by Charles Rye
"Yeah, I want to find out why they were being kept at a guarded construction site," Aurelia replied.
She, Sif and Soraf all made their way back to the lock-up room, while Caliphar led Koriphus, Royena and Roy back to the supply room, Zxeron trailing behind Royena.
"This is going to be one hell of a fixer-upper with that helo, you know that right?" Roy said, looking at Caliphar.
"I love a challenge," Caliphar grinned as they walked into the supply room.
"It'll also go quicker with all of your help," He added as he glanced around at the others.
"Then let's get to work! Get those window panels and grab that canvas and that folding ladder leaning against the wall," Royena instructed looking at Roy, Koriphus and Caliphar.
"Yes ma'am!" they answered in unison, rushing to do as they had been told.
Caliphar picked up the windowshield and carefully carried it out of the room, Roy carrying the folded up canvas and Koriphus carrying the folding ladder followed him.
Royena followed behind them with Zxeron at her side, panting happily, as he wagged his bony tail.
"Set that ladder up next to the cockpit," Royena instructed Koriphus, who did as he was told.
"Now, Roy lie the canvas out beside the ladder, we'll use it to put the smashed windows on so we can carry it back to the supply room,"
Roy shook out the canvas and laid it down on the ground beside the ladder, making sure it was completely straight.
"Caliphar, set that down and get your ass up on that ladder, you're going to get that broken glass out of there first and bring it down to this canvas," She continued, watching Caliphar set the windshield n the ground.
He climbed up the ladder to the cockpit and began to gingerly remove the broken glass, handing it piece by piece to Koriphus who placed in on the canvas as Royena had instructed them to do.
Once they had completely removed every piece of glass of what was once the original windshield, Caliphar climbed down the ladder and picked up the new one, carefully carrying it up the ladder with him setting it into place, securing it.
"Now go ahead and remove the other windows in the doors, Roy and I will get new ones," Royena said looking up at Caliphar on the ladder.
"Alright," He smiled at her before she and Roy walked off towards the supply room.
Koriphus helped Caliphar removed the rest of the broken glass from the cockpit doors, which was an easy job since a lot of the glass was still in large pieces.
"We're back, how it's going?" Royena asked as she and Roy returned with door windows.
"Going just fine," Caliphar said with a wide grin from his spot at the top of the ladder.
"Great, you two get these doors into place and we'll take the broken bits to the supply room," Royena smiled, gesturing for Roy to help her fold the canvas up around the broken glass so they could carry it without hurting theirselves.
"This is actually pretty fun," Koriphus admitted as he handed a glass panel up to Caliphar to set into place.
"Yeah, it is. Never thought I'd actually ever have the chance to fix such an awesome piece of machinery," Caliphar smiled, setting the window panel into the door, securing it into place.
He took the other window panel from Koriphus and climbed into the cockpit to set it into place on the other door, securing it.
He looked around the cockpit and noticed the seat covering had some wear and tear.
"We're gonna have to replace the seat covering," He announced climbing out of the cockpit and onto the ladder before climbing down it.
"We can do that last, I think we should check out the engine first and see what needs fixing,"
Taken alive
"First the blueprints of this airbase with an underground room for God only knows what and now blueprints from that construction site with an underground base and this blueprint for what looks like an underground shelter we know nothing about," Aurelia sighed, rubbing her temples in frustration.
She, Soraf and Sif were sitting cross-legged around the blueprints and stacks of files on the floor of the lock-up room, all looking frustrated and confused.
"Should we try going through the files again?" Sif suggested.
"Caliphar tried going through the ones you had here and he couldn't make any sort of sense of out them, I don't see how the others will be much help to us,"
"Well we have more of them now from that construction site; maybe something in them will make sense. Or at the very least give us clues about why those soldiers last night seemed so keen to keep us from reaching the site," Sif replied.
"Did you just say last night?" Aurelia asked a hint of surprise in her tone.
"Yeah, I've got a watch," Sif answered, holding up her right arm to show them the old leather wristwatch strapped to her arm.
"It's been morning for at least twenty minutes now," She said glancing at her watch.
"I didn't realize, considering there aren't any windows in this room," Aurelia sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"Well there's a reason for that," Sif chuckled as she stood to her feet.
"Let's take a break and go check on the others, they should have made some kind of progress with that old chopper by now," Soraf said standing to her feet.
"You want to come with us, Aurelia?" She asked glancing at Aurelia.
Aurelia was lying flat on her back among the blueprints and stacks of files sound asleep.
