mountain that seemed to go on forever into the empty blue sky.
“He passed out?” Chase was fit and usually healthy, other than the amount of booze he sometimes used to drink on the weekends—like a lot of true Star Guild jocks did—so this was a little shocking. He wasn't known to ever pass out, even when drunk. “What a dumb ass. Probably drank his butt off the night before.”
“That's not what his uncle thinks.”
His uncle, Fleet Admiral James Byrd, was one of the most influential people in the starbase and Star Guild Military. Crystal thought of him fondly; he was always pleasant and honorable towards Crystal when she and Chase were an item. It had been a long time though—almost six months—since she and Chase had broken off their relationship. She hadn't seen either one of them since.
“Well, his uncle can think whatever his uncle wants to. Back to work, Hendricks.”
“Admiral Byrd thinks Chase's water was poisoned.”
“I didn't ask. We can talk after—”
Crystal narrowed her eyes, as a blue light flickered near the base of Gabrielle Mountain, highlighting the ground all around it.
“Alright, Chief. All work, no talk. I understand,” grumbled Hendricks.
“Hold on, Hendricks.” She surveyed the mountain, waiting for another blue light. “Did you see that?”
“See what, Chief?”
“The blue light near the mountain?”
“Didn't see it. Why?”
Crystal shook her head. “I'm starting to see things in my old age.”
Hendrick's snickered. “Yeah, 31 is so old. Try sixty three on for size, Missy.”
“Hendricks, refrain from calling me anything but by my name or rank. Understood?”
“Sorry, Chief.”
Another blue light pulsed from the mountain, fading away a second later.
“Now, you see that?” asked Crystal.
“I'm working, like you ordered, Chief. I didn't see it.”
“Hendricks, I'm taking a break.” Crystal flipped on her parrot switch and walked her Mech past the ebb mound and toward the base of Gabrielle Mountain.
“Where you going, Crystal? I don't think you're allowed to do that.”
“I'll be back before you know it.”
Another blue flash.
“There it is again!” she announced. “Did you see it that time?”
“No, Chief.”
Crystal side-stepped a small boulder—small compared to the Mech she was in. “Is Star Guild or the Governance experimenting on anything at or near the mountain? Anything on the vid channels lately?”
“Not that I'm aware, and I'm usually aware of just about anything on the vid channels. I'm telling ya', you gotta watch The Myths of KnightsTemplar. It's a great documentary on the channels. It's incredible.”
“I don't listen to myths, fairy tales, or monster stories. Sorry, Hendricks. I like to live in reality.” She checked her HDC. She was only a mile to the base of Mount Gabrielle and it loomed above her, like a mother peering down at her child.
“It's just a vid show and you'd enjoy it. Your mother was being interviewed on it a few weeks ago.”
“My mother is a knob. Don't believe anything she says.”
“She said the Knights Templar never existed.”
“Okay, believe one thing she said.” She looked at her heat sensors, seeing that everything on her Mech and inside the cockpit were just fine. She veered around an embankment and headed in the direction of the flashes. “But, if you start believing anything else from her, then you're fired.”
“Yeah, then you lose the greatest thing of your life—the best worker you ever had.”
“Give me a break,” she scoffed, cracking a slight smile.
“Throw me a bone at least once in your life, Crystal. Tell me how great a worker I am.”
She rolled her eyes, “Does your wife know you talk this way?”
“Oh, she only wishes.”
“You are a good worker, but you daydream too much. If you kept your eyes on your work instead of on your fantasies or fictional history, then I might be more willing to tell you what you want to hear.”
“With you, Chief, there's always a but.”
Crystal rounded a large face in the mountain and climbed a slight incline. She suddenly lurched back, her Mech copying her movements. Her hands windmilled in the air and she and the Mech teetered backwards and fell.
Crystal instinctively braced her head and the sounds of metal crunching ebb rock filled the cockpit, followed by a plume of dirt and dust filling her screen. The Mech was now resting peacefully on its back and Crystal hung from her restraints. She turned her head to look at the back wall of her Mech, seeing that she was only a few inches away from it.
“Crystal, you alright? I'm coming to help.”
“It was just that damn blue light again. It startled me.” She pushed her Mech up with the Mech's arms, finally getting to her feet. “You can settle down, Hendricks. I've gotten the Mech back up.”
