James Cameron and Charles Eglee own Dark Angel. My use is in no way meant to challenge their copyrights. This piece is not intended for any profit on the part of the writer, nor is it meant to detract from the commercial viability of the aforementioned (or any other) copyright. Any similarity to any events or persons, either real or fictional, is unintended.
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X – Into the Fire"Alpha team stand by," Max heard Logan say over the com. Not again, she cursed silently. The trip over the rapidly cooling sand had gone quickly at first as Lydecker and his five X-5's had approached the Har Megiddo without even the hint of resistance. Max had even dared to think that the colonel had been misinformed, that they were actually in the wrong place, or that maybe the Familiars had aborted their plans to initiate The Coming. As they drew closer to their target, however, all of Max's hopes had been dashed. Although she and Alec – beta team in this strike – didn't appear to face any immediate obstacles, Max and her partner still slowed slightly, making certain they didn't draw too close to alpha team – the group comprised of Lydecker, Zack, and Krit. They were supposed to be covering the three-man vanguard, and if they didn't keep a safe distance they ran the risk of falling into the same zone of fire as the people they were supposed to be protecting. A mistake like that would make the strategy of dividing their force completely useless.
"Copy, base," Lydecker responded over the line. Moments crawled by like hours, and Max's muscles began to ache as she pressed he limbs into the sand dune she was using for cover. She knew she had to anchor herself well enough to avoid an awkward slide that could betray their presence and position.
"All clear," Logan finally said, just as Max was getting ready to ask what the hold-up was. At least the wait gave the sky more time to get even darker, she noted, trying to see the positive side of the inconvenience. Though the sky was completely clear, it was now almost completely dark, and she took heart in the fact that Lydecker had told them a post-mortem analysis of a captured Familiar had revealed that their night vision was far inferior to that of the transgenics. Apparently, human evolution could only go so far, and to get a true advantage at night the species had to sample from other animals' gene pools.
"Copy that," Lydecker replied. "We're moving into Zone Two," he added. This is it, Max reminded herself. Zone Two was the first area where they expected the possibility of combat, located at the outer edge of the Familiars' defensive perimeter. Fifty years earlier an archaeological dig had uncovered the entrance to a large catacomb system that had then led to Megiddo's ancient cistern and the underground rivulets and wells that had fed it. The long-abandoned entrance into these subterranean vaults was at the center of the Familiars' main camp. There was constantly a team of four armed guards at the entrance, as well as three roving pairs of armed guards walking the perimeter.
"Why aren't they using dogs?" Alec had asked. It had seemed like a serious oversight, and not even the colonel had been able to explain it. He had just told them not to question their luck. Yeah, we're lucky all right, Max thought as she poked her head over a dune and caught sight of the mouth to the catacombs. All four guards were there, standing in a circle with each of them facing one of the four points of the compass. They were obsidian statues against the midnight blue sky behind them, and Max found herself poring over every detail of the guards, trying to see any sign that they were actually living beings and not inanimate decoys. She took a deep breath, trying to catch a scent, but only detected the same combination of ozone and smoke that she had smelled since arriving in the charred expanse of uninhabited desert. Next she tried to detect even the smallest sign of breathing, but saw nothing. She was about get on the com to ask Lydecker if he was sure these were real men when she saw the slightest twitch from one of the targets. Once again her hopes were dashed. This is actually gonna be as bad as the colonel warned us.
"Stand by for entry," Lydecker advised. Max knew this part of the plan – Zack and Krit would use sniper rifles to take out the entranceway guards, and then both teams would try to cover the open field and get inside before any of the three pairs of roving sentries noticed the breach in security. Once they were underground and had managed to gain a foothold on the secured enemy territory, it would be up to Set, who was wandering around on his own, to eliminate any threats that might attempt to attack from the rear.
Max never heard the four gunshots that cracked into the night, but she saw all four guards collapse to the ground without a sound, a slight mist erupting from each of their heads right before their feet collapsed out from under them. They shouldn't have been standing so still, Max thought. For a transgenic, that was literally as easy as shooting ducks in a bathtub. She chased the image from her mind as she gathered herself to dash across the sand, then bounded to her feet with Alec just as the colonel commanded, "Now!"
