Relics

Dipper

???
Original poster
LURKER MEMBER
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. One post per day
  2. 1-3 posts per week
  3. One post per week
Online Availability
Shake a tin of dice and tell me what numbers they give you.
Writing Levels
  1. Adept
  2. Advanced
  3. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
Genres
Sci-Fi, Fantasy, an assortment of others. Ask and you shall receive (an answer).
Sleek appearance aside, Tararui was undoubtedly the slowest ship in the fleet. Her ShockDrive jittered, her engines spat more than they ran, and most of her engineering crew left for the Valor the moment they had the chance. She was, for all intents and purposes, a last resort ship, sent to low-value sites that were unlikely to contain anything worth bringing back to the colonies. Truly a sad little thing.

Jonathan Drake O’Malley, or JD as he so often preferred, thought she was a fine ship. His father captained her in his prime, back when she was ferrying colonists from planet to planet. Now she was little more than a glorified goose-chaser, but he loved her all the same.

JD currently sat in the ship’s small galley, sipping salty broth while his friend chattered incessantly in his ear.

“... and real, untapped iron. Can you imagine a haul like that? Three months off in compensation… Hey, you get that note from engineering?”

Verlaine leaned back against the slate-grey wall behind them. His name was Jean, but JD had never called him that. Verlaine seemed more fitting.

“Uh… about the drive?”

“Tararui’s not moving ‘till they get her drive up and running, and Command’s gettin’ real serious about this mission. JD...”

JD grumbled through a mouthful of salt.

“Think Cass’ll come along?”

“Who?” JD nearly choked. Where had all this salt come from? “The blonde? I don’t know. She’s head of security, so… I think so. Why?” He set the broth aside, appetite gone and tongue positively burning. “She’s got a pulse rifle, Jean. All the time. If you want to look down its barrel, be my guest, but I’ve got an obligation to try to convince you not to.”

Verlaine shrugged. “I know. But--”

“Leave her alone, Verlaine.”

“O’Malley?”

JD leaned forward as the staticky voice of the Captain came through. “What’s up, Captain Morely?”

“We’re heading planetside in an hour. Grab Verlaine and head down to the dock and get the Virgo ready. Morley out.”

JD ran a hand through his hair, feeling a mixture of anticipation and worry well within him. He’d flown plenty of missions, most of them planetside scouting operations to ascertain whether staying in orbit was worth the returns. Tararui’s luck was wearing thin with the amount of rock and outdated tech they’d found in the past two years, and with the ship failing despite every attempt at repairs, he wouldn’t be surprised if she were to return to a decommissioning. For now, this was their last chance to prove they could find something of value

He didn’t have high hopes, but he put on an air of confidence for Verlaine’s sake. The poor man was looking for his big break. With the way things were going, they’d all end up transferred to the Farragut, or maybe Lonesome. Both were magnetically attracted to useful scraps, nothing impressive. Nothing that could lead to the break Verlaine was waiting for.

Shoving Verlaine’s shoulder, JD stood and tossed his tin into the bin before gathering his gear and heading to the tram. Verlaine followed close behind.

Ten minutes later and they were standing in the hangar, where the Virgo sat in its dock. It was almost as old as Tararui, but never once failed and didn’t look close to it, either. A reliable, if ugly, ship. It was his, and he was damn good at flying it.

Captain Kurt Morely walked over to them and greeted them with a nod. “Rest of the crew has been notified. We’ll try to keep this one brief-- in and out, as fast as we can. If you spot anything, we can take a look, but otherwise, we’re on a tight schedule.”

“Sure thing,” JD said. “Full security?”

“Half,” Morley set his hands on his hips. “Try to go easy on them. They’re new transfers, and Tararui doesn’t need the bad rap.”

Verlaine passed by them, snatching JD’s gear from his shoulder with a smirk. “I’ll stow our gear and get Virgo warmed up. You’re better with the new kids anyways.”

JD didn’t bother retorting. He got along just fine with transfers, especially the cocky ones. They liked pilots, saw them as unassuming and harmless. JD didn’t mind. The shock of how boring these expeditions could sometimes be would break them in, and after that, they’d be much easier to work with.

He leaned his shoulder against the side of the ship and waited.
 
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Verlaine was dead before he hit the floor. Blood dribbled from a hole near his collarbone, down his neck and through his hair into a puddle under his back.

His eyes were still open.

JD mumbled incoherently, head throbbing and chest aching, his fingers shaking so intensely that the line gun fell at his feet. Fisting his hands in his shirt to make them stop, he lowered himself to his knees at Verlaine's side and, with one faintly trembling hand, drew his friend's eyes shut. When that was done, he sat back, dropped his head, and let out a dry, exhausted noise deep in his throat.

It could've been him. It would've been so easy...

"Shit, Ver..." He clenched his jaw tight enough that his teeth felt ready to crack under the pressure. Was it anger that clogged his throat, or sadness? Maybe a bit of both. Verlaine was his co-pilot, his wing-man, and now he was nothing but a cooling body on the floor of some dingy, glorified closet in engineering, far from where they ought to be right now. They should've been on the Virgo, arguing over stupid shit with Morley while Verlaine played outdated music on the speakers.

Hell. He wished the guy had at least gotten to speak to Cass one more time before he dropped.

JD pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes until stars burst across his vision. "I..." The words didn't come. He sat silently on the floor, head in his hands. He couldn't... he couldn't leave Verlaine's body here, that he knew. But he couldn't risk dragging him along with all those creatures beyond the door, especially now that their efforts had doubled since Gryffon pulled his gun.

Finally, JD managed to pull himself together, but the foundation was shaky. His psyche felt cracked in ways his bones could never be. Sentimental memories merging with the horrific event just moments before, tarnishing them. He raked a hand through his hair one last time before standing.

"What the hell happened?" he asked no one in particular. Oh, there was his line gun. On the floor. Untouched, and entirely useless. He felt like shit. "You don't just... nobody just... does that. Fuck. We need to go. Those things can hear us and that door won't hold forever. Maybe Verlaine was onto something with the hatch..."

Talking was the last thing on his mind. Without stopping to consider what he was doing, JD stepped over to the hatch and bent over to get a look inside, but all he saw was darkness. A long, dark pathway that stretched far beyond their little room like a repurposed maintenance tunnel. Where it led, though... Verlaine never got the chance to say. Whether it was their way out remained to be seen. JD would take the chance in his desperation, and jumped down into the emptiness.

"I'll... check this out." He needed time to think and get his head on straight, and if a foreboding, enclosed corridor was how he went about that, then so be it.

He was getting reckless. He knew that, but at the back of his mind, he just didn't care. There was nothing down in this hideaway but tins and spare clothing and a flash light or two, which he grabbed to illuminate the space. Verlaine had managed to spend at least half an hour down here, and as he hunched over to fit in, he could find nothing of interest that would have kept anyone down here.

Nothing of interest... except the scrawling on the wall.

That caught his eye.

Symbols JD didn't recognize were etched into the walls from top to bottom and covered every inch of two whole sections of the tiny bunker. They were a hasty mess; whoever made them was in a rush. Why they were so desperate to write them down didn't matter compared to what they meant, however. He couldn't begin to make sense of it.

His brain tried to put words to the symbols but that only made him nauseous. Perhaps this was what Verlaine witnessed when he was down here. And if it was, JD wondered if the same would happen to him.

"Nothing's down here," he called down the corridor in the hopes that the others could hear him. He shut his eyes. "Give me a moment."
 
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It seemed so slow… yet in all actuality it had happened so fast. Kaiya could only stare in horror at now two comrades that laid upon the ground with two maroon puddles growing about their bodies. Breath hitched in throat and she realized that the tears were still spilling as shaking hands sought to cover her mouth before she could scream further for it was the only way she felt as though she could cope with what just happened before her eyes.

They both had lost their minds….

Then, his voice, an anchor, before she lost her own mind, which had seemed so composed up until now. Seemed as though she had a hard shell for the outer covering, but once it began to crack, she felt as though it was deteriorating quickly. Simply a curse and a shortened version of his comrade’s name… but it was enough. She swallowed down the lump in her throat, releasing hand and trying to damnedest to wipe the endless trickle of tears from her eyes.

As traumatic as the scene had been… Verlaine was JD’s friend. She could see his crumpling form that was only feet away from her own and she wished to go to him in an attempt to console, but before she could he rose shakily and sought to vent out his frustration in which she figured he had every right to do…

If death wasn’t right outside their door once more.

Godammit…

She recoiled and felt her hands shake at his words… glad that he had a sense to say something, to kick everyone into gear, but she wished she had an answer. The fact that she didn’t… just made this all seem pointless. For who was to say one of the wasn’t next to lose their mind and start attacking friends? What if she lost it… tried to strangle JD with her bare hands….

She winced deeply and turned her face to the side as her breath hitched once more, feeling as though her lungs were threatening to collapse, although from the panic of lack of oxygen that was becoming apparent in the room she didn’t know.

“JD, wait…” merely a breath, not knowing if he hadn’t heard her or simply ignored her plea. She racked her fingers through her hair, ears staying attentive for if she heard anything that sounded strange, she was heading in after him. “Cass.”

The woman was a mess on the ground, hitching breath, eyes red as tears flowed, and all Kaiya could do was come to crouch beside her, giving her a moment before patting her leg gently. “We need to see if we can move you-”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said stubbornly and swallowed hard, shaking her head quickly as her eyes remained upon Verlaine’s dead body. “I.. can’t anyway. Fucking hurts too much… I would slow you down..”

“Don’t talk like that. We have to try-”

“Fuck off with your optimism,” Cass hissed, although the gusto of the statement would make her raise a hand to her side of which had been stitched an hour or so ago. How did everything go so bad in mere moments…? “The others aren’t going either.”

Kaiya’s eyes moved to that of the soldiers across the way and saw how they shook and trembled, eyes wide and nearly shaking in their sockets. They looked to be in no better shape to move as Cass did… yet they weren’t even the ones to get torn up by god knows what! They just kept staring at Gryffon… probably was of higher rank and now that he was gone they wondered how the hell they were supposed to do this if their squad leader couldn’t. And then there was Cass, who honestly did not look much better by the pallor of her skin…

Kaiya held up her hands in surrender for she did not wish to make things worse. To come here for back up only to leave empty handed and also down a member of their squad. A vicious bout of nausea rose within her.

Keep it together…

“Don’t do anything rash… I just… I need to check on JD…”

As though his ears tingled from being mentioned, he called up and from the duct that still seemed to be enveloped in darkness.

Nothing’s down here.

No… fuck… there had to be something!! They were running out of options…

The pounding continued, and then a screech of metal as though something of equal hardness scratched up against it, sending a shiver down her spine.

“Just… go,” Cass muttered brokenly, eyes dimming as she stared at the pilot’s motionless body.

A quick decision made and hoping it wouldn’t be another one she would feel remorse over… for she felt incredible guilt at the fact that they had come down here because she thought she could help. A lot of fucking help she was…

She stuffed the plasma cutter into the tops of her pants, glanced at the line gun JD had been using, but with a quick estimate of size figured it would be rather cumbersome in the small confines of the hatch. Instead, she wandered to Gryffon’s body and would take up his pulse rifle and pistol while trying not to lose herself in the moment. A gentle hand upon arm before moving to Verlaine of which at least looked… a little more peaceful since JD had urged lids over eyes. A few more tears would trickle from her already moist eyes and she eased a hand onto his arm as well, a silent thanks, for he probably did not know it, but she would be dead if not for him.

