Disclaimer: I do not own Dark Matter!
Chapter 1: Who Are We?
"Daddy, help!"
"No! Ema!"
My eyes snapped open as the voices screamed through my head. The air around me was thick with cold and fog. My vision was fuzzy, but clearing fast in the blue light.
'Where am I?' I wondered, outside of the voices in my head and just a few seconds ago, I couldn't remember anything. My name was lost to me. What did it start with? 'D' or was it 'J'? I didn't know. Both sounded right for some reason.
Why? Was I in stasis? The fog being vented into the little compartment I was in seemed to confirm that. But why was I there in the first place? Again the answer was lost to me.
Suddenly, the wall in front of me slid open and I was staring down a dark hallway. Red lights were flashing and sparks flew as wall conduits combusted. Where the hell was I?
"Wha…?" I tried to speak, but an alarm blared across my attempt. "WARNING! Life Support at fifteen percent!"
My body jerked itself into action. I pushed open the clear door of my pod and started running. Just where to I had no idea. But I had a feeling in my stomach it was the bridge. Something told me I had to get to the ships bridge if I was going to fix the ship's life support. How I knew I was on a ship so suddenly was, again, lost to me. It was like I just knew.
I ran, letting my body guide me. There was a right, then a left and another right after that. Somehow, my body knew where to take me where as my mind did not.
One more right and I was there.
Three consoles faced me, two on either side of the room to my left and right and a third at the front of the bridge, roughly five feet away from windows that were closed off.
I moved to one of the ones on the sides. It had power to it, but the command sequence to restart life support was not something my body apparently knew. My mind was blank as I stared at the controls, I just did not know what ones to use. I began pressing them at random, doing something was better than nothing, right?
I wasn't at it long however when I noticed movement coming from the entrance of the bridge. I had barely looked up when something, a fist I think, slammed into my face and it and its partner grabbed me and threw me.
"WARNING! Life Support at thirteen percent!"
"Guh!" I gasped as I collided with a wall. Looking back I saw someone else. A dark haired woman now stood where I once did, hitting buttons and entering commands into the console.
The next few seconds were a blur to me. All I could process was that there was a brief struggle that ended with me nursing a sore jaw and the woman managing to restore the life support.
"What was that for?" I asked her, blinking the stars out of my eyes.
I didn't see it, but I had the impression the woman smirked as she answered me, "you were in the way."
Although my head was still spinning from the scuffle it was clear enough to be offended by her tone. 'I got in the way?' it asked. 'Who does she think she's talking to?'
For the briefest of seconds I had an image of myself sitting behind a desk with a window overlooking a vast city several stories below.
'Am I someone important?' I wondered to myself, but moment was gone. I had no idea if that was truly the case. However, everything was driven from my mind when heavy footsteps made themselves apparent from the hall outside. Scarcely a second later the woman and I found ourselves staring into the glare of flashlights mounted on top of pistols, one each pointed at us.
"Who are you?" the person holding them growled, I guess he was glaring at us, but the lights blocked my sight of him.
I looked over at the woman as she did the same to me. I could see the confusion at the question in her eyes. It was the same as mine.
We looked back at the pointing guns at us and spoke at the same time.
"I don't know."
A second or so passed in silence.
"Who are you?" the woman asked.
Another second passed and the man lowered his guns, allowing me to see the same confusion in him. "I got no idea."
-DARK MATTER-
An initial reading of life signs aboard the ship revealed reveled three others still in stasis and together the three currently awake began to revive them.
First was a man of Asian descent with a shaved head and serious demeanor. He didn't speak much outside of answering if he could remember anything about himself. He couldn't. He joined them in waking the other two, but stood in the background.
Next, shockingly, was a young girl. She couldn't have been any older than fifteen or sixteen at the most. Her hair was dyed a dark green and her skin was pale. Amongst her own initial confusion she confirmed what the others were beginning to fear. She could not remember anything either.
Given that neither of them knew their names they agreed to call themselves by the order they woke up in. One, being the man to have woken first, Two having been the one to kick one's butt trying to restore life support, Three being the one with the guns. Mr. silent was Four and the kid was Five.
