The Ferogot guard looked at her with the utmost detestation. She wasn’t surprised. His species had made the terrible mistake of going to open war with her people five decades ago, and the foolish attempt had cost them dearly. The Droxians were not conquerors of worlds. All they asked was to be left in peace. But the abundance of quadrinium within their territory had the unfortunate side effect of attracting unwanted company, something they didn’t look upon too kindly. Then again, very few other species were as powerful and talented at war as the Droxians. The Furies were one such species, but they had gone extinct a long time ago.
“Empty your pockets and drop your clothes, you filthy Droxian.” The guard snarled.
She looked into his eyes for the very first time and immediately received a vision of his death. From the looks of it, he would die shortly, within the confines of Hellstar Prison.
She smiled, taking this as a good omen for what was to come next. “Whatever you say.”
“I’d wipe that smirk off your face. We don’t like sarcasm around here. You’ll learn that soon enough.”
She decided not to antagonize him any further; he was clearly not worthy of her energy, and, to be honest, she didn’t have much left to spare. She dropped all of her belongings on the counter and started to undress. A guard droid hovered near her, ready to strike or stun her at the first sight of trouble. These flying spheres of metal were simple in design—a line of red lights shining all around the circumference and a red glass eye at their center. They also emitted a nerve-wracking buzzing sound when hovering and moving about.
“Not feeling so tough now, are we?” The guard was feeling braver now that she was naked.
Any other day, she would snap the little bugger’s neck on the spot, enjoying the sound of his brittle bones cracking under the pressure of her hold. But she had to be patient, something she wasn’t really good at. She was, after all, on the most important mission of her life.
Her teenage son was trapped somewhere in this hellhole. She had to get him out.
“No, sir,” she said, adding a tad of fear for dramatic effect. Best to just swallow her pride and get on with it—every second was important.
The guard’s eyes glittered with malice. “Yeah, you’re going to find out what happens to your kind down here.”
Don’t push your luck, you disgusting little dwarf!
He threw some prison clothes in her face and she had to block every instinct she had not to catch them. Droxians were incredibly fast, with amazing reflexes, but she didn’t want this pitiful piece of dirt to see that. Perhaps soon you will get a taste of my speed, she thought.
The clothes fell to the ground.
“Pick them up, now!” he shouted.
“Yes, sir. Pardon my clumsiness,” she replied through gritted teeth.
Keeping her eyes fixed on the ground, she picked up the clothes and quickly dressed. Of course they were too small. Not many races were as massively built as Droxian warriors. That being said, she was sure a prison like Hellstar would have attire for all sizes and shapes. This was probably just a pathetic attempt by the guard to feel superior.
Once she was dressed, the droid changed position and said in a synthetic voice, “Prisoner XA-667037, follow me.”
“As you command.”
She followed the droid down the hall to her right without giving the guard a second look.
Hope to see you soon, little dwarf…
They arrived at a steel door that was freckled with patches of rust. The droid turned its glowing eye to face her.
“Enter the decontamination room. Once you are finished, keep walking. Another droid will take you to your cell.”
“Understood.”
The door groaned as it split apart from the center. Flashing red lights appeared on the ground, indicating the way to the center of the room.
Like I would get lost taking a step forward. Who designs these things?
As soon as she stepped inside, the doors slammed shut behind her with a loud crunch and the room filled with a thick gas. A few blinking lights on a control screen provided the only illumination. She groped blindly until she managed to find one of the nozzles spewing the fog in the darkness and braced herself into position.
It was now or never.
Taking a deep breath, she blocked one of them with her thumb. A sharp beeping resonated within the decontamination chamber. Her interference had clearly set off some diagnostic function or alarm. It was exactly what she’d been hoping for. After a few moments, the pressure at the nozzle intensified, as expected. Another moment, and the nozzle made a clanging noise. With that, a pin ejected from the wall, making a soft metallic noise upon impact with the floor. She quickly took her thumb off of the nozzle and quietly slid the pin under the sole of her left foot. The second she’d gotten it hidden, the door shot open and the droid sped inside.
“Prisoner, do not move.”
“Understood.”
“There’s been a malfunction with your decontamination chamber. Running diagnostics. Please stand by.”
Ryonna didn’t answer. She felt the pin roll slightly and concentrated on keeping her foot completely motionless. These droids were not programmed to be subtle, and they certainly took no chances either. She pressed her bare foot harder over the pin to ensure that it remained hidden. Anything construed as a breach of protocol usually resulted in more safety measures on the part of the droids, sometimes even violent, preemptive actions.
After a few minutes, the pressure under her foot was killing her. The slightest twitch could result in the failure of her entire plan and that must not happen.
Hurry up, you flying ball of junk, she thought.
Just when she thought she would either have to move her foot or make a noise, there was a sudden beeping sound and the droid shot back outside. The second the door slammed shut, she immediately grabbed the pin with her toes, quickly passing it to her hands, and finally to her mouth. She then reluctantly swallowed it, grimacing from the horrible, stale, metallic taste.
