A/N: Sorry for the late update. I was kinda busy writing another fic (I posted it at fictionpress, same writing name as here). I decided I'm gonna try to make the next 40 chapters or so action-packed, or at least I'll try to. I hope you like it!
Reviews are welcome!
Chapter 33 – The Facility part 1
It was night. The usual harvest festivities were busy, as they were every year. Every man, woman and child were busy eating and having fun. Even most of the guards of the Ori, the soldiers from the army and everyone over the rank of officer was there. Even the people from the resistance were there, even though they knew what was happening several miles away.
Minos was nearing the weapon factory several miles outside the village. Well over a hundred soldiers were guarding the facility, but Minos could handle them. He had to, he couldn't destroy the facility otherwise.
He had made plans with Tarus. He had spied on the facility a few times and he had travelled to other villages to check out the guards there.
The weapon factory was situated on a hillside, surrounded by thick woods on all sides. Only a small path led towards the Stargate from the factory. Horse carts full of goods arrived there every day, and other carts full of weapons left it every day. It was quite a busy facility, especially for one that didn't look immensely large from the outside. There was a quite large building in the middle, surrounded by a lot of smaller buildings, open space and of course the outer wall.
There were around one hundred and fifty normal soldiers and one prior guarding the facility. Minos had seen the prior return to his quarters from his hiding place in the top of a large tree overlooking the facility. He was waiting until the night fell to make his move.
He had observed the patrolling routes around and through the facility. And he had prepared an escape route for both him and the weapons. His plan was to steal all the staff-weapons that the factory had made over the past few days. It should be around three cartloads full, around three-hundred weapons in total. He had modified one of the devices Tarus had found to transport three beacons away when it was activated.
The only part left now was infiltrating the facility, planting the beacons on the weapons and beaming them away on the first possible occasion. Minos guessed he'd need only a few minutes to do it. He had to wait for his chance to do it.
Just after one patrol had moved around the corner, but the other hadn't appeared just yet, Minos made his move. With superior agility he made it towards the end of the branch he had been sitting on for the past few hours, and jumped off. Well, more like he lunged off, spanning the multiple metres between the end of the branch and the inner square of the facility.
With the reflexes of a cat Minos landed several metres lower on the open space. He used the momentum from his jump to take a sprint towards one of the smaller buildings scattered around the open area.
He waited until the patrol of guards had passed. The patrol consisted of five men and one watchdog. Well, it looked like a dog but was a little bigger than the ones in Avalon Minos was used to. And it was certainly uglier, Minos decided as the group passed through a beam of light from the lamps.
When the patrol had passed Minos moved from his hiding place. He made a dash for the far wall of the open area that formed part of the factory itself. He jumped up to grab the railing of the path that was on top of the wall, a small four metres higher. Minos made the jump easily as he climbed on top of the wall.
The next patrol was coming in fast, so Minos burst a sprint towards the corner of the wall, out of the line of sight from the patrol. The stretch of wall ahead of Minos was long, straight and open. Well, open on one side. On the left side of the wall was a lower area with multiple buildings that looked like barracks of some sort, and to the right was the large bulk of the factory where Minos could hear machinery softly humming.
Using his super-sensitive eyes Minos spotted a door into the factory itself. He quickly ran towards it, opened it softly but swift at the same time and jumped in. He closed it just in time. The patrol that was coming from behind him was just about to turn the corner when Minos closed the door.
He was in a hallway now. It wasn't really big, but it was big enough for Minos. Minos was thankful for his small build often, mostly when he was away on scouting or stealth-like missions.
A small, black clad form sped through the long hallway deeper into the interior of the weapon facility. He listened every few steps or so, to check if no-one was coming. If someone had been coming he certainly was able to deal with them, but he'd rather not. He couldn't hold the image of him fighting for the good side if he was slaughtering everyone, now could he?
After having traversed a few dozen metres Minos heard voices. Of course there would be patrols on the inside of the building, Minos mentally cursed himself. He acted quickly and hid himself behind an section of the rough walls that was sticking out.
Now he was certainly glad he was thin-built too. If he had been only an inch bigger the patrol could have spotted him hiding behind the wall and the pipes running next to it, but they didn't. After he was certain they had left he continued on his way. Lucky for him no more patrols came.
