Hell's Razer

by S. F. Edwards

  As the young man’s hand fell the commander saw a look of pity in his eyes. He didn’t envy the assignment either. “Good, then get on your way. I’ll make sure that you have clearance for immediate departure.”

  LT Nerant hustled down the passageway, Carroll remaining behind to pick his nose.

  “Do you have anything, Lieutenant?”

  Carroll took a moment to respond, his eyes slightly glassy. “Uh, yes sir. The crew installing the new security system.”

  Commander Decko waited for the younger officer to continue. When he didn’t, he pressed the subject. “And?”

  “Um, yeah, sir. They’ve got the new hardware ready and can install the software upgrade at any time. But, there might be some… problems.”

  “What kind of problems?” he asked as he came up to an open junction box along the passageway. Inside, one of the new security sensors waited, testing equipment connected to it. “And when will they be closing all these up? The longer this stays open, the greater the chance it’ll get damaged. Please tell me that none of these are open in the panopticon below?”

  “Um, I think after they finish the upgrade and testing. But they said that there could be a remote possibility of data loss when the operating system updates.”

  “How much data loss? And do we have backups?”

  “Yeah, we have backups. They said they’d backed it all up yesterday. They did say that it was a pretty remote possibility, so I told them to…”

  The lights in the hallway began to flicker erratically. Access terminals reset and a quick look revealed the base software coding for the whole operating systems. A cacophony of alarms sounded throughout the facility, echoing down the hallways, and worse, the report of the tower cannons firing.

  The commander couldn’t believe it. This was beyond unacceptable and he spun about to face his aide. “You didn’t!” he called out, grabbing the young man’s filthy tunic. “Tell me that you didn’t approve the installation during the middle of the day without my consent?”

  He stammered, looking around in shock. “Yes sir, I thought…”

  Decko pushed the younger man aside and reached down for his communicator. “You thought? Are you even able to think through that drug-addled brain of yours?” He snatched the device from his belt before fitting it into his ear. “Control! Shut down the main computer and revert to the backup system. Put all systems on stand-by power. We have to keep this facility contained.”

  “We’re working… it,” a static-filled response came back. “But the whole … system has … hell, we … control over … have to use …al cut off.”

  The commander did his best to interpret the garbled transmission. That even the communications system was affected by this problem had terrifying implications. “Just do what you can.” He turned to Carroll as he stared blankly at the spinning alarms. “You had better make sure that this is fixed immediately or I’ll strap you to the hull of the next corvette that drops on this place.”

  Commander Decko hadn’t felt this level of frustration and anger in years. The main lights cut out, replaced by the steady glow of the red emergency backups, the hue perfectly representing his mood.

  Alien voices rang out from beneath him, echoing up the lift shaft as he spun about to face it. Most cheered their captors’ folly as they rattled their doors in an effort to escape, while others cried out for help. That gave Decko pause. Several of the alien species were kept in environmentally-controlled cells. They either couldn’t breathe the oxygen/ nitrogen mix of this world, those gasses at all, or had specific heat and humidity requirements. Whatever the case, if he did nothing, they’d die.

  He was no monster. He’d always taken great pains to ensure the care of his prisoners before and wasn’t about to start abusing them now. He rushed for the nearest guard station, figuring that the hard-line connections to the sound-powered phone network should still work, despite the power loss. He pulled the phone from the cradle. Dozens of voices called out their status. “All stations, Commander Decko. Confirm lockdown and then pass out portable breathing equipment to all non-oxy-nitro prisoners.”

  The line went silent as if in shock. A few grumbled conversations filtered through the background, filled with disbelief. “You all heard me. Any guard who has a prisoner die under their watch will meet with summary punishment. Is that clear?”

  Affirmative replies came and even the guards at his station rushed off to retrieve portable breathing apparatuses. He oversaw the efforts of the guards for over an hour, making his way amongst the five cell blocks to do so. He noted which guards were on task, and which took too much time, or joy, in their prisoners’ discomfort. The lack of proper atmospheric containment however worried him. He would have to see that upgraded or those prisoners requiring it moved at the earliest opportunity.

  It was nightfall before he had a chance to climb the stairs back to his office in the upper levels of the command tower. The door didn’t respond, and he had to force it open. The room was pitch-black. His office window revealed no light outside other than the dim orange glow that encircled the landing pad. His corvette had left with its escorts and the moonless sky was choked with clouds from the local mines.

  Only the lights of the city in the distance shone through the gap in the crater wall. A glance at his computer revealed that not even its battery powered it. Shaking his head, he retrieved the light stick from his desk and activated it. There was precious little for him to do, so he walked over to the substantial bar that the previous warden had installed and poured himself a cup from a bottle of scotch. This was no way to begin a command. He downed the drink in one gulp, and it burned in just the right way. He looked back at his computer and poured himself another. I’m the prisoner here. Let’s just hope that my transfer request wasn’t deleted.

