My eyes were draped over with carpet of blackness.
My lungs were heaving in and out, leeching what succor I could from the thinning atmosphere. The soft, life giving tissue prickled as each cell struggled to gain control of a slowly diminishing supply of oxygen. My body screamed the message, "What are you doing to me?!" as I challenged the addiction that I've had since birth.
My head was spinning, not knowing which was up. My brain couldn't waste any resources on my equilibrium.
My heart was racing, straining itself and pushing its endurance to the point of failure in order to quickly resupply my brain with air it just didn't have.
My arm was bent so that I could see my hand through a veil of shadows. The nail beds were turning blue. My hand was dancing from the top of my vision, then side-to-side, my mind playing tricks on my sensation of gravity.
What sense of feeling I had left that wasn't cloaked beneath the prickling in my fingers and toes had me believe that my eyes had rolled back. I felt my eyelids close as well, and my vision contradicted logic and washed me over with a blinding light.
And I saw.
I walked upon a plain of whiteness, treading neither upon land nor air, my feet meeting some invisible barrier that seemed to defy all common thought. I took a deep breath.
I could breathe! With the air came a extreme sensation of... Love! A boundless wall of happiness seemed to come crashing down on my world. I began to giggle in my... Dream.
Yes. This must have been a Dream.
But oh what a good Dream it was!
Then, a voice, like one run through a steel pipe came quietly at first, echoing across the indefinite confines of my hightened state of mental awareness.
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Author's Note: Te gusta?!
I was leaning on my desk; elbows bent with my hands running through my hair. The cold steel was nipping at my skin through my station jump suit - a meager shell for both of us. Plated walls covered up caverns of raw stone; labyrinths of rock carved from an enormous monstrosity of an asteroid.
I studied the seams between the plates. I studied the screws, and nails, and adhesive sealants. My eyes were glazed over; frothy from hours of staring at polished white sheets of icy metal. Dots were dancing to and fro across my eyes - a rainbow chorus speaking a silent message to my concious state of intense boredom-induced contemplation.
A few men came by, complaining of different ailments and I mechanically grabbed a bottle and produced a number of pills for them.
A headache? Alright, some ibuprofen.
A stomach ache? Have some ginger.
A raw knee? Let me patch that up.
Such was my existence on Falkland. Ah, but not quite so simple. More often than not a regular insomniac would come stumbling into the medical bay with their eyes heavy with the black markings of a sleepless life. For those cases, I would give them some synthetic valerian root or morphine to quiet them down.
Ironically, it was often these patients who shook me from my prepetual state of a waking sleep. An uncomfortable cot mumbling its summons and flicking its arm impatiently always snapped my posture upright as I fished through my shelves of disorganized medications for the desired treatment.
Ah, but not quite so simple. Never so simple nor so dull.
My back was bent in a sleepy thought process when the inadequately wired PA systems screeched and resonated throughout the base.
It's high-pitched, piercing tone railed through my mind and sent my body walking to my Spatial. Ah yes. Never so simple.
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To be Continued
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Author's Note: Tradition beckons... Lets see...? Hmm. Hoo-ah! There we go. Statement made. Hope you enjoyed this once-in-a-blue moon post.
--Mild to Extreme gore described below the red line. If you are easily offended or disturbed, stop reading there-- Tau-23
"Bogies incoming! Three of them!"
The voice broke the unnatural silence of the cabin, sealed by the chilled emptiness haunting the entirety of space. The void which swallowed all evidence of human passing; the sound. The scraps.
"Coming in close. One kilometer!"
Three tiny specs appeared on the spatial navigation plane. Their azure paints devouring the sun's color, leaving only the abscure blue to reflect. A sign of its passing.
"Five hundred meters! Two more, port!"
"Divert power! Charge weapons!" I shouted.
