The Phantom Ship
AwakeningThe beeping of the vid phone jolted Stranix awake. He bolted upright, breathing heavy. He had been having a dream. He remembered that much, but the details of the dream escaped him. No matter, the only reason his phone would be beeping in the middle of the night was because there was some vital emergency.
He reached over, and pushed the button under the vid phone. A picture of his superior, general Grant came on the screen.
"Stranix, there has been an incident. Gather your squad, and report to the CP. You'll get further information once you get here. All I can tell you is that this will be a deep space mission, make sure your squad has all the appropriate gear." The picture faded to blackness.
Great, another interstellar incident, and his squad had to do all the dirty work. Stranix thought. His squad, the rejects, was a deep space reconnaissance team. They got their name because most of the people in it were military rejects. Stranix pulled them together, and got them to work into a seamless team. They specialized on checking out alien ships, scouting unknown planets on the very end of inhabited space, and a trait that no one accept the team and general Grant knew, insertion, and assassination on any planet.
He got out of bed, grabbed his gear, and dressed into his standard marine armor. The servos whirred slightly as he exited his tiny quarters on the space station that had been his home for several years. He walked one door down, and opened it.
"Wake up Butch, grab all your deep space gear, and report to the CP. We got a mission." Stranix said. A sleepy grunt of assent was the only reply. "On the double, lets go big guy." Butch was the units brute strength. He was almost seven feet tall, and his body was pure muscle. He had to have his marine armor made special, because they didn't stock it in his size. His real name was actually James Monroe, but no one called him that. The last person who did ended up in the infirmary for a week, after just one punch.
Stranix exited the small quarters, and went on to the one right next to it. He entered, and said.
"Time to get up E-man. We got a mission, get all your deep space gear, and report to the CP."
"What the hell happened this time?" Came the grumbled reply.
"I don't know, I know as much as you right now." Stranix replied.
E-man, was short for Enflamed. The teams firebat. He got his nickname because his fiery red hair, set out in wavy lines, looked like his head was on fire. It was only appropriate that he dealt out death by fire.
Stranix once again exited the tiny quarters, and went on to the next one. In side this one was Mouse. Normally the name mouse is given in a joking manner. The person is actually huge. But Mouse actually was smaller than an average sized person. He piloted the unit's SCV.
"Yo, little brother, we got a mission, so rise and shine. Grab your deep space gear, and report to the CP stat."
"Roger that." Came Mouse's reply.
The rest of the squad consisted of, Michaels, and Ace. The teams flyboys. They piloted the two wraiths of the squad. Then there was Duke and Speals. They also wore standard marine armor. And Duke had been trying to get it through everyone's head for years, but still people asked him that famous question. "If he was related to the famous General Duke." And the answer was no. He was in no way shape or form related to him. The fact that they had the same last name was a coincidence. Then came the two ghosts. Randal and Reindhardt. Last but not least were Billy and Tanner. They were a little bit of everything. What role they took on was effected by the situation. They were skilled dropship pilots, were versatile in marine armor, could roast things with flame throwers, were crack shots with the 25mm C-10 canister rifle that the ghosts used, even if they couldn't cloak like the ghosts, they could operate goliaths, and tanks, if they were available. And on this mission, it didn't look like they would be.
In fifteen minutes, the whole squad was assembled in the CP. Everyone had all their gear, and were ready to deploy. At this hour, General Grant, and a few routine sensor monitors were all that were on duty in the CP.
"Gentlemen, I will get strait to the point. For you must leave immediately. The scout ship Intimate reported a strange find. They saw a battlecruiser sitting in deep space, abandoned. They tried to hail the ship, but got no response. They did not have the right crew for a boarding party, so they called it in, and you got the job. The ship was later identified as the Vindicator. The ship vanished without a trace a decade ago, and now it has turned up. Your mission will be to go to the ship, enter it, and find out what the hell happened. We do not know if there are any hostels on board, but assume that there are. I am giving this mission to you because you are the best. Make me proud. Are there any questions?" There were none. "Your own flag ship, Arrogance will take you there immediately. The coordinates of the Vindicator are being downloaded to the computer as we speak. Good luck."
* * * *
"Doesn't look like there is a scratch on it." Stranix commented to Captain Greer. He was the captain of the Arrogance. They were standing on the bridge of the flag ship, and were surveying the Vindicator trough the front viewport.
"Indeed, it looks totally unharmed." Greer said. "Scanners, are there any life forms detected."
"None sir." Said a technician on one of the consoles of the bridge.
"You should report to the hangar. I'll keep you informed if anything happens here." Greer said.
"Yes sir." Stranix said back. He saluted, and left the bridge, walking to the hangar.
Once in the hangar, Stranix addressed his squad. They were all lounging around the dropship assigned to them.
