Extracted - Part 4

[Sthurmovik]

Just a wee bit of action...

Part 4

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Serena paced back and forth on the scorched deck plating in the cargo bay looking over her away team. Sarah and Lars were in their ROTC issue light powered armour that were fully integrated with their electromagnetic railgun rifle systems while Lupa wore a less militarized powered environmental suit with a P90 personal defence weapon slung over her shoulder. With her weapons built in Serena had volunteered to carry the backpack full of demolition charges.

"Cadets, Lupa, you're with me. Fiona, you stay here and help the Captain and Bea keep an eye on us and don't let anything nasty come in the back door. Fleet will be here to extract us in four hours so we just have to hold on until then. As soon as the good doctor and I make sure that nothing can come through the Network portals over in the terminal we'll drop some remote cams and head back. Any questions?"

The graduate students and Lupa all shook their heads while Fiona nervously fiddled with the plasma rifle Serena had given her.

"Careful with that Fiona, you're not in a game sim," Serena gently reminded her before locking her helmet to the collar of her armour suit.

Fiona nodded and let it drop to her side as the four members of the away team crowded into the rear airlock. The Class K planet had an atmosphere at about 1.2 times the pressure of Earth's, but was mostly composed of Nitrogen, Methane and Carbon Dioxide. Stepping outside the midday sun was diffused by thick brown clouds that bathed everything in a nasty red yellow cast. The ship had come to rest only about 500 feet from what could be considered the terminal for whatever spacecraft used to use the facility before it was abandoned centuries ago so the team was able to quickly make its way inside. The advanced materials the building had been constructed from had held up well and there was only a thin layer of dust and dirt covering the exposed surfaces.

"I see the survey drone," Serena announced, moving forward and plugging her pad into the USB port to download the data. "This is going to need to get topped up with fuel for the fusion unit."

Serena looked up to see Lupa and her students standing still and looking at something. Turning Serena's gaze fell upon the string of 12 Network portals, all arranged in a convenient row. Each was about the size of a garage door and shaped like a 1970's television screen. One portal unit had been crushed by a falling beam from the ceiling and two others exhibited signs of catastrophic failure.

//"You need to take more time to appreciate your surroundings my friend," thought Lupa, still able to communicate mentally in her human shape. //"Exploration and the pursuit of knowledge isn't just a bunch of check boxes on an after mission report."

Acting on her archeology training Sarah pulled out her image recorder and began to document the scene before the away team could disturb anything while Lars took a wider path closer to the passenger control areas.

"Do you know what happened here that caused this place to just be abandoned like this?" Serena asked the Professor, accompanying her friend as she walked up to the control console of the first portal.

"Well something ruined the biosphere here. Might have been a sudden attack, catastrophic pollution event or industrial accident. We'll know more when we can actually take samples and do a study. First thing is first, we need to get these portals secured, at least as best we can assuming the control units are even functional.

"If this terminal has as many wormhole links as the last one we discovered we could have access to hundreds of new worlds. With all the rogue synths running around the network I could probably keep a Brigade working full time bailing you scientists out of jams."

"Colonel, Professor…you might want to take a look at this," called Lars on the radio from across the hall.

The two ran over to where Lars was standing, his weapon pointed at a volleyball sized object on the ground.

"Found this just laying here, but I'm reading an active energy signature and an open Inter-D comm link. It's a portal anchor."

Serena looked back toward the inactive portal device and the line of skip and roll marks in the dust that lead back to it.

"Looks like Federation isn't the only multi-dimensional hegemony scoping out the Network," Serena said calmly as her left forearm began to glow, reshaping itself into a bright shiny energy weapon. "Lupa, do you think you can disable this portal or will we have to demo it?"

"Give me a chance to try my best, but you had better fit the charges just in case," Lupa said, moving forward and dusting off the control unit interface.

"Well at least this solves the mystery of the fighter," said Serena as her arm-morph ion cannon fired several times in quick succession, frying the electronics in the portal anchor. She then tossed the bag to Lars. "One portal, one charge. Set them to detonate singly."

"What do you want me to do?" Sarah called in over the com.

