On Galaxy's Edge: Ascendance

by Alex T. Kolter

  Nero returned his attention to the warehouse, and the few pinpricks of light leaking out of the windows. As he flew the shuttle closer, the main doors detected the ship, and began to open. By the time the shuttle reached the factory, the doors were open wide enough to allow Nero to fly through, with a slight dip of the port side to fit the wing tips through the still-widening gap.

  “What the hell...?” Nate said, glancing at Nero as the ship entered their base. A red light was strobing in the factory, and people were running about. There didn’t appear to be anything obviously wrong, though. With a sense of urgency, Nero landed the shuttle, setting it down next to the main doors, and ran towards the boarding ramp at the rear of the shuttle. As the ramp opened, the loud siren hit their ears, and the strobing light forced its way into the ship.

  “Code red. Code red.” An artificial voice was playing through the warehouse speakers. “Code red.” When the ramp was down enough to allow them out, Nero and Nate ran down the ramp and jumped off the end, heading straight for the main office not far away. Inside, they found Talyah, Onon and Jerad pulling weapons off of their racks.

  “What the hell is going on?” Nero demanded, instantly freezing the others in their tracks. It was Onon who answered first.

  “We don’t know, Nero. The alarm just went off, in the back-up stash. We haven’t been able to contact anyone there yet.” She picked up her combat belt and strapped it on, attaching her rifle to its slot.

  “This day just gets better...” Nero said. He went over to pick up some weapons for himself, choosing his favourite rifle and a selection of grenades as well. “Nate? You coming?”

  “Shouldn’t someone stay and guard this place?” he asked in return. “What if this is a diversion of some sort?”

  It was a good point, Nero conceded. “Alright, keep an eye on things here. Hopefully we won’t be long. And make sure you keep Sevi with you,” he added, not wanting Sevi to sneak along with them again. Nate smiled.

  Thirty minutes later, and Nero, Talyah, Onon, Jerad, and a few others, were getting out of the shuttle a couple of streets away from their stash of drugs and supplies. They made their way through a couple of alleys to find the building, not seeing or hearing anything out of the ordinary, but keeping their weapons out all the same.

  The building itself was a small, run-down place, surrounded by years of refuse and neglect. Along the front was a facade that wouldn’t attract any notice, complete with a metal door that looked about to fall off its hinges. That was an illusion, however, since Nero had installed a particularly solid door, which should have withstood a significant amount of force. The melted locking mechanism at the bottom of the door suggested that it couldn’t withstand concentrated laser fire, however.

  Nero slowed, and the others behind him slowed as well. He carefully approached the door, always keeping an eye on their surroundings, and saw that it was still partially open. He gestured for the others to move forward with him, and slowly pushed the door open a little further. No sounds came from within, and no movement, either. He pushed the door open a little more, enough to be able to squeeze in. Still nothing.

  With a last glance around, he slipped into the darkened interior of the building. It took a moment for his eyes to adapt, but his holodisplay was already highlighting items of potential interest. Then he heard a faint sound come up from the basement. He held up his hand, and those behind him froze. Then the sound came again, slightly louder. It sounded like the faint whine of a laser weapon being fired.

  He glanced at Talyah, directly behind him. She’d heard it too. He moved forward a little more, more careful than ever, until he reached the top of the stairs that led downwards. Before he could begin to descend, though, he heard a faint voice, growing louder.

  “--done here?” it was saying.

  “Yes, lieutenant,” another voice responded. Nero backed up from the stairs, moving to find better cover, heart beating a little harder. The voices continued.

  “Very good. Torch it, and we shall move on.”

  “Lieutenant.” The footsteps were nearly at the top of the stairs now, but Nero and his team had moved into an adjacent room, out of sight of the stairs. Onon glanced at Nero, as if to say ‘why aren’t we attacking’, but the way the people were talking worried Nero. He didn’t know of any organisation on the planet that had lieutenants.

  “Ensign?” The lieutenant addressed the other man. “Did you leave the door open when we arrived?”

