by Knox, Barry
Combat Control Center, SRS Stephen Hawking
1835—February 21, 2372
“Captain, Stephen has updates from the S-TIC,” Ensign Young reported.
“What are the updates, Stephen?” Mary asked.
“Captain, intercepted communications are reporting Doctor Kastriva missing, and his guards were killed. Also, the envoy team is attempting an escape,” Stephen answered.
“Ensign Young, contact Sergeant Tidwell. Advise him of the envoy team’s escape and have him relay the message to Captain Neubauer,” Mary ordered.
“Yes, sir,” Ensign Young said as he prepared to send the message.
“We’ve created some excitement down there,” Mary said with a grin. “Let’s see how the CTU is going to react.”
“Stephen, have you completed our escape scenarios?” Mary asked.
“Yes, Captain. I’ve formulated forty-two escape plans based on all possible situations that may be occurring when you order the ship to leave the system,” Stephen answered.
Marine Extract Team, Canton Mie Biosphere
1840—February 21, 2372
The extract team was approximately half way to the breach when Captain Neubauer received the encrypted burst message from Tidwell. Sending a halt chime, the team stopped in an alley and hid behind a garbage container. Neubauer disabled his armor’s camouflage and took off his helmet. The other team members did the same. Dr. Kastriva sat, breathing hard, trying to catch his breath while he looked at the faces of his rescuers.
“I was just informed that the envoy team has escaped, and we’ll assume they’ll make their way to the breach point,” Neubauer whispered to his marines and then added. “Doctor, are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” Kastriva answered between breaths. “Where are we going?”
“We’re headed for a VTOL that’ll take us to an orbiting ship,” Neubauer said.
“Why did you come for me?” Kastriva asked.
“Again Doctor, all your questions will be answered on the ship. My responsibility is to get you there,” Neubauer said with a smile.
“Gunny, when we reach the breach, set up a defensive perimeter while we wait for the envoy team. I’ll have Kindle take Doctor Kastriva to Bernice while we wait. If we run into any trouble that we can’t handle, Tidwell can leave with the doctor and pick us up later,” Neubauer said as he looked at Xia.
“Yes, sir,” Xia said.
“Okay, let’s get to the breach,” Neubauer said.
The team placed their helmet’s back on and disappeared.
Science Division Building, Canton Mie Biosphere
1845—February 21, 2372
“Kill you?” Gideon asked the guard. “What’re you talking about?”
“Not actually kill me but make it look like you’ve killed me,” the guard said, then pulled her helmet off.
Gideon was right, the guard was a woman.
She began to explain. “I’ve wanted to join the GFF for years, but I knew if I just deserted, the CTU would kill my family in retaliation. If you could help stage my death, I could join the GFF, and my family will be left alone.”
“I’m not following you. What is the GFF?” Gideon asked.
“It’s the Gliese Freedom Fighters resistance movement. It’s now planet wide, and this is my chance to join without harming my family,” she answered.
As she spoke, Gideon noted the young woman’s dark hair and fair complexion. He mulled over what she was saying and then asked, “If I agree, how can you help us?”
“I can get you a change of clothes and out of this building,” she answered.
“Agreed, but I suggest you not double-cross me or…” Gideon raised the weapon higher toward her head.
“I’ll help you. Don’t worry,” she answered as she used her right hand to push the muzzle of the weapon away from her head.
“What about your friend I knocked out?” Gideon asked.
“He’s a loyal CTU subject,” she said with disgust. “I suggest you tie him up and leave him. We need to get out of here fast.”
Gideon turned to Commander Steward and asked, “Commander, could you find something to use to tie up the other guard after you’ve finished putting his armor on?”
“Already taken care of, Lieutenant,” Commander Steward said with a smile.
“Where to, Sergeant?” Gideon turned back to the guard.
“There’s a maintenance room further down the hall. I can disable all the alarms from there. Then we can make our way out undetected. And, by the way, I’m Staff Sergeant Thompson…Carrie Thompson.”
