Eisenhelm trembled. Along the tunnel wall, across from Pillbox C3-PB-A1, an enormous shadow moved in unison with the tremendous vibrations that attended each footfall of Obliterator Robot #5. It was an unthinking, unfeeling creation of General Hertling's Moon-Nazi Robot Force. Its mission was to obliterate Eisenhelm.
Seconds passed like hours as the shadow advanced along the wall. Everyone held their breath.
Moments before, Jacob and Ling had briefed Hanna on their plan of attack. At the signal Vallnam was to open the elevator door and begin firing his machinegun at whatever guards he saw. Three seconds later, Ling would open the secret door from the Pillbox using Admiral Ludendorf's Master Key, and slip inside Hertling's top secret Robot Force Command Center, C3-DZ-A1. Once inside she would use Vallnam's distraction to stealthily seek the computer panel into which she could enter the Robot Force Self-Destruct Code.
The Earth and Eisenhelm both hung in the balance. The Self-Destruct code would destroy the Obliterators as well as the Phallanx, the Earth-bound battalion of fifty Giant Nuclear Missile Robots on route to end all life on the planet.
It was an improvised plan, flawed in certain respects, but under the circumstances the best they could do. Originally, Ling had planned for Jacob to join in the attack, but as wounded as he was it seemed unlikely he could participate effectively. It would have also helped considerably, she thought, if Jacob had been able to get to the elevator in order to join Vallnam so that the distraction of their gunfire would come from the same direction, and not draw anyone's attention to Ling's stealthy entry from the pillbox. However, they discovered no way to get Jacob to that locaion, and the knife fight he'd had with Captain Helmund ended his chances of being an effective combatant at this point. He would have to remain in reserve in the hopes that he could provide some cover for their escape.
Hanna had listened to this plan with a mixture of surprise and admiration. It was a nonsense plan, she thought, based on a complete misunderstanding of Eisenhelm's operations and protocols, but it was nevertheless the most courageous thing she'd ever heard. That the attackers were deadly serious and fully committed impressed her deeply. That they believed they could save both Eisenhelm and the earth had a profound effect on her.
Fortunately for them, Hanna knew quite a bit more about what the heroes were getting into than they did. However, even her understanding only grazed the surface, and she knew that as well. She'd only seen a part of Hertling's Command Center.
A few years prior she had been invited to the top-secret Robot Force Command Center with Admiral Ludendorf in order to meet with General Hertling about their recent discovery of the White Tunnel system and then once again when they discovered the mysterious spaceship they had named Shadow Hawk. It had been about eleven months since the Admiral's Special Mining Team had first discovered the White Tunnels, which itself was an incredible shock as they had been occupying Eisenhelm for nine decades without any idea that such a system existed. They'd certainly had nothing to do with its construction, as one could tell simply by looking at those gleaming white walls and indigo blue lighting arrays. There was nothing in Eisenhelm remotely similar in design or construction. In fact, their best technicians could not imagine how such tunnels could have been created. Hanna remembered how terrified the Admiral had been, thinking that he'd stumbled upon some secret project of General Hertling's.
She recalled that first meeting well. The two Commanders had toasted one another so politely, and with such pomp and ceremony before the Admiral, with an almost casual air, belying the insidious glee he felt at catching the General off his guard, admonished him with a slight sneer and the wave of his hand.
"General Hertling, it is so good of you to meet with us in your Command Center. Vee appreciate your hospitality greatly, and zee security precautions you and your men have undertaken in order for us to meet with you in zee most secure conference room of Eisenhelm is an honor. Of course, I wouldn't have asked for such a meeting, as you know, unless zee fate of Eisenhelm itself were at stake, which it is."
The General had put his glass down and stared across the table at his peer with increasing interest and amusement, a slight smile crossing his lips as the Admiral spoke. He hadn't a clue as to what the Admiral was getting at. What could possibly be so fateful?
"You realize, you couldn't keep such a secret for long, my old friend. Surely you knew my Special Minering Team was bound to discover your tunnel system. It was only a matter of time, of course," he said, practically purring with pleasure.
