Chapter 661: Shipwreck
Narrator: A couple of days later. It is now January 3rd, Year 14,198. The Stargazer has entered a new solar system.
Zeth is lying back on a recliner chair in the lounge with his eyes closed, enjoying the relaxation. Soon, a voice begins to speak over the intercom system.
Over the intercom system, Jeff begins speaking. “Heads up, everyone. We have picked up a signal and it appears to be a wrecked ship in space not too far from a planet. Captains Zeth and Sasha, I need you here immediately.”
Zeth opens his eyes. “Time to get back to it.”
***
Zeth and Sasha report to the front of the ship and meet with Jeff. Zeth is wearing a dark blue shirt with a brown leather jacket over it. He is also wearing blue jeans. Sasha is wearing a green tank top with a light blue unbuttoned crop top vest over it. She is also wearing dark blue jeans.
Zeth walks up to Jeff’s pilot seat. “What kind of wrecked ship is it?”
Jeff looks up and to his left to look Zeth in the eyes. “I’m not sure of that. The ship has taken considerable damage and is clearly nonfunctional. However, it would be possible to dock our ship next it and search for survivors.”
Sasha walks up to Jeff on the other side of his chair. “Let’s do it then. It wouldn’t sit right with me to not at least take a look.”
Kurt, Emily, and Joe also walk into the room. They are dressed in their uniforms. Kurt begins speaking. “I have detected a pyramid on that planet so we are going to need to stay in the area anyway. I will be coming with you to board that ship.”
Zeth nods.
Jeff confidently smiles and steers the ship in the direction of the wrecked ship. “Okay, let’s do this then!”
The ship slows down when it reaches the ship and stops right next to it. A docking tube extends out and connects to a docking port of the wrecked ship.
Zeth, Sasha, and Kurt begin walking toward the port.
Emily looks at them oddly. “You two are going dressed like that?”
Sasha looks back at Emily. “It shouldn’t be a problem. We are only going to be here for a short while. It’s nice to be a little casual.”
As they reach the dock door, Zeth stops for a moment. “Jeff, are you able to read what the oxygen levels are on that ship?”
Jeff responds over the intercom system. “The ship is detecting sufficient oxygen levels on the other side of our docking tube. You should be good to go without a suit.”
Zeth walks up to the door. “Roger that.”
Zeth opens the dock door and walks through with Sasha and Kurt following him. They are soon stopped by the dock door of the wrecked ship.
Zeth puts his hand on various spots on the door. “It looks like it’s not going to open without force.”
Zeth kicks the door, causing it to blow back against a wall within the ship.
Kurt scratches his head. “Was that really necessary?”
Zeth rubs the back of his neck. “I didn’t see any other option. This just means that we have to get all survivors off the ship before we leave.”
Sasha starts walking forward. “No time to stand and chat. We need to start looking.”
***
Zeth, Sasha, and Kurt walk into a larger and more open room. There are dead and bloody bodies throughout the room. The three of them gasp.
Zeth runs up to the closest body to him. He gets down on his knees and rolls the body of the male victim on his back. Zeth grits his teeth in sadness. “He’s gone… This is awful.”
Kurt replies, “And it looks like no one else is still alive either.”
Sasha adds, “All of the victims appear to be light divine beings and angels. How did this happen? Was their ship attacked from the outside or did someone board and it kill them from inside?”
Kurt grabs a male light divine being’s body. “We might be able to get some answers if we do an autopsy. I will take this body back to the ship.”
Zeth starts looking as he replies, “Got it. Sasha and I will continue looking around for more clues.”
Kurt takes the body and leaves the room as Zeth and Sasha continue looking.
Zeth walks up to an on-ship computer system. “I wonder if this ship still has any power. I’d like to see a ship log so we can find out what led up to this happening.”
Zeth flips a power switch and while the computer turns on, the whole ship suddenly does a short but powerful shake. The shake causes a dead angel in the pilot seat to lean forward and push on a switch. An interior door to the docking port closes and is immediately followed by the ship breaking off the Stargazer as the ship's thrusters turn. The thrusters start sending the ship uncontrollably down toward the planet.
***
At the front of the Stargazer, the other heroes react.
Jeff starts rapidly pressing different buttons while in a panic. “What happened in there!? That ship shouldn’t even be functional!”
Emily leans forward against the Stargazer’s control panel as she looks out through the window in panic. “Surely, there is something you can do!”
Joe shouts in panic. “What can he do!? Fly down below it and have it crash into our ship!?”
***
Back inside the wrecked ship that is still thrusting down toward the planet at a fast speed, Zeth and Sasha are in a panic.
Zeth grabs onto a wall as the ship angles more downward. “I didn’t think turning on the power would have this kind of effect!”
Sasha also grabs onto a wall. “Are you sure that’s all you did!?”
Zeth struggles to hold on. “Yes!”
Soon, the ship angles fully downward, causing Zeth and Sasha to lose their grip against the wall and fly up and hit the back wall.
Zeth yells, “This ship is going to crash into the planet!”
Sasha replies by yelling, “At this point, that would be better than us destroying the ship right here and dying by suffocating in space! We’ll just have to prepare ourselves for impact!”
Soon, the ship enters the planet’s atmosphere.
Zeth yells, “At this speed, we’re going to crash into the ground in under a minute!”
Sasha yells, “This is it!!”
Less than a minute later, the ship crashes into the ground and everything goes black.
Narrator: The wrecked ship was unexpectedly still functional! With Zeth and Sasha still on the ship when it crashed into the ground, what has become of them!?
Chapter 661 END
To be Continued in Chapter 662: The Dark Captors