Seconds later, Commander Steward was wearing the other guard’s armor and was ready to go. Dr. Harper and Dr. Jones were on their feet—in shock but ready. “Lead the way,” Gideon told Carrie.
Carrie led them down the hall, and before she rounded a corner, she stopped and said in a whisper, “The maintenance room is right around the corner, and there’s a surveillance camera over the entrance. I suggest you push me around a bit in an attempt to make me open the door. When I refuse, hit me in the head with the weapon, blast the door open, and take out the surveillance camera.”
“With pleasure,” Gideon said.
The envoy team rounded the corner, and Gideon shoved Carrie toward the door. “Open the door!” Gideon demanded.
“No!” she replied.
Gideon used the butt of his weapon and struck her on the jaw. She fell to the floor as blood began flowing from her mouth. “Open the door, or I’ll kill ya” Gideon said as he pointed the weapon at her head.
“You’ll have to kill me, Earther; I won’t open it!” she replied and then spat blood.
Gideon turned around in an instant, blasted the door open, and then destroyed the surveillance camera over the door.
“Was that too hard?” Gideon asked Carrie as he reached down to help her up.
“No, that was about right,” she said as she wiped blood from her mouth with an armored hand and stood. She then entered the maintenance room, followed by Gideon and the rest of the envoy team.
“There are standard uniforms in that locker,” Carrie said. She then pointed at a small locker in the corner of the room and sat down at a communications console.
“I can disable all the building alarms and monitoring systems from here,” she said as she began working.
Gideon watched as a display indicated systems being turned off floor by floor. Meanwhile Commander Steward had Dr. Harper and Dr. Jones slip the standard gray CTU citizen uniforms over their blue mission uniforms. As soon as they had finished, the commander grabbed another gray uniform and threw it to Gideon. Gideon slipped the gray jumpsuit on as he continued watching Carrie work.
“Her hair is too long, and she can’t wear those glasses,” Carrie said as she looked at Dr. Jones over the console display. Using her right hand, Carrie reached behind her neck, pushed her hand under her armor, and pulled out a knife. She gave it to Gideon.
Gideon smiled as he took the knife and passed it to Commander Steward.
“I’d at least like my knife back after you’re done with it,” Carrie requested.
“Sure,” Gideon answered, now trusting her a little more.
“You heard what the guard said. We’ve got to cut your hair so you’ll blend in with the CTU population,” Commander Steward said as Dr. Jones resisted him by taking a few steps back.
“Please, Heli, let him cut your hair,” Dr. Harper begged.
She stepped forward and closed her eyes. The commander used the knife and quickly cut her hair to the standard shoulder length of all CTU women.
Dr. Jones then took off her pair of glasses and put them in a pocket. She squinted a bit in an attempt to adjust her vision.
“The alarms and surveillance systems are off. Follow me,” Carrie said as she stood.
“In a minute,” Gideon said as he sat at the communications console. “I want to send a message to my ship and set up a diversion that’ll help us get away.”
; “We don’t have time for this. I’ll have to give you access codes and…,” Carrie replied but saw that Gideon was already on the CTU communications network and quickly accessing all types of systems.
“He’s some kind of genius,” Commander Steward explained with a smile as he offered Carrie’s knife back to her.
“If you say so,” she responded as she took the knife and placed it back in its sheath in the armor behind her neck.
Gideon first sent an encrypted message to the vigilante S-TIC he had planted earlier. He commanded it to send a secure message to the Stephen Hawking, stating that the envoy team was headed to the breach points for extraction. They would start with the closest first. Gideon then programmed the S-TIC to send false CTU security messages that the escaping team had been spotted on their way back to their VTOL at the spaceport. Recalling the drive from the spaceport to the CTU building, Gideon selected the street name and building he recalled from memory as he programmed their decoy escape route that would be reported. In fact, the team would be headed in the other direction to the first of the possible breach points.
