Titan Fleet: The Invictus

by Jason J Black

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Rusty and Sam are now searching the room of the security team. They are carefully moving things to inspect the room, trying not to make it obvious that they had been in there, when Sam spots a small robot, charging its battery in the corner of the room, up near the air duct.

  “Umm, what do we have here then?” He reaches up and slowly lowers the robot down to eye level. He scratches his beard once more before noticing a needle type syringe, disguised as a sting, ready to deliver its poison. After a few moments of tinkering, he has taken the fluid out of the sting and leaving Rusty to check the room, runs off to the lab to analyse it. Rusty continues to look around, but finds nothing else out of the ordinary, so leaves the room how he found it and goes and checks on the engine bay.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Sam looks through the microscope and figures out it is a sleeping toxin which would knock out a large human with no problem, so he replaces the toxin with sugar water and food colouring before returning back to the room and loading it into the robot, and returning it to its resting place. He thinks to himself that that security lot have met their match with this crew, and even if they agreed to help out on the ship they would all need to keep their eyes open as they just can’t be trusted. After leaving the room he goes in search of the captain to find him stirring in his chair, so in a quiet voice he wakes Pace.

  “Sir, are you awake, sir?”

  Pace looks at Sam with sleepy eyes. “Yes, Sam, I was just resting my eyes for five, what’s the matter?” Pace stretches his arms up and yawns.

  “Sir, the crafty gits were planning on injecting one of us with a spy robot, sir. We found it in their room, sir, so I switched the toxin for sugar water, which will come as a shock when they try to use it to escape, or whatever they have planned.” Sam crosses his arms with anger raging inside and continues to tell Pace that they were bad news and that they should get rid of them a.s.a.p. Pace explains that the other ship’s captain is a great friend of Tom’s and the crew of that ship and Tom’s lot could over-power them within minutes if they were to find out, so they need to get the security team on their side until the right time. When that would be was anyone’s guess.

  Pace thanks Sam and tells him to get some rest and Sam makes his way to his room, where he ponders on how to use the toxin for something to their advantage. Pace decides to go and get a coffee and try to wake up a bit, as he plans to stay up a while. He bumps into Megan on the way to the canteen. “Hi sweet,” he says in a quiet voice, so not to be heard by anyone else.

  “Oh, hi darling. You ok? It’s been a tough day. I’m so proud of you for standing up for us all today and taking no nonsense.” Megan kisses Pace. She has missed his lips today and the closeness.

  “I will only do my best, sweet, and we know they cannot be trusted whatsoever.” Pace explains to Megan about the toxin and spy robot and pours two cups of coffee, before moving into the living room and sitting next to Megan on a sofa. The yellow lights on the coffee tables and up lighters are a cosy sight for sore eyes. “I want them to think all is good and that we know nothing, but be ready for a hostile take-over at some point. Until then we will give them a second chance. We know they will accept our terms for now, because they think we are gullible.” Pace sips his coffee, but it’s too hot to drink yet. Megan agrees with Pace and the two lovers talk for a while drinking their coffee. They sit together, her hand on his knee, his arm around her shoulder, pulling her in close, her feet tucked beneath her. They are comfortable and relaxed, the stresses of the day flowing away from them.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Unknown to the crew of the Invictus, a small ship is following them, several eyes watching their every move. Just out of scanner range, this ship lurks with something evil inside, something hell bent on taking life and consuming it. This humanoid creature needs to find the right moment to strike. Its crocked blue fingers press buttons, communicating with something terrifying hidden in space, its four eyes monitoring several screens at once with ease. Small thrusters fire, as this small ship lands on a chunk of space debris floating near the two unsuspecting ships.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  A large resounding thud and an explosion rocks the ship, tossing Pace and Megan off their seat onto the floor. The ships computer sounds a collision alarm as they regain their footing and make their way to the bridge. By now everyone has felt this thud and are awake and making their way to their posts. Nova flies past Pace and Megan, as if she was floating along in the air. She is the first to be seated on the bridge. Frantically pressing buttons and hooking her hands on her control sticks, she has found the problem. They have been hit by parts of a ship of some sort.

  Nova manoeuvres the Invictus to dodge several large pieces of ship with ease, before being side swiped by a chunk that bounces off past the main windows of the bridge. “Oops, my bad!” Belts automatically fly around the waists of the seated occupants just in time, as Nova flips the ship upside down to avoid a large engine, before levelling out again.

  “Keep her steady! You can do this, Nova.” Pace has the utmost trust in her abilities as a pilot.

  “You know it, Cap,” replies Nova with a determined look on her face, full of concentration. “It’s all therapeutic you see,” she goes on to say, as she avoids more parts of spinning junk. Fast approaching them looks like a large section of ship with power. There are lights flashing on and off and it’s mostly undamaged.

  “Looks like part of a Titan ship to me. Take us in closer, Nova, there may be survivors.” As Nova steers the ship closer to the hulk, a few smaller pieces of scrap metal bounce off the hull, but it seems the worst of it is over, her arms now having a chance to rest a little.

  “Where is the Robur?” asks Megan with a concerned voice. They all look out of the windows, searching for the other ship, only to spot it just off to the right, way out of harms reach.

