Space Odyssey: Spectre

Steel quietly covered the corner with the laser rifle he stole from the Crystoph soldiers. Which is when he heard running coming up from behind him. He looked over to see Private Wise and Cadet Anchor.

"Cadet Steel we came to support- Holy shit!" She stopped speaking as he looked around the corner and saw the bloodbath. She actually seemed shocked beyond words while Cadet Anchor recoiled before going back around the corner and pulling off his helmet before puking his guts out.

"I already secured the airlock. How are the other sections doing?" Steel asked as he heard another set of boots coming from the hanger bay.

"They are seeing heavy combat. Why are they not coming here?" She asked as she tossed him his rifle. He stowed it on his back with the laser shotgun he found instead of holding it. He wanted to try the laser rifle out.

"Probably because I killed them too quickly. As soon as the captain made the announcement I took out three of the more senior members apparently and then took out the last two a few seconds later." Steel answered, nodding at the bodies he had already looted.

"Then we might have an opportunity, they might think this team was successful. Let's turn the tables on them. Cadet Anchor-" She looked over at Anchor to see him wiping the puke off his face. She then turned to the engineers with sidearms who arrived.

She rolled her eyes before grabbing the laser rifle out of Steel's hand and placed it in the engineer's arms. "Hey! That's mine-"

"As I was saying, Cadet Anchor will stay with these two and keep this door secure. You will assist me in securing the enemy ship. But keep the weapons you are familiar with handy." She pulled the rifle off his back and placed it in his hands.

She then moved forward and Steel followed her a moment later. Listening closely as they moved down the hallway. They moved down the hallway until they arrived at a screen that was embedded into the wall.

"Steel hack into the system and get the ship schematics. I will cover you." Wise crouched down and watched down the hallway.

Steel crouched and pulled out his hacking device quickly accessing the screen and then the terminal. Unfortunately it only had the most basic of information. Fortunately that information included the ship schematics.

"Got-"

"Hey! Who are you?" Steel looked down the hall the opposite way that Wise was facing. There was an armored group of three soldiers who looked different from others he saw.

"Shit! Mecha Pilots, take cover." Wise yelled as she slid behind cover while shooting a few rounds down the hallway.

Steel kicked off the wall and slid behind a corner as he put away his hacking device. He knew which direction the bridge was. "Bridge?" He asked as laser fire streaked down the hallway between them.

"Yes, we need to secure it. Most Crystoph Federation ships have complete bridge control, it is both a defect and a positive. It will be good for us if we can get there." She explained before firing a few more shots down the hall.

"Then follow the leader." Steel moved around the corner just as he heard these pilot mecha start reloading. He backed up down the hall while aiming at the corner of where the first one started reloading.

The man's head peaked out along with the rifle and a quick burst of Steel's rifle that recoiled heavily against his shoulder made both the man's helmet and head disappear. He backed up to a corner that Wise disappeared around. Then he quickly pulled up the schematics on his helmet and started jogging down the hall.

As they were running they ran right into a squad of normal soldiers that seemed to be running to support another area of the ship.

"Shit!" Wise was behind Steel so he was blocking any firing line she had while the soldiers were just as surprised as them. Steel moved quickly, dropping his rifle and pulling out his combat knife.

He grabbed the weapon of the soldier in front of him. Keeping him from raising it, using his other hand with the knife he brought it up under the man's chin. It went from the bottom of the man's jaw right into the soldier's skull.

Using it to hold the soldier's body upright he moved his other hand from holding the rifle to the soldier's hip and pulled out the laser pistol. He threw it in the air and caught it again and unleashed several shots to the four soldiers that were following him.

Unfortunately it did not kill them, but they were mostly too caught off guard to fire. But the few shots that were fired were caught by the dead soldier that Steel was holding up with his knife. Wise catching on peaked around the solder and let loose a volley of shots. Turning the remaining soldiers into red mist.

Steel pulled out his knife from the skull of the soldier, causing him to collapse. Steel crouched down and cleaned his knife on the dead soldier's clothes before he sheathed it. He tossed aside the laser pistol and picked up his rifle.

"Nice tactic. Should train that in the academy." Wise pointed out.

"It only worked because I was listening to their movement. Now come on, we don't want those pilots to catch up. They have more pilots and other soldiers with them." Steel explained before he quickly started jogging down the hall.

They were almost to the bridge door when Steel involuntarily ducked as laser fire landed around him. He spun around to see the large group he could hear chasing them. Wise moved ahead as Steel fired a few rounds pushing most of them into hiding while the few unlucky ones were hit by shots. One actually died as he collapsed to the ground.

"Damn. The door is locked." Wise called from behind him.

"I got it. Switch." He called out before moving to the door while Wise turned around and fired a volley of shots. "What exactly are we going to do when the door opens? At this point they likely know we are coming." Steel crouched by the door, putting his rifle on his back. Then pulled out his hacking device and began hacking the door to open it.

"I have got a plan. You just need to get that door open and to make sure your suit is still space capable." Wise's words caused him to actually double check his suit status.

"Done, opening the door in three… two…" The door opened and Wise opened fire past the entire bridge staff and there was the sound of cracking. "Oh, sonofa-" Steel did not get a chance to finish his thought as the reinforced glass broke. Venting the atmosphere and the people on the bridge into space.

Steel was forcefully pulled out along with Wise but she grabbed hold of the command chair while Steel grabbed a console to keep him from flying out the window. They would have continued to have been pulled if it was not for the emergency systems engaging.

The door slammed shut causing Steel to let out a sigh of relief. "Damn. Why did the door close?"

"Emergency systems activated. Cover the door, your plan has given me one of my own. But we should probably notify our captain, would you do the honors." Steel connected his hacking device to the console he was holding onto.

"Gladly," she brought her hand up and tapped her helmet. "Captain Mendez, this is Private Wise of the Desert Dogs. Myself and Cadet Steel have seized the bridge of the enemy ship. We have full control."

There was momentary silence as Steel managed to figure out ways around the emergency systems. Wise watched as the door suddenly sparked and she quickly cursed in a language Steel did not understand.

"Private Wise… did you say you seized the enemy bridge?" The captain asked over the radio

"Yes sir. But they are cutting through the door now."

"We have no other crew on that ship. If you have a suggestion for taking them out I am all ears." Mendez remarked, he sounded more exasperated than desperate.

"Cadet Steel here sir. I am going to close the connecting airlocks between the two ships then I am going to open all other airlocks aboard this ship. Venting both atmosphere and the people into space." Steel's idea caused Wise to laugh.

"Go for it, Cadet. We have very few injured but their weapons fire is suppressing our people too much for us to push them." The captain answered.

"Yes sir." Steel quickly typed and moments later the ship shuddered as the air was vented into space. But he frowned as he looked at the digital map rendering. Two locations in the ship still had air. "The hangers still have air and occupants but it is locked up tight. The only other location is a… looks like a cryo pod room. They have several people still in cryo sleep and one person awake."

"Hmm… good. Stay put, we will secure the ship. This was the only vessel to arrive; it looks like our sister ships in orbit were not attacked; we were the only target." The captain then disconnected and Steel looked over at Wise and the door. They were still cutting through the door. It seems that venting their oxygen only managed to distract them for a moment.

Steel moved behind cover while he watched them cut open the door. "Might as well take cover. At this point they are more likely to kill us in revenge than any other reason." He remarked.

Wise nodded, "you are probably right, we just killed all the friends they had aboard this ship. Any ideas on what we should do?"

"Actually…" Steel looked around.