"Keep documenting," ordered Lupa, "This won't be our find for much longer. This place just became a Federation security hot zone."

"What's the situation Lupa?" Serena called over.

"The control consoles seem to be shut down. I'd need Fiona here to be able to get into it, but I don't think it would matter. The control software on this end is clearly shut down, but to fully prevent someone from being able to connect from the outside I'd have to pull the physics package." Lupa looked up from the dusty screen. "The Unity is just as capable as we are. They are going to be able to override any of the soft locks on these systems unless we take special precautions and I don't have the resources for that."

"Where's the physics unit Lupa?"

"In…in the base, below the portal itself."

Lupa got a very pained look on her face as Serena jumped up on the platform and shifted her right arm into a slightly different looking energy weapon that soon began to cut through the metal of the portal base with a thin beam of blue energy. About thirty seconds later the square of metal fell into the open hole with a clang with Serena following soon after it. It wasn't hard for her to locate the shielded metal box containing the tuned quantum oscillators and pull it free.

"That's one route the Unity won't be using to infiltrate this reality, but I'm going to still leave the demo charges on the other portals, just in case."

Lupa nodded in agreement. "Alright, that seems fair. Since we only have a few hours to study these things I'm going to get Captain Dunn and Fiona over here with some of our equipment and get as much data as I possibly can out of this place."

"Sarah, Lars," Serena radioed to the two students, "deploy the security scanners in the terminal so nothing sneaks up on us then report to Lupa when you're done. I'll watch the perimeter while you two get your work done with the professor."

"Rodger," said Lars, pulling off his backpack and piling a number of card deck sized multi-sensor units on the table.

"Understood," confirmed Serah, putting down her video camera to do the same.

Lupa handed Serena several pads each with an adapter dongle on it. "Here, be useful and plug these into all of the control consoles. They'll start trying to pull down all the data they can, but normally it can take days or weeks to break into these sorts of systems if they have been secured competently. There's probably a central computer that holds the keys to the kingdom, but the Fed scientists are probably going to collect that little windfall."

Serena began walking from terminal to terminal hooking the pads into the diagnostic ports. "So, are you making study of the Network your next big thing or did this place just happen to fall in your lap?" asked Serena over the com.

"I'm not sure, but there's a lot of grant money floating around out there for Network research and if this place pans out it could mean a lot of work for a lot of years. I don't want to put you in an awkward position Serena, but there's a lot of grumblings about breaking your Sister's near monopoly on Network exploration, especially since more than a few still don't trust your race's motives," Lupa replied, her voice slightly worried as the conversation veered into the political.

Serena sighed, "I understand Lupa. Nobody wants to look into the candy store and be told they can't have any, but you shouldn't underestimate just how dangerous the Network can be. My people have been devoting considerable resources to exploring it for centuries now and we still run into…problems…despite all of our experience and all of our precautions. The Elder Council isn't trying to keep anything from the Federation, we just don't want to see anybody needlessly get hurt."

Lupa chucked, "Serena, we're not children. I think the Fed can handle itself. Exploring deep space and alternate realities is no less dangerous than an ancient portal network."

"You know our history and our mindset. We consider it our duty to stand between soft squishy people like yourself and the sort of angry high powered synths that roam the Network. Besides, even the Elders buy into the not entirely illogical proposition that Sisters are simply, "Serena let out a brief sigh, "more expendable than other Fed races."

Lupa was quiet for a moment before responding. "Serena, although I appreciate the sentiment I also think your people might be overcompensating just a little bit for the whole "kill all the bios" phase they went through. You might want to bring it up at your next Elders meeting."

"Will do, although they really don't like inviting me to those," Serena chuckles before looking over towards the doors that lead out onto the tarmac from the cargo handling end of the terminal. "Hey, looks like your goodies have arrived. I'll go open the door."

Serena walked over and slid open the heavy transparent door to allow Fiona and a grumpy looking Captain Dunn access to the terminal.

"You know my ship's hurt and here I am delivering cargo like some baggage drone."

"You can take it up with airport management, just don't disturb their skeletons when you find them because Lupa will bite your nuts off if you do," remarked Serena wryly.

