guards. He realised he should have got the guard's weapon, but it was too late now.
Hades cursed to himself – coming out the top meant he was disoriented. He jogged along silently, keeping to the walls of the long cellblock that he was in. He rounded a corner, in the shadows, to find cellblock control. A single guard sat at a console, while another guard was smoking a death stick and leaning out a window. The one at the console was closer. Hades moved forward stealthily, steps making no noise against the hard floor. His hand moved in a lightning swift strike, right hand going for a nerve ending in the shoulder while his left jabbed at the temple. The man collapsed against the console, with a thud. His partner spun, bringing his weapon to bear – but Hades was ahead of him. Two long strides and he was in reach of the blaster, which the man attempted to use as a club.
Hades caught the overhand strike in a crossarm guard, twisting sharply to remove the weapon from the man's grip, following through on his twist. While he twisted, his right leg shot out, unbalancing the man and, as he came full circle, the blaster cracked against the man's jaw, sending him sprawling back against the window. The man filled his lungs, preparing to raise the alarm, when Hades delivered a sharp, painful kick to the groin. The man keeled over at the waist, and was met by the blaster's butt on the way down, striking him on the temple with enough force to knock him unconscious.
Hades hefted the blaster – then a thought occurred to him. If this really
was a test, it would most likely be for the Xeno-martial arts course. And the course guidelines stipulated that you could use no projectile weapons. Hades discarded the blaster, and instead walked out of the control room, sticking to the walls again. He pressed himself to the duracrete wall as he turned left, glancing around the corner. Three men were coming up a stairway – obviously to replace the three that had been on duty. Hades thought quickly.
Three to one odds were not favourable – even if Hades had considerable hand-to-hand combat experience. They were walking in a triangle formation – one lead while the other two flanked him, a few steps back. It wasn't much.. but it was enough to formulate a plan. Hades loped back along in the direction he had come, stopping just feet from the control room and pressing himself into a shadowy door way. The sound of footsteps was now echoing – they had entered the corridor, and were getting closer. Hades visualised in his mind how this would happen. Wedge formation meant two lagged behind. So, Hades would barrel out from cover, shoving the one on the far right forcefully into the one on the far left. That
should knock them both over. In the mean time, he would deliver a blow to the center's head and then proceed to finish off the other two. Easy. Well, not really.
The footsteps got louder.. almost coming level with the doorway. Hades moved. As the first one passed him, he stepped out and bent his arms, the hands finding purchase on the thin shoulder of the man on the far right. Hades extended his arms in a push – with all his strength – that sent the man flying, colliding with his friend on the other side of the corridor. Not ceasing his movement, Hades used his momentum to spin into a left hook directed at the center's temple. This worked, and the blow stuck home. The man stumbled backward, dazed, and slid down the wall.
Hades lunged forward, kicking aside one of the blasters as it was brought to bear. His foot fell to solid ground once more and he lashed out with a brutal kick to the face, putting his momentum behind the blow. He heard the crunch of bone as the man that had been on the far right collapsed completely, into a limp heap. The center man was still dazed, rolling on the ground next to the right man, but the man on the left was on his feet and directed a punch at Hades' face. It was well aimed and fast, but not fast enough. Hades brought his right arm up in a split second, extending it across his body as his left arm sandwiched the forearm of the offending guard between both arms. Hades pivoted, and heard the snap of the bone. The man let out a cry of pain and fell past Hades. But Hades wasn't done. As the man pitched toward the floor, Hades moved his left arm to intersect the man's throat, squeezing the moment the man his his forearm, cutting off his oxygen supply for just long enough to knock him out.. but not long enough to kill him.
Hades dropped the man and looked around. The right man was unconscious on the ground and the center-man was – the center man was nowhere to be found. Hades glanced left and saw the man stumbling down the corridor, toward the stairway. He sprinted after the man as he heard the hoarse shout..
“Guards.. guards..” the man tried to shout, but he only managed to hoarsely croak the words out of his starry daze, induced by Hades' blow to the temple. Hades came up behind the man quickly, placing a bone crunching upper cut to the back of his left ribcage, feeling the bone fracture on impact. The man went down, groaning in pain.. His breath was ragged. Hades knew from experience that the man would not be able to speak above a whisper thanks to the fracture, and so left the helpless man and carried on along the corridor, turning the corner again, to descend the stairway. He was tired by now – very tired.
He had been roused after 4 hours' sleep by an attack, and had pretty much been on the go since then. Taking out those three guards had almost pushed him over the limit, and sweat now ran down his forehead, his breath rapid, panting. He inhaled deeply several times, pausing to do so, before continuing. He knew where he was now. He saw the single door that led to the cell-block on his left. So, he would have to go straight. He could see the double doors he had heard earlier ahead of him.