When he had reached the end of the long hallway he silently observed the room in front of him. It was huge. At least thirty metres high, and reaching well over a hundred metres in both length and width, for as far as Minos could guess. It was lit, but only dimly. The machines had obviously been turned to standby, given that there was only very little noise coming from them, at least for machines their size.
Minos was situated on the end of one of many corridors that bordered the upper-level pathway in the large hall. It was about ten metres above the main floor. Minos could spot no cameras of some kind. Of course he wouldn't. The Ori were not as reliant on technology as the Ancients were. They'd rely on patrols of their loyal followers to protect what was important to them.
He could see a few patrols on the main floor from where he was sitting, but they didn't appear to be highly vigilant or watchful. Hopefully they wouldn't spot Minos if he moved.
After he had ascertained himself that there were no patrols on the higher pathway, Minos made his move. His leather shoes made no sound at all on the metal bridges that were connected to both the ceiling and the wall.
He'd moved carefully but fast over the upper bridges until he reached what seemed like a control room of some kind. He could probably find the blueprints there. Tarus hadn't been able to get his hands on them due to the watchfulness of the prior, but Minos was fairly certain that he could find them here.
If he could find the blueprints he at least would have an idea of where to go next. He knew how to enter the facility unseen, but he didn't know where the soldiers and factory workers kept the finished weapons. And if he was lucky he could even do some nosing around to find stuff that he could use in the war.
Minos sprinted towards the door of the control room using his speed and the shadows to remain undetected. He tried to open the door but found that it was locked. He got two small metal pins from one of his pockets and stuck them in the lock. A few seconds of wriggling the pins later the door clicked open softly.
Minos snuck inside, closing the door silently afterwards. There was some kind of window in the room that had a view on the main floor, but it was dark. Lucky for him Minos didn't need a lot of light to see everything in the room clearly. He had always preferred the darkness and shadows.
Minos looked around. There were a lot of shelves with stuff on it, and a few armoured cabinets. Minos figured the important things would be kept in the cabinets, so he started fiddling with the lock.
After a few seconds this lock too had fallen to the wriggliness of Minos' tools. He opened the cabinet and took a quick peek inside. A lot of big stacks of paper, but one small stack on top of the highest shelf stood out. Minos reached for it, but he was too small. Curse his damned size! By using the lower two shelves as stools Minos quickly managed to grab the stack.
Suddenly, he heard voices from outside. Patrolling guards were on their way. Minos closed the doors to the cabinet as silent and fast as he could, and searched for an hiding place. There was none obvious besides hiding behind the door. But that wasn't an option because Minos would be discovered as soon as anyone entered the room or looked through the window with a flashlight.
Minos took his chances with something he had seen in some movies the last time he'd been to Earth. He made a dash for the corner near the door and jumped upwards without making a sound. He stretched himself using both hand and feet to hold himself up against the ceiling.
Minos had detected the patrol just in time. Only seconds after he had hid himself against the ceiling several flashlights shone through the window. Minos held his breath and stopped moving completely.
After almost a minute the patrol went past the control room. Minos silently dropped himself like a cat and landed perfectly still on his feet. He looked at the papers he still had in his hand.
Most of them were descriptions, written in several different alphabets Minos didn't deem important enough to remember, but one stood out. It was a thin booklet that contained maps of the facility and the buildings surrounding it. He'd found the jackpot.
Minos looked at the tiny scribbles on the pieces of paper as he looked for rooms that sounded like there was something of use in there. He carefully memorised every storage room in the whole facility, just as the power room and the main hall in a few seconds. Another few seconds later the whole map of hallways had followed it. Luckily for Minos he had an almost eidetic memory for places and maps, otherwise he'd have a hard time remembering everything. The place was a maze.
Minos safely tucked the small booklet away into the clothes he was wearing and he hid the stack of papers in plain sight on the almost empty desk in the room. After he'd done that and made sure there were no patrols coming he opened the door and left.
Minos made his way over the higher level of pathways and stairs that circled the main hall. Multiple guards were on the main floor, standing guard between the machines, but none saw Minos.
After having counted three doors on his left side Minos entered the fourth. This was a main corridor that led towards an area filled with storage rooms of some kind. Some useful kind, Minos hoped.
After he'd ducked away and hidden himself in a corner for another patrol coming from one of the hallways that bordered the main hallway, Minos arrived at the first storage room. The door was locked, obviously, but Minos fingers were trained for this kind of activity and had the door open using the metal tools in no time.