Lydecker's team moved only as fast as the colonel could, so Max and Alec had made up most of the distance between the two squads and were only moments behind when the first three attackers entered the Familiars' captured underground complex. Tears started to form in Max's eyes as she raced along, wind whipping into her face as she devoted all of her attention to keeping perfect stride, making certain she didn't stumble and attract any undue attention to herself. Remember, Maxie – there are still six sentries out there somewhere, she told herself.
"Alpha team stand by," Logan suddenly said quickly. "I read three heat signatures approaching the entrance. They're moving at a walk, so I don't think they're moving to reinforce, but they'll have the superior position underground."
"Too late for that now," Lydecker cursed. "We're already out in the open. Stand by for a status report."
Max pushed herself ever faster, and was little more than a blur when she reached the entrance – a six- by four-foot hole in the ground – and bounded over the bodies of the dead guards. Alec smoothly fell into a defensive crouch, covering Max as she dropped into the unlit passageway below, joining alpha team underground and hoping she would be able to help them if they got into trouble. As she hit the dirt-covered stone floor, her senses were assaulted by bright flashes and thunderous, echoing gunshots that reverberated down the hall. A high-pitched shriek followed a moment later, then two more as Alec jumped in behind Max. "We've met some resistance," she heard Lydecker say, his voice several feet away drowning out the report that simultaneously came over the com. "Three female guards are out, but Krit's been hit badly.
"No," Max gasped, taking four long strides and joining her comrades just around a turn in the hall. Lydecker's succinct report had been completely accurate – three dead women lay in the dirt, and Krit was crouched into a ball, obviously applying pressure to his gut while he ignored a serious wound in his leg that was spreading an ever-growing pool of blood around him.
Max hardly even noticed how lucky she was to have her trangenetically enhanced nightvision. With a cat's ability to see in near-darkness, she and her team had far more than enough illumination provided to them by the heavy torches that hung in surprisingly polished silver sconces. Every ten meters a ten-foot wide area was faintly lit by a twinkling, red-orange glow that itself seemed to shrink away from the oppressive darkness of the catacombs. But in darkness, twilight, or firelight, the transgenics were in their element… and they knew it.
"Can you keep going?" Lydecker asked Krit evenly. Max wondered whether Deck was actually as unconcerned with Krit's condition as he seemed to be, or whether a lifetime of military service simply allowed him to focus on the mission without permitting personal feelings to become involved.
"I'm gonna have to stay behind," Krit replied just as Set's voice came over the com.
"One of their pairs of guards got past me," he reported, his voice holding a hint of pain and fatigue. Shit, he took a hit, too, Max concluded. They were less than a minute into the fight, and they'd already suffered two casualties. At least they weren't KIA, Max told herself. It could definitely be worse.
"Get down," Zack instructed the others as he raised his assault rifle to his shoulder and took aim. Only seconds later, a shadowy form jumped into the catacomb. Zack ducked back around the bend as he carefully removed a grenade from his belt, taking care to leave the pin in, and Max wondered for a moment what her old commander was up to. She then heard a second person enter, and Zack tossed out the unarmed grenade, waited a brief moment until the Familiars predictably scrambled for some kind of cover, and then whirled around the bend a second time, this time unleashing a salvo that Max assumed had neutralized the threat.
"We're clear down here," Zack reported.
"Hold your fire, I'm coming down," Set responded. Max directed her attention back to Krit, hoping her concern wasn't as obvious as she assumed it would be.
"This is bad, sir," Krit muttered as Lydecker broke into the field med kit he was carrying.
"Yes, it is," Lydecker agreed, motioning impatiently for Krit to move his hands so the colonel could get to the wounds. Never one to mince words, is he, Max thought, part of her actually pleased that Lydecker could be expected to give his honest opinion out in the field. He expected his soldiers to be able to handle anything, even their own inevitable deaths if they were injured badly. He didn't see the need to coddle them with false assurances.
"How many times were you hit?" Lydecker asked as he put down the med kit and pulled out his survival knife, immediately going to work cutting off Krit's vest and shirt.
"At least three," Krit gasped in pain as he moved slightly, allowing the colonel to get a better angle at the vest. "And the leg wound had to have hit the femoral artery," he added. "No other way I'd be bleeding like this." He looked up at the others hopefully, and Max could only nod in agreement, sick that she couldn't give the same kind of assurances she had just been commending the colonel for avoiding.
