Dragon Team Seven

by Toby Neighbors

  “Don’t move,” she said.

  It groaned but lay still. She didn’t want to shoot the creature, even if that might have been the humane thing to do. It was wounded and obviously suffering, but she knew it had come to kill her. She drew her stun gun and fired it point-blank at the creature’s head. The gun made a pop, like the sound of a sudden rush of air through a narrow space. The alien twitched, its body stiffening, then stopped moving. Ember holstered the stun gun and hurried past the body.

  “Ember,” Nick’s voice was clearer than before. “We’re in the building. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” Ember said, her own voice sounding shaky and weak.

  “Where are you, Em?” Ty’s reassuring voice was deep and confident.

  “Just past the second floor landing in the stairwell,” she said.

  “Good,” Nick said. “Stay there. The aliens are in the building. Let us clear the ground floor, then we’ll get you out of here.”

  “Roger that,” Ember said as she leaned against the wall at the landing between the first and second floor.

  She could see the doorway below her. If anything came through other than her friends, she would blast it with her pistol. She silently counted her remaining magazines. There were five full clips of soft slug ammo on the loops in her armor. It was reassuring to know she had enough for a fight.

  Help was nearby; all she had to do was hold herself together a little longer. Then she could escape. Just knowing she wouldn’t be alone much longer was reassuring, but waiting was difficult. She wanted to rush out and find her friends. She wanted to help them in the fight that she knew was inevitable on the ground floor, but the folly of that idea was clear too. If she tried to help, someone could get caught in the crossfire. It was better that she wait and trust her friends to come to her. So that’s what she did, even as fear whispered in her mind that they might all die and help may never come.

  Chapter 43

  They had run all the way to the building Ember was trapped in, threading their way through the narrow corridors of the maintenance tunnels below the surface of the space station. Unlike the tiny storage closet on the Quazak side of the station, where the maintenance hatch was covered with all sorts of cleaning supplies, the way into the Proxy building was clear and well-organized.

  Kal was the first one up and was peeking out the door when Nick came through, followed by Jules and Ty.

  “We have intruders,” Kal said. “At least ten, I’d say.”

  Nick spoke to Ember on the com-link, then focused on the task at hand.

  “Alright, this room is our exit, so we have to hold it no matter what,” Nick said.

  “I can do that,” Jules said.

  She was panting, and Nick heard a note of pain her voice. It was hard not to worry about her, but he knew if they could push through there would be time and resources available to help her on the Proxy spaceship.

  “The rest of us stay together,” Nick went on. “Ty, you watch our back. We find the stairwell, get Em, then get the hell out of here.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Ty said.

  “Let’s do it,” Kal said.

  “Alright, get ready. We hit the door weapons-hot,” Nick said.

  He held up three fingers and began counting down. When it was time to go, they moved fast, bursting out of the maintenance room and into a wide hallway. At one end, the hallway opened into what looked like a lobby, which was where the Quazakians were congregating. Nick and Kal opened fire. Nick’s helmet muted ninety-five percent of the sound around him, allowing him to hear the report of the pistols as a quiet pop rather than the deafening bang he knew they were. The aliens went down quickly. A shot to their exoskeleton didn’t break through the thick shell, but it did knock them off their feet. Those who survived scrambled for cover.

  “I’ve got a sign that shows stairs,” Ty said. “Back this way.”

  “Kal, stay here and keep them down,” Nick said.

  “Copy that,” Kal replied as he reloaded his pistol.

  Nick and Ty hurried back. Kal was shooting again by the time Nick reached the door to the stairs. There was a window, and he saw no signs of movement inside.

  “Ember, do you read me?”

  “Sure do, Nick.”

  “We’re at the stairwell. Coming in. Don’t shoot us,” Nick said.

  “No promises,” Ember said, with relief in her voice.

  Nick opened the door and stepped inside. He glanced up the stairs and saw Ember leaning against the wall, her pistol pointing at him but she was lowering it down. He waved and she hurried down the final flight of steps.

  “You okay?” Nick asked.

