Chapter 3: Space Race.
"Report! What have we got?" Jack said in a loud voice as he entered the head quarters of the Guardian Core intelligence devision, the place was run by all three of the groups, the Hunters, the Saviours and the Seekers, each of them contributing people to what they all saw as an absolute must.
Intelligence gathering and analysis was fundamental to the survival of any civilisation and while Clan Mason wasn't exactly being enough yet to really be considered a civilisation by most standards it was certainly on the way and given that the top players in the Clan all had both combat and military experience of some variety they all understood it.
Out of the three groups present in the intelligence HQ the Seekers made up the smallest number, given that they were the smallest in numbers of the three factions that made up the Guardians to begin with, it had always been Jack's intention to seek out more when the time was right as Dream Warriors were very rare, the ones that made up their numbers so far either came to them from the humans or had sought them out on their own through word of mouth from the Yautja clans, much to their annoyance no doubt but as it was there was less than fifty of them in the entire clan split between the Tamers and the Soul Knights.
The operatives in the room, a mixture of Yautja and Human, all snapped to attention as Jack and Ryan strode in with Analise and Liam following them, all four still in their combat armor, Tik hadn't arrived yet or Sela eleth and undoubtably Tik would be in a foul mood because she lost the bet, but all credit to her she never took that out on Jack when she did lose because she knew that it wasn't fair to resent someone for winning when you took the risk of betting, plus, she knew the second she did that she'd never get him to bet with her ever again and she did oh so enjoy winning, didn't mean anyone else was safe though.
A smartly dressed human male strode up and saluted, "Grand Patriarch, the captain of the Sun Skipper called in, reporting what he believes to be an distress call, it's in an unknown language but given that it keeps repeating the same sequence over and over again, the one part that they've managed to decipher is a set of alpha numeric digits that appear to be co-ordinates and they match where he believes the message is being transmitted from, it's outside of our space by a fair way, approximately fifteen light years," the man said.
"And we're picking it up fifteen light years away? That's one hell of a transmitter," Ryan said, glancing at his father who nodded in agreement.
"How long do you think it took the message to travel fifteen light years? For all we know it could have been sent thousands of years ago by a now dead civilisation," Jack said, and the man who carried the rank of Leftenant shook his head.
"Thats the unusual thing, Grand Patriarch, the captain of the Sun Skipper wondered the same thing and he hooked into one of our deep space relay satellite to see when the message was picked up by it to see if he could work out how long the message had been traveling for and according to his calculations it was hours, the message was traveling at incredible speed, they've either got some incredible data compression method or they're using an unknown transmission method that somehow operates on all normal bands but can send messages over vast distances in very little time, either way, Grand Patriarch, I believe it would be worth looking into," the Lieutenant said, guiding the small team over to a bank of monitors which showed the message and the algorithms they were using to try and decrypt it.
The text itself was odd, like a mixture of symbols and scratches jutting off in every direction, it sorta reminded Jack of Yautja but mixed with Japanese and Egyptian hieroglyphics all rolled into one, the text was rolling down the screen in bright green, white circles were appearing around the symbols and boxes of text connected to them were running comparisons faster than any normal human eye could read, but a Dream Warrior's eye was way faster and he could see the comparisons that were being drawn from the languages available.
As they were watching, the doors opened with a hiss and in strode Sela eleth with a couple of Saviours in tow, she strode up to the group and then looked around, "Where's Matriarch?" she asked, and Ryan grinned at her.
"Patriarch beat her in training, hit her with a Soul Shock so she's probably on her way but I am so glad I'm not on that shuttle, it must be like sharing a cage with a Gorbath bear with a hangover," he said, and Sela eleth laughed.
"Oh, boy, I'm glad I'm not a Hunter right now, he might have Soul Shocked her but I bet all of them are feeling the after effects, do you remember what happened the last time he beat her like that?" Seal said.
"Paya, do I, she drilled the whole Hunter Core into the ground for a week," Ryan said with a laugh.
"Your mother is a very competitive woman," Jack said with a sly smile.
"Understatement of the week right there," Sela eleth said with a grin, suddenly as if her ears had been burning Tik eleth swept into the room, scowling like Ryan had swapped her favorite morning ooman tea for boiled vinegar again during his prank mom phase.
She looked at Jack and the scowl vanished, replaced with a look of embarassment, "So, what is it, my love?" she asked, looking into his eyes, he could see that she didn't resent him for beating her, it had been a fair and square victory, didn't mean that she wouldn't be pissed at losing, just only at herself.
