CHAPTER 1
The Starship hurtled towards the ground at Persephone docks, as the pilot frantically tried to regain some balance. The mechanic ran into the bridge, and started spouting out a stream of words, some of which the pilot could understand- crash, burn if we don't..., and die. "Shouldn't you be somewhere else?" he shouted.
"Like where?" replied the mechanic.
"Like, ooh, let me see, THE ENGINE ROOM?"
"Negative."
"Why not?
"It's on fire."
"Ah."
"I could valiantly battle through the flames, determined to save those who matter to me, and fix the engine, eyes ablaze with victory and agony and real actual fire, and then you could pay for a very expensive funeral with a buffet and everyone would cry at the loss of such an amazing hero, who died saving his friends-if that would help."
"Don't flatter yourself- it would be more like 'AAH NO, OH GOD THE AGONY, AAH MAKE IT STOP, AAH' burn."
"Yeah, but I'd look good."
"You know what you should do?"
"What?"
"Shut up."
"Okay."
At that, the mechanic left the room. The pilot, Mark, finally managed to right the vessel- and as a reward, they crashed in a non-upside-down position.
"Everyone okay?" asked the pilot, walking around the ship.
The captain emerged from his bunk. "God, I hate Mondays," he said.
Chapter 2
The crew- the mechanic, pilot, and Captain- staggered through Persephone docks. "Over here," said the captain, pointing to a small electrical tablet with the words SHIPS FOR SALE written in bold letters. The captain began immediately keying in symbols from the keypad. The previous user had left it on a page entitled VESSELS LOOKING FOR CREW, there was a list:
KATARN-CLASS FIGHTER VESSEL- CAPTAIN R. BROOKES
ALLIANCE FRIGATE-CLASS COMMAND VESSEL- CAPTAIN L. JONES
FIREFLY-CLASS DELIVERY VESSEL- CAPTAIN M. REYNOLDS
The list went on for seventeen pages, before there was finally a return to menu option. The captain (Rhys Brookes) deleted the option for KATARN-CLASS FIGHTER VESSEL- That ship was going nowhere. He pressed the return to menu button. A few minutes later, and after 5 suggested (and turned down) cheap starships, he came to one-
"Large, spacious ship for sale- Firefly class. Comes with free delivery cart, and we can fly it away in two days."
"I started off in a Firefly. I could easily fly it." Replied Mark.
"I can fix one," said the mechanic, Brian.
"Then it's settled. We'll get a firefly."
"But why was it so cheap?"
5 hours later…
"That's why it was so cheap."
"I think that's…"
"Yeah, that's definitely..."
"Who would put that in a ship in the first place?"
"I think the question is, why in the cargo hold?"
"We buy from strange people."
"I'd noticed."
"Someone call a cleaner for that."
"Embarrassing conversation though!"
"Hello cleaner, I have a situation involving…"
"Let's see the controls!" Exclaimed Mark, changing the subject quickly.
"I'll check that the shuttles are in working order," said Rhys.
"I'll check the engines." said Brian.
Just then, there was a knocking on the door. A woman walked in. She was about twenty years old, and had dark brown eyes with vivid blonde hair.
"Hi, my name's Xylon. I heard that there was a Firefly for sale, and I couldn't resist. Are you selling?"
"Actually no, we've just bought. Sorry."
"Oh, okay. How long will you be here?"
"That's a pretty personal question. Why do you ask?"
"I used to lie in bed looking at this ship. I dreamed of owning it, and when I had enough money, I came here. I just wanted to know when to say goodbye, that's all."
"What do you do for a living, er…?"
"Xylon. I'm an Architect. I don't build houses, as many people think architects do. I find interesting structural or seismic activity, and send people out to check it out. I do go with them though sometimes. But when I'm not on the job, I like to design ships- I've just finished one with a Trans-U body, but STW engines. It will function like a Trans-U, but with more atmospheric and ergonomic comfort. It has…"
"I'd say that's enough. How good a cleaner are you?"
Chapter 3
Xylon sighed. She'd always dreamed of owning a firefly, and now that chance had been snatched away from her. She gently played with the shuttle controls, remembering her dream when she was seven of flying away in this very shuttle, and having lots of adventures with her brother. But after her brother died, she had begun to wonder whether there was any point in getting a job and starting a family. She wished that she could spend her life away from the world, living her own life in this ship. As she was lost in these thoughts, Rhys walked in.
"You okay? You seem awful depressed." He said.
"Yes. It's just weird to think that this ship is going away forever. You see, me and my brother used to pretend to have this when we were kids, and after he died, I started to wonder about whether I could ever live without him, and this ship was my only sustenance. But now it's being taken away."
"You know, you could always-"
There was another knocking on the door.
Another woman walked in.
"What is this, random-woman-walking-in day?"
"I'm Carmen. Are you taking crew?"
"Depends- what do you do?"
"Engines. Building engines. Fixing-"
"AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" A scream came from down the hallway, and hit their ears at the speed of sound.
"Well, I always need someone to fix my AAAAARRRRGHHH!"
They ran down the corridor.
"AAAAAARRRGGGHHH!"
"The engine room! Run!"
They kept punching the door, but it was locked- from the inside.
They listened and pressed their ears against the reinforced steel doors.
"Brian! Brian!" Screamed Rhys.
Brian kept screaming in a predictable fashion.
