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PROXIMITY ALERT! PROXIMITY ALERT! PROXIMITY ALERT!The thunderous and mechanical voice of the ship´s computer yelled through the cockpit of the ship, causing Phoenix to look down at the piloting console that sat on the board in front of him.
Damn it!
Three ships were about to enter the same system, the same location as him. And once Phoenix saw to which faction they belonged he was even less excited about the encounter.There was no time for the young man to spin up the Grav Drive and jump away as the ships entered the system in the very second he thought about leaving. There was no way of jumping away as of now anymore. He had to fight them or die trying.Apparently, the enemy ships had the very same idea as a haze of bullets and missiles were set free in the blackness of space. Only the radars in the cockpits of the ships and the streak of light the missiles dragged with them indicated where they were flying.Firing up every weapons system Phoenix had, he targeted one ship and started to open fire on it while trying to not get totaled just one second in the fight. He wanted to live, he wanted to see Sarah again and most of all, he wanted to help people stay safe out in space while they explored it. That the latter was a little too ambitious was obvious to Phoenix, but what´s wrong with believing in something?The firing continued and continued, an end not in sight. Phoenix dared to take a quick look down at another console to see where his shields were.
79 percent. That´s still okay. Question´s for how long.
Maneuvering his ship from side to side, Phoenix used the other Crimson Fleet ships as secondary shields, hitting two flies with one clap. The enemy´s shields went down, the ship took damage, plus the attacker ran low on bullets and missiles. That even makes three flies.Despite his best efforts, Phoenix only managed to take down one ship and damaging another one before his shield ran out. The last one seemed to be the pirate´s boss since it only fired a few shots, but the table turned as the ship´s weapons rose to life, targeting Phoenix´s.Phoenix thought that this was his end, that he´d never see Sarah, or Constellation or even Jemison ever again. He´d be just another loss in the blackest sea, as Vladimir always called space.
No, this isn’t your end, Phoenix. You can fight this. Keep on, you´re going to get through this.
Filled with anger, hate and simply survival instinct Phoenix fired a set of ship parts towards the robotic devices that took care of fixing if one was flying alone. After that he targeted the most damaged pirate ship with his missile launcher, taking it out of commission.Surprised by the sudden increase of anger, the remaining ship opened fire on Phoenix this time. It was a challenge to avoid getting hit too many times, and the lack of experience as a pilot most certainly didn´t contribute to that at all.As the boss of the pirate raiding party launched his missile towards Phoenix, the young man used the opportunity to get cover behind the second pirate ship that hadn´t gone flying into dust and debris, causing the missile to hit the enemy instead of him.His own ship was an understatement, and Phoenix was aware of that. He could avoid getting hit multiple times, but when he was hit, it certainly left more than just scratches on the hull. The shield was down to 20 percent and a part of the hull was already damaged from previous blasts. The coming fight will be a kamikaze to be frank.Bullets over bullets flew across space, impacting ones hammered against the ship´s hull, causing a deep thunder in the inside. It wasn´t easy to hold out against the boss. Phoenix could see that his shield was a blink of the eye away from going down entirely, leaving him with nothing but his weapons.
Positive. Stay positive. You managed to get this far, you´ll manage to survive this as well.
Within a minute Phoenix´s last bit of shield was gone, and he instigated a fierce mass firing of his weapons, fearing that this was the last time he´d seen space at all.Somehow, his wild firing caused his enemy to fly around in circles to avoid getting hit. This very moment Phoenix used to his advantage as he targeted the boss´s missile launcher with one of his missiles, terminating it. As a second target he chose to take the Grav Drive out, also with success.In all his little happiness about him tearing apart his enemy piece by piece, Phoenix almost forgot about his own vulnerability.“Shit!” He exclaimed frightened, as he saw how low his hull was, only realizing the blaring and beeping of alarms in the cockpit as of now. Accompanying the audible sounds were various red lights, blinking vividly.“See you in hell, asshole.” The pirate called over the comms system, barely intelligible through all the static caused by various system failures.As a missile hit Phoenix´s ship, he saw that his reactor was hit, leaving him with only 5 minutes before it would give up altogether, if not explode even.With the last pieces of weaponry he had left, Phoenix shot at the enemy ship while he set course to the planet below them. It was his only chance of surviving this encounter, that was if the impact didn´t kill him.Just as the computer informed him that he had entered the planet´s thermosphere, Phoenix saw that the boss´s ship exploded. Maybe this will happen to him in a few seconds as well.
