Part Seven: Through Fire and Darkness

In the darkness of the cell, Radu alone was awake. He could hear the soft breathing of his crewmates, the regular beating of their hearts, the low hum of the air circulation equipment. He could hear, it seemed sometimes, the entire universe.

The guards outside were long since asleep. Their loud, reptilian snoring was disruptive: Totally outside of the harmony of the universe. He guessed that was sort of representative of the Spung.

No Andromedan had been on the Spung homeworld in years... Of course he, like all of his people, was brought here in chains.

He was getting very angry.

He heard footsteps down the hall, heading towards the cell. The guards outside were awoken, and sent away. The door was unlocked, and opened. And someone entered the cell.

Suddenly, Radu wished Andromedans' sight was superior, like their hearing. He couldn't tell who it was, but the intruder was moving closer and closer. He got to his feet, And crouched, ready to spring, and maybe to free them all...

He sprung at the intruder, and heard a female gasp as he grabbed the figure.

He looked closer at his captive...

"Radu?" She asked, whispering.

Recognition came to him.

"Elmira?!"

The sewer system of the Spung Homeworld was not exactly what one would term "clean". The stench was almost overpowering to the crew of the Christa, though Elmira seemed to barely notice it.

They sloshed through the ankle-deep sewage water for almost an hour, before they reached a side tunnel.

"This is the tunnel that leads to the shuttle port." Elmira stated, motioning to the grilled passage.

"Great," Goddard growled, shaking the grill, "only we can't go through."

"Commander," Radu began, uncertainly, "I... I think I can pull it off."

They all looked at him. He blushed, feeling his confidence drain away. Strange, he though, I haven't felt this uncertain in a long time.

"Well, if you're gonna do it, do it." Harlan said, encouragingly.

Radu stepped up to the circular grating, which was about twice his height in diameter, he chose his handholds carefully, testing the strength of the material. When he was sure that the metal wouldn't just come apart in his hands, he heaved back on the grating.

There was a loud creaking sound, as the metal bent, ever so slightly. The grate scraped on its mounting, as it was pulled out, slowly. When it finally came free, they were all still, quiet.

"And the rest," Miss Davenport said, quietly, "is silence."

The universe came to a screeching halt. As he picked his consciousness up off of the floor, Connor began to realize where he was. He was is a small crawlspace, with very little light, somewhere.

He definitely didn't know where he was.

He was also alone. The last thing he remembered was the very strange sensation that he'd also gotten the first time they'd gone through the Gate: Of having been a part of the universe, and a part of his fellow travellers.

The problem was, he felt as though he'd left a part of himself in them, and they in himself...

It was all very disconcerting, and it made him feel even more lonely.

He tested the boundaries of the small room he was in. It was only two and a half feet in height, so standing was out of the question. He was up against one wall, and he could feel the other wall by extending his arm. And lengthwise, it was only a little bigger than his own six feet.

And there was a silence, a silence as profound as when the whale swallowed Jonah.

This is just great, he thought, not daring to speak.

Suzee regained consciousness in a dead-end corridor, shrouded in darkness. She guessed that she was aboard the Christa, simply because the ship had a comfortable, familiar feeling to it. And she was alone, so very alone.

Like you should be, the voice started up again. This is the way you deserve to live. Alone, in the darkness, without hope.

She couldn't handle the taunting voice, the voice of her own self-hatred. She curled up into a little ball, tried to ignore the voice, and cried.

Catalina was trapped in one of the shower stalls. No matter how hard she tried, the door wouldn't to let her out. It was like the Christa was trying to keep her in here. But, why?

She heard a sound outside, and went absolutely still. There were two voices, barely audible through the doorway. She could hear them, what they were saying, but she couldn't understand them.

That was because, she realized, she didn't speak Spung.

The shuttle bay was almost empty, except for two guards. Goddard was glad that everyone was keeping quiet, mostly because their capture by the Spung was such a harrowing experience. He just hoped they'd all be better once they got back.

"What do we do about the guards, Commander?" Harlan asked, a little too eagerly.

"Radu and I will take them out, while the rest of you move towards one of the shuttles. Elmira, can you lead them to one?"

"I can and will, Commander Goddard," the Spung replied.

