The Shadow Among The Stars: Book One of the Dread Naught Trilogy Read online

  2. Bloody Beginnings

  As the door from the hangar corridor to the interior of the facility slid open, a chorus of ululating squawks greeted them. Several creatures stood clumped in the hallway beyond, insubstantial and shadowy even in the well-lit main corridor. Bryluen got the faint impression of lithe, twisted limbs and a petaled head on each creature, but could not pin down any meaningful detail. The creatures had only an instant to comprehend what was about to befall them, as within a fraction of a second the Marines opened fire with the united concussive pound of eighteen simultaneous shotgun blasts. The thick cloud of shot instantly rendered the group of beasts into little more than dark ribbons of matter twirling down the hallway. Their explosive deaths left black, sooty streaks on the surrounding walls. Bryluen made a quick hand-sign telling the squad to move up, while she took a closer look at the remains.

  The main corridor of the station passed all the way from the hangar bay to the central panic room, and was punctuated by repeating structural supports at even intervals. Every block of rooms was secured by armored bulkheads—most of which had been torn through during the earlier engagement. The corridor was now a nightmarish wreck of black ichor splattered in great spots and streaks. Human blood as well could be seen along the corridor further down. Though the main facility lights appeared to be mostly functioning, red emergency lighting had taken over in many of the side rooms. The first block of rooms were the researchers’ living chambers on the squad’s left, and the station’s various amenities on the right. The squad shifted into a defensive posture in the intersection connecting the two blocks with the main hall. The bulkhead into the living chambers was mostly intact, while the bulkhead sealing off the amenities bore a rough gap larger than a person sheared into its center. The hatch ahead also featured several large holes allowing a view of the upcoming hallway block, consisting of the containment and observation chambers as well as the Marine barracks.

  Bryluen knelt where a sufficiently large piece of one of the hazy beasts lay. She poked it with the end of her rifle barrel, feeling the creature’s solidity in spite of its ethereal lack of visual presence. The parts of the thing her weapon touched disintegrated into puffs of hazy dust a moment afterward. She used part of a gauntlet plate to scrape up some of the sooty ichor spread about the hall, observing as it also turned to dust on contact. Fortunately, none of the material seemed to damage to the gauntlet’s surface.

  She took a breath and addressed Sergeant Audra. "Sergeant: estimates? Researchers’ quarters versus amenities?"

  Audra responded almost immediately. "There have been only a few signs of life in the researchers’ quarters. Numerous contacts confirmed in the cafeteria and lounge, however."

  "Open every functioning door in the living quarters. Fire-team One, sweep it. Fire-team Two, you’re with me in amenities."

  The Sergeant cut in curtly. "Dame, movement in Amenities, heading your way!"

  The soldiers stiffened and Bryluen moved up to Fire-Team Twos’ Shotcannonier, who was leaned around the corner with his weapon aimed toward the entrance to the amenities.

  "Fire-Team One, head out and report in when you have contacts. Two, CC discipline with a wide net. Sergeant Audra, open this bulkhead and hatch, would you?"

  The soldiers were already filtering into the Living Quarters with weapons raised, shoulder lights illuminating the dim redness within. The weapons of Fire-Team Two produced a low whine as their ripsaws spun up. The Marines spread apart from their fellows to take shelter at separate supports along the walls. A series of ululating cries came from the other side of the Amenities door as it slid open, accompanied by several wet growls like rapid choking sounds.

  A flood of shadows burst at speed from the door, and steady weapons fire answered back. Soot splattered all around the entryway as what were presumably the same thinner lifeforms scrambled forward. Intermittently, a yellowish mass of fiery energy would emerge from the mayhem and crackle against a wall support in a swift flare. After a moment a broad and hulking shape barely able to fit through the doorway came rushing forward, throwing aside its smaller compatriots. As Sergeant Audra had stated, Bryluen received the impression of two long, upward-curved horns jutting from the beast. The creature reached about the halfway point from the door to the front-most Marine in dreadfully fast strides, until Fire-team Two’s Shotcannonier first pulled the trigger.

