Chapter X
"So, it doesn't bother you to prepare meat?"
"This creature has already lost its life essence," Sam responded in his gravelly voice as he used his three hands to effortlessly skinned the rabbits Kat had brought to him. "To take the life of an innocent is to be washed in that ones pain and all are affected. We do not kill without due cause. This is but a shell now and will provide much needed sustenance."
"Oh! Speaking of sustenance, that reminds me. I found a big patch of these for you." She slid a bulging bag towards the hunched creature and smiled at his reaction.
"Ahhh! Most wonderful!" His large red eye blinked rapidly and he clacked his jaws together in delight as he spilled the bag of mushrooms onto the battered table. Humming happily, he waved his clawed hands over the table as though weaving a protective barrier over the small brown delicacies. Sam, his real name unpronounceable by humans, had informed Kat of his weakness for mushrooms, as they reminded him of his native food.
The Vortigaunts fascinated Kat. They had spent millennia enslaved by other races, yet they still held out hope for independence. Their inborn submissiveness and servitude did little to quiet the universal desire for freedom. She had found most Vortigaunts to be rather reticent about their culture and beliefs, but Sam was an exception to the rule. He had done much to fill in her knowledge of their pitiful history and she been surprised to learn of their deep spirituality.
"You are kind to remember our desires during your duties." He gathered up the spilled mushrooms, placing them carefully back in the bag and setting them aside. In her conversations with the Vortigaunts, Kat had never heard any of them refer to themselves in the singular. Their shared consciousness felt so very alien and she couldn't imagine feeling so connected to her own kind. Sam bobbed his head and arranged his face in the Vortiguant version of a smile; he was probably informing his comrades in the camp of her find.
"If I get a chance, I'll collect some more."
"Mmmm. It is likely that there will not be time. The last team should arrive tonight and tomorrow we will be busy with preparations."
"Well, that's good. I'm looking forward to getting this over with. Will you be coming with us?"
"Yes, yes. We will be assisting with several details, including some objectives assigned to your team. There is another in the mining facility with which we have been able to establish contact. This shall work greatly to our advantage."
The small hunting cabin they had been using as a headquarters had slowly been filling with voices. The relatively spacious room next to the kitchen had been turned into the main hub for planning the mission. Elena leaned through the doorway, "Come on you two, the scouts just arrived back with the latest update."
"Katya?" Sam walked over to her as she headed for the doorway. He laid a long scaly hand on her arm and cocked his head as though listening. "You will not find what you think you are looking for out there."
"What?" She blinked at him in confusion. "What makes you think I'm looking for something?"
"Ahh, some are mere embers while others blaze behind the veil. Perhaps you will find what you need instead." He bobbed his head and turned away, leaving her staring open-mouthed.
X X X
The western side of the ridge sloped steeply down to the bowl of the valley. The team moved carefully along the eastern side, staying low. A thick layer of pine needles coated the ground, making the footing slippery at times. Barney could hear Sam just ahead, humming softly to himself. The Vortiguant hiked confidently through the dark forest; his superior night vision giving him a distinct advantage over the humans.
The ridge was gently descending to the valley floor. Passing between two stands of pine trees, they paused to take a quick look at the well-lit mining operation. Like many Combine facilities, this one appeared to be highly automated. There was one large building near the mine entrance that seemed to be the ore-processing plant. Nearby were several maintenance and storage sheds. Beyond the railroad tracks passing under the ore-loading chute, were smaller buildings including barracks and the living quarters for the human and Vortigaunt workers. Placed throughout the camp were three watchtowers, each manned by a single Combine unit.
As they had hoped, there was little activity at this late hour. They had timed their arrival to coincide with a shift change amongst the guards and mine workers. A pair of Combine guards were just leaving the workers housing and soon disappeared into their own barracks. "Looks nice and quiet," Barney said softly.
"Let's get down there and wait on the snipers."
He quickly glanced back at the team before moving on. Everyone looked calm and focused. Mikhail and Elena were always professional and Nolan was shaping up nicely. Despite Barney's confidence in Kat's abilities, he had been a bit worried about how well she would work with the others. As he expected, she was doing her best to keep herself distanced from everyone, but no one seemed to be holding it against her.
Quickly refocusing his attention to the task at hand, Barney followed Sam to the floor of the valley. From their position in the shadows of the pine forest they had a view of the large generator facility attached to the back of the ore-processing factory. Several pylons were clustered around the secondary building, sprouting thick wires that led off to the mine and support buildings. Along the back wall were two large maintenance doors and a single smaller entrance.