"Good. Radu, let's go."

Goddard and Radu moved quietly around behind the guards, flitting from crate to crate for cover. Meanwhile, the others moved low and slow, between pieces of cover available.

"I'll take the big one, Commander." Radu whispered.

Goddard nodded his assent.

As they got behind the two guards, there was a loud thud from the direction of the others. Catalina stood up.

Oh no, Goddard thought.

One of the guards shouted something in his own language, and raised his blast rifle, ready to fire.

An energy bolt lanced out from the rifle. Cat turned, a horrified expression on her face, as Harlan stood up, in front of her, and pushed her down.

The bolt struck Harlan, tossing him against the wall. As the guards started to move forward, they stopped, hearing low growls behind them.

Radu pounced at the guard who'd fired, taking him to the ground even as he drove his fist, hard, against the Spung's head. There was a sharp crack as he connected, and the Spung's body went limp.

Goddard wrestled the other Spung's rifle away from him, firing as the guard started to draw a long knife. The Spung collapsed to the ground, a smoking hole in his chest.

They ran over to where the others were. Cat and Rosie were crouching over Harlan, who was breathing, but shallowly.

"He's lucky that shot was at long range," Rosie remarked, "any closer, and he'd be dead for sure. We need to get him to the Christa. If we don't, we could still lose him."

Cat rushed over to the fallen Spung, and picked up the rifle Radu had left there.

"Let's go." She said, tears running down her face.

The shuttle left the bay, its thrusters pushing it out of the atmosphere of the Spung Homeworld, towards the spacedocks. They could see where the Christa was docked, and moved towards her.

"We should try for the landing bay on the Christa." Goddard said, "hopefully Thelma's aware of what's going on."

The shuttle moved over the landing bay, and Goddard used the shuttle's communicator to send the proper signals to the Christa. The landing bay doors opened, almost reluctantly. They began their descent inside their ship.

After the two Spung left, the door unsealed for Catalina. She stepped out into the girl's bunkroom, which seemed to have been searched. Moving to the main door to the room, she waited for a few minutes, then opened it. She looked either way, down the corridor.

Nobody.

She headed out, into the corridors, moving towards the nearest jumptube junction.

Koan stepped aboard the Christa. He knew that Spung scientists had already mastered many of the secrets of this technology from the last Lumanian ship they'd captured, almost a year ago, but he'd hoped that this one might yield new systems.

The only thing this ship had given them was trouble. It defied any attempt to use any of its key systems, despite any of the techniques the Spung had gotten from their other ship.

As he exited the airlock, into the ship proper, the lock shut and sealed itself, without his issuing the order. The readouts said that it was also retracting the docking tube.

Koan began to panic, and looked around for one of the Spung warriors assigned to guard the ship. The only person he saw, however, was Catalina, emerging from a jumptube.

"Hey! This is the wrong exit..." She trailed off, as she noticed him. "Uh oh."

"Uh oh is right, you rainbow-haired freak." He said, drawing his blaster.

She inhaled sharply, through her mouth, and let out a massive sonic blast. The force of it threw him against the airlock door, hard. He hit the ground, and grunted in pain.

He started to get up, but she was already in the jumptubes.

"Oh, I'm going to hurt her, now..."

He stalked off, knowing full well that the jumptubes wouldn't work for him.

Cat popped out of the jumptubes, finally in the command post. She headed for the engineering post, checking on the condition of the engines.

"Full power. Good. Screen on."

The viewport showed the Spung spacedock, and the Homeworld below.

"Oh..."

"Catalina!" Said a voice, just behind her. "Long time, no see, I believe the expression is."

Cat turned, and saw Thelma.

"Thelma! What's going on?"

"We were captured by the Spung. They have attempted to gain access to the ship's systems, but the Christa has resisted all of their attempts to date."

"Okay... Where's everyone else?"

"Suzee and Connor are on inaccessible decks. The others have just arrived in a shuttle, and are moving towards various portions of the ship."

"How many Spung are there aboard?"

"Eight. There is also an additional unknown individual. Oh, and the Spung seem to have been alerted to their escape. We are being approached."

Cat hurried over to the helm, and looked at the mildly unfamiliar controls.

"Well, here goes nothing."

