The security personnel quickly moved to both sides of the doorway with their rifles pressed firmly against their shoulders. The Shadows assumed a fan formation ten feet from the door. After a command to the door's control panel, a rapid series of chirps sounded and then the doors quickly hissed open. A red light blinked on and then faded out at regular intervals thanks to the Station's standing alert status; a subtle but direct alarm sounded with each interval. Aaen was stunned at the Shadows' swiftly and sharply panning the doorway and the visible way ahead. Their tactical rifle flashlights shining against the walls and bulkheads just outside.
Clear, one of the Shadows gestured. Aaen was puzzled by the assurance, considering the shape the intruder may have assumed was unknown to anyone in the room. How would they have known if the way ahead was at all clear or not? Aaen asked himself. Those face masks. . .? They covered the entire front of the wearer's head with a flat, angled faceplate. The Shadows looked almost robotic in their jet black gear. What readings could those facemasks be showing the Shadows that would be different than a scanner to a crew member? Focus, Aaen! He told himself. Scanners are perfectly good pieces of equipment. So is the naked eye, at point-blank range.
"Admiral, permission to proceed?" said a senior-ranking security officer. Aaen turned to the Admiral with a curious look on his face, anticipating she would say 'no', but hoping she would say 'yes' to the request for permission. Either way, he raised his black pulse rifle over his shoulder and carefully but quickly put his finger on the rifle's trigger—tapping the mechanism a few times.
The Admiral nodded acknowledgment of the gesture and then looked at the security officer and directly said, "Proceed." Aaen found himself squeezing his rifle's grip and was careful to not fire the rifle—not yet, anyway. He sharply pointed the weapon in front of him like his fellows and approached the doorway.
"Commander," Major Storm gestured for him to stop. Aaen complied, and then Major Storm gestured for his team to proceed into the corridor. Aaen was impressed at how sharply the Shadows entered the corridor so orderly and precise in their checking the corridor both ways for any signs of movement other than from the Shadows or the Station's security forces. There was half a semi-circle quickly facing the way right, and a few others checking the way directly ahead. Another hand gesture signaling 'clear' from each direction. All of the Shadows knelt where they were. Major Storm was behind the wall of nearly invisible human statues.
"I'll take point, Admiral," Aaen said.
The Admiral nodded. "Okay. Aaen goes first. Security, you follow 'im."
"Copy that." the Chief of Security replied.
Aaen kept his rifle in front of him, sharply panning right. . .then left; repeating when he was far enough into the doorway to lean into the right side of the doorway as he inched around the corner looking left.
"Go! Go!" a voice whispered from behind. Aaen rushed to into the adjacent corridor and knelt behind a corner, leaning left as he searched for movement. . . .So far so good. Aaen thought to himself, although disappointed that there wasn't a target—yet. His gut was telling him that there was a good chance that he would be the first—or one of the first—to catch the intruder. His hands started to get a little clammy. His thoughts started to shift to that unknown alien sensor contact. He felt like the temperature was getting really hot in the corridor, and his chest was starting to feel heavy with anxiety. The intruder could be anywhere! He reminded himself and worked to focus on finding the intruder. The corridor lights were noticeably struggling to stay on. It didn't matter, he reasoned, the Shadows were darn nearly invisible, as it was—even with a bright red light shining right on them from multiple directions. He had a gut feeling that they had a whole bunch of tricks still up their proverbial sleeve that they had yet to use as part of their coordinated effort to help the Station and its crew get back home. Aaen noticed the security personnel had assumed a similar tactical formation in the corridor as their rifle flashlights were also shining on the panels and bulkheads. The Admiral and captain were both comfortably—although uneasily, Aaen sensed—in the center of the near-perfect semi-circle blocking one of many personnel arteries in the Station. The corridors ahead filled with the white lights coming from the tactical flashlights on each rifle.
"Admiral, so far there's no indication of the intruder in this area. We'll proceed to the right and search the lower decks and secure any Magellan crew members we find."
"Understood. We'll go left and proceed to the backup battle bridge. The intruder could still take over the Station from there."
Aaen watched as Major Storm nodded acknowledgment. He tapped a control on the side of his rifle, and then—in less than a second—the Shadows stood up in a tactical stance, raised their rifles. . .and then disappeared without a trace. The term 'blending in' didn't apply anymore. They were gone. Aaen was wide-eyed and shocked at the sight. The Shadows are just gone. No sound. Not even the sound of footsteps! There was no distortion to their personal stealth technology, whatsoever. If they were still on board, or still just feet away, they were as they said: Shadows. Let's see even a Shapeshifter get past them!—As if it really had any chance of indefinitely eluding the crew, Aaen grinned pridefully.
"Okay, let's move out! Commander! You have point!"
"The fastest way to the battle bridge would be through the Alpha Access Juncture." the Doctor said, describing how to get there from the bridge crew's present location.
