"Boys and girls, meet Eligius IV," Raven said. Through the camera of the pod, we could see the giant ship in front of us, growing closer and closer.
"'Powering a better tomorrow'," Emori read the side of the ship.
"Must be a mining ship."
I looked at Harper as she spoke. "Mining in space?"
"I've heard stories," Monty butted in. "Missions sent to mine asteroids or search for habitable planets, but that was a hundred years ago."
"They got back somehow, Bellamy stated. "Means they must have fuel."
"Well, now there's a ship with a story to tell," Raven mumbled as we drew closer to the ship; one of the very large engines was all messed up. "It looks like one of the engines was destroyed. At least the hap is still rotating. That rotation means they'll have gravity. Sorry, lovebirds. No Zero-G space sex."
"That's too bad," I joked, glancing at Harper and Monty, whose faces were bright red.
"There. There's the docking bay," emori said looking through the camera in front of her.
Monty cleared his throat slightly before speaking. "I hate to ask this now. What if they're still inside?"
"We've been through this; if they were still inside and saw a foreign ship trying to board them, they would shoot us out of the sky," I answered, raising an eyebrow slightly.
Raven spoke, "Okay. Commencing operation uninvited guests. Firing thrusters in three, two, one." Raven fired the thrusters, causing the rocket to shake. "Emori, as soon as I line us up with the hap, it's all yours... On my mark."
"Okay, we're in alignment."
Raven nodded. "The nav is yours. It's just like the simulator."
"Copy that."
I heard Murphy quietly scoff. "Grounders don't say 'copy that's."
"This one does. Initiating docking sequence."
"We are so screwed," Murphy muttered.
Emori scolded him. "Shut up, John."
Alarms blared throughout the inside of the rocket as Raven spoke. "Why are we losing alignment?"
"I lost stabilization," Emori stated. "I don't know."
"We're coming in too fast! Okay, I got it! I got it! Switching back to manual." Raven then began steering the rocket. It shook violently as Raven tried desperately to align it with the ship in front of us. A loud thud shook the rocket. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth as I gripped onto Bellamy's hand tightly. "Okay. Hold on. Hold on... Brace for impact. We're coming in hot!"
A sudden thud caused the pod to stop, jerking us hard. I let out a quiet groan.
"That was fun," Murphy commented sarcastically. "We should do it again sometime."
I unbuckled my seatbelt before taking my helmet off and letting out a breath.
"Okay. Let's go find that fuel," Bellamy said, standing from his seat. He opened the hatch on the bottom of the rocket. "On me. Suits off in the cargo hold."
Once we had our suits off, we stepped out of the pod, the sound of muffled alarms blaring in the ship filled my ears. "We better move fast," I said, unsheathing my katana the same time Echo did her sword.
Bellamy looked at both of us, causing Echo to speak. "We don't know what we're walking into."
No one said a word as Bellamy stepped toward the door, pressing a button that opened it. The alarms grew louder once the doors opened and we walked out of the docking bay.
"That's just annoying," Murphy stated.
Harper spoke, "If someone was here, they'd shut it off, right?"
"Not you," I heard Raven say. I turned to see the girl talking to Emori. "You should stay in the pod and run a full diagnostic check. That was a big impact. We don't know if we took on any damage."
Emori nodded and Murphy spoke. "I can, uh, stay back and help."
Emori gave the boy a look. "How? My making stupid little jokes?"
"Don't take it out on me because you screwed the pooch in your big debut, okay?"
Bellamy stepped toward Murphy, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, hey... Harper can help Emori. Everyone else move, now."
I held my katana at the ready as Bellamy led our group through the halls, holding up his flashlight. "This place is like a maze," he muttered. We turned a corner, which happened to be a dead end. A set of doors sat in front of us, a sign above them. "No inmates past this point."
I raised an eyebrow as Echo spoke, confused. "Inmates?"
"Prison labor," Monty explained. "The mining missions were dangerous. They sent people they thought were disposable."
I let out a scoff. "That sounds vaguely familiar."
"Relax," Raven butted in. "Our ancestors were prisoners a hundred years ago. Their descendants on that transport ship are survivors, just like us. The bridge is this way, come on."
We walked through the doors, following Raven down the hall to another set of doors, which were severely mangled. It was like someone had blown up the doors to get to the other side of them.
