The alarm shifted tone yet the emergency lighting shifted to a deep baleful red colour filling every nook and cranny in the CIC of the Phoenix.
“Abandon ship!” Alex repeated, more loudly than the last over the blaring alarms.
The ship rumbled from another salvo that struck the hull with a force strong enough to shake several light fittings out of their sockets and leave them dangling by thin red and yellow wires from the ceiling. When he turned to face the monitors of the losing battle with the alien ship Alex felt a shiver crawl up his spine when he saw dozens of insertion pods flying towards them. The enemy vessel continued its tactic with the aim of reclaiming the vessel.
Some of the officers closest to the hallway were the first to leave, many others had gotten out of their posts but remained indecisive to stay or not while only a handful still sat at their posts. Alex looked at the swarm of pods as one officer called them out. First it seemed like there was only fifteen then twenty-five. But the number kept increasing and increasing; it seemed like the alien ship was spewing these pods out like they were about as expendable as the ammunition they were throwing back at them.
Even while abandoning his ship Alex could not let any more of those creatures onboard. The handful that had already made their way inside the hull were busy scuttling around and slaughtering the crew was one too many for Alex to handle. He quickly glanced at the few officers who still valiantly manned their stations before taking control over the main terminal to continue firing at the ship until its last bullet.
“Engage flak field!” He barked at no one in particular. His screen lit up as depictions of turrets and cannons on the Phoenix’s outer hull shifted from red to green as they engaged, a muffled rumbling vibrated through the hull shortly after. The flak cannons fired rapidly aimlessly with the hopes of hitting the insertion pods which Alex hoped to get as many as he could. He felt his wish come true as the opening attack blasted nearly half the deployed pods; some had been forced off course from the nearest explosion and collided with their neighbouring pod. But many seemed to slip through. Turning back around Alex still saw some officers standing in the centre of the CIC with their mouths agape, some with shock and other with worried expressions over their faces.
“Get to the lifeboats… Now!” He shouted loudly enough to snap some of the crew out of their stupor before bolting out of the CIC before disappearing behind the sliding doors. One of them, a Naga, stood still for a second, Alex was just about to shout at her once more before she slithered her way to the nearest station and placed a headset over her head. Alex was going to order her to leave again before realising he couldn’t fend off the alien attack once more.
The camera lit up as the alien ship prepared to fire another volley and this time it skimmed along the dorsal hull, cutting a trench along the ship; several Flak cannons went Offline as their positions on his tactical screen replaced them with red crosses.
Shit, they’re targeting our defences!
“Alright people!” He said loudly enough for them to hear him. “Set all batteries to auto target and set them at maximum speed. Lock engines ahead in a Portside pivot!” And they shouted “Aye, sir!” in unison.
With their destroyed engines, in truth, circling the alien ship was all the Phoenix could do with her engines, Alex felt it would help ease their chances of defeating them, even in their current state. Suddenly but not unexpectedly, he felt a pull to the side and the ship rumbled as it pulled to its port, inertia compensators and artificial gravity was barely coping with the beating and the punishment it was under. One of the monitors bleeped twice and a rush of air whooshed through the walls.
“Raft One-Three launched!” one of the officers called out.
The screen shifted to an exterior hull camera’s point of view depicting the launch of the first craft to escape the Phoenix: four explosive bolts detonated silently, shooting sparks outward in an ever-expanding cone before being snuffed out by their heat energy. But the space in between the discharged explosives shot out two identical rectangular panels that were obscured by a faint haze along with the shimmer of ice crystals glowing in the light of the nebula. Followed swiftly by the escape craft itself being carried by the decompression of its launch tube before its external thrusters engaged and the craft accelerated far away from the Phoenix. Alex exhaled heavily as he realised, he held onto his breath once again, even one craft was good enough for him. At least twenty-five of his crew made it off safely.
Another series of bleeps and whoosh sounds followed and the Officer read out the situation almost immediately as they occurred. “Raft One-Seven launched… Raft’s Two-One and One-Five have launched successfully!”
