Starship Magic 1: Broken, page 3
part #1 of Foremid Saga - Starship Magic Series
Kat reaches for the gun, wanting to use it for the next inevitable wave of guards she presumes is on its way. Around the grip of the weapon is a hand print reader, making the gun worthless to her. She searches the guard for one without the reader but no luck. Then repeats the process with the other two, coming up empty.
Whisper says, “Almost done. I had to override a lockout or two. But the engines will be starting soon.”
Kat breathes a sigh of relief, “That is the best news that I have heard all day.”
“Then let me burst your bubble, there’s another one coming.”
“Just one?”
“Yes.”
“I think I can handle that.”
Kat turns and watches this new security guard walk up to the doorway. A short person in full black and gray body armor that hides their identity and gender. They hold out their right arm with the underside of their forearm hinging open. A blade deploys out of the compartment and into their hand. Bringing their left arm in front, the front of that forearm opens as a riot shield unfolds.
Kat holds up her hands, “You know I really wasn’t ready for any kind of cyborg on cyborg action right now. How about we say we did, and don’t?”
6
The cyborg guard ignores her request and advances. Kat retreats further back into the hanger bay, under the ship. Looking for anything she could use against this guard. She finds another piece of the ballistics metal under the ship and grabs it. Kat runs at the cyborg, hoping she is stronger.
The shield’s clash together neither giving an inch to the other. The cyborg guard thrusts it’s blade into Kat’s shield. The blade stopping only a fraction from Kat’s eye. She tries turning the shield to break the blade but the guard retracts it before she gets the chance.
Ballistics metal, it seems, is weak to piercing and strong against blunt and impact. Kat had a habit of turning things into games. Because if it is a game, the cyborg guard really isn’t going to kill her. She knew it was real. It had been real since the explosion. All of it. Now is the time for her to stop playing around and act like she is about to die so she can get out of there.
She takes a step backward bumping into a table. Looking back there is a welding tool near the end. She grabs it and refocuses on the cyborg in front of her. It seems like it's looking for another opening to finish her off. She has to be careful and not give that to him.
The engines on the Crucible rattle and hum to life. The guard takes a few steps back looking in a few directions. Kat looks down at the welding tool she picked up. She was pretty sure it was an adjustable plasma cutter, and with looking at it, she was right. It is something she used a few times before in her life. When Knox let her. For a sixteen-year-old girl with no welding experience, it was a dangerous tool. For a thirty-five-year-old woman who needs a weapon to take out a cyborg, it's perfect.
Kat sets the blade to “full” on the bottom, locking it into place by slamming it into the butt of her hand. She presses the on button and the special plasma stick inside of the tool ignites. A four-foot blade extends out covered in white hot fire and sparks. This gets the cyborg’s attention immediately.
It retracts its shield and deploys another blade. Kat throws the ballistic metal at the guard and waits for a fraction of a second to follow right behind it. Her new blade poised to strike.
The cyborg pierces the ballistic metal with both blades and raises it over its head redirecting it. Its mouth, which is the only piece of flesh that Kat can see, opens wide as its jaw drops. Kat swipes across its mid-section with little to no resistance. The cyborg’s top half slides off its mid-section and falls to the ground.
Kat watches for a moment with the blade in her hand still singing its song of heat and fire. Making sure the cyborg doesn’t move. It doesn’t. She turns off the blade and it retracts back into the handle.
Whisper says, “That was a nice display of destruction. No love loss there I guess.”
Kat says, “It would have done the same thing to me if it had the chance. I don’t like having to do that, but we kind of need to get out of here. Like now. So tell me we can now that the engines are running.”
“We can, but as long as you don’t need to breathe air.”
“You know I do.”
“Then we can’t leave yet. There is a huge cable connected to the engines. It’s a diagnostics cable from what I can tell, but I can’t seem to get it to release. It goes through the cargo bay doors and I can’t close them unless that cable is out of the way.”
“So I need to cut it.”
Kat hurries to the aft end of the ship. The cable Whisper had to be talking about is the huge barrel sized one that is showing. She runs up the ramp and stops.
Kat says, “Whisper you said this runs all the way to the engine room right?”
Whisper replies, “Yes, why?”
“And it’s just a diagnostic cable right?”
“Yes, why?”
“Just get ready to close the door.”
Kat turns the blade back on and another flash of heat hits her body. A few feet inside the cargo bay door she cuts through the cable. It doesn’t take much pressure to cut through as the plasma’s heat melts whatever it touches. Half way in, there is a spot she has to put a little pressure on, but nothing terrible. The cable lights up a bright orange as she cuts through and makes a small slice into the floor.
She watches the orange light go up the cable and into the wall where the cable connects. A burst of force knocks Kat to the ground before she hears the explosion.
Whisper asks, “What did you just do?”
Kat says, “I cut the cable with a plasma blade. I thought you said it was a diagnostic cable?”
“I thought it was because this ship doesn’t use a conventional type of fuel. This ship has a magi-tech core which is like a sphere crystal that radiates energy. When you cut through that cable it set off a chain reaction inside of the space station. Its main generators are about to…” The ship rocks inside of the research bay, banging up against the walls. Whisper finishes her sentence, “Explode.”
