by Don DeBon
Outside the room, the carrier's systems came to life. Bright lights glared from the open landing bay as several dozen Mechands walked out, casting long shadows. On the racks, Mechands on the lowest level awoke then walked away while those on the second level were lowered to the floor. They formed up and stood in front of the core room.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Aleshia breathed.
Minerva smiled. "There is nothing to be afraid of. Ask them who they serve."
Aleshia poked her nose outside the room and shouted. "Who do you serve?"
"We serve you and the Nexus," they said in unison.
"See? Nothing to worry about," Minerva said. Her eyes centered on Leon. "I have instructed them not to shut down upon losing contact with me. They are now operating independently, and will obey all of you. You can begin by disconnecting my access to external communications. Once that is completed I will tell you the best procedure to reconnect me inside the carrier, and I will shut down so you can do so."
Leon nodded and began removing her connections to the communications system and the bunker controls. "Will only take a few minutes."
Aleshia stared at the small army of Mechands standing in front of her. "All of you, stand on one foot!" Every single one of the Mechands raised their right leg, leaving it danging several inches above the ground. "Well I'll be."
Minerva looked at Aleshia. "I told you. They will obey any command you give them."
Two more Mechands walked down the ramp, joined the formation and stood on one foot. Aleshia jerked a thumb. "What's with those two?"
Minerva smiled. "They reported being in an odd position upon activation and were delayed."
Aleshia laughed. "Oh right, the two on the bridge."
Minerva nodded. "Correct."
Leon's head popped up from behind the core. "Okay that about does it. Only the power lead is left."
Minerva nodded. "Very well. After you get me installed on the bridge, use the keyboard and small screen on the back to enter the following command 'Con Restart' a core diagnostic will run and I should see you a minute after. I have disabled the auto start sequence when the power is reconnected allowing you to check the power system is properly initialized first."
Leon smiled. "Good idea. I assume a power fluctuation at that moment would be very bad?"
"Any kind of fluctuation is bad, during a full restart is worse than you can possibly imagine."
"I bet I can," Otis said.
She smiled. "Please take care, it is my mind after all." The screen went black as the lights on the core dimmed, then went off.
Leon handed Otis two of the anti-grav units. "Put one at the right and left front corner, I will take the back."
"You got it."
Leon disconnected the power lead and placed two anti-grav units. Otis gave a thumbs up and he pulled a controller out of his pack and powered it on.
The anti-grav units glowed as the core inched its way into the air. Leon guided it out of the room and heading towards the carrier. When he came out of the room he almost burst out laughing seeing all the Mechands still standing on one foot. "All Mechands stand on two feet." They obeyed and stood normally. "All Mechands part down the middle, I need space to the carrier." Not a word was said but they all separated into a long row of Mechands facing each other, leaving a large area in between for Leon and the core to pass through.
As Leon started walking towards the carrier, Aleshia took several quick steps to walk alongside him. "Thought you could use the help. I've been inside."
Leon smiled. "Sure. You mentioned being on the bridge, the faster we get Minerva installed and out of here the better."
Deven watched Otis, Leon, Aleshia, and the core head towards the carrier for a minute before he turned around and went back inside to connect his data tab. He plugged it in and Galina's face appeared on the screen. "Galina! I was about to call you. I take it we have a development?"
"You could say that. I am detecting a Mechand Carbonia carrier heading towards us. I knew we couldn't trust her."
Deven frowned. "How fast?"
"Fast. Not their top speed but they aren't messing around either. I estimate they will be here in 15 minutes."
"Great. And I don't think that carrier is Minerva's. Scan the inside."
"What for? If their shields are up, we won't get anything."
"I doubt they are that far away, just humor me."
"Okay, scanning … what the … I am reading a lot of humans aboard."
"That is correct, and unless my analysis is in error, the fighters in the landing bays are currently being manned by humans," Miles said.
Deven shook his head. "You aren't."
Galina's eyebrow went up. "Mind telling us what is going on?"
"Leon's hunch was right and the council has more assets than they lead us to believe."
"The council has a Mechand carrier? They told us all were scrapped!"
"I know. But this indicates otherwise. You may have to hold them off until Leon can get Minerva moved into the carrier so we can all get out of here."
"How? I am not going to shoot down our own people like this."
Miles' voice came over the speaker. "If I may make a suggestion, if we hover the Defiant above the mountain, I can extend the shields to cover it. They won't be near as strong, but it may give you the time you need."
"Do it! The entrance is near the base on the eastern side. If they hit that directly, it could collapse the outer tunnel and we won't be able to leave until you can dig us out."
