Lost in Space
The blaring alarms had gone silent, the terrified screams had ceased, the pitiful flickering of the ship's lights gave their last breath before going out. Cold, stagnating air was growing staler with each minute passed, a sign of life-support reaching its limit and now on dangerously low levels. The ship had was deathly silent, but there was a single soul left aboard and adrift in an empty corridor, safely sealed away.
Leonard's eyes shot open, he awoke to a throbbing headache and hazy vision. Barely able to make out his surroundings, it took him considerable effort to focus on his surroundings: a ceiling. He was weightless, so too a number of other torn bits of panels, bolts, and other scraps as was evident by their status of being suspended in midair. His body ached and yelled in a fit of soreness as the man's mind started retracing its steps. He could remember small snips of information, his memory steadily recounting the details of his vessel's engagement: First contact with a Covenant fleet, a desperate battle of Earth's defenses, and then... nothing. He wasn't sure, or rather, he was knocked out en-route to his drop pod with the rest of his squad, but the poor, out-classed UNSC frigate took a nasty blow. He may not have been awake during the vessel's final moments, but the result was obvious. He had no clue on whether there were other survivors, or if the battle of Earth had been won or lost, but either way he needed a way to get off this wreck. He wouldn't last any longer up here than he would down on the planet's surface.
Leo pushed himself off the ceiling and to the floor, not that it helped much, but now he was oriented correctly. First, he checked his gear, his vacuum sealed armor appeared intact as did his helmet's sealing mechanism. Without much choice, the ODST had to trust what his heads-up-display was telling him. His equipment registered clear and safe without warnings to one could never be too sure. It was then did he receive a new signal coming from above him, far above him. Was someone else still alive? After floating himself to the pressure door, Leo's hands searched for a manual release, sealing his and checking it twice for a 'safe' indicator before yanking back the lever. Though a little slow, the doors unsealed and Leo continued on. This corridor was clear and he unsealed his suit again. He only had a limited amount of internal oxygen to spare and he would be damned if he didn't savor every breath of it when he could. There was no telling how long he'd need it.
The man repeated this ritual of pressurizing his suit before opening every blast door until one such door sucked him into a depressurized corridor with a gaping, burning hole in its side. The rushing air pulled him toward it, sending the ODST in a panic as he scrambled to grab something. First it was the blast doors, but his fingers eventually slipped from their grip, sending Leo into a scrambling grab for anything. Luck seemed to come his way as the last of the rushing air had ceased just before he passed the breached hull, but his momentum still sent him flying until his back hit the next blast door with a painful thud. With a light groan, he rubbed the pain with one glove-sealed hand. 'Painful' was a bit of an understatement, but at least it was better than being sucked out and lost in space. Shaking off the injury, Leo pulled himself to wound in the ship's hull and was met with a bright, beautiful, horrifying sight: Earth, aflame. The powerful sun highlighted the devastation and burning cities, the hundreds if not thousands of ground battle taking place with Earth's people- humanity's bitter, losing fight against certain extinction. He needed to get to that distress beacon, but he might not be so lucky in opening another blast door. There was one other option though, and he couldn't say he liked it even if it was his own idea.
Slowly exiting the safety of the cold, confining, steel corridors of the vessel he was stationed on, he peeked his head outside, surveying his orbital surroundings with the tiniest bit of hope that there was someone, anyone from the UNSC's Navy still alive and fighting, but he could see nothing. Only the whites and purples of Covenant vessels that seemed to continue to grow in number. This was it. No miraculous comeback for humanity, no divine intervention to save them, no reinforcements, no one. For all he knew, he was the last surviving member of his species, a terrifying prospect. Leo shook the thoughts from his head, he needed to focus, his oxygen levels were decreasing with every breath he took and he still needed to make them count, what's more is the distress signal from the bridge of the ship. He needed to get there, even if it was just to satisfy his curiosity, he needed something to take his mind off this nightmare of a reality he lived in.
Leo carefully let himself EVA outside, one hand firmly gripping the side of the hole 'just-in-case'. He climbed as high as he could with his foot now being the only thing kept as a safety measure to pull him back inside. However, he still could not see his target. Despite the Paris-class being a rather small ship in all the UNSC's Navy, he suddenly felt as if he were facing a rather intimidating giant. With nerves getting to him, Leo pulled himself back to the corridor he'd just left with a sudden chill running down his body. Perhaps it'd be best if he took the long way, but first that came with opening the next blast door. Grabbing the manual lever for dear life, Leo pulled it and prayed. As expected, another rush of air desperate to escape its confinement, rushed past the ODST, but with his grip on the lever he managed to safely survive the depressurization. With a light sigh, the man continued, repeating the new ritual of clinging for dear life wherever he could...
It wasn't long before the ODST found himself back in the heart of the frigate. However, he found nothing more than the bodies of dead crew members and floating debris and equipment. By now, he had lost hope that anyone was left alive except for him, but there was always that beacon coming from the bridge. At this point he just wanted to know he wasn't alone in this hulking vessel of burned and twisted metal. He navigated the halls, corridors, and rooms he had grown familiar with since he was stationed aboard the craft. Every room brought with it a warm memory of his fallen friends and comrades, but in place of laughter, footsteps, machinery and gadgets, was silence. The vibrating hum of the engines had gone quiet, the beeping of computers and grating of mechanical devices had ceased, and finally, the chatter and cheery atmosphere had been replaced with an empty void of silence and cold. Eventually, the man would find himself at the foot of a crew elevator, but the power was out. Of course.
