"He's Dead." Three said softly, the four remaining soldiers standing around the now limp body of Four, a pool of blood had formed from the fatal wound.

"God fucking dammit." Bacon muttered, lifting his head and looking towards the stream of light that marked the entrance into the ventilation system. Voices could be heard echoing down the vast metal shaft. "We need to get out of here."

"Right. But what the hell do we do now? Nathan is fucking dead, not to mention our main computer is gone."

Bacon shrugged, "If you ask me right now I think we should focus on getting out of this hell hole alive."

"What about our mission?" Richard asked quietly, his body still feeling shaken from the small firefight. 

Bacon's eyes narrowed, "Look. This aint' my fuckin' war. Hell it aint' even my galaxy! We're here as a fuckin' publicity stunt and now two of my fuckin' comrades are dead! Don't talk to me about any fuckin' mission!" 

Richard shifted nervously, he was suddenly feeling very out of place, he had no words to retort against the flustered, large man. He rubbed his gloved hand across the back of his helmet. 

"Look." Three finally spoke up, "I know this is all bullshit, but lets not muddy up the water by getting at each others throats, even if this new guy has gone a little space crazy."

Richard shot Three a glance but only nodded slowly.

"We were put into this god forsaken frozen rock because we were the best, let's fucking act like it."

Bacon nodded, a large hand rising under his helmet, pulling it off his bulky head. He pushed back a few drops of sweat with his palm and sighed, "Alright then, Three, what do you-"

There was a crackling over the radio before a female voice spoke, "One, come in, One come in." She repeated.

"One's dead." Bacon replied bluntly. 

"What?" She gasped.

"And four." He continued. "Who the hell is this?"

The voice hesitated, "T-This is Mary Elist. Commanding Assis-"

"Well if you don't mind, Mary, we'd like to speak to Zero, we are sort of in a shit storm down here."

Back on the main ship the young woman nervously pulled her hair back behind her ears and swallowed down a nervous knot before continuing to explain the bizarre situation, "Zero has, um. Left the ship."

"You're fucking kidding me." A rough voice replied through the radio. 

"But regardless, he has put me in command of this mission, what is going on down there?"

"Where do we even begin." Three sighed, his fingers trying to run though his hair as he pressed his hand against his visor, "Everything was going smooth until two bigs walked in on Nathan and Four as they were breaking into the system. They didn't seem to notice at first, but then…I don't know out of no where the big bitch shoots off a direct hit right on Nathan. Four went down with some shrapnel to the chest."

"Dammit." The female voice replied back, "And where are you now?"

"Right now we're sitting tight in the vent shaft, though it's about time we got a move on. The Neko that entered the room is dead but the Marlek got away with a bloody eye. Look is there anyway we can get the hell out of here? Any routes to take?"

The voice hesitated for a few moments before replying, "I'm sorry but the only way out of that base is through those blast doors, your mission is your only way out."

The soldiers sat silently, exchanging glances as they tried to mentally put their next set of actions together.

"Alright. Roger that Commander."  Three stated before the air waves went silent. He looked towards the others, "Well you heard her. The only way out of this mess is by breaking down their main computers."

"How do we do that?" Richard asked.

Three shrugged, "Originally we would use that computer Nathan had to hack the system on the spot, the defenses are usually pretty tight so anything but directly connecting to their main computer would be useless."

"And now we have no damn computer." Bacon grumbled.

"No. But we have a shit ton of explosives." Three replied.

~ ~ ~ ~ 

"What are you doing?" Prila asked with an arch brow.

Kikata sat cross legged on the floor, her golden eyes staring intently at her arm which was held up in front of her face. "I'm trying to feel the pain." She replied, "I hurt my arm in the crash, I think it might have been broken. But I can't feel it anymore."

"Well, this isn't your physical body." Prila offered with a shrug.

"No, but I am still in my body right? It's there somewhere." 

Prila hummed for a moment, "Yes, I suppose it would be. But why would you want to do that?"

Kikata shrugged, taking her gaze off her arm and looking towards her, "I figure it would bring me closer to being conscious."

"Oh, I see. But if it is broken…it probably hurts a lot."

Kikata blinked, "Yeah. I guess it would." She dropped her arm back down to her lap and sighed, "I just don't know what else to do."

"Me neither. I only know as much as you do." Prila said softly. She glanced around the room and scrunched her lips, "But perhaps getting out of this room would be a-" Her brow furrowed as she looked back towards Kikata, "Now what are you doing?"