“Okay, done,” Gideon said a minute later and turned to Carrie. “Let’s go.”
Carrie put her helmet on and began to lead the team out of the building. Gideon followed closely behind her, holding the weapon to her back. He didn’t fully trust her yet.
Carrie walked down corridors toward the center of the building. They soon reached a small hatch located on a center wall of the seventeenth floor. She moved her right forearm, which contained an access chip, over a scanner embedded in the wall beside the hatch. The small hatch slid open. “This is a communications cable maintenance-access hatch. The cables run down to the basement of the building.” Carrie said.
Gideon stuck his head in the hatch and looked down; small biochem light panels spaced every few meters gave just enough light to see the cables. Gideon noted a ladder running parallel to the cables. It would be a tight fit, but it looked like they’d be able to use it to get to the bottom floor.
“Lead the way, Sergeant,” Gideon said as he motioned Carrie to enter the hatch.
Marine Extract Team, Canton Mie Biosphere
1900—February 21, 2372
The extract team made it to the biosphere breach without being detected. Xia immediately deployed Gault and Manelly into defensive positions as Captain Neubauer materialized, took his helmet off, and helped Dr. Kastriva into an environmental suit.
“Doctor, I’m going to open the breach. I’ll close it as soon as you’re in, and one of my men outside the biosphere will take you to a waiting VTOL. Do you understand?” Neubauer asked as the doctor seemed confused again.
“Yes, I think so,” Kastriva answered.
Neubauer sealed the doctor’s environmental suit, opened the breach hatch, and helped him in. As soon as he was in, Neubauer closed the hatch behind the doctor. “Kindle?” Neubauer transmitted on the platoon channel.
“Sir?” Sergeant Kindle responded from outside the biosphere.
“Doctor Kastriva is in the breach. Get him out and take him to Bernice. As soon as he’s secure, take off his environmental suit and bring it back; we’ll need it to get the envoy team to Bernice.”
“Yes, sir, and if my math is correct, we’re still going to be short a few environmental suits,” Kindle added.
“Maybe so, but hopefully Commander Steward and Lieutenant Klaxton have already thought of that,” Neubauer said.
Kindle, kneeling beside Joseph, materialized. “Sipes, I’m taking Doctor Kastriva to Bernice. Stay here and wait for orders.”
“Got it. Stay here and wait for orders,” Joseph repeated.
Kindle walked to the breach, opened the breach hatch outer door, and helped Dr. Kastriva out.
“Doctor, can you follow me on your own, or do you need assistance?” Kindle asked over a private com channel to the doctor’s environmental suit.
“I can make it,” Kastriva responded.
Kindle led the way, and they started toward Bernice. “Captain, we’re headed to Bernice,” Kindle reported.
“Good. Get back as soon as possible. Hopefully the envoy team will be here by then,” Neubauer said.
Joseph, realizing he was alone, became a little nervous. He closed his eyes and remembered his dream. He was there to save people, and that was what he was going to do.
***
“Gunny, how long are we gonna wait for the envoy team?” Gault asked.
“Till they get here, Gault!” Xia responded with a hint of annoyance in his voice. “You know better than to use the communications channel to ask stupid questions. Maintain combat silence!”
Captain Neubauer overheard Gault and couldn’t help but ask the same question himself. How long should he wait? He thought for a few moments and knew he’d wait until Captain Bowser ordered him back. He wasn’t going to leave one of his marines behind unless ordered, and then he would have to convince Xia to leave. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.
Science Division Building Basement, Canton Mie Biosphere
1900—February 21, 2372
The envoy team made their way down the cable maintenance shaft into the basement. The basement was packed with CTU vehicles parked in a row and neatly packed pallets of various type of equipment. The ceiling was crisscrossed with pipes and cables. No CTU soldier or citizen seemed to be in their general vicinity of the basement.
“What next?” Gideon asked Carrie in a whisper.