"All right listen up people. We are go for our mission in ten minutes. Do all last minute equipment checks, and stow your gear in the dropship if you haven't already done so. But before we start, I want this to be a by the book exercise. This ship, and it's disappearance are famous. Even if people have forgotten about it over the years. Now that it's appeared again it will raise some questions. And if it ever gets off classified, every one will be able to know about it. So the whole Terran nation will be reviewing this at one point. Is that clear? No careless mistakes."
"Yes sir." They all shouted back.
"Okay, everyone get ready."
Michales and Ace got in their Wraiths, and prepped for launch. Mouse was already in his SCV, waiting by the airlock, ready to throw the switch, that would open the hangar door.
"Tanner, you'll be our dropship pilot. Billy, we might need some extra firepower, so you'll go in as a firebat." Stranix said.
"Roger." Tanner said.
"Right-o." Billy said, moving off into the dropship to suit up in his firebat armor.
"Everyone else has their normal job, I want everyone prepped for hard vacuum in two minutes, we're green in five minutes." Stranix said. Everyone accept Mouse, Michales and Ace got into the dropship and made sure their suits were sealed.
After five minutes they got the radio from the bridge. They were clear for launch.
"Punch it Mouse!" Stranix said. Mouse hit the button next to the air lock. It sealed the doors to the hangar, and warning lights began to flash all over the place. After thirty seconds the doors of the main hangar began to open.
The two Wraiths powered up their thrusters, and moved in single file towards the hangar door.
"This is Wraith one, we're ready for role out and flyby." Came Ace's voice over the radio.
"Roger Wraith one, you are clear for launch." Came the voice of a bridge technician.
"Wraith one away."
"Wraith two away."
"All right boys, you know the drill. Give me a flyby report." Stranix said over the radio.
"Roger that proceeding with flyby." Ace responded.
The rest of the squad was watching on the dropship's monitors. While they were still in the hangar, they had all the feeds from the bridge's computers. The pair of Wraiths moved into formation. One slightly behind and to the right of the other, and did a visual check on all sides of the massive battlecruiser.
"Wraith one, no signs of any activity, no lights, no waste ports opening, not even the beacon lights are flashing. What ever happened, it didn't damage the ship at all, though." Ace said.
"Roger that Wraith one, attempt communication." Stranix ordered.
"Roger that sir," Ace said. "Trying to reach her on all civilian, military, and encrypted frequencies. Vindicator, this is Wraith one of the Terran battlecruiser Arrogance. Do you copy?" The only reply was silence. "Vindicator do you copy? This is Wraith one from the Terran battlecruiser Arrogance." Again nothing. "It's no good sir, there's no response."
"Right, I want you two on alert status, continue to fly cover. We're sending Mouse in." Stranix said.
"Roger that, flying cover for little brother." Michales said.
"Mouse, your free to launch, check out the main hold. Watch yourself little brother." Stranix said.
"Roger that sir, and I always do." Mouse said. He moved his SCV out of the hangar door, and into deep space. There were stars all around him. But nothing closer than a few light years away. The Vindicator was sitting out in the middle of no where.
Because there was no response to their hails, and the hangar door was closed, they would have to cut a hole in the hangar door. That was Mouse's job. He would pilot his SCV up to it, cut a hole, and then the dropship would latch onto it, and the squad would board.
Mouse brought his SCV along side the gigantic ship. It was an easy matter to find the main belly hangar. He moved his SCV right up to the large door.
"It will take a few minutes to cut through the door, they make these things tough for a reason." Mouse said.
"Take your time, and do it right." Stranix said.
"Roger that, proceeding to cut." Mouse said. He brought out his fusion cutters that were mounted on the arms of his SCV. He started to trace a line down the side of the door. The process brought sparks, and the cutters slowly began to cut through the metal. It took several minutes. But finally there was a square the size of a dropship's access hatch cut into the door. Mouse grabbed the metal that he cut away, and pushed it into the hangar. He didn't want that to hit one of the fighters if he let it drift out in space.
"Your door has been cut, zero activity in the hangar, you are clear for your approach." Mouse said.
"Roger that little brother, Wraiths report." Stranix said.
"All clear, still no activity in the ship, or around it. Zero hostels, or meteoroids." Ace said.
"Roger that Wraith one." Stranix said. "Bridge, we're starting our approach."
"Roger that, be careful. We'll watch your back." Came captain Greer's voice.
"Tanner, take us out." Stranix said.
"Starting our approach." Tanner said. The pilot smoothly moved the dropship off the hangar floor, cruised across the open space, to the main door. He exited the hangar, and moved across the small area of deep space until he got to the deserted ship. He maneuvered the dropship towards the main hangar, where Mouse had cut the hole. Once in position, Tanner went to the camera mounted on the side, to guide the boarding sleeve towards the hole cut in the side. The sleeve latched on, and made a vacuum around the hole.