"We can't stay here," Zack said as he rejoined the group, Set following closely at his heels.
"He could die if we don't treat him right now," Max retorted. Zack glared at her in response, and Set dug into the med kit and pulled out a roll of gauze for himself, which he immediately started wrapping around his left forearm.
"You hit too?" Alec asked. Set only nodded in affirmation.
"Zack's right," Krit gasped, wiping away a trail of blood that had appeared at the corner of his mouth. Internal bleeding, Max knew. "You can't stay here with me while the mission is still unfinished," Krit said. "I'll be fine… I'll make sure no one else can sneak up behind you. They have to know we're here, sir."
"I know," Lydecker replied, finishing stripping off the clothes on Krit's upper body and revealing two small holes in his abdomen, one bleeding freely by his spleen, and the other, right through his stomach, already seeming to clot. "It's up to you to finish up here," he added, throwing another roll of gauze at his wounded man.
"Yes, sir," Krit said, bravely trying to muster a smile but only producing a grimace. "Just don't forget to pick me up on your way out."
"You got it," Max said as she fought to steady her nerves and prepare herself to leave her brother behind. She found it was one of the hardest things she had ever done.
"Double-time it," Zack ordered as the group started to move once again. Set was now in the lead, followed ten feet behind by Lydecker and Zack, with Max and Alec bringing up the end ten feet farther back. They were moving at a brisk walk, and Max suddenly heard the whisper of several silenced shots ring out ahead of her. A thud followed as several shell casings jingled onto the smooth stone floor, and moments later she was stepping over the dead body of a guard that had apparently been waiting around yet another blind curve. I know he said he'd be good at this, but what the hell? Max wondered quietly, surprised that Set hadn't even seemed to slow down as he had taken out the sentry. Before the strike, Set had told them that he would be best left alone above, that his overly-specialized urban combat training would make him a hindrance to the group as they attempted to move unseen over an open expanse of sand. He had assured them, though, that once they got into the underground caverns he would be much more at home. "I'll just pretend I'm fighting through some sewer tunnels," he had said with an uncharacteristic, devilish grin. Zack was right… he's definitely gung-ho, Max reminded herself again.
No one slowed in the least as Logan came in over the com, his voice now crackling due to increasing interference as they descended lower underground. "You'd all better slow down a little," he advised. "You're coming up to Junction Point." This is it, Max thought, bracing herself for the unexpected. As Logan and Lydecker had gone over the schematics they had been able to draw, one location in particular had proven to be a problem. This area, which they had nicknamed Junction Point, seemed to be the convergence of no fewer than seven tunnels. The problem was that between the depth, the underground waterways that cooled the rock, and all of the radiation above ground, it was difficult to judge how the tunnels were all layered. Lydecker had assumed there were at least two levels, maybe three, with tunnels meeting up at this one point, passageways above passageways. The lack of clarity made it all but impossible to know exactly what they were walking into.
"Any resistance?" Lydecker asked.
"I'm reading at least six heat signatures," Logan answered, "but I can't tell if they're on the same level as you, or if they're below you."
"They might even be above us," Alec muttered. They had all assumed that the tunnels all kept descending, but there was, of course, the possibility that one branch went up. If they found that to be the case, they might be forced to divide their group.
"Don't worry about that yet," Lydecker growled. "If we decide we have to change the plan, we'll deal with it then." Alec remained silent in response, just as he should have. Max marveled at how well they all worked together, with Lydecker in the lead. The team unity Manticore had instilled in them as children was coming back just as much as Lydecker had said it would.
"There are at least three guards on our level," Set reported. "Correction – four. I can make out their individual breathing." Goddamn he's good, Max marveled. Though she was just as physically gifted as any X5, and though she had received much the same instruction in her youth, Max hadn't devoted nearly as much of her life to training as Set had. Part of her was jealous, knowing that her skills could have been every bit as sharp as Set's… if only she hadn't spent so much of her life going to work and making friends. So maybe it's not really that much of a biggie, she decided. If given the chance, she wouldn't change any of the decisions she had made after Manticore.
"Slow up," Lydecker ordered. "You've gotten a bit farther ahead of us than we planned."
"I can take them, sir," Set responded.
