by Dave Lemel
“Sup?”
“Did you not use the last of the explosives you brought when we were on the space station?”
“I used that whole bag. There’s another in the trunk. If we have to improvise more when we get there, then we improvise. You know the place pretty well, right, Foggen?”
“I am familiar with the base. I spent the vast majority of my time in this solar system aboard the Henrietta or the orbiting facility, however.”
“You know it well enough though, right?” Jack’s brow furrowed. “And you have military training too.”
“That is not entirely accurate,” Foggen replied. “I am an engineer. My area of expertise is in transport vehicles.”
“What about you?” Jack turned to face Jasper behind him. “You have any kind of training like your brother?”
Jasper shook his head. “Nah, man. Simon was always the one with that drive. I’m more of a free spirit. Just kinda go with the flow, ya know?”
Jack’s jaw slacked open as if, when trying to form a follow-up question, it had frozen in place.
“Relax,” said Li. “I have your back, Jack. Just keep that huge head down when we are sneaking on to the base. It is a massive target. Like a watermelon on a stick.”
Jasper laughed heartily as Jack turned a bit less pale and a bit more green.
Jasper’s laugh halted as suddenly as it had started. “Whoa,” he said, looking past Jack and out the windshield.
Jack spun to see what had stopped Jasper’s laughter. Pillars of black smoke streamed upwards into the gray skies on the horizon. Ships zipped through the columns of smoke from every direction, slowly spreading it out into a cloud that covered much of the base beneath. Red pulses, golden pulses, and flame danced all over the land and through the cloud.
“Stay attached as long as possible for cover,” said Li. “Once you do break off, stay as low as you can and swing out wide to fly around to the other side.”
“Understood,” replied Foggen as the massive Bopecan ships began to decelerate and descend.
“Hold on,” Li said. “Just a little more.” The ship they were attached to dropped sharply. “Now, Foggen!” Li tapped him on the shoulder. “Break off and accelerate.”
Foggen detached the cruiser and banked hard to the north as they released and pulled away. The large Bopecan ships landed and launched a heavy volley of golden pulses toward the base. The blue and white cruiser skimmed tree tops. Foggen slammed the thruster, rocketing them toward the northern edge of the base.
“Further away from the base with your path,” instructed Li. “We do not want to pick up a tail.”
“Too late,” Foggen replied. “Tracking us from the lake side there is an approaching vessel, current trajectory directly at us.” Foggen rolled the cruiser and pulled straight up. A pair of bright red pulses whizzed by. “Incoming from below as well.” Jack squeezed his eyes shut.
Li pointed over his shoulder. “Use the smoke.”
Foggen aimed for the nearest pillar of billowing black smoke and sped straight for it. The cruiser plunged into the thick cloud and dove straight down through it. As they neared the ground, he ripped them back out of the column then looped straight back up and into it once again. This time something followed them in.
“I think he tracked us,” Foggen grunted as he yanked the controls and the cruiser exploded out of the black smoke, accelerating rapidly towards and then over the lake. The glinting red saucer in hot pursuit tore out of the pillar in their wake, giving chase.
“Something is in the water!” yelled Jasper, staring wide-eyed out the back.
Seven large ships exploded through the surface of the lake, eclipsing the base behind them. The Vikard fighter attempted to avoid them, failed, and burst into a brilliant flash against the underside of the Bopecan vessel as the shiny red saucer disintegrated from the sky.
Foggen looped the loop and rolled just as they came over the top. He adjusted their trajectory downward at the bluff, decelerated, and softly touched them down amid a cluster of young birch trees.
“You are a good pilot,” Li said as he clapped Foggen on the shoulder.
“I’ll say,” added Jasper.
“Thank you,” Foggen responded. “I always did enjoy flying. When the time came for me to choose my path between pilot and engineer, it was a very difficult decision.”
“You can open your eyes now, Jack.” Li tapped the tall man on the arm. “We’re on the ground.”
Chapter 33
“This is it.” Lombargnor wrapped the long fingers of his four gloved hands around rungs of an old rusty ladder and began climbing. “That landing above us,” he paused his climb and pointed with one of his two left hands, “has a hatch that leads to a sub-basement underneath what is identified as the lowest level on all the maps or floor plans of the headquarters building.”
“Where are the access points from that level to the main basement?” asked Todd.
“There are four. One at the northernmost point, one easternmost, one southernmost, one westernmost. The building is rather large, and the idea was to have at least one of the access points to the sub-basement in range at all times.”
“Where does this hatch put us?” asked Sasha as they all climbed off the ladder and on to the landing. “In respect to the overall building, I mean.”
“Very near the southernmost access point. The thought was to place this hatch at the center, but Todd’s grandfather Abe pointed out that this location would be functionally far superior for two reasons. One, the tunnel it accessed, which we just used, ran south out of the grounds. And two, the center of the headquarters building, as you are all now aware, housed an escape vessel that required a route out of the building if the need ever arose. Once he learned the craft could function underwater as well as in air, he proposed the tunnel into the lake idea. It was brilliant. He really possessed a knack for the little things in a design that made big differences in the functionality of a structure. Gifted man.”
