by Devon Loos
“Commander! I’m in the cargo hall near the J.E. room. I think the source of the issue is from there. Should I check it out?”
“The jump engine can wait. We’ve got bigger problems.” A video appeared in the corner of my visor. It was live feed from Tolenva’s window. He was looking out into space from an observation deck. Two Clawtrodon heavy frigates stood just beyond range. Their designs were strikingly similar to Rovanekren ones, with the exception of the elevated secondary engines, the shortened dorsal fin, and the two forward extensions off the sides of the ship, which connected just before the end of the ship’s nose. A single lifeboat jettisoned from the Strategy, and began to race for the ships. A small flash came from one of the ships. Immediately the video feed ceased, and the ship shook violently. We had been fired upon.
“All hands, We are at tier three. I repeat: tier three. Get to your stations.” Another strike. Our shields were down. How could they be down? A revelation hit me as the ship shook a third time.
“Sapphire, did you see another Rovanekren float by just before I came in?”
“Yeah, he headed towards the room over there, why?”
I swore. “The quartermaster was a spy!” The ship shook again, this time causing the lights to flicker for a few moments. We were facing impossible odds.
“All hands, We are at tier four. Evacuate immediately. I repeat: Evac-” A round struck the bridge, just above us. Only static followed on the intercom. The ship was dead now. We needed to leave.
“Stand still.”
“Hey, what are you-” I pulled out my knife and freed Sapphire’s hands, then unfastened the strap across her waist.
“We need to go.” Sapphire was clearly unaccustomed to zero gravity, and immediately began to flail in an attempt to move through the air. “Just hold onto my back!” Another explosion echoed through the halls. Sapphire pushed herself off a wall and wrapped herself around me. I then pushed us in the direction of the exit. Tapping into the ship’s systems through my window, I realized the nearest starboard lifeboats had been destroyed by bombers. We would have to use the portside lifeboats to escape. The route through the port hangar bay was completely sealed off, due to the ship’s auto repair system, forcing us to travel through a cramped service tunnel to reach the lifeboats. I wondered if the room had been sealed off early, since most of the lifeboats were still docked. We quickly climbed into one and prepped it for launch.
“Ok, let’s see. Life systems are on, engines are good, calculation system seems to be working fine,-” I swore. “-We’ll end up in the middle of space at this trajectory.”
“What are you looking at me for? I can’t do anything about it.” Another, large explosion. The ship began to shift. I felt gravity return, forcing me to lean right in my chair, then forward. We were in the nearby planet’s atmosphere.
“Landing calculations: complete. Launch: Ready.” I tore off the safety cover and pulled on the ignition lever. The boat jerked, then blasted into the sky of the unknown planet. A screen came to life, showing life support, hull integrity, heat shield strength, and the calculation for when to deploy the shock engine. The boat vibrated violently, and the air became smotheringly hot.
“Deploying shock engines in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…” I felt the ship jerk again a few seconds before hitting the ground. My body began to shake uncontrollably and soon darkness overtook me.
[Chapter 12: Sapphire's initiative]
Planet: Unknown. Hour 15 of 20:
I waited a minute before opening my eyes. A grueling headache stuck me in response. I checked myself for any blood or injuries. Aside from a few scratches and bruises, I was fine.
“Jacob?” He did not respond. He sat with his face against the control panel, and I couldn’t tell if he was dead or just unconscious. I quickly unfastened my safety harness and checked on him. Before I did, I noticed a red light was flashing on the screen. I focused hard to read it.
“In… Incom-in-ing … dub-riss? Incoming deb-riss? …Debris!” I hastily worked to free Jacob from his chair and struggled to get him on the floor. I turned and opened the hatch to the outside. Pieces of metal fell like rain, occasionally embedding themselves in the roof of the pod, the ship itself descending to an inevitable crash. We needed to move. I tore free the spare rifle and slung it around my shoulder, then looked to Jacob. His armor made him nearly impossible to carry, and I had no clue how to remove it. I would have to drag him. I pulled him outside and began dragging him towards the tree line. I tried to make sure not to hurt him, but I worked fast so that we would not get caught in the falling metal.
