Title: Rescue Run

Author: Lady Rheena

Genres: Alternate Universe, Action/Adventure, Romance

Rating: R

Disclaimer: If you recognise it from a fandom, I probably don't own it. That includes the world of The Matrix, all its characters and the concepts it entails. The idea of the Fleet and the Planetary Coalition are technically my own, but you'll probably recognise bits and pieces from various sci-fi media.

Chapter notes: Might seem like a bit of waffle, but it's all in the name of plot. Promise.

Part 19- Phobos Base

The moment the Phobos deck crew cut them out of the Logos where she was sealed into the retrieval ship Oregon Dena felt as though all she wanted to do was kiss everyone in the room. A medic produced a scanner and gave them a thorough going-over before they were let out of the holding dock with a reluctant pronouncement of complete health and no carried diseases. Then a small Fleet base team of three lightly armed troopers escorted the quartet up to a debriefing room. Sitting at the table inside was Commander Pryce and, to Dena's shock, Admiral Fobson who commanded the whole of Phobos surface base. She stopped and saluted smartly just inside the door.

'Enough of that, Captain,' Fobson said. 'I think we ought to be saluting you, judging by the story I think we're about to hear.' Then his gaze fell on the three Terrans standing rather sheepishly behind her. 'By the holy Maker and his sacred children, Captain. Where in the hell did you manage to find three living human beings in that unholy part of the solar system?'

'On Terra, sir.'

He stared at her so she stepped aside to permit the others into the room and then gestured to each in turn.

'Admiral Fobson, may I present Captain Niobe of the Logos and her crew, first mate Ghost and ship's operator Sparks. Captain, gentleman, this is Admiral Fobson of Fleet command on Phobos and Commander Pryce of the HSS Gormenghast.'

'And exactly what fleet is the Logos a part of, may I ask?' the Admiral demanded incredulously, looking directly at Niobe.

'The defence fleet of the city of Zion, Admiral,' she replied without so much as blinking. Pryce and Fobson extended looks of scarcely concealed amazement.

'Sit down, all of you,' Pryce said at last, glancing at the yeoman in the corner. 'Make sure you get all this on the recorder, Harris. It may well be a historical document in the making.'

'Aye sir.'

'So, Captain,' Fobson said, sitting back in the chair and folding his arms. 'Perhaps you had best begin with explaining what the heck you've done with or to the Mariposa.'

It was almost two hours later when Dena finished speaking. The two officers had listened intently to every word, stopping her only very occasionally to ask questions or request elaboration of certain points. When she was finally done Fobson folded his arms again and exhaled in a long, low whistle.

'Sir?' she queried.

'I think the Admiral is of the same opinion I am, Captain,' Pryce said. 'Which is that if you hadn't got yourself into orbit in and be sitting next to your proof, I'd say that was the biggest cock and bull story I'd ever heard. Given the present situation, however, that of course clearly is not the case.'

'Indeed.' Fobson sat up again and leaned forward, this time addressing the Terrans directly. 'Captain Niobe, gentlemen, given what I have just heard, if I were your commander I'd give you all bloody medals and the highest possible commendation in your records. However since your fleet evidently doesn't have such resources available I'll have to settle for a sincere congratulations and my personal opinion that you are quite possibly three of the bravest people I have ever had the honour to meet.' He grinned and then gave a short laugh. 'Now I've made you all blush, let's talk business. High Command planetside will clearly require consultation, as will the Congress, but I think for once everyone will absolutely agree that immediate and decisive action is required.' He glanced at Pryce. 'Commander, the Gormenghast is currently docked on Orbital awaiting colony personnel, is she not?'

'Yes sir.' Pryce grimaced. 'Government screening still has yet to give us even a preliminary list of names. I think we can consider ourselves at your disposal for the time being.'

'Admiral,' Dena said quickly.

'Yes, Captain, what is it?'

She glanced at Niobe and then took a deep breath. Find me those green lands, Captain.

'Sir, is D-441 still vacant?'

'In the Capella system? Yes, it is. As a matter of fact when- and if- the watchdogs ever manage to bleed some suitable colony material out of the sorry lot of latest applicants that's where the Gormenghast will be headed, Captain. Why do you ask?'

'Sir, there are two hundred and fifty thousand people down in Zion who have survived for countless generations in conditions substandard to even a brand new foothold mining platform. What better prospective colonists for D-441 do we need, sir?'

'Great Maker,' Pryce said.

