DEAD SPACE. owo I'm gonna scare the shit out of myself writing this fic, BUT it's gonna be great. Because it's my favorite game. Meaning I get to play it again to write this. c8 YES.

If you haven't played Dead Space, DO ET. Unless you don't want to. That's cool too.

ONE AND ONLY DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Bleach or Dead Space franchises. I own a copy of Bleach: Volume 25 and a copy of all three DS games. That's it. Rights belong to respective owners.

Onwards, then.

CEC MISSION ER529

Status Update…

USG Kellion en route to Aegis system…

PRIMARY MISSION ASSETS…

…Ichigo Kurosaki – Engineering and Ship Systems Specialist…

…Momo Hinamori – Computer Specialist…

…Zommari Rureaux – Chief Security Officer…

Directive A: Locate mining vessel USG Ishimura…

Directive B: Diagnose and repair communications blackout…

TIME TO CONTACT: 3 MINUTES…

"Ichigo, it's me… I wish I could talk to you," a girl sighed, her black hair falling chaotically around her face. She paused to pull it back in a ponytail with her signature purple scrunchy. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything. I wish that I could just… talk to someone. It's all falling apart here. I can't believe what's happening… It's strange, such a little thing…"

The video log was rough at the edges and the static was terrible, but it was the only connection he had with her. As it ended, he flicked his fingers towards his standard RIG and closed the projection. With a quiet sigh, he slunk farther into his chair and watched the other two members of his crew bustle around the shuttle. Two security personnel manned the piloting systems, men with no names or importance to him.

Momo Hinamori, the computer specialist, was heading his way with an almost sympathetic smile on her face. While it was no secret she had a small thing for him, she respected his relationship with Ikumi – wherever it stood at the moment – She even had a boyfriend back on Earth.

"How many times have you watched that thing? Guess you really miss her. Don't worry, we're almost there." She nodded as if to reassure herself and turned to watch the silver hues of hyperspace warp past the cockpit. "You'll be able to look her up once we're onboard. It sounds like you two have a lot of catching up to do."

"Alright, everyone, we're here. Syncing our orbit now," the chief of security, Zommari Rureaux, informed the five-man crew. He was a reserved man and hardly spoke to anyone except Ichigo, who barely participated in the conversations. Ichigo lifted himself from his seat and joined the others at the helm as they dropped out of hyper. Debris filled their field of vision, each piece of rock seeming as big as or bigger than their craft.

"All this trouble over that chunk of rock," Momo murmured.

"Deep space mining is a lucrative business, Miss Hinamori. Aegis Seven is a goldmine, according to prospectors' reports. Cobalt, silicon, osmium. Now," he searched the debris for the hulking piece of metal they came out here for. Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest and waited for the others to notice the glint to their ten, clearly not the sun that was blaring in their faces from two. "Where is she..? There she is. We have visual contact." Rolling his eyes, Ichigo returned to his mid-ship perch and watched as the beast floated into view from behind multiple rocks. The shuttle easily navigated through the gaps.

"So that's the Ishimura… Impressive," Momo breathed.

"The USG Ishimura," Zommari corrected. "Biggest planetcracker in her class. It looks like they've already popped the cork." Ichigo's foot started to bounce with apprehension; something didn't seem right, not that he'd be able to bring it up. He was just the engineer, it didn't matter what he thought as long as he did his job. Hell, he didn't even get a sidearm of sorts to defend himself with should the need arise.

"Why is it all dark? I don't see any running lights," Hinamori frowned.

"Corporal, take us in closer and hail them." Zommari put his hands on his hips. "And stay clear of that debris field. We're here to fix their ship, not the other way around." The shuttle drifted closer to the vessel.

"USG Ishimura, this is the emergency maintenance team of the USG Kellion responding to your distress call. Come in, Ishimura," said one of the gun-toting fools at the front, one Ichigo vaguely remembered being called Ggio. No response. Momo had begun pacing.

"You're gonna need to boost the signal if their power's low," she offered in a slightly panicked tone. She got iffy when entire ships went dark.

