“This can’t be happening.”
Grey Alcivitz was currently locked in a small cell next to her most annoying rival, Erik Zaathen. It was less than ideal. How did she get here?
Four hours ago…
Grey silently padded down the passage leading to the prison cells. Pressed against the wall, she listened for any Korlfs coming toward them. Erik Zaathen was right behind her, breathing down her neck. Gross.
They were assigned a mission together, her and Erik. Why, she didn’t know. Their constant bickering was infamous around the ship and Grey couldn’t imagine who thought this would be a good idea. Their mission was to retrieve a captured agent trapped in a Korlf prison. Easy enough, but she wasn’t sure why it had to be with him.
Grey shook herself out of her thoughts when she heard footsteps down the passage and three voices. She turned around and mouthed “Someone’s coming!” to Erik. His eyes widened, and they both looked around for somewhere to hide. Her eyes locked onto a vent in the ceiling and she motioned to him. He shook his head quickly, but she was already underneath it. She quietly pried the lid open and pulled herself up and into the vent. Erik looked up exasperatedly and reluctantly joined her. Grey replaced the cover and waited.
As soon as the guards passed, Erik began talking in a hushed tone. “We can’t have another close encounter like that,” he said, looking at her seriously.
“I agree,” she said, deep in thought. Coming to a conclusion, she looked up at him. “We’ll use the vent. It leads straight to the cells and we can avoid the guards.”
He turned a bit pale at that. “It’s the only way?” he asked pleadingly.
“Yes, unless you want to get caught. Not scared of tight spaces, are you, Zaathen?” she said mockingly.
He glared at her and raised his chin defiantly. “Of course not. Lead the way.”
She smirked at him and started crawling. It was a little tight, she had to admit. Especially for Erik, who was broad-shouldered. She couldn’t help but smile knowing he was struggling behind her. They crawled for about ten minutes before coming to a stop. In front of them, there was a fork where they could go either left or right.
“Left,” Grey said immediately. “I think I remember this on the blueprints. Left is above the outside corridor, and right is above the cells.” She turned towards him.
“Wait…I think it’s right,” he said. “There’s cells on both sides of the corridor and the left would put us on top of them.”
“No, it’s left. I told you I memorized the blueprints.”
“So did I. It’s right.”
They glared at each other for a few seconds before Grey decided she didn’t want to argue this time. “Fine, we’ll go your way. And if we get caught, I’m telling the commander exactly whose fault it is.”
“Well we won’t, so just keep crawling.”
If the Korlfs didn’t kill him, Grey thought, she would. She reluctantly went right and looked for an exit. She found one and turned around. “I found an exit. You’d better be right.”
“Where?” He pushed past her and moved quickly toward the exit. The vent shook around them at his sudden movements and she tried to stop him before she heard CRACK! He stopped. They looked at each other with wide eyes. In one movement, the vent unhooked from the ceiling. They crashed to the floor, the flimsy metal barely breaking their fall.
Grey sat up, disoriented. She scanned their surroundings. They were inside a prison cell, the vent in pieces around them. She knew they should’ve gone left. Grey looked around until she found Erik lying on the floor. She crawled over to him and started furiously hitting him. He came to, confused and hurting.
“Ow, OW! What the crap, Alcvivitz?”
Grey stopped hitting him. “Nice going, Zaathen. Your brilliant plan landed us inside a prison cell. We were specifically told not to get caught, but don’t worry, Erik Zaathen is so good at his job he captures himself.” Grey walked over and sat against the wall. “This can’t be happening.”
Erik still looked stunned by her outburst. He snapped out of it and whipped his head toward her. “Hey! This isn’t my fault!”
She looked at him so menacingly that he immediately shut up. “This IS your fault, and you’re lucky I haven’t strangled you. Not that it isn’t still a possibility.”
He opened his mouth to say something else when a loudspeaker in the cell crackled.
“Grey Alcivitz. Erik Zaathen. How nice of you to join us.”
