February 28, 2112
Night-Shade
Less than half of the Milky Way Galaxy has been charted by the ARW. Without proper slip space lanes pre-coordinated, using slip space is suicide. With no slip space available, flying a ship through uncharted space is slow, so slow that mapping all of it is virtually nil to impossible. Exploring space in this manor is a lone ant scampering though a planet-wide forest. That ant will never in a million lifetimes see every centimeter of that forest.
The hunt for this unforeseen, unknown threat to the ARW continued. All was made possible thanks to the deal made between The Broker and Day-Bringer. Even now, they were still following the coordinates he gave. Their journey started almost a month and a half ago.
Such a journey required a suitable ship, an exploration class of starship. Drifting Cloud, the ship was called. Order of Aegis made, this starship was a proverbial millionaire's yacht in space.
Night-Shade was sitting co-chair to the pilot of this operation, an Aegis employee named Tarstbin Afuljack; qwayk male, of course. He was silent, as was she. Each waited for the Drifting Cloud to drop out of slip space to what should be the last coordinate given to them.
The wormhole was elegant, a glimmering sphere showing distorted images of the part of space that lay ahead. What wonders the magic of space travel brought. Living most of her life on Dorrath, Night-Shade almost never left the planet until Kalvin brought her into Project Ace. Even in those travels, she never got to see what it really looked like, what slip space looked like. Looking through the hard-glass, the single barrier between her and the vacuum of space, and seeing so much and so little at the same time gave her twists of joy and sadness. She was excited for her future. Yet life was simple once, and she wondered if she would ever have that happiness again. In this, she was unsure.
As they veered to the end of the wormhole, it looked like they were closing in on the end of a wide tunnel. Soon they would be even further away from home, deep in a massive territory of unknown adventures and threats.
Ayeko snuck into the cockpit and asked, "We there yet?" A question that just about threw Night-Shade off the chair with her heart pounding. Recovering and looking back at the amused Ayeko, she gathered he meant to surprise her.
She gave him a strong nudge, using her foot to his shin. "Where do you go getting off scaring me like that?"
He rubbed his shin. "You're right. I deserved that. Really, I just came to see if we were almost there. But you were so quiet, so intensely focused on the outside, I saw an opportunity and took it." He laughed.
The pilot, who was unfazed and seemed to be rather annoyed, stated in a monotone, "We're here."
Night-Shade's attention swirled back to space to see a wall of rocks; no, rather it was an entire field of them. So many asteroids, with sizes varying from a walnut to a starship. Each like bumpy chunks of old broken-up concrete and full of ore, yet far darker shades of color - onyx-black, worn-gold, and dull-gray.
Ayeko shifted in-between Night-Shade and Tarstbin and pointed to the bottom-left of the viewing glass. "Wow! Look at that!"
It took a few seconds for Night-Shade to see just what he was pointing at, but when she did, her shoulders twitched. Partially hidden behind an asteroid was a damaged escape pod large enough to fit a hominoid being. Parts of glass were cracked, and the metal frame was bent in several places. At the bottom, a red light blinked at a steady pace.
Tarstbin adjusted some knobs on the dashboard. "Looks like it is sending out a distress signal. How should we proceed?"
"I don't know. I ain't cool enough to be mission leader. Maybe you should ask her," Ayeko referred to Drayvan.
Tarstbin pushed the ship-wide intercom. "Drayvan. There is something you should see." He looked back to Ayeko. "Best head out to give her room."
"Tch." Ayeko let himself out, showing a touch of annoyance.
Moments later, Drayvan entered the cockpit, arms crossed, eyes emotionless. For the first official mission under Project Aurum, Drayvan was put in charge. As to why, Night-Shade didn't know. After all, Night-Shade was still completely new to all of this.
Drayvan noticed the pod as soon as Tarstbin pointed to it.
He started to explain the situation. "It's currently sending a distress signal. I recomm--"
"Jam the signal, bring it in. That's an order." She left just as fast as she entered and gave no time for a response.