'Balderdash,' Fobson retorted. 'The Captain is absolutely right. And as head of Phobos Base I have discretion for all local Fleet emergency situations. I think Terra counts as local, don't you Commander?'

Pryce grinned at him.

'It'll do me, sir.'

'Then get that haulier of yours ready for launch. Top priority. Equip to evacuate quarter of a million persons in the shortest amount of time with the least possible loss of life on all sides. Except the machines, of course.'

'Sir, I would advise armament of all drop ships,' Dena put in. The Admiral nodded.

'Of course. Commander, advise all your personnel to expect to engage hostiles. I believe we have a few cruisers sitting in dock whom you can enlist for extra people and firepower if you need to. At present this is code yellow and we all know what that means.' Standing, he accepted the datapad containing Dena's written report which she had placed on the table. 'I'll have this sent off to High Command in a jiffy, Captain. And my my, what fun the Congress is going to have with this. Captain Niobe?'

'Yes, Admiral?' Niobe said, quickly giving him her full attention.

'I regret that despite the efficiency I am used to commanding at this base our forces will not be available for deployment for an evacuation of this scale inside of twelve hours.'

'We've survived for a hundred years, Admiral.' Niobe smiled. 'I think we can stand another twelve hours with no problem.'

'Hmm, yes. But there are other considerations. These ships of yours, for instance. If we're trying to evacuate you the last thing we need is half your organised personnel scattered throughout the planet. How long would it take to recall them all?'

'I'm…I'm not sure, sir. It's never been done before.' Niobe shook her head a few times and then glanced at her crewmates for suggestions.

'Hundred and fifty ships,' Sparks said in a low voice. 'Say furthest away is BC-21. Top speed recall for all of them, I'd hazard four, maybe six hours all told?'

'Sounds about right.' She looked at Fobson. 'Maximum about six hours, Admiral.'

'Then we've no time to lose.' He rose and walked over to press a wall button. 'Ops centre.'

'Peters here sir.'

'Have the Voltaire prepare for launch within the half hour. And get Captain Estalla on my office screen, I'll brief him from there. Out.' He looked back at the table. 'Here's the plan, ladies and gentlemen. The cruiser Voltaire will make Earth orbit within the hour and establish contact with the surface. On the Voltaire will be the crew of the Logos along with Captain Reese. Your job, Captain, in co-operation with Estalla and his officers, is to get Zion ready for evacuation. That'll mean setting up a proper communications channel and getting word to the city's command centre to recall all ships and have their population packed and ready to go. I also want as much tactical information as possible on these machines, particularly those sentinel things, in case the evacuation should necessitate open combat. In the meantime I shall be pulling strings with High Command and the Congress as much as I can by use of this debriefing and Captain Reese's report.' He gave the three Terrans a bright smile that was reassuring without being patronising. 'I've only met three Zionites, but I like your people already. I intend to see that you get that planet.'

'Thank you Admiral, sir,' Niobe had the presence of mind to say.

'All right. We haven't got a moment to lose. You have your orders Captain, Commander. Implement them.' He turned and left without further comment, the yeoman scurrying after him. Pryce rose and came around the table to stand in front of Dena. She stood up and accepted the clap on her shoulder with a grin.

'Good grief, Dena, but you never do things by halves, do you?'

'I try not to, sir.'

He laughed.

'In this case I'm glad. Very glad.' The laugh faded. 'I can't tell you what it was like, thinking you were dead, Captain. I shall of course notify your squadron, who I'm sure would throw you a ridiculously boisterous welcome back party if only we didn't have a planet to evacuate.'

'There'll be time for that later, sir.'

'I sincerely hope so.' He glanced briefly at Niobe and the others before continuing. 'Get over to the Voltaire right away, she's in fifteen on level four. Their exec should have a minimal briefing of what's going on by now and I'm sure the Admiral is giving Estalla the full story as we speak. Get one of the drop ships outfitted for a rough ride and possible combat so you can get back to the ground. And don't crash this time.'

'I wasn't intending to, sir. But may I request one thing?'

'You may,' he said guardedly.

'Sir, may we borrow Lieutenant Maloney? I've good reason to believe there's a potential on the surface and I'd like to get Psi on the job ASAP.'

'Good idea. And yes, I'll send him over.' He extended a hand and she shook firmly. 'Good luck, Captain. It's good to have you back.'

'It's good to be back, sir.'