"Come on, best to let her rest. It was a rather long, exciting night," Sif whispered quietly to Soraf as the two of them silently slipped out of the lock-up, leaving the door cracked open behind them.
They walked into the main area of the hangar and saw Caliphar, Roy, Koriphus and Royena with Zxeron lying beside her with his front paws crossed all sleeping in various positions near the NH-90.
"They did get quite a lot done with that old bird," Soraf commented as she looked up at the helicopter.
Sif looked up at it and noticed they had managed to replace the cockpit windows, the propeller and patch up the damage done to the tail.
"Wow, they really did. Looks like they don't have much else to fix up and it should be good as new," Sif said in surprise, looking at the helicopter.
"I'm guessing those two fixed the engine up," Soraf chuckled suddenly noticing the oil stains on Caliphar and Koriphus' jumpsuits.
"It sure would be amazing to see this thing flying again," Sif smiled.
"Want some breakfast or coffee?"
"Coffee sounds good right about now," Soraf replied with a nod.
Sif walked off towards the food supply room, humming to herself as she did.
Soraf walked over to where the others were all sleeping on the ground and sat down beside Zxeron, scratching behind his ears as he slowly woke up and looked at her.
"Morning boy," She smiled as he laid his head in her lap.
She continued to scratch his ears, her hand rubbing against a small lump at the base of his neck.
"Hey Koriphus, wake up," She called to him.
"Huh‚ What is it?" He mumbled sleepily as he pushed himself up onto his elbows to look at Soraf.
"Didn't you say Destroyers like Zxeron had something implanted in their heads that controlled them?"
"Yeah, that's how I was able to rewire it with my electricity. Why?" He answered.
"Would it be possible that they act like a tracking device, so the soldiers would know where they were?" She asked, running her thumb over the lump under Zxeron's skin.
"I think they might be, until the point I rewired Zxeron's I was been chased by soldiers,"
"Would there be a way to track the tracker?"
"What do you mean?"
"If we had the device, could we hack it or whatever and find out where its signal's coming from that gives the soldiers the ability to track the Destroyers?"
"I suppose but we'd have to actually have the device and if we took Zxeron's it would kill him, it's the soldiers' own special self-destruct mechanism for these creatures," Koriphus explain
ed.
"We wouldn't have to take out Zxeron's, we've got a perfectly dead specimen we could use instead," Soraf replied, almost smiling.
"Here's coffee!" Sif announced as she came walking over to Soraf and the others.
"Sif, what did you end up doing with that dead Destroyer we had on our bus last night?"
"Royena took it another part of the base, why do you ask?" Sif replied.
"We need it to test a theory," Soraf answered.
"Should I even ask?"
"These Destroyers have a device implanted in them that act like a tracking device, we need to get the one out of the dead Destroyer and see if there's a way of tracking it back to whoever planted it," Koriphus explained, glancing at her as he accepted the cup of hot coffee.
"Royena stored it in what used to be a medical hangar so it should have all the equipment you'll need to get out the device, I can take you there," Sif replied handing a cup of coffee to Soraf.
"Great and you wouldn't happen to have a laptop or some sort of computer we could use to hack the device, would you?" Soraf continued as she and Koriphus followed Sif out of the main hanger.
They made their way across the tarmac, still wet from last night's storm to the medical hangar.
Sif unlocked the door and pushed it open, gesturing for them to go inside following behind them.
As soon as they entered the medical hangar, all the lights inside flickered on illuminating the entire room.
"Monition detecting lights, nothing to worry about," Sif said reassuringly when Soraf gave her a concerned look.
The room was cluttered with all sorts of unused medical equipment, including an examination table and what looked like a life-support monitor beside it.
The feel of the room gave Koriphus the creeps while it had an opposite effect on Soraf, who seemed positively thrilled to get the opportunity to explore an abandoned medical hangar.
"Where's the Destroyer?" Soraf asked looking at Sif.
"Over there," Sif answered pointing to the far left corner.
Soraf looked where Sif was pointing and saw the dead creature lying on its side on the floor.
"Help me move it onto the table," She said tapping Koriphus' shoulder.
"Right, okay,"
He stepped up to the creature with her and grabbed it by its hind legs as Soraf grabbed it by its front legs, lifting it up and carrying it over to the examination table and setting it down onto it.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" He asked glancing up at Soraf as she found a medical coat, latex gloves and a surgical mask.
"Honestly, not a clue but I used to watch a lot of horror movies," She replied as she put on the gloves and mask looking at the various surgical tools, choosing a scalpel.
