The Last Spartan – Chapter Thirty-Six I own no rights to Firefly, and write only for fun, rather than any money. ----------------------------- Neera and the rest of Foxtrot team raced along the hallways, heading for the security station. Alpha team was busy going through everything there, trying to find either the self-destruct, or special holding. Preferably both. “All teams, status report,” Neera ordered tersely. “Alpha team, holding.” “Beta, engaged in clearing actions.” “Charlie, engaged, final hallway area.” “Delta team, unengaged, holding perimeter.” “Echo is engaged, heavy fire from security forces attempting to break away.” “Delta lead, send one man to assist Echo, if possible.” “Delta copies, on the way.” “Beta, is your area clear yet?” “Almost,” the reply was accompanied by the rattle of gunfire. “Beta, clear, one down.” “Damn it!” Neera swore. Beta team had a casualty. “Copy Beta lead. Send one man to the security station at the hallway nexus, the other to the ship with your casualty.” “Beta copies.” She arrived at the security station just as Alpha team found both good and bad news. “Self-destruct has eleven minutes before det,” Alpha’s leader told her flatly. “Got’em!” one of his team members exclaimed. “Special holding is one floor down, almost directly under this station.” “Almost?” Neera asked, an idea forming. “Looks like. . .twelve feet, that way,” the woman replied, pointing down the hallway Neera had just come up. “Jerl, lay a demo charge around this station,” she ordered, and McCann and his remaining teammate started laying charges. “Rest of you, clear out of there. We’ll drop the whole thing through the floor, and make a short cut. Once we locate the cells, if there are any prisoners, we’ll rope them out, so get set for that. Move!” Alpha began scrambling to prepare for the evac. Neera looked up as the Beat team leader appeared. “Help McCann,” she ordered, then hit her radio again. “My Lord?” ---------------------------------- “I’m a bit occupied, Neera,” Janos grunted as he fended off a desperate attack from Neethos. The old man was almost wild with the need to get clear of the pending explosion. “We’re nearly finished, My Lord. Let us send someone to assist. . .” “No,” Janos’ voice was firm. “Continue your mission, then get clear. Do not wait for me. I’ll make my own way out.” “We have less than eleven minutes, My Lord,” she told him. “I understand. You have your orders.” He paused for a moment, then added. “Godspeed, Neera. It has been my honor.” ---------------------------- Neera’s heart froze at those words. Even as her eyes grew wet, she knew there was no point in arguing. “The honor is mine, My Lord,” she whispered back. She looked to the rest, who had stopped, hearing the words from their leader. “You heard the man! Get a move on!” Neera hissed. They immediately went back to work. Neera watched, her heart no longer interested in the job. -------------------------- “What’s that mean?” Mal asked Zoe, as they shepherded the last of the freed prisoners onto Athena. “I think Jayne ain’t planning on coming back,” Zoe said softly. A tear trickled down her cheek, ignored. “He can’t do that!” Mal screeched. “What about River?” “It’s all about River, sir,” Zoe said, looking him in the eye. “With this done, she’s safe. Forever. So are the rest of us.” “I ain’t lettin’ him kill his self for that!” Mal exclaimed, turning back. “Let it be, Mal,” Zoe grabbed his arm. “You can’t help him. And we owe it to Jayne to make sure that this gets done,” she added, pointing to the helpless looking people behind them. Mal looked them over, his shoulders slumping in defeat. Zoe was right, he knew. But that didn’t make it any better. Not one bit. ------------------------ “You would truly sacrifice yourself, then? Just to kill me?” Neethos’ voice held incredulity, along with a hint of fear. Janos smiled weakly at that. He was fading fast, he knew. But he only had to last a few more minutes. “As you taught me, old man,” he replied. “Before time had the opportunity to addle your mind. Some things are worth fighting for, dying for, over and above one’s Sovereign, or home. Seeing you dead, and this evil banished, is one of those things.” “It isn’t evil!” Neethos insisted, sword hammering at Janos in rage. “I am trying to better mankind! Yes, some have suffered, but others will benefit! Sacrifices must be made! The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few!” “That was wrong when it was written, and remains wrong today,” Janos told him flatly, parrying the blows with increasing difficulty. “You are mad, Neethos. Long