Warhawk's Sacrifice - Ch. 21 - Knock Knock - Alpha (Patreon)

Seb felt the station’s gravity dissipate, sending his stomach into his throat. He activated his helmet’s night vision setting, casting everything in a soft green hue. Iris floated between the group and the buds on her hair bloomed. The style of her flower illuminated a soft yellow, filling the room with golden light.

“Is everyone okay?” Seb asked.

“Yeah, just floatin’ here,” Eni said.

“The trees are sturdy enough,” Roja said. “Just grab onto a branch.”

“Just be careful. There’s no telling if snapping one off would cause data loss.”

Roja relaxed her grip. “Oh…”

“If anyone needs a hand, just let me know,” Nalla said. When Seb looked over at her, she was using her long, prehensile tail to wrap herself around one of the tree roots.

“Systems are coming back online,” Syn said. “Everything is looking nominal. Gravity should activate in three, two, one.”

Everyone dropped to the floor as the lights in the trees flickered back to life. As Seb deactivated his night vision and Iris closed her buds, Eni picked up her deck and slapped her keys while watching the code roll through the screen.

“So, how’s everything looking?” Seb asked.

“Most systems are operational, albeit running at eighty-six percent capacity,” Syn said. “Most likely due to decay over time. I’m currently running a query on the station’s storage arrays, which are actually the bulbs hanging from the trees.”

Seb glanced up at the circular objects. They glowed with the same light that pulsed throughout the facility. He could understand Eni’s frustration. The nakai’s technology felt more natural than man-made.

“Whoa, this can’t be right, can it?” Eni asked, tapping on her machine.

“What’s wrong?” Seb asked.

“The query times are outrageous. Syn is estimating weeks of parsing through all the station’s data.”

“Four weeks, three days, twenty hours, seventeen minutes and climbing,” Syn said.

“We don’t have that much time,” Seb said. “Can we not focus on what we need?”

“Right now I’m running a search across the entire storage,” Syn said. “I would need time to parse through the system's structure so I can adjust the query accordingly. If I can find where that data likely lives, then I can query those specific databases.”

“Is there any way we can help?” Seb asked.

“Yes. In fact, I have two requests. If I can have someone to search for a data dictionary to help me isolate which data stores to query, that will help gather the information we came for much faster.”

“Iris, do you think you could help me with that?” Eni asked. “Since you can read these interfaces, you can be my eyes and hands.”

“I’d be more than happy to!” the bright-eyed superweapon said.

“We’ll head back down to the command room since it's got a working interface.”

“What else?” Seb asked.

“Second, I need someone to reset what I believe to be an electrical substation,” Syn said. “It seems like the restart has tripped some sort of breaker leaving me without access to the security floor. This is preventing me from accessing the station’s radar, detection, and stealth systems.”

“I can take care of that. Where do I need to go?”

“Two floors above this one. There are several offices, maintenance rooms, and a main security command center. I can guide you where you need to go.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Sister Mischa rested her hand on Seb’s shoulder. “Would you like some help?”

“Yeah, that would be great.”

“What should Roja and I do?” Nalla asked.

“We’re probably going to be done before Eni and Iris. We’ll plan to meet everyone downstairs.”

“Very well. I can run a few more scans and grab some more samples, then.”

Seb kneeled in front of their robotic companion. “Syn, are you going to be okay here by yourself?”

“Yes, captain. I’ll be here should anyone need anything.”

Seb straightened and glanced at his crew. “Okay. Everyone, keep the comm channels open. Shout if there are any issues.”

After the group nodded in agreement, everyone headed for the elevator. Seb and Mischa hung back, allowing the rest of their crew to board first. Once he confirmed they were off, he used his HIM device to bring the elevator back to their level. The pair climbed on board and Seb sent them up.

“So you can control the station’s systems with your glove?” Mischa asked.

“Yeah, it’s kind of like a holographic interface that I can see and interpret. But instead of a button to press, I’m speaking to it in my mind and directing it to do what I want.”

“Impressive. If it wasn’t for you or Iris, I don’t think we could get where we need to go.”

“Yeah, it’s interesting how finding this thing sent us down this twisted path.”

“You both definitely keep it interesting.”

As the two chuckled, the elevator door stopped in front of a long hallway. When the doors opened and Seb stepped forward, Mischa’s shout from behind caused him to freeze and turn around.

“Hold up,” she said. “Can you pause the elevator for a second?”

“It should be good,” Seb said after issuing the command. “What’s up?” Mischa cut her hand across her neck and Seb killed his open comm. “Is everything okay?”

“I talked with Iris. She told me what happened.”

“You mean before she exited the airlock?” When Mischa nodded, Seb sighed. “Is she all right? She’s not upset about it is she?”

“She’s kind of a mess right now. When we got to the ship and retrieved her comm device, she just started pouring her heart out. I think it was a mix of that and then finding her people dead.”