Chapter 4
Rhys ran to the cockpit, and hit the DOOR OVERRIDE switch, then pressed the flashing icon for ENGINE ROOM. He got back to see Xylon and Carmen staring in horror at the engine. There was something resembling a corpse in there- well, nearly resembling a corpse, with what Rhys presumed was its head inside the engine.
"What is this?" asked Rhys, although he presumed that he knew the answer- it was Brian- Was. The engine kept spinning slowly, with Brian's body slowly turning. The lights kept flickering, which made the sight even more eerie. The engine was spluttering all around.
"Someone's gonna need to clean all this up."
"The engine won't last very long with…err…him in there." Added Xylon.
"I'll clean it up." Said Carmen.
"What? You never met him!"
"And so it will be easier for me. Are you sure you want to do this? It's pretty intense."
"I'll be alright. Anyway, who was he?"
"Brian, our mechanic. He was good."
"I'll do the cleaning. I once worked at a crematorium. There were some mangled bodies there, I'll tell you. One of them had fallen into an industrial sized blender for making novelty sized foodstuffs, and-"
"That's enough of that I think."
"I'll get to work."
Carmen walked into the room, and shut the doors behind her. It was a strange form of OCD that she had, but it was only occasionally severe. As she neared the engine, the smell caught up with her and she almost vomited. It was absolutely disgusting. The body was a sight from a nightmare, with pieces of miscellaneous flesh all over the room. She lifted up the body by the neck of the shirt, and it slumped onto the ground. She fumbled around with some switches and buttons before managing to turn off the engine. She put it in a nearby open crate, and dragged the crate to the cargo bay doors. Carmen threw out the body, before returning to the engine room. And she saw something there that would haunt the crew's dreams for many years to come.
A small sheet of folded A5 paper was tucked into a small slit in the engines casing. Carmen pulled it out, and saw one single word scrawled in blood across the page- TRAITOR.
"I hope everyone knows why we're here today. One of our crew members, Brian the mechanic, has been murdered. By who is still up for debate." Rhys was stood on the bridge going across the cargo bay, with three saddened faces staring up at him. "But I think it's safe to say that we cannot trust anyone. We have not been able to take off yet, but when we can, we will give him a funeral. Until then, he will stay in this cryogenics crate to keep him from rotting. Would anyone like to say some words about him now though?"
Carmen stepped up. "I never met him, but from what I've heard, he was a nice man with lots of heart. And, as I discovered, brain. Whether this makes him clever, I'm not quite sure. But I hope that he can rest in peace now."
"Anyone else?" No one stepped up, but Mark seemed about to.
"In the meantime, Xylon can look after our engine."
"I was a mechanic!" interjected Carmen.
"I said Xylon. I want to only accept people we know as crew. And that excludes you."
"Sir, with all due respect, you don't know Xylon."
There was a moment of awkward silence. Rhys sighed. "That'll be enough. In the meantime, Carmen, what are your plans?"
"Well, my house is back in Eavesdown docks, but I could go back there. If I could have a lift?"
"How did you get here?"
"I got a lift."
"Ah. I'll take her sir. It will be a good way to test out the shuttles." Mark added.
"Agreed."
"Let's go then." They turned and walked away.
Chapter 5
The shuttle sputtered for a while, before lifting up off the top of the ship.
"Bit of a journey back to Eavesdown. Look, about the Captain… He's a good guy you know. He can be a bit, prejudiced sometimes. See, his Parents were killed when that prisoner got loose from Persephone Penitentiary- you know the one right?"
"Vaguely. He worked at a crematorium- right."
"See, He's a pretty good guy underneath all the- harshness."
"Yes. Hold up- Alliance roadblock."
Mark went cold. The Alliance were power-hungry, evil, and in complete control of hundreds of capital frigates- the largest ships available. They were the government.
"What's happened here?"
"I don't know- It looks like some kind of crash." There was a transport ship and a large person-carrier that had collided into each other.
"This is too dangerous. I'm going to attempt a turn around without being seen- hang on a minute." They turned around, and headed back for the ship. It was too risky to try and pass the Alliance.
"Anyway, the Captain- don't let him get you down. He's just paranoid that something will happen to us. Who can blame him?"
"Look, Mark- I need to tell you something."
"What's wrong?"
"When Brian died- next to him, there was some paper"
"Paper?"
"Yes. But here's the thing-it had writing on it. Writing in blood."
"What did it say?"
"I don't know." Replied Carmen. "But it was letters, I made out a 'B' I think."
"I'd better tell the Captain." Mark pulled out the radio from its holster, while Carmen dug into her pocket. Mark was greeted with static from the other end.
Back on the ship, things were happening quickly. Xylon was sitting silently, contemplating in horror what had happened. Rhys was pacing the corridors, with a headache to end all headaches.
"It doesn't add up. Who could have done it? I didn't, Brian obviously didn't, Mark was his best friend, and you were with me. Hang on- where was Carmen?"
"She left from the dinner table- a few minutes after Mark. But that was about half an hour before he died."
"Did you see either of them afterwards?"
"No, I don't think so…"
Back at the shuttle, Mark was having no luck with the radio.
"The damn thing's broken!"
"Yeah, try under the panel."
"Okay, I'll try again…"
Carmen reached into her pocket and pulled out a knife.
"It's Carmen."
Rhys grabbed his radio and hit the button- he was met by static. "Damn it!"
"Maybe she cut the cable- it would be the best way to cut off communication between us and the shuttle." Said Xylon.
"What could we do?"
"If I was Mark