The last person to expect to take someone down in hand to hand was Luna, but the former researcher had managed to take the Adda by surprise and knocked him unconscious with the rifle she had managed to acquire.

Almost at once the two agents began to the check the unconscious Adda for gear. The brunette immediately when for his communicator and began to adjust it.

Minerva on the hand went for Gaist’s pistol. It was a stunner, a particularly short range one, but it was still a weapon.

Minerva also pocketed the keys, They went back to the labs? Minerva shook her head. The android is enough sadly. It was aware of me last time and brought reinforcements not that it need them. It quite dangerous on its own. The young woman looked over at her partner as Luna pointed down at her belt at some things that could level the playing field for the Directorate.

The EMP might work. Though we would have to catch the android while its powered up. It seems to spend most of its time in standby. Thinking about it a little harder. We may need to use the chaff as soon as that thing starts up to buy us time.

What was that hiccup? The scenario froze … Fafner was not great with this sort of stuff, he was not bad though. He may have been immune to his father's tampering but this was Minerva's mind and not his own. He had found something, something his father had left for him to find … yes a means of an explanation as it showed that Aegir had placed some sleeper defenses in her head, possibly triggered when she was confined or rather soon there after.

He could only guess at that though that was the only matter that made some sense. He had wondered why it had not triggered sooner though but seeing that his mental abilities were less advanced and everything was working now he would proceed with matters.

Luna nodded. “There are the cameras too but there is a blind point too. I doubt that they are being monitored but just encase they are I propose that one of us hits the security room and deals with anyone there then the other takes out that machine ...”

She pauses as she considers. “Your better with hand to hand and I'm guessing I'm better with tech. If I get surprise I'm pretty certain I can get the security chamber secured. Also, there are vents in the corridor that you could use … only smaller ones go into the rooms but the larger ones will let you move through the halls and get the drop on the machine.

“Or I could go deal with the machine. In any case once security is knocked out we can send the other a comm that it's clear to go.

“Sound good?”

Minerva nodded at the thought about the security room, Luna was probably right. There is probably no one monitoring the cameras in front of the lab and in the lab. I think we should hit the security room just to be safe. You might be able to lock down corridors from there as well.

I would rather be the one that goes into the lab, it is my sister after all. And the red head was going to make sure her sister was rescued. The vents are a good idea, I could probably drop one of those grenades to right on that machine and disable it in one go. Definitely better than trying to face it up close.

That sounds like this will work. Be careful out there. And always keep an watch your back!

“Got it.” There was no argument there. One things sounded good to her. She was better trained with electronics and technology then actual combat though she went through basic training. The security room set her at her element.

Another matter was that she was out ranked now due to her demotion.

The two got into position, Minerva taking to the vents and Luna using her meager stealth skills to get to security. No one was alerted or looking for her so in such a case she did reasonably well. There was someone at security though they weren't paying too much attention. He was easy for her tot take out contacting Minerva as soon as she got to work.

She could see the machine. It was stationary stating there in the hall though it's head swiveled once as Adda security passed by some distance away hearing them as those patrolling the ship were not particularly quiet. They were not particularly noisy though two at least were speaking with one another.

Shortly after her communicator crackle to life. Luna's voice chimed in and was low.

“OK, I'm in. Let's give it a few. Two security guards just swept by … OK their heading East now. This ship is archaic when it comes to security though. There are a few cameras and I can lock and unlock doors too … about as sophisticated as it gets are the force fields where I can cut off the labs from the rest of the ship, I guess in the event of a quarantine. Trying to access the lab cameras now but having a little trouble with those ones.”

Below the machine looked up to the vent, paused, then looked away returning to stand by mode.

The redhead looked down through the vent. She could see the robot, below seemingly not moving. Then some Adda passed by somewhere chatting as they moved. The robot below suddenly came to life its head moving, tracking the patrol that was further in ship. Eventually though it seemed to lost track of the patrol, and the machine when back to some sort of standby mod patrol, and the machine when back to some sort of standby mode.


She could see the machine. It was stationary stating there in the hall though it's head swiveled once as Adda security passed by some distance away hearing them as those patrolling the ship were not particularly quiet. They were not particularly noisy though two at least were speaking with one another.

It was then that Luna spoke on the communicator. Almost instantly the machine turned and looked up at the vent. Shit. That thing is sensitive. The agent did her best not to move not to make more noise. All she could do is let Luna finish her message. When she did, the robot returned to standby mode. This was bad. Minerva could not respond without alert the machine below.

