Hell's Hoplites - Book 1 - Thebes - 13 - Chapter 12

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Chapter 12 -

Sol System - Mars

Cidonia Spaceport - Privately Registered Vessel Hoplite II

October 7th 2535 AD - 05:38 GMT

Jack and the others had returned to the spaceport after blowing up most of an intersection in downtown Cidonia. Thankfully Oz had done some creative maneuvering and re-painting with his external servos to keep anyone from recognizing or identifying the vessel. So after a pass through the desert for Oz to do some more painting they had returned to the spaceport.

No sign of Steve had been found by the authorities at the explosion site so Jack and others were hoping that he’d been killed in the blast. Although Jack himself felt in the pit of his stomach that this wouldn’t be the last time they saw the blonde haired psychopath.

Jack was half asleep in his bunk aboard the Forlorn Hope when his comm started beeping incessantly at him. Rolling over Jack tried to ignore the noise but it continued to chime annoyingly.

Rolling over he threw the thin sheet aside and picked the comm up. “Yeah,” he mumbled into the comm set on voice only.

“Is this Mr. Jack Sikorsky?” A female voice asked over the comm.

“Yeah, what can I do for you?” He asked.

“This Dr. Bernitta Morgan at the Cidonia City coroner’s office I’m sad to inform you that your friend Mr. Fuji Satokawa is deceased, although we still need you to come in and identify the body,” the woman told him.

A spasm ran through Jack’s hand causing it to open and the comm unit dropped out of it and bounced on the carpeted floor of the small cabin and then under the desk. Jack brought his other hand up and stared at them for several minutes, except he didn’t see the hands for how they were but saw them as blood stained claws that pulled the life from everything he cared about. He wasn’t really thinking as another link to his past snapped and the chain of his fate grew shorter. What was it for, why are we doing it, should we keep doing it, all those questions and more flooded through his mind at one time and his hands fell into his face and then one struck out at the support for the bunk and bent it a good foot out of shape the upper shelf tilting downwards.

Finally after about ten minutes he finally became aware of the room again and the incessant sound of the woman shouting from his comm unit.

“Sir are you alright, Sir please answer me, do you need medical attention, if you can’t speak just tap on the comm grill,” the woman kept repeating her voice while as calm as she could make it still had an edge of hysteria.

Pulling the desk chair out of the cubby he flung it across the small room and against the wall where it crashed with enough force to shatter. Reaching into the cubby Jack dug around with his hand until his fingertips brushed the comm and he picked it up.

“I’m fine,” he said tiredly into the comm. “What’s the address?” He asked.

The woman told him the address and he stood up shutting the comm unit off. Pulling off the sweat pants he had been wearing he pulled on a pair of black fatigue pants and t-shirt, and pulled a double shoulder holster holding his FNs over that and then a black leather jacket to top it off.

Striding down the corridor Jack pounded on the door to Samuel’s cabin.

“What, what?” Samuel said irritably wearing only pajama bottoms his hair tousled and smelling as if he were taking part in an extracurricular activity.

Jack didn’t say anything just looked at Samuel.

“Oh god, what’s wrong now?” Samuel asked.

“It’s Fuji, get dressed we have some place to be,” Jack told him.

“What’s going on?” a sleepy female voice asked from behind Samuel.

“Go back to sleep,” Samuel told Patricia over his shoulder. “I’ll be gone for awhile,” he told her. Grabbing a wad of clothes from the floor he stepped out of the room and then into one of the unused cabins to dress quickly.

Jack still stood silently in the corridor as Samuel changed.

“So where to?” Samuel asked.

“The morgue,” Jack answered quietly.

A pained expression came over Samuel’s face. “Damn,” he said quietly.

Jack pulled his comm out and keyed it for a cab company and then put it away. “The cab will be here in a few minutes,” he told Samuel and walked down the corridor.

The cab had already arrived by the time they left the ship, it didn’t take long for it to reach the morgue and both climbed out swiftly and stiff legged and entered the morgue.

Inside the morgue they halted at the receptionist desk. “What can I help you gentlemen with a?” A rather tired and wrung out older woman with gray hair asked the two.

“We’re here to identify a body,” Jack said woodenly and showed his ID.

“Viewing room thirty-two gentlemen,” the receptionist told them holding out an E-PADD for them to sign.

The two of them were shown to viewing room thirty-two where an assistant coroner met them.

“Now gentlemen I have to worn you the body is pretty badly torn up,” the young man told them.

“Just show us the body,” Samuel growled while Jack stood without expression on his face.

The assistant coroner just nodded and wheeled a metal cart with a sheet draped body into the room and then pulled back the cover to the waist.

Jack stiffened and Samuel let out a low curse as they took in the condition of the body. A dozen huge holes peppered the body making it look as if someone had taken a large drill to Fuji’s torso.

“Yeah it’s Fuji Satokawa,” Jack told the man who noted the identification down on an E-PADD.

“Any idea what did this?” Samuel asked gesturing at one of the gaping wounds,” Samuel asked.

“The coroner estimates that it was a large bore hand gun, most likely of .50 Action Express or .454 Casull size,” he told them.

It only confirmed what Samuel had been thinking.

“Can we get his personal effects?” Jack asked.

“Sure, his weapons were taken by the Cidonia City police but you can have the rest of it,” the young man said pulling a plastic tub out from under the cart and setting it down on the counter against one wall.

Jack sifted through the contents until he found Fuji’s comm and then slid the container back to the coroner. “We’ll pick up the rest of this stuff when we pick up the body,” Jack told him.

“Sure,” the young man answered.

“How soon before the body can be released?” Samuel asked.

“Another day or so and the coroner should be done with his autopsy and investigation, at this time the police are ruling it a simple mugging,” the assistant coroner told them.

Jack snorted in disgust.

“Alright, contact us at the same number as before,” Samuel told the young man and followed Jack out as he fiddled with Fuji’s comm.

The two of them grabbed another taxi and went back to the ship

“Why did you only take his comm?” Samuel asked.

“He was acting funny after he received a comm call from someone the day before,” Jack answered putting the comm to his ear after punching the send key.

“James Finnegan speaking,” a voice said over the comm.

“Mr. Finnegan do you know a Fuji Satokawa?” Jack asked.

“Yes, yes I do,” the voice answered warily.

“Are you aware that he’s dead?” Jack went on remorselessly.

There was a faint curse over the comm unit, “No I wasn’t aware of that.”

“Would you be able to tell me what information you gave him when you last called?” Jack asked.

“Yes, he had asked me to track down the arms dealer that had supplied the terrorists with their bomb in the 2495 Olympus Mons bombing,” Finnegan told Jack.

“Did you find out a name?” Jack asked.

“Yeah a weapons dealer name of Kelly Madrid supplied the bomb to the Silver Way To Enlightenment Group led by Asic Al Arary,” Finnegan answered.

“Any clue as to where I can find Madrid?” Jack asked.

“Yeah, try the Hangfire Bar,” Finnegan told him.

“Thanks for the info,” Jack said.

“No problem make sure that piece of shit Madrid ends up on a morgue slab, Fuji was a good kid,” Finnegan said and the comm clicked off.

“I take it you got the info we’ll need,” Samuel said.

“Yeah, guy name of Kelly Madrid, can be found at a bar called the Hangfire,” Jack told him as the taxi pulled up to the landing dock for the Hoplite II.

“I’ll get the others and we’ll burn the place to the ground,” Samuel said getting out of the taxi.

“No, just you and me,” Jack said coldly. “This is personal, this is just you and me and we’ll be able to handle a bar full of scum easily enough, just grab your M30 with the blooper and I’ll go get us a car,” Jack told him.

Samuel shrugged, “Sure.”