"Looks like someone forgot their key," Raven muttered. "Jackpot."
We followed the girl into the room. "Something bad happened here," Bellamy stated.
"I think the giant hole in the doors kind of give that away," I commented, causing Bellamy to give me a look, which I just shrugged off.
"Monty--"
"Help you access the ship's manifest and schematics so we can find out where they keep their hydrazine?" Monty interrupted.
Raven nodded. "Yes, but first let's kill this alarm."
The girl sat at one of the chairs at the control panel and turned the alarm off, causing me to let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
Monty took the chair at the other control panel and began typing away on the computer. "Fuel systems... Got it."
"Oh, captain's chair," I heard Monty mumble as he sat down.
Raven spoke, "This ship doesn't run on hydrazine. They could never store enough for a long-duration mission."
"Well, what, then?" Bellamy asked, his eyebrows furrowing.
"It looks like... Hythylodium."
"Must be what they were mining for," Monty commented, causing all of us to look at him, "incredibly efficient energy--"
Murphy interrupted. "Spare me the science lesson. Can we use it to land the pod or not?"
"Sure, if you want to explode every cell in your body," Raven answered with a shrug.
"Raven," Bellamy warned.
"Don't worry. Just because this ship doesn't run on hydrazine doesn't mean they don't have any onboard."
"The dropship."
Raven nodded. "Short-range transport. They'd have to have a supply for refueling." Raven typed away on the keyboard before stopping. "Boom... And the crowd goes wild."
I pursed my lips slightly, looking at Echo as she spoke. "So... We have a way down?"
"We have a way down."
"That's not all we have," Monty said. I looked at him as he flipped a small switch on the control panel. Faint voices could be heard. "Lasercom."
"I mean it, McCreary," some lady spoke. "I'm not losing any more men today."
"Our radios were blocked by residual radiation on the Earth, but lasercom was designed to cut through worse atmospheric conditions than that."
"Well, can we talk to them?" I asked curiously. Murphy stood from his chair and began walking forward but Bellamy stopped him.
"Wait. We don't know who we're dealing with."
"Movement to the northwest. McCreary, do you see it."
"I've got something better than movement. I've got tracks."
I furrowed my eyebrows slightly as I listened. Raven spun around a look of disbelief on her face. "They're hunting our people."
Murphy shook his head. "We don't know that."
"We know there was no one else left on the ground."
"Whatever this is, Octavia can handle it," Echo reassured.
Everyone was silent for a moment before Raven spoke to Monty. "Move over."
"Wait. What are you doing?" Bellamy asked.
"Finding out who we're dealing with."
"All units stand by. Subject is armed and dangerous. We are in her backyard. She knows the terrain. Keep your eyes open."
I felt my heart rate speed up in my chest; could it be Clarke? Maybe ye Nightblood worked and she's been alive all this time. The radio was silent for a moment before a man spoke. "I see her! Moving in!"
"We'll go south and cut her off," another man explained.
"There she is! On the ridge... We're closing in!" The sound of two gunshots came through.
"McCreary, we heard gunfire. Report... I said report, McCreary," a woman spoke.
The so-called McCreary spoke soon afterward. "Relax, Colonel. I told you we'd get her, and we did. She's a feisty one. Pretty, too."
"Good work. Bring her to me. We got a lot to talk about."
"We gotta get down there. Now," Bellamy stated.
°°°
While Echo, Murphy, and Monty went for the hydrazine, I stayed behind with Raven and Bellamy in the control room. I had stayed behind as partial protection because I have a weapon. Bellamy was going through all the prisoner's files on the ship. "Murder, murder, murder, arson resulting murder, armed robbery resulting in murder... 300 inmates, 25 guards, and 12 crew."
"Relax," Raven commented. "Great-great-grandpappy Blake was an astronaut with how many PhDs?"
"Four?"
"And how many do you have?" The girl asked.
"None," I stated, causing Bellamy to roll his eyes.
"Oh, wait. Shut up. I got it. The Captain's log." In front of us on a very large screen was the Captain's log.
"Last entry was over a hundred years ago," Bellamy stated.
"Aye, aye, captain."
