James Darrow
“All Marines, prepare to repel incoming boarders,” came a voice over the ship-wide intercom. The transport freighter’s living quarters and rec room suddenly filled with activity. Marines, heavily armored in high-density synthetic plating, squeezed through the tight corridors as they reported to their stations.
The pool and card tables were suddenly covered in extra clips and tactical grenades. Each couch and table that wasn’t bolted down to the floor was moved aside to make room for the armored infantrymen. The rec hall was a place for entertainment earlier, but now was being prepared for an entirely unwelcome form of guests.
“You know, Boss, I don’t get it,” a corporal, Barnes, said. “These pirates, don’t they get that just about all freighters and cargo haulers have either a Marine Corps escort or PMC details?”
Their Lieutenant, Frank Werner, picked up his M28 “Hammer” rifle and checked the ejection slide. “Don’t know, Barnes, but don’t really care, either. Maybe they think they can catch us in the middle of a nap or something,” Werner replied.
Barnes laughed as he and two other Marines, Rehn and Kallow checked the straps on their armor.
One of the civilian crew on the freighter passed through the hatchway and into the living quarters. Werner gave a quick glance at the flight suit, noticing the markings of the ship’s captain.
“Lieutenant,” the man started. He stood no more than five and a half feet tall but he had that usual smug look of the corporate man he was. “These pirates must not capture any of Matrix Defense’s property.”
Werner sighed as he checked his sidearm. “Captain, as much as I’m not interested in seeing pirates get their hands on PMC-grade weapons and armor systems, the lives of you and your crew are the highest priority,” he replied. Corporate men were always the same: think of the company first, not the people.
The captain was visibly upset, clenching his fists as he tried to counter the Marine. “Lieutenant, I appreciate the sentiment, but these weapons and armor systems are top of the line. If pirates got ahold of them—”
“Captain, your concerns are noted. Now if you’ll excuse us, you have your job to do just as we have ours,” Werner countered sternly as he shoved his sidearm back into the holster.
“Attention. Incoming boarding pods, prepare for hostile contact. All crew, report to a secure area. All Marines, prepare to repel incoming hostiles,” the voice said over the intercom, cutting off the captain. Though he was visibly upset, the captain stormed off through the hatchway and back up to the Bridge.
Werner shook his head as the captain left. He hated dealing with the corporations but they were a necessary evil in human society. “Alright, listen up!” he bellowed in the rec hall. “Squad one has the bridge and quarters, squad three has the cargo bays while we hold the rec hall,” he explained to the Marines under his command.
All around him, Werner saw the attentive stare of the four other Marines in his team. Winslow and Barnes, both a couple of jokers in their own right, were perfectly quiet. They were an odd team outside of the action, but each man knew his part.
A thump from the other side of the bulkhead alerted the Marines to a boarding pod attaching. All the Marines each narrowed the sound down to just behind a bulkhead that a dartboard was mounted to.
“Hey Sarge,” Barnes muttered, “Fifty credits says that the first pirate comes in right on the bullseye.”
Winslow, a sturdy man who had no hair left to cut, chuckled loudly. “Fifty? Make it a hundred and you’re on,” the sergeant replied.
Werner gave both Winslow and Barnes a stern look. “Stow it, Marines, and prepare for contact!” he ordered, pulling a couch forward to act as a piece of cover.
On the far wall, twin spots appeared as plasma torches began to burn through the hull. The rest of the Marines grabbed loose furniture and overturned others, turning the rec hall into a kill zone.
Before too long, the twin torches met and the segment of bulkhead fell inward, revealing a line of armed men on the other side.
“Open fire!” Werner ordered at the top of his lunges.
The air filled with the sound of assault rifles letting loose, their payloads slamming into the breastplates of the boarders. Instead of tearing into armor and leaving bodies on the floor, paint splatters smeared the armor while the “pirates” lowered themselves down onto the ground.
Further sets of lights flicked on and an alarm chimed over the intercom, signaling an end to the “breach”. Everyone lowered their rifles, clearing rounds from their weapons as they stood up.
