Chapter IV: Storming the Gate
Cinna finished putting on the finishing touches, and stood back to survey his work. Once he'd done so, he directed Katniss over to the mirror to examine herself. She still looked like someone from the seam, but the false depth-perception effects that Cinna had created altered her features such that no one would be able to recognize her.
"Cinna, you're a genius!" beamed Katniss.
Cinna smiled. "You should see Effie."
"You mean she actually looks like a normal person?" guessed Katniss.
"That's right."
"Oh, gosh, this I have to see to believe!"
Cinna led Katniss into Effie's prep room, where she found a woman with light skin that looked like it had seen just a hint of sun, and blonde hair pulled back into a simple pony tail, clad in a white Peacekeeper uniform.
"This is horrendous!" protested Effie. "I look like a common beat-cop!"
"I think that was the general idea," said Katniss.
"Do you have any idea how much I spent on those skin treatments?"
"Oh, yes," taunted Katniss. "You'd have made a lovely cadaver!"
Effie wrinkled her nose at Katniss, eliciting a laugh.
"Seriously," said Katniss. "If you think this is such a horrible idea, why did you agree to it in the first place?"
"Honestly?"
Katniss nodded.
Effie sighed. "Even if I'd turned all of you in, my life would be over. Their aren't too many career options for disgraced Games consultants, you know. I don't agree with what you're trying to do, but getting out and seeing the galaxy is vastly preferable to the alternative."
"Well, if you're going to play along," admonished Cinna, "I'd suggest you work on losing your accent. Peacekeepers don't talk like that."
"Hmph!", Effie responded indignantly.
Katniss found herself once again in the communications room aboard Destiny, where she once again saw Colonel Young's smiling face. Before she could greet him, however, the hatch opened, and Master Sergeant Greer's bullet-riddled corpse came flying through the door. Colonel Young drew his sidearm, and let forth a warrior's cry as he shot at Greer's assailants, only to be cosigned to the same fate by their sub-machine guns.
The two Peacekeepers trained their weapons on Katniss, but held their positions. President Snow entered the room and took his place among them. Behind him came Clove, the tribute who'd have killed her in the Games if not for Thresh's intervention, who dove across the table and knocked Katniss to the ground.
President Snow laughed loudly as Clove began slashing her face. She made her final move to slit Katniss' throat when...
Katniss awoke with a start. She couldn't tell what time of day it was, since the train was still underground. Still, she decided it was close enough to morning that she could conclude her final night aboard the train. Despite it having been quite a comfortable place to live, she looked forward to leaving it behind for good.
After touching up her makeup, she donned her Peacekeeper uniform once again and exited her cabin, where she immediately found Colonel Cray.
"Oh, good," greeted Cray. "I was just about to rouse you."
Katniss nodded, and slipped past him. As she exited the train, she could hear him knocking on Effie's door in the background.
"Rise and shine, doll-face," called Cray.
A moment later, the door slid open, with Effie clad in a robe.
"Could I have few minutes to freshen up?" requested Effie.
"Make it quick," granted Cray. "We ship out in thirty minutes."
Katniss watched as her train (the real one, not the duplicate the Knights had blown up) pulled out of the bunker. Right behind it came a standard Peacekeeper troop carrier. Katniss fought the involuntary reflex of punching out the Peacekeeper who bound her hands with nylon straps.
As she expected, Katniss found the inside of the train a good deal more modest. A row of simple metal benches ran the length of the car on either side. The Peacekeeper directed Katniss to her seat, where he additionally secured her hands with a pair of shackles, with additional cuffs around her ankles to secure her legs. The Peacekeepers guarding her and the other "prisoners" took their seats on the opposite bench just as Colonel Cray came through the car to make his inspection.
Cray walked by slowly, giving cursory nods to each prisoner and guard. He paused for a moment in front of Katniss.
"It's not so bad if you don't struggle," he said softly before moving along.
In spite of everything, Katniss wasn't entirely convinced this whole thing wasn't some elaborate hoax, and that her final destination wasn't a gas chamber somewhere in the Capitol. She decided she wouldn't be fully convinced until she stepped through the Stargate herself.
Despite losing all track of time due to the train's complete lack of windows, and her limbs going numb, Katniss felt no urge to sleep. For this, she was grateful, as wasn't sure she could handle another nightmare just now.
The train having made several fuel stops, Katniss began to doubt it would ever actually reach its destination. She knew, however, the time had come when the center door opened. This would be the last thing she saw for quite awhile, as the guards began placing shrouds over the prisoners' heads. Still, Katniss attempted to keep mental track of the number of steps, and the number and direction of the turns, they had taken. She continued going over it in her head as the guard shoved her into a holding cell as he removed the shroud.