Kikata blushed slightly as she sat staring at her open palm, "I'm trying to bring him in here." 

Prila sighed, "If only. But…if you don't mind I think I have a better plan."

"And that would be?" Kikata asked, her eyes still transfixed on her palm.

"Getting out of this room."

"And what would that accomplish?" Kikata asked, laying her arm back down once again.

"Well, think about it. This room is completely alien to you. Or us, or me…I don't know it's confusing. But still, this room is of their creation. Perhaps in here their rules apply."

"So…you think in here I'm under their control?"

"Maybe. Or at least your more susceptible to it. Time moves fast in here, it might be a while before they figure out what you did to Mr. Doctor over there, I can only assume they will be sending more after you."

Kikata smirked as she glanced back to the man unconscious on the floor, "What do you think happened to him?" She asked curiously.

Prila shrugged, "Hopefully he'll be stuck that way for a long time."

Kikata laughed, "Yeah. But hopefully he doesn't linger around inside my brain." She shuddered, "That would be a scary thought." She rose to her feet slowly, stretching her back as she glanced around the room, "So, how do we get out of this place?"

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Richard felt the powerful vibrations of the vehicles engines running up his arms. Fours body lay strapped to the back of Bacons bike, though there was nothing remaining of Nathan to bring back to base. They wound their way through the catacombs of ventilation ducts the way they had first come inside. The main ship would be located in the center of a massive armada of New Order vessels and soldiers. 

As they rounded another jagged corner, the remaining soldiers saw a light in the distance. A nervous knot began to form tightly in Richards chest as the sounds of the busy docking bay began to reach his ears. The small team came to a crawling halt as they were soon able to peer back into the docking bay. 

"Son of a bitch." Bacon muttered as their eyes scanned over the landscape made of bodies, metal and concrete, "Any clue where we can find this ship? It's a god damn zoo out there."

Three planted his feet on the ground and peered outside, there was only one ship that stood out from the others as larger, "It's gotta' be that one." He said nodding his head towards a massive gray ship that seemed more like a mountain in the far distance. No less than twenty New Order ships and hundreds of soldiers stood between them and the monstrous structure. 

They stared silently for a few moments, it seemed as if no one had any desire to leave the ventilation duct. That was until a large, metal click sounded from behind Three. They turned to see Five, still gripping the bolt of his massive canon. He released it, glancing around the others before simply shrugging and leaning the canon back against his shoulder. 

"Well…I guess Five is ready." Three said.

"Crazy mother fucker." Bacon grumbled, though he could not hold back a slight chuckle. Another moment of silence passed before a wave of light laughter clattered over the radio. It was hard to say what drove the laughter. It might have been the snipers overall calm and ready attitude in the face of what seemed like a suicidal dash, or maybe it was just a nervous laughter. The kind that comes when your body can't even comprehend the danger that you are about to face, so it merely finds the whole thing just humorous. 

"Well fuck it. Let's just do it then." Three said, lifting his feet off the floor. His vehicle crept forward slowly at first, his head swiveling back and forth to make sure there were no immediate dangers. He looked back towards the two other bikes before shrugging his shoulders once more and hitting the accelerator. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Kikata sighed as she watched Prila sift around in the unconscious, or possibly dead, doctors clothes to see if she could find any sort of key. After a few long and silent minutes Prila finally rose to her feet, her furrowed brow telling Kikata that the search came up empty handed. Kikata groaned and turned back towards the far wall. She walked slowly, her hands gripping a white plastic box. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before letting out a frustrated shriek, throwing the box against the wall. 

"God dammit!" She groaned, watching as the box bounced away unharmed. She turned back towards Prila, her brow raising in surprise, "Uh. What are you doing?"

Prila looked up, half her jumpsuit hanging from her hip, her chest completely exposed. She shot Kikata an almost devious grin, "I've got an idea."

Kikata rolled her eyes, "Prila, like I have told you before, I am very flattered for the offer but right now doesn't-"

"No, really I have an idea." Prila insisted, a hint of seriousness in her voice.

"This should be good." Kikata said, folding her arms across her chest. 

Prila grinned again, "Remember way back, the last time you were trapped inside your head."

"Yes, I suppose I remember that pretty clearly right now." Kikata said as she thought it over.

"Do you remember how you got out of your old bedroom?"

