Author's Note
I've been trying to put together an idea for a Dead Space story for a little while now, and I've finally done so. Never played the games before the Remake, and am in absolute love with it. Beat the game the first time on Impossible Difficulty, super hard but really enjoyable.
That said, here we are. I really hope you all enjoy.
This is the second writer here, responsible for The Last Metroid on this account, writing this one today.
Uploaded
08/19/2024
LEGEND BELOW
"It's too dark, where are her running lights?" = Normal speech.
Chapter 1
Dead Space
Rated-M
M rating for mature themes, violence, blood, adult themes, gore and dark themes.
Music of the day
Dead Space Remake - Tram Station
He was startled awake as the ship shook in slip-space, eyes snapping open to be greeted by the sight of stars flashing past the cockpit window view. He sucked in a slow breath, the stale oxygen that filled the relatively small ship slowly waking him up.
He flexed his fingers underneath his suit, the tough leathery fabric flexing around the helmet he'd fallen asleep holding onto, shaking off the numbness brought forth by sitting in the same position for so long.
"I thought we'd have to wake you, you've been sleeping since we left Earth…" A soft feminine voice quipped quietly from behind him, hand placed on his shoulder as its owner stepped into his view.
He glanced up to the right, a little quirking of his lips as he eyed his fellow crew member, noticing the tell tale signs in her eyes that told him she'd just woken up too. "Actually, haven't slept that well. Unlike sleeping beauty over here, Daniels." He teased lightly, eyebrow raised in challenge to the cute long haired brunette.
She scoffed lightly, cheeks tinting red at being called out so blatantly. "You got me…" She admitted defeat, hand sliding off his shoulder as she slipped into the chair beside him. "With the repair mission… Well, I just thought I'd get some extra sleep before devoting myself to this." She explained lightly, hands stretched above her head, a healthy popping sound bringing her delightful relief.
His smile dipped at the mention of the mission, gaze drawn back towards the front of the ship.
She seemed to notice his immediate mood drop at the topic of conversation, and knew she'd stumbled upon something delicate. "Hey, I know space stations aren't usually the most comfortable places to live for an extended period, but-"
"It's not that." He interjected a little heatedly, but shook his head immediately afterward. "I'm sorry Kendra, I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine." She cut him off, not taking it personally. She placed her hand on his arm, stating without words that she didn't take offense. "It's… It's about your ex, isn't it?" She muttered, almost immediately feeling terrible when seeing him cringe.
He sucked in a deep breath, before exhaling heavily. He glanced down, brushing his thumbs over the back of his helmet. "The Ishimura isn't the kind of job you'd want to turn down… But, six months apart with nothing but vid-calls can be-" He explained, before trailing off painfully. "-was rough. Easy to say the wrong thing." He sighed, leaning back into his chair with a tired emotional energy. "She hasn't talked to me in months."
Kendra bit her lips, averting her eyes as she regretted ever bringing it up. He'd spoken about the woman before, but it wasn't much context prior, besides something about her not talking to him as much.
Going completely cold sounded tough to handle. She'd met him just shortly after their apparent breakup, and hadn't intended to replace that hole in his heart, but couldn't ignore how close she'd grown to him in that short period since.
Their jobs didn't often see them paired together, this mission standing as merely the third job they'd joined together on in the two months since they'd met. That said, working with the man had been pleasantly satisfying. Unlike the burly brutes usually in his field, he was a gentleman through and through.
Most of the time…
"I'm sorry Isaac." She replied quietly, glancing back to the front of the ship same as him. "Maybe you'll have a chance to patch things up with her…?" She tried helpfully.
"Heh…" He huffed a bitter little sound, shaking his head. "Yeah, maybe." He trailed off, missing the way she cast a glance his direction. From what she could tell, there was no chance of patching anything up. But knowing the man in question, he likely just wanted to make the separation less rough.
The last thing he wanted was for her to go on hating him over a misunderstanding. Leaving things behind in the way that they were likely just didn't sit well with him.
