by Joe Crouch
“I wonder what’s aboard that ship,” Taris marvelled, moving closer to the almost useless image they had of it.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Sean declared, pulling the others away from the bridge with him, “I wonder what swag I’ll be able to grab.” With a slap around his ear, Taris pushed him forwards.
“You’re hardly pirate material, are you?” she smirked, “I mean, I get to see that body up close and I’m pretty sure you couldn’t plunder your way out from your own house with a set of keys.” Poking his tongue out at her with a sarcastic frown across his brow, he carried on moving forwards at speed, wanting to get to the armoury before the vultures had cleaned out all the best gear.
Hissing, the dual doors to the armoury split in two letting out the sterile smell of cold metals and alloys, beyond was a beacon of all that was good and righteous in his world. Weapons were exactly how he left them, racks extended from wall-to-wall each with their own selection of weapons illuminated by the bright lights from underneath. Nervous Ioutions picked through the armaments, looking confused at the wide selection available to them. Knowing it was his time to shine he confidently stepped forward, assisting the lost lambs in their search for the one.
“This is a rifle, it’s designed for long range combat and picking targets off from afar, it’s invaluable as a support tool to an advancing squad,” he lectured, demonstrating how you hold the weapon. Within moments a crowd gathered around as he laid out an assortment, explaining their pros and cons to the group. It didn’t take long for each of them to assign themselves into task groups with a balanced loadout ready for any scenario. Sean, on the other hand, selected two weapons, knowing they would be in close combat he went with a plasma pistol and a repeater, two weapons that excelled at close to medium range.
“Here they are,” Fez said gleefully, picking up his usual blades from the scattered assortment on the wall. With a flick of his wrist the blade’s edge sparked into life as energy rippled down its spine, sparks flew off from its surface as he cut through the air with casual swings. “You never forget how to use one,” he giggled as if his secret love had just walked by him in the school yard.
“So adorable,” Sean laughed, sniffling at the strong odour of detergent that came off the weapon strapped to his chest, “What the hell did you clean these with?”
“I’m not sure,” Fez shrugged, “The quartermaster would deal with that, ask her.” Trying his best to ignore the pungent smell that wafted so easily up into his nostrils he looked over to see Taris pulling a thick vest over her chest before snapping a weapon to one of its points. It fit snuggly over the skin-tight suit she had been adapting over the last week, even giving it its own name – Fortune. She had morphed it from the basic vestment that pilots wore into something more, now it monitored her life signs as well as providing some basic kinetic and thermal protection.
“Fortune not enough for you, eh?” Sean asked, watching as she slipped on some new boots.
“Not yet, but she will be,” Taris smiled, “All the protection while still being able to seduce any being out there.”
“You’ll need that protection if you think your powers of seduction are anything to brag about,” he laughed, walking out from the armoury. Winding through the convoluted hallways of the ship he eventually arrived at the hangar with Taris and the others not far behind. Flight crew scattered about like a colony of ants preparing their shuttles for the short trip over to the unidentified vessel. They didn’t know much about it thus far, Xuron life signs appeared clearly through their scans, but there was a large amount of interference jamming the majority of their technology from gaining an accurate picture. Whatever the ship was it was something even the Ioutions had no idea of.
Walking across the freshly polished hangar floor, he watched as three different workers hung from his shuttle’s hull each trying to repair the slightest fault. Ignoring them, he stepped into the ship and made himself comfortable in the pilot’s seat while waiting for the others to strap in. Eventually, they all arrived without fuss and sat themselves down, they knew this was a time sensitive mission so they worked at double speed. Weapons were secured on the magnetic racks that lined the walls while an energetic silence filled the rear compartment. “Everyone ready?” Sean shouted back, craning his head around the sharp corner.
“Ready,” came the chorus of replies. With an inward nod to himself, he slipped on the neural transmitter and flicked a switch on the flashing console that surrounded him. With a gentle rumble, the reactors spooled up, feeding power to every major system aboard, a quick glance over towards his terminal let him know all systems were optimal and they were ready for flight. Within moments a light flashed on above their exit signalling that the area around them was clear.
