Alliances

Breathe. That’s all Char could think of as she watched Lore frantically explain their thought process to themselves. It was times like these when Lore reminded her of the partner she had lost. She had a smile on her face as she nodded along with Lore. The lift eventually stopped in the hangar. Lore silently exited and headed towards the group they had briefly left.
“Humanity isn’t sensible.” They began. “This area was designated a no go zone as it would have been too expensive and risky to mine here for the UEP to justify a continued presence.” The audience nodded. “So it would be sensible to assume that there aren’t any human run mines around here but humans aren’t sensible and this is way too big of an opportunity to leave behind.” Char offered them a glass of water. “Blue, there’s got to be a human run mine somewhere nearby.” They accepted the glass indicating the completion of their talk.
“Well yeah but it’s a bit of a ways out from the main tunnels… Actually, it’s really strange. The mine operates at full capacity yet all surveys of that area have said the land’s worthless.”
Lore jerked their head. “Then that’s our entry point. Have you got any way of scanning their operation underground?”
“We’ve got our ship’s sensors but apart from that, no.”
“That might be good enough.” Char chipped in. “If The Vengeance is the ship I think it is, I should be able to get an accurate sensor reading from here.” Lore smiled and nodded, Char started towards the ship.
“Ace, if the scans prove me right then I’m not going to be able to go down there. You’ll need to prepare your team.” Ace huddled the clones.
“Why not?”
“If the UEP monitor that site, they know I’m a wanted fugitive. Same as you. If we want to get down there then we’ll have to find another way.”
The Vengeance’s engines gradually painted the room with their amber glow. Blue stood beside Lore amazed.
“She’s not done that since Granddad brought her home.” Both of them went over to the ship to investigate.
The interior didn’t match the exterior. Blue didn’t seem to notice but it distracted Lore. Something just wasn’t quite right with it. What should have been a brief journey to engineering became a half marathon with The Vengeance’s labyrinthian corridors. Then it hit them. The entire ship was bigger on the inside. Keeping this revelation to themselves, they entered the engineering core. The entire room looked as though it would fill the external dimensions of the ship alone, emphasising Lore’s previous revelation.
“Isn’t she a beauty?” Char fawned over the glowing orb at the centre of the room. “Never miss seeing one of these. I know Destiny’s got one but it’s different. You can properly see this one.”
“What is it?” Blue spared Lore the embarrassing question.
“This is a Quasar Core. My people developed a system by which high energy stars could be captured and contained. The sphere keeps the star in a perpetual state of decay and rejuvenation, sapping it of its energy to power the ship. Wonderful on paper, disastrous in context. One wrong move and,” She made a vague sucking noise with her mouth before mimicking an explosion. “Implosion into an explosion. Only thing that survives is the quasar. Anyway, managed a sensor sweep and you’re right. Their mineshaft was dug at an angle, allowing them to exploit the massive reserves here before anyone else. And by the looks of the life signs scan, they’re not alone. The scanner read about a thousand human personnel and almost as many ‘Aliens’ for lack of a better collective term. I mean there are native Rexians, Granishe and about a dozen other species.”
“Strange. I always thought of the Protectorate as being madly xenophobic.” Blue chuckled.
“Only if the species poses a threat, which most of them do, no offence.” Char smiled back. She looked as though she was about to say ‘I told you so’ but she contained herself.
“Is it Protectorate run?” Lore returned focus.
“As far as I can tell, yes and no. A transport with Protectorate codes arrives weekly to cart the ore away but apart from that, they seem rather hands off. But better safe than sorry.”
They continued to discuss the base until they were disrupted by the arrival of a new face.
“Those soldiers of yours have gone.” Lore stared at the newcomer with baited curiosity. “They’ve gone to that human mining base. Apparently they got the scans and decided to check it out.”
Lore gave them the benefit of the doubt and allowed their unauthorised mission to continue. It was however hours until they heard back from the recon team. Ace noted that it was much further away from the main city and recommended the use of a bike to get there and back again. They also discovered that the mine was looking for temporary staff. Blue added that this wasn’t an isolated request with the mines all having high employee turn-over. Ace had made contact with the foreman of the mine who had agreed to allow them in on the grounds of a military inspection. Lore was impressed by their improvisational skills. All together once more, a plan began to form.
“Ace, you and the clones will take Destiny on the ‘Military inspection’ and place a charge at this wall here. This will link these two mine shafts allowing you to join Me, Blue and Char in the Syndicate side of the mines. Once we’re together, we can get Blue’s family and if necessary, fight our way out either end. Any questions?” Lore looked around the room. Only Blue had their hand up. “Blue?”
“How do we get into the mines then?”
“We pose as labourers. We give the clones and Destiny whatever essential gear we may need and wait for them to come to us.” Blue shuffled in their seat
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“I think we all have.” Char joined Lore, stood before the group. “But I think we can make this work.” She placed her hand on Lore’s shoulder. Syndicate.