Either way, the conversation hit a halt when they found the rest of the crew stepping onto the bridge. "Morning Isaac, Ms. Daniels."
Isaac glanced back to see the other three stepping into the room, his eyes drawn to the captain. "Hammond." He nodded to the man, the tall black man's demeanor all business. He supposed he couldn't blame him, the captain did have much responsibility on his shoulders.
"We've been cruising all night… should be coming up on the Ishimura here soon." Came another voice, the seat in front of him suddenly filled as Hammond's copilot took his seat. "Ready to get to work Isaac?"
"Chen, it's just a repair call." He murmured, glancing over to Kendra. "We're most likely going to be here for a day at most. They've got enough engineers here to solve their own issues."
Kendra smiled a little look, but he couldn't notice in the dimly lit ship cockpit. "But they don't have you." Her teasing words tickled his ears.
"We're coming in now." Hammond spoke, taking his seat as the ship exited slip-space. "Nice clean reentry. Welcome to Aegis VII Seven."
The ship fell out of slip space, the universe around them coming into view. A massive dusty orange colored planet hung in the void before them, yet the thing that drew everyone's attention was that of the star-ship centered in front of it, mostly obscured by a field of asteroids.
"Imagine six months of staring at that chunk of rock." Isaac murmured, gaze drawn to the dusty lifeless looking planet.
"To an independent miner, that's paradise. Aegis Vll is one of the richest finds in CEC history. Some prospecting team's set up for life." Hammond stated, hands on his hips as he turned his attention to the planet in question. "Now… Where is she?"
Their vessel's port boosters powered to life, propelling them slowly and safely around the asteroid field. It took a little while, the massive chunks of rock blocking their view, but they did eventually stumble upon it.
"There. Confirming visual contact with USG Ishimura." Johnston stated, shifting the low level thrusters to point them right at the other vessel.
"What a beauty. She's the biggest planet cracker in her class you know, and it looks like they've already popped the cork." Hammond smiled, a proud look crossing his face.
That said…
"Why is it so dark? We should be able to see her running lights." Isaac pointed out, sitting up a little straighter. "Never heard of a planet cracker cruising around without the lights on…" He mumbled underneath his breath.
Chen frowned, punching in some commands on the console. "Yeah. I'll get us into hailing range…" He muttered. "Someone's got to be waiting for us."
"Just be careful on the approach. I'm not taking any chances with the CEC's pride and joy." Hammond grunted lowly, gazing down at his crewman.
Kendra huffed. "No chances huh? Is that why you were digging into my personnel files before we left?" She muttered sharply, eyeing the man from across the cockpit.
Hammond had to try and hide his surprise. "You track your file access?"
Issac glanced over to her, noticing her proud smirk. "Computer analyst. Comes with the job." She stated simply, crossing her arms underneath her breasts. Isaac couldn't withhold the little smirk that quirked his lips at the confidence in her voice.
Hammond was quick to reply to her quip, regaining his composure. "I ran standard CEC background checks, Ms Daniels. If you want to work in the big leagues, you've got to play ball." He huffed lowly, turning away from her.
She rolled her eyes, not that he could see. "So you keep saying…" Her eyes widened slightly when she felt a hand brush against her own, gazing to the side to see Isaac reaching over to her.
Her irritated expression softened at his gentle demeanor, realizing that he was trying to tell her to not let Hammond's words get to her. A moment later he was comfortably back in his seat. The little motion was appreciated far more by her than the man knew.
Chen suddenly cleared his throat, drawing the attention to him. "Ah, sir? We're in hailing range." He stated. "USG Ishimura, this is the USG Kellion responding to your distress call, come in. USG Ishimura, do you copy?"
Silence met his call, the ship not even offering a peep.
It was unsettling, to say the least.
They all stared in painstaking silence, as if afraid to interrupt whatever response the ship would send back. But a thick half minute passed without anything in response, nothing, but the endless silence of space.
"You ever hear of a full communications blackout on one of these things?" Kendra leaned over to Isaac, muttering her question lowly.
