"All things being equal the simplest explanation must be true, at least if I'm not involved in it." -Avenger's Adaptation of Achems(sp?) Razor
Rwing chided himself for this rage of panic. He had to keep his wits about him, but the pain was unbearable. He felt a trickle of blood run down his leg. Thinking quickly he grabbed the edge of the opening in front of him and pulled. With searing pain, and a sickening sucking sound he managed to pull free and drop into the room below. The wound, now opened farther, began to bleed uncontrollably. Nearby lay a broken glass table and Rwing's pistol. He dove for it as a small creature no bigger than a house cat flew out of the opening.
It looked to be some sort of strange insect. It’s ears were like a cats and the rest of it like an insect. It’s skin was smooth and brown in color. It’s wings made a fluttering sound as they beat at an immense rate to keep the creature airborne. It hissed again as a second just like it came through the vent. This one had a grayish skin. Both had a strange red venom dripping from its jaws. One had blood on it’s mouth. With horror Rwing realized that the motion tracker was not picking them up. He deactivated it. Strangely the two creatures just hovered there looking at him. The gray one dove at him with blinding speed. Sidestepping it an catching it by the wings he threw it against the floor and with lightning reflexes whipped around catching the other with a shot between two of it’s many eyes. It dropped with a screech.
As it hit the ground it exploded in a mass of blood and guts. Some of it hit Rwing’s security armor on his arm. It began to steam and hiss as it bubbled up. He quickly removed the piece and threw it at the other creature that was just starting to regain itself. " Persistent little bastards, even to the end, eh!" Rwing commented to himself. The creature shook it’s head as it took off. Rwing leveled his pistol for a shot, much to his surprise the creature vanished in the light of a teleporter beam before he could put it down.
"Damn!" Rwing muttered under his breath. He started to holster his pistol but turned at a sound. At the entrance to the bedroom of the quarters stood a young woman who looked to be no more than twenty-three. She had soft red hair, which was drawn back into a ponytail, and was wearing a white T-shirt, leather jacket, and blue jeans. Her tennis shoes were white with a small black stripe all the way around them. She looked Rwing over as if scrutinizing him as a potential date.
"Bloody little bastards aren’t they."
"What do you mean? Who are you." Rwing held his pistol down a little but ready just in case.
"The name’s Mara Wingard, I’ve been fending of those two bloody insects for the last hour since the explosion."
"And what the hell are you doing in the quarters of the Elerian Delegation?"
"None of your business, if you want that wound dressed come on in. I still have some bandages left in the first aid kit I found."
Rwing tapped a small button on the side of his uniform and the place where the wound was drew closed holding it tight. "My armor is designed to hold it until it clots. Thank you anyway."
Mara stood looking him over. A light groan came from the bedroom.
Rwing sighed, "No doubt you planned to rob the delegation or something."
Mara looked at Rwing as in mock appellation, "Strictly business."
"Wouldn’t be the same business about hacking funds from an Earth transport some years back would it?"
Mara grimaced, "You know about that?"
Rwing smiled, "Half the quadrant of security officers does. That was a mighty fine job you pulled."
Mara walked into the bedroom. On the bed lay Schala with a large bruise just above her right eye. The cold pack on it had reduced the swelling but she was still groggy. She sat up slowly her face writhed in pain as she moved. Her whole body felt as if it were on fire. "Anyone get the I. D. of that officer who took me down."
Mara laughed softly. Rwing just watched as she walked over and helped Schala up. Schala gasped at seeing Rwing. "Security, Mara are we...."
"No," Mara reassured her, "He knew what we did on the transport any how."
Schala moaned as she stood, it hurt to even stand. "How long have I been out Mara."
"A good hour, I was beginning to think I would have to...."
"Look, I really need to get moving." Rwing interrupted.
"Hey, I don’t know who you are but with as much pain as I’m in I fell like ripping something apart." Schala snapped.
Mara scowled, "Unfortunately Schala you owe this person your life."
"WHAT!"
"Afraid it’s true," she smirked, "He killed the two bloody insects that kept comin’ after us."
Rwing looked up at the vent which they had all come through. "Got any ideas on another way out. There’s no way we're getting back up there."
"Not a clue."
Schala scoffed, "I’m the one with the bruise, and you two can’t think. You said two of those things," She gestured with a slight nod, "came after us. I only see one body, which mean the other one teleported out of here."
