Air filled the Captain’s lungs and he gasped. He slapped the can away from his mouth and sat up. He looked at Mao with a dazed glare, his attention turned to the monkey in his lap. “Captain!” Charlie exclaimed. “We’ve been rescued!”
The Captain once again looked to Mao and nodded before falling into unconsciousness once again.
“Initial scans are complete, preparing remedies for patient OR01 in medical bay 03 and patient OR04 in medical bay 04. Standing-by for patients OR03 and OR04.” Jolt reported.
“Thank you Jolt.” Mao said before the A.I. disappeared. She then hoisted herself to her feet and ran to the cockpit of the shuttle. “We’ve secured the monkey and the Captain,” she reached into her helmet and dropped the ball into the seat next to Trip. “I found that in their ship.” She unclipped her helmet and pulled it over her head. “Slick and the others should be back soon, I’ll get the cables ready.”
“Roger that Kitty.” Trip took the ball from the seat and turned it in his hands as Mao ran from the cockpit.
Slick and Nightmare passed Mao as she ran from the shuttle. Between them was a stretcher carrying a young man covered in burns, he was unconscious, but his face was contorted in pain. Sever quickly followed them, a girl, slightly older than Mao, was cradled in his arms. The girl was riddled with gun wounds and was barely breathing.
Mao’s stomach sank as she secured her helmet and the safety light lit up on her HUD. “All passengers secure.” Nightmare said through the speakers.
The ships lurched as the docking mechanisms retracted and Mao climbed to the top of their shuttle. “Floor it Trip, I don’t know how much longer these two’ll last.” Slick said as Mao grabbed a trio of hooked cables from the shuttle’s hull.
“Roger that. Are we good to go Kitty?” Trip replied. Kitty leapt from their shuttle to the Outrunner and quickly attached the three towing cables.
“Yessir, I’ll ride out here. Punch it!” The shuttle jumped forward as the thrusters burned on high, and Mao tightened her grip on the Outrunner’s hull.
~~~~~
The hangar bay door opened as the shuttle, with the Outrunner in tow, eased toward the Windsor. Before the shuttle finished touching down the rear doors opened and the members of Squad 11 rushed their new passengers to the medical wing.
Mao jumped from the top of the Outrunner after the two ships had settled. She met Trip as he exited the shuttle. “I’m going to the med ward to see things through, you comin’?” Kitty asked.
“Negative. I’ve got to discuss something with Captain Hughes.” He replied.
“Well then, have fun with Cap’n Morgan.” Kitty said as she clipped her helmet to her belt. She turned and ran through the blast doors and sprinted down the corridor.
Trip walked to the communications panel near his work station. “Captain?”
“What’ve you got Trip?” Morgan replied almost immediately.
“Their ship seems to be custom built, but more importantly, Sir, is the manner of their injuries and their ship’s destruction.”
“Come to the bridge.” Captain Hughes said in a hushed tone right before cutting the line.
~~~~~
Captain Hughes turned as Trip stepped through the door to the bridge. He noticed a slight pause in Trip’s stride when he saw Shaark Durstal standing beside the Captain. Trip saluted them. Shaark was the very first Meta-Human, he was also Trip’s old friend.
“What’s the problem Trip?” Morgan asked as he and Shaark retuned the gesture.
Trip reached into the pocket of his vest and removed the small metallic ball that Mao had given him. “According to Fen Mao, this was lying in the cockpit of their ship, the Outrunner.” He handed the ball to Morgan.
“What is it?” Morgan asked as the twisted the ball around to examine the entire surface.
“That’s the problem, I don’t know.” Trip replied. “It seems to be mechanical, but I can’t access it with my Cyberkenisis.”
“Then it’s not mechanical?” Shaark asked.
“It is.” Morgan said as he continued to inspect the ball. “It’s just something that isn’t made by man or Tel’amin.” He looked up at Trip. “Where do you think they picked this up?”
“I have no idea Captain, maybe they stole it.”
“That would explain why they got the hell beat out of them.” Shaark said, he had never been the brightest of the bunch, but Shaark was a brilliant leader when it came to combat.
