Chapter 19
Into The Middle of Next Week
The battle was raging. Smoke was beginning to fill the air. Each breath Jon took was laced with an acrid taste that bit at the back of his throat and sinuses. They were running out of time. Lyle, Burgess and Tank were being pushed back toward the central position as more and more mechs piled into the hall.
There were overunits in the mix now, a look of enjoyment on their faces as they took their shots at their human enemy. So far as Power could tell, none of the overunits had been wounded, but that would change soon enough if one became an available target. He could see the charges Kasich had placed in the console, glowing and pulsating in the shadows of the box. Soon, everyone and everything would be a target, perhaps even his own team.
He fired into the crowd of approaching mechs, dropping two of them in quick succession. He keyed his comm link.
"Power to Chase – Pilot, we could use a little help down here!"
He waited for a reply but got none. He tried again.
"Power to Chase, come in!"
There was no answer. Scout tossed a grenade toward the incoming mechs, blowing several of them into the air.
There was a ringing in Jon's ears at the explosion. His eyes recovered from the flash. He tried his comm again.
"Power to Pilot, come in!"
Holcomb's voice came over the comm link. "Captain Power?"
"Holcomb? Where are Jennifer and Doctor Tobias?"
There was a beat of silence. "Doctor Tobias is dead, Captain. You're on your own to get the team out of there. There's nothing we can do from this side."
The mechs were closing in too fast. Down the hall, something glinted in the red emergency lights. Jon looked for it again, feeling himself awash in a wave of despair. He waited for it, his mind suddenly not paying attention to the throngs of mechs coming toward his position. Then he saw it – the pointed tip of a wing.
Soaron was making its way down the hallway in a path cleared for it by the mechs. It raised its arm, preparing to fire.
Scout and Hawk saw the monster at the same time and began firing at it. Soaron returned the gesture, laying down a barrage of laser fire far more potent than that of the mechs at Power's team. One of the volleys hit dangerously close to Scout, who lunged toward Kasich's position for better cover.
Kasich was out cold. She might have been dead, for the violence of the hit she took. In any case, she had gone out fighting, firing her weapon for as long as she was able. Scout reached for her but was quickly driven away by mech fire. They seemed satisfied not to waste their time firing at a non-threatening human being. Instead, the fury of their warfare increased on active targets. Soaron was coming closer, firing more frequently, becoming more accurate. The priorities of the battle had just shifted.
"Tank!" Power yelled over the cacophony of the battle.
Tank turned his head in Power's direction and immediately understood what had to be done. He stepped out into the open, enduring more shots from mechs that pinged off his suit until he was in position.
"Wait for it," Power said.
As soon as Soaron entered the threshold of the doorway, they all fired in a concentrated effort at the mechanical bird. Soaron shuddered backward, staggering after several off-center shots to its body. It recovered, firing more ferociously at its opponents.
Scout rose to his feet. His eyes were sharp, intense with anger. His pistol raised, he began firing with abandon at Soaron, striking the machine dead-center, its most vulnerable spot. Soaron emitted a computer-generated scream and fell backward, crushing two mechs that could not get out of the way in time. It uprighted itself, taking specific aim at Scout and hitting its target.
Scout flew off his feet as the shot hit him squarely in the chest. He lay on the floor, near Kasich's legs, feebly trying to crawl out of the way. After a few seconds, he stopped his struggle. His suit powered down with a depletion warning, leaving him unconscious and with only his cloth uniform for protection.
Tank returned fire as fast as his cannon would allow. Power and Hawk joined him, raining fire on the oversized mech. Soaron tried to fight back but was overcome by the sheer force of those assaulting it. It screamed again, falling to the floor once more. This time, it did not get up and remained still.
The act brought on more mechs, their rate of fire increased, their numbers overwhelming. Power halted his firing for a moment to assess the situation one more time. There were mechs as far as his eye could see down both halls. They were closing in like a vise. A few had already crossed the threshold of the bulkhead and were in the room.
