by John Walker
Because if we have to do something major, I might have to conduct a procedure right there. The thought horrified her but she needed to be ready for anything. Performing surgery outside on an alien world would count as the most insane thing she’d ever done but it would be a small price to pay if she saved a life.
They headed out from the medical bay and cut down to one of the maintenance access points. From there, they intended to climb the ladder system to reach an external hatch. The hope was they could avoid any enemy contact but when they collected their charge, they needed to go through one of the larger entrances.
Carrying a patient down the narrow tunnels would not work.
The initial dash from the medical bay to the door took less than two minutes but Sandra’s heart raced so fast, she felt like she’d been out there for half an hour. Dorland opened the passage and took point, crawling inside and hustling down the passage to their ladder. Sandra went second with Montgomery taking up the rear. He closed the panel behind them.
Red lights provided eerie illumination to travel by. Black pipes in the wall looked like they were covered in blood and the gray sections were difficult to make out. Only a bright overhead LED let her know they were on the correct path. The ladder itself blended right into the wall.
Dorland began crawling up. “This is going to be a tough one,” he called back. “We have to go nearly seven stories.”
“Sounds like fun,” Montgomery grumbled. “Ma’am, do you want me to go next?”
Sandra sighed. She didn’t look forward to crawling up seventy plus feet. The exposure of being last on the ladder terrified her and she didn’t know the right answer. If she let the young man head up first, then she’d have anxiety the entire way but at the same time, going second made her feel like something of a coward.
“I’ll … I’ll go next if you don’t mind.”
“Your call.” Montgomery stepped aside for her and she moved forward, starting the climb immediately. She regretted the decision to not prepare herself. Not even fifteen feet up, her arms started to tense up and hurt. Anxiety made it worse. She was in decent shape. There was no reason she should be tired so quickly.
I can stop at one of the landings if I have to. Sandra took heart in the fact they weren’t going to be sixty feet up and have to hang there, catching her breath. When she looked up, she saw Dorland was already halfway to the top. What is he, part monkey? How the hell is he climbing up there so fast?
The two soldiers had been through far worse when it came to athletic pursuits. Climbing the ladder probably didn’t even register as work to them. Sandra felt like she was going to pass out by the time she was halfway through the climb. She stepped off at the fifty foot point and leaned against the wall as feeling returned to her arms.
“We don’t have much time for rest,” Montgomery said. “We’re almost there, ma’am.”
“I … know …” Sandra replied through heavy gasps. “I’m … I’ll … I’ll be there … in a second … Go ahead.”
“Alright.” Montgomery started up again and she followed, stretching her shoulders before grabbing the rungs. A sound behind her made her panic, granting her renewed strength to hustle. Luckily, the other two were fast and she couldn’t possibly have caught up to them. Dorland worked at the hatch and got it to open long before she arrived.
Glancing down, Sandra didn’t see anything but she was sure she heard a noise. There were too many hostiles running around the ship and any one of them could’ve taken to the maintenance tunnels. Of course, why would they bother? There wasn’t anything to mess with down there. The bad guys needed to take engineering or the armory.
They wouldn’t pursue a couple of medics crawling through the bowels of the ship.
Montgomery and Dorland grabbed her arms as she reached the top and they hoisted her the rest of the way up. A warm breeze caught her from the side and she felt an overwhelming sense of fear grip her stomach. Standing on the Gnosis felt ominous and as she looked out in all directions, there was nothing but forest for as far as the eye could see.
Knowing she stood so far above the ground didn’t help. Even though the ship remained stable, Sandra’s mind wouldn’t allow her to be okay with standing so high up. She didn’t even realize she had a problem with heights until that moment. What a time to figure it out. Damn anxiety!
“There he is!” Dorland pointed. “Let’s go.”
The soldiers jogged away but Sandra took it slowly. The hull was uneven, with different bits and parts sticking up here and there. She didn’t know what they were all for but their only purpose in that moment was to act as a tripping hazard. Her companions arrived long before she did and they were already performing an examination.
“He’s taken a serious injury to the left arm,” Montgomery announced. “The attack sheared off the shoulder piece of the armor. The socket’s taken damage, the muscle’s torn and I won’t know how bad the rest is until we get him out of this gear to take a look. Dorland, do you have the tool to unlock it?”
“I’m on it.” Dorland rifled about in his pack and the two men went about removing the armor.
Sandra used her scanner to do a full diagnosis of the damage. Her initial assessment didn’t look good. Lieutenant Fielding lost a lot of blood in the time it took for them to arrive but at least he was only unconscious. His vital signs were low. A break on his humerus resulted in a compound fracture, meaning they had a lot of work to do to get him stabilized enough to move.
“This will be rough,” Sandra said, taking off her pack. She took out the portable stretcher and tapped the buttons on one side. It extended to six feet, giving them plenty of area to carry the man. “Do you have the armor off yet?”
“Almost.” Dorland grunted. “This isn’t easy. This stuff isn’t meant to come off from the outside. They’ve got all kinds of controls in there to pop it right off.”
“Can’t we get into his computer system?” Sandra asked.