“Oh, you are so going to owe me for this!” By the time I was halfway, several small pieces of metal had already buried themselves in my shoulders and arms, and one sliced my forehead, causing blood to flow into my mouth. The blood reminded me how hungry I was, but the pain allowed me to ignore it. Meanwhile the raining metal bounced off of Jacob’s armor like droplets of rain. I envied him. The pain was difficult to bear, and every movement sent new waves of pain through my body. The ground began to shake as we entered the tree line. The ship crashed into the ground sideways, flattened out, and skidded forward some distance before finally stopping, just short of a cliff. I let go of Jacob and allowed myself to collapse in exhaustion. I could have left him there, but he seemed like a good fighter, and I needed some sort of protection if another ship arrived. What was he anyway? I raised myself to a sitting position and examined his helmet. Two clamps held the helmet to the armor. I pulled on them both, and the black suit released the helmet with a hissing sound. I then carefully pulled the helmet off. Thankfully he was still breathing. He looked Freylien, but he was too friendly, and he didn’t have the pointed ears. Perhaps he was a mutant? Or part of an entirely new species? I would have to check when he woke up. I looked at my arms. There were seven or eight pieces of metal stuck in them. I would have to remove them quickly, if I wanted to keep from getting infections. I took one arm and grasped a piece stuck in the other. Pain flowed down to my fingertips, and I gave an involuntary whimper. After a few seconds, I jerked my arm, pulling the shard free.
“One…” I gasped. I did the same for a piece in my upper right arm. “T-two…” I began working on my shoulders.
“N-three… Four!..” I clenched my jaw as tears began to form in my eyes. “Five!... s-six… Se-v-ven!” A large piece was stuck in my back, just left of the spine. “Come on!” Tears fell freely. I couldn’t pull it out. I steadied my breathing and looked towards the ship. The debris had finally stopped falling, but an approaching storm threatened to take its place. I slowly rose to my feet. We needed a shelter, fast. There were likely supplies somewhere in the wreckage, but that meant leaving Jacob here.
“I’ll be quick. It’ll be like I never left.” I convinced myself. I tried to run towards the ship, but succumbed quickly to the pain and slowed to a walk. Our pod had been crushed by a large chunk of metal, forcing me to look elsewhere. The ship itself was surprisingly intact, and I found another empty pod with several bags of survival gear. I took two and headed back to Jacob. Halfway back I noticed another pod. I walked over to investigate. The pod’s door was still shut tight. After a minute of struggling against both the sealed hatch and the sharp pain in my back, I managed to force the door open. Instantly a large, armless Rovanekren spilled out, covered in blood. Letting out a panicked cry, I fell backwards, catching myself just before the shard could touch the ground. Two more soldiers sat lifeless within; one was impaled through the chest by a rifle, which must have gotten free during the crash. The other, a watcher, did not bleed out like his comrades. Instead, the soldier sat peacefully in his seat, head bent awkwardly back, further than it should have been. I turned away, grimacing. My breathing became irregular and I expected to throw up. I turned on my hands and knees, gagged a few times, spat once, then stood back up. I had to get back to Jacob.
