by Joe Crouch
“Hey, what’s that?” Fez said through gritted teeth. At the end of the hallway was a locked blast door. Remulus stood back and brought out her device. She aimed it towards the door, the device let out a long, monotone noise.
“It’s in there,” she exclaimed, putting the device away, “Whatever we’re looking for its right there.” With no preamble, she strolled up and waved her hand over the terminal, with a double beep it denied her access. She tried again but was met with the same response. Angrily, she unsheathed her weapon and tried to jam it into the thin gap around the door – But to little success.
“Let me have a go,” Sean said. His blaster bolts dissipated harmlessly off the door’s heavy duty face, leaving nothing more to show for his efforts than a thin smoke that hung in the still air. “Well, that’s a bummer, what do we do now?”
Taris looked around the local vicinity, searching for anything to help pry the door open. She rushed away and came jogging back with a long bladed weapon. Jamming it under the door she stood on its hilt and jumped up and down in a desperate attempt. But once more, nothing came of it, instead, the blade snapped into two leaving a jagged edge sticking out from under the door. “Well, can’t say I expected it to work anyway,” she huffed, slumping back against the wall. Sean gently laid Fez into a nearby chair while he thought. His mind turned back to the generation ship where the Mar’Ell team found Remulus. With an odd hunch in his mind, he strolled towards the terminal and waved his hand over its sensor. With a single beep, the light above the door turned white as it lifted with a heavy strain on the mechanical workings within the wall.
“What the hell…” Sean wondered as he turned to Remulus, “Why does this stuff react to me?” She remained silent, instead deciding to give him a leading smile that raised more questions.
“You’ll learn… someday,” she said as she passed by. Stunned, he shook his head, grabbed the captain and stepped over into the newly revealed large oval room. Tables and desks were scattered, their tops littered with truly alien technology. Large red orbs floated freely towards the rear. A thin, white strip that encircled the entire area flashed into existence, bathing everything in a gentle, warm light. Sat centrally was what could only be described as a gleaming white mechanics table. A thin shielding came down from the ceiling like a curtain that enveloped it from the outside world. Remulus’ device screamed loudly as she walked towards the shield. “This must be it.”
“That’s it?” Taris yelled, “That tiny little piece of nothing is what we’ve been searching for this entire time?” She wasn’t far off, either. Sat on the table was a small, white device. It was angled and sloped at one end, the other had a strange assortment of crystals that pierced out from its surface.
“Sean, deactivate the shielding,” demanded Remulus. Scoffing, he handed the captain over to Taris and circled the room. The stuff here could advance us as a race by hundreds, if not thousands of years he thought to himself. He refrained from taking anything, though, Terran-Veterum relations seemed to be blossoming already, so there was no need to risk it. With a stray hand gliding across the wall, something clicked. A small chunk of the wall rose to reveal a single hidden scanner. Before he could place his hand on the device, though, a low rumbling came from out in the hallway.
“What’s that?” Sean asked, listening closely.
“It sounds like the cargo elevator,” Zarid declared, “Uh-oh.”
“What could be coming down on that?” asked Taris, “We’re the only ones here.”
“Well, we did leave two Xuron up there, maybe they decided to follow?” Sean replied, “Either way, let’s not waste any time.” Taking his own advice, he placed his hand on the scanner. With a loud snap, the shielding deactivated and allowed them free access to the device. Sean grabbed the component and threw it in Taris’ satchel. Remulus, on the other hand, went around the room picking it clean. She threw every small enough and interesting enough tech into her own bag for ‘safe keeping’.
“Come on, let’s hustle guys and girls,” Zarid barked, dancing on the spot nervously. Sean threw Fez’s arm around his shoulders and hobbled out from the oval room. They moved as fast as they could with an injured weight holding them back. Sean lagged as the team raced for the intersection. The sound of the elevator stopped for a second before it resumed.
“Whoever called the elevator is coming back down with it,” Fez said.
