Note: I realized that the first chapter was pretty short. I'll have to work at trying to find more to write in the future. Please review if you can. I'm fairly new to all of this so I would appreciate any advice or criticism you can offer so that I may have some things to improve upon. Also, if someone would like to help me fix any errors I make, I'd appreciate the help as well in that area. Thank you, and enjoy!
Chapter 2
I arrived back at the bridge, stepping out of the lift after the doors slid open, "Anything new?"
"I have pinpointed the source of the signal." R.O.B. began, "It appears to be a large freighter. Its registration is unintelligible due to usage of unknown languages. Design does not match any known ships on our records."
"Can we see it?" I asked, moving to stand behind Falco while he sat at the ops terminal.
As if on cue, a poor quality image of some kind of vessel appeared on the screen. It was bulky and seemed industrial, definitely giving off the impression of some kind of cargo transport. There were many areas that looked as if the ship had been recently attacked, and there were particles of debris- that I could barely make out—surrounding it.
"That look like damage right there to you?" I pointed to the various blotches at marks I had noticed.
"Definitely looks like it." Falco nodded.
"We will reach the source in ten minutes." R.O.B. reported. We'll just have to wait until then to find out.
"Hail them again, R.O.B." I instructed, the channel opening once more, "Unidentified vessel, the is Fox McCloud aboard the starship Great Fox. We are civilian and are willing to provide assistance if needed, please respond."
"No response." R.O.B. repeated after a few moments.
"Well keep sending them that message."
"Try using other languages or symbols." Falco added, "They might not understand us."
"Affirmative."
It was clear now that this alien ship was damaged in battle. R.O.B. had said that it looked as if there was only one attacker and that the scale of the damage suggested the attacker was in some kind of small fighter craft. But the weapons this craft used were unknown. The damage had caused the reactor core to slowly begin overloading. The ship would explode in a couple of hours.
"If there are survivors, then they probably can't respond anyway." Falco said, "Our best shot would be to just dock and investigate it. We already have enough proof that we could just do that."
It was only legal to dock and board another vessel without consent if there was proof beyond a doubt that the ship and its occupants are in danger, and of course to board with the intent of saving them. Falco was right, our best shot would be to dock and quickly scan the place for survivors before the reactor popped from the pressure that was building up inside it.
"Yeah, that's probably our only option at this point." I agreed and he stood up.
"What's the air like in there?" He asked.
"Analysis indicates the strong presence of chemicals known and unknown within the air within. The ones that we know of are highly toxic, able to kill in minutes upon inhalation." R.O.B. stated, turning to us, "There are also many depressurized areas due to the hull ruptures sustained from the damage."
"Well we can just wear the survival suits in the air lock to solve that problem." I said, turning to Falco who looked like he wanted to say something, "What?"
"Yeeaah...about the suits..." He began, "They're uh...I forgot 'em back at the station...when we first recommissioned the ship." He said.
I stood there, mouth open slightly for a few moments, "...You're kidding, right? Y-you forgot to bring our space suits into the ship way back then?" I asked, glaring at him.
Falco put up his hands, "Hey, there was A LOT of stuff to bring on board, they were in the corner, out of the way. I just thought you or Slippy brought 'em in already." He said, "But then I realized that they were missing when I went into the airlock after we took off."
I sighed, "Okay, but why didn't you bring it up when you found out they were gone?"
"I don't know. I was planning to, but I couldn't find the right time. I'm sorry, okay?"
"Well now how are we gonna get in there and not die?" I sat down, rubbing my forehead as I thought about what we were gonna do now. If we went in without survival gear, we'd be fucked, that's plain as day.
"...We could use the emergency air masks." Falco suddenly suggested after a minute, "They'd work for us long enough to get in there, check for survivors and get out."
I looked up, "...Yeah. That works, it's not going to be pleasant though if we have to go into a vacuum." The masks were designed to be used in case there was a sudden hull breach and you were left without air in a vacuum. You would be able to survive for a little less than a minute or two before you'd start dying from being given a big hickey all over your body from space, but it was long enough to get out of that.
"I'll go round some together." Falco said, pushing himself away from the wall and heading out.
"Alright. I'll get our gear ready." I said, getting up and following him out.
Falco was already in the airlock by the time I got there. He had several breathing masks as well as a large collection of pocket-sized air tanks. He looked up at me when I entered, "The others are for any survivors." He explained. I wasn't planning to question them but, I just nodded in response anyway.
"Here." I handed him one of the two packs I had with me, "We can carry the canisters in these." I said before kneeling down and began filling my pack with the air tanks.
"Initiating docking sequence." I heard R.O.B's voice in my ear, coming from my head set and also presumably from Falco's as well.
"Oh and here's this too." I looked over to see Falco holding my blaster out to me, still in its holster, "You left it in your arwing after we got back."
I put my paw to where my holster was and sure enough, it was gone, "Oh, thanks. I guess I forgot." I took it from him and strapped it back onto my leg.
"Yeah." He said, putting the tanks I didn't get as well as the other masks into his pack before strapping it onto his back.
There was a bang and a hiss before R.O.B. spoke again, "Docking complete."
I moved over to the airlock controls, "Ready?" I asked, looking back at him.
He slipped on his mask before giving a thumbs-up, "Let's go." His voice was a bit muffled now but I still could hear him clearly.
I put on my own mask before I turned back to the controls and opened the doors. Before they opened. There was a hiss and a bit of a draft came through before the doors came apart, revealing the interior of the other ship.
"Well, let's get going then." I said before we stepped through together, the air lock shutting behind us. Each of our mini air tanks could supply us ten minutes of air, plus the extra ten canisters we carried each and we could be down here until the reactor blew—about one-and-a-half hours from now. We could only really be here for an hour as we'd be pushing it if we lingered past that mark. I just hoped that we'd find either somebody to rescue or at least something of value if there was nobody to rescue. I'd really suck if we did all this for no reason.
"I've never seen anything like this before." Falco said as we inspected the first thing we came across: A corpse.
"Yeah. I'd bet this might be a member of the crew. He's got what I thing looks like cyber-implants attached to him. It was some kind of insect-looking thing. It's claws clutched something. Some kind of device. I reached out to take it, but the door behind us suddenly came open.
By the time I stood up and turned around, Falco was already pointing his blaster at whatever or whoever just came in. It was a taller figure, about 6 feet. They wore some kind of strange...suit or armor. It was orange with patches of yellow all over it, and was slender in form. The helmet was red with a green visor. On one arm, there was some kind of cannon which they proceeded to point at us and I drew my own blaster.
There was a moment before I suddenly realized who this must be, "...Samus Aran?" I asked, unsure, "Is that you Samus?"
