Chapter Text
Perfidy
Chapter Three
Inexorable
He entered the code again and the distinct Black Mesa “access denied” tone answered back.
“Carter?” he asked.
He’d given Carter their only gun as he tried to gain entrance to the small armoury in this part of Black Mesa. Carter covered the only door into the security office as more than a dozen scientists and technicians loitered around them.
“Yes, sir?”
“My code’s not working.”
Carter looked over her shoulder and frowned slightly.
“I have a few ideas,” she replied after a few moments.
“Daniel, stand guard,” he ordered.
Ignoring a few muttered comments about a civilian being the one guarding them, Carter handed Daniel the handgun. He took a second to inspect the unfamiliar weapon.
“Anything I should know?” he asked.
“It has a trigger safety instead of a thumb safety,” she replied. “Just point and shoot.”
Daniel gave her a strained smile and nodded. Training for the Xen missions had been intense, but that still didn’t mean he felt comfortable with all manner of weapons.
Approaching the door, Carter asked her commanding officer to enter his code again. The same tone beeped back. She stared at the keypad for a full five seconds before sighing.
“It’s probably how Black Mesa’s security system is implemented. Instead of relying on a centralised server for authentication, is breaks the authentication server into several distributed servers roughly by sector. If an out of sector code is used, it queries the issuing server to authenticate and –”
“Internal networks are down,” finished Colonel O’Neill.
Carter nodded.
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you think you could hack it?”
“Yes?” she replied with an uncertain shrug. “I could do it, but the system isn’t designed for interfacing from here. I could jury rig an interface but it’s probably quicker to just find another way in.”
Taking a closer look at the door, it looked like a solid wood door with a steel laminated front, and hinges and locks protected from physical attack. A slightly larger armoury would have had a window where weapons were issued from – a possible weak point – but this didn’t.
Going through the wall was probably doable if they could find a sledgehammer; one of the technicians might know where one is. Another option was perhaps…
Glancing upwards, Jack would see the several displaced ceiling tiles. A suspended ceiling to hide the ugly roof and the mess of cabling.
“You two, help me move this desk,” he ordered, pointing at two burly technicians.
o0o0o
He’d rather that none of them have weapons, but he wasn’t sure he could force more than a dozen people to not loot every gun in the armoury. At least, not without shooting someone.
“I understand, Doctor Anderson, but I simply do not care that you think you’re an expert marksman,” he tried to explain. “Until I, myself –” He pointed his thumb at his chest for emphasis “– have a very good measure of your abilities, you will keep that gun pointed down, you will not use it unless your life is in immediate peril and you will stay behind the highly trained military officers.”
The scientist had a very sour look on his face and a gross overestimation of his own abilities. Abilities that were untested in combat.
“Well – uh – what about Doctor Carter?” he asked, pointing at her.
He didn’t need to shoot the scientist down himself.
“It’s Major Doctor Samantha Carter,” she replied flatly as she loaded shell after shell into her SPAS-12.
There was a moment where his eyes shot around looking for the next excuse.
“Well what about him?”
This time he pointed at Daniel.
“Daniel is our regular Indiana Jones,” he replied.
The doctor blinked for a few seconds before the statement registered.
“He’s an archaeologist?” he asked shocked.
Daniel only seemed to notice he was being talked about at the mention of his name, having been focusing on loading his shotgun. Though not anywhere near as confident as Carter, he was familiar enough with the tube-fed shotgun to not struggle with it.
Daniel cleared his throat.
“Most of my work these days is linguistics,” he said, using his Air Force assigned cover. “Strangely, my work with the Air Force has led to something trying to kill me on occasion.”
Doctor Anderson looked like he wanted to continue when another scientist cut in.
“Stop arguing about it, Martin,” she said. “Be thankful they’re willing to risk their lives for you.”
Jack took a moment to see if anyone else would pick an argument before, satisfied, he gave everyone a rundown on what they were doing.
“Alright folks,” he said jovially. “We are heading to Helicopter Pad Three. If the military is not already aware, we will be using the control tower’s radio to send for help and if everything goes right the HECU will be arriving three hours after that call. You happy folks will then get onto the helicopter they get off and be evacuated. Does everyone understand?”
There were a few moments before a short woman in the back raised her hand.
“HECU?” she asked after he nodded at her.
“Marines, big burly marines with big guns.”
She nodded a bit unsurely in reply.
“Anything else?”
“Yeah.”
Everyone turned to a man standing next to Doctor Anderson. Jack tried to wrack his memory for the name.
“I’d rather stay here and wait for help. Better to let those soldiers you talked about clear the way first.” There Dr Anderson and a two more nodded at the man. “Plus, it’s easier to defend this place than go hunting through Black Mesa.”
“I agree, we should stay here,” said Dr Anderson.
Jack looked between the pair for a moment.
“Okay then, have you two got enough supplies to look after yourselves?” he levelly. “It might be days or even weeks before the military can clear this place out and reach you.”
Anderson and the other man looked at him with confusion.
“Pardon?” he asked.
“Food, water, ammo? For the two of you?”
“Two?”
“Yes, the two of you.” Jack waited a beat before clicking his fingers and pointing at Anderson, putting on show of realisation. “Oh, I see, you though we’d also be staying. No can do, got places to be.”
“But – uh –” Anderson stuttered out.
The other guy cut in. Jack suddenly remembered his name.
“But you said you would protect us!” said not-doctor Moore.
Jack shook his head, a small smile on his lips.
“Nope, I said I’d take you topside. I have important things to be doing and they won’t put themselves on hold for anything, let alone guarding you.”
Daniel, ever the diplomat cut in.
“Mr Moore, hundreds… thousands of lives depend on the military knowing what is going on here,” he tried to explain, his free hand animated. “Until we know the military are up to speed we can’t risk it. We have to get to the surface.”
Moore looked between them for a few moments.
“I will be staying.”
Jack sighed and shrugged.
“Then it will be without us. The best of luck to you.”
He wouldn’t bet money on their chances, but he couldn’t delay any longer.
“Anyone else?” he asked. “Are you joining him, Anderson?”
Anderson gave a stiff nod as another person put up their hand.
Three down.