I’m sorry we couldn’t save you…

And then she rose before she lost herself in the torrent of tears once more.

Another tremor through the door…

Clutching the weapons to her like a lifeline, she came to the hatch in the floor and without another thought jumped down inside, gritting teeth at the impact in her ankles, but then remained crouched, for she would need to in order to get through this small little tunnel. A slam of metal, making her jump, yet a glance upward would show that someone had slammed the hatch closed behind her of which Kaiya suspected Cass.

Swallowing hard, she shook her head and could not dwell for if she did, she feared she would crack further.

“JD?” She called softly into the tunnel as she heard him saying he needed a moment…. of which she so desperately wished to give him. He just lost his best friend… yet now was a time in which they could not grieve. Not while they were still in danger.

Her eyes picked up the glow of the flashlight, seeing JD there, she boldly approached. “Hey…” She whispered and sniffled softly, passing an arm once more over her eyes, absorbing the last of tears with the fabric of her shirt. She would be strong… she would try… for him. He was the only one she had left…

She reached across, placed a hand on his shoulder, and gave a squeeze. Yet, despite her mantra of being strong, her eyes would flood with tears once more at how broken he seemed in this moment. Words caught in her throat. She wished to apologize… for everything: for not being able to save him, for making them come down here, for allowing him to save her, for his loss…

Yet she couldn’t. Nothing would come out. Because in the end, she knew there was nothing she could say that would make him feel better. Instead, her fingers tightened about his shoulder as if the one action said everything for her.

I’m sorry.
 
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"Give me a moment."

The Tararui's engines hummed away, wholly oblivious to the anguish of her crew. To JD, it provided a distraction. He sat and listened for a few minutes longer before he was willing to move.

"What the hell was he thinking?" JD muttered, flicking the flashlight on again. "He hasn't been right since that planet, but to go that far? Why?"

JD could only wonder if Verlaine was close to losing it the whole time. All that mumbling, the nonsense, the odd behavior-- it all came together in one explosive outburst when Gryffon pulled a gun, born out of a desire to protect or, more likely, a genuine desire to die. Verlaine was full of life, albeit a rather lazy kind, but he'd never wanted to die. It wasn't him.

So what had caused it?

"... Everyone else alright up there? Cass doing okay?"

And Cass. JD didn't know her especially well - they'd spoken, eaten together, but rarely much more than that - and yet still felt as if she were his only link left to life as it was before; mundane day-to-day living aboard the Tararui, scavenging the ruins of old colonies and resource-scarce planets for the fleet. When all they worried about was what slop they'd be forced to eat that night. He'd gladly take all the salty oatmeal and mutant fruit he could get if it meant he could go back.

Dammit, he missed home. A hellish dust ball to be sure, but there was no place like it. Real food. No monsters. Quiet, most of the time. Boring as hell. All things considered, boring sounded rather nice right about now. JD scrubbed at his face with the palms of his hands and twisted around awkwardly.

The space was just wide enough that he could squeeze around. He headed on back toward the hatch.

"We should--"

Their only barrier protecting them from the creatures outside groaned under their combined weight. They were throwing themselves against it, and although it wasn't bowing inward, the noise alone was enough of a warning. But with the crawlspace having a dead end, and that doorway being their only - as far as he could tell - exit...

"The A.I! Maybe we can..." His comm wasn't working, probably still jammed by the very same A.I he was considering contacting. "Anyone have a working communicator?"

It was his best attempt at avoiding the bodies in the middle of the room, their blood drying on the cold steel floor. As stupid as a plan it may be, it was all he could think of-- unless everyone was willing to charge through whatever lay beyond that door, and with his ammo running low on the line gun, that option was far less appealing than dealing with a rogue A.I. Maybe the engineers were still alive-- maybe the two officers down the corridor were still around, and had gotten in.

Another crash against the door startled him out of his thoughts. "I was thinking... If that A.I's still around, maybe we can communicate. Get it to, I don't know, open the doors? Find a way out? It's protecting the engineers, right? So it's not all bad..."

Or, they could bulldoze their way through those creatures outside, get out of jamming range, and try to hook up with the rest of the security team they'd left behind. They could find another way to the engineers.

Except... JD was beginning to lose hope that the engineers were even still alive. They'd sounded frightened before, close to death. With all the time that had passed since their last message, would it be any surprise if they were long gone? They had his sympathies, but he had a ship waiting for him. A captain. There was a way off for all of them just waiting in the hangar.

It wasn't fair. He didn't even want to be here. Verlaine hadn't even wanted to be here.

What a mess.

He found his line gun again, down to four shots. Putting those creatures down would require all of them to fire at once-- the last time, he'd missed, but the shot barely even registered. They were tough as all hell, he'd give them that.

"Shit, man. I don't know. That's the least suicidal idea I've got..." He shrugged miserably. "Or we can just run on through, see where that gets us..."
 
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Knowing they didn’t have long before those things barreled their way in through their only exit, Kaiya knew every moment was rather precious, but at this point with how everyone up top had all but given up, her mind was close to doing the same. She should give JD his moment… he only deserved it. If he wanted to spend some of his last moments reminiscing in a friendship, then who was she to stop him? Removing her hand, she only offered her presence as comfort, hoping that it did… anything to ease any sort of anguish he was feeling in the loss of his friend.

She heard his words, but had none to offer in return, yet she didn’t think that he was really asking her those questions anyway, more so just thinking out loud about the situation as he sometimes did. And still, it had her mind wondering the same thing. Verlaine’s episodes, even in the beginning, were not as bad as that last one. He had nearly been begging for death… she had a strange desire to know what had been going on in his mind during his final moments…

Then again, maybe she shouldn’t wish for such things, as to know what he did would more than likely break her own mind as well.

Sniffling softly in the darkness, she reached up to pass her sleeve over her face once more to wipe at tear trails still present upon features, swallowing hard to dislodge the lump that had grown in her throat. “I, um… not great JD…” She couldn’t lie. Even though everyone was in one piece, they were on the edge of the precipice of reason as well.

Maybe they should just give up… how could they expect to survive this if Verlaine and Griffin could not? How were they any different? A hand came up to be placed upon her temple, giving it a rub as she closed her aching eyes. She had just rested… yet it felt like she hadn’t at all. Darkness was closing in… despair… why was this happening? What were those things…? How come Verlaine and Griffin had to die the way they did? By the hands of their comrades and not those creatures… it just didn’t seem right.

Well… fuck… none of this was right anyhow!

Darkness… a downward spiral into it… she was at a breaking point and she knew it, yet she couldn’t slow the descent.

A flash behind her eyes—symbols—numbers—red—violence—anger—death.

Make us whole.


“Huh…?”

A light in the darkness. The hope in JD’s voice as she came back, blinking and shaking the voices from her head as she had been so out of it she didn’t even notice that JD was not in front of her anymore, but behind, as he had squeezed past her to go back towards the hatch that led up into the storage room. His voice, his determination to keep going… she desperately clutched to it like a lifeline and scrambled onto her knees with shaking hands and followed him out, wincing as she grabbed the edge, feeling the pull in her stitches, but pulling herself up all the same.

Unhooking her own communicator from her wrist, she handed it to JD without question, having turned her own off before it could zap her like Verlaine’s did when they had come down here. “What are you thinking JD?” He obviously had some sort of plan…and if he did then it was their only option because no one else was coming up with ideas.

His idea would be a lot better if any of them knew about this sort of tech. None of them were engineers that had worked with the AI before, but as JD said… it was the only option they had. And it was a lot better than just sitting around waiting for those things to get in and rip them all to shreds. Eyes looked about, eyebrows furrowing slightly, bringing her back her focus. Where was it… even in storage rooms there had to be some sort of… “Vent!” Higher up, towards the ceiling there was a vent, much like the one they had gone through before, but the light around the outside was red. This was what the engineers had meant about the AI locking up air vents and doors… to keep them safe but was also leaving them to their demise.

“JD, if you can reason with the AI to open up vents along the way and close them behind us… we can use that one to get out of here!”

“Well then, what are you waiting for?” The head of security had propped herself up against the wall, looking nearly ghost-like as she grit her teeth and reloaded the last bit of ammo into the weapons. “Get that AI to open that vent and get the hell out of here… and you three!” She hissed at the remainder of her men in an attempt to get a flame lit under their asses once more. “Stop cowering and do your job… if those things get through that door, we hold them off as long as possible.” She wouldn’t keep them from leaving if they wanted to… but they had refused to leave her side before and she didn’t think that would change now. And she wasn’t going anywhere. Not with her wounds. She had barely managed to pull herself up into a sitting position without passing out. No way was she going to be able to utilize her feet. This was the best plan… the only plan.
 
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"We'll be fine," JD assured, trying to catch Kaiya's gaze. "We'll be fine, I just need a moment."

Vent. Vent. He snapped his fingers and flashed Kaiya another smile. That was it! The A.I may be jamming their comms between each other, but odds were low that it was inhibiting messages sent to itself. Still, the chance that it was even listening was slim.

JD pawed at his comm and searched for the A.I's signal, and... There. The signal was weak, but not jammed and gave him a clear path to the A.I on the other end. Before he could talk, however, his comm fizzed and filled with an earsplitting static, followed by a formal, robotic voice that first calmly reminded them to turn back.

"You should not be here."

JD's face twisted into a grimace. "No shit. Listen, please? We need help--"

"Why did you come here?"

"You're designed to protect human life, aren't you? So why don't you help protect ours? We're already here, we can't leave, we can't turn back..." JD signed shakily. "Look, you're protecting those engineers, right? You closed all the vents, but we need those vents open."

There was a drawn out pause as the A.I presumably chose to waste time thinking. They didn't need the time-- this one was just being especially uncooperative.

"You wish for me to expose that which I am keeping safe?"

"No, no! I have a way you can protect all of us. Isn't that what you're programmed for?"

"... That is correct."

"Alright! What you to do is easy, really safe. There's a vent to this room. We need you to open it, and when we're all through, you can close it up again. Get us to the engineers if you have to and you can watch over all of us in the same place." He grinned even though the A.I couldn't see it. "Sounds good, right?"

"It sounds... acceptable. I will provide you with a way point, please stand by."

The comm switched off. JD slumped against the wall, ribs twinging. That was deceptively easy. A.Is were compliant and generally easy to get along with, as that was how they'd been programmed. Any human could talk circles around one to get what they wanted, so long as it didn't harm another human or go against the A.I's prime directive, but JD never expected that, in this situation, this particular A.I would be so... amenable to exposing its prized subjects.

He folded his arms across his chest and curled his fingers into his shirt. "See? Easy. These things live for humans, you know? You just... have to talk to them right..."

Two more bodies thudded against the door, followed by a shrill, piercing squeal that, to JD, sounded more like an animal than a human. They hissed, grumbled more like a man, then shrieked again. They weren't getting in anytime soon, but the door wouldn't hold forever. For a moment, he began to doubt the honesty of the A.I.

And then the vent above them shuttered open.

"Please proceed along the route I have provided."

JD held out his hand and activated his way point, watching a blue line flicker to life and travel up the wall and vanish into the vent. JD grinned once more.

"Looks like we're good to go. But... who wants to go first?" He approached the vent and pulled himself up onto the desk sitting beneath it. "Never mind."

He tried to ignore the bodies, still lying there on the floor with their blood drying in the cracks. His boots were sticking. Once he was up, he looked down into the vent's dark depths, where the way point fizzled out around a bend. From what he could see in the dark, the vent opened up a good deal and they would be able to maneuver themselves comfortably, without scraping their stomachs along the metal. Rusting metal, coated in dust and watery goo.

