CHAPTER 54 – DETACHED
DATE POINT: JUNE 8th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)
LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, OUTER ASTEROID BELT,
APPROACHING MISSION AREA: LISTENING POST ALPHA
LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER LANCE BLACKFORD
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"How you doing over there, Lucas?" Lance asked as he finished repacking his infiltration kit into his mission bag for the third time.
“After two freaking days in this teeny, tiny, tin can without a shower or a proper bed? What do you think?! My neck is freakin’ killing me! We’re getting too old for this bullshit, man. Fuck it, bitching about it isn't gonna fix it anyway... Can I get a seal check?” Lucas griped as he rolled his neck in a vain attempt to pop it.
Lance tugged on and inspected Lucas’ exo-atmospheric kit until he was satisfied that everything was in order. He then clapped him on the shoulder. Lucas raised a thumbs-up as a signal that his pressurization had remained stable throughout the test.
“Lucas, I keep telling you to swallow your pride and to join me for yoga. I'm telling you it works wonders! When you get as big as me, that extra flexibility really matters!” Victor said with a cocky smile.
He proceeded into a series of flexes to show off his rippling physique straight through his tight undersuit.
“It also makes you look like a total goon, I’m good, bro…. I’ll stick to good sleep, solid workouts, and supplements. I've told you already I just want to ride out the rest of my twenty and find me a place on the beach. We gotta make it through this shit first. Suit up already and quit showing off.” Lucas sniped back.
“As you wish, your highness.” Victor replied.
He palmed the button on his belt, causing himself to be sheathed in liquid metal before it solidified into his Guardian armor. One by one, he went through his range of motions and then grabbed his helmet with a satisfied grunt.
“Can you help me with the exo-atmo pack over there? It’s hard to reach that part of my back these days.” Vic asked as he sealed his helmet in place.
“Sure, sure, why don’t you focus on that with your yoga? Sounds like a perfect way to work those wonders if you ask me.” Lucas replied with a snicker as he connected the exo-atmo pack to Victor’s back then checked to verify that it was securely connected.
“Hilarious. If you’d put half the effort into your workouts that you invest in your sarcasm, maybe you’d actually pack some real muscle on that scrawny frame of yours. All that xenotech coursing through your veins, and you look just the same!” Vic replied.
“Enough, already! I swear you two bicker like an old married couple! How’s your pressurization looking Vic?” Lance cut in, knowing all too well they wouldn’t stop otherwise.
“Green, system reads ready to go. Want me to check yours?” Victor replied.
“Go ahead. Lucas, have you got that daemon ready?” Lance asked as Victor tugged aggressively at his exo-atmospheric pressurization pack.
His display showed no leaks or change in pressurization, which was enough to satisfy him.
“Got it right here in the go bag, boss.” Lucas replied as he donned his tac vest and clipped his sword onto his belt. He then grabbed and shouldered the large pack filled with his infiltration tools.
“Two minutes to drop zone. Remember, the Captain ordered strict radio silence until you have assumed full control of both facilities. If you run into trouble in there, you’ll be on your own until I can safely loop around and return.” Their pilot, Yulia, chimed in.
“Understood, Firefly, we’ll be careful in there.” Lance replied.
“You'd better. It’d put a real damper on your rep if we had to come in guns blazing to bail your asses out.” Firefly teased.
“Intel says the facility should be empty. Our biggest risk is triggering a silent alarm by tampering with the wrong computer. They’ll probably just blast us with that particle cannon that we avoided on the way in. If we do fail, there is no saving us, only yourselves, do you two understand me?” Lance said in a stern tone.
“We read you, loud and clear. Doesn’t mean we have to like it though. You guys are legends. If anyone can pull this off, its you. Now, the dzban that poor Rockstar is flying is another story. I’m worried that they might be the ones to blow the mission… what happens then?”
“Then our fate is sealed, and your orders remain the same. Paul’s team is just as capable as we are. This time tomorrow, we’ll be toasting our success aboard the Fist of the Argonauts and preparing for the main mission.” Lance replied, trying to inject as much confidence as he could into his tone.
