Extinction (16 page)

“Team two,” Emily began, “will wait at
the far end for everyone to catch up. If the need arises, be careful of what
you shoot at. We still don’t know exactly what happened here. If anything seems
unusual, anything at all, call it in to the rest of the teams.”

“You mean something like a two-kilometer
deep hole that appeared out of nowhere?” Fang grunted. A Shirka’s nature always
challenged those around him, especially those in authority.

“Yeah, or maybe even a Shirka with a
good sense of humor. Of course I don’t think that’s possible, but it would be
more unusual than this hole.” Fang gave Emily a slight nod and a toothy grin; it
was his way of showing respect. “Move out, marines.”

Daria was surprised with the depth and
tone of Emily’s voice but inwardly smiled at her friend, who was really
starting to cut her teeth on this planet.

Deeper Into Unknown Space
aboard the
Vanguard

Seth wandered into the mess hall and
picked up a tray from the food line. He saw Beast sitting with a couple of
other trainees and walked towards their table. Seth mused silently to himself
about the word “trainee”. He was the only one in the group without actual
combat experience; everyone else was a very seasoned veteran. The instructors
were really just mentors, soldiers with the most combat and special operations
deployments. They led the training sessions and worked with the trainees in a
one-on-one fashion to help them reach their full potential.

Seth had become accustomed to eating his
meals with Surgeon but he was nowhere to be seen. In fact, Seth thought, none
of the instructors were anywhere in the room. Odd. He also found it strange
that for the first time in nine months, the ship had dropped out of warp.

“Where’s Joker?” Seth asked Beast.

“As far as I know, I’m not his
babysitter”, Beast almost growled. “This is the first time we’ve been able to
eat without watching our backs for instructors. Take advantage of it, newbie.”

That’s exactly what worried Seth. All of
the trainees were assembled in the mess hall without a single instructor around.
Usually the training was on a schedule set by the instructors of the fifteen
teams. This meant that there had never been a time before when every single
student was eating a meal at the same time. People would straggle in as their
training evolutions ended and then leave to their next evolution.

“Doesn’t that seem odd to you?” Seth
persisted. “Why are we all here together for the first time without a single
instructor? The tables are arranged slightly different from normal to allow
better access through the port hatch but less access through the starboard
hatch.” Or maybe a slower escape, Seth thought.

Beast looked up for the first time. “You
are right.” The warriors’ eyes locked in realization of what was about to
happen. They both whispered, “Ambush.”

“If they’re watching us right now, we
shouldn’t tip our hand. The question is, should we retreat into the ship now
and take up defensive positioning somewhere more fortified? Or should we alert
everyone else and be prepared to fight here?”

Beast continued to eat his leg of
something, and gestured Seth to start on his meal. He wanted their conversation
to look natural to any eyes that might be prying into the mess hall. “Hey
everyone! This rookie is going to tell us that story the general was talking
about. Get your asses over here.” His tone was jovial but no one refused his
request to come and listen to a story. Storytelling was a time-honored custom
to Shirkas. It was a warrior’s bond with others when he shared a story of
conquest and victory.

Seth took his cue. “Well, first off
there was an AMBUSH set up for my platoon. We had to get out of that MESS as
quickly as possible.” He hoped that his eyes were telling the true story and
the hidden meanings in his words were clear. He made eye contact with several
of those nearest him and received a slight nod that seemed to say they
understood. He felt as though there wasn’t much time left. “We were pinned down
so I gave orders to leave on my MARK.”

Seth placed both his hands on the
underside of the table, following Beast’s lead. “Mark!” Seth tried not to yell
his command. With that, Beast and Seth jumped out of their seat and flipped the
table on its side, giving them some cover from the port hatch way. All of the other
soldiers began to exit through the starboard hatch when the first one went down
from a stun gun in the starboard entrance way.

“Port hatch now!” Beast ordered as he
turned over the nearest table in the opposite direction of the first. The swift-acting
students jumped the newest obstacle and headed for the hatch. The instructors
were laying down a covering fire from the starboard hatch and had already
caught two students with their stunners.

Thirteen left, Seth thought. Possibly
enough to take the fifteen instructors somewhere on this ship. He doubted that
all fifteen would have been posted at a single hatch but he took the lead
anyway, knowing that he’d be the first to run into problems.

It was clever of them to set up the mess
hall that way. It made it seem that the ambush would come from one side and
everyone would herd themselves right into the trap. They must have figured that
at least one disciple would think it odd that no instructors were around and
that same person might realize that the mess hall had been altered slightly. They
had played right into the instructors’ hands. It was something that Surgeon
would think of and made Seth believe that their chance of successfully beating
their mentors had just dropped about twenty-five percent.

Beast had already split the students up
into five teams of two and one team of three. He and Seth were with Blanch,
heading towards the weapons locker. “All right, the weapons locker is up one
deck and around that corridor. We’ll use the maintenance tubes to get to the
locker and scope out the site. Once we know it’s secure, we’ll make a plan of
attack.” Beast had a hungry look in his eye. This was his chance to prove
himself to his instructor.

“Wait,” Seth interjected, “I don’t think
that’s a good idea. Joker will know that you will be the first to try for the weapons
locker. It’s in your nature. He knows how you think by now and I’m sure that
he’s the one who will have set up security for it.”

This made sense to Beast. “What do you
suggest, Cadet? Should we just walk up and say ‘please’?”