Something else took a trip through the vents. Recently.

JD turned back to the group. "It's clear, if you're all ready--" the door bowed inward. A booming roar filled the room and echoing through the vents. Another crash jarred his ribs painfully. "Come on! Shit..."

Whatever the hell that was, it wasn't those things from before, but it was just as angry, and twice as strong. It crashed against the door for a third time, and that was enough to spur JD onward and into the vents face first. The rest could follow him at whatever pace they liked-- he wasn't sticking around.

The A.I's voice burst forth from all of their comms at once. "If you take any longer, I will be forced to reroute or terminate this operation. Please move quickly."
 
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Kaiya gave a nod—as though trying to reassure herself of his assurance—and looked to the door that continued to jostle whenever a body was thrown against it, making her insides jitter anxiously, but trying to prod JD to hurry would definitely not help the situation. So even though she felt far from relaxed… at least they had an option. Something to try… she stepped close beside him, not wanting to hover, but she wished to listen, to save time so he would not have to repeat what was conversed.

Therefore, she could clearly see the man’s eyes lighten as he heard something within the static, securing a connection in which she let out a puff of breath in disbelief. This really could work…

This would be the first of which she would see an interaction with the ship’s AI in such a way. There was one in the medical bay as well, that helped to diagnose and analyze, but nothing like this in which they could communicate over come. They must have been two completely different systems… how interesting… Even in the darkest of moments, Kaiya found herself easily fascinated by things that she simply did not understand.

Shaking her head to pull herself out of her personal thoughts, she turned her attention to the conversation between JD and the AI. At first, things didn’t seem great… and she wondered if this would be one of those situations in which the AI stubbornly did what it was programmed to do instead of listening to reason. That’s always how the movies went… rogue AIs and the like… nightmarish in this day and age when modern technology nearly revolved around such things.

JD handled it well though and, dammit, she nearly couldn’t believe her ears when the AI seemed to agree so easily! Although, until the vent opened, they would not know if it truly worked. Biting the inside of her lip anxiously, she gave a light chuckle although it was hardly mirthful. “I… would not know the first thing about the subject. I am glad you were able to sway it with your charm.” The smallest jest, yet it felt good to do and lightened her mood just the smallest bit… although it would hardly last when two more bodies made a loud ominous thud reverberate through the room, making goosebumps rise upon the entirety of her body, snapping her head back to the reality of the situation.

She swallowed thickly and felt herself subconsciously tighten the strap around her chest that held Gryffon’s pulse rifle against her side. She didn’t… know the first thing about using it, but figure in the moment she could figure it out just as she had the plasma cutter. Point and shoot, right…?

A jolt from her body as the vent parted without, the lights turning green, allowing them passage. Her eyes widened in surprise. It worked… it really worked! “JD, you did it!!” She could have kissed him!! With a breathless laugh, she followed without hesitation, slipping the pulse rifle to sit more at the small of her back as she climbed up onto the desk after him, but would wait for him to give the go ahead before she climbed up in after him. “How’s it looking, JD?” She asked and fiddled her fingers upon one of the green lights that glowed in the dim lighting.

He turned back, giving the go ahead, although before she could be happy about such things, the door screeched as something barreled into it, making her gasp in alarm as wide eyes turned toward that of the door. The entirety of the room shook in the reverberation as whatever was outside that door let out a bellow that vibrated the very walls. Her lungs constricted and she froze up.

What… the fuck… was that?

You’d think that this point she wouldn’t be surprised! That she’d seen horrors of which would haunt her for years if she could live through the next minute… yet the beast-like terror that awaited them outside that door shook her to the very core.

“G—t out —ere—!!”

The pounding of her heart in her ears seemed to take over everything as the thing of which she would very much call a monster bashed into the door again, this time breaking off one of the hinges so that of a meaty tentacle could slither in and began whipping about, the roar echoing louder now that the seal of the door was breached. The team began firing. And yet, the voice yelled at her again, and Kaiya’s doe-like stare rotated and came to settle on Case who was near screaming at her.

“Get the fuck out of here!!!” She commanded before turning her attention onto the door. But if… if that thing could get through a sealed door… how would a metal vent keep it out?? Still, the final ramming of the door, and it sent it completely off its hinges, the metal shelving flying forward to crunch two of the officers that had still been standing and firing at the monster mere moments ago. Their screams would forever terrorize her…

Yet, she would not stay put to see what kind of monster had come for them. Without another thought, she scrambled up and into the vent, making hands and feet grip the side to propel herself forward. Her heart pounded, threatening to burst, as the vent merely acted like a funnel in which she could hear their anguished cries and the inhuman roar of the creature that had invaded.

“F-fuck…” she gasped and probably would have had more tears to shed in the sheer trauma of it all… to have come down here to the utterly failed in their operation… but she couldn’t fucking focus on that right now!! She grit her teeth to the point she thought they would crack, jaw clenched as she continued to move, eyes focusing on the movement of JD up ahead. Just had to move… had to keep moving… and was about to emerge into the larger space around the bend…

When something coiled around her ankle and gave a vicious yank.

A scream, echoing through the vent as her fingers sought purchase upon the edge of which she had just come around. One meaty tendril had followed and was attempting to fish them out… A guttural cry as she tightened her grip on the metal, it cutting into her fingers, yet that was not nearly the worst of it, for the tendril was quite strong and she could feel the pull of it throughout her entire body, stretching skin and muscles alike, having a feeling that if her fingers didn’t give first, her body would simply be ripped in half.

“JD-!” She cried mid-wince and with a fierce determination locked her grip despite feeling as though her stitches were being snapped, one by one. “C-close it!! The vent—close it!!!” She had weapons… yet if she relented her hold with even just one finger she worried her grip with slip and she would be lost just like the rest of them…
 
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At least he'd managed to make someone in this hellhole happy. After the loss of Verlaine, which was still as fresh as a new wound, it meant more to him than she realized. Survival shouldn't be so tenuous as to provide relief when it was assured, but their fucked up situation made it so.

They were breaking through already. He didn't want to, couldn't, leave anyone behind, but the adrenaline coursing through his veins drove him onward and deeper into the vent. His knees scraped against the steel beneath him, elbows raw, probably bleeding with the pace he'd set for himself. He dragged himself through.

The vent slammed shut behind them. Near the end of the tight corridor he could find enough space to stand, half crouched but with just the right amount of room to move forward. He could still hear the shrieking and pounding against the walls, claws of bone scraping against the steel before they found better targets.

Wet, squelching noises filtered through the slatsfaintly. He hoped it was those creatures dying.

He shuffled along into an open junction that split into three separate shafts. The waypoint flickered and changed directions, now leading down the path straight ahead.

"You are moving too slowly," the A.I commented in that flat, empty voice.

JD had to crouch and bend his back awkwardly to fit himself into the shaft. He, wisely, ignored the A.I and kept going.

If the A.I was bothered it hadn't managed to save all of them, it didn't make it known. Probably found a loophole in its programming, a way to let the rest of them die so it could focus its resources on as few humans as possible. Cold, cruel logic. Typical of a machine. Seeking out one as an ally was a poor decision, but it was also his only decision and while he wasn't entirely satisfied with its treatment of them (or working with it in the first place, really) he'd follow its directions.

It was a matter of survival. He didn't have to like it and it didn't have to be nice. He just needed to make it through to the other side, where the Virgo ought to be waiting.

An idea sparked. Morley was a tough son of a bitch. He'd aimed for the Virgo hours ago and was very likely still waiting, but unable to pilot the ship. JD could get the A.I to open up, couldn't he? Let a signal through.

He pawed his comm as he crawled. "I need you to stop jamming comm signals."

"Why should I do this?"

"So I can survive," he snapped, "and that's two less people to worry about. There's a ship--"

"There are many ships in dock. Only one sign of life. It is unsafe and thus I cannot condone such a venture."

"I don't need you to condone it," damn machine, "Just need to get a signal out, is all."

"Letting you do this will make you leave. I cannot extend my protections that far. Therefore, I will not."

JD groaned. "We can help your engineers. We can all get off safely, isn't that what you want? A safe crew? Dammit-- just let us through! There's a ship, safety, and letting us do this will keep us safe!"

This should be logical to an A.I, yet this particular intelligence seemed to be struggling. Like it couldn't process any other route than what it already provided. Keeping them locked was the safest course of action to it, when a creative human mind would beg to differ. He didn't know this A.I, but maybe the engineers affiliated with it would be able to talk circles around it once they'd met up. A ship, if nothing else, would offer the key they needed.

He stopped when the ache on his knees grew to be too much. He turned around, looking over his shoulder at Kaiya to make sure she was still close by.

"Holding up back there?" he asked, ignoring the A.I's persistent reminders to keep moving.
 
Was she holding up… that was certainly a good question, yet the answer was complicated. Was she alive? Still breathing?… check… pulse?… check…mentally stable?… questionable. Every moment of reality seemed as though it was highly plausible that her mind had broken long ago and this was all a delirium. That would make much more sense than any of this being real! And still… she was very unwilling to allow one of those things to take hold of her and rip her two shreds beyond recognition… to see if she would live.

Kaiya wished…

This would definitely be much simpler if these things were a figment of their imagination. Wouldn’t it? No matter what that entailed. Madness or their reality becoming a nightmare? She would think she would choose the former rather than the later.

Not even their plan was coming to fruition. The team of which they sought to rescue was behind them, more than likely slaughtered by the thing that had finally managed to break the door down… a pile of corpses to join that of Verlaine and Gryffon. She swallowed thickly, throat constricting, unable to even think of it less she wished for tears to blur her vision… which was a near hazard as she needed to be able to see the danger that lurked around them. No time for that now—her eyes flickered to JD—if he was unable to grieve the loss of his friend, then she was not allowed either. They had to keep pushing forward, otherwise she feared they would both spiral down into their own insanity until one of the living nightmares found them and ended their misery.

Right now… their plan was to allow the A.I. to guide them… and it did… until it didn’t.

She heard the pilot swear, banging wrist upon the vent as their literal guiding light blinked out of sight and left them in darkness. Shit… really? What else could go wrong?? She did not have to wait for an answer from JD because the electronic voice came from the communicator.

“I detect no signs of life in the engineering bay.”

Somehow, the electronic voice seemed even more eerie saying such a statement and Kaiya felt herself inhale a shaky breath, perspiration beginning to form upon brow and the crown of her forehead, for the small space of the vents was becoming quite stuffy and warm with all the exits and entrances being closed off. She felt as though it was getting harder to breathe. What… what did that mean for them?? “JD…” She gasped worriedly and began to pull at her shirt, fluttering the neckline a bit, as though that would help her to catch a deeper breath.

“I detect life on the ship has decreased to that of 30% and is continuing to plummet.”

Her eyes widened in horror and her knees shook to the point that she allowed her body to collapsed to the side, easing head against the wall of the vent as a hand rose to her face, head shaking. How was this possible…? How could this happen…? “But that—no you cannot—” her lips fumbled for words, jaw clenching, and as one of the medical professionals aboard the ship, she knew what this was turning into. It was as though the ship was infected with a plague… deadly. If it killed so many of the crew, there were protocols built in that if it could not be contained, they could not return to the fleet. It was too dangerous and would threaten more lives.

“The Tararui is condemned.”

“No!! Y-you can’t there are still people alive on this ship—!!”

“To preserve human life, the Tararui must be purged.”

Kaiya folded her hands to her face and shook it, feeling an anguished cry leave her throat. “Take us to the docking bay… we can leave, take us to the docking bay!” They had a chance… please god… please at least give them the chance!!

