Omega Force 7: Redemption (17 page)

"I remember we agreed to terms for my help, but you never said specifically what you could offer besides a promise of later passage," Jer-An said. "What could have possibly prompted me to attack a Galvetic warrior?"

"A simple misunderstanding," Jason said, waving it away. "Nothing to worry about now. Shall we get down to specifics?"

"Sure," Jer-An said, eyeing Crusher nervously. "What is it, exactly, you need?"

"There's another group of offworlders about four-point-five kilometers slightly north and east of here," Jason said. "It'll likely be a small group, well-armed, and not interested in engaging the locals for any reason."

"Oh, that bunch," Jer-An said with a nod. "What do you want with them?"

"We have some business with them that you don't need to know about for your job," Jason said in a pleasant voice.

"That's where you're wrong," Jer-An disagreed. "If you go in there, cause all kinds of trouble and then leave, they will find out whomever worked with you and make them talk."

"If we're successful they won't be around to cause any more trouble," Jason said. "We're only asking for a discreet approach to their location. We'll handle everything from there."

Jer-An tapped his chin with his long fingers, considering the offer. "I'll still want your promise that you'll find a way to get me out of here," he said finally.

"Done," Jason said.

"But because I don't believe you'll keep that promise, I'm going to want some other, more tangible items," Jer-An said. "First, I want a portable slip-com unit. I also want some of the weaponry I see you carrying around."

"Here," Jason said, handing him the plasma rifle he'd been carrying. "Anything else?"

Jer-An's brows went up a notch as he reached out for the weapon. "An armored vehicle?" he asked hopefully.

"If we had one of those we'd be using it right now," Jason pointed out.

"Just some rations and a water filtration unit then," Jer-An said.

"Done," Jason said, standing up. "How long until we can leave?"

"Follow me to where I stay," Jer-An said. "I'll need to grab some stuff, but I know a shortcut that will make the trip quick and safe."

"
Captain, the only way I can get a portable slip-com unit is to take an antenna from one of the Twins
," Twingo said. "
Our fabricator isn't capable of manufacturing that part
."

"Do it," Jason said. "We won't need them anytime soon and they each have two." The semi-intelligent drones that were in launch bays along the
Phoenix's
backbone, referred to as the “Twins” by the crew, weren't often used but they were exceptionally outfitted, including a pair of redundant slip-com systems each.

"
I'll get on it now
," Twingo said before killing the channel.

"My engineer is working on your com unit now," Jason said as Jer-An was collecting an odd assortment of gear and putting it into an over-the-shoulder bag.

"I heard," Jer-An said. "Thank you. That makes me slightly more inclined to trust you."

They had followed Jer-An from the basement to a narrow passageway that seemed to take them to the next building over. From there they had to squeeze down a vertical shaft via a rusty ladder anchored against the wall into a cramped chamber that had a heavy blast door that could be swung up and latched to seal off the tunnel.

"This place used to be a machine room," Jer-An explained as he saw his guests looking around. "Backup generators and water pumps, mostly. I stripped the machinery down to trade or repurpose and now I stay down here where it's safe. Not too many people venturing into the lower levels these days."

"Why not?" Crusher asked in alarm. His dislike of cramped spaces, and especially underground cramped spaces, was legendary.

"The buildings are beginning to fail," Jer-An said simply. "Surely you noticed all the recent collapses on your way in."

Crusher actually let out a pathetic whine as he looked around the cramped space, no doubt thinking of being trapped by hundreds of tons of debris if the building overhead decided to give up the fight.

"Don't worry," Jer-An said with a laugh. "This building has a hardened alloy structure, not duracrete. Not only that, but there's a way to escape from this room that doesn't involve climbing back up that shaft."

"Your shortcut?" Jason surmised.

"One and the same," Jer-An said, still smiling. "Give me a hand with the bed."

Jason grabbed one end of the small bunk and slid it across the room to reveal what looked like just a steel plate the previous machinery would have been mounted to. Definitely too heavy for him to easily lift. Jer-An walked over to the other side of the room and slid a cable/pulley winch across on a track so that it was over the plate. After he'd let out some slack he slipped the hook through a ring on the steel plate and began to pull.

Once the plate was at about a forty-five degree angle Jason could make out a rough-cut tunnel under it leading out of the small machinery room. The jagged edges of the opening led him to believe that Jer-An had likely done this over many years with simple hand tools.

