Dark Fire

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

    Chapter 6

The vixen looked around the room, scanning everyone with her
eyes. "I... don't know," was her final response to
Milgrove's question.

"She left about forty minutes ago," the man behind me, I
believe he was some type of cat, responded.

The vixen looked towards the door that was behind me. "So
she's still out there, then."

Milgrove looked up at the vixen, "That does not help us. If
she can get us out, it's all fine and good, but we can't
exactly work together on this."

She nodded imperceptibly, then turned around. "Laina, have
you contacted anybody?"

A female rabbit, who was sitting at a table a dozen feet
away, looked up from whatever it was she had in her paws. "I
still haven't found a clear area of the spectrum," she
answered with some annoyance.

She nodded, then turned back around, looking down at me.
"I'm sorry, we haven't met before. I'm Rachel."

"I am Jadith," I responded, reaching down to touch Fox's
shoulder.

She smiled slightly, "The cougar behind you is Theo."

He patted my shoulder. "Hello."

"Excuse me," a new person, a female wolf dressed in a long
gown, said, walking up to Rachel. "Since you have become our
de-facto leader, I do have an important question."

"I'm listening."

"Even if we do get past the guards and out of this room, how
exactly do we get off the base?" she asked, placing her paws
on her hips. "All the transport shuttles were sent back to
their respective ships."

Milgrove smiled up at her, "Fox told me to keep the _Falcon_
here, just in case anything happened. It can hold all of us,
but it'll be tight."

She huffed slightly, "That will have to do then."

"Rachel," Laina said, from across the room, "I've found an
area of the spectrum that's clear of all interference."

Rachel reached the table in three strides. "Can you send a
message?"

She shook her head. "No, it's barely in the range that my
console can hear. Anything I sent would be to weak to hear
through the background noise."

Letting out a small sigh, she sat down at the table. "Just
listen, then. Maybe someone will try and send a message to
us."

It was then that Fox twitched slightly under my hand. I
looked down at him, I was going to see if there was any more
I could do to heal him. He was looking back at me with his
eyes half open.

I placed my other hand lightly against his mouth. "Relax.
You've been injured, but you're going to be all right."

He groaned softly and I took my hand away. "What was she
saying?" he whispered, his voice was rough and tripping over
the words.

"That we couldn't send a message," Theo said, leaning closer
to Fox. Both he and Milgrove had seen that Fox had come
awake just after I did.

Fox nodded his head, just by a fraction of an inch. "Bring
Laina here please," he requested, again in a whisper.

Theo stood and casually walked over to her, tapping her
gently on the shoulder. They whispered for a few seconds
then came back. Laina bringing the device she was working on
with her. Rachel followed a few seconds later.

"Welcome back," Rachel said to Fox, placing one of her paws
against his cheek.

He smiled weakly. "Yes... first though. Laina," he turned
his head to look at you, "you said you have your console,
right?"

She nodded, setting the device she had with her, the console
I assumed, on the floor next to him. It was a foot square,
and folded in half. The top half of the instrument was the
screen, the bottom half was an array of different buttons
and controls. It would be nearly an inch thick when folded
up.

"Does it have a Deep Sink on it?" his voice was starting to
sound better. Milgrove handed him a small glass of water, he
took it and sipped from it slowly as she propped up his
head.

"Yes," Laina responded, "but it's being jammed. I can't use
it to get a message out of the base."

Fox smiled. "No need to go that far... set it for com
channel forty-two."

She nodded, punching a few buttons on the console. "It's as
dead as the rest."

He nodded at this, "Transmit this, text only, Prid standard,
spell it as it sounds. 'Open the pod bay doors Hal'. Spell
Hal, H-A-L."

As she punched in the last letter, she jumped. "It says I
have full access to the ship's systems. This is your ship,
isn't it?"

He nodded again, this time a full nod of his head, too.
"Send your communications through the _Falcon_."

As Laina did as instructed, Rachel leaned closer to Fox.
"Where did Oriana go?"

He shook his head. "Can't tell you, later maybe, but not
now."