Tarstbin was baffled. "Okaaayyy." He pushed a few buttons and pulled a lever.
"I should join the others." Night-Shade pushed herself out of the seat and followed Drayvan through the starship to the cargo bay, with Ayeko at her side.
"I have a feeling this is why we are here," Ayeko said just as the two of them entered the wide storage room. "This is probably why The Broker sent us to this location."
They all gathered at the center of the room to wait as the tractor beam pulled the escape pod up and through a shielded hole in the cargo bay. The starship's engineer, Trevor Tarnish, was present with a holopad out. Tank was nowhere to be found.
The process finished, and Night-Shade had no intention of making the first move. Instead, it was Ayeko who went towards it after receiving a nod from Drayvan.
"Not much to look at, is it?" Ayeko jested.
"Is it a recon pod?" Trevor asked. "Technology looks almost like it could be ours."
"Sure as hell isn't dytirc or lycargan. But I'm going to take a closer look. So, with a bit of luck, we can figure this out." Ayeko scanned it with his cyberwatch, a process a few seconds long. He then he peered inside a panel under the glass barrier of the pod. He pulled away the panel and revealed a monitor beneath. The rest watched him work in silence.
Night-Shade got a bit antsy and couldn't bear to stand any longer. As best she could to make as little sound as possible, she scooted a small wooden box closer to her. When she sat, her eyes looked back to Ayeko, and she noticed from the corner of her eye she caught Drayvan's interest. She didn't dare look up and couldn't explain to herself why she was so uncomfortable near this person. Being introverted, she had always had some discomfort with certain types of people. Never to this extent. Was it intimidation? She couldn't tell.
After searching through a bag of tools, Ayeko finally pulled out a male-to-male connection wire; the ends were shaped differently. He stuck one end into the monitor and another into his cyberwatch.
"This pod is from an Immortal starship," Ayeko said early on.
Immortal? How can a ship be immortal? Night-Shade thought to herself, then asked, "What do you mean immortal?"
"You know… the gang… the intergalactic gang," Ayeko answered.
Night-Shade still wore a face full of confusion.
"The gang - they're called The Immortals," Ayeko added with haste to his first response.
She mouthed a big "oh" to hide her embarrassment.
"Anyway. I'm getting a read on a person in there. Based on the diagram, it's a male smokmorjorok. Guess it makes sense to find one of them with The Immortals. Ain't no species more notorious for drug operations than smokmorjoroks. However, there's an issue."
"Kindly explain." Drayvan gave him a nod. Her tone was surprisingly friendly towards Ayeko; almost encouraging her ally.
"Whoever he is, I'm barely registering a pulse. Pulling him out of the pod's stasis state would certainly kill him. So, I need to know what you want to do, Drayvan."
"I want information."
"I thought as much. Only chance we have to get that is for me to use my abilities and operate on him immediately." Ayeko rubbed his eyes and shook his head twice. "Shivf's gonna suck. I'm not so familiar with smokmorjorok anatomy."
"How can I help?" Trevor asked.
"Get some of the crew in here with a stretcher and standard operation kit."
Trevor walked away, talking over his cyberwatch.
Two crew members prepared a table and stretcher.
Before opening the pod, Ayeko created a bubble around the area. After some time for preparation, he initiated the opening process of the pod. It decompressed in seconds, and the glass cracked as the hatch opened.
There was blood, lots of it; green and thick like oil. The man inside was nearly frozen in time due to Ayeko's ability. This gave him full control, and he pulled the man out with help from a crew member. They set him on the table.
Ayeko started by cleaning the various wounds with a disinfecting agent. There were so many wounds. With time slowed to almost zero, Ayeko was able to take some time and study all the injuries.
He gazed up to Drayvan. "He has internal injuries by the dozens, and some still have objects in them. Even if I really take my time, we don't have the equipment to save him – specifically, we lack transfusionable blood for a smokmorjorok. The moment I drop my bubble, he maybe - and I stress maybe - has seconds before bleeding out."