He heard a yelp behind him. He turned to see Lyle clutching his leg in pain. The mechs to the rear were making a push on Blalock's position. Lyle and the lieutenant would not last much longer.
Power looked to Hawk. "We need to blow it now!"
Hawk only nodded, agreeing with the team's commander. They both looked toward Kasich's position, trying to find the detonator switch. It was near her, out in the open, where she had dropped it.
Jon called to Baker. "Scout, can you hear me?"
There was no response.
"I'll get it," Hawk yelled. "Cover me."
Power fired off several shots, trying to create clearance for Hawk. It did not work. As soon as Hawk left the protection of the wall's abutment, a wave of mech fire greeted him, driving him back to the safety of the bulkhead.
The mechs were swarming, moving closer with each passing moment. Blalock ordered a retreat toward Power's position when their defense of the south end of the hall began to collapse. It was akin to being rounded up like cattle. The mechs were closing in fast, each step forward like a countdown to victory. Their strength was frightening to Jon. Never had he seen so many at once so organized. They were about to claim their first crushing victory against Power's team through numbers alone.
He and his team had voluntarily come on this mission, all knowing it might be a one-way trip as any military operation could be, but he never thought the odds would be so against them. It was at that moment he realized how much luck they had enjoyed as a team. The members were skilled in their jobs, but there was the element of fortune that saved them more times than Power cared to admit. Now, it seemed that fate would favor a different team, one of mechanical soldiers that fought at the behest of one Lord Dread. Already, two team members lay critically wounded, and another was braving the pain to stay in the fight.
A sudden surge ahead by the mechs had them pouring into the room like a faucet had been opened. The rebels fired at them as fast as their weapons would allow, but to no avail. There were too many mechs coming at them, firing back with greater fervor than the team could combat.
Jon ran through the options in his mind. Death was imminent if they continued to fight. If they surrendered, they would live another day. They would be prisoners, but there would still be a chance. They could perhaps even get to the detonator on the way out, making one last-ditch effort to blow the charges and rid the world once and for all of Lord Dread. There were still fighters at Sanctuary, and Jennifer was there. If there were a chance, she would provide it when the time was right.
He was about to issue the command to cease-fire when the mechs stopped. They stopped moving, and they stopped firing. They stopped everything, as though someone had turned them off in the throes of battle. They stood motionless, weapons raised, frozen.
It took a few seconds for all of them to realize the mechs had stopped. Burgess continued firing rapidly, felling several mechs like dominoes when the first target flew backward and crashed into another mech, sending it tumbling into yet another. Tank's put his hand on the man's shoulder, stopping the return fire.
They looked at the scene around them, seeing seventy or more mechs on either side of the corridor standing still. Jon reached out to one and pushed it. It fell backward without a fight. There was no flailing, no reaction. He looked over, curious, at Hawk.
Hawk shrugged. "Why ask why? Let's get the hell out of here while we still can."
"No argument there." He looked stepped forward into the mass of mechs. "Tank, Burgess – get Scout and Kasich. Hawk, Blalock, Lyle – stand watch. If anything moves, drop it. I'm going for the detonator."
Burgess and Tank began knocking mechs out of the way with their bare hands.
"Bowling for metalheads," Burgess quipped.
They made their way through the throng of mechs until they reached the area where Kasich and Scout lay injured. Power stooped down at Scout's side, feeling for a pulse. It was there, but it was weak. There was a dark area on Scout's uniform shirt, dead center, where Soaron's blast had heated through the protection of his suit.
Burgess knelt by Kasich. She was pale and still. He put his fingers to her neck, checking for a sign of life. Power did not expect him to find one. Kasich had taken a brutal shot to the back with no armor protection. Burgess moved the position of his fingers several times before he found the pulse. He let out a heavy sigh of relief that she was alive.
Power looked for the detonator where he had last seen it. He found it, or at least what remained of it, after a brief search. Half of it had been crushed under the foot of a nearby mech. He pushed the mech off the switch. The components inside had been destroyed, some of them reduced to fine powder.
