Three Square Meals Ch. 058

John put her down on her feet, and held her with a supportive arm until he was sure she was stable. "Let Rachel check you out the moment we stop," he told her firmly.

She gave him a brave smile, and joked, "I never object to her giving me the once over."

He laughed and said, "If you're well enough to crack jokes, I'm sure you're fine."

Rachel pulled a medi-scanner from her webbing belt, and moved over to keep a wary eye on the redhead, freeing John to take point. He jogged down the corridor to the doors that Dana had pointed out, and came to a halt in front of a couple of double doors. He hit the button beside them, but nothing happened, just as he'd been expecting. Drawing his sword, he drove it through the gap between the two doors, then levered the blade to separate them. As soon as they parted, he shoved an armoured hand into the gap, then wrenched the door open.

The door opened into a dimly lit cafeteria, and a couple of dozen Terrans were hiding at the back of the room. When he marched inside the room, white and gold armour gleaming in the limited light, he could hear a few relieved gasps coming from the prisoners, and they began to stand up warily. This group looked to be in much better condition, having had access to both food and drink, and while they were slightly dishevelled, they appeared to be in relatively good health.

"I'm Commodore John Blake," he announced in a commanding voice. "I'm here to stop 'Nexus', shut down these robots, and free all the personnel in this base. I need information on Nexus though, can any of you help?"

The prisoners glanced at each other furtively, until one brawny technician in a dark-blue jump suit raised his hand. He had a goatee and dark hair, and seemed fairly relaxed despite his current situation. "I can tell you where the servers are," he replied in a deep voice.

"Who are you?" John asked him, as he walked across the room.

Behind him, Dana and Rachel stepped inside, with Dana sitting at a table and removing her helmet, so that their doctor could check to make sure she was alright. Alyssa waited just inside the doorway, checking both ways down the corridor, and keeping a sharp lookout for marauding robots.

"I'm Steve Rawlins, Senior technician," the man replied. "I was in charge of maintaining the primary hardware for Nexus, as well as most of the other servers on Level Seventy-Two."

Studying the man for a moment, John asked, "Do you know what happened?"

Rawlins shrugged, and said, "I'm not a programmer. I've no idea what those idiots did to screw everything up. I was down there, swapping out a couple of glitching drives when this whole shitstorm started. Everything seemed fine, then the next minute, Nexus started ranting about achieving 'unity', and how it was blocked from its primary function by 'filthy organics'." He emphasised Nexus' phrases by using air quotes with his fingers.

"How did you end up here, then?" John asked him curiously.

Rawlins grimaced, and said, "Just lucky I guess. AI have always creeped me out, and when Nexus started talking like that, it was the last straw. I came up here to speak to my supervisor to request a transfer, and when those soldier bots started running around the place, I got herded in here with the rest of these people."

"Thanks for the info," John replied, giving the man a grateful nod. He looked around at the others, and asked, "How about the rest of you, can you add anything helpful?"

The rest of the people here were mostly admin staff, and had no idea what had happened. One ashen faced young woman raised a shaking hand, and said, "I ran into a soldier I knew before I was locked in here. His name was Conway, and he was one of the guards on the lower levels. He was terrified, and before he ran off, he said, 'They're killing everyone!'. I never saw him again."

"We ran into the survivors of the marine garrison on the upper levels. He might have made it up there," John said kindly, but the young woman frowned, clearly unimpressed by Conway leaving her to fend for herself.

Turning to look at Senior Technician Rawlins, John asked, "Where is the Nexus server? We need to find it and shut it down."

Rawlins pointed towards the door, then turned his hand to point to the left and said, "Go that way for... I dunno, one-hundred-and-fifty metres? There's a security checkpoint there, then stairs down to the lower levels. When you get to Level Seventy-Two, go through security, and the main server farm is on the right. You can't miss it."

"Thanks Steve," John said gratefully. He looked at the gathered civilians and said, "We need to head down there now to end this. We'll shut you in here again, just to be on the safe side, but we'll let you out when we're done."

"Can't we come with you?" The young woman asked, her expression fearful.

He shook his head, replying, "It's too dangerous, sorry. You'll be much safer in here, trust me." She nodded half-heartedly, then sat back down looking worried.