“… The Tararui must be purged.”

An exasperated yell of anguish left Kaiya’s lips and she gripped at her hair, teeth gritting, not thinking that this was the fate she had led them to… if they had just gone straight to the ship and met Morley…

And then, a hand on her shoulder, and she peered up through the darkness to find JD looking down at her, his touch grounding her before she could lose her mind. He didn’t even have to say anything.

“Opening all vents.”

There was a shudder through the metal that they perched upon, hearing the whirr sounding the truth in the A.I.’s words. But why…? Perhaps because there was no need to protect them anymore. Because in the programming of the A.I., they were all lost anyhow.

“Hurry…” Kaiya whispered, looking to JD with a wild sort of frantic look in her usually so cool and collected golden flecked hazel irises. “I don’t know what this purging is, but I don’t think we should stick around to find out.”

* ˚. ❍ .˚• *

With the vents all open, they were now allowed free access to the crawl space… but that also meant everything else within the ship was given this as well. Which meant they needed to get out of there as quickly as they could.

It would not take long, a mad scramble to any exit they could find, for surely they would be able to navigate much easier as soon as they made it out of these awful metal labyrinths. Of which they did with impeccable timing. Kaiya hoped it was simply her mind playing tricks on her, but she could have sworn that she could hear the growls of those creatures reverberate through the metal ducts.

She did not want to be stuck in there for any moment longer.

They all but spilled unceremoniously onto the floor of an open, but dark hallway. Kaiya felt as though they were creatures themselves crawling out of the space in the wall, but felt very pleased in the moment that she felt as though she could actually breathe again. She did not know herself to be claustrophobic, but in those moments of feeling trapped within that small space had sent her heart into wild tizzy.

Upon a glance around, she found that she recognized the area. They were not far from the docking bay. She often took this hall, in fact, to get down there from the med bay. “We are… not far from docks,” she said through breaths as she hauled herself up onto her feet only to find that her legs were shaking…

Don’t give out on me now… she thought.
 
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What a shitty mess they'd found themselves in. They always said the Tararui was a cursed ship-- JD never believed them, always content to call them out on their lies and give the crumbling ship a proverbial pat on the back for its service. Maybe they were right about it being a lost cause, not worth the materials or investment.

The men who'd said that were dead. He wondered if they'd throw it back in his face if they weren't.

Pointless thoughts continued to slither around inside his brain as they scurried along, panic closing in. And when they tumbled out, JD came to the realization that he'd blanked out the majority of the journey. Time flew when survival was on the mind, and currently, the only thing on JD's mind was getting as far away from that vent as humanly possible.

He leaned forward to catch his breath even though he didn't have to.

Not far from the docks?

"Good! Shouldn't be too hard to get there-- hey." He forced himself to stop and take stock of their situation, to really breathe. He went to her side and squeezed her shoulder. "We can do this. Virgo's close. I'll fly us out of here and we'll be fine. Alright?"

Jonathan O'Malley was a highly recommended pilot who'd flown over a dozen missions in high stress environments. He'd run even more simulations in much worse conditions. Flying the Virgo out of a crashing Tararui would be a piece of cake. Even so, he felt like he was hanging by a thread as he assured Kaiya, both confident in his abilities and yet still strangled by both weariness and terror. He hid it quite well, shoved down beneath his mourning and his desire to live.

The door at the end of the hall would lead straight to the docks. After that, Virgo was located along the right side of the room with the rest of the transports, the second of a row.

"Hold on, I'm going to see if Morley's still out there." The comm. on his wrist fizzed, still reeling from the jammer, but it got its signal out without issue. At this distance, Morley would surely here them--

"Holy shit. I know that tag, where the fuck have you been?"

JD sighed with relief. "Captain. It's surprisingly good to hear your voice."

"Surprising?" Morley's offense was palpable. "The hell are you on? Where've you been?"

"We... we got... stuck."

"Stuck." There was a derisive snort on the other end. "Fuck off. Get down here and start this junk heap moving."

JD rolled his eyes and cast a nervous glance at Kaiya, coupled with a brief shrug of his shoulders. Morley's tone was more acidic than it'd been a few hours before. His behavior felt off, though the man often crumbled under extreme stress. A captain he may be, he wasn't military. It was nothing more than a title.

"We're already here. We'll be down shortly."

Morley shut down his side of the link unceremoniously. Definitely stress, maybe more of that influence that...

Verlaine's dead eyes shocked through his mind. He shuddered and, making his way toward the docks, tried to imagine Jean in a better place. Not his dust ball homeworld, but one of those tropical destinations he'd once raved about. Yeah. Sun and warmth. That was the least Jean deserved after all they'd been through. And JD? Provided he survived this, of course, he'd head home and find the bar his father liked. He'd pilot locally and never again set foot outside the system. Things were safer close to home. Food was better.

Hell. He was an asshole. There must have been something he'd done, something he'd said, that led to this fate. A ways down the line of misfortune he'd narrowly avoided throughout his life. Whatever it was, it'd caught up and he got to reap the benefits. Without his closest friend.

But now he had Kaiya to look out for. That grounded him; he had someone else to live for other than himself, because Morley sure as hell didn't fit the role.

Grounded. Right. Good. He felt... good.

The Virgo was sitting patiently in its dock and hadn't so much as been powered on for an engine check. Morley hadn't touched it, which meant he'd been waiting for them all this time. Morley exerting any form of patience was a rarity, even before. That he hadn't powered the transport on was a miracle in and of itself. Another good thing, he supposed. No power drain.

"You're damn lucky I don't fly," came the rough voice of Morley as he stormed up to them, pulse rifle over his shoulder. He didn't waste time getting to the point. "Virgo's fine. Get her up and running, will you? We've got no time to dawdle!"

And more commanding than usual. Technically he had no power of JD, not with the ship in ruins, but he carried himself like he mattered and could boss the whole ship around if he wanted to.

JD scowled at his receding back before following on his heels toward the Virgo, where he quickly got to work with releasing the docking mechanisms. When that was done, he popped open the cabin door, slipped inside the dark interior, then felt his way to the pilot's seat to start the ship up. It came to life with a low hum and a rattle, hull shaking as it came to life and buzzing with a familiar power. Refueled, then. Virgo was old, ugly, and had patches of plating missing, but it was a powerful ship in its own right. Sturdy as hell, too.

JD patted the arm of the pilot's chair. "Let's get you moving."
 
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Just for safe measure, the doctor took the couple of steps to the wall, easing forearm and then forehead against it as she breathed deeply in and then out, repeat, repeat, repeat

What did the AI mean… by purging the ship? The fingers of her opposite hand grasped at the fabric of her shirt over her heart and fluttered it, as though that would help the oxygen flow to the rest of her body. Her fingers trembled along with her legs the more she thought of it, not knowing how many people were still left alive… but that they would go down with the ship if they remained. It was overwhelming her… the thought of it all… as though this little moment in which they were allowed to catch their breath only served to spread the panic and anxiety that she had bottled up in the back of her mind—

The entirety of her form jumped as a firm hand gripped her shoulder, her head whipping around to face him as though she had nearly forgotten he was there in a span of mere seconds. Yet, his hand was grounding and the panicked flicker in her eyes eased… although she could still feel the pounding of her heart against her ribcage. Swallowing thickly against a dry throat, she tried to focus on his words… sounding so confident. She wasn’t one to be negative… but it seemed as though the plans they had so far never had the conclusion that they were expecting. She wondered if this was more false hope… but with his stern gaze upon her, she would quickly shake the thought out of her head. If JD could find the strength to continue… so would she.

We can do this.

She nodded more firmly to his words of encouragement and gripped onto them mentally like a life line. “Okay… alright…” She couldn’t give up now, not while JD carried on after all that has occurred, including the loss of his closest friend. If he did not succumb to the darkness that threatened this place, then neither would she.

Silence ensued as they made their way down the hall with only the soft sound of footfalls as their accompaniment. At the end of the hall, they brushed open the doors only to find the docking area rather eerily empty. This part of the ship was nearly always bustling with life as there seemed to be an endless amount of things to do. Yet, not even monsters roamed this place, just a large empty space with large empty ships that more than likely would never be piloted again…

Except for that of the Virgo… of which sat in her usual spot as though patiently waiting for them.

The Virgo was patient, but not another soul aboard the vessel of which JD was soon in contact with. Kaiya paused by JD’s side, easing hands upon her hips and furrowing delicate brows. She was about to utter that Morley was surely going to be pissed… and that he was. She should have been happy to hear of another soul still alive on this damn ship, but the Captain’s was certainly one that was bittersweet…. if not a little more on the bitter side.

Her lips twisted up in irritation as Morley cut off JD in a rather rude manner, making a flare of heat sear her insides. “Still an ass… Morley hasn’t changed a bit,” she muttered and pushed her shorter cropped hair out of her eyes. Although why she expected differently she didn’t know. And if her ears weren’t deceiving her, she thought the man seemed to be breaking down… to become even more of an asshole than he’s been in the past couple of days. She would have thought that he’d maybe say… you know… Hey! Glad you’re alive! But no… of course not. Because she didn’t think he gave a shit one way or the other. He only cared about saving himself… which is not a characteristic she thought of when someone was given the title Captain

“Shit..!” Out of nowhere, she could feel the lurch of the ship… which meant the Tararui took one hell of a change of course if the momentum could be felt among the people sheltered inside. She stumbled into the Virgo line of sight with JD to be greeted by that of Morley’s grumpy features. She nearly had to bite her tongue down in order to keep from telling him to fuck right off. Her brows furrowed slowly and her eyes darkened as she looked at the man, as he really wasn’t earning points for himself when he didn’t even ask where Verlaine was… she honestly could have reared back a fist and plowed it right into his nose…

But perhaps that could be done at a later time… as right now Kaiya had a sinking feeling in her gut that something horrible was about to happen, and they best not still be on the Tararui when it did. With an encouraging hand coming to JD’s back for only a moment, they then hurried after Morley inside. She was about to ask if there was any way for her to assist… but in the end she figured she would only serve to waste time that they didn’t have in the first place. She didn’t know the first thing about ships like this… and decided to let JD do what he did best.

Although, as JD disappeared into the cabin, Kaiya took one glance at Morley and instantly decided she did not wish to remain in the same space as him. So instead, she stowed her backpack away as well as her weapon, securing them before making her way to the cabin where JD sat in what had to be his usual pilot’s chair. Hesitant at first, she looked to the empty spot to the right and felt her stomach curl uncomfortably…

“Do you… think Verlaine would mind if I sat up here with you?” She asked softly as the darkness of the cabin began to flicker to life with the lights kicking on as JD began to power up the ship. With some sort of confirmation that it was alright, she slid up and set herself down in the opposite chair that had a rather beautiful view of the endless dark sky littered with stars, planets, and other various organic material floating about the vacuum. Thankfully the seat worked just as the other in the back, easily figuring out how to strap herself in, connecting her rig as well in the process.

“Never thought I’d actually get to sit in a pilot’s chair… that’s what I originally wanted to do. Be a pilot, I mean,” she said, somehow getting on this tangent, although her voice was rather pleasant and perhaps maybe even soothing to that of JD if it wasn’t distracting.

She would have continued if the view before them hadn’t turned so dire.

“I… oh my god…” Kaiya gasped as her eyes widened at the scene before them. Instead of a view full of stars as the window had showcased a moment ago, the Tararui had dipped and began dropping at breakneck speeds toward that of a planet that now nearly took up the entire view of their cockpit window. “I—it—It’s going to crash the ship!!!” Kaiya yelled, bewildered to the fact that this is what the AI thought was the best tactic to eliminate all life on the Tararui.
 
