by Kris Powers
“Get us on that elevator now Private, before we have a squadron of Connies on our asses,” the Major ordered. The Private connected a cable to the panel at lighting fast speed and had the door open in barely five seconds.
Elliot led the way into the lift closely accompanied by a small crowd of people that entered the elevator in an orderly, but quick fashion. The last soldier made a fast scan of the area and backed into the elevator. Just as he turned towards the group a flash of emerald light hit him in the left shoulder. He grimaced in pain and stumbled into the lift.
“Go! Deck Twelve!” Elliot ordered as another shot slammed into the side of the door. The Private complied, closed the doors, and depressed the appropriate buttons to bring them to the desired floor while Madison attended to the wounded officer.
A poorly muffled curse emitted from the area of the control panel. The Private entered panicked commands into his device connected to the lift’s controls.
“Is there a problem?” Elliot asked.
“Yes, Sir. The elevator is being called to another location.”
“I thought you could isolate these things from the network,” Elliot said to the Private’s back.
“I can isolate control panels from the network. This is different because I can’t isolate an elevator from the network; it’s dependent on it to function. I can bring an elevator to top priority, but it’s basically the same thing.”
“So what’s the problem?” Elliot asked.
“Somehow the priority’s been overridden. That can happen only with someone of a really high clearance. I’m trying to override his place. Shit!” he said, and smacked the device against the wall. “I can’t stop it, Sir. We’re about to meet Coalition Brass.”
“Weapons at ready,” the Major ordered.
The forward rank of soldiers leveled the barrels of their rifles at the door and waited. The elevator slowed to a halt and beeped its arrival to pick up the ignorant hitchhiker. The doors opened to a speechless General Nadine Hanover staring at the large group of Alliance soldiers huddled in the elevator.
“Weapons down!” Elliot exclaimed to his troops. They obediently lowered the barrel of their rifles at the command. He pushed past them to the front of the lift.
“Elliot,” Nadine said in relief as he emerged from the small crowd of fatigues and Particle Beam Rifles. “I was convinced I was about to become a burn mark on the deck.”
“The rifles are set to stun.”
“Still, thanks for not shooting me,” Nadine said and felt her shoulders sag from a relieved sigh at the stress exiting her body. “I am so glad you’re here.”
“What’s going on?”
“You wouldn’t believe what’s happened in the last day,” she said. “What are you doing here?”
“We’re here to rescue the prisoners.”
“You’re on the wrong deck.”
“We know we tried Deck Seventeen,” Elliot said.
“They’re not there.”
“We discovered that, we were on our way to Deck Twelve.”
“They’re not there either.”
Elliot looked at her, nearly helpless in the defeat he was facing in the near future, and looked behind him at the assembled rescue squad. Joshua admonished him with a questioning gaze of distrust for the Coalition General in the hallway.
“Can you help us?” Elliot implored, looking back to her.
Nadine regarded him with a riddled gaze of sadness.
“I know what I’m asking.”
“It’s not that, Eli. I’ve already made my choice, but if it was anyone else but you asking,” she said, and put her arms around him. He responded in kind to her embrace and noticed how tightly she held him. She reluctantly pulled away.
“You’re short on time. I heard the alert and soldiers are already going to both decks to find you,” Nadine said.
“Will you help us?”
“Yes, get back on the elevator. I can use my priority clearance to get you to the right deck,” Nadine said in a hurried march of words.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Joshua said, voicing the concern of nearly everyone else on the lift. “Eli, how can you be sure that we can trust her?”
“We can trust her or take our chances wandering the decks looking for about eighty Ferine hostages.”
“I vote for the first choice,” Madison piped up from Joshua’s side.
“So do I,” Ranik said.
Catching the tall striped Ferine towering above the other soldiers at the back of the lift, Nadine smiled in appreciation of his comment.
“Private,” Elliot said, “give the General access to the elevator controls.”
“Yes Sir,” he said and smartly stepped aside. His face betrayed some of the awe the rest of the military ranks were experiencing at the sight of a Coalition General aiding them in their task. Nadine took his place at the controls and typed in her clearance code. After a quick beep of confirmation from the panel, she typed the numbers zero and nine into the pad and then chose a section number of the deck. The doors closed and the lift jumped into motion.
“The Council specifically instructed me to tell you where the Ferine were being held. They wanted the Alliance to attempt a rescue but they wouldn’t tell me why.”
“They want us to rescue the prisoners?” Elliot asked.
“I didn’t say that. They wanted you to try. I suspect that they want you and the Ferine killed in the attempt but I don’t know why.”
“Bullshit, Nadine. Why don’t you tell us what’s going on?” Joshua demanded.
“I’m telling you the truth,” Nadine replied, looking to where Joshua stood a few feet away. “If I knew I would tell you.”
The elevator stopped and opened onto an empty hallway.
“Do you need to take the lead?” Elliot asked Nadine.
“I’m the better choice. I chose a place on Deck Nine that is usually deserted. I can get you to the prisoners, but there are people guarding them.”
“I’ll take point with you. Don’t worry about the guards. My men will take care of them,” Elliot said.