"Yes, we know," Zommari cut her off. He tapped on Ggio's shoulder, "Boost the signal." Still no response. "More." Silence.

"Never heard of a total communications blackout on one of these things," Momo stopped her pacing. "You'd think that with a thousand people onboard, someone would pick up the phone."

Then, the signal was returned. An inhuman gargling became audible.

"What is that?" Ggio asked, looking over his shoulder at his superior in hopes of finding reassurance.

"It's a busted array, like we thought. Sounds like they're having problems with their encoder. You get us down there, and Ichigo and I can fix it. Forty-eight hours, max."

"Alright, you heard the lady. Take us in, let's see what needs fixing."

"Gravity tethers engaged, automatic docking process is a go," the other pilot, Hanza, stated in his usual monotone.

A piece of debris collided with the shuttle, tossing Ichigo from his seat.

"What the hell?!" Ggio frantically tried to take control of the craft once again. "Sir, the autodock—"

"What is it?" Zommari righted himself, Momo pulling herself to her feet with his arm.

"We're off track. We're gonna hit the hull!"

"Hit the blast shields!" Ggio's fingers flew across the control panel. Ichigo stumbled to his feet and yanked Momo back to the seats, strapping her in before doing the same to himself. Zommari never sat down for anything. Alarms were sounding, deafening him to the conversation at the front of the shuttle. He felt Momo grip his hand, squeezed hers in return, and glanced over at her. Her face was scrunched up and she was pressing herself as far back as she could possibly manage. The landing dock of the Ishimura loomed in front of them, and he braced himself for impact. Zommari flung himself into his seat and clicked his restraints into place, just in time for shuttle to meet ship in a bone-jerking impact.

Grimmjow paced the main deck, shoving a hand through his unruly hair. He'd just lost contact with his maintenance crew, and after hearing the noises coming from the Ishimura, that very fact unnerved him to the core. Blue eyes focused on the RIG monitor, taking momentary respite in four green symbols. One Hanza Nukui had died on impact, something he didn't need to order saved to the logs. Nanao had already taken care of it and was in the process of removing the red blotch from the screen. Lines of various lengths and hues represented the physical health of the crewmembers. Kurosaki was a mid-length yellow, meaning they'd need to find a medpack for him before proceeding with the operation. Rureaux and Hinamori were still a full, healthy blue, and Vega was sporting minimal damage at a bluish-green.

A crackling brought his attention back to the monitor with crew communications, Kurosaki's line flickering as a signal was reestablished. Fumbling, a click, and a loud KER-THUNK followed by a wince-worthy yell sputtered over the intercom. The yellow bar dropped to a wary orange.

"Kurosaki, this is Jaegerjaquez. Do you copy?" Static.

"Kurosaki, this is Captain Jaegerjaquez. Do you c—"

"Yeah, I copy," came a groaned response, accented with heavy breathing. Grimmjow smothered the urge to sigh with relief; he'd never admit it, but the engineer was the best aspect of his entire six-hundred-strong crew, one he'd always turn to for advice.

"Report."

"Nukui, if that's even his name, is dead. Hinamori and Vega are attempting to access the landing bay. Rureaux is nearby; I can hear him but I can't see him."

"Is the shuttle salvageable?"

"No, sir. She's in pieces. We'll have to get a ride back."

"Can you locate a medpack?"

"Why, how bad am I?"

"Fifty-six percent damage sustained," Nanao answered.

"Shit," Ichigo muttered. "There should be a kit in the landing bay. I'll find it."

"Keep in touch."

"You got it."

Ichigo stumbled out of the wreckage of the shuttle, feeling all fifty-six digits of damage to his RIG. Nothing was missing, but his helmet wouldn't engage. He'd need to find a Kiosk to have it repaired or switch it out before he was shot into space to repair the array. Zommari helped support him as he steadied himself, letting him go as they approached the other two.

"It's locked, and I'm not too great at circuiting." Momo looked almost relieved. He couldn't blame her; the whole ship felt off, like something was lurking in the dark hallways.

