Starck's Lament (The Shadow Wars Book 11)

by S. A. Lusher

  “You made it,” she said, sounding as relieved as he felt.

  “I did. Did you have any trouble?” he replied.

  She shook her head. “No, I didn't see any of them. Come on.”

  They entered into the first hangar bay they'd originally come into. For a moment, Eric thought they should discount it, since they'd already been through it more than once, but he found that he honestly couldn't remember if he'd seen a ship in there or not. The door they had to open was heavily dented and wouldn't open all the way. Once they were through, it at least closed firmly again. A chill ran through Eric as he remembered being hunted by one of the creatures when they'd first been escaping, back when Marco had still been alive.

  He turned his attention to the hangar bay before him. It was a mess. Pools of blood, spare parts and tools scattered across the oily floor, the smashed land rover across the way. They slowly made their way through the grimly-lit room.

  “Obviously no ship in here,” Autumn murmured.

  “Let's get to the next one,” Eric replied softly.

  They made their way across the room, heading for the far connecting door that would grant them access to the second bay. If there was no joy there, then they'd have to head to the other side of the facility and check out the other two hangar bays. And if there was no joy over there...then Eric wasn't sure what they were going to do.

  They transferred between the two hangars.

  Eric's hopes fell as he saw that this hangar was even more empty than the last one. He wondered where the people who got out were, or if there were any. Could it be that the station was simply not very busy when it happened? Well, either no one had made it out or someone had made it out and hopefully called for help. Either way, they still had their own goals to worry about because functionally it was all the same thing.

  They were trapped here now and they needed to get out.

  “This sucks,” he muttered as they walked slowly into the hangar.

  “Yeah. I guess we need to get to the other side of the base...come on, the sooner we get going, the better,” Autumn replied.

  Eric nodded in agreement and they moved across the vast room. As they reached the exit and plunged back into the network of industrial corridors that crisscrossed the station, Eric realized that Autumn had something on her mind. Over the past several months, he'd learned to pick up on her body language.

  “Uh...how are you holding up?” he asked, realizing that they'd hardly spoken since reuniting, twice now. Not that they didn't have good reason.

  “Terrified, exhausted, sick to my stomach,” she replied. “Otherwise, I'm okay.” He could tell she was trying to keep it light at least, but it sounded like she had something to say, specifically something to say to him.

  “Anything on your mind?” he asked.

  “I...it's kind of ridiculous, but...” she sighed suddenly. “Fuck it. I like knowing things. You know this about me, Eric. And given how bad the situation is, there's really just one thing that's been on my mind lately that I'd really like to know.”

  “What is it?”

  “Is there...something wrong, with our relationship?” she asked.

  He glanced over at her. She looked back at him, her face flat, almost unreadable. She was waiting for his response, preparing herself for something ugly, he imagined. For a moment, he considered lying to her, but what ultimately decided him wasn't just that she'd more than likely see through it, it was that she deserved to know.

  “No,” he said. “There's something wrong with me.”

  “What do you mean precisely? You're open with me but...” she shook her head. “But you aren't, somehow. You hesitate sometimes. Just little tiny hesitations. I can't help but feel that you're very subtly keeping me at a distance.”

  “I am,” he admitted. “And I'm sorry. It's going to sound so fucking clichéd but...it's not you, it's me. I...haven't had the best track record with relationships. And it's because I know what it is to loose someone that you really, really care about. It hurts...more than I thought it was possible to hurt. And ever since then, I try to keep things casual and light. And I really like you, Autumn. You're so...fantastic, in every way. You're amazing. And I'm afraid of getting in deeper with you because then I could lose you and I don't know if I can survive another injury that great. So I'm afraid. That's my problem.”

  “I'm sorry,” Autumn said quietly. “That...makes a lot of sense. I could stand here and tell you 'better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all' but...it'd be bullshit. I lost someone too but...well, we broke up. It was pretty mutual. We were in love but it wasn't working because...well, it's complicated. It sucked but ultimately I got over it. It sounded like what happened to you was a bit more...tragic.”

