All hands-on deck. That was the order he gave before joining in the rescue effort much to the protestations of Commander Hammer and the Chief of the Boat. The final report he read stated three fatalities in sickbay from complications and the extent of their injuries while the damage to the Phoenix was in rough shape along its Portside hull. Drone footage showed the exterior panels had been blown off from the explosion, reshaping the thruster that caused it to blossom from the force. The interior iron red chassis exposed to the cosmos stood against the light grey panels to indicate how badly they were damaged. Environmental reported that the breached section of the ship lost nearly ten percent of the Phoenix’s total air while interior radiation levels were abnormally high from the nebula. Thankfully the radiological harm could be mitigated through the use of radiation medicine readily available on the Phoenix.
Muffled sounds could be heard through Alex’s spacesuit. If it wasn’t the dropship’s gyros it was his breathing that occupied his attention. Otherwise, he would not be able to hear anything at all after the cabin pressure was reduced to zero to allow the crew to explore the wreckage for survivors or any records and data storage devices to be recovered, thanks to Hazaari’s careful listening to the cosmos she was able to determine SOS signals coming from several vessels in the nebula.
“The Gladius Lustitiae, Minsk and the Terra-Nova are currently sending distress signals, automated only, no live response.” She announced openly on the radio waves. “I can confirm black boxes have not yet been launched but are currently transmitting from the Agamid, the Arc De Triomphe, Churchill and Duchy of Finland. And I have their coordinates which are being added to your HUD’s.”
“You heard the lady!” Alex spoke. All helmets in the shuttle turned so their visors were facing him directly. “First priority is finding our fellow spacemen. Second is recovering Black boxes and sensor data and any backup drives that might have survived”
On his visor all team members' names blinked with a green light indicating they understood alongside them curling their index finger to touch the base of their thumbs while the rest of their fingers were extended as a gesture to signify their understanding. Having received both forms of confirmation from his search team Alex finally stood up from his seat and walked over to the shuttle’s door and slammed the side of his fist against the button that opened the door. Blue-red light poured in the cabin as the search party walked one by one towards the opening. Alex felt through his boots the vibrations of each foot being rhythmically drawn to the floor with magnetic soles; the rhythm grew duller as each team member jumped out of the door frame and into the nebula until Alex was the only person to remain. He drew in a long breath looking at the dissected remains of starship compartments freely drifting and occasionally bumping into others.
After letting his breath go, Alex bent his knees and then thrusted himself out of the shuttle. Once he was out, his internal organs spun around inside him as zero gravity took him. Alex raised left fist and engaged his suits thruster controls on his hand and began testing them; with each press of direction he felt the seals on his suits armour pop open and hissing while it forced him in to go forward. He then countered his own inertia by engaging his forward thruster which had hissed and released a puff of moisture to be seen coming from his front armour. Alex caught up with his group who were hovering around a lifeboat. The small cylindrical craft sported three thruster cylinders on its outer body as though they were attached as merely an afterthought. Two Naga’s of the search party gracefully slid themselves inside the life boat’s hatch just as Alex approached. He looked inside while holding on to the hatch frame as the duo inspected each of the bodies that were strapped into their seats. Many of whom hadn’t worn their helmets. Further inspection showed that the pilot’s cockpit was breached as fragments of shattered glass had peppered their body and pierced their suit. Curiously, Alex flew around to the front compartment of the Life Boat and saw that its sleek body had been compromised. He ordered the search party over towards a nearby ship that seemed to be mostly intact. From their approach, the Alliance ship had a massive hole blown into it from its dorsal to ventral sides, its starboard engine had suffered damage, leaving it askew from the main body.
After releasing a quick burst of speed, Alex saw his team mates accelerate and overshoot him toward the downed frigate ahead of them. Upon landing on its outer hull and activating their magnetic boots, the team followed Alex as he trekked against the dark grey surface. Bright patterns shimmered underneath their feet and Alex shone his light across the surface to see the giant reflective lettering of the ship's registration. He raised his light across the hull, reading out the letters as he saw them.
“A…G…A…M…I…D” Alex softly mumbled to himself, not loud enough for his helmet radio to transmit.
