"How long will these doors hold?" Knave asked.
"Seconds only," Yort said, "I recommend that you persuade your guests not to fire their weapons."
"I'll persuade them," Altia said, drawing her block gun and heading in the direction of the docking bay.
Knave and Jay followed immediately.
“Finally,” Knave said.
They were all jogging through the corridors, heading for the docking bay, and as they ran, they all yelled out instructions as ideas occurred to them.
"Close the exterior doors," Knave yelled.
"Get us out of here," Altia yelled.
"Go to warp as soon as you can," Jay yelled.
"Bay doors critical," Yort said.
"We're there," Altia said, raising her block gun to her preferred firing stance.
They had reached the corridor that led into the bay. The doors were closed, but there were already holes in them, areas of molten metal and numerous dents and scratches. Then there was movement through one of the holes, something small moving fast. It was only when Jay blasted it that Knave realized it was some kind of drone.
"Move," he said to Jay, pushing him behind some kind of giant pipe.
Jay went where Knave pointed, without hesitation.
"I hope this pipe isn't full of something flammable," he mumbled.
"And you," he said to Altia, "Other side of the door."
She frowned but she repositioned as he indicated, and Knave moved to stand beside her. More black shapes entered the corridor, small and fast, coming flying through a hole in the door, and Knave felt something like a slick of oil spread over him.
"What the?" he thought, and that thought was instantly transmitted to Jay, Altia and Yort.
He didn't know how he knew they had heard his thought, but he knew they had. He could see Jay in front of him, and he could see the armor badge unfolding across the robot's chest. He could see Altia too, beside him in his peripheral vision, her armor unfurling around her, to transform her into an elegant insectile queen. The armor even engulfed the gun she was holding out in front of her, leaving just a hole for the muzzle.
"Time has slowed for me," Jay said, but Knave hadn't heard his voice with his ears. He'd heard it with his mind.
"Me too," Altia said, "Look, at those grenades bursting against the wall. We are experiencing some extreme time dilation effects here. I can see the fireball of each grenade slowly spreading and the shrapnel flying."
"I don't get the feeling those grenades are a threat," Knave said.
Then one of the troopers came bursting through the door, a new presence that Knave felt as a threat in a way he hadn't with the grenade. The troopers reflexes had been tweaked, but no human, no matter the tweaks to their nervous system could match the speed Knave and the others was capable of, taking advantage of the time dilation.
The figure was already bringing its weapon on target as it jumped. The muzzle tracking towards Jay, after the figure in armor realized that the three of them had moved from the positions reported by the drone. Jay fired his block gun, hitting the figure's armor at the neck ring, forcing the wearer to stumble. The figure staggered to the far wall and slumped against it, rifle falling from armored fingers.
The other invaders were next in the sights of the block guns, and they were sitting ducks. They weren't able to compete with the sheer speed of Knave, Altia and Jay. Knave went through the same hole in the door that the hostile had appeared through and found three surprised special forces operatives. He dodged to the right and shot one of them before they were even over their surprise. Then came Altia and Jay. By the time Jay was clambering through the hole, the hostiles had started firing sending him staggering back into the corridor.
"You okay, Jay?" Knave asked, over their telepathic link.
"Still functioning," Jay replied, "Oh shit, the one out here is still alive. I just got shot again, ouch, and again."
Knave and Altia had their adversaries in a crossfire and had soon gunned the remaining two down. But the last one managed to get off a shot that hit Knave full in the face. His head snapped back, his ears started ringing and everything went black.
"Shit, Knave's down," he heard Altia say over the telepathic link.
But even though he could hear her, he couldn’t answer. He didn't know why, perhaps he was dreaming or unconscious.
"Stop messing around and get in here, Jay," he heard her yelling.
"Coming," he heard Jay answer.
Clearly he had emerged victorious from his fight with the hostile out in the corridor.
