Thank you reviewing persons, despite assorted pieces of what I said in chapter 8, this is not the last chapter, it is the second to last one however.
Chapter 9: Nothing ever happens the way you expect it to
Silas and Gemini ran into the cockpit which contained the ships radar display terminal, as well as the rest of the crew. The 3 dimensional display in front of him gave him a fairly clear idea of what had caused the alarms.
The semi-transparent view of the Nebuchadnezzar was being followed by dozens of smaller images which Silas recognised as Sentinels. It was a chilling sight, in some ways it was worse then the Behemoth that had attacked them a few weeks back, which was only one target. His mind was suddenly and unexpectedly filled with images of the Hammer being chased by sentinels down the narrow tunnel in Revolutions™. An instant later the images had been banished.
"Orion can you loose them?" The question had come from Morpheus who was sitting by his son in one of the two chairs.
"No, they're too close!"
"Damn it, everyone except Orion, get to the gun turrets."
Silas was out of the door before Morpheus had finished his sentence, followed a second later by the rest of the crew.
Silas took a seat in the gunnery control room, sat himself in one of the seats and attached the harness. He opened fire as the others were piling in around him.
The first sentinel was stopped dead in its tracks, sparks fizzed from bullet impacts and the machine fell back far behind its companions as it fell to the floor. Silas wasted no time celebrating this kill however, and quickly found himself another target.
Sentinels were falling out of existence left, right and centre, but for all of the machines the crew shot down, the total number never seemed to diminish, and that total number seemed to be drawing nearer and nearer to the ship.
Silas targeted the sentinel which appeared to be closest to the ship; that same sentinel was destroyed by Neo only moments later. A flash of irritation, as well as something that could almost be described as humour crept into Silas' mind, only to be banished like his earlier thoughts of the Matrix trilogy.
Gunshots continued to rain on the sentinels, who as most of the crew had discovered, were being re-enforced by more of their kin coming through narrow tunnels connecting to the large one the ship was currently charging through at a dangerously high speed.
Elsewhere in the ship, Orion was trying as hard as possible to confuse and evade the sentinels via evasive manoeuvres, but to no avail. The sentinels matched every move he made and continued to gain on the ship. Just when things seemed dire, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention.
"That's one of ours!"
Morpheus' head jerked to the radar display, indeed, a Zion-built hovercraft was advancing on their position. A moment of relief and joy was quickly replaced with fear and dread as he realised what this meant.
What the fuck are they doing here?" Orion screamed. Morpheus simply shook his head in disbelief. Then he noticed a soft noise and blinking green light which showed that the ship was hailing them. He pressed the button and listened to the voice which emerged from the speakers.
"The death of the heretic known as 'The One' shall prove my allegiance to the True Ones!"
Morpheus and Orion didn't have time to feel shocked, before the sentence was finished, a shower of bullets rained on the Nebuchadnezzar. The impacts dented the hull in numerous places. As things began to look as grim as they possibly could, Morpheus realised something.
Back in the gunnery control room, the situation was not lost on the rest of the crew who were now trying to divide their fire between the sentinels, and the mysterious hovercraft which had been identified as the Salient. They had too few turrets however, and the sentinels had begun to land on the ships hull. They were ignoring the Salient.
After a few minutes of laser drilling and clawing, the sentinels clawed a hole through the roof of the gunnery control room. The crew there simply continued to fire and inflict as much damage as they could before the end. But the end had not yet come.
The sentinels all suddenly looked upwards, as if a voice was speaking from behind them, then they left the Nebuchadnezzar, and through his HUD, Silas watched as they descended upon the Salient.
This was not the end of the surprises, now that he didn't have to worry about the Sentinels, at least for the moment, Silas could feel a warmth on the back of his neck. Looking up, he saw the most beautiful thing he had seen since being un-plugged, sunlight.
"How?" Started Cypher.
"Morpheus must have released the dissolving solution."
"It's beautiful" muttered Trinity, mostly to herself.
"If the machines saw this, maybe it'll be enough, even if it's not complete, or grows back or something. I mean, we can always try again can't we?"
"Shut up Necromancer," said Silas slowly, "just enjoy the moment."
Necromancer silenced himself and looked up with the rest of the crew. In the corner of his eye, he noticed that the traitor in the Salient had been carried out and was being ripped to shreds by the sentinels; it took all the energy he had not to cheer. He also noticed that a number of bodies appeared to have been lifted out and placed on the base of the tunnel. These were either the original crew, or more traitors, it was impossible to tell.
Silas felt another light grip on his arm, he lifted his harness and turned round to face Gemini, who then proceeded to passionately kiss him, almost knocking him over in the process.
A state of confused shock quickly gave way to joyous acquiescence. The rest of the crew were staring with faint smiles, with the exception of Trinity and Neo, who were engaged in a passionate kiss of their own.
Silas and Gemini's faces separated, both of them stared at each other silently for a few seconds.
"Is that what you were trying to tell me earlier?" Silas whispered.
"Pretty much."
Silas smiled, but this was short lived. He could feel something tighten under his arms, looking down; he saw one of the many arms of a sentinel. Before he had time to respond, he found himself being pulled out of the hole in the hull. Within seconds, he had vanished from the other's sights.
