Risk

<snip>
Cass then thought for a second and said, “Give the grenades to Jaxx and send him in first to make a hole for us as we lay cover fire for him. I’ll bypass any doors and technical problems. Evelina tried to protest but Jaxx interrupted as he replied, “Chill Eve babe we totally did the same thing at the casino robbery.” Evelina reluctantly agreed as Jaxx took the grenades and headed out when everyone was ready.
</snip>

Nimbly zipping out from behind cover, Jaxx zigzagged down one of the aisles between the massive storage crates, his sudden movement drawing fire almost immediately
Several badly aimed high energy blasts seared down from above, charring the deck plates around him where they hit, and forcing the little skutter to take evasive action to escape being destroyed
Dodging wildly as he scooted backwards, Jaxx readied one of his grenades to launch upward towards the top of the nearest cargo crate, but another ill-aimed blast blew the side out of the container nearest to him and threw his aim off, the grenade instead bouncing off the side of crate to rattle down to the floor nearby
“Aw crap” Jaxx wheezed, accelerating as hard as he could back towards where the other Dwarfer’s were waiting, closely followed by a lethal volley of high energy blasts, which scorched their way down the aisle after him
The grenade detonated a second or two later in an eruption of searing white light which completely vaporised a ten metre sphere of deck and cargo crate, the shockwave blasting Jaxx back through the air to smack into the Core's bulkhead, amidst dust and debris, some twenty metres distant
“Jaxx!” Evelina screamed, her hands flying to her mouth as her eyes widened in shock “Oh, God no!”
Her fears though were thankfully proven unfounded as Jaxx, battered and grazed, shot from the rolling clouds of dust and smoke to scoot back behind cover with the other Dwarfer’s.
“Well, that could have gone better” Cass shook her head as the partially destroyed cargo crates toppled and collapsed to the ground with a tortured metallic shriek
Jamie folded his arms and glowered at her “Told you it needed stealth”
Cass seemed to sag at this and, closing her eyes, she bowed her head for a moment as the worried Evelina crouched to embrace Jaxx
“I'm so fucking tired” she murmured as she eventually looked back up at him “I can barely think straight”
“Buck up girl! - That was a bad call!”
“Well, it was worth a fucking shot!” Cass snapped indignantly “But fine, I was wrong! I am sometimes!”
“Look, don’t blame yourself” Jade soothed as another high energy blast made them start when it scorched overhead to hit one of the remaining wardens. The mechanoid toppled wordlessly down from the gantries above, it's head completely missing
“It’s fine” Cass shook her head and took a deep breath “We’ll do it the risky way instead”
She tapped away at the controls on the forearm of her nanosuit and gave the assembled Dwarfer’s a tired half-smile as the suit oozed up and over her head before the stealth field shimmered into existence around her a moment later
“Nice” ‘Phil’ (or whoever the hell he was) nodded in approval as her outline blurred and faded into wraithlike indistinctness
Jamie was incredulous
“How the hell is this approach more risky?” he demanded
“It’s me that’s taking the risk” Cassandra’s near-disembodied voice rose above the bark of renewed weapons fire “I’ll get their attention, you be prepared to move”
She was gone with that; a hazy shadow flitting away unseen in between the towering masses of the cargo crates

The remaining Dwarfer’s waited in breathless silence for what seemed like an age, blasts of energy crackling overhead and casting the gloomy and increasingly smoke-filled Core in a hellish light
“How long has she been?” Jade asked, nervously glancing around her
“Dunno” Jacky replied tensely “Ten minutes?”
“You don’t suppose anything’s happened to her?”
“Chill dudes” Jaxx wheezed “Mrs Jones can, like, totally handle this”
Jade slowly shook her head “She’s not married” she said
“Wha?”
“Cass isn’t married,” she repeated “so it’s Miss or...”
One of the cargo cranes high overhead suddenly rumbled into life, the massive lifting hook descending with a high pitched whine to tear through one of the overhead gantries
“There’s our cue” Jamie yelled as the Core suddenly erupted into gunfire, directed up at the crane as the hook dragged across the top of a cargo container, scattering a posse of escapees who were in turn picked off by the other combatants


<tag>
There’s your distraction – Do you get to the control room, or does something else happen on the way? – What is it?
Who or what is in the control room when / if we get there?
Where is the time drive kept or does someone else have it? – Shall we say that there’s only one or two of the devices left on the whole prison? – it’ll make things more tense if we say that Lindstrom either dismantled the others, or left them as bait throughout history to snare other time travellers. He also abducted thousands of people from across history as well, so not everyone would have arrived with a time drive, meaning that there might never have been many of them kicking around
</tag>