Chapter 38: Reloaded

It had been a month since they had escaped the chateau and saved Cho Wei from her prison inside the Matrix. They had been spending their time charting corridors and mapping out the sentinel patrols. Only a few days ago, sadly, the Osiris had been destroyed and assumed all hands lost. The entire fleet mourned the loss but there hadn't been much time to spend on mourning. They had received a call for a meeting amongst all the captains in the fleet. Captain Niobe had intercepted the last transmission of the Osiris they were to meet that night. Brandan walked up to the holographic scanner Isaiah sat in front of and looked in. They had been looking for two hours for a secure broadcast point. Something was happening, the machines had stepped up their patrols tenfold rendering their scans for at least the last week useless. Dan was sitting in the pilot's chair with Tabatha as his co-pilot, the stress was showing in both of their features as they continued to search for a safe spot to set down.

"Isaiah do you have anything yet?" asked Dan.

"You would know if I did," answered Isaiah. Brandan watched as the images on Isaiah's holographic scanner changed from several of the usual docking ports. It would be clear one second then a sentinel group would pass through it. "We're not going to make the meeting on time. At this rate we might get there in time for the end." Brandan sat down in a chair behind Dan next to Colin.

"You'll get it, keep looking. We might have to bend the rules a bit," said Brandan. Brandan turned on the secondary scanner to start searching the areas. He quickly found a suitable spot for broadcast but there were several patrols they would have to sneak by to get to it. "Dan I'm sending you guys a course, tread lightly." Brandan entered a few commands and the coordinates were sent to the main pilot's station.

"Captain are you sure? This takes us right through several dense corridors. One slip up and they'll spot us for sure."

"Then sounds like you shouldn't slip up," said Brandan, "In the mean time Colin make sure the guns are ready in case we can't pull through this quietly." Colin tapped in several commands on his key board and a red light started to flash on his console.

"You know they are," said Colin, smirking. Brandan put on a headset to talk to Parker who was in the operator station keeping an eye on the meeting.

"Parker how late are we?" he asked.

"We're only a few minutes late should be fine, they are waiting for Niobe to arrive still," Parker explained. Brandan could hear him typing as he spoke. They didn't want to be any later then they had to be, but they could always count on the fact that the Neb would be later then they were. They watched through the main window of the ship as they proceeded on the course that Brandan had laid out. Dan killed half of the engines to lessen their power output. He didn't want the sentinel squads to pick them up and they had better chances with less power.

"Tab be careful, with the port dorsal engine it's a bit sluggish," he said. They hadn't had a lot of down time to stop and perform maintenance on a lot of their systems, mainly the engines. It hadn't been safe for them to go outside where they'd been. The scanners told them that the air wasn't safe to breath in the corridors they had been mapping.

"I can see that much," she said.

"Keep it down guys," said Brandan. They could see the sentinels a significant distance from them, they clearly hadn't been detected yet. "If you maintain this speed and don't brush up against anything you should pass by them with no problems." Brandan had used the computer to calculate the numbers based on the patrols speed and their current speed and environment. "Parker," Brandan spoke quietly into the headset, "Make sure those terminals are good to go, we'll be parking in a few minutes." The ship slowly eased passed the sentinel patrols and up inside the hole in the wall where they were to set down. "Colin, Tarra you're with me." The three of them stood up and quickly made their way to the broadcast deck, they had to leave immediately if they wanted to make the important part of the meeting.

Isaiah followed them down to the broadcast deck to help them get set up. He watched as the three of them jumped into their seats and strapped in. Parker was staring at the code screen typing in several commands most likely trying to find a place to sit them that wasn't too far. Isaiah stepped over to each of them and jacked them into their broadcast terminals.

"Parker what's taking so long, I thought you had a place to set us down?" asked Brandan, squirming in slight discomfort.

"I did, then the mainline was cut. I've got another place though," explained Parker.

"What cut the line?" asked Tarra.

"Just someone from sewer maintenance." The sewer while unpleasant in thought was a good place for them to meet. They often weren't monitored closely by the agents. "No threat to anyone." Parker typed in a few more quick commands. "Alright hold on tight ladies and gentlemen." Parker hit the enter button on the keyboard sending them into the construct program.

Brandan opened his eyes to the construct program and his phone rang. He took it from his jacket and put it to his ear. He didn't understand why Parker was calling him they were already holding up the meeting.

"Yeah?" he said into the phone.

"I'm just making sure you know I'm loading you into an unguarded parking lot. There will be a man hole right next to you jump into it immediately. The lot is empty." Parker hung up on his end and the lot he spoke of loaded around them, they were standing right next to a phone. It was the middle of the night and the street lights were lit high. They looked around the manhole was only a few feet from them. Colin lifted it up and they jumped down. The fall was farther than they expected as they drifted down a wide-open tube. The three of them focused and fell gracefully to the bottom. Brandan landed and looked around the other two landing shortly after him. He could tell they were close to the meeting spot he could hear Niobe talking. They were at the bottom of a sewer drainage unit. He could see a ladder leading up into a large open pipe, at the other end of the pipe is where the meeting was being held.

