Blood Impulse

Part 21.3 - THE BODIES

1 hour later, Brimstone Sector, Battleship Singularity

The Singularity black and blood red shape flew in stark contrast to the swirling array of bright earthen colors that was the Brontosaur Nebula. Spires of churning gasses clashed against the scabrous hull before yielding as the dreadnaught pushed on.

The outer edges of the Brontosaur Nebula were no cause for worry. It was little more than a haze over the distant stars, but they were nearing core of the Brontosaur Nebula now. Exceptionally dense and hot, it was soon to become a stellar nursery on the galactic timescale. Among such high quantities of light gasses like Hydrogen, it would be easy to start an explosive chain reaction that would expand across the nebula's entire core.

"Steady as she goes, Lieutenant." They had slowed to a speed that would allow them to cross the nebula's core in relative safety, but some turbulence would remain due to the nebula's density.

"Aye, sir," Jazmine said, guiding the ship in. Loyal as ever, the Singularity plunged into the thickest part of the gaseous clouds. The old ship's pointed bow pierced the swirling mass, parting the colorful gasses to ease the effects of drag, as designed. Plentiful streams of vapor swelled back to fill the hole the black ship made in the effluvium cloud. The Singularity's path of travel left no lasting mark in the billowing, multicolored brume.

The viewscreen on the bridge now showed nothing but fluidic colors, waving and swirling. "It's like a dream." It was almost mesmerizing, soothing. "It looks soft enough to touch." For a brief moment, Zarrey almost wanted to reach out to it.

"Without heat shielding you would die in seconds," the Admiral reminded him. "Turn that off," he knew just how poorly the hypnotic colors could affect sailors. Like a siren, it lulled them to their deaths, comforting and intriguing. The Brontosaur Nebula was a place of many dangers. It was a young nebula, though it remained many eons old now. Its abnormal density was thought to have been the result of a white hole. The unusual heat and pressure of the gasses took a toll on ships, and its mental affects were not positive for crews so used to the blackness of the void.

Zarrey grunted as the visage of the nebula was replaced by an overall position map. Slowly, the Singularity's icon was pushing deeper into the marked core of the nebula. It was slow going. "It'll take another couple hours to get across the nebula's core at this rate, and only the stars know what the hell we're going to find on the other side." If anything, the incident with Squadron 26 had reiterated the dangers and mysteries of space. Unseen enemies readily lurked in the darkness.

The Admiral didn't reply. He looked to Robinson, where she sat on the raised level of the bridge. She looked tired, even harrowed by the fate the Firon and her sister ships had suffered, but she was focused. "The transmission is getting stronger, sir." That was some indication that they were heading in the right direction. "The density of the nebula generates too much interference for me to resolve it any further." The radio waves were still heard as only static, garbled as they perpetuated through the nebula's variable medium.

"Understood." They'd have no idea what they were flying into until they cleared the core of the nebula. "Alert me to any changes. I will be in the medical bay."

Zarrey nodded as the Admiral walked by. "Yeah, yeah, we know the drill."

* * * * *

Captain Linsey Adams came to slowly. She was pleasantly warm, surrounded by bright and fuzzy lights. Numbly she watched a whole world fall into place around her. The details became sharper and more refined, but it still felt dreamy. The afterlife then, she thought, remembering the sudden detonations that had engulfed the Firon. She'd veered away only to find the Iko enduring the same destruction.