"Omall have you got that thing cracked yet?" asked Kale.
"Shortly," Omall tapped away at the device intently when a voice began speaking.
"Task Master Kimek please report your position Tarex and Dinai have failed to report in what is your status?" The voice spoke in Ekarvian and was coming from a communicator.
"Work faster," Kershala said calmly but conveying urgency. Omall's hands began moving faster over the devices interface and Kershala sat ready to download the new information.
"Got it," said Omall after a few long seconds. Kershala accessed the information and retrieved the updated layout, the knew map showed a lab in the upper echelon of the facility that was marked as the primary research division. Kershala was certain they would find what they were after there. The only problem lied in that the power core they would need to find was below them. "That's not good." Omall had also taken the information and looked at Kershala. "What do we do can we hit both areas with enough time? Once we hit the lab, I am sure we will be swarmed by the Shironians."
"What's wrong?" asked Kale.
"The lab we need to get to is at the peak of the facility but the power core is in the bottom," explained Omall while Kershala pondered the situation.
"Then we split up right?"
"I do not like the idea of separating, if the rest of the guards here are modified, they will not be easy to deal with. If they got the better of Rotabu then Omall and Lenari…" said Kershala. Suddenly an alarm sounded and seemed to be coming from all around them, the slaves that had been working stepped back from what they were doing and stood straight and still. "Come, we need to get out of the mine, there is very little cover here and they will have us at a disadvantage if we get caught in the open. There is a storage area not far!" Kershala began to run toward where he knew there would be cover based on the map's information. There was a parts storage area just off the mine that wasn't far away, from there they could access the maintenance tunnels. Everyone followed close behind him, they could hear the sound of the large doors opening in different areas around them as they ran. Two guards walked around a corner ahead of them and Kershala dispatched one with a hard-right hook while Kale took into the other one; attacking with a combo that Kershala had taught him during their training. Kershala stopped briefly and looked at Kale he was almost surprised at how quick he responded.
"What?" he said. The four of them started running again and took a corner, at the end of the corridor Kershala could see the door they were moving toward.
"That's where we need to go." They came up on the door quickly and Omall jumped onto the console attempting to open it. Kershala couldn't get a clear read on the mechanism for some reason instead having to rely on Omall to get through it.
"All military units be advised that we may have intruders, a blood profile was found that does not match any of the current stock," the voice echoed all around them.
"Hopefully those soldiers we killed won't need to report in anytime soon," said Kale as he turned to look back the way they came from. A few long seconds passed and Kershala was starting to get nervous at how long Omall was taking.
"Omall do you have it?"
"Soon," Omall tapped away at the interface in front of him, "Almost there." Omall had come off to Kershala as someone who didn't take his responsibilities very seriously but when he was under pressure, he was remarkably focused. "Got it!" The door jolted open and the four of them entered the storage room. The door shut behind them and Omall used the adjacent interface to seal it.
"What the hell!" Something startled Kale and he quickly held up his rifle. Kershala turned from Omall to realize that the parts storage was still storage but now it was storing something different. He counted fifty slaves lined up across the center of the room single file in in five rows. They were modified like the others and didn't seem to respond to their presence. Small tubes of green fluid seemed to run to the modifications from the ceiling. "Kershala you could have warned us. You didn't say it was storage for more slaves."
"I did not know it myself Kale." Omall stepped away from the console and rejoined the group. "There is a maintenance access tunnel in the far corner. It will lead us to the main lab." Kershala tried his best not to look at the slaves as he walked the length of the wall to the corner, the others were with him as he climbed the ladder and tore open the hatch. He jumped up into the maintenance tunnel and helped the others up one by one before closing the access hatch. They crawled through the tunnel for about twenty meters, it was slow going and the longer they went the hotter and more uncomfortable it became.
"Man is it supposed to be so hot in here?" asked Kale.
"The coils that transfer the energy drawn from the star are running along just above these tunnels. It feels like the coolant system may no longer be functioning at proper capacity. We should not be able to feel it this heavily," explained Kershala. The heat was beginning to bother him quite a bit and Daoran tolerance for higher temperatures was well above what humans would be able to handle. Kershala looked back at Kale who seemed to be weathering it, but he could tell it was wearing on him. "Seal your suit's environment it will protect you from the heat for the most part." Kale nodded his head and let out a deep breath before tapping the side of his helmet.
"Oh wow, that's better already." They drudged through the heated tunnel another twenty meters and came to an open corridor. "How much further to the main lab Kershala?"
"It is in the top of the facility. We should be approximately seventy meters from the lab entrance."
