Lintorth leaned back in his chair, folding his hands as he smiled. “What did we gather?”
“We picked up multiple Gashnee and Human signatures from the innermost planet. We also show–” Voskal Lat was cut off by his benefactor.
“That is it! The Tolarus System is our main target. Voskal, I want more information regarding what hides in this system. I also want sentries posted around it, tracking anything that moves in or out.”
“What of the Gashnee? The signatures were off the scales in this system. Maybe the Humans are aligned with them somehow?”
“I have that covered for now.”
A surprised look came over Voskal’s face. “I was not notified?”
“You will know soon, my friend. Right now, we need to focus all of our intelligence forces on gathering any and all information on these Humans. We must use all means necessary. This is our moment.”
DATA CELL 3
The hangar bay was quiet. A few dim lights bathed the archways and loading containers within the large room.
Two Kryth soldiers entered with rifles held slung at their waists.
They stopped in the middle of the bay. Only silence awaited them as their exhaled breath met the cold air.
The soldiers looked at one another without speaking. One shrugged his shoulders to the next, as they wondered why they had to guard an empty hangar bay. The shrugging soldier departed from his comrade and went down towards a lit hallway connecting the hangar to the center of the outpost.
The lone Kryth ventured near one of the loading doors they were instructed to guard. He turned his back with a look of boredom over the ridiculous order. He wondered how long the Comondons would take to fix the main generator and heat up this rusted tin can.
“Why am I here? I should have taken the cargo runner mission. Instead, I am guarding a freezing hangar. Get the heat going, torntas! Stupid bulls!” he yelled toward the unseen Comondons.
The soldier took his hands off his slung weapon and blew into his palms to warm them before placing them in the pockets of his uniform. “This is senseless.”
∞∞∞
Kryth Team Leader Vran walked down the hall towards the two Comondons working on the generator. “How long before you get this thing working?”
The larger bull answered, “We try different parts, it not working. We try other parts, it still not work.”
“I asked how long?”
The Comondon thought for a moment before answering his Kryth master, “We try more parts. We see.”
Frustrated, the team leader turned and left. “Just get it working!”
He hadn’t taken more than a few steps away from the workers when a loud hum penetrated the facility’s walls.
The team leader looked around to ascertain its direction. The sound seemed to increase, as if it was approaching his location.
Down the hall in front of him, a bluish light advanced, washing over him in a blinding flash.
The generator behind him sparked and powered down.
The Comondons stood up, the little hair they had on their head was standing on end from the blue energy wave.
The taller Comondon spoke to the team leader, who now looked in their direction, “Not us.”
∞∞∞
The hangar bay was now dark.
The Kryth guard activated the light on his plasma rifle.
The hairs on the back of his neck were still standing up after the electrical discharge. His first thought was the generator. “Comondons! Now we have no heat or light!”
He began to search around with his weapon held out front.
A clank of metal sounded behind him.
He spun around to shine his light on the bay door. More creaks of metal came from beyond the door.
The soldier approached slowly, searching the darkness with his beam.
He reached for a comm-link on his chest armor. “Team Leader, this is Sentry One. Respond.” Only static met his ear. He spoke again, “Lead, Sentry One. Respond.” More static awaited him.
He crept closer to the door. The light from his weapon now shone brightly against the hull door, overly distracting him, he moved his weapon aside.
He approached the door’s window.
He looked through.
Pitch blackness stared back at him. He squinted harder, trying to look past the docking port. Usually, one could see stars beyond the port, but he saw nothing. He placed his hands up next to the window and stared even harder before a blue flash caught his eye.
The window burst inward with a shattering of glass as a plasma charge blew through the bay and the Kryth soldier’s head.
The corpse fell backwards, landing on the deck.
The hangar bay door whined open.
∞∞∞
“Move!” Captain Nevlen yelled out over comms to his men.
A dozen Human troopers exited from the docking port as they left the Mercador’s hold.
The last person through the door was Lieutenant Commander Droe Temin.
She briefly looked over the troops taking up positions within the cargo bay.
She approached Captain Nevlen.
Her face shield’s reflection appeared in his battle suit helmet, “Captain Nevlen, move your team up through the second corridor on the right. My team will move through the main one on the left. Keep comms up and let’s make this quick.”
He nodded. “Bravo Team, let’s move.”
Nevlen’s team moved down the corridor that entered the bay from the center of the complex.
Droe’s team moved through the larger main corridor. The team leader communicated as they moved, “I have Ramek’s location, forty meters from our position.”
“Let’s get to him. Call out incoming targets, and watch those corners,” Droe replied.
The teams pushed further into the outpost with no resistance, besides one dead guard.
∞∞∞
The chamber door opened to the torture room.
The Kryth team leader yelled out to the Comondon, “Kill the Human. If they want him, they can have his corpse. Do it now.”
“Not done yet,” Mortok voiced.
“I do not care. The outpost has been compromised. Do as you are told. Now!” the Kryth officer reiterated as he left, slamming the door behind him.