"This should be interesting to witness then," Sif said amused as she watched Soraf.
Soraf ran her hand along the base of the dead Destroyer's neck until she felt a lump similar to the one she had felt in Zxeron's neck, she gently pressed the tip of the scalpel against its neck and made a small incision.
"I think I see it," She announced, noticing a small metal chip embedded in the creature's spinal cord that looked to be wired to it's brain.
She picked up a pair of medical clippers and carefully cut the wires before removing the device, covered in blood.
"That's not disgusting at all‚" Sif said sarcastically looking at the device in Soraf's gloved hand.
"We got it and we can track it's origin," Soraf said.
They returned to the main hangar to find the others were finally awake.
"Royena, we need you to track this, Soraf thinks we can hack it and it'll lead us to the soldiers main base," Sif announced as she walked over to her friend.
"Yeah, I think I can work my magic," Royena grinned as she took the device from Soraf before dashing off to her private room.
The others all quickly followed her, suddenly filled with curiosity as they gathered around outside the room she disappeared into.
Nearly an hour later Royena came out of the room, a serious expression upon her face.
"Well? Were you able to track it?" Soraf asked her.
"It wasn't easy but‚ yeah, I think I've got a location not far from here. And a map!" Royena said excitely, the others all patting her back in appreciation.
"Let's get going then!" Aurelia said excitely glancing around at the others.
"Yeah, let's go!" Caliphar exclaimed.
They all ran to the bus and climbed into it, settling down in their chosen seats as Aurelia settled into the driver's seat as she pulled out of the hangar and sped away from the airbase.
"Here, you'll need this," Royena said handing the printed out map to Aurelia.
"Thanks, that would really help," She chuckled, taking it.
She followed the directions printed out on the map, avoiding the pot holes in the road as she drove along it.
"Do we have a plan for when we do find this base?" Caliphar wondered aloud.
"If this is their main base, we kill anyone who gets in our way and find out what the fuck's going on. That's our plan," Aurelia answered, catching Caliphar' eye in the rear-view mirror.
Out of nowhere, a blinding beam of light surrounded the bus as the loud roar of jet and helicopter engines echoed above them.
"Come out, we have you surrounded. Resistance is futile!"
"Sons of bitches‚" Soraf muttered angrily.
"Let's make this quick," Aurelia hissed getting her gun as the others got their weapons out.
She led them all off the bus only to find themselves surrounded by at least a hundred or more soldiers all armed with sniper rifles.
"Get them!"
Before any of them could react, they each got shot in the neck with tranquilizer darts and were instantly knocked out.
"Let's get them before they come to," the soldiers' general ordered in a rough voice.
"Sir! Yes, sir!" they shouted in unison.
Several soldiers rushed to the group and picked them up, carrying them to a nearby Jeep, loading them onto it.
The soldiers drove off as the jets followed them.
The soldiers that stayed behind attached chains from the helicopters to the bus, signaling them to fly off.
The helicopters carried the prison bus as they followed the others back to their base.
Danger Zone
As the effects of the tranquilizer wore off, Aurelia drifted back into consciousness.
She blinked to clear her eyes, only to realize she was blindfolded.
"Caliphar?" she called out, annoyed that she couldn't see.
"Yeah, I'm here! Wherever here is‚" came his voice.
"I take it you're blindfolded too, then?"
"I think we all are," sounded Soraf's voice from nearby. "
Yeah, I am!" Roy announced. "So are we!" Sif and Royena interjected.
"Same here," Koriphus and Zandrem announced annoyance apparent in their tones.
"Great, those soldiers tranqed us and now we're God knows where, without a clue as to what's going to happen to us," Aurelia complained.
"Is anyone else getting lightheaded? It feels like the blood is rushing to my head‚"
"Those sick fucks got us hanging upside down by our feet!" Royena hissed, becoming aware of a pair of chains wrapped around her legs.
"I don't know why y'all are complaining, I'm used to this," Roy said, obviously not feeling the same effects as the others.
The sound of a metal door banging against concrete startled them, alerting them that somebody had entered the room.
"Ah, good to see you're all awake now. My boys have been dying to play with you."
"Okay, first off, your boys ain't doing a damn thing to any of us because we can kick their asses without our weapons. And second, whoever the fuck you are, you are seriously fucked in the head for doing this sick shit to us," Aurelia growled angrily.
She fisted her hands, only to become aware that they had been handcuffed together.
&nb
sp; "Motherfucker‚" She muttered under her breath.
"Such foul language from a young lady," the voice spoke.
Aurelia heard footsteps as they approached her.