AMP Rebellion (25 page)

Ashley pushed her way in as she spoke, "I need more time! There is a sequence we have to go through to bring the drives online!"

I replied, "You have two minutes tops! I’m giving you 90 seconds or I yank that thing off the wall and start running!"

Five seconds later the drive sequence light went green.

Ashley spoke, "I have two more to unlock, then we enter those coordinates!"

Ashford yelled over the comm, "Sir, they are sprinting and they are killing everything they contact! You have 30 seconds to Evac Sir!"

I placed my hand on Ashley’s shoulder. "We have to go. We don’t do anyone any good if we are dead. Pull that console and throw that plate back on there!"

Gy spoke, "Cover plate won’t go back on Chief! We had to cut it off!"

Ashley replied as she plugged away at the keyboard, "If we leave it now they will find this interface and destroy it! You have to find a way to stop them!"

I turned to the marines around me. "You heard the lady! We don’t have a choice! Let’s move!"

As I turned towards the approaching hardened Helgrons the portal once again came open. York slid through followed by to other marines of large stature. They were each carrying one of Jeb’s 12mm guns.

York spoke, "Out of the way Sir! I have a big toy that I am itching to try out!"

York and the two others quickly passed us by, taking up position at the next hallway corner.

The hardened Helgrons came into their view.

Booom! Booom! Booom!

Three Helgrons were rocked backwards. They then began to scream as the copper plasma burned through their suits followed by the 20 gram Tungsten round. The inner liner of the suit shattered sending thousands of tiny bits of its makeup into the Durians bodies. Screams of pain could be heard echoing down the hall. The charging Durians stopped and began moving backwards out of the hallway. Their commander wanted to further evaluate the new development.

The second green light then lit up on the console.

Ashley continued to type as she spoke, "One more and we are in!"

Booom! Booom! Booom!

The Helgrons attempted a second push and were immediately thrown back by York and the ultra-powerful guns.

I could hear York yelling from the corner, "I love it! Come on you blue-assed lizards! Come and get some of what Momma has cookin’ for yah!"

Booom! Booom!

Ashley cried out as the third console light went green, ‘Yes!"

She then typed feverishly, entering in the coordinates of our destination, J14-D11-M09-B07. When the last number was entered she pressed a large blue button on the right side of the console. We waited for some action, some sign that the gravity drives of the grid had engaged and the great station had begun to move. Instead, the interface began to repeatedly flash out a message.

"Invalid Console"

Again Ashley sank to the floor. "That’s it. We… we are stuck here. There is no jump."

We all stood silent for several seconds.

Booom! Booom!

York yelled down the hall, "You better hurry it up! They are trying out different things and something is going to eventually work! Our time is limited!"

I looked down at a discouraged Ashley Elizabeth as she sat on the floor. As my heart began to sink with thoughts of doom I looked up at the console box.

I spoke, "Frig!"

I opened a comm channel. "Frig! I’m bringing the console box through to you. I need you to do your best evaluation on this to see if we can get it working. Tell us what’s wrong so we can get our asses out of this infested section!"

A portal opened and I slid the box through. I grabbed Ashley’s hand and pulled her up.

I spoke as I looked into her eyes, "Go through there and assist Frig in any way you can. There is still hope if we can get that box to work!"

Ashley lay on the plank and was pulled through the portal to the other side.

Ashley spoke through the wormhole, "Are you coming?"

I replied, "We have business here. Gy and Rita are coming through. It’s up to the four of you to get that box working. I’ll be here trying to protect this interface. Just do whatever you can."

Once the others had gone through, the portal snapped shut.

I turned back towards York and the two marines and yelled, "Yorkie! Tell me what you need!"

The Helgrons continued their attempts to push forward. Their newest tactic was brutal to the Dakar that they had brought up in support. Twenty Dakar would storm around the corner towards our position. Their progress would take them half way before a number of grenades would cut them to pieces. After five such attempts the assaults came to a halt as the mangled bodies of the Dakar waves piled up, making the hall impassible.