"Can you delay his death for a minute?" Drayvan asked.
"If I remove some of the objects and stitch together the wounds, it should buy him some time."
"Give it a shot," Drayvan nodded.
Ayeko went to work. He pulled out tons of metal from the escape pod from the wounds, then stitched them shut. It took a while, and when he was done, he did a once over of his handy work.
"That's the best I can do. Time to cross those fingers…or pray…or wish on those charms…or whatever your fancy." Ayeko looked to Drayvan. "Ready?"
She gave him a nod.
Ayeko took a breath and closed his fist.
That sudden moment, the injured man shot up and roared in pain. Time was once again at normal speed for him. "ARGH!" he shouted before giving in to puking up his own blood all over his lap and the floor.
His eyes were bloodshot and wild with panic. "Y-you don't know!"
"We can't know what you don't tell us," Ayeko retorted.
"I'm the unending darkness and terror. You'll feel the wrath of my malevolence, and you'll reel as I pick your bones from your body and peel your skin back over your face, it said. The monster! It… it came for us." He reached out and grabbed Ayeko's shirt and pulled him closer, eyes locked.
Drayvan took a step forward and stopped when Ayeko put up his hand. "Don't worry," he assured.
The man let go and gave in to more blood-filled coughs.
"Where was this monster?" Ayeko asked.
"Close." He coughed. "The ship."
"What's your name? What ship are you from?"
His coughs went wild, and he fell off the stretcher. Ayeko came over to him as he gagged on his blood. That very moment, he passed away in Ayeko's grasp. His finger to his neck, Ayeko looked up and shook his head. "There's nothing I can do. Even after surgery, his internal organs took too much damage. No blood infusions, no replacements for him, his chances weren't good."
"His death is not without meaning. He gave me the information I wanted." Drayvan uncrossed her arms.
"So we find the ship?" Ayeko asked.
"Of course we do." Drayvan left the cargo bay.
Ayeko found himself by Night-Shade. "I take it she's going to talk with the pilot and try to find the ship."
Night-Shade asked, "What should we do?"
"Load up the recon ship."
Ayeko grabbed a crate, and Night-Shade did the same. They brought the supplies to the recon starship located at the back of the cargo bay. Together they loaded crate after crate of the needed supplies. In that time, they received notice that the starship the smokmorjorok mentioned was spotted.
Night-Shade helped Ayeko carry in the last crate to the recon ship. They took it up the ramp and placed it against the wall of the small cargo hold. Trevor was just outside, making some last-minute scans with his holopad. Drayvan brought Tank along, and both went inside.
"Coming, Trevor?" Ayeko joked.
"Me? I heard the word 'monster' thrown around, so this recon mission is all you guys." He laughed and tapped on the hull of the starship. "She's ready to lift off."
Ayeko nodded. "You're a champ. I'll inform Drayvan."
Ayeko headed to the front, which wasn't far from the rear on the recon ship. Soon, Night-Shade watched from the corner of the cargo hold as the ramp closed and she felt the ship lift off.
Not long after, she found her way to a seat in the midsection of the recon starship. For safety, she strapped herself in with the lock-in straps. She put in an earbud and started her playlist back up.
Drayvan and Ayeko were visible at the front, and Tank was back with Night-Shade.
Ayeko was next to Drayvan and had his cyberwatch connected to the ship's main scanners. "The Immortal's cruiser is dead in space. Scans picked up signs of low electric activity on the ship, and I see no communications going out of it. Ship is definitely cold."
"Can we board?" Drayvan continued to steer the recon ship around the stranded star cruiser.
He pointed as they rounded to the back of the dead star cruiser. "Seems the hatch is wide open."