The cargo tug maneuvered the cargo palette into place where Fiona began to unload it. Serena casually talked with Captain Dunn about what sort of repairs would be needed when suddenly an urgent call came in loud over the open com channel.

"Sleeping Giant to away team!" It was Bea's voice..

"Here," replied Serena.

"We have a major problem. I’m detecting six distinct energy signatures moving towards our location. They're moving fast from the northeast and will be on us in less than 15 minutes."

Had Serena been human the blood would have drained from her face.

“Let me guess, that’s the direction from the Unity crash site.”

“Affirmative,” came Bea’s response.

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Serena stood in front of the small group of nervous student-officers and civilians trying to project as much calm and confidence as she could.

“How long until they get here?” Lars asked.

“10 to 15 minutes. Bea only has intermittant contact, but given their speed and distance I suspect they came down in some sort of escape or landing pod sometime after we blew up their ship,” said Serena, projecting an interactive diagram of the entire area on a dusty wall.

“Well what the hell are we facing here?” the Captain spat. “Look at Fiona’s people. These Unity beings could show up as anything.”

“Please don’t lump my people in with the Unity,” growled Fiona. “Those freaks are a lot more regimented in their thinking.”

“Listen,” began Serena, “I’ve run through a couple of scenarios in the short time I’ve had and the Unity is either after the portals or they are after us. If we disable the portals they will then certainly come after us as the juicy information in our minds would represent their next best chance of escape. I’ve got Bea on the horn waking up all the brass in my address book so help should arrive at any moment. We just need to hold out until that point.”

“And what if the great and mighty Federation and its oh so reliable “affiliates” happen to let us down?” demanded the Captain.

“You’re standing in an interdimensional portal hub. What do you think?” Serena replied, giving the Captain a look.

“You give us orders we’ll carry them out Colonel,” Sarah spoke up.

"Lars, Sarah, get up to the control tower. From the northeast they'll need to cross a lot of open ground. Engage at long range and try to hold them off with your railguns, but if they get closer you'll need something with a higher volume of fire."

"We have an MG3 in the load of cargo that just came in," Sarah offered, "SOP to counter swarm attacks."

"Get it and get up there," commanded Serena. "Lupa, work on plan B. Fiona, Dunn, help me use the cargo pods and anything else you see around to construct defensive positions around the first portal."

"Listen I'd love to help, but I need to get back to Bea. She's out on the runaway completely exposed!" said the Captain anxiously while looking over his shoulder and through the large glass wall.

"Bea, what's your current status?" Serena called out over the com.

"Shield is up and I am currently helping myself to the contents of the small arms locker," replied the ship's AI.

"You're staying here Captain and don't argue with me. Bea? You still on the line?"

"I'm not going anywhere Serena."

"How are those calls going?"

"I’m working on it, but Admirals are really indecisive when you’re asking them to take their fleets into battle with a few minutes notice. The strength of your note seems to carry a lot of weight however."

"I figured it would. Thanks for dealing with all that crap Bea, the rest of you let's get cracking."

Serena, Fiona and the Captain began to build up a makeshift rampart of cargo containers, overturned tables and whatever else that could find around the terminal that had mass to it and could roll. Serena then piled the few weapons they had available where they could be at the hand of the defenders all while monitoring the positions of the 6 energy signatures Bea was tracking as they began to fan out and approach the spaceport perimeter. Meanwhile in the tower Sarah and Lars had set up their rifles for long range fire and now waited for the enemy to show itself.

"Do you just want us to open fire as soon as they enter effective range Serena," Lars asked over the com.

"Yes, but make your first shot count. Once they identify your position they'll start moving faster. Direct conflict with Unity forces has been rare, but from the briefings I have read and my own experience I have found them to be a challenging opponent."

Lars looked at Sarah. "Identify a target, we'll fire together. You ready for this?"

Sarah nodded then concentrated on her helmet's HUD as she lined the rifle's optics onto a target.

"I got one…1 o'clock, crossing the old spaceport fence line."

"Ok…I'm on the one about 100 meters to the left. Hit it and then try to get back on target for a followup."

