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Chapter Fifteen: D.I.Y
"What' the hell is going on?" Pitch shouted as they reached the bridge.
"The Vertex. They're attacking us," Dylan answered.
"The what now?"
Pitch gave Milon a questioning look, but before he had a chance to explain, the ship was rocked by another explosion.
"This is getting old..." Beka muttered as she rapidly keyed in a series of commands into the console in front of her.
"I agree," Dylan said, "I have had enough of this. Open fire."
"Allow me..."
Tyr stepped up to the gun controls and locked the missiles on the Vertex. It was time to put an end to this nonsense once and for all. He sent off a generous chain of missiles, aimed straight for the hull of the other ship. Unfortunately, they did not quite reach their target; they exploded before making contact.
"They have some kind of shield up, a big one," Beka said.
"I can see that," Tyr snapped.
He really did not need her stating the obvious right now. From the corner of his eye, he could see her turn and exchange a look with Pitch. Tyr hit the fire button with his fist, sending off another round. They did not reach the ship either. It was useless.
"They're deploying a shuttle," Dylan said, "it's heading straight for us."
"I have them."
Changing the target for the smaller vessel, Tyr fired again. It was a good aim, and the missile went straight for the shuttle. It exploded in a satisfying cloud of fire and debris.
"Nice shooting," Beka said, but Tyr did not even have time to say something patronising before Rommie's hologram came on the screen.
"A second shuttle is coming in off the bow. It is too close for me to get a lock on."
Damn. The first one had obviously been a decoy, Tyr realised that now. And there was that telltale thump of the shuttle docking rather hastily with the Andromeda. They were boarding them again.
"Airlock three," Rommie said, "I'm getting a reading of fifteen people."
"Fifteen, they're really cramming them in, aren't they?" Beka said.
"Go!" Dylan called.
It was time to do the running thing again.
The battle was much worse than last time. It did not help either that the Vertex kept firing on them, even though they had their own people on board. Obviously it was designed to destroy their weapons and their slip stream drive. Tyr could only hope that they were not prepared to sacrifice their own crewmembers. A second shuttle had attached itself to the Andromeda's hull; Tyr did not even know how many people had been on board it. Right now, the enemy seemed to be everywhere. The corridors were full of smoke, bodies and broken, flashing lights. Tyr had lost sight of the others shortly after they had engaged the enemy in battle. Now he was running through the ship, dodging force beams coming out of every shadowy corner. It was a mess, and it showed no signs of letting up.
Tyr was not sure exactly how long he had been fighting, but eventually, he found himself back on the observation deck where the fight had started. It was like running into a pause. Apart from three corpses, the room was empty and it was silent. Tyr's eyes fell on the huge window, the stars outside. So peaceful. But what was that?
It came first like a shimmering, like the heat haze left in the trail of an open engine. The stars were blurred, and then... shifted. Only slightly, but Tyr saw it clearly. His first thought was of some kind of cloaking device, but that was not what it was. Too big for a start.
"Andromeda, what is that?" he asked out into thin air.
"I don't know," came the answer, "I'm getting a massive energy reading from it."
The ship moved away from the strange phenomenon. A wise decision, Tyr thought. Whatever it was, he did not want to get too close to it.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of gunfire from one of the connecting corridors. Clutching his forcelance, he carefully made his way into the corridor. Sparks were flying from severed cables, and the smoke was thick enough to block out anything that was further away than about ten metres. There was a scream and the dull thud as a body hit the ground. Tyr raised the forcelance and stepped around the corner, ready to fire.
"Hey! Don't shoot, it's me!"
Milon was holding his hands up. Tyr lowered the forcelance and looked at him. He did not appear to be injured. There was a small smear of dirt and blood on his face, but that could easily be from someone else. He was holding his knife; the blade was covered in blood. Amazing how he had managed to stay alive in a firefight armed only with that primitive weapon. Well, good for him.
"Have you seen what is happening outside?" Tyr asked.
"No... what?"
"Some kind of cosmic disturbance. I was wondering, could it possibly be your... portal opening?"
"I'm sure it could."
Milon looked around nervously, vigilantly.
"Here, take this."
Tyr pulled his spare gun out of the holster and handed it to Milon. He quickly pointed out the most important features, the safety, the reload button and how to aim.
"Ah, Tyr, you shouldn't have!" Milon smiled, turning the gun over in his hand.
