Chapter 24
It was pitch black. Jason’s HUD strobed a warning, along with an accompanying audio alarm. Radiation levels were high. Jason hailed Ricket.
“Go for Ricket.”
“There’s radiation here.”
“Your battle suit will shield most of it—you should be fine.”
“That doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling, Ricket. Do I need to get out of here?”
“Unless your suit is damaged, you are protected,” Ricket replied.
“I’ll do some exploring. Continue to hold there.” Jason increased the amount of light emitting from his head lamp. Walking slowly, he found that the room was large and the vibration was stronger. He guessed it was some kind of pump room. He was reminded of the Craing Battle Cruisers, with their strange mix of older outdated machinery on one hand and highly-advanced technology on the other. At the far end of the football field-sized room, eight gargantuan dark- green containers that looked to be big boilers or holding tanks stood against the back wall. Upon further inspection, they towered at least fifty feet high. Jason walked to a side wall and hailed Billy. “Come on over.”
The first to arrive was Billy, then Orion, Stands in Storm, and Ricket. As if on cue, the pumps in the room activated and the noise increased, even through their helmets’ insulation, to a near-deafening level.
Billy yelled into his comms, “I guess we know why nobody hangs around in this area.”
Jason was on the move. “There’s a doorway over here. Stay together.” He’d seen this type before. The Craing had a unique latching system for doorways. Nothing like what you’d find on Earth. Theirs had an indentation at the middle of the door, lower down to accommodate their height, and a lever mechanism that swiveled left or right. Definitely not an improvement; if anything, more cumbersome. He swiveled the lever to the left and leaned his weight into the door. Heavy, as expected, it moved slowly on well-lubricated hinges. Bright light streamed in from a corridor. The door, as well as the surrounding walls, was easily three feet thick. The last one out, Stands in Storm, had difficulty maneuvering through the door’s narrow opening. Fortunately, the ceilings were close to ten feet high. They came to a juncture where three corridors converged. Ricket took point and headed off down the middle hall. Jason glanced at his mission countdown readout on his HUD; the Emperor’s Guard would be leaving the star system at any time. He let his thoughts wonder to the plight of Mollie and Nan and the rest of the crew aboard his pirated ship. Damn, we really need to hurry things up here.
“They will have safeguards,” Ricket said, “most likely imbedded in their code, as well as real physical barriers to keep us from repositioning their lasers. That’s the way I’d do it.”
Billy responded, “Well, it’s probably the way you did do it. You just don’t remember.”
At the next junction, three Craing males turned the corner and walked into Ricket. Irritated at first, they froze, paralyzed in shock seeing their emperor standing before them. But it was seeing Stands in Storm that triggered a fear response. Billy was ready. Three quick pulses from his multi-gun sent the three Craings to the floor. Each was wearing a white uniform, and a clip-on type metallic tag.
“They’ll wake up with a bad headache in about four hours,” Billy said.
“Good—grab those tags,” Jason said, “We may need them.”
Ricket moved down the corridor again, with Jason and the team following.
“Captain,” Ricket said, “I believe the network control hub is at the end of this corridor.” He stopped and turned towards Jason. “Unfortunately, I’m detecting other readings as well. Security hover drones. Thirty of them and they are moving.”
“Can’t we simply phase-shift into the control hub from here?”
“Yes, but we may phase-shift into equipment we need to use … damage things to the point it effects our mission,” Ricket replied.
“How much time will you need, once we breech the control hub?” Jason asked.
“I believe I can accomplish what needs to be done in less than four minutes.”
Orion stepped closer to Jason, pushing Billy out of the way. “As you know, Captain, our energy weapons are less than effective against drones. Suggest we set our multi-guns for rail munitions—at least until we run out.”
“Got that, everyone?” Jason asked, accessing and adjusting settings on his own HUD multi-gun menu.
“Also, Cap,” Billy said, pushing Orion back out of the way and exchanging friendly smiles, “Did you notice there’s another life form here? I mean other than Craing, rhino or human?”
“What are they, Ricket?” Jason asked. He looked at the multiple icons showing up on his HUD display. “Whatever they are, there’s quite a few of them.”
Ricket stood quietly for a moment, contemplating his own HUD readings. “I have no idea.”
“Fine. Billy and I will take point; Orion, Ricket and Stands in Storm, you bring up the rear.” Jason signaled to Billy and they headed off down the corridor. Almost immediately they started to slip and lose their footing. Stands in Storm fell on his backside—everything shook. A white powdery substance, like flour, billowed into the air. They stopped. Jason looked at the bottoms of his boots. They were caked with the stuff.
“What is this?” Billy asked no one in particular.
“Silicon waste,” Ricket said, bent over and examining what lay on the floor.
“Waste?”
No one had time to comment, as multiple six-foot-tall, ball-like creatures rolled directly toward them from opposite directions.
“Pill bugs! Big f-ing pill bugs!” Billy said aloud. As if on cue, the first of the white crustaceans unfurled and stood on two legs, almost humanlike in its stance. Hundreds of expanding and contracting curved segments twitched along the back of its torso and legs. Its head was also humanlike. More of that same white powdery substance seeped from in-between its constantly twitching segments.
Other pill-bug creatures, three in front and three behind, rolled to a stop and unfurled to a stance as the first one had. The closest one spoke. It sounded like gibberish to Jason. This was typical of the Craing, who’d used rhino warriors and Serapins to do their fighting and now, apparently, were using these bug things. It didn’t seem particularly dangerous until a wet substance squirted from a gland at its abdomen area. The liquid streamed forward and hit Jason directly in the chest. The outer layer of his battle suit hissed and spattered. Black smoke rose up in small spirals. Looking down, Jason saw a smoldering, six-inch crater had been etched several inches below his chin. He dove to his left, seeing another stream arching through the air. That one, angled a bit higher, caught Stands in Storm in his right shoulder. A pink misty cloud blossomed and hung in the air. Flesh, muscle, and tendons started to disintegrate—leaving only exposed bones where his shoulder and upper arm had been connected. Now, with nothing to hold it in place, Stands in Storm’s left arm fell to the floor.