“Or whatever called it…” Remulus shook. Sean pushed the comment out from his mind and raced for the exit. They rushed through the barren hallways until they found themselves back where they came from. They scattered out and took cover behind desks and pillars, waiting for the lift doors to open. He gripped onto his blaster tightly, steadying his breath for anything that may come. Clunk, clunk, cluck¸ came the rhythmic noise from the elevator until finally, it stopped with a dull thud. He shuffled about anxiously. The doors slowly opened, he held his breath expecting the worst. But there was nothing.
“There’s nothing here!” Zarid boomed while getting out from behind his cover, he walked over towards the elevator and turned back to the team, “See, absolutely noth…” He was cut off as a long, scaly tail flicked around from under the lip of the elevator and slammed into him. He was sent flying across the room and crashed into a metallic desk with a satisfying ring. Climbing around from the ceiling of the lift came a Xuron queen. She stuck to the wall and dropped down with a crash throwing dust up into the air. Her Xuron carapace was undamaged, her dark grey, reptile-like skin was fractured into free moving scales that jumbled about her body.
“It’s a queen!” Sean screamed out, “Aim between the scales, I’ve killed one before.”
The queen hissed as her tail swung from side to side behind her, “I will not fall to one of my creators-s-s,” she hissed with venom. Sean was taken aback for a moment, one of her creators? He wondered. But as he was distracted, the Xuron lunged off from her heels and charged towards Remulus, “I must destroy every creator!” Remulus was thrown to the ground. The queen stood above her, she looked down at the helpless Veterum, drool dripped from her razor sharp mouth and splashed onto Remulus’ armour. She bent down and wrapped her four hands around the helpless Veterum’s body and squeezed.
“Fire, dammit, open fire!” Sean shouted. With no hesitation, the room was lit up with the blinding flashes from their weapons. Plasma and energy fire thumped into her thick layer of scales doing little to no damage. The queen discarded Remulus to her side like an empty packet. Remulus slammed into a pillar with so much force its surface cracked as she dropped to the floor in a heap. Turning, the large Xuron focussed her attention on Fez. As she moved her shoulders were thrown back as the team unleashed everything they had. Her scales began to glow brightly as the absorbed heat reached a critical mass.
“Look! Focus on those scales, once they drop off her flesh will be exposed,” shouted Taris. Zarid shook his head as he pushed himself up off the floor, but luck wasn’t on his side as the queen got near and batted him away with ease, sending him crashing into the wall with a loud crunch.
“Zarid!” screamed Sean worried at the bone-crunching noise that came from the impact.
“I’ve had enough of this,” Taris declared. She threw her puny blaster to one side and drew her XR-61. The loud whirring coming from the weapon was a dead giveaway to its power, and the queen noticed. She gained momentum as she sprinted towards the Ioution, but Sean jumped out and tried to tackle the immense Xuron to the ground. But it was futile. He was backhanded away with ease but his distraction gave Taris long enough to charge. “Get to cover!” she shouted. Sean quickly scrambled away. With a loud, chest rumbling thump a powerful red bolt lanced out from her weapon and slammed into the queen. The alien was sent backwards with a roar, she crashed to the floor and couldn’t stop herself from rolling away uncontrollably. Remulus saw the opportunity, jumped to her feet and pulled out her newly acquired Praetorian weapon. The blade sparked into life with a vigorous purple energy. She slammed it down in-betw
een one of the crevasses between the Xuron’s scales and as she dug in deep, a terrifying, fleshy squelch echoed out.
The queen screamed out in pain at such a volume that objects were thrown off their mountings and windows shattered into thousands of shards. The two fought for a moment before Remulus pulled the weapon out from its tomb of flesh and raised it above her head for another strike, but a hand from Sean stopped her.
“Come on, get on the elevator, let’s go!” he shouted, dragging her towards their escape. Sean, Remulus, and Taris all rushed to the elevator. Zarid pushed himself up off one knee, disorientated he grabbed Fez and they hobbled together. As soon as they were in, Sean slammed his fist into the control panel. The light above turned a bright red as the heavy doors came down with a whirr. They clicked into place and within moments they were moving back towards the surface. Sean jumped on a crate and sat swinging his legs. “We’re safe,” he said, taking a deep breath and letting it out.
“Safe?” laughed Taris, “What about what’s going on outside? We have to get past that yet.” He thought for a moment before shrugging, in his mind the main threat was the queen, once they reached the surface they were free.
