There is a small panel on the left hand side of the door, which Anc examines before touching and nothing happens.
“Let me take a look at that, Anc.” Pace puts his metal hand on the panel and to his surprise the door begins to open. It must have sensed my alien skin, he thinks. Pace pokes his head around the corner of the door. He can see it is a corridor with doors off it. The two explorers carry on. There is plant life all over the walls, floor and ceiling here too. The plants seem to sway in the direction of Pace, as if they too can sense him. A door suddenly opens to their right and a large blue creature is stood before them. It has dark blue skin with black stripes. It has four legs and two arms and is shocked to see them there. It screeches out loud in a way that Pace knows is to call others to help. Anc replies immediately by firing his two grapples straight into the creature’s mouth, stopping the sound with metal. He then winches the blue towards him, blasting it with his burst plasma cannon. Anc is not stupid. He has learned how to fight these things and as the alien draws close he uses his incinerator on the alien. A second and third creature appear into the fray, one launching an attack at Anc and one at Pace.
Pace swiftly bashes the flying alien to the ground and reaches for his newly made knife of doom. The knife pops out of a panel on his leg and he grabs it and stabs the now prone creature in the face. The knife ejects a dose of serum into the head of the aggravated alien and the creature begins to screech and roll about the floor in agony, its blood pouring out every pore of its skin, until its head just explodes under the pressure. Pace jumps back, blasting with his gauntlet and stabbing at the second creature on Anc’s back. Large lumps within the creatures back appear. It too cries in pain, before two large chunks of flesh and bone explode, killing the creature outright. There is still some fight left in the larger alien, who now kicks Anc with two of his legs, while stood on the other two. Anc is sent flying back into Pace and the two fall to the floor with a crash. The creature pulls the grapples out of his face and appearing behind it are a dozen or more, all wanting blood and gore in revenge of their friend it seems. Pace gets to his feet and punches open another door that he sees to his left, and Anc and Pace slam the door shut to the room they are stood in. Anc positions himself and holds the door shut while a thousand fists try to open it.
Pace catches his breath and calls in to the Invictus. “Pace to Invictus. They know we are here, umm ... We may be some time, there are a lot of them. If you need to leave, then I’ll understand.” Megan’s ears burn with pain. She knows her love is trapped and this could be a tomb for them all, if they are not careful, but what does she do.
“Pace, hang on.” The connection is lost on Pace’s end and Megan is left with a decision. They could stay quiet on their perch, or make a move and try to rescue Pace but that would draw a lot of attention. Nova is looking at Megan, waiting to fly in and get them out, but no order is given and they wait in silence in the hope that Pace will contact them again.
The room seems to be a large room full of large capsules. There are lights on them and a small observation window in each one. There must be a hundred or so and as Pace scans the room with his work lights, his curiosity gets the better of him and he stands on his tip toes and peers into one. A shock is awaiting him. A hideous alien face stares back up at him. It has been frozen for some time, but it is enough to give Pace nightmares for years to come. He takes a look in at a few more, before giving up and heading towards a door at the other end of the room. He had never seen other aliens until the blue and was frightened for humanity’s future.
The door seems to open out into a hanger of some sort, maybe a cargo hanger. He opened the door easily. There are containers in front of him and no sign of blues, so Pace grabs hold of a couple of the metal containers and pulls them back to Anc, and they weld them to barricade the door, stopping any aliens from entering, and they then walk further into the hanger, where they begin to look around for something of use. There are many crates and what looks like a human cargo ship. Maybe that would be a good way out, thinks Pace. Once again Pace contacts the Invictus, using a booster cable on the cargo ship for added power.
“Pace to the Invictus, if you can hear me, I have found a cargo ship. It’s small but will get us out of here, you need to go and get out of the system, but first you need to …” Crackle, crackle goes the viewer on Megan’s screen and she loses sight of Pace, but she can still hear him faintly.
