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: Another POV switch while Dena's busy blasting stuff.

Part 26- Too Much Fun

Neo, Trinity couldn't help thinking, was having far more fun than he ought. The Neb crew had just come off their last six hour shift in the dock, which basically involved counting heads and making sure enough people were ready to get on the drop ships as they arrived, but instead of getting some sleep or just taking a chance to sit around inactive for a while he was floating his boots around the room again. She was beginning to almost wish that Maloney had never taught him that trick.

'Neo, why don't you get some rest?'

'I won't sleep,' he said. 'I'm too…I'm buzzing, Trin. You know? Like someone sent a thousand volt shock through me and it hasn't faded out yet.' Letting the boots drop to the floor with a clatter, he jumped- yes, actually jumped like a little boy- onto the bed next to her and lay down so his face was right next to hers, grinning. 'Are you really that tired?'

She laughed at his mischievous air and was about to kiss him when someone whacked their door. Neo promptly jumped up again and went to answer it, revealing the solemn face of one of the dock crews.

'Neb?'

'Yeah. Formerly.' His goofy smile had no effect on the man.

'You're up.'

'But we just got back,' Trinity protested, rising.

'Not for duty. It's your lift.' And he was gone.

'We're lifting?' Neo demanded of the empty air, then glanced back at Trinity.

'I guess so,' she said with a shrug. 'I didn't think all the non-military personnel would be gone already.'

'I've lost track of how many shifts we've done,' he replied. 'No idea how long it's been.' Then his eyes glazed over slightly with the look she'd come to recognise as one of the new uses of his abilities. Maloney!

I hear ya. Sheesh, boyo, your range is increasing every time you holler me up!

Trinity and I just got told to lift. Are all the civilians up already?

Evac's been running better part of a hundred, a hundred and twenty hours already, Neo.

'Holy shit,' he said out loud.

'What is it?' Trinity asked.

'Maloney says evac's been underway for over a hundred hours.' He shook his head as he sat down to put his boots back on. 'We must've done a lot of shifts.' Thanks. I guess I'll see you on the Gormenghast then.

Me and all my freaky Psi buddies, kiddo! Later. Maloney broke the contact.

'C'mon,' Neo said to Trinity. 'We don't want to miss that shuttle or they'll make us walk up there.'

Once the pair got outside they could much more easily believe that two thirds of Zion was gone. The walkways, usually bustling with people, were deserted. It was almost eerily silent save for the clang of their steps, and they unconsciously felt for each other's hands.

'I've never known it this quiet,' Trinity whispered as they stepped into the elevator. 'Even during the Temple gatherings…it still seems full, somehow. Now it even feels empty.'

Neo punched the dock level into the controls and with a protesting shudder the lift started to move.

'Don't worry, Trin. I'm sure the Gormenghast'll be buzzing.'

'A ship full of you in this mood?' she asked impishly. 'I don't think I could handle that.'

'You'll cope,' he shot back with another grin just as the doors opened. 'Holy shit. Where'd everybody go?' Even the dock seemed somehow vacant. Before there had always been a large huddle of people around the control centre waiting for their lift, but now a few of the bays were lacking their crews and even half a dozen APUs stood empty and abandoned near their storage facility.

'They must have started lifting crews straight from their bays,' Trinity said, about to start along the walkway to Control when she spotted Morpheus and Link. The latter gave them a lively wave so they changed course to bay six where another two crews were also standing ready. Trinity knew Soren's crew from the Vigilant and waved, but was less familiar with the stern looking Ice and her large crew from the Gnosis so contented herself with a nod to them. However she was pleasantly surprised to see her adopted brother Ghost apparently in charge of the bay, although since the ship crews were tagged together for work teams and lifts it was safe to assume that Niobe and their operator, whateverhisnamewas, Sparks, were about somewhere as well.

'Ready to go, Trin?' Ghost asked her with one of his implacable smiles.

'Jittery but all set,' she replied.

'What's the view like up there?' Neo asked. Ghost snorted.

'It's incredible. But apparently you won't see it on the run up. No windows on the carriers.'

'Shit. No fair!'

'Do you know when you're up?' Trinity asked.

'We're next lift,' Ghost replied with something approximating a proper smile. She returned it warmly.

'Then I'll see you up there, brother.'

He looked about to reply but then suddenly touched one finger to his earpiece, jerking his head towards the pad.

'Your ride's here.' Then he was off across the bay to hurry along the infantry units who were lugging the baggage frames.

'Ready, Morpheus?' Neo asked.

'As I'll ever be,' the bigger man replied, unfazed as always. Link, on the other hand, was grinning so hard that his face was bound to split in half before very long.

'Has Zee been up long?' Trinity asked him as the Neb crew hung back to permit the Gnosis to board first.

'Yeah. Well we're level six so she didn't have long to sit around compared with the council and all that lot down near the Temple. She's up there waiting for me!' He shook his head. 'And I sure hope she's got something cooked up cos man, I am starving.'

'How the hell can you think about food at a time like this?' Trinity exclaimed.

'Because he's a guy,' said a dry voice from behind them.

'Niobe,' Morpheus said with admirable composure.

'If any of you see Dena up there, tell her to watch her ass, from me,' Niobe said, flicking her eyes briefly sideways. Following her gaze, Trinity saw Sparks noting something on a jot pad and was aware of a subtle tension in his every movement.

'Dena went up with the fighters,' she said softly. Niobe nodded.

'Come on, you'd best get in or they'll leave without you.'

Fortunately the more solemn mood evaporated as soon as the co-pilot passed down their row and pulled the restraining bars down over their heads.

'Like being on a damn rollercoaster!' Neo exclaimed, looking at Trinity. 'Did you ever go on a rollercoaster, before you were unplugged?'

'I can't remember. But it does remind me a little of a fairground ride.'

'Best ride in the park!' Link agreed. Morpheus smiled slightly but said nothing as the view through the cockpit window, what they could see of it, dissolved to leave Zion behind and replace it with the speeding blur of tunnel walls. Then abruptly they came smack up against a mass of silver.

'Shit!' Trinity heard Ice say.

'Sentinels,' Neo whispered. 'My god. There are thousands of them. Tens of thousands.' He looked at Trinity again and his smile was gone. 'Dena's dogfighting out in that? No wonder that poor bastard is so worried about her. How in hell are we going to get through that?'

However just as he said this the loud ping-ping of laser fire echoed around them and the sentinel swarm parted as neatly as the Red Sea. The compact, streamlined body of a fighter craft arrowed neatly up and over them, spinning around before flying directly in front of the shuttle, quite literally blasting them a path through the almost solid mass of machine bodies. It took several agonising minutes, during which Trinity was sure nobody in the ship including herself dared to breathe, but then abruptly they were clear and rocketing across bare landscape towards a massive squatting hulk that she took to be a carrier ship. The fighter lifted up and away, presumably to return to the battle and help the next ship get through the same way.

'Goddamn but I wouldn't want their job,' she heard Axel say in a low voice as the ship landed on the ground with a light thud. Immediately the restraints popped open and they all sprang to their feet to get out. Almost immediately a delighted grin dawned on Neo's face again.

'Holy shit. Now that is a big ship.'