The Ship

A simple space mission goes south. The two kids of a veteran fighter use the unique skills taught by their father to survive.

The Ship

            The ship jarred to its left throwing the last two passengers around like a pin ball. Weapons and ammunition spilled out of open cages and containers. The dim yellow lights lining the bottom and top of the hall ways flickered with the sounds of metal bending and air blowing out of damaged pressurized pipes.

            “Shay!” Kimberly yelled to her brother getting up after the crash. “Hurry!’

            Shay recovered quickly after freeing his shirt from the grate flooring. He clutched his Act rifle and desperately checked for his keys.

            “Shay!” Kimberly yelled even louder. Her voice was filled with worry and anger.

            Shay ignored her beckon and continued to look for his keys like a staving man food. The Ship jarred again, this time it was much worst. More pipes began to burst, and an automated voice came over the intercom on repeat, “Hull integrity compromised, please follow your 10-82 procedures.” Screeching sounds resonated throughout, interrupting the intercom.

            “AAHH!!!” Shay let out in anger as he fell to the ground for the second time. His wondering eyes connected with the key fob he was looking for. It was stuck in the broken light fixture running along the ground, from the first time he fell. He was refreshed by its sight, grabbed it and ran to Kimberly. He pressed a button on the key and turned into a tight circle door that slammed shut behind him creating an air tight lock.

            “SHA-“

            “IM HERE!” Shay ran to the front of the war pod and threw himself into the seat. He pushed the yellow and black striped button that buckled him in as he quickly pressed buttons and flipped switches on the board in front of him and above. He grabbed the yoke of the ship without stopping the frantic but intentional button mashing.

            Kimberly was pushed into her seat as the war pod pulled off of the ship.

            “Look! I thought we were the only ones left on the ship?” Kimberly pointed at another war pod that detached at the same time.

            “It’s nothing.” Shay was nonchalant, and said nothing else.

            Kimberly remained silent, thinking the pod might have detached from the large amounts of damage that had been done. Shay turn the war pod left and hit the accelerator. The pod picked up speed and the white dots in the heavens became blurred lines.

            They next few hours they sat there in silence. Kimberly dosed off for a few minutes, but was soon woken up by the urge to relieve herself. She stepped into the back of the pod and noticed the pod that had broken off of the ship earlier was following them.

            “Shay?” Concern filled Kimberly’s voice.

            “Now you wanna talk?” Shay muttered as he rested his feet up on the dash.

            “That that broke off is following us.”

            “What’s it to you?”

            “Who is in there?”

            “No one, I told you not to worry about it.”

            “What the hell? You never share anything with me.”

            “What are little brothers for?” Shay let his feet fall to the ground, he stood up and pushed past his sister.

            “Shay. We just lost a thousand guys back there. This is no time for brother sister rivalry” Kimberly was smug in her response, sickened by her brothers carless attitude.

            Shay dropped the mug out of anger and stepped up into his sister’s face. “Do you know whose pod that is?” Shay pointed at the pod.

            “No. But maybe if you tell me what’s going on, I could relax.”

            “THAT’S DAD’S!” Shay yelled. His eyes filled with blood and glazed over with tears ready to fall at a blink.

            “Oh…” Kimberly put her hands over her mouth and ran to the small window looking out of the back. She looked at it and saw corner of the family crest that wrapped around the body of the hull. “Who is flying it?”

            “Last night, I rigged it. Installed a homing device, designed to follow my key fob.”

            “I’m sorry about dad.” Kimberly fell to the floor as a dark feeling overcame her. “I didn’t sign up for this.”

            “It’s safe to say no one did.”

“This was supposed to be a simple quadrant check.”
            “I know Kimberly. Let it go, we have bigger problems to consider.” Shay sat back in his chair empty handed after sweeping the pod for food.

“We need to get home.”

“How are we going to do that?”

“The space-shaft?”

“Okay big sis. It’s right in front of 3-AR-1H. Let’s just fly down and speak to their leader and request a seize fire so we can go home.” Shay got louder the longer he spoke. “Then before we leave we can exchange identifiers and have them follow us back home to kill more of us!” Shay sat back and pretended to sip on a hot beverage. He lifted his feet and placed them back on the fight panel nearly buckling under the weight.

“Whats your plan?” Kimberly threw her arms up in defeat.

“There is a sphere nearby. Color R, name M-4-R9. It’s fertile for oxygen.”

Author's Note

Please let me know your honest thoughts. This is a start of a new story.