Desperate Measures

Chapter XI

"Here. Sit." Kat shoved a chair across the room with her foot as her eyes flicked to the watch on her wrist. There was not much time. Lennox stepped over to the chair and sat, his eyes sullen and angry.

She paced around him for a moment, trying to collect the whirlwind of emotions and long-rehearsed interrogations in her mind. The small voice of reason had been roughly thrust into the farthest reaches of her mind by a much stronger force. It kept her hovering outside of herself, unable to control the unfolding events.

"So, I really want to know; how can you live with yourself after slaughtering hundreds of innocent people?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." His voice was smooth, despite the beads of sweat forming on his balding scalp.

"No? What about the people who were living quietly around this area? They weren't causing any problems."

"We relocated quite a few people when we started this operation up. No one was…"

"Bullshit!" she shouted abruptly. "I was there!"

She drew back and watched him squirm for a moment before continuing in a low, dangerous voice. "I watched while your squad exterminated an entire community. I watched them shoot people in the back. I watched them beat people to death and then I watched them drag everyone into a barn and burn it down. And I heard your name."

There was a long silence. Lennox stared at the floor. Just when she thought he wasn't going to reply, he shook his head. "Look, you can't possibly understand…" He trailed off weakly.

"Understand what? How hard it is working for the Combine?"

"I have a kid."

Of all the things she expected to hear from him, this was certainly not one of them. "What? But there aren't…"

"No. He's all grown up. But he's all I have." He looked up at her, his tired brown eyes looking defeated. He knew how this would probably end. "You've heard my story. I lost my wife, my two youngest kids in the portal storms and the war. My son and I fled to the city. He was fifteen at the time. Early on, the ration supply system wasn't working real well and no one was getting enough to eat. I was watching my boy starve right in front of me."

He paused and wiped a hand over his face. "I had to do something, didn't I? Would you just watch your kid starve?" He didn't wait for an answer. "So I joined up. It kept us fed even if I had to do things that were…morally questionable."

"But why? How could you keep doing it? There are alternatives."

"It wasn't too bad at first. They make you believe it, that what you're doing is for the best for humanity. By the time I saw what was really happening, it was too late." He looked back down at the floor and sighed heavily. "My son joined Civil Protection against my wishes, as soon as he was old enough. He didn't know…he didn't understand what he was getting into. They like it when there are family ties. It gives them leverage.

"If I were to run off, they would punish him to get at me and I can't let that happen. I've heard they send deserters families to Nova Prospekt, so I do what I'm told and I keep my head down. I was sent out here two months ago on a security detail and I just follow my orders, whether it's babysitting a bunch of miners or clearing out surrounding communities."

Again he looked up, "What would you do? If you had to choose between a group of random survivalists and your own flesh and blood, who would you protect? Look, I'm sorry if you knew those people, but I just did what I had to do."

Kat was frozen. This was not how she had always imagined this encounter. There was no distance now. She looked out from behind her own eyes into Lennox's sagging face. He wasn't a monster, only human. She stepped back from him, shaking her head, "No…no, I don't believe you. You're lying…"

"We both know you're here to kill me, so that doesn't matter does it? I always had a feeling it would end like this. Karma, right?"

A sudden banging on the door distracted both of them. "Open the door!" Mikhail shouted from the hallway.

Kat whirled back towards the immobile Lennox, hands now visibly shaking as she held the gun. "No! Just give me one more minute!"

Mind roiling with indecision, she stared at Lennox. He was looking at the door with a calm acceptance, his fear and anger dissipated by the act of confession. "I can't…I can't let you…" she stammered.

The door crashed open and heavy footsteps entered the room. There was a sharp puff of air and Lennox jerked violently. His eyes turned back to hers as he slowly slumped off the chair. She spun around to see Mikhail scowling at her, "You're putting everything at risk."

The little voice of reason fled completely for safer ground. A red haze floated down over her vision and she snarled wordlessly as she launched herself across the room at him. Unprepared for her attack, Mikhail was propelled into the wall. With a strength fueled by rage, Kat grappled with him, reaching for his throat.

Suddenly there were other voices in the small room and Kat was yanked bodily off of Mikhail. Barney had her by the scruff of her neck and was shaking her forcefully. "Stop it! Knock it off!"

Nolan restrained a panting Mikhail. He examined a large gash on his cheek with his fingers as he glared murderously at her.

"What in the hell is wrong with you two?" Barney asked angrily. "This is not the time or the place. There are people counting on us. You two go give Elena a hand rounding up the rest of those workers and give me a second here."

As Nolan and Mikhail left the room he turned to her, "You better have a good explanation."

