"Oh Celestia, how many of us are left?!"

"Five... just five. How many did we start with?"

"Between twenty and thirty, what the hell are these things? No matter how many we drop they keep coming!"

"Get a grip! We have one option, frag the ship. It's the only way to stop them!"

"The bridge, we have to move fast to keep them from pinning us down!"

"No, not we. I'm going, you take the survivors to the nearest escape pods."

"No, hell no. FUCK NO! THAT'S SUICIDE! You won't make it by yourself!"

"Not up for debate! We may have the same rank, but we both know we need to get these civilians out!"

"...Damn it. You better make it out of there alive!"

"You worry about yourself and the group. I know what needs to be done..."

"Coming out of slip space now, target ten minutes out." The pilot announced over the comms. "All hands prepare for dock procedure."

A soldier laid on a cot in one of the residential suites, shaking off his newest recurring nightmare. The time had come for the crew to get into gear. The sooner they got done, the sooner they could leave. A familiar face walked through the door and gave a salute. "Lieutenant Gunner, you ready to go?"

"Yeah, Private Gage, let's just get this done. I don't want to be here too long." I'm sick of this line of work, and all of this space travel is working my nerves. And would it kill them to make these ships a bit less depressing. Sterile, neutral colors covering the walls. What I would give for a vacation...

"Don't worry, it's just a typical repair mission. Take the nerds to the broken stuff, have them fix it and get out. Simple." Private Gage was the greenest in the detail, only two years in the field. He had yet to see much real action.

"Never assume it will be that easy. You've still got a lot to learn here."

"And who's going to teach me? You? The one who's about to retire?" He snapped. Hot headed and sharp tongued as always.

"Watch your tongue, I have the most experience here and I am the highest ranking member in the squad. I can also recall a number of times where I saved your ass." Gunner retorted. "When was the last time? Oh yeah, two months ago on Kellion against those radical terrorists."

"Hey, that's going a little far. I almost lost a leg out there to a frag."

"Oh, right. You almost lost a leg. Well, count your blessings. Next time might not be so lucky. Have you seen this?" He pulled of his left glove to reveal a mechanical hoof.

"Gunner, what is that? A prosthetic? When did that happen? How did that happen?! You are one of the most paranoid soldiers to set foot on the battlefield! There's no way anyone could have done that to you!"

"That's what happens when you assume a job is going to be simple. You may have a few years of experience, but that doesn't mean much. Each and every mission can be fatal, don't let your guard down, ever." He slipped the glove over the metal hoof.

"Yes sir." Gage gave a salute.

"At ease, soldier." Gage did as instructed.

"Target in sight, ETA three minutes."

"Ready for another day at the office, Private?"

"Yep, gonna be such a fun day."

"That it is, get your suit and weapons. Get the squad together on the bridge, too. I want to check everyone to make sure their good to go." I can't afford any mistakes like last time. I will not lose anybody here.

Gunner forced himself off the cot and over to the locker on the adjacent wall. He opened the locker to reveal a full body suit hanging and his trusted weapon leaning against the wall. His MK-II Engine Pulse Repeater, the weapon that kept him alive through so many battles.

He pulled the suit out and stepped into each of the four legs. The suit was pulled up over his torso and fitted over his coat. He slung the repeater on his back and stepped through the door. "Gunner, you all right?"

Gunner turned to see another squad-mate down the hall. "Corporal Tungsten, I'm fine, how about you? Ready to get to work?" Tungsten was an experienced soldier. He and Gunner had been in plenty of fire fights together. A scar below his right eye was a reminder of their first encounter.

"I'm ready sir, but the private told me that you have a prosthetic." There was a hint of fear in his voice. "Please tell me he's making up stories again."

"Not this time," Gunner sighed. He took of his glove again revealing his replacement hoof.

"What the hell happened on your last mission? The one that you didn't tell us about, the reconnaissance of those newly discovered systems."

"Wha- How did yo-" Gunner was cut off.

"Because your service records are pretty easy to track. You never did take cyber security very seriously. Now, what happened?" Tungsten wasn't going to let it go without a fight.

"Something that I hope to never speak of. Seriously, it's probably better if you didn't know." Even if you did believe me, it wouldn't matter.

"You're seriously going to hide it from us? That's not how you normally handle-"

"Corporal, drop it." Gunner cut him off, covering his hoof once more. "If it becomes important, then I'll tell you, all of you. Right now, we need to join the rest of the squad."

"Yes sir, of course sir."

The two headed for the bridge, passing a few technicians on the way. The halls were lined with equipment for any repair job that would be needed here. Plasma cutters, pneumatic torches, rippers and other tools could be seen in the piles coming to the bridge. The door projected a blue circle with the word 'unlocked' showing in white.

"After you Lieutenant." The corporal stepped aside allowing his superior to walk up to the door and press the interface before the door slid above into the wall. Gunner immediately noticed the pilot and the sight passed the thick glass. The view seen through the glass was the same old black space littered with white dots. A ship started to come into view, much larger than the repair vessel. It was a cargo transport, the name 'Volantis' was in white against the steel grey exterior. Most of the lights are out, something must be wrong with the generators.

"Have you hailed them yet?" Gunner asked.

