Disclaimer: Welcome to a world. A world of science fiction, of fantasy, of what *could* be. And I own none of it. blah..
Summary: I'm not even dignifying this with an answer ;)
Author's note: see last author's note :)
*** When Stars Collide -- Chapter 4 ***
He grabbed his global from a nearby table and opened it, "Lili!" he called, and it automatically sent the transmission to Lili's global. No response came back. She must have turned it off. Of course she would have. This meeting of theirs was probably not something they wanted interupted by anyone. He got an answering-machine type message instead. He cuirsed in frustration... downloading the tracking information to his global, he quickly got up and ran from the room.
As he navigated the cooridors, he had to come up with some stories, and quickly. He also had to find a way to get to Lili and Liam's location. He stopped and moved into a corner as he reopened his global and navigated some information on the map. There was a building not far from their destination that had once been a factory about a year ago. It had been used to manufacture quite a bit of hybrid technologies, and he knew that it was fully equipped with ID portal technology. The building was closed, but he was positive that the old ID portal tech was still in place.
He made a detour for the nearest ID portal out. He knew he would only have a matter of minutes before Zo'or figured out who had departed the ship. And he had nothing to tell him... he couldn't even figure out a single story to fashion for this one. There was nothing he could do. It was warn them or let them be taken prisoner -- or possibly die. He wasn't sure which one would be worse...
He nodded to the volunteer watching over the ID portal. She seemed to notice nothing out of the ordinary, so Sandoval went ahead and keyed in his coordinates along with a security code. He stepped into the portal, nodded to the volunteer, and then phased out of sight with the portal transport sequence.
--- Earth: Abandoned Facotry (ugh, isn't there *always* an abandoned building involved? *grin*) ---
The transport sequence made an two attempts to resolve itself at the factor before finally completing successfully. The technology had been sitting unmaintained for awhile now... even Taelon technology needed maintenance, especially while it was set up here on Earth with a lot of nwe variables in the environment and related.
The place had been cleared out, but seemed more neat than he would have suspected. As he moved towards the door, prepared to use his skrill to cut through it as opposed to trying to get it unsealed, he noticed that the door was not in fact sealed. They might have been using the facility to transport the cell leaders to this area, he thought. This ID portal had long been on the tracking list on the mothership, and was pretty much a blind transport site if you knew the right codes.
And of course, he thought again, Liam Kincaid would indeed have the codes...
He exited the building, and took out his global. He looked around him. Middle of nowhere... perfect. He followd the tracking signal stright ahead, into the wooded area.
He could have easily gotten lost, even *with* the tracking signal to follow. He knew there must have been an access road, but unsure where to find it, he had no time to look for it. Into the woods seemed like the best plan. But after an hour of walking/running, and tracking the security detail's progress and reports, he wasn't sure if he was going to make it there in time.
He finally came out to the side of an old access road. Years ago, an old quarry was in this area, but it hadn't been in operation in about 30 o more years. He moved along side the road, but still in the woods. He tracked the security detail, and made sure to avoid them at all costs. They were staying far away from the access road, which made sense. He started to hear voices of people from up ahead.
'I dont know,' came the first voice he was able to hear, 'I don't think this is safe, Liam.'
'We've taken all the percautions necessary,' he replied. 'No one knows we're here.'
He sighed as he stopped moving towards the area. He checked his global. The security detail hadn't moved in a long time, and he had no idea when this was going to happen. He knew that if he moved out into the area, that the resistance members would most likely have no regrets at shooting to kill... And why shouldn't they? He mutered to himself.
'What was that?' came a second annonymous voice.
'What was what?' replied Lili, somewhat concerned suddenly.
The newcomer responded, 'I thought I heard something. Maybe it was nothing...'
Sandoval's global made a small noise, and he checked it for the umpteenth time that day. As he stared at the readout, he knew that his time had run out. He darted from his small hiding place and ran towards Lili and Liam.
Liam turned, in time to see Sandoval come running down the side of the access road. "This isn't good!" he nearly yelled, and started to run back towards the main area. He had to get everyone out... damn, he wasn't even sure *how* he could do that.
