by Don DeBon
Lavine's eyes blazed. "What?! How dare you! I order you to relieve Halburn, take command and take care of this situation."
"We are sir."
Halburn took a step closer to the screen. "Lavine, if you don't see they need me more now than ever, you are a bigger fool than I thought possible."
Lavine's bottom jaw dropped for a micro second before he closed it again. "How dare you! I—"
"If we save your backside and ours, then you can do with me what you want. Naud, get his face off of my screen."
Naud smiled. "Yes sir." He tapped a button and Lavine's face disappeared but not before he swore several times. "I am sorry about that sir. It would seem Lavine enabled some sort of override on the communications system."
"Blast him! I suspected he didn't trust anyone, but this is going too far. Can you disable the override so he doesn't do it again?"
"Already done sir." The Valiant rocketed over and around the Mechand carrier for a clear shot, but was cut off by the Defiant. The energy blasts hit the shields head on, they flickered, but held. "Sir? Did you see that?"
"I did. Try that again. We might be getting somewhere."
"Unless they start using their cannons at full strength," Rechert said.
"True. But I don't think he will." Halburn leaned forward. "Deven, what in the world are you up to?"
A console blew nearby and Galina swore as the front port shield flickered. She slammed her hand on the intercom "Gregory! What are you doing down there? Knitting?"
"Hey I am trying!"
"Well try harder. The port bow shield is failing."
"I know! I have rerouted it to the starboard aft shield. It should hold for a bit. Unless they saw the instability, then we could be in trouble."
Miles' camera turned. "I agree. And the probability of that is low."
"Miles! Aren't you supposed to be firing, not talking to us?"
"But Galina, I am. I can do both."
Galina rolled her eyes as she guided the Defiant into a dive and came up behind the Valiant. "I am done fooling around. Miles hit them, hard."
"But Galina, Deven said—"
"I know what Deven said. But we can't afford more hits like that or we are not going home in one piece! Take out their engines, or at least some maneuverability, now."
"Very well. Cannons set to full strength, targeting the Valiant's engines. I have a lock. Firing." Several energy beams lashed out from the Defiant's cannons and crashed into the Valiant's shields near their engines. The first two did nothing, but Miles knew this particular carrier design's shield emitters would overload for half a second opening a hole. The following beams slipped through that hole and smashed into the Valiant's engines. A small explosion a few seconds later took out one of them causing the glow from the exhaust port behind it to extinguish.
"There you blackard! Take that! Not so fast now, are you?" Galina pulled hard on the controls causing the Defiant to bank and climb as several shots from the Valiant missed, unable to keep up with the maneuver.
Deven's teeth grated as he watched the Defiant take out one of the Valiant's engines. "What in the world is she doing?"
"It would appear she attacked with full power to the Defiant's cannons," Minerva said.
"I know that!" He pulled out his data tab and hit a key. A second later Galina's face appeared. "Galina? What's going on? I told you not to use full cannons."
"We are kind of busy now. Can you call back later?"
"Galina! I am in no mood for—"
"Listen, you haven't launched fighters, as part of the plan. We took several concentrated direct hits for you and it almost took out one of our shields. What we were doing wasn't getting us anywhere. I gave them a bloody nose. That's all."
"You did more than that! One of their engines is scrap metal."
She grinned. "I know. Sure makes it easier to keep ahead of them."
"Galina—"
"I could have had Miles take out their whole engine block, not just one. They are a bit slower but okay otherwise. If we don't go home in one piece, we lose. I did what I had to keep the Defiant going!"
"But Galina, you told me take out their engines or reduce maneuverability. I made the decision for maneuverability," Miles' voice came through the speaker.
"Shut up miles! I knew what you would do. We couldn't take out all of their engines with their shields up. It wasn't tactically sound."
"That is true."
Deven's eyes narrowed. "I understand your reasons, but there are other ways. Do not—" He didn't get to finish before a blast from the surface impacted their shields and sent the Phoenix careening until Minerva could regain control. He gripped the chair to not be thrown from it "Minerva? Status?"
"It would appear Lavine has installed surface mounted cannons at this location. They are not as powerful as ours, but they are adding to the complexity of the situation."
"Damage?"
"No damage past one fighter that was not locked down at the time in the bay. However, shield energy is being diminished now at an increased rate with the addition of these weapons. I can't avoid them all. I estimate we have another seven minutes until failure."
Galina gripped her controls tight enough that her knuckles turned white. "You were saying?"
Deven gritted his teeth. "Do what you have to stay in one piece. But try to do as little damage as possible. Clear?"
"As crystal." Galina nodded and her face shrank to a point and disappeared.
"Minerva? Use the frequency and code I gave you earlier. This part of the plan may not work now, but I have to try."