"Looks like a distress call of some kind using some kind of hyper-velocity transmission method that we've never seen before, it's in an alien language that we've never seen before, according to the math of the Sun Skipper the message traveled over fifteen light years in only a few hours so it's traveling at incredible speed, personally I think its worth a look, at the very least we may have te chance to make first contact with an alien species, so potential new allies, especially if we aid them in whatever problem they've encountered, we'll have to be careful as it could be a trap or there's potential for the species to be hostile, but I believe as a general rule hostiles don't send out distress calls," Jack said, and that seemed to cheer Tik up immensely.
"Time to take the Dreamer out for a spin as you oomans say," she said with a grin, and Jack nodded.
"You've been looking for an excuse to take that thing out for a while now, ain't you, my sweetest of hearts?" he teased, knowing full well that since they'd built it all it had really done was sit in orbit of the planet like a silent guardian, it was the most powerful ship to have come from their shipyard and they hoped the first of many, given the work Yoshi's hive were putting in it wouldn't be long before they had a whole fleet of them, now they just needed people to crew them.
"Ok, then let's do it, contact Cortez and tell him I want a team of his best Battle Angels geared up and ready to go within the hour, tell them to meet us at the Seekers training grounds, Sela, get together a team of Saviours, I want combat engineers and technicians, Tik, get Hunter one back together, Ryan, Analise and Liam you're with me, we're going to help these people or at least try," Jack said, and the group split and began making calls at the other terminals.
The Seekers training ground was like the exact opposite of the Hunters training grounds, while the Hunters grounds looked like an advanced military training area with shooting ranges, fake towns and a whole host of other environments for the Hunters to hone their battle skills in, the Seekers training ground looked like a temple that should be filled with monks silently praying, sometimes it was.
Every Seeker was first and foremost a Hunter, Jack saw to this, he ensured that every single one of them was trained in the combat arts before they got near the Seekers training grounds, they had to prove what it took to be a soldier, a true warrior of the Clan Mason, it was generally the rule among all of the forces, even the Saviours, you were a Guardian first and everything else second.
But the Seekers were trained very differently to the Hunters when they became Seekers, they had to learn to harness their abilities and that took very specialized training, teaching them to harness the power of their spirit, to use it to reach out into the unknown world around them, to feel without feeling, to see without seeing, to truly connect with the universe and the other realms and that's even before they got onto their specialities, like becoming a Soul Knight or a Tamer.
So for the most part it was a very quiet, peaceful place, more like a temple than a training school, kinda like the type you'd expect to see Shoulin monks or ninjas, you'd see Seekers dressed in robes practicing martial arts or deep in meditation, some floating above the ground silently, their power radiating from them, some communed with the honored dead and others with plants and animals, the place was surrounded by lush jungle on all sides which bloomed with wild and wonderful plants and flowers in a rainbow of colors, tended and managed by the Tamers, wild animals of all shapes and sizes wandered freely among the grounds and inside the walls, summoned by the Tamers.
In fact, no sooner had their shuttle touched down in the grounds of the Seeker temple than six fire tigers ran straight to Analise, surrounding her in a crush of flame red fur and loud purring, each one of them was three times her size and alone was a fearsome predator, but Analise had raised them since they were cubs after their parents were killed, the six lost lonely and frightened cubs had heard her calling out to them through the ether after she'd felt their pain and despair bleeding through to her, she had called them right to the temple where she immediately took them all in and had raised them.
Watching them with her one could be easily fooled into thinking they were giant house cats, a thought that would be instantly dispelled the moment you were stupid enough to raise your voice to her and find yourself pinned down by six hundred pounds of furry muscle and teeth, and that was just one of them.
They had become the official mascots of the temple and were forever found around the place either training with the Tamers or lounging around in the gardens in the shade of the huge trees, usually with Analise sat meditating right in the middle of them, Ryan was forever commenting how she must have the patience level of a saint or the concentration of a Zen master because it must be incredibly difficult to levitate with a six hundred pound feline trying to clamber into your lap.
Though, that being said, there were two among the number that the six huge feline were utterly terrified of and that was Jack and Ryan, mainly because of the rule of nature as big and as bad as you are there's always someone bigger and badder than you, like Julia Ryan's Talanak which lived outside of the temple for example, there were few things brave enough to take her on, she may be ten tons of solid muscles, scales and teeth, but watching her around Ryan she was like a giant puppy.
