AS 2.07: Devil's Waltz by Star24 2003
Disclaimer: Dark Angel and its characters are copyright 2000-2002 Twentieth Century Fox Studios and James Cameron and Charles Eglee. This original fiction is copyright 2003 Star24.
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Chapter Eight
Barracks Five
Max looked around at her team as they relaxed in the barracks after their latest training session. There were five males and three females, six of them X6 series and two X5S.
When she had "visited" here last she had learned about the X5S series. After the escape of 2009 the remaining X5s had been subjected to intensive psychological and drug treatments. The result being X5S, short for X5 Simplified. The X5S's were identical to the original X5 series in terms of physical characteristics such as speed and strength. But they were not good at independent thought. They took orders well, but none of them were useful as CO's. The X6's had been redesigned so that they could act as leaders if needed, but they still had limited independence built in to them.
Max frowned as she noticed that one of the X6s was missing. Her second in command, a young brunette, designation X6-387, nickname Trina. That was another change made after the escape. X series were assigned not only a number but also a nickname to be used off duty. It was an attempt to circumvent the bonding that naming themselves in secret had created among the escapees. Manticore kept control of the naming, thus taking away any illicit thrills or comradeship that might go along with it.
"Dun, where's Trina?" Max asked one of the male X6's.
"She got called in to HQ right after you left. She should be back any minute. Ma'am." Dun replied promptly.
"Tell her I want to see her the minute she's back." Max snapped out. "I'll be in my room." She headed into the small private room she rated as CO, thinking hard about Trina's absence. She didn't quite trust the X6. Something about her made her uneasy.
When she reached her room she dropped onto the narrow cot that was one of the two pieces of furniture in it, and let her mind wander. She was having second thoughts about the wisdom of involving Lydecker in Logan's medical problems but she recognized that it was too late to pull back. "If you hurt him you're going down, Deck. If it's the last thing I do," she muttered to herself.
A knock on her door startled her from her abstraction and she sat up on the bed. "Come in."
The door opened and Trina stood there at attention. "Ma'am. You wanted to see me?"
"What did HQ want?" Max demanded.
Trina held out a manila envelope. "They gave me this to deliver to you, Ma'am."
Max snatched the envelope from her hand and ripped open the seal. She pulled out the sheet of paper inside and perused it rapidly. When she finished she looked up at Trina. "Advise the team to prepare to move out. We leave for the mission at 1900 hours. Full urban gear. Make sure that Griffin brings plenty of flash bangs as well as plastique. That will be all."
Trina saluted again and turned on her heel smartly, closing the door behind her as she left Max alone. Max just sat there, staring out of the window at the parade grounds. She wondered if any of them were going to make it through the mission alive.
British Embassy, Seattle
Several hours later Max and her team were deployed on the rooftop of the building adjoining the British Embassy. The neighborhood below them was dark.
"Control advises that the sensors on the roof, and in the stairwells leading down from it, have been disabled." Mara, the communications tech said quietly.
Max glanced at her team as they stood there in silent readiness. She nodded. "From this point all verbal communication ceases. Hand signals only," she ordered. Her team acknowledged the order with nods. Satisfied Max signaled for them to begin their assault.
According to the orders she had received, the South African Ambassador who was supposedly here on a trade visit, was in actuality a member of their armed forces. He was a commander of Red Series soldiers. They had managed to capture an X6 female outside of Seattle and were preparing to return with her to South Africa, where they would use her in their continuing research program. Max shuddered to herself as she remembered how they had once tried to snatch her. She mused to herself that she almost might have signed on for this mission for its own merits if Lydecker had approached her about it before she went to him.
A touch on her arm brought her back to the present, and she looked up to see Trina waiting next to her. She signaled that the team was in place on the Embassy's roof. Max nodded grimly and walked to the edge of the roof. A wire had been strung across between the buildings, its black color making it invisible in the night. She signaled for Trina to precede her and then Max stepped onto the wire. She walked across it with ease, displaying a grace and balance that a professional tightrope walker would have envied.
The team was already deployed on the rooftop when Max stepped down from the wire.
