August 13, 2026
Somewhere on broad the Black Depths
Maria stared around her with amazement, this was a locker? The door that the newly named, Xar, had opened entered in a football stadium sized room with a high arched ceiling. Rows of neatly organized crates filed its wide expanse, each one had a familiar blue holoscreen on it's side.
Xar wasted no time with gawking at the scenery and immediately went over to the nearest crate. He began to type at the screen with a practiced ease, his fingers dancing over the keys in a way that would make any computer geek jealous. Touching the last rune in his sequence he stepped back as the screen processed the code just entered, then turned a bright red, denying his request.
"What?" He glared at the screen as a new line of text flowed across it.
"Authorization not recognized!" Maria glanced round and noticed all the crates in the room showing the same message.
"I am the captain of this vessel," he muttered furiously to himself while typing in his code again. "I will not be denied by my own ship, Machine curse or not!" The screen flared red again displaying its previous message. Xar swore explosively and pounded the box with his fist to no effect. Maria timidly watched his outburst a few meters away, fearing that the noise would attract the attention of reaper forces.
With a final blow, Xar slumped forward in defeat; his head low to his chest and hands supporting his weight against the crate.
"What I wouldn't give for an artificial intelligence right now," he muttered. Then he straightened and began to look about for something, peering into the dark corners of the ceiling where the lights didn't reach.
"Prepare yourself," he said suddenly turning to her. "I am unsure how many security defenses remain but this will awaken whatever is left."
"Wha," she stuttered out still trying to get over the shock of all this. Then she took a deep breath, steadying herself, before she replied in a stronger voice. "What?"
In response, Xar activated his plasma blade, which he still held in his left hand. He turned back to the crate and prepared a downward swipe to remove the lock. But then, in a moment of inspiration, Maria jumped forward and caught his arm before he could swing, holding it there with maximum power.
"What… Are you, Doing?" He asked in a voice of pure ice and cold blood, almost making her let go to spare herself from a slow death.
"I...Umm.." She stammered, her earlier resolve now gone. "I... might be able to... Umm... Help with your... AI... Problem."
Xar's head turned in her direction, his eyes were blazing again but not so much in anger this time.
"You," he scoffed. "In procession of an artificial intelligence? Ha! I'll believe it when I see it."
"Then let me show you." She replied, now more confident then before. Xar started at her for a few moments, considering her proposal. With a hiss his blade deactivated and he shock out of her grip. Turning to face her, he nodded his head towards the crate, giving his consent.
She immediately brushed his aside and put her fingertips on the screen, careful to avoid touching any script.
"SECOND, can you open this?"
"Processing." The screen flashed and sparked as the AI began it's work. Xar, appearing fascinated, approached from behind and looked over her shoulder.
"Incredible," he breathed out in apparent awe. "You must be special to have been giving one."
"No... Not really," she replied focusing on the lines of code flashing in her vision. "Every human has one."
"Impossible! A nation would not waste military resources on the common populace. Not to mention the time to program and the resources to make the mobile processors, your planet must be nearly dry by now. And what was the point of it all? What do you have to gain from it, besides acknowledgment in the galaxy."
Maria turned he head from the screen and eyed Xar. He stood leaning against another crate, arms crossed in a relaxed pose despite the possible danger they were in, but the look he was giving her demanded an answer.
"We didn't exactly have a choice," She turned back to the screen. "After the invasion it became a... standard, so to speak."
"So you had no say when your nation decided on this idiotic venture? I assume that your body harness came with it, did it not?" She faltered at the harness term, but then decided he meant her nanoshell.
"It wasn't our government that did this, it... It's a really long story."
"One that I wish to hear when this is over. But what is taking so long?"
Surprised she turned back to the screen to see it still giving off it's miniature light show.
"SECOND, whats taking so long," she asked worried.
"Multiple hostile intelligences detected. Processing power strained passed normal parameters. WARNING: Energy discharge detected, seek safe distance."