"I'll get it." Ichigo pushed past her and clunked his fist against the corner of a panel, the metal shifting enough for him to pull the facing off completely. He reached in and rewired the board, watching the door's lock display blink from orange to blue. It slid open.

"Everybody hold still. I'm syncing our RIGs with the ship. We should be able to find our way around without too much difficulty." Ichigo's RIG chirped in response, echoed by Ggio and Zommari's. Momo cursed quietly, something out of character for the woman. "My RIG won't sync. I'll have to stick with someone."

"We shouldn't be splitting up, so it won't matter. Vega, check your arms. We don't know what's waiting in there for us."

"It can't be more than a few hundred freaked-out crewmembers," Momo protested. Ichigo nodded at the disarray waiting inside. Luggage was scattered everywhere, seemingly dropped in a hurry. The lights flickered eerily, and as Ggio crossed the threshold, blood squelched beneath his boot.

"I'unno, Mo. I think I agree on the guns this time." In fact, I want one. Ichigo spotted a medical kit mounted on the wall and placed his hand on Ggio's shoulder, pointing at it with his other hand. The corporal nodded and the two quietly advanced, maintaining contact until Ichigo was able to skirt around him and bust into the box. The noise seemed thunderous in the room. As he connected the medpack's port to his RIG, he sighed. He couldn't see it, but he knew his status bar had refilled and was glowing in a soft blue. He stashed the other in his inventory. For whatever reason, he felt like he was going to need it.

"Hinamori, see if you can reroute power to that elevator," Zommari commanded in a hushed tone. She didn't argue. "Vega, watch her back. Kurosaki, see what you can find out from that security console. Christ, there should be a security detail here."

"Well, there's not," Ichigo clipped as he passed through another door. "There's nobody here." He was pulling up a display when the door he'd just walked through slammed shut and locked.

"Woah, hey! Momo!" Something rattled overhead. The quarantine sounded, plunging the room into flashing red lights and a sinking feeling overtook Ichigo. His heart hammered in his chest and he inched backwards, feeling for the other door in the corner. An air vent shattered in the adjoining room, dropping a misshapen figure into the room behind Ggio.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Vega, look out!" Whatever the thing was, it impaled the corporal in an unrestrained blood thirst. His status bar instantly went dark. Zommari opened fire.

"Ichigo, get out of there! RUN!" Grimmjow's head snapped up as Momo Hinamori's distraught scream tore from Ichigo's communicator, overpowering the sound of a rifle firing. Vega's RIG had gone red in the blink of an eye.

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Ichigo's yells were quiet compared the rest of the ruckus. Boots clanked against metal, breath came in stressed huffs, snarling filled the background as gunfire faded.

"Where's the fucking—," he cut himself off with a yelp, crashing into something with a fleshy clap and a hollow thunk. Grimmjow watched his RIG, barely noting that Momo's had dropped to green. It was still blue, but his mental stress had skyrocketed.

The racket continued, pushing the captain to all new levels of anxiety. His knuckles turned white from the force with which he clasped the back of Nanao's chair. Ichigo was still running, but had given up vocalizing anything. All that could be heard were his boots and his lungs, disappearing in and out of the din.

Suddenly, the comm line went near-flat with silence. He could hear Ichigo breathing and the steady hum of an elevator

"Kurosaki, report."

Nothing.

"Kurosaki, report!"

"His comms are down, sir. We can hear him, but he can't hear us," Nanao's eyes were wide as she swiveled her chair around, fingers shaking above her console.

"And the others?" She shook her head.

"Damn… Keep his comm line up. Kira," Grimmjow tapped the nervous wreck monitoring the RIGs, "keep an eye on those and let me know if anybody else dies." The captain stalked back up to his post, giving his all to save face. "Tether to that moon, Renji. I want a clear signal."

"Aye, sir; launching tethers now."

"Settle in, boys. Nobody rests until we have our specialists back." He eyed the wrecked planet in the distance, his imagination painting a vivid image to the sounds of chaos blaring through the deck's speakers.

Chapter 2's on its way. I edited this, but not by much.

Reliving the Nightmare, chapter 1

18APR2014

3:12PM