Morgan handed the ball back to Trip. “I want you to search their ship for any sort of tracking device. From what I can see, they were being chased.” He tapped a monitor to his left, still-frames of the Outrunner projected from the screen. “It looks like the damage to their ship was done before they took off, they were likely able to out-maneuver their pursuers but doing so ripped the ship to shreds; leaving them stranded.”
Trip examined the pictures. “I see,” he touched the hologram and it zoomed in on the Outrunner. “I’ll search the ship, inside and out. Notify me when the Captain wakes up, I’m sure I’ll have a few questions for him.”
“Will do.” Morgan nodded and Trip returned to the hangar.
“Captain?” Shaark inquired from behind Morgan.
“Go ahead.”
“What are your instincts tellin’ you about this mess?”
“They’re telling me to trust these newcomers.” Morgan turned and stood face to face with the Meta-Human. “And you, Shaark?”
“Something’s not right about all this. I think there is something bigger than we expect behind all this.”
“Perhaps. But we’ll have to wait until our new friends wake up to find out, won’t we?” Morgan said turning towards the blast doors.
Shaark followed him off the bridge, and muttered: “I just hope they wake up before we’re forced to find out the hard way.”
~~~~~
Mao slipped silently through the door to the recovery room; she glanced at the one occupied bed, but didn’t stop as she made her way to the small gathering of people by the operating room window. Sever, Slick and Nightmare stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the window; beside Slick, farthest to the right, Geannina “Doll” Chatsworth glared through the glass.
Gean was the first to notice Mao’s presence; she turned and waved Kitty over to her. “Who are they, no one will say anything.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
Mao shot a look to the three Meta-humans standing silently next to them. “They’re the crew of a small shuttle called the Outrunner. We received a distress signal and replied accordingly.” She paused to think. “That guy is their Captain, his wounds were the least severe. I don’t know who the other two are, but that girl,” She pointed to the operating table farthest from the window, a plethora of robotic arms surrounded the table, each wielding a different tool, preforming a different job to try to save the girl’s life. “She was the worst.”
Doll looked back through the window. “Don’t you think he’s a little young to be a Captain?”
“I was thinking the same thing Gean.” Slick replied. He uncrossed his arms and jammed his hands into the pockets of his coveralls. “I think they stole the ship.”
“Devon…” Gean started, but Mao cut her off.
“Don’t go assuming things like that; maybe he was just a rich kid or something. His parents spoiled him and bought him a shuttle, he brought his friends out on a trip and they got caught up in a space battle. Or something.”
“I’m with Devon on this one.” Vaughn “Nightmare” Page announced from over Slick’s shoulder. “That ship was hardly something a rich kid would get for his birthday. I say they stole it from a junkyard, the owner decided to cut his losses and shot ‘em down.”
Gean tried to speak up, but Mao cut her off again. “Well they sure did a shoddy job at shooting at them.”
“Well they were stranded in space, on the verge of dying.” Devon replied.
Mao piped up to retort once more when Shik Youssef, the tall dark and mysterious member
of Squad 11, spoke up. “I agree with Geannina.”
Mao, Devon and Vaughn looked from him to Gean. “I- I think we shouldn’t decide anything until we speak with them.”
Mao laughed to break the silence that followed Gean’s opinion. “That’s my Doll!” She patted Gean on the head and glared at Devon. “See you shouldn’t just assume things Slick.”
Devon gritted his teeth and balled his fists. “You’re no better you-“
“Hey!” Blair Stewart, another Meta-Human from Squad 11, shouted from the door of the medical bay. Blair walked over to her arguing teammates and stepped between them. She lashed out in both directions with her index fingers, and caught Fen Mao in the forehead and Devon in the chest. “How many times do I have to keep you two from fighting?” Blare was usually the person to keep their team from fighting amongst themselves. With her powerful voice all it took was a few words to quiet even the fiercest of bickering, more often than not her words were directed toward Fen Mao and Devon Hastings.
“But Blare, he started it.” Mao whined as she struggled to escape Blair’s finger.
“What? I did no-“
“Shut up!” Blair shouted. The room quickly quieted, save for the mechanical whir of Jolt’s medical equipment.