Sam had continued to quietly hum intermittently, sounding like a large contented cat. This meant he was in contact with any nearby Vortigaunts, Barney knew. Only through a deeper trance could he reach the shared consciousness of his entire race. "Okay, Sam. Where is everybody?"
After a moment, he responded, "Snipers are in position. Our readiness has been indicated and Gerrun is prepared."
"Good. Let's wait for our cue then." He could only see one watchtower from their current position. The timing of the snipers and the security patrols was vital. Barney shifted his weight and ran through the operation again in his mind. He hated the waiting before the action; that nervous anticipation that felt like a ball of snakes writhing in his stomach. They had arrived right on time though and didn't have to wait long.
A pair of patrolling soldiers were approaching the back of the processing plant. As they passed the corner of the plant the soldier manning the tower suddenly dropped from sight. The foot patrol continued along the edge of the forest, carrying them close to the team's hiding place. Kat and Mikhail raised their weapons together. Barney could barely hear Mik counting off softly, "One… two… three." Two small pops sounded and the soldiers fell simultaneously. The team quickly ran out to move the soldiers into the cover of the underbrush.
The camp remained quiet. "Status, Sam." The Vortigaunt bobbed his head and concentrated for a moment.
"All patrols have been neutralized."
"Okay. Everybody ready?" Four pale faces nodded back at him. Barney took a deep breath. There was no turning back now. "Let's go then."
They ran to the back of the building and crouched near the electronically locked door. Sam moved to the lock and rubbed his hands together for a moment then held them out towards the lock. Extending his small third arm, he released a short burst of electricity. The lock sparked and crackled and the door released with a click.
Sam stepped back and Barney cracked the door open slowly and looked inside. The interior of the building was dimly lit and a low thrumming filled the air. As their contact had stated, the room was unoccupied. Opening the door a bit further he stepped inside and moved along the wall to make room for the others. Filling most of the room were three rows of tall shielded columns. Each column contained a glowing orb of energy that bobbed gently up and down the length of the cylinder. Although he had seen this odd power source in action before, he always found the languid movements of the spheres strangely hypnotic.
Tearing his eyes away from the columns, Barney looked quickly about the room. Thick black cables snaked from the columns up to the ceiling, connecting to three large transformers at the far end of the room. The opposite wall was lined with banks of blinking monitors and humming electrical equipment. In the farthest corner, just beyond the door leading to the processing plant were the main control consoles.
Nudging Elena into action, Barney continued along the back wall towards the main consoles. Halfway to his destination, he felt a hand on his arm. Elena stopped him and pointed at Sam, who was in turn gripping her arm and fluttering his free hand in a distressed manner. Barney stepped closer, "What is it?"
"There is a problem. There is another…"
The door that led to the processing plant clanked open letting in the loud rumbling of massive machinery. A collared Vortigaunt and two men in Civil Protection uniforms walked into the room. Twice over the past month the rebels, with the assistance of their inside contact, were able to shut down the power to the mining facility for a brief time with minor "equipment failures". This had allowed them to judge the reaction to the problem and to create what they had hoped to be a sense complacency about the power outages.
Barney leaned in close to Sam and whispered, "What's going on? Did he say anything?" Gerrun, the Vortigaunt worker who maintained the generators, had always been sent to check the problem on his own. Tonight, he had been going to meet them in the plant under the guise of a routine maintenance check.
Sam pulled his head in towards his chest and shook it slightly, "Gaaah, there was little time. The guards are not suspicious yet."
They could not hesitate if they were to continue. Barney ran their options through his mind quickly. There weren't many. He gathered the group close together, "Mik, Elena and Nolan, go back around the other side of the room. Try to get close, but don't let them get to their radios or get back through that door. Sam, tell Gerrun we're coming and on your signal he needs to drop down like he's looking for something under the console. That'll be the sign to fire."
The group split and moved around the shadowed edges of the room. The bulky transformer at the end of the row of columns provided ample cover for them as they slipped across the open space to the shelter of the large device. Barney glanced around the corner to see Gerrun doing his best to distract the two Metrocops. He leaned back and tapped Sam's arm.
Peering back out, he could see that the guards were getting frustrated with Gerrun's delay tactics. Barney gripped his silenced pistol tightly and raised it to sight on the closest man's head. Gerrun suddenly started excitedly gesturing at the console and then ducked down below. Both men stepped back from the Vortigaunt's unexpected disappearance, their movements indicating suspicion. Barney took careful aim and gently squeezed the trigger. His target's head snapped forward and he crumpled across the console. Before the second guard could react, he too pitched forward, falling onto Gerrun's protruding legs.
Sam was already running towards the console. Barney and Kat hurried after him. While Sam and Kat coaxed the apprehensive Gerrun from beneath the console, Barney pulled the fallen guard off the work surface. The others ran up and helped to get the corpses moved into the shadows of the nearby machinery.