"Blalock!" Power called.
The young lieutenant followed the path that had been cleared through the mechs until he was at Power's side. He looked down at the remnants of the detonator and shook his head.
"We have a problem, Captain," he said.
Power looked up at him. "The only detonator we have, right?"
"It was a custom build. We have prototypes back at the base, but that was the only one that was in working order."
Of course it was, Power muttered inwardly.
Power mulled the options again. "Okay, we leave the charges in place and head for Sanctuary. Put the panel back on the console. We'll figure out what to do once we get out of here. With any luck, they won't find the charges. Let's move."
A shot rang out in the corridor. Hawk and Lyle responded simultaneously, firing back in the direction of the attack. Power heard a grunt of pain and the dull thud of a human body hitting the floor. It had to be an overunit, he knew. He had forgotten about the overunits having been a part of the attack.
More came. They were firing, wildly defending Lord Dread's empire with their lives. They were more difficult to target, able to crouch down in the same defensive positions Power's team was able to enjoy. Their aim was more selective than that of the mechs. They were picking targets with ego and human reaction. They were not running on programs or being controlled internally by the likes of Overmind. They were independently thinking and maneuvering, driven by adrenaline and a zeal for their leader. They were human beings, but they were still the enemy.
The next phase of battle ensued against a squad of overunits and youth members. Jon dropped three of them, feeling a pang of guilt with each one. He thought of Jennifer, how she could very easily have been among them, fearing there were others with her qualities that would die without ever having the chance to see the greater good in humanity.
The human wave was not nearly as strong as the mechanical attack from earlier, and soon the surviving stragglers began to retreat to a more safe distance. The scent of burnt flesh filled the air, a revolting smell that Power had known all too often. Bodies lay on top of fallen mechs, none moving as far as he could tell.
Tank and Burgess pushed forward, chasing the human intruders away until there was enough breathing room for Power to check on his own wounded team. Kasich and Scout were still out cold. He checked for life signs on both of them again, counting it as a blessing that he found that each was still alive. They needed a way out of Volcania, but there was no way they were going to be able to use the hatchway in which they had come – not with two unconscious wounded bodies and another with an injured leg.
"Power to Holcomb."
There was a bit of static, then Holcomb answered. "Captain, this is Holcomb. We're a little busy here. What do you need?"
He wanted to ask why, but there was simply no time. "We need another way out of here. Who's able to check on the plans to this place?"
"We're a bit spread thin. I don't think any of us can tell you where to go with any authority. Most of our computers are offline. Even if we knew how to get the schematic up, it would be the blind leading the blind."
"What about Mentor? Is Mentor still functioning?"
"I don't know."
"We'll try from here." He made an adjustment on his comm link. "Power to Mentor."
The answer was immediate. "Mentor here, Captain."
Jon felt a rush of relief that at least something in the strategy was still working. "Mentor, we need another way out of here. We have three wounded and can't go out the way we got in. Any suggestions?"
There was a silence as Mentor computed the options. "While you cannot go down, you can go up, Captain. Follow the ramp to the north. That will lead to a large service lift. Without resistance, you should be able to access the roof."
"And remote the jumpship in to our location," Power said, completing the proposal. "Can you get a read on defenses from here to the lift?"
"Negative. The link with Volcania's systems has been severed. I am unable to access any information to guide you. However, it appears that Overmind has gone offline. Therefore, internal computer-guided defenses should be inoperable for the moment."
Hawk raised a brow in amusement. "That explains the mech rock garden."
"Mentor, what's the estimate on the time until Overmind resets?"
"Unknown, Captain. I suggest you move as quickly as possible."
"Acknowledged." He turned to his team. "Tank, Burgess – let's get moving. Hawk, you and Blalock take point. Lyle, stay in the middle. I'll cover the rear."
He bent down and picked up the equipment bag near the console. "At least we're not going away empty-handed," he said to Hawk. "We have the engram cube."
