“Hey sir . . . just to let you know, your ship was far more intense than this,” Jaguar 42R mentioned after they got into the next maintenance duct.
“Really?” Mad Dawg responded, quite surprised to have heard that.
“Your Marines are far smarter than these stupid drones, and there were times in which I felt . . . like I was going to die on your ship.”
“Oh my God! Really!” Mad Dawg said a bit too loud. As luck would have it, he was not heard by any of the security systems.
“Yes sir. I’m still amazed that I was able to get off your ship in one piece. Sir . . . do you believe in God?”
“Kind of. Why do you ask?”
“Because after I left your ship it was the one thing that I kept on thinking about. Your . . . Marines . . . put the fear of God into me on a couple of occasion. I considered it a miracle that I made if off without a scratch. And now . . . I’m here with you under similar . . . circumstances,” Jaguar 42R responded truthfully.
(5)
“You better have something good for us Dark Serpent,” Medusa Pandora, a Dark Core member, nearly snapped at him.
“Things are not going too well for us. No! Correction! It’s not going too well for you,” Infernus responded in condescending tone of voice.
“Don’t you dare think for a moment that either Lenkov or Omori would cut any of you any slack. What part of it don’t you understand!? They want our heads on a silver platter!” Dark Serpent responded.
“Well in that case . . . since it was your idea to have them eliminated, then . . .” Infernus was saying.
“That no longer matters! We all are going to die! Why can’t you realize that!? It doesn’t matter what happens to me! The three of you will be next after I am no more!” Dark Serpent nearly screamed at them.
“I agree with Dark Serpent. And you two must understand that both Lenkov and Omori want the four of us dead,” Inferno of Terror responded.
“Fine. Then let Dark Serpent take command and responsibility until Lenkov and Omori have been eliminated, or . . .” Infernus was saying.
“I know what you are implying!” Dark Serpent snapped back.
“Too late. Either they are eliminated, or you will be,” Medusa Pandora informed him. She really loved the notion of seeing how a fellow Dark Core member would react in an effort to preserve themselves. What came next would surely be very interesting to her, for this particular member could be a little too ruthless at times.
(6)
“Thank God we finally made it,” Mad Dawg said when they finally got to the generator room. The room was very large, with three levels.
“In an effort to prevent them from overriding my commands, I need to shutdown all the computers, minus these of course, to the facility. And sir . . . that will inform them that we are here,” Jaguar 42R mentioned.
“Understood. Do it. I’ll take point,” Mad Dawg responded.
“Done sir! I will now attempt to secure the doors!” Jaguar 42R yelled out after he was done shutting down the computers.
Mad Dawg was in a firefight with a sentry drone. Although the drone was not heavily armored, it was still hard to kill. It kept on changing positions, trying to make the shooter waste ammo. Mad Dawg had the skills to deal with that sort of tactic. While Jaguar 42R was accessing the next computer on the level below him, Mad Dawg finally killed the sentry drone. He was able to kill it by using short controlled bursts of gunfire. Although very dangerous, it got the job done.
“Don’t shoot . . . it’s me!” Viper 33X shouted down from the maintenance duct.
“About time that you arrived,” Mad Dawg said with relief.
“I’ve brought the explosives as you requested sir. It was not easy dragging those damn things through those godforsaken ducts,” Viper 33X mentioned.
“Can you get the job done?” Mad Dawg asked.
“Yes sir,” Viper 33X responded.
“Can you booby trap it? So when those doors are opened, the bombs go off?” Mad Dawg asked him.
“Yes sir.”
“Good . . . now we need to lure Deathcore down here and trick them to open the doors,” Mar Dawg responded.
“We will need some of the Dragon Clones at certain strategic locations to secure our retreat,” Viper 33X mentioned.
“I can send a simple coded communiqué to the Dragon Clones to get them into position with no chance of it being intercepted by Deathcore,” Jaguar 42R mentioned.
“Oh . . . and how’s that?” Mad Dawg asked out of curiosity.