Without having time to understand what the AI said, the crate emitted a high whining sound before it glowed and sparked with lightning. Then it exploded with energy, expanding out from the crate in a glowing blue ball of both physical and electrical force. Maria was sent flying back, hitting the box that Xar was leaning against making a small dent in the metal!
"Some intelligence you have." She looked up and glared at Xar who was staring down at her mockingly. "Unable to open the simplest of locks. Are all your intelligences this weak?"
"No," she gasped out, feeling a dislocated shoulder slide back into place with the help of SECOND. "Others were in there, keeping me out."
"Others? What oth..." His eyes brightened as he remembered something. "Of course! The ship is in lock down, all available intelligences would be tasked with defending against all cyber attacks and safeguarding locks. I was stupid not to have remembered."
"How many are on board," Maria asked, slowly rising to her feet beside him.
"Fifteen when we crashed. However, their programing deteriorates over time without maintenance. And even then they would be to sluggish to put up any defense immediately following stasis awakening."
"Proximity alert." She started at the AI's sudden announcement and began to look about anxiously for danger.
"What is it," Xar asked, noticing her nervousness.
"My motion tracker just went off. Something is here with us."
"They were also given control of the defense drones." Xar finished his earlier explanation dryly. His plasma blade blazed to life as he got into a combat pose. "They might still listen to their captain. But if not. Be ready."
The only warning that they received was the low hum of a weapon charging up. Two high heat plasma beams leaped out from the darkness of the ceiling, scorching the ground to ether side. Warning shots. But still, it scared Maria and she clutched at her nearest security blanket. Which just happened to be the alien next to her.
Xar immediately stiffened as he felt something grab him around the waist, he looked down to see Maria hugging him with surprising strength. Vaguely repulsed he shock himself trying to dislodge her grip, but she remained fixed. Cursing he deactivated his blade and tried pushing her body away. But to his horror, she only hugged him harder and snuggled her head deeper into his harness.
Shutting his eyes and silently begging forgiveness, he drew his arm forward and elbowed her hard in the head. Her head snapped back from the force and she released him to clutch her cranium in pain. For a moment, Xar was worried that he severely injured her. But when she removed her hands revealing no wounds or unnatural depressions on her helmet besides a crack in her visor, which was rapidly disappearing, he became certain she was fine.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!" She shrieked at him and for a moment he was reminded of an angry Narcanus night shark from his home world. He shuddered as he remembered a day from his childhood which brought on his phobia of that particular predator.
Maria looked about to burst out into another shriek, but suddenly looked over his shoulder and froze. It was impossible to read her expressions behind her helmet, but her body language showed extreme fear. With a sinking feeling, he turned around to met the cannons of a Combat Tripod Drone. He vaguely wondered how it had crept up behind him, CTDs weren't known for being silent.
"Pinger," he heard Maria gasp out behind him. So they had encountered these on their world, one of the lesser drones that the Volkasak favored.
The drone hissed as hydraulics in it's legs settled into a firing position and it's MOAC cannons hungrily sucked up moisture in preparation to fire.
Xar stood frozen, not out of fear, but because if not already given a specific target a CTD used movement to select the weakest of the group. If they ran, it targeted their vulnerable backs and gunned them down before moving on the rest. But also because all the CTDs used this as an intimidation tactic, what looked like a preparation for attack was actually an identification scan. He only hoped Maria would stay still, but then again she was probably so petrified that it wouldn't be a problem.
The drone kept it's guns aimed at them for another moment before it dropped it's stance and settled into a more relaxed position. He could hear Maria whispering to herself, something about a happy place, probably a coping mechanism for humans. It was a better reaction then he was hoping for, young ones of his race who were introduced the CTD had more embarrassing reactions.
"Captain! Is that you?" He stiffened at the voice that came from the drone. He didn't believe anyone else had survived the machine infection much less the crash, but thank the Father he was wrong.
"Nar! It is good to hear your voice, my friend."
"And yours as well. I thought the infected had taken you."
"They only locked me in a stasis chamber. Saving me for their new masters no doubt."
"What ever the reason, you were fortunate. The machines spared no others." Xar nodded and bowed his head in sorrow, remembering all those he had fought and served with.