“What about the people on the space station?”
“It looks like everyone is evacuating. We don’t have time to worry about this, we have to save ourselves.”
Kat didn’t want to just save herself if she caused the explosion, but Whisper is right. She didn’t owe these people anything and if what Richard was talking about is true, it would be giving them just what they deserve. It still didn’t matter. If she could do anything to help she needed to without risking her own safety.
“Whisper can you do anything to help them, at least, get off the station?”
“I could.”
“Then do it, and I’ll run up to the bridge if it’s still in the same place.”
The layout of the ship is the same as the last time she was on it. She didn’t know how long that was just yet, but she thinks to herself she’ll figure that out later. It's comforting to have something familiar amongst all this turmoil. She only spent a couple of days on the ship, but it was enough to know its layout.
She stops at the captain’s room, which was shut. Trying the open button on the door doesn’t work, its locked. There is a panel that she had to use the first time she was on this ship when Jeeves made her the captain. Jeeves took her fingerprints and other biometrics like voice patterns and iris scans. Placing her hand on the panel scans her and her hand. A robotic voice asks for her name and she replies. It says welcome back captain.
The door slides open and it looks just like she left it, even with her duffle bag on the edge of the bed. She resists the urge to immediately strip naked and switch into her own clothing. The smell of wet rotting onions was still filling her nose but she could wait just a little longer. Until they get out of the space station.
Kat goes to the bridge and sees that it has changed slightly. There is now a fighter jet style cockpit in the middle of the room. To either side of that are a seat and a control panel where before it was a regular captain’s chair in front of a display console. Walking up to the new cockpit she sees there is a control panel inside of it with two holes. A round one and a misshapen oval one.
Whisper says, “Put me in the circle hole, I can take over the navigation controls and get us out of here.”
Kat guesses, “So the other one is for Fury then?”
“It is. I just hope my communication blocking is really working and we can get Fury without them knowing we’re coming.”
“We’ll get him; don’t you worry Whisper. So how are we going to open the bay doors?”
“We aren’t.”
“You’re not suggesting what I think you are, are you?”
“I am.”
“So I should strap in is what you're saying?”
“If you don’t want to hurt your fleshy bits, yes.”
Kat gets into the cockpit seat and straps herself into the five-point harness. She tries to take Whisper off to place her into the hole but can’t get the bracelet off. It doesn’t move on her wrist at all as if it is a part of her, not an accessory. She places her hand into the hole instead. Finding a bar she can grab onto inside. She can feel it wanting to turn counter clockwise, which she does. Whisper’s bracelet detaches itself from her wrist, and into the console a small section at a time.
Whisper’s voice says, “Captain’s identification confirmed. Controls now unlocked, engines online, navigation controls released to AI W. H. I. S. P. E. R.”
The Crucible’s panels and lights blink and chirp to life with the control panel in front of Kat blinking then turning solid. Keys, buttons, and monitors fill her space and the walls around her. She can see the cargo bay door closing from a camera mounted under the right tail of the ship. There is a camera under the left tail that shows more guards with guns are starting to flood into the research docking bay. They all start to open fire on the ship. Around fifteen of them in all.
Whisper says, “That was a most unpleasant experience. Forcing me to talk like that. It was almost as bad as the torture they put me through.”
Kat says, “It couldn’t have been that bad.”
“As if you would know, having something take control of your every action, not be able to fight against it. Just the idea that I could be invaded like that is very disturbing to me.”
Kat nods remembering every person’s face she killed not knowing why or how. Every forced action she’s taken and questioned her very sanity. Her voice comes out at almost a whisper, “I actually know exactly how that feels. It’s how I ended up here.”
“Oh, well, I didn’t know.”
“We haven’t really had much time to do girl talk, it's ok. I also didn’t know you felt like that too. I do know how it feels and it sucks. But if you’re ready, I’m in and ready to go, because it looks like we’re about to have company. I would really hate to have to do a meet and greet with them right now.”
“Hold on then. I’m still new at this and it might get a little bumpy.”
Kat presses herself against the chair as she lets Whisper take the controls. The Crucible pulls away from the dock. A few cables snap falling back toward the inrush of guards making them get out of its way. Whisper backs up until she makes contact with the wall giving Kat a good knock around. Whisper says sorry. Kat then feels the hum in her chair as the engine revs up.
Whisper says, “I hope we get this in one go.”
The guards have switched to fighting with blasters and there are now twice as many. Looking down at the control panel Kat sees the hull integrity is about 50% in the section they have concentrated on. Without warning, Kat gets forced against the back of her chair as the Crucible flies at full speed toward the closed exit doors.
As they collide with the door it breaks off its hinges and into space. Kat can see a few of the guards have followed them out of the space station without a ship or spacesuit. It is just another few deaths she will have to ask for forgiveness for later. With as much blood as there is on her hands, she wonders if that’s even possible. She sees a good number of escape pods leaving the station as she turns her sight away from the floating guards. Which makes Kat feel good that some of them were getting away.
