Chapter Nine: Valor Lost
The tram arrived at the Bridge without any further issues, thank goodness. Once the tram stopped, they carefully checked before disembarking. Isaac and Hammond were on their full guard now, since it was not only the Xenomorphs they had to worry about. They were cautious as they entered the Main Atrium. They stopped just short of the stairs down to the Captain's Nest.
"Okay, you two head back to the Captain's Nest, and I'll head down to Communications and see what I can do," said Isaac.
"Mr. Clarke, since it was my doing that caused the problem, please allow me to come with you and help you. It's the least I can do," said Dr. Kyne.
"Hey, Doc, we just pulled you out of a sticky, nasty alien nest and saved you from being a walking bug-womb. You deserve to sit and rest," said Hammond. Isaac smiled at this. Kyne looked unsure, but reluctantly nodded his agreement.
"You stay with him and Kendra, make sure things are secure while I go and see what needs fixing. Since we now have Mercer's crazies to contend with, we can't take any chances," said Isaac. Hammond looked at him, and nodded.
"All right. But as soon as we're all good, I'm coming down to help. I'm done playing around and letting other people do the work," Hammond replied.
"Fair enough. You two stay safe," said Isaac as he went to the elevator and took it down.
Isaac had barely entered the hallways when he saw two Xenomorphs standing down near the end of the hall, right where he needed to go. Isaac hid. He carefully peeked out, and while he was no expert, their body language and the way they moved, they seemed angry and agitated. He shouldn't have been surprised. He and Hammond had, in effect, broken into their home and killed their children. He wouldn't be surprised if they killed him and Hammond on sight as soon as they found them. Isaac carefully and slowly sidled his way down and along the wall, gauging and watching for any sign they had detected him. He managed to get around a corner, knew it looped back around Systems Storage. Isaac primed a decoy, tossed it back down the hall where he had come from, quietly made his way around. He could hear the decoy begin to screech and chirp. He heard the aliens hiss. Isaac peeked around the corner. While they were distracted, the Xenomorphs had not gone way over to investigate, as he had hoped. Isaac carefully made his way to the door to the Comms Access Hall. He made it through the door, thankfully without being seen or heard. He walked down the ramp, flamethrower ready, but nothing presented itself. Isaac found the door to the Comms Control Room unlocked and operable, thankfully. He headed in, still ready, just in case.
"Communications array offline. A repair technician has been notified," the Ishimura computer stated.
"Yeah, that'd be me," Isaac mused as he walked up to the console and looked it over, as well as out the large window to the inside.
"The Valor's in a holding position. How's the Comms array?" Kendra asked. Isaac chuckled.
"Fried. Dishes were hotwired together and blew out the system," Isaac said as he looked over the readings.
"I apologize, Mr. Clarke. All of you. I was very much in despair at the time," Kyne apologized. Kendra sighed.
"So, we're screwed," she mused. Isaac clicked his tongue.
"Nah. Some of the dishes are intact. If I replace them, and create a new circuit with no gaps, we could broadcast a signal. Only be short range, but should be enough to contact the Valor," said Isaac.
"All right, Isaac. Go ahead and do it," said Hammond. Isaac headed though the near door, and checked first for things he might need in the Comms Array Locker. He took more circuit boards, extra cables, wire, some solder paste and adhesive, then headed into the inner Comms Array.
It was a large, dome-shaped room. It was zero-gravity, so Isaac disengaged his mag-boots and boosted up and had a look at the damage. It wasn't as bad as he had been expecting. He glanced at the large hologram, saw where power was going, and put new dishes in where needed, fixing and repairing wires and circuits where needed. It was almost relaxing, as Isaac was finally back in his zone, something he actually was trained to do. He let his mind drift into his actual work, the horrors he had witnessed and faced falling further into the back of his mind. He was so in his element, he was surprised when the Ishimura computer spoke up.
"Communications array re-aligned. Ready to transmit," it confirmed.
"I think you got it, Isaac. Try opening a channel to the Valor," said Kendra. Isaac smiled and put his tools away before heading back in and returning to the Comms Control Room. Isaac walked down to the hologram and pressed it. A RIGLINK video screen popped up. A person wearing a Soldier RIG stared into the screen, the face plates of the RIG almost looking like a skull, white and shiny, the eyes glowing.
