Astraeus 5 Page 13

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  As the Sea Lion approached the planet, Major Auryn Truran was keen to get off the ship. His marines were ready and itching for some action. For far too long, it seemed, they had been training but hadn’t seen anything more exciting than supporting civilians undertake various scientific surveys for several months and they were getting bored, with minor arguments regularly flaring up into full-blown fights. All he needed was the go ahead from Captain VanDelden as soon as they were close enough for the bay doors to be opened to let them out, so they could get to the surface and see what all the fuss was about. The briefing he had had an hour or so ago talked of alternate universes and an attack on the system but he was sceptical. It all seemed somewhat far-fetched to him.

  His thoughts were interrupted by a radio call from the Captain "Major, we’re three minutes from the LZ. The cops already here are using standard police frequency six and know we are about to land. I’m advised that they have taken two enemy fighters to a point about a kilometre from the landing zone and I’ve suggested that, now we’re here, it would be best if they were airborne and brought into the vicinity of the ‘Lion.

  "Yes, Sir. All noted" replied the Major. Now that he knew they were about to arrive, he instructed his troops to embark onto the landers filling the landing bay. Each lander could hold twenty troops and the ship had five landers on board, which he thought should give him more than enough firepower should there be a problem.

  Shortly after the final marine was on the landers, the large bay door slowly opened and they were, finally, able to head for the surface.

  It seemed that almost as soon as they had set off, they landed and the lander door opened to reveal the doors to the hangar, which had been left open after the two fighters had been flown out. He jumped onto the ground and ran across to the hangar as fast as the low gravity would allow, where a small group of people were waiting. As he approached the group, one of them said over his radio speaker "Major Truran, I presume?"

  "Lieutenant Hirst?" he replied, holding out his right hand.

  "Am I pleased to see you, Major. This is Billy Hunt and these are Sergeant McDowell and Officer Parsons" she said, pointing in turn to the relevant figure. "Officers Harling and Norgrove are in the two fighters you have been informed of. Norgrove also has on board our prisoner from the alternate reality and I’m anxious for him to be released into the Navy’s care. You will need a suit for him, though, as none of ours fit him. I don’t know what you’ve been told but there are three immediate priorities. Firstly, we need to rescue Will Hunt from the alternate reality, remove what ordnance we can from this base, then close this gateway to the alternate. Did the Captain share the details of the interview we had with our prisoner?"

  "Yes, Lieutenant, he did. I have to say, I found it hard to take in the very concepts involved and don’t fully understand the concerns you have for this place. Although we should have known about this base, it seems deserted and doesn’t appear to pose much of an imminent threat."

  "Looks can be most deceptive, Major. I can assure you that the threat is most real and needs addressing as a matter of some urgency. This base forms the epicentre of a sort of bridge between two alternate realities and those in the other reality are preparing for an attack, which could take place at any time. The immediate priority is to rescue Will, however, so we can get him back here safely. Just to confuse matters even further than they may seem already, Will is from yet a third reality and is an alternate to Billy. An image of Will with Billy was included with my report."

  "Do you know where he is?"

  "Not for certain but we do know the layout of the base and our prisoner seemed pretty sure that it is identical to the one in the alternate. He’s an engineer who was involved in the design of it and oversaw elements of the building programme and this was of great importance to him. His argument was that otherwise there would be the risk that anyone passing through the gateway could finish up inside a wall or floor or outside the base entirely. Not very reassuring to the troops making the trip! As regards Will, we have found the cells and have been working on the assumption that he is likely to be in one of them. However, not only do we not know which cell but we have no idea what the level of security there is on the other side. We will need to go in hot and ready to lock down the prison corridor as soon as we have made the trip. I don’t want anyone injured, so I would suggest stun settings only. We’re trying to get Will, not kill off his guards."

  "That shouldn’t be a problem. We have some stun grenades that our suits are immune from but which will knock out anyone within thirty metres. Is that enough of a range? It does mean that you won’t be able to join in the fun on the other side, as your suit won’t give you any immunity from the grenades. We’d just knock you out with the guards."

  "The corridor we found is less than that, so they should be OK. If any of the guards are in a cell, would they be affected?"

  "If the door is open, yes, but if it’s closed, then it depends on what the door is made of. If they’re metal, it may work – it depends on the door. If it’s an energy field, the stun grenades won’t get through it. We would have to pick them off using our stun rifles."

  "The doors are metallic but we haven’t tested them to see what sort of metal. Billy and I can guide you to the cells. Whilst we show you the cells, my Sergeant can show your second in command round the base. For what it’s worth, I’d like as much of the ordnance that’s lying about to be removed but that there be enough left in strategic locations so that we can destroy this base and, therefore, this gateway to our universe if we have to. While this isn’t a permanent solution to the threat of invasion, it should slow down the enemy sufficiently that we can have time to prepare for their arrival."

  A figure stepped forwards from behind the Major "Captain Lockwood at your service, Ma’am."

  "Good to meet you, Captain. Sergeant, please escort the Captain round and show her as much as you can. I suggest that we met up again in the large office that we found in thirty minutes and decide how we are going to tackle the rescue operation. Major, please follow me" replied Sarah, as she headed towards the rear of the base.

