Codename Alpha

Chapter 9

There was barely any time to think in the panic that ensued Ensign Vance's warning. While I may have been a pilot, I certainly wasn't qualified to perform evasive maneuvers in regards to anything, much less guided missiles. There were only a few seconds to try and transfer all available power to slowing our plummet and maintaining structural integrity. Before I knew it, the shuttle crashed into the tops of trees, and soon the ground, with enough force to make me black out, near-instantly.

I slowly opened my eyes. The shuttle's interior was obscured in smoke, lit only by a dim red light from the emergency lighting above the escape hatch. My chair had been completely upended by the crash, and I was now lying on my back, still buckled in. The reinforced glass windshield was shattered, but otherwise intact. I'd likely be in an entirely different condition if it had broken. Outside, I could see little more than darkness.

"Terrain, terrain. Pull up. Pull up. Terrain, terrain." The automated voice was mixing in with the many other alarms ringing and beeping.

"Oh, sa'at..." I groaned, feeling around on my temple as I searched for the source of some pretty extreme pain. Although I didn't feel any blood, the pain from the injury I had sustained in the Valiant's crawlways seemed to have been multiplied tenfold. I pulled out the glasses I had hastily shoved into my pocket to protect them from the crash and put them back on. I tried to sit up, but it just resulted in more pain - the seatbelt was stuck. My efforts to unbuckle were pointless, too. I muttered a few obscenities to myself and attempted to find my bearings. I couldn't see anything outside of the shattered glass in the windshield, other than darkness. There was flashing white light from above me, indicating that the computer was still intact, if not damaged. I used my hind paws to search for anything on the ground I could use to cut the seatbelt.

"Are you guys alive?" I asked, while trying to find something sharp. I glanced behind me after I got no response. My breathing quickened when I saw both Vance and Jack slumped unconscious in their chairs. While neither of them had any obvious injuries, it was still incredibly alarming to see. Jack seemed to be stirring, though.

My left leg brushed against a chunk of evidently sharp metal, most likely some panel that had dislodged in the crash.

"Terrain, terrain. Pull up. Pull up. Warning. Critical engine failure. Pull up. Pull up." As the seconds went on, the computer seemed to be having a harder and harder time analyzing the current situation, screaming out nonsensical status updates on the angle of the shuttle or how we were stalling, neither of which were true.

"What the hell just happened?" Jack groaned, rubbing his head.

"Jack!" I shouted, relieved that he was still alive in the first place. "We got shot down. Listen, we need to get out of here as quickly as possible. Can you unbuckle yourself?"

"It's one hell of a miracle that we're alive. I can get up, but what's the rush?"

"We've been shot down over an alien planet. God only knows where we are, but I'm willing to bet that the natives certainly do." Jack unbuckled himself and stumbled over to Vance, who was slumped over in her chair. "Essentially, they're going to be searching for us. And I don't know about you, but I really don't want to be slapped on an examination table and dissected."

"Yeah, I can understand that. Ensign, are you alright?" He tried to revive Vance. Thankfully, she quickly came back to reality.

"Oh, god... are you guys alright?" She was immediately able to unbuckle, and began to frantically look around. "I can't believe this is happening..."

"Somehow we're all alive. Try to stay calm." Jack then made his way to me. "We're healthy enough for the time being. Are the emergency backpacks still intact?" I asked. Jack tried multiple times to get the seatbelt off, but failed. He settled back down to pick up a particularly sharp piece of metal.

"Alright, dude. I'm going to try and cut you out, alright? Try to hold still." For some reason, it was getting harder and harder to see anything in the cabin. I noticed that smoke was seeping in from a panel that opened into the floor, slowly but surely.

As Jack began to cut, Marine gave a report on the status of the emergency packs. "They're all still in good condition, sir."

"Good. Take them out and, like... set them on the floor or something. It doesn't really matter right now. I need you to, uh..." I felt like there was something important that needed to be done, but I couldn't think of what it was. When Jack got me out and I was able to sit up, I remembered. "We need to purge these computers. I don't want these aliens knowing anything about us." I leaned over the pilot console, searching for something that could do the trick. Vance and Jack sat down at the computers they had taken before. "If you guys see anything that could disable this shuttle, let me know."

After a few seconds of listening to the grating automated computer voice tell me to pull up, Ensign Vance suddenly spoke up.

"Hold on. It's obvious we're not running on the power core, right?"