It being only about seven in the morning it took Jack awhile to find a car for sale with a person actually willing to get up that early to sell it. Although with a judicious amount of cash and several not so nice threats he was finally able to get his hands on a car.

Samuel was standing on the gantry to the airlock when Jack drove up.

“Oh my god, what did you do go to the junk yard?” Samuel asked in disgust eyeing the piece of shit that Jack drove up in.

Samuel climbed into the 2463 pale yellow rusted Yugo and saw the disgusted look on Jack’s face. “Never mind,” he said.

“I got the directions for the Hangfire,” Jack told him and handed the E-PADD to Samuel.

The two of them road in silence all the way to the bar save for Samuel giving occasional directions to get there.

Climbing out Samuel pulled his M30 out from under his coat and pulled back the charging handle then letting it snap back forwards chambering a round.

“Are you just going to leave it running?” Samuel asked as Jack climbed out with the car still on.

“Yeah, I figure we’ll take a taxi back to the spaceport instead of driving around in this pile of crap,” Jack answered.

The two of them walked through the door of the bar and Samuel fired a single round off from the assault rifle and into the ceiling.

The echoing sound of the round in the small bar immediately got everyone’s attention.

“What the fuck do you two bleeding scabs want,” the bartender growled his hand darting under the bar.

Before the man could bring the sawed off twelve-gauge under the counter into play Jack was across the room and slamming his head into the dirty bar top with a sickening crack. The man oozed out of Jack’s hands and dropped to the floor behind the bar either unconscious or dead. To Jack it really didn’t matter, only scum of the earth mercenaries and murders hung out at this bar and he didn’t intend to leave a single one of the piece of shit on two legs predators alive when they left.

Reaching under the counter where the bartender had been grabbing he pulled the shotgun free of the spring clips holding it in place and tossed it to Samuel who grabbed it one handed and then sat down on chair by the door and propped the shotgun against the wall.

“Now that I have your attention ladies and gentlemen, or should I say jackals and hyenas,” Jack said coldly the wolfish grin he had spread across his face taking in all dozen or so pieces of merde that were occupying various tables in the smelly smoke wafted room.

“Now, I am looking for a man named Kelly Madrid, if someone would be so kind as to point him out to me?” Jack asked politely.

Only one person in the room moved and that was too stand up and up and up, the man must have stood at least six foot eight inches tall and weighed almost four hundred pounds. Unlike the other occupants of the bar he was neatly groomed and had clean clothes on, muscular arms bulged from a sleeve less black cotton vest and his legs were encased in denim jeans with humongous steel toed work boots covering his feet.

“Let me guess Kelly Madrid,” Jack said with a small smile.

“Yeah, what about it runt,” the man growled.

“Well first off I have to pay you back for several deaths that you are responsible for including a friend of mine who you’ve recently killed,” Jack said.

The man didn’t say anything but his hands started to twitch towards the back of his pants but before they could move more than an inch a scraggly haired biker chick type on his left side and a bearded midget on his right were both flung backwards with bullet holes in their foreheads.

“Now before you try to pull the same thing you did with my friend take that as a warning,” Jack told him.

Kelly Madrid clenched his hands so that the other people around them wouldn’t see his hands shake, he hadn’t even seen the stranger’s hands dip under his jacket as they brought out the pair of 5.7mm pistols.

“Now with your thumb and index fingers grasp the butts of the guns and toss them to my friend over there,” Jack ordered; the barrels of the Five-seveN pistols weren’t exactly pointed at Madrid.

“No problem,” the large man said and slowly reached behind him all but his thumb and index fingers spread wide as he pulled the two Desert Eagles loose of their holsters at the small of his back.

“Now toss them to my friend over by the door,” Jack ordered waving one gun towards Samuel but never taking his eyes off of Madrid or the other pieces of scum around him.

Madrid complied and the two heavy guns went winging through the air to crash to the ground and skid to a halt at Samuel’s feet.

Samuel had the arm holding the M30 propped on the table the twin bores of the assault rifle and grenade launcher staring at the crowd in the room, bending down and not taking his eyes off the crowd he picked up first one hand gun and then the other setting them on the table next to him. “I’m surprised, I would have figured a punk like you would have gotten the gold plated ones,” Samuel commented.

Madrid’s mouth tightened and his eyes narrowed at Samuel calling him a punk but didn’t say a thing.

Jack holstered his pistols and stripped off his jacket, stepping back he set it down and pulled off the shoulder holster setting the guns down on top of the jacket and nodded to Samuel.

Turning back to the room Jack flexed his hands the knuckles popping rapid fire one after the other and causing the sweating thugs in the bar to jump in surprise. “Alright boys and girls, one at a time or all at once,” he challenged.

Two of the walking pieces of trash approached Jack slowly from one of the tables at the back. “Oh two on one, do you think they have me outnumbered?” He asked Samuel.

“Let me think, uh no,” Samuel said.

The two skells decided to attack Jack while he was supposedly distracted; one of them pulling out a switchblade and flicking it open and both of them charged.

Jack pretended he didn’t notice; the one with the knife was in the lead and he slashed at Jack trying to disembowel him but Jack slapped the arm with the knife aside his other fist snapping out with a stiffened palm slamming against his nose and driving shards of bone up into his brain.

The second man hesitated for a half second and then tried to slam a fist into Jack’s kidney but he trapped the arm and held it in place and a palm strike shattered and bent the elbow in an unnatural direction and then released the man letting him fall to the ground screaming. A throwing knife was a silver blur as it flew through the air straight at Jack’s head with a twitch the blade missed by a hairbreadth and imbedded itself in a wooden pole that was holding a cheap dartboard, whirling Jack pulled the blade free in a smooth motion and sent it flying back through the forehead of it’s owner and pinning the greasy haired woman to the wall behind her.

Jack quickly fought his way through the other seven remaining pieces of garbage in the bar until it was just him and Madrid.

“Alright Madrid, I’m ready for you know,” Jack said stretching his neck, his breathing was only slightly higher than normal and a thin coat of sweat covered his face.

“You may have been able to kill and maim the others but you won’t get away with simply doing that to me,” Madrid said standing up again. “I’m going to kill you, and not slowly, or drag it out, I’m just going to plain kill you,” he told Jack.

“Well then let’s get this party started,” Jack said making a come on gesture with one hand.

Madrid literally picked up and flung the table one handed at Jack who dodged the piece of wood where it smashed into the wall, Jack had however let his attention waver and while he was distracted by the chunk of flying wood Madrid charged in and put him in a bear hug.

“This won’t take long,” Madrid hissed in his ear as he started clamping down with his arms pinning Jack’s own to the sides of his body and squeezing relentlessly.

“I don’t think so,” Jack said ramming his head forward and cracking his forehead against Madrid’s nose.

“Son of a bitch,” the bigger man bit out explosively, he reflexively let go of Jack and fell back holding his bleeding and broken nose in one hand.

“It’s not going to be that easy,” Jack told him and bored in on the man swinging right and left, each one of the blows landing on stomach or face as he pushed the larger man back against the wall and literally beat him to a pulp.

The only thing Madrid could do was protect his face but that left the rest of his body open and by the time Jack had finished he was hamburger. With just about every bone broken, organs bruised, and great tears across his skin where Jack’s knuckles had torn it open.

“I should really leave you alive to suffer in this condition but even I’m not that cruel,” Jack told the broken and bleeding man. Reaching down he covered the man’s mouth and nose with his hand and held him with a steel grip while he struggled to breath. Finally after almost five minutes the movements stopped altogether and the eyes rolled up into the head and the former bear of a man Kelly Madrid was dead.

Jack grabbed a towel from behind the bar and wiped blood and snot from his hands and face. After that was done he dropped the towel on top of the dead bartender and walked over to where Samuel sat a cigarette dangling from his lips.

