Untold Stories of a Galaxy - Kysaek: The Beginning

About fifteen minutes before Wolfgang was handed over, the rest of the plan had already been set in motion. With the silvery, smaller scout ship that the Nebula had been carrying at its back and the crew had christened Dormant, the fake mercenary crew had flown close to the waiting prison ship, which was huge in comparison, and prepared the docking manoeuvre of the airlocks while the Greedy Fangs’ deterrent cannon turrets took aim at the guest.

The handover was just a distraction for Kysaek, however. Wearing an absolutely deceptively real, airtight Greedy Fangs armour that briefly protected her from radiation, she slipped stealthily out of the dimly opened cargo bay, on the belly of the Dormant, and into space. It had been a long time, a very long time, since she had operated in total weightlessness and she could already feel the first beads of sweat on her skin, reflecting her tension. With the help of an aether pack, Kysaek navigated herself towards the mercenary transporter. A single ejection of her pack was all it took and she flew straight towards the massive ship without fear of surveillance sensors detecting her or crashing into the transporter’s shield: ships’ shields only responded to massive force and protected them from the radiation of the cosmos, and no normal ship in the galaxy had a surface fully protected by sensors. The energy expenditure would have been too great and micro-objects, such as grain or fist-sized asteroids or similar particles, would constantly trigger an alarm. Nevertheless, Kysaek had to be careful when she slowed down and found a foothold on the surface of the prison ship. There were no windows anywhere, but thanks to the information fed to her by the network, she knew that there were a few camera sensors along her flight path, which served as aesthetic observation points for the Fangs crew and not primarily for surveillance purposes. Kysaek was able to avoid this by skilfully ascending and descending as she hovered close to the ship’s hull in the direction of the engines, in complete silence, hearing only herself as her breath hit the mirrored visor flap. The constant ups and downs brought back memories of her training with the Alliance.

One month of brain mash, as the exercise was called, during which her unit had spent time in space among the rocks of the inner asteroid belt of the Earth system. The beginning had been particularly bad, because outside the camp and without a fixed point or gravity, constantly spinning and flying around, newcomers threw up for ordinary ones, and that had been true for Kysaek too.

Now, however, here on the transporter, the path for her was not so swirling and fixed. She only had one way to sneak into the ship and that led Kysaek to the secondary engines. Unlike the larger main engines, these were completely switched off and were not glowing in standby mode. Normally, the deadly, invisible residual radiation would have stood in her way, but the problem was bypassed. The transporter had been waiting for almost twenty minutes before the supposed transfer ship had even arrived. Vorrn was supposed to demand that his people could be sure that this would not be an ambush. Not only did this eliminate the obstacle of too much residual radiation, but it also gave the Eldar steel enough time to be cooled by the icy space. The handover from Schaefer had a narrow window of opportunity, however, and Kysaek didn’t know how many minutes her people could carve out for her. Despite the pressure, however, every move and every grip had to be right as she approached one of the engines, otherwise Kysaek was in danger of drifting off into space and that would have been fatal because even her modified armour wasn’t made for long stays in space. However, the equipment was hardly designed for squeezing into the narrow hole in front of her. ‘It’ll be fine,’ she thought to herself, taking a deep breath as she slipped in. ‘I mean, when in history was it ever a stupid idea to crawl into dark shafts and holes?’ Crawl wasn’t quite the word yet, though, if Kysaek was being accurate. There were only a few centimetres of free space around her, and that in the still weightlessness. A bump was unavoidable and there were a few metres ahead of her, which she took bit by bit. No one could help her here, she was on her own. Not even by radio could Kysaek speak to her people or ask for advice. The risk of the Fangs picking up on something was too great. Even Dorvan, with his superior technical skills, was out of the game and by the time the transporter had made the IPF, Kysaek would be out of reach of any help for the time being. But that didn’t matter to her, because only Thais and Tavis mattered to her. Not that she had set out for such a situation, but she could finally return the favour. Without the Talin, Kysaek would have been dead back then and the Palanian had been with her for a long time and wouldn’t have had to stay with her. There were no ifs or buts for her - she wanted to save the two of them at the risk of her life. ‘Oh, my sweet gravity,’ went through her mind as she stretched out her right hand and felt a gentle pressure, as if someone was resting their hand on Kysaek’s. That was the limit, where the vacuum ended and the displays on her armour reported an atmosphere and she could see a faint light from above at the end.

It led into the engine room, which was suitably spacious for the ship and consisted of five levels, with a good two dozen catches spread across them, not all of which were wearing armour. A good half of them were clearly maintenance and control personnel. However, they didn’t have much to do at the moment and although the transporter wasn’t moving at the moment, every piece of technology was humming and vibrating vigorously. It was by no means deafening, but the background noise made infiltration easier.

