[SFAP] Chapter 6:2

This is the second section of the sixth chapter of Sonnets from a Proton. The novel starts here.
The next section is here.


Laurence grabbed Jane and pushed her behind a crate in the corner of the cargo bay jumping behind the next pile of stacked cargo. He tried to take in what he could see. The exit from the bay to the corridor was blocked mostly by civilians trying to flee the bay and a few ship personnel trying to cover their exit. Strangely enough thought Laurence even though everyone on the defending party was out in the open no-one had been hit yet. Either the attackers were very poor shots or they were very good shots. No looking again they must have been very good shots with the number of rounds they were firing it would have been impossible to be that incompetent. From the sounds of it they were firing flechette rounds and if he recognised the guns then they were quite advanced auto targeting weapons. If they were to miss then it was because someone had programmed them to.
The screams of panicked people filled the room punctuated only by the constant fire from the guns of both sides. Slowly the room was emptying, Laurence was trying to hold off until the last second, no point queuing for the exit even if he thought he was safe.
The screams got louder “What was that?” shouted Jane
“One of our men got shot for the first time.”
“That’s bad.”
“No, that’s good, it means they really aren’t trying to hurt anyone, they are just trying to capture the ship without fatalities, his ankle will take a while to heal but that’s it.”
“How the hell can you be so calm?”
“There really is nothing to fear here, we’re even safe from ricochets. In fact as long as we’re not held hostage I think we’re fine, come on we’d better start heading towards the exit, but don’t do anything sudden” with this Laurence grabbed Jane’s hand and edged along the walls of the cargo bay working his way towards the exit.
“They’re pushing forwards”
“I know” remarked Laurence keeping his eyes on the exit “come on we’re almost there.”
They were both a few meters away from the door, Laurence pulled off his shirt and held it out past the last crate
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Trying to warn them someone is coming out without scaring them” he pulled the shirt back in, “Okay on three, three.” with this he threw Jane towards the door.
He grabbed the nearest small crate he could find and threw it across the bay to act as a distraction to cover her then charged through the door himself. “Come on” he shouted in the corridor “Let’s get to safety.”