Chapter 53: Seeking Better Worlds.
Like the rest of the ship, the medical bay was pretty archaic by Clan Mason's advanced technological standards.
They were a series of six bio-beds fit with a series of sensors and scanning tools, Kess'all and Vessi placed their charges onto two of the biobeds while Jay after a brief look over the controls set both the beds to scan their occupants to ensure that they were both ok.
A series of large metallic arms and rings began whirring and moving over the beds scanning both occupants with a series of laser lights which were designed to measure a certain bodily function like respiration or brain activity, while also looking for things like broken bones, lacerations, blood loss or foreign bodies within the body of the occupant.
Both scans were completed and showed that both occupants were fine and had just suffered a sensory overload, "So what do you think is happening around here guys?" Vessi asked suddenly and Kess'all shrugged.
"No idea but whatever it is pauking evil, whoever killed all those people the Clan needs to make them pay for it, all these people wanted was to have a new life to make a better future for themselves and someone killed them for it never even giving them a chance to fight for their lives, it was the act of a true coward and cowardice like this needs to be exterminated, I hope the commander can find something on the bridge so we can send the Seekers after these paukers if anyone can dig these cowards out of wherever they are hiding, it's them, then we and the Hunters can go in and show those paukers what Clan Mason does to murdering, kidnapping, cowardly pauks!" she said passionately, shaking her large fist as she did.
Both Vessi and Jay nodded in complete agreement with their large passionate comrade, if there was one thing Clan Mason did very well it was instilling a deep-seated passion within its members as well a powerful belief in the power of the Clan itself not to mention its members.
"What about you Jay? Any ideas?" Vessi asked turning to look at him as well as Kess'all and Jay baulked slightly under the direct gaze of his two large comrades.
"Not sure exactly but what's got my attention the most is why kidnap certain people from each of the bays before they triggered the virus? Were the people they took deliberately targeted or were they just random?" Jay said thoughtfully rubbing his chin.
"Good point, there has to be a passenger manifest right? It might help if we identify who has been taken and maybe we might be able to find a pattern between those taken" Vessi said and Jay nodded.
"It would be a good place to start plus maybe our new friends here might be able to shed some light on it," he said.
"Good idea, think you can get access to such information from here?" Kess'all asked and Jay shrugged.
"I doubt it, but I can try, their subsystem integration might make it possible but it would be a lot faster to simply go to direct to source, if I can find the master computer then I'd have direct access, given the level of the encryption these guys have they've got nothing that I can't crack through," he said confidently.
"I like a confidant ooman boy! Ooman boys just seem to shine when they have their confidence in play, it gets a good huntress's blood pumping" Kess'all said making Jay flush slightly as she fixed him with a gaze that he could feel through her visor.
"I agree! Humans just seem to glow when they are confident and driven, it's beautiful" Vessi said nodding her large domed head before also turning her gaze on him making him blush deeper.
A sudden and loud groan cut through the air and saved Jay from having to figure out a reply to those comments and all three of them turned to see Yu-Lin slowly sitting up on her biobed holding her head in her hands as she strained herself forwards into a sitting position.
"Ahh welcome back Yu-Lin how are you feeling?" Jay said moving over to the side of her biobed.
She moved her hands away and looked up at him, "What happened?" she asked in a soft voice.
"Err you and your brother got kind of a shock upon seeing that humans aren't the only intelligent life in the universe and Ummm kinda fainted," Jay said and Yu Lin looked surprised giving him a questioning look until he simply pointed at Vessi and Kess'all.
Yu Lin turned her head and as soon as she saw the two non-humans standing there her eyes went wide again and Jay quickly placed a hand on her shoulder as he noticed her starting to hyperventilate, "Easy now it's ok, it's ok" he said softly and she quickly looked at him with wide eyes.
"Greetings Yu-Lin my name is Kess'all Lightfoot I am a proud member of the Yautja race, we are a proud race of hunters who prove our strength and value against the strongest prey in the universe," she said giving a polite slight bow and from his right, Jay saw Vessi pressed the controls on her wrist comp to activate her outer speakers so she could use her voice modulator to speak.
