The vast emptiness of space surrounded Robert like an endless ocean of obsidian, its inky depths stretching in every direction. He floated, a solitary speck adrift in the cosmic void, the only sound echoing in his ears the steady throb of his own heartbeat.
Despite the soothing stillness of his surroundings, Robert’s nerves hummed with pent-up energy, every fiber of his being tightened like a steel trap in anticipation of the operation to come. This was the moment he’d been training for with every minute of the last weeks.
“You’re tense, Rob.” Ace’s rich baritone cut through the silence, the AI’s tone laced with a hint of gentle concern. “Should we run another preflight diagnostic? Double-check our approach vector?”
Robert exhaled, letting the air whistle out between his clenched teeth. “Nah, I’m good,” he said under his breath, more to himself than to his cybernetic partner. “Just ready to get this done, you know?”
“We understand.” If Ace had any misgivings about their daring heist, he kept them well hidden. “Just remember, stick to the plan. No unnecessary risks. We get in, grab the transponders, and exfiltrate before they even know we were there.”
His focus was already drifting outward again when a distant glimmer of reflected starlight caught his periphery. He squinted against the infinite blackness of the void. He could make out the unmistakable silhouette of their target ship, carving a leisurely trajectory toward the nearby Cygna Station.
As the massive freighter approached, its armored flanks glinting even in the faint starlight, Robert willed the picobots into action with a mere pulse of thought. The nanoswarm roused to wakefulness, enveloping him in a shimmering cyclone of dazzling light, awaiting his next command like an obedient pack of hounds straining at a leash.
He could sense the ship’s powerful engines throbbing through the Picobot’s unified neural network, the vibrations resonating in his bones as their inexorable momentum brought them ever closer to their destination.
As the armored hull loomed before him, he willed the Picobots to merge, their individual forms fusing into a single gestalt. They swarmed over the superstructure in a glittering tsunami, burrowing into the molecular lattice of the armor plating with painstaking precision.
With a final mental command, the picobots arranged themselves into a shimmering latticework, their nanoscale forms interlocking into a solid, diamond-hard framework that erupted from the flanks of the freighter like a crystalline excrescence. Robert propelled himself forward with a powerful kick, his sliced through the void toward the glittering construct.
He hung there, a solitary figure clinging to the flank of the massive freighter as it cut its relentless path through the star-filled void. In that fleeting moment, their trajectories merged, Robert’s and the ship’s, man and machine, bound by an intricate tapestry of technology and sheer daring will.
A feral grin tugged at the corner of Robert’s mouth as the thrill of the moment washed over him, the rush of adrenaline setting his nerves on fire.
Robert braced himself against the hull of the massive cargo transport, the Picobots swirling around him in a swirling vortex of light and energy. His suit’s telemetry flickered with a stream of data as Ace’s consciousness infiltrated the ship’s systems, probing for weaknesses in its cyber defenses.
“We’re in. Feeding picobots through the maintenance ducts now. You might want to hold on to your guts, Rob, this could get a little sporty.”
A tremor ran through the nanoswarm, like a startled murmur rippling through a flock of birds taking wing. Robert clenched his jaw, steeling himself as the Picobots rushed away from him in a blinding torrent. He could feel them streaming off into the void, their elemental intelligence scattered in a million directions at once as Ace took control over a remote link.
After a few breathless heartbeats, there was only silence, a vast, oppressive nothingness that swallowed Robert whole. Then Ace’s voice broke through the void again, terse but reassuring.
“The airlock is cycled and primed for your entry. You’ve got a fifteen-minute window before the fail-safes kick in and seal this rust bucket tighter than a gnat’s navel. So make it count, yeah?”
Robert didn’t need to be told twice. He kicked off the hull in a controlled burst. He glided across the abyss toward the glowing airlock hatch, the picobots leaving a shimmering vapor trail in his wake. His suit thrusters flared as he stopped his momentum inches from slamming face-first into the unyielding metal door.
A narrow shaft of sickly amber light emanated from the airlock’s interior as the heavy portal opened with a sharp hiss. Robert wasted no time in thrusting himself through the gap and tumbling head over heels into the lightless, claustrophobic confines beyond.
As the outer door slammed shut behind him, the faint shudder of the airlock cycled, pressurizing the chamber with a thin mixture of breathable atmosphere. Magnetics in his boots clamped, anchoring him to the deck as the compartment stabilized.
He could feel the ship’s artificial gravity field taking hold now, a subtle but insistent downward tug that made his stomach queasy. The picobots wouldn’t be much help here; he was on his own from now on.
Drawing his sidearm, Robert moved to the inner hatch and peered through the tiny porthole window set into its battered surface. Beyond lay nothing but inky darkness, the feeble emergency lighting casting stark shadows that shifted and undulated like living things.