"They will be remembered. But now, give us your location."
"Us? You mean there are others!" The drone's body did a full rotation, scanning the surrounding area. Xar looked back over his shoulder, Maria was still standing there watching the proceedings wringing her hands in nervousness.
"Come on," he called to her. "He is a friend, and a trusted one at that."
"Who?" The drone turned and instantly snapped it's guns to Maria, who squeaked and hid herself behind Xar. The drone remained fixed on Maria and the voice was silent for a long while.
"You have some explaining to do, captain." It said at last.
"Indeed," Xar replied irritably once again trying to dislodge Maria's unnatural grip around his waist.
"You always did have a taste in alien women," the voice chuckled.
"Not now," Xar changed the subject, final getting her to release her grip with out resorting to violence. "We need to get to the bridge with all speed."
"I know, I've been watching the infected and stopping their progress where I can. What cannons weren't destroyed in the crash I have disabled. As well, I have locked them out of some of the ship's systems though they still control most."
"Good, now where are you?"
"Intelligence core nine. Take the tram at station four and we can link up at station eleven."
"Understood," Xar replied then gestured towards the locked crate. "Would you mind giving access to arms?"
"Of course captain. My apologizes." After a few moments the screen on the crate flashed green. Xar moved toward it when he was interrupted by a loud crash that echoed throughout the room. The drone instantly swiveled towards the far side of the chamber where a large door loomed in the distance.
"They are breaching the cargo entrance," the voice said, sounding worried. "Take what you need, then run captain. Personal entrance five will be open and the drone will cover you, but you need to be fast."
Without further prompting, Xar rushed forward keyed a glyph on the screen. With a hiss and a rush of mist, a glowing seam appeared on the crate from top to bottom and it opened, separating into two half's. The the half's were filled with a blue gel and suspended in each was a weapon, two standard MOAC assault rifles, nicknamed the Pinch rifle. He groaned disappointingly, he would have preferred a more powerful weapon. But still, this was reasonable.
He pulled one of them loose from the gel and pulled a lever on the side opening a vent, letting the weapon suck in it's ammo. Tossing it over his shoulder to Maria, who barely caught the weapon in time, he pulled out the other gun and repeated the process. Hearing it beep, signaling a full tank, he shoved his hand into the trigger guard and it sealed itself around his arm. He synchronized its sights with his HUD and a target reticule appeared in his vision. He swung the weapon around, feeling satisfied when the reticule followed it's movement before he turned to check on Maria.
Almost all her lower right arm was encased by the weapon and her left held it like a sack of old fish, a big mistake, as it's moving components could remove fingers with ease.
"Not there," she started as he walked up and moved her hand to the fore grip. "It's easier to handle and you keep all your digits."
She appeared uncertain, but then hefted the weapon in a more confident manner but still with an air of inexperience. Which Xar took note of instantly.
"You've never fired a weapon before, have you?" He asked, making her shake her head.
"It's part of basic training, so yes, but... I've never been in anything like this." She replied in a quiet, quivering voice. Typical Females, Xar thought in distaste, always expecting to be noncombatants. Welcome to the real world.
They both turned at the sound of loud hammering, around the edges of the large door thin cracks of light could be seen as the infected pounded on it. The CTD lowered it's self into a firing position, and low hum could be heard from it as it charged a EMP blast.
"Go captain," it said urgently. "The drone will cover your escape! Hurry!"
Xar instantly took off running, behind him he could hear Maria trying to keep up with his wide strides. Their target, a small door set into the wall, was a mere fifty meters away and rapidly approaching.
A loud crash echoed around him followed by the shrieks and wails of his fallen crew mates and the firing of multiple weapons. Shards of ice pinged and shattered around him as he ran, hitting his harness and the boxes around him.
With a final leap he made it through the door and slid to a stop before he hit the far wall. A loud thud followed with a groan signaled Maria's entrance and contact with the wall. Not bothering about her for now, he jumped to his feet and slammed on the door controls. Nothing happened. He tried again with the same results.
