Post
by RSDark_Angel » Wed, 26. Oct 05, 13:58
Chapter 2 – Gathering Intelligence
Slow dark shapes flickered here and there at the back of his mind. Sounds, noises, the cold feel of the space suit through his coveralls. Everything spun, everything seemed all too familiar but again all too far away, the shadowy form of the Split Dragon was getting bigger, and fast. Julian gripped Nova Alpha one's control stick tighter as the M6 got closer and closer, letting loose a hail of Mass Driver fire at the last moment. Then he was sat back in the simulation chair with the VR equipment wired up to the helmet and visor over his eyes. He swung Helios around into the trail of lubricant and debris leaking out from a wounded Mamba and opened fire with the three alien energy weapons. The beams lanced out and tore through the remnants of an ancient Jump Gate. Only he wasn't in Helios, he was back in the cockpit of Alpha 1 and the Mamba's were everywhere, orange hue of the nebula in Rhy's Desire mingled in with the dark blue of the Unknown Sector, creating a moldy custard effect that lit up the inside of the Nova in an eerie light. The Mamba before him broke apart under his heavy HEPT fire, the fragments of metal spreading out in an ever expanding debris cloud. He switched targets and went after another Mamba. The plasma shots left his cannons and hurtled through the cramped tunnel towards the Pirate Bayamon in front of him. He screamed as the rounds slammed into Reaper, tearing her apart and instantly killing her occupant. Julian twisted the control stick to try and ram Alpha 1 into the wall but the ship refused to turn. The control stick melted from his grip and the atmosphere in the cockpit suddenly became all too uncomfortably warm. The bugs were getting through. They chewed at the hull, gnawing away at the Nova until the ship cracked and fell away around him. The heat level shot through the roof as the bugs began to eat the fibers of Julian's space suit. Julian writhed in space, trying to wriggle the bugs off his armored suit. He tossed and turned and awoke to the sound of his own heart thumping wildly in his ribcage.
He lay half in and half out of the crumpled sweaty sheets. He lay back for several seconds, allowing his racing heart to calm down. He slowly turned around and placed his bare feet on the metal decking. The cold metal made him shiver. He stood up delicately to avoid provoking the lurking threat of a migraine right at the back of his eye sockets.
“lights” he grunted as he moped around for his coveralls. Lamps flickered to life and Julian had to squint to look around. He saw his coveralls on the floor and walked over to them, still squinting at the glare from the lights. He had barely picked them up before he dropped them back on the floor in disgust. He had been waring them for the past thirty odd stazuras and the lengthy period of time had left its mark. He grabbed the coveralls and threw them into the laundry chute at the far end of the room. They missed their intended target and slithered down the wall. Julian stared at them for a while, grunted and then turned for the cleanser block, scratching his left armpit.
* * *
At that very moment, Jo Rider stood on the decking of one of the Razor's many corridors, looking out into the deep voice of space beyond. She had left her wheelchair back at her quarters, now being able to walk properly without collapsing every now and again. She watched at the liveliness of the system. In the distance, the Teladi Stations could be seen, the small flecks of transporter ships going about their daily business, impervious to the military presence sat only a few klicks away. Several inquisitive M5s had come within scanner range, but had quickly retreated back to the relative safety of the Teladian network of stations. Through the port, Jo could see the reassuring form of the Thunderhawk, standing vigilant over the Rhy's Desire gate. She had also tried to grasp some sleep like Julian but hadn't managed to get it, even though her eyes felt so heavy that they might fall through her upper jaw and into her mouth. She leaned forward and let her forehead press on the cold plasteel of the window. She breathed on the transparent material and watched as her breath condensed and left a blurred stain. She stood up straight again and looked back out at the stars.
“Beautiful when admired by apprecccciating eyessss” the voice made her jump. It came from behind her. She turned around to face the newcomer. A tall Teladi male stood directly behind her, his purple/blue reptilian skin glinting moistly in the artificial light.
“Oh, hello, I didn't see you there” Jo said, turning fully to face him. The Teladi smiled at her, an obviously practiced task seeing as Teladian folk don't usually tend to smile. “Allow me to introduccce myssself. I am Sssalamanca Issskander Androzallusss the third, I am chief engineer on board vessssel Sssamarkand. Pleasssed to be meeting yousss”
Jo smiled back and held out her hand palm upwards in the Teladi way of greeting. “Jo Rider, I used to be a personal trader for Mr Gardna, but I'm not entirely sure what role I play corporation wise any more. If you don't mind me asking, If your based on the Samarkand, why are you here?”
“I am awaiting meetingsss in ssseminar roomsss”
Jo looked puzzled “What meetings?”
“Meetingsss for engineersss to assssessss damagesss” Salamanca stated.
“Oh yes, of course, I just wondered that's all, Julian is hosting another meeting, I think, to do with the current situation.”
“Yesss, methinksss I will be attending that too, I have a messssage from Missster Gardna sssaying he may need a wordsss”
Jo turned back to the window. The Teladi moved up to join her. “I have been working on Mr Gardna'sss persssonal Nova, the damagesss done to the outer hull are quite disssturbing”
“Tell me about it, I was in there”
“The hull hasss been eroded quite ssseverely, it seemsss thessse creaturesss you dissscovered live on certain metal elementsss that they mussst find sssomewhere in the cloudsss or maybe in the asssteroidsss methinksss.”
“It seemed like the cockpit continued to get warmer by the sezura whilst we were in there, do you have a conclusion for that?”
Salamanca raised his head to look at the ceiling “Easssily explained my dearsss, the coppersss element in the coolant sssyssstems running the length of the shipsss body wasss one of the elementsss that I found to be quite low. The creaturesss must need copper asss one of their energy sssources”
“oh, cool” Jo said, not quite listening any more as she had spotted a Split Scorpion fly out of the huge Jump Gate and head for the heart of the Teladi system.
“No, it would not have been coolsss, do you underssstand what I am sssayingsss?”
“Yeah. Oh sorry, it's a term, a phrase. A bit of Argon rubbish, thats all”
Salamanca shook his big blue head as Joe walked down the corridor, her eyes on the Scorpion. “Humansss” he hissed to himself as she turned to look at him, satisfied when the Scorpion had docked with the Trading Station. “Sorry, you were saying lieutenant?”
* * *
Julian stepped out of the cleanser, feeling refreshed. He stepped out into his room and opened the locker next to the bed. He pulled out a clean set of coveralls and set off for the door. The metal plating slid gracefully back into the wall and Julian stepped out into the corridor. The door slid shut behind him. He walked over to the nearest communication point and set the frequency for the bridge. A young woman he didn't recognize appeared on the screen.
“Bridge”
“Julian Gardna” Julian stated “I'm coming up to the bridge now, I just wanted to ask if you could put up a notice on the info boards: Meeting over in the Seminar room on the Samarkand at 0900 hours. There will be a transport leaving exterior dock nine at 0830.”
“No problem sir” The screen went dead and Julian thought for a moment. He needed to arrange for the TP to come over from the Samarkand. Sighing, he opened the comm once more but this time hailed the Samarkand's hangar bay frequency. A deep set Paranid answered.
“Priest Duke's compliments to one so well established, Mr Gardna.”
“Yeah. Okay then. Could you arrange a TP pickup to exterior docking bay nine at 0830 hours tomorrow?”
The Paranid looked down to what presumably must have been a palmcomp. “It shall be done, oh beneficent one”
“Thanks” Julian cut the link and shook his head, Paranids! He turned and set off back down the corridor in the direction of the bridge.