User blog:Erendian/Combined Chronicles (FanFic)

Just something I wrote six months ago when the Closed Beta started. It's up on the old forums too, but I figured I'd post it here and see what people think. It was supposed to be the first in a series but I only ever did this one and a stand alone. If people like it I might keep going at some point.

Outbreak/Onslaught

Z -1:00

''The station was majestic. A massive doughnut, with detachable pods attached to the perimeter, slowly blinking in and out of the harsh sunlight as the station spun, generating the centrifugal force needed for semi-natural gravity. A giant sphere filled the “hole” in the doughnut, the main workspace for the scientists who called Station 1145 home. And past it all, the giant sphere of Aartis, blue and green and dotted with twinkling mega-cities that burned brighter than fireflies on a summer night back on Earth. And past even that, Thera, a million miles away and all the more beautiful for it.

''“1145 Fly-Catcher, this is Shuttle 77653, ShadeFly, requesting permission to dock.” Fly-Catcher, the slang name for the crew in charge of oncoming shuttles, took a minute to reply.

''“Yeah, we got you. For a second you were off radar. Must have been a solar flare or something. Okay, line up with bay 87. You should be good to dock in, let's say, sixty seconds. Just let us clear a cleaning crew outta there.”

''“Roger that. Thank you very much.” Carol Sateris took his finger off the transmission button, cutting the link to the station Fly-Catcher. He glanced to his right, at his designated muscle-man for the mission, something he knew was unnecessary for this flight. It was a simple thirty minute flight to an orbiting science-house, for heaven's sake. No need for a soldier on something like this. But nonetheless, Cassid Cross was there.

''Carol maneuvered the ShadeFly up to the station, giving her a little kick to keep her in motion and alongside their bay. It wouldn't keep them alongside forever. The bay was rotating and they were moving in a straight line, after all. But then the dashboard timer clicked past the sixty second mark and, right on time, a ring of lights flashed on on the outside of the station. They drifted closer and a portcullis rotated open, letting them in.

And they were through.

Cassid let out a sigh of relief. It was his job to fly along on these missions as a bit of muscle, but he never got over his fear of hard space. It would have seemed like a weird career choice to most people, a man afraid of flying being paid to do so, but if you went a little deeper than that, it made sense. Aartis was at peace, for now at least. There wasn't much in the way of excitement for soldiers these days. Certainly not enough for an adrenaline junkie like him. And so he flew.

He unstrapped himself, wincing as he strained to move his arms. The ShadeFly was a Falcon-Class. It was only meant for short jaunts through vacuum, and as such didn't have artificial gravity. Even a brief trip like this one left him used to zero gravity. The station was only giving itself about three quarters of Earth gravity and half of Aartis', from the constant rotating, but it was still something compared to nothing.

He keyed the cockpit doors and strode into the cargo bay. Crates of medical supplies filled the thirty foot space. He called back over his shoulder. “We good to open the doors?”

“Yeah, why?” Carol asked.

“Figured I'd get started on off-loading.” Cassid laid a hand on one of the crates. It would have weighed a hundred pounds on-planet. Here, he could almost lift it by himself.

“You that anxious to get back to land?” Carol said distractedly. He was hunched over his instruments, tapping a screen. He grimaced.

Cassid didn't reply, watching the drop ramps lower, revealing the station. The bay was about sixty feet square, large enough for the Falcon-Class and some more besides. He noticed, with some frustration, that no one was there to help him begin carting the supplies off. He started toward a closet full of hover-trolleys.

But he stopped halfway as an unholy screech filled the air, forcing him to put his hands over his ears and setting his heart pounding. He glanced at the ramps. One of them had ground to a halt, the source of the noise. He grabbed a trolley and walked back to the door to the cockpit. He stuck his head in to find Carol slapping the dashboard.

“What happened, flyboy?” Cross asked.

“For one, don't call me flyboy.” Carol growled. “Two, we broke. Okay? Use the other ramp to get supplies down. The auto-repair droids are already going, the ramp'll be fixed by the time you're done. No problem.”

“Good.”

Cassid hit a button on the hover-trolley. A hum filled the air and it lifted off the metal grated floor. He began loading.