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For a moment, he forgot that it wasn't Verlaine joining him. He'd never join JD late on a flight again, or blast centuries-old music on the Virgo's old comm. system. The cabin was awful quiet when that fact set in

He appreciated her asking him despite the ridiculousness of it.

"Nah," he said, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "A seat's a seat, right?" He could use the company. "Really? You, a pilot? What stopped you--?"

The Virgo interrupted him with a violent lurch as the Tararui dipped sharply downward. Even through the Virgo, he could feel the intensifying thrum of the ship's thrusters going into overdrive. Between the ship's pull and the planet's gravity field, JD knew the Virgo was struggling hard against the fall. JD was on autopilot; his fingers skittered across the console to set the engines to full, listening to them whine and cringing almost apologetically when the Virgo wailed.

Debris shook free from the Tararui's un-shielded hull. Such a massive ship was never meant for atmosphere. She'd surely tear herself apart, likely long before she hit the ground.

And so they fell at a frightening speed, barely controlled. The yoke jittered in his hand. Another massive lurch followed-- they'd hit the atmosphere, and would only speed up from there.

"Shit, shit shit!"

Their ship whirled about and tipped end over end as they plummeted toward the planet's surface. JD hardly moved, because there was nothing for him to do but wait for an opportunity. The Virgo's thrusters weren't intended for such chaotic entrances and were audibly fighting. He slammed a hand down on his console and the thrusters cut out in an instant, and suddenly they were in full freefall. Virgo rolled once, twice more, then leveled out with its belly down. He activated the blast shields over the cockpit viewport.

"Kaiya, there's a nob to the right of your console," he said. "Twist it right until the notch is facing downwards."

He thrust one hand through a holographic ring, then twisted it sharply to the left. The thrusters roared back to life, and when Kaiya did her part, it'd give them an extra boost for a second, just long enough to get themselves out of the Tararui's pull.

Morley was swearing up a storm behind them. JD tried his best to ignore the man, lest he lose concentration. And it did require concentration to a degree JD wasn't used to after spending so much time running relatively simple missions.

And dammit, did he miss those missions. Easy scavenging operations on the edge of dead systems spent running back and forth between one toxic death world and the next, with the Tararui - always old and decrepit, no matter its actual age - always one step behind them. Where once the Tararui had been a beacon of promise, it was now nothing but a reminder of what had happened within the last few hours, a veritable deathtrap taking a nosedive toward an early grave.

The ship could've lasted a few more decades. Anyone who worked there was either dead or out of a job, so maybe the name Tararui was a curse after all.

Well, he'd always been a sentimental sort. The first and possibly last ship he'd ever work on.

He managed to slow their descent in spurts, but it only put more strain on the Virgo's now failing engines. Would they even be able to get off this planet if he continued? Would they, he wondered, be stranded, which somehow appeared to him an even worse fate than simple crashing with the Tararui?

Were those... ruins?

He could make out the surface of the planet via the static-blurred images above the console. Below them was a green-grey planet, with what could either be misshapen stone structures... or something else entirely. They had no proper readings. He didn't even know what planet this was, as there were no tags to accompany their descent. No one but them had ever been here before.

And the Tararui was headed straight for that uneven surface directly below.

Fire lit the gloomy sky around them. Judging by the green of the planet, there was a storm on the way.

"O'Malley!"

JD stifled a groan.

"Aim for that outcropping there." Morley jabbed a finger at the display where a rocky cliff swamped in green foliage stood out amongst several of those stony structures. "Looks like shelter to me."

He'd promised himself he wouldn't follow the man's orders anymore, but... he had a point. There was no guarantee the Virgo would be moving much once they landed. Better to keep the ship out of the elements and close to shelter where they could set up and hopefully get a beacon up and running.

A beacon!

"Yeah, yeah, just hold on..."

A few commands into the console was all it took to prime a beacon and launch it skyward. It was a tiny little thing the Virgo had plenty of. Unfortunately, its signal was fairly weak, but once the rest of the fleet came looking for their lost ship, they'd find it.

Hopefully.

"Alright. Shelter it is." JD gently steered the Virgo's fall toward the outcropping. The stony structures looked like metallic stone, shiny like a new ship's hull but carved and chipped like old rock, rising upward in strange shapes and arching over thin black rivers, close enough to one another to be intentional and yet...

How curious. He pulled his gaze away and focused on getting the ship down in one piece. Above them, the Tararui continued to break apart until it crashed along the horizon, its wreckage bursting into a fiery explosion that rocked the air around them and nearly tossed the Virgo off course. But it held, and as if on its last legs, it puttered toward the entrance of a massive cave system where JD managed to - not too gently - land at the opening of, skidding its belly across rough stone.

Landing gear hadn't engaged. Neither had the usual pre-landing systems. He'd done just fine without, but... The Virgo wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon.

He was loathe to admit that to Morley, and turned around to say as much, but the man was already gone.

"Dammit."
 
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The gold flecked eyes remained on him for a moment, observing as if to make doubly sure that he wasn’t just saying so for her sake. The man had barely been able to get a moment to himself to grieve… Perhaps this was the moment of which he had wished for it, in the solitude of his own cockpit where the heaviness undoubtedly hit that his friend would not be joining him up front for this particular flight. And yet, he spoke rather casually… which somehow worried the young doctor further for his mental well-being. He had to be suppressing the trauma of having seen his friend fade in front of his very eyes, but it wasn’t like they had a lot of spare time to have a heart to heart. They were a little too busy trying to survive at the moment. Still, it would be something she would be continuing to monitor. JD was who she had left…she would do what she could to tend to his safety. Her grounding rod of which kept her own mind from entirely cracking and giving in to the swirl of darkness that threatened to consume her just as it had the pilot whose chair she now resided upon.

“In a space that was occupied so much by the both of you I just… didn’t want to intrude.” Sure, a seat was a seat, but something so mundane could easily become something special in the minds of humans. It’s what they did as a species… became attached and sentimental toward things that, in all reality, were ordinary objects composed of ordinary materials that would undoubtedly be recycled one day and into new purpose. The mind was truly a complex organ in all the ways it could function.

After clipping herself into the seat, she eased back before bobbing her head nonchalantly in JD’s direction offering a little chuckle and a nod of her head. “It doesn’t really fit me, does it?” That’s what most people said as it was a topic that she would sometimes bring up to her patients, just for the sake of conversation. Most were surprised and unable to see her as anything but the capable doctor she had become. She parted lips to continue, but the shake of the ship would dislodge the thought and send it flying into oblivion.

Her stomach lurched along with the Virgo, the ride becoming rather rough of which she should have been accustomed to from when they entered the atmosphere of planets… but this felt rather uncontrolled and it sent her heart into a panic. Was this how they died? To escape the ship where nightmares roamed only to crash upon a planet that would have happened anyway if they would have remained upon the Tararui? To come so close in surviving only to die anyway… what a cruel tease.

But JD had not given up yet… and she had a suspicion that he would not until his heart officially stopped beating. Kaiya gasped and her eyes widened as she sought to steady herself in the chair, hand reaching up to brace head against the seat while her other hand gripped tightly onto the armrest of the seat as the seemingly fragile ship creaked and groaned with each jostle as though it were threatening to break apart… just like the large form of the Tararui as it entered the planet’s atmosphere. Sirens began to blare, as though to make them aware of the fact that they were currently on a plummeting path of which would lead to their demise. Thanks for that… appreciate the heads up…

Sweat lightly formed as little droplets upon the crown of her head as the red lights colored them in the hues of hell, the woman’s teeth having clenched tightly less she manage to curse and bite off her tongue in the process… all until the craft began to level by JD’s expert hand… and then he was asking for her aid. “W-what….???” She swallowed thickly and felt wide panicked eyes move about the terminal in front of her. Knob to the right… knob to the right…! Grasping the only one she could see, she yanked it clockwise until it was facing the intended direction, feeling her heart near to bursting as the organ swelled against the bony cage that held it. “Got it—!” She grunted as they hit another hard wave of turbulence and it was rather a miracle that she had eaten nothing in the last 24 hours, for surely it would have come up anyway in these moments to leave it empty once more.

The sound of their Captain’s voice barking once more was enough to make Kaiya’s eyes roll, even in the current situation. She was hoping to pass without having to hear that man’s voice coiling into her ear once more. Still, he offered a sound piece of advice this time around of which had JD working double time to make it work. This was not a landing, it was indeed a crashing, yet the pilot somehow managed to make it rather graceful… until the explosion from the Tararui’s impact jostled the heap of flying metal once more.

She hoped their landing was less… fiery.

Of which it was, but more harsh than it would have been without being thrown off course by the Tararui’s violent explosion. Her being lurched and she let out a swear as her fingers gripped tightly to her seat with the sound of wailing metal nearly deafening her permanently. And then… they went still and the vessel rocked upon its side until a wing was their bracer against the ground. Kaiya peeked an eye open and glanced about… was it over? Letting out a breath that stung her lungs for having been held for so long, she rose a shaky hand through her messy strands of hair, pushing them back from eyes.

With an expulsion of air from lungs, she sank back into the chair with a look of sheer bewilderment that they had made it at all, glancing over to the pilot that saved them and feeling a rather misplaced chuckle bubble from her lips as she shook her head, completely overwhelmed by the situation, but she also couldn’t believe their luck.

JD seemed annoyed by Morley’s spontaneous disappearance… but she thought good riddance. For a man she was supposed to respect and take orders from she truly couldn’t stand to even look at anymore. But still, she didn’t wish to think about him, only how they had somehow managed to land with their hearts still beating.

All thanks to the man beside her. “Holy shit… JD O’Malley you’re… you are one fine ass pilot,” she said with another laugh although there was nothing exactly funny about the situation, but it was simply her response to the near death experience. She allowed herself a moment to breath before beginning to unstrap the belts from around her with shaking hands while she attempted to rise to her feet, but her whole body seemed to be quivering with that of the adrenaline that coursed through her. With light stumbling, she eased herself back into the space of the ship right behind the cockpit where the rest of the crew would usually reside. Morley wasn’t here either, but she figured he was heading toward the decontamination bay which he would have to go through in order to be able to exit the ship.

“Do… do we know where we are...?” Kaiya asked hesitantly as she went to her equipment and sought to fill her bag with everything that she could. No reason to hold back on this mission, especially when they didn’t know what they were dealing with. The glimpse of green upon the planet signaled the ability for the planet to house life, so that was promising, but also terrifying as they didn’t quite know what could have already made this planet their home. She had also caught a glimpse of the ruins they flew past as they were crashing… they seemed rather ominous and made the hair at the back of her neck stand on end. "In any case we should... probably scope out this supposed shelter, don't you think?"
 
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Sighing shakily, JD slumped in his seat and pressed his palms into his eyes until he saw stars. The ship's persistent humming kept him there, loose and exhausted. He let his head fall back against the headrest and felt his neck soften into jelly too weak to lift again. That was fine-- he wasn't in any rush to find Morley. He would sit here awhile, enjoy his survival, and hopefully get his fingers unglued from the armrest where they'd dropped after landing.

"Yeah?" He let out a breathy laugh. "I try. And... you're not too bad yourself. For a doctor."

Her compliment was far from humbling. His face heated up before he broke into a wide grin that took up half his face and his lungs began to flutter with the beginnings of full blown laughter. Instead, he threw one arm around his abdomen and forced himself into a more proper sitting position and, with his free hand, pushed himself off of the chair. He wobbled when he stood.

