The temptation to initiate communications with his ship, to reach out and see if they were listening was incredible. Though it was almost more than he could stand he couldn't do it, there was a good chance they would respond and give away their position and it just wasn't time for that yet.
“We're almost there,” Jake said over the general command channel. “Just around the corner.”
“We'll be ready to move as soon as you get here,” Ayan replied.
Jake watched the magnified screen closely as they came out from between the last of the old transit cars. Even though they were far underground and the darkness of the tunnel was still pressing down on them, it felt like they were moving out of being trapped in a small space, into a much broader, freer environment. It was an easy feeling to enjoy and as Jake looked on Ayan and Jason came into view.
They were still over a hundred meters away, but as watched them the mental image of the Ayan he had met on Triton, of her final, parting smile, began to fade. It was replaced with what was right before his eyes. Her dark grey poncho hood was up, a few blonde curls had fought their way free and dangled down the front. She was happy, talking to Jason about something he couldn't overhear. There were differences, she was shorter, she'd gone blonde, and dimples played in cheeks that were thicker than he recalled, but she was still Ayan, she was still the most beautiful sight he'd ever laid eyes on.
The people behind her came into view. They looked more sullen but watched Jason and Ayan or spoke amongst themselves casually. It was good to see new faces, other survivors. It was incredible that anyone had survived the wasteland above the tunnels. All that wholesale destruction brought on by the Order of Eden couldn't eliminate all life in the city of Damshir and it was encouraging.
He had never been with a group of people who knew how to survive as well as those behind and beside him and he wouldn't have believed it unless he had seen it for himself. The things he'd done in his past career as a hunter seemed small compared to the hardships imposed on the survivors by Regent Galactic and the Order of Eden's West Watcher army.
The thought that his ship, Triton, a heavily armed close combat carrier with thousands aboard might be just in orbit, so close yet so far away nagged at him. Once he got aboard he would find out how the crew and ship were, situate the survivors who wanted to remain and help with the ship and then get to work.
The galaxy had to know what was going on and he knew that Ayan would stand right beside him along with his other friends from Freeground. He would do everything he could to make change happen, to expose the West Watchers and Regent Galactic while they worked together to strike at their most sensitive targets. For the first time in his own short life he felt he was about to have something he dared not hope for; allies.
The feeling of being alone, the one others relied upon while he felt he could rely on no one or no thing was starting to recede, then everything changed.
“Duck and cover!” shouted Oz on the open command channel.
Everyone Jake could see scrambled and hid behind some of the ancient wreckage then there was a rush of air and dust. Ayan, Jason and everyone behind them disappeared in darkness. He unslung his rifle and broke into a run.
“Get everyone who isn't fighting behind the rail cars!” Alaka called behind as he began charging his improvised beam cannon and started to run. “Jake! Be careful!” he called after him.
A rush of energy weapons fire filled the air, sparking in the dust and discolouring the light ahead. A heavy disruption shot caught Jake squarely in the shoulder and the next time he opened his eyes — just seconds later — he was on the ground between Alaka and Vernen. The other rebels were all catching up, ready to join the fight.
“-wait, we're going into the spaceport. Can you hear me Jake?” Ayan was saying over his communicator.
“I hear you, take cover and get safe, we'll take care of the ones behind you,” Jake answered as he rolled over onto his stomach and flexed the numbness out of his hand.
“I've never seen someone drop like that with no damage to their armour, are you all right?” Alaka asked.
“Fine, I think I just took a big electrical jolt from whatever hit me.”
“Does your girlfriend have a reset switch too?” Vernen snickered.
“She's an officer, and a better soldier than you'll ever be,” Jake replied.
“We're inside, sealing the doors behind us but I don't know how much time that will buy us,” Ayan was saying in his subdermal earpiece, out of breath.
“All right, we're coming,” Jake replied as he looked into the clearing dust. “What do you think Alaka?”
“They don't consider us much of a threat,” he said as he lowered the long protective visor on his improvised helmet. The face protection had been welded together using whatever material the hull of the starfighter he had taken his beam weapon from one could assume. The colour and metals were a perfect match. “They're concentrating on getting that door open.”
“Let's rush them,” Jake suggested as he mentally counted at least three squads of soldiers filling the tunnel. “I doubt they know how well armed we are.” He brought the power level of his rifle up to maximum, he would only get nineteen shots before he'd have to reload but each one would cause a small explosion as the superheated energy struck solid material.
“You're crazy, go ahead,” sneered Vernen.
Alaka burst to his feet with a roar, followed by Jake and everyone else who carried a weapon. The air vibrated as his beam cannon cut across the soldiers, super heating the metal rail ties that they used as cover and mercilessly cutting down a dozen West Keeper troops who were caught completely off guard. Jake and the rest of the rebels opened fire as well, doing their part to push the enemy back and do enough damage to represent four times their number. Surprise was on their side, the West Watch commanders had underestimated or had somehow neglected to notice them at all.
Within seconds the tunnel ahead was littered with corpses and the recall order was given by the other side. Alaka drew a rifle with each great paw as he gave his beam weapon time to regenerate its power reserves and fired at the retreating soldiers. “Everyone break for the entrance!” he called out loud enough for the civilians to hear him without the assistance of a communicator.
“Everyone move up! We're heading into the station!” Jake relayed through his subdermal comm.
The rebels ran as hard and as fast as they could, and as the broken wall came into view they could see that the soldiers were moving out of the open space of the abandoned transit station, taking cover and not offering much resistance. Jake's visor picked up small electronic devices as they came to the broken double doors leading into the spaceport. “They dropped proximity mines behind them so we can't press them down the tunnel,” Jake said. “They may have dropped more inside the spaceport entrance, I'll do the sweep.”
“Be careful,” Alaka said from behind him as he watched the relative darkness of the tunnel beyond the wall. They had ceased firing back altogether, having taken cover from the rush of rebels.
“Don't die or nothin',” Vernen added. “Don't know what I'd do if you blew your own fool ass up,” he snickered.
Jake turned the electromagnetic sensitivity to his command and control unit up and watched its small screen as he moved forward at a respectable pace. “Start letting refugees inside, just tell them to stop as soon as they can see me,” he said after sweeping the space up to the first step. “This place must be old, I don't see a lift or any ramps.”
“This tunnel was probably put in with the first colony a few hundred years ago, they didn't use much automation for the city then since most people here were still farmers and the bots were in the fields,” Alaka replied.
“All right the first two flights are clear, I'm seeing a light on up there.”