While the wall of the caldera was only ten to fifteen metra from the prison’s outer wall, the lowest level hung in empty space. The floor of the magma chamber was another six hundred metra down, a writhing mass of bubbling red and black molten rock. The volcano was active. Geo-thermal taps around the rim of the deadly caldron powered the facility. Around the rim of the prison’s lowest section hung the idle construction robots that would build more levels down. The grated steel floor at least offered the Blade Force a perfect view into the prison.
The sight was not what Blazer had expected and consequently cast their previous extraction plan into the recycler. He looked up at the landing platform above. A support framework encircled the facility, securing it above the pit of fiery death below. Standing where they were, a good fifteen metra below the prison, he could see the openings of other lava tubes closer to the main facility. None of them were mapped and remained separate from the tunnel they stood in. He turned back to the rest of the team, the reason why these facilities had never been successfully breached obvious. <Que Dee, upload all data we’ve collected back to the jumpship. Everyone else, give me options.>
Que Dee didn’t even respond, feeding their data back to the jump ship in high orbit where it waited, carrying their fighter escort for egress. The craft had been filled to capacity with ZKEPs and sensor-masking equipment to keep itself and the six fighters it carried hidden in the meteoroid field. The original plan had been for the fighters to cover their retreat after they’d made a surreptitious exit. There’d be no way to mask the output of their escape, and with so many lives on the line, command had wanted them to have additional support.
Rudjick stepped up, feeling the walls of the tunnel and looked up at the facility. He grimaced. <We could try and set a line to that floor with an evac slide here, but I don’t trust this rock,> he went on, kicking away a chunk of the lava tube’s mouth. <These walls down here are weak and won’t hold an anchor within ten metra of the mouth.>
Blazer considered that. A lesser team might call it quits, an impossible task. That wasn’t his style, though. He pointed to the bottom of the central shaft. Power cables ran into the structure from the geothermal taps. Around the central column, elevator shafts were arrayed and the end of a stairwell hung in open air. <If we gain access there, we can go straight up into the central security terminal control room.>
Gokhead stepped up. <Could work. What about egress?>
<If we get you to the terminal can you control the whole facility?>
Even through the ACHES’ helmet Blazer swore he saw Gokhead’s open mouthed smile. <With ease.>
Blazer nodded and turned back to the others. <Here’s the plan. We’ll take central security and initiate a full lockdown. Gokhead and Que Dee will then open only the corridors we want and we’ll evacuate the cells up to the landing deck.>
Arion pointed to the power trunk. <What if we cut power to the facility? If the doors are what we’re thinking then they should all seal during a power loss. At that point it’ll take a tank to blast them open.>
Blazer nodded. <Set charges to go off once we have our exit path cleared.>
Matt pulled his rifle from his back and stepped up. <Gokhead, what would initiate a lockdown?>
<Setting off any primary alarm should trip the system. But there’s no guarantee that it’ll lock off the tramline to the housing facility.>
Matt trained his sniper rifle on the power lines. Curious, Blazer tapped into the feed over his micomm. Matt had lined up a shot on a single power line. The clamped-on data tag read, Guard Housing/Tram.
<Good thinking Longshot.> Blazer turned to Chris and Rudjick. <Set lines and get us over there. Longshot take that line out on my signal. Drop One.>
<Go ahead Lead,> Gavit replied. <Sounds like we have trouble.>
<We’ve figured it out. What’s your status?>
<Drops Two and Three are on station. We have completed refuel off Two. Fuel tank has been offloaded and rigged for demolition. We have commenced install of seating pallets, anticipate completion inside of a hect. We will be ready by the time you give us the go ahead.>
While the team had made their ingress, two more dropships had come in from the other side of the planet. One carried extra fuel and signal masks to cover their approach, while the other transported additional seating pallets for the first. The original plan had called for them to refuel then move to the pickup point before making their low-level departure and breaking for orbit. That they were on station and ready to move was at least a good sign.
The voice of the communications tech rang back. The background noise indicated that while Blazer received over the micomm, he spoke using a microphone. <We are following developments. What is your plan?>
<Inform your Captain, we are going for rooftop contingency. Prep escort fighters for launch to cover our escape.>
<Copy All,> he replied a moment later. <The captain also has a diversion in mind that should draw attention away.>
<Thank you, Jumper. See you in space. Drop One, prepare all ships for immediate dust-off on my signal once ready. We are go for rooftop contingency. How copy?>
<Copy All. Will prep Sleds for air cover alongside the fighters.>
The report of grapple guns firing drew Blazer back to the mouth of the lava tube as Chris, Rudjick, Bichard, Priest, and Hallet launched their lines towards the distant stairwell. Four of the five lines took root in the steelcrete walls. Bichard’s line burst through an incomplete section to fall towards the lava below. The group secured their lines into the walls of the tunnel where Rudjick had prescribed, fifteen metra back.
Blazer turned to the utility carts. The twin crawlers moved forward and clamped onto the secured lines before setting off. They were loaded down with medical equipment and emergency breathing apparatus that he hoped they wouldn’t need but couldn’t afford to leave behind.
