Heart of the Unknown
Part 2
Colleen O'Reilly stumbled forward another step before exhaustion won out and she sagged to the floor gratefully. The gash on her head was still oozing blood. She could feel the sticky liquid on her temple and cheek but couldn't find the energy to wipe it away. The world tilted crazily and spun in circles in front of her eyes, making her nauseous. She pressed the heels of her palms against them, wishing for the pain throbbing through her skull to disappear. Colleen glanced at the timepiece on her wrist with blurry eyes, already knowing what it would say. 0300 hours. The time just after the ships appeared. It would be burned into her memory forever; and her watch also it seemed. Some kind of electrical interference must have occurred while they were being 'kidnapped'.
Colleen idly twisted the watch around her wrist, staring at it wistfully. Too bad, too. It had been a gift from her parents before she left for the academy. She gazed down at the face and its unchanging time, lost in her thoughts.
Her stomach rumbled loudly in protest. How long had it been since she'd last eaten? Three days? Four? Maybe more? Too long for sure. She hadn't really slept in even longer and it was beginning to tell now.
She leaned back against the wall and her sigh sounded loud in the silence of the hall, reminding her of just how alone she really was. Where was everyone? There was always some kind of activity on a ship, especially one this size, yet she hadn't seen a soul since she'd left Hollis behind ages ago. There had to be someone around. Friendly or not.
Looking for help was the first thing on her list and she had fully intended to get back up and do it but the lack of sleep and trauma from her head wound combined to put her out like a light. Her eyes slowly slid closed and one word slipped past her lips before sweet oblivion enveloped her.
J.T.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Alec was getting worried. There was something really strange going on. Even stranger than the fact that there were alien ships in the solar system was the fact that they seemed to be completely deserted. Where was the crew? Or at least some sign of them? The ship was as deathly quiet as a morgue. Not even the faint hum of machinery marred the pristine silence.
An uneasy chill swept up Alec's spine and he slowly eased his blaster from its holster. He palmed it before cautiously creeping forward and edging around a bend in the corridor. Nothing. The hall was as empty as the ones he'd been down before.
Maybe the emptiness was starting to get to him. God, how he wished Maggie was with him. Or J.T. Hell, even Bronski would be better than being alone. He was about to turn around and try searching another hallway when an object laying near the wall caught his attention. Alec moved toward it warily. When he got closer he identified it as a foot. He steadied his blaster on it, unsure whether it belonged to a human or something else, much less if it was alive or not.
His mouth dropped open in mute surprise when he edged around to the front of the alcove and peered inside, prepared for an attack. What greeted him was definitely not what he'd expected. Colleen O'Reilly lay slumped against the wall, one hand loosely gripping her blaster, the other laying limply in her lab. Dried blood matted the hair at her temple and ran in dark rivulets down her cheek and neck. The dark circles under her eyes made them appear sunken in her head. A myriad of dark bruises and bloody scratches could be seen through the many tears and rips in her jumpsuit. He could barely see the faint rise and fall of her chest with every breath she took.
Alec slid his blaster back into the holster and knelt at her side. He pressed his fingertips to her neck, feeling her pulse beat slow but steady beneath them. He brushed back an errant strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail and studied the cut on her head. It wasn't long or deep but it was jagged. She flinched and moaned in pain when his fingers accidentally brushed against it. Colleen stirred and moaned again. Alec froze when he heard a soft click and felt the tip of her gun press against his stomach. He moved back slowly, not wanting to startle her into pulling the trigger.
Her light green eyes were glazed and confused as they met his. She frowned at him when he slowly reached between them and carefully removed the gun from her hand. Alec sighed in relief and sat back on his heels, letting the gun dangle from his fingers. Colleen opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She licked her lips and tried again.
"I'm dead, aren't I? The only way I could see you is if I was dead and that means I failed." she whispered, a tear slipping from the corner of her eye and streaking down her cheek. "I'm not ready to go!"
"You're not dead, Colleen." Alec assured her, reaching out to brush the tear from her face.
