Bastion: Barracuda - Chapter Two - The Blue Planet

Bastion: Barracuda

-Chapter Two-

-The Blue Planet-

The engines stuttered and roared as they came to life. The engineer panicked and pulled levers and turned switches. The engine room wasn’t so much a technological marvel as it was a prehistoric steam train. One man kept the fire burning, his hands black and blue, his back bare and sweaty. He was in the depths of the ship, a place that people rarely visited. He was alone and he liked it that way. The engines moved up a gear and his workload increased, more levers, more switches, he opened the pulse furnace and threw in an entire bottle of ignition liquid, as if it was a BBQ and he was grilling steak. The red pulse engine throbbed with intensity as it blasted up through the ship and gave it power. It gorged on the wave of light as it penetrated the core. Rocky felt the boost in control and cranked the control stick forwards. Pura IV wasn’t too far away, it was outside the Europa Rim but it was an easy journey, no nebulas, no electrical static winds, not even a black hole. That made Frank more uneasy. Why recruit the help of him and his team if any cargo vessel could make the journey?

The engines calmed down and the power was being distributed evenly across the ship, the engineer sat down and swigged a large amount of water from his canister. Wise they called him, another nickname for another passenger. He has kept himself away from the others for most of his time on the ship. It’s not because he doesn’t like them, it’s because he doesn’t want to know where they’re going or what they’re doing. The jobs usually involved scenarios that the Empire frowned upon. It sent a small tickle down his spine every time he overheard the job. The tickle reminding him of the cloth. The conscience he left behind him when he joined the crew. But the dealings of those upstairs weren’t his concern, the engine was his baby, a pure and simple concept that kept his mind at ease. It was an old Stellar 16 engine, one of the few things that was still original on the ship. It sputtered and leaked energy constantly, providing absolutely no stability or consistency. But that’s what Wise liked about it, it kept him on his toes, finding new ways to fix components and problems. The more time he spent down here, the more his mind was occupied by something other than the manic happenstances upstairs.

Frank was in his quarters, he used the brief time before they reached the planet to get some rest, his eyes were heavy and were calling out to be closed. He only got a few minutes, his bunk was uncomfortable, metal shapes digging into his back. It didn’t matter anyway, he would be awoken by the intercom any second. There was a knock on his door. His eyes peeked open, hoping that it was just a creak in the ship. Another knock. He sighed and forced his body out of the bunk. He was still fully clothed except for his shirt. He flicked the lights on and moved towards the door, more slowly than needed to be. He opened the door.

“Frank I…oh were you sleeping?” Doc said, seeing his groggy eyes, it was hard to tell though, his eyes were always grimacing. But she could always see through him.

“No, what do you need?”

“Well you haven’t come down to see me, I need to check on your arm.” She said, she was referring to an old war wound that she has been treating, a malfunctioning blaster pulse hit him in the upper arm and the wound hasn’t healed since. Doc quickly looked him up and down, there were large white scars dotted around his torso and arms. As she mentioned the cut he put his hand on his shoulder. It was bleeding again. “Frank, you have to let me treat you, I knew you would just leave it.”

“I’m fine.”

“No you’re not, let me fix it.” She said, stepping into his room. He sighed again. They both sat on the bed and she examined it. The skin wasn’t repairing itself around the wound, Doc had to keep reapplying the stitches. She shook her head as she poked and prodded his arm. Her bright white fringe kept getting in the way and she brushed it out of her face. She wasn’t old, her hair was just white, a phenomenon of her genetics. It was short at the back and sides, neat. She opened her small medic bag and took out a needle and thread.

“You don’t need to do that by the way.” Frank said, trying to avoid all the fuss, his eyes were still begging him to collapse but they were losing.

“You really do annoy me sometimes Frank, you could lose a lot of blood by leaving this, and the pain must be frustrating.” She tied the thread around the needle’s eye and pierced it through his skin.

“You like doing this don’t you.” Frank said, shaking his head.

“Yeah, I loving coming all the way up to your cabin just to stick a needle in your arm.” She turned it slightly in his arm, sparking a wince from Frank. A smile crept slightly across his face and she returned the favour. She finished the stitching and sprayed a disinfectant on top of it. Frank put his hands on his face and wiped his eyes. Doc took notice and knelt down in front of him. She grabbed his arms and looked into his eyes.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Frank said.

“Have you been sleeping?” She asked.

“What? On the Bastion? Can’t you feel the engines through the walls?” Frank said. Doc squinted her eyes slightly. She has been part of Frank’s crew for the longest and the Bastion has been his ship for as long as she can remember, she knew for a fact that the vibrations didn’t disturb him but she let it go. He was a stubborn man and nagging him wasn’t the way to get through to him. She tapped him on the cheeks and pursed her lips.

“Just get some sleep okay? Doctor’s orders.”

Frank nodded, she grabbed her bag as the intercom buzzed, ringing through the cabin.

“Maybe another time.” He said, he leant over and pushed the answer button. “This is Frank.”

“I know that’s why I buzzed you.” Rocky’s blithe voicecrackled through.

“What do you want Rocky?”

“We’re here.” She said, Frank let go of the button and put his shirt on. He looked briefly back at the bunk. The temptation to forget everyone else and rest was overwhelming but he had a job to do.

The Bastion pulled into orbit around Pura IV, the blue planet. It had three lonely moons, harsh grey rock, reminiscent of Earth’s guardian moon, a distant memory now. Rocky checked the local area for life signs, the scanners beeped and pinged. But nothing showed up. Frank emerged from his quarters into the cockpit. He sat in the co-pilot seat and eyed the scanners.

“Anything?” Rocky said.

Frank didn’t say anything, he reset the scanners and tried again but nothing. He pointed towards the moon and Rocky moved towards it. He refocused the scanners. A virtual display of the moon extended from the scanner panel. It revolved as the digital lines tried to focus in on anything.

“Where the hell is the drop off?” Frank said, the Bastion began orbiting the moon. As it passed through the dark side, the scanner started beeping, like a panicked child. The image zoomed onto the surface of the moon, trying to focus in on what was alive down there. Frank rubbed his eyes and put his hands through the digital image, it shut down. He stood up and looked through the front viewer. He squinted his eyes, as did Rocky as she climbed onto the console to get a better look.

“What’s that?” Rocky said pointing at something coming from the dark side of the moon. Frank looked a bit harder, it was getting larger. Before Rocky could react properly Frank grabbed the control stick.

“Projectile!” He shouted as he yanked on the controls. The object came out of the darkness and was heading straight for them. It was large and round with a pointed tip. The Bastion turned to the side making Rocky fall into her chair. She slammed her hand down onto the console and shouted into the intercom.

“Brace for impact!” The Bastion started pulsing with red light but this was different to the engines throb, it was the alarm system.

Liz and Harvard were taking their time annoying Rum’s kid, the call broke their concentration but before they could react the ship jolted and they were thrown to the floor. The unknown projectile became very known as it collided with the ship, breaching the hull. Air fizzed, light flashed and walls sparked. The Bastion was a tough girl but the harder they are, the harder they fall. That sentiment was spot on as the engines started to fail and the ships navigation spiralled out of control. Stars blurred into white streaks as the ship twisted and writhed in pain. A red light in every room screamed and shouted, the hull is breached, the hull is breached, the hull is breached. If the impact didn’t kill them then the departing soldiers might.