Aberrant

  Part Two: Falling

  Ms.Mural

  Talon poked her head around the corner, she watched as Derrick distracted the two people set on the hangar's door. They were cd in protective grey and bck battle armor; unusual. She was lucky to have had her quarters near the rear of the ship, close to the access hatches for the “underducts” of the vessel. She knew they’d be deserted on a weekend. On her back was a hiking bag that had always been too rge for her, but now, it felt almost too small. Strapped to it was a sleeping roll, whatever rations she had handy, water for three days, and the stuffed shark. She’d never leave such a wondrous gift of wife’s behind.

  The hall was dark, and filled with numerous pipeworks, ventition ducts, computer networking, and wiring systems. The occasional side room was either storage, a glorified access port to machinery, or a disused cargo bay. There were two thin strips of LEDs lighting the halls, leaving them in an eerily dark light. Talon hoped her newly looming figure hadn’t attracted any unwanted attention. She was finding it hard to step lightly with her newly added body mass.

  Talon watched as Derrick managed to get the two men into a side room, and she took her chance. She, as quiet as she could manage, rushed down the hallway. She paused just before the door to the side room, the voices echoed from the inside of it.

  “What was so important, Derrick, we need to secure the hangar for crew changes; captain’s orders. Not to mention, shouldn’t you be looking for that Aberrant parasite you and the science team managed to lose?” A woman’s voice sounded from the storage room, it was familiar, she was named Eliza. Talon only knew her as the head of ship security. She always stood next to captain during shipwide addresses to the crew

  Derrick Stammered, “I think it’s in there!”

  “In the hangar… Why would it be in the hangar?” Eliza seemed incredulous.

  “Someone’s trying to smuggle it off ship, they managed it in there! Their bio tracking chip says they entered the hangar te Tuesday, then exited it. I just checked the bio trackers.”

  “Who?” Eliza’s voice took a sharp turn.

  “Err, Talon… Talon Kileandar.”

  “How long have you known this?”

  “Err, today… She won’t respond to her door, nor badging, and her biochip is offline!” There was a sigh, though Talon couldn’t tell who made it.

  Talon took her chance and jumped past the doorway in as quiet a hop as she could have. She nded hard, with a thud.

  “What was that?” Eliza’s heavy boots started towards the door.

  Derrick stammered, he was better at lying than Talon remembered, “I- I don’t know…”

  “Draw weapons, you’ve been followed.” Eliza spoke in a hushed tone behind the door. “Whoever you are, come out with your arms up!” Eliza’s voice echoed through the underducts of the ship.

  Talon cwed, instinctively, at where her gun should have been. It wasn’t there; she’d forgotten to grab it. Step by careful step she heard the boots of Eliza draw closer and closer to the door. Talon panicked as she smashed the control panel for the hangar’s access door, and it spit back a response; the door had been manually locked.

  “Shit…” Talon muttered as she looked down the hallway. It was some forty feet to the opposite threshold. Even turned to an Aberrant she couldn’t outrun a bullet. It was possible she could live through a gunshot wound, but she didn’t want to take bets.

  Eliza spoke, loud, forceful, a hint of fear, “Last warning…” Talon ignored the words. She grabbed onto a vertical pipe that was next to the doorway, and prepared to do something. Not that she knew what something was. “Put your arms up and-”

  Talon forced herself forward, flinging, cwed feet first, around the pipe and through the door. She passed through it, smming Eliza in the chest. The woman let out a scream as she toppled to the floor, her handgun spinning out of her grasp, cttering to the ground just as her head smmed against the metal. Talon let go of the pipe she was holding as her arms fully outstretched, blindly flying into the room, right between the second guard and Derrick. She smmed hard into a rack of coont tanks. One tank fell from the rack, bursting open. Instantly, fog condensed, leaving the room a dark muddled mess.

  Talon heard the second guard, a man by her few short gnces, whip around. He fired, blindly through the dark fog. The bright yellow tracers illuminated the air for a moment as they zipped by. Talon fell to the ground, her skin felt like it was burnt from the split second bst of supercooled fluid. She cmbered to a crouch before she leaped at the wispy visage of the second guard. She smmed into him with her cws digging into his stomach. He too, dropped his gun, grabbing helplessly at Talon’s arms.