“In that case, we’re looking forward to it, sir. Ready for depressurization? We’re approaching the red line.” Firefly responded with greater, hopefully real, enthusiasm.
Lance looked over their cabin one last time to make sure everything was stowed and ready then back towards the Shadowhawk's pilot and weapons systems officer.
“We’re ready.” Lance replied as he shouldered his mission pack.
Yulia nodded and the cockpit door slammed shut and the air was siphoned from the room as all sound faded away.
VACUUM DETECTED; SWITCHING TO RESERVE ATMOSPHERE TIMER SET; TWO HOURS REMAINING
Lance motioned to the others to grab the launch rails embedded in the ceiling as the rear hatch opened, revealing the asteroid base which by then loomed large ahead of them. He took one last look to his team, and satisfied that they were ready, he hit the launch control above him. His stomach sucked back as the electromagnetic rails shot him forward along the ceiling until he released his grip, slinging him into space. Using tiny gas maneuvering thrusters embedded in his exo-atmo pack, he stabilized his slight tumble and corrected his course. Victor and Lucas both followed his lead and soon all three had reoriented themselves. Their target was a small hatch on the near side that was marked on his HUD with trajectory lines to guide him. He spared one last glance back towards the slightly bulkier, stealthier, Shadowhawk as it glided silently past them, as it grew ever smaller in the vast darkness.
Stay safe out there.
With a deep breath, Lance refocused himself back on the mission. He maneuvered his feet towards the asteroid and began his deceleration burn. The three of them touched down within moments of each other at a tiny fraction of the speed with which they had originally launched. He felt the satisfying thump as his magnetic boots secured him to the iron door frame which surrounded the outer airlock hatch. Victor reached into his supply backpack and pulled out their Mylar air shield and began to unfold it as it spilled forth from its tight packaging. The three of them rushed to deploy and secure the air shield to the deck before they erected it in a limp dome overhead. Lance turned up his helmet flashlights as he secured the last section down with the last of his tube of void rated, quick-drying epoxy while the others smoothed out the rest of the inward-flipped bottom edges to ensure a tight seal. He waited a few minutes for the epoxy to set as they unpacked the next parts of their infiltration kit. Once his helmet timer was up, he motioned to Lucas, who proceeded to cut into the door with their plasma torch. Atmosphere began to seep through the hole, first as a trickle, and then in a hissing rush as the pressure equalized and sound returned.
ATMOSPHERE DETECTED; ANALYZING…. EARTH STANDARD MIX; STERILE; NO PATHOGENS OR TOXINS DETECTED SWITCHING TO FILTERED EXTERNAL RESPIRATION; REFILLING RESERVE TANK
The silver reflective inner surface of the Mylar air shield ballooned outwards until it stretched taught and the pressure equalized.
“What’s taking so long with the cut?! We need to get in and out as quickly as possible, just cut the lock and be done with it.” Lance said through the speakers embedded in his helmet.
“Already thought of that. I can’t cut the lock, a quick check in the EM filter showed several wires linked into it. Better to not break that circuit if we wish to avoid raising alarms.” Lucas replied calmly, clearly in his element.
Lance switched his visor through the various electromagnetic spectrum filters until he saw what Lucas was talking about.
Shit, I didn’t even think of that. Let’s REALLY hope that Paul and his crew catch it, too. If not, this is gonna be one short mission…
An involuntary shudder ran up Lance’s spine. He had always hated the things he couldn't control. Better focus on our mission instead.
“So, we’re stuck with cutting a Victor-sized hole into a giant-sized airlock door. Great.” Lance replied.
“Also gotta do it to the inner door, too. Can’t take any chances. Should have the extra fuel for it, but for not much else. I’m about halfway done, the door is thick, but not too much for this torch so long as its running full blast.” Lucas replied.
“Too thick for Vic here to kick in and bend the rest of the way inwards if you were to, say, make a C-shaped cut to save fuel?” Lance asked.
