Starfall

by Chris Doverspike

  I feel lightheaded for a moment but I’m able to snap out of it. Come on, just hold on a little longer, you can’t afford to lose it now. Especially since the platform is nearing its destination. It’s dark down here, making it impossible to see what’s in front of me. There’s a door at the end of the dark area, which has been bashed down, it’s almost broken in half. Whoever this guy is, he can’t be human.

  I run through the entryway, my gun is ready and my mind is on the offensive. The room beyond the door is completely empty except for a giant VI beneath a screen that covers the entire wall. The cloaked man is standing before the screen, I put my gun toward his back. “Back away from the screen.” I demand. My hands are shaking; I’m losing strength fast. The man refuses to listen. “I said back away, or I will shoot!” The man turns around, I can see part of his face that’s not covered by his hood. He’s human! There’s no way that’s possible.

  The man moves his arm to the side, my gun flies out of my hands and into the wall. How is this possible? The man puts his knee into my gut, he’s faster than humanly possible. I hit the wall hard, my back feels like it almost snapped in half. The man walks up to me, he kneels down and looks me over or a moment. “Who are you?” I ask him. He grabs my arm; I try to rip it away but it’s impossible. I can feel my wound beginning to close and my strength returning. He lets me go and walks up to the VI once again, on the screen it says: File duplication complete.

  The man pulls a device out of the VI. I stay where I am, and just observe. I know I can’t beat him right now, so why try? He pushes the button on some kind of device he pulled from his pocket. A light surrounds the man for only a split second and then…he’s gone. I stand up, my mind is processing my thoughts at a hundred miles per hour. Why did he help me? What’s on those files? I think I need to talk to Reyes, maybe she’ll have some kind of answers for me.

  The sound of battle that once filled the skies ceases, it’s over. Reyes left the balcony, she’s no longer there upon my return to the bridge. I leave the council headquarters and make my way outside. The mothership is gone, which means Admiral Richards is to. The question of whether he’s alive or not lingers with me, I don’t want to have to think about him in that sense. So if Reyes doesn’t reassign us to the mission, I’ll have to find a way to do this on my own. I’m approaching the hospital now, the streets are no longer in a panic, but the civilians are still trying to cope with what’s happened. It won’t be an easy recovery; I know that much.

  I enter the hospital, it’s still just as hectic as when the battle began. The wounded are being brought in, there’s more than I’d like to see. It takes a while but I’m eventually able to make my way back to Duron’s room. Everyone is here, Tion, Amelia, Aura, and T. Seeing the Endeavor crew here is a huge relief after everything that’s happened. I walk up to Aura and embrace her. “I’m glad you were right for once.” I tell her in regards to what she said to me before I left. “You should really start listening to me more often.” She tells me. We let one another go after a long embrace. “Is this your blood?” Asks Aura. “Yeah. It’s mine.” I tell her as I take off my coat.

  My shirt’s sleeve is almost torn completely off, the laser shot really did a number on it. My arm has a large amount of dried blood on it as well. “Look at my arm. The wound is completely healed.” I tell my crew. “How is this possible without alleviation?” Asks Aura. “There was a man. He was after some kind of information from Haven’s records. I tried to stop him but he had powers that were inhuman. Speed, strength, and even telekinesis. I thought he was going to kill me but instead he healed me with just a touch.” I tell them. “And what exactly did this man take?” I hear Senator Reyes speak behind me. She’s standing at the doorway, she steps inside and closes the door behind her.

  “I don’t know. He just downloaded some files onto an external storage device.” I tell her. “That man may have taken secrets that could aid the Essari in the war. Military weaponry, names our top lieutenants, everything. And knowing this man is human leads me to wonder if more humans may have defected to their cause.” The Senator is afraid right now but I can tell she is trying to hide it. “We’re dealing with a man with fucking powers beyond humanity, how do you know if he’s even human?” Amelia adds her two cents. “The Essari are beyond our comprehension of technology, they modified him. That’s the only explanation. It’s scary, but impressive.” Tion responds.

