Quantum Dark by R A Nargi

Author:R A Nargi [Nargi, R A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: N17
Publisher: Bogwood Press
Published: 2021-04-27T04:00:00+00:00

I stood in the bridge watching Bandala loom larger in the viewport as we drew closer. It was a massive alien-looking cube of metal with all sorts of extrusions, sensor arrays, heat dispersement units, solar mirrors, and nav beacons.

As Yates had told us, it was easy to enter Bandala. Ana-Zhi scanned for any potential hazards while Galish carefully maneuvered the Freya through the containment field and into position on the landing deck. Once we touched down, Ana-Zhi had one final exchange with Obarral, then called for us to meet at the launch bay. There, Ana-Zhi, Galish, Yates, and I did another check of our gear and Yates locked into Bandala’s defensive grid with the LVX controller mounted on the sled. There were smaller controllers he could have used, but Ana-Zhi didn’t want to take any chances with range issues, so we went with the highest-powered unit we had.

“First zone is officially locked down,” Yates said.

“Clock’s ticking, ladies. Let’s do this.” Ana-Zhi entered the airlock, with Yates and Galish lined up right behind her. As low man on the totem pole, I brought up the rear—with the sled.

“Good luck, Jannigan.” This time Chiraine planted a chaste kiss on my cheek. “I hope you find what you are looking for.” Her green eyes twinkled.

I smiled at her, but inside I couldn’t help feeling some anger welling up. Anger towards Yates. I wondered how he’d act when I told the team that I thought my father was still alive and that we were going to recover him from the bowels of Bandala. Yeah, how might that go over?

We sealed ourselves in the airlock and once Galish gave the okay, opened up the outer bay doors, extended the ramp, and I took my first step on an ancient alien orbital fortress.

The gravity was pretty good here. It was impressive that their generators kept humming away—even after nearly 700 years.

“Look alive,” Ana-Zhi said. “Jannigan, no lagging. You and the sled need to keep up, got it?”

“Aye aye, Captain.”

The landing deck was a cavernous space with gantry cranes, mech and refueling stations, cargo depots, and what appeared to be shield projectors—everything was barely lit by faint glow tracks along the floor and ceiling. We hiked across the deck to its back wall. There, set into a plated archway, was an airlock.

Galish used Xooth’s donokkal to do the honors. The blast doors opened to reveal the interior of the airlock itself. It was plenty big and the sled had no trouble fitting in.

We had to sit around for a bit until Yates figured out how to trigger the admission sequence, but soon we were into the fortress proper.

Ana-Zhi had us stop and wait at the beginning of a wide entry hall while she did some environmental scans. I gazed back at the Freya through big hyaline observation windows. It felt weird, but good to finally be off the ship—doing something useful.

“SE/EA deviation only point one two,” Ana-Zhi announced. “We could probably breathe this soup if we want, but let’s not.

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