“You feel better now?” Samuel asked blowing smoke from his nostrils.

“Yes much, but I tell you what don’t get your ass killed on me because I’m getting tired of avenging deaths,” Jack ordered wearily.

“Don’t worry I’m pretty sure you’ll die before I do,” Samuel told him with an evil grin.

“Yes because you’re such a role model of purity and light,” Jack snorted putting his shoulder holster back on and shoving the two Desert Eagles into the pockets of his jacket.

“What about him?” Samuel said motioning with the glowing tip of his cigarette at the man whose elbow Jack had shattered and was still rolling around painfully on the ground mewling like a kitten.

“Oh, whoops, forgot all about him,” Jack said and walked back over to the oblivious man and drew his boot back and brought it back forward with extreme force, the toe impacting on a spot just behind the man’s ear and a wet gristly crunch could be heard as the man stopped moving period.

Sol System - Jupiter Orbit - Moon Of Io

Kawamura Io Facility

October 7th 2535 AD - 13:34 GMT

Suzanne’s blood red lips were limmed by the glow of the muzzle flash from the two MP5K submachine guns as she blasted her way through the guard force at the small IO facility.

The hollow point Parabellum rounds punctured the vital organs of the small guard forces bodies and sent them tumbling and spinning across the room welters of blood spraying from the horrific wounds.

After the guards were neutralized Suzanne stalked through the facility finishing off any last resistance she found until she came to a room where a skinny gangly scientist was cowering behind a lab table.

Walking through the door to the lab she ducked to the side as a bullet burned past the frame of the door pausing for a second she flicked the fire selectors to single shot and then popped around the corner firing a single shot from each gun through the table.

Suzanne was rewarded by a shriek of pain as the bullets drilled through thin metal of the table and threw the scientist backwards and to the floor.

“Alright, where’s the girl?” Suzanne asked stalking across the room and kicking aside the man’s gun and then placed the steel tipped cap of her three inch stiletto heel against his throat.

The man gurgled for a few seconds and scrabbled at her black leather boot.

“Oh sorry,” Suzanne said without an ounce of apology and eased the pressure on the man’s throat. “Now where’s the girl?” Suzanne repeated jamming the still hot barrel of one of the MP5K’s a millimeter from the man’s left eyeball.

The man swallowed. “The CEO took her with him on the New Edo I’m not really sure where he might have taken her, please believe me,” he whined.

“Oh I believe you,” Suzanne said and stood up putting her full weight on her boot, there was a sick crackling sound and then the man twitched for a few seconds and then expired.

“Where to next then,” Suzanne thought aloud as she wiped the blood on her shoes off on the man’s lab coat.

“First Mars then we’ll try Kawamura’s hidden asteroid belt facility,” she said nodding to herself and leaving behind the carnage that she had wrought.

Several hours later found her in the VIP lounge aboard the passenger liner Yellowstone and sipping a glass of champagne on her way to Mars.

Sol System - Mars

Martian Desert - Privately Owned Vessel Hoplite II

October 8th 2535 AD - 00:00 GMT

“Once again we commend the soul of a fallen brother in arms to the great beyond; may he find the brother and comrades that traveled this path before him,” Jack said nearly choking on the words as he committed another friend’s body to the cleansing fires of a funeral pyre.

Samuel and Jack had built the pyre themselves although the others offered but were told that this was personal thing and must be done by them.

Now as Samuel placed the burning torch against the pyre the others stood back at a respectful distance and watched as the flames danced in the sky and sparks of wood drifted and popped from the fire.

Slowly one by one their new companions drifted away and into the ship leaving just Jack and Samuel to watch the last coals burn down where the remains of their friend had been turned to carbon.

“This is getting expensive,” Jack said quietly.

“Yes it is,” Samuel replied.

“Too many friends are dying around us, lovers betraying us, a vast industrial corporation arrayed like an octopus is out to kill us and led by a mad man,” Jack said.

“We’ve been up against worse odds,” Samuel told him.

Jack snorted in the dark that had intruded once the flames of the fire had dimmed; his white teeth glinted then as he bore them in a snarl. “Oh, I didn’t mean to state that we were up against bad odds, if anything I pity the dumb bastards that get in our way from now on,” Jack said coldly.

“Oorah,” Samuel replied.

“Oorah,” Jack echoed.

The two of them picked up two entrenching tools that had been set aside earlier and started shoveling sand over the still hot glowing coals and created cairn for the remains of their fallen friend and comrade, next to it sat two similar cairns, one with a small busted computer on it and the other a cowboy hat and mirrored shades.

Sol System - Mars

Mars Orbit - Privately Owned Vessel Hoplite II

October 9th 2535 AD - 09:00 GMT

“Alright Oz I guess it’s time to head for Earth,” Jack said to the ship’s AI.

“Certainly Jack, would you like a least time course or a leisurely pace?” Oz asked.

“Split the difference we still have some internal maintenance to do on the ship,” Jack told him.

“Okay computing mid range arrival course,” Oz was silent for several seconds. “The course I’ve plotted will take us approximately eight days to reach Earth orbit and another day to reach the coordinates over the Marianas Trench,” he informed the somewhat crowded bridge.

“Thank you Oz,” Jack said.

“Certainly,” the AI replied.

“Alright everyone you have your job assignments, I want the ship back in tip-top shape by the time we reach Earth,” he ordered. “And don’t strain yourselves people, it shouldn’t be that when you need to sleep, sleep, and make sure to keep yourselves hydrated, don’t work more than six hours straight and if you need help ask someone for it,” Jack admonished.

The others either verbalized or nodded their answers and then the six of them broke off the bridge. The only one who didn’t have a work assignment was Patricia who needed to keep an eye on Rochelle who was still having trouble sleeping and would wake screaming from nightmares or have bouts of catatonia. The girl had suffered gravely but they had hopes that her youth would help her bounce back.

Sol System

Hyperspace between Mars & Earth - Privately Owned Vessel Hoplite II

October 9th 2535 AD - 20:00 GMT

Jack had finished his own job for the day and eaten dinner before returning to his cabin and now he had to do something he wasn’t going to like very much.

“Oz do you have the information I asked for?” Jack asked the AI.

“Yes, do you want verbal or text?” The AI asked.

“Text is fine,” Jack said wiping a hand down his face tiredly.

“Okay, loading first file now,” Oz told him.

Name: Reed, Patricia Anita

Age: 35

DOB: 08-12-2500

Patricia A. Reed born on Earth in the city of Chicago, graduated from University Of Illinois majoring in criminal and civil law as well as corporate accounting Ms. Reed graduated in 2525 and immediately went into government work with the Agency for the Investigation and Security of Corporate Business Practices. For the past ten years she has been an undercover agent for the AISCBP and the last five years of her career have been infiltrating Kawamura Industries to investigate their illegal activities in the salvage and research of unknown alien technology. Evidence uncovered by Agent Reed also includes information that Kawamura may have been responsible for the 2495 bombing of the Olympus Mons archeological site, further investigation shows that the company’s head of security Edgar Rice is directly responsible for the implementation of that plan.

Jack read more of the file but found himself yawning at the bland document as it gave him no insight into the person that it was about. He had a feeling however that Patricia was on the up and up and if she wasn’t and was using Samuel as a pawn he’d make sure she didn’t live to regret that mistake.

Standing up from the desk he turned the light out and climbed into bed for the night.

Sol System - Asteroid Belt

Hidden Kawamura Facility

October 10th 2535 AD - 14:15 GMT

Edgar Rice entered the control booth for the lab and sat down in one of the chairs out of the way of the bustling lab techs.

“Ah, Mr. Rice so good to see you again,” Dr. Mordecai Masloff said as he walked over to his boss.

“Dr. Masloff how are things going with the girl?” Rice asked nodding to the thick sheet of armored glass that separated the two rooms.