"If you say so, my friend," Hawk said skeptically. "But when Overmind figures out half its food is missing, it's going to come looking for it one way or the other."
Hawk had a point. The engrams would be replaced one way or another. Either Overmind would send armies to look for it, or Soaron would step up its pace of the digitization of innocents. In any case, there would be time later to deal with the consequences. They had to get out of Volcania first before they could consider future implications.
Tank bent down on one knee and pulled Scout upright by an arm. In one motion, he put the younger man on his shoulder and stood. Burgess, likewise, did the same with Kasich, though it seemed to be with more care and more ease. For the first time, Jon could see the extent of her wounds. Her back was charred where the mech's laser fire had hit her. He saw Burgess grimace at the sight of it.
Hawk took point as ordered, followed closely by Blalock. Lyle limped ahead of Burgess and Tank, weapon at the ready. Jon slung the equipment bag over his shoulder and forged ahead with the group, checking behind him every few steps for pursuing mechs or human fighters.
They picked their way through the maze of bodies on the floor. Tank and Burgess each stumbled a few times but did not drop their charges. The course of torsos on the floor seemed to go on far too long before they encountered frozen mechs. Hawk and Blalock began clearing a path by pushing mechs to the side. The lane they made was thin, but it was better than vaulting piles of bodies, both human and machine. Jon had never seen so many mechs in one place. It looked as though Dread had an infinite number of the machines at his disposal. Given the purpose of Volcania – the production of the mechanical race – it was conceivable that there were thousands more standing still throughout the base, awaiting a command from their master.
Power checked in with Mentor again. "Mentor, any sign of movement?"
"Nothing yet, Captain. All systems are still inoperable inside Volcania."
"What about outside?"
"No information is yet available concerning outside forces. I will attempt to find out for you."
Jon could see the lift ahead. It was at the mouth of a larger room that looked like it was used for storage. Large crates were stacked three-high in neat rows that made for perfect enemy hiding places. Hawk and Blalock took defensive positions near the lift, peering into the dark shadows made by the crates, looking for signs of troopers that might be lurking.
Tank and Burgess continued moving ahead until they came to the entrance to the lift. The heavy steel door of the lift was closed. Jon pushed a panel to call for the car. The heavy gears beyond the door began moving, bringing them one step closer to freedom.
Kasich flinched on Burgess' shoulder. She began to awaken, assaulted by pain and confusion about where she was. She flailed against Burgess' strong arm around her. He gently brought her upright and sat her down on the floor, leaning her against the wall. He knelt down next to her, putting a gentle hand on her cheek.
"Meredith?" he said softly, using her first name.
Her head lolled back against the bulkhead, eyes flickering open at the sound of her name. She surveyed her surrounding with eyes only, focusing on Jon.
Her breath was staggered as she fought her pain. "This wasn't in the plan," she managed weakly.
Jon knelt down next to her and gave half a smile. "We're almost out of here. Just a little further."
"I'll take your word for it," she breathed, pain impeding the strength of her voice.
Jon stood, with no time for any more pleasantries. They had to move quickly if Kasich had any chance at all. He dared not look to Hawk for an assessment of her injuries. It was apparent how serious they were. Power was surprised she was still alive at all.
The lift locked into place with metallic clanking sound. They took up defensive positions in case it was full of troopers or human fighters. The door rose up, revealing an empty car. Tank and Burgess picked up the wounded once more. Kasich gave a desperate cry of pain but managed to quiet herself as Burgess put her over his shoulder. Jon, Blalock and Hawk guarded against any further attacks. The air was cold and clean inside the car, a welcomed change from the choking remains of the earlier battle in the halls. Hawk examined the control panel and selected the roof as the car's destination.
The car began rising, too slowly for Jon's tastes. He silently urged it on faster. He could feel in his very skin that they were running out of time. He could envision the overunits organizing youth fighters en masse to greet them on the roof, stopping their escape. He checked his pistol, feeling its weight, trusting its reliability to bring down a mechanical enemy. He did not doubt its capability against human flesh.