It was obvious that he was joking again, and in the middle of a battle and all. Tyr was just about to say something about the importance of staying alert when Milon, without warning, fired his gun right over Tyr's shoulder. Tyr spun around just in time to see the attacker fall to the floor, a smoking hole right between his eyes. And Milon had said he had never handled a firearm before?
"I thought you said you had no experience with guns?" Tyr said, mostly because he felt he had to say something.
"I don't. You must be a very good teacher..." Milon said cheerily, "Besides, it's simple, just aim and shoot."
"Yes, that is usually the basic principle of any gun," Tyr said sarcastically.
Still, he felt a strange sense of pride. Unjustified, but still.
"Follow me."
They started off down the corridor, following the distant sound of gunfire. Suddenly Tyr heard Harper's voice over the comlink:
"Um, Tyr? Are you there?"
"Yes, what do you want?"
"You're near the machine shop, aren't you?"
"Fairly near, why?"
"Could you... bring Milon down here? There's this thing I want to check..."
What was he up to now? Before Tyr had time to dwell on it too much, a shot came out of the smoke, missing them with a narrow margin. Returning fire, they started backing down the corridor towards the machine shop.
"So what is it you wanted to check?"
The door of the machine shop slid shut behind them. Harper was squatting on the ground next to some machine or other, sparks flying from his nano welder. As Tyr and Milon entered he jumped up and pulled the welding goggles up onto his head.
"Alright. Okay. I'll tell you what I think. I think that big, nasty rift that has opened up out there is in fact a portal into another dimension. And not just any dimension, your dimension," he said to Milon.
"Yeah. Probably."
Milon did not seem too bothered. Maybe he had already severed all his ties to his home. After what they had done to him, Tyr could not say he blamed him.
"Which means that the Vertex will most likely try to go through. And then your Earth will be in some serious trouble... so all in all, I need to ask you a couple of questions."
"Ask away."
"Is the fissure in the fabric of space specifically tuned to the energy signatures of the person or persons which is was initiated to transport, or is it a general breach of the dimensional wall which any living or inanimate thing can pass through without any additional recalibrations to their mass?"
"Yeah," Milon laughed, "the second one."
"A free for all. Great."
Tyr stood by the door, watching as Harper tinkered with his new machine. As he worked, he explained his plan to them:
"They're gonna try and go through. Probably would have already, if they weren't so busy trying to take over the Andromeda. Of course, we're not gonna let them take our ship, and when they realise that they will use that portal, I bet my last beer on it. We don't want that, right? It'd be bad for the people of Milon's world. But, what if we could send them somewhere else? Into a dimension where they couldn't do any damage? Back to where they came from!"
"You mean, change the co-ordinates of the channeller on the far side?" Milon said with a frown.
"Exactly!"
"But how are you going to know what to change them to? And how?"
"Yeah, that's the thing. I kept a few scraps and circuits from that machine you totalled back on earth, and I'm glad I did. Amazing what you can learn from going through the trash these days! I have already managed to pick up the co-ordinates from the opposite side of the rift. Wasn't easy, but hey, I'm brilliant! What I need now is our own co-ordinates, where the rift opened to. Once I have those, I'm fairly sure I can work out the sequence. Did you know that everyone carries a molecular trace signature from their dimension? Well, neither did I, until today! But when you did your light flare thing in the gym that time, it blinded Rommie's sensors. Not because it was too bright or anything, but simply because the energy signature was completely different from anything she was ever calibrated to handle. Because you're not from the same dimension as us. I've been working on it since, and I know a bit about how it works, but I need a second point of reference, obviously, but basically I can replicate the machine and..."
The endless stream of words showed no sign of ending any time soon. How many times was it now that Tyr had suppressed the urge of roaring 'Short version!' at Harper? Milon just stood there, listening patiently. Well, let them work it out. There were enemies out there, just waiting to be killed. Tyr turned and was just about to open the door when Harper ran up to him and said:
"Tyr! I still need you to do something for me. I would ask Milon to go, but I need him for the channeller."
"Yes?" Tyr asked irritated.
"You know the transmitter that Rommie said that Milon said to you that Pitch had?"
"Get to the point."
"Can you get it?"
Tyr felt the anger turn into anticipation. He almost smiled at Harper.
"No problems. I will get it for you."
He turned to exit the room again, but was interrupted once more.
"Tyr?" Milon called from across the room.
Tyr met his eyes, knowing what he was going to say.
"Please don't hurt him."
Tyr did not answer, simply turned around and left. It was time to go hunting.