“Lieutenant Paulson, what the hell were you thinking?” a Marine captain angrily asked, coming in from the hatchway.
Werner saluted as the superior officer entered the fake room and stormed up to the lieutenant of the boarding team.
“Sir, I wanted to commit to a fast strike and catch the defenders off guard,” Paulson replied, saluting the captain.
“Your pod is designed for stealth breaches, not assaults! Coming in that fast, you may as well have shot a bunch of flares out your ass! Their sensors were able to pick you up from miles away!” the captain continued, not even a foot away from Paulson. “Assault pods are for assaults, stealth pods are for stealth insertions. What about that is too hard to drive into your skull?”
Werner’s team was already being ushered out of the simulated room by one of the other drill instructors. As he stepped through the open hatchway, the lieutenant was feeling sympathetic for Paulson. They had gone through training together, though Werner was surprised that Paulson made the cut for officer’s training. The man was a good soldier but not exactly the sharpest tack in the box. He’d have gone far as regular infantry, but for right now, a captain was busy ripping him apart.
Ahead of him, Werner saw Winslow and Barnes laughing as they walked down the hallway. “You and me both saw it, Sarge! Paulson himself was dead on with the dart board!”
“Bullshit, Barnes. Paulson was a good three feet to our right of the board,” Winslow was debating. “You just don’t want to admit it because you don’t wanna cough up that hundred credits,” the sergeant argued with a chuckle.
Barnes was barely into his twenties, having joined the Marines after getting out of school. The man always worked on both his build and his tan when he got the chance. He was a six and a half feet tall lovable giant though, always joking with the team and making wagers. He really had kicked it off with Winslow, the team’s sergeant. Winslow, unlike Barnes, was dark skinned and not quite as well built. The man had been in the Marines longer than anyone else in the squad, so even Werner made special care to pay attention to the man.
“Lieutenant Werner?” a voice asked. The officer looked over his shoulder at a young man, obviously fresh out of boot. “Sir, new deployment orders are in for your squad,” the kid said, handing Werner a letter. Without a word, the lieutenant and private saluted before the latter walked away.
“What did we get, boss?” asked Rehn, the team’s medic.
Rehn was deceptive in that he was fairly average in build and features, but the guy was as sharp as they came when it came to the guts of a man or a computer. The only thing about him was a single mole on his face that everybody kept telling him to get rid of. Of course Rehn kept it, saying it made him unique.
“Looks like … shipboard escort duty on the TACN Dawnstar,” Werner said as he examined the note. “Dawnstar … where do I know that name?” he muttered.
Winslow raised his hand up as he stepped forward. “The Dawnstar’s an old transport hauler with some history. Kept getting hit by the Vashari back during the first contact war, then pirates after that. Despite that, the ship always keeps getting away,” the sergeant explained.
“Oh boy, we can look forward to a boat that gets attacked so much that it’s cursed,” Barnes said, rolling his eyes. “Hey Rehn, maybe you should pack your safety blanket. Maybe it’ll keep the bad men away,” the corporal taunted.
“So then how come I got more hits in the sim than you did, Barnes?” Rehn asked. “Don’t worry, I’ll hold your hand when the bad guys aren’t shooting paint at you,” the private jested.
“Careful, Rehn, you don’t know where his hand has been,” Kallow, the team’s sharpshooter, added with a sneer. “You wouldn’t want to catch something, right?”
This was why Werner loved dealing with his men; they all had personality. None of them had any illusions about who or what they were and drama was kept to a minimum. The fact that only Rehn and Kallow had accents, Rehn being British while Kallow was Russian, helped them blend together yet stand out.
“Either way, pack your bags before you get each other’s panties in a twist. Don’t want to be late for our ride, do we?” Werner interjected, sticking the letter in one of his breast pouches.
“God damn, this post is driving me off my bloody rocker,” Rehn was complaining.
The six-foot-tall Brit was shaving again. Nobody could figure out why but the man’s beard grew like crazy every time the Dawnstar left dock.
