Repel Boarders

by Dean Henegar

  The rocket flew from the tube and streaked toward the other compartment. When it reached the halfway point, it suddenly stopped. The rocket motor still burned, but the weapon was just hovering in the middle of the shooting range. Illissa floated into the room, her shield glowing. Her hand was raised toward the rocket, holding it in place with some unknown power. The eye slits of the invader’s helmet glowed blue as she made a grasping motion with her hand.

  The rocket crumpled like it was made of cardboard and fell to the deck in pieces, its warhead not having shot far enough to arm itself. The other invaders poured into the compartment as the humans overcame their shock and started opening fire. With a leap, the invader with the pistols entered the room and shot into the corners. He dropped the hovering recon drones before rolling to the side and hitting both combat bots even as they tried to swivel their weapons to target him.

  Camden began firing off controlled, three-round bursts at the invader who had just destroyed the drones. The attacker rolled again to avoid the first burst but then caught the next right on his helmet. With a motion guaranteed to cause a severe case of whiplash, his head jerked back as the rounds hit, the helmet proving strong enough to deflect the burst that hit it. Unfortunately for the pistol-wielding attacker, the helmet didn’t do much to mitigate the shock of the blow; he stood there stunned from the strike and was an easy target for Lieutenant Camden’s next burst. Three rounds struck the attacker in his already compromised chest armor. Slater watched the humans’ enhanced rounds easily pierce what remained of the armor. Like before, there were three small pops as the rounds’ explosive tips did their work and the invader’s chest briefly puffed out from the explosions occurring inside. The pistol-wielding attacker slumped to the floor, dead.

  The invader with the weapon on his shoulder opened fire on Private Harris. Purple darts streamed from the invader’s weapon, and Harris was forced to drop to the floor of the bunker in order to avoid them. The two continued to exchange fire as the battle raged around them.

  Sergeant Gonzales engaged the enemy leader and her glowing shield of energy with his machine gun. The weapon spat out a steady stream of fire against the strange shield. Illissa looked stunned as she tried to keep up her defense. The volume of fire was too much for whatever mysterious power protected her, and with a sizzling snap, the shield shattered. Rounds skittered off her golden armor, and scales flew off as she collapsed from the onslaught.

  “No!” Siratas screamed as Illissa dropped under the incredible firepower that Gonzales was unleashing on her. The attacker moved in a blur toward the bunker that Gonzales and Long were in. The three pairs of claymore mines fired. First there was a flurry of laser bolts. Then a second explosion showered the area with a deadly hail of steel balls. Siratas wasn’t touched by the fire, his impossible speed outrunning the chaos of destruction his passing left behind.

  Private Long had dropped the empty rocket launcher and was just pulling up his rifle when Siratas appeared inside the bunker. The invader ignored Long and thrust his crystalline blade into Sergeant Gonzales’s shoulder. The blade ignored the sergeant’s armor, tearing into his flesh and causing him to drop his weapon. Before Long could raise his rifle to fire at the sword-wielding freak, a flash of fur, teeth, and tail sailed out from the corner of the bunker and latched onto Siratas’s sword arm. He released his blade, which remained inside Sergeant Gonzales’s body, the tip of the weapon going completely through and pinning the poor sergeant to the side of the bunker.

  Mr. Bitey ground his teeth and claws against the attacker’s arm, scales flying from the armor as the bilge rat’s tail struck. The metallic tip clinked off the armor time and again in search of a weak point. Siratas moved his other hand toward the pistol at his belt, but Private Long was having none of that. He thrust the barrel of his rifle under Siratas’s chin, flipped the selector lever from burst to full auto, and held down the trigger. The rounds tore through Siratas’s armor, penetrating the skull and exploding there. Luckily, the invader’s helmet contained the explosive force of the rounds. Gore poured from the bottom of Siratas’s helmet as Private Long ceased fire.

