First draft
After escaping from the stasis room, Omen and Dia continued walking toward the hangar at a steady pace. Unfortunately, a few hallways later, they encountered a new problem.
"Droids." Dia cursed under her breath.
From her vantage point she could see that several boxes, plasteel barrels, canisters, and other containers had been piled up to form some sort of barricade. An unknown number of droids were stationed there. With her trained eye, it wasn't hard to notice that they were guarding the area.
"How many are there, Mitchell?" Omen asked.
"I'm sorry, captain." The pilot answered in her usual monotone. "I don't have that information at my disposal."
"Is this the only way in?" Dia asked.
"No, it's not." Mitchell said. "If you make a detour..."
"...we have no time for that." Omen interjected, nipping the idea in the bud.
Dia was about to complain but then she glanced down at the datapad's chronometer and noticed, much to her dismay, that they had less than twelve minutes left.
With a resigned sigh, Dia said. "Alright then. What do you suggest?"
"We draw them out." Omen answered, pulling out a grenade. "If that doesn't work, we storm in."
Dia raised a brow. "That's it?"
"We have no time to come up with an elaborate plan, corporal." Omen answered, his tone conveying his irritation.
Dia hesitated. "I know but...isn't it too risky? We don't know how many of them are holed up in there."
Contrary to her expectations, Omen's reply was pretty mild. He just shrugged, acting as if it wasn't a big deal. "You're worrying too much. Those tin cans are no mechs. They are not capable of implementing elaborate tactics. It shouldn't be too hard to draw them out."
Dia wanted to object, tell him that his "plan" was reckless, but she refrained herself. Omen wasn't himself at the moment. There was no point in arguing with him.
...besides he may be right for all I know. Based on what we've seen so far, frontal assault seems to be their favorite tactic.
Swallowing her reluctance, Dia gave her assent, "Let's do it."
As soon as she said that, Omen pushed the button, arming the grenade, then threw it, right in the middle of the barricade. Dia took cover, but nothing could've prepared her for what happened next. The explosion was thunderous, sending shards of metal and globs of molten plastic flying at all angles, the shockwave emitted so powerful it almost knocked her down. When it was finally over, Dia's ears were ringing, the smell of burnt plastic making her eyes water. Whatever explosive Omen had used, it was stronger than a regular grenade. Much stronger.
An absolute silence had descended upon the room after the blast, black smoke permeating the air. The droids, if there was still someone of them left, were silent.
"What the hell was that?" Dia's voice sounded more than a bit hoarse.
"Given the size of the explosion," Mitchell said. "that wasn't standard issue. I'd say the hand grenade the captain used contained a fifth of a trillionth of a gram of antimatter."
"Way to technical, Mitchell." Dia half-growled. "Wait...did you say antimatter?
"Correct, corporal. On that matter, I would like to make a complaint, captain." Mitchell's voice was a bit odd. It almost sounded like she was angry. "If this was a regular starship, an explosion of that magnitude would have likely opened a hole in the hull, killing you all."
"You got that right, Mitchell. It was reckless." Dia said. "Omen, what the hell were you thinking?"
"It worked, corporal. That's all that matters." Omen didn't show any contrition. Actually, he sounded rather annoyed.
Dia resisted the urge to stump her foot like a four-year-old.
We have no time for this.
She reminded herself. Reining in her impulses, Dia took a deep breath and asked, "What about the droids? Anyone of them left?"
"Impossibile to determine. The explosion scrambled our sensors." Mitchell reverted to being an emotionless AI. "Visual contact is required."
"Great." Dia muttered.
She squinted her eyes, trying to take a better view, but it was useless. The room was still filled with smoke.
"Stay there." She said to Omen. "I'll go check it out."
You've done enough damage already.
Since the smoke impeded her vision, Dia edged forward, leaving her cover to get a better look, but there was still no sign of the droids.
Everything seemed to be going pretty well when all of a sudden, Omen shouted, "Look out!"
Dia had just enough time to crawl into a cover, then the droids opened fire. They weren't really a threat. Judging by the interval between each gunshot, only a handful of them survived the blast. Moreover, they seemed content to remain passive, standing rooted to their positions. But if on the one hand the fact they weren't coming in swarms made them less dangerous, on the other hand, it also meant that Omen's plan had failed.
"Omen." She said hoarsely over the comms. "I think they're trying to keep us here. Gibson must be close."
Omen stopped shooting. "How long before the bomb goes off?"
Dia crouched behind cover and checked her datapad. "Nine minutes."