  “It was. He died.”

  “God...I'm sorry, Eric.”

  “It's all right. I've never talked about this before, so you didn't know.”

  “People will tell you just to put yourself out there regardless of the consequences without actually stopping and thinking what that means. And even if they were that stupid to just throw caution to the wind and say 'hell with it' and throw themselves utterly into every relationship that came their way, which I doubt most people do anyway, then it still wouldn't matter, because they aren't you. Nobody really knows what it's like to be inside of another person's head. So, I guess what I'm saying is, I get it. And I'm sorry.”

  “It's okay...and thanks.” He hesitated. “If we get out of here...”

  “No, don't promise anything. It's not right or fair for me to ask a compromise that big from you. I can't promise not to die or break up with you. If we get out of here, then...I'm okay with the way things have been going. I just wanted to be sure. I wanted to know.”

  “...okay,” Eric replied.

  It struck him as odd, kind of insane actually, that they were having this conversation as they hurried through the bloodied passageways of an abandoned, isolated installation, but he'd seen, heard and done crazier shit in crazier situations. The human brain tended to start turning on odd axises when it was put under enough stress for a prolonged period of time. And Autumn's question had a certain sense to it, kind of like getting your shit in order when you were given a terminal diagnosis. Being in Theseus Station sure felt terminal, at least.

  Luck stuck with them. They managed to make it to the other pair of hangars without running into another one of the creatures. Eric didn't feel particularly lucky though. He was paranoid. Besides the feeling that it seemed like the station was...saving up for them, lulling them into a false sense of security, he still was wondering and frightened about where the creatures all were and what they might be getting up to.

  Eric took a quick look around as he stepped into the first of the two hangar bays. As much as he tried to tell himself not to get his hopes up, he still felt crestfallen when he set eyes on a mostly empty room. It looked like it hadn't been hit as much by all the conflict, at least.

  “Oh come on,” Autumn groaned as she joined him.

  Eric sighed as he closed and locked the door behind them. There were just some tables and chairs and workbenches along the peripheral of the room, as well as a large stack of crates near the middle of it. He frowned, staring at the crates. Something about them made him vaguely hopeful. There was no ship small enough to be hidden behind a stack that size, but he wanted to check it out anyway. He began jogging across the bay and heard Autumn following after him. They reached the crates and moved carefully around them.

  “Huh,” Eric murmured.

  A land rover, this one wholly intact, was hidden behind the stack.

  “It's not a ship but...I guess, worst case scenario, it's better than just running away from the facility on foot. A step up, at least,” Autumn said.

  “Yeah...come on, let's check out the last bay and see if we're well and truly fucked or not,” Eric replied.

  They made the final trip, crossing over between the hangar bays. As soon as Eric opened the door, he felt
his heart swell.

  “Oh fuck yes,” he said.

  “What?” Autumn asked, her tone cautiously hopeful, still behind him. He stepped out of the way, allowing her to see what he was seeing. “Thank fucking god,” she said as she laid eyes on the small cargo shuttle.

  Eric was willing to bet that it wouldn't have faster-than-light capabilities, but it would be enough to get them off this damned rock. He felt hope surge through him, and yet...he hung back, near the entrance of the room, certain that something was wrong. It was too tempting, he realized slowly. The last ship out of here, in apparently pristine condition? It would be a perfect trap. Autumn seemed to sense it, too.

  Carefully, he studied the hangar bay. There were a couple of piles of crates, but otherwise nowhere else to hide. He looked up, paranoid suddenly. All he saw was a winch fixed to the ceiling, a large rectangular crate attached to it, held a good fifty feet up. Nothing else of interest. Still, Eric didn't like it at all.

  “We'll do this carefully, move around the edge of the room, stick to the shadows. I want to check out every hiding space,” he said.