Drayvan steered them inside, and Night-Shade felt her chest pounding a bit harder. Her leg jittered from side to side. This was her first mission in the field, and she didn't know if she was ready for it. She had three other aces with her, so she supposed she should feel like the safest person in the ARW. But she didn't.
Eventually, she felt the ship shake as it touched down. They had landed.
The hatch opened, with Drayvan and Tank leading the four out. Night-Shade swiped her scout rifle around the damp docking port of the star cruiser.
"Lights," Drayvan commanded.
Night-Shade hit the switch that lit up a beam of light attached to the long barrel of her weapon. All four had lights up; Ayeko's and hers came from weapons, while Tank's and Drayvan's came from their attire.
Night-Shade's focus went to the ceiling, which was plated metal with leaking pipes hung all over it. She stepped forward with her unit and shivered as her eyes caught sight of her breath. She wasn't dressed for this.
Ayeko noticed as well. "Life support systems could be down. But my cyberwatch shows sufficient oxygen levels… I'd say enough to last us hours, and that's if the systems are down."
"Keep it monitored," Drayvan commanded.
The surrounding area was empty save a few unused ships and maintenance gear.
"Follow my lead." Drayvan motioned forward.
She led the four through the ship's port towards the exit at the back. Nothing crazy caught Night-Shade's eye. The hallway leading out was illuminated with red. She assumed it must've just been a light somewhere she could not see.
As they neared the hallway, Night-Shade jerked back as a shadow zipped over the light. Drayvan halted the unit, and everyone was on alert. Night-Shade took a knee with her scout rifle raised, because all four of them were in the open. Nothing to use for cover. She gulped, her finger trembling on the trigger.
"Night-Shade. Up scope, what do you see?" Drayvan's eyes never left the hallway. She hadn't even pulled out her sword. That only made Night-Shade even more nervous.
As asked, she took a peek through her scope but could see nothing. It was so dim, and the hallway was too narrow with a bend, which didn't give much to look at. "Looks all clear," she responded, with little confidence.
"Tell that to whatever passed the light earlier," Ayeko added.
"I can scout with my ability," she offered.
Drayvan spoke. "Save it. No time." Drayvan stood tall. "This is the great Drayvan Pryde, of the ARW. Reveal yourself to me at once." She waited just a second. "I never ask for anything twice."
Drayvan gave it another few seconds, then two separate shadows jetted by the light once more, and Night-Shade's heartbeat jumped with each.
Giving them no more time, two hairy, ten-legged creatures scurried down the hall and took mighty leaps at the four aces. Night-Shade shot at the one closest but missed. All she could see were the fangs dripping with blue liquid, foaming from its mouth. And the eyes, the great many of them, were cold and black, with nothing but a reflection of the room. She shot again and missed, her arm shaking.
Tank had his totem pulled off his back and used it to bat away one of the creatures. The second was aiming for Drayvan. She hardly moved until it was an arm length away. Its fangs craved for her neck, but she never let it close. As the creature came, Drayvan snatched it by the neck and slammed it to the ground in a motion too fast for Night-Shade to catch.
For a maelkii, she is ludicrously faster than she should be. Night-Shade's eyes popped in awe.
"Waste of my time." Drayvan's eyes were dark. "You aren't worthy of the air you breathe." Drayvan crushed its neck and pulled back her hand, which was covered in its blood.
The one swatted away earlier was scurrying back, and Tank met it with a quick burst of speed. Spinning his totem around at dizzying speeds, he plowed it into the wall before hitting it two more times to finish the job.
The whole time, Ayeko stood by, comfortable in letting the other two handle the task. Moreover, he looked to have expected this.
"Ugh. What are they?" Night-Shade gagged in disgust.
"Spiasaurs. They are giant spider-esque creatures that are found on a few planets in the Enchanted System. I've heard that there are some who like to capture them and use them to fight each other and bet on said fights. Could be why they are on this star cruiser."
"So why aren't they locked up?"
"Beats me. Seems they escaped recently."
"No shivf," Night-Shade let out a breath. Her face paled at his response.
