The Aeolus Aurora

Chapter Three

The crew stood there on the bridge, waiting for the ships in front of them to make the first move. Since Pia had arrived on the deck, four more ships had joined the first in front of the Aeolus Aurora. The ship was practically silent as everyone waited on pins and needles.

“Is this like wolves? We just stare them down until they make a choice?” Colonel Pandev asked, not taking his eyes off the ships.

“Well, it’s definitely not like bears,” Roza responded. “We can’t scare them off just by making lots of noise.”

“Colonel! We have a message incoming!” one of the communications staff exclaimed.

“Is it from them?” he asked.

“Yes, sir, we believe so!”

The whole group rushed to the computer where the staff was seated, monitoring all communications. Everyone was ducking over each other, trying to see past the other’s shoulders.

Pandev shoved his way through and sat down next to the staff member that had called to him. He looked over the screen, then his face seemed to turn to stone.

“What is it, Colonel?” Mr. Duchamps asked. “Any news?”

Colonel Pandev stood, hanging his head. “It’s a declaration of war, Mr. Duchamps,” he mumbled.

“What is it, Pandev?”

The old, grey colonel turned to looked Duchamps in the eye. “A declaration of war. We need to get everyone off this ship, now.”

Then, as if on cue, the ship leading the pack of six fired at the the Aeolus Aurora. The station shook, alarms went off, lights flickered, and the crew panicked.

All over the ship, crew members rushed to the escape pods with little regard for their orders or the lives of those around them.

Another shot was fired from the lead ship, this time crashing almost directly into the bridge, killing Hamilton, Thomas, and Roza almost instantly and knocking back Pia, Pandev, and Duchamps.

“Fire back at them!” Pandev barked as he stood up after the blast. “Give them everything!”

Pia attempted to scramble to her feet, but was knocked over once again by another shot on the Aurora. People were screaming, panicking.

“Colonel! The escape pods! They’re launching without being at full capacity!”

When Duchamps overheard this, his face turned white as freshly fallen snow. “No…” he mumbled under his breath as he lifted himself off the ground. “No, no, no, no, no!” he exclaimed while attempting to waddle his way to the escape pods. “I will not die on this God forsaken space station! I refuse!”

Then, another shot was fired at the bridge, this time killing Pandev and most of the communications staff. The front window was destroyed and emergency blast doors closed to prevent loss of oxygen. Duchamps was knocked back, debris falling from the ceiling and crushing both of his legs. As he screamed out in pain, Pia was cowering under the command counsel with one of the guards that had been stationed on the deck.

“We need to get word out to the Federation!” the guard yelled over the sound of still blaring alarms and screams of anguish from the victims trapped under debris. “We need someone to help!”

Pia looked around; Pandev, Hamilton, Roza, and most of the staff in charge of communications were dead, Duchamps and most of the guards were injured.

“How?” Pia finally shouted back.

“What’s your clearance?” he asked.

“I’m the First Astronomer.”

“Then ma’am, you’re the highest ranked right now! You gotta send a holo message!”

She nodded, then ran over to one of the injured communications staff. “I need your help! She exclaimed when she finally reached the bleeding young man. “You gotta help me send a distress signal to the Federation!”

The man nodded, then hoisted himself up to sit a computer. “Stand over there!” he directed as he continued pushing buttons. “Wait! Wait!” he called out. “Some of the functions are broken! I can’t get a timestamp on the message...and the deep-space relay is busted!”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I can’t get it to the Federation HQ, but they have patrols going around here all the time. It’s fine! Get in position!”

Pia nodded and took a few calming breaths.

“Okay, remember, protocol states that you need to give your name and rank, as well as an indication that the message will repeat. Coordinates are embedded and we are recording...now!”

“Repeat: my name is Pia Seelenfreund, First Astronomer for the Federation space station, the Aeolus Aurora. The station is currently under attack by a hostile force, and we are in desperate need of rescue. Embedded in this distress call are the coordinates for the station’s current location.”
Suddenly, she got choked up. She realized that she might not make it off this space station. “This message will repeat in five seconds.”

She looked over at the guard, still hunkered under the command counsel but watching her record. Then, another shot was fired at the Aurora, sending Pia down to the floor. She screamed as she was knocked over and hit the floor.

She looked up and saw the staff member that had been working the communications on the ground, dead. Pia quickly scrambled to her feet and looked at the computer. The message was broadcasting.