  “There, sir. They don’t have a scratch. They could have messaged us to warn us.” moans Nova.

  “Closer, Nova, closer. I want on that section of ship. Fire grapples.” Four large grappling hooks shoot out of the side of the Invictus, impaling the hulk and winching it closer to the ship. “Nova, you have the bridge. Seal the door behind us and keep your eyes peeled. We will take the security team with us.” Pace grabs Megan by the hand and whisks her out the door, while telling Sam to suit up and meet them in the loading bay. Megan and Pace reach the brig after suiting up in there spacesuits and they approach the cell.

  “This ends tonight, Tom. Are you with me or against me? I have no time to waste on this anymore.” Pace yells at Tom.

  Tom, not liking being penned up in the brig, and not wanting to argue with Anc again, has a change of heart. He stands up and walks towards the cell door. “With you, sir. Point us to it and we will destroy it.”

  Pace opens the door and explains about the drifting ship that they are now latched on to, and that there may be survivors, and that they may meet blue skins if they were the ones behind this. Pace unlocks the cabinets containing weapons and armour for the team and wait while they suit up, which does not take long. The seven of them are ready to travel along the air lock tunnel, which has automatically attached itself to the other part of the floating Titan. Sam unlocks the space door and steps through into the ship with his gauntlet held at the ready, its light beaming through the darkness in this part of the deck. One by one, they enter and begin to search for survivors or things to salvage, each person automatically falling into the role they have trained for when searching for survivors. They move along to a section of the ship where the lights are flashing on and off. There are visible blood stains on the floors and walls, and parts of the ceiling and wires hang down in their faces like matted hair.

  Tom is first to find a door which is marked ‘Engine Room 1’, but the room has been sealed from the inside. Tom signals to Shanks to burn a hole in the door so they could see behind. A few moments later, Shanks punches through and steps to one side. Talia st
eps through, activating a defence shield and with her gauntlet blaster at the ready. The security team enter one after one, and there is silence for a moment or two before Talia pops her head around the door making the others jump out of their skins.

  “All clear, well kind off.” She beckons them in the room. There is a half-eaten person on the floor and another slumped in a corner. Next to the engine core is a blue skin dead. It had been blasted to bits in a final attack on the humans. A large hole in the ceiling is visible.

  “Must have been how it got in.” Briggs points up, and then scans the rest of the ceiling before going over to examine the human remains for dog-tags or ID chips.

  “Well, the core looks good and we could always use a few spares,” explains Pace as he takes a closer look at the engine and its undamaged parts. “I knew it though, blue skins! I did warn you all that we may find them out here,” says Pace. They continue on into the next room. Many dead lay here, butchered and torn. The security team scan the area for life forms and move on down the corridor. Megan, Sam and Pace search the litepads in the room, for any information they can get to help them understand what went on here.

  “Shanks, Briggs, you check out that way. Talia and I will go this way. Meet back here without fail in 15 minutes, copy.” Tom looks at the time, as do the others, before proceeding down the separate corridors.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Rusty is in the engine room, tinkering with a few valves, when he hears another thud. He passes it off as a chunk of metal bouncing off the hull, before returning to his work. “I’ll just tighten her up and bingo, she’s a good one.” Pleased with himself he leaves the room and goes to get a drink. It is going to be a long night and someone will have to operate the giant crane claw when they take salvage on board. Buzzing Nova, he asks her if she wants a drink and then starts to make two cups of tea.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  More crooked fingers tapping on buttons are preparing the small darkened ship for interception. The alien assassin sat at the console ignites a thruster burn for a few seconds, so as not to be picked up on scanners, and the small ship drifts towards the Invictus, making no sound in total darkness, until it makes a well-executed landing on the hull of the Invictus, its clamps locking on for dear life.

  Not a sound is made by the silent menace as it boards the ship through the salvage area. The creature stands seven feet tall, its sheer evilness floats before it in a cloud of putrid green gas. Its mission is to seek out life, destroy it and consume it.

  Chapter Thirty

  Stirring the fresh cups of tea, the smell of Earl Grey wafting around his head, Rusty pauses for a moment as he has hears something. Thinking it is Nova, he calls out to her.

  “Hey, Nova, is it one lump or two, I can’t remember?” There is a silence and then the sound of something being knocked over in the living room, so he looks through the hatch just in time to catch a glimpse of a tall shape exiting the room in a hurry. Rusty walks back quickly and reaches into the drawer for a large knife, as he had left his gauntlet in the engine room. What a great idea that was, he thinks to himself, but with courage in his heart he eases his way out of the door and creeps around the pillars and checks out the living room, before deciding it was just his imagination and finishing off the tea. The doors to the bridge slide open and close again behind Rusty as he hands Nova her tea.

  “Hey, Nova, I thought I heard you a moment ago in the living room, or was it just me?” Rusty inquires, hoping it was her and not the onset of space sickness.

  “No, I have not left the bridge, perhaps it was Anc or Padley, although they should both be in rest mode at this time of night. I’ll check.” Nova takes a look at the security cameras throughout the ship and finds the two robots in their bays in rest mode. Baffled by this, she continues to search the ship, and then her heart starts to race as she spots a figure in the shadows, lurking there ready to pounce.