With a tender movement, he lifted the shuttle off from the deck, tilted their nose forward and propelled the crew out into the vast nothingness of space. It was something he wished he could do as his real job, even shuttling civilians around the galaxy would be entertaining to him, a glorified bus driver he dreamt. A second shuttle soon lashed out from the Mar’Ell’s shielded bay, catching them up they followed in a static pattern.
The scale of the alien ship soon became apparent as they flew closer, its size far exceeded that of the Mar’Ell. It was flat, long, and rugged looking. Its hull was off-white with red, pulsating striping circling around its midriff, to him, the entire ship looked like an almond that had been left in the sun too long. Portholes ran along the side of the vessel, stacked up neatly for each individual deck. Large antennae spiked out from a hump near the rear of the ship which looked to be the command centre, the vessel was truly alien, it looked like nothing he had seen to this day. “Touchdown in one minute,” he yelled.
With a yank of the controls, the shuttle jolted backwards rocking everyone in their seats, their partner ship did the same and came level with them. Hovering, the two vessels slowly descended towards the foreign hull, only sure of one thing that they would find. With a thump, the three landing struts attempted to magnetise to the foreign hull but it was no use. We’re not getting any traction he mused, this really is made from an odd alien material. Instead, he deployed the physical landers. Claw-like objects extended out from the feet of the struts and grabbed onto the hull, it was crude and frowned upon, but it was here for these exact scenarios. “Alright everyone, gear up and double check your breathers, no mistakes,” Fez ordered.
Within moments each team member had affixed the breather necklaces and formed up their protective shielding to provide them with a stable atmosphere. With a pop hiss, the hatch split in two, atmosphere rushed out into the empty void as a thin white cloud. Sean was the first to leap out, he felt light as his boots tried to gain a grip on the hull, but there was just enough of a gravitational field being generated inside the ship to hold him in place. Turning back, he watched as the rest of his crew, as well as the second team, each descended and formed up on him. Yumie pulled out a scanner to which Zarid batted away the technology.
“We don’t need that here,” he smiled, pointing to the implant that was inlaid just above his eye, “I’ve got all the technology we need right here.”
“I’ll feel safer if we can all see the scans and not just you having hallucinations,” Yumie hissed. He brought the scanner up and built a profile of the vessel’s innards. “Here seems like a good place for entry,” he said, circling an area a few metres away, “Cutting through there should take us into a large room.” Nodding, Sean waved over the engineers to begin slicing through the hull, destroying it, even a little, broke his heart.
With a bright blue and green flame, the engineers began cutting through the rock-hard hull, it took them a few minutes to get the right angle and heat, but it started to peel away easier. While waiting, he took a closer look at what made up the exterior, to him, it looked like a super-hard polymer that almost resembled plastic, but the scans showed that it was as resistant, if not more so, than their own hulls. After a brief wait, the e
ngineers spoke up.
“Captain, we’re through.” Zarid rushed towards the newly formed entry and poked his head through.
“Well I’ll be damned,” he looked back with a toothy smile.
“Wait,” Fez ordered, “I’ll be the first to jump down, stand aside, Fre.” With a sarcastic wave towards the hole, Zarid took a step back allowing the Ioution captain to approach. Sean followed close behind, the two of them stood staring down into the dark abyss below, the lighting seemed to be out, for the time being, making the entire operation that much more difficult. With a deep breath, Fez launched himself off from the platform and careered downwards. He landed with a heavy whack and grimaced in pain.
“You alright, Fez?” Sean questioned over the comms.
“Fine,” Fez groaned, “Wait a few seconds and get everyone to jump.” Relaying the information, Sean took up position and threw himself off, it was a short fall but he landed with a crash into the pitch black. His senses went into overload as he listened out for the faintest sound. Calmly, he twisted the head of the torch affixed to his chest, the light burst into existence and pushed back the darkness. Fez appeared from around a corner without his light switched on, with a questioning look Fez spoke up.
