by Tom Chattle
"You can do that?" Sina asked, arms folded.
Chen hesitated. The memories of her interactions with the Syrax technology were not exactly pleasant. "I don't know, maybe. It's been a long time since I've even been near Syrax tech."
"It could be worth a go." McCann's eyes were locked on Chen. "I don't want to put this on you, but I don't see a lot of other options right now."
Desperately wanting to say no, to ignore Moreau's idea and do something else, Chen squeezed her eyes shut. "How many Syrax would be aboard it?"
"In their prime?" Sina said. "Hundreds. But since their fall, all the ships we have encountered have been sparsely crewed. Some lesser Syrax breeds—pilots and such—but there could be no more than fifty or sixty warriors."
Chen pointed at Lieutenant Scott, who stood next to Wilde and had been silent to this point. "What do you think? It would be your Marines going up against them."
Scott weighed the question and shifted his stance. "If we took the last mechs and had Sina's assistance, I think we could manage. Assuming we didn't have to face them all at once, of course." He scratched his head before continuing. "But, if I may, would it not be more prudent to capture the ship, use it for our own purposes?"
"Now that's an idea," McCann straightened in his seat. "I like the thought of our own alien battle carrier."
"Look," Chen snapped. Tension at the task ahead threatened to engulf her. "I don't even know if I can control it until we're on board." She drummed her fingers on the chair arm. "As much as I don't like the idea, we don't have anything better, so I guess we're giving it a shot."
- 44 -
2208.10.23 // 11:39
UVS Valiant
Chen followed Scott toward the shuttle bay but turned at the sound of footsteps pounding on the deck behind her. Wilde pulled up to the group and tugged on Chen's shoulder. "Can I have a minute?"
She nodded and gestured for the Marines and Sina to continue on, then pulled the young woman aside into a doorway. "What's up, Katrina?"
"I've been thinking," Wilde started.
"Uh-oh." Chen laughed.
"Hey!" Wilde grinned. "Anyway, I want to go with you, take the fight to the Syrax."
Chen's eyebrows shot up. "No, absolutely not!"
"C'mon, Auri," Wilde pleaded. "I'm sick of being stuck on this ship, unable to help."
Chen placed a hand on her arm and sighed. "Katrina, you've been incredibly helpful digging up the data on Bennett and NI, as well as examining the Talamar data files Sina gave us."
"But I want to fight," Wilde objected. "Those things killed my entire crew, and I never got to properly pay them back for it."
While she understood Wilde's desire, Chen had a hard time with the idea of her being in combat. She shook her head. "If anything happened to you, I'd have to answer to your father."
Wilde tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling. "I'm a big girl, Auri. My dad knows who I am, and he knows this mission. He wouldn't place any blame on you if something did happen." She lowered her gaze, emerald eyes locking on Chen. "Please, Auri. I need to do this. Hell, I probably have more experience in dangerous places than you do."
"Damnit, Katrina." Chen leaned back against the door frame and gazed at Wilde. It's true that she could certainly take care of herself—Arcturus had shown that—and there would be a cadre of Marines fighting with her. She'd come to regard her almost as a sister, and the thought of putting her intentionally in harm's way was uncomfortable. But Chen could almost taste the urge to fight flowing off Katrina, how important this was to her.
She blew air through her lips and relented. "Fine, you can come. But pay attention to what the Marines are doing and keep your wits about you."
Wilde threw her a mock salute and winked. "Aye, aye, ma'am."
They jogged to catch up with the rest of the party, entered the shuttle bay, and immediately skidded to an abrupt halt. The Marines milled around, muttering among themselves while Sina and Scott squared up to Bennett and his two guards in front of the shuttle.
A scowl on her face, Chen marched forward to join them. "What now, Bennett?"
"We're coming with you on this insane mission," the NI officer demanded.
"Like hell you are," Scott retorted. "You'll not put my Marines in danger again."
