The Siege of Sirius

by Eddie R. Hicks

  Two grunts began to examine an air vent, one she would rather they not look at. Their armored covered hands tapped the grille several times. An overlord took notice and moved over to see what had caught their attention. Kostelecky’s heart rate accelerated to the point she could feel every beat vibrate throughout her chest.

  Her hands dipped inside of her pocket, her fingers wrapped around the handle of the pistol and she prepared her arms and legs for plan B.

  The overlords ordered their team to leave sickbay and continue pillaging the rest of the habitat ring, leaving one grunt to stand and watch over Kostelecky. She moved from where she had stood, stepping next to the air vent that had been so intently examined. She played the role of the doctor being held hostage as she looked up at the ceiling, past the grill of the air vent where seconds earlier she had hidden the Poniga. They were safe for now, but unless something was done about the invaders, it would only be a matter of time before they returned to conduct a more detailed search of the ship.

  Bailey, Rivera. This better work.

  31 CHANG

  ESRS Carl Sagan exterior

  SC-149 AKA Meroien far orbit, Sirius C system

  May 22, 2050, 04:28 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  “It’s showtime!”

  Flight lieutenant Denis Chang left the cockpit of the transport after he completed the tedious task of suiting up in an EVA suit. He looked at Pierce and Nereid who all wore EVA suits as well. Chevallier kept her combat armor on and took the time to equip herself with a new Hammerhead helmet from the overhead storage compartment. Afterward, she handed Pierce an ePistol as he was the only one that wasn’t armed. Chevallier gave Chang the thumbs-up afterward, they were good to go. He hoped that she was right since Nereid didn’t understand the concept of wearing an EVA suit for a space walk.

  Chang opened the transport’s doors and activated his magnetic boots. He stepped outside onto the hull of the Carl Sagan, just five meters shy of the entrance to the docking bay. When news of the incursion made it to them, he quickly piloted the transport back outside and forced it to land along the outside hull of the Carl Sagan. Luckily for them, the Carl Sagan had come to a full stop at that point, making the landing possible.

  The four exited the transport and walked along the underside of the ship, their magnetic boots clinging to the surface of the hull. They stepped away from the docking bay doors and toward what Chang believed to be their only way out of the chaos. He kept his eyes forward during their magnetic boot trek as it was a disorienting one. Technically, they were upside down walking on the bottom of the ship, not that space followed rules of up or down. Above them, or below, depending on one’s perspective on the matter, was the ocean world of Meroien and its cloudy skies.

  It was a long way down. Dude, eyes forward!

  “Where are we going, Chang?” Chevallier asked him.

  “Just before we left Earth the captain asked me to give her a grand exterior tour of the ship,” Chang said. “I remember seeing one maintenance hatch on the habitat ring. It should lead us inside and put us closer to the armory.”

  “Well then, you might want to lead the way faster.” Chevallier pointed at the egg-shaped drone ship circling around the Carl Sagan.

  The drone didn’t seem to be aware of their presence. Yet.

  “Nereid, is it possible you can give MC more of the good stuff?” Chang said.

  “That ability drained a lot of my psionic power,” Nereid said. “We might want to consider leaving that as a last option.”

  “She almost passed out with that technique,” Chevallier said. “I’d rather not have to drag her ass around.”

  “Then let’s do our best to stay low,” Chang said. “If that thing spots us, well, yeah, you know.”

  Chevallier grunted. “No pressure, right?”

  “The elevator shafts and tethers connecting the main hull of the Carl Sagan to the habitat ring is way the fuck down there.” Chang pointed toward the aft end of the ship, the direction they were walking. “We’ll need to climb up those to reach the habitat ring . . . and avoid detection from that circulating asshole out there.”

  The four pushed on, playing a game of cat and mouse with only the magnetic boots to keep them from floating away into space. Magnetic boots . . . Chang thought to himself. It gave him an idea.

