Deck 311, Katadromiko 52, un-named system
Ed pushed in through the door beside Andy, keeping their personal shields side by side to protect the others behind. Fortunately, they weren’t needed as the heat sensors had been correct. No bugs, no laser fire and nothing sinister met them as they filed in and spread out.
‘I’ll go straight towards the target,’ whispered Ed, pointing down the centre of the huge room. ‘You could circle around the left side and flank them from there.’
Andy nodded, veered off and disappeared behind a row of large unrecognisable machinery closely followed by half the armed engineers.
Ed, Grogun, and their half of the posse headed forward, directly towards the heat signatures. They trod silently, veering in and out of various lumps of equipment, some only a couple of metres tall, others stretching up to the ceiling thirty metres above.
Sixty metres in, it opened out to a central space about twenty metres across. A raised area with a couple of steps up to it and around half a metre above the floor contained all the control consoles. They were spread in a horseshoe shape and facing outwards towards them.
Two bugs at the top of the steps regarded Ed and the group as they emerged. They chittered to each other, but otherwise remained stationary, weapons pointed at the floor and their emotionless eyes staring eerily.
A man looked up from one of the consoles, a frightened look on his face and watched them nervously. He turned his head slowly to the left and looked up at a human girl who had her back to the approaching group. Ed switched his weapon to a heavy stun and raised it towards her.
‘I wouldn’t do that if I was you,’ the girl said in a monotone drawl, turning to regard Ed with a cool nonchalance.
Ed’s eyes bugged. His mouth hung open and, unable to speak, he just stood and stared in disbelief.
‘That’s the girl I met in the forward ROR,’ said Grogun. ‘She’s an assistant to the queen or something.’
The girl raised an arm and dozens of armed bugs appeared from the rear of the room, all shrugging off heat reflective cloaks.
A sudden shout from Ed’s left broke the temporary silence as Andy sprinted in.
‘RAYL,’ he bellowed, as he vaulted up onto the platform and headed straight towards her.
Rayl raised her weapon and fired without a second’s hesitation. Her rifle wasn’t set to stun however and hit his shield dead centre. Although not penetrating the shield, the immense power of the bolt smashed him straight back as if he’d been hit by a truck, the energy crackling and dispersing around him. He slid back across the floor, ending up at the feet of his small group still emerging from the flank. He lay there panting, struggling to stand and staring with a look of complete disbelief.
‘You’re a difficult bloody life form aren’t you?’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Do you know how many workers I’ve had to squander just to trick you all here to be neutralised? The queen will not be happy.’
‘I’m heartbroken,’ said Ed, finally recovering from the shock of it being Rayl.
‘How can YOU be here and what are you doing?’ Andy shrieked, at the same time as he was struggling to get to his feet again.
‘Ah yes, that’s right,’ droned Rayl’s characterless monotone, at the same time giving Andy a withering disdainful stare. ‘This previously human vessel was a member of your crew wasn’t it?’
‘She’s not an it,’ Andy spat back. ‘She was my wife.’
‘Yes, that’s right—your disgusting species trait of affection and coupling. It has and will continue to lead to your demise.’
‘Wanna bet?’ said Ed.
Her head turned slowly back towards Ed, who received the same contemptuous glower.
‘We’ve been overcoming much more powerful civilisations than this small GDA thing for many millennia.’
‘You’re not doing so well this time, are you?’ said Grogun, stepping out from behind Ed.
‘Hello again, Captain Whipper,’ she said, baring her teeth in something almost resembling a smile. ‘You have been busy and even walking the entire length of the ship on the outer hull. We certainly didn’t envision you doing that, and then the enticing of large numbers of workers into hangars and on to their doom. Again, unexpected. You are a very astute and surprisingly fast mover for a human.’
‘Oh, that wasn’t me,’ Grogun replied, with a genuine smile.
Rayl’s half grin vanished again.
‘Well, whoever it was, it hasn’t worked out for you in the end, has it? You’re outnumbered here by more than twenty to one,’ she swept her arm around behind her, ‘and these workers don’t have their weapons set to stun anymore as you’ve all proved to be too much trouble and expendable. To be honest, when this man here has finished introducing our little additive to the water supply, we’ll have tens of thousands of human workers to infiltrate every level of the GDA and open the door to over sixteen hundred worlds.’
The man at the console glanced up at her momentarily.
‘Get on with it,’ Rayl commanded.
As he looked back down, his pleading eyes met Ed’s for a fleeting second.
‘I don’t think that’s going to happen,’ said Grogun.
‘I don’t envision there’s any way for you to stop us,’ said Rayl, the wry smirk returning as she surveyed the room behind them. ‘I don’t see any hidden army coming to change the course of events.’
Ed leant into Grogun. ‘Cleo’s ready,’ he whispered into her ear. She nodded once.
‘Ah, but I’m here,’ she said, before Rayl could ask what he’d said.
‘I’m here too,’ called a voice from high up on the machinery behind Ed.
Rayl looked up to find another Grogun grinning down at her.
‘As am I,’ said another Grogun, off to the right.
‘Me too,’ said another behind Rayl, causing her to spin around. She snarled and raised her weapon, but before she could aim and fire, that particular Grogun vanished.
‘That’s enough,’ she shouted, turning back and pointing the rifle at the real Grogun and as Ed stepped in front of her, there was an audible click from Rayl’s weapon. She turned it over in her hands and stared at it in confusion. Aiming it again and pulling the trigger only produced another click. ‘What the?’ she mouthed. ‘Useless fucking human weapons.’ She turned again to face the dozens of bugs behind her. ‘Kill them, kill them all,’ she spat.
Dozens of clicks sounded as every single bug weapon failed to fire. Rayl spun back around and glared.
‘What have you done?’ she hissed.
‘I’m very astute and surprisingly fast, don’t forget,’ said the real Grogun as she raised her weapon and shot Rayl through the centre of her chest.
Two things happened very quickly: one, the other members of the posse opened fire and set about the bugs who, on discovering their weapons were inoperative and witnessing their leader going down, came at them in a wave, pincers snapping. Two, Andy screamed and launched himself at the dais, completely ignoring the blizzard of fire flashing around him. His shield took a couple of glancing blows causing him to stumble, but he made it to Rayl and slid down on his knees beside her.
Ed was busy dispatching bugs, but he still heard Andy’s wail above the racket going on all around him. The fight that he was irretrievably involved in, didn’t last long. The bugs were no match unarmed against a determined group of crew, now on the front foot, realising this was a critical moment in the retaking of their ship and armed with laser rifles set on full power.
As soon as he could, Ed moved across and squatted down next to Andy. Saying nothing, he put his hand on his friend’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
‘She fucking killed her,’ Andy spat, stabbing a finger at Grogun through a tear-streaked face.
‘She was one of them,’ Grogun shouted back, pointing at the nearest dead bug. ‘My ship and crew come first.’
‘She was my fucking wife and you murdered her.’
Ed held his hand up at Grogun before she could say anything else.
‘Go on now and take the rest of your ship,’ he said to her. ‘I’ll take care of this.’
Grogun nodded once, and began issuing orders to the crew.
Ed turned back to Andy and sighed.
‘You didn’t have to say that to her.’
‘Look what she fucking did to my beautiful girl,’ grizzled Andy, hugging Rayl’s head against his chest. He waved his hand at the gaping wound in her chest.
‘She had no choice, Andrew. If it wasn’t for your shield, Rayl would’ve killed you. Look, her krypti’s intact. Let’s get her back to the Gabriel and see what Cleo can do.’