"Then I must be hallucinating."
Alec smiled. "Dehydrated maybe but not hallucinating." He stood and extended his hand to her. "Can you stand?"
Colleen nodded dumbly and took his hand, letting him pull her to her feet. She gasped in pain as blood rushed through her legs and she stumbled. She would have fallen if Alec hadn't caught her and supported her by pulling her up against his side. He smiled reassuringly at her and turned to look down the hallway.
Colleen used his inattention to study his profile. She wasn't dreaming. It really was Alec DeLeon, but how could that be? She had been there when he died at Typhonus' hands. She had been the reason he had died. He saved her life. She blinked back the tears forming in her eyes and reached up to touch the side of his face. Alec turned his gaze back to her.
"How?" she managed to choke out before her throat tightened, making speech impossible.
A shadow crossed Alec's face and pain flickered in his eyes.
"It's a long story that'll have to wait until later, okay?"
Colleen nodded mutely and he started to step away.
"Alec?"
He turned back. "Yeah?"
"I'm sorry."
Alec shook his head slightly. "Don't be. It wasn't your fault. Come on. Let's get moving."
Colleen took the hand he offered and followed him down the hallway. She felt much safer now that she wasn't alone. She just hoped Hollis was all right.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- The lower half of his exoskeleton had long since stopped responding to his mental commands. Hollis was starting to worry. He had tried to ignore the niggling doubts in the back of his mind but Colleen had been gone for hours now and he was beginning to think something terrible had happened to her and he was completely helpless to do anything about it. He sighed, wishing sometimes that he had never heard of the ExoFleet.
He turned his arm so he could check the power readout for his suit. Too damn low. He could already see the sluggishness in the exoskeleton's movements. Damn Barca for paralyzing him and making him dependent on a piece of machinery to make even the tiniest of moves. How he missed even the smallest sensations of touch now. A slight breeze or the soft brush of the fabric of his clothes on his skin was forever lost to him. If Barca weren't already dead...
Hollis pushed the errant thought away just in time to hear a faint scuffing noise from the hall. He tensed, straining to catch it again. It was probably too much to hope that it was Colleen returning. The noise continued to get closer to the alcove where he was hidden and he was just reaching for his blaster when whatever it was stopped right outside.
Hollis held his breath, hoping it would just keep going. He had no desire to meet his kidnappers armed only with an ExoFleet standard issue hand blaster.
In the end, he didn't really have a choice. It lunged around the corner, catching him totally unprepared, and closed the short distance between them in a split second. He opened his mouth to scream but all that came out was a small, terrified cry. Hollis lifted the gun and squeezed off a few shots at point blank range. The creature just shrugged them off and a swipe of a long, taloned appendage sent the gun clattering to the floor a couple feet away.
Hollis' scream echoed down the passage for a long moment before it was abruptly cut off.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- "Commander? Your presence is required on the bridge, sir."
J.T. blinked groggily and tried to focus on the young pirate standing next to the cot he laid on. "What?"
"Simbacca wants you to join him on the bridge, sir," the pirate repeated. "I believe the Damocles has arrived."
J.T. rubbed his eyes irritably and sighed. "Alright. I'll be right there."
The door slid closed after the pirate and J.T. threw the light blanket off before sitting on the edge of the bed. He hesitated a moment before standing and striding out the door. He wasn't ready to deal with the Senate's hounds yet. He still didn't have any proof that his claims were valid and that he wasn't crazy. He'd just have to stall and pray for a miracle.
"Okay. Alec, be my miracle," he muttered to himself before he stepped through the door onto the bridge.
Simbacca turned to greet him, a grave look on his normally jovial face.
"How bad is it?" J.T. asked.
"They are under orders to shoot us down if we do not immediately surrender the command of the ship to them," the pirate captain replied.
"Let them. We don't surrender. Ever." J.T. responded vehemently, turning to look at the pirate. "You taught me that."
