Vectis
Unknown forest
Day 2, 12AM
The forest was dark, foreboding and seemed to consume light with its large leaves and ginormous trees, designed to house birds of prey larger than any I have ever seen before, or most likely will ever see. Using the torch at the end of my ancient pistol, I often nearly tripped over jagged rocks or hidden roots as the small light barely light the path. I was freezing, damp, hungry but on fire within. I can't remember how long ago I killed that thing, but ever since then I had been filled with an all new invigorating energy, one that reminded me I still have people to look for.
"Come on Vec, you've survived Earth, you can survive this..." I said with a primordial strength as I motivated myself to keep jogging at a steady pace. The woods were deathly quiet, like someone had taken all the animals and replaced them with the faint sounds of twigs snapping beneath my scaled feet. If they were scarred by the dragon-like-thing, wouldn't they have come back by now? This entire day had been a roller coaster of confusion, loss and action and now here I was, plodding along a dark trail nearly freezing to death. My steps were keeping a steady pace but I knew it wouldn't be long before I would start to feel fatigue seep into my muscles and I would be forced to rest.
"This is Captain Vectis Naustra of the RADC Phantom, is anyone out there, hello?" I shouted into my damaged headset, the only answer coming from the increasingly disheartening static. I knew Tyler was alive, but that was a hollow comfort to the thousands confirmed dead...
"No...Can't think about that now, gotta get off this rock with whoever's left...I know they're out there somewhere."I reaffirmed myself, hardening my calm voice and moving swifter. As I now ran through the woods, looking along the road to spot any would be predators or prey, I became accurately aware of a gigantic roaring noise, like the sky was tearing itself apart.
"Shit, what is-...No, it can't already be entering the atmosphere!" I shouted, somewhat terrified at the implications. Running with new found zeals I soon saw a clearing in the path ahead, a small moonlit glade with a silver brook running through it. As I ran into the opening in the treeline, barely stopping, I look into the sky and realized my fears were true. The Phantom was going to crash into the planet. Ships breaking apart above a planet and crashing planet-side was not uncommon, but there are always Salvage crews and Slag cutters on standby so the damage can be minimized or non-existent. But this un-colonized world, with no space-faring technology or planetary defenses, was unprotected from the large, though admittedly much smaller, chunks of the destroyed frigate.
"No, this isn't right! It should have taken much longer before it breached atmosphere! What the hell is it-"
"-Tain Ve-is! -yler repo- Ships falli- Orders?!" I heard a heavily distorted and static filled voice shout in alarm, no doubt Tayler as he was the only know soldier with my com channel.
"Avoid the path of destruction and salvage what you can, it's too late to warn the natives, it's about to hit the planet!" I ordered him cautiously, not wanting to lose a valuable soldier because of debris. I stood stock still in equal parts anticipation, awe and suspense as the flaming splinters of broken alloy fell down with an unstoppable force. The roaring grew louder and louder as the debris flew over head, casting an eerie shadow over the silent forest, until it faded behind the tree line. I felt the faint thud of collision as small parts of detritus fell down around me, mostly torn scrap metal and the barrels of various turrets. As I sprinted, only moving to avoid obstacles like trees or metal now jutting from the ground, I listened solely for the loud, earth shattering kaboom of the main chunks to collide...
"BBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM." The sound was all consuming and I was knocked back into a large rock by a sudden, burning gust of wind. The impact shattered a few of my scales and scratched my clothes, but I was too wired and awake to focus on the slight pain and dripping blue blood.
"PPPPPPPPPFFFFFFF-Ire! -tive's painc- Town burn- Cap!-..."Silence... Taylor just went silent after the sounds of continuous explosions and sirens drowned out his already faint voice. Looking up, I was faintly aware of embers flying down from the sky and landing gracefully against my face, the warm sensation rejuvenating my withered body. Raising from the ground I stumbled forward, trying to stabilize myself and run off at the same time. After sometime I was able to get back into a steady pace, dodging debris, burning trees and small fires and only sometimes stopping from the pain all over my body. I had very little time to clear out the crash site for anything and get out before any natives would no doubt come looking for the earth shattering wreckage and the great black plumes of smoke gave them a good indicator. Sore all over and ash stained I neared the wreck, the sound of snapping wood and fire growing stronger and stronger. Finally rushing past the last singed pieces of brush I saw the epicenter of the crash. There was a large crater where the now partially melted and broken off piece of the ship had landed, broken earth and metal decorating the scene. The trees and bushes surrounding the crater where burnt black or falling apart and if any wild life were around they would have either ended up as one of the black scorches on the ground or have fled far away by now.
"Better than I'd expected, worse than I'd hoped..."I said to myself, coughing slightly as the smoke raising obscured my vision slightly. The fire wouldn't kill me and this smoke was just a nuisance compared to the stuff I've inhaled growing up but I still didn't want to stick around. Slowly and carefully I descended down the jagged sides of the hole towards the grey, metal and torn wreck. It looked like it was an important part of the ship if the extra thick plating and still sputtering shields were anything to go by. The once smooth, well-made, armoured and shining luxetanium now looked like cracked, charred scrap metal that was shaped like a box. Most of the outside had been melted and destroyed but through the smoke I could see a secured door. It's metal had been cut open, wires were visible and the lights on the doors panel were flickering on and off and between red and green but it was still probably functional. Any writing on the sides or the door had been blasted off upon re-entry but I knew there was something worth checking inside if it was still intact. Carefully making my way across the melting and burning wreck, burning off almost all my clothes and singing my scales in the process, I made my way up to the door.