He smiled once more, nodded to the Logos crew and then departed. Dena turned around to find Niobe shaking her head.

'Something wrong?'

'I just don't believe it. All this…' she stood and gestured helplessly with her hands to indicate the entire room, the entire station, then planted them on her hips. 'And I certainly didn't expect the whole place to start falling over themselves to help us.'

'It's called humanity, Niobe. You'll get used to it.' Dena grinned at her and jerked her head at the door. 'C'mon, let's skedaddle over to that cruiser and give Westan a shock.'

'And just who is Westan?' Sparks asked as they set off down the corridor.

'Mark Westan. Exec on the Voltaire. We were in the Academy together but he switched tracks to operations management and missed his promotion. He's bucking for a department captaincy on a supership- and has been for the last seven years.' They rounded a corner to a lift shaft and she punched the command for dock area fifteen on station level four.

'Old Academy buddy, huh?'

'Yup. Has almost the same bottomless capacity for drink as you do, Ghost. I lost count of the number of times we carried him back to the dorm.'

'Sounds colourful,' Niobe said.

'He's a damn good exec. Not sure how he'd function under a command position but then that's not my problem.'

'Is it me,' Sparks said suddenly. 'Or is this elevator moving sideways?'

'Phobos is twenty eight kilometres in diameter at its widest point, Sparks,' Dena said to him. 'These transport shafts wouldn't speed things up much if they only moved vertically.'

As she finished speaking the doors opened to reveal dock four-fifteen. As if on cue, the three Terrans gasped in amazement at the size of the cruiser parked there. She was easily as long as the residential quarters of Zion were deep, and at least sixty metres tall. Currently she was surrounded by a swarm of technicians and suited dock crews scurrying to get her launch ready. Dena led her charges confidently through the horde straight to the main boarding hatch only to find a yeoman standing there who threw her a crisp salute.

'Permission to come aboard, mister,' she said, returning it.

'Granted, ma'am, and welcome. Captains Reese and Niobe?'

'That's us,' Dena said, giving a shocked-looking Niobe a wink.

'The bridge is expecting you, Captains. This way please.'

The bridge, command centre of the cruiser, was situated in the centre at the very top of the cruiser's massive bulk. It was a hub of bustling activity and the second they arrived the four were greeted by a tall, thin man carrying a datapad. He shook each hand in turn.

'Captain Reese.'

'Lieutenant Westan.'

'Still rubbing it in, Dena?' He laughed. 'We're about six minutes off launch. Captain Estalla is in his office, he just finished his briefing with the Admiral. Also there's a Lieutenant Maloney just arrived from the Gormenghast, apparently at your request.'

'That's right. We'll just go disturb their chinwag.' Motioning to the Logos crew, she was about to lead them across when the door opened and two figures came out.

'Ah, Captain Reese.' Arjen Estalla was a lean but muscular fellow, very tall with chin length black hair and a scrubbed beard, along with very calm-looking grey eyes. 'And Captain…Niobe, I believe?'

'Yes sir,' Niobe said. The two words were all she seemed to currently be capable of.

'Lieutenant Maloney tells me his presence was requested,' Estalla added, indicating the imposing coffee-skinned man behind him.

'It was sir.' Dena nodded to Kerry. 'I've reason to believe there is an ESP potential on the surface.'

'On ol' Terra?' Kerry's voice was light and merry, not at all matching his appearance. 'Well ain't that the darndest thing. Thanks for letting me join you, Captain.' His eyes danced with amusement and excitement at the prospect of something different to exercise his unusual talents upon.

'Do we have a game plan, Captain?' Dena asked Estalla. He nodded.

'We'll clear Phobos minimal distance and then make an FTL jump to Earth orbit, then geosync over the co-ordinates your report provided. That's smashing some regulations but given the circumstances I think we'll be safe from a court-martial. That should put us right above Zion. A considerable distance above, granted the underground nature of the city, but nevertheless…we're going to dispatch scuttlebugs at ten kilometre intervals down and one on the surface if we can. That should boost our com signal enough to remove the interference from that noxious gas layer that's making itself so inconvenient. Once we establish contact with Zion and determine their current situation I think, Captain, it might be a good idea for you to take a drop ship down along with your associates here and Lieutenant Maloney. You can take hard copies of the evac plan with you to save us transmitting such information in a datastream and risking signal degradation or, ah, interception by hostile forces. I have a deck crew readying a drop ship now, including guns. You'll need a gunner, of course-'

'If I may, sir,' Dena interrupted, 'We have a gunner.' She indicated Ghost. 'Show this man where the triggers and the crosshairs are and believe me, he can keep our tail clean. And it might be a good idea to minimise the number on the first drop.' When he frowned she continued. 'Zion isn't full of the kind of people inclined to mass panic, Captain, but as we're all aware rumours spread like wildfire and easily get out of control. Once we establish contact and I drop with the crew and Maloney it'll be possible to get the situation explained and start organising it down there.' She was relieved when he nodded.