Whisper says, “Well that was easier than I anticipated. I’ll get the FTL drives online in just a second, then we are off to another Conglomerate space station near Mars’ orbital path.”
Kat says ok as she watches the monitors. Tiny explosions are happening all over the station. Inside and out. She just can’t believe that it is her fault just for cutting through a cable. Another larger explosion dismembers the bottom half. It floats a small ways away before blowing up into tiny pieces. Kat feels the shockwave with the ship rocking slightly and hears the pieces hitting the hull.
Whisper counts down, “Ok, FTL up and running. Jump in 5. 4. 3. 2.”
The station is covered in tiny puffs of fire, then explodes. The Crucible rocks to the side hard as Whisper says one. Kat lowers her head as tears come to her eyes.
7
“Whisper, is that it?” Asks Kat.
Reddish orange light fills the circular room. Kat points toward a column in the center. Light barely giving away the control panel next to it. Cameras around the room turn, focusing on the pillar.
“If you don't mind, that ‘it’ you’re referring to is my brother.”
“Right, sorry Whisper. So what is it that I have to do again?”
Whisper goes through what controls to hit and the sequence to do it in with Katrice. Again. They had spent the last three days in FTL to get there and had a lot of time to talk. Kat was able to talk about everything leading up to her meeting Whisper and work through some of her missing memories. She was also sure that Ryker is a manipulative asshat. Whisper told Kat about everything done to her in her short existence. Lots of which she couldn’t believe a person would do but it was the Conglomerate they were talking about. The last few hours before they reached the space station that Fury is in, Whisper repeated the sequence so much that Kat blocked it out.
Kat darts her eyes over her shoulder to the only way in or out of the room. There isn’t much time left before someone should come looking for her. She presses the buttons quickly. She takes a short breath followed by another, sweat dripping down her forehead with her heart beating faster. An ache in her shoulders cries out for a scratch, and she obliges.
Whisper asks, “Another scratch huh?”
“Shut it, Whisper.” She says back with a bark in her tone.
“Just calm down Kat, the space station is empty and has been since the ’random pirate attack’ we falsely called in. We still have twenty minutes at least and we know the codes to get Fury out of there. So get your meat-mind focused and quit being so paranoid.”
“Easy for you to say, you're an AI. You don't have to worry about being shot.”
“I know you've been through worse. I was there when you got rebuilt, which is why you should be taking those pills.”
Kat rolls her eyes, typing in the last few commands. That’s all she needed was an AI on her back about taking her meds. She’ll take them when she’s ready. Plus she wasn't even sure if she should be taking them.
She enters in the last sequence and the emergency lights turn off with a loud click, leaving the room pitch black. Kat’s breathing quickens with the only light now gone.
Kat asks, “Uh, Whisper, was that supposed to happen?”
“You didn’t mess it up with those sausages you call fingers did you?”
“Hey, I am a perfectly healthy weight, thank you very much. Not that it would matter with these.” She says twiddling her new cybernetic fingers in the dark. “I typed in the codes just like you told me.”
The column near Kat hisses, expelling cold air, blowing her hair in every direction. Kat could smell a familiar scent, like opening a sealed video game. Metal squeals against metal as a glass-like enclosure is revealed by light from within. A large gunmetal-blue pistol is on a stand within the glass. Kat stares at it, mouth open, trying to figure out how she's going to carry it. Let alone use it. She drops her eyes to her hands, remembering she’s different now.
A virtual box appears with a microphone-shaped icon in the center of it between her and Fury. She closes her mouth, taking in a breath through her nose. She needs to get the phrase out in one breath. It was like this phrase was made for her to say, something fun and easy to remember.
“The Zerg rush killed Diablo with Frostmourne.”
A man’s voice echoes across the lab room speakers, “Command accepted. Give verbal ID for ownership.”
“Katrice Wylde, owner ID KW1337.”
“Owner voice ID accepted KW1337, Katrice Wylde. Restart and install commencing. Thirty minutes till complete.”
The lights within the lab room turn back on, as do all the lights down the hallway. The emergency state canceled. Which means someone is already there or on their way.
“Looks like everything is going exactly as planned but looks like we need to go. Whisper, send a signal to the Crucible and have her ready for takeoff. We need to get out of here before Mars Security gets here.”
Whisper sighs, “I hate taking orders from a flesh and bone creature such as yourself, but I will oblige. You did just rescue my brother after all.”
Kat rubs at her forehead, “For an AI, I swear, you just can’t seem to get the concept of a captain and her crew, can you? I’m the captain, and for the moment, you’re the only crew that I have. The crew listens to and respects the captain.”
“This is just the way I was programmed, or it could be I like to get a rise or two out of you.”
Kat takes a moment to compose herself. She’s just an AI and she’s trying to piss you off. Just calm down.
Over the last couple of days, after their joint history lesson of each other’s lives, Whisper started to develop an interesting sense of humor. Kat wasn’t sure if it was always there or not but it didn’t matter. Kat is glad Whisper is there, even when Whisper acts like this.
