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I'm in part of a writing group on TG, and the Writing Prompt was: You're having the most intense feeling of déjà vu, which means you feel like you know exactly what's about to happen.

This is my 'take' on the prompt :)

Penance Paid

© Cederwyn Whitefurr

18th July, 2019

All Rights Reserved

Choking black smoke filled the bridge, and here and there lay crew mates - some crying for their mothers, others just moaning incoherently, and others just laying still - their broken and twisted forms shrouded as the acrid stink of control boards and insulation melted under the intense fires.

"Lieutenant Raelyn - "Snarled a voice. "Lieutenant - "

Touching a gloved paw to her head, the young vixen blinked, tears streaking down her white furred cheeks, as she felt the stinging smoke burning her eyes. Uncomprehendingly, she looked at the blood on her glove - blood that looked almost black, in the feeble emergency lighting on the starship bridge. A hand come out of nowhere, then slapped the Vixen sharply across the cheek, almost knocking her to the ground. She screamed in more alarm than pain, and her eyes snapped onto her commanding officer, who stood before her - his once pristine uniform torn and bloodied. He glared at her through one eye - the other being a mess of blood and gore.

"Lieutenant - I gave you an order - carry out that order solder - abandon ship!" Snarled the Captain, as he prepared to slap her again.

"Captain Killian - " Lt. Raelyn blinked, then her years of training took control of her - both body and mind, and she sharply saluted. "Aye sir!"

Choking on the thickening smoke, Lt. Raelyn looked about her in bewilderment. Her training demanded she obey her Captain's orders, yet she felt compelled to stay at his side, and fight an obviously hopeless battle. Explosions wracked the ship, and the emergency klaxon's screamed their shrill warnings, as the shipboard computer added to the deafening cacophony.

"Warning, fire on decks sixteen through thirty-two, emergency pressure doors activated on decks twelve through fifteen - explosive decompression imminent in shuttle bay two - " It droned.

"Lieutenant, I will not tell you again - " Screamed the Captain, as he cruelly shoved crew members towards the double doors at the rear of the bridge. "Gods curse you Vixen, move your ass soldier!"

Lt. Raelyn could not recall what had brought such terrible destruction to the GDI cruiser Arkellian, but it was obvious, due to the catastrophic failures and explosions she could feel through her booted feet - that the cruiser was doomed. Without another thought, she turned and fled through the bulkhead - feeling rather than hearing, it slam down behind her, nearly crushing the tip of her tail brush. With a sobbing cry, her eyes streaming tears for her crew mates still trapped on the bridge, she ran down the deck, heading for the emergency escape pods in their cradles. Just as she rounded a corner, there was a sickening explosion, and she felt herself thrown against the far wall - then looked down to see her green uniform turning crimson with blood...

*

Lt. Raelyn woke with a strangled scream, bolting upright in her bed, the lights instantly flicking on the moment the shipboard computer sensed she was awake. Her heart pounding in her chest, Lt. Raelyn sat on the edge of her narrow bed, clutching her head in her paws and sobbing helplessly - stricken by the horror and the terror of the nightmare.

"Do you require medical assistance Lieutenant?" Come the feminine voice of the shipboard computer.

"No - " Raelyn wept, then bit back her tears and rubbed her furred paws over her wet cheeks, trying to calm her irrational fears.

Having served the GDI forces for fifteen years, Lt. Raelyn still felt the terror most cadets felt - when they had been assigned to a starship. Her fears were, as her crew mates told her, unfounded and foolish, but despite her best efforts, Lt. Raelyn couldn't help feeling trapped and alone. A chirp come from the bedside com link, and she sniffled, then reached out and touched the sensitive contact patch.

"Lieutenant - " Come the soft growl of the Executive Officer - a wolf not known for his sense of humour, nor his like of people not performing to 120% of expectations. "Your shift on the bridge started fifteen minutes ago!"

"Aye sir," Lt. Raelyn whimpered, fresh fears washing over her. "I'll be right there sir."

Lt. Raelyn had fought long and hard, to qualify to serve on the bridge, and if she kept sleeping in like this - she knew it would leave a permanent black mark on her records. Most of the night, when she should have been sleeping, she had been studying astro-navigation textbooks, ships schematics and other mind-numbingly technical documents. It was hard going, yet the young vixen was adamant she would pass her final exams - even if it killed her.

*

Lt. Raelyn was an anthropomorphic red fox vixen, who stood five feet two inches tall on her small, delicate foot-paws. Her fur was primarily a deep russet colour, except for the white along her cheeks, a narrow band down her throat and between her small, but pert breasts, and it widened down her stomach, to narrow again as it ran down her inner thighs and ended at her ankle length black furred socks. Her eyes were a hazel colour, and her triangular ears were tipped with black. Indeed, she looked quite an impressive sight, as she slept naked - and her sleep tousled fur poked out in all directions. Hurriedly, she pulled on her uniform which was a two piece green outfit, consisting of thick slacks, a white undershirt, olive green shirt with rank insignia on its collar, and an officers cap, with the emblem of the GDI emblazoned on its peak. Splashing some recycled water into her paws, she ran them over her furred cheeks, trying to flatten down her fur, before she pulled on her heavy boots and bolted from her cabin.