  “Look! What is it? There is something on board with us Rusty, and it don’t look friendly one little bit.” The hair stands up on the back of her neck and chills run down her spine to her toes. She is here alone with it; well almost alone as Rusty could not fight off a cold, let alone something as big as this. She opens a channel to Pace.

  “Captain, sir, it appears we have a problem on the ship. Something has crept on board and it doesn’t look friendly. I don’t think it knows we are ...” While talking to Pace and looking at his face on her gauntlet, she has taken her eyes off the figure and now there is a very large banging on the bridge doors.

  “Oh, I spoke too soon, sir. What do I do?” Nova has never been this scared before, but now she can see this figure is a large mean looking monster with sharp teeth and four eyes, its blue muscular body not tiring from this activity one bit. “Sir, it is blue and has claws and it wants in.” Pace shouts for the security team to get back to the ship on his gauntlet screen and fears for his companions’ safety. They all begin to run for the airlock tunnel, but are a fair distance away it seems.

  A large fist makes its way through the heavy metal doors of the bridge. It retracts and a set of eyes appear, viewing through the hole. A second hole appears next to it, but this time to Nova’s surprise, Rusty meets the creature’s eyes with a sharp blade. The knife sinks into an eye with ease and the creature shrieks and falls back in agony.

  “That’ll teach him a lesson, eh!” exclaims Rusty as he turns to look at Nova, just as the right hand door is ripped off its hinges and the creature appears behind Rusty, teeth dripping with drool and blue blood running down is scaly face. A large snarl is heard and poor Rusty is picked up and flung out of the now open doorway, into the pillar opposite. He drops to the floor motionless, blood trickles out from underneath him. Nova blasts the creature in the chest, which knocks it back enough so that she can escape it and get out of the bridge. She slides along the floor next to the creature and blasts it a second time. Her gauntlet is not military grade, so it was like using a pea shooter against a tank. She hot-heels it away, heading for the robot bays to activate the robots, as they would fare better against this intruder. But this blue demon is used to catching its prey and has trained many years to perfect his art. It leaps and lands in front of Nova and swipes at her several times, before there is a connection of claw and skin. Nova looks down to see red drips of blood splashing down on top of each other, her life draining from her slowly, as she holds her gaping stomach the best she can with her two hands. She is still on her feet, but swaying as the monster closes in for the kill. Tears well up in her eyes. Could this be her end, she thinks. She had never loved someone and will never marry now and she will never be able to get back lost time. She stumbles backwards and falls to the floor with a thud.

  Her head begins to swirl and she cries out, “No, please no.” The dark shadow on the floor moves closer until it begins to cover her, blocking out the light and she knows it is close now. She can smell a horrid rotten aroma, and green gas envelopes her and her eyes close. The creature leans down to grab her by the ankle and as it does a large chunk of blue skin peels of its back and lands on the floor next to its foot, a second chunk splats against the wall. The creature turns to face its attacker, only to be confronted by four heavy gauntlets blasting away at his skin, so it knows no other way but to attack and launches in the air once more, this time towards Talia, but it is met with a force shield and a woman who knows how to use it. The creature lands on its back four foot away, chunks still being blasted from it, but is not finished yet and even when it loses part of its arm it still wants to fight. It flies up again into the air, but this time it knocks down Briggs, impaling his leg to the floor.

  “Ahhh,” screams Briggs, “You, eat this!” Pushing his gauntlet into its mouth, a blast finds a soft part and yet another chunk flies and sticks to a wall. It is still not done yet and all the security team are now getting stuck in. Pace heads for Nova to see if she is ok, and Megan and Sam head for Rusty. Upon getting to Rusty, they find him with a pool of blood around his head, bu
t he is still breathing. They pull him away from the fighting and put pressure on a large cut on his head, and then look over to Pace, who is now doing CPR on Nova, as she is not breathing.

  “Come on kid, you can do this.” Tears running down his cheeks, Pace is doing all he can to bring her back. “Sam, get Padley down here now, damn it.” Pace is covered in Nova’s blood and is trying to hold her together. His hands are shaking as he presses down on her chest to keep the heart pumping, letting go of her wound for a moment.

  Tom grabs the creature off Briggs in a head lock and a large glowing sword is thrust through the creatures back, and then explodes out of its chest. The creature is surely done for, but no, it has been toying with them it seems. The thick green gas has worked its way into the fighter’s lungs and now the tide is turning once more to the creatures favour. The team are gasping for air and with each gasp it is sealing their fate. The creature gathers strength and limps off still at great speed. Leaving everyone behind, it exits the way it entered and thrusters fire and a small ship shoots off at light speed.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Sam gets to Padley and Anc and pressing buttons, they both wake instantly. They had both needed a total power down to refuel, because of all the work they had been doing. Sam gives them orders and Padley springs into action. First small doors on the bottom of her feet open and wheels pop out, and she hurtles off to help the wounded. This was a great way to get around fast and heal people. They were not seen a lot, as it was an expensive design.