“She’s stubborn but we’ve been able to cobble together a reasonable facsimile of the control mechanism that was found at the Mars facility,” Masloff said grinning eerily.

Frankly if Masloff hadn’t been such a brilliant scientist Rice would have killed him years ago due to the fact that the man was messy and absent minded. His first security job working for Kawamura Industries had been to clean up the messes that Masloff had left behind in the various lab facilities.

“I see that you were able to get her dressed in the clothes she was found in,” Edgar said.

“Yes, we finally had to drug her to get her into them,” Masloff said licking already thick wet lips.

I just bet you did, Rice thought in disgust and released the scientists slimy, clammy hand.

“Looks like she’s still drugged,” Rice commented as he walked up to the thick pane of glass.

“Yes but we’ll be administering a counter dose here in a second,” Masloff told him distractedly as he studied something on an E-PADD.

As Rice watched one of the technicians pushed an air hypo to the girl’s neck and then reached behind her head and pulled a light blue hood that appeared to be attached to the back of her suit and down over her face and neck. The technician ran a finger around the girl’s neck.

“What’s that technician doing?” Rice asked.

“For data retrieval the girl’s suit must be completely sealed, she’s just engaging the magnetic seal,” Masloff explained walking over.

Rice also noticed that there were two small black lenses in the mask, “And those lenses?”

“They act as a HUD system for the TAKI unit allowing her to collate and pull data from the computers,” Masloff explained in a bored tone.

Rice turned back just in time to see the technician pull a jack from behind the girl’s ear and plug it into a socket in the metal frame that was holding her in place, he also noticed that the girl was held in place at each joint.

“Why is every one of her joints immobilized?” Rice asked curiously.

“Every one of her joints has a cybernetic enhancement in them that is an overall part of the system, and must be magnetically read at the same time to allow for information download,” Masloff explained and then licked his lips. “There is also another implant in her genitalia which we really aren’t sure what it is for but we won’t be needing it at this time,” he explained leering.

Rice watched as the technicians completed their tasks and left the room. After a few minutes Masloff started shooting out rapid fire orders to the technicians in the observation room as they bent over their computer consoles and started typing at them furiously.

In the room the girl finally came out of her drugged stupor and her masked face started turning from side to side groggily and then more rapidly as she took in her situation and she started straining against the bonds that held her to no avail.

“Start information transfer procedure,” Masloff ordered and one technician stabbed at a large button on the main console.

In the lab the girl suddenly stiffened her arms already at her sides moving closer as the palms flattened out against her legs and her feet and legs pushed together till they were touching. The suit she was wearing took on a glossy sheen and it seemed to harden as the separation between the legs and arms disappeared making her look as if she were cocooned in a light blue glossy carapace.

“Why did her suit do that?” Rice asked.

“The information transfer procedure from what we could gather from the Mars facilities database can be rather dangerous causing seizures and the like in the subject so it seems the creators made the suit so that it could harden into a carapace to keep the subject from flailing around and injuring herself.,” Masloff explained.

In the room a young female voice emanated from the cocoon speaking a lyrical language that a mechanical computer voice translated to English.

“Technological Assessment Knowledge Initiate Model A-78580-B388-CCC now ready for information transfer. What information do you require?” The mechanical voice translated.

“Technological Assessment Knowledge Initiate Model A-78580-B388-CCC we require the information on how to breach the planet’s shield system,” Masloff said into the microphone.

“Breaching of the planetary shield can only be done by a special Hyperspatial Generator Engine, plans for generator are as follows,” the carapace covered girl spent the next several hours explaining how to design and build the piece of extremely advanced technology.

Sol System - Asteroid Belt

Hidden Kawamura Facility

October 11th 2535 AD - 10:00 GMT

Rice had left the lab facility about two hours into the girl’s description of the item that would finally get them through the shields of the darkened planet that only Kawamura knew about.

“Mr. Rice it’s Dr. Masloff on line four,” Edgar’s secretary told him almost twenty hours later.

Setting down his light stylus and E-PADD he hit the intercom button. “Thank you Sophia I’ll take the call on the secure line,” he ordered her and then watched as the light flickered on the secure line.

“Well Doctor,” Rice said over the telephone.

“We have the final plans and will be able to start construction on a prototype within in the week,” Masloff told him.

“I want a working prototype in that time period,” Rice ordered coldly.

“This is a very complicated and delicate piece of equipment,” Masloff protested.

“Fine send the plans to the Earth Facility, part of it to the Mars Facility, and another to the IO facility,” Rice ordered.

“Uh, there might be a problem with that,” Masloff said and Edgar could practically hear him squirming.

“What is it?” Rice questioned.

“Seems we’ve lost contact with the assassin sent to kill the Di’Espinoza woman and then shortly after that we lost contact with the Io Facility,” Masloff told him.

“Well then I guess we underestimated her,” Rice said and shut off the comm system.

Rice pushed his desk chair back and set his feet up on the desk. His plans were coming closer and closer to be completed. Once he had a working prototype he’d have everything he’d ever wanted.

A cruel smile curved his lips as he relaxed and contemplated things, even with the loss of the Io facility he’d be good to go within a months time.

Reaching back over to the desk comm he punched a code in.

“This is Dr. Masloff,” the scientist said in an irritable tone of voice.

“Dr. Masloff I want you to send the full plans right this moment to the remaining facilities and have them each build one of the engines. I’ll give you month’s time to have the engines ready, then have one shipped to Kensington to refit the New Edo and send another to Mars to refit the Tendo,” Rice ordered.

“Yes, Sir,” Masloff answered.

“Also have the girl transferred to the Kensington Facility,” Rice ordered.

“Wouldn‘t that be somewhat dangerous?” Masloff sputtered.

“Yes, and the further away she is from the other projects the betters, eggs in one basket and all that,” Rice half explained.

Sol System

Hyperspace between Mars & Earth - Privately Owned Vessel Hoplite II

October 11th 2535 AD - 20:15 GMT

Jack sat at his desk again to read over the files of information that Oz had gathered for him on his new crew members.

“Who‘s file are we looking at tonight?” Jack asked the AI.

“We’ll be looking Fox Carson‘s file tonight,” the AI informed.

“Alright, let‘s get his over with then,” Jack said wiping a hand down his face tiredly.

“Okay, loading file now,” Oz told him.

Name: Carson, Fox Xander

Age: 29

DOB: 01-09-2506

Born in Fortworth, Texas to an alcoholic abusive father and an abused mother. Fox’s mother died when he was eight years old. Other than his parents the only other known living relative is his younger sister Carnation Carson who was born in 2511.

Fox killed his father when he was eleven years old when he found him sexually molesting his then six year old sister. Fox shot and killed his father with the man’s own cut down .30-30 lever action carbine. Arrested and charged with man slaughter he was remanded to the custody of a government run mental institution and was released when he was eighteen.

Fox’s sister has also spent most of her life in and out of mental institutions, the trauma of being sexually abused and then watching her brother kill their father was assumed to have sent her over the edge and her moods swing between catatonia to air head bimbo.

As for Fox he is considered a functioning psychopath and after being in the UEF Army for four years was discharged on section 8 medical discharge after that he has spent the last seven years trying to locate his sister with the UEF Health Organization blocking all of his attempts to locate her.

Jack was sick to his stomach by the time he finished reading the red headed Vikings file.

To have to watch your own father sexually abuse your sister and then end up killing him yourself to stop it had to have been one of the most traumatic things Jack had heard of.

Sol System

Hyperspace between Io & Mars - Passenger Liner Yellowstone

October 12th 2535 AD - 12:00 GMT

The passenger liner that Suzanne was traveling on was on the last jump that would take them to Mars.

