Reckoning

Lieutenant Hewitt can be found in the galley, sitting at a table alone, slowly picking a slice of military issued cornbread. There are other soldiers in the room however it seems that the lieutenant is something of a social pariah a monster the rank and file.

The lieutenant is a typical example of the average officer, fit but lacking in much muscle, hair pulled tight into a bun that sticks out of a gap in her officers cap.

Decorations in the galley are sparse, along the walls are promotional posters for the corp, ‘The life of a champion’ and ‘adventure among the stars’ are common phrases, all associated with gallant soldiers and beautiful vistas on alien worlds far from earth.

Sarah slides onto the bench across from the lieutenant, prompting the woman to glance up from her tray, affixing the Sargent with a ghost of a smile.

“Hey, you need something Sarah?” She asks, taking note of the fact that the Sargent hadn’t brought a tray along with her.

“I had some questions about the assignment, I know a little bit about the system but was told you would be responsible for giving me the proper briefing.” If Sarah is to understand what happened, she needs to know WHY it happened.

“Oh, right, yes, so you know we’re in the Yeomen system, well in this system there’s 7 planets each is host to a few colonies but the thing is, none of the planets are allowed to communicate with each other cause they are all owned by different corporations, the Wey-Yu doesn’t want their people talking to Seegson’s people and Seegson doesn’t want their people talking to Hyperdyne’s people and so on…” she says sitting up in her seat as she begins breaking down the state of affairs.

“What’s so special about this system..?” It’s rare that a system be of interest to multiple corporations at the same time, much less 7 of them.

“Hell if I know, and if I asked we both know they’d just give me the runaround, what’s important is that it’s our job to keep watch over the system. Which despite what you might think is actually pretty damn easy.”

“How’s that?” Asks Sarah, leaning in ever so slightly, she’s getting close to something, she can feel it.

“Each of the corporations have their own private security. Hell, most of them hire retired marines so all we gotta do is just… relax… occasionally we gotta check around under a bed cause some roughneck thought they saw something, that’s it.” She says, smiling as she speaks as though sharing some brilliant, life changing idea.

“What..? Then… why the hell are we even here if everyone’s got a private army, there’s insurgents tearing whole systems apart, the Galt system is infested with rogue synthetics and every year a dozen USCM ships go missing out of nowhere! Why are we here and not there?” Sarah was outraged, this whole posting is worthless, some of these corporations private security firms are better equipped and trained then the corp, why is this ship spinning its wheels instead of ACTUALLY doing something that matters?

Lieutenant Hewitt for her part looks confused, offended even. “What..? I pull you out of that meat grinder and you’re complaining about not being chewed up and spit out? Do you have any idea how lucky we are? We don’t gotta go and get shot out in a field for some bullshit reason, we get to live! All we gotta do is serve our time, pad the resume and get some cushy security position in some lab or space station!” Says the lieutenant, with each word painting clearer and clearer image of herself.

“I signed up to save people, that’s the fucking job, we bleed so they don’t and you’re all just sitting here, jerking off while folk across the galaxy die when they don’t have to!” Shouts Sarah, her outrage such that she cannot maintain the hushed tone they had been speaking in before, she rises from the table abruptly, drawing the attention of the other marines in the room.

“Sargent, you will restrain yourself before you do or say something you regret, do you understand me?” A clear threat, one Sarah cannot ignore.

“Lieutenant… what happened to Sargent Galloway..?” The question in any other context might have been met with a story, a telling of events but now? There’s no point in playing innocent, Sarah knows.

“She would have damned us all to a slow, bloody **** on some godforsaken rock fighting people who just wanna be free…” she says, the words hitting like a haymaker as Sarah is **** to take a step back from the table.

Before the confrontation can escalate any further into a full scale conflict, a deafeningly loud siren shakes the walls of the ship, red lights turn on as primary lights are shut off, declaring a state of emergency.

As though to answer the silent questions buzzing across the galley, the small intercom in the corner of the room crackles to life, the voice of Mother filtering through to declare the reason for this sudden interruption.

“Warning; foreign body on approach. trajectory; starboard 20 degrees. Distance; 500 meters. Manual intervention required.” States the automated voice of the on board AI, in an instant chaos reigns as soldiers jump from their seats not sure what to do until Sarah shouts.

“FIND CORPORAL WILSON AND SEND HER TO COMMAND DECK, NOW!” She shouts, her voice straining to be heard over the blaring sirens.

The lieutenant is already standing by now, and rushing out of the room before Sarah can stop to ask where she’s going.

Sarah speeds out of the room, heading for the elevator she doesn’t know the first thing about maneuvering a ship of this size or any other ship for that matter but at least once she gets there maybe Danials or Mother itself can direct her from there.

She turns the corner in Crew Deck corridor, managing to stop herself just in time to stop herself from stumbling into the pit in the floor, the portion where the grating had been torn up for maintenance.

“Fuck..!” She curses as she pulls herself back from the ledge, having to get a running start before she can leap across the short gap, continuing down the corridor towards the lift.

“Warning; foreign body on approach. Distance; 250 meters, manual intervention required.” The automated voice of Mother says. Whatever is coming, is coming fast.

Upon reaching the Command Deck, Sarah rushes down the short hallway, to the command center, where several buttons shine and terminal screens blink as though requesting her attention.

Footsteps speed down the hall behind her, turning she sees Corporal Wilson, looking like she just stepped out of the shower as she pulls her dripping wet hair into a pony tail.

“Wait, where the hell is Danials?!” Shouts Bianca as she looks around, as though the synthetic will step out from behind a console to reveal himself.

“He ain’t here, me and you are, tell me what to do and I’ll do it!” Replies Sarah as she glances across the myriad consoles, controls and screens.

“Alright… fuck, ok… we gotta start by powering up the thrusters, look here and tell me if you see a red bar or not, alright?” She says as she gestures to a central console in the middle of the room.

Sarah takes position, eyes glued to the screen which seems to be displaying condition of various systems, most of which appear to be white, whatever the hell that means.

Bianca for her part approaches the front of the room, placing a hand on a large lever, pushing it forward while imputing a series of button presses across the large console, each button press coming with a loud click.

“How’s it looking…?!” Calls Bianca as she throws her gaze over her shoulder at the Sargent. “Everything here looks white..!” Sarah shouts back.

Bianca breathes a sigh of relief. “Oh thank fuck… alright, thrusters are on and fuel line is stable, alright I need you to hop in the helmsman’s seat for me, we gotta start steering!”

“Warning; foreign body is on approach. Distance: 100 meters. Manual intervention required.” Drones mother through the intercom.

Sarah rushes over to a large seat, hopping in and stopping the first recognizable control she’s seen so far, a steering wheel.

“Fuck we’re going too slow...” mumbles Bianca from her place at the radar, no doubt watching the foreign body closing in.

Sarah grips the steering wheel and cranks it hard to the right just as she’s been told and immediately there’s a lurch in the ship, what was previously just floating in open space is now being **** to move, the sudden acceleration causing Bianca to stumble where she stands.

“Warning; foreign body on approach. Distance; 50 meters, manual intervention required.”

“Fuck! We’re gonna hit, brace yourself!”