The Auditor

Act 4, Scene 1

A Moreauverse Novella

And that's when all hell broke loose.

“Initiate, act four!" Johan stabbed at the ghost just as every monitor on the command floor flickered and died.  Half an eyeblink later darkness consumed the floor.  The sound of air circulators and cooling fans winding down filled the momentary stunned silence.  Cries of surprise issued in dozens of voices as Johan felt something weighty slam into his chest, catapulting him bodily back and to one side.  He struck something heavy that yelped as they were both spilled to the floor.

The sharp chuffing reports of pneumatic weapons cracked in the darkness, shrill whistles of flechettes cutting the air and the chorus of alarmed voices was interlaced with sharp cries of agony and terror.  Johan, recovering from the stunning body check Salen had toppled him with, scuttled back away as he felt the presence within his mind, that constant companion through countless productions, wink out.  Something skipped nearby and his face suddenly stiffened as an object collided with his left cheek violently enough to snap his head to one side as the nanowires went momentarily rigid to absorb the blow and transfer the kinetic energy to his entire face rather than the point of contact.

Scouring his mind to recall the layout of the bridge Johan hastily scrambled for the nearest console as the weapons fire continued, increasing the shrieks of pain or cutting some of them off abruptly.  He bumped into something in his retreat, the feel of fur informing him that it was no foe.  He grabbed and found an arm, hauling the whimpering form along until he could scramble behind a console.

A tall rectangle of light bloomed and Johan shifted further behind the console as shadows occluded it, retreating from the room.  Running feet and the shift of the sharp pneumatic cracks told him that the conflict was moving rapidly toward that side of the room while a voice from another vector cut the din.

“Cease fire!" He heard the Leftenant's sharp order bellowed from somewhere across the inky nothingness.  “God damnit, cease fucking fire!"  Several seconds of chaos continued as the sound of weapons petered to a stop.  The sound of combat, however, continued unabated as people cried out in startled pain, but not agony, after short bursts of flesh against flesh cut the tumult of the wounded.  Johan caught a brief glimpse of a night black shape among the shadows moving swiftly through the room, falling upon other shadows and bearing them down under flurries of swift blows and limb torsions.  The light winked out as whatever door people had fled through closed.  “Report!" The Leftenant ordered again, moving toward the center of the room.  “Keep your mother fucking weapons safed!  Someone find a damn light!  Auditor, you still with us?"

“Yes." Johan called, using the hollow of his elbow to muffle his voice, making it less distinct and more difficult to locate in the darkness.

“Call of your assassin!  He's tearing us up, here!"

“As he should be!"  Johan called out, moving slowly to huddle behind another console, leaving the terrified shepherd cowering behind the first.  “I need a reason to!"

“We're not shooting any more, damnit!"

“Associate, fall back!" Johan called out into the darkness, trusting that Salen would find a position of cover.  “Okay, now what?" He asked of the Leftenant.

“We regroup!  You're in command now, Auditor.  May we find some damn light and check on the fallen?"

“By all means."  Reaching down Johan unfastened the clasp on his leg brace to pull out the power cell.  Releasing another clasp on his cane he took the handle from its top, located a slot along the length of the shaft, and slid it into the groove.  That created a handle with which to hold it as he opened a recessed hollow in the handle and slid the power cell home.  It clicked into place with satisfying security and he let the new weapon cycle with a short, crisp whine.

Shaking off the rest of the now useless brace, its secondary function utilized, he leaned back against the console he had sheltered behind.  “Lara?" He hissed toward the sounds of distress coming from nearby.  “Are you well?"

“Not hit." She reported in a quavering voice in slurred words.  “What happened?"

“Reinforcements, I suspect.  He was ready for the takeover.  Leftenant, is Jeyev still in the room?  Or was he the one that escaped through the door?"

“Haven't found him, probably did, with his cronies.  Cowardly fuckers.  Stand up to a bully and watch 'em run."  He could track her voice moving about the room over the din of the wounded seeking help or just ranting at the cruelty of existence.  “Those ships out there yours?"

“Freighter is, you knew that.  Others are new, not the corporation.  No way of knowing who or what now that the entire system is down.  What's with the lights?  No emergencies?"  Johan shifted when he heard a stealthy movement nearby, the rasp of a foot on the floor.  He brought the cane stunner around but, a moment later, felt the brush of fur across his knuckles; Salen's tail presented to offer a touch of reassurance.  As one of two non-humans in the room, both of whom Johan knew and one, at least, he trusted implicitly while the other was a terrified wreck, the touch of fur was meant to alert him not to shoot.