  “Just a little shaky,” she replied honestly.

  “Alright,” Nick said. “Let’s go.”

  Back in the hallway, Kal fired at anything that moved, but the aliens were taking no chances. Nick led the way back to where Kal was taking cover in the small nook that led to a doorway.

  “Time to make tracks,” Nick said, tapping his friend on the shoulder.

  “Good deal, I’m running low on ammo,” Kal said.

  “Jules, we’re coming in,” Nick said over the com-link.

  “You got my girl?” Jules replied.

  “I’m here,” Ember said.

  The door to the maintenance room swung open, and they ducked back inside. Ty led the way down the ladder, then helped Ember and Jules down. Kal propped a cleaning device that looked like a mop against the door, wedging it in place between the wall and the door handle.

  “That should slow them a bit,” he said.

  “Too bad we can’t wire it with explosives,” Nick said.

  “Yeah, we didn’t get that far in our training, but I like the way you think.”

  They hurried down the maintenance ladder, closing the hatch above them. Ty and the girls hadn’t waited and were already hurrying back down the maintenance passage.

  “Captain Dex’Orr,” Nick said, using the command frequency of his com-link. “We’re on our way back.”

  There was no reply. Nick felt a sinking feeling in his gut and checked the chrono on his wrist. Forty minutes had passed, but they still had time to get back to the ship. They were running, and the Quazakians either hadn’t found the maintenance tunnels or were choosing not to follow them down into the enclosed spaces.

  Jules was struggling, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Ty was helping her as much as he could in the tight confines of the tunnel. It took them a full ten minutes to reach the docking arm where the Proxy ship was berthed.

  “Nick, we’ve got a problem,” Ty said.

  “What is it?”

  “There’s some kind of cover over the hatch,” Ty said.

  “Looks like a safety door,” Ember said.

  “What’s that mean?” Jules said.

  “Captain Dex’Orr, this is Dragon Team. Do you read me?”

  There was still no answer, and Nick felt a rage building inside him. The cynical officer had left them—Nick was sure of it.

  “What is going on?” Kal asked. “We made it back in time.”

  “They left early,” Nick said. “They didn’t wait on us.”

  “You mean they left us here?” Ty said. “Abandoned us to die?”

  “No, they wouldn’t have done that,” Ember said.

  Nick felt the answer to their problem in the back of his mind. He had to force it the front, to make it come to him. When it did, a cold knot of fear settled into his stomach.

  “Does anyone see controls for opening this hatch?” Nick asked.

  “No man, it’s just a blank panel,” Ty said.

  “They must use some kind of portable device to interface with the controls,” Jules said.

  “We don’t have that,” Kal said.

  “Not down here,” Nick replied. “But maybe on the main level.”

  “You mean go back up?” Ty asked. “Where the bad guys are?”

  “What choice do we have?” Nick said.

  �
�Even if we get up there,” Jules said. “The ship is gone. They’ve left the dock, and we’re screwed.”

  “Maybe,” Nick said, not wanting to admit his plan. It was as if it weren’t real if he didn’t say it out loud.

  “Well we aren’t solving anything standing around here,” Kal said.

  They began moving back down the corridor until they found the freight elevator. It took them up, but when they stepped out into the docking arm’s concourse, a large group of Quazakians saw them. They were near the entrance to the docking arm, which put them out of reach of their pistols. Nick immediately brought up his laser rifle and dropped to one knee, but before he could fire the lights went out.

  “What’s going on?” Ty asked.

  “The captain pulled the plug,” Jules said. “No more life support.”

  “Don’t shoot, Nick,” Ember said.

  “Why not?” Nick asked. He could just barely see the mob of aliens at the far end of the docking arm concourse.

  “The lasers might blast through the dome,” Kal said. “If we aren’t careful, the entire station could be ripped inside-out by hard vacuum.”

  Nick felt another wave of fear pour over him. He couldn’t help but shutter at the thought.

  “There’s the ship,” Jules said. She had turned and was pointing through the transparent canopy overhead. “It’s close.”