  There was no up or down, they could walk along the bottom of the hull, or they could switch it up and walk along the sides of it. And if things really got desperate, climb upward to the topside. Just like how the habitat rings rotated around the Carl Sagan, the four moved in a stealth-like manner and rotated their trek across the ship to avoid detection from the circling drone.

  Random maintenance hatches along the central fuselage had to be used when they found themselves unable to sidestep away from the circling drone. It was tempting to stay inside and wait it out, or perhaps follow the pitch-black tunnels back inside of the ship. But they needed to stay on course. Most of the fuselage had been taken over by the Architect’s forces so the habitat ring was where they needed to be. Gravity, weapons, and armor awaited them.

  One of the long metallic tethers was a meter away arching upward to the giant ring from Chang’s point of view. And apparently, several Architect soldiers were a few meters away as well. They too were using magnetic boots by the looks of it and began to fan out with their weapons forward, ready to kill. They knew the idle transport was outside of the ship, probably the biggest giveaway that they made their escape.

  “MC, we got company,” Chang called out to her.

  “Yeah . . . I see it,” Chevallier moaned.

  Chang stepped next to the spinning tethers. “OK, guys, so, we now have to avoid being shot by them, and the drone, while climbing up to the top.” He looked up and saw how much of a climb was awaiting them. The distance between the main ship and habitat ring was long, kilometers long. He felt as if he was standing high up on a towering skyscraper and looking downward at a city below. “Fuck.”

  32 BAILEY

  ESRS Carl Sagan, Mess hall

  SC-149 AKA Meroien far orbit, Sirius C system

  May 22, 2050, 04:48 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  The oven timer buzzed, reminding Demarion that his baked dessert was ready. It also notified the aliens aboard the habitat ring that someone was hidden back in the kitchen. The invaders burst into the mess hall searching to find the source of the buzz. The chocolate smell of Demarion’s dish led them into the kitchen where they found the frightened chef amongst the messy recently used mixing bowls and opened flour and peanut bags.

  Laser weapons were aimed at him as the alien leaders, the overlords as the rest of the crew called them, stepped forward with their spears in hand aggressively speaking to him in their language.

  “Good day to you too,” Demarion said as his oven-mittened hands placed the baking dish in front of them. “Hey, mon, you must be hungry, eh?” Demarion pushed the hot baking dish closer to them, freshly baked brownies, recipe courtesy of Rivera. “You and your friend are my honored guests, have these on the house while I prepare dinner.”

  The overlords moved in closer keeping their eyes on the brownie dish, attracted to its chocolate smell. Demarion could tell they were interested in it and cut them a square slice to sample. He demonstrated to them that it was safe to eat, and they became further intrigued. The overlords removed their helmets, showing their humanlike faces to him and the strange glowing cybernetic implants on their heads.

  One overlord ate a serving of the brownies and then addressed the rest of the overlords behind him. The tone of his voice was a pleasant one, he liked it. Each one yanked a serving of the brownies and ate it. If the doctor’s message was correct, the Architect wasn’t one to properly feed his troops. The whole dish was consumed by the overlords in minutes. They didn’t care to wait for it to cool down.

  Sweat began to drip down Demarion’s face as he stood and awaited his next move.

  Were they going to request more? Did he make the brownies cor
rectly?

  The overlords that consumed the brownies slowly became lethargic. Some started to laugh for no reason, others became relaxed to the point where their laser grunt minions fell to the floor like sudden death had hit them.

  33 RIVERA

  ESRS Carl Sagan, Engineering

  SC-149 AKA Meroien far orbit, Sirius C system

  May 22, 2050, 04:58 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  Rivera awoke to the sound of the engineering team cheering as they quickly regained control of the situation. She rubbed the side of her head that was raging with pain from the hit she took, and then brushed aside the tiny orbs of her blood that had been floating around her face.

  She looked and saw the grunt soldiers floating lifelessly. Her plan had worked; her message did get through. “OK, move, people, on the double!” She returned to her computer terminal to get an update on what had happened while she was knocked out.