*

All around the bridge, eyes flicked from the XO to Lt. Raelyn, who stood panting in the doorway, her chest heaving as she'd had to run five decks to reach the bridge. As the bulkhead doors swished open, and she staggered in, nearly tripping over one of her untied shoelaces, Colonel Alexi growled deep in his throat - a growl - that send shivers of terror up even long time crew-members backs. She barely managed to control her breathing, before she snapped to attention and saluted the X O's back, in precise military fashion.

"Lt. Raelyn, reporting as ordered - sir." She croaked, then closed her eyes and winced.

Colonel Alexi stood at the draedis console, his eyes fixed there as if by some industrial strength glue - yet its looping sensor sweeps revealed no threats to the cruiser - for which the Colonel was relieved, but his anger lay with the tardiness of his newest officer, Lt. Raelyn.

"Lieutenant Raelyn - " He snarled, as he kept his back to her, still studying the draedis console that hung from the ceiling in the centre of the room. "I trust, you have an explanation for your tardiness?"

"No sir - " Lt. Raelyn spoke, her voice in a crisp, sharp, military style, that the crew new, would go a long way to appeasing the X O's anger.

"Take your post Lieutenant, and be warned, this will be noted in my report!." Colonel Alexi snarled, as he spun about then glared at her - his dark eyes burning like twin suns. "if you expect to make it as one of the crew here on the GDI cruiser Arkellian - you better shape up and fast Lieutenant, or you'll find yourself scrubbing the flight deck with a toothbrush! We're at war - or hadn't you noticed? This is a battleship, one of the finest on the GDI fleet, and I for one, do not have time to play wet nurse, to some Lieutenant, who can not even report to her assigned station on time!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Lt. Raelyn snapped, as she sharply saluted the XO.

He grunted, then gave a half-hearted salute back, before riveting his eyes back on the draedis. Feeling about one inch tall, Lt. Raelyn slunk over to her assigned station, relieving her fellow officer.

*

All through that twelve hour shift, the XO stalked the bridge, like some wild animal, his eyes never missing a single moment of distraction from his crew, and his tongue quick to fly with the colourful language and insults that had made him feared and respected amongst the GDI officer corps. As an XO, he possessed incredible powers of persuasion - often - through berating his crew for the slightest thing, but instead of his crew coming to hate their XO, according to the Colonel's last evaluation assessments, his crew was amongst the top five percent of the entire GDI fleet. Yes, he worked them hard, treated them harshly, but in so doing, he made them rise above their own expectations and abilities - to find new depths to themselves, they never knew existed.

"Contact!" Screamed a young male human, as he studied the draedis mounted on the desk before him. "Two contacts - bearing zero-eight-five, range, fifteen thousand and closing - "

Instantly, the entire bridge went into their well practised responses - each crew member knowing their task and leaping to it, as they never knew, if this was just another drill - or the real thing, which could result in their deaths - yet each and every crew member that served either in the infantry, or on board a GDI vessel, knew the risks they faced - but did so without hesitation, knowing that they were all that stood between death and enslavement, for their loved one's back on Terra and the Lunar and Mars Colonies.

"Alright - you know your duties - "Snarled the X O, as he picked up the ship-wide communications phone, and spoke. "This is your X O - we have unknown vessels approaching, all gunnery crews stand by, and prepare defensive fire only - scramble the Combat Air Group!"

"Sir, six more contacts - bearing zero-one-nine, range..twelve thousand and closing!" Yelled the Officer at the Draedis console.

"Identify!" Snapped the X O harshly. "For the love of the god's man, you could be having us prepared to shoot at a civilian vessel."

"Scanning - vessels of Schinicin design - two cruisers...no...four cruisers and two escort frigates!"

"By the dark God's - navigation - plot an emergency jump!" Raged the X O. "Someone better get the Captain up here..."

"Cruisers are disgorging fighters - twelve - no...fifteen fighter craft, cruisers moving to intercept."

Lt. Raelyn bit her bottom lip nervously, as she stood by the damage control console, keeping an eye on the draedis screen, and another on the schematic of the cruiser - which currently showed all green across the board.

"Recall the CAG!" Screamed the X O, to be heard over the piercing wails of the alert klaxon's. "Navigation, I need that information now - not next week, we can't stand against a fleet like that!"

"Coordinates are - " Stammered the young human at the navigation controls, his fingers a blur as he battled the computer, trying to get it to hurry up.

"Missiles away..five, no - ten missiles inbound, range, ten thousand and closing" Screamed another, as the klaxon's threatened to drown out everyone.

"All hands - this is the X O - we have hostile forces approaching our sector, missiles released, I repeat, missiles released - gunnery batteries - anti-missile defensive fire on my command..." Snapped the X O, as his nape hairs rose and he glared at the blinking draedis screen - mentally computing the speed and range of the Schinicin missiles. "On my mark - FIRE!"

*

In the depths of space, a massive conflagration of explosions erupted amongst the vacuum, a defensive screen of flak-like fire designed to intercept and destroy any incoming missiles. It would have been a truly incredible sight, but everyone on board the GDI cruiser were too busy going about their assigned tasks, to look out the window at the explosive wall of flak cannon fire.

*

"New contact - bearing niner-three zero - range, fifteen thousand and closing - missile warning - missile warning, oh my god - new contact - bearing five three zero, range - five...no...three thousand metres - missile warning - they're...."

*

Lt Raelyn didn't think - couldn't - think - she just smacked the console and before the startled bridge crew - the stars outside turned to lines and the GDI Heavy Cruiser leapt away...