by Don Chase
Graunt stood and picked up the headset and worked it into place. “Delarus shuttles this is Security chief Graunt,” he paused and waited for the pilots to acknowledge him. “Your first priority is the safety and well being of your civilian passengers. With that being the case I want you all to head to the nearest inhabited planet, which I believe is Denbarton.”
“Sir, not saying I disagree with your idea but I think we should wait for Commanders Jax and Morris to join us before we leave.” He heard one of the pilots say.
“Where are they?”
“I don’t know sir but the way I understood it they were going to give us fighter cover out here.”
“Okay we’ll give them five more minutes to get out here or at least contact us, but if they’re not here after that I want you to leave and go straight to Denbarton. I’ll tell them where you’ve gone when and if they show up. Do we have a deal?”
“Yes sir I can live with that arrangement,” the pilot answered. The others agreed after.
“Well that’s settled at least,” Graunt said. He glanced over to Talis who was craning his neck to see out the side of the front windshield. “What’s up?”
“I’m not sure yet,” Talis answered. He tapped the control yoke of the pod and the right front thrusters turned on for a moment spinning the small ship to the left. “Huh, looks like we’ll have company out here after all,” the communications officer said with a smile.
Graunt let out a groan as he saw two more life pods floating toward them.
Marcus led the group down four levels from the hangar bay and stopped in the antechamber, waiting until everyone got down the ladder. “Where are we?” Olivia asked.
“We’re on the hospital level,” Marcus answered.
“Brilliant idea kid,” Morris said as he clapped Marcus on the shoulder.
“Why is it ‘Brilliant’?” Burton asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Because the medical level would definitely have escape pods in case they ever needed to evacuate incapacitated patients,” Olivia answered, her arms folded across her chest.
“Stop sulking Burton. I’m sorry that the station is going to meltdown soon, I didn’t do it. At least now we should be far far away by the time it happens,” Morris said.
“I just don’t understand why we can’t just reset the locks,” Burton said.
“Do you know how to get past all the computer protocols to get into the station security and fueling systems?” Morris asked Burton.
“No, but...”
“Does anyone else here know how to do that?” Morris asked cutting Burton off in the process.
When no one answered he looked at Burton, who was glaring back at him. “They don’t know how to do it, I don’t know how to do it and you just said you didn’t know how to do it. If none of us know how to get into the system then I guess we can’t reset the containment locks. Since that seems to be the case I suggest that we stop wasting what time we have and go find us a way off this death trap before it goes boom with us still on it,” Morris finished his speech and turned to Marcus. “Do you know where the closest door brings us?”
“Yeah it opens up into the public bathroom, just like the one on the hangar level did. It should be right off the main East/West hallway.”
“Good, get us to the door then and let’s see what we can find.” Marcus took point and led the group down the long hallway. He stopped and faced the right wall. “We’re here.”
“How do we get out?” Morris asked.
Marcus smiled and pointed to a small button along the seam of the two wall plates. “Push that.”
Morris nodded and turned to the others, “You all stay here and Marcus and I will go scope things out.”
“NO!” both Stella and Olivia said at the same time. The two women looked at each other in an awkward silence. Stella raised an eyebrow. Olivia blushed and quickly turned away.
“What do you mean no? It’d be much better, not to mention quieter, if just me and Marcus scout the route to the escape pods instead of all of us tromping around trying to find them.”
You’re right but I’ll go with you instead,” Stella said.
“No Stella, I can’t let you do that, I’ll go with him,” Olivia offered. Morris put his hands on his hips and watched the two go back and forth.
“Neither of you are goin’ anywhere.” There was a grunt and Grady shoved himself between the two women in the narrow hallway.
“I know this station better than both of ya put together and I certainly know it better than the kid, so I’ll be goin’ with ya.” The older man crossed his arms and let out a huff, his beard twitched as he did.
“Okay, well Grady does make logical sense,” Morris said. “You have a weapon?” he asked the older man.
“I got a couple of ‘em,” Grady said pulling out a pistol and laughing at a joke only he seemed to get.
“I would hope that you’d be able to hear if we we’re in trouble but just in case you don’t, if we’re not back in half an hour you’re on your own,” Morris said to Marcus.
“Got it,” Marcus said. He pulled the small comm. pad out of the side pocket of his pants and checked the time.
“We’ll be back as soon as we can, wish us luck.” Morris pressed the small button on the panel and there was a soft “click” and a crack of light from the other room appeared as the door opened. He opened it slowly listening for any sound besides his own breathing. When he heard nothing he stepped out into the large public bathroom, followed closely by Grady.
As soon as the two men were through the door Marcus pulled it closed quietly behind them. His mother, Stella, hugged him tight after the door was sealed again. “I’m sorry to sound over protective but I really didn’t want you going out there alone.”
“I know ma, it’s okay,” he said as he hugged her back, he saw Olivia smiling at him softly as she looked on.
