Bizarre Worlds and Other One-Shot Stories

Grounded

"My God." Lieutenant Nylund exclaimed, looking at the files of one of their prisoners with the name Warond Brooc with eyes that was a mix of surprise and disgust.

"What?" asked Sergeant Keyes while he was double-checking the small chambers that caged several more convicts that they caught from several more planets. They were kept in suspended stasis.

"I was just looking at the files of this sorry son of a bitch we caught on Planet Loah, sergeant."

"And?" prompted Keyes.

"And this sick bastard was wanted for twenty-five robberies, fifteen muggings, seventeen third-degree murders, and the harassment and raping of ten men and thirty women, one-third of them being children, like what in the shit-sprinkled fuck, man?" said the Lieutenant in a high-toned voice, he couldn't take in the charges he just read. "What a sick, sick bastard," he added, apparently commenting on his physical appearance, looking like an ordinary-looking, thinly, sick man, with the only unique outer features being his thick beard and finely-combed hair.

"Hopefully it doesn't get worse than this," said Keyes.

A woman peeked her head into her chamber rooms while she was tying her back-length hair with the rank of captain attached to her breastplate. "What is it, Halsey?" Keyes prompted.

"Chief John is calling for everyone to be on the deck," Halsey said, pulling her head away afterward.

The Sergeant and the Lieutenant obeyed Chief John's call for everyone to be on the deck. Some of them were sitting while others chose to stand. They paused their work in the Chamber Room, exited, and went all the way to the Deck. A crew of ten space marines showed at the deck. With the last to enter was a tall marine wearing bulky armor and a full helmet that covered his whole face.
"What's the trouble now, Chief?" asked the Lieutenant.

Chief John began briefing his crew, "Our pilots picked up a distress beacon from the Planet Nykron in Star Yuhlaan. And since we're near the Yuhlaan's stars we're going to be the ones to respond to the distress beacon."

Well isn't that convenient, Lieutenant Nylund thought. Chief John then ordered his crew to gear up in preparation for the search and rescue operation on the Planet Nykron. Then he dismissed them so they could give them time to fully prepare. And the crew did just that with no seconds to waste.

As soon as their space shuttle, the Riverbend, exited its warping and flew steadily a few miles away from the Planet Nykron, their ship suddenly began moving on its own. Toward the lone planet. Chief Jones rushed to the cockpit accompanied by Captain Halsey. "Why are we heading towards the planet? I thought I told you to keep away from it," he said.

"We're not doing anything, Chief." said one of the pilots.

"It's the planet's atmosphere, sir." the other pilot suggested, "It's too big, it's already pulling us close."

"So much for the canoes." quipped Captain Halsey.

The force of the atmosphere was growing stronger, and the speed of the Riverbend was getting faster. It was getting faster and faster that the pilots could no longer control it. And the heat of the planet's atmosphere was too hot that the Riverbend's force field and cooling system short-circuited and burned the ship.
"We're burning up! Everybody brace for impact!" a pilot said through the speakers. The pilots were gripping tight on their stick shakers to get a straight crash-landing and not a very messy one. Chief John and Captain Halsey were standing behind them, holding onto their chairs, bracing for the oncoming impact.

Everyone else in the armory was crouched down, blanketed by the red light of the alarm system and the blaring siren it was making. They had nothing to hold onto but their rifles and machine guns so they had to drop to brace while hoping that the ship won't fall apart and tear them to shreds after they crash.