AMP Rebellion (23 page)

I turned to Aaron and Frost. "You two are in charge here. We will be back. Just hang out in this room and don’t draw any attention. We should not be long and will likely need your help when we return."

Frost and Aaron agreed. I asked Ashley into the family room of the apartment. The other side of the empty room sparkled and a one meter round hole opened into the air. Ashley again looked confused.

I held out my hand. "Step over to there and someone will help you through. I’ll be following after. Oh, and be careful and don’t touch the sides. They are at absolute zero. You will freeze instantly."

I again gestured towards the portal and a plank on a rail came through the hole. I helped Ashley lay back on the plank and she was carefully pulled through to the other side. I followed.

As I stood up in Frig’s lab, Ashley again spoke, "Where are we Don? What just happened?"

I replied, "Our friend here figured out how to open a wormhole from here to wherever we want. We are limited in its size and for how long it stays open. This is what has allowed us to fight on the Grid thus far."

I turned to Frig, "What did the scan show?"

Frig replied, "First, hello Miss Elizabeth. And the area around Gamma-12 is teaming with activity Sir. From the data I can see it appears they are searching for something."

Ashley replied, "The control box! We have to get to it now Don!"

I nodded to Frig as he punched in the coordinates for G1219a. Seconds later the portal once again opened and two assistants setup the plank for us to pass through. I went first.

I spoke as Ashley came through next, "What is it we are looking for."

Ashley pointed towards the door. "Check that and make sure it is secure. This is going to take a few minutes."

Ashley pulled a small laser cutting tool from a pouch on her side as she walked into an adjacent room. Seconds later she was hard at work cutting into a back wall. The handle on the hallway door behind me began to wiggle.

A voice called out through the door. "Humans! Open this door or we will open it by force! Our sensors show that there are two of you in there. Comply or you will be punished!"

I looked at Ashley through the doorway, "You may want to speed that up if you can. I don’t think that door is going to hold them back for long."

I looked about the room for protection. A refrigeration unit stood unplugged against on the far wall. I began to push it in front of the door.

I spoke, "This is all I have, it’s not going to slow them down much if they decide they want in. I suggest getting that hole cut as soon as possible."

Ashley replied, "This cutter takes time, I’m moving as fast as I can."

I asked Frig for information on who and how many soldiers were outside our door.

Frig replied, "There are 26 soldiers including three Helgrons Sir. I am sending you some help now."

The portal once again opened and a plank slid out. Frost came through first, followed by York. Each was wearing the remains of a Helgron battle suit.

York spoke, "Get what you are getting Sir. We will take care of the door!"

The glow of a laser cutter showed around the door handle. As the sparks came to an end the butt of a blaster rifle was used to knock the door handle and lock from the door. I stood, pushing against the fridge as several Dakar soldiers pushed from the outside.

Frost pulled the pin on a TIG and forced it through the smoldering hole.

Pop!

York then stepped up with her AK.

AK-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak.

Frost pulled me backward as she pushed the refrigeration unit out of the way. York was first to step into the hallway. Three negative ion bolts from the Helgrons outside quickly impacted the partial battle suit she wore. York rocked backwards from the impact and then again leaned out the doorway with a grin.

Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak!

Dakar were scrambling for cover as the three Helgrons attempted to move into a fighting position. Frost followed behind York, pulling the pins on three grenades while flipping them into the hallway.

Booom! Booom! Booom!

The two warriors stepped further out as they sprayed the panicking Dakar with .762mm rounds from their AKs.

Ashley soon yelled out, "Got it! Let’s move!"

I called to Frig and the large portal once again opened. The control box went through first with Ashley quick behind, I followed, pulling my legs quickly through, just as the portal collapsed.

I raised Frost on the comm. "We are through. Get your butts back here as well. Portal should be ready in another ten seconds or so.

Frost replied, "No can do Sir! York just went around a corner after those Helgrons! I’m trying to hold off these Dakar until she gets back. Go do what you need to do Sir. We will work our issues from here!"

