“It is possible to get power to the engines faster. But you would have to use up your emergency energy to do it.” she replied, not wishing to do anything so risky. “We have just about a full store of back-up power, which means if we can shut down most of the decks we should be able to keep life support, some shields and the food duplicators on the Star Deck working for about one and a half to two weeks.” she calculated.
“Right now we need to get the main shields finished and installed so we can start shutting down all the lower levels in order to conserve energy.” the Engineer suggested, turning from the room and going back to the Hydro-lifts with the two men obediently in tow.
Back down in Valesque’s lab the three of them got to work on finishing the large round shield emitters.
Tim may not have been very adept at electronic things but Valesque was surprised at how well he could follow instructions and how fast he was at completing his assignments.
The only thing really slowing him down was his occasional flirting with the pretty Virrilian.
Hours passed quickly as the small team worked on the daunting project. Normally it would have taken a team of six trained technicians to tackle anything this complex.
Tim was lying on the floor under one of the huge metal drums when he abruptly stopped moving and gestured for the others to keep quiet.
“I thought I heard something below us.” he whispered straining to listen for anything out of place.
Then came a slight jolt as if the ship had been nudged from outside.
“An asteroid?” Sanic suggested as all three of them stayed perfectly still and paid close attention for anything else unusual.
Valesque’s Vid-screen began to chirp loudly, startling the Engineer.
She quickly took it from its holder and checked the alarm.
“It’s not an asteroid.” she remarked as she read the warning, “Not unless they can force open the Space Deck’s pressure lock door.”
The alarm on the Vid-screen was to inform the Engineer that one of the Ship’s entries had been breached. She had set it up to warn her of intruders when they were having problems with General Gorbok attempting to infiltrate the construction site.
Valesque quickly accessed another ship function and shut it down.
“What are you doing?” Sanic queried nervously as he listened for more sounds from the trespasser and glanced at Valesque as she worked on her Vid with a furrowed brow.
“I am shutting down the Hydro-lifts.” she informed him. “If there is someone on the ship I would like to try to confine them to as few decks as possible.”
At this statement all three became a bit apprehensive, intruders on their powerless ship in the middle of uncharted space did not sound like a good thing to happen.
Tim and Sanic both put a hand to their ear as a call apparently came through on their communicators. Valesque had never put hers back on so she could not hear what was being said.
“It’s the Captain. She wanted to know if we did anything just now to cause the ship to shudder.” the Lieutenant informed her as he listened. “What should I tell her?”
Valesque thought a moment. “Tell her that we may have uninvited guests, they probably think this ship is deserted. So lets try to keep it that way until we can see who they are and what they are up to.” she told him. “Tell her the three of us will investigate and report back as soon as we can verify anything.”
Valesque turned off the lab lights and led the way to the emergency escape shafts hidden in the ship’s walls.
A very dim green bioluminescent light glowed in the vertical shaft, barely illuminating the metal ladder that was attached to the left side of the tunnel. The Engineer went first into the darkness and began to descend the steps with a low pinging sound from the toes of her boots touching on the metal rungs as she quickly made her way to the lower decks.
When she reached her destination she cautiously opened the access door just enough to peer out onto the deck.
The Space Deck was two decks high with the front half separated and pressure sealed from the back by a large, solid wall. The back part of the deck was a huge open hanger used for housing and launching the small Scuttle Craft vessels, sending and receiving transport bubbles, as well as an area for visiting smaller ships to land inside the Vortex.
The front portion where Valesque and the others were exiting was a two-storey life pod holding area.
This was the place Valesque had been in for three days after being hit with the taser on Saturna 3.
Valesque eased herself out of the shaft, staying low to the floor and hiding behind the life pods as the two men followed her out into the cool, dark room.
The life pod side of the deck seemed deserted and undisturbed.
To their far left was the wall that separated the life pod section from the Space Hanger. Along the top of the wall was a glass enclosed control room that overlooked the two layers of pods before it. Below this room and to the left on the wall there was a single manual door with a small clear window embedded in it. This door was their objective, if someone had breached the hanger door they were probably still in that room. Valesque gestured in the darkness to the other two that she was heading for the door.
Tim and Sanic hunched down as they cautiously followed the slim silhouette of the Virrilian as she slunk her way across the floor.
Valesque’s heart began to race as she sprinted low across the open area between the pods and the door. Virrilian’s may be good hunters, but as a peaceful scientist, she was not accustomed to being in such an intense situation.