Lili wanted to die. What had she done? This must have been her fault somehow... Sandoval. Sandoval must have bugged her somehow. Why did he do this... why did *she* do this. Let him use her like that. Let him lie to her again -- let him toy with her emotions. She wanted to cry, but she knew she needed to run. Her feet however wouldn't move. It couldn't have all been a lie... no, how could it have been. It was real. It had to have been real.
"Its an ambush! Get out!" yelled Sandoval as he closed the gap between them.
Liam stopped for a moment cold in his tracks. Sandoval was still too far away for those words to have been very clear, but he shivered as he pondered what he *thought* the words spelled out. But it wasn't until he heard shots fired not far down the access road, but not yet to the main quarry area that he realized what was happening.
Liam snapped open his global and sent a mass message as he took off down the road. But who would be left to hear it? He yelled into the global, "Everyone, get out now! Its a trap!"
Sandoval reached Lili just as Liam disappeared from the area. He was out of breath and disorientated, confused, and a little incoherent when he tried to speak. "Its.." he took another breath. Lili didn't need time to speak as she dragged him in the direction that Liam had taken off in.
Sandoval felt like he could barely make his legs move any longer, but he still seemed to move forward keeping up with Lili. But as they all moved into the main area, the tension that had been created suddenly snapped -- and the area was filled with the sound of weapons fire and the sight of volunteers.
Lili used her weapon to fend off two of the volunteers attacking Liam, as Sandoval broke off and used his skrill to take out two more who were attacking two of the other resistance members. A few of the resistance members gathered together briefly, confused and unsure what to do.
"We have to get you out of here before you all end up dead," Sandoval told them frankly. The look of shock was on their faces looking at the man telling them this, but the realization that his words were obviously very true was more important.
"Sandoval," called Liam. Sandoval turned around, and caught the object that Kincaid threw to him. "I don't know what the hell is going on here," he said quickly, "But are you with us?" -- The object he tossed him looked like a weapon, but was actually for discharging a portable ID portal.
"Yeah," he said, aiming the barrel to the left of him and firing. The portal hit against a tree and deployed. "I'm with you."
Lili fired another shot, fending off the area around the portal, and called over her shoulder to Sandoval, "We're never going to get them all out!"
Sandoval called back while directing people towards the portal and into it, "We will. We'll get them out Lili, don't worry." He fired his skrill at two more volunteers, hurtling them back against the ground. As he looked back towards Lili, he noticed three Volunteers coming up behind her. He yelled, "Lili, watch out!" and tried to take at least one of them out. He made his way closer and was able to stop them as Lili turned her attention back. But Sandoval saw out of the corner of his eye, one other Volunteer targetting her. With no time to think, no time to target with his skrill, and no margin for error, he could only throw himself infront of the blast to keep it from hitting Lili.
"No!" she yelled as she ran to his aide. Liam's heart went into his throat as he saw what transpired, but had to continue with the defence of the resistance members. He didn't understand what was happening, nor did he have the time to contemplate it. But for some reason, his heart went out to Sandoval... Sandoval was his bitter enemy, and yet the closest thing he had to family. He was, for all intents and purposes, his father. He saw the grief-stricken face of Lili Marquette as she attended to Sandoval... and as he thought about it for a moment, he thought he understood a bit more of the conversation from the night before.
Sandoval couldn't move. His head hurt, his chest hurt... everything hurt. And it was dark... but he knew that it was only afternoon. How could it be this dark? His eyes could pick up people, their silouettes against the sky as he looked up from lying on the ground, and his ears could barely hear the noise of weapons fire around him. But he could hear Lili's voice... she was very close. Her voice was shaking... was she crying? He found it hard to tell. He could only make a few phrases... "Don't leave me alone now. Not now. Not after what I know now. About you. About how I feel for you."
He wanted to speak, but he couldn't. His mouth wouldn't even open. And as she felt the gentle shaking of Lili's hand against his face, his eyes could pick up nothing but blackness, and the sound disappeared completely...