All the agent could do now is quietly, all so quietly ready the grenade to attempt to disable the machine, but she was going to have to do this slowly and quietly.

Luna understood the silence. The lack of a reply had her looking to the monitors before her and she had noted that the machine reacted probably to the sound. She had been surprised as to how sensitive it was though it did not take things further returning to standby mode and waiting their in the hall.

All she could do is wait to see what transpired next. She had an idea though it would alert the ship or at least a section of it if she could localize matters. With weapons though the Adda were manageable but that machine was going to be the hardest to deal with if it were that alert ...

2169 returned to standby mode. The noise in the events had it processing files on aliens and what limited information it had about the Adda. Vermin picked up from the home world? It was not unheard of and as it “relaxed” Minerva managed to slowly draw out a grenade and arm it though the problem of opening the vent was still an issue particularly if it reacted before she could open up that vent and drop the grenade.

Then a break … Minerva didn't understand the words coming out of the PA system though they sounded metallic like a droid or computer rather than any real emotion though it was fairly loud and repeated itself. There were no alarms though but the repetition of the message stressed the importance of it.

The machine had not reacted outwardly though it ran the words through a translator but seeing as to the fact it had it's orders, from Quebos Balnab none the less it did not react to them at all.

If the machine heard Minerva pulled that the grenade out and arm the device, it simply did not react to it. Now the only thing that stood between the machine and the grenade was a simple vent. But that was going to make noise when the redheaded agent opened it. And given how sensitive the machine was, she was going to have to remove it quickly if she was going to have any chance of dropping it before the machine reacted.

It was then that PA system came to life, giving the agent pause. However instead of alien on the PA system, it was some sort of metallic sound as if it was a computer or another machine speaking. The redhead could not understand what it was saying, only that it seemed to repeat over and over again as the machine stood there.

Now it seemed the agent had time now which meant she could be careful. Slowly she began to move the vent while the PA speaker continued to squawk its strange noise…

She could hear the distant foot falls of the Adda as they hurried someplace. Chances were that they were receiving some sort of orders or an alarm was going off. The machine turn it's head in the direction of the sound though the PA system had been loud enough where she was able to carefully remove that vent.

Looking down into the corridor it appeared clear. The machine had been impassive again simply guarding that door and unaware of her. It did not seem to have any sort of sensors that could pick her up though being a war machine it probably had all sorts of range finders, infrared vision or the like depending how it was used.

It seemed sensitive to sound and probably had great audio sensors but fortunately they could be fooled. With care she was able to get out the grenade and even drop it though as it fell the movement attracted it's attention and it gazed at the falling object to analyze what it was and while it had identified the grenade and the now open vent prior to the grenade hitting the floor Minerva could see some of the lights behind it's face plate come to life as it prepared to fire; first at the grenade then at her.

Maybe it had believed it was a fragmentation grenade and sought to detonate it prematurely, not to protect itself it was not worried about that but to catch her in the blast as well though she would have a great deal of cover there was a change she could be injured by her own weapon.

But as the laser made contact with the grenade it went off though in an unexpected way frying electrical systems. The lights went out in a small area of the hall and she could see the lights behind the face plate go dead. Apparently it had no ion shielding or little of it.

Ducking back as the energy shot forth in all directions Minerva found that the was rather fortunate too. This may have been an older ship but the vents had power cables in them. The crawl space was meant for maintenance work and areas throughout the ship had power running through it from one area to another. The vents were shielded so that if the ship was hit by an EMP pulse it would not fry the vessel completely.

Thus far no one seemed drawn to the area allowing her to get out of the vent unopposed and calculate how best to handle that lab.

Minerva could hear the sounds noise of creatures off in the distance. Based off the heavy foot falls, the redhead could only assume that it was Adda running off in a hurry. The machine seemed to be tracking their movement even though the PA system was still making that strange noise. It must be program to track noises.

The agent looked out the vent and down the corridor, everything seemed to be clear. Even the robot seemed to be looking down the hallway away from the door and the vent that Minerva was staring out of. If there was anytime to go, now was the time!!! The redhead let go of the grenade and began to move back into the vent.

Almost instantly the machine spun around, coming to life as if she had somehow triggered some sort of booby trap. Almost its head spun around and began to track the grenade as it fell to the ground. It was all happening so fast, but for someone as trained as Minerva it seemed that everything had slowed down. She could see a gun move in to position as the machine prepared to intercept the grenade. The redhead continued to try to pull herself back inside the vent, but it seemed so agonizing slow as she could hear the hum of weapon as it prepared to fire.

