Sam broke in over Tucker, “I’ll position the ship over the tread section and the port we hard sealed to before. From here, I can remotely open the door for our MECH’s to descend into the tread section. My MECH will be tied into the ship’s controls, so I can seal the hatch again.”
“From there,” Samuels added, helping Tucker step into his spacesuit, “We’ll charge the MECH right at the alien complex, blast our way though and shoot anything that moves.”
“Take out as many of those cloning gestation tubes as you can on your way in,” Tucker suggested, “The more you can take out, the fewer clones we’ll have to fight.”
“I like that, Tucker,” Samuels smiled, almost giddy, “I can’t wait to kick some alien cyborg ass today!”
“I’m sure there’ll be plenty of that,” Sam smiled.
Samuels pointed at the Captain, “I’ll take point, you stay in back of mine and take all the tubes out.”
“My pleasure. Just know if you get too many to handle, you’ll have to give me room to help ya out.”
“You know I will, Sam.”
“Good!” Tucker praised, “Sounds like you guys have a good feel for what we need to do.”
“I’m sure this’ll change as we go through the complex,” Sam said, now helping Tucker get his arms through the suit.
Tucker grimaced as his arms where contorting behind him in order to slip the suit over his shoulders, “Sam, there are two more MECH’s in the SSV-7. See if you can get phantom power restored. Once you pass the SSV-7’s hatch, you should launch those two inside the tread deck. That’ll give you an out if you have to ditch your MECH’s; you can ride them back to SSV-5.”
“Yeah, I think I can do that, Tucker. Oh,” Sam said, looking like a lightbulb just lit up. She floated to another compartment and reached inside, “You might find this useful,” she smiled, holding a tuning-fork looking device.
“Sam...you dog!”
“Yeah, I am.”
“You said you disabled the Dash-7 last time.”
“I did. I basically took its keys, and hid them in here. They wouldn’t ever have been able to fire off the systems without this. Here. I think you’ll find it a bit easier to launch now. You’ll not have to waste any of your AMP charge.”
“Nice!” Tucker smiled, taking the power key from Sam, “Good thinking. I may be chipped, but my energy won’t last for long.”
“How long you think, Tuck?” Sam asked.
“30 minutes, depending on how much of the charge I need to use. Then I’ll have to rest some before I can self-actuate another charge.”
“Well, that’s good to know,” Samuels said with a roll of his eyes.
“Where are you going to enter?” Sam asked.
“I’m going forward to the main complex. After I do charge my chip, I’ll know when your fun has begun. That diversion will allow me to punch through the main complex dome. Once inside, I can start setting the detonators. I’m hoping that you’ll buy me enough time to get them set. If I haven’t detected the Falcon’s reactor run up by then, I’ll set a 15 minute timer.”
“You really think that’s going to be long enough to free our guys and get back to our ships?”
“It’ll have to be long enough,” Tucker said, struggling with his last glove.
“Here,” Samuels offered, “Let me help you with that,” he grabbed the glove, pushed and turned, making the socket click into place.
“Thanks, Sarge.”
“Anytime, Tucker, anytime.”
“What if Dillan does reach the Falcon? How will we know it’s time to bug out?”
“Oh, you’ll know. If Dillan fires off the ships reactor, I know that will take 15 minutes to overload. My AMP charge will alert me of the radioactivity, and I will send you a message.”
“Okay. Either way, it sounds like we got about 30 minutes from the time we open fire, to when we had better be getting the heck out of Dodge,” Samuels nodded.
“Yes, I’ll let you know either way. I figure it’ll take me about 15 to replace all the detonators, and then 15 to free our guys and get back to our getaway ship.”
“Still feels like we’ll be tight on time.”
“The longer we stay, the less likely we’ll succeed,” Tucker added as Samantha lowered his helmet in place. “Just don’t wait for us. You get out...that’s the plan, right?”
“Yeah...right,” Samuels grimaced.
