Chapter 25: Oasis Shattered Tobias woke up at dawn. His eyes fluttered open. Samantha was nestled snugly in his arms - just like she liked it. Swift had her back to him, her tail sandwiched between them. He yawned and sat up. "Good morning," he muttered. Samantha opened her eyes and rolled onto her back. "Tobias, why are you up so early?" Swift woke up. "Tobias?" He stood up. "I need to go talk to D, ask him about something." She sat up. "I need to tell you something Tobias. It's quite important." He knelt across from her. "You gonna tell me like every other time?" "Yep." She held a hand out. He took it. A few seconds passed as he recieved the information. He nodded as he recieved it. "That proves my suspicions right." "Tell nobody Tobias." "I won't. If I do, he's in trouble." "What are you two talking about?" Samantha asked. He smiled and kissed her. "I'll tell you later sugah. I have to go talk to D. Get some more sleep. I'll be home for breakfast." She smiled and hugged him. "Talk to you later, sexy." He got up and looked to Swift. "Mind watching over her?" "Sure thing Tobias. Enjoy your talk." He smiled and bowed to the ladies. They curled back up in bed and fell asleep again. D and Mink were down by the fountain, discussing the recent turn of events, when Tobias approached them. "Hey guys." Mink nodded. "Why up so early?" "I was hoping to talk you guys into allowing me to tag along with Terry on one of his patrols." D chuckled. "You've got to be kidding." Tobias shook his head. "Why in the world would you want to join Terry on a patrol?" "There's something about him. I must make peace with him if I am going to keep this trip productive." They both chuckled. "What?" "He's by the enterance, ready to go. Tell him I said it was okay." "All right. Thanks man." He started off for the front door. "And Tobias..." He turned around. "Yeah?" "Terry's been acting strangely lately. Mallory is going with him. Keep an eye on both of them, ya hear?" "I will." D smiled and nodded him on his way. Terry and Mallory were just finishing their suit up. "Why are you coming, Mallory?" Terry asked as he put his backpack on. "I'm worried about you Terry," she responded. "Since last night, you've been acting pretty weird." She hugged him. "I don't want you doing anything stupid." He smiled. "I won't." "Well, I'm still coming. I just wanna hang out with you." "All right." She smiled and hoisted her pack onto his back. They started to move out when Tobias approached. "Hey Tobias. What's up?" "You two need a third for patrols?" Terry quirked a brow. "Why do you want to come?" "I'm trying to be friendly. Don't knock it. Besides, you get chased by a tank..." He draw his rail gun barrel. "You could use me." Mallory chuckled. "Sure. You can come." She looked at her companion. "Right Terry?" "Yeah. Whatever." He shook his head and headed out the door. Mallory and Tobias stood there, watching him. "What's eating him?" "Oh...I shouldn't say..." "I think I know why. We'll talk about it as soon as we're out of earshot from the base." She hesitated. "Don't worry about it Mallory. C'mon." "All right." They raced to catch up with Terry. The patrols were pretty uneventful. They covered a sector (which, according to Mallory, was about a square half mile) and eventually stopped to take a breather. The sun was just starting to rise, and it was getting warmer. "Thank god for these little lifesavers," Mallory said, unscrewing the cap to her water bottle. She took a sip and smiled. "I'm glad Xuon managed to perfect the cooling system for these things." "Yeah," Terry said, indulging himself. "Thank god these backpacks allow for storage of four of them." He looked at Tobias, who was sitting quietly, staring at the brittle ground. "What's on your mind Tobias?" "Hmm?" He looked up at Terry and smiled. "Nothing." "It doesn't seem like nothing," Mallory said. "What's on your mind?" "Nothing...I just get lost in thought sometime." "Oh. Well, at least drink something. You'll expire if you don't." He nodded and popped a bottle open. He downed a little bit and looked at Terry. "Nice medallion." He quirked a brow. "Thanks." He held it in his hand, as if to protect it. Tobias chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm not going to try to steal it." "Good." He released his grip on it. "Can I take a look at it?" "Eh...sure. I see no harm in it." Tobias smiled and moved closer. He took the medallion in his hand and looked it over. "Not bad. Nice craftsmanship. 