  “Got it,” Autumn replied.

  He found it odd, as they set out, that he was now apparently the one giving orders. Autumn outranked him. But he supposed it was the fact that he wasn't giving orders, just suggestions. At this point, they were both equals, rank thrown out the window. Slowly, carefully, they moved along the peripheral of the room. It took them close to twenty minutes to check out any and all possible hiding spaces, but ultimately it amounted to nothing. No creatures hid beneath the ship, not behind it or behind or around any of the crate piles.

  “Well...I guess that's it,” Eric murmured.

  “Let's get onto the ship and see what we can see,” Autumn replied.

  Eric nodded. She led the way towards the ship. He kept a good hold on his weapon, then glanced at Autumn's arsenal. She had a pistol on her hip and a long-barreled rifle. “Where'd you find that?” he asked, nodding to it.

  “Armory,” she replied. “When I came back inside after the Liberation blew, I tracked down an armory and found it tucked away in a locker.”

  They reached the back of the ship. Again, Eric hesitated, looking around, scanning the area for any kind of trap. He could see nothing. Autumn reached over and keyed the control for the cargo ramp. It began to lower slowly, the sound painfully loud in the quiet of the base. Over the grinding of the gears the ramp made as it lowered, Eric thought he heard something, a noise that sent a warning signal through his body like he'd grabbed a live wire. But it was all wrong. It sounded like it was coming from...

  “Oh fuck!” he screamed, grabbing Autumn and yanking her back as he scrambled away. At the same moment, a loud, furious shriek sounded.

  One of the creatures had hidden inside the ship.

  Before the cargo ramp even had time to finish lowering, the big, dark scaly monster hauled itself up and out, its long arms coming down first, stabilizing it. Both of them opened fire, quickly backing up. Eric knew it wouldn't be enough. They needed some way to kill the thing, something that they'd be able to act on fast and without too much planning. That seemed to be the best way to get rid of these wretched things so far.

  But what?

  He'd seen something earlier...

  “Shit! Autumn! Get clear and sight that fucking crate overhead! I'll lead it underneath, you shoot it down, we crush the fucker, got it!?” he yelled, the plan coalescing in his mind in a scant few seconds. No time to think about whether or not it'd actually work.

  “Got it!” Autumn replied, breaking off and running another direction to get a clear shot.

  For a second, it looked like the big beast would go after her, but Eric hit it in the chest with a few well-placed shots and grabbed its attention. He tried to get a few bullets in its mouth or eyes but they all missed and suddenly the beast was running for him. Eric turned and ran, abandoning his rifle for now, relying entirely on Autumn.

  “I'm in position!” she called, hidden somewhere else in the bay.

  “Going!” Eric called back.

  He sprinted towards the hanging crate. They'd have to time this just right. Or, well, Autumn would. He trusted her. Eric ran on, going as fast as he could, feeling the big creature gaining on him. Suddenly, he heard a gunshot and a sharp, metallic snap. There were a few seconds of heart-pounding silence and a then thunderous and disgustingly wet crash. Eric risked a glance over his shoulder and then skidded to a halt.

  “Holy shit...” he said quietly.

  It had worked perfectly.

  What was left of the creature was a dark, gory mess beneath and all around the crate, which had buried itself a few inches into the deckplates and now had cracks running up its side. He heard Autumn laughing from somewhere, getting closer.

  “How was that for perfect timing?” she asked.

  “Un-fucking-believable,” Eric replied, feeling better than he had during his entire tenure in Theseus Station.

  “Come on,” Autumn said as she came out from behind a pile of crates. “Let's get the fuck out of this shithole.”

  Eric agreed eagerly and the pair of them hurried over to the shuttle and its cargo ramp. They made their way up it and quickly down the central corridor that took them directly to the bridge. Eric hesitated as he came closer. The door to the bridge was open and there were serious dents in the frame. Beyond the open door, Eric caught a hint of something sparking blue-white. “No...” he groaned, then rushed forward.