The rest of the lettering was far too distant to be read properly, However, Alex didn’t need to see them to realise which ship he was on before turning to face his team and then looking upwards of their position to see other shuttlecraft slowly scanning each piece of debris.
They climbed up an incline along the Agamid’s hull when the party eventually came across the edge of the hole that had punctured the vessel’s integrity. Its own circumference was smoothly cut into the outer hull while the inner chassis poked out jaggedly. Each subsequent deck that was breached had their deck plates bent inward towards the ventral side with scorch marks blanketing the wall in black. Alex was the first to descend, he brought himself to his knees and swung his legs over the edge, careful not to catch his suit on the sharp jagged edges that would create a tear and vent his own air supply. With gentle taps of his thruster control releasing quick puffs of air that made him descend slowly into the Agamid while looking around in the corridors. He tapped his thruster control again to push him forward and Alex landed on the deck plating of the deck closest to the outer hull. His helmet lights lit the darkened tunnel before him as more lights approached from behind. Vibrations were felt through the floor as the rest of the search party landed on the deck, many of them carrying with them portable seal kits and tools.
“We will go in groups of three,” Alex spoke. “DeSoto and Zhok, come with me. Everybody else, search this ship deck by deck.”
Shortly the search team had split into smaller groups which then went their separate ways into the ship. Alex led his group through the empty halls of Deck one, climbing a set of stairs and forcing open the doors that led to the bridge. Once inside the pitch-black control centre whose design allowed it to be larger and more open than the Phoenix’s was by combining the CIC and Bridge functions into one room. The Bridge was split into three levels with each level lined up with different consoles and computers. The captain's chair sat on the middle level which had its own set of steps leading down to a set of helm control consoles meant to control Port and Starboard respectively. In the centre of the round room was a large hologram table. In direct sight of the captains view beyond the helm consoles and holographic display was the front window, several of the glass panels were breached and a handful more had cracks in them. Beyond the glass showed the bridge resting atop the thin body of the Agamid slowly rolling on its side. Alex and his team members searched each of the levels and inspecting the limp bodies of the remaining crew who dutifully manned their stations till their last breath. The Lykan in his group started collecting identification tags off the bodies while Alex and his other team mate started searching for the Agamid’s black box.
Alex’s helmet lights centred on a panel on the floor at the foot of the holographic table with red warning stripes on its edges and faded yellow lettering with a small handle embedded in the panel. Alex and his human team mate, DeSoto, pulled simultaneously on the handle and suddenly the panel that had been stubbornly stuck jerked itself free, making both humans fall on their backsides and nearly costing them their magnetic grip on the floor while the panel was thrown carelessly across the room. Inside, Alex saw an array of levers, switches and instructions beneath the floor panel while the Black box was safely tucked in its slot.
Didn’t even get a chance to be ejected. Nothing on this ship did so it seems.
His team mate ran his fingers along the lines of instructions as he read. Most of it was information Alex was already aware of such as the need to manually disconnect the data shards that fed the flight recorder its data and the proper handling of the device. Together with his teammate they heaved the recorder out of its compartment, which had been more firmly secured in its place than either one was led to believe. Each tug of their combined strength only worked to inch the Flight Recorder out. Finally, when its top half was sticking out of the floor both men found it easier to extract after grabbing the main body and using their legs to force it out. When it did finally come out of its slot, Alex looked over to his human teammate before handing the young officer the rectangular device.
“Head back to the entry point and take this back to the shuttle, wait for further instructions” Alex jerked his thumb. The officer’s name lit up on his HUD and soon walked out of the bridge leaving him alone with his Lykan team mate. “C’mon, let's go. There’s nothing here anymore.”
After leaving the bridge behind them, Alex looked to his Lykan team mate on his right hand side. “What’s your name?” He asked nonchalantly.
“Alistair, sir. My name is Alistair Zhok.” The Lykan now identified as Alistair said.
“Alistair… right.” Alex took a quick look at Alistair’s shoulders to see his rank patch which identified him as a Warrant Officer. “Warrant Officer Alistair” he resumed. “Tell me, are you afraid right now?”