Jack on the other hand didn't need a giant pet steroid dinosaur when he could simply tap into your mind and fill it with raw unadulterated fear with a simple look, let alone if he touched you and broke into your mind and flooded it with pain or something else debilitating, crippling you, there wasn't a single creature in the temple or around it that didn't recognise Jack as the Alpha of Alpha's around here.
"Analise, bring Zed, we could probably use his skills," Ryan said, getting a nod of approval from his father as he said it, she turned to the biggest of the fire tigers, a huge seven hundred pound male with what appeared to be an odd Z pattern in the fur on his right side, hence his name.
She nodded and touched the huge tigers one at a time, conveying her instructions to them, the rest of the pack were instructed to protect the Seekers while they were gone and Zed was instructed to shadow her, he instantly fell in step with her as she took him to the Seeker armory to collect his armor, suddenly a shape materalised out of the doorway of the temple, already dressed in full armor of the Hunters, shoulder casters primed and carrying a plasma rifle.
"There you are! I've been looking all over for you!" Shena said, slinging her rifle onto her shoulder and embracing Ryan tightly, the pair interlocking their mandibles for a kiss.
"I'm sorry, my heart's star, I've been training with my parents and then we got a priority call, I haven't stopped yet, we're on our way to the Dreamer right now," he said apologetically, and she nodded.
"Yes, I got the call from the Grand Matriarch to gather Hunter teams one and two and to meet her here," she said, teams one and two were the two best Hunter teams there were and places among their numbers were coveted, team one was lead by Tik eleth and team two was lead by Ryan's wife, Shena Black Crest Mason.
From the temple the other Hunters of the teams one and two emerged, forty of the highest trained warriors that the clan had to offer in one place, plus, given that place was the sacred training grounds of the Seekers they knew something big was on.
Suddenly a huge form loomed over them and Ryan looked up just in time to be licked from toe to head, snapping his helmet shut just in time to prevent his face being covered in saliva, jack and Tik both chuckled, there were few things that could cause their son to lose focus enough that he failed to notice a ten ton female Talanak sneaking up on him, his wife was one of them.
"Awww, for Paya's sake, Julia, seriously?" he said, wiping huge gobs of thick, viscous saliva from his armor and flicking it off him, the huge roid lizard gave him a huge toothy grin as she leaned over the twenty foot high wall like she was leaning over a garden fence, her head alone was bigger than the small group she now focused her huge red eyes on, she looked like a cross between a dragon and a T-rex that got into a case of steroids, a huge row of spine like horns ran from the front of her long blunt snout right to the tip of her tail, her arms were much smaller than her legs but she had a lightning fast grab and many Seekers had fallen victim to her sense of humor by being grabbed and scooped up before being tasted and deposited back down in their soaked robes in the gardens.
She knew under pain of eternal torment that she must never harm any of the sentient life that calls the planet home or any given sanctuary within the walls of the temple like Analise's fire tiger pack, a rule she stuck to like glue and no one was under illusions that the huge reptile would die to defend this place she called home and all those who loved and cared for her and called her friend, it was why they called her the sentinel, because none got past her.
Ryan reached out and touched the huge lizard's snout with one hand, Jack felt the buzz of power and saw Ryan's aura entwine and fold into Julia's, it always made him feel so proud that his son had discovered this side to the Dream Warrior powers, that with the sheer force of will and indeed love, a Tamer could tune themselves to any creature's aura and make a viscous, relentless predator into a harmless, loving friend, next to Ryan the second most powerful Tamer was Analise, and the pair made an incredible team and just like a Soul Knight they were never alone as they had the power of the honored dead, Tamers had the raw relentless power of nature in their holster.
Speaking of Analise, she reemerged from the temple with Zed now decked out in a specialized set of combat armor designed for a six legged fire tiger, trust Yoshi's hive to come up with something like that, it worked on exactly the same principle as their own powered armor, only Zed's came with a saddle which Analise was currently making use of, riding him like a six legged killer horse with teeth bigger than most human's forearms.
"Alright, people, mount up, we're heading for the Dreamer, we'll brief you on the way," Tik eleth yelled, and the Hunters snapped to attention in a crisp salute and headed for the shuttle, Julia faded back into the huge trees that surrounded the temple as silently as a wraith, it never failed to impress jack that a creature of that size could move so utterly silently, she was like a giant scaly version of Tik, just with a slightly less scary temper.
