Takao sat on the captain's chair, staring at the screens with intense disapproval. The power levels still lingered below the minimal power needs. The only thing that worked was life support, and even now, that was failing. Emergency lights were on reserve power supply, bathing the insides of the ship in an eery red light.
Outside, the two men worked amongst the dangerous asteroids, desperately replacing the power lines. As the back up generator had been running past its normal limits, the power feeds melted down, the failure carrying over to the main generator. It we easily repairable, if not for the fact that the shields were down and there were jagged asteroids outside...
"Alright, Ensign, I've got the cables flayed down. Ready to set the new cable in place?" The CE asked.
"H-hai..." Junya said softly.
As soon as he spoke, the part was lowered into the open compartment in the hull. Junya leaned forward, a spanner and a bolter in his hand. Carefully, he waited for the CE to position it perfectly before setting his tools upon the part and firmly locking it in place.
The whole process had taken an hour before the CE gave Junya a thumbs-up. With a smile, he began to place the tools back in the toolbox. Two tools into the box and the CE stood up, looking about for danger. From the corner of his eye, Junya saw it.
"NO! DON-" Before he could finish his yell, an asteroid had come up behind the CE, catching him on its jagged surface and carrying him away with it. The poor man screamed as he was swept away, the rock heading into the asteroid field. In horror, the other man watched as it smashed into a cluster of other rocks, the screaming of the CE halting instantly.
With his nerves shattered, Junya got up and began running for the airlock.
"THE HULL HAS BEEN BREACHED AND THESCIENCEIS LEAKING OUT!"
His heart was racing, he could feel his skin under his suit was dripping with sweat, and he felt a little dizzy. But he kept running, if you could call it running. It was more like stumbling due to the magnetic nature of his boots, keeping him attached to the ship.
"Help! Open... the... airlock!" he breathed heavily, tapping down on his communication device as he ran,
The door to the airlock was close, and he was approaching it quickly, the red light was still on, to indicate it was locked.
The ensign arrived and crouched to be flatter on the ship, so that he could look through the little window. There was no one inside, no one to open it. He wanted back inside, he didn't want to die.
He edged along to the left, peering in through the corridor windows to see two of the crew members trying to access the airlock controls.
Crewman Hiroshi tapped on the panel furiously,
"Captain! Give me a little more time, Ensign Junya is still out there!" he yelled, spotting Junyo outside the window, "You can't leave him out there!"
Newly promoted Captain Takao clicked off the comms unit on his command panel, growling a little as he did.
"Turn on the shields" he ordered,
"But sir, Ensign Junyo is still out there! There is still time-"
"Do it now" he commanded, a scowl crossing his face.
Crewman Hiroshi saw the shields icon flashing on his own console, and he began typing away as quickly as he could,
"Come on... come on..." he realised his attempts were futile, Ensign Junyo was outside, and it was too late, the shields were about to come online.
Hiroshi bowed his head, and approached the window where Junyo was so desperately watching him work. He mouthed the words "I'm sorry" as Junyo began hammering on the sides of the window with his gloved hands.
Time slowed as the shields activated, Hiroshi could see the fear in Junyo's eyes, the realisation that the shields were going to come online. Terror struck his face, his mouth opened and he tried to scream for help.
Hiroshi watched as the poor ensign was rebounded off the newly activated shields, firing him backwards into a particularly jagged rock formation. His body was impaled instantly, meaning there was no way he survived the impact.
"No, no no.. this is bad.." Hiroshi muttered,
The internal ship comms fizzed into life,
"This is Captain Takao, everyone is to meet in the Mess Hall, now. That is all"
The crew frantically rushed into the mess hall, trying to find a spot amongst overturned chairs and various debris. Takao stood on a table, shouting something over the din. As the crew settled down, Hiroshi could hear him speaking.
"The shields are back online! We are saved and can continue plowing our way into the field! There has to be an opening. There has to be!" He raised his fist, extending his index finger and pointing up as if he were denouncing God.
"Saved?!" A man shouted, "The Captain is dead! A lot of our friends are dead! All because of you!"
"Shut up," Another man shouted, "Takao saved us! You should thank him!"
"Over my dead body!" Screeched a man as he tried to get at the second man who had spoken. The men all began shouting at one another, surging forward angrily and grabbing at one anothers' collars. Fists were raised, boots cocked back, and knees taking aim.
A loud zap brought them out of their rage. They all looked up bewildered at the man standing above Hiroshi's cowering form. A man stood in light body armor, an energy rifle in his hands. His expression was visible through his helmet: It was disapproving of everything it saw.
"Now hear this!" He roared, "There will be no rioting on this ship!" He lowered the rifle at the men, all of them anxiously stepping back. Hiroshi began crawling towards a corner, muttering to himself as he got away.
The sound of something crashing, the zap of the rifle, and the cry of a man forced him to look back. The marine was keeling over, a crewman standing behind him with a knife in his spine. The energy rifle was pointed at Takao, who was falling off the table as his hands clutched at his chest. And just like that, everything became loud, bloody, and violent.