She nodded at them and then gave the order to proceed into the building and take up their predetermined positions. Within seconds the rooftop was empty as the team slipped through the roof access and made their way to their assignments.
"Griffin, are you in position?" Max whispered into her throat mike as she paused outside of the door that led from the stairwell to the third floor. Intelligence told them that the X6 was being held in a room there.
"Affirmative. Charges are set to go off at a touch of the detonator. They'll take out all power to the building," came the answer in her ear.
"Get back up to three and join the team." Max replied.
She checked to see that the rest of the team was deployed at all entrances to the third floor and waited for Griffin to get into position. He reported back to her in less than five minutes. Max looked at Trina. "It's show time."
Trina nodded and began to speak soft orders into her mike, directing the team into action. At the same time Max pressed the detonator switch on her belt.
Within seconds there was a muffled explosion and the lights in the building flickered and went out. At the same time the Tac team began their sweep of the third floor rooms, looking for the prisoner they were there to free.
Max stood in the center of the hallway frowning. Something didn't feel right to her. Suddenly she spun and looked at the main stairway. There was the sound of footsteps pounding up it, seemingly undeterred by the darkness. As she watched, several husky soldiers came into view. They wore infrared goggles and carried automatic weapons.
But more ominously they each also carried a taser. She could tell by the way they carried themselves that they were Red series. At the same time Trina said in her ear. "Ma'am the rooms are all empty. No sign of a prisoner here."
"It's a trap!" Max shouted. "Fall back to the roof."
"The roof access is blocked!" someone shouted.
Max was racing down the hallway. "Come to me."
She threw open the doorway to a stairwell but instead of trying to head up she looked down. "We go down." So far the Reds hadn't fired a shot, but the Xs could hear them drawing closer.
"There's a panic room on the second floor. Off the Ambassador's bedroom. Get to it." Max directed her team. Trina took the lead and Dun brought up the rear. As the Reds came into sight he began to bring up his weapon.
"It won't do any good." Max shouted. "Use a flash bang instead. Blind them. It buys us time."
She looked away as he nodded and tossed an explosive in the direction of the Reds. There was a blinding flash behind them and the sound of footsteps stopped temporarily as the Xs flew down the stairwell.
Within moments they were all accounted for in the panic room. Max did a quick head count and ordered Trina and Dun to close the room up. Then she looked around. The nine of them were trapped inside a steel shell that was approximately 10 feet by eighteen feet. There was a bank of TV monitors on the wall, all dark with the lack of power.
"There has to be a generator in here. Find it and power up and get in contact with HQ." Max ordered. We're safe here for now but there's a way in here and those guys will be using it soon. I counted fifteen Red series. We can't match them physically so HQ's gonna have to come up with something." She thought for a moment. "Put in your nose filters. I wouldn't be surprised if they pump something in here to put us out. This was a trap to catch themselves some X5s and we walked right into it."
"Ma'am what do we do when they do break in?" asked one of the X5s.
Max gave him a hard look. "We kick their asses and buy time until HQ gets us out of here."
The X5 nodded and Max waited impatiently for the comm link to be set up. As they worked they became aware of sounds outside the room.
"They're setting charges." Dun said.
"What I expected." Max replied. "Get ready for when they blow the wall out."
"Ma'am I have Colonel Lydecker on the comm."
Max took the comm set the tech was holding out to her. "It's a goddamn trap." She snarled into it. "There are a minimum of fifteen Red Series out there waiting to grab all of us. We can't match them physically or for firepower. I hope you have a contingency set up. And I hope you plan on finding out who the traitor is in Manticore who set up this party."
"How much time do you estimate you have?" Lydecker asked calmly.
"Fifteen maybe twenty minutes tops." Max responded. "We're in the panic room and the walls are solid, but they'll blow through them by then."
"We're working on it." Lydecker's comm cut out.
"HQ is working on getting us out of here. Until they do, prepare to go down fighting." Max ordered her team. "Unless you want an all expense paid vacation in South Africa where you'll get to be the guest of the Red Army's medical and scientific corps."
End of Chapter Eight