Gamma Nine (Book One)

by Christi Smit

  Pyoter connected the shredded power cables, using a hand held blowtorch to melt the outer casings of the cables together. It caused the entire vessel to shake violently in protest. The jerry-rigged cables forced the reactors to feed power into each other, causing the storm inside the reactor room to flare with new, and more violent colours. Red emergency lights lit up the reactor room, giving the entire interior of the room an almost hell-like hue. Pyoter carefully placed the melted cables on the floor in front of him, motioning to Xander to follow him up to the platform.

  Xander smiled at the giant Titan’s unnecessary gentleness. Man-handling the power cables now would matter little in the grander scheme of the AIE’s master plan. But the contrast reminded Xander exactly how deceptive Pyoter was to outsiders. He shook his head to clear his focus as he ran behind his friend the giant, focusing on the current situation instead of daydreaming like some child. Both Titans joined Rivers on the platform, Pyoter helped Nathan to stand as all four of them watched Artemis take hit after hit from the violent lightning.

  Locke and Christian synched their part perfectly. Pulling and then rolling the ejection plugs away at exactly the same time from each reactor. The ejection plugs were rounded blast-like doors, made from thicker metal than the rest of the reactor room. Once these were removed the reactor room would be open to the void, the plugs were the only thing between artificial atmosphere and the crushing cold of the void on the other side of the vessel’s hull. The ejection plugs were used to vent the reactors during maintenance, replacing the plasma inside once every fifty years. Now, however, they were used to render the Fateful Moment nothing but a drifting husk.

  Locke and Christian dived aside the moment the plugs rolled into their corresponding mounts. Both of them held onto the closest thing they could locate, gripping tight as the reactor room’s content was sucked out in the blackness of space. The torrent of escaping atmosphere and rattling tools lasted only for a second before Artemis needed to act out his part.

  Jay screamed as he held on to the reactors. He used all of Artemis’ strength to step backward and heave both reactors out of their cradles. In one powerful move both reactors broke free of their restraints, sliding on their mountings as Artemis pulled them towards the venting holes the ejection plugs had opened. The reactors hissed as the heat generated from their coolant shortage radiated from their shells. They locked into place the moment they connected to their ejection ports, hissing louder as the reactors strained against the hungry void.

  The bleeding atmosphere stopped suddenly and the AIE, still connected to all of the ship systems, used what power there was left within the vessel to activate the reactor’s maintenance cycle.

  In a torrent of bright blue light, the reactors bled their life blood into the void. The plasma, rapidly cooling in the icy void, flowed like arteries inside an organic body. It was as if the plasma was reaching for some invisible hand, hoping that it could be pulled to safety. Onlookers on-board the Hyperion called it a beautiful dance, something very few people ever saw during their short lives. The bright plasma stretched out for miles before it finally stopped glowing, freezing solid in the void to form vast crystalized trees of sparkling sapphire. They drifted next to the Fateful Moment, like fireworks marking a celebration, the dormant plasma caused cheers to erupt on-board both vessels.

  The Wolves laughed and patted each other on the shoulders, realizing that they had escaped certain death. Nathan cringed as Pyoter slapped him on the shoulder, the giant obviously forgetting that Nathan was still in tremendous pain.

  Locke shook Christians hand and nodded in respect at the rookie Titan as they moved to join the rest of the Wolves on the platform.

  Nobody spoke as they all turned to see Jay and Artemis stomp out of the darkness the reactor deaths had caused, Artemis’ external lights lighting up the reactor room as it moved closer to the platform. Jay could be heard cheering inside the machines cockpit as he moved Artemis.

  He reached the edge of the platform and tilted Artemis’ head upwards to look at the six Titans staring down at him. One by one the Wolves honoured the Lancer, raising a closed fist to their chest, a sign of utter respect from one hero to another.

  Victory was always soured by the deaths of good men and women.

  Gray sat in his command chair, his elbows rested on the dormant controls he had expertly used to manoeuvre his beloved ship only hours earlier. His thoughts dwelled on all of the things that had transpired in the last few hours.

  Less than half of the Lancers had returned from the Fateful Moment alive, most losing their lives during combat, a few perishing during the closing moments of the fight, missing victory by mere seconds.

  The damned AIE had opened the Fateful Moment to the void minutes after the reactors had fallen silent, flushing anything hostile into the cold blackness without warning.

  A few Lancers close to escape hatches were blown out with the few remaining monsters, unable to find a handhold in time or dying before they knew what was happening to them. Two brave Lancers had died from asphyxiation as they sacrificed themselves to secure the manual locking mechanism of the cargo dock that held the precious Maiden of Flame. These two Lancers risked their lives to keep everyone else on the dock from being flushed into the freezing dark.

  The universe was a lesser place every time a brave hero died, and Gray felt the loss of such heroes more than others. He knew that Sabian would be distraught at the losses as well, knowing the man behind the scarred face bled for his elite Lancers.

  Gray’s steepled fingers rested against his chin as he looked at his people on the bridge. Everywhere officers mulled about, moving from console to console, compiling their reports Remy would read through later, deciding which section of the Hyperion needed to do better or which ones should be lauded for their exemplary service.