The two moved to the front of the group and stepped out of the elevator.
“Eli, these are still my people. I don’t want any of them killed, with or without my help,” Nadine said.
They walked as a couple down the corridor while some two dozen personnel followed behind them. Ranik and Lathiel moved to the front of the group and walked behind the pair.
“We’ve been ordered to avoid fatalities of any kind. My men will stun them, not kill them.”
“Good.”
“You didn’t tell me what happened.”
“I’ve disobeyed orders,” Nadine said.
“You didn’t do what the Council told you to do,” Elliot said with a deliberate ambiguity.
“I couldn’t.”
“What changed your mind?” Elliot asked. They rounded another corner that led to a long dim hallway. It was thankfully, empty.
“You did.”
They came to the end of the lengthy hallway which ended with a major bulkhead and a heavy door blocking the way. They stopped at the metal impediment to their progress.
“I can’t use my access code here. It would show I was in this area when I shouldn’t have been.”
“Private, time to show your skill again,” Elliot said. He looked to the specialist who had gotten them into and out of a few situations in the past ten minutes.
“Yes Sir,” he said, and accessed the panel. It slid open with only a brief manipulation by the capable officer. Nadine peered down a short and wide corridor that abruptly turned a corner barely thirty feet away.
“The door to the holding area is right around there. There are a few guards but they’ll see anyone coming around that corner,” Nadine told Elliot in a subdued voice.
“Hear that?” Elliot whispered to the Major who had huddled up along with the rest of the group behind them.
“Yes, Sir. I think it’s a good time to use this,” th
e Major said. The palm of his hand rested on a small disk shaped device fastened to his belt.
“Are you sure it will work?”
“For a minute, but that’s all we need.”
“You got the go ahead, Major. Make it happen.”
Nadine looked on in interest at the conversation. She chose to speak up only once the Major had begun a cautious walk down the corridor.
“What is that?” she asked pointing to the device on the man’s belt. “It’s not lethal, is it?”
“No, it will just be something of a surprise to those guards.”
“Okay,” Nadine said and scrutinized the scene unfolding in front of her. The Major drew his PBP from its holster and walked to the end of the hallway, stopping just short of the corner. He pressed a small square red button at the center of the disc shaped object. To Nadine’s surprise, the solid glow of a shield flowed over the man’s body, keeping itself only half an inch from his skin.
The Major casually walked around the corner, and into the eyesight of no less than four sentries standing guard in front of a large set of double doors. At first they mistook him for a fellow officer. Their gaze soon fixed upon a weapon being leveled at them, throwing off their expectations. Before they could raise their rifles, he smartly hit the first man in the chest.
The other three recovered and fired with certain aim and a firm belief that they were about to fry the Alliance interloper in front of them. To their shock, the shots briefly glowed green across the body shield and then faded away. The Major grinned in delight of the expression of surprise and fired the weapon three times in quick succession. Three bodies thudded to the floor.
“All clear,” the Major said to the rest of the group waiting around the corner. They advanced around the turn in the corridor. Elliot looked at his handiwork in appreciation.
“Good work, Major.”
“Thank—you, Sir,” he replied, and depressed the button on the device. The shield’s soft humming stopped and the field around the Major’s body winked out.
“Private, if you will,” Elliot said to the technician and indicated the large set of double doors that were the last impediment to reaching the Ferine hostages.
“Glad to, Sir.”
“Ranik, Lathiel, you’d better take the lead on this one. The prisoners need to see familiar faces,” Elliot said. Once the technician finished his work, the two walked to the front of the small crowd of officers and stood in front of the doors. They waited to see the condition of their friends and associates they hoped were on the other side of the door. Lathiel secretly guarded himself against the possibility of seeing another empty room. A beep of confirmation issued from the access panel and the doors opened.
The large group of troops let out a relieved sigh to discover that some eighty Ferine sat on benches and cots doing their best to cope with the situation. At first, they looked up in mild curiosity of the latest set of visitors. The process had begun to bore them as the officers always asked the same questions regarding their technological abilities and never got the answers they were intent on hearing.
The first few nearest to the doors looked up and believed they were hallucinating when they saw Lathiel and Ranik in front of a group of well armed Human soldiers crowding the hallway.
“Lathiel?” Danniack asked, squinting at the spotted Ferine at the front of the group.
“It’s me, Danniack. You’re not imagining this,” Lathiel assured him in a relieved voice. At the sound of his voice more looked up from their conversations and activities to focus on the open door and the Ferine standing in it. They began to cautiously move towards the door, suspicious that it may be a trick.
“Oh Lathiel,” Danniack said in a disheartened voice, “they’ve captured you too.”
“No Danniack,” he replied and walked towards the Captain of the Explorer, “we’re here to rescue you. These men are our friends.”
“It was Humans that captured us and took us here.”
“These Humans are different. They’re not only our friends, they’re our allies now,” Ranik said, entering the room and standing next to his cousin.
“Allies? I don’t understand.”