"We are sealed and good to go." Tanner said, flipping a switch to bring the ship into standby mode.
"Tanner, once we're in close and seal the door. But still make sure you watch your back."
"I got my hand held impaler right here." He said patting the particularly large pistol holstered to his leg. It was small for a gauss rifle, but incredibly large for a pistol.
"All right, lets move people, we're on a tight schedule." Stranix said.
Everyone moved out in single file towards the boarding sleeve. The sleeve was big enough to accommodate marine and firebat armor, but you had to walk one at a time. They filed into the sleeve, Stranix was in the lead. He walked up to the airlock. He took one deep calming breath, before he threw the switch that opened the air lock. With a hiss the door slid to the right.
Stranix brought up his gauss rifle. He didn't see much in the hangar. Mostly because he it was dark. The only light was coming from behind him, the lights in the sleeve of the dropship.
He took the first steps into the deserted hangar. Every nerve tingled as he looked around. A sound came behind him, and something touched his shoulder. He whipped around bringing his Impaler into line. All he saw was Mouse in his SCV. Stranix had almost forgotten that Mouse would have entered the hangar through the hole he cut before the sleeve of the dropship attached.
"Jeeze Stranix, what did I scare you?" Mouse asked.
"Just a little edgy, this ship is creepy." Stranix replied as the rest of the squad entered the hangar one by one. Once everyone was assembled, Stranix said, "Lights." Everyone flipped a switch, accept for the two ghosts. And shoulder mounted floodlights came up on all of the armor.
"This place is totally deserted." Duke said.
"No kidding, no sounds of a normal ship. No air filters, no reactor noises, just emptiness." Butch said.
"All right, we have a job to do." Stranix reminded everyone. "We're going to break up into pairs, and search the ship deck by deck. Mouse your with me. We'll make our way to the bridge and see what we can do there. Butch your with Reindhardt, E-man, your with Duke. Speals will go with Billy. And Randal will acompany them because of the odd number. I don't want anyone alone on this ship, at any time. Everyone will call each floor as they clear it. Radio in anything out of the ordinary. I don't care what it is, if it's not normal, you call it in. And no matter how soon the last time you radioed in was, you check in in five minute intervals. Is that clear?"
"Right on!" Butch said.
"Lets get this done, fast, but we do it well." Stranix said. "All right, split up, watch your backs, and be careful." Stranix said.
"We will." Duke said.
"We'll try to make you proud." Reindhardt said.
Stranix and Mouse took the corridor just on the right once you exited the main hangar. Since there was no power in the whole ship, every door had to be opened by manual override. Then they came to another problem. The ship had multiple levels, but with no power, the turbo lifts didn't work.
"I guess we'll have to climb up manually." Mouse said, as he and Stranix came to the elevator to the bridge level.
"I guess we climb." Stranix said.
Mouse moved forward, and opened the lift panel with his gripper. Then he activated the manual override, and Stranix was able to pry the doors open. The lift was on their floor. Stranix walked in first. He looked up, shining his light up the rest of the shaft. It was clear. So he let his Impaler hang from the built in strap, and began to climb the maintenance ladder. It was hard work. Mouse had it easy, all he had to do was turn his propulsion jets down, and he floated up next to Stranix.
After several minutes, they made it up to the bridge level. The squad had radioed in twice. Each time they reported nothing out of the ordinary.
Stranix pried the doors open, and they got out on the bridge level. From the lift to the bridge was a short hike. They made it before the next call in.
The bridge was a normal battlecruiser bridge. A raised command walkway allowed the captain to see what was on the screens in the crew pit below. The large forward viewport was opaque.
"Mouse, access the computer, see what you can dig up. See if you can't locate the ships log." Stranix said.
"I don't know how good that'll be with no power." Mouse said.
"I know but we have to try." Stranix replied. Mouse moved over to the main computer on the end of the command walkway. He punched the manual turn on switch. Normally these computers didn't get shut off, ever, but with the power failure they would have been shut off. The capacitors inside the computer had enough of a charge to make the holo display flicker, but it went dead in about a second.
"Now this is where I work my magic." Mouse said. He opened the storage compartment at the base of his SCV. He pulled out a black cubic shape with two wires, one red, and the other black sticking off of it. He set the box down in front of the computer, and opened the side panel. He hooked up the wires on the box, and hit a switch. The generator put enough power into the computer to get it running.
"I'm going to have to run on the flat screens to conserve power, but I think I can get the reactor working again." Mouse said.
"Good, keep working, I'm going to check out the crew pit." Stranix said.
