Solacium

Ch 4: Vorian

The first thing I noticed when I regained consciousness was the blaring robotic warning of my ship's alarm system.

CRITICAL DAMAGE.

RETURN TO FLEET FOR IMMEDIATE REPAIRS.

CRITICAL DAMAGE.

The warnings droned on as I awoke, making my head pound in painful bursts. As I came to, I noticed that my body had been thrown forward, with my upper half laid across my ship's control panel. Mustering up the strength, I slowly sat up, shifting back into my chair. The red lights from my ship's security alarm flashed as I opened my eyes, making me squint. My vision was blurry, and I blinked a few times as I looked around the cabin.

Fortunately, after a quick scan of the cabin, it seemed my ship was largely intact. At least the front of it that I could see was. I would have to examine the rest of it before I made any further assumptions, but to do that, I had to get up.

I groaned as I tried to stand from my chair, an idea that I immediately abandoned for the moment after it left my world spinning from the effort. Sitting back down, I gripped the sleek metal armrests of my chair, squeezing my eyes shut as I tried to steady myself.

I was taken aback by the severity of my condition. As an intergalactic fleet commander, I have had my fair share of excitement and injury. I have been shot at, stabbed, jumped, and attacked in almost every possible way. I was no stranger to the aggressions of a hostile galaxy.

However, crashing my ship was a first for me. And by how badly I was injured, hopefully, a last too.

I prided myself on my abilities as well as my ranking as a commander, a title not easily granted in Zur. The training to become a pilot for the Zuran intergalactic fleet was rigorous, as only the most skilled people were sent to search for a compatible species to save our people. So, when the opportunity arose to search the most dangerous quadrant of the galaxy, it was only natural that I would volunteer given that I was the most qualified.

Looking back, I had no idea the severity of my overconfidence.

Once stable, I felt something warm trickle down the side of my face and I knew without question that I was bleeding. I brought my hand up to the side of my face, wiping away the liquid that rolled down my skin. Fresh blood now coated my hand, and at the sight of it, I frowned.

Blood meant life, which meant that I was most definitely not dead. And I was most definitely expecting to be dead by now. Yet, somehow, I had survived the planetary crash. Which was both good and bad. Good in the way that I was not dead. Bad in the way that I was crash-landed on an alien planet and severely injured.

Definitely unfavorable circumstances.

Glancing around, my head pounded as I tried to assess the rest of my surroundings to no avail. My ship was so dark, the inside was only illuminated by the occasional red flash of the ship's security system. Not to mention that the ship's viewing panel was completely blocked off, no doubt shielded when my ship's security system prepared its defenses for landing. Thus, leaving me essentially blind to what kind of planet I had landed on.

I tried to recall what little I saw of the planet before I plummeted into its atmosphere. Closing my eyes, I tried to picture it in my head. From what I remembered, it was a swirling mix of blues and greens, unlike anything I had ever seen. Searching my mind, I didn't recall ever learning about such a planet during fleet training. The harder I tried to focus on bringing forth my memories, the worse the pounding in my head became.

Now that I was fully conscious, the pain in my body became increasingly more present. By how severely my body ached, my skin suit's defense mechanism must have been damaged during the crash meaning it must have been one hell of a landing.