Simbacca stared at him for a moment, stunned, before he threw his head back and roared with laughter, drawing all eyes on the bridge to them. He slapped J.T. on the back and chuckled. "We'll make a good pirate out of you yet, Marsh. Let us see what we can do about our friends aboard the Damocles."
The two moved toward the main communication console. The closer they got the more distinctly they could hear the Damocles' captain's voice angrily issuing from the comm. A harried comm tech gratefully relinquished her chair to J.T.
"Where did that flea-infested pirate Simbacca go?! I want Commander Marsh on the line right now!!" the captain bellowed.
"Commander Marsh here, Captain Langstrom." J.T. said, turning the monitor toward him.
"Marsh!! You insubordinate little flunkey! Tell that overbearing, pompous ass Simbacca to surrender or I'll blow his ship to Jupiter and back. You are also commanded to surrender yourself and your squad by order of the Senate to be escorted back to Earth to stand trial." Langstrom ranted. "Do you hear me, Marsh?!"
"I'm sure you take your job very seriously, Captain. Unfortunately, I can't oblige you. There are more important things that require my attention right now. I assure you that as soon as this is over, Able Squad will hand ourselves over to you. Marsh out."
"MARSH!!! You deluded..."
Langstrom was suddenly cut off as J.T. ended the transmission.
"I'm going to assume there was a plan behind making him angry?" Simbacca inquired from behind him.
J.T. turned to face him. "He wasn't planning on listening to a word I had to say. Langstrom is a zealot. He'll take his orders to the extreme."
"Then we prepare to fight." Simbacca injected, a familiar twinkle coming to his eye.
J.T. shook his head, a small smile curving his mouth. "No. He's not going to engage us. He may be a fanatic but he won't go that far because I'm sure the Homeworlds want the two of us alive if at all possible. Remember, we are war heroes."
J.T. grinned as what he said dawned on Simbacca and the pirate's face broke into his traditional feral grin.
"You amaze me, J.T. Marsh. You think like a pirate."
"Thanks. I think." J.T. responded, still unsure if being like a pirate was a good thing or not.
"Now we just have to wait."
To be continued.....
Colleen O'Reilly stumbled forward another step before exhaustion won out and she sagged to the floor gratefully. The gash on her head was still oozing blood. She could feel the sticky liquid on her temple and cheek but couldn't find the energy to wipe it away. The world tilted crazily and spun in circles in front of her eyes, making her nauseous. She pressed the heels of her palms against them, wishing for the pain throbbing through her skull to disappear. Colleen glanced at the timepiece on her wrist with blurry eyes, already knowing what it would say. 0300 hours. The time just after the ships appeared. It would be burned into her memory forever; and her watch also it seemed. Some kind of electrical interference must have occurred while they were being 'kidnapped'.
Colleen idly twisted the watch around her wrist, staring at it wistfully. Too bad, too. It had been a gift from her parents before she left for the academy. She gazed down at the face and its unchanging time, lost in her thoughts.
Her stomach rumbled loudly in protest. How long had it been since she'd last eaten? Three days? Four? Maybe more? Too long for sure. She hadn't really slept in even longer and it was beginning to tell now.
She leaned back against the wall and her sigh sounded loud in the silence of the hall, reminding her of just how alone she really was. Where was everyone? There was always some kind of activity on a ship, especially one this size, yet she hadn't seen a soul since she'd left Hollis behind ages ago. There had to be someone around. Friendly or not.
Looking for help was the first thing on her list and she had fully intended to get back up and do it but the lack of sleep and trauma from her head wound combined to put her out like a light. Her eyes slowly slid closed and one word slipped past her lips before sweet oblivion enveloped her.
J.T.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Alec was getting worried. There was something really strange going on. Even stranger than the fact that there were alien ships in the solar system was the fact that they seemed to be completely deserted. Where was the crew? Or at least some sign of them? The ship was as deathly quiet as a morgue. Not even the faint hum of machinery marred the pristine silence.
An uneasy chill swept up Alec's spine and he slowly eased his blaster from its holster. He palmed it before cautiously creeping forward and edging around a bend in the corridor. Nothing. The hall was as empty as the ones he'd been down before.
