Chapter 12-Gianni

"Where are they going now!?" Lehedihir ranted as he stormed about on the Drej ship. Tigaj and Molalah were with him, watching the Valkyrie as it sped toward its undetermined destination. They were using the same tactic to follow them as before.

"Patience, Lehedihir," Molalah tamed, "I'm sure it will not be too much longer. Will it not be worth the wait once they find it?"

"I suppose you are correct," Lehedihir replied as he began to pace before them, "but I cannot wait much longer. We have already been following them for too many benha." A 'benha' was a Drej unit of time. They had been following the Valkyrie for a little more than two human weeks and to the Drej, that was too long.

"Wait!" Tigaj exclaimed as he raised his hand in front of them. "They are slowing." he quietly said as he walked closer to the window.

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"There it is!" Korso exclaimed as he stepped up onto the pilot's platform. Cale followed behind him and stood next to him. The Valkyrie began to slow down to near stopping as it approached what lay before it.

It was Gianni! The space station was built into a small asteroid that had large, wells underneath which gave it gravity. There were three platforms around the sides that protruded out. On and underneath these platforms were heavy laser cannons, twelve on each. Below these platforms was a docking tube that came from the three directions. The top of it was most of the station. It was like a large dome with lights all around it and a window here or there. The station was dark and looked old and decrepit as pieces of metal were bent and hanging off.

"Would you look at that." Korso said with amazement. There really wasn't anything amazing about the outpost, but it was good to see it after their long trip. Korso had his fists resting on his hips like usual while Cale stood there with his hands in his pockets. Akima came in and saw the two standing there. She walked up the steps that led to the bridge and then up the steps that led to the pilot's platform.

"What are you guys look- Oh!" she began, but then saw Gianni. "Is that it?" she asked, stroking her round belly.

"Yep, Gianni." Korso answered as he looked it over.

"The lights are still on," Cale announced as he pointed all over the station, "at least they still have power." Cale turned to his wife and stood close behind with his arms wrapped around her. "If the station still has power, how come Kronos lost contact with them?" he added.

"I don't know," Korso quietly replied, "somethin' musta happened."

"But what is what I'm worried about." Akima said to his reply.

Korso scowled, thinking of what might have happened. He began to walk down the steps, leaving Cale and Akima there, and began walking out of the bridge. "Cale, you come with me." Korso said as he stopped before the door and looked up at them. Cale gazed at Akima as she turned her head to see him. He then led her down the stairs and followed Korso with her at his side.

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Cale, Korso, and Gune stood wearing spacesuits in the air lock. Stith and Akima stood outside the airlock, but had the door between the two open for now. The suits they were wearing had jet-packs on them in case of no gravity. They were gray and had translucent, teal kleersteel helmets that went down to their waists. Kleersteel was a product that was transparent steel which made it like a strong, thin sheet of glass. Gune jumped around in his suit as they stood there. "I go on mission!" he said as he was ecstatically celebrating getting out of the ship for a while.

"Stith, I would appreciate it if you watched over Akima for me. She tries to do things she's in no condition to do." Cale said from inside his suit. He was wearing his plasma shotgun on his side.

"Of course, I'd be happy to." Stith replied.

"You guys watch out for the Drej, we'll keep in touch." Korso added.

"Right, I'll try to shoot any with what I have." Stith said. With that, Korso closed the airlock door by pressing a button. Gune was still jumping around clapping, ready to go. They'd decided to take him along just in case they might run across anything strange. Korso nodded to Cale who nodded back and pressed the second airlock button. The door slowly arose as stale, dead air sucked that which was in the Valkyrie into it. It made a hissing sound as the air rushed out and the door opened.

Cale led by taking the first pioneering step into the station. His foot slowly came down onto the floor and then he went to go take another step. No sooner did he take his second foot off did he slip inside. His foot left the ground and he began floating. "Whoa!" Cale said, floating in front of them. He grasped around, trying to find something to grab hold of.

