by Marc Stevens
Klutch, Tria, Sael, and I were fixated on the deceased Prule and not looking out of the control room view screen. We all focused our no-light sensors in the direction Coonts was pointing. Sitting out in the pitch-black hangar, just in front of the Fury’s number two hatch, was a sleek deadly looking Chaalt assault shuttle. Sael had visited Alpha base in one just like it on several occasions. They were flying weapons platforms capable of taking on capital ships a thousand times their size.
Before I could get the words out of my mouth, Sael said it for me. “Klutch, make us a portal!”
The Troop Master didn’t even give her a sideways glance and activated the device without comment. We stepped out into the hangar and cautiously scanned in all directions for any evidence of Prule.
Klutch had no movement and called all clear. Sael however, had a much grimmer report. “My scanners are detecting what I believe to be the remains of two more of my crew.”
Two misshapen blobs were highlighted in my HUD. They were both next to one of the landing struts on the shuttle. It would be easy to overlook them as debris on the hangar deck and not bodies.
“Commander,” Tria said. “Coonts, Klutch, and I will scout the rest of the hangar and set up a defensive perimeter.”
I should have given the order, but was still chewing on our newfound luck. We just might have a way out of this after all. I knew this would fall under the heading of things that were going our way. As my past experiences had taught me, it was a precarious category to heap anything fortuitous into. Whenever we were presented with an unexpected stroke of good providence, it seemed that it would be followed by a large serving of scat. For reasons unknown to me, the scat would somehow be accumulating in inordinately large quantities, and just waiting to enter a ventilator whose duty was to disperse it in equal amounts on each of us.
I walked just behind Sael as she made a slow approach to the shuttle. We scanned in all directions, coming up with nothing. She walked to the remains on the deck and knelt next to them. I took a knee at her six and would give her the time she needed to sort out her findings.
After a few short minutes, she commed me. “Commander, now only twenty-four of my crew are unaccounted for. Due to the decomposition of the bodies, it appears the two have been deceased for a greater period of time than the remains discovered in the brig. I now believe that I have been wrong about how this ship ended up in the custody of the Prule. If we can restore power to the Fury’s main systems, I can query the AI and find out the truth.”
It was a story I knew Sael was eager to hear, and I was equally curious as to how it happened, but we still had more pressing matters to concern ourselves with.
“Sael, we have to secure the ship first, and we still don’t know how long we have until we arrive at our destination.”
Sael nodded in agreement. “If my shuttle has not been compromised, we will have the means to escape or better yet, destroy the Fury if it comes to that.”
I liked the sound of her statement but it was accompanied by the word if. I could hear the distant voice of my grandmother lecturing me from my memories. She always told me “if” was a gambler’s word that seldom pays off. My granny was rarely wrong.
Sael turned on her external mic and whispered a string of alphanumeric code. To my surprise, a blindingly bright light came on underneath the shuttle and the boarding ramp deployed.
“The shuttle’s AI has not been tampered with. If it was, the shuttle would have ignored my emergency access code.”
The flare of the shuttle’s lights brought my strike team in from the darkness. Sael went up the boarding ramp and when I attempted to follow, she warned me off. “I must be unaccompanied when I give my next access code. If the AI scans an alien entity, it may decide I am under duress and attack you.”
Not wanting to fall victim to a friendly fire incident, I took the Principal Investigator's word and stepped away from the boarding ramp. Tria went a step further and led me, Coonts and Klutch back out into the shadows of the big warbird. My audio receiver picked up the soft murmur of Sael’s access code. Her helmet was swept by a faint green beam of light. After what seemed like more than a minute, but in reality, was less than twenty seconds, the hatch silently opened. The ramp was bathed in a welcoming light, and Sael Nalen beckoned us out of the darkness of the hangar. All I could think was, hot damn, things were looking up. I caught myself and grimaced, remembering that there was always the possibility of a scat storm with my name on it.
Once inside of the shuttle, Sael went up to the flight deck with the rest of us in tow. We watched as she secured the shuttle and shut down the exterior lighting. She blacked out all the exterior viewscreens, then ran a system’s check. When she had that complete, she confirmed the shuttle’s weapons loadout. The bird of prey was loaded for bear and ready for a fight.