The ship rumbled as it took more damage from the enemy vessel, Alex checked the munition readouts and he felt a spike of fear quickly rise up before he buried it under his authority. The automatic cannons were so busy denying the insertion pods a safe passage that their stores were quickly running low. The flak ammunition wasn’t designed to be used continuously for such a long time compared to its more dangerous counterparts and torpedoes, another five minutes and it would be depleted and nothing will stop the seemingly endless insertion pod deployment from boarding and taking over the Phoenix… And those things will be crawling in every service tunnel and vent shaft.
The thought of seeing those things crawling out of the vents and maintenance hatches sent a shiver up his spine that made it spasm discretely and uncontrollably for a few seconds.
“What weapons do we have left?” He shouted to nobody and everybody.
Several of the remaining officers looked at each other before staring at their screens for a short moment before one by one they spouted off their displayed information to the Captain. Many of the weapons were already depleted or close to it. Alex looked around for the CIC and stared at the determination in the face of imminent danger, but he could not yet bring himself to see these officers be butchered by those things. And just as he thought of it a loud CLANK shrieked through the hull. Atmospheric breach alarms rang out showing multiple insertion pods stuck into the weakened hull armour like leeches attempting to suck the life out of the arteries of the Phoenix. His anger manifested itself twisting his face into a scowl as he watched the losing battle, cannons thundered and missile pods fired the last of their salvos at the enemy. Plumes of gases vented out of the strange vessel’s resin like hull. Its hull grooves glowed and fired another beam of energy that sliced off the Phoenix’s communication tower array.
It was official now… They were alone in the universe.
This time, an explosion ruptured throughout the hull. Most of the ones before had felt like punches. An external blow that was applying its own force against the ship, rocking it and chipping away at its ageing brittle armour. But the latest one differed in that it felt like something inside the ship had exploded, perhaps one of the ballast tanks ruptured or one of their magazines got struck by the energy weapon?
Alex was snapped out of the maelstrom of instances swirling around his head when one of his officers solemnly spoke out. “Raft One-Four was destroyed inside their launch tube.”
Alex turned to face the Holographic model of the Phoenix, pockmarked in flashing red sections more so than it was its pure golden colour. The launch tubes for the escape craft situated next to each other in rows of ten on both sides of the ship. Several of the launch tubes were erased from the three-dimensional model as they launched but one of them had detonated not just the framework around it but the launch tubes adjacent to it as well, eliminating three lifeboats from deploying. In a flash of inspiration, Alex tapped on his wrist pad and opened a ship wide channel and spoke swiftly.
“Attention Remaining hands! If you are unable to reach the lifeboats then proceed to the hangar decks and board any craft, get off the ship however you can!” And quickly he closed the channel.
The ship shuddered and Alex looked around the CIC to see the framework around them buckling under its spin, engines increasing velocity and the gravity stabilisers struggling under the workload.
“Go, get out of here!” he spat at the remaining officers with a dismissive hand wave. “Save yourselves first. Captain always go down with their ship.”
That last part slipped out. Part of his training flashed before his eyes and he didn’t mean to say it, it was just an old earth expression that was tradition. Truthfully Alex hoped he wouldn’t go down with the Phoenix, he’d settle for being the last on it but definitely not dying.
On the console’s screen in front of him, he was able to pull up engineering diagnostic screens with a few swipes and taps of the screen. His eyes scanned the entirety of the screen darting from side to side rapidly, as he studied the digital gauges decreasing and increasing. Flow valve intakes were stuck open on some of the chemical thrusters in the stern section which slowly drained the Phoenix’s entire chemical fuel supply.
Two more of the officers dashed for the opening and left and the knot inside his stomach tightened itself until it felt as though his insides were experiencing the worst cramp pains ever. Then he proceeded to the bridge to see Lieutenant Hazaari and Ensign Clemens still sitting at their posts. Clemens’ arms struggled against the piloting controls, as though he was fighting the Phoenix for steering. Alex told him to leave it and get off the ship.
“Sir, I think I can get some more movement if I-“
“Stow it, ensign!” Alex interrupted. “Get up and get out of here… The Phoenix is already lost.”