To be concluded. I'll try to update quickly.
Chapter 9: Nothing ever happens the way you expect it to
Silas and Gemini ran into the cockpit which contained the ships radar display terminal, as well as the rest of the crew. The 3 dimensional display in front of him gave him a fairly clear idea of what had caused the alarms.
The semi-transparent view of the Nebuchadnezzar was being followed by dozens of smaller images which Silas recognised as Sentinels. It was a chilling sight, in some ways it was worse then the Behemoth that had attacked them a few weeks back, which was only one target. His mind was suddenly and unexpectedly filled with images of the Hammer being chased by sentinels down the narrow tunnel in Revolutions™. An instant later the images had been banished.
"Orion can you loose them?" The question had come from Morpheus who was sitting by his son in one of the two chairs.
"No, they're too close!"
"Damn it, everyone except Orion, get to the gun turrets."
Silas was out of the door before Morpheus had finished his sentence, followed a second later by the rest of the crew.
Silas took a seat in the gunnery control room, sat himself in one of the seats and attached the harness. He opened fire as the others were piling in around him.
The first sentinel was stopped dead in its tracks, sparks fizzed from bullet impacts and the machine fell back far behind its companions as it fell to the floor. Silas wasted no time celebrating this kill however, and quickly found himself another target.
Sentinels were falling out of existence left, right and centre, but for all of the machines the crew shot down, the total number never seemed to diminish, and that total number seemed to be drawing nearer and nearer to the ship.
Silas targeted the sentinel which appeared to be closest to the ship; that same sentinel was destroyed by Neo only moments later. A flash of irritation, as well as something that could almost be described as humour crept into Silas' mind, only to be banished like his earlier thoughts of the Matrix trilogy.
Gunshots continued to rain on the sentinels, who as most of the crew had discovered, were being re-enforced by more of their kin coming through narrow tunnels connecting to the large one the ship was currently charging through at a dangerously high speed.
Elsewhere in the ship, Orion was trying as hard as possible to confuse and evade the sentinels via evasive manoeuvres, but to no avail. The sentinels matched every move he made and continued to gain on the ship. Just when things seemed dire, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention.
"That's one of ours!"
Morpheus' head jerked to the radar display, indeed, a Zion-built hovercraft was advancing on their position. A moment of relief and joy was quickly replaced with fear and dread as he realised what this meant.
What the fuck are they doing here?" Orion screamed. Morpheus simply shook his head in disbelief. Then he noticed a soft noise and blinking green light which showed that the ship was hailing them. He pressed the button and listened to the voice which emerged from the speakers.
"The death of the heretic known as 'The One' shall prove my allegiance to the True Ones!"
Morpheus and Orion didn't have time to feel shocked, before the sentence was finished, a shower of bullets rained on the Nebuchadnezzar. The impacts dented the hull in numerous places. As things began to look as grim as they possibly could, Morpheus realised something.
Back in the gunnery control room, the situation was not lost on the rest of the crew who were now trying to divide their fire between the sentinels, and the mysterious hovercraft which had been identified as the Salient. They had too few turrets however, and the sentinels had begun to land on the ships hull. They were ignoring the Salient.
After a few minutes of laser drilling and clawing, the sentinels clawed a hole through the roof of the gunnery control room. The crew there simply continued to fire and inflict as much damage as they could before the end. But the end had not yet come.
The sentinels all suddenly looked upwards, as if a voice was speaking from behind them, then they left the Nebuchadnezzar, and through his HUD, Silas watched as they descended upon the Salient.
This was not the end of the surprises, now that he didn't have to worry about the Sentinels, at least for the moment, Silas could feel a warmth on the back of his neck. Looking up, he saw the most beautiful thing he had seen since being un-plugged, sunlight.
"How?" Started Cypher.
"Morpheus must have released the dissolving solution."
"It's beautiful" muttered Trinity, mostly to herself.
"If the machines saw this, maybe it'll be enough, even if it's not complete, or grows back or something. I mean, we can always try again can't we?"
"Shut up Necromancer," said Silas slowly, "just enjoy the moment."
Necromancer silenced himself and looked up with the rest of the crew. In the corner of his eye, he noticed that the traitor in the Salient had been carried out and was being ripped to shreds by the sentinels; it took all the energy he had not to cheer. He also noticed that a number of bodies appeared to have been lifted out and placed on the base of the tunnel. These were either the original crew, or more traitors, it was impossible to tell.
Silas felt another light grip on his arm, he lifted his harness and turned round to face Gemini, who then proceeded to passionately kiss him, almost knocking him over in the process.
A state of confused shock quickly gave way to joyous acquiescence. The rest of the crew were staring with faint smiles, with the exception of Trinity and Neo, who were engaged in a passionate kiss of their own.
Silas and Gemini's faces separated, both of them stared at each other silently for a few seconds.
"Is that what you were trying to tell me earlier?" Silas whispered.
"Pretty much."
Silas smiled, but this was short lived. He could feel something tighten under his arms, looking down; he saw one of the many arms of a sentinel. Before he had time to respond, he found himself being pulled out of the hole in the hull. Within seconds, he had vanished from the other's sights.
To be concluded. I'll try to update quickly.