The High before the Low - Part 5
07 Sep 2018Hull of Northshire
Outotz Sector - September 6th or 7th 3304Alarms where blaring, lights where blinking allover the Megaship. The local communication channels where chaos. The Gnosis' crew was at full alert, the independent pilots where scrambling to understand what has happening. As he would have done too, if he hadn't taken those sleeping pills. Well, "sleeping aids" as he would have said, being of the illegal nature. But, it gave him sleep at night, dreamless sleep. Sleep that gave him peace from his frantic and saddened mind. That is, until he was thrown across that room. Pain exploded in his head and shoulder, jerking him awake abruptly. Eyes wide open, his brain overloaded by the sirens and lights, the drugs where still lingering. He had trouble understanding what was happening. It is then that he heard the voice of ASTRA, which was communicating through his helmet. He swore, rolling on the wall as gravity was fluctuating. He was lucky to have fallen asleep still wearing it, or he might have not woken up. But that was a thought he didn't even have the time to formulate. ASTRA was warning of malfunctions, or something along those lines. He was unable to focus quickly enough though, as she was abruptly cut off.
Something was going incredibly wrong. Communications where cut, ASTRA was gone. More importantly, the damned artificial gravity was out! He pushed himself off of the wall, towards the bolted desk of the cabin he had occupied. It was a standard cabin for a security officer, which he had somehow managed to acquire in his state. It was probably thanks to his Pilots Federation ranks, as he had simply submitted an inquiry when he had not felt like staying for weeks stuck in the same old cockpit. That decision had, unbeknownst to him, saved his life. It would be days later before he realized his luck.
Things where now silent, much to silent. He opened the desk and pulled out a holstered sidearm. Strapping it on as fast as he could, he opened the communication channels. Nothing, or more exactly, there was a lack of channels. A lack of chatter. Still on the high of adrenaline, perhaps aided by other substances, he pushed away from the desk and towards the cabin door. Without power, he had to rely on his memory and the faint light that he could muster from his suit. That also meant that he had to pry the door open, before entering the corridor.
Various detritus littered the corridor, floating freely. Pushing things aside, bumped into a larger object which made him swear : he was looking at a scientist who's life had been sucked out of him. Asphyxiation? This was truly bad! Where was everyone? He had heard things, he had heard the panic! Surely, someone would be around? Someone alive? His level of adrenaline was dropping, as his anxiety was creeping up : something was wrong. Very wrong. So wrong. He realized that he was mentally repeating himself... he tried to breath. He tried not to panic. But the recent event where starting to be to much for him. He had lost half of himself a few weeks before. And now he was in the center of what could only be a catastrophic event. He looked away as he passed, by other stiff bodies. He could see light at the end of this corridor, which gave him a human hope that he would not be stuck in darkness forever.
He then loss hope.
Image of Debris
He was f*cked. Or maybe he was dreaming. Or... no. No he was not. No he could not be. He must be dead, right? He tried punching himself in the head, forgetting that he was wearing a helmet. Was this what was left of the whole ship? What the hell had happened?! He was in disbelief... but panic was setting in.
Suddenly, he felt a wave of calm. He crossed his arms. He was alive by luck, but also because he had not removed his suit the night before slumping into his drugged sleep. He had, by inadvertence, saved himself in his stupidity. But, it was now the end. He could contemplate the beautiful horror in front of him, and wait for the end. For the first time in a long time, he spoke his heart. Unlike the last few weeks, which he had been silent or answering like a robot would, this time he had emotion in his voice. He spoke in the archaic language he shared with his late wife
"Chloé, mon amour, viens me chercher."
He then waited, in silence. No longer panicked, no longer fighting for his life. He had found peace in his realization. He had found peace in the dreadful sight floating around him. If he lived, then it would be because of a miracle. In truth, he was fine with dying as he did not fear it. Not anymore. For him, it would be painless, unlike the unfortunate souls that had been caught unprepared. He sighted and voiced a few commands.
"Initiate rescue beacon."
He thought about what to include in the distress signal. He was more interested in being found so that the bodies of the unfortunate people could be given a proper burial. His life was probably forfeited, but he could do a bit of good.
"This is Cmdr Hull of Northshire, Secondary Security Officer for the Gnosis. Coordinates unknown. Surrounded by deceased personnel; surrounded by large debris. Activating personal rescue beacon. Activating prolonged life support sequence."
He looked around, at the floating bodies, and said : "Bring them home."
He paused, for what seemed like a long time. In reality, it was but a few seconds of hesitation before he ended the verbal message with the motto he had briefly carried.
"... Ex Umbra."
He closed the communication and listened for a moment, making sure that the looping distress signal was functioning properly. It was weak, and it would reduce his life support sequence by a fair amount. But, to him, it was a fair trade off. And anyways, had he not spent millions upon millions to customize this high tech spacesuit? If he was going to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, he sure as hell was going to use his expensive toy at least once. He smiled internally at his use of the word "toy". But he felt justified and that, by acting this way, he would serve a greater purpose. He might not be going out in a blaze of glory, but it was a fair humanitarian act. Slowly, consciousness drifted away as the sequence was activating. A panel extended along his back, catching the sun rays to boost his equipment energy efficiency. His last thought was that, in the vastness of space, some lucky explorer might find them in a little while.
Or, if Lady Luck was smiling at him, maybe some truly blessed person would find him before the suit ran out of power.
**All events are inspired by RL, but transposed to game events to be better explain. I wanted a way to explain my absence in RP terms, as a sort of coping mechanism. I hope not to have offended anyone by this use.