Raven clicked on the last entry, revealing an older man, his face a mere three inches away from the screen. Bellamy stood, walking closer. "I have to make this fast. The ship has been compromised. The prisoners found out about Order Eleven. They used an explosion in a starboard engine bay as a distract--" An explosion behind the man interrupted him as the screen went white from the light for only a second. That must be this room. "Most of the crew is already dead. They're about to take the bridge. Listen to me. With the engine damage, it'll be decades, maybe longer, before they make it back home. I tried disabling cryo, but couldn't."
"That's quite enough, captain," a woman spoke. It was the same woman's voice from the lasercom.
"If Eligius makes it back to Earth, blow it out of the sky! Diyoza can't be allowed to weaponize the cargo! Do you hear me?! I said blow it--"
I cringed slightly as a man slit the Captain's throat.
"The bridge is yours, lieutenant," the woman spoke.
"You said you wouldn't kill the crew."
The woman, who I'm assuming is Diyoza, spoke again. "I said I wouldn't. You did the right thing. I won't forget it." One of the prisoners killed the crew as Diyoza spoke again. "Now do your job and get us the hell out of here, lieutenant."
Diyoza walked toward the camera before turning it off, ending the entry. I pursed my lips slightly.
"Cryo?" Raven said, standing from her chair, turning as she spoke. "He said he was trying to deactivate cryo-- Bellamy, look out!"
Bellamy spun around. I did the same to see a large man running at Bellamy. The man threw a punch in Bellamy's direction, but he ducked, punching the man in the side, not affecting him one bit. The man smacked Bellamy hard, causing him to fall to the ground. Raven attacked him, but the man punched her in the gut and shoved her to the ground. I ran at the man with my katana as Bellamy stood and punched the man in the face. The man head-butted him before shoving him against a piece of equipment.
I came up behind the man, slicing along his back twice in an 'x' shape. It only seemed to phase him for a moment as he spun around, ripping my katana from my grasp before kicking me in the stomach. I flew to the ground, hitting my head on the floor pretty hard. As I let out a groan, I heard Echo shout.
"Hey, let her go!" Echo shoved her sword into the man's stomach. He let out a small groan before kicking Echo back. I slowly looked up to see Bellamy choking the man with a bit of wiring. The man struggled and struggled to get Bellamy off him, but it didn't work. Eventually, the man stopped breathing and Bellamy let him go, the body falling limp to the floor.
I sat up, wincing slightly at the pain in my head as the four of us breathed heavily.
"One down... 299 to go," Raven mumbled.
°°°
I stared at the hundreds of "beds" in front of us. Echo had found the room we're in when she was with Monty and Murphy, delivering the Hydrazine to the pod. She had thankfully made it just in time to us when we were fighting that guy.
The beds were more like capsules, covered in what looked like ice or frost. There were hundreds of them, men and women sleeping peacefully.
"Not too long ago, I'd have thought this was magic," Echo commented.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," Raven explained, causing me to look at her. She was looking at the small control panel beside one of the capsules. "Arther C. Clarke."
I bit the inside of my lip as I turned my attention back to the capsules, my hand gently grazing over my katana in its sheath. I had to be ready in case another capsule opened.
"How long can they live like this?" Bellamy asked curiously.
"Technically? Forever."
I shook my head slightly, stopping beside one of the capsules and looking inside as I mumbled sarcastically. "That's fantastic."
"Or we can kill them all right now," I heard Murphy comment. I turned toward the entrance to see him walking toward us. He looked at Bellamy, who had a few scratches on his face. "What happened to you?"
"One of them woke up," Echo answered.
"Question is how?"
Murphy furrowed his eyebrows as he spoke. "No, the question is what the hell are we waiting for? I'm serious, okay. We're all gassed up. Let's pull the plug on this sleeping army and go home."
"I'm with Murphy on this," I commented, causing Bellamy to look at me.
"That's not an option; kill theirs, they kill ours."
"But if we don't kill them, they'll still kill ours," I argued, tilting my head to the side slightly. Bellamy gave me a look.
"Raven."
"The pods are all jacked in to the mainframe," the girl explained. "I'm guessing they activated this one remotely from the ground, probably in response to us tripping their alarm."
"When he doesn't check-in, they'll wake more of them," Echo stated.
"I'd say that's a good bet."
Murphy stuffed his hands into the pockets on his jacket, "Ergo, my 'get the hell out of here' plan."