  “Abera- Ahhhh!” His screamed. It was visceral, deep, terrified; it awakened something in Talon’s mind. She felt a warm sense spread through her body as she drove her cws deeper into the man’s flesh. It told her to go cw out his flesh, to tear, to rip, to make his flesh hers. Her mouth fell agape, and an excited series of clicks emanated from it as she tore at the man’s stomach, ripping chunks of it from him as she screamed and cried. She could see his intestines showing through the blood. The smell of fresh blood and torn flesh filled the air. It smelled amazing, something like raw steak. Her stomach rumbled, a hungry desire drove itself into her. Talon smiled, clicking uncontrolbly as she raised a handful of the bloody meat to her mouth, and took a rge, excited bite from it.

  The taste was wonderful, fresh bloody meat. She’d never tasted it before. Why was that? It was so good! The man she tore from wasn’t screaming anymore, he just muttered the same thing over and over again, “Please god save me! Please god… Please god save me!” She wished he’d stopped speaking, prey wasn’t supposed to speak.

  Talon’s eyes narrowed to points as her mind recentered. She looked down as she realized what she was doing. She spit out what little meat she hadn’t swallowed, and fell backwards, pushing herself away from the man. She looked at him again. He sat there, against a wall, slumped over, muttering.

  Derrick rushed over pulling loose a medical kit from his bag. “What the fuck Talon…” He tried to be forceful, yet he failed, his voice wavering as he looked over to Talon.

  Talon felt as if the world were spinning on a top as she cocked her head. “I was hungry- I… Oh my god.” Talon’s eyes welled with tears as she slowly stood up. “Fuck fuck fuck.” She repeated the word till it stopped feeling like one. She crawled over to Derrick’s feet, still in shock at her actions, “I can help! I can-”

  “Just… Fuck me, Talon! Look at him, he’s dead. We need to get off the damn ship before they activate Vagia and blow the whole damn thing to shreds!” Vagia; it was a starcruiser, one that was purposely crashed on the densely poputed world of Alt’Sin’Daka by Aberrant intruders. Alt’Sin’Daka no longer showed up in Terran star charts; the whole world had been subsumed by the Fal Horde. Ever since, the Vagia Protocol was always initiated if an Aberrant was to escape containment onboard a ship, that ship, with the Aberrant aboard, was to be scuttled, or, actively destroyed by any other ships within firing range. Its crew expected to go down with it.

  “He’s dead. He’s… God.” Derrick stumbled back from the man’s corpse and out into the hallway, “We should- We should get going. We’re gonna talk about that when we’re somewhere safe.”

  Talon forced herself up. Her legs were shaky, they didn’t want to work, but she forced them to. She walked towards the door, pensive. She looked down at Eliza as she passed her, the woman yed there, breathing slowly, her form totally motionless upon the ground. Talon stepped around her walking out the door into the hallway. Suddenly, there was a rustle behind her, and before Talon could react, her ears rang.

  She felt the bullet strike her left arm in the bicep. A spray of purple blood scattered across the opposing wall, and all across Derrick. Talon didn’t bother turning around to face her assaint, she just grabbed hold of Derrick around his waist and took off down the hallway towards where they came from. She knew there was a little regarded access port to the rear of the hangar; if she was quick, they could still get out with her life. She dashed through halls, following her mental map of the ship’s yout. She merely hoped her memory wasn’t wrong.

  “Tal-on!” Derrick’s words thudded in and out with every step Talon took, “Put- Me- Down!”

  “We need to run! And fast!”

  “Put- me- down!” Derrick crossed his arms, pouting, as if not being set upon the ground was a criminal offense.

  Talon rolled her eyes as she flew along faster down the hallway. It felt almost nice, but she couldn’t remove her mind from the blood that strained her mouth, and forearms. It tasted so good, how could it taste good? It was raw human flesh! The thought sickened her, yet some part of her mind reminded her; she wasn’t human, and they were just part of the food chain. She revolted at that thought, they were thinking, feeling people with hopes and dreams and whole lives; not potential food.

  Talon slid around the corner at a t-junction. She found a closed bulkhead. She looked down the opposite way, and there too, the bulkhead had been closed. Talon looked to the control console for the bulkhead, only to find it locked out of the computer system. “Shit.” She muttered as she looked to the bulkhead’s manual override. She attempted to pull the release, yet it failed; the door was locked.

  Derrick slipped from her arm, and looked at the door, “It’s locked, isn’t it…” Derrick sighed as he looked at the door. “There’s always an emergency open somewhere. Let me find it.” Derrick wandered down the hallway to the corridor’s switchboard.