“There’s a ramp leading to an environmental support building. In that building there’s an outside exit,” she answered.
“Okay, we’ll go there,” Gideon said.
“You know…,” Carrie began, paused, and continued, “if we run into anyone down here, it’ll look strange that you, a mere CTU civilian, have a weapon and I don’t.”
Gideon thought for a moment, pulled the power pack from the weapon, and handed the unpowered weapon to Carrie. Carrie smiled as she took the weapon. “I guess you don’t trust me?”
“Not yet, and by the way, if we run into trouble, I want the weapon back,” Gideon said.
“Sure,” Carrie responded with a grin, and started walking toward the environmental building ramp.
They walked several meters until they reached the ramp. No one seemed to be in the basement, which surprised Gideon. He checked his watch, and it would be twenty minutes until the S-TIC would start reporting false locations of the team. As they walked up the ramp, the team heard faint voices behind them in the basement and then the sound of a vehicle starting up. Gideon nudged Carrie in the back with his hand to pick up the pace, and a few minutes later they were at the door of the environmental building.
Carrie used her forearm-access chip again, the door slid open, and there stood several CTU civilians. They were watching another civilian working on some equipment.
“What’re you doing here?” Carrie said, using her helmet speaker.
“We were told to report here and remain here in case any of the equipment unexpectedly went down during the current security alert,” one of the civilians answered, began to tremble, and lowered his head.
“Very well,” Carrie said. Then she asked, “Is anyone else in here?”
“No one,” he answered.
“Carry on,” Carrie said to the civilian and motioned to the envoy team to follow her. They followed her through a maze of air conditioners and emergency power units until they reached the outdoor exit.
“There’ll be soldiers and police posted around the building,” Carrie told Gideon. “I said I could get you out of the building, but I’m not sure how to get you where you want to go now.”
Gideon looked at his watch. There were seven minutes until the first false report would be transmitted. A few seconds later he heard the entrance to the environmental-support building slide open. He looked up and saw at least three CTU-armored soldiers enter. He could hear them talking to the maintenance civilians but couldn’t make out what they were saying. Gideon motioned for th
e envoy team and Carrie to lie down. A few seconds later he heard footsteps heading their way. Gideon reached his right arm toward Carrie and motioned for her to pass him the weapon. She hesitantly complied, and Gideon pushed the weapon’s power pack in place and locked it.
As the soldiers neared, he and Commander Steward aimed their weapons in that direction. Seconds later the soldiers, five of them, rounded a power unit and saw the envoy team lying on the floor with a soldier and a civilian pointing weapons at them.
Before they could react to the threat, Gideon and Commander Steward opened fire. Three soldiers fell, and two took cover behind some nearby equipment.
“Over here!” Carrie yelled. She crawled behind some metal pipes for protection. Dr. Jones and Dr. Harper followed her as Gideon and the Commander continued to fire. Gideon stopped firing for a second and looked over his shoulder. The doctors were now safe behind the pipes.
“Commander, behind the pipes with the rest of the team. I’ll cover you,” Gideon yelled and continued firing. The commander stopped firing and crawled past Gideon toward the safety of the pipes. The two CTU soldiers were now returning fire and were firing well above the team. As soon as Commander Steward was behind the pipes, he started firing again. Gideon, now the closest to the door, decided to stay where he was. The two soldiers would have to expose themselves to get a good shot at him, and he was ready for them to try it.
The firefight continued for another minute, and then one of the soldiers leaned from behind an equipment support beam to get a clear shot at Gideon. Gideon saw him before he fired, and he rolled to his right as a blast of laser burned the floor where he’d been lying. Gideon stopped rolling and quickly aimed his weapon at the exposed soldier and fired. The soldier fell. Gideon then started crawling toward the door. The other soldier saw Gideon and stood to fire as Gideon crawled. A second later a shot sounded from behind Gideon.
“Got him!” Commander Steward yelled after he eliminated the last soldier. It was quiet again except for the hum of the equipment in the room.