“You hit?" The skunk shaped dog whispered softly, his whiskers so close they tickled Johan's cheek.  He flinched at the proximity and then inwardly when he should have known just how stealthy his companion could be.  “Link is dead."

“I'm good." Johan whispered back, reaching up to stroke the soft, dense fur of Salen's shoulder, neck, then cheek.  He drew the dog close and gave those long, plentiful whiskers a peck with his lips.  No one could see anyway, so there was no risk in that reassuring touch.  “Lara is too, as much as she can be.  You?"

“Feeling great." Salen chuckled softly, transitioning his touch from whiskers to lips and sharing a gentle, lingering caress.  “Didn't hurt any of them, much, just disarmed them and gave them something else to think about."

“Emergencies probably broke along with half the other shit in this fucking place." The Leftenant was saying, her voice closer on the other side of the consoles.  “Hopefully," she said a little louder for the benefit of others, “someone will find a working flashlight or… something."

“I found one of the emergencies." Someone reported from the darkness at the back side of the room.  “Ach, and fuck, the power cell's been removed!"

“Removed?" The Leftenant snapped from somewhere to Johan's left.

“Yeah, gone, socket's empty." The first voice called back.

“Yeah, same over here." A third voice reported.

“Can you get that door open, the one the others left through?"  She was closer now, perhaps half a dozen paces away.  Johan felt Salen shifting, tensing into a crouch, prepared to spring.  He trusted the skunk shaped dog's senses in the darkness far better than his own.  Ears that could focus on a particular sound source, a nose to identify his target, and whiskers that could feel the very air currents gave him an outsized advantage in the inky darkness.  Johan knew full well what Salen could do in the full dark.  Then she spoke, much more quietly.  “And Auditor, if that was a weapon charging that I heard, don't you dare fire that thing in here.  With the environmentals as fucked as they have been there's no telling how much crackle dust has gotten past the filters."

Johan had to admit she was probably right.  If he discharged a blast it could ignite the whole room.  Reluctantly he powered the weapon-cane down and slipped the cell free.  “Has no one got a light on their weapons?"  He asked.

“No, obviously." The Leftenant was within whispering distance, now.  “They were never included in the standard kit.  And, clearly, no one thought to carry a damn flashlight on their belt."  A rueful snort came from nearby.  “Myself included."

Johan chuckled and shook his head.  “On a space station with no external ports… great forward thinking."

“Obviously."

“Door's secured."  Someone reported from the shadows.  “Feels like they jammed the manual release, too.  Same with the security booth, we can't get in there to release the airlock seals.  If the outer door is open the inner door can't be opened, even with the manual releases.  Adams and Rance are Jeyev's, one hundred percent.  They're stuck in there."

“Leave 'em there.  Anyone found the power control station?  Any way to remotely get some power back?"

“I did."  A female voice, disgusted.  “A bunch of consoles are shot the fuck up, they got Larent.  At least I think it was Larent, he was the one at the console when everything crashed.  Probably the one who did it."

“They were well prepared for their exit strategy." Johan commented as he stood.  Despite being useless as a firearm he kept the cane just for the possibility of bludgeoning someone with it.  “But there was light outside, so it may just be the command floor that was cut off."

“No." Salen said softly.  “It's the station, or most of it.  There are no comms signals which should have remained if there was power outside of this chamber.  Without power the station's mass, and the material being mined, blocks all signals."  Which was why the presence of the ghost was so conspicuously absent for both of them.  Without its interface they could not communicate over their shared link even when they were close enough to touch each other.

“A hah!" Someone exclaimed, tension briefly flickering through the presences Johan could sense nearby.  “Found a power cell in the forward screen's backup circuit.  Give me a few.  Jameson, you still near the emergency light?"

“Near enough, come toward my voice."  Johan heard someone shuffle across the dais, stumbling over its step down or over a silent body with a curse before moving on.  Their blind progress was slow and often aborted when they encountered an obstacle, but at length they reached the one called Jameson across the room.  “Okay, people, close your eyes." the man said in a warning voice.  “Bright ass light in five seconds."  Johan did so, keeping one cracked fractionally.

The emergency floodlight was, indeed, painfully blinding after almost half an hour in absolute darkness.  The room was filled with reassuring illumination and everyone paused to let their vision adjust.