"Roger that." Mouse said, already busy in his work. Stranix walked to the edge of the walkway, bent his knees, with a slight whirring from the servos, and dropped into the crew pit. It was empty, and dark. He flashed his lights around, checking every corner. There wasn't even a chip on the consoles, or a scuff on the floor. The captain was either a major clean freak, or something weird had happened here.
"Sir, Butch here." Came the voice over the radio.
"Go Butch."
"I found the tiniest spot of dried blood."
"Good work, where is it?" Stranix asked.
"In a berth on C deck."
"Have you checked the rest of the berths?" Stranix asked.
"Not yet." Butch replied.
"Check them out and report when your done."
"Roger that, Butch out."
Stranix walked over to the end of the crew pit, and took the ramp up to the command walkway.
"And this is where you all bow down and say Mouse is the greatest." Mouse said. He hit one button on the keyboard, and the whole ship rumbled. It shook violently for about a second, then it stopped and a low, deep rumbling penetrated the whole ship. Lights came to life all over the bridge.
"Sir?" Came the confused message from Duke.
"What the fuck was that?" Reindhardt asked.
"Not to worry men, Mouse just turned the reactor back on. That was the rumble you felt."
"Roger that." Randal said.
"Mouse, do a systems check." Stranix ordered.
"Three steps ahead of you boss." Mouse said. "Communications are shot, scanners are shot, guns are shot, internal lights, are on." He pushed a button, and lights sprang to life all over the ship. "Viewport is opening." The opaque shield over the viewport slid back revealing stars. "And that's about all I can get out of the old girl."
"How about the captains log?" Stranix asked.
"I got it up here." An image began scrolling across the holo screen. It was a scrolling list of dates and names.
"We can't download that directly to the Arrogance, but first save it to disk, then we'll look at the bottom few entries." Stranix said.
"Roger that." Mouse said. Stranix walked over to look at the holographic readout, when a scream came over the radio, and a burst of rifle fire echoed through the ship.
* * * *
Butch and Reindhardt, after finding the blood in the berthing compartment, proceeded to check the rest of that floor.
"This place creeps me out big time." Reindhardt said as they opened another berth, and found it empty. It was completly, and totally empty. No sheets on the bed, no pictures on the wall, no cloths in the closet. Nothing. It was just two sections of bulkhead that jutted out, and were bare, cold metal.
"No shit," Butch said. "It's like this ship was cleaned out of everything. It's spooky."
"Definatly." Reindhardt said. The pair closed the door to the berth, and walked to the adjacent one. They opened this one as well. It was like the last one. Completely bare of everything.
"The sooner we get off this wreck, the better." Butch said as they moved on to the next berth. This particular berthing compartment was one long hallway with nothing but doors to identical berthing compartments. The tiny sleeping quarters for the grunts. Marines, and gunners stationed on the battlecruiser.
The pair opened the last berth on that side of the hallway. This one also had a spot of dried blood, about the size of a cred coin.
"Look more blood." Butch pointed out.
"Yep, looks like it." Reindhardt said. "Better call it in."
Reindhardt activated his radio, but it happened too quick for him to say anything. A figure materialized behind him suddenly, almost as if it appeared. It towered over even Butch, and was in the shape of a serpent with two vicious claws sticking off of two arms, as it slithered erect, with a large bone encrusted head. It was a Zerg hydralisk.
"Oh shit!" Reindhardt screamed. As the massive creature reared back, and prepared to cut him in pieces with its razor sharp claws. But Butch was too quick for it. He spun around, and let off a burst of his 'impailer'. The burst of shells knocked the hydralisk back into the bulkhead.
The injured creature opened it's mouth to spit one of it's deadly, poisonous spines, aiming right at Reindhardt. But Reindhardt had recovered from the shock of the creatures sudden appearance. He spun around to face it, dropped to one knee as the hydralisk spat it's spine out. The spine stabbed into the bulkhead behind him, but did no damage. He aimed, and pulled the trigger on his canister rifle. The armor penetrating shell hit the creature right between it's eyes, cracking it's skull easily. Blood sprayed out of the fist sized hole, and the creature fell face first into the deck.
"Holy shit, where the hell did he come from?" Reindhardt yelled.
"I have no idea but our problems are just beginning." Butch said, pointing down the corridor. From where he pointed, hundreds of little clawed feet were scraping against the metal floor as tons of zerglings came running towards them.
* * * *
Stranix was incredibly worried. He was still on the bridge, but he was ready to dash out any minute.
"Some one talk to me, I heard gun fire, what the hell is happening, talk to me people!" He yelled into the radio.
"E-man here, situation normal, wasn't us who fired, sounded like it came above us, standing by for orders." Came the reply.
"Billy here, heard it as well, what do we do boss?" Billy said.
"This is Butch, we are under massive zergling attack, we're bugging out, no way we can take em all on."