The whole group got aboard and strapped into their multi species seats which were designed to be comfortable for both humans and Yautja, Zed sat next to his mistress who hooked him into a special harness to prevent him becoming a seven hundred pound pinball in the event of emergency maneuvers because there was nothing worse than taking seven hundred pound of pissed off flying tiger to the face to really put a damper on your day.
As they rose into the night sky Tik handled the briefing, she informed them that this was a rescue and a potential first contact mission, so it was safeties on unless there was undoutable proof of threat to life, so unless fired upon, no shooting and no pointing weapons at anyone, "The Seekers will handle the contact should it happen as making those who don't speak your language understand you is the realm of their Tamers, our job will be to support them and to protect them, we'll have a team of Battle Angels on hand to render medical assistance to any who need it, King Cortez informed us on the way over that they had already reported to the Dreamer and are aboard, awaiting instruction," Tik explained.
"Do we know anything about what we're flying into, Grand Matriarch?" Shena asked, stroking her husband's armored hand with hers as they sat together, Tik shook her head.
"Very little other than they appear to have utterly incredible communications technology, but we've made little to no progress on deciphering the distress call," Tik replied.
"Forgive me, Grand Matriarch, but if we can't understand their language how do we know it is a distress call?" one of her Hunters, a human female called Leah asked, while Hunters would follow every order given and would follow their leaders to certain death without a single regret or issue, they were taught from day one to ask questions, information and understanding equals better decisions all around, even as larger than life Tik eleth was, she prided herself on being approachable, well, as approachable as a nearly seven foot Yautja female who is a Clan Matriarch and who's temper is so legendary it makes every male Talanak in a five square mile radius wince every time she goes out hunting can be.
"We aren't one hundred percent but according to our analysts the repeating numerical sequences and the transmission source match up, so it would be too much of a coincidence, it matches the pattern of a distress call, but even if it's not at the very least we have a chance to make first contact with a previously unknown alien species and possibly offer them aid, so with that in mind first contact protocols apply, people, we didn't endure six months of Xenos screeching at each other and giving me a headache so bad that I still get flashbacks to write up, and if I can endure that you guys can pauking well use them, understood?" Tik said making Jack smile warmly, he utterly adored watching his wife work, she only had to open her mouth in moments like these to warm his heart with pride, it was like watching a beautiful alien Amazon brimming with confidence and power.
Her words got a few chuckles from the gathered hunters in their bright gold armor, marking them apart from their Seeker counterparts who were wearing a deep black and blue color as they were still wearing their orbital drop adapted suits, now, while the Hunters could operate in space theirs hadn't been adapted for orbital dropping or atmospheric flight, though plans were on the table to have them updated and upgraded but given their nature it was common sense to have the seekers test out the adaptable multi enviroment combat armor first, if it couldn't handle them or their abilities then it was useless to them.
Plus, the Hunter variant was more like an EXO suit than the Seeker variant with a reinforced frame to allow them to handle heavier weapons as well as to handle multiple weapons at once, theirs also had hardened shield emmiters fitted that could generate six foot riot like shields out of the forearm of either arm.
The shuttle exited the planet's atmosphere and the vibrations through the hull stopped and everything grew very quiet except for the breathing of everyone present cutting the air, then Jack saw what they were looking at through the porthole like windows, sat there in the orbital space dock that doubled as a space station like a large disc with a large, long claw like protrusion on one side, in which was docked the Dreamer.
"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Jack said, looking at the long, sleek ship, it was shaped like a long arrow head, sleek and with a low profile, the bridge was a semi circular area at the centre that was raised up out of the hull, technically it wasn't designed for atmospheric flight, it was capable of it and had been outfitted for it as a last resort, she was the most heavily armed ship that they had, outfitted to take on capital ships if needed, but it was designed with Yautja capital ships and carriers in mind, but if even with its far more advanced shielding, thanks to Yoshi's lot, if they got zeroed in a capital ship's plasma torpedoes and heavy rail guns were going to turn them into a large cloud of meaty chunks and floating shrapnel.
Rather than dock with the station, the shuttle landed in the shuttle bay located between the huge thrusters at the rear of the ship, the landing bay was filled with small, single seat fighters designed to defend the ship against enemy fighters as well as to act as scouts in things like asteroid belts where the Dreamer was to large to maneuver properly or at all really.
