Chapter 1

The sound of the passive sensor display, and the hum of other electrical equipment on the bridge of the hovercraft Blue Distortion, broke the silence of the midnight watch. Although the bridge was probably the most organized part of the ship, it looked a bit messy. Some tools scattered here and there, an empty cup belonging to the Captain, and the occasional spare wire on the floor, used in a hurry and left in a busy moment as one problem was solved and the next undertaken. A blue light blinked on the communication station, showing that only one secure line was active, monitoring the Emergency Band, indicating the Captain's and the ship's readiness to respond to a call to the defense of New Zion at a moments notice.The hovercraft, nearing the end of her time in the maintenance dock, was finally in a reasonable state and almost ready for a return to duty as yet another year of war drew to a close.  At the moment, Baby Blue was occupied by two people; the ship's captain, and his female operator. It was an odd situation for a hovercraft to be manned by a skeleton crew in dry dock, but then again, considering that the war had been going on for at least six hundred years with no end in sight, perhaps it was no surprise that from time to time both the crew and the machines that bore them into battle would need time to refit and recharge before returning to the fray. This time the Captain himself, TRX, had needed the break, to rest and mentally recover as he reflected on events in Matrix as well as in the flesh. Most of the crew had been reassigned to other ships, just prior to the refit. Two had elected to stay with the ship as she made her way to dry dock in Zion that fateful June day. The loyal ship's operator, Lyrics, honoring the pact the two warriors had made when TRX ascended to a captaincy and chose Lyrics from among seven eager applicants for the job had elected to stay aboard. The Blue Distortion's chief engineer, Othala, had also committed to stay with her man, despite the recent evolution of their relationship when TRX's blue pill wife, Sandy, who had been discovered to be awaken Zion operative in the SM Network flotilla.
Little did the trio know that they would soon be immersed in the desperate evacuation of Zion to a newly established secret base. Few operatives at the time were aware of the preparations that had been made to create the New Zion base of operations in a strategic and tactically safer location. Commodore Ps10n, commander of the fleet The Brethren to which the Baby Blue belonged, was the exception. Perhaps Ps10n's enigmatic smile as he approved TRX's request for leave and ship refit should have warned TRX that something unusual was in the wind.  Would be just like the Commodore to see threads of destiny converging in order to provide additional transport capability to humanities' last free city at a time of great need, eliciting that enigmatic smile.
Though tired and worn, Blue Distortion and crew would go on to serve with distinction over the next month and a half during the evacuation of Zion. She was among the first of Zion's hovercraft to engage Sentinels since the end of the Truce, and even emerged victorious against Cypherite crewed hovercraft that attempted to impose their will over a free humanity.   During this period TRX and Othala resolved their relationship as they came to grips with the revelation that Sandy had awaken and with Othala finding new love in the form of the free born engineer named T-Fork who worked tirelessly with Othala to keep Baby Blue up and running during the evacuation. With the evacuation complete, Rex and Othala parted as friends and Othala went on to marry T-Fork. Rex was honored to give the bride away at the wedding.
 
Rex and Lyrics were allowed to remain aboard Baby Blue as she refit. Despite the secure defenses of New Zion, newly appointed High Commander Roland, remembering the lesson of the Mjolnir, wasn't about to take any chances and insured that the refitting hovercraft would be a strategic reserve asset and that she had enough mobility and the crew to deliver a EMP pulse if, when and where required. Othala was granted an extended leave to honeymoon with her husband and explore New Zion.
 
And so the months past, perhaps not the most restful R&R for Rex and Lyrics and certainly not the most efficient refit of a hovercraft in the history the of Zion yard dogs, but the work proved therapeutic for the pair and the knowledge that even in dry dock they provided an important defensive contingency for New Zion was a great honor. 
 
The pair normally worked sixteen to eighteen hour days, including a twelve hour watch on the bridge to meet the defensive responsibilities assigned to Blue Distortion, however, the New Zion defenses proved as formidable in reality as they were on paper and Baby Blue was not even called to go light on her pads throughout the long refit. The Captain would stand the day watch while the yard engineers where aboard so that he could coordinate and inspect the work. In the evening, when the yard workers had left Lyrics would take the bridge station. During her watch, Lyrics would often see the Captain on the ship's internal cameras walking around with wrenches, materials, wires or other equipment to do repairs or adjustments that the day's yard work had revealed. Lyrics knew from first hand knowledge that Rex literally knew every nut, bolt, wire and integrated circuit aboard Baby Blue. That level of technical competence had enabled to pair to devise a remote interface that allowed the watch stander to move about the ship instead of being riveted to the bridge. They only used it when the Defensive Condition set by Zion Command was Normal or lower so as not to impact the readiness of Baby Blue to respond. As a result the change of watch usually occurred in the ship's mess rather then the bridge itself so that the two warriors could exchange notes and plans for the day.
 
Things had been going well for many months, but in the last week the Captain had become remote. They hadn't spoken to each other very much in the past week. Her captain had been avoiding conversations except if or when absolutely necessary.
Not a word more.
He would say "Good morning" at breakfast, go about his daily work, and finally "Good night" when he went to sleep.
Occasionally he would issue an order or ask a question, but that had become the exception rather then the rule.
Normally Lyrics wasn't a person that would get cranky easily, but on the other hand, she needed a good atmosphere around her. Given the two normally had a very good working relationship, and could really discuss matters with each other with all due respect, made the situation that much harder to bear.
 
After three days she started to get a little cranky and resentful. Finally the dam broke after a week, and an argument ensued at watch change that evening. She had lost it and crossed the line, by badmouthing him in a heated discussion, in a way that made it personal. Not at all displaying the respect an operator should show her Captain.
 
TRX would have been entirely within his rights to have given her the consequences for her insubordination but instead realizing his remoteness in the past week and the grueling nature of their schedule simply sadly responded.
 
"Thank you for your disrespectfulness, Lyrics...  I am going to pretend you didn't just say that to me.  I'm going to my cabin to get some sleep. I hope for your sake, that when I see you in the morning, you will have lost this nasty attitude you just pulled on me."
 
That night the midnight watch was especially long. Lyrics sat at her bridge station, trying to distract herself by playing through a complicated chess problem with pieces and board she had made herself, while monitoring the Emergency Band. The exercise was of no avail, she continued to replay the argument in her mind wishing she could retract those words.
 
Finally the long watch drew to a close.  Quickly she typed some commands on her keyboard, and removed some rubbish around her workstation picking up the remote headset and headed to the mess for the change of watch. The exact timing of the watch change was flexible as their schedules would overlap in the mess by anywhere between half an hour and two hours depending on what was going to happen during the day. The only requirement that the Captain set would be that the change occurred before the yard dogs arrived for the day and then again after they left.
 
Lyrics walked through the narrow corridors to the mess, arriving before her Captain. Opening a cabinet, she removed a tin can, and poured herself a little bit of liquid fire made famous by Dozer the venerated pilot of the Nebuchadnezzar.
 
"Cheers", she whispered to herself before she took a shot of the strong substance, making a face as if she had just taken a bite out of a lemon. She couldn't resist letting out a "phfoohh" after she slammed it.
 
Next, as was her custom, she made some coffee, on a weird jury-rigged coffee machine that made a sound as if it were protesting against the fact that the universe existed at all. Just in time as things turned out because she could hear some grumpy mumblings and her Captain's footsteps in the corridor.

"Good Morning, Lyrics.... How did the watch go" said TRX in a neutral tone, as he stepped through the doorway and seeing that she had made him the traditional cup of black goop that passed for coffee in the Real.
 
"Good Morning Cap.... It was absolutely the worst watch I have ever stood.... I'm sorry T... I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, and I....."

TRX gently interrupted her: "Listen Lyrics, I appreciate the fact you are sorry for the things you said to me. You should be considering that you were way out of line there. But, I do understand why. I haven't been Mr. Sunshine this past week and I didn't give you the attention you deserve. Actually, I'm a little glad that you did stand up to me, because if you don't do that, whom else is going to do it?"
 
Lyrics smiled while giving TRX a cup of 'coffee'.

"Thanks T, you always make me feel better at the right moments. By the way, what was reason you were keeping your distance? You aren't usually an introvert"
 
TRX hesitated a moment, and then started explaining.

"About a week and a half ago I received a transmission from Niobe's second mate, Merrit, aboard the hovercraft Logos II.  I personally took the call, as you were freshening up before dinner at the time. She updated me on the tactical situation in the Matrix and how she needed all the help she could assemble. We need to get back in the saddle, Lyrics and soon. She said that I would have about a week to get Blue Distortion ready for action. At that point I was to rendezvous with Captain Niobe in a downtown office building near the South Vauxton Central hardline for further orders. Merrit also informed me that Othala was being recalled to duty and will be assigned to us within the same time frame."
 
"As you know with the end of the Truce, extraction operations have become much more dangerous. Merrit informed me that we should be prepared to recruit a bluepill from somewhere near the Kedemoth Central hardline where an extraction point is being set up."
 
"So for the last week I have worked very hard on tweaking the ship to bring us up to 110% readiness. That isn't exactly my favorite pastime and I will certainly be happy to see Othala back at her post to handle the task in future.... She really is a genius at troubleshooting and maintenance"

"I decided to work hard at it, and let you know we were going to be on active duty again the day I finished the job."

"Yesterday I finished, I am scheduled to jack in tomorrow at 19:00 hrs."

"That means you need to tweak the operation station today after you get some shuteye. Get a good six hours sleep, that way the yard dogs and I can help you before they go off shift. After that I will cook dinner for us and then we can make our way to the provisioning dock to get supplied for our mission tomorrow."

The work outlined by the Captain was completed as planned. Everything that could cause a possible conflict while jacked in was checked and double checked. System improvements were implemented and updates performed.
 
After dinner the pair of warriors made their way to the bridge, the Captain settling into the helm seat while Lyrics took the communication station. The excitement and fire was evident in their eyes as they ran through the checklist that would bring Blue Distortion light on her pads and set them on a course to harms way to fight the good fight.
 
"Ok .. Lyrics, All buckled up?"

Lyrics responded with a strong and precise "Affirmative" followed by a "Let's stick it to them" as her Captain pulled up on the collective and Man and Machine leapt into the air eager for the game.

Chapter 2


The flight to the provisioning dock was only a short hop. After receiving clearance from the harbor master, TRX maneuvered Blue Distortion with a practiced and skillful hand smoothly into position next to the flagship of Commander Vesuveus also waiting for replenishment.

Lyrics, carrying a few bags de-barked the hovercraft, as TRX completed the post-flight shutdown checklist before making his way to his own cabin to collect his belongings. Judging from the queue at the dock it looked like they would have a several hours to kill.

As TRX descended the hovercraft's main access ramp he saw Lyrics talking with Hern21, an operative from the craft next to theirs. I second later Hern21 noticed the debonair Captain descending and forgetting his conversation with Lyrics practically shouted out with excitement:

"T.. oh my God man... how good to see you!  How are ya bro?"

They shook hands while their left hands slapped each other on the upper arm.

"Hern buddy. Been too long since the last time we met!  I'm good man thanks, how about yourself dude?  I see you didn't stop working out man, you look good!"

Hern21's appearance was indeed impressive. About the same height as TRX, but twice as wide, with arms as strong as a bear, almost white blond hair, and very bright albino-like blue eyes. He had recruited TRX about 3 years back, and played a big part in his awakening. He had also been instrumental in arranging a position in the top crew of the RSITemplars, TRX's first faction.

They had been good friends ever since, even when that faction disbanded after a year. The faction leader, WaterDragon, taught TRX everything there is to know about the Matrix, and also provided excellent training on how to be a good captain. After only four months with the faction TRX was promoted to captain of the hovercraft, RSIGuardian.

Because of Hern's many different duties outside the matrix, the two friends sometimes didn't see each other very much, but when they did meet in the Matrix, they had very good times working together.

"So, TRX. Where the hell have you been man? I missed ya." said Hern as he continued pounded him on his shoulder.

TRX's grin broadened, as he replied:  "Well you know me man. Once in a while I just take a long vacation"

At that moment a young man walked up to the trio and interrupted  their conversation: "I'm sorry to interrupt Sir, your commander Ps10n sent me to tell you he is at the Communication Centre next to Headquarters, and would like you to meet with him. Sir, he also told me to say: Welcome back".

TRX tapped the man on the shoulder. "Tell him I'll meet him in exactly one hour at the mess hall for a drink and a sit-down"

Instead of leaving immediately, the young fellow hesitated shyly, like he wanted to ask something. TRX noticed and asked if there was anything else.

Clearly nervous, the young man gathered his courage and after a second finally found some words: "Sir? I wanted to ask you if you would have a position for me, on your crew. I'm good at decrypting codes and messages. I know your operator is one of the best, so I would like to learn the profession on your ship with Lyrics' guidance."

TRX and Lyrics made eye contact and seeing her little smile matched it with one of his own.

Returning his attention to the messenger, TRX and said: "If Lyrics wants to teach you, I have no objection. By the way, what's your name and how old are you?"

"My name is Linotype, Sir. I am 19 years old." said the now very excited and hopeful young man.

TRX turned his head to Lyrics and asked her what she thought.

Lyrics, a professional look on her face, carefully examined Linotype from head to toe.  She saw a young man with  messy hair, brown eyes,  and though of slender of build and slight of stature he stood straight, and seemed relaxed even though a bit nervous.

Lyrics stepped forward in his direction, tilted her head a little and said: "Why don't you come over to the mess hall too in an hour, so we can talk about it and learn a little more about you.  Sound good?"

The Linotype's expression clearly began to shine.

Hern21 choose this moment to enter the conversation. With a serious look on his face, he asked:  "Are you sure kid? These people are nuts."

When he saw the startled Linotype look at TRX and Lyrics with both eyebrows up, he couldn't help laughing and said: "Nah man. I'm just playing with ya".

Lino smiled, glad that he at least had a chance to get on Blue Distortion.

TRX laughed, clapping Hern on the shoulder, and told him: "Some things never change Hern, you still are a good icebreaker."

"Well Linotype", TRX said, "We will see you in an hour, and I think it's clear that it would be best if you are there on time."

Linotype thanked everyone and promised to be on time. You could see in his walk, that he was proud, as he left in the direction of the Headquarters to deliver the message to Ps10n.

After a little more chitchat, TRX and Hern made an appointment to meet in the Matrix in two days. Then saying their goodbyes, they headed off in separate directions.

Lyrics, walking with TRX as they headed for the housing complex commented:  "Rex, We will see, but that Linotype kid seems nice."

Finally reaching his quarters, TRX dropped his bags in his home on the ninth floor, second door at the right, of the tall building like structure of the housing complex. He walked over to the corner that had a cabinet. Opening the cabinet, he took out a small iron box with a lock.  The lock opened with a key that was hidden in the cabinet. He next opened the box, taking out a necklace with hanger that suspended a small piece of metal, shaped into an oval bearing an engraved "T". He held the necklace in his hand for a minute, and then slipped it around his neck.

He took off his boots and lay down on his bed and exercising that time old skill of warriors and captains alike; catnapping, catching that moment of rest during downtimes as one never knew when next a time for sleep might arise. As he drifted to sleep he reflected on how good it was to be back but mostly images of his wife Sandy as a bluepill and later as the redpill operative Tr1ck5 flashed through his mind. Something at once lost and then found again. On the periphery of these scenes were pictures of the former Zion Captain Conrac and the Zion operative Covenant, two men instrumental in re-uniting him with his ex-wife.

After precisely thirty-five minutes TRX awoke refreshed and pulled on his boots. Smoothing his clothes and double checking his look in the mirror he exited his apartment and made his way to the fleet Headquarters and his meeting with commander Ps10n.



Chapter 3


Commodore Ps10n sat at a table in the dockside mess hall near the Zion Headquarter complex with two of his other captains, Minuend and Morphesu. The Commodore was pleased that fate had arranged for the captains of The Brethren to be in New Zion on the day that one of their own returned to active duty. A Captain's Council was definitely in order so that hard won knowledge of conditions in this new hot war Zion found herself in could be passed on, first hand, to the returning TRX.

Although Morphesu was the youngest captain of the faction, he certainly carried his share of responsibility for successful fleet operations. He was a tenacious survivor, who had learned to use his youthful appearance to his advantage. Many an enemy made the mistake of underestimating the dynamic Morphesu one second, only to find themselves devastated by a flurry of punches delivered with a machine-gun like staccato the next.

Not only did Minuend bring a woman's perspective to the Brethren's Council, but an analytic mind blessed with intuition that reveled in the detection of hidden messages and the crypto-analysis of enemy codes. In Matrix she used her agile mind to "hack" the simulation code on the fly, delivering massive attacks to her enemies and enhancements to her friends.

The reason the captains of The Brethren got along so well, was the sometimes strange humor they all shared. Outsiders often didn't understand that humor, resulting in hilarious situations sometimes. Yes, they were all like family to each other.

Also at the table was Rage. He had also been detailed to help in the establishment of New Zion and the evacuation of Zion. In fact he had built a reputation for begin an adroit combat pilot with a steady hand under pressure. He was an old friend of TRX, and PS10n had invited him to this meeting as a possible pilot candidate for Blue Distortion.