"And greetings from me as well Yu Lin, my name is Vessi Sharptail and I am a member of the free Xenomorph race born and grown within Clan Mason," she said giving her tail a swish as she spoke, her voice modulator giving her voice a kind of synthetic quality though from what Jay had heard through the grapevine the science hive was working with the synths freed from Wayland Yutani's control after the Dark Star event which had resulted in the Clan attacking an installation that was holding Xeno's and their own Xipa prisoner after shooting her down.
"Y-Y-Y-You're aliens!?" she exclaimed looking between them both and they both nodded.
"To you were would be yes, hell if you classify any person not born of Earth then even young Jay there is an alien to you as he was not born of Earth, his family came to Clan Mason in the early days when the Grand Patriarch put the offer out to humanity for those with an open mind and a like mind to join us, Jay's ancestors answered that call and came to us, so by that logic Jay although he shares a species with you has never even seen Earth let alone been there, so that would make him an alien too," Vessi said.
Yu Lin blinked a few times as she considered this and Jay could see her eyes darting about between the three of them, "C-C-Clan M-Mason? What is that? You mentioned it before" she asked finally and Jay could actually see her trying to attack the problem logically and he nodded but before he could answer Kess'all got there first.
"First I'll explain the idea of a clan to you and then it will make more sense to you, a clan is a collection of traditionally Yautja families that form together to stake out territory or to hunt together to overcome tough prey for the honour of the Yautja race, so we can prove ourselves in the eyes of the Eternal Huntress and earn our place in the Eternal Hunt which is our afterlife, its a mutually benifical arrangement that brings strength to all its members as the clan protects its own, now what the Grand Matriarch and Patriarch did is they took this ideal and they built upon it, instead of it being simply a Yautja thing they opened our doors to all who felt their values and shared their heart, our Grand Patriarch is an ooman and our Grand Matriarch is a Yautja like me and they love one another and that love is so powerful that you cannot help but bask in it and simply prey to which ever deity saw fit to send your soul into this plane of existence that you find something like that for yourself, so they built Clan Mason on these principles, of free love and free choice and we will defend these principles with every single life within our sphere, so they took these building blocks and these principles and they built Clan Mason out of them, our doors are open to all considering that you can find us or we find you and if you meet our criteria you will be allowed to join us, Clan Mason is made up currently of five different species, ooman, Yautja, Xenos, Serpentinus and Raptorians all gathered together under the protection of the Clan who work and live for the Clan as the Clan lives and works for them, that's what a clan is and who we are because to Clan Mason our Grand Matriarch and Patriarch have hammered into us that every single one of us is as important to the Clan as everyone else is and we would fight tusk and claw as hard for every single on of them" Kess'all said proudly and then as she finished she clicked the release for her helmet causing it to retract into her armour exposing her face.
Yu Lin's eyes widened as she saw the Yautja female for the first time truly and Kess'all who was a fine example of Yautja femininity drew her mandibles up into a warm and friendly smile, Jay noticed Vessi doing the same and her helmet retracted and revealed the Xeno's face and she too gave her a warm and friendly smile.
Surprisingly it seemed to work, she actually seemed to relax now that she could look into the eyes of the pair and truly see them as living, breathing, thinking and feeling beings, well she could look into the eyes of Kess'all as Vessi didn't exactly have eyes in the way that other races did.
"There are more races?" Yu Lin asked and Kess'all nodded.
"Many, there is a whole universe out there, to believe that you are alone in this place is pretty arrogant," she said and Yu Lin looked curious but then happy.
"Oh my God! This means I'm the first human from Earth to meet an alien race!" she exclaimed and all three of the Saviours shook their heads.
"Nope," Kess'all said.
"Not even close" Vessi said.
"Err hello human right here?" Jay said.
"Oh yeah I guess that's true I suppose, sorry I kinda forgot you were here for a moment, I'm awful sorry about that but I just kinda got blown away by meeting alien life," she said.
