The com beeped.
“Bridge here.”
“Hey sis it's me, just wanted to give you an update on the Sergeant.”
“He going to be alright?” Asked Anna.
“Yeah, he should be fine,” John replied.
“He's lucky he's got those nanite enhancements though. A normal human would've died pretty quick from his injuries.”
“How long until he's back to full strength?”
John laughed.
“I'm a decent field medic, but the medical technology in the Sergeant's body is way beyond me. You'd be better off asking him that.”
“All right, thanks.”
Anna glanced around the bridge. Aziz was still at the nav station and Graham at tactical.
“Lieutenant, I'll be leaving the bridge for a few minutes,” she said.
“I've set the sensors for continuous scans, keep an eye on the readouts and let me know the instant anything moves out there.”
“Aye Commander.”
Anna got up from her seat and left the bridge.
She made her way to the briefing room, which was once again serving as a makeshift infirmary. As she entered, Anna spotted Sergeant Williams sitting on a chair by the conference table. John stood facing him, they seemed to be having an argument.
“Listen to me,” John was saying.
“I know you're doing better than most people would be in your situation. That doesn't change the fact that you were severely injured, you need more rest.”
“And I'm telling you, I'm fine,” Williams insisted.
“I've run a full diagnostic and my nanites report all tissues are healing at optimal rates.”
“Healing and healed aren’t the same thing,” John argued.
“If you were to exert yourself, you could do some serious damage.”
“I'm not going into combat, I just want to do something useful.”
Anna cleared her throat loudly.
“Oh good, you're here,” said John.
“Listen, tell him he needs to stay here and rest.”
“I'm telling you, I'm fine,” Andrew interrupted.
“Okay that's enough, both of you,” said Anna.
“John, is there anything else you need to do here?”
“No, the nanites in his system will finish repairing the damage.”
“Then please go back to the engine room and assist Chief Nolan.”
John threw an exasperated look at Andrew and left the room. Anna turned to the Sergeant.
“Making friends?” she asked.
Andrew shrugged, he wasn't wearing his armor anymore, it was lying on the floor next to him. Anna could see the burned patches where the plasma had struck. He had on a dirty pair of coveralls and a t-shirt.
“Nice outfit,” she said.
“A new uniform the Invictus Legion are thinking of trying out?”
“Very funny,” Andrew replied, frowning.
“They had to get me out of my armor and this was the only thing that would fit,” he explained.
Anna looked over at the armor on the floor.
“Will you be able to fix it?”
“It'll take a lot more than a bit of plasma to destroy that armor,” Andrew assured her.
“And what about you?”
“I assure you Commander I'm fine,” he said, getting up from the chair.
He took a step towards her and buckled. Anna reached out to grab him and nearly buckled herself. It felt like she was trying to hold up a mountain. Slinging his arm over her shoulder, Anna lowered him back onto the chair.
“Damn it Sergeant,” she said, panting.
“You're one heavy guy.”
“Sorry,” he said, with a grimace of pain.
“My muscle and bone tissues are much denser than normal, and those nanites may be small but they add up.”
Anna massaged her shoulder.
“So,” she said, now rolling it experimentally.
“Are you going to stay here and rest, or do I have to send someone in here to watch you?”
“I'll stay,” Andrew said with a scowl.
“Look I know you want to make yourself useful, but you're no good to anyone if you can't even take two steps.”
“All right,” he conceded.
“Since when did you start worrying about me Commander?”
“You? It's my ship I'm worried about. With you here we've got a chance of repairing her before anything else happens. You know, like someone cutting through deck plating.”
Sergeant Williams rolled his eyes.
“The damage isn’t that bad.”
“Apparently we have a very different definition of bad,” replied Anna, making for the door.
As she left, she heard him mutter something about 'uptight ship jockeys'.
Anna made her way back to the bridge. When she arrived, it was to find Major Clark and Lieutenant Graham talking.
“She left about five minutes ago,” Graham was saying.
They both looked up as she entered.
“There you are,” said Clark.
“What can I do for you Major?”
“I was just down in engineering,” Clark explained.
“Nolan and the others are busy up to their necks, so I thought it would give you a status report.”
“How's everything going?”
Major Clark shrugged.
“Nolan finished going over that data pad. He reports there's nothing out of the ordinary there.”
“Good,” said Anna.
“How are the repairs coming?”
“The repairs to the reactor are under way, Nolan says he should have the main reactor up and running in half an hour. Once that's done, he's going to get started on the damage to the hangar bay. Luckily the Sergeant's unorthodox landing didn't damage anything critical.”
“Speaking of Sergeant Williams,” said Anna.
“He seems a bit restless.”
Major Clark laughed.
“That's a polite way of putting it, I'll bet he's ready to start climbing the walls.”
“I think I managed to persuade him to stay put and let his wounds heal,” said Anna.