For all of the chaos only three of the bodies on the floor were not moving, footprints fading in the spreading pools of blood around them.  The rest were moaning at the dregs of their misery while others attempted to tend to them.  From where the attention was being focused Johan guessed that none of them were mortal though could be without sufficient medical attention.  Two of the dead were sprawled at a nearby console which had been thoroughly chewed by the flechettes of pneumatic weapons.

“I assume that was the master system control console?" Johan asked as he looked over at it.

The Leftenant, standing a few paces away, gave a nod as she glanced at him.  “And that was Larent."  She pointed at one of the two unmoving bodies lying sprawled at the foot of the console.  “He was one of -"  She blinked and stared at Johan for a moment.  “What the hell?"

Seeing that she was focused on his face, and remembering the stinging blow to his cheek during the firefight, Johan reached up to prod the faux flesh over the impact site.  One of the flechettes, bent from whatever it had ricocheted from before striking him, was still stuck under the savagely torn costume flesh of his cheek.  His finger came away only slightly bloody; the nano wire mesh had done what it could, saving him from a potentially lethal injury, but could not withstand the hit entirely.  “Looks like they got me." He mused with a shake of his head.

“What the fuck?  Fake skin and wires?"  She took a step back, hand dropping to rest on the butt of her sidearm, her thumb disengaging the retention clasp.  “Are you a stars damned robot?"  A few of the other guards, sensing their superior's sudden wariness and not busy tending to the injured, swung their long weapons around in Johan's direction though they did not raise them into firing position, looking to her for direction.

Johan shook his head.  “Actor, and fully flesh and blood, as you can see." He pointed at the blood on his cheek.  “Costume prosthetics and conductive mesh so that vitals, like body temp, would be consistent."

“Actor?  The hell, you're a - an actor?  What the bloody fucking hell?"  The Leftenant was well and truly flummoxed but her hand resecured her sidearm by pure muscle reflex.  “All of this Auditor bullshit was a stars damned stage play?  Who the fuck are you, then?"

“The Audit was real, though I was not the one conducting it for the most part.  I was merely the method by which the real auditor could gain entry and access.  No, I came here for them."  He pointed at the shepherd, still crouched behind her protective console though looking just as perplexed as the Leftenant.  The other guards remained alert but did relax, if only slightly.

The woman's gaze shifted to the shepherd and then back.  “Them?  The morries?  Why?"

“Look around, Leftenant.  This place used to run as smooth as any corporate operation could; better, even.  And then it all went straight to shit when Jeyev took over.  The conditions were enough to get attention, and eventually my attention.  I liberate those who are oppressed, and often far less oppressed than those I have found here.  So I came to remove them and take them to a place of safety, where even the best this facility ever was will look primitive."

“The morries?  You came for the morries, and that's that?  Then what?"

“The facility belongs to the corporation, I've no interest in it.  Once the moreaus were removed and all production stopped they would have to come in and re-start the operation.  Hopefully putting someone like former commander Nan in charge."

“And what about us?" She barked, slapping her tightly bound breast with one hand and then sweeping her arm in an arc to take in the rest of the room and humans within.  “Just take all the animals and skip?"

Johan shrugged and leaned on the now superfluous cane.  “You could stay, or come along, depending on your assessments concerning moreaus.  The last time I checked everyone, except perhaps Larent and the two trapped in the security booth, passed those assessments.  If you want to leave, provided we still can, we'd be happy to take you, as well, to the nearest safe station or planet."

“What about the morries?" One of the other guards asked diffidently, looking up from where they were holding pressure on a wounded person's outer leg to stop their bleeding.  “If… if we wanted to, you know, stay with them?"

“Fancy on one, Jake?" The Leftenant shot him a withering glare and then the same back at Johan when he chuckled, probing at the savage rent in his fake cheek.  It was most certainly going to bruise around the cut, probably leave most of his face black and blue along the patterns created by the nano mesh.

“It's not at all uncommon, Leftenant." He said with a shrug, plucking a flap of dangling faux flesh loose and dropping it.  She winced at the macabre display at his lack of pain reaction as he ripped away what looked like a piece of his face, even if she knew it was fake.  He shifted his gaze toward the guard.  “Within some limits you could stay together, but that's the moreau's choice, not yours."  The man nodded and returned his attention to the person he was assisting, pulling back the wadded strip of cloth to check on the state of the bleeding.

“But first we've got to get out of here." The Leftenant let the subject drop as she turned and walked toward the back of the room, to a door to one side of the airlock.  There was a large window set into the door but the room beyond was still dark.  “We need to get these people some proper care and try to get power restored."

