The interior of the shuttled rattled as we picked up speed. I gripped the sides of the seat tighter, and struggled to keep down the slimy chunks of the pre-flight nutritional glue the ship cooks so kindly designated as “food”. I shook my head to clear the nausea, to little avail, as it only made my head slam around inside my helmet.

Tim and several of the security detail gave me odd looks.

Lauren’s voice suddenly filled the small area inside the transport shuttle.

“Alright, everyone, listen up.” She undid the harness holding her to the flight chair, stood, and patrolled the interior of the ship. “Here’s the general gist of our operation here today.” She ran her hands through her military buzz cut, and brushed the loose strands back into place. “Now as most of you know, after our jump here earlier we…”

I stopped focusing on her and turned my attention to the thick glass window beside me. Far, far in the distance, I could make out the shape of the SRV Kotonoke, the ship we rode in on. The flashing yellow signifiers could still be seen blipping in and out of existence. I adjusted my view and the other object of interest fluttered into sight.

The HWSS Diaboli.

Or should I say the missing and presumed lost HWSS Diaboli.

The ship had disappeared a decade ago, completely gone from the records of history.

Until now.

We had been in the sector doing a routine salvage job when our flash travel had dumped us out in the arse end of space. Nothing around for several AUs except the hallowed remains of one of the most sought after vessels in history.

So, it made sense for us to make a little visit and see the sights.

Something struck me hard in the shoulder and I zoned back into the situation at hand. Lauren was looking down at me, and even through the opaque visor on her helmet, I knew she was giving me one of her stares.

“Will, you daydreaming again?”

“Probably trying not to vomit.” One of the guards quipped.

I might have been offended if he wasn’t partially right. I shifted in my seat, as much as the flight harness would allow.

“Not at all, just imagining how nice it would be to have a proper meal.” I answered.

Lauren sighed, and shook her head. “Just tell these guys what we’re doing when we land.” She returned to her seat and strapped herself back in. “And keep it simple, wouldn’t want to overexert some of the minds here.” She looked at the guard who had made the comment earlier.

I removed my PDA from a pouch on my suit, and keyed it to life, tapping through various buttons.

“Well, let’s see. Preliminary scans from the Kotonoke show that the Diaboli’s reactor is currently offline, with odd fluctuations at random intervals, usually a sign of tampering or damage. Everything else is offline as well, which includes the fundamentals like life support and engines.” I looked at the crew around me. “Goal is to get in there, see if we can’t pump some life into the reactor and get the ship running again.”

I saw Lauren nod her head. “And what can you tell us about the Diaboli?”

I scoffed, “About as much as anyone else. Disappeared in her maiden voyage back in 3401, and has been missing since. Military background, so we’ve got absolutely no solid intel besides some relatively simple design blueprints to rely on, but rumors point to some type of new tech or weapon design. Worth a fortune either way, I’d imagine.”

Several of the guards nodded their heads at that.

I couldn’t blame them. If we brought this puppy home, we’d have more than enough creds to leech off for the rest of our lives.

“Not much to go on,” Lauren said. “And what about that field around the ship. Didn’t engineering say it wasn’t from the hull of the Diaboli?”

I shrugged, “Definitely too small to be debris. Looks more like little shards of scrap. Possible from whatever the Diaboli was carrying when she set sail. It’s doesn’t appear to be radiated, which is a good sign. We’ll get Tim to salvage a sample before we leave.”

“Alright, I want everybody to switch to comms and give a test.” Lauren declared.

Several responses of “Check” came in, including my own, broadcasted from the speaker inside my helmet.

“We’re landing at the shuttle bay, scans showed no signs of life, but everyone just be careful in case.” Lauren added in over the intercom. “Ten years is a long time, but it’s not that long. Could be anything on this ship.”

Red lights came on in the cabin, and I felt force push me back into my seat as the ship turned.

“Entering visual range of the Diaboli now.” One of the pilots declared over comms.

I strained to look out the window I was by, but all I could see was the phosphorus cloud of orange particles that surrounded the Diaboli.

And they disappeared as an immense shadow filled my vision.

“Brace for landing.”

The ship jerked upwards as we rose into the underbelly of the Diaboli. Space was replaced by absolute blackness.

“We can’t see anything, Dave.” Lauren announced.

“Give me a second, Ma’am.” The pilot responded over comms.

One by one, lights flickered on over the hull of our transport vessel. Bright, yellow rays of illumination cut through the shroud of darkness, and great walls of horribly rusted steel greeted us on all sides. In the beams of light gleamed the same orange particles as I saw outside.