“But it might be a good idea for you to have a talk with him.”
Major Clark nodded.
“I'll see what I can do,” she said.
“Keep me informed of any new developments Commander.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
Andrew looked up as the door to the briefing room opened.
“Major,” he said, trying to stand to attention.
“Never mind that Sergeant,” said Clark.
“You need to rest.”
“Yes Major,” replied Andrew, lowering himself back down.
Major Clark pulled up a chair facing him and sat down.
“How are you?” She asked.
“I'll be fine Major.”
Major Clark shook her head.
“I'm sure you will be, but not if you don't give your body time to heal.”
“Major, I assure you,” he began.
Clark held up her hand.
“I understand you want to make yourself useful Sergeant,” she said quietly.
“But I think we both know there's more to it than that.”
Andrew looked down at his hands.
“Permission to speak freely Major.”
“Go ahead.”
“I,” he began, but didn't finish the sentence.
“This is about what happened on the drop ship,” said Clark gently.
Andrew nodded.
“Major, I know I betrayed you but.”
“You didn't Sergeant,” Clark cut in.
“That wasn't you, it was Jones.”
Andrew looked up at her and there was an expression on his face she had never seen there before. It took her a moment to realize it was fear.
“Wasn't it?” he asked.
“Jones took control of the nanites in me. Through them he could control me completely.”
“He was controlling your body Sergeant. I know you would never harm me of your own free will, Jones forced you.”
“No, he didn't!” Andrew shouted, slamming his fist on the table top.
A spider web of cracks emanated from where his fist had struck.
“I knew what I was doing Major,” he said in a hoarse voice.
“Part of me wanted to stop, but another part of me,” he trailed off.
“Sergeant, you know Jones was manipulating you, the nanites in your brain.”
“Are part of me!” Andrew cut her off.
“How many of my neurons have been replaced with nanites? How much of my brain is gone forever Major? How much of me, is actually me?”
He lowered his head onto the cracked table top. Major Clark reached out and gently placed a hand on his arm.
“I'm afraid I can't answer that Sergeant,” she said.
“But I can tell you that whoever you are, I trust you.”
Andrew raised his head to look up at her.
“You're the most loyal person I’ve ever met Sergeant.”
“Thank you Major,” he said, slowly uncurling his fists.
“You can thank me by staying here until your wounds have healed,” said Clark getting to her feet.
Chapter 52
The Twilight drifted through the Akaan system. They had cleared the asteroid field now and were moving back to the system's edge.
“Bridge to engine room,” said Anna.
“How are those repairs coming?”
“Almost done with the reactor,” Nolan reported.
“Just need to initialize the fusion reaction, I'm going to have to redirect power from the auxiliary power banks to do that,” he added.
“You're going to lose power to most ship’s systems for about ten seconds.”
“Copy that, all stations, prepare for power loss.”
“Navigation ready,” said Aziz.
“Tactical ready,” said Graham.
“Sensors ready, okay Nolan, hit it.”
The lights and view screens on the bridge went dark, replaced only by the dim, red emergency lighting.
“I hope this works,” said Aziz.
A low hum reverberated through the ship and the lights flicked back on.
“All stations report,” said Anna.
“Main rector back online and stable,” Nolan reported.
“Navigation back online,” said Aziz.
“Tactical too,” added Graham.
Anna glanced down at the sensors station.
“Sensors look good, okay Aziz-”
Anna broke off in mid sentence.
“Sensor contact,” she snapped.
“Bearing one thirty by two seventy degrees, six light fighter class craft emerging from a section of the asteroid belt.”
Graham examined the sensor feed.
“I don't recognize the configuration,” he said.
“I do,” said Anna.
“They're shengyet raider craft.”
“Shit, that's just what we need,” said Graham.
“All hands,” Anna spoke into the com.
“Prepare for hostile contact. Major Clark, Saskill, we need you on the bridge.”
She focused the ship's sensors, the fighters were five hundred thousand kilometers distant and closing fast.
“Graham, are the ship's stealth systems working?”
“Yes but they've already spotted us.”
Anna thought for a second.
“Aziz, can we outrun them?”
“We could if the main thrusters were warmed up and ready to go.”
“But we've just started them up,” Anna finished for him.
She glanced down at the sensors screen again.
“Shit! They've got target lock.”
“Missile launch,” reported Graham.
“Three of them, incoming.”
“Aziz, evasive maneuvers.”
“Aye.”
“Graham, engage electronic counter measures.”
“Counter measures engaged. Target lock disrupted, missiles veering off course.”
The bridge door opened, Major Clark and Saskill hurtled through.
“Commander, report,” said Clark.
“Major, we've got six shengyet raiders incoming on attack vector.”
“Shengyet, are you sure?” Asked Saskill.
“I'm sure,” said Anna.
“Nolan,” she added, flicking on the com.
