Tales of the Stars

Chapter 9 - Boarding

"Why do you want to be a spaceship captain?"

"I want to be like you were, flying between planets and seeing new horizons!"

"You do know how dangerous space is, right? Why not just take a vacation to orbit like all the other star-seekers do?"

"But if I become a captain, I'll be free to go wherever I want to, anywhere in the solar system! Besides, space is such a beautiful place. What more could I ask for than to be free among the stars?"

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"Dorian?"

Dorian could hear Marisa's voice calling to him. His hearing was muffled, and his vision was too blurry to see anything.

"Dorian! Can you hear me?" Dorian's vision cleared, and he saw Marisa staring intently at him, her hands holding the sides of his helmet.

"Yes, I can hear you," he replied. His head hurt. Around him he could see that the lights had gone out and the metal walls of the bridge had been warped in multiple areas.

"Oh, thank god." Marisa sighed in relief before activating her radio. "The captain's ok!"

"Can't talk, fighting aliens," said Travis rapidly.

"Wait, what?" questioned Dorian.

"We crashed into the aliens," explained Marisa, turning her attention towards the tablet in her hands. "Our ship has been depressurized and we've lost power, but we still have one of Travis' drones left. The enemy vessel has lost most of its weapons, but now the aliens are trying to board our ship."

Dorian blinked slowly, processing this information.

"I'm going to need backup in hallway B!" shouted Travis.

"Where's Sarah?" Dorian asked him, still a little disoriented.

"She's on her way to the engine room to assess the damage. I would go myself, but, you know... aliens," Travis answered as he fired another shot.

"I'm on my way, Travis. Marisa, stay here and control the drone." Dorian unfastened himself from his chair and moved to the side of the bridge, opening the door manually. He then pushed himself down the hall towards Travis.

Entering hallway B, Dorian saw that the entire left side was destroyed, exposing the hall to space. Travis was standing in the middle of the hall with his rocket launcher, his magnetic boots holding him to the floor.

"Dorian!" exclaimed Travis, as Dorian used a railing to halt his movement. "Things are about to get crazy. Take this!" Travis opened a hidden compartment in the wall and retrieved an assault rifle, handing it to Dorian.

"Have you filled the entire ship with weapons?" asked Dorian, baffled. Travis was about to reply, but suddenly turned to the side, eyes wide.

"Watch out!" he exclaimed as he kicked off of Dorian, sending them both flying in opposite directions, just as the area they were standing in was peppered with bullets. Dorian grabbed a doorframe, stopping his momentum. He moved back towards the opening.

Beyond the hole in the hallway was a short expanse of space between the Hopeful Stargazer and the alien ship. The alien ship had a massive hole in its side and several figures were peeking out and firing at them with their weapons. Travis fired a shot from his rocket launcher and the figures quickly scattered. The explosion made the hole even bigger.

"Well, I'm out of rockets," sighed Travis, tossing his weapon away and drawing a pistol from his side. "We need to jump."

"What?" said Dorian, very confused at Travis' reasoning.

"If we don't eliminate these aliens, we won't be able to escape."

"I can provide cover fire," stated Marisa over the radio. Just then, the remaining drone appeared and shot a kinetic projectile at the alien ship.

"Ok, now jump! Don't think about it!" exclaimed Travis as he hurled himself across the void.

Dorian took a deep breath, looked towards his destination, and leapt.

As soon as the Hopeful Stargazer had lost its pressurization in the crash, no sound could be heard other than the other crew members over the radio. Now, as Dorian launched through the nothingness of space towards the alien ship, there was no sense of feeling aside from his suit and the gun in his hands.

After a few breathless, serene moments, Dorian slammed into the interior wall of the enemy ship and all his senses came rushing back. It was time to fight.