Survivors of the Euphrates- CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT OUT NOW!

[FlyingDebris]

Chapter Twenty Three- Toco

Thomas could just barely make out the sound of creaking metal as he struggled to recover from the crash. He opened his eyes slowly to see a series of fires and a large gap in the treeline through the shattered remains of the cockpit. He was hunched over the console after his seatbelt had come unfastened, and could already feel his head throbbing with pain. He tried to move, but his arm was pinned to the side of the cockpit. He looked down at it, and found that it was wedged between a branch and the wall. He followed the branch with his eyes, and found that it was attached to a log precariously teetering on a few small vines directly over his head. He tried to slide his arm out from behind the branch. The log snapped a vine and came closer to Thomas' head, stopping with a creaking noise as leaves fluttered down over him. He stopped trying to move his arm. "T-Thomas..." a weak voice came out from behind him. "H...help...me." It was Tara. "Are you hurt?" Thomas asked. "My...my head's hurting, I...I can't feel my arm, and my leg...it's...it's pretty messed up. Are...are you free?" she asked. "No, my arm's stuck and if I try to move it I might have a log land on my head." he replied. "I'm going to try and find a way out of this, hang on." Thomas said. "Do you have a knife?" he asked. "A...a knife? Thomas... you aren't seriously going to... cut off your-" "No, no. I'm going to try and saw the branch off. Do you have a knife or not?" he said. "Yeah...I can't... reach it though. It's on my belt, I'm looking at it." she replied.

Thomas cautiously looked over at her, making sure not to move his arm. She was still upright, strapped into her seat; however the glass on her helmet was shattered by the impact, exposing her face. He could see blood stains on the seat behind her. Her console blocked most of his view. "I can't even see your belt, let alone reach your knife. It's a miracle that log hasn't already fallen, and I doubt I'll be able to get free like this." he said, turning back around. "We're not that far from the Hunley, and they must have seen where we crashed. Don't worry, they'll come looking for us once they finish off what's left of the Scavengers." he said. He heard a branch crack back behind the ship. "Just sit tight, you'll be fine." he said. "Right...just...need to wait a bit." she mumbled. He stared at his reflection on the remains of the console. He had a massive bruise on the side of his head, and a large scrape on his neck, and it looked about as bad as it hurt. He looked behind him and saw Tara sitting there, barely breathing. The veins on her face were starting to glow orange. "Thomas..." she said. "I'm...why am I glowing...?" "The machines, remember? Maybe they're trying to repair your um..." "Oh no, not...those things..." she said, with a noticeably different tone in her voice. Thomas looked back at his reflection when he became aware of the sound of the branches which were now cracking at regular intervals. Someone was walking towards them. "Hey! Whoever's over there, help us out!" Thomas yelled as loud as he could. The cracking stopped. "We're stuck, help us!" he yelled again. The person yelled something in the natives' language and started walking towards them. "Thomas..." Tara said, weakly. He heard more footsteps farther away, along with... the sound of a gun loading. There were a few hushed voices back behind his head as Thomas strained to look at who was approaching him. The footsteps were getting closer now, only a few feet away. Thomas watched as the barrel of a gun poked out from behind the side of the ship, followed by an unhappy looking Sodiya with a gun. The man spoke. "You...are....man. I help." He waved at his comrades for them to help get Thomas free from the wreck. There were four of them, all wearing armor with red and gold stripes across them. One of them pulled a large knife from his belt, and began to carefully saw the branch away from the log to free Thomas. "There's another person behind me, can you help her?" Thomas asked the man. "I help." he replied, standing up on the remainder of the ship's wing to look over at Tara. He mumbled something, and stepped back, saying something to the other natives. Thomas wasn't quite sure what he said, but it evidently wasn't good. One of them aimed his gun at Tara, and another aimed his at Thomas. "You...are...heretic." the man said, pulling a pistol off of his belt. "T...Thomas...what's happening?" Tara said, stuttering. "Quiet!" the man said, hitting Tara with the butt of the pistol. He yelled something at the native working on freeing Thomas' arm, and stepped off the wing. Thomas looked over at his arm right as the native finished sawing through the branch. He moved his arm, and felt it. Nothing was broken, as far as he could tell. "Out." the native said, holding his gun to Thomas' chest. Thomas stood up carefully, and stepped out onto the ground. "What are you-" "Quiet!" the native said, hitting Thomas with the butt of his rifle. Thomas stepped back, shielding his head with his arm. Thomas looked back up at the cockpit, where another native was picking Tara up. She wasn't moving, but her skin was now glowing as bright as fire.

"Move." the native said, poking Thomas with the barrel of his gun, and waving it in the direction of the other natives. He started walking towards them, his legs hurting from the crash. "On...knees!" the native said, kicking Thomas' legs out from under him. He fell flat on his face, his helmet falling off and rolling a few feet away from him. A hand grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him back onto his knees. Someone pulled his arms behind his back and tied them. He looked up to see a native pointing a gun at his forehead. He looked around, trying to find Tara. "Tara, can you hear m-" "Quiet!" the native said, knocking the wind out of him with a sharp kick to the chest. There were footsteps behind Thomas, and he turned around to see Tara right as she was being forced onto her knees opposite him. Her hands were tied as well, and the back of her neck was glowing a bright orange. "Turn!" the native grabbed Thomas' shoulder and spun him back around, hitting him in the face with the butt of his rifle. A native casually walked out from behind the wreck with his knife drawn. "You glow. You...heretic!" he said as he got closer, showing a grim smile and extending his arm as he pointed the knife at Thomas' chest. "You friends...They die. You next, blue man." Thomas looked down, and saw that his arms were glowing blue. He could feel his face getting warm, as if he had a fever. The native squatted down in front of Thomas, and made a stabbing motion at Thomas' neck. Thomas didn't flinch. "You...you brave, blue man. Like you." he said, holding Thomas' chin up with the tip of the knife; examining him as a jeweler might examine a ring. "Where you get you glow?" he asked. Thomas didn't answer. "You tell, you live." the native said. After a few seconds, Thomas responded. "I was investigating a quarantine area, and my suit ripped. Whatever you think I did, it wasn't intentional." "Know that, blue man." he looked down at the dirt, and started drawing patterns into it with the knife. "Remember you, days ago. You in city, you go in temple, you remember?" he said, making walking motions with his fingers. "You brave, blue man. You brave. Nobody go far into temple like you." "You remember Mira Fletcher? His son." the native said, tapping his chest with the tip of the knife. "Toco Fletcher." the man stood up. "No kill you. Not now." he said, standing back up. He told the others to leave them. They picked up their weapons and walked behind the wreck. Toco squatted back down and looked at Thomas. "no kill you now. No kill red woman either." he said, gesturing with the knife at Tara. "See you again," He pointed at his eye. "...will kill both." he said, standing up. "You brave and lucky, blue man."

He paused, and squatted back down. He took the knife, and made a shallow cut on Thomas' face across the left side of his jaw. "So remember can kill you next time, blue man." he said, smiling and slapping Thomas on his new scar as if they were old friends. He reached around behind Thomas' bindings, and cut his hands free. He stood up and walked around to Tara. "You strong too, red woman. You already have way for remember you." he said. "You scar easy to see." he poked Tara in the forehead with the knife. "You nose messed up. My nose messed up too, see?" He pointed at the bridge of his nose with the knife, where he had a large scar. "You not different. Shame you die if see you again." he said, smirking. He stood up, and walked towards the other natives, who were waiting for him just around the wreck. They started walking off into the distance, laughing. Thomas didn't move until he could no longer hear their footsteps. He looked down and found that his arms were no longer glowing. He looked over at Tara, who was standing up slowly. "Tara, are you okay?" he asked. "Fine, thank you. What did they do to me, I can't even see where I got hit during the crash..." she said, examining her wounds. She looked perfectly normal, aside from the large bloodstains on her armor and slightly glowing skin. "I...I think that was the machines that did that." Thomas said, standing up. "So they did..." she said, sighing. "Well, I guess I don't have much of a choice except to live with them, don't I? They've saved my life twice now, I think." Thomas could hear something moving through the underbrush. "Get down!" he said, pulling Tara down into a crouch. They scurried over to the wreck, where Tara looked around for her pistol. Thomas heard someone calling from far away. "Hello?! Can you two hear me?! Thomas? Tara?" It was Joshua. They stood up, and Tara started walking towards the sound of his voice. Thomas got up and followed suit. "Joshua, we're over here!" she yelled, her voice sounding hoarse. The footsteps stopped. "I...I think I see you, hang on!" he said, and they heard more noise. A few seconds later, they could see Joshua and three others running towards them through the underbrush. They were all carrying rifles, and looked exhausted. As the party got closer, Joshua started talking. "Are either of you injured? Any broken bones? Cuts? Scrapes? Anything?" he asked. "No, the machines patched us up. How'd you find us?" Thomas asked. "McCracken saw you fall." "McCracken! When we get back to the ship, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind, and a boot!" Tara yelled, starting to turn a shade of bright yellow. "Thomas, you're bleeding..." Joshua said, leaning in to examine his jaw. "Oh no... How did you get this?" he asked, stepping back. " Some Sodiya found us, they nearly killed us." Thomas said. "Sodiya? Here? W-what did they look like?" Joshua asked. "They were all wearing uniforms, armor with red and gold stripes. One of them said his name was Toco." Joshua stuttered, wide eyed. "T-Toco...Fletcher? The Toco?!" he said. "Yeah, he uh, he said he remembered me." Thomas replied. "You're luckier than you realize. Toco's killed hundreds of innocent people, but he's never come this close to New Constantinople before. That scar is his way of... identifying people to kill first, if he ever comes across them." Joshua said. Thomas began to remember Toco's words, "Joshua...Remember what you said to me about what they think about the glow the machines emit? He..." Thomas sighed. "He said they killed the rest of the survivors." Thomas said, looking down. He was now, as far as he could tell, the sole survivor of the forward section of the ship. Joshua looked at Thomas. "Listen, Thomas. He likes to frighten people like that. Maybe there's still hope that some of them are alive..." "Then we're taking their city." Thomas said, starting to glow a bright blue. He knew it this time. "I'm not going to be the only person from the Euphrates that makes it home. Not as long as I can help it. How did the fight with the Scavengers go?" he asked. "We won, but..." Joshua paused. "But what?" Tara asked. "Well, McCracken's ship was shot down and they managed to get a few missiles off at the Hunley. He and Phelps are alive, but they're in a heavily populated Sodiya area. As for your ship," Joshua paused. "It's totaled. There's a giant hole straight through the reactor core, they just barely managed to shut it off before it wound up like the back of the Euphrates." Joshua said. "They're running on backup power and are trying to set up some solar panels, but the ship couldn't make orbit even if they got it working again." He turned around and waved for them to follow. "Transport's this way, you two. We'd better get moving before Toco and his thugs shows up again."


