The ship dropped out of hyperspace and appeared behind the fourth planet of the solar system Reya was in. The team had opted to use the same route to get to the planet as they had the first time. After activating their cloaking systems, Tassie called up a line to Irric. He picked up after three rings.
“Made it,” Tassie said with a wan smile. She had dark circles under her eyes, having spent long hours working out a way to make the shields stronger.
“Glad to hear that,” he said, looking similarly exhausted. He took a long sip from his mug of tea. “I figured out how to make the weapons more powerful. I’m sending over the program now. This should allow you to override the safety and output more power per shot. Fair warning, though, there’s a good chance your weapon will break.”
Tassie opened the code and went over it. “Are these power requirements accurate?” she inquired, noticing a problem. She chewed her lip. The numbers listed were too high for both the shields and the weapon to run at the same time. She explained the predicament to Irric.
“Those numbers are correct, unfortunately. Damn, this means that you’ll only have the option to attack or to defend at any given time.”
“Not to mention the time delay between powering down the weapons and diverting the energy to the shields,” Tassie said, tapping her fingers, deep in thought. “This is the best we’ve got, so we’ll have to make do,” she said, sighing. “I’ll let the others know so they can adapt their plans accordingly.”
“Alright. Good luck with the mission. I’ll be here if you need anything,” Irric said, hanging up the call.
Tassie called the others over and updated them on their situation. They seemed a bit let down that they needed to re-plan their entry but were glad that they got what they were promised. Jyn called up a map of the surrounding area and highlighted their new entry route.
“Are you sure about that?” Tassie said, worried. “There’s a lot that can go wrong.” She was opposed to the new plan but was overruled by the others.
“It’s the best option we’ve got right now, given our handicaps. Take us down as low as you can and fire at their hangar door. Try to slow down as much as possible and open the hatch. The rest of us will drop down on our hoverbikes and use them to decelerate and go through the hole. You fly away and come back when it’s time for us to leave.”
“That’s insane! You want to drop out of a moving ship on nothing but a hoverbike from half a mountain up in the air? And what, just hope you all stick the landing?” Tassie gaped.
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“I think it’d be pretty cool,” Beor said.
“It’s dangerous, that’s what it is,” Tassie fired back. She couldn’t bear to let one of her team members die for real this time. The sheer idiocy of what they were suggesting astounded her.
“It’s the best we’ve got. We need to hit them hard and fast, otherwise they’ll take us out. Then it’s game over.”
“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” They were fast approaching the planet and it was time for them to get into position. “Alright guys, we’re almost there. Go get ready. I’ll take us down as close as possible and then it’s all up to you.” She received a chorus of replies as the others quickly exited the bridge.
Tassie loaded the program Irric had sent her, checking to see if it worked properly. When the all-clear came and no bugs were reported, she prepared the ship’s main weapons. She brought the ship into a long descent and levelled off several dozen kilometers away from their target. She slowed down as much as she could afford to.
A screen appeared in front of Tassie, giving her a visual in front of the ship. The brown landscape blurred by as she aimed the weapon at the hangar door.
“Firing in three, two, one,” she counted down into her comms. At the end of her count she hit the switch on her keyboard. A massive bolt of plasma left the main weapon at a dizzying speed and slammed through the metal door, leaving a huge, gaping hole. Tassie was stunned at the strength of the blast. Various error messages flashed on the screen in front of her, indicating that the weapon was broken.
She snapped out of her trance and alerted the rest of the team. “Success. Get ready to deploy.” She lowered the ship further, getting as close to the ground as she could afford to, slowing all the while. She deactivated Irric’s program and activated her own for the shields, bringing the weapon system offline to begin powering them.
Rann, Beor, Eimir and Jyn each sat on their bikes, with the rear of the bike facing the hatch. They fired up their bikes and sat there floating a metre off the ground, ready to go. They were all dressed in full combat gear and tensed when they heard Tassie announce, “Get ready for the hatch to open, we’re almost there.”
The hatch opened behind them, and they fought to remain in place. “And go, go, go,” Tassie yelled at them, giving them the green light. In quick succession, they hit reverse and flew backwards off of the ship. They slid into the air and were soon falling, hurtling forward at dangerous speeds from the ship’s momentum. They immediately began attempting to decelerate before hitting the ground.
Tassie pulled the ship upwards, barely cresting the side of the mountain as she rushed past. The shields on the ship flared to life just in time to intercept an attack coming from the mountaintop. The rest of the team sailed through the air, losing speed and altitude with each passing second. “I’m going too fast!” Beor shouted into his comms as he passed the others by, approaching the ground faster than them.
“Pull up! Pull up, babe,” Rann shouted hysterically.
“I’m trying!”
“What’s going on?” Tassie asked from inside the ship, avoiding another attack.
“Beor’s going too fast,” Rann shrieked back. “He’s going to crash.” Rann watched helplessly as Beor slowed down greatly while plummeting to the ground, but it wasn’t enough. He hit the ground hard with a heavy thud and was thrown from his bike, landing on the ground nearby.