Bennett ignored the Marine and jabbed a finger at Chen. "Listen, Lieutenant, you might have the illegitimate support of this crew, but you are still a dangerous individual and under the control of Naval Intelligence. I cannot let you leave, putting those around you in danger, without proper supervision."
Chen rolled her eyes and shoved past them, not caring anymore. The calming effect Sina had transferred to her mind still held, if only just. "Whatever you need to do to feel like you're still relevant, Bennett."
"Lieutenant!" Scott objected. He trotted after her. "Him coming could put this entire mission at risk."
"Scott, we'll keep a close eye on all of them." Chen slapped him on the shoulder. "If it looks like they might jeopardize your troops at any point, you have my permission to shoot him."
The Marine couldn't help but chuckle. "Then, in the spirit of generosity, let's get you ladies something a little more protective than your excursion jackets."
"Exo-suits?" Chen lifted her head.
"We have a few spare," Scott shrugged.
Wilde's eyes widened in anticipation at the offer when Scott led them over to one of the arming stations spotted around the edges of the shuttle bay. They followed him to two suits that hung from sturdy racks, and he swung the frames holding the top halves to one side. He pointed at the platform behind each. "Get up there and slide your legs down into the holes."
Doing as instructed, Chen clambered up. She wiggled each leg into the openings and then pulled the waist up to lock it to her belt. Wilde took a little longer, but with some assistance from Scott, she got the hang of it. The Marine then swung the top halves back in front of them, and they slid their arms inside and leaned forward into the attached chest plate and helmet. Once Scott had helped them cinch up the suits, he stood back. "All right, hit that green button on your inner arm."
Chen glanced down to locate it, then tapped it with her opposite hand. With a hiss, the suit pressurized itself and the formerly limp fabric stiffened, the electronics inside the suit powering up with a whine.
The suit detached from the stand, and Chen stepped forward. Movement felt strange—even though she knew the suit was heavy, every step or gesture felt lighter than it normally did, almost effortless. "Okay, I get why you like these things."
Wilde was stomping up and down next to her, waving her arms back and forth. "I need one of these every day."
"Okay, okay," Scott chastised. "They're not toys. Just be aware of how much power you have in one of them."
"Yeah, yeah." Wilde strode over to Chen. "Come on, Auri, let's go." She turned away and clapped Chen on the back, which slapped her forward across the deck, and she almost toppled over from the force. When Chen righted herself, Wilde looked back, a sheepish expression on her face. "Sorry."
Scott didn't open his mouth, but his face said "I told you so" loud and clear.
Still getting used to moving in the exo-suits, they followed Scott to the shuttle and climbed aboard while the two remaining mech drivers locked their steeds into the ports on each side of the ship.
"Hey, why didn't we get power suits?" Bennett complained when they passed.
"Sorry, didn't have enough," Scott answered dismissively. Chen had to bite back a smile—there had been plenty of exo-suits still left on the racks.
Chen moved past the jump seats she had sat in previously and kept on going to the short ladder that led to the raised cockpit. In order to pack as many active combatants into the party as possible, Chen had agreed to pilot the ship. She settled into the pilot's seat and took in the controls. It wasn't dissimilar to some of the shuttles she'd flown both in the Academy and before as a teenager—if somewhat more utilitarian. The weapons panel was something
she was hoping she wouldn't have to touch.
Minutes later, the shuttle zoomed through the atmo-barriers and looped around the Valiant. Chen waggled the wings in salute when they passed the bow.
"Okay." Scott leaned forward between the two pilot seats. "I want to go over this plan one more time."
"All right," Chen acknowledged. "We know the carrier is hanging in empty space near the Talamar warp portal, so we can't exactly become invisible and head straight for it."
Settled in the co-pilot's seat, Wilde tapped on her screen and brought up a projection of the Syrax carrier—limited in detail, it was the best Sina could provide from the Talamar archives. She spun the hologram and zoomed in on the rear with her fingers. "Based on Sina's intelligence, we know this type of ship has somewhat of a blind spot to the rear, directly behind the engines."
