by Marc Stevens
Sael’s eyes momentarily widened and I heard her mumble over our comms that she should have thought of that.
“Venting now,” Justice called.
There was an audible whoosh as a cloud of dust-like particles briefly filled the bridge. My HUD gave me a low-pressure warning that bottomed out at a vacuum as the atmosphere was purged into the void of hyperspace. After more than four minutes the atmospheric pressure started rapidly rising until it reached normal once again. Sael moved toward the blast doors. They groaned, popped, and grated but only one side partially opened. She quickly passed thru before it ground to a halt. Since I could not think of anything better, we followed behind her as she went back to the aft drop tube. It was a wreck but that did not deter Sael. She stepped off the blackened melted edge and free fell four decks before catching herself with her gravity boosters. She stepped clear and we followed in groups of two with Coonts and Klutch bringing up the rear. We came across the scattered remains of several members of the former crew. Sael stepped over the mutilated corpses and walked straight ahead without looking down. We ended up at another impressive blast door one deck below the engine spaces. Sael placed two of her hands on pads that were on the left side of the door. The heavy door slid silently aside. Sael entered with us close on her heels. There was a large control panel on one wall with two chairs in front of it, the rest of the space was empty except for a thick clear partition with a single large hatch in the middle of it. Several large cone-shaped projections were lining the walls on the other side of the clear divider. I assumed when the transporter operated, everything inside the room on the opposite side of the partition went bye, bye.
My HUD indicated my scanners were operating. Justice was utilizing the scanning capacity of all our battlesuits. Sael walked to the control panel and placed her armored gauntlet in the center of it.
After more than five minutes, Justice called us. “Data collected.”
“What now?” Sael inquired.
“I will need the assistance of Engineer Coonts and the Troop Master to secure power relay cables that are located in the forward machine room on deck two. They are attached to the generators that once operated the anti-boarding systems. We will need them to shunt power from the transporter control panel to power transfer junction box seven-twenty-one, which is located down the corridor from the module. When power is reestablished to the junction box, I can divert it to the shields or the star drives if need be. The modification should free up the remaining generators for the Fury’s main weapons.”
Coonts and Klutch both got directional markers in their HUDS. I waved them on and they both gave me a thumbs-up before taking off down the corridor towards the lift tubes.
I wanted this to be a group effort but didn’t know where to start. “What about the rest of us Justice?”
“I will need the Principal Investigator to reset the power transfer switches on the number two anti-matter cell that was ejected when the Prule shut down the power. It can only be done manually so power cannot be accidentally transferred to a faulty power cell.”
Sael nodded and boosted down the corridor. “What else Justice?” I asked.
“The Fury’s atmospheric scrubbers are operating at minimum capacity. They are also functioning at temperatures well above normal. There is a backup system that should have automatically come online. I suspect the transfer mechanism has been damaged by the Prule and will require you to engage the failsafe systems. I will provide you directional cursors and instruct you on how to initiate the activation sequence.”
I put my hand to the side of Tria’s helmet and smiled at her. She blew me an Earth kiss that made me chuckle. I turned away to follow Justice’s directions. I heard the AI ask Tria to check on the status of the forward torpedo launcher. He said there was no video available from the compartment and the system showed a torpedo was somehow jammed while attempting to load from the rotary magazine. Tria acknowledged the AI’s request and we went our separate ways. Justice guided me up a deck and back toward the engine spaces. As I boosted down another charred passage he highlighted a hatch in front of me on my right. The opening was misshapen and melted around the edges. The machinery and control panels were smashed in many places. If this was the equipment sustaining the ship’s atmosphere, it was a miracle it worked at all. Justice directed me to the rear of the compartment where I found myself standing in front of sealed wall cabinets that resembled gym lockers. Two of them popped open at my approach. Several valves and switches were outlined in my HUD and each had a sequence number.
As I was activating the machinery, Justice gave me a call that I was not expecting. “Commander, I have reenergized several of the Fury’s onboard sensors and I am detecting movement in the forward boarding hatch. The exterior airlock hatch is damaged and I do not have a video feed from that location. My scans reveal it is partially open.”
“Could it be loose debris bouncing around in there?”
“Unknown Commander. It is not repetitive motion. It is also accompanied by an occasional random transient noise that sounds much like someone hitting the interior hatch with a metallic object.”
“Roger that. Have you alerted the others?”
“Negative Commander. Since I cannot associate the phenomena with a direct threat I made you aware first.
“Let Sael know, and when the rest of the team finishes their assigned projects have them meet me at the hatch.”
“Affirmative Commander.”
