Dark Omega

CHAPTER 53 - ROLL CALL

A gaping maw opened in the ship's metal flank and swallowed the lander whole. The diminutive craft passed through a poorly-lit tunnel before finally settling on a landing deck. There were clanking and hissing and roaring and shaking. The shuttle must have been in a horrible condition, and the pilot was either completely incompetent or intoxicated. If Haides had been in charge, he would have spacewalked the pilot and shot whoever was responsible for maintenance.

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The restraining harnesses lifted, and the twenty or so young men and women traveling with Haides were herded out of the lander and onto the metal deck of the ship's small craft bay. Those who were not quick enough got smacked around a bit. Those who were too fast got prodded with shock rods for their troubles. Haides kept to the middle and tried to avoid attention.

He had a quick look around. The bay wasn't that large, maybe a hundred and fifty meters wide and fifty deep. The ceiling was high enough to fit shuttles twenty meters tall with room to spare for maneuvering. An interplanetary shuttle, much larger than the lander, stood parked to the right. Another lander, identical to the one they had arrived in, stood parked in the far left corner. Several access panels had been removed, and there were people in coveralls working on it, aided by a couple of banged-up android menials.

After a bit of milling around—the youngsters had no clue what they were supposed to be doing—a liberal dose of slaps and shocks herded them into a ragged formation of rows and columns. As musters went, it was a poor one. They would never have passed inspection if Sergeant Blano had been in charge. The ones actually in control—four black-clad assassins—didn't seem to care about the niceties of formations.

No sooner had the young Akakians been assembled before they were moved out of the landing bay in two columns through an internal airlock. Their feeble attempt at marching would have caused Sarge no end of grief, but the captors cared no more about marching than they did formations. As long as the youngsters kept moving, shut up, and looked down, they were mostly safe from the shock prods and neural whips. Haides kept a low profile but snuck glances whenever he dared. Most of the others looked meekly at their own feet or stared lamely into space.

They passed along several wide corridors and through multiple access hatches. The lighting was dim, the air stale and warm. On two occasions, there were minute fluctuations in the local gravity. Overall the ship gave the impression of considerable age, insufficient maintenance, and limited cleaning.

The Akakians had no clue where they were going. Not that it mattered. It was pretty evident to all of them—Haides included—that any form of escape attempt would be utter foolishness. They were trapped aboard an unknown starship, escorted by the same men and women that had captured them and kept them under guard during the flight up. They didn't stand a chance. And even if they could break free, where would we go? They were on a ship, with no way out.

One of the four guardians was the sneaky bastard that had taken down the Ghost of Thira, a tall man with broad shoulders and narrow hips. His body was covered top to toe, head included, in tight-fitting black armor. The topmost layer looked like it was woven together, each link fitted into six others, almost like ancient chainmail. It made no sound when he moved, so the links weren't made of metal. He wore his armor under a long cloak that seemed impossibly dark and matte. It had to be a chameleon cloak, able to alter its texture and coloration to blend in with the surroundings. Now it was deactivated and hung limp and dull around its owner.

The other two males were smaller in stature but radiated the same lethality. The sole female assassin was slender as a reed, but the way she moved screamed of perfect body control and wiry muscle—after the leader, she was the most dangerous in Haides's not so humble opinion. All three wore variations of the same kind of body armor and cloaks.