She’d spent most of her time in her cabin or in one of the smaller dining salons and now she was back in her cabin looking at the small bag that she had taken from the woman that had tried to kill her.

“Hell why not,” she muttered and dragged the small bag across the bed from her and pulled out the suit that she’d found at the bottom of it.

Stripping down she slid into the suit; it felt extremely cool to the touch, not uncomfortable but just enough to raise goose bumps on her flesh and she then tugged the cowl over he head and seated the red lensed domino style mask over her upper face.

Looking around she saw everything in shades of red she then looked down at the opening on the front of the suit and wondered how to close it; running a finger along it to see if there was any type of fastener she watched as it closed all by itself sealing the suit from crotch to neck line.

As it finished closing the lenses started to glow and icons started popping up across them and she felt the suit tighten across her body, it felt slightly uncomfortable but she forgot that as she focused on the icons that dotted the HUD display.

Looking at one in particular that looked like a face wearing a mask she let out a startled breath as she felt something close over her face and she looked over at the mirror in the cabin. Below the domino style mask a metallic seeming mask had covered her face perfectly outlining her lower facial features.

“Well this is just freaking cool,” she said barely able to hear herself.

“That’s no good if I can’t hear anything through this,” Suzanne muttered and looked at the icons again until she found one that looked like an ear, concentrating on it she squirmed as something entered and filled her ear canal. Experimenting she turned the TV on and could hear it perfectly well.

“Oh this’ll come in handy,” she said and then let out a scream of pain as a high pitched screech filled her ears.

Clutching at the sides of her head she fell back on the bed and squirmed as the sound intensified until the point where it caused her to lose consciousness.

Sol System

Hyperspace between Mars & Earth - Privately Owned Vessel Hoplite II

October 13th 2535 AD - 20:30 GMT

For the fifth day in a row Jack sat wearily down at his desk and looked at his computer monitor.

“Who‘s file are we looking at tonight?” Jack asked the AI.

“We’ll be looking Marie‘s file tonight,” the AI informed.

“Alright, let‘s get his over with then,” Jack said wiping a hand down his face tiredly.

“Okay, loading file now,” Oz told him.

Name: Kozlowski, Marie Anne

Age: 24

DOB: 07-04-2411

Born in the Florida Everglades, her mother died in child birth and her father was an illegal poacher up to the time she was born and then turned his life around to take care of his daughter and became a member of the UEF Forestry Service. When she was fourteen her father was killed by poachers after that she went to live with her uncle. Both her father and uncle taught her fire arms usage. After moving in with her uncle who was an instructor at a military school she joined the school’s rifle team. After high school she took two years of college in an accelerated course on police tactics and then joined the SSPF’s SWAT unit as a sniper and spent one year there until she was fired for striking a superior office.

“Well that ones at least not psychotic,” Jack muttered as he read her file.

Reviewing that file at least made him feel better that at least one of the three wasn’t a total nutter.

Sol System

Hyperspace between IO & Mars - Passenger Liner Yellowstone

October 13th 2535 AD - 00:00 GMT

Suzanne awoke with a throbbing headache and staggered to the bathroom to splash water on her face.

“Man why is my head aching so much,” Suzanne said to her mirror image. “And why am I naked,” she mumbled.

Shrugging she went back into the bedroom and blanched at the alarm clock, “Shit I must have hit my head or something,” she grumbled feeling her head but found no bumps or broken skin.

“Whatever,” she grumbled again.

Moving over to the closet she dressed in one of the dead assassins outfits, it was pretty basic just a pair of slacks, a blouse and black cowboy boots. Finishing up getting cleaned up and dressed her stomach rumbled emptily.

That’s what I get for take a nap for twelve friggin hours, Suzanne thought sourly and grabbed her purse with disgust. Normally she wouldn’t have carried one but the assassin didn’t even have any decent concealed carry holsters in her equipment and so the black clasp purse was a must have to carry any weapons.

Opening a drawer in the cabin’s dresser she pulled out a smoke grenade and a compact Para-Ordnance pistol chambered for .45 ACP and tucked both into the purse and closed it.

Slinging the thin strap over one shoulder she left the cabin to head for the main dinging room where she was greeted by the Maitre Di.

“What can I do for you this evening Madame?” he greeted.

“Yes I need a table for one please,” Suzanne answered.

“Certainly Miss, right this way,” the Maitre Di said grabbing a menu and leading her to a small table off to one side.

“Thank you,” Suzanne said setting her clutch down on the table and then sitting in the chair after the Maitre Di pulled it out for her and then pushed it back in.

“Here is your menu Miss,” the Maitre Di said placing it in front of her. “Your waiter will be with you in just a few minutes,” the man told her and left.

Scooting the clutch closer to her Suzanne opened the menu and glanced around the large dining room and saw that only a few other people were in there. In one corner of the room was an older couple talking quietly as they ate a late dinner.

A younger couple apparently somewhat on the drunk side sat near the middle of the room and giggled occasionally as they shared a mixed plate of appetizers and the last occupant was a man in his middle to late forties in a designer suit.

Suzanne pretty much ignored everyone else in the room, letting her combat senses track movements around her as she read the menu. A young man in a white and black waiter’s uniform walked up to her a small pad in his hand.

“Ma’am, I’m your waiter Aaron,” the young man said pulling a pen from his apron. “Would you like to see the wine menu?” He asked.

“No, water will be fine,” Suzanne answered and then glanced at the menu again. “I’ll have the Angus beef burger medium well done and two sides of French fries and for desert the strawberries and angel food cake,” she told him and closed the menu handing it to the waiter after he’d taken her order.

“Certainly ma’am,” the waiter took her menu and left then returned a few minutes later with her glass of water.

Twenty minutes later the waiter returned with her burger and fries and Suzanne started eating not thinking about much in particular when a man in a white suit sat down at her table.

“This seat taken?” He asked with a smile.

“No, but that doesn’t mean you can sit there either,” Suzanne told him quietly.

“Oh don’t be that way sweetheart,” the man said smiling and showing a mouth full of gleaming white teeth.

I’ll be whatever way I want to be, I’m a grown adult,” Suzanne said with annoyance.

“Now what would a little lady like you be doing in this dining room all by yourself,” the man said.

“Ignoring annoying men in white suits,” Suzanne told him.

“Well my name is Avery Wellington,” he said smiling even more.

“Mr. Wellington what exactly do you not understand about leaving me alone?” Suzanne asked wiping her hands on a napkin as she finished her burger.

“Well you haven’t told me to leave you alone yet, now have you,” Wellington said smiling at her again.

“My apologies,” Suzanne cleared her throat. “Mr. Wellington Piss Off,” Suzanne told him and stood up leaving the dining room.

“Was it something I said,” he asked of her back.

Suzanne didn’t reply to his question.

Suzanne grunted in annoyance when she got back to her cabin realizing the man had annoyed her to the point where she hadn’t eaten her desert.

Sol System

Hyperspace between Mars & Earth - Privately Owned Vessel Hoplite II

October 14th 2535 AD - 20:35 GMT

“This is the final file right Oz?” Jack asked tiredly, he was frankly getting tired of reading these files and wondered what kind of nut bar the last new crew member would be.

Name: Callister, David Marcus

Age: 21

DOB: 02-19-2514

Born in the Jovian Union on the moon of Ganymede, graduated from high school at age 12, and kicked out of MIT at 14, kicked out of CAL-TECH at 15. No further data is available.

“Okay now that is really interesting,” Jack said perking up a bit.

“Yes I could find no further information on him at all,” Oz said.

“Well if he is as good a computer whiz as he says he is he most likely erased everything else so that there would be no trails to follow,” Jack said rubbing at his face.

“Yes that would be the most likely occurrence,” Oz relented.

“Oh don’t get all huffy Oz,” Jack said.

“I don’t get huffy,” Oz told him.

