Hard Vacuum: Short Episodes In The Future

Death Pod

The impact knocked everyone out of their seats. Screens flickered to black all around the bridge, then strobed with their struggle to reboot. The atmospheric vents began to belch smoke and the fresh air whistled it's escape around the broken door seals.

Markus rose to his knees, "Damage report!"

Lieutenant Dav's pained voice responded from the direction of his post, "Network is down, Captain. The death pod rammed right into us without even firing a shot."

"That's crazy!" Markus regained his feet. He could now see Dav, half standing, rapidly slapping his console as if it would bring the ship's computers back online faster. The rest of the bridge crew were stumbling back to their posts. Lieutenant Sandus still lay against the far wall, head cracked open from the collision. A dark haze of smoke lingered on the ceiling and the whole room vibrated with overworked machinery.

Somewhere deeper in the ship was a muted blast followed by muffled screams.

"We're likely being boarded, sir."

"Send out a distress signal," a knee-jerk command, but useless until they could get back online. Markus felt naked without ship control.

There was a loud clack, then darkness. The bridge was then illuminated only by the few locally powered light diodes on some of the consoles. Everyone held their breath as they tried to let their eyes adjust to the reduced light.

There was a loud thump at the door.

"Blasters ready!" commanded the captain. He clicked the safety off his own and took cover behind a workstation.

Another thud against the door as he took aim through the dim haze.

The ship was eerily silent except for the nervous breathing of the bridge crew, punctuated by the slow, deliberate thuds against the door.

All at once, the door crashed inward and the crew's blasters fired blindly in its direction. A figure in powered armor stepped through, unfazed by the repeated shots, and cleaved the nearest crewman to the floor with what looked like an impractically large sword.

Markus blasted its hand and the invader dropped the weapon onto the pulped corpse.

He fired more shots at its head. It turned and advanced on the captain.

Markus took careful aim at the opaque faceplate, charged his blaster to full and pulled the trigger.

It didn't even slow as the front of its helmet was melted away, revealing only a corpse inside. The long dead soldier had just been along for the ride as the powered armor waged an automated war against whatever it was programmed to.

It grabbed Captain Markus's forearm and planted a boot against his chest. As he fell he could feel the sinews stretch and tear.

The undead soldier proceeded to beat the captain to death with his own arm.