Another welcoming change was that the room was illuminated by bright, friendly lights in addition to the morning sun that shone through the window.
“Did you work on that the whole night?” Robin asked Happy and pointed at a slip with the word ‘Cargo-lift’ on it.
“Yup!” she nodded without looking up from one of the displays in front of her, “While all these buttons and switches are redundant and Proto can do most of it automatically, I’m feeling more at ease if I know what I’m looking at.”
“I agree with that, but please make sure to get enough sleep. I don’t need a pilot that falls asleep mid flight!”
“I’ll keep an eye open, you don’t have to worry!” Proto chimed in.
“That doesn’t make me feel any better at all.” Robin grunted and looked around, “Now that we know the use of each station, do we have a seating arrangement already?”
“Yeah, Alena gets the station for navigation. The old man is responsible for communication from the copilot’s seat and Krez can have the weapon’s station. I’ve disabled all its functionality for now. It’s not that it had many weapons to begin with…” Proto explained.
“Krez?” Robin asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, the wolf who joined us, do you remember?” Happy said.
“Krez… of course.” Robin shook his head, “Come on, let’s go. The others should be waiting in the conference room by now.”
Leaving the bridge, Robin walked towards the central platform that finally had been turned on and showed a huge hologram floating atop. It was a detailed visualization of Seavis, with a blinking marker that represented the location of the Relentless Stride.
To the left of the room was the Star Atlas, the glowing cube that became the new home of Proto. Ever since the AI had moved in there, the lights spilling out from the gaps between the many panels had turned from blue to red. Behind it was a big window that also had its shutter raised and gave view into the nearby forest.
Turning right, Robin headed for the conference table on the other side. Alena, Ang’Tue and Krezolgok occupied three of the nine chairs and behind them was another big window. The bright light flooding the room finally made the ship’s inside less oppressing and instead gave it a warm touch.
After Niu and Robin also took a seat, Robin began to explain their next steps. “Okay everyone. We’ve finished all our business here in the Mereus Cluster. We freed and transferred Proto, dropped off our friends, cut ties with the UAS and established contact with the Eltaran and the Keeper.” While the others just nodded, the wolf noticeably perked up at the mentioning of not just one but two mystical races.
Robin sighed and addressed their newest member. “Krezolgok - may I call you Krez as well? I know that we didn’t have the best start and that you being here isn’t completely your own choice. But that’s how life is - if you aren’t making a choice, at some point someone else will do it for you. As things stand, you’ll be staying with us for the foreseeable future, and that’s why I want you to know where we’re getting you involved.”
Robin paused to think carefully about his next words before he continued, “After Happy and Alena got you out of the prison on Trov L, you were stuck on this ship for some time. I’m not sure if you’re even aware of where you guys have been during that time, but long story short, the Keeper had invited us for a visit and offered us a job which we… were not able to decline.”
“So they made the choice for you?” the Zulbano growled and even though he still wasn’t completely used to his manner of speech, Robin noticed the heavy sarcasm in his voice.
“Yeah, a shitty situation. But different from you, we never got the chance to decide what we wanted to do before they took over.” Robin nodded, “Anyways, we now have a clear objective and that is to reach the hidden colony of the Eltaran. Ang’Tue here has already arranged passage for us. After that… well, we’ll see how things go from there. Help us honestly until we are done with our visit at the Eltaran and we can renegotiate the terms of your contract.”
The Zulbano just grunted but Robin took it as a sign of approval. Not the wolf had any alternative for now.
“We need to restock our supplies.” Alena said to direct the conversation to easier topics.
“Ang’Tue, what have you brought from Rucasur?” Robin asked.
“New suits and basic adventurer gear like lights, ropes and such.” The old man said.
“Please tell me that the new combat gear isn’t black again!” Happy whined.
“Sorry, young miss, I’ve bought the same model as before. We have eight complete sets for the five of us. However, I’m not sure if they’ll fit our furry friend here.”
The Zulbano just tapped his long snout with one of his claws and shook his head.
“Okay, so no zero-g action for you.” Robin said and saw that Proto added it to a ‘remind-me-list’ in his Interface, not unlike ROMAS would have done it.
