Chapter 17: The Processing Hub

The concentrated blast of pellets slammed into the pirate, knocking her clean off her feet.

At that close of a range, she never had a chance. The shot tore right through her armour plate, ripping through flesh and lodging themselves into bone.

She tumbled to the ground with a heavy thud, dead.

Yan held her breath as Luke pumped his shotgun, ejecting the spent shell.

No alarms went off. As expected, the deafening crush of industrial machinery around them had muffled the shot.

Motioning Neon and Isabella to follow through the steel double doors, Yan took a moment to survey the Processing Hub.

They were on the ground floor of a three-story tall tower excavated from the inside of the asteroid. There were two exits from this level of the Hub. One was a small tunnel to the right. The other was a metal staircase that led to the catwalks of the upper levels.

Sitting in the middle of the Hub was an enclosed contraption the size of two escape pods. It trundled away, fed by three conveyor belts that dropped a steady stream of ore from above.

Sierra was right. The pirates were still trying to extract every possible credit from this operation.

Yan turned her attention to the dead pirate at her feet.

Her gas mask had been knocked askew by Luke’s shot. It was a rudimentary thing, meant to sieve out particulate matter. Yan had hoped that these pirates would be using oxygen tanks but that was not the case. AC-02 had been pumped full of oxygen, allowing its inhabitants to breathe freely, at least in theory. In reality, the air was saturated with the same fine rock dust that was in the shuttle’s cargo hold.

A gas mask was necessary if one wanted to live more than a few seconds.

Seeing that the rest had already combed the ground floor, she signalled for Luke to follow as she headed down the small tunnel. Neon and Isabella stayed at the entrance, keeping an eye on the catwalks.

As the two of them crept down the narrow corridor, the lights began to dim. The sounds of machinery faded away.

There was a soft snore ahead.

They stopped.

In the dim light, Yan could barely make out Luke as he drew a combat knife from his boot.

They moved forward stealthily, stepping through a curtain of cold air and into a rough stone chamber. There was just enough light to make out the assortment of tools scattered across the floor.

Clearly, this chamber used to be some kind of maintenance room but the pirates had converted it into their sleeping quarters. Three cots had been set up at the far end of the room. Two held slumbering forms. The one on the far right was empty.

If Yan had to guess, that belonged to the dead woman outside.

Luke shot Yan a glance and sidled up to the one in the middle. Yan positioned herself over the left cot.

Seeing her get into position, Luke quickly plunged his knife into his target’s throat. There was a brief gurgle, then stillness.

Yan looked down at the form in the cot in front of her.

A young woman slumbered gently under a thin, threadbare blanket. Her face was pale and drawn.

She brought her knife up.

Suddenly, the person flickered. For a moment, it was not an enemy that Yan saw but that form in her dream. That kid in the straw mat.

Her hand wavered.

The pirate’s eyes flicked open. Their gaze met. There was a flurry of movement and the pirate pulled a pistol out from under her covers. With Yan standing right over her, the pistol was well within her force shield.

The woman pulled the trigger.

In the darkness, her aim was off and the laser slammed into Yan’s left arm.

A hiss of pain escaped from Yan’s lips as the beam seared through her suit and into her flesh. She could feel her skin boil, the pain shooting through her entire body.

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Before the pirate had a chance to pull the trigger again, a hand slammed her gun against the wall. Luke.

Snapping out of her daze, Yan slashed the woman’s throat.

The pirate went limp, hand tumbling back onto her covers.

“Doctor, what was that? You could have gotten yourself killed!” Luke hissed, furious.

“I - I saw… a fragment of my past.” Yan gritted her teeth, fighting against the pain in her arm.

The anger on Luke’s face drained quickly. “Ah. Let’s get you some help.”

Yan nodded. Her arm felt like it was on fire.

After Luke did a quick sweep of the room, they hurried back to their crew.

Neon and Isabella were still where they had left them, watching the upper levels.

“You guys took a while - Oh, crap. What happened?” Neon asked, leaning in close as he spoke to overcome the roar of the machinery. Concern was written across his face as he noticed Yan’s wound.

Luke shook his head. “We cleared out a couple of enemies. Yan got shot.”

Isabella immediately rushed over. “Void have mercy… Yan - I mean, ma’am, you’re going to be alright!”

In a flash, she retrieved a vial of green liquid from her pack and drizzled a little over the wound. Yan hissed as the liquid struck. It stung but almost immediately afterwards, the pain subsided. The flesh started to reform, the burn blisters receding. In moments, it was like the wound had never even existed.

Yan moved her arm experimentally. It still felt a little tender but she would probably never stop being amazed at how effective these healing technologies were.

Shaking off the lingering pain, she announced, “Alright, let’s head out!”

