Separate Ways
Chapter Nine

Corvus finally broke through the edge of the crowd and ran down the stairs that led to the door the Baron exited through with Sasha. He turned the corner and before he could begin making strides he was stopped in his tracks by Vikurl. Corvus looked up at the massive alien and immediately remembered his face from Sasha’s kidnapping. Vikurl looked down at Corvus and immediately recognized him from the photo. For a moment they were both dumbfounded but then Corvus stepped back from him.

“You.” He said shakily. It took every ounce of him not to shoot the alien where he stood. Vengeance for his sister’s kidnapping would feel pleasant and the drive to do so was intoxicating.

“Corvus?” he said. Corvus reached into his jacket to retrieve his pistol but Vikurl put his arm out and took a step back.

“Corvus, stop, I’ve been looking for you.” He said calmly. Corvus drew the pistol from his jacket and pointed it at Vikurl’s head and was visibly shaking.

“Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare try and lie to me.” Corvus said, holding his aim.

“Just listen to me, Sasha is in trouble.” He said.

“You did this to her! You took her from me!” he screamed, his eyes now swelling up with tears. Corvus normally had a short temper, but he knew once he got passed the point of no return, he wouldn’t be able to make a coherent decision. He snapped the safety off and the pistol began to hum now being activated.

“You don’t understand, I promised your sister that I would contact you.” He continued to try and explain but nothing seemed to be getting through to Corvus.

“Shut up!” he yelled tears rolling down his eyes, “Shut up!” He wanted to pull the trigger so badly, but his subconscious was begging him not to. The intensity in his hands was overwhelming but something inside of him was telling him to relent. He fought against his doubt and urged himself to pull the trigger and could feel his finger starting to cramp. It was now or never.

“If you pull that trigger, you will never see Sassy again.” He said quickly. Corvus’ eyes widened and he released his finger from the trigger. He began to lower the gun and looked into the aliens’ eyes.

“What did you call her?” he said.

“Sassy. She said you used to call her Sassy when you patronized her.” He explained. Corvus wanted to think the man was playing on his heart strings to possibly disarm him or kill him, but he’d made his money off of Sasha. There was nothing in it for him to kill Corvus, and there was no way he could possibly know the name unless Sasha said something. Corvus needed to inquire, assuming the answer already in his head.

“How do you know that name?” he said.

“Your sister told me it would be the only way to earn your trust.” He responded. Corvus’ assumption was correct and he snapped the safety back on his gun and gave a sigh of relief. He wiped the tears from his face and looked down at the pistol.

“Why would she tell you that?” he asked.

“I helped her. My idiotic partner almost killed her, twice. I wouldn’t allow it.” He answered walking over to Corvus.

“There isn’t much time, the Black Butcher lost that auction and he is likely hunting the stupid son of a bitch that outbid him.” He said. Corvus at that moment remembered Rik and his predicament. He thought of a perfect use for Vikurl at that moment.

“You want to prove yourself? Prove that I can trust you, and rescue my friend from the detention centre. He got me where I am now, and I will not leave him behind.” He explained.

“Who is your friend?” Vikurl asked.

“You know him, it’s Rik Tanner.” He said. Vikurl let out a short sigh amazed by the irony of the situation. The man had been hunting him for over a few months, and now he had to go release him from imprisonment. He needed to prove himself, and in order for him to prove his loyalty he had to do this for Corvus.

“I will do this, but in the meantime you should go after her. Whether you get to her or not, meet us back at your ship.” Vikurl said as he quickly spun and made his way to the detention centre.

Corvus spun the other way and ran after the Baron hoping to intervene before they left the station. As he rounded each corner he quickly scanned the halls for any indication of where the hangar may be. The faster his legs moved, the harder he breathed, and the harder he breathed, the faster his heart raced, and with each step forward he yearned to hold his sister and be able to tell her that everything was going to be okay.