  Talon felt a panic fill her lungs, compressing them. She wheezed in and out, her lungs stressing and her face turning pale as she came to realize what was happening. The ship must've entered a lockdown; locking all the bulkheads, and likely alerting the entire crew to her existence.Talon looked back at the pneumatic bulkhead. Her eyes fell upon the pry bar on it. Given her injured arm, she knew she couldn't just force it open that way. Then again, she did still have her legs…

  Talon wedged herself such that her back was against the wall, and one of her knees was up against her chest. Her cwed foot was against the door’s pry bar. Talon took a deep breath as she, with all her force and weight, pushed against the pry bar. The door gave metallic creaking, moaning, and finally a loud crash as it flew open, a dozen metallic components clicked to the ground, scattering across all the floor.

  “Jesus! Talon! Did you just- Break a starship’s bulkhead open?”

  Talon smiled, rather chuffed, “Yes, Yes I did.” She looked down the next stretch of hall; another t-junction. She motioned to Derrick to get back in her arms.

  “Absolutely not.”

  “Come on! It’s faster!”

  “And humiliating, not happening.”

  “Fine.” Talon sighed, gesturing into the now opened hallway. Derrick walked in, and Talon followed him, turning right. At the far end of the hallway she was met with the access port, and a camera. The camera’s little red light was illuminated, indicating it was on. The camera shifted, ignoring Derrick, its lone eye gazing into Talon’s soul. Talon ignored the growing sense of dread in her stomach as she got to the port. It was a cargo door, designed to allow rger pieces of cargo into the ship's underducts, though it was rarely used.

  Talon sighed as she looked at the rge metallic door. It split down the middle and slid to either side by pneumatics, however, the console to operate the machinery was locked out. She took a deep breath as she looked around the corridor. She examined the door, this one had no inbuilt pry arm. It was just a rge ft metal surface.

  “Here, take this.” Derrick walked into the hallway, around his back was slung a rifle, and in his was a rge multi tool; shovel, axe, and pickaxe all in one.

  “Where did you find this?”

  “Right there.” He gestured off the hall into a small side room. Talon gnced inside. It was the Lagoon’s hostile environment exertion prep room; in effect, an armory. Talon grabbed hold of the tool Derrick gave her. It was sizable, but fit almost perfectly in Talon’s enrged cws.

  “Here, why don’t you use the pick to force the door open?” Derrick motioned to the door.

  Talon nodded wedged the tool’s pickaxe side between the door’s two halves, and levered them open. The doors squealed, trying to resist, but after just a moment, the door’s entire mechanism gave way, and it flew open. Talon nervously held the tool as she peered into the hangar. Unlike the underducts of the ship, it was the same pristine white and grey pstic and metal environment as the rest of the ship. Organized on either side of the hangar were docks for the vessel’s starfighters and shuttles. Dozens of people stood in lines on the hangar deck, lining up in front of shuttles. They all seemed in a rather panicked mood, some even pushing, and shoving. The ship’s security force stood around, all brandishing rifles.Talon realized that this must have been because the Vagia protocol had been initiated, and as many of the crew as possible were attempting to abandon ship before it was scuttled.

  Talon’s forced entry didn’t go unnoticed, however. All across the deck, dozens of people turned, and, as if in unison, all began to panic. Screams and absolute pandemonium filled the air. The ship’s security force was caught in the panic, some themselves running in fear. Several though, all leveled their rifles at Talon. She looked to Derrick, who himself had already locked a target.

  “Go, get to that shuttle! I’ll catch up!” Derrick motioned to the shuttle before looking down the sights of his rifle.

  Talon took her chance and dashed into the hangar. The sound of a dozen bullets rang through Talon’s ears, yet none hit her. She zig-zagged between the cargo containers towards the shuttle bay. Talon spotted the vessel Derrick had motioned to, only problem, there was a line of security between her and the shuttle. They stood behind a line of boxes, crouched close to the ground, peeking up over them, their rifles all level, though almost all of them were focused on Derrick. Talon took her opportunity, sprinting, full force, towards them. A few panicked, fleeing towards one of the side doors of the hangar, the other three stayed resolute. She vaulted the boxes they were using as cover, nding one her cwed feet square upon one the the soldiers, knocking him to ground. His head smmed into the floor, and his eyes slid shut, his hands going weak.

  The other two, one to her left, the other to her right, both, attempted to spin their rifles around to face Talon. Panic told her mind to flee rather than fight, yet logic persuaded otherwise. Talon, as eloquently as she could, with her left hand, grabbed the rifle of the man of her left, and yanked it free of the soldier's grasp. She, with her entire might, clubbed him over the head with it. The man composed upon the ground, a bright red leaking from under his helmet. Talon slung the rifle aside, turning to look at the st soldier. He had fully spun around. It took a moment for it to register that she was looking down the barrel of the gun. It didn’t want to process, it seemed almost impossible. Her gut sank as watched the man begin to pull the trigger. Talon’s entire life fshed for a moment, her lonely childhood, her mother’s abandonment, her wife proposing, Derrick knocking on her door earlier that day. It all passed by in a haze.