"There," said Brandan pointing. The three of them ran and jumped up the ladder and into the pipe. They walked down tunnel keeping a fast pace. As they got closer they could hear the other captains conversing. They stepped into view the room was well lit by several small lights scattered throughout the room. Everyone turned to look at them as they walked in. "Sorry we're late," said Brandan taking a step in and lining up with the other captains. Tarra and Colin stood close by.

"Glad you could join us Brandan," said Soren. Brandan looked around the room recognizing most of the faces from previous captains meeting in Zion. Captain Kali, of the Brahma, Captain Cryptos, of the Blue Dreamer along with his first officer, Veil, Captain Ballard, of the Caduceus, his officers Bane and Malichi had joined him, Fenshire of the DevilDog, Ice of the Gnosis, Ajax of the Icharus and Captain Roland of the Mjollnir (Hammer) had all turned out to the meeting. Niobe stepped into view having entered through the main door.

"Captains," she greeted looking at each of them.

Brandan, Colin and Tarra just left the meeting in the sewers. Captain Niobe had told them the machines were digging, the next 72 hours would decide the fate of humanity. Brandan wouldn't have believed it if they hadn't shown them the geothermal images as proof. They had been ordered to return to Zion and await orders from Locke on what they would do next. But as the bullets whipped by his head as the feds pursued them they didn't have time to really consider any other options. They ran toward the exit that Parker had set up for them when a large sewer tube exploded from above them and several members of swat jumped down from the rafters. The three of them took cover behind some pump units as the soldiers opened fire on them.

"What do we do they have us pinned down?" yelled Tarra from across the way.

"We'll be fine just hold together!" Brandan called back firing blindly with his handgun over cover. The stone of the sewer blocks exploded around them into dust as the bullets collided close to their head. "Tarra I need a distraction!" Tarra nodded at him and called up a hack screen.

"Let's hope this gets their attention," she yelled. Brandan gave Colin a quick glance and they both new what to do as a strange sound started to echo around them and lights began flashing off an on. Brandan and Colin both focused as hard as they could coming out from in behind their cover and bounding into the air. There were six heavily armed soldiers thanks to the distraction they were pointing their guns elsewhere expecting some kind of surprise attack. Brandan opened fire with his weapon from mid-air and watched as the bullets collided with the man furthest from him. Colin managed to bound off the wall and was falling from over head. He landed first sending shockwaves through the sewer floor causing the men to stagger. Brandan followed up the action by disarming the one closest to him and breaking his neck. As his focus ran out he dropped behind the body and used it as human cover as the other closest soldier opened fire. Colin dealt with the other three having been able to disarm them all before they could react to him. Brandan fired his handgun on the last one giving him any attention and managed to hit him between the eyes, he then threw the body into one of the men Colin fought. Colin managed to grab the one by the neck and slam him to the ground before sweeping around and breaking the others neck with a quick back hand.

"Seems to have done the job," Colin smiled at his work.

"Good job now let's get the hell outta here," said Tarra joining them. The phone that was their original exit had started ringing. Brandan quickly picked up.

"Parker, talk to me can you get us out?" he asked.

"Captain I can get you out but it seems as though the others are in trouble. Niobe and Ghost are already trying to help but they can't get to everyone in time," explained Parker. The captain looked at Colin and Tarra they had heard Parker.

"Where do they need us?" asked Colin.

"No one left behind if we can help it," said Tarra.

"Who's closest to us?" asked Brandan. There was a slight pause while Parker zeroed in on the closest targets.

"Niobe just got Captain Fenshire and his crew out of a jam but they need help clearing their exit. If you head down the large pipe to the south of your position, it should put you right at it."

"Okay."

"Captain do you want me to send the others in?"

"No, we'll handle it." Brandan hung up the phone and looked to the others. "Fenshire needs help, let's go!" Brandan led the way down the south pipe and it wasn't long before they were at their destination. They were over top of the exit, it was being guarded by nine armed men and one large man with a gatling gun. The three of them stayed quiet, they could see Fenshire in cover behind a large pipe system.

"Man, they really don't wanna anyone answering that phone huh?" said Colin, "I'll take care of tiny."

"Be careful that weapon' serious business, even with full focus I doubt any of us could dodge the amount of bullet's it can fly out," said Tarra. Brandan put his phone to his ear and they watched as Fenshire did the same.