The Helgron attackers then withdrew.

I spoke, "They are looking for another path!"

I pulled up the schematics on my arm pad display. "This is it from where they are. There are no other access corridors through here."

York spoke, "If it was me Sir, I would make my own corridor."

I replied, "Are you saying what I think you are saying?"

York nodded, "Look for the easiest wall to break through. They are likely to be coming through there!"

I again scanned the schematics on my display. "Right here! This room right through to this one and out into the main W hallway! Yorkie, you are a genius!"

York replied, "Thank you Sir, but please don’t call me that anymore. It has always been a name Frost uses to irritate me. It drives me nuts!"

I replied as I turned back towards the suspected breach area. "You got it Sergeant. You have certainly earned it!"

Ashley sent her locksmith tool through the portal for a tech to use in opening the door. When the door lock clicked the tech pushed it open. Sparks could be seen streaming from a cutting torch as the Durians attempted to open the wall.

I spoke to the tech, "Use your laser cutter and make me a fist sized hole right beside the one they are cutting."

The tech immediately got to work. Seconds later he was done and the first of a number of grenades were dropped through the hole. A puff of smoke shot through the opening as each grenade detonated. The Dakar workers on the other side were dead.

A voice could be heard yelling out a command. "Continue! Open that wall! Any Dakar that refuses, take them in front of the others and kill them!"

The Durians finally wised up and a Helgron kicked the grenades away from the Dakar workers as they fell through. Shrapnel continued to take its toll and a Dakar body was hauled away with each new explosion. Progress continued on the hole, although at an extremely slow pace.

The Colonel came on the comm, "Grange, one of my squad’s reports finding Michael Felix. He says he needs to talk to you and it's urgent."

I replied, "Felix? Tell him I'm busy! Everything is urgent with him. Colonel, we have Helgrons about to burst through the wall here. Can you help us out?"

The Colonel replied, "We are one level up, coming down the trans-way now. What's the position of the Durians."

I replied, "They are on hallway W2, trying to cut through a room to W about mid-way down the hall. And you best hurry as they are almost through!"

I turned as I spoke, "Frost! Swap places with York! I need at least one of those 12mm guns in here!"

Frost turned and sprinted down the hall. York soon appeared in the doorway.

York spoke, "Here, take this Sir. I'll be using my fists. And Sir, that thing kicks something awful so be ready for some pain. Those two Marines back there have tears in their eyes. I probably would have thrown that thing down by now if not for these robot arms. They take most of the beating."

As the cut neared its end the steel wall plate was pushed forward by the Dakar on the other side. Aaron was waiting with a bazooka round.

Booom!

Screams of pain could be heard. As the smoke cleared the first of the Helgrons stepped forward.

Booom!

A blood curdling shriek could be heard as the copper plasma round hit the Durian in his crotch. Ion bolts soon flew through the opening, striking York as she charged the hole.

York yelled, "Come here you scaly swamp crawlers!"

Two Durians stepped forward with clubs and a melee began through the hole began. A second Marine soon joined me with his 12mm gun.

Booom!

The heavy round flew past York striking one of the Helgrons in the shoulder, spinning him violently around. York stepped through to the other side and continued her assault.

I yelled, "York! Move to the side! We don't have a shot!"

The melee continued and York soon disappeared into the darkness of the room on the other side. I stepped back into the hallway as the Helgrons forced their way through the hole.

Booom! Boom!

The first two Helgrons bought it as they stepped inside. The next two began firing their blasters. I rolled back into the hallway as the second Marine who had accompanied York stepped up.

Booom!

I yelled, "Aaron, get that bazooka back up here!

As Aaron stepped up and knelt down an ion bolt from a Helgron blaster caught him center chest. I turned my head as body parts flew past, a small piece of bone lodging itself just under the point of my chin. In an instant Lieutenant Aaron was gone.