"Because of this," Chen continued, "if we circle them at distance and cut power to minimum, we should be able to coast in without them detecting us."
Wilde tapped on the rear of the ship. "There is an auxiliary shuttle bay here, on the upper decks of the ship. Sina thinks it should be minimally guarded, allowing us access into the ship."
"And once we've boarded, McCann will bring the Valiant into range, hopefully focusing their attention on it and drawing some of their troops away from us." Chen glanced over at Scott. "You good?"
Scott grinned, slapping both of them on the shoulder. "Just making sure you remembered."
***
Chen rubbed her eyes and tried to adjust the collar of her exo-suit. They had been drifting on minimal power for hours now. The shuttle coasted in from the void, aimed for a tiny target.
When Moreau had programmed the calculations into the computer, she'd explained it was like hitting a blade of grass with a needle from a kilometer away. Even now, with their target near, it was still barely visible to the naked eye—a faint glint of reflected light against the dark depths of space.
Chen clamped down an overwhelming urge to get up and stretch but couldn't hold back a yawn. To be as close to invisible as possible to the Syrax sensors, they had both oxygen and heat turned down to minimum, which left the inside of the shuttle bone-chillingly cold. She closed her helmet for a moment and commanded the suit to give her a burst of oxygen, enjoying the feeling when it filled her lungs.
Wilde shivered in the seat next to her. She had her arms clamped across her chest to ward off the cold. "I'm picturing lying on a beach, sun warming my skin, but it's just not helping."
"We're nearly in range." Chen squinted at the controls in the dark. "Just hold on a little longer."
"All right, but you owe me an extra-long, hot shower," Wilde grumbled.
Hearing their chatter, Scott poked his head back into the cockpit. "Almost there?"
"Almost there," Chen affirmed. The bright dot out the window gradually resolved itself into a ship. Shaped like a broad arrowhead, the Syrax vessel had engine pods clustered around the stern and vast launch bays bulged out from each side.
"When do we signal the Valiant?" Scott asked.
Chen frowned. "I'm afraid to signal them too soon. I don't want the carrier to go to high alert and start moving; then, they will almost certainly detect us."
"But if there are troops in the hanger bay, then signaling too late will allow them to send out the alarm without anything to distract from it," Scott countered.
"Agreed." Chen nodded. "We'll have to send the signal when we're on final approach to the ship. Hopefully, McCann will get their attention right before we enter."
That moment didn't take long to arrive. With the carrier now filling their entire view, Chen triggered the automated comm message to the Valiant and hoped they had timed it just right.
"Uhh, Auri?" Wilde stared ahead out the cockpit window. Until now, they had drifted purely on momentum, powered by an engine burn thousands of kilometers distant, but now they neared the ship, it was clear the targeting had not been quite perfect—either that or the Syrax ship itself had drifted.
"Damnit," Chen growled and grabbed for the control stick. She didn't want to light the main engines if she could help it, but the maneuvering thrusters that puffed when she gently tugged on the stick weren't adjusting their direction fast enough. "Hell, here goes nothing," Chen snapped. "Everyone hold on."
She reached up to flip switches on the panel above her, and the shuttle powered back up in an instant, hull vibrating while the engines spooled up from cold. She yanked the stick over, banked the shuttle away from the infinitely distant patch of space it was aimed for, and goosed the throttle. Back on course, the shuttle hurtled toward the gaping upper shuttle bay.
Scott held on to the back of Chen's seat to stop from being thrown around and pointed out the window. "Look, the Valiant."
Chen had the briefest view of a distant dot, powered up shields glowing in the void when the Syrax vessel eclipsed it and the shuttle zoomed through the alien atmo-barriers.
- 45 -
2208.10.23 // 15:02
Syrax Carrier
The moment the shuttle entered the huge hanger, Chen slammed the engines into reverse, and everyone was thrown forward into their harnesses from the sudden deceleration. She prepared to bank the craft round for landing when a door irised open at the far end of the dark space. Two Syrax warriors lumbered out, their weapons raised to meet the intruders.
