"Theeere's a...an annomaaaly. Should Iiii nuuullifffy the thhreat?" Alek frowned at the stutter in Cass' voice. And any attempt to 'nullify' whatever ship was out there was a bad idea, whether it was the rebels or Dominion or an unknown wildcard.
"Cass, shut those bloody alarms off," Rebeka shouted as she ran after Ish towards the bridge. The klaxons stopped, leaving blessed silence except for Cass' warbled voice.
"The ship is being boarded. They're jaackiiing into the caaargo bay dooor." Then the sirens resumed, and a thump rocked the ship, almost sending Alek to the floor as he headed into the corridor after Kandi. He threw both arms out to brace himself. At the junction, the captain stopped, hands on her ears.
"Cass, I thought I told you to turn those off. Trigger the EMP." Rebeka tried to raise her voice, but it ended up in a rasping squeak as she struggled to be heard over the sirens, which didn't stop this time. "Cass!"
There was no answer, and the captain pounded a fist into the nearest panel, then turned to Alek. "Help her." She jerked her head toward Kandi. "Try to keep the bay doors closed. I'll get to the EMP."
"Captain." He nodded but didn't move. "I...are you sure EMP is a good idea? It'll leave us dead in the water."
"I suspect if we don't stop them, we'll be plain, old dead." She turned and continued her sprint to the bridge.
"Weapons!" Kandi shouted, pausing at the arms cabinet.
Alek stopped beside her as she swiped it open with her wrist, then he took the blaster she handed him, grabbing a recharge pack and an old-fashioned dagger for good measure. The boy, Ben, reached a hand into the cupboard.
Kandi swatted it away. "Not for you."
The boy drew his hand back as if stung. Alek grabbed Ben's shoulders and peered at him. "Go back to the medbay. Lock yourself in." Ben frowned, and his blue eyes glistened with unshed tears. "It's safer there." The boy pouted but nodded, dragging his feet as he turned away. Alek tucked the blaster into his belt then chased after Kandi, who was already halfway down the stairs into the cargo bay.
Grabbing a rail in each hand, Alek jumped up and slid down to the cargo bay floor. He joined Kandi in taking cover behind one of the broken crates. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tink emerge from the corridor leading to the engine room, blaster in one hand and what looked like a bag of marbles in the other. Positioning herself behind the other crate, she glanced at them. Then her mouth dropped open as something over his shoulder drew her attention. Alek turned his head to see what she was gawping at.
"Boll...arnacles!" He reached out and grabbed Ben's wrist as a clunk echoed through the hold. "I thought I told you to go to the medbay." The boy bit his lip but made to get up. The clunk was replaced by a hiss as the air lock beside the cargo bay doors started to open. "Too late now." He pulled the boy down beside him, earning a scathing look from Severn, who'd come downstairs after Ben.
"Too late for EMP," Kandi said into her wrist, as the first of the boarders shouldered through the airlock doors. Kandi peeked her head over the crate and took a shot. But as soon as Alek saw the lacquered black of the figures, he realized their weapons weren't going to do much damage. And he was more worried about puncturing the umbilical that connected them to the other ship's atmosphere.
"They're wearing combat suits." He knew from experience that a blast while wearing a suit still stung and left a nasty bruise, but it didn't kill. Not from their hand-held weapons at least. A blast of return fire rained sparks on them, drawing him out of his memories. Kandi raised her blaster to shoot again, but he brought his hand down on her wrist, causing her to scowl at him. "Save your ammo. You're more likely to damage the ship than the boarders when they're wearing that armour."
"So what do you suggest, mister 'I know combat suits'?" Severn's lips twisted into a sneer. Kandi didn't say anything but arched an eyebrow at Alek.
He shrugged. "I don't know."
"There's not much we can do." Rebeka's voice was soft as steel wool over his shoulder. Alek jerked his head around to face her. Wearing a blaster at each hip and a frown on her face, she flicked her gaze over the others, returning her attention to him as she ducked down beside him. "He's right. Our shots won't get through."
"Smoke 'em if you got 'em," Tink said, and Alek turned his gaze to her. She grinned at something in her hands, bringing dimples to her cheeks.
"What's so fun —" He stopped when she lobbed something from the bag of marbles over the crate, and the ting of metal on metal reverberated through the large space.
"Tink!" The captain's voice was sharp behind him. "Smoke'll blind us more than them."