I´m so sorry, Sarah. I shouldn´t have left without you. I should have spent the vacation with you. I don’t want to lose you. I love you. I should´ve told you more often.
Grabbing his seatbelt, Phoenix pressed his eyes shut as he hoped for his survival, that he didn´t become what happened to the Dauntless´s crew. He couldn´t do this to Sarah. He just couldn´t let her go through all this again. No, he needed to survive this, no matter how.The ship started to creak and screech as it entered the atmosphere and descended to the planet´s surface. As of now, there was a yellow and orange veil covering the ship as it continued its horrifying screaming.
Sarah… My beautiful Sarah… I don´t want to die. Not today, not like this.
His mind was focused on Sarah and reminiscing over the memories they made together. Phoenix hoped that there was an extradimensional being and, that when it saw his love for this woman, would somehow save him. Deep inside he knew there was no God or other thing that could do something like this, even if he begged it for rescue, but one thing Phoenix knew now, that humans really go through stages of coping before they die.The thunderstorm went on for another few minutes as the planet´s surface came closer and closer. Escaping his trance, Phoenix tried to somehow decrease the velocity of the spacecraft so he didn´t blow up the second he landed.Despite all the damage the ship had endured, he could still operate a few of the systems. Barely finished with decreasing the velocity by half another thunder followed. This one was accompanied by an earthquake-like impact that shook him through his seat. Luckily, the seatbelt didn´t rip in the process.Pure fear raced through Pheonix´s veins, his heart pounded in his chest while his breathing was more than just a little bit elevated. After the initial shock the young man looked around and through the window of the cockpit, he found himself on the planet.As he checked on himself, he counted a few open wounds that needed to be covered with wound dressing, as well as a few bruises. His left arm hurt while his head was still roaring from the loud noise the impact caused.
I´m not dead… yet. First of all, I need to grab whatever I can and get out of here, I have no idea where this ship came down. Hopefully not on a cliff like Sarah´s shuttle did…
Crawling out of his seat, with no little amount of groaning that is, Phoenix went backwards through the hatch that led deeper into the ship to gather medical supplies as well as his weapon and secondary one. Not to mention that he tried to haul his spacesuit out of the metal tin can as well.With everything stowed away in his backpack, he slowly crawled towards the hatch where he found it blocked, due to the fact that he landed on the belly of the ship and not on its landing gear, well landing with 2 out of 4 landing gears isn´t going to work.Climbing back up to the cockpit he tried to somehow damage the windshield of the cockpit, a torturous act as he soon found out. The windows were reinforced and specially crafted for outer space, making them far more resilient than a car windshield.Hours went by in which Phoenix tried to crack the window open, without success. Sitting down and leaning against the wall of the cockpit Phoenix leaned his head against it, eyes closed as he tried to calm himself, though the cracking of nearby cables and the rumble of the metal wasn’t helpful.Memories of him and Sarah, of Phoenix sitting in the staff room of the hospital he worked at on Earth, his office in New Atlantis as a Corporal in UC Security, his flat in downtown Munich back on Earth, they all came back. It was as if he was a heartbeat away from death and something showed him everything that matted to him again.Was he dying?Only time could tell that tale.
What time is it on Jemison? Is Sarah worried about me? She surely is, knowing her. Most likely she´s pacing through the library or her room while Noel tried to calm her down. What was Yumi doing? Was he with Hadrian? Was he suspicious about the silence that followed Phoenix´s departure? What about his apartment? His plants? Sarah cared for them, of course, but he was worried.
He wanted to cry and let all the emotions hidden inside him out, but he had no time for that. He needed to get out of here.The sudden realization that he sat in a stranded spacecraft, on a foreign planet and didn´t get out of here made him snap out of his reminiscing. A quick glance at his weapon told him that maybe this was the solution.Standing up, he aligned himself behind the pilot´s seat and started firing right at the window. It was pretty much reinforced as it took him nearly his entire magazine to crack the window open, but in the end, after “only” 3 hours with next to no oxygen left inside the cabin he managed to escape his prison.
Finally. Now I have a fighting chance again. Hopefully there´re friendly animals on this planet since the window ate nearly my entire ammo.
Outside the ship Phoenix saw where he landed and that he was lucky enough to land where he did. A few more meters to the left and he could´ve said goodbye to his life altogether as a deep trench drew a line through the wilderness. Surrounding his crash site were trees and bushes of different kinds, creating a forest.
Good for a holdout.