The ramp of the shuttle dropped as the engines powered down with a soft whine and a hiss, "Everyone is dismissed until we reach our destination, I recommend you all get yourselves something to eat and get some rest," Jack said, and the Hunters and Seekers saluted and began to separate out, Jack figured the whole group would head straight for the mess hall first.
"Oh, and Analise, try to keep Zed on a short leash, our Hunter brethren and the Battle Angels, not to mention the ship's crew, aren't exactly as used to having a seven hundred pound fire tiger wandering around, I don not want screeching Xenos running up and down the ship, ok?" Ryan said and she saluted her mentor and stroked the back of Zed's head, undoubtably giving him silent instructions using their bond, the huge feline looked at her adoringly and Jack knew the feeling was mutual, he'd seen her training with her pack many, many times, he swore that girl had such control and respect with them that she could have made them dance if she tried.
As the pair headed off towards the mess hall Jack wished he could have seen the chef's face when he saw Zed walk into the mass hall, feeding a seven hundred pound fire tiger must have been a hell of a challenge, Jack, Ryan, Shena, Tik and Sela all headed to the bridge.
"Everything ready?" Jack asked as the bridge crew, a mixture of human, Yautja and Xenos all snapped to attention.
"Yes, sir, we are ship shape and ready to go," the human pilot said proudly.
"Well then, time to take ourselves out there, don't you think? Helmsman, set a course and take us out," Jack said, and the pilot's face lit up with a bright smile that utterly shone against his deep ebony skin.
"Sir, yes, sir," he said, turning and dropping into his very comfy looking seat, the other bridge crew returned to their stations, communications, weapons, engineering, sensors and analysis, stellar cartography, each had a station here on the bridge, Sela moved to the right side of the bridge to oversee her section which, given most of the ships crew were made up of Saviours, was a hell of a lot, Ryan headed over to help the communication team working on the message, Jack and Tik stepped up to a raised platform in the middle of the circular room which was filled with a mixture of screens and holographic displays.
There were a pair of seats set side by side like a pair of captain's chairs, each of them had a series of displays and readouts all over them so they both had everything from the engine core temp to radar and sensor displays at the click of a button, Jack noticed Tik scowling at her displays and seemingly deliberately not looking at him, he got the feeling she was still a bit sore from either losing or the Soul Shock or both, it was something he rarely used in their sparing because it was kinda a cheat move because it was nearly unavoidable, he got the feeling that she was kinda pissed about getting a reminder of just how strong her husband was, which was odd because she usually reveled in his strength, so that left her being sore about losing the bet.
He leaned over and stroked her dreadlocks with his hand, enjoying the feeling of the glass smooth, hot, fleshy tubes running though his fingers, "Something wrong, my proud huntress?" he asked innocently, and she glanced at him and he instantly saw it in her face and she made a huff noise before blowing out a huge sigh, she knew it was pointless to try and hide her feelings from him and he knew that she would never lie to him, it was one of the absolute rules of their love, no lies about anything ever, truth and only truth even if it hurts because then they could work it out together and lies just breed mistrust and that is a thought that neither of them could ever bare, that their truest heart's star didn't trust them.
"I don't like losing and I'm sore from whatever it was you hit me with, I've never seen you use that move before, what was it?" Tik asked, obviously hoping to figure out a way to help her Hunters counter it and Jack cocked his head.
"I always thought you enjoyed our little bouts in the bedroom and didn't mind losing to me," he said, soft enough so that only she could hear and Tik's eyes widened and she shook her head rapidly.
"Oh, no, I wasn't talking about that, my love, I utterly adore that kind of loss because it's you and you and you alone are allowed to see me at my most vulnerable, I wasn't talking about that, I was talking about being beaten so completely in front of my Hunters, it annoys me and makes me wonder if they still respect me as their leader," she said softly, this made Jack smile because he knew that he was the only living being that Tik would ever open up to this completely and he suddenly saw the source of her worries and he smiled.
Jack gestured with his hand for her to lean closer and she raised her brow which while contained no eye brows were no less expressive than the human equivalent, she did so and he placed a hand to the side of her head, "Listen to them," he said without moving his mouth, he reached out his mind to touch all the minds around them, at first it was like listening to a mind numbing chorus of voices all speaking at once, it was one of the first things a Dream Warrior learned upon becoming a Seeker was to filter and shut out the noise, to filter it and sift through it like you were panning for gold.