“Yes you do, you’re mad because some meat bag was able to keep you from finding data on them,” Jack told him with a small smile.

Oz didn’t answer him and stayed silent causing Jack to smile at the AI’s attitude.

“Alright Oz,” I’m turning in for the night, I’ll talk to you in the morning,” Jack said climbing into his bunk and flipping the light off before settling down.

He restrained a small chuckle as he lay back under the blanket.

Sol System - Earth

Five Hundred Meters over the Marianas Trench

October 16th 2535 AD - 13:48 GMT

“Okay so now that we are here, what do we do?” Fox asked rubbing an oiled cloth along the parts of his disassembled Colt Anaconda and then deftly putting it back together.

“We have seriously got to work on your patience Fox,” Marie said snipping off the tip of a piece of pokki with even white teeth.

“I have patience,” Fox said offended.

“When?” David asked typing rapidly at his laptop.

“I have enough patience to make sure an enemy is dead before I move on,” Fox told him twisting the knob on a speed loader and releasing the six .44 magnum rounds into the revolver’s cylinder.

“That wasn’t exactly the type of patience I was talking about,” Marie said chewing on the last of the pokki.

“The reason we are waiting is because Oz is running calculations to see if he can figure out exactly where this facility is,” Jack told the other five people at the table.

“What exactly is this facility anyway?” Marie asked tugging on the strings of her sweatshirt’s hood.

“David,” Jack said bouncing the question to the computer geek.

“I’m not totally one hundred percent sure yet but from what little data Oz and I have been able to decipher it seems to be some sort of storage facility built by whoever built the facility on Mars,” David told them only pausing in his typing long enough to push his glasses back up on his nose.

“So what is the facility storing?” Fox asked.

“Dunno,” David said still typing.

“So it could be storing anything from biological contaminants to snack foods,” Marie said.

“My guess would be biological contaminants,” Samuel threw in.

“Gee thanks for the reassurance,” Marie said.

“Well why else would they stick the facility a kilometer down one of the deepest undersea trenches on the planet,” Samuel said.

“Good point,” Jack agreed. “Everyone is going to be wearing their Skinsuits then,” he ordered.

“Do we really have to?” Marie asked gritting her teeth.

“Yes, and that’s an order or you can stay on the ship,” Jack told her.

“Excuse me,” Oz said over the intercom system.

“Yes Oz,” Jack said.

“I’ve calculated the exact pressure ratings that we’ll need to reach the facility,” the AI informed them.

“Great how long before we can get going then,” Samuel asked.

“There are a few complications however,” Oz temporized.

“And what would those be Oz?” Jack asked with a sigh.

“One the ship will only be able to stand those pressure depths for a short period of time, so we’ll have to drop the insertion team off and then return to the surface. Secondly I’ll have to increase internal pressure quite a bit so the entire time everyone will have to be in their Skinsuits,” Oz explained.

Oz’s announcement about wearing their Skinsuits even longer was met by much grumbling.

“And just how long are we going to have to wear the Skinsuits?” Patricia asked.

“It will take three hours in either direction,” Oz told her.

Samuel held his hand up as if to halt something. “Hold on, do we even have a Skinsuit for Rochelle?” He asked.

“I had her fitted for one while we were on Mars,” Patricia told him with a small smile.

“Smart woman, thinking ahead,” Fox rumbled.

“Most of the time,” Patricia replied.

“So that pretty much means we’ll be stuck in this facility for what, six hours minimum,” David asked squirming a little.

“Yes about that, give or take a few minutes,” Oz told him.

“Great, so basically until you finish returning to the surface and getting back down to the station if anything happens we’ll be screwed,” Marie said.

“Unfortunately it seems like that,” Jack told her in Oz’s place. “So I would suggest taking everything you might need for at least a couple of days long stay, and we’ll be checking the facility while still wearing Skinsuits just to be on the safe side,” Jack told them and listened to more grumbling.

“Look they might not keep us from being crushed at those depths but if portions or all of the facility is flooded they’ll be a necessity,” he told them.

Marie grumbled something about plumbing connections and left the room before anyone else did.

Everyone left the conference room after her to squeeze themselves into the skintight environmental suits they would need and to gather gear.

Sol System - Earth

1/3 of the Kilometer Down The Marianas Trench

October 16th 2535 AD - 17:00 GMT

“What do you mean we can’t see anything?” Patricia grumped.

“As a safety precaution I have retracted all cameras and closed all emergency shutters over the portholes,” Oz explained patiently.

“I want to see some fishies,” Rochelle said over the comm in her Skinsuit.

“Dear Rochelle I am so sorry that won’t be possible on this trip,” Oz explained apologetically. “Perhaps when everything is over and done with we can visit the San Diego Zoo and go to their aquarium,” Oz suggested.

“Fishies, Fishies, Fishies,” Rochelle repeated over and over again bouncing on Patricia’s lap.

Sol System - Earth

2/3 of the Kilometer Down The Marianas Trench

October 16th 2535 AD - 18:00 GMT

“Dammit David stop hacking into my diary,” Marie yelled.

“I can’t help it you just leave your wireless connection open,” David told her shrugging. “That and I’m bored,” he griped.

“Join the crowd kid,” Samuel told him.

Sol System - Earth

¾ of the Kilometer Down The Marianas Trench

October 16th 2535 AD - 18:45 GMT

“Are we there yet,” Fox asked.

“No,” Jack said.

“Are we there yet,” Samuel asked.

“No,” Jack told him.

“Are we there yet,” they asked again.

“What the hell are you guys,” Jack yelled. “Four year olds,” he continued.

“Nope just bored,” Samuel said and Fox nodded in agreement.

Jack muttered something under his breath that was most likely not very complimentary of either Fox or Samuel’s anatomy.

Sol System - Earth

1 Kilometer Down The Marianas Trench

October 16th 2535 AD - 19:00 GMT

“We’ve entered the basic area of the storage facility,” Oz told the crew.

“Any sign of it yet?” Jack asked.

“Sonar is showing no current anomalies but let me reorient the vessel so that it will take in both sides of the trench,” Oz added.

It was several hours before Oz finally came back over the comm system. “Okay I’ve located the facility and it looks like there is a docking port just under the lower edge of the sphere like structure,” Oz told them bringing up a sonar enhanced schematic of the facility and highlighted an area just under the mentioned sphere.

The design of the facility was rather simplistic, it stood out from the wall of the trench on a long cylinder with what looked like the main part being a bulbous sphere that had a somewhat squashed looked to it.

“Alright go ahead and take us in then,” Jack told the ship’s computer.

“Certainly Jack,” the AI replied.

The ship moved sluggishly through the thick layer of water and docked with the underwater facility with a resounding thud that shook the entire vessel.

By the time the ship docked Jack, Marie, David, Fox, and Samuel were waiting in the airlock.

“Seal is good and opening airlock door now,” Oz told them as the heavy door slid into its recess in the hull.

“Alright looks like we’ve got a sealed armored door here,” Jack said walking to the airlock entryway and running a skin suited hand over the wet metal of the facilities dock door. “David?” Jack said looking a question at the younger man.

“On it,” he said and pulled his lap top out running cables from it to the sealed control panel next to the door looking for some way to connect the two and not finding a way. “Someone want to get this open for me?” David asked.

“Roger that,” Samuel said and pulled a tool kit from his pack.

“Looks like a titanium puller bit should do it and then some foamex3,” Fox said looking at the corners of the control panel.

“Stand clear,” Samuel said and snapped a titanium tipped bit into the battery powered drill he had pulled out of the pack and set it to the first corner of the control panel. “Clear?” He asked.

“Everyone is clear,” Jack told him over the comm system.

“Starting drilling,” Samuel said and the drill started to whine as the motor engaged and the bit started to bite into the bronze colored metal of the panel.

