Titan Fleet: The Robur

by Jason J Black

  “They got Rusty, he is in a bad way. A tall Blue was dragging him into a cell. I think we could sneak up on the Blue and take him out.” Talia is still looking up the corridor, her eyes flicking, covering the doors in case of other Blues. Pace can see from their personal trackers on his heads up display that his three friends are at least in one room now, and that would make it easier to rescue them and escape down the corridor back to the ship, with any luck.

  “Wait, Talia, see if the tall one leaves the room first.” A few moments pass and sure enough, the Blue alien floats out of the room, looking briefly both ways, before exiting the corridor through another door in the distance. The corridor was silent. The walls covered in green, living organisms swayed gently as Talia crept towards the door, and quickly looking into the room through the window, she reports back to the others, who are still at the corner waiting for the all clear.

  “I found them all. They are hanging up on chains, but the room is clear.”

  Pace taps Jaro on the shoulder. “Move up,” and the group move along the corridor to the door with Talia. Each one of them could not miss the poor alien, dripping orange guts and blood in the room that Rusty had been taken from, as they move past the door. When they reach Talia, she has already opened the door with ease; she could hack any computer system as long as it had power. The door opens and everyone enters, apart from Anc who guards the door, keeping a watchful eye out for Blues.

  “What on Foloss have they done to you, my friend? Padley, quick, help them.” Padley rolls over to Rusty, and after Pace cuts the chains with his laser cutter, Padley is able to begin work to stabilise his condition, while she scans Nova and Sam.

  “Ok, Rusty is in need of an operation, but I can stabilise his condition. However, I will not be able to rouse him. It appears that Nova has a few lacerations and is unconscious. Take this and put it up her nose and squeeze. She will come around. Sam has a broken leg and ribs, which I will get to in a moment.”

  The three captives were just in their underwear, their armour had been stripped off and thrown into the corner of the room. Pace quickly pushes the small rectangle device up Nova’s nose and squeezes, like Padley had instructed. He had cut her down and her head was resting on his knee when her eyes opened. Nova reaches up for the long green tube, which had been forced into her other nostril, and tries to pull it out. Pace grips her hand and stops her.

  “Hey kid, leave that alone, its air until we can get you back in your suit.” Nova’s head was spinning, but she was settled when she saw Pace’s face looking down with caring eyes.

  “You came for me. You’re alive. I saw you drifting out there…” she manages to gasp out. Pace pulls back the hair from her eyes and tucks it behind her ear. It was blood stained and sticky.

  “I’m not going to leave my kid sister to have all the fun, am I?” joked Pace, making light of the situation.

  “Sam? Where is he? Is he ok, and Rusty?” Pace holds Nova still and comforts her.

  “Padley is with them now, don’t worry.”

  Padley stops the flow of blood from Rusty’s eye, as she sprays a pink foam into his eye socket. The foam turns into a hardened medicated plastic that seals the wound. Padley’s hands work fast on Rusty’s other wounds and he is at least stable.

  Padley’s wheels roll her over to Sam next. Megan was supporting his head, while Jaro begins to collect the space suits together for his new found friends. Sam’s femur is sticking out of his skin and blood is pooling on the floor around him. A few cracks later and Padley had put the bone back in place, and it was being held together with a metal plate. The open wound is cleaned and then sown back together with the amazing assortment of devices sticking out of Padley’s chest, like a thousand helping hands. Small tendrils shoot into Sam’s chest, and the sound of breaking bones being pulled back into place is heard, making the others cringe in their own minds. The bones are stuck together with a glue type of substance, so that Sam would not be restricted when he breathed. Then the tendrils were removed and the small holes sealed back over to avoid infection.

  “He will be good to go, but he will be slow and in a bit of a daze for a while, due to medication administered. Place this up his nose and squeeze, please.” Padley hands Megan a small device, which she inserts as directed and squeezes, and Sam’s eyelids begin to flap open. Padley moves to her next patient.