"This is USM Valor, widecasting on all frequencies to the USG Ishimura, in response to your SOS. Have have picked up your escape pod, number 47, and are en route to your position. This message will repeat every thirty second until you respond," said the EDF soldier with authority in a deep, masculine voice. The message then turned off. Isaac felt his stomach fall at this.
"Escape pod?" Kendra said with fear, voice trembling.
"Oh, fuck! Number 47 was the one that had that thing on it!" Isaac exclaimed.
"Dammit!" Hammond swore as he moved in front of Kendra. "USM Valor, come in! Do you read? Do not open the escape pod! Biohazardous contamination inside! Class One infection! Do not open it! Valor?! Dammit!" Hammond yelled frantically, swearing and pounding a fist on the console when nothing came back.
"Lemme see!" said Kendra. She groaned. "Our signal isn't strong enough."
"Can we deploy the long-range antenna?" Isaac asked quickly, heart pounding. She typed.
"No. The blast doors won't open. I don't know why," she replied.
"There'll be a manual release over in maintenance. I'll go. Keep trying to reach them," said Isaac. He didn't wait for a reply, heading down the hall and to the maintenance gondola. Isaac boarded quickly, knowing second mattered. If the soldiers on the Valor opened that pod . . .
Isaac felt like the seconds took hours to ride over. He hurried down and opened the door, and was shocked when a Xenomorphs grinning face greeted him. "Fuck!" Isaac yelled as he brought up the flamethrower and torched it. The alien screeched and ran as Isaac threw himself backwards, panting as he saw it scurry down and leap up a vent and disappear. Isaac didn't have time to think or worry. He got up and dashed through the door, turning and hitting the button for the elevator. He waited, was relieved when it finally came and opened. Isaac dashed in and hit the button, the doors closing and taking him down. Every second that passed, all sorts of horrible possibilities ran through his mind. Then the doors opened, Isaac stepped out quick, flamethrower ready, looked around. The door of Comms Maintenance was just ahead. He dashed over, opened it and got to the panel in record time, tapping the glowing hologram.
"Error. Blast doors obstructed. Please contact a repair technician," said the computer. Isaac growled as he typed.
"We still can't reach the Valor. What's happening with the antenna?" Kendra asked as Isaac opened the outer shutters to have a look. What he saw made his heart sink.
The outside was encrusted with a familiar, black alien resin Even worse, he could see Xenomorphs visibly crawling around on it, apparently building more.
"Fuck. It's the aliens. They've covered the blast doors with that stuff they made their nest with. There's dozens of them," said Isaac.
"Shit!" Hammond exclaimed.
"They're not coming off of there without a fight," said Isaac, surprising them all.
"Mr. Clarke, that's insane! You won't stand a chance!" said Kyne.
"With the ADS cannons I will. Manual targeting, like before. And this time I have the room to blast the bastards right off the hull!" said Isaac.
"Isaac . . . ugh, yet another bad idea? Do you have that many?" Kendra asked.
"Stick around, I'm full of 'em," Isaac replied as he went out to man the ADS cannons.
The airlock cycled, and Isaac didn't need to be told how stupid an idea it was, but they didn't have the time. Besides, the idea of blasting those bugs with an ADS cannon was oddly satisfying. The airlock opened, and Isaac floated out into space. He saw a nearby ADS cannon, grinned as he hefted up the Pulse Rifle, flew down and touched the hologram.
"Manual targeting enabled," the Ishimura computer confirmed. Isaac aimed at the middle, where the resin was thickest and there was several aliens in a group.
"Hey, bugs!" he yelled even though he knew they couldn't hear. He grinned as he aimed. "Bang!" he taunted as the first two shells fired. The two heavy shells tore the resin off the ship and shredded the surprised Xenomorphs, which looked up. Isaac fired again, wiped out another three in one shot. They began to scatter. Isaac fired at the resin, blasting off huge chunks of it. Isaac also blasted any aliens he saw getting too close, but kept his aim mostly on the resin, aiming for where it was thickest. He aimed for the sides, along where the hinges for the doors were. He blasted several Xenomorphs into chunks, grinning with satisfaction. He saw several climbing along the hull towards him, aimed the lasers of the Pulse Rifle and ADS cannon at them. To his surprise, they stopped and scattered. He blinked. They knew he was aiming at them. The intelligent action surprised him. He whirled and saw more moving in, turned and aimed. They stopped just long enough for him to blast them. Some of their blood pitted the outer hull, but not enough to pierce it. Isaac fired again and again at the resin, taking more chunks off, along with more Xenomorphs. Now, they began to flee. At least they had enough brains to know they were outmatched. Isaac blasted a few more big chunks, until he was satisfied the doors could open. He also didn't want to accidentally blast a hole in the ship. "That should do it. I'm heading back inside to try the manual release again," said Isaac.