What she got was a rush of pride, her eyes went wide as the voices filtered through, "I can't believe I get to go on a mission with THE Tik eleth! This is incredible!"
"Oh, wow, this is deep space! I'm going into deep space as part of Hunter one! This is the best day of my life!" these were among the comments that floated through their heads and Tik looked at Jack in surprise when she heard the next ones.
"I can't believe those damn Seekers took us down so easily, I let our Grand Matriarch down, I hope she's not angry with me, I love being part of this team."
"Gods above, those Seekers are strong, no wonder our Grand Matriarch loves the Grand Patriarch, where can I get me one of those?"
"See, my love? Not a single one of them cares that you lost, they blame themselves for letting you down, not the other way around, when in reality none of you let the other down, we went in there fully intent on winning and so were you guys, we had the better plan that day, that's why the Seekers and the Hunters work perfect together, we prop up each other perfectly," he said, and that made Tik smile and he could see in her bright eyes that she felt better.
"What was it that you hit me with? When you touched me it was like my entire body refused to obey my commands and it felt like lightning in my head, like you'd put a lightning storm in my head," Tik said, rubbing her head.
"It's called Soul Shock, creating a storm in your head isn't a bad way of describing it actually, it overloads your aura and causes it to dump a lot of energy into your central nervous system and overloads it, non lethal obviously, but also unavoidable and there's no defence against it, technically the Seeker doesn't even have to touch you, just get into your aural radius and attune ours to yours, ours carries a hell of a lot more energy stored in it because of what we are, so don't worry, my love, you didn't do anything wrong," he said, and she smiled and leaned against his shoulder.
"I still don't like to lose, next time I'll be ready," she said, and Jack laughed.
"That's my proud huntress, wouldn't have you any other way," he said, stroking and kissing her head.
Travelling that kind of distance, even with Yautja hyperspace technology, which could literally fold space and tear holes in it, it was quite a leap but eventually the Dreamer arrived in the right sector, "Report," Jack called, and Ryan's head popped up from his monitors.
"I'm picking up a large mass about four hundred thousand kilometers from our position, it's got to be a ship," Ryan said.
"Are we close enough to get a look at her?" Jack asked, and Ryan pushed a few keys on his holographic display before a holographic display lit up in the middle of the bridge displaying a holographic representation of the space outside, right in the centre of the glittering was a large ship, it was bigger than the Dreamer by a fair bit, at least three or four times the size, it was long, about a two kilometers in length, the main body of the ship seemed to be a long thin tube like structure, connected to the sides were what appeared to be pods of some kind, like circular transport pods shaped like large metallic foot balls, Jack instantly began to notice gaps in the mass, there were twenty on either side or at least there should have been, there appeared to be six of them missing four from one side and two from the other.
At the back of the ship were huge thrusters and a massive drive section, obviously hyperspace compatible, there were weapons ports dotted around the hull but of the defensive nature rather than the offensive, it looked like a cargo ship of some kind.
"I'm picking up damage to the hull and debris, looks like they were attacked, pirates, maybe? Not sure if the debris is from this ship or who ever attacked them," Ryan said, his voice taking on a hard edge.
"Life signs?" Tik asked, and Ryan shrugged.
"The hull appears to be made of a metal composite designed to scatter our sensors so I can't see inside or get any readings at all, probably to prevent anyone scanning their cargo, but we do at least know that this is definitely the source of the distress call, we've back traced it and the symbols on the hull match the data transmission we got," Ryan said.
"Hail them, let's see if we can find anyone to talk to over there, meanwhile move us closer and prime all defensive systems," Jack said, and the pilot moved them into close range.
"Not getting any responses," Sela eleth called.
"Hey, look at this, looks like they were boarded forcibly," Ryan said, panning the display until it came to a hatch that had burns all around it and appeared to have been cut open with some form of torch, both Jack and Tik were instantly on alert, they looked at one another.
"Any response?" Tik asked, and Sela shook her head.
Tik looked at Jack, "Take your team over, Seekers are better at locating life than we are, that having been said, I'll keep Hunter team one here to protect the ship from possible attack, take team two with you," she said, and Jack nodded.
He pressed the intercom on his seat, "Seekers and Hunter team two, gear up and meet me at the launch bay, we're boarding an alien ship," Jack said into the comms before closing the channel.
Jack looked at Tik, "You sure you wanna stay here and miss out on this?" he asked curiously, and Tik pulled him into a deep, powerful and meaningful kiss.
