By now, Kate could barely move one more step. She's been walking for what felt like forever in darkness. The dampness of this cavern made her clothes clingy and the smell stuck to her nose and caused it to burn. She was covered in mud and her bones ached and pleaded for a break. Nevertheless, she kept walking. If she stopped now, she would lose her direction.
The whole time she walked, she pondered. Where did that voice some from? Why a Welshman? Where did he go? Better yet, what was he to begin with? All I heard was water behind me.
True, this was just one of many alien encounters for Kate. However, this didn't mean that this new invasion didn't confuse her or throw her for a loop.
Eventually, the inevitable happened. Kate's right foot got caught on something hard buried into the ground and she fell. The whole time she descended, she tried to keep her body straight so she wouldn't lose her direction.
She fell face first into the thick mud. She quickly heaved her upper body up so her head was in the air. Now she could at least breath. Kate winced at the pain covering her whole body. Her ankle in particular.
She looked back at it, even though she saw nothing in the darkness and wiggled her foot. It hurt so much that she clenched her hands which were still tightly bound behind her back. The restrains still dug into her skin and was beginning to itch.
As if by a miracle, some kind of red light turned on ahead of her. It wasn't bright but it was being emanated from a doorway along with what she now saw as a rock wall-face. It was just around a small corner.
Determination filled her and hope had returned. She had somewhere to go to and she could now see something. It may have only been a red glow, but it was something. She didn't care if it was a cavern filled with armed aliens. She was getting to that room.
Gritting her teeth, she used her legs to pull herself up and put pressure on both of her feet. Her bones still ached and her muscles were even more sore, but she knew she didn't have far to go.
Step by step, Kate limped forward with her sore foot dragging a grove in the mud. She cracked her neck whilst her stinging eyes were locked on the blurred glow. Her head pounded and felt hot enough to burst.
With a heavy sigh, she reached the doorway and limped her body so it leant against the chilling cold stone. Once again, that liquid which was certainly too thick to be water dripped down onto her clothing and seeped through her blazer.
She gently shook her head to try and clear her vision as well as the thick layer of mud clung to her face. As the blurred blobs focused, everything looked worse and worse. She was in some kind of laboratory.
Red, fleshy lights hung from the ceiling. Racks and racks of heat ray guns lined the back wall. The centrepiece was diamond in shape and the consoles were made from a strange blue stone. The screens were watery and covered in a strange dialect in red. Slight sounds emanated from the room, like soundwaves.
Kate was astounded. She forced herself forward into the lab. Luckily for her, there were no guards or creatures in sight.
Apparently, these aliens needed to sit. Stone stools were littered around the room. Considering the number, Kate wouldn't have been surprised if this were a control hub. But where was everyone?
Unfortunately, Kate knew that she couldn't do much with her hands bound. Her eyes started scanning the hub for a way out of the restraints. Nothing looked helpful, although there was an archway at the other side of the room. This time, a dim green glow could be seen inside.
Well, looks like nobody's home over there either she thought to herself.
With a big gasp of breath, Kate pulled herself upright once more and limped step by step to the archway. She noticed now that there was seaweed dangling down from the roof and from both arches. Deciding to go against her initial decision, Kate decided to allow herself to take a smell of the area. It had changed. She could smell sea water.
She'd made it to the centre of the room and nearly passed the consoles when something caught her eye. On one of the monitors, English words covered the screen. It looked identical to a desktop screen, as if someone had duplicated a computer or laptop and placed it within the alien device.
She considered taking a look at what was on the computer copy, but it simply wasn't possible. There were no keyboards or mouses for a start. Atop of that, there was no way for Kate to decipher the strange device. There were no dials, pads or symbols to operate it. Plus, her hands were still bound behind her.
Feeling like she was being forced to miss something important, Kate huffed and continued her way to the arch and its eerie green glow.
Her right foot burned with pain and her leg was begging to give way. Her left foot wanted to cramp and force her to stop. Even her shoulders and arms protested as they were forced behind her back and wanted desperately to be released.
The only thing being kind right now were her eyes. Kate's vision cleared the more she moved, though her head pounded more. If her determination wasn't so strong, she would have collapsed and given up back in the darkness.
Success. She'd made it to the archway and was allowed a good look inside. She didn't need extra light to know what the room contained and why it wasn't guarded either. Kate stared into the area and slowly let her body fall to the ground into a kneeling position.
There before her were hundreds and hundreds of stasis pods. And inside those pods were creatures her father had warned her about long ago. Sea Devils.