"Good. I've got a transmission loaded and ready to go," Kendra replied, sounding pleased, but also worried. He didn't blame her. He hurried back inside and to the manual release, tapping the hologram. The screen confirmed the long-range antenna was active, the doors cracking open and the antenna extending. "Yes! Finally! USM Valor, this is Kendra Daniels aboard the USG Ishimura! Do not open the escape pod! Repeat, do not open the escape pod! Do you read?" Isaac hoped as his heart pounded. Only three second after that, they got a live transmission video from the Valor. A video window popped up.
A severely wounded soldier tried to push himself up where he was against a table, everything ruined around him, dead bodies visible. Something big loomed behind him, a silhouette Isaac would know anywhere. The soldier turned his head as the tall alien loomed over him. It hissed, and its tongue snapped out, smashing the soldier's helmet and skull like an egg with a wet crunch. The body toppled to the floor, the Xenomorph almost seemed to grin at the camera with its bloody face, as if taunting them, before the video cut out.
"My god . . ." Kyne breathed. Kendra growled.
"We're too late," she said sadly. Isaac was about to speak, when he noticed movement. At first he thought it was more Xenomorphs, but saw it was, actually, something far worse.
"The Valor!" Isaac yelled.
"Incoming!" Hammond cried.
Mr. Clarke, it's heading right for you!"
"Get out of there!" Kendra ordered.
"Warning! Collision imminent!" The Ishimura computer warned as alarms blared.
"Nicole, I-" Isaac couldn't finish as the whole ship rocked and Isaac was thrown against the wall like a ragdoll. The shutters slammed closed and alarms blared, lights flashing. His RIG alerted him he was entering a vacuum. Isaac groaned as his body floated in zero-gravity.
"Isaac, are you there?! Isaac!?" Hammond yelled through the radio. Isaac groaned anew.
"I'm alive . . . barely," the engineer muttered. Hammond sighed with relief.
"The Valor's scrap. By the time another ship hears the SOS beacon, we'll all be dead," said Kendra dully.
"No. Not yet. There's an executive shuttle on Crew Deck. It's intact. All it needs is a Singularity Core," said Kyne.
"Which we could salvage from the Valor," said Isaac.
"That's if it's not trashed like everything else," said Kendra.
"It's worth a shot. Where's the Valor now?" Hammond asked.
"Near Comms," Kendra replied.
"Okay. Isaac, you stay put and I'll meet you there. We'll find that core together," said Hammond.
"Right. I'm at Comms Maintenance. See you when you get here," said Isaac as the Ishimura sealed the local hull breaches. Isaac engaged his mag-boots and used his suits built-in first-aid kit to administer some Somatic gel and painkiller. He sighed with relief as the pain abated. Hammond arrived in record time. Isaac had to say he was glad to see him.
"Glad you're okay," said Hammond, gently patting his shoulder. Isaac couldn't help but smile.
"Thanks, and the same." Hammond nodded his helmeted head. They turned to where the hall led down to where the ADS cannons and blast doors where.
"I'll take point this time. We won't mind hulling the Valor if it's scrap already," said Hammond, and Isaac could feel him grin.
"Careful. We don't want to blow it and the Ishimura up. But, yeah, we have a bit more freedom with weapons. Though, our old friend will be waiting in there for us, and likely mad as hell," said Isaac. Hammond checked his rifle.
"Then, let's not keep our friend waiting," said Hammond, leading the way. They entered the airlock and headed out.
The outside of the Ishimura was a mess. All of the ADS cannons around the antenna blast doors were scrap, as were the blast doors themselves. But, Isaac could see large enough gaps they could head right back into Comms once they were done. The Valor stuck out of the side and at an angle. Isaac wondered if they had deliberately tried to ram them. Hammond looked around, and pointed. "There's the airlock. Follow me." Isaac engaged his jets and followed Hammond. The two made it to the airlock without incident, much to their relief. The airlock cycled and opened.
