Spaced...
Author: a newbie...
Original post: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wVtVH6gUMWWgm6_Vh7k7MkGUJpZwePrJj_Z0rgOQbN8/edit
Entry for the YC114 Pod and Planet Fiction Contest in the Eight Thousand Suns in New Eden category.
Spaced...
“Captain, long range survey indicates some wreckage has been found in the inner system, near the 3rd planet and its station.” The navigations officer looked down and tried to clarify the results. Addy was her name, at least what she preferred, one of the many who cycle out on the corporate schedule.
After a few moments Captain Reykan pulled up the results and glossed through them. Maybe he would invite her down to the lounge for a drink later, he thought.
“I don’t see an assessment of the composition, are we unable to clear this up?” he asked.
Addy continued to work trying to refine the calibration of the sensors, “Scanners show a collection of signatures, but we have been unable to flag their nature due to an unusual debris cloud. Shall I plot a course for a better look?”
Reykan gave a dismissive nod while he occupied himself with some vivid imagery of Addy plotting a course to his cabin.
After a few minutes of total distraction, the captain stood up and started towards the bridge exit. As he passed his First Officer, Captain Reykan clapped him on the shoulder, “I am going to go for a walk. Let me know if anything interesting happens.”. With that the captain stepped off the bridge. The sound of his First Officer Tanner giving orders for warp procedures faded behind with the closure of the bulkhead doors.
It was a few hours later, the contents of the glass before Reykan had long since melted and separated. Slumped in his stool with his mind muddled in the stupor of a bottle of spirits, he didn’t hear the communique alert a few times. Massaging his temples, Reykan keyed the comm, “Wha..” “Captain, Get up here NOW!” Reykan did little to hide his annoyance, “If this is about anything remotely solvable without my presence I am going to flense the bridge crew..” Tanner couldn’t wait to let him finish. “Sir, its the station! It wasn’t near the station, it WAS the station!” Reykan bolted upright, nearly falling over. “We are scrambling the crew shuttles as rescue boats now!” The urgency in Tanner’s voice was clear, they were in for some trouble. “On my way.” Reykan stood and steadied himself against the bar and let out a slight shiver. The cool sensation that accompanied the activation of nanites that strained the bloodstream of toxins always gave him chill. Shaking off the now dissipating effects of alcohol, the captain started for the lift, thanking himself for investing in the implant. “Tanner, are the locals on-site yet? Have they begun evacuations? Why have we scrambled shuttles instead of docking and loading people up?” He waited a few moments for a response and spoke with more impatience, “Tanner? You hear me? What’s going on up there? Report!” The captain tried a few more times with no success to raise his first officer. From the window he could see they had arrived on the dark side of the planet. As the lift arrived he ran out to the bridge completely unprepared for what carnage lay before him. He stopped cold. Everything was silent save for the quiet repressed sobs of a few of the crew members, all staring out the viewport at the surreal horror beyond. Before them the moonlit frozen corpses of the stations several hundred thousand occupants floated.
“All stop.” It barely came out. “All stop!” he shouted, his voice cracked but slowly coming back. He cleared his throat and this time issued an order, “All Stop, Helm bring us to 0.” Still stunned, a few bridge officers quietly went about their duties, although some remained sobbing. The vessel came to a stop near the edge of the debris field. Scattered hulls and unpowered vessels were dispersed throughout the area in some silent synchronous dance with their former owners. The ship was on a line of approach to the remnants of a Hyasyoda Corporation station. Some force had somehow knocked from its lagrange point and given enough momentum to begin its now torpid spiral towards the planet. “I want a full sweep of the area, I need to know if whatever the fuck did this is still out there. Sensor scans on the hulls, attempt to contact any survivors and inform them help is coming. Comms, put out an immediate emergency responder beacon to Concord and the local authorities in the neighboring system. Include a direct feed to our sensor data and camera feeds.” Reykan continued on issuing commands to his crew, drawing them one by one out of their despair and into firm resolve.
It had been several hours after the Ytiri Corporation’s salvage vessel The Reclaimer had arrived to find a nightmare. Shuttles had not found a single survivor, it was clear someone had been very thorough. Reykan stood against the viewport staring out into that nightmare. Preliminary reports were beginning to come back from the station. Some of the locals had arrived after them and were searching the doomed structure.
He didn’t need those reports to know the people had been dead for a few hours before his ship had arrived. The bodies, shredded from explosive decompression, had already begun to form a morbid tapestry, crystals of blood, frozen tissue and metal all gravitating towards each other.
