Part II Nature has given everyone certain racial memories. Like the one that says when you come up from unconsciousness slowly and painfully you have to say, "Where am I?" It's the sort of thing that most people do on the grounds that it seems right at the time. Ratislav could feel that same racial memory, when he opened his eyes and looked around the bay and the destruction. He could see where flames had licked outward for that split second, the lines of black and gray around the doorframe. The was even a sort of pattern to the blast of the explosion, some one could see where formerly vertical shelves now were formed arcs at the end closest to the blast. So, as befitting one who never quite fit in, he sat up and said, "Fuck me, this job sucks." Crawling out his frame he stood up and wobbled over to what was left of Sun's frame. The back side of the frame seemed like it was in perfect condition but then you turned it over. It was a black and melted, wires hung out and sparked from the energy still left, and the centerpiece of the shell was what Ratislav guessed was probably most of Sun's body burned right into the cushions that kept the pilot in place when flying. He just stood there and stared down. Even when he felt the rest of his squad standing with him he didn't move. After a few minutes he looked around and went back to his frame. He didn't try to right it, he just got an assault rifle out and looked at the squad. "We're going in on foot from here on in." "Sir?" Vouroit waited until Ratislav nodded. "What are we going to do with Sun. Is it safe to leave him here?" "We don't have a choice. I can't leave a guard now, because nobody can be left alone, and I am not going in with only one back up." Ratislav looked around. "That really leaves only one choice. We go in as a group and we go in full throttle. I'll take point, Montgomery, You'll bring up the rear. Vouroit and Stulpin, you'll be in the middle, I'll be moving fast so it'll be up to you to check side hallways." The other three pilots nodded, but it was Nikki who looked at him in question. "Sir, isn't this a little crazy? Why can't we take our frames in?" "To get the frames in we would to need to clear the wreckage. I can't take the chance of something else going off, when we can get in now." "If you think it's best sir, all right." "I didn't ask you if you wanted to go, Montgomery. I ordered you and that doesn't really leave a very large gray area." Nikki, Stulpin, Vouroit each got out their personal weapons and followed Ratislav into the hallway heading towards the nerve center of the asteroid, it's generator. Ratislav knew he was on a schedule because he had to get there before Hobbes got his group to the command center. If he cold just take out the power, then Hobbes and group could finish up with out a hitch. The problem with this plan was that Ratislav had no real idea where the generators were located. Common sense said that they would be near or in the center of the asteroid, but the problem there was that this asteroid was shaped like a bean so it could really be anywhere to fit the specifications the designer wanted. Ratislav had come in with his group at one end of the 'bean' and Hobbes and his group had used the shaft which was just on the far side of center from Ratislav. He had just come to the end of the first hallway when Vouroit signaled on the mike to halt with one click. Ratislav turned to see Nikki watching behind, Stulpin covering, and Vouroit moving up to talk with him. "Sir, I think we just passed a remote access terminal. We should be able to jack into the network and get everything we need." Ratislav nodded and they all moved back down the hallway to the spot that Vouroit had found. The terminal was a simple one set into the wall, it was only a screen with a keyboard and an input/output jack. It was perfect for what they needed. Ratislav hooked up a portable palmtop and within minutes had full access to nearly all of the pirate's information network. Seconds after that Ratislav had access to complete schematics of the whole asteroid. He stopped for a moment when he noticed that Vouroit was staring opened mouth. "Something wrong, Alain?" "How did you crack that system so fast? Nobody could possibly crack a system like that with out a couple of days." "Alain, some things are not what they seem. This palmtop was made for me personally and I have made a few special modifications of my own. The real trick was knowing how to read Arabic, and then of course entering the password in the same." "That's crazy, who the hell would run a security system like that, a lunatic or a mad man?" "Maybe both, but that's not for us to worry about." "What do we have to worry about sir?" "Getting in, getting out, and taking care of the power in the mean time. Now lets get a move on." Vouroit thought about what Ratislav had said. Finally he had to ask, "But what do we do when the power runs out? Without our frames, won't we die from explosive decompression?" "This place has emergency power, enough for half an hour. That's more than enough time for us to get clear." Ratislav turned back to the screen and watched the contents scroll by until one group of files caught his attention. The files looked like bunches of schematics, followed