Ayla clutched the EMP grenade in her hands tightly, they had broken open the bridge's weapons locker and divided the contents amongst themselves. Now they were sitting with a handful behind cover while the bridge's remaining crew tried to compensate for them. The captain was still busy talking over the radio while the thick door blocking the entrance was slowly crumbling apart under the sustained fire of grey lasers, the metal glowed red hot and fell off in chucks where they concentrated their beams. She silently wished that she had bothered to memorize some prayer book, something to quell her thoughts in these heavy moments. No sacred words stirred from the depths of her mind to bring her some comfort and relief to the tension, nothing to draw attention away from the soft hissing noise signaling the destruction of their sole barrier between them and the greys.<br/><br/>Within an eye-blink, one of the red beams cut through the door hitting the large screen on the far side of the bridge. An explosion and screams marked the damage done as the thick steel doors of the entrance collapsed, revealing a support drone trying to fit through the entryway, grunt drones stepping between it's legs. Weapons fire went loose as they popped out of cover and unleashed hell at the intruders. The deafening sound of their guns firing deadly spikes at the enemy was replied with laser fire, cutting down one of them while causing more chaos at the bridge's consoles. She rolled out of cover, calling out as loud as she could.<span style="color: green">"NADE!"</span>She tossed it while already running to the next piece of cover, the support drone's left weapon mount taking notice of her and nearly cutting her in two with a red beam of death as she dived for the ground. She scrambled to her feet, the laser cutting through the cover and hitting the spot where she had been a split second ago.<br/><br/>Ayla dashed back into the open, firing wildly with her pistol and completely missing a grunt. Her grenade had neatly tumbled between the Support drone's limbs as it wrangled it's way into the bridge. It exploded just as she dived into cover again, next to another defender armed with an assault rifle. The crackle noise and blue light warned her of the EMP going off. The lights flashed and failed just like the enemy fire did. Setting off an EMP grenade here wasn't the smartest of ideas, but the fried support drone would now provide some cover. She popped out of cover, watching a grunt drone step over it's fallen brethren and quickly ending it with a solid shot to the body. Scout drones swarmed over the wall, renewing the storm of laser fire besieging them. While the assault rifles of the other defenders tore through the machines with ease, there were plenty to replace the fallen.<br/><br/><br/><br/>A laser beam cutting through the wall next to the entrance warned them of another support drone trying to carve itself a way in without suffering the fate of it's destroyed brother. Ayla glanced around, taking in the destruction on the bridge. The grey has manage to blow up some of the panels on the ceiling and walls, trapping or killing a few poor helmsmen. The captain lay dead on his console, apparently killed in the firefight. She tapped the shoulder of the man wielding the assault rifle next to her, and gestured towards the captain's fallen body before looking at him. He nodded and jumped up, providing covering fire for her. Not letting his actions go to waste, she leaped forward out of cover. A quick sprint brought her at the captain's body and she quickly grabbed his comm unit while firing off a few shots at the drones climbing over the support drone at the entrance before rolling back into cover.<br/><br/>She put the comm unit on, calling up the UI that showed her everyone alive in the ship. She parsed the ranks until she found what was likely the highest ranked still living officer. Pressing a button Ayla send the call out.<span style="color: green">"Lieutenant Eckhard? Edmund sir? This is clone HS series number oh-four-one-three, pilot duty from the bridge reporting in."</span>A nearby explosion showered her with sparks, and she scrambled to find another hiding place before continuing, not bothering to listen to his first response. She tried her best to keep her voice calm and understandable despite the firefight she was in<span style="color: green">"The captain's dead and we're under attack. Depending on how much will go our way we might last fifteen minutes up to half an hour if we tried to defend it." </span>She jumped up, changing positions again while taking a few potshots at scout drones.<span style="color: green">"I think we can also try to finish off this squad and quickly evacuate the bridge, but that might cost us the entire ship. You're the highest ranking officer so it's your call, sir!" </span><br/><br/>Remaining in one position to talk finally cost her, while waiting on Edmund's response a laser beam cut through her cover and her, filling her world with pain. She let out an involuntary scream of pain into the comm as she collapsed the ground, leaving a red streak of blood on the panel she had been hiding behind. It had been a glancing blow at best, barely even hit her, yet the beam had cut open her flank and left her with a heavily bleeding injury. She gritted her teeth, trying to remain conscious and focused even as she felt the shock of the pain numbing her. She had to listen to Edmund's orders and give them to the others.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>