Shirka sarcasm, there just seemed to be
no way around it. “Holobay four is across from the weapons locker. We can get
to it from the deck below us by the water main. That room used to hold a water
tank for combat simulations. The tank isn’t there anymore but the fill tubes
for the water are. They’re big enough for us to get through. I found them by
accident while training one day.”

The trio headed for the lift shaft at
the end of the hall and pried its doors open. If they didn’t trigger the lift,
then no one should know where they were. Luckily the lift was several decks
above them so they would be able to climb down to the next level without a
problem. Just as long as no one came down the lift. As they climbed down to the
next level and began to pry the doors, Seth wondered aloud to Beast, “How come
you didn’t hear them coming?”

Beast bared his teeth at no one in
particular. “I don’t know.” At the age of fourteen, Beast was too young to
already have sensory deprivation. What trick had the instructors used on him?
It would have to be answered later. The door was open and they were on the
move.

Rounding a corner, they came to the
water main control room. The door was locked. “No problem.” Seth stepped up and
went to work. After several small shocks, they were in. “Make sure that the cutoff
valve is off so we don’t drown in there”, Seth said to Blanch.

Blanch went to the console, checked the
readout and then went to the valve and manually checked its position. “We’re
all set here. Which tube do we enter?”

Seth walked to a large pipe and tried to
orient himself to the deck above. “This one, I think.” He climbed up on top and
opened an inspection hatch. It would be tight, especially for Beast, but it
would work. As the other two soldiers stepped up to the hatch, Beast took the
lead.

“I’ll go first”, Beast said without
giving time for discussion as he started into the hatch.

“Wait a minute”, Seth called, but it was
too late. So he started in after Beast with Blanch close in tow. Once they got
into the holobay, Seth approached Beast. “I told you to wait.” A stare as
penetrating as lasers cut through Seth. “There’s something on your lapel”, he said,
gesturing to Beast’s back. Beast turned to let Seth get at it.

“That’s a sonic disrupter”, Beast said
with anger. “It is used by my people to impair young warriors during the hunt
so they will use their other senses. It is a training device.” He placed it in
his palm and drove his fist into his open hand, shattering the device. “Joker!”
was all he could say through his anger and respect for the man. “Now what?”

“Blanch, how are you at being a decoy?”
Seth asked their so-far silent partner.

Blanch crossed the hallway and began to
work on the electronic lock of the armory. He had his comlink set to the
transport ship frequency in hopes that it wouldn’t be a monitored channel. If
it was, then this display was all for naught. In his head, he heard Beast say, “There
are two contacts coming from your right. Approximately ten meters out.” With
the sonic disrupter removed, Beast could again use his hearing to its fullest
capacity. “Start on my mark. Three, two, one, mark.”

Blanch purposely touched a low-voltage
wire and jumped back with the surge of the shock. He tapped his comlink. “This
is three. I can’t get the door. I’m returning to your position.” He got up and
began to walk back towards holobay four. He looked over his shoulder several
times and then sped up his pace.

The instructors knew he was on to them,
although they didn’t know how. Time to get their quarry. The chase was on. Only
fifteen meters to the holobay and Blanch was losing ground. Joker was fast.

Once inside the holobay, Blanch ran
towards the rear of the room. A sudden flash of caution went through Joker’s
mind. There was nowhere to go and yet Blanch was running as though there was.

Too late. He saw Blanch leap into the
air and almost simultaneously the artificial gravity in the simulation room was
cut off. Blanch had used his momentum to reach a strut at the corner of the
room and now shimmied towards the command booth.

Joker and the other instructor were
caught off guard so when the gravity was cut, their forward momentum slammed
them into the far wall that they were running toward. Joker heard a crack as
his face hit the wall.

Apparently so did Seth because his voice
came over the PA system. “Now we’re even.”

The two instructors, suspended in air
with blood floating in droplets all around them, positioned themselves for a
leap at the command console. Realizing their second mistake as they were
already five meters off the ground, Seth turned the artificial gravity back on.

Luckily he was in a generous mood and
only had it set at half a G so the fall wasn’t too hard. Nonetheless, it hurt
badly to hit the deck. Once the two instructors were down, Seth turned the
gravity to six Gs, which effectively pinned the instructors to the ground with
their own weight.

“All right, you got us. Good job. Now
let us up”, Joker said through gritted teeth.

“OK, and I’ll just ask Beast to be
polite for a change. What do you think the chances of that are?” Seth said as
he put an encrypted code lock on the controls so he would be the only one who
was able to release his prisoners.

With that, the three students used the
secondary access way from the control booth and entered the hallway. Without
further molestation, they reached the armory and entered using an instructor
code that Beast had stolen with his acute hearing.

He could detect the tone differences in
the keypads when they were pressed. After hearing Joker key in the code several
times, he knew what it was.

Unfortunately, Joker had set a trap
inside the door and an electrical stun charge went off, knocking down Beast and
Blanch. Beast was only stunned while Blanch’s human frame was knocked
completely unconscious. Down to two with no idea of how anyone else was doing.
This seemed like deja vu for Seth.

“Now what?” Seth muttered.

“We get weapons,” said the groggy
Shirka, “then go shoot all the instructors.” He spoke as though Seth had asked
a stupid question.

“Do we have an objective other than just
to stay alive?” He wondered whether it was that simple, as ironic as that
sounded to even himself. But Seth always thought on a much grander scale. “Let’s
take over the ship.”

“I like your thinking, Cadet.” Beast
laid a paw on Seth’s shoulder that just about knocked him down. “Take a close
quarters assault rifle and as many stun grenades as you can. We’re headed for
the bridge.” He let out a battle howl that nearly shook Seth.