"Captain we're hear to get out you. We are in the pipe above the exit. We need you to create a distraction," he said. They watched as the other captain looked up at them and put his phone away. He threw an explosive device into the crowd and it went off knocking several of the men to the ground. "That's it let's go!" The three of them dropped down Tarra opened fire with her weapon as they fell ensuring that at least two of the men wouldn't get back up. Fenshire joined them as they dropped to hit the ground and immediately sprung into action on his closest target. Brandan dropped in behind three others quickly figuring that disarming them would be his best bet. Time seemed to halt as be grabbed the assault rifle from one of them and emptied the weapons clip into the man. He bounded off the man's shoulder as he fell to the ground and landed on the next one's head breaking his neck. He flipped backwards and landed himself behind the other two who were only arms length apart. Each man swung for him, he blocked one and countered the other while holding the first mans first in his hand. He successfully stopped two other incoming attacks while the other man froze in pain at his grip. A swift kick combo was all he needed to finish his attacker then he twirled his body breaking the man's arm in the process, as he went to a knee he broke his neck.

As the captain dispatched his own target's Tarra had two of her own. She called up a hack screen and disabled their weapons then finished the first with a five hit combo finally sweeping her foot under him and sending him flying down into the dark abyss. She turned her attention to the other soldier who caught her across the face as she turned toward him. He threw another blow that didn't land it's target and Tarra flipped backwards clipping his chin with her foot knocking him several feet from her.

"Bitch!" he called as he stood up. Tarra smiled at him and called up a hack screen and using several quick commands the pressure valve next to him exploded burning him with hot steam.

Colin slammed to the ground behind large armored man, it was hard to believe he was human as he turned around to face Colin. With no reaction the man opened fire and Colin bounded to the side out of the way, the large man easily turned with him as he continued to dodge the bullets only just making it out of the way. Colin took the knife from his coat and threw it into the weapons barrel stopping it from turning or firing. He took his opportunity and took into the large man hitting him with a heavy hitting first combo. The man swung his weapon at Colin and he bent backwards in a dodge landing just inches off the ground. Colin focused and was able to resume his stance, he jumped into the air and drop kicked the attacker and landing behind him. The oaf turned around but before he could face him Colin focused and flipped toward him landing legs around the soldier's neck. With everything he had, and he forced the man head over heels both of them rolling fully once in mid air. Colin focused again and managed to position himself on the mans face mid air and brought his feet down on his face crushing his head against the metal grating of the sewer pathway.

"All done here Captain!" Colin turned to the others just as the pressure valve exploded. Brandan walked over to Fenshire who had been slightly injured in their battle.

"Thank you for your help Captain," he smiled holding his side. The exit they had been guarding started ringing.

"You're welcome, get back to your ship and head home. We have to save Zion." Fenshire nodded and picked up the phone quickly putting it to his ear. They watched as he vanished, and the phone hung in the air. "Tarra you next." The captain placed the phone back on the hook. It rang again as Tarra walked over and put it to her ear being pulled from the matrix and back to the ship. Brandan signalled for Colin to take the next one. It wasn't long before Parker had pulled them all out.

Isaiah pulled the connector from Brandan's neck, he looked around the room as he sat up.

"They can't really be serious, that has to be fake," said Isaiah.

"It's not the geotherms are accurate." Brandan walked over to the communicator for the bridge. "Dan, Tabitha, set a course for Zion, we have to get back as soon as possible. The fleet has been recalled." Brandan started to head to the elevator when the operators station began an incoming call. The indicator light flashed green telling them it was coming from within the matrix itself.

"Captain, there's a call!" said Parker. The captain and everyone else turned to the operator as he picked up the call. "Captains ears only, they asked for you by name." Brandan walked over to the console and put on a headset.

"This is Captain Brandan of the Navras," he said, "State your business."

"Captain Brandan, it has been a long time," it was Seraph, "I know of the meeting, but I must show you something before your return to Zion. I am sending a location to you, meet me there. Alone." Brandan knew that Seraph wouldn't contact him for something un-important.

"I will be there within the hour." Brandan put the headset down on the desk and stood up. "Parker, there is a location in your computer sent by Seraph, I must meet him there. Prepare to broadcast." Brandan walked over to the communicator and hit the button. "Belay my last order, I will be heading back in to the matrix."

"Is that wise captain?" asked Dan.

"I'll let you know." Brandan sat down in his broadcast chair and Isaiah strapped him in.

"Be careful," he said quietly. He looked to Parker signalling that he was ready, and he sent the captain to the location.

The matrix loaded around him from the construct program and Brandan looked around. He was in the middle of a warehouse on the inner radius block of the city his motorcycle was next to him. He loaded in next to a table with a small piece of paper sitting next to the phone. The phone in his pocket rang and he put it to his ear.

"Captain don't take too long, I'm detecting heavy activity in the area," said Parker.

"Noted." Brandan put the phone back in his pocket. He picked up the note on the table, it was an address that was familiar to most of the free. A place Brandan hadn't been in a long time. He jumped on the motor cycle and took off out of the warehouse as fast as it would carry him, time was limited.