We were slowly losing ground to the Durians when the Colonel and his men arrived. The remaining Helgrons did not come through the breach, but the three that did fought hand to hand with the two Marines that had come with York. As I picked myself up and reloaded the 12mm gun, the third Helgron stepped into the doorway.

I watched in anguish as the Helgron raised his blaster. My world appeared to be running in slow motion. As I pulled the big gun up to my shoulder the hardened Durian Helgron pulled the trigger on his ion blaster. In an instant the fiery blue bolt that was the signature of an ion weapon shot out, striking the gravity drive interface square on. Parts flew as the circuits inside expanded violently. The interface was no more!

Booom!

The Helgron fell backwards as the Tungsten round shattered the suit's liner and expanded. I reloaded, stepped into the room and fired a shot into the second Helgron's back. Again, the victim of my rage went down hard. As the third Helgron attempted to turn and jump through the hole the Marine he was fighting tackled him by the legs. Another reload and the last of the Helgrons went silent. The Colonel's men then entered the room on the other side of the wall followed shortly after by the Colonel.

I turned to look at the interface as the Colonel stepped through the hole.

I spoke, "We've lost it Colonel. That was the interface to the gravity drive. We aren't going anywhere."

The Colonel replied, "We'll just have to do this the hard way Grange. You've sent back those hardened suits, we just have to figure out how to defeat them. Until then, we win a battle and we lose two."

I sat down, leaning against the wall while I rubbed my now sore shoulder. "I wish we had a time machine instead of that portal. It would be nice to go back to that time when I was blissfully ignorant of all that war is."

I looked over to my left. "A part of me wants to think that Lieutenant Aaron over there is the lucky one. No more struggle, no more stress, no more pain."

The Colonel replied, "That's life Grange. And as far as I'm concerned I have a lot more living to do. If I have to spend the rest of it fighting these blue lizards then fighting blue lizards is what I'll do. And by the way, that Michael Felix is a persistent one. He keeps popping my channel every few minutes. I would have passed him your connection, but you seemed to not want the distraction."

I shrugged as I looked at my arm pad. "Go ahead and send him through Colonel. I'm kind of surprised he is still on the loose."

The Colonel complied and a new channel indicator lit up on my comm.

I pressed the answer button and replied, "What do you want Felix? I've got aliens to be killing."

Felix replied, "Don, have you seen Miss Elizabeth? It's important that I speak with her."

I replied in a sarcastic but dejected voice, "Yep, she's with us. We had a chance to jump this station to safety, but the Durians just shut us down."

Felix replied, "So, her console has been destroyed?"

I sat up. "What do you know about the consoles Felix?"

Michael Felix took a long breath. "I know all about them Mr. Grange. I'm holding one right now."

I stood up. "You have a console?"

Felix replied, "I was on the team with Alvarez. They stuffed me into a locker with the console before making their last attempt at an escape. I was given an explosive device and told to detonate it if they found me. One of the Dakar began to search the lockers when his commander called him off."

I then looked out at the interface and sighed. "Well, it doesn't much matter now anyway. We have two consoles and no interface. Those consoles might as well be filled with Borak steak. At least that would be something useful."

Michael Felix responded, "There is another interface Mr. Grange. Alvarez told me just before he left. He was one of the original keepers of the remote drive console secret. Aside from the two remote locations, there is a third interface in the main gravity drive control room."

I replied, "We captured the control room earlier. All the equipment in there has been destroyed."

Felix replied, "Yes, all the visible equipment."

My eyes moved to my arm pad with laser focus. "What do you mean the visible equipment?"

Felix replied, "The interface in the control room is behind the large blank wall. They covered it over completely to conceal its location. I don't know why Alvarez did not relay this information to all of the teams. Perhaps he hoped for the glory of accomplishing the jump himself. Whatever his reason, it died with him."

I spoke, "But the console you have, it won’t work on any other interface except B23X. We just found that out."