Just as the words left his mouth, it finally dawned on Alex the weight of that declaration. This ship, his home, his workplace was his first command. Guilt slowly trickled into his emotional state as he remembered all the times he wished for a better posting, for a modern ship. Even a state of the art destroyer like the Thunderstriker would have been preferable. But here he was, standing on his bridge as alarms blared their siren and emergency lighting bathed the halls in orange and red glows all the while bulkheads and panels came loose at the seams around him, a tinge of regret and guilt at wanting a better posting felt wrong. The Phoenix was old, decrepit and scheduled to be decommissioned at the Jovian Scrapyards, but nevertheless, she was a fine ship that served her purpose well. The battlecruiser fought valiantly with its alien counterpart but the odds did not play to the crew’s favour. Alex sighed as he accepted defeat and hoped to fight another day.
Hazaari stood up and bolted for the door, the plumage on her neck stood on end which she tried to hide by stroking her hands down the back of her neck. Clemens had stood up out of his chair and then crouched next to his console, placing his hand underneath in the alcove where his legs once were.
“Now Clemens!” Alex barked once more.
With a swift tug with his hand underneath the console, Clemens’ hand shot out carrying a small piece of brown metal. Alex was just about to stride over and drag the stubborn helmsman out by his neck when he turned around and shot past the captain carrying the small brown sheet of metal. Alex grabbed Clemens firmly by the arm as he walked past his captain, catching a glimpse of the metal plate the young, cocky pilot had removed.
The Phoenix’s commissioned plaque? I wondered where that was hiding.
Clemens looked down at his captain's grip on his arm.
“Clemens,” Alex spoke gently. “Make your way to the Captain’s launch tube and get my yacht ready. Don’t leave without me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, sir.” He responded with a smirk. And he ran off back into the ship.
Alex stood still for a moment on the bridge, the debris surrounding them spun into view and disappeared, knowing that in a short time ahead of now, they would reappear and the revolutions would continue. Then he took a step forward to where his chair rested, undisturbed by the destruction and the shuddering of the hull being destroyed and crouched behind it. Then he removed a panel that was situated behind the base of the chair. Alex inserted his two index fingers into the holes in the corners and curled them to pull the panel off. Inside, he saw the Flight Recorder, he could hear the muffled beeping and trilling of parts as data was fed into it in real time. Alex flipped a switch next to the flight recorder and released the latches that held the rectangular device firmly in its slot before Alex pulled on the handle on its side. It glided upward with ease in its slot and it swung freely when it was extracted.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
With the Flight Recorder in hand, Alex only had one thing left to do to make sure this ship would not end up like the others around them in near space. On the Master command console, he swiped through the various display screens that were a repetition of depleted ammunition reserves, fire and decompression warnings and the ever growing number of hull breaches that persisted throughout the ship. He accessed the primary engineering screen and selected one of the suggested options that flashed in front of him, begging for him to use it.
No need to tell me twice, flashy red button. I know its bad out there.
Hesitantly, he pressed the button that began the automatic self-destruction sequence. Another window popped up asking him if he was certain about using that feature and Alex confirmed and the window removed itself from existence. A new screen replaced the old one, black background with four rectangles in the centre of the screen. Each one had a light grey square in the left side of each rectangle while the rest was filled with a bright, positive green colour. He tapped on his wrist pad and called for Milo. If he was going to do this, he was going to need a second set of authorisations to enact this. The first call continued to ring until it terminated itself, Alex tapped on Milo’s name again and it rang. After half a minute of dial sounds, Milo finally answered; the background noises behind his voice said he was in the engine room, possibly near one of the reactors that fed propulsion to the external engine pods. The loud abrasive ringing was accompanied with the background ambience of other officers yelling over each other and the general alert alarm sounding off.
“I’m a bit busy, sir!” He shouted loudly.
“Drop what you are doing Commander,” Alex said confidently. “We are leaving this ship to the bugs.”
Milo couldn’t hide the shock from his voice. “You what!?” Were it any other time, Alex would have found his friend’s tone to be comical and something to laugh at, but now? It was not evoking a smirk from Alex. But perhaps he would be able to mock his commander later when they regroup off the ship.
“Get to your master terminal,” Alex continued. “ And get ready to put in your authorization codes… I got a nice little present for our guests.
“Aye, sir”
“Get on the main console and prepare to enact code black.”
