Soul of Defiance
Page 22
“No, we most certainly are not letting that thing in here. Not until we get this situation under control. Our priority right now is—wait, do you feel that?”
“Feel what?”
“The ship—we’re moving.” It didn’t make any sense—he wasn’t even sure if the engine was back online yet. But he could feel it, deep inside—the sense that the vessel on which he stood was moving, if slowly, though space. He spun around, his eyes moving first across the instrument panels and then up out of the viewport.
“Dreck.” He blinked, wondering if, perhaps, this was all some sort of fever dream. Almost directly in front of them was a huge ship—no, a huge creature. And beyond that…
“That’s the Defiance,” Yuki said. “They must have figured out a way to get us back.”
Ulan rushed over to the command center, wondering how to re-enable the communications systems. This didn’t make any sense—he knew the Defiance didn’t have the technology to pull them through time—but he didn’t have time for questions with no answers. He needed to communicate with his captain as soon as possible.
“I don’t suppose your extensive knowledge of these purple-eyed freaks extends to their technology?” he asked the girl.
She came over to stand beside him. “Only the basics. What are you trying to do?”
He couldn’t believe he had to ask a human—and this particularly useless and annoying human, of all of them—for help, but he didn’t have a choice.
“I’m trying to get the communications system up and running,” he said.
She shook her head. “They didn’t let me near anything like that.”
Figured. Looked like he was on his own.
As he tried to figure out the system, another horrible screech sounded, slicing through his skull. He groaned as pain stabbed through him, and Yuki cried out. Behind them, the creature at the door made a pitiful sound that was halfway between a howl and a wail.
This time, the noise didn’t last as long as it did before—their only saving grace. As soon as it stopped, he focused his full attention on the control in front of him again.
“I think it’s that thing,” Yuki said. “That big thing out there—I think that’s what’s making that horrible noise. What is it?”
“Something we’ll have to worry about later,” he replied. “I need to contact Defiance.”
There—he’d finally located what he was looking for. He hoped. The technology on this ship was just a couple steps off from what he was used to—it was like trying to understand a language that was similar to one he already knew, but a touch more complicated.
“This has to be it,” he muttered to himself, trying a couple of commands. Of course, bringing the communications system back online didn’t mean he’d be able to use it, but it was a step in the right direction.
“Did you ever see them communicate with other ships?” he asked the girl. “What did they use? A headset of some sort? Did they broadcast through a screen?”
She shook her head. “They never let me onto the bridge. I don’t know what they used. But…”
“But what?” He didn’t have the patience for her timid mumbling right now.
“They’re wearing earpieces like the one your crew wears.” She pointed at one of the corpses on the ground nearby.
Oh. That probably should have been the first thing he looked for. He walked over to the body and knelt down beside it.
The things I do to survive… Dealing with living humans could be unpleasant at times, but pulling an earpiece off of a dead human wasn’t exactly his idea of a fun adventure.
He reached up to his helmet, then paused—he couldn’t pull it off, not until he’d made sure the conditions were safe.
“I fixed the air levels,” Yuki said behind him. “I think.”
“You think?” He’d need a little more than that before he removed his helmet.
Returning to the command station, he pulled up the measurements—and sure enough, the atmosphere in the ship had been stabilized again.
Well done, human, he thought. He couldn’t bring himself to say that out loud, though.
With a flick of his thumb, he undid the lock on his helmet. There was a hissss as it released, and then he lifted it over his head. Relief rushed through him as he found that he could breathe. He slipped the earpiece onto his ear and connected it to the system. Immediately, he heard a voice he recognized—Thad’s.
“This is your final warning,” Thad said. “Return your prisoners to us immediately or we will fire.”
KAYLIN
Thad turned to his captain. “They aren’t responding.”
“They’re already damaged. They know we’re making empty threats—we’re not going to destroy them with our crewmembers on board.” Kaylin sat in her chair, tapping at the communication device at her ear. “This is Captain Arleth of the trading vessel Defiance. Prepare to be—”
“Captain?” Ulan’s voice was the one that came through the comm. “Captain, this is Ulan. There are no survivors from this ship.”
Kaylin heard something howl in the background before Ulan cut out.
He returned not a second later. “Captain, I’m reminded that there is one…survivor from the ship. I and the girl seem to be fine.” He almost growled when he mentioned Yuki.
“Captain, it looks like they have at least three shuttles on board. There’s one located not far from Ulan’s location.”
“Did you hear that, Ulan?” Kaylin sighed, knowing what she was going to have to tell Ulan to do. “Subdue the survivor and get yourself off that ship and back to Defiance now.”
“Captain, I—” Something interrupted Ulan—a banging sound, followed by some other sound Kaylin couldn’t recognize.
“Ulan, report.”
There was only silence.
Kaylin motioned to Thad. “Scan them again. See if there was laser fire—”
“Captain, your…passenger seems to be…threatening me.” Ulan’s voice was on the comm again. “She’s holding a foreign weapon on me, but she seems to know how to use it.” He pauses. “We are not bringing that thing on board Defiance.”
