2125 New beginnings.

Nebbich

Term carrying the sense of "regret" and "pity.''

I jerked awake,and instantly regretted it, my eyes were covered in the blood, currently dripping from a gash I could feel in my head, guess I'll live up to my name now the sarcastic part of me thought.

I was trapped in my re-entry harness I had taken from the former captain, last thing I could remember was hitting the mountain. The Arbiter had managed to level off to something resembling a re-entry angle yet was still traveling ridiculously fast, too fast for a safe landing.

I was sitting in a pool of blood, my own or someone else's I didn't know, I was trapped, part of the floor had collapsed and it looked like a long way down, along with been seemingly alone. No noise, not even moans of pain or calls for help. It reminded me of how I came to be aboard the Arbiter in the first place...the trapped part. But I had no time for petty daydreams, my need for survival took precedence. My arm was bleeding, head...serious cut but the rest of me felt fine. The ship itself was groaning, the metal underneath me was straining... and finally gave way, I plummeted. The floor below was hard, unforgiving, but I was past caring my eyes strained to stay open and then gave up.

Earth was a depressing place, Greed, Corruption,want for Power, all these things were commonplace now, supplies were low, expectations even lower, and anyone with any money had left long ago. The only people left were the poor, the lazy and the criminals who now had no laws or rules to follow. The only way off, were the ships left earthbound, and few of those remained now as well. I had used my skills, and bartering to make my way to Australia, where I heard the ship Arbiter was still docked, due to the crew all having unfortunate 'accidents'.

I had arrived at the dock where I found that it was packed, seemed like a lot of people turned up for the wish of a better life. There was also dead bodies on the ground, when there were no rules, the weak suffered and here, there were defiantly no rules. The ship wasn't large, a basic cruiser I guessed so it would only house a few hundred at most. It was heavily guarded by a few guys holding rifles that showed heavy use judging from the bodies piled up by the perimeter fence.

I personally didn't want to line up and try to talk my way aboard so I sneaked around the back looking for an opening. There was none, so i decided to make my own. there was a loan guard, who I noticed had a significantly larger corpse pile then the rest of the guards,  covered in gang tattoos, he was evidently part of the Sirens, the group who had taken the ship. The sirens used to be a small time gang, but when all law and order left, thew grew, due to there ruthlessness and skill at large theft, specifiably spacecraft. I walked up, hands in the air. 'Here friend? 'where is the line for people joining the crew?' He was well trained, gun leveled at me unflinching, uncaring.

'It's other side of compound you worm, get out of here before you end up making the pile bigger.' He gestured at the pile of bodies next to me, there were few women and children in the pile I could see, it resolved me in what I was about to do.

'I said MOVE' The guard was getting suspicious, the rifle raised and he squeezed the trigger, nothing happened, 'What the?' the words emptied in his mouth as he slouched and fell, the rifle fell to the floor, blood started pooling around the wound in his chest. I lifted his body and threw it on the pile. The ship was large and sinister up close, a dark black, black helped hide it in space I guessed but it wasn't a regulation colour. A hatch was currently open, supplies were strewn around inside so I helped myself inside and found a nook to hide in. Destination unknown but I had to get away from this hell. I shut my eyes and tried to sleep.

The door banging shut shocked me to awareness. 'Sure is good the captain found this ship, I was sick of all the killing and pillaging' the man chuckled at this. The man he was talking to had a very gravely voice, like the old time sandpaper, 'Had to to a lot of killing taking of too.' They were rounding the corner, I was crawling backwards but there was no way I could escape. My back scraped against the far wall, their voices getting closer, trapped my mind said, trapped like a caged animal. The calm part of me was losing control, the scary part was emerging, I was fighting myself, no no no, To late. I drew my knife and reacted, standing up against the corner I grabbed the first man and pulled him down, head first, his own body weight crashing down on his neck, cracking it, I did a 180 and struck my knife into the other mans eye, then across his throat. The other man was already dead, blood spurting out of his neck which was at an unnatural angle, eyes wide in shock, and resignation. I heard a footstep and turned, throwing the knife, spinning spinning, a soft squelch as it pierced his chest, he fell drawing his gun, trying to gather himself enough to fire.. but to late I was upon him. I finished him quickly and quietly. I never noticed the man behind the box on my right and he capitalised on this by catching me in the face with his knife, a serrated one, the one designed to stop the wound  clotting,  a large rip opened in my cheek, spraying blood,  I caught him with a massive uppercut, crushing him against the roof and knocking him out. The loss of blood was making me dizzy, world was spinning. The ground was looking inviting so I felt ok falling into it. My eyes hurt so I thought it would be ok shutting them. 

'I must say I'm impressed, you killed four of my men.'     'Surprised, Oh well of coarse i had to kill the last one myself, I have no need for a crew member so inept at fighting a distracted opponent, unfortunate, he was the radar man, which now means you are the new radar man'. I was lying on a table, covered in bandages, a surgeon who looked more like a biker was just taking off his gloves, doing a good job of giving a murderous stare at me. 'Don't mind him, he is useful to have around, he managed to do a full week work as a surgeon before someone noticed his 100% mortality rate and took his licence.' 'I'm the captain, or at least I was the one who gave the previous one the killing blow so I am the one in charge, I have no preconceptions that, at a later date I may kill you myself but for now, welcome to the Arbiter. 'Oh and last thing, the planet occupying ship Goliath is chasing us, for ummm you know, stealing this ship and killing the crew, and us been a wanted gang.'

'I'm going to call you scar, due to the nice gash on your cheek, betray me in any way and I will kill you slowly, enjoy your stay,' He smiled and left.