Rounding out the meeting were Lyrics and Linotype, sitting at a nearby table, already in deep discussion about the science and art of being a ship's operator and Blue Distortion's idiosyncrasies.                                                        

As if synchronized, they all looked at the entrance when TRX walked in the busy mess hall. As he approached the table the assembled Brethren stood and gave him a warm welcome. Ps10n's friendly bear hug almost broke a rib and Morphesu's traditional dap was a choreographed mini sparring match with both sides making the proscribed moves with precision and panache.  Minuend's hug lacked the rib breaking enthusiasm of the Commodore's but ended with a gentle and friendly kiss on the cheek. Rage's handshake was firm with a smile that lit his face and eyes. One look at the huge grin on Linotype face and the twinkle in Lyrics' eyes that accompanied the nod of her head told him that Baby Blue had a new backup operator.

"Welcome back TRX" said Ps10n with a big smile.

The emotions on TRX's face were very readable as he answered: "Thanks, it's good to be back Sir"

Ps10n's grin said it all: "At ease captain. Don't you "Sir" me right now. I'm glad you are in one piece. You have been missed here. Lets all take a seat."

There was a silence at the table for a minute as they sat down.

TRX broke the silence, saying: "I missed you all too."

Morphesu couldn't help remarking with a wink: "Ok guys, let's cut this mushy crap and get down to business. We ain't got a lot of time here."  To which everyone chuckled.

Taking his cue, Ps10n started the meeting.

"TRX, I assume Merrit filled you in about the current situation. We are all glad you are back, because there are rough times ahead of us. We need every captain, operative and support person on duty. I had a brief talk with Niobe, who also by the way is glad you are back. However, don't be surprised when she starts giving you a lecture. She's quite aggravated you have been out for too long. Don't worry though, it will be fine. Just don't go smartass on her, because she will beat the living daylight out of you", ended Ps10n with a wink.

TRX laughed like a man with a tooth-ache, who was anticipating a painful visit to the dentist: "I will remember that Ps1"

And then, with more good natured humor in his voice: "By the way, Rage, I didn't see you for so long. I began to think you took the blue pill or something. Good to see you man."

Ps10n told TRX why he had invited Rage, and strongly advised to give him the position as a pilot on Blue Distortion. TRX didn't have to think twice about that, and so the deal was made. Seeing that TRX was quickly composing an e-mail notification for the Zion Fleet Personnel Division to announce the crew change, Lyrics confirmed what her Captain had surmised about the suitability of Linotype as a backup operator and her willingness to train him.  TRX smiled at his operator's thoughtfulness in saving him a bit of paperwork and quickly amended the notification to include Linotype as well.

With those formalities out of the way, Rage elected to return to the hovercraft to perform his own inspection of the engine, the ignition, and the controls. TRX smiled knowing he had made the right choice. Lyrics and Linotype also choose to begin some hands-on training aboard Baby Blue, knowing they would hear the Captain's own brief on the upcoming mission just before he jacked in.  

Once things settled down again Ps10n continued: "Rex, when you received the name of the blue pill you are suppose to recruit. Did the name ring a bell?"

TRX replied: "It sounded familiar, but I can't really pinpoint who he is."

Ps10n looked TRX seriously in the eyes and asked: "Do think again TRX."

Dutifully TRX ran the blue pill's name, Alex Preston, by his memory of his blue pill life again. He suddenly remembered a man that he had worked with for several years. Those were painful times, so perhaps it was not surprising the connection had slipped his mind as he didn't like to dwell on that particular portion of his history. Alex, it turned out, had been a support to him, during the miserable events that took place during that time and which eventually lead to TRX's awakening. As he remembered those events over two long years ago he lost himself in the memories.

As a bluepill TRX was known as Markus Parker. He had met a lovely woman named, Sandy <<Maiden name here>> and despite the stress of living paycheck to paycheck in an unforgiving world their mutual passion buoyed them to new heights. Despite their deep love for one another; there were problems, as he could never seem to except the world about them.  He would share these feelings with her which she would dismiss as harmless conspiracy theories. The people around them viewed him as a bit of a lunatic and as word of these theories of his passed among his associates the couple began to encounter hard times. He lost his brother who shared his theories, and then soon afterward, his job, when an embezzlement scandal rocked the department he managed. Without two steady incomes the couple lost their home as well. Times where stressful, and he continued to espouse an organization known as the Matrix had it in for him and was the root of their problems.

The couple argued as passionately as they made love. One night after an especially nasty argument, Sandy stormed out of their rundown apartment in Eshean Projects in a fit of temper. That was the last straw for him, at that point he thought he had lost the one thing that really had any meaning to him and this prompted him to put his beliefs to the acid test. TRX rose out of the ashes of Markus Parker's blue pill life. Having lost everything, he never felt the need to look back, He embraced the life of a Zion operative, attempting to move on and making a commitment to himself to bring truth to the world he once knew.  

About a year ago, fourteen months to the day after the fateful night that TRX was born, he learned Sandy's side of the story. She was the first to admit that perhaps she let her temper rage for longer then was prudent as the heat of that terrible argument lingered for several days.  When she returned to the apartment, he was gone. She only found a post-it on the fridge with the words: "It's true, this world is a lie. I'm deeply sorry".

She anxiously waited the mandatory very long 24 hours hoping that he would return before filing a missing persons report. She then endured the bureaucratic meandering of a police department who had little intention of solving another missing person's case in the gang infested slums. That was when she took matters into her own hands and began a fourteen month investigation of her beloved husband's whereabouts. During this investigation she stumbled on strange people and found out about the Matrix, especially after being locked up in a cell for a day and a night and by someone in a black suit, telling her to stop her investigation. With all leads exhausted and hoping against hope that Markus had preceded her into the Matrix by taking the red pill she taken a red pill of her own.

Sandy took the name of Tr1ck5 as her red pill handle, and continued the search for her missing husband in Matrix. Alas, a Cypherite attack on the Zion Mainframe had left the personnel database in disarray. Even with this setback, Trixie refused to give up and enlisted her Captain, Conrac, to aid in her search. The pair came up with places that Markus might visit and posted them on an electronic bulletin board along with a reward for information as to his whereabouts.

An operative named Covenant and his operator Variel took an interest in the case. They were literally searching for a needle in a haystack. The resolute pair, put in long hours tracking down the various leads until one day atop the monolithic Ascension Monument, Covenant found Trixie's missing husband.
The information was relayed to Conrac, who it turned out counted TRX as a friend and a meeting was arranged in Club Paradise Lost to reunite the couple.  Sadly, as TRX had found a new love in his red pill life the reunion was a bittersweet one.
The sound of Ps10n's snapping fingers several inches in front of his face brought him back from the past. Concerned with TRX's far off gaze, Ps10n asked his captain: "TRX, are you ok? Do you remember now who Alex Preston is?"
TRX swallowed the lump in his throat and told his commander that Preston had been a supportive and helpful in the his blue pill life when  he lost his brother and even resigned his own job in protest when TRX was fired from the department they both worked in.
Ps10n smiled and told TRX it came to the surface that Preston had been seeking answers to Marcus Parker's whereabouts and was on the verge of discovering the Matrix. The job of recruiting Preston and leading him to an extraction point was tailor made for TRX.
"Well TRX,  not many of us get the chance to recruit some one from our blue pill past, and return the favor of helping them out of trouble and supporting them",  Ps10n said with a twinkle in his eye.
He continued informing TRX: "So what we did.  We sent one of our operatives to meet him twice and carefully gave him some clues you were very much alive, and made an appointment to meet with you. The operative also gently gave him a little bit of information to think about, concerning the Matrix. You are a person he trusted, and what better person to send then you to guide him to the truth and awaken him. Now, I'm giving an order to get about 6 hrs of sleep in your quarters and after you met Niobe at South Vauxton Central go to Kedemoth central, to the closest bar near the hardline at exactly 20:15 hrs to meet with Preston."

TRX stood up from his chair: "I will fulfill this order with the outmost pleasure Ps10n".  


*** Authors note: Trixie's search and reunion with her husband in Club Paradise Lost was played out as an MxO player event and can be found described at the URL:

http://forums.station.sony.com/mxo/...id=36300008394.

This event was won by the patient and resourceful Zion operative Covenant, who received a reward of $10.000.000 credits or info as the Matrix online currency is called


Chapter 4


TRX woke after exactly six hours of refreshing sleep. Within seconds of leaving his bed, his door buzzer sounded. Making his way to the door, he opened it to find Lyrics wearing fresh clothing and carrying an overstuffed duffle bag with a shirt end peaking out of one end.  

Taking in TRX's messed up hair she smiled, and simply asked, "You ready T?"

Aware of his appearance, the direction of her graze and the fact that he was being teased, TRX mustered up as much dignity as he could manage, saying:  

"Do I look like I am ready?", before breaking down and joining his operator in a hearty laugh.

"Ok Lyrics, you go on ahead and meet up with Rage. Assign him to cabin 4 and let him get settled in there. In the meantime I'll pick up that operator student of yours. He seemed like he was hanging on every word you said from what little I saw in the mess hall.  Are his parents filled in?"

"Yes, Last night before I showed Lino around Baby Blue we went to meet them. They are of course concerned for his safety as any parent would be in time of war, but very proud he has made the choice to actively defend New Zion.  Very nice folks, they offered to make the crew dinner the next time we are in New Zion"

"Oh that is nice of them, where can I find him?"

"While I chatted with his parents, Lino packed up his kit. We dropped the bags at the hovercraft last night. He said that he would be in the chill room on the 12th floor of this housing complex today saying goodbye to some friends.  I guess he is there now."

"Ok thanks, I'll correct my hair and collect him right away. I also dropped my gear off last night before I went to sleep. Uhmm, one more thing though, Linotype will be your responsibility.  I advise you to not let him do any work this evening, let him settle, explain some stuff and let him watch. Also explain the rules and watch schedule we keep aboard ship and so forth.  Ok? Oh and while you're at it, contact the Logos II and tell Niobe I'm on my way."

Lyrics responded with a crisp, "Yes sir!" and went about her tasks.  

About ten minutes later TRX boarded his vessel with Linotype. He first assigned him a cabin, then suggested that if he hadn't had something to eat this morning that be a good idea to stop in the mess before reporting to Lyrics at the broadcast station. With that said TRX shook Lino's hand with a smile and officially welcomed the operator trainee aboard Blue Distortion and then departed for the bridge.

As his Captain departed, Linotype glanced around his new home deciding how to arrange his belongings. He was excited about the adventure that had just begun and proud that he was found worthy and selected for training, but admittedly a bit nervous as well. After he put his things where he wanted them he took one last look before making his way to the mess hall for a quick bite before they got underway.

On the bridge TRX was chatting with Rage, in the manner pilots for a thousand years have about the little flaws of the machine they were about fly and what one could expect behavior-wise across the vessel's performance envelope. Rage had already settled in his cabin, and was clearly motivated to pilot the vessel.

"Sir, it's an honor to work on your ship after our long friendship in the Matrix."

"No Rage, the honor is mine" said TRX with a wink and smile.

As the scheduled time of departure approached everybody settled into their stations, TRX and Rage on the bridge and Lyrics with Linotype on the broadcast deck. Rage requested permission to leave through his headset and got clearance to leave through Gate 5. Rage brought the hovercraft light on her pads and with a smooth pull on the controls slowly lifted off and headed in direction of the gate.

At the broadcast station Lyrics began teaching Lino the do's and don'ts of  the operator's position drawing on both what was laid down in "The Book" but heavily interlaced with practical experience that she had learned on the job.

They departed New Zion without any problems, and the silent running to broadcast depth was fortunately uneventful. With the end of the truce, sentinels were once again actively hunting Zion's fleet.

Upon reaching broadcast depth, Rage began searching for a sheltered nook in which to hide Baby Blue from any sentinel patrols that might overfly the area. Soon finding a place near a mechanical line he gently and skillfully set the hovercraft down under cover.

Once the hovercraft was secured, TRX made his way down to the broadcast theater and took his place in his large interface chair. Lyrics assisted her Captain, while Linotype watched with interest. She double checked all the status displays, as she removed the interface cable from the chair's storage compartment and seeing all indicators were reading green inserted the pin into the back of TRX's head with practiced ease.

As TRX had not jacked in for some time, the insertion of the interface pin was a bit uncomfortable. Lyrics, having preprogrammed the interface, initiated the sequence that would send the Captain to the South Vauxton Central hard-line, a phone booth in the relatively dangerous Downtown section of the Megacity.

.
As TRX's mind adjusted to the data feed, his avatar slowly morphed into his residual self image near the phone booth in South Vauxton. As an experienced operative he did an automatic scan of the immediate area looking for any glitches or something out of the ordinary that would indicate lurking danger. With everything looking clear, he took an equipment inventory at which point he took his cell phone and called Lyrics, "Uhmm Hun? Why didn't you load the PDA I normally have in my coat? Now I can't open my map display. You will have to direct me to the building where I need to meet Niobe."

"It seems there has been a glitch when loading you equipment Sir, but no worries, I'll lead you to it. Ok, I have the local map up on my data display. To your right the street dog legs to the right, there should be a parking lot on the right. There is a building facing the street and the parking lot. You will need to go around that building and into the building behind for your rendezvous."

"Ok, thanks"

The moment TRX terminated the call; Lyrics saw activity in the code indicating there was an agent nearby. She immediately tried calling TRX back, but only got a busy tone. "D*mn we are being jammed!" she exclaimed to Linotype as both operators watched the drama unfolding and willed their Captain to notice the approaching danger.


TRX unaware of the unfolding situation crossed the street when he reached the parking lot. His intention was to take the alley on the right side of the facing building in order to bypass it and arrive at the designated destination.  As he walked into the alley, he was surprised to find an Agent within hand-to-hand range blocking his path. The Agent, straightened his cuff-links, and flexed his virtual muscles as he greeted TRX with "Hello, Mister Parker" before immediately attacking the surprised Zionist.

This particular agent was well know to the operatives of Zion, as Agent Brown, and while not the most formidable of the Agents arrayed against the forces of Zion he was more then able to take on and defeat the most skillful warriors Zion could field in one-to-one combat. TRX was a good fighter, but not yet in the top tier of Zion's elite, though each time he entered the Matrix he learned a little more about manipulating the code and intensifying his attack and defense capabilities. Just as in the time Neo, an operative's best tactic in such a one on one confrontation was to flee. The difference in the post-Neo era was the ability to "hyper-jump" that Neo had mastered and passed on was commonly in the repertoire of most operatives training after only a short time within the Matrix. For some reason, most agents had not learned this capability, so one or two successive hyper-jumps were sufficient to break a hot pursuit. The difficulty was an operative needed to gather him or herself before launching themselves into the ballistic trajectory that would quickly carry them to safety.

TRX, surprised, did not have the necessary time to launch himself to safety, but his combat instincts were still with him as he used the force of the Agents attack against him, causing Agent Brown to momentary become un-balanced giving TRX a slight temporary advantage. The Agent's off-balance follow up punch was easily blocked setting Brown up for a powerful right-handed uppercut, known as a guard breaker move, seemingly delivered in slow motion as TRX's heighten combat senses kicked in.  Against another operative with about the same combat ability such a solid strike would be enough to give a TRX an advantage for the rest of the fight, if not down the opponent outright. Not so against this formidable adversary, never-or-less, the strike did knock Brown to the ground which was just the opening TRX needed to roll away, gather himself and leap to the roof of the building he had meant to bypass.

TRX's landing was picture perfect and by "the Book", the force of the landing absorbed as he went down on one knee, one fist touching the rooftop as a slight seismic wave rippled the roof structure transferring the energy of the jump to the building. The Agent had recovered quickly from the knockdown and tried to bring down the fleeing operative with his semi-automatic pistol, but to no avail. TRX, gunshots echoing in his ears, heart pounding with the adrenaline rush, quickly got his bearing and sprinted for the edge of the roof so that he could leap the 20 meters or so to the destination building. Ducking behind a roof-top shed structure containing the roof access stairwell, TRX pulled out his cell phone and contacted Lyrics as he opened the shed door and raced down the stairs.

Lyrics had not been idle as Rex was fighting for his life, She had managed to readjust the signal strength and burn through the jamming she first encountered when trying to warn her Captain.  When her Captain called she was ready with the information he needed as she answered:  "T, run down the stairway until you reach a brown door on the third floor, enter it, close it and then wait!"

TRX found the door half way down the stairway, entered and immediately closed it behind him while still holding his cell to his ear. Lyrics staying with Rex, told him to have a little patience and to wait for one minute. After a minute she said "Ok Sir, you lost him, the Agent has left the immediate area. Move toward the end of the hallway behind you, take the elevator to the top floor."

TRX, racing heart slowing to a normal pulse rate, walked with a firm and steady cadence down the hallway and took the elevator.

Lyrics continued providing directions "Sir, as you get out of the elevator, there will be wide doors in the middle of the big hallway, that's where Niobe is waiting, in the office behind it."

"Thank you Operator, I'll call you back later", TRX closed his cell phone as he walked down the big hallway, decorated with suits of medieval armor, pushed the wide doors open, and entered the office.

As he entered the room he saw Niobe standing at the big picture windows with First Mate Ghost beside her, Liaison Officer Merrit was slightly to the left nearer the corner of the room.

Niobe said, "Just in time Captain.  Say, you're eyes look like you just walked out of the wilderness".

TRX chuckled and replied, "Greetings Captain Niobe." He tipped his hat to Ghost and Merrit while saying their names.

TRX continued, "I was hardly jacked in at the central hard line, when I ran into Agent Brown in the ally on my way here."  Followed by a grin, "But I managed to let him eat my dust".

The corner of Niobe's mouth lifted a little, "Well TRX, at least you haven't lost your skills, after five months of sitting on your *ss!"
 
TRX moved closer to the Logos II crew, as he thought to himself, "Well, I guess I had that coming".