From a sea of pipes in a steel pit in front of the ground floor level, Kysaek gingerly stuck her head out of a shaft and heaved herself out of it at the first opportunity. Where it was shadier, she climbed all the way out of the pit and over the railing to take her place with the Fangs as if she had never been anything else. If the copied, fake ID in her Vortex cuff was anything to go by, that was the case. There was a human mercenary on the ship with the same ID, but the likelihood of running into her was an acceptable risk for Kysaek. Before things really got going, however, she took off her aether pack and placed it as concealed as possible near a main electrical line. She then took her plasma assault rifle in both hands and did what she used to do best - go on patrol. The thought that her time at PGI had a purpose and allowed her to act completely naturally was amusing yet saddening to her. Other than that, Kysaek hadn’t taken or done anything good from that time. She had merely lived for herself, with banal dreams, a few fibs and no real goal. But after what she had seen and experienced on her journey so far, there was gradually more to it than just proving her innocence and returning to her old life. What it was, however, Kysaek couldn’t quite put her finger on.

‘All personnel,’ said an electronic, female-tinged computer voice from every angle in the vicinity. ’Cast off procedure being initialised. IPF will occur in four minutes. Occupy your stations.’

‘Finally,’ murmured a Palanian Fangs mercenary in the corridor. ‘What did we actually just do?’

‘Tanja told me earlier about a very valuable prisoner,’ replied a Talin mercenary, relaxed and smoking. ‘A real super hit, but that’s all she knew.’

‘Tanja always knows everything, can that be?’

‘She’s got her ears in all the right places, just like her mouth,’ grinned the Talin with a wink. Her eyes went briefly to Kysaek, but that was a normal reaction to new movement and she looked back at the Palanian. ‘If you know what I mean.’

’I do all too well. But I’d rather be a replaceable soldier than a replaceable slut.’

‘Even if the slut has the better life?’

’It’s better to be sent to your grave out of stupidity or greed than out of boredom. Boredom can appear at any time and there’s nothing you can do about it. Greed or stupidity are completely different, because you can usually tell who has one of the two.’

Greed, yes, greed was the word that was not in the mercenaries’ name for nothing. The Greedy Fangs’ main business was blackmail on a grand scale, the slave trade and highly remunerated protection contracts for private individuals or important objects. There is no doubt, however, that blackmail was the group’s top priority. To this end, the Fangs seized criminals who were either notorious felons or possessed explosive knowledge that could pose a danger to third parties. These criminals were kept by the Fangs in one of their five prisons and then they demanded that the third parties concerned, whether governments or whomever, cover the accommodation costs. If these often horrendous sums were not paid, the Fangs could no longer guarantee safe custody or, to put it another way, they would release the criminals where they would cause the most damage if the third parties refused to pay the protection fee.

That had made sense to Kysaek when Vorrn had told her about the Fangs. The Network was an organisation full of wanted men, and the two prisoners she’d been informed were Talin and were to be freed by her were probably Network members, and thanks to her fake ID she’d been able to get through most of the security doors easily during her search, but those were just the normal routes on the ship. She didn’t have powers like opening the cells by a long shot and she mainly tried to move around the outer areas where there was less turnover. Presumably because that was where the cells of the less profitable prisoners were. In total, the ship was divided into six areas: The bridge, the engines, the outer blocks and the large cell blocks one to three, in the centre of the ship. These made up most of the space and although their prisoners were in the centre of the outer blocks, Kysaeks inevitably had to go to the third, last block first. It was close to the main engines and, in addition to the prisoners, housed most of the transporter’s power supply.

‘IPF complete,’ announced the automated voice. However, there was no sign of it. ‘Estimated arrival at Hell Gate B in approximately five hours.’

That sounded like a lot of time, but only if Kysaek let her guard down, which she did not. Especially on the way to the generators, she had to be careful. Next to the bridge, it was the most secure area of the ship and her ID was not assigned to this area according to the duty roster. So she shouldn’t fall under closer inspection or be too loud in an emergency, which is why Kysaek clipped the assault rifle to her back in a quiet corner. In exchange, she picked up her crescent moon pistol. It was a weapon that fired purely electronic, self-dissolving and silent shock clips. Ideal for this kind of mission, it made Kysaek more manoeuvrable. She avoided corridors monitored by cameras where possible, but as she approached the third cell block, it became increasingly difficult for her to maintain a balance between security and inconspicuousness. At an important cross corridor, Kysaek almost ran into a group of discussing mercenaries and quickly retreated behind the corner.

‘Hey you there!’ came an angry Galig male voice. ‘I saw you right there!’

Kysaek hesitated, but it didn’t sound like she was blown. ‘What?’

’Not what! Come here!’

