Log 8: Bridge/ Jason Jacobs
August 12, 2513
"This is Acting Captain Jason Jacobs," Jason said into the recording piece. "The captain is being checked out for psychological damage. I'm to cover for him during his absence."
It would be no real surprise if it turned out that Captain Brown was suffering from psychological trauma. A lot of things pointed to this. Giovanni not pulling back due to the suicides, he was talking to dead relatives, he even let a murderer go back to work in the morgue. Even further so, the last decision was probably just because Jacob DuFresne was another Unitologist. Jason sighed in annoyance. He couldn't change any of these things, because only the real captain would be allowed to, and that was something that he simply was not.
"There have been a few more suicides as well. The morgue is beginning to get kind of full; we're going to set up a larger, temporary morgue down on Jericho." The USG Colorado had never been intended to fit many dead bodies onboard. Once an actual colony was set up on Jericho, the morgue would be their problem. "It should be deployed within the day." Something crossed the acting captain's mind. "… And there will be no autopsies. Doctor DuFresne will have to work with what he has."
Jason sighed again in annoyance, deciding to change topics. "The White Marker is almost halfway out of the ground. Just a few more days –perhaps three, maybe even less– and we'll be gone. Much faster than previously anticipated. That's a good sign, because we need to get out of here. There was a suicide report almost immediately after the shuttle retrieving bodies left. I'm not entirely sure why, but I don't think it's that good of an idea to keep digging up the Marker. Seems… unsafe, to be completely honest. Like there's something sinister about it." Jacobs looked out of the Colorado's window, down at the planet below. It had been a while since it had rained, and the sand had finally dried out. And yet, the sand had managed to form what may have looked like crop circles around the Marker. Perhaps it was merely the work of a slacker trying to avoid his duties down on Jericho II, but for some reason the acting captain doubted it. Far too large for that. I can see it from all the way up here.
Jason pulled out an old coin from back on Earth, and flipped it a few times, trying to think of something else to report. He backtracked back to Jacob DuFresne. "The Senior Medical Officer, Jacob DuFresne, has experienced some bodily harm. Both of his legs are broken, and his lower spine, putting him in a wheelchair. Despite what the physical therapists say, he's going to return to work in the morgue." Jason lightly winced at the fact that he couldn't directly report the murder of the psychologist that Jacob murdered, due to the captain ordering the crew to refer to it as an "unfortunate accident", and leaving DuFresne out. "In an unrelated event, one of the ship's psychologists, Amanda Manuel, was killed. Multiple stab wounds, but…" he lightly shuddered, "… no clue who the murderer is."
He began flipping his coin again, but couldn't think of anything else to say. Better safe than sorry. He turned to one of the EarthGov Elites on the bridge. "Am I forgetting anything?" he asked the soldier, but it was actually more of a question to anyone who could answer.
The soldier shook his head, and decided to examine his rifle at this time, being especially careful to avoid switching the safety off.
"Okay, then. I guess that's it, then." Jason moved to turn off the recorder, but instead heard a minor grunt. He turned back to the soldier.
The man flicked his safety off, and pointed the rifle at his jaw. "Okay, dad. If you're sure…" His finger moved to the grenade launcher trigger.
Jason realized almost too late what was happening. He didn't have time to stop the soldier. "Hit the deck!" he yelled as he dove to the ground, away from a possible blast radius.
Jacobs heard a few more people drop to the ground as well before the explosion occurred. He was the first and fastest to stand. The soldier had killed both himself and another man. The only evidence to this was that there were two helmets on opposite sides of the room, one horrifically torn up, and the other just burned, still attached to the body. The rest was just blood and bits of scrap metal from what may have been a suit at one point.
Sorry about all the short chapters. I'm trying to wrap this up to get ready for a collab.