Cursing, he ducked to the side as a hail of ice and plasma flew through the space he'd unoccupied. He slammed his back to the door frame as he waited for a break in the oncoming onslaught, when quiet suddenly all incoming fire stopped. Fools, they had allowed their weapons to run dry simultaneously. Seeing his chance, Xar leaned around the door frame raising his rifle to his shoulder and looked out onto a scene that chilled his blood.
A silver wall descended upon them, murderous red eyes reflected off armor and shone through the mutated clear bodies of his former comrades. They were charging the door, throwing down weapons in favor of horribly crafted, brutal looking claws and blades of the Machine's design.
With a new hatred for the machines, he opened fire, spewing frozen shards of death into their ranks. With a few well placed bursts he killed the ones leading the charge, as they fell they tripped up the ones them, causing a stall as the rest found ways around their fallen.
Continuing to fire, he spared a glance towards the CTD, it wasn't faring well. Infected crawled all over it, tearing off it's armor and destroying it eternally. In a final act of defiance, it activated it's self destruct and erupted into a fiery ball of plasma and shrapnel. The explosion incinerated any in close proximity while the shock wave knocked down a good number, causing more confusion as they attempted to regroup.
But that didn't stop the front ranks, they were almost at the door now. From beside him, Xar heard Maria firing wildly into the mob and screaming something unintelligible. Typical.
The mod had reached the door now, the only thing keeping them at bay was the unrelenting fire but even that wouldn't last. With horror, he heard his weapon give a loud click, signaling it was dry.
Time seamed to slow as he looked into the oncoming horde, their crimson eyes seemed to call to him, to join them. He could feel something stirring in his mind, something terrible.
The door suddenly slammed shut, sealing them off from the oncoming tide of monsters. He took a deep breath, calming himself from the physiological effect that the infected caused.
"My apologizes captain," Nar sounded as breathless as he did. "They had locked me out of the door mechanisms. It won't happen again!"
"Its not really your choice," he opened the vent and the Pinch hungrily sucked up moisture. "But don't overexert yourself. We still need you."
"Thanks for the encouragement," Nar replied somewhat statistically. "I'll ensure the corridors are clear, but hurry. I think they're beginning to track me down."
"Understood, we''ll hurry." He turned to Maria and paused, curious. Blue energy swam across her combat harness from head to toe, fading away as he looked on. She was breathing hard and she had warped the metal of the fore grip in her panic. The weapon in her hands was emitting a steady click as she kept on pulling the trigger trying to get it to fire.
He sighed, having seen this reaction many times in new recruits in traumatic situations. He reached across and opened the vent on her rifle, the sudden noise snapped her out of her trance and her breathing began to calm.
"Is it over," she asked in a tiny voice.
"Not yet," he replied calmly. "We still need to get to the bridge. Are you..."
"Alright? Yeah." She said in a stronger voice. "Lets go." He eyed her for a moment before he turned and began to walk away, with Maria following behind.
oOoOoOo
Their Journey through the corridors was uneventful, except for course corrections from Nar when they went the wrong way. The infected ether didn't think them significant targets now or they were preparing an ambush up ahead, Xar was biding on the latter. But no threats identified themselves.
They turned another corner and walked up a steep ramp before entering into a looked like a subway station. A platform with a large terminal in the middle with tube tracks on ether side, but no trains. Xar wasn't troubled and began to type on it's screen while talking with Nar on a private comm channel.
"So, you going to tell me how you met her." Nar chuckled causing him to groan.
"They freed me from my prison, what more is there?"
"They?"
"There was another, he didn't make it."
"A pity. But how are you faring? A flash flaw isn't easy for anyone, even an Halkava."
"I'm fine, slight itching here and there."
"Freezer burn, easily healed though. Where are you, it's starting to get uncomfortable over here." Xar pushed a final button and the far track was lit up with lights as a train was called.
"We'll be at station eleven momentarily." He said, walking over to join Maria standing at on the edge of the track.
"Good, I'm making my way there now. Communications will be cut off from here." Xar looked down the track and saw the train quickly approaching.
