Ch. 2

Terugis awoke in the dark to the sound of alarms. The falcon... where am I? Straining his eyes, he looked around and observed the wreckage of the bridge surrounding him, the once prestine holo-console lay in ruins over the once-unbroken remains of his legs. Turning his head, he saw General Sharpton with a chill-o-matic pipe piercing his torso, his blood kept from flowing the continuing operation of the pipe.

He heard crashing in the distance. Surely the beast reducing the last intact sections of the ship to little more than crushed space-soda cans.

"The device...", Terugis brought himself back to attention, and gazed surprisingly back at General Sharpton who was, apparently, still alive. "The device, you can still activate it." What device? Terugis noticed could hear a faint hiss. Cabin leak. And at such a rate he wouldn't stay consious much longer. He had to remember. The device...the device... Aha, the transchronometon device! But to use such a machine...the consequences would be dire, but as dire as this? Perhaps not. In any case, he owed it to those the crew had left behind to complete their mission.

Looking around for a functioning holo-console, he spotted one across the bridge near the helm, with young Ensign Le'veon drapped over it. He could never reach it with his legs trapped under the broken console. If only...Suddenly an idea sprung into his head. Desperate, but necessary. Reaching for his laz-gun, he unholstered it and adjusted it to level 17. Pointing at his thighs and gritting his teeth he pulled the trigger. The smell of burning flesh filled his nose, but he didn't notice it over the excruciating pain of the laz-gun severing his legs.

Finished, he set the laz-gun down and began crawling towards the helm. Half-way there, he noticed the distant crashes were getting louder. The beast must have sensed the weapon discharge, he thought. Need to crawl faster. Using his last reserves of energy, he shoved Ensign Le'Veon off the console and hoisted himself up onto the seat. The crashing was getting louder. He only had a few seconds.

"Computer! Execute operation alpha-X-X-two-three, authorization code..." The door crashed open, and with it the last atmosphere on the bridge vented into space. Terugis glanced at the door, but only saw an intense darkness with two red pinpricks. Steeling himself, Terugis turned back to the console. "Authorization code upsilon."