She sighed. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been shot," he said with a slightly frown, then
he paused to look at me. "Jadith, did you save my life
again?"

I smiled. "Do you normally go around near death?"

He shrugged. "It's a bad habit of mine." his voice was
starting to waver again.

"Ok," Laina said, "I've got some news from the Council
ship."

"What?" Rachel asked.

"The base's defense system is up and running; it will keep
any ship from getting too close to us. We'll be able to get
the _Falcon_ safely out, but we'll need the codes to get
back in."

"They've already been changed, then," Theo said.

Laina nodded. "Yes, and another thing. There is a system set
up to block the folds, but only those produced by a control;
a natural could open one up, though only within a limited
range."

"That is a bit too convenient," Rachel said with a frown.

The female wolf was suddenly back with us. "No, it isn't. No
natural has ever been allowed through those folds. No one
can open them up."

With a slight smile, Rachel looked down at Fox. "Did you
pick up either fold?"

He smiled back. "The one in the docking bay."

The wolf looked slightly shocked. "He's a natural?"

He nodded, "And so is Jadith."

"Whatever folds there are," I said, "they didn't use them to
bring Milgrove and myself here."

Rachel nodded again, "Fox can get us back in, once he's
patched up."

The wolf nodded slowly, her ears laid halfway back against
her head. "I would prefer to shut down the defense system,
but it's in another building, and we won't be able to get to
it. Still, though, it does keep our time down. We can go
through the fold instead of the tunnel to the bay. Less time
for us to be captured."

Theo stood, looking over the room. "Think we can get them
organized enough to get out?"

She nodded, "Yes, I know these people, they can pull
together enough to play a game of follow-the-leader."

He smiled. "All we need to do now is get out the door."

She laughed, and walked over to the closest table, resting
her paws lightly on the back of a chair. "Open the door,
quickly if you please."

Theo looked to Rachel, and she gave a slight nod of her
head. He walked back to stand next to the door. Carefully he
tried the handle; it moved easily for him. Then, raising
himself up to his full height, he flung the door open and
stepped away.

The guard on the far side of the door turned as it was
opened, looking into the room. He was greeted with a chair
landing on the top of his skull. He fell to the floor with a
soft crunch. The wolf looked down at him with a smile. "I
really do prefer a traditional approach."

Theo laughed, with a fierce grin. Rachel looked down at me.
"You and Milgrove get him up, we're going to need him to
open the fold." She looked back over the room.

"Everyone!" she called; most of the light chatter silenced.
"We're going to get out, so we need you to get in a single
file and follow us. We're going to the fold that's just down
the hallway. So be quick and quiet!"

The crowd seemed to stand in unison, all moving towards the
now open doorway. Milgrove and I had Fox up now, hanging
between our shoulders. He looked paler than before, but was
still conscious.

Suddenly Oriana was standing in front of us, "what
happened?" she asked, her voice wavering.

Fox smiled at her. "Grasion shot me. Where have you been?"

"Trying to figure out how to get back in without setting any
alarms off. But since you seem to have solved that problem I
decided to see if I could help."

Rachel moved next to us. "Hello, Oriana."

Oriana nodded.

"Theo, take the guard's gun. I want you in the lead. I don't
want us to get interrupted."

He nodded, bending down and swiping the guard's gun from his
hand.

"Oriana," Rachel continued, "are you armed?"

She nodded.

"Right then, hang back, it's going to take some time to get
all of us out of here and to the ship. I want to keep the
path clear."

Oriana nodded again, and stepped out next to the door.

Rachel looked around at everyone. "Ok, we're as ready as we
can be. Let's go."

Theo moved through the door at a smart-stepping jog.
Milgrove and I took off right after, Fox still between us.
All of us struggling to keep up. We didn't get very far
before there was a loud thump and the lights in the hallway
turned red.

"Damn!" Rachel yelled. I took a quick glance behind us. The
doorway we had just came out of was now blocked by a large
steel door. Only Rachel, Laina, Oriana and the female wolf
had made it out after us.