I quickly examined the contents of the bags. Tools, water, rope, and medical supplies comprised the bulk of the salvage. A
quick reading of one of the two small survival guides included in the bag gave me the knowledge to use it all. I pulled out several small bandages for my wounds, and a strange numbing agent that could help with the shard in my back. After covering the wounds on my arms with bandages, I focused on my shoulders, forcibly stretching my shirt so that I would not have to remove it. Jacob was not likely going to wake up anytime soon, but I wasn’t about to risk another exposure. Seeing me from a distance when we first met was bad enough. I finally sat down and read the directions for the numbing agent. The tube contained a gel that was designed to help clean open wounds and numb any pain coming from the affected area. I set the tube down for a moment and tried again to remove the shard. After surrendering to the pain, I checked Jacob to see if I could wake him. He was breathing normally but was still completely unresponsive. I sighed and opened the tube. The gel was cool to the touch, instantly numbing my fingers. I began spreading the gel on my back while carefully avoiding the shard. The wound burned, at first, then became almost unnoticeable. I let out a breath of relief and began working on a shelter. There was a small tent in each of the bags, neither of which were capable of withstanding the storm looming over us. I abandoned the instructions for the tents once it began to rain, and instead tied them across two large trees that had fallen parallel to each other. I then used one blanket to cover the ground, and the other to keep myself warm. I positioned myself so that if I were to roll over, the log would stop me from laying on the shard. I figured that Jacob’s armor would keep him warm, but as night approached, and the storm drew on, Jacob began to shiver. Eventually guilt and worry overtook me, and I moved closer so that the blanket would cover him. I then carefully rolled on my stomach so that my back was to him, much like the log before. The shard would now press into his side if I rolled over, but it was likely better for him than freezing all night. I felt uncomfortable. I hated having people so close to me but he seemed to have stopped shivering. Sleep evaded me for some time.
[Chapter 13: Stranded]
“Be strong…”
I shifted in my armor as I woke slowly from a deep sleep, confused by what I saw as my focus improved. Two large tarps hung over me. Sapphire slept soundly next to me. My memories quickly returned in a rush of near panic which caused me to frantically climb out from under the makeshift shelter. I looked around. We were in an opening just at the edge of a deciduous forest. Judging by the leaves, it must have been this planet’s autumn. The ground was soaked, and the tarps were filled with water. I wondered what had happened when I blacked out. Sapphire woke soon after, and poked her head out of the shelter.
“Finally!”
“What happened?”
“You were knocked out. I had to drag you over here so that the debris wouldn’t kill you. The ship crashed.” She crawled out. Bloodstains covered her shirt and skin. “Hey, can you pull this out? I couldn’t get it yesterday.” She turned around to reveal a large shard of metal stuck just below her shoulder blade. She sat on her knees and waited for a response.
“Holy… Um, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“It has to come out. There’s first aid stuff in the bag right here.”
“Fine.” I swallowed hard and sat behind her.
“Be quick. If you’re slow it hurts.”
“I know, I know!” I hesitantly placed one hand on her back, and the other on the shard. I took a few deep breaths and pulled hard. Sapphire cried out loudly and whimpered for a few seconds, before recomposing herself.
“How… How bad is it?”
“Bad.” Blood began to spill freely, dying the shirt red.
“Hey, calm down. You’re the soldier, not me. Grab the stuff out of the bag.” I quickly reached over and pulled out a large roll of bandages, rubbing alcohol, cotton balls, and tweezers.
“Alright, take the alcohol-”
“I know how to do first aid.”
“Didn’t seem like it before.”
“Well I’m just surprised at how much you know.”
“There’s a survival guidebook in each of the bags. I read one while waiting to fall asleep.”
“Oh.” Sapphire raised the back of her shirt just so that the wound was exposed. Blood dripped like melted wax down her back. A small piece of metal was still stuck in the wound. I swore quietly.
“There’s still a piece. I’m gonna have to take it out with the tweezers.” Sapphire groaned in protest. I grabbed the tweezers and carefully reached for the metal shard. Once I had a hold on it, I carefully pulled it out. The piece slid free with ease.
“Alright. Now for the disinfectant.” I drenched one of the cotton balls in the rubbing alcohol, then cleaned the wound with it. Sapphire twitched and gave a short grunt of pain before relaxing again.
“Finally, the bandage.” I tore several meters of bandage free from its roll, and began to wrap Sapphire in it. A few minutes later, Sapphire’s stomach was completely hidden under the wrappings.
“I think you used too much.”
“It’s fine.”
“Easy for you to say.” Sapphire readjusted her shirt, then turned to face me.
“So you went the whole night with this thing in your back?” I was transfixed on the size of the shard.
“I used this,” She held up a tube of numbing gel, “but, it took forever to fall asleep…”
“I’ll bet. Did you see any other lifeboats land? Or any other survivors?”