“It’s worth a shot.” Victor chimed in.
“Where you gonna get the leverage, genius? It’s not like you got the Earth’s gravity holding you to the deck here. All you got is the strength of those magnets to push against to amplify the force of your stomp. You'd probably just knock yourself off balance and fall backwards right through the air shield. Like it or not, we gotta cut through.” Lucas said with an air of disappointment.
“Carry on, then.” Lance replied.
Lucas made good progress, and eventually with some effort, they cut their way through both sets of airlock doors.
“Alright, finally!” Lucas exclaimed as he pushed away the inner door once the last connection had been severed.
It floated slowly away from them with a slight tumble before it bounced off the deck several meters away. Lance pushed himself through in a slow spin so as to be able to see the whole interior of the room with his flashlights with his photonic bow drawn. He stopped himself against the opposite wall and beckoned the others over to follow. One by one, they walked down the wall and hopped diagonally down to the surface that the station designers had apparently intended to be the floor.
Lance slung his bow and drew his sword then proceeded forward carefully into a wide corridor that curved around to the right. Victor moved just slightly behind him on his right with his wrist shield active and his spear at low ready. Lucas held his bow and plodded silently a little way off to his left.
“Lucas, keep cycling through those EM filters, and keep an eye out for traps or ambushes.” Lance said as he took one slow magnet-thumping step forward at a time.
The corridor curved around enough to the point that no matter how far they followed it, they couldn't see its end, which helped set Lance's nerves on edge.
"Nothing so far, I'll keep watching though." Lance replied. "Just how long is this damn corridor?"
"Who knows, let's just pick up the pace." Lance replied with a grumble.
"It looks like we're following along the inside edge of the asteroid. She's a little over a klick wide, so this corridor could be up to three klicks long. Better saddle up, buttercup, we're gonna be at this for a while." Victor said with a chuckle.
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Lucas broke out into a jumble of incomprehensible grumbling as Lance rolled his eyes.
"Embrace the suck, Lucas. At least we're not being fired upon." Lance interjected.
"Great, jinx it why don't you? If we get ambushed now, I'm blaming it all on you." Lucas said with a wry chuckle.
"Just keep your eyes peeled and your legs moving. We'll be just fine." Lance replied as they continued to wind their way through the facility in relative silence.
At last, they emerged upon a thick iron door with a thick iron bar bolting it into the frame of the wall as a locking mechanism. A console of some sort was installed on the left-side wall between the large door and the outer corner of the corridor. Lance studied the door intently as a frown formed on his face.
"This wasn't in the intel packet... That bar has got to be ten centimeters thick, easy. Options?" Lance said as he thought through the issue.
“Well, ain’t that some real bullshit, I knew I should have packed the Thermite! We can’t cut through that!” Lucas said, bitterly.
“Betcha that console is biometric, or at least require some kind of password, meaning it's gotta be networked in somehow to communicate. That might be our entry point right here. We might not even need to access the core!” Victor offered.
“No, you well meaning fool. Well, yes, it is probably a privileged-access system of some sort. Unfortunately, it is unlikely to be connected to the core systems in any meaningful way. It was common practice for the giants to have things like door locks be only accessible locally, and thus wouldn't be connected to the network. We want to be careful still, as it might be able to send a one-way alarm via a dedicated low-bandwidth hardwired connection. These kinds of doors are notoriously difficult to hack or break through without setting off an alarm.” Lucas replied back, coming alive somewhat paradoxically away from his gloom.
“So, what I think you're saying is we might be able to gain access through that hard-wire connection if it can transmit large amounts of data, but it’s far more likely we will simply trip the alarm. That sounds like a dead end plan to me. We need to access the core! But how? What haven’t we considered?” Lance asked, trying his damnedest to keep an even tone of voice.
Victor had wandered over to the iron bar that locked the door in place and began to examine it.
