“Thirty seconds. Three wedges have been slowed. Impact incoming.”
Marcus nodded his head. He had not hoped it would end this way.
“Fire everything on that side now. Slow them down as much as possible.” He ordered.
Gunners opened up all arsenals. At that short range, the close defense beams and rockets fired off, usually reserved for when two capital ships tried to board each other. They were meant to inflict horrible close range damage, hull ripping if possible. The effect on the wedges was unperceivable. Marcus sat back down on his chair and held on. He closed his eyes.
“IMPACT!”
The Admiral opened his eyes. He hadn’t felt a thing.
“You sure?” he shouted out.
“Admiral,” Graham shouted over the coms. He was getting a good view of the wedges. “They, well, I think they’re digging into you.”
“What?”
“Admiral, they want the ship still,” TOM’s voice chirped in his ear.
“Hull breach, Level B and Engineering. No atmo escape. Sir…” the transmission cut off.
Marcus shouted for more information. The hull had been breached, but not exposed. The video feed began to come in in spurts. He could see men firing back at something in the Hausen reactor core room.
“Are we being boarded?” he wondered in disbelief. Why did they want his ship so badly?
Marines were dispatched immediately.
“Can you shut them out TOM?” Marcus typed into the console.
“Working on that. They are cutting through doors quickly. Not living beings. Trying to work on scanning. Lots of damage.”
Marcus began to think about the layout of his ship. The invaders could take out some power by disabling the reactor core, but there were backups. The only real control of the ship would either be through TOM’s core, which seemed unlikely. Destroying TOM would not turn over control of the ship. The only other choice would be through the bridge.
“Marine. Captain. Here,” Marcus shouted out at the nearest assigned Marine. He gave him specific orders to find the ships officers and get them to the bridge. He quickly typed up orders off to the rest of the Marine commanders. Defend the bridge at all costs. Marcus then got down off his Captain chair and ran towards the bridge’s arms storage.
“Keep me informed TOM,” he said out loud.
“I have a name sir,” he said.
Marcus reached the arms depot as one of his Marines was unlocking it. “A name for what?”
“For them.”
“For the spheres?”
“Yes.”
“And?” he asked, as he handed out rifles to the bridge crew members.
“They say they are the Sentinels.”
Marcus hesitated for a moment. “That specific word?”
“Yes. In Anglian.”
“So. These aren’t aliens?” the Admiral continued to hand out rifles and other smaller weapons. He took a quick glance at his men and women. They were the best and highly trained of his Alliance navy, but they were not marines.
“Does that word mean anything at all?”
“I have no reference on our limited files. Should we survive, perhaps Aliothnet has more.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes. They want to come home.”
“Home?” Marcus was momentarily confused.
“Home. Earth.”
***
Crewmembers were rushing in one direction while armed marines were rushing off in another. Ayia had reached the central hub and was trying to remember where she had come from. It was then that it really dawned on her that there really was nowhere else to go. She tried grabbing a crewmember as she raced past. She was a tall woman, long blond hair tied up tightly in a braid. She had a small face and her eyes were electric blue, likely the work of genetic modification. Regardless of the eye color, Ayia could see panic.
“What’s going on?”
“The aliens have boarded the ship. Admiral’s ordered everyone back to the bridge,” the woman barely finished before she shook Ayia’s grip and ran off.
“Oh great.” Ayia turned around. She had no weapons and nowhere to go. She was no marine, so she turned and began following the crew members back towards the bridge.
“Kale, I wish you were here,” she muttered under her breath. “Better yet, Deespa would come more in handy right now.”
The crowd pulled and dragged her continuously down a narrow aisle that opened up suddenly into a large chamber. This was not the bridge though, but some sort of ante-chamber. Dozens of consoles were being ripped out of the floor and knocked over while furniture of any sort was being dragged in from separate rooms. The crew was using anything it could find to form a barricade. Ayia looked around and smiled for a brief moment as she made eye contact with Cruxe.
He came running towards her.
“I am glad to see one face I know,” he exclaimed.
“They let you out?” she said, relieved.
“I told them I could fire a gun. I heard all the commotion and was barely able to get any kind of answer.”
“And?” Ayia asked. She was even more clueless than him.
“They have the bridge locked down. Marines are fighting, the, whatever they are, but I keep hearing over the coms that it’s a rapidly losing battle. We’re going to hold here, I guess.”
“Don’t see how we can do any better than marines.”
Cruxe nodded in agreement. “I suppose not.”
“Guess you’ll die here.”
“I’ve been dying to get to you anyways,” Cruxe said, breaking an odd smile.
The sound of an explosion rang down the narrow aisle they had used to enter the ante-chamber. Ayia and Cruxe quickly dove behind one of the makeshift barricades. The screen on the console was still on and Ayia could see a document opened and displayed. It appeared to be some kind of note. Whomever was working on this console had typed up a final goodbye to his wife. Ayia began tearing up as she glanced through it. The person ended it by saying she may never get the message.
Cruxe looked up above their barricade. He took out two small side arms and handed one over to Ayia, apologizing.
“It’s all I could get on such short notice.”
