Prolog
A deafening ‘BOOM’ shook the ship to its core. Barnes had to hold onto the table that held the medbot he was working on to not fall over. Zira yelped from the other side of the room. Fear and adrenaline snapped into Barens’ brain as his work station was bathed in sickly red light. Sirens wailed outside the sliding door to their workshop.
Zira cursed in her native tongue. “What’s going on?”
“Don’t know.” Barnes quickly ejected the personality chip he had been working on and shoved it into his pocket. “We need to head to the lifepods.”
“Agreed.” How Zira moved reminded Barnes of a weasel. Smooth and with purpose. She grabbed a few important and expensive pieces of equipment and shoved what she could into her jumpsuit pockets.
“All personnel, please report to your designated lifepod stations. This is not a drill. Again, please report to your designated lifepod stations.”
The feminine voice over the coms was far too calm for the situation they were in.
Barnes tried not to think as he gathered up a few of his things and headed to the door with Zira. He slapped the button on the sliding door to only be met with the full sound of the sirens shrieking. Zira had to pull her ears close to her head to not hurt them.
A few people were in the halls, most of them heading to lifepod bank D not far from them. Some were looking for others in their corridor. Barnes and Zira wasted no time following other crew members to the bank.
On their journey through the sea of people to the lifepods, Barnes tried to rack his brain for any kind of information that might figure out what had happened. Had one of the engines malfunctioned? That couldn’t be it, they get inspected every six hours. Had someone been smoking where they shouldn’t be? It’s possible. Were they being attacked? Not likely but not impossible.
At lifepod bank D, more than a few people were gathered around waiting for their turn at a pod. Barnes and Zira stood at the back of the crowd, but soon many more people showed up, pushing them into the middle.
The soft ’thunk’ of lifepods detaching from the ship were almost drowned out by the still blaring sirens above them. They were starting to give Barnes a headache.
Another loud rumble shook everyone in the bank, causing some to scream and some to curse. Barnes held onto Zira as she almost fell forward. People were starting to yell in both universal speech and their own native languages. Fear was almost tangible.
Far too long for either of their liking, Barnes and Zira filed into a small lifepod with two others that neither of them had seen. A big furry Ouran and an Inkin. The ship outside the pod looked like it was a murder scene with the red lights still flashing over them.
Without wasting any time, the Ouran closed the door behind them. All four of them slid into their seats and pulled the safety bar over them. If this was any other situation, Barnes might’ve thought that the safety bars looked like the ones roller coasters have back on earth.
“Everyone ready?” Barnes said when he saw everyone in their seats. Everyone nodded. The Inkin’s skin was slowly shifting colors.
Next to Barnes’ seat was a big red button with a picture of a cartoon spaceship on it. He slapped the button without thinking.
There was a ’thunk’ of the pod detaching from the ship, then everyone in it was thrown towards the door. The thrusters had activated as soon as it was a safe distance from the ship and huddled towards the black nothingness of space.
Out the little port window on the pod door, Barnes could see their ship, the Erebus. Just above the ship, there were two large military ships and three smaller ones. Not bigger than the Erebus by any means, but still decently sized. They descended upon their ship like wolves to a lame cow.
“If I may have your attention.” A familiar feminine voice said over the speakers in the pod. “There is a terrestrial planet approximately … one hour and thirty-six minutes away from our current location. Shall I set our course towards it?”
“Yes, please.” The Ouran responded.
“Understood. Setting course for … ALP-132.”
