Chapter Nine: Old Faces

"And it will fall out as in a complication of diseases, that by applying a remedy to one sore, you will provoke another; and that which removes the one ill symptom produces others"

-Sir Thomas More

The small group that stood for their own view of "righteousness" sat in the bunker, unable to move. It wasn't that they were physically incapable of doing so; it was their leader that was too stressed to budge. Renaud was sitting on the ground, his head and back leaning against the wall as his eyes stayed closed and his hands hooked around his one erected knee.

He sniffed every so often, swallowing and then clearing his throat. Good men were going to die and there was nothing he could do about it. And now he felt helpless, lost… but it wouldn't be the end. It couldn't be the end.

Blake had to be stopped; there was no arguing in that. He was the reason that several more bodies would be mangled before the sun streaked its harmonious rays upon the facilities outer perimeter. Connant and Ames were bugging Renaud every minute, trying to get him to listen to their incredible find. MacFerran was going crazy over the fact that Durhkhan had been killed. He thought that message was right, that the broadcaster would kill everyone.

But now, Renaud was silent, trying to regain his saneness before wiggling a finger. Connant looked at Ames before deciding to shut up and sit down. And after a few seconds of peace and quiet, Renaud bolted upward, his eyes jolting open. He looked up as his crew stared at him with great anticipation. For the first time in what seemed forever, Renaud smiled.

He got up and went to the door, looking down both ways of the hall before turning back to the group, moving like lightning. They were all standing silent, like drones awaiting orders. They knew Renaud had come up with something genius.

Renaud got down on all fours and felt around on the floor. He paused for a moment, watching as the men gave him a perplexed look.

"There's a secret compartment under one of these tiles," Renaud said. "Only Blake and I know about them. Now, hurry! We have to find it! Hurry!"

It took a second, but the remainder of the group fell to the ground and ran their fingers over the dirt-infested bunker. Renaud knocked on one of the tiles, but found the relaying sound to be thick; there was only concrete underneath.

Van Camp began to knock as well, and so did Snider. But it was Stratham who hit a tile that sounded hollow, and he dug his short fingernails into the edges of the overlay and attempted to liberate it from the ground. Renaud shuffled over and slid to a halt on his knees and peered into the small square hole. It was actually much deeper than it looked; enough to hold three rifles and three tranquilizer guns. He lifted them out, handing rifles to Van Camp, Snider, and Stratham, while keeping one tranquilizer gun to himself and relieving the other two to Straatman and Newell.

Connant said, "Hey, Renaud, don't I get a gun?" Renaud nearly laughed when the young and skinny scientist inquired, but he thrust his fist back into the gap and pulled out a grenade. He tossed it to Connant, who nearly dropped the small device after it hit him in the chest. Renaud started to get up.

"Now," he began, "Blake is going to be sending people out all over the complex, so be alert. We don't want to have to shoot anyone and we don't want anyone shooting at us. Being their scientists and don't know shit about guns, they'll be pretty nervous, and they'll fire at anything that moves. We don't have much ammo, so you three have specific targets, do you understand? Don't shoot anyone except for Blake and Grady; they're the most experienced and probably will get to Phaira-kur first." Renaud thought for a second. "Let me say that again; they'll be the first ones to find Phaira-kur and not get killed. I have a feeling anyone else who tangles with him won't live to tell about it."

"What about us with the tranquilizers?" asked Straatman. Renaud smiled to one side of his face as he cocked the gun.

"Phaira-kur. That's all we're trying to hit. But we need to get him out of the building first."

"How do you manage to do that?" asked de Roos.

"Simple," Renaud said. "We're going to go in two groups; one is for hunting, the other is to bring Durhkhan outside." The men mumbled as Renaud tried to sooth them with waving his hands calmly. "He's dead, so we don't have to worry about that. Now, once we get the body outside, Phaira-kur will want to follow. Their like mates or something, best buds, I don't know. The point is, once he's safely outside – that's if we don't hit him with a dart inside the base – we can put him down and wait for the Protoss boys to come pick him up."