  “Hello, Nova, we will fix you up now, sorry for the delay.” Padley is soon busy at work. Jaro has finished setting down the armour next to Sam and Nova on the floor, and then takes a look around the room.

  “Captain, we have movement heading in our direction. I count twenty plus Blues, Sir.” Anc powers up his shield and positions himself more into the corridor, facing in the direction of the advancing alien force. Jaro runs to join him. They needed more time to get the others mobile.

  “Padley, work fast, we have trouble coming our way,” Megan calls to Padley. Padley is almost finished working on Nova.

  “Get Sam back in his suit, the suit will help him to walk, just pull that alien tube out of his nose first,” shouts Padley at Megan, who tears it out of Sam’s nose even before he notices it. He jumps with discomfort, and this jolts him into the real world, and with Megan’s help, he puts his suit on.

  “Come on, Sam, you can do it, we all got to get out of here.”

  Sam turns to Megan. “What happened, where am I? Is Nova ok?” Megan smiles and nods, busy placing the chest plate on his suit.

  “She is fine, but we will all be better once we are off this ship. Now move it!”

  Pace grabs Nova’s dented suit, and as Padley finishes work on Nova, Pace is at the ready to help Nova on with her suit. Padley spins over to Rusty and places a mask over his face, after removing the tube from his nose. Four small square boxes fire out of Padley’s back and lift Rusty up off the floor and onto a stretcher made of light, and the stretcher floats behind Padley.

  “Permission to get Rusty back to the ship, Captain, my route is clear.”

  Pace responds, still helping Nova with her suit. “Granted, go. We will not be far behind you.”

  Padley is off like a race horse down the corridor, her wheels heating up slightly with the speed, the stretcher keeping up with her just inches from her back. She whizzes through the door and gets Titch to open the loading bay door briefly, to let her in. Then she takes Rusty up in the lift to medbay, where she quickly straps him to an operating bed and sedates him, ready for the much needed operation to save his life.

  Now that Nova and Sam are back in their suits, they are ready to leave. They walk towards the doorway, but as they draw closer to the door, it slams shut and a second door slams down over the first door, and the room turns into darkness. Work lights pop on, and Talia’s and Megan’s glowing Gulmed suits light the room with ease. They can hear blaster fire outside the door, as Anc and Jaro engage the advancing Blues in the corridor. Pace aims at the door and fires at it with his blaster, which has no effect. Following his lead, the others also open fire on the door, also with no effect.

  “What are these doors made from?” shouts Pace with anger in his throat that makes his voice husky. He tries to pound on the door with his robotic arm. Even the full strength of his bioengineered arm has no effect on the door. They were well and truly trapped this time.

  Jaro notices the door slam and is powerless to stop it. The Blues had charged at them, clawing and ripping at them as they held them at bay with their shields, smashing and blasting at the Blues. Smudges of blood soak into the walls, the organisms growing there feeding on the blood and mutating into larger plant life.

  “Anc, we must hold our ground until we figure out a way to get to them.” Jaro points to the now sealed door, as he crushes a head into the ground with his glowing hammer, the heat from it making a sizzling sound as it connects to flesh. Anc rams his shield into a Blues chest, lifting it from the ground easily, and shakes the squealing creature off, almost splitting it in two in the process. The two warriors could hold this c
orridor, but could not open the door at the same time. It seemed like there was no respite from the droves of enemy this day.

  Crunch, click, and a loud grinding noise began to grip the ears and teeth of Pace and his crew trapped in the room, and then a sudden jolt, and the room felt like it was dropping slowly downwards, like an uncomfortable lift, the occupants not knowing if it would break down. They all had a sick feeling in their stomachs, wrenching tightly as they dropped down, to who knew where. The four companions are silent, but grip each other like glue to reassure themselves that things were going to be ok.