The nozzles resumed distribution of the gas. Soon, every part of the small room was saturated. When it was finished, another synthesized voice announced, “Decontamination procedure complete. Please step out of the chamber.”
Almost immediately, the doors in front of Ryonna opened, splitting from the middle like the ones before, but this time vertically instead of horizontally. Just behind them stretched a dark hall, another set of red lights lighting up the floor to show her the way. Pretty soon another hovering droid came to meet her.
Well, it’s now or never. Either the doctor was telling the truth, she thought, or I’m screwed. The droid stopped a meter away from her and its lights blinked once.
“Please hold still. Mandatory foreign object scan.”
A ray of red light scanned her from head to toe. She held her breath. At first, it seemed to be going well, then the droid emitted a sharp beep that didn’t sound good.
Crap! Her heart started pounding.
“Rescanning; please hold still.”
“Understood,” she said again, fighting to keep the worry from her voice.
The same ray of light scanned her again, only this time the droid’s noise was more cheerful. Well, as cheerful as a prison droid’s voice could sound.
“No foreign objects detected. Please proceed to the cells in section D. Follow me.”
She followed the droid with a sigh of relief. Step one: achieved.
Now all she needed to do was locate her son and try to get out of this hellhole…
4
When Chase opened his eyes, he saw that he was no longer in his quarters. A series of white lights strung over his bed pulsed as though they were dying and he could feel the stiff sheets of the med-bay under his hands. He blinked in the flickering light, but there was nobody to be seen. When he tried to get up, his head pounded from the movement.
“Alright then, not right now,” he groaned as he lay back down. “Doc? Anyone here?”
&n
bsp; No one answered. He pressed the bright red button by his bed, the one intended for emergencies. He needed to know what had happened. He needed someone to tell him what was going on. He waited for a little while longer, but still no one came. Impatient, he jabbed the button continuously, until suddenly all the lights went dead. There was a deep, mechanical groan as the ship’s main generator went offline.
“What the hell?” Chase exclaimed out loud.
He glanced toward the door, expecting someone to come crashing in. But instead, he continued to sit in the quiet dark. His thoughts swirled around like a thick, befuddling fog as he bounced his foot with increased agitation. Finally, he’d had enough.
“Fuck this!” he cursed as he threw off the sheets and lowered his feet to the ground.
The second he stood up straight, his head began to throb with pain—pain accompanied by a strong dizziness that made him feel as though he could fall over at any second. He groped along the wall until he found the main door of med-bay and hit the comm button. Not even a single beep. The controls were offline. The door wouldn’t open either.
“Just great.”
He reached for a side panel and pulled the manual release. The door groaned apart, but stopped short. He managed to wedge himself inside and pushed the two sides apart just enough to squeeze through.
Great, med-bay is on deck five, he thought. Just four more decks to get to the bridge. Of course, that wasn’t going to be so easy since every system on the ship crashed.
He continued stumbling in the dark, and eventually the obvious question dawned on him.
Why hadn’t the secondary generators kicked in to turn on the emergency lights?
This can’t be good, he thought. He slid his hand along the wall, trying to blindly navigate. With his splitting headache, he couldn’t recall his approximate position within the ship. He needed to find a bulkhead and then climb four levels up to the bridge. If he could then—
He stopped dead in his tracks. His hand had slid over a viscous substance, a syrupy liquid of some sort splashed across the wall. His hand shot reflexively away from the wall and he rubbed the liquid in between his fingers, hoping to identify it.
Please don’t be blood, he thought to himself with a mixture of disgust and fear.
As he wiped it clean on his pants, a terrible sense of dread filled his mind. What could possibly have happened? And where was the crew? His captain? His best friend Daniel...?
His heart started pounding. Panic propelled him forward at a reckless pace. Screw caution, he thought as he ran as quickly as his weakened legs would carry him. He ran a good while, his eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. He was making good time, despite not being able to see the walls, when something caught his foot, sending him sprawling forward.
He struggled to catch his breath as his hands groped wildly along the ground, searching for whatever had tripped him. Or… whoever. The dark thought struck him just as he made contact. It was exactly what he had feared. It was a person.
“Oh God, no,” he panted. “Who’s there? Are you hurt?”
There was no answer. He patted his hands across the body, hoping to find some identifying feature. It seemed quite big. Bigger than him, for sure, bigger than anyone on board the Destiny, in fact. His hands found the face and then felt the hair. It was long, but the strands were knotted together. Like... like dreads. Could it be Ryonna? No, why would she be on the Destiny? Maybe it was another Droxian. After all, their ship had been heading toward Droxian space. Perhaps a battle had ensued…?
Then he heard something behind him. He turned and saw a small flicker far down the hall. It looked like a blinking emergency light. Maybe there was still some power running here and there. He got up and started walking slowly towards it. The light kept flickering, but it was too faint to give him any kind of visibility. At least it gave him something to move towards. Suddenly, he heard steps and saw a shadow dart in front of the light. He couldn’t make out who it was, but he hoped he could at least get some information.