"So, we're going up?" Kale walked over to the ladder leading to the next hatch and climbed to the top. "What're we waiting for?" Kale grabbed on to the hatch and pulled on it with a great amount of effort. It finally came lose falling to the ground and Kale looked back at him. "Lead the way." Kershala smiled behind his helmet at Kale's determination and walked over to the ladder choosing to jump through the hatch above. "Show off…" Lenari started up the ladder follow by Omall and Kershala began climbing. They climbed to the top ladder to the next hatch passing several access ports along the way that would lead to the floor they were climbing to. The structure seemed to be simple in design for what Kershala expected of Daoran architecture, the access tunnels were far more useful than he originally thought they would be. He came to the next hatch and opened it to discover a barrier of rock blocking their way.
"Can we blast through it?" asked Omall as Kershala scanned it with his implant. The scan showed him the blockage affected the whole tunnel and there was no way they'd be able to get through it with the tools they had with them.
"No, we will have to go back and head to the floor below. We will reroute to the lift system. But we will need to get to the floor below us." Kershala looked down and waited for Omall and Lenari to start back down. The going was slow as they started back down. The heat from the transfer system below them was rising and was getting worse.
"We have to get out of here," said Lenari.
"We are almost out Lenari, stop complaining," said Omall as he stopped at the access point. He held himself to the ladder with one hand and forced the door with the other. One by one they climbed into the port. They crawled a few feet and dropped from the maintenance tunnel and found themselves in a low-lit lab. They could hear the alarm still sounding through the rest of the facility, but it was muted from the lab they were in.
"Kershala look," said Kale pointing to something in the center of the room. Kershala turned to see what he was looking at and the same apparatus hung along the wall that they had found on the Arktora's ship. He looked at it recalling the memory of the child Jinnar had tortured feeling a rush of anger.
"This must be a back up everything is sterile," said Lenari running a scan. Kershala looked around the lab and could tell that it was likely where they had modified all of the Daorans from the mines. His implant was picking up traces of Daoran blood plasma on most of the equipment.
"This is where they operated on the slaves," said Omall clearly having taken his own scans. Omall walked over to what was likely the main computer terminal and began to operate it. "We have to find out what happened here. There has to be something that tells us who the slaves used to be, blood records, implant ID's, list of names, something." Omall searched the database quickly as he spoke to himself.
"The Arktora had something like this on his ship in the trophy room," said Kale looking over the apparatus.
"Omall, be careful while you search. Any invasive actions could alert them to our presence," cautioned Kershala. "We must keep moving."
"Yes, yes I know. I've almost got the entire database downloaded to my scanner. There is a list of DNA and implant identifiers," explained Omall, "We can use this to at least honor their memory." Kershala walked to the door and tried to scan beyond it, his implant had difficulty getting any information beyond it. This was likely on purpose as he figured that they wouldn't want the Daoran's they experimented on to be able to scan for weaknesses or ways to escape the room.
"Any idea how long these Daoran's have been here?" asked Lenari looking over Omall's shoulder.
"Judging from the information I have here several of them were brought here right after the home world was taken, others are listed as having been here when the facility was captured." Omall's voice was low as he spoke as he tried to keep his emotions in check. "The modifications were made only a few months ago, when the Scientist first came to the facility." Kershala walked over to the terminal and looked at it with Omall.
"Is there any information on her here?" he asked.
"Only that she showed up on her own ship a few months back." Omall looked at Kershala. "It doesn't say if she ever left." Kershala looked from Omall to Kale.
"If she is here, I will kill her myself. Let's go." Kershala stomped toward the entrance and used his hands to force the door open. Sparks flew from the door as it had likely been broken by the force he used. The others quickly followed him Omall having gotten everything he could from the computer, and they turned a corner.
"There, let the command center know we have found the intruders!" yelled one of the eight Shironian guards they now stood in front of. Kale and Omall instinctively opened fire on the group of soldiers immediately dealing with three of the guards. Omall's energy canon vaporized two of the smaller ones and Kale got the one who had called out. Kershala ran at the remainder of them taking two hits from energy weapons before getting in arms reach of the closest one and hitting it in the side of the head with all of his strength behind it. As his fist collided with it, its whole body whipped around from the force. Kershala could tell that its neck had broken as it fell to the ground. He quickly jumped up the wall and launched himself at the next two; to his surprise one of the soldiers grabbed him and threw him against the wall he fell to the ground uninjured, but the wind had been knocked out of him. He figured these guards too had been modified.