“If you can get me down to the alpha rector level I can restore power." Lara spoke for the first time, cautiously stepping up to stand beside Salen.  “The reactors probably went into shutdown standby mode when primary power went offline so restarting should not be a difficult affair, an hour or so.  If they've hard scrammed, them, though, there is nothing we can do to restart any of  them.  We'd need a ship's reactor to provide enough power to re-establish containment and restart the fusion cycle."

The Leftenant snorted and crossed her arms as she stood before the window of the security booth door.  “No power means no lifts, dog.  It's like… what… twenty kilometers up?"

“Seventeen to the alpha reactor adit, but there are emergency lifts that run on internal power backups.  We could take one up to the core, at least, then work our way back down to the reactors from there.  We'd head for bravo reactor, number two, then.  It would be closer."

The woman shot the toothless bitch an incredulous stare.  “Emergency lifts?  Where?  I'm the deputy chief of security and I didn't even know that, how is it you do?"

“Probably because only the direct station heads were told, and made sure to keep that information sealed tight so that they could escape before anyone else did, if they had to.  Typical human thinking.  I know about them because they require substantial reserve power that I had to help maintain, so I saw the pathways.  This room also had a backup reserve, far bigger, but they probably disconnected it just like the emergency lights."  The shepherd, in the element of her professional skillset, regained a degree of confidence as her terror abated.  The fact that she was nude seemed to have no effect on her, but it did prompt several guards to turn their eyes away.  “In fact, if we can get back into the atrium we might be able to access the reserves and restore power, here."

“If we get out we won't need to worry about power, here." The Leftenant said as she rapped on the glass of the door.  “We won't be coming back, unless it's to call for help once we get those reactors back up."

“Help is just beyond the belt." Johan pointed out, waving a hand at the now useless main display.  “My ship is coming to retrieve what we came for, and any who wish to come along.  Those other ships, though, are not with me and their designs are probably not good."

“Open up the damn door, you two." She called loudly through the thick plate of transparent armor.  “Jeyev skipped out and left you two behind.  You want to be in there when the heat leeches out of this place?  Freeze to death nice and slow because there's plenty of air to breathe until then."  She bellowed, the room behind her hushed.  “Nice and slow way to go.  Who knows, maybe there's enough mass to hold sufficient heat for you to die of dehydration!  Unless you're up to drinking piss and going insane from ammonia toxicity?"  She slugged the panel firmly, though not enough to hurt her fist.  “Which do you want, abandoned in the dark when that power cell drains, or on your feet with the rest of us?"

After several long, tense moments a shadow moved up to the other side of the door.  A few seconds later the sound of a manual crank being turned came from the door which hissed as its pressure seal broke.  Bit by bit it opened and two men, one thick and burly while the other was thin and effeminate.  Both kept their hands up, neither were carrying their weapons.  The Leftenant waved past them preemptively, cutting them off.  “Unlock the armory."

The burly one turned and hastened back inside while the slender one glared at her, a surly expression on his narrow face.  “Jeyev'll be back, or the new crew.  No way they'd leave us to starve."

“New crew?" The Leftenant queried, hands on hips, while two of her men moved up to flank her with dark looks.  Two more stood further back, weapons held half raised, ready.

“Yeah, Jeyev called 'em in, split the payout with the rest of us."  He jerked his head back toward the shadowed door as the burly man sidled back out, hands held out to his sides, empty.  “Us who stayed loyal."

The Leftenant snorted and Johan chortled.  “Loyal enough to get trapped in there, looks like.  No split for you."  He commented.

“Who are the new crew?" The Leftenant growled ominously.

“Dunno, 'nother mining outfit, I guess."  The skinny man cackled.  “Sold the whole thing right out from under the directors' noses, the stupid idiots."

“That kind of turnover isn't going to be clean, Leftenant." Johan observed levelly.  “They never are.  Whatever troops they're sending in probably have orders to empty the place so they can bring in their own workers."  He stepped up beside the Leftenant, who actually stood several centimeters taller than he did and heavier as well, most of that raw muscle.  “No witnesses except signed documents of transfer…. Nice and tidy for when the Alliance investigates the sale."

She grunted and actually growled at the two men.  The burly man dropped his eyes, thoroughly cowed, while the skinny one just tried to look tough.  His eyes were wide with fear, however, and not just of the Leftenant.  Cleaning house meant anyone Jeyev didn't take with him, if even he was spared the cleanup operation.  “Hecktor, Tina, see about getting the outer door sealed and the inner one released.  Davidson, Grady, Al Harim, get into the armory and secure lights and whatever armor's there, and restraints for these two.  Get weapons enough for everyone who can use them, the Auditor and his associate as well."  She hooked a thumb at Johan and Salen.  “So they don't go shooting this place up with plasma bolts."  She looked pointedly down at the cane Johan was resting his hands on, the tip between his booted feet.  “Dog, can you shoot?"

