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Stargate: Those Left Behind Ch. 20

Deviation Actions

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Chapter 20: Jailbreak – Part I

     

     When I awoke, it was to a banging on the inside of my metal coffin. It took me a moment to realize it was me. The clamps that had been holding me had retracted There was a clank, followed by a hiss and the doors that had sealed me in snapped open. I was ejected onto the ground. I felt sore all over, as if someone had just been hammering on my skeleton. I slowly pushed myself up. There was no sign of my allies...or my enemies for that matter. The sun was high over the dome...was it noon? How long had I been out?

     "U-u-upGraDEs comPlete. PoWeRinG sSssssySTems...mY WaRdENnnnnn ha-ha-ha-hassss offered yoU a BRieF respItE. YoUr allies are...moSt uPsEt. They haVe not goNe farrrr. UsE yOur moTion trAckiNg sYTems to loCate them. NeuRal doWnloadssssss wilL proVide yoU wiTh fulL underStandINg of this coMbat Skin. I haVe learned from my MistAkes. ThiS tiME, you shAll be aRmed foR alL eVentUAlities."

     I shook my head groggily.

     "What the hell did you do to me this time?" I groaned, finally managing to push myself upright.

     "I-I haVe maDe...ImPRoveMEnts. YouR rreFleXesssss...yoUr skElEtAl strucTure...anD oTheR miNOr SysTeMS havE beEN...uPgrAded. NoThING rAdiCal I aSsURe you..." said Lucien in a voice that seemed half-gloating, half-reassuring.

     "I'm not reassured." I grunted. I examined my new heads-up display. There was a shield meter, as well as an outline of my body, divided into six segments: torso, limbs and head. I recognized it as a crude damage meter designed to represent the state of my body, though I had no idea how I could know this.

A cold sweat washed over me. This thing was an Ancient A.I. I knew very well that the Ancients could download data directly to their brains. General O'Neill back on Earth was proof of that. As if reading my thoughts, Lucien spoke up again.

     "A fULl uSer ManUAl of yOur suIT and AssoCiatEd teChnolOgies iS beIng doWnloadEd wireLessly to-to-to yOuR neO-coRtEX. Do nOT be AlArmEd. ThE dAta wiLL be diSsEmiNAted thRouGh youR conciousNeSs slOwly, to alLow for accLimaTion anD aSSimIlaTion."

     "You need to stop doing this." I ground out. I was infuriated. What right did this...machine have to go 'improving' me? I could live with the spinal implants and the arm-cast, but those were there to keep me alive, not make me into something else, a tool or a test-bed for cybernetics. Lucien clearly didn't care about my feelings. A few new things popped up in my vision, some small symbols across the bottom, a box at the center of which was a small blue dot, off of which pulsated blue rings. I knew it was a motion sensor, though again I had no memory of being told this.

     It would definitely be useful in the future. Each of the symbols I knew represented an ability of the armor, ranging from infra-sonic vision for zero-visibility conditions to a...neural accelerator that, combined with my boosted reflexes, would provide me with the equivalent of bullet-time. I couldn't help but be impressed. Who wouldn't be? Still, it wasn't easy. This hadn't been given to me. I hadn't been asked if I wanted this. It had all been forced into me because someone else thought I needed it. I ground my teeth.

"NOw huMAn...aRm YOuRseLF. I haVe EqUIppeD yOUr SuiT wiTh a viRTuAl aMMo SToRaGe sYStem, bAsED on the teChnolOgy bEhiNd my DIgiSTruCtor SyStemS anD WRAiTh c-c-cuLLinG BEamS. It wiLL aLLow yOu cArrY mORe A-a-a-ammUniTIon than yOU miGht oTherwiSe be aBle to..."

     I grumbled and turned back to the pod. A section slid aside to reveal a large rifle that reminded me of a fusion of an AK-47 and an M-15 assault carbine, except far bulkier, with the entire front section appearing to be capable of of snapping open like a shotgun. It's barrel was an enormous black cylinder that, upon closer examination, turned out not to be a single barrel, but eight, sandwiched together in a bundle and wrapped in a single carbon-polymer sheathe.

     The more I examined it, the more I understood it...and the more I understood it, the more certain I became that Lucien had no understanding of the word 'Overkill'. This was two guns in one for starters. The top section operated in a fasion similar to what I had heard about Metal-Storm weapons back on Earth, firing stacked ammunition electronically. As if that weren't enough the bullets, which were tungsten alloy, were covered in little grooves like a fragmenatation grenade, designed to increase shrapnel when the tiny cesium/water explosives contained within detonated. They were also designed to trigger seconds before actually hitting the target, meaning every bullet fired was like an airburst shell fired from an anti-aircraft gun or a 'Bouncing Betty' mine. Add to this a firerate of roughly ten-THOUSAND rounds per second and you had a weapon that would EVISCERATE the average soldier in billionth of that time.

     The bottom half was an anti-armor weapon, firing 'bullets' that extended into foot-and-a-half long steel spikes with a depleted uranium core upon leaving the barrel, impacting with such force that it was likely it could nail its targets to whatever they were standing in front of. As if that were not enough, they could be equipped with electro-shock tips, poison barbs, even something I just decided to call 'Thunderclap Heads' that were essentially a scaled-up flashbang in a miniscule package. The blast delivered by one would not only obliterate the target, but stun and disorient those around it.

