Credit Rush OutPost Krone (12 page)

"Listen up; get into position and guard this load at all costs. Nothing gets through—nothing," shouted the sergeant, barking the order to his guards as they took to their positions.

The blurring sirens had come to an end, much to everyone’s relief.

"You okay?" replied a guard crouching next to Lorna.

She gave thumbs up and started to grab some ammo rounds out from her belt. Locking a magazine into place and chambering a round, her weapon was now armed and ready.

"Keep moving," whispered Carter.

Charlie was panting as he tried to keep up as they ducked and crouch-walked their way past containers. They had not been noticed but already they could hear the sound of footsteps of guards patrolling the area nearby.

"We could be seen at any moment,” said Charlie in a blind panic.

"Well we will be if you don't keep up," replied Carter.

Charlie didn’t say anything and they carried on making their way to the belly of the ship. After a few minutes Carter stopped in his tracks; they had reached a dead end.

"Damn it, we need to find another way,” he said, frustrated.

He moved his fingers across the sensor screen again and, finding no more cover left in their current location, locked onto the air vents as the only option.

"That’s our route,” said Carter.

The two of them made it to a nearby vent where they carefully lifted the grid off of the wall and quietly placed it onto the floor. The number of guards had increased, so they had to act quickly. Carter crawled in the vent first; followed by Charlie who lifted the grid back into place behind them.

"Stay low, and follow my lead,” said Carter.

He activated the much needed light beacon at the end of his weapon—the area in front of them was pitch black.

"These vents are going to get shorter as we make our way towards the bottom,” he said, holding his weapon with one hand and the sensor in the other.

Charlie crawled forward with him, his head just touching the ceiling. Turning around, he could see nothing but darkness and heard the distance voices of guards.

"They appear to be moving in a vent, sir,” said Stout's android.

"Trust Carter, he’s dedicated to my cause,” replied Stout.

"He is, sir. Hopefully the new subject will turn out the same,” replied the android.

Stout once again moved his finger over the button which would end Charlie's life; he was unsure if he wanted to carry on with this task or call it a day. But the sick fantasies that swirled around in Stout's head stopped him and he moved his hand away from the control panel to rest it gently by his side.

Looking in the direction of his android Stout asked, "Are they at risk of being detected?"

"They are but it appears that has diminished somewhat; the air vents should provide adequate cover for them both."

"Shh," whispered Carter and stopped dead in his tracks.

Small skittering sounds at the end of the tunnel had caught his attention.

"What the hell is that?" asked Charlie, switching on his beacon light.

They scanned the area in front of them with their weapons, but nothing showed in the empty space.

The noises started again; rather than confined to one area, it was all around them just meters away.

"What the…?” said Carter.

He shone his light again and when Charlie followed suit, they spotted something. It was a swarm of nanobots that the ship had activated as a self defence system—they would both be dead men in a matter of minutes.

"Bastards! They've activated the shutdown system in self-defence,” said Carter. "We need to move it or there will be nothing left of us."

"Here take this; it could buy us some time,” said Charlie as he removed one of his weapon’s bags from his back.

"You emptied that thing first?" replied Carter.

"Of course I did. Quick, we need to think of something fast”

The nanobots started to move in their direction and the noise created vibrations all around.

"Throw it!" shouted Charlie.

Carter grabbed the bag and threw down the air vent and the bots started to consume the material, each piece dissolving into nothing in the blink of an eye.

"I didn’t want to do this but… Fuck; what choice have we got? Stand back,” shouted Carter.

He aimed the weapon towards the side wall in front of him and pulled the trigger; the sound of gunfire echoed around them. Charlie covered his ears and hid his head in between his knees. The walls were solid and the shots had done enough to penetrate some cracks in the metal wall.

"Get ready we are getting out of here," said Carter as he started to kick his boot into a small opening.

"Come on!" he snarled, frustrated by Charlie’s hesitation.

He turned around and could see that the bots had nearly consumed the bag and some had started to spill over to make their way towards Charlie and him.