"Nah it's understandable, I mean for me it's daily life, but I guess for someone who had no idea it would be kinda shocking, but to me its normal as Clan Mason really doesn't have any dominant species really, to Clan Mason all are equal, that's the main value for us, all are equal and deserve to live life free, that's why we fight not just for everyone around us, to Clan Mason we stand up and fight for those who need us, hell it would be easy for us to to be the enemy of humanity as a whole right now after their actions towards us and towards innocent Xenos but that is not us, that why were here right now, we are Saviors and we are the shield behind which the innocent are protected regardless of who they are to us, an innocent enemy is still an innocent, the humans on this ship are innocent of the crime that was perpetrated upon us and something horrific was done here and we will get to the bottom of it and Clan Mason will hunt down and punish those responsible because we will NEVER stand for this and we will NEVER just fly on by when injustice like this is happening, win or lose we will still fucking stand because that is what Clan Mason demands of us because its whats right and Clan Mason stands for what is right" Jay said passionately and his words lit a flame in both his companions hearts.
Kess'all moved around the biobed and put her huge arm around his slender shoulder and gently shook him, "Yes! Exactly young ooman! You see this male right here? He understands what is to be in a clan and he knows EXACTLY what it is to be Clan Mason. where others fall and wilt and run, we do not, we stand and we fight, we defend justice and we stand bore the Eternal Huntress and we bare our souls and the sick vile pauks who did this to your people we will find them and we WILL make them pay for it, on that you have my word as both a Saviour and as a Yautja of Clan Mason" Kess'all said proudly all while Vessi nodded in complete agreement.
"Ummm holy shit, so I didn't fucking dream it, there are walking talking aliens on our ship, what in the name of fuck is happening here?" another voice said and they all turned to find Xao looking at them with a shocked expression written on his face.
"Brother! You are awake, oh thank God!" Yu Lin exclaimed jumping off her biobed and hugging him.
"W-W-What's happening?' he asked and his sister quickly gave him a run down before Jay quickly explained from their perspective to re-bring him up to speed of what had happened and what they had found when they approached the ship and boarded it to figure out what was going on.
Xao's brain seemed to connect back to reality and he caught up, "Jesus Christ, I-I-I can't believe this, who would do this to us? And why? We're just colonists, we're not military, we're not invaders, we were just looking for a new home, Seegson wanted to set up a new colony and we took the chance to find a new life for ourselves out here, we got sick of Earth and the corporate bullshit and I know that sounds hypocritical given that we came out here on the company dime but it was the only way as average people to get out here as who the hell has the money to do it themselves?" Xao said.
"Who is Seegson?" Jay asked and Xao looked at him in surprise before seemingly remembering that although he was human he was not from Earth.
"Seegson Synthetics are a mega-corporation that make everything from weapons to androids, they sponsored this whole venture, colonization is the big thing back on Earth right now since the success of the various Weyland Yutani shake and bake colonies but in reality, they are simply mining outposts, they go out here and they strip mine a planet of its resources and it gets sold back to the company at a shit rate, honestly Seegson is no better but at least they are offering better pay rates," Xao said.
"Both myself and my brother are specialists so we won't be doing any mining, we are necessary to the terraforming process, he is an engineer and I am a biologist and botanist, it's Xao's job to organise converting the ship into colony buildings while also getting the terraformers up and running and it's mine to oversee the crops that the farmer's plant which will both aid us with the terraforming process but also feeding people in the long term, after the crops are properly bedded we would start introducing livestock, it's all about maintaining the balance of the ecology, I am determined not to make the mistakes of Earth, this time we're going to do this right and this planet is going to thrive, not shrivel up and die like our home," Yu Lin said proudly.
"The pair of you would probably get on well with our ecologists, they are all about maintaining the balance of our world and they make sure that every part of the Clan does their part to keep our delicate ecosystem in balance, the Saviours are part of this organization," Jay said.