The bull snorted, “Not my problem. I take my prize.” Mortok turned toward his Tiwil assistant, “Get ship ready. We move Human.”
DATA CELL 4
“Give me a status on their defenses,” Keelen said towards Maddox.
The five Reavers stood in the main corridor onboard the Exendoth destroyer docked alongside the station.
They had just finished the pod penetration at midpoint along the ship’s lateral line. The pods were evenly spaced out, about five meters apart. One pod had entered the hull near the corner of a larger viewing window, which ran at least seven meters down the length of the hallway.
Fortunately, the force shielding of the window replaced glass when the pod entered.
Maddox replied, “I show six shielded barriers near the engineering bay and four near the bridge.”
“They’ve learned,” Keelen acknowledged. He turned to the other three Reavers, “Tershin, Kercy, and Kremage. Guard the blast door towards the bridge.” He spun back to Maddox. “Find another way in. There’re too many barriers. We don’t have enough time.”
“Will do,” Maddox responded.
The new Reavers, Tershin, Kercy, and Kremage, were on a trial mission, all vying for a spot within the regiment to replace the lost Reaver, Jens Dryden. They could be replacing two Reavers if Ramek is not recovered during this rescue, Keelen thought.
He approached one of the pod openings between the four wrenched-open, spear-tipped hydraulic arms of the pods.
He grabbed the handle of a large box and pulled it out.
Keelen moved toward the center of the hall, between the aft blast door and the one heading toward the bridge.
He set the box down and ent
ered a code on a pad near the top.
The box unfolded into a dual-turreted plasma cannon. The weapon housed two blue plasma rotatory tanks along its side. Upon completion of the conversion, the weapon began to track towards the hull door.
“Got that update, Maddox?” Keelen asked.
“I’ve found a possible entrance ahead, along the wall. It’s a maintenance corridor that runs the length of the ship. We can make our way through there, but we have another problem.”
“What’s that?”
“They’ve set the reactors to overload. I’m showing the center chamber at fifteen percent. For a stationary vessel, that’s a slow build-up to critical, if you ask me.”
“I’m confirming that as well, Reaver Lead,” Tershin added.
Keelen stood there for a breath, “That’s why all the force fields are guarding our path. They plan to blow the ship and the station. Now we’re definitely behind schedule.”
“They anticipated our rescue mission?” Kercy questioned.
“Hence, the trap,” Tershin added.
Kremage jumped into the conversation, not wanting to be left out, “Sneaky kizards aren’t they?”
“Yes, but we anticipated this,” Maddox replied.
“How much time until it blows?” Keelen queried.
“We’re looking at about fifteen minutes,” Maddox replied.
Keelen, thinking, walked near the turret, “We won’t be able to disengage the overload sequence in time with the shielding they’ve put in our way.”
Kercy spoke up, “We can move the ship away from the station to give the rescue team more time, maybe?”
“Yes, good idea. Let’s get to the helm. Kercy, remove that access panel along the center wall. We’ll move through the maintenance shaft.” Keelen paused. His HUD picked up Kryth troops advancing towards their position on both sides of the doors. He continued, “We don’t have much time. I want mirage cubes out now. Kercy, hurry up with removing the panel. Kremage, you assist. I’ll contact Lieutenant Commander Temin and update her on the situation.”
“I have an idea, boss,” Maddox said.
“What is it?”
“I can rewire that door panel from this side so both doors open at once. Maybe catch the Kryth in a crossfire.”
“Do it,” Keelen ordered.
Keelen now turned his attention to contacting the station assault team to give them the vital update on the Kryth’s trap.
∞∞∞
Droe’s team moved down the corridor, hugging the walls, weapons aimed ahead of them.
The hallway they were in remained black as night. Their helmets aided, showing a clear, depth image of their surroundings.
“Captain Nevlen, come in,” She said over comms. “We have a situation report from Team Leader Keres. Keelen reports overload of Exendoth’s reactors set as a trap. We have less than fifteen minutes to evac Ramek. They will try and stabilize situation, but no assurances. Repeat, no assurances, over.”
Nevlen’s voice came over comms, “Roger, lead. We are progressing to last room before station center near Ramek’s location, over.”
“Roger that. We are also approaching the adjacent room before the last corridor, opposite your position. We are not getting any readings from this point due to a heavy static-layer between the room’s walls. How do your readings look, over?”
“Not much better. If I had to take a guess, they knew we were coming, over.”
“Copy that. They are using the static-layer for cover. Hold your position and prepare for assault. Temin out,” Droe finished, switching her comms channel in her visor to the Flashpoint’s tab. “Flashpoint, you have report of situation. Keep an eye out for incoming ships. It looks as if they were expecting us, over.”
“Affirmative, I have the eye in the sky. We got your backs, Alpha One, over.”
Droe was looking over her HUD’s schematic of the outpost and about to give her next order when the plasma bolts flashed down the hallway.