     A small button allowed for switching between the two systems. A sickle clip fed the lower section while the top did indeed require the weapon's barrel to snap forward so that fresh ammo-tubes could be inserted. It also came with shoulder-strap. When I tried aiming it, testing it, a small crosshair appeared in my vision, tracking with the weapon's barrel as I moved it back and forth. That could be distracting...or not. You never knew. I grinned and flicked a switch on the side that caused the gun to retract from it's full size of about three feet to barely one. It fit perfectly into my magnetic holster on my right hip. If this was my rifle, what else could he possibly have?

     The pistol provided was an elegant device, with a large barrel like the standard service pistols the Genii used and a large laser-sight that apparently could double as a flashlight slung beneath the barrel. The upper section also had curved sections that made it looke like an oval from above A hand-guard was in evidence as well, with a ring around the trigger, meaning it could be spun like a revolver. It had room for a scope attachement and a silencer, which were small and fit easily alongside it in my mag-holster. Best of all, it fired thermite rounds, burning through armor like acid through bread.

     My third weapon was of course, a close-quarters combat weapon, that is to say, a shotgun. It was simple, unlike my other gun, incorporating only a single-shot grenade launcher on the underside that fired thermobaric incendiary explosives and fragmentation shots, as well as more exotic devices such as a corrosive fog-bomb that ate through armor and flesh with ease.

     Once I was armed for ranged combat, and covered for melee by my knives, which I found were still with me, I examined the support package further. but didn't have to look long before a final panel slid open, extending a an arm on which was a plug, one which fit perfectly into a socket on the back of my armor. I turned and allowed it to make a connection. This was, according to my new font of knowledge, to download the energy patterns of ammunition for my weapons into the 'Virtual Ammo Storage' system my increasingly untrustworthy benefactor had talked about. To get what I needed, I only had to raise my left hand and a materializer on the inside of my wrist would generate the required ammo instantly. It was an ingenious system to say the least. For all my anger at Lucien, I couldn't help but be impressed by his gadgets.

     At last the plug disconnected and I was left standing alone on the field of battle, with no one nearby. I looked around for some sign of where my friends had gone. There was none I could read.

     "HOld huMan...I haVe oNe fiNal iTem for YoU." Lucien stated. New information flooded me as I turned around and saw the side of the support package open one final time to release a small floating sphere. I stared at the little machine. It made me think of Luke Skywalker's Remote in Star Wars. As information about its capabilities was uploaded into my brain, my impulse to laugh died in my throat and was replaced by the same kind of awe I had felt when understanding of my new suit and weapons had been imparted to me. It was a free-floating flashlight when you needed it, and unlike a cloaking system built directly into my armor, it wouldn’t fail if I began taking fire. It also meant I didn’t have to sacrifice space or my shield to have a cloak either.

     Generally, when I had encountered cloaks in the past, they sacrificed defense for stealth. You could have a shield or you could have a cloak. You couldn’t have both, because both shields and cloaks used the same system to be projected. Technically you could have a second system for the cloak, but that was redundant and took up space, not to mention energy. Furthermore, you couldn’t fire while cloaked. The power drain of discharging a weapon system was usually too great and the cloak collapsed as soon as you pulled the metaphorical trigger. This might not have been the case with missiles, but then, no one had ever bothered to check as far as I knew. The bottom line was that you could have a cloak or a shield, not both.

     This little do-hickey though…it gave me the advantage of both systems…and it could shoot anything larger than bullets out of the sky if they were aimed at me. That meant my own personal anti-rocket defensive system. I grinned like a kid. It was like somebody had been reading the secret Christmas list I drew up in my head every time I was being shot at. And to top things off, it had a coolant system that rendered it invisible to infra-red scans when cloaking like the invisible assassin androids I had fought earlier on.

     It didn’t need to do the same for me though. It’s cloak was based on the Puddlejumper’s, meaning it dampened heat, among various other detectable emissions. Of course it was fragile, having no shield of its own, but then it was fast and maneuverable, and my being able to remain undetected, survive damage and so-forth, on top of my other new abilities meant it was likely I would be able to eliminate any threats before they could get a clean shot at my little floating friend. To top it off, it could link up with my weapons and provide laser-guidance for those that need it.

     Before I could reach out to touch the device, Lucien interrupted my train of thought.

     "T-t-thheeeeeeeeeeeeeee the hyDroLoGiCal PoWerrrrrr fAcilIty is leSs thaN twO kiLomEtersss froM youR poSitioN. ProCEeD wiTh aLL hAsTe."

     His words brought me back to reality. If I was going to get off this planet, I needed help, and that meant more than a little personal guardian. I sighed and shouldered my shotgun. This was going to be a long walk.

    

     As it turned out. It wasn't as long as I feared it would be. As I reached the peak of the ridge that bordered the far side of the meadow, opposite the direction I had approached from I spotted my allies, trudging along seemingly aimlessly in a random direction, specifically the wrong direction in relation to the little blue waypoint that Lucien had provided to mark the dam's location.

     "Illidin, this is Ford. Can you hear me?" I asked, opening a comm-link with a thought as I had before in my old suit. The new one wasn't incredibly different in design, possessing roughly the same aesthetics, but it seemed sleeker somehow, more streamlined.

     The response I got for my call was deadpan, speaking of considerable ire behind it.

     "Captain," Illidin stated. It wasn't a question. "How nice of you to wake up."