Sarah gazed at the humanoid figure as it slowly moved toward the spaceport terminal and the crash site. The shields around the Sleeping Giant made it a perfect decoy to the approaching synths who would naturally expect a biologic crew to take refuge in their crashed ship until help arrived. The Unity soldiers didn't look much different than biologic humans in advanced powered armour or Serena in her nanoweave suit, however the design was a strange mix of strength as one might see in plate type armour and agility as one found in form fitting armour. It was almost as if solid metal had been made flexible and poured into a human shape. Of course trying to get a good handle on the appearance of the hostile aliens was complicated by their use of mild adaptive camouflage in the visible and IR spectra.

"Fiona, access my feed, what am I looking at?" called Sarah over the com.

"I'm not an intelligence analyst," came the Linker's rather annoyed response, "but if I had to make a barely educated guess I'd say those are probably Infiltration units. Serena? You’re the real expert here.“

“Fiona’s correct,” Serena’s voice came in over the channel. “Scout ships tend to carry a compliment of humanoid bodies with which they can infiltrate like societies. Two arms, two legs and no wings might sound conventional they are fast and their active/passive armour is a tough nut to crack."

"Come on Sarah," said Lars, "we need to take the shot."

Sarah's finger tightened on the trigger as she took careful aim. The rifle lurched back, the inertial dampener absorbing much of the recoil, as the aluminum and steel slug exited the barrel and sliced through the air leaving a thin trail of smoke behind it as some of the slug ablated at hypervelocity. In her HUD Sarah watched as the being's arm blew off in a shower of sparks and a mist of fluid. Lars' shot also hit home, drilling a baseball sized hole through the torso of one of the synthetic aliens and blowing it backwards several dozen feet. By the time Saran lined up for a second shot her one armed target was gone from the scope's field of view. Lars did better managing to blow off a hand with his follow up, but at that point the tower seemed to explode around them as sizzling blue balls of energy blew out the windows and began to tear the structure apart.

"Keep shooting," cried Lars as he went for the machine gun, "we've got to try to pin them down."

"These little buggers are quick," Sarah called back as she took aim at a Unity who's arm cannon was in the process of spraying a burst of blue energy at her position before nimbly stepping aside at the last moment to avoid her shot.

Back down in the main hall Serena looked up as she heard the students in the tower open fire at the approaching Unity androids. "Gods Bea, why does Fleet have to act like the rod up its ass has a rod up its ass!" Serena stormed after getting off the line with the local Admiral.

"They're just following the Unity engagement protocol Serena. By that measure they have been more than flexible. If I remember correctly weren't you the one who designed that particular protocol?"

"Yeah, but I tended to have different priorities back then," said Serena, clenching her teeth. "Ok, I guess that's another thing on the To Do list when I get back, "fix Unity Engagement Protocol"."

"Watch out everyone, I'm opening the portal," Lupa called out from behind.

The squarish portal ring began to glow brightly, arcs of blue energy skipping about before the portal horizon formed, shimmering into a uniform sheet of white energy. Lupa grabbed a portal probe and flung it through, looking over to Serena for the result.

"Ok, I still have the signal, syncing with the feed," said the android girl adding the data streams from the sensor into her awareness. "Looks good. Environment supports oxygen breathing carbon based life. No toxins, temperature acceptable and I see a control unit so we can probably use it to get back if we leave the portal intact."

Lupa killed the portal and grabbing her weapon went over to help Serena prepare for the defence. "So, you said they were accelerating the timeframe?"

"Bea just said that ETA is now about 60 to 90 minutes. Sorry, we got stuck in a Catch 22. This wasn't a full scale attack so they can't launch the fast reaction forces because those need to be ready to repel a full scale attack! They can't send in a small force because if it’s a trap the force will be defeated and the Unity will have an intelligence goldmine when it uploads all the captured crew. I am not looking forward to the months of meetings it will take to fix this problem. The Federation has one job, to repel these sorts of threats and it's fucking it up!" Serena was yelling now visibly overcome with frustration.

"If we get out of this I honestly don't think you're going to mind a bunch of meetings," said Lupa, gently rubbing Serena's shoulders.