“And you can return now, Chief. How are you going to explain the dents and scrapes that are probably on your Mech's rear?”
“I'll worry about that later. I'm going in,” she muttered in her com link.
“Going in where?” asked Hendricks.
“Inside this cave.” She turned on her vid link. “You see it?”
“Yes, I know what a cave looks like. Why are you going in there?”
“That's where the blue light keeps emanating from. Something is going on and I want to find out what it is.”
“Crystal, be careful. You have no idea what the Governance may be doing in there.”
She carefully walked toward the cave. “So you do know there's some governance conspiracy going on? Do tell.”
“There's no conspiracy. Just...I don't like you going places that are dark and creepy. Can’t you just do things the way normal people do, like come back and report it?”
“Get back to work, Hendricks.”
“Aye, Chief.”
Crystal maneuvered around another boulder and took her first steps past the entrance of the cave, turning her slit lights on as she did and lighting up the cave as if daytime had just entered.
“This isn't a cave, Hendricks.”
“What is it, Chief?”
“It's a tunnel.” She lifted her arm, the Mech imitating her, and touched the smooth, rounded edge where the roof of the tunnel met the wall. “It's almost perfectly cut, but I see chisel marks or something. But, wow, whoever made this tunnel was a master. Who—”
“Are you screwing with me, Chief?”
Crystal peered down the tunnel, seeing that it turned a corner in the distance and sloped downward. She continued walking, her slit lights brightening the dark void around her. She abruptly stopped, bringing her Mech to one knee and brightened the slit lights.
“Someone's been here,” said Crystal.
“How do you know?”
“A footprint.”
“It wasn't my Mech's foot. I can tell you that for sure. I never knew a tunnel existed in that mountain.”
“No, it's not a Mech print. It's a footprint. And I mean that literally. A print of someone's bare foot. A small, wide foot!”
“That's impossible Crystal. Anyone outside of their Mech would die in minutes, either by the dense gravity or from a lack of oxygen,” replied Hendricks.
“I know. It's not like I'm saying that the owner of this footprint is still alive.”
The blue light flashed around her, sweeping out of the cave and disappearing a moment later. A sudden eerie feeling crept down her spine, tingling at her low back.
Someone, or something, was behind her. She felt it. She slowly reached for her HDC and pressed the holographic button that switched camera view from the front to the back.
Blackness.
Duh, she thought. I don't have slit lights on behind me.
She repositioned her slit lights, but as they rotated to the rear, an alert filled her HDC screen.
<
br /> “Malfunction?” she blurted out.
“Chief. I'm heading in your direction.”
“Something’s not right. I feel off in here.”
“I can tell. I'm on my way.”
She raised her Mech to standing position, then tried her luck on the slit lights, this time to reposition them back to the front. They complied and the malfunction warning blipped off the screen.
A thud, sounding like a large rock hitting her Mech's leg, echoed in the cockpit. Then another.
Her eyes widened and she squealed, then cupped her mouth with her hand to silence herself. She turned her Mech around, readying to face whatever it was that had attacked her.
Fully turning, she crouched, about to charge.
Nothing was there.
She heard another clang as another rock, or something else that was hard and thick hit her Mech. Again, from behind.
“What the Guild?” She leaped her Mech forward, almost losing balance, then moved her Mech's legs as fast as they could go. “I'm out of here. Something feels terribly wrong.”
“Chief, I'm almost there.”
“No need,” Crystal exited the cave and moved around the boulder, seeing Hendricks moving quickly her way, although still almost a mile away. He slowed the instant he saw her.
“Don't worry me, Chief. You sounded panicked.”
“Something was in there, Hendricks.”
“Did you get a picture?”
She almost slapped herself. She had forgotten. She should have taken a picture of the bare footprint the second she had seen it.
“No. And, I'm not going back in there. Something’s in there. Alive. That's not right.” Her breaths were heavy, her chest damp with sweat.
“Head back to the warehouse, Chief. I'll finish your shift.”
Crystal nodded. “Aye, Hendricks. And, thank you.”
4 Months Before the Attack
Star Guild Cadet SGC Connor Jay pulled on the
Star Guild Episode Zero Page 4