''It was a simple short circuit. A spot of solar wind hit the station, rocking it slightly on its axis and sending a jolt through its plasti-metal skin. A surge of energy crackled through the station. A single capper chip burned out and sparked. In less than a second, the master computer detected the break and began fixing it. But as the chip was absorbed into the nano-weave of circuits and metal, a second burst of solar energy washed over the station. Without the capper, designed specifically to absorb these power surges and harmlessly die so that the station would live, the new energy was free to waltz through the entire station. Power boards flickered and died, valves flipped and shut off, and system after system failed. A term exists to describe this kind of thing. Cascade.''

Cassid nearly jolted out of his skin as an explosion racked 1145. His breath hissed in his mouth as a siren wailed and floodlights blinked on and off in the four corners of the bay. He thumbed a comm-button on his shoulder.

“Carol, what the hell was that?” He said, his voice registering on a mike embedded in his chestplate.

“Gimme a sec, you're the last person I need to talk to right now. What were you saying?”

“ShadeFly, you need to leave right now.”

Carol glanced down at the readings. That ramp was still in the red. “Negative Fly-Catcher, I have a faulty drop ramp. I need ten minutes for repairs.”

“You don't get it! We have full disclosure here! This is an alpha level breach! We have infected roaming the station, killing everything! Protocol gives just enough time for us to evacuate then we blow the whole dang stati-... Who's there?! Crap, take care of that, Hollis! ShadeFly, just get out of here! Sh-...”

“I can't.” Carol began, but the link was gone. He flipped through the low-distance channels. A spike of static washed through the speakers, but there was nothing else. He hit the comms button. “Cross, just get back in here. Something big broke, and some kind of virus is out there.”

“That sounds fun.” Cassid said dryly. “I'm on my way. That ramp fixed yet?”

“No, and we can't take off until it's working.”

“We'll deal with that when someone tries to get in and cough on us, I guess.” Cassid turned away from the nice, neat pile of crates he'd built. But as he began to walk back to the ShadeFly, something caught his eye.

The door connecting the bay to the rest of the station opened. A man fell through, retching and dry heaving. Cassid cursed and sprinted toward him. As he came close, a thought struck him and he halted.

“Are you infected?” He called cautiously, his hand creeping to the CM 205 pistol on his hip.

The man couldn't respond, he was so sick. Vomit pooled around his head as he feebly struggled, his limbs like rocks for all he could move them.

“Screw it.” Cassid said, closing the last few meters between them. He fell to his knees beside the man. He took his pulse. Nearly gone. “Damn it. Stay right here!”

Cassid got back to his feet and started running for the crates he'd brought out of the ShadeFly. He reached one and began rummaging through the medical supplies inside. It took him a minute, but he managed to find a fully stocked med-kit.

But something slammed into him as he turned back, knocking him to the ground and jarring his elbow against the crate, pushing it over and spilling syringes and boxes everywhere.

Cassid's eyes nearly popped out of his head as the sick man, who only a minute before had been unable to move a finger, clawed at his face. He screamed and turned his head away to protect his eyes. Blood began to drip from a few scratches on his cheeks.

The infected man reared back for a second before, in terrifying slow motion, he dug his teeth into Cassid's shoulder. He screamed in fear and pain, bucking and trying to throw the man off. But his grip was like iron and he couldn't escape.

He tried to reach for his pistol, still attached to his hip, but the man had a death grip on his right hand and he couldn't draw it. He fumbled frantically with his left, slapping against the ground, looking for something to use as a weapon. He felt something long and cylindrical, pricked himself on something sharp. He grabbed it.

And slammed the needle into the monster's head with a sickening crack! The thing that used to be a man reared back, screaming as it slapped at the syringe. Its clumsy motions only served to press the plunger in before snapping the needle off, still inside its skull. Its eyes opened wide and it slumped a little, mouth lolling open.

Cassid glanced around for the package the syringe had come in. He found it. It had been full of medical grade adrenaline. He glanced back the the thing just in time to see it jerk as the drug took effect. In an instant, it leapt at him, its movements wide and swinging as it worked itself into a frenzy.

It didn't get far.

Bang!