"Zerg here, what the hell is going on?" Stranix wondered aloud. "Everyone get your asses out! I repeat haul ass to the main hangar. Get moving." Stranix yelled. "Butch, I'm coming to back you up, hold on!"
Stranix ran out of the bridge, sprinting as fast as his armor would allow.
"Mouse follow me, no one is gonna be alone on this ship!" Stranix yelled as he sprinted away.
"Roger that." Mouse said, as he followed Stranix.
Butch and Reindhardt ran as fast as they could away from the advancing zerglings. There was no way they could out run the creatures, even if they both didn't have any armor on, the zerglings would still be faster. So if you add in the armor, the zerglings would overtake them very quickly. The only reason that the pair wasn't dead was that unlike hydralisks, the zerglings have no projectiles. So they had to be close to their enemy to attack with their claws and fangs. And the marine and ghost made use of that. Firing and killing many zerglings as they ran.
They pounded down the corridor. Butch turning sideways and firing a burst into the swarming crowd of little creatures every couple of steps. Each time he cut down one, the others had to climb over it, or go around it. So it delayed them. And that was just enough for them to be able to keep ahead of the zerglings.
Stranix suddenly appeared out of a corridor in front of them. He stopped, and laid down a barrage of shells. Letting his gauss rifle go full auto. It was devastating to the advancing zerglings. His shells slammed into them, tearing limbs off, penetrating their armored heads, sheering off claws, and breaking bones.
"Go go go!" He yelled. As Butch and Reindhardt came level with him, he too turned and ran. After three more corridor passes, the rest of the team came out from two different corridors, on either side of the hall. When the rest of the squad opened fire, the zerglings were routed, and they ran off, with their tails between their legs. The onslaught of the devastating shells, and when a few came close enough, fire from E-man's flame-throwers, they were all killed, or they fled.
"No time for celebrating, this whole ship is one big Zerg nest. We gotta get out of here now!" Stranix yelled.
"And this battle is far from over look!" Speals yelled. The slower, but still fast hydralisks came slithering into view in the corridor. There had to be hundreds of them, and with more firepower on their side, the zerglings began their chase again. The fast little terrors outpaced the monstrous hydralisks. But that made an even deadlier threat. The zerglings were closing fast, and they were so small, running on all fours that the massive hydralisks could fire their spines over the zerglings.
The squad ran flat out away from the deadly creatures. They were nearing the main hangar door, when two very bad things happened. First the lights suddenly went out. Plunging them into momentary darkness, as they switched their lights back on. Then Duke caught a spine in the back of the knee. He fell to the ground with a metallic smack. The spine not only penetrated the weak back of his armor, and hit his knee. But it also jammed the servos, and gears in the knee joint. So he couldn't move his knee if he wanted to.
Stranix grabbed Speals by the arm. "We don't leave our people behind!" Stranix yelled, turning to face the oncoming swarm. He and the rest of the squad went full auto. All accept E-man. He reached down behind him, to the storage case in the back of his armor. He came out with two large bottles.
"Let me introduce you to my friend, Mr. Maltop cocktail!" He yelled, twirling the two bottles, even with his large cumbersome armored fingers. He stopped the bottles in his hand, and fired a little puff of flame from each of his wrist mounted flame-throwers. That got the fuse on each bottle burning. Then he hurled them. First one, then the other. When the glass broke, and the gas hit the flame on the rag, there was a wall of fire created. It incinerated tons of zerglings, and blocked the progress of the others.
"Get Duke!" Stranix yelled. Reindhardt and Speals ran up and grabbed him under the arms, hauling the marine to his feet, and dragging him away from the wall of flames, and towards the main hangar. The door leading to the main hangar was just about one-hundred feet away.
"You gotta be fucking kidding me." Billy said, pointing towards the wall of flames. The zerglings had crawled up the wall, and were now running along the ceiling, and the walls. Totally defying gravity. Their claws dug into the solid metal of the ship like it was living flesh. But when they passed, there wasn't a scratch on the surface.
"Waste them!" Stranix yelled, firing a burst that sent one of the zerglings tumbling to the ground. The two firebats began hurling tons of fire towards the oncoming zerglings. The streams roasted the creatures, and a heavy stench of burnt flesh penetrated the filters on their suits.
Then once again, the unexpected happened. This time it was even more amazing. A hydralist came up out of the solid metal of the ship's floor. When the hydralisk had appeared behind Butch, they didn't see where it came from, and hydras are known for lurking in shadows. But this time, half the squad saw it suddenly rise from solid armor grade titanium.