She was not sure what made the machine decide on this course of action, but she did not want to be hit by the grenade blast when the laser intercepted the falling grenade. The young woman let out a gasp as she try to exhale to make herself thinner and easier to get into the vent.

Almost at once the laser shot out from the machine and hit the grenade. In a big ball of light and energy almost everything else seemed to be drown out. It only lasted for a second but it was enough to plunge everything into darkness.

Fortunately for the redhead she managed to make it back into the vent. With the ventilation system also doubling as housing for the ship’s power cables. As a resulted it was shielded to protecting from EMP effects, solar flares, other problems that one can find in space. So when Minerva finally ducked back down to look, she was happy to find that the vent had shielded from the effects of the grenade, unlike the lights and machine in the hallway.

Now Minerva had no one to interfere with her, she could drop down into the hallway and make her way to the lab.

There had been a slight problem with the door, it was fried too though there was a manual release that could be used to open it. The Adda were moving away from the area and she was able to proceed by cracking that door open. There were lights on the other side that spilled out into the hallway, to no surprise the room beyond had been unaffected just the motion sensor on the door.

There had been a plethora of sounds here, bubbling liquids cooked beneath the flames of Bunsen burners, the sounds and beeps of running machinery that had been hooked up to her sister by electrodes that had been attached to her sister who had been strapped down to a table.

The armored figure of Quebos was here busy recording the figures that he monitored on a datapad. In front of him had been an empty syringe and it looked as if he were preparing some sort of chemical as she arrived.

Clearly she had a few minutes before things were ready, it seemed, though she was no scientist and could not say for certain. It was clear that she was neither too late or arriving in the nick of time.

Neither had seemed to notice her entrance. There had been plenty of machines, tables and the like where she could get cover though Quebos still seemed unarmed given rise to her earlier thoughts that the armor was some sort of environmental suit rather than a combat model though there was a bit more protection than a simple environmental suit, perhaps to protect against explosions and other mishaps.

“Heart rate is accelerated but that is to be expected. We shall begin shortly.”

Minerva quickly made her way to the door and hit a button on a panel nearby. The button did not do anything, a sign that it had been effected by the grenade. The agent tried the button one more time before she began looking for some sort of manual release. Finding one, she pulled the handle, and the door cracked a little. It was enough for the young agent forced the door open with her own body.

Fortunately, the lab seemed to filled with sounds that had masked Minerva’s efforts as she pushed the door open. It sounded like a some sort of horror movie with the was the sounds of bubbling liquids as they cooked. There was sounds of beeps as a machine seemed to be monitoring someone.

The redhead soon spotted her sister, the blue haired girl strapped down to the some sort of table. Ishtar has straps around her ankles and wrists, as well as around her waist. Another strap was placed under her arms but across her chest to keep her pinned to the table. All sort of electrodes were paced on the young woman’s head. Standing above her was Quebos, in his armored suit as he seemed to be focused on something on his datapad.

On a table nearby was some sort of syringe. It was fortunately empty but it appeared the scientist was prepping some sort of chemical to put in the syringe. Not being a scientist herself, the redhead could not tell if he about to do part two of his experiment or if he was just getting started.

The young woman quickly moved into the room as she began to try to figure out how tough was Quebos suit. It seemed to be tough, but not a combat suit. It was more of an environmental suit that seemed to be more armored. She did not know why and could only assume that he was somewhat paranoid. As she positioned herself behind some machinery, she looked on as she tried to look for a switch on the alien’s suit that would turn off most of its equipment. She could not risk him sending out a message again.

Quebos Balnab was focused on Ishtar. A lot of effort had gone into acquiring such a subject as well as money but it had all been worth it in his opinion. Needless to say he had been unaware that there was an agent creeping around though she was sure that her sister had caught glimpse of her as she searched Quebos for a remote, an alarm or anything so she would avoid a repeat of their last encounter.

He had no weapons save for some scalpels and other scientific tools that were too far away, it did not seem as if he had intended to use them. There was the syringe though and though it was empty right now there was no telling what it could be filled with.

A close look of that armor indicated that he was probably paranoid of mishaps though it was likely that it was just a reinforced environmental suit. What sort of being was he? Clearly he had to be an alien and past ADD reports about a Quebos Balnab working with the Zen Knights that her fellow agent Natasha took out. Goro was a minor figure then, a contact … his involvement though with Natasha allowed him to escape from ADD custody and later became this messiah of the Adda people.

She then saw it just there, a device attached to his belt that could readily be removed, probably an alarm of some sort that could be pressed quickly though at the moment she had the drop on him too and the device may not even factor into this matter at all.