Chapter 2: Brace for Impact

We were now nearly thirteen months into the trip, and we had only one last thing to do before we reached our destination. Evidently there were rumors leaked to the crew that we were taking a detour to slingshot around an unexplored world labeled Planet 4546B. It was entirely ocean save for some volcanic islands, according to the long range scans at least. Why exactly this was part of the plan was beyond me. This was the edge of explored space, and many small ships had been lost to the void beyond this point.

This was space's equivalent to the Bermuda Triangle.

I looked out the window to see a tiny blue twinkle that shone out among the stars, the planet in question. It looked a lot like Earth, and given the conditions, it seemed to me that preexisting life on that planet was a little too likely. Federal space explorers have not once come across a planet with liquid water, an atmosphere, and such a strong magnetosphere that hasn't housed some type of organism.

Of course it just hit me, why 4546B? A rare oasis in the blackness of space that could serve as a home for humanity and they designate it with a serial number. Why not give it a name like the planets in Earth's solar system? More importantly, why hadn't we already set up a colony or at least a lunar outpost? It certainly seemed like the ideal place to set one.

So why did I have this ominous feeling that we were being watched? Me specifically.

Then again I was being watched.

Okay, so a lot had transpired in the last ten months that I should probably mention. I'll be honest, when I first met Jane Stalward, I was convinced that the lovely lieutenant was just trying to rope me into staying with Alterra, that this fling wouldn't last for too long. I was suspicious at first. But Jane stuck around, and after about a month of more jobs on the ship and Jane still hanging around, l began to see that she was looking for something more serious. Perhaps she was grateful for me saving her life back in that asteroid encounter, very thankful. And she hadn't brought up me sticking with Alterra after this, so that might be something.

So about a month and a half later, as though she knew I realized all of that, she starts showing up by my room wearing nothing but that skintight spacesuit, like the first time. She'd follow me around whenever she had the chance, and I have to admit that I warmed up to her. It was about two months later (five months into the mission) we had begun to hold hands in the hall and news of this pairing spread through the crew faster than wildfire. From that point things continued on casually. We'd hang out, go on a few jobs together, and whatnot. Unlike the very start, we hadn't taken the direct route and just had fun, and we both liked it.

Then there was today.

After my last job on the hull of the Aurora, I had decided to return to my quarters and clean up. But when I opened my door, someone had already beaten me to the decontamination shower. The bathroom door was deliberately left wide open with a familiar jumpsuit lazily tossed on the floor on the way to the door. I only saw for a split second what was inside.

The glass shower box was fogged up so I couldn't see clearly, but I definitely saw the curves of the lieutenant herself. The water, suds, her hair, everything was in zero gravity in there in a spectacular display to say the...

Wait a minute! I snapped myself out of that daze and tried to act like a gentleman, not a pervert. So I tried to slip away and let her finish. I was terrible at starting this sort of thing anyway.

"Welcome back, Gill", Jane cooed, knowing full well that I could vaguely see her. No question, she deliberately set that up for me to see.

"You're a little comfortable all of a sudden", I tried to say calmly to play this out.

"Attention: Increased heart rate detected-*" And sure enough, the AI connected to my suit blew my cover once again, just like that first encounter. I silenced it with a mad blush on my face, but again it was telling the truth.

So many questions ran through my mind. As far as we've been dating this sudden surprise was an alarming leap. In fact I still hadn't seen her outside of that jumpsuit even once (Yeah that's right. Go ahead and laugh, I dare you). But it left me boggled nonetheless, and it left me wondering what on earth (or beyond earth for that matter) could have brought this out of absolutely nowhere. Why the hell wasn't there a gradual lead up?

"Still nervous as before, lover boy", she laughed happily, spinning herself into a slow backflip in zero g, again providing a stunning view.

"Well, yeah, who wouldn't be with someone pulling a shower surprise", I said trying unsuccessfully to hide those emotions, "This isn't like you."

"So I take it you don't want to join me then~?" she giggled but sighed as a timer went off, which she snoozed, "But you did catch me at the end of the shower." She reached a hand out of the box to grab a small back beside her and pulled out some light clothes, and a cool blast of air dried her off and slowly cleared the fog. I looked away before it revealed anything (It's called respect and self control boys. Time some people learned it).

A few moments later, she stepped out of the bathroom. All she wore was a pair of short skintight black pants a royal blue tank top of sorts that appeared to have trouble holding her assets in. Both were skintight like the jumpsuit, probably the same material too, and it left her stomach long legs, and a little cleavage exposed. And to top it off, that platinum blonde mane of hair was tied back in a ponytail.

She could not have possibly been more casually dressed and it was the first time I had ever seen her with a that much skin exposed. Was today some special occasion or something?

