"The atmospheric pressure didn't kill me, Vaelric, but your constant stream of naive questions just might," Mavren wheezed, swatting Vaelric’s hovering hands away with a weak, trembling swipe. He slid an inch lower down the iron doorframe, his boots scraping against the grating. "We aren't standing in the middle of a corporate seminar. The security sub-nodes are already resetting. If we don't move, we won't even need a grave; the automated incineration vents will sweep our ashes into the drainage sumps by morning.""He's right," Tazrek said, his hand finally dropping away from his pulse-pistol, though his eyes remained glued to the junction intersection behind them. The enforcer stepped closer, kicking a loose piece of metallic slag out of his path. "The regional circuit reset thirty seconds ago. The moment the central tower logs the breach on Level Nine, this entire sector goes into absolute lockdown. Sealed bulkheads, automated turret fire, the works. If you want to play hero, Vaelr

"I'm not carrying you anywhere," Vaelric snapped, dropping into a low crouch beside the wheezing executive. His fingers hooked under Mavren's armpits with unceremonious roughness, hauling the older man upright despite a sharp gasp of pain. "Because if you die in these shafts, I lose my only leverage against the board. Can you stand, or do I have to drag you like a sack of scrap metal?""My legs work, you ungrateful corporate parasite," Mavren hissed through gritted teeth, his boots finding purchase on the slick iron grating with a stuttering scrape. He leaned his heavy weight against Vaelric’s shoulder, panting heavily. "Just keep moving. If the sub-node alarms trip Sector Four before we hit the primary maintenance lift, we're finished.""Move," Tazrek ordered, stepping past them with his pulse-pistol raised, sweeping the murky corridor ahead with laser-sight precision. The enforcer didn't look back to check if they were following. "The maintenance lift is three hundred meters down th

"Keep your weight off my right side, Mavren, unless you want us both sliding down into the cooling turbines," Vaelric hissed, his boots slipping on a patch of oily condensation that coated the steel floor of the junction. He threw a sharp glance over his shoulder at the aging executive, whose face was pale and slick with cold sweat. "I am not in the mood to haul a corpse today, and if you pass out now, I'm dropping you.""I am not... going to pass out," Mavren wheezed, his fingers digging into Vaelric’s heavy canvas jacket with surprising strength. He dragged his left foot forward, the boot heel scraping a metallic shriek against the grating. "Just—just keep moving. If the automated security bulkheads close before we reach the main shaft, we'll be trapped in this ventilation chute like rats in a trap.""You already are rats," Tazrek’s voice echoed sharply from twenty paces ahead. The enforcer stopped at the intersection of a rusted junction, his pulse-pistol leveled at the darkness of

"Less than thirty seconds before the blast doors seal this entire sector, and you're stopping to admire the wiring?" Tazrek snapped, his hand darting out to grab the collar of Vaelric's canvas jacket and yank him flat behind the junction box just as a burst of high-intensity laser fire scorched the steel bulkhead above them. Molten metal dripped onto the grating with a sharp hiss.Vaelric shoved Tazrek’s arm away, his breathing ragged as he pressed his back against the vibrating cold metal of the wall. "I wouldn't have to admire anything if your former employers hadn't wired every square meter of this maintenance tunnel with automated tracking turrets. Whose bright idea was it to leave the security grid live during an evacuation?""Mine," Mavren wheezed from the floor, his back propped against a leaking steam pipe that hissed a steady cloud of scalding vapor into the cramped space. He coughed, wiping a smear of dark blood from his chin with the back of his hand. "If the security grid

"Stop arguing about who wanted to incinerate us and start running, because the bulkhead isn't going to hold another round of heavy plasma," Tazrek growled, kicking the heavy service door hard enough to pop its magnetic seal with a sharp screech of protesting metal.Vaelric hauled Mavren through the gap just as a blinding white volley of corporate munitions melted the doorframe they had vacated a second prior. The air inside the vertical utility shaft was thick with the reek of ozone, hot oil, and recycled moisture. Above them, a web of rusted ladders vanished into a vertical abyss of humming cables and blinking status lights. Below them, the floor dropped away into a dizzying drop-shaft where automated freight elevators shuttled heavy machinery between sublevels."Up or down?" Vaelric demanded, his shoulder burning where Mavren’s dead weight had strained every muscle fiber. He slammed the service door shut from the inside, manually throwing the heavy mechanical deadbolt just as heavy