“Rehn, I told you before that complaining about it won’t make a new post come our way any faster,” Kallow countered, his eyes shut as he tried to catch some sleep.
“Maybe, mate, but it makes me feel a little better,” Rehn replied. “Besides, making you as miserable as I am always lifts my spirits,” he finished with a smirk.
The only reply that Kallow offered was flipping Rehn off.
Werner shook his head as he smiled. He was laying in his bunk while catching up on the news, but that didn’t stop him from listening to his squad’s banter. “I swear, the two of you are like an old married couple,” he offered. “Should we look into getting the two of you some private quarters, maybe also some romantic music to build the mood?”
Kallow finally sat up in his bunk. “With all due respect, sir, see my reply to Rehn,” he said with a smile.
The entire room filled with laughter. Even Werner forgot about the news as he cracked up. Moments like these made this tour bearable. Despite the fact that the Dawnstar had a bad reputation, absolutely nothing of note had happened during their time on the ship.
Barnes, who had been holding an argument with Winslow about when he would pay up on that wager back in the sim, looked over to Werner. “Hey Boss, forgot to ask you something,” he said.
Werner put down the news tablet. “Fire away, Barnes.”
The corporal got off his bunk and moved to stand in the middle of the room. “Last I heard, you and your girlfriend got a little face time back at Argos Station. What was her name …Becky, right? When you gonna make your move?” he asked with a smile.
Werner thought about it for a second before replying. “Well, Barnes, her name is actually Rebecca,” he explained. “As for when I’m making my move, I already did. Back on Argos, I proposed and she said yes.”
The entire team erupted with various cheers and congratulations. “About time, man! If you took any longer, I was gonna take a shot myself!” Barnes said, walking over and giving Werner a slap on the back. “Either way, ell tee, congratulations.”
Before anyone could continue the topic, a voice boomed over the intercom. “All hands prepare for departure from Runic Station in sixty mikes. All security teams report to the mess hall for briefing.”
Everyone audibly groaned as the voice signed off.
“Why is it that I get depressed every bloody time I hear that voice?” Rehn asked, finally putting down the shaver. “Who even is that bloke on the intercom? All these trips and I’ve still never figured out who that is,” he wondered.
Werner and the others all got off their bunks and grabbed their equipment. “That’s Captain Fairbanks, ran into him in the mess hall,” Werner replied.
Rehn scoffed as he slid his sidearm into his thigh holster. “Remind me to never buy that bloke a drink, since I’m fairly sure he’s depressing me to the point of being an alcoholic.”
Another six hour long detail was over and done with, giving Alpha a small window before it would begin all over again.
Moving his rifle over his shoulder, Werner felt the magnetic smart plate on the back of his armor grab onto the rifle and hold it in place.
“About time, Rodriguez. What system are we even in? Ten-jump-long trip and I lost track after the third,” Werner inquired, removing his helmet to run his hand through his cropped hair.
“We’re in the Talos system now, so about six jumps in,” Rodriguez said, nudging Werner out of his spot before pulling his own rifle free from the smart plate. “Fuckin’ no-man’s land out in these parts, too many pirates and freelance mercs for my taste. Hell, they didn’t even give us a corvette as an escort. Either way, got about another four hours before we hit the next relay.”
Werner slowly nodded in acknowledgment. “Sooner we get this tour over and done with, the better. Hell, Barnes has got a booking setup already to see some Vashari ‘courtess’ or something,” he said with a smile.
Rodriguez gave him a puzzled look before he started laughing. “You mean the corporal has an appointment to get some bed time with a Vashari? What the hell is wrong with that boy?”
Werner chuckled at the idea. “I really don’t know sometimes. Either way, here’s hoping he doesn’t get clawed to death in bed. I really don’t want to have to write that letter.”
“Oh, man. ‘Mister and Misses Barnes, I am terribly sorry about the loss of your son,’. ‘Did he die honorably?’. ‘No, he died in the sack with a Vashari,’” Rodriguez said, mocking the notion.
The idea itself was ludicrous, yet for Barnes …plausible.
