Lt. Matthew Shaw

MATTHEW SHAW - Lieutenant of the Amity, 50’s, rugged, boorish,
expert hunter..


Lieutenant Shaw raced down the corridors of the Abagail,
wondering if he had the Carnelians hot on his trail. He occasionally
looked back and found nothing but darkness staring back at him.
Taking a deep breath, Shaw made it back to the hangar’s large
doors and slipped through them. He backed into the space station’s
confines.
Kaspar was waiting for Shaw, greeting him with a hearty shove
to the shoulder. “Is he...?”
“Ulysses saved our lives.” Shaw picked off his gloves using his
teeth. He then took off his goggles, letting them hang loosely around
his neck. “Did you find the other pair of goggles?”
“Yeah,” Kaspar replied. “I have them right here in my pocket.”
“Good. We will need them once the power drains.” Shaw glanced
at the flickering lights. “It’s only a matter of hours at this point.”
“How did Ulysses save our lives?” Kaspar asked, wondering
what sort of heroic deed the wily engineer had performed.
“He was working on the mainframe, when the horde swarmed
over his body.” Shaw recounted. “I was too far back to lend an
immediate hand. Ulysses waved over to me to shoot down the
electrical wires high above his head. After they were severed, he
let the Carnelian’s swarm over his body, before he unleashed the
electrical surge through his entire body, and theirs. Needless to
say, Ulysses has successfully taken out a large number. I personally
believe they were hiding in the engine room because it was dark. The
rest of the ship still has some lighting.”
“Now what?”
“Captain Brody had some C-4 and dynamite left over from our
last mission. We had to blow through some of the moon’s stubborn
rocks during our last surface expedition in order to retrieve some
elements for study.”
“That’s good news. Where are they?”
“If I had to guess, back in his locker. He had mentioned it earlier
this month, before everything went into the shitter.”
“Then what?” Kaspar asked. “You said there was a main
generator room?”
“Yeah, right by the second hangar bay. The main generator runs
vertically down the space station, linking both floors. There are three
emergency gliders in the docking bay on the far end of the space
station on the lower level. Reggie found them one night during his
restless night walks. He was very hyper during his stay. I think he was
starting to go stir crazy inside these walls.”
“I will gather the others. You set the explosives in the generator
room. We will blow this thing from the inside out,” Kaspar
ordered.
“Your banking on the fact that Ulysses has fixed the Abagail’s
engine problem.” Shaw fidgeted about as if he were searching for
something. “By the way where’s our friend?”
“Adrian? Don’t know. Probably with the others.”
“Listen. If your friend has been compromised in any way, once
the lights go out, he will be in his glory. We will need these goggles
to keep pace with him.”
“Gillian doesn’t have a pair.”
“Then I suggest you keep her close to you,” Shaw
recommended.
“I know Ulysses fixed the problem. I have faith.”
“Stupid question,” Shaw said.
“Yeah?”
“If Adrian has the alien’s powers, he will be definitely looking to
get off this station and head out for another place to live.”
“Okay.”
“I can bet he used Ulysses to fix the ship for him. You will be
needed to fly the thing and, your lady friend will survive because
Adrian will want to prolong his species.”
“That sounds quite complex. Where does that leave you,
Shaw?”
“Expendable.”
“I’m not leaving you behind.”
“Listen, I’m your only chance here. I’ll lure Adrian away from
you so you can get the crew back to the ship and out of here. I’ll
blow this thing sky high along with Adrian.”
“What if it goes wrong?”
“Then we all die. By the looks of it, we are all headed down that
road anyway.”
“How do we keep in contact?”
“There are some spare radios back in the control room. I’ll take
one and you take one. We will keep in constant communication. Say,
every fifteen minutes?”
“Agreed. Let’s do this,” Kaspar said firmly shaking Shaw’s
hand.
“Don’t come back for me, no matter what.” Shaw stared directly
into the commander’s eyes. “No matter what. Repeat it for me.”
“No matter what,” Kaspar said reluctantly.
“We will need to boost our weapons. Let’s go raid the artillery
room.”
Shaw and Kaspar headed down the corridor to stock up on
weapons and to grab up the communication devices.