“You’ve missed a few events since the Coalition took you hostage. These people are from the other organization, called the Alliance. Elik and the Assembly have voted to ally with them,” Lathiel said.
“Just to rescue us?”
“That and a lot more,” Ranik said.
“Come on. We’re getting all of you back to your ships,” Lathiel said.
“I’m confused.”
“We don’t have much time. Trust me. Get everyone together and organized into the crew for each ship,” Ranik said.
“Yes, of course,” Danniack said, shaking a fog of confusion from his head. He stood straight and turned around to the Ferine scattered across the hold. “We’re going. These men are here to take us back to our ships. They’re not with the people who brought us here. They’re here to rescue us.”
At the proclamation, the Ferine in the hold immediately perked up and moved towards the captain.
“Now, all of you: the crew of the Explorer on this side and the crew of the Wanderer on that side,” Lathiel said, indicating the left and then the right side of the room. The hope of escape motivated the Ferine to respond to his directions. Two groups of forty Ferine formed in less than a minute.
“Good. Now this is my friend Eli,” Ranik said, with a motion of one arm towards the Admiral behind him. “He’s going to tell you what to do so that we can all get off this station and back to our ships. Please listen to him and do what he says.”
Lathiel and Ranik walked back to the door and stood on either side of Elliot.
“Thank—you, Ranik. Danniack, you and your group will follow me. The soldiers you see are here to escort you back to your ships. They are here to protect you.”
The Ferine watched as the soldiers divided into two columns and moved to surround the group. The troops took defensive positions around the hostages.
“Don’t worry,” Ranik said, loud enough to be heard by the eighty members of his race, “they won’t harm you.”
The Ferine looked worried with the soldiers standing at attention around them but none panicked in the charged atmosphere.
“Captain Leck,” Elliot directed to the second crew, “you will follow my friend Joshua. He is the one with the blue eyes, blond hair, and goofy smile.”
The joke brought a brief chorus of laughter from the group. Elliot hoped it would serve to relieve some of the tension and demonstrate that these Humans were indeed different from the ones that had imprisoned them. It also brought a roll of the eyes from Joshua.
“Major?” Elliot asked.
“Any time you’re ready, Sir.”
“Okay, Danniack and your crew, follow me. After that, Joshua will have you follow him. You’re all going home,” Elliot said, and turned for the door. Behind him Madison took up a position with her PBD drawn. Nadine took a place next to Elliot.
“Let’s go,” Nadine said to Elliot with a smile.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Elliot replied. They walked out of the holding area as a group of over one hundred Ferine and Humans.
“The ships are moored at Deck Fourteen on the outer ring. The elevators can take us within a short distance of them. Your technician should go with the other group to override the lift controls and I’ll take your group,” Nadine said. They walked down the corridor and took a turn to the right down a different passage.
“Sounds good. Private, you heard her,” Elliot said to the technician walking behind them.
“Yes Sir,” he said. The Private moved to the side of the corridor and allowed the people to proceed past him. He then joined the second group still in the storage bay. Joshua waited until the first group had disappeared around the corner, before turning back to face the Ferine captain.
“Captain Leck, follow me,” he said and moved towards the exit. The group obediently followed him out of t
he area.
Nadine led them down a different set of hallways and into a large assembly area that was also empty, thanks to her knowledge of the station.
“These are the only elevators capable of transporting large groups. We usually use them for cargo and fighters, but each group will have to take a different lift,” Nadine said.
Elliot nodded, and the group waited as the second one poured into the room behind them.
“Joshua, you’ll take the second elevator. Call for it as soon as we leave,” Elliot said.
“Private, once you’re on the elevator, set arrival for Deck Seventeen Section Sixty—One,” Nadine said to the junior officer. The officer didn’t question her authority but simply nodded curtly as acknowledgement.
Nadine walked over to an incredibly wide, tall door that was large enough to accommodate two fighters, each sixty feet in length. She input a code into the wall panel, and in a surprisingly short period of time, the door opened at the ceiling and slid into the deck. The space was at least sixty feet wide and fifty feet deep.
“Anytime you’re ready, Eli.”
“Follow me,” Elliot said to his cadre. The couple walked on to the elevator with the large escaping mass behind them. They fit in the lift with room to spare, but not enough to accommodate Joshua’s team.
“We’ll see you on the other side,” Joshua said.
The door came back up from the floor and sealed shut into the ceiling. The open deck elevator whirred into motion. The exposed steel walls of the shaft whizzed past them at nearly forty miles an hour.
The elevator arrived to a wide, curved corridor. Elliot and Nadine vacated the elevators with the others close behind.
“This is where we have to part ways,” Nadine said. “The Explorer is down the right side of the corridor. Take your first left and go to the end. That’s where the airlock to the ship is. The Wanderer is down the left side. Take a right and the airlock is at the end of the corridor. There are guards at the airlock to both ships and scientists are on board, but they shouldn’t pose too much of a problem for you.”
“Madison, take the lead. I’ll catch up,” Elliot said. Madison looked at Nadine with a knowing smile and then left with her weapon drawn. The rest of the Ferine hostages and soldiers followed her down the corridor.