“Attention all hands, an unidentified vessel is inbound. Please report to your stations,” Captain Fairchild announced over the ships comm system.
Werner and Rodriguez instantly stopped laughing as they gave each other worried looks. “No other ships were registered to be on this flight plan, at least long enough to never encounter us,” Werner stated. A couple seconds later and both lieutenants were calling their teams on the radio and ordering an assembly.
Both Alpha and Bravo squads filled in within moments, every Marine looking equally nervous. “What’s goin’ on, any word?” Winslow asked. Men both from Alpha and Bravo echoed the question.
Werner looked over at Rodriguez who was now own the radio with the bridge, trying to figure out what was going on. “All right, here’s the facts as we know so far: We have an unidentified ship inbound, crossing us on a flight plan with no known other vessels on it. Until we hear otherwise, assume it’s a hostile vessel and prepare for boarding action,” Werner ordered.
Winslow turned around and faced the Marines. “You heard the man, Alpha. Get your asses back to your posts and bunker in!” Everyone from Alpha immediately broke from the group and returned to their posts, weapons ready.
Werner turned back to Rodriguez who just got off the radio. “What’s the word?” he asked.
Rodriguez looked up to Werner for a moment, still obviously hearing comm chatter. “The ship’s on an intercept course, and hasn’t responded to any hails or transmitted ID codes. Captain Fairchild is running under the assumption that the ship is hostile,” the other lieutenant replied.
Werner’s stomach felt like it just dropped. “Well, shit …any idea how far the nearest Navy intercept could be?” he asked.
Rodriguez simply lifted his rifle and checked his clip before he looked back at Werner. “Too far to be of any use,” he said. “Time to dig in and make ourselves useful.”
Werner nodded, starting to make his way down the corridor. “Roger that, me and Alpha will cover the starboard side. You guys got port side?” he asked.
Rodriguez nodded in reply, the look in his eye switching from dull to fiery.
Confident that Bravo had the port side of engineering covered, Werner made his way back to the starboard section. He was going over the Dawnstar’s layout in his mind as he ran, trying to map out possible contact points. The uppermost deck of the ship housed the bridge and the quarters for the bridge crew. Beneath that was the crew deck, housing the quarters for the ship’s crew of fifty, recreational rooms and mess hall. Underneath that was the engineering deck which provided power to ship’s systems and fueled the engines. Underneath them was the cargo hold, currently filled to the brim with fuel for the fifth fleet.
Rounding the next corridor, Werner found Alpha bunkering in at one of the choke points in the ship’s design. Corridors that were closer to the hull and ones closer to the interior of engineering were separated, only intersecting at two hallways that led further in, one at the port side, the other at starboard.
“Hey, boss, any news?” Rehn called out to Werner as he saw their CO approaching.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, the speakers throughout the ship crackled to life. “This is Captain Fairchild. A vessel, now confirmed to be the hijacked TAC Navy Frigate Outrunner, is inbound to our location. We are now operating under the assumption that they have every intention of boarding the Dawnstar. All crew, make your way to secure sections of the ship and avoid any contact with unknown individuals. All Marines, prepare to repel inbound boarders. That is all.”
Werner stood perfectly still even after the captain’s voice faded away. Finally focusing on the situation once more, he looked over his team. “Alright, here’s how it works. Bravo team has the port side of engineering while we have the starboard. Charlie, Delta, and Echo have the bridge and crew deck while Foxtrot has the hold,” Werner stated. “We hold here. If anyone comes down the hallway and isn’t wearing a uniform, you put them down. Clear?” he said in no uncertain terms.
Alpha, without saying a word, nodded in response. They all immediately went back to positioning themselves behind cover and checking their weapons. Werner examined everyone on the team, noting the looks of nervousness they all had. This would be the third fight they found themselves in, so they weren’t untested, but it didn’t much take away from the tension.
Minutes went by slowly as Alpha waited for anything to happen. Rehn and Barnes were both nervously shifting in place while Kallow and Winslow were calmly just waiting. Werner was trying to control his breathing and steady himself as he tried to imagine what was transpiring on the bridge.