Katniss had cellmates, but no one she recognized. She suspected this was to avoid arousing suspicion in the unlikely event that someone had managed to identify them. At least, she hoped this was the reason.
Nothing to do now but wait, she thought to herself.
Colonel Cray made his way up to the Command Offices, where the General awaited him. Cray snapped a quick salute, which the General acknowledged with only a nod.
"Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in, Cray?" the General asked rhetorically.
"Yes, sir," Cray answered.
"I seriously doubt that you do," continued the General. "But we'll get to that presently. Colonel, do you know why the Peacekeepers are so effective as a force?"
"Well, sir," ventured Cray, "We're highly-trained; have the highest-ideals of law and order and the good of the Federation in mind."
"That's certainly part of it," granted the General, "But more than that, we serve as a constant and ever-present reminder of who exactly is in charge."
"Yes, sir," acknowledged Cray.
"The presence of certain...activities, Colonel, is counter-productive to that goal," continued the General. "Activities, such as moonshining, black marketeering, poaching, and of course...taking advantage of young ladies."
Cray gulped, thinking he may very well have walked straight into his own funeral pyre.
"I cannot deny any of that, sir," confessed Cray.
"Indeed," said Cray with a nod. "You would be foolish to do so. Don't misunderstand me: Justice will be served, and for you it will be swift, harsh, and public."
"Yes, sir."
"And yet, I sense that you are not completely incompetent, and that you don't wish to leave my office without elaborating on the report your underling handed me before I locked him up."
"No, sir," answered Cray. "The prisoners I brought with me were members of an underground faction known as the Knights of Destiny."
The General laughed. "Such delusions of grandeur I've never heard!"
"Yes, sir," Cray agreed. "They believe the government of Panem is part of some vast alien conspiracy, whose duty they take upon themselves to overthrow. Despite their delusions, I believe them to be highly dangerous. We confiscated a piece of technology from them."
"You mean this device?" asked the General, indicating the briefcase on his desk.
"Yes, sir."
The General nodded and began to disengaged the latches.
"I wouldn't do that, sir," cautioned Cray. "That could be dangerous."
The General chuckled. "The device has been through the scanner. The techs assure me there's nothing hazardous inside."
The General opened the case, and surveyed its contents, somewhat curious as why the rebels had left the device on.
"I suppose they think these stones are some sort of alien technology," guessed the General.
"So they say, sir," confirmed Cray.
"They are quite lovely," noted the General, reaching down to examine one of the stones. As he did so, he paused for a moment, then closed the case again.
"Guards," called the General, to which two MPs responded immediately.
"I'm placed Colonel Cray under arrest. Escort him to a holding cell."
"Yes, sir," the guards responded in unison, taking Cray out of the office.
After they'd left, the General switched on the computer console on his desk. Seeming confused by the device at first, he quickly gain mastery of the interface, and navigated to the surveillance system.
"Suckers," the General muttered to himself, grinning as only Eli Wallace could.
"Alrighty, then. Ladies and gentlemen of the Capitol, a little security theater for your viewing pleasure," Eli muttered himself as he rearranged video footage using the touch screen interface. After making a few more changes, Eli summoned an aide, who took the suitcase and followed him down to the sub-levels.
Only when they had reached the holding cells did the aide begin to question the General's motives.
"What are you doing, sir?" demanded the aide.
"Nothing you need concern yourself about, Sergeant," said Eli as manipulated a control panel.
As the holding cells slid open, the aide drew his sidearm and pointed it at Eli.
"Step away from the panel, sir!" ordered the aid.
Eli put his hands in the air. Before the aide could reach for his radio, however, Katniss Everdeen sprang forth from her cell, administering a flying tackle. Eli hit the deck just in time to avoid the bullet accidentally fired by the aide. Satisfied that he was unconscious, Peeta dragged the man into a cell.
"Eli Wallace," greeted Eli for the benefit of those looking at him and seeing the General.
"I figured," replied Katniss. "Why the hell did you bring him down here?"
"Command officers don't carry luggage," supplied Cray. "They have underlings for that."
"My thoughts exactly," agreed Eli.
"Could we get on with this?" interjected Haymitch. "I'm sure there's more where he came from."
"Oh, right," said Eli.
After entering a few commands on a control panel, Eli prompted Cray to place his hand on the panel, which rewarded him with a beeping sound and a green light.
"Congratulations, Colonel" said Eli, "You now have an all-access, backstage pass to Peacekeeper Central."
"Excellent," approved Cray. "Let's move out."
"Oh, Katniss," added Eli, opening up the case. "Vanessa might be useful here."
"Right," agreed Katniss, touching the stone.