"What tunnel system is that?" asked the General, his amusement now mixing with perplexity.
"Zee... White Tunnel System, of course," replied the Admiral with the coy satisfaction of a cat landing a paw on a mouse.
"Vhat are you talking about?" the General had asked with utmost confusion. There was no White Tunnel system.
"Oh please, General, vee are olt friends. There is no need for you to keep up zee pretense," the Admiral had said.
"I have no idea what you are talking about!" shouted Hertling with a thunderous fist landing on the table. "What is zee meaning of this?!"
Now it was the Admiral's turn to be perplexed. How could the General not know about his own White Tunnel system... unless... but that was impossible! There could be no other explanation. The tunnels had to have been built by Hertling!
Except they hadn't been.
It had come as such a shock to both men that they nearly broke down in a panic once they realized that the tunnels were a complete mystery. It was good that only few of their top officers had been allowed to attend the meeting, and fewer still allowed to see the tunnels, or Eisenhelm would have gone insane and disintegrated in mayhem then and there. After all, for decades there had been insidious rumors of fearful entities living alongside them in the darkness of Eisenhelm, invisible, and most people believed, utterly inhuman. To find out that an array of tunnels of unknown origin, and fantastically advanced design had been discovered beneath and alongside the fortress would have driven everyone stark raving mad.
They kept it a secret, and had very quietly and discreetly sent in small teams to investigate. Numerous teams had lost contact and were never heard from again. The surviving teams recorded everything they could find, but they discovered no people, nor any occupying force within the tunnels. Only mysterious doorways that they were unable to open by any means whatsoever. And others that they could open freely, which they later fixed with their own bronze Key-Pass Locks, but which merely led into other tunnels or dead ends. They found a handful of small chambers along the length of the tunnels, but they were empty and offered no clues. And so they installed a series of cameras in whichever of the tunnels they had access to in the hopes that they might catch whomever or whatever lived there on video. But nothing ever disturbed the silence of the White Tunnels.
On one door they found a mysterious Japanese symbol from an ancient Samurai Clan, but were unable to gain entrance through that door. They had a small team of specialist technicians work on the problem, but they were unable to open it. They'd even considered calling in Hans and Nick "the locksmith" to take over the work as they were the best of the best, but those two had long been identified by High Command as Renegades, and it was decided there would be no containing the secret once they had found out about it. So neither Hans nor Nick had been included in the White Tunnel explorations.
Then, about two months ago, Hanna had been called to a second secret meeting with Ludendorf and Hertling in the Conference Room inside of C3-DZ-A1. One of their technicians had been using a Sonar Pulse Radar in one of the White Tunnels and had discovered next to Hanger B a cubic region within the cavern wall that was apparently a hollow chamber. They spent weeks secretly digging away the stone from around the walls of the cube until they came to its impenetrable metallic exterior. Then they discovered what turned out to be a portal. The entrance was located on the far northern wall of Hanger B. Inside this chamber, they discovered Shadow Hawk. Melita and Hanna were put to work figuring out how to pilot the craft and they both made progress on short-distance flights. Hanna had also determined that some of the controls must be for long distance space jumps but had not yet figured out exactly how those controls worked, though she felt sure she was close to understanding the bizarre intricacies of that system. In the meantime the sub-hanger was kept top-secret, and only three guards were permitted to know of its existence so that they could stand as guards, operate the Hanger's Control Room and monitor White Tunnel System. A very tight lid had been kept on the entire operation.
As a consequence, however, Hanna knew the internal layout of C3-DZ-A1. The main observation deck led to a power station which was connected to the conference room via a corridor. She had, like Vallnam, come in through the east corridor elevator. The computers, she recalled, were oddly shaped mauve colored blocks, about seven feet high, and covered with glass panels, dials, monitors, metallic data ports, among other electronic apparatus. The west wall was lined from floor to ceiling with a viewing screen, which at the time had been observing some operation of one of the Giant Nuclear Missile Robots as it crossed the lunar surface. Knowledge of the internal design of C3-DZ-A1 could be vital to their success.