life has taken your sanity, my old teacher. Let me ease your pain.” “I don’t need your sanctimonious. . .” Neethos stopped, his eyes losing focus. He was still poised for a double handed overhead strike at Janos. But Janos’ blade had caught him unawares, and nearly a foot of it now protruded from Neethos’ back. “Janos. . .” the older man croaked. “My son.” “Neethos,” Janos replied, “time to rest, old father. Your time here is ended. As is mine, I think,” he added with a gasp. “Fitting end, I admit.” With a great heave that seemed to take all his strength, Janos withdrew his sword, and in the same motion lifted it, bringing it down across the back of Neethos’ neck. The oldest living creature Janos knew fell to the floor, dead beyond doubt. His eyes full of sadness, and regret, Janos started back down the hallway. He collapsed after a few steps, and struggled to sit up, his back against the wall. I’ll rest here, just for a minute, he told himself. Just to catch my breath. Plenty of time. I can spare a minute. Perhaps two. He leaned back, closing his eyes. -------------------------- “Jayne!” River gasped, sitting up. Prim started at the exclamation. While others of the ship’s crew had continued to call Janos by the name they had known, River had referred to him as Janos for as long as Prim had known her. “River?” “Janos has fallen,” her voice was hollow, tiny. Prim’s face lost it’s color. “Fallen?” he gasped. “He cannot. . .perhaps he is simply wounded, My Lady. The distance is great, and the bond between you still new. There is no reason. . .” “No, he has fallen,” she insisted. “He may yet live, I pray, but if so, it hangs by a thread.” She turned to him, her face stricken. “I fear he is lost to us, Prim.” Prim hugged her to him, more to hide his own fears than anything. The two huddled together. They could do nothing but wait. ------------------------- When the charges went off, the entire security station simply fell through the floor. Before the dust settled, Neera was through the hole in the floor, trailed by Alpha team. As she landed, Neera noted a series of cell doors, these steel rather than the clear alum of the other cell block. She went to the nearest one, finding it empty. “Check the others!” she ordered, looking at the surroundings. This area was much more solid, secure, than the other had been. “Got one!” she turned to the crier, three doors down. “Looks unconscious.” The door couldn’t stand up to the strength of two of them, and came off it’s hinges. Neera stepped inside, finding the huddled body of a young girl, maybe sixteen or so. “Honey?” Neera said softly. The girl raised her head, looking at Neera blank eyed. “I’ll be good,” she sobbed, and Neera thought her heart would rend. “I promise.” “It’s okay, sweetie,” Neera said gently, reaching out slowly. “No one’s gonna hurt you child. Come with me, and we’ll leave this terrible place.” “Leave?” the girl’s face lit with fear. And hope. “My parents have come for me?” “We’re taking you to them,” Neera lied smoothly, hating to do it. “May be a while till we see them, but we’ll look after you until then, if that’s okay?” The girl nodded dumbly, and took Neera’s hand. Instantly she jerked away. “No!” she screamed, cover her temples with her hands. “Get away, get away, get AWAY!” Neera stepped back, wondering. Understanding came slowly. “You’re a reader, aren’t you?” she asked, and the girl nodded, sobbing. “Honey, there’s no telling what you saw, just now,” Neera said sympathetically. “But if you’ll look again, you’ll see me freeing your friends a few minutes ago. You’re the last one. I want to take you, too, and get you out of here. But we’ve got to hurry. The people who ran this place fixed it to blow up. We can’t be here when that happens.” The girl looked up slowly, fixing Neera with knowing eyes. She reached out again, carefully, and Neera held her own hand out, letting the girl set the pace. Gingerly the teen took her hand, and stiffened. As she was buffeted by Neera’s past, she saw the guards being killed, and the others being released. Eyes now wide with wonder, she tried to stand, but couldn’t. Neera stepped forward, scooping the girl up in her arms. “C’mon, baby,” she whispered softly. “Let’s get you out of this place.” “Okay,” the girl said in a whimper, and Neera walked out of the cell, the girl in her arms. She glared at the men of Alpha team. “The others?” “Gone,” Alpha lead reported, his voice haunted. “No sign of any more. We checked everywhere.” Neera swore, bitterly, and fixed him with a stare. “Make damn sure none of these bastards get