Fire!

Posted on 09 Mar 2020 @ 2:08am by Captain Jonathan Reynolds & Commander Amelia Fox

Mission: Mission 3 - Whom gods destroy ...
Location: Son'a shuttle near an M Class palnet
Timeline: MD5
863 words - 1.7 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

B'Dar sat working the controls. They had been out here for over 8 hours now and his colleague was starting to get on his nerves. "Have you tried resetting the command sequencer yet?" He asked the other Son'a, Nvek who was sat next to him. "The female said it should be easy to get this thing working. Are you sure the remote unit is receiving the commands correctly?"

Out of the shuttle windows, they could see the planet. What they couldn't see was below them. The massive planet killer which they were trying to control by remote. Disabling the onboard AI had been easy. Connecting the remote link and getting it to accept commands, that was the hard part.

"Yes, I tested them myself. Look try resetting the bandwidths slightly. Make them broader that should do the trick," Nvek said.

B'Dar shook his head skeptically as he worked his controls. "I'm not sure this is going to work. I'll try reconfiguring the main power coupling."

He looked at him and said, "That's just a fancy way of saying turn it off and back on again isn't it?"

B'Dar shot him a look before going back to his control. Suddenly, from beneath them, a massive beam shot out of the mouth of the Planet Killer and struck the planet which immediately started to crumble into rubble.

B'Dar looked at his colleague smugly.

C'nedra stared at what happened before looking back at B'Dar.

The lights in the shuttle dimmed and the sound of the engines died. His smile faltered slightly. "The device is generating an enormous amount of subspace interference and a general energy dampening field. It will take me a while to get the engines back online."

While B'Dar was working he hadn't noticed that the planet killer as started to move away from them as it ingested the debris of the former planet.

C'nedra looked at the other two, shaking her head. "you were paying too much attention to that female and you probably missed something she said." giving a disgusted look at her colleagues. "Don't we have a reserve unit with us to give us a jump start? And where is that thing going?" Noticing the alarms going off.

N'Vek's head whipped round to look at the other person who had appeared from the back compartment of the shuttle. "That female is of no interest of mine and what are you talking about?" he demanded .. his eyes looking out the window.

"Oh crap ….." He looked at B'Dar,"Tell me you are doing that?"

Without looking up B'Dar responded "I've just transmitted our efforts to the female. She was very insistent that we get the procedure right. Also, I'm trying to get main power back online. Am I doing what?" For the first time now, he looked up and frowned. "It's probably an automated response to gather fuel, once it has got rid of the debris I'm sure it will stop."

"Are you certain, its going to stop?" C'nedra wasn't all that trusting in what the human female had to say. Her lips pinched together as she watched the behemoth chew its way through more of what used to be a planet. The sight of it making her skin crawl. Turning her attention back to B'Dar, "Why don't you just kick it and make it start. I remember you doing that a time or two."

B'Dar blew air through his thin lips. "Fine." He started entering commands. His expression darkened. "It's not responding. He turned to N'Vek "What have you done?"

The planet killer started to turn toward the shuttle. Then it started to advance towards it. The shuttle was suddenly rocked. Panic was starting to creep into B'Dar's voice "It's activated a tractor beam. None of the remote commands are responding. It's like.... the AI has taken over again..." His gray face grew paler, his eyes wide. It's pulling us in."

C'nedra looked in disbelief at B'Dar. "No... This can't be happening!" she glared at B'Dar and N'Vek for a moment, felt tears welling up in her eyes. The tears faded away as she became mesmerized by the mouth of the planet killer coming closer and closer, her own mouth opening up and she hearing a horrified wail coming from somewhere, wait... its coming from her...

N'Vek was just as terrified. "There's a planetary system not far. We need to warn them. If we have woken it up now, it's not going to stop is it?" His ugly crinkled fingers flew over the console trying to send out an SOS warning.

B'Dar sighed, resigned to his fate. "Due to its proximity, the subspace dampening field is blocking the transmission. I can't tell if it's getting through." The maw of the planet killer filled the cockpit window as it bore down upon them. He looked at N'Vek "I'd just like to say.... I really hate you."

"The feeling is mutual. See you in hell …" he sneered.

Around them the shuttle suddenly melted into flames and its inhabitants vaporised instantly. The planet killer unaffected carried on, searching out its next meal.

OFF:

N'Vek
npc Jonathan Reynolds

B'Dar
npc Amelia Fox

C'Nedra
npc Michael Hawkins