Ark 7: The Sariel

Chapter 7: Unstable

"It's your eyes. They're ... more serious than they used to be. Like they've seen things they shouldn't have."
― Nicholas Sparks

I don't remember anything but waking up, I was alone in a dark room, there was a throbbing pain at the back of my head. I remembered the fight, I remembered Las, the round catching him in the chest, the sickening thud of him hitting the ground. It's my fault, all of it, I should have been able to pull the trigger, if I was stronger none of this would've happened. I needed to do something, anything, I needed to get out of here, wherever here is, I need to find Las...if he is still alive, how am I supposed to tell his wife? How am I supposed to explain that it's my fault?

A door opened and light poured into the room, I saw a form in the doorway.

"Jax? You in here?" I heard a voice say.

"Yea, it's...it's me...who are you?" I asked, unable to see the face of the man in the doorway.

"It's me Chief, we don't have much time, me and Alyx snuck in here to get you out" Chief replied walking into the room.

"Where are we?" I asked, standing up.

"In the rioters camp, they've taken the public center and the weapon batteries, we've managed to secure all the armories and hangars, the bridge is still under our control but the rioters keep attempting to take it" he explained helping me up from the ground.

"What about Las? Is he with you?" I asked, hoping he would say yes.

"No Jax, he's not here, we managed to get him back by trading some of their wounded for him. He's a tough one, but the injury took a lot out of him" Chief replied as we made our way to the door.

"But he's ok right?" I asked, still worried.

"I hope so Jax.....I hope so..." Chief responded as we walked into the corridor. We rushed through a series of corridors and tunnels until we came to a service hatch.

"This is the hatch that leads to the Analytical Department right?" I asked.

"Yea, c'mon we have to move" Chief said opening the hatch. We moved inside the service tunnel, following the tunnels path we arrived at the Analytics Department Access Hatch. Once inside I saw the full extent of the riots, there wasn't a single man or woman in the Security Station that wasn't injured in some way shape or form. It was chaos, I wanted to go find the medcenter they had Las in, but the Chief pulled me towards the Operations Center.

"Jax, there's something I didn't tell you....The rioters.....they took out the main stabilizer, the Ark will rip itself apart if we don't fix it...." Chief said as soon as we entered Ops.

"Wait.....how?" I almost fell over, the stabilizers kept the vibrations in the Arks hull from fracturing the metal alloys, fractures that grow into splits, splits that grow into breaks, breaks explode into the vacuum of space, ripping the Ark apart.

"They attacked there before they hit anything else, we didn't even know it happened until Jameson checked the ships status" Chief explained.

"Is it blown out? Deactivated? Shorted out? Power loss? I need more specifics before I can fix the thing!" I said as Jameson poked his head in. Jameson was part of Analytical, he could find any and every clue regarding what he was working on. He's bright but not very social, brown eyes, glasses, a buzz cut and was 30...I think, but if you knew him he's a great guy,funny in his own antisocial way.

"It's blown out Jax, looks like Reynes shot the thing a few times and called it good" Jameson replied as he walked towards Chief.

"Reynes? As in Scott Reynes? The guy Troy and Alyx arrested a few months ago for possessing unrefined opium?" I asked.

"Yup that's the one, also ex Security Core, which is why he's so dangerous" Jameson said.

"Well.....if the stabilizer is blown out I'm going to need help repairing it....and I know just the guy to help!" I said as I turned for the door.

"Jax?" I heard Chief say.

"Yea?" I asked, stopping a few feet from the door.

"Be careful kid, I don't want to have to explain to your mother how I let her son die" he said with a sigh.

"Don't worry boss, I'll be careful....just....watch Las for me ok? I....I don't want anything to happen to him..." I said as I left the room.

"I'll watch him....just....don't mess up..." I heard Chief say as the doors slid shut. This was unstable ground for us, and now we had go fix it, but first I need an assistant, and the best engineer I know is aboard The Sariel right now due to some unfortunate circumstances.

A/N: I felt the need for a break from really intense chapters, so this ones a bit laid back to allow you breathing room (you know who you are) and to show a bit more of what's going on right now aboard Ark 7. Hope you enjoyed!