Galactic
Unity 2
By: Mark J. Hadley
* * *
The airlock doors opened, allowing the five to step out of their shuttle and into the station. It looked different than the girls remembered… the lights were dimmed, as though running on emergency power, and none of the frequent computer panels along the docking corridor were active. There also used to be a lot more traffic than what was present now; not a single entity was in the area, giving the impression that the station was abandoned.
It was only empty for a moment, though, as someone approached from the far end. The alien was recognizable as the species that had formerly made up the bulk of the Gyahembu, except he was less muscular, and did not bear the bladed star symbol anywhere on his uniform. He gave them an interesting look as he approached, “One Centraxian… and four of a species I’m not familiar with. Welcome; I am Gilceeyn, the current head of the station.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Blossom said, indicating herself and the others, “My name’s Blossom… this is Bubbles, Buttercup, Professor Utonium, and Silver.”
Gilceeyn nodded, “Visitors… I apologize for the abrupt end to the communications, but it was necessary for our safety. I can only hope your transmissions weren’t picked up in that time.”
“What happened to this place?” Buttercup asked.
“It’s a long story,” Gilceeyn told them. “One best explained back at my office. Please, follow me…” He was about to turn to head out, but paused as he noticed Silver and the professor giving the girls confused glances. “Is something the matter?”
“Not really,” Blossom said, shaking her head. “They just don’t have any translators. Do you have any spares?”
“I might, I’ll have to check,” Gilceeyn answered. For their benefit, he motioned to show that he wanted them to follow, and started off into the station. The five followed close behind him as they boarded a lift that would take them into the heart of the station.
When they reached the main thoroughfare of the station, they were shocked to see it in disarray. The shops all appeared to be closed, and species of all kinds were milling around, many of them lying up against the wall wounded, with others treating them. The girls knew something was wrong, that there had been a big battle or something, and whatever it was, it was probably tied to the ‘invaders’ that had been mentioned during the earlier communication with the station. As interested as he was to see all the different alien species, the professor was troubled by the sight of all the wounded, and although he was no doctor, he wondered if there was some way he could help them out. Silver just continued to take everything in, his face showing a mixture of concern and intrigue himself.
Bubbles asked the obvious question as they continued through the area, “Was there a fight?”
“Yes, but not here,” Gilceeyn replied. “We’re just acting as a refuge for the injured at the moment. The last thing we want is the fighting to come here.” He approached a door off to one side and keyed in an entry code at the panel next to it. The door slid open, and he motioned for them to go inside.
It looked like the room had once been a storage area, modified into a makeshift office. There was a desk with a portable computer terminal set up on it, a chair behind the desk, and a few medical supplies set up along some shelves against the wall. Gilceeyn moved around the opposite side of the desk and said, “Being a doctor myself, I thought it would be best if I stayed close to the wounded at all times.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Blossom nodded.
Rummaging through some supplies at the desk, Gilceeyn said, “I think I have a spare set of translators around here… ah, yes, here we are.” He withdrew the tiny devices from the pile and handed them over to Professor Utonium, who carefully inserted them into his ears. Gilceeyn looked over at Silver and said, “Although, I’m a bit surprised to see a Centraxian that doesn’t already speak every language there is…”
“Ah, excellent, they work,” the professor said with a smile, then explained, “Well, this is Silver’s first time leaving home, so he hasn’t had the opportunity to learn any languages yet.”
“I’m aware that they can learn it telepathically somehow,” Gilceeyn said. “Perhaps he can learn it from me?”
“Maybe,” Blossom said, then turned and addressed Silver, “Centraxians can learn things like languages telepathically. I remember Xianea doing it before. Do you think you could do it?”
“I dunno,” Silver said, “I’ll try…” Gilceeyn moved closer, and Silver placed his hand on his forehead, concentrating. There was a soft glow, and Silver grinned a little, withdrawing his hand and saying, “Hey, I think it worked!”
“You can understand me?” Gilceeyn asked. When Silver nodded, he said, “Good… all right, now allow me to answer your questions.” He took a seat at the desk.