     "Listen, I understand you're angry. My behavior has been...less than well-thought-out."

     "That is putting it mildly. Ever since we landed on this planet you have been acting like you have a death wish." he growled.

     "And I'm calling to tell you I do not. Now, I have led you into situations you might not have come out of alive if it hadn't been for my luck."

     "Many of those situations were the result of poor planning to start with."

     "Oh for-....Illidin, what did I teach you two days after we met?"

     "No plan of attack survives first contact with the enemy. That is not a sufficient excuse for your rash behavior."

     "Look, do you want to get off this planet or not!?" I exploded.

     "I do, but if you are asking me to trust you, it is hard to do that when you persistently and needlessly put your life at risk, not to mention ours. If your are dead, then you cannot help us. If we are dead, we cannot help you."

     I sighed. He was right. I couldn't afford to keep reading from the O'Neill playbook forever. My karma...or luck or whatever you wanted to call it, only ran so far. I couldn't afford to rely solely on it for protection.

     "Alright...alright." I said patiently, "I got you into this mess. It's going to be me that gets you out. Let's start over." I raised my hand over my head.

     "First of all, you're going the wrong way. The dam is off to your left. Second, turn around and you'll see me I'll meet up with you in a couple minutes and then we can survey the terrain. Lastly, set your communications on open channel. We should all be able to talk to each other." There was a pause and for a second I feared he might refuse. But Illidin, for all his anger at me, trusted me still it seemed.

     "Very well." he said.

     "Good, and this time I promise, we go in together."

    

     We met as promised at a position halfway between our former spots. Deadfall was, as ever, unreadable, though even moreso now than ever before. I couldn't get anything out of her. Was she angry about Chainbreaker? Was she fed up with my lunatic tactics? Or was she resigned to this crazy venture she had been dragged into? I couldn't tell.

     Lennann had retracted her helmet and looked livid, but stayed silent. Prism too was tight-lipped on her mood, though she did look more resigned than angry. We didn't say anything to each other. Instead we just started walking, the group of four following me at a reasonable pace. In the end, it was the sound of engines that broke the silence, not voices raised in complaint. Personally, I would've like the latter. I didn't want to be the one to break the ice, which by then had sunk in and become permafrost. I wanted to try and bring them round, but hadn't the faintest idea of how to do it.

I looked to the distant, metal horizon presented by the nearest wall. It was illuminated by afternoon light and in that light I saw the worrying shape of another one of Xerkses' advanced dropships, sharp and vicious like a knife cutting across the sky. I swore. Couldn't the universe ever give me a break? Well, the answer was of course 'no'. Where would the fun in that be?

     "We need to speed up." I said. The area around us was becoming more riddled with rails and things like hangars overgrown by dense vegetation. I turned to the two Transformers.

     "Am I right in assuming you're not equipped for combat in a jungle environment."

     "Yes. We are skyborne. Our specialty lies in aerial assaults." Prism said.

     "Alright, then I need you to hang back and engage any aircraft that try to approach our position. Move in and hit them hard, then retreat before they can fight back. Don't depend entirely on that tactic, though. The bad guys seem to be learning."

     "We will do our best, but we cannot hold back the enemy forever."

     "That won't matter. As soon as I disable the dam, I expect a massive amount of reinforcements."

     "And this is all promised by your 'benefactor'?" Deadfall asked. It was clear she didn't entirely believe it.

     "Even if we don't get reinforcements, we'll have liberated a whole bunch of your people. If you can get them back on their feet, then they should be able to help us last long enough to find a way off this rock."

     Deadfall's stance indicated she wasn't entirely convinced, but I didn't need her to be. I just needed her to follow my orders.

     I beckoned Illidin and Lennann over.

     "You two, keep up with me. We've got only a vauge idea of the terrain and we need be on the lookout for a good spot to survey the area. Once we've got a general idea of the lay of the land, this'll become much easier."

     Lennann hadn't closed her helmet, meaning I got a first hand look at her expression of contempt softening. Clearly my suggestion of tactics was having some good effect.

     Without further ado, Deadfall and Prism transformed, launching themselves into the air and screaming away into the distance. To my relative joy, the shadowy outlines of the enemy ships turned to pursue them. I tuned my comms to them and delivered some final orders.

     "Keep in contact. If you're in trouble, seek cover or fall back to the Package."

     "The what?" Deadfall inquired.

     "The big white thing that dropped through the dome. It's a support package from Lucien. If all else fails, I'll bet there's something in there that'll help you."

     "Very well."

     Then I turned back to my remaining companions.

     "Let's get to higher ground. I'm going to forward you the waypoint. It'll be a little blue dot in your vision. If it's annoying, don't pay too much attention to it, but keep going in that direction. That's our objective. " I explained, doing as I said I would without exactly understanding how I did. Lennann's helmet snapped closed as I spoke.

     "I see it." Illidin said.

     "Good, now let's move." I answered.

    

     We moved at a brisk jog, keeping an eye out for anything that might prove to be a threat. It was somehow easier for me without the giant robots around. Their ability to loom over you made it hard to focus, even when it was clear they weren't doing it on purpose. We continued for some further ten minutes. My companions thankfully neglected to comment on the little white ball hovering over my shoulder. I wouldn't have known what to say.

