An ArcLance, a stack of Crates and a Kryon Disruptor

Vega clung to the side of the transport as it rocketed down the corridor, her HUD flashing red with proximity alerts. Sparks flew from the grinding metal as the hover vehicle scraped against walls in its frantic escape. Inside, the suspect glanced toward her, smirking as the pilot gunned the engine.

"Persistent, aren't you?" he shouted over the din.

Vega didn’t reply. With her free hand, she unlatched her plasma weapon and aimed for the transport’s stabilizer engine. A single shot could ground the vehicle, but the hovercraft's erratic movements made precision almost impossible. She gritted her teeth and recalibrated her aim, her neural interface assisting with trajectory calculations.

Her ocular implants caught a glimmer of something unusual in the hands of one of the attackers inside the vehicle. Her HUD flagged the weapon. Unknown. It was sleek and angular, emitting a faint blue glow from its barrel, unlike any plasma weapon she’d encountered.

The attacker holding the weapon, a tall figure in dark combat armor, grinned and toggled the weapon’s charge. “Time to test the ArcLance,” they growled, pointing it toward the facility’s structure.

The weapon emitted a devastating beam of concentrated ionized particles slicing effortlessly through walls and support beams leaving behind only smoldering edges and collapsing debris.

CIX, running toward the transport on foot, froze as the weapon’s destructive power became clear. He dove behind a column as another blast turned a nearby corridor into a gaping hole.

“What the hell is that?” he muttered, switching his neural comms to Vega.

“I don’t know. It’s tearing through the building like tissue paper,” Vega barked holding on to dear life “I’m taking it out!”

Just as she squeezed the trigger, the transport banked sharply, sending Vega swinging dangerously close to a low-hanging support beam. She released her hover-cable at the last second, flipping onto the roof of the transport with a practiced grace.

"Vega, status!" CIX’s voice crackled in her ear.

"On top of their ride!" she barked back, steadying herself as the transport swerved. "They’re heading toward the west exit. Intercept them!"

"Copy that," CIX replied, his voice tense.

The transport burst into a wide, open cargo bay, its engine echoing as the attackers below provided suppressive fires. Plasma bolts streaked through the air, forcing agents to scatter. Vega scanned the space, her HUD spotting a waiting shuttle and CIX approaching from the opposite side, his movements swift and calculated.

"In position," CIX said, his voice steady.

The hovercraft came to an abrupt halt near the shuttle. Vega's HUD flagged it immediately as an EX-19-class stealth shuttle—fast, lightly armored, and designed for quick getaways. The attackers had planned every detail of this extraction.

Vega leaped from the roof, landing between the suspect and the shuttle. Her plasma weapon was already raised, the barrel glowing ominously.

"Not so fast," she growled.

The suspect raised his hands in mock surrender. "You’re good, I’ll give you that. But not good enough." He gestured subtly to his team, and Vega’s HUD flared with warnings.

Incoming projectiles.

She dove sideways just as a volley of plasma bolts streaked toward her position, rolling into a crouch and returning fire. The attackers advanced in a tight formation, their weapons set to lethal. One of them —a woman in sleek combat gear and goggles fired a weapon Vega hadn’t encountered before.

A Kryon Disruptor

A trail of shimmering energy came directly at her. Vega’s HUD struggled to identify the attack before glitching it out entirely. Her vision blurred, pain lancing through her skull as her neural systems shut down.

“VI, Fix the transmission” Vega hissed, her voice trembling as her AIBI failed to respond. “VI!”

CIX seeing her stagger, opened fire with precise shots, drawing attention from her.

Vega disconnected her Neural interface with a wave of her hand.

“Going Manual,” she muttered, shaking off the disorientation.

The suspect, meanwhile, was edging closer to the stealth transport, his grin widening. “You’ve been great entertainment, but I’ve got places to be.”

CIX fired a shot that clipped the suspect’s shoulder, spinning him around. He stumbled but managed to close the door anyway.

The shuttle’s side turrets roared to life, spraying suppressive fire across the bay. Vega zigzagged through the chaos, bolts streaking past her. She raised her weapon, targeting the shuttle’s exposed engine, but a transparent energy shield deflected her shot. The shuttle lifted off, its thrusters igniting with a deafening roar.

“CIX, get clear!” Vega yelled, reattaching her hover cable to the transport's undercarriage. The magnetic latch snapped into place, yanking her into the air as the shuttle ascended.

“Vega!” CIX shouted, but she was already out of reach.

The suspect, now clutching his bleeding shoulder, laughed through gritted teeth as he staggered up the ramp. "Better luck next time!"

Clinging to the underside of the shuttle, Vega gritted her teeth against the wind. Without her HUD scanning for threats, this was a huge risk on her part. She noticed an access panel as she landed on the transport being pulled her cable.

“Gotcha,” she muttered, pulling out her plasma cutter.

The cutter hummed as it sliced into the panel, sparks flying. The shuttle banked hard, nearly throwing her off. Below, CIX hijacked a nearby vehicle, a hover-bike, and was in hot pursuit. His neural interface marked Vega’s position as he closed the distance.

Inside the shuttle, the suspect leaned toward the pilot. "Lose them!"

"I’m trying!" the pilot snapped, pushing the craft to its limits.

Vega finally breached the access panel, exposing a tangle of wires. She slashed at the circuits targeting the stabilizers.

The shuttle lurched violently, alarms blaring. Smokes filled the air as it began to spiral. Vega detached her cable landing with a controlled thud onto the waiting hover-bike CIX had expertly positioned beneath her.

"Perfect timing," she said, catching her breath.

"Always," CIX replied, gunning the engine.

The shuttle spiraled out of control, disappearing into the smoke-filled horizon. Moments later, flames erupted, illuminating the sky as it descended.

Vega and CIX slowed their hoverbike, watching the flames in silence.