He took a steady breath, allowing his racing pulse to slow to a more measured cadence. Fifteen minutes. Fifteen measly minutes to infiltrate the ship, locate the restricted transponder components, and get the hell out of there before the entire operation was blown.
No sweat. Another day at the office for a hardened outlaw like him.
Robert crouched low and triggered the inner door release; it shuddered open with the same pneumatic rasp. As the portal yawned wide, he slipped through in a low, silent crouch, his sidearm sweeping the darkened corridor beyond in a sequence of short, controlled arcs.
The ship was running on minimal backup power, the emergency lighting casting a sickly pall over every surface. Displays of indicators and control panels distorted like a fever dream. Robert frowned behind his faceplate, his eyes narrowing. What the hell had Ace done to this place?
He shook off his anxiety. He moved forward in a low, measured crouch, sidearm at the ready. The corridor stretched before him in a maze of shadowed corners and darkened passageways. The air, thick with the cloying taste of ozone and burnt insulation, made it through the filtration systems of his EVA suit. He made a mental note to ask Ace to fix it, especially if he was going to continue these little escapades.
Somewhere in the bowels of this almost lifeless behemoth were the components they needed to complete their mission.
With a grunt of effort, Robert pushed forward into the haunted depths, deaf to everything but the pounding of his own blood thundering in his ears.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Time to get to work.
He pushed forward through the maze of shadowed bulkheads and passageways, the armored soles of his boots making a hollow staccato with each cautious step. Behind him, the heavy airlock portal slammed shut with a pneumatic hiss of finality. The echoes taunted him with the inescapable reality of their situation.
They were committed now, for better or worse. No turning back.
A harsh rasp of static crackled over his comms, making Robert jump. “You still with us, Rob?” Ace’s voice cut through the static, his tone all business. “Picking up trace EM signatures from the main cargo hold, about thirty meters ahead and one deck down. Could be our prize.”
Robert grunted an affirmative, sweat already prickling his brow despite the cool recycled air. “Copy that. I’m going to the next hatch.”
Sidearm at the ready, he eased around the corner and spotted the heavy bulkhead door, its control panel dark and unresponsive. A narrow shaft of faint amber light spilled from the crack below, beckoning him forward like a will-o’-the-wisp.
Robert holstered his weapon and stepped forward, grasping the rim of the portal’s outer wheel with both hands. He groaned with effort, his boots finding traction on the deck with the help of his nanofriends as he heaved with every ounce of his wiry strength. The hatch creaked open, widening enough for him to slip through in a low crouch.
He squinted against the darkness as he straightened, searching for the source of the sickly amber glow that bathed everything in its pale light.
There, off to his left, he spotted the status panel of what looked like some kind of industrial lift, its anti-grav generators cycling in the near-total system’s blackout. The device hovered a few feet off the deck, its cargo hold empty except for a thin sheen of dust and dirt.
All around, the cavernous space of the cargo bay yawned in shadowy immensity, row upon row of identical grav-lifters hovering in solemn formation like silent sentinels. A raised walkway leading to the reinforced outer doors, their armored bulkheads looming in the distance like the maw of some colossal metal beast waiting to be fed, bisected the space.
“Jackpot,” Robert said under his breath, allowing himself the faintest of grins. “Ace, are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
“Affirmative,” the AI’s response crackled over the comms, tight with concentration. “We’re reading several high-value cargo containers aboard these lifters. Tallying the manifest now, but yeah, we’d say there’s a pretty good chance our restricted transponders are hidden inside one of those big bastards.”
Despite the inherent danger of the situation, a faint thrill of excitement curled up in his chest, an electric tingle that set his nerve endings buzzing. This was it, the moment they’d been building for, preparing for with every ounce of their combined skill and tenacity. He could taste the taste of victory in the air, so close he could reach out and –
A sound like the world ending in a scream of tortured alloy made him start, the breath freezing in his lungs. To his left, one of the grav-lifters bucked, its repulsor field wavering as it bobbed and swayed with the jerky, uncoordinated movements of a deranged puppet.
A split second later, another unit joined its kinetic thrashing, and then another, and another, until the entire cargo bay had descended into roiling chaos. The empty grav-cradles swung from their tethers, slamming into each other with bone-crunching impacts that made Robert’s teeth rattle in their sockets.
“What the hell?” He backed away, his sidearm snapping up as he swept the muzzle over the pandemonium, searching for threats. “Ace! Status report, damn it!”
