by Trevor Gregg
“Yes, Benjam, take weapons control. We’re going to go stealth as soon as we pass the next ship,” Geri explained.
Benjam squiggled to a console and grabbed a joystick. Kyren shot him the controls and he began to aim and fire. Kyren and Tharox rose and grabbed their gear, immediately departing the bridge. Alis took a moment and leaned down to kiss her mom’s cheek.
“Love you darlin,” her mom replied. “Come back, okay?”
“Love you too mom, I’ll be back,” Alis replied confidently.
“You know I wouldn’t send you if you weren’t the only one that damn wrench is keyed to, right?” Geri said while dodging turret fire from a passing cruiser.
Elarra was wracked with guilt. Should she at least warn them? It could compromise the outcome, though, if she did. No, her only course was to follow her vision.
“Mom, I’m the logical choice. The Consortium needs you, especially out here, right now. I can create the bypass. It’s the best way,” Alis tried to comfort her mother, but Elarra could see the pain on Geri’s face.
“Now Kyren, when you activate the belt, the other end of the warp portal will appear over the beacon. All you have to do is make sure everyone else goes first before you step through,” Benjam explained to him, between unleashing blasts with the Ashari’s main cannon.
“Got it,” he replied solemnly. “Just make sure you two survive, okay? We’ve got to have somewhere to warp back to.”
“Go get ‘em, Kyren,” Geri called as he exited the bridge.
Elarra followed him to the escape pod antechamber. Except for Tharox, who was suiting up, they had remained suited after commandeering the Ashari. Kyren was checking his rifle and gear, and Alis was running diagnostics on her wrench.
Geri’s voice came over the intercom, “load up everyone, we’re approaching. I’m gonna risk a close pass so you can deploy. Then I’ll circle and stay close.”
Elarra stood and stared. Her vision had come true. Did it really mean they would lose Alis? How could she allow it? She knew they had to accomplish their mission, she knew they needed Alis. But what if she didn’t make it. Elarra hadn’t seen her die, exactly. But she hadn’t seen her survive, either.
The others began to climb into their pods, Tharox lowering his massive plasma rifle in and Kyren packing away his own rifle. Alis disappeared into the hatch just after catching Elarra’s eye and delivering a final smile.
Elarra finally climbed into her pod and secured the hatch. She strapped in and mentally prepared herself. She needed not just calm, but confidence. She had the unsettling feeling that if she followed her visions as she saw them, it would lead to the ultimate vision, the Kirugi. She might survive to see the end. And if she could see the end, then maybe she could still do something about it.
“Making a close pass now, I’m going to launch you when in range,” Geri’s voice came from the control console of Elarra’s escape pod.
She counted to pass the time, reaching ninety-seven before the pod lurched and leapt out into space. She could see the massive Crevak flagship before her. It bristled with weaponry, but the alien orb mounted on the front was wreaking the most havoc on the fleet. She could see dozens of dead ships, dark and floating free.
Her vision darkened to a narrow tunnel. Oh hell, not now! A vision, now?! She lost sight of the escape pod.
She was back again, at the end of it all. The Kirugi battled a giant robot in the distance. This time she wasn’t in the streets but on the roof of a skyscraper. And she was with Kyren. He had strange, spidery black headgear and an exo-suit on, and was assuming the same fighting stance as the robot. Wait, no, the robot was assuming his fighting stance. Kyren was controlling the robot!
She grappled with the vision, trying to keep it from slipping away, desperately trying to see more. Unfortunately, the scene faded. She knew that Kyren was needed, in the end, if they were to ultimately have a chance.
Shaking her head, she checked the controls and realized she was heading way off course. Grabbing the joysticks she attempted to maneuver the pod back on course. It responded only sluggishly.
Alarms flashed and arrows pointed back to the proper heading but she couldn’t get it to respond. She realized with horror she was going to hit the ship well aft of their targeted vent system. She might even bounce off and end up floating in space forever. It’s not like anyone could find the pod, coated with stealth composites as it was.
