Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 Part 1 “Repeat last, over.” Scraps of metal emblazoned with the yellow squadron insignia sailed past the reinforced windows of the little space shuttle. Fragments of wiring trailed from smashed hulls, spitting the last sparks of their ebbing energy into the black ocean of space. A fighter exploded just behind the starboard window and a quick burst of light filled the shuttle’s cockpit for the second it took the oxygen in the now-dead vessel to be burned up. Izola Shu furiously punched buttons and flipped switches on the dashboard in front of her. Stabilisers: check. Port thrusters: check. Shield: holding. “Lieutenant Commader Shu; please repeat last, over.” The distant voice pleaded in her ear again. “It’s lost, do you hear me? It’s lost!” She yelled into her headset and winced at the crackling static that came back. She gritted her teeth, made sure the shuttle wasn’t on an intercept path with any junked ships, and tried again. “Multiple disruptions escalating on planet surface. Core damage imminent. Abort mission. Dammit, Jim, the planet is lost. We’re lost. We’re not going home.” There was a long pause. “... Acknowledged. What’s your location, Lieutenant Commander? We’ll send a convoy.” Izola glanced down at the dash. A sea of LEDs blinked green, orange, an abundance of red. Her display was flickering. She tapped it with a gloved finger and it cleared briefly. “Flying through sector seven. It’s rough out here - don’t send anyone until the air is clear.” “But Lieutenant -” “That’s an order! We’ve just lost our home - I’m not risking anyone else! Do not pursue until the air is clear!” “Aye aye, Lieutenant Commander. We’ll hold position in sector twelve.” A crackle, then radio silence. Shu pushed a button to the side of her display and the navigation grid was replaced by a real-time image of her home planet from the shuttle’s top-side camera. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Whatever weapons the enemy were using were disrupting the planet’s core; orange veins of lava decorated the little glimpses of surface she was awarded through thick, black clouds. Ravines big enough to be visible from this distance, far beyond the atmosphere, were snaking through the crust. It wouldn’t be long, now. Something behind her started beeping. She swung around, found the source of the noise - the Guidance System was having trouble locking to a signal. She fiddled with the dials, honed in on sector 12 where she knew the carrier fleet was busy reassembling, but the damned device just wouldn’t lock on. She slammed the side of her fist into the console. The beeping continued, the nav screen flashed a repeated message; ERROR 404 - SIGNAL NOT FOUND Lieutenant Commander Shu growled in exasperation and turned back to the front cockpit. She took the controls with one hand, punched in the Auto Pilot Override with the other. Nothing happened. Cursing wildly at the piece of junk she’d found herself flying she tried again, and when it still didn’t work, she began typing in the manual override codes. Another ship nearby collided with a dead vessel; its shields must have been down and the force of the impact ripped a hole in the hull. She watched as the inner atmosphere vented into space, saw in slow motion the spark that ignited it and the fierce plume of fire that rolled through the breach and consumed the tangled mess. The force of the blast lurched her shuttle forwards and Izola slammed head-first into the dash. Her vision blacked out and she slid to the ground, clinging on to consciousness just long enough to hear the calm monotone voice of the ship's AI; "Signal acquired, unknown system. Guidance chip activated. Initiating starburst." _______________________________ Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Looks great! The style of "the planet has been lost and the fleet destroyed" reminds me of the Halo books, but with starships from something else. I would definitely read more of this!
Thank you! I loved the Halo books. Haven't read them for years - I keep meaning to pick them up again.
Interesting. I like your writing style. I'll be watching, from the shadows... Or possibly from my chair in front of a computer. Damnit! I revealed myself!
You're welcome! And yeah, the newer Halo books are really great. I don't want to spoil anything, but there are some major revelations, and they are definitely worth a read.
I liked this much earlier today, but didn't have the time to give actual feedback. Let me just say: Very nice. The language kept me interested. It made it look thought out and not a story written in three minutes. I also like the cliffhanger you left off on. Looking forward to a Part II.
