Chapter 47:
Rembrandt stared up the barrel of the guns pointed at him, which were immediately lowered. Maggie tossed the gun she was holding to the side.
"Remmy!" she shouted as she helped him up off the floor.
"What the hell happened while I was gone?" he asked.
"The Mags got Quinn." James said. "They attacked, but pulled out almost immediately after Quinn was taken, so I assume he was the prime target. They trashed the lab a little bit, but other than that, they were here for Quinn."
"Must have been sent specifically by Logan." Rembrandt said.
"Did you get the Combine Tech?" Maggie asked.
"I did. Did you guys get what you needed?" Rembrandt replied.
"We did." Colin said. "Got the other scientists working on it, while we formulate a plan to rescue Quinn."
"Although, if my initial idea to save Quinn works, they should arrive within the next few hours." James said.
"Initial idea?" Rembrandt asked.
"I went to Michael, Sam and Rebecca when they first attacked, to get the information offworld, just in case the Kromaggs didn't leave." James said. "With my intuition about my double and your friends, I presumed that they would have mounted a rescue."
Suddenly, a portal opened and six figures emerged from it, with five of them decked out in special ops gear. The sixth figure was in just regular clothes.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Michael asked.
"Anti Kromagg armor! Is that what your military did with the manta ship?" James asked.
"Yep!" Sam said. "It's so cool!"
"We've got to get to work. Logan is going to tracking us back here any minute now, though the modifications on the timer should have held enough so she'll have to send teams to at least five different worlds to be sure of where we are." Quinn said.
"We have the scientists here working on the Slidewave cage machine." Colin said.
"There is a small caveat, though." James said.
"Isn't there always..." Arturo mused.
"The machine can't be activated off-world. It has to be activated in the heart of their central complex in order to work, because we'll need the computers there to localize our wave to all worlds containing Homeworld Mags and latch onto their bio-signatures." James said.
"We'll need a team assembled to go back. I'm only taking volunteers. Anyone who wants to come can join the team." Quinn said.
"I'm coming." Wade said, smiling.
"As am I." Arturo said.
"So will I." Maggie said.
"Me too." Colin said.
"We're not letting you have all the fun." Michael said, as Sam and Rebecca stood next to him.
"You'll need someone who knows the base." James said.
Everyone turned to Rembrandt expectantly. Rembrandt looked around, shaking his head.
"No way, no how. You said one last slide and I did my part..." Rembrandt said, then sighed. "All for one..."
"And one for all!" Arturo said. "Well said, Mr. Brown."
"Then we're gonna need more armor." Quinn said.
Later, Quinn sat at a desk, methodically picking out components, when Wade walked up behind him.
"Hey... we need to talk." Wade said.
"Can it wait?" Quinn asked.
"No, it's about Logan." Wade replied.
"What do you want to know?" Quinn said.
"You said that you were going to kill her last time... What do we do this time? Are we going to make the slidewave pick her bio-signature up too? Or, are we just gonna shoot her?" Wade asked. "Personally, I want to do the latter, considering she was responsible for those two years in the camp."
"I... haven't decided yet. I want to stop her, but a part of me also wants her to suffer like we did. She orchestrated every bad thing that happened to us, even the Professor's death was partly her fault." Quinn said.
"Yeah..." Wade said. "And when this is over and we're back home... are we going to do what we used to talk about?"
"Settle down and start a family of little sliders?" Quinn asked.
"Maybe not sliders. I'd prefer my kids remain on their homeworld." Wade said.
"Well, we are technically married." Quinn laughed.
"I don't think that marriage is legally binding on our world. It was done by a shaman after all." Wade said.
"I guess we'll have to do it again, then." Quinn said.
"So who gets to be your best man?" Wade asked. "Remmy, Colin or the Professor?"
"How about Bennish?" Quinn replied.
"The Professor would have an aneurysm!" Wade laughed.
"Well, provided we end up home after this." Quinn said. "We could end up lost without home coordinates again."
"Don't even joke about that. I can't do that to Kelly and my parents again. And think of your mother, and Rembrandt's sanity!" Wade said.
"I was only kidding." Quinn said. "Relax. I can feel it, we're definitely getting home this time."
Michael emerged from the portal into the center of James' command center, holding a box, followed by Sam and Rebecca, also carrying boxes.
"Okay, we've got more of the anti-Kromagg stuff in varying sizes. Agent Bennish was kind enough to loan it to us, and hopefully he won't need it back when we're done here." Michael said.
"Fantastic." James said. "How well armed was the base?"
"Pretty well armed, but this stuff can dissipate Kromagg weapon fire when it comes within contact with the armor." Sam said.
"Oh, and Tiberius is there. We don't know what he's up to, but we should be on the lookout." Michael said.
"Good to know, he'll no doubt want us for himself if we're captured." James said.
Maggie sat with Rembrandt as they looked over the newly acquired armor and weapons.
"Doesn't this remind you of that world where we got drafted?" Rembrandt asked.
"A little, but at least this time, we're willing participants." Maggie replied.
"I've been meaning to ask, what happens to you when this is all over?" Rembrandt asked. "We've got a world to go back to, I wouldn't feel right relaunching my music career if one of my friends is stranded somewhere they don't wanna be."
"I have a few choices. I might stick around here and help rebuild, they could use the help. And I know that the slidewave world is back to relative normalcy, so I might go there. I never did get to hear any of your double's opera signing." Maggie said.
"Well, I'm sure that Mallory and Diana would be happy to offer a place to stay as well." Rembrandt said.
"It would be nice to see them again." Maggie said
Logan St. Clair sat in her office, looking over her computer. She scowled at the display, before hitting the intercom button.
"Have you found Mallory and his friends yet?" she asked.
"Not yet. The signal was so fragmented that it showed positives on several Earths. It'll be a few hours before our teams get back with reports." the voice on the other end replied.
"Get more soldiers working on it. I want Mallory back, NOW!" Logan turned the intercom off and turned back to her display.
Quinn walked out of the lab, holding several pieces of what looked like computer parts and metal bits in his hands. The group, dressed in their anti-Kromagg gear, gathered around as Quinn set them on a table.
"Okay, here we are. These are the parts we need to create the machine. Unfortunately, due to the time constraints, I had to make them modular. That means we'll need to outfit it on a Kromagg sliding machine for it to work." Quinn said.
"The Alpha Outpost does have machines similar to what Quinn wanted to build, so we won't have issues there. The problem is sneaking in without detection. Though, I may also have that covered," James started. "Through a little tinkering, I was able to modify a timer to emit a Kromagg portal, so we won't be detected as quickly, and give us time to set up."
"But let me guess, we'll still be in danger of being caught?" Rembrandt asked.
"Yeah." Quinn said. "Though with all of us there, and the anti-Kromagg gear, we'll at least stand a chance."
"It's not an army, but it's a start." James said.
"Everyone ready?" Quinn asked.
Everyone nodded affirmatively. James held out his timer and entered a set of coordinates in it.
"Here goes." James said as the portal activated in the center of the room, and the group hopped into it.
To Be Continued...