Tucker pointed his glove finger at Samuels as he finished locking his helmet in place for him, “I mean it! This place has to be destroyed if we’re to save Earth from their onslaught.”
“We understand, Tucker,” Samantha said, patting his shoulder.
“That’s an order!”
“You’re not our superior anymore, Tuck,” Samuels mused, “remember? You’re just a civi now.”
“Yeah...don’t remind me.”
“Okay,” Samuels smiled, “There’s just one more thing I’m forgetting about.”
“Sarge? You have to potty first?”
“Very funny, Tuck,” Samuels laughed, “Always the kidder, you are. No, more like this.”
Samuels reached into another cargo hold and took out an alien weapon, “Here, this is for you.”
“Oh, Samuels...you do love me!” Tucker smiled through his helmet.
“Yeah, take it before I decide to use it for myself.”
Tucker snatched the alien rifle and slung it over his shoulder. “Okay, Sam, make sure we’re in position and then you guys get into your MECH’s. I’ll be riding shot gun with Samuels here. Once we eject out of the MECH bay, I’ll fire my pack, sending me toward the front of the alien complex.”
Sam floated to a remote console and checked their position, “Affirmative, Tucker. We are in position over the drop zone.”
“Excellent!” Tucker said with a pump of his fist, “Okay, Samuels, get in and I’ll climb down inside the bay. Sam, just give us a count down when ready.”
“I’m strapping in now, Tuck,” Sam answered. Pressing some commands, she lowered her MECH’s diamond reinforced bubble lid, “In 3...2...1...launch!”
The two MECH’s dropped from the SSV-5’s rear cargo bay and plunged quickly down toward their entrance point.
* * *
Chapter 18
CSMO 253 Mathilde
Tread Section
Asteroid 52 Europa
Earth Date: 03/31/2066 15:00
The two MECH’s sped toward the closed hatch. Tucker pushed off Samuels and fired his thruster pack. He shot in a vertical decent toward his target location.
“I’ll lose this comm link when I enter the complex,” Tucker said, “Best of luck you two, and I’ll see you on the other side!”
“Good luck, Tucker!” Samuels responded, “Sam! The doors? Now would be a good time for them to open...”
“I’m working on it, give me a sec!” Sam answered. She frantically entered commands to the left over tread section of the CSMO.
Samuels looked down over the bubble lid as best he could at the approaching hatch, “We’re cuttin’ it a bit close, Captain!”
“There!” Sam shouted.
The hatch doors rolled open just in time for the two MECH’s to enter. They slammed hard to the deck, the impact absorbers and thruster’s minimized the stress to the machines. The hatch rolled closed, sealing the two inside.
“That’s a little too close, Sam!”
“I know...sorry about that.”
“I’m not getting any younger over here, and you just took another couple of years off me.”
“I said I was sorry, sheesh.”
“Okay, let’s move forward,” Samuels suggested, turning on his MECH’s lighting.
“We’re all clear until we get to the alien structure,” Sam reported. “All scanners are clear in here. Move forward past the dash-7’s hard seal, and I’ll drop the other MECH’s.”
Samuels acknowledge by walking forward, continuing to shine his lights down the dark passage.
Sam
followed close behind, shining her lights to each of their sides, and checking their six. She stopped at SSV-7’s hard seal to command the MECH drop.
“Seems awfully quiet down here.”
“I know, it’s eerie alright.” Sam sent the commands to the SSV-7, activating a sub-power system and the MECH’s promptly dropped to the ground behind them. “Okay, we’re all set for our getaway.”
“Whatever happens, we’ll abandon these and use those new MECH’s to get back to the dash-5.”
“Right,” Samuels agreed. “Let’s keep moving forward.”
“Roger that. Tucker’s going to need our diversion soon.”
Samuels moved his MECH down the corridor with Sam following close behind.
* * *
Tucker rocketed toward the alien dome. He took his alien blaster weapon and aimed it at the structure. Pulling the trigger, the beam weapon instantly vaporized part of the strange alien substance. Holding the weapon at the ready, he flipped himself over and entered the hole feet first.
