Star Guild: Episodes 1 - 3 (Star Guild Saga)

by Brandon Ellis

yawned in return, then gazed at the HDC and asked, “How much longer until we reach Warehouse 12?”

  Eleven minutes flashed on the holographic display.

  She peered down at Daf. “Eleven minutes. We'll be there soon enough, Daf.”

  They had been sneaking their way over to the warehouse, doing their best to not get caught.

  Crystal spotted a huge boulder and positioned the Mech alongside of it, leaning its back against the breadth of it. She had her Mech peer around it, doing her best to be as invisible as she could. It had been an easy trek, so far, because no search parties had flown by.

  “There it is.” Crystal moved the Mech around the boulder, seeing Warehouse 12 not far away in the distance. The HDC flashed ten minutes.

  “Ten minutes to the warehouse, Daf.”

  Daf made a funny face. “Yes, eleven minutes minus one minute is usually ten minutes. Thanks, Chief, I can count. I don't need updates every minute.”

  Crystal was learning that Daf wasn't very nice when she was tired, scared, and uncomfortable. Crystal knew she'd be even crankier in Daf's position, especially if she weren't in control of the Mech and leaving it up to someone else, but she would at least keep her mouth shut in front of a superior. There was a ranking order to be aware of; something Daf apparently didn’t respect much.

  Crystal maneuvered the Mech around a small boulder about half the size of the Mech. “Nine minutes to the warehouse, Daf.”

  Daf turned, taking her eyes away from the window. “Really? You don't say?”

  Crystal held back a smile. Two can play at this smart ass game.

  Crystal suddenly halted the Mech and Daf whipped her head around to the window to see why. Daf put her hand to her throat. “No!”

  Crystal had stopped the Mech at the top of a long, downward slope that was covered with the corpses of men and women littered around destroyed Mechs, bloodied human limbs blown off—all dead. Even the dusk couldn't hide the grizzly nature of what they were seeing.

  Crystal pounded the HDC. “Those bastards! Those giant, stick shooting pieces of trash scum!” She shook her head, wanting to scream. She pulled on her hair and clenched her teeth, pressing her Mech forward. She moved around the dead, enraged.

  “What are you doing?” cried Daf.

  “There might be survivors in the warehouse.”

  Daf shook her head. “Don't be stupid.”

  Crystal shot Daf a look, ignoring the comment, and moved the Mech to the body closest to them. She brought the Mech to one knee. “Slit-light on.” A thin light beamed from the side of the Mech's dome, highlighting the face of the dead body. A woman, pale skin, eyes open. Dried blood crusted her lips. She had been hit in the torso by laser fire, and probably killed her quickly.

  Crystal studied the woman's eyes. Her corneas were clouded, telling Crystal that it had been over two hours since this woman had been killed. In a day or so, she knew the woman's eyes would be opaque.

  “Slit-light off.”

  Crystal stood the Mech up and continued toward the warehouse.

  “Wait, what are you doing? We can't go in there,” blurted Daf.

  “The woman has been dead for hours. I don't think there’s any danger here.” She pointed at the warehouse, the Mech mimicking her movement.

  Daf wiped her eyes. All she wanted was to go back to sleep, so this horrible nightmare would be gone when she woke up.

  But, as they got closer, Crystal didn't notice any movements through the warehouse windows, and didn't see anything suspicious outside. They walked up a long slope and stepped onto the ebb flooring in front of a closed Mech Bay door. An HDC was fastened to the wall next to the door. She looked at her own HDC. Daf was clinging onto its column and staring out the window. She didn’t look too good.

  Crystal punched a holographic button on the HDC. “Connect to Warehouse 12's Mech Bay door Holographic Display Console.”

  Her Mech's HDC complied. Good, it’s still functional. “Punch in code 1881.” The code punched in and the Mech Bay door opened to a dimly lit room. Crystal stepped her Mech inside. “Punch in code 1881 to close Mech Bay door.” The door closed behind them, dimming the large open warehouse. Up ahead was the second large door to the Mech Bay, where gravity would be equalized. Stepping on the ramp leading to the door, the door opened vertically, revealing rows of Mech's stored in the bay, some with their dome hatches open, but most closed.

  Taking a step, both Daf and Crystal surveyed the bay, the door closing behind them. When the door slammed shut, steam engulfed the bay, surrounding their Mech until it subsided several seconds later. The Mech's HDC bleeped. “Gravity equalized.”