Satisfied, Blazer turned to Matt and sent him a blue light over the micomm. His shots were true and three cables fell away. <What were those other two lines?>
Matt slid his rifle across his back and made his way towards his fireteam’s line. <External communications and shield power. Don’t want them calling for help before we can shut them down.>
Blazer nodded, and headed towards his cable. <Once across, Fireteams One and Four are on me. We will take central security. Fireteams Two and Three will stand by to assist the prisoners as we cut them loose.>
<Que Dee and I can tap in and take control as soon as we’re across and can find an access point,> Gokhead added. Unlike the rest of the team, Que Dee operated without a mission call sign when Gokhead spoke about the entity. The name alone, assuming any telepath could snoop on their conversation, would lead any analysis nowhere as the Synthetic Sentient did not exist in any official Confed database.
Blazer considered Gokhead’s report. A remote hack would be the quickest, but they needed to take central security no matter what. He couldn’t afford armed guards gunning them or the prisoners down. <Tap in and set all the pieces in place to go when we breach central.>
A quick look at the elevator shafts they approached revealed that the cars were not on the lowest level. Scans however revealed five guards milling about the lower atrium. Thankfully the floor of the atrium was solid so the guards wouldn’t see their approach. <Team Three, take Shaft One. Team Two, Shaft Two. Team Four head up shaft two, and we’ll head up shaft one. Tech, can you tap in from the lift shaft?>
<Easily, if there’s a hard-line.>
<Good, make it happen. All others prepare to breach. Take out the guards and secure the prisoners.>
Blazer kept his focus hard as he ascended the shaft. The rest of the teams kept it professional and focussed, following their assignments. That pleased Blazer. The team was in sync, a cohesive unit, even with Dosher filling in for Marda. The big Tomeris actually seemed to temper Rudjick with just his presence.
It was oddly quiet for such a large facility. By their estimates
the panopticon layout should house close to a thousand cells. That number of prisoners mandated the use of three dropships and their fighter escort. Even then it was a risky play. Had any of the ships been detected it would blow the whole operation. The loss of even a single dropship would cost them hundreds of lives. To change their plan to such a drastic degree this late into the operation put everyone at even greater risk. Despite that, he’d seen no better option.
Gokhead slowed as they reached a junction box inside the shaft and placed his hand against it. There was a dull shimmer for just a moment as Que Dee deployed a small swarm of microbots. The swarm wasted no time burrowing through the panel, replacing the surface material in their wake before latching onto the computer system inside. It would take an electron microscope to find their trail. Gokhead didn’t even flinch as he continued his climb, letting Que Dee handle the computer infiltration.
Blue and green lights appeared on the edge of Blazer’s vision as the team indicated their states of readiness. The two teams below were set, monitoring the guards in the foyer. Their primes shifted back and forth as the guards moved out of the quick kill zones. That satisfied Blazer. The team was indeed in top form.
As he reached the top of his shaft, a composite image of the foyer outside coalesced across his HUD. Que Dee was in. The feed to the team came directly from their suits’ sensors and the prison’s own security system. The foyer was empty, as were the five passageways branching out from it. At the end of each, guard posts hung from the ceilings of the five wedge-shaped cellblocks. Two guards waited in each cupola, monitoring the sleeping prisoners. Even with Gokhead and Que Dee taking control of the security system they’d have to move quickly. He assigned targets to the five of them, one squad member to a security station.
<Weaver, status?>
<We have root access. The system is ours. Escape route is set and we are ready to initiate lockdown. We have one problem though.>
Blazer knew to expect something. He just hoped it wasn’t serious. <What?>
<Rim guard towers have independent power supplies and are on separate netweaves. We will not be able to maintain control to them if they sever their link to central.>
Blazer considered that. The rim towers were several kilometra away and designed to repel an air assault. They shouldn’t be able to declinate far enough to engage the dropships once they’d breached the crater wall. They could still endanger their ingress and egress however. The timing would have to be perfect in order to get the dropships in safely. Their armament was designed for area suppression to clear landing zones. <Jumper, Drops, status?>
Gavit was the first to chime in. <Drops are ready on your signal. Sled crews and I will take on the guard towers, but we haven’t got the firepower for the big guns.>
<Understood Drop. Stand by.>
<Jumper is ready. We have a diversion in place and escorts can commence hard drop on your signal.>
It was all on him now. Blazer swung in close to the door. Zithe waited opposite him, and Gokhead against the back wall, ready to swing towards the passageway opposite. Ready lights from the whole team went blue. <Execute!>
To an outside observer what happened next must have seemed like chaos. Doors all around the facility slammed shut while others burst wide open. Alarm sirens that sounded in the cell blocks, waking the prisoners, remained silent elsewhere. Then eleven highly trained Confed soldiers in ACHES breached the upper and lowermost levels of the panopticon.
Blazer burst from his lift shaft and bounded towards the open passageway to his cupola. Over a hundred metra away, one guard pounded at the control board while the other looked up. His eyes went wide at the sight of Blazer. Then everything went dark - the power to the facility died with a dull thump that reverberated through the decks.