"Like you said, my love, we compliment each other, this time you search the creepy ghost ship because if there is life there you'll find it or my Hunters will, and if not only your guys can ask the dead what happened, meanwhile we'll stay here and try and figure out who attacked them, where they went and if they aren't just lying in wait to hit who ever shows up to help, because aren't they gonna get a surprise when they get hit by a battle cruiser and a team of really pauked off Hunters seeking vengeance for slain innocents," Tik said, and Jack stroked her head.
"See you soon, my love, Ryan, Sela, Shena we're up, so let's gear up," Jack said, and the group headed for the elevator.
Jack flexed his arms and rolled his shoulders, his shoulder mounted plasma casters whirred and clicked, standing up on their gimbals automatically and aligning to where he was looking, adjusting to ensure neither was pointed at his head or even close to it, they reset and connected back into their holsters, Jack tapped behind his head to check his sword was in its scabbard, before finally checking his omni rifle, he was one of the only ones to carry this paticular weapon as there were only three of them in existence, and Jack and Tik had two of them, the other was in Shena's hands which, given she was one of the best markswomen in the Hunters, made sense, these weapons were designed to combat most types of armor or shielding, firing compressed plasma, or railgun rounds or even low velocity ballistics, it made them heavier than their standard plasma weapons, but it made them far more effective at combating a variety of opponents at a variety of ranges, for example over longer ranges the railgun slugs were the most effective, at short range you could either use the ballistic hollow point rounds or the plasma depending on if the target was shielded or not.
Bu as the weapons were untested in combat situations yet, Yoshi's hive had created a couple and had given them up for testing in field situations and this seemed like a perfect time, the elevator doors opened into the shuttle bay with a whoosh and they stepped out to find the team standing in front of one of the shuttles, twenty Hunters stood in front of it in two lines of ten, checking their weapons until their commander appeared then they snapped to attention.
By contrast, the two other Seekers, Analise and Liam, were stood fussing over Zed, "Alright, guys, we are boarding an alien ship without invitation, but indications are that it has been attacked possibly by pirates, this is a mission of mercy, we are there to render aid to any who need it, hence why..." Jack said, and as he was speaking four Battle Angels appeared dressed in their bright white and pink battle armor, it might be eye catching but it was designed to mark them as field medics, all known military laws prevented the targeting of medics in the field as their job was to save life, though, given that they were Xenomorphs they were far from defenceless and each of them had trained extensively with the Hunters before they could become a Battle Angel and they were armed.
They snapped to a crisp salute and took their place in the formation, their faces hidden behind their helmet's face plates, "Well, yes, as I was saying we are there to find out what happened, who these people are and to render aid if we can, so do me a favor, do not point weapons at anything you see unless you see a direct threat to life, example, they aim and shoot at you, but that having been said, keep your shoulder cannons primed, hustle up and load up," Jack said, and the group, including one giant and now armored fire tiger who was wearing a specially designed suit, Jack still remembered the first time he'd been made to put it on so he could operate in a vaccum like them, it was like watching a house cat trying to walk in high heeled shoes.
The flight was short from the Dreamer to the alien ship, they opted to use the same cut open hatch that had been cut open, they locked a docking seal over the hatch, "There's no atmosphere beyond the seal, not sure how far the vaccum extends but I'm picking up sealed bulk heads further ahead, but that should allow us to stabilise the atmosphere in the vented airlock," the pilot said, Jack gave her a thumbs up to do this.
"Magnetic boots, people, and err paws, if there's vaccum beyond the further bulkheads I don't want anyone flying off into the compartments, especially not confused fire tigers," Jack said, and everyone looked at their wrist comp and did so with Analise activating Zed's magnetic paws, the group moved forwards into the dark airlock, activating their night vision as they went, beyond the cut outer hatch the inner hatch hadn't been cut, it had been cracked open with a hacking tool of some kind, they could see the open panel and exposed circuits just to the right of the circular windowless door, "Max?" Shena asked, looking over her shoulder at one of the human members of her team.
"On it, boss," he said, stepped forward and hooking his wrist comp into the locks, now this was not going to be easy as the computer systems literally had nothing in common, so it was more going to be using electrical signals to try and either bypass the locking mechanism or overload it.
"Got it," Max said, and there were a series of clicks followed by a long hiss which was a good sign as it showed there was atmosphere and very slowly the door began to open, granting them access to the alien ship beyond it.