“There’s damage,” Montgomery said. “I tried to access it but it’s not taking my security password. Either that or these maniacs changed the codes. I’ve heard about that being a thing since they don’t want anyone to get through with a computer and kick them out of their armor.”
“Fair point.” Sandra tapped her leg impatiently. She wanted to rush them, to badger them through the process until the lieutenant was able to be treated but she knew it was pointless. Becoming part of the problem wouldn’t help anyone. Keeping quiet, on the other hand, proved to be one of the hardest things she’d done in a long time.
Sandra was about to say something when something moved in her peripheral vision. She looked and gasped, falling backward onto the deck and groping for her gun. A man emerged from the panel and advanced on them and he was wearing an enemy uniform. She didn’t know which side he was on but his presence drew the attention of her companions.
Montgomery went for his weapon and took a shot to the face, the blow killing him instantly. He collapsed on the hull, unmoving with a hole where his nose used to be. Sandra stared at the corpse for a moment then directed her wide-eyed attention back to the assailant. He continued toward them, a twisted expression of hatred in his face.
Dorland didn’t move but he remained poised, muscles at the ready. He stood up and lifted his hands. “Don’t … don’t try anything …” Sandra whispered the words. “Just … we’ll figure this out …”
“Maybe,” Dorland replied. “I doubt this guy needs all three of us, Doc.”
“He won’t kill us if we’re not a threat …” Sandra didn’t believe the words and the moment they came out of her mouth she regretted them as ridiculous. This monster didn’t care about them at all and would likely murder them all if he got the chance. “Do you think he’s … he’s … Tol’An?”
“Probably,” Dorland said. “He’s not well enough armed to be one of the mercenaries. Those guys brought real guns. That’s just a pistol he’s carrying.”
The man grunted out meaningless syllables, wo
rds that were clearly in another language. Sandra shook her head. “We can’t understand you!”
“Do you think he understands us?” Dorland asked. “When he gets close, I’ll deal with him.”
Sandra started to get up but the Tol’An aimed at her, gesturing for her to remain on the ground. She nodded, lifting her hands to show she wasn’t going to try anything. If Dorland attacked him and failed, they would both die. Fear made her vision blur and she couldn’t calm down, couldn’t breathe through it.
The Tol’An was less than ten feet away. Dorland leaned forward, ready to make his attack. Sandra held her breath, waiting for the drama to unfold and to see how her life might end. It all hit her hard. The few brief seconds she had to worry about what might happen next went by in slow motion.
Graduating medical school … applying for the Gnosis … finishing the interview … boarding the ship … accepting the assignment to save Fielding … as the last event crossed her mind, she felt bitter that she was going to fail in her final act. The brave marine would die and she’d be following shortly after.
Dorland bound forward. A gun went off, a beam going wide and slapping the hull a few feet from Sandra’s head. She yelped, shoving herself away. Only then did she remember she was armed and needed to draw her weapon. She struggled with it, finally clearing the holster but Dorland was grappled with the Tol’An. There was no clear shot!
An Earth firearm went off, a single shot from a high powered rifle. Sandra thought she might pass out from the stress of the situation. The sound was so loud, it made her ears ring and her body go numb. The Tol’An dropped to the ground, half his head gone. Dorland stumbled back, brushing away gore from his chest.
Lieutenant Fielding slumped, letting his rifle fall to the ground. “Sorry about the drama,” he muttered. “I thought you might need some help there.”
“Thank you!” Dorland dropped down beside him. “Can you help us get that armor off?”
“Whatever you need to get me out of here, I’ll be happy to help,” Fielding replied. “Thanks for coming up here for me.”
“No problem,” Sandra kept her voice low in an attempt to hide the tremor coloring her tone. Her hands shook as she put her gun away and found her scanner again. “We’re going to get you out of here, lieutenant. Just hang in there. We’ve got this.”
“I’m sure you do.” The armor hissed as he disengaged it from the inside. “I’m … probably going to pass out now.”
Sandra did her best not to look at Montgomery or to give in to the guilt of his death. There was a man to help and she focused on that. There’d be time to mourn the medic later. In that moment, they needed to finish their job and get their patient back to the medical bay. She’d had enough excitement for two lifetimes.
Chapter 10
Tara relished the opportunity to put some hurt down on the bastards who dared to board her ship. The maintenance tunnels and accesses passages of the Gnosis belonged to her and the crews she commanded. They could get anywhere in no time and it afforded them excellent opportunities for traps.
The attackers wanted to take engineering. Before they could, they’d have to get through some makeshift cannons. Tara hyper-charged some of their compression tools to throw shrapnel and salvaged grenades into the enemy’s ranks. Enough of these would turn the hallway into a bloody mess but it would do the trick of keeping people out.
A laser trip wire went across the floor. The first person to break it would arm the mechanism and the second would make it fire. This would assure maximum damage to their targets, hopefully wiping out a large section of the invaders. She figured the close proximity would render them all combat ineffective.
Any who survived would be easily taken down.
Combined with Thayne’s work on the door and it seemed they were in a good place to keep engineering clear but Tara didn’t want to rely solely on the traps. Armed with pistols, they used the maintenance passage to get to the end of the hallway. They’d be able to back up the marines if necessary though she doubted it would be.