‘It’s all right,’ Kysaek replied and stepped forward gingerly, holstering her previous pistol. The whole thing had something of the old days for her, when she had been snapped at by Phonor. ‘What is it?’

’As if you hadn’t heard! I need some volunteers for the demonstration and now I’ve had enough.’

Kysaek wasn’t sure what it was about, so she tried to come up with a suitable excuse. ’But I’m supposed to report to the chief technician. A few genra in the shafts of the generators need to be fumigated.’

‘There’s time!’ the Galig said harshly. On his chest plate was one of the higher rank insignia belonging to the block supervisors. ‘You come with us and carry out the demonstration, got it?’

What was Kysaek supposed to do? She had to obey. ‘Yes, of course sir!’ she saluted in Alliance style.

This made all the mercenaries laugh heartily, one of whom was a Davoc. ’What was that? Did you all see that?’

‘Ha haha,’ the overseer shook his head. ’Fresh out of the Alliance, eh? Pull your stick out of your arse or you’ll be a laughing stock at the Fangs for the rest of your life, hunting vermin.’

‘Of course, old habit,’ Kysaek dismissed the whole thing more casually. ‘So, let’s demonstrate something.’ She had no idea about this part, however. Neither Vorrn nor anyone else had mentioned anything about it, and Kysaek couldn’t remember the demonstration being noted in the files. But what choice did she have? She had to play along, and at least it gave her the access to Cell Block Three she had been longing for.

It was quiet inside, considering the number of prisoners and the size of the place. It was similar to the consulate prison, where the upper cells were taken out using a rail system and mechanical forks, with no stairs or other means of escape. Cell block three, however, was longer and higher, like the aisle between two well-stocked shelves in a warehouse. From the wall cells on the floor, there were six more cells up, a good twenty-five metres to the ceiling, and in the centre of the block was a Void Body controlled blockade breaker.

‘I see you’ve all internalised the introduction!’ shouted the Galig supervisor, his voice echoing through the block via loudspeaker. ’Quiet, obedient, but I lied to you all earlier! That won’t help you! You are now our property, the scum of the scum, and although we want to keep everyone alive, we will not treat you well!’

The announcement was immediately followed by loud roars from the prisoners. They banged against the steel of their cell walls and rehearsed a verbal revolt. Just seconds later, the inmates in their cells were all shocked by a brief, violent lightning storm and the guards in the block cheered the spectacle, with the exception of Kysaek. She felt anything but comfortable here, but she could only stand there and give free rein to her disgust under her helmet.

‘Always the same!’ said the Overseer who controlled the shock attack via his vortex cuff. ’The newcomers quickly forget what we did during the lockdown! I hope you won’t forget what’s coming so quickly! Let’s start the roulette game!’

The rail system started up and the forks began to slide past the cells. There was no recognisable pattern. It simply went criss-cross, up and down, from side to side, before a fork stopped and pulled the cell in front of it completely out of the wall as a box. The same thing happened in other places until four cells were selected in the heights and brought down, where a floor cell also opened.

The chosen prisoners were targeted by a handful of guards. ‘Get out of there!’ they demanded, ‘Nice and easy!’

The inmates obeyed and came outside.

‘Bah!’ choked the Overseer in disgust, at the sight of a Nyrnka prisoner rotting slimily forwards. ’A rotten egg at the roulette! It’s bad luck and even my helmet can’t filter out the stench!’

During the casserole, Kysaek murmured quietly to the side. ’I’m still new. What exactly is happening now?’

‘You don’t know?’ the Davoc from before replied back, overcast and amused. ‘Well, we’re going to take the prisoners and beat them up as a demonstration.’

‘Why? What have they done?’

’More than enough, otherwise none of them would be here. We’ll show them what their lives will be like from now on. Indiscriminate beatings and light torture are part of everyday life in Hell Gate B. So we leave no doubt as to who’s in charge.’

Kysaek merely nodded. Hell Gate B was the name of the prison ward they were heading for, one of five identical facilities, from A to E. She could hardly imagine how bad it must be there and reluctantly reached for her shock baton.

‘Don’t kid yourselves!’ the Oversser raised his shock baton clearly. ’Every day, we’ll pick someone and take them for special treatment! No one will be spared!’ The threatening words were followed by a merciless blow that hit a captured Palanian on the forehead and brought him to the ground, where the Overseer immediately followed up with a kick.

‘I love my job!’ grinned the Davoc diabolically. She and the other guards took on the remaining prisoners and immediately broke the left arm of one of them.

Kysaek found the whole thing absolutely unnecessary and pathetic. Criminal or not, but wasn’t being captured punishment enough? She didn’t even know what the individual people had done, but the overseer noticed her reticence and she joined the small crowd. Her hand gripped the shock stick tightly and she took a deep breath. ‘It’s for Thais and Tavis,’ she mentally told herself, clapping the shoulders of a fully tattooed Talin.

