Homestar Saga

Chapter 34: Debrief

"Hamilton, what's the status on the shuttle system?" The High Commander spoke into his wrist console.

"Not good, sir," a female voice answered. "General Devera's command codes are the highest credentials recognized by the station. We can't override the lockdown, so we'll have to uninstall and reset the whole system."

The High Commander grimaced. "How long will that take?"

"Eighteen hours at least," the voice replied. "The system's designed to prevent remote hacking. We'll have to manually remove every single control nodule, purge it, reinstall the programs, and put it back in."

"Understood. Keep working on it." General Young ended the transmission and turned to Mims. "What model voidarmor is that?"

"GR17," said the Captain.

"Hmm..." The High Commander hmmed. "So you don't have PALETTESWAP?""

"No."

The High Commander peered more closely at the Captain's suit. "It looks close enough." He straightened. "You ten," he pointed at a squad. "Stay here and guard the ship. Everyone else use PALLETTESWAP." he pointed at Mims. "Make your armor look like his."

The High Commander fiddled with his wrist console, along with fifty SDF soldiers. Their white armor changed to black. Their gold visors changed to silver.

"Activate STEALTH," ordered the General. Everyone did so, including Mims and the pixens.

"Alright," said General Young. "We're going to double-time it back to my office. We can keep you safe there." The soldiers lined up in two columns. The High Commander directed Mims and the pixens to join the formation, halfway between the front and the middle of the lines. He stepped in front of the columns.

"Activate ENERGIZER," he ordered. "Forward march." The High Commander marched out of the docking bay. Yvian followed, trying to blend in with her column of SDF warriors. They were marching in step. She tried to do the same.

Once out of the docking bay, the columns found themselves in a corridor with a ten foot ceiling. It was wide enough for five men to walk next to each other without touching. The High Commander kept marching until the entire column was in the corridor, then barked, "Double time!" and broke into a jog. The soldiers jogged behind him.

Yvian was relieved to see that, while the soldiers maintained the same relative positions, they no longer worried about staying in step with each other. The High Commander barked. "Double time!" again, running faster. It wasn't a full sprint, but it was twice as fast as the jog had been.

They ran for three hours. Yvian was certain she could never have maintained such a brutal pace without ENERGIZER. Several times they had to turn down a different corridor. The High Commander would yell "To the left!" or "To the right!" each time. Sometimes they had to use stairs to go up, and General Young would slow them to a brisk jog.

Yvian had been aware that Stellar Command Station was big. Sensors had informed her the station was nearly two hundred kilometers across, and three hundred high. But knowing the size and running the size were different things. And there were people everywhere. Most of them wore the fancy cloth uniforms General Devera had sported, but a solid third were kitted out in voidarmor. Everyone was armed with at least a blaster. When they saw the High Commander and his troops running, they all hustled out of the way.

Finally, they reached a large door guarded by a dozen soldiers. General Young slowed the column and called a halt. One of the guards shouted. "High Commander on deck!" They all snapped to attention, backs straight, weapons held across their bodies at a forty five degree angle. The one who'd yelled spun sharply to face the High Commander and snapped his right hand up to rest against the top of his visor, palm facing down. "Good morning, sir!"