Theo stopped next to an alcove in the wall, about a dozen
yards from the banquet room. We stopped next to him, the
rest catching up after a few more seconds.

"Change of plan," Fox said, trying to speak as loud as he
could, his voice rasping. "If we do this, Grasion will
expect us to come back. He's a natural; he'll run, killing
the rest first."

Rachel frowned, "Can you open the fold someplace else, so we
can get help through first?"

"No," Laina said, "The farthest he could reach would be
in-system."

She sighed, "And you don't know any other folds."

Fox nodded, "That's right, and there's no way we can get
someone else through before Grasion has fled."

"You have a plan though, right?" it was Oriana asking now.

He nodded again. "Get to the _Falcon_, get two of the
charges for the landing gear. We'll blow the area around the
folds, bring a few tons of rocks down on top of them. He
won't be able to use them to run."

"And we won't be able to come back," the wolf protested.

"Exactly," Fox said, taking a deep breath. "He'll keep
whatever he has planned going as planned. All we have to do
is get past the defense system."

Rachel looked back and forth between Fox and the wolf;
finally she sighed, "Right, then, Fox opens the fold, we all
go through. Oriana, do you know where the charges are?"

"Yes, I can get them almost immediately," she responded.

Fox moved, leaning against me. He motioned his hand at the
alcove and the fold opened, a portal springing to life in
front of us. Theo went first, a second later his arm came
back through the fold, and motioned us to follow.

After Oriana and Rachel ran through the fold, Milgrove and I
lifted Fox through to the other side. Oriana was already to
the _Falcon_ and getting inside. Theo was standing in the
middle of the bay, looking around.

"Stop here," Fox said, his voice a whisper again.

"Why?" Milgrove asked.

Fox coughed, "Because I can't put enough into the fold to
make it stay open for any length of time. I need to keep
shoving it in so it will stay open."

"Jadith can do that, can't she?" Milgrove said.

I shook my head. "No," I explained, "I can't. I don't have
control of my power yet."

Milgrove started to say something, but was stopped short by
Rachel. "Damn it, if he says to wait, wait."

She finally consented, leaning up against the wall. Oriana
was back with us after another thirty seconds. She reached
through the fold and dropped one of the large round charges
on the far side, then set a companion to it on our side,
next to us.

Fox slumped into our arms as the fold closed. Oriana let out
an audible gasp, and pulled us forward. "Come on, we don't
have much time."

We started running, getting halfway across the bay when a
voice rang throughout the room. "It's not going to be that
easy, Fox."

"Grasion," Fox whispered, trying to look around the room.

Fox moved his arm off my shoulder, touching Oriana's. "You
two--" he started to say, but stopped, his head falling back
as he started to fall.

At the same time, Oriana's eyes rolled up into the back of
her head, and she began to fall as well. I dove forward
under Fox to catch her. Milgrove managed to take the force
of Fox's fall, but was barely standing.

Theo and Rachel were suddenly at our sides. Rachel was
helping Milgrove with Fox and Theo was helping with Oriana.
We all ran to the _Falcon_, moving as fast as we could so
encumbered.

Once inside we took Fox and Oriana into one of the larger
rooms, laying them both on the floor. Fox, I felt, had just
passed out from exhaustion. Oriana, though... I didn't know
why she had fainted; nothing was wrong with her, at least
that I could find.

Before we lifted off, an explosion rocked the ship. I was
told that it wasn't an attack, it was our bombs going off to
block the folds.

After ten minutes, which felt like ten hours, we docked with
the _Golden Phoenix_. Both of them were still unconscious,
and I didn't know what to do about it.

Nothing had happened to us on the way up, no attacks, not
even a warning. Rachel was going to have us all given a fast
once over to make sure nothing came onboard with us, either
mechanical or viral.

A doctor was coming, too, one who could do more to help Fox,
and maybe Oriana as well.

   To Be Continued...

-----

This story is (c) 1997 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.
'Milgrove' is (C) 1997 by J. 'Packrat' McCoy, and is used
with permission.