That was enough for the overseer, who turned his attention back to his own attacks and let this aria of violence run for several minutes. The prisoners screamed out their pain until they soon ran out of strength and just the punches and kicks echoed through the cell block and blood of different colours flowed across the metal floor. ’Okay, okay! No more fun!’ the woverseer ordered. There were a few more swings, but the demonstration ended and the Galig walked between the pile of beaten inmates. ’And now take really good care, because you’ll be longing for our special treatment! Anyone who resists permanently should realise one more thing - no one is irreplaceable. You are capital, but bad capital is also repelled.’ The overseer pointed to the captured Palanian, who was covered in dark orange blood coming from his eyes and mouth, but his robust exoskeleton had apparently prevented more extensive damage. ’This is Parun Arid, a renegade of the Legions of Feren! He used to sabotage other governments in highly secretive operations until he had enough and became a rebel. Actually, we would get two hundred thousand foreign currency per month for him to keep him, but today is not his lucky day! We will dispose of him here and now!’

Now one of the inmates was going to die for no real reason? This made Kysaek so angry that she clutched her shock baton even tighter. She fervently hoped she wouldn’t be singled out for this.

The overseer looked through the ranks of his chosen mercenaries. ‘You!’ he dialled, with a hint to the Davoc. ‘Finish him off!’

‘Ha, it’s my turn today!’ the Davoc replied enthusiastically, drawing her pistol as she stepped forward.

Kysaek sighed quietly in relief, but it wasn’t quiet enough, because the overseer raised his hand to Davoc. ‘Wait,’ he said suspiciously calmly. ‘I’d rather have her taking this.’

‘What?’, Kysaek listened. ‘Me?’

‘Yes, you.’

’I’d rather sit out today. Our Davoc friend here is already in position.’

‘You should put aside your Alliance whims,’ said the overseer, cautiously. His words did not reach the prisoners watching, but the pack apparently sensed weakness and watched the spectacle with interest. ‘But orders are obeyed here too, or do we have a moral problem here?’

‘I just don’t get it,’ Kysaek argued tensely as she received far too much attention. Hundreds of eyes focused solely on her. Still, she really didn’t understand. ’Why are we killing our capital? We’ve shown the prisoners what awaits them. Do you think they doubt we’ll shoot them if we just threaten to do it instead of showing them?’

The overseer looked moderately to the sides. He probably didn’t want to show the inmates any nakedness or mercy and stood next to Kysaek without looking at her. Instead, the Galig bent his head a little towards her shoulder. ’You will do that now, and I will not repeat myself, for my next order will be to spare Parun. After that, I’ll throw you naked in a cell with him and tell him to rape you if he wants to live,’ he whispered coldly. ’I’ve already seen what it looks like when a Palanian rapes a human being without protection. It’ll be like your first time, only there’ll be more than a tug and a bloody mess. Do you think this beast will hesitate if I give him a chance to save his life?’

She struggled inwardly, but Kysaek was busy visualising the described pain and the events that awaited her and immediately suppressed the images. Her breathing quickened and she trembled briefly with fear. ‘Understood,’ she murmured meekly and picked up her normal pistol while Parun was pushed to his knees by a couple of guards. Kysaek stood in front of him and he looked at her, covered in blood, but unbroken and silent. To make things easier for herself, she repeatedly recalled the reason she was here - it´s for Thais and Tavis. With that justification and a few more seconds of waiting, it flashed through Parun’s mind and she lowered her arm heavily.

‘What a shitty demonstration,’ the overseer grumbled to himself, looking to the pre-selected Davoc. ’Accompany this Alliance heroine and make sure she thoroughly cleans the shafts near the generators of vermin. The chief technician probably knew better than that. That’s all she’s good for.’

‘Will do,’ said Davoc, pulling Kysaek along with her. ‘Come on, you heroine.’ Out of the block and among themselves, the female monkey said. ‘Not a good debut.’ Despite her obstructive presence, the mercenary made a good additional cover. ’And the inmates will target you in prison. Any weakness, no matter how tiny, is for the Force.’

‘I get the beating, it’s about respect,’ Kysaek said dully. An even greater contempt for the Fangs began to grow in her than she had had before, though she barely kept it in check. ‘The execution was the last straw, though.’

‘Now you wanna tell me you’ve never killed anyone as a soldier?’

‘Not without good reason.’

‘That was with good reason,’ Davoc emphasised as she entered the generator area. It was guarded at the entrance by well-armoured bots and initially a narrow tunnel, at the end of which was a luminous glow. ’If you’ve been in one of the hell gates for a while, you’ll understand. Even after the execution, some of these beasts will try. After all, they have nothing left to lose and everything to gain. Not bad odds for this scum, dont you think?’