“There’s something strange about this bar… We have what looks like stress marks on the corners, like it was bent. Those wouldn’t be there if it was cast, or forged.... Well what do we have here? Looks like a weld line to me on the backside... It’s bent sheet metal! How much fuel do you have left in your torch?” Victor asked in an excited tone.
“We should have just enough.” Lucas said as he hopped to his feet and began to fiddle with the settings on his torch.
“We’ll cut back here, so the door can swing freely, and we can pass right through. It will pressurize the airlock though. Anubis said the core was vacuum-gapped and cooled to help hide its heat signature.” Lucas said as he studied the door.
“Great, so we’ll need to contend with whatever locking mechanism is on the inner door. Then we’ll need to seal the outer door again somehow, and in a way we can reverse…” Lance said.
“One problem at a time, boss. Isn’t that what you always try and pound in our heads?” Lucas quipped.
“Ah, you do listen after all! I was beginning to fear that all I say falls on deaf ears.” Lance replied with a mock smile inside his helmet.
“Never, boss. Your words of wisdom are what’s kept us alive all these years. Well… that, and my brawn.” Victor said.
“Forgetting someone?” Lucas said, drily, as he finished his cut and shut off the torch.
“Yes. Your brains are always appreciated around here, right Vic?” Lance said, trying to mollify his old friend the best he could.
“Hear hear!” The big man replied with a grunt.
“Well, then here goes nothing!” Lucas said as he grabbed at the heavy door and pulled with all his might.
Slowly, at first the door separated from its seal with a hiss as air shot past it into the airlock behind before he managed to get the the door the rest of the way open. Lance breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the inner door; it had a simple rotary wheel as a sealing mechanism.
"That's it?! We’re in past security, just like that?!" Victor called out in joy.
“Well, hello my beautiful simple machine, you! Computers and high technology have got to be more valuable than gold out here, it makes sense they would ration its use. This makes our job almost too easy. Now how to seal that outer door?” Lucas pondered as he walked into the airlock as Lance followed shortly behind.
Several self-sealing, gigantic glass dome helmets hung in recessed racks within alcoves set into both opposing walls of the airlock. Temporary rebreathers, fascinating.Must have been for the construction crew. There's nobody else in here, so far. Lance returned his attention to the inside of the outer airlock door as he began to ponder the situation.
“Let's see... options… Well, we can have Vic stay behind with the torch to cut a section of bar to use as a temporary welding patch he can use to re-seal the door from the outside. We can also try and epoxy it closed, I suppose, though re-opening it will be a pain in the ass. Nah, both of those options stink. What else do we have?” Lance asked.
“I like your idea of cutting a welding patch from the bar out there, just instead we can weld it closed from the inside. That way we don’t split up, and we keep the torch with us.” Lucas said with brimming confidence.
“Perfect, get cutting, say, from the top section of the door frame side of the bar. Vic, be ready to break that speedwheel loose, Lord knows how long its been sitting there unused.” Lance directed; Lucas shot into motion to obey.
“I’ll get that wheel spinning; don’t you worry about that. Anytime you need these muscles, you just gotta ask, boss.” Vic laughed from behind him.
“I know you will. You’ve got as high quality brains in that skull of yours as any of us. Don’t forget that, in your current quest for more brawn. I have seen your self-studies of history, and such have slowed down recently.”
“A minor slump; paying more attention in one area of your life by definition must pull it from another. The cycle will spiral back around. So long as you’re good, I’m good.” Lance said.
Victor clapped him on the shoulder with his big, armored paw of a hand.
“I’m good, I’ll let you know if that ever changes.” Vic replied coolly as the two of them nodded in sync.
“Got it. Having a touching moment over there, are we? As adorable as it is, shouldn’t we be getting back to work?” Lucas said, sounding entirely too proud of himself.
Lance tilted his helmet and stared it straight towards him to signal his displeasure. With a resigned sigh, he walked over and helped hold the airlock door shut by finding the least awkward out of a number of bad grips and then he pulled at it as hard as he could muster. Mercifully, Lucas worked quickly and efficiently and welded the long strip of flat sheet metal to the most level section of door and frame as he could find.
