The group of squad leaders was mostly silent for a 20 minute period.
Lieutenant Aaron spoke, “These guns have a maintenance tunnel for the hydrogen feeds. I don’t see any access until you get all the way back to the power plant on this level. If we can gain access through there, it should be a straight shot into that gun port. There is no access to it other than through the blast doors and those will likely be sealed shut by the Dakar.”
I got on the comm. “York? You know these power plants. There is a plant on Wallace-20 that provides power for the decks above and below it as well as a hydrogen feed to the external gun closest to it. We need access to the hydrogen maintenance tunnel. How likely is that?”
York replied, “Those tunnels have a blast door of their own. The Dakar have likely sealed that door off as well. But there may be an alternative. The vent system leading to that tunnel has automatic doors that close once the guns are enabled. I doubt they have those guns online.”
I replied, “Are you saying we can crawl through the vents?”
York thought for a moment and responded, “Sorry Sir, the lots of you are too big. If you want access you will have to find a kid who can squeeze through there. Once inside they can release the lock on the blast door.”
I turned to Aaron. “Look over the personnel manifests for this section and see if there were any kids living around here before the lockdown. We may need to enlist their assistance.”
I replied to York, “Thanks for your help Sergeant. Get some arms and legs back on yourself; we could use your help around here.”
York replied, “There’s nothing I want more right now Mr. Grange. The Doc here is a hoot, but I would much rather be there in the mix with you. If you have any further questions I am all ears Sir.”
I switched channels on the comm. “Frig, I need you to do a scan outside the emergency blast doors of Wallace-18. There is a large contingent of Dakar outside the main door. I need to know if we can slip out the side or not.”
Frig replied, “I have 16 critical injuries preparing to move through the portal. More are coming in. If I get a break I will gladly perform the scan Sir, but these men deserve an Evac first.”
I replied, “Absolutely. If you get the opportunity though, I need the scans.”
We used the time available to plan our route to the power plant. From previous scans, it was concluded that moving out on Wallace-18 to Transway-5 and then up to Wallace-20 offered the best chance of skirting the Dakar who were now camped in the area around the port. Twenty minutes later Frig came back with news.
Frig spoke, “Sir, there is a unit of Dakar posted near the emergency door to your left. The door to the right appears to have clear egress access with a unit posted 502 meters away. The right emergency door is available if you need to exit the port.
I replied, “Excellent!”
I turned to my squad leaders. “Let’s get ready to move. We have a path mapped to that power plant. There are five families with children along that path. We need to enlist the help of one. Let’s hope we find one who has no fear.”
Lieutenant Aaron replied, “I don’t think we will have issue Sir. The Wallace people I have encountered in the Corps always came in gung-ho, especially the girls Sir. Even though Wallace doesn’t have a large population, it is a very patriotic section.”
A TIG was dispensed to silence the alarm on the emergency door. We quietly slipped out and began our move towards the first family residence with an eligible child. After repeated knocks at the door with no answer, we continued on. The second and third families were either too frightened or the child too overweight to make it through the air shaft. The fourth family invited me in.
I stood just inside the doorway. “Sir, Ma’am, My name is Don Grange. We need your daughter for an important mission. We need her to crawl through a small space to open a door for us.”
The nine year old daughter, Emily, looked on from behind he father’s hip.
The mother had a worried expression as the father replied, “What is it exactly you are doing? And when will she be coming back?”
I replied, “It’s for your own safety that you don’t know what we are attempting, and we will be bringing her back as soon as possible. We are at war Mr. Jackson. We are making a push to take back the Grid. We need someone small enough to fit through an opening that is 40 centimeters width. If we can’t get someone through there, we can’t proceed with our plans. This is a critical need Sir. And we will do our best to protect her from harm.”
The girl then stepped around her father. “I’ll do it.”
She looked at her mother and father and their shocked faces. “These aliens invaded our home. You both have said that if something can’t be done we will either be slaves or dead. I don’t want that for any of us. I’ll go Mr. Grange.”
The girl hugged each of her stunned parents and then stepped through the door into the hallway.
I knelt, placed my hand on her shoulder and spoke, “Emily, you are going to hang with me. If I say jump, jump. If I say run… run like you have never run before. And these weapons we are carrying, they can be extremely loud. The enemies we are fighting are mostly Dakar soldiers. It is very likely that we will have to kill a few along the way. Are you sure you are up for this? Because once we start there is no turning back.”
Emily replied, “I want my life back Mr. Grange. I want to see my friends in school. I want to hang out with my best friend Sandy. Before they shut us all in our apartments they took some people away. And my Dad, I know he has been going without food so that my Mom and I can eat. I want my life back. If I can help I will.”
I gave Emily a pat on the shoulder as I stood. “We all want those things Emily. If all goes well today we will have you back with your parents. We may even be able to spare a few extra meals.”
We again began to move down the hallways towards Transway-5. The Dakar located by Frig on the scans, were camped out in locations along the way. The Colonel’s men had all moved on beyond this sector, there was no activity. As such, the Dakar soldiers mostly sat on the hallway floor of wherever it was they had been assigned.