It took me a moment to realize that I was staring, and I politely looked her in the eyes instead of everywhere else.

"Come on Gill", she leaned up against me, "You can look. I told you that a thousand times."

"I know, but this is a little overwhelming I looked down into her eyes and with a giggle, she tackled me to the bed with her on top.

"It's been ten months", she raised an eyebrow, "I mean you should have expected this at some point, lead up or not. It's not like you Mr. Prepared for everything."

Well, she has me there.

"So then," I asked, making myself comfortable, "what's the occasion? No wait, it's your birthday coming up soon, isn't it?"

Surprisingly enough, her smile drooped a little at the mention of that. Not once during our time together had she even brought up her birthday, and my answer was a complete guess.

"Yep, you guessed it", she smiled again, rested her weight on me, and leaned in to nibble the side of my neck. Romantic yes, and that squish on my chest certainly left a good view, but there was something else in her actions that drew my attention away from the romantic bits.

For just a second before she smiled I swear I saw a sorrowful look in her eyes, masked again by that smile and her going for my neck instead of the lips where I could have seen it better.

But I saw it clearly, and it left me feeling worried. She was a Lieutenant, fearless in the face of danger and unshakable by any means. So what could have shaken her so much that she'd be faltering now? Come to think of it, she might have tried to warm up to me in such a provocative manner because she needed comfort but didn't want me to worry. I could have been completely reading it wrong, but perhaps this would be a good time to follow suit and play by that game. So in the meantime it ran my fingers through her hair and held her upper thigh. And only after that did she warm up into the kiss on the lips. Funny how time seems to stop in the middle of a kiss. It's weird.

Looking back on everything, it makes me glad that I had that moment to savor for so seemingly long.

After a few moments of snuggling, Jane's expression drooped as her gaze fell on the planet we were approaching. It was much closer now, significantly closer. In fact I'm pretty sure we had entered orbit at this point.

What the hell did the planet have to do with the sudden mood change?

"Nero...", she muttered. She never called me Nero nowadays, not since our first night together, "If it's alright...could I ask you something?"

"Um, other than that question, sure", I said holding her closer, trying to cheer her up, she grasped the hand that I ran through her hair and I could feel her hand trembling. Little red flags going up. Something was seriously wrong. This wasn't just dread or sorrow, this was fear I was sensing from her. Her suit's connected AI would have definitely pointed that out had she been wearing it.

"Since we first were informed on that planet, two days ago", she asked calmly looking out the window, "You haven't had any...strange dreams, have you? Voices in your head?"

What an odd question to ask. That wasn't at all where I thought she was going.

"No, should I?" I questioned, now very much intrigued, "What sort of dreams or voices?"

"I had a dream that I was drowning down there", she motioned to that ocean a couple thousand miles beneath us, "It would last forever and I wouldn't stay down, all the time hearing some woman's voice begging 'Turn back', like her life depended on it. As a matter of fact I think I still hear it", she shook her head, "Not sure if I'm going crazy or not."

That was a new one, but I knew how to cheer her up.

"To be fair, we're all a little crazy. You were straight up crazy enough to surprise me in the shower and I was crazy enough to run a rescue mission without a Prawn suit ten months ago", I pulled her leg closer by the upper thigh, "So it's a nightmare. No biggy."

"It's not that simple", she smiled weakly, "I mean...do you know why we're passing by this planet? I need to come clean on a few things...*!"

I never got the chance to reply.

A green glow resonated somewhere out the window and all of a sudden a thunderous BOOM! sounded throughout the entire ship. Jane screamed and held onto me, shivering in horror and I swear I could hear her mumbling "No, no, no, no!" under her breath.

"What the hell?!" I looked around, now on red alert. I reached my HUD and ordered, "What happened?! Run diagnostics of Aurora structural integrity!"

"Calculating damage assessment", the AI tapped into the aurora's systems and pulled up a mental hologram for me. A massive hole the size of a six seated spacecraft had been punched a hole clean across the front side of the Aurora! "Cause: unknown. Massive damages, including 29 casualties detected. 35 casualties."

"An asteroid?! No, a meteor?!" I hissed, "It has to be!" And as soon as I said that, the sirens and alarms blared across the ship.

"Attention all crew and passengers." the same AI said across the speakers, "Hull integrity of the Aurora has been compromised. We advise all crew and passengers to take emergency measures and abandon ship via lifepod. Collision course with ocean planet, Designation: 4546B, imminent in T-minus 9 minutes. We advise lifepod ejection for optimal safe landing conditions in T-Minus 5 minutes. Repeat: All personnel prepare to abandon ship."