Chapter 23
––––––––
"We have a problem," Reason said, "I have lost contact with the secure lab structure."
"The entire structure?"
"Yes," Reason said, sounding perplexed, "and I am not currently able to isolate the cause of the problem."
"This could not have come at a worse time," Shivia said, "She pointed at a wall of monitors in front of her.
Each one showed the action in the shuttle bay on the alien spaceship from a different angle, from above, from the nose of the gunship, from the armor cameras of the Tarazet marines.
"I am sorry," Reason said, "but I thought you should know immediately."
"Get me Fellu," Shivia ordered.
A hologram of her deputy appeared with them.
"What is happening at the secure complex?" Shivia asked, dispensing with any pleasantries.
"The secure wards?" Fellu said, "I don't know. My work hasn't taken me there in two days."
"Two days?" Shivia was aghast, "Take a detachment of marines and go investigate. I want a status report on every Z-human."
"As you command," Fellu said.
Her hologram flickered out and Shivia could turn her attention back to the video from the shuttle bay. There were three insectile warriors and they moved and reacted far quicker than any human. They had attacked her marines very vigorously, she had to admit that, but then one had been hit in the head and her marines had been able to seek cover as the insects attempted to reach their fallen comrade and drag him out. Now a sort of stalemate had developed where her marines fired from cover among the landing gear of the gunship and the insects fired back using what was left of the landing bay door for cover. Shivia knew a little about military encounters and she knew that a situation like that could last for hours until the stalemate was broken, which was alright with her, it gave her time to think.
She had the Z-human technology and the alien spaceship within her grasp, but both were showing signs of wanting to slip through her fingers. She had to be smart if she was going to end the day with both prizes. The most puzzling thing was the insects. She suspected that the insectile aspect of the three warriors was because of their armor, but what shape were they underneath. She wondered if Altia was one of the insect warriors, fighting alongside that brigand of hers, Knave. Altia was a very smart young lady, but if she thought she could hang onto a prize like the alien spaceship, against the might of the Tarazet Deep Space Fleet, she was very much mistaken. And then the alien spaceship was gone.
All the video feeds were cut off and the spaceship disappeared from the central video screen which had been showing it hanging in pace.
"Where did it go?" Shivia asked.
"It's accelerating fast," Reason said, "reacquiring."
The spaceship was centered in the middle screen again, its drives glowing, but the feeds from inside the docking bay didn't come back.
"Get me the admiral," Shivia barked.
A hologram slowly materialized in the center of the room. It was an older man, corpulent and wrinkled. He had a wide nose and flared nostrils. His hooded eyes, Shivia knew, hid a fierce intelligence and he had an admirable lust for power. He opened his mouth to speak, but Shivia didn't give him the opportunity.
"How far away are you admiral?" She interrupted.
"We are at maximum speed."
"That's not what I asked."
"Two minutes," th
e admiral said.
"Are you seeing these images? Are you getting the telemetry?"
"Yes," the admiral said, "We have the target craft in our sights."
"Can you catch it before it hits warp?"
"Yes," the admiral said confidently, "It is faster even than we thought, but this trap is going to work."
Suddenly, confusingly, Fellu was standing beside the admiral. Shivia knew that to interrupt her meeting with the admiral it must be something important.
"Thank you admiral," Shivia said, "and good luck."
She killed the connection, and the admiral, looking peeved at being dismissed so summarily, faded away. Fellu took a step forward.
"Shivia, you told me to gather a squad of marines," she said.
"Yes," Shivia said, "To investigate the problem in the secure unit."
Why was the woman going over this again, Shivia wondered, she was no simpleton.
"There are no marines," Fellu said, her face concerned and confused.
"I don't understand," Shivia said.
"I'll send you a feed," Fellu said.
