Wings of Saturn

Part 6

Colonel Barza's plan wasn't much different from the one Sha had suggested. He was indeed starting a more thorough search of the dome, as well as working out what their options might be if they tried to deflate the dome to force the Deus' carrier and her accomplice out.

"Sir," Captain Evans motioned for Colonel Barza to look at something she had pulled up, "doesn't this seem odd to you?"

The projection was labelled with coordinates that suggested they were looking at the middle of the dome. In the center was the island they had located. There wasn't anything there that initially caught his eye, so he watched for a minute silently. Then he realized what was going on...

"There's no waves hitting the shores even though the dome has a small wind pattern to refresh the air." Barza said.

"Right." Captain Evans agreed. "So, either there are some dampeners located all around the dome..."

"Which would show up on our scans, or they're feeding us a looped image to hide whatever is really going on down there." Barza made a note to give the Captain a commendation for this find when they got back. "Can we make a hole just large enough for the shuttle without causing the dome to collapse?"

"Unlikely sir." Captain Evan's replay was what the Colonel had expected. "However, we could probably drop two or three of us in suits at the edge of the island. With proper use of maneuvering jets, it wouldn't be that dangerous."

"Not bad thinking." Barza smiled. "What can we arm ourselves with that the Deus wouldn't consider a major threat?" Barza assumed that when push came to shove there was no way that Jenny wouldn't turn it on for a last-minute attempt at self-preservation.

"You're thinking of going yourself, sir?" Captain Evans looked a bit worried. Barza knew that she thought of him as more than just a commanding officer, and they both did their best to ignore that. Her concern must be genuine if she let it crack through her façade at a time like this.

"We're going to have to be ready to make some quick decisions, and the closer I am to the action, the more time we'll have to make them. I'm thinking you, me, and Ensign Parker will be the away team, and we'll ask Captain Tanga to man the helm." Barza knew that he was dividing the team in half by doing this but felt that just having one or two people wouldn't be enough to have any chance of capturing Jenny alive. And he needed her to be alive at least long enough to deliver to HQ. Since she seemed attached to the angeloid she had escaped with, he hoped that capturing her first would make this easier.

"Let's get suited up." Barza hooked his thumb backwards to indicate the hold where the external suits were located.

"Should we notify the 'Great Balls', sir?" Evans asked.

"No need." Barza replied. "I'm sure if they're actually doing their job they will notify me the minute they notice us puncturing the dome membrane."

Unfortunately for the Colonel, the Great Balls of Zeus had spent the time since he had left them at the locks determining their own plan. Units One and Two had determined they would be buoyant enough to maneuver to the center island that had been located and could use a heat differential to propel themselves across the pool and meet up at the island in only about 30 minutes.

Unit Two was just getting ready to enter the water when he felt the notification arriving from Unit One. "Just to confirm, but we will be able to monitor the locks while we are doing this?"

Unit Two re-ran its simulation. "Confirm with all 9's possibilities that we can do so."

Unit One and Two then entered the water and began making their way to the island without notifying Colonel Barza – believing they could notify him once they arrived there as easily as doing so beforehand.

Both Units had also confirmed that their orders had only been to monitor the locks, and that the Colonel in no way had specified their physical presence there was required. Proving once again how important it is to be precise in giving orders to an AI.

The one thing both teams had missed, and not that surprisingly under the circumstances, was the unexpected presence of Tendolin Shafire. Had their HQ been aware of her presence they likely would have suggested trying to contact her first. She had worked many contracts for them to great success even as they suspected she had also worked contracts for others that might not have been to their liking.

In the end the question remained, what would Tendolin do in this case?

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