'Good thinking, Captain. Certainly you know the lay of the land better than I do. Captain Niobe, would you agree with Captain Reese's estimation?'

'Yes sir,' Niobe said, seeming surprised to be asked. 'Once we're down we can get the people together and explain what's going on. That'll keep things under control and make the situation more manageable for everyone who's involved.'

'Then that's settled.' Estalla strode across to the centre of the room and consulted a screen. 'Mr Westan, prepare for FTL to Terran orbit on my mark.'

'I thought we had to get out of the dock first?' Sparks hissed to Dena.

'We're ten thousand klicks out from Phobos already, Sparks,' she replied, unable to help find his shock rather amusing.

'Jump in three…two…one…mark.'

As she always did during FTL Dena closed her eyes to avoid having to see the way the room swum out of focus and seemed to vaguely distort its own dimensions. After counting to five, the maximum time any and all FTL jumps took, she opened them again to see all three of the Logos crew looking a little unsteady.

'It takes you like that the first time,' Maloney said in a buck-up tone. Dena tuned in to what was going on around her, hearing the orders for dispatching scuttlebugs being issued. She heard Estalla say her name and crossed the room to where he was standing by the main com station. Niobe and the others followed.

'Surface link established, sir,' the com officer said. 'Searching band frequencies now.' Suddenly he winced.

'Something wrong, Lieutenant?' Estalla asked.

'Sorry sir. Got a load of near supersonic blipping there. I'd guess that's the machines' transmission frequency.'

'Mark it,' Dena ordered without thinking. 'If we can get it decoded it'll be useful during the evac to know their planned movements.'

'Yes ma'am.' He continued to input commands and then paused, listening intently. 'I think I got it. Main bandwidth section, anyway. Sounds like the signal's being scrambled.'

'Of course it's being scrambled,' Estalla said. 'They're fighting a war down there, Lieutenant.'

'Yes sir. Shall I encrypt our transmissions?'

'No. They won't be able to decode until we can give them the software. Add that to your drop package, Captain Reese. I don't like the idea of those machines listening in.'

'Will do, sir.'

'Try broadening the reception amplitude,' Sparks suggested quietly, then lent over the console to see the display better. 'You're in the wrong frequency range for Zion, that's the intership com.'

'You even encrypt control base transmissions?' the com seemed to find this strange.

'Like the captain said, we're fighting a war down there.' Sparks straightened up and folded his arms. Dena hid a grin as Niobe gave a low, teasing chuckle.

'Now the experts have conferred…'

Sparks gave her a filthy look as the com officer gave a start.

'I've isolated the encryption, sir- I think I have a clear channel.' He nodded to Sparks in thanks.

'QUIET!' Estalla bellowed. The bridge fell silent. 'I want everyone to hear this voice from Terra so you all know exactly why we're here Broadcast this shipwide, Mr Westan.'

'Sir.' Westan flipped a switch. 'Shipwide, sir.'

'All right, Killock, go ahead.'

'Sir.' The com officer pressed his slender earpiece down with one finger as he spoke. 'Zion Control, this is the cruiser Voltaire. Do you read? Over.' He paused and then repeated the phrase twice more. Then there was a long, strained silence. 'Sir, I think perhaps-' he was cut off by a burst of static and a piercing squeal that made everyone wince. But then a voice came online, the tone one of absolute and total disbelief.

'Voltaire, this is Zion Control. We are reading you loud and clear. Do- do you read us?'

A loud cheer went up from all over the command centre. Dena laughed as the Logos crew hugged each other and then all three of them engulfed her at once. Showing great presence of mind, the com officer removed his headset and handed it to Niobe. She fumbled putting it on her ear and then managed to speak into the mouthpiece, her hand trembling where she held it.

'Jason?'

'Niobe?'

'It's me- sir, Commander-' she added, remembering where she was. Estalla laughed and clapped her on the shoulder in a friendly manner.