Finally the last of the growing group was a dark skinned man with the start of a beard.
"Shake and wake, tinny!" Three called through the glass of the stasis pod, nocking on it with one of his guns. The man inside was slow to respond and Three, growing tired of the same process, shook his head and opened the door to the pod.
"Who are you?" One asked. By this point everyone but Five was expecting the answer, but it had to be asked.
The man didn't answer, in his eyes One saw the same confusion he had in all the others. "You don't remember, do you?"
The man shook his head as he stepped out of his pod, "No."
"Ah, hell!" Three growled, turning and walking away.
"That makes six of us." One said. More to himself than any of them.
"What's going on?"
"We all woke up, just like you, with no idea of who we are or how we got here." One told the newly awake man.
There was a sudden noise, as if a lock had been released and the sound of metal against metal.
"Hey Guys?" Three called as they turned. Somehow, the gun wielder had managed to unlock a door at the end of the hall.
"Come check this out."
As it turned out Three's discovery was some type of store room. It was large and spacious, but almost all of that space was taken up by crates. A set of lockers were in the center of the room beneath a second level walkway with the connecting stairs behind them.
"What is this place?"
The question came from the most recent one to wake up. The man had a look of extreme confusion as the group entered the room. None of the others could blame him though, they had been just as confused as he was and still were.
"It's a ship," One answered simply, stopping in the center of the room, near one of the crates. "And from the looks of it, we're dead in space."
"Most of the systems were down and we were venting atmosphere." Two quipped, emerging from behind the lockers as the others explored the room. "I was able to get us back online and restore the ship's auto-repair protocols." She explained.
One felt his jaw twitch with a phantom pain at the explanation. He'd gotten his ass kicked for that?
"How'd you manage that?" the new guy asked, unknowing of One's thoughts, or the events responsible for them. His eyes were growing more focused as he learned more, but they still held confusion. 'Probably will for a while.' One thought to himself. 'At least until we can figure this situation out.'
The question caused the others to stop and look at the woman. The only one of the two on the ship that could truly be thought of as such. Two hesitated, even she didn't know the answer. "I don't know." She admitted, "not exactly anyway. I was standing there at the console and it just…came to me?"
"Well, that's a good thing." One suddenly felt the attention as every now turned to look at him. Questions ready to be asked. "It means it'll all come back to us eventually, right?" he clarified with his own question. He mentally sighed when they turned away from him. He hated the attention.
"Hey," Two called to the others as she opened a locker and drew out its contents, "if anyone's feeling underdressed." She said, motioning to the others beside it. As Five hurried over to anther to seek cloths to go over the skin tight suit they all wore, One turned to the new guy.
"Now we've named ourselves in the order we woke up in." he explained, "I'm One." He pointed to himself and then over to Two as she nodded and pulled on the jacket she'd removed from the locker. "She's Two."
BANG! BANG! BANG!
They jumped and turned to the sudden bangs to find Three had picked up a pipe and was banging it against the lock of a crate. "Three." One muttered, he didn't much like the guy.
"Four." He continued on with the introductions. Nodding to Mr. Silent first and then the kid, "Five…which makes you, Six" One finished as the new guy, now Six, nodded in acceptance of the name. It would do for now. At least until they found out their real names. He pulled the top off of one of the smaller crates in front of the lockers and immediately removed a jacket with flowery patterns on the arms. It was much too small for the man and he could only stare as he inspected it. A movement to his left made Six notice that Five was holding a Jacket much bigger than her and the two shared a look for a split second before they instantly traded.
In the meantime, Two had found a small box in the locker she'd opened and found communicators inside. "I got coms!" she called out, holding the box out as she placed one in her ear. The others followed her example.
"What do you guys think?" Six asked, accepting a com when the box was held out to him. "Are we the crew of a transport vessel on some sort of long ranged hall?"
Two shrugged, "it would explain what we were doing in stasis." She said. "The ship gets into trouble, takes some damage, power shuts down and Life Support reaches critical, forcing the hazard protocols to kick in and awaken us."