“Babe!” Rann cried out, trying to reach him as quickly as possible. She slowed down to a halt before flying down towards him. Relief flooded her when she saw him twitch and begin to move. “Are you alright?” she called, bringing her bike to a stop near his.
Beor groaned as he got up, one knee at a time. “Holy shit, I lived. I actually lived,” he yelled in disbelief, clutching at his side as he did so. He hadn’t gotten out unscathed. It hurt to breathe, and he was sure he had several broken ribs. “I’m mostly fine. How’s the bike looking?”
“Like it’s seen better days,” Rann replied, still feeling jittery from watching him almost die. “It should still be useable.”
“Perfect. I’ll hop back on and then we’ll go.”
“You need medical attention, babe. You should return back to the ship.”
“I’ll be fine, I promise. Just a few broken ribs. Besides, you guys are going to need all the help you can get in there.”
Rann was reluctant, still not fully convinced. “Fine. But stay behind us if you can.”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Yes, ma’am,” Beor replied with a cheeky grin that Rann could envision perfectly, even though she couldn’t see his face through his helmet. She rolled her eyes and watched him get back on his bike. They took off together to join Jyn and Eimir, who were flying towards the hole in the mountain, smoke billowing out from it. They regrouped right above it, obscured by some of the smoke.
“Alright, does everybody know the plan?” Jyn asked one last time. He spoke again once everybody responded affirmatively. “One at a time after me,” he said as he dove into the opening, passing through it. They received an all-clear from Jyn and proceeded.
“Wow,” Rann whistled. “Tassie really did a number in here.” The large ship on the other side of the door had significant damage and wasn’t going to be flying anytime soon. The blast had been off-centre, hitting the side of the ship. The small ships docked neatly along the wall beneath it had been ripped to shreds by the shrapnel and were unusable. Small fires raged all over them while the ships on the other side of the hangar fared much better.
The lights illuminating the hangar had turned red, dyeing the facility in the colour and warning its occupants of their intrusion. The light from the fires further added to the effect, making it more difficult to make out fine details. “Over there,” Rann pointed, searching around while flying slowly. A doorway was next to the undamaged ships, open and inviting. It was the only other way out of the hangar that anybody could find.
The team brought their bikes near the door and parked them, dismounting. They positioned them facing the exit to make their escape swifter, hopefully with Reya in tow. They took position on either side of the door and took out their guns, holding them at the ready.
“Alright, now remember,” Jyn said, “only fire at hostiles. There’s no sense in shooting up a bunch of innocents.”
“Are there even any innocents in a secret facility like this?” Beor asked.
“Doesn’t matter. No firing on people with no weapons. Our goal isn’t to kill everyone, it’s to rescue Reya. Keep that in mind.”
“Yes, sir,” Beor said seriously.
“Rann, Eimir, cover fire. Beor, let’s go,” Jyn said as he ducked through the doorway. He came face with a large, circular, empty room with blue glowing lines traced along the walls. He looked around for hostiles but found none. “All clear,” he shouted back. Rann and Eimir joined them in the room, Eimir hanging back and guarding the door.
“Now what?” Beor asked as he looked around the room. “This looks like a dead end.”
“It can’t be. It’s the only way into the hangar where they keep their ships. There has to be a way out of here.” Jyn barely had the time to finish his sentence when a part of the wall outlined in blue melted away with a suctioning, melting, bubbling sound. Running through it was an insectoid creature with four arms and a black carapace with bits of grey skin showing.
It saw them and shrieked, its maw opening up to reveal rows of sharp, serrated teeth. It had a gun in hand and aimed it at Rann. Beor quickly shot it down with a bolt of hot plasma, not giving it the chance to fire its weapon. “Good gods, that is one ugly alien,” he said. “Pretty sure that counts as a hostile. Besides, I wasn’t giving it a chance to fire its weapon.”
“You did well, Beor,” Jyn said.
“What is it?” Rann asked, inspecting the body.
“A gru’ul,” Eimir replied from where he stood. “I remember them teaching us about their race back in Basic. But what’s one doing all the way out here? This is a long way away from their home system.”
“We have a name for these things?” Beor asked incredulously. “We know what they are? I’ve never seen one in my life, let alone heard of them.”
“That’s just you, babe,” Rann said. “Some of us actually paid attention when they taught us stuff. Now that Eimir mentions it, I do recall the teacher mentioning them in our diplomacy class. I had completely forgotten about them until now.”
“That’s because they rarely leave their home cluster,” Eimir said. “This is pretty big. I thought for sure this base was occupied by one of the other factions, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.”
“What’s that?” Beor pointed. Stuck onto the creature’s upper body was a small, shiny token. He walked over and took a closer look. Frowning beneath his helmet, he unsheathed his combat knife and dislodged it from the corpse. It came off, webs of sticky residue still clinging to the body as he removed it. “Gross, what is this stuff?” He stood up and walked over to where Jyn was inspecting the wall that the alien had come through.