He began to feel lost in the maze of hallways, and just as he was on the precipice of giving up he noticed a bright blue light at the end of the hallway that ended at a T-junction. He approached it and saw a map of this level of the station. He quickly scanned through the different rooms and found the entrance to a hangar. Instead of taking off immediately, he knew the best course of action would be to take a moment to memorize it, but he wouldn’t have long.

Looking at the map of the station and mapping his route, he began to realize what a maze Alpha One really was, at least on this level of the station. From afar, it looked like an abstract piece of art with some deeper image or meaning when viewed from a distance that only the artist knew and understood; from up close it wasn’t much different.

Reciting the directions in his head as he began to run, he lost all sense of his surroundings trying to to keep focus on his target. Left, two rights and I should be at another t-junction. He thought to himself, and after taking the necessary steps he came to a t-junction and then knew he needed to follow the hallway left until he entered a circular room with several doors. The one directly across from where he entered was his ticket to the hangar. If he could make it to that door without getting lost, it was straight forward; no more turns or complicated hallway systems.

Images of Sasha flashed through his mind the harder he pushed himself, and then images from his horrific nightmare began hitting him. The image of his mother and sister began fusing together, and the heat of the explosion in his nightmare made him sweat. He didn’t want to think too heavily on the nightmare, but he knew his mind was delivering a clear message; you will lose her just like you lost your mother. He knew his nightmares had no hold on reality or what decisions he made, but he kept it in the back of his head to fuel his stride.

He suddenly found himself in a massive room surrounded by windows that showed the black abyss that was speckled with many different coloured dots. Blocking out most of the view was Algodra, the planet that Alpha One orbited; from what Corvus understood, is that Algodra was nothing but a frozen wasteland of glaciers, mountains and deep valleys. He’d heard about it from some of the pilot’s that came through the service shop back on Fares.

The door was across the room and he quickly made his way passing by mostly staff of the station. The population had dwindled the further he got away from the auction house showing that it brought in a lot of crowds which resulted in high profits for the station, which was quite obviously secret income. He climbed up a small set of stairs and entered through the hallway and a long line glowing blue beneath him had Hangar Bay written in a few different languages. He began to follow the blue line with his head down and his legs burning with exhaustion.

Arriving at a series of doors he walked through one of them, which revealed a hangar which looked much larger than he imagined. Vertigo struck him slightly from the enormity of it, which meant more ships and more directions they could have gone. He frantically looked back and forth for any sign of Sasha. She wouldn’t be too hard to locate with her pink hair that Corvus hated, but knew his sister loved. Corvus disliked that Sasha was so alike his punk personality but what was he to do, he was the only one there to raise her when she was reaching her teenage years and to be fair, she never was as angsty as he was.

Fate had finally decided to give Corvus a break when he caught a glimpse of her far into the hangar between two larger ships parked in front of him. He went into a full sprint between the ships and began running toward her, as she was led by the pilot into his ship. Corvus began to scream her name, but it was no use as there were multiple ships revving their engines to test and see if their ship was ready for departure. She was facing away from him so she wouldn’t spot him running toward her.

His legs carried him faster than he’d ever run, and with that came the lack of maneuverability which caused him to trip over a refuelling line and tumbling into an anchor lock sending him spinning and crashing into the hard metal floor of the hangar. The impact knocked the wind right out of him and he cringed as he fought for each breath. He punched the anchor lock in anger and began forcing breaths in and out. He crawled around the large lock and slowly jogged toward her trying to scream, but he didn’t have the lung capacity after the recent collision.

The ramp to the pilot’s ship began to ascend as steam poured out into the hangar. Corvus could feel his body heating up and he dragged himself into full throttle, desperately trying to reach the ship. Steam pour out of the landing gear as the engine began revving and igniting the bright green exhaust at the rear.

