Specter
27 Apr 2024Xochitl Khae
Specter
Colonia Region
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The chief boatswain’s mate watched the passive scanners as the ship’s AI developed a routine for finding and tracking its presence. Ryuko and Tara moved to another moon, landing on its surface, but the anomaly did not follow them. It appeared to find interest in the moon they had left, moving behind it, putting it between the carrier and itself.
Zaria sat across from him, studying the track the ship’s AI used from the information it had gained, to begin reviewing past records of systems visited to look for its presence, finding it within each, over the vast fifteen-thousand light-year adventure, since their departure from the Colonia region.
Leaning in she began reviewing individual frames of past recordings, her eyes narrowing. “This can’t be correct,” she said aloud as the Chief looked up at her, their eyes mirroring each other. “Chief. Send our findings to the other ships, and begin running a list of possible classifications.”
Ryuko glanced up, the shadow that had crossed the surface bacteria specimen catching his attention. The silhouette of a Diamondback Explorer stirred his curiosity; he wondered why the capital ship had launched one to scan this particular moon.
“Tara, see if you can raise the capital ship and ask them why we need a second ship on station,” Ryuko said, his voice crackling with static as he checked his communicator. “Tara, can you read me?” he repeated, glancing towards the Scarab where Tara should have been. To his surprise, she was outside the vehicle, gazing up at the ship overhead.
“Tara!” Ryuko yelled, as he began to run, activating his suit’s small reactive control thrusters, to give him more velocity, as he hopped back, shuttling his legs like a dog mushing, pulling a sled, using physics to keep a higher velocity than running, speeding towards her in bounding pushes.
He covered the three hundred meters quickly as the ship above descended to only a few meters off the surface, as Ryuko reached Tara, grabbing her with his arm. Under micro-gravity, with his velocity, Ryuko knew he should have scooped her up with ease, in one swift motion. Instead, he was stopped, as if she was made of stone, buried deep into the surface, and unmovable.
The collision hurt his arm, stopping him suddenly, the pain pushed away by the flow of adrenaline, as Ryuko picked himself off the lunar surface, noticing that Tara seemed unaware of what was taking place, her eyes fixed on the closing craft. Acting out of instinct Ryuko boosted himself to the Scarab, quickly unsealing the external hatch to the gunner’s position as the Diamondback Explorer approached, stopping short in front of Tara.
Activating the twin plasma repeaters of the Scarab, Ryuko turned the turret to aim at the ship, which was hovering in front of Tara. Ryuko could barely make out the amber cybernetic eye of its pilot as they appeared to study Tara, who in turn stared back as Ryuko centered the crosshairs on the ship, squeezing the trigger.
Ryuko began double-checking the weapons setting as nothing happened. The turret and plasma repeaters were armed, and the safety was disengaged, as he pulled the trigger again, only to have it fail again, as Tara turned around to look up at him in the turret. Ryuko saw Tara’s eyes studying him, along with the cybernetic eye of the pilot.
He kicked open the hatch leading from the turret to the driver’s seat. If he couldn’t fire at them, he would use the Scarab itself as both weapon and shield, as he flowed into the seat, redirecting all its power to its engines. The lunar dust kicked up as he gunned the engine, spinning the vehicle to face the ship as his thumb pressed down on the small jump thrusters, that were normally used for clearing rocks or small terrain.
A smile appeared on Tara’s face as the jump thrusters went offline. Pushing the control stick forward, all eight tires began to spin, then stopped as suddenly, as the vehicle's power settings went offline. Pounding on the panel, Ryuko knew that the Scarab was malfunctioning at exactly the wrong moment, as he turned in the seat, pushing open the canopy and crawling out to stand again on the surface.
The vehicle might not be working, but he knew the laser pistol at his side did, as he rushed over to Tara, drawing his Zenith laser pistol, and pointing it at the pilot of the Diamondback Explorer.
Tara reached up, gently pushing down Ryuko’s arm with the pistol clutched in his hand. She continued to smile, as she looked into Ryuko’s eyes, with a weird stare before turning her head back to the pilot of the Diamondback Explorer, whose pilot nodded before the craft began to rise, its nose pointing back to the stars from where it came.
Ryuko caught Tara as she slumped into his arms, quickly accessing her suit's biomedical monitoring system. All indicators were green—her vital functions, tailored to her synthetic design, showed no signs of damage or malfunction. Suddenly, the lights on the Scarab flickered to life, casting an eerie glow over them. With anger etching his features, Ryuko lifted her effortlessly, the once immovable Tara now light as air. He bounded onto the Scarab's hood, his boots thudding heavily.
In a swift motion, Ryuko kicked open the external hatch of the storage pods—typically used for cargo or specimens, but equally capable of transporting people or escape pods. Gently, he placed Tara inside one of the pods, ensuring she was well away from its mechanical edges. With a forceful slam on the control panel, he sealed the pod, securing her inside. Then, without a moment's hesitation, he jumped down and climbed back into the driver's seat.
Their Dolphin class ship was less than two kilometers away, as the lunar surface was kicked up into a torrent as the once malfunctioning vehicle was now operating at full capacity.
“How the hell did they get over there!” the chief boatswain shouted in disbelief. At his exclamation, Zaria swiveled in her seat to activate the capital ship's general quarters alert.
“Launch a wing to protect our explorers!” she commanded. The large thrusters of the capital ship activated, pushing the massive ship towards the distant moon, as weaponry began appearing all along its massive surface, all turning towards the distant moon. “If it isn’t ours, turn it into charred atoms,” The chief boatswain called out as the weapons officer confirmed the order, all weapons appearing green, charged, and ready.