DusktoDust_Final3

by adrian felder

  “What are you talking about?” David said. “What does it have to do with Rockworm?”

  “It was the Rockworm,” Robinson said. “The Ferenic dust. Since its discovery here scientists have been trying to identify if the substance is alive or not. Well it is. And it brought the Cdat’h Vars civilization to its knees.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Gnasher said. “It’s a dust.”

  “It is a unique organism that feeds off of the life around it. In the historical data it stated that the Cdat’h Vars had a great civil war. They used the Ferenic weapons. The death caused by them allowed the Rockworm to grow.

  “Rockworm feeds off of life from the death around it. And it has a mind of its own. One hive mind. After years of Cdat’h Vars civil war the Rockworm had enough energy to make its own decisions.”

  “Right,” David said skeptically. “So you are saying that Rockworm not only thinks for itself but it caused the death of an entire civilization.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  David looked at Gnasher. It was a farfetched story.

  Robinson began to panick when it seemed they didn’t believe him. “You’ve seen it haven’t you? How the Ferenic kills?. It is not in the way of a weapon. You have to see that it is something more sinister.”

  David had to admit that the way Ferenic killed was not just terrifying but similar to how an animal stalks its prey. If Robinson was telling the truth then the violence that the Federation was about to inflict upon the galaxy would not just change humanity as they knew it forever, it would very likely be the end of humanity.

  “Joe, I’ve got some bad news for you. While you’ve been in this five star resort down here Windcorp and the Federation have started a world class shooting war in the space around Prospect. And they are using the Ferenic weapons. If your theory is correct, do you think this Rockworm will be a threat to humanity?”

  “Wait, the war has already started? We have to stop it! You have to understand that Cdat’h Vars was a very small civilization. Their civil war involved just hundreds. Maybe thousands dead. If you are telling me that a human war has already started involving Rockworm, then yes, I believe the Rockworm poses a very real threat to humanity.”

  “Wonderful,” David said dryly.

  “How can we stop it?” Gnasher asked. “There has to be a way.”

  “End the war,” Robinson said flatly.

  The interview was then interrupted by Letsego. “I’ve got it.”

  David and Gnasher stood and walked over to the computer terminal. “You’ve got the map?”

  Letsego nodded. “Schematics to the whole facility. The control room is here,” he pointed at the screen. “I’m guessing that’s where the missile mainframe is.”

  “There.” Robinson was now standing behind them. He was pointing at a large room in the bowels of the facility. “You might be able to stop it from there.”

  “The Rockworm?” David said.

  He nodded. “There’s a Ferenic power source there that is powering the entire facility. It isn’t a Cdat’h Vars artifact. It’s actually part of the rock. Some of the scientists think it is the heart of the Rockworm or something.”

  “Cdat’h Vars?” Letsego asked.

  “I’ll tell you later,” David said.

  “So what are we supposed to do?” Gnasher said. “Destroy the thing?”

  “No, release it.”

  This didn’t make sense to David. “So you’re telling us to stop drawing energy from the thing that will kill all of humanity when it gets enough energy?”

  “Rockworm is like any other organism. It wants to be left alone. If we stop drawing energy from it maybe it will leave us alone.”

  David could see that Letsego was completely lost, but now was not the time to repeat the whole story again. “Well at this point, I’m game for anything,” he said to Robinson.

  They gathered the rest of the ICARUs soldiers in the detention cell. Two were designated to stay with Joseph Robinson, the archaeologist. The others prepared for further incursion into the facility.

  When Letsego had finally heard the archeologist’s full story he had to admit that, while out of the ordinary, the tale did have a ring of truth. Letsego had witnessed Rockworm first hand and was fully convinced that Ferenic dust was a living organism. The theory that it had a hive mind that could reach across the galaxy was disturbing.