by coordinates and then times using the global standard timing system, along with radio frequencies. "Stulpin, you know explosives, what does this look like to you?" Stulpin walked over and knelt to look at the screen. "Looks like some sort of weird detonation schedule. The funny part is that the time explosives all look more like drill heads slapped on rockets that regular drills that most mining companies use." "So these pirates are making drone missiles that can drill into ships and e-frames?" Stulpin frowned and shook her head, "No, sir. According to these specifications, these rockets are slower than a one legged e-frame, and couldn't possibly catch up with a ship. It gets stranger, if I read this right these rockets are loaded with some pretty heavy explosives." Nikki had, up to this point, been leaning against one wall of the corridor until something inside her head put it all together. Making sure the hall was still empty, she wandered back towards the group sitting in front of the terminal. "Stulpin, could one of these rockets catch up with, say, an asteroid?" Stulpin, confused by the question looked at Ratislav. "What are you getting at, Nikki," Ratislav was a little out of sorts and couldn't seem to grasp what she was leading up to. "Just hang on a minute, sir. If they could do it, Stulpin, would these rockets be hard to make or could you just pump them out?" "Those rockets are a piece of cake to make. They use factory standard guidance components, and the rockets are basic turn and burn designs. You know the kind that will burn two or three times real hard, and then if you don't have the right target, you're just out of luck. Hell if I had the part and the hardware, I could build one a day myself until my hands fell off." "Sir," Nikki looked at Ratislav. "The pirates are mining the asteroid field. It all fits in, they build enough of these little flying moles to punch into the major asteroids and then they just wait. The next time the fleet passes through, somebody gives the signal and off the all go. With the kind of explosives they are packing you could wipe the whole damn fleet with all of the chunks that will be flying around." "Well, damn." Ratislav sat down for a moment to get a grasp on things and to try and come up with a plan. "Stulpin, look at those plans and tell me how many have been launched so far." Stulpin spent several minutes studying the schedule and then more time in a huddle with Nikki to combine her knowledge of explosives with Nikki's knowledge of spatial mechanics. Meanwhile Alain kept an eye out, and Ratislav transferred certain interesting files from the asteroids main computer to his palmtop. The files contained anything from pirate movements through the asteroid belt, to special data ciphers, and even one about certain communications received from a special source within the fleet itself. "None so far, sir." "Good then find out where they are being stored, and that will be our last stop on the way out." Ratislav lead off as they took the first left and wandered down a straight hall for nearly a quarter of a mile. The going was slow because they had to constantly check each opening for pirates and make sure not to set off any alarms. He was nearly to another crossing, having just taken cover behind a pipe when a pirate stepped out into his passage and looked around. Lining up the sight, Ratislav set the rifle to semi-auto, and fired off a quick burst. The gun had a specially designed barrel which also acted as a silencer, so the shots barely gave off more than a click. The pirate never even saw where the shots came from, and all three hit him dead center in his chest. Fast and silent, he signaled his squad to move up and they quickly moved the body into an open ventilation duct, in the hopes no one would notice the smell before they left. The next turn brought them to a corridor with evenly spaced doors on both sides. Each door had a label for a name and an intercom system to contact the person inside. Knowing that Elan and the people in Intel would have a fit if he didn't look inside, Ratislav had each squad member take a portion of the hallway and check each room for anything they could take with them. He was especially careful to remind each squad member to steal the memory from any personal computers they found. After the first three rooms he checked, Ratislav was only doing a quick visual sweep until he got to the last room in his bunch. As soon as he stepped inside he knew something was different, the room was sparsely furnished with a bed, a desk, and a bookshelf. The bookshelf was filled to overflowing with books on nearly every subject, from the tactics of war to philosophy to religion, and even things like gardening. Dropping the central memory from the computer into his bag, and quickly rifling through the papers in the desk he was about to leave when he spotted something sticking out from behind the books on the top shelf. Reaching up behind the row of books, he pulled out what appeared to be a walking stick with a ridge sticking out about three quarters of the way from one end. Recognizing the stick for what it was, he put his thumb under the ridge on the long side and his left hand on the short end and pulled. Ratislav was not surprised when