“You able to close the bay doors?” Lauren asked.

“Uh… negative, initial scans were right, there’s no power anywhere on this thing.” Dave’s voice answered loudly over the speakers. “You’re probably gonna have to hook up a few batteries to a terminal and do it manually.”

I heard Lauren sigh.

“Alright, everyone, get your gear and check your suits. The last thing I want is to have to bring you back to the Kotonoke and microwave your ass back to life because you stepped out into space with a suit that wasn’t sealed.”

I checked the joints on my space suit. The grey mix of fabric and thin plates of metal jingled slightly. I made sure the gloves were attached properly, and everything that my 02 was hooked in correctly to my helmet. I also checked the little display on my right wrist to ensure that my suit thrusters were topped off with fuel.

100% 02 and fuel. Everything looked okay.

 I gave a thumbs up to Lauren, as did the rest of the crew.

“Alright, pop the doors.” She declared.

There was a monstrous hiss as the air in the cabin deflated. Seconds later, the doors on the side of the shuttle jutted open.

“Watch your step. No gravity, so be careful with the gear, and watch the thrusters on your suit.” Lauren said as she leaped out. She floated for a few seconds before engaging the thrusters on the back of her suit and bottom of her feet. She oriented herself towards the shuttle and waved on the rest of the crew. The security team was the next out, carrying their rifles and throwing their backpacks on the floor of the shuttle bay as they thrusted down.

Tim and I were the last to leave, carrying the computer parts and battery powered generators needed to give us a mobile power source. The weightlessness still turned my stomach over and over, and I prayed that we’d be able to get some life support systems running in here.

Once we were clear of the shuttle, Lauren gave an all clear to the pilots, and they settled the ship down alongside the bay door, before powering down everything except the lights.

Lauren gave a nod to the one of the military guys, who turned around to say something to the rest of the team. They turned on the lights attached to the bottom of their rifles and began searching around the shuttle bay.

“Tim, Will, do you copy?” Her voice came in through my helmet speakers. “Find a terminal and get some of those batteries hooked up, see if we can’t close this door and turn the lights on.

I turned to Tim, and watched him fumble with the gear he was carrying for a few seconds. His white technician spacesuit stood out even in the darkness. I walked over to help him manage some of the stuff he was carrying.

“Thanks.” He said.

“Don’t mention it.” I replied as I strapped some of the batteries to the hooks on my suit.

Tim turned his flashlight on, pointing the ray of light in various directions. “Come on, I saw a terminal over here on the way in. Let’s just get this done and go home.” He said as he walked.

I chuckled as I followed him, “No sense of adventure, huh?”

“Not on a top secret, possibly deadly military vessel than went missing a decade ago, no, not really. Maybe if this was the Venus Sunshine Cruise, I’d be more than willing to stick around longer than I needed to.”

“Come on, Tim, we’re the first people here in ten years. Isn’t that the least bit exciting? Just imagine the headlines when we get back, or the creds.”

I was just trying to egg him on. I just wanted to get my check and cash it in as soon as possible, with the least amount of screwing around involved.

“I guess… that might be okay.” Tim laughed weakly.

Lauren’s spoke in my ear. “Still no readings on all this orange shit, Will?”

I pulled out my PDA again and tapped the button on the side. Even in here, the atmosphere was still full of those particles. The light from Tim’s flashlight caused them to glisten as we continued to walk.

The device dinged, sending back info. I shook my head and sighed, before keying the general comms line. “Nope, just some of metal, apparently. We’ll be able to flush it if we can get some life support systems online.”

“Keep an eye on it, regardless.” Lauren said.

“Will do.”

“…Odd looking thing.” Came Tim’s voice somewhere in front of me.

I pocketed the PDA, and pointed my flashlight in the direction I had heard him. I spotted him ahead of me, standing by one of the shuttle bays terminals, next to one of the orange particles, looking at it.  From this distance, it looked somewhere near the size of a golf ball, floating through the air.

Tim reached out a hand and poked the object. As soon as his glove touched the particle, it broke apart and turned to dust, disappearing from view.

I walked up to him, and nudged his shoulder. “No sense of adventure and already playing with potentially deadly foreign contagions. Seems kind of hypocritical, huh?” I began to unload the gear next to the terminal.

He stumbled back. “W-wait…. You... you said it wasn’t dangerous!”

“I said it wasn’t lethal, different thing all together. Now help me get some power going before you die.”