"Well, here goes nothing." I said as I tried to open the door by touching the panel. At first it started to slid open, but only made it a quarter of the way before it made a loud hissing noise as the broken metal of the door scraped against the twisted door frame. Either the door was incapable of moving or the wiring was faulty, either way I still had to get in. Breathing in and bracing myself I grabbed the door with my cut, taloned hands and pulled with all my might. With a loud, strained noise the door began to bend. At first it was small, only bending towards me on the doors edges, but then I practically yanked it out of its frame and threw it behind me into the fire, letting me climb through the new hole, careful not to tear open my hide on any sharp, jagged pieces of metal.
The hallway would have been unbearably hot to most races, a slight sizzle coming from the ground every time I stepped down a clear indicator of the skin blistering heat, but I persevered and did everything I could do to stand up. There would be a time and place for medical attention and rest but right now wasn't that time. The hallways walls were largely bent and distorted from the heat and crash landing; I had to duck and even crawl to avoid the broken metal and dangling wires but I was still making decent enough progress. The steel walls were starting to even out and go back to normal the closer I got to the center of the wreck surprisingly. The hall was illuminated by the small, yellow emergency lights in the floor which served only to make me aware of any obstacles sticking out of the metal, grey walls. The floor was shaking slightly and a few panels even came loose as I stepped on them but I managed to recover before I smashed into the ground. Continuing forward I heard a faint, short blip noise. Like a notification on a PDA or computer. Making my way up to a strangely locked door I quickly tore it off it's hinges like the first door and stepped inside.
A few things became clear to me in that moment. This relatively large piece of metal was some form of communication hub, most likely between starships or fleets, as there was a large column in the center of the room with various terminals, screens and various nodes and buttons of now useless purposes. The walls were decorated with panels, hatches and wiring, nearly all of which were broken or exposed and served as yet another hazard. The room was surprisingly cool and seemed to have been airtight during the descent. As I stepped into the room though I tripped over something soft and squishy. Landing with a dull thud, I quickly turned with a readied gun to see what had tried to get the jump on me. I'm not sure whether I was relieved or depressed to see the broken body of a female Avian engineer. Her limbs were snapped and twisted in unnatural ways. Her once navy blue jumpsuit was now torn and splattered with specks of dried, crimson blood. Her facial features were beyond recognition and looked more liked a caved in doll head then an actual skull. Her limp body still had a few short feathers on it though most of it had fallen around her or most likely in another corner of the room leaving her mostly naked, exposing the pale, thin, pinkish white skin underneath. Around her neck was a pair of metallic, cracked dog tags. They bore the name of the unlucky Avian along with her rank and other information that would make identifying her easier. Delicately, I removed the tags and looked over it.
"The surface is cracked but it's still readable...Aliciea Faerlien, 43rd Fleet Mechanic Battalion." She must have been a repair technician for the com hub...Looking over the tags I noticed a faint blue light reflect of the tag. Turning around I saw a PDA near the center of the room, flashing every once in awhile. Picking myself up off the floor I slowly walked over to it, careful not to trip on anything else and picked it up. Like everything else it was damaged, low on power and the touch screen looked beyond repair but the pending message was still there. Holstering my gun, I used my now free hand to delicately tap it, in case I broke it even more. A few seconds after I touched it the sound of gunfire, screaming and chaos could be heard as a woman huffed and ran for her life. The audio was riddled with static and it was near impossible to hear everything with one of the speakers being broken but I could hear it.
"...S'tai...This, this is Aliciea Faerlien of the Frigate, RADC Phantom. Little over twenty minutes ago a Rift was detected and with it came a veritable hive of Tenebris! We've done everything we can, but we weren't prepared for-shit!" Her informal report of the situation was punctured by the sound of gunfire and a Marauder screaming in pain. From the sounds of the gunshot it was a high powered plasma pistol, sometime renowned for tearing through Marauder flesh.
"We weren't prepared to fight off an invasion force! Galet, no native population is worth sacrificing thousands of marines for!...Captain Vectis has ordered someone to send out an S.O.S or a message to inform the nearest military world or listening beacon about this...Those fuckers hijacked the comms hub so...So we had to take it back...S'tai umi jeiten..."The gunfire and screaming had stopped halfway through her shouting and it was now replaced with silent sobs and faint Avian prayers as the sound of doors locking and moving filled the silence.
"Come on...Start you piece of SHIT! Work! I built you, you obsolete piece of Galet!...Why the fuck won't you work?..."She screamed in fury before breaking down into tears. The faint sound of a terminal starting up and banging on the doors could be heard. From the sound of the guttural screaming and crazed laughter it was a horde of marauders who had hunted her down and cornered her.