  Then, the fsh of a tracer round sliced through the man’s head. He slumped to the floor, dead. A thin mist of red and pink filled the air. Talon just stood there, looking down at him for a moment. Talon turned, facing over to the origin of the bullet, relieved; it was Derrick. He was rushing over. Talon looked back down at the dead man, she stifled tears; he didn’t even get to look back upon his life. Instead, now his memories, life, love, feelings, wants, needs, dreams, all of it, was now a fine mist she had the displeasure of standing in.

  Derrick approached, seemingly unphased, “No time for standing around, let’s move!” He vaulted the crates and made haste for the shuttle. Talon followed him, though she gzed back one more time, as if that could change what had just happened.

  The shuttle was unimpressive, a rounded box with wings, and engines strapped on. It was scuffed and damaged, but clearly functional. Talon cmbered inside the vessel after Derrick through the vessel’s side door that led into the cargo hold. The hold of the vessel was mostly empty, aside from a few crates. It was quiet in the shuttle, the outside chaos muffled.The whole construct was a dull grey metal, all marked and scored with scratches and dents from a long service life.

  “You know how to fly one of these things, right?” Derrick looked to Talon before he gestured to the cockpit.

  “Oh, uh, yeah… Sort of. I mean, I flew starfighters, not transports.”

  “Well, sort of will have to do it!”

  “I know- I know…” Talon forced her body into the cockpit. She was starting to realize that she was, compared to the average human, enormous. She, uncomfortably, sat down in the captain’s seat, strapping the over stressed p belt over her thighs. She sighed as she looked over the dozens of gauges, computer readouts, and indicators. She did her best to run through the preflight checks she had memorized during her time in the navy. She clicked the ship’s system’s online, preparing them to be dropped into the vacuum of space.

  “What are you doing?” Derrick looked into the cockpit for a second, he was looking out the side door.

  “Preflight checks.” Talon didn’t break her gaze from turning on every system she knew to turn on.

  “Preflight checks?” Derrick’s mouth fell agape. “Now is not the time for preflight checks! Now is the time for not dying!”

  “I know! Listen, get in here and sit down! I’m almost done!” Talon flicked several switches. They looked like they’d activate the engine’s afterburners, but the bels had been worn off. She looked over to Derrick who had pulled himself into the seat next to her. “Ok, we should be good!”

  Without warning, the entirety of the Lagoon, with all it’s cargo and passengers, rattled for a moment, an immense boom resonated through the entire ship, followed by another, and then another- the certain sounds of the Lagoon being shredded apart; the final step of a Vagia protocol.

  “Fuck… Go! Get us out of her Tal!”

  Talon gave the whole control system one lest good look over, then she smmed the throttle all the way forward. The shuttle responded in kind, its engines powering up. The shuttle scratched across the hangar deck for a moment as Talon pulled the nose of the ship around. After just a moment, it slipped out of the hangar into space. It gilded along for a moment as Talon took a breath, relieved. The ship glided through space for some time, descending in its orbit. Talon spun the shuttle around to face the Lagoon. Her mouth fell agape, her eyes welling with tears as she looked to the Lagoon. The ship was being set upon by a dozen war vessels. It was a terrible, terrible, sight.

  “Jesus Chirst…” Derrick gave himself the Sign of the Cross. He wasn’t religious anymore, it had been a long standing point he made, but old habits die hard, and in deathly moments, they die harder.

  The Lagoon was, piece by piece, shattered. Fragments began to fall away from the ship, separated by the onsught of weapons. Talon watched as the escape pods of the vessel fired away from it, and a few more shuttles escaped its hangar. Talon took a deep breath, panic filling her as the adrenaline ran dry.

  Then there was a blinking light.

  “What is that?” Derrick pointed to the light.

  “I- I don’t know.” Talon looked for a bel, the light cked one.

  “It’s probably not good I mea-” the entire ship violently shook, panels came loose, and a dozen new red lights showed up, this time joined by four distinct arms. Talon looked over the control panels, it was a mess, half of them weren’t working, the other half spit back errors. From what she could tell, the port fuel tank had been hit by something. Her pupils went to points as she realized; the ship was a bomb, fueling was now leaking into pces fuel really shouldn't have been. She flicked all the switches to keep the valves closed, isoting the tank, but it proved fruitless; the fuel detonated, and Talon’s memory turned to inky bck.