  Gnasher, Carpenter, and he had concluded that there were now two primary targets. The first was the missile control room. The threat to Commodore Long’s returning fleet had to be neutralized. The second target was the Ferenic power source that Robinson had identified. If freeing the power source from the facility could possibly save humanity it was worth the effort. The whole idea seemed a little melodramatic to Letsego.

  The men agreed to split up. Gnasher and Letsego would go for the control room with eight Divers, while Carpenter would take Washington and the four remaining men to take out the power source.

  The two groups parted ways shortly after leaving the detention center. From there, Letsego led Gnasher and the Divers through a labyrinth of side tunnels. He had plotted a course to the control room that kept them off of the main thoroughfares in the mining facility. There was a battalion of troopers stationed here. If the Peacekeepers got into an open firefight they wouldn’t stand much of a chance.

  The Divers ahead of Letsego rounded a corner and stopped. “Where to now, Staff Sergeant?” the lead Diver said.

  Letsego looked around the corner. They were overlooking a large cavern. He was pretty sure it was the same hangar bay that the Windcorp transport had left a week before. Letsego moved forward to the edge of the walkway and motioned Gnasher to follow. They stayed low.

  There were two Federation gunboats in the hangar, with room for more. Federation and Windcorp soldiers milled about the area. It looked like the mine’s garrison force had been reinforced.

  Suddenly, the giant bay doors began to open. As if on cue, Letsego’s helmet speaker crackled to life. “Two-actual, this is two-one.”

  “Send it,” Gnasher responded.

  Sergeant Weilbacher had remained behind at the listening post with the remaining Divers providing overwatch while the Peacekeepers were inside. “I’ve got a shuttle coming in from the north with Federation markings.”

  “Copy, it looks like they are going to land. We’ve got eyes on the landing bay now.”

  “Copy, out.”

  Letsego watched as a sleek, silver transport maneuvered into the hangar bay. Chinese characters of the Asiatic Federation ran the length of its hull. With skilled grace, the transport set down on the landing pad between the two gunboats.

  A group of people walked out to meet the ship. Letsego thought he could make out Titus Windham and Mr. Black among them. If they were there he guessed that one of the troopers who accompanied them was Lieutenant Castle.

  After a few minutes the boarding ramp lowered and a lone figure emerged. Even from this distance Letsego recognized him.

  “Is that…” Gnasher muttered from beside him.

  “Prime Minister Chen,” Letsego confirmed.

  Gnasher grinned. “Talk about a target rich environment.” He paused and then motioned to Letsego. “Come on, Staff Sergeant. We need to move.”

  31: Swift, Silent, and Dead

  David felt he had been given the easier mission. As he and the Divers made their way deeper and deeper into the surface of Prospect they encountered less and less resistance. Early on the elite soldiers had had to silently terminate a handful of Windcorp troopers, but the tunnels they travelled through now were devoid of life. The tunnel walls were streaked with Rockworm, which now put David very much on edge. The thought that the red dust was part of a living, breathing, conniving organism did not sit right.

  After nearly ten minutes in the same tunnel, the six would-be commandos encountered a blast door. Washington approached an access panel on the wall.
“It’s locked tight. We’ll need an access code.”

  One of the other Divers stepped forward. “Let me see what I can do, Sergeant.” The man went to work cracking the lock.

  David keyed his comm unit. “Two-actual, this is two-two.”

  “Go ahead, two-two,” Gnasher responded, his voice coming in broken because of the rock which separated their teams.

  “We’ve reached the doors to the power source. Currently, working to hack the door.”

  “Roger, we are about half way to the control room. We have eyes on Windham, Black and Chen.”

  Black. If Mr. Black was back from the Belt there was a good chance Castle was here, too. David’s blood boiled at the thought. “Are you engaging?”

  Gnasher’s voice crackled. “Negative, just observing. They are between us and the control room.”

  “Copy, we’re continuing as planned.”

  “Roger, out.”