The escaping atmosphere and thruster pack slowed his decent to the alien floor. The later quickly ran out of fuel. The loss of thrust threw him off balance. He hit the ground face first. The escaping air began pulling him along the floor. The closer he got to the hole, the faster he traveled.
“I’m not coming this far to be vented out to space!” Tucker yelled to himself.
He flopped himself on his back and aimed his arms at the hole he had cut into the structure. A wave of power exited his arms, connecting with the alien dome. The power wave quickly closed the hole, stopping the escaping air.
His arms fell to his sides in relief, “Whew! Note to self: never do that again!”
He pressed a few commands on his arm pad and confirmed that the atmosphere had returned to normal.
He sat upright and looked around. Standing to his feet, he grabbed the helmet vent and pulled it open, and then removed it with a twist. Tucker placed the helmet on the ground and dropped his suit gloves into it, and then he picked the helmet up and clipped it to his suit before proceeding to exit the domed room.
He walked straight through the alien membrane that separated the domed room from the corridors.
Taking his weapon, he held it in an offensive posture as he made his way through the complex to the first hidden nuke.
* * *
Samuels stopped at the end of the corridor inside the alien complex.
“Looks like the fun’s about to begin,” Samuels nodded from within his MECH.
“Right!” Sam smiled, “Light ‘em up!”
“It may not be quiet much longer...”
“That’s why we’re here, Sarge.”
Samuels engaged his missile stack and launched one at the alien substance. Fire and heat flashed back at the two MECH’s, the explosion leaving a gaping hole as an entrance to the alien complex.
“Subtle”
Alarms rang in Samuels ears, “Yeah MAN! That’s what I’m talking about. Just don’t get close to those flashbacks; my MECH’s a little warm inside.”
“Increase the exterior coolant levels,” Sam ordered, “That might help keep us from being baked inside these tin cans.”
“Roger that, Captain. Come on, let’s kick some cyborg ass!”
“Right behind ya’,” Sam said, stepping the MECH in cadence with Samuels’ forward movement.
Samuels headed through the blast hole and shone his light down the corridor, “So far, we’re all clear.”
“Yeah, but I see these corridors are all filled with clone-tubes.”
“Check it out!” Samuels exclaimed.
“Yeah, these are all Cassie clones.”
“Lock and load, Captain!” Samuels nodded, “There’s a group of about 20 heading this way on scanners.”
Sam wasted no time in pointing her arm rail guns at each side of the corridor and opened fire, “Take that you sons of bitches!”
Alien substance and clone body parts flew in all directions, as Samuels launched three gas charges, each making a low thud as it left the MECH’s firing chamber. The three smoke charges clanked down the end of the corridor and began spewing a cloud of smoke to hide the two MECH’s from the approaching hoard.
The two made their way down the corridor. Samantha continued to bust up every clone tube she saw. Samuels aimed his mortar launcher, and shot a round down the causeway when his weapons were in full range.
They both were rewarded by a large explosion, terminating over half of the approaching enemy. Samuels opened fire with both rail guns, sending shot through the cloud of smoke, terminating the remaining cyborg-clones on attack.
“Whoo! Yeah baby, now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” Samuels hollered.
“Nice one, Sarge,” Sam praised. Her rail guns turned silent as she ran out of ammo. “Have to reload...stand by!”
“I got ya covered, Captain.”
Sam ejected the empty clips from each arm and was auto-loaded with new ones. She loaded each chamber after the clip snapped into place.
“All right! We’re ready to move...”
Samuels interrupted Sam, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Will ya’ just look at this?”
Samantha turned to face what Samuels saw and gasped, “What in the hell?”
“You tell me, Captain, do we have anything to worry about?”
They peered into the clone tubes lining the corridor. Inside each tube the clone growing was clearly Tucker.
“Umm, I’m not feelin’ real good about this at all,” Samuels commented.
