{"sf1_id":782293,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Dead Space Dissolution Chapter Two: Untimely Discovery","author":"LucarioZer0","words":1705,"posted_at":"2014-11-15T19:57:00.000Z","tags":["Clean","Plot Development","dead space"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/782293-dead-space-dissolution-chapter-two-untimely-discovery","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/782293","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=782293\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Chapter Two:Untimely DiscoveryMara returned the Captain's salute. \"I'm Mara Brosson. I'm\nthe CO of this mission.\"She pointed first to me, then to Wardy. \"These two are the\nsecurity officers under my command--Corporals Enneth Mason and Wardy Lesanch.\nThe other two are Donio Lezal and Juster Barnand. They're here to assist with\nrepairs.\"Captain Bennes nodded. \"That's good. We lost more than a few\ngood techs in the accident. I'm sure they'll go a long way toward getting us\nout of here. But where are my manners? I've yet to introduce you to the surly\ngentleman standing beside me. This is Lieutenant Johnny River. I command the\nship and her crew, but he's the one in charge of the on board contingent of\nmarines.\"The Lieutenant gave a curt nod. \"Basically, his guys do the\nflying, and mine do the dying.\"Donio leaned in close to me and whispered, \"I take back\nanything I've ever said about Mara. This guy makes her look like a bright ray\nof sunshine.\"Inappropriate though it may have been, I had to admit Donio\nhad a point. I knew that behind closed doors Mara could be perfectly kind and\ngentle, but under most circumstances she could be pretty gruff. I hadn't met\nanyone before that I could call more serious than Mara in the eight years that\nI had known her, but this Lieutenant had broken that streak with a single dark,\nhumourless remark.Captain Bennes shook his head. \"You'll have to forgive the\nLieutenant. Years of military service have made him a bit rough around the\nedges. But that's beside the point. How soon can you begin unloading the\nreplacement parts?\"\"As soon as we can get some help from your crew Captain. We\ncan't handle the unloading ourselves.\" Mara replied. \"I'd also like to ask that\nyou brief me on what happened here.\"Bennes nodded. \"Very well, I'll get some of my men to work on\nthe cargo. The Lieutenant and I will be waiting at the lift down that way.\"He pointed in the direction of the lift and added, \"Please\njoin us when you're ready Miss Brosson.\"He then gestured to River and the two of them set off across\nthe Flight Deck, leaving us alone. Mara turned to us once they were out of\nearshot. \"Alright, Wardy, I want you, Donio, and Juster to remain here during\nthe offloading process. Once it's complete I want you to assess the damage and\nreport to me. En, I want you to accompany me.\"She motioned for us to wait for a moment then returned up the\nramp into the Defiant. When she came back a moment later she was holding two\npistols and had a third at her belt. \"There's something I don't trust about\nthose two. I'm probably being paranoid, but better safe than sorry.\"She handed one of the weapons to me and the other to Wardy.\n\"Stay on your toes, but try not to get jumpy. Alright everybody, synch up your\nRIGs. Let's get this done as quick as we can. En, let's go.\"I followed after her as she set off down the walkway that the\nCaptain and Lieutenant had taken. As we walked I took note of anything that\ncaught my eye. One of the reasons I was good at my job was that I was\nobservant. I would often notice things that others would overlook or think of\nas trivial. That was exactly what I was doing. I was looking for anything that\nseemed suspicious, or out of the ordinary. As it was I had already thought of a\nfew questions to ask Captain Bennes.After a moment or two we met up with the Captain and\nLieutenant River, the two of them waiting for us. The Captain quirked a brow\nwhen he noticed we were armed, but made no mention of it, instead motioning for\nus to enter the lift behind him. The four of us squeezed in and Bennes set it\non a path to the bridge. He then began to explain what had happened aboard the\nship. \"In short Miss Brosson, I don't really know what happened. None of us do.\nWe were traveling through Shock Space when an explosion rocked the ship. Something\nhad gone horribly wrong in the drive section. Whatever happened killed most of\nthe engineering crew that were in the vicinity. Their bodies--or what we could\nrecover of them--are on our Medical Deck now. That explosion tore us out of\nShock Space, crippling our engines. We had just enough mobility and power to\nestablish an orbit around Kreemar. We sent out our distress signal, and we've\nbeen waiting ever since.\"The lift came to a stop and the doors slid open. The four of\nus stepped out and began walking toward the bridge, passing a number of crew\nmembers along the way. As we walked Bennes continued to relay information. \"Unfortunately\nour long range transmitters were damaged, so we couldn't get out more than out\ninitial signal. All we've been able to do is float here, and hope. Any\nquestions?