The Awakening: Book 1 of the Evaran Chronicles (16 page)

“Leave that to me. Dr. Snowden, align the hover slab parallel to the krall, on the side where her legs are.”

Dr. Snowden pushed the hover slab so it was parallel with the krall’s body and closest to her legs. Evaran lifting her seemed absurd, given her size. Then again, absurd seemed to be abundant of late.

Evaran knelt in front of the krall and moved an open hand back and forth in front of her face. The krall’s eyes blinked slowly as Evaran stood up. He walked around her so he was facing her back. “When I lift her, move the hover slab under her. Emily, I will need you to hold her head.”

Dr. Snowden went to the longer side of the hover slab opposite the krall and put his hands on the edge bars. He had to see this. He knew Evaran was strong and was curious if he would strain or not.

Evaran placed one arm under the krall’s haunch and the other under her chest and then lifted her straight up without any strain while Emily kept the head stable. Dr. Snowden pushed the hover slab toward Evaran until it was just touching his belt, and Evaran then lowered the krall onto it. Emily stroked the krall’s neck as the slab dipped a bit, then reset itself back to its original height.

“You’re a lot stronger than I thought,” said Dr. Snowden.

“Relative to a human perhaps. Now, who wants to push the krall?” asked Evaran.

“I will,” said Emily, glancing at Dr. Snowden. He noticed she had a defiant look on her face.

Emily positioned herself on the end with console as Dr. Snowden stepped back from the long side of the hover slab with raised hands. She tapped the bar, and the hover slab moved forward a foot or so. “I got this.”

Evaran nodded at Emily. “Follow me.”

They followed Evaran to the main research hub entrance they initially came in through. Evaran placed his UIC on the door console and interacted with his ARI. The shield went down, and he motioned at V. V flew out of the entrance, and Evaran shielded the door. “V is going to docking bay three so we can see what we are dealing with.”

He pulled his UIC off the door console and walked over to the hover slab. He placed it on the slab’s console, then interacted with his ARI. “This hover slab has a shielding mechanism. Interesting. The interface to turn it on is not on the slab. It has to be done remotely. However, I can access it. The edges will be outside the shield, though, so it can still be pushed.”

Dr. Snowden glanced at Emily, then at Evaran. “So this hover slab can act like a moving shield then.”

Evaran nodded. “A good tactical observation. If there was another, you and Emily could have gotten in it, and I could have used both of them as moving shields. Nonetheless, the design intent of the shielding mechanism was not to keep things from getting in, but to keep things from getting out.”

Emily swallowed hard. “They must’ve been scared while in there.”

Evaran narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. “As I mentioned earlier, this
is
a research area.”

Dr. Snowden rubbed his left inner palm with his right-hand thumb. He wondered how many specimens were tortured in these research labs. No wonder that when the specimens were given the chance to roam free, the Krotovore died quickly. Would the Krotovore have brought him and Emily here at some point? He could not imagine waking up out of the virtual simulation to be stuck on a hover slab like this and then taken to a room to be researched. Given his personality, Jay would’ve been the poster boy for having shields like that.

Evaran pulled out an orb and tossed it in front of him. A projection shot up showing a top view of docking bay three. Evaran interacted with his ARI, and four red dots appeared in the view, one in each corner, nestled among the shipping containers. He pointed to the clearing in the center of the room. “The red dots are Jerzan’s crew, lit up courtesy of their locational beacons. It seems they have set up a kill zone.” He pointed to an entrance. “This is where we would come in from.” He pointed to another entrance centered on the left side of the room. “That is where we need to go. The path to it is either through the kill zone or along the bottom left wall immediate the entrance to the corner, then up along the side wall to the other entrance. They have both paths covered.”

Dr. Snowden sighed and pushed up his glasses. “That’s just great. I really hate that guy.”

Evaran rubbed his chin for a few moments before speaking. “We can take the path to the immediate left behind the containers as soon as we enter the room. I will rush the mercenary in that corner and take him out, and then we will continue to the corner and up to the entrance. It should be a straight run to my ship then.”

“What if they come out and begin shooting into the area?” asked Emily.

Evaran pointed to the containers in the bottom left of the map. “The containers will provide some cover. By the time they get there, we should be close to the other entrance. We can also use the hover slab to provide some defense.”

“Sounds risky, but I don’t see another way. Jerzan doesn’t seem like the type to give up or be reasoned with,” said Dr. Snowden.

“I would concur,” said Evaran. He interacted with his ARI, and the projection dissipated. He grabbed the orb and placed it back on his belt. “I have sent V ahead to my ship in docking bay four. V is going to prep it for when we get there. Are you two ready for this?”

Dr. Snowden glanced at Emily, and then they both nodded their heads yes.

“Okay then, off we go,” said Evaran. He placed his UIC on the wall and interacted with his ARI. The shielding on the door dissipated. He grabbed his UIC off the door console as they walked out of the hallway and toward docking bay three.

06

D
r. Snowden reflected on the upcoming situation. The goal was to get to Evaran’s ship in one piece. Sounded simple, except for Jerzan’s trap in docking bay three. Why couldn’t he just leave them alone? Still, he trusted Evaran to get them through this.

They walked for ten minutes to just outside the entrance of docking bay three. It was large, and part of the interior was obscured by the massive stacked shipping containers just inside the door.

“We will go immediately to the left in about four minutes. Jerzan is having them check in every five minutes, according to V. After their next check-in, we will have the full five minutes to knock out the lone mercenary in the corner and get to the other hallway entrance,” said Evaran.

Dr. Snowden looked at the hover slab. “How should we position this when we go in?”

