Between the Black and Grey (Starlight Brigade AU)

1 - Debris

Sung stood idly by the window of his chambers, gazing out at the cosmos speeding by. Dark swirls of colourful nothing, shining clusters of starlight aplenty and an unexplored infinity. He smiled to himself, feeling at home in the endless abyss that countless landgoers found terrifying. Truthfully he couldn't imagine being confined like that, to one tiny planet. It seemed unreal to not have existence in its entirety at your fingertips, as he and his crew did.

An unexpected jolt of the craft turned Sung's attention away from the window suddenly and he braced his hand on the wall so he didn't lose his balance.

"What was that, Commander?" he asked over his radio, making his way to the door to see what was going on.

"Just some debris I didn't notice. Apologies, it won't happen again," came the reply.

Sung shook his head as he pressed his hand to the sensor by the door and it slid open. For a feline, Commander Meouch wasn't the most attentive. He didn't grill his crew mate on his mistake just yet however; there was another problem at hand now.

They were too far out to be seeing debris, and if Meouch wasn't mistaken then something had happened.

"I'm coming to take a look. What kind of debris was it? Shuttle or land debris?"

Sung flicked off his suit's gravity and propelled himself down the corridor of the craft towards the cockpit. His heart raced excitedly; they'd been traveling smoothly for a while now and new action was always welcome, especially as in the vastly empty world of space it was hard to come by.

"Land debris, I think. It came from the west side but I can't see any planets," explained Meouch with a confused tone.

"Perhaps there was an explosion somewhere? That would explain how it's been propelled so far out."

"Maybe. Should I change course to the way it came?"

"No, we need to take a look at the debris first," Sung directed, quickly switching communication to his other crew mate, Phobos, "We have some debris floating outside. Can you bring it in for us to look at? West side."

He didn't wait for a reply as he finally reached the cockpit where Meouch was stationed right now. The bulky lion was dialling down the engine, making the craft stationary so they didn't fly out of range of the debris.

Sung switched his gravity back on and  touched down just behind Meouch. The lion turned around with a toothy smile as greeting before turning back to the controls. Sung meanwhile surveyed the area out of the cockpit window, frowning as he too saw nothing but the usual emptiness. He'd hoped that Meouch's supposed keen vision was just failing him, but alas there was no sign of a planet.

"Scan the area. There might be something that we just can't see," he instructed.

"Already done, there's nothing," Meouch said with a shake of his head.

"It must've been quite an explosion..."

Sung twiddled the end of his mustache thoughtfully, before his radio crackled and Phobos' voice came through.

"I've got it. It's large, looks like a door of some kind."

"Can you tell what material it is?" Sung asked.

"No, Doctor, it's nothing I've seen before. I think it's some kind of metal... Maybe Havve will know."

"Alright. I'll meet you down there." He turned back to Meouch, "Set a course for the way it came."

Meouch nodded seriously, and Sung exited the cockpit. Once again becoming weightless he made his way through the craft, excitement turning to worry as he had a feeling this was no ordinary mission. Time seemed suddenly precious and he couldn't afford to waste time walking - he needed to see the debris as soon as possible.

The sounds of machinery reached Sung's ears and he slid open the examination room door, floating inside. Dropping to the floor again he observed his two crew mates. The smaller of the two, Phobos, had a stature similar to his own and gestured politely to Sung as he walked over. Havve was hunched over the large metal plate. His white mechanical body was larger than Sung and Phobos put together, his movements robotic and loud. Two dark sockets masquerading as eyes glowed with sickly green light that pierced the debris. He was scanning the material.

Sung ran a finger over a coarse edge, feeling a side that had obviously been ripped apart from whatever it was attached to. Two hinges confirmed it as a door, but apart from that there was no resemblance. The plate itself was bent and crumpled like paper, but to the touch it was solid and a lot of power would have been needed to warp it in such a way. Looking at his finger Sung saw a thick smear a of black, singed substance come away, and he held his breath. So, there had been an explosion.

"Did you see anything else out there?" he asked, turning to Phobos.

"Nothing."

The answer was simple, and the confidence in Phobos' tone told Sung that there was no mistake. They truly were in the middle of nowhere, and by all laws of physics this debris should never have reached them. He stared at the horrifically mutilated metal and felt sick thinking about what could have done that. Especially to such a strong looking metal.

Havve's eyes dimmed and his large head snapped over to them. Sung pushed aside the pit in his stomach to return to the task at hand.

"What is it?" he questioned the robot.

"Unknown. This substance is not in my database," came the monotonous, impassive reply.

"Can you tell anything about it?"

"It has been floating outside for a while. It is cool despite the evidence that it has sustained an explosion."

"Can you tell how long?"

"I do not have enough information to perform that calculation."

Sung huffed a frustrated sigh. There was no telling how long it had been out there, so they may well be flying into the cold remains of an ancient planet, or alternatively the heart of a recent and maybe even continuous explosion. From the speed that the debris had been traveling to cause a jolt in the craft, it's origins couldn't be too far away, but that did little to settle Sung's nerves. He left the room again, having seen enough, and decided to return to the cockpit. On his way there, however, the craft gave another, much more violent jolt.

Running to the nearest window of the craft in alarm, Sung braced himself and looked out to see what that was. He saw nothing, but another jolt convinced him that something was happening. He was about to radio Meouch when something sped past the window, missing making contact by the breadth of a hair. He didn't see what it was, but it was undoubtedly debris of some kind.

More jolts followed, and more debris made itself known. Sung scrambled to the cockpit with a pounding heart and the realisation that they were indeed flying into a meteor shower of debris.

"Commander, get us out of here!" he ordered as he slid open the cockpit door.

"But there's something ahead. Look!" Meouch responded.

"We're being showered with debris!"

"No, really, look!"

Meouch pointed, and as Sung's eyes adjusted to a new light that was streaming into the cockpit he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

As predicted there was a planet, though Sung was surprised to see it intact, given the amount of debris and evidence of an explosion. A spot of light on its surface marked the centre of destruction. Remains of buildings, ground and everything in-between sped towards them, by sheer luck missing the craft. Or at least, for a most part.

"What is that?" Meouch asked.

Sung would have replied, but the lighting up of a screen on the control panel answered for him.

"It's a distress signal."