"Must be that the artificial gravity wells are turned off." Korso assumed while Cale floated to a nearby wall and held onto a pipe that ran vertically down the wall.

"Wish I would have known that sooner!" Cale sarcastically replied. He steadied himself and began floating toward a door at the end of the docking tube. There was a strip of lights on the corners of the tube that turned on and off in such a way that they appeared to be moving toward the door.

"Wee! Ha ha ha!" Gune cried as he gained up momentum and shot out into the tube. Once he was in the tube, he began swimming, dog paddle, toward Cale who was by the door. Korso lightly shoved himself out and closed the Valkyrie door behind him. With it closed, he shoved off of the door and began floating, arms out, toward Cale as well.

"Can ya get it open?" Korso asked, floating up next to Cale and stopping by his side. Gune was busy adhering to the ceiling, taking in all the fun of floating.

"Maybe." Cale answered, looking around to find the button that activated the gigantic door. He found a square, yellow button on the right side of the door and pressed it. With loud booming noises, it slowly opened. The door opened by splitting into four, large triangles, one above, one below, and two on each side. It clanged to a halt as it opened all the way and sank into the walls. "There you go."

Inside were several white blobs. They stretched out and constricted to move forward. They had no eyes, ears, noses, or even a mouth. It was a thick, slimy white animal that was small, round and fluid. "What the-" Cale began, seeing these floating around.

Gune floated inside and stopped in front of one. He studied it carefully. His large, binocular-like eyes took in every aspect of the formless creature. Gune gasped as he looked at it and held it. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no." he stuttered. The slime began sticking to him and he began wiping it off.

"Until we know what they do, everybody stays away from 'em." Korso ordered as he floated inside along with Cale. Korso spotted a map of the station on the farthest wall and swam over to it. It was a hole in the wall that produced a holographic layout of the entire station. Korso looked it over carefully and read the labels to the rooms.

"Where do we go now?" Cale inquired as he floated next to Korso.

"I would start looking in storage, they supposedly have lots of alien artifacts in there and quite a few prisoner's cells nearby." Korso pointed in the direction that led to the storage rooms as he held on to the walls. There was another door that was already opened and they continued on their way through it. The inside of the station was dark, gloomy, and uninviting. It, even though it was human, somehow seemed alien. The inside lights were damaged and some were loose. The white blobs were everywhere. In some places they became chokingly close.

Cale led the way as Korso told him where to go. He came into a circular room with a domed ceiling. Inside were a myriad of the white creatures as well as human bodies floating around the room. "My God!" Cale exclaimed as he crept into the room. He decided to turn on his magnetic boots so he might be able to walk around. Korso copied him and stood there while Gune continued to hold on to the wall.

Cale slowly approached one body in a white lab coat. It wasn't facing him and was hovering upside down above the floor. Cale stopped before it and swallowed. He grabbed the side of the human. The skin seemed hard and cracking as he touched it. The body turned around with Cale's shove and revealed the man's face. It was nearly a skull with some loose, pale skin hanging off. His hair was thin and stiff. The appearance was so ghastly that it made Cale shutter. "They're... dry." Cale announced quietly as he turned toward Korso.

"What do you mean they're dry?" he asked.

"They're just a bunch of bones and dead skin. They have no bodily liquid whatsoever." Cale stepped back and looked over the man again. He noticed that there were white blobs attached to him. "The puddies did this," Cale stated, going back to them, "they drink your flesh."

"Hmm, that would be a good reason why Kronos lost contact with the station's power still on." Korso added. "Okay, make sure you don't get one in your suit. I don't want it takin' anybody."

Then there was a loud crash and the ground shook. Gune jumped around in panic as it went on. It was a loud booming sound that echoed down the hallway. Then, everything was silent and still. "That couldn't have been good." Cale stated, looking around the room as the blobs fled around the room.