  Security camera footage showed a similar sight happening throughout most of the ship, grunts dropping, keeling over. According to Dr. Kostelecky’s discovery they were already dead, and being psionically mind-controlled by another source, their overlord squad leaders, many of whom were malnourished. Psionic powers required the brain to be operating normally, a brain that was as high as a kite wouldn’t be able to do that, thus the link would become severed. The grunts falling over meant the chef was able to nail Rivera’s pot brownie recipe perfectly. She grinned at the revelation, and made a mental note for him to bake her some later.

  Challenge number two was now afoot, the overlords were still active and still a threat, they were just too high to do anything. It was only a matter of time before they recovered and attacked again, or worse, called for backup. That’s where Chevallier, Chang, and the habitat ring armory came in, assuming they made it in time. The overlords were Poniga after all, and there was no data available that would indicate how quick they might be able to recover from their trip.

  34 PIERCE

  ESRS Carl Sagan, Habitat ring exterior

  SC-149 AKA Meroien far orbit, Sirius C system

  May 22, 2050, 05:08 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  Dr. Travis Pierce sighed in relief as he saw Chang point at the hatch they had been traveling to since the space walk began. Just a few more meters to go, Pierce thought, during their climb upward to the top of the ring. Almost there, almost there!

  Pierce stayed behind Nereid, the slowest of the four as he watched her back, something neither Chang nor Chevallier were concerned about. Nereid got Pierce out of his imprisonment, so he now felt the need to return the favor and get her to safety within the Carl Sagan. No way in hell was he going to allow her to be the last in the queue while Architect soldiers from behind scaled upward in pursuit of them.

  Wait a second, Pierce thought, and looked behind at their pursuers. There was an overload among the four grunts. According to Rivera’s transmission all the overlords aboard had been incapacitated. Looks like they missed one.

  The four pairs of magnetic boots slapped onto the exterior of the habitat ring. The experience was excruciating for Pierce as the artificial gravity bled away from the rotating section. Turns out, there was no need for magnetic boots, moderate gravity existed this far out on the ship. Pierce deactivated his boots and allowed his body to move with gravity holding him in place, it made running much easier since he didn’t need to use additional force to pull his feet upward to take a step. And given the fact he spent two years in the time dilation bubble, the least amount of work his sore and out of shape body had to do, the better.

  Chang lead them toward the maintenance hatch. Being detected by the drones or soldiers was inevitable at this point. They were, after all, on the habitat ring which was spinning rapidly leaving them with very little means of using the rest of the ship as cover. An all or nothing run ensued as a result. Chevallier held her rifle forward ready for the unexpected while Pierce fiddled around for his pistol. The hatch neared, and so did the drone along with the soldiers from behind.

  Chang moved forward first and began to lift the disk-shaped lid open as Chevallier’s weapon yelled and roared sending a message to the incoming hostile forces, stay away. The drone swooped down with its weapons charging and opened fire. A beam of white energy soared toward them and repelled off a dome barrier Nereid quickly threw down to protect Chevallier, Chang, and herself.

  Pierce, who was lagging behind, was outside of the range of the barrier. Nereid’s mind, still weakened from their escape from the planet, couldn’t extend it forward to encompass him.

  The explosive blast that followed in the wake of the drone’s attack launched Pierce backward, sending him spiraling to the pursuing soldiers. Without his magnetic boots, only the gravity that bled away from the habitat ring prevented Pierce from being lost to space. Had the explosion been stronger, he might have become a tumbling body lost in space forever, the border between gravity and no gravity was small.

  Pierce got back to his feet and saw that he was now much closer to death as the four grunts approached with their blasters blazing. He looked up and saw his escape, the long tether that held the habitat ring to the ship. His EVA suit’s jets gave him enough thrust to launch upward and away from the gravitational pull. He glided toward the tether turning his body as he reactivated his magnetic boots, they clung securely in place on the tether. Looking back—or up—he saw the danger he had evaded. The grunts and their overlord continued to push on, ignoring him, and focusing on the other three who were in the process of climbing into the maintenance hatch, while the drone’s beam weapon chipped away at Nereid's barrier.

