The next morning is all the same. I wore my standard military outfit. Soul and Melena offer me a ride back to the Boseman as they are doing their patrols this morning. Soul stands from his seat and makes his way to the cockpit. He activates a screen and starts playing the broadcast of t speech down below. Princess Cadence is making the announcement public. A voice comes through the comms as we approach the Boseman.
"Pandoria, this is the RNS Boseman. You are entering our airspace. State your intentions."
"Boseman, this is the Second of Command Melena of the Sultarian Defence Forces. Requesting permission to dock. I have important cargo aboard."
"Stand by Pandoria."
As we await a response from the Boseman, my panel lights up and a man answers on the other end.
"Commander Demi." he says, "Perfect, I wanted to include you on this."
"On what?"
"Our sensors detected a foreign object passing by the system."
"I am just now being made aware of this?"
"Most of the objects we pick up ping as small asteroids. This was a bit larger than the others, but we just need to be sure."
"Alright." I said. "Whenever you are ready."
A voice calls out to him from behind. A woman from what it sounds like. I can hear a bit of worry and panic in her voice as she talks. Something has her spooked.
"Um sir?" she said. "We have a problem."
He turns for a moment and says something to her before returning back to me.
"One moment, Demi."
"Sure." I said.
He leaves as they start to talk amongst themselves. I'm able to hear the whole conversation, though it was a bit faint through the speakers.
"So remember that object we've been tracking?" she said.
"Yeah."
"Uh, it just changed course."
"What?"
There was a long silence at that moment. Enough to make me think that I had lost connection to them. However he swiftly returns and continues.
"Ok, do we have contact with the probe, yet?"
"Yes sir."
"Good, put it on."
A static sound and another participant joins the call.
"Hello? Hello?" The voice says on the other line.
"We hear you, go ahead."
"Ok, I am circling Planet Fordunce. The target should be on the other side."
"Very good. Let us know what you find."
For what felt like a solid ten minutes, there was nothing. The voice on the other end was silent. All we could hear was their breathing as it grew louder and deeper. Each breath increased in frequency until they sounded as if they were running out of air.
"Oh my god, it's huge." They said,
"Do you have a visual? We can't see anything."
"Is...is that a...what the hell?"
"What is happening?" I asked.
"There is something passing through jump space. It's…By our mother of…it's freaking enormous!"
"I need a visual of the ship, what's going on?" I asked again.
"Ma'am, you need to get everyone out of there! It's not a-."
-The call cuts out…completely. With the station, with the ship, with everyone. There was nothing. I tried to call them back and it was just static. What the hell? The lights inside the ship start to flicker. Soul's display screen fades to static. In a bit of confusion, he hits it, in hopes of getting it working again.
"The heck?" He said.
"What happened?" Melena asked.
"I don't know, it just stopped working."
"Something wrong with the antenna?"
"Couldn't be, I checked it this morning."
"Broadcast maybe?"
"I don't know. Commander, are you-?"
-Boom! A huge explosion shakes the entire ship. The lights flicker and a shockwave throws me out of my seat and onto the floor. There was a loud roar through the walls. The sound of air crashing against the ship at incredible speeds.
Confused, I scan across the room for the source. It happens again, this time it's more violent. Sirens activate as the rumbling begins to escalate. Melena starts losing control of the ship and it sideswipes a building, shattering windows.
"The hell is going on Soul?" Melena yells.
"I don't know, I haven't detected any ships, ma'am."
"We are a few feet from docking with the Boseman, I'm gunning it. Commander strap in!"
Melena throttles the ship and it charges through the hanger doors. She sends it into a hard landing with enough force to send me in the air before landing back on my stomach. Melena and Soul exit the cockpit and help me to my feet. As the door opens, a swarm of armed personnel surround the ship.
"Come out of the ship, slowly!" one of them yells.
I exit the ship and everyone immediately stands down.
"Commander Demi?"
"What the hell is going on?" I ask.
"We don't know, we'll lead you to the bridge!"
"Go!"
We charge toward the bridge down the hall. Melena and Soul follow behind. The shockwaves grow stronger and stronger until the entire ship tips forward a little. Sending us into the door. The impact felt like someone threw a punch at me with all their strength but the doors eventually opened, allowing us to slide through onto the bridge.
Inside, everyone was either scrambling or hanging on for dear life as Marcus fights to regain control of the ship. I peek through the side windows to get an idea of what was going on. It was horrifying. The sky was bleeding a bright orange and red. The clouds had fallen below us, but I couldn't see above. Something was slowly blocking the sun. I look ahead and notice a glass building coming straight for us or really we were heading straight for it.