Alex placed the call on hold as he turned to face the master console. The handprint scanner situated on the right of the console lit up a dark blue colour as its transparent cover flicked itself open in a swift movement. Pressing his hand firmly against it, Alex spoke into it.
“Commence code black contingency. Authorisation, Alexander Rowan; Sigma-seven-seven-eight slash five-one-eight-five-upsilon.” Then, just as quickly, he tapped on his wrist pad and spoke with deftness to his friend. “Commander, your turn”
Nothing came from his wrist pad, but a chirp from the master console drew his attention, showing the middle rectangular block sliding over the green inside and replacing it with black and red hazard stripes that were both eye-catching and easy to miss in a strange parable of warning colours. Then from his wrist pad, Milo called out and told him to input the third set of codes. Alex placed his hand on the scanner and recanted the final set of codes and the third and final block slid across the rectangle and absorbed the green and spat out a pattern of black and menacing red stripes.
As expected, the final confirmation window popped up in the centre of the screen asking the observer if they are certain about this course of action. Of course Alex was sure, its not like he had many other options before him. After pressing down on the button for confirmation the CIC shifted from its red battle lighting to orange and every alarm ceased only to be immediately replaced with a new one that echoed throughout the halls.
The screen switched to one with a bright red background with black lettering, it read the instructions necessary to ensure the destruction.
“Computer, begin self-destruction of the Unified Terran starship Phoenix. Begin countdown at twenty minutes with reminder alerts every five minute intervals” Alex ordered.
The CIC chirped approvingly and then shortly after; an announcement blared throughout the ship amidst the wailing siren that blared the grim announcement of the Phoenix.
“Attention. Self-destruct sequence has been engaged. Twenty minutes until detonation has begun.” The machine voice spoke.
Alex let out a sigh of content as he looked around the CIC a final time; the holographic model of the Phoenix flickered with each shudder and rattle of the metal plating around them. The abandoned chairs of battery officers, enlisted and non-commissioned staff sat vacant as their consoles blinked frequently and bleeped out alerts that will never be read. For a moment Alex already felt a pull of heartstring triggering a sense of longing, as though he didn’t want to leave his ship. He knelt down and grabbed the flight recorder and proceeded out the doorway as alarms echoed down the abandoned hall lighting it up periodically from the hazard lighting, bright white light flashed out of order between the pulses of orange warning lights and alarms ringing.
His eyes strained to look down the dimly lit corridor with the flashing lights straining his eyes ability to let light in. But memory would act as Alex’s guiding force around his ship as he tried to get to his private yacht.
Alex stood still as he pondered over how he was going to get to the yacht docked safely in its own dedicated launch tube situated in the under the belly of the Phoenix. Unfortunately, the quickest way to get to the linear launch tube would have been one of the service tunnels that ran along the tube itself, however its been cut off from the energy beam decompressing the section entirely. But it wasn’t cut off completely, the service tunnel that led directly from the engine room to allow mechanical personnel to the yacht would still be intact. That was where he would have needed to go, in the Engine room and find the access hatch that would take him to his yacht.
A ring from his wrist pad snapped Alex out of his route planning and he tapped the answer button but did not say anything to whomever was calling him.
“Capt’n!” it was Clemens’ voice.
Alex felt surprised to hear his voice so quickly. “Clemens, tell me you made it and everything is good to go?”
Another salvo hit the ship and Alex lost his grip on the flight recorder and dropped it, just as he knelt down to pick it back up the ship was struck another time, this time nearly knocking over Alex himself.
“Aye, sir! The yacht is good to go; Our little dragon doctor is here with me now, found him on the way. Sir, those bug things are everywhere, I think I was able to give them the slip but… they are tenacious and persistent bastards! If you see one, run the other way because they will shrug off whatever you throw at it.”
Alex’s heart raced as he contemplated facing one of those things. Memories flashed of him being on the beach again and seeing the creatures rising from the boiling water and storming the beachfront en masse seized him, but for a moment a sliver of bravery entered his tormented mind giving him enough strength to shake his head as if to get the self doubt off of him.
“Get the yacht ready, Ensign! I’ll try and rally any survivors I can find. Don’t leave until I tell you to.”
