by Bret Brown
Not far from the stairwell, is an elevator lift. P-T hand signals Aldelay to watch the doors of the lift with his weapon ready. At the panel next to the lift, P-T removes the cover and starts to hack the circuits to open the door.
As the doors open up, they expose an empty elevator shaft. In the corners of the shaft are gear notches for the lift to maneuver up and down in zero gravity. The notches, small rounded rods that rest horizontal to the channels they sit in, run throughout the shaft. However, the notches are only large enough to fit two fingers in the greasy channels.
P-T slings up the EM rifles he's carrying, and grabs on to the edge of the door. He reaches out with his left arm to the closest gear notch channel immediately to his right. At full extension, the channel is barely within his reach, he wraps his middle and index finger around the rod. Letting go with his right hand, his obese body swings over and bounces off the walls of the shaft until he can get his right hand onto a rod.
Watching the hallway, Aldelay looks back at the elevator shaft and sees P-T gone. He takes a couple steps back and pops his head into the shaft, looking down and then up. Seeing P-T climbing his way up the shaft, Aldelay calls out to him, "Hey what about me? I can't reach that shit."
P-T keeps working his way up the shaft; ignoring Aldelay calling to him.
"You can't leave me here.", says Aldelay worried as the look of panic rushes over his face.
He slings up his EM rifle and tries to reach out to the gear notch channel, but with his smaller frame, he is nearly a foot away from reaching it. "Come on, man! You have to help me out here. I'll die if you leave me here.", says the desperate Aldelay.
However, by this time, P-T is already out of sight in the shaft. Feeling alone and distraught, Sargent Aldelay turns around, pulling off the slung weapon, and begins to weep quietly; holding his EM rifle limply. He tries to clear the tears and mucus from his face by wiping it with his forearm; still looking down the hallway for any sign of P-T or the enemy.
Fifteen minutes pass by, and still no sign of anything. Nervousness starts to overtake Sargent Aldelay as he paces back and forth quickly; making whining noises and talking to himself incoherently. He tries to force himself to go down the hallway and figure out a way to survive.
Making several attempts, he still cannot move beyond ten feet of the elevator shaft. On his last attempt to force himself down the hallway, he sees a large dark figure come around the corner. Aldelay quickly reacts and shoots nearly a hundred rounds indiscriminately at the corner where the figure emerged.
"Argghh!", yells Aldelay; screaming his war cry while shooting.
Once the shooting stops, a familiar voice calls out, "Hey dipshit, watch what you're fucking shooting at."
P-T then peeks around the corner to see if it's safe for him to approach Aldelay.
"Where the fuck did you go?", says Aldelay relieved. "You just left me, asshole! I was seriously freaking out." Agitated, Aldelay points the EM rifle at P-T's face as rage comes over him. "I should fucking kill you right now and end all this shit!"
P-T chuckles, "Fucking pussy. Come on."
"Oh, that's right, Mr. Tough guy! Guess what! I'm fucking in charge here, and I've had it with your ass." He fires a shot that grazes P-T's left shoulder, making only a minor scratch. The look of total surprise and shock rushes over Aldelay's face as he didn't intend to fire the shot.
Now enraged, P-T gets up close to Aldelay and punches him so hard in the stomach it literally lifts him several inches off the floor. The punch shatters Aldelay's spine and destroys his internal organs in the vicinity of the blow. Even though it's a lethal blow, P-T is frustrated because his arm didn't morph into a weapon like he intended. He grabs Aldelay, who is unable to breath, by the back of the neck and drags his limp body down the hallway to the stairwell shaft leading up to the upper decks; purposely shoving Aldelay's face into the wall occasionally.
As they approach the shaft entrance, a dozen of bloodied bodies are scattered and mangled on the floor. P-T tosses Aldelay, face first on top of one of the more grotesque corpses that has its chest cavity split open; exposing all of its internal organs. P-T then leans close to Aldelay, "Are you sure you're in charge here, fucko?"
Fed up with Aldelay's uselessness, P-T climbs up the ladder; leaving Aldelay to die from his wounds. Once P-T reaches the top deck, he hacks open the panel to exit the stairwell shaft. With a sense of relief, P-T enters the top deck having dropped his costly baggage. He makes it to the bridge entrance swiftly and stealthily within a few moments.
With his back against the wall, he looks down at the wound on his shoulder and notices that it hasn't closed as it should, which reminds him that he's never felt the need to eat a S.L.A.G. bar. Having to rethink the situation, P-T ponders for a moment to figure a solution as his mortality is on the line for the first time.
With a new strategy, P-T runs back down to the gruesome scene of bodies where he left Aldelay to die. He grabs the least mangled body and Aldelay, taking them up to the entrance of the bridge.
Staging his plan, P-T shatters the orbital bone of the eye socket on the dead crewman with his butt of his knife. Making a small incision, he pulls out the small scan disk out of his pocket, activates it and jams it into the eye socket of the crewman corpse. Once the connection is clear on his HUD display on his helmet, P-T leans the body up against the door.
