She was grasping at straws and she knew it but either she'd guessed right and the plan had never been to attempt to leave Xeno-12 to start with or they changed the plan when they realized it wasn't space-worthy. The ship leveled out, banked hard to port and then began a tooth-jarring descent. It settled after about twenty minutes of flight, ungracefully and hard enough to convince her that they'd experienced a controlled crash rather than an actual landing. The roar of the engines ceased, leaving deafening silence in its wake. No one moved for a space of heartbeats, almost as if holding their breaths in expectation that an explosion would rip through the craft any moment, and then they heard the sound of the ramp being lowered.
As soon as she identified the sound, Danika began struggling with shaking hands to unfasten her safety harness. Seth pushed her hands away and unfastened it himself and she looked up at him, meeting his gaze as deja`vu swept over her. A sense of calm filtered through her, ousting the knee weakening terror of moments before.
It still took an effort to get to her feet but, as he had before, Seth helped her up and held her sandwiched between himself and Dane, and Niles took the lead.
She'd been too terrified the first time, she realized, to see that there was nothing accidental about it. From the moment they entered combat, at any time there was danger, they formed a protective shield around her.
She didn't think they'd been programmed to do that. She knew the cyborgs had been programmed to protect their human handlers, but she hadn't noticed that any of the others went so far as to form a protective shield on every side. Why did her men behave differently than the others?
She'd suspected that Seth had 'changed' even before their first jump, but she hadn't seen anything any different about Dane or Niles then. That had come later.
Maybe they'd never been completely 'asleep'? Or maybe the change had already begun long before it was noticeable to her?
She didn't know. She'd probably never know. She wasn't certain they did, but she thought maybe that the change had been so slow and subtle they simply hadn't been aware of what was coming.
It was almost more as if they'd been sleepwalking, or hypnotized, and had suddenly come to full awareness.
When they reached the gangplank, she saw with little surprise that they'd landed on the cold, near barren world they'd been struggling to survive for months now. The difference was that the other three ships had settled on the plane around them and everyone was assembling in formation.
She'd barely had time to locate her hab-suit and jump into it before takeoff and a frigid blast of air crawled into her suit with her as she made her way down the plank. Brought from her distraction by the chill, she hurriedly finished closing it, connected her helmet at the neck and lowered her face shield.
When her squad had joined formation, Reuel sent a man to pass down the rows. After counting off roughly a third, which included Danika and her squad, he told them to circle east ten clicks and hold position until they were given the signal to attack.
It was the first that Danika realized they meant to launch an assault. She didn't even know who or what they were launching an assault against, beyond 'enemy position', but, reflecting that they were at least fully armed for a change, she headed out, trusting that the cyborgs in the group would have no trouble finding the correct coordinates despite the fact that there was almost nothing in the icy landscape to use as landmarks.
They stopped perhaps fifty yards from target, dropped low and crawled into position. Danika was breathing like a horse by the time they stopped. She just hoped they wouldn't get the signal to launch the assault until she'd had time to catch her breath.
She was in luck. They'd been in position roughly ten minutes before they spotted movement that told them the second team had arrived and positioned themselves.
While they were waiting for the third group, she returned her attention to the plane that lay before them, trying to see what their objective was. She didn't actually spot the entrance until a squad advanced on their bellies to disable the alarm and entrance mechanism. As soon as they were in position, Reuel's voice came over their com units. "NOW!"
His timing was nice, based, Danika supposed, on a conviction that the squad sent to disable the door wouldn't encounter any problems. They leapt to their feet, guns ready, and charged the entrance. Those in the lead were within two yards of it when the door swung open, revealing a black maw roughly wide enough for six men abreast.
Danika took up the rear--not from design, but because she couldn't keep up with the cyborgs. By the time she reached the entrance, the majority of the force had flooded inside guns ready. Seth caught the sleeve of her hab-suit and jerked her to one side as she went in.
There was no gunfire. The cyborgs inside put their weapons down and raised their arms in surrender.
It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out they'd just taken part in a raid to capture yet another Andorian stronghold, only to discover the enemy long gone and the base controlled by a small company of cyborgs. Clearly, Reuel had known where it was all the time. Just as clearly, he'd expected to find the enemy still occupied it and hadn't known another group of cyborgs had already taken it.
It was much like the base they'd just left, laid out the same and similarly equipped, but somewhat smaller.
A group was sent to bring the ships to the hanger while another group readied the hanger for their arrival. There were a couple of the smaller short-range ships already in the hanger and it was clear that the cyborgs who'd taken the base had been trying to repair them.
They were rapidly accumulating an armada of their own, Danika thought, feeling far more hopeful that they had a chance of escaping than she had before. Damaged or not, short range or not, they at least seemed to have a possibility of getting off of Xeno-12 and just about anything would be better.
While Reuel debriefed the cyborgs they'd captured, everyone not assigned to work on the ships set about securing the base and making themselves at home. Rations were still in short supply and had to be carefully counted and divided, but those assigned to KP duty set about putting a meal together.
It was more of a surprise to discover that there were a few women among those captured than it would've been to discover none.
When Reuel had finished debriefing the captives, he sought Danika out.
"I believe that it will be best for morale if the women are housed separately from the men," he said dryly.
Seth, Dane, and Niles instantly took exception, stiffening angrily, but Danika ignored them. "I agree."
Nodding, he turned away, indicating that Danika was to accompany him as he crossed the main area of the complex. "Unfortunately, the base is not setup for our purposes. However, I believe the brig can be used for this. It has separate sanitary facilities and sufficient bunks to accommodate the women among us. Strategically speaking, it offers the women both privacy and safety from any unwelcome attention by the men.
"I can post guards to insure there is no encroachment."