Yu Lin smiled broadly, "I'm so glad to see that others get it, I'd always hoped that there would be others like us out there somewhere, I mean the way the mega-companies act they'd have us believe that planets are nothing more than assets than floating mineral deposits but we've always believed that they are so much more than that, each one formed over billions of years, each with a story to tell and life to give, all it needs is a little TLC to get it going and here we are ready to give it but now..." Yu Lin said her voice going quiet as she realized that not only was her dream completely dead but so were all of her friends and colleagues.
Suddenly their comms sparked up in their ears, "Commander Proudheart to Jay, come in Jay" the commander's voice came through the comms.
Jay thumbed his PTT, "Go ahead commander" he replied.
"I've reached the bridge but I'm having problems accessing the systems, it appears that some kind of lockout has been put in place gonna need your help up here, over," he said.
"Roger that commander, our new friends are awake again want me to bring them with me, they may be able to help? Over" Jay replied.
"Yeah roger, have they met Kess'all and Vessi yet and do they know about us? Over" the commander replied.
"Yeah roger that, they're over the initial shock but they are talking and seem to be taking it pretty well now, I'll bring them with us over," Jay said.
"Roger that and be on the lookout, I heard some pretty weird shit on my way over here, I kinda feel like we might not be alone here, maybe I'm just being paranoid but keep your heads on the swivel, over and out," the commander said.
"Roger that commander, will do over and out," Jay said and he looked up at both Vessi and Kess'all and he immediately felt tension in them both.
"Hey, guys other than the people in the pods is there anybody else on board?" Vessi asked and both Yu Lin and Xao looked first at one another and then at her.
"No other than the working Joe's it's just us," Xao said.
"Working Joe's?" Jay asked and Xao nodded.
"Yeah they are androids made by Seegson, they were made to compete with the synths being made by Weyland Yutani given that you can easily tell the difference between Working Joe's and a human whereas Weyland synths you simply can't tell, both are kinda creepy if you ask me, a marvel of human engineering to be sure but still creepy as hell," Xao said.
"Yeah we've met them, we liberated a couple of them from the same facility we took our sister back from when they held her prisoner after shooting down her fighter that was scouting a system, they pretty soon learned what happens to those who hurt Clan Mason," Kess'all said proudly.
Both Yu Lin and Xao looked curiously at one another before turning to her, "What happened?" Xao asked.
"Well Xipa maybe a pilot but she's also a trained Saviour, so with the help of some other innocent Xenos they were holding prisoners she broke out and called in a Dark Star, now I know that will mean nothing to you but to us it's the most sacred set of words there is, it means that a member of the Clan is fighting for thier life and protecting innocents and both are under imminent threat of death, it calls upon the sacred oath that every member of Clan Mason military or not takes when you join the Clan, speaking those words will littraly bring the entire military might of Clan Mason down on the head of the those that are trying to kill you like a gigantic fucking war hammer, it is a call to arms that cannot be ignored, every single ship and soldier will come for you and we will compleltly destroy anyone who has the gall to get in the way of us reaching you, if you are alive we will save you, if not we will avenge you, put it this way Wayland Yutani found out first hand what happens when you cross Clan Mason and their entire facility is now a ten kilometer deep crater on that planet thats probably still smoking to this day, plus we got our sister back and a new hive to boot" Kess'all said smugly.
"Ouch," Yu Lin said looking surprised.
"You guys beat Weyland Yutani?" Xao asked sounding surprised.
"We didn't just beat them we annihilated them, look no offence but ooman technology isn't exactly comparable to ours, ours is a blend of Yautja, ooman, Xeno, Raptorian and Serpentinus, we have all of these species pouring into the melting pot that is Clan Mason and we have a full-blown Xeno hive that is dedicated to science and these girls and guys are full-blown geniuses, they dedicate their entire lives and very existences to the betterment of the Clan, that's what it is to be Clan Mason, we live for the Clan because the Clan lives for us," Kess'all said.
"Come on the commander wants us on the bridge, you guys should come with us we could use your help figuring out what happened here," Jay said and the pair nodded before they turned and after reapplying their helmets the group set off.