  Gray thought of Remy as he saw her, his mind forcing his eyes to linger on her hunched form for longer than would be deemed appropriate. She was still standing over the command table in the centre of the bridge, coordinating the retrieval of information and anything useful from the Fateful Moment's memory banks and cargo bays. Her eyes were bloodshot from holding back her emotions, her jaws clenched tight as she tried to hide what she felt underneath the surface. Gray just wanted to embrace her, and take that pain away, but he could not, not now. His ship and his crew needed him. When the mulling eventually stopped he would have to give them all direction.

  He had no clue which direction though, not yet anyways. Gray was patiently waiting for Locke and the Wolves to return to the Hyperion before he could decide their next move.

  The Maiden was refuelling in the docking bay of the Hyperion while the bridge fell into organized chaos, dropping off the last of the wounded Lancers deemed safe by medical teams scanning the wounded for the Beast’s infection. The Maiden would depart as soon as her tanks were filled and Gunn would bring the Wolves back to the safety of the Hyperion. Gray was anxious when he thought of the thing Gabriel would bring back with them, and wanted to tell Locke to throw that monstrosity out of the airlock before the Maiden even landed on his ship.

  But a deal was a deal, and that was probably why Locke had decided to remain behind with his Wolves. He wanted to oversee the AIE’s transfer personally, leaving nothing up to chance. Locke had only spoken to Gray briefly while the Maiden prepared for its final journey back to the Fateful Moment. He had told Gray to order the engineers to prepare the recovery tanks for their return, relaying his squad’s status to Gray and Sabian before going silent. Whatever Gabriel was doing on the Fateful Moment, it was something more important than tending to his squad’s wounds.

  Gray let out a breath that he was holding, relieved as his mind focused on what was at least one positive thing from the recent crap-storm.

  Zero Titan casualties. Only one Wolf was seriously wounded and already being healed by his miraculous suit and the machines in his blood, he would require the most time in recovery. The others were all in relatively good shape,
and would require only a short time in the recovery tanks, and only a few hours with the engineers to repair damage to their prized suits.

  That was at least something to hold on to while those in charge, including Gray, tried to make sense of what had happened.

  With an exhausted smile on his old face, Gray stood up from his command chair and raised his voice. “Remy?” he yelled over the chaotic bridge, not waiting for her reply before continuing. “Get all of these stragglers back to their posts. That is enough pussy-footing for one day.” Gray pointed at an officer running nearby. “You, get me Gunn on the radio, we need to go fetch Captain Locke and his Titans from that dead hulk. I am sick of looking at that ugly ship!”

  Remy nodded at Gray’s orders and returned a tired smile of her own before barking orders at the officers around the command table.

  The poor officer Gray had pointed his meaty finger at scrambled to get to his console, tripping and colliding with other crew members trying to get back to their own respective seats. He finally reached his console, sweating from the short but difficult human obstacle course he had to traverse to get to his console. He grabbed his radio headset and within a few seconds of unheard exchanges with crew on the other side of the radio connection he reached Gunn. He held up his hand and gave Gray the sign that the radio connection above his command chair was now open.

  Gray nodded at the communications officer, silently thanking him before speaking to Gunn briefly. He pressed the ship-wide radio system as he cleared his throat, intending to let everyone on-board hear his powerful voice.

  Everyone on the Hyperion’s bridge fell silent as they heard Gray’s voice again. One by one they quieted down to hear what their captain was going to say.

  Gray was going to keep it short, but he needed to say something before fear started creeping into the minds of his crew. He had to steel their resolve first, and then the orders would come once Locke was back on-board.

  Little did he know that fear was going to be the least of his problems as the secrets of the recent treachery unfolded before everyone’s eyes.

  “It would not say anything further until it was on the Hyperion safely,” Locke said, resting his hands on the command table.

  The Wolves had gathered on the bridge of the Hyperion once they had set foot back on their home ship. Everyone was there except for Nathan. He was taken to the recovery tanks on the Wolves’ return. Nathan had protested, but Locke would have none of it, ordering him to go to engineering, leaving no room for Nathan to object to the order. Order was the wrong word. Locke almost threatened him before Nathan surrendered to the engineering crews waiting to fulfil their own orders. By the time everyone else was on the bridge Nathan had already been removed from his suit layers and the engineers had interred him in his personal recovery tank. A drug induced coma would keep him still and let the recovery tank repair and heal any damage to his body, internal or external.

  The rest of the Wolves would join Nathan as soon as the next course of action was decided.

  “I heard you made a magnificent speech while we were still in transit. The crew are still looking at you as if you are their long lost father,” Locke added as he removed his helmet, smiling at Gray as their eyes met.

  “I may have said a few memorable things, worthy of legend, but they needed to hear it.” Gray stepped closer to the command table from his command chair.

  “Any chance we can hear it?” Rivers asked.