At the last second the boosters flared and altered her course. Instead of slamming into the ship’s surface, she bounced and skidded along. Her pod slid and wedged itself under the outcropping of a weapons turret.
Trying to get her breathing under control, she spent a moment to run a mental check. Legs okay, arms okay, body okay, head okay. Suit still intact. Okay good to go. So what if I’m a little off course, she thought.
Tentatively reaching down, she pulled the eject lever, the canopy of the pod popping off with a hiss of released atmosphere. Elarra climbed out and surveyed the surface of the ship. She was thankful for her magnetic boots that anchored her to the spacecraft’s skin. She looked at the vent system access, well amidship. She was going to have a long walk ahead of her.
64
Intruders!
Their entry point was an exhaust vent at the middle of the ship. Kyren managed to land his pod within walking distance, but he noted Alis had landed only meters away from the vent. Even Tharox had manged to get closer. Oh well. For his first time piloting, he thought he did pretty well.
Then his heart sank as he realized Elarra was nowhere to be seen. Had she bounced off? Was she even now sailing into the abyss to be forever forgotten? Had she landed elsewhere on the ship?
“Elarra, come in. Do you read me?” he got only static.
Frantically looking around, he saw no sign of her. With despair he realized they couldn’t wait around for her. Every moment they delayed, hundreds died. So he pressed on, and began the hike to the exhaust vent. He arrived slightly winded, attempting to control his breathing so as not to overwhelm his suit’s rebreather.
Realizing their radios were jammed, he motioned for them to put their helmets together.
“Let’s go, we can’t wait for Elarra. Either she made it or she didn’t. We can’t do anything about it,” both Alis and Tharox looked about to protest. “Listen, the longer we delay the more people die out there.”
“I hate that you’re right,” Alis growled. “But we’re gonna find her before we escape.”
“Yes,” Tharox agreed.
“Let’s go,” Kyren urged as they began to climb into the vent.
He just hoped they wouldn’t be exhausting whatever deadly stuff this port released while they were in it. Alis scrambled down the passage’s mild slope, scanning the walls with the beam of light coming from her wrench.
“We should be through the armor and hull by now. Let me scan to find an access hallway and I’ll cut us out,” Alis notified.
She scanned with her wrench and found a large void behind one wall. Reconfiguring her wrench into a laser torch, she went to work. Alis had completed nearly half of the passageway when the ship began to rumble.
“Um, Alis, can you cut any faster?” Kyren queried.
“Yeah, I’ll make the hole smaller. We’ll have to squeeze through but it’ll take just a few more moments,” she said, changing directions with the torch and cutting to meet up with the other side.
The ship rumbled and gas began to stream past them. Alis finished the final cut. Tharox motioned for them to stand back, then he delivered a massive kick to the plate. It fell away and they were blasted with atmosphere as it vented the compartment.
Kyren grabbed Alis’ shoulders and pushed her toward the opening. She scrambled through, followed by Tharox. Kyren climbed through just as the force of the exhaust from the port began to push him back. Squirming through the hole, he plopped to the deck in what appeared to be a service passage.
They continued on down the hall until they came to a door. Al
is transformed her wrench and began the override. A short time later the door control went green. She leaned over and put her helmet against Kyren’s, motioning for Tharox to join.
“When I open the door, atmosphere is gonna rush out. We’ll have to fight past the wind to get inside so I can reseal it,” Alis explained. “Ready?”
He nodded, as did Tharox. She popped the door open and wind rushed out to meet them. They had to use the door jamb to lever themselves inside. After a struggle they made it inside and Alis closed the door.
The corridor was dimly lit, the metal rusted and decaying. Ceiling lights flickered and their steps on the deck plating echoed. The place appeared deserted. But the detritus and fresh garbage littering the floor indicated otherwise.