- Remind-Me
- Finding combat- and space-gear for the wolf
“We still have many supplies from the Keeper, but I think we should stock up a few more things as well.” He continued, “Aside from processed food, we should also grab some luxuries like alcohol and real meat. I’ve heard our bank account got an unexpected windfall.”
“That’s my captain!” Happy cheered at that, “I’ll make a list of all the things we need for a few of the cocktails I know!”
“Yeah, do that. Same for everyone - just name the things you need and Proto will make a list for Alena. She’ll be responsible for acquiring as much of it as possible at our next stop. Proto, give us a quick update on our planned route.”
“Roger, captain!” Proto said and the hologram in the middle of the room changed to a map of the Mereus Cluster.
“We are here on Seavis.” the AI explained and one of the planets blinked a few times, “If we want to jump to the hidden world of the Eltaran, we would need about twelve weeks with your everyday UAS ship. While the Relentless Stride is much faster than that, we still have roughly seven to eight weeks ahead of us.”
The map zoomed out until half a dozen star systems appeared. A line was drawn from the Mereus Cluster to a system even further away than the Goya System.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“The good news is that we could do the jump right now.” Proto continued, “The bad news is that we would reach the Eltaran with so little fuel in the tanks, that there would be no room left for sudden changes of the plan. And considering your talent for sticking to a plan, I would strongly advise you to refuel before leaving the Mereus Cluster.”
“You want us to visit a spaceport or station? In this system, where everything is controlled by the UAS? With this ship?” Alena gasped and her icy mask cracked for a moment. “Have you damaged your code while transferring to the Star Atlas?”
“Would you prefer drifting through space in the middle of nowhere?” Proto sharply shot back.
“Of course not, but can’t we make the stop in another system?”
“We could,” Robin interjected, “but the available systems aren’t any better. They are either abandoned with no option to refuel or as controlled by the UAS as the Mereus Cluster. But it’s not as bad as it seems. We can go with the same trick we used when returning to Rucasur last time.”
“Maybe we can fool them to let us dock, but they will notice that something is wrong the moment they have visual on us.” Niu said.
“But we don’t need much time.” Robin said, “Even if they realize that we’re not who they thought we would be, as long as they can’t keep us from leaving I don’t care.”
“We only want to refuel, right? Can’t we just go for the smallest, most remote spaceport we can find?” Ang’Tue asked.
“That’s what I wanted to suggest, too.” Robin nodded.
“Ahem…” Krez coughed and awkwardly raised a paw, “What’s the problem with this ship? I wasn’t awake when you brought me aboard, but there are many heavily modified ships with unique looks, right?”
“Proto, would you be so kind?” Robin motioned at the holo-table. Immediately the map disappeared and was replaced by a schematic view of the Relentless Stride.
Seeing the huge alien ship with its four massive legs, the Zulbano quickly took his hand down. “Uh, okay.”
“As I was saying, I had the same idea as Ang’Tue and as such I had Proto look for the best place fitting that description. We came up with three possible locations, one space station and two remote settlements with small spaceports.” Robin explained, “The station has the lowest risk of bothering us, even if they realize that this isn’t a UAS ship. If they want to restrain us however, they have the better cards at hand. The two spaceports are more likely to care who we are, but can’t really keep us from leaving if shit hits the fan.”
“Spaceport it is!” Alena immediately said and Ang’Tue and Happy also nodded energetically.
It followed a lengthy discussion with some back and forth but in the end, they came to a decision where to go and how to approach.
“Finally!” Robin said and with a wide grin, he added “Happy, set course to Port Kelly. It’s time for the first walk of the Relentless Stride!”
Instead of cheers, there was an awkward silence on the bridge and he looked around to see Niu’s and Alena’s uncomfortable faces.
“What? Don’t tell me you can’t make this baby take its first steps!” He gasped and then comforted his friend, “No worries, Niu. No one expects it to be a smooth walk on your first try.”
“Yeah, right. About that…” Happy said and looked over to Alena for some help but her friend was ignoring her and instead tapped busily on her tablet in an obvious random manner.