Kikata closed her eyes, though in here closing your eyes only gave way to more images and memories. She focused deeply, the images returning to that distant dream. "Oh…" She said softly, her eyes opening back towards Prila, "So…how will this work?"

Prila smiled, "Play with them." She said, opening her arms around her large bosom.

"Erm." Kikata started, her cheeks growing pink, "Can't you just…you know…"

"No! It wont work if I just play with them myself. Come on Kikata this will work."

Kikata sighed but stepped forward, "No one hears of this. Especially not Fisc." 

"It's only you in here." Prila replied.

"Oh…right." Kikata said, forgetting that Prila was merely the Prila that was living in her mind. The image of Prila. She briefly wondered what this meant if her mental image of Prila was so eager for some foreplay, though there was no doubt that the real one would get a kick out of it. She reached her hand forward, fighting off a slight tremble as her hand gently pressed into her friends chest.

"Oh..take your suit off too!" Prila said excitedly, her teeth biting down on her lower lip as her eyes stared almost lustfully towards Kikata, who was now staring back towards her sternly, "Alright, alright fine. Keep your clothes on."

"Thank you." Kikata said, pulling a strand of hair back from her face with her free hand. "So…what do I do?" 

"Oh come on don't you know how to play with a pair?" 

"No Prila I've never fondled a girl before!" Kikata shouted, growing a little frustrated and embarrassed as she held her friends breasts in her palms. 

"Just you know, relax. Rub them gently, maybe play with my nipples. Perhaps even a gentle nibble or kiss-"

"I'll stick to my hands." Kikata retorted quickly. "God you have a dirty mind." She mumbled her fingers rising towards her friends nipple. Her action caused Prila to moan loudly, "Could you not do that?" She asked, continuing to move her hands around Prila's chest. 

"Sorry, no can do." Prila said with a grin, her eyes now closed. 

Kikata shook her head, wondering exactly whose mind was the dirty one if Prila was in fact not real. 

"Mm. Yeah like that." Prila urged, her own hands gripping the sides of her chest. After a few loud moans it started to happen. Kikata could feel the weight building against her palms, Prila's breasts literally growing out towards her. She started to back away as they began to expand out into the room, it was not long before her back pressed into the far wall. 

"i hope this works!" Kikata shouted over the wall of flesh, she turned her head to the side as it soon completely enveloped her in blackness. There was a long moment of silence before a loud cracking was heard. Kikata experienced a brief weightlessness, the world around her flashing so many different colors and designs. Suddenly her back struck a hard surface, her vision instantly flashing bright white. 

"Prila?" She asked into the silence of a familiar long hallway. 

"Um, no." Another familiar voice said with a chuckle. 

"Richard!" Kikata nearly screamed, she turned to see him standing behind her, a slanted grin spreading over his lips as he helped her to her feet. She instantly jumped upon him, her legs wrapping around his waist as she kissed him.

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Richard could hardly hear the quiet chatter of the radio over his ragged breath and pounding heart in his ears. From ship to ship they raced, taking a few moments to plot out their next path before racing across the concrete floors. It seemed that at any moment they might be stopped by a giant foot, or merely be blasted out of existence by one of the towering shadows that swirled around them. But it would seem that fate was on their side this time.

"This is it." Three called in a harsh whisper as they came to a halt next to a ship that could only be described as a mountain. It's hull could fit the entire human fleet several times over it seemed. "According to the blue print there should be an E-140 entrance not too far from here." He said, his eyes scanning over the gray hull. 

"There!" Richard said, his arm pointing towards a green light overtop a rectangular panel. 

The soliders moved towards it, sure enough it was a human sized entrance. "Looks like it's time to ditch the bikes." Three said before hopping onto the ground. 

The others followed his lead, grabbing their equipment in hand.

"Alright. We've got about fifteen pounds of explosives. Let's go blow this damn computer to shit so we can get out of this damn galaxy." Bacon said gruffly. 

Richard walked over towards the panel, his large weapon slung over his shoulder. There was no doubt that this was a neko ship judging by the markings on the small key pad to the right of the door. He thought back deeply, remembering all the times he watched Kikata enter in and out of doorways using this kind of pad. His fingers moved almost blindly, illuminating the small symbols. He held his breath and stepped back, relieved to hear the door grind open.

"It's an elevator." He said, stepping inside. 

"Good work newbie." Bacon replied as he stepped in after him, "You might live through this after all." 

Richard chuckled, "Hope so."