Page 5 of Alien Viking's Plunder

Aretha scoffed. “Of course not. This one is bigger than those spindly little things. And heavier.”

Josie took a deep breath. “So it’s some kind ofalienspaceship?”

“That’s how it looks, but don’t say it out loud. Are you still sure you want to be co-author of that paper? Look, it’s going to come to a stop right next to us.” She pointed at the display.

“I have to go,” Josie said. “Put your headset on. Just in case.” She ran to the first airlock. This was definitely a Security matter, and she’d spent too much time just gawping at the thing.

The airlock was open, but it cycled closed when she exited into the station proper.

It was in chaos. People were running around, and there was a good amount of yelling over the collision sirens. But there was no panicked screaming. The manager ran collision drills on a monthly basis, so people were used to them and knew what to do. If they had known there was an alien spaceship coming, things might have been different.

Josie ran towards her cabin, wanting to change into her Security uniform. It had crossed her mind that if that was an alien ship, it just might contain aliens. And whatever it was that was happening, the people of the station might need help.

She got to the second airlock and cycled it, touching her Security ID to it so she could use its emergency function.

“This is the station manager,”the familiar, calm voice said over the loudspeakers mounted everywhere on the station. “There is an unknown object approaching our station. For your own safety, follow the collision procedures. Stay in the section you’re in. If you can, get into your pressure suit and stay in your cabin. Hold on to the collision railings or any hardpoint, marked in orange. If there is a loss of pressure, locate the nearest seal, marked in red…”

The instructions went on while Josie ran. The station clearly didn’t have any pre-written safety instructions in case alien ships came to visit.

She touched her hand to the door. It slid open, and she ran inside her cabin, getting into her Security uniform, including boots. The pressure suit instruction didn’t apply to Security, only to other staff and visitors. In a heavy, bulky suit like that, it was hard to do anything useful. But it kept people in one place and made them safe in case their part of the station would be pierced and the air would leak out.

Safe for as long as it takes you to use up the air in your suit,Josie thought to herself as she grabbed her baton.After that, it’s goodbye.

As she left her cabin, she had to grab hold of the door jamb as there was a loud, metallic screech and the whole station rocked hard, back and forth. That must be the collision they’d been waiting for.

“Fourteen reporting,” Josie said into the comms as she walked fast along the corridor. At least the artificial gravity was working still. “I’m in Section Twenty. Request orders.”

The collision alarms stopped blaring.

“Fourteen, make your way to Section…” the dispatcher paused while she looked it up. “Eleven. Repeat, Section Eleven. Hull breach reported, but no loss of pressure. Check out what’s going on. You’re the closest, but there will be backup arriving.”

“Copy Section Eleven. On my way.”

Shit. That’s where she had just come from. It was the Astronomy section, where Aretha was alone with her computers and instruments.

The corridors were nearly deserted now, and Josie felt like she was running through an empty ghost station as she made her way through airlocks the same way she had come.

She hoped Aretha was safe. There were pressure suits in that section that she could easily get into. But whoever heard of a hull breach with no loss of pressure? Outside the station, there was only empty space—

The station shuddered again, and this time the screech was much closer.

Josie’s heart beat in her ears when she approached the airlock into the Astronomy section and slowed down. The lights on the airlock were green, and nothing looked strange.

She hefted the telescoping baton in her hand. She had a feeling it was better to be prepared.

The airlock cycled, and she stepped out. “Aretha?”

She turned the corner and stopped in her tracks. The control room was empty, with no sign of Aretha.

There was a strange smell in the air, as from burned metals and singed plastics

The source of that was obvious: there was a big hole in the wall, big enough for a car to drive through. Beyond it there was just darkness, but she saw a flickering glow as if from a fire.

The screens were still on, some of them showing a live image of the alien ships from the side, some from the front. There were four of them. They couldn’t possibly be sailing ships, but they did look a lot like they were. Long and slender, they were bright red and curved up at both ends. Every edge had intricate patterns that looked like they had been carved into the ships, then carefully painted. Warm light streamed out of a half dozen portholes and small windows along the side. The masts were bare metal, gleaming in the starlight.

“Fourteen to dispatch,” Josie said into her comms, voice trembling. “The hull breach in the Astronomy section is a huge hole. Burned through, almost completely round. There is something outside it— shit!”

There was movement in the hole, and before she knew it, a man was making his way through it. He was so big he had to bend his neck to get through.

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