Captain Holt lifted his head above the table to take stock. The room had filled with smoke and an acrid smell. Bullet holes lined the walls with blood and the ground crunched with broken glass. The holographic emitter being used to project Uthor had been destroyed in the fray. Jed could hear voices, but they were distant and hard to make out against the high pitch ringing in his ears. He soon realised it was Colonel Matthews barking orders beside him.
“Ava…” Jed looked at the blood trickling across her abdomen.
Ava Mathews quickly plunged a cylinder of medi-foam into the wound and gritted her teeth with pain. She followed this up with another cylinder Jed suspected was filled with adrenaline and painkillers.
Grenko was still unconscious with tools sticking out of him, while the two Raiders, who initially lost their rifles, were slowly picking themselves off the floor. One of the two who had been guarding outside was dead, besides Sam. The commander felt for his pulse, but it was clear to see from the tool, jutting out from his chest, that he was dead. The two remaining Raiders, who were currently being bollocked by Mathews, had each been winged by flying bullets but were not fatally hit.
“Oh no…” Captain Fey had found her way to the other end of the table, where Jim lay, semiconscious. Beside him, Sharon Booth was completely still, her white top coated in blood.
As the sounds of the world slowly came back, Jed discovered Sam and Ava were shouting at each other.
“I thought Raiders were the best of the best!” Sam yelled into Ava’s face - a brave thing for anyone to do.
“Their artificial augments make them fast!” Matthews retorted. “I didn’t see you jump into the fight!”
“I’m unarmed!” Sam strode over to Grenko.
“That didn’t stop Grenko from trying to help!”
“Enough!” Jed stood up, between them. Using the comm panel on the wall, the captain had Maloy, on the bridge, give him a ship-wide channel. “Attention. This is Captain Holt. Three armed intruders are loose on the ship. Everyone is to proceed to the hold in a calm manner and await further instructions; you will be safe there.” Jed looked at Sam, who knew what to do. On another channel she was quietly moving UDC personnel around, setting up guard posts around the hold. “The situation is being dealt with appropriately and will be resolved shortly.” Jed switched back to Maloy and requested a channel that only the crew could hear. “This is your captain, arm yourselves and prepare to sweep the ship.”
“Don’t.” Colonel Matthews put her hand on his arm. “Let my team hunt them down. Use your crew to lock down the ship and protect the civilians. It’ll be too messy if everyone with a gun is hunting the same thing.”
Jed considered her counsel seriously. For all his experience, Ava’s training alone would always trump his. “Belay that,” he spoke into the mic. “Lockdown the ship and take up positions. Guard the hold.”
Captain Fey finally left Sharon’s side. “Open a channel to Uthor. He has a strike team waiting on the other side of your airlock. They have more experience with the Shay; we should let them help.”
Ava shook her head. “Negative. For all we know this is on the big guy’s order.”
Fey frowned and gestured at Ch’vork’s corpse. “This is not the Conclave’s doing. I don’t know what’s going on, but Uthor wouldn’t order the death of his chief engineer.”
“Fair point,” Jed agreed. “But for now, we deal with this in-house. We’ll open a channel and explain what’s happened, but the Raiders are hunting them down, and as far as I’m concerned they can shoot-to-kill.”
Fey clearly wasn’t satisfied, but she obviously knew better than to argue the orders of another captain on his own ship. Jed just hoped he was making the right call.
Colonel Ava Matthews knew her squad like the back of her hand. She knew them better than her own family and certainly better than their families knew them. Their strengths and weaknesses were her own, always playing a role in the squad tactics. Losing one of them was akin to losing a limb. It was the only thing that drove Ava to forgo her training and dive right in without planning or recon. This weakness was known to her Raiders, who always had her back.
“Holmes is dead…” Jess said into the darkened corridor, trying to hide her shock behind concentration.
It would take time for that fact to sink in.
“We’ll mourn Peter later.” It was Kyle Riddick who responded first, more than aware that those words made Ava’s blood boil. “Let’s just hunt these fuckers down and get some answers.”