Lara shook her head.  “No, ma'am.  Cannot fight much at all, except with claws."  She smiled or, rather, snarled showing off her empty gums.  The Leftenant and guards looking toward her winced.

“Damn, they did a number on you, girl.  Know who they were?"

Again a negative shake of the broad, empty muzzle.  “No, ma'am, not by face or name, but by smell I do, or would.  They're not in here with us.  Male, though."

Weapons and body armor were ferried out, hand to hand, from the armory inside the security booth.  There was only enough armor to outfit half a dozen of the security but more than enough weapons for everyone.  Johan shoved two sidearms into his belt, with two additional magazines and air cylinders for each, and kept a third in hand.  Salen took a long rifle and two pistols as well, with reloads.  When the guards saw how easily he handled them, and some having encountered him in the dark, they were more than a little wary of the black furred moreau with the overly lush tail.

By the time everyone was equipped, almost two hours after the power had been cut, both doors of the airlock were open.  “Where to?"  The Leftenant asked as she stood beside Johan, her helmet light directed into the blackness beyond the outer airlock door.

“First, get the wounded to somewhere they can be treated.  Is there an infirmary?"

“Ground floor of the atrium, out and to the right.  We'll be plenty exposed out there, though."  She started through the airlock, two guards flanking her, moving as a smooth, coordinated unit.  Despite Jeyev's overall lack of upkeep to the facility someone had continued the guards' practice and training.  Johan followed just a few steps behind the Leftenant.  His training, while somewhat different in style, adapted easily to the group.

“I doubt we'll have to worry.  I bet Jeyev and his flunkies made for a ship bay and a quick exit.  Anyone not trapped would've tagged along."

True to her expectations no one was waiting to waylay them in the atrium and the rag tag group of security and command support shuffled their way to the infirmary.  They found three staff there, huddled in a back room where they had been trapped by automated quarantine doors.  The injured who did not demand to come along were left in their care with orders to secure the primary lift once power was restored and make their way to the very opposite end of the asteroid the moment they could move.

Three guards, injured during the firefight or subsequent disarming by Salen, remained behind to provide some measure of security.  That left twenty-seven still mobile enough to move relatively swiftly, following Lara's unclad form.  She was unfamiliar with the layout of the command cap and deferred to the Leftenant's guidance.

Eventually they came to a disused corridor lined with small, empty living quarters that looked as if they had never been used as anything more than random storage.  The corridor ended in a blank wall.

“This is it?" The Leftenant asked with a frown as her men reported the last two rooms clear.  Lara was running her hands over the corridor's rough-hewn stone walls.  After a couple of impatient minutes she let out a triumphant bark and pressed heavily at the wall.  A small panel cantilevered out, depressing where she pressed and opening on the opposite side of a hinge to reveal a small, brightly lit control panel labeled 'emergency lift'.  There were only three buttons; up, down, and open.

Down was labeled 'ship hangar' and the up labeled 'core transfer'.  Lara pushed the open button.

With a click and a hiss the blank wall slid to one side revealing the opening doors of a brightly lit lift car.  It was big enough to hold a small ground vehicle, perhaps two, and plenty large enough for their entire contingent.  The same buttons were on a panel just inside the doors.

“Can we get to the ship hangar?" Johan asked as he stood to one side with the Leftenant and the others crowded in.

“Why?  There's nothing up there but the security fighters Jeyev left as derelicts, most of them parted out, and prospecting drones."

“My ship is up there, my computer.  It's well armed."

“A ship won't do us any good in the station, Auditor or whomever you are.  And you'd be out there alone against four or five other ships probably just as well armed and more than willing to shoot rather than chat."  She shook her head, ensuring that everyone had gotten into the lift, before pressing the up button. “No, we secure the facility first, get the reactors back online, then we can worry about whomever's coming on those ships."

“And get the noncombatants to the freighter bay at the other end of the station." Johan added as the lift doors hissed shut smoothly, the car beginning its ascent.  “We need to get the freighters launched so that my ships can recover them, and provide escort."

“I thought you only had the one?"

Johan grunted a soft laugh.  “As I told Jeyev, a super heavy is more than large enough to be used for more than freight.  It's a carrier, Leftenant, and will be more than a match for those ships we saw before the power went down."

