TEMPORAL FLUX: CATACLYSM

August 5th, 2675, 10:54am - Moon

       "What the hell is our status??" screamed Six over the crackling fires and blaring alert klaxons as he forced his way into the command centre by prying the main doors open. There was no answer right away, and the scene that greeted him turned his stomach almost instantly. 
       Support beams from the ceiling had collapsed down into the large control area, with debris strewn everywhere, as well as a few bodies. He shoved aside some wreckage and went to check on a fallen officer when the ground shook violently, throwing him into a bulkhead. Scrambling back to his feet, he pushed some of his blond hair out of his face, usually well kept, but now in tatters, like him altogether at this time.
       Six ignorned the pain in his left leg to focus on the fallen form of a fellow Temporal Enforcement Bureau member who had been wounded during the calamity. He slowly pulled the person towards him, only to check the pulse of the red-haired communications officer non-existant, blood having streamed from a head injury that had killed her. Six frowned and shook his head, sad at what he saw, before getting up off the ground and looking around, fires burning all over the room, with sparks flying from damaged computer consoles and other equipment. 
       Laying awkwardly over one of the main consoles was Director Talon, his unmistakable form pierced through the chest by a piece of support beam. His eyes were wide and stared off into the abyss forever.
       "No....." whispered Six, before the ground below again shook with force, throwing him forward onto a pile of debris. 
       He crawled towards the main console and got himself up, using it as a brace. Knowing there was no point trying to regain control from here, as the computer interfaces looked quite offline and useless. His tunic in tatters and splattered with blood, he had no alternative but to try to make his way to the Bureau's technology department and get some help from Hammer, the android in charge of everything technological with the Bureau's large headquarters. It would be nice to know what the hell was going on, having been in an aeroshuttle on a return trip from Mars when he had received the distress call and made a hasty landing in the hangar bay in the middle of this huge disaster.

       The corridors were in bad shape as well, with one whole section exposed to the lunar atmosphere, or the lack there of. Six had used an access crawlway under the floor that was undamaged to get to the technology department, only to find it in rougher shape than the rest of the facility. There was no need to force his way in this time, as the doors had been blown out into the corridor. Stepping over them, Six made his way around more debris and fallen beams to find Hammer in the main lab space, working on a computer console. His bald android head had taken some damage, the scalp scorched from fire. One of his arms was missing, yet he continued to tap away on the console with his remaining one, intent on what he was doing. 
       "Hammer, what the hell is going on?" asked Six.
       There was no response for a moment, and when he did, Hammer didn't even turn his head away from the computer station. 
       "The new temporal core malfunctioned upon activation." he started. "The Moon has been flooded with tachyon particles, a temporal dampening field is expanding throughout the Solar System, and most of the base is in shambles." he explained. "I'm trying to disable the core, with little results." 
       The ground suddenly shook again, sending Six into a wall before he muttered a  curse. "You mean," he began, steadying himself. "....that we can't even time shift and stop this madness?" he asked of the android, hoping it wasn't as dire as it sounded.
       "Correct." replied the android calmly. 
       "The situation is quite.....unfortunate." he said, with no trace of emotion. A fire crackled in the background, with more trembling felt from below them. 
       "Hammer, Talon and the comm officer are dead. I found them in the command centre, and I haven't been able to locate Red or anyone else for that matter." he explained to his colleague. 
       The android continued working away. "I understand." was his only reply. 
       Six frowned and looked back at the door. 
"I'm going to try to get to the core then, and shut it down myself." he said. "If I can't shut it down, I'll have to destroy it." he stated, intending to use his plasma weapon on it if all else failed. This got Hammer's sudden attention. 
      "If you attempt to destroy the core, this timeline will cease to exist, based on my calculations." he explained. 
      Six nodded. "Indeed." he replied, leaving the lab. Hammer took a second to ponder everything, then headed out of the lab to accompany Six on his mission, missing arm and all, not wanting his friend to go it alone.

