Cries of the Wolf
Page 21
“Good.” She patted his back. “Now we need to get off this ship.”
“Checking the hangar bays. There’s one shuttle craft left. But…”
“What is it?”
“It’s taking off by itself.” He raised his eyebrows. “Even weirder, there are no life signs inside.”
Meomi jerked her head back. “Is someone controlling it remotely? Can you stop it?”
“No ships close enough that could control the shuttle. Someone probably disabled the internal sensors. And no, I can’t regain control of it from here.”
“Strange.” Meomi narrowed her eyes. “Unless we’ve severely underestimated the Calfars, I don’t believe they know how to pilot a Fleet shuttle.”
“You think it could be a Mimic? Like the one that impersonated the Fleet Marshall?”
“I don’t know…” Her skin crawled as she thought back to her encounter with the Mimic wraith on the decktram. Meomi hoped she would never have to cross another wraith again.
“Course set for the star,” Rayfin said after quickly tapping on his console. “Lockouts in place to prevent any changes. We have about 20 minutes to get off this ship. Maybe we should head for the escape pod?”
Meomi nodded. “What other choice do we have? Hopefully, a Fleet ship can pick us up before a Mimic one can.”
Rayfin updated the viewscreen with a wireframe layout of the Harbinger. “All the pods on bridge deck are gone or damaged.”
“Hopefully that means survivors.” Meomi pressed her lips together.
“The closest escape pods are two decks below, on the science floor.” He zoomed the screen to show a bank of pods available for use.
“Overlay the ship's internal sensors. I want to see the Calfars and Mimics.”
Red dots infested the wireframe image.
“Well, that doesn’t look good…” Rayfin turned to Meomi. “What do you want to do?”
“Are we the last two humans on this ship?”
“I believe so, Captain.”
“Disable all the containment fields. Vent everything to space. Then set up new ones between here and the escape pods.”
Rayfin’s eyes doubled in size. “That’s a great idea!” He typed furiously. “Give me a minute…”
Hundreds of Mimic and Calfars shot out into the vacuum of space, clearing out half the enemy dots on the ship’s internal sensors.
“There’s a clear path now between the escape pods and us Captain.” He furrowed his brow. “But there are blind areas where the sensors are down.”
“Let’s get off this nightmare of a ship.”
Meomi, Rayfin, and the two remaining Centurias droids took the decktram to the science floor. A Calfar greeted them as the door opened, picking up one of the droids, slamming it against the walls and crushing its torso.
Rayfin fired his cryo-gun while Meomi fired her arc gun. The combined effect of the weapons stunned the Calfar long enough for the remaining droid to punch a hole in the chest of the beast.
“I can’t believe that worked!” Rayfin said.
Dozens of other Calfars behind the newly erected containment field pounded the energy barrier which flickered under the relentless assault.
“The field won’t hold for long!” Meomi dashed to the escape pods with Rayfin tailing her. She pulled the hatch of the closest pod, opening it. “You first.”
Rayfin hesitated as he stared inside the capsule built for two. “We have to take our Tempest suits off. We won’t both fit otherwise.”
The containment field holding back the Calfars shattered, releasing a horde of angry, hungry aliens.
“Dammit!” She shoved Rayfin into the opened escape pod and slammed the hatch closed.
Rayfin banged on the glass with his fists. “Why would you do that?” he yelled over suit comm.
“Good luck, Ensign. I hope you make it back home.” She feigned a smile.
“No…” Rayfin shook his head frantically. “Captain… Don’t…”
She pulled the release lever and whispered, “Goodbye…”
Rayfin’s capsule ejected away from the ship.
Meomi ordered the remaining Centuria droid to use explosive rounds.
The droid emptied its entire arsenal into the swarm of Calfars.
Explosions destabilized the external containment of the deck, ripping everything — Calfars, Centuria droid, Meomi, and the entire bank of escape pods — into space.
Meomi hung onto the hatch of the escape pod with all her strength even as the shearing force threatened to rip her arms out of its sockets. She quickly injected a combat stim to dull the pain.
“Captain! Captain!” Rayfin’s voice came over suit comm serving to help pull Meomi out of her shock.
“I’m… I’m here…” Meomi pulled herself into the escape pod, and with her last measure of strength, slammed the hatch closed. A hissing sound filled the capsule as it pressurized. “We did it…” Her eyes closed as her mind and body finally gave into the waves of exhaustion.
Thank you for reading Cries of the Wolf, book two of the Entrent Saga! I hope you enjoyed it. Continue the series with, book three, Symphonies of Valor.
Also by C. S. Harte
If you like Cries of the Wolf, please consider writing a short review. It would make a world of difference to me.
Amazon
Entrent Saga:
Endurance - Prequel Novella (Free)
Echoes of Guardians - Book One
Cries of the Wolf - Book Two
Symphonies of Valor - Book Three
Eden Faction Series:
Eden Wakes - Book One
Tides of Empire - Novella 1.5 (Free)
Eden Villains - Book Two
About the Author
C. S. Harte is a writer of speculative fiction.
In his spare time, he judges cooking competitions. In no way is he qualified, but no one stops him either.
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