Operation: HomeFront - Of Doors and Other Ways
	Will Keith, TRES / A. P. Selene, DE / C. Jambavan, DE

	The group stood in front of the glowing, glassy pyramid.
	"'Zat it?"  Burdoo had spoken.
	Will replied, "Most likely."
	"Then let's blast it!"
	"Jennifer, that might not be such a -" but she had already fired.
The energy from her weapon nearly made it to the Generator before it
collided head-on with a sheathing of bright blue static, which
redistributed the fire back.
	"Heads up!" Trooper Thaleia shouted at the front of their little group.
	Will said: "Heckuva force field."
	Thaleia looked at a small display on her computer.  "I'll say.
This shield's pulling almost thirty percent of the base's power output,
we'll never blast through."
	Jambavan opined, "Perhaps a slightly more restrained method would
be in order."  Sitting down at one of the terminals in front of the massive
pyramid, he began keying through the system displays searching for a way in.
	Thaleia agreed readily: "Amen, brother."  She hefted her
ever-present laptop and plugged it into a likely-looking port.
	Will turned to Sanford.  "If you'll take that terminal over there,
we could try bringing down that shield."
 	"Sounds good."  Will bowed his head and rested his hands on his
staff,  reaching through Kit to the simulated "thought" that ran a
computer.  On the display before him, Rick saw Will's face briefly appear,
then, possible graphics of directory trees, password gates, and routes into
the system replaced it.
	Thaleia called out: "Hey Jambavan, can you tie up some system
resources for me?  This voice authenticator is becoming a bit smart alecky
for my liking."
        "Hang on, I'm dead-ended in a different subsystem..."  He stabbed
at one of the screens with his finger, bringing up a completely different
display.  After a few seconds of rapid typing, Jambavan launched his chair
across to the room to the voice authenticator box and popped off an access
panel.
        "There," he said, switching a few jumpers.  "I've just borrowed its
controlling processor to do Fourier transforms of the GPS control codes.
That ought to slow it down a little."
	"It'll do for a start."
	Sanford had located the controls for the shield.  "Will, can you
get me  through the password gate?"
	"Sure.  It's long, but... no, I can't.  It's not a set password,
it's a complicated function of something it calls from somewhere else....
I  think another computer usually does this job."
	"Can you show me the code for determining the password?"  Will
hunted around for a moment and listed it in a window.  "Heh.  Absolute
time, a function of seconds since midnight, January 1, 1900.  Ask the CPU,
will you?"  The number came up, and he pasted it into the gate.
	The computer meekly obliged, and he was in.
	Then another appeared.  All four settled in for a longer haul.
	Elsewhere, the team manning the fortifications was not having such
an easy time of it.  Burdoo yelled back to the four at stations,  "How
long?"
	"Fracking December," Thaleia muttered.  "How suspicious did the man
have to be?"  She reread the instructions on the screen.  "You got any idea
how we're supposed to tell this computer we have the two PHYSICAL keys
required to go further in?"
	Jambavan pried his way into the lockbox between them.  After a
quick look around inside, he said, "I recognize that model.  It's got a
fatal weakness."  Turning partially around, he yelled back to the defending
troops, "One of you let an armed sponge in here!"
	The three others looked at him in amazement, but Selene yelled,  "I
got it!", throwing a disturbing look at the latest sponge to face her.  She
swept his blade to the side, then moved like a dragon for a moment,  bodily
picking him up and throwing him near Jambavan.
	He quickly stuffed a Twinkie in the sponge's mouth.  "Eat."  As the
sponge sat there confused, Jambavan grabbed the sword it was carrying.  He
paused briefly, calculating angle, distance, and force, before picking a
point on the lockbox a bit to the right of center.  "Here goes nothing..."
he said, and stabbed into it.Sparks flew.  Jambavan was thrown back by the
charge, but the sword stayed.
	"Whoa! That worked," Thaleia acknowledged the computer's new
protocol and slipped by.  Inside, she found code flipping by slowly, but in
some language she'd never even seen.  "Anybody read Gibberish?"
	Jambavan leaned over her shoulder, trying to smooth back
electrified hair that was persistently emulating Einstein.  "That's an
uncommon machine code some B'harnite engineers use to control complex
electrical equipment," he shuddered, noting some of the Lyran undertones,
"but I can't tell what..."
	Sanford said, "I can.  I spent long enough tracing the internal
circuits of one of the Elements attached to a nuclear device, so believe
me, they're burnt into my brain.  She's in the part that's amplifies the
essence of the Nagenta Menace itself."
	Will clarified, "Not amplifies - this is the Generator.  Some of
those codes translate into words best left unspoken, but this is definitely
the part that turns Eau de Demon into something broadcastable.  All the
rest is a glorified radio tower.  Thaleia - can you alter this?"
	"No prob.  Delete a few characters, and it really is gibberish."
She attempted to delete said few characters.
	The computer chewed on the result for a moment, then returned,
"Resulting control file not compatible with internal energy construct.
Resetting."  The characters reappeared.
	"Great.  So we have to change the whole thing at once.  Will?  I'm
not an expert on constructs."
	"And I'm not that good at programming.  Wait... wait... Oh,  mama."
He spoke with more determination.  "Sanford, find every code you can
recognize that refers to something B'harnate.  Read them off to me.
Thaleia, I want you to change those all at once to what I'm going to say  -
can you do that?"
