Nova Wars

"Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty." - Plato

He couldn't breathe.

That was the first thought that went through his head.

Electrodes across his stomach went live, forcing his diaphragm into spasms. He coughed, thick liquid rushing up and into the face mask, where it was dutifully sucked away. The tubes up his nose injected a careful mixture of air even as he forced more of the fluid up.

He opened his eyes, seeing the top of the cryostation, as he rolled on his side and kept coughing into the face mask.

The lights were red.

He clawed at the mask, pulling it off out of some instinct. The tubes in his nose were next and he pulled them free, uncaring at how the scraped the back of his throat and his sinuses.

There was a steady buzzing sound, repeating every three seconds.

He coughed more, his head clearing.

My name... went through his brain as he kept hacking up the clear fluid. It was getting thinner, runnier, but he was still hacking it up. The liquid was splattering on metal plates with small x's upraised on it.

...my name is...

He managed to roll, twist, and sit up, his legs hanging off the side of the pod. He looked around.

The rest of the pods were sealed.

The buzzing kept sounding, the red lights stayed steady. He could faintly hear creaking.

He looked at the medical equipment next to him. It was all red, all of the readouts. Looking around, he realized that every single light, every single LED, every single bit of text, picture, or hologram, was red.

EMERGENCY RESSUS flashed on the monitors next to his screen.

He didn't know enough to understand that data. He knew that about himself.

He didn't know much more.

He got to his feet, went down on his knees, and sat there, his head hanging down as he coughed out more of the clear fluid. He ran his fingers over the cloth of the legless and armless leotard he was was wearing, unable to find a catch to open it.

A small robot appeared, wiping up the fluid even as he hacked it up on the floor.

His chest hurt.

Around his wrist was a data bracelet. The words were red.

PRISONER W44C778E289

He blinked.

He couldn't remember. He could remember anything about anything. Not who he was, not what he was doing here, not why he was a prisoner or who he was a prisoner of.

He reached out and grabbed the cryopod next to him, pulling himself to his feet. He looked down. The whole pod was sheathed in red light. He looked up. There was only one other pod, sheathed in red, all the way at the end. He leaned forward until his head went through the hologram and he looked at the occupant.

It was a furry being. Short nose with teeth underneath in a muzzle, two ears, brown and black and tan fur in swirls and lines. They had a mask on their face and tubes in their nose. They were wearing the same leotard he was.

When he drew back, he realized he could read the words on the hologram covering the cryotube, words in red outlined with silver.

PRISONER N44C778E28A

The prisoner's face was familiar. The scar across the side of the muzzle, the scar above the left eye.

...fifth street... wound through his fuzzy brain.

He pushed off, looking around.

The red light was almost a tangible thing. He could see the doors at either end of the long bay had red light over them.

He looked at the cryopod for a long moment.

He didn't know why, but he was loathe to leave it behind.

He looked it over until he found a small touchpad readout that stated "EMERGENCY RELEASE" on it. He tapped it, tapped yes, tapped he was sure, then tapped that he wanted emergency release, then tapped yes again.

He sat on the floor, waiting, coughing now and then as the cryotube gurgled. Finally the lid lifted into sections that pulled into the top. The occupant started coughing and he shakily got to his feet. He helped the occupant sit up, took off their mask, and pounded on their back, helping them cough up the thick clear fluid. The other reached up with one hand and slowly pulled the long blood slicked tubes from their nose.

"What... what is happening?" the other, N44, asked, his voice hoarse and shaking.

"Don't know. Emergency ressus for me. Released you," W44 said.

"The others?" N44 asked.

"Not sure," W44 said. He moved up and looked down.

The being inside was perfectly intact. W44 looked at the computer.

LIFE SIGNS TERMINATED - SHIELDING FAILURE

He staggered from cryotube to cryotube.

They were all the same.

The last two had only "OCCUPANT STABLE" on the monitors. He leaned in, pushing his face through the hologram as he looked past the red.

It was a female.

...the Telkana with the big tits is at the end... slithered through his numb and fuzzy brain.

He checked the other one. Another female.

"Well?" N44 asked.

"Got two alive. Gonna release them," W44 said. He looked at the hologram.

PRISONER D44C778E31C

PRISONER V44C778E31B

"What is happening? Where are we?" N44 asked.

"Don't know," W44 said. He tapped the emergency release icons, went through the bit that made sure, then sat down, breathing heavy.

Both of them coughed as they waited.

Finally the lid pulled back and they heard her coughing. W44 got up, N44 getting up with him. Together they helped the female sit up, pounding on her back, helping her cough up the thick clear fluid. They helped her out of the tube and they all sat in the corridor, backs against different tubes, coughing.

They helped the next one while D44 was still coughing up the clear slime, helping her sit down with her back against the cryotube.

"What... what's happening?" D44 asked.