"Understood, Good luck." The link went dead with a burst of static, they needed to move fast.
The train slid up to them silently, it looked like a perfect cylinder with no windows or other defining features. With a small hiss, a hatch opened on it's side letting them board. Padded benches hung off the walls with a small holotable in the middle projecting a map of the ship and their current position. They both entered, taking seats on opposite sides of the craft.
"Station eleven," Xar requested and the hatch slid shut before the train rushed away.
Xar sank into his seat with a sigh, relishing the soft padding beneath his back sensory limbs, letting the built up tension bleed out. The Great pilgrimage, the final battle with the Volkasak and now the Machines. Was his species cursed to suffer like this? Was the loss of their galaxy, his home, not enough?!
"Who is he?" Maria's voice jolted him out of his musings. He looked at her, sitting on the far side of the car. "The guy you keep talking to, who is he?"
He briefly considered her question before replying. "Nar'Kallas of clan Mechona, a personal friend of mine."
"Whats he like?" Humans were curious creatures, he decided.
"He won't kill you if that's what your asking about. But he is somewhat of a troublemarker, so be wary of him. Many times the pools have been dyed red due to his pranks."
"So you're all different," she asked, fascinated. "You're not all mindless killing machines like the Ceph we found on earth?"
"Ceph?"
"Sorry, its the name we gave your kind. Short for cephalopods, cause you sort of look like squids from our world." She stammered, suddenly finding something very interesting on the floor.
"I see. But our race is known as the Charybdis. Do not use term, Ceph anymore. Some might be insulted by it, seeing as it's used to describe your enemy."
"You don't consider yourself our enemy." She asked, surprised.
Xar hesitated before answering. "No I don't. As for the rest of my race..." He gave a big sigh. "...To few are left to make a valid consensus."
"What happened?" Maria's voice was barely above a whisper. He bowed his head, remembering the terrors they had been forced to endure for the Volkasak's treachery.
"If you don't want to talk about that's just fine, I can wait."
"Thank you. It is still a fresh wound for us."
A low chime sounded throughout the cabin, signaling they were approaching their destination. Xar immediately rose and stood by the hatch with his weapon primed.
"Next destination, bridge, set for immediate departure." Another chime sounded as the train acknowledged his command. The hatch opened a moment later reveling a scene of absolute chaos. Shards of ice and bolts of plasma filled the air like a blizzard obscuring the view outside and forcing Xar to take cover behind the door frame. A small form suddenly rolled through the door hitting the far wall with a bang and the hatch slammed shut. Loud screams of fury rapidly faded as the train sped away.
A groan came from the form as he stood, yellow eyes flashing brightly as he recognized Xar.
"Captain," he exclaimed rapping a hand against his breastplate in a salute. "I can not thank you enough for your timely appearance." Xar nodded, inspecting his friend for damage.
Nar'Kallas's Stalker class harness was pox marked with frost coated holes and he was limping because plasma had damaged his left ankle joint, severely handicapping his mobility. But his main body appeared to be unharmed, the bright yellow transparent skin revealed the multiple Mechona implants which were installed at brith. It gave them an interesting ability to merge their minds to any piece of technology, bridging the gap between the organic mind and the digital domain. His weapons were not so exclusive, dual wield MOAC sub-machine guns hungrily sucked up air from after their heavy use.
"Indeed, but apparently we were to late to save you from injury." Xar said, looking at his friend's leg.
"Ah, don't worry about it. I'm lucky it hit there and not somewhere more important." Nar casually dismissed his worries, holstering his SMGs with a flourish and took a seat. Xar sat down opposite him, waiting for any childlike comments from the young warrior, but he was strangely silent.
Nar'Kallas was young, barely 19 years old, a mere child by military standards. The only reason Xar had granted his transfer requests was because of his technical talent and his combat skills, despite his young age. The fact that he wasn't expressing himself like he normally did was troubling, Nar could rarely keep his mouth shut under normal circumstances.