"You do this yourself?" he asked.

"Yes," Jer-An confirmed. "It took five years."

"How did you know there was something under there to get to?" Crusher asked, his curiosity overcoming his anxiety.

"I was part of a team that tried to come in and recover suspected cultural artifacts from the next building over," Jer-An said quietly. "It was a depository for two museums in neighboring cities. Everything was gone, of course, but the people who convinced us to come were adamant that the vault would have withstood against all that's happened here.

"I'm the only one of my team left alive. The gangs immediately fought it out over our ship, which of course was destroyed in the process. They then went about hunting us down one by one for sport or food."

"That's quite a story, Jer-An," Jason said with real sympathy. "What was your role on the recovery team?"

"Technician," Jer-An said as he grabbed a headlight and slipped it down over his smooth, bulbous skull. "I had no real interest in cultural treasures from other species. I was just there to keep the equipment running. Anyway ... we had detailed schematics of the buildings in the surrounding area as well as the local infrastructure. Once I found and dismantled my hiding hole here I found that this was three-point-six meters above one of the subterranean transit tracks."

"Ah," Jason said. "So the subway tracks were actually unmolested? Where I'm from they're sort of a shelter for vagabonds even when they were in use."

"Subway ... I like that," Jer-An said. "Short and to the point."

"Unlike this story," Crusher mumbled.

"It's almost over," Jer-An said indignantly. "You asked me, I didn't want to bring all this up. As I was saying ... once I figured out I was above the old transit tube I began digging away, mostly because I had nothing better to do than avoid being dinner for a few of the more feral species up there.

"When I broke through I was shocked to find it in pristine condition, but as I explored I began finding old tech diagrams and construction equipment. As it turns out our information was incorrect. The tube below us was part of an expansion project that was never finish before the planet was ... depopulated. It's sealed off from the rest of the system and nobody but me knows it exists."

"This is too perfect," Jason said quietly to Crusher and Lucky as Jer-An went about tossing a rope ladder down into the hole. "This means that even if the crew holding the netjere is smart enough to seal off subway access they won't know about these tunnels. Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll take us right up under them."

"When have we ever gotten that lucky?" Crusher asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Jason said. "You just
happened
to grab the one being on this planet who knows a direct and unfettered way to get to the objective? That's pretty damn lucky."

"Oh yes ... I felt the soft, warm embrace of fortune earlier," Crusher said. "Oh wait, that was a filthy little Veran straddling my face, grinding his unwashed—”

"The point is," Jason said quickly as Jer-An popped his head back up out of the hole, "we have a direct line now and just gained an element of surprise."

"Are you three going to talk all night or can we get going?" Jer-An said from the opening.

"Let's go," Jason said, shouldering his pack and putting his helmet on. "By the way, do you still have the schematics of the surrounding area?"

"I've got better," Jer-An said. "The work crews left more complete and accurate drawings at the worksite near where you want to go."

****

"This is nice," Crusher remarked. "Most tunnels we've found ourselves in aren't nearly so clean. This one still even smells like new construction."

"It is a nice change of pace," Jason said. "Normally we'd be slogging through a sewer."

The tunnel they were in was pristine with walls sheathed in some dull alloy and a concrete track bed. The magnetic rails hadn't been installed yet so the journey was no more stressful than a stroll down a well-maintained sidewalk. Jason knew Lucky would be keeping a close eye on Jer-An for any sort of treachery so he kept the sensors on his armor scanning the surrounding area and his own eyes on where he was putting his feet.

It was a few kilometers before they came to a Y-junction and two more narrow tunnels split off from the main tube they'd been in. Without a word Jer-An took the right tunnel. Jason walked up and reached into Lucky's pack, pulling out a small black disc and depressing the button in the middle. He stuck it on the flat portion of wall between the two branching tunnels and hustled to catch up, watching as a green status indicator lit up on his helmet HUD.

"Here we are," Jer-An said after another kilometer and half. "This is as close as this tunnel gets to your objective. The drawings for the surrounding area are up here near the tool carts."

"How far away are we?" Jason asked Lucky.

"We should be approximately five hundred meters from the epicenter of the estimated location Kage gave for the netjere's transponder," Lucky replied, choosing to talk over coms directly into Jason's helmet instead of vocalizing out loud.

"Here are the plans for the tunnel network, and here are the prints for the buildings and utilities above," Jer-An said, handing Jason three large, rolled prints.

