The Scanthius would never be mistaken as a cargo vessel. Its concentrated Trethlon plated hull mirrored the space around it perfectly, and its many pulse cannons constantly scanned for threats. The swept back wings and two rearward plasma turbines flaunted its capability for extreme speeds. A beautiful ship, a deadly ship, and right now - an endangered ship.
"Two minutes, Tom!"
Tom Shrapnel was not having a good day. No, this was not the I-broke-up-with-my-girlfriend type of day. This was slightly more serious. Tom was crouching next to a bomb, or to be technical - a Mark 8 General Purpose Ordinance, complete with several decoys and motion sensors, weighing around 15 kilograms. Right now Tom was trying not to think about how he'd feel scattered across space.
Tom thought he had done a fairly good job so far. Three minutes since he first found the thing in the engine room and already he had taken out the motion sensors and one of the decoys. Unfortunately that still meant he had a fifty-fifty chance of being vaporized into particles smaller then sand. Not ideal odds.
"Alright", thought Tom. "Gonna’ have to chance it." This is the moment every bomb disposalist fears. Not enough time to render the device inoperable, not enough time to evacuate the blast radius. The red wire or the blue wire. Tom chose the blue wire, mainly because it was his favourite colour. He clumsily severed the connection, his bulky space suit finding pliers a rather difficult object to maneuver. The timer stopped.
Tom let out a deep breath, one that he'd apparently been holding in a while. The timer started again, going twice as fast as before. Should have gone with the red wire.
"Damn it!" Tom heaved the bomb off the floor and slung it onto his back, then sprinted out of the engine room. His radio was blaring in his ear, but he paid the voices no heed. He had about thirty seconds to formulate one hell of a plan.
He turned the corridor and headed for the closest airlock. Punching in the override commands for the door. It flew open with a pneumatic hiss before sucking Tom and his explosive luggage out into the freezing depths of space.
Tom had about ten seconds, there was no way he could fly away from the bomb in time, so he took the only option available to him.
All space suits come standard with thrusters for light maneuvering in light gravity environments, but this would not be sufficient enough to propel Tom out of the bombs radius. Instead, he removed the thruster from the slot on his suit, and slapped it on to the bomb. He activated the thruster and the bomb shot away like a bullet. Tom shielded his eyes milliseconds before the bomb exploded, the light penetrating his arm and eyelids, impossibly bright. Next came the shockwave, spinning him like an out-of-control Ferris Wheel.
Over his comm. channel he could hear lots of whooping and cheering, the Scanthius was saved.
********
"Masterfully done Sergeant, masterfully done!"
Tom was standing inside Captain Johnson’s lavish quarters, no longer in his space suit, and standing briskly at attention, dressed in the standard Directorates uniform. A navy blue shirt and trousers overlaid with a black trench coat, his rank displayed on the epaulettes on his shoulders.
"Thank you sir! Though I must admit, I was very lucky to have found it." Tom certainly didn't feel lucky at the time, though truth be told if he had not found the explosive then he along with the Scanthius and her crew would be spread across space like dust in the wind.
"You performed flawlessly," stated the Captain. "And for a soldier of the Directorates Army I could ask no less. At ease!"
"I'll alert the chef to double your rations and permit you access to the ships liquor stock, no doubt the High Council will see fit to award you with a medal or two as well. In the mean time I give you permission to skip your next shift."
"I thank you Captain, but I must ask: do we know who planted the bomb?"
"I am afraid I have no answer to that question. I have instructed the crew to sweep this ship from top to bottom, and I have my highest officers conducting interviews. However I believe the assassin would have long left the ship, perhaps during one of our trade runs. Do not bother yourself with this any longer Sergeant, go now and enjoy some well earned sleep. Dismissed.
Tom saluted, spun sharply and marched out of the room, the doors parting at his presence. Though double rations and hint of a medal would have left many a soldier feeling content, Tom felt only unease. Tom stepped onto the elevator, many thoughts swirling around his head, mostly concerning the bomb and its mysterious owner. He was jolted back into reality by a hard slap on the back.
"Well, well if it isn't Tom Shrapnel - savior of the Scanthius!" joked his long time friend and bunk buddy Robert. "Please tell me he gave you access to the ships booze."
"Yeeep" declared Tom. Robert let out a cry of joy.
"Damn people should plant bombs more often! This is gonna’ be great. Listen up; tomorrow night after my shift I'll bring a couple of gals from Medical, you bring the booze. Sounds fair?"
"Sounds perfectly fair to me," said Tom slyly.
"Aha knew you'd see it my way!" replied Robert. "Oh and none of that cheap stuff either! I heard Chef has some Pinot Noir hidden away in the galleys. About as old as his mother too"
"Shouldn't be a problem in comparison with today’s episode." said Tom.