After storming the staircase that led to the deck below, Alex raced down the corridor, leaping over fallen hull panels, bulkheads and debris scattered all over the floor. But despite the carnage spread all over the ship he was grateful to not have seen the corpses of his crew and even more so not to have encountered the invaders… yet.
Just as he turned a corner after his path was obstructed by a door sealed firmly in place, Alex heard something else, something distant beyond the alarms and his own breathing and beating heart.
“Hold still… its heavy” A voice said. It sounded faint, but Alex could tell it sounded strained, after scanning the hallway around him and finding nothing.
“Attention. Self-destruct sequence has been engaged.” The computer loudly declared over his own thoughts. It continued its pre-recorded message before adding that the countdown had only fifteen minutes left on it.
Dammit, I’m wasting time. I’ll have to rush this!
“Hello, is anyone still there!? Sound off!” he shouted down the corridor. Alex was just about to cup his hands again to shout when he heard one of the voices speak out from its hiding place “Over here, we need help!”
It was ahead of him.
Alex dashed down the empty corridor, throwing his legs far ahead of him before hitting the deck plating and throwing himself forward. He came across a T junction and turned to his right to see two of his crew still onboard. He was just about to ask them why they hadn’t evacuated when he noticed that one of his Naga members was buried under a collapsed bulkhead. Their human comrade was down on one knee struggling to lift the panel off them. Months of intense disaster and rescue training kicked in and Alex had dropped the Flight recorder, letting it release a loud metallic crack sound that echoed over the alarms and he proceeded to help his crewman lift the bulkhead off the serpentine member of his ship whose lithe body limply sat still from the bulkhead. Alex wrapped his fingers underneath the thick sheet of bronze-titanium composite and counted down along his crewman before lifting the panel. His legs and arms ached as he slowly lifted the plating off the naga who was able to slither their way out from the bulkhead before it pinched their tail tip. It let out a hiss of pain as it brought its tip to its hands and rubbed it in an attempt to soothe the pain.
The human crewman then turned to face Alex and thanked him before he turned around with a stern expression “What are you two still doing on board, I ordered everyone off!”
“I couldn’t leave Silas here!” The human shouted, gesturing to the Naga identified as Silas.
“Thank you for saving me, Captain. I was about to tell Cristopher to leave me.” Silas nodded.
“Come with me, both of you. I’m heading to the captain's yacht, it’s the last vessel of this ship. Plenty of room for you two.”
They both looked at each other for a moment, not saying anything as the silence was filled with wailing alarms before they nodded and agreed. Alex picked up the flight recorder off the ground and continued to proceed towards the engine room.
Keep it together, Rowan, you saved your crew which is what you do. You save your crew first. Don’t worry about the time left.
The trio continued their sprint in the bowels of the Phoenix desperately trying to beat the ticking down clock that would end the ship. They travelled two decks down and had zigged and zagged between Port and Starboard sections, overcoming fallen infrastructure and navigating around sealed decompressed compartments. Alex occasionally swapped the flight recorder between his hands after each arm grew tired from lugging around the heavy hard drive. He did consider ordering one of his subordinates to take it in his stead, but Alex couldn’t do it, he felt as though it was abusing his authority and command over those below him. He couldn’t and it was his burden to bear.
After rounding a corner, the trio nearly smacked themselves hard into a door that had been sealed and an older looking Lykan crewman who was kneeling next to an exposed panel that was next to the doors. Their thundering footfalls, with the exception of the Naga Silas, alarmed the older Lykan to raising his shotgun from its resting place in the corner and bring it to aim at face level with a deep reverberated SHA-SHUNK. Cristopher; the human crewman, let out a meek yelp after seeing the barrel aimed at them.
The Lykan, which was elbow deep in the panels internal circuitry, immediately lowered the shotgun down shortly after raising it. He let out a huff of relief when it was clear it was his captain and two other crew members that still survived. Alex checked the rank insignia on the shoulders which identified him as a Warrant Officer.
“Officer,” Alex nodded.
“Captain.” the Lykan responded.
“What's the story with the door?” Alex gestured with his head towards the door.