“Pace! Pace, you there? We can hear you. Please …” Megan’s terror is being felt by the whole crew, and what was once a secret is now apparent, she loved Pace and he her. She moves closer to the screen touching it gently, hoping to see him just one more time.
“Give them gut ache. When you are far enough away, launch PD1. That’s an order, and don’t worry …” Crackle, crackle and the link is lost again.
Chapter Forty-Three
“Nova, get him back.” Nova tries for a few moments but with no luck.
“Sorry ma'am, can’t get them. You heard, he has a ship, he will get off.” Nova tries to convince Megan and turns to ready the ship. Megan knows that Nova is right and opens comms to Rusty in the engine room.
“Rusty, ready the PD1. We will give them something to remember us by.” Megan taps the buttons on her control panel, trying not to worry about Pace, but a tear rolls down her cheek like a racing star trying to find the end of the universe. If only they had more time together, she would have told him how she really felt and how she could imagine spending the rest of time with him, but all was not lost, there was a chance.
“Umm, ma'am, we have been spotted. Two ships approaching us from below. Shall I power up?” Nova looks to Megan for the ok. Megan is reluctant to leave, but she knows it is in the best interest of the crew.
“Let’s blast out of here, Nova. Sam, are you ready?”
“Ready. Let’s give them something gritty.” As the Invictus springs off the perch they were on, the two smaller ships begin to shoot at them. Talia, who is still in a gunner seat, begins the exchange fire with them and then Sam pulls the leaver releasing the mines and oxygen up into the air. Like balloons drifting at a fair, they scatter far and wide not knowing where they will end up.
Fragments hit one of the pursuing ships and the mines explode, rupturing the ship’s hull and spewing out some of its crew. The ship spirals out of control downwards and a large explosion is seen as it ploughs into a large strut that holds a small gantry. The gantry splits in two and falls downwards, making a din and causing destruction along its path, until it settles just out of sight of the Invictus.
“Oh yeah baby! That will teach ya!” shouts Talia, and there is a moment’s relief that they have lost one from their tail. Once the last piece of space junk has left the scrap bay, Sam seals the giant doors and heads for his lab. He meets up with his new alien chums, who are carrying some scrap parts on their way to the engine room. They too have been busy bees. They nod at Sam, but waste no time speaking with him. They must have something important to do, he thinks.
The second ship closes in on the Invictus, ramming it a few times, making the Invictus spin out of control. The Invictus smashes through what seems to be an alien birthing centre, sending orange slime everywhere, and out the other side to face a massive reactor, the likes of which no one on the ship has seen before. The power spikes send out large hands of lightning that claw at the Invictus and buzz all around the ship, until a whip like charge curls around the front of the following alien ship and pulls the nose down, throwing it off course and into a large tower of pulsating punishment.
Nova fights for control, as parts of the Invictus splinter off, like red embers in the night sky, and soon they reach the shimmer gateway to space.
“Ok Nova, turn back around. Have you got line of sight on that reactor?” Nova slows the ship and turns, scraping the rear a little on a floating ship that is unmanned.
“A few seconds and I will ma’am. The controls are damaged but I’ll compensate. Rusty, get the PD1 ready to fire. Let’
s finish them.”
The Gulmeds arrive in the engine room and Rusty is preparing the PD1 when they walk in.
“What is and why?” The two thin figures rush to see the strange device.
“Now this will make a big boom in here and hopefully destroy that ship for good, comprende? Now scoot over there, chaps, out of the way.” Rusty gently pushes the two interested Gulmeds out of the way. This only pays off for about five seconds until one distracts him and the other starts to tinker with the missile.
“Tis ok, Rust Tree, we have helped before and help now.” Rusty is at first reluctant, but then stands back and lets the two aliens tinker. He knows the missile is in safe hands and their ways are far superior to his, not to mention the parts that they had salvaged from their own ship and ease in which they work to fit the new components. The three continue working as a team for a while until the missile is ready, armed with an extra punch and also the engines have been modified, and now the Hyper Gyron 4, fondly known as Higgy, is ready for action once again.