  With an earth-shaking roar and a flash of light that lit the hallway in stark white for an instant, the Shotcannon fired. The weapon’s two barrels recoiled into the body of the gun, unleashing a storm of shot and shrapnel so fast and thorough that creatures the entire length of the hallway simply vaporized. Hundreds of tiny holes were instantly rent around the doorway as if it had been sandblasted.

  Amazingly the beasts kept coming after that, accompanied by a second horned creature. This time Bryluen leaned from cover and with an almost casual air leveled and fired her thin firearm. With a disproportionately quiet sliding sound somewhere between a jet of water and a metallic slap, an incandescent stream of magnetically-accelerated liquid metal fired from each of the weapon’s three barrels. The streams caused a great gout of steam on contact with the hulking creature, and the third hit caused it to collapse with a thud. The ongoing barrage of shot tore more chunks from its body as it slid to a stop along the floor.

  Đặng, the leader of Fire-Team One, curtly radioed that they had made sporadic contact and were now sweeping room-by-room, mopping up the occasional target in dim conditions. The team sustained a couple minor scrapes from claw swipes, but no real injuries. After another minute the assault from Amenities ceased, though it was unclear whether that indicated the creatures’ numbers had run out or if they had simply withdrawn for a time.

  The Marines of Fire-Team Two checked in with each other and reloaded. Three Marines bore warped scorch marks on their armor from the alien fireballs, but the plates had maintained their integrity enough to protect them from more than minor burns.

  Bryluen motioned down the length of the main corridor. "Excellent form, everyone. Falstaff, Cavalcante, Rotimi, and Maalouf, secure this intersection. Rest of you, on me! I know how good you Marines are at cleaning out a cafeteria."

  A tension-busting laugh and a few enthusiastic hoots accompanied the remark as Fire-team Two fell in behind Bryluen. She gracefully swept her weapon side to side as she passed from the main hallway into the cafeteria. The lights mounted on her armor’s collar activated. Invisible rays of ultraviolet light caused various objects and shapes within to glow, mainly the sooty “blood” of the creatures and older stains on the furniture and floor. The cafeteria, as expected, was an open area of long tables and practical metal chairs with a buffet line and automated food dispensary installed in the rear.

  The tables and chairs had been tossed to and fro in the bloodthirsty rush of the shadow creatures with all the chaotic impact of a hurricane. Two doors led out of the cafeteria: one to the station’s ample medical bay, the other to a relaxation lounge. Bryluen momentarily reflected on the wisdom of requiring medical bay patients to pass through the cafeteria, before motioning for the squad to split between the two side rooms. A brief radio message indicated the four Marines guarding the intersection had brought down a few scattered targets from deeper within the facility. Đặng and his team had finished their sweep of the living quarters and were doubling back to rejoin the Marines at the intersection.

  Bryluen accompanied the group heading to sweep the medical bay, and again took point. The door to the medical bay was damaged and half-open, so neither she nor the Marines with her stood in front of it lest something snatch at them through the gap beneath. Instead, they spread to the sides with guns ready once again as Bryluen tested the door mechanism. The door sputtered and coughed, bright sparks shining in the dim redness. The group entering the lounge did so without issue, and after a couple cautionary shots quickly reported no contacts in the single chamber before coming back to the cafeteria. Bryluen motioned to Fire-Team Two’s Sho
tcannonier to open the door. He dutifully ejected the current standard rounds from his gun—more cannon shells than anything—and replaced them with special breaching rounds. Bryluen and the Marines moved away from the entryway as the Shotcannonier squared his feet and braced about three meters from the door.

  Another almighty roar and a blinding flash took the hatch off of its hinges and sent it rocketing backwards into the med bay. Something within cried out as it was struck by the door, and in response Bryluen swung her weapon into the bay. The ghastly thin shapes of a cluster of fireball throwers bounced back to Bryluen’s eyes as they were drenched in ultraviolet light. Thus illumined, they were slightly easier to comprehend. Their eerily thin, somehow crooked ligatures and sickly-looking bodies contrasted with their petaled heads. Still, she could not make out the details other than the general impression of a nightmarishly monstrous visage. Their movements were twitchy and stiff as if they suffered some form of neurological damage, though the intent and efficacy of their motions defied such an explanation.