“It’s hard to get answers from a corpse.” Jack Danvers had been close to Peter. Ava was sure there had always been something more between the men than brothers-in-arms.
The corridors were lit in red, casting shadows in every crevice. Lockdown had taken immediate effect in this part of the Paladin, in hopes of cutting the Shay off before they could reach the populated areas.
“I’m with Danvers,” Katie Wilson, the youngest in the group, added. “I say we cut em’ down, no questions.”
“Stow it, Wilson.” Kyle always took control when Ava’s head was in other places. “We’re Raiders, not cavemen. We have to be surgical.”
With their helmets covering their entire head, the Raiders could speak freely without the worry of being overheard. Their visors illuminated the corridors, piercing the shadows while keeping the team concealed in the dark.
“Surgery is what these fuckers are gonna need when we’re finished with em’.” Jess was easily the most sensitive one among them - though that wasn’t saying much for a Raider - and she was clearly hiding her unease behind hard words.
The squad approached every corner the same way; one taking the edge and stealing a glance before the second dashed across the gap and took up a position on the other side. With Katie bringing up the rear, watching their backs, Ava led the team down the empty corridors, their rifles levelled at shoulder height. They swept the first floor in minutes, clearing the way for the captains and the others to retreat to the medbay.
Ava silently commended her team for focusing on the present and not dwelling on recent events. Apart from Kyle, they had all lost friends and family to their extended journey amongst the stars. Ava could hear her twin brother’s voice in her head and held back the grief at knowing that her mind was the only place she would ever see him. The colonel could only dream of the life he might have had after she disappeared.
“All of you need to can it,” Ava finally contributed. Despite her urgent need to run in guns blazing, Kyle kept her grounded. “If any can be taken alive then we will. We need information if we’re going to survive in this new… Conclave.”
Jack commented, “We also need a hundred more men if we’ve any hope of finding those three pale shits in the Paladin.”
Ava stopped in the lead, holding up a closed fist to halt the team behind her. Using the eyetrak built into the HUD, Matthews opened a channel. “Maloy. You up there?”
Ensign Maloy’s boyish voice responded, “Affirmative, Raider One.”
“I need you to do an internal scan of the ship and separate human physiology from alien. Finding three aliens in a ship full of humans should be easy enough.”
Maloy cleared his throat. “Erm. The Paladin can’t do that. The scanners aren’t sensitive enough.”
“What?” Katie replied in disbelief.
Ava took over. “Explain, ensign.”
“Those kind of upgrades were to be installed after the ship’s arc duties were completed. I’m afraid as it stands, the Paladin is just a giant carrier with a Solar Drive stuck on the end.”
Ava sighed into her mic. “Can you at least detect life signs internally?”
“Affirmative, Raider One.”
“Great,” Ava replied sarcastically. “There should be just over a hundred thousand passengers inside the hold, a few making their way to the medbay and the six… five of us in corridor M-19. Are there three life signs anywhere else between us?”
There was a pause on Maloy’s end. �
��Yes,” he replied excitedly. “Three life signs detected on deck sixteen, corridor K-12. That area should have been evacuated and put on lockdown.”
Ava turned to Kyle, whose face mirrored her concern behind his visor. Engineering was located on deck sixteen, just off corridor K-12.
Jack spoke for the both of them. “If anyone knows how to fuck up this ship from the inside, it’s them.”
“Double time!” Ava’s order had the team sprinting to the nearest emergency ladder and climbing down to deck sixteen.
The corridors were silent. There were signs at every juncture directing them to engineering, but no signs of life. Matthews checked in periodically with Maloy to ensure the three mystery life signs hadn’t moved. When they finally reached the stasis chamber between K-12 and the engine room, it was clear to see where the aliens had gone. The doors had been pried open at both ends of the chamber, their frames bent inwards and the glass shattered.