"They have to know we're coming," Zack put in.
"Roger that," Set answered, his voice betraying no hint of concern. "Stand by for me to clear our way."
"Set," Lydecker hissed. "I want you to have back-up." No words came back over the com, but they all heard a short burst of silenced gunfire, and as Max decided to run, bolting ahead to keep up with Lydecker and Zack as they went to reinforce Set, she heard a few muffled cries. By the time she had reached the small, torch lit chamber where Set, Zack, and Lydecker were standing, it was all over.
"I'm sorry, sir," Set was saying, his eyes turned toward the floor, avoiding looking at his commanding officer. "I know I disobeyed a direct order, but I had concerns."
"What concerns?" Lydecker asked angrily.
"Maybe this?" Alec asked, removing a sub-vocal communicator from one of the sentries. They're tapped into our communications, Max realized. Shit. They know we're coming. There's no way we have the element of surprise. We're outnumbered and playing in someone else's territory. She tried to think of any other detail that made their situation even worse, and soon came up with one. Oh, and we're on a time limit, so we don't have the luxury of moving slowly and carefully.
"Crap," Lydecker cursed. He looked around the room, seeing two tunnels that led further into the darkness. "Logan, quickly," he muttered. "Switch to frequency beta." A click and a hiss followed as each of the transgenics also switched frequencies, and then Lydecker continued. "We'll be rotating through our planned frequencies, switching over every four minutes. Now Logan, we're looking at two exits. What does that tell you?"
"Stand by," Logan replied.
"I don't have time to stand by," Lydecker replied impatiently. "They know we're here. They're probably well into their ritual by now."
"That would probably be the quickly growing group that I would guess is below you," Logan said. "There's also a small group on their way to you, and a pair that seems to be slowly retreating."
"Where?" Alec asked.
"Everyone get back," Set ordered. "We'll see which hall they come out of, and then take that one." It was only a few heartbeats before three Familiars dashed into the small chamber where Max and her team were waiting, each of them down on one knee, looking down the barrels of their weapons. The Familiars never had a chance."
Whispered pops crackled through the air as a brutally short salvo of bullets tore through the transgenics' enemies. Max held her fire, refusing to use her pistol, but she noted the uselessness of her stand against Lydecker's plan. It changed nothing – the Familiars still died when Max felt they could just as easily have been disabled. She wanted to scream out in protest, but her thoughts were once more sent plummeting back into the past as she again relived one of her life's most painful moments – when she saw Eva shot dead in her tracks. By the time Max had regained her bearings, the group was already on its feet, preparing to take the left tunnel.
"No more delays," Lydecker growled. Part of Max wanted to lunge at the colonel, to take vengeance for Eva's death, to live out so many fantasies that she had conjured on so many dark, frightening nights. But I can't, she realized. He's my ally now. How much more confusing can life get?
Max pushed all of her thoughts and feelings deep inside, just as she was certain all the others had. I don't see any distraction in Alec's eyes, she noted. Or Set's. Or Zack's.
They were moving quickly now, each pair of feet raising a thin cloud of dust off the stones as they advanced on their goal, Logan giving constant assurances that there was no immediate threat. The only two guards in their area, he reported, were still steadily falling back. "As if they're waiting for reinforcements," Lydecker had concluded. Max could only hope that the reinforcements didn't outnumber them all too badly.
Still, she knew, they had made it farther than most betting men would have guessed. This crazy attack might actually have a chance of succeeding.
"Everything seems to be falling into place now," Logan's voice crackled again, the interference growing stronger with every passing second. "I can see where you… and where… headed. The two … ahead of you … proceeding … toward … large … most of the Familiars are."
"Hold up," Set interrupted. "I'm currently looking at a series of tripwires. The section of hallway directly ahead of me, for about a dozen feet, seems thoroughly booby-trapped."
"I'm coming up there," Zack muttered.
Damnit, Max thought, saying goodbye to all of the good luck they had seemed to be enjoying. Krit had been the group's expert at disarming traps. With him out of the picture, possibly already dead from blood loss, they would have to make do with their second-best man for the job. That was supposedly Zack.
"It's just tripwires," Zack reported moments later. "If we just avoid them, we should be fine. Doesn't look like there's really anything more formidable than that."
