CH5

I stood there, my back plastered against the wall, trying to figure out if there was only one visitor coming down or maybe more of them. My breath shallow but steady. I doubted anybody may have heard it. It is natural that you perceive sounds produced by your own body as louder than they are, especially when trying to stay completely silent. If he was careless this could be over within two seconds. I hoped he would be.

Ksh-sh.

This time the sound had been unmistakable. A fabric rubbing against polymer cable. My muscle tensed as I readied for a fight.

Three seconds…

Five seconds…

And… I saw guardsman’s heavy boot stepping outside the half-open elevator shaft.

I did not wait for him to come out. When larger part of his body was still in the dark I reached to grab his jacket and pull him out, so I could throw him on the floor. He was surprisingly light. But, unfortunately, not careless. When I pulled him, he did not back off but added his strength to main and pushed his body on me. We both landed on the floor, with me on my back and my opponent sitting on me. Relying on my instincts, I quickly twisted my hips trying to throw him off and, at the same time, I bended my right hand so I could connect my elbow with his head.

But before this hit could reach my foe my whole body froze. The flare I had hidden under my vest must have slipped away; blue glow illuminated us both. I stared blankly at my enemy’s face. Long black straight hair falling down on my torso. I could see her dark skin, somehow delicate face and even darker empty eyes. Eyes I knew so well.

“Blaze!?” I shouted.

“That’s me.” She was still sitting on my belly, with her hands around my throat.

“I can see that, for Christ’s sake! Are you alone?”

“No. I’m with you.”

“Blaze…!” I tried again to throw my sister off me. This time she did not resist.

“Relax, little one.” Draco came carrying another flare. “Can’t you see she’s happy to see you? And I’m happy to see you too, Blaze.”

“Of course.” Her tone flat as always.

“But tell us sis, have you found anything interesting up there?” Draco continued as if he did not hear her.

“Corpses.”

“…Anything else?”

“Only these were interesting enough.” She shrugged as we were getting up from the floor.

“Right… So there are only the three of us, I assume. I would say we need to be careful but…” my voice drifted off. “I’m tired of this. Let’s go and see what the hell is going on.”

As we went down the narrow hall Draco told Blaze what we had found so far, I thought about what had just happened. Blaze and Draco. Long time ago these two were… close, that is for sure. But no. No, no, no. I hoped they had no intention of wallowing in this cesspool of a relationship anytime soon. They are like oxygen and hydrogen. Mix them and a single spark could send us all to hell.

I looked around. Maybe we were already there. If so, the place was overrated. Everything here except us was dead. We did not even bother to investigate two cabins we passed, as we went straight for the main hatch. It must be somewhere here.

“Ok, that should be it.” I said, standing in what appeared to be a dead end. “This wall here is different than any other we’ve seen so far. Too rugged. Must be the ramp. Any ideas how we could open this junk?”

Judging by the silence the answer was no.

“Then let’s try the old trick.” I put my both hands on the wall and urged my companions to do the same. “On three. One… two… THREE!”

The three of us pushed using all our weight. Harder, harder aaand… nothing happened. This damned piece of steel must have been weighting more than couple hundreds kilos. So what now?

“We could go back, check the rest of the freighter. There must be another way out.” Draco suggested.

“Yea, but I doubt it will be easier to open. Let’s try again.”

And so we tried, for another ten minutes, with the same results.

“Uh…uh. Damn it!” I hit the wall with my fist.

“It’s no use. Without working hydraulic we can sweat all we want.” My brother finally said, dejection in his voice.

There had to be a way! Maybe if we could-

“Draco…? Is it only me or is this thing getting… warmer?” I asked, not sure of what I was feeling.

“Possible.” he moved more to the right. “Here it is definit- Fuck..! It’s hot!” He jumped back the second his hand touched the center of the wall.

We all took a step back, waiting. Two steps. I had a feeling, that whatever was on the other side - we were about to find out. I watched with my eyes wide open, as a red dot appeared before us. It expanded, turning the solid wall into gurgling puddle.

“Blaze, turn of the light. Draco, be ready.” I said, gripping my electric baton.

“Ready for what?” Draco asked, but nevertheless aimed his gun.

“For everything.”

We stood there until the hole reached the floor and we saw…. something. Thanks to the light coming from behind it we could distinguish an unfamiliar silhouette. The creature standing on the other side could not have been taller than 1,4 – 1,6 meter. Two legs , two arms, one head. It is just that its torso was unnaturally bulky. It stepped through the hole, apparently oblivious to our presence, as we still stood in the shadows. But what the…

“Chto za chert..?” My brother’s whisper startled the creature.

I did not wait for the midget to recover. Instead, I crossed the distance between us and took a swing with the baton as if it was a baseball bat. How much of a mistake I had made I realized only when it was too late.

The small creature did not even try to dodge. The second my weapon struck that thing I felt an impulse of electricity going through his body. Apparently he felt it too. His whole body spasmed and his eyes exploded with quiet POP.

I stood there, unblinking, watching as the lifeless corpse hit the ground. What a moment ago has been the content of someone’s eye sockets was now smeared all over my belly.

…...

How the hell am I supposed to wash this off!?

“Teo, stop!” I shouted. “We need to talk!”

I stood on the bridge of our vessel. The short Sa’der did not even bother to turn his head; his delicate claws flying over the touchboard.

“We have nothing to talk about.” he barked. ”I took care of everything.”

“You stole their ship! You had no right! We were there to monitor them, to study them! How could you…!”

“Listen female” he spat, as if it was the worst insult he could come up with. “This is MY ship and I’ll use it however the hell I want! Do you understand!?”

“I understand you broke the law Teo. You think the Empire won’t find out!? They will have our logs!”

“And you think I don’t know!?” Teo looked at me for the first time, sneer plastered on his lizard face. ”What do you think I’ve been doing this whole time here?”

For the first time I looked over the console, trying to restrain my anger and think logically. Was this even possible? To alter the logs would mean to alter the AI itself. But if anybody could do it than this Sa’der was the best candidate.

“…You killed them, you know? You’re a murderer. And what about the bodies?” I asked quietly.

“I sent Zen to take care of that. We will space them right after we getting out of the jump.” he waved his small hand and turned back to his consol. “And don’t try to make me feel guilty. It won’t work. How many of this monkeys have died by their own hands since we jumped? A thousand? Ten thousand? And you think they will miss a dozen?”

“You…You will pay for that!”

He only snorted. There was no point in arguing with this greedy scum.

I went to the door and ordered it to open, wishing to be as far from this bastard as possible. To even breath the same air was disgusting for me. But just after the door slid open I saw something incredible. Before I could make another step I felt as if a taruk stepped on my stomach. My body coiled and I wanted to scream, but my lungs failed me.

“Hello everyone. I’m Ares.” I saw him standing above my numb body, massaging his fist that just sent me sprawling on the floor. “Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior, Lucifer?”