  “No, lieutenant.”

  “I thought not. We have visitors. Find them.” Nero glanced angrily behind him, at whoever didn’t think to close the door behind them. It was too late for that now, though. He held up three fingers to the rest of his team, and counted down, signalling for them to move.

  They rushed out of the room, into the main hall, to see two men stood there. Each was tall, well over six feet, and clad from head to foot in dark grey armour. On their heads were sinister full-face helmets, with strange camera set ups that glowed faintly blue, and protruding rebreather units. Aegis agents.

  Nero almost stopped then and there, when he saw the horrifying figures standing there, but he managed to recover himself, and fired at the nearest man. Nothing happened. The laser beam left his weapon, and hit the man in the chest, but he continued to stand there, as if Nero had just thrown a drink at him. Then a strange sound came out of his voice unit. It took Nero a moment to realise the man was laughing.

  “Is that the best you’ve got?” he said, once he had stopped laughing, his voice a haunting rasp coming from behind the helmet. Nero just stood there, lost for what to do. He’d never come across material that could so easily withstand the fire from his laser rifle.

  The armoured man then gestured at the other man, who pulled a massive laser rifle from its attachment at his waist. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Nero watched as he aimed the weapon at Jerad, and watched as he pulled the trigger. He saw a bright white beam of pure energy leave the end of the weapon, and watched as Jerad’s head disappeared. It didn’t just have a hole in it; it just disappeared. It was there one moment, and an instant later, it had been vaporised. Jerad’s body crumpled, landing on the floor in a strange heap.

  Nero looked back at the armoured man, knowing this was a futile fight. “Run!” he shouted, hearing the others obey his command behind him. He continued facing the two Aegis agents for a moment longer, giving the others time to flee out of the door. Neither of the men made a move to stop them, instead just standing there watching, like two demonic statues.

  “We shall meet again, Nero. We plan on having some fun with you,” came the rasping voice of the lieutenant, as Nero began backing towards the door. He turned, and ran out of the door as fast as he could, his augmented legs giving him a huge extra burst of speed.

  He caught up with the others, who were well on the way back to the shuttle, when the buildings around him appeared to flash bright orange in colour. Moments later, he heard a huge explosion, and a blast of air knocked him forwards, causing him to stumble into Onon in front of him. He turned around to see a great fireball rising into the sky.

  “Keep going!” he yelled. The others didn’t need prompting, and they were very shortly back on the shuttle, and taking off. As much as Nero wanted to get back to the base as soon as possible, he flew via a meandering route, hoping that any watchers would lose track of them.

  One question was going through his mind the whole flight back. How did they find us?

  ****

  Sevi was enjoying herself, having recently found a new passageway in the warehouse. It was a shaft, really, that was hidden behind the walls of the building, leading from the upper to the lower floors. She had discovered that it was directly behind the main meeting room, but was completely undiscoverable from the room itself, the entrance being on the upper level.

  Sevi had been in there when the alarm went off, and everyone rushed into the room to grab their weapons. She had heard Nero say he was heading off, and had heard hi
m tell Nate to keep an eye on her. That had amused her. Nate’s offer to stay here had confused her, though. He was the one who always wanted to be at the front of the action. She admired him for that, and she wanted to find out why he wasn’t going with them.

  Climbing back out of the shaft, she was getting annoyed at the droning siren, and the voice that kept saying ‘Code Red’. “Yes, I know, thank you,” Sevi muttered, as she stood up again in the upper room. She looked out of the window, which looked down onto the main area of the warehouse, to see Nero and the others running onto the matte black shuttle that Nero was so proud of.

  The ramp closed in short order, and the brilliant blue engines lit up, turning the interior of the warehouse a bright blue. The ship spun sharply around, the warehouse doors already opening, and accelerated hard out of the building as soon as the doors were open enough. The warehouse reverted to its much darker state as soon as the ship had left, the light now coming from standard white lighting strips in the ceiling, and the strobing red warning lights.