“Ready ma’am.” Megan crosses her fingers and hopes Pace gets out in time. She opens communications to both Pace’s gauntlet and the cargo ship and hopes he can hear her.
“Darling, I’m going to fire now. You get out of there, ok, and do it now.” Megan looks at Nova and orders the hit. The missile rockets out of the Invictus faster than the naked eye can see, the modifications working overtime. A winding white smoke pours out of the back of it, like a snake shedding its skin.
“Get us out of here, Nova.” The Invictus and its crew waste no time and don’t even see the missile hit the massive reactor, as they are moving too fast out through the shimmer, but scanners pick up that the missile is deflected away from the reactor and slams into a communications tower instead. The sheer power is felt through the ship.
Chapter Forty-Four
A shock wave sends Pace flying to the floor just as he gets close to some small life pods. Pace gains his feet and scrubs away the years of oil and grime from the access window on the life pod. He peers in quickly to see if anyone was still in there, or if it was being used to store things in like the last one was. To his shock he can just make out an outline of a person. He grabs the pod and begins to pull it towards the ship, thinking he was not going to leave this person to be fed to the blue dogs. The alien vessel has been damaged and is beginning to fracture and rumble like an upset stomach.
“Anc, get the ship running, we need blast off a.s.a.p.” Pace is now sweating so much it is dripping in his eyes, stinging them. He rubs them and as he does a large beam crashes to the floor to the left of him. He quickens his efforts. He knows this place will be his tomb soon if he doesn’t move faster. With just a few yards to go the lights on the cargo ship ping to life, such a welcome sight to sore eyes for Pace and with the last of his energy, he drags the life pod aboard the ship and slams his hand on the door button. The door screeches shut. Pace crashes to the floor with pains in his chest. The alien hitchhiker has grown on Pace’s chest, constricting his flow of oxygen and making him feel dizzy. He turns onto his belly from his back and claws at the floor pulling himself towards the ships bridge.
“Anc, help, I can't … you need to get the ship …” Pace passes out on the floor of the loading bay, darkness all around him apart from a few work lights. Anc comes charging into the bay, checks Pace for vitals, which he finds are good, and disappears off back to the bridge, where he ignites the engines and blasts off, just as the floor underneath them falls away into the darkness of space.
Large chunks of alien ship are now pounding on the little cargo ship. Explosions and splinters of metal are thrown in the path of the tiny ship. Anc avoids what looks like a loading crane from hitting them head on, a certain death certainly avoided, only to be hit in the rear of the ship by blaster fire. It seems the aliens have not taken kindly to their ship being ripped in half. The once Titan ship is now two large pieces of ship. The rear, where Pace and Anc are, and the front of the ship, which still seems to be in fair shape. The furious alien pursuer hits the small ship again and again, until the rear shield is no more and the tiny ship crash lands on the deck of jagged teeth of metal.
Anc opens a hatch above him and climbs out, being hit from all angles by objects from this inhospitable environment. He spots the alien fighter ship turning around and fires his grapples into the rear of it, and hooking his claw feet into the hull of his ship, it is all about how strong he is and how well he was built. The tension builds and the cargo ship begins to move, being towed by the unsuspecting alien fighter. Anc’s metal begins to bend under the pressure but he stands fast. The cargo ship lifts up and floats in the vacuum of space now. Around it there is a clear divide between the two halves of ship and Anc wants that black bit of space in-between the two. He retracts his grapples from the fighter just at the right moment, when the alien uses his thrusters for a boost, and now travelling twice as fast without the cargo ship in tow, the alien goes hurtling into a spear shape spike of metal, where it is impelled and hangs motionless. The cargo ship is now drifting without a pilot, crashing and bouncing into every piece of space debris in the area. The ship spins on all axes and Anc manages to get back to the helm after a few minutes.