“You asshole.” Tim replied as he removed the side panel from the terminal and began connecting wires to the batteries.

I plugged a cable into the side of the terminal and gave the other end to Tim, and he connected the batteries. There was a few seconds of pause, and the terminal lit up, it’s screen shining with a cyan color light.

Tim rose and began typing at the terminal.

“And… let there be light!” He declared as he tapped on a button.

Thunderous bangs echoed through the bay as lights on the ceiling boomed on, illuminating the area. The shuttle bay doors also closed shut, and hissing air came flowing in from the fans above as the life support cycled.

I looked around the area, finally able to see were exactly we were.

The shuttle bay was huge, the entrance our ship had come in through was only one out of a dozen other doors. Ruins of rusted fighters and transport vessels littered the bay, looking like they had never been touched. Large shipping crates lined the corners of the room, carrying a mixture of general supplies and food, if the opened containers were anything to judge by. Rows of escape pods lined the far wall of the bay, each with identification lights above the entrance. Two pods were marked green, indicating they were able to be used, and the other few dozen pods all glowed the exact same red colour, meaning they were either broken or already used.

It looked like a typical loading area.

What had gone wrong here?

The security team and Lauren eventually came over, and Lauren gave Tim a pat on the shoulder.

“Good work, Howard. Is that power through the area, or just the room?”

Tim shook he head and he continued to work with the terminal. “Nope, just the bay. Going to have to get the reactor working for the rest of the ship. I should be able to get some doors working, though, to get us a route there.”

“Anything to report?” Lauren turned towards the security team.

“The bay’s empty, Ma’am. Just us and the dust.”

“Which is still harmless.” I chimed in.

Lauren nodded. “Alright, Will, Jones and I will head towards the reactor and see if we can get the ship running. You five,” She pointed at several of the soldiers, “will take Tim to the bridge and see if we can’t get this thing back to the Kotonoke. “The others will stay here with the pilots and guard the ship.”
The soldiers saluted.

The door across from the terminal opened.

“Should be good to go.” Tim declared as he stepped away from the terminal. “There’s no sign of a lockdown, so any doors should open. I’d take some extra batteries with you, Will, just in case.”

I nodded, bending down to strap some of the extra batteries to my suit.

“If there’s any trouble, Tim, we’ll let you know.” Lauren said.

She looked around at everything. “Now, I don’t need to warn you about ghosts or anything, but be on guard. We don’t know what’s here. The chances of finding anyone alive are slim, but just be careful.

The security team nodded.

“Oh shit, almost forgot.” Lauren sighed, before keying the radio on her suit. “Kotonoke, this is Commanding Officer Lauren, do you copy? Over.”

Nothing responded but static.

“Figures.”

“Could be the debris field.” Tim offered. “Or one of the ship’s systems that we couldn’t detect.”

Lauren shrugged. “Comms still work for us, so everyone keep a close watch and try to contact the Kotonoke if they get a chance. Alright, everyone move out!”

Lauren walked to the doors, and I followed, with Jones taking the rear.

“I want routine check-ins every half-hour and make sure that-“

As soon as I cleared the threshold of the door, the bulkhead came slamming down. I turned, just in time to catch the colossal weight of metal come crashing down onto Jones, who could only look up at it descended. The sheer force instantly reduced his body to mush, and peppered the air with a fine mist of blood and guts. Pieces of him showered down on Lauren and me, as we stumbled back from the door.

The ground shuddered as an explosion rocked the shuttle bay. I heard Tim scream beyond the door. Lauren grabbed me by the color and dragged me to my feet.

“TIM. What the hell was that?” Lauren yelled into the comms.

“The system just locked me out, and one of the escape pods just fired. There’s alarms going up across the board from depressurized compartments and fires aboard the ship. I don’t know! It wasn’t there before!”

Lauren smashed her fist into the wall. “Just get these fucking doors open, Tim!”

“Uh… it won’t let me. I can’t do anything from here. The terminal shorted itself out as soon as the door came down.”

“You better start offering ideas, and not excuses.”

Tim stammered over the comms, “The reactor is out best bet. If you get the power on, all the doors should cycle and open. Besides that I don’t know, we could torch the doors.”

“Yeah, and wait here for days?” Lauren spat back. “We don’t have that kind of time. God damn it!” She paced back and forth. “Everyone just stick to the plan, alright. And fucking watch out where you’re stepping. Now get to the bridge, Tim. And make sure he gets there, Marshall.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” One of the guards responded over the comms.

