Echo-1 The Whale

25: Boarding the Mothership

The bottom bay door opened and our transport ship was on a straight path to dock. I took up a position behind them and stayed close. No more fighters came, no more shots were fired. We were going in. The transport repositioned itself under the Magus and drifted inside. I followed and the doors closed behind us with a clunk.

The docking area was spacious. A row of tug ships with the big clamps lined one wall and there were various transport ships and fighters on the opposite wall. We passed through a glass inner airlock door, the transport settled on the deck, its hatch opened, and the ramp came down.

The dock pressurized. I thought about blasting all the ships parked in the bay. I was still in battle mode it seemed. I hovered above with my finger on the trigger waiting to see what would happen next. There was no one around.

Mox came rampaging down the transport ramp riding atop the monster polar bear. X rocketed out behind him in the Rust-a-gogo. There were two black shapes clinging to the outside of her bike. She tore off down a row of fighters and drove out of sight into the darkness of the vast hangar system.

There were two side hangars, both full of docked ships. I assumed the huge metal door in the middle of the back wall was the entrance to the main section of the ship.

Veronica walked out with the rust Sentinel droid. Werner and Forklift pushed out the portable whale tank. The 100 Year Lifespan virtual simulation unit was stacked on top. Last, but not least, Dr. Death brought up the rear. He held his rust cannon in two hands, now armed as it emitted a thin blue line of light in front of it, a space version of a laser sight.

X flew out of the left hangar and shot down the right hangar.

X on the transmitter: "The hangars are full of ships, but no crew. There's no one around. Hands, scan for life signs."

"Oh, shit, right."

I focused on the scout's array. There were tens of thousands of life signs aboard. Mostly Mega Therion, but some other types of beings as well. The whole ship read as one big active robot. Even all the ships that seemed dormant in the hangar registered as active. It must all be controlled via the virus beam. 

I turned to the motionless Styx.

"I may leave you. Stay here and scan everything. Get as much information as you can."

"Sludfast. Affirmative." Styx came to life and started pushing buttons and interacting with the ship's navigational controls. 

I knew he was in control then. He had me worried there for a minute with his sitting extremely still thing.

We changed our position in the dock to face the main door. The team had lined up in front of it. X raced out of the right hangar sans any outer passengers and glided to a stop beside the Sentinel droid. Death moved to the front of the group turned around and waved up to us. He was signaling that I should blast the door open. I wasn't sure about that. 

Styx spun his head toward me. "Control. Station. Left. Of. Door. Klegzit."

I told the team about the control station to the left of the door. Veronica ran over and started pushing buttons. A small door inside of the big door opened and a skinny humanoid robot came out.

The droid had simple steel arms and legs with single flex joints. Its head and body were steel cylinders. The head had a slit that glowed pale green. It walked over to the control panel Veronica was at, she backed up a bit, and the droid took the controls.

"Welcome to the Magus. Your ships will stay here. Please proceed to the cathedral. The Vedma welcome you with open arms."

The droid twitched twice and the big door opened. We were faced with two large cannons pointed right at the group. A humanoid droid manned each one. The skinny droid at the controls repeated its command.