A green torrent of plasma came from around the entrance to the last room to their front. Impacts on walls lit the darkened corridor.
“Return fire,” Droe commanded.
Nevlen’s voice came over comms, “We have contact and returning fire from last room before center, over.”
“Copy. We have same ambushed contact. Proceed. We need to get Ramek. Over and out,” She voiced.
∞∞∞
A section of the wall panel came off with the final bolt removed. Kercy and Kremage laid the panel aside, giving access to the maintenance walkway behind the wall.
“I want all mirage cubes out,” Keelen ordered to his men. “The Kryth will be coming through any second.”
Each man detached a small, black cube that fit in the palm of the hands from their side torso armor. Each tossed the cubes to the floor.
The miniature blocks clicked and a bright, full image of the owning Reaver shot upward, appearing as a solid hologram in the center of the corridor. The effect made it look as if five extra Reavers were in the hallway, weapons drawn, ready for battle.
“Let’s get to the bridge. Maddox, you take point. Let’s move,” Keelen ordered.
The Reavers entered the access causeway behind the wall, heading towards the bridge.
“I’m picking up contact with enemy by the station assault team,” Maddox called out.
“Copy. We’re going to be in our own firefight in a moment. Let’s pick up the pace.”
∞∞∞
The Kryth troops were positioned on either side of the doors to the corridor the Reavers had just left. Some were kneeling with weapons drawn; others were standing along the walls waiting for the command to make the assault.
A Kryth officer nodded to one soldier near the door control panel. To their surprise, the doors on both sides of the corridor began to open at the same time.
The Reaver turret that had been set up in the center of the hallway sprang to life. One of the barrels flipped one hundred eighty degrees towards the other door. Each barrel now had a field of fire.
The Kryth officer tried in vain to have the soldier close the doors. Only one was to be opened at a time to corner the Human intruders.
It was desperately too late.
They now found themselves in an unwanted crossfire.
Before the blast doors were halfway open, the turret began its blazing fire.
The blue plasma bolts met the Kryth soldiers on their knees first. Kryth bodies fell where they had been kneeling. Some resulted in death as nerves twitched, causing weapons to fire wildly and cutting down their own comrades.
Some soldiers began firing at the fake Reavers they saw before them. Their plasma bolts moved through the holograms to the other soldiers positioned opposite the corridor.
The turret continued spitting out rapid bolts in a spray pattern. The weapon mount swayed back and forth, covering the corridor with plasma rounds. The blue plasma canisters drained rapidly as the maelstrom ensued.
The incoming rounds soon took out the plasma turret. The Kryth soldiers advanced from both sides, passing the cubed holograms. The officer kicked one of the blocks, sending it skittering across the floor as one of the Reaver images rolled in all directions.
There in the corridor, next to the Reaver pods, were about a dozen remaining Kryth soldiers. They began to look around, noticing the open access panel. Some approached with weapons drawn. Others looked at the turret and the cubes.
They all heard the wrench of metal from the pods behind them. They turned back to the pods from where the sound came. The pods’ forked arms closed and the pods themselves, programmed by Keelen, backed out from their embedded entrance.
Everything was sucked out into the cold blackness of space.
∞∞∞
“They’re firing around the door’s edge. Get me a bastard on the wall opposite the door now,” Droe ordered.
A Human troop attached a flat bastard to the launcher accessory on top of his rifle and fired the device at the wall ac
ross the door where the Kryth were covered in the room.
The projectile spun, attaching itself to the wall.
It beeped and then detonated in towards the room.
The shrieks of Kryth echoed down the corridor as the fire licked the door’s edge, racing across the hall and into the room.
“Move up!” she called out.
The Human troops advanced toward the door. One troop tossed in a room-buster grenade.
Some of the Kryth soldiers were recovering from the blast near the door when the grenade rolled to a stop amongst them.
A flash-strobe blinded the Kryth as the grenade launched its first assault. The second assault came as the blinded Kryth were covering their eyes from the flash.
The grenade fired out targeting lasers, finding each remaining living Kryth. Once targeted, the lasers were followed by rounds exploding outward, striking the enemies. Their bodies slumped to the floor.
The Human team advanced into the room and secured the fallen Kryth survivor who had found cover from the blast.
Droe followed as the last one into the room.
She pulled up comms, saying, “Captain Nevlen, room secure. What is your status, over?”
“Clearing now, over.”
Droe immediately brought up her scanner. The layout of the facility showed the center of the room, where Ramek’s DNA was picked up earlier.
Concern came over Droe’s face. “I’m not picking up Ramek’s signature. The room looks empty.”
She increased the radius of the device and added a system boost to the interior scan. It would drain the battery, but she needed to find Ramek.
A slight blip showed up below them. Droe moved the device down towards the floor. She made an adjustment on the instrument. The blip became more pronounced.
“I got him!” she yelled. “There seems to be a secret corridor underneath the chamber. It looks to lead to the bottom center of the station.”
Annals of the Keepers - Deception Page 2