Shattered Skies Book 1: Embers (WIP)

Ch. 3: Captive

Date: 3/17/2159

Location: Tellina System, Tertiary Asteroid Belt

Walker keeps steady as the bay slips into silence, the angry hum of his weapon's power cell being the loudest thing in the room. His mind flooding with emotions as the sight of his hated enemy. The urge to pull the trigger and end the bug's life is strong. But he controls himself. It's more useful to him alive.

"Who are you?" Walker growls, keeping the gun trained on it's head. "Why are you trespassing in Terran space?" The alien's response in unintelligible, consisting of a string of clicks, squeals, hisses, and occasionally sounds that could actually be made by a Terran. Walker groans, muttering a quick cuss. Honestly, why did he expect it to understand English?

"So much for that." Rojiss comments. "How are we supposed to get anything out of him? I don't know anyone who can speak Asar-Ta."

"Maybe we should take him to TerransFirst. I'm sure they'd love to interrogate him." TerrransFirst is a rebellious faction formed in response to the Republic's surrender after the Battle of Terra. Fueled by anger and hatred, they want to either take back the systems claimed by the Empire as spoils of war, or bring the RAE to its knees, depending on who you ask. Currently they've been harassing patrols on their border with hit and run attacks. The Empire has accused the Republic of privately funding these insurgents and threatened retaliation on multiple occasions.

There have been times where he's been tempted to join them and make the RAE suffer for what they did. But realistically it could only end one way; a second war. And the destruction of many more Terran worlds via singularity bomb.

Many of his old wartime friends saw it differently, though. Many joined without hesitation. And as a result, were convicted of treason. Among them was Jen Case, his old squadron commander. He still talked with her on occasion through encrypted comm channels. She was one of the few people in the galaxy who knew exactly the pain he felt.

"I'm sure they would." Rojiss says. "But we need to get that stabilizer fixed before we can go anywhere."

"And our passenger?" Jurril asks.

"I'll throw it into the secondary cargo hold. Should keep it from causing trouble." Walker steps forward, his weapon still trained on the insectoid. He grabs hold of its arm, aiming his pistol at the mechanical skeleton. As Terran military personnel were taught, the mechanism let them survive on worlds with gravity higher than that of their homeworld. Should he decide to pull the trigger, the bug would crumple into a heap right on the deck and die a slow, painful death. And it knows it as well.

"Move it." Waker orders, jabbing the barrel of his gun into its back. It seems to get the idea, and walks ahead, mumbling something in its alien language. He guides it to a door on the other end of the lower deck. He hits the door control switch and the door raises up, revealing a mostly empty room dimly lit by strips of lights on the ceiling.

He shoves it into the room and closes the door. Only after he locks it up does he finally lower his weapon and click the safety back on. On the other side he hears muffled sounds coming from his prisoner.

Unpleasant feelings surface once more as he recalls the fateful day three years ago. It was so hard to grasp the magnitude of what was lost. Billions of lives, the artifacts of millennia of history, the core of the Terran Republic. Gone in a matter of seconds. How is one supposed to feel with that much loss?

Walker tries to compose himself. Tries to subdue his emotions as he has for all these years. He takes his commpiece and contacts Rojiss.

"Hey, Rojiss? I... I need a moment. Take over the salvage operation while I'm out, alright."

"Sure thing, boss. I can handle it." Walker can tell from his voice that he knows what he's feeling. The Rinar were hit hard by Terra's destruction as well. Their alliance pushed them into service during the war and the economic ties between them meant that they suffered just as badly from the fallout. Out of all the other three races, the Rinar would be the most able to sympathise with him.

"I appreciate it... Walker out." Ending the call, he heads to the upper deck and steps into his quarters. He hits the lock switch and the door echoes out a thud as the lock mechanism engages.

Walker takes a deep breath. He takes the commpiece off his collar and onto his nightstand before getting down on the floor and doing a rep of push-ups. Exercise is his de-stressor of choice. It's something he's been doing since his first days in flight training. Every day he would do sit-ups, push-ups, lunges and more. It became a routine. And whenever he felt like he needed some time to regain his temper, he would get on the floor and work his body until he was sore.

Walker switches to sit-ups. His mind drifts to the prisoner in the cargo hold. Why was there an Aserati ship this far past the border? And in a cryopod no less? It's suspicious. The bugs are planning something. It couldn't be a sleeper ship. Like Rojes said, the tech isn't old enough for that. And a prisoner transport wouldn't be anywhere near the border, let alone past it. They must have been trying to sneak a saboteur or agent to do some damage and deal a death blow to the Republic so their fleets could rush in unopposed. They would finish the job. One way or another he is going to figure out why this bug is here. And show the Empire they will not-

"Augh!" Pain screams out from his lower back. Immediately he recognizes the cause. He was pushing himself too hard and pulled a muscle. He rolls onto his side, cursing several times before he is able to get back up. With an exasperated sigh he leaves the room, headed to the medbay to get something to fill the pain.

Elapsed Time: 2.5 hours

With a thundering clang of metal the bay door the loading bay is sealed up and repressurised. The salvage drone releases the final load of scrap metal into the pile before setting itself down on the floor and shutting off.

"That's the last of it. I'd say it's a fair haul." Rojiss comments.

"How much do you think this will get us?" Walker asks.

"Considering the condition of everything and the issues of tech compatibility I'd wager around... 15,000 credits."

"Only 15,000? That's barely enough for a used freighter."

"If this were Terran, Rinar, or Tir it would be a different story. Lots of up to date and good condition components. The problem is that there aren't many buyers who could adapt the tech without ruining something." Well that bites. If he was willing to go outside of legal commerce he could send it discreetly to TerransFirst.

"Do we at least have a grav-jump stabilizer we can use?"

"That's the good news. I found one that still works. No guarantees though."

"It'll have to do. Get it wired in. Let me know when we're ready to jump."

"You got it." With a nod Rojiss heads into the loading bay to recover the stabilizer. Meanwhile Walker simply stood and watched. His mind centered on the captive Aserati once more. Once he gets to Trappist the first thing he's going to do it contact Jen. She'll know what to do with the bug. Plus it will be nice to hear her voice again. It's been a good while since they last spoke.