The hydralisk reared back, and prepared to take a swing at Stranix, for it had appeared directly behind him. It arched it's claws back, and moved it's muscular arm as it began it's fatal chop, aimed at Stranix's neck. Butch dove at the hydra, and knocked it backwards slightly. Butch was incredibly strong, hence the nick name Butch. But the hydra was much stronger, and only rocked back slightly. But another of Butch's qualities. He is persistent as hell. When he hit the hydra, it must have been like hitting a brick wall. But he wrapped his arms around it, and pulled it with him when he rolled. He managed to get it on the ground. Which was a hard feat, because the hydra had one long serpentine tail as it's legs, and it could be positioned for maximum stability.
"Shoot that son of a bitch!" Butch yelled as he rolled away from the downed hydra. Speals turned, and fired a burst that caught the hydra in the chest, drilling strait through it. The creature went limp.
"Lets go, we gotta move now!" Stranix yelled, pulling Butch to his feet. They began to run as fast as they could. Speals and Randal were looking backwards, and firing at the wave of zerglings that was still coming over the wall of fire via the walls and ceiling.
Another hydra came up out of the solid floor, directly in front of Butch and Stranix. Stranix fired a burst that sent the beast sprawling. Billy sent a jet of flame at it as he passed, to make sure it was dead.
The zerglings behind them were still coming. There was no stopping them. For every one that was shot and killed, three took it's place. And now hydralisks were appearing all over the place.
One ended up right in front of E-man. It was on the ground in a burning heap of charred flesh before it could raise one of it's claws. Then another appeared next to Reindhardt. He stuck his canister rifle up to it's chest, or where the chest is on a serpentine creature, and pulled the trigger, sending it's guts out through a large hole in it's back. It was thrown violently back against the wall, then slumped into a lifeless heap.
The main hangar door was only fifty feet away. And the corridor was joined by two others, one on each side. And low and behold, out of those, poured even more zerglings. There wasn't as many zerglings coming out of the side corridors as the ones chasing them, but there was enough to overwhelm them quickly if ever given the chance.
Stranix and Butch were leading the retreat. So they would be the first two effected by this new onslaught. They were prepared however.
"More coming in from the front!" Stranix announced into the radio. He began firing full auto, not caring about how much ammo he wasted. He just wanted to kill the zerglings that were coming in from the side. Butch opened up on the ones coming from the opposite corridor, but both of them kept running as fast as they could.
When the pair drew level with the joining corridors, they both stopped, and began firing down the corridor, stopping the Zerg onslaught before they reached the entrance.
"E-man take his place at that entrance." Stranix ordered.
"No way man, I don't back down from a fight, we stand together." Butch protested. As he fired down the corridor.
"Think, your the only one who can open the door with the generator off. We'll buy you as much time as we can, get your ass moving, that's an order!" Stranix yelled between bursts.
"Roger that sir, I expect to see you alive and well, no heroics, heroes end up dead." Butch said as he moved off towards the main hangar. E-man took his place, spewing twin streams of fire, and roasting the zerglings that were coming in from there.
Stranix and E-man held the side corridors, and Speals and Randal held off the zerglings coming in from behind. Reindhardt and Speals dragged the immobilized Duke. Speals firing backwards with one hand.
When everyone had passed them, E-man and Stranix turned and began running down the corridor again, firing as they went. They were now the last people, and had double the zerglings to take care of. But the position of E-man's weapons made it hard for him to fire backwards while running. Also he had a limited range.
"Go as fast as you can, don't slow down, I'll handle these fuckers!" Stranix yelled.
"You can't handle all of them by yourself!" E-man protested.
"That's an order!" Stranix yelled back. E-man stopped sending jets of flame behind him, and ran flat out towards the door. Butch had it open.
Stranix was incredibly tired, but he pushed himself harder. He was still firing behind him, but he was concentrating on running. His fire was nothing to the swarming mass of claws, fangs, and hideous creatures that were chasing him.
He neared the door. It seemed to take forever. It was getting closer and closer, but so were the zerglings behind him. He could begin to see them out of the corner of his eye. And one was just next to his left leg. He put his gun on top of it's head, and pulled the trigger. But he didn't have time to kill anymore.
"Start to close the door!" He yelled. Butch began to heave at the door, starting the closing process. Stranix got close enough, and took a flying leap. He went through the door, and landed on the other side. Butch slammed it in the faces of the zerglings.
"Sir, I have some weird activity going on in the ship." A technician on Arrogance said to captain Greer.
"Such as?" Greer asked.
"Well a few minutes ago, I began detecting reactor noises from the Vindicator. But no heat other than Stranix's unit was detected. I could follow the eleven signals easily enough. The ship was cold from sitting in space so long." The technician replied.
"So they got the reactor working, no big deal." Greer said.
"But then, I heard a spike of sounds, identified as Gauss rifle fire." She said, and this happened. She hit a button on the console, and an image of the ships heat display came up. The entire ship was registering with life signs. As if the whole ship was alive.
"Good God!" Greer yelled.
