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  “Screw that,” Sanchez said, grabbing onto Mach’s leg and pulling himself closer. “I thought that was it… damn, this ship can take a hit. Did the ion cannon hit?”

  Squid flickered its tentacles and chirped before saying, “No hull breach, the port wing is gone, taking with it the missiles and retro thrusters. The vestans designed the ship in such a way that the wings could be removed separate from the hull.”

  “Well, that’s something, I guess,” Mach said. He floated over to Adira and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Hey, you okay?” he said, shaking her gently.

  Adira blinked and winced. She held her head. “Are we dead?”

  “Not yet, no, but we might be in a minute.”

  Mach went around the crew, making sure they were okay. Babcock, Lassea, and Tulula were mostly fine with just a few grazes and cuts. The ship, however, was in bad condition. They only had one set of thrusters on the starboard wing, no access to weaponry, and no Gamma Drive or LD. They were the proverbial sitting duck.

  “Squid, do we have visuals?” Mach asked.

  The floating device hovered over to the viewscreen and used its tentacles to adjust the wiring behind a console cover. “The external cameras are damaged, but I think we can get… yes, here.”

  Half of the screen flickered on, showing a grainy image of the Atlantis ship receding slowly into the distance. Its cannons were pointed at the Intrepid, but it wasn’t firing.

  “Wait a damned minute,” Mach said, floating over to the screen until he was just inches from it. “Look at the stern… does that look like—”

  “A big asshole,” Lassea said, pumping her fist. “The ion cannon worked!”

  “Holy mother…” Sanchez whispered, shaking his head.

  The whole crew gathered together and stared at the inert ship.

  “I guess we ought to get closer,” Lassea said. “We should board it. I doubt it’ll stay inactive for long.”

  “Lassea’s right,” Babcock said. “From what I could gather from the tartaruns’ intelligence, they believe the ship to have a failsafe system. We’ve probably only got thirty standard minutes before the systems reboot.”

  “Lassea, do you think you can pilot us into that hole?”

  “I’ve done okay so far, haven’t I?”

  “That’s the spirit. Okay, everyone, let’s get to the airlock, get suited up. When Lassea brings us in, we’ll see if we can find our way into the ship and shut its core down. Babs, you got the schematics on your smart-screen?”

  “I do,” he said.

  “Good. Tulula, would you stay behind and help repair what you can, see if you can get the Gamma Drive or the LD back online? If we fail, you’ll need to get the hell away from here and deliver all we have learned to Fides Prime.”

  “I’ll do that,” the vestan said. “It’s the least I can do.”

  “Right, everyone, get your shit together, we’ve got an alien ship to deactivate.”

  He just hoped no one was at home preparing for them.

  The legendary ship just floated there, looking menacing, waiting…

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The Intrepid loomed alongside the Atlantis ship. Mach peered through the airlock window at the gaping hole created by the tartarun ion cannon. Pieces of twisted debris floated around the mangled chasm and bounced off the side of their ship. With only thirty minutes before a reboot, it was now or never if they wanted to disable and capture it.

  Adira, Sanchez and Babcock held a rail by his side in their suits and helmets. Squid was attached to Babcock’s belt on a graphene line. All had attached the mini thrusters around their forearms. The airlock was already depressurized and Mach held his gloved hand over the black glass pad, ready to open the outside door.

  “Just a little closer if you can,” Mach said through his smart-screen.

  “Doing my best,” Lassea replied from the controls. “It’s difficult with a missing wing and thruster.”

  “Bump into the damned thing,” Sanchez said. “We haven’t got time for perfection.”

  “Once inside we should split up,” Mach said. “Sanchez, Babcock and Squid, you head for the core. Adira and I will find the bridge. If you can’t stop it rebooting, we’ll try to get it the hell out of here.”

  “You need to head up and forward,” Babcock said. “It’s at the front end of the ship. We’ll head for the guts.”

  “Okay. Stay in touch. Let me know if you come across any trouble.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Sanchez said. “I’ll make sure nothing stops us.”

