FutureSight - a YEAR 10000 story

16 - Underground

They arrived late the next day in orbit above the moon of Dampheere. Daren sat up in his chair, shaking Melinda around to wake her up. "We're here."
She blinked drowsily," we're wha?"

"At the rebel hideout," he said to her," now I just gotta hope that they let me in when I come in to land."

From what he remembered your craft had to be a registered Consheir vessel for the landing pads to respond to you. Normally he wouldn't even bother trying, but since they repaired his vessel he was hoping they put in the necessary things to make it a Consheir ship.

Daren neared in on the cratered pockmarked surface. Melinda straightened up and brushed a bang of purple hair aside. "Where are we?"

He coughed a little. "You ever hear of the Consheir rebels?"

"No. Should I have?"

He shook his head. "Not really. Drense the Baron is one of them, at least so I heard. A few other celebrities too. It's supposed to be some underground movement to institute a new, better, government. They're okay people."

"I guess."

He shrugged that off. She was a Combine lady; they were apt to distrust political dissidents. Just so long as she kept everything nice and sparkling clear, they wouldn't have any trouble.

Daren approached the spot of land that McGraw had shown him. He landed the Anvil on the spot, and waited. Last time it took five minutes, so he'd wait ten just to be safe. If after ten minutes nothing happened, he was going to have to find another way in.

"So," Melinda started. She stretched herself out and let out a quiet yawn. "What do you plan on doing with these rebels?"

He looked over to her. "Well, I think they could help us defeat the Ejiir. They might be the only nation left besides the Triad that has a sizable army. I mean, they're not really a nation, but still. And we've got that bio-weapon with FutureSight. I think we've got a chance."

She looked pessimistic about it.

"Well what would you do in a scenario like this?" he said, holding his hands out in the open. "I mean, you can't very well run over to the Triad; they've been thrashed pretty bad by everyone by now. The Combine themselves are totally defunct. Completely out of order. The Consheir rogues are our last shot."

She looked away. "Yeah, I know. That doesn't mean I have to like it though."

The ground rumbled and started to lower into the base. Alright, it was his lucky day. Maybe they'd get through this after all.

Melinda looked around in confusion as the ship lowered. "What's happening? Are they taking us into their base?"

"Shh," he shushed at her. He stared out the front window to see layers of rock and sand going up past them. It finally cleared, revealing the bustling underground metropolis of Dampheere. They looked especially busy.

Daren flew his ship out of the entrance and landed on one of the larger pads. He lowered the ramp and mussed up Melinda's hair as he turned to leave. "C'mon, follow me. We need to go see Vergeir.

"Whose Vergeir?" she questioned. She followed him down the stairs and out the ramp.

"Vergeir is the man in charge of this... place. Last time he was pretty helpful. I don't know how he'll respond to my plan, but I think he just might get it."

"And what is your plan?" she asked him.

He shrugged," hadn't given much thought into that. All I had so far was that we engage the main Ejiir fleet, and through use of the bio-weapon we cripple their flagship. Since they are marching on all the worlds, I'd suggest we rally our forces at Dren Suried."

"Dren Suried... isn't that Triad territory though?"

He looked back at her. "Listen, I think this war has progressed enough for them to look beyond their past differences. Dren Suried is their capitol. When we show up to defend it...it might just be the olive branch we need."

She looked worried, but that was too bad. To be honest, he was a little nervous himself.

Daren stopped one of the workers. "Excuse me, but would you know where to find Vergeir?"

He directed them to a rocky outcropping with a building protruding from the very top. By the looks of it, it was built into the rock. "Okay, that would be our boy. Let's go Melinda."

It was a long walk to the building as it was just about on the opposite side of the base. By the time he got there he was tired of walking, but one glance showed that there was plenty of stairs. So, more walking.

When he got to the top (he hoped the door wasn't locked) he was tired and ready to get down to business.

He jingled the handle, and it opened. He stepped inside to see a war room like setting. There was computers and diagrams everywhere, and a few tables with strange sketches on them; maybe blueprints.

In the center of the room, leaning over a diagram of a recent battle with the Ejiir, there was Vergeir.

Daren stepped up to him and patted him on the back," we made it back, and with some stuff too. Vergeir, Melinda. Melinda, Vergeir."

Vergeir straightened up and slicked his short black hair back. He looked at him with his narrowed face, eyes darting between him and Daren. Somehow, he was able to tell she wasn't just a friend. "She looks like a Combine agent. Why did you bring her down here?"

That was a good question, one he hadn't entirely came up with a bullshit answer for. "She's good people. We just came from her base; it got overrun by the flagship. She helped me escape and grabbed us a potential weapon. A bio-weapon.

He looked to her in a jerk motion. "You've done research on Ejiir genetics?"

She tilted her head to the side slowly. "Not me personally, but I know of it. I helped Daren procure it. Listen, my people are dying out there. I don't really like having to resort to this, but if it means my people will live, I'm willing to cooperate with you. Can you make that same decision?"

Vergeir nodded and turned back to Daren. "Very well then. I'll send a few of my men to retrieve the weapon from your ship."

"That's not all," Daren said," I've also got a disk that contains the FutureSight program."

The man paused, looking at him. "I was led to believe that it was on Fortimus Palus. I was also certain that we fled from that battle because the Triad fleet returned too soon, indicating a failure on the behalf of the Combine."

"There's more to it," Daren said. "The fleet you thought you saw was a holographic projection. The real fleet did distract the Triad, but they wanted FutureSight for themselves so they sent the holofleet to Fortimus Palus to scare you away. It would've worked nicely too, except that I don't scare easy."

"So, once again, we have you to thank for it," Vergeir summed up. "Very well, I hope you don't expect a reward. Daren, accompany this man to your ship. Have him bring the bio-weapon and the FutureSight disk."

He groaned and looked at the man. The man just nodded to him and started down the stairs.

"Great," he thought," I've got another long walk ahead of me..."