  “Great, now we got humans helping the enemy. That’s going to really help our popularity around here.” Aura says. “Popularity of any specific race is the last thing I’m concerned with right now doctor. Now, we have a missing admiral, and top secret military files have been stolen. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this considering how young and inexperienced you all are. But after the bravery Stella put forth in trying to stop this man, I’m reassigning the Endeavor crew to the mission.” Reyes tells me, much to my delight. “Ma’am you will not regret this.” I’m trying my best not to seem too happy right now, don’t want to seem desperate.

  “And since you’re all here already, I want you to follow me.” She tells us. “What about him? He’s assigned to me as a patient.” Aura asks. “Another doctor will be in to check up on him. Oh and bring the robot to, we’ll probably need him.” The Senator says. T responds like he doesn’t want to go. “Duron will be fine; we need you with us. And I know for a fact that he’d want you to come.” Aura tells T, reassuring him. T is reluctant but he agrees to come along. “Right. Follow me.” Reyes tells us as she leaves the room.

  “We’ve been developing technology that will allow for three individuals, organic or non-organic to travel anywhere we’ve set up a waypoint to. The waypoint will travel depending on the location of the destination. It’s a prototype technology that’s only been tested a few times, but each test has proven successful.” Reyes explains as we make our way through a lab. Which consists of different kinds of technology that have yet to be introduced to the general public. Dozens of scientist are working in this area of the lab alone.

  “So it’s a teleportation device?” I say, thinking I know it all. “You could say that. But it’s more than just a teleportation device. This device allows for travel across the known galaxies, to any location whether it moved to another location, or if it stayed in the same place.” Reyes explains to me as we enter through a door, and into the room that houses the teleportation device. The device takes up nearly half the room, there is also a VI terminal a few feet away from it.

  “So you want three of us to go into that machine, teleport to the Essari mothership where the Admiral is being held, and get him back?” I ask, I’m skeptical to say the least. “Yes. The Admiral and the files are your top priority. Until now the Essari have been one step ahead of us. But during the attack we were able to set a tracking waypoint on the Essari mothership. And this is the only way we’re going to get inside to save Admiral Richards. However, we need to work fast. The waypoint only lasts about three hours.” I can tell that Tion is very skeptical about this, he steps up to share his opinion.

  “So you’re putting this much confidence into a machine that’s only been tested a few times? A prototype? There has to be an alternative.” Says Tion. “There is none. We’ll never get close enough to the Essari mothership without being obliterated in the process. This is the only way we’re going to be successful in completing our objective.” She fires back respectfully. “Well then, I think we need to rethink our options here.” Tion says, he’s not confident at all.

  “I’m in…” “Are you insane!?” Tion asks me after interrupting me rudely, and pissing me off. “Well that’s not your decision to make, Tion! If this our only option then so be it, if we wait around for option B then it might already be too late. Look at all those people who died today, and those who died on Alpha. If this works and we’re on the inside, then we might gain some information on how we can win this war.” I’m not angry, I’m just frustrated with the whole tactic side to this, if we get an opportunity to gain
the upper hand, I’m taking it no matter the negative side.

  “Aura, I want you with me on this.” I tell her. She’s shocked but pleased. “Don’t think I forgot what you did for me on Atlas.” I continue. “I was waiting for you to mention that, I just figured you were to out of it to remember.” She tells me. “I suggest taking the robot with you, so whatever information you find, he can store.” She has a good point; I just hope T can do this. “You up for this?” I ask T. He responds positively. “Okay. Let’s do this.” I bid Amelia and Tion farewell before heading into the teleporter with Aura and T. Tion and Amelia look nervous, more so than I’ve ever seen them.