The five Raiders crossed the threshold, each scanning a different area of their surroundings. Ava winced at the sound of the glass crunching under their boots, giving their location away. It suddenly occurred to the colonel that she knew nothing about their prey. How good was their hearing? Could they see in the dark? Were they chameleons? After the brief fight in the ready room, it was clear to see how fast they were, and judging by how easily they threw Peter and Jack around the room, they were strong too.
Before entering the maze-like structure that housed the Solar Drive, Ava looked down to see fresh blood dripping down her left leg, the source; her abdomen. Thanks to the stimulants and painkillers, the whole wound was numb, but a portion of the medi-foam had been shaved away by the plates in her armour. The colonel looked over her shoulder to make a cursory inspection of her squad’s wounds.
“Med-check,” she ordered.
The Raiders turned to one another and examined their wounds, checking for any damage they couldn’t see on themselves. Kyle had been winged in the right shoulder, visible by the cream-coloured foam staining his blue armour. The others had gotten away with scrapes and bruised egos.
“Sir…” Kyle was looking at Ava’s gut.
“It can wait.” Matthews jabbed a new canister of medi-foam in between the plates and sealed the wound again.
The Solar Drive itself was hidden from view inside a central chamber that could only be accessed via another stasis corridor after the engineers had adorned their protective gear. It wasn’t just the radiation that had to be taken into account, but the frequency on which the Solar Drive resonated. Without the appropriate headgear, the engine’s constant hum would burst a human’s eardrum and had been known to burst blood vessels beneath the skin.
Ava led the Raiders through the embankments of consoles and workstations, all designed to monitor and tweak the Solar Drive’s input and output. Cables ran up every wall space and along the ceiling, leaving the grated floor clear to walk on. The sound of their breathing was interrupted by a quick dash above them. As one, the squad swivelled to the right and aimed high, each taking a different stance and ready to fire. The walkway was empty, but they had definitely heard something run along the metal grates. At the same moment, another mad dash was heard to their left, on the same level. Again there was nothing for them to shoot.
“Raider One.” Maloy’s voice came through all their headsets. “Be advised, the three life signs appear to have split up. They’re surrounding you.”
Jess turned her rifle in every direction. “What level?”
“The sensors aren’t that accurate…”
“Fantastic,” Katie replied, dryly.
“Contact!” Jack’s announcement was followed by a staccato of gunfire.
The bullets shredded every console between the team and the corridor, spreading shattered glass and fragments of torn metal. The Shay rolled aside, firing as it did, and evaded Jack’s attack. Katie and Jess moved down the corridor, to the next row of consoles, and opened fire, hoping to hit the escaping alien. More consoles and cables were reduced to pieces, as the Shay’s robotic limbs projected it out of harm’s way.
Ava and Kyle were a split second from joining them in the chase when another Shay opened fire on them from above. They instinctively crouched and returned fire under the umbrella of sparks that exploded around them. Ava’s visor alerted her to a successful hit on the Shay’s organic arm, which quickly became evident when it dropped the rifle onto their level. Using its other, mechanical, arm, the Shay hoisted its body over the railing and dropped down to their level. The tall embankment of consoles immediately hid it from view, but Ava knew the alien would be going straight for its gun.
“Hold position.” Ava gripped Kyle by the arm, keeping him by her side. “Raiders, on me!”
Jack, Katie and Jess made their way back to the colonel, each covering a different angle on their approach. Their prey had disappeared somewhere inside the bowels of the engine room, while the injured Shay had slunk away, most likely having retrieved his weapon.
“Where’s the third?” Kyle pointed out.
“Maloy? What can you see?” Ava asked.
“They never regroup, but it’s as if they know what each other is doing. The two you just engaged are looping round from different directions.”
“They’re trying to flank us,” Jess commented, her eyes scanning every corner.
“The third is…” There was a pause on Maloy’s end. “I think it’s trying to gain access to the Solar Drive, but I can’t be sure.”
The team huddled close together and cautiously made their way back to the drive’s main entrance.