  David spent a couple seconds thinking about how much he would like to suck the life out of Castle just like Rockworm did. The man had to be in the mining facility. David would find his chance.

  His thoughts of revenge were interrupted by a subtle beep.

  “It’s unlocked, Sergeant,” the Diver at the door controls quietly announced.

  Washington nodded. “On me.” The six of them stacked on either side of the large door. On cue, Washington hit the door release and they all filed through to the other side.

  They were in a large cavern, large enough to hold a medium sized transport. It was clear that this was the location of the archeological dig. The remnants from some type of subterranean metropolis were carved into the walls of rock. This must be the Cdat’h Vars civilization, buried deep into Prospect to escape the heat of the light side. A chill shot down David’s spine

  Zero shots were fired as the Divers cleared the area. Aside from the underground city and various pieces of archeological equipment strewn about the cavern, the only signs of disturbance were two metal vents which had clearly been installed recently on the cavern walls. Other than the Divers there was no other life present, unless you considered the object at the middle of the cavern as a lifeform.

  It was a rock structure about ten meters tall. It looked vaguely organic and had a a Rockworm lattice encompassing it. Like spokes on a wheel, at least a dozen lines of Rockworm extended from the main structure outward along the floor towards the cavern walls and into the Cdat’h Vars city. It was mesmerizing. The way it was positioned it appeared to have been built as the focal point of the city. Or had the city been built around the rock structure? David couldn’t be sure but it appeared that the Rockworm on the structure was pulsating.

  “Jesus,” Washington muttered.

  David was the first to snap back to reality. “We need to spread out and see how Windcorp is tapping into this thing.”

  They searched the cavern. The presence of the ancient alien civilization gave David an eerie feeling. It was not hard to find the seven energy absorbers which were spliced into the Rockworm lattice. Readouts on each one displayed the outrageous power outputs that each one processed. From these absorbers, thick power cables led out of the cavern through a conduit near the main door.

  “Alright,” Washington said when they came back together. “We’ll place Comp M charges on each energy absorber. That should release the parasitic claws of Windcorp from this thing. Hell, we might even kill the power to the whole place at the same time. Two birds with one stone.”

  David was about to respond when his comm unit crackled. “Two-two, two-actual.”

  “Send it,” David responded.

  “Finally,” Gnasher voice was strained. “I’ve been trying to raise you. You’ve got company. A squad of troopers is headed your way. You must have tripped an alarm when you broke through that door.”

  Shit. If the troopers had been dispatched when they had opened the door they could be here any moment. “Roger, thank’s for the heads up. Two-two, out.” David turned to Washington. “We need those charges set now.”

  They had four of the seven charges set by the time the doors hissed open. Two of Washington’s men who were posted for security opened fire. Their suppressed rounds hissed through the stale air.

  “Take cover behind the mound!” David yelled as the firing started. It was easier to say mound than giant towering alien power source.

  Five of them made it. David peered around the edge of the power source. Just as he saw the bloody body of one of his Divers, a flurry of bullets forced him back into cover.

  “Is that you, Carp?” a familiar voice boomed.

  “Eat me, Castle.”

  The psychopath laughed. “That’s the best you can come up with?”

  “How about ‘I should have killed you in the airlock.’”

  Castle’s next response was five seconds straight of bullets hammering the power source. “I have twenty troopers out here, Carp. Either you surrender and I just kill you or you resist and we kill you and your men. Your choice.”

  David looked at Washington. He nodded at the detonator in the Diver’s hand. They only had four of the seven charges set but that was better than nothing.

  David reached for the detonator. As he did he heard a telltale sign of metal on rock. Washington’s eyes went wide. “Grenade!”

  David leapt for cover, but there was none. The following explosion jarred him hard and everything went black.

  They were close now. They had evaded detection the whole way. Now all that stood between the team and the missile control room was a series of offices.

  And two of the most powerful men in the galaxy.

