Four Minutes

[STSF Corizon 0]

The doors to the compound slid open and the alarms began blaring. Typical.

 

The door slid shut behind him and a rush of air followed as he moved quickly towards the next hurdle. His long black trench fluttered as the tall, lanky Dameon walked with purpose. The hard, grey-white marble floor beneath him echoed as his well-polished black, knee-high boots smacked them under his weight.

 

He was behind schedule. Four minutes. That was what he had until security showed up and started shooting everything. He had no intentions of dying today, so he’d just have to move a little faster.

 

A hapless guard came out of an office near the lifts. “Stop!”

 

Waap. The poor shmuck didn’t even have time to blink before the dagger had implanted itself in his throat. Corizon didn’t even bother picking up the dagger and continued onto the lift.

 

Damn. The lifts had been sealed shut the instant the alarms sounded. He moved quickly to the stairs. They were locked too, but the pathetic excuse for locks were little match for a solid boot.

 

After kicking in the door, Corizon moved quickly up the stairs, dispatching a handful of men on his way up, mostly they ended up on the bottom of the stair case with broken necks. Some of them lacked throats at the end of their fall, most unfortunate.

 

The top of the stairwell ended the fate of three more guards and another door found itself kicked out of place. There wasn’t time to hesitate. He moved quickly down the next hallway, where three hulking pieces of flesh charged towards him. From his back, he removed the ak-na, that hung from its tabard. Smooth, fluid motions left the bodies of the offenders laying on the ground in several pieces.

 

Four more men appeared from a side room and were dispatching in similar fashion.

 

Two minutes.

 

A third wave emerged from the end of the hallway and started towards Corizon, pulling weapons of their own. Screw it.

 

He covered his eyes and threw the flash grenade. The bang knocked the last remaining resistance to his advance helpless. Normally he’d kill them just for the inconvenience, but he didn’t have time today—they were lucky.

 

The final room had a large glass floor and a dozen laser trip-wires surrounding a silver box in the center of the room. Again, screw it. Corizon marched through the laser field, setting off another half-dozen alarms. Another swift kick from his boots brought down the transparent box around the silver case.

 

One minute.

 

“The things I do for the Emperor…”

 

A moment later he was on his way back down the stairs, dispatching more guards along the way. Time was up and security was arriving at the facility in large numbers. But by the time they’d got into the building itself, Corizon was on his way out the side door to his transport location… the goods in hand.