“How long until you can give me top speed on those thrusters?”
“Not for another minute Commander.”
“We don't have that long,” said Graham.
Anna checked the sensor data, Graham was right, the fighters were now right on top of them. A series of thuds reverberated through the ship.
“Gauss cannon hit near the main thrusters,” reported Graham.
“No significant damage.”
“Damn it, I'm not letting my ship get blasted to hell again,” said Anna.
“Nolan, the next time they fire at those thrusters, shut them down.”
“I just started warming them up,” said Nolan.
“Do it Nolan.”
“Aye Commander.”
Major Clark looked confused.
“We aren't going to try and outrun them?”
“No,” replied Anna.
“By the time those thrusters are warmed up, they'll be destroyed anyway.”
“So we're just going to make it easier for them to blow us up?” Asked Graham.
Anna shook her head.
“Those are shengyet pirates out there,” she explained.
“Pirates don't blow up ships, at least not right away. They'll want to capture it, that's why they're targeting the main thrusters. We're going to make them think they've succeeded.
“And then what?”
“Then they'll board the ship,” said Saskill.
“I don't mean to sound negative,” interjected Clark.
“But how is that any better?”
“I might be able to reason with them,” Saskill explained.
“And if not, we've got a better chance of fighting them off aboard the ship,” said Anna.
She glanced at the sensors.
“Here they come, Nolan, now.”
More impacts thudded through the ship and the Twilight's acceleration ceased.
“Done,” Nolan reported.
“Let's make this easy for them,” said Anna.
“Open the hangar bay.”
“I'm not sure they'll buy us surrendering this easy,” Saskill warned.
“I don't want them blowing a hole in the hull,” Anna explained.
“Well they're headed for the hangar bay,” Graham reported.
“Saskill, you'd better get down there,” said Anna.
“Everyone else get ready, in case this doesn't work.”
She watched on the view screen as two shengyet fighters glided into the Twilight's hangar bay. They weren't particularly large craft, but they filled most of the small bay. They hovered and slowly came to rest on the bay floor as the door slid shut behind them. The access hatches on the sides of the fighters opened and out stepped six shengyet males. They were all quite large, even for shengyet and they were armed to the teeth. Each of them sported a full set of body armor and they were carrying R5 Gauss rifles. Spare power packs were strapped across their chests and pistols hung in holsters on their sides.
“Saskill,” Anna said over the com.
“Suddenly I'm not so sure about this plan.”
Saskill tapped the com device he was holding.
“I'll be fine,” he assured her.
Before she could say anything else, he stepped into the hangar bay.
The six shengyet snapped up their weapons to point at him, then froze. Slowly, they lowered their weapons as Saskill approached them.
“Greetings,” Saskill said in shengyet.
“What the hell,” said the shengyet in the lead.
> “What is a shengyet doing aboard a human ship?”
Saskill didn't answer him, instead he slowly surveyed the group.
“Who here is the chieftain of your clan?” He asked.
The shengyet in the lead raised his rifle.
“I thought I was the one asking questions here,” he said.
“You were wrong,” Saskill replied coldly.
“Listen you old fool,” the shengyet started, but Saskill cut him off.
“I am chief Saskill of the Saskill Clan,” he thundered.
“And you will watch your tone with me, boy.”
The other shengyet glanced at one another, looking unsure. Saskill pressed his advantage.
“I know you're not the chieftain of your clan, and neither are any of these other idiots you brought with you. On the other hand, no chieftain would order others into danger without accompanying them. So I'm guessing he's still on one of your fighters.”
The shengyet looked back at the fighters they had come in. A hatch opened on one of them and out stepped a truly impressive shengyet. He was larger even than his fellows, but the most striking thing about him was his armor.
Anna inhaled sharply, she had heard stories about the armor worn by the shengyet chieftains of old, but had never actually seen it. The large gray kung beast scales glinted in the hangar bay’s illumination. Inlays of what looked like red and black gems, formed intricate patterns covering its surface. The armor covered most of his body, only his clawed hands and feet were visible. A helmet obscured the shengyet’s face, with only thin slits where his red eyes gleamed through. He wasn't carrying a rifle, instead he held a large sword. It was broad and curved forward like a claw.
The shengyet chieftain walked towards them, his men parting as he approached. He came to a halt in front of Saskill. He slid the sword into a holster on his back and removed his helmet. It revealed an old face, covered with scars and a large burn on his left cheek.
“I am Tass,” he said in a gravelly voice.
Saskill inclined his head.
“I am Saskill,” he replied.
Tass inclined his head in turn.
“That is a famous name among all shengyet,” he said.
“It is my father who was famous,” Saskill countered.
Tass studied him intently for a moment.
“So what is a shengyet chieftain doing aboard a human ship?” He asked.
“I am traveling with a group of humans,” Saskill replied.
Imperium: Contact Page 40