I stood still, looking down at the blood that covered me. I picked a piece of flesh off my visor, hands trembling as I struggled not to vomit.

Lauren punched my shoulder. “Come on, Will. We got to get to that reactor.”

I was hyperventilating, my vision was blacking out. “He just… he was there… and then…”

She shook me and knocked her helmet against mine. “Look at me, Will. LOOK AT ME.”

I stopped staring and the fleshy remains of Jones that covered me, and glanced up at Lauren. Her intense green eyes were focused on me.

“Now, you’re gonna listen, and listen well. I don’t plan on dying just yet, alright, and you’re the only one here who can start that reactor. So, you’re going to come with me and do that voluntarily, or I’m going to make you come with me, and that second option is a whole lot less pleasant and fun than the first option, okay? Just nod if you understand.

I nodded, barely able to understand what she was saying through the shock.

“Alright then, just follow me.”

Even though my brain didn’t work, my feet did.

---

 
“Kotonoke, do you copy? Over.” The worry in Lauren’s voice increased with every failed attempt to hail the Kotonoke.

And yet, still nothing responded.

“Tim, Marshall, does anyone FUCKING copy? ANYONE AT ALL?”

Nothing.

Lauren clenched her fists tightly as I watched, seemingly trying to control her anger, as she walked.

Empty hallway after empty hallway we had gone through, with nothing to see but that familiar cloud of orange particles that gave way as we passed. Most of the rooms had been barren, and not used at all, or left in a state that showed the crew had simply vanished. Beds unmade, pairs of boots with one boot missing, and half eaten meals in the cafeteria.

Everything about this was wrong.

And that was what I was shouting that at Lauren.

“There’s no one here! They’re all gone, or all dead, and I’m not sure what’s worse! We need to get out of here now. Just cut a hole in one of the windows and use our thrusters to get back to the Kotonoke.”

Lauren walked ahead of me, not listening.

“Screw this shit, this ship isn’t worth our lives. You still can’t get hold of the Kotonoke¸ or Tim. They’re probably dead, and we are too if we-“

Lauren had stopped walking and I smashed into her back, toppling to the ground. I looked past her at why she had stopped. A sign labelled ‘Reactor’ stood just beyond her. She turned to me and grabbed me by the collar.

“You were one more word away from getting smacked real, real fucking hard, so be thankful that this sign saved your sorry ass. Now get up and get in there and get this fixed, alright?”

I got back on my feet and went to the terminal sat next to the door, prepared to use the batteries I had pocketed earlier to jump start the terminal, however…

“Weird.”

“What?” Lauren spat.

“The terminal has power.” I tapped on a key, and the reactor room doors opened. We both entered.
“What the hell?”

The massive room before us crackled blue with electricity as the reactor turbines spun. Huge spires of conductors lined the wall as fuel tubes pumped back and forth.

“But… the scans showed the ship had no power?” I frantically checked my PDA, and sure enough the device’s scans still came back negative. “That’s not possible.”

Lauren shouldered past me. “Look at this.” She pointed at a screen next to one of the cooling veins for the reactor. “Apparently this thing is producing 1829 megawatts of power, three times over the recommended amount.”

I shook my head, and walked towards her. Red warning signs covered the screen, and the power limit bar stretched off the screen of the console. “But where is all this power going to? Nothing on the ship works! There’s nothing here to use power!”

“I don’t know and I don’t really want to know. Cycle the power. Tim said that should get the doors open, and then we can regroup and leave.”

“How do you know they’re no-“ I started.

“If comms between this ship and the Kotonoke weren’t working, what’s to say our comms wouldn’t work the further we went in. “ Lauren cut me off. “And if you imply any more of my crew are dead, then you’re going to have to drag yourself back to the docking bay, alright. Just shut up and get it done, okay?”

I nodded. “Give me a sec.” I pressed a few inputs on the console, and did a quick reset of the reactor.

The blue pulsing behind me dimmed for a moment before bursting back to life. The humming increased, and the room began to shake. The energy bar on the console began to grow again, the output of the reactor increasing as the room grew brighter and brighter.

“What did you do!?” Lauren yanked me away from the console by the arm.

“Nothing, I swea-“

The comms in my helmet buzzed.

“Lauren, Lauren are you there!? God damn it, answer!”

It was Tim.

She let go of me, and opened her comms. “Where the hell have you been? Where are you?!”

Loud breaks of static burst through the comms from Tim’s side. “It not just particles, Lauren, it’s not just particles!” Tim repeated over and over.