  Senator Reyes hands me a weapon, it’s a pistol that looks like one of those basic, standard issue models that the guards at the academy carry. Oh well, it’s not attractive but it’ll get the job done. I put the gun in my holster, it fits like a glove. “Take this, when you press the button you will teleport back here. Just be sure you’re holding onto whoever is using it and you will all be transported back here.” She hands me the device, it’s a small remote with one button with a glass covering over it.

  “Oh and one more thing. We don’t know where you’ll be transported to on the ship, it could be anywhere so be ready.” She tells us, oh great she gives us the shit news right before we go, nice. A scientist steps up to the terminal and taps around on it. “On my word.” Reyes says. I’m shaking, I’m more nervous than I’m letting on. “Now!”

  A white light surrounds me, the setting changes from the room where the teleporter is, to another area that I can’t quite see completely. It’s the Essari mothership or at least I hope it is. The new setting becomes more and more clear as I stop seeing the room the teleporter is in completely. I look over to see Aura and T, they are intact. It worked! “Hey, how’s it going?” Aura says to the Essari who surround the massive area, the ceiling is at least twenty feet high, and the entire ship looks like the inside of a mouth. With wide, crimson colored pillars standing as high as the ceiling. And the floor is of the same color.

  We fire a barrage of shots around the room, taking out many of the unsuspecting Essari. We dive behind a terminal, it’s just wide enough to shield all three of us. Shots are fired in our direction. “You have a plan?” Aura asks me. “I was hoping you did.” I respond. “Maybe we should have thought this out before hand?” My words cause Aura to smirk for a moment. “You think? We don’t even have the slightest clue where the Admiral is.” She says to me. We fire shots at the Essari once their shooting ceases. We do virtually no damage.

  “How is it that we can kill them when they don’t expect it, and now we can’t even phase them?” Aura asks me. “Their armor must have some kind of shield mechanism built in.” I tell her as I take about six shots, connecting with the first Essari I see, I can see my final shot caused it pain so we’re getting somewhere. “I guess that makes sense.” Aura responds, she’s breathing heavily. T says something, it sounds positive. “What are you asking me for? Do it!” Aura tells T. “What’s going on? Talk to me.” I calmly ask. “He said he’s going to use the terminal to find the Admiral.”

  The Essari are closing in on us, there’s gotta be about six of them. T opens his mid-section, a small panel in the middle of his two layered body slide open like two miniature sliding doors. T inserts a long, wide hand that comes through the opened section of his body and inserts itself into the terminal. Shots ping off the terminal, just inches above us. It won’t be long until the enemy is right on top of us. “We’re screwed, there’s no getting around it.” Aura tells me. “No we’re not, just let me think.” I try to stay confident but right now things aren’t looking to good.

  I hear a large crash within the terminal, what the hell is T doing? To my surprise a massive shockwave explodes out of it, sending the Essari flying backwards. Sparks fly out of their armor. They’re not wasting any time getting up, how could they just take all this punishment like its nothing? T sounds off with urgency. Aura instantly reacts, shooting the Essari without hesitation. I join her before they have a chance to react. The Essari fall one by one. “Not so tough without their shields are they?” Aura asks me as I walk up to the fallen Essari.

  T finishes hacking the terminal, making sure we know about it as he retracts his hacker hand back through the opened section of his body. “He found Admiral Richards, let’s get out of here before more Essari show up.” Aura says to me with urgency. Their armor has an interface that reads: shield percentage. Which is beginning to rise back to 100% right before my eyes. “What are you doing!? We have to go.” Aura says as she approaches me, she’s nervous, maybe a little scared. “Look. We were right, their armor is a shield.” I tell her. “That’s great, now let’s go.” She responds. “Hold on.”

  I feel around the armor until I find some kind of switch on the side of it. Moving my fingers across the switch, the Essari armor removes itself from the body which allows me to lift it right off of the fallen enemy. It shrunk from being large enough for an Essari to fit, to small enough to fit a human. It’s lighter than expected. “How are you going to carry that thing with you and fight?” Aura is right, how am I going to pull this off? Unless…On a hunch I put the armor on, it’s difficult to move around in at first but a few moments later it adjusts itself to my size, it’s even comfortable to boot. Aura stares at the armor in disbelief.