Chen pushed the control stick toward them and flipped open the protective cover at the top of it. The stealth portion of their mission was over. She had no doubt the warriors had already sounded the alarm at their intrusion.
She lined up the sights and jammed her thumb down on the button that protruded. In sleek fairings on either side of the shuttle's nose, heavy cannons thundered. The powerful rounds stitched a line of destruction across the deck and washed over the alien grunts, ripping them to shreds in an explosion of gore.
The red light that turned on above her head told Chen the mechs had detached, and the shuttle jumped toward the ceiling the second its heavy load dropped to the floor. Chen feathered the grav-thrusters and brought the shuttle down gently. The hatch dropped the moment it settled on the alien deck.
The mechs firing at more enemies hammered over the cooldown whine of the engines. Chen unbuckled and dropped into the troop compartment. The last Marine charged down the ramp—Sina must have already gone with them. Bennett and his two guards lingered behind, but Chen ignored them, grabbed the pistol holstered on the hip of her exo-suit, and raced out to join the fray.
Another pair of Syrax warriors had entered from a side door, but the last of them fell to the ground with an agonized bellow before Chen could raise her weapon.
"All clear!" Scott called from ahead and waved his Marines forward to secure the perimeter of the hangar bay.
Chen jogged over to him with Wilde close on her heels. A headache had been developing ever since they boarded the Syrax vessel, but it was manageable for now. "Where's Sina?"
She scanned their surroundings for the woman. The hanger was broad, curved support beams reaching up to a central spine on the ceiling, their dark blue-gray color reminding Chen of a massive alien skeleton.
Scott nodded over to the Syrax corpses. "Over there, don't ask me what she's doing."
Chen followed his gaze, and her brow creased. It looked like Sina was hacking up one of the alien warriors, but she couldn't see a good reason why.
Sina grunted with satisfaction and held up something before her. She glanced back and noticed their attention. "Syrax data chip," she said, waving the slimy object at them. "It should have better maps."
She wiped it off on her skirt, popped open a port in her gauntlet, and slid in the chip. A light glowed red for a few seconds before it flickered and turned green. Once she pressed a button, Sina projected a small map into the air before them.
Scott and Wilde leaned in to examine the fresh data, but Chen stepped away. Something in the back of her mind burned, something she hadn't felt for a while. She shook her head and tried to
push it away, focusing on the discussion in front of her.
"So, that door?" Scott turned to take in their target.
"Yes," Sina answered, "I believe that will be the most direct route to their bridge."
Marines covered them while they moved to the door in question. It was smooth and curved, made of the same dark material as the organic-looking bulkheads of the ship. Scott tapped at it with the butt of his rifle, but it didn't budge. "How do we open it?"
"Auri?" Wilde motioned to a control panel recessed into an alcove beside it. "You're up."
Chen took a deep breath and nodded. She reached out to place her hand on the blank plate that served as the controls. Nothing happened at first, but then the edges of her vision began to fade out, and a high-pitched ring gradually rose in her ears.
She remembered the sensation of the Syrax technology from before, but it was even more uncomfortable now than it had been then. Whatever the reason, it was hard for her to focus.
With a flash, alien runes leaped into the air above the controls, and Chen forced through the urge to vomit. Her mind drifted through the commands until she found the right one. The door ahead creaked, and a hiss emanated from the frame. Moments later, it slid into the bulkheads to expose the long hallway behind it.
Chen doubled over and panted, hands clamped to her head. She didn't remember the interactions with Syrax tech being that bad before. A soft hand touched hers, and relief spread up her arm.
Sina crouched down next to her. "Are you all right, Aurichen?"
Chen wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and nodded. "I'll live." She stared at the control panel. "I wonder why it didn't open as easily as their technology on in the Arcturus system. It's like it was fighting me for control."
"Hmm." Sina's eyes narrowed. "We believe that each Syrax matriarch has a different psychic signature, which she uses to control her troops. Perhaps the psychic print of the matriarch on this ship conflicts with the one that imprinted on you."
