Project - Prometheus Ch. 02

When she flipped it back to the on position, a loud thrumming coursed through the wires she repaired, and the light in the regulator getting brighter. Seeing that there was no sparking, and nothing had blown up, Natalya took this as a good thing. Out in the ship, the lights turned back on, slowly.

Then, like a flood, power coursed back through the Perseus. Every system and light that had been shut down to conserve power was now up and online. As Natalya gathered her tools from the crawlspace below, Korsa stepped over to help her out as the rest of the crew looked about in wonder.

"Nats, I honestly don't know where we'd be without you!" Inari said, awestruck by the sheer immensity of the cryo storage, which was now fully visible.

"Well, I did what I could, but I'll have to come back and do a proper fix on this later. I did an emergency bypass, but it won't hold for long," Natalya said as tossed her tools and materials up at their feet. Once everything was cleared out, she skittered out of the hole in the floor.

"How long do we have?" Korsa asked as she stepped over to the raised floor panel and braced herself against it.

"Four, maybe five months," Natalya replied, as she moved to deactivate the cylindrical supports holding the panel upright. Once the struts were removed, Korsa absorbed the weight of the floor panel and started lowering it carefully. Once it was a few inches from the decking, Korsa let it go and it slammed back into place.

"Still, you've done spectacular work today!" Taal'ani enthused as she hugged her friend. Everyone else came forward to congratulate the chief engineer but were interrupted by the chatter of automatic gunfire. The shots peppered the bulwark of one turret, and everyone dove for cover.

"What the fuck?!?" Taal'ani cursed as they huddled behind the defensive barriers of the security station. They heard metallic clanking and servos whining in the distance, but the sound was getting closer. Priya reached over her shoulder and pulled her Night Hammer, then shifted and looked through the scope.

"We've got Sentries!" she warned, seeing the robotic caretakers march towards them unhindered. Cocking her Ravager, Inari crouched into a ready position.

"How many we got?" she cried out.

"Two, maybe three dozen," the XO reported. Priya then checked the other two walkways and cursed.

"Damn it! At least the same number on our three o'clock and our six!" More shots came from the clustered groups of Sentry-Bots, forcing the women into cover once more.

"Nats, program your turrets to fire at our twelve and our six! Pree, you help Talon with keeping them back at our three! Korsa, you and Nats handle our six! Move!" the captain commanded. Scrambling, the crew moved to take up defensive positions. More gunfire blazed their way as the Sentries closed in on the women.

As Natalya crouched behind the armor plate with Korsa, she punched in a few commands to extend the range of the turrets to maximum. Once the command was loaded, the automated gunfire from the turrets poured into the Sentries like rain. Several of them toppled over, their systems compromised by the barrage. Inari popped her head out and saw that the turrets were decimating the Sentries. The automatic fire from the Natalya's toys were sweeping through the robotic defenders, tearing them apart.

Inari heard a resounding boom a few meters from her position. She panicked for a moment, until she realized it was just Priya, putting her Night Hammer to work. Looking down the walkway, she saw several Sentries had been blown apart by from the shots that Priya had made.

Glancing at the rest of her comrades, she saw they were all holding their own. Both Taal'ani and Natalya were unloading their mags into the oncoming Sentries, dropping at least a dozen between the two of them. Korsa was standing back, holding her position should any of the Bots get too close. Heartened by this, Inari broke cover and opened fire, emptying her clip into the aggressive machines.

'If this keeps up, we might just be able to get out of this,' she thought to herself as the ducked back down to reload. After ejecting the old mag and ramming in a new one, the captain of the Darkstrider stood back up, ready to cut down the remaining Sentries.

'What??' she thought as she took stock of the situation. More Sentries had joined the fight, and though they were far away, they would soon catch up to their compatriots. She didn't have time to think on it further, as a high velocity round screeched into the turret she stood by, forcing her to drop once again.

"SNIPER!" she shouted. As one, the entire group dropped into cover, hoping that they weren't the next target.

Another shot boomed out as she looked at the remnants of the first turret. The shot had been precise, as it had hit the machine straight in the center point of the turret housing. It not only destroyed its targeting system and its ability to see but also its power relays, rendering it useless. Glancing over at the second turret, she saw it was similarly disabled.

The Sentries had stopped firing but continued their advance, their clanking getting louder by the second. Taking a calculated risk, she broke cover and opened fire at the Sentries, putting at least another two down for the count. Another boom sounded, and she flew backwards. Landing hard at Korsa's feet, Inari grunted at the impact, winded, but alive.

"CAPTAIN!" Priya shouted out and abandoned her post to see to her. Looking down, Inari saw that her right shoulder plate was blown apart, only fragments of it remaining. Breathing a sigh of relief, she sat up, groaning as Priya helped her. Another booming shot rang out, the projectile screaming in, intending to kill.

Korsa stood in its path and the impact was enough to stagger her, but the shot was harmlessly deflected. Korsa charged to where the captain and XO had stood, sword whirling and biting into the Sentries that had reached the platform. More shots rang out, but each one of them pinged off Korsa's Khontaran armor, none of them getting through.

While Natalya and Talon continued firing at the Bots, there were just too many of them and they were closing on them quickly. Priya dragged her captain back into cover as she assessed the damage to her lover.

"Are you OK?" Priya asked worriedly.

Grunting, Inari moved her arm somewhat slowly and responded, "Feels like I got yanked out of bed by a hover truck, but I should be all right."