“Yeah, I can’t imagine what she’s going through right now. Knowing you’re the last of your species? It’s got to be crushing her.”

“She’s always been overly emotional. I don’t know if that’s a nakai thing or just a her thing. But she’s got a strong will inside of her. I just wanted to say, I think you did the right thing, and are doing the right thing by taking it slow with her. I know she thinks of you as her bondmate, but rushing into a relationship with everything that’s going on, wouldn’t do either of you any favors.”

Seb snorted. “Yeah, could you imagine if she got actually mad at me?”

“She probably wouldn’t do anything, but that thing she turns into would.”

“That would not be good.”

“No, it wouldn’t. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know so you can keep an extra set of eyes on her.”

“Thanks for telling me. I will.”

When Seb turned to take another step off the elevator, Mischa’s arm darted across his chest.

“Okay, what now?” Seb asked, half joking.

Mischa stared forward, her tone became serious. “Wait. Something isn’t right. Didn’t Syn say this floor should be offline?”

Seb gazed down the hall. The metallic floors were lit along the edge with white light, illuminating the vines and tree roots that sprawled along the walls. Bright bulbs hung from the ceiling, acting like spherical chandeliers. Closed metal doors and windows extended down the length of the path, identifying the floor’s multiple rooms.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Seb said, before opening his comm back up to the team. “Hey Syn, we’re on the security floor. You said it should be offline, right?”

“Yes, captain.”

“Well, it looks online to us. At least the lights are on.”

“Are you sure it isn’t just the security lights?”

“No, at least I don’t think so. The floor lights are on. Same with the ceiling.”

“Hold please.” After a few seconds later, Syn returned over the comm. “Hmm… everything reads as being offline. However, this could be part of the station’s security system as a failsafe to prevent unauthorized access upon a reboot. Should I alert the rest of the team? Do you need backup?”

Seb glanced over at Mischa, who pulled out her automatic pistol and shook her head. He drew his weapon in response. “No, just leave it to us. We’ll head inside and see what we can find. Where are we supposed to go?”

“You’ll head straight down this hall until you reach a perpendicular hall with a set of double doors. You’ll then take a left. The second door on your right is where the power control for the floor should be. If it’s still on, I’d advise you to cycle it. Then I will see if I can connect to it once it comes back online.”

“Sounds like a plan. We’re heading in now.”

Seb and Mischa stepped into the hall. They took a few steps in before the elevator doors shut behind them. They spun on their heels.

“I thought you set the elevator to stop?” Mischa asked.

“I did.”

Mischa raised her weapon and backpedaled. “I don’t like this at all. Go see if you can get it back.”

Seb jumped in front of the doors. He extended his hand like before and tried to call the elevator back to him. However, unlike the few times before, he didn’t receive a response.

“Uh oh,” he said, trying again.

“What do you mean, uh oh?” Mischa frantically asked.

“The elevator isn’t responding to me. I’m not sure why. I thought Iris said we should have top level access. Syn, can you send the elevator back to our floor?”

Before she could respond, a metal blast door slammed closed in front of the glass doorway. A sequence of thuds ran down the hall as each of the doors did the same. The spherical lights that hung from the ceiling shifted red. A pulsing alarm rang through the air.

“Syn, everything is locking down here,” Seb said, spinning around and raising his weapon. “A blast door just cut off our access to the elevator. My HIM device isn’t working. Any idea why?”

“I’m not sure, captain. It could be that the security system reset itself to a configuration that did not include your and Iris’s access. I’m seeing communication being broadcast from that floor, so it seems to be active, even though it’s not appearing to be. The core security system is detecting you and Sister Mischa as unauthorized threats. It’s broadcasting an activation signal to bring the other floor’s security systems online, but I’ve intercepted its communication and—”

“Contact ahead!” Mischa shouted. The armored warrior shoved herself in front of Seb and activated her shield as two recessed turrets popped from the ceiling. Their dual barrels twisted, aimed, and fired.

Hundreds of green plasma needles shattered against Mischa’s shield, casting the hall in blue and green. Seb’s instinct took over. He raised his weapon around her shoulder and fired two shots. Both connected, spraying the hall with twisted metal and sparks.

“Are you okay?” Seb asked while reloading his weapon.

“Yeah,” Mischa said. “But my shields don’t like whatever they are shooting me with. They’re already down to sixty-four percent.”

“Our way out is blocked. It looks like the only way to get this done is to reset the floor. Let’s move quickly and confidently.”

“Got it. Stay behind me.”

Seb rested his hand onto Mischa’s backplate as they marched down the hall. A second pair of turrets descended further down the hall. While their accuracy was lacking, it created a wall of consistent fire all around them. Anything that didn’t hit Mischa’s shield, glanced off the walls, threatening to hit Seb’s arm.