As we stood in Frig’s lab, with the gravity drive control box in hand, Ashley spoke, "You will have to tell me what this is all about later, but for now I need to get this box to the next location. There are two circuit boards that have to be inserted in the back."

Ashley passed the coordinates to Frig. The circuit boards were being stored in a maintenance locker on Beta-4. Dakar and Durian activity was high around the small room that contained the locker. The room itself was too small for a full portal. An apartment just across the hall was occupied by a family of five.

Frig spoke, "I can’t guarantee the safety of that family if they decide to move while the portal is being created Sir. They are in an adjacent room at the moment. Should I move forward?"

I replied, "Let’s just hope that no one starts screaming. Ashley, do we need to take the box or can we leave it here?"

Ashley replied, "We can leave it if we are coming back."

I turned to Frig, "Check back on Frost and York. See if you can bring them back through."

Frig nodded as he entered the coordinates into his console. When the portal went wide I was the first through. Two young children were standing in front of it with their mouths open.

The first child, a young boy, spoke, "Mommy! A man is in our apartment!"

The mother replied from the other room, "That's nice dear."

Ashley Elizabeth came through next.

A young girl smiled as she spoke, "Hello."

Ashley replied, "You two best go be with your Mom OK."

The two children turned and walked into the other room.

I pressed my comm button. "Frig, scan the hallway outside. If it checks out we will move and you can go back for Frost and York."

Frig replied several seconds later. "The hallway is clear Sir. I’m moving the portal."

I unlocked the apartment door and stepped into the hall.

The young boy of the family came around the corner. "Hey, you can’t go out there!"

I replied, "We are the good guys son. With a little luck you will be able to go out there soon too."

I pulled two MREs from my satchel. "Here, give these to your Mom. Tell her we will be right back."

I pulled the door quietly closed and moved across to the maintenance room. The door was locked. Ashley stepped up beside me with a small tool in her hand.

She spoke quietly, "I have this, part of our training."

Three twists later and the door lock clicked. We entered the room. A standard set of lockers lined one wall. Locker "C" was the locker of choice. Again Ashley pulled out the laser cutting tool and began to burn a hole into the back of the locker.

As she cut away at the metal plating I took note of the wisps of smoke slowly moving up towards the ceiling.

I reached out and touched her shoulder. "Ah, is that going to set off the…"

A fire alarm began to blare in the room and in the hallway just outside. Ashley removed the plate and pulled the two circuit boards from the hole behind it. I cracked open the door to the hallway to the sound of Dakar soldiers running.

I pressed my comm button. "Frig, I need a small portal here in this maintenance room immediately!"

Frig replied, "Entering coordinates now Sir. One thing Sir, I cannot guarantee the exact location of that portal in that confined area."

I replied, "Just do your best to place it to the left of our position."

I turned to Ashley. "Get that battle suit off!"

Ashley gave a puzzled look as she responded to my statement. "What?"

As I began to remove my own suit I explained, "We can’t get out of this closet. Dakar are going to be pulling at that door any second. If we shove those boards, our battle suits and weapons through that portal we may get away with just being detained. You know, two lovers sneaking out for a tryst."

Ashley began to smile as she removed her suit. "I guess if I’m going out this would be as good a way to go as any."

The portal opened in the corner of the room and the circuit boards were quickly passed through, next the weapons and finally the battle suits. When the portal snapped shut we were standing in our underwear.

Ashley spoke, "Is this the way you try to woo a lady?"

I replied with a smile, "I don’t know. Is it working?"

As Ashley pressed her lips to mine I unlocked the door behind me with my fingers. The door flung open with two Dakar raising their weapons.

One Dakar yelled, "Humans! What are you doing in there?"

We both offered nothing but embarrassed smiles. The second Dakar then let out a chuckle and whispered to the first.

The first Dakar swatted his hand away and replied, "I know what they were doing! And yes, it is a filthy Human habit."

The Dakar turned back to the rest of his squad. "Go back to your posts. We will take them to detention. You, come out here."