“We have pretty good night sight,” he said, looking around, “But I’ll turn it on anyway I suppose.” One after the other the crew jumped down, each turning their own personal torch on to provide some semblance of illumination. They stood in a large, L-shaped room filled with tables and chairs, speckles of dust floated through the humid, thick atmosphere once they plugged the hole in the ceiling with a thin layer of something he hadn’t seen before. The ship was deathly silent, every footstep echoed away throughout what felt like the entire ship.
“Wow,” Taris marvelled, startling the entire team, “It looks like a schoolroom, just look at these,” she said as she picked up a stack of thin, tablet-like devices which were arranged along the tables. As she handed one to Sean the screen flickered into life and displayed a screen with nothing but an outline of a circle. She handed a tablet out to each team member but no one else triggered a reaction, all eyes were on him as he looked closer at the screen. There was nothing to be seen but an idea formed in his mind, removing his glove he placed his thumb on the screen, to which it made a low beep. Amazed that there was a reaction, Taris tried with her own device, but nothing happened, the screen remained idle and emitted no noise.
“What the hell,” Sean muttered, inspecting the device, trying to find out anything he could. Once he deemed nothing more could be accomplished, he shoved the device into his pocket and continued. He stood beside the thick, metal door and looked back at the team, they nodded in unison for him to proceed. Tapping the terminal adjacent to the exit, the door receded into the ceiling with a whoosh to reveal the dark hallway beyond. The mysteries that lay ahead were of significant interest to them all and it would only be a matter of time until the Xuron showed, but, for now, they were safe…
Chapter 9
As he stepped out into the dark, barren hallway Sean felt a pleasant warmth envelop his body. Large multicoloured pipes ran along the ceiling and split off in different directions at the intersection ahead of them. Coloured lines ran along the floor directing traffic to various decks and sections of the ship, he couldn’t understand the Arabic looking language on the floor and walls but he imagined the text scrawled on the wall of the room he had just left read ‘school’.
A thick layer of dust covered everything in sight, his footsteps left a visible trail on the smooth white floor that was underfoot. “Squad-A, form up on me, Squad-B, form up on Razel-Assira-Noxehl, check your readings and we will reconvene… here,” Fez said, pointing to a location a couple of decks below them. With an affirmative the second squad marched away hugging close to the wall, their lights faded as they slipped around a corner and out of sight.
“My implants detect heat signatures that resemble living beings,” Zarid declared, seeming to concentrate on a random point of space. “Two signatures, they’re not far from us so we better keep quiet,” he turned, smiling, “Isn’t this just a blast?”
“Sure…” Sean replied, “Having the time of my life.” Fez waved the team over. As they bunched up they each stared longingly down the dimly lit hallway. “Shall we?” Sean asked. They threw caution to the wind and made their way down the haunted corridor. Everything looked as if it had been abandoned in a rush, instruments were strewn across the floor and tablets still shone brightly in every room they passed. A breeze wisped across his arm as they moved, looking to his right he saw a grated vent built into the wall. Holding a hand up to its surface he felt a warm air being pumped out, “Life support seems to be working,” he surmised, “At least we know why it’s so hot in here.”
Continuing, they came to a junction, it split in four directions with what was beyond clearly marked along the wall in large, black letters. “Can anyone read this?” Taris asked, “Does anyone even know what language it is?” In unison, the team shook their heads. But their attention was soon drawn to the clanging of metal in the distance that echoed throughout. In a snap movement, they dove into cover and turned their chest lights off.
“Zarid, is there anything down that way?” Fez questioned, “Use your implants.” The Fre crept gently up to the corner and poked his head around, he scanned the environment in different wavelengths but came up empty. Lowering their guard, they shuffled straight across the intersection ensuring to cover their angles. Beyond, there was a set of rooms that came off the hallway, each had a large window that allowed passersby to peer in. With a brief glance through the clear, glass-like material he saw that what appeared to be another classroom, chairs were neatly tucked in under the desks, a handful of powered on tablets bathed the well-organised room in a low, blue glow.