With two more pulls of Seb’s trigger, the turrets exploded. They tried to retract, only to jerk and get stuck on the smoking pieces. The captain reloaded two more rounds.

“We might need to pick up the pace,” Mischa said. “I’m down to thirty-seven percent.”

“The security system could be expecting that,” Seb said. “There could be trip mines or some other Maker forsaken trap.”

“Dammit, you’re right.”

They continued‌ in a single file line, their eyes vigilant, scanning the ceilings. Once they reached halfway to the perpendicular hall, a blast door shut in front of them. They spun as a second shut behind him.

“We’re in a damn kill zone!” Mischa shouted. They both frantically scoured the ceiling waiting for more turrets. But when the blast doors illuminated with a red barrier and moved toward them, they both glanced at each other.

“Please don’t tell me those are incendiary barriers,” Seb said.

As if answering his own question, Seb watched as the plantlife strewn across the walls sizzled and disintegrated once the red barrier touched it. Mischa drew her powersword, ignited it, and swung. Sparks of fire and electricity jumped from the blow before sending the Sister to the floor.

“Mischa!” Seb shouted, as he raced to her side.

“I’m f-fine,” Mischa groaned. She used her blade as a crutch and took Seb’s free hand to help her to her feet. Smoked poured from the front of her armor and her shield flickered around it.

“You don’t look so good.”

“Don’t worry about me. Just figure us a way to get out of here.”

Seb rushed to one of the closed doors. He held his HIM device in front of it and tried to command it to open. Just like with the elevator, it didn’t respond. He tried the barrier and the walls and they just kept coming.

“Come on, dammit!” Seb shouted.

When he saw that the windows into the side rooms weren’t shielded, Seb stepped back and fired his Lawbringer. The bullet passed through, leaving a fist-sized hole. He emptied the remaining three rounds into the transparent material. It held its form.

As he reloaded, Mischa pushed him to the side and cleaved the glass-like material. Once she had her powersword inside, she sawed at the edge before punching it from its base.

“Inside!” Mischa shouted before jumping forward.

Seb followed her inside as the barrier zapped his boot. But before he could catch his breath, two turrets dropped from the ceiling and aimed at the pair. Seb rolled to the side as the needles punctured the metal floor. When he ran out of room, he slapped his hammer and fired as quickly as he could. The entire turret crashed to the floor.

Seb slid underneath his desk and reloaded his weapon. He peeked over the edge just in time for the second turret to erupt in a torrent of smoke and flame from a burst of Mischa’s pistol. With a flick of his wrist, he raised his loaded weapon and waited.

When nothing else appeared, he shouted. “Mischa, are you good?”

Mischa grumbled, annoyed. “Yeah, just trying not to die.”

Seb stayed low and shuffled around the rows of tables and chairs. The Sister was sitting with her back up against the desk. When he reached her, Seb scoured her body looking for wounds. He breathed a sigh of relief and slumped next to her when he saw no punctures.

“What, disappointed?” Mischa jested.

“No, just glad to see you’re all right.”

“This armor is heavy, you know? Just give me a second to catch my breath.”

“What should we do now?”

“I was hoping you’d have an idea.”

Seb sat on his knee and peeked his head up. He could no longer see the mobile crushing platform and red barrier. A light gray haze hung in the air from the smoke of battle. But when he saw an alert from his HUD pop up, he realized it wasn’t smoke.

“Mischa, is your suit sealed?” Seb asked, grabbing her arm.

“Yeah why?”

“Mine just detected a level two toxin in the atmosphere.”

“So now we’ve got poisonous gas? What else does this place have?”

“I don’t know, but I’m not interested in finding out.”

“Do you have any other ideas, or are we jumping back into the kill hall?”

Seb glanced around the room before lowering his head. “Syn, do you have our location?”

“Yes, captain.”

“How far are we from our destination?”

“Another fifty feet from your current position.”

“Straight from our position?”

“That’s correct.”

Seb tapped on Mischa’s arm and pointed at the wall. “Do you think you could carve us a path through there?”

“Depending on the thickness of the wall and material,” Mischa said, shrugging.

“That sounds like quitter talk to me.”

Mischa stood and ignited her sword. “I’ll show you a quitter. You just better have your weapon ready to destroy those turrets.”

Seb raised his revolver and spun the cylinder. “Don’t worry, I’ve got your back.”

Sister Mischa hefted her sword over her head and slammed it on the wall. It pierced through before getting snagged. She twisted the controller on the hilt and flame spewed from it. Sounds of scrapping metal echoed from the wall as the Sister carved her way through the wall.

Liquid metal bubbled on the edge of her blade as she put all her weight into it. As the blade reached its maximum heat, Mischa sawed through the wall like a sharp blade through a tin can. Once she reached her beginning point, she pulled her blade out and kicked the wall.