"It wouldn't explain the memory loss though," Six deadpanned. Everyone else had to agree with him; the memory loss couldn't be explained as ship damages.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BA-DING!
"Aha!" Three panted as the lock gave out and fell. He dropped the pipe and knelt to open the crate. "Got it." he smirked.
The others gathered to look at the cargo. "So what are we shipping?" One asked, voicing their curiosity. "Seeds? Medical equipment?"
Three lifted the lid and tore back the plastic protecting the cargo from outside air. Everyone was surprised by what they saw. "Better." he grinned.
The scared man bent down and pulled a gun, some sort of machine gun, from the crate and held it up for them to see. "Who wants?" he asked, pulling the clip back.
As he moved away to inspect the gun One noticed Five rush toward the crate and reach in for a weapon of her own. He stopped her just as Two moved to do so. "Hey!" she protested as he snatched the pistol from her hands.
"No." He told her checking the weapon out and sliding it into the waistband of his pants behind his back. Five pouted and moved to stand beside Two. "I don't feel comfortable with you having a gun like this."
One couldn't explain it, but the girl brought up a strange feeling in his chest. He wasn't sure why, but the thought of her with a gun in her hands made him uneasy. Not the bad uneasy, but the protective uneasy. Something in him wanted to protect the teenager, with everything he was if necessary.
It was odd to him. A little over an hour ago he hadn't even known her or that she was on board. Well he still didn't technically, but that was beside the point. The point was the feeling bothered him because he didn't know who the girl was or why she brought the feeling to him.
"We're going to need to check this place out." Two spoke up, picking her own weapon and checking the clip. "Let's pair off. Three you're with six. One, you and four together, I'll be with five. We use these coms to keep in touch, yeah?"
The others looked at her in wonder for the briefest of seconds before shrugging it off. At least they had something to do other than wonder on it. Quickly finding lockers that held cloths in their individual sizes the others split off into their groups and broke into different directions to begin searching the ship.
But not before Three bent back into the crate and pulled out an absolutely huge gun. "Oh Lordy!" he exclaimed giddily with a shit eating grin.
"Expecting trouble?" Six asked, put on edge by the man's excitement.
"Hoping."
-DARK MATTER-
Two and Five immediately headed to the bridge where Two proceeded to begin typing in commands for a sensor sweep of the ship.
A beep from the computer told her the sensors were unresponsive.
"Can you fix it?" Five asked, fear had been a constant feature in her eyes since they'd woken her up. Two noticed it and gave the girl a smile, "I can try."
As Five watched, Two set to work getting the system sweepers back online to aid helping the others' search.
The young girl couldn't help but feel she was doing it wrong….
-DARK MATTER-
"…all I'm saying is that we don't know how long we're going to be stuck here. Maybe it's time to choose a leader. Someone to make key decisions for the group." Three said as he and Six walked down another corridor. Each of them holding a weapon, Three had the big gun he'd picked up earlier and Six had a shot gun.
"And let me guess," Six snorted. "Someone like you?"
"No not me necessarily." Three said, but Six saw the glint in the man's eye at the prospect. "But yeah, someone to represent the group's best interests. Someone who's got final say, in case of disagreements." They stopped for a door to open and continued once it had. "I don't know; it could be me. Is that what you're suggesting?"
Six turned from the very large door with windows into an unlit room that he'd stopped to inspect. "No."
Three chuckled in good humor as he turned to stand guard as Six began to inspect the console next to the door. "Just between you and me though. If that were the case, I could use a good second in command."
The door opened to show a smaller door. "uh-huh." Six muttered, not paying attention now. He didn't much like the way Three looked at him and the others. It was like he was trying to decide who would be the easiest to kill. It put him on guard.
He pushed a button on the door console. A hiss of air sounded as the gears inside unlocked and the door opened. On the other side was a larger area that was bar and through an arch that may have been another door were two rows of three chairs and a control desk. Bright light shined through a small pair of windows at the front.
Six laughed giddily as they walked into the room. "Alright!" he exclaimed, instantly recognizing the place as a shuttle. "This is more like it!"