Chapter Forty-Five
Megan watches for signs of life, but there are too many pieces of ship spinning out there to notice Pace’s cargo ship. Screaming Megan slumps her head into her hands.
“No, no, no. I have killed him. Nooo!” Tears pour out and flow down her face like a leaf on a waterfall. Nova puts the ship on auto-pilot and runs to comfort Megan.
“Hey, you don’t know that for sure. Hey, look at me. Pace is tough stuff and he has survived so much, he won’t let a few blues worry him. Come on, let’s join the Robur and finish this son of a gun.” Nova, now holding Megan’s face, smiles and lifts her chin up gently. “You can do this, Megan, trust me.” Megan wipes her tears away with the back of her hand and sits up bold in the chair, flashes of good times with Pace running through her mind like an unbroken horse. They join the Robur, which is severely damaged, and continue firing at the front of the Titan ship, although they do not seem to be doing a lot of damage.
“Get me Miles, Nova. We could use his ship for a little idea I have.” Nova bashes at the keys at the same time avoiding fire.
“Nothing. We have nothing from them. I have just scanned their crew, only three crew members are left alive and vitals on one are failing.” Three more ball ships latch onto the Robur, which now looks done for.
“Keep trying, Nova.” Pah-boom! An amazing white light is seen exploding out of the rear half of the Titan ship, now floating a few miles away from the front. What was once a large piece of ship is now a billion of chunks of metal.
Chapter Forty-Six
Luckily for the little cargo ship, it was just far enough away from the blast to have not been damaged. However, the damage was done by the savage alien fighter, because now they only had thrusters and no main engine power.
Pace opens his eyes. He is still on his belly, and there is a smell of old oil and tar running up his nostrils, which kick starts his senses again. He finds strength to get to his feet and upon standing he pats himself down checking for damage, there is none, but he notices that more of his human flesh is now alien blue flesh. What is happening to me, he wonders, but more importantly, I am alive at least. Pace finds Anc and greets him well and the two of them sit at the controls, deciding their next move.
“We need to get in sight of the Invictus, so they can see us and grab us, but this Titan is in the way and moving faster than us. We can’t even signal, damn it!” As Pace slams his hand down on his chair, his t-shirt rips revealing blue skin.
“Sir, you have more blue, are you feeling ok or should I quarantine you?” Anc’s weapons come online.
“Power down, Anc, I’m fine. When we get back to the Invictus, there is an expert that will fix me up, I’m sure. Now, just fly this junk that way, will ya.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
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Megan sees the lights on the Robur flicker and then the Invictus takes yet another heavy blow, but stands it well.
“I need to get to the Robur, Nova, you’re in command. I’m taking Talia and the Gulmeds with me. I’m not planning on staying long, just a quick ‘grab the survivors and set the ship for collision course’ and bingo.” Megan taps Talia on the shoulder and the two women leave the bridge in haste. Sam soon after enters the bridge and straps himself in Talia’s empty chair and begins to fire on the alien vessel.
Megan meets up with Rusty and the Gulmeds and the away team is almost ready. They take a few moments to check out the runner and any supplies they will need and don their spacesuits ready for action. Rusty returns to the engine room, happy to be alone for a while, and tidies up the mess the Gulmeds had made, but the engine and life support system was doing a lot better now, and if the engine was happy so was Rusty.
“Ma'am, I have taken the liberty of fitting a large sword like version of the poison dagger to the suits that you and Talia are wearing, along with plenty of killer juice for those pesky aliens, should you encounter them. The sword is voice activated by the word ‘Sabre’ and should do you proud. Also, you have incinerators in your chest panel. Obviously Talia has her own things on her suit, that I did not want to play with, but I hope this helps, Captain.” Sam is looking at Megan through his gauntlet screen. She can see concern in his eyes, but he wears a smile to cover it.
Titan Fleet: The Invictus Page 13