END OF CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

 

[FlyingDebris]

Chapter 24- Tara's Story

"Hunley air control, this is recovery party four, requesting landing clearance."

"Granted. Area two is clear and ready to receive you."

"Landing at area two. Recovery party four, out."

Thomas stepped out of the transport to find the Hunley surrounded by massive blackened craters, some of which were still smoldering. The ship itself was covered in soot, and a fire was raging through the engine section, plumes of jet black and sickly brown smoke emanating from the wreckage. "It's not as bad as it looks, provided you don't count the engines." Joshua said. "There's a few new holes in the living compartments, but other than that the ship's still intact." "I need to see captain Dalton." Thomas said, starting to walk in the direction of the Hunley. "Thomas, we're still recovering people and we just barely made it out of this..." Joshua said, spreading his arms in the direction of the smoldering freighter. "with our lives! We can't go charging in against the Sodiya when we haven't even landed all of our combat aircraft, on the off chance that maybe a few of your friends are still alive!" "From the way you described the Sodiya, I figured you'd want this. Wouldn't it be great to just get rid of all your problems because a bunch of people came down from space and wiped them off the face of the planet?" Thomas said, his skin starting to glow again. "...And you'll all die in the process, and we'll be stuck with the Scavengers to deal with!" Joshua said, moving in between Thomas and the Hunley. "I DON'T CARE!" Thomas yelled, pushing Joshua to the side and starting to run towards the Hunley.

"Thomas, wait!" Tara said, running after him. By the time she got to the ladder, he was already stepping over into the hangar. She began climbing as fast as she could. She reached the top, and started running after Thomas, who was starting to walk into the unlighted hallway towards the command center. She finally caught up to him, stopping him. "Listen to me." she said, her anxious expression illuminated by the soft blue glow of Thomas' face in the hallway. "Dalton's already stressed as is. He's been on this planet for less than a day, and he definitely won't know what to make of what you're asking him to do. If your friends aren't dead yet like Toco said, chances are they aren't going to be killed tomorrow. Listen, I know you're angry. I know how you feel." she said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Don't do it, you'll do more harm than good." Thomas paused for a second, considering what she said. He sighed, the glow of his skin becoming much less noticeable. "Fine. But we are going in there and saving them tomorrow." he said. "Thank you." Tara replied. "Now, Joshua's probably getting worried... Let's go talk to him." They walked back outside to see Joshua standing in the hangar, watching a smoldering gunship being brought up by the loading elevator. He heard them coming, and turned around. "Thomas!" he yelled, starting to run over to them. "Listen, Joshua... I'm sorry about what happened back there. I just..." He sighed. "I don't know." Thomas said, looking down at his feet. "It's alright, but we've got more important things to deal with right now. Medical's still filled with people. Speaking of which, I need to go." Joshua said, walking away. Tara stepped forward. "Come on Thomas, I need your help with something." she said, walking towards the ladder, waving at him to follow.

"What exactly are we doing?" Thomas asked, as he stepped off the bottom of the ladder. "You'll see." she said, starting to walk towards the Scavenger transport they had commandeered earlier that day. "I'm finishing that story from earlier." she said, walking inside. She sat down at the pilot's seat, and flipped the power switch. "Let's see if I can-" she flipped a switch, and a display came up. "...There we go." Thomas sat down across from her. "When you were...um... hallucinating, you said something about a guy named Derrick, right?" she said, looking at the display, tapping on it. "I...I think so. He's the one you mentioned in the mess hall, right?" Thomas asked. "Yeah. Well, he trained me. Used to be a real nice guy, he genuinely cared about people. Derrick could walk into the room and you'd already feel happy. You know, one of those types." she said, tapping away on the display, as a graph came into view. "He showed me how to handle myself, how to fight, my place in the crew. Well..." She paused. "...He was like that up until a few weeks ago. We used to do a lot of privateering work with the HC, and were actually really close to being listed as official special operations. Well, most of that work was kept under cover, so public opinion was most certainly not with us back on Mars. They absolutely hated us because we, to them at least, seemed like total barbarians. Well, here comes this typical suit-wearing corporate lackey running for head secretary. We figured he was just going to be like the last one, so we didn't really bother looking into it. Actually, I doubt any of us even bothered to listen to the news, we were on some kind of espionage mission or something so we had to keep transmissions to a minimum. Welp, this guy ends up getting elected on the premise of some lofty goal like universal peace or something." She laughed. "The first thing this rat does is tell the entire HC navy to blow us and everyone like us out of the sky. Having no idea about this, we wrap up with the mission and get back to the fleet staging area. We deliver the data, shake hands, all that stuff, and we start laying in coordinates to head out somewhere else. I'm just sitting here on my bunk minding my own business, and suddenly BOOM! A pair of HC cruisers are firing railguns right up our tailpipe!" she leaned in towards Thomas "So, Captain Vadim calls us to red alert, and I go running off towards the hangar. Derrick's on his way to the engine section to try and figure out what's broken and he's absolutely losing it because he's got no idea what's going on. He stops me and asks what's happening, and right as I'm about to tell him..." she leaned in closer, and her forehead was almost touching Thomas' "BOOM!" She waved her arms about, sliding back into her chair. "Another round cuts a hole the size of this ship..." She dramatically slapped the side of the console. "...through the hallway only about ten meters away from us! Derrick got hit by something, probably a piece of metal, and he gets sent flying in the direction of the bulkhead. So now it's me standing in a hallway that's starting to depressurize with Derrick sitting there unconscious with one heck of a bruise on his forehead."

She looked over at the graph, and back to Thomas. "So, as I'm sitting here fumbling around with Derrick's helmet trying to close it, I hear Vadim on the comms system saying that we're about to go to light speed! Now, I don't know how much you know about physics at relativistic speeds, but it can basically be summed up as You don't want to be exposed when you go that fast." She checked the display, and tapped on it. A bar on the graph turned red, and Tara stood up and slapped a panel on the wall. It fell open to reveal a bundle of wires. "Sorry about this, I'm trying to fix some stuff." she said, reaching into a cabinet and grabbing a pair of wire strippers. "So, I turn around to find that the airlock's already shut! Here we are, Derrick is unconscious and I'm freaking out. I start screaming into the mic to get Vadim to turn off the door override to let us in, and he's sitting there yelling back at me to shut up and hang on." she reached into the open panel and started fingering through the wires. "So, eventually he finally gets the thing open and I drag Derrick into the hallway right as we start accelerating. I remember looking outside right as the door was closing and actually seeing the dilation effects... There was this huge blue light off towards the bow, and it turned to purple and then red at the back." She clipped a wire, and threw the panel back into place. "So we get back inside, and I take Derrick down the medical room and they heave him up onto a bed, and the surgeon starts to work on him. I headed up to the bridge, and Vadim's sitting here just sort of staring at the console. Turns out, the captain of one of the ships that started firing on us was the best man at his wedding. Sucks, right? So, he's just sort of sitting there in a daze looking at the first order this new head secretary issued telling them to blow us up. He looks over at me, and starts ranting at me about how I nearly cost everyone their lives. I try to explain what happened, but he's not having any of it anymore. So he gets up and starts walking towards me with his finger pointed at me like he was holding a gun. You know, like when you see some dictator giving one of those omnipresent Screw Sol speeches? That's what Vadim's looking like, so I cleared out pretty fast."

She sat down and tapped on the console, and the bar which had previously been red turned green. "There we go... So, I'm on my way back to my bunk and it's pretty obvious everybody's in a more-than-sour mood. Well, about a day later we go sublight just outside of some random star and it just so happens that the planet below it is filled with people and there's a few little radar signatures around it... So, we figure we happened to find an HC outpost or something. Vadim, now practically swimming in vodka..." She paused. "Oh, right. I forgot to mention he has a bit of a drinking problem... Okay so more than a bit of a problem. Alright, he's sober maybe a few hours a week, tops. He usually holds it pretty well though. Granted, he's gone through something like five livers so far and right now he's probably nearing the sixth replacement." She tapped the console and stood up, walking towards the rear of the spacecraft. "So he, in his infinite drunk wisdom starts blasting the crap out of the planet. Blows up every satellite, launches our ONE GOOD NUKE at something that, in hindsight, probably wasn't anything even closely related to a launch complex." She wrenched open a large panel to reveal a small closet which emitted a dim red glow. She stepped inside, still talking. Thomas got up to follow her. "So, we're sitting here having just blown up the majority of a planet's military when suddenly we get a transmission saying they were peaceful and meant us no harm. Vadim's suddenly not a drunk anymore and tries to apologize. Aaaaaaand, you show up. Vadim thinks it was just a ruse and the uh... What was your ship called, again?" She paused, looking around. "Hey, can you hand me the wire cutters over there?" she asked, pointing towards the console. Thomas reached over and grabbed them. "The Euphrates." he replied. "Ah, right. So, he thinks the Euphrates is a warship. We scan the thing and nope, also civilian. Vadim's not having any of it and goes back to drinking, telling us to fire on the thing. End result, your captain does the one thing Vadim absolutely refuses to do. Go figure, you end up breaking up because of it. Vadim has the gravity effect beam lock the front half in place for the sole purpose of making you guys feel worthless. So after you hit the ground... Fantastic explosion by the way, wish I had it on camera. So, he knows that at least somebody had to have survived that crash, so that's why we didn't just leave." She bashed a console open with the wire cutters to reveal a rusty fuse box, and started flipping switches. "You're going to end up breaking something like that, Tara..." Thomas said as he watched her work. "I know more about this transport than you do, Thomas..." she replied. She flipped a switch and the inside of the ship went pitch black, followed by a loud thud, and the floor shifting below their feet. "I uh, knew that was going to happen." Tara said, flipping the switch back into place. The lights came back on, and the landing gear redeployed.

