Chapter 5: A Scream In Space

It was the following day at the base. It seemed busier than it was expected. There was rampant shuffling as people were hurriedly moving as fast as possible. No alarms were being given off, however, and the base’s defenses were not active. Regardless, something had happened to cause such a stir.

Zalika was in the middle of putting on her power armor. Others around her were also putting on their armor. The armory was packed as ever, with everyone doing their best to adorn their gear.

“Staff Sergeant,” Zalika called out to him. “I want to make my protest clear that I don’t think Chuang should be brought along for this mission.”

The armory room was filled with racks, lockers, changing rooms, and testing equipment for various guns, gear, and stocks available. Zalika looked over to see Chuang, who was steady in putting on his own gear.

“I agree with you,” Kole replied to Zalika as he slipped on his boots. The magneto boots looked thick and durable. Zalika had finished adorning her pants-like armor. When she fit comfortably into them, the suits closed all around her leg to fit snuggly onto her.

So much was happening at once. The call to get dressed and armed up was startling but not openly met with resistance. It was something that she was ready for. Was it a drill, though? Even she didn’t know it.

It had been several hours since the night before. The last thing that was on her mind was the nightmare. That was all pushed aside as she grabbed a set of armor that would fit over her chest.

“Why then?” Zalika asked Kole. “We just got him. If this is some drill, we need to get him a little more prepared for this sort of shit. Even we have to announce something...”

“I agree with you, Zalika,” Kole explained. “I wouldn’t toss him into this whole shit as well, but the Master Sergeant made it clear that he needs sixteen more marines to go with him. Chuang was one of them. Orders are orders.”

“Fucking hell...” Zalika retorted. “This better be a goddamn drill.”

“It isn’t...”

Zalika felt a sense of dread hit her. She felt ready to face the inevitable for whatever crisis was to occur, but her eyes looked over to Chuang. The man seemed innocent. He was the new guy who just arrived and was now having to suit up for a battle or some emergency. He seemed to be holding up on his own, though. He already had his boots and his chest piece put on. Her eyes then went to look at Bekra, who wasn’t that far from her.

Bekra was in a different situation altogether, as she showed no dissatisfaction or hesitation in her actions. Her armor was different in design. Long term fighting between clans had allowed the Itrean armor to be as advanced as ever. It was in all aspects like a second skin for them. The Aksren armor, much like the armor used by the Yutilians, came in simple pieces. Her own armor was simple to put on. She grabbed a small disk-like piece and slapped it to her chest. The moment that she did, the armor began to glow and stretch outward all along her chest and shirt. It overlapped her breasts and then down to her stomach and lower abdomen.

For Zalika, she had seen it before, but it did grab Chuang’s attention as he slowed down on putting on his own armor.

“Get used to seeing that,” Zalika called out to him. “We’ll be fighting alongside them for a very long time.”

“Man ... getting ready for some sort of drill,” Karine called out. “Looks like the new guy is going to have some fun after all!”

Everyone was doing their best. One by one, new pieces of armor would click and pop as they were slipped on. Zalika even looked at the rack overhead behind Chuang.

Zalika had always admired the UHN marine armor. It made the human being look like a tank that was about to run into a shooting gallery. It fits as quickly as putting on another layer of clothing. Capable of withstanding the punishment that space could deliver, the armor was nothing more than a spacesuit with the ability to withstand heavy punishment. Only the marines could adorn this magnificent gear. To wear it was to feel seemingly invincible. It was brown and black. The armor fitted comfortably over a man or woman easily with no discomfort. It was flexible enough to allow a person to walk in it. The environmental suits could enable a person to survive in the hotter to zero-degree temperatures without any thought. Tiny thruster packs dotted the suits to allow a marine to float and control their space trajectories.

Chuang had just finished putting on his chestpiece as another man walked past him, getting to the weapons rack. Chuang continued to watch Bekra as the armor completely covered her chest and arms. The armor that she wore was both red and green. It looked like a layer of durable and flexible scales. It almost looked like it was her own skin. She then grabbed another disc-like device and slapped it behind the chest piece. The glowing on her chest had ceased before the other disc activated. From the disk was another layer of armor that grew outward from it. It began to spread outward and cover her abdomen and legs. It spread outward more and more until her entire lower frame was nothing but solid armor. Even her clawed feet were covered in this layer of armor. The magnetic straps lined the bottom portion of her clawed feet. The armor continued to glow as it even covered up her tail.

“Keep going, Chuang,” Kole told him. “If you need help, feel free to ask.”

“Yeah, man, don’t want to have you walking with your armor on backwards,” Karine joked.

There were a couple of people who seemed to chuckle a little bit as they heard it.

“Hey, that’s enough!” Kole yelled. “Get your asses in gear, get armed up, and head outside. They’re sending a military shuttle to come and pick us up!”

Karine seemed to understand that something significant had happened. The rest suddenly quieted down and got professional immediately. The room was filled with commotion as a few completely dressed marines began to go to the weapon racks to pick their weapons.

Zalika was almost done before she grabbed a helmet and put it on. It fit perfectly over the chest piece as it made a satisfying click sound. The helmet was perhaps the more interesting piece of design in military hardware. It had a backplate that protected the back of the wearer’s head and neck, but the front section was where the marines could see through. The moment that the headpiece clicked, a computer monitor screen menu appeared on one of the right portions of Zalika’s eyes. She had full access to the suit’s hardware and functions. She could see the status section where the system did regular checks on itself to feedback to the wearer. Everything lit up, showing her entire frame was in the green. Everything reported that it was 100% of operation.

“Make sure that you run a full diagnostic on your suits!” Kole said. “We’re likely going into space.”

Those words further drove home the point that was being made. For the first time, Chuang’s eyes went wide. Zalika could see it through her helmet. She knew that Chuang was trying to hide his apprehension.

“Status is green,” Zalika reported through the helmet’s headpiece. “It has a full seal, and oxygen recycler is working correctly.” She checked her left arm, where her augmented arm was located. She flexed her arm around to see if the suit turned with it. There were no problems.

Zalika looked over to Bekra. Her armor was fully adorned, and only her head was left unguarded.

“Does ... does Bekra need a helmet?” Chuang asked, looking at both Zalika and Bekra.

“I don’t need a helmet piece,” Bekra answered. “It is part of the armor.”

“Yutilian and Aksren armor helmet pieces are part of the armor itself,” Zalika added. “When she doesn’t need it, she can retract it back to her armor so she can interact with us.”

Kole had finished putting on his suit as he reached over and tapped a small keyboard on his arm. He interfaced with Zalika’s armor and opened up a radio signal that only she could hear and speak from.

“Zalika,” Kole kept his voice down so it wouldn’t go over the headpiece’s speakers. “I need you to keep an eye on Chuang. Watch over him. I want him stuck to you and Bekra like glue.”

“Ugh...” Zalika spoke back as she grumbled. “Make me a babysitter once again?”

“It’s as you said. I made my protest to the COC earlier. Ready or not, they’re grabbing as many people as possible.”

“Are we going into a warzone?”

There was a pause for a short moment before he spoke up again. “I’m not at liberty to discuss it yet. It’ll be easier to explain to all of the team once we get on the shuttle and depart.”

Zalika looked over to Bekra and then to Chuang, who was getting the last of the suit put on. She could tell further that he was fidgeting a little bit and looking around, even after just finishing up boot camp. He was in entirely new areas having to do things that only his prior basic training gave to him. It wasn’t enough, and she knew that he would have to stay close to him to ensure he wouldn’t mess up.

“Fucking hell, Staff Sergeant,” Zalika replied.

“Look at it this way. We all had to go through it...”

Zalika sighed again. “Aye ... I’ll keep a close eye on him.”

With that, Kole tapped his keyboard and closed the channel. He then patched it in so everyone could hear him through the helmet’s earpieces. Even Bekra’s armor was synced in, giving voice communication so she could hear the other marines.

“Hey, Harper!” Zalika yelled at him as he was looking at the weapons racks. “Taking your sweet ass time at the shop? Pick a gun and use it!”

Harper, who was already in his armor, shook his head and grabbed a sizeable rifle-like firearm from the rack. Chuang, who began to step away from him, could tell the gun the moment that he saw it. The M18 was perhaps the best firearm for the UHN. It was heavy-duty and rugged. Unlike the typical rifle or pistol, these guns were mounted on tripod like devices that slung on either the left or right arm. It was a marvel of design. It was the equivalent of a caseless high-caliber heavy machine cannon that had a drum-like attachment near the tripod connectors. He watched as Harper took the M18 and stuck it to his right arm. The moment that he did, the connector ports stuck to his arm and secured itself to it. The massive cannon was pointed up and was like a part of his arm. There was a station where Harper walked up and pressed his back to it. On the station was a disk-like device that clamped and connected behind his armor.

The disk-like device was little more than an ammo drum for the caseless rounds. The station then activated, pulled the ammo belt from the disk, and adjusted it to Harper’s M18 on his armor. The moment that it did, it pulled the belt of ammunition and pressed it into the gun’s magazine.

Harper stepped away from the device. Like a person carrying a minigun with a backpack filled with ammunition, he seemed perfectly ready for battle. A few other Marines were in line doing the same thing.

“Chuang!” Zalika called out to him. “Come here.”

Chuang almost put his helmet on as he began to walk forward with his brown armor. The moment he walked across the room, he popped it into place. Zalika nodded before she looked him over.

“Looks like you did a good job,” she said as she looked him over. “In some ways, it’s good that you just finished up boot camp. Most of this knowledge is still fresh in your head.”

“Yeah,” Chuang replied. “Just ... a little bit...”

“It is alright,” Bekra said as she put her hand to him. “It is probably nothing to be worried about.”

“Used to this from basic training anyway,” Chuang said. “Getting grabbed and pulled out of bed to be yelled and screamed at for some random event to occur.”

“Yep,” Zalika said, confirming it. “I want you close to us at all times, alright? Don’t let the other people around your rank push you around too much. If they do, tell them to fuck off.”

“Zalika...” Kole commented, almost scolding her.

“Except your Staff Sergeant,” Zalika finished. “You’re with me and Bekra, otherwise.” She checked out the suit once again. “Looks like everything is in order.” She tapped the keyboard on her wrist, and a screen popped up on her helmet. “I can see your suit is operating effectively. Your suit’s oxygen cycler is on. You don’t need it until we step into the shuttle. It’ll help it last much longer.”

“Oh ... thank you,” Chuang replied as he went and tapped the keyboard on his arm. “There ... I deactivated it.”

“Yeah, in boot camp, they teach you to keep it on at all times. It’s a good habit, but it also lowers the amount of oxygen you have overall. If you get stranded in space and waiting for rescue, it can actually be a difference between an extra hour of oxygen or not. For now, the helmet just takes in the air naturally.”

“Staff Sergeant,” Chuang asked him. “Are you going to get armed up next?”

“Negative,” Kole replied. “I’m the last to get armed up. It’s my duty to make sure that everyone here can complete their task before we leave together.”

“Carlos!” Bekra yelled and chirped at him across the room. “Can you hand me my rifle and ammunition?”

Chuang turned to look at Carlos, who just finished up putting on his armor. He looked at the rack and spotted the unique gun that belonged to only one individual. Zalika already knew the Y-6 rifle used by the T’rintar clan. The Itrean assault rifle was a gun that fit perfectly with the smaller bodies and frames of the Yutilians and Aksren. It had an extendable stock on it and a scope attached to the top of the firearm. It had two barrels, one on top of the other. There were also additional buttons near the trigger. Carlos then picked up the rifle and tossed it to her. She caught it with one hand and then threw a large box-like magazine along with a set of some larger shells. She then took it, inserted it into the rifle, and looked at the large rounds.

“What grenades are you going to take with you?” Zalika asked her.

“I am putting one general-purpose, two decoys, and one stun grenade into my rifle. Standard carry out.” Bekra replied.

Chuang knew what it was that she was putting into the underside barrel magazine of her rifle as she pulled out four grenade rounds and began to insert them into the loading chamber. Bekra stood ready as it emitted a beep-like sound, indicating that it was fully loaded and ready to go.

“Watch this,” Zalika said with a smile as she pointed to Bekra. The Itrean woman took her rifle and placed it on her stomach and chest. The gun was like a magnet as it was firmly connected to her armor. She didn’t even need to put a sling on it.

“Staff Sergeant!” Carlos called out to him. “What are you plan on using?”

“M18!” Kole replied. “Take what is most comfortable for you.”

“Karine, we got one M19 Grenade Rifle. I suggest you take it.”

“No problem. I’m ready to blow shit up!” Karine said as she hit her fist to her armor chest piece.

Chuang watched as Carlos picked up a rifle from the weapons rack. Unlike the other rifles, this one was smaller than the M18. It was shaped like a traditional rifle, but it was stubby and fat-looking. It had a single barrel, but at least three magazine connections lined into it. There was also a tripod-looking device that connected to the side and front hip of Carlos’s armor.

“I might recommend that you use that,” Zalika told Chuang.

“The PDW-20? You want me to use something smaller?”

“Those are the basic PDW-20s you’re thinking of. We use the PDW-20c models. I think these things are cool. It frees up your hand for other things while it’s held on a tripod. Don’t be afraid to use it.”

“Yeah, man,” Carlos added. “Here!”

He picked up another rifle that looked just like his and tossed it to him. He then returned to the weapons rack. Chuang went and started to strap the tripod-like device on his armor. The rifle swung around freely on the device as it connected with the computer system of the power suit that he wore. The gun was amazingly light, even with three magazines of caseless rounds inserted into it. He felt comfortable with the weapon for his smaller frame.

“See? Bigger ain’t always better!” Carlos yelled out.

“That ain’t what your wife said last night,” Cruz joked.

Carlos ignored him as he grabbed a couple of disk-like devices and slapped them to his armor. They magnetized perfectly to it, and he then pulled out a long cylinder-like device and placed it next to the two disks.

“Grenades...” Chuang commented.

“Yeah, don’t worry about that,” Zalika said.

“What’s that small cylinder-like device?”

“Sentry turret.”

“Oh, that’s what they looked like.”

“Zalika, you taking the M18?” Carlos asked her.

“Fuck yeah, I am.”

Chuang focused on the tripod-like arm, holding the rifle as Zalika attached her own M18 to her left arm. Bekra seemed to note and observe what Chuang was doing, using one hand on the gun’s handgrip to move the firearm around.

“First time using that?” Bekra asked him.

“Yes. In basic training, all I used was just an ordinary PDW-20,” Chuang replied. “I never used this.”

“Once we finish up all this, we’ll make sure that you get trained with all of this,” Carlos said to him. “Consider this a bit of a crash course. Some OJT will do you good.”

“OJT?”

“On-the-job training,” Zalika said as she was checking out her M18. She fiddled around with one of the display screens that was mounted on the long barrel. She then began fitting the gun onto her arm.

Chuang noticed, with the exception of a few marines, that he wasn’t going to be armed with the M18. There seemed to be some regret in his eyes.

“Is something wrong?” Bekra asked him.

“Yeah ... I was hoping to use the M18. It’s so cool,” Chuang commented.

“Don’t feel bad,” Carlos explained. “You make up for it by having more freedom with your hands. You can fiddle around with grenades and other cool gear that the others wouldn’t. Sometimes walking around with a big gun won’t save you.”

“Yeah, like on Aphadus, the marines were struggling to use their decoy grenades,” Zalika added. “It’s one of the reasons why they just introduced the M19 to help out marines. The gun Karine uses is loaded up with every grenade available just in case.”

“I’ll give you this, though,” Carlos said as he went to the weapons rack and pulled out a pistol. He tossed it over to Chuang in which he caught and looked at it.

“An M80?” Chuang asked.

“Yep. It has a decoy grenade already loaded in. That’s your sidearm just in case we’re facing the Aksren or Shal’rein clan. I trust you already know about the seeker grenades?”

“Yes. I know a little bit about them. I know these decoys help out against them.”

“Good. Hopefully, you’ll never have to use it.”

Chuang looked closely at the pistol. The high-tech pistol was the best of the best of the smaller-sized firearms. It was nothing too powerful for a caseless pistol, but the addition of a single-use mini grenade launcher on the bottom of the barrel made a big difference. There was a pouch-like holster into which he slipped the gun as the holster closed automatically around it.

Zalika was testing the tripod system of her M18. The massive gun flexed around as she turned. It could even point almost directly up before she pushed the back down. She seemed content with it as she observed the data popping up on her helmet display data.

“Alright ... good to go, Staff Sergeant,” Zalika said.

“Good. We head out in five...” Kole answered.

A military shuttlecraft was leaving Eutera’s atmosphere as it reached space itself. The cylindrical-looking shuttle was quite large. It was little more than a gray bullet-shaped gunship. There were no windows except the forward section that had the pilot’s window to see through. Vectoring thrusters dotted the hull, and a series of larger thrusters were mounted forward and aft of the ship. Near the midsection was a large docking hatch on the dorsal, starboard, port, and ventral sides. On the shuttle’s front section was a small CIWS turret mounted on the dorsal, ventral, and rear sides. A series of bow-mounted missile tubes were also seen below its pilot window.

Seventeen marines and one Itrean were sitting on the side-mounted chairs inside the vessel. Less than ten minutes had passed as the marine team was ready to depart to their unknown destination. Upon leaving the atmosphere, the individuals could feel the shuttle interior’s weightlessness before the vessel left Eutera’s gravity well. For people like Chuang, the experience of zero-g was relatively recent. For the rest, it was more of nostalgia.

Inside the craft were the main deck and a smaller second deck for the pilot to enter and control the shuttle. The rear of the craft was allocated to a few rooms to house the people inside. It also had an engineering section for maintenance. The shuttle was large and spacious to house its crew, staff, and even marine teams, but it wasn’t big enough to carry large vehicles. However, the interior was perfect enough to handle the larger bodies of the armored marines, which seemed to be the goal of the military shuttles in general. With each marine’s equipment, the space they took up was more prominent than a heavyset man. Each marine had different equipment that seemed to identify who each individual was. The helmet windows were open as the marines didn’t need to use their suits’ supplied oxygen.

On one side, most of the team was strapped into the side seats. The magneto boots clicked on and anchored the people in place to prevent their bodies from floating around helplessly in zero gravity. Above the seats were a couple of displays that showed the camera feeds outside of space itself.

Zalika looked at the display and knew that they had left their peaceful home. The vast space field reminded her of the outside environment’s isolation, but it wasn’t a completely lonely experience. Her large machine gun-like rifle was parked on a slot alcove pointed up as she sat down like the rest of the team.

Some of the marines were talking to one another, preventing the flight from being a quiet one. Bekra was sitting on the far side closest to the large port hatchway of the craft. Zalika was sitting beside her while Kole was to her left. Chuang sat beside Kole, as Carlos and Karine sat to his left. The rest of the team sat on the other side of the craft.

A marine dressed in similar armor unfastened himself from his seat and stood up. He carried a PDW-20c that was pointed up as looked at the whole team. A rank insignia of Master Sergeant was planted on his power armor while he had a ruffed-up look on his face.

Zalika already knew it was Master Sergeant Wang Wei, or as he preferred to be called, Wei for short. He was the second in command of the base. The person was an older man who had the facial features of a person born in China of former Earth. He was mostly quiet but relatively well-experienced for a man of his rank.

“Attention, all marines,” Wei said as he addressed the whole team. Everyone stopped talking and turned their attention to him. “As many of you know, we’ve been armed up for a mission of importance.”

His right hand went to his finger as he tapped the mini keyboard on his armor. The moment he pressed enter, the displays on the seats above the shuttle switched over to portray a 3d image of the Euteran star system. They could see the star system’s planets that were orbiting its star with a series of glowing dots that were pinging. Zalika could not recognize all of them, but one she knew was the shuttle.

“Approximately 40 hours ago,” Wei explained as he looked at the display. “The UHN Battleship Columbus went to investigate an unusual beacon being emitted approximately one light year away from the Euteran star system. The faint signal warranted an investigation, so one of our UHN warships went to figure out the signal’s source.”

The projection image showed the star system veering away as it headed towards what looked like a random location in the void of space. When it stopped moving, a new glowing dot appeared, pointing to a new site.

“This is the location of the beacon transmission where the Columbus went to,” Wei continued. “They’re very faint, and it appears that what was creating it eventually floated near the proximity of our system before we eventually picked it up. Supposedly, the transmissions from this object were a simple tone that would repeat over and over again. It did not match any frequencies we use, and we’re still trying to figure out whether it’s Itrean or not. UHN command gave the go-ahead for the Columbus to explore the cause of this transmission.”

The display switched to display the UHN Columbus. The specs showed it as a Magellan class Battleship commissioned almost thirty years ago. The cylindrical vessel with a rotating centripetal ring was seen as it displayed a series of peoples’ faces, including the ship captain. A new dot appeared in proximity to the glowing dot to represent the Columbus on the map. A second photographed picture was displayed for the team to see. It showed a broken piece of debris with a glowing red light. It was hard to determine what the floating debris was, but it looked artificial, like some broken piece of a more massive constructed object.

“The Columbus appeared to have located the cause of the transmission,” Wei explained more. “It was coming from this object. Its analysis was sent to UHN command. The engineers on board attempted to identify what this object was and failed. Further scans revealed nothing particularly interesting with the beacon and continued to study the beacon transmission. Within a minute of the ship’s arrival, the tone shifted in its frequency. Nothing else was unique about the debris.”

The display then switched to show the Columbus using its searchlights at the object. The shuttle bay doors opened on its port side before the beacon approached.

“According to the Captain of the Columbus, James Clarence, he announced that they were going to take the debris into the shuttle bay for further analysis. This was approximately thirty hours ago. That was the last transmission that they gave out before the ship’s disappearance.”

The marines looked stunned. Chuang looked at Zalika, seeing that she was confused. Bekra put her hand to her beak, wondering what was going on.

“UHN command was awaiting word on the Columbus and received nothing. Further attempts to reach out to it failed. They passed the information to UHN fleets so they could send a ship to respond to Columbus’s disappearance. The Euteran defense fleet sent the T’rintar clan scout ship ‘Kig’ to the scene to investigate. They reported this...”

The Master Sergeant pointed at the screen to show the Columbus. Most of its lights were out, but nothing else looked too much out of the ordinary. Its ring was not spinning.

“According to the Kig, the Columbus is adrift,” Wei continued. “Its fusion generator was offline, and emergency power seems to be non-functioning. It did receive a short-range transmission from it that repeated a few times and then died out. It repeated this message...”

What the marines heard was a garbled message of static and words. It was too faint and hard to understand. It appeared to be a female voice...

“Ship ... r ... tack ... please ... way...”

The message was heavily covered in static, but it seemed to hover over everyone like a warning in space. Everyone seemed to try to figure out what was going on. Zalika even felt a chill go down her spine from the words before she tried to act tough about it. She looked over to Bekra, noting that she also seemed tense.

“According to the admiral of the Euteran defense fleet,” The master sergeant said as the screens switched back to the shuttle’s current camera feeds. “It’s believed that an event of some sort had occurred on the ship. We believe that the battleship was attacked, but the Kig is not picking anything else up. There are no cloaked ships that can be traced and nothing that indicates the warship was attacked from the outside. The Euteran defense fleet has decided the best course of action is to go ahead and send a team of marines to investigate the cause of the Columbus’s short-range distress call signal. The defense fleet is sending the UHN Paul Jones to investigate it further alongside the Kig. This shuttle we are on is theirs. We’ll enter their hangar bay and then jump to the warship’s location. We’ll then be brought to the Columbus and board her. Our goal is to get the ship operational, find and help the crew, and investigate the cause of their distress. More instructions will follow as we are brought to the ship. I’m sure that you have questions. Go ahead and ask them.”

“I have a question,” a male voice came from near the pilot’s cabin in the front. Zalika looked at the man and knew it was a corpsman named Uluwehi, a man whose descendants came from Hawaii from former Earth.

“What is it?” Wei asked.

“Do they know if this is a contaminant?” Uluwehi asked. “The Aksren clan has a disease manufactured to kill us. Even if the T’rintar clan has just finished a vaccine for it, have they confirmed there was a disease onboard?”