"Where is it?" Fisc asked looking over Kikata's shoulder.
"It's not far." She said pointing to the star map, "We hardly have to jump at all." Her eyes narrowed, "Strange, it doesn't appear to be coming from any planet or moon."
"I guess we'll see when we get there." Richard commented strapping himself into his seat.
"I guess so." Fisc said before hopping back down the ladder, he sat down at the round table and gripped the edges tightly.
Kikata prepared the ship, a slight smile spreading across her lips as she set up the jump. The universe went into a blur for a short minute before coming to a slow again. They sat quietly scanning the black abyss of space, until a tiny gray blip appeared in the distance.
"Is that it?" Richard asked as the blip grew larger and larger.
"It must be." Kikata replied softly.
"What is it?" Fisc's voice called from behind as he hopped back up the ladder. The object started to come into focus, a large gray mass approached them.
"It's a station." Kikata finally announced as the spherical structure came into view. The station soon loomed over them, an almost perfectly round structure that seemed to float idly along in space. "It's strange that it would be out here, as far as we knew no one had explored this area of the universe."
"It could be a run away? It looks old. It could have been abandoned hundreds of years ago."
"Maybe."
They slowly drifted around the station, it did not appear to be so massive, but Kikata seemed convinced it belonged to one of the smaller races. Her story seemed to add up as their ship just barely fit into the landing port.
"This place is a wreck." Richard commented looking around the darkened landing bay.
"Yeah." Kikata commented also examining the area, the walls were gray and the paint seemed faded. She noted the small doorways below them, she was right about the species, "This ship must belong to one of the smaller species, those doors don't look more than thirteen feet tall."
"Maybe this is a dud?" Fisc offered, "What ever happened here must have happened years ago."
"I am still picking up some data from the ship...so it's not completely dead. But Only Richard would be able to get inside these halls."
"Finally I'm useful."
"But does he have to go in?"
Kikata scrolled through some of the data that was being displayed before her, "It seems like this was another science station. Tell me what do those black marks look like on that wall."
Fisc squinted as he examined the walls, "Well, it could be blast marks, or it could be corrosion."
"Well there is no harm in assuming that this station was attacked." Kikata continued, "Which means there is a chance that we might uncover some more evidence against our rising threat."
"Hell I'll take a look." Richard offered, excited to see some sort of action. Even if it just meant walking around in an abandoned space station.
~ ~ ~ ~
Fifteen minutes later the group was fully armored and fully equipped. Richard stood before a fifteen foot tall metal doorway, a sleek black machine gun hanging from his shoulder. "Alright I'm ready." He looked over his shoulder, only able to tell Kikata from Fisc because she refused to wield the large cannon that Fisc had brought with him. Kikata had managed to obtain a limited control of the ships functions, most of which no longer seemed to run. The door slid open with a sort of grinding sound.
"Is the map coming in clear for you?" Kikata's voice called through the radio, the vacuum of space now allowing her robotic voice to travel.
"Yeah." Richard responded back taking a step into the hall. His night vision flickered on, illuminating his surroundings in a green light, "Creepy." He commented looking around at the barren hallway.
"Are there anymore signs of a fight? Or a struggle?" Her voice called into his ear.
"No, well...maybe. Everything is sort of scattered around, but I'm not seeing bullet holes or anything like that."
"Well be careful either way."
"Sure...though I doubt anything has been alive in here for years." Richard responded quietly, noting an odd dust that seemed to hang idly in the air and cling to the air around him as he past through as if he were underwater. He felt a little more at ease holding his machine gun on his hip, his finger just barely tickling the trigger. Every turn brought a slight twinge to Richards gut as he moved deeper, every step a step away from his two hundred foot companions. He felt slightly more fit in these halls, though everything was still a few feet higher than it would be on a human ship.
Kikata pulled up a three dimensional display of the ships blueprints, her eyes tracing the route she had set up, "The ships command center is about three floors below you, that is where the distress signal is coming from."
"Will I be able to use an elevator?"
"I am trying to access that area of the system now...chances are no though it seems like just about every system has failed."
"Great, so do they install stairs in these places anymore?" Richard chuckled.
"Well you are right next to an elevator shaft now."
Richard turned his head, noting the tall metal doors to his side, "Any chance you can open this door for me?"
"I'm trying."
Richard slung his weapon over his shoulder and slipped his fingers between the two metal plates. With a grunt and some assistance from his suit he managed to get them to budge, "I think I got it." He growled through the radio as he pushed the doors open.
"Oh. Well good. It's very strange they seemed to have put a lock on all the doors before they abandoned the station, or maybe it was in self defense?-"
"Shit." Richard muttered.
"What? What's wrong?"
"The elevator seems to be one floor down, blocking up the shaft." Richard said eyeing the metal square that sat at his feet, he smirked as he eyed the cables that rose into the blackness in front of him, "Still use the same ol' system eh?" He eyed the elevator again, "Oh wait a second." He hoisted his weapon in front of him one more.
"What are you thinking?" Fisc's voice finally called through.
"Just moving the elevator out of the way." Richard grinned as he pulled the pin back, a satisfying click vibrating in his hands. His vision suddenly went white as he pumped a few rounds into the cables, "Ah shit I should have saw that coming." He said shaking his head.
"Yeah you should use natural light when night vision is engaged in such small areas, too might light will overload ya." Fisc offered.
"Well I'm done shooting now." Richard said eyeing the now empty shaft, a few seconds later a loud thunderous crash echoed throughout the entire station, a fierce blast of dusty wind howling back up the shaft. He leaned out and took hold of the single metal cable that remained and carefully swung forward. His fingers let the cable slip through his fingers as he lowered himself, "Three floors?"
"Right."
"Hrm." Richard stopped as he finally lowered himself down three floors. "I might have hit a road block." He said after a few failed attempts at opening the door manually. Without his feet to brace him he couldn't manage to wedge it open.
"Give me a minute, I might be getting somewhere-ah! Yes here we go." Kikata grinned as she managed to get herself in control of the ships security functions, "It appears that they did put a lock on all the doors, and now." She entered in a code, "They should open."
Richard watched as the elevator door infront of him spread apart, he could hear the grinding sound echoing through the hall in front of him as well. "It worked." He stretched his leg out and pulled himself back into the hallway, nearly falling backwards as he did.
"The command room should be just down that hall."
"Right." Richard called back, he felt slightly more vulnerable walking past the now open doorways, feeling as if eyes peered out at him from every dark room. His blood ran cold as a deep sound resonated through the halls, it almost sounded like a roar or loud moan. "The fuck was that?" Richard whispered turning around, the noise seemed to come from the elevator, or somewhere down that hall.
"What was what?"
"I don't know, I coulda' sworn something just like...roared down here."
"Probably just some of the old systems turning back on. Keep going."
"Yeah yeah, I am." Richard mumbled, his neck hair still standing on end.
Giantess World
Nova Force by Ginbug