Okay, so I wrote up to Chapter 7 before posting the story at all, I figured I'd get ahead and do some serious writing on the story before posting so I'd be able to go back and change things so they'd all make sense. The only problem with this is that I stopped writing the story about a month ago to work on another one, so this one has just been sitting in Google Docs for a month. I was too lazy to edit any of these chapters, so you are definitely going to find grammatical errors and somethings that just don't make any sense. Just ignore them and report them in a review or something. I'm going to pick up writing this story again sometime soon, maybe even right after I post what I have. The only problem I'm having is that I already started another story because I needed a change in pace, so now I have this story and a BioShock story running at the same time.
So, Recap: There's going to be a bunch of grammatical errors, just jot them down on a piece of paper or something then write it down in a review so I can go back and fix it eventually.
From here on out until Chapter 8 is stuff I wrote a month ago and didn't edit. I'm working on 8 right now.
Note: This story eventually merges with my other story, Red to Blue. You really don't have to know about that story at all, though, so don't bother reading it if you don't want to. All that you need to know is that there's another person like River on Serenity, his name is Miles, but his operations weren't finished. He's less crazy than River, but can't control himself when he gets pissed off. There might be some references to the other story, but I'll keep it to a minimum so people can just read this and know what the hell is going on.
Dead Sky Ch1
Doctor Cunningham adjusted his coat. He leaned back, scratching at the stubble that covered his face. I'm gettin' too old for the military.
The Alliance transport, Swift, glided through space. It was an aging vessel, used to transport soldiers from planet to planet. It was currently bringing soldiers back to the inner planets, some of the soldiers were wounded, some of them were shell shocked, and some of them were simply heroes who the Alliance didn't want to die.
Dr. Cunninham was an Alliance doctor. He served for the military taking care of soldiers after they were brought off the front line. His current project was keeping one soldier alive. The soldier was badly wounded, Cunningham didn't know what was keeping her alive. Both of her legs were gone, her entire left leg and the right leg from just above her knee. Her right arm was missing, her left arm was cut off at the elbow. There was a huge hole in her stomach, now covered by a plastic cover and bandages. Shrapnel wounds filled most of her skin. Her head had been left mostly untouched, other than a fine spray of shrapnel that had already been removed. Cunningham wasn't even sure what could have caused so much damage, it was a miracle that the woman was still alive. And this wasn't one of those "Oh, she beat cancer" miracles, this was a bona-fide "this woman is missing more body parts than I can count and is still alive miracle."
Cunningham leaned over the woman, checking the folder at the end of the bed. The front read "Sky Mooreson." Cunningham didn't bother checking inside the folder, there were so many injury reports it made him a little sick. She used to be an average sized blond woman, now she was missing her legs and her hair was burnt brown from some kind of flame. Her body was covered with a blanket, keeping her warm and keeping people from seeing the extent of her wounds. Only her head showed. Noon Mooreson, Sky's brother, was stationed on the ship as well. He probably would have been taken off the front lines even if Sky hadn't been shot up, he was a big hero. His rebel kill count was off the charts.
Cunningham didn't keep up on current affairs, but he made his own version of what was happening. So there's this big rebellion on some of the outer colonies because the Alliance couldn't supply them as well as they needed. People started shooting each other and boom, full blown war against a bunch of guerrilla groups. The war wasn't really a war, the rebels didn't have a chance of fighting the Alliance head to head. Instead the little bastards hid in towns and cities surrounded by innocent civilians and attacked the Alliance wherever they could. There were civilian casualties, and it's all the rebels' faults.
Cunningham settled down for a nap next to the equipment keeping Sky alive. The equipment would make enough of a sound to wake him up in no time if anything went wrong.
XXXXXXXXXX
Cunningham woke up. A tall dark haired man was shaking his arm. "Doctor? You awake?"
Cunningham checked the mans uniform. He wore a slew of medals and the stripes of a sargeant. His name tag was labeled "Mooreson." Cunningham jumped to his feet, resisting the urge to salute the man. Cunningham was only in the civilian sector, wasn't actually considered a soldier despite his serving the Alliance military. "Yes sir, I assume that you are Sky's brother."
"That's right. How is she?"
"Well...She's badly...damaged."
"I know the extent of her injuries, I just need to know her condition."
Cunningham sighed, he was glad that he didn't have to explain all of the ways that Sky was injured. "Well her condition right now is as good as it can be, considering..." Cunningham pointed at the torn body. "I don't know what's keeping her alive, but she's a tenacious survivor."
Noon nodded, tears in his eyes. "She's my little sister. She joined the military because of me. The second I signed up she did too. I couldn't stop her. It was the dumbest thing she ever did. She's a pacifist, you know. She used to play fight me, but I've never seen her use anything even close to violence on a person. She shot a gun at someone once, and that was when the man was about to kill another soldier." Noon stroked the Sky's hair, rubbing out some of the brown to reveal the blond underneath. Noon frowned. "She was a front line mechanic. Someone up top wasn't thinking and put a pacifist girl on the front lines as a battlefield mechanic. Gorramn it, she's only 21." Tears were sliding down Noon's face, dripping onto the blanket that covered Sky. "I...I need to go." Noon swept out of the room, wiping away tears as he went.
Cunningham sighed, things were so stupid in war. There was a reason he was trying to help people like Sky instead of out on the front line killing people. He settled back in his old position, falling back to sleep.