"Expect more of them," Drayvan warned before leading them to the hallway.
"Rabbit hunting. Oh, joy," Ayeko chuckled.
Night-Shade waved over her nose. "Damn, do they smell." She took a breath and tried to slow her breathing. She didn't want her rough start to get the better of her. Even though this was essentially her first time ever in the field, she told herself she needed to conduct herself like a veteran. Even still, training simulations paled in comparison to the real thing. Having her life in danger put so much more on her than she expected.
The narrow hall quickly bent to the right and opened up to give them some more room. Par for the course thus far, the hallway was dark save for the red light they were about to pass. About midway down the hall was the sparking of an active electric line that had split out of a hole in metal panel of the wall.
Their boots clanked over the cagy metal under them as they marched forth. Night-Shade's ears grew hot as her light was catching streaks of blood over the walls. There wasn't much, so she couldn't really see it in the dark room without the aid of their lights. Each time she saw blood, she felt her heart pound like a drum. But as they continued on, there seemed to be more.
"Oh, man. Looks like things around here are getting interesting," said Ayeko.
"You didn't notice the blood in the hangar?" Night-Shade asked.
"Shivf, no. Where?"
"Laced over the ships."
"Thanks for bringing us in the loop now."
Drayvan inserted herself into the conversation with a strong tone. "Rest easy under my presence. Nothing shall do you harm so long as I am here." Drayvan's words were reassuring to her allies.
Even with those words of encouragement, Night-Shade didn't feel it. There was something different about the way Drayvan spoke. Almost like she wasn't speaking to reassure, but rather to make a statement.
"All this blood, with no bodies. Seems off to me. Anyone else?" Ayeko held a hint of sarcasm.
"At least I have your lame jokes to help me feel better," Night-Shade responded, with as much sincerity in her tone as possible.
Ayeko laughed at himself.
They arrived at the end of the hallway and pushed a button beside the door. Inside, streaks of blood covered the floor, even more than in the hallway. Electric armor clad conduit lines were strung up high against the ceiling. The room had two elevators, one with the doors already open to a deep drop off, and a few military grade crates were busted open, with weaponry spilling out the sides.
The second elevator doors buzzed open. The scene and scent overtook Night-Shade and sent her head spinning. Another one of those creatures was gnawing away at the flesh of a dead human. Its eyes locked onto the unit and bolted at them. Night-Shade fired twice, with one hitting it in the head. Its now limp body slid across the floor in its own spilling blood before stopping at Drayvan's feet.
"Well, looks like the Immortals had quite a day," Ayeko joked.
Night-Shade's stomach had had enough, and she leaned over to empty her guts onto the floor. No training had prepared her for such horrific sights.
Ayeko put his hand over her shoulder. "Hey, no worries. It takes time to ease into all this."
Drayvan was over by the human body, her cyberwatch scanning the corpse. "Been dead a while."
"The spiasaurs didn't kill him?" Ayeko asked.
Drayvan pulled a piece of bone, shaped like a horn, from his abdomen and held it up. "This did." She tossed it to Ayeko.
"It's just like those photos Day-Bringer showed us. Whatever has been killing our soldiers seems to have struck this cruiser as well," Ayeko took one look and said. The visual image of those pictures Day-Bringer showed all four of the aces before the mission found its way to the front of Night-Shade's eyes. Her blood was already running cold before this news was brought to light. She never felt so scared.
"Think it's still here?" Night-Shade's skin was ice.
"As Drayvan said, he was dead for a while, so I doubt whatever killed him is still on the ship. But why go from attacking ARW cruisers to attacking an Immortal cruiser? It makes no sense."
"The objective, then, is clear. Information retrieval. Tank, find the bridge, and gather all information available from the computer systems." She looked back at Ayeko and Night-Shade. "You two, find the engine room. Navigation systems could be stored there. Report what you find. I'll recon through the ship and assess what I see."