The Halo books are: The Fall of Reach, The Flood, First Strike, the Cole Protocol, Contact Harvest, Halo Evolutions(a collection of short stories), Ghosts of Onyx, Glasslands, Cryptum, and Primordium. There will also be a third "-um" book and two books after Glasslands. On the subject at hand, I agree with GermanJesus completely. It seems like you took hours to write this. I really like how you write, and I will have to read your books soon.
Ooh, thanks. Definitely have to check the rest out some time. Gosh, I'm flattered! Thank you so much ^.^
Part 2 Her head hurt. She wrapped her fingers around the edge of the console and pulled herself up, leaning heavily over the dash and screwing her eyes closed until the stars went away. She didn’t know how long she’d been out, but the shuttle wasn’t moving now. The Lieutenant Commander took a few deep breaths, and then poked at the display until it flickered to life. Her ship’s computer appeared to have patched in to a bigger mainframe. She looked through the windows but there was nothing - blackness. Not even stars. Izola Shu frowned and turned her attention back to the display. The cursor blinked at her. She eased herself into the seat in front of the console and rested her fingers on the keyboard. Her thoughts were foggy. She recalled the explosion that faceplanted her into the dash, and from there, remembered that the Guidance system had found a signal and the AI had initiated starburst. For the AI to have locked on and activated guidance automatically, the signal must have been Terran in origin. Shu tapped her fingers across the keys. For a second the display dipped black, and then a ream of text scrolled busily down the screen; start-up scripts, systems booting up, defenses activating. She tried catching some of the process names but the whole thing was moving too fast. She heard clanks around her, groans of metalwork, the unmistakable thud-hum-thud of laser turrets coming online and swinging into position and then eventually, startlingly, the bright fluorescent strip lights across the ceiling of the landing bay blinked into life with a series of little pops. LtComdr Shu leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms over her chest as tightly as the padding of her armor would allow, and took it all in. She was definitely in a landing bay, and this was definitely a Terran-class space station - but by the looks of things, it hadn’t seen use for decades. The grey metal surfaces were covered in a thick layer of dust. The yellow-striped wire casing that ran just beneath the ceiling was dull and discoloured, and the hooks of one of the ladder-holds had broken, leaving the metal ladder suspended awkwardly from one corner. Every third panel of the large, empty hall was painted in cracking blue with the Station’s identifier; Ɣ52. The Latin symbol’s use in the nomenclature, as opposed to its Greek equivalent, placed the station in the early 2500s. Not as old as she might have thought. Shu glanced down at the dash; the station mainframe had finished booting core functions and was now running sanitary checks on several operations. She confirmed quickly that life support had been reactivated and then climbed from the cockpit. The visual display above the airlock reassured her that the atmosphere outside the little shuttle was breathable. Shu fingered the access code into the keypad and with a hiss, the heavy doors slid open. The air in the landing bay was dank and muggy. She searched the uniform walls for a grating panel and strode over to it, standing for a few minutes in the blissfully fresh, crisp air that pumped through the station. She listened, filtered out the gentle hum from the air vents and strained to pick out any other noises but aside from the creak and clank of the station coming back to life, there were none. Izola had never heard of stations being abandoned before. This was probably a Terran Colony Exploration Outpost, or maybe even a Resource Mine - but even when resources ran dry the stations were always kept on a skeleton staff. She shifted her hand to the utility belt at her hip, flicked the primer on her Boson rifle and heard the comforting electronic buzz of the chamber heating up, and made her way to the landing bay doors. ___________________ Part 3
Wooo! This one is also awesome! I thought it was funny that the station has been there since the 2500s. Also, Lieutenant Commander is usually abbrieviated Lt Cdr and is sometimes referred to as "Ell Cee", but that is more commonly used for Lt Col. Your way is also correct, just thought I'd point it out in case it saves a couple keystrokes.
Thanks! I actually looked up the common abbreviations and just picked the one I felt 'read' the best, hehe. Why, thank you, kind Sir!