Niobe continued, clearly not satisfied with TRX's long vacation "What part of the rules that state the maximum leave is three months did you not understand Captain? And not to rub your face in the dirt too much, but, this is second time you have done so."

When TRX took too long to answer, she punctuated her point by stepping into his space and piercing him with her gaze. The fact that she had to look up at him, in no way minimized the power of her presence in such close proximity as she firmly promised, "If there is a third time, you can count on Zion command to take your vessel from you, as well as your Captain status for a while. Is that understood, Rex?"

Just before answering her question TRX caught Merrit in the corner of his eyes, having a hard time not laughing at TRX, because of the expression on his face.

"Roger that Captain", he said while trying not to think of Merrit as she turned to face the window and cleared her throat. Ghost was looking at the toe of his shoe and coughed, also amused.

Niobe said with slight smile "Good! Welcome back then." as she straighten Rex's tie.

TRX now feeling a little more comfortable, responded, "Thank you Niobe. Uhmmm, I guess you didn't get me here just to bite me did you?", as he took a cigarette and lit up with a Zippo.

Niobe sighed, "Nah. I wish that was the case Rex. I admit, I enjoy scaring you a little, but unfortunately, now that I had the fun part, we have more important business to...."

Before she could finish she was interrupted by her cell phone,

"Yes Operator? What?! Ok, give me the location of the nearest exit."

Merrit and Ghost went on instant alert hearing the tone of their Captain's voice.

As she hung up, TRX asked Niobe what the emergency was.

"Sentinels!" she almost shouted. "Follow me! Quick!"

TRX immediately dropped his cigarette on the floor, before he ran out the room behind the Zion elite crew and towards the stairways to quickly get to the roof. Two quick hyper-jumps allowed them to leap from building to building and then down to the street. Dodging traffic as they crossed the street, they could see the phone booth in the distance, as they sprinted to cover the distance as quickly as possible.

As they ran past the lobby of an office building, two agents ran out and took pursuit. Only Niobe's timely warning and quick reactions had allowed them to just avoid the ambush.

They were not out of the woods yet. TRX, running at the end of the column saw that the agents needed to be delayed in order to allow the Logos II crew time to jack-out in order to defend their hovercraft from sentinel attack in the Real. As Baby Blue was not in imminent danger, the job would to fall to him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw his chance, as the agents were running in line ahead formation. Urging his compatriots to hurry, Rex slowed slightly, allowing the agents to close the distance. Picking his moment, he planted his foot and used his forward momentum to pivot around in a 360 degree round house kick that connected with the lead agent's chest. A devastating blow to any enemy, except for an Agent. However the laws of physics were faithfully encoded into the code of the Matrix, and the momentum of that strike was transferred to the agent who was lifted off his feet and thrown into the path of the trailing agent. The pair of agents went down in a tumble as TRX tucked and rolled and started running in a different direction in the hopes of drawing the agents away. He had executed a flawless hit and run attack. As he turned a building corner he saw Ghost, the last of the trio, disappear into thin air,  jacking-out. He had accomplished his mission, but now had two agents on his tail as he headed to another nearby hard line he half remembered.

Fortunately, his operator was on the case and surmised his destination. So when the cell phone beeped and Rex answered with a shout "Get me out of here!" He was treated to Lyrics, with a pumped up, but steady voice providing precise instructions to his destination.

"Ok, hard right; backdoor in front of you; left; right; now straight; take the front door out; across the street. Around the next building on your right; Hyper-jump 11 o'clock.....Now!  You're going make it, make a left; hard line in front of you. Go! Go! Go! Don't look back and grab the phone."

Just before TRX felt his RSI transfer into code, he saw the agents stopping their sprint, raising their guns and emptying them as fast as they could pull the triggers.

The next thing he knew he opened his eyes, back in the Baby Blue's Broadcast Station to the sound and feeling of the pin being removed from his head.

"Phewwww... That was close" he said to Lyrics, seeing Linotype next to her with a very pale face and eyes opened wide in awe.

"Not to mention a prefect ‘Trinity style escape', Cap" whispered Lyrics with a smile.

Chapter 5


On board the vessel Logos II, the crew breathed a collective sigh of relief. The fight had been desperate at times, but the training and teamwork of the veteran crew was enough to carry the day. That and the fact that the sentinel patrol commander had apparently not called in overwhelming reinforcements. Could it have been calculating what the prestige of taking out a priority target with just the members of its patrol would do for its career? After all, Niobe, through her interactions with "The General" had first hand knowledge of the ambition that could drive the enemy's military AIs. Never the less, Niobe not taking any chances with the lives of her crew and the safety of her craft made sure to clear datum in as quick and stealthy a manner as possible, to throw off any late arriving reinforcements at the site of the battle. Once she was satisfied that Logos II had fully disengaged and had not been trailed, a relatively sheltered location was selected and the hovercraft set down so that a complete battle damage assessment could be made. Fortunately, none of the boats critical components had been severely damaged and the hull had retained its integrity. Two of the lift pads had been damaged and one of the turret guns had jammed, but the crew was able to affect repairs with spare parts stored onboard. As the repair crew labored, battle stations continued to be manned with somebody prepared to initiate an EMP pulse should the situation warrant. The Real was once again a dangerous place to operate hovercraft, gone were the days of the Truce and the use of moored hover barges as operating stations.
 
With the repairs complete and the Logos II underway again, Niobe ordered her operator to make contact with Blue Distortion to pass on her status and to learn if  TRX had survived the suicidal diversionary attack on the agents. Ghost, had related that the attack had delayed the agents just long enough for him to safely jack-out, but the last he had seen of TRX was that he had run out of sight around the corner of a building with the two agents in hot pursuit.
 
The relief in Niobe's voice was evident as she continued after she heard TRX's voice acknowledging the ship to ship call,
 
"Captain, Rex, On behalf of my crew I want to thank you for your bravery and initiative today.  That was a very risky move you made on those two agents. Given the circumstances I don't think the Emergency Jack-out Protocol would have worked for my team so you bought us the time we needed to safely escape. You did what you had to do and as a result ‘We are still here!' Thank You!"
 
The comm. link, except for the background static on the carrier, was quiet for a moment as TRX reflected on Niobe's choice of words and Morpheus's famous Temple Speech.

"T    Gathering himself he replied, "That is well said!  There's nothing I can add to that, except that words can not express how happy I am we all made it, Niobe"; as his fingers finally loosened the tension in his neck muscles that had been there since his own escape and the fate of Logos II crew unknown.

"Good Luck with your mission, Rex. Logos II out."

As Lyrics broke down their end of the comm. link she took the opportunity to inform her Captain that he had twenty-five minutes before having to jack back into the Matrix for his appointment with Alex Preston, an acquaintance from his bluepill life.

Rex went to his cabin, to relax and prepare himself for what most likely was to be an intense discussion with Preston. At the conclusion of the meeting he hoped, if all went well, to give Alex the choice between the blue and red pills.

He jacked back into the Matrix, in the neighborhood of Kedemoth in the Richland Slums.  This turned out to be a little bit further away from the bar where he was to meet Alex then he remembered. Lyrics had apparently solved the equipment download issue he experienced in Downtown as this time his PDA was in the inside pocket of his Blackwolf Trench Coat where he expected to find it. Retrieving the PDA, a few presses on the touch-screen brought up an area map where he could compare the coordinates of his location to the ones Lyrics provided for the meeting.

Orienting the PDA to the local scenery, he selected a direction and started heading toward the meeting place. He confirmed his navigation with the GPS feature on the PDA map display. A cold front had rolled in, since his meeting with Niobe, filling the sky with threatening gray clouds. As he made his way down the street in began to rain, prompting him to button his trench and tilt his fedora forward over his forehead and eyes. He continued to monitor his progress to the bar using his PDA/GPS.

He had been carefully weighing his meeting with his old friend and decided to go solo, fearing that descending on Alex with a crowd of freaky red pills might unsettle him and more importantly, possibly alert the machines that something was in the works. With the end of Neo's Truce, the machines were trying to shutdown Zion recruitment operations whenever they could. As a result some additional security was indicated, which he planned to fill by using his enhanced coding abilities to create an autonomous simulacra, a human appearing entity, that he could create within the Matrix code and direct to guard the entrance to the bar where the meeting was to be held.

Before entering the bar, he checked the time and glanced around to make sure he hadn't been followed one last time. Seeing that it was all clear, he entered the bar. Once inside he noted that several people were scattered throughout the room. Two people were sitting at the bar talking to the bartender and an additional two were shooting a game of pool. His own contact was sitting alone at a corner table, oblivious of his surroundings as he stared at his bottle of beer.
 
TRX, deciding to blend in first, went to the bar to order a beer from the bald bartender. As he did he noticed the backdoor exit and hoped to Neo that no enemy would enter from that direction.

TRX then looked over to the man again, still staring at his beer, and confirmed that he was indeed Preston. TRX, totally blended in with his surroundings, made his way to the old friend he hoped to awaken.

"Alex?'', he said with a low and calm voice.

His old friend stopped staring at his half empty bottle, to see who had broken his musings. At first Alex didn't recognize the man, but when he saw him taking of his fedora, his eyes had a mix of recognition with a pinch of disbelief.

"Parker, is that you? Good Lord! It is true, you are alive! But, hmm, you look, hmm, different somehow." He said as he got to his feet.

They greeted each other with a firm handshake, then sat down at the table, as Rex placed his PDA on the table where he could easily monitor the blue screen of the advanced gadget and check on his simulacra' activity.

Alex, impressed by the strong presence of the man he once knew as Markus, started asking questions right away.

"Where have you been all this time man? I tried to find out what happened to you for a long, long time. I was worried sick! I thought you were dead! And who the **** is that wise guy with the black bandana that contacted me, and arranged our meeting?"

TRX with a calm and self-assured voice replied, "Alex, before I answer your questions, I just want to thank you for the support you gave me back then. You were one of the very few that stood by me no matter what other people said and did."

TRX paused a few seconds as he took a quick glance at his PDA.

"The reason I am here is that it is time for me to return you the favor."

Alex, obviously confused, asked; "What do you mean?  The tone of your voice sounds just as mysterious as that black bandana guy, with his babble about ‘rabbit holes' and appearances being misleading. I want some answers about what the **** is going on here!"

TRX empathized with what the poor man was going through. Trapped in a monumental lie with happenings that could never fully be reconciled or explained in the framework of Alex's un-awaken life. Alex was not as near to awakening as had been reported and Rex realized they needed a more private place, where he could explain in detail what the Matrix was all about.

"Alex, do you trust me?"
 
Preston hesitated a moment then said, ''Well, not completely, you still have not answered my questions"

TRX needed some time to reformulate his extraction plan, so he made a joke about only renting beer and excused himself for a trip to the restroom. When he entered the small hallway he saw an old telephone hanging on the wall and had an inspiration. As he entered the men's room he deactivated the guard simulacra using his PDA and placed a call to Lyrics using his cell phone.

"Operator", he heard on the other end of the line.

"Lyrics this is going to take longer then I thought, I need to have a private discussion to explain things to Alex, so I need to escort him someplace secure.  I think extra backup for the trip will be necessary. Please check to see if any Zion operatives I have worked with in the past are available to help on short notice. I don't want to be here any longer then I have to, I have a bad feeling about this.  I better switch to a fighting configuration"

Lyrics fingers flew over the keyboard as she typed in the query and found Rex's old friend and mentor, Hern21, just a few blocks from the bar. She related the good news to her Captain and placed a call to Hern21.

Hern21, who was sitting on a bench near the Kedemoth Central hard line, answered his phone with a short "Yeah".

"Hello Hern, Lyrics here. TRX needs you quickly at the bar half way down 23rd Street. He is trying to recruit a blue pill. Can you get there yesterday?"

Hern replied, "Yeah, on my way"; as he stood, gathered himself and hyper-jumped toward the bar.

Lyrics reported to TRX that Hern was on his way as she returned to monitoring the bar and its' surroundings. She immediately noticed that three unknown red pill signatures were approaching the entrance to the bar. Her sharp intake of breath and quick explanation alerted her Captain.

"I need my Karate abilities, Now!  Lyrics, can we use this phone?"

"Sorry Capt, that phone isn't on our net, Trinity once used her cell phone. It's risky, but I can give that a try"

TRX said, "We have no choice Hun, do It!" as he entered the empty men's room.

A second later, his eyes closed and initiated REM behavior as his fighting programs replaced his coder programming. The rapid download through the unaccustomed device, left him dazed, gripping the men's room sink for support as he assimilated his fighting abilities.

Regaining his composure, TRX quickly returned to the bar room to try a salvage a situation that was going from bad to worse.
 
As he entered the room, TRX saw that the three men, backs to him, had taken up threatening positions about his friend and were beginning to brusquely interrogate him. He also recognized the three humans as machine operatives. Awakened humans, who with the Truce over had thrown in with the Machines to maintain iron control over a chained humanity. The Orwellian metaphor of some pigs being more equal then others flashed through his mind along with the label "Know it all elitists" as he quickly closed the distance to the table sizing up the opposition as he approached.

At that moment, Hern stepped through the front door of bar and picked up the warning sign TRX made with his fingers indicating the three men that were pressuring Alex.
 
Two of the men, TRX dismissed as flunkies, albeit dangerous ones. The leader, however, moved with the balance and grace of a veteran martial art grandmaster. 

The leader seeing Hern closing the table with determination in his eyes leapt to engage him. The flunkies both drew their automatic pistols, one obviously with the intent of executing Alex with a head shot right then and there. Fortunately, they had not yet noticed, TRX, closing the last few yards to the confrontation with his own West-Tec handgun drawn and lined up on the executioner. Taking no chances TRX placed a round through the executioner's ear, initiating the villain's emergency jack-out procedure (EJP) as he spun around with surprise in his eyes. His body disappeared an instant later.

TRX sidestepped and continued his charge toward the other gunman who had turned to face the sound of the shot. He was fast but not fast enough, bringing his gun up and squeezing off a shot that grazed Rex's leg just before the full force of the Captain's charge propelled him hard against the wall, knocking the wind out of him and dazing him for a few seconds.  TRX then performed a wall kick, twisting as he did in order to face his stunned opponent and pummel him with a flurry of body punishing punches to his torso that were delivered faster then the eye could follow. Hern having defeated the leader after a series of punches and throws, finished off the gunman with a well placed knife throw to the chest.  After a few seconds the bodies of both the leader and the gunman disappeared as their EJPs activated.
 
Alex sat there in shock, his eyes wild, unaccustomed to the proximity of the extreme violence, the inhuman speed with which the combatants moved and delivered their attacks and the disappearance of the dispatched red pills.

TRX, seeing Alex's eyes put a firm hand on his shoulder and locked eyes with him saying, "If you want to live, follow me, there are no doubt additional killers on the way. We will protect you."
 
They ran out of the bar's back door and zigzagged down a few alley ways, finally entering a storeroom at the back of a bookstore, closing and locking the door behind them.

Alex was now terrified, "What the **** was that? And in Gods name, how did you guys move so fast beating those men? You, big man, you kicked that thug so hard, he flew through the air five meters!" as he started to hyperventilate.

Hern seeing and hearing Alex's distress, as gently and calmly as possible helped Alex to a chair and asked him to focus and to breathe was deeply as possible. He then promised to get a glass of water and be right back.
 
As Alex slowly started to regain control of his breathing, TRX knelt down in front of him and once again made eye contact. Rex remembered exactly what it was like to see all kinds of stuff that could not rationally be explained, and felt the pain his friend was going through as Alex started to question his own sanity.

He gently started to explain the last 600 years or so of Human/Machine history and how the Matrix was a simulation of the Earth in 1999 that was designed to be a prison of the mind to keep the human race docile in their life-pods while the Machines leeched energy from their prisoners to supply some of the power the Machine race needed to survive.

He explained about the war between Man and Machine. How in a desperate bid to avoid total extermination, Man scorched the sky, plunging the world into darkness, in an attempt to cut the Machines off from sunlight, their primary source of energy. The strategy had only been partially successful, ending the extermination to be sure. But, when the Machines eventually won the war, the remaining humans where subjugated into what were essentially batteries.

He described how he and others like him survived in the outside world of the Real and how as they knew the "truth" they could bend the laws of physics, and in some cases even break them within the virtual world of the Matrix, which explained the "impossible" things Alex had just witnessed.

Hern came back with a glass of water he had asked for in the bookstore. Seeing that Rex's explanation was beginning to sink in he gave Alex the water, and smiling said, "You know I had this same discussion with Markus a few  years ago, for what it is worth, he took it a lot worse then you", as he gave Alex a knowing wink. Alex seeing the annoyed look TRX gave the big warrior over that comment couldn't help but break a smile.

TRX and Hern continued to tell Alex about the true nature of the world for a short time more, answering each and every question Alex asked. Finally the conversation came to the end and TRX told him of the red and the blue pill he carried.

"It is your choice Alex, we won't force you. This is something only you can and should decide. This is an exercise of your free will.  If you take the red pill, you will experience the world as it truly is and hence free your mind from this virtual prison. I will not lie to you, it is not a comfortable existence and as we are once again at war, perhaps not a long one. If you take the blue pill, you will wake up tomorrow in your bed. Everything that happened today will be forgotten and you will continue to be a comfortable slave of the system, never to know what the real world is like. Nobody else will bother you again, unless you once more stumble upon the truth."

They could see that Alex was coming to grips with what they had told him, relating the new information to his blue pill life and to the events that lead up to TRX's disappearance. With the new understanding he began to relax and considered his life up until this moment, one which to be brutally honest lacked any self-satisfaction, the truth was it was just merely existence.  Finally he concluded, "Well, what the heck. If it ain't going to kill me, it'll make me a stronger person."