“We... we’re not sure,” the AI admitted, his usual unflappable cadence laced with static and a faint, unmistakable edge of panic. “The cargo containers, they’re moving. Deploying countermeasures of some sort. Sealing bulkheads, activating security protocols – “
A sound like a gunshot split the air, making Robert jump. One of the massive cargo modules convulsed, its armored hull plating sliding apart with a groan of protesting alloy to expel a flurry of spherical drones. They poured out in a glittering torrent, swirling through the air in an erratic, uncoordinated swarm, their smooth hulls glinting in the emergency lighting.
Robert’s eyes went wide behind his faceplate as the stark reality set in. “Aw, hell. We kicked a whole goddamn hornet’s nest, didn’t we?”
Before Ace could respond, the first drone opened fire, sending out a blinding volley of scarlet energy pulses. Robert threw himself sideways in a wide dive, the deck plates shaking beneath him as the volley detonated in a series of thunderous impacts just inches from where he’d been standing.
He rolled upright in one smooth motion. He opened fire, the compact mass driver in his sidearm barking like an angry wasp as it spat out a blistering stream of hypervelocity flechettes. The armored drones shuddered under the impact, their hulls pitting and buckling before blinking out of existence in a series of small detonations.
More drones poured out of the breached cargo canisters, swirling and whipping in dizzying patterns as they unleashed their own scouring volleys of coherent energy fire. Robert weaved and bobbed, his suit’s thrusters flaring in short, controlled bursts as he danced through the intricate, ever-shifting kill zone as if in a mad ballet.
“Ace!” his voice strained with the deadly exertion. “What’s going on here, boss? Talk to me!”
The AI’s response was almost casual in its detached calm, at odds with the life-or-death chaos swirling around them. “We’re leaving, Robert. Head for the outer bay doors, and don’t spare the horses. I’ll set the picobots to swarm on your exit vector.”
Despite the gravity of their situation, Robert’s hackles rose at the nonchalance in Ace’s tone. “Are you kidding me?” he punctuated his words with another burst from his sidearm, detonating a cluster of drones in a blinding fusillade. “We’re this close, Ace! No way I’m cutting and running now!”
“That wasn’t a suggestion. We’re outnumbered and outgunned here. Getting the transponder components is a lost cause. I’m not going to let you throw your life away on a stupid act of bravado. Not today.”
With the sound of an oncoming freight train, the heavy outer doors groaned open, revealing the star-spangled immensity of the void beyond. The explosive decompression swept through the cargo bay in a thunderous vortex, shredding unsecured debris and sending it whipping around into a deadly cyclone.
Robert bared his teeth in a savage snarl, fighting against the hurricane-force winds as he clawed his way toward the widening breach. Ace was right, damn it. They’d bitten off more than they could chew on this run. Ahead of him, the first glittering trail of picobots streamed through the open portal, ready to form his escape vector as soon as he reached the threshold.
One of the security drones shot toward him in a blurry path, its weapon systems glowing in searing brilliance as it prepared to unleash a torrent of killing energy. Robert’s lip curled in a defiant sneer, and he opened fire without breaking stride, the barrage of hypersonic flechettes chewing through the drone’s hull in a blinding series of pyrotechnic bursts.
The automated freighter shook around him, its buckled superstructure groaning in protest as Robert hurled himself through the shimmering event horizon of picobots swirling in the open portal. In a breathless, dizzying moment, his world became a kaleidoscope of motion, the strobing discharges of energy fire and thunderous concussions fading into the infinite silence of the void.
Then, just like that, it was over. Robert tumbled bonelessly through the star-dusted blackness, the picobot’s tether anchoring him like a lifeline as Ace took remote control. His careening trajectory stabilized, the nanoswarm’s constituent forms shifting and flowing around him in an intricate choreography.
“Don’t go boneless on us, Rob,” Ace said in a joking tone.
Robert hung there, suspended against the immense backdrop of eternity, the freighter receding behind him like an unwelcome omen. His breath cut hard and ragged in his throat as the adrenaline ebbed, leaving him drained, dizzy with a sense of relief so profound it bordered on hysteria.
“Next time,” he finally rasped, “a little warning before you pull one of your crazy AI Evel Knievel stunts would be appreciated, yeah?”
Ace’s response was mild, laced with the same infuriating undercurrent of insufferable smugness. “Next time, try to listen to us before we have to save your neck from being rung like a dinner bell. You make things so unnecessarily difficult, Rob.”
Despite his bravado, Robert couldn’t quite hide the trembling in his hands as the enormity of their brush with oblivion set in.
But they would live to fight another day, he and Ace. And if the taste of defeat clung to his mouth like ash, bitter, so did the first faint embers of a new plan, a new gambit to acquire the transponders they needed to continue their mission.
As the picobots whirled him in a gradual arc toward their hidden berth in the exodisk, Robert grinned at the star-spangled immensity that was their domain.