"Nearly there; keep going!" shouted Charlie.

Carter was making progress; large chunks had started to break away from the wall.

"Did you here that?" said Lorna.

"Take it easy, it's your adrenalin pumping; remember, this is your first taste of action,” replied one of the guards.

Certain of what she had just heard, Lorna scanned the area in front with her weapon.

The sound of chatter came through his headset and the sergeant reached his hand towards as he listened to the captain’s reports. He placed his fingers to his lips to quiet the rest of his troops.

"Yes, Sir; understood,” replied the sergeant before turning back to his troops and saying, “We need to split up; the Captain wants a guard assigned to each shipment of cargo in this bay."

Lorna smiled like a kid; she knew she was right and the gunfire had not been her imagination.

"Sergeant?" said Lorna.

"Yes, Private," replied the Sergeant.

"The gunfire I heard, it sounded like it was coming from the vents; should we check it out?" replied Lorna.

"Okay, maybe you're right. Tablo; you and Issac go and check—be cautious, we don’t know who we’re dealing with here,” commanded the sergeant while facing his two men.

"Yes, Sergeant. About time we seen some action,” replied Tablo.

They placed a step ladder on the floor and Tablo opened a vent before turning on his infra-red heat sensor. Immediately, he could see the figures of two men on his equipment.

"Sarge, I would say they are thirty meters down this vent," said Tablo.

"Lock and load; remember, short bursts okay?" replied the sergeant.

The two men nodded and climbed up inside the shaft then switched their beacon lights on.

"Come on, Charlie; what are you fucking around for?" yelled Carter.

Carter was on the other side of the wall away from the bots; Charlie on the other hand, only had half of his body through the opening.

"Arrh, my leg is stuck!" Charlie cried in pain.

"Come on, loosen your clothing. We need to get out of here,” replied Carter.

Charlie's leg was bleeding badly; he had to dislodge his foot quickly. Suddenly, he noticed two figures creeping towards them from the end of the shaft and the bots were spreading fast.

"Shit Carter, they’re eating away at my fucking boot,” said Charlie, panicking.

"Freeze!" sounded a guard's voice.

"Stay right there; you are under arrest,” replied the second guard.

Charlie had to make a split second decision, if he waiting any longer he would be losing his foot and maybe the rest of him.

"Freeze!" repeated the guard.

“Shit”, we’re fucked thought Carter as he armed his weapon.

All of a sudden Charlie fired a couple of shots down the shaft; the blinding flashes shone all around and the sound of gun fire exploding in a rage.

"Issac?" said Tablo.

His friend fell backwards and landed hard on the floor, blood pouring out of his skull with his brains scattered all around.

"No!" shouted Tablo.

He started to move towards Charlie and Carter until a bullet hit him in his kneecap and he landed in a heap.

"Nice shot, partner. Now hurry, we have to get out of here,” said Carter, grabbing Charlie by his arm.

Both of them had broken free and started to move to safety. Charlie managed to turn around and look back at Tablo.

"I am so sorry; please forgive me," he said when their eyes met.

The bots covered Tablo's eyes and body devoured his skin, moving over him like a rolling carpet. A muffled scream was quickly followed by an eerie silence.

"Wait up, stop,” said Charlie panting.

"Okay bitch, what is it this time,” replied Carter as he stood still.

"I killed a man; he did nothing to me. I…”

"Listen, Charlie, it was us or them; he was going to blow you away and me too. Either way, you’re dead man at the moment unless we get that cargo,” he replied checking the area ahead.

With nothing left to say, they carried on their way although Charlie was still physically shaking. Guilt washed over him; he was a digger and now had become a murderer.

The air shaft they were in started to widen and the temperature was increasing; a stagnant stench filled the air around them.

"Jesus, what is that,” said Charlie, covering his nose.

"We are getting near the ships engine area; that smell is just engine fumes,” replied Carter.

