Page 129 of Stars on Fire

‘Non-functioning,’ Kainan observed.

‘There’s nothing to see here,’ Riv complained. ‘We must get to the captives if they’re still a-.’

He stopped himself with a sharp hiss. ‘Sorry, Excellency. I didn’t think.’

Selene dismissed his apology with a quick gesture. ‘Riv, call me Selene. And please don’t censor yourself on my behalf. I get it.’

‘Khosi!’ Mirage called out. She sounded excited. ‘I’ve managed to access the Co2 and heat sensors. And I’ve found a huge concentration of signatures on the third deck of the ship, where the bridge is if I remember correctly. So all indications, with that level of heat and gas, is that we might have human activity in that section.’

‘How do we get there?’ Kainan rasped.

‘I’ll guide you. I think I have an old map of a similar ship that we can use as a guide. I’ll also use the sensors as a guide.’

‘Let’s go,’ Kainan urged.

‘Khosi, it’s going to be a long ass walk to the bridge at this rate,’ Kage said from behind them. ‘May I suggest an alternative?’

‘Absolutely. Anything to make this mission move along faster.’

‘Listen up,’ Kage said. ‘They must have some major ventilation. And on a ship this big, it’ll be a huge sucker of a fokkin’ shaft.’

‘Brother!’ Riv winced. ‘There’s a lady present.’

‘What?’ Kage snapped back. ‘It’s the only way I know how to express myself.’

‘Gentlemen, I’ve heard worse,’ Selene said dryly. ‘Kage, please continue.’

‘Santemilady,’ the cloaked man said. ‘Back to what I was saying. Despite The Technocracy being mostly machine, et cetera et cetera, they still need air. To cool a large ship like this from the lower decks all the way to the bridge. They’d need a fokkton of it to maintain optimal temperatures in the number of machines in this place. So what we’re looking for is wide and long. It should be accessible by a panel somewhere in here. We should easily fit in it and, using our suits, fly up to the deck 3 equivalent exit and voila!’

Kainan nodded. ‘Mirage, can you help?’

‘I’m searching.’ There was a short pause. ‘There, to your right. The wide man-size ventilation panel. It opens right into the larger ship-wide shaft.’

Kainan jogged to the wall of the immense bay to a metallic panel, which he wrenched from the wall in a single move.

‘There it is. The upward vent by which so many ships flame out,’ Kage said dryly.

Kainan gestured towards his general location. ‘You go in first. Secure it.’

They paused as they imagined Kage jogging to the wall. There was a slight creak as he eased himself through the large panel.

Moments later, his voice came through their HUDs. ‘All clear.’

Riv went in next, followed by Kainan, who reached a hand out to Selene. He helped pull her through and touched a button on her chest to activate her suit thrusters.

She floated into the cavernous space and joined the rest of the Riders, catching a fleeting shimmer of light which she guessed was Kage.

‘Up and away,’ Kainan said.

The cylindrical space was vast, and they quickly moved up it.

They saw evidence of shield generators designed to stop invasions through the ventilator, but those were dead and inoperative. Thanks to the Riders’ machine-lethal metanoids.

‘Almost there,’ Mirage told the boarding party after they’d swept past several decks. ‘You’re coming out to the shaft exit on Deck 3.’

The group decelerated while Kainan led them to a similar-looking panel with the shaft as the one they’d entered below.

He pulled out the panel cover, and it floated away.

---