Chapter 24 - Shakedown -
Shaking his head, he couldn’t help but feel some mild amusement at Felicia’s excitement over the Fist.
Felix’s wrist terminal made a deep chiming noise.
One he hadn’t heard since he selected it as an option. It was a sound he knew intimately and had hoped to never hear it.
Ignoring Felicia’s antics, he brought his wrist terminal up and tapped the flashing red indicator. It was an email from Dimitry, and it had only one word in the subject line, the body of it was empty.
Hannibal.
Taking a shuddering breath, he did his best to control himself.
He needed to clear his head, to think, to be ready.
Hannibal meant that Skipper was on the move. On the move and moving towards Tilen.
Ok. First things first. Don’t panic.
Emergency recall protocol. That’s first.
Even if this is false, we can use it as just another drill.
Opening up a quick window with his power, Felix changed the status of Emergency Recall from deactivated to activated.
Felicia’s wrist terminal chimed three times in succession.
“What just happened?” she asked suddenly, looking at the recall notification.
“Skipper’s on the move, I don’t know exactly in what way yet, but she’s on the move. For Tilen. I need to get to the ANet,” Felix said.
Spinning on his heel he took off at a trot for the elevators.
Next is confirmation and response.
Pressing a finger to his earpiece call button, he held it down for five seconds.
There was a notification chime that came over the PA system.
“Emergency Recall is active. This is not a drill,” Felix said as he stepped into the elevators. “Code is Hannibal. I repeat, Hannibal. Response is Alpha-Alpha-One at this time.”
The lights dimmed as power conservation went into effect. Red, blue, and green running lights went up along the walls in the labs as the building operators began activating the appropriate programs and systems.
The elevator clanged as it went into a safety mode.
Felix pressed his ring into the security panel made specifically for the Legion rings, and pressed the button for the ANet with his other hand.
Lurching into motion, the elevator flew towards the designated floor, moving well past normal safety considerations.
Feeling the pressure in his stomach, then his knees when it came to a rapid stop, Felix groaned.
When the doors opened, he was greeted with the barrels of guns, and two angry looking dark-haired Adrianas.
“Felix!” the one on the left said.
“Get in,” said the one on the right, lowering her weapon and pulling him out of the elevator. “The Primes are waiting for you and they’ve received notification from Kit, Lily, and Victoria. They’re on their way. Miu and Ioana are on mission.”
“Great, thanks,” Felix said, moving quickly towards the command center in the ANet.
Most of the emergency and command functions had been transferred over once the ANet had been formed. The previous site operated independently as a backup now.
Just in the case the worst happened in the ANet.
Contingencies. Always contingencies.
Stepping through a door guarded by several Adrianas, Felix was in the command room. It was a hardened room, both physically and network wise. Andreas and Adrianas were throughout the room, working.
Both of the Elex Primes had taken their ANet job seriously and devoured any and every skill book Felix allowed them to have.
At this point, they were as qualified as anyone else in Legion to do any job.
As one, the Elex sisters looked up at him, then went back to their tasks.
Both of the Primes, designated now by a bright silver clasp on their right ears, were situated behind his command chair.
“Felix, I’ve got several general confirmations so far,” Andrea Prime said from her work station. “Our hack into the Tilen Heroes guild shows that they’re seeing the same thing we are. Army and the government also see it, but not as many confirmations.”
“Alright. Recall status?” Felix asked. He needed to get his people and their families into cover. Everyone should be able to make it back to an HQ within thirty minutes. Those who were further than that had Telemedics assigned to them.
Taking a seat at the center of the room, he started to pull up his display screens. He’d have to get them where he wanted them.
“Eighty percent accounted for, another fifteen in flight. The remainder haven’t reported in, but their transponders show they’re en route to TM pickup locations,” a different Andrea responded.
“Let’s assume this is th—” Felix stopped as Lily and Kit arrived at the same time. They immediately went to their own positions and started to settle in.
“Let’s assume this is the real deal, and Skipper is on her way in to take Tilen. Based on the mockups we ran, this is already abnormal. Last time her people were already in place before she launched. What changed?” Felix asked.
“Unsure at this time. Dimitry was the first to spot it because a Skipper-super showed up and prevented them from leaving. The Fixer on site read everything from there and relayed it up. I’m sure we’ll get more later,” Kit said.
“Felix,” came Felicia’s shout from the War-net bridge. It had been piped in through the command center and was working as the central communication hub. “Portals are open and functioning. We’re ready.”
“Great. Who’s on duty at SC:HQ?” he asked.
“Sir, uh, that is,” said a voice on the War-net bridge.
“Neutralizer?” Felix asked, recognizing the voice.
“Yes, sir!”
“Good. Keep the building on lock-down, bring everyone in past the first defensive line. Sacrifice the lobby and all adjacent buildings if need be. Anyone show up on your power?” Felix asked.
“Ah, a few. I didn’t rub them out though. I didn’t want them to know we knew. Should I ha—”
“No. That’s perfect. Stick with it, and keep an eye on them.
“Legion world?” Felix asked next, moving down his check-in list.
“Michael here,” came the rough voice of his site-commander. “Entry point is locked down and ready to receive.”
“Perfect. Last, anyone from Wal?”
“Ioana here. Operation is progressing smoothly. We haven’t made contact with anyone yet, so we’re safe. Miu checked in and is laying low while on an objective.”
That was good news at least. Ioana and Miu had been sent to the nation of Wal to begin setting up for their branch out. It was good luck and chance that they’d not made contact yet. Had they, there was no telling if Skipper would make a move on them.
Who am I kidding. We’re not even sure if she’ll give a crap about Legion when she takes Tilen. After all, Legion exists in Skippercity and she leaves us alone.
For the most part, at least.
“Felix, last time Skipper ambushed everyone. There wasn’t a lot of resistance at the beginning because of that,” Lily said, leaning out of her seat towards him. “This time, there’s going to be warning. A lot. That means there’s going to be a pretty big ugly fight up there, right?”
“That’d be my guess,” Felix said, agreeing with the assessment.
“Do we want to open the emergency bunkers? We built them for a situation like this, didn’t we?”
Frowning, Felix thought on that.
The emergency bunkers had been built for public safety. They hadn’t planned on revealing that information until tonight or tomorrow morning, just before people went to the voting polls.
It’d be that final confirmation of a promise he’d made when campaigning.
Defense and safety.