Maybe the emptiness was starting to get to him. God, how he wished Maggie was with him. Or J.T. Hell, even Bronski would be better than being alone. He was about to turn around and try searching another hallway when an object laying near the wall caught his attention. Alec moved toward it warily. When he got closer he identified it as a foot. He steadied his blaster on it, unsure whether it belonged to a human or something else, much less if it was alive or not.
His mouth dropped open in mute surprise when he edged around to the front of the alcove and peered inside, prepared for an attack. What greeted him was definitely not what he'd expected. Colleen O'Reilly lay slumped against the wall, one hand loosely gripping her blaster, the other laying limply in her lab. Dried blood matted the hair at her temple and ran in dark rivulets down her cheek and neck. The dark circles under her eyes made them appear sunken in her head. A myriad of dark bruises and bloody scratches could be seen through the many tears and rips in her jumpsuit. He could barely see the faint rise and fall of her chest with every breath she took.
Alec slid his blaster back into the holster and knelt at her side. He pressed his fingertips to her neck, feeling her pulse beat slow but steady beneath them. He brushed back an errant strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail and studied the cut on her head. It wasn't long or deep but it was jagged. She flinched and moaned in pain when his fingers accidentally brushed against it. Colleen stirred and moaned again. Alec froze when he heard a soft click and felt the tip of her gun press against his stomach. He moved back slowly, not wanting to startle her into pulling the trigger.
Her light green eyes were glazed and confused as they met his. She frowned at him when he slowly reached between them and carefully removed the gun from her hand. Alec sighed in relief and sat back on his heels, letting the gun dangle from his fingers. Colleen opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She licked her lips and tried again.
"I'm dead, aren't I? The only way I could see you is if I was dead and that means I failed." she whispered, a tear slipping from the corner of her eye and streaking down her cheek. "I'm not ready to go!"
"You're not dead, Colleen." Alec assured her, reaching out to brush the tear from her face.
"Then I must be hallucinating."
Alec smiled. "Dehydrated maybe but not hallucinating." He stood and extended his hand to her. "Can you stand?"
Colleen nodded dumbly and took his hand, letting him pull her to her feet. She gasped in pain as blood rushed through her legs and she stumbled. She would have fallen if Alec hadn't caught her and supported her by pulling her up against his side. He smiled reassuringly at her and turned to look down the hallway.
Colleen used his inattention to study his profile. She wasn't dreaming. It really was Alec DeLeon, but how could that be? She had been there when he died at Typhonus' hands. She had been the reason he had died. He saved her life. She blinked back the tears forming in her eyes and reached up to touch the side of his face. Alec turned his gaze back to her.
"How?" she managed to choke out before her throat tightened, making speech impossible.
A shadow crossed Alec's face and pain flickered in his eyes.
"It's a long story that'll have to wait until later, okay?"
Colleen nodded mutely and he started to step away.
"Alec?"
He turned back. "Yeah?"
"I'm sorry."
Alec shook his head slightly. "Don't be. It wasn't your fault. Come on. Let's get moving."
Colleen took the hand he offered and followed him down the hallway. She felt much safer now that she wasn't alone. She just hoped Hollis was all right.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- The lower half of his exoskeleton had long since stopped responding to his mental commands. Hollis was starting to worry. He had tried to ignore the niggling doubts in the back of his mind but Colleen had been gone for hours now and he was beginning to think something terrible had happened to her and he was completely helpless to do anything about it. He sighed, wishing sometimes that he had never heard of the ExoFleet.
He turned his arm so he could check the power readout for his suit. Too damn low. He could already see the sluggishness in the exoskeleton's movements. Damn Barca for paralyzing him and making him dependent on a piece of machinery to make even the tiniest of moves. How he missed even the smallest sensations of touch now. A slight breeze or the soft brush of the fabric of his clothes on his skin was forever lost to him. If Barca weren't already dead...