Sael turned to face us. “We now have options as to our next course of action.” She stared directly at me. “On your orders Commander, I can scan the Fury from the hangar bay and we will know exactly what our opposition consists of. Unfortunately, it will no doubt give the Prule our location. That being said, there is little even the most heavily armed Prule Hunter can do to this shuttle if I activate its shields. There is a possibility the remaining Prule forces will come to us and we will no longer have to wonder where they are located. If that is indeed the correct scenario, I can easily destroy them with the shuttle’s rail cannons.”
We thought about Sael’s statement and came to a consensus at about the same time. Klutch was the first to voice it. “Won’t that destroy the Fury as well?”
Sael turned to the Troop Master. “While it is always a possibility, I don’t think it will destroy the Fury. It will, however, cause irreparable damage to the hull and most assuredly destroy a number of systems that are critical to the operation of the ship.”
Tria was next to comment. “If we choose to take that option, we may be denying ourselves the use of the Fury’s weapons when we arrive at our destination. We may need every weapon this vessel has to offer. Our survival may depend on the Fury’s ability to shoot our way out of a Prule stronghold.”
Coonts looked up at me. “Commander, we have been holding our own. Now that we have additional armament and relatively safe shelter, our odds of retaking the Fury intact have improved. I think it would be to our benefit to take a short rest and recuperate while we can. We might not get a second chance.”
Coonts was right. The Prule on the Fury already knew there was a problem. They just didn’t have any idea how big yet. What was eating at me, was not knowing how long of a transition we were making. For all I knew, we were heading to Andromeda and the trip could take weeks or months. If that was the case, we would own the Fury without opposition well before we got there. I looked at each of my strike team members. “I think Coonts has a very valid point. We have been fighting non-stop for more than sixty hours. If everyone is in agreement, I think a short break would be to our advantage.”
Everyone with the exception of Klutch nodded in agreement. He gave me a look that said we could sleep when we were dead. “Do you have another suggestion Troop Master?”
“Commander, I am not disagreeing with you, but think we should take some precautions first.”
“Okay Klutch, what have you got in mind?”
“Just a little subterfuge Commander.”
Klutch asked The Principal Investigator for one of her prototype mines. She handed it over and he said he would return shortly. I was not about to let him go it alone. I ordered everyone else to take a break and get something to eat while we were gone. The order almost caused an insurrection. Tria grabbed me by the hand and retracted her helmet. She gave me the stink eye until I retracted mine. I thought she was going to give me a kiss for luck. I smiled and puckered up.
She instead grabbed me by the ear none too gently and whispered into it. “Listen up Tarzan, I am not going to disobey your order, but if you make Jane come looking for you, you can forget about being the King of the
Jungle ever again.”
Coonts, Klutch and even Sael all turned away pretending they didn’t see the insubordinate act. My cheeks took on a warm rosy glow and I quickly closed up my helmet. Tria gave me a shove toward the hatch where the Troop Master appeared to be carefully inspecting its every detail. Regaining my dignity, I told Klutch to move out. We went down to the shuttle’s boarding hatch and it automatically opened. We disappeared out into the darkness of the hangar bay with Klutch in the lead. Instead of moving to the big entry door, Klutch led me to the bulkhead that divided the hangar from the brig. Before I could ask him why, he opened a secure private comms channel.
“Commander, I did not want to reveal my plans in front of the Principal Investigator or Tria for that matter.”
“Why is that Troop Master?”
“Because a lot of races do not like to have their dead defiled.” He solemnly answered.
I reached out and grabbed Klutch’s shoulder. “Whoa, Troop Master, what exactly do you mean by defiled? Maybe you better explain what you have in mind.”
“Commander, I intend to use some of the remains of the Chaalt crew to make it appear as if there was a battle that ended in the defeat of both sides. It is my hopes that it will leave the Prule guessing at the outcome of the battle, and possibly slow or halt their search for us.”