"Don't know," W44 said. He looked around. "I'm going to look around."

"Wait. Go with you," N44 said. He shook his head. "I don't know how, but I know that the two of us, we don't go anywhere alone."

W44 nodded. It sounded right.

"Me too. Don't leave us alone," D44 said. V44 nodded, standing up.

The two males helped them up.

Together, they staggered to the door, tapping at it.

It refused to open.

They staggered to the other end and, to be honest, W44 was surprised when it opened at a single touch of the hologram.

A body fell from where it had been leaning against the door. Its face was twisted in horror, its hands held outward.

It was also fairly desiccated, still somewhat wet and gooey.

V44 screamed when it landed, then laughed nervously.

"That one's dead. Let's go," W44 said.

"What killed him?" V44 asked.

"Do you want to find out? Let's go," N44 said.

D44 just nodded.

They moved around it, staring at the hallway.

The red lights were on. The buzzer was still sounding.

They explored carefully, scratching at the paint to indicate which direction they had taken. If they had already taken one direction at a crossroad, they made an extra scratch to show which one they had been down already.

Their numbed brains couldn't understand most of what they found. Strange, unknowable machinery, dead bodies everywhere with no sign of damage to them, smeared and ruptured holograms.

Nothing else.

Finally, they reached a corridor where the bodies were the thickest.

"They all face the same way," D44 said softly.

"They were running," N44 said.

"But from what?" W44 asked.

"I wish I could remember why I'm here. Why I'm a prisoner. Who I'm a prisoner of," V44 said as they carefully maneuvered around the bodies.

W44 noted they all looked frightened.

The color across the heavy door at the far end wasn't red like the others. It was off pink, swirled and smeared, with two of the holoemitters buzzing and hissing.

"That isn't good," D44 said, her voice full of fear.

"It wasn't," W44 said. He moved up to the door and tapped on the hologram to get it to open.

It took four tries.

The room beyond was a half-circle, with concentric lines of consoles and a large throne-like chair closest to the door in the middle.

Every console, workstation was occupied. There were collapsed armored vacuum suited figures lying between the curved rows.

TELKAN STELLAR UNION LAW ENFORCMENT - CORRECTIONAL REHABILITION DIVISION was on the armored vacuum suits all of the dead were wearing.

Most of them looked to the quartet like they had died without even realizing it. Some even had their hands on holographic keyboards or physical keyboards. Their bodies were desiccated, the clean-room atmosphere of the ship keeping even bacteria inside the body from decaying it.

The screen at the far end was showing nothing but blackness.

They poked around, looking at the various consoles.

"We're on a starship," N44 said, looking around.

"Except everyone's dead," D44 said.

"Maybe we can go somewhere and get help?" V44 said.

"Any of you know how to run a starship?" W44 asked. The others shook their heads. "Me neither."

W44 sat down on the big throne, the only place to sit.

The screen flickered and N44 and D44 turned to look at it.

DOCKING INITIALIZED - T - 3.5 minutes

"Where do you think we're docking at?" D44 asked.

W44 looked at his wrist.

PRISONER

"Wherever it is, it's where they were delivering us to as prisoners," W44 said.

"What did I do that they'd send me on a starship instead of just throwing me in prison?" D44 asked. She hugged herself. "I know, I don't know how, but I know I didn't do anything wrong."

"I did," W44 asked. He laughed. "I just know I did."

"I did," N44 added. "I feel like whatever I did, it was a long time coming."

"I don't think I did anything," V44 said. "I don't remember anything, but it doesn't sound right that I did something that would get law enforcement to take me away."

D44 hugged herself tighter. "But I didn't do anything," she said, her voice whining slightly.

"DON'T WHINE!" W44 shouted, suddenly standing up. "NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR WHINING! NOBODY! WE GRIND TO MAKE IT TO THE NEXT SCORE, TELKA! THAT'S ALL IT IS! THAT'S ALL IT EVER IS!"

D44 stared at him, her mouth hanging open.

"There isn't no broodcarries coming running to the rescue for people like us, Telka," W44 said, sitting down again. "We grind till we can't grind no more."

N44 nodded. "One scam, one score at a time."

"Don't yell at her," V44 said.

"Why not? Do you think it matters? All the lawsec are dead. We're on a ship docking who knows where. She needs to stop whining, Telka," N44 said.

"We just keep on keeping on, Telka," W44 said.

"OK," D44 nodded, her eyes full of tears. "I wanna go home."

"Why? You got it better than here?" W44 asked. He looked at the time.

Less than two minutes.

"I think I did," she said softly.

"Me too," V44 said.

"Well, we're here now. It is what is," N44 said. "I said what I said."

"I did what I did," W44 finished. He didn't know how that was the right thing to say, but he knew it was.

"Why did you call me Telka? Is that my name?" D44 asked.