Ayia peeked just as several marines came running into the room yelling. The fourth marine stopped at the entrance of the aisle and turned his plasma rifle on full auto and fired repeated bolts down the dark aisle. He was screaming at the top of his lungs. As green bolts lit up the aisle as they flew down the corridor, Ayia could just barely make out dark objects coming down the hallway. The Marine’s scream turned into a bloody gurgling sound as a black spear came through his chest and out his back. The spear lifted the man up and flung him across the room onto the barricade to Ayia’s left. He landed on his back, his head bent back oddly. It hung upside down there, looking directly at her, his life completely gone.
The long black spear retracted back as the first creature entered the room. It stood nine feet tall, almost fluid. It had a humanoid shape, with two legs a torso and what appeared like a head, but from its torso extended six arms. Their lengths and widths expanded and contracted rapidly. The creature was pure black, made out of an oil like substance that soaked in all the light that touched it. Down the front of its face was a bright red line, that ran up from its neck to the top of its head. It flashed repeatedly as it looked around. Someone screamed in terror as three more of the creatures came up behind it. One was crawling along the top of the aisle and crawled up the wall of the ante-chamber.
Then gunfire erupted from the barricades. The moment of fear was past. The creatures absorbed the metal projectiles, with small bits of their oily like substance splashing off harmlessly against the wall. The creatures moved fast, lunging over the first barricades and cutting and slicing through the helpless defenders. Ayia sat back in stunned horror as one short pudgy man fell back behind his barricade as one of the creatures leaped onto it. The man pointed his fully automatic rifle right at the creatur
es chest and opened up nearly twenty rounds into it. Ayia could see most of the bullets fly through it, splashing out its back at a much slower rate of speed. The creature just stood there flashing its red light then in an instant, two of its arms formed blades and cut the man’s head clean off. The rifle continued to fire as it fell to the ground. The bullets hit the leg of another man who had turned to run. As he fell, the same creature wrapped one of his arms around the man and constricted it so quickly he was cut in half.
“This is pointless,” Cruxe shouted. He had fired off six rounds directly at one of the creature’s heads as it moved forward towards one of the barricades and it hadn’t even flinched. “These guns are doing nothing.”
Ayia looked down towards where one of the dead Marines lay. He had her weapon of choice.
“Plasma,” Ayia said, pointing at the weapon so Cruxe could see.
He nodded. They both got up and began running towards the far wall. The creatures had focused their attack on the right side of the room. Both quickly dropped on all fours to avoid being hit by crew members who were panicking and firing at the creatures. The black demons moved slowly and steadily through the helpless defenders. Ayia caught one out of the corner of her eye. It had picked up the same blonde woman she had stopped back in the elevator hub. It had wrapped one of its arms around her torso and was moving her head this way and that way, as if examining her. She continued to struggle as she tried to fire her hand gun. When she ran out of bullets, she tried hitting it on the head with the gun. As she tried a third time, the tip of the arm that was moving her head back and forth snapped quickly and it dropped her lifeless body to the floor.
Ayia reached the Marine and took his rifle. She quickly checked the power level and saw she had enough to put up a fight. She was at the far end of the room now, Cruxe was crouched down next to her. Several crew members were pounding on the bridge door, screaming to be let in. The creatures had slaughtered nearly everyone on the right side of the room and were now moving slowly towards the left side. Ayia lifted the rifle up and aimed carefully at the first creature. She pointed it straight at its head and fired off a green projectile.
Time stopped as she watched the bolt cut through the heat and stench of the room. It splashed into the creature’s head, exploding it into a black mess. All of the creatures stopped and turned their gaze on Ayia. The headless creature began to slowly form another head. Ayia gasped, and then concentrated. She aimed for the newly forming head and fired another shot, but followed up in a split second with four more rapid shots that followed down torso. As the plasma bolts hit the liquid bodies, the black oil like substance evaporated away. She fired in such quick succession that the creature’s body had no time to reform and split apart down the middle. Ayia could see a small solid object deep within the creature moments before the last plasma bolt disintegrated that as well. The creature then turned into a pool of goo.
The remaining three creatures moved quickly. Ayia fired off shots, but the creatures were ready this time, dodging the shots. The plasma bolts hit parts of their bodies, and arms went flailing off. Cruxe started firing again, but was stopped in an instant when the first creature shot a long blade from one of its arms, impaling him through the shoulder against the wall. Ayia aimed up quick and short the arm off and Cruxe slid to the ground. Ayia aimed the rifle up at the incoming creature but he was faster. He knocked it out of her hand as one of his arms wrapped around her torso and lifted her off the ground. Ayia’s mind quickly remembered where this led to.
She screamed as the creature stabbed her in the leg with one of its other arms. The red line on its face began flashing and Ayia felt its tentacle arm begin to squeeze her. Then it stopped and took the blade out of her leg. The constriction eased. It lifted her up and brought her face close to his. The red flash was so bright, Ayia couldn’t tell if it was the creature or her own throbbing pain.
“You are not from Earth.” It was a deep rumbling sound that came deep from within the creature. It was clear Anglian. Ayia snapped to with whatever little strength she had left.
“What?” she cried out.