"Defiant is in place and shields have been extended," Miles said. "I estimate the carrier to arrive in 12.5 minutes."
"Do what you can to keep them at bay, but if you must, fire only to disable. Is that clear?"
Galina nodded. "I hear you, but I am not sure how long we are going to last with our carbine cannons tied behind our backs and weakened shields."
Gregory's face appeared behind Galina. "I was walking past when I heard the alert. You know disabling Mechand fighters is a few notches above difficult, right? Heck destroying them is hard enough."
"That is why you are there." Deven smiled.
"Gregory, I am confident between us we can give them the time required," Miles said.
Gregory rolled his eyes. "Wish I was. Heading to fire control, I will have everything warmed and ready before they get here." He said running out the door.
"I'm sure they will. Just hold her together," Deven said.
"Will try. Galina out." The image vanished and Deven unplugged his data tab replacing it in its pouch. He ran for the carrier.
Commander Halburn nodded when Lavine's face came on the screen in front of him. "Chairman Lavine, I wish to stress we are not ready for this."
"Commander, don't make me regret choosing you for the Valiant. You and that ship are ready, when I say you are ready."
"But we are going up against someone that managed to defeat the Mechands, we need time to prepare."
Lavine waved his hand. "That was luck, I am sure you are about equal."
"That I doubt. Deven Doran is no fool, and no one here has had the training let alone seen actual combat. Heck, except for those on the Defiant, no human has seen combat like this for over a century."
Lavine's face reddened. "Look, we cannot afford to wait. From what I heard earlier, the whole story of the Nexus' destruction was just that, a story."
Halburn cocked his head. "For what purpose?"
"To take control. It is obvious they managed to reprogram the Nexus and turned off all the Mechands to make it appear she was obliterated. Once the time is right, they use the Nexus and Mechands to make a grab for power."
"But sir, begging your pardon, if that were true it would have been more logical to do so before we scrapped so many Mechands?"
"I am sure it was all a part of their plan. And regardless, we cannot take the chance. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir. And if I may ask, how did you find out about this bunker?"
"Doran told me."
Halburn's jaw dropped. "He told you directly?"
Lavine nodded. "Yes, why does that surprise you?"
"Because, if he was trying to do as you suggest, telling you of the bunker and its location is a large tactical error."
Levine smiled and sat back in his chair as he began to rock it back and forth. "Well, he didn't tell me where it was."
"Then how do we know he will be where you say?"
"He mentioned a large mountain and of course it would need to be in an area that has not seen much activity in a long time. This information, along with a few other facts gleaned from other sources, I have discerned the location."
From the side Navigator Rechert raised his hand. "Sir? We are approaching the coordinates you gave us. And it appears the Defiant is here, hovering over the mountain."
Halburn spun around. "And I am finding out about this now?"
Rechert sighed. "I am sorry sir, we are still having problems getting the scanners to work properly."
Halburn nodded and turned back to the large screen. "Chairman, this is what I'm talking about. We need more training, not to mention the systems aboard this vessel are not at 100%"
"Be thankful it is working as good as it is. I had to save that ship from being scrapped, but it had suffered damage before we got it. Several teams have been working on it for the last month and a half."
"They need to work on it for a couple more."
Levine smiled. "They will, after your task is done. Now, do the council proud." Levine's image shrank to a single point and disappeared.
Halburn turned around. "You heard the man, we're going in. Full speed ahead. I want to close the gap between us yesterday. The less time they have to plan, the better for us."
Rechert nodded. "Yes sir." He tapped several controls and the carrier lurched forward as the engines initiated full burn.
Halburn stood gazing out the large view port at the front of the Valiant's bridge. His chin jutted forward. "Raise the armor." Large, thick plating slid up and over the window locking in place with a strong clink. He sat down in his command chair. "Launch all fighters and raise the shields as soon as they are out."
Torrian Naud's fingers tapped several commands before he hit the intercom. "All craft launch. And watch it, we are at full burn, it will be different from when we practiced." A few seconds later he looked up from his station. "All fighters are launched sir and our shields are now up."
"Good."
Rechert tapped his console. "We will be on top of them in 30 seconds."
"Fine, decelerate at 10.5 seconds. That should surprise them. I want all carbine cannons to open fire the instant we slow. But I want to keep moving. No sense in giving them an easy target."
Naud nodded. "Agreed. But sir, something is odd."
Halburn hopped up from his seat, took two steps to his right and leaned over Naud's console. "What is?"
Naud pointed at the moving ship. "They know we are here, but are not taking up any action against us. In fact, they are moving closer to the mountain. It does not make sense. Holy—they expanded their shields to cover the whole mountain!"