“I think you should leave me behind,” Fez said, wincing in pain, “I’m only slowing you down. The Mar’Ell and her crew are gone, my purpose has been extinguished.” The crew looked around at each other, no one wanting to take the responsibility of answering, but Sean stepped up.
“There’s plenty to live for,” he began, “We will remember the crew with a typical Ioution ceremony and you can be reassigned a new vessel. This is war, Fez, we expect to lose people, it was only a matter of time before it hit us rather than everyone else around us.” The captain stared off into nothingness, ignoring what the Human had to say.
“Anyway,” Zarid clasped his hands together in a fleshy clap, “We have what we came for – I think – so let’s get this back to the Veterum and give the community the upper hand for once.”
“Agreed,” Taris said, “It won’t be long until…” she stopped as a bang came from under the elevator, “… What was that?”
“We all know what that was,” Sean groaned as he pressed the ‘up’ button on the terminal faster and faster. The sound of claws scratching the metal beneath them echoed through the small, enclosed compartment. Sean grabbed his blaster and aimed it at the floor. “Well? Think it’ll do anything?”
“It’s better than nothing,” shrugged Zarid. The team unloaded into the floor, the energy tore burning hot holes through the thin metal it was constructed from. After a second, everything went silent. A light mist swirled in the air from the sizzling puncture holes. “Did we get it?”
“Shh,” Taris said, “Listen.” They each stood deathly still, finely tuning their ears to any movement – But there was nothing. A gentle ding came from the elevator as it came to a sharp stop, the heavy doors opened with the same mechanical groans as before. Wasting no time, the team rushed out with Sean and Fez waddling together.
“Think we’re safe?” Zarid asked.
A loud crash came from the elevator as metals were twisted and contorted. The queen pierced a hand through the flooring and ripped it apart.
“Next time, don’t say a word,” Sean sighed. She climbed through to see the anxious squad slipping away. She let out a deafening screech as she pushed off the wall and built up speed and charged towards them. Her footsteps thumped on the floor from her heavy frame as she closed the gap.
“Come on! Faster!” Remulus screamed. Sean was certain he could feel her hot breath whipping across his neck, he didn’t want to turn and look in fear that the last thing he would see would be a set of sharp teeth bearing down on him. The captain’s eyes were locked shut as he fought against the rising pain within him, Sean felt the Ioution’s body heating up, his skin became clammy, his brow drenched with sweat.
They rushed out into the courtyard. Covering their eyes from the blinding hot sun Taris turned to fire on the building in the hope of collapsing the entrance way – But there was nothing behind them. “Guys…” Taris squirmed, wiping her brow, “She’s gone…” Everyone stopped and turned, unsure what to make of it.
“Come on, we can’t stop here,” groaned Zarid, “We HAVE to go!” Listening to the inpatient Fre they hurdled the debris and bodies that were scattered. Outside, the Veterum forces were on the brink of victory. They had reformed their battle lines and made easy work of the disorganised Xuron numbers. Smouldering debris laid off to the side where the tanks once stood, now only their charred skeletons remained.
As they circled around the fighting the dry ground was punched high into the air as the queen pounced out from beneath the earth. The force she erupted from the earth with threw soldiers away in all directions. She wasted little time and scythed down ranks of Veterum with ease. The army shifted their focus and fired on the new, larger threat. She struggled against the sheer kinetic forces which pushed her back, but her long claws still posed a threat as she continued to claw soldiers in two.
“How is she still alive!?” cried Sean who stopped for a moment to catch his breath.
“Their outer shell is comprised of…” Fez began.
“Conserve your energy big guy,” Sean said, slapping him on the shoulder, “We still need to get you back in orbit and back to Desciea, hopefully none of those on the Mar’Ell are in Permanence.” The captain remained quiet and nodded. Again, the Xuron queen let out a loud screech, this time she dropped to the floor and burrowed underground with ease, throwing chunks of dirt up behind her.
“You there,” Praetorian Kaeso yelled as he strolled towards the group, “Did you find the final piece?”
“We did,” nodded Sean. A light breeze whipped across the surface throwing up a cloud of debris that restricted their vision.