“A carrier?"  She blinked, incredulous.  “You turned a fucking freighter into a combat carrier?"

“Surprising how many pirates fall for the same old stunt, Leftenant.  Yes, it's a combat ship more than a freighter, now.  I captured it seven years ago, paid off the commander, and she's mine now.  That's also where he came from."  He nodded toward Salen who merely smiled with a slow nod.  “When I took it he was a prisoner slated for destruction, along with fifteen thousand others."

“Stars, that must have been some fight!"

“One shot was fired during the entire takeover, and not by me."

“He did it alone." Salen said warmly, teeth gleaming in the black fur of his tapered, angular muzzle.  “With nothing more than his computer.  It was a very elaborate con, played by a skilled actor."

“He speaks." The Leftenant observed laconically.  “All right, so it's an armed combat ship.  We still have to secure this station so those freighters can get away with as many as they can carry.  We'll have to leave it up to them to keep the other group too busy to conduct a landing."

The gravity dropped precipitously as they rose toward the core, the rotational center of the facility, rapidly.  Ten minutes later the elevator began to ding and a soft feminine voice reported; “Brace for zero gravities, deceleration in progress."  They felt their feet lighten on the floor and gripped the hand rails securely, or one another, as the elevator swiftly slowed.  “Transition terminal." The voice said one last time as the elevator stopped smoothly.

If only the main lift was in as good a condition, Johan mused as the doors hissed open.  The guards nearest the door, weapons readied and in position before the elevator had fully stopped, spilled out to the left and right, the rank behind them pushing forward and fanning out.  “Clear!"  One of them called back moments later and the rest filed out, maintaining alertness as they entered a large open space.

There was one more elevator door to the right of the one they exited, and two more to the left.  On the far side of the chamber, some fifty meters distant, were an identical quartet of doors but they were at the ceiling.  Above the doors on their side of the chamber signs glowed; Charlie Residences & Hangar Bay, Alpha Residences & Command, Bravo Residences & Infirmary, Atrium & Hangar Bay.

Upside down from their current location the opposite doors also had illuminated signs above them, or below from their perspective; Main Processing, Hangar Bay, Hangar Bay, Ejection Flue.

“Leftenant, have one of the non-coms return to the infirmary and start shuttling people to that elevator.  Get them down here and to the hangar as quickly as possible." Johan said as they started across the chamber at a swift trot.  Fifteen meters from the elevators an illuminated line crossed the floor ahead of them and, to the right, Johan saw a gaping hole cut into the far wall, obviously artificial.  Signs above and below read 'Core Chamber'.  At the illuminated line they found the words “Gravity Ends, Transition Crossover."  The same words, inverted, were on the ceiling another fifteen meters ahead of them.  Just behind the end of the gravity plating were other plates, above and below, labeled 'Transition Assist', probably a gravity inversion field to help them ascend through the transition zone.

“We need to go that way." Johan said, pointing to the huge square maw to one side.  “Gather what we can find in the habitation area and bring them here.  You should continue on and secure those freighters and anything else there that will fly."

“Do you want any security with you?" The Leftenant asked as her security began moving up to the floor above in pairs, rotating as they ascended.

“Doubtful.  Sa - The Associate and I should be able to deal with anyone we find there.  It's no more likely Jeyev spared men to keep the core secure when escape was this close."  He waved at the elevators above, from their perspective though it was they, as more of the group moved across, who were 'above' in relation to the majority.

“You be safe, Auditor.  We'll hold the ships until something tells us it's time to get out.  I just hope it's not this fucking rock going boom."

Johan thrust out his hand, “Let us hope.  Stars be with you, Leftenant.  If you have to fly, make for the super freighter, comms open."

“Aye."  She trotted forward, moving beyond the gravity line with purpose, and launched herself over the assist plates, rapidly ascending as she rotated to put her feet upward from Johan's perspective.

“I'm going with you." Lara said once they were the last three in the gravity zone.  “The fastest way to the reactors is through the core."

“Good.  If it comes to a fight, get to cover.  If it goes badly, run.  Make your way back here and to the hangar lifts."  Johan pointed toward the doors above.  “Tell them to launch immediately unless others are coming behind you.  Don't wait around for us."  Lara nodded and squared her shoulders, her earlier terror fully abated and resolve etching itself on the hollowed planes of her empty muzzle.