  Gray looked at the older Titan, Rivers did not remove his helmet like his captain, and so Gray directed his words at the visor reflecting his own face back at him. “It was not meant for you. None of you need my old words to steel you against the situation. But I am sure the ship’s OS recorded the entire thing. You can listen to it later.”

  “I will,” Rivers replied, nodding at Gray to emphasize his words.

  Gray did not return the nod. “Where is that thing now?” he asked.

  “On-board the Maiden, unplugged from everything. Jinx is jamming its wireless capabilities as well,” Locke replied to Gray’s question.

  “Good. What do we do with it?” Gray asked. He was eager to lock the AIE away.

  “I have an idea. We can secure it in one of the armoury lockers, they are lined with enough metal plating to block any outgoing or incoming signals, and there are no connections to any ship systems inside. We can effectively neutralize it while we decide what to do with it. That way it is also close to our training section. We can keep a better eye on it from there.”

  “What about Artemis?” Jay asked from the other side of the table. He was still not keen on giving up his new best friend.

  Locke had asked Sabian to assign Jay to the Wolves for the duration of their time on the Hyperion. This honour gave Jay a degree of arrogance, something that would be squashed soon enough.

  “Artemis will be dismantled into pieces and given to the AIE to keep him company inside his new cell. He can’t reassemble it inside and Artemis is too big to escape the locker,” Locke answered.

  “But, he is” Jay said, but he never got to finish his words.

  “I suggest you do not finish that sentence, Lancer. Artemis belongs to the military. You cannot claim something just because you like it.” Locke was not trying to be harsh, but the Lancer needed to know how things worked while in the company of Titans.

  “Yes sir!” the Lancer replied. He was not going to push the subject with someone like Captain Locke. It would not end well for him.

  Locke continued as if the exchange with Jay never happened. “The AIE will be given one automaton to help with Artemis’ repairs. But its wireless chip will be removed and its OS will be reprogrammed by Rivers to only accept commands within certain parameters.”

  “I am almost done with the reprogramming. Roger will take care of the chip removal,” Rivers added without being asked.

  “And then what?” Gray asked Locke.

  Gray sighed before he answered. “I am open to suggestions Willis.” Locke stood upright and folded his arms, waiting for Willis to suggest their next course of action.

  “We take a few days to get out of this mine field, and then we make our way back to New Horizon. Perhaps on the way there that thing can shed some light on all of the crap we just went through.”

  “Why there?” Locke asked.

  “It is the safest place for at least a hundred sectors in every direction. We can re-arm and re-fuel there, get some repairs done to the Hyperion and then go after the bastard who orchestrated all of this.”

  “That sounds very good. How long do we have before we can get back there?”

  “Estimated time would be ten to fourteen days, depending on the size of the asteroid field. It’s larger than we thought, our scanners can’t see outside of the field and this hinders our estimation,” Remy answered from her position next to Gray, looking slightly better than she did before the Wolves got back to the Hyperion.

  Locke inclined his head as Remy finished, accepting her estimation without hesitation. The girl knew her math. “Then that is the plan, Willis.”

  “Agreed,” Gray replied.

  “Wolves dismissed,” Locke said to his squad, he would speak to them once they left the bridge. “Willis, I will be in the tanks for a few days then we can interrogate the AIE together.”

  “Looking forward to it Gabriel.” The sarcasm was evident in Gray’s tone.

  Locke said nothing as he followed his squad, laughing under his breath at his old friend’s candour.

  Once the Wolves entered the hallways outside the bridge Locke replaced his helmet and spoke over the private squad channel. “Pyoter, Rivers and Xander,” he said as all three of them stopped to listen to their captain’s order. “Get the AIE moved to the armoury lockers, join up with the FNG and myself at the recovery tanks once you are done.”

  The three Wolves acknowledged their order without a word and broke away from the rest of the squad, using a nearby walkway to make their way to the docking bays of the Hyperion.
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br />   “Corporal Joshua, report to Commander Sabian until we return. I will send for you once we are operational again.” Locke moved past Jay as he spoke, not stopping to look if Jay followed his order.

  Jay did as he was told, and taking a cue from the other Titans said nothing to acknowledge the order.

  Locke noticed how quickly the Lancer was learning, and made a mental note of it.

  Christian noticed Locke had not given him any orders, and just continued to follow his captain in silence. He was nervous because of the silence, but also excited because of their new destination. Christian never got the chance to reply to Jessica’s message, but now he would have the chance to say what needed to be said in person. It would be better than saying he loved her over a message, and she would appreciate the romantic motivation behind their next meeting.

  Or so he hoped.

  The engineers and medical crew removed the armour in silence. The only sound in the med-engineering chambers was the constant humming from the recovery tanks. Every now and again the grinding of gears from equipment unscrewing armour plating could be heard as the Wolves were freed from their heroic suits.

  None of the Wolves looked at each other; instead they focused on a spot on the opposite wall and waited for the painful removal of their suit layers to finish, grimacing whenever a piece of plating was removed by mechanically guided hands.

  This was the first time Christian’s suit would be removed and he did not know what to expect. He risked glancing to the other Titans on either side of him and saw that they were in the same kind of pain he was, but they were more use to it than he was.