The lift cranked into place at the top floor after what seemed in interminable ride. They waited for the door to open, but it remained closed, sealing them inside the car. Jon looked at Hawk who rolled his eyes in frustration. This was not something they needed.
"All dressed up and no place to go," Hawk said, holstering his pistol. He walked to the control panel and examined it.
Jon approached. "Can we blow it?"
Hawk shrugged. "We could," he said. "Or, we could just hit the button to open the door."
He reached out and tapped the panel. The locking mechanism on the door released, allowing the wall of steel to rise before them. Jon looked to the roof as the door opened, looking for booted feet. The roof looked clear. Hawk stepped forward on one side while Jon covered the opposite angle. Still, they saw no one. Jon stepped outside the elevator, continuously checking corners. Ahead was an ideal landing area for the jumpship. There was some semblance of cover for them to wait for its arrival. He silently pointed it out to Hawk, who agreed with the choice.
The night air was unusually cold on Jon's face. The wind whipped around the ventilation emplacements on the roof. The boxes provided good cover, but they also impeded the search for any ambushes.
They moved as silently as they could, but their gear made small clanking noises that could easily give away their position. Jon knew it was something he would be listening for if was on the other side. He adjusted his grip on the equipment bag to give it more shock absorption with his arm. The tools inside it quieted to his satisfaction.
The ventilation units were staggered in equal intervals, the space between each the same as the width of the units themselves. He stopped before each open space, checking the corners. It all seemed too easy, too uncomplicated for what they had gone through in the lower levels. On the other hand, Mentor had said that Overmind was offline. That meant no mechs for at least for the moment. The problem was that he had no idea how long that would last.
He looked over at Hawk. "Start remoting the jumpship," he whispered. "I get the feeling we've worn out our welcome."
Hawk did not reply. He raised his arm and began entering commands into the controller on his arm to bring the jumpship to the roof. He looked up at Jon when he was done.
"Three minutes," he reported.
It might as well have been a lifetime. Three minutes was long enough to be overrun with Dread Youth and overunits.
Power peered around the corner of one of the cooling vents. He saw the ideal area to land the jumpship, but there was little cover to the area of the zone. The jumpship would not take long to arrive, but minutes had come to seem like hours since they started the mission.
He waved the others forward to the last of the hiding places where they would wait for the ship's arrival. Burgess set Kasich against one of the shafts. She seemed more awake now, either because of pain or that her body had recovered somewhat from the initial shock of being shot. She looked paler, shivering against the cool night breeze. She looked at Power and gave him a minute nod, as if to say she was not going down without a fight and neither should he. He returned the gesture, a feeling of determination coming over him that they would prevail in this battle and maybe change the course of the war.
Scout was still out cold. They had all taken hits in their suits. Jon knew firsthand that it hurt. It hurt a lot. It was that simple. It took days to get over it, and he had experienced his share of the aftermath of bruising and swelling. There was no way to assess the extent of Scout's wounds. If he was only knocked out the recovery was still going to be at least days on end before the ache dissipated.
"Two minutes," Hawk reported quietly.
Jon stood up slightly and peered over the top of the vent shaft. He saw the overunits and a contingent of Dread Youth entering the roof from another entrance on the other side.
"Here they come!" he shouted to the team, firing off three shots in an effort to hold off their swarming. He hit one but missed with the other two shots.
Blalock dashed to Power's position, joining him in the covering fire. The human fighters began shooting back at Power's team. No matter how soon the jumpship arrived, it was clear the run to it would be perilous. Lyle moved up to their position and added his own cover fire to the malay.
"Hawk!" Power called over the din of the new battle. "You have to get the jumpship closer!"
Haw was concentrating on the control panel on his arm. "I'll get right on that, Captain."
"I'm not kidding!"
"Neither am I. There's not exactly a lot of room up here on the dome." He shook his head in frustration as he lay crouched, safe from the incoming fire. "Just hold them off and I'll see what I can do!"