I finished my task and was rewarded with several lights blinking on in succession on the panel in front of me. I noticed a low-frequency hum sounded throughout the compartment that was gaining in intensity. It hit its peak and Justice sent me a new set of directional cursors. I walked out of the compartment and boosted down the passage wondering what I was going to find when I made it to the hatch in question. I went up a deck and as I exited the tube, met Sael Nalen coming down the passage. I followed her forward until the passage dead-ended at a bulkhead that had a large hatch on it. The hatch had the usual warnings printed across it that were typically associated with an airlock. Sael and I stood for a moment in silence to see if we could hear the noise Justice told us about.
The silence in the passage was only interrupted by Klutch boosting up the passage and landing. “Coonts was not appreciative of my help and insisted on making the cable connections by himself.”
I had a feeling that might not be the actual reason Coonts didn’t want the Tibor around but wasn’t going to question the reason.
Tria gave us a call on our group comms. It was mostly for Sael’s consumption but she wanted us to hear as well. “Principal Investigator, I have located the remains of four more of your crew. Evidence indicates they spent their final moments before they met our maker trying to detonate a torpedo in the rotary magazine. The weapon was rendered unusable after their attempt. I have cleared the obstruction they used to jam the magazine access hatch in the open position. Justice has confirmed it is now operable and the remaining seven torpedos are ready in all aspects. I am on my way to join you.”
“Acknowledged Captain Burlor.” Sael solemnly replied.
We had yet to hear any of the transient noises Justice picked up on his sensors. Judging by the charred condition of the airlock control panel and view screen, we wouldn’t be seeing what was inside or gaining access. The manual door release was a no-go with the outer hatch partially open. Tria came up out of the aft drop tube and was boosting up the corridor when we all heard a metallic clang come from the interior of the airlock. We drew our weapons and crouched on either side of the hatch. The impact was not as loud as a Hunter would make if it wanted inside. It again crossed my mind it could be some sort of loose cable or debris bouncing around.
Klutch looked at me from the other side of the hatch. He was tapping his finger on the portal projector. “There is only one sure way of knowing what is in there Commander.”
I tossed it around in my head for a few seconds wondering if we should just carry on
and perhaps whatever it was, would eventually get sucked out into hyperspace. I looked over my shoulder at Tria and she gave me a nod indicating she wanted to know what was in there as well. The look on Sael’s face said she was still in the mood to do some killing and was wondering what the hell I was waiting for.
“Okay Klutch, we will hang on to you and you take a quick look. Just a fast in and out, so we know what's what.”
The Troop Master gave me a thumbs up and moved to the center of the door. Tria, Sael, and I grabbed onto him firmly.
He gave me a goofy grin and I just shook my head. I didn’t see anything humorous about this situation. I ordered him to proceed. “Do it Klutch.”
He activated the device and leaned into the portal. To our shock, he started thrashing his legs wildly and was almost jerked from our grasp. A non-stop string of Tibor expletives roared out over our comms along with several loud grunts. We pulled as hard as we could and the Troop Master came part of the way back inside the ship, but he was not alone. He had a metallic appendage wrapped around his torso. We used our gravity boosters against the bulkhead and jerked him back inside but also pulled a Prule Hivemind along with him. The Bio-machine’s large bulbous dome was misshapen and charred. Half of its appendages were missing and we could see the melted and sheared-off remains of them gyrating wildly. Klutch had shot it more than once and was smashing his pistol into the remains of its dome. The Hivemind couldn’t take any more of what the Troop Master was dishing out and let go of him. I put a point-blank shot from my pistol into the appendage that had held Klutch. The blast pelted us with metallic shards and we all rolled away from it. Sael yelled out over our comms to check our fire. Klutch either didn’t hear or did not care. He shot the Bio-machine’s remaining leg from its torso. We were hit with another blast of shrapnel.
Sael jumped up and to our surprise stood between us and the Prule. “Cease fire!” She yelled again.
The corridor fell into a tense silence. Klutch, Tria and I, had our pistols aimed at the Hivemind. If it were not for Sael standing in front of us, we would have blasted the Throgg sucking piece of scat to dust.
Sael had all four of her hands held up to us. “Stop before you destroy it!” She yelled. “We need it!”
All our eyes went from the wrecked Bio-machine lying in a heap on the deck to Sael. Needless to say, she was getting some pretty incredulous looks from the three of us.
She cautiously walked up to us and pushed our weapons down. “That is the Hivemind that was operating the gateway. Think about it. When we attacked it, it managed to crawl into the gateway at the same time the Fury was entering.”
We took another look at what was left of the Bio-machine. Sael was right. Klutch and I had hit the Hivemind back at the gateway with a couple of beam shots and I remembered blowing part of its dome off. It took some serious damage but still crawled into the gateway before we could use it as a shield against the oncoming hordes of Prule. We slowly got to our feet and walked to where the Prule was on the deck. We had definitely put a hurt on it. Without its energy cannon or tentacles, it was helpless to defend itself.
A voice speaking in Chaalt crackled out from the Hivemind. “My underlings control this vessel and you will pay with your lives for what you have done. You will be slowly eviscerated and I will take great pleasure in watching you die!”
