Reptilia Droc:

Over a Meal

Summary: In deep space, three crew-members narrowly escape the destruction of their ship by a powerful, unknown force. But over a meal, they discover that they aren’t out of danger yet.

Author Note: “Over a Meal” is one of my earlier short story experiments, as such the writing is a little rough. Also, the Droc do not appear in this adventure, instead the threat is a hint towards a future opponent.

* * *

Three crewmen sat huddled around a small dining table, in the dim, flickering light of the shuttle cabin. Two humans, and yellow skinned, fish-like being made up the group. They all wore heavy coats, shivered, and grimaced as they ate their meals of cold, canned rations.

“Damn, it’s freezing in here. If we can’t turn up the thermal units, can’t we at least heat up our rations?” Birks, a young man around twenty four, complained.

“I told you, the main generator is shot,” Zanik replied, glancing at his with large, green glassy eyes. “All we have is reserves. As long as we’re stuck out here, we can’t spare any power away from the thrusters. We’ll have to make due with the minimum life-support.”

“Just our luck, stranded on a short range shuttle with no frigg’n hyperspace out in the middle of the Outer Territories.” Birk continued.

“We fared better than rest of the crew still trapped on the Galldonna. Or the ones who tried the escape pods.”

“Do you think any of the pods got away?” Asked Sora, a woman in her early thirties.

“I don’t think so.” Zanik replied, “The pirates had too many ships. The pods that didn’t get snatched up by tractor beams were getting shot down by their fighters.”

“What do you think they’ll do with the crew?” She wondered.

“I don’t want to think about it.” Zanik shook his head. “One almost got me in the corridor. I’ll never forget those eyes. It four of them, they glowed green. When I looked into them, there was nothing there. Just… Soulless. All in all, I think we’re damn lucky to have made it this far in one piece.”

“Lucky?” Birks disagreed. “Those fighters blew the crite out of us! That’s why we’re sitting here in the dark, wearing freeze gear, and eating cold slop. Remember?”

“I know, Birks. You keep reminding us. Maybe you should spend less time complaining, and more time trying to fix the com-link, and getting us picked up.”

“What for? Random ships don’t just come wandering by, not out this far out. Maybe if you knew how to fly this tin can, the Korb wouldn’t have shot us full of holes!” (more…)

Reptilia Droc:

The Tombs

Summary: Engineer, Alec Phirth, requested a transferred to a starship in hopes of finding adventure. However, his enthusiasm quickly disappears when Alec is assigned a solitary position among the ship’s dark and aging maintenance level. The situation worsens when he begins to suspect there’s something else stalking the silent halls.

Author Note: “The Tombs” is one of my earlier short story experiments, as such the writing is a little rough. Also, the Droc do not appear in this adventure, instead the threat is a hint towards a future opponent.

* * *

Alec Phirth stared down the bleak, dim corridor as he meandered to his next assignment. He served as an engineer on the Star Grazer, a cargo freighter transporting construction materials for the Gal Zinge corporation.

He used to work in a shuttle Bay on the planet Kaltorra, doing maintenance on small transports. The work was fine, and it paid okay. But he felt like something was missing, like his life had plateaued. He wanted something more exciting in his life. He wanted to travel the stars, and see different worlds.

Alec made the decision to ask for a transfer to a star-ship. He requested a position on either a battleship or pleasure cruise. Excitement or exotic locations, either one would work for him. What he got was the Star Grazer, a run down old cargo freighter that went back and forth between the same three worlds, towing the same damn cargo.

On top of that, he was a new crew member without seniority, and with nothing amazing on his resume, he was assigned to the ship’s maintenance level. Technically it was an important position. All the ship’s power, computers cables, water, and air channeled down the length of the ship through his level before being routed to its destination on the upper levels. It was similar to the trunk of a tree splitting off to it’s branches. The functions of the whole ship depended on him. But all the same, it was a job no one wanted.

The maintenance level was made up of a single mile long corridor. The walls and ceiling were hidden by a stream of conduits, pipes, and ducts. There were no rooms except for his office, a few supply closets spread along the length of the ship, and hatches leading to more pipes and machinery.

He worked alone on the maintenance level, so amenities were kept to a minimum. This level was not brightly lit, and clean like the levels above. There was one light every few feet, the bare metallic walls were gray and grimy. It was cold too, the heat on this level was kept low to conserve power, or conserve money more specifically. There was no one to talk to, and it was silent except for the thrum of the ventilation fans, the drip of leaking pipes, and the crackle of flickering overhead lights. His only company were the vanta rats that managed to sneak on board along with the cargo.

It was for all these reasons the maintenance level was referred to as “the Tomb”. Alec hated the tomb. Hated the silent, windowless tunnel that had become his world. Hated the solitary, repetitive nature of his work. He desperately wanted to be rotated to the upper levels of the ship, a world he only got to glimpse in his off hours. But it would be at least 6 months before he was eligible to rotate part time to the upper levels. (more…)