He reached into his pack and threw an oxygen mask at Charlie.

"Put that on, I don't want to take any risks,” said Carter as he placed another mask over his own face. Charlie was quick to repeat the same action.

"It's been a while, sir; should we go look for them?" asked Lorna.

"Where the hell are they?" the sergeant said as he paced back and forth thinking about his next move.

"What exactly are we dealing with here?" Lorna asked no one in particular as she waited for action.

The sergeant turned around to face the rest of his crew; he had picked up their last position and knew where the intruders would be headed.

"They’ll be making their way to the engine room; the shaft leads in that direction. We’ll have to start a search for Tablo and Issac later; we are running out of time,” said the sergeant.

He had to steady his feet as the ship made yet another turn; they would be heading out of the system soon.

"There goes our captain again," said a guard standing next to Lorna.

"He’s trying to save his cargo; it’s not his job to worry about us grunts," she replied with a shake of her head.

They moved towards the engine room and followed a staircase to reach the belly of the ship. The lights were dim but the odd crew member was seen running past them after having been ordered to make their way to the deck.

They had reached the entrance to the engine room; the ships engines could be heard behind the door.

The sergeant then ordered the crew to assume their positions before he reached forward to place his hand carefully against the switch on the door. Pushing the switch, the door slid open to reveal that the area inside was pretty much empty. It was more or less open space with a few engines scattered around next to abandoned crew stations.

"Shh, quiet; they know we’re in here; keep still,” whispered Carter as he crouched.

Charlie was hiding just behind a workstation next to him. With his gun in hand, he was still shaking while thinking about the life he had ended earlier.

Carter stood up slightly and aimed his gun. He was looking into the crosshairs and could see guards starting to enter as they took their positions ready for a fight.

“Must be at least eight of them, we have no choice but to stand our ground”, he thought.

Looking around at Charlie, he hoped he was ready but knew his nerves may not hold out.

"Get some good cover; we’ll weed them out,” said the sergeant.

He spotted the heat coming off two figures hiding in the corner and reasoned that the fire fight would be over quickly.

"Ready, Charlie?" said Carter, pulling a grenade from his belt.

"What the fuck are you doing? Are you crazy?" whispered Charlie.

He pulled the pin out from the grenade and threw it towards the guards while he and Charlie quickly lay on the floor to take cover.

One of the guards felt something fly past his head but was unsure of what it was until the object hit the side of the wall and came to a stop right next to his feet. The light on the grenade was flashing red—it was too late.

"Grenade get…"

He didn’t get to finish his sentence as a bright orange blast filled the area, smoke bellowed upwards, and shrapnel flew in all directions. Two guards were killed instantly as pieces hit them in the face, blood sprayed onto the walls and floor as bits of bodies scattered around.

"Let's roll!" shouted Lorna. Adjusting her weapon, she started to fire when she saw where Charlie and Carter were hiding.

"Over there, Sergeant; there are two of them!" she shouted over the gunfire exploding all around her.

The sergeant turned his rifle and fired in the direction Lorna was aiming for; with two men already down, he wanted this over fast.

"Shit, Carter, what are we going to do? We’re sitting ducks here,” shouted Charlie.

"You could start firing back,” he replied.

Charlie had no choice; he had to follow Carter’s order. He was in his first true fire fight and bullets were flying all around him.

"Watch yourself; get down,” screamed Carter.

"I can't get a good shot at this angle," replied Charlie.

A guard started to run in Charlie's direction and he tried to fire but his gun was jammed.

Charlie took advantage of the situation and fired rounds back repeatedly. The guard spun around as the bullets hit him before he landed in a heap on the floor, dead.

"Nice one, Charlie, you killed him,” said Carter grinning.

"Shut up, just shut up!" Charlie squealed.

He was starting to lose it; this was not him, he never wanted to be in this situation. It made him more than ever want to kill Stout.

More guards entered the area than the two of them could handle. They both moved away from the crates that were holding their cover while Carter provided covering fire for them both.