Minerva nodded. "Channel open."
Lavine pounded his fist on the desk. "How dare Halburn talk to me like that! When I get him in here, he is going to regret ever being born!"
His data tab flashed indicating an incoming call.
"Ah good. He has come to his senses." Lavine accepted, but it wasn't Halburn's face that appeared.
"Chairman Lavine, it's so good to see you. Could you please stop trying to blast us out of the sky?" Deven pointed to the air outside of the carrier's window.
"Doran!"
"So glad you remembered me Chairman, would you kindly tell your weapons platforms to stop so we could talk?"
Lavine noticed the bulkhead behind Deven and it wasn't the Defiant's. "Doran, what are you trying to pull? You are not on the Defiant?"
"Ah no I am not. But we can discuss that later. I don't know if you realized, but they fired on us first. If we all agree to stop blasting each other, perhaps we can talk about this?"
Lavine wasn't falling for it. "I say again, what are you trying to pull?"
"But they did fire first."
Lavine waved his hand. "Whether they did or not is inconsequential. You will find, they will be the ones to fire last, unless you want to surrender."
Deven shrugged. "Who said I didn't? We did come here after all."
Lavine's head cocked to one side. "You actually came here to surrender? Why do I doubt that?"
"I don't know. But what's the harm in discussing the situation in a less hostile atmosphere?"
"Very well." Lavine tapped a key on his data tab and the screen split showing a man on the right side in a black uniform with the letters UN prominently over the right pocket. I need to get their uniforms updated. He sighed. "Stop the assault on the carriers overhead."
The man blinked. "Sir? Are you sure?"
Lavine nodded. "Yes I am sure. Now do it."
"Yes sir." His image faded leaving only Deven's which refilled the entire screen.
The ground cannons stopped but Deven rocked to the one side as another shot impacted the carrier's shields. "Thanks, but we are still getting hit."
Lavine's eyes narrowed as he hit another button on his data tab. A few seconds later the screen split again and an image of the Valiant's bridge appeared. "Halburn! Stop your assault this instant!"
Halburn stooped over Naud's console, straightened. "What? Have you lost your mind?"
Lavine's teeth grated. "I am not going to say it again. And I suggest you follow orders, for once."
Halburn shook his head. "You are not making sense."
"I don't have to, but if you most know, I am talking to Doran now. He says you fired first and was only coming to discuss the situation. Not launch an all out attack."
Halburn straightened. "While I agree we did fire first, you can't believe him? He is up to something. Trust me when I say he isn't here to talk."
"Then why am I talking with him now?"
While Deven couldn't see the image aboard the Valiant, he could hear the conversation. "Odell? Why do you assume I didn't come here to talk?"
Halburn blinked. "Deven?"
"The one and only."
Lavine tapped a key and the image split on Deven's screen letting him see both men. "As you can see, I am talking with him. Cease your attack."
"I don't care what he is saying. He is up to something. He wouldn't be here otherwise …" His voice trailed off. "Deven? Where are you? That doesn't look like the Defiant." He squinted at the image. "You are on that Mechand carrier!"
Deven nodded. "Yes I am, so would you kindly stop shooting at me?"
"What in blazes are you doing there? I can't imagine you leaving your ship!"
"As I was about to tell the Chairman here, I am aboard this carrier as I do not trust the Nexus, not after all she has done. I am sitting on her, and the least variation and I am pulling the plug." Off to the side, Minerva grumped.
Halburn rubbed his chin. "Oh really?"
Deven nodded. "Yes."
"Sorry, no, I still don't believe you especially after the last stunt you pulled. Halburn out." His face disappeared from both screens.
Lavine tried to force the redness coalescing on his face back. "I am sorry about this. He will be taken care of."
"That is quite all right Chairman, you did stop the land cannons and I thank you for that. But if you can't stop Halburn, I don't see how we can talk. I can't come to your office in this situation." His image shook as the Valiant's cannons managed to hit the carrier again.
The doors whooshed open sucking in the smell of stale recycled air. No one had been here for a long time. Many thin red lines crisscrossed the short hallway beyond creating a deadly blockade. Aleshia frowned. "Nobody mentioned this."
"No, they didn't." Otis said while tapping on his keyboard.
"I can take care of this easy." Aleshia raised a hand, but Otis grabbed it. Aleshia glared and almost shoved him mentally into the wall out of reflex.
"No! If you wreck them, I'm betting every alarm in this place will go off and Lavine will know we are down here. Or more importantly there is something down here."
"Oh … right. I didn't think of that."