"Good to hear! Anyway I'm off, got to make sure the assassin didn't tamper with anything else down in Engineering." Robert ducked out of the elevator and disappeared down another of the ships endless corridors.
Tom arrived at his quarters a short while later. Throwing his boots and clothes onto the floor in a heap, he instantly drifted off into a deep sleep, dreaming about exploding bombs and laughing, faceless assassins.
********
“Good morning sunshine!”
“Huh, wha-,” mumbled Tom, pulling himself upright.
“Work, Tom. Work!” exclaimed Robert, pulling on his boots. “Another day in the life of an engineer!”
Tom quickly got dressed and ready for work. As they were heading down the corridor to Coolant Block B Tom was greeted by a few passersby.
“Hey, Tom!” said one of the engineers. “Fine work you did yesterday, saving our lives and all.”
“Yeh,” said the other. “Thanks a million!” Tom and Robert continued down the corridor.
“Damn Tom, you’ve got yourself quite a reputation now,” remarked Robert. “I might have to start taking orders from you now!”
“Ha! That’ll be the day. No Captain in their right mind would replace you as Chief Engineer.”
“Aww Tom, don’t make me blush.” laughed Robert. “No amount of brown nosing from your part is going to get you any slack from me!”
********
“What is that Ensign?” queried Captain Johnson, who was standing in the centre of the ship bridge, monitoring the large screen in front of him.
“Some sort of vessel, Captain,” replied the Ensign. “That gas giant hid it from our sensors.”
“What do the scans indicate?”
“Well,” the Ensign quickly scanned his monitor. “It’s composed of some alloy that’s not on our ship database; it’s not very big, probably about half our size, and as far as I can tell no weapons capabilities.”
“Open a comm. channel with them,” ordered the Captain.
“Done.”
“This is Captain Johnson of the Scanthius. You are several kilometers into Directorate space; please offer some explanation in regards to this.”
Static blared across the bridge. “Hello Captain!” came the reply. “Your vessel and crew now belong to the Senti Republic. Prepare to be boarded.”
“Senti Republic? What nonsense faction is this?” raged the Captain. “No matter, you are in Directorate space and you just threatened a Directorate vessel. We will tear your puny ship to pieces!”
“That is where you are wrong, Captain,” replied the smooth voice.
“Sir!” the Ensign cut in. “I have vast quantities of objects exiting that vessels hull!”
“Raise shields and power weapons!” shouted the Captain. He slammed his hands down on the communications console. “All hands, battle stations, this is not a drill!”
“Ensign, what can you tell me about those objects?”
“No bigger then your classic ground transport, sir. They’re spreading out across our bow. They’re some sort of robotic drone.”
“Lieutenant Silvati, target those drone exit points with the forward pulse cannons, full intensity.”
“Yes sir,” replied Silvati, manipulating the weapon controls. A thick indigo beam lanced across space, striking into the ships hangar. An orange explosion blossomed out of the hangar.
“Direct hit sir!” exclaimed Silvati.
“Sir I got multiple power spikes coming from those drones,” said the Ensign.
The hundreds of drones each directed many beams of light towards a central point on the unknown vessel, an ominous green glow begin emitting from the ship.
“Hard to port, now!” screamed the Captain.
The Scanthius rolled hard to port, its maneuvering thrusters working at full capacity. A thick beam of green energy exploded out of the unknown vessel and ripped into the Scanthius, completely annihilating the bridge and several upper levels. Debris, oxygen and bodies streamed out of the massive gash the laser had torn into the once proud ship.
********
“Bridge wants us hard to port!” shouted Robert. “Activate all starboard thrusters, full burn!”
“Starboard thrusters, full burn!” echoed the command.
A titanic shudder threw everyone to the floor; Robert struck his head on a corner, blood trickling down his cheek. The power went out and everyone was plunged into darkness.
“What the hell was that!” exclaimed Robert, picking himself up. Backup power activated, with thin purple exit lights marking the floor.
“Please stay calm and head towards your nearest lifeboat. Please stay calm and head towards your nearest lifeboat,” said the cool, electronic emergency message.
“Alright everyone you heard the lady! Evacuate Engineering!” shouted Robert. Workmen began exiting the room, muttering nervously about the situation.
“Come on Tom, that means you to,” said Robert, who was ushering people out the door.
“Chief, I haven’t seen Daseti, did you see him leave?” asked Tom worriedly.
“Actually, no I didn’t,” replied Robert, scanning the room. “I see him! He’s gone and got himself knocked out, the twit.” Robert pointed up at one of Engineering’s many catwalks. Tom started towards him.
“No,” said Robert, grabbing Toms shoulder. “I’ll get him; you make sure everyone gets onto their lifeboat.”
Tom nodded and headed towards the exit, several relays exploded near the main engine and Tom hesitated.