“What are you talking about, Tim. Calm down, and explain.”

“They’re machines! It’s not dust!” Tim screamed. “Little, tiny machines that crawl and infect. The Diaboli wasn’t carrying a weapon, it was the weapon! It killed the crew when they sabotaged the ship. That’s why it was in the middle of nowhere. We were never meant to find it.”

A harsh metallic whining alarm noise filled the comms.

“Tim, what the hell is that?” Lauren shouted.

Loud hissing threatened to drown out Tim’s voice. “It knows we’re on the bridge. It closed the door on us and started the venting protocols. Listen, there’s no time. Overload the reactor, and get back to the shuttles. Use the E.M.P we left there to fry little suckers before you leave. Whatever you do, do not carry them back to the Kotonoke. Do no-” There was a loud whooshing sound over the comms and Tim’s voice disappeared.

A second later the entire ship shuddered, causing Lauren and I to stumble.

“Tim, are you there!? TIM!?” Lauren yelled into the comms.

No response came.

She smashed her fist into the console and shattered the screen, before grabbing me and dragging me over to the coolant pipes.

“Take the batteries that you have and give them to me.”

“What are you doing?” I asked her.

She picked an object out of the pockets on her spacesuit and revealed it to me. Explosives charges. She placed them on each of the batteries I handed to hear, and shoved them into the coolant duct.

“Putting this place out of its misery.” She pulled me to my feet, and hauled me to the reactor room doors. “I’d grab onto something if I were you.”

“Wait, you can’t blow that now! It might kill us!”

Lauren shrugged, “Better two of us than everyone on the Kotonoke,… or worse. We can’t afford to risk waiting too long.”

“Wait, how do you know those things aren’t already inside us, or the explosives? We might not even be able to leave.” I argued.

She gestured to the sky above. “I don’t see any orange shit here, Will. Either they don’t like this room, or all the electricity and radiation produced by the reactor doesn’t sit well with the bastards. Either way, it seems we’ll be okay for now. Just have to get back fast enough to use the E.M.P on one of the escape pods and hope for the best.” She thumbed the detonator.

“Wait!”

The cooling vent burst into fire, causing a chain of explosions to ruin the length of the tube into one of the reactor inputs. Instantly, alarms blared and lights flared.

“WARNING. REACTOR COOLANT FAILURE. REACTORS REACHING CRITICAL TEMPERATURE. WARNING.”

“That’s our cue to leave, Will.” Lauren turned and began sprinting down the halls, and I struggled to keep up.

---

The colossal grey doors eventually appeared at the end of my vision as we sprinted.

“Just a little further, Will.” Lauren panted.

Alarms and flashing warning lights lit up every corner of the ship and increasingly hazardous warnings kept being issued by the onboard computer through the ship intercom. Explosions and fire were raging across all systems of the ship.

WARNING. FIRE IN CREW COMPARTMENTS. WARNING. FIRE IN THE AMMUNITION DEPOT. WARNING. FIRE IN THE CAFETERIA.

The warnings just kept coming. This ship was falling apart with the two of us on it. The door was closer down, and we could see the shuttle bay in sight. Fires were raging across the ceiling, and a section of the ceiling had caved away, dropping what looked like ammunition all over the floor of the bay.

“Hurry up, Will!” Lauren called after me as she passed over the door threshold.

I half expected the entire thing to come down on me as I ran through it, and I blew a sigh of relief as it didn’t.

Lauren ran ahead to the discarded equipment pile the security team had left by out transport shuttle to grab the E.M.P device.  I ran towards the escape pods to check their status. The green flickering light of the last remaining escape pod sent chills of relief down my sweat-soaked back. I waved over Lauren.

“Come on!”

She walked towards me, carrying a rectangle shaped box that must have been the E.M.P.

The entire room groaned, and the ceiling bubbled away, and another section of the roof caved in, huge pieces of debris falling around Lauren. A massive shell smashed into the ground next to her and I held my breath awaiting the impending explosion.

Nothing happened, and Lauren sprinted forward.

“Almost though for a sec-“

The shuttle bay exploded as one of the dormant ships combusted in a sphere of fiery blue. Lauren disappeared in the flash that followed, and I was slung into the side of the wall. Something in my stomach adjusted in a way it shouldn’t have, and a tormenting wave of pain blew through my sternum.

“GOD DAMN IT. LAUREN?”

I pulled myself to my feet, ignoring the gnashing pain of my insides.

“LAUREN?”