"Computer's fried," he said with a glance at the console. Getting an exact location was out of the picture. "Might as well. Give me a second..."

He stumbled out of the ship and leaned against its outer hull to gather himself. Their current shelter was an open cavern leading into darkened depths, which JD immediately marked as off limits. On the other side of the ship, where the cavern opened, was a pale sky over uneven ground, and a covering of green that reminded JD of moss cultures grown out of control Yet it was too tall to be moss and more like grass, without the spongy consistency when he pressed an experimental boot into the stuff edging the cavern. '

The whole world smelled like wet earth tinged with the fiery smoke of the Tararui's descent. Underlying that was a much more alien scent.

JD couldn't find the right words in that moment and turned around to reenter the cavern in the hopes that Morley would be close by. Funny that he was still following the man, all because a primitive part of his brain wanted as many people close by as possible. Lower possible chance of death, his instincts told him. And also danger. A pervasive sense of danger took root inside him whenever Morley was near and since their descent, it grew ever more insistent.

"I don't even hear any animals. Do you?"

A dead world with little food, possibly toxic air, unknown lifeforms, and a damaged ship? He'd never run that simulation. His survival always revolved around a functioning ship, and now, without one, he was out of answers, out of ideas, and starting to feel rather hungry.

Morley's voice boomed across the cavern so loud that JD flinched. "Look at this right here." He hoisted up a squirming critter, half the size of a cat and covered in pasty and grossly wrinkled skin. It had no mouth or eyes or even legs, and was, as far as human eyes were concerned, nothing but a squirming sack of flesh. "Life is life and life is food, O'Malley, don't give me that stupid look. Help me start a fire."

"Whoa-- Captain! I'm not eating that!" JD sprinted to catch up with the man.

"What, not hungry? Tough shit, I'm starving and you will be too if you wait too long."

JD swallowed down the disgusting taste in his mouth at the sight of the captain setting up a firepit without his help. Tearing his eyes away from the burning flesh, he turned back to find Kaiya, eyes pleading.

"We have a few ration bars in the Virgo," he murmured to her as he passed, gently tugging at her elbow to get her to follow. "I'm not eating that shit."

All shuttles were fitted with a standard survival kit; a medical kit, emergency beacon, a RIG compatible radar system, closed circuit communicators, enough water to last three for a week, and a case full of berry-flavored ration bars. They were really just minced fruit from the ship that'd been dried and injected full of nutrients, so much better than the artificial sand some of the other ships got. Two a day would keep them healthy, one would keep them alive.

After Verlaine lost a bet a few days before, they were down to half a case. That left them with roughly twelve ration bars. Twelve ration bars, three cylinders of water.

JD had lived on less.

He unhitched the case and dragged it outside to peruse the contents and make sure they had enough. Maybe he'd bury it far away from Morley-- yeah, that'd work. Morley could keep his flesh-creatures and shoddy fires if he wanted, JD wanted neither and was perfectly satisfied with a form of sustenance that was guaranteed not to make him sick.

"What do you think, Kaiya? It's not gourmet but it'll keep us alive for a good while. I think." He looked over his shoulder at where Morley was chowing down like an animal. He grimaced in disgust. "Those structures out there might have something..."
 
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Head had bobbed from its current resting position against the headrest at his response in words, an appreciative sheen within them as they took in the pilot that seemed to be on the edge of crazy himself. Two peas in a pod it seemed, as her own laughter bubbled forth with a hand that reached and finally rested upon her damp forehead. “I twisted a knob at your instruction… hardly worth praise,” she chuckled. Although, perhaps her ability to keep a sound mind under pressure was worth noting, but that was learned from scenario training in the med bay as when you panicked, you made mistakes that you couldn’t take back, often the result being the unfortunate death of a patient.

As she eased herself from her chair, feeling much older than the twenty-six years of age that she currently endured, with aches and pains within her body that shouldn’t have been there at such a young age. In passing JD, she eased a hand upon his shoulder for merely a moment, as if congratulating him once more on the successful bailing of the Tararui. Many lost their lives… but they were still here. For that, she was grateful. Fingers would slip from their hold on his shoulder before she maneuvered herself to the back with boots clinking the metal floor paneling she stepped upon.

“Take your time.” At the moment they had an abundance of it, no longer pressured by the fact that they were on a time limit and that they were perfectly safe in the moment with no monsters lurking about the small cabin of a ship. That was enough for her to feel as though she could breathe air again without struggle. If there was a reflective surface, she would not have been surprise to gaze at the image within only to find ashy brown hair to be stark white at the amount of stress the both of them had been under the past… 48 hours maybe? Although it seemed like an eternity, they spent only about two days worth of enduring the hellish nightmare upon that ship… that was now broken and burning miles away from them.

Besides, in the next moment she was a little preoccupied by the fact that a blotch of red had appeared through the deep blue of her shirt. She gave a soft irritated curse, but would not need convincing that in her adrenaline rushed state since climbing through the air ducts, that there was a possibility of a moment where she could have tore her stitches. While JD got his bearings and exited the ship, she sifted through her med bag for a roll of medical gauze. Upon removing her shirt, she observed the tender wounds the best she could and saw it was little to be concerned about in the moment. A couple of the stitches had been pulled to their tension point, promptly snapping, but the folds of skin were still being held together with only a slow leaking of blood that looked to have nearly stopped and crusted upon her skin already. Still, for good measure, she quickly wrapped her shoulder securely over both wounds, just to protect against bacteria and infection as that was the last thing they needed to be dealing with. The wrap came together like Velcro, staying in place, she then slipped her shirt back on overhead before grabbing her bag and heading out into the strange world that they had landed upon.

Her boots hit the hard material of the cavern, hard and sturdy just like various caves back on earth. Adjusting her bag over her singular non-injured shoulder, she took a moment to observe what JD had only a moment ago. A bright large opening of the cavern to the left, but to the right, the tunnel continued and darkened ominously, leaving to her imagination the creatures that could be lurking within. She felt her gut swirl and instantly headed toward the bright opening instead where JD was taking in the view. “Rather desolate, isn’t it?” Nearly like a canyon, with plenty of rock stretching where the eyes could wander, with sprinkling of green where it was probably damp enough for the moss-like grass to grow, but that was only her guessing since she had no idea what this planet was nor what its properties were… only that the atmosphere was breathable as she had yet to start gagging and gasping for the thing her lungs needed to function.

“No… a little worrisome, but this is only a singular place upon the planet. There could easily be a more welcoming environment elsewhere. Although I wouldn’t recommend traveling too far on foot. We may need to get the craft working, just well enough to explore, but… I’m no mechanical expert. I don’t even know if that’s possible,” she said with the combing of fingers through her short strands of hair with a glance back at their poor crunched aircraft, laying in what looked like a dreary heap against one side of the cavern.

Heart jumped up into throat at the sudden outburst of their Captain and Kaiya had to resist the urge to yell back at the man for yelling in the first place! Did he not understand that they could very well attract the unwanted attention of something that may have the natural instinct to chase them down for their own supper? Speakng of which, when Morley held out his prized catch, Kaiya had to fight the sensation of nausea. “Captain, as a medical professional, I would suggest not consuming such things we have no knowledge of…” But it was fruitless and she didn’t know why she even bothered to say such a thing to a man that seemed to be losing his sense of sanity.

Instead, she allowed JD to pull her away from the unsettling view of their Captain chowing down upon god knows what. “Thank you for having some common sense…” she muttered to the pilot as they hurried back inside the ship to take stock of the supplies they had at their disposal. She never thought she’d miss the mush served upon the Tararui…. but that was at least safe to eat rather than the wriggling sack that nearly resembled a massive amoeba of sorts. Nervously rubbing the back of her neck, she let out a soft breath and a nod of her head. “Looks sufficient enough, at least to hold us over until we can can explore more of this place and the resources it may have.”

Her eyes looked down at JD as he took in the sight of Morley, silhouetted against the bright opening which lit up the tired features of the man’s face. No doubt hers looked similar, with darkening circles beneath eyes with a glint of something nearly wild within orbs as though survival instincts were like a light switch that could simply be flicked on and utilized. His hair was in disarray upon his head, making her wonder about the current state of her own, probably frizzed and waving about as though it had a mind of its own. At the thought, she combed fingers through the short strands once more, as though to straighten any locks that may have crossed out of bounds. “I saw those as well while we were falling,” Kaiya said and was without a doubt curious of them… but they looked to be actually manipulated… created by intelligent beings capable of sentient thought. That was a little overwhelming… to think they were going to simply be waltzing in upon a random stranger’s home and not knowing how hostile they would be to unknown company. “I’d say they are definitely worth checking out, but it… makes me nervous. To think about what may reside here.” With the planet and whatever was on it being a gargantuan question mark… she felt as though she would be quite comfortable to hole up in the Virgo and await the fleet. However, there was also no telling when or if they would arrive… were they willing to take that chance? To wait around and waste away when they could be out exploring a way to stay alive for longer than a week…?

“I know it is not… the most pleasing idea, but we could also wander toward the Tararui and see if anyone survived that crash. Not to mention there could be supplies worth taking, if it isn’t all burnt to a crisp by the time we get there.”
 
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JD carefully stowed the pack of rations away under the Virgo's landing gear before returning to the main part of the cavern, where Morley was cleaning himself up. The man shot JD a dangerous scowl, and JD surprised himself at the surge of anger that shot through him at the sight. Was it Morley's reddened face that irritated him so, or his actions taken just moments before? Or... Morley in general. The man was grating long before this all went down, but the collapse of the Tararui only made his attitude worse. How much more abrasive could a man like him get?

He was too tired to process it fully, a certain kind of aching weariness taking hold of his limbs the longer he moved about the cavern to set up some semblance of a grave site-- Verlaine deserved something, even if it was just an arrangement of rocks against the cavern wall.

Everyone in their scavenging group knew Verlaine was moderately religious, adhering to some old faith JD knew next to nothing about. Regardless, he gave a few words at the makeshift grave, mentally said what he hoped was a prayer, and eventually returned his attention to the ship.

He stepped around to the other side of the Virgo to inspect the damaged hull.

"I'm no mechanic either," he said with a huff. "Burned hull, starboard engine looks shot to shit. We're clear enough for one short flight in-atmosphere, maybe."

Shuttles like this didn't come with spare parts. The Tararui--

... The Tararui had spare parts.

But the Tararui was dead in the water, possibly miles away and on the other side of a valley. If it was still intact, and that was a rather large if, then there was no guarantee the parts were still working. Most important of all, there was no guarantee they could reach that part of the ship given how rough its landing had been.

As for people, he doubted anything could survive a fall like that.

"Sorry to say it, Kaiya, but I don't think anyone survived that. That's a big ship out there, with a lot of moving parts."

And if anything supplies survived, then they were likely ruined and not worth risking their lives for. He felt bitter, protective of their little cavern and the supplies they already had and annoyed that Kaiya was suggesting it at all. He bit back a retort and moved to the mouth of the cave. Fresh air was fresh air, alien or not. His lungs were starting to feel starved despite the air's obvious nontoxicity, so maybe he'd been getting tense. Yeah, that made sense.

"But..." he shielded his eyes from the alien sun. "If anyone wanders into that - what is it, a city? Then I guess we could pick them up..."

