Game Changer: Day 13

Word Count: 78,016

Summary of Events:

Tekla informed Hawk that the General Secretary had given up on probes and moved on to the idea of hacking into the Sons of Nahash's computer system to transmit the message, which would be followed by an attacking force; they then plotted on how to get Hawk out as discreetly as possible and Tekla got Hawk what he needed — namely a disguise and some codes to get him through doors — which he then used to pretend he'd been attacked by a prisoner who'd escaped, allowing him to be released by the guard, whom he killed and traded clothes with before inputting the prisoner escaped alert code . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Immediately red lights started flashing, horns started blaring, bells started ringing, and Hawk input the second code: 5928, which meant the escapee had killed someone to escape, not just knocked them unconscious.

A guard arrived at the door in moments.

“What happened?” the guard asked.

“I don’t know,” Hawk lied. “I came in here to check on the prisoner and saw what you can go see over there.”

The guard walked past Hawk, who lightly bumped the guard and relieved him of his pistol before leaving briskly, not really being noticed within the chaos that was everywhere.

He got orders from several people and he went and hurried in those directions until he lost sight of those who’d given him the orders, strategically making his way toward the little-used stairwell.

All the sirens and whatnot still sounded loud in the stairwell, but not a single person appeared on the steps, far more people preferred to use the elevator pods than the stairs, which was alright by Hawk.

Reaching the top level, Hawk found the hangar entry as deserted as he’d expected and input the three codes Tekla had given him as prompted. The door opened and Hawk strode inside, where he startled in spite of himself at the sight of a group of guards casually eating off in a corner.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded, as if addressing lower-ranking officers of his unit — which the guards were technically even lesser than. “There’s a fifty nine twenty eight downstairs, they need everyone on the lookout.”

“But we’re in charge of the hangar sir,” one of the men said hesitantly.

“I don’t care,” Hawk swore. “He’s not going to get in here, his hand won’t pass the scan and he doesn’t have the codes, move it!”

“Yes sir,” the men each said as they scrambled to their feet and left their unfinished lunches.

Hawk waited until they were gone before stealing the tastiest-looking of the lunches and eating it. He then hurried over to the nearest marked fighter and got into the loose-fitting ejection suit.

Pressing the button at the top of his breastbone, Hawk watched as the suit tightened to fit closer around his disguise uniform. He then put the helmet on, fitting his mouth over the respirator piece and hopped up into the fighter.

Inputing the code to override the ignition — for which he needed a key — Hawk closed the hatch, activated the deoxygenation, followed by the opening of the hangar door before he shifted to release the gravity and float out, pressing the button to close the hangar door once he’d floated clear of it.

He free-floated for a few moments before quick shifting the craft into forward gear, flicking the switch that turned on the overhead lights to suggest that he was responding to a distress call, and speeding away from the hangar toward Station Ten.