Serena began to calm down savoring the full tactile feedback her armour provided. "They're getting closer. I don't think we'll be able to hold them off for as long as we need. Just be ready with the portal."

"Tower calling portal base, are you there Colonel?"

"Go ahead Lars, what's your status?" Serena answered.

"This place is falling apart around us, with the volume of fire impacting the structure I don't think the control tower is going to remain vertical for much more than 5 minutes," said Lard as he ejected the glowing red barrel and slid the spare into place.

"How many enemy casualties do you estimate?" Serena asked.

Lars looked over at Sarah who raised three fingers.

"Sarah says she's damaged three and I nailed another one. Problem is they keep getting back up even if they're missing large chunks. I'm sure I've got some hits with the MG, but at range it doesn't seem to affect them much."

"Ok, you two get your asses down here and prepare to defend the portal beachhead. We're probably going to have to evac."

"Roger that." Lars ducked his head as one of the sizzling balls of energy impacted close in behind him. "Shit! That was close. Come on Sarah, we need to go."

Lars turned his head back to see Sarah laying motionless at the rear of her weapon. The clear faceplate to her helmet had been caved in and inside was a mix of black soot and red blood. Lars blinked then fumbled to active the com channel.

"T-this is Lars…in the tower. I need to report 1 KIA…Officer Candidate Sarah Hong. She's dead Colonel."

Serena went numb as she heard the report. "Confirm 1 KIA. Get back to the portal base Lars…on the double," her voice not flat and emotionless.

"No…" cried Lupa, dropping her weapon and stumbling back against the portal console. "NO! NO!"

"What…what do I do with her body Colonel?"

"Activate the beacon and leave her Lars. Fleet will be here in 90 minutes."

Lupa turned and threw herself at Serena. "NO! You can't just leave her behind! We're humans, not machines!"

Serena glared at Lupa as the woman beat her gloved hands against Serena's helmet and armour, tears streaming down her face. "Sit down Doctor!" Serena responded coldly, pushing her to the ground. "Let me do my fucking job because lord knows you don't want it." Serena flicked her com link back on. "Get down here NOW Lars unless you want to die too."
Lars made one last anguished look back at his friend before he grabbed his weapon and turned to run down the tower staircase, beams of light shining through the dirty air where weapons fire had blown holes in the walls.

"How could you do such a thing!?" Lupa screamed at Serena.

Just a few years earlier Serena could have explained exactly how she arrived at her conclusion, but today all the android could do was turn away.

"I'm not going to just leave one of my students behind!"

Lupa felt a pair of arms embrace her and looked to see Fiona's concerned face through her helmet. "Shhh, relax Lupa, we have to get through this first."

Serena then looked up to see Captain Dunn making a dash for the exit.

"Captain!" There was more than a dash of anger in Serena's voice.

"I know the plan and I'm sure as hell not going to let you leave my wife behind too!" Dunn yelled back over the con as he sprinted out the door.

Serena morphed her left arm into a plasma blaster and headed for the doorway herself.

//"No Serena!" It was Fiona's voice via a data link. //"This is his choice to make, not yours."

//"That's why I'm going to cover him," Serena sent back before going back on the com channel. "Bea, I need you to launch your anti-missile countermeasures. The Captain is on his way to your position and it’s a free fire zone out there."

The ship immediately launched a barrage of short range rockets that laid down a plethora of small canisters that exploded into a thick grey sensor scattering fog.

"What's going on Serena?" asked Bea.

"We can't hold the Unity soldiers off without sustaining potentially unacceptable casualties. We're going to have to retreat through the portal and get picked up later. You two can stay or you can come with us."

The com link was silent for a moment.

"The strength of the Unity soldiers makes the collapse of my defenses at their hand inevitable. I would prefer my husband and I not die today."

"Well I hope he's eaten his Wheaties."

Captain Dunn appeared out of the acrid sensor masking fog to find two of Bea's holograms standing on the lowered rear ramp covering his approach with small arms. A third hologram waited at the top of the ramp as the Captain stumbled up it before doubling over, gasping for breath in his environmental suit.

"You're going to starting a new exercise regimen when we get home. Now if you don't mind I would like to be out of here when those Unity freaks show up."