He shook his head. "No, never." Issac murmured, glancing back to the ship from the corner of his eyes. "Come on, someone pick up the damn phone…"
The Kellion continued to move closer, enough so that they were able to pick up some sort of close range signal. But, the inhuman noise picked up certainly wasn't eligible, nor comforting.
Odd screeching and scratching sounds echoed out from the signal, sounding wrong, broken, twisted. No one could repress the shiver that ran down their spines at the sounds.
It was as if voices from beyond the grave were crying out for help, buried beneath the surface of hell, their words ineligible.
"The hell is that?" Kendra muttered, clearly unsettled by it.
Hammond glanced back to him.
"Eh, sounds like their communications array is busted… maybe a broken encoder. Daniels and I can handle it in forty eight hours, max." He muttered, throwing out generous numbers.
Kendra leaned over to him, gently brushing his armored forearm with her hand. "Hey… maybe this will give you time to clear things up with Nicole…?" She offered helpfully, but having seen the situation he was in, probably not.
He cringed, but managed to hide it well. "Yeah… maybe." He doubted she wanted anything to do with him right now.
Ignorant to the little back and forth behind him, Hammond ordered the ship to continue. "Chen, Johnston, take us in."
The two pilots nodded. "Gravity tethers engaged. Automated docking is go." Johnston announced softly, fingers gliding over the control panel. No sooner had she said so, a thick distortion field surrounded the ship, the automated docking systems of the Ishimura dragging them into port.
The peace offered lasted for a grand total of three seconds, before something went irrevocably wrong. A small explosion echoed out within the cockpit, sparks and flames lighting up the room.
"I'm losing control!" Chen shouted, the controls of the vessel betraying him as the ship began to quickly veer off course, heading right towards the outer hull of the Ishimura.
"Tether malfunction! Fuck! We're off course!" Johnston exclaimed, red color red warnings flashing all across the control terminals.
Hammond suddenly turned around. "Daniels!"
Kendra was beginning to panic. "Guidance systems aren't responding! Manuel override isn't working!" Error sounds repeated from her device over and over uselessly.
The Kellion began to rapidly speed up, control slipping with each passing second. "Shit- Shit! We're coming in too hot. It's gonna smash us into the hull!" Chen cursed frantically.
Then Isaac saw something. "Chen! Aim for that emergency stabilizer, that blue light! It might slow us down!" He explained, pointing towards a strangely colored object they were rapidly approaching.
Without hesitation, Chen shifted the ship towards the light, crashing through it as it suddenly enveloped the Kellion in a wave of stasis energy, considerably decreasing the kinetic energy the vessel contained mere moments before it was to smash into the other ship.
"Drop the blast shields! Everyone brace yourselves!" Hammond ordered, holding on tightly to the seat restraints that locked him in place.
Metal panels slid into place over the front of the repair ship, and everyone closed their eyes, and prayed.
There was a loud tearing sound of metal against metal, an explosion muffled from outside the ship, then a sudden and jerky stop as the Kellion crashed into the landing bay.
Isaac lurched out of his seat, nearly sent to the floor when the ship reached as screeching and sudden halt. He blinked, trying to hear those around him through the deafening sound of his heartbeat in his ears.
"Everyone okay?" He asked, coughing from the smoke that began to fill the ship.
"I'll survive…" Kendra murmured, voice tense as she went to stand. She limped a little as she stood, but didn't draw attention to it.
"I-It's my ankle… might be b-broken." Johnston hissed, unable to stand.
"Shit… But, I guess that's better than a broken neck." Hammond sighed deeply, trying to keep a level head. "Good call on that stabilizer, Isaac." He added absentmindedly.
The engineer shrugged the compliment off, but smiled a light look nonetheless. "Glad I always read the manual."
"What the fuck is going on with flight control!? The automated docking is a death trap!" Kendra exclaimed, shaken from the crash. Her hands were shaking by her sides as she confronted Hammond, poorly hiding her fear.
He couldn't blame her, adrenaline was rushing through everyone in that moment.