Several feet away, he places Aldelay's dying body near an intersection point to help provide cover for his ambush.
In the headset, he says "Contact! Single target!"
He then shoots Aldelay's body and the door several times. P-T then calls out in pain and in the headset; slamming his hands against the bridge door.
"I've been hit! Please help! Help me!", he says convincingly, channeling the pleas of his victims from his past.
P-T hides around the corner still making his performance to convince the bridge crew to investigate.
Suddenly, a male voice comes through the headset, "Strike teams check in. Shots fired outside bridge. ETA to bridge."
A few seconds later another male voice comes through the headset, "Strike team one, hangar bay, ETA twenty minutes."
A couple moments later, "Strike team six, roaming deck fifteen, ETA fifteen minutes."
"Strike teams two through five check in.", says the voice from bridge command.
P-T gets on the communicator again making his pleas, "Help me please. I don't wanna die. I'm bleeding out badly. Someone please help." He sobs softly, making his performance even more believable. "Captain, please send someone quick, target has been neutralized. I shot the fucker dead, the area's secure. I need help."
Having his trap set, P-T waits patiently and remains quiet on the communicator. Suddenly, through his HUD display of his helmet, he sees the hatch to the bridge open up, and the body he left propped against the door fall forward face down. Three crewman from the bridge run down the hall, with their weapons readied, to investigate Sargent Aldelay's corpse.
Using the element of surprise, P-T steps out and kills the three crewmen investigating Aldelay. The hatch to the bridge shuts immediately; locking the rest of the bridge crew inside.
Through the HUD display, P-T sees that they've turned the body over, and he now has full visual of the bridge.
"Captain! This man is dead.", says a crewman checking the body of their fallen soldier. "What the fuck is in his eye?", she says curiously as she gets closer to it.
Outside the hatch, P-T has already ripped of the panel and is nearly finished with hacking the hatch open. With one last splice, the hatch opens up quickly; surprising the bridge crew, as P-T enters and kills them all quickly and efficiently.
P-T quickly gets to the communications console and tries to mimic the voice he heard earlier from the bridge. "Strike teams, this is the bridge. What's your position?"
"Strike team one, deck ten, ETA five minutes."
"Strike team six, deck six, ETA three minutes."
"Copy that strike teams. Reroute and
engage new target on deck eight. We have a visual of target attempting to take escape pod 87-C. Notify the bridge when in position. Copy that?", responds P-T.
Both strike teams reply, "Copy."
P-T then moves to another console and begins to work on it quickly. He jettisons the escape pod he mentioned in his communications to the strike teams.
Several minutes later, back at the communications console a voice comes through, "Strike teams one and two in position, but it looks like they got away, the pod is gone."
P-T still working fast on the console ignores the strike team. Then on the console, a warning pop up appears asking to override. P-T taps yes on the console and warning alarms sound off throughout the ship.
On the PA system, an automated computer female voice sounds out, "Warning. Hull breach deck seven section ten. Atmospheric failure imminent."
"Captain! System failure! Pod airlock is opening! Emergen- ahhhh!", says the strike team leader. In the background of the communications to the bridge, the sound of roaring wind mixed with the screams of the strike teams nearly drown out the team leader's voice.
On the bridge, P-T lets the alarms continue for several minutes until he is certain survivability is beyond a doubt zero percent. Once he is confident that both remaining strikes teams are dead, he starts working on the controls again. The alarms and automated voice cease. P-T then moves from console to console working on each one. At the communication console, he types in a frequency for Fiortega.
"Mission control, do you copy?", says P-T.
"Identify yourself.", says a man's voice over the intercom.
"I'm in control of 20,000 incursion troopers with a mean temperament and an arsenal to annihilate every last of you fucks. Get that cocksucker Dr. Larry on now!", replies P-T.
"P-T! Um... excellent work on securing that ship. What's this about an incursion force?", says Dr. Larry.
"Fix what you did to me now!", yells P-T.
"Well, I wished it was that simple. You see, we still have the upper hand on your life. So, threatening us with some incursion force, is not in your best interests.", says Dr. Larry smugly.
"Threats?", says P-T offended by the accusation. "I don't make threats."
"P-T, this is Dr. Hisk. Look, let's see if we can make some sort of deal. Okay? We know that you want us to 'fix' you, but we need some sort of insurance that this force is no longer a threat. Can you promise us that you'll destroy this ship before we help you?"
Not getting anywhere with the negotiations, P-T decides to go to a different console and start working on it. Through the intercom Dr. Hisk repeatedly calls out to P-T. "P-T do we have a deal?.... Can you hear me?.... P-T? "
With a final stroke on the console, the female automated voice comes through the PA system and can be heard through the intercom.
"Incursion troop reanimation sequence started. Company's Alpha through Echo initiated. Estimated time to deployment two hours and fifty-nine minutes.", says the computer automated voice.