Blazer fired. Three shots rang out. The flashes of light that accompanied the plasma discharge would reach the eyes of the first guard an instant before the plasma blast. He wouldn’t even have time to comprehend what had happened before the magnetically constrained, concentrated packet of superheated gas tore through him. The other guard didn’t even see it coming. All clear signals poured in as the sound of awakened prisoners echoed up from below. <Tech, give me the PA.>
<Power’s cut, but I can relay through the other ACHES. Go ahead.>
“Attention confederates. This is a prison break. Confed forces are here to liberate you,” he announced and switched back to the Micomm. <Fireteams two and three, route all injured to the medics and able-bodied to the stairs.> Routing back to the PA he continued. “We have medics standing by in the lower foyer and dropships are en route. We will be evacuating via the upper landing deck. Proceed in an orderly manner up the stairs and stand by.” Blazer turned back to the others. Cheers and some screams returned to him over the suit pickups.
<Lead, Med One.> It was odd to hear that call coming from Priest and not Marda. <We have numerous injured here. Some can barely walk. Any chance we can get the lifts operating?>
Blazer turned to Gokhead. <The lifts run on caterpillar drives. I can power one up, but the doors will still be inoperable.>
<Med One, Lead, buddy them up as best you can.>
<Lead, Med Two, we are handing out all of our environ packs quickly in Block 3.>
Blazer looked down the passageway to that block, the sound of feet on the stairs already reaching him. He turned to Matt and Bichard, waving them ahead to secure the top of the stairwell. <Copy that Med Two. Do we have enough?>
<Barely, but we will have the carts freed up of gear in a moment. We can strap the most injured onto them.>
Blazer nodded, the hint of a smile on his lips. <That’s what I want to hear. Fireteam Two and Heavy Arms, sweep the cells. Make sure we leave no one behind. Team Three and Med Three, keep with the injured and get them moving. Team One is on the bounce. Drop, Jumper?>
<Drops are in the air and en route. You won’t believe the light show up here already.>
Staff Lodging, C&C Internment Facility
Commander Decko stood agog as he looked out at the scene from his balcony. The prison complex was dark. Not a single light shone, aside from handhelds inside the command tower and out on the landing deck. Worse, the power at the lodging was out too. Only the alarm in his handcom had woken him when it had lost signal with the main network. An explosion burst to life in the distance and he grabbed a pair of thermal goggles from his table. The scene set him staggering back.
The sky was alight with thermal energy, not just the brief traces of meteors burning up but of a massive ship in orbit. He’d seen heat plumes like that before. A capital ship had entered orbit, by his estimate, at least a cruiser. Around it dozens more heat plumes erupted. Fighters were making hard drops into the atmosphere.
He staggered back and fumbled for his handcom. It, at least, was self-powered. “All hands, C&C Command. Prepare for incursion!” he called into the device and turned his attention towards the garrison in the distance. It was already on fire. More explosions rocked it as dozens of meteors overwhelmed the shields and pummelled the buildings and runways. Whatever ship had hit orbit, it had done so right in the middle of the meteoroid cloud. The whole valley was under impact.
The turret above him fired, lancing plasma energy into the sky. Others followed suit around the crater rim, lighting up the sky towards the garrison. The firing was erratic however. They lacked the coordination that the prison’s main sensor array would provide. There was little that he could do but watch and try to coordinate over his handcom. Calls rang out, guards looking for orders.
He raised the handcom just before the tower turret on the east front of the caldera breach exploded. He stumbled back, then turned just in time to watch a second, and third, explode before a trio of Splicer-5000s raced past. Plastered in midnight blue and silver white accents he would have missed them entirely if they hadn’t buzzed his balcony. Plaser fire ripped through the tower above him. He couldn’t believe it. The coordinated attack appeared to be timed to perfection with the me
teor storm. A student of military history, he expected gunships to escort in a transport next. “A Son Tay?” he asked the air.
The sound of exploding steelcrete drew him back into the moment. He looked up at the gun tower above as it began to topple. Safety anywhere would be hard to find and he dove into his apartment through the open door before the whole tower came crashing down.
Prisoner Intake Area
Blazer looked out the doors to the landing deck. Prisoners, desperate to escape, had forced their way into the already crowded room. It was chaos outside, The Explosions annihilating the gun towers along the volcano rim. In the distance, the heat plume from the jumpship releasing its ZKEPs into space lit up the sky like a full taskforce. He’d never seen so large a heat plume. Had even a single one of the ZKEPs vented into the ship, it would have immolated the crew.
<Lead, Drop One, Sleds inbound. Drops right behind.>
<Copy that Drop.> Blazer motioned towards the outer door. The sound of small arms fire reverberated off the inner door into the upper tower. The guards were trying to blast through to them. <We bounce as soon as the Sleds make contact. Provide fire support from the ground and establish defensive corridors towards the dropships once they land.>
Ready signals from the team flashed back.
Blazer turned to the prisoners. “Okay, everyone. We have three dropships inbound. We will board as quickly as we can. Help your comrades out and into the drops. We move as soon as the first dropship touches down.” <Meds, hold the doors and keep the prisoners in place until ready,> Blazer ordered as the familiar whine of Gavit’s Jet-Sled rang out. <Sleds on station. Move and provide cover.>