24 karat gold?" Terry nodded. Tobias smiled and continued looking it over. But, to Terry's dismay, he squeezed the medallion. The illusion disappeared. Terry's eyes widened and he backed away slowly. "You...you knew!" "Swift told me. Don't worry. I'm keeping this a secret." "Why did you do that?" Mallory asked. "If D finds out, he's toast." "I'm sorry. I just had to confirm it for myself." He stood up and turned back for the mesa. "I'll go home if you wish." Terry stood up. "No. You're going to finish the patrol with us." He turned around. "Why?" "You know my secret. So I guess that makes you the closest thing to a friend that I'm going to get." Mallory looked at him and quirked a brow. He smirked. "You're more than a friend, Mallory. You know that, lover." Tobias chuckled. "Good, so I know I'm not the only one." They both looked at him. "Samantha and I are a hot item." Terry chuckled. "Human women are stale." "No nescessarily true, but feels 200% better when you make love to someone as lovely as Mallory or Samantha." Mallory pouted and looked at Terry. "Why don't we ever do it, Terry?" He chuckled nervously. Tobias laughed turned around. "Now, turn your disguise back on and let's finish this." Terry laughed and squeezed the amulet. The illusion reappeared. "Better. Now, let's go. I promised the love of my life I'd be back before breakfast." They nodded and started off. Suddenly, their scanners started to beep. "We've got contacts," Terry announced. "Right behind us. About an eigth of a mile away." They turned around and headed in that direction. They came to a cliff and looked over it. A group of Raiders were attacking a small platoon. "Tobias, do you have that scanner thing of yours." "On it." He activated the headset and took a look. "Holy shit. Those are Pack troops!" "There must be an underground base around here," Mallory said. It sank in slowly for Tobias. "We have to help them." He readied his rail gun. "Tobias," Terry said. "That's foolish." "Those guys could be from Oasis. If that base falls, we're stuck here." Terry looked at Mallory, who nodded. "Go ahead then." Tobias smiled and powered it up. He aimed and fired, blasting one of the tanks that was there. "It's time to see if this amp is still good." He took the chip from his belt and put it into his headset. He put the barrel of the rail gun away. "Amplify." His body was bathed in a tingling sensation as his armor grew in. "Great. Let's see what I can do with the natural talents." He went over to where there was a large number of boulders, picked up one with his hands, and went over to the cliffside. "Bombs away!" He threw it at one of the tanks. It was crushed instantly. The remaining force started to move towards them. "Smart move," Terry said. "Now what." Tobias smirked and held his hand out. Instantly, he shot out a bolt of energy. It struck a Raider, who fell limp. "Nice," Mallory said. She put a similar headset on and put in a chip. "Amplify." She, too, felt a slight tingling. But she didn't grow the rediculous armor that he wore. Her wrists grew bracelets, which stretched up her arms like giant spikes. She grew curved shoulder pads and a simple, round helmet. Her body armor grew to fit her figure, and her boots grew gold "wings." The transform was complete. She was ready. "Terry, would you like to join us?" "Of course!" He stood up and raised his hands. "Onthral!" Grey clouds grew overhead and started to rain upon the approaching hostiles. They winced in pain as each drop of rain hit. A look at a rock that was in the field showed why. It was eroding; the rain was pure acid. "Let's not let him have all the fun," Tobias said. He aimed and shot off a few energy bolts. Mallory nodded and tried to do so. Instead, a stream of energy flew out, wrapped itself around the neck of a Raider, and choked him. "Neat!" They quickly decimated the force like that. Mink was quite surprised when Tobias and Mallory ran into the control room in full armor. They said nothing as they pushed a radar operator out of his seat. They set to work, bringing up a sector of land on the main screen. "Okay," Tobias said. "Bring up the location of the battle site." The location was brought up. Mink was tempted on asking what had happened, but he wanted to see what was going on. "Now, enter the figures I told you about." She did so. A line was drawn into the picture, ending some meters behind the battle field. "Son of a bitch!" Tobias slammed the floor, causing everything to shake. Mink managed to get to him and grabbed his arm. "Calm down. What's wrong? Why are you in full armor?" "The Raiders just discovered Oasis. If we don't figure out something to do, my group might become a permanent part of your base." He took a deep breath. "Disable." The armor disappeared. "Where is Law?" "With D in his ready room." Tobias didn't even offer a thank you as he took off. There wasn't even a cloud of smoke in his wake. **************************************************************************** The three girls were in their quarters, chatting away merrily. They were discussing some odd topic that had come up. And they were quite enjoying themselves. But the fun would end rather quickly when Mallory poked her head in the door. They all fell silent. "Samantha," Mallory said. "Can I have a word with you?" "Sure," Samantha