Burgess and Tank joined the line of fire, suppressing the advance of the human beings at the other entrance to the roof area. They exchanged fire at a manic pace. Shots sparked off the vent they used for cover, spraying molten metal back at them. One shot brought Blalock to his knees as melted metal sprayed onto his cheek. He sank back to the roof, clutching his face with a cry of pain.
Power ducked down to check on Blalock, but the lieutenant refused his help. "I'm fine!" he shouted angrily.
Jon could only take the man at his words. He popped back up over the top of the vent and picked a target, firing a shot and cleanly dispatching a combatant.
"One minute!" Hawk shouted above the battle.
Tank and Burgess broke off to return to the wounded, each picking up the bodies and preparing to move. Jon stepped up his rate of fire, and Blalock followed suite soon after recovering from his own wounds. Over the din of the firefight, he heard Kasich's distressed cry of pain as Burgess picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. He turned back in time to see Tank pulled a still unconscious Scout into position.
The night air that seemed cool when they first got onto the roof suddenly turned so much warmer. Jon felt the sweat running down the side of his face. He wiped at a stream of it that rolled into his right eye. He glanced to his right at Blalock. Blood was running down the lieutenant's cheek where he had been hit with shrapnel from the vent. Compared to all that had happened, he knew it was a minor wounded compared to the rest, but that did not allay the knowledge that it must have stung like hell.
"Thirty seconds!" Hawk called out.
Tank and Burgess struggled to stay low with the wounded, out of the shots raging overhead of them. Nearly simultaneously, they dropped the bodies behind the vent that was being used for cover without nearly so much care as they had when they had first stepped onto the roof.
Jon could hear the whine of the jumpship's engines in the distance. He saw the landing lights as the ship approached their position. The tiny lights grew into a blinding spotlight. Hot air from the vertical jets kicked up dust and debris from the roof, the storm illuminated in the landing lights.
Almost immediately, the Dread Youth began firing at the ship, making the assumption someone must be inside it. Power and Blalock fired rapidly, driving a few braver warriors back a decent distance. The sound of the jumpship roared around them.
Power crouched down behind the vent shaft again to address the group over the blast of the jumpship. "Blalock and I will lay down a suppressing fire. Get to the jumpship as fast as you can!" He looked at Blalock. "On three!"
The countdown was quick. Jon and Blalock sprang from behind the vent and began firing with abandon at the attackers. There seemed to be more of them now, pouring onto the roof and taking cover much the way Power's team had.
Hawk sent a command to the ship to open the hatch on the side. By the time Blalock and Jon reached the ship, it was almost all the way open. Jon knelt by it, using it for cover. Blalock found minimal protection behind a landing strut.
Hawk took to the air, drawing intense fire from the roof. He answered with two rockets that impacted in the center of a concentration of enemy fighters. Jon saw two bright flashes and several bodies flailing through the air until they came to rest on the roof, still and dead.
He looked back to check on the progress of Burgess and Tank. They were making their way along, Burgess using Tank for cover as they ran. Jon stepped up his return fire to cover them as they neared the hatch of the jumpship. Blalock did the same until they were safely aboard.
Jon looked up in the night sky for Hawk, who was busily dodging shots from the roof and returning them in kind.
"Hawk!" Jon call through the comm. "Get aboard!"
A shot zipped closely by Hawk's head. Jon could hear a grunt in Hawk's effort to avoid being hit.
"Thought you'd never ask!" Hawk yelled back.
Jon and Blalock continued a heavy barrage of fire as Hawk descended onto the stairway of the hatch. Hawk used a portion of the hull for cover as he shot back at the enemy.
Jon turned to Blalock. "Get on the jumpship! I'll cover you!"
Blalock followed the order and began retreating through the safest route to the hatch. Just as he was making his way up the stairs, an overunit rushed up, weapon raised. Blalock dropped him mid-stride, falling on to his back on the steps of the hatch as he manically defended himself. It was an act of overkill as four rounds pummeled the overunit.
