her palm on the hatch and pushed up, feeling cool air through the cockpit, sending a shiver as it blew onto her sweaty wrists and face.
Crystal felt strong hands grab her by the collar and pull her out of her Mech. Wow, thought Crystal. Daf is strong, something Crystal never thought about before. Crystal wondered if the heavy gravity of Planet Lumus had somehow made the Mechies a lot stronger than normal. It probably did and it was probably something that all Mechies and everyone in Star Guild knew about except Crystal.
Daf's labored breathing brought Crystal back to the moment. Daf was pulling her across the warehouse to a door leading to several warehouse offices. Crystal glanced up. Her eyes widened, seeing that Daf was pale and her lips were moving up and down as she continued to pull her.
“Daf?” said Crystal.
No reply.
Daf's breathing hastened and her pace quickened. Crystal looked at her own feet, seeing the back portion of her rubber soles sliding against the grayish black floor. Crystal wasn’t hurt, so was wondering why Daf felt it necessary to drag her. But, she relaxed her body as she was dragged closer and closer to the office door, not wanting to stop Daf's progress, or potentially screw up what may be Daf's time sensitive plan of escape from these enemies.
Daf's voice suddenly came alive, quiet and low. In a breathy whisper she said, “They killed everyone. All of the Mechs are downed and the Mechies inside...dead. Who are they, Crystal? Who are they? Why did they kill them? Why? What do we do now? Will they send someone to come after us? Will Star Guild send someone to rescue us?”
Before Crystal could answer, or even throw out a guess, Daf let go of her, letting her fall to the hard floor. Crystal quickly spun around to see Daf struggling with buttons on a wall panel next to the office door.
“3-2-2-1,” said Crystal. “The code is 3-2-2-1.”
Daf looked at her, lips quivering, arms shaking. She blinked, and then blinked again in rapid succession. It was a little too fast for Crystal's liking. Crystal stood up as fast as she could, knowing what was happening to Daf. Just as she started to move forward, she saw Daf faint, fall against the wall and slide down to the ground.
Crystal bent down, slapping Daf's face. “Daf, wake up. Daf? Daf!”
Crystal sighed. This wasn't something she needed to deal with right now.
Shaking her head and pulling Daf off the ground, Crystal held Daf in one arm and pinned her against the wall with a leg as she typed in the code to the office door. The door slid open. Why don't we have voice command operations for this door? I'm going to have to get that changed, STAT!
She shook her head again, understanding her plight and thinking how that was the last thing she needed to be thinking about at a time like this.
Turning Daf around and grabbing her by the underarms, she pulled her through the office doorway. An automatic light turned on when she entered, brightly lighting the room. “No!” shrieked Crystal. She didn't want them on. She didn't want any possible attention brought to the warehouse. Moving around several desks, pulling Daf along, she crouched down, hiding next to a large, round shaped desk.
I've got to turn off the light.
Crystal froze as a thud sounded against a warehouse wall, definitely coming from the Mech Bay door. If she wanted to move, her body wouldn't allow it, and if it did allow it, she wouldn't know what to do anyway. Then she heard it again, and saw through an office window that the Mech Bay door was slightly indented.
“Shit!”
Again she wanted to move, but her eyes stared through the window, unflinching, at the Mech Bay door.
Another thud and Crystal finally slipped into action by running into a side office and she knew it was one with security vids.
Sitting at the desk, eying the vids, she suddenly realized something she should have realized the moment she entered the warehouse offices—not a single soul was here manning the stations, doing their normal routines for Ebb Operations. Where were they? The Mechies wouldn't be here, of course, because they were usually outside in their Mechs collecting ebb, but the warehouse men and women, the Star Guild officers, the boss man, and the Techies—where the hell were they?
Looking around to see any evidence of a struggle—chairs over turned, desks over turned, blood on the ground—she didn't see anything of the sort. It's as if they had just disappeared. They couldn't have gone outside without a Mech or they would have gone insane or brain dead, or better yet, had a heart attack within two minutes due to the dense gravity exposure. Maybe they did attempt to leave regardless of the outside gravity, doing their best to escape in a bad situation. The back window would tell her. She could see if there had been any attempts to escape through a back door. She might see dozens of dead people littered across the ground. Right now, though, it wasn't that important to see. It really wouldn't change anything.