The Dakar officer grabbed my upper arm and pulled me into the hall. Ashley followed after. The officer closed the closet door and the two Dakar then began to push us down the hallway towards a detention area.

After turning the first corner I pulled up lame and fell to the floor. The Dakar officer began to yell at me as he pointed his weapon. I did my best to fake an ankle sprain. As I was pulled to my feet and began to hop the second Dakar went still and then fell forward dead on the floor. As the Dakar officer turned he was met with a battle knife, thrust up under his chin, through his skull and into the top of his helmet.

Frost spoke, "You two coming or what?"

We moved quickly back around the corner, down and into the apartment of the family across the hall. As the portal opened the children were sent through first, followed by their parents, Ashley, myself and then Frost.

The stunned family stood in silence, looking around Frig’s lab as they huddled together.

I spoke, "Welcome to the resistance. Sorry, but I couldn’t leave you back there. The Dakar would have ripped your apartment to pieces and taken you all away. You will find food, medical care and a safe place to stay right here. Frig, see to it that they are taken care of."

Frig replied as Ashley and I pulled our battle suits back on. "Yes Sir."

Frost then spoke, "Well, I don’t know what you two had going on, but I like it!"

I replied with a slightly red face, "We’ll fill you in later. What happened to York?"

Frost replied, "She is nuts Sir. That Helgron suit made her immune to their weapons. She ran off chasing a whole squad of them with a blaster in one hand and her battle knife in the other. They traded ion bolts until she got close enough to jam her knife slowly into their skulls. I got detained by a dozen Dakar that I had to take out with grenades. When I turned back she was gone. I made my way back to the room and Frig brought me through."

I replied, "I pity the soldiers in that area. York will have to find her own way home."

I turned to Ashley who was now fully suited up and spoke, "Hmm. I was kind of growing fond of the other outfit!"

Ashley replied with a slight red face as the others in the room looked-on, waiting for her response. "We'll have to discuss that at another time. There is a lab on Valhala-28. It has a syncro chip that goes in this first circuit board. We need to head that way now."

I replied, "What kind of scavenger hunt are we on?"

Ashley replied, "I'll explain as we go. Frig, here are the next coordinates."

Scans were done and the portal was again opened. This time there were no Dakar in the area. The lab was part of an electronics repair shop. Racks of equipment lined the walls and a small warehouse was filled with parts, wires and pre-assembled devices.

I spoke, "What is it that we are looking for?"

Ashley replied, "The station originally had 16 consoles spread across a number of levels. A trained user could operate the gravity drive from any of the consoles. Over the years, spies were caught tampering with those consoles and in one instance they almost sent the Grid hurtling directly into a nearby star."

Ashley continued, "The powers at the time decided to reduce the number of consoles to six. Over the years those were again reduced to four and then two. Once again, the consoles nearly fell prey to spies who had infiltrated our most trusted facilities. The two remote consoles were disassembled with their parts hidden away. A group of four individuals were selected to be the life-long keepers of the console secret."

I replied, "You were selected for this task? Is there anything that you haven't done?"

Ashley replied, "No, the four were part of the forty SCore agents. They passed the information to the rest of us. We have been working for weeks trying to make our way to the first destination where the control box was."

I responded, "And the other crews knew about this console?"

Ashley replied, "No, five groups were told of one and five groups of the other. The other nine groups are dead, at least I hope they have not been captured. We all have cyanide capsules that we are to take if capture is imminent. If we were critically wounded we were to take our own life or if not possible, one of the others would take it for us. We are the last hope Don. And just in case one of the other groups was compromised, we need to get our console operational and make the jump before they send us the other way or bleed off our fuel supply."

I replied, "OK, what are we looking for in here?"

Ashley replied, "All I know of this clue is the number 42 and this blue wall."

We spent the better part of an hour hunting for the number 42 in the myriad of parts bins that lined the blue wall. Ashley was beginning to grow frustrated with the search.

