I waited till we were out of sight on the nearest camera. Then I stopped walking. The guards stopped a few steps ahead of me. The nearest one put his hand on his firearm.

"Come along prisoner." He ordered.

I jumped on the wall to get altitude to kick him at just the right angle to break his neck. As soon as I touched the ground I tackled the other guard into a wall. He fell to the floor and I finished him off. It took me some time to position his thumb correctly to unlock the fingerprint-coded handcuffs, but I managed to get it done. I took a second to rub my tender wrists.

I was now one step closer to my goal. I took both of the guard?s firearms and stealthily made my way up the corridor. I followed the conveniently placed signs that said ?Hangar bay?. For a moment I almost thought I was going to make it . . . then the alarms started going off.

"Warning! Prisoner 2318 has escaped. She is a 5 star threat. Approach with caution," Blared over the speakers.

"Well that's unfortunate." I groaned. I threw stealth to the wind and ran to the hangar.

Several guards filled the hallway leading to the hangar. They fell into formation and aimed their weapons at me.

"Freeze!" The captain yelled. I ran faster and used the wall to jump over the group. I used magic as a shield to block the shots that followed me.

Dr. Rizens beckoned me from further down the way. Another alarm sounded and a wall began to rise between me and Dr. Rizens

"Come on Commander!" Dr. Rizens urged. I had not even reached the rising wall when it completely blocked him from view. With a hard spring off of a wall, and a twist of the body, I sailed through the extremely tight space between the rising wall and the ceiling. I hit the floor with a thud as the wall sealed behind me. I couldn't stop a "yes!" from escaping my lips. A sound behind me caught my attention. Dr. Rizens had fallen to the floor.

"Doctor!" I scrambled over to him. He had bee shot several times. I didn't have much time to save him, so I quickly reached to tear some material off of my shirt, to create bandages, but he stopped me.

"You don't have time." He said in a surprisingly calm tone.

"It'll take them hours to get through that wall." I argued.

"But the bomb is set for 25 minutes."

I paused as what he said registered in my head.

"Go Commander. Don't let our hard work go to waste." He encouraged.

I felt something inside tear. As much as I wanted to save Dr. Rizens, I had wanted even longer to be free. My choice was clear. All I could really do was keep him from the persecution and torture that would be waiting for him when the guards caught him. I pulled out one of my firearms. His eyes rested on it and he nodded with understanding.

"Thank you Commander. It's been an honor" He smiled.

I couldn't even watch as I pulled the trigger. I had approximately 24 minutes to escape, minus the 5 it would take to take off and leave the blast radius. 19 minutes . . . it could be enough time.

I sprinted towards the hangar. When I entered the hangar bay, I didn?t stop running till I got the third ship. I didn't have time to appreciate the beauty of the silver cruiser. The hangar bay security systems were kicking in. I raced up the landing ramp, through the ship, and skidded into the pilot's chair.

To my complete amazement, the ship fired up on its own! The hangar bay turrents fire was creating a hissing sound on the side of the ship.

The screens inside the ship finally came online. A familiar face filled the main screen.

"AL-E?!" I shrieked.

"Good evening Commander," She smiled. "Disabling hangar bay security systems"

And just like that the hissing stopped.

"Checking all systems" she said.

"Forget the checks. Just get us out of here." I ordered.

"Firing up engines."

"Don't forget the doors" I urged, indicating the huge hangar door that lead from the prison to the huge expanse of space.

"I'm on it." She said

Soon a steady hum signaled the fire up engines. The 3 story hangar door unsealed and opened.

"Let's get out of here!" I urged.

"Yes Commander." Was all she said before we shot out of the prison.

"Incoming prison guard fighters" AL-E said before I could even sigh with relief.

"We're not out of this yet," I thought aloud. Staccato hisses sounded on the side of the ship.

"Engaging evasive maneuvers." AL-E said. "I recommend securing your safety harness."

I fastened the harness and held on. This ship went through a series of twist, turns, and loops, but the hissing continued.

"AL-E, set the ship in manual. I'll fly, you find the nearest hyperspace gate

"I'm on it. Switching ship to manual in 3, 2,1."

As soon as I had control of the ship into a drastically different style of evasion. Apparently the prison pilots weren't familiar with the style, or with flying at all, because before long I had them firing and crashing into each other.

"Nearest hyperspace gate is 100 km down and in a southwest direction, but enemy fighters will just continue pursuit through the gate." AL-E said.

"I will handle them." I growled. I turned the ship towards the star Black Death Prison orbited.

"Commander, the star's gravitational pull with swallow us if we get too close."

"Yes AL-E, I know. I got an A in astronomical physics, remember?"

"Yes Commander, I also remember doing all the research and calculations for you in that class as well," She smirked.

"You just sit back and learn!" I snapped, "I know what I'm doing."

I flew even closer to the star. At the last minute I pulled into a curve parallel to the star. Most of the enemy fighters miscalculated and went crashing into the star. The explosions destroyed the others.

"Enemy fighters destroyed." AL-E reported.

"Good, now let's get through that gate!" I smiled. I yanked back on the ship controls and eased the cruiser out of the star's gravitational pull.

"Prison explosive detonation in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." AL-E reported. I couldn't hear the explosion, but I could imagine an ear shattering "boom" to accompany the brilliant, massive, and fiery cloud that now occupied the spot where the prison used to be.

"Prison destruction complete. Opening upcoming hyperspace gate," AL-E said. The beautiful ring flashed and opened before me. I felt the strong tug of the ship entering hyperspace.