Twenty-three
Prison Complex
Northeast of Val-kyre City
26 July 2017
The group moved back into the relative safety of prison. They could hold out for only a short time, however. After all, prisons were designed to keep people from breaking out, not in. Adrian took note of the presence of He-man and his sister when he entered the command center, and dismissed them even faster.
After being formally introduced to the sixth Guardian, Silvara gathered everyone around the holographic table. "So far, Senator Bregata is being quiet about what's happening out here. Once it gets out, I expect she will explain the destruction away as a simple live fire exercise that got a little carried away." She looked pointedly at Adrian, who shrugged his shoulders in response. Repressing a slight smile, the Queen Mother continued, "It won't take them long to get more drones out here. We need to be long gone by then."
"How long?" Hammond asked.
"Several hours at best," Silvara answered, grimly.
"Our aircraft are disabled or destroyed," Graza pointed out. "The assault rovers are functional, but we would never make the city before aerial reconnaissance picked us up."
"We need a place to go that no one knows about," Jo-jo added. "I presume all of your bunkers are known?"
Silvara smiled knowingly. "There are a few that are off the grid. Old outdated bunkers not worth upgrading were taken out of service and removed from the registry. Commander Harana and I made sure that several were secretly upgraded and left as untraceable as possible."
Sera and Anyssa exchanged surprised looks. "Where is the nearest one?" Anyssa asked.
"West side of the city. Secondary access is through a personnel tunnel hidden in an equipment depot."
"Cute," Markson commented. "But how the hell do we get out of here without anyone knowing about it?"
Silvara activated the holo-table. She brought up a three-dimensional wireframe map of the prison complex. A flat blueprint map scrolled across the table surface. "The power generators at the bottom of the structure. Only maintenance teams are allowed down there. The elevators from the surface can access it." She pointed to the pair of tunnels leading away from the lowest chamber. "The crews enter and exit through these tunnels. One is for personnel while the other is large enough for rovers to traverse three abreast. That's how we get out."
Brad frowned. "What are the odds that someone is guarding the other end?"
"One hundred percent," the warden answered. "Under normal conditions with a full staff, guards are stationed at both ends to prevent escapes."
"Well, we know this end isn't guarded, so we'll have to scout the other end," Harana observed. She looked pointedly at Adrian and the Sorceress.
"I think we are about to be volunteered," Sorceress said evenly.
"Definitely," Adrian agreed.
"Okay," Harana said with a shrug. "Show me another duo who can do the things you two can and I'll volunteer them, instead."
"What do you need?" Sorceress sighed.
"A quick way to get the rovers down to the tunnels, for starters. The lift can handle heavy loads, but it moves slowly," Haranna explained. "Then I would like for you and Adrian to use your particular talents to scout the far end of the tunnels, and neutralize anyone on guard duty." She knew full well what she was asking, and knew the pair would do it without unnecessarily harming anyone unlucky enough to be on station.
The tunnel could be opened on the prison side from the command center, but the other end was another matter. Adrian said Hawk would have to follow along at a safe distance and open the hatches when required.
Captain Graza's squad plus Commander Harana would follow in the personnel tunnel. Any confrontation would go a little smoother if Val-kyrie dealt with Val-kyrie. The rest would travel in the two assault rovers.
Since the Queen Mother was already out of sight, it was decided that she would remain so until the time was right to show herself. Unfortunately, that also went for Sera and Anyssa. Once inside the bunker, they would have nearly unlimited access to any and all information and intelligence systems in order to formulate a strategy to prevent a civil war. Silvara also needed to know what was happening in space. While she trusted Commander Fontaine implicitly, Silvara preferred that any order for one battlestar to fire on another to come from her. She would rather shoulder the burden of ordering any opening shots of a civil war than let a trusted friend do it.
The Sorceress said she could open a portal to get the rovers down to the bottom level, but she needed to be down there in order to judge the distance properly. She intended to open the portal in the wall opposite the maintenance tunnel to ensure there was enough room. Harana led Adrian, the Sorceress and Sonya to the lower level, since her authorization would be required to access the chamber. The others returned to the surface to board and prep the rovers.
Lieutenant Floran would drive the first machine with Silvara, General Hammond, Captain Majourny, Colonel Markson, Sera, Brad and Jeromy. The remaining people would ride in the second rover, driven by Farina, along with He-man and She-ra. Markson pitied anyone riding with that pair, but there was no time to dwell on it. There were bigger issues to deal with.
Jake and Brad used the battle forms of Gatling Arm and Claw to drag the inner and outer cargo doors out of the way. While Floran and Farina performed the prep-op inspections on the war machines, the others cleared the area in front of the Ladyhawke's open cargo hold.
Sera and her mother had a new appreciation for the power of a Guardian. Knowing the theoretical capabilities from design schematics was one thing. Seeing what those machines can do after a thousand years of evolution was something else. Silvara shuddered to think what would happen if the Guardians ever decided to supplant Horde Prime; she doubted that there was anything that could stop them.
"We're ready," Jake announced over the com link to Falcon.
"Standby," the Sorceress replied.
