Ghosts cannot leave foot Lab Complex - Communications Node - A-IX - Amsus Occupied Territory ~~*~~ The lab area of the communications node had been equipped following the second Amsus occupation of the world. Combined with the formidable communications array, they were connected to the Amsus communication network that stretched far and wide throughout the Hegemony, linking the five member races, and the newly acquired territories of the Polian Alliance. It was there that the remnant Polian technology was being studied for practical applications, there that advances were being made to genetics using exo-biology labs established on Hegemony worlds light years away. And there that the latest advances in computer technology were being applied. It was the lowest of those labs that Duncan and Ben now stood in. Much of the upper labs had been stripped bare during the exodus of the GN-2s, they were dispersing to the actual facilities they had worked with remotely for so long. Duncan knew that battlefield testing of the upgraded Amsus Über-troopers was due to begin sometime in the next few weeks, along with the up-rated DN-Zero project that was being commissioned by Sephradon herself. Naturally he wasn't supposed to know about them. Between his time in strategic operations, and his advanced educational program at the Thornton campus, he was supposed to be out of the loop when it came to the scientific advances being made by the other GN-2s. But Strega had never been one to overestimate the rogue strategist. And he'd learned a great many things that she had considered secret. However he knew that it was just the tip of the iceberg, the GN-2 influence was slipping into every nook and crack that it could throughout the Hegemony, securing a future for the ailing and dying beast by giving it a much needed injection of fresh ingenuity and perspective. He stood looking at an empty lab across from the one Rick and Nick were rifling through. ZEUS labelling the doors, but the insides already cleared, save for a few drafting tables that were waiting to be packed. He hadn't come across a ZEUS project anywhere in the files he had managed to access during his time at Strat-Ops. But gauging from the size of the lab, and the number of empty workstations, it had been a pretty important project. Larger, even, than the design labs that had worked on DN-Zero. "That doesn't bode well," Ben warned, leaning against a table watching Duncan at the door, his arms were pulled tightly about his body again making him seem frailer as a slight sheen of sweat stood out on his face, the boy wasn't well. "I can't get it to open," Nick was complaining as he tapped away on his small hand-held pc with its stylus, looking at the foot-long tube of green liquid that seemed aglow with a brilliant inner light. Rick was pulling a pair of lap tops out of boxes, checking them and tossing them into backpacks. "Just shut it down, then you can pull it out…" "It doesn't want to shut down," Nick snapped back. "Say please," Rick suggested as he ducked across the lab, flipped open a cabinet and began tossing data rods around as he searched for the right software he needed. "I got a rather resounding 'go screw yourself' error message," Nick replied. Duncan checked the time, swallowing as he realized that the time for their departure was drawing ever closer. At that rate, they weren't going to be able to make it. "Boys?" he inquired cautiously. "We're working on it," Rick reassured. Joining Nick at the tube, as he studied the small PC's screen. "Maybe if we just told it what was happening, maybe it would be willing to help," Nick offered. "Sure," Rick replied, "by alerting every Amsus in the building to the fact that we're attempting to steal top secret military hardware from a secure facility. I mean if you want to get caught, then go right ahead wank-stain…" Ben heard the steps on the stairs, ducking into the lab, he triggered the lights, quickly plunging the room into darkness. "Hide," he hissed. Rick and Nick both dropped down behind the pedestal the tube was set into, pressing close together and trying to remain out of sight. While Duncan and Ben slipped under a desk, pulling their legs in close and listening to the approaching footfalls and voices. "…activation schedule," Strega's voice was unmistakable. "I assure you, we will be operational at the appointed time," the second voice belonged to Koenig, another GN-2, one of the older ones with a penchant for engineering. "Given the restrictive schedule, I took the liberty of pulling construction teams off of the DN-Oh-Two project, in favour of completing the ZEUS array… Now if you would rather I pull other teams, I am sure that delaying DN-Zero wouldn't…" "The Dreadnaught will also be completed on time," Strega said firmly, as the two paused in the hallway outside the computer lab. "I take it work on the Core is finished?" "All but the educational software has been loaded," Koenig responded. "I took the liberty of downloading directly from Overlord. However the Big-O is very territorial about his code…" "He is a machine," Strega sniffed derisively. "He is a very old machine," Koenig replied tactfully. "And considering his influence over the Amsus High Command, vital to our war effort. Now the Core is still in its infancy lacking any kind of personality matrix, but so far it appears stable… I had Rick and Nick des…" "I want them no where near the Core!" Strega snapped. "We need a stable A.I. system, not another one of their insane contraptions… the Meta-bot was an unmitigated disaster because