Drayvan and Tank left through the door at the other end and split off in two different directions.
"Well, this mission is just off to a grand start." Ayeko laughed.
Ignoring his quip, Night-Shade rubbed her elbow. "Why do you think she wanted us together?"
"How do you mean?"
"She and Tank are off on their own, but we aren't. Do you think she sees us as the weak links?"
"No. No, no. Come on. Drayvan is just efficient in how she does things. She knows your abilities aren't effective amidst combat, so she paired you with me for your protection."
"So she sees me as weak." Night-Shade's eyes hit the floor.
"I'll level with you. Drayvan isn't the type of person who considers our feelings when deciding things. Not her fault; she was brought up that way."
"If you say so," she mumbled meekly. Night-Shade, even after hearing what he said, still felt down on herself.
"No, really. Codependence is commonplace in many maelkii houses. A trait hardly shared in Drayvan's house, however. She isn't accustomed to thinking about others, because she never had to in her house. Each member is capable, and their belief in themselves is uncanny. So, to somebody like her, like Drayvan, we are simply tools to achieve her goal. And I tell you, I don't think there is ever a shred of doubt in her mind that she can't achieve what she sets out to achieve. I envy that tenacity."
Night-Shade remembered that feeling well from when she accidently walked Drayvan's dream. She looked up to Ayeko. "Must be nice."
"What?"
"To have so much confidence."
Ayeko laughed. "Yeah… that's one word for it. Let me just say that arrogance may not strictly be a trait of the Escanorinn House, but she definitely does it better than anybody I've ever met."
Night-Shade had a small laugh with him.
Ayeko pressed the button for the elevators, but nothing happened. "Well, shivf. We might have to climb down."
"Down?"
"Yep. Their engine room is likely on the lower levels."
Ayeko pulled out a water bottle and took a sip before starting down the rope of the elevator.
Night-Shade followed him. It wasn't too deep, to her relief, and they landed on top of the elevator, which looked to be stuck at a floor. The pulley systems were jammed as well.
The floor above was blocked off. But beside them was an access to a utility tunnel. Ayeko pried the grated cover off and tossed it aside. The metal-to-metal noise resonated in the elevator shaft.
"Quiet, dummy," Night-Shade expressed, with a nervous glare.
"Right, my bad."
Ayeko entered the shaft, which was large enough to crawl through. Night-Shade followed, which was easier for her to traverse than Ayeko. As a dor'o, she was naturally smaller, and dor'o had evolved through their history in mountain caves and tunnels. They were made for this. As a qwayk, Ayeko struggled a bit.
Inside the tunnel were pipes running along the side, along with some metal conduit lines. Above them were grated metal ceiling tiles that could be pushed up to allow access to various electronics. This utility tunnel was left unscathed, unlike much of the cruiser, leaving Night-Shade to wonder why some of the people who were on this ship didn't hide in one of these tunnels to escape whatever danger was here.
The tunnel curved down into a square room with more pipes running into a bus hub. In conjunction, the metal conduit ran to a subpanel that connected to a terminal. At the direct center was a closed hatch.
Ayeko plugged into the terminal and started to fiddle around with it. "It's as I thought," Ayeko mumbled, mostly to himself. He removed the connection from the terminal and pulled away a panel beside the hatch. "Shine your light in here," said Ayeko.
With her light over his head, Ayeko worked inside the panel. Shifting through the wires, he was able to splice open the hatch. Out blasted a fog. Night-Shade covered her nose.
"It reeks." She gagged.
Bars of metal were leading all the way down the hole, acting as a ladder.
"Bilges… they're often very similar in every star cruiser. Should connect to the engine room at some point," informed Ayeko.
Ayeko was the first to start down the bars. He took a brightstone flashlight from his pouch and put it in his mouth. Night-Shade put her scout rifle back on her back and followed into the dark.
