Lockdown - A Short Story

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Cswartz9
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 11:33 pm

Lockdown - A Short Story

Postby Cswartz9 » Wed Sep 19, 2012 12:02 am

The battle had been intense.

A fleet of Mantis ships, poking out on the very edge of a nearby nebula. They crept slowly towards our old rust-bucket of a scout ship, The Kestrel. Our weapons were loaded and locked-on to the nearest ships, but it was obvious that we were going to be outnumbered and outmanned.

As one, the hostile ships powered up their engines and shot towards our shuttle. A missile fired, but luckily our sole drone managed to destroy it before it could pierce the shields. Our Artemis was pumping out rockets, each disappearing in a flash of light and pummeling into vital systems of enemy ships. Two burst lasers fired away at their shields, but were largely unable to get through.

But then, a lucky shot had managed to hit our weapons system, and then another our shields. We sat, helpless, as two Engi crewmembers desperately worked to repair the damage. But by the time we had gotten the systems back up and running, the fleet was upon us. A laser burst straight through the windows of our command pod and blew the entire cabin to bits, killing our pilot. Even worse, we could soon hear the telltale whoosh of a group of Mantis entering our ship. We tried to fight them, but were soon overwhelmed and forced back into the medbay, save for one brave man who volunteered to defend the life support system.

Soon we heard his screams echo through the desolate halls.

In a last-ditch attempt we opened all the doors except those leading to the medbay and opened the airlocks, attempting to drive them out from the lack of oxygen. It worked, to an extent, but then we saw the readings. Our sole surviving Engi had brought a portable scanner of our systems with him, and we saw the red flash as our life support went out. And then our doors. And finally, we heard another whoosh as the attacking crew left.

This was it. All the other rooms in the ship were already out of oxygen, and the levels in the medbay were depleting fast. It was a choice of either slow or fast death, both by suffocation. Our weapons engineer, a short Zoltan man, hurled himself out of one of the doors and to his death. We debated following him, but decided against it. It was just myself and the Engi man now, watching as our ship drifted away from the Mantis fleet, which was beginning to depart already.

After about fifteen minutes of this, when the air was hardly breathable at all, the Engi let out a sigh. He reached into his metallic body and ripped out a series of cables, then his face immediately went dark and he collapsed to the floor.

I began to reflect on the situation. The Federation would be dead and gone within a day, as our last hope would be killed with myself. But I had no regrets about taking this mission, even though the outcome was displayed right in front of me, as the little scanner's oxygen level readings flickered from '1%' to '0%'. I wondered what would happen after I died, stared at the body of the Engi who had undoubtedly already found out.

And then I thought nothing at all.

---

So yeah, just a short little semi-depressing story I typed up, mainly to express frustration at being boarded and killed off one sector away from the boss. I'll write more if you guys liked it.
Last edited by Cswartz9 on Wed Sep 19, 2012 10:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
Zaffre
Posts: 144
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 5:09 pm

Re: Lockdown - A Short Story

Postby Zaffre » Wed Sep 19, 2012 2:03 am

I know that feel.
Lemmium
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 2:02 am

Re: Lockdown - A Short Story

Postby Lemmium » Wed Sep 19, 2012 2:10 am

I really enjoyed this, it'd be great if you could write more.
Jarwain
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 2:32 am

Re: Lockdown - A Short Story

Postby Jarwain » Wed Sep 19, 2012 2:35 am

Random, but I've had a decent experience by first leveling my medibay to level 2. Have two people switching off repairing the oxygen, as in one person repairs, and when they're low, send the second person in and the first person back. Wait until second person starts fixing before sending the first person back. Repeat until fixed. Then Repeat until done. :3
Moc
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 7:58 am

Re: Lockdown - A Short Story

Postby Moc » Wed Sep 19, 2012 8:29 am

Great story Cswartz9.
Small error, 3rd paragraph, 2nd line, "But but" instead of "But by" (i assume)

Overall loved it. Hope to see more. 8-)
"Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die."
-Herbert Hoover
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