Sam and Gerrun were conversing rapidly in their harsh, guttural language. "Sam," Barney prompted, "let's focus. We need to get this thing shut down."
"Assistance will be required. This one's restraint must be removed to allow full use of all abilities." He fiddled with a lock at the back of Gerrun's collar, his hands sparking briefly. Gerrun waited patiently and then rubbed at his neck as the collar fell free. "All must step back, this will be unsafe for humans."
The two Vortigaunts stood back to back and braced themselves. Together they ducked their heads in concentration and raised their hands as an ominous crackling filled the air. Barney took an extra step back, knowing all too well the forces the Vortigaunts were capable of unleashing. Golden bands of electricity arced from the nearest columns towards Sam's outstretched hands. The scent of ozone filled the air as Gerrun, arms trembling with effort, drew on the collected energy and directed it at the control console.
Barney averted his eyes as the console exploded in a shower of bright sparks. The energy-generating columns began to flicker and pulse erratically. In the next room the sounds of the machinery ground slowly to a halt. "Gerrun, will they be sending someone in here?"
"It is unlikely. They were informed that the maintenance tests might result in an unexpected shutdown. There is not much time though, as they will become suspicious very soon if the assigned guards do not return to report."
"That's alright, we'll take care of the guards in this building. We just need enough time to get the explosives set and get the workers out of here if we can. Sam, tell the other teams to proceed, then let's get going."
Two teams would now be heading into the mine with enough explosives to completely destabilize the hillside. Three back-up teams were waiting at the edge of the forest in case something went wrong. There were six more guards and a couple of officers to deal with inside the processing plant. Barney collected his team and started towards the factory door. There was still much to do and the clock was running.
X X X
Kat and Nolan collected the ammunition from the two fallen guards by the glow of the battery-powered back-up lights. While Kat put away the ammunition, Nolan pulled two large lumps of C4 explosive from his pack and started to place it at the base of a nearby support column. Kat straightened up and looked towards their next objective, the squat office block huddled in the corner of the cavernous factory. According to their information, the block consisted of only a few storage rooms and offices, split by a single central hallway.
Nolan completed his work and they slipped past a looming hulk of silent machinery towards the office hallway. On the wall near the corner was a large corkboard; an oddly human touch in this location. There were memos and notices posted along with duty rosters and security protocols. As she glanced over the board, a label caught Kat's eye. On the top left corner there was a "Officer on Duty" sign with a name posted underneath. R. Lennox.
The name held her eyes as she went cold and numb inside. She was frozen in place as the memories surged through her. They cleared away all extraneous thoughts, leaving her mind washed clean with only a single goal. A small part of her mind knew that it was senseless to place all the blame on this one individual, but it had given her focus and a reason to go on, having the thought of a defeatable enemy.
"Kat? Come on. We have to check these rooms," Nolan's voice buzzed from miles away.
A calm sense of detachment settled over her, as though her mind stepped back to let another force take over. She turned on her heel and proceeded down the hallway. Passing a door labeled "Storage", she felt a hand on her arm. "Where are you going?" She stopped and turned towards him with an icy look.
"If those rooms need to be cleared, go ahead." Her voice was flat; a stranger's voice. "There's… something I need to check on."
"But, our orders…"
She stepped towards him, eyes burning, and the small rational corner of her mind was surprised when he stepped back. "Then go tell Barney I'm disobeying orders. I'll only need a few minutes anyway." Ignoring his protests, she turned away and continued without him.
Disregarding the next two doors, she continued until she reached one with a small sign reading "Officer on Duty" next to it. There were the unmodified voices of two men arguing inside. She dropped her pistol to her side, opened the door and stepped into the room.
Inside, the two men wearing CP uniforms continued their heated discussion. "That's the third time this month and we need to get it fixed permanently this time!" growled the older man standing behind the desk.
"They won't do anything to fix it as long as production…" The second man had his back to her. He turned to face the door. "Was it the same problem as… Who the hell are you?"
Kat turned to the man at the desk. "Lennox?"
His surprised scowled gave him away, "How did you…?"
Without hesitation, Kat turned back to the other man, calmly brought her pistol up and fired in one smooth motion. The man's face registered a look of surprise, his mouth and eyes growing round. A dark hole appeared on his forehead and he slumped gracelessly to the floor.
Pivoting back to the man behind the desk, she asked clearly, "Are you Lennox?"
He tore his eyes from his fallen companion and swallowed visibly despite his angry glare. "Yes."
She closed and locked the door, then smiled coldly, "Good. I've been waiting so very long to meet you."