by Stone,Kord
Input received command functions TDS 4 Transferred.
At that point the display cleared to read,
TDS 4.
Minimal access protocol, reengage full access (Yes) or (No).
Jerren told her, “You’ll want to activate the safety protocol first.”
“What safety…” Terrah had begun to ask.
Terrah didn’t finish her question because the display changed to read:
Safety Protocol Engaged
“Oh. Okay… do I activate the full access now?” Terrah asked.
“Yes, now it should be safe,” Jerren said with what he hoped was an endearing smile.
Terrah selected yes and shaking her head slightly she said, “Wow, what a rush,” and nearly thirty seconds later the display settled to read:
TDS 4
Auto data stream 14%.
Jerren chuckled and told her, “Your mind will get cluttered for a few days with a lot of data, but it will clear over time. You need to restart the ship now.” Jerren looked down at the results, not a bit surprised to see them,
TDS 4
Core is not responding, manual input required.
System restart on standby.
“Okay, we know the ship will be within a tolerable temperature range, but what’s the air quality?” Jerren asked of Terrah.
Terrah seemed to be accessing the information, and then said, “The Co2 levels are very high, and the Oxygen level is near to nonexistent.”
Jerren said, “Wait here a moment,” He asked, “Terrah, could you call for the archway TDS 4.” A second later the archway appeared. Jerren took in several deep breaths, activated his armor and stepped in to TDS 4.
*****
Looking around the TDS 4 engine room Jerren saw this ship too was a cluttered mess, his heads-up display showed the hazardously low oxygen levels, and within seconds an alternate oxygenation system activated in his suit. Seeing that, Jerren exhaled and having found what he needed to know, he returned to the master control room.
“Okay, our suits can produce the air we need. We only need to get Terrah an EVA suit, until we can get her one of these suits.” Jerren said as he looked around for Terrah.
Jason said, “Alise and Terrah already went to put one on, and they should be back at any moment.”
Sure enough, Alise and Terrah reentered the master control room a minute later, “Okay, are we all ready?” Jerren looked around to the murmur of agreement. Jerren then looked back to Saleria and Vellia, “We need you to either stay in here or in one of the other ships until Terra’s ship is powered up and the systems are back to normal,” they nodded and Jerren looked back at their boarding party and smiled, “It’s a mess in there, so watch your step. Let’s do this,” and one by one they stepped through the archway.
Chapter Twenty-Two
After clearing relics out of their way Jason, Terrah and Justin approached the engine while Jerren and Eneria continued clearing a path to the corridor. Jason was telling Terrah what he needed her to do and Terrah said she was not sure how to do it but would follow their lead. Jason and Justin each took one of her hands and placed their free one on the engine, and the lights began to flicker feebly.
Jerren had a thought pop into his head and spoke to Eneria in mind, I want you to grasp Jason and Terrah’s shoulders, and I will grasp Terrah and Justin’s, and push energy through them. Eneria nodded and did it at the same time Jerren did and a pulse of energy coursed into the engine core.
A moment later Calia’s voice sounded, “That worked, by my calculations TDS 4 should be fully functional in two hours your time. Alise and I are going back to our ships and will move them out of range.”
Jason confirmed the message and turned apparently to survey their environment.
Jerren was pleased to see that the environmental systems had activated and said, “The oxygen levels are rising, Terrah can you send the clutter to the Void Storage for me yet? Just tell the ship to reset for the new commander.”
A moment later Terrah said, “It isn’t doing anything.”
Jerren sighed, “It was a slim hope. That system is probably one of the last to be activated. Jason, Justin will you help Terrah to the Prep room? Get her one of these suits ASAP.”
Jason nodded and the five of them spent the next fifteen minutes clearing their way to the outer hatch. Once they made it to the exit, Jerren said, “Eneria and I are going after the bomb and will be back as fast as possible.” Jerren and Eneria drew their weapons and vanished, “If we encounter anyone just stun them and move on,” Jerren told Eneria.