of their inability to follow instructions. When this is over, I'm ordering the Inquisitor to kill them both… I am not risking leaving them behind." Koenig heaved a sigh, "I can see the logic behind that, but they are valuable…" "None of us are indispensable, Koenig," Strega warned. "I expect Zeus to be finished on time, and the core should be in place to operate it. We can ill afford more mistakes in this war, as it is we're dangerously close to an endgame scenario." The two turned and began heading off down the hall again. "I will…" Koenig began, as a set of doors cut off the rest of the conversation. "That bitch!" Rick announced standing up, righteously indignant. "The meta-bot wasn't a disaster," Nick complained, as he looked at Duncan. "It was supposed to be an assistant, so I taught it how to make coffee. How the hell was I supposed to know she meant Assassin-bot?" Rick gritted his teeth, "the Pavel came out with the Dawn project and suddenly we're tossed out on our asses… my assassin's better than your assassin…" "We need to go," Duncan warned painfully struggling to his feet, rubbing his sore knee. Looking again at Ben who was staring again with his enigmatic eyes. "Yeah, yeah," Rick waved a hand dismissively. "Keep your pants on, something you're good at… One day you're gonna have to teach us how to overcome the construct sleeping thing…" "Voracious masturbation," Nick answered. "That or drugs…" "Core," Rick pointed. "We're almost out of time, and we haven't even gotten started on the ID cards we need." Nick shrugged, "I'm doing it my way…" he scrawled text across the handheld's screen, looking up nervously towards the alert lights that remained threateningly dark. "Please Core…" "Please," Rick offered, stroking the tube. Duncan hobbled across the lab, looking down from the high windows across the mostly empty hangar floor of the communication node. Watching equipment being loaded into a pair of Raptors to be flown up to the waiting Battlecruisers in orbit. "We're going to need another way out," he murmured looking again at the clock. "We could go and see if Brien's Propylons work," Nick suggested. "Hells no!" Rick looked shocked at the suggestion. "Last time she did a test… the Amsus trooper came out looking like maggot paste… she's a menace with those things. How about Sopendra and the Raptor?" He asked Duncan. Landing field - A-IX - Amsus Occupied Territory ~~*~~ Sopendra's eyes scanned across the Amsus guards walking the catwalks, and standing guard by the ships themselves. Heavily armed and looking impassive, they held numerical and tactical superiority. Sopendra couldn't conceive of any way that an unarmed single girl could storm the hangar and take a Raptor. And considering all the equipment being loaded was being closely inspected. There wasn't a way to sneak aboard. "No good," Sopendra said at length. "They're all…" her eyes drifted further back into the bay, towards the machine shops, where the unpainted nose of a Raptor poked out from Polyurethane panels, unguarded. "The Zero," she muttered, remembering Koenig's briefing about the new Mk III Raptor that was already under-construction at the A-IX Raptor production facilities. Unlike the MK II Polian up-rated Raptors, the MK-III was designed around the Polian technology that was integrated into the ships systems. Zero-point energy weapons and reactors, shields, faster drives and jump-pods, better sensor equipment… Lab Complex - A-IX - Amsus Occupied Territory ~~*~~ "Got it," Rick said triumphantly as he pulled the Core free of its pedestal. "We can go now." Nick produced a protective case, setting the Core into it and latching it closed as Rick hefted one of the two laptop backpacks on, adjusting it as he handed the second to his clone. Both looking at Duncan. "So?" Rick asked. "So?" Nick echoed. "Sopendra has a plan," Duncan reported as he got off the INTER-link, and led the way out into the hall, and headed for the stairwell that would put them down into the very bowels of the facility and close to the underground highway. Residences - A-IX - Amsus Occupied Territory ~~*~~ He'd lit a lantern, setting it on the table she was crouched beneath. The occupant had stirred the moment the power had failed, as he trumped his way into the kitchen to stir the pot on the stove with a massive ladle, fishing out something that vaguely resembled, to Stacey, a tentacle. She swallowed against the putrid odour that filled the kitchen the moment the lid was removed. It was like a hundred rotten fish blended together and seasoned with fetid oyster sauce, it was pungent and noxious and she was sure she was going to be sick. The massive feet stamped about, walking past the table, under which she was crouching, straying dangerously close to the hall closet that Darrel was hiding in. And Stacey hoped to god she wasn't in the apartment she knew, she had to be in. The door clattered, as someone pounded upon it. And the teacher stopped his food preparation to march towards the door, throwing back the bolt and almost wrenching it off the hinges, the alien professor all but screamed at the Amsus trooper unfortunate enough to have knocked on the wrong door. "What do you want!" Professor Zahn bellowed. "You sons of biatches think you can just come here and disturb me whenever it pleases you?!?" If the trooper were capable of emotion, he would have been cowering in fear, much like Stacey was doing at that moment beneath the table. The Amsus officer swept into the doorway, surveying the room with a stern glance. "Have you observed anything