There was humid under a faint scent of chlorine and the planet's unique ozone. They'd left a trail of smoke on their descent, and that smoke still painted the sky a hazy grey. Eerie. It gave the distant city, if it was a city, a haunted look. Its black spires seemed to move with the light the longer he looked, spiraling up and then down from silver to black and grey-blue. What kinds of creatures could even scale such buildings? They looked like rock, yet were far too tall and spindly to be structurally sound.

This planet felt... dead. Long rotted away and now just waiting on the wind to carry it away. Ancient, he supposed. Far more ancient than any dead colony he'd been to.

"Nothing's out there," Morley said as he approached. "No, we're staying the night here. Survival of the fittest, O'Malley; if they couldn't make it on the ship, they won't make it here."

"I don't think anyone survived, Captain, but that's harsh."

Morley snorted. "Better than getting all of us killed."

"Finding a few extra survivors isn't going to get us killed."

"This is a survival situation now, O'Malley," Morley said sternly, his tone taking on a sharper edge. "They die, they die. That's the end of it--"

"We're not survivalists." JD walked away from the man for the second time. "Let's go see what's in that city, Kaiya. The Captain can hold down the fort." He ignored the man's smirk as he gathered up what he could; the old line gun and a few flares, as that was all they had in terms of tools. He stuffed them into a pack that he slung over his shoulder, then started off toward the spires.
 
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She would say nothing, but her eyes could pick out the makeshift gravestone that JD had made for his friend… for who else could it be for? Perhaps a little monument to address all those lives lost on their ship? Where just the other morning the ship had been bustling at the find they had brought back from their scavenge, only for them to awaken to a nightmare of which it still felt as though they were living. The anguish was easily seen on her delicate features, a crease between brows to signify her distress of thinking about such things…. she could not. It was too much. It would break her in a day if she dwelled on all that had bene lost after a light had been shining forth to a brighter future. All taken away in the matter of a couple nights.

Kaiya felt the uncomfortable closing of her throat, having to swallow hard to draw it back as eyes glanced downward to booted feet. Not yet. She could not lose herself yet. When they were safe and back at the fleet… perhaps she would allow such a thing, but not now. She had to remain clear of mind… to focus. “Best not to dwell on such things. If we can manage it, then we will. Otherwise, we’ll have to make do.”

Her stomach swirled uncomfortably with how assured the pilot was that no life could have survived the crash upon the Tararui… but perhaps blatant honesty was better than sugar-coating. If one good thing became of that thought, it was that none of the monsters would have been able to survive such a thing either… if they were really living creatures to begin with. Flashes of them dabbled behind her eyelids, dark empty sockets, bones showing through flesh, distorted limbs and twisted maws that could still manage groans and screeches. It chilled her to the core, to realize that they still had no idea what they had managed to live through. “It was… just wishful thinking…” she said softly as arms slowly moved to wrap about her torso as though she were cold, but it would not be because of the atmosphere… which was rather humid and sticky from what she could tell in the cavern.

He distanced himself from her then and she let out a soft sigh as she adjusted the strap on her shoulder and shuffled toward the opening of the cavern herself to allow eyes to scan the desolation of this planet. Rock, moss, some glimmer in the distance that may have been a stream or river dancing between canyons and swells of other natural formations. And then there was the ancient looking city, spires that seemed unstable, but were still definitely not natural… at least that is the conclusion she came to. The silence that encompassed them contributed to the eerie atmosphere after all the grotesque noises and screams and wails of sirens from the Tararui… yet she didn’t feel a sense of serenity here.

Her attention turned to the bickering men then, her brows furrowing and feeling a twist in gut at Morley’s selfishness. There was many a words she could have said to him, to try to convince him that he was thinking irrationally, yet nothing she had said up to this point was making any sort of difference in the man’s outlook on their situation. It was obvious his mind was in a different place than her own and JD’s.

“JD, hold on…” Kaiya called, hurrying back to the Virgo and grabbing the plasma rifle that she had stowed away… the one she had taken from Gryffon’s lifeless fingers. Even though it was a bit uncomfortable, she brought up the other strap of the bag over her injured shoulder and then proceeded to fit the strap of the rifle over her good shoulder as well. Without even a glance at Morley’s smug looking face, she hurried off after the pilot and tried to not pay too much attention to the prickle that raised hairs at the back of her neck.

* •˚. ❍ .˚• *
Kaiya kept glancing over her shoulder, watching as the cavern began to blend into the background of grey rock until it was entirely hidden from view. With her brain going into survival mode, she automatically began to try picking out landmarks, things they could use to find their way back… but everything rather similar on their descent into the valley below. Perhaps once it was dark, the glow from Morley’s fire would be enough contrast in the darkness to lead them back… although part of her hoped they would be back before that. However, at the moment, there were so many unknowns… one being how much daylight they had for this small venture, but when they’d been walking in silence for what seemed like… perhaps a half hour?… and the spires did not seem any closer, she was beginning to wonder how small of a venture this was going to be.

Still, with every flicker to JD’s back, she could see his unwavering strides as though already having decided heading back was not an option to them. Which she… agreed to a point. They could not cower and wait until they were out of their resources before they started exploring, waiting for the fleet to come when it very well may never find them. They had to do what they could, and although they could easily die from running into aggressive wildlife or toxic air in the environment… she thought they could feel good that they at least had been trying. Not that when you were dead it really mattered anyway…

“Do you… still feel it?” she asked suddenly as her boots clip clopped along the hard surface, eyes scanning the surrounding areas, looking for any signs of life. “The presence, I mean. The ones that caused the headaches and the flashes…” That’s how it had been for her anyway, at random times feeling as though something was beckoning her, showing her things, whispering in her ear… all having began at that facility where they found that strange artifact. “I think it may be fading or… maybe isn’t as strong. I thought it was perhaps just… my mental state breaking down on me, but… now I’m wondering if it was something cause by those… things.” She didn’t know what to call them. Aliens? Zombies? Ghouls? Undead? All seemed rather childish, just things in stories meant to scare people, but these monsters had been real. Her and JD had the wounds to prove it.

"It's... strange. I thought the silence would be peaceful, but I think it's unnerving more than anything." As though she were afraid of the thoughts that could pop into her own mind, that if she were left to simply stew in silence that she would go absolutely mad by the time the sun touched down on the horizon.

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Had to look up some inspiration! Since we have a whole new planet to explore. Thought I'd share what I found :D
 
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Presence. It was the way she worded it that made him think. He wasn't sure what he felt, if the eyes inside his head were his or if they belonged to the shadows licking at their heels.

Amid the spiraling stone formations littering the valley were peculiar gatherings of rock, piled into unnatural formations along a faint path through the mossy grass. Growth indicated they'd been there awhile. He tried to ignore the sensation of being watched as he passed by them and hurried along the path. When the feeling passed, he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and looked over his shoulder at Kaiya as if for assurance that she was still there.

She was, looking no better than he. She slowed down his pace to match hers.

"Unnerving's one way to put it," he said thoughtfully, listening. "It's like the whole planet's taking a moment to think, isn't it?" He shuddered and adjusted the line gun in his arms. "On the Tararui it felt like paranoia. I got the same feeling when I flew for the first time. But this was real. Realer than anything I've felt in the past."

A great set of hands laid heavy across his shoulders, very real eyes on the back of his head, and a frigid chill that settled deep into his bones. Those feelings were multiplied here. More immediate. The danger was close on their heels and they, only barely, were aware of it. He felt awfully stupid now after looking back on their time on the ship...

Verlaine's ramblings were familiar and close now. On the very fringes, if he looked hard enough.

He squeezed his eyes shut and continued walking, leaving all thoughts of Verlaine behind. Morley could deal with them-- he'd see the grave marker.

He struggled down a steep incline into the valley, but from there the path was easy and straightforward all the way into the city. He was reluctant to call it such, though it seemed to be the most appropriate term given the complexity of the structures and their arrangement. Domes and rows of metallic cubes large enough to fit several shuttles at once, twisting, triangular structures, and buildings in shapes he had no name for. But it was a city.

They stood on the outskirts where the dirt path transformed into a metallic one so clear he could see his own reflection.

Some of the Tararui's debris had landed here, scattered throughout the plaza in smoldering heaps. Mostly peeled hull, pieces of the internal structure and the remains of a few shuttles, but there were a few storage containers as well. Too damaged to pry open. He took it as a good sign anyway.

"Maybe we can find enough metal to patch up the Virgo. Keep an eye out."

The ground beneath them groaned like ancient gears grinding hard against one another. JD shut up quick, eyes blown wide. Around them, the alien structures shifted. Planes of black metal moved aside to expose brightly lit symbols carved into their inner structures, geometric lines winding up and around them and pulsing with an awakened power. But it didn't last long; they halted midway through whatever they were trying to do, their grinding deafeningly loud now, peaking with an excruciating squeal, then falling completely silent, all within a few seconds.

The spires froze, their geometric lines and symbols vanished, and the city died all over again.

A howl sounded in the distance. Non human. Did the planet have beasts, then? Hiding amid the ruins of the city? JD clutched the line gun a little tighter.

By now, their only light source was sinking below the ridges at the edge of the valley. He nudged Kaiya gently to get her attention.

"We should hole up," he said, watching the sun. "I'm going to gather some of this wreckage and try to make shelter. That shuttle's too crushed." And... he figured he didn't have to mention the dangers of venturing into one of the opened spires. At the sound of another distant and distinctly inhuman howl, he moved just a bit faster.

A small shelter was coming to life in a secure spot near the edge of the plaza, lopsided and terribly crude, but shelter all the same, and safely hidden under the branching arm of a spire. Burnt metal and chunks of the Tararui's hull would at least keep them warm and protected until morning, which reminded him, rather suddenly, that he didn't even know how long a day and night were on this planet. They very well may need to risk the journey back in the dark... He scowled to himself while stacking metal atop metal, his nerves long since fried and his chest aching from the consistent adrenaline rush of the past few days.

His fingers trembled. JD clenched his hands into fists and rubbed the aching joints, stiff from clutching too hard to the Virgo's controls.

The shelter was finished, so JD stepped back to make sure it was stable and collapse against its somewhat sturdy side, line gun heavy in his lap. Kaiya could take the shelter-- he might stay out here, back against the warm hull, and wait until the sunrise. Sleep would continue to elude him.
 
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Paranoia… perhaps that was it. Trying to take the medical viewpoint on their mental state, anyone having gone through that sort of trauma could easily show signs of a shaken mental state. Paranoia was just one… hallucinations, anxiety, shortness of breath… there were plenty of signs that their mental state was deteriorating. Yet, she felt rather stable, but maybe that’s how all mental health patients felt. As though they were living normally when others were telling them that what they were experiencing was wrong. The thoughts shook her.

“To think about what to do with us,” she murmured, not exactly the happiest thought as she tightened the grip around her own gun, even though they were in a rather open space where they should be able to see anything coming at them from a few yards away. Then, his words would spark a memory and she gave a little nod. “I know what you mean. The sinking in stomach, a buzz in the back of your head, the voice inside reminding you of all the things that could go wrong.” A soft puff of air from her nose in a chuckle and she shook her head, the twist of a grin on her lips bittersweet. “I can hear my father’s voice already, telling me he knew it was too dangerous for me to be out here.” If she made it back at all… that cruel voice reminded her.

They were the reason, after all, that she didn’t pursue a career as a pilot for deep space. When having changed entirely to be in the medical field, her passion for space exploration never diminished, and when there was an opportunity for her to be one of the main medical professionals onboard another ship, the Rivera, she took it. Parents furious of course, but… she didn’t do it to spite them. She did it for herself.