"Shit...Shit they're here...Okay...Gotta-gotta work fast...Come on...Upload!" She said under her breath as she typed quickly and loudly. As the typing continued she began to half sing, half cried out an old, unknown Avian hymn that was both haunting and beautiful.
"The message has been sent...The planet's save, for what good that'll do...Gods, why'd it have to end like this...Well, I'm not going to turn into one of them...See you fuckers in hell...This is Aliciea Faerlien, signing off..."She finished her sad deceleration of victory with a loud gunshot, the sickly wet sound of a splatter and that was it. Looking up from the cracked PDA, I wasn't sure how to feel. Sadness that she had to die like this, doomed to being forgotten? Anger that those bastards killed so many wonderful soldiers? Pride that she died knowing her mission was complete? This wasn't the first time I'd seen death up close, and I knew it wasn't going to be the last, but I'd never get used to seeing it so twisted yet calm. Looking around, I saw the active terminal she mentioned in her recording.
Like everything the screen was cracked and it's power was failing as it was working solely on backup power, but it was online. I activated the small, faded blue holographic console used to input commands and searched the terminal for any received messages. Without an array or radio this thing was a glorified old email account.
"Come on...Give me anything you piece of-" What was going to be a fit of rage was interrupted by my discovery of one received message, retrieved shortly before the ship was blasted into infinity. With what little power was left I played the video message and hoped for the best.
"CCCCCCCCCrew of t-t-t-t-t-t-the RaaaaDC P-P-P-P-Phannnnntom, w-w-we hha-ve received your mess-ssage-...Nable to evacua-aa-aa-aa...Ending b-b-b-backkkkk uuuppp...Uman Armada has declared a galaxy wide-e-e-e-e...Ergency...E.T.A T-t-t-t-wo wwwwwweeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk..." And like that, the indecipherable video cut out as the power ran dry, bathing the room in near pitch darkness. Aldo I had no idea who answered the cry for help I was still hopeful that someone was coming. The voice was...Mechanical to say the lest. Too strangely Human to be an automation or a V.I but not warm or clear enough to be Human...A Machina perhaps? What would a Machina ship be doing this far out of their territory though? I knew they were unable to evacuate us, that part was understandable but what did they mean by 'back-up'? If they weren't evacuating us then they weren't sending a starship or a colony ship...And what the hell has gotten the Human Armada scared enough to declare something to the whole galaxy? I wasn't sure how much I liked this news but it was better then to be left in the dark about the universe...
"So...Two weeks huh?...I can wait..." I said with renewed hope that someone was coming, even if they were a damned droid. Turning around I Knelt down next to the broken remains of one of my crew and placed my hand on her body.
"Sleep now young one, and lie with your gods...May you finally know peace and know your sacrifice will not be forgotten..." It was a simple, old Raknan blessing that few remembered but it still felt appropriate. I couldn't bury her, the natives could dig her up so all I could do was take her dog tags and stay alive so someone remembers what she did. Stepping up, I placed the dog tags around my neck, the steel resting against my scratched scales, and limped over to one of the few panels still on the wall. I couldn't destroy the evidence but I could wipe the databanks clean and destroy this room. Removing the small, bulky cubes of metal and wiring I placed them on the ground and stood a few feet away from them. Made of luxetanium, the cubes were remarkably radiant and heavy, despite only being as large as my fists. The circuitry was reminiscent of ancient Human technology but the dull yellow and grey chips mixed with the red, fluorescent lines gave the new, experimental storage devices an alien look to them. As I leveled my pistol to the boxes on the floor and pulled the trigger I felt somewhat annoyed that I had to destroy such marvelous feats of technology. Now, the once incandescent cube was now a blackened, busted piece of scrap, unrecognizable from any of the burnt metals outside.
The last thing I did before leaving was tear open some of the terminals and panels lining the walls, carelessly throwing the screens and sheets of metal to the floor, and fired into the intricate wiring behind it. Within seconds the room was washed in electrical fire as it consumed and melted all the tech and valuable junk around it. If I had more time I would have been much more meticulous to how I purged all damaging or valuable data and would have destroyed the whole site, but I could already hear the faint sound of giant, leathery wings batting outside.
Rushing outside, uncaring if I cut open my scales I quickly hid in the treeline and watched as more of those large, winged beasts I'd seen earlier landed near the site. Their scaled bodies ranged in size, vibrant colours, quantity of spikes, the number of spines and even the number of talons, teeth and appendages. If I had time to catalog them I would no doubt be engrossed in the fascinating world around me, taking in all the sights and beautifully terrifying animals around me but self preservation was kicking in HARD. With what little energy I had left I dropped down to all fours, rapidly clearing the obstacles and natural blockages in front of me by either climbing around it at a slightly slower speed. going around it or simply ramming through it. I knew help was on the way, I knew I, Tyler and the others would be saved and all I had to do was stay alive for two weeks. Finally giving into the hunger, fatigue and thirst that was draining my body, I searched for a sheltered and well hidden place to sleep for the night and possibly hunt something for food. In the morning I could continue my search for anyone, but if I didn't rest my body would collapse into a coma.
"Well...I guess there's something to look forward to..."