Deep Hydra

by Michael Formichelli

  Which way? she thought at her PLIA.

  [Interfacing with foreign computer system… Hacking firewall…]

  In the distance something sounded over the hum of the ship, though she couldn’t identify what it was. The distant sound repeated, louder, closer, and on her right side. She turned towards it, raising her weapon to her shoulder and bracing herself.

  The sound resolved into thumping footsteps. A moment later a gray and green, mottle-skinned Galaenean dressed in a stained flight suit came running around the turn. His silver eyes locked onto her.

  She squeezed the trigger.

  A burst off three rounds thundered through him and the Galaenean fell. Carried forward by his momentum he bounced off the deck, drifted, and came to rest at her feet with terrified eyes.

  For a moment she thought she was the cause, but it dawned on her that he wore an expression of fear even before spotting her.

  A terrified Galaenean on an Orgnan ship? What was going on?

  She licked her dried lips beneath her armacorium and tried to still her racing heart. Her PLIA finished hacking the system while she was dealing with the Galaenean and a holographic arrow appeared in her UI showing the way out.

  She headed for the T-intersection. Her PLIA lead her left and into a long corridor interrupted by an open airlock half-way down its length and another at its terminal end. There was movement between the two, a group of a dozen Orgnan and Galaeneans were advancing away from her. If she was quiet enough, she figured she could slip through and find a place to hide until they left.

  She moved silently into the airlock.

  An alarm burst to life as she stepped into the broad chamber and drew the attention of the armed crewmen heading for the far end.

  “Fuck!” Cygni shouted as they turned around and opened fire. She retreated, making it back behind the turn with a spray of bullets pinging off the pipes around her.

  “Let me go! My father’s back there and he’s going to kill your ass!” a young boy’s voice rang out over the din.

  She spun around carbine first but yanked it off target when she saw a bald man in a black suit dragging a young boy with curly red hair. The boy was kicking at the man’s shins and pulling on his arm but the man held fast. She was so preoccupied with the boy that she missed the gun in the man’s hand until he raised it and opened fire.

  Her ears rang when the bullet hit her forehead and knocked her back against the wall. The armacorium vibrated around her body, redistributing the impact energy as the bullet bounced off and drifted to the ground.

  “What the fuck?” the man said and fired three more times.

  The bullets hammered her in the chest and gut. A wave of dizziness passed through her as she swayed under the impacts, but her armor held.

  She raised her carbine but held off, afraid she would hit the boy.

  “What the hell are you? Some kind of Void-damned robot?” The man half-growled and took aim again.

  “Let the boy go.” She was unable to think about anything but freeing the boy from whoever the hell this was. This was no ordinary Orgnan ship. The man troubled her almost more than the Organan in the cargo bay did.

  “I don’t have time for—”

  “Motherfucker!” The boy used the man’s arm to swing around and slam both feet into the man’s crotch.

  Distracted by Cygni, the man tried to react but was too slow and the air rushed out of his lungs. The boy slammed his foot into the man’s groin once more, doubling him over and causing him to drop the gun and let go.

  “Down,” Cygni said.

  The boy dove to the side as her finger squeezed the trigger.

  The man’s head exploded in a flurry of bone and gore. His pale, lifeless body drifted backward to the deck like a falling reed.

  Cygni lowered her carbine, swallowing against the urge to throw up, and scanned the boy with her PLIA. He was bruised but otherwise uninjured.

  “Are you all right?” she asked over the sound of continued gunfire around the corner.

  The boy looked at her with suspicious, blue eyes. A wave of dizziness passed over her and she almost threw up inside her armacorium but managed to fight down the bile. By the time she looked up the boy was smiling at her.

  She waved him over, checking the corridor behind her and covering the one ahead with her weapon. The boy hurried over, grabbed the man’s gun from the deck, and pressed his back into the wall like he’d done it before. A sloppy grin appeared on his freckled face.

  “Heh, you’re naked, lady.”

  She looked at him in shock. “Ah, no. I’m wearing armor.”

  “It looks like you’re naked.” The boy giggled.

