CEC MISSION STATUS UPDATE

-USG Ishimura en route to AGEIS SYSTEM

OBJECTIVE

-Directive A: LOCATE Signal AGESIS Colony

-Directive B: PLANET CRACK AGESIS Planet

-DIRECTIVE C: SECURE Unknown Artifact

ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL:

-4 Weeks, 28 days, 672 Hours, 40,320 Minutes

(-Earth-)

(Entering Trevor Gureckis: Dead Space OST: Nicole's theme)

'SSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTT'

A holographic screen suddenly materializes in front of a sleeping man.

"Issac, are you there?"

The screen continues to show slight static, but the audio sounds functional enough for the female voice to speak.

"Come in, Issaaaaacccc…" The female voice says, now teasingly singing to the man named Issac to respond. What she got next was the sounds of tired yawning on the other end. And it was soon followed by the man's voice.

"Nicole?" Issac groggily answers the woman named Nicole, opening his eyes to see the screen.

The static commences clearing up to reveal who's on the screen. One happens to be Issac Clarke, a man in his early 40s with short brown hair and hazel eyes while wearing nothing but a simple shirt and shorts. On the other end of the screen is his wife, Nicole Brennan Clarke, a woman similarly in her early 40s with neck-length blond hair and blue eyes. And unlike Issac, Nicole wears a blue leaf t-shirt with blue jeans.

Seeing her husband suddenly waking up, Nicole lets out an embarrassed giggle. "Oh, god, I'm so sorry, Honey, the time difference, Ethan wanted me to call you. Look, I'll call you back later-"

"No, no, it's okay, it's okay," Issac replies, forgiving his wife for her sudden calling him in the middle of the night. Smiling, He adjusts himself upright from his bed to get a better view. "Let me talk to him."

Smiling fondly, Nicole looks offscreen to look at someone. "Ethan, look who's here." Seeing his approach, Nicole scoots over to let the person sit with her in front of the screen.

The person is a twelve-year-old boy with short blonde hair and hazel eyes. He wears a simple white shirt with cargo pants. This boy is named Ethan Clarke, the son of both Issac and Nicole Clarke.

"Hi, Dad!" Ethan greets his father with an excited grin on his face while waving at him. "Are you up already?"

"Hey, little man," Issac proudly greets his son back. "I am now thanks to your mother."

That joke brought out an amused giggle from the blonde woman. Her laughter would soon be shared throughout the entire Clarke family as they enjoy each other company for the next few seconds until Issac speaks up again.

"How're you guys doing?"

"Great!" But Ethan, on the other hand, looks more eager to share his experience on Ishimura. "It's so much fun to be on the Ishimura. I learned so much about what each deck does. And I met some great people onboard too."

"That great's to hear, Ethan," Issac says, proudly praising his son on his affairs on the ship. "Have you been behaving well? You've been doing your studies?"

Ethan nods as Nicole wraps her arm around his shoulder in affection. "He just finished his history test on the Ishimura ship yesterday. His total score is 100 percent."

"Aw, that's great, Ethan, good job." Issac greatly praises his son's accomplishments. "You're grandparents will be so proud of you when I tell them this."

From the mention of his grandparents, Ethan's eyes widened in surprise. "Grandpa, Grandma? They're here?" Ethan asks his parents before turning to his Mother. "Grandma's better now?"

Nicole smiles at her son. "Yeah, Grandma fellin' a lot better now?"

"And she and Grandpa can't wait for you to come home to see you again." Issac apprises Ethan's enthusiasm for seeing his Grandparents.

This has the boy form an excited grin. "I can't wait to see them too." And then an idea came to the young one's mind. "Hold on, I'm gonna go get the picture I drew about them. I'll be right back."

With that, Ethan quickly exits the room, leaving Issac and Nicole for a moment.

"He still draws pictures?" Issac curiously asks.

Nicole nods in confirmation. "Anything he finds interesting in the ship and from his dreams." She explains to her husband about their son's unique hobby.

This gave the married couple time to catch up.

"So, how are you doing?" Issac softly asks, repeating the question he asked earlier.

"Good, you were right, Issac." Nicole admittedly answers in a similar tone with a smile. Before long, She proceeds to go deeper. "The Ishimura is a great ship. Ethan's having the time of his life. And I am so lucky to be serving her."

Hearing the enthusiasm in his wife's voice now makes Issac smile. "Well, enjoy it while it lasts. You know they're gonna decommission her next year." He says, reminding her of the ship's fate not long from now.