He moved to the front of the craft. "I'm gonna take this thing for a ride, man." He said, giddy smile still on his face as he sat down and began taping buttons. Within a few taps the controls lit up. "I wonder if I know how to fly it?" he asked, looking up at Three who stood looking around, an unsure expression on his face.
"Knock yourself out." He muttered, walking out of the shuttle.
-Dark Matter-
Near the other side of the ship One and Four were having their own conversation as they explored. Well, One was talking, Four hadn't spoken since he'd first woke up.
"She said it just came to her when she was standing at that console." He was saying. "But I did the exact same thing trying to figure out what buttons to push, but nothing came to me. How do you figure that? Hell, how do you figure any of this?" he asked, frustration seeping into his voice as they walked. Both of their weapons were holstered at their waists. "There's no way of knowing how long we were in those pods; it could've been days, months, years maybe." He muttered.
Four stayed quiet.
"The weird thing is, our minds weren't completely wiped. If they had been I wouldn't know what a pod was or a year, or even be able to express myself. Shit, language itself would be totally alien to us! Right?" he stopped and looked at four.
The quiet man stayed just that (quiet) as he returned the look. "You're about to blow my theory here," One deadpanned.
Four's face remained expressionless as he looked down another hallway, particularly a doorway in it. "This way," he said moving toward it. His voice was deep, but spoke of wisdom past the man's age.
'So he does speak.' One thought, following him.
A second later the two were entering a room with walls that had swords stacked on shelves and several other types of weapons and other things.
"So…training room?" One asked, looking at the weights and other equipment, "or torture chamber maybe?" he asked eyeing the swords on the walls wearily.
Four payed One's comments little mind. Something was calling for him in this room, two somethings to be exact. A pair of swords laid on a small table against the far wall of the room, both of them highly polished and extremely sharp. Four moved to them and picked them off the table, the weight was perfect. He twisted one, marveling at how it took very little effort and was almost second nature. He twisted the other with the same amount of efficiently. The sound of the air being cut was like a long lost friend to his ears.
"You sure you know to use those?" One asked, seeing the weapons. He crossed his arms as he watched the other man.
For an answer Four raised the swords to be eye level with his fellow amnesic, one crossed over his left arm and the other pointing straight at him. Four closed his eyes and nary had a second passed when he launched himself into an impressive display of swordsmanship. Said swordsmanship included several twists, stabs and turns, as well as kicks and jumps. Each movement brought him a little bit closer to One and by the time he finished the swords were crisscrossed at One's neck, poised to take his head off if Four wished it.
"I'm gonna say; yes." One stated, arms still crossed, but a very nervous look about his face as he stared into Four's eyes. They dared him to do something out of turn.
Four smirked, lowered the swords and moved to sheath them.
'Remind me not to make him mad.' One thought rubbing at his neck where the swords had touched. 'Ever!'
-DARK MATTER-
Three grumbled to himself as he walked down another hallway alone. His gun was slung over his shoulder with an arm resting on it. "I hate shuttles…why though?" he wondered. The whole situation was beginning to get to him. The fact that he was on a ship without any recollection of how he got there wasn't the worst of it. Sure, not having any memories of who you were or where you were going sucked big time for the man, but it wasn't like he didn't think they wouldn't be able to get them back, eventually any way. No, it was the fact that he couldn't remember those around him that really got to him. He didn't know who they were, or how close they were to him before the memory loss happened, it bothered Three that anyone of them could have been lying to the others and they wouldn't know it until it was too late. Then there was that whole thing with the shuttle.
Three couldn't place it, but his gut was telling him to stay off the shuttle, that they were bad. Something about it made him nervous.
Maybe he'd gotten into an accident with one as a child? He didn't know, but something told him it was a possibility. Until he found out though, he would take solace knowing he would be staying as far away from that shuttle as possible. Maybe-
His attention was drawn as he passed by a turn off with an open door. Through it he could see what looked to be another storage room. This one only being about half the size of the one he'd found earlier. But as he made his way in Three's focus was on the large rectangular object sitting in the middle of the floor. Another stasis pod.
