24


Dozens of people crowded the situation room of the Bright Lance, including Captain Younger and Brion Rejon, leader of Xad. President Coronas had been relocated to her own ship when the crisis began.
“I find it interesting that the people of Xad don’t require their leader to transfer to another ship,” X-37 said.
“Their society evolved differently,” I said. “I’m guessing their leadership cast wasn’t always long-lived. They probably gave up on staying safe about the time they started trying to salvage thousands of derelict ships from the void.”
“That is very similar to my own analysis,” X-37 said. “Captain Younger is beginning the briefing.”
I shut up and listened. Elise stood on my left, Path on my right, each of us in full Archangel armor but with our helmets off. Bridge security glared at the massive chain gun strapped to my back but didn’t make me leave it outside.
“I wish I’d thought of that,” Elise said.
“You were playing with micro-fighters,” I responded, scanning every face in the room to gauge their level of fear versus their commitment to winning.
“Playing, innovating—you decide which I was doing,” Elise said. “And you’re welcome, by the way.”
“Thank you for your vigilance thus far.” Younger’s strong voice carried across the room as people ended conversations and faced forward. “This crisis will call for great sacrifice and creative solutions. Reaper Cain has interviewed the surviving test subject and learned several things that will help us in our hunt.”
She waved her hand and a holographic display of a fully formed monster appeared. The holo was blurry, taken from the security cam. It looked like it had been running or charging when the image was captured.
“There are at least two Slayers at large.” She held up one hand to stop the murmuring that was spreading to the room. “That was what their creators called them and is sufficient for our purposes. The monsters are seven feet tall, dense enough to resist our weapons, and have demonstrated an unbelievable level of strength. Surviving victims claim they have strange eyes that seemed to look at their prey differently than we would and that their heads can turn at least one hundred and eighty degrees.”
I studied the image carefully, noting how much different it appeared when it wasn’t trapped in a cryo-pod.
Captain Younger continued. “They can extend—or shoot, actually—something like tentacles from their arms and legs. These appendages end in serrated hooks, possibly designed to capture prey, but we haven’t seen that yet.”
“That’s good,” someone said, and there was mild laughter for a few seconds.
“This holo image is misleading. Eyewitnesses report they are a shiny blue color, like they’re constantly wet. Others claim they are nearly black,” Younger said. “You all have your assignments. Your mission is to locate and contain any and all alien lifeforms. You will not engage with fewer than four combat trained individuals. Reaper Cain and his people, of course, are the exception.”
She looked toward me. “Do you have anything to add, Cain?”
“They can be killed,” I said.
“How do you know that?” asked a voice from the crowd.
“Anything can be killed. Stick to the plan, trust your team, and look for opportunities. The best thing we can do is deny them access to more and more parts of the ship until their only option is to get pushed out of an airlock,” I said.
“I like that plan,” Younger said. “But make no mistake, destroy these monsters at your first opportunity.”
“We heard there were still some frozen in cryo-pods. What about them?” a crew member asked.
“That’s not part of this briefing.” Younger pointed at another crew member. “Next question.”
“Some of us have families,” the man toward the back said. “Can they be evacuated?”
“That’s a good idea, Crewman Davidson. I’ll assign people to begin the process.”
Once I had caught Captain Younger’s eye, I indicated I was leaving and she gave me a very short nod of approval.
“Mavis and Bug believe Ayers took six of the fresh, or least changed, hybrids, and six of them partially through the transformation,” X-37 said. “We agree that all twelve of the completed Slayers are unaccounted for. Where would you wish to start, Reaper Cain?”
“I’d like to start by finding these things before any of the people from the ship do.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Elise said. “Path, are you ready to hunt aliens?”
“Yes, though I find no pleasure destroying these unfortunate creatures,” Path answered, then put on his helmet.
“Let’s not overthink this,” I said. “These things are dangerous and have already killed innocent crew members. If they were human, we’d still have to take them out. Don’t get soft just because they were unwilling test subjects.”
“Of course.” Path’s expression was as serene and unreadable as a pool of untouched water.
“X, point the way. I want to get a head start on the rest of the search teams.”
“My analysis suggests it would also be smart to allow them to secure as many areas of the ship as possible, thus narrowing options for your quarry.”
“Yeah, sure. We’ll do that too. But if we can get a jump on it now, it might save a lot of Wallach and Xad lives,” I said.
“And the lives of those formerly serving the Union,” X-37 said. “A significant number of them remain on each of the formerly Union ships.”
“Sure,” I said. “Let’s just save everyone and sort it out later.”