As he approached, the wall suddenly melted away, revealing a long hallway on the other side. Jyn whipped his head around. “How’d you do that?” he pressed Beor.
“I don’t know. I just walked up to it, and it opened.”
“Maybe the badge has something to do with it,” Eimir offered, having seen the whole thing. Beor backed away from the door and it closed. He walked towards another section of the wall outlined in blue and a new door materialized.
“I think you’re right. And I think these sections of the walls are where the doors are supposed to be,” Beor said, returning to where Jyn was. “I say we go through this one,” he jerked his head towards the door the gru’ul came through initially.
Another hissing sound came from one of the doors and multiple gru’ul stepped through, each one armed. “Oh, shit,” Rann exclaimed, raising her gun and shooting at one. She tagged its shoulder before diving out of the way of an incoming shot. The creature shrieked in pain, clutching its injury with one of its free arms.
“Sounds good to me. Let’s hurry!” Jyn shouted as he ran through into the hallway, leaving the others behind. Rann and Eimir sprinted after him, Beor waiting until everyone passed through before joining. He fired off several more shots towards the advancing gru’ul before ducking into the hallway. He ran towards his team, looking over his shoulder to see if the aliens were following. They were.
“Babe, duck!” Rann shouted. Beor threw himself forward without hesitation, rolling on the ground in front of him. Three shots passed by overhead, striking the fast-approaching gru’ul. Two of them went down hard and didn’t get back up. Beor crawled towards the rest of his team as they continued to fire. The last gru’ul turned around and tried to exit the hallway but wasn’t fast enough. It took four shots to the back, its upper body melting as it cried out. It fell to the ground, unmoving.
With no more enemies in sight, Beor stood back up. He sucked in a breath, his broken ribs throbbing from the impact after he’d thrown himself to the ground at Rann’s command. When he approached the others, the wall in front of them opened up, revealing another room. It contained some kind of equipment whose purpose remained unknown to the group. Reya was nowhere to be found. There were two other exits to the room that the team searched. One led to a dead end while the other led to a new passageway. The team followed it, searching for any hint of Reya they could find.
They ran through twisting, winding corridors filled with rooms, each one containing strange, alien equipment. They fought off any resistance they encountered. Beor cried out in pain during one such fight, dropping his weapon. “I’ve been hit,” he said through gritted teeth. His arm hung limply at his side, refusing to respond to his attempts to move it. The smell of burnt flesh lingered in the air while his wound sizzled.
“Are you ok?” Jyn called out, not taking his eyes off of the fight in front of him.
“I’ve been better,” Beor said through gritted teeth. He’d been lucky. If his armour hadn’t absorbed most of the damage, his arm would have been blown clean off. He bent down and picked up the discarded weapon with his good arm. His aim wouldn’t be as accurate, but he would have to make do.
The team quickly dispatched the gru’ul in front of them. They were deep in the heart of the facility by this point, relying on Tassie to guide them out back the way they came. They still weren’t done searching, but hoped they were closer to finding Reya.
They eventually arrived at large a room whose gunmetal-grey walls were scored with deep blue, glowing lines. The floor was made of the same material and had a geometric pattern of concentric circles that closed in towards the centre, cut off by metal grates. In the centre of the room was a large, alien-looking machine with an empty pod, the doors closed. Four robotic arms surrounded the machine.
“What is this place?” Rann asked, wide-eyed. The blue lines contrasted with the red light coming from the ceiling, although no obvious light source could be seen.
“Whatever it is, it looks important,” Jyn said. “Tassie, make a note of this location. If ever we come back, it might be worth checking out.”
“Already done,” Tassie replied.
“Hey, come check this out.” Beor waved from across the room. There was another doorway outline, but it refused to open when Beor approached it with the badge they had taken off the corpse of the gru’ul they’d first encountered. “It’s not opening.”
“That’s odd,” Eimir said. “We haven’t run into any issues so far when it comes to accessing the doors. What’s so special about this one?”
“Maybe it requires a higher level of clearance?” Jyn offered. “Whatever’s behind there must be important if we can’t access it.”
Rann, for her part, continued to study the machine in the centre of the room. “This looks like a stasis pod,” she identified, placing a hand on the glass covering. “But what would a stasis pod be doing here? It’s too small for a gru’ul to fit in.”
“Maybe they put Reya in it,” Beor suggested.
“Doubtful, although still possible. I don’t understand why they would bother putting Reya in it, though.”
“Interesting room aside, we still haven’t found Reya. Tassie, are there any rooms that we missed on our way here? I know we didn’t get the chance to look through all of them.”
“It looks like you missed at least three of them. Beyond that, I don’t know since we haven’t searched them yet. I can guide you back to the ones you missed.”
“Perfect. Alright everyone, let’s move on. There’s nothing left for us here for now. Our priority is finding Reya.”
The others agreed and they left the mysterious room, continuing their search for Reya as they ventured forth through the compound.