     When we finally reached our objective, it was with some surprise. I almost fell over the cliff edge, what with all the tall grass and trees that were now blocking out the visibility. My motion sensors were still functional thankfully, meaning nothing had been able to sneak up on us. I used the handy zoom-function in my helmet to examine the canyon that would soon be a battlefield.

     The dam, for a dam it was, presided over a somewhat swampy region filled with ruins, possibly from some previous battle. The crumpled remains of buildings were rife with trees, moss and vines that linked it to the walls of the relatively shallow canyon. A scan using to the faculties provided by my helmet, in combination with the zoom I was already employing revealed much to me, none of it good I let out a groan of irritation.

     "What is it?" Lennann asked.

"It looks like we're expected. I've got patrols down in the swamp and along the top of the dam. They've got tanks I think, not to mention some of those bat drones hovering over the areas where the canopy is densest."

     "Is this going to be another Feather-Head Incident?" Illidin asked, his voice revealing his despair. He was referring to our only other brush with jungle combat, which had happened shortly after he had come aboard. Our quest to save the people of Iguazu from slavers had been...unpleasant, and bloody. Mostly for the enemy, but for me too. No one likes the sensation of being hunted, especially when it's you that's supposed to be the hunter.

     "No." I said nonchalantly, "No, this looks like it's going to be better and worse. For one thing we're armed with the kind of technology that would have the Wraith running in circles like headless chickens. Unfortunately, we're not fighting Wraith."

     A scan with infra-red/sonar-imaging was ineffective over this distance, so I had tried simply scanning all frequencies for chatter. The super-computer that was part of my vestments had shortly triangulated dozens of high-speed wireless connections, all in movement down in the the green gloom below.

     Instead of focusing on enemy placement I decided to try and take things one step at a time. First order was to find a way down. I turned to Lennann.

     "Okay, we need to find a way to get to the dam with a minimum of fighting and a maximum of stealth."

     "I don't see how that's possible." Lennann grumbled, "The sides of the canyon are far too steep to slide down. We have nothing to rappel down with and we'd be spotted if we tried."

     I examined the landscape further. farther down the stream from the dam, what I had taken to be sheer cliffs were, on closer examination, the remains of other, even larger structures, sunken halfway into the mire. beneath them, the terrain was not quite a swamp and not quite a river. There were pools of stagnant water, yes, but there was also a stream flowing down the middle of the canyon, in between the shattered structures. Trees and fungus of all sorts blanketed everything. I pressed a hand to my forehead.

     “Alright, let's try something else.” I said, and mentally activated a communications link to my benefactor.

     “Lucien, I need a way down to the dam. Right now I've got no idea how to deal with this situation.”

     I received no answer.

     Suddenly I was very, very nervous. Until now, Lucien had been the only thing providing me with directives, a goal, any sort of plan. Now I was on my own, just when I had begun to gain the trust of my friends back. I swore under my breath, then turned back to my allies.

     “Alright, listen. As far as I can tell we're on our own for now. Before you ask, no I can't get ahold of my...'benefactor'.” I said, responding to Illidin's question before he could ask it, as well as practically spitting the word 'benefactor, “He's not answering the phone, hell knows why.”

     I leaned out over the edge of the cliff, and to my great surprise received a measure of good news along with the bad. Lennann had been wrong about there being no way down. It was about eighty or ninety feet to the canyon floor, but it seemed that where we were standing there were the remains of structure piled up against the rock wall. With a little patience and luck I could make it down, but I could also see that the largest concentration of the enemy forces was nestled in the mess of ruins not too far from where we would land. We would have to sneak or fight our way through what appeared to be a mess of enemy androids, possibly with drone support. The instant any one of the robots was killed, the others would know, and we'd buried under sheer numbers.

     In desperation I turned to my suit to try and come up with a solution.

     Calculating Infiltration Vectors...

     Seconds later, a rough overlay of the canyon appeared, with several dotted lines tracing from my position, through the ruins, all converging on a single point, a tiny structure at the base of the dam, near the canyon wall on the far side. I dematerialized the map and zoomed in on the spot indicated, eager to see what I had missed that my armor had not. It turned out to be a small platform, with a set of stairs. Several gun emplacemetns surrounded it, all apparently automated, since I couldn't see any operators.

     Beyond them was a door, under an overhang. A door meant a way in. This was good. It was a shame I couldn't thin out the enemy forces. I should have requisitioned a sniper rifle instead of a shotgun. Maybe when this was over I could...

     I turned back to my companions.

     “Ok. I have a plan...sort of.”

     “Do tell.” Illidin said. I could hear the sarcasm in his voice.

     “There's a way into the dam on the far side of the canyon. The key is getting there without attracting too much attention. Now before you go poking holes in this, I know, we don't know much about the terrain, and you're probably have a difficult time managing those suits, but trust me. I can get us there. Also, yes Lennann, there is a way down besides falling.” I said, adding the last part before its target could speak, which she looked ready to do. There was a long pause. I decided to break it before it got too long.

     “We're almost through. Once this is over, we can rest. All we need to do,” I said, pointing at the dam, “is bring that down.”

     There was one more pause. Then Lennann spoke.

     “I have one request.” she said. I nodded.

     “Don't do anything stupid.” she stated coldly.

    

     It was easy enough to get down, as I predicted. It was simply a matter of slipping from one ledge to another without anything collapsing. This too was easy, beacuse despite their overrun state, the remnants of past constructs were all sturdy. Only the edges had suffered any meaningful damage from the elements. Their frames held sturdy.Because of this we reached the canyon floor without any incident. Through the foliage I could hear the sound of clanking feet and engines of some sort.

