Tales of the Stars

Chapter 6 - Close Encounters

The crew had been traveling for 7 hours. Tolya claimed he felt better and helped to pull the sled, which quickened their pace a bit. Makar had fallen asleep a few hours ago. Far ahead of them, the flat plain they were walking on turned into a series of rolling hills. Garvrie figured that the Sirena had crashed somewhere in that direction. They had all deactivated their radios shortly after their walk began in case someone or something else was listening for them, though Garvrie still had his radio configured to listen for potential signals on a military channel.

"So, what are the odds I can take off this helmet and grab something to eat from the crates before I die of exposure?" asked Isaak.

In Garvrie's training, he had been briefed on the nature of every moon orbiting Saturn, and Titan was a special case among them.

"Well," said Garvrie, recalling what he knew. "The atmosphere is denser than Earth's, and it's composed of nitrogen, with a bit of methane. The lack of oxygen combined with the fact that this moon is colder than the arctic circle? I'd give you about five to six minutes before you freeze to death."

Isaak stopped pulling the sled. Garvrie and Tolya turned to look at him.

"I'm going to try it," he said.

"Um, ok," said Garvrie, taken aback by Isaak's determination.

Isaak opened a crate and retrieved a single ration bar as well as a metal canteen of water. He took off his helmet, and mist from the heated air inside the suit immediately began pouring out. Isaak shoved the entire ration bar into his mouth and took a swig from the canteen before quickly putting his helmet on and locking it into place. He chewed awkwardly, swallowed the food and shook his head, shivering.

"Yea, it's really, really cold," he said, taking deep breaths of air. "Thank god for thermal regulators." With a collective sigh of relief, they continued walking.

An hour later, they reached the hills, which rose high above them. Garvrie led the team through a shallow ravine between the inclines. It was then that they heard a noise. It sounded like some kind of motor combined with a low humming noise, growing louder, closer. They picked up the pace. The sound was coming from the direction they were heading.

As the group passed over a ridge, Garvrie could see the wreck of the CDV Sirena. Unlike the Britva, the Sirena seemed to have impacted the ground head on, and its remains were spilled out in pieces all around the crater it had crashed in. Next to the main body of the wreck was a large, dark colored vehicle emitting the strange noise Garvrie had heard earlier. The vehicle was shaped like an oversized passenger van from earth elevated by four tank-like treads. The whole body of the vehicle was a dark, indescribable colour, with no visible windows or doors. As Garvrie was observing the vehicle, Isaak suddenly shouted "GET DOWN!". Garvrie saw a figure emerge from the wreckage of the Sirena carrying what appeared to be a large gun. Everyone ran back to duck behind the ridge as bullets began flying in their direction. One of the shots hit Tolya, who fell to the ground crying out in pain.

"Cover me!" said Garvrie to Isaak, who immediately turned and began returning fire at the attacker as Garvrie grabbed Tolya with one hand and pushed the sled back with the other. Once he was over the ridge, Garvrie dropped to the ground and aimed towards the enemy. The alien creature firing at them was wearing a black and silver space suit and had an elongated head. It also had four arms which it was using to carry its weapon. Garvrie let loose a stream of bullets while Isaak ran back to him and dropped down as well. As they exchanged fire, two more enemies emerged, another from the wreckage and one from the strange vehicle.

The ground around Garvrie was peppered with shots, but he kept his focus. Aiming at an enemy, he let out a burst of shots which managed to find their mark, taking one of them down. Suddenly, he heard Isaak cry out in pain.

"I'm hit!" he said as he dragged himself back and desperately applied a sealing kit to where he had been shot. Garvrie continued to let out bursts of shots but couldn't land a hit. The aliens were dashing from place to place, seeming to focus more on dodging than aiming.

Just then, a loud bang sounded over the gunfire, and one of the alien's heads exploded. It fell from the wreckage of the Sirena to the rock below. The other alien turned to where the sniper shot had come from. Garvrie took advantage of its distraction and gunned it down with several well-placed shots.

"What was that?" asked Isaak, who had patched himself up and was tending to Tolya's wounds. Before Garvrie could respond, his radio crackled to life. Someone else was broadcasting a message.

"This is Inna, communications officer of the CDV Sirena," said a female voice, audibly trembling. "The rest of the crew is dead, and so are the hostiles we just encountered. Meet me at the main crash site."

Garvrie and his crew carefully pulled the sled down the hill towards the Sirena, moving slow to compensate for their accumulated injuries. Waiting for them was a single figure, presumably Inna, standing by the body of one of the dead aliens. Oddly, she appeared to be wearing some kind of heavy cloak over her suit. She was holding a high-powered sniper rifle in one hand, and what looked like a bag of supplies in the other.

"Commander Garvrie," she said, nodding to him. Garvrie didn't recognize her, as he had really only ever interacted with his own crew and the other ship captains.

"Are you the only crash survivor?" he asked.

Inna nodded. "If anyone else survived the impact, they'd be dead by now from exposure to the atmosphere," she replied. "I could barely even find any useful supplies from the crash."

"You seem calm, despite the situation."

"I've had a lot of time to process the situation. I spent hours hiding at the edge of the crater, waiting for someone to show up. It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you. Thanks for the save," Garvrie replied. "What's with the cloak?"

"During the crash, my suit's heat regulator was destroyed. I had to cover myself with sleeping bags from the ship to avoid freezing." Inna looked over to the rest of Garvrie's crew and the sled full of supplies. "It seems your crew fared better than mine."

"It appears so," said Garvrie, still a bit concerned at Inna's surprising level of calm. He looked down at the headless body of the alien soldier. He couldn't believe it, an actual alien creature! Unfortunately, its weapon appeared to require three arms to properly hold and fire, so it was essentially useless to them.

"At least the enemy isn't immune to bullets," he said.

"We should check it out," stated Inna, gesturing to the alien vehicle with her rifle.

Garvrie, Inna and Isaak all approached the vehicle cautiously. It loomed over them like a dark shadow. An open door was now visible, as the slain alien never got the chance to close it. Inna entered first, followed by Isaak. Garvrie took a deep breath before climbing in as well, not knowing what to expect ahead.