  “I thought it might be,” Ember said. “It will take a while to move that much mass, even in zero G.”

  “So what do we do?” Ty asked.

  “Get to the airlock,” Nick said.

  “Oh man, tell me we’re not going to jump for it,” Kal replied.

  They were already moving down the wide concourse. Nick’s legs felt wobbly underneath him, and Jules was leaning heavily on Ty. Nick looked at his friends and felt an overwhelming love for each of them. They couldn’t die; it was too cruel. When they got to the airlock, Nick looked back. The aliens had moved closer but were staying out of range of the SREs.

  “Everyone remember how to convert your armor to hard vacuum?” Nick asked.

  They nodded.

  “Don’t forget: we only have a limited amount of air to use for emergency propulsion,” Em said.

  “This is insane,” Kal said, and Nick couldn’t have agreed more.

  “But if we stay here, we’re dead for sure,” Ty said.

  “So what are we waiting for?” Jules said.

  “She’s right. Every second counts,” Ember agreed.

  Nick felt like his guts were turning to water. His mouth was dry and his limbs trembled, but he stepped up and opened the door to the airlock. The others crowded around him. There was barely enough room to close the airlock door.

  “Go for hard vacuum,” Nick said.

  “Roger that,” Kal replied.

  “Nothing like a life-or-death situation to test out new tech,” Kal said.

  “That’s not very reassuring,” Ember said with a nervous giggle.

  Nick reached up and took hold of the patch that covered the emergency hard-vacuum seal on his armor. He pulled the patch away, and the material ripped with a loud, scratchy sound. His fingers found the small handle and he pulled. At first nothing seemed to happen, but then a red frame appeared around his helmet’s Heads Up Display.

  “That’s weird,” Kal said. “I can’t tell a difference.”

  “My display says I’m good,” Jules replied.

  “Mine too,” Ty added.

  “I’ve got fifty-nine minutes of oxygen,” Ember said.

  “Everyone grab onto something,” Nick said. “Once I open the door, the venting air will send us tumbling if we don’t hold on.”

  “Damn, this is the scariest thing I’ve ever done,” Kal said. “Glad we’re doing it all together.”

  “Maybe we should lock arms,” Ember said.

  “That’s a good idea,” Nick said.

  The group entwined their arms together. Nick held onto a panel with one hand and took hold of the emergency release with the other. Kal took hold of Nick’s arm with his free hand, and Ember did the same.

  “Everyone ready?” Nick asked.

  They were as ready as they could be. Fear had never been so chillingly real to Nick as he wrapped his fingers around the release handle. He couldn’t wait, even though he desperately wanted to. They only had so much oxygen and their BIO-suits would have to be recalibrated once the air ran out. And every second they waited the Proxy ship—their only hope of escape—moved farther away. Nick whispered a prayer and pulled the handle.

  Chapter 44

  The airlock door didn’t open—it simply popped off, and the escaping air that was suddenly vented blew it away from the airlock. That same sudden, violent out-gassing tugged Nick so hard that the charging handle broke. His other hand was on a panel that ripped away. He felt Kal and Ember’s hands tighten on him, but it wasn’t enough to hold him in check.

  Some fears come true; Nick knew that. He could have been killed in the space station, and no one wanted to die. He could have failed the training and been sent away from his friends, or worse still, he might have watched helplessly as one of them was terribly wounded, maybe even killed. Yet it was the fear of being completely out of control that frightened him most.

  And here he was, drifting helplessly through space, the entire universe seeming to spin out of control. The odd thing was, he didn’t feel any movement whatsoever. He was floating, calmly and gently. Closing his eyes, he could almost imagine that everything was fine. But one look was all it took for terror to overcome him. He felt his stomach lurch inside him. His mind couldn’t reconcile what he was seeing with what he felt.

  And then, like a strange blessing or the rebuke of God himself, Nick slammed into another part of the docking arm. He could have hit at an angle that sent him twirling off into space, but instead he crashed into a cluster of hoses and pipes. It felt like he’d been kicked by a horse, and bright bits of light sparked to life in his vision. His hands instinctively closed on a bundle of hoses, and the world stopped spinning.

