by Thomas Fay
‘I guess we do this the old-fashioned way,’ I said.
‘Sir?’ Lieutenant Chan asked.
‘We start with the holding cells.’
‘Yes, sir. Deck five.’
We waited for a tense sixty seconds while Lieutenant Quentin Dice took control of the Proxian lift with a lunar cypher. Thankfully, Proxian technology was based on the same general principles as human technology. The ovoid-shaped doorway slid open. The interior was dim, made of a dark metallic alloy, illuminated in the same amber colour. As one, we moved inside the lift. Lieutenant Dice pressed the button for deck five. The lift doors slid shut and we ascended rapidly.
The doors opened, revealing a narrow corridor with at least a dozen ovoid doors evenly spaced on either side. In contrast to the Dyson Alpha star port, which had been built by humans predominantly for use by humans, the Proxian base had been designed and built purely for Proxians. While the basics of any space station were the same—life support, retention of atmosphere and gravity generation—there were subtle differences that marked the station as alien. All the doorways were ovoid. The lighting was dim and auburn coloured, reminding me of emergency evac lighting on star ships. The air had a slightly stale quality to it as a result of the increased carbon dioxide content. The materials used were darker and denser. And the gravity was noticeably higher. I was thankful for the powered servos in my infiltration armour.
‘Clear,’ Lieutenant Chan said. She had stepped out of the lift the moment the doors opened along with Lieutenant Dice. Lieutenant Marissa Grey and I had remained inside, our weapons trained on the corridor.
I lowered my weapon and stepped out of the lift.
‘No guards. Strange,’ I said.
‘I’m not reading any movement,’ Lieutenant Grey said. ‘Could they be phased out of normal space?’
‘I don’t think so. Either way, I don’t like this. Let’s check them quickly.’
‘Yes, sir,’ the squad replied in unison.
Lieutenant Chan and Lieutenant Dice moved along the corridor, looking through clear viewing panels into the various cells. I waited near the lift with Lieutenant Grey, gripping my lunar disruptor anxiously. Finally, the two operatives reached the end. They turned around. Lieutenant Chan shook her head.
‘Empty, sir.’
‘Damn. I was certain she was here. They must have moved her.’
‘Any idea where?’
‘Pull up the schematic of the base and locate the medical facility.’
Lieutenant Grey scrolled through her wrist-mounted module.
‘Got it, sir. Two decks down, near the centre of the station.’
‘Great. This is going to get interesting.’
‘We can handle it, sir. Lead the way.’
37.
Deck three was not empty. Two Proxians were waiting for the lift as the doors opened. The surprise died on their lips as two disruptor blasts struck them simultaneously. They crumpled to the ground, unconscious. They would remain that way for at least eight hours, until the disruptor effects wore off. A second blast would have been fatal.
‘Lieutenant?’ I asked.
‘Left corridor, about three hundred metres,’ Lieutenant Grey said.
‘Move these bodies out of sight. Let’s not turn this into an all-out firefight unless we have to.’
‘Yes, sir.’
I switched the coms over to channel two.
‘Team two—are you in position?’ I asked.
‘Yes, sir. We’re secure. No sign of any Proxians.’
‘Better get ready. We’re on deck three and so far we’ve encountered two Proxians. They looked like civilians, no weapons or body armour, but we may need to leave in a hurry.’
‘Understood, sir. The airlock is rigged and ready to blow.’
‘Good work. Hold your position.’
I wasn’t sure what even Spectre operatives could do against the Proxians’ ability to move in and out of dark space. Captain Argus had assured me that Spectre infiltration teams were trained to counter all the known alien species. So I had to trust they would not be thrown off guard by the Proxians’ phasing in and out of dark space around them. A part of me couldn’t help but wonder if they had been trained to counter Centaurians and their telepathic abilities as well.
‘We’re approaching the main medical facility. One hundred metres,’ Lieutenant Chan said.
