Stealth and Deception
by Alastair Cooper (Myralyst)

Part Four

The patrol droid had been docked for three hours, when inside his electronic brain new signals started alerting his feedback sensor loops to alarming news. Reactivating his main control processes, he started a full diagnostic. The cool dispassion of an android he discovered that his internal weapon systems had caused their stabilisation containers to fail. He immediately connected with the remote android control interface and did a core dump into its memory. A full three nanoseconds later the droid started a graceful shutdown, re-routing his internal power supply to boost the containment fields within his weapons systems.

Following standard disaster procedure (alert level 10) the central control system promptly alerted the duty officer of the imminent contamination of the facility through contact with depleted Neutronium vapour. The duty officer saw the report and swore loudly and simultaneously dropped his coffee into his lap. He swore even louder this time, leaped up and threw the empty coffee cup at the back of a nearby cleaner.
Grimacing in Pain he said “Make contact….with…the...DAMN CONTAMINATION unit….Immediately. MOVE IT! And will SOMEBODY bring me some new trousers!”

“Contact established sir, they are aware of the situation and will be arriving in T minus six hours” “WHAT! SIX HOURS?” screamed the commander, and immediately he said “Sound the evacuation: minimum safe distance from facility 10 clicks” As an aide brought him some trousers he quickly changed, thinking that ten clicks would easily see him into the city where he could make contact with his mistress. The next six hours might be boring for some, but he would make damn sure he had a good time. He started hopping urgently toward the nearest exit.

“Sir, Admiral Patitise informs us that he will not leave the military facility after the debacle of last night’s assassination attempt in the city! Sir! He states that his personal shuttle is more than adequately shielded against such discharges, and adds his personal bodyguard squad of Grendarl will remain in the Hanger as well. Apparently they are going to see who succumbs to pain first.”

“Damn them all to hell! Acknowledge the Admiral’s orders, but note that it is against the requested standard procedure in your communiqué. I don’t want his death on my watch.” With this he ran out of the door, followed by all the staff of the control office, and into the assembled transports…

Michelle turned to Leonard and said “My program has started – the droid has initiated the contamination alert.” A few minutes later Hardcastle, one of the two huge combat specialists reported “Evacuation confirmed, sir! Picking up multiple transports out bound from the facility, sir! No tactical threat evaluated by the computer.”

Leonard turned to face the same way that Hardcastle was orientated and immediately his suit binoculars filled in the heat signatures of the transports, combined with the tactical threat analysis. Michelle spoke again “Analysed the comms traffic, sir! It appears we have an additional six hours before the Decon team arrives.” Leonard allowed himself a small smile as he realised with the new window of operations the mission could only be a success. Of course, if any of the other pieces in this grand operation failed or slipped up then failure was still very much an option. “Good work team. The shuttle hanger is over in that direction, engage full stealth mode and move out!”
“Sir! I am still reporting life-forms in the hanger! We have ten Grendarl warriors and Five humans of both sexes. Must be the Admiral’s entourage, sir.”

“Acknowledged Jones – this is where we get to have some fun. Primary objective is to secure that building, and eliminate resistance! Move out!”

“Resistance, bah! They won’t even know we’re there” Michelle snorted.

Like the ghost of a morning zephyr, the team loped across to the hanger and secured the area surrounding the massive blast doors. Immediately, Michelle attempted to persuade the computer to allow access into the hanger. “Damn, the admiral has prevented this door from being opened with his own access codes! I’m not going to able to do this subtly, sir!”

“My show now” Jones said, with an element of child-like glee in his voice “It’s gonna go bang!”

“Ensure minimal environmental detection probability, Jones, but open this door by any means necessary” Leonard ordered.

Placing small metallic cuboids on each of the three parts of the door surround, Jones made a running commentary. “Whilst the blast doors will keep most of the sound muffled on the inside, we can’t be too sure. Don’t want to attract too much attention! These cool devices will create a shield protecting us out here, but make a near perfect vacuum between the field and the door. Since blowing the door out of the sliding mechanism will remove it of its support, this tractor beam will hold it upright, and then move it aside when we enter.” Having placed the slightly larger tractor beam device on the floor just on the door side of where his demolitions computer told him the shield would be, he got up and said “Now for the coolest bit – the explosives!” Taking a small aerosol from his pack, he sprayed a very fine layer of pink residue around the entire door. He then pulled out something too small to be seen without suit magnification from a specialised container secured to his arm. “This contains nano-detonators, which will escape and bond with the residue around the door. On a radio signal they will all simultaneously detonate the explosive. Tractor on, Shield on – Let’s rock!”

As Leonard gave the signal, Jones’ face lit up with a huge smile and he pressed the button. A blinding flash of light appeared around the door, and debris caught in the tractor beam, but lighter than the huge door flew toward the shield and burned up, causing the shield to shimmer with electric blue ripples. Not a single sound broke the eerie quiet of the evacuated star port. “The beauty of destruction…” Jones sighed after the shield deactivated “I love my Job!” He manipulated the beam controls and the door noiselessly moved out of the way. The team automatically walked in and secured the entrance. With the easy bit done, the mission had finally started for real…