(more to come ;)
Summary: I'm not even dignifying this with an answer ;)
Author's note: see last author's note :)
*** When Stars Collide -- Chapter 4 ***
He grabbed his global from a nearby table and opened it, "Lili!" he called, and it automatically sent the transmission to Lili's global. No response came back. She must have turned it off. Of course she would have. This meeting of theirs was probably not something they wanted interupted by anyone. He got an answering-machine type message instead. He cuirsed in frustration... downloading the tracking information to his global, he quickly got up and ran from the room.
As he navigated the cooridors, he had to come up with some stories, and quickly. He also had to find a way to get to Lili and Liam's location. He stopped and moved into a corner as he reopened his global and navigated some information on the map. There was a building not far from their destination that had once been a factory about a year ago. It had been used to manufacture quite a bit of hybrid technologies, and he knew that it was fully equipped with ID portal technology. The building was closed, but he was positive that the old ID portal tech was still in place.
He made a detour for the nearest ID portal out. He knew he would only have a matter of minutes before Zo'or figured out who had departed the ship. And he had nothing to tell him... he couldn't even figure out a single story to fashion for this one. There was nothing he could do. It was warn them or let them be taken prisoner -- or possibly die. He wasn't sure which one would be worse...
He nodded to the volunteer watching over the ID portal. She seemed to notice nothing out of the ordinary, so Sandoval went ahead and keyed in his coordinates along with a security code. He stepped into the portal, nodded to the volunteer, and then phased out of sight with the portal transport sequence.
--- Earth: Abandoned Facotry (ugh, isn't there *always* an abandoned building involved? *grin*) ---
The transport sequence made an two attempts to resolve itself at the factor before finally completing successfully. The technology had been sitting unmaintained for awhile now... even Taelon technology needed maintenance, especially while it was set up here on Earth with a lot of nwe variables in the environment and related.
The place had been cleared out, but seemed more neat than he would have suspected. As he moved towards the door, prepared to use his skrill to cut through it as opposed to trying to get it unsealed, he noticed that the door was not in fact sealed. They might have been using the facility to transport the cell leaders to this area, he thought. This ID portal had long been on the tracking list on the mothership, and was pretty much a blind transport site if you knew the right codes.
And of course, he thought again, Liam Kincaid would indeed have the codes...
He exited the building, and took out his global. He looked around him. Middle of nowhere... perfect. He followd the tracking signal stright ahead, into the wooded area.
He could have easily gotten lost, even *with* the tracking signal to follow. He knew there must have been an access road, but unsure where to find it, he had no time to look for it. Into the woods seemed like the best plan. But after an hour of walking/running, and tracking the security detail's progress and reports, he wasn't sure if he was going to make it there in time.
He finally came out to the side of an old access road. Years ago, an old quarry was in this area, but it hadn't been in operation in about 30 o more years. He moved along side the road, but still in the woods. He tracked the security detail, and made sure to avoid them at all costs. They were staying far away from the access road, which made sense. He started to hear voices of people from up ahead.
'I dont know,' came the first voice he was able to hear, 'I don't think this is safe, Liam.'
'We've taken all the percautions necessary,' he replied. 'No one knows we're here.'
He sighed as he stopped moving towards the area. He checked his global. The security detail hadn't moved in a long time, and he had no idea when this was going to happen. He knew that if he moved out into the area, that the resistance members would most likely have no regrets at shooting to kill... And why shouldn't they? He mutered to himself.
'What was that?' came a second annonymous voice.
'What was what?' replied Lili, somewhat concerned suddenly.
The newcomer responded, 'I thought I heard something. Maybe it was nothing...'
Sandoval's global made a small noise, and he checked it for the umpteenth time that day. As he stared at the readout, he knew that his time had run out. He darted from his small hiding place and ran towards Lili and Liam.
Liam turned, in time to see Sandoval come running down the side of the access road. "This isn't good!" he nearly yelled, and started to run back towards the main area. He had to get everyone out... damn, he wasn't even sure *how* he could do that.