* * *
The Huntress grumbled in anger as she continuously dashed from console to console. Nothing was going her way. The Sea Devils made it quite difficult to operate their technology.
Will had watched her for quite some time but stayed silent. After his last attempt at talking, he thought it best to just leave her be. She was their best hope at survival after all.
After a short time of work, the Huntress had asked him to find something to put over Weller's body out of respect. He managed to find and old sheet in a nearby room and cover her body with it as well as close her opened eyes. After a while, a small circle of blood seeped through near where her head was.
The Huntress left him in charge to waking up Gray while she attempted to get a good scan of the two incoming vessels. Even with the massive radar, the Salvation was stripped of its original scanning capabilities. It seemed beyond ridiculous, but nevertheless the Huntress started constructing a make-shift scanner out of bits of tech scattered around the bridge.
Will had done what he was comfortable with in an effort to wake Gray up. From gently shaking him to snapping his fingers to near shouting at him to get up. Nothing had worked. All Will could do was wait.
After what seemed like forever, Gray finally groaned into life and awoke. Before sitting up, his right hand instantly flung to the back of his head and massaged the throbbing lump which he couldn't remember receiving.
His memory was foggy and he was thrown off by the sounds of a mumbling Huntress followed by footsteps hurrying from one side of the bridge to the other.
'Wha.. What happened?' he stuttered as he forcibly tried to sit himself upright. He was met by a pair of hands gently pushing his shoulders back down onto the cold dusty floor.
Will tries to keep him still, unsure of what else could be injured on his body. Gray shakes his head and tries to focus. Eventually, he notices that its Will keeping him still and for some strange reason which Will couldn't comprehend, Gray smiled.
'Bloody hell. That was a throw and a half' he additionally commented, carefully lifting Will's hands off of his shoulders as he started to slowly sit up. Apart from his sore head and a slight twinge in his back, he was fine. He was quite aware that he wasn't really hurt. He was a doctor, after all.
'You should be still! That wasn't just a "throw and a half" she used' Will protested. Even so, Will never stopped Gray as he sat up straight to address him.
'Oi. If I was injured, why would I have sat up. Jeez, cut some slack'
Out of the corner of her eye, the Huntress was watching the whole scene play out. She was relieved that Gray was alright and doing much better than she imagined. But then there was Will. She may know nothing about humans, but she was torn. She already considered him a friend, but she honestly couldn't decide what to do. She'd never forgive him, but was she prepared to accept what else he could possibly do in this horrible situation they were stuck in. Would she be making a mistake by keeping him around, especially when the whole planet could be at stake?
Her thoughts were halted by another incoming problem. And it was a big one this time. One that caused the bridge to be engulfed in flashing red lights and an alarm.
'No. No, no, no!' Huntress thought aloud.
She near-on dropped the scanning device she was working on and bolted over to the weapons system once more. She watched as an outline of an onboard missile was being prepped for launch. Gray attempted to stand and stumbled over. Luckily, Will was ready and caught him.
'What the flippin' hell is going on now!?' Gray exclaimed.
Will didn't even need to ask. He could see the screen just like the Huntress did. He watched her type and sonic the station frantically. It was quite obvious that she couldn't stop it. All Will could wonder then was where were the missiles set to detonate?
'Argh! How! I thought I blocked it! Its deadlock sealed. No stopping it. I can't do it!'
She spun around and looked at the boys on the ground. She must have unknowingly been staring. As she did so, Will stood with Gray wrapped around his left arm. Gray looked like an innocent puppy with no idea of what to do. Will on the other hand was the soldier. He was waiting for orders.
'What do we do' Will boldly asked. His voice carried confidence and no regret.
The Huntress started to massage her forehead with her right hand while her left would clench and unclench many times. Everything was happening so fast. Just when her brain solved a good chunk of the puzzle, more pieces came flooding in. This wasn't normal for her. She was monster before coming here, not a planet-saving hero.
'Ok. Alright then...' she began to speak before turning to the scanner she was assembling. She used her sonic a few more times with multiple frequencies and tweaked it using normal tools from the bridges handy toolbox which was luckily still in storage.
Finally, the device spurred into life with a mechanical purr. The small blue screen was bright and the rectangular device was covered in red, green and yellow lights. There was a small antenna atop the device along with some kind of close-range scanning piece on the back.
'Ah ha! That's more like it!' Huntress declared with joy. With a laugh in her voice, she hurried back to the radar and pointed the scanner at it with her sonic in her other hand, ready to activate it.