  UCSB Date: 1005.109

  Briefing Room 17, Cathedral Seven, Gumlewp System

  With Chrisvian walking now, Blazer relished family time. The mischievous fifteen tridec-old was a source of constant amusement. The fact that his emotions of love, wonder, and joy were transmitted freely to all around just made playing with him that much more enjoyable. Unfortunately, Chrisvian could also just as easily read emotions from those around him. So, whenever Blazer received notification of a mission, he had to bury his mixed feelings to ensure he didn’t upset the telepathic child.

  He never thought that the cycle would come that he wouldn’t look forward to a mission. After their last mission however, and how they’d had to leave Chrisvian behind so abruptly, the emotions pouring out of the telepathic toddler tore him asunder. He and Marda had discussed asking members of Marda’s family, or even his grandparents, to transfer to the station to watch him in these situations. One look at Marda as they entered the briefing room told him that she might rather stay behind with the child. After what had happened on their last mission, he couldn’t blame her.

  The rest of the team was already present. Half of them, Gavit’s flight group of himself, Matt, Chris, Bichard, Priest and Hallet, waited in their flight suits. That’s right, they were supposed to be on patrol duty. Anyone could read the displeasure on Gavit’s face for being pulled from a flight mission. “What’s the op?” Gavit asked, his voice mirroring his face.

  Blazer shrugged and looked around. No one seemed to have any idea.

  Arion jumped to his feet, facing the hatch. “Attention on Deck!”

  Everyone snapped to attention as Tadeh Qudas strode in. He waved them to their seats and stood before the display wall. “Command just handed down a mission,” he began before the image of a volcano appeared.

  Blazer couldn’t see anything special at first. The hologram began to rotate and close in, gun emplacements becoming apparent around the crater rim, and down the blasted-out side to the caldera itself. What first looked like an old-style removable drain plug appeared in the center above an exposed magma chamber.

  It was a flat plate with a single tower that rose from the center along with five more smaller gun
towers around the perimeter. Blazer realized it was a landing platform with a central command and control tower. A tramway connected it to a residence facility in the crater wall opposite the breach in the caldera. The image shifted to reveal a structure beneath the landing platform. It extended several levels down towards the exposed magma chamber. It looked familiar to Blazer, but he couldn’t place why. “This is the C&C Internment Facility.”

  The name set Blazer sitting up straight. The base was one he’d read about an annura earlier. It was one of the latest of the Galactic Federation’s new design types, heavily fortified and expandable to the point that it could eventually house thousands of prisoners. The Confederation had yet to mount any successful operations against one of these bases that hadn’t resulted in heavy losses to the rescue force. He dared not look over at Marda, but couldn’t help glancing over. She seemed unphased at first but a moment later her eyes went wide with concern and she turned to him. Damn Micomms.

 

 

  Tadeh Qudas brought up a second image beside the other, a map of the local sector of space. “Thanks to recent victories we’ve captured several Galactic Federation nav-buoy databases. In what turns out to be a nearby star system there’s an opportune jump point into the Fotan-Cole System. Despite that, it’s still anticipated to be two cycles away via controlled systems and jump points.” That news set Marda sitting straight up - that would take them away for at least five or six cycles, including on station mission time. “For those of you who haven’t already looked up the base on your micomms, this is one of the most fortified POW base types outside of deep Galactic Federation territory.

  “Our recent ship captures have been a treasure trove of intelligence. They reveal that not only did the Galactic Federation violate the terms of our temporary truce by maintaining prisoners at this facility from before the Gorvian conflict…”

  “Because anything surprises us after they handed Cathedral Six and the whole Veglid System to the Gorvians,” Rudjick groused.

  “Their betrayal was inevitable,” Tadeh Qudas replied, cutting Rudjick off. “This facility has also received a fresh batch of prisoners.”

  Gokhead raised a hand. “Do we have any kind of accounting of how many prisoners we’re looking at here?”

  Tadeh Qudas shook his head. “Since it’s still under expansion, intelligence believes that it’s capable of housing only a few hundred.”

  Blazer had to suppress a scoff at that notion. “We’ll configure a Ferine for maximum capacity. It’ll get cramped even then, but we’ll get out as many as we can.”

  “Reports have filtered back that the new commander of the facility, one Benjamin R. Decko, has transferred a number of prisoners out due to problems with their newly-installed security system. It is the opinion of the intelligence analysts that this has left the base’s defenses at their weakest. We have an excellent opportunity for insertion coming up as well. In nine cycles the Planet Fotan will pass through a substantial meteoroid cloud.”

  Gavit nodded at that. “Meteor cover drop - nice. If we get the same dropship crew as our last mission, we should be good.”

  “My thinking exactly,” Tadeh Qudas replied. He flipped the image about to reveal the backside of the volcano and the accompanying lowlands and hills. “There are numerous lava tubes that extend out of the southern side of the volcano, away from the nearby village. Several are large enough to accommodate a Ferine class dropship for a short time.”

  Blazer studied the image. It could work, but the area had to be monitored. “Security and ingress slash egress route?”

  A series of lava tubes appeared on the hologram, highlighting the location of the tunnels and power lines. “The lava tubes themselves should make a good ingress and egress route. I recommend deploying via shock gel drop to minimize dropship detection. The security system monitors the whole of the volcano including the lava tube network. Most give direct access to the caldera, but may not adjoin the facility itself.” Tadeh Qudas turned to Gokhead. “Do you and Que Dee feel you can fool their security systems?”