"So, your team was captured doing...whatever it was you were doing. And, lo and behold, you escape somehow. Fruitcake was genuinely surprised as to how you survived being out in space with a broken helmet." Tara flipped another switch, and a panel came off the wall next to it. she reached into the hole and started feeling around for something. "Captured... Wait... is there anyone still up there? Is Higgs alive?" Thomas asked. "Higgs...Higgs... Oh, he's that defense force captain, right? Yeah, he's still alive. Most of them are, actually." Tara replied. She turned around from her work and looked him in the eye as a mother would when telling their child when to go to bed. "Thomas, I'm not saying that means you can go fly this thing back up to the Styx. You couldn't take seven people with an entire squad, so there's no way you're going to take on thousands of them on your own." She turned back around, and grabbed a loose wire, shoving it back into its connector. The light inside the room flashed blue, then turned a bright white. "There! Now... Let's head back to the Hunley, I'm tired." Tara said as they walked back out onto the field. The sun was setting, casting an orange glow on the massive shape of the Hunley, its engine section still smoking. There were dim yellowish lights coming from the single line of windows along the side of the ship, and Thomas could see people moving around inside. They climbed back up the ladder to see the hangar floor littered with gunships with varying levels of damage and technicians welding away on them. "Thomas, Tara!" A voice called out behind them. They turned around just in time to see Jacobson running towards them. He looked distraught. "What is it?" Tara asked. "You need to come see this. You're not going to like it, I'm telling you know." he said, grabbing her by the wrist, and pulling her towards a dark hallway. They followed him into the hallway, and up a flight of stairs. "Where are we headed?" Thomas asked. "Comms room. We just got a broadcast from somewhere north of us." Jacobson replied. They entered the comms room to see a group of people huddled around a screen. Dalton and Joshua were both there. "What's up?" Tara asked, pushing people aside to look at the screen. It was a video broadcast; scratchy and full of static, but Toco's face became clear. He was speaking. "You think you safe in ship, yes? You ship no save you. You friends, they crash just like you." he laughed, coughing. "They easy to kill." he said. The camera turned to the right, revealing a grisly scene. A body was draped over the hood of a large truck, covered in blood and its clothes torn to shreds. A native rolled it over with the barrel of his gun, and it fell limp to the ground. It was Phelps. "You friends, they crash and they fine. Then they meet Toco. Now, not so much." Toco said, walking back into view. He drew his knife, and motioned with it to someone off camera. A pair of natives dragged a person into view. It was McCracken, beaten and bloody. He was barely conscious. "I didn't... They... Get me out of here, please." he said, dazed. Toco squatted down next to him with a compassionate expression on his face. "Hello, friend. Know this not your fault. Not at all. You hungry? You hurt, you need medicine?" He looked up and motioned to the other natives, who brought over a canteen and a roll of gauze. Toco proceeded to bandage McCracken's wounds, and gave him the canteen. "Drink, drink!" he said, motioning for McCracken to drink from the canteen. He sat there, holding it. "You not thirsty? Okay, Toco respect that." He stood up, putting his knife back into its holster. He started to walk away, then turned around and kicked McCracken in the stomach. He fell over on his side, and Toco walked towards the camera. "You next, blue man." The broadcast cut out, and everyone milled about, discussing what Toco meant. Tara turned around, and looked at Thomas. She nodded. "Best to tell them now." she said.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

 

[FlyingDebris]

SO I drew the Hunley and I'm also building it. ^^

I also built the HC gunship, but I have yet to draw it.

I also made a size comparison chart for the people who were confused as to why the Hunley was shot down so fast.

 

[FlyingDebris]

More progress on the Hunley-

Sorry for the gap in chapters, I've been taking a bit of a break for the past week to sort out some ideas. Expect a new chapter in the next few days. ^^

 

[FlyingDebris]

The Sodiya capital, Enpri.

 

[FlyingDebris]

Chapter Twenty Five- The Trap

"Blue man? Who's he talking about?"
"Dunno. Maybe it wasn't meant for us?"
"He said he was going to attack the ship, of course he was talking about us."
Thomas spoke. "He's talking about me." Everyone turned around and looked at him. "You? I heard about what happened earlier... What did he mean by 'blue man'?" Dalton said.
"I uh..." Thomas paused. "...Joshua, you'd probably be better at explaining this." Joshua nodded. "Basically, he and Tara got filled with nanomachines. They turn colors whenever they get pissed, as far as I can tell. Records show it was actually more of a fashion thing at the time of the machines' coding. Doubt it was intentional the first time around, though." he said, matter-of-factly.
"What exactly did you do to piss this guy off, Thomas...?" Jacobson asked.
"Absolutely nothing, most likely. Toco is irrational at the best of times." Joshua said.
"Well when he broadcasted, he essentially gave us his location. We've still got a man out there and I refuse to leave him overnight." He looked at the group. "You've all shown yourselves to be a good team, and you-" He nodded at Joshua. "-know more about this guy than anyone else here, most likely. I'm tasking you with getting McCracken back safely. Now, I want to make it clear that this is a snatch and grab, so don't go in guns blazing. If you need a ship-"
Tara interrupted him. "We've already got one, thanks. Alright guys, you heard him. Go get your rifles and meet me outside our shuttle in ten minutes." she said, starting to walk out towards the door. "When I get my hands on that little-" she mumbled as she walked through the airlock. Thomas glanced around the room as everyone filed towards the door, and stepped through the airlock to the hallway that lead to the hangar. "Thomas, uh... You've still got that rifle, right?" Joshua asked, turning around to look at him. "Yeah, it's uh..." He tried to remember where he put it. "I...I know where it is." he said.
"Right. You lose that thing, and you owe me the money I had to pay to get it." Joshua said.

Thomas walked into the hangar, and climbed down the ladder. He saw Tara holding his rifle.
"Hey um... Can I have it back?" he asked, reaching for the rifle. She tossed it at him.
"Next time I find it in my ship I'm keeping it." she said, walking back inside. Joshua walked by him.
"And if she keeps it, you owe me double." he said with a wink.
Thomas walked inside and strapped himself into the turret console. Jacobson took a seat next to him. "How's Giana?" Thomas asked. "She's doing good, thanks. They've got her in the medical bay still, but she's at least got a splint now. Joshua here made sure of that." he said, nodding at Joshua.
"So, what kind of weapons did you guys bring?" Tara asked, powering the ship up.
"Joshua and I have rifles...I think... Actually Joshua what are these things? Never had time to ask." Thomas said, looking at the blue projectiles in one of his magazines.
"Funny you should ask... They're basically balls of nanomachines, tuned to violently rip apart anything they touch." he replied. "You use those things for everything, don't you?" Tara asked.
"Not everything. We use traditional manufacturing methods for most of our buildings." Joshua replied, looking at his own ammunition. "Most?" Jacobson asked. "Well, I mean some of the really big buildings just won't work with 3D printers, so we just have the nanomachines construct the basic parts, and then we assemble them from there." Joshua said. "Okay I'm just going to cut you off there." Tara said as she closed the loading ramp. "Jacobson, you got a gun?" she asked.
He held up a small laser cutter. "We didn't really have anything designed explicitly for killing things in our section, so we dialed a bunch of construction equipment to keep a steady beam. I'd say it works pretty well, but the battery life on this thing is dismal." He replied.
"Fair enough." she said.

"Tara, what about you?" Joshua asked. She pulled a pistol out from her belt and held it up. "I thought that thing was empty?" Thomas asked.
"It was. I got some more ammunition from the Hunley's armory." she replied.
"Okay... So, how exactly are we going to sneak this thing in there?" Thomas asked.
"We'll touch down a few kilometers away and go in on foot. We locate McCracken, kill Toco if we get the opportunity, and get back to the ship before they even notice we're gone. Simple." Tara replied. "Alright we're getting about-" she paused.
"What is it?" Jacobson asked.
"We just got scanned. A radar flashed us from a ridge line a pretty close to us. Thomas it's on your side, I'll designate the target." Thomas looked into the screen and saw a green box appear around a spot on top of a mountain. He fired, the rounds glowing bright in the dark, and the area burst into flames. Tara brought the ship in close to the area.
"Nothing here..." she said, looking around through the canopy. "Joshua, does Toco use radar systems very much?" Tara asked.
"Quite a lot, actually. He's got some decent antiaircraft weaponry too." he replied.
"...And you waited until now to tell me." she said, as she forced the craft to a few meters above the trees.
"I figured that you guys were advanced enough that he wouldn't be able to do anything noticeable..." Joshua said.
"A gun is a gun, Joshua. If he has anything else, you'd better go ahead and tell me."
"Well, he-" Tara cut him off. "Another scan, off to the right this time. Jacobson, take it out." Thomas could hear the thud of rounds leaving Jacobson's turret. "Still nothing. No secondaries, not any evidence that someone was here... Another scan, left. Thomas, you know the drill." Thomas fired off a few rounds at the target. "Nothing again. I think we can forget trying to be stealthy at this point, this guy's just playing games with us." he said "Keep on your guard, though. They've lit us up a few times now, it wouldn't be hard to fire off a missile. I've already crash landed today, I'd rather not have to repeat the experience." Tara replied. A warning siren started buzzing, as Tara slammed on the throttle. The ship lurched forward, and made a sharp turn to the right. "SPEAKING OF WHICH..." Tara yelled, wrenching hard on the controls as she maneuvered the aircraft out of the missile's path. The siren went away, and the ship returned to level flight. Thomas saw the missile streaming smoke as it flew past them. "Alright, I'm painting the battery, gun that thing down!" Tara said as she tapped on the console. Thomas lined up with the box and let loose a steady stream of rounds for a few seconds. "Still nothing! Where are these little-" The siren went off again, and Tara pulled the ship hard to the left, barely avoiding the missile by a few meters. The turret's camera was fogged up by the missile's trail for a few seconds as Thomas frantically tried to see where the missile was launched from. "That's it, we're putting down. No way we're getting in there like this." Tara said as she started looking around for a safe place to land. They touched down in a small field on top of a hill, and everything went quiet as Tara turned off the engines. "Hunley, this is Tara. We had to set down, there's a lot of anti-air cover over here. We're proceeding in on foot." Tara said into her radio.
"Copy that, Tara. Remember, get in, get out. Don't take any unnecessary risks." The radio went silent, and Tara returned it to her belt. "You heard him, let's go." she said, crouching down and moving towards the edge of the clearing.