Evaran pointed toward the upper right of the room. “You will want it to initially face Jerzan’s location, until we hit the first container. Once we are behind it, you will turn it to face the lower right of the room. Once we are past the first mercenary and headed toward the other hallway entrance, you will face it to the upper left. Make sure whatever direction it is facing, you are behind it.”

Emily nodded. “Sounds simple enough.”

After four minutes, Evaran motioned for them to move. They used the shipping containers that obscured a part of the entrance to slip down the first row to their left. Evaran motioned down toward the corner. He ran up ahead, then ducked into one of the pathways created by the containers.

Dr. Snowden glanced at Emily. He helped her turn the hover slab to face the lower right of the room and then pull it toward the corner. After another minute, a zapping sound broke the silence as they neared the pathway where Evaran had gone. They froze.

Evaran popped out of the pathway, making them jump. “The mercenary is down. I have his communication device. We need to move.”

“Wow, that was quick,” said Emily.

“Well, to be fair to him, he was urinating in a corner,” said Evaran.

Dr. Snowden exhaled sharply. “We just gonna leave him?”

“For now. Get to the ship first. Then I will deal with him afterward,” said Evaran.

They hit the corner and turned the hover slab to face the upper left of the room. They pushed it for a minute while staying in the pathway between the wall and the containers. As they approached the other hallway entrance, Evaran raised his hand for them to stop.

“Hold on,” said Evaran. He scanned two devices near the other hallway entrance. He sighed and shook his head. He motioned for them to head back to the corner.

“What’s going on,” said Dr. Snowden, cocking his head.

“Proximity mines. We go near them and it will take out the power grid for this area. That means the whole docking bay decompresses if the main shield is shut down. They really should have used physical doors for this bay.”

A chill ran through Dr. Snowden. He swallowed hard. Although he had always studied space, he didn’t want to see it this way. “Can you disable them remotely?”

Evaran shook his head. “Unfortunately not. My UIC would trigger it if it went—” he said as he tilted his head and raised a finger.

Emily tilted her head, and her face turned white. “Draug.”

Dr. Snowden’s skin went cold. He could hear the faint shrieking and chattering noises of the draug brood now. It was not something so easily forgotten. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. They’re getting closer and gonna come in here, aren’t they?”

Evaran pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. “They would even if we were not here. Jerzan and his crew have a strong odor.”

They reached the corner and turned the hover slab to face the entrance they initially came in from.

Dr. Snowden sighed. If they went to the hallway entrance leading to Evaran’s ship, they would get flushed out to space. If they tried to go back the way they came, they would run into the draug. On top of that, their five minutes was about up.

Evaran shook his head and exhaled through his nose. He held up the communication device he grabbed off the mercenary and pressed a button on it. “Jerzan?”

“Evaran? Where’s Jahl?”

“He is sleeping at the moment. There is an issue bigger than you or me now. A draug brood is approaching this room and will arrive in less than two minutes. You need to disable your mines so we can all get out of here,” said Evaran.

Jerzan chuckled. “I don’t know what a draug brood is, but I’m pretty sure we can handle it. As for the mines, they go down when you surrender.”

Evaran’s eyebrows creased, and his eyes narrowed. “We do not have time for your foolishness. The draug brood is in the hundreds, judging by the sound. You stand no chance with them. You do stand a chance of living, however, if you listen to me.”

Jerzan laughed. “Ahh … resorting to begging now, huh? Must hurt. I have a stun grenade aimed at your general area. It will knock out anything in a ten-foot radius. You put Jahl to sleep, I can put your friends to sleep. You can make this easy. Just walk out and surrender.”

“I will not do that. Do you not wish to live?” said Evaran.

Jerzan snorted. “You take from me, I take from you. That is all that matters at this point. You were right earlier. I should’ve listened to Galkett. I now know we are not physically a match for someone of your ability, but that is not your weakness. Your weakness is trying to protect those who can’t stand up for themselves. That’s why you’ll surrender. You already lost one, and another is maimed. You refuse, and you will lose the other three.”

Evaran put a hand on his forehead and sighed. “You have thirty seconds before the draug arrive. You should consider doing as I say.”

“Don’t tell me what to do! You know what?
You
have thirty seconds. If you’re not out here by then, your group goes down.”

“Another poor decision,” said Evaran. He pressed a button on the communication device and faced Dr. Snowden and Emily. “We can speak freely now.”

“We aren’t really going to surrender, are we?” said Dr. Snowden.

“No, of course not. I have another idea. I hope you are not claustrophobic,” said Evaran. He tilted his head and pulled out his utility handle. He extended it into a staff, pressed a button, then aimed it in the air toward Jerzan. A small device flew over the containers.
Boom!
Evaran hit the device with a repulsion attack, sending the small device flying back. A few moments later, a zapping sound rang out.

He rushed up to one of the containers and placed his UIC on the container’s console. He interacted with his ARI, and the end of the container extended out and then slid up with a whooshing sound. He stepped back and aimed at the air again.
Boom!
He sent another grenade flying back. He pointed to the inner cargo boxes in the shipping container. “Jerzan is persistent and impatient. Get those boxes out!”

Dr. Snowden and Emily began pulling out the inner boxes. They were stacked in a two-by-two configuration. Dr. Snowden was surprised he could move them. They must have been empty. He reached in and pulled out one of the top ones. Evaran motioned for him to place it so it would block the path to the entrance. He dropped it in place and went back for another. Emily had stacked one as well, and between the both of them, it only took a minute to clear out the first section. He saw that only the draug scouts had begun to trickle into the room. His stomach tightened, as he knew the larger portion of the brood would be close behind. They had drawn the attention of Jerzan and his mercenaries. Instead of tossing more grenades, they were firing on the draug.