     “Keep away from water.” I said over the secure channel I had set up, “Any splashing gets seen and we'll be dead in less time than it takes a Wraith to feed.” I pointed to the little spherical drone that had accompanied me all this way.

     “Don't go to far. I can get this thing to cast a cloak of invisibility over all three of us but it has its limits.

     I sent a command to my little guardian drone. Instantly we became transparent, the faded into the background. It's interesting trying to move when you can't see your extremities. It took a moment to get used to, but I was good at placing my focus in touch. It was a skill the Hidden had taught me. After I had broken from the Wraith Enzyme, I had be filled with self-doubt, a creeping sensation that I couldn't trust my own senses.

     The monks of the high monastery had helped me overcome that by testing me, providing me with trials that taught me to trust my body and mind again. This was almost like the one that had involved navigating a corridor filled with obstructions blindfolded, again and again until I could do it without blundering about like a newly blinded cripple. In this case, I couldn't see myself, but I could see my environment. The reversal somehow made it far easier than the actual test.

     I took a moment to mark each of my allies on my helmet's display, then sent similar data to them.

     “The red dots are your markers.” I explained hurriedly, keeping an eye on the gray arrows only I could see, which marked, to close approximation, the rough source of the signals I had spotted on the cliff.

     “For what?” Lennann asked.

     “For each other. Don't let them out of your sight. As long as we stay in about three meters of each other, we'll be undetectable. Stray too far from the drone and you'll be seen.” I explained. I swept the area with my shotgun. Suddenly I found myself craving a silenced SMG as well as a sniper rifle. The weapons I had made a lot of noise and I found myself wondering if I had been armed with them just to make my job harder. There was a rumbling off to the right, a sound that made me think of a tank...a very big tank.

     “Let's move. Follow the blue dot.” I said, marking the door with a waypoint.

     We began to move, step by step, through the dense jungle foliage. It was difficult. Memories of the unpleasant effort to protect the Feather-Head tribe boiled in my brain. The ground was soft, which made me wonder if our footprints might give us away. There was no time to dwell on that though. The objective beckoned.

     The first sight of the enemy I caught was of a lone android, wading through a pool of water, sweeping the green gloom. I took a moment to look overhead. A bat drone and a a device that resembled a disc with a fan at it's center, plus some maneuvering manifolds. Lining every part of it were glittering eyes, gleaming points of green-blue light, each projecting a thin beam that moved independently of the others. It was made for a single purpose: to find enemies and mark them for destruction.

     “Hold position.” I hissed over the channel. Immediately we paused. The buzzing whine of the Finder was the only sound besides the android's sloshing. Lasers quested over the plant-life and ground. I thought about tossing a rock, but thought better of it. Distractions like that don't work against intelligent opponents that well. Maybe animals, but this was a machine. It's a lot harder to fool a machine than, say, a dog. After a minute of scanning, the Finder turned roughly to the west and buzzed off, it's bat-like companion following, circling like a vulture. The android turned back, retreating towards the mess of gray arrows back the way it had come, moving with the same plodding precision as before.

     “Okay, clear. Let's move.” I said. I took a step forward. Nothing jumped out at me. Once again my luck had held.

     My thoughts about that changed when I reached the destination. When I saw what I had somehow missed from my survey above, I let out a curse under my breath.

     The platform that fronted the doorway was surrounded by water. It was a shallow pool, but more than enough to give us away should we try to cross it. I sucked in a breath.

     “Okay, change of plans.” I whispered.

     “What now!?” Lennann hissed back.

     “Take a look at the ground.” I shot back. There was a pause, followed by a curse.

     “Exactly. I don't see a way around.” I said. I cocked my shotgun.

     “Get ready to run.” I said.

     “Isn't there some other route?” Lennann asked, sounding desperate.

     “Lennann, I'm pretty sure we've got one chance to get in. You've been with me for a long time. Why are you suddenly expecting everything to work out for the best?” I shot back. Before she could form a response, I continued,

     “I tried my best to make this work smoothly. Things are not in the hands of the Ancestors. They're in the hands of chance, and chance screws everyone equally.” I thought back over that last statement.

     “Okay,” I admitted, “Maybe not equally, but you get the idea.” I marked the objective more specifically now that we were closer.

     “On the count of three.” I said, “One...two...THREE!”

     I dropped the cloak.

     To my great surprise there was no immediate reaction. It took a full five seconds for the gun emplacements to finally spot us. By then, were on the move, running towards the brief flight of stairs up to the platform. I ran as fast as I could, keeping an eye on my feet so as not to trip in the mire. When the gunfire did start it was loud and large. Big orange bolts slammed into the pool, raising geysers of steam. By then I had gained the stairs with Lennann close behind, Illidin bringing up the rear. He leaped the last few feet, escaping the guns' killzone by a narrow margin, a blast impacting just where he had been standing. He landed at the foot of the stairs and dashed up it.

     The guns, upon losing their targets, powered down, but were soon replaced by androids who came swarming out of the dense brush. By the time they started shooting, I was past the stairs and making for the door.

     Activating Electronic Warfare Suite...

     I could now see that beyond the doorway was a corridor. At its end was a gated niche, an elevator.

     Tripwire Defenses Disarmed...Stand By...Elevator Access:Granted...