I knew that if I was wrong about Selize being in the medical centre, then we would have to abort the mission. Not only would we have failed to bring Selize home, we would have alerted the Proxians to our presence and created what the UEP usually referred to as a diplomatic nightmare. I shook my head. This was no time to second-guess myself. The medical centre was the only location that made sense. If the Proxians were blocking her telepathic abilities, they would need to monitor her closely and continue to administer the blocking agent. Ergo—the medical centre.
I motioned the team ahead of me. As we stepped past an open ovoid doorway, I froze.
‘Wait,’ I said.
‘Sir?’
I lowered my weapon as I stepped through the doorway. Inside was a gigantic power conduit. I pictured it running through the entire station, feeding the gateway mechanism. But that’s not what caused a cold shiver to flow through me.
‘What is that?’ Lieutenant Chan exclaimed. She had stepped through the doorway behind me.
Positioned at the base of the conduit, like some giant fruit from an alien tree, was a power cell. There was something intrinsically organic in its composition; the pulsing relays, the glowing purple core. Even the intricate web meshing covering its surface reminded me of some alien parasite’s egg.
‘It can’t be …’ I whispered.
‘Sir? What is it?’
The last time I had seen one of these power cells, Lieutenant Vanessa Gage had been standing next to me. As had a squad of the Space Navy’s finest marines, armed to the teeth, their body armour shielding at full strength.
‘It’s a power cell,’ I said.
‘Sir? How can you be sure?’
‘Because I’ve seen one before.’
‘Is it Cetian?’
‘No. It’s older than that. Much, much older. Ancient, in fact.’
Lieutenant Chan fell back a step, away from the power cell.
‘You can’t mean …’
‘Yes. It’s a Founder artefact. A fully functional Founder power cell, to be exact.’
‘Founder? Sir, I never truly believed the briefings. I thought they were just a myth.’
‘No, Lieutenant. The Founders existed and the technology they left behind is very real.’
‘What does this mean?’
‘It means the Cetians are helping the Proxians. Not just helping them, they’re sharing Founder technology with them. That can only mean there’s a deep alliance between the two species. The Cetians wouldn’t offer Founder technology to just anyone. This is serious. Very serious.’
‘Do we continue with the mission?’
I knew, given what we had just uncovered, that I should leave the base immediately and inform Command. But I couldn’t abandon Selize. No matter how great the threat from the Proxo-Cetian alliance, Selize was still my number-one priority.
‘We continue on mission, Lieutenant.’
‘Yes, sir. Proceeding to target.’
The operatives moved back out into the corridor. Approaching the opening to the medical facility, they positioned themselves on either side. I lifted my lunar disruptor.
Selize? I cast the thought out. Nothing. Either the PDP-3 neural inhibitor hadn’t worn off or they had incapacitated Selize. I gripped my weapon tighter as I motioned to the operatives. The energy shielding shimmered across the surface of each of the operatives’ armour as they moved through the ovoid doorway.
The first thing I saw was Selize lying on a metallic table. Then I saw the Proxians.
There were half-a-dozen of them inside the medical facility. Three of them appeared to be medical st
aff, judging by their sterile clothing and lack of weapons or body armour. The other three were security personnel, armed with fusion pistols and clad in lightweight body armour. Our infiltration had caught them completely off guard. We managed to unleash a volley of disruptor blasts before the Proxians realised what was happening. Two of the security personnel dropped to the ground. The three medics were also hit, falling backwards, unconscious. The final Proxian drew her fusion pistol as she phased out of normal space and disappeared.
‘Watch yourselves,’ I said. I swung my disruptor from side to side, waiting for some hint of where the Proxian would reappear.
‘Centre of the room, back to back,’ Lieutenant Chan ordered.
The four of us backed into the centre of the room, weapons held at the ready. I had to admit, it was a simple tactic but it meant we could cover all of the room. If the Proxian phased back into the medical facility, then we would be able to disable her.
‘Steady,’ Lieutenant Chan said.