  Slater watched as the boxes his humans had set up in the middle of the range began to move in response to Siratas’s passage. The sides of the boxes dropped down, providing a stable base as the barrel of the device’s weapon swiveled into view. The weapons themselves looked like a cut-down version of the machine gun Gonzales had been firing. The pair of automated turrets scanned for hostile targets, locking onto the attacker trading fire with Harris. Both weapons ripped out long bursts across the body of the last attacker standing. His armor was useless against the turret’s heavy rounds, each shot punching through the armor and exploding within the attacker’s body. With their target destroyed, the turrets continued to whir about, looking for more hostiles.

  “Cease fire!” Lieutenant Camden ordered.

  “Harris, bring the aid bag. Sergeant Gonzales is hurt!” Long shouted.

  Harris grabbed the large medical kit he had inside the bunker. Each of the humans seemed to be cross-trained in multiple areas, yet all of them were deadly soldiers. Private Long was the drone operator, Gonzales handled demo, and Harris was apparently their medic.

  Private Harris kicked Long and Mr. Bitey out of the bunker, then began to frantically work on Gonzales. He placed a scanner over the sergeant, checking his vitals and trying to both inject medicine and deal with the strange sword sticking out of him. Very little blood seeped from the wound, and Slater couldn’t tell if that was a good sign or a bad one. As the medic worked, the rest of Slater’s humans exited the bunkers and approached the fallen enemy.

  “Lieutenant Camden, I am going to release my MOBS to try and take the attacker’s ship. Is it safe for them to pass your turrets?” Slater asked, concerned that the enemy ship would escape.

  “They’re fine. I made sure all your MOBS are friendly for our weapons,” Camden replied, checking to make sure all the foes were indeed dead.

  The MOBS from the bridge and the bilge rats from the core room grouped up before charging through the derelict and toward the entry hatch. The MOBS that had been bypassed earlier gathered in the garbage compartment, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

  Strangely, Mr. Bitey stayed at Private Long’s side and ignored the aggressive-mode setting Slater had ordered for the MOBS. Curious, he looked further at the bilge rat; the thread of connection he had placed between the rat and Long had grown. The connection with the private was now greater than the connection to Slater. He didn’t know what to think of this. Was it the result of casting off more of the council’s shackles, or was there something special about these humans?

  “Doctor Cheng, I need some assistance with Sergeant Gonzales. He’s been seriously wounded,” Harris asked, clearly shaken by the sergeant’s injuries.

  “I’m not that kind of doctor, Harris, but I’ll do what I can. I’m on my way,” Doctor Cheng replied.

  “Got a live one here. Long, bring some restraints,” Lieutenant Camden ordered while pointing the barrel of his rifle at Illissa. Long hurried over with a handful of quick restraints.

  “Need to get her armor off for these to work right, sir,” Long said, moving to unlatch Illissa’s helmet. It took a few moments for Long to locate the mechanism that released the helm. It hissed as the seal was broken and slid easily off Illissa’s head. Long and Camden both looked down in shock at their captive. Slater zoomed in to get a look for himself. Illissa’s face was pale and had very human features. The woman appeared to be in her late twenties. Her piercing blue eyes glowed with the remnants of the power she had wielded earlier in the fight. Blood slowly leaked from various cuts and abrasions on her face, and she looked completely out of it. Her long red hair was pulled back behind a pair of large pointed ears.

  “Uh, sir, is that an elf?” Private Long asked.

  “If it is, it’s one that can crush rockets with a motion from her hand. Better get those restraints on her quick, Private,” Camden o
rdered.

  Doctor Cheng had arrived and was now in the bunker, helping Harris. Private Long fumbled about, eventually figuring out the controls for the captive’s armor. Once activated, the scaled armor dropped in pieces to the deck, too badly damaged to maintain its integrity.

  Under the armor, the captive wore coveralls with a strange logo on the shoulder. Portions of the coveralls were torn where the machine gun rounds had hit and deflected off the armor, and the flesh underneath was bruised and oozed blood. The leader’s armor had proven more durable than that worn by her team, preventing the machine gun rounds from penetrating into her flesh, but the sheer force of the impact had done bad things to the slender elf-like body.