I chewed on what he was telling for a few seconds. “And what are you going to do with the mine?”
“I am going to strategically place it amongst the remains and hope that a Hunter meets its end violently.” He replied.
I was slowly grasping the implications of the Tibor’s plan. If more Hunters come to investigate what happened to their counterparts, they will find the remains of our battle. The area will also contain the remains of the Chaalt crew. I guessed that Klutch hoped that an unlucky Hunter would trip the mine before they could examine the remains and determine how long they have been deceased. I also assumed that the Prule would be discouraged by losing another of their numbers and only give the surrounding area a cursory search. With all the compartments being sealed and the armory as the only obvious breached opening. The opposition might assume victory and give up the search.
It seemed like a stretch, so I had to ask. “What makes you think this is going to work Klutch.”
“Because I have done it in the past with favorable results Commander.”
I thought about the grisly job of moving the dead bodies. “How favorable?”
“I am here, aren’t I.”
While it was a valid point, I now wondered how many times it did not work. I finally let it go when the Troop Master made a hole and passed through without further comment. We found ourselves back in the company of Sael’s slaughtered crew. I said a silent apology to my maker and a couple of short prayers. One for the crew and one to hopefully get forgiveness for what we were about to do.
Klutch must have picked up on my unease. “Commander, if you do not wish to disturb the fallen, I understand and will be the one responsible for moving them.”
Since I couldn’t come up with another half-baked scheme that would be any better, I just wanted to be done with it. “No Klutch, let’s just get it over with.”
We gathered the bodies closest to us and pushed them against the wall that joined the armory. It was just another unpleasant job for the Troop Master but it was more than just a little bothersome to me.
I had only moved three of the mutilated cadavers when Klutch commed me. “Commander, that will be sufficient.”
I looked over at the Troop Master. He had twice that many piled up against the wall. I wanted to be doing anything else in the universe and he knew it. “We should recon the armory and the corridor. It could be unhealthy to get discovered while setting our trap.”
“Lead the way Troop Master.”
Klutch made a hole and we went through with our weapons ready. A quick scan revealed we were alone. I went to the breached hatch and scanned the corridor with negative results.
“We should see if the drop tubes are still mined,” Klutch said.
I waved him on and we boosted down the passage to the gravity tubes. Two had the wrecked remains of Prule maintainers lying in heaps at their bottoms. Other than that, there was no movement. The Troop Master reached into his ammo pack and extracted two more grenades. He tossed them upward into the tubes. It was a relief when they did not detonate. It was a good indication we were alone for the moment. We boosted back to the armory and Klutch made a portal next to where we had the remains piled. We went through and then pushed the corpses into the portal, depositing them in the armory. We stepped through and Klutch closed the hole.
“We should leave a couple at the breach Commander, and scatter the rest out around the carcasses of the Prule.”
In the time it took me to gather two of the bodies and distribute them close to the hatch the Troop Master had unceremoniously thrown the pieces and parts of the others out into the corridor amongst the scrap of the bio-machines. He pulled Sael’s proto-type mine from his ammo pack and placed it under a Chaalt corpse. It was the final touch to his plan. The mine would also serve as a wake-up call. We would know when it went off. I had no doubt the blast would be detectable, even inside the shuttle. I took one last look at our macabre handiwork and it left me wondering what other bizarre survival schemes the Troop Master had to cook up to get to where he now stood.
“We better get back to the shuttle Commander, we don’t want to keep Tria waiting.”
I knew Klutch was wearing that big goofy grin he always gives me. “Ha, ha, have I ever told you that you are the funniest alien I have ever met,” I said in a tone that dripped with sarcasm.
“Thank you, Commander, I will take that as the compliment it was meant to be.”
We boosted down the passage and landed in front of the hangar hatch. Klutch quickly made a portal without any input from me. I could have sworn I heard him snickering over our comms. We made our way to the shuttle only to find the rest of the strike team standing on the ramp. Klutch and I landed and hustled up the ramp to meet them. If I had to guess, I would say they were about to come looking for us. Tria, Coonts, and Sael gave us questioning looks.