The Christa swung away from the spacedock, her maneuvering thrusters pushing her away from the structure. The main thrusters fired, hurling the Christa away, even as it tore open the spacedock.

Ships fled the vicinity, as the dock's fusion reactors went critical. As the explosion began, the Christa jumped into hyperspace, lost in the bright flash of the spacedock's destruction.

At the airlock to the landing bay, they could feel the ship start to move. The Spung warriors were trying to keep them in the landing bay, but Cat and Commander Goddard had killed half of them already.

The firing stopped, suddenly. Then, with a battle cry, the four remaining Spung charged them, knives in hand. Radu charged out, rage burning in his eyes. He caught one, and began choking the life out of him. The others kept charging, hoping to kill one of the weaker humans.

Cat took one out with the last shot in he blast rifle, but Goddard was already out of shots. One of the smaller ones got to him, knocked him to the ground. Goddard swung at his head, knocking him out.

Bova shocked one of them, putting all his power into it. The smell of cooked Spung filled the room. Radu burst back into the room, attacking the last one. With one simple motion, he snapped the Spung's neck.

A strange calm settled over the room. They all looked at each other, realizing what had just gone on. At that moment, they felt the ship jump into hyperspace.

The last Spung, the unconscious one, stirred. There was a small click, and a quiet hum, that grew louder and louder.

"He's got a thermal detonator! Everybody, get out of here!" Goddard exclaimed.

Radu picked up the Spung, who could barely resist. The warrior was holding the detonator tightly, and wasn't going to let it be disarmed.

"Radu! Come on!" Goddard shouted, from the airlock.

Radu tossed the Spung into the shuttle, and sealed the door.

"Hurry! It'll go off any second now!"

Radu was almost out the airlock, when it went off.

The shuttle was completely vaporized, absorbing most of the explosion. Radu was knocked to the ground by the shock.

Elmira knelt over him.

"Are you okay?" Fear lined her voice.

He looked up.

"I'm fine, fine. Let's get Harlan to the medlab."

The medlab appeared to have been thoroughly searched. Only Rosie and Miss Davenport remained to watch over Harlan, while the others went to the command post, to find out what was going on.

"How does it look, Rosie?" Davenport asked, anxiously.

"He should be fine, now. It's just a matter of time."

"Oh. Good."

The others walked into the command post, not knowing what to expect. When they saw Catalina and Thelma, operating the controls, they were surprised and relieved.

"Cat! You're back!" Radu exclaimed.

"That's right. Hi, guys. Long time, no see. Uh, where's Harlan?"

"Harlan was wounded, Cat." Goddard said. "He's in medlab. Rosie says he'll be fine, though."

The other-Catalina stepped forward.

"Hey." The Saturnian said, seeing her other self. "I've head alot about you."

"What? How?" The Earther replied.

"From your old buddy, Connor. He thinks alot of you."

"Cat, is he here?" Goddard asked.

"Yeah. Suzee too. I'm... Just not sure where, though."

The other-Catalina stepped forward, towards the Saturnian.

"This is so weird." She said. "I like the hair, though..."

She reached out, to touch the Saturnian's hair. As she did, the air seemed to become heavier, and the lighting dimmed.

"Thelma," Goddard asked, "what's going on?"

"I do not know, Commander."

A bolt of energy arced out, striking the two Catalinas. The commmand post filled with light.

When the light subsided, the was only one Catalina. She stood there in her starcademy uniform, looking at herself, surprised. She had long hair, like the Earther Catalina, which was multicoloured, more like the Saturnian.

"Oh, wow." Was all she could say.

Connor kicked against the wall panel again, using both his feet. He'd been trying at this for a half an hour, and was finally rewarded with a satisfying clang as the metallic panel hit the ground outside. He shuffled himself out of the crawlspace, onto the deck a few feet below.

Looking around, he found himself in a small storeroom, with closed lockers and crates neatly packed away.

Cracking open one of the lockers, he found a rack of blaster pistols, and a number of battery clips.

He grabbed a blaster, and a few batteries, then set out to find out where he was.

Suzee walked, forlorn, down the corridors. They were dark, unfamiliar, lifeless, but definitely the Christa. The voice of her own self-hatred was silent, biding its time, she was sure.