P-T moves back to the intercom and says, "Do you hear me?"
"That's it, kill that fucker! Send the kill code.", says Dr. Larry infuriated.
"Dammit Larry! You kill him, you kill fucking everyone here! Kill the communications.", yells back Dr. Hisk.
Several moments pass by and still radio silence from mission control. P-T, staying busy in the meantime, has been locating the transport weapon's armory and uniform control for new battle armor, as well as more ingredients for S.L.A.G. in the commissary.
"P-T, this is mission control. Do you read?", says Dr. Hisk.
P-T ignores their communications; letting them sweat it out for a bit longer.
"Dammit man! Please come in.", says Dr. Hisk more desperately.
"Yeah.", says P-T
"Finally! Okay, so we've come to terms. Dr. Larry will fix you as requested, but the fix has to be done in person. Do we have a deal?"
"Send Leliana.", replies P-T.
"Absolutely not!", fires back Dr. Hisk. "You've tortured her enough. She can barely even walk."
P-T taps a key on the console, playing his power card, causing the automated voice to come through. "Two hours twenty-seven minutes until deployment."
"What do you need her for? She's too hurt to help in any sort of way", pleads Dr. Hisk.
"Insurance.", replies P-T.
"NO FUCKING WAY!", screams Dr. Hisk.
"George, I promise you nothing will happen to her.", says Dr. Larry.
"Right. A hundred and fifty-year-old man against that monster. You're the reason she got hurt in the first place saying he trusts her!", says Dr. Hisk angrily.
The conversation is followed by several grunts and sounds of material being thrown onto the floor. In the background, the pleas of people saying 'stop' and 'cut it out' can be barely heard as a scuffle is clearly happening.
"Send Larry, the girl, and no one else. Time is wasting.", says P-T.
An unrecognizable voice comes through the intercom. "It's done. We'll send them, but it'll take us some time to get to your position first. Please stop the reanimation sequence immediately."
In the background, Dr. Hisk can be clearly heard calling out as he's being taken away, "Fuck you! This is bullshit."
"Once they've left, I'll stop the melt.", says P-T.
After an hour, P-T sees on the computer console that a small ship has left Fiortega and is in an intercept course for the transport. Tapping a few keys on the console, P-T suspends the reanimation process of the troops.
Chapter 14
P-T has moved the Phantom into the hangar bay of the recently captured transport and has started to fill it with his newly acquired loot. He's carrying crate after crate filled with weapons, body armor, and anything he finds useful for preparation for whatever finds him along his path.
Once he has everything stowed away and he is ready to leave, he steps into the cockpit of the Phantom and types in the frequency for the incoming vessel.
"Hangar bay is open. Land there.", he says in a stern voice. P-T then walks away immediately, not caring if they received the message or not.
With some spare time before Leliana and Dr. Larry are expected to arrive, P-T starts to walk around the hangar looking for anything of use he may have missed. Seeing something that catches his eye, he moves closer to inspect it.
The object is a long rectangular crate four feet deep, eight feet wide, and almost fourteen feet long. The long, black matte crate has a computer panel on one side and several sliding latches along the seam. Curious, P-T decides to open it.
With his combat knife, he pries open the computer panel to hack open the container. Splicing several wires, the crate hisses as air escapes out of the seams and the latches change positions; unlocking the large crate. With his knife, he pushes it into the seam of the container and pries it open slightly. The air inside is extremely cold, nearly the temperature kept for cryostasis for humans.
P-T pushes the lid off as far as he can to expose the innards of the crate. However, all he can see is the cold vapors swirling around; concealing what lies in the container. He waves his hand back and forth to reveal what lies beneath. Once the vapors are gone, his eyes widen in shock as he was not prepared to see what is before him; a Kanggun.
"Oh fuck.", he quietly gasps.
P-T quickly flips his knife so that he can make a downward thrust into the slumbering beast. He raises both arms high above his head and drives the knife down with all of his might into the throat of the beast. The knife breaks on the thick, hardened hide of the massive creature; his left hand slips pass the guard of the blade and is cut severely.
"Shit.", he lets out quietly. Not so much from the pain, but in response to his failed attempt to end the creature.
He drops the broken knife, and runs as fast as he can to the Phantom to take off. However, the ship is nearly three hundred yards away. From behind, a loud roar erupts from the beast in the distance as it wakes from its cryosleep.
"Oh fuck me.", P-T thinks t
o himself as he's running.
Loud thumps of the beast’s feet hitting the metallic floor approach P-T rapidly. Before he can look back to see how far away the creature is, he feels a hard hit coming from the left. Suddenly P-T is weightless; looking at his body, confused momentarily, but soon realizes that he is flying through the air. Within the blink of an eye, he hits the wall of the hangar.
Fortunately, the nanites in his body are fused to his bones; having sustained only a few cracked ribs in the hit, instead of any broken bones. P-T groans as the impact is very painful. Trying to ignore the pain, P-T quickly rolls to the nearest drop ship to hide under.