They had been creeping through the underbrush for a few minutes with no sign of Toco's men, until Joshua spoke.
"Guys, hold up. Look over there." he whispered, pointing off to their left, into a cluster of trees about fifty meters away. There was a dim, sickly yellow light emanating from the cluster, and as Thomas looked closer he could make out the outline of a pair of men sitting on some rocks watching the source of the light.
"Move up, quietly. Make sure they don't see you." Tara said, laying down. Thomas laid down behind a small rock, and began to crawl towards the two sentries. He crawled for what felt like hours, until he was only a few meters from the sentries. They weren't talking to each other, or even moving; just standing there, looking at a small electric light. The two were wrapped in ragged clothes, covering every inch of their bodies. They had no weapons Thomas could see, but one of them had what appeared to be a radio. Something looked off about them, but he couldn't place it. He looked back at Tara, who mouthed the words Just shoot them already with an angry expression. He turned around cautiously and raised his rifle. He fired at the first one, and with a loud crack and a flash of blinding blue light in the darkness the round impacted the sentry's head with a thud. Thomas immediately aimed at the second and did the same. Both bodies fell over, remaining in the same positions as when they were sitting. "Took you long enough." Tara said, walking towards him. She kneeled down to examine the bodies, unwrapping the cloth one had around his head. She looked in closer and studied the man for a few seconds in the dim light.
"Wait..." she said, looking back up.
"What is it?" Thomas asked.
"This... It's fake! These aren't even real people!" she exclaimed, standing up.
Joshua came running over to them. "What's up?" he asked.
"Those... aren't people." she replied. "What do you mean?" Joshua asked, cocking his head to the side. "They're fake. Models. Plastic." she replied, holding one up.
"That's... odd. Why would they do that?" Thomas asked.
Jacobson stood up and walked to them, looking around. "Something tells me we're about to have some company." he said.

"And that something is...?" Tara asked, putting the manikin back down.
"Listen." he said. Thomas could hear the distinctive machine gun-like sound of propellers in the distance. "Fantastic, they've got aircraft. Everybody back to the transport, now!" Tara yelled. They turned and sprinted towards the transport, dimly illuminated in the starlight. The Sodiya transports were almost on them now, and they were still a good distance from the clearing.
"Hurry up, we're almost there!" Tara yelled back behind her as the Sodiya transports landed just in front of the ship. Thomas got his first good look at them: They weren't much bigger than their ship and had large rotors on top, kicking up massive amounts of dust as their doors opened and Sodiya troops came pouring out two by two. They opened fire, blue bolts streaming by and hitting trees and dirt all around them, sending splinters and clumps of mud into the air.
"Hit the deck!" Jacobson yelled, as he slammed himself onto the dirt. Joshua and Tara started returning fire, catching a few Sodiya out in the open.
Tara took her radio off of her belt. "HUNLEY, THIS IS TARA!" she yelled into it.
A soldier threw something at them, which violently exploded, shaking the ground and sending shrapnel into the air with a deafening crack.
"WE'RE UNDER FIRE, GET US OUT OF HERE!" she yelled, shooting back over the rock she was taking cover behind. Thomas could just barely hear his own radio over the sound of the gunshots.
"We can't do anything right now, we've got movement a kilometer from our-" The radio paused. "That's it, we're under attack! We've got armor with us but there's a LOT of these guys coming!"

Thomas fired off a few more rounds at the Sodiya troops slowly encroaching on their positions, hitting one in the neck. He fell over behind a rock as few shots came streaming by from the others next to him and one grazed Thomas' shoulder. He covered it with his hand and ducked behind a large boulder. The wound wasn't severe, but it felt as if someone had poured molten iron on it. Joshua ran over to him, nearly getting shot in the process.
"Are you hit?" he asked, turning around to loose a few rounds in the direction of the Sodiya.
"I got grazed, I'm fine though." Thomas replied. Another explosion on the other side of the rock they were behind sent dirt flying over them. He turned around.
"Jacobson, you there?!" he yelled.
"I need some help over here, they've got me pinned down!" he yelled back.
"Alright, move on my cue!" Joshua started firing at the Sodiya, and Thomas joined him. "Move, move! Get over here!" Joshua yelled as he unloaded his rifle on the Sodiya troops. Jacobson came running out from behind a tree. He was shooting as he ran, the red beam of his jury-rigged laser cutter catching the brush around the Sodiya troops on fire. He was nearly to cover when a bolt grazed his head. His eyes opened wide. He swayed a bit, still trying to run for cover, and collapsed, rounds landing just around him.
"Cover me, I'm going to get him!" Joshua said, leaning his rifle against the rock. Thomas stood up and started firing on the Sodiya again, hitting another in the shoulder. Joshua ran out from behind the rock and began to drag Jacobson back towards it, shots streaming by him. A round hit his leg, and he stumbled backwards. Another round impacted his chest, and he stopped moving. Jacobson moved his head and looked over at Joshua, and stopped moving.

"T-Tara..." Thomas said, staring at his friends.
"I'm running low on rounds, what is it?!" She said, looking over at him. She saw Joshua and Jacobson and paused for a moment. "Oh no... Thomas, we need to get them back to the Hunley, that's our only chance at saving them!" she said, running over to Thomas. His skin started to glow, and he could feel something inside of him shifting.
"How... How are we supposed to do THAT. We're stuck here, being blown to bits, you're not even paying attention to your own people, who, by the way, have just been SHOT, meanwhile YOU think that it's just as simple as GETTING BACK?! We've got two people dying if they aren't already dead, and YOU think that EVERYTHING'S GOING TO BE JUST FINE IF I DO WHAT YOU TELL ME!" She looked at him, wide eyed. "Well that's it! I've had it with your PATHETIC excuse for leadership!" Thomas said. He started to feel dizzy, and his vision narrowed. He was on the brink of going unconscious. "You- You think that you can just- just WALK ON OVER to that transport, BE MY GUEST! Go on, it's OBVIOUSLY very easy!" He felt something shifting in his chest. "Go on! How- How...hard could it be?!" He passed out.

Thomas' mind burned with rage. He could feel himself moving, but he didn't know quite what he was doing. It made him feel good though, and his anger started to dissipate with every second.

Thomas felt okay.

He felt great.

He felt fantastic.

Everything was fine.

He woke up.

His head hurt, but he felt great. It was still night, but the sky was just starting to turn lighter. There was a cool wind on his face, and he looked around. He stood up. "Hello?" he asked, looking around. He was in a field, littered with the bodies of the Sodiya troops. They were all in various states of injury, none of them moving. Something moved at the edge of the clearing. Thomas walked over to the disturbance, and saw Tara. She was barely awake, holding a large gash on her belly and covered in blood. She looked up at him with bloodshot eyes.

"What...what did you..."

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

 

[FlyingDebris]

Chapter Twenty Six- Meeting Vadim

"...Tara? What... What happened...?" Thomas muttered as he ran over to her, kneeling down beside her.
"You...whatever you did... I've never seen anything like it." she replied, wincing with pain.
"We need to get back to the Hunley... Joshua and Jacobson are over there, but they haven't moved in a while." she said, nodding towards them. Joshua was laying face down in the dirt, his clothes covered in burn marks. Jacobson had crawled to a tree; he was barely conscious, his eyes nearly closed as his head nodded back and forth slightly.
"Jacobson!" Thomas yelled, standing up and running over to him.
"Jacobson, can you hear me?" Thomas asked, shaking him from side to side. He looked up. He had a massive burned scar on the right side of his head, and all the hair had been singed off around it. His right eye was dark red, and he had large black and blue bruises around the side of his head.
"T...Thomas... My head..." Jacobson began to talk, but Thomas stopped him.
"Look at me Jacobson, I need you awake. Jacobson..." He looked at Thomas.
"Joshua... He got hit." Jacobson said as he leaned in Joshua's direction, nearly keeling over in the process. "I know, I know. Tara! These two aren't going anywhere, how about you?" Thomas yelled back behind him. There was no response.
"Tara?" he asked again as he stood up to see her staring at the sky.
"What is it? Tara, you awake?" he asked, walking over to her.
"No...not again..." she whispered to herself, pointing towards the sky with her free hand. Thomas looked up. He didn't see anything at first, but it slowly became clearer what she was pointing at. A pair of bright orange and white trails far off in the distance, descending from space in their direction.
"Great. Just what we needed." Thomas said as he watched a corvette and a smaller transport descend from the sky. They were both Scavenger ships, their red stripes glinting in the early morning sunlight. There was nothing they could do, not with Thomas being the only person who could even stand, let alone fight. So nothing was what they did, as the two ships extended their landing gear in the clearing where their transport was parked. About fifteen men came out of the two ships, looking at the other shuttle and the strange Sodiya transports. Another man came down the ramp of the corvette a few moments later, standing tall with a gleaming white uniform resembling the old naval uniforms of the early twenty-first century, in stark contrast to the dull black and red body armor of the others.
"Tara, who...who's that?" Thomas asked as he watched the man step off the ramp and walk over to their ship.
"The one in the white. That's Vadim." she replied coldly.