I gripped my weapon tighter. Every fibre of my being wanted to rush over and free Selize. She looked so helpless, lying on the table, a series of tubes and wires embedded in her left arm. Her eyes were closed. Her breathing was shallow. It reminded me so much of Vanessa in her final days, dying alone in the CARIL facility. I had failed her. I wouldn’t let the same thing happen to Selize.
‘Show yourself!’ I shouted, swinging my weapon from side to side.
The Proxian was fast. She appeared directly in front of me. Pushing my disruptor aside with her left arm, she fired point blank at me with the fusion pistol she held in her other hand. At that range, without any protection, it would have burned a hole deep into my chest and cauterised my insides. But I was wearing the most sophisticated infiltration armour created by the Luna Weapon Labs. While not as powerful as the body armour marines wore into combat, it easily absorbed the full brunt of the blast. I knocked her weapon aside as Lieutenant Chan fired her disruptor. The Proxian’s armour absorbed most of the blast. As she staggered backwards, I raised my disruptor and fired. The Proxian crumpled to the ground without a sound.
‘Clear,’ Lieutenant Grey said, checking her wrist-mounted module.
‘Cover me,’ I said.
‘Yes, sir,’ the squad replied in unison.
Lieutenants Dice and Grey positioned themselves in the centre of the room, back to back, while Lieutenant Chan took up position in the corridor outside.
I rushed over to the table.
‘Selize!’
Her eyes were closed and there were dark bruises on her left arm where the tubes and wires were feeding fluids directly into her bloodstream. An intricate piece of machinery, akin to a neural scanner, stood next to her. I could only guess at its true purpose but, whatever it was, it couldn’t be good for Centaurians. Selize had said she couldn’t sense anyone but me. The machine had to be blocking her telepathic connection. I slid the reactor chamber back on my disruptor and deactivated my armour’s force field. I removed my battle helmet. Reaching over, I slowly withdrew the wires and tubes from her arm. Flinging them aside, I gently touched her face.
‘Selize, can you hear me?’
Her eyes slowly opened. She looked around. Finally, her eyes came to rest on me.
‘John? Is that you?’
‘I’m here, Selize. What have they done to you?’
‘They injected me with … something. I couldn’t sense you after that and I slipped into a deep sleep.’
‘It’s okay; I’m here now. We need to get you out of here. Can you walk?’
She slowly raised herself up. I helped her to stand. Her groggy state would make it difficult to get her back to the docking bay. Even harder if we encountered any Proxians along the way.
‘This isn’t going to work. I’ll have to carry you.’
I put my helmet back on. Picking her up, I slung her over my shoulder with my left hand. I reactivated the lunar disruptor with my right hand. There was no way I could use the force field in my infiltration armour while I was carrying Selize.
Lieutenant Chan’s voice resounded in my ear through the coms.
‘Sir, we’ve got company.’
38.
I hurried out of the medical facility. While the gravity aboard the Proxian base was 1.1 Earth standard, I’d been born on Earth, meaning I had an advantage over those born in lower gravity space installations and asteroid bases. The powered infiltration armour helped too, meaning my mobility was only slightly hindered by the fact that I was carrying Selize across my shoulder. The operatives formed up around us, Lieutenant Chan leading the way and the other two covering our rear. A squad of armed Proxians appeared in the corridor behind us. Unlike the security personnel inside the medical facility, they wore shielded body armour and carried fusion carbines. Their energy blasts were absorbed by the operatives’ armour.
‘Sir, you’ve got to get out of here! We’ll cover you,’ Lieutenant Chan said.
I nodded as I headed back down the corridor. Reaching a junction, I looked at Selize.
‘Can you stand?’ I asked.
‘Yes, I think so.’
I put her down. She leaned against the wall but remained upright. Activating my infiltration armour, I moved around the corner. Two searing beams of energy caught me full in the chest. The armour’s force field sizzled but maintained its integrity. It had saved my life.
I fired off four shots, bringing the two Proxians to the ground. The lunar disruptor was capable of disabling even the most powerful personal shield and scrambling the neural synapses of any living creature. It was one of the most effective pieces of technology the Luna Weapon Labs had ever developed.
