“What is it, Specialist?”
“If that vest is keeping you alive, you might want to start thanking Haddron for putting it on you.”
“What’s wrong?” Syracuse asked.
“The hull is ruptured worse than we thought. Life support will be in full failure in thirty seconds.”
Four
The Smart Play
“O-two levels are dropping fast, sir!” Hannah yelled.
A loud popping sound thundered through the bridge.
“She’s breaking apart, Captain!” Lindsay said.
Irons watched as gasses burst from pressurized tubes. Other areas of the Lucky Liberty, wrecked from battle with the Slagschip, were affecting bridge components. He rushed to Hannah’s console. “We gotta seal off those breaks.”
“We can’t sir. We only repaired her enough to get her in space. We shouldn’t have been in any kind of combat scenario to begin with.”
Another pop shook the whole ship.
“Too late now,” Durham stumbled.
Everyone on the bridge was rocked sideways as more seals broke within the bowels of the Earth Fleet vessel.
“Twenty seconds till full life support shut down,” Hannah read from her console.
“The old girl is gonna break apart before twenty seconds is up,” Syracuse said.
Haddron dashed for the control console and watched the numbers ticking down. “This is the only vessel to have stood this long against the Slagschip. I need it.”
“Then you better think fast cuz she ain’t gonna be much use to anyone in a few seconds,” Irons said.
Haddron took little time in arriving at a solution. He spun to Jammin and glanced down at his teleport device.
“No,” the large Nordic said.
“We have little choice. This ship will be an—”
“Zero.” Hannah slowly turned to Irons.
Irons’s jaw clenched as another pop went off. He turned to face the rest of those aboard his ship. “Listen up. We just ran out of oxygen. We probably got a couple of minutes left to use up whatever is still in here but hull integrity is disappearing fast. Every rivet that pops out of this old girl is another few seconds of air we lose.” He turned to Haddron. “You say you need my ship. Well, she ain’t getting any better.”
“Jammin,” Haddron said.
“Fine.” Jammin walked to Big Lou first and placed a hand on his shoulder. “This one will have to go on his own.”
“Hey. Get your hands off—”
The white teleport flash interrupted Lou’s protest as he and Jammin disappeared. Before anyone could inquire about it, Jammin reappeared just where he’d left. The Nordic was already on the move toward Lindsay and the Admiral.
“Not them,” Irons walked to the women.
Mona shrank back.
“It’s just the Captain, Admiral,” Lindsay reasoned.
“I’m sorry, James,” Mona looked at the floor. “But that thing made you…”
Irons looked down at the battle armor, embarrassed and ashamed that it made her react to him in such a way. “Maybe when this thing is off?”
Mona nodded but had still to look him in the eye.
Irons handed the teleporter to Lindsay. “You get her to Stevens. Let him know what’s going on up here then port back to that barge out there.”
“You’ll be on the Slagschip, sir?”
“Unless Haddron’s boy is taking us in the void without a suit, that’s my guess.”
“Air’s getting awful thin in here,” Durham said, breathing harder.
Jammin walked to the Private and grabbed his wrist, pulling him toward Hannah. Both soldiers tried to protest the rough actions of the Nordic but both were met with only silence and another white light.
“Hang onto me, ma’am.” Lindsay pressed the lens on the teleporter and just like the others, she and Mona were gone.
Syracuse looked at Irons, wondering if this was a good idea.
“It’s this or stay here and die,” Irons said.
“Thought you planned on going out on this boat, anyway.”
“Damn, Hill, when that happens it’ll be a fast explosion. Not a slow few pieces of hull breaking off.”
Syracuse smiled as another bright light burst behind him followed by another enveloping him and taking him and Jammin away.
Haddron teleported away with Sitasha, leaving Irons on the bridge alone. The Captain glanced over his ship as if for the last time. He looked back down at the battle armor and smirked. “I wonder if they got something on that monster out there that can fix you up, too, girl.”
Haddron reappeared. “Are you ready, Captain?”
“Yeah, just saying goodbye.”
“Goodbye?” Haddron was genuinely confused. “I told you, I have need of this vessel. I know you have no exceptional reason to trust me but in this I can promise, there is no goodbye for your beloved ship. It will be made whole as you have been.”
Irons chuckled. “I kinda figured something like that.”
Haddron placed a hand on Irons’s shoulder and the two teleported off the bridge.
* * *
The unfamiliar surroundings of the Slagschip should have grabbed Irons’s attention. Instead the Captain was greeted by the unexpected sight of a knife to Hannah’s throat. Elit stood behind her, one hand on her shoulder to keep her in place. The other held the blade to her to keep everyone else in place. The confused, threatening and pleading voices all made it hard to piece together who was saying what or what even happened to make the lithe Nordic ready to deliver a killing strike to the Lucky Libery’s Tech Specialist.
“Elit!” Haddron shouted loud enough to drown out the others. “What is this?”
“Glad to see you still among us, Haddron,” Elit said from behind Hannah. “Maybe you’d like to answer the same question. I see humans aboard our ship. Humans and us, and I seem to be the only one concerned.”
