Protector of Men Ch 71

"Alias, get her out!"

Alias responded with a nod, and was quickly at Zandra's side. Kesia scampered off to tell Trim the good news.

"Trim!" she shouted as she ran into the cockpit, "They're out! Power down!"

Trim didn't respond.

"Trim!" she repeated, frustrated, "They're out!"

"I don't have time," he answered, a bead of sweat falling off his nose. The sentinels were still attacking, and Stotte hadn't helped as much as they had hoped.

"We only need a minute or two," she told him, still standing in the doorway of the cockpit.

"Not good enough," he answered through gritted teeth as he shot at another incoming sentinel. It crashed into the ground with a resounding crash, sending a ripple of vibration through the ship.

"Then what?" Kesia asked loudly, gripping each side of the door for support, "We need to blast it!"

There was only one thing they could do in their situation, and both Trim and Kesia came to the conclusion at the same time: Stotte would have to do it.

"Can they?" Kesia asked,

"If they move,"

"How do we tell them?"

"This way."

And Trim blasted the ship's warning signal in Morse code for EMP. Now all they could do was pray that Stotte recognized their call.

Alias and Cover were busy attempting to close the bay doors of the ship – it seemed like the sentinels had finally found the one obvious breach in the hull, and were now aiming to destroy from the inside. Sparks fell from the ceiling as they worked against time and machine, the door closing excruciatingly slow… perhaps too slow. Trim destroyed another sentinel before it could crash into their hull. Alias could feel the rumble through her chair, but continued to work anyway. Only a few more seconds.

Stotte was busy setting down their ship to get ready for the EMP. One of their crew, Kisho, had figured out the Morse code for their ship and relayed the message to Aegir. The rest of the crew not manning the battalions were now busy shutting down everything necessary for the ship's function, and nothing else. They needed to transport – and that was all. Time would be wasted on saving anything extraneous.

"Are we ready?" Aegir yelled through the PA into his ship. They were settled down, still vainly attempting to stop the onslaught of endless sentinels onto Purgatory, but now focusing on shutting everything down.

"Heater down,"

"Radiators down,"

"Lights down," and everything went dark.

"Fuel closed,"

"Engines?" Aegir called, almost desperate to start the EMP. He waited in silence for the call that would end everything. Another sentinel started to burn through Purgatory's thin cover.

"Engines down!"

"Now!"

And it all stopped.

From Purgatory the EMP appeared as a wave of hot air swiftly approaching their broken vessel. Zandra was now standing in the cockpit next to Trim, and again she could feel the energy rush through her as the EMP passed. All the sentinels soon fell to the ground; they could hear the heavy clunks of falling sentinels on their ship. The machinery was dead, but that didn't matter now. Soon Stotte would be coming to pick them up. Soon they'd be on their way back to Zion.

"What's wrong?" Zandra asked Trim, noticing his tear-streaked and sweat-ridden face. He didn't look at her, but sighed before answering in a frail voice.

"Kemp," he managed, then looked down. Zandra narrowed her eyes; that couldn't mean…

"Is she ok?"

Trim could only shake his head, but Zandra understood already. She looked into the pipeways ahead, and sure enough, Kemp's small figure could be seen in the gray of the metal. She turned her head quickly; Kemp, dead? She hadn't even gone on a mission. Lights flickered on, and soon Stotte was on their way. Zandra turned and left Trim, headed back to the main deck.

Kesia sat in her operator's chair, numb. She stared at the black screens, as if watching intently, as if perhaps that was the only thing she could do. Zandra tried to enter quietly, but Kesia was still startled by her presence.

"Hey," Zandra whispered. She wanted so badly to put a caressing hand on Kesia's shoulder, but wasn't sure how. Zandra had never been much of a physical person, and gestures such as the one she wanted to show so much always scared her to death. So she merely stood behind Kesia, and began to watch the black screen along with her. They now could hear the faint humming of Stotte coming for them.

"Hey," Kesia finally responded. Cover sat in a corner of the room, cut off from everyone else. Shade sat next to Alias. They all were looking at the floor. No one said anything for a long time. Zandra finally put a comforting hand on Kesia's shoulder – it wasn't so hard. But it offered no solace; it was an empty gesture.

They all felt a slight rumble, and Stotte was down. Trim soon sulked out of the cockpit and moved to open the door -–Cover and Shade were soon at his side, pulling the bay doors wide open manually, for there was no power.

It was only a matter of minutes before they were ushered out of Purgatory and into Stotte. Thankfully, Stotte was rather large, and though they would have to double up, everyone would fit. Especially without Kemp… Zandra was numb from the loss. Kemp, gone?

Zandra didn't pay attention to the formalities that Aegir attempted to put through. Half of his crew was out getting Kemp… and Zandra didn't look at anyone's eyes as they shook hands. Another failure, she figured, another loss. Zandra found her way to the mess room to sit while they waited for Aegir's crew to come back and set up again.

"Hey," said Shade, coming into the room. He sat down next to Zandra, watching her warily for any sign of recognition.

"Hey," she replied half-heartedly. Shade sighed.

"So what did that guy say after I left?"

"Neo?" she asked, almost a whisper.

"Yeah."

"To be careful," she replied. Shade detected a bit of resentment in her voice, and moved a little closer to her, his eyes continually locked onto her face.

"We did a good job back there," he asserted, still looking into her eyes. Zandra kept looking down, knowing he would be scrutinizing her.

"Not good enough," she whispered, reverting back to her old self. Kemp was dead. Just like Stephen, she had tried her best to save the day and failed. "Zandra," he chided, eyes squinted in a lack of understanding, "It's always good enough."

Zandra sighed, knowing well that the conversation wouldn't go the way she wanted it to. She looked to him for a moment, but quickly looked away once their eyes met.

"We got Neo out," he added, a hand on Zandra's shoulder. She nodded back; that was at least true, no matter how much they had actually helped to get him out.

Above them the PA system crackled to life, and Aegir's voice was soon heard across Stotte.

"Just want to welcome Purgatory to Stotte," he said in a cheerful, yet reserved tone, "We'll be heading out soon for Zion."

He paused.

"Ah, room assignments – Port will give you those tonight. It'll be a tight fit, but it's only for a day or two."

Again he paused, and then got off the PA.

Zandra had a feeling that it would turn out to be a very long day or two. She would be right.

Alocin – yes, the action is done for a while.

Aqua_Phoenix1 – yes… everyone's a bit sad now…

Zuma – Oh, no! I'd never forget the Mayflower. They'll be back soon, and you may be a little surprised as to how. I think they just needed time to heal after Echo and all. I doubt Zandra would react very well to having the Mayflower come to their rescue after that fiasco. I have two chapters written now after this one, and that might be the end of Rectitude.

Anonymous – hah thanks. But (and you can quote me here) I don't care how random someone's review is… and I appreciate everyone's reviews! It's natural to be random sometimes, and I think that's helped by the fact that some of my reviewers (you know who you are!) are loyal enough to feel comfortable talking about other stuff.

Please! I don't want a review war. Hugs for everyone?

I'm having a little bit of trouble figuring out how I want Ravaged to go… so it may take me a while to update after I finish with Rectitude. I apologize beforehand, but I truly think you'll appreciate it more if I think this through before I barge ahead.