TRX, seeing that he had come to a conclusion took the pills out of a small jewelry box.  Taking the red pill in his right hand and the blue in his left he presented them to Alex saying, "Red will give you the truth. Blue will make you forget.  This is up to you."

With trembling hand, Alex took the redpill out of Rex's hand, but before taking it in, told TRX he now understood what TRX had meant when he told him it was his honor to return the favor of standing by his friend and helping him out of the lie he had been living.

Alex looked to Hern, who once again winked, nodded his head and smiling said; "See you on the other side" to reassure him.

The red pill had no taste when he put it in his mouth, and drank deeply of the water Hern gave him. Within seconds he began to feel weird. TRX and Hern once more assured him it was going to be awkward, and the experience would be heavy, but he would be fine after a few days. With those words ringing in his head, Alex dissolved in to the code, like any red pill would do during a jack out.

*zzzzeeeooohhzzz*

Alex started his new life, by awaking in the life-pod that had imprisoned him until now, proving that what he had been told was indeed the truth.

As Rage adroitly maneuvered Blue Distortion to retrieve Alex from the recycling pools he was deposited in as he was rejected by the system, the operatives, emotionally man-hugged each other as they congratulated each other on freeing Alex's mind. This extraction had been a rough one, but they had succeeded. Taking a bearing to the nearest hard line they left the book store and began the walk back into the Real.

Chapter 6

When the crew of Baby Blue opened the hatch on the ships lower deck, to get Alex onboard and quickly move him to the medical station, Alex was feeling far from good.
Awakening in the pod had been both a mental and physical shock. His eyes hurt, his whole body ached, and weird smells tickled his nose. His heart, pumped up with adrenaline, pounded like it wanted to explode from his chest.
Despite the birth trauma and the reality of an atrophied body that had lay dormant in his pod all these years, Alex's mind had received the biggest blast of all. It was one thing to intellectually understand the War described to him and the choice he had made, but quite another to actually face the reality of the last 600 years of Human history. The blank stare with the slightly unfocused eyes could be forgiven as his mind reeled to cope with the new reality.
After retrieving Alex's floating and feeble body, Othala and T-fork had gently laid him on a gurney and wheeled him as quickly as possible to the med station contained in a glass decompression tank. Every minute was critical, heart failure was always a risk at this time and those subjects with too rigid a mind could simply lapse into permanent catatonia. Pains were taken during the selection process to reduce these risks but there was always a chance of failure at the last minute. The husband and wife team quickly washed and prepped him and began the standard protocols to stabilize him and bring him out of shock and hypothermia.
Alex's stabilization was a bit touch and go for a time, but the diligent work of Othala and her mate eventually came to a successful conclusion. With his vital signs stabilized, the next step in the process could be undertaken. Alex was placed in a drug-induced sleep state and a pain block applied, so that the job of electro-stimulating his atrophied muscles with implanted electrodes could commence.
Over the years, Zion operatives had amassed a tremendous amount of medical knowledge and experience in rehabilitating blue pill candidates. In the present state of the art, the time from red pill to full mobility in the Real was approximately 24 hours. During this period each member of the crew took a shift to stay with their new sleeping brother as he endured the electro-simulation ordeal. The crew firmly believed that their presence would be registered and appreciated by the sleeping Alex. A reaffirmation that despite the hostile reality he now had to face, he would never have to face it alone.
During this period Rage and Rex had taken Baby Blue into silent running, carefully plotting a course back to New Zion that would avoid the complication of engaging Sentinel patrols.
In time the ordeal came to an end, and Alex was gently removed from the med station and placed in a cabin to recover from the effects of the sleep drug and to awaken in the semblance of a real bed. Even in the stateroom, Alex, was not left alone. It fell to Lyrics this morning to be with him during his awakening, to put him at ease and to give him his first taste of food in the Real.
When Alex heard the steel doors of the cabin close as Lino left and Lyrics entered, he began to wake up, slowly. Seeing him stir, Lyrics called his name softly and cautiously, sitting down next to him as he successfully managed to sit up for the first time. She gently rest her hand on his shoulder, her touch reassuring him, as he sat there bent a little forward with his head down. Lyrics had lived through this moment many times, in fact Rex had seen to making sure that Lyrics be on shift for Alex's awakening, as he appreciated how well Lyrics could put someone at their ease during recovery. The two sat there in silence, as Alex's mind and body became accustomed to their first taste of the Real, with Lyrics reassuring presence easing that journey.

After ten minutes or so Lyrics asked sweetly:

 "Feeling a little better, Alex?"
  
With a sigh, Alex sat up straighter and after a minute of reflection said:

"After all the stoic looks I saw on you redpills, I never imagined having the best wake up of my life, with some one sitting next to me, not saying anything, but just sitting there.  Knowing that words have no use now."

Lyrics smiled when their eyes met, Then picking up the plate next to her, she gave it to him, saying:

"Here you go brave one. Most have no desire to eat, but try get something down"

Alex looked at his plate, with some sort of food, that didn't really appeal to the eye, but he was hungry, and thought well, can't hurt to try.

He took a bite out of what looked like bread, and began chewing it. The taste wasn't that bad really, and after he swallowed the first bite, he took another one, and another one, to the point where he was really digging in. Within seven minutes he had finished the whole plate of food.

In all her career, she had never seen, a man fresh from the pod, eating with relish like a ravenous lumberjack after a hard days work having missed lunch.

In her experience almost every one tried to eat, to take at least a few bites, only to either stop or vomit out what little had been ingested.

Not only did Alex finish his plate, he asked for more while chewing the last few bites of food on the plate!
.
Totally flabbergasted, not even knowing if providing more food at this point was a good idea went to ask her Captain what to do.

Rex, off duty in his cabin organizing the disarray, started laughing when Lyrics told him.

"Let's keep the answer at this, if, it ever happens again, you don't give them more, until we all eat, but, I doubt you ever run into this situation again."

"I know him. I remember from our bluepill life, once when he went to see the dentist. They pulled all four of his wisdom teeth under general anesthesia. He spent a good deal of time in recovery longer then what was anticipated.  When they finally woke him up, he was covered in blood. For some reason they gave him a few sandwiches. The same thing happen, he ate like he was at this ‘all you can eat' fest, desperately trying to win a contest."

After they both shared a hearty laugh, Lyrics departed. Shaking her head and still smiling she went off to rustle up another plate of food for Alex.

The door to Alex's cabin was slightly ajar when she returned with a heaping plate of food. Peeking inside, she watched unobserved as Alex worked out, doing sit ups and push ups. When he had finished his set of push ups, his gaze wandered the cabin in search of something. His search ended on a big pipe hanging just below the ceiling in the corner of the cabin. With a little hop, he grabbed the pipe and started to do chin ups at a 3 second pace, First with two hands and then with one, switching back and forth between hands.

Lyrics couldn't help but be impressed, that type of regimen was akin to what one would expect of an active duty warrior, not a newly awaken recruit. However, she harbored one worry, for she knew that sometimes, an awakening can trigger strange behavior, or illusion thinking, that might be dangerous to the candidate. Seeing that the PT was winding down, Lyrics quietly walked back to the end of the corridor and then returned making much more noise this time to announce her presence.

As Lyrics opened the door wide, Alex skillfully turned in air facing her as he dropped back down to the deck. He looked relaxed, but Lyrics wanted to make sure, he hadn't lost a grip on himself because of post-traumatic awakening shock. She asked him to sit down on his bed, before entering the room.

He responded with a "Sure..." accompanied by a curious look on his face as he sat down on his rack.

As Lyrics began to explain her request, Alex interrupted her with a flurry of questions;

"Before you say anything, I have a few questions: 1.) Why did you spy on me for 12 minutes while I was training?  2.) Why did ask me to sit down, like I'm crazy, and dangerous?  3.) Why, Don't you trust me?" 

Lyrics was little surprised, but answered right away in an even voice; "First, I wasn't spying, I was just admiring your training. I didn't want to barge in while I thought you hadn't noticed me. Second, I have seen freshman suffer from post-traumatic awakening syndrome. They sometimes lash out at their crewmates when the impact of the reality of their bluepill lives sinks in. TRX has taught me to kindly ask freshman to sit on their bunk before entering the cabin so as to make sure we are dealing with a stable personality. Finally, I will only give you a full measure of trust once you have proved yourself by receiving survival training and then accompanied by TRX returning to the Matrix and visiting the intelligence we call the Oracle. At that time I will consider you a Zion Operative and a brother.

Alex replied: "Fair enough, very honest too, but let me fill you in on the past I just left behind"

Lyrics nodded, as Alex continued:

"Before I met TRX, I was in the army for several years as an enlisted man. Before I was discharged, I had been selected for squad leader training and reached the rank of Sergeant."

"Now, although there isn't need to train right now, it makes me feel ready for what I'm about to see.  To learn what the Matrix really is. One of the things you learn as a soldier is to keep your eyes and ears open in strange territory. I noticed the minute you snuck down the hallway and watched me train for 12 minutes and 27 seconds."

He then continued with a sly smile on his face, "I must also say that your graze was not entirely professional in its appraisal, there was a hint of desire there as well."

Lyrics met Alex's gaze with a smile of her own and she felt her cheeks blush. After a few seconds composing her, she finally spoke:

"Thank you for the fill in. You are sane as clarity itself, and funny crazy, but nothing that would hurt", as she gave him a wink.

Alex's smile widen as he responded with his own wink and a "Thank you. Lyrics"

"I brought you some more food, and when you have finished your meal, TRX will expect you in the broadcast theater out the corridor and up the ladder to the right. You are indeed going to get to see for yourself, what the Matrix is. You can wash yourself at this small sink here, I'll ask T-Fork to connect the sink to the main water supply system right away."

"Roger that, half an hour good?"

"More then good"

Alex cleaned his plate once again, and then tried to get water out of the small valve in his sink. The pipes screamed in protest at first, but soon yielded some rusty water and debris which after a minute or two ran clean.  He washed him self and put on a clean set of clothing which the crew had thoughtfully left for him in advance.

He then left his cabin, closing the door behind him, and walked in direction of the ladder to the upper deck which was around the bend, across from the Captain's cabin.

On the upper deck the turned to the right and followed a short corridor to the bridge, where he met Rage standing in the doorway chewing a toothpick. As he approached the doorway, Rage extended his hand in greeting saying;

"Hi, I'm Rage, former operative in the Matrix, and now pilot of this vessel.  You can find the Captain in the other direction, in the broadcast theater in the middle of the vessel behind a set of extra large doors."
 
"Thank you Rage, I'm Alex normally, but I'll guess in time I will acquire a handle like yours as well"

"You bet will you" said Rage pointing at the direction of the broadcast theater.

Alex got the message and turned away from the bridge entrance and started to make his way to broadcast theater. When he got there, he found the remainder of the crew gathered around one of the broadcast chairs, vaguely resembling a dental station.

Seeing that Alex had arrived, TRX sat down in the next broadcast station over and invited Alex to sit at the first station.

"Let's get you out of the confusion you been living with all your life and show you reality. You will finally have the answers you always wanted to know, but never knew how to ask for, because you simply didn't understand yet. Lie down and trust Lyrics while she connects you to the loading area with an insertion pin in your head. Trust her; she is one of the best operators in Zion's fleet. She will be monitoring your vital signs the whole time."

"With a worried look, but determined to proceed and learn the secrets that had been withheld, Alex sat down in the chair and forced himself to relax paying close attention to the advice of Lyrics as she got him ready."

Lyrics, removed the insertion pin from its holding clip, and with a deft move firmly inserted the pin in Alex's head, while Linotype followed suit and inserted TRX's pin.

These days each Hovercraft's program library had custom tutorial programs in addition to the standard one. Rex had arranged with Lyrics to run Blue Distortion's custom tutorials for Alex.

Alex found himself in a totally white environment with some chesterfield chairs facing a Television. TRX was also with Alex, standing behind the TV.

Alex was caught off guard; the strangeness of the bright white environment with no depth cues, other then the perfectly normal seating arrangement.

Rex started explaining that this was the loading area. "It is a computer generated area where we load anything from abilities, to weapons, to clothing, you name it we load it. This is done before we enter the Matrix, in order to prepare ourselves according to the parameters of the current mission."

Rex then offered Alex one of the seats, so that Alex could watch a presentation on the TV. They both sat down in a chair, and Rex clicked the remote in his hand.

A video started, similar to what we know as the Animatrix, but in a condensed form complete with a sexy woman narrator explaining history to present day. As they watched the presentation TRX would occasionally check Alex's reaction to certain awakening images flying by on the screen. Alex didn't even blink at these images, like he already embraced his fate, and was ready to see what he had been searching for. Occasionally he looked only a little sad here and there, when disturbing images of babies in pods and pictures of the Man/Machine wars before his time flashed by.

When the video finished, Rex gathered himself, and asked Alex how he felt.

Richard frowned at the obviously loaded question, and answered:

"I'm impressed alright, but don't want to show that, because I think this a very bad, yet true story about humanity and machines that got us under control like this, but they can't do without us either."

And finally; "I want to see more."

Rex simply nodded and told Lyrics over his cell phone to load the sparring program.

In an instant, the background to changed to that of a  very small dojo, with yellow/brownish lighting, a few benches, and a fighting floor feeling soft to the feet.  The floor seemed to be made of cork, with a canvas covering. Alex had already grown to like these spawning environments, understanding it was really all a computer program, but thinking nothing can hurt him in here somehow.  It felt safe with TRX, wearing only bluish leather pants and nothing more, standing there with him. Alex then looked down at himself and was surprised to find he was wearing a silver-gray prophet duster like the ones Neo had favored. TRX went on to explain that part of the recovery process on his awakening had included an upload of basic self-defense abilities into his mind. Rex went on to say that the rules used in the Matrix where used in this dojo program and that some of those rules could be bent and even broken.
 
Rex began demonstrating the basic moves of self defense on an imaginary opponent switching attack style between speed punches and kicks, full body power strikes and even wrestling holds and throws. Rex went on to explain that each style of attack could cause the opponent to loose their center for a brief time which a savvy operator could take advantage by delivering a devastating special attack. He concluded the short demonstration by pointing out that when you got it right, time would seem slow down for you making it easier to score a blow on your opponent.

Rex then invited Alex to attack him. Without preamble, Alex launched a flying kick at TRX's chest, which seemed to bounce off an invisible shield surrounding Rex before it landed on the mark. Alex tucked and rolled out of the failed attack and looked at Rex in surprise.

With a smile Rex explained that was the evade shield that Alex had encountered and the best way to break through it was to try grappling an opponent wrestling style.

Alex responded with a grin and attempted several grappling attacks. On the fourth try he was successful in breaking through the shield and was able to deliver a firm punch to Rex's cheekbone that knocked him down on his back. With a flourish and a smile Rex performed a back flip and faced Alex with his hands up and ready for action. Having broken through Rex's guard, Alex began switching power and speed punches and kicks with grappling moves in an attempt to knock down his mentor once again. For the most part Rex blocked these attacks with ease as befitted a master of kung fu and karate but continued in a defensive mode to allow Alex to experiment with switching his offensive tactics without the complication of having to counter Rex's attacks. Throughout the contest, Rex would critic Alex's style, suggesting improvements and tactic changes. In the end Alex was able to slip a very hard punch through Rex's guard that dazed him, which he followed up with a head butt which once again knocked Rex to the ground.  TRX complimented his student on the most devastating combination a neophyte operative could mount as he quickly resumed his combat stance, only this time it was his turn to dish out the punishment giving Alex some practice at defending himself.

Rex was a longtime student of the Matrix and knew the key to combat was visualizing a successful attack in his minds eye and then executing it when the moment presented itself.  He encountered such a moment in fighting Alex in the next few minutes. First he set up the devastating attack with a simple parry that sent Alex off-balance. Rex then launched himself high into the air and delivered three kicks to Alex's head in quick succession. The blow was life ending, were it not for the EJP Alex would have died on the spot.  As it was, a weird sound filled the Alex's consciousness and everything went white for a few seconds until Alex found himself once again on the broadcast theater onboard Baby Blue with Lyrics beside him placing the insertion pin back in the holding clip. There was the taste of copper in the back of his mouth and a trail of blood ran out of the corner of his mouth as he watched Linotype remove TRX's insertion pin and then watched Rex sit up and face him. 

Seeing the trail of blood, Lyrics quickly retrieved a bottle containing a milky liquid and told Alex to take a sip, and to hold in his mouth for about a minute.

Alex did as he was told, and when he spit it out it was laced with blood, but the pain had disappeared and the bleeding had stopped.

Lyrics joked; "Isn't it amazing that T-Fork designed this quick heal liquid during the same period he married Othala", followed by a schoolgirl giggle.

Alex laughed and Rex smiled but then turned serious as he explained what the Emergency Jack-out Procedure entailed by saying that if he were to die in the Matrix, the operator was able to pick up the signal of his RSI, and he would find himself in loading area once again. When that happens he would be disoriented for five minutes or so and would not be able to operate at 100% efficiency during that time period.

Once Alex had recovered Rex ordered the final training program to be run. While they waited in the loading area Rex asked Alex whether he had given any thought to a call sign for use in the Matrix.

Alex stoically replied; “1stCleric”

Equally stoically Rex asked; "Why is that?"

Alex winked; "One word Captain, 'Equilibrium' "

To which Rex answered, "Understood”, followed by a cell phone call.  “Linotype, bring up the weapon racks and make sure there is a rack of dual sub-machineguns included"

"Yes sir.."