"How do you know that will work?" asked Snider.

"Ask MacFerran, not me."

Attention turned to MacFerran, who was leaning against the wall, and his eyes suddenly shot open.

"Huh?" he said. "Uh, well… Yeah, the Protoss sounded pretty upset. I mean, we're all going to die, so I don't see what the point is-"

"Just tell them what you told me, MacFerran."

The radio operator pushed off against the wall and walked to the center of the room. He put his hands on his hips, staring at the vacant walls that once suspended several gauss as well as C-11 rifles. He turned around, facing the crowd.

"The Protoss sent out this message; some strange, odd message about eliminating anyone who hurt these two warriors. And now… now since Durhkhan is dead, they're coming here to kill us."

"But I plan on giving them Phaira-kur, and hopefully they won't kill us," Renaud finished.

"Well, they can kill Blake, that's okay," added Van Camp. Renaud smiled.

"Here's the plan: Van Camp, Snider, and Stratham, you come with me. We're going to go get Blake and Grady and see if we can't cut off Phaira-kur. Newell and Straatman; you take everyone else and bring them to Durhkhan's body. de Roos knows the way. I want you all to carry it outside, or at least to the back entrance of the same building and wait for us there. Got it?" They all nodded.

"Good," he said. He went to the door. "And once we've gotten him outside and to a safe distance, the second part of the plan kicks in."

"What's that?" asked Garrett.

"We have to bring this entire camp down."

----

Blake stood at the base of an entrance to the overhead air duct with Grady, Greck, Silas, and Temple behind him. The rest of the scientists had run off to various parts of the base, stomping around wildly looking for the beast which they thought they knew everything about.

He turned to Greck and Temple and sent them off to the galley to look. Grady stared up into the duct with a doubtful look on his face.

"He ain't gonna be up there, Blake," Grady said sarcastically.

"I know that, Grady. I want you and Silas to go up and search around the entire base in these ducts. It'll be easy and you'll be safe; there's nothing to worry about."

"Then what are you going to do?" scolded Grady.

"I'm searching by foot. Hell, I might even join Greck. God knows he's probably complaining about something," he replied. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "Now, look; if you see Renaud, kill him. I don't care if you have to gag him, just do it. Do I make myself clear?"

Silas nodded obediently as Grady smiled.

"It'd be my pleasure."

Blake ran off into the darkness as Grady hopped onto Silas's hands and was pushed into the air duct. Grady turned around to help pull Silas up, too. They crawled around in deserted canals that didn't hold even insect life. But it was warm. Oh, was it warm!

Grady heard someone beneath him as they entered the second building. He stopped and squinted to look through one of the filtered vents. It was just a moron scientist, moving about like an idiot. Grady nearly laughed when he smacked into the wall and fell down. But then something caught his eye. Out into the darkness there was something blue glowing. An eerie sapphire luminescence blazed in the absence of color, and it began to strafe towards the panicked scientist. Grady readied his gun and attempted to knock down the filtered vent, but it did not work.

"What are you doing, Grady? What the hell is the holdup?" asked Silas, impatiently. Grady waved his hand violently up and down to get Silas to be quiet. As he looked back through the vent, he could see that the scientists as well as the menacing cerulean sabers had disappeared. "What? What was it?" Silas whispered.

Grady sighed, "I thought I saw something… like that Protoss freak that's dead." He laughed. "I'm seeing things, for Christ's sake."

"Then let's keep moving," Silas said." Grady nodded and turned his head to look at his companion.

"Yeah, let's-"

Grady stopped short. As his face ceased to function, Silas took note of where his eyes were placed. Something was right behind him.

The scientist creaked his head to view in back of him, and saw a claw of cobalt fire piercing the underside of the duct like a shark tail. It slowly started to move towards Silas, who scurried on all fours to get away. He bumped into Grady, who was still not moving.

"Go!" yelled Silas, pushing the astonished soldier. "Go, you fucking idiot! Go!"