Lili wanted to die. What had she done? This must have been her fault somehow... Sandoval. Sandoval must have bugged her somehow. Why did he do this... why did *she* do this. Let him use her like that. Let him lie to her again -- let him toy with her emotions. She wanted to cry, but she knew she needed to run. Her feet however wouldn't move. It couldn't have all been a lie... no, how could it have been. It was real. It had to have been real.
"Its an ambush! Get out!" yelled Sandoval as he closed the gap between them.
Liam stopped for a moment cold in his tracks. Sandoval was still too far away for those words to have been very clear, but he shivered as he pondered what he *thought* the words spelled out. But it wasn't until he heard shots fired not far down the access road, but not yet to the main quarry area that he realized what was happening.
Liam snapped open his global and sent a mass message as he took off down the road. But who would be left to hear it? He yelled into the global, "Everyone, get out now! Its a trap!"
Sandoval reached Lili just as Liam disappeared from the area. He was out of breath and disorientated, confused, and a little incoherent when he tried to speak. "Its.." he took another breath. Lili didn't need time to speak as she dragged him in the direction that Liam had taken off in.
Sandoval felt like he could barely make his legs move any longer, but he still seemed to move forward keeping up with Lili. But as they all moved into the main area, the tension that had been created suddenly snapped -- and the area was filled with the sound of weapons fire and the sight of volunteers.
Lili used her weapon to fend off two of the volunteers attacking Liam, as Sandoval broke off and used his skrill to take out two more who were attacking two of the other resistance members. A few of the resistance members gathered together briefly, confused and unsure what to do.
"We have to get you out of here before you all end up dead," Sandoval told them frankly. The look of shock was on their faces looking at the man telling them this, but the realization that his words were obviously very true was more important.
"Sandoval," called Liam. Sandoval turned around, and caught the object that Kincaid threw to him. "I don't know what the hell is going on here," he said quickly, "But are you with us?" -- The object he tossed him looked like a weapon, but was actually for discharging a portable ID portal.
"Yeah," he said, aiming the barrel to the left of him and firing. The portal hit against a tree and deployed. "I'm with you."
Lili fired another shot, fending off the area around the portal, and called over her shoulder to Sandoval, "We're never going to get them all out!"
Sandoval called back while directing people towards the portal and into it, "We will. We'll get them out Lili, don't worry." He fired his skrill at two more volunteers, hurtling them back against the ground. As he looked back towards Lili, he noticed three Volunteers coming up behind her. He yelled, "Lili, watch out!" and tried to take at least one of them out. He made his way closer and was able to stop them as Lili turned her attention back. But Sandoval saw out of the corner of his eye, one other Volunteer targetting her. With no time to think, no time to target with his skrill, and no margin for error, he could only throw himself infront of the blast to keep it from hitting Lili.
"No!" she yelled as she ran to his aide. Liam's heart went into his throat as he saw what transpired, but had to continue with the defence of the resistance members. He didn't understand what was happening, nor did he have the time to contemplate it. But for some reason, his heart went out to Sandoval... Sandoval was his bitter enemy, and yet the closest thing he had to family. He was, for all intents and purposes, his father. He saw the grief-stricken face of Lili Marquette as she attended to Sandoval... and as he thought about it for a moment, he thought he understood a bit more of the conversation from the night before.
Sandoval couldn't move. His head hurt, his chest hurt... everything hurt. And it was dark... but he knew that it was only afternoon. How could it be this dark? His eyes could pick up people, their silouettes against the sky as he looked up from lying on the ground, and his ears could barely hear the noise of weapons fire around him. But he could hear Lili's voice... she was very close. Her voice was shaking... was she crying? He found it hard to tell. He could only make a few phrases... "Don't leave me alone now. Not now. Not after what I know now. About you. About how I feel for you."
He wanted to speak, but he couldn't. His mouth wouldn't even open. And as she felt the gentle shaking of Lili's hand against his face, his eyes could pick up nothing but blackness, and the sound disappeared completely...
(more to come ;)