In the corner of his eye, Alex spotted that the Lykan hesitated for a moment before turning his head to face his Captain. The young captain couldn’t refrain from smiling at the humorous reaction which didn’t show through his helmet visor.
“I guess so, sir. This fleet got destroyed and there is no evidence of who attacked them. I mean, what exactly put that hole in this ship?” Alistair pointed out. “Sure as shit wasn’t a Gauss round that put that hole there. It's too big.”
Alex concurred.
After twenty minutes of searching through barren corridors and empty rooms the search party regrouped on the outer hull outside the breach where they had entered through. Many teams claimed they found no one alive, some reported that not all of the life boats had been launched with many having the occupants on board still strapped to their seats. The party disabled their magnetic boots just as they squat down to launch themselves off the hull after timing the Agamid’s spin to drift towards their shuttlecraft. Once aboard the shuttle and all team members were accounted for, Alex ordered the pilots to search for another wreckage with an active SOS signal. However, Alex didn’t sit down in his seat, instead opting to hold on to the pilots’ seats and watch from the cockpit as they gingerly manoeuvred around the debris.
The shuttle rounded a corner from an Alliance ship that had been in worse shape than the Agamid yet he couldn’t recognise what it was as the cloud of debris that orbited it obstructed many of the main body’s details and slowed its approach as it drifted toward a large battleship ahead of them. Without needing to see its registration Alex instinctively recognised it as the Bellerophon. He recognised it as the only other Valkyrie Class battleship still in service aside from his own vessel; the Phoenix.
At a glance, the Bellerophon appeared dead in the water. It simply rested idly, undisturbed and still in the vacuum of space. But as the shuttle drew closer to the ageing battleship more details about its recent encounter became apparent. Towards the stern it could be seen one of her ventral portside engines was gone. Alex looked around the surrounding debris with an almost childlike curiosity to find where it went but to no avail. Scorch marks pockmarked her light grey surface with chunks of hull plating stripped along where the Phoenix’s mess hall would be and where their starboard hangar deck was. Massive bars of steel protruded outward from the dorsal side behind the bridge exposing the inside of the Bellerophon’s CIC to vacuum.
“Bring us about to her ventral hull and set down next to that impact site” Alex lightly tapped on the pilot’s shoulder, gesturing to the Battleship.
He left the cockpit and back into the main hold as the rest of the search party looked at each other nervously. Alex tapped his control and his helmet cascaded over his head like a wave of metal and poly-carbon composites smoothly covering every inch of his head before each plate pressed firmly against each other creating a seal inside. Alex’s ears popped shortly after hearing a dull hiss inside his helmet as he watched the heads-up display load up all relevant information, he looked over the rest of the search party who had taken notice of his helmet and proceeded to do the same.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Get ready, men. Same as before, stick to your teammates, watch each other’s backs and report anything you find. Pilot, get ready to decompress the hold!”
Outside his helmet Alex could hear the air getting sucked back into the reserve tanks before a soundless void filled the space between his breaths and beating heart and the thumps of metal boots clanking against the floor. The captain took a couple of steps away from the door, then suddenly threw his legs in front of him to build up speed before lunging out of the door. Once outside the Shuttle, Alex gained a better sense of his surroundings as he looked down past his feet to see the inside of the CIC of the Bellerophon. Unlike the Agamid, the damage done to the outer hull hadn’t gone through the ship, instead it looked as though explosive damage was the cause. The scorching around the hole reached and spread its blackness across the hull with thin tendrils. Stopping only shortly after the initial epicentre was gone. Alex flashed a signal to tell the others to enter while he engaged his own thrusters to carry him downward, feeling the pull of his mag-boots landing with a muffled thump.
Looking around the decompressed and exposed CIC, Alex remarked how similar it was in design to the Phoenix. The Combat centre was a circular room with a holographic table in the centre.
I hope Captain Tessa got out, Hell, I hope anybody got off this ship, any ship.
The search party left the CIC as each team member met with their previous teammates and split up into their same groups. Alistair and DeSoto followed Alex as he led the duo to the barracks. After ten minutes of individually searching the shared quarters, something eerie became apparent to Alex. He stopped in the middle of the corridor and flashed his lights down both ends of the vacant corridor when Alistair and DeSoto noticed him.
