Ark 7: The Sariel

Chapter 3: Distress Calls

"A little reckless bravery may end up saving your life."
― Henry Chancellor, The Forgotten Echo

I hadn't even had time to sit down for a debrief with the Chief before another alert came up. Apparently one of the other Arks, not one of the 7, had been hit by the same storm and was having problems with getting back into operation. This meant someone had to go and help them out, as one of the most qualified I was nominated along with Las and two riot specialists, Alyx and Troy. Alyx is turning 21 next week, she has blonde hair with a streak of red on the right side,she has blue eyes and a bright smile, her looks however are not shared with her brother Troy, Troy is 26, he has black hair and green eyes with a jagged scar across the left side of his face, the scar started at his brow and made its way down to his chin at an angle. Troy didn't smile much,in fact he was almost devoid of emotion, which is probably why he is one of our best Riot Specialists, willing to do whatever he has to, following orders to the letter.

As The Sariel moved to the damaged Ark we got ready, specialized gear made just for the situation, everyone was armed and ready. I learned the ships name was the Arcadian, and that it had lost all thrust and was currently "dead in the water" so to speak. The primary language aboard the ship was Spanish, and the main group there was either Spanish, Mexican and Puerto Rican.

"Aight boys and girls time to load up! Everyone on the shuttle, let's go!" Chief yelled at the four of us. We rushed up the ramp into the shuttle, as soon as we were all onboard the shuttle we took off towards Arcadian. As we approached the Ark I looked out the viewport. The Arcadian looked as though it had been karate chopped by an invisible hand, the middle was broken into a jagged crater big enough our shuttle could do barrel rolls inside of it.

"Arcadian this is the Shuttle Two-Four requesting to board, please respond, over" I heard the pilot speak into his comms.

"Este es el Arcadian, nuestra alimentación principal está fuera. Solicitar ayuda inmediata" a voice crackled back.

"Guys, can I get a translation up here please? I've got zero knowledge of Spanish" the pilot called back.

"They said, This is the Arcadian, our main power is out. Request immediate assistance" Las replied.

"Arcadian este es el equipo de socorro de la Sariel, estamos entrantes en sus coordenadas, por favor bahía abierta seis para que podamos aterrizar" Las said as he took over comms.

"Tiene permiso para el atraque, la bahía de seis está abierto" the voice crackled back.

"Gracias Arcadian estaremos a bordo de un momento, en espera de equipo de ayuda" Las replied. We docked just a few minutes later, Troy was the first one off the ramp. He jumped down with his shock rifle unslung and ready to fire if need be, Las and I came off next with Alyx bringing up the rear. We were met by a younger man, he looked closer to my age and was covered in grease and oil, and other assorted grime normal for an interior engineer.

"Hola, Como Estas mi amigos!" He greeted us with as surprisingly bright smile.

"Muy bein, Y tú?" Las replied.

"Thanks for coming to assist us, my name is Jõrge" the grime covered engineer told us.

"I'm Las, this is Jax, Troy, and Alyx" Las smiled as he reached to shake Jõrge's hand.

"Aight brothers, let's get to it. We've taken more damage than we can repair, atleast internally we are damaged beyond repair. I've been working for hours trying to stabilize the reactor, it's stable for now but I can't repair the damage to it." Jõrge explained as we walked down the corridors.

"If we can't repair the reactor than the ship is doomed, Jõrge what's the status of stability?" I asked.

"Well, we have approximately six hours to evacuate the ship before it atomizes everything within a five kilometer radius from the hull" he responded as we entered the lift to the crisis center.

"This is why I hate responding to Distress Calls" I heard Alyx whisper to Troy. I couldn't help but agree, hopefully we don't need to respond to anymore Distress Calls for awhile.

A/N: Spanish conversation was a bit rough, the basis is that the shuttle requests docking at Bay six, the Arcadian grants the request.