  The Intrepid thrust to the side and drifted toward the damaged superstructure. Mach pressed the pad and the door whined open. He hit the thrust button and drifted forward with his laser raised.

  Sparks crackled and quickly vanished in the cavernous space inside the Atlantis ship. Mach swatted away floating parts of smashed electrical boards and white plastic casing. He switched on his shoulder lights. The remaining equipment looked like it was designed for giants. A ten-meter-high console, with a series of symbols, shattered screens, and buttons the size of his head, lined the opposite side of the room. A five-meter-high stool, still secured to the chrome floor, sat in front of it.

  A tall corridor, matching the scale of the infrastructure, on the right-hand side provided access further into the ship. A vertical shaft in the bottom right-hand corner led down. Mach twisted around to check the other three, who had also activated their lights.

  “Split from here,” Mach said. “We’ll take the corridor.”

  Adira thrust toward him. Babcock, with Squid in tow, and Sanchez tilted and powered themselves down in the direction of the shaft. For a brief moment, Mach thought splitting up wasn’t the best idea, but with the clock ticking, it was the most sensible option.

  Light shone through the meshed flooring and ceiling in the twenty-meter-high corridor, creating beams of light that crisscrossed the space. Darkness lay beyond, but Mach realized that he had no time to analyze every last little detail and delay their search for the controls.

  Pounding echoed through the helmets’ listening sensors. Mach looked up. Something scuttled across the floor two floors above them. Life or machine was still active on the ship. He curled his finger around the trigger and gestured his laser up.

  “Seen it,” Adira said. “Let’s keep heading up.”

  “Not unexpected,” Mach said. “Shoot first, ask questions later.”

  She thrust toward another upward shaft and advanced. Mach immediately followed and they rose through dull mirrored walls that rose at least forty meters up toward flashing lights. He pressed his glove against the wall to maintain a steady ascent and glanced up.

  “How are things with you?” Sanchez said through the intercom.

  “We’ve got company in here,” Mach said. “Keep your eyes peeled.”

  “All good so far,” Sanchez replied. “What did you see?”

  “I’m not sure. Not big but it made a lot of noise.”

  “We’ll be at the core soon. I’ll—”

  The transmission cut to static.

  “Sanchez? Sanchez, are you there?”

  Nobody replied.

  “Could just be frequency jammers or protective shields for the core,” Adira said. “We better keep moving.”

  Mach continued up and tilted his chest back, allowing his lights to shine into the space above. A murky ceiling stretched fifty meters above the edge of the shaft.

  “Cover me,” Mach said, pushed his arms back and thrust. He rose out of the shaft and glanced around. Whoever designed the Atlantis ship had a strange way of doing things, but it all seemed configured for giants.

  Adira’s helmet knocked against his boot. He knew she wouldn’t be far behind. Two things were reliable when she was around. Death or conviction. It’s what drew Mach to her in the first place. She had a compulsive nature and saw things clearly in black or white.

  The lights brightened overhead and Mach punched his thruster to shoot higher. Twen
ty large dust-covered space fighters, with broad wings and triangular bodies, pointed diagonally toward a closed oblong exit shoot. These craft hadn’t moved for generations to be in this kind of state in space. A fresher looking tartarun droid stood by the closest. The fighter bay was the size of the Intrepid.

  “Look out,” Adira screamed.

  Mach looked down. He couldn’t see anything and thrust left. A pain shot across his right leg and droplets of blood floated in front of his visor. He twisted down and powered toward the first fighter, coming to a rest at its side and grabbing the wing. Dust puffed away from it and spread in the immediate area. He looked down at a tear in his suit. The compartmentalized nature of the fabric meant he wouldn’t have his life support degraded, but it stung like hell.

  “What the hell happened?” Mach said.

  “Gimme a second.”

  Adira fired her laser and a red beam stabbed across the fighter bay. She dropped by Mach’s side, briefly glanced at his leg and rose again, hovering over the fighter’s domed cockpit with her laser raised.

