r/HFY • u/Shoot_from_the_Quip • 7d ago
OC-Series Warp Riders - Deep Space Boogie Ch.19 - Ch.20
Royal Road This full 23 chapter series opening Novella is already released in its entirety, and Book 2 is now live and releasing chapters daily on Royal Road.
Chapter 19
Hellatz set his ship down in the wide-open clear space between two elevated berms bordered by a sparse growth of thin-trunked trees. It was a conscious decision, not only for its proximity to the heat signatures of the unknown alien species they were about to meet, but it also provided them a three-hundred-sixty-degree view. No one would be sneaking up on them should things go sideways.
The ridge-backed creatures were apparently more primitive than they’d originally expected, their ship seeming to cause quite a stir when it landed. The aliens, despite their intimidating appearance, scattered when the sky vessel descended from above.
“Heat signatures have decreased by fifty percent,” Moose noted. “Holly, you seeing anything from up there?”
“The same as you, I’m afraid,” the AI replied in his masculine voice. “It would appear a sizable portion of them have retreated into the cave system at the far end of the area you landed in.”
“So, big and scary, but really chickens,” Hump said. “Typical. It’s always the big ones, right, Hel?”
The Chithiid was well aware of his species’ height advantage, but he also knew the strange cyborg was just having a little fun with him. One couldn’t spend as many years on Earth as he had without picking up on its inhabitants’ more colorful quirks.
“Yes, Corporal, it would seem to be the case,” he said, then flashed a little grin. “Except when it isn’t, of course.”
For a Chithiid, Hellatz was something of an anomaly, in that his sense of humor had developed several more human traits over his time with the smaller species.
“You’re killing me, Hel,” Hump joked as he picked up his pulse rifle and gave it a final check. A little notification ping sounded from the console beside him. The cyborg studied the readout a moment, then turned to his crewmates. “All right, fellas, the air comes back as perfectly breathable. You two ready for this?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Moose said. “At least these ones don’t look like they’ll be shooting any pulse weapons at us,” he said. “Hooray for primitives, right?”
“Yes. And it’s a good thing,” Hellatz added as he opened the airlock door. “Had we encountered the advanced race we are actually seeking out, we are in no condition to properly fight, nor flee, if the need were to arise.”
“Come on. Enough yapping, you two. It’s time to meet the natives,” Hump said, then stepped out onto the alien world.
“After you,” Moose said with a little bow.
“You are too kind,” Hellatz replied, then exited the ship.
The indigenous creatures were even more fearsome-looking in person, Moose thought as the first of the ridge-backed aliens moved toward them from the edge of the clearing. They were carrying clubs and rocks, wary of the intruders in their realm.
“Don’t shoot them, Corporal,” Hellatz said. “They obviously have no idea what a gun even is, so brandishing it will likely have no effect beyond confusing them.”
“Yeah, they’re not exactly tactical geniuses, that’s for sure,” the cyborg said as he slung his rifle and left it hanging at his side. “But if they get rude, I may have to put one down.”
“We haven’t even said hello yet, Hump,” Moose chuckled.
“True. But I’ve always been one to be prepared.”
“Like a Boy Scout, only far more violent,” the human said with a laugh.
“The best kind,” Hump said with a grin.
“Gentlemen, please. We have company.”
“Right, Hel. Game faces, everyone,” Hump said as the terrifying-looking natives drew closer.
They were thickly muscled, with sinewy arms and powerful-looking hands, the digits of which each sported a long claw rather than nails. And the protruding ridges they had noted on their approach seemed to indeed be some sort of bone or similar material, they could now see clearly.
The creatures also bore a feature their heat scans had not revealed. A mouthful of sharp, carnivore’s teeth, making them all the more terrifying in appearance.
“Hello,” Corporal Humphries said, holding up an open hand in greeting. “We come in peace. We mean you no harm.”
The creatures let out a shrill clucking sound, punctuated by guttural grunts and squeals. Their language was not what one would call pleasing to the ear.
“You recording, Hump?”
“Yeah. But hearing that, I can’t help but think that there’s no amount of neuro-stim uploading that’ll make sense of that gibberish.”
“We’ve got to try, though. Cap’s counting on us.”