	"I'll replace the whole thing with an altered copy file."
	"Good.  Jambavan, I want you to reset every passcode and gate we've
broken.  Add more, Jihad-oriented.  Pay special attention to the
forcefield.  I want it impenetrable."
	"Halfway there already, but I'll need to get through the force
field and at its generator to make any... Improvements[tm]."
	Will took a deep breath, preparing himself mentally and spiritually
for what he knew lay ahead.  He checked his watch reflexively.  Lord -
three hours had passed already.  He hoped Mitchell was doing okay.
	"Sanford?" he prompted.
	"Right."  The LoD Colonel began going through the code.  "This one
refers to B'harnii himself."
	"Thaleia, replace with 'William Jonathan Keith, born September 27th
of 1977 in Houston in Texas.'"
	Thaleia typed it in. "Done."
	Sanford: "'...the essence of him...'"
	Will: "'...his life and being...'"
	Thaleia: "Check..."
	For over an hour this dragged out, as the assault grew ever more
intense.  Finally, the new file was ready.  Will looked it over.  "Good.
Now,  when I give the word, I want you to replace the file.  Jambavan, get
ready to reactivate the codes as soon as she's done.  Sanford, I'm gonna
need your help, so get close to me.  You'll see why in a moment, and please
have a quick desponge method handy."  Sanford took up position.  "I'm going
to replace the energy construct in there with something of my own.  When
you replace the file, the two should be compatible."
	"How are you gonna get it through the Shield?" Jambavan asked from
the floor, where his torso vanished underneath the Generator housing.
"I've had enough trouble just getting this far."
	"I'll channel it through this terminal I'm in contact with.  It has
to communicate with the Generator to do its job."
	"Gimmie a second to finish up with the Shield generator..."
Jambavan grunted, then pried himself out.  "OK, good to go."
	"Ready... now!"  Will pulled out of the computer and thrust his
staff toward the Generator, in whose heart a nagenta flame pulsed, matched
by a white flare from his own staff.  The flare knifed into the Generator,
taking up residence in its center, the nagenta flame cast out to gather
around and into Will.  Thaleia replaced the file - the computer recited
simply, "Valid."  Jambavan punched a master code which activated series on
series of security precautions before excluding all the avenues which the
Jihaddi had used to get inside and erasing itself.
	Will tuned to Sanford, who stepped back for a moment in shock - in
the man's eyes was pure, mindless hatred, swarming around, the effect
magnified by unhealthily purplish blood vessels.  The next moment, though,
he gathered his wits and slammed Will back into the wall with a strong hook
to the jaw.
	When Will could next see, Sanford was pouring something strong down
his throat.  He nodded and pushed it away, finding he could stand well
enough.
	"Alright.  Jambavan?"
	"Looks like everything's working.  I also physically disconnected
the computers - the Generator's shield closed up around the hole, so that
leak is closed.  It must be working off an internal timer now.  But the new
security measures had to follow certain formats.  I suspect they're
designed so that the sysadmin can get by them."
	"Could anyone else?"
	Thaleia shook her head.  "Trust me.  Sysop only, and that if he's
lucky."
	"Artillery bombardment might work, though," Jambavan quipped.
	"I don't like leaving things to luck.  Selene!"
	"I'm right behind you, Will, don't shout."
	He turned around.  "But the fight-"
	"They can do fine without me."  She took hold of his chin,  looking
him in the eyes.  "You think I'm going to stand there and fight while you
collapse?"  The touch turned into a full-scale embrace, with her saying,
"The next time you decide to try swallowing 100% pure B'harnii,  you get my
permission first, understand?"
	Will gently returned the embrace.  "Guess we're even now."
	"Never."  She let go.  "Neither of us can promise, I know.  I guess
I'll have to settle for you remembering that about me to even things out.
Well, you were going to say something?"
		"Huh? Oh - yes. New objective. As best as I can tell,
neither we nor the Purple Forces can destroy this Generator. But if I've
done it right, the Array will put out the biggest despongification job ever
seen. Only one man could change things back."
	"Rhyn. So the new objective is to find him and see that he doesn't.
There is a secondary objective that needs to be addressed though."
	Will looked at her blankly.
	"We need to track down Merengue - the VRDET Private that got us
that information. If, by any small chance she's alive, we have to get her
out. Now that we know the Lyrans are here..." Her voice cracked as she
continued, "I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."
	"The chance that she has survived this long though..." Will
interrupted, his voice gentle.
	"I know. That's why she's secondary. Will, we can't risk it... even
if she's dead - the Lyrans still might find a use for her body, the
ultimate desecration. But Rhyn comes first."
	"Agreed. This is a big base for a small party to search. Maybe we
should just hold position here and protect the Generator."
	"No. They know we're here, and we can't hold a defensive action for
that long - we're struggling right now as it is. We've got to take the
offensive. I think I've found a simple solution to at least one of our
problems."
	"What's that?"
	"Work with the Lyrans." Gasps resounded through the room, until, at
varying times, the Jihaddi understood. "Right. Their priority appears to be
punishing Rhyn. Keep tabs on those troops, and they'll help us find him,
maybe even do our job for us."
	"Then might I suggest we free up the score or so troops out front
right now?"
	"I thought you'd never ask."
	"One caveat - strike ONLY at the troops under the woman, or her
herself.  Back when I first saw them, I noticed: I don't think they'll
shoot back if they're not being shot at."

TBC...