AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Parental disappointment,” Kira said.
She hit the button to close the back hatch before heading directly into the small cabin.
Max pursued. “Kira, what have you done now?”
“I actually didn’t do anything. It was Bi’ast’s fault.”
Max frowned. His evident disapproval formed like a rain cloud over his head that was about to turn into a full on thunderstorm.
Morgan, who’d just turned as she entered, caught part of the conversation. “I take it we’re leaving?”
“Speedily, please.” Kira let out a half laugh. An ache in her side throbbed from where her blaster dug in when Bi’ast fell on her. Reminding her of their reason to hurry.
Chapter Three
KIRA
Circling the Eikos Station, the ship docked in the outer ring. The Callistar was once a Verdissian warship. It carried rail weapons and shielding, which was sometimes shaky from that time. It’d been converted for transporting supplies, typically of the illegal nature, considering who they reported to. Their current reason for deep space exploration was to mine Listium, a precious resource. It was rarely found in the known quadrants due to over mining. The retrofit of the ship was scheduled in advance; the addition of Quinn was, while inconvenient in Kira’s eyes, not a change to their initial mission or purpose. They docked, and most of the crew went their separate ways. Kira pushed through the paperwork that listed them officially as off duty, doing so through their contacts within the Verdissian government, since their licensing existed in their systems.
The day after, Kira lounged in her room when Watson alerted her through the primary communication system, which he utilized when they were on the ship.
Captain, we have a security breach. They’ve accessed one of the data ports and I am being shut out of all sys-
Watson’s voice faded to static. An unfamiliar voice sounded over the comm. This one far more robotic.
“Intergalactic planetary, planetary, intergalactic, intergalactic planetary....”
It became apparent that the initial interruption was some kind of song as a human voice joined in. The music blared over every speaker inside the Callistar, including crew quarters.
Watson switched to the personal system after he was forcefully removed out of the main soundboard. His next line rattled directly through her skull.
Captain, I do believe our guest has arrived.
“I do believe you’re right,” she murmured, slipping deeper into the armchair in her private quarters. She’d been nursing a bit of dark liquid in a decanter, and while she was not absolutely plastered, she wasn’t quite in a state to be running about the ship either.
Sliding down a bit more, her feet dangled her toes reaching the floor as she put a hand to her forehead. “Just get the blasted music off.”
Watson grumbled over the line, which translated to forced static, like a tv with rabbit ears being adjusted. He attempted to short circuit the music and not fry the whole system, or at least to get it shut off in the crew quarters, updating Kira as he worked at the task.
It cut out a moment later, and Kira lifted her glass in a silent salute the A.I. couldn’t see.
QUINN
The ship automatically allowed Quinn’s shuttle to dock. As the doors opened, a host of drones came rushing out. Each unique in function and design.
Small flat ones scuttled across the floor like spiders, miniature arms attached to a flat body that turned sideways to get in small spaces. Hovering ones with multiple attachments, which included pincer like limbs for grabbing equipment split apart from him going left and right. Larger ones to carry heavy equipment came out last. Approximately a three by four foot empty flat surface in the center with short sides to prevent any items from slipping off. All were in shades of varying gray and black, with blue lighting to signify their current status.
One whizzed by Quinn, flashes of white strands flitting into his field of view before settling down back over his crown as if constantly pushed out of his vision.
The Irishman lit up a smoke as he read through the diagnostic readout being fed by the drone he’d sent ahead. The text pulsing across reflected in his eyes, moving at a speed humans weren’t supposed to read, much less comprehend. Especially when it was all the barely comprehensible language of ship programming.
“Jay-sus, this thing has seen better days,” Quinn muttered under his breath, clicking his tongue as he headed to the engine room first.
Quinn took it all in and found it to be almost exactly as he expected. A simple industrial design, he was near the top of the ship so the corridor had a lopsided hexagon shape; the walls sloping outward until about knee height, where they sloped back inward. At that point a solid beam of white lighting ran across. The lighting was clear enough, but it seemed like the only section that someone had cleaned meticulously was the clear covers over them. There were scuffs on the lower sections and wear and tear on the top. They may have once been a bright steel, but the remnants were dull.
His drones scanned the ship as he walked, various alerts piled up. Everything indicated clear and loving maintenance, but age, wear, and tear were causing structural problems for many of the plates. Underneath, the mega-structure was in good shape. It had suffered no major damage that he could see, so that would be salvageable.
Arriving in the engine room, he knew he had his work cut out for him. The outdated reactor was nowhere near good enough for the overhaul. An automatic alert indicated the ship’s A.I. was trying to regain access to the ship’s communication systems. He’d dispatched one drone to plug into the computer core, which allowed him to control and shut out all other programs.