“There’s an atmosphere breach on the other side… It’s a small breach but the door on the opposite side didn’t seal. If I can get this one open, we can cross it without worrying about decompression. Cover me.” The Lykan licked his white fur lips as he breathed heavily, returning his gaze to the exposed panel fiddling with some wires in the panel. Alex looked at the shotgun resting next to his officer and then proceeded to attach the hard drive to his utility belt of his space suit, feeling its weight tug firmly on his suit, threatening to tear the fabric open would have been an issue of concern for Alex if he didn’t know just how durable the fabric in Alliance space suits were. And in his left thigh pocket, Alex had always kept a seal patch handy on him at all times, in space there was no telling when a small shred of metal could tear open his or somebody else’s suit.
Then, with both his hands available, Alex proceeded to grab the shotgun away from the Lykan and kept it lowered as he scanned the corridors for any signs that the insects were coming. The shotgun might be enough to repel them at close range but those things might just shrug off the blasts like they are nothing to the creatures. Slowly rising to a crescendo of creaking metal the corridor reverberated with the groaning of stressed metal threatening to buckle under the enormous strain the infrastructure has been subjected to. But even with the innocent sound of heated metal expanding and pushing against itself, slowly creaking and groaning, deep in Alex’s mind his own alarms rang even louder than the alarms in the Phoenix. Then a loud clang snapped him back to reality as he raised the shotgun up and firmly gripped it. The large shotguns design mimicked the standard space operated assault rifle’s casing and general look with the exception of a larger diameter in the barrel and extending further outward than that of the assault rifle, the forearm underneath was a large white grip that slid along the light grey tubular magazine that run adjacent below the barrel. Alex gripped the handle and fore grip tight as he stared down the sights looking for anything.
The corridor showed nothing out of the ordinary. Just a piece of the ceiling came loose and fell to the floor. But it was not enough for Alex to lower the weapon but instead chose to remove his eye from the sight and continued to hold the weapon up high from his waist. A sharp crackle came from behind and he spun around to see the Lykan officer removing his hands and standing up.
“I got it, let's go.” He said as the doors hissed and slid open.
Alex lowered the shotgun as he prepared to run. Checking behind them to make sure there was nothing following them before following behind the human and Naga.
The corridor beyond the set of doors they waited was ruined even more so than the rest of the ship. The wall to his left had been caved in, fires drifted towards the epicentre of the concave indentation as Alex heard the loud rush of air whooshing out into the void. The Lykan was ten steps ahead of Cristopher and Silas when he rounded a corner and they were another five feet ahead of Alex but he didn’t react well in time when he crashed into them both. His mouth was open as he prepared to scold them and order to run for the Yacht when he saw the Lykan trembling in fear in the corridor.
The insect stood on its thin carapace legs, being bathed in the baleful red glow of the emergency lighting gave the creature an even more demonic appearance than Alex thought it had under normal lighting conditions. Its pedipalps and mouth pieces twitched excitedly as it chirped and squealed with what Alex could have only assumed to be its version of laughing. The creature’s triangular head shimmered with each flash of white light that pulsed intermittently while its large bulbous eyes reflected nothing. Its smooth surfaces were a dull colour that seemed to have only absorbed light rather than reflect it while the rest of its armoured chitinous hide shined with a polish that almost reflected the officers reflections off its own body. With both sets of its raptorial appendages raised and reared back, ready to strike the creature let out a shriek and with one swift movement that was barely a blur to the human eye, it thrusted its lower appendages through the Warrant officer with such speed and strength that it was able to hoist him off the deck before it threw its upper set of scythe like appendages through him as well. Blood was jettisoned out from the puncture wounds, Alex saw the spray just before it struck him in the face, feeling the moist droplets get into his eyes and mouth.
His heart was suddenly going into overdrive, beating louder and faster that it drowned all noise within his ears. Fear took over his body leaving Alex to forget he had the weapon limp in his arm. But it didn’t matter, Alex knew he would remember the sounds of his officer drowning in their own blood as they coughed and spluttered while the creature chirped happily with its kill.
“Attention. Self-destruct sequence has been engaged. You now have ten minutes to evacuate.” The computer announced
No time to be cowardly, Alex. Make this thing pay and get out off this ship.