And the Stars Fall (PSO2/My Time At Sandrock Crossover)

And the Stars Fall

"It's quiet for once, " Zeno thought to himself, his head turned, so he looked out of the window of the ARKS ship. Bright specks of light of various sizes twinkled as if beckoning him to a new future. " I not only managed to get away from Echo's constant nagging. " Zeno ran a calloused hand through his short, red hair. " But there doesn't seem to be any dire emergency that we higher-ups have to deal with right now. "

As if on cue, the alarms which alerted everyone whenever any of the ships in the ARKS fleet were under attack went a red light cascading around the walls and floors around Zeno.

His mouth pushed into a firm line, expecting a message from Xiera—the ship's administrator regarding what was going on when the ship lurched, the distinct rumble of something smashing into the ship's side echoing through the metalwork. What that was, Zeno didn't know or have the time to think about what that was, as the ship continued to lurch as he and everyone else around him staggered slightly.

And then the lurching stopped.

Zeno glanced around, noting the slight slant of the ship as the red lights continued flashing and the alarm blaring, warning about some unknown threat. Outside the nearby window, the once beckoning stars moved, willing him to vomit at the strange sensation the ship was still lurching, perhaps even falling. The slight tilt to everything as he stood up straight didn't help. He took a deep breath. "Xiera?"

"Ah. Yes," the perky administrator said before a projected screen appeared in front of Zeno. She tilted her head, her blond pigtails bouncing as she did so. "I don't know who attacked us, but I do know our ship's gravitational field's been damaged, thus creating this weird tilt. And our orbit is starting to decay."

"Can you do something about it?" Ulku, the Supreme Commander, asked from another place on the ship.

"I can try," Xiera said, her usual optimism missing as yet another something hitting the ship was felt, making everyone stagger., the tilt not helping as a few ARKS operatives around Zeno managed to land on their bottoms rather than staying on their feet. A hissing sound was heard from nearby, like air escaping from--

Zeno glanced around, his eyes spotting a small place on the ship starting to bend. "Uh. Xiera. We may have a problem."

"I've got like a million and one things to do, Zeno!" Xiera called out, flustered.

"Send me the info for Zeno's area," Ulku said, the screen flickering, allowing her to appear instead of Xiera. She fixated on the screen in front of her, then nervously brushed a strand of long hair behind one of her pointed Newman ears. "Zeno, your area's decompressing. I want you to tell everyone in your area to escape using the nearby stasis pods to escape. We'll pick you up when we can."

"Yes, but," Zeno sucked in his breath, grinding his teeth.

"Zeno, you're useless to us dead," Ulku said. "And right now, that's the best option. The only option. The power to the field preventing a complete collapse of that area because there is a breach; I do not know how long it will hold with what is going on."

The screen flickered off and--

Those nearby were looking at him. " Which makes sense given I was one of the six and the second in command of the Training Bureau. Not that Regius and Maria ever gave me the chance to do anything there. " To catch the attention of those a little farther away, he placed his fingers between his lips and whistled before lifting his arm into the air motioning for the others to follow him. "I've been informed by the supreme commander that we're to evacuate the area. Help everyone you can get to the pods."