Inari then chanced a quick peek out of cover, to see that the Sentries were almost on top of them her crew mates. Though Korsa was wading through them like an avenging angel, there were just too many of them to fight off. Priya popped her head out of cover, only to have it nearly blown off, as a chunk of the defensive paneling was blasted apart. Surrounded, outgunned and outnumbered, Inari did the only thing she could do. She switched her helmet comm from internal to external.

"I know that there is someone out there, because no way could these hunks of junk could make that precise a shot. If you're listening, we surrender!"

Inari stepped out of cover with her hands held up, her weapon at her feet. The Sentries trained their weapons on her, but otherwise held their fire. Korsa had stopped her attack mid swing, her face turned towards her captain.

"Are you sure that's wise, Captain?" Taal'ani asked as she followed her captains' example.

"Do you see any other scenario where we keep fighting and walk away from this alive?" Inari responded, resignation heavy in her tone.

"I don't like it, but the Captain speaks sense," Korsa said as the Sentries herded her over to where the rest of them were clustered. Dropping her sword reluctantly, she stood in front of her shipmates, intending to protect them.

The rest of the crew stood up with their hands in plain sight and weaponless. Stepping over to where their compatriots were, they waited. Whatever decision or judgement that would be meted out by those who commanded the Sentries, they could only hope they would keep their lives.

The Sentries stopped and held their position, weapons trained on the crew. From the direction that Inari and Priya defended, footsteps echoed through the ship. As they got closer, the mechanical defenders of the ship stepped aside to let their commander through. In moments, a human woman stood before them, carrying an auto rifle like she knew how to use it.

"I am Commander Kasumi McKenzie, Security Chief of the Perseus," she said. Her voice was both commanding and beautiful as she leveled her rifle toward the crew of the Darkstrider.

"Who are you and why are you here?" the woman asked in a tone that would tolerate no deception.

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Feeling a pinch at his neck, Captain Alexander Tomisic stumbled out of his cryo pod, blinking his eyes against the lethargy that had overwhelmed him. The cocktail of stimulants had kicked in and he stood up, his senses returning to him.

'I'm.... on the... Perseus. My name is.... Alex Tomisic,'

After closing his eyes for a few minutes, he opened them to see that the bridge was as he remembered it. Taking a deep breath, he centered himself before moving.

"Jaesa, run full diagnostics and chart our position," he croaked out as he stretched and twisted, working out the kinks in his body.

"As you wish, Captain," Jaesa replied automatically. He looked down and saw he was still in his bodysuit and decided that he should probably get some clothes on.

'No way anyone will listen, with me dressed like this,' he thought with a chuckle. Alex followed the guiding lights towards the officers' deck, ambling along until he found his quarters. The door swished aside as he stepped in, looking over his room.

'Everything is just the way I left it. I wonder where we are?' he thought pensively. The room was decorated with few personal effects, as he wasn't big on decorations. 'I hope that the rest of the Prometheus ships received our warning,' he mused. His thoughts continued as he remembered the savage and brutal attack that left them crippled as they were.

Shaking his head, he cleared away such thoughts, knowing he'd have an answer soon. Walking over to his closet, he opened the door and pulled out his uniform, laying it out on his bed. Shedding the bodysuit, he quickly dressed himself, fitting the uniform just as though he'd only worn it yesterday. Stomping into the knee-high boots, he gazed at his reflection with intense scrutiny.

The man's six-foot six frame cut an imposing figure in his dark blue uniform; his brown hair was cut short, but stylishly so. His Croatian ancestry was apparent in his features and they were solid. With a strong jaw, high cheekbones and intense brown eyes, which were soft yet commanding. The gold trim at the edges of his tunic was faded but still resplendent after all the years. He straightened the insignias and lines that dotted his shirt, ensuring that everything was presentable.

He gave himself a brief once over in the mirror before stopping his fidgeting. Satisfied that his uniform was in order, he walked back out of his quarters and towards the bridge to receive the status updates he requested.

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Elsewhere on the ship, someone else woke from cryo sleep. She felt the similar pinch in her neck that told her she was injected with a mixture of stimulants. Designed to wake those emerging from cryo sleep, the grogginess faded quickly from her conscious mind. Taking her first breaths in hundreds of years, she kneeled on the floor, taking a moment to center herself. Once she had done so, she opened her eyes, the iridescent green of them shining like torches in the dark.

Looking down at her hands, freeze-dried blood flaked away from black skin. She remembered the woman she had killed in front of this pod, and how she'd fooled it into thinking she was that woman. The woman took a deep breath as she clenched her hands into fists, remembering her Prince's last orders, which boomed through her mind.

'Survive. Take the ship if you can. Destroy it, if you can't.' Snarling, she ran out into the ship, searching for a way to fulfill her final orders.

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This is where it will end for the moment. Much will happen soon with the crew of both the Darkstrider and the Perseus. And of that black-skinned woman who came out of the cryo pod? Well, that will be something you'll just have to wait and see what happens with her in the next chapter.

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my work and I hope that you've enjoyed it! I'm open to constructive criticism and will seriously consider any suggestions made about various story arcs. Please feel free to rate and comment on my work down below. If you like what I write, don't be afraid to follow and share, though your views, ratings and comments are quite enough for me.

In the meantime, this is C.H. Darkstrider, signing off to grab a beer and some quality time with the wife! ;) You will attain whatever you most desire, as long as you believe in yourself. Cheers!