Chapter 1: Prologue (1)
The sounds echoed, deep and heavy, thudding in his chest. His breath was coming in deep ragged intervals, and he found himself subconsciously gripping even tighter onto the metal rod in his hand. He listened in tense silence, to the screaming and chaos, along with the ear-splitting explosions.
He didn't know for sure if they were still alive or not, but he figured, he was probably almost the last living person on board the FFS-Javelin. Apart from them.
His thoughts came to an abrubt halt when he heard deep heavy breathing, slowly moving towards his position. He knew what was coming towards him, but right now he could only hope that he was hidden deeply enough. Low growling sounds soon mixed in with the deep breathing, as it moved closer and closer towards him.
As the fear pressed deeper and deeper, his grip on the rod tightened with every footstep the creature made. Suddenly, startled shouts entered his ears from not far away from his location. But they soon erupted into screams, along with bursts of gunfire. The creature stopped, before turning back the way it had come.
When the chaos in the room had stopped, and the creatures left, he climbed out from underneath the table he was hiding under. Stepping around and over the wet, open things that were once people, he made his way further down to the lower levels.
After searching the numerous bodies that littered every room and hallway on the vessel, he finally found what he was looking for, a pistol. He picked it up and checked the clip inserted into it for bullets, before placing it on the holster at his belt.
It was strange, walking through the laboratory ship when it was all but abandoned. Usually busy, the quiet corridors echoed with distant sounds. Reaching a junction at the end of the corridor, he turned right, before moving onwards.
The lights flickered as they gave their last attemps of life, before failing completely. After walking for a few moments, he saw a dull glass shape extending from the wall. A communications point. He placed his hand on the screen and swiped left. The schematics of the ship soon appeared on the screen. He reached out and touched it, watching as the light faded out, appearing in its place, a warning.
A crackling sound echoed in from the distance, like a velcro flap slowly being drawn open. Following it, was a shout, along with screams and shooting. He mind worked quickly, making a decision, he hurried to the end of the corridor where a staircase desended to a lower level. Working his way down the staircase, he was cautious, his senses alert for any movement or sound that might mean danger.
The staircase ended and he emerged into a lobby area with several corridors leading away. A body sat propped against the far wall, one arm bent unnaturally with blood spatters around it. A pistol lay nearby. He picked it up and took the clip of bullets from it, before tossing it away.
He was now on a labortory deck, and through the next set of doors he came to the first security point. Any hope that the doors had been smashed, or even left open, were dashed in an instant. A booming sound shook the ship. He tensed slightly, before ignoring it and moving to find a way to open the set of doors.
Besides, the explosion had nothing to do with him. He reached into his pocket and pulled a small tool kit from it. Grabbing a decoder, he started working over the locking mechanisms. As the device worked at the combination, he wielded a set of fine calipers and a filament knife, and started turning over the first of the deadlock's tumblers.
Less than a minute later the doors slid open revealing the main laboratory compartment. Passing the first of the airlocks leading into Lab 2, he glanced through the thick diamond-glass at the interior. The labs were in complete disarray, with bodies littering the floor in heaps. Blood was spattered over the many walls, and it looked like a massacre had just ended.
Lab 4 was filled with smoke. He couldn't see much inside, besides the few handprints smeared on the windows. Passing through the main labortory compartment, he made his way towards the docking bay.
He planned to escape from this hell with one of the docking ships from the docking bay. As he approached the docking bay he heard shooting, screaming, and the unmistakeable growling of a creature. Deciding on another course of action, he turned back and started moving towards the lifeboat bay.
As he moved rapidly and quietly as possible down the corridor, he heard the some noise ahead of him. Whispering, scratching, brushing along the wal. He knew what was ahead of him. He froze, and started moving backwards slowly. His mind spun as he tried to think on how to avoid the creatures ahead of him, without alerting them.
Blinking rapidly, his mind still trying to find him an escape, two shadows burst around the corner. "I told you I heard someone!" the man said. There was a woman with him. She carried an old model pulse rifle, and the man held a carving knife in hand. They both looked terrified.
"You're a security officer, Richard, right?" the man asked.
Richard replied with a short, "Right, and you?"
"I'm Blake Nelson. Engineer. And this is Julia." the man stated.
Richard didn't really care who these people were, or what they did. And it was also clear that neither of them knew how to use the weapons they were carrying.
"Have you seen one of those things?" Blake asked.
"Two." Richard replied shortly.
"And it didn't find you?" Blake asked.
Richard shrugged. "Nope."
Blake looked at Richard, suspicion evident in his eyes. After seeing no reaction from Richard, Blake glanced aside then back the way he had just come from. "If you're heading for the lifeboats, you're too late."
"They've all gone?" Richard asked.
"From Dock B, yeah. Dock C was destroyed in an explosion, A is venting atmosphere, and D id almost half a mile away towards the stern." Blake stated.
Richard was hesitant about helping these people, but he soon decided to help them escape, as long as it didn't endanger him too much. Blake and Julia looked extremly nervous as a few drops of sweat formed on their foreheads.
"Come on, there's still a chance to escape." Richard said, before turning and moving forward.
***
There was a dead woman in the stairwell. She was spread down the stairs. Her uniform identified her as a ship's officer, but there was little else to distinguish her from the other dead people Richard had seen. Torn flesh, ripped clothing, splintered bones.
Stepping gingerly past the mess, he tried to place his feet on dry parts of the stairs. There weren't many. "Step carefully, don't slip." he whispered back at Blake and Julia. Making there way down to the landing and around to the next flight of stairs, and desending once again, the trio soon arrived at a gently lit lobby area, with several comfortable seats, and a drink machine in one corner.
The lighting was low-level faux daylight, expensive to maintain and generally reserved for the plusher parts of the ship. It was obvious they were in the officer's section. Blake shifted the rifle and looked over the room to the two corridors on both sides of the room.
"Which way? he asked.
Richard stood still listening to every sound he could hear. The sound of gunfire had long disappeared, along with the screaming. But he still didn't feel comfortable in the least. Because of the lack of gunfire and screams, that would mean that all people on board were dead or fatally wounded. Richard felt a shiver race down his spine. It was time to keep moving forward.
"Come on," he said. "We don't have much time."
They moved down another level. The access doors to the escape-pod bay were stuck open, the electronic lock beside them a smoking mess. Someone had already blasted there way through.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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