While Greg and I took up a position in the middle of everyone else, Roberts orders, everyone entered the ship and together we worked to clear and secure the hangar we found ourselves in. According to Kiv-mel, all Warden vessel hangars would open when they recieved certain codes that corresponded to anyone in a vessel captain position or higher. That meant we just needed to blast a code that he knew until the hangar doors opened.
Nothing rushed out at us immediately and that just made us all more wary. Where were the Scourge? Clearly there were no survivors, but we'd all expected the Scourge to congregate together in places like the hangar. Pseudo-territory for the Queens or somewhere they could lay their eggs and give them easy access to the outside. This was weirder and more troubling.
"Roberts, do we stick together?" Johnson asked as we approached the doors leading out of the hangar and deeper into the ship.
"Stay close enough that you can hear if things start going sideways," Roberts ordered. "Commander, do you have any idea where the Queens would be?"
"Unfortunately I don't," I told her. "I can tell you that it was expected they would claim open areas like the hangar or the cafeteria for their personal territories on the ship."
"Then everyone have your Cybers pull out a map of this damn ship and lets make our way to the wide open spaces on this thing," Roberts ordered.
From the hangar, we made our way deeper into the ship and closer to the cafeteria. The Wardens of Life followed the same basic design for all their starships, hangars at the sides of the vessels, engine control and repair toward the middle of the ship with a straight line to the engines, crew and passenger quarters on the topside of the ship, and bridge toward the front. Everything else was set up however the engineer in charge or the captain wanted it. Roberts and I discussed it and agreed that the medical ward, cafeteria, and other wide spaces that the Ythnw could gather on were likely to be closer to the quarters than the hangars. This ship was the home for an entire race of nearly ten thousand. Not the most numbers, but that's why they insisted on keeping their members close and together.
We ran across the medical ward first, it was empty. From the scattered medical supplies, furniture, and long-dried blood we knew that the Scourge hadn't been allowed to run wild from the start, but if they had, the Ythnw had fought to keep themselves alive. Too bad they failed.
"This looks bad," Johnson said. "How do you think the Scourge ended up here?"
"We only have theories right now," I told him, "Kiv-mel will figure out what happened after the ship is cleared. We should focus on that, the faster it's done, the faster he can get to work."
"Aye-aye, Commander," Johnson said before focusing on searching the medical ward.
"This feels like one of those horror-adventure games," Greg whispered. "Spaceship, decimated crew and passengers, horrors lurking in the dark, no idea what happened. This would be great for one."
"I'd like to play a game like that instead of live it," I said. "This just makes my stomach turn. So much lost and wasted with no way to bring it back."
We didn't find anything in the medical ward; that didn't make me feel better. If things happened the way I thought they did, then we were in for worse sights when we made it to the housing area.
"Word's in from everyone else," Roberts announced. "There's no sign of Scourge anywhere on the ship. That means it's all but certain that they're up in the housing. Everyone stay close and don't do anything stupid."
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As soon as we entered the housing area, things started going sideways.
"Scourge sighted, left hall!" Roberts' Knight, Richard, barked. "Engage?"
"Let's get it," Roberts agreed and the two of them led the way toward it. "Keep your eyes open people! It's a Hellhound!"
"Cai is this one of the second-tiers?" I asked my cybernetic passenger.
"It is," he answered.
"Second-tier, everyone stay cautious," I ordered. "Roberts, you see more than one, you pull back immediately."
"I hear you, Commander," she acknowledged.
As soon as she had answered me, two more Hellhounds dropped on two of Johnson's Knights and worked to maul them.
"Roberts, keep lookout for any others!" I ordered. "Let's go Greg! We've got to get them off of them!"
Johnson and his last Knight were trying to distract or kill the Hellhound on the Knight closer to them, so Greg and I aimed for the other Knight. I was in front so I had a perfect line to drive my sword into the flank and up the chest cavity on the Hellhound, but, before I could connect, it leaped off the Knight and over my head toward Greg. That it managed to turn and jump from the wall beside it to get over me, told me that this was a much smarter Scourge than anything else we'd face so far.
Greg managed to interpose his weapon between the Hellhound's teeth and himself but he was still knocked to the ground and I saw more than one stinger flash out and stab into him. If the blood that flew from them was anything to go by, he was paralyzed now. That meant the tentacle mane had more muscle and the tentacles had stronger tips.
This time when I swung my sword, I connected and managed to cut most of the tentacle mane off. The Hellhound howled in pain before focusing on Greg again. I was still a bit off balance from having to spin around in a cramped hallway and then swinging my sword, but I kicked out at the Scourge and pushed it off of him before it could introduce its teeth to his throat. My kick managed to send the Hellhound slamming into the wall, which is what dislodged the third Hellhound from its own perch; right on top of me.
I pulled my legs to my chest and kicked the Hellhound off of me before it could recover and stab me with one of its stingers. More from luck than skill, I kicked it off at the right time and angle to send it flying into the Hellhound I'd already been fighting. Tangled with one another, they attempted to scramble to their feet while I grabbed Gregs two-handed hammer and threw it at them. The collision was enough to knock them back to the ground and gave me the time to close the gap enough to stab out with my sword, taking the second Hellhound's eye.
Howling in pain, the second Hellhound swiped at me with it's arm while the first used its remaining stingers to try and paralyze me. To avoid the stingers, I jumped into the arm and let it throw me backward into the Hellhound that Johnson and his Knight were fighting. Before it could recover or attack me I was jumping to my feet and charging toward the two I'd been fighting. With another howl, the one missing an eye raced to meet me in the cramped hallway while the other moved to finish off Greg. Before I met the one-eyed Scourge, I pulled out a non-explosive hatchet and threw it toward the Hellhound that was just starting to reach its jaws for Greg's throat. I managed to see that I connected and kept Greg alive as I dropped to a slide beneath the Hellhound that had charged me. Just before moving between its back legs, I was able to drive an explosive hatchet into its belly and rolled to my feet just as the explosion went off, throwing me to the ground and deafening me. I wasn't the only one downed from the blast, but I was somehow the first to my feet to see that Johnson and his Knight had managed to kill their Hellhound, Roberts and the Knight with her had engaged the Hellhound we'd started after, and the two Knights that were watching our backs were fighting another.
"Johnson, help Roberts, send your Knight to help them!" I bellowed, hoping he could hear me, while I pointed to where I wanted everyone to go. I could barely hear what I was saying and I knew that it wasn't likely anyone else could hear me. I still had to try.
After I'd given my orders, I pulled two more hatchets from my back and moved to reengage the Hellhound that was staggering to its feet, my first hatchet still stuck in its shoulder. With a roar, I swung my first hatchet at it and nearly tipped over when it dodge. Before I could recover, it had grabbed me with its arms and pulled me to the ground. I couldn't hear it but I saw it howl before it sank its teeth into my arm and I felt the snap as the nanite reinforced bone was broken in two places. Screaming in pain, I swung my other hatchet around and drove it into its head, cleaving open its brain. Dimly, I noticed the small weight at the back fly forward before I saw white and lost conciousness.