The halls of the USM Valor were a wreck. Conduits and wires hung, sparking, fires burned. Isaac couldn't help looking at a large poster of a EDF soldier, proclaiming The Stars Are Ours! He stared at it.
Humans had long thought, since there was no evidence of any alien life, anywhere, that humans could do as they pleased with the Universe. They just got a very violent wake up call. Hammond looked around. The way to the right was blocked, and so was another door to the front. The only way was left, through the Barracks. Hammond led the way, Isaac following, but still ready. The inside of the Barracks was a mess, fires burned and it looked like some poor soldiers had died in their bunks. A large part of the ceiling had collapsed, a support beam had impaled a soldier right through the chest. Thankfully, it looked like a quick death, compared to anything the aliens might do. The two men wove their way through the carnage, ignoring most of it, as it looked like it had been all caused by the crash, not the Xenomorphs. They skirted past sparking floor panels, flaming wreckage and more bodies. They opened the door out of the Barracks, and found the body of a soldier sitting against a wall, a hole in his helmet and head, the whole wall behind stained red with blood and brain matter. Isaac knew too well what did it. So did Hammond. They looked around. To their left was a locked elevator, but to the right was a long, narrow corridor. They stood even, Isaac primed his flamethrower, Hammond had his rifle ready.
"By the way, Hammond?"
"Yeah?"
"I found out where our ugly friend came from," said Isaac as they walked.
"And? What made it so special?" Hammond asked.
"Apparently, they change, depending on what their host was." This surprised Hammond.
"There was something else here for it to grow in?" Hammond asked.
"One of the officers had a dog. A Rottweiler," said Isaac. Hammond actually shivered.
"Jesus Christ. That would certainly explain why it's so damn mean," he said.
"And how it moves," Isaac added.
"More like a freight train crossed with a jaguar," Hammond said as they passed the body of a soldier that had been torn to pieces, others smashed into the walls. They counted at least ten corpses as they headed down the hall, unable to confirm if the body parts had come from bodies they already seen.
At the end of the hall was an elevator with a broken power cell, and the Briefing Room. They headed into the Briefing Room. Inside, it looked like a tornado had hit the place, and a deadly one at that. Bodies lay everywhere, most shredded or in pieces. The soldiers had obviously put up a fight, judging by the acid holes in the deck. One poor soldier had been doused with acid, most of his armor and RIG burned away and his skin along with it, the grinning skull exposed.
"Holy shit," Isaac breathed, looking around.
"Goddamned thing tore them apart," Hammond mused.
"If just one could do this to a military ship, just imagine what they could do on the Sprawl, or Mars," Isaac mused with horror.
"Or Earth. Which is why I'm with Kyne on this. We can't let these things get out of here, no matter what," said Hammond as he pulled a dead soldier out of a chair and sat down and typed, the screen flickering. Isaac looked around as Hammond typed. "Shit," he said, and Isaac looked up.
"What?" asked the engineer. Hammond typed some more.
"They're carrying a twelve megaton nuclear warhead. You don't carry something like that on a patrol or rescue mission," said Hammond.
"But they would on a search and destroy," Isaac said, the truth dawning on him. "Kendra did say the system was restricted," Isaac mused. Hammond nodded.
"Yeah. Means someone knew, or at least suspected." Hammond typed more. "Fuck. The crash hit the torpedo bay hard. We'll need to launch that nuke away from the Ishimura, before something can set it off." Hammond looked at him. "Think you can handle it?"
"Handle? Twelve megatons? You know I'm not a nuclear engineer, right?" Isaac retorted.
"Nobody trained you to cut up acid-blooded alien monsters with a plasma cutter and flamethrower, but you haven't let us down yet. Besides, I'll be helping. I'm done with sitting back and sending others to do stuff," said Hammond, standing up. Isaac sighed, but nodded.
"Anything else?" Isaac asked. Hammond walked over to another console, wiped some blood off and casually lifted up and dropped a severed arm. He typed for a few second.