Hollis pushed the errant thought away just in time to hear a faint scuffing noise from the hall. He tensed, straining to catch it again. It was probably too much to hope that it was Colleen returning. The noise continued to get closer to the alcove where he was hidden and he was just reaching for his blaster when whatever it was stopped right outside.
Hollis held his breath, hoping it would just keep going. He had no desire to meet his kidnappers armed only with an ExoFleet standard issue hand blaster.
In the end, he didn't really have a choice. It lunged around the corner, catching him totally unprepared, and closed the short distance between them in a split second. He opened his mouth to scream but all that came out was a small, terrified cry. Hollis lifted the gun and squeezed off a few shots at point blank range. The creature just shrugged them off and a swipe of a long, taloned appendage sent the gun clattering to the floor a couple feet away.
Hollis' scream echoed down the passage for a long moment before it was abruptly cut off.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- "Commander? Your presence is required on the bridge, sir."
J.T. blinked groggily and tried to focus on the young pirate standing next to the cot he laid on. "What?"
"Simbacca wants you to join him on the bridge, sir," the pirate repeated. "I believe the Damocles has arrived."
J.T. rubbed his eyes irritably and sighed. "Alright. I'll be right there."
The door slid closed after the pirate and J.T. threw the light blanket off before sitting on the edge of the bed. He hesitated a moment before standing and striding out the door. He wasn't ready to deal with the Senate's hounds yet. He still didn't have any proof that his claims were valid and that he wasn't crazy. He'd just have to stall and pray for a miracle.
"Okay. Alec, be my miracle," he muttered to himself before he stepped through the door onto the bridge.
Simbacca turned to greet him, a grave look on his normally jovial face.
"How bad is it?" J.T. asked.
"They are under orders to shoot us down if we do not immediately surrender the command of the ship to them," the pirate captain replied.
"Let them. We don't surrender. Ever." J.T. responded vehemently, turning to look at the pirate. "You taught me that."
Simbacca stared at him for a moment, stunned, before he threw his head back and roared with laughter, drawing all eyes on the bridge to them. He slapped J.T. on the back and chuckled. "We'll make a good pirate out of you yet, Marsh. Let us see what we can do about our friends aboard the Damocles."
The two moved toward the main communication console. The closer they got the more distinctly they could hear the Damocles' captain's voice angrily issuing from the comm. A harried comm tech gratefully relinquished her chair to J.T.
"Where did that flea-infested pirate Simbacca go?! I want Commander Marsh on the line right now!!" the captain bellowed.
"Commander Marsh here, Captain Langstrom." J.T. said, turning the monitor toward him.
"Marsh!! You insubordinate little flunkey! Tell that overbearing, pompous ass Simbacca to surrender or I'll blow his ship to Jupiter and back. You are also commanded to surrender yourself and your squad by order of the Senate to be escorted back to Earth to stand trial." Langstrom ranted. "Do you hear me, Marsh?!"
"I'm sure you take your job very seriously, Captain. Unfortunately, I can't oblige you. There are more important things that require my attention right now. I assure you that as soon as this is over, Able Squad will hand ourselves over to you. Marsh out."
"MARSH!!! You deluded..."
Langstrom was suddenly cut off as J.T. ended the transmission.
"I'm going to assume there was a plan behind making him angry?" Simbacca inquired from behind him.
J.T. turned to face him. "He wasn't planning on listening to a word I had to say. Langstrom is a zealot. He'll take his orders to the extreme."
"Then we prepare to fight." Simbacca injected, a familiar twinkle coming to his eye.
J.T. shook his head, a small smile curving his mouth. "No. He's not going to engage us. He may be a fanatic but he won't go that far because I'm sure the Homeworlds want the two of us alive if at all possible. Remember, we are war heroes."
J.T. grinned as what he said dawned on Simbacca and the pirate's face broke into his traditional feral grin.
"You amaze me, J.T. Marsh. You think like a pirate."
"Thanks. I think." J.T. responded, still unsure if being like a pirate was a good thing or not.
"Now we just have to wait."
To be continued.....