"Kershala!" Kale called from behind him and fired his weapon several times mostly landing his target, for some reason the weapon didn't seem to affect it. Kershala watched as he got himself to his feet, Kale engaged with the soldier like he had been taught. Landing several hits to his opponent but the other ones attacked him with their weapons, light flashed from Kale's suit as its shield stopped the weapons fire. Kale took one more hit but ducked the last volley and let it hit his hand to hand assailant. The creature went down and Kale came back up sweeping his foot to trip the other. He jumped on the creature and struggled to get its weapon away from it. "Son of a bitch." Kale yelled before forcing all of his weight down on the weapon bringing it down on his opponent's head. Omall fired at the others trying to maintain suppressing fire and keep them out of the fight. There were no brute types just the two types of smaller soldiers to contend with. Lenari was at Kershala's side making sure he was alright.
"I'm okay, Lenari." Kershala jumped to his feet and grabbed Lenari's weapon and fired on the others killing one more of them. The last two looked at each other and took to running, Kershala knew they were going to give away their location if they got the chance and he had to prevent it. He took off after them as fast as he could. "You will not get away!" As they ran from him, they fired their weapons back at him Kershala jumped out of the way with ease as they did not watch where they shot. He could hear them speaking as they ran and could only hope they hadn't given away their location. He caught one of them by the tale and slammed it to the ground, the other looked back and began running on all fours. Kershala had never seen them run like that before but it was significantly faster because of it. Kershala picked up speed now running as fast as he could without completely letting loose. He managed to get close enough to the soldier that a bound would bring him in front of it. He propelled himself as hard as he could and landed in front of it, the soldier crashed into him and the two rolled several feet ending with Kershala on top of it.
"They know you are here little prince," it hissed. Kershala formed one of the blades in his free hand and plunged it into the creature's chest. The body went limp under him. Kershala stood up the alarms still blaring around him, it was unsettling to know that even the lowest ranked soldiers knew who he was. He turned back to the direction he had come from and Omall came around the corner.
"You managed to stop them I see," said Omall out of breath. "I didn't want you to go alone, but the others couldn't keep up. They're on their way." Omall leaned against the wall breathing heavily.
"I didn't manage to stop them in time, they know we are here."
"Things will get harder from here then." Omall checked over his weapon before smiling at Kershala through his helmet. "I'll be ready for them." The alarms suddenly stopped but the lights continued to flash.
"The insurgents have been located. Lock down the facility, they must not interfere with our research." The voice speaking was female earlier it had been a male voice. Kershala wondered if this was the Scientist herself. "All tier two and three guards converge on sector seven of nine research division two." Lenari and Kale were at the end of the hall running toward them, Kale held the weapon he took from one of the guards.
"I take it that's not a good sign," said Kale as they caught up.
"No, it is not, but we will make it, they will be on us shortly," said Kershala looking ahead of them. Kershala scanned the area using a powerful pulse with his implant, they already knew where he was so there was no point in limiting themselves. "I am detecting a total of twenty-five Shironian life signs within fifty meters of us. They are converging on our location but will not arrive together. The lift is just beyond a room at the end of this corridor that used to be a feeding station for the workers." The others nodded and Kershala began running at a pace that allowed the others to keep up. As they made their way to the lift, they encountered a single brute with two of the lizard soldiers, that were easily dispatched Kershala taking down the large one and Kale and Lenari dispatching the other two with their weapons. They came to the entrance a large two door archway, Kershala stopped at the door scanning beyond it with his implant. "They are massing at the other end of the room. Omall get the door." Omall walked to the access panel for the door and began accessing it with his implant. "There are fourteen of them. Kale when the door opens you and I must go in first, our armor will absorb any energy weapon they can throw at us while Omall and Lenari get into position. Look for cover as quickly as you can I will move to engage them in close combat."