  It was as he feared.

  The bridge was completely wrecked. It looked as if everything had been utterly trashed by brute force. Not a single console, keyboard or screen remained intact.

  “Holy fuck...I don't suppose there's any chance of you being able to fix this, is there?” Autumn asked.

  Eric slowly shook his head. “It would take an entire team of experts a week to get this thing serviceable again. We're not going anywhere.”

  “Fuck!” Autumn snapped.

  Eric sighed and sat down heavily in the pilot's seat, which was oddly untouched.

  “Now what?” he asked.

  “I don't fucking know...I guess our next step would be to call for help. How difficult would that be?” she replied.

  “It completely depends on the situation. It could be really easy or really difficult.” He sighed heavily and slowly got to his feet, feeling utterly exhausted now. “Our first task should be to get to the communications bay and see what's what. We'll figure out what we need to do from there. Come on, I remember how to get there. If we hurry, we can be there in about five minutes.”

  “Great,” Autumn muttered.

  They slowly began to leave the ruined vessel.

  CHAPTER 08

  –Prey–

  “This is it,” Eric said quietly, stopping abruptly.

  He heard Autumn snap to a stop behind him. They had reentered enemy territory as they'd approached the communications center. Well, honestly, this whole fucking station was enemy territory, but now they were positive that they were nearby one or more of the creatures. It had made their progress tortuously slow. A five minute walk had taken closer to twenty as they stuck to the shadows and paused every dozen steps or so, listening intently, straining their ears against the white noise of the base for signs of alien life.

  But he heard nothing...for the moment.

  They had at least made it to their destination.

  The communications bay was towards the center of the facility, not far from the control tower they'd seen when they'd been flying in. He figured that if they ran into any troubles here, that would be their next stop. Eric began going over procedures and fail-safes as he hit the access button and watched the door slide open. As he stepped inside, his mind came to a complete, crashing halt. He felt a groan of sick misery escape him.

  “We're fucked,” he muttered.

  “What...oh goddamnit,” Autumn whispered harshly from behind him.

  The comms shack, a small room, about the size of h
is cabin aboard the Liberation, was utterly, thoroughly, wholly trashed by what seemed to be brute force. Consoles, terminals and workstations that lined the room were shredded with claw marks, huge holes punched through screens that now bled blue-white sparks or registered nothing more than static or dead, flat darkness. The whole room had been so thoroughly ruined that there was nothing left to fix. To Eric's appraising technician's eye, he figured that everything would have to be completely ripped out and replaced. Every piece of equipment, every bit of gear.

  “They did this intentionally,” Autumn said quietly. “What the fuck are these things? How are they so smart!?” she moaned.

  “I don't know...but we need to get to the control tower now.”

  “What's the backup plan?” Autumn replied as they left the room and began making their way down the stark passageway.

  “There's still a possibility that we can gain access to the primary communications node, or even the auxiliary one. Just because the comms room itself is trashed doesn't necessarily mean we're out of luck. And even if both of those arrays are trashed, we can still find and launch an emergency beacon. It will transmit on all frequencies, asking for help. We won't be able to actually talk with anyone, but it should grab someone's attention at least.”

  “Wonderful plan,” Autumn muttered.

  “Yeah, I know. It's all we got for now. But with the two arrays still possibly active, we still might have a chance at active communication. Of course, even then, even if we do get into touch with someone...it could be a while. Though, Jensen did inform command of our situation. Of course, it'll take another...” he checked his chronometer and sighed. “Another eight hours before we miss our next check in and they scramble assets to us. But we're pretty far out here. Fucking goddamnit,” he growled. “I hate this shit.”

  “We'll make it,” Autumn replied firmly.

  “Yeah.”

  They both walked another few meters before, suddenly, they heard a sharp, dry inhalation of breath coming from somewhere ahead. The pair of them froze. Another one was nearby, practically with them in the corridor.