The Outer Rim Braves Chapter 3: Semper Fi
Every Road Has Its End
Isaac gripped the throttle, staring out the door at Arne desperately sprinting to board before the train reached the bridge. The marine was pursued by a hunter-killer drone. Erik leaned through the hole left by missing sliding train doors, straining for Arne’s outstretched arm. The marine only had a few more meters before the tram reached the ledge with a steep drop into the depths of the deck.
Ivar charged down the length of the train car and smashed out a window with the butt of his rifle, aiming it at the android mere steps away from cutting Arne to pieces. With a panicked burst of automatic laser fire, the private laid on the trigger and pumped bolts of light into the machine’s upper torso while coolant canisters peppered the tram’s ceiling. The beams bounced and seared the buildings beyond, leaving char marks on what concrete was left on the high-rises.
Suddenly, the Alucar pivoted, leaping toward the tram. The deadly drone drove its wrist blades into the frame. Methodically dragging, the machine began to carve an opening. The long blade pierced the tram car, it struck Ivar across the chest and gored his armor plating. Blood sprayed like a fountain and bathed the android in crimson ichor as the vacuum of the deck depressurized the marine’s suit. The private gasped and stumbled back, falling into a seat and covering the hole with his hand.
“Took a hit.” Ivar’s shocked but weak voice faded out over the radio.
As the hunter-killer crawled through the mangled window frame that it carved to get into the tram, Arne spun and leaped, digging his fingers into the gaps between the android’s armor plates. Planting his feet on the side of the tram for leverage, with all his might he tugged at the Alucar drone. After struggling against the machine’s thrashing legs, Arne dislodged the android from the window and they both tumbled to the ground, sliding along the asphalt, both the marine’s armor and the Alucar’s frame throwing sparks.
Before the marine could recover from the fall, the Alucar spun upright and pinned Arne with its legs. Thrashing with its wrist blades, the drone carved chunks from the marine’s body. His screams of agony burst out over the radio, then faded as his suit depressurized and his entrails exploded gore all over the hunter-killer. Isaac froze. He was just a reactor tech, lack of combat training caused distress to overwhelm him in that he couldn’t help the marine.
Erik still dangled from the broken tram door, leaving his free arm to hang in defeat. Head held low, he recovered upright and turned to Ivar.
“Did you get that hole squared away?” The sergeant’s voice was resolute but tinged with loss.
He found the private slumped over, pale and staring into nothingness. His veins emptied all over his lap and the floor. For whatever reason, the autoplast system on Ivar’s suit failed to patch the hole and he couldn’t make a solid seal with his hand because of the damaged armor plating. Alucar were old First Expedition tech, which used alloys that the flotilla couldn’t reproduce anymore, of a far better quality, and the Alucar was First Expedition tech. Erik grit his teeth in anger and slumped his fellow marine over, dislodging the plastimend canister on the private’s hip.
Holding it up to the light, the canister indicator showed empty.
“Why didn’t you say something?” Erik leaned down and shouted in the face of Ivar’s body. “I would have given you mine, you stupid fuck!”
The sergeant hurled the canister down the length of the tram, shattering the rear window. Then he fell onto a seat on the bench opposite the private’s body and held his helmet in one hand and began punching the side of it with his other fist. Rhythmic slams of armor against reinforced glass overwhelmed the faint static of his hot mic.
Isaac wanted to say something in condolence, but a better mind told him to keep his trap shut. There was nothing to be said that would make the situation any better. The past months yielded nothing but loss and suffering. From losing the Endurant, to enduring ceaseless Alucar attacks on every abandoned vessel encountered, numbers dwindled with each scavenging mission. And this one was turning out no different.
The tram ride grew quiet as Erik calmed. Once the tram ascended from the originating deck, most of the course was through the inter-deck tunnels—large, square throughways that followed the spaces between each of the ship’s main decks. Large holo displays, now dark, perhaps provided a more pleasant facade than just iron girders and the metal scaffolds which supported decks against each other. But without power, and riddled from gunfire and conflict, they were just cracked and tattered translucent sheets.
“We should just scratch this mission.” Erik muttered over the radio, entirely deflated.
Isaac understood the sentiment but decided to remain silent as he sat in the engineer’s seat, watching the tracks for obstruction.