The fact they aren’t here yet is somewhat disturbing. Tara checked her scanner but she didn’t see anyone on it. Who the hell is jamming this thing? And how?
One of her people tapped her shoulder and she looked up in time to see the enemy charging down the hall. They were running from something and a moment later, gunfire made it apparent the marines had engaged them. The mercenaries returned fire but the mainstay of their force seemed to be there, moving right toward the shrapnel trap.
Tara suddenly realized that the marines needed to keep away or they’d be caught up in it as well. She frantically connected her com to the bridge and spoke quickly. “Tell the marines not to pursue the enemy forces toward engineering! Repeat: do NOT follow! We have traps set up and they’re really nasty!”
“Confirmed,” Salina’s voice replied. “One moment.”
We don’t have a moment! Tara chewed her lip then shouted through the vent. “Guys! Be careful! Hold back!” Hopefully these jerks don’t know our language well enough to take that as a warning. Chances were good no one heard her, not the marines or the mercenaries. Too much was going on and the chaos was out of control.
The marines kept up their fire, high-caliber weapons echoing off the hallway. Tara’s ears rang and started to hurt and she fell back further into the maintenance passage. Watching through the cameras located over the engineering door, she saw a grenade fly toward the door then bounce toward the mercenaries.
Thayne’s toy worked! Tara didn’t know if it would be she was impressed either way. The mercenaries charged the door, perhaps believing they were saving themselves from the grenade by moving forward.
The guy on point tripped the laser … The next one engaged the attack … A massive explosion knocked the loose panel free and metal filled the hall, bouncing around like popcorn. Tiny pops sounded as the grenades exploded. Meat slapped the ceiling and blood coated the floors.
Men flopped around on the ground, some missing limbs and others suffering from grievous head wounds. The carnage turned Tara’s stomach but it had the right effect. The mercenaries that attacked engineering were certainly out for the count. None of them would survive their injuries, that was certain.
Tara moved toward the access panel when one of her people grabbed her arm, yanking her back. “What the hell?”
A marine shouted, “Fall back! Now!” Power armor pounded the deck as they rushed away, darting around the corner. Before they got much further, a massive explosion shook the entire ship, knocking Tara against the wall then to the floor. She struggled to stand but someone helped her up.
“What did those idiots do?” Webber’s voice burst from the overhead speakers. “I lost cameras.”
Tara peered out through the access panel and gasped as she was looking at trees through a massive hole in the side of the ship. It was easily large enough to crawl through but not much worse. Her mind raced on what they could do to seal it up. They had the metal for it in the hangar bay. It would just take some time to get it down there and secure it in place.
“We have a problem,” Tara reported to Webber. “Our guests decided on a parting shot. They opened a hole in the hull. We’re going to have to get it sealed up ASAP.”
“Savages!” Webber cursed, going into a diatribe of profanity that would’ve made anyone blush. When he finished, he let out a long breath. “Do you have the people to handle it?”
“Yes, we’ll get on it right now. I’ll have the marines secure the area so we don’t get shot at while we’re working.”
“Good. I want this closed up as soon as possible. That will definitely prevent us from getting out of here.”
“Understood.” Tara turned off the com and stepped out into the corridor, holding her hands up so she wouldn’t be shot. The marines aimed at her for half a second until they realized she was on their side. “Can you guys secure the area outside? We’re going to get some supplies and clean up the mess.”
“Were you r
esponsible for those guys?” Gillet asked.
“Only the part where they got torn up by the shrapnel,” Tara said. “The big boom was all them. We’re on a time crunch here though. Can you guys move out?”
“Yeah, we’ve got it.” Gillet nodded to the others and they left through the hole. Tara gestured for her people to follow her. They’d need to go out through the hangar with the supplies she was thinking about and it would take time to secure the area. Sealing it entirely might require an hour or more.
At least we don’t have anything else to do. Unless the last of these scum cause trouble like this. God, I hate being a pessimist.
***
Cassie copied Gil’s data to her tablet, ensuring they had it on two devices. Heat once again led the way, moving into the next room. It looked much like the last with the exception of a stairway going down to the left and another door opposite them. Nothing else occupied the area but none of them moved beyond the threshold.
The doors hissed behind them as soon as Gil stepped through.
“Really tired of that,” Heat muttered. “So what’s next, guys? So far, they tested our coordination, gave us a bunch of information and now we’re looking at some stairs. You don’t think this is straightforward, do you? A chance to just … I dunno … walk somewhere without having to jump through some hoops?”
“If hoops appear,” Gorman said, “I’m going to punch you in the head.”
Vincent stepped forward. “Your color commentary is not helpful.” He turned to Gil and Cassie. “Anything?”
Cassie conducted a scan and shrugged. “Nothing like the last two times. I think we’re good.”
Gil nodded. “I agree. We should simply be able to cross the room and head down. That is where the energy reading is located. I do hope we find an easy way to shut it off.”
“I don’t know,” Heat said. “I’m more worried about getting out of here when we’re done. Come on.” He set out across the room but roughly halfway there, he stopped suddenly, cocking his head to the side. “Do you guys hear that?”