Hawk reached down and grabbed at Blalock's collar to right him. The lieutenant got to his feet and scrambled inside the jumpship, taking up a position on the other side of the door to continue supporting fire.
"Jon, let's move it!" Hawk yelled.
The jumpship was heating up for takeoff. Jon knew Tank was at the helm, waiting for the word to get airborne. Jon began to fall back toward the hatch, catching a shot from a Dread Youth in his arm that pushed him backward. He kept his footing and stepped up on the hatch's steps, diving inside the ship.
"Go! Go! Go!" Hawk yelled once Jon was in the clear.
The hatch began to close as the ship lifted off the roof. Blalock retreated to the inner safety of the bridge while Hawk remained to make sure the hatch was secure. Jon could hear the shots hitting the hull even as Tank gunned the engines and pulled away from Volcania.
The jumpship groaned and shook at the demands made of it by Tank's flying. They were making a fast egress that even the most experienced flyer could not have made a calm ride. Jon grabbed for an overhead handle and held on until they were clear of the outbound fire from Volcania. The team powered down out of their armor.
He looked to the back of the bridge area to check on the condition of Scout and Kasich. Though wounded himself, Lyle was tending to them both. Kasich was laid out, facedown, on the med bunk, and Jon could only assume she was more critically injured than Scout, who had been carefully placed on the floor near her.
Lyle was working quickly to give aid to both of them, but his efforts seemed more concentrated on Kasich's wounded back. She lay on the med bunk, limp. Her arm hung over the side, draped downward, and unmoving. Jon stepped closer and got his first detailed view of what a direct hit from a mech weapon on an unprotected body could do. Lyle had managed to cut away some of the cloth of her shirt, but bits still clung to the wound, fused into the skin. Kasich had lost consciousness again, a blessing given the circumstance.
"How are they?" Jon asked, stepping in even closer. He dropped down on one knee to check on Scout.
Lyle continued to work urgently. "Your man has a concussion and some serious bruising."
"Kasich?"
"Internal bleeding," Lyle answered, distracted. He was working quickly to stabilize her in the unsteady flight of the ship. "Collapsed lung, maybe worse. The hit is damned close to her spine."
Jon looked at Lyle's leg. It was bleeding where he had received his own wound from mech fire. "How about you?"
Lyle glanced at moment at Jon, returning his attention quickly to Kasich. "I'll live."
"Jon," Hawk called from the fore of the bridge. "We're coming up on the jumpgate. What do you want to do?"
There could be no argument. "Take it. We'll deal with whatever we find on the other side. Activate coding sequence and prepare for transit."
He gave Scout a comforting pat on the shoulder and stood. He took his seat on the bridge just moments before the ship entered the jumpgate. A quick glance to the sensors showed they were not followed. There was no way to know what awaited them on the other side of the gate. The ideal tactic would have been to use several gates to confuse any enemy, but the issue of wounded negated that possibility. The best they could do was fly straight through and hope they picked up any enemy on the monitors in time to make a decent defense.
A bright flash filled the cockpit as the jumpship took the gate, bending space to make for a shorter trip across the continent. Jon looked back on Lyle's progress. The man was sweating and in pain, though he would probably never admit as much. Kasich looked like a corpse on the med bunk. Her skin had a terrible pallor, as she lay motionless. Then there was Scout. Jon trusted that Lyle gave an assessment to the best of his ability, but the captain would not be satisfied until all the wounded were evaluated and treated back at Sanctuary.
That brought more questions to Jon's mind. He had all but forgotten that Tobias was dead. He did not know the circumstances, but he had no doubt they owed their lives to her sacrifice. He was sure she had traded her life for theirs. He wondered if she was alive long enough to know they had secured the engram cube or if everyone had made it out because of her efforts.
He kept watch on the screens to the right, looking for pursuing enemy fighters, but they were alone in the gate's tube.