  Private Long pulled the prisoner’s hands behind her back, the quick restraints automatically pulling tight. The captive’s legs were also bound, and the two sets of restraints were linked together. Illissa looked like she was coming to her senses by the time Long had finished with the restraints.

  “No, release me at once, barbarian,” she weakly muttered.

  “I don’t think so. What I do think we’ll do is ask you a few questions,” Slater told her.

  The glow in her eyes intensified as she went perfectly still, her vision focused elsewhere. “You try to take the council’s ship? No, this will not be permitted,” Illissa said.

  Slater turned his focus to the alien vessel; his forces had grouped up and were just beginning to board. Once again, he was not able to see inside the other vessel; the drones that could have provided a video feed had been destroyed. Slater could use his bond with the MOBS to sense where they were. Several of his kobolds and rats were killed in the initial storming of the ship, but there was no more resistance before his kobolds spread out to search the vessel.

  The nanobots were still unable to draw any power or salvage from the attached vessel. Somehow, it was resisting his attempts even though he had broken the council’s hold over his nanobots. Without warning, the boarding hatch on his derelict slammed closed an instant before the attached vessel pushed off from his ship. It drifted away a short distance, still close enough for Slater to feel the connection to his MOBS.

  “You will not have the council’s vessel. Better to lose all than have its power fall into the hands of the abomination,” Illissa said as her eyes flared up bright. Power crackled around the elf, only flicker out after a few moments.

  “My task is complete. Grant me a swift death,” Illissa said as she lost consciousness once more.

  The derelict rocked as some force slammed into it. Slater placed his view on the outside of the hull, watching as the elf ship self-destructed. Waves of colored energy pulsed through the ship, and everything aboard it was disintegrated down to a molecular level. His boarding party and his prize were taken from him. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be the last thing taken from him today.

  “Sir, Gonzales is gone. We’ve lost him,” a subdued Harris said. His hands and uniform were covered in the blood of his sergeant. Doctor Cheng stood at his side, tears streaming from her eyes. The ship was quiet as they all contemplated their loss and tried to come to grips with the reality of the situation. They were in the middle of the unknown, far from humanity and with no idea how to get home. The silence was only broken by the sounds of the drones as they went about their business of harvesting the detritus of battle. Slater ordered them to stay away from Sergeant Gonzales. He owed the man and his friends the opportunity to decide what to do with him.

  — 26 —

  Slater watched the soldiers and Doctor Cheng just stand there in silence as the drones went about their work. The prisoner lying on the ground near the humans was dangerous, and he needed to build a cell for her before she woke up. Building a cell was easy; deciding where to place it was the hard part. There was an empty compartment between the space he had reserved for the med bay—a research tree he felt guilty about not pursuing sooner—and his core room. He didn’t want the powerful foe that close to his core. He also didn’t want her anywhere near the entrance, where she could potentially escape or join forces with any other groups that might board his ship.

  He finally decided on the empty compartment between the engineering bay and the barracks. It was just past the midpoint of his derelict and would make it difficult for her to escape, forcing her to face rooms full of hostile MOBS in either direction. It was far enough from the entrance that he could move her farther into the derelict if there was a danger of her being rescued.

  Not entirely sure what her powers were, Slater designed a multistage holding cell. The cell was placed in the center of the compartment and had the basic amenities for human—or, in this case, elf—life. There was a small cot, toilet, sink, and chair, none of which he designed to be particularly comfortable. The only concession to privacy was a thin sheet she could draw around the toilet when it was in use.

  The cell was enclosed with thick bars that should keep her well-confined. If that wasn’t enough, he constructed a soundproof metal box that could be dropped from the ceiling to cover the cage. A pair of drones were always in the room. If her eyes began to glow again, they would immediately drop the box over the cage. In a worst-case scenario, gun ports could be opened from the outside of the soundproof box to shoot at the captive. He didn’t have any idea if these precautions were insufficient or overkill, but with the death of one of his humans, he wasn’t taking any more chances.