The passage of debris, and rubble, and stone slowed as we dramatically decreased in velocity. The shrieking sound of Vampires bleeding the ship of energy pounded in through the hull of the ship and was lost to the other side. The thuds of missiles being slid gently into place, ready for demolition and disappearance.
Lost to space.
The first of the Stilletos ignited their cannons, the tachyon splashing over the shield. An energy spike flicked on the console as the powercore compensated for the loss in shield integrity.
The two fighters accompanying us broke formation, peeling off in a violent redirection to pursue the attackers. Their weapons returning in the bloody exchange of fire. Combined, one of the Stilleto's shield was pierced a dozen times; the liquidous membrane filling the gaps until it was thinned to breaking. A bright sphere smothered the Stilleto before collapsing.
"The other two're... Picking up six more! Jesus!"
"Pursue the lead!" I said to the pilot.
A forceless turn reeled us toward the wing leader. The weapons officer flipped a switch or two and instantly the narrow windows were ablaze with the crimson-white of Vampyric poison. The blinding display ceased only to be replaced by the choked fire of a ruined Stilleto.
Twisted fragments of violently bent steel came hurtling at the ship, thudding on our cockpit window or screaming as it sank its teeth into our own ship. Becoming whole once again.
"We've got a fuel leak! Bloody shrapnel!"
We turned again to confront the six new enemies, four to the left and two to the right, but roughly within the same cone of vision. As we sped toward them, another of the Stilletos flew in front of us in a fiery wreck before flattening upon the face of an asteroid. The third from the original group fled toward the oncoming wave of enemies while being peppered with fire.
"Get ready!" The pilot said anxiously.
"Damage report!" I said, in the few seconds we had to think.
"Omega-13-2, Eagle One, green across the boards," reported the Eagle pilot.
"Omega-13-3, Eagle Two, I've got some wing damage but I should be alright."
"Tank three is drained to one fourth capacity, looks like we took a big chunk," my pilot said.
But there was no more time.
The seven Outcasts slammed into us like a brick wall. The two behind resumed their assault, having coordinated with the compatriots.
The Purple Goddess turrets spun to life, showering our flank with hundreds of deadly rounds. Pieces of asteroids, locked in perfect orbit, were shaken crudely from their timeless slumber releasing a maelstrom of debris. A particularly large fragment intercepted a Stilleto, reaching out with its stony grip and tearing one half of the vessel from the other. The ship lost control and the shabby remains smashed into a nearby boulder.
Eagle One veered to the left and Eagle Two to the right, and attempt to outflank the opponent and disorganize the battle.
Five hundred meters.
"Eagle-1, divert course and deploy your ordnance ahead of them," I commanded.
He didn't argue. Soon, shining spheres attracted themselves to the foe, a long noose making its way to the front of their necks.
Eagle One was half way across the group when a ball of light came from his ship, and he was torn asunder. His remains a directed cone of steel shards slamming into the second half of the Stilletos. The Outcast on the far right maintained course until he met rock, his body shredded violently by the scattered pyramids of Eagle One.
Then the world was spinning. A churning cauldron of lights and screams.
"Eagle Two, I've got fire! I repe-" his communications shut off.
As Eagle Two lost communications, we saw a ball of fire fly past us and was lost into an asteroid. Our shield dropped 38% just as Eagle Two's firey remains were suffocated in the vastness of space. Then another 23%. ========= Gore Alert! ============
Red lights washed the cabin with a bloody hue. Emergency lights everywhere flashing, "HULL BREACH. HULL BREACH."
We lost power, drifting slowly.
We saw a number of the Outcasts fly by the cockpit before hearing a terrible noise. Like devils being released from the depths of Hell, their bloodthirsty cries mingling with the sounds of terror from the people below. I turned to the left to see our hull blown in. Twisted steel based around a large hole.
As I did so, I saw my pilot fly from her seat, following my gaze to the hole. Her flailing ragdoll being thrown through the cabin, the depressurization wreaking havoc on her and the ship.