"Some of the data is corrupted, but whatever they were doing out here was 'Priority Black'. Means the orders came right from the top, and want it done yesterday. And if they were armed with a nuke, says they were expecting trouble," said Hammond. Isaac looked around, made sure the coast was clear.
"Yeah. Lemme see about a power cell," said Isaac, searching, and found one in the wall. He pulled it and they installed it next to the elevator in the hall. They rode it up, and as soon as the doors opened, they saw two bodies of soldiers, one without their head, and the other looked like they had been crushed by the falling ceiling.
"Warning! Radiation hazard!" the Valor computer warned in a masculine voice. The two were right outside the torpedo bay, and Isaac couldn't help being tense. He looked at Hammond, who hefted his rifle. Isaac disabled a fuse, the door unlocked and opened. They stepped in, and even Hammond started.
The bay was lined with large missiles as tall as three men, all bearing Nuclear warning symbols.
"Fuck me . . ." Isaac said as he saw what they were dealing with. Hammond looked around.
"This is enough firepower to take out the whole Ishimura and then some," Hammond observed. He looked over, and they saw a missile ready to be loaded into a torpedo tube. There were sparks from the various mechanical arms and other things that made them both nervous, never mind the obvious damage to the bay itself.
"All right, let me just disable those fuses and-" Isaac began. They heard a vent tear with a screech of metal. They whirled, and stared at a familiar form. The Xenomorph stood up tall, face and claws red with blood. Isaac brought up his flamethrower, and the alien leaped up onto the ceiling with a hiss to avoid the gout of flames. Hammond fired his rifle, but it scurried across the ceiling faster than he could track. The Xenomorph leaped to a wall, then at them. Isaac fired his flamethrower, the alien screeching as it tumbled, tail lashing out. Isaac pushed Hammond back as the large, sharp blade collided with his head. Metal shredded with a screech, glass shattered as Isaac was knocked back.
"Isaac!" Hammond yelled. He turned where the Xenomorph was trying to put the fire out, aimed and fired. He managed to hit it a few times, but did minimal damage. It screeched as it leaped up onto the ceiling and backed off. Hammond helped Isaac up. The faceplate of his helmet was shattered, as were the metal ribs, a small stream of blood running down his temple. Isaac looked up as the alien charged again. Isaac aimed his flamethrower, and it dropped. Hammond was ready, aiming and firing his Stasis module. That was when they both got the shock of their lives.
The Runner grabbed a fallen metal panel, hurled it at them as the Stasis shot discharged. The bolt hit the metal, enveloping it in a blue glow. Their eyes widened.
"What the hell?!" Isaac swore. The Xenomorph screeched as it charged. Isaac doused it with flame and Hammond fired his rifle. It snarled and shrieked, tumbling away and leaping back up the vent it had come from. Isaac hurried over to the torpedo, disabling the fuses and then replacing the power cell before pressing the hologram.
"Warhead has been ejected. Alerting bridge," the Valor computer confirmed. Isaac sighed and almost fell to the floor.
"Isaac! Hold on, I've got you," said Hammond, helping him. He turned him and got a good look. "Good thing they make these RIGs tough. But you'll need a new one," said Hammond. Isaac nodded. Hammond patted his shoulder. "Thanks. You saved my bacon." Isaac smiled and chuckled as he activated his RIG Medkit. Hammond looked at the damaged bay. "That thing is fucking learning, Isaac. You saw that, right?" Isaac nodded.
"Yeah, and that scares me. Kyne said they were smart," said Isaac.
"And it was running through the goddamned fire, too." He looked at Isaac. "We need to hurry and get that singularity core." Isaac nodded. Hammond had Isaac stay close as they exited the torpedo bay through a now unlocked door. They went down and across the hall to the Armory. Hammond took point, just in case. If Isaac was attacked with his RIG compromised, he was done for. Thankfully, while a mess, the Armory was in better shape. Better yet, there was several RIG lockers. Hammond opened one, and smiled. "Ah, an oldie but a goodie," said Hammond, motioning for Isaac to look.
It was a Venture Rig, so named for the ship and the EDF soldiers who served on it. It was an older RIG model, but still a workhorse. The armor was mostly black and gray, with three horizontal visor slits and a good amount of armor. Isaac looked at it, and smiled.