Within a second they found themselves surrounded by weapon racks including a rack of paired sub-machineguns.

Alex examined a few of the weapons and selected a pair that struck his fancy.  He immediately field stripped the weapons at a nearby table that Linotype had conjured up, and then re-assembled the weapons all within the space of a minute.

"Yep, these will do" he said as he ejected the magazines and then reloaded them with a fresh pair with satisfying audible clicks as they seated home. He then chambered a round in each of the weapons and applied the safeties.

Alex, from now on known as 1stCleric, said one more thing before entering the final training program; “I specifically asked Lyrics to load dual sub-machinegun abilities for me as a standard load-out. Let’s see if I will do justice to my handle”

With a whooshing sound they were both transferred to what seemed to be the International District, one of the four districts of the Megacity. To be precise the location appeared to be the Furihata Neighborhood of the International District near the Central Hardline.

Rex went over the procedures for activating the evade shield and the defensive abilities hyper-dodge, for evading bullets and hyper-block, for defending against hand-to-hand attack.

Behind the hardline, in a square, a few members of the local gang, the Silver Dragons, stood around menacing the local populace as they passed by. Rex tipped his hat to Cleric and said; “Time for a practical demonstration.”

TRX gathered him self for a minute, concentrating on his abilities, went to one knee and then launched himself to the roof of a nearby building. Cleric had proved to be a good student and had picked up on the hyper-jump capability early. He was not quite as adept as Rex, however, and required two jumps, the first to a lower roof of another nearby building before he could join his Captain.

From the edge of the roof, the pair of operatives surveyed the square below. TRX selected a likely group, pointed them out to Cleric and said;

"See that group of six there Cleric?"

"Yup"

"Watch this"

Rex jumped down into the middle of the group. He had no fear of taking on such a large number as they were not as skillful as he. His surprise power kung fu punch staggered one of the gang members, the one that Rex had determined to be the likely leader of this small band of thugs. The remaining members of the group drew their weapons and sent a hail of gunfire in Rex’s direction.

From his vantage point, Cleric saw that Rex was moving at superhuman speed, thanks to hyper-dodge a direct legacy of Neo. Not a single bullet came close to hitting Rex as he leapt into the air to finish the staggered leader with a series of rapid-fire pile driver kicks delivered to the head and shoulders. The leader was dead before he hit the ground. Rex finished the move by back flipping off the falling leader in mid-air and attacking the silver dragon directly behind him with a kick to the plexus as he deflected his opponent’s gun hand with a wrist twist that dislocated a shoulder. A third dragon made the mistake of rushing the Captain from behind at this point only to be met by a sudden turn and a sweeping motion of Rex’s arm complete whose hand held a huge revolver which delivered a silver bullet point blank into their face.  In the course of twenty seconds he had eliminated half the opposition.
 
Cleric continued to watch as the three ruffians surrounded his leader. One villain managed to draw him into hand to hand combat while the others began shooting into the melee in and attempt to further damage Rex.  Rex was still dodging and managed to evade most of the shots directed in his direction, but one bullet did manage to find its target and combined with a well executed leg sweep resulted in TRX being knocked to the ground. The damage was only superficial, and Rex’s response was to kick flip into a fighting stance with a Power Boosted Shotgun at the ready. Rex then commenced a rapid series of point blank shotgun blasts that knocked his opponent back and down until he was dead and the characteristic code flow started to dissipate from the exile programs body.

As Rex turned to face the remaining two gang members, Cleric, dual sub-machineguns drawn, choose that moment to aid his Captain by jumping between him and the adversaries. Rex took a step backward to give room for Cleric to work in, yet close effort to back him up if needed.

Rex watched with satisfaction as Cleric entered the Martial Arts like weave of a dual sub-gun practitioner engaging and interlocking the first of the opponents and skillfully avoiding most of the gunfire directed at him by the other villain. Cleric had clearly found his calling as he started down the path that would see him classified as an SMG Specialist when he reached the pinnacle of his craft.

Rex watched Cleric dispatched the two opponents he faced, perhaps not with the alacrity that Rex himself had shown but given his current experience level certainly within a creditable amount of time. Without prompting Cleric moved on to another nearby group of four silver dragons in order to continue learning his craft and rid the Matrix of the low lives infesting it and threatening livelihood and even lives of unsuspecting bluepill.  Little did Cleric know that the real point of this exercise was about to transpire.

Rex knowing what to expect, continued to scan the environment, even keeping his eyes on the non-combatant bluepill civilians. As a result he observed the metamorphosis of a civilian into an Agent of System as the machine sentience hijacked the bluepill’s brain. Cleric unaware of the danger continued to battle the last silver dragon, as Rex raced toward the agent to interlock him and take the brunt of the Agents attack yelling; “Agent! Roll out of combat and hyper-jump!” even as the Agent Wilson began to draw a bead on Cleric with his FM-1500 Desert Eagle. The Agent’s efficiency and accuracy with that weapon was legendary, he was sure to take down Cleric with a single shot even from long range.

Fortunately, Rex engaged the Agent before he was able take the shot, giving Cleric the few seconds he would need to exit combat and hyper-jump to safety. While Rex was a much more experienced operative and much more skilled at self defense then Cleric, he was still no match for an Agent. He might expect to survive four of so of the Agents attacks, but to stay interlocked with an Agent for more then 22.3 seconds was suicide. All he could do is hold on giving Cleric the opportunity to escape and then make an escape of his own. It was a near thing, but on this day, Rex was able to roll out and hyper-jump away. The Agents parting shot at the fleeing Captain was almost, but not quite enough, to kill Rex and cause an EJP.  

With both targets gone the Agent released control of the hapless bluepill brain and returned to the task of monitoring the system for anomalies. The bluepill in the meantime awoke, finding themselves fallen to the ground in an apparent faint with no memory of the take over or the events that had transpired. Perhaps late at night their dreams might allow them to relive the incident and start them on the long road to taking the redpill, then again perhaps not.

Cleric had observed the end of the confrontation from safe cover. He was now even more impressed with his friend from the past and now his Captain in this brave new world he lived in. Using he PDA he obtained Rex’s position and hyper-jumped to rendezvous with him.  Once the pair linked up Rex called for the mission to end and they both where extracted to the broadcast theater.

Cleric awakened as the insertion pin was removed from the back of his head, and paled as he saw Rex spit out a mouth full of blood. Othala immediately laid him back down and provided him a shot of T-Fork’s elixir. After a few minutes Rex re-gained his normal vital signs. Cleric’s mouth was still hanging open, as he considered that Rex had put his life on the line to save his.

Rex standing up from his seat walked over to Cleric’s seat and put is hand on his shoulder and began to explain;

"Cleric, this was just a training program, not the Matrix yet, despite what it looked like.  The real purpose of this exercise was to teach you one thing.  Always, and I mean ALWAYS, keep watching your back, no matter what your doing.  If you see an agent, run, better yet, hyper-jump the h*** away.

Cleric nodded, and said he understood. From now on he would make a point of scanning for agents all the time, in what ever circumstances.

At that moment the ship’s PA system interrupted the conversation. Rage announced that ETA to New Zion was 50 minutes and that the crew should prepare to strap in for the free fall entry into docking holding area.

Rex excused himself to go to his cabin, patting 1stCleric on the shoulder with a hearty, “Well done!”

The entire crew of Blue Distortion retired to their free fall stations so that they could strap themselves in during the 120 seconds of free fall rollercoaster ride through the permanent EMP fields that protected the approaches to New Zion.

1stCleric would be coming home for the first time. He would learn more of the new reality and its history that he had awaken too. He would learn more of the duties that Zion operatives would have to perform. But truth be told, He could not wait to return to the Matrix once again to fight with his Brothers and Sisters in The Brethren, onboard Blue Distortion.



Chapter 7

A month later....

In the simulation known as the Matrix, 'normal life' seemed to continue. Winter had set in, and in a few days it would be Christmas. During this time, it was a common thing in the redpill community, to look each other up in the Matrix. Operatives would make appointments to meet, to see leaders, and good friends or friends they don’t see very much because of the busy life on different ships.

TRX jacked in, returning to his office in downtown Hampton Green, where he had departed the simulation at the end of his last mission. Impatient to be about his business, he walked to street level as the green code “waterfall” was still transforming to a normal view. Slowly the green code morphed in a perfect looking world as it was in 1999. He closed the door behind him, blending into the crowd as he walked in the direction of the nearest hard line.

He waited at the phone booth until there was no one around, and then teleported to Camon Heights Central hard line in the Richland district of the Mega City. As the waterfall once again solidified he identified several other well known Zion Operatives and Captains gathered behind the hard line where two benches were placed facing one another.

TRX tipped his hat to the men, "G'morning gents". Some of them didn’t reply as they were in conversation, others tipped their hats in kind, and few greeted him back by saying, "Hey TRX, sup man."

TRX walked to one of the wooden benches, noticing an empty spot, sat down and removed a cigarette from his inside overcoat pocket, and lit up with his Zippo. He checked the time on his watch, when an operative on the other bench said, "Those things will kill you, ya know?"

With one eyebrow raised and a little smile in the corner of mouth TRX replied, "Excuse me soldier, but as a neophyte operative, you should by now know that this is all a simulation. I like to smoke a cigarette just for the taste of it, my mind makes it real, but what are we talking about? Do think you are breathing air right now? Or that those ankle boots of yours, are made out of real snakeskin? Hmm, no offence but one word for you: CODE"

The Operative’s leader had heard the interplay and was clearly bugged by his team member’s comment, "Didn’t I tell you, not to be a smartass, boy? He has a point there."

TRX’s phone rang. "Talk to me" he said with a playful tone. There was a silence for the moment. "Hey Hun, it's me", said the voice of Tr1ck5, his blue pill wife. TRX, swallowing a lump in his throat, stood up and walked to a quieter place.

"Hi ya sweetie, how are you, it’s been a while"

"I’m doing well love, after some troubles in my old faction. I started my own fleet with Ailbh. I also have my own hovercraft now, and christened her, Invindictive.”

"That is good news Sandy, I’m glad you have found your way and purpose in the Matrix."

After a pause Sandy continued, "Can we meet somewhere Markus?"

"Sure Sandy, no problem, name the place and time"

"Ok, how about right now? I’m in Westview, in a bar behind the Rogers Way Central hard line."

"Roger, on my way dear"

TRX stepped up to the hard line, and teleported to Westview. As he morphed into being at the Rogers Way hard line his HUD told him an Agent was homing on his position. His response was immediate, hyper-jumping to the roof of the building on the right. After waiting there a moment he checked the square surrounding the hard line in front of the bar and smirked seeing that he had broken the Agents lock on. “Not so efficient, Mister Toaster Man”, he thought. Making one more scan to be sure the area was clear, he targeted the front door of the bar and precisely jumped down and opened the door in one fluid motion. Walking into the bar, he found Tr1ck5 sitting at the first table with her back to the door.

"Did no one teach you to always keep an eye on the exit”, said TRX with a little chuckle.

Tr1ck5 stood up and turned around, "Of course, Conrac was not only a good professor, he was sneaky”, as she pointed to the small mirror on the wall. She then added with a smile, “But you also know, I like to live on the edge" as she started to walk to TRX.

As she came closer, Rex assumed a balanced kung fu stance and with a smile of his own asked, “Well Miss Lives Life on the Edge, care to dance?”

Trixie’s nod, smile and assumption of a basic self defense posture were all the two operatives needed to initiate a friendly duel.

The barkeep seeing the exchange and muttering about crazy red pills hipsters made haste to clear glassware from nearby tables.  It was a small price to pay he figured, given that he and his patrons were not bothered by the local gang as long as the red pills hung out in his bar.  

Kung Fu, especially the leopard variation, is a martial arts style known for its lighting fast attacks. As Trixie moved to attack position, Rex launched a leopard punch that scored a solid hit on her shoulder, but having landed the hit, he shifted to a defensive posture so as to access his ex-wife’s martial arts progress as this was his intent from the beginning.

Trixie had been indeed diligent in her studies, as befits a hovercraft captain and fleet co-commander. After a few basic self defense attacks which Rex easily deflected, she smoothly shifted into a Kung Fu style attack, surprising Rex and landing a series of rapid fire blows to Rex’s midsection, which was known to operatives on the street  as a “Machine-Gun Fist Combo”. The attack was executed flawlessly, and time seemed to slow down for Trixie as the final blow of the series lifted Rex off his feet and knocked him to the ground. In a blink of an eye he was on his feet again with a gleam in his eye and pride for his ex-wife’s progress as he started to block her follow up attacks with increased vigor.

TRX’s greater experience was apparent as he shifted to Karate style and commenced blocking the lighting Kung Fu hand strikes one handed with plenty of time to spare. He dealt with kick attacks easily by using a knee block and then retuning to the centered karate power stance patiently waiting for an opening. Trixie was desperately trying everything in her repertoire to break through Rex’s guard when a style shift left an opening that TRX’s front kick exploited, staggering her. Rex quickly followed up with a Ki-Charged punch to her plexus that knocked her down and took the wind out of her sails. He back rolled out of combat and stood up with his hands behind his back indicating the end of the duel.

Tr1ck5, a little shaky from the hard blow to her chest stood up, smiling around pain. She then walked up to him, embraced him, and kissed him lingeringly for almost a full minute.

Coming up for some air of his own, TRX stared deeply into her eyes and whispered, "Hmmm, improvements”, and then after a very slight pause, “You a very close to mastering Kung Fu honey"

She blushed, and said, "Yes, I have been working real hard at learning, but hmmm, I would have expected you to be a Grand Master by now”

TRX grinned, "Yeah, you know me. I’m a slow learner. Hey, I have a little ways to go yet."

"If this continues, I’m going to beat the living daylight out of you in about a month, Markus. I will be better then you are by then!"

TRX looked serious but there was a humorous twinkle in his eye as he said, "Oh yeah. Spank me baby!"

The couple shared a laugh and sat down at a table. "Its good to see you again babe", said Rex while looking at the ashtray on the table reminding him to smoke a cigarette.

"That is of course likewise Hun" as she ran her hand down his leg next to hers. "By the way, Cupcake, I had an assignment to free a mind a week ago, a woman named Denise Allington, in order to get EPN status for my faction. Here are some pictures." as she slid her PDA to TRX with the pictures of the mission.

TRX examined the code captures carefully, and with each image the proud look on his face became more noticeable.

"My God, Woman, You always amazed me, but this time ... You've done a fantastic job on this assignment, you clearly jumped every hurdle with style.  And to think, I never dreamed that you were going to be awakened and a faction leader on top of that. This just proves how much potential is being wasted in the Pods, and what we can achieve when we put our minds to the task. I am very, Very proud of you sugar."

Tr1ck5 clearly had a hard time struggling not to let her tears flow. "Rex Baby, We haven't really talked much since the meeting that Conrac arranged after Covenant discovered who you were in the Matrix. Ever since we met in Paradise Lost, my heart aches that you were so distant from me. I heard you had a thing with your mechanic Othala, when you didn't know yet that I was awakened. Is she still in your life? And do you still have a relationship with her?"

TRX sat closer to her as he put his arm around her. "After our meeting. I had a rough time to comprehend what happened. Baby Blue went into refit and we helped in the evacuation to New Zion. My relationship with Othala changed because of that meeting, and during the evacuation she met somebody who she went on to marry. In fact, she asked me to give her away at the wedding. She had been on leave since the wedding, starting a new life in New Zion. When she heard I had returned to active duty, she badgered Merrit for an assignment to my vessel.  After the three of us talked out the situation, we all agreed it was the best thing for all concerned. We're still good friends, with no lingering attachments and besides she is a d*mn good mechanic.  She arrived six weeks ago, and she continues to do her job well and wouldn't want to work on another ship again."

He saw Tr1ck5s face, looked her in the eyes, and saw the hope that they could get back together again.

"Sandy, Honey, I do still love you. The reason I was distanced at Paradise Lost was because of Othala, but also because I never dreamed of you being awakened. It seemed such a long shot, I didn't dare think about that.  When Conrac told me you were here and then meeting you, suddenly my world was upside down. I was staggered, dazed and off-balance all at once. Now we are here and I am on active duty again. I had time to think in those months of refit, and I know you want me back as your husband, that we never really divorced.  We are still husband and wife but in a dangerous place, fully awakened from the simulation. How are we supposed to pull that off?  I'm a Captain and you are also with your own ship and co-commander of a fleet as well. The only way to see each other most of the time is here in the Matrix, and maybe a couple of times a year in the Real, when coincidence brings us into port at the same time. I have thought about that and I'm open for that.. But are you sure you can handle that also?"

Tr1ck5 shifted to sit on Rex's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear, "Captain TRX, even if I only could see you only once in two months in Matrix, and once a year in the Real, you would still be my husband, and the love of my life.  I would grab those chances with both hands gladly and thankfully."

They stayed in that bar for another half an hour, holding each other and not saying much until they had to jack out and return to their duties aboard separate hovercraft in the Real. The bond had been forged anew, they parted knowing they would again be lovers and were still married, but now both awakened, no longer blinded, and free of the simulation, the prison of their minds, that is called The Matrix.