"Better add it to your list of repairs." Hammond cracked a tense joke to Isaac, looking past the irritated computer analyst. He glanced back down to his pilot, Chen. "What's our damage?" He asked lowly.
The other man sighed a long sound, bringing up a ship system readout. "Comms are down. Lost a port booster. We've got a fire in one of the stabilizers, the singularity core's a mess… Could be worse, but not by much."
Hammond's eyes tightened at the news. "Then let's get some help. Johnston, you stay with the Kellion, we'll send a medic. Everyone else with me." He ordered, moving past his crew as he made his move for the exit.
The others sighed, still unbelieving that they'd landed themselves in a an unrequited shit-show ten minutes into their simple repair mission.
Isaac rolled his eyes, deciding that sitting around wasn't going to get anything done. He shifted his shoulders, a few pleasant cracks sounding out as he reached up, sliding his helmet back into place around his head.
His engineering RIG was something to be proud of, the metal plating that covered him from head to toe signaling both his extreme experience in the field, and his status as an expert.
When fully suited up as he was now, people sometimes mistook him for a soldier.
He reached up, securing the helmet, a hiss sounding out as it created an airtight seal.
"Isaac! Come on, we've got to get going!" He heard Kendra calling him from outside the Kellion, her voice muffled by the walls of the ship.
With a final glance to Johnston, he departed.
"Craaap… We came down hard…" He groaned aloud, unable to miss the fire that covered a handful of places on the ship. He was debating if it was even repairable anymore.
He supposed his questions would have to wait for later.
"Not a good start to our repair mission." Hammond grunted, handing out an assault rifle to Chen, taking one up for himself.
"Pulse Rifles?" Kendra murmured questioningly.
"Standard CEC protocol Ms. Danials. I'll register them in the flight lounge." Hammond was far too quick to respond for the woman's sake.
They fell into silence as they began their trek to the flight lounge, the massive open landing bay entirely empty save for their crashed ship.
In fact, not a single person had come running out of Flight Control at the sight of their crash landing.
"Where the hell is everyone? Half the ship must've heard us crash." Chen muttered sharply.
"Be proud Chen, you got us here in one piece." The captain muttered.
Chen didn't find it all that amusing, but it was surely due to the tense atmosphere surrounding them. "Johnston wouldn't agree…"
Isaac didn't interrupt, mind focused elsewhere as the two of them bantered back and forth. His breath echoing out within his helmet was the only thing that accompanied him as he walked, eyes darting all around the vacant bay.
Far above him was the welcome sign for the ship, the lights flickering weakly from a lack of maintenance. Sparks flashed from places just out of sight, the creaking and groaning of a sixty year old ship more then a little unsettling, given the atmosphere.
His mind went to Nicole…
Where was she? Last he checked with her, the Ishimura was supposed to be the crown jewel of humanity, not some rundown hotel.
Nothing was making sense.
Could this much damage, this much disrepair be capable of happening within a measly few months?
It didn't take long to reach the flight lounge…
It was a mess.
While the others signed into the Ishimura's staff systems, Isaac was quick to follow suit.
"Welcome, Isaac Clark, to the USG Ishimura." A robotic voice echoed out, a blue sensor light scanning him. Not a moment later saw each of their RIG's synchronized, the liquid canister-like spinal cords on their backs lighting up blue. "RIG synced. Collect kinesis and stasis modules from Acting Chief Engineer Jacob Temple. Location…"
A sudden warning sound echoed out, stabbing everyone's already fried nerves. "Error! Employee not found." The Ishimura's computer screeched out.
Hammond's hand fell to his side. "I can't reach security." He grunted.
"Same for the Chief Engineer… What is wrong with their comms?" Isaac murmured.
More and more questions, but still no answers. Entering the flight lounge brought even more questions to the table, and no one was around to answer them.
In fact, there wasn't a soul in sight. Not the security detail, nor even the receptionist.
It was as if they'd wandered into a ghost town. A dusty, brown, dark and foul smelling ghost town.
Kendra found a computer terminal, but the only records she could bring up were empty. Nothing had been logged, employee time sheets, duty rosters, repair reports…
Nothing.