With the backpack on, Phoenix slowly made his way towards the forest where he sat down on a trunk to cover his wounds and treat his bruises. How good that he wanted to enlist in the army at one point in his past, as he watched at least a dozen of videos regarding survival. Either they were from the military or people that lived in the woods for fun and made videos and tutorials about survival in the wilderness.If it wouldn´t be under such circumstances, Phoenix might actually like it. If it would be with Sarah by his side, the two of them sitting next to a campfire before going to bed in a tent.Speaking about going to bed, Phoenix needed to build himself a shelter where he could sleep. After that he needed to check on the ship´s comms systems, somehow, he needed to reach someone to get him off the planet again.It occurred to him just by now, what happened if he didn´t get off the planet any time soon? Or at all? What would happen to Sarah? To Sona? To his friends? To him? Phoenix knew that Sarah would try to find him, but how did she want to find him in outer space where he could´ve gone literally everywhere? Would he ever see her again?Upon that realization Phoenix sat down in the grass, now capable of understanding what happened and what could happen if there wasn´t someone coming by. He would be stranded, forever. He didn´t know if Sarah would find him while they both were still alive.Slight fear raced through his veins, followed by sorrow and sadness. On top of that was the aching arm and rib. He felt lonely for the first time in his life, he wanted Sarah to be there with him, or at least someone he knew. Something that could keep him sane and someone he could talk to.
This won´t happen any time soon, Phoenix. You need to focus on the here and now, not what you want to have. It´s okay to be afraid but don’t let it control you. You´re on a foreign planet and what´s paramount right now is your survival.
Shortly, he lowered his head to think about what could be for another time before gathering all the strength he could manage to keep moving forward.
That´s what Sarah and Yumi would want for you. Keep moving forward. Remain focused. Sarah went through this as well. So, you can do it as well.
A dense group of trees surrounded by various fauna and a water pool was destined as Phoenix´s new home for however long. He turned around in a circle to oversee what the place had to offer to him. It had the most necessary things to survive, water was in reach, and he could use it as a rainwater collector to save the water that came down. According to the scan Vladimir did before Phoenix´s departure it was safe.He observed the group of trees and mentally started to construct some easy structures where he could spend the night, keeping him safe from rain, should some come down.It became early evening when he finished his new shabby home, nothing more than a few sticks bound together and leaned against a tree, covered by leaves from the trees, serving as rain cover, though it wasn´t the perfect solution.
It´s just for the beginning. Tomorrow I´ll grab something from my ship, if its still where it is. For now, I´ll observe the local fauna to see how their behavior changes in the evening and night, not that I must fear some sneak attack from them.
A small campfire sat a few meters away from the little tent-like structure as Phoenix watched the fire, thinking about what he needed to do while observing a few animals coming by. The majority of them seemed peaceful as they were more afraid of Phoenix than he was afraid of them. There was a particular species that was aggressive, not just towards him, but also to the other animals. Luckily, Phoenix wasn´t attacked by it as of now.As he tried to get sleep in the sleeping bag he had with him, Phoenix could smell the wood and listened to the chirping of the local fauna. His mind raced and all he could do was thinking about Sarah, Constellation, if they were okay, if the Admiral did something he´d regret, what he had to do and for the first time since a very long time, he thought about his mother and his deceased father.Usually, Phoenix shoved the thought about his mother away. He didn´t want to waste any thought about her since the woman never was there when Phoenix needed her, not even during his transition. At one point she claimed to understand and respect it, but she had often called him “she” or her daughter. Most of the time she tried to control his life and lead him in one direction. That was until Phoenix drastically changed his life by moving out and cutting the connection between them altogether.Phoenix always loved his dad, and he always was like him. Ever since he grew facial hair, it was styled like his father´s, he preferred silence over being outgoing. And just like his dad, he was a creative, tactical and logical thinker who remained silent until a certain point was crossed.Sadness overcame him as he thought about the man who once was his father. He showed his love through non-verbal actions like touches and smiles. But if he had the feeling that this wasn´t enough, Phoenix´s father also expressed his love towards his son. For him, Phoenix always was a boy and not a girl, it was as if he sensed that something was wrong with his child.Reminiscing caused him to feel the heavy sadness again, causing him to cuddle more into the sleeping bag, trying to tell his mind that Sarah was right next to him in this little tent. But given his past, mind manipulation didn´t work on him.The night crawled in and Phoenix couldn´t do anything but stare at the sticks that formed a ceiling above his head, waiting for exhaustion to come over him so he could finally sleep.