But Nicole didn't look all that disappointed while looking at her husband. "Issac…thank you."

"For what?" Issac curiously asks.

"For just…pushing me to do this," Nicole truthfully answers before explaining further. "I mean if it weren't for you I never would have made it this far, because you made me stick with it."

Issac looked appreciated by his wife's remark before replying. "Well, just remember, I'm giving you and Ethan up for six months so you can do this." Issac looked ready to say something else. "I miss you, Nicci-"

'SSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTT'

The conversation is interrupted by a stream of static that envelopes the screen.

"You know what, we must be getting out of range of the relay…" Nicole says in realization. But her statement didn't seem to reach the other end. And the communication between them continues to weaken with every second.

"Nicole? Nicole! Can you hear me?" Issac continues to try and call out to his wife but to no avail.

"Issac, can you hear me?" Nicole similarly tries to call out but is met with the same problem. "Issac, Look, I'm going to call you back as soon as I can, okay…? Issac?"

The connection abruptly ends the communication.

(With Nicole)

Leaning back on her chair, Nicole sighs in disappointment as she's unable to re-establish her connection to her husband. The Ship must be out of range relays entirely.

Soon enough, Nicole hears a chiming noise from the speakers above her.

"Attention to all employee personnel Ship Shock-point drive will commence in thirty minutes."

"Issac…wish me luck," Nicole lets out as she picks up footsteps. Turning to the source, Nicole sees her son, Ethan, approach her with numerous drawing papers he made in his hand.

"D-Did Dad hang up?" Ethan asks when he notices that the communication is not there. He sounded both sad and disappointed when he said this. He wanted to show him what he drew.

"No, Ethan, he didn't hang up," Nicole quickly asserts her son, grabbing his hands into hers. "We're just out of the ship's range. When we get to the Agesis colony, we'll call him as soon as we can, ok?"

Though Ethan didn't like the notion of waiting, he was mature enough to understand why he needed to. So he has no choice but to wait.

"Ok," Ethan disappointedly says in acceptance as he places his drawings on a nearby desk.

Nicole smiles at her son's maturity as she stands up from her chair. And soon, another chiming announcement from the speaker again.

"Dinner will be served in the mess hall in ten minutes."

Hearing the announcement of food being prepared the two Clarkes members smile.

"Today's Friday…" Ethan starts to realize as excitement rises from within him.

"That means it's…" Nicole carries on the sentence with a similar tone.

"Pizza night!" Both Mother and Son exclaim before Ethan is the first to make a break for the exit.

"Come on, Mom, we got hurry and beat the line quick!" Ethan excitedly exclaims as he continues forward with his mother right behind him.

"Ethan, wait, slow down!" Nicole calls out to her son as she exits the room as well. "You're gonna bump into someone if you don't."

With Both Clarkes out, the room is left empty. Unaware of the ceiling lights suddenly flickering in and out for some odd reason. And an ominous laughter of children echoes throughout the room.

As these unexplained elements continue, one of Ethan's drawings becomes the center of it all. A picture that shows the Clarke family together in what looks to be the void of space. One side shows Ethan smiling happily while his parents, Issac and Nicole, stand beside him on the left with identical expressions, while on the other side are his grandparents, Poul and Octavia Clarke, similarly standing on the right.

All the Clarkes, standing together in one big happy family.

Except the one thing that makes the area more startling than before. And that thing was in Octavia's hands. It looks to be a small double-helix black column with red accents.

For reasons unknown, it's this very illustrated object that seems to let out some ominous presence that's not even here. Like it's foretelling something in the future, something mysterious.

But most of all, something dreadful that will take place soon.

(Ending Trevor Gureckis: Dead Space OST: Nicole's theme)

Dead Space: The Lonely Star

Well, Another Year has come and gone, and a new one has just taken place.

What will this year have for us? Who knows.

But I do know that is this, another Fanfiction Story that is Based on my favorite Horror game Dead Space. Following the tales that take place between Dead Space Extraction and Downfall, etc, following my OC character, Ethan Clarke.

How will he react to what's to come, what will he do to endure? And most importantly, will he survive long enough until help arrives?

Only time will tell.

And as usual, I do not own anything related to Dead Space and its characters. Only the OCs are mine, nothing more, nothing less.

Goodbye, for now.

PS: I'm still writing my other stories as I update this story and chapter. Vacation can seriously take you away from writing, not that I'm complaining, but I'll still put in as much writing time as I can for you readers. So just be patient.