Omen narrowed his eyes. "We have to push through."
"If..." She paused, snapping a pair of shots toward a droid that had gotten too close. "If there are more of them..."
"We'll have to risk it." Omen interrupted her, a look of deep concentration - a maybe a bit of obsession - on his face. "We don't have much time left."
Without waiting for her reply, Omen sprung forward and ran directly toward the barricade.
"Damn it, Omen!" She cursed, raising her gun to lay down suppressive fire.
Dia heard Mitchell say something but the racket of gunfire drowned out all other sounds. Besides, she was too busy to pay attention to what the pilot was saying.
Omen was already bulldozing through what was left of the barricade, destroying everything in his path like a human-sized tank. He created such chaos that for a second or two the droids looked actually confused. Taking advantage of their distraction, Dia took down the droid closest to her. Omen, on the other hand, used his exoskeleton in the most brutal way possible. He slammed the first droid into the wall, crushed the head of the second, and then used its headless body as a meat shield while he took care of the last of them.
That should have been the end of it. Unfortunately, more droids were coming from the room nearby. Dia was doing her best to cover Omen, but it was pointless. There were simply too many of them. While Omen took cover behind a container, Dia emptied her last clip into the handful of droids coming at them. It wasn't enough. Maybe it was because the droids thought Omen posed the biggest threat, or maybe it was just because he was target closest to them - either way, they were all converging on him.
Finding herself unarmed, Dia did the only thing she could think of. Willing herself to focus on that strange link connecting her to the droids, she reached for their synthetic brains and ordered them to stop. She succeeded, though it felt like she was wrestling in the mud against multiple opponents. While the droids stood frozen, Omen looked at them with shock for a moment, unable to understand what was going on. Still, he was a pro, and wasted no time before taking them down, one by one. When the last of them went down, Dia felt that pressure disappear.
"What just happened?" Omen asked her.
Dia was wobbling, drained of all energy. She had just managed to say "Later.", then her legs caved in and she started falling forward. She felt no pain when she hit the ground. A second later, a strong arm shook her shoulder and she gradually reacquainted herself with her surroundings.
"Are you alright?" Omen asked, an odd mix of concern, curiosity, and impatience laced his tone.
Dia nodded, but she looked haggard, pale as a ghost. "Mitchell. She..." Her voice grew faint, a new wave of dizziness shaking her body.
Omen seemed to understand and gave her a curt nod. "Mitchell?" He asked on the comms. No one answered. "Mitchell? Can you hear me?" He asked again, his voice growing tight, but the result remained the same. He tried contacting her several times but to no avail. "We'll call them later. Come on," His voice softened a little as he helped her stand up. "we should be almost there."
His words turned out to be prophetic. Less than a minute later, they finally found what they were looking for. The hangar bay. A small transport ship was there. Its engine was on, already ready for departure. But it wasn't the ship that really caught their attention. Someone they both knew was standing nearby.
Gibson.
He wasn't in the hangar bay, but in a small adjoining room - probably the hangar control room. Gibson was bending over some kind of console, apparently unaware of their presence. He looked so undefended, Dia narrowed her eyes in suspicion. It seemed way too easy. Still, that didn't seem to deter Omen. He showed no hesitation and immediately pointed his rifle at Gibson's head.
He was about to shoot when all of a sudden, one of the ship's turbolaser turrets moved, its oversized muzzle aimed in his direction. Despite being caught unprepared, Omen had the presence of mind to dodge. He dived sideways, avoiding a direct hit, but he was still flung against the wall like a ragdoll.
"Omen!" Dia shouted in alarm.
Gibson didn't try to stop her when she rushed to his side. Actually, he didn't even turn. Dia lifted his helmet to check his pulse, sighing with relief when she realized he was still alive. Apparently, his body armor had absorbed the majority of the blast.
Gibson tsked. "Is that all an ISS agent can do?"
He sounded rather disappointed. Dia paid him no mind, all her attention focused on catching her breath. That short dash had burned her last reserves of strength and she was now unarmed, dead tired, and completely out of ideas.
"Mitchell?" She tried to ask for help but only silence and static answered her. While she racked her brains, trying to come up with a plan, her eyes fell on Omen's rifle. It was lying on the floor, just a few steps away from her.
It's close. Maybe I could...
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Gibson warned her as if he could read her thoughts, "Although I suppose you may need a weapon. The Umbra's goons will be here soon."
Right on cue, the door next to Gibson, the same door Dia and Omen had used to get in, opened. Dia looked surprised, then shocked when she saw Reyes and half dozen pirates enter the room. Gibson, however, fared way worse.