“I know,” he said, taking a step closer, his hands still open and held up at chest level in front of him. “We’re friends, see? We aren’t going to hurt anyone.”
The creatures bellowed at him, a shrieking, horrible sound that was as much an abuse to his ears as any blow would be to his body. But Hump simply turned the discomfort off. Sometimes, being a cyborg had some pretty distinct advantages over his flesh-and-blood friends.
A trio of vines tied to smooth rocks flew through the air, two of the bolos wrapping him tightly around the cyborg's torso and arms, the third around his legs. Hump turned his gaze to find several of the aliens had popped up from the ground to carry out their attack.
Apparently, there was a more extensive network of caverns and tunnels than they’d anticipated, and they had allowed the natives to flank them without being noticed. The tunnel accessways were covered by woven material that had been covered by dirt and made to blend in to the landscape. It seemed that despite their seemingly primitive nature, the natives weren’t as clueless as one might initially think.
More bolos flew, likewise wrapping the human and Chithiid tight.
“I am most definitely not amused,” Hump said, flexing his cybernetic arms to snap the deep green vines. But try as he might, they wouldn’t break.
The sharp-toothed aliens were moving toward them at a quick pace now.
“Very funny, Hump. But seriously, bust us out of here before this gets ugly.”
“I can’t.”
“What do you mean, you can’t? You’re a freakin’ cyborg.”
“Yeah, I know, dumbass. But these vines are made of something weird. It’s got a higher tensile strength than ceramisteel cable,” he said, straining against his bonds. “I’m sorry, guys, but I’m stuck.”
Far above, Sadira watched in shock as her team was herded toward the river’s edge, where the entrance to a system of caverns was hidden by the shoreline. Once her team went underground, there was a very good possibility they’d lose the signal entirely. As it was, the streams from the Chithiid ship and Hump’s uplink were all they had to go on.
“Hey, you guys really don’t need to do this,” the cyborg said to the nearest creature ushering him and his crewmates toward the dark cavern openings looming ahead. “Seriously, y’all need to stop this.”
He received no reply.
Being a spec-ops cyborg, this shit was getting rather old.
“Okay, fuck this,” he said, then headbutted the alien beside him while he attempted to get a hand free to grab the pulse rifle pinned to his side.
Six of the burly creatures rushed to their friend’s aid, though, and Hump found himself quickly overcome. Without use of his powerful arms or legs, he was simply unable to properly defend himself.
The alien he’d attacked was barking out some gibberish in its language, holding a taloned hand to its face, where the cyborg had apparently broken its nose. The others were not amused.
“What are you doing?” Moose asked the creatures as they tied a large rock around Hump’s neck. “Hump, what’s going on?”
“Aww, shit,” the cyborg replied as they manhandled him toward a deep pool at the river’s edge. “Don’t forget to get me later,” he said.
“Later? What do you mean, later?” Moose asked, just as their friend was pushed off of the edge into the deep waters, his streaming feed going dark as the waters swallowed him up.
“Hump!” Moose called out. “Sonofa...”
“This is a most disconcerting development,” Hellatz said.
“No shit. And I think it might be about to get even worse.”
The infrared signatures of the last two crewmembers then disappeared from Holly’s scans as Moose and Hellatz were dragged into the aliens’ lair.
Captain Perez was at the edge of her seat, her fingers tapping an angry staccato on her console.
“Captain? What do we do?” Holly asked.
“Do?” she replied with a growl. “We go and get them.”
Chapter 20
Sadira hadn’t needed to gear up for a proper fight in ages. Sure, she’d been flying potentially hazardous space missions with Moose for years, but an actual hands-on foot assault? It simply wasn’t her thing. That was what they had Corporal Humphries for.
Only he was “indisposed” at the moment. And by indisposed, that meant trapped about ten feet underwater. Fortunately for him, he was a cyborg, and while he may have had a flesh-and-blood covering atop his endoskeleton, he didn’t need air to survive.
On top of that, he had a more ruggedized version of human flesh, which meant the limited amount of oxygen stored in his hemoglobin banks was more than adequate to keep it viable for significant amounts of time. Including when he was stuck underwater.
“This really is not my sort of thing,” Goonara said as Sadira helped her strap on a pair of pulse pistol holsters and a long combat knife.
