The Sands of Time Ch. 22

 

They entered the Hub after swiping their access badges. It was a dark room with a circular catwalk surrounding a sunken operations area. The area below was better lit, and there were large monitor screens on the walls. They could see what looked like large areas of the complex under surveillance. 

"Ask for Commander Hillier," Mallory advised over comm. "That's who Stella put in charge down there." 

"Copy," replied Joon. He assumed the woman approaching him was Hillier. She was tall and attractive, a little severe looking, with blond hair tied back in a ponytail. She had two guards with her. 

"What is...that?" she asked, gesturing at Howie. 

"That's... Howie," Joon replied with a flush. "He's a... Gaxian."

"I know what he is," she replied icily. "Why do you have one?"

"Does that matter?" Joon shot back, annoyed. "We were sent here by Stella to get the Gate under control. What can you tell us?"

"Well, I can tell you that the Gate is fine the way it is, thank you." She gestured to her guards who lowered their weapons, and several other soldiers started relieving them of their weapons. 

"Hey, what are...?" Joon started, but he was cuffed by one of the soldiers. Maia started to raise her weapon but she was rather roughly forced to her knees. 

"You, my dear," said Hiller, "will be of use to us, unlike this lot," dismissing the two guards and Joon with barely a glance. The guards who had accompanied them were ziptied and led back up to the catwalk. 

Joon's commlink was still open. Mallory was talking and apparently not aware of what was transpiring. Hillier took the comm from Joon and listened for a moment, smiling. Then she handed it back, making a shushing motion, and whispered "Tell her you're good and will talk to her soon."

"Screw that, " said Joon loudly. 

Hillier nodded and one of the guards jammed his weapon into Maia's abdomen, causing her to double over. 

"Screw what?" asked Mallory. 

Hillier raised her eyebrows. 

"Um, nothing. We're alright here. Just making... Hillier's acquaintance." 

"So are you ready to get started?"

"Tell her you'll get back to her," said Hillier. 

"Mal, we'll get back to you."

"What... why?"

"just give me a sec. We're tired, we just got here, and Hillier's busy..."

"Busy with what?"

"Careful, now," Hillier warned, and one of the guards had his weapon pointed at Maia. 

"She's got crises here, too. Give me five minutes!"

"Alright, hurry up. Stella wants this done."

He clicked off. 

"Stella wants this done," mocked Hillier. "Well, this Stella doesn't." And her features changed, her skin running like watercolors, until she was Stella.. At least by appearance. 

"Fuck," mouthed Joon. 

"So you're... Fake Stella," said Maia. 

"I can be. We can have lots of Stellas. Okay, here's the deal. We only have five minutes, apparently. I want the Gate open, so whatever they want to do can go fuck all. We have failsafes here and I'm pretty secure, but I still don't want them knowing any more than they have to, before they have to. That Mallory is a clever bitch, too. So I want you to say that there's a problem with the controls- let her try to walk you through it,I can learn from her- and if you fuck up you're meat. Starting with you," she waved at Maia, "because I know loverboy here has the hots for you. He'll be next, of course." 

Maia ground her teeth. 

"Yeah, it bites, I know,"Hillier smiled. "But considering your paygrade, why care? If you pull this off I may have use for you." 

Neither Joon nor Maia had any illusions about the truthfulness of that. 

Two loud pops sounded above them, causing Joon to start. Looking back he saw the two guards that had accompanied them slump to the catwalk. 

Joon lunged for Hillier but was met with a rifle butt to the stomach, and another soldier twisted Maia's head upright by her hair. 

"Settle down," Hillier hissed. 

"Now, as to this," she turned to Howie. "Can you control him?"

"No," gritted Maia. 

She shouted at him, trying to get him to back away, maybe float out of the room, but the orb just began keening and actually moved closer to Maia. 

"Well, you're popular," Hillier said. "Don't shoot it," she intructed her guards. "Lord only knows what it can do. But be ready. Alright, that'll have to wait as Mallory is going to call any minute. Let's get you to the Gate controls." 

Hillier led the way over to a complicated looking console, with images of the Gate showing on monitors from all angles. There were lightning like arcs of energy radiating from it at the moment, and he could see a swampy environment on the other side. 

Why did they want this left open?

The comm came to life. 

"Joon. Are you ready?"

"Yes. I'll give you to Maia. "

"Joon." Stella's voice. "What is Hillier reporting? Everything okay there?"

Joon looked at Hillier, who had a gun in her hand now, pointing at Maia. 

"Everything's good here." 

"Alright Mal will walk you through this." 

Joon handed the comm over to Maia. 

"Mallory," Maia started, "we do have a bit of trouble though. Gate controls are iffy. Not entirely responding..."

"How do you know? We haven't started yet."

Hillier gestured angrily. 

"One of the techs here... sorry. Go ahead."

"Alright. First, I want you to..."

Joon looked around as Mallory got technical. He could see various parts of the complex on the screens. There was the pod of Gaxians, still floating through a corridor. He could see the ops center, various other areas. He didn't see Command, which he hoped meant that they couldn't see Stella. He was looking around trying to determine how many actual technicians there were here, but then he could hear Maia's tone shift. As he glanced back he saw that Hillier looked pissed, and then he heard a keening.