The haze had lifted, leaving her shaky and drained. "I…I found him," she replied, still winded from her efforts. She forced herself to look him in the eye, her face burning with shame.

"Lennox," he said flatly, looking at the corpse next to the chair.

"Yes. I didn't… I couldn't…do it." She drew in a deep shuddering breath and ran a trembling hand over her disheveled hair, "He…he wasn't what I expected. I just saw the name and I… I had to… I didn't think…" She trailed off weakly.

He gave her a long hard look and shook his head slightly, "Kat, I can't say I don't understand, but you need to get your head back in the game here. There are other lives at stake. When we get back, you and I are going to have a long talk. Right now, I need you to be thinking straight."

Eyes downcast, she nodded, "I know. I'm sorry. I…"

"We'll talk later," he interrupted. As he spoke, the overhead lights started to flicker on and off half-heartedly. Taking her arm, he propelled her towards the door. "We need to get everyone out of here now. They weren't supposed to have that backup generator on this quickly and it's going to give them access to the security systems."

They ran down the hallway and into the cavernous factory. Dodging under the hulking machinery, they saw two figures approaching. Nolan and Sam jogged towards them. "What are you guys still doing in here?" Barney demanded.

"We came back to get you. Elena and Mik took the workers out already. And Sam says that the teams in the mine haven't gotten out yet."

Sam shook his head woefully as he turned to head back towards the exit, "There was a problem subduing the guards. Panic arose among the enslaved ones and the schedule was not kept. They are headed towards the surface only now."

As they hurried to the door, alarms began to echo throughout the camp. "Damn it! This is starting to fall apart," Barney said under his breath.

They reached the exit and Nolan pulled on the door handle. Nothing happened. He yanked harder, "It's locked."

Barney turned and flipped open the security access panel. A small red light flashed in the corner. "Sam, see what you can do with this." Sam stepped forward and shot a small burst of energy from his extended hands. The panel sparked and crackled, but the red light continued to glow smugly. Nolan tried the door again to no avail.

Rumbling what sounded like a Vortigaunt curse, Sam took a step back, held out his hands and released a violent blast of green electricity. The panel belched out a gout of flame and quickly settled down to releasing tendrils of black, acrid smoke. He snorted in a satisfied manner and turned to Nolan.

The door still would not budge. "Maybe the front door?" Kat ventured.

"The locking system will probably be the same and that yard is going to be swarming with Combine any minute now," Barney replied, looking around at the windowless walls. "We need to find another way out of here."

"There is an opening in the north wall," Sam suddenly croaked. "The unwanted products are removed to the outside along a conveyor belt. There is a small gap where it exits the building."

"Well, it's worth a try," Nolan said. Kat looked at him as he spoke and felt a stab of guilt as he looked sharply away from her gaze. This is all my fault. We're trapped in here because of me.

As if to accentuate her miserable thoughts, gunfire suddenly rang out in the distance. It was quickly answered by the unmistakable thumping of a Combine pulse rifle. Picking up the pace, they ran back through the plant.

Hidden beyond a maze of catwalks and conveyor belts, a small opening was visible high on the north wall. Sam led the way up a nearby ladder, guiding them confidently with the aid of borrowed memories.

Kat looked doubtfully at the narrow conveyor when they reached it. It was only about two feet wide and covered with sharp rubble. The gap in the wall was also rather minimal, perhaps eight inches at most. It would be a tight fit.

She started removing her vest and pack, folding them into a compact bundle, as the others discussed whether or not there was enough support on the boom outside to hold the extra weight. "I'll go," she announced and hopped up onto the belt. "It'll either hold, or it won't."

"Kat, wait," Barney grabbed at her arm as she started past. "Just…just be careful when you get out there, stay low or you'll be an easy target."

She gave him a nod and a small smile, "I know." Turning back towards the gap, she picked her way carefully along the rock-littered belt and wriggled through the small opening.

Emerging from the dusty building, Kat took a deep breath of cold night air as she quickly looked around. Emergency flood lights illuminated the broad, open work yard with a sickly glow. Gunshots rang out sporadically to her left, but the bulk of the processing plant hid the combat from her view. Below the end of the boom sat a large slag pile, enclosed on three sides by a retaining wall.

She cautiously scuttled out to the end of the boom and dropped her bundle of equipment over the edge. The drop was a good fifteen feet to the top of the slag pile. Trying not to imagine the sharp edges of the brittle shale, she hopped off the end of the conveyor belt. Her boots sank several inches into the loose rock, pulling her off balance. Windmilling her arms wildly, she bounced and skidded to the base of the pile before being halted abruptly by the wall.