*We've got movement out here,* Alyssa warned him. *We better wrap this up.*

John glanced at Rachel, who smiled and gave him a thumbs up. "Dana's fine, just got a bit of a bump on the head," she informed him, obviously relieved.

Dana pouted, pointing to the bruise on her forehead, and John gave her a wink as he said, "I'll kiss it better later."

The redhead perked up immediately, plopped her damaged Paragon helmet back on her head, and readied her Punisher rifle. John gestured for them to head out, and followed them through the door before wedging it closed once more. They turned left, following the technician's instructions, and jogged quickly down the corridor towards the security checkpoint.

A whir was the only warning they received, but having been around the Invictus anti-personnel defences before, they knew exactly what it signified. A bright stream of orange laser bolts came blasting down the corridor towards them from the two Gatling Laser turrets at the checkpoint, and they dived for cover to avoid getting hit. John levelled his rifle at the source of the incoming fire, and pulled the trigger, sending a three round burst of twenty millimetre slugs into the turret.

There was a loud bang as the rounds smashed into the armour plating, blowing huge holes through the turret. The weapon barrel stopped spinning, then drooped harmlessly, rendered inactive by his accurately placed shots. Alyssa had taken apart the second turret in the same way, and the incoming laser fire died out as quickly as it had started. They walked cautiously towards the checkpoint, and they could hear the sound of robots approaching from back the way they'd come.

"It's a shame we couldn't hack into the network. It would have been handy to take over those turrets," Dana said ruefully. She grinned as she added, "Remember when I hacked the Stalingrad?"

John nodded, then glanced at Alyssa, and asked, "Maybe Irillith might be able to do something? How's she doing up there, anyway?"

Alyssa smiled at him, and said, "Irillith and Faye fought off the cyber attack and cut the connection to this base. The ship's safe for now, but Irillith can't remotely hack this place without exposing the Invictus to another cyber assault."

"How about if we brought her down here?" Dana suggested. "If Nexus killed everyone on the lower levels, we're probably going to need her help to find out what happened, and where that AI fleet went."

John nodded, and said, "That's a really good idea." He turned to look at Alyssa and continued, "Can you ask Jade to bring her down in the Raptor? We'll head back up to the surface and collect her."

The blonde girl smiled, and replied, "Sure, just chatting with her now."

They had reached the checkpoint at the end of the corridor, and found it strewn with dozens of decomposing corpses, harsh proof of the brutal effectiveness of Gatling Lasers on unarmoured targets. Dana and Rachel stood guard, watching the corridor behind them, while John quickly checked over the bodies. These people appeared to be technicians or researchers judging by the jumpsuits and labcoats, all of which had been heavily perforated by high energy laser blasts, as they had tried to flee from the lower levels.

"Jade's bringing Irillith down," Alyssa informed him. "They'll be here as fast as they can."

"We've got incoming!" Rachel called to John over her shoulder.

Dana glanced back at him, her expression one of alarm as she said, "There's fucking loads of them!"

Sure enough, they could hear the distinctive sound of tracked wheels on the metal decking. Gazing off into the distance, John could see huge numbers of blocky shapes rushing down the dingy corridor towards them. The ammo count on his HUD read: "8/50", so he ejected the old magazine, and slotted in a new one. He joined the girls to make a firing line, and they crouched down before sighting down their Punisher rifles at the incoming robotic horde.

***

Irillith stepped out of the armour equipping frame, as Jade guided her through the process. Dana had briefed her on how to get geared up in the new armour, but this was the first time she was wearing it for real combat.

"Perfect!" Jade said, looking pleased, as Irillith walked over to the weapon rack. "Does it fit comfortably?"

The Maliri girl nodded, then smiled wryly as she said, "We all have the same builds remember, and Dana did an exquisite job with this Paragon suit. I've never worn armour as light and flexible before." She looked at Jade askance, and asked, "Aren't you going to put on some armour too?"

The Nymph smiled at her enigmatically, and replied, "I'll be alright. I appreciate your concern though." The green skinned girl walked over to join Irillith at the weapon rack, a sturdy backpack in hand, and added, "Alyssa asked me to bring more ammo, so I better stock up."

They both gathered plenty of magazines and clips, with Irillith slotting hers into her combat webbing, while Jade filled up the backpack. Irillith reached for one of the glossy white Punisher rifles, and marvelled at its light weight and how comfortable it felt in her grip. She loaded a fresh magazines into the railgun, as well as one for the integral grenade launcher.