She understood from Vallnam's disclosure that he was waiting for the signal to attack the room from the elevator.
"You are in contact with your man in zee elevator?" whispered Hanna.
"Yes," whispered Ling in reply, to which Hanna nodded, one eye still on the Pillbox slit-windows. The shadow grew larger as she stared at it.
Meanwhile, Jacob realized that his symbiotic purple bubble environmental suit had been responsible for healing his wound. The fact that the pain had subsided completely around the wound site was the tipoff he needed. Nevertheless, though, he was still seriously wounded, and not up to a firefight. He'd have to hang back. The suit was a good healer, but the wound was deep and a full restoration would take time.
Vallnam at that point was still sitting in a lotus position in the elevator, having already harvested the mystical energy he sought, and was now simply waiting for the Go signal from Ling. Next to him sat a shadow wrapped in smokey darkness in the likeness of a dog. Its Anubis-like head stared intently at the elevator door waiting for it to open.
Ling fingered Ludendorf's Master Key in her pocket. She was ready to give the Go signal to Vallnam, wait three seconds and then open the secret door into C3-DZ-A1.
Hanna thought their plan over, and realizing its flaws, nixed the team's original plan. It was far too risky, and in all likelihood would only serve to get them killed. New factors had come into play, not the least of which was the fact that she was now with them, and wearing a one-of-a-kind experimental Duridium Armor Suit that she had obtained from the (now dead) scientists of Science Laboratory 7. She also was in command of eight Nazi commandos, and the one surviving scientist, and three Doom Spheres. This changed things.
She looked around quickly. The Pillbox could only accommodate a maximum of five people at a time as it was designed for two occupants to man the machine gun turrets, and so most of her men were still outside, either on the fifty foot ladder or at the base on the tunnel floor. The great shadow on the tunnel wall pressed forward.
"Here's zee new plan," she said. "Vee vill use zee Master-Key to get into C3-DZ-A1. I vill rush in first followed by several of my soldiers. After a count of three, your man vill attack using his machine gun from zee elevator. Zee pincer attack should gain zee upper hand. Then she," she said pointing to Ling, "can slip in and begin searching for zee Self-Destruct Code computer panel."
Jacob grunted approvingly. He planned to crawl into the corridor that connected the Pillbox to C3-DZ-A1 and provide whatever supporting fire he could to protect Ling while she conducted her search.
Hanna was aware that General Hertling's men might or might not opt to obey her commands, depending on what exactly they knew, and who was in command within the Control Room. She was likely to outrank most officers there, although there was a good chance they would dismiss her authority based on the fact that she was under Admiral Ludendorf's command hierarchy. In normal times she would have no influence over Hertling's forces. But these were not normal conditions. She might be able to usurp command if she played her cards just right.
Vallnam thought about the Mystic Powers he now had access to given his renewed psychic energy. He went over the list of powers he had studied at the Castaneda Academy back home. Some seemed potentially promising given the situation at hand. Clairvoyance might help to provide him insights as to who might be within the Control Room. Mind Shield might help defend him from psychic attacks. Narcoleptic Beam could put a soldier into a deep sleep. Psychic Persuasion might allow him to convince one or more of them to agree to a suggestion he might offer. And Wizard Eye could potentially allow him to send an eye into the chamber to roam around. He mulled these options over, but didn't seem to feel that any of them would prove particularly useful.
Then he looked down at the Elthos Tarot Card he was still holding in his hand. The Empress. He knew he could call upon the power latent within the card to have a notable effect on him during the upcoming battle. The Empress would grant him significantly augmented dexterity. However, the negative aspect of the card could diminish his mental capacity for the duration of the battle, which would mean that he could not make use of any of his powers while the card was in effect. He thrummed the card with his fingers trying to decide what course of action would be best. In the end he decided it was probably simpler to use the card when the elevator door opened and utilize the Empress's dexterity augmentation during the firefight as it would give him far better accuracy than normal.
