Protector of Men Ch 107

The Mayflower was on approach. The dark pipeways became more ordered; large imposing turrets littered the walls they passed. Columbus had asked for clearance only minutes before. They told her she had ten before they blew the batteries. They were five away from the dock, which didn't give them much time to land.

But Zandra's intention was to stay in the air as long as they could. If Zion blew the batteries again they'd destroy Zandra's one chance to stop the fighting before the sentinels came again in full force. If those batteries were blown before they could get in, the machines might change their mind. But if they could stay up, if they could prolong the explosion just a few minutes… perhaps those machines could get away until it was over.

A few hundred meters ahead the giant doors began to open. Zandra watched with anticipation, waiting for the thin dazzling slit of light that would soon shoot from its crevice. But it was dark; the lights in Zion were out, and the only change was a faint glimmer of fire from a half-kilometer off. She stood with Columbus in the cockpit, and neither of them spoke.

"Captain - we can't touch down yet," Zandra said, almost a whisper. Columbus didn't look at her, but continued staring at the blast doors that they would soon arrive at. She didn't breathe for a few seconds.

"If we don't go down they'll do it anyway."

"Maybe we can get them to wait… just a few minutes."

Columbus wasn't going to ask why they needed to stay in the air; there was no point in it. Whatever this girl wanted to happen, she would do. Anyone would – they had to. It wasn't so much that she had become a leader, but she presented a solution when the others had none. Zandra represented a lasting hope that many didn't hold anymore. Anyone would follow that.

The fire loomed larger as they passed through the gates. Their small band of sentinels continued to guard the ship as they entered Zion. Gunfire continued in the distance: intermittent flashes from various floors. There was something disquieting about the silence of the ship contrasted with the climactic turmoil in Zion. Zandra watched the surrounding dock with anticipation. Three minutes left.

"Would we even land in time?" she asked.

"It'd be a gamble," Columbus answered, "But I'll take my time."

Zandra paused. "Thanks."

There was an explosion from a few meters below them; someone had fired a rocket grenade at a sentinel that now threatened to crash directly on the troops that had ended its existence. Zandra looked away when it hit; Columbus swore again.

"They're all killing each other," she whispered. The violence never stopped. Zion was so accustomed to death and defeat that a victory – even a temporary truce seemed improbable. Nonetheless, they continued fighting.

Columbus' radio sprang to life, and an angry commander appeared on a screen in front of them.

"Touch down, Captain," the commander ordered, "You have little more than a minute left, and we won't be generous with what little time we still have."

"Yes, sir," Columbus, replied, and turned off the radio. But instead of descending safely onto the Zionite docks, she turned up the power and continued floating through Zion's interior.

There were forty seconds left. The cockpit blasted to life: warnings began beeping their alarms in the Mayflower, and one of the crew was asking Columbus if she needed assistance on the P.A. Still, neither of them spoke. It would only be a little bit before things started happening. One of the sentinels flying with their ship bumped into their hull on it's injured descent, and Zandra felt a brief wave of rage over its termination. Couldn't they see it was protecting them? Couldn't they see that it was trying to help?

Troops on the residence floors of Zion pecked intermittently at the Mayflower's hull. It wasn't consequential damage, but they were warning Columbus of impending power loss. Their time was up, and for a moment, Columbus changed course and aimed down. None of them would be of any help if they died in a crash. It was a brief lapse into logic.

"Stay up!" Zandra shouted, the ship now veering in a wide circle around the large dock. She tried to grab the ship's controls, but a sudden turn caught her off-balance and sent her into the nearest wall. Sentinels began joining the Mayflower from their stations throughout Zion, and a few were picked off by Zion's defenses. The metal hull clinked with every bullet entry; though they didn't damage the ship, it was altogether unsettling.

"We have to go down sometime," Columbus countered. A sentinel crashed into the side of the ship on it's way to the ground. "Stop shooting," she whispered fervently.

"They'll blow the batteries!" Zandra replied, "And then they'll think we've caved!"

Columbus had no reply, and therefore continued the ship's circular trajectory. Finally a few sentinels decided to momentarily retreat into the pipeways, as she had hoped. Zandra cursed as more sentinels fell to the ground.

An alarm went off in Zion; a warning shot was fired from one of the squads. To them, it was hard to tell which side the Mayflower was working for, and while that ship was in the air, their job was almost impossible. Almost a hundred sentinels had left the dock, but they were still in range. Only a few seconds more – only a minute and perhaps the truce could still work.

"We're going down!" Columbus shouted, plunging her ship down into the detritus of the ground. Zandra didn't have a chance to counter her. The ship landed with a heavy thud and less than thirty seconds later the power had gone out. It was silent now in Zion, except for the intermittent crashes of fallen sentinels and the quiet cheering of a thousand troops.

A/N – I know this is a short chapter, but this and the next are connected. Next chapter should be out quickly – I've already written it. Just have an open mind, lol…

Aqua – you have a cool neighborhood! Where I live, I think people would just go on with their lives. We're too worried about pretending to be rich to think about reality and such… heh.

Alocin – yeah, Will hasn't been around for a while – but he was mentioned a few times in Reprise, I remember.