Otis smiled. "That is why you have me. Give me a minute here." He tapped more commands and the screen scrolled green text even faster. "Ah found it!" He pressed a button and the deadly beams shut down. He pulled out his card and they stepped out into the hallway. The elevator doors closed behind them a second later. They walked towards the frosted security glass and steel doors on the other end, but the doors, while being automatic, refused to open at their approach.
"Great, another locked door."
"Yeah, but I now know their codes." He slipped his card in the small slot below the optical scanner. A second later the doors slid open. "See? Told you."
Walking inside, Aleshia sucked in a breath. There were giant racks of equipment throughout the space of the room, but in the center of the floor held parts. Parts of a machine not built by human hands. Most of the structure was a layered green material unlike any they had ever seen. It curved in very organic looking lines, but it was clearly a metal of some sort. But the most unusual aspect was all the damage appeared to be from dissection rather than destruction.
"Otis? What do you see when you look at this?"
"I see something taken apart with great care. No way this was blown up."
"Exactly. Yet we were told the Lytherian pilot destroyed the ship after a long stand off. This doesn't make sense."
"No it don't. Let's find that crystal and get out of here," Otis paused to check the time displayed at the top of the screen mounted on his arm, "the loop is half over."
"Where do we start?" Aleshia regarded the large room that could have doubled for a warehouse.
Otis pointed to the far side of the room where tables with consoles connected to various testing equipment sat. "Perhaps over there?"
Aleshia shrugged. "As good as any." They walked over and Aleshia pointed to the other side. "You start from that end of the room, I will look here."
"You got it." Otis ran for the other end and started powering some equipment.
Aleshia continued along the line of tables and consoles holding out a hand, feeling with her mind. She took another step and her eyes went wide as she crumpled to the floor with the worst headache she had ever experienced. "Otis! Whatever you did, undo it!" Tears ran down her cheeks.
Otis whipped his head over to see Aleshia on the floor, he slammed the off control on the device he had turned on. He ran over to Aleshia, put his hand on her shoulder and leaned closer. "You okay?"
Aleshia climbed to her feet and shook her head, the tears still very prominent on her cheeks. "It's better now. Wow, what was that?"
"I don't know. I just turned it on."
Aleshia shook her head again. "Which one?"
He led her over to the keyboard and dark screen that sat a couple of meters from the end. "This one."
"This has got to be it." She looked up and down the table. "But I don't see a crystal anywhere."
"Hmm I have an idea." He dove under the table. "Ah ha! They did wire the connections. I thought so, with the amount of security around here, it would have been crazy not to." He traced the wires neatly bundled along the underside of the table and down to the corner of the room, then over. He continued following until reaching the opposite side of the room near the doors. The cable split off from the others and ran across the ceiling and down to a rack of equipment. The cable ended at a heavy metal box a foot square with a still glowing keypad. "Bingo."
Aleshia ran over. "Found it?"
"Either that or they started armoring plain boxes with electrical connections and keypads."
"Great let's grab it and go." Aleshia reached for the handle.
"Wait a sec! I am betting there is some sort of motion detection on that box." He found a slot on the bottom of the keypad and slipped in his card. "Good thing this box appears to be something they cobbled together quick, instead of a careful design. The keypad shouldn't have an access slot."
"How long? There can't be much time left on the video loop."
"Yeah, give me a few." He tapped several keys as code flowed on his small screen. "Got it!" The box's lit keypad flashed then went dark. He unplugged the connecting cable and grabbed the handle. "Now we can go." They bolted for the doors and a few seconds later were in the elevator heading up to the ground floor. When the doors slid open, the Mechand beeped and pointed to its trash hopper behind him. They nodded and jumped in.
The Mechand burned rubber again and they shot towards the front door. Otis checked the clock on his screen. "Less than a minute left. We're not going to make it." The Mechand increased its speed, then a few seconds later left skid marks as it managed to stop a millimeter from the doors. It placed a hand on the access plate and the door's glow turned from red to green. But the Mechand didn't wait for Otis and Aleshia to get out. It shot through the doors at full speed. They fell backwards into the hopper. "Bot? What are you doooooing?" It gave a beep and continued on.
They were thrown around inside the hopper as it made several sharp turns and arrived five seconds later at the truck. Aleshia climbed out of the hopper, shook her head, and rubbed her shoulder. "Well that was fun."
Otis climbed out. "Thanks bot. You can go back now before you are missed."
The Mechand beeped and lowered its arms in a shall
ow slump.
"I think he said they will know he helped us."
Another beep emanated from the Mechand.
"I think he wants to come with us."
Otis' mouth shot open. "What? You can't be serious?"
Another beep came from the Mechand, but much lighter in tone.
Otis looked down into the Mechand's optics and could swear he saw fear. But he pushed it back. "I must be crazy. All right, but we'll need a couple of anti-gravs to put him in the back. I don't have ramps with me."