“Hand it to me at once,” demanded Kaeso, his voice and face were stern and serious.
“I think I’ll take it to your scientists myself, thanks, though.” He turned to face the crew, ready to leave. Behind him, though, Kaeso drew his weapon lunged forwards in an attempt to, literally, stab the Human in the back. Taris saw what was coming and was alert. She slammed into Sean and sent him flying.
Remulus drew her weapon and locked eyes with the praetorian, “What are you doing, Kaeso?” she screamed, “You will not harm our alliance, our race needs this, think of the greater good.”
“You haven’t lived on Caladrius for hundreds of years, Remulus, you have no idea what it has become, how weak we have become. We don’t need outside influences poisoning our once dominant empire.”
“Once dominant, yes, but it isn’t anymore.” She circled the praetorian ready to strike at any moment, “We live in new times, Kaeso, cooperation is the only way for our race to thrive and flourish once more.”
“Enough of this,” the praetorian shouted. He pounced forwards and slashed at her armour, sparks flew but her heavy defences deflected the blow with ease, leaving nothing more than scratch marks down her chest. She charged forwards and grappled with the leader, Sean stepped out but was held back Taris.
“Let them deal with this,” she said. Remulus broke free and speared Kaeso with her shoulder to the ground. Once more he swiped violently with his weapon, this time connecting with the exposed top of her thigh. She fell to one knee as she pushed on the deep wound. Kaeso got to both feet and lorded over her with no emotion.
“I didn’t want to do this, Remulus, you could have let me take what we needed and kill the Human, no one would have cared.”
“You think the Imperator wouldn’t care if you harmed a Human, our brethren?” Sean’s ears perked up, our brethren? He thought, what does she mean by that?
“They’re a failed experiment,” Kaeso spat in Sean’s direction, “Look at him, his meagre physical frame and his limited intelligence. They’re no better than the animals we corral and eat… I’m sorry.” He raised his weapon above his head, ready to put an end to her life, but she snapped into action and jabbed her sword underne
ath his armour and into his stomach. He dropped to the ground, Remulus hobbled over and pulled her weapon out from his abdomen with the sickening sound of sliced flesh. He coughed and spluttered, blood ran from the sides of his mouth.
“They’re better than we ever were,” Remulus sighed as she looked down at the faltering Veterum, “Look at them now, honourable, compassionate, creative, they’re the mixture of emotion we as Veterum strived for, for millennia. Our ways are old, outdated, they have no place in a modern society, we must break our preconceptions of everyone else being lesser, inferior, to us, because in so many ways… they’re better.” She knelt, muttered a few indecipherable Veterum words and slowly sliced open the throat of the praetorian, allowing his blood to soak into the once dry ground. “Let’s go,” she muttered.
A large group of Veterum soldiers blocked their path. They circled around the small team, their weapons sparking with energy. Remulus stood firm and pointed her sword towards the troops. At first, nothing happened, Sean grew nervous at the sheer numbers that surrounded them, but one by one the soldiers got to one knee and knelt. They bowed their heads towards the blood-soaked blade and in unison uttered a phrase of loyalty.
Remulus stepped forwards and put her blade away. “For today, I am your God, follow my will as you would the imperator’s.” Again, the soldiers uttered another phrase, “Stand,” she shouted. With an ear-splitting roar, they got to their feet, slammed the pommels of their spears into the dirt, and waited for orders. “We have what we came for,” Remulus projected her voice over the legion, “The war against the Xuron became that much easier today, we must return to Caladrius as soon as possible and get production underway.”
Behind, the final band of Xuron drones scurried away from the Veterum front line, effectively leaving them victorious. With a wave of her hand, the legions followed her, and the team, up the hill back towards their transport ships. There was a certain finality to everything in Sean’s mind, they had the pieces assembled to change the tide of the war, everyone was alive bar potential casualties on the destroyed Mar’Ell, and new alliances had been forged. Things were going well. But, as if on cue, from the atmosphere came multiple large sonic booms that ripped through their bodies. Cone shaped ships streaked down in balls of fire towards their position. Their organic Xuron body work was obvious, it breathed out a green mist as they screamed towards the ground.