  The room felt like it was dropping faster now, and this was confirmed when they all began to lift up from the floor. The speed was incredible, and then a rumbling sound began to shake the room. They all could not believe how big this ship was. They had landed in a hangar and now were rushing downwards. They should have hit space by now, Pace thought, as they were all brought to a thump as an engine slowed the room down, before it came to an abrupt halt. The four friends lay on the floor, legs and arms intertwined, each one of them glad to feel someone’s touch.

  Pace is the first to his feet, peering out of the window set in the door, to see a large open expanse that resembled a sports ground, by what he could see. Many Blues were sat on seats all around, like at a football stadium.

  “It’s an arena of some kind, and knowing this lot, it is not going to be for our enjoyment.” Pace beckons the others to take a look. They must prepare themselves if they are to survive. Ten eyes stare out into the arena, not wanting to miss a moment, and all the time learning and trying to find a solution to all of this mess.

  A large grey box with a door and a window, much like theirs is pulled into the centre of the arena by two massive Blue creatures, bigger than any they had seen before. The footsteps of the Blues echoes in their heads and the floor shakes with every step. The two giants were covered in spikes and scales, each scale looked as big as a rover’s bonnet, and they were covered with scary looking tentacles that floated around, each as thick as a tree trunk. Once the grey box was in place, the two giants strode out of view. The pounding in their ears stopped and ten eyes still watched, wanting to see more, but afraid of what they might see. A loud roar breaks the silence. The Blue crowd lifting from their seats, stand in respect of their elders and leaders. The cheers continue, the noise of so many Blues chanting so loud that the crew of the Invictus could not hear each other speak.

  Tapping on the window, Pace points to a floating Blue leader drifting towards the grey box, his arms stretched out wide, his silver metal claws pointing up to the ceiling. A green pungent cloud surrounding him like a warm winter jacket. Speaking in his alien language to the masses, the Blues instantly become silent and listen intently, fearing to sit back down. This speech is a short one and a second ear popping cheer goes up, and then the Blues all sit back down.

  “Pace to Jaro, can you still hear me?” A few moments pass and Pace repeats his hopeful call out to Jaro.

  “Receiving you, Captain. Where are you? We have held our position, but were unable to help you, wait one.” Jaro spots a sneaky Blue leap up and flip over Anc’s head to land on his back. Jaro answers this move with a grapple and an easy headlock, pulling the Blue from Anc’s back and pulverising the creatures head with a bone crushing punch of a spiked fist.

  “Sorry, Sir, we are currently still engaged in combat.”

  “Ok, Jaro, here is what I want you to do. Fall back to the Invictus, get our trackers up, and then I want you to blast your way to us using that dirty great gun on the front of the ship, ok?” Pace smiles at the on-looking faces of his friends. They too were all smiling. “I have had enough of this Blue race, and now they are to be exterminated. Everyone happy with that?” Pace sees happy nods and grins all around and a plan is set. The crew just had to hold out until the ship got to them.

  Jaro and Anc begin to beat a hasty retreat, back along the corridor towards the ship, fighting of hundreds of Blues all itching to taste blood and tear flesh.

  “Titch, get the turrets ready, we are bringing friends.” Jaro opens the door to the hangar and steps backwards through it, closely followed by Anc who closes the door and begins to wield it shut. This gives Jaro and Anc time to get on board the Invictus and ready themselves for further combat. At least now they could hit back and take the Blues by surprise.

  Jaro calls to Padley. “How is our patient doing?”

  Padley replies quickly, glad that the others were on board to protect them. “Rusty is stable and responding to healing well.”

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  The grey box opens out and the walls fall to the floor. They hit the ground and spread dust outwards, almost like a miniature sand storm. Once the dust clears, stood before them are five alien creatures. The aliens are all of the same race, and are obviously captives too. They look like they had been through many battles and trials. The small creatures were stockily built and were wearing an ancient style of armour, which was very clunky and cumbersome. They had little tech at all, but stood firm and strong together, with bladed weapons at the ready, to clash and impale their foes. The dwarf like creatures looked around them. They were surrounded by Blues, all chanting and throwing things at them. The crowd in this arena were totally hostile and could not be won over.