  She blinked. “I’m not.”

  He shrugged, but the grin remained.

  Her eyes went down to the gun. It looked huge in the boy’s hands.

  “Better leave that alone,” she said.

  He gave her an incredulous look. “Are you nuts, lady? This is a firefight.”

  “A firefight? Who are you?” She couldn’t believe she was getting so much attitude from him. Wouldn’t a normal kid his age be terrified? “This isn’t your first, is it?”

  He shook his head. “Dad and I have been in a few. I know what to do. I’m Rune.”

  “Cygni.” This whole situation was getting more bizarre by the moment.

  “Wanna help me find my dad? He’s outside, I think.”

  She blinked. “Ah, yeah. Outside is good.”

  “Cool. Lead on, Cyg.” The kid brushed a lock of hair from his eyes and winked at her.

  She stared at him. Her brain refused to process it.

  “Watch out!” the kid said.

  [Approaching contacts.]

  Three Orgnan in light armored suits came running around the bend behind them.

  Cygni’s engrams reacted again. She fired two shots in rapid succession. The right eyes of both Orgnan exploded. Their bodies drifted to the deck, limp and lifeless. The third kept coming, but the boy shot him in the knee. He stumbled into range and Cygni’s left leg snapped out in a vicious arc that caved in his potato-shaped head.

  His limp body shuddered and slammed into the wall across from her. It rebounded and she grabbed it by the collar of its armor.

  [Recommend course of action,] her PLIA prompted. Its plan unfolded in her mind.

  “Sweet moves,” Rune’s eyes went from the dead Orgnan to her and back.

  “Nice shot.” She eyed the gun in the kid’s hand and chewed the inside of her cheek.

  “You know, he could be our meat shield,” Rune said.

  She blinked, startled that the kid just suggested the same plan as her PLIA.

  “Um, yeah. Good idea. Stay behind me.”

  “I’m not stupid, lady.” He grinned, then took a closer look at the dead Orgnan in her hand. “Cool.”

  “Ugh.” She shook her head and turned toward the way out. Concentrate on getting out of here and try not to think, she told herself.

  With a deep breath, she moved forward. Her armacorium-enhanced strength and the low gravity allowed her to prop up the Orgnan with one hand, facing him outward as if he were moving under his own volition. The illusion might hold in a firefight as long as no one realized his legs were dragging on the floor.

  She gritted her teeth and moved around the corner.

  The crew down the corridor were now in the airlock. She took them by surprise, and they hesitated long enough to make the mistake fatal. She wedged her carbine under the Orgnan’s dangling arm and held the trigger down. Rolling thunder filled her ears as she swept the barrel back and forth until the weapon ran dry.

  Step, breathe, step, breathe—she felt the body in her hand shudder a few times as they returned fire, but she refused to let it, or the icy feeling in her veins stop her. She had to get out and the boy had to live. This was the only way, though it was madness.

  Step, breathe, step, breathe.

  The gun hummed in her hand, but no longer did it thunder out supersonic death. It
dawned on her that she still had her finger on the trigger.

  “Shit,” she said. “Stay behind me. I need your gun.”

  Cygni dropped down to one knee, hoping the boy would be smart and use her armored body as a shield while she reached back to grab his weapon. He pressed the gun into her open palm, but that wasn’t what sent a sigh of relief through her whole body.

  The air was silent.

  She almost laughed. Had she got them all? She peered around the massive form of her dead shield and groaned.

  There was another group of crewmen, larger than the last. Their presence was obscured by the first group before, but now they were in each other’s clear line of sight. The corridor was only wide enough for four Galaeneans or two Orgnan to stand abreast. To compensate they put three Galaeneans in the front, and two Orgnan behind them holding larger weapons.

  Cygni wasn’t sure what kind of ship the slavers were docked with, but she could see its walls past their heads and beyond a make-shift barrier of metal crates. The style of construction was different, and the low gravity made her wonder if it was an FTL vessel of some kind or a planetary or lunar base that wasn’t of Solan origin.

