Supernova Blitz

Chapter 8: The Alien Battleship Part 1

Hancock comes to in a weightless drift. It's surreal, at first, and it takes him several seconds to make sense of his surroundings. He can only hear his regulator and his own body noises. Shrapnel floats in his field of view, and he can see the seats of the cockpit ahead of him.

However, he is no longer in an enclosed ship. He is partially enclosed, but the hard vacuum of space is nearby. The only reason he is even close to the ship is the fact his boots magnetized to a wall after he was ragdolled. The young marine flexes, checking his aching body carefully for breaks. Fortunately, his suit seems to have held, as well as his bones –if only barely-.

Hancock regains his bearings, standing up carefully. He looks around what remains of the ship. Neither Dr. Lopez nor Sergeant Marvoni are in sight. Hancock checks for his rifle. The standard issue assault rifle is nowhere to be found, but he does find his grenade launcher floating lazily against his back. Its sling is still tethering it to him.

The young marine carefully walks the wall of the lazily spinning wreckage. His magnetized boots and inertial controls are holding up for now, which are good. Once at the opening, he cautiously peers out.

Hancock recoils instantly from uncontrollable vertigo, as well as a sudden fear of 'heights' as it dawns on him. He is nearly infinitely high up in virtually EVERY possible direction. As in, if he loses his footing and slips free of the wreckage he's on now, he will float helplessly potentially forever in the unforgivingly dark voids of space. His only respite in that thought is his limited air supply –or rather, recycling time-, which means he'll asphyxiate long before eternity.

Alone.

In the cold empty void of space.

Falling endlessly.

Just before he gives up and slumps against the floor, he spots the other half of the stolen transport ship. In it, he can see two human figures; Sergeant Marvoni, lazily floating and anchored only by his boots, and Dr. Lopez, huddled into a corner with her head tightly to her knees. She's already at the stage Hancock was just about to enter. Helplessness and fear have taken over.

Hancock suddenly remembers Little Bird's terrified expression once more as she was snatched from the bridge. Hancock made one choice that day, which is the only reason he is alive now. He can't save the whole of humanity. He can barely even protect himself. But, he would rather die trying to help someone else than live with an expression like Little Bird's burned upon his soul.

Hancock looks intently at the other wreckage. It's 100 feet of open space littered with debris. A lot can happen across 100 feet. He'll be almost helpless the whole time. Many, MANY variables separate him from reaching the other...

Hancock jumps. He's done thinking so hard. The greatest things to ever happen to him in his life have been on leaps of faith. He tries to steady his breathing, watching carefully ahead for anything that can stop his momentum. A flash below him draws his attention. Another artillery shot fired from the Polonia slams the alien battleship. However, the alien ship doesn't return fire. In fact, it's simply turning to align more directly with the Polonia. Hancock turns his attention back on his path. All three of them have only one chance at survival.

Dr. Lopez nearly springs clear up to the ceiling when a body tumbles suddenly into her half of the ship. Hancock scrambles to magnetize his feet to any surface, managing to grip the ceiling from an awkward crouch. He pants, asking over the short range radio in his helmet, "Can you hear me, Doc?"

She stares at him silently. He asks again, knowing she's probably hearing him, but scared. "Doc?"

She suddenly shakes her head clear, nodding. He adds, "Good. Your short range radio is activated by an ocular tracker. Simply look at the right side of your screen and blink 3 times quickly." There's a pause.