They moved forward, pushing themselves into the zero-gravity zone and toward the opening.  A subtle tug at their suddenly disagreeing innards and balance centers revealed that the opening had its own gravity which extended far into the room but was considerably weaker, guiding them toward the center of the passage.

Once there the gravity they experienced began to throb, pushing against them and propelling them further, until drawing them inexorably toward a surface.  A quarter gravity asserted itself meters from the new 'floor' allowing them to get their feet under them before touching down.

“Damn." Lara groaned, leaning over and resting her hands on her knees as she swallowed spastically.  “That was hell."  The effects of the rapidly shifting tidal forces had left her unstable and they waited as she regained her sense of balance.  Salen located a locker and procured thruster packs for them.

“You know where you're going?" Johan asked as he secured his pack.  She nodded, doing the same.

“With you, until we get the evacuation started, if there's anyone left to evacuate.  They'll listen to me if something's got their hackles up against you, or him."  A lift of her chin toward Salen.

“We appreciate it.  Any idea how long it'll take to get the reactors back to full operation?"

“Depends on what I find when I get there, anywhere from fifteen minutes to a few hours.  I can do pretty much anything that needs to be done except a cold start.  If they've been hard scrammed I can't do anything, I'll come back."  Stepping from the broad landing they engaged their thrusters and followed Lara's beacon into the darkness.  With the loss of power only small emergency lights limned the other landings, barely visible until they were within a few hundred meters.  Their course did not take them close to the transfer column or its ring of cables, thankfully.  That had been a scare even when they did have lights.

Crossing the vast, open space of starless darkness made Johan feel small and alone.  Only the beacons of Lara's pack and the dark furred presence a few meters to his side let him know that reality had not fled entirely to leave him adrift in empty darkness.  They approached an archway in the wall and descended carefully, finding that the gravity plating at the entry point was not working with the lack of power.  Its power cell had either drained, been removed, or it was not on any sort of emergency reserve.  They kept their packs on and found that, a hundred meters into the corridor, a weak gravity reasserted itself, no more than one quarter.

When they entered what the moreaus called 'the stockade' they found it dimly lit only with a couple of emergency lights on the far side.  A shadow moved in the pool of light they cast on the floor and they heard a distant chirrup.  They approached slowly, bounding in the low gravity, the beacon lights of their packs bobbing wildly.  As they neared more shadows emerged, some of them holding the distinct long shapes of weapons.

“Ware!" Lara barked sharply.  “It's Lara, and the Auditor with his companion!  Lower your weapons!"

The weapons did not lower much but, as they moved closer to the light, Johan was able to pick out two forms ahead of the crowd, both armed.  One was short and gray furred, the other towering over them, their fur striped orange and black and showing a great deal more fur than the other.  Lara bounded to a halt several meters shy of them, Johan and Salen a couple of meters further away.

The crowd was, primarily, a varied mix of moreaus with raccoons being the largest contingent, but there were humans as well, all wearing security uniforms.  Most of them, moreau and human, looked frightened and unsure but a few faces and muzzles were hard set, prepared to fight.

“Time to go, everyone." Johan said over the growing susurrus of nervous voices.  “The command crew killed the power in an attempt to escape, we don't know where they are, so it's time to leave this place.  Gather everyone, find thruster packs, and let's evacuate!"  He glanced toward the security booth that looked over the stockade but its windows were dark.

“Security goons stormed me club."  Rakshasa, the towering proprietor, growled as he shifted his weapon to his side.  “We ain't gotta worry 'bout 'em any more.  Got a few o' me boyos but none I'll be missin'.  Ye ain't gotta worry on that score."  He flexed his thick fingers, sharp claws extending and gleaming red in the bright emergency lighting.  “Rest of 'em we don't want along I sent t' secure th' lift from th' cap.  Told 'em to hold there til the power come back an I send word fer 'em to come back."

“They'll stay?" Johan asked.

“Oh, aye, that they will.  They know damn well what 'appens when me orders ain't bein' followed."

“Well done."  Johan beamed, feeling some semblance of structure coming back to the ruin of his script.  He had never accounted for the near complete loss of power, or communication from the ghost.  “Raks, you take up the rear with a couple of steady guns, watch our rear.  Baron, get some people together to run escort.  Salen will lead you to the proper adit in the core.  Bring those emergency lights if they're portable so we can illuminate it for the others."  The horse, Tomas, towering above everyone, turned and took down one of the lights and then the other, causing long shadows to dance and jitter across the stockade.  “The children?"