Hawk had taken his place in the right seat in the cockpit. "We're coming up on exit, Captain."
"Cloak immediately on exit," Power ordered. "Open a channel to Sanctuary to have some transports ready."
Lyle limped next to Power. "There's no time, Captain. We need to set down at Sanctuary and get inside as soon as possible."
Lyle looked weak and in pain. Jon reacted quickly when he saw the man's legs buckle. He caught Lyle's arm and kept him upright, standing up out of his command seat. Burgess stepped in to help. Together, they led the sergeant to Scout's console chair. Lyle dropped into it heavily, leaning back with no more energy to function. Jon quickly found a pressure bandage in the medical supplies and applied it tightly to Lyle's upper thigh where dark blood had blossomed.
Jon looked to Hawk in the cockpit. "Think you can land this bucket on Sanctuary's doorstep?"
"It's going to be a tight fit," Hawk said, punching calculations into the flight computer. "I'm more worried about patrols getting a look at us when we do it."
"We're going to have to risk it. Let Sanctuary know we need all reinforcements on standby while we land. If the patrols spot us, we'll deal with it then. If Dread recalled his units, we may be in the clear."
He turned his attention to Lyle again, who was now out cold. Jon checked the pressure bandage, making sure it was tight enough to stop the flow of blood from the wound. Burgess motioned that he would watch Lyle so Jon could return to the command chair.
"Ten seconds to gate exit," Hawk reported.
Jon instinctively braced himself on the arms of the chair. He had done so for as long as he could remember with no particular reason. Each time they entered and exited the gates, he expected some sort of assault on the ship and its occupants, but none ever came until Soaron had ambushed them. This gate exit was quiet and uneventful as they pushed through to normal space.
"Switching to cloaked mode," Hawk reported with a flick of a switch.
The first light of dawn was cracking the horizon to the east. Distant clouds were tinged with orange and pink hues of the impending day. Jon got only a glimpse of it before Hawk took the controls and banked sharply to the right to bring the jumpship in line for a landing at Sanctuary. They flew past the outskirts of town. There was very little if any movement in the streets. All the revelers were sleeping it off. Jon counted the lack of witnesses to their flyby a small blessing in an otherwise hellacious night.
It was Burgess who placed a call to Sanctuary. "Firestorm One to Echo One, we are inbound with three wounded. We're going to be setting down on the porch. I repeat, we're setting down on the porch. Request cover support fire and medical teams standing by."
There was the crackle of static and a reply. "Echo One to Firestorm One, we copy. Support fire and medical teams will be waiting. Welcome home."
"Here we go," Hawk announced. "Hang on."
He brought the nose of the jumpship up sharply to slow its descent. The building under which Sanctuary lay approached. Hawk slowed the jumpship's speed. He kicked on the vertical jets that rumbled the deck of the ship. Guards standing watch on the atrium's walls turned in alarm, unable to see the source of the noise, only hear the jets and feel the wash from them.
Hawk had not been exaggerating when he said it would be a tight fit. The jumpship nestled down through the hole in the roof of the building with only two meters on either side of clearance. He eased the ship down slowly, carefully slipping it past rubble that jutted out from the sides of the building. It seemed to take forever, but the landing struts finally made contact with the floor of the atrium.
Burgess was first at the door, nearly barreling through the hatch and calling for medical teams. He returned to the inside of the ship, pulling Lyle out of his chair and dragging him with Power's help to the steps of the hatch. As promised, members of the medical team were waiting with stretchers and put him on one.
Hawk and Tank moved to the back of the ship. Tank picked up Scout one last time, handing him off at the hatch to another waiting stretcher.
Burgess and Hawk disconnected the med bunk's stretcher from the wall and exited the ship quickly. It was a train of wounded and tired bodies making its way to the elevator shaft. The sunrise had begun in earnest, casting the first true light of day through the blown out windows of the atrium. It was vanquished when the doors to the elevator closed, transporting them all to the lower levels of Sanctuary. Despite their potential losses, they had made it home.