The ship itself was a long central shaft with many branches running off it, there were a series of bulkheads and airlock style doors that created pressure pockets all along the central shaft which obviously could be sealed in the event of a decompression event, Jay also took note of one of the corridors that branched off that was marked 'Escape Pods' as if the worst happened Saviours were always taught, know your exits and escape routes.
As they moved there were creaks and groans from the ship's superstructure, but Jay swore he could hear other noises coming from a variety of points deep within the ship, now while this ship was nowhere as big as one of their own cruisers or indeed their Dreadnaughts it was still a pretty big ship given all the people and equipment it was designed to haul into the depths of space.
By the way, Kess'all and Vessi's heads not to mention Xao and Yu Lin's kept swivelling and flinching they were hearing them too, "You don't think that those that did this could have done something to the Working Joe's as well do you, brother?" Yu Lin asked before giving a little scream as a loud clang echoed down the main shaft making all three of the Saviours snap their weapons into the aim all pointing in the same direction.
Kess'all who was on point held up a fist and both Vessi and Jay placed a hand on both Xao and Yu Lin's shoulders stopping them in their tracks, the Saviours had been keeping the pair of civilians in the centre of the pack where they were most protected.
"I don't know Yu Lin, I mean its possible, I wouldn't be surprised if they did something to them as it would sure be easier to have them carry the pods off the ship rather than doing it themselves, but if they did do something to them we could be in a whole world of trouble" he replied.
"Why do you say that?" Yu Lin asked.
"Because there are five thousand of them on board, if they did something to them we could be facing a full-blown army of them," Xao said nervously as he looked around himself at the branching corridors.
"Let's keep moving I don't want to get caught out in the open if those paukers really have been tampered with," Kess'all said.
"Agreed let's move, weapons up," Vessi said and all three of the Seekers moved into a defensive formation before moving on each covering the arcs, Vessi and Jay at the rear with Kess'all upfront with plasma casters now on line much to Yu Lin and Xao in the middle.
Their footsteps echoed down the corridor as they moved along as did the odd clanging and banging sounds that were reverberating throughout the ship, but finally, they reached the bridge door, as they opened it they found the commander with his weapon up in the aim and his casters spun up pointed right them.
As soon as he realised who he was looking at the lowered it and his casters powered down, "Finally, what took you guys so long?" he said.
"We got a little held up and we may have a rather large problem commander but before we get into it, Commander Proudheart this is Yu Lin and her brother Xao our two survivors," Kess'all said.
"Good to meet you both, I am Commander Proudheart the leader of this proud Saviour team, I guess my fine Saviours here have given you an introduction to Clan Mason and our species, I am myself a member of the Yautja," he said and Xao put out his hand to him which Commander Proudheart took and shook it.
"Good to meet you, commander," Xao said and Commander Proudheart nodded.
"And you and you have my deepest sympathy for your fallen people, as well as my word that we do everything in our power to find those responsible for this horrendous atrocity against your people and to bring them to justice," he said.
"Thank you, commander, that's deeply appreciated because its kinda just hit me, we are alone out here now," Yu Lin said her voice going very soft and forlorn.
"Don't you worry, Clan Mason will help you whether you decide to go back to Earth or not, now tell me what's this problem you guys were speaking about?" Commander Proudheart said first addressing the pair before turning to his Saviours.
"Xao informed us that they have a whole army of helper androids onboard calling Working Joe's and there is a possibility they may have been compromised by the people who did this" Jay said and instantly Commander Proudheart stiffened up.
"How many?" he asked.
"About five thousand," Xao said and Commander Proudheart clicked his mandibles.
"Pauk," he said.
"What does that mean?" Yu Lin asked picking up on the spoken Yautja.
"It means fuck in Yautja," Jay said and Kess'all nodded.
"Yeah agreed," she said.
"If they have been tampered with we could have a major problem on our hands because these things are incredibly difficult to stop, they are designed to endure the worst possible environments so they are made incredibly tough," Xao said.
"Pauking great, well then let's get a move on shall we?" he said.