Morris heard the tunnel door close behind him and nodded to Grady. The two men made their way across the large public restroom working to be as quiet as they could. They put their backs against the wall on either side of the sliding door and hit the button to open it. There was a soft “woosh” and the door slid up into its housing. Both men peered down opposing sides of the long hallway. When they saw nothing in their immediate line of vision they stepped out of the restroom. Morris had his rifle gripped tightly while Grady still carried his pistol. Grady pointed to the right and moved off in that direction followed closely by Morris.
They came to a heavy steel door that had the words “MEDICAL SERVICES” written across it. As they got closer the door opened on its own, giving both Morris and Grady a start. Morris let out a nervous chuckle as they went through the open door which slid shut silently behind them. The small chamber was an airlock separating the medical area from the rest of the station in case there was ever a quarantine situation. As they stepped toward the inner door it slid open giving them access to the medical area itself.
As the two jogged along they kept on guard, looking behind them and being cautious every time they passed any of the smaller connecting hallways. They came to a holographic information panel floating in the middle of a large intersection. Grady scrolled through the menus until he found a tab labeled EMERGENCY PROTOCOLS, he grunted in satisfaction and quickly read. He nodded to Morris and turned to his left and jogged off down the corridor.
After a bit, the hallway began to curve slightly around to the right. The plain white walls gave way to a bank of plexi-steel windows that looked out into the depths of space. The windows returned to plain white walls and Grady pointed to the steel doors at the end of the hall. The two picked up speed and ran toward them.
These doors were the same type of heavy air lock doors that were outside the hangar bay. Grady hit the large red button and they slid open. Stepping inside they saw another airlock door that led to the life pod they were looking for. “Excellent, I say we head back and get the others,” Morris said.
“Sounds like a plan,” Grady said
as he walked back through the door and into the hallway. “That was almost too easy,” he said.
“Hey don’t say things like that until we’re safe,” Morris said. He was looking back at the life pod doors and walked directly into the back of Grady who had suddenly stopped. “HEY!”
“Ummm,” Grady said.
Morris looked and saw that the older man was pointing down the hallway. He looked up and swore under his breath as he saw the two giant dog-like creatures standing at the far end of the corridor looking at them. “We should r-r-run,” he heard Grady stammer.
“Where?” he asked as he slid his rifle up to eye level. He knew there was only the airlock door behind them.
Grady turned and saw the heavy steel door behind them. “Oh yeah,” he said as he pulled his pistol out and tried to catch his breath.
The two giant beasts at the end of the hallway only vaguely resembled dogs. They looked like they came up to Morris’ shoulders and were as wide as both men standing next to each other. They had grey skin with tufts of hair or fur sprouting from random spots. Their eyes were pure black and their muzzles were short.
There was a long moment when none of the four moved. Morris noticed one of the hounds head tilt slightly and his finger twitched on the trigger of his rifle. With that single move the hounds sprang to life. In unison they bolted toward the two men. Their padded feet had trouble at first getting purchase on the smooth polished floors of the station which gave Morris a split second advantage. He steadied himself and opened fire.
The first few rounds struck the beast on the left and it stumbled slightly before dodging quickly back and forth. Some shots still found their mark but they both covered the ground quickly. Morris heard Grady scream over the roar of the rifle fire and saw movement out of the corner of is eye just before a mottled grey blur shot past him and landed directly where Grady had been. Morris roared as the hound directly in front of him swerved from side to side as it got closer. Blackish blood oozed from the dozen-plus hits that had struck home, yet it came toward him. He snarled and pulled the trigger faster as he aimed directly for the creatures head. At such a close range it was hard to miss.
One round struck and its right eye disappeared, the next took part of its nose off and buried itself in the things cheek. The next and last round landed dead center of its skull. The hounds front legs buckled and it collapsed. It slid to within a couple feet of the veteran pilot before it came to a stop. Morris, panting with adrenaline looked over where Grady had been and saw that the second creature seemed to be dead as well. He looked at the large body next to him for a moment before he saw Grady’s hand sticking out from beneath it.
“Bloody Hells!” he yelled as he threw himself into the side of the hound and tried to push the giant thing off of Grady. He groaned as he tried to shove it, when that failed he slid his hands underneath the beast and tried to lift. His hands slipped at first, slick with the things blood. After a couple tries he found a decent grip and lifted the hound up and rolled it onto its side.
He stared down at Grady who was laying very still, his hand still gripping his pistol, which was lying on his chest. His left arm was covered in a dark blood. Morris thought that it was probably the hounds but he couldn’t be completely sure. Grady’s eyes were closed and he wasn’t sure if the older man was breathing. “Grady are you okay?” he asked as he knelt next to the maintenance man.
“That thing stinks so bad!” the older man said without opening his eyes. “Even its blood stinks.”
Morris burst out in laughter, his fear erased in a second. “What happened?” he asked as he chuckled.
Grady pushed himself up off the blood covered floor and stretched, cracking his back a couple times as he twisted. “I tripped over my own feet trying to go backwards is what happened.”
“You tripped?”
“I tripped and fell flat on my back, yep.”
“So why aren’t you dead?”
