Into the Silence

Even during the most ideal of times, Anton was only ever okay as a pilot – and this was certainly not one of those times. His ship, the ever-faithful Pchela, rocked with every blast as he did his best to stabilize it. Blinding flashes danced across the hull of the ship, every burst like a snapshot of the sun. There was a lot this scavenging vessel was prepared for, but taking active fire was not one of them. He looked back through the bay doors; his co-pilot Dez had not returned. His lifeline outside was still taut.

Anton unbuckled from his seat just as the Pchela was hit again. He began drifting towards the ceiling- their artificial gravity had just been knocked out. A feeling of curiosity and fear followed by a high-pitched voice abruptly waded through Anton's thoughts, "What's going on?" He looked to see Dmitri across from him – also floating.

The black form of his slimy body was strange in zero-g; it slowly moved from shape to shape like oil stirred in water. Anton looked at him and then signed, "Dez is still out there scavenging and we're being attacked- I'm not sure by what. I'm going to activate the wench and pull him back in."

He clicked a button on his suit and activated its magnetism. His legs were pulled down and he worked across the ship to the wench. He steadied himself on the bar of the thick, reinforced bay door. Next to it was a lever connected to the wench. Anton pulled it down- feeling particularly weak without any gravity.

The wire outside began to retract, pulling Dez in tow. Light reflected from his helmet and Anton could faintly make out his features: Sharp teeth poked out from the jutting snout in the center of his face and two yellow-orange eyes were on either side of it. He seemed far too tall for his body, which curved naturally into a hunched-over C-shape.

The short-range radio from Dez's suit connected to Anton's and chirped a burst of static into his ears. On impulse, he attempted and failed to cover his ears. His co-pilot looked incredulously at him from behind thick glass then said, "I wasn't done! I don't have anything, why did you pull me back in?"

"I wasn't going to leave you behind was I?" Anton signed.

The ship rocked and a wide-eyed expression came over the skalos, "Are we being attacked?! Why didn't you say anything?!"

"I did, Dez. You just weren't checking your messages," Anton signed matter of factly.

Dez at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

Anton opened the bay doors and pulled his co-pilot in and they ran to the cockpit in the front of the ship, strapping into their seats. Dez's light green scales almost seemed white when he saw the screen labeled 'ship status', "So much damage.. we're all going to die," he said in an anxious whisper. Dmitri, still floating, psychically projected to them, "I'm sure it'll be fine!" Dez let out a short, mournful laugh and then the two pilots sent the damaged ship blasting into the silence.

Anton looked back at the debris field they were scavenging in; It spread out into the shape of an orb; forgotten metal, disregarded ships broken in chunks, and satellites all clumped together adrift in space. Another shot fired at them, finally revealing its origin. It emanated from a satellite in the center of the field. To Anton, the satellite looked almost like a metal version of a shoe box that had been stepped on. Its center had collapsed in on itself and there was a design of a crescent moon on its side that looked, given the damage, more like a shriveled slice of an orange than anything else. Anton quickly turned the ship as another white blast streaked across their view- barely missing them. The light momentarily obscured the debris field behind them.

The field orbited in the gravity of a mid-sized planet below. A thick gaseous atmosphere covered the planet, but Anton suspected it was actually terrestrial in nature. It rotated slowly below and was the nearest thing that wasn't actively shooting at them. The Pchela zoomed towards it and shook again, but a light blocking their vision did not follow. "Guys, something's happening in the back of the ship," Dmitri said, pointing at the engine room. An audible groan came from Dez, "No, no, no! Whatever that was, it wasn't good. Just try and fly carefully- we don't want to make this any worse."