As we quietly walked along Emily spoke, “Where are we going Mr. Grange?”
I replied, “We are heading to the power station on Wallace-20. When we get there, there is a ventilation shaft we are going to send you through. It’s about 45 meters in length and has a number of turns you will have to make. When you reach the other end, you will have to kick out a grate with your feet and lower yourself down into a narrow corridor. There will be a door to your right. We will need you to unlock it for us.”
Emily replied, “I know where that power station is Sir. My elementary classes were held in the school next to it. One of my classmate’s fathers worked there. Johnny. He was kind of a bully and his father was scary mean. Everyone else was scared of him, but I felt sorry because he didn’t have any friends.”
I replied, “That makes you a better person than most Emily. You keep those kinds of thoughts in your head and you will have a good life. We all have our problems, some more than others, but if we can sometimes recognize that people often act the way they do because of other reasons, we can better work out our own problems. I have met some of the Dakar. They aren’t all bad. They have been told to do what they are doing. Rather than hate them I sometimes feel sorry for them too.”
Emily stopped and looked up at me. “Oh, I don’t feel sorry for them Mr. Grange. Give me a spoon and I will take out their black eyes. They attacked our home and they are starving us.”
I looked down at the nine year old girl standing beside me. The expression on her face was nothing but serious. I pulled out a blaster that I had as a spare.
As we continued to walk I spoke, “Have you ever used one of these?”
Emily replied, “No Sir. I’ve seen them in movies. And we did have a class where we were allowed to pick some of those up. But they didn’t have a charge in them. The boys were all excited about it, but
mostly everyone was scared. I picked it up. It wasn’t scary.”
I set the safety on the blaster and handed it to Emily. “Hang to this for a bit. Get a feel for handling it. I’ll tell you how it works and then I’ll give you a little quiz on it. If you pass the quiz I’ll let you keep it. Who knows, you might get a chance to fire it if we run into trouble.”
The young girl took the weapon and began to inspect it as we moved along. I explained the controls in as simple terms as possible. She was not intimidated and repeated back everything I had told her. As we walked, she tucked the blaster into the front of her shorts.
We managed to snake our way through the hallways to Transway-5 without an encounter. Surprisingly, the trans-way was clear. Troops had been pulled to battle the Humans as they moved towards their new destinations. Other than the small occupying force at the Wallace port, the rest of the section was inactive. Ten minutes later we found ourselves in the power station. A new office, which was not on the section schematics, blocked the vent leading to the maintenance tunnel.
Frost spoke, “Now that’s a twist. What do we do with the girl now Sir?”
I replied, “We keep her. It looks like they may have covered over the shaft, so we will just have to uncover it.”
Emily pulled out her blaster, flipped the safety and fired a bolt. The thin back wall of the office crackled and collapsed, revealing the vent shaft behind. Emily reset the safety and again tucked the gun into her shorts.
Frost spoke, “I think we found a keeper Sir. I like the way she takes command!”
I replied, “She didn’t take command.”
I turned to Emily, “I would appreciate you asking before firing that thing. Sometimes a bolt from that will send materials in all directions.”
Emily replied, “I know. I set it down to 2 first. Saw it in a movie.”
I smiled a firm smile, “Just ask first, OK?”
Emily nodded her head.
I spoke, “There are five turns you will have to make once you are in the shaft, right, right, left, right, left. Repeat that back to me.”
Emily replied, Right, right, left, right, left.”
I smiled. “Good. When you reach the final turn, you are going to have to go in backwards, feet first. You are going to need that orientation when you get to the grate at the other end. Kick it out with your feet. And then there is the door. Press the green button first, a panel should light up. Press the red button and hold it. There is a red lever that operates the lock. When you here a buzzing sound, release the red button, grab the lever and pull it all the way down. You should then be able to spin the wheel and open the door. We will be waiting.”
We gave Emily a boost up into the vent shaft.
She looked back over her shoulder and spoke, “I will get this done Mr. Grange.”
As she turned back and began to crawl away I turned to the others. “Let’s get over to that door. Once through we can expect Dakar from the gun port to be coming to inspect it. Be ready with a TIG if we need it.”
I picked up my pack and turned towards the office door. Lieutenant Aaron held up a hand to halt my progress. A Dakar had entered the power plant area.
Aaron spoke, “Sir, what should we do? If we take him down, more will come looking for him.”
I replied, “He doesn’t look overly interested in a thorough check. Let’s just stay out of sight and see if he wanders on.”
We squatted down behind the half wall that outlined the office we occupied.
Frost spoke, “I can take him out with a suppressor Sir.”
I replied, “No, we let him be. If he leaves we can get through that door before anyone else comes. Once in, we seal it and no one else comes through.”
As we watched the Dakar guard, he meandered around the power station floor, poking at handles and staring at gauges. I looked at the timer on my arm pad. Emily was due to open the maintenance door at any moment.
I grabbed Frost on the shoulder, “Get that suppressor ready. If Emily opens that door while he is there you may need to take the shot. If that happens, we are going to have to get through that door in a hurry. I don’t want a firefight with that little girl involved.”
