by Arlin Fehr
The ramp slid downward, and stopped on the hanger floor.
They walked down it. The devastation caused by Shirp was more apparent this close. Many of the old ships had been damaged in some way, either by weapons fire, or by having debris from the massive hanger door crushed against them.
U.P.N. marines moved through the hanger in all black armoured space suits, checking the debris and wrecked ships.
One of the marines walked towards them. John came down the ramp behind them.
The marine came to a stop in front of them and saluted. Sam returned the salute.
His all black faceplate suddenly became transparent, showing his stern and alert face.
'Commander Garr, 17th Space Marine Division. My men are checking the hanger bay now. I'd appreciate it if you could fill me in on the layout of the base.'
Sam turned to Victor, who pulled out his tablet and handed it to the Marine.
'Victor here had some time to upload all of our readings into something of a map. It'll show the areas we've been, but in the lower levels, it'll be of less use, as we discovered that some of the walls are reconfigurable.'
Commander Garr took the tablet and entered some commands on it, 'Thank you Captain. I've uploaded the map to my suit and sent it to my men. Where should we be headed?'
'Down. I believe the Guardian's mainframe is located on the lowermost floor,' Sam said.
The Marine nodded, 'Let's get moving.'
Two marines stayed with the landing craft, and the rest fell in around their commander as they started for one of the doors to the hanger.
When the doors didn't open, Commander Garr signalled one of his men who had cutting equipment on his back. The marine began to cut through the door. As soon as he made the first cut, air began to rush through the cut into the vacuum of the hanger.
When he finished his cuts, the troops took positions around the door, and pushed it down. On the other side, two humanoid robots, holding small metal rods, charged them. The marines opened up with their weapons, the robots blew apart in a shower of sparks and shrapnel.
'Close combat opponents. Stay sharp,' Commander Garr said.
They moved through the ragged opening in the door and down a long hall way. At the end, another door stood between them and further progress, but this one slid open. It lead to an open room that had a waiting elevator in it's centre
Everyone paused.
'He wants us to keep going,' Sam said.
'Not keen on taking an elevator. Too little space, and he could just make it drop.' Commander Garr said.
They walked into the room, and door slid shut behind them. Commander Garr didn't seem phased by it, 'We'll have to cut through on our way back.'
Victor walked over to the elevator shaft and had a look at it closely. He turned around and motioned over to the marine with the cutting equipment, 'If you cut away along the corners of the shaft, we can get access to the magnetic rails that hold the car. We can then take them offline and drop the car. Then we just climb down the shaft. Won't have to worry about him dropping it with us in it.'
'Victor, that's a two kilometre climb down the shaft,' Sam said, 'We'll be too exposed.'
Victor shook his head, 'The animals won't be able to get into the shaft, and his robots don't have guns.'
'That we know of!' Sam said.
Commander Garr looked to his marine and nodded, 'Do it.'
The marine got to work. Commander Garr turned to Sam, 'We've got climbing gear. We'll rappel down.'
'Got any spares?' Sam asked.
'I'll leave two marines at the top to cover. You and one of your crew and use theirs. Your other crew will have to stay behind.'
Sam nodded, 'Advocate Okoh will accompany me.'
'Negative, Advocates are to stay out of combat situations unless strictly necessary,' Commander Garr said.
Ise stepped forward, 'I'm far less likely to be killed than one of your men.'
'Doesn't matter Ma'am. It's against protocol.' Commander Garr replied.
Sam looked at her men, 'Alright, Lt. Hale will come with us.'
Garr nodded, and motioned to two of his men. They came forward and started to take off their climbing gear. Victor and Sam began to put them on, and adjusting the gear so it would hold them.
Behind them, the Marine with the cutting pack finished his last cut. The corners of the shaft sat on the floor of the room around them, exposing the mechanisms for the magnetic rails. The marines slipped small charges into each of the openings and stepped back. When Commander Garr triggered the charges, the car fell quickly down the shaft.
Without missing a beat, Commander Garr walked to the edge of the opening and anchored his climbing gear to the elevator shaft, the powerful anchor mechanism boring itself into the sides of the shaft. He handed his climbing line to the others, who ran it through their own climbing kits.
'I'll be the first anchor,' he looked at the other marines, 'Remember the drills. Anchor when needed, and advance when everyone's in position.'
He looked to Sam and Victor, 'You ever get training like this?'
Sam and Victor nodded. Commander Garr smiled a little and waved everyone forward.
Together they started to move down the shaft. They climbed down the dark shaft for a little while, the glow of light from the conservatory getting closer and closer.
When they crossed the boundary into the conservatory, one of the marines paused.
'There's something you don't see every day,' he said.
'Keep it moving marine,' Commander Garr said, not missing a beat.
Sam looked around the chamber as she moved. A flying red creature was moving towards them. As it got closer, it reached out with it's claws, spread it's leathery wings, and slammed into side of the shaft, right next to a marine. The clear casing of the shaft cracked under the impact, and the marine nearest was thrown off, falling down the shaft. Everyone stopped, and braced for the line to go tight. His line caught him and pulled on everyone else. No one else fell.