“Just go!” said Robert. “That’s an order!”
Tom caught up to the rest of the group, who were in deep discussion.
“Do you think it was aliens?” asked one particularly nervous crew member.
“Aliens? Well fits the bill really, who else would be dumb enough to attack a Directorate ship?”
“Don’t speak nonsense; there is no such thing as aliens, its probably just some malfunction, or a drill.”
“Alright men,” said Tom. “Cut the chatter, your soldiers of the Directorate. You will move calmly and quietly to the lifeboats. We will find out what has happened soon enough.”
Just after he finished speaking another shudder gripped the ship, slamming Tom and the others into the walls. Strange scrapping, metallic sounds echoed throughout the vessel.
The Engineering crew pressed onwards, frightened but no longer speaking. They were only several meters from the lifeboat when some robotic creature exploded through a nearby door.
“Watch out!” warned Tom. The robot resembled an overgrown wolf standing on two legs. Its head was composed of various circuitries and a large golden crystal of some sort. Its left hand ended in a vicious, spinning drill, and its right held a selection of various blades. It leaped six meters and landed on a crew member just to Tom’s right. The heavy robot pushed the man to the floor and the thick drill gored into the mans chest. He screamed in agony and lay still.
With a shout Tom leapt at the machine brandishing his trusty wrench. The robot turned swiftly, swinging its right hand at Tom. Tom threw himself to the side, the knife only nicking the fabric of his uniform. He leapt back up and swung his wrench savagely into the creatures head, cracking the golden crystal. Several other crew members leant their wrenches to the task, and before long the creature lay disabled at their feet, its head a mess of broken circuits and shattered crystal, the blood spattered drill digging uselessly into the deck.
“What the hell was that thing?” stammered one of the crewmembers.
“I have no idea,” replied Tom. “But we have to get out of here.”
Tom and the crewmembers took a final corner and there in front of them were the lifeboats, six small cylindrical vessels each with their own thrusters and navigation, capable of supporting a crew of five for up to seven days. The lifeboats themselves were housed inside a small hangar, these hangars were located across the Scanthius, each near to a particular group, whether it be Engineering, Medical, or Military.
“Ok I want four to each lifeboat, leave one for the Chief and Daseti. Move out men!”
In a few short minutes everyone was aboard. Tom gave the order for the lifeboats to leave in staggered formation, with his vessel to leave last. One by one the lifeboats launched out into space, the hangar doors opening to allow their exit.
As the second last lifeboat began moving off, several things happened at once. First, Tom noticed Robert come sprinting out the corridor, Daseti slung over his back. Second, the hangar roof sagged and collapsed, molten metal cascading down onto the last remaining lifeboat, rendering it useless. Third, the bulkhead nearby to the taxiing lifeboat ripped apart, and more robotic creatures scurried out. Several leaped onto the lifeboat, and began drilling and cutting at it with various instruments.
“Robert! Come with us!” shouted Tom, beckoning. Robert started forward but was stopped as more molten metal poured out of the roof, blocking his path.
“Leave me Tom!” shouted Robert. “I’ll find another way off.”
“No!” said Tom, starting towards Robert.
“That’s an order damn it! Abandon the ship!” Robert turned and sprinted back the way he came, Daseti still slung over his back. The other lifeboat tilted under the weight of the robotic machines, and swung into the hangar wall. Its engine spluttered and died, and more and more robotic nightmares swarmed over it, tearing the lifeboat and its crew to pieces.
“We need to get out of here right now!” said Tom, urging the helmsman on.
“No need to tell me twice Tom,” replied Jonas, the crew member piloting the lifeboat. The boarding doors hissed shut behind Tom, and the lifting boosters ignited, bringing the lifeboat to a hover five meters above the hangar floor.
Tom noticed one of the robotic creatures had stopped its plunder of the downed lifeboat and was starting towards their own. It would be upon them in just moments.
“Jonas, reopen the boarding door or we’re all dead!” yelled Tom, who frantically began searching the closets. Rations, water, medical supplies - weaponry! Tom ripped the pulse rifle from the closet, just as the boarding doors hissed back open. Tom leveled the gun just as the robotic menace leapt off the floor straight towards Tom.
Tom squeezed the trigger and plugged the thing in the face, blasting it head over heels to land on the floor in a smoking heap.
“Ok Jonas, close it and go, go, go!” exclaimed Tom frantically, watching as more and more robots rushed towards their ship. Their lifeboat exploded out of the hangar as Jonas pushed the vessel to its limits.
“Guys, come get a look at this,” said Drego, a large, dark skinned man who had been serving on the Scanthius for over five years.
The four men crowded around the small porthole and stared in horror at the Scanthius. It was spinning slowly, surrounded by debris. To the untrained eye it looked as if someone had tore a hole in space, as the Trethlon plating made it near invisible.