"Thanks, Hammond." Isaac pulled off his helmet, and then the RIG itself. He wore a black bodysuit underneath. His movements were stiff from his growing aches and sore muscles, but was manageable. He then put on the new RIG, pulling on the body suit and fastening it, then putting on the helmet, which hissed as it sealed.
"Now syncing RIG to new user . . . welcome, Isaac Clarke," said the RIG computer voice. Hammond chuckled and playfully punched Isaac's shoulder.
"Now we'll really make the bugs run," he joked, and Isaac smiled as he picked his gear back up and attached it to his new armor. They checked the armory, and while most of the weapons had been taken, there were a few left, one that Hammond grinned as he snapped up. It was a flamethrower, but not one like Isaac's. It was a genuine, Earthgov military issue. An M280 Incinerator Unit, to be more precise. He looked it over, snapped the igniter on, and grinned. "Let's turn up the heat," said Hammond, and Isaac nodded. Hammond also snapped up several hand grenades, just in case. They headed through to the next door, opened it, and got a very unpleasant surprise.
A soldier was crawling across the floor. At least, his upper half was. A long trail of blood and intestines trailed to the door to the Infirmary. The soldier groaned, went limp, and his RIG sounded a flatline tone. They looked at each other, and headed over to the only active door. Inside, a surgical laser was going haywire, spinning and whirring as it burned into the deck in a large circle around the machine. The lower half of a soldier's body on the floor in a pool of blood. Isaac waited until the machine had moved the lasers to the left, then hit it with Stasis and they ran past. They could also see acid damage, indicating not just humans had been harmed by it. They came out into another small corridor, and it made them both uneasy.
"Hammond, you take the front, I'll cover the rear," said Isaac. Hammond nodded as they made their way down the hall. They heard a hiss from ahead, turned in time to see three Xenomorphs stalking towards them. Hammond tested his new weapon, fired a gout of liquid flame. The three aliens screeched and fled, all on fire that would not be as easily put out as Isaac's was.
"I was worried about that. With the Valor smashed into the Ishimura, those things have lots of ways in and out, now," said Hammond.
"And more hosts to use," Isaac added darkly. They made their way into the Cargo Bay, and stared at the carnage.
The escape pod rested on the floor below a crane, the CEC logo plain to see. Dead soldiers littered the ground around it. One had been decapitated, another torn to pieces, and one looked like he had shot the alien with a pistol, only to be doused with acid. They looked around, and there were plenty more bodies, strewn everywhere. It was safe to say this was ground zero.
"Poor bastards didn't know what hit them," said Hammond. They heard a screech. Isaac looked up. A familiar, grinning face greeted them, and this time it wasn't alone. The Runner was back, this time with no less than four of the normal Xenomorphs.
"Oh, fuck," said Isaac. Hammond primed his flamethrower.
"All right, round two. Let's turn it up!" said Hammond as he let loose with the flamethrower. The Xenos scattered, but one was too slow, and was doused in flaming fuel. Isaac fired with his own weapons, pushing a Xeno back into a vent, then fired at one on the far side of the room with the Pulse Rifle. Isaac accidentally hit a fuel canister, blowing it up and sending the shrieking Xenomorph back into the vent missing part of its tail. The Runner seemed to be leading the charge, leaping around, screeching, and trying to attack. Isaac was shocked when a length of pipe embedded itself in the deck ahead of him. He looked up, and saw the Runner, grinning at him. It pulled another pipe free and hurled it. Isaac leaped out of the way as the pipe plunged into the steel deck plating where he had been milliseconds ago. Isaac fired his Pulse Rifle at it, but the Runner darted down and hid among the cargo containers. Hammond ran up and they turned their backs to each other.
"Hammond, they are learning! That thing is throwing things at us!" Isaac panted, reloading his rifle and flamethrower.
"Right. All the more reason to get the hell out of here and get that core!" Hammond pulled up a grenade from his belt, pulled the remote detonator, and hurled the grenade where he had seen the Runner go. Hammond pressed the button, and the grenade went off. There was a screech, and they saw a black shape fly out of cover and across the room, a vent tearing open in a screech of metal. They didn't go to check, instead rushing for the exit. They hung a right, down the hall, then a sharp left, and they were at long last at the door of the engine room.
The engine room was bright with fire as broken pipes spat gouts of ignited fuel. The primary engines periodically lit the whole room up and roared.
