The Eden Project

0.1 : The Grasshopper, part 1

Captain's Log: xx.xx.25xx ESD
Outer Rim, North-East Sector
Emergency Response Coalition Fleet

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The first thing I saw was a pulsing red light pushing through my eyelids. By the feel of it, I was on the floor somehow with my back up against a hard surface. Patting my hand up the side of it, I found an edge and pulled myself to my feet. Opening my eyes, I had somehow landed on the opposite side of the bridge from my station. All around me I could see men and women running back and forth trying to smother fires and tending to the wounded. There were far too many people wounded.

A crewman shook me by the shoulder while shouting something in my ear. I couldn't hear a word he said, his muffled voice just added to the dull roar in my ears. The red warning light bathed the man in the same colour as the entire compartment around him. As I stood there stunned in the middle of the chaos, my senses started to return to me. The noise was nearly deafening. First thing that came was that annoying high-pitched ringing that played in any movie when the protagonist was too close to an explosion.

As I took in the situation, the ringing died down a good bit. Whatever the hell had hit them had blown a good portion of the circuits on the bridge. A new of the consoles were on fire, and numerous hanging wires sparked as they dangled precariously overhead making the crew dodge them as best they could.

Then it hit me. Shit. Where was the Captain?

The Captain would be able to answer questions and help things get under control. I hadn't seen her anywhere so I shouted a question at a few passing crew members as they ran passed. Noone seemed to have seen her.

By my best guess, it seemed whatever hit us did so bow-to-stern. By that math...

The captain had been standing at the captain station, and if she followed the same angle as the rest of the damage...

There.

I sprinted down the hallway opposite him. I could feel adrenaline pumping through me and pulling the ache out of my limbs as I vaulted over a broken console and jumped up the stairs to the main level in two strides. I found her halfway down the corridor to the CIC.

"Captain!"

"Your scrawny ass is still alive?" The response came amidst a laugh that turned quickly into a coughing fit. As I knelt at her side, fresh blood brought up by the coughing added itself to the generous amount already running down from her mouth and over her chin.

"Hold on you old battleaxe, you're going to be ok. I'll get someone to help!" I could feel her tug on my sleeve as I called for help.

"You're not that stupid, kid. You know I'm not going to make it out of here,..."

"I'm not a kid, Grandma," I said cutting her off. "I'm barely ten years younger than you! But you have to conserve your strength. Help's coming. The crew needs you so just hang in there, alright?" But I already knew they wouldn't get here fast enough, and her wounds were too serious for them to make any difference. She was deathly pale and the blood she was coughing up wasnt from a cut lip. The force of whatever hit us had thrown her down the corridor and impaled her a foot or more down onto an exposed length of metal from the collapsed ceiling. Her blood dripped thickly from the top that protruded from the middle of her torso. By the look of it, coupled with the sound of her breathing. It was very likely that it severed her spine before it punctured her lung on it's way out.

Coughing again, she grabbed my collar and pulled me closer to stare into my eyes with a surprising vigor. "Well you still look like a scrawny teen green out of the academy. Now shut the *** up so I can give you orders." Her less savoury word choices were cut off by another cough that sprayed blood onto my neck. "On my authority as the Captain of this vessel and crew, I name you the Commanding Officer of this vessel and all aboard it. Now it's up to you to pull these little shits out of this mess because I sure as hell won't be in the shape to do it. When you pick someone to take your old place, make sure you get someone seasoned to fill in the gaps that fancy education of yours failed you on. They'll all be looking to you for whatever the hell comes next so whatever else you damned do, at least make it look like you have your shit together."