  Everything was placid and utterly silent. A lone man lay on the ground in a puddle of blood. He was a Techie, shot from behind, heavy and fat and wearing overalls. Crystal could see that the blood was coagulated, so he had died more than fifteen minutes ago, though from the outer pool of blood drying, she knew it had been more than an hour.

  “I don't like the looks of this, Chief,” complained Daf, concern and stress written all over her face.

  “He's been dead for a while, Daf.”

  “How do you know?”

  “The blood and the eyes—we had to learn this at Star Guild Academy. I was really good at it. You know, with my sick and twisted mind.”

  Daf was glad she hadn't gone to the academy, especially if they had to learn about blood, corpses, and all of the other disgusting things in the universe.

  Crystal pressed the unlock hatch button with her index finger. A swoosh of air sounded, decompressing the hold from the hatch lock, making Daf jump. “What are you doing?”

  Crystal looked down at her, her hand pressing firmly against the hatch. “You stay here. I'm going to get us some water and food.”

  Daf shook her head. “No, I'm going with you.”

  Oh, brother! “Trust me, Daf. You should stay.” The last thing Crystal wanted was to be slowed down.

  Daf stood up, ignoring the order. “I'll be out of your way. Plus, more hands mean more food and water.”

  True, thought Crystal. She gave Daf a nod and pushed open the hatch, feeling fresh air combing her hair and touching her face. It felt good to be out of the stuffy Mech. She forgot how fresh the air was here, even fresher than on Starbase Matrona.

  Crystal moved up and out of the Mech, crawling down the side of it, finding the floor with her feet. She stretched, getting some kinks out. Daf came down, stretching like Crystal.

  Crystal waved for Daf to follow. She wanted to inspect the dead man again, but decided against it, and instead walked past him to the warehouse office door. She punched in the code and they went inside.

  Crystal moved down an aisle of desks and stopped. She raised a finger to her mouth and tapped her teeth. “I think... yeah.” She pointed to another door. “There's the cafeteria.”

  Daf nodded and walked hastily to the door. Opening the door, she saw dozens of empty tables and quadruple the amount of chairs next to them. Everything was clean and proper. It hadn't been used. And, how could it? Most, if not all of the people here, were dead. Probably dead before noon.

  Crystal walked past Daf with one thought in mind, ignoring everything around them. Get the food, hook her Mech up to water, fill the water tank to the brim, and get out of here. They had to go on from here and find a warehouse that hadn't been hit by the attackers. Maybe they'd find some survivors.

  They walked to the kitchen door and pushed it open. There was food everywhere, and there were food bags hanging on the walls and pillars, and plenty of cooling boxes for storage stacked against the rectangular room’s walls. Food would be plentiful.

  Crystal shoved a bag in Daf's face. “Here. Grab food as quickly as you can.”

  Daf nodded, her face expressionless. She went to the first hanging food bag, opened it, and threw whatever she could into the bag.

  Grabbing a bag herself, Crystal moved to a cooling box and opened it. She found apples, pears, oranges, and persimmo
ns. She shoved armfuls into her bag, then snatched carrots and celery from a counter. Not her favorite, but when you're hungry, taste doesn't matter.

  Protein. Where is it?

  She went to a storage drawer nestled next to the cooling box and found onions. She shrugged. Oh, well. Above her, hanging from a hook, was a large mesh bag of nuts. She grabbed them. They were heavy.

  A loud clang echoed throughout the kitchen. Crystal froze in place. “Huh?”

  “Sorry,” Daf held up a metal spoon. “I dropped this. I thought we'd need some spoons with all of the avocados I've got.”

  Crystal, mouth slightly open, looked at Daf's bag. “That's all you got? Avocados?”

  Daf gave a weak smile. “The cabinet was full of them.”

  Crystal went to wave her hand around to all of the cabinets in the kitchen, showing her that there were other options, other drawers and cooling boxes to look at. She refrained. They were in a hurry and she didn't have time to argue. Crystal figured most people would grab a little of this and that, but apparently Daf didn't possess that frame of mind.

  “Let's go.” Crystal moved through the door, not looking back to see if Daf was following, although she figured she would. She entered the office, quickening her pace. She turned, moving around a desk, then halted. A strange blue haze was coming into the office from outside.

  Daf saw it too. “What's that?”

  Crystal narrowed her eyes. The last thing she wanted was to be found and she suspected that they had been. “It may be another patrol coming our way.”

  Walking over to the