"COMMANDER!"
I shook my head and took a glance at the man screaming at me. I tried to answer. I wanted to answer. But I couldn't. I thought I must be dreaming. And then, there were those strange lights and this strange music was playing from the ship's speakers. The frown on my face turned to a smile.
"Yes, that's why i can't talk. It happens all the time in dreams, right?" I thought to my self.
As he grabbed me by my throat the man yelled "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?"
Tiny drops of liquid hit my face. I recognized the scent. It was blood.
For the first time I looked straight at the man's face. It was Gunnery Sergeant Lagardi. Lagardi was a pretty tall for an Italian. He was always taking great care about his looks. Dark hair and a happy smile. Crew entertainer. He dreamed about the house in the Florence and a beautiful wife to go with it. He spent most of his free time flirting with Maria and Laura in the shield room. They were a happy bunch always laughing and cracking jokes.
His face was covered in thick blood gushing from the wounds on his head. Patches of hair were missing and the rest was burned almost to the skin. His grip tightened as he stared at me in disbelief. He had a gaze of a lunatic.
For the first time i let the voice and tried to explain myself.
"I..."
He pushed me hard and i fell on the floor next to the deck. I held my neck gasping for air. And there, suddenly, I could smell some other scents in the room. Foul alien stench, burning electronics, fuel and... Burning flesh...
I started to come to my senses.
Fires were burning across the vessel and the lights and sounds of various ship alarms accompanied with the sounds of air leaking out from the hull breaches, Mantis clicking and screams of the hurt crew members composed a horrifying symphony of destruction. Urge to breathe became stronger.
"This can't be happening" i mumbled.
As I tried to get up, I noticed the half-burned book on the floor. It was the hundreds of years old book i stole from the shop in the civilian sector. I can't help my self around books. They are so rare and i just love their scent. On the cover, there was a picture of human hand about to push the domino wall.
I opened the book and there was a text:
"HERE IS A SMALL FACT. You are going to die. You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables."
"What have i done?" thought struck me in horrible realization.
We were experienced crew on important mission closing to an successful end. Ship was equipped with state of art technology cutting through enemy ranks as if they were made of paper. Routine fight against Mantis slavers turned out to be the worst nightmare of any star traveler. Mantis slaver ship was no match to our vessel by any means. Roaming through uncharted nebula just before entering our final mission sector our ship get caught in the ion storm. Nearby Mantis ship scanners did a poor job and underestimated our power. They came out of stealth and attacked. And there I made the fateful decision. Pushed the domino. Set the crucial variable.
"We don't have time for this. Cut the power to all available systems and reroute the power to weapons. It shouldn't take more than a few seconds." i ordered.
"But sir, the shields..." Lagardi tried to object.
"That's an order!" I interrupted him.
Our crew hadn't have much sleep in the past few days and i wanted to deal with threat as fast as possible and rest the crew hiding in the nebula.
"We should be ok." Laura added.
"Aye, aye sir. Tu sei il capo..." Lagardi replied unhappy with my decision.
Lagardi did as i ordered. We struck the Mantis ship with horrendous firepower and it fell apart within seconds.
However, everything went wrong at this point. Clever Mantis commander realized his mistake as soon as we started powering up our weapons and ordered full crew boarding on our ship. Moments before falling apart, the Mantis ship fired a fire beam and a barrage of hull breaching missiles. Fire, missiles and boarders struck almost at the same time on our unprotected hull. Fires were burning across the ship, hull breaches were everywhere and Mantis commandos rampaging whats left of the crew and the systems. I knew that the crew couldn't deal with all these threats at once. I tried to figure how to deal with it. And then I froze up.
"Go fix the oxygen room!" Lagardi's voice pulled me back to the reality of situation. He roared and jumped on the Mantis clawing the back of the crew member lying on the floor. It was Maria. Or Laura. I couldn't tell. They were sisters and looked very alike and it was hard to tell which one is it under the given conditions. Laura was renown shield systems specialist and the Maria was the best damn engineer after the Engies in the whole known universe. They were born in distant colony and their father was a respected general of Federation forces. He was assassinated in Slug nebula during a meeting with the Slug revolutionists organizing coup against their government. Their mother and younger brother were declared missing after the Rebel forces wiped out the colony they lived on. I felt the lack of oxygen clenching my lungs as i fought to take a sip of air.
I started to run to oxygen room and ran by a Mantis bashing on the door of a door control room. He struck me while i was passing, but as i ran past him, he turned to the door again. I entered the oxygen room and found Maria lying on the floor. She was trying to repair the machine. Only few nuts and bolts and she would have made it. She was holding a picture in her hand. Picture of her family on their home porch. Her brother sitting in Laura's lap. Her parents hugged. I smelled the picture, put it in my pocket and quickly fixed the machine and fresh air started pouring from the vents. Even with the fresh air, i couldn't breathe well. There was one smell that was still bothering me. It was a foul smell of a Mantis breaking into door control room.
Suddenly, of all the deaths around me i began to fear one the most. My own.
So i made another decision. I stuck the doors so they cannot open remotely. I stopped breathing for a second and i could still hear the faint sound of a fight throughout the ship. Another thought crossed my mind "HERE IS A SMALL FACT... I am not going to die."
"COMPUTER!" i yelled.
"Yes commander?" Ship computer replied.
I paused for a brief moment and said "Open all doors on the ship."