Archaea 2: Janis

by Dain White

“Sir, he looks pretty sick. Please advise.”

  Yak looked back at me, the anguish on his face clear even through his visor.

  “Yak, I don't know enough about what we're looking at here. Is this treatable?”

  “Sir, stand by.” Yak turned back to our contact, who was leaning against a workbench.

  “Sir, the sickness you have, is this the plague you were referring to?”

  He nodded, gasping. “We don't think it's airborne, but we don't know for sure... AV dropped some medical staff, but they just took samples.” He lapsed into a horrible coughing fit that racked on and on, until his knees buckled, leaving him gripping the workbench for support.

  Both Yak and I took another step back.

  “Is there anything we can do to help?” I asked.

  “You have to save... save them.” he looked up, a look of desperation on his face. “I am not... I can't...” he looked down at the workbench, his breath on the air. “You can't help me. You have to help... the children”

  “Captain, he is pretty far gone, sir. He thinks it is the plague, and there's no treatment.”

  “Yak, our mission is clear, son.”

  “Sir, yes sir.” He looked over at me and nodded. I stepped back and covered him as he moved past me towards the door.

  “We are going to save those children, sir” I said, as clearly as I could. The man waved at me, and looked up with a smile. I stepped backwards into the entry tube of the dome, through the door, and into the howling snow towards the gig.

  “Captain, we're oscar mike, loading up now”

  “What's the situation, son?”

  “Sir, he said the children are being held in the creche, but he hasn't been to the station for a few weeks. He thought most, if not all of the people there are deceased, and that there was likely AV security personnel on site. He said a few times that the children were under guard.”

  “Very well Yak. Get secure and prepare for dust-off. Janis, dear – can you locate the children for me?”

  “Certainly sir, there are currently eight children located on sublevel 3, administrative wing.”

  “Janis, please update Yak and Shorty's handset with schematics for this facility. Can you update that in real time with the locations of security personnel?”

  “I will, sir...though I am afraid we may not have enough time, I am tracking a drop-ship inbound to this station, on re-entry from orbit.”

  “Janis, there's always time. Shorty, report cabin security”

  I looked over at Yak, lit from below by the red lights of the aisle. Our eyes met and he flashed me both thumbs with a smile.

  “Sir, cabin is secure for flight.”

  “Very well.” Immediately, the turbines started to warm up as the captain raised up on lifters and rotated the gig. I watched the lights from the dome entrance swing past through the cockpit, then it was all dark as we continued to climb.

  “Gene, plans have changed. We are en-route to collect passengers, please make all suitable arrangements for a compliment of eight.”

  “Dak... we don't have berths for eight.”

  “Nonsense, Gene. Of course we do, make it happen, break out hammocks if need be. Also... we are going to need about two liters of the best hot cocoa you can make.”

  “Two liters of cocoa, aye.”

  *****

  The scream of the turbines filled my ears as Jane and I looked over the intel for the mining station facility, bouncing and rattling around in the red-lit cabin.

  The schematics were incredibly detailed, and Janis had what looked like real time placeholders for all security personnel. We counted ten hostiles, though it looked like only two of them were up and about at this time of night. One was on patrol in the halls, the other appeared to be in some sort of control room or security room.

  “Yak, what do you think, should we take that security office?”

  I considered that for a moment, reminded again that this was a bigger job than we really should consider doing with just two of us. I felt that old familiar worry seeping in, seeds of doubt trying to grow.

  “Jane, I am not sure. This looks pretty tricky, if we find ourselves cornered in that room, we're just sitting ducks waiting to get quacked...”

  Right then the captain banked us hard over and accelerated, shoving us deep into our couches. I fought to breathe as the crash bars locked in tight, then we leveled off and dropped. I fought the urge to panic as I started to lift off the couch, then crushed deep down into the cushions as he pulled back up.