"Thank God they were still using hard copies back then," Jason said as he released and removed his gauntlets so he could manipulate the pages. After a few moments he realized that engineering prints weren't exactly his strong suit, so he rolled them up and handed them to Lucky without a word. The battlesynth quickly spread each one out, committed them each to memory, and handed them back to Jer-An in turn.

"Do you know which building these unknown mercenaries are using?" he asked Jer-An.

"Not exactly," the Veran said apologetically. "They've secured the entire block and have a tight perimeter. It only took a few probes by the locals to learn they meant business. There aren't a lot of them, but they're well-equipped."

"Species?" Jason asked.

"Multiple," Jer-An said. "Saw a couple of Korkarans and even a pair of synths. Not like your friend here, just normal synths."

"That's a relief," Crusher said. "A pair of battlesynths would be a real problem."

"You can say that again," Jason said. "Normal synths aren't exactly slouches though. We'll have to figure out our approach carefully."

"What's the access topside like?" Crusher asked.

"There's a shallow ramp over there," Jer-An said, pointing to an area behind the jumble of tools and building materials. "It leads up to the basement of the building marked D7-1 on the grid drawing. It looks like they were building a reception area for direct access from this transit line."

"Is it open to the building?" Jason asked.

"No," Jer-An said. "There's a large, heavy security door that was in place to keep people out of the tunnel while it was under construction. It can't be opened from the outside."

"We're only a three-man team," Jason said, frowning. "I need both of you with me."

"I'll stay and wait for you," Jer-An volunteered. "I have a vested interest in your escaping alive and I would also like to keep tabs on you. Once you've accomplished your goal it would be easy to just leave without paying up."

"True enough," Jason said. "We've both got something to lose so that should keep everyone honest. Show us this ramp."

Jer-An climbed up the ramp and slid open a plastic barrier that looked like it was designed to keep the dirt from the tunnel construction out of the reception area they walked into. The space was done beautifully in onyx woodwork and brushed alloys, all the lines curving gracefully away from the ramp entrance. Jason felt a momentary pang for the species that had been so quickly wiped out, their unfinished work a sort of vulgar memorial to their passing.

"There's the door," Jer-An said. "The two times I've been here there hasn't been anybody in this basement, but we should be careful anyway."

"Extinguish your light," Lucky said. "I will go in first."

"No," Jason said. "I will. You can't switch to combat mode quick enough if there are multiple targets in there. My armor's sensors are at least good enough to clear the room. No arguments about this."

"Of course, Captain," Lucky said, his posture indicating he wasn't happy with the order.

Before an argument could break out Jason nodded to Jer-An, who switched off his light and unlatched the door as quietly as he could. "I'll knock twice if it's clear," Jason said quietly as he slipped by and heard the door close behind him. He froze and let his armor scan the area while he looked in every direction with mid-wave infrared optics. There were no hotspots and nothing was moving, so he walked out and made a closer inspection of the area. The dust on the floor had some small footprints in it that looked months old and obviously from the same being: Jer-An.

So far everything the Veran said and did supported his story and Jason was beginning to relax a bit. If he had any nefarious designs he'd had ample opportunity to take them out or disable them. The fact there wasn't an armed party waiting for them reinforced that. He walked back over and knocked rapped softly on the door with his gauntlet; two knocks. The door immediately opened and Lucky and Crusher walked through, the former's eyes blazing red. Apparently he'd switched to combat mode in anticipation of trouble.

"How far did you scout?" he asked, switching back to normal operation mode.

"Just the immediate area," Jason said. "There's a set of doors along the east wall and no sign anybody other than our little friend has been in there for years."

"Do we know the condition of the building above?" Crusher asked, apparently still worried about being buried alive.

"This entire block looked to be fully intact," Lucky said. "Our initial reconnaissance scans from high altitude even indicated repairs had been done to the roofs of three."

"I wonder if this merc crew evicted the previous tenants, keeping the best block for themselves," Jason mused.

"It's what I would do," Crusher said, pulling his plasma rifle around. "Let's get going."

"Whoa, cowboy," Jason said, raising his hand. "We're almost out of darkness. We'll recon up to the ground floor, then we're going to report in with the
Phoenix
and sleep the day off back in that reception area behind the security door. We'll update our plans depending on what we find, then begin the operation tomorrow night."