Nathan Hystad - New Threat

Our suits were much like the ones we’d used from the Kraski ship last year, only there were five fingers for the hands, and they fit us since they were custom-built. The material was light and thin, though protective from radiation and, as we’d learned, almost melt-proof. As I slid into the suit, I thought back to when Mae and I had harnessed up and shot toward the vessel heading for the edge of the sun, clipping it and saving countless lives. Why had she done it?

“Ready?” Slate asked. His helmet was clipped in, and he checked ours, ensuring they were sealed properly.

“I think so,” I said.

“You remember all the training we’ve gone over?” he asked us both.

Mary nodded, and he handed her the pulse rifle from the weapons cache. We were strapped with a handgun, and Slate had an arsenal of other weapons: concussion grenades, clubs, knives, and anything else he could carry on his person. He made for quite the imposing soldier.

“Overkill?” Mary asked him. “Expecting company?”

He answered with a toothy smile. “You can never be too prepared.”

I keyed into the storage room computer tablet on the wall, and we watched the viewscreen feed as Clare approached the Deltra vessel. Kareem had told us where the best spot to enter would be, and Clare hovered our ship just above it.

“Love you, Mary,” I said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it for a second.

“Love you too,” she replied.

“What about me? Am I chopped liver?” Slate asked, laughing at his own joke. It was nice to see him cracking a funny one, and suddenly I didn’t miss having Magnus beside me quite as much.

“We love you, Slate,” we said in unison, getting a laugh and an eye roll for our trouble.

We strapped the lanyards to the harness clip on our suits’ waists, safety cords should something go wrong between here and there. We had to travel through a few meters of space, and I didn’t want the beam to drop me out there.

“Here goes nothing,” he said, pushing the pinned button on his suit’s collar. Green light enveloped him, and he pushed off the bar as we lowered from the ceiling. He passed through the floor with ease, and we followed.

Mary went next, glancing up at me just as she was leaving through the floor. I couldn’t help but smile at her as I pressed my own pin, green light covering me. It was surreal to be doing this again. I pushed and had the odd sensation of crossing through something solid, as my particles bounced around super-fast.

I closed my eyes briefly to avoid seeing outside the ships. Infinite space and I were still on tumultuous terms after last year. Counting three seconds, I opened them, and pressed my pin again as my feet touched down on the metallic grated floor. I scanned the room, and my brain took a moment to catch up to what I was seeing.

“Mary,” I called into my headset.

“I’m here,” she replied, and I saw a movement to the side of the room.

“What happened?”

“Someone was here waiting. They fired into the room, and Slate went after them,” she said as I approached her.

“You okay?” I asked, worry creeping into my voice.

“Yeah, let’s go back up Slate.”

She raised her pulse rifle, and I followed suit, walking sideways to the doorway. “Slate, come in,” I said into my helmet speaker.

“There were five of them. I took two down so far. I’m coming back.” Slate’s voice was calm and quick in my ear.

We stood in the hall, guns raised in each direction.

The night vision on our display glowed green, showing us a basic hall of metal beams and grates. The place was built for function, not fashion. Something caught my eye to my right and I spun, seeing the bulk of Slate backing toward us.

“You know where you’re going?” he asked.

I tried to get my bearings and nodded. “He said it should be in the anti-grav generator halls. Under the level-three air ducts.” I wished it was closer to our entry point, but Kareem hadn’t counted on us being attacked when we arrived.

“Lead the way. I’ve got your backs,” he said.

We moved down the hall, sweat dripping down my arms as nervous energy raced through me. “What are they?” I asked.

“Big. Bigger than me. Heavy armor. Nothing we’ve seen before, but they may match the Bhlat description we’ve heard. It was hard to tell with them firing at me,” Slate said.

Bhlat . The name sent shivers through my spine; my finger crept closer to the trigger on my weapon. Our footsteps clanged on the floor, echoing down the quiet halls. I kept thinking how they must be hearing it, they would be around the corner; but for that first section, it was all quiet.

The anti-grav wheel spoked out at four points, and the door to the third one was my target. We made it there in peace, and I tested the handle. The electric pocket door hissed open, causing me to jump and almost fire my gun. My nerves were getting the best of me. We’d only been walking on the ship for five minutes and it felt like an hour to me.

“Go get it, Dean. I’ll watch the door.” Slate slipped inside after us, and the door hissed shut. The room was confined, with a manual hatch leading down the massive wheel spoke, for lack of a better term.

“I wasn’t planning on having the Bhlat here. Kareem said we need their DNA to activate it.” The device was awful in a humanitarian kind of way. The Deltra had built the Shield as a way to keep Kraski away from it, and in a small area, the high-density few-kilometer radius killing them instantly, as I’d seen when we’d destroyed them in their own vessel last year. The image of them melting from their proximity to the Shield still haunted me, and there I was, hunting for another weapon of mass destruction with even more power.

“I’m coming with you, Dean. We can’t get separated. We’ll be stronger together,” Mary said.

Part of me wished she would stay behind and be protected by Slate, and another part was happy to have her by my side. I tried to spin the hatch wheel, grunting at the stubborn thing. Mary joined in, and just when I was about to ask Slate for a hand, it started to move. We spun it open and saw a ladder heading upward.

“I’ll take the lead,” I said, climbing into the tube. It was a few feet wide, but not spacious by any stretch of the imagination. The rungs were metal, coated with small flakes that gave it grip. I raced up the first few; but looking up, I saw it went on for what appeared to be forever, so I slowed, pacing myself for the climb. We passed a small hatch that would exit to level one of the grav-system. Level three was our destination.

Pulse laser fire erupted from below us, and I had the urge to get Mary to pass me so I could get between her and any potential fire. But they could be above us too.

“Just keep moving. Slate’s trained for this,” she said, pushing my foot lightly. I listened without hesitation, adrenaline speeding me up as we made our way past the second hatch.

“Almost there,” I said, straining to hear gunfire below. Nothing. “Slate, come in,” I said. Nothing but static returned. “We’ve lost contact.”

The third hatch was upon us, and my muscles burned as I climbed toward it. This one spun easier than the one below had, and I climbed through the four-foot diameter hole, sticking my hand out to help Mary into the room. It was pitch black, and finally, I could feel the wheel we were in spinning. Our feet were planted on the ground from the gravity it was creating, and while I didn’t quite grasp the science very well, I was happy for it.

“Where is it?” Mary asked.

“He hid it. For good reason, apparently.” The room was bathed in green from my helmet display, and I scanned for the crate Kareem had told me about. It was there, right where he’d said it would be! My heart raced as I ran to it. There was another door to the room, a normal humanoid-sized one, perfect to accommodate the tall, lanky Deltra. As I approached the crate, the door hissed open. Mary was a few feet away, the doorway separating us. We both had our backs pushed against the wall, and I held my breath. Something walked into the room slowly, feet clanking heavily on the metal floors. It was huge: seven or eight feet when it stood straight after bending for the too-small entrance.