  As soon as the shuttle had left, Sevi watched as Nate emerged from the meeting room, heading over to the small side door in the warehouse. Her curiosity piqued, Sevi climbed out of the upper window, and climbed along the side of the office building within the warehouse, soon reaching the metal skin of the main warehouse building. By this time, Nate was at the side door, and was just passing through. Sevi slid down a metal support that was part of the warehouse’s structure, and landed on the ground.

  Carefully, not wanting to be caught, she moved over to the door that Nate had just passed through. Pushing it open a crack, she stuck her head out. No sign of him. She opened it a bit more and slid out into the night air, closing the door behind her. She was in a wide alley, and to the left and right there was no sign of Nate. That left just the one option really. There was a smaller alley that led off this one, a short way up the alley she was in. She headed that way.

  On rounding the corner, sure enough, she saw Nate’s back disappearing along the alley, moving at some speed. Sevi ran to catch up to him. Eventually, Nate slowed, glancing behind himself as he did. Sevi, ever quick to react, dived behind a nearby dumpster, her heart hammering in her chest. She didn’t think he'd seen her. She risked a peek out, and was relieved to see Nate walking slowly along the alley now, still away from her.

  Sevi moved forward at a crouch, seeing an old discarded box up ahead that would serve as cover. Once she reached that, she saw that Nate had stopped just up ahead, at the intersection of another alley, and had turned to face someone. She couldn’t see who, since they were just around the corner. And, cursing herself, she realised she was too far away to hear what they were saying. But it looked to be important. Nate’s face, which she could see side-on, was very serious. More serious than it ever normally was, and they were talking for a long time. Sevi looked for any more cover up ahead, but she knew she’d be seen if she risked approaching.

  “Shit,” she whispered to herself. Knowing that it was growing ever riskier staying here, she decided to head back up the alley, before Nate turned and discovered her. Checking that he was still in conversation, Sevi retreated back up the alley. She was pleased with herself for not being seen, and once back in the warehouse, sat down in the meeting room to wait.

  She was still sat in there when Nate returned, five minutes later.

  “What’cha doing?” she asked nonchalantly when he came in.

  “Doing? Coming in here to find you, what else?” He gave her a smile. She returned it, not about to let him get off that easily.

  “I saw you leave after Nero flew out of here.”

  “Spying on me, were you?” Nate grinned, and tousled her hair. She pushed him away, eliciting another laugh. “You’re right, I went to meet someone. An old friend contacted me, saying she needed help. Turns out some gang killed her partner, and took all her possessions, but it’s not like I could do anything about that, was it? I don’t know why she contacted me, if I’m honest.”

  Sevi stood up from her chair, satisfied with his explanation. “So why did the others head off so quickly?” she asked, walking over to the weapons rack to fondle one of the rifles.

  Nate took it out of her hands, and replaced it on the rack. “You know you’re not allowed the rifles yet,” he said. “And I don’t know, is the answer to your question. We’ll have to find out when they’re back.” Sevi harrumphed, and left Nate in the meeting room.

  CHAPTER TEN

  THE WAREHOUSE

  The man screamed. The sound echoed through the building, and it brought a smile to the man standing over him. The screaming man couldn’t see that, though, with the full-face helmet covering the other man’s face. He could hear the faint laugh, though, echoing from the voice unit.

  “Come now,” the helmeted man said. “Why not tell us something? It will end all this.”

  A slight gurgling sound came from the prisoner’s throat, as bloody fluid made its way down into the man’s lungs. He struggled to lift his head up, and faint words came spluttering from his mouth. “I... I don’t know. I just... I just distribute. The drugs. I... don’t... know.” The man’s head collapsed back onto his chest, his breathing coming ragged. Bloody froth began to ooze from the corner of his mouth.