The speakers all suddenly came online again, startling some of the team. “All hands, brace for impact!” the captain shouted over the loud system.
Seconds later, multiple objects slammed into the ship, sending the team stumbling on the deck. Alarms sounded, not able to mask the sound of metal tearing away from the Dawnstar. A different voice came over the loud system, the man trying to suppress his own panic. “Confirmed missile impacts on the crew deck, multiple hull breaches! Venting sections have been cordoned off!”
Everyone in Alpha looked amongst each other, confusion on their faces. “What the fuck, man? I thought pirates liked cargo ships, you know, intact?” Barnes shouted, his eyes wide.
Werner took a moment before he replied, trying to fit the pieces together. “They’re trying to vent the nonessential parts of the ship, kill any crew or security while keeping the critical sections intact,” he thought out loud. A realization came to him, prompting him to hit his earpiece and key the radio. “Delta and Echo teams, this is Alpha One, report,” he called over the security band. Seconds ticked by as nothing but static came over the channel.
“Alpha One, this is Private Voss, Echo team! The crew deck was hit hard, sir! Most of my squad got vented from a hull breach, and we haven’t heard shit from Delta!” finally came over the radio. Werner was relieved to hear that someone was still alive up there, but his stomach knotted as he thought of the massive damage.
“Understood, private,” Werner replied, trying to maintain his own composure. “Listen, I need you to calm down and give me a head count on surviving crew members up there,” he ordered, doing his best not to put extra pressure on the serviceman.
Seconds went by as nothing came back from the private, only status reports from the bridge and the other security teams wanting order confirmations.
“Alpha One, this is Echo Four. I’ve got a count of twenty remaining survivors on this deck,” Voss reported back.
Mutters came from the rest of Alpha, though Winslow summed it up best. “Holy shit, that’s half the fucking deck gone!” he said.
Werner paced in his spot for a moment before the captain came over the security band.
“Marines, we’ve confirmed incoming breach pods. Trajectory estimates them to dock with the bridge, engineering, and the cargo hold. Dig in and hold your ground. I want these assholes off my fucking ship!”
A moment after the captain gave his orders, Werner felt the impact of a number of smaller objects against the outer hull. “Seems like we got company, gentlemen,” Werner said, hearing the sound of plasma cutters coming from down the hallway and around the corners. “Alpha One to Echo Four, you still with me?” Werner called out over the radio.
Voss came back on the band a couple seconds later. “Sir, still here. We just felt what seems like breach pods on the other side of the bulkhead up here,” the private said, still incredibly nervous.
Werner couldn’t blame him; half the kid’s squad just got sucked out into space a few moments ago.
“Listen closely, Echo Four. I need you to get the crew on your deck down onto the engineering deck and seal off the crew quarters,” Werner ordered. “There’s a chance they might decide to vent the rest of the crew deck. Engineering is too valuable so they won’t try and blast it, clear?”
“Hooah, sir!” Voss replied.
Werner felt satisfied that Voss could clear and seal his deck, letting him turn his attention back to engineering.
The loud clang of metal from down the hallway told Werner that the boarders had breached the hull and were now inside the ship. Everyone in Alpha immediately focused their sights down the hallway, confident that all crew members had already fled into main engineering. Werner’s radio came alive again, this time with a panicked lieutenant on the other end.
“This is Foxtrot One. We’ve got hostile contact in the hold! I say again, we have hostile contact in the h—” the lieutenant said before being cut off.
The sounds of gunfire and yelling over the band told Werner that Foxtrot One was down.
A figure appeared at the other end of the hallway, rounding the corner with an assault rifle in his hands. Werner immediately recognized no uniform on the person, leaving only one answer. “Hostile contact, open fire!” he yelled as he simultaneously squeezed the trigger on his own rifle.
Rounds flew down the hallway, ripping through the mashup of clothing and plated armor until only a bloody heap fell to the floor.