the stick slid apart to reveal a sword but he was stunned by how well crafted the blade was. It was beautifully crafted with only a few small nicks and scratches on the edges, with nearly perfect balance. Smiling, he slid the sword back into the scabbard and slung the blade across his back with the handle sticking out at his left hip. Stepping back into the hall, Stulpin, Nikki, and Alain were all waiting for him with satchels full of the memory from the pirate computers. Checking how much he had left in his clip he signaled the squad to move on to the stairwell at the end of the hall. Ten minutes later and several levels deeper, the squad moved in silence through the bowels of the pirate base. They had passed several patrols and even come within seconds of being captured by a squad Stulpin had noticed only at the last second. Until at last they reached their destination, a medium sized metal door that looked impervious to anything short of artillery fire from the Normandy, itself. Vouroit covered the hallway they had come from while, Nikki covered the hallway left, and Ratislav checked right. This spot seemed to be where everything in the base seemed to come together, pipe and vent of all sizes and shapes came out from the floor, ceiling and even the walls. Stulpin stepped up and opened her bag to reveal packages of plastic explosives and detonators. With the practiced movements of a professional she cut sections of the packages and laid them out at each major intersection. She placed extra bits near each of the hinges and over the locking mechanism. Taking her time to make sure it was all perfect, she used a spray can to cover all of the left over opening with a sort of pinkish foam. That completed, she laid detonator wires around the entire door and then extended it down the hall and behind a pipe where she could take cover from the blast. She turned to Ratislav and nodded, "All done here. You may want to find a little cover, sir." Ratislav nodded to her, then to Vouroit and Nikki. Each found something to hide behind while he gave his last minute instructions. "I'll go in first, cover me. Don't fire unless somebody else fires first, if you're threatened, I heartily recommend you return the favor. Just remember, some things in here don't react well to bullets." He stepped behind a pipe about five feet from the door and tucked himself away. "Stulpin, fire in the hole." Stulpin pushed the button on the remote. Everything turned upside down. Wreckage flew outwards and inwards through any opening it could find and a few it made. Most of the large chunks from the door blew into the generator room. And then the shooting started. Guns blazed and laser bolts flew in and out of the door, scoring everything around it. The pilots just managed to keep their cool, while the pirates seemed to go into a frenzy firing at anything at all. Ratislav crawled to the door and fired with his gun on full auto. He stopped only to change targets and when his clip emptied and he had to reload. It took him some time to realize that nobody was firing outwards and he waved his squad to cease fire. Stepping inside was even worse than outside. There were bodies slumped over dead at some stations while others had died in the fighting. Blood was splattered everywhere, and even the generators were a wreck but by some miracle were all running. Ratislav nodded and put a fresh clip into his rifle. He stretched quickly and put the butt of the gun to his shoulder. "You may want to get down, this may get interesting." The squad looked at him and jumped as one to get behind the door so they could watch from there. Then he just pulled the trigger in bursts, each time he let go of the trigger and dropping the gun down to bring it back to the target. Moving from left to right he hit every machine he saw and kept on hitting in until the lights went out. Pulling the trigger, the gun froze. Stopping he let go with one hand and grabbed another clip from his vest. The empty dropped from the gun and he knocked in the other clip. Opening fire he finished the rest of the room right as the alarm sirens started going off at full volume. He stood there in a daze for nearly a full minute before Nikki prodded him with her gun. "Are you alright, sir. We've got to go." Ratislav snapped his head around and just stared at Nikki until what she said finally clicked into place in some dark corner of his brain. He nodded and started towards the door, but he had barely moved when Nikki stopped him again. "You better get it together sir or we won't make it out of here alive." Ratislav nodded again and turned to leave when his whole world turned sideways. Everything happened with in such slow motion that he saw the door turn and watch the floor coming up to meet him. He rolled over and stared up at Nikki in stunned silence. "That was absolutely necessary. If you keep acting like some semi-conscious idiot we are all going to be in some deep shit." Nikki leaned down to help him out while Vouroit and Stulpin watched out for pirates. "Now then if we could get back to getting off of this asteroid." "Right," Ratislav was back in full form, a little bruised now, but in full form, "Let's get out of this hole before it starts coming apart at the seams." End Part II