Felix replied, "Except for the one in the main room. It will accept any of the consoles."

I stood as I spoke, "Where are you Felix?"

Felix began to reply, but was cut off. Blaster fire could be heard in the background. "I'm... I'm coming down Transway-3 to your level now! There are a large number of Helgrons coming after me!"

I looked at the Colonel.

The Colonel spoke, "On it! Kanger! Helms! Get your asses to Transway-3! We have Helgrons coming in force!"

I handed the 12mm gun to the Marine standing next to the Colonel and sprinted towards the trans-way.

I spoke to Felix over the comm, "When you get to this level go left! I will meet you just around the first corner to the right! And hustle Felix! We need that console!"

As I entered the hallway in question Michael Felix rounded the corner. Eight of the Colonel's men ran past me as Felix came to a stop.

He was breathing heavily, "Here Grange, take this. I need a rest."

I opened a comm channel to Frig. "We are back in business! I need a portal opened to my location immediately!"

Michael Felix looked confused as I spoke. "Portal? What's a portal?"

Frig replied, "Locked Sir, I would suggest you move from that location."

I grabbed Michael Felix by the upper arm and pulled him three meters down the hall. The air where we had been standing began to crackle and glowed orange just before the portal opened.

Michael Felix stepped back. "What the..."

A plank was lowered through the hole and the console was laid out on it. When the plank returned I grabbed Michael Felix, again by the arm and gestured towards the plank.

I spoke, "Lay your ass down there and let’s get out of here."

As Felix was pulled through the open portal the confused look remained on his face. The plank returned and I was soon through as well.

I switched comm channels to the Colonel. "Colonel, contact the Admirals and have every man available converge on Lima-22 and the gravity drive control room! We are going to take it and we are going to hold it at all cost!"

I turned to Frig, "How many of those 12mm guns does Jeb have ready?"

Frig replied, "His last status indicated his production line could now handle 50 per hour and should be approaching 200 per hour within eight hours. That was twenty minutes ago Sir. His ammunition line is producing 3,000 rounds per hour with 8,000 expected within that same eight hour window."

I replied, "Start picking out locations along the Colonel's and Admiral’s paths where we can start dropping those guns and ammo. Organize a line of people on this side so we can pass as many of those weapons through as possible. It's time we taught those Helgrons what it means to fight with Humans!"

All Gray Ghouls and Grid Marines began to converge on Lima-22. It was our final push to get the Grid moved to a new location, a location where Durians were no longer a threat. It was our last shot at freedom and we would do whatever was needed to make the jump happen. We had no other options.

As I turned to see Ashley she had her arms around Michael Felix.

I spoke with a sarcastic tone, "Oh, so that's how it is? Always moving to the newest hero are you?"

Ashley slowly released Michael and stepped up to greet me. "I like an active hero, yes. Never was much for has-beens!"

I was suddenly in an embrace with the woman I loved. All of our troubles quickly faded as my blood pressure began to rise. When our lips parted I was in a new place. I was back on that ridge with the cool wind blowing through Ashley's hair. For a moment, I was all smiles.

Frig spoke, "Sir. Sir! I'm sorry to interrupt, but the Colonel is signaling your comm."

I pressed the comm button and replied, "Yes Colonel?"

The Colonel spoke, "Grange! Any luck with those hardened suits? The Durians are again changing tactics! They have shields made out of the same material as those suits. Those 12mm rounds blow a nice hole through the shield, but they then don't penetrate the suit. Our troops are taking it hard on the chin. I have two squads entering the control room right now. One heck-uv-a fight going on. Get that console down there and get us out of here while there are still us to get!"

I replied, "Yes sir Colonel! Heading that way now!"

I spoke to Frig, "Can you find us a room near the control room that is unoccupied?"

Frig replied, "Scanning now Sir. It appears as though L2214 is open Sir. It is three hallways from the control room, but we do not yet control that area."