“We’ve got eyes on, Maloy.” Ava checked the doors for any signs of broken entry. “No targets.”
“No, I think it’s trying to get in through an emergency access hatch underneath the central housing unit.”
“Contact!” It was Kyle who spotted the Shay, this time approaching from behind the group.
The Raiders were forced to dive in different direction to avoid the hail of bullets. A pain-filled grunt from Katie suggested she had been hit, but Ava’s visor indicated that the wound was below her knee - she would live. The second Shay, with a wounded arm, appeared from the side of the Solar Drive’s main doors, shooting as it rounded the corner. This new attack forced the Raiders even further apart. They were being split up.
Kyle jumped out from behind a small workstation and drove his tactical blade into the Shay’s chest - a killing blow for any human - but the Shay piled into the Raider, using his momentum to drive Kyle into the wall. A swift kick knocked the rifle from the alien’s robotic hand, which it then used to grip Kyle by the visor, each digit poking through the glass. The pistons in the robotic arm flung Kyle several feet away. Though unintentional, it had proven to be the perfect distraction. When the Shay turned around, Ava was standing inches away with the barrel of her rifle in the alien’s face. The colonel squeezed the trigger and watched the Shay’s face and head turn to pulp.
“Push!” Katie barked at Jess and Jack, who were all closing in on the first Shay.
Ava was going to help Kyle up, but the soldier was already on his feet, discarding the broken helmet that had finger holes in the visor.
“Raider One, bridge control just got a breach alert on the Solar Drive!”
Maloy’s words focused Ava’s tactical mind. “We’re going for the third, you three take care of the straggler.” Matthews looked back a second later. “And Katie, no grenades. This is still an engine room.”
“I guess I’m gonna have to get creative…” The three raiders rounded the corner and disappeared.
Kyle happily took Jack’s helmet, aware that his eardrums wouldn't survive the proximity to the Solar Drive.
Ava and Kyle used the ladders to descend into the tunnels beneath the Solar Drive. There were more cables than anything else since consoles weren’t kept on this level. Finding the intrusive Shay was easy since its attempts to break into the main chamber was so noisy. It was using some kind of blow torch to access the p
anel beside the emergency hatch, hoping to rewire the circuits and open the small, square lid.
Colonel Matthews and Lieutenant Riddick took up positions either side of the tunnel entrance and crouched, making themselves smaller targets. The stolen rifle was slung over its bony back in a position that would make it hard to reach in a pinch.
“You thinking prisoner?” Kyle asked.
“Well I know the others aren’t going to take anything alive,” Ava replied.
When they looked back at the small circular room, the Shay was gone, the blowtorch resting on the floor. The Raiders glanced at each other, their expressions, visible through the visors, communicating everything they needed. Rifles first, they entered the small room, lined with cables that ran up into the housing above.
The Shay dropped from the arch above the entrance, moving erratically like a spider. Using mechanical fingers and feet, the alien stuck to the walls above them before dropping onto Ava. Its weight put the colonel on the floor, but the soldier was quick to draw the blade attached vertically to her chest. After four or five plunges into the Shay’s abdomen, it was becoming clear that pain and blood loss was not an issue.
Kyle wrapped his arms around its neck and pulled back, moments before the Shay tried to break Ava’s trachea. The two stumbled back and became a jumble of limbs on the floor. Blood spilled from the alien’s gut, making a mess of the floor and staining Kyle’s armour. Ava advanced, but the Shay saw her coming and reached for Kyle’s sidearm, clipped to his left thigh. The colonel saw the gun come free and rise towards her face. In such a cramped space there would be no avoiding the shot, and the bullet would pass through her visor with ease.
Kyle let out a primal growl and twisted the Shay’s head with trained experience. The alien went instantly limp and dropped the sidearm in its lap. The two soldiers were left in the empty chamber, the only sound their heavy breathing. No thanks were required on Ava’s behalf - keeping each other alive was just another part of their job.
“And we thought this mission was going to be boring…” Kyle quipped, taking back his gun.
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