Down on the lowest level, the Sorceress judged the dimensions of the main access chamber to be more than adequate at one hundred feet long by one hundred fifty feet wide, despite the less than sufficient lighting. The wall opposite the freight and personnel corridors had a large enough surface area. She intended to make the portal in the wall to give the rover drivers as much room as possible.
Sorceress stood with her back to the thick shield doors. She had the helmet open and retracted down into the collar, a com mic and ear bud plugged into her right ear. Sorceress pressed the activation stud on the earpiece. "Get ready," she advised.
Sorceress raised her arms, fingers set, and channeled the magic energies all life in the universe radiated. A white auraradiated from her hands from wrist to fingertip. The surface of the wall changed from the dull gray paint used everywhere in the facility to the characteristic black void filled with streaks of yellow-orange lights radiating out from the center. Normally, portals took an oval form, which was the easiest to make. Using surfaces like a mirror, door, or a wall was even easier.
On cue, the rover vehicles emerged from the field of streaks into the chamber. It would be a disconcerting thing to stand on one side of the portal, say, on the surface where the large square field had formed, stick one's head through, and be looking at the chamber over a thousand meters underground. It was the only real way of being in two places at once and survive. The other methods were very terminal – and sometimes messy.
The portal vanished as soon as the rovers were safely through.
Commander Haranna and Captain Grazza's squad took up position by the personnel door. The main door could be activated remotely from inside a rover, so there was no need to open the main door until they were ready. Haranna punched in the code that opened the personnel hatch, the barrier snapping upward in an instant. Graza's squad moved in, laser weapons raised; after a full minute, Graza appeared and waved Adrian and the Sorceress forward.
The tunnel was wide enough for several people to walk abreast of each other. The ceiling was filled wall to wall with wiring conduits and pipes running the length of the tunnel, yellow lights casting pools of light every ten meters. Islands of brightness in a canvas of inky blackness that threatened to swallow the remaining light.
"You know," Adrian commented after seeing the tunnel, "these kinds of things are only supposed to appear in horror movies."
"For all you know, you're in one now," Sorceress proposed. "You just don't know it." She started the long walk down the foreboding tunnel.
"If this is what it'd be like to be married to you, I'll happily stay a bachelor," Adrian shot back blithely.
Sorceress tried to nail him with "The Look," but he had already transformed into the Alien form from Cameron's classic movie, and tore off into the shadows. She had to settle for pegging the snickering Val-kyrie, who promptly sobered up. Sorceress deactivated the armor – reducing it to the six-pointed medallion on a heavy silver chain – transformed into Zoar, and flew off in pursuit of the creature.
Chuckling quietly, Haranna closed the hatch, put a laser bolt into the control panel, and then the five Val-kyrie followed at a steady pace designed to conserve energy.
No one noticed that when the Sorceress had transformed into Zoar, the feathers were not decorated in the usual orange, white and blue scheme. She had been colored in black and grey matching the jumpsuit uniform.
"Are you sure those two didn't run off and get married when we weren't looking?" a perplexed Colonel Markson asked General Hammond as the pair waited near their rover.
"I'm beginning to wonder," Hammond admitted. "Still, I'd rather have them on our side."
Markson grunted in agreement.
Zoar landed on a support beam thirty yards short of the tunnel's end. She moved stealthily along the pipes and conduits being careful not to scrap a talon on metal. Sharp eyes tried to pierce the darkness ahead, but could not pick out anyone who might be lying in wait. Although she couldn't see him, Zoar sensed Adrian close by.
The falcon edged closed to the destination, coming out into an opening where equipment was once stored during the tunnel construction. She still could not sense anyone close at hand. However, she did sense something else close by. Extremely close. Zoar snapped her head around the right – and squawked in fright.
The alien had snuck up on her without tickling her senses and had gotten its head right up to her.
Thanks for the heart attack, Sorceress growled telepathically.
Just keeping you on your talons, was Adrian's whimsical reply. He uncoiled himself from the crawlspace and dropped to the floor.
Commander Harana and Captain Graza's remaining squad made good time crossing the four kilometers of tunnel in just under an hour. They moved with the confidence that the advanced scouts would have stopped them if there were a problem at the other end.
Curiously, as they approached to within thirty meters of the corridor's end, the area was bathed in more darkness than there should have been. Harana discovered that the last light was out. Activating the light mounted under the barrel of her laser rifle, the commander cautiously crept along the left wall under the watchful eyes of Graza's squad.
There was no sign of Adrian or the Sorceress, not that that fact was significant. The Sorceress could shroud them in an invisibility field. They could be hiding up in the conduits. Or the Sorceress could have tried using magic to open the personnel hatch.
Harana swept her rifles light back and forth across the ceiling looking for a sign. Harana stopped abruptly when her right boot crunched something on the floor. She snapped the light down briefly to see a field of shatter glass. Snapping the rifle back up, she quickly found the smashed light fixture. Harana relaxed just a bit and turned to the face the wall. Instead, she came face to face with an unholy creature that – thankfully – did not really exist in nature. The warrior woman gave a started cry, stumbled backward several steps, and just barely suppressed the instinctive urge to open fire.
