A Call From Across The Universe (ONC Entry)

Chapter 12

"Sir, you can't be here without authorization!"

"Are you listening to me!"

"Sir, do not enter the bridge, there is a strategy meeting going on right now!" I ignored the ship's security officers as I opened the door to the bridge, where the ship's top crew and the Rift Rats Mercenary Company reps were clearly discussing the battle plan.

"Who the hell?" The ship's captain said. "Ensign Rickon, I left explicit instructions that all non-essential personnel was barred from the bridge until further notice."

"I tried to stop him sir but..." he showed his hands, which I had ziptied together. I'd borrowed it when I ran into him earlier, and feigned sickness and weakness, took him by surprised and the rest was pretty obvious to figure out. Why they left only one guard is beyond me.

The captain pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in frustration, "I'll deal with you later. Who is this guy?"

"He's one of ours, Kai Lang, assault specialist." The Rift Rats rep introduced me. "He also does not have clearance to be here, so he better have a damn good reason for throwing off the time table. If someone isn't dying, someone will be very soon."

I did not have time for this show of power. I opened my mouth to speak, but then it was like the reality of what I was doing finally hit me like a sack of bricks. I had just stormed out of the medical wing of the ship, ignored Dr Ceres as she tried to tell me that I really shouldn't be moving around so freely, stealthed through several checkpoints to get here, detained ship security and stormed into the bridge.

And what was I about to do now? Give them information about what's going to happen in the upcoming battle, and the best I can give them for how I came across the information will be: "I'm from the future, I know what happens, I died and came back to life just moments before the battle, so I'm hoping that I can avoid my own death this time, since I have only a foggy idea of what I did to stay alive last time and really don't wanna chance the idea that I might not come back at all. Also, I might be stuck in a Groudhogs Day scenario. Which would be kinda weird, but I am so far beyond freaked out at this point."

Obviously, I wasn't gonna say that. Pretty sure they'd quarantine me and I'd die again since I recall the ship taking some major damage. How much of that is factual memory and how much of that is just me piecing it together? I don't know but-

"Specialist. I believe you were asked a question."

I did it again. "Right. Sorry." I needed to consider my words carefully here. "So, this is gonna sound crazy, but... the plan you're thinking of, it's not gonna work."

"Excuse me?" The captain looked as though I just told him that his daughter had just been caught on camera doing unspeakable acts to a flag... on camera.

"I... have intel... from the pirates, that they know what we're planning. And that they're prepared to meet our force head-on while they prepare a secret weapon."

"...A... secret... weapons?"

"Yeah..." I know this was a fact, but even I found it crazy.

"And where did you get this intel, exactly?"

"From... a source."

"...Care to explain a bit more or-"

"I've had enough of this, we're on a schedule here. Clearly your man has a problem with our strategy, don't know how he found out, but I can assure him that I may be a ship captain of a civilian expedition, but I've been through more wars than this guy's been alive. I think I can handle a group of scumbag pirates with shoddy equipment."

He was letting his pride get in the way. "Listen, I'm not trying to call your experience into question, but you have to believe me when I say that we're dealing with something-"

Suddenly security burst in and pulled my arms behind my back.

"Confine Specialist Kai Lang to his quarters for the battle's duration, he's clearly undergoing battle fatigue and will need a psyche eval later."

"I'm not crazy!"

"Then how do you know what's going to happen!"

"BECAUSE I-"

A ringing in my head stopped me from speaking, the room froze. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, all I could do was helplessly look around the room as black smoke seeped into the room from the vents, encircling us, consuming us.

"Remember. Pain. Fear. Death. It's coming. It can't be stopped. Everything. Ends."

I felt my body break apart once more. Sink into blackness. And there in the background, I saw it again. That creature from before. It was here again. But why. How? What was it?