XXXXXXXXXX
A wailing klaxon blared. Cunningham jumped awake, frantically looking over all of Sky's equipment to find out what was wrong. None of the machines were showing any sign of any sort of failure. Cunningham relaxed. If it's not these machines, then what is it? The klaxon blared again. It was coming from the hallway, one of the stress alert klaxons.
Cunningham didn't know what to do. Men were running through the hallways outside, on their way to their stations. Cunningham didn't have a "station," his only job was to take care of Sky.
The comm. cut through the klaxon, which reduced volume to accomodate the captain's voice. "We have a Reaver contact on our tail, we are calling for Alliance support now. Everyone stay calm."
Stay calm? They just announced a Reaver attack! Cunningham knew better than to panic though, there was nothing that he could do in this situation. Can't panic if I don't have control of anything. Cunningham knew that Swift carried a complement of soldiers, plus all of the hero soldiers that were being shipped back to the inner colonies. They wouldn't do much against a Reaver attack. Cunningham leaned back against the wall. I knew I was getting to old for this job. He rubbed his chin, looking at himself in the mirror. His stubble was part gray, his hair was short and speckled with gray. Probably should have gotten out when I could.
Time crept by. Cunningham waited alone in his room with Sky, keeping completely silent. Cunningham vowed silently to himself to keep Sky safe. It's my job to keep her safe, for her sake and Noon's. Cunningham hauled Sky onto a stretcher, maneuvering the stretcher under the bed. He hung the blankets from the sides of the bed down to the floor, completely hiding Sky. He pulled the blanket over Sky's face, making sure that she could still breath. It's a miracle that she can breath on her own. Lucky, too, if the power goes out she would be toast. Dead toast.
Cunningham detached all unnecessary machines, hanging an IV drip under the table that provided her body with nutrients. Cunningham also wrote on the inside cover of Sky's folder, "Check under bed! -Dr. Cunningham". He left the folder on top of the bed, writing on the front "Check inside front cover." He was afraid that Reavers could read, which is why he didn't write where Sky was on the front cover. No Reaver would check inside of the folder even if it did say "Check inside front cover" because they simply did not care.
Noon stepped in the room. "Where is she?"
Cunningham pointed under the bed. "I'm hoping that they don't look under there. Even if they do she's covered in blankets. I did my best to hide her."
Noon's face was worried, but gracious. "Thank you Cunningham. I owe you a beer when this all blows over."
"You think we're going to survive?"
Noon grimaced. "No chance in hell. I still owe you a beer though."
"Nice to know." Cunningham noticed that Noon was looking out the door a lot. "You should probably go and help the other soldiers."
"I just need to check on my sister." Noon knelt under the bed, pulling the blankets aside. "Maybe some day I'll see you on the other side. Remind me that I owe the good doctor a beer."
Noon drew a sidearm, throwing it to Cunningham. "I'll owe you two if you use this." He pulled the sheets back into position around Sky, hiding her, then strode out of the room.
Cunningham nodded. He didn't know how to use a gun, fortunately he only needed to know how to pull the trigger. He wouldn't make it to a point that you needed to know how to reload.
Minutes crawled by. The captain's voice sounded over the comm. system again, a simple message. "Prepare for boarding." Cunningham had correctly guessed that Swift had stopped moving for some time, but hadn't been sure because of the artificial gravity. A sudden jolt rocked Swift, a ship had attached to the hull. Shouting and gunfire echoed through the hallways. Cunningham looked over his pistol. The screams of the dying bounced through the hallway into Cunningham's room. No, I can't use it on myself. I'm going to get myself another beer. Cunningham laughed to himself. "Look at me, Sky. I became a doctor so I would avoid fighting people. Look at me now. I'm an old man getting ready to fight for my... no, your life. The funny thing is I'm only forty five. That's old for the military, but I still feel young."
Another scream pierced his ears. Cunningham pointed the gun at the door. "You know Sky, the Alliance made the Reavers. Some people found that out when they went to Miranda. Had to go through the whole gorramn Reaver fleet. The Alliance fought the fleet too, but a lot of the Reavers got away." Cunningham shook his head. "And now here I am, talking to someone who is missing most of their body parts and isn't even awake."
A Reaver burst around the corner. Cunningham fired twice. "It's really not as hard as it looks. Point and shoot. You wouldn't know about that though, Sky. I don't blame you for being a pacifist, I myself don't believe in killing people. Reavers aren't people though." He fired another pair of shots as another Reaver leapt through the door. "Here they come Sky, but don't you worry, I'll do my best."
Cunningham took a deep breath. He stepped into the hallway, firing one shot after another. Three, four, five Reavers went down. A spear came flying toward Cunningham, slamming into his bicep and knocking the gun away. Cunningham fled down the hallway, leading the Reavers away from the room that Sky was in. The room wouldn't go unsearched, but at least they wouldn't tear the place apart. Cunningham jerked to one side as a huge dart buried itself in his leg. He didn't feel any pain, in fact, he didn't feel anything. He looked down at the spear in his arm. Poison. Cunningham smiled as he found a gun on the ground. He picked it up with his left hand, his right hand dangling uselessy.
Cunningham pointed the gun at the side of his head. He had seen enough of the military to know that this pistol would tear through his skull like butter. I'm getting to old for this shit anyway. He fingered the trigger just as a trio of Reavers appeared around the corner. Cunningham shook his head, tearing the pistol away from his skin and pointing it towards the Reavers. Two went down, the third raised his axe.