Seconds after the first man had rounded the corner, other gunmen leaned out and opened fire on Alpha squad. Rehn and Barnes, taking cover behind a table from one of the nearby rooms, were taking most of the incoming fire. Kallow, Winslow, and Werner were behind their corners of the hallway, waiting for a break in the incoming fire. Directly behind their position were the doors to main engineering, their primary defensive point.
“Barnes, I need you in main engineering! Get in there and keep that room locked down!” Werner ordered.
Barnes nodded. “You got it, boss! Give me a little covering fire so I can get in, okay?” the corporal replied.
Werner nodded, motioning for Alpha to open fire. The hallway had become a bullet-filled nightmare in the span of a minute, though Alpha’s supporting fire had given Barnes the window he needed to get inside main engineering.
“Echo’s got crew coming down from the access hatch. Other than that, engineering is locked down,” Barnes reported over the radio.
“Roger that, Barnes!” Werner confirmed, having to shout to be heard over all the gunfire.
He leaned out and fired a couple rounds, each digging into a pirate’s skull, before having to duck back into cover as bullets peppered the wall. He looked over to Kallow, who had managed to efficiently take out the most boarders. The man had simply exposed as little of himself as he needed, lined up a killshot, and fired a single round. Before Werner knew it, a decent pile of bodies was filling the other end of the hallway.
“Alpha One, this is Bravo One. How copy?” Rodriguez called out over the radio.
Werner just pulled himself back into cover after taking out two more hostiles before the call came in. “Go for Alpha!” he shouted back.
“These sons of bitches are using flash bangs! Got half my squad and some of them slipped past us before we recovered, suggest you—” Rodriguez reported before another round of gunfire was followed by the sound of the lieutenant gurgling.
“Bravo One? Rodriguez, what happened?” Werner called, though he was left unanswered. When he looked back over to Kallow who was opposite him, he saw an armed man coming up from down the hallway to his right. “Kallow, three o’ clock!” he shouted.
The private immediately turned, raising his rifle at the pirate, but it was too late. The raider fired a three round burst that ripped straight through Kallow’s armor at no more than two meters’ distance. Kallow collapsed back against the wall as Werner fired at the pirate, removing chunks of the man’s torso.
Winslow gave a burst of fire before bolting over to Kallow to check him. “He’s dead!” he shouted over the gunfire, the words sinking into Werner’s gut. Both the lieutenant and Winslow each faced the hallways that went around engineering, where Bravo would have been holding, and opened fire as raiders came around the corners.
“Brace for impact, another salvo incoming!” Captain Fairchild’s voice came over the radio. Seconds later, another wave of impacts rocked the Dawnstar, nearly sending Alpha to their knees.
“This is Alpha One to the Bridge, status report!” Werner called out, though no response came. “Bridge, this is Alpha One. How copy? Charlie team, how copy?” he called again. When no reply came, the realization dawned on Werner that the missiles likely wiped out the bridge and crew decks. “Alpha, fall back into engineering!” Werner ordered as he hit another pirate with a burst of rounds. Upon inspecting the raider’s body, he saw a number of explosive charges in the man’s kit. Ducking down, he keyed his radio. “All hands, this is Lieutenant Werner! I am hereby ordering the evacuation of the Dawnstar! Make your way to your nearest evac stations and abandon ship!”
Main engineering was a large, square room with a drive core and fuel system in the middle. Along two of the walls, each opposite the other, were banks of evac pods. Once the pods were filled, they slid down through a protected rail system that ran through the ship and fired out into space. From there, another bank of pods would be loaded into the wall station so the process could repeat. At this point, the first banks of pods were already being filled by the Dawnstar’s remaining crew. At the access ways into the room, Alpha squad was falling back inside while Corporal Barnes from Alpha and Private Santiago from Voss’s Echo team were guarding the other side.
Voss, upon getting his boots on the deck, ran over to Santiago and Barnes in order to help cover them. Behind him, he heard the first banks of pods fire their thrusters and launch down the rail, out into the void. Within minutes, the second banks were being loaded into the stations and being filled.
Throughout the floor, everyone felt the long thump as it felt like something big latched onto the hull.
