Ouroboros 3: Repeat (20 page)

Carson Blake

They were almost there. It would take barely a quarter hour before they reached Remus 12.

He could feel the tension building within the crew.

They were returning to a scene of total annihilation
 . . . yet despite how much shock and grief they must all feel, they were still doing what had to be done.

He was standing on the bridge, Travis at his side. In a few minutes, he’d start walking towards the hangar bay though.

They were not going to land the Orion on Remus 12—it was too big. Plus, it was also too damaged.

Carson doubted they were ready for the ship graveyard down there anyway. They might all be professionals, but it had shattered even him.

And he hadn’t witnessed the brutal battle that had led to it.

The closer he got the more he felt
 . . . that something wasn’t right.

Which was an understatement—a hell of a lot of things weren’t right. That wasn’t the point though. As he stood there, his feet locked onto the floor and his hands locked behind his back, he felt anticipation roar up towards him. It was a cruel, jolting feeling that felt like someone had their hands wrapped around his neck as they tried to choke the life from him.

‘Almost there,’ Travis said again.

Time ticked down, and it was finally time for Carson to head to the hangar bay. Nida was already waiting there apparently, and as he walked through the corridors, he started to walk a little faster, then faster still.

He wanted to break into a full-tilt sprint, just to get to her side as soon as he could.

Because something wasn’t right.

He was so certain of that fact, he could bet his life against it.

.
 . . .

And maybe he would have to.

‘Hey, there’s plenty of time left,’ he heard an officer say as he rushed past them.

Of all the things that man could have said, that was
 . . . the creepiest.

Because that’s exactly what Carson felt; like he was running out of time again.

Being with Nida managed to slow down the seconds and minutes until he felt like an eternity gathered between them, but now that reprieve was lost.

He ran now.

There was ostensibly nothing wrong.

There were no enemies, the entity was all but controlled, and they were safely aboard the Orion. But none of those facts could cool his nerves. Instead they burned brighter and hotter with ever step he took.

Until finally he reached the hangar bay. He ran in so fast he almost knocked over a surprised-looking engineer. ‘Hey, watch where you’re going,’ the guy shouted over his shoulder as Carson kept pelting forward.

He could see her standing roughly in the centre of this cavernous space, her hands held neatly in front of her as she stared at the ship before her.

They would have to take a small vessel down to the surface of Remus 12, and right now it was being loaded with all the things they would need.

Or weapons they would need, rather.

Because Travis intended to arm them both to the teeth. In fact, he was giving away valuable armaments Carson knew he couldn’t afford.

Or he could. Because everything was riding on this.

If Nida and Carson could change the time line, then it was worth every risk.

Finally he reached her. In fact, he practically barrelled into her.

She took a step back and looked up at him with round, surprised eyes. ‘Are you okay?’

He opened his mouth to reply
 . . . but couldn’t. No words could explain exactly how he felt. It was just . . . he could just . . . .

Shaking his head, he gave up, and just surrendered to his growing apprehension.

Her eyes quickly narrowed. She had beautiful eyes. They weren’t a startling shape or colour—it was the quality of their attention that caught his every time.

As he looked at her, she took the edge off his worry and paranoia. She couldn’t take it away completely though.

‘Carson?’ she whispered as she took a step close to him, her brow crumpling with worry. ‘What is it?’

He searched her gaze, but ended up saying nothing as he turned to survey the ship.

‘Get ready to board,’ and engineer told them as she walked past with a scanner in her hand. ‘We’ll be there in 60 seconds.’

60 seconds
 . . . why hadn’t she said a minute? Because 60 seconds sounded like a count down.

Nida was still looking up at him, her concern obvious.

‘Carson . . . I . . . I think I feel it too,’ she suddenly said.

This made him snap his head around.

‘Something isn’t right. I just . . . can’t believe things are going to be this easy,’ she muttered.

Every hair on his body stood on end as he considered her.

He wanted to say something. He couldn’t. He just nodded and took a step forward when the engineer waved them onto the ship.

He grabbed the side of the airlock as he moved in, his white-knuckled fingers briefly gripping the edge of the metal.

They were both just being paranoid, right? The break-neck pace of their mission to date had simply altered their expectations, until they both thought one battle would inevitably follow the next.

Everything was fine, he told himself as he pushed a breath from his lips.

He walked on board, Nida a few steps behind him.

‘
Alright, you are good to go. Get in, shut the door. The ignition sequence has already been initiated, and all you have to do is sit back and wait for the computer to fly you down to the surface.’

Sit back and wait.

Yeah . . . it was never that easy.

.
 . . .

It happened just as he closed the door.

The hangar bay shook.

It was powerful enough to see a few objects tumble over and roll over the floor.

Carson had been standing in the bridge of their tiny cruiser when he’d seen it.

Then all hell broke loose.

His own ship warned him in a quiet tone, ‘the Orion is under attack. Red alert initiated. All crew are directed to take up battle stations.’

He had just a second to look at Nida. She was seated in the navigator’s chair next to him, just an arm’s length away.

Her eyes shot wide with terror.