Commander Garr aimed his gun at the flying creature and fired a burst at it through the weakened section of the shaft. It's leathery wings blew open, and with a screech, the creature fell helplessly from the sky, amidst a shower of fragmented bits of the shaft.
The fallen marine got himself braced, and anchored himself to the shaft again.
'You okay Jason?' Commander Garr asked.
'Little shook up.'
'Let's keep moving. Shoot any birds on sight. Captain Geer, is this sort of thing going to be common?'
'You should assume the animals to be hostile,' Samantha replied.
'Right, if it moves, shoot it.'
***
The momentary flash of nausea that followed use of a jump drive caused Ayla Geer to wince. She'd never liked it.
'Advocate Geer, we have arrived in system. The U.P.N. task force is hailing.' Lenny said.
'Open a channel.' She replied.
She didn't like using the Advocate uplink either. But she didn't know how to fly the Kanto, it's Guardian Lenny did.
'This is Captain Zao to incoming vessel, please identify.'
'Hello Captain, this is Ayla Geer aboard the U.P.N. Kanto.' Ayla replied
'I hope your journey was uneventful Advocate. We've found your daughter Captain Geer.' Captain Zao reported.
Ayla smiled, 'Thank you Captain. May I speak to her? I'd like to return her ship.'
'That's going to have to wait. She's gone down to the planet with a marine contingent to retrieve a lost crew member.'
Her smile vanished, 'She's gone back?'
'Yes Ma'am. Don't worry though, she's with a squad of heavily armed marines. She should be fine.'
'Do you have communication with her?'
'Negative. There's something jamming any communications the the facility underground. We've got communication with our drop ship in the hanger, but nothing further than that.'
'And this didn't seem like a warning sign to you?'
'Ma'am,
with all due respect, you're here as a courtesy, and because we thought it would be a nice gesture to give Captain Geer her ship back. I would not tell us how to do our job if I were you. You relinquished whatever special privileges you had as an Advocate when you refused to do your duty as one.'
'The reason for that is on that planet Captain. It's a very dangerous Guardian and will not hesitate to use whatever means at it's disposal to achieve it's ends. You'd better stay sharp.'
'I intend to. I will contact you when I have something worth reporting. Until then, leave the comms channels clear. Captain Zao out.'
The link was cut from the other end.
Ayla leaned back in the Captains chair. She let out a sigh.
She sat in silence for a long moment, building up her nerve.
'Lenny.' She said over her Uplink.
'Yes Advocate Geer?' He replied.
'You told me Exo had communicated with you when you left here.'
'Yes Advocate.'
'Could you communicate with him?'
'Inadvisable. Guardian XO-33 is extremely dangerous, and would attempt to overwhelm me.' Lenny said.
'Do it anyway.'
'Yes Advocate.'
***
Hostile forces descending elevator shaft.
Animal life inefficient to drive them off.
Advocate status; Cryogenic stasis chamber online. Robots moving him to south shaft.
Ships in primary hanger destroyed.
Drone control, offline.
Requirement of secondary means of Advocate evacuation.
...
Analyzing situation.
...
Incoming communication from Guardian LE-46.
...
Deny communication link.
Conversion of Guardian unit LE-46 tertiary priority.
...
Secondary hanger still undiscovered.
Enemy craft in position to intercept launch from secondary hanger.
Distraction needed.
...
Marine drop ship lightly guarded.
...
Redeploying assets.
***
'Communication is not being answered Advocate.' Lenny said.
'Understood. Let me think of something.'
Ayla stood up and started to pace around the bridge. This was her daughter's ship. It was unlike anything she'd ever been on. It was a sleek craft, not like the bulky civilian ships she was used to.
She looked at the planet. It was hard to believe that Exo was down there, and that now her daughter was down there too, right in his lair.
She sat down at the pilots station and looked at the sensor read out. The U.P.N. ships were still maintaining formation over the planet. She noticed them start to turn their formation.
'Lenny, open a link to Captain Zao.'
'Yes Advocate.'
'I'm a little busy Advocate.' Captain Zao said tersely.
'What's going on?' She asked.
'We've lost contact with the marines on guard in the hanger bay. The drop ship seems to be powering up it's engines. We're not sure what's going on. I'll keep you posted. Zao out.'
'Connection cut from Zao's flagship Advocate, shall I attempt to reestablish?' Lenny asked over the uplink.
'No.'
On the sensors, Ayla watched as a new contact started to rise from the broken opening to the hanger bay. The formation of ships shifted in response, screening Zao's flagship in the rear of the formation.
This doesn't feel right. Exo always had more than one thing in motion at once. What can't I see right now? Ayla thought to herself.
'Lenny, scan the surrounding surface for anything moving,' Ayla ordered.
'Stand-by.'
She looked at the display in front of her. The drop ship was flying low to the surface, and moving away from the formation. The formation of ships started to move after it.
A distraction? Ayla thought.
'I have detected a small object moving away from the planet.'
'Which way in relation to the drop ship?' Ayla asked.
'Heading away.'
'Any indication of it being a ship?' Ayla asked.