And with that, Grady turned and crept away from the blue razor. He went faster and faster, slapping his back against the top of the canal and wearing out the knees of his pants. Silas was following, looking back every now and then.

The blade had not moved up until then, but it suddenly started to glide through the cheap metal, heading towards the duo. Silas pushed Grady to go faster, who did so in response.

"How close is it! Silas, how close is it!"

"I don't know, just keep going!"

The sapphire knife cut through the duct with extreme ease, chasing the two faster and faster.

As Grady paced through the channel, his leg kicked up hitting Silas in the face. The scientist's hands lost place and he hit the bottom of the duct before scurrying to get moving again. But now the blade was right behind him, and he wasn't moving fast enough.

Not only that, but there was a two foot gap between him and Grady.

A second blade burst through the vent in front of Silas, and he came to a screeching halt.

Grady kept moving, totally directionless. Silas looked back and forth as the two blades sat and stared at him, almost mocking him; they were daring him to make a move… playing a game of tag with his life…

Both sabers moved towards him at an excruciatingly slow speed. Silas propped himself up against the wall, hopping he could move around them. He put both hands on either side of the wall and swung his legs over the blade. When he landed, he stumbled, only because he was missing a foot to land on.

As he shook uncontrollably from the shock of a lost extremity, the two blades behind him began to circle around. He could only stare as blood poured from the bottom of his leg, and Silas cried in pain closed his eyes, waiting for it all to stop.

The blades completed their circle and the part of the duct fell out. Silas heard the clank of the metal almost as soon as he felt the hands of an alien grasp his waist. It pulled him though the hole waist first, and his legs and arms flailed as he attempted to stay in. He heard a pounding of metal coming from behind him. It was Grady!

Grady grabbed Silas's hands and tried to free him, but the force of the monster was much stronger. Suddenly, Silas disappeared through the hole, and Grady nearly fell through as well. He saw as Phaira-kur made the blade appear from his hand, and before he plunged it into Silas, his head snapped around and looked at Grady.

The soldier pushed himself back up through the hole and began to crawl away again. He heard a fatal scream as he went, stopping to look back. The two blades appeared again. This time they were hungry for a soldier.

----

The group that was going after Durhkhan's body moved with great haste. de Roos led them through the complex, avoiding any sign of life that they could. Unfortunately, they were unable to do that. While cutting a corner, Connant smacked into Wald, and both fell down. Connant quickly got up, and both he and Ames offered a hand to help Wald. The old scientist frowned and batted their hands away.

He got up and started to move out again.

"Wald, come with us!" Ames exclaimed. Wald stopped and turned slowly.

"What? Come with you? What are you, crazy?" he snapped. "I never want to see you again, Ames. You betrayed me first when we were in the lab with everyone else, making me look like a fool. Then you go and believe everything this nut tells you about 'planets moving' and all that bullshit," he said as he gestured towards Connant. "Then, to top it all off, you join Renaud on his quest for death. Well, let me tell you something, Ames; I'm going to the lab to take all the information we have. I'm going to go to Boralis and turn it all in, and I'm going to be rich. You two? You'll be dead."

Wald began to move away again before Ames stopped him. The rest of the group except for Connant had moved on.

"Wald, come on! We've been friends since grad school! You can't just turn on me like this."

"Turn on you!" Wald exploded. "Turn on you! You betrayed me, you sack of dirt! To hell with you!"

Wald wound his fist and let it rip straight into Ames's chest, who keeled over. The old scientist spit on Ames and then proceeded to go to the lab. Connant helped Ames and looked up at Wald's back.

"You know, Wald; you were always a lousy scientist," Connant remarked.

Wald stopped for a moment, clenched his fists and moved on.

"Come on, Ames; we have to catch up with the rest of the group," Connant said. He propped the old man up and they were on their way.

The rest of the group, however, was already at Durhkhan's body, staring at the death that surrounded it. Thurston was dead. Ambrose was dead. Out the window, Jarvis was dead. de Roos was the first one to move, and he went and stood directly over the Protoss body.

He turned around and said, "His armor is gone."