He kept to the right hand side wall, careful to keep his steps silent. He glanced through the viewport on the double doors – two men stood directly outside. Hades grimaced. Even with all his experience, this would be tough. Unless.. a smile crossed Hades' features a plan came into mind. He looked around for a tool. There was a remote of sorts in a case on the wall, and Hades pulled it from it's holder. He glanced back through the double doors, but there was no activity. He could hear their gentle chatter through the thin door. He pressed himself in the right angle between the wall and the double doors, giving the doors enough room to swing a few centimeters inward but not fully.
He tossed the remote back down the corridor, hurling it with considerable force. It shattered against a duracrete wall, and Hades immediately felt the double door swing as the guard pushed against it. One of his instructors had once told him.. “The environment is your weapon. Think not what your environment prevents, but what opportunities it holds.” Hades put this into play now as he suddenly pushed back on the door, startling the man on the otherside. He had the element of surprise, and followed through with the push, swinging the door fully open back the way it had came.
The man, not expecting it, had been hit in the face and knocked backward. His partner, however; had not been hit by the door and now leveled his blaster. Bad move. Hades stepped inside the man's reach, slapping the blaster to one side. The man retained a two handed grip, and didn't let go, instead leaning with his blaster. Hades didn't care, it still worked. The man's elbow was now at a right angle and pointed directly at him...the right application of pressure and snap.
Hades grinned and jabbed at the man's elbow, causing him to straighten his arm as his elbow fractured. Not quite as badly as Hades had hoped, and the man brought the blaster around in his uninjured hand, the barrel glancing across the side of Hades' face. Hades took the blow, allowing the blaster to continue on it's course after hitting his face. Hades then ducked underneath the blaster to come face to face with the man, bringing arms up simultaneously and knocking both the man's arms to either side. He clenched his right hand into a strange shape consisting of three fingers forming a claw-likeness, and jabbed it into the man's neck. A gurgle emanated from the man's mouth before he collapsed, lifeless.
Hades was getting desperate – he had to kill the man, as it would expend too much energy to leave him alive. His partner, all the while had only just gotten to his feet, and had barely gotten his blaster trained on Hades. He cursed to himself and raised his arms, knowing he could not get withing reach of the blaster fast enough. The man gestured him toward the stairs, and Hades nodded climbing the stairs backward. The man circled and taking another step – landed on his fallen partner's blaster. The blaster skittered across the floor as the man lost his footing, and Hades pounced from his higher place on the stairs. He landed with his thighs wrapped around the man's head, with his legs choking him. The man gurgled and hit Hades with the butt of his blaster, landing a painful blow on his thigh, but Hades' grip was like steel. It was unmoving. The man eventually blacked out and collapsed, Hades falling to the ground also. He stood up slowly, his leg aching and his face bruised.
But he knew he was near now. He took the stairs two at a time, a sort of limp as his pained thigh began to hinder him. He turned left, limping down the 20 meter corridor, then left again. He saw the door way, 20 meters ahead on the right hand side. Freedom. He limped as fast as he could down the final stretch. He burst through the double doors, greeted by a cacophony of noise.. machinery. A single individual stood between him and a partially opened door, back to him.
Hades took every step carefully, so as not to make any noise – even though he doubted he'd be heard over the machinery. He approached the man from behind, in a crouch. As he got as close as he dared, he stood up and took two steps forward, wrapping his arm around the man's neck and pressing his forearm into his throat. The man choked and struggled, but Hades bent his knees, leaving the man's feet fumbling for grip as he was unbalanced. The man struggled a few seconds more then went limp, arms falling beside him as Hades dropped the body.. He limped the last few meters ever so tiredly, leaning against the door to open it and finding himself in.. the Naval Academy? Hades was confused. But he was tired.
He saw a red light above the door change to green as he exited, and he collapsed to one knee. He looked up to see a medic rushing toward him. His vision was blurred by sweat and his mind was foggy with exhaustion and pain. Hades simply toppled over, and everything faded into a pleasant, calm, black existence.
He awoke several hours later in the medbay, a Chief Petty Officer standing over him. He looked down as he saw Hades stirring, with a questioning gaze. Hades had only one question.
“Did I pass, sir?”
- OOC:
- Word Count: 3,300. I'm pretty sure this post is one of my poorest so far. I crossed the line a few times in terms of believability – one counter point I will present is that Hades had a lot of former Martial Arts training and is extremely fit. That being said, it's still – to me – a bit unbelievable. :/ But eh, it's 4am. If I pass, I pass. If I don't, I'll do another story when I'm less fatigued
Please feel free to comment. Tell me what a terrible job I did