“Morse code sent through static using an alpha-numeric code,” Jaguar 42R responded. His head kept on turning, slightly revealing that he could hear something at the entrance door. It stated that either the drones were trying to get in, or Deathcore was.
“Alright . . . get on it,” Mad Dawg ordered him.
“Yes sir,” Jaguar 42R responded. After a couple of minutes, he came back to mention that the message was sent. But he had no way of knowing if it was received.
“Hey Viper . . . hold up,” Mad Dawg called out to him as he was heading to booby trap the entrance doors. “In an effort to lure Deathcore down here, we need to eliminate what is on the other side of that door.”
“Understood sir,” Viper 33X responded.
What Mad Dawg was asking was for the most part suicidal. But they knew that it had to be done. The first sentry drone was quickly eliminated, and the assault drone was beaten back, forcing the rest of the drones to recalculate their tactics. The sentry drones came in to spy and to shoot at the defenders and then to do a tactical retreat. As important as he was, at one point Viper 33X rushed them and took out a sentry drone, and he was almost killed by the assault drone. The fight continued for twenty minutes before they could hear gunfire that was coming from somewhere, and the assault drone was killed by whoever was doing the shooting.
“As per your request, we have come to your rescue,” the Dragon Clone mentioned. He was all alone but had extra ammo for them.
“Thank God. You’re a life saver. I’m almost out of ammo,” Mad Dawg responded after he got his ammo.
“I’m the first. The rest are moving into position,” the Dragon Clone mentioned.
“Go and inform them that they need to create chaos in an effort to lure Deathcore down to the generator room. Viper will set a booby trap that will trigger when the door is open,” Mad Dawg ordered him.
“And what about you sir?” The Dragon Clone asked Mad Dawg.
“Me and . . . Jaguar need to assist you in luring Deathcore down here,” Mad Dawg responded. He was starting to treat Jaguar 42R with greater respect.
“Understood sir. We will provide you with all the assistance that you need,” the Dragon Clone responded. And with that, Mad Dawg dismissed them.
(7)
“Sir, I think that they are trying to bait us into a trap,” the lead Deathcore member was trying to impress upon Dark Serpent.
“And if the generators go down? Answer me!” Dark Serpent demanded.
“Then it would take several months before the facility could be brought back online,” the lead Deathcore member responded.
“And do you seriously think that we can afford to wait that long!?”
“No sir. I do not.”
“Then get your goddamn ass down there and do something about it. Over and out,” Dark Serpent ordered him.
He had to rethink his tactics, and he had no other choice but to retake the generator room and expel their unwanted guests. He could see the shear brilliance (and insanity) of the tactics of the enemy, and it created within him a certain level of uncertainty. He, along with his team, was in a strongly fortified position. Let the enemy come to him, not the other way around. What made matters worse was, yes you guessed it, Lenkov and Omori. How could he hold out against them and their tactics?
(8)
“If that don’t get their attention than I don’t know what will,” Mad Dawg said out loud after both he and Jaguar 42R set off a major explosion.
The whole area was being torn apart from the explosions. Deathcore, whether they liked it or not, had no other choice but to intervene. Once it became apparent that Deathcore was coming, Mad Dawg, Jaguar 42R, Viper 33X (who already finished with the booby traps in the generator room), and the other Dragon Clones left. Knowing that they needed to trick Deathcore into going into the generator room, they recorded themselves talking and giving orders and had it broadcast in the generator room. They also reprogrammed some of the sentry drones to mimic the tactics that a unit would use if they were trying to defend the generator room. (Since it was too dark, Deathcore had to rely upon night vision, but the drawback to that was that these drones were designed to be hard to see when someone is using night vision.) The Dragon Clones were also able to broadcast themselves through the speakers of the drones as well as use the drones’ cameras. Although they were very highly suspicious, Deathcore assumed that they were dealing with the real thing.
