For the past week I've been stuck in the depths of the universe unable to leave its shadowy realm.
I was in the middle of a deal with some kingpin from Dante's Inferno when the 8th Legion surrounded our ships. I was able to avoid capture by diverting my ship's full power to the thrusters but in doing so the kingpin's ship wasn't so lucky as it was obliterated by my ship ramming straight through it. But that ship didn't go down without killing my thrusters as well as putting holes in the hull so now I'm locked in the cockpit for the time being.
The ship's oxygen supply is almost empty, I only have enough for just 1 more day. My food and water supplies are also empty so if I somehow don't die from asphyxiation I'll die from dehydration and starving.
As I was sitting in my chair thinking of how I could possibly escape from this void a beam of light shone through the ship's windshield and a voice came out of the ship's radio. "Mr. Kula I can't believe it took a whole week just to find you. It's a shame your distress beacon was damaged in your escape as well. You could've died and the stars know that we can't allow that now can we?" Said the mysterious voice.
I tried to respond to who I'm assuming was from the 8th Legion but my transmitter was shot so all I could do was listen. After a couple minutes the voice came back and said, "Our recon drones have shown us that your transmitter is broken so unfortunately we won't be able to have a nice chat so I'll just tell you what I'm assuming you're wondering. I am Captain Asher Hughes of the 8th Legion and I have been searching for you to bring you into justice for dealing with the scum of Dante's Inferno. Our drones have also shown us that you only have a day's worth of oxygen and no food or water. Well lucky for you you'll have all the food and water you want once we take you to Trek Valley. So if you could put down any weapons you may be carrying and place your hands above your head and await my men to take you aboard."
"Well ain't this a nice surprise." I said to myself. I then heard Captain Hughes' men cutting through the bulkhead leading to the cockpit.
I knew the only way I could stay alive was if I let them take me in so I complied with what the captain said and was grabbing my pistol to throw it across the room when the bulkhead had fallen over and 5 armed men had entered the cockpit.
Before I could tell them what I was doing one shot me in the gut and I fell backwards onto the ship's dashboard knocking me out.
***
I felt weak, incredibly weak as I began to wake up. I was blinded by surgical lights shining down on me and all I could hear was the beeping of machinery around me. I tried to sit up but I was immediately brought back down by a burning pain in my gut. My head was pounding and my vision was blurred as I tried to look around to see where I was.
After everything settled down I realized I was in a hospital and at the moment alone. To my left there was an IV bag that was connected to my arm which was giving me fluids. Then to my right was a little table about as tall as the bed I was in.
On the table there was a letter that said it was for me. I slowly reached over for it and opened it.
Inside it read Dear Kieron Kula, you are currently being treated at the Centrum Hughes Hospital for your unfortunate accident involving one of my men. Also you won't be needing to worry about any problems with payment seeing as you don't have health insurance as I Captain Asher Hughes the founder of this hospital will be paying for your treatment. The doctors have told me that you'll be staying here for a week or so until that injury can heal up and then you'll be off to Trek Valley. But if you wish to speak with me I left a button next to this letter for you to notify me with. Sincerely, Captain Asher Hughes of the 8th Legion.
After reading that awfully wordy note I grabbed the button and pressed it deciding that if I'm gonna be stuck in Trek Valley sooner or later I might as well see if I'm even going to get a trial. Although I doubt I will, considering the Captain had most likely gotten video of me fleeing from the busted deal.
It had taken a minute but the Captain had finally come a knocking on my door and he let himself in as I'm in no state to be moving. He grabbed a chair from nearby and sat down facing me.
The Captain was quite the intimidating man he looked to be at least 6 feet tall. He had broad shoulders and muscular arms but his legs looked to be almost twice as strong as his arms. He kept himself clean with a nice jet black suit with a purple tie. He had no facial hair but his hair was almost as black as his suit and was neatly slicked back with what I'm assuming is gel.
He spoke to me as if we were long lost friends and said, "So, Kieron looks like you read my letter. Now yes while you didn't finalize the deal you did have the intent to sell and you ran from us which is another charge. It seems like you're a smart kid so you'll know that we don't need a trial to sentence you with our video evidence. Anyways you're lucky I was the one who found you cause if it was one of the other captains they would've shot you out of the cosmos before you could even think about running."
It was a moment of silence before he spoke again, "Well son, I'll just leave you alone for now if you got any other questions or needs just press that there button again." He then got up from his chair and left the room leaving me alone again.