The Troop Master spoke first. “I set up a diversion that should throw the Prule off long enough that we can take a short rest period.”
All eyes went to Klutch but found their way back to me. I knew they were expecting a little more detail than that. I just shrugged. “If it works as planned, the Prule may give up looking altogether.”
Klutch and I walked past them quickly. Sael was giving me her squinty-eyed look of disbelief but did not ask any questions. She secured the shuttle’s hatch behind us and pointed to the back of the ship where the cargo bay was located. We all followed her and she opened the airlock and walked inside. She purged the cargo bay’s toxic atmosphere and replenished it with breathable air and a tolerable temperature. Once she was satisfied with the readings on the hatch’s control panel, she opened the airlock and walked out into the vacant cargo area.
She pointed to an oversized booth at the back of the bay. “That is a decontamination chamber. I recommend we sanitize our armor.”
She did not have to ask us twice. Our battle suits were caked with blood, guts and only our maker knew what else. We again followed Sael’s lead. I looked around at the bay, remembering the troop capacity of our Chaalt shuttle which was smaller than this one. I took a guess as to its crew and troop capacity. I placed my bet at sixty. We gathered in the middle of the chamber and imitated Sael when she held her arms up. A light blinked red on a panel next to the chambers door and mist sprayed us from multiple nozzles. After about thirty seconds we were swept with beams of light and then the chamber was momentarily sucked down to vacuum and refilled with the atmosphere. The light on the panel blinked green and the door to the chamber opened. We followed Sael to a spot near the hull and she popped the seals on her armor and stepped out. She walked to the opposite side of the bay and hit another control switch. Four
short arms extended from the wall. Each had what looked like showerheads attached to them. My guess was proven correct when Sael shed her suit liner and stood naked under one. She had numerous large bruises on most of her body as did we all. A steam-like spray jetted from the device and Sael briskly rubbed herself down. Without comment, Tria peeled off her liner and started the same ritual.
She pointed to the shower unit next to hers. “I know you could use proper cleansing.” She said with a smile. The pretty alien always had an interesting effect on me when she was naked. It would be inappropriate to have it happen now.
I smiled back and held up a finger. “Coonts, Klutch, you two are next. You probably need it worse than I do.”
Coonts grunted something under his breath and Klutch gave me a toothy grin. They shed their suit liners and without further ado started showering. I went to my armor and messed with the empty ammo pack in a lame attempt at keeping my eyes off the two naked Chaalt warriors. I was tired battered and bruised but was still worried about how my Earth boy instincts might react. To my utter shock and surprise, I turned to find Sael standing close by.
She was giving me a frown. “You do not have to worry about our munitions. This shuttle has a complete armory.”
She leaned over and hit a button on the wall. A cot folded out and she sat down on it and proceeded to put her suit liner back on. I now knew what every detail of her body looked like. I quickly turned around to find Tria standing behind me. She had her suit liner draped over her arm and a raised eyebrow. Among other things, my anxiety level was rising to uncomfortable proportions. Tria noticed my distress and her eyes drifted downward. Sael was watching our interaction and her eyes went south as well.
“Primate!” She muttered, then stretched out on her cot and rolled over.
My cheeks felt like they were on fire as Tria pulled me towards the shower units. Coonts and Klutch were finished and putting their liners back on. When they saw Tria pulling me along, they both walked to where the Principal Investigator was lying and folded out a cot. Neither said a word. I guess I should have thanked them for their discretion, but was having a hard time trying to clear my thoughts. Tria pulling off my suit liner was not helping matters at all. She pushed me under the shower unit and hit the button. The temperature of the spray was not the steamy warmth I saw my strike team enjoying. The spray had to be about thirty-five degrees or so and elicited a loud squawk from me that everyone heard. The return volley of soft snickers from across the deck only added to my growing embarrassment. Tria adjusted the temperature control and my breath returned to normal as did the rest of me. She gave me a quick rub down and then pulled me away from the shower before I was completely dry. I was going to comment, but when she started pulling me toward the flight deck hatch and not in the direction of the cots, I just shut up and went with the flow.