  “Jane, I think...” another vicious drop and rebound caught me off guard and I couldn't make words come out. I can't imagine what Pauli's going through up there, strapped out on the nose of this thing. Poor bastard. It's bad enough back here, I can't even imagine what it would be like if I could see what was happening.

  “Jane... I think we are probably going to have to either take the patrol and the office or...” another crushing press passed by “...maybe... we can somehow sneak... past...” We were being thrown from side to side, and I figured that it was pointless to try and talk until we got a bit closer.

  “Folks, we are two minutes out, and cutting this very close. Janis is tracking an inbound dropship on final approach that will be landing in a few moments. One thing that may work to our benefit, their landing platform is located on the far side of the station. The bad news, or should I say, the worse news, is the dropship appears to be coming to remove the children from the station.”

  He paused to let that sink in. Our mission was starting to look even more desperate. If we didn't get those kids, they were almost certainly going to disappear forever. AV was going to see all loose ends tied up nice and tight, and the snows of Solis would eventually drift over everything that remained.

  “Yak, I am going to drop you and Shorty a short distance from the surface door of the station, and then pull back to the far side of a nearby rock feature. Keep me posted on comms, and let us know what we can do to help.”

  “Aye sir.” I said, but a look at Jane's eyes across the aisle reminded me we didn't really have a plan yet. Unfortunately, we were out of time. The captain kicked off the turbines and we started slowing down, the whine of the turbines dropping as he coasted us in on lifters.

  He brought us in smooth and quiet, and Jane and I jumped clear of the hatch and took a knee as he moved back into the blowing snow and out of sight. The howl of the wind was loud, and buffeted us as we held station for a moment, sizing up the approach to the entrance.

  The station was almost completely drifted over with snow, frost-rimed reinforced concrete with slit windows packed with ice the only recognizable man-made features. An entrance tunnel ringed with blue lights was about 50 meters away, the lights marked a path to a dome outbuilding with a bay door. I took a moment to scan a circle around our position with thermals amped, but there was nothing hot.

  “Pauli, are we good to approach?”

  “Yak, we think so, there doesn't seem to be anything other than a telltale when the door opens, and we can suppress that alert.”

  “Roger, moving out now.” I waved at Jane and we moved up together, careful to stay out of the light until we were right at the entrance. I held up my fist, and Jane stopped as I moved to the tunnel opening and looked in. A small drift of snow had formed over the first part of the tunnel steps, but it looked clear. I waved her up, and started moving down the steps towards the door.

  The door was solid, a crank-handle type, excellent for this sort of facility because the crank handle would help dislodge any ice that may have formed around the door. It was heavy, and completely frosted over with rime ice. At first, the handle wouldn't budge, but Jane grabbed part of the handle and between the two of us we managed to get it to lever over, and the door pulled open in a snap of breaking ice.

  Inside was a small antechamber, lit by recessed lights near the floor. Racks of gear, coiled ropes, cables, and other supplies covered the walls. I followed the muzzle of my chemser in, swinging to cove
r the corners of the room, looking intently for anything that might be a threat.

  Jane moved in behind me, and we shut the door behind us, grinding it closed against the ice. The crank-handle was a little easier to operate now, but I took a moment to work it back and forth a bit, while Jane covered the inner door.

  Once the handle moved pretty smoothly, I hunkered to the side of Jane's line of fire, and brought up the station schematics on my wrist holo. The patrol was a floor above us right now, and a few corridors over, it looked like we were good to move out.

  I moved to the inner door, and stood off to the side, as Jane crouched and sighted down her barrel. She nodded, and I slid the door open and moved back away from the door. She nodded again, and I took a lean on the door and looked down the corridor.

  “Yak, be advised, dropship is landing now.”

  “Copy”, I said into comms. Time to go.

  I waved Jane up and we moved towards the end of the hall, moving low and stepping light. Jane dialed in her suit mimetics to match the corridor, and I followed her lead, though as exposed as we were it wouldn't much matter.