Eneria nodded, then Jerren put his hand on the wall and said “exit,” The hatch dissolved and they slowly crept out. General Green was still on duty overseeing the same techs, actually they were there a few hours prior to the last time they had been down there. Jerren and Eneria had just stepped out and were moving away from the ship when Jerren looked back to see the hatch had closed up behind them, “Damn.”
Eneria looked back, “Can we contact them when we are back?”
Jerren shrugged, “Only one way to find out… Jason, can you hear me?”
There was a moments silence then Jason’s voice sounded, “Yes, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, we just noticed the hatch had closed and it concerned us a bit. We weren’t sure we would be able to communicate,” Jerren said a bit relieved.
“Sorry about that, just after you left we thought to close it in case someone noticed it opened. It looks like the blocked communications and scans only pertain to above the base. Just let us know when to open the hatch, we’ll be standing by.”
“That sounds good, General Green and six techs are still here, that CIA spook isn’t here at the moment however, but we know he will be down here in the next few hours along with the other techs,” Jerren looked around and said, “We’re going silent, we will call for the hatch when we’re back.”
“Sounds good,” Jason replied. “We’re almost to the prep room, Terrah asked us to relay a message. She said General Green is a friendly. Try not to harm him if at all possible.”
Jerren looked at the general and replied, “Got it…out.” Jerren knew the general said he was his sister’s guardian, and with the way Terrah spoke of him, Jerren knew it would be for the best to get him out of Area 51 as soon as possible. Making a unilateral decision, Jerren resolved himself to come back for the general after the dark matter bomb was secured.
Jerren motioned for Eneria to follow him, and they made it to the exit door when one of the techs voices called out, “My sensors just detected an EM signature.”
Jerren looked at the general whose face just paled as he called out, “Is it the same as the last one? Do we need to EVAC?!”
The tech called out, “No, it was only a momentary minor spike, and a very low energy reading. I will keep an eye on it, but it’s gone now.”
“Okay, I’ll make note of it and inform the special projects liaison. Notify me of any other changes immediately.”
Peering through the door, Jerren saw that the guards were not standing their post so opening the door quietly, he and Eneria slipped out and headed across the cavern toward the elevator.
Jerren saw the two guards making what appeared to be a security sweep, and halting Eneria, they waited for the guards to pass and Jerren and Eneria followed them toward the elevator.
“That guy gives me the creeps, why does he wear that armor? And why do we have to follow his commands anyway? He’s not an officer or even in the military.” The Tech Sergeant asked.
The Chief Master Sergeant spoke quietly as he said, “Best not to ask, and I would suggest just ignoring his ridiculous armor. I’ve been stationed in many high security bases in the past, and none of them have the chain of command this place has. You’ve seen what he’s doing to Colonel Tones, and she has to be one of the nicest officers I’ve ever served under.”
He seemed to peer around a second then added, “If I was on duty the night of the accident, I can tell you
this, I would’ve found a way to get her off of the base. I heard that prick Doctor Abbas was the one who found her and called Bias U’san before notifying anyone else.”
“Karma’s a bitch… sorry Chief.”
The Chief Master Sergeant chuckled then said, “Not to worry, he got what was coming to him for sure. One of those Taser darts must’ve hit him, and the current must’ve caused him to go into cardiac arrest. He’d be alive today if he didn’t try to restrain her.”
Though Jerren would’ve loved to keep following the two guards to hear more, they reached the elevators and waited for them to get well out of range before opening the door.
Once the guards were out of sight Jerren pried the door opened and after Eneria entered the shaft he followed her in.
Jerren and Eneria activated the gravity belt feature in their suits and ascended to the next level up, and after Jerren triggered the door latch, they both entered the weapons research level, and the elevator doors had just closed behind them when Jerren heard a commotion from down the hall.
“The elevator doors on the lower level and yours just showed a breach, the surveillance system showed the doors opening, but the lift is still on the upper level. Secure the doors and report back,” An unknown voice called over the radio.