The commander led Jay and the two civilians over to the main computer access, "Now I'm not an E warfare specialist like you Jay but to me, it looks like someone has wiped the drives, I tried to get into the sensor logs and the black box but I got nothing it's like they simply aren't there" he said pointing to an old-style computer terminal with an actual old-style glass screen that was set into a large metal console at the centre of the bridge.
The bridge itself was rather large with about twenty separate work stations including what looked like two pilot's seats at the front, but this section looked to Jay's eye to be the feed from the ship's sensors both internal and external not to mention it's navigation systems by the large map that was set into the centre of it displaying a picture of a dark blue planet that was obviously not the one outside the ship.
Jay looked down at the old-style push-button keyboard as his systems scanned it feeding the layout into his HUD, "Hmmm ok looks simple enough let's see here" he said and he began entering simple commands in order to probe the system like requesting sensor feeds but instead he got nothing, it kept flashing up warnings and requesting passcodes.
"Hmmm ok looks like someone encrypted the feeds, shouldn't be a problem," he said taking out his tool kit.
"May I?" Xao asked suddenly and the two Saviours looked at him and Commander Proudheart gestured to the console.
"Please as keep as I'm sure young Jay here is to show off his hacking skills in slicing through your encryption like butter it would be a lot easier if someone with access simply opened it for us," he said.
"Well I'm not on the flight crew but I do have access codes for the main computer so I should be able to get us in," Xao said easing himself into the chair before the console and typing away furiously.
It took him a couple of attempts but finally the screen changed, "I'm in whoever created this system needs a slap, I've never seen such a convoluted menu system in my life" Xao said before pausing, "What the fuck!?" he exclaimed.
"What is it?" Commander Proudheart asked leaning over to look at the screen but Jay saw what Xao did as well.
"Someone's deleted all of the logs," he said solemnly.
"What!? All of them? What about the flight recorder? Surely they couldn't have wiped that as well?" the commander exclaimed and Xao sent out queries and request rapidly then shook his head.
"They didn't wipe it, it's fucking gone!" he exclaimed slamming his hand into the desk with a loud bang that made Jay jump.
"Whoever did this really went to some lengths to cover their tracks," Kess'all said from behind them and Jay nodded but then he spotted something odd.
"Hey look at this," he said pointing to something on the screen and the commander leaned in to look.
"What is that?" he asked and Xao rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"It looks like some of the bandwidth is being siphoned off somewhere and it also looks like it's leaching from each and every one of the feeds as well," he said.
That's when it hit Jay what he was seeing and he snapped his fingers making a loud click thanks to his metal gloves, "It's a fucking ghost drive!" he said and they both looked at him curiously.
"A what?" the commander asked.
"A Ghost drive, it's a hidden drive that's off the grid well its not off the grid it is connected to the feeds but its not accessible, it's hidden, it's a backup black box one that cannot be seen on the network," Jay said and Xao nodded.
"I think you're right, look all the flight data is being routed to it but it's bandwidth is so small as to not really be noticeable," Xao said.
"Can you get into it from here?" the commander asked and Jay shook his head.
"No they are designed not to be accessed from the network itself, we'd have to find the main drive itself, it's most likely hooked into the main computer core directly somewhere if we can find it we can remove it and we should be able to hook it directly into our own systems back on the ship and I can use our computer to access it," Jay said.
"I know where the computer core is, I can take you there," Xao said and the commander nodded.
"Alright Jay you go with Xao and locate that drive, the rest of us will stay here and see what we can find out from here, watch you pauking back out there and if you see ANYTHING you call it out, don't hesitate," he said and Jay swallowed hard but he still nodded, he might be nervous but he was no coward.
Yu Lin rushed to her brother's side and grabbed his arm as the pair got ready to leave, "I should go with you!" she exclaimed and Xao shook his head.
"No Yu-Lin you stay here, you'll be safe with these people, I can already tell these are good people, they will protect you," he said.
"Don't you worry Xao we will keep her safe" Kess'all said then she turned to Jay.
"And you, you make sure you bring that pretty ooman rear back here in one piece got that?" she said and jay chuckled, you could always trust a Yautja to be as subtle as a neon coloured brick to the face.