Taking in all that information, I made a mental checklist of things do.

"Come on!" I said rolling Jane off of me and rushing for my duffel bag, "Get your suit on quick!"

It took Jane a moment to process what was happening before she nodded and rushed to fit into her jumpsuit and seal it. I had already put on my makeshift radsuit. It was originally a dive suit, so the place we would be landing was rather convenient. Next was a metal, lightweight backpack, which contained some basic supplies that I may or may not have borrowed to build my suit.

"The window for optimal conditions for ejection will be unavailable in T-minus 3 minutes. Planetary atmosphere breached ", My suit's AI alerted me.

"Equip it all on the way there!" I barked and took Jane by the hand. The lifepods weren't far off so we had the time.

Or so I thought.

Turns out that after we started off down the hall, the ship lurched and took a slightly steeper dive. Inside of the ship, the artificial gravity generators had their control wrenched from them as everyone in the ship began to go into free fall. It would likely take a moment for the generators to make up for that, but that left Jane and I floating down the hall for just a moment with little control.

"Damn it!" I grunted as I pulled a dive reel out from my back and shot the anchor onto the ladder we were supposed to take, "Don't let go!" I said to Jane, only to look down to see her apparent physical condition. She was still very shaken to say the least.

"I...I..." she stuttered but never finished.

"Listen!", I barked reeling her in, "I don't know why you're scared but you need to step it up like the officer you are! You weren't shaken when you were nearly lost to the void of space on our first job together! At least down there we have a chance of surviving if we're stranded!" I handed her a dive reel, "Just trust me like you did when we first met."

She held the reel close to her heart, as though she were remembering something painful, but then she nodded as we glided down into the next hall. The ship lurched again and gravity returned, slamming both of us to the metal floor below.

I blacked out for a second, and when I regained consciousness there were fires about the chamber and another announcement was blaring.

"Attention: atmospheric entry has delivered greater than estimated thermal damage to the Aurora's hull and exposed interior. Life pod launch chambers have sustained critical damage. Recommending immediate launch before existing damages intensify."

Our time limit was up.

"Jane?" I asked getting up slowly. Jane had taken the fall at a different angle, and I think she may have hit the ladder hard on the way down. She was still alive, but was too weak to move herself.

At this section of the ship, only one life pod was left, Number 5, and the lauch chamber had been severely damaged. One more shock would likely send it tumbling out of the ship on its own. But it was our only way out.

"Don't you die on me", I muttered as I stumbled to pick her up and drag her over. She coughed up some blood before her eyes fluttered open behind the reinforced dive helmet.

"Hey Gill", she said with a weak smile.

"Don't worry, I got you. We're almost safe." I whispered. Her smile disappeared as she looked behind me to a repeated metal clashing noise and we reached the pod.

"Hey...can you promise me something?" she asked trying to get closer, "Just...one last time?" her other hand was clumsily pushing something on her own suit's AI command.

"Quit talking like that!", I opened the hatch and moved to lift her in, time running down to a few seconds more.

"If...you see her", she weakly took one of my dive reels, hooked it to my suit and shot the other end into the escape pod, "Tell her I said hi..."

"Wait what? No!" I screamed reaching for her hand, but it was too late.

It turned out that in even shorter a time that it would have taken to even lift her up to the hatch, another explosion from inside of the room and the lifepod shook loose and flew out into the void outside of the ship, but the dive reel made sure that I went out with it.

But that left Jane behind, and in that last split second, before she could attach her own line, I saw a smile on her face, one of mixed emotions. She seemed happy that I was safe, but I saw a look in her eyes, not a look of fear anymore. Rather, it was a look of acceptance, an acceptance of fate.

"JAAAAANE!" my voice cried out, unheard amidst the wind and the Aurora going down, "Dammit, no! Damn you!" The reel automatically pulled me into my seat and it clicked around me as I fought hopelessly, thinking in my mind at the time that I could still save her somehow. But it was just wishful thinking at this point. The pod rocked, supplies flew everywhere, and the last thing I remember beyond the sudden grief was a metal interior plate smacking me in the face and knocking me out cold.

And just like that, Jane was gone.

Yep. That's just my luck.

(End of Chapter 2)


Hello, everyone. Beowulf here.

Everyone who heard of the game knew this was coming. Honestly it was kind of a shame to do this to Nero, especially considering that the love of his life was on board. But it seems that the McGill family's unpredictable (mis)fortune has come back with a vengeance, and taken the Aurora with it. That apple fell a little too close to the tree.

In the meantime, if you like what you see, blast that follow/favorite button harder than the Precursors blasted the Aurora!

This is Beowulf, Nero, and the OC Crew, signing out!