‘If the prisoners are going to try anyway, what’s the point of the demonstration?’

’To keep their numbers as low as possible. Some are easier to break and control than others.’

‘That doesn’t convince me,’ Kysaek replied in disgust. There were half a dozen oval machines in the generator room, with one large one in the centre and even connected to the ceiling. The generators around them were about a third of the mass of the core machines, and there were metal catwalks between the machines for technicians to monitor the systems. Kysaek led her companion away from the catwalks, however, into an area that was difficult to see, where she discovered a barred shaft.

’I don’t care what convinces you. Either you adapt or you have no future with the Fangs,’ said the Davoc, crossing her arms. The newcomer’s reaction made her frown. ’At least not a good one. Is it here? Get in there!’

‘Sure,’ Kysaek murmured. She unlocked the latch on the shaft, but pretended the steel was too unwieldy for her. ’Whew, what’s this! I can’t get the grate off!’

’My goodness! Try harder or have you been carried on your hands at the Alliance?’

‘I’d have a big mouth, too, if I was naturally a big lump thanks to Davoc biology.’

‘By the third eye!’ puffed the Davoc snidely. She pushed the frail woman aside and squatted as she lifted. ‘There you go!’ The grate was easy for her and the mercenary glanced down the dark shaft, not seeing the crescent moon pistol being reached for behind her back. ’The hole is just big enough for humans. A job perfectly made for you.’

‘Let’s test that thesis,’ Kysaek replied hardened and gave the mercenary a whispered shock shot to the neck. Before the Davoc fell over completely, Kysaek kicked her into the shaft as forcefully as possible and gave her another shot for good measure before sealing the hole again. ‘I’d say that was disproved.’

Once she was free to move again, Kysaek stayed just below the metal walkways. The shadows there and the whirring of the machines gave her more than enough cover so that she could attach handy explosives to two secondary generators that were not linked to life support. Her plan was to cause chaos, allowing some of the prisoners to escape from their cells and start a revolt on the ship so that she could rescue the targets and rendezvous with Wolfgang at the escape pods if he managed to escape. Then she would just have to capture an escape pod and detonate the EMP bomb that was built into her ether pack. This would rip the ship out of the IPF, allowing the Dormant to recover the occupied escape pod. Although this was all for the benefit of her companions, Kysaek had been slightly apprehensive about this endeavour until earlier. Now, however, that had all evaporated. She didn’t give a damn about the Fangs, the prisoners, or this whole perversion of a ship. Leaving the power supply and the third cell block was much easier than entering, and it was even easier for Kysaek to get to the outer cells. Here it was clearer for her and there was no large hall with countless cells. She acted more naturally than before and without compromise. The crescent moon was a good choice in some places, but a lone Hishek guard stood in front of the cell of her targets.

The lizard was reading some news site via its vortex cuff, the attachment of which was on its tail, which was curled straight forwards, but the man took notice. ‘I’ll be right back to work.’

‘Not soon enough!’ Kysaek responded and approached Söldner. She pulled out her knife and drove it into the eye of the surprised Hishek, deep into his skull.

Beyond the wall of energy sat two Talin. The sight of them was unfamiliar, for instead of fine robes of Decoru silk, they wore soiled and torn rags that more or less concealed their starving bodies. ‘I told you so!’ gulped the shorter of the women. ‘The director would rather send a murderer than a rescuer!’

‘He wouldn’t dare!’ her cellmate shook her head. ‘He won’t get to the account without us!’

‘Shut up, both of you!’ hissed Kysaek harshly, picking up her assault rifle again. ’And be quiet! I want to get you out of here!’

‘Really?’ asked the cell mate. ‘Who sent you?’

’Let’s save that for after the escape! We have a tight schedule to keep!’ she said as calmly as possible. She checked the time on her vortex cuff and it told her that the transporter was in the last third of the intercept route. ’Listen to me carefully now: I want to get you off this ship alive at all costs. So do exactly as I say and stay close to me!’

Who knew what the women had already been through, but in their desperation and according to the circumstances, they believed the stranger. ’We’ll do anything! The main thing is that we don’t have to go to Hell Gate B!’

‘Hey!’ shouted a slippery male voice from another cell. ’I’ll do anything too! Get me out of here!’

‘And don’t forget me!’ a typical Skyth throat joined in.

‘Pull yourselves out of this shit!’ Kysaek objected, using her vortex cuff to arm the explosives near the generators. Meanwhile, the prisoners that Kysaek didn’t want to save became very vocal.

‘What’s with the commotiont?’ a Palanian Fangs mercenary grumbled as she appeared in the corridor. ‘Do you all want to die?’ She was still looking at Kysaek and pointing at her when suddenly there was a muffled bang and the ship was rattled by a noticeable shake that caused the Palanian to sway.

