Ancient Hunter

I woke to a pulsing pain in the back of my head and the realisation I wasn’t dead nor was I falling. My chest and back hurt but the feeling was fading moment by moment. I guess my nanobots were at work. I was glad of them otherwise things would be a lot worse. I opened my eyes to see my world was slowly rotating. For a horrible moment I’d thought I’d fallen right through the ship if that was possible? The smooth surface of a wall drifted past my vision. I concluded that I was in a null-gravity zone somewhere within the void I’d fallen down. My relief was brief as I struggled to reorientate myself without success. Any movement made me spin faster. I even tried swimming but that was just the same. All it did was twist me in another direction. I did get closer to the wall but couldn’t get a purchase on the smooth surface the wall. There had to be a knack to this. I’d heard that the T’Arni had anti gravity dance floors where they did acrobatic dancing in the air. I hadn’t seen it and now was regretting that. The Valkyrie didn’t go in for dancing. They sang, then like most things they did it had an edge to it. Most of their songs sounded like funeral dirges filled with tales of blood and vengeance. They had no upbeat rhythms to think of. But none of this was relevant in my current situation I had to find a way out. In one rotation I spotted a hole in the side of wall. A way out if I could get to it. I tried flapping my arms in different direction but only succeeded in making my situation worse.

There had to be a way I thought furiously about my situation. I had to get out of here. I need something like a jetpack like those in those ancient vids. “Think!” I shouted out loud to myself. I tried to reach out to the Keepers in a desperate effort to get myself out of this. Something was blocking me probably the same thing that was effectively blocking our comms. Truth be told I hadn’t contacted the Keepers for a while. I had Freyhilda’s squad tailing my ass so I couldn’t speak to them or call them to me. I was certain it wasn’t Jennifer I hadn’t heard from the First One for just as long. I assumed she was trying to find the other First Ones and rally them to her cause, our cause. Suddenly I realised something that had been staring me in my face all this time. The solution to this was why have wings and not use them? There was a lot of reasons why this wouldn’t work in gravity my weight being the main factor. I wasn’t in gravity so this could work but I had a problem. I was wearing combat armour I doubted my wings would burst out of my armour without causing my body major trauma. I began to strip out of my armour an easy task in gravity but in this almost impossible without me losing my lunch.

A nauseated feeling ran though me I just wished I stopped spinning. It was starting to get very cold once I’d removed my armour. I managed to bounce off the wall several times as I disrobed but couldn’t find anything to grip in to. Currently my armour was rotating around me like a world and its moons. My teeth started to chatter. It was a lot colder without my armour to protect me. I had to hurry hoping this would work.

“Wings!” I said as if that was what would get them out. I felt my wings rip though the under suit I was wearing. I had been issued it because it made combat armour more space capable. With my wings out now I had to learn to fly before the cold froze me to death.

The fear of freezing seemed to be an excellent motivator. At first I tried to consciously flap my wings and failed to do anything. Then I tried to relax but that was hard with my teeth chattering and my body shivering. I tried for the third time this time shooting forward as my wings flapped. I propelled myself forward crashing into the wall and bouncing backwards. Pain shot through my body reactivating the pain in my chest and head. Shaking myself off I tried again slower managing to get the hang of it. Knowing that I’d need my armour I managed to snag it I’m unsure how I did that but now wasn’t the time to speculate. Armour acquired I flew to the opening aware time was running out for me. Entering the opening I must have passed a threshold and gravity reasserted itself. I crashed to the floor further re-igniting the pain I was feeling and crushing my hands beneath armour. Unsteadily I stood the persistent cold biting into me. I felt as if I was a mass of bruises I was certain that my nanobots would be working overtime to repair the damage. I donned my armour feeling warmth return to my extremities, not the false warmth of frost. Real life giving warmth as the heating elements brought my body up to the correct temperature. I took the time as I warmed up to do an inventory of what it had.

I’d lost my Coil Assault Gun but retained my Seven Double ‘M’. I had my harness and combat knife. It was better than nothing. I glanced around taking in my surroundings. This corridor seemed to be a copy of the one I’d been knocked out off by the creature. I hoped that my team had defeated the creature without casualties although it’s body hadn’t been floating around mine. I had a moment of despondency as I realised I didn’t know where I was and that the mission was a failure. With a grunt of pain I pushed myself up. Grim determination replaced the despair. I had to carry on my team was expecting me to do so. Despite my protestations I was with the Silver Guard I had expectations to fill. Somehow I had retained Denassi’s map but it was useless here. I had no idea how far I’d fallen. The void could have gone on for kilometres or more. I considered where I was and where I had to be. The blast door in front of me was wide open and luckily I was on the right side of the ship. I had no choice but to continue. There must be a way through I headed down the corridor following the dim emergency lighting.