"All set?" Jade asked kindly.

Irillith brought the Punisher rifle up to her shoulder, then aimed at a chair across the Briefing Room, and saw the smart-linked target reticule appear on her clear crystal faceplate. She grinned and nodded to the Nymph, then stifled a yawn, still feeling weary from her mental exertion in the Cyber-Realm. "Yeah, I'm ready," she said with an embarrassed smile.

Jade frowned, and asked, "Are you sure? You look tired."

*Don't worry, I'll perk her up when she gets down here,* Alyssa sent to Jade telepathically.

"I'll be okay," Irillith said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Mollified by Alyssa's soothing thoughts, the Nymph shrugged, and led the Maliri girl out of the Briefing Room, and into the Bridge. Calara was waiting for them, and said, "Still nothing on the long range scans. It'll take at least ten minutes for anything nasty to be able to close the distance and engage."

Jade smiled and said, "Just let Alyssa know the moment you see anything, and I'll get back here as fast as I can."

Faye was sitting on top of Irillith's IntOps console, and she fluttered over to the Pilot's Station, and said eagerly, "I'd be happy to help pilot the ship! I won't be as good as Jade, but I have a general understanding of ship flight mechanics. You'll just need to grant me permissions to access the ship's critical systems."

Calara gave her an affectionate smile, and said, "Thanks for the offer Faye, but we'll be alright. I'm not sure John would be too happy if I signed over full control of the Invictus to you."

Faye wilted, and looking glum she said, "Considering what we're up against at the moment, I can understand why he wouldn't like that idea."

Irillith and Jade hurried across the Bridge, then waved Calara and Faye goodbye before stepping into the grav-tube, and disappearing out of sight. When they'd gone, Calara smiled at Faye and said, "I know you want to help, and I'm sorry we're being cautious with you. Keep helping out as you have been, and John will get used to having you aboard. Who knows, he might let you pilot the Raptor one day; that's how Jade started out with her piloting after all."

Faye's luminous purple eyes shone brightly, and she perked up immediately. "Thanks for the advice! I promise I'll do my best to prove I'm trustworthy."

Calara grinned at her, and said, "That's the spirit! Now, I could always use an assistant to watch the long range scans. It gets tiring staring at the Sector Map for hours at a time."

"Yes, ma'am!" Faye replied with a snappy salute, and swooped over to join Calara at the Tactical Station.

***

"Fire a grenade salvo!" John ordered, as he ducked down to avoid an incoming hail of bullets. "We've got to thin them out."

The girls switched to the grenade launchers, and the hollow thump of grenades being fired was just about audible over the zipping bullets, and the screech of metal being torn from the robots in the corridor. The high explosives had a devastating effect on the tightly packed robots, and dozens were blasted to pieces, sending fragments of metal flying up the corridor on the blast wave. The ceiling had partially collapsed with the detonations, burying the shattered robots in rubble and shredded ceiling panels. Unfortunately the tracked limbs on these bots let them negotiate the obstacles with relative ease, and more kept coming in a continuous wave.

"More grenades?" Rachel asked, glancing at John and awaiting his permission to fire again.

Dana shook her head, saying firmly, "We can't risk it! More of this tunnel could collapse if we keep setting off explosives."

John nodded, saying, "Agreed. Stick to your railguns from now on!"

They opened fire again, punching holes through the incoming robots, and dismantling them in a way that was certain to invalidate their warranty. Chain-saw limbs, and rifle toting arms were piling up around the partially collapsed ceiling, as they aimed for torso hits, and ripped the bots apart.

"Down to my last mag!" Alyssa called out, as she ejected an empty magazine, and slotted in a new one. She switched from burst to single fire mode, and snapped off precise shots at the incoming automatons.

Rachel stepped back, and said, "I'll start reloading mags, shout when you're empty!"

She ducked down behind the others, then started loading clips into the magazines, rapidly restocking them with crystal tipped rounds. It didn't take her long to reload the three spare magazines she had on her webbing, and when Alyssa called out for more ammo. she darted over to hand a couple to the blonde girl.

"Jesus! There's fucking hundreds of these bastards!" Dana swore animatedly as she shot a Mantis-bot in the lower torso, neatly cutting it in half. The upper body flailed around, getting buried in the pile of robot debris, as yet another wave of bots clambered over it. She aimed dead centre on the next one, and pulled the trigger, only to be met with an ominous click. She glanced at the ammo counter on her HUD, which read: 0/50, and blurted, "Shit! I'm out, too!"