After a couple minutes of boredom I noticed that there was a television on the wall so I started looking for the remote for it. After carefully looking around I saw it on the table next to the door and I wasn't able to grab it because of my injuries. I looked around a bit more and noticed that my IV stand had a little basket on it and I decided to grab the stand and push the remote into the basket. Once I got the remote I turned the television on and it was locked onto the news channel.
Apparently it was the 250th anniversary of The Union's forming but people like me know this day for a much better reason.
Back in 2027 the United States had successfully achieved interplanetary travel and with that they gained immeasurable resources and power. The world feared the United States for its technological superiority over the rest of them so a coalition of over 100 countries had gathered to declare war on the United States. The war lasted just 5 hours before the coalition had given up from the United States' new state of the art fusion missiles that could evaporate a country's capital in just a second. The United States then annexed the nations of the world under one flag and one flag alone, The Union's.
Later in the year 2027 The Union had discovered ancient remnants of a long past alien civilization on the moon Titan, 5 miles below the surface. A xenoarchaeologist had deciphered the scripture in a digital document of sorts that had the blueprints for engines that could travel faster than light and could cross the infinite expanse of the universe.
This discovery intrigued a man known by Verks P. Olander. He was 28 at the time when he had formed his crew of over 20 '000 men under the flag of the New Frontier Pirates. The New Frontier Pirates were mainly focused on finding alien artifacts and blueprints before The Union could keep the ancient secrets for themselves. Astronomers in the New Frontier Pirates had found a region of the galaxy that would continuously send out strange radio signals that indicated life. So the New Frontier Pirates and The Union set out to claim this region of space now known as "The Null Sector" for themselves but this did not go peacefully as a war between the two lasted for almost 20 years.
By the time Verks had reached the final destination in The Null Sector with his crew of only 20 now he had found the greatest power of them all. Verks had gained the ability to not be killed, he would live forever but just because he could live forever doesn't mean his body could. Once his body had reached its limit it began to rot while Verks was still thinking, feeling, living. His soul was trapped in this decaying body and just the idea of him made his crew leave him on that final planet all alone.
But it's all just tall tale, how could a person stay alive while their body rots away? Just then a doctor interrupted my thinking about Verks and The Union by coming into my room. He said, "Hello there Mr. Kula, right?" I told him, "Yes that's me, so what are you doing here got something to tell me?" "Oh yes, the hospital has decided to give you the opportunity of being a part of some experimental cybernetic implants and surgeries."
Shocked, I asked him, "Why in the world would I agree to partake in some probably dangerous surgery that'll turn me into a vegetable or a slave with a brain chip?!" The doctor, appalled by what I've said, reassured me saying, "Oh no it's nothing like that. You see the surgeries and cybernetics are designed to improve the strength, agility, endurance, and mental strength of the patient. The head doctors thought that inmates would be perfect to test these trials on since we can then record their performance in a multitude of scenarios. Say a fellow inmate decides to attack you, wouldn't you want to be able to defend yourself more effectively? Or maybe you just want to be first in the lunch line so you don't have to settle with scraps? Trek Valley is known to drive its inmates mad so wouldn't you want the mental fortitude to stay sane until your release?"
I stayed silent for a moment thinking over what he had just told me. It was too much to consider at the moment so I told the doctor, "Could you give me some time, maybe a day to think it over?" The doctor who seemed pleased said, "Of course, on the side of your bed there's a button, press that and a nurse will come in. Just ask for Dr. Reidenbach and we can talk about the experimental cyberware and surgeries then." Dr. Reidenbach then left the room and I was left alone to think over the doctor's offer.
***
The next morning, I thought of Dr. Reidenbach's offer and decided that I'd partake in the surgeries.
I pressed the button on the side of my bed and a nurse came in shortly after. I asked her for the doctor and she left and came back a couple minutes later with him. He said cheerfully, "So I take you've thought of the offer." I told him, "Yeah I thought of it and I'll do it."
Dr. Reidenbach grinned and yelled out into the hallway, "Oh nurse!" The same nurse who had just come to see what I needed had come into the room with a multitude of needles in a tray. She had given it to the doctor and he said, "Now" he flicked one of the needles, "This shouldn't hurt a bit."
He walked slowly towards me and injected one needle into my arm then another and another and another until my vision became blurry and my hearing distorted. I could barely make out what he said before I passed out, "What an idiot, this is going to be so so fun."