Kysaek was prepared for this and had a better position from which to shoot the mercenary with her assault rifle. She then triggered a mechanism on her armour so that her chest and back were clearly marked by a green burst of colour. This would later make her recognisable to Wolfgang and the rest.

Beeping alarm signals came from the loudspeakers at jagged intervals, including the automatic female voice. ‘Warning, warning,’ she said numbly. ’Heavy explosions recorded inside the ship. Energy level down to eighty per cent. Hull integrity is not compromised. Unregulated cell openings in Block One, Two, Three and the outer cells. Immediate countermeasures are strongly recommended.’

‘Ladies - that was our cue!’ said Kysaek, hastily waving Talin over as the wall of energy disappeared. At the same time, she kept an eye on the surroundings and dealt with any rushing guards who didn’t recognise the supposed ally as a threat.

‘Careful!’ warned the smaller Talin as a Scyth suddenly stormed out of one of the open cells.

Turning back, Kysaek finished him off with a well-aimed shot to the sensitive, cloaking head area, creating an unsavoury mess. ’I see we understand each other! Come on!’ The chaos was great, perhaps greater than it had been intended. From everywhere, Kysaek could hear gunfire, screams of the angry and dying, and faint detonations.

‘This is Commander Olgan!’ the enraged Davoc announced over the loudspeakers. ’Initiate total lockdown of blocks one to three! The special wing is stable! Also check the outer cells! Push back the escapees and kill them if necessary!’

Even on Kysaek’s outer route there were already some of the aforementioned prisoners. They had captured weapons and were fighting with guards, but Kysaek didn’t get involved. She already had enough to do keeping an eye on her precious friends. ‘Get in that corner!’ she instructed the Talin away from the shooting. She herself got down on her knees in front of their hiding place and hoped that Wolfgang was free when she used her own comm frequency. ‘Can you hear me?’

‘It’s quite loud, but yes!’ the scientist spoke up. ‘I’m halfway to the agreed escape pod!’

’I’m trying to get a fix on your position! - Perfect, you’re not far from me! I’ll secure the escape pods until you arrive!’

‘Yes, no, no,’ Wolfgang said incoherently and quietly, as if he had to pay attention. ‘My group has a more unstable plan.’

‘Your group?!’

‘I’ve just been forced to make some new friends and they’d rather storm the bridge and take over the ship.’

‘Are you serious?’

’I had to free myself somehow! The least you could do would be to kindly move here and free me from the rescue!’

The scientist didn’t have to be here, but Kysaek hadn’t forgotten Wolfgang’s appreciation of life and the innocent. She was sure that was especially true for Thais and Tavis, though he hadn’t said so when they were planning. ’I’ll think of something! Try to slow down the prisoners!’

‘They’re not exactly co-operative, but I’ll try!’

‘Ladies,’ Kysaek sighed and reloaded her weapon. ’I’m going to have to take a diversion. You stay right here, do you understand that?’ She got a hasty, silent nod from the Talin and handed one of them a tracking device. ’If it gets serious, don’t do anything stupid and press the emergency signal! I’ll be right back with reinforcements!’ Kysaek had little choice but to leave the women here. It was the safest place and the fighting was getting fiercer. Besides, she had an idea for Wolfgang, where the women would only have been a hindrance. She followed the scientist’s signal, passing many a corpse and shot-up bot.

Suddenly, another vibration went through the ship. ‘Failure of secondary generator C,’ the automated voice reported. ’Further, unregulated cell openings are taking place. Total lockdown of Block One can no longer be guaranteed.’

The blowing up of the generators seemed to be developing into a chain reaction, which put Kysaek under even more pressure. ‘Hey! You there!’ she shouted to a passing group of mercenaries. ’I need help! Several prisoners want to storm the bridge!’

‘If they occupy the bridge, we’ll be in real trouble!’ said a human mercenary. ‘Show us the way!’

‘This way!’ Kysaek showed the guards the way. At this rate, she would fall right into the flank of the prisoners.

At a multi-part transition from the outer cells to the front area of the transport, the prisoners around Wolfgang were already engaged in a battle with outnumbered mercenaries. However, little was seen of the scientist. ‘How do you like our demonstration?’ a Sororanian woman barked. She and her sister were effectively attacking in two directions at once.

‘Retreat!’ shouted a defender, ‘Retreat and regroup!’ Even as they retreated, more guards fell and the prisoners advanced, confident of victory.

It was an opportunity for Kysaek and her helpers to surprise the inmates from the left and make a breach between the disorganised fighters. She kept as far back as possible, reducing the number of enemies on both sides. Nevertheless, she fought doggedly and enabled the Fangs to make a brutal advance with a prismatic shield, which wore down the prisoners.