  “Nick! Nick!” Ember was yelling.

  “I’m okay,” he managed to say, struggling to refill his lungs after the air was knocked out of them by the crash.

  “Man, I thought we lost you,” Kal said.

  They were moving out of the airlock slowly, still arm-in-arm.

  “We’ve got to make for the ship,” Jules said.

  It didn’t look all that far away, and Nick felt certain they could get there. He was breathing hard, partly from fear and partly in an effort to catch his breath. A small warning was flashing on his HUD, trying to tell him that he was using his supply of oxygen too fast.

  “Go,” Nick said. “I’m right behind you.”

  He used the hoses to pull himself closer to the docking arm and managed to get his feet against the side. His friends were already floating away from the airlock and toward the Proxy ship. Nick pushed off and let go of the bundle of hoses. He was floating free, and it felt like swimming underwater, only there was no resistance and no way to direct his path. Flailing his arms did nothing, but he was moving in the right direction.

  For several minutes it felt as if they were flying. Nick was reminded of the old holo-movies of superheroes, and he realized there was a reason the recon teams were called Dragons. He felt his fear fading, slowly replaced by a sense of exhilaration.

  “Captain Dex’Orr,” Nick said via the command frequency. “Dragon Team Seven is out of the space station and on approach. Please advise.”

  There was a short pause, and Nick feared that the Proxy officer was going to ignore them again. Then the stoic voice replied.

  “Dragon Team, we read you,” Dex’Orr said calmly, as if he were giving a weather report. “Make your way to the emergency airlock. I’m powering on the lights around it now.”

  The ship loomed in the distance. It wasn’t a massive vessel, but the closer they got to it the larger it seemed to Nick. Lights came on, outlining an airlock on the side
of the ship. Nick wasn’t moving straight toward it, but he wasn’t far off, either. He could see his friends moving just ahead of him. They wouldn’t have any trouble making it to the ship.

  “We’ll be there in a few minutes,” Nick said. “Stand by.”

  They used small bursts of oxygen to slow their approach. The Proxy ship was still moving, and it wasn’t difficult to make contact safely. Nick had feared they might crash into the ship and go careening off into space, but they all managed to get hold of the vessel on their first try. Once Nick had a good grip on the side of the ship, he began climbing hand over hand toward the airlock.

  “This is going to work,” Ty said. “I can’t believe it.”

  “I feel unstoppable,” Kal said. “These suits are amazing.”

  “I’m down to half my O2,” Jules said. “We need to get on board before we run out of air.”

  Nick looked at his own oxygen reading. It was less than half, but he was less than ten meters from the airlock. His relief was quickly morphing into ecstasy. They had made it. They had survived their first mission. At the airlock, there was an emergency button under a transparent cover. Nick tried to remove the cover, but it wouldn’t budge.

  “Captain Dex’Orr,” Nick said into the com-link. “We’re at the airlock, but we can’t open the cover over the activation switch.”

  “We have to override the locking mechanism,” the officer said. “Try it now.”

  Nick pulled on the cover, and to his relief it swung open. Nick didn’t hesitate to press the red button. Without a sound the airlock door opened, revealing a small compartment. They had to pull themselves in. There was just enough room for the outer door to close and seal, then air was pumped into the airlock before the inner door opened. Nick and his friends stumbled into the ship with just a third of their oxygen remaining.

  Nick hit the latches that held his helmet to his BIO-suit. It came off with a hiss of air, as the padding inside sagged and let the snug-fitting helmet lift easily off his head. The others followed suit as Captain Dex’Orr came striding toward them.

  “Dragon Team, follow me,” he ordered.

  They marched down the hallway and ended up in a small medical bay. There wasn’t really room for all of them, and the Proxy physician looked disturbed at the group crowding into his space. The two Proxy hostages were in the bay, resting comfortably on what looked to Nick like medical beds that adjusted. Their heads were elevated, and beams of light occasionally shown on the tall aliens.