"Sir!" Yelled a different technician. "Energy spike detected from the bow of the ship!"
"Confirm!" Greer yelled.
"It's confirmed, they're firing their Yamato cannon!" A third technician said.
"Helm, go to evasive maneuvers, get all crews to battle positions!" Greer yelled. "Bring all port side engines up to one-hundred percent capacity. Then bleed energy from the heating systems, into the starboard side engines, and get them up to two-hundred percent capacity, do it and do it fast!"
"But sir, that will damage the port side engines." Protested the technician.
"Goddamn it we can survive with some damaged engines, now follow my orders or we'll all die!" Barked Greer. "I know what my ship is capable of, if I want you opinion I'll ask for it. Now do it or we'll all die because of you!"
With the engines coming up at full capacity the ship would begin to move forward rapidly, for such a large vessel. Then it would be heading downward with the evasive action, and with the starboard side engines at two-hundred percent power, it would turn the ship.
The Yamato cannon on the Vindicator charged, after about ten seconds. Then the firing coil charged that took about five. The energy was transferred from the storage capacitors to the firing coil in less than a second, and the deadly beam of massive amounts of energy shot out at the Arrogance. The beam passed over the ship by mere feet, and with a ship that massive, that was cutting it close. The entire ship was rocked with the shock wave of the blast. Everyone on the bridge was knocked to the ground. After a few second of confusion, the female technician from before managed to get to her console, and yell out.
"We have scourge and Mutalisks incoming!"
"Damn."
* * * *
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! The main hangar door rocked under the impacts of the zerglings bony heads. They slammed into it repeatedly, and there was the scraping of their sharp claws against the armor grade titanium.
"That door won't hold much longer." Butch said.
"No shit, lets go, back to the dropship, double time." Stranix said. They began running across the wide hangar towards the waiting drop ship, just as a hole began to open up in the hangar door. Stranix was again bringing up the rear. The hangar was large, and it took them a while to cross it because they were all tired from their last run. And once the hole formed in the hangar door, it widened very quickly. With in seconds it was big enough for a particularly small and fast zergling to enter the hangar. It raced across the hangar, closing the space it took the men about twenty seconds to cross in seven.
When Stranix heard the claws on the metal floor, he turned, but he was already too late. He saw the zegling as it leaped into the air. He tried to bring his gun into line, but one of the creatures razor sharp claws bit into it, and knocked it aside. When it hit the floor, it broke into two, because the claw had sheered it almost in half, and the impact broke it.
The claws bit deep into Stranix' armor, and he was knocked on the ground. The creature snapped its fanged mouth, and dug it's claws even deeper into Stranix' armor.
The left one penetrated, and made a deep cut down Stranix' side. And none of his fleeing troops noticed he was down. He stopped struggling with the beast, he knew he would never win. The creature was too well armored, and it's claws too sharp. He reached into the storage container at the small of his back, and pulled out a hand held 'impaler.' He stuck the gigantic pistol under the beast's chin, and pulled the trigger. The bullet turned the zergling's brains to mush, that exploded out the back of it's head in a red cloud.
He shoved the creature off of him, it left blood all over his armor. And scrambled to his feet. Other zerglings were coming in through the hole, and making new holes. And the door was about to break way from the force of their pounding.
Stranix' shot had attracted the attention of his men. They turned around.
"What are you waiting for, the show is over, get in the ship lets go!" Stranix yelled.
"Yes sir!" They yelled back. Mouse grabbed Duke, and carried him in his arms made to carry large bits of minerals, pieces of buildings, or space salvage. Stranix turned as he got inline to file single file in through the sleeve, and fired round after round at the incoming zerglings. They dropped like stones. Finally Stranix was in the sleeve. He as the last one aboard. He flipped the lever closing the vacuum seal.
"Detach and get us the hell out of here Tanner!" Stranix yelled, as he made his way up the sleeve.
"Roger that." Tanner yelled. He began to retract the sleeve. Once the sleeve was locked in place, and everyone was secure in their harnesses, Tanner moved away from the ship.
"Get us back to the Arrogance!" Stranix yelled.
"I'm reading mutalisks and scourge in this sector." Tanner yelled back. "Billy, go to the rear viewport, and check it out.
"Right." Billy said. He walked to the back viewport, and hit the button next to it. He sat down and strapped himself in, so the bumpy ride wouldn't throw him to the ground. As he was strapping in, the rear viewport went from opaque to transparent.
"We got a scourge on our tail, he's coming in high and to the right." Tanner said. Scourge are high speed seeking missiles. They slam into ships, and detonate on impact in a cloud of highly corrosive natural acids, and explosives. It only takes one to cripple a fighter, or dropship, and a few can kill a battlecruiser. Depending on where they hit it.