The soldiers started spreading out in groups of two or three and combing the remains of the battle from the night before. A team was walking out towards the edge of the clearing to look through the forest when one of them stopped and looked in Tara's direction, spotting her armor.
"Hey uh...guys? Is that one of ours?!" he said, turning to run towards her. The others ran up to her, one of them taking his canteen from his belt and offering her water. She accepted, knowing that it could very well be her last once they realized who she was. One of them turned around and waved in Vadim's direction, and he walked over to them. He bent down to get a better look at her. Upon realizing who it was, he sat down beside her and asked the others to leave with a hoarse voice Thomas recognized as the one which had gloated over the destruction of the Euphrates while he was locked in the falling compartment.
"You, little miss... You're in some trouble." he said with a voice like a father disciplining his child.
"Heard about what you did to Derrick on your way down here, he's not too happy about it. As to that search team which came to look for you... well..." his attention seemed to drift away as if he was watching a fly. "They weren't particularly expendable but I might overlook it, depending on what you think of what I'm about to tell you." he said, pausing.
"Seems we've been followed here by one of those cruisers that nearly killed us both. Now..." he paused again.
"...I believe in something called the 'Greater good'. Sure, you may have... offed... some of our guys, probably had a bit of help to do that though..." He looked over towards the rock Thomas was hiding behind, and he could feel Vadim's cold stare as if it had burned through the rock itself and was fixed firmly on him. Vadim returned his gaze to Tara.
"...but, you're still useful to me. I've decided to let you back on the Styx to help stop those HC stooges from tearing us apart." he said.
"Why would I ever..." Tara started to say, but Vadim cut her off.
"Listen, if you think I agreed with what the brig team did to those prisoners, I didn't. Had the ones that took part thrown out an airlock, actually. You jumped the gun on that, figured that I wanted them to do it. In reality, you found out before I did... So, what do you say?"
He lowered his voice.
"I'd also like to remind you that our ship is currently the only way out of the system, unless that shuttle you stole is capable of superluminal speeds." he said, nodding his head back at their ship.

She looked over at Thomas, as if he could provide her some insight on what she should do.
"There something, or... someone I should know about?" Vadim said, catching her glance. He turned around and looked towards the rock that Thomas was hiding behind, just barely seeing Thomas as he ducked back behind it. Vadim pulled a gleaming white pistol off of his belt.
"Come on out, I won't shoot if I don't have to." he said. Thomas considered his options, finding none that suited him particularly well. He stood up slowly, held his rifle off to the side, and dropped it beside him. "Anyone else I should know about?" Vadim asked. Thomas hesitated, but spoke.
"There are two others over there..." he said, pointing in the direction of Joshua and Jacobson
"-that got hit, they need medical attention." he said. Vadim grunted, and waved at one of his soldiers.
"See what you can do." he said, looking at Thomas out of the corner of his eye. As the soldier walked over to Joshua, Vadim turned back around to face Tara.
"So you... What do you say, Tara? I'm sure Derrick has calmed down by now." Vadim heard leaves rustling over in the direction of Thomas and Joshua, and half expected to see Thomas trying to kill the medic. He drew his pistol and turned around to face them. Thomas was still standing next to the rock, looking over at the medic and Joshua, rolling around in the dirt trying to beat each other up, blood streaming from the medic's face.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Eeeeaaaasy there, dear sir!" Vadim said, shooting Joshua in the leg. He convulsed violently, and stopped moving. "He'll be fine, this is just a tranquilizer. I think. Hm. Well, at least I think I grabbed the tranquilizer today, I don't know. The blasted thing looks just like my pistol." He clicked the gun open, and looked into its mechanism.
"Yep, had the tranquilizer today! He'll be more or less okay in a few minutes." Vadim said, casually.
"So that happened. Where was I... Ah, yes. Tara-" He turned back around again to face Tara. "-Your reply?" he asked, reaching down and offering to pull her up. She looked around cautiously at the Scavenger soldiers watching them.
"Fine. Looks like I don't have much of a choice any way..." she mumbled, grabbing his hand and standing up. "Excellent!" Vadim said. He looked down, seeing her wounds.
"You um... You should probably go get yourself patched up, there's a first aid kit in the corvette." he said, watching her stalk off towards the ship.

Vadim turned his attention to Thomas, and walked over to him.
"Now you... You're one of those buggers we shot down, aren't you?" he said, resting his hand on his pistol. "Well, you've got two choices. Come with us and we'll give you the universe...." He leaned closer in.
"Or... You can stay here with this mess of yours, because we're taking that shuttle back with us." he looked over at the transport, which was being inspected by a pair of soldiers. Thomas started to respond, but Vadim slapped him on the shoulder. Thomas winced, thinking he was about to be shot.
"THAAAAAAAT SOUNDS LIKE A YES! Come on, we'll get to be the best of friends!" Vadim said loudly, shoving Thomas towards the corvette. He could see a pair of medics loading Joshua and Jacobson onto the corvette.
"Don't worry, they'll be fine." Vadim said, noticing Thomas looking at them as they stepped up the loading ramp. They entered a small hangar, just big enough to accommodate a single transport and a few crates of supplies, which was painted with the same red stripes as the ship's exterior and dimly lit, with an orange glow emanating from a few small lights overhead. The whole room, and indeed the entire ship, smelled of rust and spent gunpowder.
"Don't mind the smell, you'll get used to it." Vadim said, opening a small, circular door at the front of the hangar. He pushed Thomas inside, into a long hallway lined on both sides by doors. Some of them were open, and Thomas could see that they lead to bunk rooms, a small kitchen, and something that looked vaguely like a comms room. They went into a door at the far end of the hallway, leading into what appeared to be the ship's bridge. Thomas walked towards the pilot's chairs and looked out of the large glass dome encompassing a large portion of the room, extending a few feet from the edge of the floor.
"One of the fastest ships we have, this one. Not much in the way of weaponry though, I'm afraid." Vadim said, sitting down in a large chair behind the pilot's seats.
"No real point in you being here at the moment, if you'd like you can get yourself set up in one of the extra bunks. It's probably going to be a day or so until we get to the Styx. That's our mothership by the way, it's parked out in the Van Allen belt of one of the gas giants in this system right now. We figured now is as good a time as any to store up on extra antiprotons for the superluminal drives on the off chance that we find someone or something we can't kill. It doesn't happen often, but... It doesn't hurt to be safe." Vadim waved his hand, and the door behind him opened. Thomas walked out, taking a glance at Vadim as he left.

He walked down the hallway towards one of the rooms he had seen was open, and saw Tara sitting on a bunk staring blankly at the floor and a medical kit sitting next to her, with gauze and antibiotics splayed all over the bed. He walked in, and sat down on an empty bunk across from her. She took a few seconds to look up at him. She waved her hand in the air and the door closed.
"Well, isn't this just fantastic." she said. "Vadim might still like me or at least pretend to, but after all this the crew's going to have my head the second he isn't looking." She looked around the room, looking for something. Her gaze returned to Thomas and she leaned in closer to him.
"Listen, he's probably going to be watching us very carefully the second we lift off. Once we're on the Styx, we need to find some way to signal that HC fleet. They can get us out of here, and.. Well I'll be honest, I don't really want any of these people to die. I know I seemed real happy with it just yesterday, but this... I don't even know what to think any more." Thomas remained silent, and she continued talking.
"They can leave the system without a trace once they get word that there's other ships here, so all we need to do is make the Hunley more obvious than the Styx and they'll realize who it is they've found. I'm pretty sure that no matter how absolutely uncaring the HC is, they can't exactly ignore the loss of an entire city ship. They'll send rescue craft, take us back to civilization. Boom. Done. We can go our separate ways and never have to deal with any of this again. I can go find a job as a freighter pilot or something, Jacobson can go back to being a police officer, Joshua can be a doctor again, and you... What did you do before all this again?" she asked.
"Linguistics and anthropology." Thomas mumbled.
His new life wasn't fun, not by a long shot, but fighting the Scavengers was certainly a few orders of magnitude less dull than watching people do nothing all day, every day.
"...Fun." Tara replied dryly.
The door slid open. Tara looked up, startled. A soldier stood in the doorway, looked at both of them, and started talking in a dull, monotonous voice.
"Good afternoon, new recruits. I am sergeant Dominic Nagao. I have been... delegated... as your guide. I will now ask a series of questions pertaining to your abilities and potential to serve this crew. Question one. Do you know of anyone who may wish to join our illustrious ranks." he said, keeping the same monotone with a glazed look in his eyes. Thomas looked over at Tara, the spoke.
"Yes, actually." Tara turned to face Thomas, a questioning look on her face.
"Thomas, why in the-"
"His name is... something McCracken. He's...trapped at the moment, though." Thomas said, casting his eyes sideways at Tara. Dominic responded.
"Very good. I will notify the captain." He walked out, closing the door behind him.