Jerren and Eneria hugged the wall as the four soldiers passed, Eneria had raised her weapon, and was about to stun the men when Jerren spoke to her, “Not yet, they won’t find anything and will secure the elevator and report back.”
The lead soldier made a few quick gestures to the other soldiers who fanned around the shaft door. One of the soldiers had a grenade ready to toss in as he called out, “This is Master Sergeant Bower, the corridor is clear. Open the elevator door.”
The door opened and Jerren watched as the soldiers cleared the shaft, then he sounded the all clear.
“Master Sergeant Bower checking in, the shaft is secure, there’s no sign of forced entry. The Code is passive, I repeat code is passive.”
“Confirmed ‘Passive’. Post guards on the door and perform your level sweep. The CE’s will be down to evaluate the system shortly,” The unknown voice stated.
“Understood,” Bower radioed back. Looking at the lower ranked NCO’s, “Anderson… Brooks, hold this position,” Bower ordered.
“Yes Master Sergeant,” the two called out as Bower and a Tech Sergeant returned to their post.
After the two passed them Jerren signaled for Eneria to follow and they let the Sergeants lead them in. They came to a security door which the soldiers opened and Jerren and Eneria swiftly followed them through.
Once the door closed behind them, the tech sergeant asked, “So, what do you think?”
“It’s probably just a glitch due to the electrical discharges over the past few months, they did say the door on the lower level opened as well,” Bower stated as they approached the next guard and a metal detector.
Master Sergeant Bower nodded and told the Staff Sergeant monitoring the security scanner, “We will complete our sweep, and will be back in a few,” Bower mumbled something to the Tech sergeant and they headed off through the detector and into the secured section of the level.
Wanting to make sure not to be overheard Jerren whispered, “Follow closely, while the metal detector is deactivated.” Eneria nodded and they both went through the metal detector, and luckily they were not detected.
Jerren and Eneria had followed the sergeants through a set of double doors at the end of the corridor and into a large research laboratory. They were passing work stations and computers every few feet. Each table had strange and dangerous looking objects on them, and they all appeared to be Alien in origin.
The sergeants were headed to the end of the room where there was a large vault door, and Jerren held Eneria back a moment and allowed the sergeants to get ten feet away before he whispered to Eneria, “Do any of these things look familiar?”
Eneria sighed, “Yes, most of them are weapons. That one,” Eneria pointed at a table “Is an Esulan particle weapon. It looks as if the power pack was depleted, so they are trying to refit it with a different power source, and it looks as if that communications beacon over there and some of the other items are being reverse engineered. It is not from this planet… well none of the items I have seen in here are from Earth actually.”
Jerren shook his head in disgust and sped up to make it to the soldiers, a few seconds later the master sergeant radioed in.
“Command…Master Sergeant Bower.”
“Go Ahead.”
“We’ve swept the level, it’s clear to the vault.”
“Confirmed, Biometric and retinal scanners are active, you will have sixty seconds to clear the vault.”
Both of the Soldiers took positions on either side of the vault door and scanned their palms and retinas, a second later the voice said, “You have sixty seconds beginning now.” and the vault door swung open.
Both of the sergeants drew their side arms and continued their sweep, as soon as they entered, Jerren and Eneria followed and found a nook to wait in. It only took them forty-five seconds before the soldiers exited the vault and radioed the all clear.
A few seconds later the door closed behind them and the bolts locked into place. Jerren took aim at the CCD camera in the corner and destroyed it. Then waited a few seconds to make sure the soldiers were not returning. Once he was sure they were in the clear, Jerren began his search for the bomb.
It didn’t take long, and on an indrawn breath Eneria asked, “What is it?” as she made her way to his side.
“There are three of them!” Jerren said with disgust. He looked around the room, “Is there anything else they have in here that’s too dangerous to leave behind?”