"Marcus!" I yell.
"I know, I know, I see it! Don't fail me now!"
The building grows faster and faster. There was no way Marcus was going to dodge this. I scramble for the captain's chair and press the intercom button, hanging on as hard as I could.
"Crew! Brace for impact!"
Everyone panics. Marcus yells as loud as he could, pulling on the controls in hopes of shifting the ship, but it was all in vain. We make impact with the building. The sound of shattering glass and rubble pierces my eardrums to the point that I can't hear anything for several seconds.
The entire ship jerks violently in the other direction sending us spinning a full 180 degrees. Eventually, we came to a stand still. The entire ship was finally steady.
Everyone tries to regain their footing as I stand to my feet. The power was completely out. I attempt a roll call to see who's still standing.
"Sound off, everyone ok?"
"We're good here ma'am." yelled one.
"Good over here." yelled another.
"Alright, I need a damage report. Give me anything and everything. Comms, contact the ground team. Get a sitrep on-."
-The power turns back on. Sirens resume blasting around the ship. The holographic projector in the center of the bridge powers on.
"Warning, gravitational force detected, jump engines cannot engage." the computer said.
Everyone faces the center console as the alarm displays the error. First, a hologram of the planet forms and the moon follows afterward. Then the display zooms in on our moon. Things got strange though as it grew closer, like there were...two moons, bunching up right next to each other.
"What the hell?" I said
The warning goes off again. A flash of red light passes by the windows. I run to the pilot's area for a better view. Marcus is still there, watching in horror as I was. There is a moon, directly above us, warped and torn to hell. Huge meteors were falling from the sky like rain, crashing into the ground below, sending plums of rock and water high into the air. The city ahead was on fire and the falling rocks were smashing into buildings, sending them tumbling to the ground. Marcus calls my name but I can't hear him. I felt paralyzed. My eyes couldn't unsee the carnage being left behind. Marcus yells again for my attention.
"Demi!" he said."
I snap out of my daze.
"Huh, what?" I asked.
"Orders?"
"Hmm." I panic. We never went through a scenario in training like this before. What am I supposed to do? I look out the window again. Another meteor falls from the sky and crashes into the riverbed. A skyscraper sat next to it. The impact shatters all the glass at once and it too crumbles into the ground. I don't get it, there are no ships, no ground troops. We're under attack but no one is attacking? Until we can grasp what's happening here...-
"-What's going on with the comms system?" I asked.
"They are down ma'am, only short range is working." said one of the crewmen.
"Defense towers?"
"We lost contact with them seconds after the moon arrived." said another crewman
I turn to Melena and Soul.
"Where's the children's ground team?"
"We've had no contact since we left the falls." Soul says.
A crewman yells across the bridge in a panic.
"Ma'am, we got a meteor, incoming!" he yells
"Where?" I said
"Port side! Port side!"
"Hang on!" yells Marcus.
The ship strafes a hard right as a massive meteor passes our left. Everyone screams in terror as it hits the ground, sending water and mud into the window.
"We're not going to make it out of here with these meteors." I said.
"What did you say?" Marcus asked.
"What's the status of the weapons systems?"
"All online ma'am."
I took a deep breath. Ok, comms are down, jump engine is offline. The only thing we have major running is the weapons. What the fuck am I suppose to do with that? At that moment, a fighter ship flies by the window. Another meteor falls from the sky and the ship fires at it, blowing it out of the sky. That's it!
"Ok, here's the plan. Phoenix is still on the ground, until we can get comms back online, assume that everything is operational and the family is safe. We haven't detected any ships but we are the only ones here. We are initializing Offensive Code C5-717! Everyone who is not essential will be a part of the search and rescue team. We need ships on the ground to evacuate as many civilians as they can. We also need a team up top. We need the comms tower repaired so we can contact the rest of the Rose Fleet. Everyone on weapons will stay here. Our targets are the meteors. Soul, we need you for spotting."
"Yes ma'am," he said.
"Anything larger than a small freighter, we'll blast it out of the sky, understood."
"Yes ma'am." Everyone yelled.
"Our priority is evacuating as many civilians as possible. Is that understood?"
"Yes ma'am."
"We are not leaving this spot! Is that understood?"
"Yes ma'am!"
"Computer, initialize C5-717."
"Initializing." says the computer.
"Alright let's go!"
Everyone scrambles around the bridge, like their animals with their heads cut off. Soul starts calling out orders. He lays the entire area our ship had range to and set up a grid. Every number he calls out is a sector in the air we were to target. The grid displayed on the monitor above the pilot's seat and every subsequent monitor aboard the ship.