August 5th, 2675, 12:13pm - Moon

        It had taken them almost an hour to gain access to the power core sector of the Bureau due to all the damage and constant quakes from within the Moon. Six had made a brief stop at a weapons locker to obtain some plasma rifles. He was unable to recover a back up temporal suit from a secondary locker, and had to use what was available. Just as he was about to try to open the next corridor portal, Hammer asked a question of him.
      "Six, are you wearing a comm patch?" he asked, referring to a personal communication device that most Bureau staff wore when not on missions away from the base. Six nodded. 
      "Yes." he replied quickly, accessing the door panel as he spoke. 
      "I always put in on in the morning." he finished. 
Hammer grinned. "Good." he said. "We may need to split up at some point, and we;ll need to stay in contact." he explained, knowing this could all get more dangerous yet.
      The ground suddenly shook again, almost throwing the two of them off balance. "Damn. Wonder why that keeps happening...." mumbled Six, still fiddling with the door controls, the panel now off. Hammer answered within a few seconds. 
      "I had surmised earlier that because the tachyons are permeating the Moon, they have created a massive temporal field that is trying to shift us into another dimension in the space/time continuum." he explained calmly. 
      "The only problem is," he continued. "....is that there is no conceivable way to stop it." he said. Six stopped working on the door mechanism long enough to glance at Hammer. 
      "Great, just great." he said sarcastically. "Do you have any good news at all?" he asked, rhetorically. Hammer frowned and stayed silent.
       Just as Six was going to add to his statement, the door portal creaked open wide enough for the two of them to gain entry, moving into the next part of the facility.
       "C'mon, let's move." mentioned Six, before ushering them both into the next corridor, which was as damaged as the previous one, but with a lot less lighting in working order.
        "Base must be on backup power, and--" Six was cut off as his attention suddenly turned to a fallen form in the corridor. A woman's body lay face up near the wall, blood all over half of her face. He short brown hair concealed some of the wound - head trauma and a brutal gash. There were pieces of power conduit and a scorch mark in the nearest wall panel. 
        "Damn." said Six softly. "She must have been working on the power conduit when it blew up in her face, literally...." he said in sadness, voice trailing off. Hammer knew how bad it looked, but they had to move on. 
       "Come on Six, we have to make it to the core." he said, leading them away from the body and down the damaged corridor to the next checkpoint.

        "Well, any ideas?" Six asked of Hammer, as the two of them stood motionless before a powerful force field, preventing them from gaining entry to the area that housed the core. So much progress had been made in making their way here, only to be stopped by a force field, the only one in the base that was operational. Lighting in the area continued to flicker, the ground shaking more often at this point and as violent as ever. The android looked up and down at the portal frame to see if he could pick up any trace of weakness in the field with his optical sensors. 
        Unfortunately, there were none. He pondered the fact that this was the only force field to stay active, when all the other ones had been knocked offline much earlier. As far as he knew, they all ran off the same power grid.
         "Not really." started Hammer in response. "In all technical terms, this force field shouldn't be working right now." he explained. Six raised an eyebrow and scratched his head and ruffled his blond hair further. 
         "Great. Just great." he muttered, before turning his attention back to the force field, it's energy crackling once and a while. 
         "What if I shoot it with my PSG?" he asked aloud. Hammer shook his head immediately, now standing at Six's side. 
         "Negative. Too much energy in play." he warned. "You would more than likely cause a power surge that would fry us both." Six stroked his chin and tried to come up with another plan. 
         "I could try to hotwire it...." he offered, voice trailing off as he reached for the panel next to the portal and popped it clear of it's housing, gaining access to the circuitry.
         Hammer took a step back. "If the main systems hadn't already been badly damaged, I could interface with them and get us in. Unfortunately, we don't have that luxury. 
         Six only nodded in response, using both hands to cross a few wires and swap some chips around. As he did this, the force field started to weaken, the crackling energy starting to fade. 
         "Almost there....." he said, closing in on the last few connections. Just as he was about to finish, the ground shook violently, causing a burst of power from the panel. The bang of energy send him into the ground, as the force field exploded outwards in a bolt of energy, striking Hammer and sending him flying into the side of the corridor. Six collected his wits before crawling over to the android on his hands and knees to find he was offline completely. 
         "Damn!" he exclaimed, knowing he needed the android. With no choice but to carry on, Six got up off the ground and made his way through the portal, the force field knocked out.

August 5th, 2675, 12:38pm - Moon

        The massive temporal core, easily six stories tall, stood in the centre of the large area, surrounded by computer consoles and other technology, some burned and battered from the current crisis. He had counted three more bodies lying strewn about in the rubble, the damage here almost as extensive as the main control centre. Six moved about the wreckage and ruin, attempting to get to the main console and initiate the shut down sequence. Hammer had mentioned to him where it was, and it didn't take too long to find given the circumstances. After pulling a piece of debris away from the console, he powered it up and started keying in the sequence to stop the temporal core.
        The ground lurched again, sending him to the ground in the middle of the sequence, with fire breaking out on the far side of the area, his console spewing a burst of sparks. Six got back to his feet as fast as he could, working on the rest of the sequence. After a few more seconds, he tapped the executable, but nothing happened. The temporal core kept powering up, releasing more and more tachyons everywhere. Another violent shake of the ground happened, but this time it didn't stop. 
        The pull on the Moon from all the tachyons was too intense now, and would be near impossible to stop. Six had rolled into a pile of rubble witha crash, and was injured. Blood ran from a wound that tore his tunic open at his waist. 
       "Dammit.....no time for this....." he mumbled, struggling to get upright. The Moon continued to shake, and the headquarters started to crumble in it's own right.
        A ceiling girder suddenly broke itself free, crashing to the ground mere centimetres from where Six was standing, having propped himself up on another console. More pieces of alumisteel fell from above, with one bouncing off his shoulder and sending him to the ground once again in a flurry of pain and agony. The console he had been working on suddenly exploded, the power couplings unable to take any more abuse. Six could only watched as the fire spread, and started weaking the temporal core's outer casing.
       "Only.....only one thing to do now." he muttered, on his knees and facing the core, the shaking making it impossible to stand. Six grabbed his PSG from it's holster and changed it's setting to full power. While he was still able to, he aimed at the melting casing caused by the intense flames and started firing, trying to penetrade the shell. Blast after blast impacted into the core, with little progress being made in the attempt.
       Without warning, a conduit near the core exploded, hurling debris into the air and striking the core, with some shards of sharp metal hitting Six as well, injuring him further. Blood was soaking what was left of his tunic, and his left arm had gone limp. He couldn't see out of his left eye anymore, and blood dripped from his scalp. The fire increased in it's intensity, ravaging everything near him. It wasn't long now until it consumed him completely. 
       Work dammit! Work!" he screamed, continuing to fire at the core. The power pack in his PSG started to run out of energy, and it seemed like his whole plan as in vain. Suddenly, the core's transparent casing began to crack and split, the damage spreading up and down it's vertical length. 
      "Just....a few more....shots....." was all he was able to say before the fire ripped into him, firing his weapon to the last.
       The temporal core could bear no more, exploding outwards in a blast that encompased time and space, causing a massive event in the space/time continuum, the tachyons having already enveloped the Moon. Shimmering blue and white energy started to warp reality as everyone knew it, the time line now completely thrown into ruin. Everything linear began to disappear into a light so bright, it blotted out reality......