After almost forty-five minutes and three drill bits later two small diameter holes were drilled into the upper corners of the panel and Fox moved forward with the tube of Foamex3 and tested the edges of the drill holes to see if they were still hot. Tapping a finger against them he found them cool enough for his needs and inserted the nozzle from the canister.

“Alright we’re good on the FE3,” Fox said stepping back after inserting a miniature detonator cap into the hole.

“Okay, everyone back into the airlock,” Jack ordered following his own advice and flattening his body against the inner lock door. “Alright Fox,” Jack said over the comm and nodded his head.

“Fire in the hole,” Fox muttered and depressed the detonator switch to set off the explosives.

A muffled crump and a miniature pressure wave blew over the team mates as the panel flew about three feet and clanked to the floor of the airlock.

“You’re up David,” Jack ordered and waved the computer geek forward.

David picked up the panel cover and set it to one side and then ran leads with alligator clips on them from the back of his computer to the innards of the control panel. “Okay running unlock algorithm now,” he said and tapped commands quickly into the computer.

The screen on the lap top flashed a meter across the screen and then machine code cascaded down it in green and black the sequence of 1s and 0s almost hypnotic in their flow.

After nearly half an hour the laptop let out a ping and David shut the computer down and walked to the panel tapping in a sequence of digits.

After a pause of several seconds David was about to try the sequence again when the doors finally slid open with a resounding thunk.

“Alright one last comm check,” Jack ordered.

“Samuel?”

“Oorah.”

“Fox?”

“Yo.”

“Marie?”

“Five by five.”

“David?”

“Ayup.”

“Oz you reading us all loud and clear?” Jack asked the AI.

“All signals are clear and strong,” the AI replied.

“Good, we’re going in now,” Jack said and led the others into the facilities inner air lock and David keyed the sequence in again after making sure he had his laptop and its accessories repacked and the door rumbled shut.

“Alright we’ll see you in six hours Oz,” Jack said.

“Six hours it is then,” the AI told him. “I’ll monitor communications for as long as I’m able to,” Oz told him.

“Roger that Oz, see you on the flip side,” Jack said and broke the channel.

The five of them stood silently as they felt the vibration of the ship detaching from the airlock of the facility.

“So what now?” Marie asked sounding somewhat nervous as her skin suited hands fingered the auto-loading eight gauge that she’d gotten from the armory.

“We explore,” Jack said and had David once again open the inner airlock door.

Pausing for a few seconds the group entered a long corridor and were startled as the overhead lights came on but some immediately went out with a sharp crack and arc of electricity leaving only about a quarter of the lights still functioning.

“Just great,” Samuel muttered.

“Well what do you expect after 10,000 plus years,” Jack told him.

“What’s that sound?” David asked waving the others silent.

They stood in silence for quite a while and then they were finally all able to hear the noise; a faint dripping/dribbling sound.

“Great now we have to worry about flooding,” Marie said.

“Considering how far down this facility is it is most likely just condensation,” Fox said.

“How would you know?” Marie asked suspiciously.

“I worked at one of the under water farming habitats in the Bahamas a few years ago and they had to keep huge de-humidifiers running constantly to keep the condensation from getting into crucial systems and ruining them,” he explained nonchalantly and then loosened his revolvers in their holsters.

“Well if we’ve got that figured out can we go see what we can find,” Jack finally said to them.

“Sure, lead on oh fearless leader,” Samuel said with a smirk and gesture.

Jack muttered something even the overly sensitive comm systems couldn’t pick up and headed down the corridor.

The corridor seemed to be constructed of the same copper hued metal as the rest of the Martian facility had been and extended several hundred meters before terminating in a door at the opposite end that juddered open as they approached.

“Wow this facility has definitely seen better days,” David commented as they saw what lay beyond the door.

The five of them found themselves standing on a catwalk over looking what at one time might have been a very beautiful park or atrium. But now a pool of stagnant algae choked water stood at least three to four inches deep throughout the soaring room and park benches sitting here and there only had remnants of rotting wood where bench slats had been and the copper hued metal was coated with green slime.

What might have once been beautiful flower plots were now mires of scummy muddy water and dead trees thrust from other plots thick skeins of slimy green moss and algae strands hanging from branches that seemed to clutch at the subdued lighting of the room.

“Oh that is so gross,” Marie said seeing the slimy, muddy, mess that lay below the catwalk. “Please tell me we are not going to go through that?” She asked with disgust.

“Maybe we will and maybe we won’t,” Jack said with a shrug of his shoulders and moved off down the catwalk. Every fifty meters or so a door broke the barrenness of the sweaty metal.

“We’ll check each of these rooms first before we decide whether or not we’ll wade through that swamp,” he told her.

“Thank god we’re in Skinsuits,” David said.

“Amen to that,” Samuel muttered.

“Alright Samuel you Fox and David head around to the left. Marie and I will head around the left side and check those rooms.

The atrium itself must have been a kilometer on a side and it took nearly an hour for the two groups to check out the dozen or so rooms that were arrayed along the three walls.

What they found in those rooms was very disheartening and it brought home even more how long the facility had been abandoned. Every room has flood or water damage of some sort; inches of dirty green and brown water covered the floors, furniture, and electronics were ruined.

“Find anything?” Jack asked as the two groups met back up at the rear of the atrium catwalk.

“Not a damn thing, looks mostly like restaurants, and possibly stores of some sort,” Samuel said with Fox nodding his agreement.

“Same here,” Jack said. “Must have been their shopping district or something,” he said with a shrug.

“Could be, it’s not like they would be able to hop a cab to downtown Manhattan and do their shopping,” David said attempting to push his glasses back up on his face but only managing to whack his finger against the helmet visor.

“I guess that means we have to wade through that grossness on the main floor,” Marie said a look of disgust on her face through the Skinsuit’s helmet.

“Unfortunately,” Jack said with a small smile.

“Ugh,” she replied.

“Alright there was a stairway down over here,” Jack said leading the group silently back along the edge of the catwalk.

The group made its way down the stairs to the lower atrium level and was soon slogging its way through the mucky, slimy, muddy, disgusting water that covered the floor of the main level.

“Gross,” Marie said muttering and making slight gagging sounds as her light illuminated one disgusting thing after another.

On the far wall from where they had entered on the upper level was a large copper hued door that blocked off any further ingress to the facility.

“David, once again please,” Jack said motioning to the door.

“Sure,” David tapped in the command code that he had swiped from the memory of the first door and the heavy portal started to rumble open only to stop after opening a three foot crack in between door and frame. Muddy water lapped past the portal edge to meet a small tidal surge that swirled into the atrium and nearly knocking everyone down.

“That’s just wonderful,” Fox said.

“Alright enough,” Jack ordered at the complaints coming from the others as the muck swirled further up the legs of their Skinsuits.

“Fox stay here and watch things,” Jack ordered and then moved carefully through the doors followed by the others.

Traveling down the hallway they came to a T-Junction and stopped; there were two symbols and arrows etched into the wall with the arrows pointing down either hallway. Above the left pointing arrow was what might have been a computer while on the right was most definitely the representation of a bed.

Jack looked down either corridor seeing that both ended in large doors and mucky water still pooled down them.

“Oookay, looks like it splits again,” Samuel said resting his hands on the butt of his rifle that was slung diagonally across his chest.

“Really, whatever would make you think that,” Jack said sarcastically.

“Looks like more disgustingly gross water too,” Marie complained.

“Okay, if you two are done being Captain’s Obvious and Bitchy,” Jack said in annoyance.

The two of them looked at him innocently and didn’t say another word.

“Well if you two want to continue to complain why don’t you two go right while David and I go left and maybe you can do something useful,” Jack told them.

“Okay, see you guys in a few,” Samuel said heading to the left.