suspect, Citizen Zahn?" he demanded, ignoring the creatures furious seething. "You want to come in and see for yerselves?" Zahn offered, pulling the door back. "I enjoy the taste of grubs…" his fangs twitched as his great nose snuffled at the officer, "perhaps you would be interested in becoming my dinner also?" "You will restrain yourself, Citizen Zahn," the officer commanded, raising his hand as two more troopers arrived in the door way, weapons levelled. "I merely need to know if you know why an alarm was triggered and a lockdown initiated in this building." "Why would I know the answer to stupid questions?" Zahn rumbled irritably. "Go find those damned idiots with the Fifth Column, they're always interrupting me with blackouts. You want your culprit, deal with them instead of harassing me, you damned cockerroach." "We would appreciate it, if you do see anything…" the officer suggested. "Get out!" Zahn blared into his face, baring his vicious bottom fangs as he moved a threatening step forward, slamming the door on the Amsus Officer and stamping back to his stove. "And you both," he said, his voice dropping to a snarl. "Get out here where I can see you, and explain why I just lied to the cockerroaches." Landing Field - A-IX - Amsus Occupied Territory ~~*~~ The Zero wasn't guarded, sitting dark and un-powered at the rear of the bay, the Amsus had deployed to guard the far end and the precious cargo being loaded onto the Raptors. Koenig striding across the hangar towards the closer of the two, flipping through a chart and issuing orders to two other GN-2s of his design team. Sopendra flipped open the access panel for the ramp controls, tapping in the security code, relieved when it was accepted, and wincing as the ramp whirred and clanked its way open. "Jeez," she hissed. "Make more noise why don't ya?" She looked towards the Amsus troopers, who in turn were staring back at the machine shops, searching for the origin of the noises they had heard. They would begin investigating in moments, and she searched for a way to distract them… her eyes settled on a Polian enhanced Predator engine, sitting in a sling ready to be hoisted into a Predator shell. The connections to an engineering panel showing that it was ready for test firing… Sopendra glanced towards the safety pins, secured with little red flags, indicating they were in place to secure the engine. A quick tug, yanked the first of them free, walking around she freed the second, ensuring that the hoist was now free and able to move. A third step put her at the engine control, looking towards the Amsus that were advancing cautiously towards the machine shops. She tapped the start up code, giving herself a few seconds to get clear as she ran up the ramp, slamming the button to seal up the ramp behind her as she made her way up and into the body of the unfinished ship. She ran into the cockpit, slapping commands into the engineering console to bring the power plant online. Sopendra moved forward, to lean down and look at the Predator engine, as the booster engaged with a roar. It took off in a spiral, pulling free of the cables that connected it to the engineering panel. The smoke rolling after it as it blazed across the massive hangar, scattering Amsus troopers as it ploughed into the farthest Raptor, exploding with a rush of expended fuel and energy, sending the Raptor up as well. The Raptor blew, sending shrapnel and shredding through the second Raptor, cutting down Koenig and his entourage as well as the troopers. "We have to go," Sopendra reported into her INTER-link, sliding into the helm, looking at the unfamiliar controls. Instinct and half remembered memories of her flight training moved her hand across them as she found the throttle controls, the pedals and stick. The Zero exploded out of the devastated hangar, climbing towards the sky. Subterranean tunnel exit - A-IX - Amsus Occupied Territory ~~*~~ Duncan reached down and gave Ben a helping hand up, as they exited through one of the ventilation shafts, up into the parking lot of a Denver Mega-mart. Amidst empty rows of parking spaces and lamp posts that formed the oversized rectangle of concrete. Ben smiled a little lopsidedly as he shifted to stand beside Duncan, watching as the twins pulled their way up and out onto the surface. Carrying their precious bounty between them. Up in the sky, the recently commandeered Raptor was rapidly descending, its under-slung zero-point weapons swivelling on their mounts to vaporize the lampposts that blocked it from being able to land. The wash of the VTOL engines buffeted them as the Raptor awkwardly pivoted about, bouncing to a landing that was neither graceful nor elegant, but did the job perfectly. The rear hatch whining on its electric motors as it dropped to the asphalt, allowing the group of companions to dash up and inside. Duncan limped up last, reaching out to grasp a hold of the cargo webbing as he stared across the parking lot, lifting his INTER-link again to his ear. "We're ready to go…" He spotted Vichet almost immediately, the youth sprinting and bounding down a flight of steps alongside the squat mega-mart, pouring on the energy as he tore up the ramp, panting and gasping for air. "Stacey…Stacey and D-Darrel…" he waved in the general direction of the Residences. Duncan nodded as he reached for an intercom that connected him to the cockpit. "We need to go after Stacey and Darrel," he called. "Dunno how likely that is," Sopendra called back, "we've got Predators inbound, along with a couple of Strega's new Wyverns…" "Then we