Blossom moved forward a little and said, “You mentioned something about ‘invaders’ before… who are they?”
He sighed slightly and said, “I don’t know. Nobody does… they’re a species that none of us have encountered before. We don’t even know what to call them… so far, we’ve just been referring to them as the Invaders, until we have some idea. They showed up without warning, and attacked on sight… a few planets fell to them even before the Galactic Monitors arrived to repel them. It was more than the Monitors could handle, though, and that first group of them was rumored to have been obliterated.”
“Wow,” Buttercup said. “Those robots are tough, too… I can’t imagine something strong enough to beat ‘em so easily…”
“What do the Invaders look like?” the professor asked. “What is their offensive capability?”
“Again, I couldn’t tell you,” Gilceeyn said. “I haven’t seen them for myself, although the survivors all have conflicting descriptions of them. Their ships and weapons don’t conform to anything we’ve ever seen, that’s for sure. Some of our scientists are theorizing that they aren’t even from our dimension.”
“Can’t anyone stop them?” Bubbles said nervously.
Gilceeyn shook his head, “The Monitors are working on it, but it has apparently been a losing battle so far. At least the reports say that despite how odd their methods of combat are, they are still vulnerable to conventional weaponry. As long as this is true, we still have a fighting chance, all of us. And I assure you, we won’t give up so easily.”
“There has got to be some way we can help,” Blossom said. “We can’t fight a war, but there must be something we can do.”
After a few seconds of silence, while everyone pondered the situation, Silver spoke up, “I have an idea…”
Bubbles asked, “What’s that?”
“It’s actually kind of simple, when you think about it,” Silver suggested, “but don’t you think we can ask the Repository of Knowledge? I mean, if there’s any way to stop them, wouldn’t it be able to figure it out?”
“You’re right…” Blossom said, brightening, “You’re right! That’s it, that’s the answer!” She quickly turned to Gilceeyn, “We need to get to Centraxia… do you know if the way is clear there?”
Gilceeyn was already pulling up a star chart on his computer console, “The last reports indicated that they attacked monitor stations across this area…” He pointed to the diagram, which lit up a group of systems in red. He pointed to another system and said, “Centraxia is here, so I wouldn’t take a direct route. You should head to this nebula, here, which should give you cover to change direction towards your destination without being spotted. That way, you should avoid conflict entirely.”
“Great,” the professor said. He looked back at the door and asked, “Do you need any help here treating the wounded?”
Gilceeyn shut off the computer console and said, “No, you can help us much more by getting to Centraxia, if it will mean finding a solution to…” A beep from the computer panel interrupted him, and he pressed a button, speaking towards it, “Gilceeyn here.”
A voice came through that spoke in an urgent tone, “Commander, three ships just dropped out of faster-than-light outside the station.”
Gilceeyn frowned a little, “Friendly?”
“I don’t think so, sir,” came the reply.
“Go to alert status!” he quickly ordered. Within moments, an alert klaxon began wailing through the station, and he stood up from the desk, facing the others, “We need to get you to your ship right away. Your success on Centraxia is probably the best chance we’ve got.”
“Agreed,” the professor nodded.
“We can help defend the station,” Blossom suggested.
“There are only three ships,” Gilceeyn said, shaking his head. “We can handle it. Just go, quickly!” He ushered them out of the office as he spoke. Outside the door, people were in a rush, arming themselves with whatever they could, and those that could move were getting to safer battle positions. The group made their way quickly towards the lift on the far end leading back to their ship.
An impact rocked the station, and everyone grabbed hold of something to steady themselves. The lights flickered, and a mechanical voice announced, “Power reserves critical, routing power to essential systems only.” Everyone was thinking the same thing, that the station was being fired upon.
Reaching the lift, Gilceeyn frowned at the panel next to it, which was no longer lit. He turned to the others and said, “Power must have been routed away from the lifts. You’ll have to take the long way around.” He pointed down a side corridor and said, “This corridor coils around the center of the station, like a spire. Follow it until you reach level 7.”
