Cryptai - Chapter 1

The sounds of feet hitting metal from the tablet speaker faded. Heavier, slower steps replaced them. He pressed more buttons on the tablet, and the defense turret above him began to spin the barrels of the machine gun. The deafining roar of bullets flying filled the air. There were shouts and the sounds of armored bodies landing on metal.

A voice shouted, "prisoner escape!" Another shouted, "we're hacked! Turrets are hostile!"

He could here the rapid pounding of feet running up stairs. Across the the room, lift doors whooshed open. With quick precision he looked through the sight of the submachine gun and placed the red dot on the guards' head. A press of the trigger, then a slight movement to the right and the same on the next guard. The third made it past the doors and charged the smoke-filled corridor. The rapid pounding of running feet converged with the advancing guard, his white armor blending into the slowly dissipating smoke. He dropped the submachine gun and snatched a wicked looking knife from it's connector on his thigh. Exoskeletal whine echoed faintly against the metal walls and floor.

The guard was surprised. He didn't even blink as the knife plunged through the reinforced fabric around his neck, severing the jugular and puncturing the esophagus. The knife retracted as the guard collapsed.

"Hello? Hello?" "Keep your voice down." He replaced the knife and quickly wrestled the guards' helmet off his head. It was partially covered in blood, but otherwise undamaged. "Put this on."

He handed her the helmet, breathing a silent sigh of relief as he recognized the RSI Odyssey flight suit covering her body. She looked both afraid and slightly disgusted, but complied. The helmet clicked as connectors clamped to the suit collar.

"You killed-" "Not now. More are coming, and there is a Nine Tails assault team about come down the main lift. Come with me." He picked up the submachine gun and headed back the way he had entered. She stood unmoving, staring at the rapidly expanding pool of blood on the floor. "Ty! Move! Run!"

She slowly turned, and began running when his hand gripped her arm. The sound of the lift arriving, dull bang of metal on metal as the floor plates of the lift met the landing area. Heavy boots rattled on the metal grates as several heavily armored people moved with practiced precision down the hall.

He waited briefly, holding on to the handle of the ascender cable, his arm wrapped around her waist as they dangled from the ceiling above the Nine Tails as they moved quickly down the hall. He could hear there communicators cutting on and off as they rounded the corner into dissipating smoke. Gunfire erupted. With the press of a button the ascender whirred as they swiftly lowered to the floor and entered the lift. Gunfire faded below and was replaced by the sounds of heavy laser weaponry from above, the sound of twisting metal and reverberating thuds as heavy objects hit the ground. The Nine Tails ship was making short work of the anti-aircraft guns.

He felt a tap on his arm. Looking over, he saw the young woman pointing to the side of her helmet, blood smeared on the visor where she had tried to wipe it away. She was looking at him, confused. He grabbed her wrist and took a small bracelet device from a compartment in the armor plating of his suit. The bracelet clicked around her arm, small screen on it springing to life. There was a light chirp sound in their helmets. "Don't worry, it's not a standard mobiGlas," he said. "How are we going to get away? That ship is destroying everything!" She was about to panic. The lift was about to reach the surface. Laser fire was replaced with the roar of the massive engines from a Drake Cutlass Black. "You are going to run south for six hundred meters. There is a ship there. When you get close, that mobi I gave you is programmed to open it. Get in it." "I don't know how to fly-" "The ship is pre-programmed. It will take you to safety."

The lift came to halt. The roar from the Cutlass engines had faded somewhat. They had landed.

"But-" "No more questions. I will answer them all when we are out of here, but right now you need to run to that ship. Got it?" He could see her quickly calculating options before realizing there were none. She nodded. He snatched a small tube from a connector on his hip and shoved it hard against her arm. She gasped in pain. "To help you breathe and avoid freezing." She nodded in understanding.

As the heavy metal doors slit open, she bolted, quickly turning south into the shadows of a stack of shipping containers. He leapt over the pressure plates of the entrance ramp and charged toward the Nine Tails ship. They wouldn't see his movement from the front of the ship, and the turret gunner was pointed up and away from the facility. They were watching for microTech security.

He approached the rear of the ship. Just below the access panel was a small maintenance connection port. He placed his hand near it, extending a small cable from the forearm plate of his armor. The connector clicked.

"Target aquired. Casualties. Back ramp." "Roger, confirmed." There was a metallic pop as the seal around the rear ramp of the ship opened, and the thick metal plate swung down. He quickly stepped back and moved to charge up the ramp. Inside the ship was dark, jump seats still down. Cargo area was empty. Drake wasn't known for comfort, exposed wires and insulation lined the interior. His boots echoed slighly on the metal decking as he moved to the door to the ship command room. The door slid open. He was surprised, as Nine Tails procedures called for them to lock the door when landed on operations like this. To prevent what he was just about to do. With a smooth, snake-like movement he was through the door, entering the triangular shaped space, bullets whizzing out of the suppressed submachine gun and into the pilot, his elevated position exposed and providing little protection. The turret gunner chair was descending. The trigger pressed, and another Nine Tails mercenary collapsed.

Time was short. He turned and reentered the cargo area, pressing the button to open the side cargo loading door. Grabbing the tube that he had used on Ty when they exited the facility, he reached into his armor storage and removed a metal cylinder rolled inside a clear plastic bag filled with a brownish fluid. He put the tube into one end of the cylinder, released its contents into the tube and then dropped it outside the ship before closing the cargo door and returning to the control room.

"I don't know if you can hear me. I found the ship. It's opening," Ty's voice crackled in his helmet. "Get in and strap down. It will take you to another ship in orbit. I will meet you there."

He turned the communicator off. The slumped body of the pilot was heavy, getting it out of the way was taking too much time. He glanced up to see a small point of blue light rapidly ascending into the night sky. Further away and lower to the horizon, several larger, brighter blue lights were rapidly approaching.

The body fell to the floor and he quickly climed into the pilot seat. Ship systems activating, moving him up to the flight control position above the command room floor. The ship was already configured for vertical takeoff. He shoved the throttle forward and the ship leapt into the air. Gravity shoved him down into the seat. He pulled back on the control stick, nosing the craft upward and pressed the button on the throttle lever labeled VTOL. The ship whined as the engines rotated and gravity pushed him backward even harder into the seat. The altimiter raced upward.

Gravity eased as the ships' generator kicked in and he eased the throttle backward.

"Knot, you there?" he asked, tapping the device on his wrist.

The communicator in his helmet crackled. "Yeah. Whassup?"

"Status?" "microTech idiots are all over the facility. You made it by about thirty seconds. I'm still in overwatch position." "Good. Pick up the Fury. I'm proceeding to phase two. Out"