“..iral.”
“..miral.”
“Admiral, wake up.” said sensor tech Daniel Bagshaw shaking the the Admiral gently. his faceplate cracked top to bottom.
As the admiral slowly came to, he noticed the bridge was shrouded in darkness. Gone were the bright LED lights. In its place was red emergency lighting, casting everything in a deep crimson and creating deep ominous shadows.
He blinked, trying to clear the fog from his mind . The last thing he remembered was a flash and the world around him shattering into glass, then… nothing. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could make out the forms of his crew still secured in their crash couches. An alarm wailed in the background, knocking the last fog from his weary brain.
The admiral pushed himself out of his chair grunting at the pain in his legs after standing after who knew how long, He stumbled catching himself on his tactical console, he tapped the screen a few times the screens remained dark and lifeless “shit, its dead.”
Dread settled in his gut. Whatever happened had slagged most of the bridge’s electronics. They were sitting ducks unless they could get the systems working again.
“ATLAS are you online” he said not letting the situation colour his words.
“I’m here admiral, crew and evacuees are starting to wake up. Nanite repair systems are down, I have activated our repair droids. 80% of repair units are currently engaged in keeping life support systems operational, 20% are in the process of making sure structural integrity of the ship is maintained, I am tasking a portion of repair units to the bridge to repair what they can.” The voice of ATLAS is calm and reassuring as it speaks.
“Thank you ATLAS.” He paused shaking out the stiffness in his joints and dreading the numbers he was about to receive. “How many casualties did we take from the jump?”
“I regret to inform you admiral, we did suffer losses during the jump. Scans show indicate seventeen fatalities across the ship, mostly located in the engineering and aft sections of the ship. The majority of the crew and evacuees are only suffering minor injuries – mostly minor fractures and jump sickness due to the aggressive nature of the jump space translations.”
Cooker felt the subtle shift of the bridge rising from its combat position, the bridge crew was starting to recover at this point. As the armoured shutters retracted, revealing the vast expanse of space beyond them, Cookers eyes widened in astonishment. In front of him was a colossal planet, its sheer magnitude dwarfing some gas giants he’d come across.
“Sir, bridge systems coming back online” the recently awakened second in command Donald Lera said with a slight grogginess to his words “Navigation is showing… Hold on that can’t be correct, sir its showing we jumped 2.3 million light years from Yadvek in 46 hours…. Th..That’s impossible. We’d be an atomic smear across the milky way going that kind of speed. The computers throwing errors at me when I try to calculate where we are”
Admiral Cooker stared at the impossible numbers on the screen, his mind refusing to register the ludicrous numbers. “ATLAS, confirm these readings. Are we really that far out?”
“Affirmative, Admiral,” ATLAS replied, its voice calm and reassuring despite the gravity of the situation. “My calculations corroborate Commander Lera’s findings. We have indeed travelled approximately 2.3 million light-years in 46 hours. This puts us well beyond the boundaries of the Milky Way galaxy.”
The bridge fell silent as the situation they found themselves sank in. They were further from home than any human had ever travelled, in a completely unknown region of space.
“Admiral, I don’t want to cause alarm but our orbit is decaying,” said ATLAS in its usual calm and collected tone.
“What’s the estimated time until impact?” Cooker asked, his voice remaining steady despite the severity of the situation.
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“I’ve already activated emergency protocols and informed the engineering crew.”
Cooker nodded, trying to find a potential solution. “Do we have any options, ATLAS?”
“Our primary thrusters are still not operational, so we won’t be able to reach a stable orbit. As it stands, we will crash just off the coast of the largest landmass on the planet.”
“What about the auxiliary thrusters?” Helmsman Ralts said, quickly shrinking back as the two commanding officers quickly snapped to where he was standing.
ATLAS’ form flickered for a moment as if thinking hard about the query.”Auxiliary thrusters are at 22% capacity admiral, enough to slow our descent and crash land somewhere more survivable but not enough to prevent our impact”
Cookers mind raced through alternatives, years of training kicking into overdrive.”What about escape pods?
“Functional, sir but ill-equipped for long term survival on an unknown planet and they would scatter us over the landmass”
Cookers jaw clenched “Damn it.” The situation was deterioating and the options seemed to get worse.
ATLAS’ calm voice chimed in, “I have analysed our options. I believe I can use the atmosphere to slow us enough for a controlled crash landing and use the remaining fuel in the thrusters to land us in a more advantageous location away from the inhabitants of the planet.”
Cookers eyes darted to the hologram of the digital sentience “Define ‘controlled crash landing’ for me.” he said, his voice tight.
A trajectory that will reduce our velocity by 87.3% upon atmospheric entry, followed by a series of calculated manoeuvres to minimise impact force,” ATLAS replied “The ship’s structural integrity should remain at 62% or higher.”