"THE HULL HAS BEEN BREACHED AND THESCIENCEIS LEAKING OUT!"
Hiroshi was curled up in a corner, hands over his ears, eyes clenched shut, and his legs brought up against his chest. Even in this muted state, he could still hear the screams of the men as they killed one another. Cracks and fizzles filled the air as they began to shoot at each other with their service weapons. The sound of a repeater was heard as well. The marines were here. Not good.
He turned his head, running it parallel to the wall. Slowly, he opened his eyes, peering down the wall. Nothing too horrible: just a few dead bodies and blood splatters. A plasma scoring here and there. And a door. His legs uncurled from his fetal position, getting down on his hand and knees to crawl towards it. He had to get out, he had to get out, he had to-
There a was ship sting then the feeling of nothingness on his hip. The energy discharge had vaporized and then cauterized the new wound, making his right hip unresponsive. Despite this handicap, he urged himself faster. Just a few more meters. Almost there....almost...
There was a hiss as the door opened, a few men running from it; in their arms repeater rifles. The armory was being pillaged and with that came mass murder. Hiroshi dove into the door, ignoring the limpness of his leg. It closed behind him, quieting the anarchy that was behind it.
He began to crawl again, reaching out and gripping at the floor to gain leverage. Slowly, his vision faded to black, his adrenaline running dry as the feeling of absolute despair washed over him.
"THE HULL HAS BEEN BREACHED AND THESCIENCEIS LEAKING OUT!"
He felt a nudge, something rocking him, perhaps the ship was moving violently, but it was a feeling emanating from his shoulder. Hiroshi blinked and struggled to adjust his eyes to the light, the pain of the wound washed his head with an unfamiliar daze.
"Hiroshi! Hiroshi!" his name, and a hand pressing itself against his right shoulder, "Come on, we have to get moving, it's not safe here"
"W-what are we going to do..?" he rasped, as Technical Officer Kitaki shook his shoulder gently,
"We can't stay here, they are shooting each other up"
"My-my leg... it's..." he muttered, rolling his eyes as Kitaki helped pull him up onto his feet, supporting Hiroshi with his body,
"You took a shot, nothing too bad though we should get you fixed up... come, quickly, we must move"
Kitaki pulled Hiroshi's arm over his shoulders, helping him limp along down the small, cramped corridors. They arrived at a small junction, turning left and limping away from the sounds of conflict between the ship's crew.
As they approached the end of the corridor, a marine stumbled out infront of their path. He cursed and fumbled with his gun, aiming it roughly at their chests,
"Turn around and go to your quarters, or I will fire!"
"But we need to get to the infirm-" Kitaki began, allowing Hiroshi to rest slightly,
"Negative! You will-"
The marine's words were cut off as somewhere to the right of him down the corridor, someone had fired a large bolt of Plasma. It hit him in the ribs, just under his right arm, taking him off his feet and most likely killing him instantly.
"Come on, that way isn't safe" Kitaki explained, turning and taking a smaller side corridor to avoid further conflict, "We're almost there..."
Kitaki set Hiroshi down outside the infirmary, stepping back and prising open a panel,
"Infirmary is locked for some reason... I'm just gonna..." the door slid open reluctantly, "There we go!"
Kitaki disappeared into the room, and Hiroshi began to hear crashing, and what seemed like things falling off shelves. Soon enough, Kitaki returned with some medical suppies to nurse Hiroshi's wound.
"Alright, let's do this"
"Th-thank you..." Hiroshi muttered, wrestling the darkness as it threatened to sweep him away.
Slowly, his mind slipped out of consciousness, the shouts and touch of Kitaki but a distant echo...
The figure within the pod twitched, his fingers periodically moved as signs of life returned to him. Some lights flickered to life aswell, illuminating the pod, and casting a weak blue light across the room.
Other pods were now visable, some had failed to sustain the bodies within, leaving rags of the old uniforms hanging off the bones of the dead.
A few pods were empty, some with thier glass doors ajar, and some simply broken from loose objects and turbulence.
The figure slowly opened his eyes, his sight adjusting to the dim light illuminating his cramped surroundings. Panic rushed over him, he tried to move but his body was slow to react. He felt pain everywhere, like the worst ache imaginable.
He fumbled around inside the pod, searching for a break or an opening with which to escape. His fingers were numb, but he found a sort of handle or latch. Struggling he attempted to curl his fingers around it, and with a few tries, he managed to tug it hard enough to unseal the pod.
The pod hissed and popped it's door open, the cold air outside of the pod hit the figure, choking his unprepared lungs. He attempted to step out of the pod, his weakened legs stepped forwards, attempting to hold him us as he left the pod.
His knees gave way, forcing the figure to clutch the side of the pod before he tumbled out onto the cold, steel floor.
![[Image: Tyrael.gif]](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070319171309/diablo/images/a/a5/Tyrael.gif)