"You certain?" Lydecker asked nervously. Max knew what the colonel was thinking – motion sensors, noise detectors, and lasers could all pose some completely unavoidable obstacles. Overlooking them could mean instant death for one or more of their people.
"I'm certain," Zack assured the others.
"I'm going ahead," Set commented evenly, volunteering to be the group's guinea pig. "If anything blows up, you know Zack was wrong." Several moments of silence followed, and then Set's voice continued. "Looks like it's clear. I did see some mines embedded in the wall, not far down the hallway, though. Any of you trip a wire, you'll probably end up being in a lot of pain for those few seconds before you die." Ooh, that's comforting, Max thought, keeping her sarcastic reply to herself.
"Then let's get moving again," Lydecker ordered. By the time Max reached the trapped section of the hall, Set was out of sight around a bend that clearly started to descend deeper below ground, and Zack was waiting for the colonel to make it past the wires. He's too damn slow, Max decided, watching Lydecker move with the awkwardness of an ordinary, the lack of coordination and the normal, inferior nightvision of an ordinary combining to handicap him in this situation. She chased her haughty, almost condescending sentiments from her head, reminding herself that such clearly prejudicial feelings of superiority would doubtlessly cloud her judgment when it came time to deal fairly with the ordinaries back home. Finally, after two full minutes of irritatingly time-consuming movement, Lydecker was past the traps and moving down the hallway with Zack.
The echo of bullets ricocheting off the walls ahead caught everyone's attention, and Max decided to just go for broke so that she would be able to reach Set before he was overwhelmed by whatever resistance he had run into. A hop, skip, jump, double round-over and a vaulting twist later she was running full tilt behind Zack and Lydecker, not even looking back to make sure Alec negotiated the hallway properly. She had seen him get past enough security systems to have full confidence in his ability to slip past a few tripwires.
By the time she reached Set, the action was obviously over. He was going through the pockets of his two deceased adversaries, and Zack and Lydecker were looking over the walls surrounding a door that lay situated at a dead end. "This it?" Max asked nonchalantly, trying to suppress her anxiety. Of course this is it, she chastised herself silently. Ya gotta calm down, girl.
"Your sig… really break… up," Logan commented over the com. "… looks like … at the vault …"
"Affirmative," Lydecker whispered. "The entrance is blocked by a rather large granite door, Logan. It's strange… it doesn't look like this rock came from anywhere even remotely near here."
"Worry about your mysteries later," Set seethed. "Find a way to open it, colonel." Max looked at Set with curious eyes, poring over his expression with wonder, surprised at how eager he seemed to get into combat. He had dropped his duffel bag and was pulling out a second MP-5 and a fresh double clip for each of his weapons. Well, I guess he's ready, Max decided, knowing that each weapon would fire ninety rounds before Set's ammunition was exhausted. Behind her she heard Alec opening his heavy canvas bag, and turned to watch him pull out his M-60 and slap a drum clip into the weapon. Boys and their toys, Max thought ruefully as she lightly fingered the 9mm holstered on her hip. She had only brought the weapon to satisfy the other members of her team, and she'd be damned before she actually drew it and fired on anyone. No way I'm using that unless I have absolutely no choice.
"I think I found a release," Zack muttered, and almost as if it came in reply, they all heard a sudden murmur begin to reverberate through the stone.
"What's going on in there, Logan?" Lydecker asked.
"Say ag…" Logan answered. "… read you."
"What's going on in there?" Lydecker repeated.
"Can't tell," Logan replied. "I'm … to scan for heat … two-hundred feet … sand and rock. I can … lot of people in the next room, but there's … count … many. There's … for me to know … doing."
"Get that goddamn door open," Set growled, his eyes narrowing menacingly as he turned to face the closed door. Max could almost see his tightly corded muscles tense up underneath his black nighttime fatigues. The two MP-5's hung at his sides as his breathing shallowed out, and for some reason Max was beset with the image of a famished tiger waiting impatiently to be released into the Roman Coliseum.
"If you have the release, then get us in there," Lydecker added angrily, almost pushing Zack aside as he tried to get a look at the mechanism.
"Fine, here goes," Zack muttered.
Yep, here goes, Max echoed. Okay, boys and girls… time to stop the apocalypse.
To be continued……………………………