"I can open the door when you are ready," said Omall looking up from the panel. Kershala beckoned everyone to stand to the sides of the door and signalled Omall to open the door. As the doors slid open a barrage of firepower began blasting through the door and hitting the opposite end of the hallway. Kershala looked at Kale and the two of them bounded into action, Kale opening fire with the weapon in his hand as he entered the room Kershala jumping around the corner and jumping to the roof unleashing three of the radeeko his suit held in the direction of the enemy forces. Each of them took several shots getting into position, Kershala's interface telling him that his armor was at seventy-three percent of overall integrity. Kale's shielding had almost failed, but he had made it into cover and would be okay. The Shironian's had set up a firing line in at the other end of the room. The radeeko Kershala had unleashed had landed their targets hitting several of their attackers at the other end of the room suddenly exploding causing disarray in their ranks. This was enough for Kershala and Omall to get in close. Omall fired his energy cannon destroying the cover they had set up for themselves and the two of them jumped into combat. Kershala formed both of his blades and proceeded to cut down several of his opponents. Two armored soldiers come at him one with the energy whips Kershala had dealt with before another with a large duel blade. The whip wrapped around Kershala's wrist and seemed to hold onto him the other came at him with its blade. As it raised the weapon to strike it began glowing red, something Kershala had never seen before. He raised his blade in his other hand to meet the weapon as it came down on him and as it touched his weapon disintegrated. The red glow was familiar from his fight with Jinnar as he had used a weapon with a similar glow in beam form to kill the nanites in his suit. Kershala used the whip that had wrapped around his wrist and pulled his other attacker in with his free hand. The energy whip cut right through its armor and cut it in two at the center of its torso. The other who held the whip took several shots to the head causing it to release and faulter. Kershala used the opportunity to advance on it and tripped the creature slamming his foot down on its neck. He glanced back to see Kale had been the one to shoot his attacker.
"I've got your back." Kale spoke through their private channel.
"I know you do." Omall had pulled a long-bladed weapon from his suit and was wreaking havoc on the Shironian solders, easily using it to cut them into pieces. The more he killed the blade began to glow a deep violet colour, Kershala recognized it as a cylon blade. It would take energy from anything it cut through and store it to be used later, Kershala had trained with it but found the weapon to be cumbersome. Omall however seemed to be able to make it dance having taken down most of their attackers with it. He swung at one of two of the large brutes with it that caught the blade in its hand. For a second Kershala could tell that the soldier thought it had gotten the best of him but Omall twisted the blade and there was an energy pulse that took off the creature's entire arm before Omall thrusted it into its chest. Before it collapsed the creature flung its heavy arm upward catching Omall and sending him crashing backwards into the wall. He fell to the ground and didn't move. Kershala looked the last brute that was left standing and jumped into the air at, it swung for him but Kershala able to twist himself around its large fist and land on its chest. He dug his feet into its body and began pummelling the creatures face, it managed to get a hand around his leg and throw him into the air with little effort. Kershala landed against the wall altering the gravity around him and repelled himself back at the behemoth. He deliberately flew over its shoulder grabbing its head on the way by and swinging to being in a position with his feet on its shoulder. He managed to get both of his hands grasped on its top jaw and pulled with everything he could. He had done this before but this time the creature seemed to tougher, it grabbed at him and flailed its arms he could feel that several of the smaller ones fired at him with their energy weapons but he ignored it and gave one last push with his legs. He not only felt the creatures jaw give way but the bones his feet rested on gave way as well resulting in the creature going entirely limp and falling with a bang. Kale had dealt with the others that were firing on him and they had made it through the blockade. "Is he okay?" Lenari had already made it to Omall's side and was checking him over with his scanner.
"He is going to be alright but there is a small fracture in his rib cage," said Lenari. Omall sat his head up having woken up but immediately put his hand to his chest.
"That was intense, you okay Omall?" asked Kale as he came running over.
"I'll be fine, eventually, but I think I have to go back to the ship I don't think I can go on like this," said Omall. Kershala knew he was right as he opened communication with the ship.
"Atondra, Omall has been injured, you must pull him out," said Kershala.
"What is going on over there, we have detected four Shironian warships on their way to the facility," said Atondra.
"We have been detected and we have so far been able to decimate their security force, are you able to pull Omall out?" Kershala repeated.
"We are unable to pull him from the current location it is too heavily shielded from our teleporters," said Anubis, "If you are at the lifts send him down to the mining facility and we can pull him from there."
"There are two lifts we can send one down. How long until the ships arrive?"
"You have approximately twenty-five minutes. Kershala it is important to note that they may know you are here, it is unorthodox to send so many ships to a general distress call," Anubis explained.
"The Scientist is here as well," said Lenari.
"Then it stands to reason they are on their way to retrieve either her or you." Kershala thought about the situation briefly considering what could happen if he was captured.
"I will send Omall back with Lenari, Kale and I will proceed to the lab, we will destroy the research, but we will likely not have time to destroy the entire facility."
"Noted, make haste Kershala." Kershala looked at Kale and he nodded then to Lenari who started to help Omall to his feet.
"We will take the lift down," said Lenari helping Omall over to the left unit. Kershala hacked the lift with his implant and it opened. The two of them stepped in and turned around. "Good luck." Kershala nodded and shut the door and sent them to the lower floors, he looked back at Kale as the other lift door opened. The two of them stepped in and the door shut behind them, the lift activated with a jolt.