"Don't worry Kess'all I'll be back in no time you'll see" he said and she gripped and shook his shoulder.
"You'd better be, you still have that argument to settle and I will not taking you're dead as an excuse, you ARE going to tell me who has the better rear, me or Vessi," she said and out of the corner of his eye, Jay saw both Xao and Yu Lin looked shocked before he was able to drag Xao out of there with a half-hearted promise.
"Wow are the Yautja always so ummmm blunt?" Xao asked as the pair began to walk through the corridors of the ship with Jay walking with his weapons at the ready and in the shoulder.
Jay chuckled to himself, "Trust me that's tame by their standards, the Yautja don't believe in games or half-truths, they don't dance around issues at all but when you grow up around them you get used to it" he said and Xao shook his head in surprise.
"Wow man that's incredible, it's so shocking to me, I mean fucking alien life, I mean we are the same species and we grew up on two different worlds and have seen two different truths, I mean the day I went to sleep in that pod I was convinced that humans were alone in the universe, I mean I know my sister always believed but I was kinda sceptical you know and now, well just wow," Xao said and Jay nodded.
"Yeah I get that trust me, when I first found out that humans didn't come from Clan Mason's homeworld it shocked me and I want to know about our mother world," Jay said.
"Yeah Earth is a shit hole, what's Clan Mason's homeworld like?" Xao asked and Jay noticed he was nervously looking around so he figured he was just talking to take his mind off his current situation.
"Without this sounding too big-headed, its paradise, all races living together, working together and loving together to simply make the Clan better and to be a force to be reckoned with in the universe," he said proudly.
"Well by that tech you got on you I can see you people are serious, that gun of yours not to mention that armour is pretty incredible," he said and Jay nodded.
"That's our science hive for you, they are dedicated to not only protecting the Clan and every member in it but also pushing every field of science forwards, trust me an engineer like yourself would fucking love them, though you'd probably need ear defenders," Jay said with a laugh and Xao cocked his head curiously.
"Why's that?" he asked and Jay grinned under his faceplate.
"You've never heard a Xeno screech have you?" he said and Xao shook his head.
"Well duh, never even seen one before today, hell I'd never even heard of such a thing before today" he replied.
"Well yeah trust me one of them can bust your eardrums, now imagine a huge hive with a couple of thousand of them in there, hell I think the science hive is about fifty thousand strong maybe more at this point and they just love to argue about everything, when they speak you hear they're voice modulators, every single member of the Clan is given the kiss of a queen when they are young which allows us to speak to them telepathically, so we hear the screeches and trust me it's fucking loud," he said and Xao looked amazed.
That's when they reached a large reinforced door and Xao pointed at it, "That's it" he said and he punched in a code into a small panel to the right which caused the door to open with a hiss.
Inside was completely covered in white panels that gave it a very surreal feel due to how harsh the bright light was which was tolerable only thanks to Jay's visor, right in the centre of the room was a column that was covered in panels with ports for drives, there were four obvious gaps where drives had been removed from it.
"Hey check this out," Jay said pointing to the gap.
"Think that was the black box and flight recorder?" Xao asked and Jay nodded.
"Has to be, why else would it be missing?" he said and with that Xao began bringing up a series of commands on the main screen that was set into the main column, as Jay watched Xao's fingers flew through a series of commands and after a minute there was a sharp hiss from behind them and they both turned and saw one of the panels sliding upwards revealing a hidden compartment behind it and set into it was a red box.
'That it! That's the Ghost drive!" Xao exclaimed and Jay stepped up to it and pulled it out of a receptacle and no sooner had he taken the heavy box from its hidden bay than the lights went out with a flash plunging them into pitch blackness, before instantly changing to a pulsing red strobe light which was instantly joined by a piercing alarm sound.
"What the hell is that?" Xao asked.
"You're asking me? This is your ship" Jay said and that's when he heard the sound of heavy footsteps heading down the corridor towards them, a whole lot of heavy footsteps.