"Bellamy, you know what happens when these guys get to the ground," Echo blurted. "Murphy's right. This is an army. I know how you feel. But it took four of us to take out one of them. Giving then reinforcements when we can stop it is a strategic mistake."
Bellamy looked at Murphy who nodded. "We've been off the ring for less than a day, and we're already talking about murdering hundreds of people."
"This is not murder. It's survival," Murphy commented. "They die now or we die later. If Clarke was here, this wouldn't even be--"
I bit the inside of my cheek at the mention of her name. Bellamy's eyes narrowed at Murphy. "Clarke's not here!"
"Exactly. She died so we could live, Bellamy. This is how we do that."
I inhaled sharply licking my lips in an attempt to keep my emotions in check. The sound of Raven's voice filled my ears. "Maybe not. We can leave them here like this, but block the signal from the ground so they can't wake them up."
Murphy scoffed. "They have a shuttle. They can just come back up and do it themselves."
I furrowed my eyebrows slightly when a thought entered my mind. "Can you rig it so we can kill them remotely?"
"It's tricky... But possible. Why?"
Bellamy caught on to my angle as he looked at me. "Leverage-- 'Put down your weapons or we pull the plug'. How long do you need to make that possible?"
Bellamy stood beside Raven at the large computer. I watched as Murphy walked away until Bellamy called his name. The boy stopped and looked at him. "I want to know what you think."
The boy was silent for a moment before speaking. "I think it's a risk."
"You're right, it is," Bellamy said with a nod. "But Clarke didn't die for us to live just so we can go back to the ground and make the same mistakes."
Murphy put on a smile as he shrugged. "What the hell? Let's be good guys."
°°°
"Alright, let's do this," I heard Bellamy say. I looked over my shoulder to see Bellamy walking toward the pod by himself. Raven wast with him. He had gone to the control room because Raven was still there.
"Where the hell is she?" Emori asked, panicked.
Bellamy was quiet for a second. "It's technical, but, um, someone has to run things from here."
"So let it be John," Emori spat, pointing at Murphy behind her.
"I said it's technical."
I bit the inside of my cheek, the silence surrounding us. After a minute or so, Monty spoke, letting out a sigh. "I'll do it."
"Monty, I-" Harper tried but the boy didn't say anything. Just as he was about to pass Bellamy, he stopped him.
"Enough. It has to be Raven. Once we have a truce, she'll come down with the prisoners. If we fail, she'll take the ship's escape pod. Either way, she will be fine."
"If I'm flying solo, she'll be the only one," Emori stated.
"You got this. Let's load up and let's go."
Bellamy brushed past me as he walked toward the pod. I looked at Emori, who's eyes were wide with fear.
"Hey," I said, causing her to look at me. "Bellamy's right. You can do this. I mean, this is what Raven's been teaching you for the last six years, right?"
The girl nodded slowly.
"Okay, then. Let's do this."
She nodded and we grabbed our things before walking toward the pod. I saw Bellamy stop in front of us and when I turned, Murphy was walking in the opposite direction.
"Now, Murphy," Bellamy ordered.
"I'm staying, too." Everyone stopped and looked at him. "Look, Raven might need backup... What? With Emori flying, this is the survivor's move. See you on the other side."
I watched as Murphy pressed the button on the control panel beside the door causing the doors to close.
°°°
"19,000 meters."
I held onto my seatbelt as the pod shook violently.
"18,000 meters... 17,000 meters."
"Just breathe," Bellamy said to Emori, who was clearly nervous.
"16,000 meters."
"Firing the cold gas thrusters to initiate roll maneuver," Emori announced.
"12,000 meters."
"Computer... Light boostback engines."
"Boostback engines fired in three, two, one."
Just then, the pod shook violently, causing everyone to jump slightly.
"2,000 meters."
"Deploy landing legs," Emori ordered.
"Landing legs deployed. Grid find activated."
"Here we go!"
My grip tightened slightly on the seatbelt as the computer spoke again.
"200 meters."
After what seemed like forever, the pod stilled, and all the engines turned off. "Vertical landing successful."
I small smile slowly appeared on my face as Harper spoke. "You did it."
I took my helmet off, taking in a breath. Emori breathed quickly as she stared at the controls.
"Emori," Bellamy tried, but the girl didn't listen. "Emori!"
The girl took her helmet off, and looked at Bellamy, her face full of relief and happiness. "We didn't die."