Then the view on their screen changed, and was replaced with a live feed from the Orion’s bridge.

‘We’re under attack,’ Travis spat at them.

‘
But the Vex are trapped in time,’ Nida pointed out, her tone pleading.

‘
It’s not the Vex; it’s the Barbarians. We caught them going over our broken ships like vultures.’

Carson felt sick.

He also felt like a fool.

The Vex had destroyed 80 percent of the United Galactic Coalition fleet, and what ships they hadn’t taken down to the surface of their planet before the event ended, were still in orbit.

The Barbarians were known scavengers. They existed by taking technology they found or stole. So of course they would be picking through the remains of the Coalition Fleet.

Why hadn’t he thought about this before?

He had just enough time to think that thought before he saw Travis lurch to the side as the bridge tilted.

Though Carson’s own ship was not affected, as it was still within the protection of the Orion and had its own gravity, he could see how severe Travis stumbled.

‘We have to get out of here,’ Carson barked at him.

As he said that, he used his own ship’s computer to scan the space beyond the Orion.

At first there was one ship, then two, then three . . . then he lost count.

The Orion was a heavy cruiser, but she was also a limping one.

With enough concentrated fire from the Barbarians, she would fall.

And her crew would fall with her.

Shock crippled him, but he fought past it to shout, ‘fall back, Travis; we’ve got to get out of here. We can’t fight them.’

‘
No, you’re going down to Remus 12, and you are going to fix this, Carson. You’re our last hope.’

‘
This is suicide,’ Carson jumped to his feet, his hands clutching his console so tightly he could have broken his knuckles. ‘We can come back later. You don’t have to risk yourselves.’

‘
There’s nothing left to risk, Carson,’ Travis said quietly as the ship gave another lurch to the side.

Carson wanted to collapse. Travis’ words were like blasts from a gun.

. . . Because they were true.

One look in his eyes, and you could see the man had nothing left to hold onto but ghosts.

. . . And his command.

Confirming that fact, Travis straightened up.
‘We might get away; or they might chase us. And we can’t run the risk of Nida being captured. We have to do this now, because there may not be time again. So, go, Carson. Get the hell out of here. I’ll hold the door open for you while you leave,’ with that, Travis turned and spat at one of his officers to open up fire with all their port guns.

Carson wanted to say something; he had to convince his friend not to sacrifice himself and his crew.

But it was too late.

The view of Travis on the bridge blinked off the screen, and again Carson could see the hangar bay outside.

It was a mess of running bodies and tumbling objects.

‘
Carson,’ Nida said.

He made a fist.

Then he hit the console once, and told the computer in a shaking voice, ‘continue with ignition sequence.’

She didn’t say anything.

He couldn’t tell whether she hated him in that moment—whether she couldn’t bear the idea that the Orion was sacrificing herself for the two of them.

But whatever she thought, it didn’t stop her from turning around, her fingers flying over her panel as she primed the sensors.

‘Waiting for the Orion hangar bay doors to open,’ the computer told him in an impassive voice.

‘
How long will it take?’ he hissed back.

‘
Approximately five minutes.’

‘
What? Why?’

‘
The hangar bay will have to be cleared before the doors are opened.’

‘
Why can’t we just use a temporary shield?’ Carson spat back.

‘
The generators are down,’ the computer replied, unfazed by his stress and fear.

Usually on a ship as big as the Orion, there was a set of powerful shields in place just before the doors. They enabled ships to fly in and out without the bay depressurising and everyone having to leave the room or pop like a balloon.

But the shields were down. Which meant the bay had to be evacuated.

Five minutes
 . . . .

He shivered, the move violent as it saw his shoulders push outward in a jerk.

It would be the tensest time of his life.

Nida just gripped her console, closed her eyes, and didn’t say a word.

He kept an eye on his sensors, watching a battle he could not fight in.

The Orion was strong, but she was out-gunned.

Plus, she had no defences on her stern.

So it didn’t take long for one of those agile Barbarian ships to sweep in and attach itself to the hull.

He jumped to his feet as he saw it.

He knew what would come next.

The Orion would be boarded.

.
 . . 
Boarded
.

The Barbarians would flood aboard and fight the crew hand-to-hand.

He wanted to run out, grab his guns, and do what he had to to save as many people as he could.

Yet he didn’t. He just stood there staring at his screen, watching in horror as the Barbarians flooded onto the ship.

Nida now stood too, and she looked out at the view screen, her shoulders shaking.

She stared at the view outside, watching the engineers darting around frantically.

Then the doors to the bay opened.

Not the main doors—the doors back into the rest of the ship.

Though he knew that, as his scanners told him of the fact, he couldn’t see it.

The view screen of his ship was directed at the large main doors that led out into space.

But soon enough he saw what he feared most.

Two engineers came running past, their footfall frantic as they turned and fired with handguns.

‘Oh god,’ Nida shuddered back.

As she did, two burly Barbarians came into view.

They walked casually forward, one pulling a knife from its sheaf and throwing it with pin-point precision right into the chest of the closest engineer.