"Attention crew!" I yell, "You are weapons free!"
Everyone starts to fire using the grid and call outs to clear the meteors out of the sky. Each shot fired was loud and chaotic. The constant explosions stressed me out. The thought of every shot we miss would equal several hundred deaths overtook me. That if I screw this up, this would mean more than the deaths of millions of people, but my failure as captain. Everyone is looking to me now for leadership. I can't screw this up.
"Commander! We have contact with the shuttles." yelled a crewman.
"From who?"
"Phoenix, ma'am."
"Put it through."
When the sound came in, there was an incredible amount of static and background noise. I could hardly hear him.
"RNS Boseman, this is Captain Phoenix, does anyone respond?"
"I hear you, Phoenix."
"RNS Boseman, this is Captain Phoenix, does anyone respond?" he says again. Clearly he can't hear me.
"Can you get a fix on that frequency?" I ask the crewman.
"Yes, ma'am, standby." he said.
He fiddles with his screen, struggling to stay on his feet as the ship continues to twist and turn as it fires at the meteors.
"Try again ma'am,"
"Phoenix, Can you hear me?" I yell through the comms.
"Hello? Who is this? Demi?"
"Phoenix? Oh, by the heavens. Are you ok?"
"Yeah, what's your status?"
"Comms are offline, we have no contact outside the planet or with the Rose fleet. What is going on?"
"I'm just as confused as you are. I am on a shuttle with the prince and princess. We need to board the ship."
Another voice pops on the line behind him.
"This is Prince Dillon. We are okay."
"Good, we are working on a-."
"-Ma'am! We have another rock incoming!" Marcus yells.
"From where?"
"Starboard, Starboard!"
The ship's side rockets ignite, fighting with all its might to dodge the incoming meteor from above. It hits the front of the ship, sending it into a nose dive as its top and underside thrusters fight to bring it upright. Everyone screams in terror as we all get thrown forward toward the front of the bridge. The glass in front shatters into a million pieces, exposing the outside air. The explosions escalated tenfold as we were no longer able to track the meteors falling through the sky.
I am thrown out of my seat and slide across the floor toward the open windows. I start to panic, grabbing on to as much as I could to try and hang on to keep from falling any further. Eventually I reach for and grab onto the center console with my left hand and pull myself up as hard as I could to reach the top. The Boseman starts to twist as it is hit off center and slams into the building next to it, splitting it in half and sending it to the ground. The impact forces me to lose grip and I continue down the bridge.
Shit! No, no, no! There is nothing more for me to grab onto. The open window revealed my ultimate fate. A long way down it was going to be. It was nothing but the rest of the ship followed by the ground. It was miles away. My heart raced. Faster than it ever did before. It felt as if my life flashed before my eyes. Memories of my mother and father, all passing in an instant. I thought back to the last memory I had of them. When my mother cried tears of both happiness and joy when I graduated training. When my father held me in my arms before he left. Tears rolled down my eyes as the moments passed through. Though fate seemed to have different plans for me. An enormous force pulls against my left arm, dislocating it. I screech and yell in pain, pulling me out of my daze and observing the area around me. I was floating, or at least it looks like I was. My feet were dangling out of the bridge window but I was not moving. I look up to see what I grabbed onto, or really, what grabbed onto me.
Marcus, like an angel, had grabbed me and held on for dear life. He had such an intense look on his face. Opposite of his normal laidback attitude, and he held on so tightly, he could almost snap my hand in half.
"Demi, grab my hand!" He yelled over the wind.
His arm was shaking and I could feel him beginning to slip.
"Hurry!"
I was in intense pain. My arm started to go numb but I could still feel the sting throughout my body as I try to move. My body felt like it was fighting me, telling me to hold still to prevent further damage. The ship began to straighten itself out. Marcus was losing grip faster and faster. I was screwed if I didn't act quick. I held my breath, thought happy thoughts, and reached with all my might with my other arm. The pain was overwhelming, like daggers jabbing up my body repeatedly. I yelled as loud as I could. I couldn't take it anymore.
For half a second, I must have blacked out. Next thing I know, he is on top of me, feeling my forehead and arms for injuries. He observes my dislocated shoulder before noticing me awake and faces toward me.
"Demi?" he said.
"The hell happened?" I asked.
He keeps his left hand on my shoulder and places his other on my cheek before raising it and stroking my hair.
"Demi," he said. "Look me in the eyes."
I felt weak and confused. I stare into them, I look really hard. I don't know what it was about them, but I felt a bit lost. I don't know what I said to him at that moment but whatever it was, he smiles and says thank you, before staring me directly into mine.
"You have pretty eyes too, commander. Now, this is going to hurt."