“You think that’s weird, take a look over here,” Samantha pointed with one MECH arm.
“How in the...”
You tell me, Sergeant!” Sam exclaimed, “These are us!”
“Well, I for one can tell you, I’m not cloned...” Samuels said, turning to Sam.
“...neither am I,” Sam protested, looking back at Samuels.
“Look, we know we’re both not cloned. It’s possible that they got some of our DNA from our last mission.”
“You’ve gotta be right, cause if Tucker’s cloned...”
“...if Tucker’s cloned, we’re pretty screwed.”
“...look, this one’s Savage.”
“...and over here is Gus, and the rest of the Salvage-4’s crew.”
“Move your MECH outta my way,” Sam ordered, “I’m going to take ‘em all out with a missile!”
Samuels maneuvered his MECH around one of the corners and waited for the explosion.
Sam locked one of her missiles on the corridor. The fire exited the end of the weapon, sending the rocket into the center of the corridor, destroying all the tubes.
“That should bring more clones in here real quick-like,” Samuels said, “In fact, sensors show about 50 approaching from the north.”
“Yeah, I’m getting those on my scanner, as well as about 20 coming from our flanks.”
“They’re coming from all directions!” Samuels shouted. “We’re seriously outnumbered!”
“What’s our time in now?”
Samuels glanced at his mission clock on his heads up display, “We’re 10 minutes in. We better make sure we’ve got a path back out.”
“...and that’s 20 minutes before we have to be bugging out!”
“Captain, lay a beacon in the center of the corridor crossroads. We can move down this corridor,” he explained, pointing one of his MECH arms behind him, “When they converge here, we light them up with 4 missiles.”
“Sounds good, Samuels. You get yourself down the corridor and into position, “I’m laying a beacon down now. Just lock missiles on this signal. I’ll head back the way we came and we can get them in a crossfire.”
“I’m on it, Captain.” Samuels turned his MECH and trod down to the far end of the east corridor.
Samantha set the beacon and activated its signal, “You picking it up, Sarge?”
“Affirmative. Missiles are locked on target. They’ll be here in another 30 seconds. Get down the south corridor!”<
br />
“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Sam acknowledged, as she headed into position.
When the clones arrived at the crossroads, Samuels and Captain Rothschild launched their missiles. They flew down the corridor, but several of the clones raised a shield, blocking two of the oncoming weapons barrage. The two blocked explosions backlashed at Samantha’s MECH, the heat and shockwave caused a major systems failure. Alarms sounded inside the MECH, ringing in her ears. She focused on her heads up display, but it scrambled as the machine began to reboot.
“I’m out!” Sam shouted into her wireless.
The other two of the rockets detonated, killing 15 of the 70 clones. The rest charged down the corridors, half coming at Samantha’s powered down MECH, the other half toward the Sergeant.
Samuels opened fire with his rail guns, taking out some of the attacking clones. They returned fire, and repelled his weapons volley.
“Sam! They’ve adapted. Fire everything ya got!”
“My systems are down! I’m setting the MECH up for self-destruct and ejecting!”
“I’ll do the same! My weapons fire has no effect now! Come around from the south and meet me in the east corridor.”
“Roger that!” Sam yelled. She pulled her ejection lever and leaped into the air, and then landed on her feet behind the MECH.
The only thing between her and the cyborg-clones was her motionless MECH, now set on overload. She rounded the corner, loaded a round in her chamber and took a stance with her weapon pointed in front of her.
The exploding MECH sent cyborg-clone body parts flying through the air, and the shockwave followed by a large fireball, was mostly absorbed by the alien structure.
She took off and headed down the corridor to meet up with Samuels. Rounding the next corner she slid to a halt, as she stared down the barrel of several clone weapons.
Samuels was already subdued and stood helpless with his hands in the air. She dropped her weapon on the ground and raised her hands in the air in surrender.
“Come with us!” one of the Cassandra clones said, stepping into the open.
Salvage-5: Another Mission (First Contact) Page 15