  She removes the armor on another Essari and throws it over her shoulders with urgency. It wraps around her body the same as mine. I have my weapon ready, keeping myself on guard, looking around every corner expecting there to be Essari around each one. T is directing us; the Admiral is in the central control room of the ship. Hmm, I wonder what other secret technology these Essari have up their sleeve. But remember what Senator Reyes said, Admiral Richards is our first priority. That, and the files that were stolen. But without finding the cloaked man, it will be impossible to get back what was taken.

  T sounds off as we reach a massive, red and silver door. It’s almost intimidating just looking at it. “This is it. Admiral Richards is on the other side.” Aura says. “There’s gonna be a lot of Essari on the other side, you nervous?” I ask her as T hovers over and inserts his hacking arm into the terminal on the wall next to the giant door. “Nah. We have their shields now; it’s not like they can shoot us.” She responds. “Well technically…” “Shut up.” Aura quickly cuts me off. Success! T opens the door.

  The room is full of Essari soldiers, there has to be over a dozen in here. We make a run for cover, the armor worked, their shots that manage to connect deflect off the shield. We are both behind separate pillars just large enough to use as cover. I look at my shield percentage, it’s at 75%. I look around, Admiral Richards is at the other end of the room, strapped to a table. Okay Stella, keep cool, your shield is at 98% now. All you have to do is get to the Admiral with Aura and T, then teleport us all out of here.

  I survey the room, the admiral is near a large computer, could that be the main computer? There might be information we can use against the Essari on there. Weapons, weaknesses in their ships, something. My curiosity is piqued. “You ready to make a run for that computer?” I shout at Aura. “Sure, you can call it that.” Aura says to me. Just wait for a break in gunfire… “GO!” I scream. All three of us make a run for it. Shots fly all around us, I’m running right behind Aura, if I was any closer we’d be tripping over each other’s feet.

  I fire multiple shots in the direction of the Essari, unsure if I’m even hitting any of them, there’s just so many. I dive behind the master computer only a few feet away from the Admiral. He’s awake and we make eye contact for a moment, he looks at me like he’s telling me not to get myself killed. He really needs to have more faith in me. Aura is behind the pillar a few inches away from me. “T, hack this computer, see if you can find any information we can use against the Essari. Weaponry, any weaknesses in their ships, anything.” He instantly does what I say. “Are you insane!? We need to get the admiral and get the hell out of here!”
Aura argues.

  “Just trust me…” “No! We’re right here, the admiral is within our reach, you even said yourself, the Admiral is all that matters!” Aura is upset, I can see it in her eyes. “I know what I said, but if we’re going to have any kind of chance against the Essari we need as much help as we can get. Come on, we’re on the inside, this might be our only chance to gain the upper hand. Just trust me.” My words get through to her. “Fine. Just make it fast.” She tells T who has already inserted his hacker arm into the side of the central computer.

  The shooting suddenly stops. I peek around the corner, the cloaked man stands at the doorway, he doesn’t say a word. “Well… shit. Aura, untie the admiral, I’ll hold this guy off.” I tell her. “Are you sure about this? You already tried that before.” She tells me. “I was hurt before, don’t worry I got this.” I assure her, she’s skeptical but pretty much gives her approval. I pull out the remote that’s supposed get us back to Haven. “Take this, and give word when you’re ready to use it.” I hand it to her, she takes it reluctantly.

  I make my way around the pillars, back tracking toward the door where this cloaked man stands. We really need to give this guy a better name. Okay, here we go, I’m hesitant, I won’t lie about that. But why did the Essari stop shooting? Is this guy their leader? I can tell they respect him the way an officer respects their captain. Enough waiting, I quickly stand up and fire my weapon. He puts his arm up and a small blue shield deflects each shot. The Essari are ready to fire their weapons but the man holds his hand up which causes them to stand down.