“I think because when that thing landed on top of me I unloaded the whole pistol into its stinky but soft belly.”
“Good to know it’s effective.”
“Glad you think so, next time I’ll let you get beneath it to take the shot,” Grady said grumbling.
Morris grinned and clapped the older man on the shoulder. “Let’s get back so we can finally get out of here.” Grady nodded and the two men jogged down the hallway back toward the others.
Chapter 12
Outside Delarus station the three life pods and the remaining shuttles floated together in a small cluster. The small thrusters on the pods fired every minute or so, causing them to drift further and further away from the station. “Your five minutes are up pilot,” Graunt said.
“Yes sir and then some. Something must have happened. I thought for sure they’d be here by now.”
“They may still show up. We’ll be nearby if they do. You need to get those people to Denbarton though where they’ll be safe.”
“Yes sir, we’re plotting the course now. Once we get clear of you we’ll make a jump. Looks like we can only make one jump though, we’ll have to slow boat it the rest of the way.”
“That’s fine. You’ll at least be away from here. If you have any GF or militia ships show up on your sensors let them know we’re here and waiting okay?”
“Will do sir,” the pilot said. The shuttles slid away from the pods and spread out into a “V” formation as they picked up speed. Graunt watched as they got further away and then with a small blink the ships were gone, leaving the pods alone.
“Now what do we do?” Someone from one of the other pods said over the communication link.
“The same thing we’ve been doing, get as far away from that station as we can and hope we don’t get seen,” Graunt answered.
“How will they find us if we get too far away?” the voice asked.
“Each pod has an emergency beacon. If you haven’t activated it yet, you can find it on the control panel. Ours is on already though but backups can never hurt.”
“Do you think they’ll find us in time?”
“I certainly hope so. If there is a ship in the area they should be here soon. If not we may be here for a bit. By the way why aren’t you on shuttles? Could you not make it to the launch deck?”
“Oh no, we were there but the shuttles were packed full. Two of the pilots brought us to the life pods to make sure we got away safely.”
“Are they with you?”
“No, they said they were going to go back and get their fighters to give us cover if we needed it.”
“But yet they aren’t out here with us, any idea why?”
“No sir I’m sorry, they should be here by now.”
“Okay, thanks for the update. Flip on your beacons and try not to get too separated.” Graunt pulled off the headset and made sure it was turned off.
“You think something happened to them?” Talis asked.
Graunt rubbed at the stubble on his cheek. “I don’t know but Jax and Morris are soldiers, survivors. If anyone on that station was coming out alive I’d bet on them.”
As soon as the door opened Stella gasped and asked, “Are you hurt?”
“No, it’s not mine,” Grady answered.
“So you ran into them?” Burton asked as they all spilled out into the restroom.
“A couple,” Morris answered.
“Did you lead them right back here?” Burton asked, sweating profusely.
“Of course not, we took care of them,” Grady said. Stella was looking at his blood soaked arm trying to make sure he wasn’t hurt.
“What if there are more of them?” Burton asked.
“That’s a risk we have to take unfortunately. We need to go and we need to go now though. Hopefully, the two we took out haven’t been missed yet,” Morris said leading everyone to the door that took them into the corridor. “I’ll go first, everyone follow me, and Grady will bring up the rear. Don’t slow down and try not to make a lot of noise.” Morris waited for everyone
to nod before he took a deep breath and hit the key pad causing the door to slide open.
Morris turned to his right and moved quickly down the hallway that he and Grady had just explored. Once through the heavy air lock doors, he saw the information hologram and cut the corner to his left. He stopped at the next turn in the hallway to cover the others. He raised his rifle and peered down the barrel as they ran by him. Grady clapped him on the shoulder as he ran by the younger pilot. Morris grunted in acknowledgement, turned and jogged to take his place at the head of the party.
Grady caught up to the others at the end of the long hallway, breathing heavy, as Morris punched in the last digits on the key pad. The outer door slid open and soon they were standing in front of the life pod door. Morris punched in the last digits as Grady and Marcus watched through the window leading back into the hallway for movement.
“Okay let’s go,” Morris said as the last door slid open.
Morris waited until everyone else had gotten inside before entering. He made his way toward the control panel, the lights flickered as the doors closed, sealing them in.
“Oh, that can’t be good,” Grady said.
“What?” Morris asked.
“Nothing, I’m sure it’s nothing,” Grady said.
“Marcus, hit the launch button so we can get out of here already,” Grady said.
Marcus stepped over to the panel near the door and slapped the large red emergency launch button clearly marked with the word LAUNCH because no one wants to fiddle with punching in codes when they’re on the verge of panic during an emergency. After a moment of silence Marcus looked at Grady.
“Or I suppose it could be something,” Grady mumbled
“Umm why are we not moving?” Morris asked as he stood at the control panel moving the yoke.
“Did you fire the thrusters?” Burton asked.
“Yeah and we’re still not moving,” Morris answered.
“That’s probably because the locking hub is still intact,” Grady interjected.
“Wait, what?” Morris asked.