"I can see their faces," Nar said suddenly in a low voice. He raised his head and stared at Xar, fear radiated from him in tangible waves. "The corpses of our dead rise up against us and we are powerless to stop it. How can we fight an enemy that controls the very gates of hell itself?!" Xar pitied him, he was young and had much to learn about common scene and logical reasoning. But at the same time couldn't help but think that he was right, what the Machines did was unlike any horror he had ever seen. Even the Volkasak hive mind couldn't surpass this.
"They do not control the dead," he said with confidence to Nar. "It is simply the work of their accursed technology. They can pretend to raise a corpse to life, but it is only a mindless hunk of machinery built into an organic shell." Nar lowered his head, mulling over what his captain had said, when Xar reached out a hand and rested it on his shoulder.
"I can understand your fear, even I am afraid. But I do not let it overcome me. Do not let it do the same to you." Xar retracted his hand and began checking his weapon over for damage.
"Just a husk," he looked up to Nar, who had new fire in his eyes. "Husk, seems like an appropriate name. Thank you captain. I... Lost myself for a moment."
"Your welcome. And yes, it is appropriate."
"Husks it is then," Nar said brightly, his earlier fear forgotten. "So what happens now?"
"We make our way to the bridge and purge the ship. After that we escape this world, I do not believe it's inhabits would be happy with us even if we save them. What do you think, human."
"Maria," she shouted from the far end of the cabin, startling Nar who had forgotten about her in his panic attack. "And your right. Most still hate you for the invasion of earth, and I don't think they'll be merciful at all."
"Then it is settled, we're leaving." Xar said, rising from his seat to check something on the holotable's surface. Nar's eyes remained fixated on Maria, his initial shock had worn off to be replaced with fascination, both at the new species and at the armor she wore. For like all of his clan, he was always intrigued by any kind of new technology.
"Incredible," he breathed as his advanced scanners took readings of her armor. "Nano machines working in perfect sync with the wearer. Enhancing physical abilities beyond their limitations. Is it capable of anything else," he asked eagerly.
Maria nodded, before vanishing from sight. Nar sat speechless as he stared at the spot she once occupied, he could still see her faint outline and the depression she made on the cushion but it still astounded him.
"Active camouflage!" Even Xar seemed impressed by this. "I saw you use another function earlier, when we fled the armory. What was it?"
"Maximum Armor," she replied, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. "I don't know exactly how it works, but I makes us almost invincible for a short time." Nar appeared to be in some kind of ecstasy, after hearing her explanation.
"An all-purpose combat device," he gasped. "Stealth, armor, enhanced abilities. The perfect combat harness. You must be lucky to have been given one!"
"Not really, every one has one." Nar looked shocked and glanced at Xar, who only shrugged, before he spoke again.
"What would drive your people to such measures to have every person armed?"
"You."
"Us!"
"The Volkasak." Xar corrected, hate addible in his voice.
"So," Nar sighed. "You had the misfortune to evolve on one of their hive worlds. Though I must say, I'm surprised you survived long enough to flee."
"We didn't run, we won! All the... Volkasak on earth are dead!" Nar stared in amazement. These primitives had fought their greatest enemy, and won.
"What of the Alpha? Did you kill it as well?"
"Alpha?" Maria questioned, worry growing in her.
"The leader of an individual hive," Xar spoke up. "They resemble giant Kralan eels, and can destroy anything in their path. They are formed from the consumed biomass of all those who have been assimilated into the hive mind. Abominations that should have never seen the light of day!"
"We didn't... Kill anything like that. No one even saw anything like it."
"Then perhaps you were lucky. After our final battle with them, many hives fled when their Alpha was destroyed and one of them could have been yours.They probably didn't have enough biomass to form a new Alpha without assimilating your entire race." A chime sounded throughout the cabin making Xar check his weapon as he moved for the hatch. "We are here."
"About time, too." Nar readied his SMGs and stood beside him, followed shortly by Maria. With a hiss the hatch opened and Xar rushed out, scanning the area for husks with Nar and Maria on his heels. The station was empty.