“That will hold for now and will be easy enough to un-do later.” He finally said as soon as he’d finished.
“All right, Vic, open the door.” Lance said.
Victor planted both feet and grabbed hold of the wheel from opposing sides and then put his back into turning it. After a moment, the mechanism broke free, and he slowly retracted four smaller locking pins from the door frame a little more with every spin of the wheel. He then swung the door open as the trapped air escaped into the hollowed-out interior of the asteroid. A short bridge connected them to the inner core, which was made of asteroid rock and was suspended by several thick pillars. Together, they plodded silently in formation across the bridge until they reached the door on the other side. Lance held his breath and hoped there wouldn't be another heavily barred door; he had seen just how low the fuel meter was on their torch. Thankfully, luck remained on their side as Lance saw that it was another basic speedwheel door. In a way, the similarity in design to old 20th century naval vessels was striking. Lance gestured to Victor, who proceeded to wrangle open the outer airlock door in front of them. Soon after, they all piled into the airlock and Vic sealed the door behind them. Lance strode forward and strained for a moment against the inner airlock door speedwheel but got it moving after a moderate effort.
Air rushed in through the cracks as he opened the door, until finally he could hear again.
“Holy shit, we’re in!” Lucas said. “Now let’s see if one of our known variant plugs is compatible with this system.”
“Aren’t the plugs we have from like three thousand years from now and from Apophis’ navy? I doubt they’d have compatible plugs. You’re probably going to need to splice your way in.” Lance replied.
“I don’t know, maybe we’ll get lucky one more time. I can see how useful it would be having one or a handful of common plugs across a whole spacefaring empire. How many government systems do we have back on Earth that are still running ancient processors because the cost to change everything would be catastrophic? The Alderei said these guys were a breakaway faction or something, you never know. All we need is one newish plug here and one ancient plug design from our time to match.” Lucas said as he pulled the laptop that powered the intrusion AI from his bag.
“But weren’t there like four or five types of plugs we encountered?” Victor asked.
“Precisely, we just need one of them to work…” Lucas said as he unrolled a bundle of cables and studied each one for a moment before he stood and began to scan the various consoles around the room.
“I think this one might actually be a match, but its hard to tell from this angle. Can you help me up, big guy?” Lucas rushed over to grab a cable and then he opened the laptop.
"Sure, ready when you are." Victor replied.
Lucas returned with his kit and Victor knit his fingers together and helped Victor up to get a better angle.
"Hell yeah!" He plugged a long adapter cable into one of the open USB ports and then inserted the other somewhat spiky looking end into a port on the identified console before Victor set him back down. Wasting no time, Lucas began typing command prompts into the laptop at a furious pace.
“I can’t believe they would make it this easy on me! Their system security protocols leave a lot to be desired.” Lucas said with glee.
“It’s not that much of a surprise, they clearly don’t expect any humans to find their way up here, and the Alderei ships don’t use the same kind of stealth tech we do. They would be near impossible to hide from a facility like this. They have no reason to be paranoid with their network security, so they’re not.” Lance said with a growing smile.
“Bingo! Looks like we’re in; the AI has identified six different weak points as possible areas of intrusion. Hmmm.... This one sounds good; generating the attack script now… done. Simulating…. Looks like it suggests two revisions to the code. Approved. Simulating again.... Perfect. Ready to take control on your command, sir.” Lance said,
“Do it.” Lance said with a curt nod.
“Beginning attack.... So far so good, looks like we’ve broken through the firewall now. This virus will modify the boot code to give us root access the moment the system reboots itself. Creating a cascading system fault… the system is forcing a reboot now, and is flagging it as a simple maintenance precaution.” Lucas said as the consoles around them went dark at the same time.
Moments later, the various computer systems and console lights came back on all around them. Lucas looked up from the screen.
“Just like that, we have full boot level access. What would you like to do first, sir?” Lucas asked with a wicked tone to his voice.