‘Secured!’ announced a Palanian with a mag shotgun cocked. He was one of three surviving mercenaries. ‘Halt! Who’s there?’

‘Don’t shoot, please!’ came Wolfgang’s voice from behind a set of stairs. ‘They forced me!’

‘Come out at once and surrender!’

’Of course! Just keep your fingers still!’ the scientist replied. He slowly stretched his hands up behind the steps before his head and body, already wrapped in the convict’s clothes, rose up.

‘We should finish him off!’ said a Calanian mercenary. ‘In this situation, we don’t have time to guard him!’

‘Maybe we should,’ agreed the Palanian, arming his weapon for execution. Suddenly, a hot plasma charge pierced his helmet from behind, just as the remaining mercenaries, who were still turning, received the glowing shots.

‘That was close,’ Wolfgang sighed with relief, as there was another considerable commotion in the ship and the normal light was replaced by red emergency lighting. ‘Our plan is going stupidly too well and out of control.’

Kysaek signalled the man to follow her with a swivel of his head. He had a captured mag pistol in his hand and as she ran she complained to him. ‘I thought you said your bombs wouldn’t tear the ship apart!’

‘Yes, and I said unless the Fangs couldn’t get the fire under control and you said why wouldn’t they? I replied fire on board ships has always been bad in the history of space travel!’

‘Let’s hope we get off the ship before we find out for ourselves!’ said Kysaek. On their way back to the Talin, there was no contact with the enemy and, to her relief, the women had listened to her.

‘Who’s that?’ the taller Talin murmured suspiciously.

’The reason why we might blow up! Is that enough for you?’

‘Erm, yes.’

‘Great, now hurry up!’ said Kysaek as the Talin came out of hiding and she herself turned to run. ‘We have to get to th-!’

‘What are you doing?’ asked an angry, Galig-sounding male voice from the right.

Kysaek let the barrel of her gun point at the ground as she half-turned. She saw two guards pointing at her, a Galig and Davoc. ‘I, eh, have catched those prisoners!’ she fibbed briskly, hiding her free hand behind her hip. ‘They were heading for the escape pods!’

‘And why does this prisoner has a gun?’ growled the Davoc, his mouth wide and his teeth clear and white, his finger already cocking the trigger.

‘I recruited him and eh,’ Kysaek stumbled, prismatic energy gathering in her hidden hand. ‘Oh, even I don’t believe that!’ The guards opened fire and with a wave of her hand, she erected a saving barrier in front of her group and herself. Kysaek’s forces withstood the attack and with a moderate Wolfgang as marksman, the guards were riddled with holes.

‘Suspicious activity detected,’ an electric voice buzzed from above. A guard bot had observed the situation. ’Enemies in allied uniform detected. Create and send profile.’

Before the machine could attack, Kysaek melted its face with a shot. ’That cancels our wildcard! Move!’ She realised that the scam as a catch was now over, as the bot had most certainly sent her picture. Fortunately, it wasn’t too far to the escape pods and the disguise had served its purpose. The red in the corridors restricted her vision, but Kysaek rigorously protected the way as a spearhead until she reached the pods. ‘How long will this take?’

‘As long as it takes,’ Wolfgang replied with focus. In a long, self-contained staircase, he set about bridging one of the secured capsule doors. ‘You’d better detonate the second bomb anyway, otherwise we’ll come out too close to the prison!’

‘Let’s see if the Fangs have found the other bomb,’ Kysake took a deep breath. She now activated her modified ether pack, which acted as an EMP bomb and would temporarily disable all electronics. ’This is going to be a rough stop! Hold on tight!’

Where the explosions had previously sent noticeable shocks through the ship’s steel, they were now followed by far more enormous forces. A violent jolt went through the ship, as if it were a full stop, throwing not only Kysaek against the nearest wall despite holding on tight. Wolfgang also landed on the floor and the two Talin were also knocked over.

‘Warning, warning!’ the automated voice reported emphatically. ’Uncontrolled leakage from the IPF has occurred! Power supply to IPF axis and engines faulty! Disruptive signatures detected in the engine area! Ship navigation temporarily not possible!’

‘HIGH ALARM!’ came the angry and frightened voice of Olgan. ’TWO SUBJECTS FROM THE SPECIAL WING ARE FREE! REPEAT, SPECIAL WING HAS TWO ESCAPEES! ALL AVAILABLE FORCES MOVE THERE IMMEDIATELY, BUT DON’T KILL THEM!’

Staggering, Kysaek pulled himself up against the wall. She didn’t care what the special wing was that she hadn’t read about in the data. ‘Please remind me that we’re never doing this again!’ she said, glancing at the Talin - both were doing fine.

‘If no one can be kidnapped again,’ Wolfgang complained as he stood up and immediately got back to work. ‘I need another two or three minutes.’