The other three jumped from the boom, one by one, descending to the bottom in a similarly awkward style. Quickly regrouping in the shelter of the wall, they assessed their situation. Much of the gunfire was coming from the barracks area to the south and Sam confirmed that the teams in the mine were nearing the surface.

"Good," Barney nodded. "Let's see about getting out of here and back into the woods." Leading them around the interior of the retaining wall, he suddenly lurched backwards into Kat. Gunshots kicked up loose shale where he had just been standing. "Damn. There's a whole bunch of them out there near that maintenance shed."

He leaned back out and fired off a couple of shots. A fierce barrage answered, driving them all back deeper into the cover of the walls. "What's in there, Sam? They're trying to get into it."

"Maintenance equipment, it is thought. We are not aware of the exact contents. It would be best if they were stopped."

"Yeah, it would…" A ratcheting groan echoed menacingly across the work yard. "…But it sounds like that's out of our hands now. We'll just have to try to stop whatever they're up to and provide covering fire for the teams in the mine. Nolan, I want you to get around to the other side of this hill. Kat, you stay here and Sam, you stay in touch with the other teams." Everyone nodded in acknowledgement and moved to their positions as Barney climbed the side of the slag pile for a better vantage point.

Kat peered out from behind the retaining wall onto the yard. The tall maintenance shed now gaped open, ready, she was sure, to disgorge some horrible menace. Two Combine soldiers moved into the opening and quickly fell to a hail of bullets, while disturbingly loud noises of destruction began to emanate from the building. A mining car suddenly hurtled out of the open door, followed by a long slender leg.

A strider, crouched to its lowest height, sidled carefully out of the building. She watched in awe as it raised itself to its full height and swung around to view its surroundings, warbling in strange synthetic tones. Outfitted to assist with maintenance, its body was hung with assorted chains and winches instead of the usual deadly weaponry. Unfortunately, it was not completely powerless as it began firing a pulse weapon into the surrounding forest.

Under the cover of the strider's fire, the Combine troops stepped up their attack. Figures could be seen moving among the barracks to the south, edging carefully towards the trees. Kat was able to dispatch two but she knew that the soldiers were the least of their problems. Nothing short of a half dozen RPGs would take out the strider and while it had the run of the work yard, they, and the teams in the mine, were trapped.

Those legs… They looked so vulnerable. But the fact that they were so thin made them nearly impossible to damage. The larger body was a better target, but nothing they had could damage it. But the legs… Just to take out one would be enough to cripple it completely.

As she reached back to grab another clip, her hand brushed against a round cylinder. A grenade. That might be enough to destroy a strider leg, but it would be nearly impossible to actually make contact with the target at the right moment. Unless…

Distractedly shoving the fresh clip into her weapon, she left her position and ran around the back of the slag pile. Nolan was crouched next to the retaining wall, waiting for a target. She dropped down next to him and touched his shoulder. "Nolan, I need that extra block of explosive."

He turned to her suspiciously, "What for?"

"I think I can get us out of here." She watched as his eyes flicked up to Barney's location on the side of the small hill and then back to her. "No, I didn't ask permission. Just believe me that this will work."

"I don't know…"

"Damn it Nolan! Just give it to me! There isn't time to argue about this." At his continued hesitation, she reached for his pack.

"Okay, okay!" He twisted around and dug into the pack, extracting a harmless looking block of C4. "Here," he shoved it at her and turned back to watch for the enemy.

Kat grabbed it and started working it into a long rope. Nolan glanced back and spoke over his shoulder, "You'd better tell him."

She continued her work without looking up, "It doesn't matter. And he'd only try to stop me."

Nolan looked back again, his brows furrowed "Wha…what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to fix everything." Coiling and pinching the length of explosive around the grenade, she left about a foot hanging loose. Satisfied with her handiwork, she tucked it into a pocket and looked up at his back.

"Thanks. I'm sorry about what happened in there. Tell Mikhail…tell him that I said I was sorry." Before he could respond, she turned and ran back behind the slag pile to find Sam. He was squatting against the wall, staring vaguely up at the sky, his eye half-closed. She reached out and gently touched his knee, startling him out of his trance.

"Sam, I'm sorry, but I need your help. I need you to contact the group in the mine. Tell them they have to get the strider's attention. They have to keep it focused on the mine entrance. Tell the teams in the woods to keep those soldiers behind the buildings however they can, suppressing fire, distraction, whatever."

"It shall be done," he said, giving her a long, calculating look, his head cocked to one side, "if you feel it is truly the best course of action."

"It is. You were right, you know, about what I was looking for." He simply nodded. "Thank you, Sam."