W44 shook his head. "No. You're a female. Telka. Short for Telkana," he pointed at N44. "He's a Telk, short for Telkani."

"We're... we're Telkan," V44 said.

The other three nodded, the rightness of the statement filling them.

"Ten seconds," W44 said, pointing at the screen.

There was a slight bump. Another shifting.

The lights flashed twice.

"What now?" D44 asked.

N44 shook his head. "No clue."

"We wait," W44 said. "If we're docking at a station, then someone should be along to help us any time."

The minutes ticked by, growing longer and longer.

The holotank in front of the throne came to life. Four figures flew into it. Three were screaming, atonal screeches of pure static. The fourth was grunting, fighting the other three. The screaming three had their fingers curled, their vestigial claws coming into play.

The fourth was a large biped, wearing some kind of uniform, who was fighting the other three with a glowing knife that had a blade of pure bluish white. He stabbed one and it dissolved, even as another grabbed him around the waist. He stabbed it in the back repeatedly even as he looked up at the quartet all staring at him.

"Run!" the fourth yelled. "Get on the station! I gotta blow the ship as soon as I offload your cargo!"

"What? Why?' V44 asked.

"RUN! I'LL SHOW THE WAY!" the uniformed one yelled.

The others were all Telkan in strips of rags, their eyes wild, their jaws foaming, as they threw themselves at the tall biped.

A red line appeared in midair, leading back the way they had came.

W44 didn't need told three times. He jumped up, yelling at the other two to come on, and ran, following the line.

Twice something hit the other side of the red holograms with a thump that made the holograms shiver. They turned corners by grabbing the edge, keeping their speed and momentum.

"Wait! Please! Wait!" D44 called out as she slowed for another corner and the two males were about to round the next corner. "I can't run as fast."

"Wait for us," V44 called out.

N44 started stepping forward but W44 grabbed the back of his leotard, tugging him back onto the other side of the red hologram square.

"Hurry!" N44 called.

"I don't like this," W44 said. "I got a feeling..."

Something came around the corner. It was a biped, like the one in the holotank, dressed in a vacuum suit.

It was made of white lineart and screaming as it swept forward, its lower body nothing but twisting mist that left frost on the floor and walls as it passed.

"RUN, TELKA! RUN!" N44 yelled.

"DON'T LOOK BACK!" W44 shouted.

D44 ran, not looking back, crying as she ran.

V44 looked back and screamed, then started to run.

D44 was reaching out for the hologram and N44 stuck his hand out, grabbing hers. V44 reached out.

The line art touched her.

N44 yanked D44 through the red.

V44 collapsed, her fingertips grazing W44's as the line art yanked something blue and sparkling out of V44's body.

It was V44, and she was screaming soundlessly as the white line art took a sudden bite from her.

Out of the walls a good dozen exploded into the hallway, covering the walls with frost as they fell on the glittering blue Telkana, ripping chunks away and shoving them into their mouths.

The trio backed up, turning around.

The air lock closed and cycled.

"When it opens, run. Don't look back. Run through the red," a disembodied voice said. "This thing's infested. Run for it."

W44 and N44 nodded.

"What's happening?" D44 sobbed.

"It doesn't matter," W44 said. He squatted down, putting his hands on the floor. "Get ready, Telks."

N44 squatted down next to him, leaning forward after he put his hands on the floor.

D44 joined them.

"Don't look back. Don't stop. No matter what happens," W44 said.

Both nodded.

The airlock door lifted.

"GO!" the voice yelled.

W44 exploded into motion, kicking off with bent knees, hocks, and ankles, using his arm to add extra speed. He didn't know how he knew, he just knew he was faster than N44.

Faster even than girls.

The red walls tingled as he sprinted through them, holding his breath to maximize his speed.

He flew through the last one, slamming against an airlock interior door hard enough to bruise his shoulder and arm.

N44 hurtled through the red holographic wall.

D44 came in next.

The airlock door slammed shut.

"They killed her," D44 sobbed.

W44 opened his mouth to yell at her to stop sobbing.

"Is it the first time you've seen someone die?" N44 asked gently.

She nodded. "You?"

N44 looked at W44.

"Not for us."

They sat for a long time, waiting.

Finally the interior door cycled and lifted, showing an entrance bay beyond.

A holoemitter flickered to life.

The biped stood there. Long arms, long limbs, no forearm hocks or leg hocks. Flat face. Hair on top of the head.

"You made it," it said. "Damn, you Telkans are a lucky bunch."

"What happened?" W44 asked.

"Your ship hit a patch of hyperspace shades, I think," the hologram said. It waved for them to follow as it turned around. "Well, Marines. Lets get you geared up."

"For what?" W44 asked.

"We have to take back the station," the hologram said. It turned and looked at them. "Last three ships before yours?"

"Yeah?" N44 asked.

"Infested."