I... I saw her. Go through.
Her back slammed right into the sharp metal, blood pouring from her and into space in a directed stream.
Her mouth was opened, her eyes weak. She dredged up the strength to give me a final glance before the forces tore her side-from-side. Then she was gone.
My weapons officer was tugged from his seat shortly after. He was grabbing the controls or anything he could to stay inside, but it was not enough. He was sucked foot first from the ship, arms outstretched, reaching for an invisible grip. His limb got caught on a spike and was ripped from him. The remnant life pouring from once helpful arteries - a crimson stream following his passage, reminding me of the terror I was witnessing.
Then he was lost.
As the cabin depressurised, my cross-ways seat belt held tight. I got the working one I guess... Then, as it became a gust instead of a gale, I pressed the release and collapsed.
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Author's Note: It seemed to have lost speed after a while. Oh well, kept me occupied while I watched Fringe and whatnot. Hope you enjoyed it! Please inform me of typos or anything sketchy, I don't have time to proof read right now. *Looks at Impatient Isabelle across the room*
"... ood. Just wait for him to wa..."
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To be Continued
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Author's Note: Moving right along. Anybody who actually does read these, no it wont be your run of the mill, "Lose limb, goes psycho, kills people, laughs alot because somehow having robotic limbs gives people power trips". My frequent readers should know me better than that.:PAnywho, hope you had fun!
I couldn't see anything. It felt like I was staring into a starless night, the distant flares choked out by an invisible pollution of light. I stared out into infinity, viewing it as reality. In this emptiness, in the vastness of this underground vault, I saw boundaries; as though I found myself in a great subterranean antechamber with just enough ambient light to paint the walls a noticable hue of grey.
I couldn't feel much of anything, although I suppose I had twisted my head to one side or another, which invited the disembodied voice to parade through the Void. Where was I? Paralyzed in a blackened interrogation room? A prison cell? Though in my mind I looked to and fro inside my prison, I could see neither hands nor feet. To look up and down betrayed common thought and rendered a lifeless image of an endless fall below and a blank sky above.
Once again the voice invaded my consciousness. I strained my thoughts and came to the conclusion that it was a woman's voice.
"Yeah, yeah, give it here..."
Ice water shot up through where my arm should have been and crept its way to my heart. From there, a frosty grip slithered up my neck and took hold of my brain. Slowly, the walls of the chamber grew lighter, increasing with intensity from black and settling in to a sickly grey. The sky was now pockmarked with inkblots, malformed clouds that hung immobile as though time had refused to continue long ago.
Suddenly the stench of dried blood and dead tissue assaulted my senses. The foul aroma caused the chamber to spin, the clouds above swirling around on a limited circular axis. Bile coursed its way up through my nonexistent esophagus and settled into an unpleasant pool near the back of my throat. I tried to jerked my head forward, but the burning liquid remained stationary. The chamber in turn jerked up and down as I tossed what I thought to be my head back and forth, trying to throw the filth into the emptiness below. The familiar feeling of my body screaming and dying began to set in.
"Oh, God... H-"
I could feel myself take a deep breath as the digestive fluid was poured from my mouth. Ah, it felt divine! Like the breath one takes in the clear, crisp air of the mountains after they spent hours on end in the mugginess and humidity of a spa.
My veins were regaining their natural temperature, but still maintained enough chill to be noticed. I rolled my head to one side, feeling the semi-cold channel squish under the weight of my muscles. It felt heavy and it was a clumsy movement.
It hadn't been so hard to move in the chamber, I thought.
"Here, hold this."
My head was lifted and tilted in either direction. It felt like a winter mask was being taken off in a roll instead of being pulled off outright. As the keeper of my warmth was slowly stripped from me, I felt the bonds of dried blood and mucus being broken as the bandage was torn from my face. The biting cold of Falkland washed over my face and chilled the left side of it while the right was stabbed by the blinding light of a surgical lamp.