Hanna planned to attempt to take command of the Control Room as soon as she entered. She would give her men orders to refrain from firing unless they are fired upon, or she herself begins to shoot. Vallnam would come up in the elevator and have to decide in the moment whether or not to join the firefight. She recognized there was a risk there that he would not interpret things correctly, but it was a risk they would have to take.
She quickly and quietly gave her Commandos their instructions. Ling slid the Master Key into the bronze trapezoidal key reader hidden in a corner panel of the pillbox. The inner door opened with a hiss. Hanna sealed her helmet and stepped into the short ten foot corridor that lead to the next door ahead. Ling stepped in behind her, followed by the Commandos. Ling again used the Master Key and the second door opened with a hiss. Inside was C3-DZ-A1 Robot Command Center buzzing with feverish activity. It had the feel a World War II bunker, like nearly everything else in Eisenhelm. On the west side of the room, taking up the entire wall was a huge screen that showed a view of planet earth. In the foreground, moving silently through space in a phalanx formation were fifty Giant Nuclear Missile Robots.
As she stepped into the room Hanna opened her helmet vizor so her face could be seen. The two guards turned to look at her, but the scientist continued to work steadily at his console without glancing up.
"You men come with me," she ordered the soldier and scientist as she stepped forward into the room.
From the point of view of the people in the room, a high officer of Admiral Ludendorf's Command had just invaded General Hertling's innermost sanctum. It would be a tough call for them to ignore the fact that she had no authority over Hertling's hierarchy. But she was ready to take the risk. Her commandos followed in close behind her, hands on machine guns, ready to open fire at the slightest provocation, as per her instructions.
The soldier next to her gave her a Nazi Salute. The scientist, seeing the soldier accepting her order, accepted her command as well, though inwardly unwillingly, and the two of them were ushered along behind her by the commandos.
Between the computer banks she strode towards the center of the room. The second soldier in view was a Captain whom she recognized immediately by the long scar crossing over his left eye. The two of them matched ranks. As she strode forward the scientists in the room kept focused on their work, but all the soldiers had now faced towards her, and all machine guns were in ready positions.
She strode up to the Major.
"Major Hrodwulf," she said, "we have an Obliterator Robot heading towards zee pillbox outside. In Cavern 8 the science center has been destroyed, and experiments of an unknown nature are escaping. All of the scientists there must be presumed dead. Eisenhelm is being destroyed. We must shut down zee Robots."
The Major was following along with her statements up until she demanded that the robots be shut down. At that he stared at her in disbelief.
"Vee cannot shut down zee Robots!"
Hanna had the impression that C3-DZ-A1 Command Center controlled The Phallanx as only those robots could be seen on the observation screen. Her assumption was that the Obliterators, therefore, were on automatic pilot. After all, since their mission was to destroy Eisenhelm in a final act of suicide of the human race for Hitler, it only made sense that the control center would not be in control of them.
"The Obliterators are coming toward this pillbox right this minute," she stated emphatically. "Vee need to escape Eisenhelm. And zee only place to escape to is back to zee Earth. Vee cannot have Zee Phallanx destroy zee earth until vee get there and find a secure location! There is no place in Eisenhelm for us to retreat to."
He looked her with shock, amazement and a palpable revulsion.
"You vant to escape?!" he sneered violently. The implication was clear - she was a disgusting, disloyal, wretched coward unwilling to die for the cause!
Hanna considered his point of view. In fact, as she glanced around the room she realized that all of his men shared the same sneering appraisal of her worth. She suddenly realized they all wanted to die with Eisenhelm because that is what Hitler had ultimately ordered. It was their duty! They were all expecting to die, and none of them believed that there was any other possible outcome. After all, the Delta-Z plan had been activated by Captain Helmund, and it meant that Earth was to die, and Eisenhelm was to die with it. Where the hell else could there be to go? Nowhere at all. They were all resigned to their deaths.
Hanna recognized that she was fundamentally different from all of them. She was young and beautiful, talented and committed. She did not want to die.
Major Hrodwulf stared at her with absolute disgust and contempt, as did all his men. She stared back with her icy blue eyes into his with equal conviction and determination. She wanted to live!
And that is where we left things that game!
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