Chapter XXIX
O'Malley's dragon had been slain by Red Squad after their arrival at the Colossus Fortress. The facility was destroyed in a massive explosion taking the original Tex with it. Several days had passed and Red Squad was ready to depart to the final fortress O'Malley had on the planet . . .
"Ok, everyone, let's move out," Master Chief said.
The squad stood behind the Chief and watched as he walked into the teleporter . . . and into the wall behind it.
"Ow! What the hell?" the Chief rubbed the front of his helmet where he had hit the wall. "What's going on?"
"O'Malley probably figured out that we hit his other fortresses and blocked off the teleporter at Relic," Tex explained. "Looks like we're walking."
"To an island?" Grif said. "Have fun, kiddos."
"Nobody's walking to the island," the Chief said. "Nobody can walk to the island, because it is an island."
"Wow, thank God you're here, Chief," Grif said sarcastically. "Nobody would have ever thought of that."
"Shut up, Grif," Simmons said. "I, for one, am glad that he pointed that out. Otherwise, you would have tried to walk to it."
"You know what, Simmons, you're right. I would've. And I would've made it too. Everyone knows how divine I am."
"Not funny, Grif," the Chief interrupted. He wasn't a religious man, but mocking any sort of deity went against his policies. You never know when they might pop out of nowhere and smite you.
He looked into the swirling vortex and sighed. There were only two ways to get to the island now that the teleporter option was gone. They could go by sea or by air. A boat would take too long, but air travel would get them shot down. If the aircraft was well-enough armored, however . . .
"Ok, here's the plan; Simmons, get on the horn to command. Tell them we need one of those Albatross-Class transports. See if they can send us any weapons and ammunition too. We're gonna fly to the island, super accurate AD turrets or not. We need to get there as quickly as possible, and a boat would take too long. Get your gear ready, everyone, we're moving out."
O'Malley wasn't in a particularly good mood. He had just received word that his Colossus Fortress had been utterly destroyed. That meant that Tex was killed and his dragon guardian was dead. The beast had been hard to locate and even harder to capture, as it had killed half of the soldiers who attempted to subdue it. The dragon was exclusive to the volcanic regions on the planet and ever since the war reached there, their numbers had decreased. O'Malley was lucky to have caught that one, but he feared he would never get that lucky again. The evil AI looked around through Sarge's eyes as scientists scrambled about moving as quickly as possible in order to finish the room they were in.
"I thought that Burdick fella said the weapon wouldn't be ready for another month," Sarge said. "How are we already at the Control Room phase?"
"We need this facility to be operational, you fool," O'Malley explained. "Once the control room is completed, the super weapon will be much easier to interface. The weapon will be ready to fire as soon as it is added." O'Malley chuckled at the thought of the weapon's activation.
"Ah, I see. That's a very good plan ya got goin there, O'Malley, but what about that other weapon yer thinking about settin loose?"
"I cannot release them until this weapon is ready. According to tests, their intelligence expands at incredible rates. Having them running amok would jeopardize the plan, as they could possibly disable the super weapon . . ."
O'Malley stopped talking as one of the engineers who was working on a display interface cheered. The lights in the room dimmed for several seconds, and then returned to normal. When they came back on, however, so did a massive holographic display of the entire installation. It rotated slowly as if in orbit. The facilities that had been built all along the surface were pointed out by small holographic tabs. Even the groups of personnel were indicated. It worked perfectly.
"Excellent work, my henchmen," O'Malley began. One of the female workers cleared her throat loudly. O'Malley sighed. "And henchwomen. You have been successful, now, teleport yourselves to the Override Key Room and finish with the security devices. We are almost finished."
The personnel in the room activated their portable teleportation generators and were engulfed in rings of golden light. Their bodies were transported instantly through time and space to the room where they began working immediately.
O'Malley took one last look at the holographic display and turned to leave. He reached into a pouch on Sarge's belt and withdrew a small fragment of a crystal. It was glowing red either from the evil O'Malley gave off, Sarge's prior affiliation and current armor color or other causes. The radiation it gave off served several purposes. The most convenient was the fact that it made light speed travel even faster, if that was possible. Where a normal ship would take a week to travel from one side of the galaxy to the other, the crystal allowed the same ship to make the voyage in three and a half days. It was a most useful item. Several more like it had been found and each one was in O'Malley's possession. The crystals served other purposes such as healing wounds, numbing pain, allowing for individual levitation and flight and even natural teleportation. More functions were being discovered on almost a weekly basis, but the research had been stopped when O'Malley discovered what he truly needed from the object; its supernatural powers of amplification. One crystal was divided into eight pieces and a segment was placed into one of the seven installations in order to magnify the power of the super weapon when it fired. Since the crystal fragments were part of a whole, they linked the installations together, which meant that whoever carried the eighth segment could instantly transport themselves to any one of the seven installations. O'Malley held the eighth segment in his hand. While he could transport himself to where he needed to be, he had yet to figure out how to transport other people or objects with him, which meant that he still needed to use ships to carry supplies to his next destination. He activated Sarge's radio and contacted his personal super-carrier/warship.
"Commander Maxis, this is O'Malley. I am coming aboard your vessel. I trust everything is ready?"
"Yes, O'Malley. We have the Rhinoceros aboard as well as the two Blue soldiers you recaptured and all are in Cryogenic Freeze. Wyoming is here also, as you commanded. We are ready to go, sir."
"Excellent, I will be aboard momentarily."
O'Malley cut the signal before the Commander could respond. Sarge held the crystal in his fist and concentrated on the command bridge of the vessel, O'Malley I. A red light engulfed the ex-sergeant and his AI parasite and transported them to the ship.
It had only taken several hours for Red Command to send Red Squad their Albatross-Class transport. It came with a brand new warthog and a fresh supply of weapons and ammo. After everyone took their weapons of choice, the squad boarded the craft and took off towards the island fortress.
To Be Continued