Cassid's gun went off and the monster flew back, skidding along the floor. He pulled the trigger again, letting loose three more bullets as the fully automatic pistol bucked in his hand. The thing's head was shredded, blood splattered over everything within ten feet of the twitching body. He sank to his knees, breathing hard. He put a hand to his shoulder, feeling the break in his armor. Somehow its teeth had broken through the composite alloy weave but not his skin. He had a huge mark where the force of the man's jaw had left bruises, but there was no actual wound. He sighed.

He covered the thirty feet between him and the ShadeFly in less than five seconds. He barreled up the working ramp, almost tripping over a toolbox. He stumbled and fell against the door to the cockpit.

“Did you see?!”

“Yeah, on the cameras!”

“Get us out of here!” He screamed.

“Give me a minute!” Carol screamed back. “We can't leave with that ramp still open, we'll decompress as soon as we hit vacuum and then we're dead!”

“How much longer do we have?” Cassid asked.

“Until the ramp's fixed or until the station blows up?”

“Why is the station blowing up!?” Cassid sprang to his feet.

“Standard protocol for 1145. If a virus escapes, then it's better to decompress the station and let hard space handle it. So, we blow up.”

“How long do we have until that happens?”

“Ninety seconds, give or take.”

“Christ! Get us out of here!” Cassid fumbled his way to his seat, strapping himself in as if that would fix the ramp.

Carol bit his lip, thinking. Cassid nearly died in the five seconds he took. “I can try something. You won't like it.”

“I don't like dying either!” Cross replied with acid.

“Okay.” Carol powered up the ShadeFly, lifting them up. “Hang onto your tongue. Literally. I don't want you biting it off when I-”

SLAM!

The ship fell, smashing into the station floor with a sound like thunder, the faulty ramp slamming shut. The displays flashed red in anger until Carol pawed away the damage notices. “I'm sorry baby, but it had to be done.”

Fifty seconds.

Cassid finished spitting out blood from where he had bitten his tongue. “What was that!? Are you trying to kill us?!” He barked.

“Hey, the ramp's closed, isn't it?”

“There's no way we're vacuum-worthy. That can't have sealed it.” Cassid said cleverly.

“Look at you being the smart one. Just one way to find out.” Carol maneuvered them through the bay. As they neared the door, it slid open with a whump of decompression. As one, the unloaded crates lifted into the non-air and spun into the void, battering the back side of the ShadeFly.

But they held together.

Or so it seemed. With a pop and a whine, the hull of the ship warped. The ramp had indeed not sealed, and atmosphere and pressure were bleeding out, compromising the integrity of the ShadeFly.

For a long minute, the entire ship flexed and shook. Carol and Cassid both nearly died of a heart attack as somewhere a bulkhead cracked. Then, just as it seemed they would fall apart, the auto-repair droids fixed the damaged ramp and it sealed properly, stopping up the hole in the system. The two of them sat in silence for a second, unable to believe they were alive. Then they both cheered and crowed, hollering in joy and relief.

“I cannot believe that worked!” Cassid shouted.

But their celebration was short lived. Carol's face turned back to stone as he turned them back toward Station 1145.

“Ten seconds.” He said quietly. Who knew how many people were still on board? How many had been lost in the explosion and the outbreak?

They watched as the station tilted slightly, preparing itself to die in a way that would send it out into space instead of crashing into the planet. They held their breath as a shudder rippled through it. One of the pods broke off and twirled away before winking out of sight behind the planet. And then it happened.

An explosion rocked the station, blowing an entire quadrant of it into space, venting chairs and bodies, office supplies and weapons, anything that wasn't tied down.

But something was wrong.

“That's... That can't be it.” Cassid said. “It's still there.”

Carol didn't reply for a good minute. He had gone pale and was suddenly sweating. “No. It didn't work. Somehow, it didn't work.”

The massive station began drifting, floating through the vacuum, not into space as it was supposed to, but toward Aartis. As it was caught in the planet's gravity well, it began to fall faster, heating up as friction against air molecules began to wear into it. But it wouldn't fall apart, no, its plasti-metal skin would see to that.

Carol tracked the station's fall with his eyes while Cassid looked on in shock and disbelief. He didn't have to look long to predict where it would land. He knew where. He dropped to his knees, tears running down his face. “God help us all.”

As the sun rose on this side of the planet, the station continued its long descent, its prolonged crash into New Castle. The capital of Aartis.