August 5th, 2675, 7:54am - Moon

        Six awoke with a start, trying to get his bearings as he opened his eyes slowly. His body ached from all the wounds and injuries he had racked up trying to shut down the core, and the last thing he remembered was firing his PSG at it as the fires in the area overcame him. He sat up and propped himself up against the wall, looking around to see the temporal core being lowered into it's new home. 
       "What the hell." he mumbled, trying to get to his feet as quickly as he could. His legs burned, and he felt completely out of energy. Again he looked around to see that the core control room was pristine, there was no trace of the heavy damage inflicted by the crisis that had occurred earlier, or had it? Six now questioned the whole series of events, before looking down at himself.
       His tunic was torn and soaked in dry blood, his legs scraped and beat up, his PSG lied on the ground, the power cell showing empty. 
      "The....tachyons...." he mumbled, before shuffling his way to the team of people installing the core. They hadn't noticed him as of yet for some reason. 
      "Stop......stop the installation!" he exclaimed, the engineers turning to see who was yelling at them, and looking at the injured temporal agent with surprise. 
      "Core.....going to blow......cause a crisis....." was all he was able to say before he lost conciousness and collapsed to the floor. One of the engineers signalled for medical help, while the other four gathered around the fallen agent and wondered what the hell was going on all of a sudden. A halt was placed on the installation while the room went into a bit of a frenzy from the shocking turn of events.

August 5th, 2675, 2:01pm - Moon

        Director Talon strode into the medical bay as the door opened, walking up to stand next to Hammer, who was there beside the biobed that Six lay in, still unconcious.
       "Well?" he asked of his android engineer, as the medical officer ran tests in the background. 
       "It's definetely Six." started Hammer, quietly. 
       "He seemed to have been saturated with tachyon particles before he arrived here. Also judging from his injuries, he's from a different time line than ours." he finished. Talon stroked his chin, then stared down at the man. 
       "And our Agent Six?" he asked. Hammer looked to his superior. 
       "He is our Agent Six, at least he is now. Our Six disappeared at the same time this one arrived. His DNA matches completely." he finished, looking to the doctor, who nodded his approval as he worked in the lab.
        Just as he was about to speak, Talon stopped short as Six came to rather suddenly, gasping quickly before opening his eyes. 
       "Whoa...." said Six groggily. "I.....I'm....where am I?" he asked, trying to sit up. Talon went to his side and reassured him. 
       "You're fine now, and in the medical bay. Looks like you really got torn up." he mentioned. Six looked around and saw Hammer as well. 
       "Hammer....you're okay!" he said, before turning back to Talon. "Stop the core install." he said firmly. "Stop it. It's gonna blow." he added still a little out of it. 
       Talon smiled. "Not to worry." he replied. "The installation was stopped after you showed up, and a complete scan on the core found a defective seal that was starting to leak tachyons. All is well down there." he finished, reassuringly.
        "Now, get some rest. That's an order!" he said. "Whenever you're able, you can give me a full report." he added, before turning and leaving the medical bay. Hammer took his place at the side of the bed and looked to his friend. 
        "You seemed surprised to see me in one piece just a second ago." he stated. Six managed a smile and chuckled. 
        "Temporal directive zero," started Six. "I can't tell you anything. But.....glad to see you nonetheless." he managed, with Hammer giving a grin. 
       "Well, there is a first time for anything, is there not?" he asked humourously. Six laughed a bit, drawing a dirty look from the doctor in the background, knowing that temporal agents made the worst patients sometimes.

                                                            THE END