What was a surprise was the report from the crew that found the security logs of the station crew. Reykan looked down at that report for a moment and back out the viewport. He turned his gaze from what lay outside and walked back to his command station.
“Tanner..” He sat heavily into his chair. As his first officer approached, Reykan dropped the report on his console toward his first officer. “Call everyone back. We are leaving.”
“Sir?” The look of confusion on Tanner’s face was clear.
“Concord has issued an evacuation order, all non-combat vessels are to leave the area immediately. Sansha have hit the station, and they are not done. Nourvukaiken was hit as well. The capsuleers drove them back but the Sansha still have a presence in the system.”
“Sa..Sansha..but they have been taking people not... this!” Tanner gestured out the window.
“Yes, the fucking Sansha. And honestly I don’t know which fate is worse. Now get everyone back, I don’t intend to stick around here any longer.”
“Very well Sir.” With that Tanner left and called for all crew to return.
“Addy, plot a course to Ishisomo. I want us in warp after the last shuttle is on board and not a moment later.” the captain said.
“Yes Captain...Course laid in Sir”.
Reykan sat massaging his temples for a few minutes, then spoke to himself as much as anyone, “So.. anyone have any ideas how to get this shithole out of my head?” The question hung there, unanswered, as the crew finalized preparations to leave the system. Once the last shuttle and crew had docked, The Reclaimer lurched into warp. It was going to be more than a day before they reached the stargate to the next system.
“So..” Getting up from his chair, he stretched and walked over towards the nav station, “Addy, how about a drink?”
She eyed him for a minute and then gave a shrug, “Why not, I don’t think anything could fuck up my day any more than has already happened.” With that she got up from her station, put her arm in Reykan’s, and together headed out for the lift.
As if almost forgetting, the captain started to raise his hand and speak when his first officer beat him to it, “Yeah yeah I know. Get going.” Tanner tried to laugh but couldn’t find it in himself.
The next twenty-four hours were a blur for Reykan. Several bottles of booze and Addy spun through his head. The more he thought about those frozen faces, the more he drank and the more they both tried to bury it with sex. He didn’t care what was happening anymore.
He hummed with drunken delight, her scent was intoxicating, her lips erasing the misery with each brush and kiss. She was on top of him now, moaning passionately, each of them committed to enjoy the night to the fullest pleasure. Intertwined, the two of them rolled back and forth on the bed. The sheets had long since been lost to the oblivion beyond his bed. Reykan could not remember any woman who tasted as sweet, as he locked his lips with hers he could not help but feel entranced. As Addy rolled and pulled Reykan into her, he faintly heard the ships alert system kick on. The world spun as he turned his head toward the noise.
“Nooooooooo” She said, pulling his head down to her lips, “Nooo.. stay with me.”
“God she smells good” Reykan thought.
“Please, don’t take this away from me, I don’t care anymore. Just stay with me..” She pulled him closed and kissed him deeply as she wrapped her legs around him. The spinning continued, her scent, the alarms, the booze.. he could let it stop, clear his mind.. but he stopped caring. The spinning suddenly turned to pain as the ship lurched out of warp violently and Reykan and Addy tumble into the bulkhead. Reykans throbbing headache made it difficult for him to concentrate, he couldn’t focus.
“Addy.. Addy are you ok?” She didn’t respond. “Shit..”
It took a lot of concentration for Reykan to get his implant to do its job, but he soon started to feel that familiar chill. His vision no longer moving on him, Reykan looked over to Addy. She layed motionless, her face was pressed toward her chest in an unnatural angle.
“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck!” Reykan was visibly shaking with a confused rage. He reached his unsteady hand out to her, her skin still hot yet soft. “You wer....You.. “ Reykan fell over her and began to cry hard. He barely knew her, but it was too much, too close.
As he lay there sobbing and broken, the ships comm system came to life, Tanner’s voice barely registered to him, “This is First Officer Benjamin Tanner. We have been pulled from warp and are about to be boarded by Sansha. I am sorry. We all have seen what they can do. I hope you understand why I am now initiating the self destruct sequence. Please forgive me.” With that the comms went silent. Reykan lifted his head to look out the viewport.
He could see them. Those murderous fucks.
He lowered himself down beside Addy’s body and tried to remember his bliss only moments before.
The deck plates began to vibrate...