“Traitor!” Niu cursed under her breath and turned back to the enthusiastic Robin, “Rob, we need to talk.”
***
Seavis, 4.500 kilometers away from the Mystic Sea, Port Kelly.
Today Private Freddy Amsa was on duty for Flight Control and had to manage the few arrivals and departures of the small spaceport.
He sat in the flight tower that wasn’t more than an ugly metal tube, barely high enough to give an overview of the four landing pads and three hangars.
Surrounding him was the endless forest of Seavis, on this side of the planet even higher and denser than anywhere else. At least once a week someone had to go out and trim back the rapidly growing greenery to make sure the port isn’t getting swallowed by the wild nature.
“Yeff!” Freddy barked into the comm, “Stop trimming for a moment and return to the port. We have an arrival inbound.”
“I’m done in 15 minutes. Only Pad 02 is left to clean.” A bored voice answered and Freddy could hear the loud machinery mowing down the shrubbery in the background. “Today no one else was registered for landing, so just tell them to wait.”
“I don’t think that’ll be possible.” Freddy laughed, “They are some whitecoats from Gaunus, coming here under direct orders of Commander Ramones.”
“The guy that blew up the weapon testing site together with half of the facility… and half of his men?”
“Yeah, that guy.”
“What an asshole!” Yeff muttered but the machine went silent.
“Just get your ass back to the port and arrange truck F03 near Pad 01.” Freddy said, “We have to clear all the pads for their arrival and retreat. But they didn’t say anything against watching from the tower.”
“Damn labrats! I hope they don’t plan to blow up stuff here, too! They wanna land on Pad 01 you said?”
“Arrive, not land. They are testing a new kind of ground-based vehicle and ran low on fuel sooner than they thought.”
“Great! Why are these guys fucking numbers everyday if they can’t even manage their fuel consumption?”
Freddy let his friend nagging as he watched him leaving the big mowing truck before heading over to one of the hangars. A moment later a fuel truck drove out and parked next to one of the pads.
In the forest, not too far away, birds rose into the sky as the tall trees below them shook.
“You have 3 minutes left, hurry your ass!” Freddy reminded his partner, even if a quick check of his radar didn’t show any vehicle nearby. He looked down the long, sandy road that was carved through the jungle and the only way from and to this small port. Though, no one was to be seen.
“As if I care that they want me to stay away!” Came the snarky response over the comm.
“You want to stand next to a test-project of the people who blew up their own facility? Sure, take your time and do not worry - I’ll comfort your wife if things go south.”
“Fuck you, Amsa!” Yeff yelled but fell into a jog as he hurried to the tower.
Just as he left the pad, a loud crashing noise rolled over from the forest and the man stopped to turn around.
“What the hell?” Freddy muttered as he saw trees falling down. Something was moving through the forest, something big.
More trees fell and not only the small ones.
“It can’t be…” Freddy stammered as he realized that these idiots never planned to use the road.
Pulling the microphone to his mouth he yelled into the comm, “Yeff! RUN!”
Down on the ground, his friend finally snapped out of it and fled from the pad and towards the tower. Just moments later, a long metallic leg broke through the last line of trees. Then came another one. A huge black oval, turtle shell-like disc was shoved out of the forest, 30 meters above the ground, carried by four thick legs.
“By the gods!” Freddy gasped when he saw the walker leaving the forest and walking towards Pad 01.
Behind him, the door was kicked open and Yeff rushed in.
“What is that thing?” The man asked between ragged breaths.
“I have no idea…”
In awe they watched, as one of the legs opened up and two people in black suits came out. With trained ease they connected the pipes from the truck to the monstrosity and started the refuelling.
After not even five minutes, the two figures were done and stepped back into the walker’s leg. Without much noise, the walker came to life again and turned. With heavy but quick steps it vanished into the forest, leaving behind a trail of devastation.
“Just what kind of monster have these lunatics from Gaunus crafted?” Freddy, inspecting the ravaged outskirts of their spaceport.
“I have no idea. But tell me, who is paying for all the repairs?” Yeff asked and pointed towards the big cracks in the landing pad’s concrete.
“Shit…”