A short time later in the Lamar neighborhood of the Downtown district of Megacity, Covenant, was interrupted in his search for code fragments useful in crafting combat enhancement drugs by a few quiet beeps from his PDA. Not missing a beat he launched the sky high head over heals full body attack that red pill operatives called "Extreme Falling Kick" or EFK for short. The assault laid ‘Big Dog' the leader of the Lamar neighborhood gang low, enabling the operative to search the program's body for the desired code fragments. Completing his task, and seeing that the rest of the gang was no where in sight he reached for his PDA and opened his email interface to see;

From: Tr1ck5
Date: Saturday December 20
Time: 23:07hrs MCT

Hello Covy

I'm glad to inform you, that the mission 'A passion that will not die' has been completed successfully

Greets and loads of thanks,

Tr1ck5



Covenant smiled to himself, called his operator: "I'm on my way to jack out of the Matrix, be sure to get every member of the crew back there, and put the drinks on the table in the mess, we have a celebration."

"Yes Sir! Understood and wilco" said the operator with a smile.

Covenant closed his cell, did a map check and walked at ease to the nearest hard line, whistling a happy tune from his past. As he picked up the phone, he looked around and then once at the sky as it started snowing. All was well for this brief instant in the Matrix. A second later, a smile on his face he dissolved into code in front of a well dressed businessman who just came out his office. The man, pale and mouth still opened in shock, walked over to the phone booth only see the phone dangling on its cord, with the smiling man who had been holding it no where in sight.

Chapter 8


TRX woke up in the captain's cabin onboard Blue Distortion. He didn't know what time it was, but had the feeling he was late in arising, as he heard Lyrics with her new pupil, passing his cabin in the narrow corridor heading in direction of the bridge. The sound of the ships engines and hydraulics, made it clear that Rage was at the helm steering the ship.

Still a bit sleep drunk, Rex lay there a little longer, trying to find the courage to get out of bed. He thought of his meeting with Sandy the day before, as it made quite the impact and wondered if he did the right thing. Love in this place, was a dangerous thing, it can make you less careful.

He thought of Neo and Trinity, and the events of about seven years ago. He had learned the story soon after he had been awakened from a woman operative that had been in good friend of Trinity's. Rex couldn't help but smile thinking of what a newbie he had been at that time before he had even started to train as an operative.  

The woman related that Neo had met the architect, and was told a lot about the Matrix and the Ones before him. The Ones were a safety value, a feedback mechanism to control the evitable chaos that could destabilize the Matrix system. They were the Balance of the Matrix if you will.

She explained that Neo was the first One that carried Love as one of attributes that drove him to be the One.  She also related that Neo had to make a choice between stabilizing the Matrix and restarting Zion from scratch for a new reincarnation by the old tried and true formula of the previous Ones, or moving at the speed of light to save his true love Trinity.

Neo made his choice and didn't hesitate to save Trinity, breaking the old cycle and hoping that Love would find a way to re-stabilize the Matrix in some other way. In the end, Neo sacrificed himself to bring down the Smith virus, proving his Love for all beings both biologic and synthetic, allowing Zion to avoid a Phoenix's Death, and brokering a tenuous Truce between Man and Machine.
 
The lesson was clear to Rex; love could make you do things which could have major consequences. Rex also realized that like Neo, Love was a major motivation in his make up, but Rex was under no delusions that he was the current incarnation of The One. The differences were like day and night, cat and dog. He worried that given such a momentous choice that he could not make the best one for all concerned. He also learned that if love is your drive, it opens a door that enemy's will use to break you at your source, your purpose, your drive. If they manage to do that, they can defeat you. They take away the X-factor that you run on, making you powerless.  So for TRX to show, and give his love to some one, makes him vulnerable, and opens a door to enemies that could  destroy him, not to mention putting the love of his life, Tr1ck5, at risk.

As these thoughts ran through Rex's mind he turned around in bed once more. Finally relaxing, his mind found peace and the thoughts faded away as he entered a weird sort of trance. Time seemed to stand still as everything around him seemed to quiet and slow down. Suddenly a few flashes, images, popped into his minds eye. Short bursts of repeating images, of sentinels, traveling at full speed, on a search and destroy mission. Adrenaline flooded his body, speeding his heart, driving him to sit up and set his feet on the deck. As his feet hit the deck, the loud wail of General Quarters, and Rage's calm voice declaring this was not a drill shattered the everyday background noise of a hovercraft underway.

If his premonition hadn't already got his heart racing the call to Battle Stations would have, placing the whole crew in a state of concentrated focus; ready, willing, and able to act in whatever way was necessary to survive. 

It was situations just like this that taught TRX to not sleep in the nude, so he had some clothing on, but nothing on his feet. As time was of the essence, he jumped up, opened the door of his cabin, and dashed bare footed, to reach the gunners station on the upper deck. He heard Linotype a couple of meters behind him shouting, "I'm right behind you sir!  It's a s***load of sentinels trying to corner us in!!"

At the same moment on the bridge, Lyrics joined Rage at the controls, to provide navigation and sensor information. This allowed Rage to concentrate on shaking the pursuing sentinels. Her input was extremely important because turning down a dead end tunnel or running and headlong into another group of sentinels would be a disaster.

Othala, the Baby Blue's Chief Engineer, had reached the gunnery station first and started locking and loading the gun turrets, quickly but accurately. They couldn't afford one of the turrets to jam by inaccurate loading of ammunition. She had just finished loading a third turret for herself as her Captain and the young Linotype stormed in and took their places to start shooting at everything that moved.

TRX shouted over the din of the machinery spooling up, "f****** pieces of scrap metal! Othala, did you load an extra turret for yourself?!!"

"YES SIR!!"

"There's still one turret extra, load that one too in case one of ours jams!!"

"Roger sir!!"

The ships intercom squawked loudly as Lyrics stressed voice filled in her Captain with a status report, "We have radio contact with the flagship! Ps10n says help is on the way! --- Oh my --- Buckle up! Sentinels are coming out of a tunnel on the starboard side!"

TRX glanced at Linotype in the seat next to him, seeing he was having a hard time defending his quadrant. Reassuring the young operator we said, "You heard her kid! Buckle up! You're doing great! Don't panic, just concentrate like your playing space invaders!" Followed by, "Yes kid, that's it, good, good, give them **** boy!", when he saw the youngest member of the crew settle down.

Lino, gaining more confidence by the second and motivated by TRX, now started to really bust up the mass of sentinels that mistakenly calculated his quadrant as the weakest.

Again the intercom activated, "Bomb!  Brace for possible impact!"

The Baby Blue moved into an open area with a sentinel getting ready to torpedo the ship with a fast spinning oval shaped bomb. In the split second that the bomb was released, PS10N's flagship entered the area from a tunnel nearby, targeted the bomb and with a well placed salvo exploded the threat and the attacking sentinel.

The shockwaves of the twin explosions made both Zion vessels tremble, pushing both vessels slightly off course. Rage tried to correct the push from the right, steering hard right, but as he was just a fraction of a second too late, the hovercraft made contact with the side of the tunnel on the left. The scraping sound of vessel contacting the tunnel wall, worried everyone onboard Baby Blue. With in seconds the hovercraft lost motive power and once again bashed into the tunnel wall, finally smashing down into the tunnel floor.

Ps10n placed his vessel behind TRX, attempting to shoot the sentinels diving on the Blue Distortion intent on cutting up the ship with their lasers.

Ps10n seeing how the situation was deteriorating had no choice but to turn the ignition key that would activate the EMP he had charged. With a low whispered prayer, "Oh God, save us." the Commodore turned the key releasing an enormous electro-magnetic pulse, filling the  tunnel with a  blue/white aural discharge, dropping every sentinel for at least a half a mile. For a short time, it literally rained sentinels.

It took a few seconds for Ps10n to realize what just happened, as his vessel touched down. One of his crewmembers seeing him stare at the Blue Distortion almost buried in sentinels asked; "Sir, Sir, What should we do?  PS1?"

Ps10n snapped out of his revelry, his mind working hard, seeking answers to the survival problems that started to surface in his thoughts. "I'm afraid TRX lost his hovercraft just now and that is on the positive side, meaning I hope to God he and his crew survived the crash and that we didn't loose one of our best crews and best friends in our fleet."

They stood there staring at the wreck for another few seconds, when suddenly Ps10n started giving orders to every member of his crew available.

"Ok, you two, get ready to go outside, get weapons to hold off any sentinel that tries to even think of coming here. And you, you, and you get supplies, tools, and med-kits!  Go, go, and go!  We don't have even the slightest amount time to waste.  What are you waiting for? GO NOW!"

As a well coordinated team, his men rapidly moved in all directions, before he had finished speaking. Before he prepared to go outside himself, he took one last look at the crashed hovercraft from the bridge saying, "Hang in there guys. Help is on the way."

TRX, Lino, and Othala were still buckled in their seats, alive, but dazed. Lino was the first to wake up from the crash impact which had caused all three of them to black out for a few minutes. Linotype, feeling his head spinning a bit, saw little stars flying through the vague image of reality. He turned his head to see TRX in the seat to his left, still unconscious.

"Captain! Cap, wake up, Sir."

Rex moved his head a little like he was asleep and having a bad dream. Again Lino tried to bring him to reality, but this time he reached out his hand and grabbed his captains wrist, squeezing it, again talking to him, "TRX, wake up!  Come on Captain, open up those balls in your face that give you view."

Then he heard him chuckle a little, sounding proud of his youngest crewmember. "Hey kid... You ok?" Rex said while having trouble opening his eyes.

"Yes Captain, a little shook up, but ok. I don't seem to bleeding anywhere and it doesn't feel like I broke anything. How about you sir? Are you Ok?"

TRX tried to feel his body, wiggled his toes, carefully moving some limbs, checking also to see that he wasn't loosing blood anywhere.

"I think I'm ok too, as far as I can see and feel. How's Othala? Othala, Othy, say something sweetie."

A soft coughing sound came from the right, on Linotype's other side. As they were facing the back of the craft, Othala was on the side of the impact.

With a crackly voice gasping for air, Othala answered: "I don't feel so good T. I think I'm bleeding somewhere."

"Hold on Othy. Be right with you, as soon as I get this seatbelt loose"

With those words, Lino reached for his pocketknife and cut the seatbelt preventing TRX from leaving his chair. Rex climbed out of his seat then went to free Lino from his.

The two men moved over to Othala, to see how she was, and were shocked when they saw her. Apparently a sentinel was caught between the ship and the tunnel wall when the first collision occurred. Some of the battle steel tentacles had penetrated the hull of the ship, one of which had gone straight through Othala's shoulder and through the seat back. Blood was slowly running down the tentacle and dripping off the end.

Othala was going into shock not feeling the pain, said; "T, I can't move and I don't feel anything."

TRX and Lino exchanged a glance, both knowing how seriously the engineer was injured.

Rex let his fingers slide over Othala's cheek, "Try to stay calm Hun, we are getting you out of here. Lino, go to the bridge and see how things are with Lyrics and Rage. Bring them back here if they are alright. I will stay with Othala."

Lino making his way out of the gunnery station said: "Copy that Sir, be right back"

As he walked through the main corridor, he passed the main docking port of the ship, which resounded with several loud bangs. At first he was afraid that it was sentinels, but then when he listened carefully, he could hear human voices, although not well enough to make sense of what was being said.  He pulled the door switch, which opened the door with a loud "PSSSSHHH", startling Psion's engineer, who was preparing to open the door with a hydraulic tool. A nervous laugh escaped his lips seeing the engineer's alarm, as Ps10n standing in the background stepped to the front asking if everyone was ok.

Linotype made a quick report of the situation in the gunnery station and that he was on his way to Rage and Lyrics on the bridge. Ps10n ordered several of his men to go to Othala ASAP with a med-kit and the hydraulic cutter and the remaining two men, to go to the bridge with Linotype. Psion's crew made haste to follow their orders, while the Commodore made his own interior and exterior damage assessment of the Blue Distortion.

As Linotype was about to enter the bridge with Ps10n's men they met Rage and Lyrics at the entryway. Rage had a bandage on his head but related that it was nothing too serious. Lyrics was very pale and the pupils of her eyes were widened. She was obviously pretty shook up, and didn't speak much, but otherwise seemed ok. Ps10n joined them as they were standing there and told everyone that the damage to the ship that looked more severe then was actually the case. He and Rage stayed on the bridge, to see what they could do to fix the hover subsystem while the rest of the crew accompanied Lyrics and Lino to the gunnery station.

Meanwhile, back at the gun deck, Rex had decided the best thing to do was leave the tentacle in Othala’s shoulder and use the seat that she was pinned to as an impromptu litter. He decided to unbolt the gun station chair from the floor first before attempting to sever the tentacle from the Sentinel’s body. That way they could perform the delicate surgery in the medical facility on Ps10n’s vessel under controlled conditions.

While Rex tried worked on the seat bolts, Lyrics tried to disinfect the wound and make Othala as comfortable as she could without letting her black out. Partially to help Othala focus and partially to help her deal with her own shock at her crewmate’s injury, Lyrics bombarded Othala with all sorts of questions about her life both in and out of the Matrix.

Rex was making good progress with removing the seat bolts, while Ps10n’s First Mate cut the tentacle about 30 inches from Othala’s shoulder.  Finally when the task was done, three men carried Othala off the Blue Distortion and onto the flagship. A fourth crewman, carrying an EMP pulse weapon provided over watch for the transfer. Once aboard the flagship, she received immediate medical attention with no new complications arising because of the surgery.

Rex, stayed with Baby Blue while Othala was transferred, performing some emergency hull repairs on the damage caused by the sentinel that had caught Othala. Once that was complete he joined Ps10n and Rage on the bridge to help repair the bridge functions. As he walked onto the bridge Rage, was just finishing the start up check list with Ps10n playing the role of co-pilot. The engines powered on, but after just 30 seconds they went off line. Within minutes they re-checked the involved systems only to find everything seemed nominal, with no explanation for the failure.

"TRX, time is running out. If we can’t get Blue Distortion to work in the next four minutes, we have to consider this craft a loss. More sentinels are probably on their way as we speak", said PS10n gravely.

"PS1, I’m not ready to give up this vessel yet. I’m going outside because the problem isn’t on the inside. I will find that problem in the next five minutes." Rex wasn’t about to give up on the vessel that had been his home for such a long time.

The Commodore was not moved, he had one undamaged hovercraft and the lives of two crews to consider, Speaking formally he commanded, "Captain TRX, you have four minutes. If she doesn’t come online with in that time, I’m ordering you to step over to my ship and consider this ship lost."

Rex moved outside quickly with Lino behind him with an EMP pulse weapon for protection.

The months of hands-on experience during the re-fit served TRX well. His technical knowledge of his vessel, probably matched the knowledge of the naval architects that designed her those hundreds of years ago. As he approached the bow of the ship he fell to his knees checking for possible problems on the ships bottom. He noticed that one of the hover plates was slightly misaligned. Looking closer he saw that the power cables that feed electricity to the plate had been sliced partially through the middle. As the hover plates were fed in series rather then parallel that was enough to break the whole circuit. In effect the damage would short circuit the whole hover pad system causing it to automatically shutdown.

Now that he understood the problem and knowing that the clock was ticking Rex made haste to set things right.  First he pulled the hover plate back in its original position, by pulling it to the side, with his feet braced against the bottom of the vessel. He connected the cables that were cut, ripped his belt from his pants and used it to separate the wires from each other and winding it about the wire as a makeshift insulation. Signaling Rage through the bridge canopy, they gave it another try. This time she ran 45 seconds before shutting down indicating he was on the right track. Adjusting his repair by adding Linotype’s belt to the mix added another 30 seconds to the up time. One final adjustment and Rage was able to bring Baby Blue light on her pads and hold her there.

Seeing Rage’s grin and thumbs up signal through the canopy, Rex and Lino made haste to enter the hovercraft and be on their way. The short run was not without incident as Lino had to take down an advance sentinel scout with an EMP pulse.

Ps10n smiled at TRX as he entered the bridge saying, "I gave you five minutes, and you pulled it off.” with a hearty laugh. He quickly sobered as he related “I just received a report, that sentinels have been spotted closing on this position, ETA approximately three minutes. We have to move, now.”

TRX checked the map of the tunnels, to see which way was safest, when he said to Ps10n, "It’s a long shot Ps1, but remember that mechanical line that Niobe went through to make it to the docks in time in the last war?"

Ps10n shook his head, but said, "Yes" as he did so.

TRX continued, "Well dear Brethren Commander, it is the same line and it is possible; but I’m thinking to take it half way to Zion, and then leave that line through a sideline here and from there take line 5 to gate 5. Rex pointed his finger on the map marking the small side tunnel he was talking about.

"Ok Rex, if you think you can do it yourself, let Rage navigate. I’ll try distracting the sentinels and lead them off in the opposite direction. Let's move out!"

Ps10n quickly ran out the ship, making his way to his own, while his first mate covered him with the EMP pulse gun, shooting two sentinels scouts on the way. Once aboard Ps10n lifted off and headed in the direction of the approaching sentinels, while TRX turned his ship around, looking for the open area where there was an entrance to the mechanical line.

Rex entered the mechanical line, a narrow tunnel just barely big enough to go through. Not taking any chances Rage set the speed at 35% maximum. Lyrics was at her station and Linotype was back on the gun deck, manning the only working turret left, ready to blast approaching sentinels to bits and pieces.

Rex couldn’t avoid bumping the walls here and there, but they made steady progress through the narrow tunnel. Rage helped navigate the tight passage by adjusting the speed now and then and the power trim of the hover plates below the ship.

The crew was communicating over their head sets, the ship wide intercom was used only in the alarm state. After several minutes of silence Rage stated, "If a sentinel comes from the front, I will freaking step off this ship and kill it with my bare hands, twisting every part like a bent spoon."

It was the first laugh the crew had shared since the crash, helping everybody to relax.