"Captain!" Korso's intercom buzzed. It was the sound of Stith's voice.

"What is it, Stith?" Korso quickly asked.

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Akima and Stith both stood on the bridge. Stith was at the communications array, which they had Gune fix while they were on D'amara. "We've got several Drej off of the port bow, Captain!" Stith yelled as a Drej slijah raced past the cockpit window. The Drej battleship was off in the distance and had several slijah docking with it. Some stingers shot their own craft in order that they might dock. They swarmed around the station, eager to get in. None of them fired on the Valkyrie for they all wanted to get to the Orb.

"This isn't good!" Akima said, trying to turn on the laser cannons, but they were fried by the New Technology that the Drej had shot at them back at the Qu'ut Minor blockade. "There's nothing we can do, Stith! We're taking hits! Tell them to hurry up!"

"Hey, listen," Stith said while on the communicator, "You guys had better get that Orb and get out 'cause they're comin' in for ya!"

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"I copy. We'll hustle!" Korso replied. "Move, move, move." Korso ordered as they all began running as fast as they could in the suits. Bodies began floating faster around the room as they all ran out and headed for the storage rooms. The blobs scurried about as Cale, Korso, and Gune rushed out, bumping into them. They could hear the screams of the slijah as they zoomed around outside.

"That's it!" Korso said, pointing to a door he had previously seen on the holographic map. They both turned off their magnetic boots and pushed themselves toward the door. They floated into the door; Gune kept looking around curiously.

Inside was a long, wide hallway that curved off to the left that made it in the shape of a crescent with a grated floor. The ceiling was arched over and along the walls were numerous doors. Each one was brown, as well as the rest of the station, and large. There was another door like the one they'd entered from on the opposite side of the hall. "Whoa!" Cale expounded, looking at the seemingly endless amount of cells.

Gune curiously looked over a computer screen that was built into the side of the wall. On the left of it was a human hand, without a body, that held a security pass inside a slot. It appeared as though whoever used it last, died during a card swipe and his arm broke off. The computer screen glowed blue and Gune was looking at all of the touch-screen buttons that were on it. One read, 'LOCK CELL #", and another read, 'OPEN CELL #', but the one that caught his attention was the one that said, 'OPEN ALL'. Gune slowly stretched out his finger and cautiously led it to the button. He pressed it and gasped when all the cell doors flung open with a loud clang.

"It's all right, Gune. Chill." Cale said, trying to calm him down.

There was a blue light that shone out one of the doors. It glowed more brightly than any other light they had seen. A low buzzing sound could be heard coming from it. "Look!" Korso said, pointing toward the shining, buzzing light. Cale looked up to see it and was excited.

"Is that-?" Cale began.

"Only one way to find out." Korso answered. He held Cale's arm as they floated toward the light. It was quite a ways down the hallway, about halfway when they reached it. They stopped before the door and crept closer to it and looked in. Gune came up behind them and peeked in between the two.

"Oh my- wow!" Cale said, standing there next to Korso. They were all astonished. Before them levitated a blue sphere that hummed and buzzed with energy. It was about the size of a soccer ball and had an aura of white light around it. Energy coursed from it and went into the walls and floor as it maintained itself there. The sphere itself swirled with bluish, white sparks that pulsated in the middle. It was the third and only surviving Drej Orb! They had found it!

Their amazement was disrupted by a laser blast that zoomed over their heads. Gune screamed and ran on all fours into a cell opposite them. Cale and Korso were startled as they looked to see Tigaj, Lehedihir, and Molalah, floating in the doorway. Lehedihir floated around behind the other two, unarmed. Molalah had a gun that fired the New Technology from it. It was a large, blue gun. It required holding it with both hands as it was long and top heavy, but in zero gravity, it was weightless. On top of it was a large, oval-shaped tank that hung over in front. Tigaj held his firearm up to them and said something in Drej.

"I would get away from that if I were you." Tigaj said.