Isaac found himself lingering near her, watching over her shoulder as she tried to make heads or tails of the faulty computer systems. Seemingly aware of his presence, she glanced over her shoulder to find him, smiling up at the taller man lightly despite the stressful situation.
There was at least that one line of security looming around her to make the dread in the pit of her stomach a little easier to handle.
"Isaac! That security console is still working, get a damage report. I'm done playing around in here!" Hammond snapped, motioning to a computer terminal in the opposite room, a thick glass wall between the one room and the other. There was a single powered door between them. "Kendra, go with him." He ordered, glancing to the woman.
The brunette shot a look at the man, but did as was asked. Tension was high, no need to make things worse with disobedience.
The two entered the room, the door shutting behind them.
Isaac managed three steps into the room, before a wet squelch echoed out from beneath his heavily armored boot. It was too dark to tell, but…
"There's something on the floor here… Is that-?" He murmured, glancing down to find-
"Isaac! I need that damage report!" Hammond called out.
"Come on, you've gotta listen to him. He's already in a mood…" Kendra patted him on the shoulder, brushing past him to the computer terminal.
He felt uneasy at the atmosphere in the room, but he couldn't quite understand why. The crew were missing or simply weren't responding to their calls, the automated landing sequence nearly got them all killed, and there was a strange smell in the air.
He shook his head, punching in the command codes to bring up the ship wide damage reports. As the screen flashed to life, the image it displayed was not good. "Shit… It's not just the comms that are offline, I've got systems in the red all across the ship. Engine, hull, trams… It's a mess." He groaned, already dreading the foreseeable future he was going to have. "It's going to take forever to get this damn thing working right."
"What could do that kind of damage to a planet cracker…?" Chen murmured, perplexed.
"I'm not sure I want to know." Isaac muttered under his breath.
The offhanded comment fell on deaf ears as the ventilation systems powered to life, security shutters that had slammed into placed in the vents suddenly flying open without warning.
Kendra pulled her fingers away from the console, glancing out the view window to the men on the other side. "Okay, I've got us some power. I got the air back up and running. The elevators should power back up here in a minute as well." She explained, smirking up at the taller armored man.
However…
The lights in the room suddenly turned red, a blaring alarm sounding out that did nothing to make their frayed nerves any better. "Warning! Biological hazard detected, lockdown initiated!" The ship's computerized voice sounded out, audible over the sound of the blaring alarms.
"Another malfunction?" Hammond hissed out.
Isaac shook his head. "No. The quarantine systems are all fine." He stressed his point.
"Shush!" Kendra hissed, motioning up towards the ceiling in the room next over. "Do you hear that? Up in the vents."
Chen swallowed nervously, taking a careful step backward. "Yeah. Yeah, yeah I hear it." He double checked to make sure his pulse rifle was ready to fire at a moment's notice.
"Hammond…?" Isaac dragged out in worry, eyeing the captain from the other room. Lights in the lobby all but shut off, the red alarms proving most of their ability to see.
"Take it easy." The man intoned, pulse rifle raised in preparation for what he could not see. "Kendra, get those doors open." He ordered, glancing at the brunette standing close to Isaac.
"Working on it." She stated, fingers gliding over the console. For some reason a cold sweat began to pour down her brow, the tension in the air growing very thick very quickly.
Then a vent blew open just above Chen, the hinges smashing into the ground beside him. Bladed arms poked free from the roof, something the man in question could only see. "There!" He shouted, no hesitation as he took aim, and fired everything in the clip into the hole in the roof.
"The hell?!" Kendra hissed, watching as her crewmate unloaded on something she couldn't see.
"Chen!!" Isaac shouted, catching sight of something walking in the room behind the corporal. "There's something in the room with you!"
But it was too late.
Kendra and Isaac watched in mortified horror as two bony blades went right through the corporal's chest like it was nothing, lifting him up off the ground before slamming him into the window. The engineer couldn't take his eyes off of the other man's, watching as the life faded out of them.
"Chen!! Nooo!!!" Hammond shouted, unloading everything he had into the creature from hell.