“Stop!” he screamed as the ship began to ascend and stabilize itself before departure. He jumped for the landing gear hoping his weight would somehow pull the massive ship down to the ground, but he slipped and tumbled to the hard floor with a thud. He looked up at the ship as it turned toward the blue haze that separated the hangar from the cold depths of space, and departed the hangar.

He screamed and rolled onto his knees, pummelling the ground with his fists. He’d lost her again. He didn’t know where she was going, who she was really with and if he’d ever see her again. Tears poured out from his eyes as he screamed incoherently at his defeat. His gut twisted around the more he thought about his sister, and he felt like he was going to vomit. Falling to one knee and rolling onto his back again he laid there, panting heavily after the strenuous dash toward the ship. Tears rolled down the side of his face and trickled into his hairline.

“I’m sorry, Sasha. I’m so sorry.” He said looking up into the ceiling. He needed to come to terms with his defeat, and it was easier said that done. This wasn’t the end, as much as it felt like it was; she could be found. After all Rik was a hunter and could replace anybody, and Vikurl’s knowledge of the slave trade could come in handy. Pulling himself together, he wiped the tears from his face and sat up looking around; a few people had gathered in the distance watching his freak out, wondering what exactly was happening. He raised his arms and shooed them away, signifying he was okay now.

“I can’t give up. I’m coming, sis.” He lifted himself up back onto his feet and his chest and stomach hurt after running into the anchor lock. Stumbling toward the hangar exit, he tried to keep a steady pace up but his body was shocked from the exertion. There was no chance he was going to give up. He was going to replace his sister, it was only a matter of when and how.

Darkness.

Rik opened his eyes which fluttered and could only see the blurry metal floor of his cell. His head hurt but the cell was soundless and still which brought a quick sense of comfort, despite the headache. He picked himself up and dragged himself onto the metal framed bed which wasn’t much more comfortable than the ground. He couldn’t open his eyes fully yet and he could see a small puddle of blood on the ground where he was laying.

Weakened from the beating the commanding officer gave him, paired with the prison guard’s beat down he could feel a presence in the cell, or maybe it was outside of the cell; something had its eyes on him and he couldn’t shake the feeling, so he lifted his head just enough to see outside of his cell. He could see a tall, lean figure standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the bright white lights in the hallway.

“Who’s there?” he said, now noticing his lips were dry and cracked, along with his voice. His throat burned from being dry and now wanted nothing but a cold drink of water, or whiskey.

“Rik Tanner.” The voice said. He didn’t recognize the voice so he slowly sat up and tried adjusting his eyes by rubbing them. His hands were bloody as well, and in hindsight he realized why the guards were so rough on him, aside from his pointless struggle to escape them. He turned his head to the door and now he could see the man. The face was burned into his retina, and it charged him with a new found bout of energy.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Rik asked.

“I’m getting you out.” Vikurl responded.

“What, you want to kill me yourself?” Rik responded, chuckling at the hunted who had just become the hunter, at least from Rik’s perspective.

“Nothing would satisfy me more than to break your neck, but Corvus and Sasha need you alive.” He responded. Rik was confused at the statement, assuming that if Corvus got into contact with Vikurl he would’ve most likely have killed him, not asked him for a favour.

“Corvus? How do you know about Corvus?” he asked, not sure what was up and what was down.

“Look, I can explain this to you later, just get up and let’s get going.” Vikurl explained. Rik noticed he was now fiddling with the physical lock to the door. The cell doors were computer controlled but in the case of any potential viruses, hacks or errors the system would shut down, making the doors only accessible by a hard key. Rik approached the cell door and looked at Vikurl, closer to him than he’d ever been. He looked down and his sworn enemy was holding his blaster pistol. It enraged him to know someone other than him had their hands on a weapon that meant everything to Rik.

“Rik, I’m going to tell you right now, if you try anything, I will kill you faster than you can blink. You’re weak and you’re not armed.” He warned him.