A quick look between Eli and Vanessa being sufficient acknowledgment, they followed the rest of the group.
The Knights moved through the base with incredible ease, the ratings making way and saluting as they passed.
"I have to say, Eli," commented James, "I'm impressed."
"Wish I could take credit for it," replied Eli. "I thought for sure we'd have to fight our way up. I never dreamed the son-of-a-bitch would want to inspect the merchandise himself."
The group made their way to the armory, where they proceeded to don body armor and arm themselves with whatever they could find.
"I'm surprised they don't have some kind of code to go with the biometric," observed James.
"Oh, the token changes every thirty minutes," explained Eli. "So I just memorized the cipher."
"I'm guessing they won't just let us traipse through the base armed to the teeth," predicted James.
"Right," confirmed Cray. "We're going to have to shoot our way the rest of the way in."
The Knights actually managed to make it down to the R&D sub-level before being challenged.
"Stop where you are!" ordered a guard. Without a word, James opened fire, taking the guard down. Cray's subordinate Sergeant Darius did the same as he took point. As they reached their destination, they managed to seal the door at either end of the corridor before entering the bay where they hoped to find the Stargate.
Before following them into the room, James affixed the Peacekeeper-equivalent of C4 to the walls at either end of the corridor, then sealed the bay door behind her.
"Fire in the hole!" she cried as she detonated the explosives.
"You sealed us in?" asked Peeta.
James nodded. "There's only two ways we're getting out of here: Through the Stargate, or in a body bag."
In the center of the room, they found a large box filled with sand. After digging a few inches deep, they found a metal ring with inscriptions on it.
"That's it," declared James. "Let's get it set up."
After a few minutes with the entire team working together, the millenia-old device stood tall and proud, needing only one thing before being ready to usher travelers across the sky.
"There should be a main power conduit behind that wall," directed Eli. "Wait for my signal."
Eli punched a few commands into the control panel. "Should be safe now."
Several of the Knights assisted in breaking down the wall to find the necessary power cables. After verifying that they were, in fact, dead, they disconnected the leads and began attaching them to the Stargate. As they did so, Eli continued to manipulate the panel.
"What are you doing?" asked Haymitch.
"Drawing this amount of power off the grid is bound to attract attention," explained Eli. "I'm creating a few random malfunctions to throw them off the scent."
"Won't they find those dead bodies first?" argued Haymitch.
"Quite possibly," granted Eli. "I've sealed off this entire section, but eventually, they'll figure out something's wrong and override my commands. I'm just trying to buy us a little bit of time."
"How much time?"
"At these power levels, it'll take about two hours for the Stargate to charge up."
"Two hours?" reacted Haymitch."Are you fraking nuts?"
"Oh, it gets better," continued Eli. "Once we establish a wormhole, we'll only have about ninety seconds to get through."
"Fantastic!"
Some time later, the Knights readied themselves as they began to hear the rubble being cleared. Eli tried to lock them out again, only to find that his credentials had been revoked.
"That's it," declared Eli. "I've done all I can do. Let's just hope this works."
Just then, the gate made a loud clank.
"Ring lock has disengaged," announced Peeta.
"That means the gate is powered," observed Eli. "Dial it up!"
Eli left the actual soldiers to handle the guards and assisted in moving the massive inner ring, bringing it to a stop at the first symbol.
"Chevron one is locked," announced Eli.
"They're getting louder," reported James.
"Chevron two locked," announced Eli.
"Okay, you can stop doing that," admonished James.
Around the time the fourth chevron engaged, James began to hear footsteps in the corridor.
"They're through!" she announced.
After thinking for a moment, James produced a small laser pistol from among her armaments and cauterized the control panel.
"Wish I'd thought of that," lamented Eli.
James instinctively took cover, certain that they planned to blow the door. The door blasted open just as the sixth chevron engaged. She continued firing upon the Peacekeepers as they filed through the door.
"Chevron seven locked!" called Eli.
"Get down!" yelled James.
A grenade came flying through the door, but was caught by the unstable vortex that emerged from the center of the ring, before settling into a shimmering puddle.
"Move out!" ordered Cray, and the Knights proceeded into the puddle.
James brought up the rear, firing upon the determined-but-foolish guards who continued pouring through the door. As she'd taken down what she thought were the last of them, she suddenly found herself on Destiny.
"Did we just drop out of FTL?" asked James.
"We did," confirmed Sgt. Greer.
Back on earth, Katniss found herself in unfamiliar surroundings. It didn't take long before realizing she needed to proceed through the puddle. Before she could do so, another line of troops made their way in. Knowing that hesitation meant certain death, she pulled the trigger and jumped backwards, taking out her assailants as she passed through the event horizon.
End of Chapter Four