I limped along trying to get my bearings. I hated to admit it but I was totally lost. Checking my comms I was disappointed, it seemed that my comms was still down. I carried on without success I could see noticeable markings but none matched Denassi’s map. There were plenty of arrows painted on the wall unfortunately without any context they were useless to me. In the distance I heard voices, unfamiliar ones and tensed. I approached the sound halting as I came into the view of two men. The sounds of their argument concealing any noise I could have made. I closed in on them stealthily to hear them arguing. I drew my Seven Double ‘M’ holding it steadily as the distance between them and I closed. They were of similar build and wearing synthacotton pants and shirts. I was suddenly glad of the dim lighting. I could see them more clearly than they could see me. I crouched down and aimed ready to fire. My gun would have been no good against one of those creatures but against two unarmoured targets it was fatally effective.

“You sure you know what you are doing?” one man asked the other.

The other pressed something on the wall. I saw it was a door panel. “Damn it they’ve changed the codes!”

“Weld that door shut we have infiltrators!”

It was obvious that they were talking about the teams we’d sent in. I was glad that some had actually entered the ship.

“They’ll be dead soon nothing can stand against those abominations.”

They weren’t invincible we’d seen to that. The creatures could die I’d killed two before I knew they had Landottir DNA. Which was why I had hesitated when I did I vowed not to make that mistake again.

“Weld that door shut so we can pump the atmosphere out of there. They’ll soon die without air,” the first man stated callously.

I felt a chill in the pit of my stomach.

“You do it,” the second man replied. “I don’t want to start a Ezaran blood feud.”

“Fine pass me that welder!” the first man snapped.

It was time for me to act. I stood and shouted. “Drop your weapons!”

They whirled around to face me one going for the pistol holstered to his waist. I took no chance and fired. Four shots rang out in quick succession echoing loud in the corridor. I felt a moment of deep regret having to have done that. It was them or me they had no chance with my enhanced speed and training. They were as good as dead the moment they went for their weapons. It was a mistake on their part a fatal one at that. Cautiously I edged towards the bodies my gun raised ready to fire again. I had no doubt that they were dead. But with the way things were going lately I had to make sure. I reached bodies alert for danger. On the floor beside the bodies was a large toolbox. About the height of my knee and as half as wide. On tip lay a laser welder attached by a lead to a rather hefty power pack. Carefully I turned over one of the bodies instantly stepping back in anger. Tattooed on the man’s rough shaven face were three black stripes.

“Black Stripes!” I hissed. The second body had three black stripes as well this time tattooed on his upper chest. The Curator before he took his own life had told me the Black Stripes, ‘Patriots’ his words were working for the Rhosani. So there was a further link between the Rhosani and these UP. Any regrets I had shooting them burned away in that instant they had to die.

Closing my mind to the bodies I turned my attention to the door panel. To my relief I noted that the panel had power. It was active but locked. I heard the two arguing about that before I’d shot them. Lucky for me I had an unconventional way of unlocking the door. I’d lose blood but that was a mute point at the moment. If had to guess there was an ally beyond the door. I holstered my gun and removed my gauntlet exposing my hand. Drawing my combat knife I made a small incision in my finger. I let the blood well up in my wound and wiped against the panel. I hoped my nanobots would do their work. It had worked for me before and I was sure this would be no different. A light on the panel turned green. With my heart in my mouth hoping I’d got this right I pressed the button to open the door. It swished open to reveal a large rectangular low roofed room crammed full of Ezarans. Possibly the breaker crew but I’d thought there would be more. There males, females and children or what the Ezarans classed as children. I didn’t know enough of their culture to know what the called their children. Anger burned though me these were those that the Black Stripes were going to seal in and deprive them of atmosphere. More senseless murder to add to the growing litany of crimes perpetrated by the Black Stripes. The males formed an instinctive barrier between the other Ezarans and me. Several of the males stepped forward their fur puffed up to make them larger and more intimidating accompanying it with snarls. It was an act so I wasn’t that worried Ezarans weren’t aggressive as a rule. Then I’d faced down bigger things but I wasn’t about to make the first move. An older male Ezaran pushed through the group. He streaks of grey in his fur the leader of this group if my guess wasn’t off.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” I addressed the older Ezaran. “I’m with the TCA.” I said that meaning the Terran Confederacy Alliance rather than my short cut just referring to the Alliance.

“That is obvious from your accent,” The older Ezaran remarked.

I wished that one of these days someone wouldn’t label me as an Imperial because of the way I spoke. I was far beyond that now. I had dual nationality with both the Empire and the Confederacy. But my interactions with the First Ones and the Keepers had put me beyond local politics.

“There only you?” One of the males asked.

The older Ezaran gave the young one a look. The younger stepped back his eyes on the floor in front of him.

“At the moment, I’ve lost contact with the rest of my team.” I quickly explained my situation.

“You were lucky in that you would have fallen another two kilometres had we not put in a null field to stop accidents.”