Klutch barked out a laugh. “The last time a Hivemind spoke to us like that, we expended the contents of our bladders into its containment tank. The surviving entities drowned in our waste. If you continue to disrespect your new masters, you will suffer a similar fate.”
I could not have said it more appropriately if I had tried. A noise from down the corridor made us turn around. It was Coonts boosting down the corridor from the lift tubes.
He squinted his eyes at Klutch. “You told me you were on your way to secure a faulty airlock hatch.”
Klutch just shrugged his wide shoulders. “You would not have been much help whether you were here or not.”
The two deserved each other, but that didn’t mean we wanted to hear them discuss how much. “That will be enough of that. Make yourselves useful and drag this piece of Throgg excrement to the brig and stand watch over it. Justice will let you know if we need you.”
“We need the remaining entities to arrive alive!” Sael quickly added.
The two clowns were making some ugly faces at one another but spared us any more commentary. They latched onto the stubs that were once the Hivemind’s appendages and dragged it down the corridor. By the way they were gesticulating at each other, I knew they were on a discreet comms frequency having a very unintelligent conversation. When they got to the lifts they didn’t bother trying to carry the Hivemind down the inoperable tube, they heaved the Prule over the side and let it fall to the hangar deck. When Klutch leaned into the tube to take a look down at their handiwork, Coonts pushed him in, sending him flailing down the tube headfirst.
Sael looked over at me frowning. “They will kill the remaining entities if they continue to disobey my order.”
“Don’t worry Sael, a Hivemind has several million entities. Killing another hundred thousand or so will only make the piece of scat think we have no use for it. I’m sure if it has to listen to Coonts and Klutch bicker at each other, it will be more than happy to disclose whatever information you want in exchange for some peace and quiet.”
“The Hivemind will know where we are going and possibly how much longer it will take.” She hissed back at me.
I had to admit Sael had a valid point. Maybe leaving the care of the Hivemind to Coonts and Klutch might have been a little hasty. “Sael perhaps it would be a good idea if you relieved Coonts and Klutch so they can continue the maintenance on the Fury. You will be able to interrogate the Hivemind as long as you see fit.”
She shook her head and boosted down the corridor. It was our experience the Hivemind wouldn’t give up anything useful unless it felt it had an advantage. It was also our experience that the Bio-machines plotted our demise non-stop. I doubted if this one would be any different.
I wanted to occupy my time with something that could help our situation. “Justice, did the power transfer from the transporter module improve our chances if we have to make a run for it?”
“Yes, Commander. The additional power source will give the Fury fifty percent of its shield capacity. That effectively increases our chances for survival by thirty-one percent. If it comes down to ship on ship combat in a more than three to one engagement our odds of…”
“That will be all Justice. I need a break from hearing any more bad news and only want to hear something positive for a change. What have you got in that category?”
“The shuttle in the hangar bay has an operable jump drive and is capable of making a standard transition. While it remains to be seen how far we have traveled, you still have the means of escape if the shuttle is not targeted by overwhelming firepower.”
That was mostly good news but it had a sour aftertaste. “Is there anything else we can do to prepare the Fury for a fight?”
“Not without going outside of the hull Commander. There are a large number of cloaking emitters that have been disassembled by the Prule and several that are missing altogether. I surmise the Prule have removed the emitters for further study.”
“Are there any spares in the ship’s stores?”
“No Commander, evidence indicates the crew may have intentionally destroyed them so they would not fall into enemy hands.”
Even though I asked for good news our conversation ended back up on the bad side. “I take it we have done what we can to prepare for what lies ahead?”
“As well as can be expected, Commander.”
4
Tria and I decided to go to the galley and try to eat something while we still had the chance. When we got there we found that Coonts and Klutch had decided to do the same. Their conversation quickly ended with our approach and we appreciated the effort. To break the forced silence I asked Kl
utch if there was anything to eat other than Chaalt rations. He stated no because he doubted if the Chaalt ever intended to have any guest aboard. He also said he had eaten worse. I was happy to find the Tibor was exaggerating. The selections Tria made for me were not that bad at all.
Sael entered the galley with a frown on her face. “The Hivemind will not speak to me.” She turned and narrowed her eyes at Coonts and Klutch. “Which one of you shot the Prule against my orders?”
Coonts and Klutch both quickly pointed at each other. I massaged my temples, hoping the headache I felt coming on was not going to get worse.
“What is the matter with you!” Sael yelled. “We could die at any moment and you choose to act like imbeciles! We need to find out what the Hivemind knows about our destination.”
Rather than tell Sael to go jump in some Throgg scat, Coonts and Klutch pushed their trays away and got up to leave.
As they walked by me, Klutch turned and mumbled under his breath. “Commander, she did not say a word about not shooting it, and it did arrive alive. At least it was the last time we saw it.”