FORTY MINUTES LATER…
DATE POINT: JUNE 8th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)
LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, OUTER ASTEROID BELT,
INSIDE ASTEROID LISTENING POST BRAVO
LIEUTENANT PAUL KARST
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“It’s been nearly half an hour now and we’re getting nowhere!” Paul shouted, aware that his temper had finally reached the end phase of an ever-so-slow boil.
“Just pick an option, guys, please!” Hamilton griped from his seated position on the ground. The way he kept opening his huge hands before snapping them into fists was disconcerting to say the least. We've gotta solve this bullshit before we start turning on each other.
“I’m telling you, splicing into that console is a bad idea. I’m begging you not to give that order, Paul, please! It won’t work; we need to find a different way through, please.” Estefani stared up at him, pleading through her helmet faceplate.
What the hell do I do, creepy? I know she’s right, it’s a dumb, risky idea, but what other plan do we have? I wonder how Lance’s team is faring right now…
At last... our wisdom you seek... your musings spark thoughts of an… interesting alternative path…. Have you heard of… astral projection?
Yes, but I’ve never been successful at it. I had shitty at remote viewing and empathic sensitivity scores, too, but that's hardly uncommon with telekinetics. Why do you ask?
We are an amalgam… of self-aware astral beings… We can… borrow your body’s personal electromagnetic field… shed a portion of ourselves… and return with news… Separate… Reintegrate… Decide… Act…
Very well, I see no other choice here, do it.
You will feel a burning sensation… Normally our vibrational attunement is off by one degree... so as to save you from this.... a perfect attunement is now required.... be strong, stay silent... it will pass….
Paul grit his teeth and had the presence of mind to disable his helmet speakers as he fought to keep his mouth shut through the pain of every nerve in his body lighting off at once. The overwhelming sensation was worse in his forehead, as he felt his NPCS begin to heat up, raising the specter of an all new threat. Brain boil on mission was unacceptable in a command role. As suddenly as it had manifested, likewise so did it pass. Paul took a deep breath of relief and noticed that he felt lighter, somehow, than he had felt in recent memory.
We are still here…. The apportionment now sails the primordial seas… we are eager to see their return… soul of the flesh… souls of the spirits… a union of opposites… chasing the spiral ascent… a new way to ascend the middle path revealed… Remember… Separate… Reintegrate… Decide… Act…
What in the ever living fuck are you talking about? WHY DO YOU NEVER SPEAK PLAINLY TO ME?!?
WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT?!?!
Integration… Purification…. Knowledge… Union… Power… Ascension.... Precisely that which you asked for… Is precisely that… which you shall now receive… Together we shall be infinitely greater... the world will bow to your power.... We... have foreseen it... thus shall it come to pass...
What if I want out?
Impossible… a bargain has been struck… our word is sacrosanct…our will absolute... we will not be denied… you will honor your word,... or we shall break your mind and possess your body… Our kingdom awaits... we need only a suitable vessel...
A shiver ran down Paul’s spine. Just what had he gotten himself into? How would he actually be able to get himself out when the time came?
I can hear you... always… your innermost secret thoughts.... there is no hope to hide from us…. take heart in the protections granted.... by the terms of the pact... return and stay faithful on the path.... all will be forgiven... the blessings shall be magnified at harvest.... a small price to be paid... for such a bounty laid at your feet...
A wave of firehose euphoria flooded his mind, nearly overwhelming his senses. He fought with all his might to avoid blacking out in the face of the neurochemical onslaught as he staggered slightly.
I surrender! Make... it... stop... We can still.... work... together!
Your wisdom... is commendable.... Together... we will be strong... Together... we shall ascend the middle path.... we shall be perfected together in glory.... together we shall be as Gods... Soon the apportionment shall return... with the answers we seek... be not afraid, but instead rejoice... the hour of our ascension... is near at hand...
This had better work... Paul thought, as the awful weight of his choices threatened to crush him. This had better be worth it....
Instead of an answer, he heard only the laughter of a multitude of deep voices all around him and even reverberating inside his skull.
What have I done....?