  Mach winced and drifted to her side. “What are we up against?”

  “Not sure. A thin silver cable whipped from behind a fighter. It rolled back like a huge robotic tentacle.”

  “Whatever it is, we need to take it out. The clock’s ticking.”

  He dropped lower and peered along the ground underneath the fighter. Something glinted ahead. A dim light rushed toward him. Mach thrust up and felt a sharp pain in his hip.

  A silver cable shot ten meters past him and retreated with the same rapid speed, back underneath the row of fighters. Mach pressed his glove against his hip and looked at the blood streaked across his fingers.

  “Damn it,” Mach said.

  Adira fired her laser and shouted, “Fire, Mach. Fire!”

  Light spread across the high metallic red ceiling. A three-meter-wide spinning bright blue star moved across it toward them. Five cables attached to each point. All snapped in Mach’s direction.

  ***

  Babcock glanced to his left, making sure Squid was by his side. If they were to hack the core, stop the boot sequence and gain control of the ship, it would require their teamwork. Sanchez descended ahead of him. The burly gun-runner’s two lights punched into the dusty gloom of the shaft.

  They came up against a dead end.

  “The map looked like a continuous route,” Babcock said.

  Sanchez searched around the space. He pressed his gloved hand against a series of five pressure pads.

  A section of the wall to their side rumbled, vibrated and slid to one side. Bright light flooded the shaft from a smooth white five-meter-wide corridor leading to another dead end. The light blue lines crossing the ceiling gave it the appearance of a huge circuit board.

  A loud groan murmured ahead. Not infrastructure straining under the pressure of the damage inflicted by the cannon. This had a living sound. Sanchez paused and pressed himself against the wall.

  “You ready for this?” Sanchez asked.

  “We haven’t got a choice,” Babcock said. They did, but running would mean all of their deaths, and the people of Larunda. He wasn’t a fighter, but there were exceptions to nearly every rule. “Lead the way. Squid and I will be right behind you.”

  Sanchez nodded, spun and thrust forward.

  Three metallic clanks came from somewhere below. The corridor shuddered. Babcock checked his smart-screen. They had less than ten minutes before the Atlantis ship’s systems restarted. He studied the map of the ship and realized they were right on top of the core.

  “There’s another shaft at the end,” Babcock said. “We’ll be there in a minute.”

  Another deep undulating moan echoed from below. Babcock wondered how it was even possible, as they were still in an unpressurized environment, and glanced around the walls.

  “Sounds like we’ll have company,” Sanchez said. “Stay close. You’re the one who needs to stay alive if the shit hits the fan.”

  The solid white wall at the end punched to one side and slammed open. The corridor jolted, knocking Sanchez, Babcock and Squid against the wall.

  Babcock panicked, thrust and hit the ceiling. Squid hung below him. He twisted and looked toward the open entrance ahead.

  A chrome trapezoid, with two whirring arms on either side, shot out of the dark space. It headed directly at them and scraped along the wall, tearing a jagged gouge through the white material as it advanced.

  Sanchez hunched and repeatedly fired.

  Babcock fumbled with the laser’s controls with his trembling hand. He aimed down and fired. His beam hit the floor, creating a black smoldering dent.

  Sanchez ducked to one side.

  The trapezoid passed directly between them, smashing into Squid. It came to an abrupt halt and its arms, in a spinning blur, smashed Babcock’s little AI friend into hundreds of pieces.

  Babcock gritted his teeth. His hand steadied and he fired down. Sanchez’s laser struck the underside of the trapezoid. They both kept their fingers on their triggers, draining the charge of their weapons.

  Thin wisps of smoke drifted from the trapezoid and its arms slowed to limp shiny rods. It drifted lifelessly to one side and clanked against the wall. Pieces of Squid floated past Babcock’s visor and his heart sank. His favorite partner for the last decade had been destroyed in a heartbeat.

  “Switch on,” Sanchez said. “There’ll be time to mourn Squid.”

  “Without him, it’s gonna be a whole lot harder.”