"You know..." Tara said, looking at Thomas."
That's going to come around to hurt us later." He shrugged.
"If it works out like I think it will, we'll be rid of Toco and we'll have McCracken back with us. Besides," he lowered his voice. "-the more people we have with us, the better our chances of getting out once we're in." She nodded.
"Well, we're probably going to be here for a while. I'll be honest, I'm still not feeling very well myself..." She looked down at her bloodstained armor, then back at Thomas.
"I'm going to go clean myself up a bit, if you don't mind. Now-" The door opened and Joshua stumbled in, looking confused and nearly tripping over the corner of one of the bunks.
"Joshua, you're uh... Okay... I think. A-Are you okay?" Tara said as she reached over to try and steady him. He looked around and saw that they were alone.
"Well I uh..."
"You what?" Tara replied.
"Well, you see... In my profession, doctors generally aren't allowed to have machines..." He took a few seconds to continue talking, and when he did his ears turned a bright red.
"But, um... It's not explicitly banned, so I uh..." He sat down heavily on a bunk, nearly hitting his head on the one above it.
"That's uh, not important though. Moving on, I got the opportunity to look over Jacobson. He'll be fine, just some mild head trauma. And a rather nasty bruise. And some scars. BUT, other than that he's fine. Well, I mean I think he is... Don't worry about it though." Joshua said, looking around the room.
"So, aren't these the guys we've been uh, fighting?" he asked.
"...Yes, Joshua. Very observant of you." Tara replied in a low voice, looking him over.
She spoke normally again.
" Now go get yourself cleaned up, you're a mess. There's a washroom down the hall, I saw it when we came in."
"Sure thing!" Joshua said as he stood up, hitting his head on the metal bunk above him.
"Thaaaaaaat hurt! Thank you very much!" he said as he stumbled back out the door.
"So as I was saying..." Tara said.
"Once we're back here, all we really have to do is wait." The door opened again and Vadim stepped in, holding his hat.
"Sorry if I'm intruding on something here... So, you said you've got another person who'd like to join? Excellent, I say! Now um... what's the catch? I'll be honest, it's pretty obvious you've got some sort of a trap set up so I'm just going to ask you straight up what you were going to try." he said, sitting down on the bunk across from them. Tara nervously glanced at Thomas. He looked at Vadim, and responded.
"Well, uh... This guy, McCracken... He's um... Not able to go with us under his own free will."
"Okay... Let me guess, he got shot down in that nasty little skirmish we had, and got captured by the Sodiya." Vadim replied.
"How did you..." Tara began to ask.
"I have my ways, you of all people should know that." Vadim said, looking her dead in the eye.
"Well, I think we can manage it. I'll spring your friend from prison, he seems like a decent enough guy if Toco hasn't already killed him." Tara looked over at Thomas, as if she expected him to say something.
"That means we're going to have to take a bit of a detour though. We're stopping by our staging area not far from here, just sit tight and we'll have him back to you in no time. Sorry to hear about that Phelps fellow, though." Vadim said as he waved the door open and walked out.

Tara waited until she was sure he was gone to speak.
"How. How did he know all that. I've worked with him for almost my entire life, he's never been one for tricks like that."
"Look, nothing's changed. We're still getting McCracken back to us, and that doesn't mean he knew about what hasn't already happened yet." Thomas responded. Suddenly, the craft began to shake.
"Well, we're committed. Best to enjoy what this place has to offer while it lasts. Who knows, we might not get the chance again if your crazy on-the-spot plan doesn't pan out like you say it will." Tara said, laying back in her bunk.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY SIX


Author's note:

Sorry for the long delay on this one, I've been really busy lately. I should be able to write chapters more often again, and I've got a few things in mind already for the next one. Stay tuned. ^^

 

[jayman38]

Worth the wait! Thanks!

 

[TheOmega]

Nuuuuuuuuu!!!!! I just read all of them and now I want moar! There should be a positive rating thingy called moar! for this reason specifically.

 

[FlyingDebris]

Nuuuuuuuuu!!!!! I just read all of them and now I want moar! There should be a positive rating thingy called moar! for this reason specifically.

Good news, then! I've got a chapter complete and waiting to be uploaded and another one about halfway done now. ^^

Chapter 28 (the one after the next) departs from our usual group to... *drum roll* Giana! Remember her? You know, Jacobson's daughter? No? Okay... Well, I figured "Hey! You know what we need? Different points of view! Also, we need more explosions!" Aaaaand Giana fit the bill because she's already connected to the main characters and is still on the Hunley when Toco starts being an asshole to the rest of Dalton's crew.

ETA of chapter 27- Tomorrow or thereabout.

ETA of chapter 28- Soon (tm)

 

[Krazzydragon]

Moreeeee nooooow *poke*

 

[FlyingDebris]

Chapter Twenty Seven- Dining with Vadim

There was a knock on the door. Tara turned on the lights, and looked around. Neither Thomas or Joshua were in their bunks, but she had not heard them leave.
"Y-yes?" she asked, opening the door with a wave of her hand. It was Nagao, holding a pair of wire cutters. He stepped in and closed the door behind him.
"What is it?" He took off his helmet and held it at his side.
"You know, you're a lot luckier than you realize." He replied.
"How so?" She asked, reaching onto her belt to make sure her pistol was still there.
"I work the comms on this ship, you know. I had my suspicions that you weren't exactly loyal after Vadim's little speech to you and your friends. You basically yelling it into the camera didn't help, either." He walked over to a control panel, and opened it. After rummaging around in it for a while, he cut a pair of wires, and sealed the door back.
"...If I was off my shift, you'd be screwed right now." He said. Tara didn't say anything, sitting there looking at him.
"Look, I've cut the wires to the camera for this room but I'm already taking a big risk doing this. I've got my own reasons to ditch this job... I'll keep those reasons to myself, thank you for asking, but I haven't had a decent chance to get away until your bunch showed up." He said. Tara mulled over his words before replying.
"So what do you want us to do, then? Where's Thomas and Joshua, by the way?" She said.
"That's why I'm here. They're in the mess hall with Vadim, apparently he's got a fancy little banquet set up for you three. He sent me to come get you." Nagao replied.
"Fair enough. Where are they at?" Tara replied.
"Down the hall to the left." He said. "We never had this conversation, you know." Nagao said as she walked out.

"Ahhhhhh, there she is!" Vadim said loudly as Tara walked into the room. They were in a large room near the aft of the ship, with large windows along the walls and a large table in the center, where Thomas, Vadim, Joshua, and a few of the higher ranking Scavengers were eating. Tara looked out the windows to see stars and a small blue dot. They were in space, speeding away from the planet.
"Hello, everyone..." Tara said nervously, sitting down in an empty chair between Thomas and Vadim. A man came up from behind her and placed a plate full of some sort of meat in front of her.
"Lio meat, got it from the natives. You know, those big evil looking beasts, the ones that look sort of like malformed lions with some extra appendages stuck on? Yeah, those. Who would've thought that something so violent could taste so good?" Vadim said between bites of his own food.
"So!" He said as he raised his glass, which was full of some sort of cloudy brown liquid.
"I'd like to propose a toast! To our new and returning crew, Thomas, Joshua, and Tara! Here, here!" He said, proceeding to down the entire glass. The rest of the officers sitting at the table were clapping and smiling, all eyes fixed on them. A crew member came up to Vadim, bent over, and whispered something in his ear. His face lit up with joy.
"Oh, excellent!" The man continued whispering, and Vadim's expression turned sour. The man looked over at Thomas as Vadim asked him to continue.
"So be it. How's the other one? ...Fair enough. Alright, return to your station." The man walked back out of the room without a sound, closing the door on his way out. Everyone watched Vadim intently until he spoke a few moments after the man had left the room.
"I uh... I've got some good news and some bad news." He said, looking back and forth from the three.
"The good news is we got your friend McCracken back without incident, he's in medical getting patched up now. The bad news is..." He sighed heavily, and looked down at his food.
"Your friend Jacobson, he didn't make it. He lost a lot of blood, and the doctors couldn't stabilize the wound. That combined with massive head trauma, he just couldn't take it. You can go talk to the doctors if you want the full details, they're at the other end of the hall to the left." Vadim said, waving at the door. Joshua pushed his chair back and stood up.
"I'll go talk to them, you two stay here." He said as he walked out the door.

A woman came in as he left, and walked over to Vadim.
"Sir, we've got two contacts, matching a pair of HC cruisers. They're on a slow burn intercept course to the Styx from the edge of the system. We're detecting a leak in one of the ship's reactors, seems they can't generate the power for their superluminal drive. The other one seems to be staying with it all the way in." She said.
Vadim grunted.
"How long until they get there?" He asked.
"About a week, give or take. We've got reports that they're trying to call for assistance, I'll keep you posted if anything else arrives." She said, taking a step back.
"So be it. How long until we're at the Styx, again?"
"Eleven hours and uh..." She tapped on her arm with a stylus.
"Eleven hours and thirteen minutes, give or take five seconds." She said.
"Very well, alert the long-distance munitions teams to go ahead and start shooting at those ships, I'll be supervising them when we get there."
"Yes sir, I'll do that now."

The woman walked back out of the room, and Vadim returned his attention to the table, only to have it drawn back to the door, as McCracken stepped in, covered in bruises.
"Where in the... Who are... Thomas? Tara? What are you guys doing here?!" He said, sitting down heavily at a chair at the end of the table.
"YOU!" Tara yelled at McCracken as she stood up, her skin turning a shade redder.
"DO YOU KNOW HOW FAR UP A CREEK WITHOUT A PADDLE WE GOT BECAUSE OF YOU?!" She yelled, starting to walk over to him.
"Tara, I-" Thomas started to say, but was cut off by Vadim.
"Tara, sit down." He said firmly, standing up and grabbing her shoulder.
"Fine." She said, sitting back down.
"Thank you. Now that almost all of you are here, I'll tell you what the plan is. Once we reach the Styx we'll depart for a mining system a few light years from here, there's a large armory station that was recently liberated from the HC in orbit there that we'll dock with for a while, and we can figure out what to do when we get there." Vadim said.
"Uh, exactly which system would that be?" McCracken asked, straightening up.
"Specifically, it's a gas giant the locals call Libertus, in some obscure system. It's called uh..." Vadim started saying.
McCracken spoke before he could finish.
"The Hunley was on its way to Libertus, we were in the middle of defecting."
Thomas looked over at him as Vadim sighed heavily.
"Wait, you were what?" Thomas asked, cocking his head sideways and glaring at McCracken.
"You're surprised by this? You do know what happened back on Mars, right?" He asked, surprised that someone would question Dalton's decision to defect.
"What do you mean, what happened?" Thomas asked.

Joshua slipped back into the room, and sat down, nodding to McCracken to continue talking.
"That new Head Secretary, Cyrus Lamarche, he basically declared a police state and had the entire congress imprisoned. Started rounding up his opponents and executing them, sort of like that Stalin guy you hear about in ancient history classes. Well, he basically turned the entire HC into a fascist regime the likes of which haven't been seen since Earth became uninhabitable. Went around with the military rendering entire systems practically devoid of life, sucking in tax money all the while. I heard he even used some planet crackers too..." McCracken said, leaning back in his chair.
"And that's why we're defecting. Libertus is our best bet to launch a coordinated strike and get him out of power. We were bringing tanks and support craft for the ground-based invasion once we had secured trans-Sol space."