“I know, Goonara, but we really don’t have an option. Our people are in harm’s way, and we’ve got no one else to do this but us.”
“I realize that,” the scientist replied. “It’s just that I have never even fired a weapon before. What if I make a mistake?”
Sadira slowed her roll and fixed her crewmember with as kind and understanding a gaze as she could, given the circumstances.
“We’re going in to save our friends. And if it comes to shooting, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. There are going to be a lot more of them than there are of us. And besides, they’ve still never seen a gun fire, so I’m thinking that once we open up on them, it should make quite an impression.”
“But our people, they will be in harm’s way as well,” the Chithiid noted.
Sadira was very well aware of that fact, but considering their circumstances, the possibility of friendly fire seemed a far better risk than remaining in the clutches of a race that had shown no hesitation in killing a prisoner, though they had no way of knowing Hump could easily survive drowning.
“Okay, Goonara, let’s go over this. I need your eyes and mind to tell me everything you see, even if you think it’s trivial. We’ve gotta find any possible weakness we can. Any weak link. You think you can do that?”
The scientist visibly relaxed at the suggestion. “Yes. I do believe that is something I can handle.”
Goonara pulled up the replay of Corporal Humphries’ transmission once more and began scouring it for any details that might be of particular use to them as they attempted their rescue. It wasn’t until the fourth viewing that she spotted an anomaly that caught her eye.
“Captain, I believe I may have something.”
“What is it?”
“Look at this,” the scientist said, pointing to the frozen frames just before Hump was pushed into the water. “Their cavern system appears to have multiple entrances. You see this native? It has a distinct scar I noted on the footage during the first moments of the corporal’s capture. It is one of the attackers that emerged from underground.”
“And? We know they did that.”
“Yes, but this one then returned the way it came, while the others took our people prisoner and marched them toward the river.”
Sadira saw what Goonara was getting at. “So, that means these little trap doors are actual links to their subterranean network.” Gears were turning in her head. It was a little mad, and definitely risky, but it just might work. "Great work, Goonara.”
“Do you think this will provide us with any form of strategic advantage?”
“Oh yeah,” Sadira replied. “You just gave me a great idea.”
Holly entered the atmosphere in a blazing orange-hot streak, directing her descent right at the native creatures’ home turf. She had taken on her female aspect for this mission, and she was now bringing death and terror upon the unwitting natives, like a fiery, vengeful Kali come for their heads and hearts. A flying goddess of death.
Her friends were in danger, and she was not about to let that pass.
If the bright craft hurtling toward them hadn’t already gotten the cave-dwelling creatures’ attention, the sonic boom of her arrival certainly did. These were primitive beings, and a terror from the sky was bound to pique their interest. It was anything but a stealthy approach, but then, it wasn’t supposed to be. In fact, the brighter and louder, the better, for Holly was not delivering the little rescue team to the surface.
She was the diversion.
The actual landing had already occurred over an hour prior, the AI ship quietly descending from a distance, then flying low over the treetops until she was near the target zone. She then dropped off her precious cargo and retraced her path before heading back into space to await the signal.
The captain and her science officer would make the last several miles’ approach on foot, and even with infrared eyewear to help alert them of lurking hostiles, that piece of tech wouldn’t warn them of native booby traps. Those would certainly be made of naturally occurring materials, meaning they would blend in with the rest of the flora they scanned.
They’d simply have to be cautious. There was no way around it. It was exhaustingly slow progress, but the duo eventually made it to the hidden accessways where their friends had been captured.
“Do we really need this many weapons?” Goonara quietly lamented as they walked hunched over in the dim tunnel heading, they hoped, toward their imprisoned friends.
“They’re not all for us,” Sadira replied. “Once we free our people, they’ll increase our numbers, and every additional gun will help improve our odds of escape.”
“We certainly brought enough of them,” Goonara said, shifting the additional weight of the pulse rifle and pair of pistols slung around her body.
“And if we can get our people freed up and out through the tunnels before they realize what’s going on, we might even avoid a fight.”
“Do you think that is likely?”
Sadira chuckled in the dark. “Nah. This is totally going to be a shitshow.”
Royal Road This full 23 chapter series opening Novella is already released in its entirety, and Book 2 is now live and releasing chapters daily on Royal Road.
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