We watched patiently. Several quiet seconds passed before the buzzer on the maintenance door began to sound. The Dakar guard moved towards the door.
I spoke, “Take him out!”
Frost replied, “I don’t have a shot Sir. He’s behind that column… come on dude, move, take one more step!”
The maintenance door then began to swing open slowly. Again there was silence. I jumped to my feet and began to sprint towards the door with Frost and the others quickly behind me. In what seemed like a slow motion action I could see the Dakar raising his blaster as I pulled the pin on a TIG. Just before he pulled the trigger a blue bolt came from the door, striking the Dakar in the center of his torso. His chest exploded in a violent way.
When I reached the door Emily was standing with her blaster still raised in her hand. A smile was on her face.
I spoke, “Are you OK? He came up after you were out of sight.”
Emily replied, “That… was… awesome. I did it Mr. Grange! I killed a Dakar before he killed me!”
The girl was smiling. Frost strode up to her with a smile of her own.
Frost spoke, “You missy, are destined for the Marines! Heck, I’d be happy to swear you in right now!”
I looked at the Dakar with the now hollow chest. His eyes were still open and his face had an expression of disbelieve. I wondered for a moment what the last thought going through his head was. I could hear a voice coming from the headphones in the Dakar’s battle helmet.
I spoke, “OK people, through that door and let’s get it sealed. This place is going to get busy in a few minutes.”
As the door shut I pushed up on the red handle. The echoing sound of metal on metal told me that the lock had engaged. When I turned back, Emily was looking at me with a worried expression.
Emily spoke, “I guess I’m not going home am I Mr. Grange. That Dakar soldier, he made that impossible.”
Frost placed her hand on Emily’s back. “You stick with me kid. I’ll keep you breathing and fighting.”
Emily offered a half smile.
Again I knelt beside the girl who had gotten us through the door. “Everything you have done here today has been incredibly brave. There is probably not another Human kid in the Universe who has taken down a Dakar warrior. Hang out with Sergeant Frost. She’ll see to it that you make it back home.”
Chapter 18
The maintenance corridor heading towards the gun bay was narrow. I was continually bumping my wide shoulders against every pipe hanger that jutted out from the wall. When we arrived at the gun room the Dakar inside were waiting for us.
Lieutenant Aaron dodged a blaster bolt just as he rounded the final corner. The bolt struck the far, thick steel wall, sizzling the paint off as it spread out from the blast point.
Aaron fell to the other side. “I saw at least four of them Sir.”
I readied a TIG and tossed it around the corner.
Pop!
The TIG detonated, leaving the Dakar without functional weapons. Frost was the first to round the corner.
Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak! Ak-ak-ak!
Laser fire was nowhere to be found.
I spoke, “Let’s get this bay secure! It’s not going to take the Dakar long to figure out where we were going. Aaron, make sure that main blast door is sealed good and tight!”
Frost spoke, “Sir, we have a clean shot at a dozen Dakar ships out there. I could take them all out with one series Sir!”
I replied, “We have one more gun bay to take down Frost. Until we do that I want our attention focused there.”
Aaron reported, “Sir, blast door is secure. We are sealed in tight.”
I walked to the gun station and stared at the monitors for several seconds.
I spoke, “Frost.”
Frost replied, “Yes Sir?”
I continued, “You want to blow up those Dakar ships out there?”
Frost replied, “You know I do Sir.”
I sat in a chair and turned towards her. “Well that might be the only thing we have left that we can do. With that maintenance access to the power station closed off, we have no way to get to that second gun bay. We are kind of stuck here.”
Lieutenant Aaron stepped up. “Maybe not Sir, the maintenance corridor on this end has another blast door Sir. On the other side is a small maintenance port. There is an external maintenance shuttle that runs on a track just outside that runs from gun to gun. It lets the maintainers do fix-ups out there as needed.”
Frost spoke, “Sir, if we can take that second gun we can fly that transport out of Wallace port. Let me take out these ships Sir. Then we saddle someone up in that maintenance shuttle and send them off to do battle with the Dakar in the next gun port.”
I replied, “You think we can pull that off? Anyone know how to run one of those shuttles?”
Aaron replied, “I’m sure it’s largely automated Sir. Most of the maintenance on this station is fairly easy. I don’t know who designed it all, but they are way beyond our league if you ask me Sir. I will volunteer to make the shuttle run Sir.”
I thought for a moment as I again looked over the gun bay console. “No, you will sit tight here Aaron. I’m going in that shuttle. Just be prepared to send out that transport when I ask. And Frost…”
Frost replied, “Yes Sir?”
I pointed out the window. “Why don’t you show Miss Emily here how you take out a dozen Dakar ships with a series shot.”
Frost grinned. “Yes Sir!”
I stood and headed for the maintenance blast door with Aaron at my heels. “Sir, I have to protest. You are key to this mission. We can’t risk you getting taken out Sir.”
I depressed the red button until the buzzer sounded. I then pulled down on the red handled and was rewarded as the metal echo told me the door was unlocked. Four spins of the wheel later and the thick blast door pushed open.
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