“They're with us." Baron said with a nod.  “Most everyone's accounted for except some who got strange orders to go elsewhere.  They were all Jeyev's sycophants, to a last."  At least the ghost had gotten that much of the script into play before the communications blackout.  “No one in the tubes, either.  Soon as the power went the borer shut down and evacuation protocols took over."

“Good.  Any injured?"

“A few.  Bumps and bruises, some broken bones, but nothing that can't be fixed when we're safe."

“Safe could be chancy." Johan sighed as more moreaus began emerging from the billeting area carrying armfulls of thruster packs.  As those were handed out others emerged with more.  “We saw some ships jump in just before the power was cut, we've got no idea how long it will take them to get here, but a boarding action will probably happen.  They'll want to take over and may be bloody minded about it."

“Let us worry about that." Rakshasa said with a gleeful leer of frightening ivory teeth, his fangs almost as long as Johan's palm.  “Get out as many as we can, first.  Baron?"

“Looks like we've got packs for everyone, pups are secured to their escorts.  Let's get out of here."  En masse the entourage began moving across the stockade, the human security forces fanning out to watch for dangers at their flanks.  Progress was slow as not all of them were very coordinated in the quarter gravity but others helped them.  Salen took a faster moving group, Tomas and the emergency lights among them, down the corridor while Johan stayed with the bulk of them.

Johan fell back, waiting at the exit as the security forces collapsed in around him and began making their way down the passageway, pack beacons bobbing.  He gave the now dark stockade a long look, the earlier noises of life; laughter, talking, the ring of hammers repairing small items missing, leaving behind only silence.  The only light were the beacons of his pack, reflecting from the glass of the security booth.  Seeing no more beacons or motion in the darkness he turned and trotted in long strides down the corridor.

There was a considerable crowd at the landing and backed up into the corridor as groups of refugees, both moreaus and humans, lined up to launch themselves from the lip of the platform.  The zero G made maneuvering, even back in the corridor, awkward and unsettling.  Many were vomiting, those nearest turning them to face the walls or putting towels over their faces to stop the ejecta from splattering everyone.  Johan stayed at the rear among the humans, all of whom were relatively unaffected by the gravity loss.

It took more than one long, patience fraying hour for the last of the refugees to launch into the cold empty darkness of the void, following the beacons of the group ahead of them toward the bright beacons of the emergency lights across a kilometer gulf of nothingness.  The children fared the worst, as one would expect, clutching to their parents or escorts and wailing as they faded to mere pinpricks of light in the distance.

“Good luck, Auditor." Lara said from one side of the landing, reaching out to give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.  “No matter how this turns out, thank you."  Leaning close she poked his tattered cheek with her cool nose pad and then gave it a stroke with her tongue.  Though the nano wires transferred the sensation through to his real skin, the tattered faux flesh made the feeling off; little more than a passage of warmth across his face.

“See you on the freighter, Lara."  He reached out to give her an embrace, somewhat awkwardly due to the packs.  “Or beyond the stars, either way."  He smiled.  “And we'll get those teeth replaced, don't you worry.  Someplace where you can relax and enjoy life."

Lara laughed and licked her whiskers, “Aww, but a dick feels so much bigger in my muzzle without them."  They both laughed and Lara turned away, manipulating her control pad to launch up and away, her destination deeper into the facility rather than to an escape.

“Brave, she is."  One of the remaining humans said as he watched her beacons dwindle.  “Brave, and nice.  Even after those bastards took her teeth she was always nice."

“In bed?"

The guard gave Johan a sorrowful glance and nodded with a sigh, “Yeah, a time or ten after they put her to work.  Paid their fee, got her food elsewise.  Just got her food she could actually eat, after, from our mess.  Me and a bunch of the boys.  Pissed us off no end what they did, making her turn tricks and then with the teeth thing."

“She was turning tricks for you."  Johan pointed out as they stepped up to the edge of the landing, the last two.

“Was the only way she'd get to eat.  They saw anyone just giving her, or any of the whores, food without a fuck it was their neck on the block, not ours."  He stepped off, floating into the void rather than being pulled back by the powerless G plating.  “You're the last one, Auditor.  Let's get the hell out of here."

Johan stepped off, pressed the knob on his controller, and jetted after the security officer whose name he did not know.

Neither of them saw the distant beacons, heading the other way, stop their progress and hover for several seconds, and then move off at an obtuse angle at a much higher velocity.

In the elevator chamber, where the group had gathered before beginning the next leg of their exodus, Johan looked over the crowd near the two elevators marked 'hangar'.  He landed near Baron and Rakshasa.  “Either of you seen the Associate?"