  As Sarah, Billy and Auryn and the small group of marines he had asked to follow him left the airlock at the rear of the base, Sarah and Billy removed their helmets and gestured for the marines to do the same. Sarah moved towards the cells and, as they entered the main cellblock corridor, showed Auryn round.

  Having shown him around, Sarah led Auryn to the main office. As he entered, he was taken aback by the scale and grandeur of it.

  "There was a lot of intel in here but it’s been removed by my team and is on board my ship" explained Sarah.

  A few minutes later, they were joined by Sergeant McDowell and Captain Lockwood.

  "If anyone would like a drink, there’s a working drinks machine on the table in the far corner" explained Sarah, pointing to the machine "Major, do you think we can get Will out safely?"

  "Yes, I think we can, but he’ll probably be unconscious when we do, so we’ll need to carry him. Also, I don’t know how long it will be before they realise there’s something happened in the cell corridor. If they do realise, they may decide to start the attack immediately. We need to make sure that, if we’re compromised, then it’s only an inconvenience, not a major setback. Does he have a suit?"

  "He was wearing one when he was captured but we’ve no idea whether he’s still wearing it or, if not, where it is. I suggest we need to make sure by having a spare ready, just in case."

  "No problem. Captain, how easy would it be to set this place to blow?" responded Auryn.

  "There’s enough ordnance in this place to blow it sky high. A few well-placed bombs will trigger a cascade and take everything out. If anything, we need to remove as much as we can, otherwise the crater the explosion would make would be visible from space, even out here."

  "OK. Get onto it, Captain. I need a small team, say five marines, to help me out. Any more and we would be tripp
ing over each other in the cell block. Can you liaise with Captain VanDelden to get the four ships on the surface airborne, so we don’t have to worry about them then, with Sergeant McDowell organise readying the base for destruction. As soon as we get back, I want to be able to get out of here and back into space. Once there, we can set it off by radio. I don’t want anyone of ours to be hurt. How long will it take you to set charges?"

  "Not long, Major. The slow part will be to get rid of the excess ordnance."

  "Can we use the landers to move it to a safe distance?"

  "That shouldn’t be a problem, now the forward hangar is fairly empty. If we do that, we should be able to reduce the amount to be sufficient in about an hour or so."

  "OK, have two teams, a small team to set the charges and the rest to remove as much of the ordnance as we can. You have one hour to remove as much as possible. At that time, I’ll take my team onto the other side and effect the rescue. Any non-essential personnel should be shipped out but need to be near enough to help us escape safely ourselves. To speed up our withdrawal, get a shuttle to the rear hangar, with a pilot ready to take off at a moment’s notice. I want all the other landers and marines to be on the surface about a hundred metres from the base ready to take off at a moment’s notice but near enough to help us out should it be necessary. Sarah, Billy, I think it would be best if you were to get to the Sea Lion as quickly as possible – this could get messy and our suits are armoured, whereas yours aren’t."

  "OK, Captain. It would only confuse matters if we were all involved at that stage. I think a quick getaway is called for and I would hate to get in the way" replied Sarah.

  "I certainly don’t want to be here when it all starts up – I’m a radio engineer after all and I can’t think of any good reason why I should be here when you get back, other than to greet Will" replied Billy.

  "OK. I suggest you see what you can do to help out and then leave the base in about three quarters of an hour."

  Fifty eight minutes later, standing in the cell corridor, Auryn called Captain Lockwood on the radio "Everything set, Captain?"

  "Yes, Major. My unit is waiting to assist just outside the airlock to the admin area you’re in. The rest of our troops are now back on the surface in the landers as you asked. The lander you asked for is ready and waiting. Bombs are primed and ready for radio triggering in a staggered pattern once we leave the area, with the rearmost set to go off first, with the rest following at fifteen second intervals, which should give plenty of time to get out of here. I have the trigger. All the police officers and Billy been taken to the Lion and will meet us there."

  "Excellent. Thank you, Major. Lieutenant, it’s time to go."

  As soon as he closed the link, Auryn looked to his group of marines, said "Time to go" and pressed the button on the remote that would, he had been assured, send him to the alternate reality.

  As he did so, his surroundings changed so that, instead of just the six of them, there were also three guards at various points along the corridor, including one at a computer workstation.

  "Now" he shouted to his Sergeant. In response, the Sergeant threw a primed stun grenade to the floor, expecting the guards to fall to the floor almost immediately. Nothing happened.

  "What the hell happened there?" asked Auryn.

  "Must have misfired, Sir. We’ve had a few recently. I suspect a faulty batch" replied the Sergeant.

  By now, any thoughts of a stealthy attack were long gone, as the guards opened fire. What was more disconcerting was that the guard at the workstation had managed to trigger the alarm, so it was only a matter of time before they would be joined by other guards.

  "Defensive positions" screamed Auryn, firing back at the enemy. Fortunately, the armoured marine’s suits could protect them from small arms for a few minutes but he still found it disconcerting when they were being fired upon.

  Within a few minutes, the three guards were lying on the floor, having been hit by the stun rounds the marines were using.

  "That didn’t go quite according to plan. Sergeant, make sure that no-one can get in here. The last thing we need is for their friends to join the party. Let’s find Will and get the hell out of here" said Auryn heading for the nearest cell door. His suit was equipped with a small speaker-microphone, that allowed him to use it to talk to those not using his suit radio system and he used it to call out Will’s name.