     “ThE fACilIty iS sTIlL fuNCtiOnAl, hUMan...aRE you aLWayS thiS sssLow?” blared the voice of Lucien suddenly and unexpectedly. I was so surprised I stumbled, nearly falling, and almost colliding with Lennann who was right behind. I dived through the door, dashing towards the elevator which was already sliding open. The taunt, for there could be no other way to take it, shattered whatever vestiges of trust I had in my invisible aide. Of course, you didn't have to trust someone to follow their orders. I didn't think on it further, leaping into the elevator and dropping to one knee as I spun to face the enemy. Lennann slid past, followed by Illidin, who was firing blindly back over his shoulder. He fell backwards into the niche, his back against the wall, still firing as the gates slid closed and we began to rise.

     “Cease fire!” I shouted. Illidin let go of the trigger. I breathed a sigh of relief.

     ALERT: Hostile Data Signatures Detected

     I sighed again in annoyance, then pumped my shotgun.

     Stand By....

     There was a sudden whine and the lights went out.

     “Well...fuck.” I said to the darkness.

     “Captain, what is going on?” asked Illidin, returning to his feet.

     “What is going on is what is always going on: things are going downhill.” I growled. I checked that I had a shell in the chamber of my gun, then looked up at my floating, silent, spherical ally. It had followed me into the enclosed space, ducking to avoid the ceiling.

     Stand By....Unsealing Secondary Doors...

     Quite unexpectedly, the back of the elevator slid apart to reveal a hallway, low-lit with a lower ceiling. It screamed bunker with every trapezoidal strut that supported the roof.

     “What now!?” I grumbled with exasperation.

     Elevator Functions Suspended by Remote Access...Calculating Alternate Route to Projected Objective Location...

     A new map appeared over my vision, tracing short, yet somehow dizzying path through what was clearly and underground structure of immense size. We were currently on the edge a massive complex, composed of hexagonal shafts like a beehive. There were eighteen shafts, three on each side of a central, massive chamber of the same shape, which was open like a cavern....or a prison.

     Suddenly, somehow, I realized what I was looking at. I was on the outer edge of the incarceration facility I had been seeking, at the edge of the cell block nearest to the dam that powered it. A line traced through the dizzying web of corridors and shafts that stretched throughout the base.

     I took a step out of the elevator, looking around at the hall. It was dark, like the elevator, approaching the nearest door, which was big and heavy enough to be labeled as 'blast'.

     Stand By...Override Attempt: FAILED...Retrying...

     There was a clank and a hiss. The huge door began to slide open. I looked over my shoulder at my two compatriots.

     “Come on. They're trying to cut us off, but there's another way up.” I said beckoning them forward. They followed, grudgingly, wary of the relative darkness we now found ourselves in. I turned back to the door. Beyond was a chamber, about sixty feet across and a hundred long. On the left side was a large cargo elevator with a platform the shape of a hexagon, mounted on a diagonally-sliding rail that took it up a shaft about forty feet to another chamber that I could not see.

     The elevator of course was the focus of my attention. It was a way up and out of this ridiculous detour I found myself stuck in. I pointed to the elevator with two fingers.

     “Get on board. Be on the look out for anything out to get you” I said, then dashed for the platform, ducking from one spot of perceived good cover to the next. There were large crates of who-knew-what and massive, quad-tracked tanks sat silent on pads. Was this a repair bay? Or was it something else? I didn't know, I didn't care, I just wanted to blow up this fucking dam and get out of here. We got aboard the elevator, which my suit immediately hacked with ease, raising us upwards as a moderate crawl. As soon as the movement began, An alarm began to sound.

     “Be ready for company!” I warned my colleagues. I didn't need to wait long. I had barely spoken the words before a gaggle of standard androids, accompanied by five or six of the angular robots that had attacked us at the pylon and something new. It was, for all intents an purposes, a spider-tank. Supported by four, multi-jointed arms, its bulky body held a pair of automatic assault cannons on either side of its barrel-like central section, belt fed and equipped with laser sights. It also incorporated a pair of missile racks on its back.

     Instant they spotted us, they opened fire. I took cover behind some black barrels, firing into the crowd as they spread out to find cover. I ducked back behind my cover and flicked my left wrist. One second later a small black canister marked with purple edges had flickered in existence in my hand. I popped open the grenade-launcher on my shotgun and loaded the thing. Then, after drawing in a breath to steel myself, I spun our from cover, firing shells again at the spots that looked most likely to provide cover, then launched my grenade at the quadrupedal tank.

     The fragmentation grenade, for that was what it was, exploded in a direct hit. At first there was silence in the wake of the blast, save for the lift, that would soon take us out of range of the machines. Shortly before it did however, I saw the smoke clear and the spider-tank still standing, protected by a wall of energy being projected from a lens in its front. I turned away from the scene of thwarted destruction towards my destination. We were three quarters of the way to the top.

     The chamber I had been unable to observe before was just a storage room, with a big and heavy door across from the elevator, which was sliding open. Beyond was a large walkway, and to the right, I could see the waters of the dam. It was full, and mirrored the design of Earth dams that I had seen, with two towers set behind the main wall, linked to it by large walk ways.

     New information bubbled up in my brain-stem. Inside those towers were staircases leading down to the turbines. The machine would be easy to sabotage. Jam the the intake and the pressure would build up until the whole fucking thing burst. Not only would the primary systems of the dome shut down, but the remaining ones would be on emergency power, not nearly enough to hold in the prisoners. How I would do that I didn't know, but it seemed I was close to the end of my latest journey.