Leo used every ounce of strength he had to pry open the doors with his fingers. A little more, a little more, until he managed to squeeze himself in between the steel doors and shove one of them open with the use of his legs. now, it was just a strait shot upward and luckily for him, the elevator cables were still intact. He grabbed one, careful of where he grabbed and pulled himself up to the very top of the frigate only to come face to face with another set of blast doors. His hands rested on the cold steel and he wondered how he'd get it open. The bulkheads had their emergency release, and even if he could find one for this particular door, the person, or people, inside would perish the moment he opened it up. With only one thing left to do, the man banged his fist several times on the hard surface, hoping to get someone's attention, but it wasn't a frightened yell or cheer, it was the hissing of the door sliding open.
There was no welcome, no 'thank you', not a single soul waiting for him. The bridge was lifeless, empty and void of any trace of the crew that were once stationed within it. The viewing port had been completely torn out with plasma, the glowing hot residue surrounding the jagged edge of the bridge was all that remained. Control panels were clinging to their sockets via strained wires and cables, the monitors were offline, and all that remained in the dark room was the faint, light-blue glow from the form of a woman lying on the holographic table in the center. Leo didn't get the chance to get a good look at her a light, feminine voice spoke up.
"Shocking, isn't it?" She said with a saddened tone, "Watching the end of the world while being so powerless to stop it." Leo floated himself to the table, grabbing its edge to stop himself as she continued, "Thank you... Being alone would have been another kind of nightmare entirely..." She said with a glance back to the ODST.
"The Beacon-"
"Was for me. Sorry if it fooled you, I just hoped that someone would pick up." She apologized, "Wasn't sure if any of the crew was still alive after primary power went though. The battle did a number on the ship rending many of its primary functions offline. 'Saki', by the way." She introduced.
"I need a way off this ship. Pelican, Pod, whatever is available. Can you do that for me?" Leo asked.
"I... I can try." The A.I. said, getting to her feet and meeting the ODST face to face now despite their vast difference in size, "But I want you to take me with you." She requested, "T-Though I'll admit that it is but a plea to rescue me, to be honest, even if I was stuck here, parts of the ship have been cut off from the bridge's main control thanks to..." She paused, looking behind her shoulder to the gaping wound in the bridge's front, "That. Meaning I won't be able to open things like hangar doors even if you found a working Pelican. However, if I'm along with you, I'd be able to reroute the emergency power to wherever we may need it, provided we use an auxiliary pedestal or even terminals."
"Alright, where do we begin?" Leo asked.
"I'd recommend we start in one of the hangar bays. I couldn't tell you their condition, but assuming one is intact and flyable, then the rest will be a lot easier for the both of us."
"Agreed, but let's make this quick, I don't exactly have full tanks of oxygen."
"Give me a-" She was interrupted by something impacting the ship.
"What was that?"
"I... I don't know." She began, "Let me... We've got boarders. I can't properly identify. Ever use a data-chip?" She asked.
"Yeah. Why-"
"Same place," The A.I. took a deep breath, "I'm ejecting." She finished and, in a flash, she was gone. In her place, a small chip ejected out of a slot in front of the man. Following her suggestion, he pulled it out of its slot, and plugged it behind his head and into his helmet's own. After a few seconds, her voice returned, "It's feels a little cramped in here⦠'Leonard'."
"We don't have time, what's our situation looking like?" Leo quickly changed subjects.
"Right! We've got new, unknown contacts somewhere on the ship. Unknown number. Assume hostile, there's a magnum by the console on your left. Two magazines, bridge crew keeps them for emergency security. What good that did..." She muttered, moving on. "One more thing: I'm limited by your own equipment, I won't be able to do much aside from analysis for you at most so, keep that in mind." She said as Leonard loaded the M6C and put the spare magazine away.
It was almost amusing to think about. The Covenant were willing to go out of their way to kill a single man above his burning home. 'Well, they were thorough' Leo thought. Incalculably low odds, outnumbered, outgunned, and nowhere left to run. It was fitting in its own morbid way. "Any advice?" The ODST asked the A.I., returning to the elevator shaft and looking down the long drop. Empty; for now. He was going in for the fight of his life, but that was fine, what battle against the Covenant wouldn't be?
Saki toyed with some elements on his HUD, adjusting them ever so slightly to be a little clearer and double checking his equipment's inventory and status for him. Her pleasant voice spoke 'words of wisdom' in his ears, "Yeah, don't take risks, avoid a bad fight, and keep your head down- for both our sakes."
A. Note: Just a small short-story, nothing serious for now. Before it's mentioned, yes I am well aware of certain armor limitations but I still wanted to make this. So, thanks for understanding and thanks for reading!
As always, enjoy!
~Firetoast312