The alien stood very still until the commander had recovered, then transformed back into Adrian Cobretti clad in War Wing's combat form. The Sorceress joined her companion in the small pool of light cast by the rifle light.
"I can only presume people hate it when you do that," Harana said evenly. She waved Graza's team forward.
"You should feel honored. Few survive such close encounters," Sorceress replied. "I have sensed four distinct presences on the other side of the wall. Falcon's passive sensors have detected a large chamber beyond this wall. What is it? We cannot have reached the other end of tunnel so soon."
Harana shook her head. "This is only the midpoint. I am surprised that there is a squad in place, though. Didn't expect that."
"Well, we'll just have to secure the chamber," Graza said. "Subtlety is called for."
"I can do subtle," Adrian declared. "I'm good at subtle."
The Sorceress blew out an exasperated breath and rolled her eyes.
The rovers cautiously approached the midpoint chamber at a slow crawl. The blast doors were open and Captain Graza waved the machines through. Once through, the doors where closed and locked behind them. After a brief conference, the next set of doors was opened. These were closed and locked along with the personnel hatches to make pursuit harder.
Silvara had no doubts that Bregata would send a team through the tunnel to hunt them down, so why make it easy? The Sleep spell the Sorceress used on the squad guarding the midpoint was also designed to wipe out short-term memories. That way, the warriors would not be able to report what vehicles Silvara and company were using to escape, or how many.
Silvara need not have worried. Bregata's unit arrived hours after the Queen Mother had made her escape. The Senator and General Calla walked among the ruins of the battle drones while more units secured the prison complex below the surface.
"What is going on here, Senator?" the general demanded. "You say the claims of the so-called Guardians over our tactical channel is false, and yet, the evidence speaks for itself." She waved a hand at the devastation around them. "Six Bladewing fighters destroyed plus Commander Haran's personal fighter, and this bounty hunter ship. The total drones destroyed numbers in the hundreds along with four assault units. The tech team that developed those monsters are not going to be pleased when they hear how easily those where taken down. The only saving grace in all of this is that all six of my pilots survived. One was even saved by your 'false' Guardian!"
Bregata feigned listening to the ranting general while taking in the destruction around her. It unnerved her to see it with her own eyes. General Calla was starting to have her doubts about Bregata's claims of false Guardians brought back by Commander Fontaine. The amount of firepower needed to destroy the drone force here, especially the assault drones, was incredible. They had already remotely viewed the security camera footage, but that paled in comparison to being on site. The senator couldn't keep a lid on this for much longer. The pilots were under quarantine until the crisis was over. All gun camera footage had been locked away. If word of the war book hit on the battlesuit called War Wing got out, Bregata's plan would fail.
It might still fail, but at least she still had a chance to salvage something. Maybe with the help of her mysterious, red-eyed friends, the coupe could still succeed.
A lieutenant emerged from the prison and hastened over to her commander. She saluted smartly, snapping her right arm horizontal across her chest. "General, we found the Warden and her few staff members locked away in a cell. The Warden has no idea where the Queen Mother and the other prisoners have gone." She pressed her right hand to the tactical com bud in the right ear. "Report from the maintenance level. It appears that the vehicle and personnel doors were activated several hours ago. However, the control panels on this side are disabled. The squad reports that they can bypass them, but it'll take time."
Calla nodded. "Get those doors open as soon as possible and send a detachment of drones into both tunnels."
The lieutenant saluted and hurried away to carry out the order.
"What are you thinking?" Bregata asked keeping her voice neutral. The woman was having enough doubts about this whole situation. No need to force her into making up her mind about the validity of all this. Yet.
"Their craft are destroyed. Walking back to the city is not an option. Since there was no indication on the security tapes that they left on the surface, there is only one other option," Calla explained.
Bregata got it. "The maintenance tunnels servicing the utilities at the bottom of the complex."
Calla nodded. "Correct." She waved a hand at the Ladyhawke. "This bounty hunter ship is a converted cargo freighter. A light-class freighter, if I'm not mistaken. It would be capable of carrying several vehicles to be used in travelling the eight kilometers of tunnel between here and the surface exit. From there, they can enter the city unchallenged, if they had the right vehicle. I am presuming that they do."
Bregata frowned. "How did they get down there? There was no evidence that the elevators were used. I don't see any indications of vehicle traffic out here."
Calla pointed out the cleared space next to the converted freighter. The vehicles that had been brought did indeed exit the ship. She couldn't guess how they were moved to the lowest level, but the move did happen. Calla was sure of it.
Bregata suddenly realized how that might have been accomplished, though she dared not say anything. She recalled the report on the Guardians indicating that the Sorceress of Grayskull was one of them. Opening a magic portal to the bottom level of the prison would be child's play for her. The senator suddenly felt things starting to spiral out of control again.
The revolution had to be an ordered one. If it spiraled out of control, the Val-kyrie race could be irreparably destroyed. Bregata wanted to take control of a strong race of warrior women. Not a shattered one. She did not want this to turn into a shooting war. They had to find the Queen Mother and her allies before that happened.
They had to!
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