“I make no promises.” He responded, smugly. Vikurl finally got the mechanism right and turned it which unlocked the steel door. Swinging it open, Rik stumbled out of it into the hallway and fell back onto the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. He held his hand out for Vikurl to hand him his gun. Vikurl looked down at his hand and back at his face.

“There’s no chance I’m giving this to you, yet.” Vikurl stated.

“I’m not going to shoot you. I don’t think I could hit you anyway, at the moment.” He said almost drunkenly.

“Which is why you don’t need it. Just follow me and put this over your mouth.” Vikurl said handing Rik a small device which looked like a filter. Rik had seen the item before but was too far gone to remember what it was and he looked at Vikurl expecting an explanation.

“I gassed the room outside, and I’m not carrying you. Don’t breathe in through your nose.” He said. Rik nodded and held the small mask over his mouth and began to breathe through the device. He thought for a moment it may be funny to make Vikurl carry him, but the alien would most likely let him lay there or drag him which would do him no favours for his headache.

Vikurl led Rik out of the cell block and into the main lobby of the security hall, where dozens of seemingly lifeless bodies were strewn about the room. Rik looked around in amazement assuming they were all dead.

“Dead?” he asked.

“No, unconscious.”

“Damn.” Rik said sternly. Vikurl shook his head and pushed the front door open to the room outside of the security hall. The door shut behind him and Vikurl forcefully took his toxic filter back. Rik then noticed that Vikurl hadn’t used any filter for his mouth.

“You got a high tolerance to that crap, or something?” Rik asked.

“Not everyone is the same as you humanoids. My race are immune to many toxins.” Vikurl explained.

“Then why do you have a filter for toxins?” Rik asked, being smart.

“Many toxins you idiot. Why some of you people think you are intellectually superior to everyone else is beyond me.” He said, approaching the elevator to get back to ground level. Rik leaned up against the wall closing his eyes, trying to focus on getting some of his consciousness back. It was possible that Corvus was dead, and Vikurl was simply leading him into a trap so Borin and him could decapitate him and deliver on the massive bounty on Rik’s head; either way he did not care as only a few hours ago he was on the precipice of suicide. He kept reminding himself that as long as the Black Butcher lived, he could not die.

The door opened and they stepped into the elevator and Vikurl pressed the main level key and watched the doors close, sealing the two of them alone in the elevator. Rik looked into the mirror of the elevator and began to fix his hair and examine any new scars he had picked up recently. Vikurl shook his head and looked down at the floor.

“Get yourself pretty there, hunter.” He said. Rik looked over at Vikurl, still slightly squinting from his headache.

“Excuse me.” He responded. Before Vikurl could retort an alarm sounded in the elevator which abruptly stopped the elevator. The two men looked at each other in confusion.

“They already know I’m gone?” Rik asked. Vikurl shook his head.

“That’s not what that alarm sequence is.” He responded, listening carefully. At first he did not believe what he was hearing and Rik was left in the dark hoping for any sort of explanation.

“That’s high alert, why would the station be on high alert?” he asked. Suddenly, the elevator shook and dropped a full floor knocking them to the floor of the elevator. The faint sound of an explosion filled the small car they were now trapped inside of. Vikurl got up quickly and ripped the escape hatch from the ceiling and dropped it on the floor. Rik got up quickly and looked at him, Vikurl put his hands out to support Rik’s weight so he could climb up. Rik climbed onto his hands and pulled himself into the top of the elevator and into the shaft. He looked up and saw flames and smoke billowing out from the detention centre. Vikurl climbed up after him, easily being able to pull himself up.

“That’s not good.” Rik said.

“No shit.” He responded and felt the elevator vibrate. Instinct kicked in for Vikurl and he grabbed Rik with one are and a small ledge of the shaft with the other arm and after a split second the elevator dropped beneath them, having lost power from the explosion. Rik didn’t want to admit it but the agility, strength and speed of this alien was impressive. Vikurl lowered them down to the elevator door and Rik peeled it open as Vikurl kept an eye open for any other falling debris. They exited into the hallway which was clouded with light grey smoke. Vikurl drew his rifle and handed Rik his pistol.