She stayed crouched down, pressed herself flat against the wall next to the door, and waited until the others had safely joined her.
Motioning for them to stay down she slowly raised herself up and leaned over to peek in the window.
The small room between the two sides of the deck seemed to be empty as well.
Valesque put one slightly trembling hand on the cold, metal doorknob and gently pulled it open as she moved back against the wall with the others and waited a moment before slinking low though the now open door.
The three wary crewmates glanced around the dark room but did not see anything out of order.
To their left was a narrow metal stairwell leading up to the deck's control room, to the right was a double door that opened into a Hydro-Lift. Straight ahead was another small manual door with a window set into it, exactly like the one they had just come through.
The Engineer checked the light above the door to the hanger.
“Maybe there is no one here after all.” Valesque whispered a bit relieved as she pointed up at the green light above the door. “The hanger is still pressurized.”
Not letting down her guard just yet Valesque once again peeked carefully through the window on the second door and into the large room on the other side.
She gave her companions a puzzled look as she slowly opened the door and slipped out into the last remaining room.
The three tried to keep down, moving in a serpentine chain from one hiding place to another as they made their way farther into the room.
Valesque looked towards the back wall where the two huge hanger doors were located. Between the large main accesses doors was the small regular-sized door in the ship’s hull that her Vid-screen informed her had been released.
Instead of the pressure sealed hatchway that usually sealed this entrance, what she saw was an open area with what looked like a gangway lined with red glowing strips.
It seemed that the bump that had been felt earlier was from another ship docking against the back of the Vortex.
Tim put a silencing finger to his lips as he nodded his head to the left. They started to hear slight scuffing against the floor as well as some deep low grumbling sound that appeared to be a muffled conversation in a language none them could distinguish.
Sanic, Valesque and Tim cautiously peered out from behind a strapped down Scuttle Craft to see several large shadows moving cautiously ar
ound the deck.
“What are they doing?” Sanic wondered, as the silhouettes seemed to search the area for something.
“Probably taking an inventory of what we have.” Tim replied, he was experienced in similar situations where the Police had staked out alleged crime rings. “They could be space pirates.” he guessed as they continued to monitor the intruders.
“Or scavengers.” Valesque put in. “I am sure we look pretty abandoned from the outside since we are just drifting with no shields and very little light.”
“Either way, they don't seem to be on any rescue mission.” the Pilot observed solemnly as the shadows got closer and began to examine the third Scuttle down from them.
From what they could see of them in the darkness, the intruders were rather large beings with slightly hunched backs as if their heads were too heavy to hold erect.
Their profiles seemed to indicate they had a short muzzled face.
Long prickly looking hair protruded in clumps, around the sleeveless shirts they wore, all over their shoulders and heads making them resemble mangy apes. Something about their proportions did not seem quite right as they lumbered around the hanger, but the light was too dim in the room to tell exactly why.
Deciding they had witnessed enough, the three backed up slowly and revolved in unison to go back to the life pod room and report to the Captain, only to turn and discover one of the hulking intruders behind them!
Tim instinctively reached for the small silver weapon he always kept at his side as the other two flattened themselves against the small, white Scuttle they had been hiding behind.
The huge, dark figure loomed above them as it looked up and roared out something in the unintelligible language they had heard earlier. Even from this close distance, it was too dark to get a good look at its face as the creature stood in the shadow of the small spacecraft beside them.
They could make out one thing easily enough though, it had brandished a large black weapon, which resembled an Earthian laser rifle, at them and barked threateningly as it prepared to fire.
Tim moved protectively between the assailant and his crewmates pointing his small self-defense taser gun as he ordered Valesque and Sanic to run.
They could not escape back to the pod room as the massive creature was blocking that route, forcing the two to quickly take off farther into the hanger.
As Sanic and Valesque dashed out into the open, the rest of the band of thieves caught sight of them and opened fire.
Sanic quickly pulled Valesque after him as he dove behind a stack of crates. The laser fire sizzled holes into the metal containers they were now crouching behind.
The two desperately looked for a way out as their attackers cautiously approached their hiding spot, unsure if the ship’s owners were armed.
“I will distract them.” Sanic whispered harshly as he dug into his pocket and brought out his anti-grav discs. “When I go out, you run back to the pod room.”
Not giving her time to argue the young Etherian quickly set some adjustments and stuck the discs to the bottom of his boots before kicking off and flying up over their shield, ascending up into the air over the startled intruders, effectively capturing their attention.