said. "Come on in." Hesitantly, she entered, standing at somewhat attention. "C'mon. Sit with us. We won't bite." Kaitlyn chuckled. "You've been hanging out with Tobias too much." "I know, it's taking it's toll on me." Mallory walked over and sat down on the matting. "Now, Mallory, what's up?" "It's about Tobias." They all fell silent. "He's...acting strange." Swift fidgited. "Is it depressed strange, violent strange, or just plain strange?" "Uh...more or less violent strange. He just tore upstairs to talk with D and Law." Samantha shook her head. "Not again. What's wrong this time?" Mallory shrank back. "We were out on patrols with Terry and we found something. A Pack patrol, to be exact. He thinks the Raiders found Oasis." There was silence. No movement, no blinks, no nothing. She got up. "I shouldn't have told you guys. I'm sorry." "No," Kaitlyn said. "It's okay. We're not mad at you. Please, stay." "I couldn't." "Mallory," Samantha said. "It's okay." Mallory opened her mouth to argue otherwise, but decided not to and sat back down. "Thanks for telling us. It's a shame that D and Mink prohibit most of what I could do to cheer him back up." "That's what you get for being loud," Kaitlyn said. "Is it my fault he's so damn good?" "Your point is taken." "Uh, Samantha," Mallory interrupted. "The top of the mesa is out in the open. Nobody would be able to hear your screams of passion." She smiled. "In fact, it's one of the few places that Terry and I go to just hang out." "You and Terry?" Kaitlyn asked. "Oh damn! I guess that means I don't have a chance with him." "Don't worry. He's not your type." Kaitlyn shot her a look. "As a matter of fact, he's not really anyone's type." She looked at Swift, who nodded knowingly. Samantha smiled. "Well, that's what I originally thought about Tobias. And look at us now." She smiled. "I guess you're right. Who knows what will happen! Maybe I'll know what it's like to love him like you love your guy." "Yeah." They started up again with the chattering. **************************************************************************** Down in the control room, Mink was busy going over what Tobias had done with Xuon. They were punching up all sorts of figures, trying to figure out where Oasis would be. They were coming up blank. "What do you expect?" Xuon told them. "Pack bases, especially covert ones like Oasis, would have some sort of way to prevent detection. I seriously doubt that we'd be able to find the base without the proper algorithms." "Well," Mink said. "Can't you just punch up algorithms until you get it right?" He smirked. "I see why you're not a technician now." "What's that supposed to mean?" "Do you know how many different algorithms there ARE?" He shook his head. "No, I can't honestly affirm that." "Thousands. Tens of thousands of individual algorithms, all with eight or nine different variations." "Damn. That's a lot." He looked at the screen. "By the time we figure it out, Mallory's grandkids would have my position." He chuckled. "There's only one thing we could probably use. And I need the D's permission to do it." "We really shouldn't use the thread so soon. It takes a week for it to become fully functional, remember? It'd be only working at half power." "Fourty four percent, to be exact." "Quit the techie mumbo jumbo. We should wait." "Until what Mink? Until the base falls? We won't need to worry about the thread then. By then, it'll be too late!" The room fell silent. Xuon shook his head. "I'm sorry Mink. I got carried away." "It's okay Xuon. Don't worry." He looked up at the screen. "Isn't there some other way to figure this out?" "Perhaps." He booted up a design on his console. "It'd take a few hours, but if we have the boys down in maintenance construct a probe, we can use that." He nodded approvingly. "Nice. What's that thing equipped with." "2nd level Laser rifle, steel plating, and a visual/radar stealth generator good up to 25 pounds exluding itself." "How much does that probe weigh?" "24 pounds." "Heh. It's a great design. Well equipped." "Yeah. That's why it's going to take a few hours to construct." "Well, I confirm the order. I'll send the word down." **************************************************************************** The door slowly opened on Crash and the others. They were busy sitting around, playing cards, so the door caught their attention quickly. They watched as Tobias staggered in and collapsed against the wall. They instantly dropped their cards and went over to him. "Bro," Crash said. "You okay?" Tobias blinked. "Crash?" He looked at the door. "Wrong room. Go fig." "What's wrong?" "Eh...you might as well know." He got back to his feet, a bit shaky. "There is the strong possibility that the Raiders know where Oasis is." "The fuck?!" Psycho said. "Yeah. Terry, Mallory and I found a group attacking a Pack patrol." "God damn it!" They each found a wall and