“Sounds like they just tethered their frigate onto the Dawnstar. Barnes, I got a job for you!” Voss heard Werner call out. When Barnes moved back from the doorway, Voss looked back and saw the lieutenant hand the corporal a couple of explosive charges.
“I want you to put these to good use and wire up the fuel system. This boat’s hauling tons of fuel, I want to send these pirates and their frigate to hell as a parting gift,” Werner ordered.
Barnes nodded with the hint of a smile on his face. “Roger that, boss. I’ll hook these up for a timed detonation and give us enough room to evac and get clear,” he replied before moving over to the fuel pumps.
The door in front of Voss and Santiago opened, showing the pirates on the other side. The remnants of Echo each opened fire, taking down an easy five raiders. Opposite him, Voss saw as Alpha encountered the same resistance at their doorway.
As the last group of crew members fired away from the Dawnstar in the evac pods, Werner got back on the radio. “Any remaining TAC elements outside of main engineering, respond!” he called out, though nobody answered. “Alright gentlemen, we’re it. Barnes, how are those charges coming?”
“Done and done, boss! Setting the timer now!” the corporal replied.
Voss turned back around to his doorway, watching as the raiders changed their tactics. Rather than engage the Marines in a firefight, the pirates were now storming through the doorway and trying to close the gap. Santiago and himself managed to gun down most of the raiders, but one slipped by and got up to Santiago. Before Voss could react, the pirate had pulled his knife and rammed it into Santiago’s throat, killing the Marine almost instantly. Gunning Santiago’s killer down, Voss breathed a sigh of relief as the doorway shut and the pirates fell back to work out a new plan.
“Voss, get over here!” Werner called out. The lieutenant and his men were surrounding a bank of four evac pods. “Get in the pod, private. You’re getting out of here with my team,” the lieutenant ordered as Voss approached.
The private was confused. “What about you, sir?” he asked.
Werner simply thumbed over to the bank of pods on the other side of the room. “I’ll take my chances in the other pods. Now, get off this ship,” he explained.
Voss nodded. “Yes, sir!” he replied. Stepping inside one of the four pods, he watched as Winslow, Rehn, and Barnes filled in to the remaining slots. Once all were inside, the lid came down and sealed them inside as they looked out into engineering and at the lieutenant.
Triggering the pod bank’s launch system, Voss felt the thrusters spool up. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the shape of a man come barging into engineering with nothing more than a pistol. Werner turned around to face the man, raising his rifle as his finger began to squeeze the trigger. The pirate, however, beat the lieutenant to the punch. Voss and the rest of Alpha watched in horror as the pod’s blast shield was covered in red matter when the pirate fired a single round through Werner’s head. The last thing Voss saw before the pod’s thrusters fired their station down through the ship was the lieutenant’s body crumpling onto the deck.
The thrusters launched their pods out into space faster than Voss predicted. Time seemed to slow as the private looked at their ship. The pirate frigate had latched itself onto the Dawnstar, likely to try and tow it out of the shipping lanes. Though it felt like an eternity, only minutes passed by before what had to be the timed detonation of the charges in engineering. The first explosion ignited the Dawnstar’s fuel reserves, blowing massive chunks of hull out into the void and the pirate frigate. After that, the secondary explosions that came from the ship’s cargo ripped the rest of the ship apart. The force of the explosion, along with all of the debris being flown at high velocity, tore the frigate apart in the process.
The flash of the secondary explosion was intense enough that Voss had to look away. When the light died down, he looked across the other pods in his bank and at the rest of Alpha. Due to the sound proofing in the pod banks, had he not seen their faces, he wouldn’t have noticed that they were all in a mixture of grief and anger.
As they drifted in the void, distress beacons fired away. Voss remained strapped in his pod. He had heard about the Dawnstar’s history. Now, it appeared, that legacy had finally run its course as the vessel claimed over half the souls on board. Voss knew as they drifted through the void, he had plenty of time to relive what happened in the ship’s final moments as they drifted through space.
0 Comments
Leave a reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.