Alek craned his neck to peer over his impromptu shield. Sure enough, tendrils of smoke rose from whatever Tink had thrown. "And we don't have filter masks," he said as he slumped back down. "Unlike those suits."
Tink frowned then flicked her wrist, and the wisps stopped advancing. "Fine, no smoke."
The thump-thump-thump of well-trained feet on decking rumbled through the cargo bay. Rebeka peeked over the crate. Her eyes narrowed before she ducked back down just as a pulse hit the grating in front of the boxes. Heat from the charge tightened the skin of Alek's cheeks, and he wiped his brow with the back of his hand, making sure the hairs were still there.
"Bleeding Hades. They're Tau," the captain said. Alek swallowed but stayed silent. He'd seen the insignia too: their invaders might be a third-string unit, but they were still Fifth Echelon, the Legion's elite. Rebeka obviously knew her ranks as well as he did. "Special Task Force, specializing in insertion and extraction," she added.
"At least they're not Ki," Severn murmured. Rebeka's sharp eyes flicked to his face, and Alek's eyebrows pulled together. He'd been forced to study the insignia of the Echelons as a child: Ki, Omega, Phi, Tau, Epsilon. It had helped being surrounded by them. But he didn't expect a computer tech to have the same experience. Severn shifted and focused his attention on the invaders.
After a second, the captain continued, turning to Kandi. "Ideas?"
Without answering, Alek stood up and turned to the invaders, hands above his head.
"What are you doing?" Rebeka hissed, wrapping her fingers around his ankle.
"I have a plan."
"As your captain, I order you to abandon this plan." She frowned. "Or at least tell me what it is."
Alek stepped out from behind the crate. He told himself he didn't share his plan because there wasn't time, but in truth, he knew she wouldn't like it. It was simple, really — hand himself over. Maybe then he could have a private conversation with their leader and negotiate with the person who'd sent them.
A figure stepped out from the main body of boarders. The Tau Leader. If his insignia hadn't marked him, the additional tech visible on his gleaming black combat suit set him apart from the rest.
"You." His voice was mechanical through the breather.
"Do I know you, Tau?" Alek kept his tone casual.
"No, but I know you." The response was equally relaxed. "You're famous. Or infamous. Not exactly who I was expecting."
Alek wasn't too keen on his plan anymore — he didn't like that the man knew him by sight, though it wasn't entirely surprising, given his past as an entertainer. Nonetheless, he forged ahead. Maybe there was a way they could all get out of this alive if he served as a distraction while the others came up with a better plan. Though, judging by the tense whispering, it didn't seem they were close to a solution.
"Yet they sent a third-string team to collect me?" He barked a harsh laugh. "I was expecting more."
"I'm not here for you." The snort was audible through the helmet. "As I expect you know. You're just a bonus." Tau stood stock still, not even a shrug of the shoulders visible through the layers of spivex plating. The only movement was the sneer on his face, clear despite the smoky visor which blurred his features.
Alek's blood turned icy hot as he heard the whine of the pulse rifle firing up. But instead of ducking back behind the crate, he charged at the Tau leader with all the strength in his unmodded, worn-out, busted-up legs. The man stood there, his eyes getting bigger for a second. Then all Alek saw was black as his shoulder slammed into a soldier who hadn't been there a moment earlier. Something bit into his arm as he fell. He landed on the grating with the wind knocked out of him and his head ringing.
"Fan out," a woman's voice said as blood dripped from the knife in her hand. The other clutched a pulse rifle. "Kill them all except the target."
Alek expected the rifle to press into his temple any second. Instead, it drifted right and up. He squinted, his head tipping sideways, as he tried to make sense of the sight above him: a black-clad soldier flailed in the air. The thought that a sudden decompression was pulling the soldier out of the cargo bay passed through his mind, but he could still breathe and was getting his wind back. The struggling woman, eyes wide, flew away from him. He shook his head to clear it; the fall must have jostled it harder than he thought — and it had been banged about too many times already in his short life — but the woman was replaced by another black streak then another.
Alek sat up, his head spinning and his ears roaring. He faced the back of the cargo bay, where Ben stood, clenched fists at his sides, staring intently at the flying bodies. His face was white, his lips thin, and dark circles bruised the skin under his eyes. A drop of blood fell from his nose.
A frost spread from Alek's gut and crept up his spine as he realized it was the boy flinging the invaders through the air. Hurling them into the umbilical, back to their own ship, whether they wanted to go or not.
"Oh. Jacks."