I spoke, "Maybe we need to think about where the others were located. They were behind the wall. We need something that is 42 and then we cut out that wall. Maybe the 42nd bin or over four and down two."

Ashley replied, or maybe it's the one with 42 painted on the back of the bin in green paint."

Ashley smiled as she pulled out her laser torch. Two minutes later we had the missing chip in our hand.

I spoke, "Where to next?"

Ashley replied, "We put the chip in the board and the board in the box. Then we find the interface and mount the console."

I replied, "And then?"

Ashley whispered in my ear as she pressed her comm button. "And then we jump. Frig, give us a portal."

Frig replied, "Always for a lady!"

The portal opened and we again moved through to the lab. The chip was inserted into the circuit board and the two circuit boards into the console box. Ashley then gave Frig the next set of coordinates. The interface was back on Gamma-12.

I spoke, "That place has got to be crawling with soldiers hunting down York by now."

Frost spoke, "Maybe she can keep them busy while we get this thing setup. What exactly do we have to do to this interface?"

Ashley replied, "There is a panel on a wall of hallway G12W. We simply remove the panel, fasten the console in place and it should come to life. I have coordinates to enter for our next jump."

Frig spoke, "Those coordinates, please give them to me."

Ashley replied, "Why? What is your need?"

I replied for Frig, "If you haven’t figured it out yet, we are not on the Grid. If the station jumps, the people here are left behind. If he knows our intended destination he can find us."

Ashley replied, "Using standard Grid star coordinates, J14-D11-M09-B07. That should place us near a bright yellow star."

I opened a comm channel to the Colonel. "Colonel Harper, where are you and your men? We have an urgent need for you on Gamma-12 hallway W."

The Colonel replied, "I have five squads on Gamma-14 chasing that crazy-ass York around. There are dead bodies everywhere. I think she has genuinely lost it and is going to go until she is burned out. Those squads are supporting her as best they can. We've been using her tactics to keep the Helgrons from advancing in most sections, but our cost in lives has been high Don. If we don't get an edge soon we are going to run out of steam."

I replied, "I understand Colonel, we are trying to resolve that as we speak. I could really use the support of those squads on Gamma-12. If York is still kicking she is fine to be on her own for a bit, probably prefers it."

The Colonel replied, "Redirecting them your way."

The Colonel’s five squads disengaged from their fight and made their way to level Gamma-12. The hallways were flooded with Dakar fighters backed by Helgrons. The Durians also had several soldiers with a new hardened Helgron battle suit. York’s tactic of "killing them slowly" was coming to an end. The hard suit would make killing a Helgron once again difficult.

Frig opened a portal to a nearby empty room. Once through we spilled out into the hallway and began our short jaunt to G12W.

As we rounded the final corner a Dakar yell could be heard. "Hummmannns!"

The blaster fire immediately began. The wall just to our left echoed with the thuds of repeated ion bolts. Two TIGs were quickly unleashed around the corner.

Pop! Pop!

Frost and Aaron gave Morgan’s legs a shove as he prepared to fire. The trigger was not pulled.

As Morgan was pulled back around the corner he spoke, "They are getting smart on us Sir. They have Dakar all in front and have some type of clear shield for the Helgrons to fire through. I didn’t have a shot Sir."

I replied, "I want two grenades rolling out and when they go I want Morgan shoved out there one more time. Let’s see if we can clear a shot for him."

Rodriguez stepped up with two grenades. The pins were pulled and the grenades thrown around the corner and down the hall.

Booom! Booom!

Again Morgan slid out.

Boop… splat!

Blaster fire returned as Frost and Aaron pulled him back.

Morgan spoke, "Sorry Sir. That was a miss, caught the edge of a shield. And the units in that hall are advancing Sir. We need to leave!"

I spoke, "OK, let’s pull back a hall and see if we can lure them away from that position."

I got on the comm to the Colonel’s squads, "Major Jasper, we need to draw the enemy away from that hall. Circle to your left and meet up with us at the intersection of G12F1 and G12M7."