away.” ------------------------- Once back out of the hole, Neera handed the girl in her arms to Jerl McCann. She resisted at first, but Neera soothed her. “This is my friend, sweetie, let him take you. We have a ship waiting to take you away from here, and he’ll make sure you get there, okay?” The girl finally relented, and McCann took the child carefully. “Get her to the ship,” Neera ordered, and he nodded, making his way back out, along with his remaining team mate. “And then help Delta and Echo with clean-up if they need it,” she added. “Roger.” “Charlie, report.” “Clear, one down. On our way back.” Two casualties. Not bad, Neera thought. Lord Janos would be. . .At that thought she realized that she had forgotten about Janos. “My Lord?” she toggled her mike, but got no response. “Six minutes,” Alpha leader reminded her quietly. She nodded. “Lord Janos?” she called again. Still no answer. She looked at the others. “Orders?” Alpha lead asked. He clearly expected Neera to order them to search for Janos. “When Charlie team arrives, we evac,” she ordered numbly. When the others started to object, she silenced them. “Those were his orders,” she pointed out. “We’ll obey them. As always.” No one said anything else. There was nothing else to say. One minute later, Charlie team in tow, they headed for the surface. -------------------------- The security guard was really a special forces soldier for the Alliance. While the majority of the security were little more than jailers, men like him were there for times such as this. He wasn’t sure what was going on down in the facility. He hadn’t been able to raise security, or anyone else, in several minutes. He was about to head down when he heard several people running in his direction, up the hallway. Withdrawing to the shadows, he waited. If they were friendly, he would find out what was happening. If they weren’t. . . . He hefted his heavy rifle. --------------------- Neera had been the first in. She was the last out. With one last backward glance, hoping against hope to see a large figure running to catch them, she started for the ship. Delta and Echo reported that the perimeter was secure. No one had escaped. She hadn’t gotten far, though, when a hammer blow struck her squarely between the shoulder blades. Before she could wonder what it had been, the ground came up and hit her. And she knew no more. -------------------------- “Where’s Jayne?” Mal demanded as the last of the teams boarded. The ship’s engines were screaming, Harry ready to lift off on a second’s notice. “He ain’t comin’,” one of them said stiffly, emotions under taunt control. “Where’s Neera?” Mal bellowed next. The others looked around, surprised. Before they could decided what had happened, Mal was outside. He could see a form on the ground as he neared the facility. Suddenly he saw movement, and fired, his gun never rising above his hip. Caught by surprise, the SF soldier never fired. Mal’s bullet, a golden BB, found a chink in his armor, and killed him before he hit the ground. Mal kept running, falling to Neera’s side. “Neera!” “What you doin. . .” Neera tried to demand, but couldn’t. Blood bubbled from her mouth. “Hush now,” Mal ordered. “You can be mad at me later. Long. . .” he grunted with the exertion of throwing her over his shoulder. “Long as you don’t bite.” He started back to the ship, struggling under her weight. “Damn, you’re a big girl for your age,” he complained. He thought she tried to say something, but couldn’t make it out. As he staggered to the ramp, willing hands relieved him of her weight. Mal yelled at Zoe; “Get us outta here, Zo’!” The ship shuddered slightly, then shot away from the ground like the rocket it nearly was. A minute later the sky behind them was lit up, as the last facility of the Project was closed. Permanently. ------------------------ Dawn brought light upon a new geographical feature on the surface of Londinium. A massive crater, some two kilometers in size. Rumors abounded as to the source of the crater. Early speculation was that a meteor had somehow entered the atmosphere undetected, striking the rural area where the crater was found. Later on, conspiracy theorists would tout their beliefs that some secret government weapons lab had suffered a catastrophic accident. Whatever the cause, all agreed that is was fortunate, indeed, that it had happened so far from populated areas of the planet. The crater was inside a wildlife reserve, the area unused for the most part by anything but wildlife. In unrelated news, reports of a dramatic increase in missing persons reports went almost unnoticed.