jeriendhal | Returned to Life, Part Nineteen

“We have no idea where we're going, do we?” Rachael asked Gunny. With his superior sensors, the Marine Vulpine was taking point as the little group made its way down a series of anonymous corridors. Unfortunately, because she had to stay close to him to keep from broadcasting their position, that meant she was on point as well. The fact that, given his armor plating, standing behind him was probably one of the safer places to be in a firefight didn't give her much comfort.

“We're getting as far away from that cell block as we can,” Gunny said, fingering the pistol that he'd appropriated from one of the Galapados they'd encountered just outside their cell. “After that we can reorient and figure out where to go next.”

“Our first priority is to find Terinu and rescue him,” Lance said.

Gunny grunted. “With respect, Lieutenant, my first priority is figuring out where they dumped my weapons. I know the lab where they stripped me down is near here.”

“It's a good bet that'll be near where Terinu is being held as well,” Leeza said, cutting off any objections from Lance. “Then we can worry about finding a way off of this asteroid. But my real worry is why the Varn are even here. You two saw the size of the hanger we passed through when we docked. This asteroid base is bloody huge. It would have taken years to carve it out and outfit it, even with Dominion technology.”

“Maybe it's an abandoned Creo mining base,” Lance guessed.

“Doesn't make much sense. This system is way off the normal trade routes,” Leeza said. “There aren't any real civilized planets near by, and too many pirates.

“The funny thing is,” Rachael said, “I recognized some of the fighters they had parked in the hanger. A few of them looked like the ones that attacked Unity.”

“Bright Gliders? Impossible,” Lance said. “They'd have to be almost five hundred years old. Besides they were built for Vulpine pilots. You'd need a shoehorn to shove a Galapados into one of them.”

“Not impossible, Lance,” Leeza countered. “If they Varn have the technology to keep Rachael in suspended animation for five hundred years, keeping a fighter preserved would be trivial.”

“So what, this place is one big weapons depot?” Gunny asked.

“Maybe,” she said. “Maybe it's something else entirely. Hopefully we'll get the chance to find out.”

Suddenly Gunny raised his arm, motioning them into cover behind a set of equipment lockers lining the walls. A few moments later Rachael heard the sound of marching feet, and a heavily armed patrol of Galapados warriors passed them by. When they were safely gone down the hallway, the marine let out a low growl. “They must have found out we've escaped.”

“Probably after the cell guards failed to check-in,” Lance said. “Well, that tears it. We're going to have to get out of here as soon as we can, with or without the kid. It'll be too dangerous to stick around searching for him randomly.”

“We can't just...” Rachael started say, as Leeza put in “We are not leaving...”

“Shove it, the both of you! Here's the lab where they disconnected me,” Gunny interrupted, as the came up to a door. They slipped inside, and the sergeant hooted with delight when he found a pair of pistols and other equipment spread out across a table. “Ha! Got my guns back!” he crowed, picking them up.

“What the hell are those?” Rachael asked.

“2 mm gauss pistols with AP fletchettes,” the sergeant said, slipping them into a pair of thigh compartments that popped out with a silent command. “As for the rest of it... Well, the grenade launcher would have been nice to have back, but I guess reconnecting everything will have to wait.”

“Never mind your arsenal, here's a computer terminal. Maybe we can use it to figure out exactly where Terinu is being held,” Leeza said, motioning Lance over to her. While they puzzled over the alien terminal and the sergeant busied himself storing away the bits of himself that had been removed earlier, Rachael wandered over to what looked like a viewport of some kind. There was an armoured shade covering it, but a few moments inspection revealed a switch that pulled it back, revealing a spectacular view.

“Oh, my god, what devil is that thing?” Rachael gasped. The lab's viewport overlooked what had to be the main hanger of the asteroid. There appeared to be well over a thousand of the small delta-winged Bright Glider fighters, stored in racks along the walls. But they were nothing compared to the titanic ship that occupied the center of the chamber. “It's got to be three kilometers long!”

“What?” Leeza looked up from the terminal and her face went pale. Lance let out a quiet, venomous curse and even the sergeant looked shocked.

The lieutenant was the first to regain his voice. “Well, I'll give you one guess where they're keeping the kid,” he said softly.

“Why? What is that ship?” Rachael demanded.

“That's the ship that destroyed the Earth,” Leeza said with awe, “that's the Mantle Cracker.”