“Oh boy.” Rik said looking down at the ground. Vikurl looked down and saw the body of an IRP soldier, and they then realized there were bodies of soldiers everywhere around them. They looked at each other with the same facial expression after they realized what had taken place. The war from Fares had migrated to Alpha One. They walked over to a window overlooking the facility and up into space above them. There was a firefight going on below them, and a dogfight outside of the station that rivalled the one over Fares.

“We need to leave, now.” Vikurl said as Rik followed closely behind them, both of them acting cautiously with every turn they made. Vikurl had told Corvus to meet them back at the ship, but knowing how intense the situation had become they may have to go searching for Corvus. Rik took the lead after a couple turns and led them in the right direction once Vikurl realized he didn’t know where Rik had docked. They hadn’t run into any hostiles yet, but they’d just entered the fray.

“Where is Corvus?” Rik asked.

“He went to try and get Sasha back, but he’ll meet us at your ship.”

“We should split up in case we miss him.” Rik stated. Vikurl agreed and they went their separate ways after getting to a series of hallways that led to the hangar. One of them was hopefully bound to run into Corvus, and if all went well he’d still be alive and have Sasha. He’d been through a confrontation similar to this on Fares, but this was close quarters and it was easier to be seen by someone and more difficult to escape if need be.

Rik prayed that Corvus was okay, and he prayed more that Sasha would be with him but the likelihood of that was slim. He had to replace Corvus before the war zone consumed him like it had consumed his homeworld.

Corvus peeked around the corner, pistol drawn scanning for any enemies. Luckily, this time, it was a group of Federation soldiers and he knew he could step out without being blown away immediately. He stepped out and held his hands in the air and the soldiers all pointed their weapons at him ordering him to drop his weapon.

“Guys, it’s okay, I just want to get back to my ship!” he yelled, hoping they’d understand. They seemed more interested in people that opposed them and they nodded at him to let him go by, but two of them kept their guns on him. Just as he went to pass a group of IRP soldiers flanked them and began firing at them. Two of the four soldiers took the brunt of it while the other two scurried behind an array of crates that were in the middle of being delivered until the station fell under war. Corvus ducked on the other side of the hallway behind a small pillar that just protected him enough from the laser fire.

The soldiers shot back after a moment of recuperating and took a few of them down before they could replace cover again. Federation soldiers were superior in their training and when it came to drawing first and hitting the target they won across the board; IRP soldiers on the other hand were relentless and would kill first and ask questions later, though still rigorously trained. Corvus joined in with the soldiers and didn’t hit them, but gave the soldiers enough time to advance forward and overwhelm the IRP soldiers. One of the soldiers hopped over their cover and ran toward the Federation soldiers. They shot the man but he stumbled toward them until he was close enough to set off a plasma grenade he was holding.

Corvus covered his face and turned toward the wall as the explosion sent out a shockwave that blew the lights out and dented the walls. The crates the soldiers had used as cover were engulfed in flames and the bodies of the soldiers were nowhere to be found among the scorched weapons, uniforms and black logs of ash and bone. Plasma grenades were extremely damaging and could kill anyone within close enough range; disintegration was still only within ten feet of the explosion. The shockwave had narrowly missed him. There was one IRP soldier left who was laying on the ground from the explosion.

Corvus quickly descended upon him and bashed his head with the butt end of his pistol and fired three bolts into the soldiers chest which left him steaming and lifeless. Ever since he’d shot the soldier on Fares, he never thought he’d get over the idea of taking someone else’s life, but he’d become accustomed to that; war did that to the best of people. He didn’t think anymore, it already felt like instinct. Without questioning who the man really was, he would act accordingly to protect himself, and now seemingly other Federation soldiers.