The melted mass slammed to the floor, only to be replaced by hundreds of plasma needles. Seb and Mischa dove to the side. Once the turrets stopped shooting, Seb spun around and fired all of his rounds. Both machines erupted in a shower of sparks and jagged metal.

The pair repeated the process until they reached the final room. They raced over to the far wall and peered at the door of their destination.

“Syn, can you confirm we’re right across from the power room?” Seb asked.

“Yes, it looks like you are. But can you hold for a moment?”

“Why?”

“Thanks to Iris and Eni’s efforts, we’ve found administrative codes. I’m going to upload them to your HIM device and see if it helps with the access.”

Mischa let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“No, I am not,” Syn said.

Seb groaned. “Sure Syn. Go ahead.”

Mischa muted their comm and said, “You’re telling me this could have all been avoided if we’d just waited?”

“I know, I know,” Seb said, holding up his hands. “At least no one got hurt.” The light in the center of his palm flickered before going solid again.

“The transfer has completed, captain,” Syn said.

Seb raised his hand and pointed it to the door of the room that they were in. He commanded all the security systems to shut down and for the door to open. The blast door retracted before the door shunted open. When Mischa let out an annoyed huff from their timing, Seb couldn’t help but chuckle.

He leaned out of the door and commanded for all the floor’s security to shut down. When they confirmed his order, the hanging red lights turned white, and a symphony of clanks rang through the halls as all the security doors withdrew. The toxin air alert on his HUD reduced from level two to zero.

“Syn, it looks like it worked,” Seb said. “Are you still unable to connect to this floor?”

“That’s correct, captain.”

“Now that I have access, is there an easier way to restore your connection?”

“Negative, captain. Please continue as planned and reset the power.”

“Got it.”

Seb glanced over at his companion. “You heard her. Let’s get this done.”

Even though Seb assumed he’d shut down the security, he and Mischa didn’t take any chances. They kept their weapons drawn and scurried across the hall. Once they barged into the room, they gawked at the sight before them.

A giant tree sprouted from the floor to the ceiling. Twisted purple fibers composed the trunk and extended into long roots. Large black wires hung across the branches, creating a synthetic canopy. A spectral blue light pulsed along its length.

“Do you know how to reset that?” Mischa asked, pointing at the tree.

“I have no idea,” Seb said before raising his golden glove. “But I’m hoping this thing will do it for me.”

Seb extended his hand and commanded the tree to restart the power and reset any connections to the station. Just like on the previous floor, all light faded. With a few clicks and an electrical hum, the light glowed through the tree and out into the halls.

“Captain, my connection to the security floor and systems has been reestablished,” Syn said. “I’ve regained control.”

“Hell yeah,” Seb shouted as Mischa patted him on the back.

“I’m running diagnostics now.”

“Looks like our work here is done,” Seb said, wiping his hands together.

With a metallic click, Mischa clasped her sword on her back. “It’s about time. That was way harder than it should have been.”

As the pair continued back to where they came from Seb looked up at Mischa and said, “You know… If I didn’t have you with me, I would have likely been killed.”

“That’s why I volunteered to join you,” Mischa said, stretching her arms behind her head. “I had a feeling something like this was going to happen.”

“Why’d you feel that way?”

“It’d been too easy for us until that point. And if I’ve learned anything about traveling with you all, it’s that something bad was bound to happen, eventually.”

Seb chuckled. “I don’t know why that’s so funny to me, but it’s not wrong.”

They both laughed and shared in their misery as they took the elevator downstairs. When they reached the command room, they saw everyone gathered around the holoprojector.

“Seb, get over here quick!” Eni shouted, frantically waving him over.

The captain jogged the remaining distance. “What’s wrong now?”

“Nothing’s wrong, just look!”

When Seb gazed up, he recognized the galaxy map projected. However, now there were hundreds of purple dots speckled in the galactic winds. Some were a more vibrant color than others.

A surge of excitement flooded his body. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Yup,” Eni said. “You’re looking at all the nakai vaults, stations, and structures that we have a record of. When Syn sent out the communication and activation blast, most, if not all responded. The ones with the bright color are showing online in some capacity. The dark purple, not so much.”

“Shit, that looks like more than half, at least.”

“Sixty-two percent, exactly. We’re going to fucking rich!”

As the room cheered and hollered, Nalla approached the projection and pointed up. “Hey Eni, what’s that red dot right there?”

The room went silent.

“What red dot?” Eni asked.

An alarm rang throughout the command center as the map zoomed in on their location. Three red triangles floated toward the station.

When they stopped in front of it, Syn’s voice echoed across everyone’s comm. “Captain, I’m detecting three ships approaching the station including a dreadnought sized warship.”

“Who is it?” Seb asked. “The FLS?”

“The Calist.”