  “I know, but as harsh as it sounds, you need to forget it… him. We’ve got a mission to complete.”

  Babcock took a last glance at the smashed circuitry and wires he had lovingly constructed into a friend. The task became doubly difficult without Squid’s assistance, but he would complete it in his honor. The Atlantis ship had made it personal. “Lead the way, Sanchez. The tartaruns are going to regret the day they crossed Kingsley Babcock.”

  Sanchez thrust forward. Babcock checked the charge on his laser. He still had four seconds of shot left.

  A shaft led down at the end of the corridor. The maps so far had proven correct, and this was their final descent. Sanchez didn’t waste any time heading down. As Babcock followed him, descending into the gloom, he feared they might not have enough time.

  ***

  Mach thrust to his side, keeping his finger on the accelerate button. He shot across the bay and smashed into the solid wall. His leg and hip throbbed and droplets of blood drifted in his wake. The star’s cables thudded against the ground, sending debris and space dust floating in the air.

  Adira split in the opposite direction. She scrambled under the body of the second fighter in the row of ten on the opposite side of the bay.

  The brilliant blue star zipped in her direction and snapped its glinting cables down, sending up a plume of gray mist.

  “Adira?” Mach said.

  “Close call. Do something!”

  Mach leaned forward, raised his laser and thrust forward. He’d faced worse than this, but the thought of Adira being attacked motivated him in a way that he hadn’t felt before.

  Thick gray dust shrouded the whole bay. The lights on the ceiling glared through the dusty haze.

  A thin blue glow punctuated the gloom. Snapping noises cracked through Mach’s earpiece as the machine continued to attack Adira.

  “Still alive?” Mach asked.

  The beam of Adira’s laser shot up, hitting the ceiling at multiple points as she fired in different directions. Mach advanced further forward, toward the light blue star, and swept his visor clean.

  Stiff-lined arms crackled with electricity and snapped down toward Adira. Mach fired, sending his thin red shot directly into the machine’s central body.

  The machine struck the fighter again, splitting it down the middle. Sparks momentarily fizzled around the wreck. Mack spotted Adira roll under the next craft. He raised his laser and fired at the star. It turned its focus on him. A cable whipped over his s
houlder and smacked into the wall. Shrapnel peppered his suit. One shard punctured his chest, sending Mach spinning against the tartarun droid, and he took a deep breath before crashing against one of the mechanical legs.

  Both lungs drew in air from the life support pack. Just a cracked rib, Mach guessed. He glanced at his smart-screen. Three minutes before the ship restarted its systems. Without word from Sanchez and Babcock, he felt it was down to him and Adira. They needed to reach the bridge.

  Adira rose behind the machine and fired. Her beam ricocheted off the body, but its cables drooped. Mach ascended, breathing heavily and feeling faint. He fired his last charge and thrust toward the ceiling.

  The star slowed on its axis and plummeted. It hit the floor and tumbled to a skidding stop below them.

  “Go now,” Adira said. “Before that thing recovers.”

  Mach felt momentarily disorientated. He gripped his side to stem the blood flow and surveyed the area. The blue star had lost most of its effervescence, dimming the bay. A shaft led up at the far end. He leaned forward and powered toward it.

  Adira drifted up from the dust-clouded floor.

  “Are you okay?” Mach said, looking at a gouge on the arm of Adira’s suit.

  “I’ll live. Lead the way,” Adira said. “I’m on five percent laser.”

  “Let’s hope we don’t come across another.” Mach checked the reading on his weapon. “I’m out.”

  The five-meter-wide shaft rose toward black star-studded space. It had to be the bridge. The Atlantis ship didn’t have an open structure.

  Mach shot up twenty meters into an open space. A thick glass dome spread around the top half of the area. An oversized dark gray console stretched around the front half of the room. Hundreds of pink and orange lights winked on it.

  Twenty screens flickered against the back wall, strobing the area. Small rods and buttons spread across a smaller console below it.

  “Recognize anything that’s weapon or navigation related?” Adira asked.