He continued down the hallway watching his corners and moving with caution. He prayed that Vikurl had kept his word and that he’d be there with Rik when he got back to the ship. He wasn’t far now and he only had to brave the massive and long hallway that lined the hangar bay where Rik’s ship was. As he peeked into the hallway it was dead quiet aside from the low hum of the station’s innards working in stride to keep it orbiting, powered and habitable. He stepped into the hallway and began to cross when he saw Rik emerge from the far end of the hallway.

“Rik!” he yelled. Corvus could see the relief in his face and he ran over to him.

“Where’s Sasha?” Rik said grabbing Corvus’ shoulder. Corvus hung his head in shame.

“I just missed her.” He said, grimly. Rik frowned and shook Corvus’ shoulder, and Corvus looked back up at him.

“Don’t worry, kid, we’ll replace her.” He assured Corvus.

“Where’s Vikurl?” Corvus asked, trying not to think about his failure too harshly.

“He’ll meet us here, did you really send him to free me?” Rik asked.

“Of course I did.” Corvus replied. Rik smiled and at that moment the sound of a blaster pistol sounded and Rik yelped, soon collapsing to the ground. Corvus, wide-eyed looked down the hallway to see Borin standing there with his pistol in hand.

“Rik!” he screamed looking down at Rik, who now had a hole in his side that was steaming from the impact, and then looked back at Borin. Borin lowered his pistol and chuckled now looking at Corvus.

“You took her from me.” Corvus said, pulling his pistol out of his jacket. Borin raised an eyebrow drunkenly and blinked stupidly. Corvus could feel the intensity growing inside of him, and the image of Sasha’s scarred face made him shake with fury. His heart began to beat so slowly and with so much force he could feel it through his whole body.

“What’s Tanner doin’ with a little runt like you?” Borin asked.

“You took her from me!” Corvus screamed again. Borin laughed from his drunken stupor and stumbled slightly.

“I take a lot of girls, my little friend, yer gonna have t’be more specific!” he said, heavily slurring his words and chortling. Corvus released the safety off of his pistol and took aim at Borin. Borin’s eyes widened as he raised his pistol but Corvus quickly fired off two shots. One landed in Borin’s shoulder and the other just whizzed passed the side of his head. He let out a yell and nearly fell over from the impact and looked at his shoulder in shock.

“You shot me, you little punk!” he screamed. Corvus took aim for steadily and just before he shot there was a deafening explosion which caused the hallway to shake enough to knock them both to their feet. Vikurl suddenly stumbled out from a hallway behind Corvus and looked over to see him and Rik on the ground.

“Corvus!” screamed Vikurl. Corvus shot a glance back at him and scrambled to his feet.

“Rik’s shot!” he yelled. Vikurl began to run forward but stopped when he noticed Borin getting up from further down the hallway. They locked eyes and the tension began to thicken to the point of suffocation. For a moment, the sound of impending chaos around them dissipated to make room for their stare down.

“You, lazy, ugly, stupid, fish-faced, alien, scumbag!” Borin yelled pointing at Vikurl, slightly shaken from the explosion.

“That’s your best insult yet.” Vikurl said. Borin went to shoot again but the ceiling between them and Borin collapsed suddenly separating the two parties. Vikurl and Corvus covered their faces from the blast and soon looked forward now seeing that the hallway was completely cut off. Vikurl ran over and looked down at Rik.

“Borin got a shot off on him.” Corvus said. Vikurl knelt down and picked Rik up effortlessly and threw him over his shoulder.

“Get to your ship, now!” he ordered. Corvus was dumbfounded by Vikurl’s sudden loyalty but led him into the hangar where there were crowds of people scrambling to get into their ships to escape the station before the entire became a casualty of war. Bodies were strewn about the hangar bay floor mixed with civilians and soldiers. If they didn’t leave soon, the entire station along with them may become a casualty of war.