2025-02-19 14:20:21Chapter 23: The Forgotten Experiment
The emergency lights cast a dim, flickering glow across the corridor, stretching Kael’s shadow long against the metal walls. The Starwind groaned beneath them, the bulkheads vibrating as though the ship itself was breathing.
The whispers hadn’t stopped.
They slithered through the speakers, distorting, breaking, reforming into voices that weren’t supposed to be there.
Jyn wiped the sweat from her brow. “We need to go.”
Lira had her back to the sealed door, her rifle aimed at the blinking control panel. The metal hissed as something slammed against the other side. The creatures hadn’t given up. They were waiting.
Kael’s heart pounded. He had seen war. He had fought soldiers, mercenaries, AI-driven drones.
But nothing like this.
He turned toward the corridor ahead. “There has to be a command terminal. We need to know what this ship was carrying before it became… this.”
Jyn scoffed. “Oh yeah? And what if the logs say, ‘Abandon ship and run like hell?’”
Kael shook his head. “Then at least we’ll know what we’re dealing with.”
Lira exhaled, nodding. “Fine. But we move fast. Whatever those things are, they’re watching us.”
Jyn muttered, “And they don’t sound happy.”
Kael pushed forward, weapon raised, leading them deeper into the ship.
The Ghost Ship
The deeper they went, the worse it became.
The walls were scarred with claw marks, deep gashes cutting through reinforced steel. Blood—dark and dried painted sections of the floor. There were no bodies, only the aftermath of something violent.
Jyn’s voice was low. “What the hell happened here?”
Lira swept her rifle across the corridor. “Nothing good.”
Then Kael saw it a terminal, still active, its screen blinking weakly.
He rushed to it, fingers flying over the interface. The system stuttered, resisting him, but he was faster. The security logs flickered to life.
Jyn and Lira stood guard while Kael scrolled through the last recorded entries.
> [LOG 427-B] - Subject containment stable. Data link to Sovereign Command maintained. Preparing for extraction.
> [LOG 428-C] - Unexpected activity in Subject Delta. Increased neural feedback detected. Possible sentience? Adjusting parameters.
> [LOG 429-D] - Subject Delta has breached primary containment. Crew casualties at 67%. Emergency protocol engaged. Starwind has been locked down until further notice. Awaiting Sovereign Command orders.
Jyn leaned over Kael’s shoulder. “Subject Delta?”
Kael swallowed. “Whatever the Sovereign Order was transporting… it got loose.”
Lira’s voice was tight. “And we’re standing inside its hunting ground.”
Kael scrolled further. The final entry made his blood run cold.
> [LOG 430-X] - This was a mistake. We never should have activated it. They told us it was just a machine, but it’s more than that. It’s The log cut off into static.
Then a new message appeared.
Kael didn’t type anything.
Neither did Jyn.
Neither did Lira.
The message typed itself.
You shouldn’t be here.
Kael’s breath caught.
Jyn stepped back. “Oh, hell no.”
Lira cursed. “We’re leaving. Right now.”
The terminal screen flickered, and the whispering returned but this time, it wasn’t through the speakers.
It was inside their helmets.
Kael ripped off his earpiece, but the whispers kept going, burrowing into his mind.
Then the lights died.
Total darkness.
Then The ceiling vents burst open.
The Attack
The creatures dropped from above with unnatural speed. Their metallic limbs twisted mid-air, adjusting, recalibrating.
Jyn opened fire first. Her plasma rifle roared, lighting up the corridor in flashes of blue. The first creature took a shot to the head and collapsed, twitching violently.
Lira fired next. The second creature dodged with impossible speed, skittering along the walls before launching itself toward them.
Kael barely had time to react before it slammed into him.
The impact sent him crashing against the terminal, sparks flying as he struggled to push the creature away. Its eyes were red, flickering, scanning.
"You are not supposed to be here."
Kael gritted his teeth and shoved his gun beneath its jaw. He fired.
The creature jerked, its head snapping back, body spasming. But it didn’t die.
The plating on its head shifted, repairing itself almost instantly.
Jyn’s voice was sharp. “They’re adapting again!”
Lira grabbed a shock grenade from her belt and threw it down the corridor. “Cover your eyes!”
Kael barely had time to react before white-hot electricity exploded through the hall.
The creatures shrieked, their metal plating convulsing as the shockwave overloaded their systems.
Kael rolled to his feet, grabbing Jyn’s arm. “Move! Now!”
They ran, tearing down the corridor, their footsteps echoing in the dim emergency lights.
Lira checked their backs. “They’re recovering!”
Jyn cursed. “Of course they are.”
Ahead, the corridor split into two paths.
Kael glanced at the map on his display. “Left leads to the cargo bay. We can force open an airlock and get back to the Eclipse.”
Jyn smirked. “Sounds like a plan.”
Lira raised an eyebrow. “And what’s on the right?”
Kael hesitated. “The control room.”
Lira frowned. “Why the hell would we go there?”
Kael exhaled. “Because if we don’t find out where these things came from, we’ll be running from them forever.”
Jyn and Lira exchanged glances.
Then From behind them, a new voice echoed through the speakers.
This one was different.
Not mechanical. Not cold.
It was human.
"Kael Arvid."
Kael froze.
Jyn’s eyes widened. “What the hell”
The voice laughed softly, distorted through static.
"I was wondering when you’d find me."
Lira whispered, “Kael… who the hell is that?”
Kael’s heart pounded. He didn’t know.
But whoev... Kael’s pulse thundered in his ears. The static-ridden voice had spoken his name.
Not as an enemy. Not as a machine.
As someone who had been waiting for him.
Jyn turned sharply, her rifle up. “Kael, who the hell is that?”
Lira checked the motion tracker on her display. “No life signs. No heat signatures. But someone’s controlling this damn ship.”
Kael swallowed hard. “Who are you?”
The voice chuckled. A low, distorted laugh that crawled into Kael’s skin like ice.
“I am the only thing standing between you and them.”
The emergency lights flickered again. A new marker appeared on Kael’s display—the control room.
The voice spoke again.
“If you want answers, you’ll find them here.”
Kael turned to Jyn and Lira. “We have a choice. Get out now, or find out what the Sovereign Order was really hiding.”
Lira exhaled sharply. “Kael, this is insane.”
Jyn gritted her teeth. “We always knew the Order was hiding something. If this is worse than the Nexus, we need to know.”
Kael hesitated.
Then, deep inside the ship, the creatures screamed again.
The voice in the comms spoke one last time.
“Time’s running out, Kael. Choose.”
Kael clenched his jaw.
And made his decision.
er it was, they had been waiting for him.
And that scared him more than anything else.
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