She stood up as another thud slammed against the Mech Bay door, deforming it even more. Bastards! Leave us alone!
She turned her attention to the office walls all around her, white with silver sparkles. She shook her head at the decorating, and then stopped as a thought occurred to her. Duh, the vids!
Focusing her attention where it was needed, she looked first, and then ran over to the vid console. But, when she looked at the holovid all she saw was static, so she pressed a button and said, “Re-route all security vids to nearest Lumus satellite. Sync in to Mech Warehouse 11 and display.”
Thud!
She looked up expecting the worst, but the bay door held.
“Holovid!” she yelled, bringing up a holographic display so she’d be able to see exactly what was happening outside. The satellite camera zoomed in, passing through the atmosphere, displaying a world of red rock, large mountains, dark gray ebb spiking out of the redness, and large craters where ebb once was.
“Zoom in on Warehouse 11.” She pounded the holographic display. “Go! Hurry, hurry!”
It zoomed in.
“Stop.”
The zoom halted and the holovid displayed the exterior of Warehouse 11.
“Mech Bay door,” she ordered. The satellite panned and stopped. She put her hand up to her mouth, whispering outloud, “What in Star Guild's name is that?!”
Nervously, she glanced at Daf lying on the ground next to the desk in the other office. She had to get Daf and herself into a Mech before the bay door got forced open.
∞
“I repeat, pilots to your Thunderbirds!” yelled Admiral Byrd over the com link.
Captain Stripe read the status of repairs on her HDC and glanced at the admiral. “Four hours until we can jump, Admiral.”
“It's better than the original report,” replied Admiral Byrd. “They're working fast. Get Admiral Jenkyns on the com.”
A click, then a hologram of Jenkyns appeared on the Holostage near Admiral Byrd's command chair. Jenkyns gave a nod, noticeably irritated with this sudden distraction. “Yes, Fleet Admiral?”
“Are your pilots ready?”
“Ready on your mark,” responded Jenkyns.
“Launch them at will.”
“Aye, Admiral.” With that, Jenkyns' hologram faded out.
“First wave away, sir!” shouted Lieutenant Eden, staring intently at the HDC attached to her station—a station that was previously Lieutenant Briggers less than ten minutes ago. She lifted a hand, as if she were about to start the first string of an orchestra. “Second wave away, sir!”
Admiral Byrd stared at the vid screen surrounding Starship Brigantia's bridge, seeing two groups, each with a dozen Thunderbirds, flying head on toward the attacking starfighters. “Keep 'em coming, Eden!”
Arm still raised, Eden spoke, “Third wave...fourth wave... fifth wave... sixth and final wave, away!”
The Admiral continued to watch the vid screen as Starship Taranis' Thunderbirds flew out of their launch bay and came into view, joining Brigantia's Thunderbirds.
The Admiral looked over his shoulder, eying Captain Stripe. “How long before our Thunderbirds
are within weapon range?”
The captain glanced at her screen, seeing the enemy coming in fast. “Two minutes, although I'm already hearing reports that our enemy already has weapons lock on several of our fighters.”
The attacking enemy had left their pyramid-looking starships less than five minutes ago, yet at top Thunderbird speed the pyramids were more than a half hour away. With both Thunderbirds and the enemy bearing down on each other, they'd meet each other half way between the pyramids and Brigantia sooner than the Admiral wanted—within bare minutes. He needed time to think, time to plan a strategy, but time wasn't on his side. He wanted to meet with military counsel, find his long dead mentor, Fleet Admiral Sune, and figure out what the hell to do. This battle, this war, was something he'd never thought he’d experience. It was something no admiral in Star Guild had ever experienced. He had to learn quickly and make the right decisions, because if he didn't they'd all die on his watch and he couldn't let that happen.
The admiral wiped his brow and folded his arms. We need a miracle.
Eden looked up. “We've lost two birds, Admiral. The Thunderbirds are still one minute to weapons lock.”
“Brigger?”
“Yes, Admiral?” Brigger stood up at attention. He'd been monitoring the pilots at the flight commander's desk, Eden's usual station. He didn't know what to do there.
“Have your nerves settled down?” asked the admiral.
“Yes, sir.” Brigger was young, and though his nerves hadn't settled, he didn't