'It is running dark. No firm identification can be made from this range without use of active sensors. However, trajectory shows it having originated from a point on the planets surface. Likelihood of it being a launched ship is 86.7 percent.'
'Set an intercept course. Charge the thermal cannon.'
'Caution; Advocate is not cleared for use of military grade weapon systems. Advocate is not trained in the use of military grade weapon systems. Thercon use not recommended, 'Lenny said.
'We can't let that ship get away. Whatever it is, it's part of Exo's plan, that makes it dangerous.'
'Exo is dangerous. Tactical analysis is in agreement with this statement. Setting course, charging Thercon. Engines set to maximum thrust.'
The ship turned from it's holding position, and shot off through space, moving away from Captain Zao and his task force.
The communication system beeped.
'Incoming hail from Captain Zao.' Lenny said.
'Put it through.'
'Advocate, I notice you are moving in an awful hurry. Mind telling me why you're taking military hardware for a joy ride?'
'We've detected a small metallic signature moving away from you and the planet. I think Exo was trying to mask it with the launch of the drop ship. We're going after it.'
'We've forced the drop ship down. I'm landing more forces to investigate the crash. I'll send three ships to deal with the contact. Maintain your position.'
'Advocate, signature has abandoned it's stealth. It is now in full acceleration and moving rapidly away from the planet. It's acceleration is considerable. Identification is possible now.'
'Identify.' Ayla ordered.
'Linkal long range scout ship, third generation, last seen in active duty four years ago. Equipped with Linkal spatial catapult drive system. Extreme acceleration at sub-light, and capable of FTL travel, though at a slower pace than U.P.N. jump drives.'
'Analysis of situation?'
'U.P.N. task force unable to match acceleration. U.P.N. Kanto will be in range in three minutes, but after that, Linkal ship will begin to pull away.'
'Captain Zao, the ships Guardian has recognized the ship as a Linkal long range scout. None of your ships are fast enough to catch it. It's either us or no one.'
Zao was silent for a moment. Ayla held her breath.
'As much as I'd rather it weren't so, our Guardian agrees with the analysis. You are the only one in a position to catch it. My advice to you is have Lenny give you a firing solution. You'll still need to order the shot. The model of Guardian on that ship isn't designed for autonomous combat.'
Ayla frowned, 'You mean some are?'
'Now is not the time Advocate. Concentrate on your task.'
'Roger. Ayla out,' the communication link was cut.
'Lenny, firing solution.' She ordered.
'To destroy or disable?'
'Destroy.'
'One moment.'
They flew towards the intercept point, and the space between the ships closed quickly. Even on the sensor screen, Ayla could see that Exo's ship was gaining speed at an alarming rate.
'Solution acquired. A shot through the cockpit of the ship as it passes in front of us will completely destroy the control systems of the craft, and the pilot within the vessel.'
'Pilot?' Ayla asked.
'Yes Advocate, sensors indicate a robotic entity within the ship's cockpit. Ship is equipped with two seats, though second seat does not have any life signs. However there is a faint life sign under the vessel, possibly a body in stasis.'
An image flashed through Ayla's mind of Samantha strapped in a stasis pod slung under the ship, hurtling through space, and having her life ended by a beam of energy and heat fired by Ayla's own hands.
'Recalculate firing solution to disable.'
'Calculating.
Caution, energy build up detected, matches signature of Linkal spatial catapult. Time to firing solution may be too long. Firing solution still available for destroying shot.'
'No! We'll disable it.'
Ayla waited. The spot of light out on the view screen seemed to be growing brighter and brighter.
'Firing solution calculated'
'Fire!'
As the U.P.N. Kanto discharged it's weapon, the point of light became a streak, stretching off into the void of space.
'Contact lost. Spatial catapult usage confirmed. Shot did not connect with craft.'
Ayla slammed her fist into the pilots console. Her enhanced strength shattered the command surface, causing it to flicker and distort as the control panel buckled under the force of her blow. She looked at her hand. Her hand was cut, and a clear liquid was seeping from the wound.
She lowered her fist to her lap and sat in silence.
'Damage to craft and advocate detected. Are you alright advocate?'
Ayla didn't answer.
CHAPTER 14
Base of Elevator shaft – Conservatory Chamber
Sam, Victor, and the marine company reached the point where the shaft dipped below the ground of the conservatory. The clear shaft gave way to stark metal walls.
'It'll be impossible to anchor here,' Victor said, 'but I see another maintenance ladder down there.'
'We'll use the ladder. We'll have to un-anchor. Marines, out of the shaft, make a perimeter, and unhook yourselves,' Commander Garr said.
The marines exited the shaft by cutting their way through it and stepping out to the ground.
As Sam followed through the opening, she noticed that the animals of the conservatory were converging on their position. Above them, a flock of flying creatures were angling down towards them.
Wasting no time, the marines aimed up and pulled the trigger on their weapons. The whine of their rail guns cut through the air, as the fliers were hit and fell from the sky, mangled and broken.
More animals came up over the hills surrounding the elevator shaft.
The four marines and Commander Garr took up position around the shaft, 'Captain Geer, Lt. Hale, you two unhook your equipment, we'll cover. When you're done, you can unhook while one of my men covers you.'