  After an instant of observation, Bryluen sent the first two to oblivion with precise beams from her weapon. The targets’ heads melted around the impact point and disintegrated to little more than smoke and steam as they collapsed in different directions. A Marine at the other side of the door pried a grenade from her belt, causing an indicator to appear on the visor HUDs of all her compatriots. They simultaneously pulled back from the door as she rolled the grenade inside the bay. The next creatures that jutted from the entryway were splattered back inside by shotgun fire, and many of the rest that had not yet exited the main chamber of the medical bay soon died with a rough bang as the grenade turned them into blackish slop.

  Fire-Team Two almost instantly rushed inside the bay, dispersing between rows of hospital beds and blowing apart a couple more targets. One of the larger beasts came rushing from a supply room in the rear with a rough, choppy roar. A sweep of Bryluen’s ultraviolet lamps showed a quadrupedal stance, and confirmed the two long horns projecting from what must have been the creature’s brow. She could also now see the beast had a low, large jaw that seemed to writhe with tendrils. Bryluen shot the creature once, and several shotgun blasts struck it across its flanks as it crashed through a row of med tables toward the nearest Marine. The Marine threw himself aside slightly too late, and was tossed by the weighty beast as a horn snagged through his pauldron. Aiming over their prone companion, the Shotcannonier sent the beast to oblivion from little more than a meter away. The blast removed the majority of the creature’s bodily mass and ended the clean up operation in the medical bay.

  Kosovir—the Marine who had been struck—was bleeding badly and wouldn’t be able to use his arm for the rest of the mission, but had come off surprisingly well given how close he was to a full-on impact with the tip of the creature's horn. A comrade removed the damaged shoulder plate before spraying and wrapping the wound with medical gear from Kosovir’s supply pack. Bryluen motioned for the squad to rally and head back out to the main corridor, where a new fire fight was occurring. A Shotcannon blast rumbled through the structure as Bryluen sprinted up the hall to the embattled hallway. A horde had poured from the next block of rooms while Fire-team Two had been occupied in Amenities. The timely arrival of Fire-team One had kept the four Marines at the corridor from being overwhelmed.

  Three Marines sat at the back of the formation with injuries, two from fireball impacts and one from being gored in the side. All three were in great pain but would live. The ripsaws of Fire-team one, including the wide blade of their Shotcannonier, were blood-slicked from multiple close encounters. Bryluen slung her rifle, drawing the pistol from under her arm and detaching a small cylinder from her belt as she slid behind a support. The pistol was a light greyish color, fat and short with a wide barrel. She fired it into the horde of enemies with a rude crack. A slug of an ultra-heavy compound accelerated from the auto-stabilized barrel and promptly emptied the chest cavity of the creature it struck. Fireballs raced back up the corridor toward the Marines in clumps, burning the walls and forcing them to duck behind the supports they were using as cover.

  One of the thin beasts had managed to rush its way around its dying compatriots to within melee range of Bryluen. In response she pressed a stud on the side of the cylinder in her hand, and swung the object toward the creature. The end of the cylinder flew off, trailing a thin length of carbon nanowire behind it. The weighty end-cap passed behind the creature, drawing the wire directly through its body with a sharp singing sound. The creature slid into two halves as it collapsed, while a magnetic force smoothly drew the wire back into the cylinder before it could twist far enough to become a danger to its wielder. Bryluen calmly settled back into cover and resumed firing her pistol, noting how much clearer the shapes and details of the horrible creatures had become since she first saw them.

  The pressure from the attack seemed to lessen about a minute after Fire-team Two’s return, and this time proved to truly be the end of the infestation in the laboratory. A several-minute, thorough sweep of the remaining rooms revealed no more enemy contacts, at which point Bryluen gave the all-clear to Sergeant Audra.