Captain Lera ran his hand through his sweat soaked hair “What about projections for crew survivability”
“Survival probability is over 94%, with proper safety protocols 86% if we go for landing as we are now the inertial dampening should take the brunt of the forces we feel” ATLAS stated “However I must stress this is the best of our options and every minute we delay is one less I will have to manouevre the ship”
“Everybody strap in, helmets on and secured. Comms open a ship wide channel they need to know what’s going on” Cooker said his voice once again hard as steel. “All hands this is the admiral, so far you’ve performed your jobs admirably. As it stands, we have travelled over 2.3 million light years. For those of you questioning the numbers, ATLAS has confirmed these numbers. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to a new galaxy. We are in orbit above an inhabited supermassive planet in less than two hours we will attempt to land on its surface. I need every one of you to secure yourselves, It’s about to bumpy, Cooker out”
Lera studied the admiral next to him, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. “Bumpy is an understatement, wouldn’t you say?” Cooker shrugged as much as he could within the confines of his harness, a smile forming on his lips. “Once ATLAS has ensured everyone is safely secured, he can take control of the ship and guide us in.”
==—==
After two hours, the ship began its descent through the thick atmosphere. To anyone on the ground, it would appear as a huge ball of glowing plasma, slowly falling towards land. “Looks like Sameer and Arina are both unconscious,” Cooker said, clenching his teeth. Despite the dampeners trying to minimise the impact, there was still a constant rumble that made him feel sick. “How much longer until we touch down, ATLAS?” he asked.
“Less than an hour until impact admiral, all heat shields are engaged and am attempting to stabilise our descent trajectory” ATLAS said calmly as if it a stroll through a park.
Cooker nodded gritting his teeth unable to say anything without losing the contents of his stomach. The bridge, usually a hub of activity was eerily quiet save for the occasional prayer offered or the groans of stressed metal.
“Any luck contacting the surface? I’m sure I saw cities down there.” Cooker asked
“Negative admiral, we detected no transmissions from the surface before attempting our landing, and now the ionisation is blocking all transmissions we’re deaf and blind until we break through.” ATLAS said
==--==
“What do you call a spaceship crash landing on a planet?” Private Milford asked the scientist he sat next to securely locked into the dropships harness.
The scientist sick of the privates bad jokes groaned “I don’t know private, what DO they call a spaceship making a crash landing on a planet”
“A problem” he grinned stupidly at the scientist.
“Thats…Just… I have no words. THATS IT? THATS THE PUNCHLINE?” The scientist just stared at private with the a confused look. Next to him the scientist could hear the head researcher trying his best to stifle a snicker and failing turning into a silent wheezing laugh
“See? your boss gets it.” The private looked at the scientist with fake offence that his original target didn’t like his horrible joke.
IMPACT. IMPACT. IMPACT. appeared on the marines visors on reflexively they grabbed the harness tightly until the skin of their knuckles turned white at the same time the automated intercom blared out the same words and everyone on the dropship braced for the impact.
Moments later a massive jolt shook the dropship they were safely inside a few cries of pain sounded out mostly from the less experienced scientists who failed to brace properly. Sargeant Alfaro grit his teeth as the harness automatically tightened and dug further into his armour.
The shaking subsided after a few minutes and the main hatch of the dropship unfolded into a ramp.
Sergeant Alfaro released his harness and stood, surveying his team with a critical eye. “Everyone alright?” he asked, his voice steady despite the lingering adrenaline from the turbulent landing.
A chorus of affirmations and nods greeted him, though he noticed a few winces among the scientists.
==—==
“ATLAS status report” Cooker shouted over the sound of the automated fire suppression system. The jolt of the landing had been the final blow needed to destroy the already damaged components of the ships bridge
The holographic interface flickered to life, casting an eerie glow amidst the smoke-filled chamber. ATLAS’s voice, usually a reassuring constant, crackled with static interference. “Hull integrity compromised. Life support systems operating at 43% capacity. Propulsion offline. Communications array damaged.”
“The contractors that built this ship deserve a raise it” Captain Lera said a trickle of blood running down the front of his face from the helmet slamming into his face “Everyone alive and kicking?” he said pained grunts were the only affirmations he needed.
“Due to time constraints, we were unable to send a probe to the planet for atmospheric analysis. However, initial readings show a comparable composition of nitrogen and oxygen to Earth. Therefore, I will propose shutting down the life support system in order to conserve power” ATLAS said as precise and logical as ever
“We need to take stock of our situation and figure out how we’re going to survive this” Cooker said, any uncertainty was hidden behind the grim determination to keep his people alive.