"I-impossible." The scientist took a step back. He sounded downright terrified. "Y-you are not supposed to be here."
"And yet, here I am." Reyes replied. He was carrying some kind of high-tech vibrosword as he advanced toward Gibson.
Gibson, on the other hand, kept retreating. Dia had seen him fight against the mechs, and yet, he didn't even try to put up a fight this time. It was almost like Reyes scared him more than the Collective.
"I-it can't be." Gibson repeated like a broken record. "I was watching you. I..."
Gibson was still talking when Reyes leaped forward and swung his sword at his neck. The ultrasonic vibrations, specifically designed to increase the sword cutting effectiveness, did the rest. A moment later when Dia saw Gibson's severed head roll on the floor, she couldn't believe her eyes. He was gone, just like that.
"Gibson, Gibson." Reyes shook his head, while he observed Gibson's lifeless body. "You've always been way too sure of yourself." Then he gestured toward the severed head with the tip of his sword. "Pick it up, but handle it with care. We still need the brain."
His voice sounded different: cold, unemotional, almost inhuman.
"Reyes?" Dia asked in a doubtful tone.
Reyes ignored her, all his attention focused on Gibson's body. A few seconds later, two pirates came forward and started carrying out his orders. They methodically disassembled Gibson's helmet, collected his head and then stored it into some kind of cryo briefcase. Meantime, another pirate typed something on the console, the same one Gibson was using before, and the starship's cargo hold door opened. Only when the pirates carried the briefcase on board, Reyes turned his attention to her.
When he did look at her, however, Dia inhaled sharply. Reyes' eyes were as cold as ice.
"I hate being right all the time." Reyes looked at her as if she was a bug, "I did warn him not to trust you, but he didn't listen. He never did."
"What...what are you talking about?" She asked, her voice frayed with anxiety.
"I'm talking about your betrayal...miss Zephyr."
Dia reeled at the way he said her name. It sounded familiar, in a creepy kind of way.
While she was still in shock, Reyes glanced at Omen's body, his lips curling into a mocking smile. "Did you really think I didn't know about your little plan?"
"Reyes, what..."
Reyes tilted his head and looked at her strangely, his lips curling into a slight, cold smile. "Try again, miss Zephyr."
Once again, he used that tone, but this time she finally figured out why he sounded so familiar.
"No...no that's not possible." Dia took a step back, shaking her head in denial. "You...you can't be him."
Reyes seemed to find her confusion amusing and chuckled. "Why? Because Reyes is in love with you?" He asked, speaking about himself in the third person as if he and Reyes were two completely different entities. "Well, to be fair, I did spend some effort in order to confuse you. It was Reyes' idea. He wanted to protect you." A second chuckle, much shorter than the first one. Then his face turned serious. "But that ends now."
"Who, what..." She took a deep breath and managed to ask. "If you're not Reyes, what happened to him?"
"He is no more. Your betrayal cut too deep." Reyes replied. "There is nothing left of him"
Unable to understand what he was talking about, Dia just stood there with her mouth wide open.
"I suppose I should thank you." Reyes continued, unaware or maybe uncaring of her confusion. "It's only because of you that I was able to take over completely," He looked down at Gibson's headless body. His voice was almost distant, a dry lecturer's voice, devoid of any emotion. "and obtain what I really wanted."
Reyes' eyes seemed to lose focus. The moment of silence prolonged until one of the pirates said, "Boss, we have to go."
Reyes blinked several times, his eyes slowly regaining focus. Then he gave a slow nod. "I'll join you shortly."
One by one, the pirates started leaving the control room until only Reyes was left.
"Well," He glanced at Dia. "I enjoyed playing with you but as the saying goes, all good things come to an end."
Dropping the sword, he drew his sidearm. When he pointed the gun at her, Dia just stood there, too shocked, too tired to move. She had already half-accepted her fate when a flicker of something, maybe hesitation, went through Reyes' eyes. Then something strange happened. Reyes started breathing hard, the gun shaking slightly in his hand. It almost looked like he was trying to pull the trigger, but he couldn't do it for some reason, as if his own body was rebelling against him. Reyes gnashed his teeth, looking at her like he intended to tear her apart, then unexpectedly, he lowered the gun.
He spared her one last, long look, then left the room without saying another word. While Dia stood there in stunned, shocked silence, the station's automatic safety system came into operation, sealing the control room door. A few seconds later, the hangar door opened and the transport ship took off, leaving her behind.