“All the Dragon Clones are out of the facility,” Jaguar 42R informed Mad Dawg.
“And Deathcore?” Mad Dawg asked him. A few moments later, the facility shook very violently, informing them that the generators were destroyed. They were in the tower part, and because of the size of the facility, the shaking should have told them that something was far more serious than what they thought. Even if they knew or suspected that the Dark Id facility’s power core was in critical meltdown, they wouldn’t have cared. They knew that it was well built to contain a reactor core meltdown[19].
“Terminated,” Jaguar 42R responded.
“Outstanding,” Mad Dawg responded with glee.
“Hey sir . . . given all the video and audio that we collected . . . why don’t we send it to the media to show and prove that Deathcore has been eliminated?” Viper 33X asked. The request almost made Mad Dawg chuckle.
“Let’s see what Lenkov and Omori have to say,” Mad Dawg responded.
Both Lenkov and Omori approved the idea. The media was first on the scene, and as the local authorities arrived, it became self-evident to them that it was indeed true that Deathcore had been eliminated. In an effort to prevent Dark Core from suppressing the truth, Captain Maxwell had the TIA starbase search and suppress any attempt to hide the truth. (The starbase was slowly being brought back online.) Dark Core was trapped with no way out and no way that they could communicate that they need help.
The Dark Hand of Nemesis
(1)
The message came from Omori to both Ramirez and Maria[20]. Omori felt that she could finally trust both of them with a highly sensitive and top secret mission. The mission was very straight forward and very simple—go and pick up something for her. Omori made it very clear that it is personal and is not considered mission critical. The way that Omori was looking at both of them strongly suggested that she was asking to retrieve something on par with a close relative or that of a close friend. But that would be considered a news flash to all (minus Lenkov) who knew her. Because of Omori’s age she had only a few friends who were still alive. Whereas Omori chose to become a full cyborg her friends did not. No, the only thing that Omori had left is Lenkov. So neither Ramirez nor Maria knew what to expect.
They landed near an old laboratory that was long since abandoned. Once they got there they found an old access into the Dark Id. (Mad Dawg and company haven’t arrived at their destination to take the Dark Id offline yet.) They had no trouble getting inside the facility or that of the Dark Id itself. Once inside the Skotadian Matrix they immediately noticed that they were dealing with old technology going as far back as the war on Valkyrie.
“Sayaka Omori sent you didn’t she?” Sakura Sanjo asked the two of them.
“Yes. And who are you?” Maria asked her.
“Never mind about that. Do either of you have training as a VERM agent?” Sakura asked them.
“Yes, I do.” Maria responded.
“And you?” Sakura asked Ramirez.
“No. Only in counter-VERM tactics.” Ramirez responded.
“Guard me. (She said to Ramirez.) And I need you to guard the perimeter.” Sakura said to both of them. She then used her SIN to activate a cyber doorway. Since she was using an older form of the Dark Id, she needed a “key” that she could use wherever she wished to; it would open a doorway to some other part of the Dark Id. The three of them had to run very fast with Ramirez guarding Sakura and Maria taking on any of the defensive drones that came after them. After a while it started to become apparent to both Ramirez and Maria that they are in the deepest part of the Dark Id[21].
“We meet again. Lieutenant Commander Ramirez and Maria Sadowayj.” The Kronos of Id said to both of them.
“There is so much that I would love to ask you that . . .” Maria was saying.
“All good things comes to those who wait. But my long awaited sleep is drawing us all near to the final conclusion.” The Kronos of Id interrupted stated.
“Meaning what?” Ramirez asked.
“You will find out in due time. For Clotho have already spun her deadly web and her dark sister Lachesis have already determined the erected gravestones. But their loving and most dark sister Atropos have not yet come for this world or for me.” The Kronos of Id responded. After hearing that Ramirez had the thought of, Alright, that’s it. That’s the last time that I ever ask it as single question.
“By the grace of Athena and through the love of her most majestic sister who gave us Cupid and Psyche, we wish you peace, love and guidance as you cross the river Styx.” Sakura said to the Kronos of Id.