Rwing stood thinking for a moment. As he thought, Mara flopped down on the bed and laid back. "Mind enlightening us Schala?" She said with a sigh.
Schala scoffed again, "Think about it, there is no way any ship is teleporting anything from outside to attack the station without setting off an alarm."
Rwing’s face lit up, "Unless they tapped into the stations system."
Mara was still stumped, "All right genius how do we get into the system, I drained the power from that stupid Elerian game trying to call for help."
Rwing eyed the motion tracker for a second, "The aliens somehow disabled the motion tracker, we could use it’s battery for power, but we would have to work fast, it’s not meant to power a computer."
Schala stmumbled over to the vid screen and pulled out a small makeshift keyboard. "We only have to power this, I can tap in from here."
Rwing smiled a little, "Not without security codes you can’t." He laughed a bit as he tossed her the motion tracker. She quickly rigged it and had the screen called up within seconds.
Rwing stood slack jawed in amazment, "How..." He stammered.
Mara took her turn to laugh, "We’re hackers remember, it’s our job."
Schala turned back, "Where would you like to go?"
Rwing took interest, "Where can you set us?"
Schala sounded glum, "It’s the promanade, lower security or command deck. That’s all the power the station has left to get us anywhere."
Rwing spoke without hesitation, "Command deck, from there we can scan for any survivors as well as the aliens."
Schala punched a few keys, "Hold on to your ass, this could get rough." With that she punched in a final key. The room swirled and seemed to melt away in a green haze as the light of the teleportation beam enveloped them.
The three appeared in a dark room, the smell of methane was heavy in the air. Rwing’s lung’s seared as he gasped for a breath. As quickly as they had come, the methane cleared out, Rwing could hear Schala and Mara coughing, but in the darkness could see nothing. A sinister laugh reverberated around the room. It was definitely female, but somehow sounded hollow. "Welcome to my humble chambers."
The lights flicked on and before the three stood several grotesque aliens. Each was about five feet tall, with red scaly skin. Their legs seemed to bend backward at what you could call a knee. Each had a small weapon attached to its wrist. At the torso their bodies bowed inward sharply making them extremely thin. All wore masks that hid their entire head. From the masks protruded several hoses attached to various small tanks attached at their backs. At the head of the whole group stood two very different creatures. One was clearly android, and was all black metal with a sword strapped to his back, the other was clearly female. She was almost human in looks except for small rows of spines along her wrists and ankles. She wore a cut off shirt that exposed her stomache slightly showing scales. She had long black hair, attached at on wrist was a small control device. She bowed deeply,
"Allow me to inroduce myself. As you could never pronounce my real name in my tounge, You may call me Marina, Marina Arafel. Others call me Avenger, but that story would turn your stomaches."
Rwing glared, "Where did you get a name like that."
"It was the name of the first human women I ever killed. Why do you ask?"
"My best friend’s name is Kyle Arafel."
"Oh," she said in mock sadness, "That must mean..." she trailed off with an evil laugh. "You humans are so weak."
Mara stepped forward, "What do you want with us."
Avenger laughed again, "Well I obviously don’t want you teleporting around everywhere ruining my plans. You see, that insect you killed was my favorite pet. Secondly, My friend Aleean here," She gestured to the android, "Has a bet with me. he says if we turned three humans loose that they would be able to stop us. I say otherwise. Anyway, I brought you three here to play our little game for us. You win, you go free, you lose and well...Let’s just say I wouldn’t look forward to having any last meals."
Schala scowled "You’re sick, how...AHHH. I could tear you apart."
Rwing looked over his shoulder, "You may just get the chance." Looking back he lowered his voice to a sharp growl, "Let’s get on with it."
Avenger waved her index finger at him, "Ah, ah." With a gesture of her hand two of the creatures behind her came forward and removed the pack full of ammo from Rwing’s back and left him with two clips. "Much better," She beamed, "Now time for the challenge." With that her face hardened into a glare, "I will teleport you to a location on our ship, You must make your way with whatever you find. Escape, and you win." She gestured again, two more creatures with strange shackles stepped forward and attached one to Mara and the other to Schala. Mara yelled, "What do you think you are doing?"
Avenger laughed once again, "Slight handicap my dear. Oh and in case you thought of shooting it off there is a time bomb inside. You have five hours." She waved as she pressed a button on her control device, "Good luck! You’ll need it." With that the room vanished in the green light that had brought them there.
Well, well, well. Looks like the heroes are in a slight jam. What happens next, keep watching for the next addition to find out!