“This has to be a deck full of rooms just like this,” Sean declared, “Every room we’ve passed has been a classroom of some kind, why would a military ship need rooms for children to study?”
“You’re assuming it’s a military ship,” Yumie replied. Sean shrugged, snapping on his chest lamp as he did. They skulked through the haunted hallways for a while more, but a faint whistling that came from behind the team made them all stop and slowly turn. The intensity increased the more they listened out for the odd phenomena. Everyone shivered on the spot as a chill shot down their collective spines. With a cautionary glance to one another, they decided to ignore it for the time being and put it down to the dark, haunting atmosphere playing tricks on their minds.
Every sound they made was amplified as they trampled through the light debris that was scattered across the ship. Up ahead were the signatures, they wanted to get the drop on the beings so approached slowly, fanning out around the room the aliens had taken up shelter in. As he pressed his back hard against the warm wall his heart began to race, Taris knelt, ducking under the door’s window as she made her way to cover the over side of their breach point. It was a tense few moments while they waited for the signal, his legs felt hollow as he thought back to how long it had been since he was in a real engagement. “On my command,” Fez whispered over the radio, snapping him back to reality, “Three, two, one… go.”
On Fez’s command, his mind went into autopilot, with a touch of the terminal the door retreated into the ceiling with a soft whoosh. He pushed himself off from the wall and spun the corner, bringing his weapon up as he did. The first thing that hit him was the smell that wafted out from the room. A thick, humid, putrid smell of decaying flesh washed up into his nostrils as he saw the two large Xuron turn in surprise. He had almost forgotten their bug-like appearance, their bipedal stance was similar but their knees bent backwards as their body was covered in a thick layer of disjointed scales that oozed a viscous green puss from the cracks between them.
With a pull on the trigger, the repeater lashed out a cacophony of majestic red bolts towards the enemy. In an instant two of the Xuron’s four arms were blasted from its body leaving nothing but charr
ed stumps in their place. An ear-splitting shriek came from the being as he showed no mercy. Struggling against the recoil he aimed the weapon towards its head, the scales that made up its face moved autonomously, floating freely on the same green ooze that ran under its thick outer layer. He locked eyes with his prey for one final time, he swore he could see a flash of indignation in the bright yellow iris of the creature as it’s pupils dilated. With a final pull of the trigger, the repeater lanced out fiery red death that decimated the Xuron, melting away the scales so all that remained of its head was the strong skull underneath. Within moments the second being collapsed to the floor in a thud as a pool of luminous green liquid began to form as it seeped from the corpses. A thick odour of burnt, crisp flesh soon encapsulated every sense he had as his eyes began to water.
Hurried footsteps came from behind as Fez, Zarid, and the others came charging around the corner, “We came as fast as we could,” Fez huffed, “Our door wouldn’t open, we heard weapons fire, are you two fine?”
“It didn’t open?” Taris mused, “Ours was fine… Touch the panel again,” she said, looking over towards Sean. With a tap of the terminal the door snapped closed, locking in the pungent smell that was still fresh.
“Weird,” Zarid remarked, “First the tablet thing now this? How is it that it only reacts to you and no one else?” he asked, drawing in closer, “You gotta tell me, that’s a cool trick,” he whispered.
“There is no damn trick,” Sean fumed, “I’m as clueless as everyone else, let’s just get this mission done, this place is giving me the heebie-jeebies.”
“The heebie-what now?” Taris laughed, “I think the translator blew up trying to decipher that one.” With a sarcastic scowl towards her, Sean opened the door back up to look at the corpses which laid there. Body parts, as well as chunks of scale, were thrown across the room which looked to be a medical bay of some kind as large machines hung from the wall. Getting in closer, he inspected the bodies, prodding about their rock-solid exterior.