Voices became silent again as they trekked further away from the Virgo and Morley, her feet fumbling after JD and more than once having to reach forward to grip his shoulder for support, less she trip and bite the dust hard. Perhaps the tumble would just carry her down to the bottom of the valley though… now the thought was tempting. As they stepped closer to the structures at the bottom, Kaiya felt a shiver run through her spine, feeling as though they were being watched… there was that paranoia again.

“Look at those things…” she murmured beneath breath, in awe really that the structures existed at all, and unlike the organic rock formations around them, these things were clear of any green algae or moss. That was… worth noting. “Okay,” Kaiya nodded absently to JD’s request, although she hardly knew what was usable and what wasn’t. Still, if she could point something out that JD didn’t happen to spot, he would maybe know more to what could be useful for repairs.

Then the groaning began and it felt as though the planet was hollow, clearly feeling a shake beneath feet that near resembled an earthquake. A gasp left lips and her eyes widened, yet all she could do was remain in place and try to stay upon her feet. Then the buildings…. moved! Acting like some sort of jigsaw puzzle they shifted, a low hum sounding through the air and glowing lines running up the structures as though booting up. Her hand reached out to snatch JD’s suit, about ready to pull him physically from his trance for them to bolt, but as soon as it started, the phenomenon ended and she was left baffled. 


“W-what… the fuck…?” she whispered, nearly afraid to raise her voice, and as if on cue a howl cut through the valley that made her body shake. Seemed as though they were not alone after all. A little jab of forearm against her body and she nearly jumped, looking to JD and hastily dropping her hand from his suit, as though not realizing she’d done it at all, bringing it back to rest upon the pulse rifle hung from around her shoulder. “Out here?” she asked with obvious distaste, taking a glance around nervously as though something were to pop up from the ground any moment and try to kill them. But it was also obvious they didn’t have much of a choice. Before long, they would be wandering in the dark, which was equally if not more so dangerous. So… a shelter it was. At least they would be away from Morley. “Just tell me what to do,” she relented.

With gaze a little too fixed on the alien city beside them, she really hadn’t even noticed a lot of the debris that littered the open valley, of which they used to their advantage. Sometimes holding things up or in place while JD stacked another piece of metal, it was really the only thing she could offer, while she also tried not to burn herself upon the hot metal of what was left of the Tararui. Those pieces they left to find cooler ones since there was plenty to choose from. Before it was too terribly dark, they had set up a decent shelter, big enough for two although in the end it seemed as though JD would choose to remain outside while she climbed in and used her backpack for a pillow. With a soft sigh, she curled up, easing knees to chest, but no matter long she laid there, she didn’t think sleep was going to come for her either.

Brows furrowing in thought, she perked an ear, listening to see if JD was asleep or not, but when she heard no signs of this, she slid her bag forward till it was just peeking outside the opening of the shelter, dragging body as well, she would lay on her side, body half curling about the inside of the shelter to absorb the warmth that was offered, while an arm easing beneath her head to look at the dark outline of JD sitting right next to the opening. She was silent a moment, just observing, before her eyes glanced downward upon the rocky ground, fingers brushing across it slowly.

“What’s your home like, JD?” Something… normal sounded nice to talk about. Anything to get her mind out of the cruel headspace of hers that liked to torture her. She needed a distraction and she… always seemed rather intrigued by the pilot beside her since meeting him. She figured he could enlighten her and in return she could do the same. “Do you… have a family? A girl waiting for you?”
 
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The question made his gut twinge with discomfort. He hadn't thought of home in... well, it'd been some time. Who knew how they were faring now that the fleet had cut down its visits.

"My father. Mom died awhile back. Dust storm came in and left her with a cough. As for a girl..." he smirked at the memories, which seemed impossible now that they were stranded on this lush alien planet. "Nah. Girls back home want offworlders."

That, or they left the planet on their own. A dustball like his home was empty and devoid of anything exciting for a young person, but JD was lucky to get his job with the fleet at all-- the fleet itself was rife with nepotism, and a planet-born pilot wasn't exactly the most reliable or desirable to those who'd only ever known space.

He turned to face her, eyes brighter now that he had something to laugh about. Gun heavy in his lap, he scooted back, further into the protection of the shelter. "What about you?"

She was well trained, he knew, but that was the extent of his knowledge. He knew not where she'd come from, or her family, or if anyone would be missing her should she become lost here, with him, forever. And how terrible that would be; his father might miss him as his only son, but the man was being consumed by the desert's alluring call. He'd likely wandered out there already and gotten himself killed.

"Verlaine didn't have much. Spacer parents, three sisters on some station half a galaxy away." He chuckled humorlessly. "Bastard. I... I don't want to tell them. Shouldn't fuckin' be me telling 'em..."

He was a pilot. He didn't have the words to console Verlaine's parents, or even break the news. He didn't want to go back to Morley, who was probably stalking the cavern like a wild animal. JD shifted again, back against the warm paneling. If he could sleep - and it was a big if - he'd hope for no dreams, and by morning, maybe his head would be clear enough to offer solutions. He squeezed his eyes shut tight and tired to block out the hum of the alien buildings.

"Get some sleep."

JD let his mind wander to more pleasant places until he was comfortably lost in a warmer series of memories. Because anything was better than this.

Whatever she said following would go unanswered as he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

-

JD awoke to scuffling a few hours later; soft, wet slaps against the stone ground a few meters away from their shelter, and rustling that sounded like hands rubbing together rapidly. He sat up, only to wince in pain where his ribs pressed against the line gun. Although the planet was mostly devoid of life, there was no guarantee that it was completely dead. Whatever remnants there were of whoever built this city, or those that shared the planet with them.

Unlike the rotting slabs of deformed meat that took over the Tararui, this was decrepit. Crackling bones, papery hide, and breathing that came in shallow puffs. Wouldn't be the first time he'd run headfirst into a wheezing creature like this-- the old dog back home made such noises. Fears temporarily quashed, JD stepped outside the shelter fully and, ever so quietly, crept around the side.

Nothing. The wheezing continued, but there was nothing there.

Another wheeze came from across the plaza. It caught on a cough that should have torn flesh, if indeed this thing had any. Hard to tell when the darkness still reigned. How long were the nights on this rock?

Wheezing closed in, steadily increasing until he could've sworn there were just under a dozen hiding amidst the shadows.

He backed up to the shelter and ducked back inside, lungs aching as he tried to silence his breathing.

"Kaiya? We have a problem."
 
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A lightened quirk wrinkled her brow in sympathy, a bit of guilt gnawing at her heart for she hadn’t meant to bring up bad memories. She nearly parted lips to utter an apology, but in the next moment a smirk twisted his lips, looking genuine, and it brought a bit of lightness to her eyes as well in the process. A softened laugh from her at his dramatic pause and she reached to playfully swat at his leg with the back of her hand. “Come now, don’t keep me in suspense,” she teased before he finished his statement and she tilted her head in curiosity. “Offworlders? Well… that seems rather shallow,” she said with a little roll of her hazel eyes, though the light grin upon her pink lips remained. “You can definitely manage much better than the superficial type anyway.”

Her teeth lightly pinched the inner flesh of cheek, mind still dwelling on the idea of his family only being his father. She wondered if they were close… or whether she should offer condolences for the loss of his mother. If it phased him he didn’t exactly show it, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t hurting inside… just as she knew the loss of Verlaine had to be hitting him harder than he let on. Though while they were stranded upon a desolate and strange planet, she didn’t know if now would be the greatest time to break the barrier that was possibly holding in that turmoil. Best to keep the sanity protected as much as possible. Then, when she knew they were safe upon a fleet ship, they could break down together, when their lives didn’t depend on their resolve.

Eyes raised to his own once more as he shifted, and noticed the brighter energy coming to his features for the moment. It was a good sight to see and his laugh a pleasant sound to hear. That they haven’t yet lost the goodness inside despite the trauma of the past few days. They could still laugh and smile — not entirely broken yet it would seem.

“Tethea is the planet I’m from. It’s like the clone of Earth, just a couple galaxy clusters over. It is a pretty planet, much more diverse in terms of life that can thrive there. Instead of all these rock heaps and deserted wastelands we’ve been to recently.” Though she wouldn’t have it any other way, as being among the stars was something she had dreamt of for as long as she could remember. Much to her parents’ dismay. “My mother and father. Overprotective of their only child and did everything they could to get me to stay close to home. They’re still… quite upset with me. The last entry I sent home they didn’t respond to.”

That had to have been a year ago by now… in her gut she wondered if they were alright, but she’d heard no word of her planet being under any kind of distress. So… she just figured they were still rather bitter. “And no man to speak of. I was pretty buried in my studies, so I was rather distracted but… no one ever bothered to stick around either.” Just more reason for her to explore the universe to find that someone if he was out there for her. “But my intention was to leave anyway so… best not get attached I suppose.”

She was about to ask more questions about his own planet or his father perhaps, but as quick as the light had appeared in his eyes, it was flickering to fading as he spoke of Verlaine and her lips would fall into a solemn line. Her gaze fell to the darker coloration of the ground for a moment as she felt an uneasy twist in her stomach and a clenching squeeze restricting the pulse of her heart. She wished she could say something… anything… that could ease the pain of the loss. The scene easily flashed behind her eyes, cringing as crimson painted the floor.

Swallowing thickly, she slowly began to muster up the courage to say something, but not before JD shifted against the shelter, closing eyes and seemingly ending the conversation before it could continue. She watched him a moment longer, taking in the strong features of his face, slowly becoming more rugged with the time passing before them, but thought that it fit him and that he was still pleasant to look upon. Who knew that a random stranger would be able to give her even the smallest bit of solace. To become reliant on someone it felt like she had just met.

“Goodnight, JD.” Her voice was soft, not even sure if her words would be heard, but if something attacked them in the night and she were to not open her eyes again, she would at least be content with her final words. Shifting onto her opposite side, she pressed her back gently against the warmth of the shelter, with her arms circling her bag creating a makeshift pillow for her head as she closed her eyes and silently pleaded to any god watching over them that she would be granted a peaceful sleep.

* •˚. ❍ .˚• *​

She was beginning to doubt the presence of a higher entity meant to watch over them when the black pit of slumber was met with equal blurry darkness as she strained to open her eyes. Usually she was a rather light sleeper, ready to hit the floor running as that was a bit of a requirement for her job in the medbay. However, with such little sleep over the past few days, she supposed her body was well within its right to complain at being woken up when it just felt as though she had fell asleep.

“Hhm—?” Her eyes burned as the air hit them upon the parting lids, feeling the lull of wishing to go back to sleep, but it would appear her other senses would reboot faster than her brain. Her skin prickled, just as it had in the medbay when she had went back for Verlaine. A sort of natural instinct telling her it was not safe here. Next came the sounds. Invading ears and swiftly sparking a life in eyes and body as she rose, only to nearly smack her head atop the shelter as she nudged close to JD, though not entirely her own doing as the shelter was barely big enough for two. Poised upon knees with Kaiya’s shortened ashy locks still disheveled from sleep and falling out of the band that bundled it, she stared into the darkness of the opening of their shelter, eyes wide as though that would help her to see what was making that god awful noise out in the darkness.

Just one night of sleep… was that so much to ask??

“Did you… see anything…?” she breathed, voice barely coming through as she was afraid to speak any louder less she draw the attention of whatever was lurking outside their shelter. Absently, her fingers reached out, dragging across him in the darkness as she fumbled for her own weapon as silently as possible, finally grasping the pulse rifle and holding it tightly in fingers. She may not be a soldier, but that sure wouldn’t keep her from fighting tooth and nail for their lives.
 
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