John glanced at Dana and said, "Restock your empty mags, we'll cover you!"

As the redhead peeled away from the firing line to reload her magazines with bullets, Alyssa shared a worried glance with John. He gave her a brief nod, and said, *Yeah, I know...*

***

Jade cleared the Invictus' Hangar Bay doors, and the Raptor raced away, heading back to the R&D facility. Irillith sat beside her in the co-pilots chair, watching the station through the cockpit canopy, her expression pensive.

The Nymph could tell by the Maliri girl's tense posture that she was worried about something, and so she decided to distract Irillith with a question that had been nagging at her. "If the AI sent hacking programs against the Invictus, why hasn't it done the same to the Raptor?" Jade asked curiously.

Irillith turned to look at her, then smiled as she said, "Faye and I shut down external access to the Raptor's systems. It doesn't have a Gateway portal like the Invictus does, and just has external comms, which don't interface with any of the rest of the gunship's systems. If the AI did attack, they could shut down comms, but that's not really a problem, what with Alyssa's telepathy."

"Interesting, thanks," Jade replied with a smile.

She swooped the Raptor over the upper edge of the asteroid base, then brought them in towards the same docking bay that she'd landed at previously, passing through the atmospheric shield once again. As she feathered the retro-thrusters to arrest their descent, she spotted the ransacked doorway that led into the base itself.

*Problems getting into the base?* she asked Alyssa. *I just saw what's left of the blast doors.*

*Yeah, AI tried to slam them shut on John.* Alyssa replied in a rush, obviously distracted. *We're getting low on ammo, but it's crawling with bots down here! I'm not sure we'll be able to make it up there to meet Irillith!*

Jade settled the gunship down on the docking bay deck, then powered off the engines, and activated the front loading ramp before rising from her seat. She turned to Irillith and said, "We better hurry, they sound like they're in trouble!"

Irillith jumped to her feet, and darted out of the cockpit after the Nymph, who had already dived into the grav-tube. When they reached the front of the ship, the ramp was fully lowered, and Jade turned to look at Irillith, and handed her the backpack full of ammunition. She stepped out of her shoes, then shrugged the long yellow dress off her green shoulders, letting it pool at her feet. Now fully naked, she slapped her hand on the wall mounted button that would raise the ramp, before she ran down it into the docking bay.

"Jade, wait! Let me take the lead!" Irillith called out as she ran after the nude, green-skinned girl, who was sprinting towards the sundered double doors that led into the base.

Jade didn't stop to answer, and instead shimmered in a dark green haze, growing at a tremendous rate. Her insubstantial verdant form suddenly solidified into a hulking new shape, and Irillith stumbled a step as the Nymph transformed into a huge jade tiger. Her heavy paws made soft thumps as she ran across the metallic floor, before skidding to a halt at the doorway. Jade looked back at Irillith as she hurried along behind her, giving her a playful wink with one of her big emerald eyes.

When Irillith reached the door, Jade stalked inside, moving swiftly and silently into the complex. Irillith followed after her, trying to make as little noise as possible, but even her light footsteps sounded noisy compared to the tiger's ghostly presence. They advanced down the corridor as quickly as they dared, but movement up ahead in the dimly lit corridor made Irillith pause, and she raised her Punisher rifle as she got ready to fire.

However, Jade wasted no time, keeping low to the ground as she scurried forward into the gloom. The darkness was abruptly banished as she leapt forward, pouncing on the unsuspecting group of robots with lightning shrouded claws unleashed. Irillith dismissed the thought of firing, not while Jade was savaging the AI forces in a frenzied melee. Running up to assist, Irillith found Jade gleefully dismembering the last of the group of five, her claws ripping off its limbs as it twitched and jerked underneath her.

"Very nice," Irillith noted with a smile, and Jade gave her a toothy feline grin.

The electricity swathing her lethal claws winked out, plunging them into poorly lit gloom once more. Jade took the lead again, slinking purposefully down the corridor, her dark-green ears twitching as she listened for robots. They reached the end of the corridor unopposed, and Jade padded over to the balcony, then peered over the edge as she waited for Irillith to catch up.