Halburn blinked. "They can do that?"
"Apparently sir. I don't know how, but they're doing it. However, I can't imagine their shields being very strong covering such a large area."
Halburn straightened. "This could be our chance. Open fire all weapons. I want her going down in flames."
Halburn felt the ship shudder under him as the Defiant responded with her cannons. But not as strong as he expected. He cocked an eyebrow. "Damage?"
"Minor damage so far to secondary systems," Naud said.
"That's all? They outgun us in hardware and experience and all they do is give us a slap on the wrist?"
"It doesn't make sense."
"No it doesn't. But we have our orders, keep the pressure on."
"But sir, this does not add up. If what the Chairman said is true, wouldn't they be throwing more of a response?"
Halburn leaned over and muttered out the right side of his mouth. "While I tend to agree with you, do you want to be the one to tell the Chairman why we didn't do as the council instructed?"
Naud shook his head. "No way … sir."
"I didn't think so."
Deven found everyone on the bridge of the carrier. Minerva's core had been lowered into place and they were in the process of bolting it to the deck plates. "I have bad news. Leon was right and Chairman Lavine does have a Mechand Carbonia carrier, perhaps more Mechand assets under his control. The carrier we know of will be here in 10 minutes."
"Dang it! I hoped I was wrong," Leon said twisting a final bolt with a power driver. "Otis did you get your side done?"
Otis nodded. "Yep, I just cranked the last one. This cube ain't going anywhere."
"Good, we are almost done." Leon grabbed a couple of cables running from beneath several opened access panels under consoles and began plugging them into Minerva's core. The last cable, the power, was much larger and he plugged it in with great care making sure no arcs occurred that might short the delicate core. A large white light next to the connector lit and he nodded. "That does it." He went over to the other side and on the small keyboard punched in 'Con Restart'. The four inch screen flooded with diagnostic data as each part of the core hardware was tested. It flashed a 'Passed' and the center of the core began to glow.
A large screen to the left of the core Leon had mounted and connected earlier flickered with static. It flickered again and Minerva's face appeared, but in blocky chunks. Bit by bit the missing areas filled in making her whole.
"Ugh, I hope we don't have to do that again. Those manual restarts give me a headache," she said.
Leon smiled. "Hopefully not for a while."
Deven noticed the windows covered in blast-proof armor. "Minerva, do you have access to the carrier and Mechands?"
Minerva nodded. "I do." The armor covering the bridge windows slid down revealing the bunker and the tunnel that lay beyond. "I am bringing the units aboard now." They heard metal feet striking rock as the Mechands started marching towards the hangar bay.
Minerva's eyebrows met. "I am detecting activity above us. However, my scanning capability inside the bunker is limited. I am attempting to ascertain details."
Deven sighed. "Sounds like Lavine arrived earlier than anticipated. The Defiant is protecting us by extending shields over the mountain, but I don't know how long they will last."
Otis' eyes went wide. "Over the whole mountain? Geez I didn't know we could do that."
Leon nodded. "With the upgrades to the shields I did a month ago, the Defiant can. But Deven is right, they won't last long being stretched so far. I suspect Minerva is detecting the blasts that are getting through."
Deven started heading off of the bridge. "I need to contact the Defiant."
Minerva smiled. "Deven if you plug your data tab into the port on the console to you're right, I can relay any transmission through the bunker's communication system."
Deven plugged his data tab into the port and Galina's face appeared a second later. Sparks flew from an exploding console behind her. "Whatever you are going to do, you need to do now! We are getting hammered! Shields are almost gone and when they go, so will we!" The screen went to static then faded to black.
"We need to leave, now," Aleshia said.
Deven's eyes shot back to the windows and the bunker beyond. He gripped a nearby console. "I couldn't agree more. Minerva, are we ready?"
They felt a shudder in deck plates under their feet. "Yes. Engines are online. All systems green. We are lifting off," Minerva said. The large carrier inched its way off of the bunker floor and moved towards the large doors at the far end.
"Faster Minerva! They can't last much longer," Aleshia said.
"Understood. Increasing speed." They almost fell over as the carrier lurched forward. "Opening all doors." The large doors on the far side of the bunker ground open the rest of the way and t
he carrier shot through into the tunnel. Then her eyes went wide. "I forgot the outer door's automatic systems are not functional."
Leon smiled. "Well it is a good thing I fixed them on the way in isn't it?"
The doors at the far end of the tunnel began to shake as the wedge of light increased. "Leon, you are a wonder!" Minerva said.
"So they tell me."
Deven's eyes went wide as they hurtled towards the doors. "Minerva! Slow down! We aren't going to make it."