Jolt materialized next to the commotion. Her color quickly pulsed from pink, to white, to red and back, an annoyed look crossed her holographic features. “Please keep quiet in the medical ward.”
“Sorry!” Gean quickly apologized to the A.I.
Jolt looked knowingly at Gean then returned her scowl to Blair, Devon and Mao. “Patient OR01’s operations were successful; transferring patient to recovery area. Please keep quiet in the medical ward.” She smiled at Gean then disintegrated.
The door on the far side of the room slid open and the bed carrying the Captain of the Outrunner rolled to an empty spot in the row of recovery beds. The six Meta-Humans walked over to the sleeping Captain.
~~~~~
Captain Morgan Hughes and Shaark Durstal arrived at the end of the corridor and waited for the elevator to take them to the lower decks.
Morgan glanced behind his shoulder at the battle-hardened soldier that stood rigidly behind him. Shaark was only a few years older than he was, but Morgan noticed wrinkles in the Meta-Human’s features that would not even start to develop in his own for another fifteen years. His light-blue hair, most likely a mutation from the Meta-Human augmentation, was starting to grey
He knew the kind of stress that Shaark’s position put on him, but there was no one better to lead the kids of Squad 11 than the original Meta-Human. Not to mention, no one else could accompany them on their suicidal missions; Shaark’s power allowed him to increase his speed and power exponentially for a short period of time and the effects were intensified as he grew angrier, was put under more stress or as his body sustained more damage. He was arguably the strongest Meta-Human, but he was getting old, at forty-two years his body was starting to have trouble recovering from his Berserking.
The elevator arrived and the doors smoothly slid apart. Inside the elevator stood the ship’s third A.I., Avast, the only male of the avatars. Avast was in charge of the Windsor’s weapon systems and shared the task of managing the ship’s energy use with his sister Bolt. He was the only A.I. that almost never left his holographic form, and would often wander the ship, but this time his run in with the Captain was no mistake. “Sirs!” He said in a rigid voice as he saluted Morgan and Shaark.
“Avast,” Morgan returned the salute, Shaark mimicked the gesture. “You look like you’re on your way to the bridge.”
“Sir!” Avast barked.
The semblance between the avatar in front of him, and the Meta-Human behind him was apparent. The only difference between Shaark and Avast was Avast’s orange hue and the sharp yellow eyes that he shared with his sisters. “What do you need?”
“According to Bolt we picked up a distressed shuttle.” He waited for the Captain’s acknowledgement before continuing. “I took the liberty of scanning the surrounding area for any additional craft.” Morgan nodded again and he continued. “There were no additional craft in the area, but I did detect traces of Tel’atomic particles on the wreckage.”
Tel’atomic technology was the child of human and Tel’amin science, a self-sustaining energy source that was used mainly in powering UPSC spacecraft, including the energy cannons that were often mounted on Destroyers. “You mean that they were attacked by the UPSC?” Morgan questioned.
“Negative Sir.” The A.I. faded to a dark yellow. “I believe their assailants were using stolen technology, but the only trace of a ship in the area is from the Outrunner.”
“Sir, you may have been right about them escaping their attackers before being destroyed.” Shaark added.
Captain Hughes nodded once more. “Avast, run another scan and accompany us to the medical wing.”
Avast moved into the corner of the elevator and barked: “Sir!”
Morgan and Shaark boarded the lift and waited for the doors to close.
~~~~~
A buzzer sounded and Captain Hughes’ voice quickly followed. Surprised by the sudden sound, Trip’s head shot up and connected with a low-hanging bulkhead. “Trip, I’m sorry to cut your investigation short, but it seems like our injured Captain is going to be awake soon. Shaark, Avast and I are on our way to the medical wing as we speak. Get there A.S.A.P. so we can find out what exactly happened to the Outrunner and its crew.”
Trip disentangled himself from a jungle of cables and hopped over to the communications panel. “Sure thing Captain, I’m on my way now.” Without cleaning the grease and oil from his hands and face, Trip jogged out of the hangar and headed toward the lift.