  Several large doors began to open around the arena, and dashing out of the open doors flooded all different manner of Blues. Different shapes and sizes, some stood on four legs and some on two, some even floated in on the putrid green mist that they had now seen many times. The crowd cheer on their fellow Blues as they approached the small dwarven guard. The creatures stop just feet from them, waiting for the order to begin the attack on the defenders. The small creatures were jumpy, stressed and distressed, and it showed on their spotted mauve faces, that changed colour from time to time like a chameleon.

  The slender leader floated way up high now, above the arena, a prime place to view the whole battle. The leader lifted his arm in the air and took a moment to look around the arena, then he dropped his arm downwards and let out a mighty shriek to start the fight. The Blues began to leap up and at the dwarven heroes, and the small, tough little creatures made mincemeat of the first wave that was hurled at them. They gained a fair bit of confidence, as there was a slight pause before the next wave began to tear across the sand floor towards them. The crew of the Invictus watch with hope in their hearts, rooting for the success of their unknown ally.

  “Come on little fellas, give them what for!” shouted Megan, as if she was watching a boxing match on TV. The crew of the Invictus began to cheer, and surprisingly, wave after wave, the little race of beings won through, but they were growing weaker by the minute and there were an endless amount of Blues entering the arena.

  “So this is what they have planned for us then, umm.” Sam looks concerned, looking at the others.

  “We are not in very good shape like they are, but we do have technology to help us along. What are your thoughts, Captain?” asks a worried Sam. Pace is watching the fight, Blues being cut to shreds by the well trained defenders.

  “I am working on a plan, don’t worry,” replies Pace, as one of the small creatures is lifted up into the air, horns protruding through its chest, and is cast aside like litter on the floor.

  Screams go out from his companions. The loss of their friend spur them on with the fight, giving them a renewed anger, but they were all overwhelmed as they lost concentration, and one by one the Blues savagely take their lives, ripping them and tearing them apart, and then eating the remains as their reward.

  The Blues were simple. They invaded and they killed and they ate. They had never met their match in combat, as they were killing machines guided by the intelligent leader cast, the tall slender Blues, but Pace wondered that if the Blues did eventually defeat all the races in the known universe, then would they finally turn on each other for food.

  “I think I’m going to challenge a leader to a one on one.” Pace smiles as the
others look at him, not believing what he had just said.

  “You crazy or something? Don’t you know I love you?” responds Megan, grabbing onto Pace’s hand. “We have only just got back together and now you want to throw that away?”

  Pace looks into Megan’s eyes, which are beginning to well up with tears.

  “No, of course not, but I am willing to fight for our future. If you all hide in amongst the bones and torn bodies over there, when the walls fall it will appear that I am on my own, and then I will challenge the ugly one up there, and when the time is right, you all will come out of hiding and we will end him.” Megan listens to his words, and it was a good idea, if they could pull it off.

  “What then? Do you think that those thousands of Blues will back down and let us just walk out of here?” Pace raises both eyebrows at Megan.

  “No, but it will buy us time, and it will scare the crap out of them if we parade around laughing with the head of their boss in our hands. It’s what they deserve.”

  Sam is beginning to like the idea and holds onto Nova’s hand. Talia points at Nova.

  “You kept that quiet, eh?” Nova smiles at Talia.

  “A new romance,” she replies, to the joy of the others. “We all have something to fight for.” Talia had been quiet up until now, assessing the situation. She reaches into her belt pouch and pulls out her two birthday knuckle dusters, a present from Megan. They gleamed and sparkled as she put them on her hands.

  “I’ve been looking forward to using these. It is not good for you to hold aggression inside. I fight for you, my family.” The crew of the Invictus join in a huddle in the middle of the room and all hold hands. The warmth and love is felt by each one of them. They did not utter a word for a few minutes, no words were needed.