Shivia looked to her wall of monitors where numerous views could be seen of the passages and halls used by the marines. They were mostly bare rock with the necessary equipment, bulkheads, light fittings, showers, sleep bunks, decontamination sprayers, hologram projectors and innumerable other technological systems, embedded in the rock. It was very spartan and dirty in comparison with the antiseptic white cladding of the science areas, and it was empty. There were no marines noisily hanging out in the rec room, nobody in the gym and nobody practicing on the firing range.
"It's strange," Fellu said, "The local systems show the marines being detailed, team by team, to the secure unit."
"Where did those orders come from," Shivia asked, "Because they certainly didn't come from me."
"The orders originate," Fellu said, "from the secure unit."
Her face, slightly blue in the degraded hologram, looked confused.
"But," Fellu continued, "Nobody based in the secure unit has the authority to give those orders."
"We've been compromised," Shivia said.
She paused for a second, considering her options. The Seat of Reason was immobile. However bad the situation got, it could be contained and recovered. The spaceship was escaping at extreme velocity. The spaceship took precedence, and the Z-humans would have to go on the back burner.
"All right," Shivia said, "We'll have to investigate that more fully, but right now we've got an escaping spaceship to catch. Meet me at my personal launch."
Shivia cut the connection and, without another word, walked from the room. She stalked through the short corridors to the docking bay that held her personal launch, the Raven, and a boarding ramp was extending for her as she entered the bay. She walked up the ramp, and noticed that Fellu had come scampering round the corner and caught up with her. She went straight to the bridge, followed by her deputy.
"Raven," she called.
"Yes Shivia," the ship's computer answered.
"Get us off this rock."
The ship rocked gently as its gravitic drives engaged, levitating it through the giant airlock of the docking bay and out into space.
"Has the fleet arrived?" Shivia asked.
"Yes, Shivia," Raven said, "They have been in system for some seconds now and are setting up a cordon to prevent the alien spaceship from jumping to warp speed."
"Excellent," Shivia said.
The bridge of the Raven was large and there was a lot of unused space with only two command couches. The couches were orientated towards a large window, surrounded by screens and holograms all showing units of the Tarazet Deep Space Fleet or the alien spaceship itself.
"Take a seat," Shivia said to Fellu.
There was nothing to be seen through the window itself, as the hunt was happening much too far away.
"Get me Reason," Shivia said.
"At once," Raven said.
Almost immediately a different voice could be heard, the voice of Reason.
"I see you have decided to evacuate, Shivia," it said.
"Just a precaution," Shivia assured the base AI, "It seems that you have an infestation in your innards."
"The base commander did warn you that the Z-subjects were an unknown quantity and could pose a hazard if brought within the Seat of Reason for study."
"We have no time for this," Shivia cut off Reason, "How many drones do you have available."
"Drones are not usually deployed within the Seat of Reason," the AI replied, "There is usually no need."
"I am aware of that," Shivia said, "but the circumstances would seem unusual, would they not? You don't even know what is happening within your own secure center."
The AI didn't answer. Fellu shifted uncomfortably in her acceleration couch.
"What I propose," Shivia said, "Is sending a phalanx of drones down into the secure unit to see what's happening. I assume it is something unsavory."
"I understand," the AI said.
"You will not be controlling the drones. The drones will be piloted remotely from here by Fellu. We don't know how badly your systems have been compromised and the less we rely on them the better. The drones will be in action in minutes, do not try to stop us."
Shivia terminated the connection.
"Raven," she said, "How many drones can you round up for us?"
"There are five drones on the surface of the asteroid on routine patrol."
"That will be ample," Shivia said, "Designate a lead drone and turn over operations to Fellu at her station."
"But I've never piloted a drone," Fellu said.
"It is all automated," Shivia chided her, "Just tell it where to go, and if it asks for authorization to shoot, you say yes."
Fellu looked aghast.
"Can you handle that?" Shivia asked her.
Fellu nodded weakly. Holographic screens and touch surfaces started to appear in the air around her. The largest of the screens said a friendly hello and promised to have her piloting her drone in under five minutes. Fellu gulped.