“Toodles,” Marie said waggling the fingers of her left hand at Jack and David.

After the two had disappeared through the door down the hallway to the left Jack looked at David. “Toodles, Toodles? Who the hell says Toodles in this day and age?” Jack asked the computer nerd.

“Dunno,” David said and flipped the top open on a miniature computer and started tapping away.

“You know you really aren’t that much help most of the time,” Jack told David.

“Okay,” David said not really paying that much attention to what Jack was saying.

Grimacing Jack headed down the corridor but only went a few feet before realizing David wasn’t following him. Walking back he grabbed the geek by the arm and started dragging him down the hall.

“What the hell are you doing anyway?” He asked.

“Playing solitaire,” David told him.

“What!?” Jack turned around and slapped the lid of the small computer shut and gave David a jaundiced look. “Focus,” he growled.

“Sorry I was getting bored with the whole slogging through slimy water thing,” David said sheepishly.

“Well I’m sure we’ll find something soon to peak your interest,” Jack told him.

Jack’s words proved to be empty as they entered the door at the end of their own hallway and found room after room of soggy living quarters with destroyed furniture and damaged personal effects.

“Yeah that was just so exciting,” David said sitting on a moldy bedspread and playing solitaire again.

“I wonder if the others might have found something,” Jack mused and hit the comm activation switch with his chin.

“Samuel, this is Jack, you guys find anything interesting?” He asked.

“Nah, nothing yet, just some destroyed labs with nothing salvageable,” Samuel said.

“Oh that is so gross,” Marie said over the comm and then retched inside her helmet.

Jack winced and thought that it was a good thing that the helmets had vacuum pumps to clean up messes like that. “What’s wrong?” Jack asked.

“I believe we just found your something interesting,” Samuel said.

“We’ll be right there,” Jack said with a sigh and then slapped David’s mini-computer shut again and started dragging him towards the room’s door.

It took nearly fifteen minutes for Jack and David to catch up with the others and after trailing through what looked like destroyed labs and offices they finally found them in a large room full of cylinders.

They found Samuel and Marie standing in front of one of the cylinders looking at the occupant; or at least what was left of the occupant. At some point the cylinder had cracked and let the musky, mold carrying atmosphere into the container and now the bloated body of what was most likely a young man now floated in the tank its puckered face bouncing against the cylinder wall as the water eddied around it.

“Wow, I’d have to say that is one of the grossest things I’ve seen in a while,” David said calmly but one look at his face through the Skinsuit helmet made a lie of his tone. His face had taken on a slight green tinge and he occasionally swallowed something down.

“David, you and Marie go outside the lab and go back to Fox while Samuel and I look around,” Jack ordered the two younger people.

“Right we’ll help Fox guard the exit,” Marie said relief in her voice.

“Okay, I kinda want to check out some of those labs we passed on the way here anyway,” David said nodding vigorously and the two of them quickly left the room.

“Yeah, that is pretty gruesome,” Jack said his helmet light illuminating the floating body.

“Yeah, seen worse though,” Samuel said.

“We both have,” Jack replied and then looked around. “Let’s check these consoles and cylinders maybe we can find something out about what this facility was used for,” Jack said.

The two of them separated and wandered around the room, there must have been close to two or three hundred of the cylinders. From closer inspection of the cylinders Jack found himself staring into Taki’s face. “Shit,” he shouted dancing backwards.

“What is it?” Samuel asked over the comm.

“You take a close look at any of the bodies faces?” he asked Samuel.

“Nah, well yeah, looks like some Asian guy,” Samuel said.

“Yeah well I found something different over here,” Jack said his helmet light causing the liquid in the tank to fluoresce.

“Oh that’s not so good,” Samuel said a few minutes later as he caught up with Jack.

“Gee ya think,” Jack said sarcasm dripping from the words.

“Blah, blah, blah,” Samuel said and shifted backwards against a console and accidentally pressed some keys.

With a shushing sound and a liquid gurgle the cylinders throughout the room started draining.

“Didn’t I tell you not to touch anything,” Jack said.

“No,” Samuel answered.

“Then maybe I should have,” Jack replied.

“It’s gonna get even more gross in here as these dead bodies hit the air,” Samuel commented.

“You’re right,” Jack said looking at the bodies as they sank slowly to the bottom of the cylinders and realized that there was more to Taki than what he knew.

“Well I’d say this trip was pretty much a bust,” Samuel said waving the light on his helmet around.

“We’ve found out a little bit at least,” Jack replied.

“Oh and what would that be?” Samuel asked.

“We’ve pretty much confirmed that Taki is not human, or at least not a hundred percent human and she’s actually a clone,” Jack said. “Although once we get her back I don’t think we should let her know about what has happened to her brothers and sisters here,” Jack said quietly.

“Probably be a good idea,” Samuel said and then paused for a second.

Throughout their conversation the two of them had been making there way back to the entrance to the facility and were now just outside the doorway to the cylinder filled room.

“You hear something?” He asked.

“No,” Jack replied.

“I could have sworn I heard something,” Samuel muttered. “Aaagh,” he shouted dancing further away from the door.

“What is it?” Jack asked looking down and almost losing his lunch.

Attached to Samuel’s ankle by a bloated fleshy arm was half of a body that had the face of Taki.

“Get it off, get it off,” Samuel shouted in pain.

Jack shined his light closer and saw that the hand clutching his ankle was clamped down like a vice.

“Sonofabitch,” he hollered and opened fire with the M4A30 blasting the arm apart with two three round bursts.

“What’s going on,” Fox said over the comm.

“We may have a bit of a zombie problem here,” Jack said flashing his helmet light into the room they had just left.

The light illuminated shambling, shuffling, crawling, and dragging shapes. Jack knew that if he could hear the lower sounds outside into the room he would be hearing the sound of rotting and bloated flesh squishing against the copper hued flooring.

“I’m sorry did you just say zombies?” Marie asked over the comm.

“No I said mother-in-laws,” Jack said sarcastically bringing his rifle around to point back into the room and then kicking the bloated figure on the floor back into the room.

“Damn that’s even worse,” Fox said.

“I was being sarcastic, we have zombies here,” Jack shouted and then turned his external speakers on. “Alright you in the room back off or I’ll be forced to open fire,” he shouted.

The figures in the room didn’t seem to be fazed at his announcement and kept moving towards the two team mates.

“Do you need us to come back to your position?” Marie asked.

“No, we’ll head back to you in leap frog style and then do the same back to the airlock. Hopefully we’ll be able to lose the welcoming committee by the time we get back there,” Jack told them.

“Alright, see you in a few,” Fox told them.

“I think we need to move,” Samuel said gesturing at the now much closer zombies.

“Good idea, you go first,” Jack ordered and put a three round burst into the chest of one of the zombies.

The burst shoved the zombie back bursting putrefied flesh but it kept coming.

“Clear,” Samuel shouted over the comm and started firing single shots past Jack as he dashed back to Samuel’s position and then beyond it to the next corner.

“Clear,” Jack shouted at the next corner and covered Samuel as he fell back. The two of them traded positions until they caught up with the others and then continued to fall back to the airlock losing the zombies in the process.

“Any one get word from Oz yet?” Jack asked.

“No not yet and the clock shows that we still have about forty-five minutes until he gets back anyway,” Marie told him.

“Damn, well hopefully those things can’t track…,” Samuel started to say when a slithering squish came over the external microphones.

“You just had to say something didn’t you,” David said glaring at him.

Sol System - Earth

1 Kilometer Down The Marianas Trench

October 17th 2535 AD - 01:45 GMT

“Seriously you’re blaming me for this?” Samuel questioned.

“Oh shut up and just open fire,” Jack ordered and the roar of shotguns and assault rifles filled the corridor of the airlock.