Bellamy smiled as he spoke. "No. No, we didn't."
"We'll celebrate once Murphy and Raven are back down, too," Echo said. "There's no telling how many people saw us. We need to take cover in the trees before they get here."
"Yeah."
We all unstrapped ourselves before Bellamy opened the hatch at the bottom of the pod.
°°°
We had taken off our suits and tossed them back into the pod before walking away from it. I examined the scenery around us; six years it's been since I breathed in the fresh air. Trees and grass surrounded us as we walked and bugs were chirping once again.
"It's so quiet," Harper stated quietly.
"Okay, so how do we find them?" Monty asked curiously.
I shook my head. "We don't. They'll find us."
I gripped my katana in my hand, ready for any threats that come our way. I immediately stopped when a few men stepped out of the trees, aiming their guns at us.
"They already have."
"Everybody, on your knees," one of the men ordered as they walked toward us.
"It's okay, it's okay. We don't want to fight--" Bellamy began
"Now!"
"No, wait. We just want to talk," Bellamy explained, his hands in the air.
"Colonel, we have six more hostiles," one of the men spoke into a walkie. "At least two are armed. Are we still playing nice?"
"Stand by," I heard Diyoza speak. After a few minutes, she spoke again. "Four of ours are dead. It's time to even the score."
My heart dropped slightly in my chest as I watched one of the men speak. "Congratulations. Two of you get to live."
Just as the man closest to us stepped forward, a large spear flew through the air and landed in the man's throat. All guns were aimed at the trees to the left as a young girl ran out of the woods, shooting the rest of the men dead. I looked at her warily as she turned to us.
"She's just a kid," Bellamy stated.
"Bellamy?" The girl asked, causing my eyebrows to furrow. She then turned to me, seeming to recognize who I am. "Clarke knew you would come."
My face dropped when the girl mentioned my sister's name. My heart pounded in my chest as I took a step forward. "Clarke's alive?"
The girl nodded. "She's in trouble. We have to go."
"What about the others in the bunker?" Monty asked curiously.
"Still there.
"What? No. No. How can that be?" Bellamy asked as he shook his head.
The girl grabbed Bellamy's hand, "I'll explain on the way."
The rest of us followed the girl as she dragged Bellamy with her.
°°°
The girl, who we learned is named Madi, knows how to drive the rover. She drove us to a building that looked like a church, surrounded by a bunch of people. I could see Clarke lying on the ground, some sort of collar on her neck. Madi grabbed her gun, but Bellamy stopped her.
"Madi, no. Take the rover back. That's the plan. I won't let anything happen to Clarke. I promise."
"Come out with your hands high," Diyoza shouted.
"I'm coming with you," I blurted. Everyone looked at me and Bellamy was about to protest, but I stopped him. "I know it's not part of the plan, but she's my sister, Bellamy."
He seemed like he was going to protest before nodding. As Bellamy got out, I climbed through the back of the rover, opening the door and hopping out.
I followed Bellamy toward the group of people, already wishing I had brought my katana.
"Unarmed," Bellamy announced. "Just want to talk."
"Talk?" Diyoza asked in disbelief. "Give me one good reason not to kill you where you stand."
"How about I give you 283?" I asked, referring to our plan, well, my plan. "That's how many of your people are gonna die if you and I can't make a deal."
Bellamy held up a glass cup, showing it to Diyoza. She seemed to recognize it but didn't say anything. Bellamy held his fist in the air, signaling for Madi to leave. He stepped forward and I followed close behind.
"That's far enough," Diyoza said. "283 lives for one. She must be pretty important to you."
Bellamy nodded. "She is."
°°°
YES!!!!! THIS WAS AMAZING! CLARKE'S ALIVE! I know that last scene was supposed to be a Bellarke moment in the show, but I had to have Aiden there because I mean, Clarke's her sister. But, I still let Bellamy have the last line. Honestly, I liked this chapter. We got a little bit of action, which is always great.
We didn't get much Bellaiden in this chapter as I'd have liked, but who knows, maybe there's an epic Bellaiden moment coming soon. Also, this chapter was REALLY long. Over 4,000 words. They're normally just over 3,00 but since this had a lot of scenes with Bellamy and the crew, this one was a bit longer.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you all in the next one.
Buh-bye.