“Well, aside from our-they’re called lifeboats?”
“...Yeah… What did you think they were called?” Sapphire shrugged her shoulders.
“Pods, capsules, escape ships, I don’t know. Anyways... I haven’t seen anyone else… Jacob?” The realization hit me violently. We were likely the only survivors of the crash. Tolenva, Tek, Seb, Zen, my squad was all gone. Tolenva will never be able to earn the respect of his father, Zen’s parents will never be able to forgive him, Seb will never be able to save someone, Tek was once again powerless to change his fortune, and Rockwall was killed by the very thing he always hated. Everyone was gone. My team… was gone.
The second realization hit me just as quickly-unless a beacon was activated, it was nearly impossible for anyone to find us. This planet was uncharted, so unless there was an obscure, hidden colony, we were likely the only sentient beings on the planet. Even if we could get a beacon to work, it would take months for anyone to find the signal, and “anyone” was a dangerously broad term.
“Jacob!” I snapped out of my trance and looked at Sapphire. “Stop doing that, it worries me. I can’t have my only ticket off the planet go insane, can I?”
“That’s just it. I’m not so sure we’ll ever be found.” Sapphire paused, processing what I had told her.
“The ship’s still pretty intact; do you think we could use something there?”
“Maybe. Is the bridge still there?”
“No.”
“What about the front of the ship?”
“It’s hanging on the edge of a cliff, but yeah.”
“Then there might be a distress beacon there.”
“Ok, so let’s build ourselves a more permanent shelter, find some food, and then we’ll go check the ship for your beacon thing.”
“Alright, that sounds good.” I nodded.
The first day went by rapidly. Sapphire took trips out to the ship to find suitable supplies while I worked on a shelter. I found a large tree at the center of a clearing. The tree was old, but had a wide, open section of branches that was perfect for building a shelter. I spent several minutes checking the strength of the branches by standing, hanging, and swinging on them. The tree was perfect. I sat on a nearby rock and planned the shelter, while waiting for Sapphire to return. I joined her on her next trip and we carried a large metal wall panel for the floor of the shelter. We placed it over two thick arms of the tree, with a smaller third branch between them. Once it was nailed down, I began hunting for strong, thin branches to cut down. The branches were used as frame for the shelter
, and by midday they were either nailed together or tied in place with rope. The shelter was a pyramid in shape, with smaller branches splitting three of the four triangles in half. A rope connected the top of the frame with a high branch. The tents, along with some other scavenged canvases, were wrapped over the frame like a skin. Finally, a few more branches were nailed to the frame to hold the various canvases in place. Most of our supplies were put in large crates at the base of the tree, but anything valuable was put in bags that were hung on the other side of the tree, beyond the reach of any animals. We turned a barrel into a rain catcher, in case we couldn’t find any other source of clean water. We were both exhausted by sunset. Sapphire had bled profusely during her runs to the ship, so I helped her change her bandages and gave her my share of the water. The next day I traded my armor for more comfortable clothing that Sapphire salvaged from the ship. After a few days we grew hungry, and our water stores were diminished. We began searching for food.
By the end of the first week, our search became desperate. We both grew tired easily, and our stomachs tortured us. To lighten the mood, Sapphire began making jokes about cooking and eating me. It was funny to her, at least. Finally I discovered a patch of bushes, covered in blackened berries. I quickly found Sapphire, and began stuffing the berries in the small bag I was carrying.
“Wait!” She smacked my hand, knocking several of the berries to the ground.
“What?”
“They could be poison. Let me try one.”
“Let you try one? Why would they be any better for you?” Sapphire ignored me and tossed one into her mouth. After a moment, she swallowed. Instantly her markings began to glow, and she fell to the ground, just before spitting out a large glob of saliva.
“Yeah, poison.”
“What just happened?” I asked. She rose to her feet, and wiped her mouth off with her arm.
“I remembered what these markings are from. I have a life gem in my chest. I’m not entirely sure what else it does, but I do know that it allows me to eat whatever I want.”