\"Mara shook her head. \"You seem to have summed up the\nsituation very well.\"I cleared my throat. \"Actually I have a few questions. Three,\nto be exact.\"Bennes looked me over briefly then said, \"Very well Corporal.\nWhat would you like to know?\"\"Well first, I've noticed that many of the crew members' RIGs\nare showing less than optimal health, some even yellow. Is the ship running low\non medical supplies?\"Bennes nodded. \"Our supplies of Medical Gel were greatly\ndepleted after the accident. Actually, they were low before the accident. Now\nit's worse. We have men who are dying on our Medical Deck, and we can barely\nkeep them stable. We're heavily rationing our medical supplies.\"I nodded. \"Sensible. Speaking of the accident, are you sure\nit was an accident? I've seen drive explosions before. I used to work security\nfor a lot of salvage ops. Drive explosions--especially emanating from the Shock Point\nDrive--tend to destroy most of the ship in the process. The damage I saw when we\ndocked looked more like it was intended to\ncripple the ship.\"The Captain stopped and gave me a hard look. \"Are you suggesting\nsabotage?\"\"Yes,\" I answered, \"It seems like a possibility.\"Bennes scowled. \"I have worked with the entire crew of this\nship for the better part of five years. Not one of them would do such a thing.\"\"Fine. But what about the Marines on board?\" I asked.Lieutenant River growled. \"Not a chance in hell. They know\nfull well I would kill them myself if they even considered a stunt like that.\"I sighed in defeat. \"Fine.\"I felt they weren't realistically approaching the situation,\nbut I let the topic drop as we started down the corridor again.Several seconds of silence passed before the Captain spoke\nagain. \"You said you had three questions. What was the third?\"I hesitated then said, \"Well, when we docked I noticed\nsomething that may or may not be important. In the shuttle bay, there were\nenough places for three shuttles to dock. One spot was taken by one of the Spirit's\nshuttles. Then the Defiant took another. So then, was there ever another\nshuttle in that bay? And if so, where is it?\"Benes didn't answer immediately, but after a moment said, \"You're\na very observant man, Corporal. Yes, there was another shuttle. As for where it\nis...it's down on Kreemar.\"Mara scowled. \"Why? What would be worth going down to the\nplanet for?\"\"A few hours before your arrival Miss Brosson, we picked up a\nstrange signal from the planet's surface. I ordered a team down to the surface\nto investigate the source.\"I shook my head. \"That makes no sense. Kreemar is\nuninhabited, isn't it?\"Bennes nodded. \"Yes it is. From what we can tell, it's something\nsimilar to an old S.C.A.F. signal.\"But what would the Sovereign Colonies have been doing on\nKreemar? And how could there still be anyone there?\" Mara asked.\"I don't know. That's why I had a team go down to\ninvestigate. We should actually be hearing from them soon.\" The Captain stopped\nin front of a pair of doors. \"We've reached the bridge.\"Bennes punched a code into a keypad on the wall and the doors\nslid open with a hydraulic hiss. We all walked trough, the doors closing behind\nus. It was immediately clear that the accident had taken a toll on more that\njust the engineering crew. Looking around the room I could see a number of the\nconsoles were unattended, some looking as though they hadn't been used in days.Captain Bennes turned to face us and spread his arms. \"Welcome\nto the bridge. We've managed to keep most everything up and running thanks to\nour remaining bridge crew.\"Mara nodded. \"It's pretty impressive that you've managed to\nmaintain the ship so well after the damage. You must've led the crew well\nthrough the crisis.\"\"Thank you, but I don't relish what comes next. Once we're\nback in colonized space I'll be tasked with informing the families of those who\ndied. Losing someone under your command is difficult, but I've always felt it\npales in comparison to seeing the heartbreak of those who loved--\"Bennes was cut off by his RIG Link activating, the hologram\nscreen appearing about a foot in front of him. For a few seconds it only showed\nstatic then cleared to show a soldier's helmet. The soldier spoke, his voice\nslightly mechanized by his helmet's filters. \"Captain, recon team reporting in.\nAs was suspected, the source of the signal was aboard an old S.C.A.F. cruiser.\nLooks like it crashed here a long time ago. No sign of the crew.\"Bennes nodded. \"Excellent work. The ship still has power then\nyes? Have you managed to salvage any data from it?\"The soldier hesitated. \"Actually sir, the ship seems to have\nonly enough power to relay the signal. And...the ship itself isn't generating the\nsignal sir.\"All of us were confused by that information. It made no\nsense.\"What is the signal coming from then?\" Bennes asked.Again the soldier hesitated. \"It...well we traced the signal\nsir. It seemed to be coming from the cargo hold. So we followed it to the\nsource and we found...\"He trailed off, prompting the Captain to ask, \"Found what?\"\"Well...uh...assuming that it is what we think it is...then...we\nfound a Marker.\""}