Lombargnor entered a sequence of commands into a pad embedded in a structural support for the landing. Above their heads the hatch made a loud “click” sound. He reached up and yanked two levers. He then grabbed a handle at one edge of the hatch. He pulled downward, and the hatch opened all the way down to the landing, revealing a small ramp.
“So, since we needed the center for the escape tunnel for the briefing room ship, moving this here made even more sense.”
The four ascended the ramp as dim lights kicked on in both directions of a widely forked hallway. “I am pleasantly surprised these lights still function,” said Lombargnor, turning off the illuminated portions of his suit as well as one of his gloves. “To my knowledge, nobody has been down here in decades except for essential maintenance.”
“What now?” Sasha looked down one path, then the other. “We have zero intel on what they’ve done inside H.Q. How do we decide the next access point to use?”
“That is a very good question, Mission Commander Cain. When this level and that tunnel were constructed, they were designed with the intent that the user would be going the other direction. The potential need for use as a means to infiltrate the base in this manner was not a priority.”
“We’re under the southernmost edge of the building right now?” Sasha looked up at the ceiling in the hall.
“Correct,” Lombargnor replied.
“And you said there’s an access point to the main basement from here?”
“Correct again. It is right above us.”
“Then we go up here.” Sasha pointed along the ceiling as she continued. “Whole southern wing of the building is offices for researchers and record keeping. There’s a battle going on outside. Why would there be a large presence in those offices? Especially the basement levels below them? It’s mostly storage.”
“I concur.” Lombargnor nodded and grasped the rungs of a ladder built into the wall beside him. “Quiet once I open that door. If memory serves, it leads to a pocket under the floor pane
ls. Hopefully, the room above those panels is empty, but that is not a certainty by any means. Wands out, everyone.”
The three nodded in reply as they ejected wands into their hands. Lombargnor began climbing. At the top, he slid aside a panel in front of his face, revealing the pocket. He climbed up and in. Once all four had made their way into the small chamber, Lombargnor whispered, “Here we go.” He pushed up firmly on the panel above them and slid it cautiously to the side.
All four popped their heads up over the edge and peeked around. It was pitch black in every direction. Lombargnor turned his glove lights of one of his right hands on and slowly rotated three hundred sixty degrees.
“Looks like rows and rows of huge storage lockers,” Simon whispered.
“It is.” Lombargnor pulled himself up and into the room, then reached back down, offering a hand to Simon. “I do not even recall what was put in them.” Simon took his hand and jumped up into the room as well. He promptly turned to offer his hand to Sasha, who slapped it away and lifted herself up over the edge.
“I don’t need your pity just ’cause I’m preggers. I got this.”
“Damn,” said Todd, chuckling as he jumped up beside her.
“Well sorry, honey. I ain’t preggers, and I took Lombargnor’s hand for a lift. No offense intended.”
“That’s ’cause you’re weak. No wonder you couldn’t hit a curveball.”
“Hey! Ouch.” Simon covered his mouth. “Sorry that was too loud,” he whispered as Todd laughed harder.
“No,” said Sasha before planting a kiss on his cheek. “I’m starving. It’s making me crazy. I’m sorry.”
“This way,” Lombargnor called from the end of the row they had emerged into from beneath. “I see the door to the hall.”
The three humans and their hover droid briskly made their way down the aisle to catch up. At the end they could see the silhouette of Lombargnor approaching a door with light peeking through from the bottom threshold. As they neared him, he cautiously pulled the door open. A brightly lit hallway with doors every so often at regular intervals lining the sides led to a wide stairwell at the far end.
“Marshal Cain, if you would kindly instruct the hover droid to cloak itself and lead the way.” Simon did as he was told, and Shelly shimmered before turning opaque as she zipped down the hall toward the stairs.
“Up we go,” said Lombargnor, striding out through the doorway.
Chapter 34
Jack gazed upward through the tree tops at the sky as it darkened, day giving way to night. Flashes of gold and red blazed in every direction, and ships of all shapes, sizes, and at different altitudes zipped by right along with them. A tug on his arm pulled him out of his trance.
“Come on.” Li gestured up the slope. “We need to get up there and start blowing stuff up.”
Jack nodded and tapped the rear of the cruiser. “I need that other bag.”
Foggen slid back down the side of the cruiser and opened the large compartment at the back. The pod containing Ben dominated the space. He located Jack’s sack jammed into a corner and pulled it out. After handing the bag to Jack, he stared at the pod, tapped it twice, and then shut the trunk.
Foggen began climbing the hill. “Did anyone get a good look when we flew over at what kind of defense we can expect to encounter on the ground?”
Jasper and Jack shook their heads as Jack slung the sack over his shoulder.
“Looked like most or all of their ground forces were focused on the other three fronts,” said Li. “I did not notice any vehicles or soldiers along the border facing the lake.”
“There is significant video surveillance of the entire perimeter. Including this bluff, actually.” Foggen slipped slightly on the slope before catching himself and continuing. “We will need to move rapidly through the fence and find some cover within before determining our first targets. Hopefully, their security forces are currently too distracted to notice our tiny group.”
