Ok, this is my first Artemis Fowl fanfic so please be kind. Reviews are very much appreciated. It might be a while until I next update as I'm really busy with uni at the moment.
So please R & R!
Enjoy x
Captain Holly Short sat back from her desk and rubbed her tired eyes. She glanced at the large moonomiter at the far end of the open plan office, just visible over the top of her cubicle partitions. 3.45 am human time, she had been typing up reports for nearly eight hours. At the other end of the office the automatic doors slid open and Foaly appeared. He trotted straight past her cubicle, down the length of the office and disappeared around the corner. Holly frowned. It was very unlike Foaly not to stop and chat, or at least say hello. Sighing she stood up, stretched and made her way down the office to get something to eat before the canteen closed. As she came adjacent to the commanding officers corridor a slight gust of wind made her stop and turn. Private Chix Verbil was hovering nervously outside Commander Root's office an incident report in his hands.
"Chix?"
Chix looked down at her chewing his lip,
"Oh hello Holly"
No compliments or sweet talk today, thought Holly, something must be really worrying the normally amorous sprite.
"Whats wrong Chix? Are you ok?"
Chix was eyeing the report in his green hands, amber eyes wide, brow creased with concern.
"Chix!"
The sprite jumped, hovering slightly higher,
"What! What?" he yelped clutching the red bound report to his chest,
Holly put her hands on her hips,
"Chix come down here so I can talk to you properly"
Chix nodded and made a visible effort to calm down, his wing beats slowed and he descended to just above the floor, the toes of his boots brushing the carpet tile.
"Good, now what wrong?"
"There was a situation at E1 this morning"
"What situation?"
Captain Trouble Kelp appeared next to Holly, a stack of paper work in his arms. Chix suddenly looked haunted, his wing beats speeding up slightly,
"Not good, not good at all, it was cold and dark and..."
Holly opened her mouth to try and calm the sprite when Root's door banged open. Chix shot skywards in fright, banging his head on a florescent light strip, knocking a ceiling tile loose and dropping the report at Root's feet. Holly managed to side step the falling ceiling tile but the sudden gust of wind had blown Trouble's paperwork all over the corridor. Holly and Trouble snapped to attention while paper work fluttered about them, dancing in the swirls and eddies from Chix who was still up on the ceiling. Root glared at them all, opened his mouth to say something then sighed. Picking up the report, he glanced at Holly and Trouble,
"You two better come in" he said, then reached up and grabbed Chix by the ankle, dragging the sprite through the doorway.
Foaly was already in the Commander's office, gaze focused on the footage playing on the wall screens. Holly recognised it as CCTV footage from E1. Root walked to his desk dragging Chix behind him like a balloon. He poured something purple into a glass then, instead of coercing the sprite down from the ceiling he bodily shoved him into a chair and pressed the glass into his hand.
"Drink" he grunted and Chix swallowed the liquid in one mouthful then pulled a face. Root went behind his desk and sat down, running a hand through his hair while Holly and Trouble stood either side of Chix's chair.
"Foaly, clue them in" said Root starting to flick through the incident report. The centaur turned from the screens,
"Ok...this morning we had a systems breach at E1"
Holly started,
"A systems breach?"
Foaly nodded glumly,
"Yep...the power went out, complete blackout...still out as it happens...anyway the command team up there indicated a full evac just encase it was anything to do with the mud men"
Foaly paused and pursed his lips thoughtfully,
"I hear a 'but' coming on" said Trouble, Foaly nodded,
"Before they could evac something downed the majority of the staff up there, luckily no tourists...to early, anyway the lights went out, the communications array went down and when they sent out runners to relay messages" he looked pointedly at Chix, who was starting to fidget, "They found around 12 officers unconscious...not a mark on them..all in a coma now, not dead but non responsive"
"So who do we think is responsible?" asked Holly. Root cut in,
"That's the problem, no trace of anyone or anything getting into the terminal, whatever it was wiped the system, no records nothing, the whole network up there is blank", the Commander's eyes narrowed,
"What is it Chix?"
Chix's wings threatened to unfold but Trouble grasped his shoulder, pulling him back so the sprite's wings were trapped between his torso and the back of the chair,
"Th-th-there was so-something up-p there C-c-commander" he stammered, his amber eyes glazing over in fear,
"What was it Chix?"
Chix swallowed hard,
"I don't know...it...it was big, I think and black...but it didn't look solid...like a ghost" Chix started to tremble,
"A ghost with red eyes"
"But there's nothing on the tape" said Foaly,
for a moment Chix looked defiant,
"I know what I saw...it was there...honestly!"
Holly patted his shoulder,
"Its ok Chix we believe you"
Chix looked up at her and she smiled, Root stood up and paced behind his desk,
"Right, the terminal is in lock down, powers out, no readings" he paused, chewing the end of his cigar,
" I want a insertion team to go up there with some techies and get the place up and running, flush out whatever in there, contain it or if necessary kill it, if it exposes the terminal we're done for"
Chix shot out of his chair, wings flaring out behind him, knocking Trouble sideways,
"I'm not going back up there Commander, I'm not, no, no way, fire me, demote me, shoot me I don't care but I'm not going back up there no way, no how, no no no!"
Holly reached for him but Chix shied away, almost tripping over Trouble, who was in the process of getting up,
"Chix calm down" Holly soothed "its ok"
"No" whined Chix, "no no no no no..."
He pressed himself against the wall and slowly slid to the floor. He wrapped his wings around himself in a protective cocoon and rocked slowly back and forth, his quiet whimpers punctuated by a whispered mantra of 'no'.
The four other occupants of the room stared down at him in astonishment.
"Foaly" said Root quietly,
"Get these two kitted up, alert the techies and put a retrieval team on stand by" he glanced at Chix,
"And get a medic down here"
"Yes Sir"
Foaly slipped out of the door. Holly looked at Trouble, he caught the look and threw her a reassuring smile, but his deep purple eyes betrayed his true feelings. He was worried and when Captain Trouble Kelp, the most gung-ho officer in the LEP it must be bad. In the corner Chix started to cry.