Valesque tore herself away from the spectacle and ran back along the wall on a path that would lead directly behind the first assailant, her Virrilian instincts were beginning to kick in as she sprinted quickly over the hard floor.
Tim’s opponent noticed her dash and turned to the side to stop her, but Tim took that opportunity to launch himself at the large hairy alien and kick him squarely in the side of its huge ape-like head. Then touching his other foot down on the enemy’s shoulder he sprang himself back up into the air with a backward flip and landed on top of the Scuttle craft he had been standing beside a moment ago.
The intruder turned his attention away from the approaching Virrilian as it reeled from the powerful kick he had just received from the Pilot who was now perched above him.
Valesque was impressed by the cocky Yorkie’s amazing agility and speed as he landed the aerial kick on his opponent before using him as a springboard onto the roof of the Scuttle.
She sped thankfully past the scuffle and back into the small room between the hanger and the life pod housing bay.
She was followed closely by Sanic who had managed to dodge the shots fired by his attackers by jetting around the top of the room with his anti-gravity devices.
Tim quickly fired the small electric gun off at his angered opponent when he saw his comrades make it safely back to the room. The agile pilot then turned on his heel and fired off several more quick shots at the remaining intruders, hitting all of them dead on with his super-fast speed and incredible accuracy, before leaping down off his vantage point and following Valesque and Sanic into the small dark room.
The three friends momentarily leaned against the door and walls as they panted heavily from their sudden adrenaline rush.
“That probably isn’t going to stop them for long.” Tim advised as he caught his breath, thinking they had better move as far away from the door as possible.
He turned around and hit the emergency door lock, then led his charges back into the Pod room and locked that door behind them as well.
He could see the intruders shaking off his weak taser shot and starting to gather at the far door through the window. This unfortunately meant the Pirates could see the three of them as well.
“That may only hold them for a few more seconds.” Tim warned as they all started to sprint for the emergency access shaft they had come down through before. They crawled quickly back up with Valesque in the rear, so she could seal the entrance before following the other two up the ladder to the open panel three deck levels above.
“The hatch is made of a special alloy.” she assured them over the hammering from below as they exited the shaft. “The laser won’t be able to get through it so it might give us a few more minutes.” she added, quickly sealing the panel they had just come out of as well.
“We need to come up with some options.” the young Etherian began nervously, his problem solving brain already churning. He had not liked the looks of their apparently fierce company. The creatures were huge, monstrous and ugly.
It was just a good thing for the three of them that they also seemed to be exceptionally dumb.
“Perhaps we can find some kind of defense weapons? I am afraid all I have is this taser. It has a weak shock and it is only good for close combat.” Tim offered showing the small weapon that rested in his palm.
“There aren’t any other weapons on board.” Valesque informed him regretfully. “We didn’t really have a need for them while we were constructing the ship.”
“How about the other crewmembers?” Sanic suggested.
Tim shook his blonde head in a definite negative. “Most of them are non I.P.A like you two; they wouldn’t have any weapons either. Besides, I would rather not get any of them involved.” he added not wanting to risk any more innocent lives.
“We have maybe five minutes, if they don’t break through the shielding sooner. So let’s come up with a plan quickly.” the Virrilian Engineer began as she knelt down on the smooth carpeted floor of Science Deck 3.
As she crouched down and took out her Vid-screen Tim noticed something the faint overhead lights revealed as they descended upon her.
She had a spot on the front of her thigh where the fabric of her green Engineering pants had been singed away showing a small seared section of her pale muscular leg.
“You got hit.” Tim noted unhappily as he saw this.
Sanic suddenly got very worried. “Where did you get hurt? Are you alright? When did they hit you?” he sputtered in concern as he looked for the spot the Lieutenant had noticed.
“I think they got her when she was trying to cover you, as you two ran away the first time.” the composed Pilot said evenly. “Right, Beautiful?”
Sanic's grey eyes darkened with worry as he frowned, he was no
t happy to hear she had been injured while shielding him.
“It’s fine. It's only a slight burn.” the Virrilian dismissed not worrying about such a trivial matter at this imperative juncture.
Tim continued to look at the scorched spot on her upper thigh, remembering how the same shots had melted holes in the metal of the Scuttle and storage crates.
If one of us had been hit with that we would have a hole in our leg right now, he thought. Virrilians were amazingly tough, but he guessed even she could not stand to be hit in the same spot more than twice.
Space Trippers Book 1: Trippin' Page 20
