TITLE:A DARK VISION OF THE FUTURE - CHAPTER 8 - By TRID. K. and MOP PALETTE:0333 0889 0b9a 06ac 3 CHAPTER VIII "Lets Work For a better tomorrow..." 2- Anonymous The two Fleets clashed together at full speed. This was just the beginning of a fierce Battle. The ARES fleet had explicit instructs to hold or advance, but never to retreat! The Heavily armed Cruiser, ARES DRAGON, which was the fleet's HQ, now took position behind the Fighters and Carriers. They all knew that the fleet from ISAAC ASIMOV would soon get reinforcements from other bases. "SIR! We`ve finally received the reports from OPERATION OMEGA!" "Tell me!" quipped MC. TRAMPLER. "SISTER ONE agreed to join in and to get an ARES Governor. TERRA is defended by three Galaxian Guardian Fleets. The Battle is in progress. KEID I and FORTRESS UTGARD report massive guerilla activities. No good condition up to now, but we expect it to get better. The other OPERATION Fleets have been attacked before they reached the TARGETS! But the Battles are still in progress. Carrier EXTERMINATOR has been destroyed, SIR! Our fleet lost nearly 34.65 percent, while the enemy lost 10 percent, SIR!" The Sergeant stood still before MC. TRAMPLER, but he couldn't hide his nervosity. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mock walked up and down through his office. Since when he got the news about Dr. Stooner's death, he constantly tried to get in touch with the three Mutants. MOCK hoped that FISH was still alive as he now seemed to be the last hope for the RESISTANCE. It would be the real end if both STOONER and FISH were dead. His agents at ARES had already called Him two times and reported that the ARES Fleet was leaving The MOON. The Galactic Guardians have enough work, stopping and destroying the fleet, so it seemed to be the right time for his Mercenaries to get a chance on the MOON bases. "TRAMPLER, it's now time to get BLOWN OFF!" Mock smiled at this thought. The MERCs Squads will hit the Bases in about 2 hours. Until then he had to contact LADY in one way or another to tell her about Dr. Stooner's death. Mock's thoughts were interrupted by the noise of footsteps. Mock stood totally surprised as the door opened and FISH popped in! "Hello, old fellow!" said FISH. Mock was very glad to see FISH but he stood amazed as FISH promptly took out a heavy pistol and then aimed it at Mocks head! FISH came closer, still pointing the pistol at Mock's head. His eyes flickered, and sweat ran down his face. But he held the gun firmly and his hand wasn`t shaking. "You are MOCK... You are working for the RESISTANCE! Tell me your actual positions!" shouted FISH. Looking straight into FISH' eyes, MOCK could now understand that the mutant in front of him was in a deep trance. "FISH must surely have been caught and brainwashed when he was with Dr. Stooner", thought MOCK. "Its too late FISH! You can't stop us, even if you kill me! That will only speed things up! And you know that you won't survive a CORTEX, eh, FISH!" "You think that you can bluff with me, MOCK? I didn't come this far to play games! My order is to eliminate any RESISTANCE member I find. And you are a RESISTANCE member..." "RED Leader, RED leader, here's BLUE Leader. Teams in Position." a voice from the HyPuComm interrupted FISH' words. "What's that, your unit? Do you think that I can have any regrets to finished you off?", said FISH. "FISH, that was my SQUAD. But they aren't waiting for you at FORTRESS! They are attacking your Home Base right now!" "That's all Bullshit, MOCK!" "I thought you were here to kill me, but before you pull the trigger i want to tell you that our Mutant Deckers led an attack on your networks. The only Remaining NET is at your BASE and without a Hyperpulse Generator you can't get back to them, so you're cut out FISH..." FISH didn't seem to notice the two guys approaching from behind, because he was too busy listening to MOCK. As he was going to pull the trigger, a hail of fire burst out from behind. Filled up with lead FISH fell down instantly. Slicer and the Razorguy stood behind him. "RED Leader... here is LADY. We had some receiver problems, but since we took control over the Generator we can now hold contact." that same voice of before was heard again through the HyPuComm. Mock turned to the HyPuComm and told LADY that Dr. Stooner is dead. "FISH seems to be the killer. He has been kind of brainwashed. The teams are in position... ARES Fleet is fighting at ISAAC ASIMOV. I sent a Squad to KEID to pick you up. They will bring you to the ARES HQ. BLUE Leader awaits your orders! I'll be there as soon as possible." "Roger, Mock. LADY is out..." Mock looked at Slicer and then at the RAZORGUY. From his look, Slicer could now understand that MOCK was a bit confused. This Guy was the one who had attacked his old clinic place and shot Slicer. Now how is it that they showed up together at his new clinic? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "BLUE Leader, BLUE Leader, here's LADY SQUAD." "BLUE Leader here! Your orders?" "Rendezvous at 2200H o13 n35, Roger?" "Roger and out." The dark side of the moon was the ideal place to hide three shuttles. Now it was 2045H and before anyone would even spot the shuttles, the Squads would be at the Base and launch their attack. If there would have been anyone watching down into the craters, he would have seen 21 dark-suited bodies running in the northeast direction. When they approached, they could see another shuttle landing in one of the other craters. A couple of figures came out of that shuttle. All were suited in the same dark dresses. "Hello Mr. Krainee, all in good condition?" LADY asked the Commander of the MERCs. "Couldn't be better, Target lays to the west. Guarded by 5 Squads. No heavy weaponry. But they`ve got Watchtowers with some nice toys! Heavy Gutlings and some Grenade throwers. One at the east side and one at the entrance side. Skulder is investigating, we`ll meet with him in 10 minutes." "Ok, these are JOY and SVEN, and the two Pilots, French and Jake. Whatever happens, secure SVEN and JOY! Guard them with at least five men! If they would get stopped or killed, our Mission will fail!" "Clear. Last chance to control your gear, boys! let's get off in 5 minutes." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "SIR!" the Sergeant came back. "Yes, Sergeant?" MC. TRAMPLER asked. "One of our fighters broke through the enemy fleet. Cruiser DEXTAR followed. But we lost now nearly 50 % of our fleet. Your Shuttle is ready, SIR?" "The cruiser must now attack the Station itself. It's Anti Missile System should provide enough security. Hold our position for at least 10 minutes. We`ll get reinforcements from SISTER ONE soon." "SIR? Do you plan to ram the Station?" "Do you dare to question my orders, Sergeant?" "NO, SIR!" "Good... then GET THEM EXECUTED!" "YES, SIR!!" the Sergeant was off. MC TRAMPLER sat down. His fleet had been battling since only half an hour and they had already lost 50% of their battleships. The Enemy had only lost 42% but they had the Galactic Guardians on their side. Also the enemy fleet had much more ships. He surely couldn't win this fight under these conditions. All would be over in a few minutes. If only FISH had wiped out the other LEADERS of the RESISTANCE. Than he, would have proved that the RESISTANCE was really a Terrorists Organisation, and that it was them who killed Dr. Stooner, and then they would have to beg for MERCY! He could turn ARES into the Victim of this big Intrigue! Then he would have had the power to wipe out all the dirt! Even the HUMANIS. But now the most important thing to do was to survive this Battle. Unseen, he reached his Shuttle, the Autopilot was programmed for TERRA. Nobody would guess that he would hide there. From the Shuttle he tried to establish a connection to his NETWORK. But... there seemed to be no network any more.... Had that bastard Decker come so far? Was this his work? OH! That was like the final blow. But there was still a last chance. MC. TRAMPLER established a contact with his most loved toy... the RAZORGUY. He instructed the internal CPU to wipe out all the memories and programmes. He then instructed it to SEEK and DESTROY everything, except RESISTANCE members! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cliff carefully studied the latest reports, then he called up his elite Squad. Ten minutes later seven men stood in front of him, armed to their teeth. "The RESISTANCE attacked our MATRIX Systems and Local Networks. They destroyed nearly everything. I guess that they will try to erase the main network too. So i expect them here in about 12 Hours. But it may also be that they are already there. But none of our Security Systems reported of any intruders so far. Take Positions and inform the other Squads. Maybe they will try to blow up some of the Store buildings or the manufacturing installations. But their real target is the Mainframe! So don't leave your positions, unless they are attacking this Building. Place one squad at this floor and one at the basement. The others should try to prevent them from advancing. Any Questions?" "No, SIR!" The Elite left the office. Cliff sank back into his chair. MC. TRAMPLER's plans had failed. The Humanis Policlub will get busted anyway now. He typed a short key combination on the nearby terminal and then opened a small case which was lying on his heavy marmor table and took out a REMINGTON. After he controlled the ammoclip, he aimed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger. The HUMANIS POLICLUB was dead. The small screen at the table was showing: HUPO Files erased. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISAAC ASIMOV was on DEFCON 2. A heavy enemy cruiser broke through their lines and fastly advanced closer. All the Missiles they fired exploded before they reached the target. The ANTI MISSILE SYSTEM destroyed every single missile. The alertness reached the highest point when it now became clear that this cruiser would shortly ram into the Station. The Ship was not big enough to Destroy the whole Base. But it would do heavy damage and it would cost many lives! And maybe it will destroy the fusion reactors! Then the situation might get even worst. "Governor, they are keeping a collision course! Crash is expected in about 3 minutes." Another Missile attack has been launched against the cruiser, but not even one has hit the target. "The Evacuation is running, but we need more time! Send out some more Fighters!" "We don't have any reinforcements left. We had sent them all to stop the fleet from SISTER ONE!" "How much damage is expected? Would the Fusion Reactors survive the hit?" "The reactors hull itself, yes! But if some fail-circuits reach it... then... it could blow out. That would kill thousands of lives! And all the research..." "Could we stop them if we give up?" "That's what they want. Crash in about 1.26 minutes" "Close ALL Security Doors!!! This will lessen the damage!" "Think about the citizens!" "Yes, I thought about it, and it's the only remaining solution" "Crash in 9... 8.... 7.... 6...." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Now its time to split up! TEAM CAT, you are responsible for SVEN and Joy. TEAM WOLF, take down the eastern Tower. TEAM BEAR, we take the entrance. LADY, i think it's best if you join up with TEAM CAT. Lets do it!" Out from the darkness 7 men ran across the ground heading for the eastern corner. When they came into sight, the Guards at the tower opened Fire. Grenades exploded around team WOLF and two of them died as a burst fired by the Gutling ran across their bodies. RICK and SOIL wasted all their ammo on some trucks, blowing them up, when they hit the fuel tanks. TWIST climbed up the tower, using bear- claws. HENDERSON tried to reach the door on the towers basement, but he directly walked into the firing from the mounted gutling. JAZ climbed the tower at the opposite side from where was TWIST. Simultaneously TEAM BEAR stormed the entrance tower, supported by TEAM CAT. SVEN, JOY and LADY laid down at the shadows, while all members of TEAM CAT supported TEAM BEAR with fire. A squad from the defenders tried to counter attack TEAM WOLF, but they didn't come too far. Three of them died at the door and the others fired wildly around as they ran for cover. TOBY, one of TEAM WOLF, caught a shot at his left leg and fell down. He was knocked out as his head hit the ground. TWIST and JAZ reached the top of the tower and threw in FLASH grenades! Their own Combat helmet absorbed the Light, but the 5 Defenders were totally surprised when the surrounding became WHITE! It was easy to finish them off and take control over the Grenade thrower and Gutling. JAZ opened the door to let in SOIL and RICK who carried HENDERSON. He was in no good condition so they tried to stabilise his status, while TWIST aimed at the backdoor. The two Elite tried to come at the back of the attackers, but unfortunately TEAM WOLF had already taken the eastern tower. One of them was out after the first three bursts, but the other was covered by some cargo boxes. "TEAM WOLF, report!" "TEAM WOLF here LEADER. Tower under control. 