see what a state of the art Raptor can do," Duncan retorted. "Get us up and airborne." He looked at Ben who was standing patiently by the companionway up to the main cabin. "Any words of advice?" he asked. "None, Admiral," Ben replied. "You are… true to form so far." "Does it count if I don't know what the hell I'm doing?" Duncan inquired hobbling up the steps as the Raptor shuddered through its take off. "Never has before," Ben replied reassuringly. "You always seemed to get by on luck, pure skill and concentrated power of will." Duncan shrugged as he made his way through the unfitted starship, entering the cockpit, holding onto the hatch frame as he watched the HUD before Sopendra as she fought the ship into a steep climb. Beside her, Rick was strapped into the gunnery console, cycling up the main cannons, tsking at their notable absence of missile armaments. Knowing that they were going to have to rely solely upon their shields and the Polian guns for the coming aerial duel. Behind him, Vichet slipped into one of the twinned anti-fighter weapons turrets, across from Nick manning the second. Each taking up combat stations as a wing of Predators roared down towards them. "We're pretty badly outnumbered," Sopendra called back over her shoulder as Duncan took one of the rear consoles, stowing his cane, and looking at Ben who took the engineering console. "Never a problem before," Ben commented, looking directly at Duncan expectantly. "I get the feeling I've probably never done anything this stupid before," Duncan replied checking the RADAR and LADAR displays. There was an array of GN-2 evacuation cruisers above them, and a wing of fighters with a pair of Wyvern heavy bombers cruising in their direction. "Shield's up?" he queried, wetting his lips, suddenly smiling. Predators and Wyverns didn't come equipped with Polian shields. "Full speed," he commanded, "break on my mark and start a power dive…" "We'll cook at that speed," Sopendra commented, glancing back at him. "It'll be a choice for them," Duncan replied, "either they follow us down and fry themselves in the process, or they break off, giving us time to get to the Residential flats and making one hell of an express pickup." Amsus Shuttle - A-IX - Amsus Occupied Territory ~~*~~ Strega touched a control almost languidly. Close-up details showed streamers of fire and ionization trailing from Duncan's craft, its outermost skin glowing red-hot; he was making his entry into the colony's atmosphere at a madly acute angle, risking severe friction damage. Strega had sufficient experience to know that Duncan and his co-conspirators were sitting out a roller coaster ride in an oven, all in the name of a possible extra few minutes of life. She grinned with a feline glee as she anticipated Duncan's death as her own transport burned skywards, taking her to her Battlecruiser and away from the damnable colony. Residence - A-IX - Amsus Occupied Territory ~~*~~ Zahn all but tore the roof door off of its hinges, marching out as he hauled the two errant school children with him. Pushing them through the maze of satellite dishes and radio spires that turned the roof of the residential flats into a forest of metal. The rain that had been threatening all day began swiftly, hammering them with a vengeance, as the sky rumbled above them. The brilliant comet careering through the clouds, weapons fire blazing and exploding around it, as the Zero shot ground-ward. Behind it, the Predators foolish enough to follow were unable to pull up as their control surfaces fused due to the heat of the steep re-entry. Crashing into the ground explosively. Stacey hauled her INTER-link from her pocket as she watched the Zero barrel rolling between a pair of buildings, curling in a long loop to head back in their direction. "Holy…" Darrel began, as Zahn cuffed him roughly on the back of his head. "Don't swear," he growled loudly. "We're on the roof," Stacey called. "We're coming," Duncan called back, as the Zero fired his breaking engines, slowing to almost a halt in midair. The VTOL engines took over in a blast of diverted air that caused the heavy ship to swing about parallel to the rooftop. For the second time, the ramp descended a gaping sliver of brilliant light opening before them. "How do we…?" Darrel asked, sounding scared. "Jump!" Vichet yelled from the body of the Zero as the Raptor slid back towards the rooftop, the ramp swaying too and fro in the wind as the rain hammered down relentlessly. Stacey glanced a final, thankful time at the Professor as she sprinted across the rooftop, hurling herself over the gap and crashing to the slippery ramp, where she felt Vichet's strong hands catching her and pulling her aboard the ship. "I can't!" Darrel yelped in open fear. "Don't be a little biatch," Zahn rumbled, picking up the boy and tossing him off of the rooftop and onto the Raptor. "Professor!" Stacey yelled over the din of the VTOL engines. "Go," Zahn roared, waving them off, as the Predators screamed out of the cloud cover, finally catching up to the Zero. The primary Polian enhanced drives engaged, rocketing the ship upwards again at a phenomenal rate as the ramp slid closed leaving the ruff, but honest professor behind. The jump pods slid from their cowling, blowing the Zero into Hyperspace as it cleared the stratosphere. Residence - A-IX - Amsus Occupied Territory ~~*~~ Strega's scream of rage echoed through her shuttle as she pounded the useless display screen in front of her, shattering it into pieces.
prints.
Legends carve paths that
can be followed millennia