  The lights on the side of Gokhead’s head blinked rapidly before Que Dee’s still slightly tinny voice replied through the weak speaker. “We’ll need exact specifications on the system in use, but I doubt that the Geffers could come up with anything that could keep me out. We can tap any wireless connection and insert a worm to mask our entry.”

  Gokhead leaned forward. “Assuming there’s no wireless connection, I can make a shock gel insertion and attach a deep-dive unit to a hard-line.” Gokhead went silent for a moment. His eyes danced and lights blinked, a sure sign of his having an internal argument with Que Dee. “Remote motion sensors and camera will likely be networked wirelessly to hubs in the gun towers and a main hub inside the command tower. We can tap into one of those. Worst case.”

  “Be that as it may, I don’t like the idea of sending you in solo,” Blazer remarked and looked at Bichard. “Can we send a flock of BIRDS ahead to link into the system?”

  Bichard nodded his antennae. His custom flight suit’s helmet seal limited his head movement. “Easily. We could also launch a bug cannister to map out the tunnels ahead of us, give us clear routes.”

  Gokhead rubbed his chins, his eyes alight. “Do we know what type of security system they’ve installed?”

  Tadeh Qudas took a moment to respond. “It’s an Alcatraz 6000. It manages the entire system, power, lights, security, turret and minefield defenses.”

  Gokhead’s smile opened both directions on his vertically hinged snout. “I so love to play with fully-integrated systems. But that’s some sophisticated software, one of the Geffers’ latest.”

  “If the base code is derived from the older 5500 operating system I can have a proper worm ready now,” Que Dee added.

  “And if not?” Blazer asked.

  “We’ll need to infiltrate and gain access first,” Gokhead replied. “In the meantime, we can disrupt their network quite thoroughly.”

  Blazer looked over at Arion as he stared off into space. His eyes moved side to side; reading. “Arion, thoughts?”

  “I’m reading the profile on our Commander Decko. He was a corvette captain, quite the logistician too if this dossier is correct. A straight disruption will alert him quickly. We’ll need to go silent on our entry. He seems the type that will want to be informed of and review any glitch in the system that occurs.”

  Chris tapped Arion on the shoulder. “If the new security system still isn’t fully vetted, I’ll bet he’ll also have manned patrols out, especially with the meteor storm.”

  Matt shook his head and a section of the orbital map highlighted. “I doubt that any security forces will want to be outside during that storm. It’s predicted as a class nine with some extremely large rocks incoming. Orbital paths look like we’ll have multiple ground impacts near the facility itself as well.”

  Blazer considered that. “I still want us to consider that the tunnels themselves will be guarded.” He turned to Tadeh Qudas. “We’ll begin planning immediately and will commence practice simulations next cycle.” He turned to the others. “I want at least three plans with contingencies within the hect from each fireteam.” He turned to Marda, the concern on her face was obvious. “Thoughts?”

  Marda kneaded her hands together.

  That thought ate at Blazer. Given this facility’s reputation there was every chance they might not all make it back. Should he and Marda both die, that would leave their son an orphan, just like him.

  Tadeh Qudas interrupted the silence. “Doctor Vaughnt will not be on this assignment.”

  Blazer wheeled around to face his commander. That order was not his to give. “Sir!?”

  “Doctor Vaughnt’s duties will preclude her fro
m this mission. She has a surgery to perform in two cycles. That will not allow her time to prepare for the mission and she has a unique specialty.”

  Marda stood up, hiding the hint of a smile. “That’s right. I’ll be assisting Doctor Craifun with the removal of Gorvian implants from a patient.”

  Blazer could hardly believe what she’d just said. From the looks of the others, neither could they. “When did this happen?”

  Marda motioned to the main viewer and the image of a Gorvian prison ship appeared. The sight of the coffin-shaped ship and the horrors that took place within them still froze Blazer’s soul. “This ship was found derelict by the Synthetic Sentients and was sent to us for study. Unlike other ships of the type, this one held its prisoners in suspended animation. There were hundreds onboard and as one of the few doctors with any experience removing Gorvian modifi…”

  “I get it,” Blazer replied, relieved by the news for many reasons. He turned to Tadeh Qudas. “I assume we’ll have Telsh along to replace Marda?”

  Tadeh Qudas and Marda both shook their heads. “Corpsman Telsh will be required to assist Doctor Vaughnt. You’ll have Dosher along.”

  Blazer linked Marda, Priest, and Hallet in over the micomm.

  Marda replied.

  Priest replied immediately with a blue light.

  Blazer tuned back to Tadeh Qudas. “Dosher will be fine as a secondary medic. Priest will have medical lead this mission.”

  Tadeh Qudas looked over the group one last time. Macomms were already out in everyone’s hands as the fireteams began to gather together. “Good. I will look over all mission profiles as you submit them. Dosher will join you upon returning from patrol. In the meantime, Doctor Vaughnt, you will assist with mission design.”