‘Come on, we’ve got to go!’ I shouted, grabbing Selize’s hand. She moved slowly at first but as the drugs she’d been injected with began to wear off she regained her footing. The three operatives caught up to us at the lift.
‘Status?’ I asked.
‘We’re intact, sir,’ Lieutenant Chan replied. ‘They almost managed to pin us down near that room with the … power cell, but we cut through them. Our suit energy is getting low. We won’t survive more than a handful of direct hits.’
I switched the coms over to channel two.
‘Team two—what’s your status?’
The coms crackled noticeably.
‘Sir, we’ve come under heavy fire and Lieutenant Farson is down. We’re holding position at the airlock but it’s not secure. You’ll have to fight your way to us.’
‘Understood. Hang on, Lieutenant. We’re on our way.’
I motioned to the operatives next to me. We moved inside the lift. Lieutenant Dice hit the button for deck one. A tense ten seconds later the doors slid open. An energy burst hit Lieutenant Grey, who was standing closest to the doors. Her armour absorbed the blast but its charge was almost depleted. I pulled her back as a second blast hit the interior of the lift.
‘Move!’ I shouted.
Shielding Selize between us, we moved out of the lift. Two more energy blasts struck the lift behind us as we sheltered behind a cargo pod.
‘How many?’ I asked.
‘I’m reading about a dozen contacts, sir,’ Lieutenant Grey said, checking her wrist-mounted module, ‘although they’re phasing in and out, so I’m having difficulty tracking them accurately.’
‘Alright, we make a run for it. Rotating formation,’ I ordered. ‘Our objective is that airlock. Link up with team two and then provide suppressive fire until we’re ready to evac.’
‘Yes, sir,’ they said in unison.
I was the first one out from behind the relative safety of the cargo pod. A flash of magenta energy struck me in the shoulder. Reacting instantly, I fired off three disruptor blasts. Two Proxians dropped into dark space. One was too slow. She convulsed, her body arching backwards before she collapsed to the ground. Two more Proxians appeared in her place. They met the same fate but not before my suit’s force field was nearly depleted.
‘Rotate!’
I spun sideway
s as Lieutenant Chan moved forwards. Firing several bursts, she managed to move us to the airlock. Two blasts struck her, one after the other. Her force field wavered and then disappeared.
‘I’m out!’
As the remaining two operatives with functional force fields shielded us, I knelt next to the leader of team two. He was crouched behind a cargo pod. Next to him, another member of team two was providing suppressive fire. A prone figure in infiltration armour lay between them.
‘Lieutenant, is the ship on its way?’ I asked.
‘Yes, sir. They’ll be here in thirty seconds.’
‘What about Farson?’
‘Direct hit without shielding, sir. He’s not coming with us.’
I looked at the prone body of Lieutenant James Farson. A massive burn hole dominated his chest cavity, cauterised blood around its edges.
‘We leave no man behind, Lieutenant. He comes with us.’
‘Understood, sir. Thank you, sir.’
I nodded. The Proxians were continuing their assault, more and more of them appearing in the docking bay. The two operatives holding them at bay were almost done.
‘I’m out!’ Lieutenant Dice shouted.
‘I’m down to five per cent!’ Lieutenant Grey shouted.
I stood up. Discharging the full extent of my lunar disruptor in a wide arc, I turned back to the airlock. I activated the EVA function on my body armour. My battle helmet expelled a blast of air as the armour sealed itself shut. Putting my arms around Selize, I shouted.
‘Blow it!’
The airlock exploded outwards. The force of decompression pulled everything outside, including us. The infiltration armour protected those of us wearing it. The Proxians weren’t. Neither was Selize.
39.
Spectre Alpha-1 dropped out of dark space a split second after we blew the airlock. The ship’s docking hatch opened. A pair of operatives, the EVA function active on their infiltration armour, pulled us in. I held onto Selize so tightly I thought I would crush the life out of her. It wasn’t until a medic tapped me on the shoulder that I realised we were inside.