Haddron took a single step toward them.
Elit pressed the knife against Hannah’s throat. “Careful. I think we’ll stay just like this till I know who I can trust.”
“Elit, stop this,” Naura begged.
Haddron used the moment as a distraction and raced for the hostage. His blinding speed was too much for Elit who was not ready for the knife to be torn from his hand without any real struggle.
“I can still—”
“Be silent.” Jammin said, pulling Hannah away from Elit. “I’m not happy about it either but right now a truce is necessary.”
“What truce? With the humans?”
“I tried to tell you,” Naura said. “Erra is under attack.”
Elit looked at his fellow crew member with some indifference.
“Elit?” Naura’s voice was full of confusion. How could one of their own harbor no feelings on their world being in peril.
“What do we need them for?” Elit motioned toward the humans on the bridge.
“It is their ship that we need. A ship we do not know the operational procedures for. That is why they are here,” Haddron explained.
“Does that really mean we need all of them?” Elit said, a scheming glint in his eye.
“Yeah, it does.” Irons stepped toward the wild minded Nordic.
Elit cowered back, in fear of the man who put down him and Jammin. The same man who must have gone face to face against Haddron and still stood.
“He wears a Gevecht—“
“I know what he wears, Elit, because I gave it to him.” Haddron walked to his seat and began inputting commands in the arm rest.
“But you know what that means?”
“If I didn’t, I would not have given it to him.”
“Just don’t get any ideas, human,” Jammin threatened. “You wear it to stay alive. Nothing more.”
“Careful there, son.” Irons smirked at Jammin. “Took you down a peg without this thing. How’s that gonna go while I’m wearing it?”
Jammin scoffed and turned to face the window.
“If you are all finished with your bickering, I would ask that you make way to the window at the front,” Haddron said as he finalized one last command.
“Why is that?” Durham asked.
Haddron made his way to the window. “You wish to stay on the Slagschip or fall away on a vessel you know nothing about?”
Durham watched everyone else following Haddron’s lead. He rushed to catch up.
“You will have roughly four feet of room to move in. Be certain you do not go beyond that,” Haddron warned as he hugged the wall.
The rest of the group did the same.
At first there was a low level whining then a hiss, followed by a sound like a dense liquid splashing.
Durham’s eyes grew wide as the the walls rippled and morphed, giving way to an entirely different ship.
The nose of Haddron’s vessel appeared on the bridge as it disconnected from the Slaschip. It sank downward, falling away until it was out of sight. All anyone on the Slagschip could see was the normal interior of that vessel and empty space beyond it.
* * *
The Slagschip rose above Haddron’s. The size difference was significant, though both space vessels were massive. The battle shell lumbered toward the smoking Lucky Liberty.
White smoke plumes and gasses shot from the wrecked Earth Fleet ship. Her hull was riddled with holes while the Wartech patchwork was dented and twisted. A few of the pieces barely hung on. Even if the thrusters did still work, the lowest acceleration level would tear those pieces off, sending them adrift in the void of space.
The Earth ship’s crew pressed close to the window of the Slagschip as the battle shell maneuvered over the old war cruiser.
The Slagschip came to a stop, perfectly positioned over the Lucky Liberty. A single burst of air shot out from the Nordic battle vessel, pushing it downward.
* * *
“You’d better not dent my girl,” Irons threatened.
Haddron rolled his eyes and turned to reface the empty space. He surmised Irons only half meant what he said. After the battle the two giants had, what more harm could a small dent cause?
Everyone else turned around to see the roof of the Lucky Liberty rising into the empty space Haddron’s ship had occupied. It was a clunky maneuvering.
“These vessels were not intended to work with each other,” Haddron said, irritated.
The nose of the Earth vessel finally came into view and continued to rise till it was above those waiting at the front of the Slagschip.
Irons shook his head at the sad state his boat was in. First it was the Catters on Jupiter then the Slagschip itself. Still, there was something to be said for the sturdiness of the Lucky Liberty. After every mission in the war, its battle with the Queen’s Flagship and most recently, the very vessel it was now docking with, the old Earth battle cruiser remained, mostly, intact. That thought gave Irons a reason to smile.
A loud clank snapped the Captain out of his proud moment. He turned to Haddron, expecting an apology.
“Automated positioning, Captain. I make no excuses for it. Now, if you will lead us to your bridge, we can begin integration,” Haddron said.
“Integration?” Syracuse didn’t like the implications.
“Of course.” Haddron’s tone was superior. “How else would we fly both at the same time?”
Syracuse turned to Irons in disbelief at Haddron’s attitude.
“Least he ain’t trying to kill us anymore.” Irons stepped toward his ship, leading the others behind him.
* * *
The Nordics stopped through the bridge door and into the control center for the USS Lucky Liberty. Elit and Naura flinched when a spark shot out from the main controls. Lights flickered all around and the air was thin.
“The only reason we have even this much air is from the Slagschip’s artificial atmosphere,” Hannah figured.
“An automatic function when another vessel docks with it,” Haddron briefly explained.
“So what’s next?” Durham asked.