Eneria seemed to examine everything and said, “I would not be comfortable leaving anything in here. None of it is from this planet, it baffles me as to how they acquired it all. There has been minimal alien contact with this planet for thousands of years, and since Lantis’s destruction, Earth was seen as too primitive and violent to approach.”
“Will TDS 4 be able to collect it all once the ship is powered up?” Jerren asked Eneria.
“I think so, if the scanners are like the communications, then they are only blocking external scans, we should be able to target and dematerialize all of it before the ship leaves.”
Jerren sighed, “Good, then we only have one other issue.”
“The third bomb,” Eneria sighed out.
“The third bomb,” Jerren repeated, and then he looked around and activated a multi-phase image of the room. “The walls are very thick, I think it will be a pain to try and blast through them,” Jerren chuckled, “But the floor is only a few feet thick. I think a change of plan is in order.”
Jerren motioned Eneria over, “We’re almost over TDS 4. If we vaporize a hole in the floor we should be able to drop to the lower chamber instead of going back through the elevator shaft as we planned. Are you ready?”
Eneria nodded and Jerren took aim at the floor. After a couple short blasts on the Vaporize setting, there was an oblong hole large enough to allow passage. As Jerren feared, the moment the hole opened, the vault depressurized and the alarms began sounding. Jerren took aim at the door and fired an intense beam at it that melted a part of the door to the frame.
Turning to Eneria, Jerren saw she already had a bomb in one hand and was about to pick up a second, “Just take one, the gravity belt would only barely hold us up with one bomb. I’ll come back for the third one,” Jerren said as he picked up the second bomb, “Let’s do it,” Jerren said as he jumped through the hole and activated the gravity belt feature in his suit. Jerren looked up to see that Eneria was right above him. Once he made it to the ground he moved out of her way and a second later Eneria was on the ground as well.
Jerren could hear radio chatter on the other side of the door leading into the modular building surrounding TDS 4, and Jerren drew his weapon while clutching the bomb close. Looking at Eneria, then
down at himself Jerren noticed they did not vanish, “the bomb must be blocking the phase, let’s move in,” Jerren stated. Eneria nodded and followed as Jerren entered the modular building.
Once the door opened Jerren fired a few stunning blasts at the men on the other side then he and Eneria proceeded to the ship.
Jerren opened communications with Jason, “We’re at the hatch.”
A moment later the passage opened and they entered. Looking to his brothers Jerren handed his bomb over to Jason and said, “Secure this one, and the one Eneria has. I’m going back for the other one.”
“There were three of them?!” Jason asked in a near shout.
“Yes,” Jerren stated with disgust. Looking at Eneria Jerren said, “Eneria, can you help Terrah scan for anything of alien origin in the room above, and if it is dangerous get it out of there. I will be back in a moment,” Eneria nodded and Jerren darted out of the ship and vanished upon redrawing his weapon.
Jerren exited the modular lab and saw the Tech and Chief Master Sergeants headed for the building. He hated to do it because after hearing the two speaking about Terrah, he liked them, but he raised his weapon and fired two stunning shots and they crumpled to the ground.
Jerren checked their conditions really fast, and finding them to just be unconscious he stood and made it to the location where he had descended to from the vault, then activated the gravity belt and began ascending. He was off just a little and shimmied his way back through the hole and came to rest on the vault floor, and picking up the last bomb he called out to Eneria, “Do you have a lock on the items yet?”
“Almost, CRAP!” she shouted over the communications.
“What’s wrong now?” Jerren asked.
A second later Eneria said, “There is a small amount of dark matter in a suspension vial on a shelf. We need to get it out of there before we remove the other items around it. I will be there in a second to help—”
“No! I see it and I’ll get it, you stay there,” Jerren saw what appeared to be a miniature ancient looking canopic Jar that had the dark matter swirling in it. Jerren picked it up and activated the antigravity feature in his suit; it almost felt like the suit was going to lift him for a second then stopped. Wanting to get it over with he jumped through the hole before Eneria could respond, and a foot or two above the floor he activated the belt.