"Okay, let's go!" the Admiral said. Aaen felt a tap on his left shoulder. He was paying attention, but the majority of his focus was on the hundred feet or so of square footage where the intruder could come out of hiding from at any moment. Aaen fixed his gaze down his rifle's lone black tubular iron sight as he joined the front of the variably organized double-file 'line'. He started to feel himself sweating from his forehead, and noted the gasping to his left and behind him, and the subtle sounds of rubber soles against the floor as the away team proceeded down the corridor.
"Slow down!" the Doctor whispered loud enough for the away team to hear. "The intruder could be anywhere!" the Doctor's scanner's user interface was glowing and chirping as it scanned the ways ahead. Aaen guessed the Doctor was probably only a few feet behind him. "Wait!" the Doctor said. "I'm getting a reading!" after waiving the scanner right and then left two or three times, just over Aaen's shoulder, the Doctor gestured to proceed to the right.
Aaen looked over his shoulder and gave the Doctor a wide-eyed look as though to check to make sure the Doctor was certain that's where the reading was coming from.
"The reading is coming from that way!"
"Go!" the Admiral whispered loudly.
Aaen panned sharply to the right, slowly stepping left, keeping the rifle flashlight shining at the corner. His breathing became heavier as he inched around the corner, and then centering down the center of the way ahead.
"See anything?" said the Deputy Security Officer.
Aaen turned his head as he looked behind him.
"Proceed!" the Admiral whispered loudly.
"WAIT!" the Doctor whispered. "It's moving!"
"Is it coming?" asked the Chief of Operations.
"Doesn't look like it's coming towards us. . . But it is moving."
"It might already be on the battle bridge!" said the Deputy.
"I wouldn't go rushin' in there, Admiral. There's no telling what shape it might have assumed by now. . .especially if it knows we're coming."
"We've gotta get in there, Admiral!" said the Chief of Security.
"Aaen, lead the way!" the Admiral said.
Aaen looked forward, took a deep breath, and then started walking. He panned up, and then straight, and then started inching around the next corner—
The door to the corridor leading to the battle bridge was closed. He inched around the corner for the next ten seconds until he was all the way around and checked every space on the right side of the room. His heart was pounding with anxiety, anticipating the intruder at any moment. He noted the shining of rifle flashlights filling the room from behind him. . . The room looked like some kind of office space. Probably the Admiral's ready room, Aaen guessed. "It's not in here!" Aaen said.
"Doctor!" said the Admiral.
The Doctor stood near the entrance corner and panned the scanner slowly right and left, and then gradually focused on the black doorway ahead. The red flashing wall lights blinked out without a sound. "I'm not detecting the intruder in here. Admiral, the intruder's cut power this area."
"We need to get through that hatch!" said the Chief of Security.
"Do it!" the Admiral commanded. "Set up a perimeter behind us in case it tries to attack us from behind!"
Aaen led the away team quickly to the front of the hatch. The door's control panel was offline. Aaen tried to use the hatch's manual release. . .to no avail. "Stand back." Aaen said, taking aim at the hatch's locking mechanism—and fired.
The barrel lit up red as a red pulse of lightning blasted through the lock as it sparked away. He tried to open the hatch again—it slowly inched open to reveal a shorter corridor with an adjacent closed way to the left, one to the right, and engineering crawlspace on the far end atop a short ladder, and then a short stairwell leading to a second doorway left—and one forward. Aaen recognized the far doorway. It was the one that led to the battle bridge.
"Doctor?" Aaen asked.
"Forward!" the Doctor whispered.
"Go!" the Admiral said.
Aaen continued to lead the way forward, panning right, briefly, and then straight, marching carefully down the staircase, stopping at the door to the battle bridge. He looked behind him to see the rest of the away team following him closely, making sure to secure any point of entry into this corridor. The only lights in this corridor came from the rifle flashlights.
"Admiral, the battle bridge is just ahead." Aaen said.
"Can you hear anything?" the Admiral asked.
Aaen put his head close to the door and then paused for several seconds. There were whispers from the back of the corridor, but Aaen couldn't hear them so he remained focused on answering the Admiral's question. Aaen looked behind him at the Admiral and turned his head, keeping his rifle pointed at the doorway.
"That doesn't mean it's not on the battle bridge!" said the Deputy.
"Admiral, there's only one way to find out." Aaen said.
"I heard something!" the Deputy whispered loudly, pointing his rifle toward the ceiling near the engineering crawlspace and the ceiling.
"I heard something too! Like something was walking directly above us! Up there!" said another member of the away team, pointing to the engineering crawlspace.
"Something's moving up there!" yelled the Chief of Security.
*****
Steve H. told Jordan Foutin, "You are the next Tom Clancy. You really are a gifted writer."
DANIEL STORM, a Jordan Foutin eBook, is available for $8.99 at any of these fine online retailers:
smashwords.com (Remember to like and share!)
apple iBooks (This link is best viewed on iPhone or iPad)
Make sure to buy your copy today, and like and share!
Make sure to like the official StormTeam Simulations Facebook page for the latest, including when DANIEL STORM will be available on Amazon.com for Kindle eBook and softcover! Coming soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment