Chapter 24: Escape from Hell part III

Va'Talki walked into the probe room. In his arms he held a struggling child that he tossed in the corner.

"Don't you move," he said as he shut the door.

Going over to a console built into the wall, he powered it up. The holographic board came up on the panel, and he started programming the automatic probe launcher. Pressing another control, he looked to his right, and watched as the probe launcher moved and a heavy laser battery moved into the tubes position as the iris opened.

Checking the laser's power level, he noted that he had enough power for just two shots. Entering the firing sequence, he pressed the firing button. The laser seemed to glow as the beam punched through the four miles of rock, and out into space. Pressing the button a second time, the laser blasted out again. This cleared the new tunnel of all debris that had started to fall back into the tunnel and glazed the sides of the tunnel.

Va'Talki pressed a switched and the laser slid back so the probe launcher could move in place. Locking down the barrel slid up and launched the seven probes in rapid sequence six shot straight up into space while the seventh shot out and did a ninety-degree turn and flew across the landscape until it was ten miles away and then shot up into space and activated its small hyper engine.

Ken was pacing the deck, listing to the reports when suddenly the ship lurched up on her side and he flew across the room and crashed to the deck. As the ship settled back onto an even keel, he climbed to his feet and looked out the main window and he saw a laser punch through the bow, and then the ship lurched again. Looking closely he could see two holes in the forward deck and that they were venting air into space.

"All hands man your battlestations, get me a damage report. Jessica, raise shields to full power."

The shields snap up as he issued his orders and Jessica appeared beside him and started reporting, "Shields up, we have damages to every deck from sections forty-one to forty nine, both port and starboard compartments. Laser battery nine has been destroyed, I'm doing a life detection now and comparing it to crew ... we have nineteen life signs missing and five fading. I'm dispatching medical teams to their location ... Sir, T'Lari probes have lifted off from the planet."

Ken whirled on Terry O'Neil who was manning the gunnery console.

"Terry, destroy those probes," he shouted.

"Sir, I'm opening fire!" Terry said as her fingers flew over the icons on her screen.

She quickly locked onto the six probes that were boosting from the planet's surface. The defensive lasers opened fire and started killing them.

Jessica's face went white as the blood drained from it inside her capsule, and she shouted, "Terry, hurry they are transmitting."

Va'Talki started laughing as the room lit up with laser fire as the Federation ship destroyed the first six probes. "Humans you have lost, you may have destroyed the first six probes, but the seventh will get away. Even if you kill us all, we will still destroy you." Looking over at the small child, he had tossed in the corner he walked over to it. Reaching down he picked up the small boy up.

"Be honored! You get to meet Sha'Karia. She will just 'love' you, human."

The boy started crying again in fear as he was carried out of the room.

Walking down the hall with the human tucked under its arm he stepped into a gravity chute and dropped five decks to a room that looked brand new. Va'Talki walked to the door, and typed in a command and stepped into a passageway that was spotless except for some massive T'Lari guards. Walking towards the throne room, the T'Lari guards stepped out, and blocked his path and pointed to a side room.

"I bring a gift for Sha'Karia, let me pass," Va'Talki said.

"Wait in the side room. She will call you when she wants you, Talki."

Rage boiled in his blood and he responded, "It's Va'Talki, show some respect for your betters."

The guards burst into laughter and the one who had spoken said, "You're not our better, we have bred with Sha'Karia, you haven't, until you do, and take her oath you shall never be one of us. Now go to the room, if she wants to see you she will call for you."

Fuming Va'Talki continued, "We are invaded, and you stand here doing nothing? Why are you not fighting with the people, you're no better than any of us and we are putting our lives in danger trying to save the ship. I've personally taken one of the humans and gotten important information that Sha'Karia must have. Now inform her that she must listen to me. If she doesn't. We could lose, which will be bad for the people."

"I do not need to tell her anything, now go, she is entertaining herself with two humans who dared to enter her presence. She will play with them for a while and then kill them and then she will feast. I will not interfere with that. Would you? I mean when she is in a blood frenzy, you could be her meal as well."

Ba'Li looked down on Talki and continued, "As to fighting the humans, half the royal guards are engaged with them now. So don't tell me we are not doing anything."

Va'Talki stood there stunned at the announcement of the Sha'Karia fighting humans, and he said, "She shouldn't be fighting them. They have new weapons that kill our people worse than their plasma rifles. What if they have them?"

Ba'Li started laughing and responded, "Sha'Karia has already disarmed them except for knives and swords. She is using her natural weapons against blades. She will destroy these two humans. Right now, she is playing with them. Now go wait in the room as I told you to, or I will be forced to kill you and you're a valuable intelligence officer."

Va'Talki turned and walked into the plush room and sat in one of the chairs. Tossing the boy onto one of the piles of pillows, he snarled, "Don't move human." Getting up he walked over to the computer screens and started fiddling with them. Pulling his id card out of his pouch, he slid it into the slot and the throne room came up. He saw the queen playing with the two humans as she stalked them across the gold floors.

Twin sisters, Hanna and Amy Kitchener were running down the hallway. They clutched in the sixteen-year-old fists plasma pistols they had found. Behind them, they could hear the T'Lari warriors chasing them. Spotting an open iris up ahead, they ran to it and started climbing as fast as their small feet could. Ten seconds after hitting the ladder, they had climbed two levels when the ladder shuddered below them.

Hanna climbed out, and yanked her sister out of the way and started firing down the tube catching the first shellheads in its head and burned right through its body catching the second one as well. Both bodies tumbled down into the tube blocking it.

Amy looked around and pointed down the empty passageway to the left and both girls took off running. Running into a kitchen, they stopped and looked around. Looking up they saw the air vent above them and they climbed in and started crawling deep in to the air ducts to hide.

"Hanna I need to rest," Amy said as she leaned against the wall and pressed her hand against her belly and could feel her daughter moving."

"Amy is your daughter okay?" Hanna asked with concern.

"I don't know. She is moving is all I know. I wonder how long we were in stasis. When we came aboard the ship was so new, it now looks ancient," Amy said as she pointed at rust on the walls.

"I know. It's almost like a different ship. I wonder if Terra won and this monster ship was forced to run."

"God I hope so, to think of the mother world in flames would devastate me, I just know it would. Terra has been our shining star, always there for the colonies."

"Yes it would be depressing," Hanna said as they heard explosions in the distance.

"Damn it, what is that?"

"I don't know, but I pray whatever it is. It kills lots of the shellheads."

"I agree the more of them dead. The better it is for us."

Pulling the plastic container off her shoulder, she took a sip of the water and handed it to Amy, and said, "Take a drink."

"Thank you. Just wish we could get some food," Amy said as she took a drink and handed it back.

"I know, I'm hungry as well," Hanna replied as she leaned against her sister and closed her eyes.

Lieutenant Jim Dawson led his ten men and woman down the passageway covered in T'Lari dead and wounded. Following the ultraviolet markers on the wall he knew he was getting close to NAT team one. Turning on his internal com and said, 'Corporal Morris, this is Lieutenant Dawson, we found some of your markers, and I have a nine on the wall. How close am I?'

Tom watched the T'Lari start gathering at the intersection. They seem to be just talking, not even looking towards them. 'Edward, I think we've screwed.'

Corporal Edward Ricker watched the T'Lari as well, and said. 'Ya I think so, they are ignoring our passageway too much. I think they will be charging us in a few minutes.'

'We will use the plasma balls then switch to individual shots when we need to. If I have to I will use the Greacthc rifle I captured, we have five full clips and a partial. That's about two hundred rounds per clip, give or take a few. Shit here they come!' Tom started firing his plasma rifle like a grenade launcher and the balls of plasma hit the enemy troops and explode. Blasting the dead T'Lari back as he started filling the passageway with flaming death, he shouted, "FOR TERRA!"

Edward jerked his head up from where he was reaching for his water bottle and started firing along with Tom. The passageway was soon glowing from all the plasma that was burning the bodies to ash.

The Greacthc clips started exploding under the intense heat as Tom took aim at another T'Lari when his internal com buzz's for attention.

Tom let a sigh of relief out when Lieutenant Dawson said how close they were, and he answers him back. 'Sir you're less then five hundred yards from us, you have two closed bulkheads to go through. Be careful, we have more T'Lari attacking us. I estimate the count at thirty plus. They can't get to us, but I'm sure they are working around that problem.'

'Okay, we will be there as fast as possible. Keep them pinned down, we have a little surprise for them.'

Michele Sterling walked down the short passageway and before she went around the bend she dropped to her belly, and crawled up to the marines and saw the firing on the shellheads.

Tom kept firing as he shouted to Edward over the explosions, "Keep killing them Ed, we have help coming. Shit have to reload."

As she watched, she saw the one she liked, reach back for a new power clip. So she handed him the charged rifle she was carrying.

Tom reached back for a power clip but a new weapon was placed in his hand. Looking back, he saw Michele Sterling lying there with several of their spare rifles, and the bandoleers of clips.