"How much further to the bridge?" Maria asked, eying the exit ramp to the level below.
"Not long," Xar replied beginning the descent. "It is a short walk to the central highway, from there it's two hundred meters to the bow."
They continued on in silence through the twisting maze of corridors, constantly checking behind them for husks. When finally they came to a closed door and Xar halted before it.
"This is it, be ready." He keyed the open button and lept back and gaged as an awful smell flooded through it. When he had recovered he stepped into the highway and gaped, horror struck at the sight around him.
The central highway was large corridor that ran down the entire spine of the Black Depths, fifteen meters high and ten across. Besides the trains they had just traveled on, it was the main method of getting around. But now it was graveyard, thousands of the Machine's spikes filled it's expanse and the dead that were impaled was uncountable.
"By the Father," he heard Nar swear and Maria's sharp gasp as they beheld the sight.
"Come," he forced out, fighting his own revulsion. "This is the only way." He turned left and walked up the highway, carefully stepping around the spikes, afraid their occupants would awake. Nar and Maria followed closely behind him, afraid of being left behind in this nightmare.
They had made it around a hundred meters before a sound drew their attention back down the hall. One of the spikes was lowering itself, dropping it's husk to the ground. The infected Grunt staggered to it's feet and stared at them, before it gave a loud shriek that echoed up and down the highway and charged. Nar snapped up his SMGs and gunned it down, sending it body to fall headlong into a clump of spikes, shaking them. Then to their horror, the around them husks awoke and began to shriek their loudest while the spikes retracted.
"Run!" Xar shouted and began sprinting up the hall with Nar and Maria behind him. Nar's Wounded ankle didn't hinder him one bit, the repair nanites had done their work well it seemed.
Behind them the number of screams increased, until it seemed the entire ship was chasing them, Xar desperately hoped that wasn't the case. Before them and rapidly approaching was the massive doorway to the bridge. Making a final effort he rushed through the door and slid to a stop, and turning brought his weapon to bear on the approaching husks.
"Seal the door!" He shouted to Nar while firing into the horde. Nar skidded to a stop and jumped to a single holographic button the edge of the doorway. He hit it with his fish and the door slammed down from the ceiling, sealing them off from the husks.
"That will hold them," Xar said breathlessly. "Four meters thick... they don't have anything... that powerful."
"I hope so," Maria said from beside him. She had already recovered from their mad dash and was looking around with interest.
The bridge was about the size of a large house back on earth, terminals and holotables filled the wide expanse with a captains chair in the center on a raised dais. Massive windows surrounded the room in half circle, through them they could see the green landscape of Eden Prime. But just ahead of them lay the city of New Vegas, and it was burning.
"No!" Maria gasped, running up against the glass to stare out. As she watched, a bolt of plasma descended on the city, getting smaller as it fell from the sky until it hit in the residential sector sending up a new pillar of smoke into the sky.
"I thought you disabled the guns!"
"I did," Nar groaned, coming up beside her and looked down on the city. "They must have hacked the turret controls in my absence!"
"Then put a stop to it." They both turn to Xar who sat in his captain's chair, typing at multiple floating holographic screens surrounding him. "Nar, get to the life support station. Flood the decks with radiation, EMPs and anything else you can get and seal off the bridge! I want every single husk dead! Clear?"
"Crystal." With that Nar ran towards a terminal on the far side of the room and began to type with unnatural speed as his mind melded with the ship. "Purge commencing. I've disabled the cannon's plasma lines, they're useless now."
Maria watched, relived as the rain of plasma stopped, but the damage to New Vegas was already done.
"Time to go," Nar said before moving to another terminal and melding with it. "Engines set to full burn, we'll reach the upper atmosphere in a minute, captain."
"Good," Xar sighed before he turned to Maria. "There is an escape pod to your left that will take you to the surface, if you wish."
"If I wish? You mean... I can come with you?" She asked with growing excitement.