Alis immediately popped her helmet. Kyren watched her nose curl and her mouth purse. He knew why the second he removed his own helmet. This place stank. It was like filthy body odor, and something sour and urine-smelling. Snorting he tried to clear his nostrils but the stench only got worse. Looking over he saw Tharox struggling with the stink as well.
“Gah, these Crevak are foul!” he admonished. “Alis, could your wrench translate one of their terminals? We need a map.”
“I think so, let’s go find a console,” she replied, stifling a gag.
They crept cautiously around, and soon located a holoterminal. Alis attached her wrench and a rough interpretation of the holoscreen appeared before him. He began to manipulate the holopanel, searching for a map or schematics. He quickly found what he was looking for.
“Where’s the conduit, Alis?” he asked, pointing at the schematics.
“There,” she said after studying it for a moment.
“Got it, let’s go,” he struck off down the corridor, the others trailing him.
It didn’t take long for them to run into resistance. He rounded the corner and came nearly face to face with an ugly humanoid, bony ridges ringing it’s face and bisecting it’s forehead. Its gray skin had a wet sheen to it.
Neither Tharox nor Kyren were fast enough. The Crevak bolted in the opposite direction, immediately disappearing around a corner.
“We should get out of here,” Tharox urged.
“This way,” Kyren said as he took off down a side passage.
Suddenly an alarm began to wail.
“Shit, they’ve been alerted to our presence. It’s gonna be hard to reach the conduit, we’re going to have to fight our way there,” Tharox said, affirming Kyren’s thoughts.
He followed Tharox’s lead and unslung his rifle and nodded, moving forward with it held at the ready.
65
Neutrino Bypass
Alis had no illusions, she knew reaching the conduit would be difficult, if not impossible. They were going to have to fight their way there, she knew. The time for stealth was over. She had already transformed her wrench into the sonic emitter and had it held up before her.
Kyren was leading them unerringly onward, taking them safely to the maintenance elevator. Alis darted into the elevator as Tharox covered them. Stepping in, the doors closed.
“Um, yeah, there may be a small problem here,” Kyren said unexpectedly as he stared at the elevator control panel. “Does anyone read Crevak?”
“No, but just count,” Alis suggested.
“Hmmm,” she watched him as he mentally worked it out.
Touching a button, Kyren admitted, “Hope I counted right.”
The elevator sped downward, which was a good sign. They were heading to the lower decks to reach the access shaft, so they were going in the right direction at least. The elevator lurched to a halt, the doors grinding open.
Kyren spotted them first, the ranks of Crevak filling the corridor before them. Without hesitation he lit them up. Tharox was right behind him, adding his plasma bursts to the particle beams Kyren was throwing down range. Alis reacted a moment later and began discharging her sonic emitter, sending Crevak flying, slamming into walls and their compatriots.
They didn’t get them all, though, and some began to return fire. Laser blast and plasma bolts streaked into the elevator as she and the others plastered themselves to the side walls. The edge of the door gave them some cover, while the Crevak were caught in an empty corridor, the bodies of the fallen their only cover.
However, they were now effectively pinned. They couldn’t get out of the elevator, but neither could the Crevak advance on their position. At least not yet, anyway. They’d have reinforcements any moment now, and then it would be over.
An idea sparked in Alis mind, and she said, “everybody stay behind me, use me as cover.”
Reaching down to her belt she flipped the activation switch and to her relief, a glowing blue shield formed an egg shaped barrier around her. Kyren’s eyes went wide as she stepped out, but he fell in behind her.
She flinched as weapons fire tore into the shield, reddening it wherever the blasts hit. Bracing herself, she took another step forward as Kyren leaned around her and squeezed off a short burst, felling one of the remaining two Crevak.
Distracted, the last one didn’t see Tharox lean around the door and line up a shot. His plasma rifle barked and the Crevak’s head disappeared in a burst of orange flame. As the last one fell, she deactivated her shield, not wanting to drain the charge any more than was necessary. She didn’t know how many more times she was going to need it.
“Nice thinking, Alis,” Tharox rumbled approvingly.