~~~~~
A light appeared. Jacobi Myles flinched at the sudden brightness. Then sounds started to take form all around him. His world spun and he fought the urge to slip back into unconsciousness. The pain in his neck and stomach was proof of his livelihood, and he feared that if he slept again he might never wake up. The strange sounds around him turned to words, but they sounded strange to him. He knew the language the words were spoken in, but the cloud in his mind blocked him from understanding them. Air entered his lungs and he exhaled shakily; the sharp jab of pain in the side of his neck sent a shiver throughout his entire body.
The cloud disappeared and the words gained meaning, the first voice he understood was feminine, but somehow not human. The voice had a slight mechanical vibe but spoke clearly: “Patient OR01 exiting slow-wave sleep. Captain, he’s awake.”
“He doesn’t look awake.” This voice also belonged to a female.
“He’s obviously still waking up.” This time a male voice replied, he sounded irritated with his female counterpart.
Jacobi focused all of the energy he could muster and opened his eyes. Bright lights shone down on him, he felt his eyes strain and adapt to the light. He glanced around his surroundings; he was lying in a bed with clean white sheets, he could see a small crowd of people gathered on either side of the bed, and behind them he saw the unmistakable bulkhead of a spacecraft. Adrenaline rushed into him and he shot up in his bed, pain raked at his body and he let out a harsh cry.
The noise around him stopped and the crowd of people stared at the young Captain. A girl with a small frame and lavender eyes spoke first, her voice was quiet but firm and she stared at him with genuine concern. “Are you alright?”
“I… think so…” His voice trailed off. Speaking did not hurt as much as he thought it would have with the holes in his neck.
The first voice, the robotic female, spoke next: “Patient OR01’s condition remains unchanged.” Jacobi slowly turned his neck to look at the owner of the voice. The hologram stood next to his bed, she wore a lab coat and held a holographic clipboard and her entire being shone with a ghostly pink hue. “If I may inquire, Patient OR01, what is your name?”
“You’re an A.I.” Jacobi muttered.
“Affirmative.” She repl
ied. “I am Jolt, medical intelligence of this craft. Now, if I may inquire: Patient OR01, what is your name?”
“Ah, I’m Jacobi Myles,” He paused. “Captain Jacobi Myles of the passenger shuttle Outrunner.”
A tall man with broad shoulders and dark grey hair stepped forward and spoke: “Welcome aboard the UPSC Battle-Cruiser Windsor, Captain Myles. I am Captain Morgan Hughes, my crew and I exited the Space-Way near the remnants of your ship, luckily you and your crew hadn’t left this plane of existence before we got there.” The Captain held his hand out and Jacobi shook it, the firmness of the Captain’s grip was surprising.
“My crew…” Jacobi spoke.
“They’re okay, for now.” Jacobi looked over to the new speaker, he was average height, if not an inch or two taller, he had slicked-back black hair and green eyes. He offered his hand to the injured Captain. “I’m Devon Hastings, they call me Slick.”
Jacobi looked past Devon, to the bed in the corner of the room, the only other occupied bed in the room. “He’s one of ours.” The man next to Devon spoke as he followed Jacobi’s gaze. “He was injured in battle and still hasn’t woken up.”
A familiar voice broke into a nervous laugh. “Hah, well mister Myles, I don’t think we’re here to worry about our friend over there. We’re more interested in hearing your story!” It was girl who had spoken while he was still half-conscious; Jacobi stared at the girl’s feline ears and tail. Was she an alien? “I’m Fen Mao, but you can call me Kitty. That,” She pointed to the man between her and Devon. “Is Nightmare and this,” She dropped her hand onto the shoulder of the small girl on her right. “This precious little thing is Doll.”
The man called Nightmare pinched Mao’s ear and she squirmed in pain. “I’m Vaughn, she is Geannina. We’re part of this ship’s combat squad, “Nightmare” and “Doll” are our code names.”
“We can do introductions later.” Captain Hughes cut in. “First, Captain, I need to know why you, your crew and your ship were in such a sorry state.”
A man ran though blast door at the end of the hall, he ran past the bed with the sleeping soldier and joined the crowd. His face was covered in oil and sweat dripped from his brow and he breathed heavily as he addressed Captain Hughes. “Trip Canta reporting for duty, Sir.”
RE:Inspiration; Titan Page 2