  The drones moved the prisoner into her cell, keeping the restraints on her for the time being; she would need to earn the privilege of having them removed. With the prisoner sorted for the moment, Slater tried to figure out what to do with the now-dejected humans. He was feeling down as well and had wanted so badly to see his homeworld again. Lieutenant Camden was taking it the hardest, just sitting there on the floor with his head in his hands.

  What should he do? The lieutenant was in no condition to lead for the time being, and Slater was the highest-ranking officer on the vessel. He didn’t know if the admiralty really expected him to be in command or if his reinstated rank was just intended to be honorary and act as a ploy to help gain his cooperation. Regardless of the intent, he was the captain and the ranking member of this group. It was time to assert some authority and get his people busy.

  “Lieutenant Camden, what do you wish to be done with Sergeant Gonzales’s remains?” Slater asked.

  The lieutenant stood up and hurled his helmet against the far wall before replying. “What do I care, you freak? I know you’re just going to gobble him up and spit out a happy army of little Gonzaleses, aren’t you?” Camden yelled at Slater.

  “You may have noticed, Lieutenant, that my drones have purposefully avoided the sergeant’s corpse out of respect for the man. I also would remind you of your duty. Pull yourself together,” Slater snapped back. He was rapidly losing patience with Camden.

  “My duty? What does duty matter anymore? Who cares what I do out here in the middle of nowhere? Will duty bring us back to Earth? Will duty bring me back to my family, my wife, and my daughter? No, it will not,” Camden said, sliding down to the deck once more.

  Slater hadn’t considered that his humans might have loved ones. Many normal human thoughts and interactions were all too easy to forget in his current state.

  “I’m sorry, Lieutenant Camden. I’m sorry to all of you. What happened was outside of my control. I wish I could have stopped it, but I could not. Don’t forget, Lieutenant Camden, that I too have lost my family. I’ve been gone for over 130 years. Everyone I’ve ever known, everyone I have ever cared about, has been dead for decades. There is no way to bring back my family. There is no way to make me a flesh and blood human once more. There is no way we can find our way back home . . . yet. That’s right, Lieutenant. I may not have anyone waiting for me back on Earth, but I’ll be damned if I give up, or let you give up, on returning you to your loved ones. I will do everything in my considerable power to bring you back to them.

  “I can’t do this alone. All of us will have a part to play, an
d I need your help, Lieutenant Camden. Your men need your help,” Slater said to them all, emphasizing Camden’s rank as he sought to remind the man of his responsibilities. The lieutenant looked up, still distraught, but he was clearly thinking about what had been said.

  “Lieutenant, get your men to work. You have to make arrangements for our fallen, and I know there are weapons and gear to service,” Slater said. “In case you don’t realize it, Lieutenant Camden, that’s an order. I have been granted command of this vessel by the admiralty, which makes me the highest-ranking officer here. I don’t plan to step on your toes when it comes to leading your men, but I will crack the whip on you if you aren’t fulfilling your obligations to them and to your ship.”

  The lieutenant looked angry. Slater would take that; angry was better than depressed.

  Camden’s face softened a bit as he stood up tall. “Roger that, sir. I’ll get the men to work,” he replied with a salute. He held the pose for a moment before going to work. “Private Long, get Sergeant Gonzales’s gear stripped off him and get him dressed in a clean uniform. Harris, clean and reload the turrets before seeing to your personal gear. Doctor Cheng, if you would be so kind as to work with the captain and try to find out where we are in the galaxy. Sir, I would like to request we commit Sergeant Gonzales’s remains to space, as is the tradition of the navy.”

  Slater thought about the last bit. He really didn’t want to lose out on the human pattern, but that was the derelict in him talking. He didn’t know if he could handle seeing dozens of MOBS that looked like the sergeant running around on his ship, and he knew the others wouldn’t want that, either.

  While the humans worked, Slater tested if he could indeed open the exterior hatch directly into space. Previous attempts to vent a compartment had been blocked, but he found that the entry hatch could be opened if all the other hatches were secured. Dreams of venting invaders into space were dashed, but he was glad he would be able to grant Sergeant Gonzales the burial his fellows wished for. When the hatch testing was over, he took a quick look at the lab upgrade.