"Hammond! Get out of there!" Isaac shouted, stepping away from the blood covered window.
"I-Isaac!" Kendra panicked, voice choked up as she yanked on his heavily armored arm to pull his attention. A vent at the other end of the room suddenly burst open, another one of those inhuman creatures falling from the ceiling. "Isaac!?!" She cried out, pressing her back against the wall behind her, putting the man between her and the demon creature.
They were cornered.
And the only way out, the doorway to a maintenance tunnel, was right behind the blood covered creature.
"Stay behind me!" He shouted, fists clenching tightly, the metal around his fingers groaning at the strain. He faced the monster, knees bent slightly as he readied himself for anything.
The zombie roared at him, spittle and blood flying from its mouth as it took a step towards him, then another, its arms crudely shaped blades made out of the bones of its host.
His eyes scanned the room rapidly to try and find something he could use to defend himself.
But there was nothing.
Then the body roared as it charged him.
Kendra screamed, and his body reacted on instinct. He charged forward, thrusting his shoulder into the walking corpse with all his armored weight. It was sent flying off its feet, slamming into the ground below.
He raised his foot, heavy metal footwear glowing with magnetic fields. Then he slammed his foot down, magnetically connecting his boots to the ground below the body.
A wet squelch echoed out as he obliterated the head and chest of the walking corpse, painting his armor red.
He had no time to think. "Kendra! The door! Run!" He shouted, voice pleading.
"Isaac! Run!!" She screamed, rushing past the monster as she slipped into the maintenance tunnel.
He was hot on her tail, heavy footfalls echoing down the dim dark tunnel with every step he took. Vents blew open in front of her, more of the walking corpses making their way into the hall. "Kendra!" He shouted, shoving past her as he slammed the zombie to the ground. "Keep running, don't stop for anything!" His voice felt as if it was going raw as he shouted, but he wasn't going to watch her die like Chen did.
He refused to allow it.
She screamed as more and more appeared from the walls, snarling and growling inhuman noises that would forever haunt them both. One of them grabbed her, spitting in her face.
"Raahh!" He snarled, backhanding one as he shoved his way forward, crushing the body of another that stood in his way. He tore it off of her, stomping it into a paste on the floor. He didn't stop until it stopped moving. The brunette shook in stunned horror, but he propelled her forward, eager to keep her moving. "Kendra! Keep moving!"
Up ahead of them was the maintenance elevator, the soft blue lights signaling that it was still operational.
She was the first to make it in, nearly crashing into the other side of the elevator as she turned back to him. Her heart in her throat, she reached out a hand to him in desperation. "Isaac! Please!"
He looked up, the voices of dead men behind him echoing out. He pushed himself forward, heart pounding in his chest as he shoved another one of those things to the ground, before making it onboard the elevator.
He slammed his fist into the console with barely restrained force, the shudders slamming closed behind him as it began to carry them far, far away from the chaos behind them.
His heart thumped in his throat, eyes glued to the door as if in preparation for it to suddenly open. It took a long moment for the adrenaline to come down, by that point he'd realized the sound he heard in the elevator was Kendra's hysterical crying, face pressed into his armored backside, arms wrapped desperately around him.
He found himself swallowing his nerves, pocketing whatever feelings he had about the Death of Chen over making damn fucking sure that Kendra knew she wasn't next.
A shaking armored hand reached down to grasp her dainty fingers, gently holding them in his hand. "It's okay…" He muttered, voice cracking as he tried to keep his emotions in check. "I'm right here, it's okay, it's all going to be fine…" He didn't believe what he was saying, but he was sure the words would prove helpful to her at the very least.
At worst, it made him feel ever so slightly better. He fell to one knee as he pulled the hysterical crying woman close to his armored chest, wrapping his arms protectively around her, holding her close to him. He'd already lost one, he wasn't going to lose her, no matter what.
He felt his stomach sink as the elevator shook underneath them…
"It's all going to be okay…"
But nothing was okay…
Nothing about this, was okay...
Chapter
1
End