At the bottom, the floor was flooded with about a third of a meter of water. By no means was that normal. Ayeko jumped and splashed as he landed. He removed the flashlight from his mouth. "It's wet down here."
Night-Shade giggled to herself as she landed beside him.
"Come. Only one way to go." Ayeko led, flashlight forward.
The tunnels were wide, flooded, and had columns to support the beams every few meters. Sounds of dripping water in the distance echoed through the tunnel. A few lights were embedded in the walls, but almost every single one was burnt out from being under water.
Night-Shade kept marching on despite the water being over her knees.
Movement in the vent system in the ceiling alerted them. Night-Shade had her weapon ready.
"Hear that?" she asked.
The movement continued. "Sounds like lots of legs, probably the same creatures. If we move slow and stay quiet, we may avoid them altogether," whispered Ayeko.
Night-Shade nodded and slowed her pace to match Ayeko's.
Her eyes were focused on the vents above, and she didn't even notice the scrap metal in her path. Her foot caught on it, and she tripped, splashing down completely in the water. Her rifle went off, an accidental trigger pull.
She felt hands pull her to her feet. Wiping away the water from her eyes, she saw Ayeko's worried stare behind her. She looked and saw dozens of the creatures pour out the vents behind them, splashing in the water, headed for them.
Ayeko put up a bubble around some, but the rest evaded it altogether. "Not good!" he yelled. "Run!"
Both of them ran towards the end of the tunnel. "There's a junction up ahead!" Ayeko shouted.
Behind them, the beasts were catching up.
Ayeko bolted through the doorway, and Night-Shade dived inside. Quickly, she was up and firing her scout rifle. Ayeko put up a bubble in front of the small doorway, forcing the beasts to enter it if they wanted to reach them. And it worked at buying time. Ayeko had both hands up, concentrating to keep up the bubble.
Night-Shade emptied the clip. "Reloading!" she shouted and slid in another. There were dozens, and she noticed some weren't being slowed. Her eyes caught Ayeko struggling, and his nose started to bleed.
"There're too many!" he shouted.
He let the bubble go, then pulled out a frag grenade and tossed it back. It flashed, then BOOM!
The spiasaurs were eradicated, and both the aces were knocked backwards from the shockwave.
She got up and rubbed her shoulder. Blood appeared due to a piece of shrapnel that had punctured her skin. Damaged plates of metal from the ceiling and reinforced bars had piled in front of the entry. They had no way of returning down the path they came. That was the least of their problems. The grenade damaged the tunnel, and more water started to build. At least the monsters were on the other side.
"Blast it!" Ayeko barked.
The rush of water forced them back, and Night-Shade lost her footing. Stumbling, her eyes met the fangs of a spiasaur! Instinct took her out of its direct path, but one of its thorns scathed her arm.
Ayeko put a bubble around them and slowed the creature to a near halt. Inside, he pulled Night-Shade a distance away from it and took a dagger to its neck.
"Come on! We can't stay down here."
The water continued to build and was already past Night-Shade's waist. They turned the first bend they saw in the junction.
"There's the door!" Ayeko ran to it.
It was elevated a bit higher than the floor, so the waves were lapping at the base of the metal-plated exit.
Ayeko pulled down the lever on the side. Nothing. "Stupid piece of shivf!" he swore.
Banging and creaking sounds were coming from the pile of debris guarding the entry. Both their eyes met, and both knew it was the rest of those monsters seeking for a way to get to them. Who knows how long it would be until they found it?
Ayeko took that instant to pull the cover away from the lever and look inside at the electrics.
"Light." He waved her over.
Night-Shade shined her light inside, and he spliced together two wires and rigged it into his cyberwatch. Taking a moment to look at the readings, he started to reach into the back of the panel.
The sound of a metal beam scraping across the plates made her wince, sounding like nails on a chalkboard. From the shadows cast by the light, she could see a leg breach through the rubble.
"Hurry! They're getting through."
"Got it!" he shouted, and the door slid open.