Ps10n made contact with the Blue Distortion, and asked Lyrics to put him through to TRX. "Rex, mate; we managed to patch up Othala, but she went in coma. I thought you should know."

Rex told Ps10n that he missed her already and asked if the flagship had run into any sentinels yet.

"Have I have seen sentinels, yet?” Ps10n mimicked. “Man, I have two on my tail and one trying to sit on my roof right now!"

He continued with a chuckle, "Don’t worry once I get a nice little herd rounded up I will blow an EMP again.”

"Call me when you reach the safety zone, T.", finished Ps10n.

"Ok, man. Good luck!"

Ps10n’s decoy trick seemed to work as Rex's vessel didn’t encounter any sentinels in the mechanical line. After a half an hour they reached the side tunnel that would take them to line 5. TRX needed to make a sharp turn to the right and ordered Rage to get speed up to 65%. Rage replied he couldn’t get it above 60%.

"Just maxed out", he said while trying to rerouting power.

TRX’s pucker factor had just increased dramatically, as his calculations on speed versus degree had just been thrown out the door, He was going to have to feel his way though the next few seconds, a sobering thought in a battle damaged hovercraft, literally held together with a belt. Preparing himself, he mentally pictured how he would have to adjust the ship orientation as she came around the curve to compensate for the lower amount of power.

Rage, took that moment of time before the maneuver commenced to comment, “Good Luck, At least the side tunnel is wider then the mechanical line”, which earned a glance from his Captain that would have flash boiled water.

TRX took the turn like the pro he was, side slipping into the proper orientation at the proper instant to come to the proper heading to enter the side tunnel.  Before he even had a chance to beam a triumphant grin at Rage, Lyrics shouted through the headset all of a sudden that made everybody’s heart rate accelerate. "T, sentinels on the left side of line 5!"

Rex immediately reversed power to break the hovercraft’s forward motion to a crawl and then shut down power all together in order to cut down their emission signature. He now also saw the red shapes of sentinels on his passive radar display.

"Shhhhhhhhh", he exhaled, as everyone held their breath, willing the sentinels, passing by 150 meters distant not to notice the hovercraft in the mouth of the sideline entering line 5.

One of the sentinels, sensing something amiss, stopped to listen for sounds with a small directional antenna on the tip of one of it’s tentacles. After a few seconds, having not detected anything, the sentinel hurried off to join the four other members of the patrol.

Linotype exhaled in the microphone of the headset that didn’t really fit him well. His hands were trembling, hardly squeezing the two joysticks in his hand that operated the sole remaining gun turret.

They listened and waited a little longer, making sure the coast was clear before powering up and making their way to line 5. Fortunately the patrol was headed away from New Zion.

"Make best possible speed to the docks, Rage”, chuckled TRX, “You have the con”

"Lyrics get me the Hovercraft Invindictive on a secure frequency, I want speak to Tr1ck5."

Quickly typing commands into her keyboards Lyrics replied, "Yes Sir, making contact"

A minute went by, as TRX started to make his way to his cabin to have more privacy, when he heard Lyrics, "Yep, contact. Operator Blinks is putting me through to his Captain"

 "Trixie speaking, is that you Rexie?"

"Yeah Hun, it’s me. I’m coming home for Christmas. Meet me at the New Zion Docks?"

"Certainly cupcake, we just received clearance from Zion control to enter gate 1. I’ll see you at the Anomalies party, in cave 3?"

"I thought you'd never bring it up, heheh", TRX blushed.

"Tr1ck5 out"

TRX heard Lyrics again saying, "I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but, going dancing 'Rexie'?”

TRX laughed, "You didn’t mean to but you did never the less. So, if you must know, I don’t feel much like dancing. But, if it helps to get us in the mood, why not?"
 

Chapter 9


As the Baby Blue docked in New Zion she was engulfed by a swarm of yard dogs intent on repairing the battle damage. Sadly, with the hot war raging again, their services were more in demand then ever. The crew, finally standing on safe ground, breathed a collective sigh of relief having once again beaten the Grim Reaper. They then made their way to the dockside “Chill Facility” as they liked to call it. Except for TRX, who remained on the bridge desperately trying to contact the flotilla flagship to learn if they survived the decoy mission that allowed the Blue Distortion to escape.

With each repeated attempt to make contact TRX began to get more and more worried. Finally, after thirty minutes and six different attempts on various frequencies, the voice of his brave commander sounded loud and clear through his headset.

"Ps10n speaking" his leader said in a relaxed way that sounded like he had just been chilling out.

"PS1, TRX here man, are you ok?"

“Yes, definitely. We just killed at least 35 sentinels by blowing the EMP”, the satisfaction evident in his voice. “On the other hand Othala is getting worse, mate. She won’t come out of coma, and we found some more internal bleeding. She is strong though, and rest assured that we are doing everything we can."

TRX rubbed his forehead, and felt his eyes burning after all the stress they went through. "Get home safe Ps10n, I’ll see you when you get here"

"Always bro" replied the confident Commodore.

Rex walked through his ship towards his cabin to get his belongings, but when he got there, he sat down on his bed, and exhaled. He could hear the noises of the engineers beginning their repairs. Feeling very tired, he lay down, thinking he would just relax for a few minutes before joining his crew. Well that was the plan, but the stress of the last few hours had taken its toll and he fell asleep on the spot instead.

Meanwhile, Lyrics and Rage had arrived in the “Chill Room”. Rage caught Lyrics eye and made a drinking hand signal. Lyrics chuckled at the look on his face and pictured a cartoon bubble with a question mark above his head. She gave him thumbs up, to indicate that she was in agreement with that idea.

As she found an empty table she looked around the vast room, to see if there were some familiar faces. On her right she noticed Rollguy with some friends.  In the back amid a lively, spirited discussion and party, she could easily spot the irrepressible Beanix together with her former captain and some other members of his flagship crew.

Interrupting her dreamy mood, Lyrics saw Rage closing in on the table with the drinks. He put one drink in front of her and sat down while holding his own drink, and raised it saying: "To all the scrap metal sentinels we eliminated today!"

They both slammed their drinks, which was the perfect moment for Linotype to put a new round on the table he had ordered as he entered. He sat down at the corner of the table and suggested that they drink a round to Othala fighting for her life. They all agreed and proceeded to make the next round history.  When Lyrics next glanced at the entranceway she saw a woman, who she indentified as Tr1ck5, TRX s wife.

Tr1ck5 seeing Lyrics’ hand signal and catching her eye smiled and made her way over to the table. "Hey there Brethren. What a situation you guys had on your hands there!"

Lyrics exhaled with a long sigh "You can say that again, Trixie!"

Trixie sat down at the table leaving only one spot open for some one to sit at it. "Where's TRX?"

Rage answered, "It could be he is still at the Baby Blue, but if not I guess he is on his way here"

Lyrics calculated the time they were there after they filed a report with Captain Niobe. "He should have been here by now Rage"

Trixie drumming her fingers on the table, decided to go and check on his whereabouts.

Linotype advised her to go to the vessel first stating, "He is probably still at the ship, hugging her", drawing a laugh from the assembled warriors. With a grin Tr1ck5 answered, "Can you blame him?" This prompted Lyrics to smile widely, because if it wasn’t for the drink she needed, she would very likely also be aboard Baby Blue hugging the keyboard of her operating station.

Tr1ck5 left the room smiling, and made her way to the Blue Distortion, berthed in the maintenance dock. As she approached the damaged vessel, wanting to board it, one of the engineers blocked her way with the words, “This hovercraft is under repair, you are not allowed to board Ma’am."

Trixie surprised by the good security around the vessel replied, "It is not Ma’am, Engineer, but Commander.  My husband is the captain of this ship and is probably still inside. Besides as a Commander, I can board where I please, when I please, Thank you every much". The last part was delivered with a friendly smile to remove any sting from the comment.

"Rules are rules, Commander", the yard dog once again pointed out.

"Hmm well, since you are so persistent, I’ll ask you kindly, to make an exception, lieutenant is it?  Now please step aside, and if you don’t like it, take it up with your supervisor".

The engineer stepped aside to let her onboard, although he was obviously uncomfortable about the situation.

Trick5 boarded the vessel, first checking the bridge and then moving on the mess and finally to the Captain’s cabin, where she found him in a deep sleep. She chuckled to herself, and thought a good practical joke would be to make a mock attack on her sleeping husband. The second she put her hand on his throat, TRX grabbed her wrist and returned the favor even before opening his eyes. When he opened them he saw his wife standing over him gasping for air, given the effectiveness of his throat lock.

"Honey, what are you doing?" He said as he let her go and started laughing.

Joining his laughter she replied after a second, "I was going to scare you, but that didn’t work did it? Let’s try this" as she lay down on the bed beside him and kissed him, smothering his laughter and momentarily preventing any verbal conversation.

After a few minutes, having appropriately and appreciatively greeted each other, she said, "The party is starting in 3 hrs, do you want to get in the Christmas mood and put on your formal hat with the confetti shooting out?"

TRX’s sigh said it all, but went on to comment, "I don’t feel much like partying, so I’ll leave the hat. I will take a short peak, however, as Commander Wrecker3D always throws the best parties. It is well known that the Anomalies are all dedicated party animals!"

"We better go then, because the party is being held in the Matrix in Club Sphinx, not here in New Zion, we’ll just take my ship to broadcast depth with who ever wants to join from your crew, ok?"

She got up and started pulling TRX’s arm to get him to stand up.

"Ok, ok, ok, I’m coming already" he mumbled.

They went back to pick up the others, and boarded the Invindictive which quickly and stealthily made it’s way to broadcast depth, in a zone of newly installed passive defenses which would make life difficult for any marauding sentinels.

This “Party Mission” was a good chance for Linotype to gain experience as the active operator since Lino didn’t feel like partying, but as always was more then eager to learn. Lino correctly inserted the interface pins into each of the party goers under the watchful eye of Blinks, Trixie’s operator who would also over watch Lino throughout the mission. Joining Rage, Lyrics, and Rex from the Blue Distortion were Trixie, Nonmortusest, and SilverUniverse from the Invindictive’s crew.

All members of the away team jacked in the Matrix at different locations, to avoid spiking the activity at any one hard line, which would surely be noticed by Agents, if not machine operatives on a warpath, even on Christmas day.

For Lyrics it had been a long time since she had been in Matrix, so she enjoyed experiencing things from the other side of the looking glass once again. Returning to the old mantra of the jack in check list, she immediately took inventory, verifying what Linotype had loaded for her. She felt the reassuring weight of a holster on her left side, which was correct as she was right handed. Drawing the weapon, she immediately recognized it as a FM-700 Magnum. Her cellular was in the left inside pocket of her jacket and on the opposite side was her advanced PDA. When she looked down and saw the awesome boots Lino had loaded for her, she took her cellular and called in. After a few clicks the connection was established and she heard Linotype respond, "Operator" in an over the top cool manner he had probably been practicing when nobody was listening. She couldn’t help chuckling as she said, "Fine job on the loading Lino, and very, very nice boots!"

Lino still in his over the top cool voice replied, "Thank you, activity is normal, the road due east will take you to the club."

Lyrics looked around not knowing which way was east. Lino seeing her hesitation couldn’t help but say: "Hmmm, that would be to your left, rusty Matrix trotter."  Blinks tried to unsuccessfully stifle his laughter in the background.

Lyrics replied with a slight "Hmphm" and broke off connection with a quick flick of the wrist that shut the lid of the cellular with a sharp click.

TRX, morphing into the simulation, didn’t have to think or call, but certainly checked if he had everything also. When he even found a pack of cigarettes in his jacket pocket, his mouth corner raised in a slight grin, giving Lino a few points for details. Gathering himself, he hyper-jumped in the direction of the Club without having to consciously think about which direction.

Tr1ck5 was already dashing through some alleys acrobatically leaping from fire escapes, and almost running on the wall faces here and there. When she came close to the club, the loud bang and the ripple of the floor indicated that TRX had landed from a full hyper jump nearby.

A cough coming from up above, directed her attention to Rage standing on the edge of the low roof of the club.

With the “Party Team” assembled at the mission target, the group entered the anteroom of the club where they found other crews waiting to pass through metal detector into the club proper.  The bouncers had turned a blind eye and ear to the plaintive beeping of the detector deciding that discretion was the better part of valor when dealing with heavily armed red pills intent on having a good time. Rex seeing their frustration ambled over to the power outlet, and with a wink to the bouncer on duty pulled the plug saying, “No worries, mate. No body wants war tonight.”

The Anomalies always threw a great party, tonight was no exception. The music was good, spun by a live DJ, an Anomaly by the name of Slikrik, his smooth voice announcing the music requests and making shout outs to the assembled party goers. The team had arrived fashionably late, the party was already well underway as every one mixed into the crowd and blended with the music.

TRX found himself standing next to Archangel, a debonair member of the EPN, whose white suit matched hair just as white. After giving Arch a hearty "Merry Christmas", he noticed Tr1ck5 in the crowd standing besides Amativa, an old friend and former crewmate, sharing a laugh.

The parties’ atmosphere was very good, the crowd was happy, and he enjoyed watching Tr1ck5 as she mingled showing off her new dreadlock hair style, his mind couldn’t help but wander to Othala not knowing her situation. He kept an eye on the stairs, to see all who entered, looking for a sign of Ps10n, or a black fedora hat which was his new trademark.

Tr1ck5, noticing TRX was still tense and intently observing the stairway said something to Amativa, and walked over to her husband and asked, "Are you ok cupcake?"

Rex tried his best to give her a reassuring smile, responded with a "Yeah" but he could never fool his pretty wife.

"Come with me babe, let’s thank Wrecker3D for hosting this wonderful party", Trixie said trying to get TRX s mind back from wherever it was wandering for at least a few minutes.

Rex's reached out and caressed his wife’s cheek, his smile finally reaching his eyes and nodded his agreement as he  came back from his worries. Trixie had always known how to draw him out, he reflected as he followed his wife through the crowd to the DJ tables where Wreck stood with a microphone in hand, announcing the winner of the best dressed female contest and awarding a significant financial prize.

Rage seeing some old friends, was dancing with two ladies from his old fleet. Nonmortusest, also called Morty, by his captain, saw this as the beginning of the party, starting to loosen up. SilverUniverse was standing with his brother TheKingOfHearts telling jokes to one of his brother’s crewmates.

When Rex returned to his vantage point after he greeted Wrecker3D, he glanced at the stairs to see Ps10n coming in with a new recruit named NeoExcidious, and his fellow fleet captains Minuend and Morphesu. The entrance was a grand one letting everybody know for certain that ‘The Brethren' were in the building.

Rex quickly made his way to his leader, shrugging a bit, indicating what took him so long.

"See, safe and sound just as I told you", Ps1 remarked.

"Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re here bro, but what took you?”

“I had some troubles finding a quiet spot, as sentinels kept searching for us. Listen T, Othala is holding on by a thread. Things do not look good. We must make our way back to New Zion, where she has a better chance of surviving, with all the medical facilities there. I don’t want to break up your party here, but you better go back to docks also, in case we loose her. Her husband isn’t jacked in, he is by her side in Sick Bay, holding her hand. He’s very upset. Anyway, we are two hours away from home."

"Ah good man, we are only a short distance away, so we will leave in an hour and a half."

"Good, we are on our way now T.  I’ll see you on the dock, and say a little prayer bro. She needs all the help she can get.”

"Will do Ps1"

While Minuend and Morphesu blended in the party, as they were aboard their own Hovercrafts somewhere else in the vast network of tunnels, Rex watched Ps10n walk back up the stairs in his black winter coat with matching fedora. He looked over his shoulder as he reached the top of the stairs standing still for a moment, then disappearing to the left followed by the young recruit.

TRX went upstairs to the skybox for some privacy. As he looked down on the partying redpills below him he called Hern21on his cellular.

Hern picked up seeing it was TRX on his caller ID, and began talking before he brought the phone all the way up to his ear "Let’s  get the party started! For the love of Trinity man, I was diverted to another hard line, because the closest was too busy. grrrrr!"

"Hey, hurry up dude, I’m not going be here long, you wouldn’t believe what my crews been through today, not to mention what happened to myself"

"You ok, T?" said Hern now more serious.

"I am, but Othala isn’t man, she's hurt bad and..... Just get here man".

"On my way, bro."

*dial tone*

Chapter 10

Outside of Club Sphinx, the world seemed empty. A black starless sky blanketed the city and the street lights bathed everything; streets, cars, buildings and even people in a greenish glow. Walking by the club, you wouldn’t know that inside were a hundred dancing redpills. A casual observer might notice an occasional redpill entering the building, accompanied by a blast of music from the clubs sound system as the door opened. As Sphinx was a 24/7 club, the locals were accustomed to music sounding from there at all hours.

A more astute observer, particularly an operator skilled in deciphering the green waterfall of Matrix code would definitely notice the activity in Club Sphinx and the local area. For instance, an operator might have noticed a group of three redpills approaching the Club from the direction of the “Heart of the City” Hotel to the west and an alternate group of four approaching the club from the east. The signatures from the group of three all matched known Zion operatives. The group approaching from the east were viscous looking. They dispersed into a mutually supportive attack formation at a hand signal from the apparent leader. Their clothing was slightly different as well, mostly black with some sporting black bandanas as well. Their signatures did not match known Zion operatives. A quick search revealed that these redpills that had been awaken by Zion under the terms of the truce, but convinced to further the goals of the Machine Overlords. Even the Merovingian had redpills working for his organization.