Joshua spoke.
"If you don't mind me asking, what's a planet cracker? And err, what's Sol? Are we going there?"
"A planet cracker is exactly what it sounds like. Big machines that alter a planet's rotation by manipulating local gravity, speeding it up until it flings itself apart. Most of the time they're used legally to mine small moons, but there's nothing stopping someone from using it on an inhabited planet other than a few treaties. Not like that matters to Lamarche..." He looked down at the table, and back up at Joshua.
"Sol is the star system where our species started off, it's where your ancestors as well as ours used to live. More specifically, they came from Earth. Wouldn't recommend going there now, though." McCracken said. "Why not?" Joshua asked.
"Well, there were some experiments with stellar engineering being done a few hundred years after we had founded our first colonies outside that system, trying to direct solar flares to burn away the toxic atmosphere on this planet called Venus as part of one of the first terraforming operations. Long story short they got it to work, but a little too well. Ended up bathing Earth in radiation as well as all four of the inner planets. Mars was the only planet to survive with its atmosphere, but all the electronics were destroyed by the storm. Had to import stuff from the trans-Jovian worlds for decades until they could get their power grid back up." He looked at Joshua. "And THAT is why there's a ban on going superluminal anywhere near a star that still exists to this day." He said.

"Well, thank you for the history lesson mister McCracken, and I'd love to hear the rest of it, but I think we all need some rest." Vadim said, pushing his plate towards the center of the table.
"McCracken, uh, if you could please come with me?" He said, motioning for him to walk with him.
"What do you need?" McCracken said as they walked out the door towards the bridge.
"I wasn't aware your ship was defecting, I uh..."
He patted the flask on his belt.
"...How bad is the damage?" Vadim asked.
"Engines and reactor systems are shot, and..." His voice trailed off and he looked down.
"And what?" Vadim asked, stopping.
"When I was being held captive, Toco said something to me." He looked up at Vadim.
"He said that they attacked the Hunley, killed everyone on board...." He said, his shoulders slumping down. "I doubt that. We were still registering shots coming from the ship's loading bays up until earlier this morning, and it looks like your people are still holding out inside. I'll call back to the ground base and tell them to go get your people out of that ship and shuttle them to the Styx. How many of you are there?" Vadim asked. "We had about a thousand before we arrived, we were down to about nine hundred and fifty when I got shot down, but now... I don't really know." McCracken replied, straightening up again.
"We'll dispatch a few of our heavy transports to pick them up, they should have enough room plus some space to accommodate any wounded." Vadim said, opening the door to the bridge.
"Now go get some rest, you deserve it."


END OF CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

 

[FlyingDebris]

*remembers I didn't post any of these to the story thread*

Here, have some moderately shitty drawings!

Tara

McCracken

Giana




Chapter 28 should be out either later today or tomorrow!

 

[FlyingDebris]

Chapter Twenty Eight- A Trial By Fire

The Hunley's barely functional PA system blared into her room right as Giana was falling asleep.
"THIS IS CAPTAIN DALTON, WE'VE GOT GROUND CONTACTS A KILOMETER OUT! EVERYONE GET READY FOR A FIGHT, THERE'S A LOT OF THEM THIS TIME!" She rolled out of her makeshift bed and started running towards the ship's medical center. She had hurt her leg when the Euphrates' reactor detonated but Joshua's care had done wonders for it, and she felt perfectly fine as she ran. A soldier stopped her as she was passing the armory.
"Hey, wait!" He said, catching her by the collar as she was running by; sending both of them tumbling onto the floor.
"What was that for?! I need to get to medical!" She yelled angrily, standing back up and dusting herself off. "Take this, Dalton's orders." The soldier said, shoving a rifle into her hands. She grabbed it clumsily, nearly dropping it as she tried to carry it.
"What for? I'm with medical, not defense!" She asked, holding the rifle by the magazine.
"Don't ask me, all I know is that Dalton said everyone needs to have a gun. Even the bridge crew is packing." The soldier said, looking at the odd way she was holding the rifle.
"Don't hold it like that, please." He said, moving it in her hands so that the stock rested against her shoulder and the barrel was pointing at the floor.
"There. Now get moving, you're probably going to have your hands full soon." "Well alrighty then, sorry for never having held anything bigger than a pistol in my life before..." She replied, turning to go towards the medical center. An explosion rocked the ship, and she was sent sprawling against a wall, nearly colliding with another person headed towards the loading bay.
"Sorry!" She said as she stood back up and ran the rest of the way to the medical, just in time to be catapulted against one of the cryogenics cabinets by another explosion. The PA system crackled back to life again.
"Don't be alarmed, the shields are taking the majority of the explosive damage. The inertial damage not so much, as you could probably guess. Dalton out." The PA system blinked off as one of the doctors ran up to Giana, carrying two rifles.
"Oh, good, you've already got yours." He said, resting the second gun against a wall. "We need you at the comms console to help direct the field medics. You'd better hurry up, they're almost ready to move up with the infantry teams." He said as he turned around to go organize his operation table.

Giana shrugged and walked over to the console, turning it on and flipping through functions.
"Scanners, nope... Ship layout, nope... Biohazard list, nope... Radio-" She was stopped by the speakers scratching to life.
"HUNLEY, THIS IS TARA!" An explosion came through the speakers, and the voice continued talking. "WE'RE UNDER FIRE, GET US OUT OF HERE!" The voice said. After a few moments of silence, a different voice spoke. Giana recognized it as the Hunley's comms officer.
"We can't do anything right now, we've got movement a kilometer from our-" Giana could hear the sound of gunfire outside.
"That's it, we're under attack! We've got armor with us but there's a LOT of these guys coming!" Giana heard a thumping noise outside.
"Wait..." Giana mumbled to herself, trying to remember which patrol her father was on. Her train of thought was disrupted a few moments later as the radio crackled to life again, with a medical team looking to escort a wounded soldier back inside. She could hear the sounds of battle getting louder as she responded. Another medical team requesting orders, another wounded soldier brought back on board the ship. Another explosion rocked the ship, and the lights blinked.
"Great." She heard someone say.
The PA system came back online.
"Fire control teams two and three, report to deck three, port side." A scratchy, robotic voice said.
"Do you think they got through the shields?" A doctor asked.
"Doubt it. These stupid natives couldn't kill anything if their lives depended on it- which they do, by the way." Someone else in the room responded.
"Couldn't kill anything? You're joking, right? I mean, you do realize you're saying that as you're stitching up a wound that one of them gave this guy..." The first doctor replied, just in time for another round to land. The lights went out for a few seconds, then flickered dimly back to life.
"These are getting worse... What are we going to do if they break through?" Someone said, right before the PA system crackled back to life.
"Fire control teams four, five, six, and eight, report to the auxiliary generator room. Repeat, fire control teams four, five, six, and eight, report to the auxiliary generator room." The voice said calmly, almost as if nothing was wrong.
"Four teams on a single fire? That's... not good."
"They've probably got a bunch of extra teams laying about, so they figured that they should have them all go to-"
The ship lurched to the side, and everyone was sent tumbling onto the floor. Giana held onto the console, barely avoiding a medical cabinet as it crashed into the wall next to her. Fire alarms started going off, and everyone in the room was suddenly drenched in water from the sprinkler system. The PA system came back to life again, it was Captain Dalton this time.
"We just suffered a structural failure in the port aft landing apparatus, we had to retract the other three to balance out the ship. However, this blocked the loading elevat-" The ship shuddered violently again as another round impacted, and one of the wall panels fell loose. It revealed a cracked pipe which was spewing some unrecognizable brown liquid. The fluid found its way to an electrical socket, immediately caught on fire, and began to fill the room with smoke. "Fire, fire fire! Everybody clear the room!" The senior medical officer yelled as he helped to carry a stretcher out of the room. Giana started to run through the billowing smoke in the room before turning around to look at the rifle she had been given. She considered bringing it with her, but decided against it. "Why would I need..." She mumbled to herself as she turned back around and ran out of the room.

The PA system crackled back to life again, and Dalton's voice reverberated throughout the ship. He sounded exhausted, and the sound of yelling and a large fire could be heard in the background.
"This is Dalton... Shields just dropped... We've suffered a structural failure in the port hangar wall, the bridge was-" He coughed loudly into the microphone. "-Damaged by a shell, we've got wounded." He paused. "..Alright, medical has been evacuated due to a fire. Medical teams report to the hangar, they'll treat wounded there." He paused again, and another voice could just barely be heard through the speaker. "-incoming rounds, port side! Point defenses are down, fire control teams are overwhelmed, medical center's been destroyed-" There was a deafening explosion, and Giana could feel a burning sensation on the back of her neck. She fell to the ground, and covered her neck with her hands, before feeling something heavy hit her head hard. She blacked out.