'Now then, lets see what we're dealing with' she narrated before activating her sonic. The purple light drowned the scanner and the small blue screen started forming shapes. Shapes similar to that of Navy vessels. It took a few moments, but eventually the scan was as done as it could be.
'There we go. Like a 3D printer. We can see the whole exterior of those ships. Best I could do with what was on this ship. Seems that the Salvation really is a life-saver.'
Will had brought Gray over to where the Huntress stood and all three of them looked at the scanner's screen. The Huntress tapped a few buttons and soon, both ships were shown in 3D like holograms, emanated from the scanner screen.
Huntress instantly noticed the Discovery as one of the ships. Its name was still visible on the hull. It was covered in algae, seaweed and repaired damage with what looked like ice. Light blips appeared on the hologram to represent the eerie green light which it actually bore. The other ship are what really mattered though. The HMS Fortress.
Since they had no clue of this vessel's existence until now, Huntress had to take note of everything. It was more of a wreck than the Discovery. More ice covering more tears and damage to the hull and presumably the interior. There was also much more seaweed and dead marine life on the vessel. If anything, it was clear that it had been sunk for a very long time. Like Discovery, the weapons above deck were altered and alien in origin. Both vessels produced a very major problem. One of the many building up right now.
'Alright. This is bad. Actually, its worse than bad. What's a word worse than bad?' Huntress commented. Gray shrugged, 'Dreadful?' he answered.
Huntress clicked her fingers and pointed at him. 'Good. Yes, dreadful. This whole situation is absolutely dreadful.'
Before Will could add to the conversation, the whole vessel jolted. All three of them were catapulted backwards onto the ground. The whole bridge went to full power and they could feel the vibration around them as the ship spluttered into life and began moving.
'Not again!' Gray exclaimed as he cradled is head on the ground with both hands.
Outside, the group could hear the snapping of wood and the screech of metal. The Salvation was sailing out of dock and it was going by force.
Every time the hull was breached open, ice would form and cover the hole. Once or twice, something would attempt to damage the ice, but it wouldn't even leave a scratch.
The three watched the screens change on the bridge. Just like a normal Naval ship, all of the functions were active, but running themselves. It felt like they were on a ghost ship. And in a way, they were.
The Huntress grew annoyed and decided that enough was enough. She bit her lip and forced herself to her feet. 'This is getting ridiculous' she said with a wobble in her voice.
She briskly walked to the helm and tried to move the controls. Nothing. They were stuck.
She already knew that it was pointless, but she attempted to unlock them with her sonic. No luck. Deadlock sealed. They had certainly learned their lesson.
With dread in her eyes and pain in her hearts, she turned to look at Will and Gray. As mad as it was, she had a plan of sorts. However, she needed both of them. Needed their help more than anything.
'Options are low. You boys are gonna have to pull your weight. Gray, did your sister tell you much about her time in the Navy? Do you have any sort of knowledge about how to operate this sort of stuff?'
Gray sighed and looked around the bridge. 'You want me to stop it, don't you?' he asked with a sigh. Huntress could only nod her head with a forced smile. 'Girls got stuff to do and you're the most qualified here' she responded.
Gray's eyes widen and focus on her. 'Qualified!?' he rebutted. It didn't matter anyway though, since she had already turned her attention to Will.
'Those missiles need to be stopped, not matter what. Think you can figure something out?' she asked with a blank face. No emotion, not urgency. Just plain and simple. Gray looked at her in confusion, then over to the equally blank Will. 'I'll do my best' Will answered.
Huntress straightened her skirt and lowered her head, sighing heavily. She left her head hanging for a moment, then let her eyes shoot up and provide her friends with a more confident smile.
'Well guys, I'll catch up to you later. For now, gotta swim!'
As soon as she'd spoken, she sprinted out of the bridge. By instinct, both men rushed to the doorway and watched her leave. They looked at each other, quite puzzled.
'Wait, did she just say–' Gray began, but Will finished his sentence in surprising realisation. 'Swim.'
Huntress ran until she reached a door leading outside. She used her sonic on it constantly, using everything she had to unlock that door.
'Come on. You guys have to be out there. Just give me this one door. Please.'
As if someone had heard her prayers, the door clanged and swung open.
Beaming, the Huntress darted out of the door and onto the deck. The Salvation was now outside the warehouse and realigning its course for the harbours exit.
After being sure that the Salvation was far enough out into open waters, she elegantly hoisted herself onto the railing and dove into the ocean. She needed to find the location of the Sea Devils base. It would only be there that the Salvation, Fortress and Discovery could be for the most part stopped. One of the few hopes left.