“What’s wrong, sir?” Alistair asked. His voice carried a note of concern.
Alex looked around the corridors one final time, then he focused on Alistair and DeSoto who stood still, staring at him.
“This ship is identical to the Phoenix in construction and architecture.” He began. “There’s a set of life boats situated one deck above us and yet… look around you. Nothing. No bodies.”
DeSoto was the first to speak up. “Isn’t that a good thing? That just means people got out, right?”
“Then how do you explain the blood?” Alex threw his light to showcase one particular section of the bulkhead painted in blood which glimmered in the light as the moisture crystallised in the absence of pressure or air.
“Perhaps it was injured crewman?” Alistair said with uncertainty.
Just then, a squawk of static filled his helmet as another team reported in. “Captain Rowan, this is Lieutenant Tigan. Over”
“Rowan here, Tigan. What’s going on, have you found something?”
“Yes sir, we found… something. We are on deck seven, near the armoury located on Starboard hangar one.”
Alex glanced over to his team mates who looked at each other with confused expressions. Then he turned away as he answered the radio. “Stay put, we are on our way.”
Alex and his team mates sprinted as best they could in the microgravity environment, movement with magnetic boots had always been seen by the masses as restoring gravity to a person allowing them to walk normal but in reality, it would strongly glue a person’s legs to the floor and require a great deal of effort to separate the union between the two surfaces. Once they had worked their legs free from the constraints of magnetism it left the person feeling as though they were on the verge of drifting indefinitely into space. Only when they brought it back down to glue themselves back to the floor did the process start again. In short, running in the empty corridors was more effort than it would have been to run on the Phoenix with operational life support and environment. The trio arrived at the first floor of the hangar deck and it was then that they encountered a blockage in the form of the bulkhead having collapsed, seven-inch-thick metal panels removed from their braces along with piping exposed and dislodged. Whatever created the explosion in the hangar bay must have been responsible. However, Alex knew the Phoenix inside and out and the Bellerophon was no exception. He turned right and followed the hallway down until coming to a four-way intersection and turned left until he came across a set of bulkheads partially left ajar.
DeSoto and Alistair forced the door panels apart leaving Alex free to enter the Hangar deck; the cavernous room was a mess in every sense of the word. Shrapnel idly drifted in and out of the open hangar doors, Alex recognised some parts as parts of Wedge-Tail dropships such as thruster cones and fuel lines and even panels used for the wing tips. The hangar was devoid of anything noteworthy until Alex spotted the moving lights from the other team. He approached them from behind and they jumped when they saw him.
“Sorry sir,” The one closest to him said.
Alex shrugged his shoulders “Report, lieutenant, what is it?”
Lieutenant Tigan, towered above Alex with his broad chest and wide stature. Most members of the Minotaur race were often taller and bulkier compared to humans. Even Lykans were short of a few inches in height and often had a much slimmer frame compared to the bulky stature of the Minotaurs. His helmet inched downward until it met with Alex’s face and a disembodied voice spoke coarsely in his ear.
“Captain, we found what looks like a breaching pod near the armoury.” He said.
Alex’s eyes widened, finally, a clue of some sort to figure out who did this. But the Minotaur’s voice told he was holding something back, Alex didn’t think much of it until the Lieutenant shifted uncomfortably.
“What is it?” Alex asked.
“Well, what’s more we… I think it might be better if you see it.” Tigan turned around and took slow steps out of the hangar and led Alex and his team down the hallway. Twenty steps in nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, however, that all changed as soon as blood was seen spattered on all four walls, arms were suspended in the middle of the corridor. Some of which had maintained their grip on tools and weapons. Tigan took a step to the side and pressed himself against the wall with his arm outstretched to showcase what he called Alex for.
And what Alex saw made his body suddenly turn cold.
His suit may have been designed to feed air to him but for a moment it felt as though air had been pulled out of his lungs and left him a deflated husk with eyes wider than he thought possible.