Both booked it inside as fast as the chest-high water allowed. The door closed behind them, with an airtight seal separating them from the oncoming waves. They faced more metal bars bored into concrete. It led up like a ladder.
Ayeko started up, with Night-Shade right below him. After just a few bars up, Ayeko stopped. He bent up his head and listened. "Hear that?" he whispered.
Night-Shade's ears were tuned to the water trickling below, so she hadn't. Then she heard it. There it was, softly echoing down to them. A voice.
"The pilots, the runners. All dead," the voice wailed in sorrow. There was a pause for sniffles. "I could see it digging, sliding around beneath their skin! Ohhh-ughh--" cried the unknown voice.
Ayeko motioned his finger and started up. She shared his thought that whoever it was must be close to the top of the climb. They both started up again, quieter than before, with ears tuned to the voice.
"And-and-n' then… their bodies came apart. Ohhhh, God, their guts spilled over the floor. The blood… so m-much blood," he moaned. "Make it stop." The sound of flesh pounding on metal made Night-Shade shudder. It was followed by more groans of pain.
Ayeko peered over the edge. He pulled himself over and helped Night-Shade up to the grated walkway over various pipes and tubing with diameters as small as a coin up to those large enough for her to walk inside.
She grabbed the railing as they walked over the clinging metal and turned a corner. There he was, the human man behind the echoing voice, balled up against the rail, crying over his knees.
"I did it a favor," he sobbed. "Yeah, that's it! I helped it!"
Night-Shade and Ayeko looked at each other and continued to listen. It seemed as if this broken-down human didn't even realize they were there.
"Maybe… maybe I should help myself. And-and make it stop." He sat up slightly, revealing a revolver in his hand! Eyes dark as night, he put it to his temple!
"Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" Ayeko shouted.
Night-Shade turned away as the sound of a gunshot rang in her ears. The ring! It kept going, and her heart nearly burst in her chest.
Ayeko put his arm around Night-Shade's far shoulder, and his other hand over her gaze. "Don't look." His arms were trembling.
Nonetheless, he guided her away. He guided them both away. "That's some serious mental trauma. To-to be forced to do that." Ayeko's words were shaking with his arms.
"Ayeko--"
"Don't worry. The engine room is just ahead."
"But Ayeko--"
"Just… try not to think about what happened. We have an objective to complete. Let's do that first, then we'll have plenty of time after."
Ayeko removed his hand from her eyes. Night-Shade nodded in agreement.
Before them was the engine room. A convergence of four separate walkways intersected at a circular platform, with terminals at the center. Below, the vast space was filled to the brim with machines unfamiliar to Night-Shade - all of them twisting, turning, spinning. It was all jarring to look at. And look at them she did, for she dared not look backward, not after what happened.
She followed Ayeko to the central computer system and watched as he worked his magic. Plugging in his cyberwatch, it allowed him to gain some access to a terminal. Engraved over it was the ship's name. Translated, it read, "Epistle of Jude."
"Seems Drayvan was right. The navigational data is stored down here." His eyebrows arched.
"What is it?" Night-Shade asked.
"Seems the data was accessed recently - only a few days ago. It was very specific in what it was searching for." He paused. "Keyword: Damon Swift."
"I don't know that name."
Ayeko's expression looked troubled. "It's, ah, a rather infamous name, especially among higher-up Aegis employees. But usually that man is referred to as Brad, not Damon. I heard once that he was involved in a gang. The Immortals are just that, so the whole two-and-two thing adds up."
"Why him?"
He let out a wry laugh. "Beats me. But that name did pull up a very specific location. Based on the star system chart, I don't believe it is on the ARW mapped systems. Lucky for us, I can copy a couple slip space lanes that would take us from here to there."
"What's there?"
"Doesn't say outright. But in my experience, I have a feeling that's where we are going next."
Once finished, he looked down one of the walkways and back at her. His eyes told her it was time to leave. Night-Shade was very happy to oblige him.