Shivia at last turned her attention to the Raven's main screen, the largest screen, directly above the bridge main window. It showed the alien spaceship, its shields glittering as it sustained heavy fire. Shivia was surprised, but pleased, to see that the Drifter ship wasn't returning fire.
"What is going on?" she said to herself.
***
Mortigan was wondering what was going on too. He was a technician, in charge of environment systems on the Cutlass. The Cutlass was a corvette assigned to hold position near the Seat of Reason, in case the enemy spaceship decided to attack it. Nobody thought this was a likely outcome and the Cutlass and all ship's crew were fully expecting to sit out the action without being involved in any way. In fact, instead of a tense space battle, things were very much normal aboard ship.
Mortigan wasn't at all surprised to have to deal with a shuttle from the space station below.
He watched it cycle through the docking bay airlock, the only docking bay on the Cutlass, and was pleased that the automated systems worked perfectly. It was a slightly unusual shuttle, not one of the designs used by the battle group Cutlass was usually assigned to, and that could sometimes cause problems, but the bay systems seemed to be adjusting smoothly. It all looked so smooth, as he watched absently on a monitor, that he was surprised to be contacted by the shuttle, complaining of a malfunction. A coolant hose wasn't attaching properly, they said.
“That seems unlikely,” Mortigan mumbled, “Coolant is one of the simplest systems in the bay.”
He went on down to the docking bay, putting on an environment suit as he went. He cycled through the interior airlock and walked up to the shuttle. The crew were still inside. They hadn't even bothered to come out and do a manual inspection.
“Typical,” Mortigan grunted.
He suspected that the hose had attached, but their systems hadn't recognized it.
"Hello in ther
e," he hailed the shuttle.
He was standing within a few meters of the little spaceship and he thought he could see movement in the cockpit.
"Hello," he said, again.
Again there was no answer. He took a couple of steps to get closer, and squinted through the bridge windows, definitely there was movement. If their communications were out, the shuttle might have worse trouble than Mortigan had thought.
"Just extend the access ramp," Mortigan yelled into his communicator, "If you can hear me."
The shuttle's cargo bay doors opened and an access ramp extended. Mortigan walked up, directly into a cargo hold. The lighting seemed to be faulty, so he sent a handshake to the computer running the little spaceship and a request for schematics so he could go to the nearest systems hub and run some diagnostics. Nothing came back.
"I guess I'll just have to poke around until I find something," he mumbled to himself.
He operated some controls on the wrist of his environment suit, to deploy a flashlight from his backpack. It was mounted on a snake-like arm of articulated metal and was programmed with a simple routine to point where his eyes were looking. The faceplate of his environment suit monitored the position of his eyes and provided the information to the flashlight. Once deployed, it switched on and projected quite a powerful beam of light.
Mortigan couldn’t quite work out what he was looking at to begin with. He had been expecting an empty hold, and was trying to decide where a good place to start looking for a system node would be, near the door, or further away, so he wasn't at all prepared for what he actually saw. He saw teeth, he saw claws, he saw horrible gray skin, patches of it the color of deck plating, and he saw technology, grafted messily among the flesh. It was the last thing he saw.
***
Altia had almost reached Knave when she was driven back by the intensity of fire coming from the hostiles. Jay was being driven inexorably back too, just like her. As she was forced to seek cover behind a section of mangled docking bay door, she saw Knave snatched and dragged up the ramp into the gunship. With two members of the team dragging Knave and not firing, Altia and Jay were able to emerge again, hitting the two remaining Tarazet marines that had been left to guard the ramp and were now also about to embark the gunship. Block gun fire sent them to the floor of the bay, smoking holes in their armor. Altia saw a set of small vanes deploy around the grav engine plates, the heat sinks. She immediately knew what it meant, the gunship was about to take off, whether the ramp was still deployed or not. She ran forward, yelling as she went.
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