     “Head for the towers!” I shouted. In that moment, two of the new and improved dropships like the one that had assaulted me back at the pylon thundered overhead. Enemy reinforcements, no doubt about it. I took off at a dead sprint, pumping hyper-accelerated buckshot into anything that got in my way. A Mark II android vaulted a barrier to my left and was severed at the torso by a pull of the trigger. I jumped over it and kept running, Lennann and Illidin providing covering fire even as they ran behind. I spun briefly and spotted one of the dropships trying to come back around behind us, tilting its side up to fry us with it's belly-lasers.

     In one smooth movement, I dived sideways and fired, the shotgun driving into my shoulder as I went full-auto, the high-speed flechettes sparking off the ship's shields. A lance of golden fire burned a trench into the metal deck where I had been standing. I was at the edge of one of the walkways that led out to the nearest tower.

     “This way!” I shouted over the mic in my helmet, beckoning my two companions towards the pier. I felt a metal hand grab me by the shoulder and haul me around. An assassin drone had me and had its blade-arm drawn back to spit me. There was a brief struggle, but I managed to get my gun between me and my opponent, finally shoving it back with armor-assisted strength. It hit the nearest railing, flipping over it and sinking like a rock into the murky water. Acting on instinct, I fired a few rounds at the apparently empty air in the direction from which the robot had approached. A second machine materialized out of thin air and flew back against a nearby concrete barrier, hydraulic fluids erupting from its back, a foot-wide hole now gracing its chest plate.

     I dashed for the tower, plowing through a third invisible opponent, which I gave an undirected shove that rewarded me with a splash. Another machine into the drink. I vaulted over a handrail, ran up some stairs and found myself in front of my goal. I put a shell into the Mk. II that blocked the door seconds later, sending it crashing back against the railing behind it. Lennann was right behind me, now at the base of the stairs. Apparently she had run out of ammo and discarded her old weapon, relying on a pistol. I'd need to get them to come back to the upgrade package later, if it was still there and if it had anything to offer them.

     “Hold your position! I'll be back in...twenty seconds.” I said, then scrambled through the open aperture and ran to the left. The square interior of the tower was a shaft forty feet deep with four flights of stairs wrapped around the sides. I was on the third when I started, meaning I had only two to descend. The center of the room was dominated by a huge metal drive-shaft, which was linked to a turbine set into a pit at the base. My Heads-Up Display marked a set of angled supports pressed up against the shaft as 'Stress Points', which I simply translated into 'weak spots'.

     A door on the second landing opened and three Mark II robots rushed out, firing in short controlled bursts with a new kind of rapid-fire railgun, one which kept the rows of small tubes along the upper section, but which was also more compact and light. I could also see they had some form of pistol with a large body and a big grip-guard I fired at them, forcing them back through the door before they could take aim and cut me down. However, they had complete control of the landing I had to get to. I looked over the side of the one I was standing on. It was thirty feet to the bottom, with a landing on top of a transparent barrier that kept the turbine build into the floor safely enclosed. The support struts for the drive-shaft divided the barrier into six sections. I could try sliding down them like a fireman, bypassing the second floor and keeping the column between me and my opponents. The trouble was, I'd have to face them if I wanted to use the stairs to get back up...

     I rolled my eyes, then leaped over the railing, seizing the nearest support with one hand, then used the suit's built-in safe-landing system, which consisted of a magnetic field generator which slowed my descent through some process that had the word 'ionization' in it. I didn't care what it meant, but the result was that a nearly invisible bubble of rippling air manifested around me an I fell at a quarter of the speed I should have. I decided to take advantage of this and as I went past the second landing, I peeked around the side of the drive shaft and fired my shotgun down the corridor the robots had emerged from. It caught the one standing in the middle in the chest. I heard it collapse as I landed, carefully balancing on the arch of the support that split up the transparent barrier over the turbine. I slid down this to the floor of the chamber, then dropped the shotgun and wrapped my fingers around the part of the support.

     Now came the hard part. With an almighty twisting motion, I pumped all the juice I could into my armor's strength-boosting systems. Carbon nano-tube fiber muscles and servo-motors, among other machinery I couldn't name, all chipped in, so after about five seconds of resistance, there was an ungodly groan of metal under stress and then a shriek as the support came free, shattering the transparent barriers on either side of it. The drive shaft sagged, but not enough to be a problem, so for good measure I delivered the strongest kick I could muster to a point about a quarter of a way up the support that had been to the right of the one I had just cracked.

     It bent into a shape that was nearly a right angle and suddenly with a horrendous roar and shuddering the drive shaft sagged down and crashed into the turbine it was turning, jamming it in a shower of sparks and metal. I leaped backwards, seizing my shotgun as a door behind me opened with a his. I wasted no time, spinning around and pumping more super-buckshot into the Mk. II that came through. It got off a few shots, and I felt the sting of several high-velocity slugs ricocheting off my shield, which dropped to sixty-two percent under the brief, but sustained burst.

