The Final Moments of the Starlance
"You hear me X!? I'm making my way to a hull breach on the starboard side of the Starlance, about 2 klicks ahead of the disruptors. If I'm not there in twenty minutes, I'm not worth waiting for. Pharris out."
He moved quickly, shooting the parasites when he saw them in time, pulling them off of his pressure suit and crushing them when he didn't. Every few moments, the ship would shudder and he could feel the Ship's gravity fluxuate as reduntant systems shunted power loads throughout the ship.
He kept running. The ship continued to jump, and the lights continued to flicker. He would stop at junctions, read the signs and keep moving. Sometimes he would come to a sealed door or a containment forcefield, and he'd retrace his steps. Every few moments, the ship would shudder again, and he would be knocked off of his feet byt the surge in the failing artificial gravity systems.
suddenly, he felt a huge rumble, and everything went black for a moment. The blue backup lighting illuminated the corridor as Pharris floated up off the floor. He kept moving, pulling himself along the handrails, deeper and deeper into the belly of the Starlance. He passed through the failed security fields, escaping the quarantined section, but he kept on moving. After a few minutes, power was restored to the gravity systems, and Pharris started running again.
He was sure he was clear of the quarantine when he began seeing Medical teams and Damage control teams running again. Their ship in its death throes, they paid little attention to one extra man running through the halls. The armor had been blasted to shreds, outer sections had been entirely vented to space, more of the crew was retreating to the Innermost hull, where the most vital systems were protected by the sheer mass of the ship. Pharris reckognised these hallways. He passed what had once been Spammo's guest quarters, the mess hall. He passed abandoned security checkpoints, pushed his way through dozens of wounded crewmembers, being treated on the floors of the wide hallways. Finally, he saw the huge, familiar blast doors. The guards had long since abandoned their post to help the wounded, trickling in from all sections of the ship.
He opened the door. and there, at the front of the room, he could make out the imposing figure of Admiral Darvonsal. Pharris looked at his watch. he had ten more minutes. He drew his pistol, and turned off the safety. He walked across the cavernous bridge, past scores of crewmembers bent frantically over their consoles. Only one man was unphased by their current situation.
"Darvonsal!"
Pharris levelled his pistol. Darvonsal turned slowly on his heel.
"Are you still here!?" He was more annoyed than surprised
"I do not understand you, Captain Pharris. You are a good pilot and a reasonable man. You of all of all people should appreciate what I am doing here. How can you... a Human not appreciate the great favor I am performing for you? I am placing Humanity where it was always meant to be! I am making Humanity as a whole the sole rulers of more than just the universe, but the entire temporal plane! I will not rest until Humankind has control over all creation!! Can't you see what I am offering!? My universe made an immense sacrifice to build this ship, and I will use it to ensure that no Humans anywhere will have to suffer at the hands of aliens."
Pharris couldn't help but sympathise with this man. He sincerely believed that he was saving Humankind.
"Maybe aliens have done nothing but subjugate humanity in your universe, but has it occurred to you that Aliens may not be the same? Earth was saved only because of the intervention of aliens! The Ishinians, the ones who donated that gateship to stop you are the only reason that I'm here today! The Nijayais may as well be humans themselves! Even Earth has sent ships after you! You have served to unite races that have been warring for eons. And most importantly, they are rallied under a Human Admiral! We don't need your favours, Darvonsal. We don't need to be rulers of the universe! What is the point if there is noone to rule over!?"
Darvonsal looked out the windows at Slug's carrier careening towards him, then slowly back at Pharris. He sighed.
"You had better leave now, if you hope to see your friends again. The lift over there will take you to an airlock. You can get out that way. Goodbye Captain Pharris. I hope to see you again someday."
Darvonsal turned back to the huge bay windows, watching the Salrillian Carrier grow larger and larger. A siren sounded, and huge doors began to seal over the windows.
As the doors closed, Pharris saw Darvonsal walk slowly forward along the walkway between the bridge pits, reassuring his bridge crew, even in their apparantly hopeless situation.
The lift doors shut, and in less than a minute, Pharris was walking along the surface of the Starlance. He checked his watch. He was right on time.
He watched the hulk of Slug's carrier grow closer and closer. The Starlance was trying, unsucessfully, to evoid the collision, but its manouvering thrusters were all but destroyed.
Pharris turned on his Comlink and raised his first officer.
"I'm on the Starlance, but I'm further forward than I planned. I'm going to set off a flare, watch for it."
He turned on the flare, and watched as his ship, battered and torn slid towards him. It matched speeds with the Starlance, hovering a hundred yards over Pharris' head. Through a crack in the hull, he could see two crewmembers in pressure suits waving at him. He jumped and floated to his ship. As he landed, he clipped his harness onto the safety rail, and activated his comlink.
"I'm aboard and secure, Move it!"
As the ship rocketed away, Pharris had an amazing view of the Salrillian Carrier smashing into the Starlance. He turned his head and covered his eyes as the huge dreadnought disappeared in a brilliant flash of light.
(This message has been edited by Captain Pharris (edited 11-06-2000).)
, DAMN U ALL. Im trying to catch up on these stories but i leave for a weekend and what happens. I have 53 freaking more posts to read.