punched it. "What are we going to do?" "Hopefully, they'll have the hindsights to evacuate and come pick us up. Either that or we're going to be staying with the Vipers for a LONG time." He shook his head. "I already told Dane and Terry. Dane says that if it ever comes to it, we'll raid a vehicle base and hijack a couple of transports." They calmed down. "We don't have much to worry about." He started to the door. "You guys gonna make sure I don't conk out in the halls?" "Why not stay with us and play cards?" "Nah...I'm tired. I want to go find my girl, curl up, and fall asleep." Psycho smirked. "Among other things." "Hey!" He turned around and shot a look at Psycho. "I promised Dane that I wouldn't do that. Got me?" "Aight man," Crash said. "It's cool. Enjoy your nap." "Thanks man." He stepped out and shut the door. He walked in on the four women as they were merrily chatting away. They watched him as he walked over to the bedding by the wall, knelt down, and collapsed. Samantha set her hand on his shoulder. "Honey? What's wrong?" "Tired. I cleared from the command center downstairs to D's ready room. That's at least 5 floors." "We've all run that at one point," Mallory assured him. "Can your guys clear a floor a second?" She blinked. "I blew myself out. I just need a nap." "Tobias?" Samantha asked. "Yeah?" "Can I nap with you?" "If you want to." She rolled him onto his back and sat on his chest. "Yes. You can nap with me." Mallory giggled. "If you two want to make love, I'll show you to the top of the mesa." Samantha blushed and shook her head. "Well, you two should keep that in mind." "Yeah, sure Mal." He yawned. "We will." "Tobias," Kaitlyn said. "Yeah Kaity?" "I know it may be asking too much, but could I..." He shut his eyes. "I don't personally care whom I nap with right now. I just want to get some rest before the chaos begins!" Mallory grinned wickedly. "Even me?" "Yes, even you. I doubt Terry would like that, but sure, go ahead." He yawned again. **************************************************************************** The small probe flew out over white sector 2. It found the traces of the skirmish between Mallory, Terry, and Tobias and landed. it reported back to the mesa. Out of it's three legs shot little sensor arrays. It penetrated the ground and started it's job. The small wire-like devices drilled through the sand in search of a sign that there was life under the ground. Sand eventually became a weak stone. The weak stone became harder. And then, it hit paydirt - a solid metal sheet. It scanned the sheet. Sure enough, it stretched for miles. it reported. The probe retrieved all of it's scanning equipment and lifted off. It made a quick vertical 180 and dove at the ground, digging in once it hit. It drilled for a good two minutes before reaching the ceiling plate. It switched it's drilling head to one that was made of diamond and dug right through it. It cloaked itself and started to scan the entire base, picking up information. It turned out the entire base was empty, except for one big mass in the midst of it all. The probe moved down to it and gave it a once over. The self-preservation program kicked it and it bid a hasty retreat. When it reached the surface, it discovered something it wasn't expecting - an entire force of Raider soldiers. They saw the probe fly out of it's hole and opened fire. The probe armed it's laser rifle and shot back, picking off all that it could. The whole fight lasted 20 seconds. It would have lasted longer if the probe had disarmed that bomb.... **************************************************************************** D and Law were called down to the control room. The explosion out in the distance had rattled everyone. And the scanners were already going to work. But that's not why they were going down there. Law had a message waiting for him. "What's going on?" D asked as they entered. "There was a massive explosion in white 2," Xuon said. "Caused an entire 5 mile stretch to cave in. A few minutes before that, we recieved a message for Law." "Bring it up." "Aye sir." He tapped at the controls. The main screen lit up. A tiger in Pack uniform was displayed. "Commander Law," she said. "Oasis' location has been comprimised. Evacuations are almost complete and the technicians have set up the blockbuster bomb. We're getting ready to finish leaving. As soon as we get home, we'll tell the leaders of your location and they'll send out ships to pick you guys up." "Shit," Mink exclaimed. "That'll compromise our position!" Law shook his head. "D, is there anyway to contact my people in Pack Territory?" "Not without us revealing ourselves." "Fuck." He turned for the exit. "It doesn't matter what's done: you guys are going to have to move real soon." D hesitated before turning to Xuon. "I want a red condition sent throughout the mesa. We're packing up and heading for friendlier territory."