  The second group opened fire. Bullets tore at her Orgnan shield, sending splashes of its clear, slimy blood flying through the air.

  “On your right,” Rune said.

  She turned her head and spied a side-corridor that came in at an angle facing them. Two Galaeneans ran toward them with guns in hand. Her borrowed reflexes brought her arm up and dropped them both with two squeezes of the trigger.

  She shuddered. The ease of it frightened her and she felt her stomach churn.

  [Gunfire detected,] her PLIA announced. It flashed new targets on her tactical map, showing the source of the sounds as beyond the group of hostiles in front of them.

  One of the Orgnan screamed, “Behind us!” and turned to fire.

  She didn’t know what lay beyond their barricade but figured it might be the only chance she and the boy had. Cygni stood, took a step forward, and spun her body around hauling the dead Orgnan with it. With a cry she hurled the corpse like a big, fleshy rock into the midst of her attackers.

  Her meat-shield broke their line when it slammed into them. Its bulk forced two of the Galaeneans to dive to the sides, a move that her reflexes were quick to take advantage of. She put two bullets into both before they hit the ground. One of the Orgnan turned to fire on the newcomers beyond the barricade. His body vibrated with the impacts of their bullets, but he remained standing until she put one in the back of his head.

  Ignoring the firefight behind him, the last Galaenean lowered his carbine at her. She had her gun on him. She should have fired but something in his silver eyes stopped her. They looked almost familiar, like Pawqlan’s… She frowned. The Galaenean took aim.

  “Down!” the boy’s cry hammered into her brain. She felt her legs give out as both of them dove for the deck. It took longer than she expected in the low gravity, but it saved them as bullets ripped the Galaenean and the last Orgnan to pieces in a hail of metal death.

  She found herself staring at the grated deck. She failed to shoot the Galaenean even when he pointed his gun at her.

  It was him or me, why didn’t I fire? I killed the others, why not him?

  “Are you all right?” a deep, female voice said.

  “Yup. This lady helped a bit,” Rune responded.

  Before she could look up, she felt a strong hand on the back of her neck. Her body was hoisted up into the air by a being with dark skin, purple eyes, and Abyssian clothing.

  Cygni gasped, her eyes growing wide to the point of pain. She tried to think but her mind balked at the prospect of being so close to escape only to fall into the hands of another Abyssian.

  The Praetor stared at her pistol as the crackling of gunfire fell silent behind her.

  She dropped the weapon.

  “You can put her down,” Rune said.

  To her shock, the Abyssian listened.

  What the hell? Why isn’t the Praetor killing me? And why is she listening to the boy? It made no sense at all. It was as though, while unconscious, she was spirited away to some alternate dimension where everything was upside down.

  Cygni chanced a glance down the hallway, looking for a glimpse of the door that would have led to her freedom. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the man entering the corridor. This was the first time seeing him in person, but his gray eyes and rugged features were well known to her. She spent hours staring at them, pondering what thoughts he could be thinking. It was strange that he wasn’t wearing his Abyssian uniform, but she was too shocked to think it through. Her heart raced. There was a small chance that maybe, just maybe, she was about to get her first real break since this whole mess began.

  He came up beside the purple-eyed Abyssian and cocked an eyebrow. It occurred to her that a silver woman wasn’t exactly the most normal sight in the Spur.

  A Relaen in a CSA uniform came up on his other side, and then one in an armored space suit that read “Ol’Lekhura Ship Authority” over his breast joined them.

  “I am Cygni Lau Aragón, and I surrender to Praetor Graves.” She raised her hands.

  He looked shocked. The Relaen in the CSA uniform—Agent Khepria, she realized—stood with vibrating ears.

  “Praetor Graves? What? Wait a moment. Ship’s Authority have jurisdiction here. You’re under arrest.” The male Relaen tried to push past Khepria and the Abyssian.

  She felt her heart jump. “No, wait, I surrendered to the Abyssians.”

  “Doesn’t matter.” The male took a step forward with his gun raised.

  “Nero, please.” She watched him startle at the sound of his name. “I have information about Siren. I can help you!”