The object was wedged firmly into the wall and blocked further access down the corridor. The opposing wall was caved in as panels and support beams were bent inwards. Even a piece of the exterior hull plating had found itself inside the corridor. The object was resting on its side and was no higher than Alex’s waist. Its surface was not smooth and contained bumps and dents all over its surface area. At first, Alex assumed it was from the impact but the scratch marks and damage to its surface showed it might have been like that. The tip that collided with the hull and interior walls cracked and along its surface showed signs of fatiguing along its resin-based exterior. It only took one glance for Alex to realise that this thing was made from the same technology as the alcove they have on board the Phoenix. The same technology used by the aliens.
“My god!” he muttered.
“That’s not all,” Tigan piped up.
He led the group past the damaged section and down a corridor on their right, stopping short of reaching a set of metal doors that looked reinforced. Bodies of many men and women of various species cluttered around the door while their blood painted the usually white-grey panels in crimson. But what was perhaps most eye-catching of all was the presence of an insect with its raptorial appendages wedged into the metal floor which seemingly kept it from drifting off in zero gravity. Unlike the creature they had encountered on the Krath’let, this one had seemed to be noticeably larger and thinner while sporting a second pair of raptorial appendages under its normal pair. It also boasted wire thin antennae on its head that was a foot in length and curved its way down the creature’s neck. Its eyes were bulbous and black as onyx, but weren’t as large as the freighter’s counterpart. Its legs, which were still gripping the metal floor in its long sharp talons, had scrunched the titanium floor plates in its feet as though they were made out of paper.
Suddenly it became obvious to Alex that this thing was more stronger and was responsible for the butchered remains that littered the corridor.
He opened a channel on his wrist pad directly to the Phoenix.
“Captain Rowan to Phoenix, come in,” he shouted.
“Phoenix here, report Captain.” Hazaari responded.
After a brief recount of what Alex saw, he ordered Hazaari to prepare a shuttle with Doctor Grayich and his hand-picked medical team to fly over to the Bellerophon and pick up the creature for dissection. It came as no surprise to Alex that when the news eventually reached the young enthusiastic drake he exploded with excitement and eagerness.
Regrouping in the messy hangar bay onboard the Bellerophon with his and Tigan’s group, Alex walked up to Tigan before speaking. “Stay here until the medical team arrives, keep an eye out and head back to the Phoenix when they are done.”
He turned around and his group left. They jumped out of the CIC and ascended through the exposed ceiling before turning on their thrusters and propelled themselves towards the shuttle which tentatively hovered above the hull. Once inside, along with every other team except Tigan’s, Alex ordered the pilot to return back to the ship.
Worry and anxiety clouded the captain’s thoughts as he looked back on the Bellerophon out of the shuttle’s porthole, slowly shrinking in the distance while becoming obscured by debris and the corpses of its Alliance comrades. Alex heard the whirring of motors and servos inside the cargo hold of the shuttle, knowing it was slowing itself down to enter the Phoenix’s hangar bay. Another Wedge-tail dropship slowly approached from behind as it fired its thrusters to slow its approach just as his did not too long ago. Once inside, Alex had made a beeline straight for the Engine room. There he found Milo tinkering with one of the recovered flight recorders inside the machine shop. His bright orange suit stood out against the darkened room, Milo looked up and the light from behind Alex reflected off his friend’s eyes. He knew the creature recognised him and yet he could never get over seeing the bright reflection staring right back at him as though his friend was going to turn on him. Of course it was a ridiculous notion that barely warranted entertaining, it was just another one of Alex’s deepest fears he kept to himself.
“What’s going on, sir?” Milo grunted, keeping a strong grip on a screwdriver that he seemed to be forcing into some crevice in the outer casing of the data storage device.
“I wanted to know if you were able to get access to any of the information stored.”
“Captain,” Milo said exasperatingly. He then stepped away from the workbench and lazily pointed to a corner of the room Alex hadn’t taken notice of yet which was filled with Flight Recorders stacked on top of each other. Seven of them in total and all in various conditions ranging from pristine to burn marks on the casing to small parts missing from the device. “See those recorders over there?” Milo continued. “Half of them are useless! Some are empty and the rest contain only sensor data. No visuals, no audio transcripts, just radar and Lidar data.”
Alex looked concerned as he faced the mountain of data storage devices. “You mean to tell me an entire fleet forgot to upload to their flight recorders?!”
