Page 128 of Stars on Fire

‘Khosi, not a crat is stirring. Not even a bot.’

‘Everyone, on me. I’ll take lead,’ Kainan stated. ‘Selene, you’re behind me, Riv you follow, Mirage you help us map the interior of that ship and Kage, you know what to do.’

To Selene’s amazement, Kage’s body, suit and all, flickered and disappeared.

‘Did that just happen?’ she asked with a small voice.

‘I’m still here,’ she heard Kage say in her helmet’s speaker. ‘I’ve just activated my metamaterials. My body’s meta nanostructure can trap light in a fractal-shaped pattern producing a very dark black. It also reflects light along a specific path. It interlocks with my suit’s metanoids. Making me appear transparent when viewed from all angles, up or down.’

‘You Riders never cease to amaze me,’ she said in awe.

‘You haven’t seen the half of it,’ Riv grinned. ‘Our suits all have stealth features but chew too much battery, so we rarely use our cloaking tech. On the other hand, Kage has inbuilt bio-meta in his blood, so he uses that magic trick whenever he wants to; lucky bastard.’

‘Enough banter, people,’ Kainan cautioned the group. ‘We’re stepping out. Weapons ready. Stick to the shadows. Move carefully. Avoid detection. Wait for Mirage or myself to let you know if an area is clear of any crat elements before moving forward.’

Somehow Selene knew he’d listed the parameters just for her. The rest of the Riders were consummate warriors who needed no instructions for an op that most likely resembled hundreds of others they’d been on.

Kainan stepped out of the airlock with his helmet seated against his lethal-looking rifle. Selene followed, gripping her handgun in both hands, her weapon at eye level with the sights. Riv followed, his rifle held in a point-shoot stance. Kage flitted somewhere behind them, unseen.

Their suits activated and lowered them to the ship using their mini jetpacks’ micro thrusters and gentle manoeuvres guided by Mirage.

They floated down quietly, their anti-grav boots auto-powering as they touched the crats’ deck floor in 0g.

The hangar-like deck was entirely devoid of movement. It was also dark and imposing.

Kainan used two fingers to beckon the group forward.

They raced to the edges of the open hangar door.

‘Mirage, is it safe to go in?’ Kainan asked.

‘Should bekhosi. All energy barriers and shields are down.’

Kainan gave another hand command, and the group slipped after him into the cavernous space.

Selene shivered. Even though her meta suit balanced her temperature, the bay they were in looked and felt cold, and her mind intuitively reacted. The space was flat, lifeless, colourless and drab. She saw faint signs of ice forming on the wall surfaces and even on the floor.

‘It’s freezing,’ she noted.

‘It’s what happens when you have an acute exposure to the vacuum of space,’ Kainan told her. ‘The ship has lost shields, so the temps have dropped, especially in such a large open cargo bay. It’s also suffered a complete loss of power. Most like due to the loss of the heat producers, which we disabled as well.’

Most of the capital ships’ rattlers and interceptors had been deployed to defend against the Sable Rider’s sudden attack. Only a few sat at the far end of the deserted bay.

‘Damaged or in repairs,’ Riv said, jerking his helmeted head toward the large skeletal forms.

‘This place is beyond huge,’ Kainan said. ‘I need a working route, Mirage. Any chance you can get into their systems?’ he asked.

‘I’m working on it. First, I must piggyback on my hack to find any partly operational systems. I’ll also slice into their terminals and drives, retrieving any sensitive data I can find.’

‘Aha!’ she suddenly exclaimed. ‘Looks like I still have access to legacy systems from my time here so long ago. I’m waking up internal sensors.’

The group crept along the hangar bay walls, looking for any signs of movement. Inside, it was strangely serene.

‘Bogey, to the left,’ Riv warned.

They all looked. And saw a crat slumped on the bay floor, legs jerking as the destructive code worked through its systems.

A few steps forward and they stumbled on more bots and crats. All of them were inactive or in the process of becoming so.

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