“I wonder that as well,” Haddron said. The lack of confidence was something new. Haddron actually didn’t know what to expect from the integration process of human and Nordic technology. He only hoped it wouldn’t be as violent as Irons was once the battle armor was placed on him.
Haddron held up a metal stick with one button on it.
Hannah raised one eyebrow. “It’s remote controlled?”
Haddron turned to the youngest crew member of the Lucky Liberty and smiled. His expression was slightly off putting in that it had an air of excited scheming. As if the Nordic couldn’t wait to show them all what was to happen, though what was to happen might not be a good thing.
With no other word, Haddron pushed the button.
Five
Rumblings
Shock was an understatement for Hannah Xuyen as she and the rest of the ship’s occupants watched the bridge of the Lucky Liberty deform.
The entire vessel rocked, violently, denying the change that was occurring.
“Is it supposed to do that?” Durham yelled over the cacophony of screeching and twisted steel.
“They are incompatible technologies!” Sitasha yelled. “The Slagschip was not meant to integrate with vessels outside of Erra.”
“So what does that mean?” Durham asked.
“It means shut it till it’s over,” Irons ordered.
“Haddron, this is a mistake!” Naura shouted.
“This will work!” he yelled before nearly falling to the floor as the Earth Fleet ship jerked, again.
Irons watched the walls of his own bridge break into rough sections then ripple and spread out as the walls of the Slagschip morphed with the Lucky Liberty, one moving out, the other moving in. Both merging together to become one.
The floor at the front of the Earth Fleet vessel melted downward, changing into a set of stairs leading down to the same window of the Slagschip where they;d all recently stood.. Irons walked to his antique mariners steering wheel and placed his hand on it, more as a security blanket than anything. He didn’t want it changing as the rest of the ship was.
A deafening screech came from outside of the bridge.
Syracuse covered his ears. “What is that?”
Sitasha grimaced at the sound. “The Slagschip takes on the properties of the host vessel.”
“Sounds like it’s tearing the old girl apart.”
“Theoretically, that’s exactly what it’s doing.” Hannah punched in commands on her console but the words kept switching between English and Nordic. “Even the electronics are fusing.”
“It must tear down to rebuild anew,” Haddron explained. “Even now, your vessel’s weapon systems are merging with the Slagschip. Moving outward to the surface of the battle shell.”
Irons snarled. “It’s taking our guns?”
A final locking sound echoed through the bridge.
“More than that, Captain,” Haddron said. “It is all, now, one ship.” Haddron walked to the door of the bridge then everything went silent.
“Where you going?” Irons asked.
“I will return.” Haddron pointed out at his Nordic ship as it drifted, no longer connected to the Slagschip. “There is something there I must retrieve.”
Haddron stepped through the opening and disappeared in a flash.
Irons grumbled. Things were moving too fast and he’d yet to fully process any of it. He took in the new surroundings of the merged and larger bridge. His Captain’s seat remained unchanged except for the new control panel on the seat’s arm rest. Where there were four control consoles on the Earth ship, there were now two much longer consoles. Down the steps were two more. Each console had two seats in front of them.
“I guess that means we’re all working together.” Syracuse approached the closest console. It had familiar aspects but was very different from the Lucky Liberty.
Jammin was the first down the steps to look at the other consoles. Just like Syracuse Hill, he also saw the famili
ar but different components.
“How is this possible?” Hannah turned to Sitasha.
“Internally, the Slagschip takes on the main properties of the host vessel. Your own ship’s navigation and weapons systems are now the Slagschip’s.”
A loud but muffled metal on metal clang reverberated through the bridge as a warning alarm pinged.
Hannah dashed to the nearest console. “Captain, we’ve been boarded!”
“What?” Irons shouted.
“Cargo Bay, sir.”
Irons spun to Private Durham and Lieutenant Trevern. “Durham, Lou. Get down there and—“
A bright teleport flash lit up the room and blinked out, leaving Haddron in its place. “You may ignore the alarm.”
“Where did you go?” Naura asked.
“Simply retrieving Kar’libon’s ship. Who knows if we will have need of such a thing.”
Durham exhaled, shaking off the nerves from what they all thought was an attack. He refocused on the new surroundings. “Brooks really should see this.”
“Speaking of,” Irons started. “Where is Lindsay?”
* * *
Lindsay kept pace with the Admiral as the two walked through the hallway of Wartech’s manufacturing plant. Wartech security members lined the hallway in preparation for whatever Benjamin Stevens needed them for. A few of the black clad figures brushed by the Admiral with no regard for her position. Lindsay started to say something but thought better of it. These guys worked for Wartech. They weren’t military so proper respect or decorum didn’t fully apply.
“All due respect, Admiral, I need to get back to my team,” Lindsay said.
“I know, Private. I’m sorry for binging you along on this but I feel it’s important you explain to Stevens what’s going on.”
“You know as much as I do, Ma’am.”
“Be that as it may, I’d like your field expertise in the explanation.”
“Of course. Sorry for the questioning.”
“Not at all. I understand your concern. I carry the same thoughts. I…”
ROYAL LINE (War In The Void Book 3) Page 3