“Worse… Some kind of electrical pulse must’ve wiped them. At least that’s my current hypothesis, I am not quite certain until I know more”
Pressure flared in Alex’s temple and he rubbed his index and middle finger on the spot to alleviate it.
“Alright, Commander, let me know when you can show me something substantial.” Alex had just turned around when Milo called out to him.
“Sir, is it true you found another one of those insect things on one of the ships?” He asked so casually as he worked on the Flight recorder.
Alex’s heart stopped, he had to force himself to avoid acting surprised. “H-how do you know about that? We only got back five minutes ago” he said with strained control.
“You know the old saying,” The Lykan said calmly. “Rumours spread faster than plagues.”
“And just as devastating” Alex concluded.
The captain leaned against one of the blackened walls inside the machine shop while his friend swapped out the screwdriver for a pair of long, thin pliers and attempted to peel back the thin metal casing apart. Alex let out a sigh of exhaustion as his mind raced over what to do next. His friend noticed this and his tool down on the workbench and leaned on it before sending away his assistant.
“Alright, spill it. What’s on your mind?”
Alex inhaled sharply and pinched the bridge of his nose “I’m scared, man. I thought this was going to be routine. Find that stupid fucking freighter and go home. Instead we have made First Contact with a giant murder insect that can cut us down with only its arms and…and-“
“Deep breaths, bud” Milo spoke softly. He brought his hands up to his chest and lowered them in sync with his own controlled breathing to calm down his friend. Alex hadn’t noticed he began hyperventilating when he spoke. He squeezed his eyes shut as tears trickled down his cheek. A new feeling emerged from within: Guilt.
Guilty was now all he could feel. Guilty that he was emotionally breaking down, guilty that he led his crew right into certain doom. Milo stood up from his stool and walked past him to shut the door, sealing both men inside the machine shop.
“Alex, we are not just friends anymore, we are brothers. Okay? I’ve always been by your side and you have been by mine since we were young. As your second in command and Executive Officer aboard this ship I want you to know you have my full support in whatever it is you do.”
Alex nodded his head slightly and wiped away the tears with his wrist. “Thanks, Milo. Sometimes I wonder what the Admiralty was thinking about putting someone like me in charge.”
“Well this at least proves the admiralty is capable of making mistakes, hah!”
Both men chuckled heartily. Alex lightly punched Milo’s shoulder jokingly only to laugh harder. Alex needed this, the act of laughter had felt like any of his negativity and self-doubt was being blown away with each time he laughed. The moment was interrupted by a series of knocks coming from the hatch which Milo ventured over to open only for a female gargoyle to be shown standing outside. She held a tool box in one of her scaled, clawed hands as well as what looked like a bulkier tablet in the other. Her emerald green eyes bounced between looking at Alex and Milo, suspiciously as though she thought something fishy was going on behind the closed hatch door.
“As I was saying Commander,” Alex cleared his throat. “Once you have all that data, figure out what happened and report back to me.”
“Aye, sir” Milo lazily saluted before turning his attention to his subordinate.
Back In his office, later that day. Alex gazed out the window, watching as his shuttles and recon probes scoured the wreckages for any sign of survivors. The nearest piece of debris to drift into view was an entire section of some vessel unlucky enough to be cut into multiple pieces. It featured a cross section of at least three decks with half a room next to one of those exposed corridors. The outer hull remained mostly intact; the colour of its hull told Alex it was an Alliance vessel. He sighed exasperatingly as it gracefully slid across his field of vision. The blue background with spots of red flammable gas in the distance became entrancing to look at with the naked eye. He was about to close the shutter on his window when a flash at the corner of his eye caught his attention. He whipped his head back to where he thought he saw it come from, then he looked around the surrounding space for any of the Shuttle craft and when he didn’t see any he began looking around the sight where he saw it.
This couldn’t have been my shuttles, it was a flash, not the passing of a spotlight.
Once Alex had convinced himself there was nothing there, he returned to his desk and engaged the shutters. He kept a vigilant eye as the window slowly narrowed itself until the light ceased to enter his office behind the closed shutter. He sat at his chair for a while, idly staring at the blank wall monitor on the other side of his office while he pondered his thoughts alone.