Two waves came over me in that instant. First was pain. A sudden and massive jolt of it. Like getting shot. I screamed as loud as I could and jumped into his arms. The second wave was relief. The pain had gone away and I could think clearly again. It was very euphoric.
Peaking over Marcus' shoulder, I could see everyone standing to their feet. The ship had realigned with the ground. Marcus pushes me away at arm's length and smiles.
"Welcome back commander." He says.
"Thanks," I said. "For saving me."
"Anything for you Demi."
I smiled at him and he stood me to my feet. Everyone seemed to be in order as I did another roll call. It was quiet afterward. A bit too quiet actually. Suddenly there was a loud roar. It was deep and intense, shaking the very ground we stood on.
"Ma'am we have a problem!" Yelled a crewman.
"What's happening?" I ask, running to him.
"We have heat signatures. Massive ones."
"Where?"
He pauses for a moment. Like he is trying to register the information he is reading before sending it out.
"Behind the moon, ma'am."
Sirens flare up on the ship as the center console activates displaying the two moons before playing a warning on repeat.
"Warning. Gravitational force increasing. Planetary impact is imminent."
"Impact." I ask. "How?"
"Demi." Marcus says as he walks back to his post. "We aren't moving."
What? How is this possible? The ship has not left this area. We have been on defense this whole time, the only way this could happen is...oh shit.
"Shit!" I said out loud.
"What is it Commander?" Marcus asks.
I ignore him. Didn't even notice him talking to me as I charge for the comms microphone.
"Captain! Captain, are you there? Phoenix?" I yelled.
"Demi, We're ok. What's going on?"
"The object. It wasn't a ship. It was the moon! The damn moon destroyed Dekara, and it's coming for us next!"
"What?" said the prince in the background.
"We need to get out of here! The moon is accelerating. It's going to crash into us!"
"We need to find a way out of here then." Phoenix says.
"Do we have an exit plan?" Princess Cadence asks.
I scan the landscape for an answer. Out in the distance was the waterfall, though it was quickly drying out. The government tower looked to be barely standing however the lights at the top and the drive on the side were still...wait a minute.
"The exit strategy!" I yelled.
The outburst seemed to catch everyone by surprise. Marcus immediately jumps out of his seat, checking in on me.
"The tower." I said pointing at the tower.
I turn back to the radio.
"Phoenix. Do you copy?"
"Yeah...yeah I am here."
"Ok. New plan." I turn my attention back to Marcus. "The Tower controls, do you still have access?"
"Yes I do."
"Good. Send out a PSA. Let them know the tower is going to activate."
"Activate? Ma'am, if we fire the projection through a planet...-"
"-Just do it!" I yell.
There is a long silence before he complies and heads back to his station.I turn my attention back to Phoenix.
"Follow us to the tower!."
"Right behind you," he says.
I return to my seat as Marcus turns the ship around aiming for the tower. The tower itself was standing on its last legs, hanging on for dear life as we approached it. It starts to light up toward the top signaling its activation. More shuttles arrive in our vicinity. There had to be hundreds surrounding. All the ships pulled up at once and accelerated as fast as we could.
This was going to get very rough and everyone knew it. Crewmen and women braced in their seats as hard as they could. Passing jump space through a planet is extremely dangerous and can cause serious destruction to both everyone involved and the ship itself, but we had no choice. We were going to get out of here no matter the cost.
"Hang on!" Marcus yelled.
The ships passed through the projection. A cylindrical column of warped space between two set points. Its destination was a planet ten light years away, however passing through a planet creates more variables that we cannot account for. The space shifted and warped around us. It gave me an intense headache. The wings on Phoenix's shuttle collapsed and there was an explosion on another ship ahead of us. I had to close my eyes. The pain became too much, like someone was hitting me repeatedly across the head with a bat.
The few seconds it took felt like hours. We passed through onto the other side. The pain had gone away but a new problem emerged. The ship had taken a ton of damage from the jump and we have lost all control of it. We weren't the only ones with the problem however. The other ships flew under us, drifting in all directions as they fell to the ground. Hundreds of messages overlapped on the radio.
"Mayday, mayday, mayday! We lost engines and RCS, we are going down. Repeat, we are going...-"
-Several ships crash into the ground below. So much dirt, rock and mud flew into the air the ships became almost invisible. The mountain ahead would not withstand the impact we were going to make with it and it crumbled on impact before we slid down the remains of whatever was left. More explosions go off in the rear and the fuel detonates on impact with the mountain, scorching the land behind it. The ship slides along the ground for as long as it has momentum until it finally comes to a stop. And then, silence.