     As the thing collapsed, the lights went out and small red glows replaced them, emergency lighting. I grinned. Mission...mostly accomplished. The second half of that though came through because I realized that there was water building up around my feet from a dozen leaks that seemed to have sprouted all over the room. I ran for the stairs, loading a frag grenade into the launcher on my shotgun. As I reached the first landing I fired it at the second without even looking. I heard the shriek of dying machines. I had been lucky. The machines had tried to take advantage of the darkness to make their way out onto the walkway and down to where I was. Unfortunately for them, they hadn't been fast enough.

     I ran up the stairs as fast as I could, leaks springing up everywhere I set foot. The turbine jam meant that pressure was building on the dam's structure. I didn't have long before the whole thing burst and flooded the canyon beyond, taking me and my friends with it. As soon as I got to the third floor I dashed through the open aperture I had entered by, looking around for my allies. I didn't have to look far. The androids on the surface had apparently called in reinforcements and I had to duck down to avoid having my head removed.

     Illidin and Lennann were crouching behind concrete and steel barriers, blind-firing over their cover to try and stave off the enemy. I cracked open my launcher and procured an EMP grenade. I knew, from the information bubbling up out of the dark place at the top of my spine and the base of my brain, that the androids were hardened against severe damage from electromagnetic pulses, but it would knock them out for at least a minute, enough time to hopefully make a run for the elevator that had brought us up here.

     “Be ready to run!” I shouted to my compatriots.

     “Run where!?” Illidin shouted back.

     “Back the way we came. The dam's going to come down any second!” I replied. As if to emphasize my words, the deck beneath my feet trembled and I thought I heard the sound of hundreds of tons of concrete cracking. Rather than wait for anything else to go wrong, I popped out from cover and fired my EMP. There was a flash as it hit the ground behind the cover the androids were using.

     I joined the Air Force at 18. My first sergeant was a man named Laurence Sykes. He wasn’t like the drill sergeants you see on TV, the ones who scream and bellow at the recruits. He was actually pretty soft-spoken. But he could kick your ass in the sparring ring with both hands behind his back, and didn’t tolerate disobedience. If you screwed up, he could deliver a verbal lashing that should’ve left scars. I wonder what he would've thought of me as I charged out of cover straight at the enemy. I had done this several times already today, but this was the first time I had considered that it might not be a good idea.

     Fortunately it wasn't much of a problem. Together, my friends and I ran out onto the pathway that ran along the lip of the dam, dodging between robots that stood as if nailed to the spot, frozen like wax dummies. Sparks and little arcs of electricity ran up and down their bodies. I didn't stay to watch, but took the time to fire some shells into the ones closest to me as I rushed past. We were almost at the elevator when there was an explosion behind us. I looked over my shoulder and saw a quad-treaded tank on the far side of the dam. It was equipped with a rack of missile launchers and a very, very big cannon. The white streaks from the missile tubes told me it had just fired...and missed, judging by the smoking craters the rockets had blown in the ground more than fifteen meters back from Illidin, who was bringing up the rear. I grinned. Too little, too late.

     The ground shook again. I turned back to the elevator. The smile dropped off my face. The escape route was no longer open. In the time I had been gone, the enormous lift had gone down and come up again, bringing fresh reinforcements. I spotted the quadrupedal spider-tank from earlier, making its way down the metal path towards me, firing as it did. I looked around desperately for another escape route. I looked down. A crack had appeared in the deck beneath me. I was almost out of time.

     To my left, further down the canyon, I could see specks hovering towards us, rapidly becoming discernible as dropships. I wished desperately for a zipline, a grappling hook, some kind of means of extraction. But Sykes had taught me that wishing never got anything done, so as I wished, I kept looking around while pouring buckshot into the enemies rushing to attack my front, expecting at any moment the sound of the dam breaking or the robots I had blasted with the EMP rebooting and trapping me between their fellows.

     I expect I would've been very, very screwed were it not for the sudden roar of a pair of missiles from overhead. They slammed into the quadrupedal tank, overcoming its shielding and blasting it apart. A silver arrow streaked overhead. It was Deadfall. Right behind her was the green and yellow outline of Prism. Together, they looped around and fired a second volley into the dam behind us, where the robots I had disabled were coming back online. Not bothering to pause and thank my saviors, I ran headlong down the path to the edge of the dam, trying to keep my feet as the great stone edifice began to crack, rifts the length of subway trains erupting along its outward face, spraying plumes of water hundreds of feet. I saw the walkway begin to sag.

     “Run!!!” I screamed at my friends.

     Then the dam exploded.

     Tens of thousands of gallons of water overcame the structural integrity of the huge wall, causing it to rupture along the faults that had formed. The sides were relatively untouched, but the center was blown outwards in a raging torrent that swept down the canyon like an avalanche in the mountains. Nothing that wasn't firmly rooted to the ground was spared. The ruins that had filled the place were either swept away, or stood firm against the onslaught. I was lucky enough to see the tank that had shot at us go down, it having advanced down the pathway to the point where it was caught up in the collapse and subsequent deluge. The wave tossed it like a toy, smashing it to pieces against the cliff face. I stood and watched in awe, my friends only turning to join me in observation once they had reached the safe spot I now occupied, less than twelve meters from the elevator.

     “Score one for the good guys.” I muttered.

If you think I'm making Ford over-powered, you ain't seen nothing yet. I haven't even had him face of with a proper enemy yet. And remember, his foes grow ever-more advanced. If you don't keep up in an arms race, you're disqualified by, as Seymour Simmonds put it, double-tap to the cerebellum.
© 2014 - 2024 Vadrigos
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