‘Take your time,’ said Kysaek sarcastically. To be on the safe side, she checked the magazine of her plasma assault rifle and positioned herself at the area access point.

Wolfgang didn’t say anything back, although his mouth moved in mimicry. The hatch of the capsule beeped, but instead of a breakthrough, a second door slid over the escape vehicle. ‘Unauthorised access,’ warned the ship’s automated voice. ‘Dispatch security forces.’

Kysaek looked back. ‘What the hell was that?’

‘I’m a scientist, not a hacker!’ Wolfgang grumbled. ‘It’s not as simple as your primitive shooting!’

‘Primitive, but effective,’ murmured Kysaek, expecting trouble soon. But it was a long time coming, waiting and waiting. It simply didn’t come, which Kysaek could understand. The intended chaos seemed to keep the Fangs plenty busy. At least enough that Kysaek had to hold back a few mercenaries when the escape pod was finally cracked.

‘Let’s get out of here!’ said Wolfgang. He didn’t immediately rush to safety, however, but briefly helped with the defence. ‘Get in there, ladies!’ The Talin stole into the capsule with their heads down and Wolfgang followed, running backwards. ‘Come on!’

‘Now!’ replied Kysaek. The shelling separated her side from that of the capsule and she blindly threw a grenade. Its explosion interrupted the enemy fire for a moment, which she used to sprint and dive into the capsule.

Wolfgang closed the hatch and activated the start counter of the escape vehicle. It was only a few seconds for him and Kysaek to sit down and secure themselves in the cramped capsule.

On the holoscreens, the counter ran to zero and the pod blasted away from the transporter. Its sensors showed it moving away from the ship, which was smoking heavily at the stern, at breakneck speed. After all, the transporter had come out of the IPF and even without active engines, it had considerable speed. It was getting smaller and smaller and the large defence turrets and smaller weapons were not firing at the escaping capsule, while a tiny, minimal sphere of planet could already be seen in the background of the transporter. The location of Hell Gate B.

‘Come on,’ Kysaek murmured quietly to herself. ’Don’t leave us hanging. Oh please, please’

‘In a panic, even an atheist becomes a believer,’ said Wolfgang, suddenly holding a wooden cross tightly in his clenched hand. ‘Welcome to the club.’

’What? No, I’m begging for the twin goddesses! They’re real!’

‘Excuse me?’

The pods’ alarmed sensors reported that the enemy transport ship had changed course and was about to turn. However, it was still a long way off when the systems signalled another ship leaving the IPF - it was the Dormant! The silver lining in the darkness, followed by a fleeting red cloud carried by the IPF.

‘Dormant to T One!’ Dios contacted the pod. ‘Are you on board?’

‘Safe and sound!’ replied Kysaek. ’Still! And we have our parcels on board!’

‘Understood, we’ll collect you and then we’ll get Thais and Tavis back!’ Dios reported in relief.

The Dormant flew a slight arc so that it half circled the capsule and the transporter, which was still far too far away, was now at its back. The compact scout frigate opened its narrow hangar on its belly and brought it moderately into position. Without slowing down completely, however, the Dormant collected the capsule, which crashed discreetly to the ground due to the ship’s gravity, and the hangar closed again.

‘IPF done!’ said Dios. ‘Jump in three, two, one!’

As suddenly as the ship had appeared, it disappeared again with a flash of red into interphase flight, invisible to normal eyes.

Inside the rescue capsule, everyone, absolutely everyone, breathed a sigh of relief and the slightly sweaty Wolfgang confessed while kissing his wooden cross. ‘Turn the other cheek, Jesus certainly didn’t mean this, but we’re alive, so the good man knows what he’s doing.’

Exhausted, Kysaek unclipped her Fangs helmet, hissing and letting out fleeting puffs of steam from her neck. ‘I wonder if you’ll still be saying that soon,’ Kysaek said. Her face was glistening with sweat and her hair was wet and sticky.

‘My faith is unshakeable.’

‘I’m glad, because you’ll need it,’ Kysaek returned, her gaze clear and unwavering. ‘Because he was right.’

‘Who, Jesus?’

‘No, Vorrn.’

Wolfgang fell into displeasure. ‘Oh God, I have a bad feeling.’

‘When Thais and Tavis are safe, we’ll stop hesitating and poking around in the dark,’ Kysaek said. No more searching, no more questions, no more danger for her people. Even if what was to come was just as extremely dangerous, this eternal pursuit of fragments was even more so, and it should finally come to an end. ‘We’re attacking the PGI headquarters.’

’What can I say? No matter how long you try,’ Wolfgang said exhaustedly, rubbing the side of his forehead with exaggeration. ‘Science will never figure out how you suddenly went from this close call to -let’s just storm PGI’s headquarters-.’