  The armoured man stood watching, towering over the man tied to the chair, and saw the other’s breathing become more and more shallow. Finally, the man started shaking uncontrollably, knocking the chair onto the floor, until finally he stopped moving, and stopped breathing altogether. The man watching turned to leave the room at that point, but before he could reach the door, it slid open of its own accord. Another armoured man stood in the doorway, and stepped through into the dark and smelly room. He glanced at the dead body sprawled on the floor, the head resting in a pool of red froth.

  “Another one, ensign? Did this one have anything useful to say?”

  “No, lieutenant. Nothing new.”

  “Very well,” the lieutenant said. “Dispose of the body, and then we are leaving.”

  Without waiting for a response, the lieutenant turned and left the room, heading back into the largest and most opulent room of the complex they had seized. He looked out of the view from the penthouse suite, in one of the more impressive Scrapers, and was amazed at how small the city was. He had never visited one of these planets all the way out on the edge of the galaxy before, and the dated infrastructure surprised him.

  Turning back to the room, he saw the vacso still sitting on one of the vast, sunken, semicircular couches in the centre of the room. Also in the room were the other members of the lieutenant’s infiltration squad, complete with helmets and high-energy weapons strapped to their sides. The alien sat there in the middle looking like he wanted nothing more than to run out of the room, but didn’t dare. The lieutenant smiled to himself, behind the helmet.

  “It is time to make yourself useful, alien.” It flinched slightly, when the lieutenant addressed it.

  “Of course, lieutenant.”

  “Good.” The lieutenant let the pause drag out. “Now, you were saying you were still in contact with your old organisation. Am I correct?” The alien nodded, staring at the lieutenant. “Excellent. We have a task for them.”

  The lieutenant explained what was required of the alien, and then led the alien out of the apartment, together with his infiltration squad. They ascended to the building’s roof, and entered the lieutenant’s stealth-drive equipped high-speed shuttle.

  ****

  A scene of carnage greeted Nero as he walked into the small home. The tables were upended, surfaces smashed, and there were small packets of qiameth pills strewn across the floor. Red powder covered the floor where the pills had been walked on, and over in the kitchen, a small pool of red liquid could be seen on the counter. He walked over to it, and saw that it was indeed blood. There was no body, however, which was the most worrying aspect.

  Taking the time to pick up the few intact packets of qiameth, Nero turned and headed out of the apar
tment, back down in the lift to the ground floor. He emerged onto the street to find it was still pouring with rain outside. He looked up into the late afternoon sky and let the water droplets run down his face, closing his eyes for a moment.

  Nate walked up as Nero stood there. “No luck?”

  “No,” Nero answered without looking at Nate. “Same as all the other distributors. Trashed, and no sign of our guy.” He looked down at Nate, and tossed him the few packets with red pills in. “They left a bit of the product this time, though.”

  Nate put the packets into one of his pockets. “So that’s all of them then. All missing.”

  “Yep.”

  “How are they finding them all?”

  Nero sighed, and started to walk back down the street. “I don’t know, Nate. They must’ve got someone to talk. More than one person.”

  Silence descended between them for a time, as they headed further into the city, walking past the odd pile of rubbish in the street. They changed to an adjacent street when the one they were walking down became almost completely blocked by a fire, the pounding rain doing nothing to put it out.

  “I don’t understand why Aegis are involved,” Nero said, after a time. “Everyone knows they only bother with matters in the central systems. Why the hell are they out here?”

  Nate glanced at Nero. “Well, you did bring down one of their cruisers. I doubt they’ll get that flying again.”

  “It’s just a freighter. It’s not like it’s that important, otherwise why would they even send it all the way out here?”

  “Maybe it was more important than we thought. Maybe it was carrying some other, more important cargo. Who knows. Or maybe, Aegis just wanted to pick a fight, and we were the unlucky ones that attracted their notice. But does it even matter? They’re here now.”

  “They’re here now,” Nero echoed, “and I don’t know what to do. I can’t fight them. I can’t negotiate with them. I can’t do anything. They’re just toying with me. With us, and they know I can’t do a single damn thing in response.” The admission hurt more than he cared to admit, even if it was just Nate he was talking to. He hated feeling powerless.