The groups disappeared again in opposite directions. The view was calm again for a minute, until Hern landed in front of the door, as he had been hyper-jumping from building to building to get to the club. As he stood up from his energy absorbing crouch, he immediately cloaked himself, making use of the stealth skills he had learned as an operative. He entered the building covertly, as a small group of people were leaving, thereby avoiding the necessity of opening the front door himself. The cloak state was very good, but not perfect. A very careful observer might notice a vaguely human figure from the interference pattern his silhouette made with the background. But the people just leaving and those mingling in the front lobby where more interested in having a good time then in ferreting out a stealthy redpill.  Even the guards at the club’s metal detectors were distracted, choosing to engage in a not too bright conversation instead of watching for trouble. Hern, seeing that the guards were non-attentive, laughed to himself as he moved to stand directly between the hapless duo and uncloaked with a big smile on his face. The look on the guard’s faces was priceless as they stumbled backward startled by the materialized phantom.

Hern laughed loudly addressing the guards, “Relax boys, I don’t want to have to cut your throats, because you freak out and draw your weapons trying to shoot me now. OK?”

Both guards managed to nod agreement, as Hern backed through the metal detector, opening his coat to reveal he was fully stocked with daggers. Hern assured the guards he only brought his “pocket knives” to the party to the sound of the protesting metal detector, which allicited a second nod of acceptance from the “dynamic” pair.

Walking down the stairs, the first of his close acquaintances he saw was Tr1ck5.  He greeted her with two kisses on the cheeks and a smooth, "Hey, Vanilla Queen" accompanied with a big smile. "Where's my bud?"

Tr1ck5 simply turned slightly to the right and pointed to the skybox, where you could see the outline of TRX behind the slightly blinded windows.

Hern’s large hand totally covered Tr1ck5’s left shoulder, as he softly squeezed it, saying "Get some drinks, and I’ll join you with T"

Before going back up the stairs and make a right to the skybox, he winked at some ladies he knew, and peace signed some buddies.

As Hern rounded the corner into the tight hallway leading to the entrance of the skybox, he saw TRX with his back against the wall, standing on one foot, the other pulled up with the heel against the wall to keep balance, his head slight downwards, and his fedora tilted forward, while exhaling smoke from under his hat.

Hern tipped Rex’s hat upward so he could see his face and greeted him with a "Hey Bro" in a playful tone. Rex smiled a bit, and replied with a "Yo" without looking Hern in the eyes.

Hern wanted to break the ice as always. He had been there from the beginning, watching Rex grow strong as he ascended to captain status a few years back. "What? You’re going to stand here examining the gum on the floor all night Captain?"

Rex pushed himself from the wall, and stood up straight, meeting Hern’s gaze with a dead serious look in his bright albino eyes.

"I have a very bad feeling about this Hern", and then told his friend what had happened and how Othala was fighting for her life.

After finishing the story Rex returned to leaning against the wall lost once again in his thoughts.

"Listen up T; you have an hour left, to be at this party.  There is nothing you can do right now. Your lovely wife is downstairs waiting for you, and most of your friends are here. It’s Christmas. Now get on your feet, chest forward, head up, and at least give the impression to every one here that you’re enjoying the party, and worry about Othala when you get back to New Zion. OK?"

The words did not lift Rex’s mood. Hern let his friend stand there for a full minute, before grabbing him by the coat collar and pulling him forward to get him to stand up straight.

"Rex, Look at me"

Rex looked him in the eyes from under the outlines of his hat. Seeing he had the Captain’s attention, Hern slapped him on his upper arm, to buck him up. "T, brother, give me that black eye you promised me for Christmas. Remember, half a year ago, during our ‘Hangover Monday Duel’, when I delivered that nasty kick to your nuts. You always loose, those duels, being the only one with a hangover."

After two seconds of total silence they burst out laughing. They wished each other a Merry Christmas. Together they made their way downstairs to the dance floor.

With Rex in a more festive mood, the two friends joined Tr1ck5 in the corner, where a comfortable chesterfield couch was placed with some chairs and a table. Other members of the factions The Brethren and ‘Enhancing Ones’, noticed the gathering and made their way through the dancing crowd, to sit with them.

As they drank their refreshments, everyone started talking with each other, telling each other funny stories. Others talked shop, particularly debating the merits of the various Marital Arts systems and the efficiency of the various moves. As in fishing stories the antedotes traded were usually exaggerated, and spiced with a bit of humor here and there.

The party continued. Hern did his impression of a very ugly looking exile, using his Disguise module. The module was a pair of glasses and attached headband, which could transform the wearer’s appearance into whatever was loaded in its memory. Next he transformed into an Agent and yelled out, “You are not authorized in this area!’. The phrase was programmed into the Agent’s kernal, every operative worth their salt had heard it at least once in their career. The crowd favorite however was of a woman with white skin, purple hair, vicious and ugly looking, dressed in a red see through top, and a thong under it. From of the couch, TRX yelled out; "Hern, you freak!" Tr1ck5 was laughing so much, she thought she'd died right there.

Despite his lightened mood TRX couldn’t help to check his phone, and saw that it was time to jack out and start the return journey to New Zion.

Everyone left in the direction of the stairs saying goodbye to friends as they went.

Upstairs the body guards stepped aside, and were glad that the party was beginning to break up.

Once outside, they all split up, everyone heading to his or her own hardline, where they had entered the Matrix.

 Tr1ck5 returned to the hardline to the east of the club. Hyper-jumping from building to building as she went. Finally she leapt down to street level in front of a pair of doors leading into and apartment.  As she landed, the doors opened and she was rushed by four Merovingian operatives. Although she managed to incapacitate one with a Dim Mak strike to the throat, the other three overwhelmed her and dragged her back into the building.

In the meantime rest of the party goers found their hardlines and returned to the Invindictive. The green operator Linotype, started to wonder what had happen to Tr1ck5, as she had not returned yet. He opened the general frequency on the ship, asking: "Blinks? I’m starting to ask myself where your Captain is, she still hasn’t returned."

"Did you call her on her cell yet Lino?"

"Yes sir, twice, but no answer"

"Hmm, I’ll be right there."

Blinks returned to the broadcast station, where Lino had started to remove the insertions pins from the away team.

"Did you see any activity in the Matrix?" asked Blinks as he stepped through the door.

"Activity? What activity?" reacted TRX alarmed.

"Not that I’ve seen Blinks" said Lino.

Blinks found this strange, simply saying "Weird"

Blinks' fingers flew over the keyboard, typing strange combinations, trying to pick up Tr1ck5’s signal. He typed every command he knew, was unsuccessful at acquiring her signal. "Captain TRX, I need some one to go in the Matrix, and check out things there, to confirm what I think I see"

TRX didn’t hesitate, immediately lay back down in the chair, determined to find his wife. "Load up a SMG/Kung Fu ability profile and make sure I have a full load of ammo for my Dual Nishiki Furies.”

Blinks rapidly programmed in Rex’s desired load-out and provided the Dual Furies with a large number of spare clips as Lino inserted the pin into TRX’s head. Blinks then arranged to have TRX enter the Matrix at Tr1ck5’s intended destination. He then got Rex on the cell and started to explain. “Captain, I have discovered a disruption in the Matrix at about the time you all were returning from the party. It looks like a white hallway door was opened in the vicinity of the East hardline. You need to find that door and see if that is correct.”

"Ok, which door?"

"Enter the second door on your left, across the street from the East hardline. Then walk through the building corridor to the other side to where there is a door to the stairway, I think that is it"

"Ok, call you back when I get there."

TRX followed the directions and got back on the cell to Blinks when he reached the door and asked, "This door?"

"Yeah, that must be it, try to open it"

TRX turned the handle, but it was locked solid, which he passed on to Blinks.

"Wait a second Blinks, you said this is a white hallway entrance?"

"Of some kind, yes", Blinks replied.

"Well, let’s open this door then. I have a key to enter the white hallways which I purchased at the Zion archive broker in Moriah Projects. I don’t want to brag, but it cost one hundred million dollars and required the authorization of Zion Controller Tyndall who only releases the key to the most trusted operatives"

Blinks started to cough, because he inhaled some of his water he was drinking.  "Say what?"

With a laugh Rex responded; "You heard me"

TRX took the key out of his pocket, inserted it in the lock and turned the key. He opened the door, and saw the white hallways.

 "Be right back", were his last words.

Blinks scanning the Matrix code, watched TRX as his signal disappeared the instant he entered the portal and closed the door behind him.

Chapter 11

When Tr1ck5 recovered from the drug the Merovingian operators had given her, she looked around very carefully and discretely. They had left her sprawled across a too big couch, in what appeared to be a living room with lots of bladed weaponry and book shelves lining the walls. She took a good look at the weaponry which ranged from long spears, to samurai blades, to a nasty pocket knife that would do a tremendous amount of damage in the hands of an expert. Vastly deceasing her odds of escape were the three vicious looking, tattoo covered, large men about seven feet in front of her couch. One was pacing back and forth while the other two sat in armchairs apparently waiting for her to revive. They were all dressed is a sort of uniform made up of lucian dress shoes, grey plain pants, and a greenish ring-buckle shirt, covered in tattoos. The one thing she felt was in her favor was that they didn't appear to be very bright.

As of yet they still hadn't noticed she was awake, so she tried to lay still and studied the situation with her eyes barely open. As she slowly took inventory of her surroundings, she noticed a window that looked out over a hallway with elevator doors on the far wall. Further to the right was a staircase that led up to a balcony that overlooked the living room. On the balcony she caught site of another staircase that she surmised went to the roof.

Next she took inventory of herself. Her arms and legs felt heavy and not entirely responsive. She guessed that the thugs had administered some sort of drug when they kidnapped her. Considering that and the fact that she faced three of them in an unknown location she decided that immediate escape was not and option. She would have to learn some more. With that in mind, she thought, "Lets get this party started" as she coughed to let the hoods know that she was waking up.

The man in front turned around immediately, placed a call on his cellular, and said;

"Yessshh, ssshhhe woke up. hmm. hmm. yesssshhh", with a scary hiss in his voice.

Trixie sat up straight although still leaning backwards so as not to appear to threatening. Better they thought they were in control, she thought as she waited for things to develop. They obviously wanted her alive or she would have already been dead.

Back at her ship they were starting to worry. They had not reacquired their Captain's signal, nor had TRX resurfaced from his white hall recon.  Blinks had no choice but to contact Ailbh, the faction leader of the Enhancing Ones and inform them of the situation.



Chapter 12

Back at New Zion, Blue Distortion was still under repair. Upon his Return to base TRX, worried about his wife, locked himself in his new quarters to research everything he could on what was known about the white hallways so he could hit the ground running when his hovercraft was ready.

1stCleric finished his education, at New Zion Army Command, and was selected to work on the General's staff doing office work. He had proved to be a very able worker and a wizard at organization so he was also detailed to assist the Zion Controller.

This time when Blue Distortion went light on her pads she was a new ship. The damage to the hull, power plant and lift pads had been considerable so the yard engineers had rebuilt her deck plan to accommodate a new more efficient power plant, added extra armor to the hull, gave her enhanced communication capabilities and installed larger caliber rapid fire chain gun turrets.

Unfortunately, Othala did not fair quite as well. The tentacle damage to her shoulder could not be completely repaired and she could only manage 65% range of movement with her left arm. As a result she was honorably discharged from active duty and went on to take a civilian engineering management job on the New Zion docks. In fact many of the improvements to Blue Distortion had been made at Othala's insistence. Unfortunately, Othala's discharge meant that Blue Distortion had lost her Chief Engineer and First Mate. T-Fork agreed to return as Chief Engineer, but for the position of First Mate, TRX had someone else in mind. He broadcast a covert call to arms (see DVD MxO vids) to 1stCleric requesting his aid as a First Mate.

For 1stCleric the decision between an important berth on an active warship with frequent forays into the Matrix and a dull office job at Zion Command was a no brainer. The General, recognizing that a fit young warrior sitting behind a desk was a warrior wasted, approved the request for transfer to front line duty without a moments hesitation.

The Blue Distortion's shake-down cruise proved to be very successful. With 1stCleric leading the charge, new crew members were found in rapid succession. Reasonz, Skeptah, Isirnicki and Magiik were all added to the crew roster in short order, filling up all the ship's berthing accommodations.

During the following month of operations Skeptah and Isirnicki distinguished themselves. They both exhibited the devotion to duty and the unselfish attitude of putting the crew's safety before their own that caught both TRX's and Ps10n eye. Ps10n pulled some strings with the Zion Search and Recovery Corp and was placed at the top of the queue for obtaining newly refurbished hovercraft.

Isirnicki was the first to get his own Hovercraft, which he baptized, Apocalypto. After another few weeks Skeptah received is own ship which he named, Leonidas.

With the addition of new hovercraft to the fleet, berths opened up on Blue Distortion once again. TRX filled them with the promising red pills Nisafei and Italier.

During this cruise, Rex also became re-acquainted with the Bazmann sisters, whom he had known from his first faction. Over the years they had left Zion and joined the Merovingian organization. Normally Rex would have simply ignored them given their allegiance, but he had remembered them as good people and decided to make the connection once again. Arzu Bazmann proved to be extremely helpful and provided Rex some software upgrades that helped solve some interface and HUD problems he had been experiencing with the Blue Distortion's new operating system.

Rex also began exploring Baby Blue's new communication capabilities. Ps10n, Conrac, and Nisafei had also installed improved communication suites in their hovercraft and had arranged to pipe the communication link through to their RSI's in Matrix. This greatly enhanced the ability of those operatives on the net to communicate efficiency and coordinate their actions to a much higher degree while undertaking missions.

 Missions were done, concerning the Machines arisement to recruit unawakened to keep them, contained. and give them a bluepill forgetting the question: "What.. is.. the Matrix.."

Many veterans like Neoteny, xshearmanx, Rollguy, and also of course Zion liasion Merrit., worked hard to get progress in this investigation.
After some faults by cowboy operatives, an important,
possible informant in this case, was killed.
After the heat every one teleported elsewhere, and so not staying at the wright building in south vauxton downtown.
When TRX after a while staying at the Hradline Noticing Merrit, who was still standing there also, and not really much of a talk either, considering the obstructions in this event, TRX said would need to rejack, as some interface problems started to re accur.
Ps10ns resurrection, on TRX , at the same time he dropped to the floor dead, caused this awkward glitchnin his interface, he didnt seem to get rid off, then to just jackout, re insert the interface pin, and jack back in.
So he did, and rejacked after a minute or ten.
Then directly went to the same HL, while loading his rsi in the matrix, to find Merrit still there.
Still standing there as he use to her in the past, with standing on a right stance leg, and the left one bended her knee just a bit.
Looking also appealing to the eye.
TRX knew, she didnt feel good also, and said:

"Excuse me Merrit, for these Zion argues, about whom did what, to whom or didnt."

she replied after a minute, by saying: "Well, if you wanna kick out some frustation, maybe we can check the wright building again, since my operator says, there are still a few security guards"

TRX immediatly reacted and invited Merrit to a mission team, while on the open channel rerouting the call through Lyrics, who had more insight over whom was where.
Rex called in and said to all who were there at the event to drop team, instantly, no matter what mission team they were on.
He invited all back on team, and they all met in the hallway to kick the last security men of the building.
They didnt find anyting new, but for the hour they were there, they all felt better, afterwards.
Mainly maybe, because this around, tings in the matrix, seem to go to one point, with heavy resistance on all sides.
In war again, not really knowing if your neighbour, Zionist, is to be trusted, replying a featherlight joke with a:

"TRX...Shut up..."

TRX only replied, with a:

"I do not think, you the man.. to give me an order..."

Rex also thinkin by himself, that if he would call in with his leader, the next time he got back at ship, he would probably get the wind from the front, and have a few "Cancleaning" shifts, obviously meaning sanatary clean shifts.
But Rex didnt really see the point in doin that, and thought well, u must not wanna improve men, that dont wanna know any better, then this.

A new awakened by the handle Sarisor, also at the mission, in the church in the westview district, asked TRX why the other captain, was being rude to him.

Rex tried to be honest without talkin bad about others, and said:

"Well mate.. Some folks just cant have a good relation between Zion command and the brethren, or other fleets,
 in an unwritten allience, with us same brethren,
 and would like any of us,
to step out of line, after such remark,
so they can prove that with codecaptures (pictures),
and put it in public resources of Zion to see."

Sarisor sighed .. :

"Well, i do hope they change theire state of mind, and start looking in the same direction as us all hard working Zionist.
 They seemed good in what they were doing, but then again undo the same, being rude to one of them same ZionCaps,
 with whomever said something different then what they were saying."

Rex sighed also:

"yeah.. i guess your right young awakened.. but dont let it get you down, if it were to happen to you, earn a Direwolfskin.. and let all remarks slide around this amazing cool coat, when you are ready for captaincy one day, and encounter the same... as i did just now,....talks...talks.. talks"

Much thanks to conrac who made this book possible, couldnt have done it without him, but, there is still one chapter to be written, if any one has an idea how to bring TRX back from his recon, and make it so that Tr1ck5 becomes nightshifts then thanks i will certainly look forward to your ideas

i want to give thanks to everyone in this book, for they have give me wonderful roleplay themselfs, and pls, people, do not take things so seriously, respect is what you can not earn, but what u can give to other players while playing this game.

I loved this game from the beginning, and allthough sometimes friendships went haywire, that is not what i described here.

Friendships in the real, can go wrong too, and i always regret loosing friends, but hey, where two fight, two have the blame.

i wanted to roleplay and give something back after 4 years of running in this game, and pay respect to all players by doing so, even if some people misunderstood.

TRX