"I see no reason not to. You would probability be hated by your people for being the only Charybdis supporter, and I do not wish to force that upon you." Maria thought his reasons were logical, but she had other reasons in mind. Her shell had been studying and analyzing the Ceph computers when it could and had massed a large amount of data from the Black Depths. But she had heard rumors of Cerberus scientists who had gone missing after completing important projects for the Boss. Even though this was a small operation, that data might make her very valuable to Cerberus. Valuable enough to have her locked in a vault for life as they probed her brain for any knowledge on their enemy. She shuddered even thinking about it.
"I want to come with you." She spoke up, confidently.
"There's no coming back."
"I don't care."
"I suppose there is nothing I can do to sway you."
"Nope." Xar sighed and lent back in his chair.
"Then it is settled. Nar, set a course for the last known coordinates of the fleet, Eternal Lasting."
"That probably won't help, captain. The last time we saw them, they opened a wormhole with unknown coordinates into dark space, leaving no forwarding address."
"That complicates things," Xar grumbled, mulling over their dilemma in his head. "How long were we in stasis?" Nar jumped to another terminal and typed furiously.
"Wow," he said suddenly. "Our timer says we've been out for almost... Three million years."
"Wow indeed." Xar said bitterly, when a beep drew their attention to a terminal on the far side of the bridge. Nar immediately crossed over to it and examined it.
"Well what do you know, we got mail." He said after a moment. "Two unanswered hails. One from Grand Admiral Balgon, received almost three million years ago. The other from the... Colony ship Horizon, received seven hundred and twenty five years ago." He finished with hope.
"So one did survive," Xar excitedly rose from his seat. "What does it say?"
"It's just a set of coordinates."
"Then we have our heading," he sat down again and typed on a screen. "Set a course and prime the main..." He was interrupted by a loud clang as a vent cover fell from the ceiling, and a single shriek echoed from the dark opening.
"I thought you purged the ship," Xar jumped up and readied his Pinch.
"I did! It must have been in there when I sealed us off." Nar replied pointed his SMGs at the hole, waiting for the husk to show itself.
With a scream the husk launched itself from the vent, landing on a holotable and cracking it's surface. It was an infected Guardian, it's right arm had been replaced by long barbed blade which crackled and sparked with power. It screamed at them, then cloaked vanishing from their sight.
"I hate these guys," Nar groaned. "They were hard enough in training, and that was when they only stunned you."
"Watch for the blur," Xar advised, scanning the area. "Their cloak isn't perfect."
"I see it!" Maria shouted, firing off a burst at the far wall, she was surprisingly accurate. Shots shattered against the husk, breaking it's cloak and forcing it back. Though it recovered quickly and leaped away before the others could lock on, disappearing behind a clump of terminals.
"You can see it? How?"
"I don't know, SECOND said something about changing modules."
"Interesting."
"Behind you!" Xar turned and raised his Pinch, just in time to divert an overhead slash that would've decapitated him. Instead the blade slid off and embedded itself into his chair. The husk tried to pull it out, but it was jammed firmly in place.
Xar chuckled darkly, before raising his Pinch and unleashed full auto into it's head. The faceplate shattered and blood flew everywhere as the now headless husk crumpled to the ground.
"Now the ship is purged," Xar muttered, wiping the gore off his chest plate. "Nar, are we clear to make the jump?"
"Yes captain, we just cleared the atmosphere." Indeed they had, the view outside the windows was filled with bright constellations of stars. In the far distance, the system's sun shone brilliantly into the bridge and cast shadows onto the wall behind them.
"Good, open a wormhole to the coordinates Horizon sent us."
"Understood, captain."
The shadows cast from the sun faded as a wormhole opened up before them. As it's last rays disappeared, no one noticed the fourth shadow cast on the wall, slowly moving behind an unsuspecting human.
A/N: Ok, I'm sorry it's taken me this long to upload this chapter. My schedule was all over the place, but hopefully with school I will have a more stable one to work with.
And don't worry, a history lesson on the Charybdis is coming up next.
Also I found this name on Crysis Wiki but I'm unsure if it's the right one. If anyone knows the Ceph's real name, please tell me so I can correct it.
(I own Nothing.)