  The stairwell was empty, dimly lit with grate flooring on the stair treads, casting stripes of shadow along the walls from the bare bulbs burning at every landing. A quick glance at my holo showed the patrol moving closer. I pointed down, and took point as we stepped down the stairs.

  We had gone down one level, and started down the next flight of stairs when a door opened three flights above us, and the patrol stepped into the stairwell. We took positions near the inside corner of the landing we were on, and watched him move down the stairs towards us.

  Our mimetics were having a hard time keeping up with the striped patterns of light and shadow, but we looked pretty good. I took a quick glance over to Jane and saw that she had angled her chemser rifle into a block of shadow, and was holding it there, watching the man approach, one ringing step at a time. He came down a flight of stairs, and then exited the stairwell on the floor above us. We relaxed imperceptibly, and continued downward, stepping as lightly as we could on the ringing treads.

  The doorway to sublevel three was locked, but Janis had us covered, and before I could even ask, it opened. We stepped through and into a darkened hallway. Jane took a sight to the left, and I took a look to the right, but nothing moved. I tapped her on the shoulder, and followed the hallway past her down to the left, towards the creche entrance. This section of the station looked more warm and inviting, more lived in. There was a brown carpet on the floor, and the doors looked wooden, though certainly they weren't.

  “Jane, we are going to scare these kids to death if we come in there looking like this.” I whispered, looking down at my suit, shifting browns and grays matching the walls and floor.

  “Hmm you're right Yak. How about this?” She dialed in a bright pink color for her mimetics, with a broad yellow stripe.

  “Nice” I laughed, quietly. Not to be outdone, I dialed in a floral pattern, just like an authentic Hawaiian shirt from Earth. We looked pretty kid-friendly, I guess, as much as we were going to, anyway.

  The creche was dark, a big silent room, with bunks on either side. Most of the bunks were empty, but the closest ones all had sleeping children in them. I held a hand up to Jane, and pointed at a bed that seemed to have the largest child sleeping in it. She nodded, and stepped over while I took a position near the door and tried to look as non-threatening as possible.

  “Hey” she said, gently shaking the child on the shoulder, speaking as softly as possible through her suit speakers. “Hey, wake up... hey.”

  The child woke up with a start and slid back against his pillow, eyes wide with fear.

  “Easy honey, easy – we're here to help. My name is Miss Jane, and this is Mister Yak. We're from a ship called the Archaea, and we're here to rescue you.” She spoke slowly and clearly, and as brightly as possible.

  “We need your help okay? We need you to help us wake up the rest of the children, so we can get you to safety. Can you help us?”

  The little boy nodded, his wide eyes staring at Jane and I, not sure what to make of this, clearly not really awake yet. Jane took him by the hand and helped him up out of bed, and he stood there for a moment, scratching his head and rocking back and forth rubbing his eyes.

  “What is your name? “Jane asked, trying to prod him awake gently, both of us aware that we were desperately out of time.

  “My name is Tosh, Tosh Emerson, ma'am”, he yawned.

  “Well Tosh, it's very nice to meet you. We need to hurry, okay? We are almost out of time.”

  He nodded, and they started going around the room, rousing children one by one, until they were all huddled together, blinking and yawning, and clearly scared out of their wits.

  Jane did great though, she was laughing, and playing, and sounded so bright and cheerful in no time she had them all lined up and ready to head out. None of them had warm weather gear, and there didn't look to be much of a chance we were going to find any. Hopefully the one-piece drab tan jumpsuits they were wearing would be enough.

  I checked my holo, and my breath caught in my throat. We were out of time.

  “Jane, we need to move out right now, right this moment.” I said on comms while stepping out of the creche and into the hall. She nodded, and turned to the line of kids watching her with big eyes.

  “Okay kids, we're going to go for a walk. Follow Mr. Yak there, and I will be right behind you. Everyone stay close, and move as quickly as you can.” The kids nodded as she spoke to them, they looked absolutely terrified.

  “I need you all to be brave, as brave as you can. We are here to rescue you, to get you off of Solis and to safety. Mr. Yak and I will not let anyone hurt you, but you have to stay calm, and stay brave. Are you ready?”

  The kids nodded, and we moved out. I kept the holo up on my wrist, and watched in horror as a squad of six moved towards us from a few levels up. “Jane, incoming now. We need to get out of here...”

  “Copy that Yak, moving up now.”

  As I walked up to the stairwell door, I knew we were out of time. I could hear the tramp of feet as the squad moved down the stairs. I held my hand up, fist clenched, then waved back. Jane hustled the children back into the creche, and I followed, moving backwards with my eyes on the stairwell door.

  We had to move fast. I knocked down a few rows of bunks, and we hustled the kids behind them, placing them behind cover. Jane talked to them in a low voice, telling them to keep their heads down, and their eyes shut. We took a flanking position just inside the door on the side we had hidden the children, giving us a clear field of fire across the room. With our mimetics tuned to the dark gloom of the room we were as close to invisible as we could get.

  The footsteps approached the door, and the handle turned. The door opened towards us, giving Jane and I a little more cover, but we didn't need it. The men walked in as if they owned the place, which I guess made some sense. They weren't expecting a thing, and we had them cold.

  “Hands in the air!” I shouted, my suit speakers set to maximum. “Let me see your hands!” I said, moving in. One of the men went for his sidearm, and I butt-stroked him to the deck with my chemser and then sighted down on the man next to him that was looking a little twitchy. “Put your damn hands in the air, or you will be fired on!” I shouted, towering over them and looking as terrifying as I could.

  They all raised their hands and Jane moved quickly to disarm them. They all had binders, so one at a time, Jane grabbed their hands, kicked them in the back of the knee to drop them to the floor, and then bound their hands behind their back. Sudden movement caught the corner of my eye and I swiveled and sighted right down the barrel into the eyes of the dumbest man in the galaxy, and he knew it. I almost took pity on him, he was clearly too dumb to live.

  I wagged the barrel slightly to the floor and he raised his hands back up and dropped slowly down. Jane moved over and secured him, and then we went through each of them removing any tech they
had. Handsets, wrist sets, ear clips. We stripped everything we could find off of them and then I stomped it all into a glittering pile of broken shards.

  “Who are you people?” one man asked, and I shoved him face-first to the floor. The rest of the men decided that speaking was probably not a good idea, and that was probably right. The thought of what they were about to do to these poor children just about had me burning them down, but the children didn't need to see that. I suppose I didn't really need to see it either.

  “Captain, we have made contact with a six-man squad, and have them secured in the creche. We are moving out now, sir.”

  “Copy that, Yak. Be careful and move fast, son.”

  We did just that. One at a time, we hauled the captives to the side of the room, and then used another set of binders to clip their feet together. As soon as we had them secured, we gathered up the terrified children, and moved back out into the hall.

  “What did you do to those men?” a little waif of a girl asked, her short blonde hair bedraggled.

  “Nothing honey,” Jane said, “they are bad men, and we wanted to keep them from hurting you. They are just tied up, sweetie.”

  “You should shoot them with your guns, Miss Jane”, she said, echoing what we were both thinking.

  “Well, that wouldn't be very nice, and we're very nice people.” Jane said lightheartedly. I couldn't have agreed more, we were definitely nice people.

  I had a fleeting thought that I was missing something as we were heading up the stairs, when the door to the landing opened and a man stood there for a few moments, jaw working as he tried to make sense of what we were.

  Luckily, that was all the time I needed. I rushed him like he was a tackle dummy on the gridiron, just put my shoulder down and plowed him across the hallway, smashing him into the wall on the other side where he collapsed in a heap.

  I heard a pretty solid crunch as I pinned him between my shoulder armor and the concrete wall, he was out like a light and possibly slightly broken.

  I kicked his gun away and rolled him over, binding his hands and feet. We didn't have much time left, so I dragged him just far enough down the hall so that if someone opened the stairwell door he wouldn't be front and center.