The strider was stilting around the center of the camp, firing at any movement in the woods. As she reached the edge of the retaining wall, gunshots rang out from the mouth of the mine, bouncing harmlessly off the well-armored creature. It turned itself to face the mine and lowered its body to take better aim. The shots from the forest had ceased and now picked up again from behind the barracks.

Kat had watched the movement pattern of the legs. No matter how fast they tried to move, two legs had to be on the ground at all times. This gave a certain amount of time before a leg could be picked up again. As massive as they were, striders weren't terribly fast and as this one concentrated on the mine, it only made small adjustments to its position.

Although she was fortunate enough to already be slightly behind the strider's position, she had no idea of the range of its peripheral vision. It was only about fifty yards away, but a roundabout route would be safer. She slipped out of her pack and vest. Anything that might weight her down she discarded. Her pulse was roaring in her ears as she checked that the pin on the grenade was easily accessible one last time and started running.

Following the wall of the processing plant for cover, she ran until she was well behind the strider's position and then turned out into the yard. As she changed direction, the towering figure loomed in front of her, the upper reaches of its frame nearly lost in the darkness.

Slowing briefly to cross a set of tracks, she headed for the rear leg. Just above the height of her head, the leg sprouted a ring of vicious downward curving spikes. These, she assumed, were to keep enemies from shimmying up the leg to access the vulnerable joints, but they would suit her purpose perfectly.

The strider had just readjusted its position and the leg was planted directly in front of her now. She raced up to it, pulling the explosive-wrapped grenade from her pocket. Wrapping one arm around the leg, she jammed the grenade firmly into the joint formed by two of the spikes and twisted the loose end of the C4 around them to anchor the makeshift bomb.

Fumbling for the pin, Kat felt the enormous creature shift suddenly. Her fingers found their target and pulled just as the leg lifted into the air. She turned and ran. The strider hooted in annoyance and stomped after her. There was no way she was going to outrun it and shelter seemed to be miles away, but she only needed a few more seconds…

A leg thudded into the earth just a few yards to her right. Too close, I'll be too close when it goes off...

Something suddenly caught her in the back, lifting her off her feet and sending her flailing through the air. It kicked me! Behind her there was the roar of an explosion, followed by a wailing moan, but it barely registered as the ground rushed towards her.

X X X

The incessant noise and chatter slowly dragged Kat out of the soft darkness that cradled her. Someone was speaking urgently into her ear, but all she could think of was the enormous weight on her chest. She tried to breathe deeply, but the pain was phenomenal. Just enough air to ask the voices to be quiet, that was all she needed, but she could only manage short little gasps.

One voice buzzed closer and eventually, began to make some sense. "…wake up. I need you to…"

Concentrating all of her powers, she managed at last to open her eyes. The canopy of pine branches overhead and the smell of blood in the air swiftly brought back her memory.

"…they get out?" she wheezed.

"It's okay. Don't try to talk. We're going to take care of you." A man with a white and red badge on his arm hovered over her, poking at her abdomen.

"No… Did it…work?" She tried lifting a hand to push him away, but nothing seemed to be working properly.

To her relief, the medic suddenly withdrew his probing, but neglected to answer her as he turned away to speak to someone out of her range of vision. She tried to listen to the conversation, but her head felt stuffed with wool.

"…lucid now, but… …broken ribs, possibly a concussion and collapsed lung…"

"…move her?"

"…internal injuries… …not a good idea…"

She started to lose interest in the conversation. It didn't seem important anyway. The darkness was still there, on the edge of her awareness, beckoning gently. But there was still a question, a significant one, which she needed to have answered before she could allow herself to give in to it.

"Kat? Kat, look at me."

A new voice pulled her fully back to pain-filled wakefulness. With monumental concentration, she managed to turn her head and focus her eyes to see Barney looking at her with concern. The sight of his face reminded her of the question she wanted answered.

"We need to get you…"

"Did…did they…the mine…" Her voice was little but a rasping whisper.

"Did they get out?" She managed a slight nod. "They didn't tell you? Your…idea worked. It took down the strider and the teams were able to get out of there and blow the mine. We're going to clear out the rest of the troops and see if we can salvage a vehicle to…"

She let her attention drift away. It had worked and that was all that mattered. She hadn't failed them in the end, not like she had at the farm. Her eyes slid closed and something deep within her released the tight bands of guilt that had been tormenting her for months. The pain was bearable now and the darkness reached towards her. With a sigh, she let herself fall into its welcome embrace.

I hope it was worth the wait!

I'm glad you came back to check it out Metroid13, thanks!