[Location: The Clearing - Outpost Omega Perimeter] [Time: Day 4. 05:30 Hours. Countdown: 00:44:12]
We fought them off, but it cost us. Silas had emptied her cylinder twice and was down to her last speedloader. Rook had a nasty, bleeding gash on his shoulder. I was panting, my metal arm smoking and radiating intense heat from overuse.
But we had reached the coordinates.
In the center of a massive crater, heavily overgrown with thick vines and moss, was a colossal steel blast door built directly into the side of the volcano. The Federation logo was faded, barely visible under decades of rust.
[OUTPOST OMEGA - RESTRICTED ACCESS] [LEVEL 5 CLEARANCE REQUIRED]
"Level 5?" Vesper gasped, stepping closer. "That's High Council Level. Only the Supreme Command knows about facilities like this."
"Well, High Command isn't here to open the door," Silas said, holstering her weapon. "Vesper, can you slice it?"
Vesper plugged a cable from her datapad into the rusted console interface. "The grid is completely dead. But the manual hydraulic override should still work if the gears aren't fused together."
"Caelum," Silas looked at me. "Muscle."
I walked up to the heavy release wheel set into the center of the door. I gripped it with my flesh hand and my metal hand. I took a deep breath.
"On three," I grunted. "One... two... three!"
I pulled. My servos whined, protesting the sheer weight. The rust groaned, showering us in orange flakes.
SCREECH.
The wheel turned. The hydraulic seals broke, and the massive blast doors slowly hissed open, releasing a cloud of stale, freezing air that smelled of ozone, chemicals, and death.
"Flashlights," Silas ordered.
We stepped out of the sweltering jungle and into the frozen darkness.