Tanner was flying the ship on a strait course, as fast as he could heading for the Arrogance. He kept a firm hand on the stick. A dropship wasn't as maneuverable as a Wraith, but it was a pretty nimble ship.
"Keep tabs on that scourge!" Tanner said over the radio.
"He's gaining, still coming in high right." Billy replied.
"Come on come on." Tanner mumbled to himself as he watched the back thermal readout. He couldn't see as clearly as through the back viewport. He flipped it over to sensors. He could scan for ships and life forms alike, and their positions were reported to him. But it wasn't accurate in the field of showing changes in speed, and altitude. So having a spotter in the back was much easier.
"He's getting closer and closer and closer!" Billy yelled. "Punch it!" Tanner rammed the joystick down violently. He moved the ship down and to the right, hoping the scourge would overshoot. It worked, the small winged terror passed right by the front of the dropship. Tanner straitened out the ship, and resumed his course for the Arrogance.
The scourge did an impossibly tight turn, and came back towards them. It was heading strait for them, head on. Tanner kept flying strait towards it. He was ready to dive the ship at the last moment. He stared into the eyeless face of the scourge, trying to guess it's next moves. When it got so close that he could begin to see individual teeth in it's circular mouth, he jerked the stick up, then down much harder. He was hoping that once the scourge sensed the ship start to go up, it would move that way and over shoot again. It didn't. It came directly on towards the back part of the ship. It would hit the engine pod, the acid would eat through the outer shell, and the explosion would ignite the fuel. In less than a second everyone would be reduced to an expanding ball of gas.
There was nothing he could do, he closed his eyes and braced for the inferno. He heard the explosion of the scourge, and felt the whole ship shake, and rumble.
"What about those scourge?" Captain Greer asked.
"They are outrunning the mutalisks on approach to us. They will be in optimum firing range for our batteries in two seconds. The mutalisks will be able to fire at us in six seconds." Said the female technician from before. She was bleeding profusely from the combination of a bump and cut on her forehead just above her left eye. When the ship was hit by the shockwave from the Yamato cannon, she hit her head on the corner of her station. The bump was quickly swelling, and it would soon force her eye shut. And there was blood practically flowing down the side of her head, and then into her eye. So she was a real mess, but still she held her station. Her name was Terry.
"Guns, concentrate on the scourge, ignore the mutas until all the scourge are dead. We can handle a few shots from the mutas, but not a few hits from the scourge."
"Roger that." The gunnery technician said.
"Sir what are we going to do about the Vindicator?" Commander Anderson asked. He was commander of the fighter wings assigned to the ship.
"We're going to pick up Stranix' dropship, and get the hell out of here that's what." Greer said. "Did you see how fast that Yamato cannon charged up. They can fire that thing five times in five minutes. At least. We detected no energy in it when we arrived, and then it charged rapidly, no way we can win this fight. And where the hell did these Zerg come from? This area was clean when we came in. There aren't any other ships here, where did they come from?"
"Shall I launch the fighter wings as a screen?" Commander Anderson asked.
"No it will take too long to pick them up again, and we will get slaughtered." Greer said.
Red bolts of energy were coming out of the laser batteries all over the ship. Where ever they struck a scourge they vaporized it on impact. Soon there weren't any scourge left.
"Helm, take us seven degrees to port, begin an evasive role downwards after you come parallel to the advancing mutalisks."
"Roger that sir." Said the helmsman. The ship began to turn, presenting it's broader sides to the oncoming mutalisks. This way they could bring more of their guns to bear on the incoming creatures.
The space between the incoming deep space creatures, and the gigantic battle ship sizzled with energy as the starboard side guns opened fire. The Mutalisks were killed quickly. Not much could survive a full broad side from a battlecruiser.
"Sir I see two Wraiths and a dropship incoming." Terry said.
"Good, Stranix is on his way."
* * * *
The inferno would have to wait however. Tanner opened his eyes and saw the remnants of the explosion behind the dropship on the rear scanners. And he also saw two Wraiths fly over the dropship.
"Sorry to worry you." Came the voice of Ace over the radio. "That scourge was awful close to you. My missiles almost hit you instead."
"Glad to have you flying cover." Tanner said in response.
"Lets get the hell out of this place."
The fighters began to fly circles around the dropship, for they were much faster than the bulkier dropship.
"Arrogance this is Wraith one, two, and Dropship one, we are coming in and are coming in hot. It would be much easier, let alone faster for us if you would execute a roll to port to bring the belly hold up to us." Ace said over the radio.
"Roger that, executing roll now." Came the reply of a bridge technician. The massive ship rolled to allow the three ships access to the belly hold through the underside door.
The door opened, and they sailed in one after the other.
"All ships in, close the doors and lets get the hell out of here!" Stranix spoke over the radio to the bridge.
"Acknowledged." Came the reply.