The Matrix: Recursion
Chapter 1: Tunnels
The Zion-bound ship Reliquary sped through the underground tunnels with over a dozen enemy machines (Squids, as they were dubbed) hot on their tail. The ship's tough as nails gunner Alycia, was blasting them with burst after burst from the revolving gun turret when she heard the muffled shout from Abraxis, the captain of the Reliquary; "We're about to fire off the EMP, what's the status back there?"
"What do you think?" Alycia tersely hollered back at the captain in answer, shooting a Squid she heard come a little too close to the bulkhead for her liking.
Up in the cockpit, Abraxis gave a nod to his comrade Fixer. He then leaned back, closing his eyes and bracing himself as he pressed the large red button to his right.
The blue blast radiated out from the cockpit, the ship dropped in altitude and slammed to the ground. Its landing skids held in the impact, but it still slid due to its momentum, slamming through various debris that littered the tunnel's bottom. After what seemed like an eternity, the Reliquary slowed down and slammed into the ruins of another Zion hovercraft, finally stopping in its flight. Silence came back into the tunnel soon after.
At the turret, Alycia gave out a relieved sigh as she heard the machines crash down into the tunnel floor after them. The ship was deathly quiet as she unstrapped herself, put a hand to the wall and reached the ladder to the main deck. She sat at one of the bolted down tables and waited for her crew members to show up. Not a bad run, she thought to herself dryly, wiping her hands of sweat. At least it was better than a few of the others.
No less than a minute had passed before the beam of a flashlight shown into the room, which was followed by the captain, Fixer, and the matrix operator Lindsay.
"The computer's emergency power generators are up and running." She informed Alycia by way of greeting.
"Noted." The dark haired woman replied to the operator, giving a slight nod in the direction of her voice.
Abraxis and Fixer sat opposite to Alycia, while she heard Lindsay take a seat up on her left. "We need to get into the Matrix," The captain began, Alycia concentrated on his familiar gruff voice "Meet up with other Resistance members and inform them of the situation." Alycia was excited about the prospect of entering the Matrix again: She always was. The least of reasons being the combat.
"Small problem captain," Fixer said as if explaining something to a five year old "You know as well as I do they won't risk anyone for a single ship. No rescue mission, not for a minor little crew like us."
Lindsay grabbed Alycia's hand as she saw the woman tense up in the silence that followed Fixer's grimly true proclamation. She knew the one thing the woman hated were silences; the unknown. "We'll worry about that when it comes to it, now won't we?" The operator spoke out, directing it more at the captain than at Fixer.
Abraxis responded with a quick nod of his bald head. "Get it ready." He ordered.
"Yeah, let's go already." Alycia grumbled as she heard the captain and Fixer move into their chairs and waited as Lindsay helped strap them in. Alycia listened and heard as the captain's needle was inserted first. Lindsay reached around her head rest, and then Alycia felt as the needle was shoved up into the port in her skull, her pure white eyes going wide in the glow of the vital monitoring screen.