“We’ve got to move, let’s go before another squad shows up,” Kyren urged as he broke into a run.
Alis followed, jumping over and dodging around the Crevak corpses. Kyren lead the way, turning and twisting through dimly lit halls. Entering an intersection, Kyren backpedaled as streams of energy weapons fire tore past him.
“Crap, they’ve got a barricade, we’ll never get past them,” Kyren cried.
Sounds of booted and clawed feet echoed down the corridor behind them. Tharox spun and fired off several shots from the hip, driving the approaching Crevak into side passageways for cover. They were rapidly closing in, she realized there wouldn’t be a way out of this.
“Get ready to run!” Tharox bellowed, inching toward the corner of the passage.
He wheeled around the edge and unleashed a withering barrage of fire, screaming “Go, go, go, go!”
Kyren dashed on and Alis followed. She glanced back just as she crossed the intersection and spotted Tharox looking at her. He gave her a grim smile, then turned back to the Crevak he was battling. Bellowing a war cry he charged the barricade.
“Isaaaaaaaa!”
“Keep going,” Kyren yelled to her as he turned around and sent streams of fire down the hallway behind them, driving the pursuing Crevak back into cover.
A bat-faced urnak stepped out of a side passage in front of her, its rifle coming to bear. Before it could get a shot off she depressed the trigger on her sonic emitter. A thunderclap filled the corridors as the urnak was slammed into the wall. It fell and was still.
“We’re nearly there,” Kyren exclaimed after they had run a good distance.
Alis stopped behind him, panting with exertion. There was a knot deep within her stomach. And she knew it had nothing to do with exertion. First Elarra, and now Tharox. She had no illusions, they were likely lost. Her eyes met Kyren’s and she saw her own pain reflected there.
“We’re almost there,” he said, pointing down the corridor to the service hatch at the end.
They sprinted the last hundred yards to the hatch. Alis transformed her wrench and began to remove the locking latches. The hatch fell away with a clank as she removed the last latch. She flicked on her light and illuminated the crawlspace.
“Go,” Kyren said, keeping his weapon trained down the hall.
Alis wriggled into the narrow opening. There was only enough room for her to crawl on her hands and knees. Kyren jumped in after her, crawling in backwards and keeping his weapon trained on the hatch.
They crawled for quite a distance bef
ore the passage opened into a small chamber. They crawled out and stood, or at least attempted to. Kyren was forced to hunch. Alis’ ears just barely scraped the ceiling.
Alis immediately identified the neutrino conduit, but used her wrench in its scanner configuration to verify. Now, for the bypass, she thought, quickly scanning around for material to cannibalize to build the bypass.
There were faint guttural voices coming through the crawlspace. The damn Crevak must have followed them. As affirmation, Kyren fired down the passageway and fire was returned.
“Hurry Alis, they’re gonna find a way around us any minute now,” Kyren exclaimed between bursts.
She scrambled to disassemble a junction box, stealing its cabling and a redundancy module. She began to assemble the bypass, when Kyren cried out in pain. Spinning, she saw his arm and chest peppered with tiny fragments of plasma that were burning through his spacesuit. The scent of burning flesh filled the small space.
In response he unleashed a wild barrage and she thought she heard a gurgled cry emanate from the tunnel.
“They’re moving on us. How much longer?” he asked, continuing to fire.
“I’ve almost got it,” she replied, welding two inverters together.
Several moments later, the bypass was complete.
“There, now the next time they fire, it’ll overload. We probably shouldn’t be in here when that happens,” she advised.
“Can you find us an exit?”
“Over there, the access shaft heads back toward the core,” Alis offered.
“Go.”
She paused, but he said, “I’ll be right behind you.”
She crouched and dashed into the tunnel, and thankfully heard Kyren scrambling in behind her. They reached a bulkhead and crawled through. Alis turned back and examined the door jamb. She spotted the emergency bypass and engaged it, sealing the crawlspace with a sturdy hatch.
Popping her wrench into a laser welder, she sealed the hatch.
