The tubes spit them out into a vat of purple liquid similar to that in the tubes on the mining station. Tom spat out a mouthful of the terrible stuff and flailed around in the vat. Once he got his bearings, he started to swim for the edge of the vat. There he found a ten-foot drop awaited him. "Just great," he said.
Spot IV came up next to him, followed by the shepherd mix. The two other commandos carried Heather between them, despite her insistence that she didn't need any help. "I can make it on my own!" she said. The commandos ignored her, finally bringing her to rest against the side with the others.
"How do we get down?" the shepherd mix asked.
Tom considered the drop and then his companions. "A human ladder," he said. The others stared at him. "Or mammal ladder I guess."
He climbed over the side of the vat to grasp the edge. "Now, someone climb down my back to take my legs. And we keep doing that until we're close to the bottom." Tom nearly lost his grip when Spot IV climbed onto his back, the mutt's weight threatening to yank them both down. Gritting his teeth, Tom managed to keep hold of the edge of the vat. Spot IV held on to his legs, dangling in the air. The shepherd mix followed to take hold of Spot IV's legs. The other commandos came next, with Heather—the most flexible of the group—going last. She scampered down to the bottom of the ladder.
"Now what?"
"You help the one above you down and then get on his shoulders," Tom said. Heather dropped to the deck and then helped the commando above her to the ground. She climbed onto the bulldog's shoulders so that the next in line could scamper down. They continued this until it was Tom's turn to descend down the ladder. With Spot IV on the bottom, he had little doubt about the ladder's stability. His main worry was that Heather, given her dislike of the humans, might let him fall.
She didn't, taking hold of him with both hands to steady him. He made his way carefully down the ladder to the deck. He waited there for Heather, but she jumped to the deck on her own. The rest of the ladder came down without incident to leave the commando team safely on the deck.
"Where are the others?" Tom asked. He had seen Will and the rest of the commandos disappear into another tube. He had hoped they would end up in the same place, but it was clear they hadn't.
"We'll have to find them later," Heather said. "The mission comes first."
"We can't leave them."
"She's right," Spot IV said. "We don't even know where the others are. There's no sense in wasting time trying to search for them. The rest of the fleet is counting on us."
Tom wanted to argue for his brother's life, but he understood what Heather and Spot IV were saying. They had billions of lives riding on this mission; they couldn't sacrifice those just to save his brother. He would have to hope Will could take care of himself. "Fine. What do we do now?"
"We have to access their computer network and find where they're holding the captives," Heather said. "Corporal Homeretta will take the point." She indicated the shepherd mix with one hand and then pointed at Tom. "You stay in the rear and try not to get in the way. Let's go."
They found a door along one wall, which Spot IV opened with the same gadget as back in the dump. Tom gripped his pistol tighter as they started down a corridor that looked as if no one had ever bothered to finish it. He supposed aesthetics like paint didn't matter to a bunch of robots or clones or whatever these Black Ship bozos were.
With Corporal Homeretta leading the way, the commando team wound its way along more unfinished corridors. They stopped at each intersection to scan for any Black Ship warriors before moving on. That they hadn't encountered anyone yet gave Tom a nervous flutter in his stomach. He thought of the old expression that it was too quiet. At each door, they stopped so Spot IV could consult another gadget. This one scanned for computer access so that they could hack into the Black Ship network and try to find information on the captives. Yet as they went farther along, they didn't find any rooms with computer access. It was all too creepy for Tom's liking.
Adding to his worries was that they still didn't have any sign of Will or the other commandos. What had happened to his brother? Maybe his tube had spat him out against a wall or into a nest of Black Ship troopers. At least no alert sirens had gone off yet, which Tom hoped meant neither group of commandos had been discovered.
"I think I've got something," Spot IV said, signaling the others to stop. He motioned to a pair of doors. With his other gizmo, he unlocked the doors. They hissed open to reveal a circular room. "I'm picking up something in the center of this room."
The commandos edged forward, keeping their weapons at the ready. The circular room was too large for Tom to see the walls, but it seemed completely unoccupied. "I don't like this," he said a moment before the lights came on.
The lights revealed at least a hundred Black Ship warriors on the opposite end of the room, their weapons drawn.
#
The reentry of the Cerberus into the fighting and its separation into three fighting units turned the tide of the battle. The Black Ship fleet became confused as the three parts of the Cerberus tore into their formations. From his console on the starboard section, he watched as the first Black Ships began falling back towards Snowball. "We've got them on the run!" Buster said. "Keep at them!"