“What thing?” Kaylin’s brow furrowed. “Ulan—”
“Fine.” Ulan was growling again. “Captain, permission to bring another passenger on board when we return?”
“I…” She shook her head, motioning again for Thad to scan the other ship. “I’m not sure what you’re asking, Ulan.”
“She wants to bring a pet on board. It’s some…” His voice is a low rumble. “It’s some sort of alien creature. Not one I recognize. She insists it’s harmless, though I would very much disagree.”
“Permission denied—”
“Captain, she’s going to shoot me if we do not bring this creature on board. I…” His voice drops to a growl again. “I can’t believe I’m offering this to her. Fine, I’ll arrange some sort of cage for the creature until we can be certain it won’t harm any of the crew. Now will you drop that weapon?” An audible sigh of relief came from Ulan a second later. “Captain, it looks like we’re going to have another passenger. Your new—”
“Ulan, you may not—”
“Your new passenger…Yuki insists it is harmless. She will be taking full responsibility for the creature.” He let out a sound more like a screech than a growl. “Fine. We will be taking responsibility for the creature. Now put down that weapon.”
Kaylin tapped at her comm, muting her voice from Ulan. “Thad, are you able to get some sort of barricade built for whatever the hell it is he’s talking about?”
Thad frowned for a moment before his lips curled into something of a smile. “We can use one of the cargo devices we picked up on Elyon. Those things are impenetrable.”
Kaylin nodded, tapping again at her comm. “Permission granted, Ulan. Use one of the shuttles to get back here.” She paused for only a moment. “And see if you can salvage anything of use on your way. But get back here quickly. We have other things to worry about.” She l
ooked out the viewport at the large ship-like creature.
“Dayna?” Kaylin stood, walking back over to her tactical specialist. She placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a slight shake. “Dayna? Wake up, Jackson.” The woman was still unconscious, slumped over her console.
“Captain, it looks like they have a shuttle. It just departed from the other ship and is heading through the rift now.”
Kaylin briefly turned to Thad. “Good. Keep an eye on them.” She turned back to Dayna. “Dayna…” She let out a sigh, looking up at Brax. “Locke, get Dayna back to sickbay. I’ll be there to care for her myself as soon as I can—”
“No way. No way. Captain, she’s injured me more trying to get her to sickbay than those purple-eyed assholes did when they threw me into the Castalian Sea. There’s no way I’m—”
“Brax.” Kaylin’s voice was low, and there was no way anyone would be able to mistake that she meant anything but business. “That’s an order. Get your crewmate to sickbay. Now.”
“Yes, Captain.” Brax stood and walked over to the two women.
Kaylin helped him get Dayna up, and he threw the unconscious woman over his shoulder.
He glanced back at Kaylin. “Captain if she should regain consciousness…”
“You have permission to sedate her if needed, Locke.”
He smiled, tightening his grip on the woman before he walked off the bridge.
“They’re through the rift, Captain. The shuttle should be here in a few minutes.”
“Good.” Kaylin turned her attention to the large creature still outside the ship. “Now we need to figure out how to communicate with that thing. Maybe Ulan has seen it. Or at least knows what we’re dealing with. As soon as he gets back to Defiance—”
“Captain, the…the ship. The creature is moving.”
Kaylin clamped her mouth closed when she realized it was hanging open as she watched the large vessel-creature begin to move.
But it didn’t seem to be moving toward them at all. It moved slowly toward the ship with the purple insignia before reaching out to it with one of its appendages. It didn’t destroy the vessel, though. Instead, it seemed to give it the slightest push away from the rift before it let it go.
“Captain, I’m not sure what it’s doing. I think—”
Before Thad could give his assessment, the ship-creature dove into the rift itself and the visible tear in space sealed itself behind it.
“Thad, report. What just happened?”
He tapped a few buttons on his console. “It’s gone, Captain. And so is the temporal anomaly.”
She nodded. “And still no life signs on board the other ship?”
“Negative, Captain. Though we only read the two earlier—if they are keeping alien creatures on board, it doesn’t seem like we can read those. I don’t believe any of the purple-eyed people survived, though. There are no human…or humanoid life signs now that Ulan and Yuki have left.”
“Good.” She walked back over to her chair, dropping into it.
This was one hell of a long day.
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Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
1. Brax
2. Kaylin
3. Ulan
4. Dayna
5. Brax
6. Kaylin
7. Yuki
8. Kaylin
9. Brax
10. Dayna
11. Brax
12. Kaylin
13. Yuki
14. Dayna
15. Brax
16. Kaylin
17. Brax
18. Dayna
19. Ulan
20. Kaylin
21. Yuki
22. Brax
23. Dayna
24. Ulan
25. Yuki
26. Kaylin
27. Brax
28. Kaylin
29. Ulan
30. Dayna
31. Brax
32. Kaylin
33. Ulan
34. Dayna
35. Yuki
36. Ulan
37. Kaylin
38. Ulan
39. Dayna
40. Brax
41. Kaylin
42. Yuki
43. Kaylin
44. Ulan
45. Kaylin
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