A while later, she woke up surrounded by twisted metal and fires in a cloud of smoke. She saw sunlight and could hear gunshots not too far away as she tried to regain her bearings. The fighting had started late that evening, and she had been at her station for... Not much more than thirty minutes or so, and it was daylight out now. She could've been out the entire night... She had a few minor burns and was pinned beneath a strut that appeared to have crashed through from the outer hull and stopped just above her, but other than that she felt fine. A pair of soldiers came running through the hallway, and one of them stopped when he saw her. "Michaels, get over here! There's someone trapped under this junk." He said as the other soldier came running back over to them.
"I'm sergeant Everton, this is corporal Michaels. Are you hurt?" The first man asked.
"No, but I'm stuck under this thing." Giana replied. "I'm Giana Jacobson, I'm from medical."
"A medic? We're a little short on those right now, good to have another. Here, let's see if we can't get you out of there. Michaels, you got the cutter?" Everton asked.
"Yep, right here." Michaels replied, handing Everton a laser cutter.
"Alright now, just hold still and we'll have you out of there in no time. Michaels, cover me while I get this done." Everton said as he started to carve parts of the strut off.
"Can do, sergeant." Michaels replied, taking aim behind a large piece of metal facing the outside of the ship. A large chunk of metal fell off the strut above Giana and Everton caught it, throwing it aside.
"Alright, that should be enough now. Michaels, help me move this thing." Everton said, planting his foot on the strut. Michaels moved over to help him and together they managed to move the strut just far enough to allow Giana to crawl her way out of the debris.
"Alright, good. You got a gun?" Everton asked.
"No, I uh... It's um... under that pile of junk." Giana said, pointing back at the debris she had just been freed from.
Everton shrugged.
"Well I don't think we can get that out, we're short on time as is. Here, take this." He said, taking off his pistol holder and handing it to Giana. She put it on, and took the gun out. It was a small, black pistol not much bigger than her hand, but surprisingly heavy for its size.
"It's a kinetic weapon, so don't forget to actually load ammunition into the thing." Everton said as he turned around and started walking. She ran up to him, and all three of them started running towards the hangar.

"How long have you been stuck there?" Michaels asked.
"I don't really know, it was uh... right after the medical center caught fire." Giana replied.
"Alright, you've been out for about... nine hours. Long story short, we're in the pits. Dalton's critically wounded, most of the bridge staff is dead, fires are out of control, and we're thoroughly surrounded. On the upside, however, one of our gunships managed to light up their artillery section, so they've stopped the bombardment." Michaels replied.
Giana tried to remember where her father was.
"Do you know where Louis Jacobson is? He was a sentry for the Euphrates camp, but he came here with some other people. I think one of them was a Scavenger." She asked.
"Oh, that guy... He was on the away team trying to recover one of the pilots that went down yesterday. I don't know where he is, they should have been back now." Everton replied.
Giana slowed down, a sinking feeling in her chest.
"Don't worry though, I wouldn't fly back here during this mess if my life depended on it." Everton said, turning around to look at her. They walked into the hangar, and started down the ladder onto the floor. There was a massive hole torn in the side of the room, caused by what Giana assumed was one of the artillery strikes that had crippled the ship. Or, what was left of it, at least. A large, blue and white tank was shooting out of the opening, its railgun blasting streams of sparks off into the distance towards what Giana could only assume were Sodiya soldiers.
"Been firing nonstop since they showed up, not much progress to show for it. Their lines haven't budged in an hour, meanwhile we've been taking casualties left and right. We're down a quarter of our manpower and that there is one of the last remaining tanks we have." Everton said.
"Hey, do you-" Michaels began to say, but he was interrupted by a massive explosion right outside of the hole. Someone sitting behind the tank stood up and began yelling at people to take up defensive positions as the tank began to back up.
"Looks like that's us, get to it. Giana, stay with me." Everton said as he ran up to the man shouting orders. "Sir, we found someone from medical. She said her name is uh...Giana Jacobson." He said.
"Afternoon Jacobson, I'm Lieutenant Acres. I need you two to cover the medical teams as the evacuate the hangar." Streams of blue light entered the hangar, the projectiles pinging off the walls.
"They're heading towards the auxiliary storage room, but there's some uh... gaps... in the hallway between here and there. Reports are that they've had contact inside the ship itself, you need to-"
A flash of bright orange light illuminated the room, sending shards of metal into the armor of the tank only a few feet away from them.
"You need to get them there safely! Now move, move, move!" Acres said, waving at them to start escorting the medical teams as he ran out of the hole and into the fray. Giana ran over to a pair of medics carrying a stretcher with a soldier on it. He had been shot twice in the chest, and was barely breathing. Giana wondered how he was even still alive, shocked at how the color had drained from the part of his face that was visible under his cracked helmet faceplate.
"You're our escort? You've got to be joking! Do you know how many of those white-eyed freaks we've run up against so far?!" One of the medics said, easing the stretcher up off the ground.
"Deal with it, we've got a job to do." Everton said, looking back at him. "Giana, I'll take point. You bring up the rear, and if you see anyone that isn't wearing one of our uniforms you shoot him. Now, the way that pistol works is-" He asked. "I'm not an idiot, you know." Giana cut him off, looking at him sideways. He shrugged and turned back around.
"Sorry, just not used to civilians actually knowing anything." He said as he started to walk down the hallway. The medics followed behind him, and Giana trudged along behind the stretcher, holding the pistol straight down.

After about twenty meters of walking through dark, hazy hallways which smelled strongly of smoke and hydraulic fluid, they turned a corner and Giana lost sight of the hangar.
"Come on, the storage room isn't very far away. It's just up this hallway and to the left." Everton said as he turned on the flashlight which was attached to his helmet.
"Awful dark here, they must've hit the emergency battery cell." One of the medics said after he nearly tripped over a loose cable. An explosion rocked the ship, sending dust into Everton's eyes. He rubbed his eyes and flipped his visor down, looking around to make sure the others were okay.
"What was that? I thought they destroyed the artillery position that was shooting at us..." Giana said, looking back behind her. Everton responded.
"Breaching charge, if I had to guess. They've tried blowing holes in the sides of the ship to gain access, that's where the one back in the hangar came-"
There was a burst of light from the other end of the hallway, as a group of Sodiya ran down the hallway towards them.
"Everyone down!" Everton yelled as he began firing in the direction of the Sodiya troops. He tapped the side of his helmet, and started talking to Acres.
"This is Everton, we've encountered resistance en route to the auxiliary supply room. Please advise, over!" He looked over at Giana, who was crouched down inside a small alcove clutching the pistol to her chest. "Jacobson, what are you doing?! Get over here and fight!" Everton said as he sent round after round in the direction of the Sodiya.
"I uh..." Giana said. "I-I don't know. My dad showed me how to use a gun, but..."
"Giana, if you don't-" Everton let out a scream and clutched his shoulder as he fell over. One of the medics who had been watching them ran over to him.
"Get me some gauze, he's bleeding!" More streams of light illuminated the hallway, casting an eerie blue glow on the medics trying to help Everton. One of them was grazed by a bullet as he ran over to where Everton laid bleeding, and he fell to his knees against a wall. Giana peeked around the corner, and could see six or seven more Sodiya enter the hallway. She looked down at the pistol she had been handed, and raised it. She pulled the trigger, and a deafening explosion from the front of the pistol sent what looked like a shard of glass directly into the chest of one of the Sodiya troops. He fell backwards, grabbing his chest. The two nearest him caught him as he fell, dragging him back behind cover. She didn't have time to think about what she just did, as the Sodiya were shooting directly at her, instead of just taking potshots at the medics. She fired off two more rounds, which both pinged off the walls around the enemy soldiers. A round glanced off the wall only a few inches from her head, and she ducked back into the alcove. She could hear yelling at the other end of the hallway, in a language she could only assume was that of the people who she was fighting. A round pinged off the wall next to her, and another broke a pipe which had been welded to the ceiling. It burst, sending a black liquid streaming over to the wall. A third round landed directly in a pool of the stuff, setting that part of the hallway ablaze.
"Uh, guys? We've got a problem. Well, uh... another problem." One of the medics said, looking over at the growing blaze which was slowly consuming the hallway behind them.
"Great. JUST GREAT." another medic said, grabbing Everton's rifle and sending streams of bullets down towards the Sodiya. Giana crawled back out of the alcove and began shooting towards the Sodiya, who were now starting to step back, even though the medic and Giana were missing by a few feet nearly every time they shot.
"Hey, we're winning! Keep the pressure on them, we need to clear the hallway!" One of the medics said as he helped Everton to stand up. The Sodiya troops were rapidly turning their attention to something behind them, and pointing their guns in that direction.
"Oh, maybe we've got some relief..." Everton said as the Sodiya started firing at the unknown entity that was now blanketing their position with blinding red beams of light. There was some commotion as the enemy soldiers ran for cover, and an explosion knocked everyone in the hallway to the ground. Everton and the man escorting him were slammed against a wall, and Giana went tumbling precariously close to the fire which had now engulfed the entire hallway behind them in smoke, and was probably starting to creep into the hangar. The room started to fill with thick, black smoke and Giana started breathing heavily as her lungs became clouded with the stuff.
"Giana" Everton said weakly. "The hallway caved in. There's got to be an emergency access hatch somewhere-" He coughed. "-around here. See if you can find it." He said, barely visible through the smoke. Giana looked around frantically, her vision growing dark. She couldn't find a door, even as the inferno raged around them. She started to feel dizzy and she lost her balance, falling over next to the body of a Sodiya soldier. She tried to get up, but collapsed back to the floor. She laid there, breathing heavily as she faded from consciousness.


There was a blinding light somewhere quite close to her, and she could feel her body being moved around. There were voices, all speaking in a language she only knew a few words of, but she doubted she would be able to understand them even if she spoke it fluently. Someone had come to save her, they were all being carried onto the Euphrates, still parked in orbit. She could see her father there, holding some sort of medical equipment.
What was he doing with that? He wasn't a doctor...
She could feel herself being moved around some more, she was laying on her back. It was sunny out, as it always was in the Euphrates. She saw a ship.
A ship? How did they fit a ship inside the Euphrates' biodome?
It was getting closer, almost like it was going to land in the courtyard she used to play in. The ship landed next to her, and someone carried her on board.
Maybe they were going to help her? Yes, they were. She was safe now.

She passed out.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

 

[Peekie30]

where are you building the Euprates and other ships from the story Deb? I like it!

 

[FlyingDebris]

where are you building the Euprates and other ships from the story Deb? I like it!

On the NFD build server, the Euphrates is a group project and the Hunley is just me.

 

[Peekie30]

On the NFD build server, the Euphrates is a group project and the Hunley is just me.

cool, are you on there now? ill take a look and then go to bed haha
never mind, server's downagain, ill look tomorrow, good night

 

[0Samuel0]

I would like this, but there is a small problem.
There needs to be more of it. Much more of it. Let it continue

 

[FlyingDebris]

I'm writing an intermission chapter as we speak, should be released some time within the next day or two.