I heard coughing in the distance, and I stumbled through the flickering red-darkness to find its source, feeling my way through the cloud of smoke and using the fires as my light source.

I found her body smashed against the side of the shuttle we arrived on, a huge piece of piping impaled directly through her stomach.

“Lauren!” I rushed to her side and crouched down, inspecting the damage.

I recoiled at her.

Her visor was smashed open on the right side, the glass dug deeply into her face and her eye. The other side of her face was burnt beyond all redemption.  Her lower body was bent at an impossible angle, and the display on her wrist flashed red with suit warnings.

“Hey, don’t look so down.” Her voice was weak, and her attempt at laughing faltered in a fit of painful coughing as her body convulsed.

“I’m going to get you out of here. We’ll flush your body back on the Kotonoke, don’t worry.” I moved to pick her up.

“NO!” She screamed, causing me to recoil. “This… thing… can not… WILL NOT get on the Kotonoke, okay?”

“We’ll figure something out on the trip over there, I promise.”

“Don’t go saying things you can’t keep, Will. Look at me, I’m not going anywhere and you know it.”

A dark circle of blood was beginning to forum underneath her body as she laid there.

I couldn’t do anything but look at her.

“Listen…” She took my hand. You take the escape pod and use the E.M.P as soon as you’re clear of the field and heading towards the Kotonoke. Someone has to get out of this. Please…” She placed the E.M.P box in my hands.

She smiled. “Now help me sit up and then get out of here, that’s an order.”

I moved her against the side of the shuttle and squeezed her hand before I turned towards the escape pods.

Red lights and klaxons sounded throughout the shuttle bay as the ship titled.

“WARNING. REACTORS CRITICAL. WARNING. REACTORS CRITICAL.”

I raced towards the escape pods and jumped into the control seat, closing the doors behind me and starting the ignition protocol. There was a solid thunk in the rear of the ship as the clamps released, and the bay doors opened. I put in the location of the Kotonoke in the navigation computer. I rested the E.M.P device on my lap.

I turned to look back at Lauren, and saw her broken body leaned against the ship. She raised an arm to salute, and I returned the gesture.

Then the pod launched.

I was forced back into my seat as the engines jumped to life and shot my through the depths of space.
I removed the E.M.P remote from the box and held the device in my hand. Through the front window of the escape pod, I watched as I passed through the dense orange cloud surrounding the Diaboli. It seemed to stretch on forever.

The Kotonoke was in view now. Had they moved closer? I didn’t remember them being this close to the Diaboli initially. Did they move when they hadn’t received any comms from us? Did the field spread? What had happened?

The escape pod shuddered intensely and the orange miasma around the front of the escape pod dissipated.

I was out.

I WAS OUT!

I slammed the handle of the E.M.P remote, and the device behind me triggered. The pod was consumed in a massive blue pulse, as the electronics sputtered and fried. The control interface died and the engines shorted out. Everything vanished into darkness, and the ship started spinning sharply.

I grit my teeth and closed my eyes.

The entirety of space rumbled behind me and whatever remained of the Diaboli exploded. Huge pieces of debris blew past the ship. Something grazed the side of the escape pod and th-

I awoke to alarms blaring and lights flashing. Consciousness drifted back slowly to me, the clouded vision in my eyes clearing slowly as my brain jumped back to life. I groaned as I moved.

I noticed that the comms on the navigation console were light up. I instantly tapped the console, and voice echoed out of the speakers in my helmet.

“This is the SRV Kotonoke to Officer Lauren, do you read? Once again, this is the SRV Kotonoke to anyone that was aboard the HWSS Diaboli; does anyone copy? Over.

I moved frantically to respond.

“Kotonoke, this is Engineer William Cooper aboard an escape vessel from the HWSS Diaboli. Do you copy, over?

There was a second of silence. The comms sputtered again.

“Cooper? What the hell is going on? What happened? We’re enroute to the wreckage HWSS Diaboli now. We’ll get you on the way.”

I slammed forward in my seat, almost bursting the harness. “Negative, Kotonoke, whatever you do, do not approach the Diaboli remains. That field you see around the Diaboli is a foreign contagion and extremely dangerous. DO. NOT APPROACH. DO YOU COPY?”

“Ahh… yes we do copy, Cooper. Uh… sit tight, we’ll have someone get you in a bit, but teams are still working on opening the other escape pod we picked up. Some of our system are acting up, but we’ll keep in contact.”

Other escape pod…? Had someone else gotten off the ship? No, that’s not possible, this was the only escape pod left. Unless…

Earlier…

I screamed.