As Foggen neared the crest of the hill, he dropped to the ground and crawled the final few meters to the ridge. The other three followed suit, and once at the top, they lay on their stomachs with a view of the outer fence a couple hundred feet away, as well as a portion of the base’s interior beyond.
“See that large building just past those runways?” Foggen pointed with his wand. The other three nodded in reply. “That is the cruiser hangar. The walls are not thick. Cutting through them with wands would be very easy and quick. I think we should run for the fence, cut through that, then run for the exterior wall of the hangar. We cut our way in through there, and then Jack can plant a few explosives. From there we work our way through the base.”
Jack and Jasper’s heads nodded in succession, but Li simply stared, blinking occasionally at Foggen. Finally, Li spoke. “You said the perimeter is monitored.”
“That is correct,” replied Foggen.
“We will certainly be spotted just running up to a fence and cutting through it.”
Foggen turned his focus back to the base before turning once again to Li. “I’m an engineer. This is not my area of expertise. What do you suggest?”
“A better plan would be good.”
“We do not have the luxury of time to craft the perfect plan at the moment. We must get inside and begin our assignment as quickly as possible.”
Li scanned the visible base perimeter from right to left, then back again. “We need a distraction. For cover. A focused distraction in this area of the fence. That would give us a window to use that distraction and hope that whoever is watching this area does not notice a few people quietly cutting the fence. Simple misdirection.”
Li reached a hand out to Jack. “Give me one of the explosives.”
Jack unzipped the sack and fished inside. The sky above burst into a bright reddish flash of brilliant light. The foursome snapped their heads up to find a cruiser-size, gunmetal gray fighter rolling out of control as it plummeted toward the Earth. It rolled faster and faster as it neared the ground and tore into the tundra, violently digging through and ejecting chunks of turf. It cut a deep gorge through the ground as it went and finally sliced right through the fence corner, where it turned at its northernmost point. Its momentum finally ceased, and the ship stopped its destructive path.
“Will that work?” asked Jasper as his head snapped back from the crash to Li.
Li shoved the small explosive back at Jack and scrambled to his feet. “Ask and Li shall receive,” he shouted over his shoulder as he took off for the fence.
Foggen and Jasper followed as Jack fumbled the sack, re-gathered it, and finally raced after them. Foggen immediately began cutting upon arrival at the fence, and by the time Jack joined them was just completing his work. He made the final cut, firmly grasped the inner part of the semi-circle, and ripped it out of the fence. The four took turns crawling through the hole and then bolted for the exterior wall of the cruiser hangar ahead.
“Down,” Li spat out between heaving breaths as he laid flat in the grass along the building. “We can cut from down here and crawl in.”
Foggen got to work with his wand while the other three kept watch.
“Two vehicles are converging on the downed fighter,” Li stated calmly. “You may need to stop until they are gone. That wand is really glowing as it cuts.”
“Done,” Foggen replied, and he rolled to his backside then kicked in the freshly cut panel. The four slithered through the opening and tucked up against the nearest object they could find. As they all leaned into the cherry-red star marshal cruiser, catching their breath, Li held a finger over his mouth and whispered, “Shhh.” He pointed toward the interior of the massive hangar. “Someone is in there.”
Jasper and Jack nodded. Foggen scooted up to the front corner of the cruiser and peeked around it. He scooched back and whispered, “Mostly Vikard ships of fighter class in here now. Just a few cruisers remaining. I spotted one Vikard far across the hangar. It is fairly open space overall in here at the moment.
Very few ships, I assume due to the battle currently in progress outside and overhead.”
Across the road, in a large room on the third floor of the headquarters building, the battle-scarred face of the Vikard leader peered out at the grounds of what used to serve as Star Marshal Base. Dow strode over to the southern-facing window of the three long windows along the walls of this particularly large office. He laughed heartily as a wounded Bopecan fighter nose-dived and crashed into an armored resistance vehicle that had been retreating from the fence line.
The door to the office opened, and he turned with a maniacal grin. “Update?”
The Vikard that entered saluted. “The battle in orbit is quite balanced to this point. The temporary loss of full communication abilities gave them an advantage at the outset. We have evened things out since regaining those abilities. The battle on the planet surface, however, is heavily in our favor. The only penetration through our perimeter is three humans and a Bopecan who accessed the base through the fence along the eastern edge at the top of the bluff. They then cut their way through an exterior wall of the hangar we have been housing our fighters in.”
“Show me,” Dow responded as he approached. “My appetite for joining the battle was just beginning to peak. I will gladly deal with our intruders.”
The other Vikard pulled a small cylinder out of the breastplate on his red armored suit. He pulled at a tab on one end, splitting the cylinder into what looked like a scroll. He then stretched the two halves, revealing a screen. “Play feed from fighter hangar. East facing interior camera.”
The interior of the cruiser hangar appeared on the screen. The other Vikard pointed to a spot at the bottom of the far wall. “There is the hole they entered through.”
“Where are they now?”
The Vikard holding the stretched screen manipulated the camera remotely from a small control at the side of the scroll. It zoomed in on the cherry-red cruiser. “They were behind this vehicle as I headed up to this room.”