"Doing that now Lieutenant, but I don't tell you how to carry your rifle." The pilot retorted.

"Fair enough."

"ECT Volantis, this is the repair vessel 'Helios' requesting permission to dock. Do you copy?"

The response was silence, not even static.

"ECT Volantis, this is the repair vessel 'Helios' requesting permission to dock. Do. you. copy?"

Again, nothing. No one bothered to pick up the phone.

"Looks like their communications array might be out." A mechanic commented, "Should we just dock?"

The pilot turned to Gunner with a confused expression, seeking advice. "We might as well, didn't come all this way to turn back because we got the cold shoulder."

"Right, moving in and... remote docking protocols have taken over." The ship lurched forward toward a hangar bay. "She's looking good, thirty seconds to dock."

The vessel slowed as it approached the opening on the ship's starboard side. Once inside, the pilot cut power to the engines and created a soft thud as it made contact with the floor. "Sync your rigs with the ship," The Lieutenant advised. "No one leaves without a clean bill of health."

Both soldier and technician alike followed the order. Each pressed a button next to the chest and a blue bar flowed across the back shortly after. The techies are good, Gage, Tungsten, Cutlass, myself and Joule. Yep, that's everyone.

"What do we need to do this time?" Gage asked, absentmindedly.

"First, we escort this group to the malfunctioning parts of the ship." Gunner explained. "Next, make sure everyone's all right inside. Third, if everything checks out, we get out. That's it, but don't think that's an excuse to let your guard down. No one wanders off alone, and no one goes outside of our radios' range."

"Yes sir!" The group answered in unison.

"All right, helmets up and weapons at the ready. Just check your fire, no need to have any 'work-related' accidents." A metal plate popped up from the neck of the veteran's suit and began to wrap itself around his face and covered his head, and finally, wrapped around his horn with multiple plates of armor. A number of lights stretched across the helmet's front side to help the user see in low light environments. Hopefully, I'm just being really paranoid right now.

The ten personal group walked onto the catwalk leading from the Helios and took their first steps on the Volantis.

"Shouldn't there be a flight crew here waiting for us?" A techie asked.

"If communications are disabled, then the crew is probably scrambling around to fix it." Tungsten answered, "If we find the array, odds are we'll find someone."

With no objections, the group moved in the usual formation. The five soldiers surrounding the VIPs, each with rifle at the ready. The silence going through the empty bay was deafening. The massive room seemed to go for miles before they reached the door on the far side.

"So what's the fastest route to Communications?" Gage asked.

"Not sure," Tungsten replied. "If we can find a diagnostic interface, I might be able to find out. As well as, see how damaged the ship's systems are."

"Sounds like a plan, where would we find one? The Flight Lounge?" Gunner inquired.

"That would be the first place I would check." Tungsten answered.

Wordlessly, the group walked up to the door and the Lieutenant activated the interface with the door sliding into the wall to the left. The doorway opened up to a lobby area, completely deserted. They must need every hand possible to repair the ship. Just what happened here?

"Ah there's what we're looking for," the Corporal walked ahead to an interface on the far wall.

"What are we looking at Corporal?" Sergeant Joule reared up his rifle.

"I...I don't know. These readings, they don't make any sense..." He tapped and slid his hooves over the panels.

"What do you mean?" Joule pressed.

"Well, from the exterior, could you tell the ship was damaged?"

"No, it looked like it's structurally intact."

"Exactly, but according to this, the ship has taken a lot of damage."

"Define a lot," a techie broke in.

"Well, here's the most important parts: Engines are offline, the ship has about ten percent fuel and that's bleeding out quickly, generators are unrepairable, the communications array is offline with the main satellite heavily damaged, ventilation system is shut down. And the hydroponics wing is sealed off so we're on a limited amount of air. Life support and the tram system are the only functioning parts of the whole ship."

"How the hell...? What do we do? Where do we start? Can we even get this all fixed?" Gage asked question after question hoping for an answer.

"Private calm down, if we take a minute we can get this figured out." The corporal assured him before turning to the engineers. "What do you all think is top priority?"

The group huddled together for a moment before one spoke up, "What's closest to our current position?"

"Uh... most of it's on the other side of the ship. Engines are close, but according to the diagnostic reports, they need to be replaced. Something hit them pretty hard."

The group returned to it's huddle for another moment. The same engineer as before replied, "Communications first, if we can reestablish broadcasting and receiving from other ships, then we can have the proper tools and manpower come here to tackle the more critically damaged parts of the ship."

"Sounds like a plan, hopefully someone else is there working on repairs." Gunner confirmed.

"One can hope," Tungsten commented before shutting off the panel. He joined the group again as the approached another, larger door, leading further into the ship.

The group slipped through the opened door, following a hallway until it opened up to the tram station. Before anyone could speak, a tram approached from a monorail system. Instinctively, the soldiers readied their weapons and the techies slipped behind cover. The tram door opened, revealing a single civilian, covered in blood with a plasma cutter in their grip. They must have been terrified because the second they saw anything living, they opened fire madly!

Before the squad could return fire, Gunner took the weapon in his grey aura and pulled it above the civies' head. "Hold your fire!"

Author's Note

This was inspired by a gaming binge I've been going through recently. This is my first dark and violent story, please rate and comment accordingly.