2 DEAD, 1 Wounded. One squad down." "OK. We secured ENTRANCE AREA. 3 Enemies hide in cover. TEAM CAT move in! FAST!!" "ROGER, TEAM LEADER! Coming." "Ok, LADY! Now it's show time! We have to cross the path. Sven you are guided by Charlie and Jake. They'll cover you! GO!" All three stood up and ran across the ground. From the 1st floor they could hear the crackling of Automatic fire! The rest of TEAM CAT took the Front of the Building under Fire. As they reached the path Charlie was filled with bullets. Without a single word he was down. As TOBY watched CHARLIE's fall, he was hit at one leg, but he couldn't feel which one. It didn't seem too important now. He grabbed his Grenade thrower, aimed at the 1st floor Windows, from where the shots came out, and Fired. The recoil pushed him back too hard and his shoulder bone gave up. The pain was too much and he sank back. As the Bullets slugged into his head and Torso he was already out of this world. Jake and SVEN passed through the door. TEAM WOLF awaited them inside. They were spread around a large Entrance Hall, with Marmor statues reaching the top of the room 5 meters above them. The Next to Cross the path was JOY. They had more Luck and reached the Inside without being noticed. "That means they are executing some other plan!" TEAM LEADER whispered. "TEAM LADY CAT here, securing area! Waiting for rendezvous." "TEAM LEADER here, rendezvous at 0025H, roger?" "ROGER, TEAM LEADER!" "Ok, JAKE and Smithy you are securing this area together with TEAM LADY CAT! Follow her orders and HOLD this position!" "TEAM BEAR?!" "TEAM BEAR Here." "HOLD POSITION! Rendezvous at 0028H, TEAM LADY CAT gives orders! Roger?" "ROGER, TEAM LEADER" Nine men rushed through the dark floors. Sven led them to the 2rd floor, where the MAINFRAME was installed. They passed the 2nd floor when the earth shaked and a LOUD Explosion forced them to lay down. "TEAM LEADER, MAYDAY, TEAM LEADER!" they couldn't identify that voice. "TEAM LEADER here, what's going on the outside?" "Reinforcements, TEAM LEADER! TEAM BEAR is destroyed! About 7 Platoons coming closer from the east!" "SHIT! Retreat! Rendezvous point at s35 w36 at 2350H, ROGER?" "RO... T... M... They... a... aste... Over... a... d... Ou..." "What happened?" demanded Joy. "They`ve got Reinforcements! Our mission failed! TEAM BEAR IS DESTROYED! MAKE YOUR WAY OUT! FAST! GO!" "We're right there, now! We can't go yet! We'll never get that chance!" "That's right SVEN, but if you only stay here one minute longer you will have a chance for nothing! GO, or i will force you!" Joy reminded SVEN that it was better to retreat now, so they could think what to do next. They hurriedly left the Building. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mock was meditating about all the things SLICER and RAZORGUY had told him in the past Hours. Finally he came to a conclusion. "You said that there are still Troops on the MOON? Then our Mission has failed. MC. TRAMPLER will establish his..." The door exploded into thousands of pieces, as 5 men stormed in, shooting down everything around. MOCK tried to reach the secret door at the side, and he managed to slide through, but he was hit twice. Closing the door he ran down the tube, and reached the Small Security hall. He looked back, but both Slicer and his father were not visible. He had no other option but to initialize the self- destruction procedure. He then boarded a small hovership and as he activated the automatic pilot, fell down. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "SIR, We Found both there, as your scanner reported." "We Killed MOCK and brought the RAZORGUY to the BASE!" "YES SIR!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LADY stood at the crater's edge and watched out for TEAM WOLF. Then she spotted them. But there were only five men instead of eleven. Behind them she could see that a large unit was closing nearer. The distance between both groups must have been around 400 meters, but it got lesser every second. From her TEAM only three survived. She was happy to see that JOY and SVEN were still alive, but both seemed wounded. SVEN was unconscious and that was the reason for their Delay. They boarded the Shuttle and immediately flew off. Their hunters could only watch them go as they activated their hyperdrive... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deep below the Moon surface.... A medium sized room was filled with medical machines, Doctors, Scientists, Nurses and Computers. Lying at a nearby Table was a man, or was it a Cyborg? His body was full of cut off skin parts, and under his Biological Organs some HighTech parts were visible. The Head was connected to a large Computer and a Decker started to browse through all the data. The Doctors changed some old, slightly damaged or malfunctional Parts with newer and better ones. They built in a Reflex enhancer, and a gas filter. The Decker was interrupted by a Comm call, which took approximate 5 minutes. Meanwhile the Doctors finished to close all the "holes". "Mr. Rawly, would you please finish to reprogramme him by today?", one of the Scientists asked the Decker. "Yes, One moment, as soon as i told Mr..." "Ok, see you tomorrow!" The scientist went off followed by the nurses. Only Dr. Geoffrey Walshey stayed there with the Decker. He had to control the conditions of the RAZORGUY. The Decker finished his call and turned back to the computer. He connected his neural device with the DECK. In the Matrix the RAZORGUY'S System looked like a Steel-working Facility... but... Shit! It looks like someone is filling everywhere with liquid... hot... damned hot STEEL! Before the poor Decker could understand what was going on, his brain was TOASTED! Dr. Walshey looked at the decker! "those guys are mad!", he thought. They are sitting there, motionless, senseless and breathless... BREATHLESS? Shit! This guy didn't breath any more! Oh, Fuck! The Razorguy was now activated. Dr. Walshey was totally disrupted! What's going on? My God! Someone must have inserted a BLACK ICE guarded VIRUS! DAMN. If this Guy is active, no one knows which programme is running now! Slowly and retreating backwards, the Doctor tried to get to the exit, but for the enhanced reflexes of the RAZORGUY even a STEALTH FIGHTER would be too slow! The Doctor just turned around when the Cyborg lifted him up with one arm. "Where can I find a computer or a deck linked to the MAINFRAME, doc?" The Cyborg asked with an emotionless voice. "At the third level, upwards you will find what you want." the Doc cried out. The RazorGuy dropped the crying man and walked through the door, not even caring that the door was closed. The Two Guards behind the door jumped away as the figure crashed through, but it was too late for one of them, and he was knocked out. The other one tried to stop the Cyborg and emptied a whole clip on him. "Get serious, boy. Go home to mom!" the RAZORGUY LAUGHED. But the guard tried to reload his machine gun. The RAZORGUY'S sawn off shotgun took good care of the guard and blew him off. And as the Razorguy entered the molecular transporter a RED ALARM was set off! At the 3rd level the RAZORGUY scanned for the DECK and found it at a range of 35 meters away from his position. As there was no time to walk along those tubes he just used his missile launcher to blast away the wall before him. A few walls later he stood in front of the DECK. The neural interface connected to his brain, and the virus he just loaded, would soon wipe out the MAINFRAME. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MC. TRAMPLER was contacted by his BASE. They told him that something had gone wrong and that they had to stop all activities. The MAINFRAME was wiped out and their fleet had been totally destroyed! In a few hours a fleet of GALAXIAN GUARDIAN Ships will invade the Moon. Cliff was found dead... homicide. Dr. Geoffrey Walshey had gone mad and the superior Decker was found dead too. His brain had been toasted by Black ICE. The Razorguy was out of control and laid waste on large areas. The only way to stop him was to Blow off the whole research Section! But MC. TRAMPLER was still alive. Some of his agents too. And he still had some money. Now he had to hide and let some grass grow also because The RESISTANCE still had no real proof against him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lady, SVEN and JOY entered the shattered building, were once was MOCK'S clinic. After searching for a while JOY found a secret door on the remaining intact wall. Beneath it led a tube downwards... The three Mutants could see a hovership in front of them. Slowly they walked closer. They looked inside and saw MOCK. LADY took care for his wounds and JOY tried to wake him up. As MOCK opened his Eyes he looked into their Faces. He was happy to see them alive, and their Faces made it clear that their mission had failed! A few days later the news reported about some problems at ARES and that their Research Team had some deep trouble. Also the GALAXIAN GUARDS had now taken control over the moon. The most shocking news was that ISAAC ASIMOV, the research-base, was rammed by a CRUISER. nearly 28% of the citizens were reported dead or missing. MC. TRAMPLER was still missing, and his general secretary had committed homicide. "So they had some internal fights!" MOCK said. "Not a single word about the HUMANIS POLICLUB!" SVEN shouted. "We can be happy that we survived, and also we made the situation a lot better than before. Maybe that's only for a period, but this period will be long!" 3 - THE END -