'Just give him the message, Captain. We won't stand on ceremony today.'

'Jason, it's me. I'm in orbit on a ship called the Voltaire. Over.'

'My god!' This elicited some small laughs from the listeners. 'Your crew?'

'They're fine, Jason- we're all fine. God, you should see it up here. It's beautiful!' Shaking her head and pulling herself together, Niobe went on. 'Commander, you need to issue a complete recall of all ships from broadcast level. But keep one dock pad free, we're coming back down with some plans for you.'

'Wait just a second- a complete recall? Plans?'

'For the evacuation, Jason.' She caught Estalla's look. 'Listen, I'll put you on to Captain Estalla, he's the commander of the Voltaire. He's- he's got it together more than I have right now.' She handed the headset over and buried her face in one hand. 'Oh god, I have never felt like such a fool.'

'Don't worry, Captain,' Maloney said with an easy grin. 'For your first orbital com that was pretty good.'

'Glad I didn't have to do it,' Sparks enjoined with a glance at Dena.

'Commander Lock,' Estalla said. 'I hope you're reading me clearly because we have a few things we need you to do before we can start getting your people out of there. Over.'

'Understood, Captain. I'm reading you just fine. Uh, over.'

Dena had to smile at his uncomfortable use of com protocol.

'That's great, Commander. Now, there's a full evac force being mobilised as we speak and in roughly twelve hours we'll start the job properly. In the meantime I need you to make sure all your people are in the city so we don't have to start mopping up stragglers elsewhere. Captain Niobe tells me this means a complete recall of all your ships in broadcast level. I confess that's so much noise to me but I hope it makes sense to you. Over.'

'Entirely, Captain. The recall is going out as we speak.'

'Acknowledge that, Commander.' Putting his hand over the mouthpiece briefly, Estalla remarked, 'Man's a damn fine organiser.' Niobe blushed ever so slightly as he resumed contact. 'I'd like you to leave one of your landing docks free for a drop ship, Commander. Captain Reese will be coming to join you shortly and I don't think anyone wants her to plough into the surface this time.' Dena rolled her eyes at him. 'She'll have more information for you and also a nifty little piece of software to encrypt future communications. I don't know about you but I don't like the idea of the machines eavesdropping on our little operation. Over.'

'Affirmative to that, Captain, we'll expect them soon. Recall is in progress. And Captain?'

'Yes, Commander?'

'I'd just like to say it's damn good to hear your voice. Over.'

'Believe me, Commander, hearing yours is just about a miracle from where I stand. Voltaire out.' He handed the headset back to Killock. 'Keep an ear on that channel, Lieutenant, in case we get anything else. And get someone to work decoding that machine blipping into something like a language.'

'Yes sir.'

Turning back to address the bridge, Estalla folded his arms.

'All right, you all heard the Commander. He may not be Fleet or even a spacer but he apparently outranks me. And yes, that does kind of piss me off.' This got some laughter. 'Nonetheless he seems to have his end of things pretty tight so let's make sure we don't show the entire Coalition up by appearing sloppy. We're here to prepare the way for the Gormenghast and her evac crew. Let's make sure we do it properly.'

'Captain,' said another com officer further down. 'We're receiving a datastream transmission from Mars. High Command HQ.' A pause. 'It includes an official message for Captain Reese, sir.'

Dena crossed to him.

'What's that, ensign?'

'Displaying message, ma'am.'

Enclose official announcement from emergency Congress meeting for conveyance to Zion officials as soon as possible. Green light for full Terran evacuation to HSS Gormenghast. Consider Capella reserved. Dena felt a grin come to her face and ruthlessly suppressed it.

'What is it?' Niobe asked.

'Just a message for the Council.' She took the datapad the ensign handed her with a nod, ignoring Sparks' querying look. 'Captain Estalla, I think that drop might be in order right about now.'

He consulted a screen.

'Everything you need should be aboard. Are you sure you don't require one of our gunners?'

'Captain, with Ghost on shift I almost pity the machines.' She clapped a blushing Ghost on the shoulder and made for the door, glancing back when they failed to follow her.

'Get a move on,' Maloney said. 'You're holding the entire line up. And I want to see this city of yours.'

'Good flying, Captain,' Estalla said. 'And good luck.'

'We've had more than our fair share recently, Captain,' Dena said to him.

'Let's hope it holds out,' Niobe murmured as the lift doors closed.