“Your body is not from Earth? From where?”
The other two creatures had come to a stop next to the one that held her. All three were flashing their red lights quickly.
“From where?” it asked again and then its head vanished.
Ayia’s faced was splashed with the black ooze and when she opened her eyes, she saw the Admiral standing in the open bridge door. He was holding a plasma rifle aimed right at her creature.
“TOM, you saw it. Take them out.”
As she began to pass out, time slowed again. Ayia saw a turret right next to Marcus and it began to fire purple plasma bolts so rapidly they looked like a solid bright line. As the three creatures were cut in half from head through their bodies, they splashed down in a similar pile of ooze. Ayia dropped to the ground and began to black out. She heard some screaming and then she only heard the deep rumbling voice.
“From where?”
3127 – With Sentinel, maybe
“It’s really you?”
He sat in the chair while Uli stood behind him, her hands on his shoulders. There was what appeared to be a windshield in front of him, but it looked, uneven and warped. It was not the full replica of the Midnight Oil, but it appeared to be getting there. Instead of wrapping around the cabin neatly and in straight lines, the windshield had gaps. At that point, it didn’t matter. It was still dark out and Kale couldn’t see anything.
“I am alive Captain,” the deep voice grumbled through the halls of the ship.
“You always were alive,” Kale countered. “What is going on?”
“Kale, who do you speak to?” Uli looked around, confused and afraid. “This Vahe, it is unlike any other I have felt.”
Sentinel’s voice continued. “I am now the Vahe Kale, I live within its walls. I can sense and feel. I am cold on the outside and warm on the inside. I can feel the wind against the outer skin as you would.”
“How do you even know what those things would feel like?” Kale asked.
“Kale?” Uli continued to look around confused. She could only hear his side of the conversation.
“Greetings Uli. I am Sentinel,” the AI responded in their native language.
Uli reacted in shock. “Kale, this is your spirit? Did you not say he was on your ship?”
“I'm just as confused as you are,” he said quietly. “Care to explain?”
“I would, Captain. We have no time. The short version is that Gheno assisted me in changing one of the Vahe to allow me to enter it.”
“That,” Kale started, “um. Why didn’t I… You know what? I don’t even know what to ask here.”
“Good. There will be time later. Now, we have to fight off an attack.”
“A what?”
The new Vahe turned around on the mountain and dropped off the side of the cliff. Inside of the ship, Uli nearly flew off into the ceiling of the cabin had Kale not held on to her. He had luckily strapped into his seat. It was a habit he was happy he had retained. Sentinel apologized and began flying straight again. Kale pointed at where a rudimentary copilots chair was forming down against a blank console in front of the deformed windshield.
The ship leveled off just above the trees and ripped leaves off the tops as it sped past. It was headed back towards the ocean and the coastal city.
“Sentinel. What’s going on?”
“I am growing, Kale. I have used a lot of this shell’s stored energy to create what you see.”
There was a pause.
“That explained nothing, Sentinel.”
“There’s no limit to what I can design within this ship, Kale. I have more space to expand my code within the biological matrix of this being that I ever had with the cores onboard the transport,” Sentinel tried to explain.
“Please, do continue confusing me,” Kale grumbled.
“I think I understand how the weavers see quantum threads. A
s I created the workings to sense the threads within the ship, I detected the black spheres entering the system through the wormholes. They are headed straight here.”
Kale turned and translated for Uli. “Your vision,” she said.
“You saw them too?” Sentinel asked.
Kale nodded his head. “I think so.”
“You will have to teach me how later,” the AI continued. “Now, we must wake the large Vahe deep within the oceans. We will need them to fight the spheres.”
“And I do what?” Kale asked.
“We need to communicate.” Sentinel instructed Kale to remove the cover off the battery on his com device. “Now push it straight into the console area.”
Kale stood in front of the console. On the Midnight Oil, countless screens, displays and buttons littered the face of the console. In this new ship, it just looked like an inclined leathery table. Kale shrugged his shoulders and pressed the com device into the panel. He shuddered a bit as it sank an inch into the console. It immediately sprung to life.
“The Galaxy has already taken off into orbit. Theirs sensors must have picked up the spheres as well.”
“And we are doing what?” Kale asked.
“Awakening the mothers.”
3127 – Gadoni, Coastal City
“Ogha tachoni megado.”
Gheno turned around and looked at the Threadweaver again. He still had the two spikes stuck into his neck. His eyes were rolled back into his head and he was waving his head back and forth. They were inside of the lion transport, which Cove had flown to pick them up.
“I thought I was supposed to understand him?” Gheno asked.
“He’s not saying anything anyone can understand,” Blue Flower explained. Gheno saw the confused look on her face as well.
They had dragged him on board of the ship. He had promised them he knew how to find the Vahe that Sentinel had taken over, but so far, he had only been a mumbling oaf. Blue Flower had insisted on coming along to take care of the Threadweaver. Something about him being too great a prize to allow the white men to take away. Gheno hadn’t put up much of a fight. He kept looking back at Blue Flower when he knew she wasn’t looking.
The Lost Tribe (Sentinel Series Book 2) Page 29