“Hey, wait! What’s going on? What happened?” he called out.
There was no answer, just the sound of the running steps fading away. He did his best to chase the shadow in the direction it ran. He paused, unsure where to go, until he heard the steps once more. He continued his blind pursuit. Soon he could see another light in the distance. Then he heard it.
“Help! Please help me!”
It was a boy’s voice; not one he recognized, but it was clearly someone young. Someone afraid.
“Hang on! I’m coming!” Chase called out to him.
“Please hurry. He’s almost here!” the boy shrieked.
“Who? Who is after you?”
Chase was almost at the next flickering light, still barely able to see anything, but he thought he could see the shadow getting nearer with every step.
“Too late,” the boy whispered. “He’s here.”
“So am I,” Chase tried to calm him. “Now tell me, who’s here? Who are you?”
Suddenly, every light on the ship began to flicker wildly off and on. While it certainly didn’t help Chase’s headache, at least it gave him some visibility. He was able to discern the source of the frightened voice. It was a Droxian boy with his back turned to Chase. The boy was short for his race, although he was likely taller than Chase himself.
“What’s your name, boy?” he asked, shielding his eyes. Each flash intensified the dizzying pain in his head.
The child stammered breathlessly. “I... I...”
“Calm down. Take a deep breath, and just try to tell me your name.”
“I am... Ronan.”
The name sounded familiar. “Ronan? Ryonna’s son? Where’s your mom?”
“She was killed by that monster.” He sounded terrified. “He—I can feel him. He’s here. He’s close.”
Chase felt a deep pain sink inside his heart. Ryonna. He couldn’t believe she was gone. He needed to take care of Ronan, though. He would have to mourn later.
“Don’t worry. I’m here now. I won’t let him hurt you.”
Chase was slowly moving toward the boy when the lights suddenly turned back on to full power. The ship wasn’t a pretty sight. The walls were covered with blood. So was Chase’s hand. The boy rotated slowly around as his eyes flickered up to Chase’s face in horror.
“It’s you! You’re here to kill me!” he screamed. “Please don’t kill me!”
“Calm down, kid, I’m not—”
Before Chase could finish his sentence, the boy started running the other direction. He was moving far more quickly than Chase was able, given his current state. Not that he could ever keep up with a Droxian on a good day.
“Wait! Come back here!”
“Leave me alone, monster!”
“I’m not a monster,” Chase breathed, more to himself than to the boy who was already nowhere to be seen now.
“Maybe you are,” said another voice from behind him.
He turned and saw a hooded man walking slowly towards him. The only parts of him not in shadow were his chin and what looked like a broad, sinister smile.
“Who the fuck are you? What did you do to this ship?” Chase demanded.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Are you terrorizing this boy? Did you kill Ryonna? She’d better—”
“Better what? Do you really think you are in any shape to make threats, Chase?” The man moved closer, but his face was still obscured by the hood. There was something familiar about his voice, though. Something that set Chase’s teeth on edge.
“How do you know my name? Who are you?”
“You are so weak, I won’t even enjoy crushing you.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
The man only smiled in return, and Chase could feel the anger boil within him.
“Alright, pal, I’ve had a really shitty couple of days, and right now I am aching to beat the shit out of you, whoever you are.”
The man was less th
an twenty feet away now, still walking purposefully towards Chase, despite the fact that the latter had raised his fists. Then he stopped a few feet away and took his hood off. Chase couldn’t believe his eyes. The man looked just like him.
They shared the same facial structure, build, nose, and chin. But the man’s hair was grey with some white highlights, and he had a strong scar passing from his forehead to the bottom of his cheek. Then, there were his eyes. They were a deep red, a color Chase had never seen on a human before.
“What is this?” Chase wondered aloud before he could stop himself.
“Hi, little brother,” the man replied almost toyingly. “Are you ready to pay for your sins?”
“What sins? What brother? I have no brother!”
At Chase’s last words, a cruel grin spread across the man’s face. “Really. And how would you know?”
The weight of this question took him aback. It was true. He had no way of knowing. He had been mysteriously found on Alpha Prime with no recollection of his past. He had no way of knowing for sure about his family. His biological one. But the resemblance was undeniable. Could it be true?
“What kind of brother would want to crush his own kin?” Chase muttered quietly.
“The kind that doesn’t like it when his fleet gets wiped out.”
“That was you…” Chase’s eyes widened in shock. “You were on the dark ship?”
“I told you, you wouldn’t die that day. But now the time has come.”
“Where’s Sarah?” Chase thundered. “What did you do with her, you son of a bitch?” The anger now burned red hot against his skin.
“Insulting your own mother now, are we?” asked the man with a laugh.
“Where is Sarah?” Chase shouted again, throwing his fist towards the man’s face with as much force as he could muster.
Except it found nothing but air. The man had disappeared.
“What the—”
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 51