  Pierce noticed that the four grunts were ahead of the overlord, moving at full speed, while their overlord commander slowed his run and watched from afar. It made sense that the overlords simply mind-controlled the grunts who were nothing more than undead shock troopers. The overlords needed to stay behind them and direct the flow of battle, if they went down so did the grunts they were mind-controlling. Pierce waited for the grunts to run far enough out of range, while the overlord stood, watching and controlling them.

  Pierce aimed his pistol at the boots of the overlord and asked himself repeatedly if he was out of his mind for what he was about to do.

  Pierce deactivated his magnetic boots and ignited the thrusts of his EVA suits jets. His body propelled back down to the habitat ring as his finger pulled the trigger of his pistol twice, one for each foot of the overlord, hopefully damaging its magnetic boots. He didn’t want to risk firing any more bullets, one missed shot would put a hole in the ring large enough for it to vent atmosphere.

  His sneak attack drew the attention of the overlord, it didn’t have enough time to react as Pierce’s body came crashing down onto him, now bound by the gravity once again. The overlord lost its spear in the process and resorted to combat the old-fashioned way, with its fists. Pierce returned the favor.

  The two rolled along the ring, punching and grabbing each other in the process while the light of Sirius A in the distance shined down upon them. Pierce saw cracks form on his helmets visor, he was losing the fight along with air, heat, and the pressure he needed to stay alive in space. The computer in his EVA suit played an alarm notifying him of his impending doom as the fists of the overload drilled into his helmet relentlessly.

  Their fighting brought them to the edge of the habitat ring. This is it, he thought, and braced himself for a move that might bring him to his end, rather than his opponent. Their bodies rolled off the edge as the artificial gravity pulled them downward. Pierce quickly reactivated his magnetic boots, it caused his feet to instantly cling back onto the sides of the ring. The overlord, however, was seemingly oblivious that his boots had been damaged, and continued to fall.

  The overlord’s body more or less fell off the ship, despite having fallen out of range of the gravitational pull of the habitat ring. The speed the overlord’s body traveled at was equal to the speed of one falling off a cliff on Earth. The overlord’s body continued to spiral out of cont
rol, away from the Carl Sagan at said speeds, and would continue to do so, until someone, or something, stopped it. The undead grunts it was mind-controlling slumped over, now out of range of his psionic mind.

  Pierce laughed as he looked down at the overlord now lost to space, its arms and legs flailed and danced about in a panic. “Give Sir Isaac Newton my regards.” Because he’s one deadly son of a bitch.

  35 FOSTER

  The Architect’s ship

  SC-149 AKA Meroien far orbit, Sirius C system

  May 22, 2050, 05:43 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  Tolukei’s firm hand rapped Foster’s arm awaking her from her brief nap and reminding her of the situation she was in. She had been placed back in the cell she and Mavron shared as he slept on a hard bed adjacent to hers. Marduk and Tolukei stood next to each other as they waited for Foster to rise up from her rest.

  She looked directly at Tolukei’s face as she came to, there were no signs of regret in it for the actions he did. She frowned and pushed his hand away. “Never thought your kind would betray us like that,” Foster said.

  “If you knew how Radiance treated Muodiry, you would understand. Many of the Javnis Muodiry were either forced into exile or pushed into the arms of heretics since our existence was considered to be sacrilegious.” Foster replied with a snort. “You see, we had psionic powers before the Aryile arrived at our home world, it was believed that psionic gifts came from the three Radiance gods, who lent it to the Aryile, who began to spread it across the galaxy.”

  “And you having it before them contradicts that,” Foster said. “Then again, this whole system does, doesn’t it? Radiance ain’t made it this far out, yet these folks not only got psionics but can do tricks Radiance and Hashmedai psionics can’t.”