"Well, safe to say those things won't want to follow us in here," said Isaac with a small chuckle. They used Isaac's Kinesis module to move and use some crates to block the flames, narrowly making their way over past the flames from the engines to where the breaker box was. Isaac was able to activate the fire suppression system and put out the fire, then turn the work lift back on. They took the lift up, a catwalk leading between two rows of heavy machines from the top of the engines. The door behind them led to the elevators to the upper decks. To their right, was the singularity core, behind a heavy glass panel and door.
"Shit, must be locked down. Think you can get it open?" Hammond asked as they walked forward. Isaac looked around.
"Maybe. Lemme see-" they stopped when they heard a hiss. Their whirled, hearing something move near the door.
There was a sudden wet crunch and Isaac was sent sprawling. Isaac turned over, and saw Hammond hanging from the end of a black, skeletal tail, the blade protruding out just below his ribs. His legs dangled uselessly. The Runner hissed as it unfolded from where it had disguised itself as part of the engines. "No! Hammond!" Isaac yelled as the Runner turned him around to face it. Hammond pulled his helmet off, smiling at it as it bared its teeth.
"Run, Isaac," Hammond said weakly as he pulled up a grenade. Isaac turned and ran as Hammond pulled the pin and jammed the grenade right in the mouth of the alien tongue. "Say aah!" Hammond yelled as the grenade went off as Isaac dove behind the engines. The blast splattered the whole area in human and alien blood, large parts of the engines being eaten away, but so was the glass around the singularity core. Isaac peeked out at the devastation.
"Oh, Hammond . . ." Isaac said, loss almost overwhelming him. Isaac saw the way open, wound his way past, ducked through the gap, and plucked the singularity core from where it was plugged into the engine, the engine now totally offline. Alarms began to sound around him.
"Isaac! What happened?! Hammond's vitals, they just flatlined," said Kendra.
"He's gone, Kendra. The Runner ambushed us, but he took it out with him," said Isaac as he pocketed the singularity core.
"Singularity core removed. Re-routing power," said the Valor computer.
"Oh, my god," Kendra breathed.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Clarke," said Kyne.
"Warning! Cascade failure in all primary systems! All crew abandon ship!" the Valor computer warned.
"Mr. Clarke, get out of there! The Valor is going to explode!" Kyne yelled. Isaac dashed out the door as fast as his legs would carry him. He bounced off walls as the ship rocked and as he ran. Alarms blared, sounding alerts for all the failing systems. Isaac thought he saw some aliens running as well, but couldn't be sure. With all the fire and explosions, he was certain they would be fleeing as well. As he made it into the airlock, the Valor shook violently, exploding behind him. As a result, as the airlock opened, he was thrown out into the vacuum of space. Isaac used the momentum to boost him as he applied his suit jets and headed in through the Comms blast doors, the long-range antenna retracting and the blast doors closing as best they could behind him.
"Isaac, come in!" Kendra yelled over the radio. Isaac gave a soft sigh.
"I'm here. I'm back in Comms. Fuck, that was close," the engineer replied.
"Chen, Johnston, now Hammond . . ." said Kendra mournfully.
"But he might have saved us. I got the singularity core," said Isaac.
"And we can't let his sacrifice be in vain. The shuttle is on the Crew Deck in the Maintenance Bay," said Kyne.
"Along with all of Mercer's zealots, and a bunch of the aliens, I'll bet," Isaac replied.
"Yes. We certainly will have a fight on our hands," said Kyne.
"Our?" Isaac asked.
"I'm coming with you, Mr. Clarke," Kyne stated firmly.
"What?!" Kendra yelped.
"Too long have I hid in the shadows, too long have I hesitated when I could have changed things. No longer. I'm going to put things right. Besides, I am the Chief Science Officer of the Ishimura. I have access to most areas with my clearance, as well as most pass codes on the Crew Deck. You'll need my help," said Kyne. Isaac thought for a few long moments, then nodded.
"All right. Make sure you pick up an EVA suit and have a weapon. I'll be down to the Bridge and pick you up in a few minutes," Isaac replied.
"Isaac . . ." said Kendra.
"I'm gonna need all the help I can get, Kendra," Isaac replied as he landed and opened the door from Comms.
