Surprise, We're Already Behind You
After dumping the dead pirate inside the room, we did a quick search of the room itself to find a few weapons stashed away here.
That pirate was probably here to retrieve them which was quite unlucky of him since he came in right as we arrived.
Setting them aside as loot that we will pick up later, I poked my head out, checking that the coast was clear before beckoning to Amber.
She stacked up with me and we crept out of the room and into the corridor.
The place was quiet… Too quiet…
I took a moment to check the map and memorised the route that we needed to take in order to reach the generator room.
We would need to move down this corridor and pass several rooms until we reached the elevator that would have taken us down to the generator floor.
But obviously we couldn't use the elevator since the power was out so we intended to take the stairs instead.
All the doors around here were left open and we checked that each room was empty before we continued.
Huh… There's no one on this floor… That means everyone is gathered in front of the generator room right now?
I guess there's only one way to find out…
We headed towards the stairs and I peeked through the doorway, seeing that each flight of the stairs had a lamp placed on the ground to illuminate the area.
The pirates must have placed them there to help facilitate movement between the levels.
I guess we're going down then…
We stuck close to the wall as we descended the stairs, watching the lower flights of stairs in case there was someone lying in ambush.
Thankfully, the coast was clear so we managed to descend down to the generator level unmolested which presented us with the next problem.
It seems like I was right in assuming that the remaining pirates would be gathered here…
All of them seemed to be gathered in front of a large door that looked thick enough to withstand several bomb blasts and by the charred patches on the door, I would say that the pirates did try to blast it open.
Right now, they seem to be trying to pry it open by using some kind of machine that has managed to slip its 'arms' through the gap in between the doors.
It seemed like it was working as it was very slowly pushing the two doors apart and you could already peek through a small gap towards the power generator room.
All of the pirates were holding their weapons while watching the door slowly slide open, clearly intending on rushing in and attacking Selby whom they must have thought was still inside.
There was also a guy in power armour standing to the side. By the looks of it, I'm guessing he's not rushing in with the others since he wouldn't be able to fit through the gap that the machine was able to open.
The pirate that we killed earlier must have also gone back to the room to get his weapon which he left behind, only to be met with us.
"Come on! Hurry up you stupid machine! We're coming in to get you now you old bastard!!" One of the pirates shouted.
Obviously no response came from the other side since the old man wasn't there.
They obviously thought he was simply cowering inside and that made them even more sure of themselves as the doors were slowly pulled open by the machine.
I took the opportunity to look around, finding that there was plenty of cover in the form of broken furniture and discarded trash. No doubt these were the result of those pirates trashing this place the past few days while trying to open the door.
I turned to Amber and pointed towards the right before I pointed to myself and then to the left.
She understood what I wanted and snuck her way towards the right side of the corridor while I crept towards the left.
"Hurry up, damn it!! We already lost contact with the two idiots upstairs! We just need to get in there and we'll turn this thing around!!"
Huh… So they already know someone else is on the station.
But I guess they expected us to take a while to reach here since the door was closed and under normal circumstances, we might not have been able to get around it at all.
I got into position and nodded at Amber, waiting for her to return my nod with one of her own before I popped out of my cover and took aim at the one who had been shouting.
He must be the leader so obviously I would try to take him out first.
With a slug round already chambered in my shotgun, I pulled the trigger after lining up my sights with the pirate's head.
The round flew out from my barrel and shot itself towards the leader's head.
I was sincerely hoping that he did not have a shield belt but it looks like he actually did have one.
A translucent shield materialised in front of his head and disintegrated my slug round, saving the leader from having his brains blown out.
Unperturbed, I fired again, my shield buster round being my second shot which I prepared in case of such a thing happening.
The leader was still in the midst of turning around to figure out what had happened when my shield buster made contact with his shield, shattering his protection instantly and leaving him vulnerable.
I prepared to fire again but his head was blown open the very next moment, courtesy of Amber.
Almost at the same time, the pirate that had been unfortunate enough to stand beside the leader also had his head blown open, both of them falling towards the ground almost at the same time.
"Enemy contact!!!" Someone shouted, only for Amber to fire her next shot through that guy's head.
The others managed to get into cover except for the guy in the power armour.
He spun around and revealed he had an autocannon in his hands.
My eyes widened at the sight and I quickly dove behind cover right before he fired at me.
The first shell blasted against the top of my cover, destroying a portion of it.
I quickly realised that this wasn't going to be able to fully protect me and I crawled back to change my position.
Sure enough, the second shot from the power armour guy blasted another hole near where I had been, the autocannon shell piercing through it like there was nothing there.
I heard gunshots from the right and I looked to see Amber firing at the power armour guy to get his attention.
That seemed to work and she pulled back to dive onto the ground right before an autocannon shell blew through where she had been earlier.
I quickly switched the next few shots to be slug rounds before I popped out from my cover.
I only needed a moment to line up the barrel of my shotgun with the big target before I pulled the trigger three times in quick succession before I went back into cover again.
Several bullets flew above my head and I heard the heavy thump of something big hitting the ground, no doubt the source of the sound being the power armour hitting the floor.
I switched the shells in my shotgun again and reloaded it with buckshot rounds, waiting for an opportunity to move.
Amber popped up and fired twice before she leapt over her cover to rush towards the pirates.
Woah, woah! Are you serious?!
Ah fuck it!
I also vaulted over my own cover, which made me realise why she chose to rush ahead because there were only three pirates left.
The guy with the power armour was indeed dead with my slug rounds having blasted holes through his chest, neck and head.
The three of them took aim at Amber and tried to shoot at her, only for my blonde haired lover to leap towards the wall to wall run towards the nearest pirate.
The pirate could only widen his eyes in surprise at the unexpected move before Amber kicked off the wall to leap towards him.
He tried to move his gun to point at her but Amber kicked him across the face before he could, sending the pirate spinning away before she shot him in the back twice.
The last two were trying to look for a clear shot at Amber but that left them open for me to blast one of them in the face with my shotgun, his face literally being blown apart by the pellets.
The final pirate fumbled with his rifle as he tried to backtrack away from me while turning to face towards my direction.
I didn't even need to aim at him from this distance and simply fired from my hip, the pellets blasting a hole in his chest and sending the poor guy flying back to crash into the wall to leave a splatter of blood on it.
I then straightened myself and took a look around the place.
Not bad…