The three of them then felt a shock wave as the Kronos of Id let out a sigh of relief but that shock wave felt more like death, like a thousand lost souls being freed. It started to become obvious that something was seriously wrong with the Dark Id. It told Ramirez and Maria that they needed to get the hell out of there but this Asian woman still had her job to do. It was driving both Ramirez and Maria nuts since they also had to provide her with protection. Whatever she was doing they did not know.
“I’m done. Leave the Dark Id. Now!” Sakura stated much to the relief of both Ramirez and Maria.
“This has got to be the most strangest mission that I ever been upon.” Maria stated after both her and Ramirez left the Dark Id.
“Really. Why is it that I keep on thinking that was one of Omori’s friends?” Ramirez was saying to Maria. Maria was about to ask him to which friend was he was referring to when they heard Sakura coming.
“Because I once was. Until I became what I am now.” Sakura stated in the distance. Her voice strongly suggested that she was a machine.
“And how is that?” Maria asked.
“Same thing that you are now but something very different.” Sakura stated as she came near. Like Maria, she was a android. A person who’s human body has long since been killed. Her eyes said it all. A soul trapped in a machine and wishing for the great hereafter.
“You served on Valkyrie . . . with Omori, didn’t you? Before you had to serve under Vaughan.” Maria asked.
“Yes.”
“What’s your name?” Ramirez asked her.
“It no longer matters. But you can call me the Keeper.”
“The keeper of what?” Ramirez asked.
“The Valknut and of the Kronos of Id.”
“What’s the Valknut?” Ramirez asked.
“I care not to mention it.”
“Is there any particular reason as to why that is?” Maria ask Sakura.
“It’s complicated “
“So where is it?” Ramirez asked her.
“This body now contains it.” Sakura responded. She then turned to leave and head towards the dropship. It was obvious from her reference that the Valknut is some form of a key (program). And since it’s name comes from Norse mythology it implies that it may have come from the war on Valkyrie.
“You know we risk our lives for you and . . .” Ramirez was saying.
“No you didn’t. The two of you were never in danger.” Sakura
responded.
“You know I understand about saving the life of a friend but . . .” Maria was saying. She just couldn’t let it go. If there was one thing that she learned all those years is that with Lenkov and Omori that if you drop it you learn nothing, but if you push it in a respectful but gentle way they’ll budge. Not to everyone of course.
“I’m no different than you Maria. I too lost my human body. Whereas with you it was only several years ago for me it goes all the way back to the fall of the Valkyrie Matrix.” Sakura responded with a heavy sigh.
“I’m so sorry to hear that.” Maria was saying. Ramirez showed her, through that of his cellphone, who the Keeper once was. Maria only nodded and continued on. “I can’t imagine the hell that you must be going through for I know what it’s like in there.”
“You don’t know the half of it. I went to Valkyrie because Sayaka asked me to since I was the only intelligence officer that she trusted. Look at me. I’m no fighter. Never was. I died on Valkyrie trying to do as General Vaughan asked me to. To acquire this damn Valknut. It’s a name that I will never forget because I was afraid of what he might do to their career.” Sakura, on the verge of tears, responded.
Ramirez just had to ask her a question. He didn’t want to sound rude and that is why he took so long in asking his question. He just couldn’t find the right words. Ever since he heard what she is called he just had to ask it. “So . . . what’s up with the Kronos of Id? I mean, why does it act the way that it does? And what’s up with it and Greek mythology? We’re smart people . . . but we’re not that smart.”
Sakura smiled at what Ramirez said and then responded. “I wish I knew. It was he who approach me. I had to learn Greek mythology just to understand what it was saying. You know . . . come to think about it . . . what it said earlier about the Fates, I think that it wanted to die.” Sakura than realized something but was not able to complete what she was thinking. She was stunned at her thought.
2288: The Skotadian Experiment Page 18