  3. Dead Ends and Directives

  Sergeant Audra pressed the stud that opened the central bunker's hatch. The badly damaged door wrenched itself open in rough, juddering movements. Within was a bank of camera feeds, a console of communications equipment, an array of cots, and a substantial closet of survival supplies. The forty-five researchers who had been in the lab when the initial attack occurred were all present and accounted for. The Marines of the Io 64th set about gathering and caring for the bodies of their fallen compatriots that lay torn and maimed in the intersection surrounding the bunker entrance.

  Within ten minutes of entering the inner bunker, Bryluen had set up the storage closet for use as an interview room, and requested the CSOE dispatch a forensics and clean-up crew. The operation itself had been easy and simple, not the sort of thing an Operative would be dispatched for normally. This attack merited her attention due to its unanticipated occurrence, the unknown nature of the opposition, and the random cessation of the attack. That some corpses were left behind was even more confusing, and seemed as reasonless as the initial assault. But Bryluen had made first contact with numerous species in less than ideal circumstances, and had seen enough wonders throughout the cosmos to know nothing was ever truly random.

  She had already secured the research files of the laboratory, and during the sweep through the lab areas had noted a missing object in a containment cell. The surveillance equipment in Containment had been destroyed soon after the creatures arrived—the surviving recordings showed the creatures were highly destructive even against inanimate objects, as if they were trying to destroy things of value. The incomplete nature of that endeavor lent even more mystery to the event. But where most things were damaged or found in pieces, the object in containment was gone entirely. Bryluen attained files on the object: a squared stone about thirty by fifteen by twenty centimeters consisting of an unknown material.

  The object had been recovered from an archaeological site at the northern ice cap of Vehndorgan III. The site was judged to be the tomb of an ancient Loth Từrn Hearthlord. Nothing else at the site was made of the same material, and numerous scans showed a series of lines in the surface that composed unknown designs when viewed under certain forms of light. Available dating methods had been unable to yield an age window for the object.

  The ’stone’ responded in odd, esoteric ways to radio waves, x-rays, ultraviolet light, and thermal stimulation in that it echoed certain parts of these waves, while causing weak virtual-particle effects that were poorly understood and had not yet been adequately recorded.

  Bryluen questioned the researchers relentlessly for four or five hours, until each had been cross-examined regarding any possible lead on the cause of either the attack or the departure of the creatures. At the conclusion of the interviews, the researchers were taken away for debriefing a
nd extended involuntary vacation time by a UASC shuttle. This left only Sergeant Audra to question.

  Bryluen opened the conversation with the haggard Marine by asking how Sergeant Audra felt, and then listened as Audra tersely discussed the loss of her Marines as well as her sheer exhaustion. She was coping as well as any Marine could be expected to in the face of such an onslaught. She had known some of the Marines on the station for more than ten years and their sudden loss was a lot to cope with. Audra had held to every operational standard there was, and her subordinates made a reckoning for themselves against hopeless odds. Estimates for the numbers of the initial attack from both eye witness impressions and system sensors was anywhere upward of a thousand entities if not more. Audra knew few things of strategic value, but told Bryluen all she did know by filling in some ancillary details that had so far gone unreported. Nonetheless, the missing block remained the only lead—its disappearance was the only meaningful consistency in the entire event. The damage dealt to the station’s sensory equipment meant little empirical information was available, unless something came up during the database searches or forensics investigations being conducted.

  Soon after the conclusion of witness interviews Bryluen, the Marines of the Io 64th, and Sergeant Audra were back aboard the lifter and docking once more with the Hermes Mass-Conveyer sitting motionless near the Compressed-Space Gate. The Space Gates were massive constructs consisting of a round outer framework within which three emitters continuously slid, facing the center of the structure. When the gate was engaged, the emitters generated the necessary energy phenomenon in the center of the gate to allow the Compressed-Space effect that made long distance stellar travel practical. The physical necessities of generating the energy to dial the gate dictated only large ships bore their own Compression Drives. This meant most ships had to piggyback on mass-conveyors like the Hermes in order to move between systems. The gates themselves were invariably large enough to allow simultaneous travel by an entire armada, with an aperture on the order of dozens of kilometers across.