Dunn nodded and ran into the ship finding that most of the doors had been opened for him in advance. He quickly reached the small room under the information center that contained Bea's AI core. Pulling out a small transport case the Captain briefly read the instructions on the hatch before he started to undo the latches on each of the four corners. Feeling a hand on his arm the Captain turned to see Bea standing next to him. Using a few holo tricks she pushed her face through her husband's helmet and give him a kiss before the emergency release sequence kicked in and the hologram vanished. As soon as the light turned green Captain Dunn grabbed the handle on the end of the core and pulled. The device was about the size and shape of a blender hopper with a solid cap on the top and bottom with a transparent outer shield surrounding an inner deepwater blue crystal cylinder. Throwing the core into the carrying case and locking down the latched Captain Dunn raced back out of the now dead and inert ship, stopping only briefly to trigger the rear cargo bay door's retraction sequence.

The smoke screen was just starting to lift as the Captain emerged from the haze just a few feet from the terminal door. Suddenly there was a blue flash and an explosion and the captain was thrown to the ground, but it wasn't long before Serena was there, returning fire with her arm blaster and offering the Captain a hand.

"Welcome back Captain, but I must insist that you move inside the terminal as this is not a safe place to be."

The Captain quickly took her hand and they retreated inside as the glass front of the building began to take fire sending fragments of transparent aluminum flying. Jumping in behind the barricade Fiona was still comforting Professor Whitepaw while Lars was covering the far end of the passenger hall with the machine gun.

"Did I miss anything?"

"Not yet," said Serena in a dry tone. "We'll try to hold them off. If we put enough of them down then we might not have to use the portal. Lupa, you need to pick up your weapon. We'll need every person here to do their utmost."

Lupa glared at her old friend before shouldering her P90 and taking up a position near the control console. It didn't take long before the first Unity infiltrator, already with a hole in its abdomen, appeared through one of the far doors. Lars was quick to light it up, bits and pieces flying off its sculpted metal body as the high powered rounds impacted it at the rate of 25 per second, but it managed to lurch out of the line of fire as other soldiers started their attack from other directions, all perfectly in sync with each other. Serena whipped a grenade at the closest Unity, only to watch as the synth grabbed the bomb from mid air and crush it in its hand, rendering it inert.

"Well that's a new one," remarked Serena as the Unity began to return fire, the blue bolts of energy ripping into the makeshift barriers that were not in any way equipped to stand up to such punishment very long.

"Last belt," Lars called out as he worked feverishly to reload the MG3.

Serena looked around at her team, huddling down behind the cargo boxes, then looked at Lupa who was manning the portal controls.

"Professor, I believe the time has come for us to make our exit. Would you do the honors?"

Lupa said nothing as she selected the previously tested link from the list that the portal was able to connect to. The horizon shimmered to life and stabilized as the Unity increased their volume of fire.

"Lars, hit the destruct on the other portal rings," Serena called out. "Captain, you and the misses can go first."

As the demo charges blew neat gaps in the other portal rings Captain Dunn ran through the portal. Lars pressed the trigger of the MG3 and held it there, creating a hail of bullets that drove the infiltration units back while Fiona and Lupa ran into the portal each carrying a large bag of supplies. As soon as Lars' weapon clicked empty Serena pounded on his back, signaling him to also grab what he could and run through the portal, covering him as he ran with both arms blazing away. Finally, facing the Unity soldiers all by herself, Serena rose up and ran for the glowing expanse, dodging a few ill aimed shots vanishing from the battle scarred terminal area. In an instant she found herself in a square stone hallway lit by dim glowing white orbs.

"Lars, hit the charges on the last portal…Now!"

"I'm...I'm trying! The detonator lost the signal."

The portal flickered and then de-energized leaving the stone wall behind it plainly visible. Serena cursed while the team instantly set up defensive positions as best they could in the completely featureless corridor expecting the Unity soldiers to be hot on their heels. Five minutes passed, then ten, the portal remaining dark and lifeless. It was finally Fiona who noticed that something was wrong.

"Serena, this isn't the right hallway."

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