“Get us on a cross-ship path. We’re linking up with the scavenger team and calling it.” Erik spoke with authority.
“No, we’re not.” Isaac spoke matter-of-factly, continuing to monitor the way ahead.
“Not your call.” The sergeant stood up and approached the control room. “I’m not going to be the one that got our only reactor tech killed. Turn it around.”
“It doesn’t matter if it isn’t my call or not. We’re pressing forward.” Isaac didn’t want to argue with him but wasn’t going to stop the tram either.
“If you’re going to give me a heart-felt speech about not sacrificing lives in vain, shove it up your ass. I’m pulling us out of here before doom everyone on the lifeboat because you got your head blown off.” Erik loomed over Isaac with arms folded and a firm upright pose.
“I wouldn’t sully their deaths with grandstanding. We’re pressing on for a simple reason: we have no choice.” Isaac didn’t acknowledge the sergeant’s overwhelming presence and continued to stare at the tracks illuminated by the tram’s headlights. “Our reactor has been on its last leg for a while. Any day now it will give out.” He turned and looked up at Erik. “Do you have family on our lifeboat?”
“Yes.” Venom veined Erik’s voice.
“Unless you want to find out if they suffocate first, or freeze to death, we’re not stopping.” Isaac turned back to watch the track passing beneath the tram ahead. Then the thought of the other two marines crossed his mind and he turned to Erik again. “Did they have people waiting for them?”
The sergeant leaned against the wall and stared out the broken door, watching the bland surroundings pass. “Moller lost almost everyone back on the Endurant.” Erik pointed at Ivar’s body. He paused, thinking. “Some of Berg’s family got out,” talking about Arne.
A wave of depression washed over Isaac. No one on the lifeboat was whole. All lost someone. Many someones. “We’ll be arriving shortly.”
As they closed in on the final station, the tram rattled, then the car fell dark. Isaac grumbled and readied to climb back under the tram to fix the damaged link cable. “I got it, I got it. Give me a few.”
“Leave it.” Erik stood up and began pulling Ivar’s kit off his body. “Last thing we need is an ambush. This is close enough.” He wrapped the second utility belt around his shoulders like a bandolier.
Then Erik tossed the private’s weapon to Isaac. “You know how to use that?”
Isaac caught the rifle and looked it over. “I think I can manage.” He had to sit through boarder-repulsion simulations for the reactor tech exam. He knew enough to point and pull the trigger.
“No heroics. If something goes down, you leave me behind and get your ass out if you got to.” The sergeant pointed at the rifle. “That’s to give you a better chance of getting back. You run or you hide first.”
Isaac hesitantly nodded, and they departed the tram at the very edge of the tunnel. There was no elevation change to get to the platform, abandoned equipment indicated it was a maintenance station. Considering their destination, it was likely just for workers to get to and from the reactor array. Their surroundings lacked the glamor of other parts of the ship. Maintenance deck design choices didn’t change much since the days of the First Expedition. The Endurant’s reactor platform was equally drab and depressing.
The airlock door into the engineering bay was already open and ready for them. As they crossed through the doors and prepared to enter the hallway, the other side of the thick glass airlock made it evident that section of the ship was still pressurized. Their headlamps revealed dust swirling within. Crossing beyond airlock, Erik pulled Isaac back by the grip on his air tank and the sergeant stepped ahead, shielding Isaac from the opening doors. From the drab browns of the tunnel, the reactor deck was pure white with iridescent blue undertones. There was no sign of a fight here.
As they walked along the hallway, huge pane windows still intact revealed the reactor arrays below them in the massive chamber over which the enclosed walkway was suspended. They were enormous glass spheres with grey and mahogany-colored mass within, locked into banks. Each bank had four spheres spanning from floor to ceiling of the deck. The reactant within required massive volume. Isaac’s heart sank as he looked out at the banks. All of them were browned over, dead.
“These are duds.” Isaac looked out at the array. The exact state of each reactor required precise tools to understand each cell’s health. But in general, the color showed how well any given core was doing. Brown was bad. Very bad. He turned his arm over and looked at the map. The live reactor reading was much farther down, deeper into the deck.
Suddenly Erik grabbed Isaac by the air tank and dragged him, in a sprint.
The sergeant’s weapon-mounted radar rang out with a blip behind them. "It’s the Alucar. That thing followed us.”