Turning a corner, she found a jumptube.

"Great."

She punched in the first combination that came to mind, and slid down the tube.

Connor knew that he was on the Christa. He recognized the living components of the corridors. When he found a jumptube, he punched in a random combination, and slid in.

Koan was almost at a power junction. Turning the corner, he saw a familiar face.

"Suzee," he said, with a cold tone to his voice, "my old, dear friend."

She turned, startled.

"Koan! No!"

He set down his respirator pack, and reached forward, grabbing her pendant.

"What is this?"

"N-Nothing..." She pulled back.

He held on tightly, and the chain snapped.

"Oh, it seems I've broken your little necklace. What a shame."

She backed away further, as he pointed his blaster at her.

"Now, I'm going to finish this," he said, not noticing the sound of a jumptube activating.

Connor slid out of the jumptube, into the corridor.

"You!" Koan shouted. "Now I get to kill two birds with one stone..."

Connor took in the situation quickly. He pointed his blaster back at Koan.

"Suzee, get out of here!" He called back.

Suzee hit the combination for the command post, and dove into the tube.

"Go on, Koan. Maybe I'm not faster than you."

Koan hesitated. Connor didn't. He aimed his blaster at the respirator pack. The pack exploded, showering sparks and shrapnel everywhere, as Connor leapt into the jumptube.

Suzee slid out onto the command post floor painfully, on her back. The crew all turned to her, with expressions of surprise on their faces.

"Suzee," Cat asked, "are you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied, getting up, "I'm fine."

Out of the other tube, slid Connor.

"Ow." He said, from the floor.

Suzee helped him up. He was shaken, and slightly hurt from the explosion. A small trickle of blood ran down the side of his face, originating from a small shrapnel cut on his forehead.

"Maybe I should sit down for a minute..."

Klaxons started ringing, sounding a proximity alert.

"What's that?" Radu asked.

"We're close to something big in normal space." Suzee responded. "Which means we have to get out of hyperspace."

The Christa popped out of hyperspace, alongside the biggest ship any of them had ever seen. It was at least nine miles long, a massive, green structure formed of three pods. The center pod was largest, with two sweeping wings leading off from either side, onto which the side pods were attached. At the rear end of the main pod, a tower- shape jutted away, its surface glowing red. The hull was alive, seemed to be constantly shifting on its frame, and bristling with weapons and sensor pods.

"I've seen that before." Radu said, looking at Elmira.

"What do you mean, Radu?" Goddard asked.

"It's a Spung vessel, Commander. They're constructing a fleet of these things, to take over all of known space."

"How do you know that, Radu?"

"Elmira sent it to me, in a vision."

"So," Cat asked, "what do we do?"

"We destroy it." Connor piped up.

"Thelma," Goddard asked, "how would we do that?"

"Preliminary scans indicate that the ship's fusion reactor is at the other end of the ship, partially exposed for cooling purposes, like most Spung power systems. A hit to that section would likely destroy the Spung vessel. However, the shot would have to be direct, and properly placed. We would have to be within a quarter mile to execute the attack properly. That is, of course, if the ship's weapons didn't destroy us first."

"If we fly close to the hull of the ship," Elmira said, "the ship's computer wouldn't be able to track us. They'd have to use fighters to get at us. But, it wouldn't be easy."

"Great. And our best pilot is wounded."

"Hey," Connor said, "I can pilot the Christa."

Connor took the helm, and the others manned their crew positions. They all prepared themselves, mentally.

"All right, everybody, hang on..." Connor said.

They came in, low and slow, along the hull of the Spung ship. Connor accelerated the Christa slowly, getting them to a good speed.

Small Spung fighters had found them, picking away at the shields a bit at a time. They drew closer to the fusion reactor, almost in range.

"The shields are almost gone." Bova said. "We need to blow this thing soon."

"Cat," Goddard ordered, "warm up the hyperdrive."

When they were finally in range, they opened up with the forward gun. It destroyed the exposed section, scattering debris everywhere.

"It's going critical." Cat said, "punch it."

The Christa leapt into hyperspace, accelerating away, as the Spung ship exploded.

The end of Part Seven: Through Fire and Darkness

Up next, Part Eight: Breathe

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