said as one, “there are six of us.”
Chapter 11: Counter Measures
Commander Ben watched the two men guarding the prisoners. In point of fact, he was now three decks away but one of the unique abilities he shared with Admiral Kimbridge was the capability to share and utilize feeds from her optic nerves. This was made possible by his cybernetic makeup. It was an ability they rarely used but in this instance it provided much needed situational intel.
Because of his hybrid organic/AI brain he was able to partition the view from Cat’s eyes from those of his own. This allowed him to overlay a semi-transparent view of what the Admiral was seeing in one corner of his field of view while continuing to be fully aware of his own environment.
As he advanced covertly to Cat’s position, she continued to update him on her suspicions regarding the replicants. The good news was only two of the six were currently guarding Cat and the others. By all accounts they were tough to handle unless one could get close enough to take advantage of some of the weaker spots on the Mark-10 stark suits they were wearing. Fortunately Ben had a plan for getting very close.
Ben signaled the rest of his team to break off and head back towards the breaching pod. The station’s weapons had been locked down and because of the high degree of integration with the other Stations; the Yorktown’s AI had been able to infiltrate and take control of the weapon systems on the other orbitals as well.
As his the marines headed for the pod, Ben turned towards the turbolift. If his plan worked, he would boldly walk right up to the security cell and release his colleagues. As he entered the turbolift he disabled his cloaking field and instructed the nanites flowing throughout his body to begin the process of transformation. Fortunately he had a full set of bio-scans to work with and his internal AI was well versed in reconfiguring his body to appear human.
***
Cat watched through the shimmering security screen as a man wearing a BioOps black Mark-10 Stark suit exited the turbolift. His face was an exact duplicate of the two men who were guarding her cell. Cat knew that no unenhanced human should be able to tell this was not one of the six Faragon doppelgangers but the two replicants seemed to have no difficulty determining that the person approaching them was not one of their own. In point of fact, he was a D’ralu cyborg named Ben.
Her two guards reacted almost instantly. Fortunately, their distraction was exactly what Cat needed to put her part of the escape plan into action.
Her skin suddenly transformed into a metallic sheen as billions of nanites flooded to the surface and began to actively disrupt the security shield has she moved through it. For her the effect was not unlike stepping through deep water. It did not stop her but there was a definite drag as she moved through the field. The play of electrical energy off her skin was not a sight for the faint of heart. The mix of energies quickly shredded her combat fatigues but she continued to push through the barrier.
Before both of the replicants could turn to engage Commander Ben, Cat had reached through the barrier and grabbed the arm of the first. As before, Cat was amazed at his physical strength. He was every bit her equal in that regard.
The Faragon replicant closest to Ben managed to fire his weapon. Even with a Stark suit on, the energy beam would have been enough to stun and drop a normal man. Ben’s cybernetic systems, however, were well insulated and he easily shrugged off the discharge.
This seemed to take his attacker by surprise as he had already begun to turn around to face the Admiral when he noticed his first target had not dropped in place as expected. The delay would ultimately prove to be his undoing. Ben reached him in two quick strides and planted a cybernetically enhanced fist in the man’s jaw. There was a decidedly loud sound as bone shattered. The man fell to
Chapter 11: Counter Measures
Commander Ben watched the two men guarding the prisoners. In point of fact, he was now three decks away but one of the unique abilities he shared with Admiral Kimbridge was the capability to share and utilize feeds from her optic nerves. This was made possible by his cybernetic makeup. It was an ability they rarely used but in this instance it provided much needed situational intel.
Because of his hybrid organic/AI brain he was able to partition the view from Cat’s eyes from those of his own. This allowed him to overlay a semi-transparent view of what the Admiral was seeing in one corner of his field of view while continuing to be fully aware of his own environment.
As he advanced covertly to Cat’s position, she continued to update him on her suspicions regarding the replicants. The good news was only two of the six were currently guarding Cat and the others. By all accounts they were tough to handle unless one could get close enough to take advantage of some of the weaker spots on the Mark-10 stark suits they were wearing. Fortunately Ben had a plan for getting very close.
Ben signaled the rest of his team to break off and head back towards the breaching pod. The station’s weapons had been locked down and because of the high degree of integration with the other Stations; the Yorktown’s AI had been able to infiltrate and take control of the weapon systems on the other orbitals as well.
As his the marines headed for the pod, Ben turned towards the turbolift. If his plan worked, he would boldly walk right up to the security cell and release his colleagues. As he entered the turbolift he disabled his cloaking field and instructed the nanites flowing throughout his body to begin the process of transformation. Fortunately he had a full set of bio-scans to work with and his internal AI was well versed in reconfiguring his body to appear human.
***
Cat watched through the shimmering security screen as a man wearing a BioOps black Mark-10 Stark suit exited the turbolift. His face was an exact duplicate of the two men who were guarding her cell. Cat knew that no unenhanced human should be able to tell this was not one of the six Faragon doppelgangers but the two replicants seemed to have no difficulty determining that the person approaching them was not one of their own. In point of fact, he was a D’ralu cyborg named Ben.
Her two guards reacted almost instantly. Fortunately, their distraction was exactly what Cat needed to put her part of the escape plan into action.
Her skin suddenly transformed into a metallic sheen as billions of nanites flooded to the surface and began to actively disrupt the security shield has she moved through it. For her the effect was not unlike stepping through deep water. It did not stop her but there was a definite drag as she moved through the field. The play of electrical energy off her skin was not a sight for the faint of heart. The mix of energies quickly shredded her combat fatigues but she continued to push through the barrier.
Before both of the replicants could turn to engage Commander Ben, Cat had reached through the barrier and grabbed the arm of the first. As before, Cat was amazed at his physical strength. He was every bit her equal in that regard.
The Faragon replicant closest to Ben managed to fire his weapon. Even with a Stark suit on, the energy beam would have been enough to stun and drop a normal man. Ben’s cybernetic systems, however, were well insulated and he easily shrugged off the discharge.
This seemed to take his attacker by surprise as he had already begun to turn around to face the Admiral when he noticed his first target had not dropped in place as expected. The delay would ultimately prove to be his undoing. Ben reached him in two quick strides and planted a cybernetically enhanced fist in the man’s jaw. There was a decidedly loud sound as bone shattered. The man fell to
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