“Level 7, got it,” Bubbles repeated.
Blossom nodded, then said, “Commander… good luck.” Gilceeyn managed a small smile back, and headed back into the center of the station to start rallying their defense. The others hurried off down the cooridor… Silver gave a glance over his shoulder as they went, thinking, Gilceeyn is amazingly brave, to be so willing to stay and fight in the face of such danger… I admire his courage, but I hope his efforts aren’t in vain…
* * *
Outside Paradise Fringe, the few station-mounted weapons they had were swiveling around to lock onto the enemy. The ships themselves were nearly invisible due to how dark they were; they each consisted of a central mass surrounded by curved extensions, resembling a large, black claw. The shape of the extensions shifted slightly from time to time, making them look almost alive. A glowing red port was the only part that was clearly visible on them, the source of their weapons.
One of the three ships fired, lancing out with a beam of reddish energy that coiled like a vine… it moved towards the station in an erratic pattern, but also very quickly, reaching it in the blink of an eye. The beam struck one bank of mounted turrets and blasted them clear off the station before they could fire. In the meantime, the other two ships approached the station closer, meaning to dock with it.
The remaining station weaponry began opening fire, striking one of the ships and causing it to veer off, but the other ship came right up to the station’s side. One of the extensions stretched out and touched the side, attaching itself… it melded with the metal, the end of it passing through slowly and creating itself an entrance…
* * *
The ground shuddered beneath the group as they made their way up the gradually winding corridor, and as they regained their balance, a voice announced, “All personnel, Invaders have boarded the station. I repeat, Invaders have boarded. Assume all battle positions.”
“Are we almost there?” Silver asked, worried.
“Almost,” the professor answered, “We’re on level 6. One more time around the station and we should be there.”
They continued forward, except for Bubbles, who stopped and said, “Shh! Do you hear that?” Blossom and Bubbles stopped to listen, both of them hearing it as well, although it was too faint for the professor or Silver to hear. It was a soft sound, almost like rushing air, but slithery, and punctuated with a shallow breathing. The girls could tell it was coming from back the way they had come, and approaching quickly…
Turning to the professor and Silver, Blossom said, “You two get to the ship… get it ready for takeoff! We’ll try and slow them down.”
“All right,” the professor nodded. “Be careful.” He continued up the corridor, and Silver hesitated only for a moment before following behind him. Blossom could see that he wanted to stay and help, but also knew that he probably couldn’t. As the two of them disappeared around the curve of the corridor, the girls faced the other direction and readied themselves for whatever was heading towards them.
It was dark, so for a moment, they thought they were just seeing the shadows of whatever it was… but then they realized that they weren’t shadows, but actual creatures. There were two of them, one crawling along the outer wall of the corridor and another along the ceiling. They both were a dark, shadowy black, and had an assortment of legs, almost like a spider, which they used to grip the wall. Each seemed about ten feet wide, although they may have appeared larger due to their own shadows.. The sight of them made Buttercup shudder a little, recalling her fear of spiders, but she pushed it out of her mind and tried to stay focused.
Lifting their heads to look at the girls, the creatures leapt down from the walls smoothly, almost like a flowing liquid, and by the time they landed on the ground, their shape had changed into something more humaoid. This form was tall and thinner, but with bulkier limbs, giving the impression that they were armored… it occurred to Blossom first that this was probably closer to their true forms than the spider was, and that they were just changing their shape to suit their needs. Even closer like this, the darkness of their bodies showed no detail, just a solid, inky color… only their eyes were visible, two bright red shapes against the dark.
“What are they?!” Bubbles exclaimed.
“Whatever they are,” Buttercup said, narrowing her eyes, “they’re in for a world of hurt…” She and the other girls braced themselves, preparing to fight, and the Invaders watched them silently, studying them for a moment, before they began to move forward. I don’t know about this, Blossom thought… We have no idea what their capabilities are, or how to fight them… but we’ve got to try anyway…