  Letsego and the nine ICARUs troopers hid in a maintenance closet along a side corridor in the Windcorp office spaces. They had been forced to find cover when they nearly ran into Windham, Chen, and their entourage. Luckily, the team had been able to get out of sight in time.

  “What now?” Gnasher asked the intel operative.

  Letsego pulled his tablet from a cargo pocket. He had downloaded the mining facility’s schematics while they were in the detention facility. “There’s an air duct in this closet according to this.” He looked around the closet, which was cramped with the ten men in it. “There, behind those boxes.” One of the Divers pushed an entire shelf out of the way revealing a meter square vent. “That should take us past these offices and almost to the control room.”

  A couple of Divers went to work removing the vent. Meanwhile, Gnasher checked in with Carpenter. The other team was almost into the power source chamber.

  With the vent removed, the Divers went through it one by one. Letsego went last. He crawled through the duct, careful to not make any unneeded noise, which was difficult considering all the gear and weapons he was carrying. After what seemed like an eternity he emerged into another maintenance closet.

  Gnasher stood by the lone door. “What’s on the other side of this?”

  Letsego consulted the tablet. “There’s a hallway. About fifty meters down on the right is the control room.”

  The lieutenant pointed to one of his Divers. “Bailey, you, me and the Staff Sergeant are first. You and I should be able to clear the control room. I’ll give everyone else the all clear when we’re good.” The Diver nodded and stacked on the door.

  Letsego positioned himself behind the two ICARUs men. Gnasher opened the door swiftly and the two popped out, the lieutenant going left and Bailey going right. When they were sure the coast was clear Gnasher motioned for Letsego to follow.

  They moved along the wall as one, the two Divers sandwiching the intel operative between them. As they approached the control room door, Gnasher motioned for everyone to take a knee.

  “What’s the inside look like?” Letsego showed him the tablet. “Okay, Bailey, take left. I’ll-”

  His words were cut off as the control room door hissed open. The three men froze.

  “At the dig site?” a trooper said loudly into a comm unit as he a
nd two others emerged from the control room, moving at a brisk pace. “All the way down there?” Letsego recognized the man as Lieutenant Castle.

  The three troopers hung a right as they exited the control room, not noticing the statuesque Peacekeepers. Castle continued speaking on the comm unit. “Okay, have a squad meet me on level three. We’ll check it out.”

  Letsego, Gnasher, and Bailey didn’t breathe until the troopers were out of sight. “We need to warn Carpenter,” Letsego said when he was sure they were alone.

  “First, we need to get out of this hallway,” Gnasher corrected. “Bailey, get on the door.” The two moved into position. When they were ready, Gnasher hit the door release.

  The room was secure in a matter of seconds. When Letsego entered there were seven Windcorp troopers on the floor. The Divers had been silent and deadly.

  “We’re clear,” Gnasher announced into his comm unit. Ten seconds later the rest of the team joined them in the control room. The doors closed behind them.

  “I need to find the missile controls,” Letsego said.

  Gnasher continued to issue orders. “You two, on the door. I want someone on the security console. See if there are any feeds we can tap into. Avery, give the good Staff Sergeant a hand.”

  Letsego glanced at the Diver who approached him. “Are you familiar with missile systems, Avery?”

  “A little, Staff Sergeant.” He perused the consoles. “This looks like what you’re looking for.” He input a few commands into the vid screen. “There. Missile control. I’m going to have to hack in.” He took out a tablet and jacked in.

  “How long?” Letsego asked.

  “Ten minutes.”

  Letsego walked over to Gnasher. “Did you get Carpenter?”

  “No, he’s not answering. It could be the rock.”

  “Keep trying. We need him.”

  Letsego waited anxiously as Avery worked on the missile console. The fleet could be back any moment. They needed to get the missile network down.

  “I got him,” Gnasher said after a few minutes. “They’re in the room. Hopefully they can make themselves scarce before the troopers get there.”