***
When I woke up it felt like I was asleep for weeks. Then after taking my first conscious breath a sudden burning, sharp, electrifying pain shot through the entirety of my body.
I could feel everything: my lungs, heart, nerves, everything was in pain. I tried to scream in agony but no sound came out, just a little wheezing. Then the doctor rushed into my room checking my vitals and making sure my IV bags were filled and my O2 tank was full as well. Once he was done panicking he had added some morphine into my IV bag to dull the pain.
Once I too was calmed down still hurting however the doctor looked glad to see I was even still alive. He told me, "So Mr Kula it seems the operations were a success! You're probably wondering what I even did to you aren't you." Enraged, I yelled at him, "Of course I want to know what the hell you did to me! My body quite literally feels like it's been through hell and back then decided to go visit family down there!"
Dr. Reidenbach started chuckling and said, "Oh man I love when I get inmates. They're always so mad saying "What did you do to me!" and "I swear to the stars I'll kill you!" It is just hilarious. Anyways as a part of the program we are legally not allowed to tell you what we've done to make sure you don't try to run away with your new abilities." Absolutely infuriated, I lunged at him even with all my pain yelling, "You bastard I'll kill you!"
But I got snapped back to my bed. I had a titanium chain around my arms and neck keeping me strapped to the bed and the doctor just laughed and laughed, wheezing and hunched over. He finally regained his composure and told me, "So it looks like that your friend Captain Hughes here is going to be taking you to Trek Valley today. It is safest to transport an inmate while they're weak, you know." He then left my room and the Captain came in.
He had an apologetic look on his face as he told me, "I'm incredibly sorry for what he did to you, if I knew he was going to give you those surgeries I would've stopped it. Those things are incredibly dangerous and painful. Did he even tell you what they were?" I told the Captain about how all he told me was that it would make me stronger, smarter, faster and more. The Captain then asked me what the doctor's name was and I told him it was Reidenbach. He used his earpiece to call in Reidenbach and as soon as he got into that room the Captain grabbed the man by his neck and slammed him against the wall.
The Captain told him, "Now tell me why in the hell did you not tell this poor soul the truth about the surgeries!" He slammed him against the wall again. The doctor, petrified, tried to make up an excuse but the Captain punched him in the gut before asking again, "Now tell me, why the HELL didn't you tell this man about the truth!" The doctor refused to say anything from being overwhelmed with fear. The Captain then threw him onto the ground and began to kick him repeatedly.
The doctor begged for him to stop but he didn't; he just kept going at him until he grabbed the man by the arm and in one swift motion snapped it in half. The doctor was now wailing in pain on the ground as the Captain came over to me. He apologized for what I saw and said, "Sorry about that but I had to show him justice. I've had cases like this before with him but there was never enough evidence. So I appreciate your part in bringing this man to justice, here let me get those damn chains off of you."
The Captain then unchained me and I was able to move freely now but I stayed in my bed scared of what this man would do if I had tried to leave. After a moment the Captain had called a nurse in to take the doctor away.
Now it was just the two of us left in the room and he grabbed my bed and started to wheel it out of the room. While we were walking down the hall he said, "Listen I know that a lot of the captains in the 8th Legion are mean old bastards but I am not one of them. I try my best to help anyone let it be an astropirata like yourself or a normal civilian. I believe that a man can be changed through rehabilitation and that a man like yourself can rejoin society anew in a way. But there are some that will never change like that fat bastard Reidenbach, I'm glad I gave him a good beating before I left." I then asked him, "So where exactly are you taking me?" He told me very bluntly, "Trek Valley."
***
It's been a couple hours now in the Captain's ship and he had just told me over the intercom that we are nearing Trek Valley.
I've heard many stories about the place. Men have gone insane from their white rooms and the chances of a guard killing you for the fun of it are incredibly high.
Most men either die at the hands of another in there or from execution and barely anyone outlives their sentence.
Just then I felt the ship start to rock and the intercom turned on saying, "We are now entering the atmosphere of Hades, home of the Trek Valley Penitentiary." I was still in slight pain from those surgeries but I could walk so I got up from my bed and started to pace around the cell I was being held in.
Then I saw something, someone in the cell across from me. I tried to yell but it felt like someone was strangling me. Then the man stood up in the cell and just looked at me. Just then I realized who this man was, the horror of the void Verks.
The tall tales were true he had become immortal but what was he doing here. The ship had landed when the Captain came to get me out of my cell. I tried to warn him I truly tried but that feeling around my neck stopped me. He opened the cell door before seeing my mortified face when he looked to see what was terrifying me.