“Look,” said Jonas, who had set the lifeboat to autopilot. “More of those robots.”
Thousands upon thousands of the drones were scuttling up and down the ship, tearing away bits and pieces with their instruments.
“Where did those things come from?” said Dylan, the rather timid crew member who had a strong belief in alien existence.
“No idea, but look there,” replied Tom, pointing in the corner of the porthole. A small angular vessel was circling slowly around the Scanthius, emitting a faint green glow. The robot drones were coming and going from the crafts various hangars.
“I’ve never seen that class of vessel before,” stated Drego. “And I’ve seen a lot in my time too. Whatever we’re looking at now, it’s brand new.”
“Not to mention deadly,” added Jonas. “This doesn’t bode well for the Directorate; this doesn’t bode well at all.”
“Steady men,” ordered Tom. “Though our ship is crippled, and most likely many of our faithful crew dead. We must do our duty. The Directorate will need to know our story. We need to warn them.”
“Aye,” said Drego. The other crewmembers agreed.
“We’re coming up to a small moon now sir,” stated Jonas. “No doubt the other lifeboats would have headed to this location as well.”
“What information can you give me Jonas?”
“Not much with these scanners I’m afraid,” replied Jonas. “Mostly desert, some canyons, ah yes here we go. Definitely other lifeboats here, I’m reading their distress beacons loud and clear.”
“OK,” said Tom. “Take us down.”
********
The Senti Captain stared proudly at his work. The Directorate vessel lay disabled before him, and even now his drones were breaking it down into useable materials.
“How many life signs are you detecting on the ship Lieutenant?” queried the Captain.
“Twenty-seven, our combat drones will finish them off soon enough.”
“And those lifeboats?”
“Twelve made it off the ship; they’ve all landed on the Class II moon circling that gas giant, shall I take us into low orbit and open fire with the cannons?
“No need Lieutenant, just dispatch some combat drones. We could certainly do with some extra field testing.”
“Roger that sir, I’ll send down three squads.”
“Very good, Lieutenant,” commended the Captain. “Now Ensign! Give me combat data.”
“Of course: 0300 we broke masked orbit from the gas giant. 0302 enemy vessel begun negotiations. 0304 we deployed the charge drones in basic formation. 0305 enemy vessel damaged hangar 16A with a charged pulse cannon. 0305 our charge drones begin siphoning energy to the discharge apex. 0305 enemy vessel moves starboard. 0305 discharge apex releases pulse, only destroying several upper decks due to their maneuver. 0306 combat and worker drones were deployed.
“Your assessment Ensign?”
“Prototype successful.”
“Good answer,” said the Captain. “Now just how severe is that hangar damage?”
“Well we’re venting slowly, I imagine we would be fine for another twelve hours, and the worker drones should finish their work long before then. That was a smart move by them Captain, targeting our hangars like that. Brilliant.”
“Well they can’t be that brilliant, their ship is crippled and their crew dead!” spat the Captain. “Now I want those drones going at full capacity, I don’t want to sit around all-.”
A large explosion ripped through the Scanthius, sending a massive shudder through the Republic vessel.
“What the hell just happened?” shouted the Captain.
The Ensign paled. “Their engine core just detonated.”
“What?? You told me their engine was no where near critical!”
“Someone,” the Ensign licked his lips nervously. “Someone on board must have manually overloaded it.”
“How many drones did we lose?” screamed the captain.
The Ensign paled to a dull white. “Se-se-seventy percent.”
The Captain screamed in fury, pulled a pistol from his utility belt and shot the Ensign in the head, his brains spraying over the deck.
“Incompetence!” raged the Captain. “Lieutenant, take us back to the ship yard at maximum speed. Forget about the combat drones, we’ll come back for them. And will someone clean up this mess??”
********
“Oh Jonas, I couldn’t have asked for a smoother landing,” remarked Dylan sarcastically.
“Yeh OK well next time we have to fly through 300kph winds with limited visibility I’ll get you to do it,” Jonas shot back.
Their lifeboat had crashed into a large sand dune, with the aft section sticking up out of the sand. The wind blew furiously around the craft, sand particles tightly restricting visibility. If the crew wasn’t strapped into their seats they would all be squashed in the front of the ship.
“Jonas,” Tom groaned. “What’s the atmosphere like outside?”
“Well its not breathable that’s for sure. Otherwise we’re OK.”
“Ok men, strap on your masks and gather as much supplies as you can. Let’s try and meet up with the other crew.”
When everyone was suited up Tom punched the door controls. Howling winds and stinging sand assaulted his senses. Visibility was minimal and there was no way he would be able to effectively communicate with the crew once they left the lifeboat. He signaled for the men to follow him then disappeared into the storm.