She made for the stairs, leading the charge. Luke was directly behind, shotgun at the ready.

As they reached the second floor, there was a cry behind them.

Yan turned to see an orange-clad woman reaching for her pistol, only for a lance of energy to slam into her gas mask. It melted a hole through the glass and continued right into the pirate’s left eye.

Neon lowered his rifle, a smirk on his face.

Yan bit back her surprise. She had never actually seen Neon shoot something before.

Seeing her pause, Neon’s grin widened. There was clearly more to this kid than met the eye.

Luke did not share her surprise, however, keeping a close eye on the final floor above them.

“Hostile above!” He shouted.

A laser slammed into Yan’s barrier as she rushed towards the next flight of stairs. Her crew scattered, diving for cover.

Lasers from Neon’s assault rifle peppered the upper deck as he provided covering fire. There was a roar of a shotgun, followed by a muffled curse above.

Yan mounted the steps, three at a time, her enhanced reflexes propelling her forward at speed.

Another laser vapourised against her barrier as she climbed the stairs and she felt her shield flicker. One more and she was a sitting duck.

Reaching the third floor, Yan spun around to face her opponent.

There was nothing in sight but an assortment of machinery meant to process ore.

Then, she heard an urgent shout from behind a hunk of smouldering metal. “Command! We’ve got intruders! Send back-up to the Processing Hub now!”

Pellets slammed into the pirate’s cover.

Yan heard a harsh, grating voice crackle back over the pirate’s radio, “Intruders? Just great!”

There was a clack as the person on the other end cut off the transmission.

“Hey! What about me? I need back-up!” The pirate roared desperately.

A siren began wailing across the facility.

Yan cursed aloud.

Dashing forward, she vaulted over the machine.

The pirate looked up, mouth agape, as he tried to bring his rifle to bear. Then, Yan landed feet first into the side of his head. He crunched into the metal grating of the catwalk, mask fracturing.

Immediately, blood began leaking from his nose as he inhaled the unfiltered air of AC-02.

Yan dropped to one knee and slit the man’s throat. A pirate he might be but there was no need to let the razor-sharp dust slice his insides to bits.

“Alright, we’ve got to move fast! Before they have a chance to regroup!” Yan shouted as her crew rushed up the stairs behind her. She spotted a wide tunnel that led out of the Processing Hub.

Snatching the pirate’s radio, she hurried towards it.

The device crackled to life. The woman, Ricono, shouted, “Wake up, you idiots! We have intruders!”

As Yan stepped into the tunnel, a door to her left burst open. A man stumbled out, sleepy-eyed. He was still checking the seals of the gas mask on his head.

“On your knees!” Luke bellowed.

“What? Oh my -” He reached for his pistol and Luke blew a gaping hole into his stomach.

“These guys just don’t know when to quit!” Luke yelled.

“Let’s move!” Yan shouted, waving them forward.

As they sprinted past the open doorway, she peered in. Cold air buffeted her suit. The room was empty.

Yan hurried onwards.

Rounding a corner, she could see that the passage widened up ahead, spilling into another chamber. Quickly, she swapped out the energy cells on her shield belt.

“Isabella, what’s ahead of us?” She asked, holding out a hand for them to stop.

“I - I don’t remember there being a chamber. This was an old mining tunnel that led to the workers’ sleeping quarters. After the company decided to turn this asteroid into an ore processing nexus, they ceased any further excavation,” Isabella replied.

“Then that’s probably where the pirates have restarted mining operations. If the sleeping quarters are further down, we can expect the remaining pirates to be gathering around that area. They may have hostages with them as well,” Yan mused.

Luke replied, “If we go through this way, it’s going to be a full-on frontal assault. We’re going to be outnumbered at least two to one. And if they have hostages…”

He looked over at Yan. She bit her lip. This was bad.

“Isabella, any chance we can tunnel around the side fast?” Yan asked.

“Fa - Fast? I don’t think so. But I saw an inactive mining droid back at the loading dock! It’s not fast but would that help?”

“Doubt it. Now that they’re aware of us, these pirates won’t give us the luxury of time to activate it.”

Right on cue, the radio clipped to Yan’s belt beeped. “Intruders! I’m sure you have one of my men’s radios. I don’t know who you are but know that you have angered House Ariti. The sentence is death. Come out of that tunnel and face my wrath. If you choose to hide...”

Something whirled into operation, followed by the meaty sound of rending flesh.

A horrific scream tore out of the radio. It went on and on and on, longer than Yan thought possible. Then, it cut out, leaving just the sound of sobbing in the background.

There was a muffled thud.

Ricono’s voice came back over the radio. It was dead cold. “That’s the first. Go on, keep me waiting. I love the way they dance on my drill.”