Spot II was more than willing to oblige this, sending the starboard section rocketing forward to chase down a retreating cruiser. The lasers of the Bloc ship lanced through the cruiser, tearing its rear open. The starboard section zipped away seconds before the cruiser exploded in short-lived fireball.
The Bulldog and the rest of the Bloc fleet followed suit, hounding the Black Ships as they tried to withdraw. It became a slaughter with even the Hellhound fighters joining in to rain missiles down on the fleeing Black Ships. Spot II knew this would only be a short-term situation; once the Black Ships regrouped it would be a more even fight again, which made it important to destroy or disable as many as possible while they had the chance.
He plotted in a course to pounce on a retreating battleship. Targeting the battleship's engines, Spot II opened fire. The Black Ship vessel gradually came to a halt as its engines went dark. It still had weapons, but cut off from the rest of its fleet it became easy prey for the Bloc ships. The Bulldog led the attack on the battleship along with the forward section of the Cerberus. Within moments the battleship became nothing more than a floating hulk.
Then Nina called out, "Ships are emerging from hyperspace."
"Ours?" Zeke asked hopefully.
Nina shook her head. "Enemy ships. About thirty of them."
Worse yet was that the thirty Black Ships were coming in behind the Bloc fleet so that the Bloc ships found themselves suddenly caught in a pincer. "We have to regroup," Spot II said. He turned the starboard section around to strike at the newcomers before organize themselves. A handful of Bloc ships followed suit while the rest continued pressing the main Black Ship fleet.
Still, Spot II knew the tide that had turned in their favor had suddenly reversed itself, leaving little chance of survival for any of them. He put the starboard section's throttles to full. There was nothing to do but go out fighting now.
#
Will and the three other commandos didn't have the luxury of a computer device to open the doors they encountered. But they did have Corporal Hazel, a mutt who most closely resembled a Jack Russell terrier. She used a knife to pry the cover off the door controls. Then she began fiddling with the wires. "This is something I learned from the Dodger," she said. A few moments later, the door sprung open.
"That's good work," Will said.
"Thanks." Will followed Hazel and the others out into what looked like an unpainted corridor. He didn't have any idea where Tom and the others had gone. He had to hope they would seek out the captives and that the groups could meet there to free Jessie and the rest. That is if Will and his group could find the captives.
They stopped at every door they came to for Hazel to repeat her trick. All they found were what looked like storage rooms with crates piled up. Will inspected a few of these crates, but there were no labels, only barcodes. They continued up the winding corridors, not encountering any Black Ship troopers along the way. Maybe they were all busy with the fighting in space. Or maybe they had found Tom and the others, although Will hadn't heard any alert sirens go off.
The corridor finally stopped at a pair of doors. "There has to be something in here," Hazel said.
"Hold on. I don't like this," Will said. "Let's be careful."
The other two commanders stood in the doorway with weapons drawn while Hazel worked on opening the doors. They parted with a hiss, revealing what looked like the bridge of a Bloc ship, complete with the holographic projector in the center. At this projector stood a single Black Ship warrior with a sort of golden crown on his head.
"Hold it right there," Will said, trying to muster as much authority as possible into his voice. "Don't move or we'll shoot."
"I wouldn't dream of it," the Black Ship leader said. He nodded towards the holographic display, where blue and red dots danced over the planet. "Even if you shoot me, it won't be long until your fleet is destroyed."
"Tell your fleet to stand down. Otherwise we'll kill you."
"That is an interesting idea. Would you like to see something else?" Before Will could answer, the Black Ship leader said, "Activate trophy room cameras."
The holographic projector displayed an image of a circular room, near the center of which stood Tom and the rest of the commando group. Before them was a horde of Black Ship warriors, their weapons at the ready. "One word from me and your brother and friends die," the Black Ship leader said.
Will considered the odds that the Black Ship Commander would be able to say that word before the commandos shot him dead. He lowered his pistol and then motioned for the others to do likewise. "Let them go now," he said.
"When did we ever agree to that?" The Black Ship leader touched a button on his right wrist. The door behind Will opened to let in a dozen Black Ship warriors. They easily took Will's pistol and those of the other commandos.
The Black Ship leader cackled as his troops surrounded the commandos. He stepped through them to stand face-to-face with Will. "I'm sure you still haven't figured it out yet. I shouldn't be surprised. You never were that bright. Not bright enough to keep track of your toys."
The Black Ship leader reached up to remove his helmet. Will gasped as he looked into the face of a ghost.
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