.2
"Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail."
- B.G., 8.06
"Sir, we have visual on the craft."
On the Bridge of the EarthGov military patrol bird USM Credence, Corporal James Brigham pointed to the overhead observation monitors. Displayed upon all of them was the same fuzzy, monochromatic image, captured by one of the ship's exterior cameras - the visual of a CEC executive shuttle, apparently unmanned, nonoperative and floating aimlessly just beyond the boundaries of the Cygnus system. The Credence's Captain, Ravi Sarius, listened to the klaxon call of its distress signal as it echoed through the communications array.
"Hail them, Corporal."
Brigham followed his order without hesitation, his eyes fixed on the holomonitors.
"USG-CV4, this the USM Credence, responding to your distress signal. Do you copy, over?"
After a few seconds of nothing but white static in response, he tried again.
"USG-CV4, this is the USM Credence, responding to your distress signal. Do you copy? Over."
Met again with only silence, Brigham turned back to the Captain.
"I've got no response, Captain."
Sarius nodded, his eyes locked upon the small, darkened shuttle as they approached it. For a routine search and rescue mission, he felt more nervous than usual.
"Run a remote scan. I want to know where it came from, and what's wrong with it."
Lieutenant Evan Iben, stationed at the terminal next to Brigham, initiated an exterior scan of the shuttle and watched the returned lines of data spill across the screen of his holomonitor.
"Engines down, communications offline, port boosters unresponsive. Minimal emergency system and life support operations. Database is still accessible... it was last synced to the USG Ishimura, Sir."
Sarius' fingers fidgeted subconsciously at a silver, double-helix engraved Unitology broach tacked to the collar of his uniform.
"The Ishimura... hmm. Is anyone alive?"
Iben paused, then shook his head.
"I can't get a clear lockdown on the reading..."
Following a moment of deliberation, the Captain twisted his lip.
"If there's any power left, override the system control and prep for autodock."
On his Captain's order Iben attempted to gain access to the shuttle's control system remotely, but after several attempts he finally shook his head.
"Nothing's responding... It must really be dead in the water. In that shape, there can't be anyone alive."
Sarius glared at the shuttle, trying to see into its darkened windows.
"Brigham. You, Iben and Haze suit up. We're going aboard."
Brigham, Iben and a third soldier next to him all rose to their feet, following behind the Captain as he headed out of the Bridge and toward the airlock. When they arrived, the four soldiers began to suit up and sync their RIGs. As he adjusted the seal on his helmet, Iben muttered under his breath.
"Man, I wasn't expecting to have to do this shit today."
Brigham tossed his hand as he checked the seals of his own suit.
"Shouldn't take long. Get in there, figure out what's going on, and get the hell out."
The soldiers all entered the decompression chamber that led to the outer exit hatch. Upon Sarius' cue Brigham finalized the required safety checks, and initiated the exit opening sequence.
"Door open in four, three, two, one..."
The exit hatch of the ship opened silently unto the vacuum of space, and one by one the soldiers stepped out onto the side of the ship, latching themselves to its surface with their magnetic boots. Once they were all outside, Sarius motioned toward the defunct executive shuttle floating above their position.
"Iben, you first."
Iben took a deep breath and looked around nervously. No matter how many times he had been subjected to the deep vacuum of space throughout the course of his military career, he had never quite grown used to the initial transition from the airlock. Trying to keep himself properly oriented, Iben locked his eyes on the executive shuttle he was aiming for, activated his suit's propulsion jets and pushed off the side of the Credence with his legs. With no friction to slow him Iben reached the shuttle within a few seconds, and he heard Sarius' voice cut in over his RIG.
"Careful, you're moving pretty fast."
Iben extended his arms to make contact with the side of the shuttle as he closed in. His speed was greater than he had anticipated, and before he could get his boots to properly lock down on the metal to hold his position, he hit the starboard side and skidded a few yards down the length of it.
"Oh, shit!"
He quickly readjusted the jets of his suit to slow himself down, and finally managed to lock his boots onto the metal surface of the shuttle. Once he was secured, he motioned to the other soldiers.
"Come on over, fellas."
One by one, Sarius and the other two soldiers activated their suits' propulsion systems and followed Iben's path. Once they all were safely attached to the shuttle along with Iben, the Captain visually signaled to the crew monitoring them from the Bridge of the Credence.
"We're heading in."
Brigham accessed the executive shuttle's outer doorlock, and the hatch slid open. The team climbed into the shuttle's small, cramped decompression chamber, and after the atmospheric calibration sequence was complete, the inside hatch opened and they made their way inside.
The first thing they all noticed was that everything was dark except for the weakly blinking light of the ship's distress beacon. Sarius again felt an unexplained fear as the red hue pulsed throughout the cabin, and he retracted his helmet.
"Well... This looks promising."
The soldiers activated their exploration flashlights, peering around the cockpit. The bright, obtrusive lights and green glow of their suit's RIGs cut through the cloud of suspended dust, which seemed to be thick as smoke and practically unstirred for centuries. As they made their way to the cockpit, Iben slowly approached the pilot's seat and looked at the control panels.
"Got some severe damage here, Sir..."
Something suddenly lashed out at Iben from the pilot's seat. Startled as it brushed him, he reached for his divet and whirled around to face whatever it was.
"Hey!"
With his flashlight aimed directly at the pilot's seat, Iben gasped. He realized that it was occupied by a motionless, human body pitched forward upon the control kiosk. He was dressed in what appeared to be a heavily damaged CEC engineer's uniform, torn and splattered all over with dark, red patches of blood. The RIG upon his back was blinking a faint red glow, a warning that the man was still alive - but barely so. Iben's eyes widened and he holstered his divet.
"Captain, a survivor!"
Sarius stopped what he was doing and immediately approached the nearly dead man slumped over in the chair. He grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling the man back to get a clear look at his face, and saw there was a CEC company ID tag welded to the armored plate across his chest.
[I. CLARKE _ Sr. Engineer, Mining Operations]
Though Sarius had never before met this person face to face, there was no doubt in his mind about who this was. He slowly shook his head with a sense of awe that intrigued the other soldiers.
"My god... she... she said he would be here. The one who would have... touched it. Altman be Praised."
A veil of suspenseful silence clung to the air as Sarius solemnly lowered his head and clasped his hands in a brief moment of meditation. Then, he turned back to his team with a sense of vigilance burning in his eyes.
"Prep him for transport. We're bringing him to Titan Station."