"Well, hello Sweet Cakes." He smirked, eyeing the woman inside and tapping on the glass. Lights inside the pod lit up when he did and a light hum began emanating from it as mist circulated around the woman inside.
Three's smirk widened as he turned back to the doorway. "Hey tiny," he called back to Six. He'd heard the man leave the shuttle sometime earlier and call for him to wait up, but Three had wanted to put as much distance as possible between him and that blasted shuttle. It would take a few moments for him to catch up "Get over here. I found something!"
Unbeknownst to the man, the woman's eyes opened. Cold, black and emotionless.
-Dark Matter-
Meanwhile, Five sat to the left and behind Two as the older woman went through the computer systems. For the last hour or so it had been silent between them as Two typed in commands to the computer. Every now and then Two would grumble a barely concealed curse as she found another system that needed fixed or rerouted.
By this time Five had counted at least ten separate systems, she didn't know which ones for sure, but she knew the ship needed more repairs then they were able to give it at the moment. They'd have to dock at a Space Station to do so fully.
She glanced over Two's shoulder as the computer made another beep and noticed a code of some sort flashing red in the corner of the screen.
"What's that?" she asked, pointing at the flashing code.
Two's face took on a look of confusion as she typed in the code and was met with its details. "That's strange." She said, "The ship just initiated some sort of security protocol."
Suddenly their coms lit up. "This is Six, we're under attack!" the man's voice exclaimed through what they could tell were grit teeth. Several bangs could be heard through them.
Two's eyes narrowed as Five gasped. "Under attack? Under attack by who?"
The sounds of a fight echoing through the coms were the only answer to them. It did not sound as if Three and Six were winning.
"Damnit." Two muttered, "One! Four! We need help!" she called to the others.
"We heard, tell us where to go." One's voiced answered. A pair of flashing dots suddenly appeared on the upper part of the screen where a schematic of the ship was shown. It showed six dots in three groups of two in various parts of the ship. Two in the bridge, one group in a room on one side of the ship, and the last two moving at a rapid pace towards the second. "I can track the coms," Two muttered. "go right. And then left at the next intersection."
Using the new means of navigation, Two guided One and Four to the others' location. "Is someone gonna die?"
Two looked over her shoulder. Five's face was pale, fear radiated through her body as she shook. "No, not if I can help it." Two replied, hitting command options at a rapid pace. Every one she hit was met with the same negative response as the last.
More sounds of the fight came through the coms; it was obvious to her that even though the others had arrived the help was minimal against the assailant. "some sort of security protocol's been activated," she said, entering the commands to bring it up. Again it was met with a negative.
'Then override it!' that had to have been Four's voice, Five's eyes widened when she heard it gasping, as if the assailant had a grip around his neck. "I'm trying!" Two snapped back in frustration, each command she entered had no effect.
Suddenly, as she watched Two try once more to end the protocol something inside Five clicked together. She suddenly knew the right command sequence to enter, what the security protocol was and what it was for. Hurriedly, she moved to the console and roughly pushed the older woman to the side.
"Wa? Five?" Two questioned, but she was astonished when she saw the girl's hands flying across the screen of the console, entering commands she had not thought of, and going through the protocol in detail, highlighting sections and deactivating them. In little to no time the red security light had turned off and was replaced by a green one.
Two could barely believe what she'd saw. Somehow Five had managed to override the security protocol. And by the look of it, she had done so on instinct.
Five herself though seemed to come back to her senses and backed away from the console. Her hands were shaking as she looked up to Two, confusion just as clear in her eyes as the fear beside it.
"What? How'd-" the girl's questions were cut off as Three's voice came across the coms.
'Took you long enough, Doll Face!'
End
Hey guys. I know I probably shouldn't be doing this, considering all my other stories haven't been getting much attention lately, but I've been watching session one of Dark Matter over and over again and ideas have sprouted in my head nonstop the last few days. So far the first chapter is just a partial rewrite of the first episode with a few hidden things in there to show what I have planned for later on. Can you guess? They're pretty obvious me thinks.
Please review.
Shadow12 out!
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