Then in the dead silence of the ship there were only two sounds heard. The metal creaking of a cell door opening, then the Captain's skull being shattered and his body falling to the ground. That demon just stood there with the remains of his head in its hand when it looked at me.
Its face I will never forget, half of his head was reduced down to bone and the other half had just scraps of flesh barely clinging onto his skull. It looked like his eyes had rotted out too but they were still there just completely black. Then he just laughed before vanishing before my very eyes.
By now I had collapsed to my knees after seeing what it did to the Captain. Then the ship's alarms started blaring and I could hear at least 20 men outside the ship. I couldn't care what they would do to me, I was still mourning the death of the Captain. He looked out for me, cared for me, he was a friend and I haven't had one like him in years.
The men then broke into the ship and started to run towards me to get me chained up. I did nothing to stop them, tears were streaming down my face and my nose had been running from the weeping. They began to drag me out of the ship and with my vision blurred from the tears the last thing I saw was his body just lying there before they put a mask on me knocking me out.
***
I woke up panicked thinking that what had just happened must have been a nightmare. Then I saw I was not in my cell but a new one.
It had 5 beds in it and its walls were pure white. I looked out into the corridor and saw thousands of cells just like mine. 5 beds, white walls. A section of my wall then opened showing a little robot. I picked it up and it began to sputter before displaying a hologram. It showed my file, what crimes I had committed and my sentence. I had been charged with reckless piloting, destruction of a starship, fleeing a captain, intent to sell contraband, 1 count of 3rd degree murder and 1 count of murder of a captain.
These charges added up to 286 years that I would have to serve. I put the little robot back into its hole and the wall closed up. Then all of our cell doors had opened and my body started to move on its own.
I tried to stop it but it started to walk somewhere along with every other prisoner in Trek Valley. I stopped trying after a minute but eventually I was led to the cafeteria of Trek Valley. We all lined up and got our trays of food.
We were then sent back to our cells immediately and I began to eat. They had decent potatoes but the Salisbury steak looked alive almost but I still ate it.
After I ate on the intercom it said to slide the trays under the cell door into the corridor. So I gave up my tray and sat on my bed just staring at the wall. I got bored and started to pretend like I was shooting a gun with my fingers when a bolt of electricity shot from my fingertip.
I jumped back immediately wondering what had just happened and if I was hurt. I looked at my finger but I saw nothing, no burn marks, no smoke, nothing at all. I tried it again and electricity shot out again. I kept shooting out lightning when I just suddenly collapsed. It felt like all my energy had been drained out of me. It also felt like I was twice as heavy suddenly.
Then my cell door opened and a woman was there being shoved in by a guard. She yelled at him, "You have no idea who the hell you're pushing around!" She then sat down on a bed and didn't even notice me. She was a bit shorter than me and had crimson red hair. She also wore some sunglasses that were tinted red and wore a smoky gray jacket with some blue jeans.
Then I noticed that her shoulders and wrists were on fire. I told her, "Hey you know you're on fire right." She then finally realized I was there and said, "Hm? Oh yeah that's normal." Shocked I said, "Excuse me but I don't think being on fire is normal lady." She then sighed and said, "Haven't you ever heard of symbiotes you dumbass."
I told her no and she said, "So the precursors had these genetically engineered squid-like animals that if eaten would change your genetic code. They left behind these things and someone was brave enough to eat one and he was granted the ability to control water. But in return he had to feel twice the gravity of any celestial body. He also learned that if he used his abilities too much he would be completely drained of his energy. Anyways people started looking all over for these things and I managed to get my hands on one. The first user of it called it Fuego and then once he died it reformed from his remains and I found it in a city alley. So now I can produce and control fire as well as being immune to it. Pretty cool right?"
I started to realize that I may have eaten one of those symbiotes and asked her, "Hey did you get like really heavy when you ate your symbiote?" She said, "Yeah didn't you hear me talk about the two times gravity stuff." I told her, "So, uh I think I ate one. I ate my dinner. It kinda looked alive then I accidentally shot out some electricity. And now I also feel extremely heavy and fatigued."
She said, "Huh, guess you ate one yourself. Why don't you name it?" "Oh alright guess I'll call him Sparky because of the you know whole electricity deal." I said. She then told me that she would be willing to help me figure out my abilities. She then added, "Oh and the names Phoenix by the way."