  The male Relaen raised his foot to finish crossing the distance between them and was shoved back by the female Abyssian. He dropped his gun in shock, then his expression darkened.

  “What is the meaning of this? This woman and the rest of the crew of this ship are prisoners of the Ol’Lekhura Ship Authority by every space law on the books!”

  “Not anymore,” the female Praetor said. “This woman is now a prisoner of the Abyssian Order.”

  “You can’t! This ship is a sovereign nation under treaty with the Confederation. Our authority is—”

  “Lodge a complaint if you don’t like it,” Nero cut in. “This woman is her prisoner now. If you want to be a help, go get her something to wear.”

  “What? You better stand down. My men won’t let you past without my say so.”

  “Are you threatening servants of Daedalus?” the female Abyssian asked.

  The male Relaen’s jaw dropped open and his long, pointed ears danced in the air. “Ah, no, of course not. I only meant—”

  “Clothing. Go. Now.” Nero jerked a thumb toward his back.

  “Yes, of course.” The male Relaen frowned and stalked back the way he came.

  “Um, I surrendered only to the Abyssian Order.” Cygni eyed Agent Khepria. She had no desire to see the inside of a CSA jail cell again.

  “Okay.” Her ears twitched.

  “Okay?”

  “Yes,” she responded.

  “Kae says these idiots wouldn’t let him by until it was too late.” Nero looked distressed. “We still don’t know where Laska is, and I don’t want him getting away to talk about us.”

  “Station security will lift the lock-down soon now that the firefight is over,” Agent Khepria said.

  Cygni gave Nero a puzzled look.

  “Don’t worry about it. She killed him.” Rune made shooting sounds and mimicked a gun with his fingers.

  Nero and Khepria seemed to see him for the first time. A broad, relived grin appeared on Nero’s face.

  “Thank the Void, you’re alive!” He knelt down and gave the boy a tight hug which Rune fought against until he was released.

  “Don’t be weird,” the kid muttered.

  “We are grateful. Your fa
ther is worried sick,” Khepria said.

  “So was I,” Nero stated.

  Rune looked the Abyssian over. “You revealed yourself.”

  “Correct. We are now in danger of Daedalus sending an Abyssian here via FTL transmission,” she said.

  “What?” Nero frowned.

  “True Abyssians are purely synthetic.”

  “And Relaen world ships have large autosynths for printing replacement parts and supplies,” Khepria stated.

  Nero’s eyes widened. “Fuck.”

  “Exactly,” the Abyssian said.

  “Wait, what’s going on? Aren’t you an Abyssian?” Cygni asked.

  “The probability that I remain one is low at this time,” she responded.

  “It’s a ruse,” Rune whispered to her.

  She blinked. “What?”

  “Who is this again?” Nero jerked a finger at her.

  “Cygni Lau Aragón, formerly of the Spur Herald, formerly of the Umbral Service,” the Abyssian who was not an Abyssian went on. “—Currently presumed dead.”

  “Dead?” Nero gave her a look.

  “The local database has her reported dead in a news burst from the capital. She died in a botched raid on Intelligent Systems Incorporated,” the Abyssian stated.

  Nero frowned.

  “It’s not what it looks like,” Cygni said. “We were trying to save the Cronuses from Premier Dorsky. He ordered them killed and…” The image of Biren exploding beneath the Praetor’s boot filled her mind’s eye. She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. What does is that I can help you. I have information. You’re going after Zalor Revenant, right? And the VoQuana? I want to help. Please.”

  She couldn’t believe the urge within her gut pushed her to go to Kosfanter, but it did. Helping them might help herself and her friends. After watching Biren die and being captured by the Orgnan she needed something positive; she needed something to work out.

  Nero gave her a pointed look and appeared to be conversing with someone over his implant. While he did, the Relaen officer returned with a generic-looking blue space suit and offered it to her. She waved him off, ordering her PLIA to shift her armor to her favorite outfit, a yellow jacket over a black jumpsuit. The officer’s ears vibrated and his mouth dropped open.