“Thank god,” she muttered.

Suddenly, a set of hands grabbed her. It was the guard, who had emerged from beneath the counsel. “Help me get Duchamps up and to safety!” he yelled.

Pia looked over, and there was Duchamps, still pinned under debris and still screaming for help. She ran over to him, only one or two steps behind the guard. When she got close enough to see the level of debris on Duchamps, she was thrown back into shock.

“Oh my god,” she muttered. The heavy-set man had both his legs and his left arm pinned beneath pounds and pounds of plaster and steel, his suit ripped and his face covered in sweat, dust, and blood.

“Help!” he screamed in agony. “Fucking god, help!”

“Start digging him out on that side,” the guard barked, pointing to Duchamps’ right side. “Move quickly, but carefully. We don’t know the full extent of the damage.”

“Okay, okay,” Pia muttered as she sank to her knees and started digging away at the debris.
“Okay.”

She could feel the different temperatures of the fallen rubble; some pieces of steel were still hot from the blast while some was ice cold. Some pieces of plaster turned to dust in her hands while others cut into her palms and fingers, drawing blood. Finally, she started to see parts of Duchamps’ suit.

“Okay, he’s almost out on this side!”

“Don’t try to pull him out yet, I’m not quite there.”

She continued to dig around his legs, then froze when she saw the extent of the damage.

“Oh my god,” she muttered. “Oh god, get over here!”

The guard rushed over, and before he could ask what was wrong, he saw Duchamps’ leg.

“Fucking hell….”

Duchamps was still whimpering and crying out in pain. Pia and the guard locked eyes for a moment. “What do we do?” she asked.

The guard turned pale. Duchamps’ left leg was not only pinned beneath rubble, but also connected to it as pipes from the plumbing jutted through his leg and wires were wrapped around it. In addition, the weight from the debris seemed to break his leg is a few different places and was gushing blood.

“I...I don’t know.”

Pia grabbed the guard’s shoulder. “C’mon! Do something! I’m not qualified for this!”

The guard continued to stare at the leg as it continued to bleed.

She turned him to face her, and shook him hard enough to get his attention. “You’re not listening to me! I am an astronomer, not a doctor! I am not qualified!”

The guard nodded. “Okay, okay. Um, keep digging around. I’m gonna grab some cutters. Tell him it’s gonna be okay.”

Pia nodded as the guard stood and ran down the hall, leaving the bridge. She looked down at Duchamps. “Mr. Duchamps?” she said softly, looking him right in the eye. “Mr. Duchamps, can you hear me?”

“Henrich,” he mumbled. “Please...call me Henrich.”

“Okay, Henrich,” she muttered back. “The guard will be back in a little bit. He’s left to get some equipment to get you out, okay?”

Suddenly, Henrich Duchamps grabbed Pia’s wrist with his free hand and pulled her down to his level. “Don’t let me die,” he sputtered, blood starting to coat his teeth and lips. “Please, Pia, I don’t want to die. Not here.”

Pia was at a loss for words. She tried to think past the shock of him grabbing her hand and pulling her close, but she couldn’t. “Um,” she breathed, trying not to inhale the scent of blood, sweat, and dust. “I mean, I’m gonna try my best, okay?”

His grip around her wrist tightened and his eyes grew dark. “Don’t let me die,” he muttered again.

Finally, the guard returned with cutters and a few other tools. “Move!” he commanded.

Pia looked down at her wrist then again at the guard. Henrich’s grasp was too tight for her to just get up and move, so she shimmied her way around his body so the guard was have easy access to the trapped left leg.

The guard hunkered down and started cutting away at pipes, wires, and large chunks of debris. As he did so, Henrich released his grip on Pia. She took the opportunity to move over to the right side of his body and continue digging where the guard left off. “There’s a couple pipes over here, too.”

“I’ll get there in about thirty seconds. Get his arm out.”

Pia nodded and started digging out the right arm. When she finally found it, she noticed that his upper arm was broken.

“Um, his...uh...humerus is broken.”

“The upper arm?” the guard asked without looking up from his task.

“Yeah, that.”

“Done,” the guard called out. “You get his head, and I’ll pick him up and throw him over my shoulder, okay?”

Pia nodded and positioned herself by Henrich’s head.

“What we’re about to do to him is gonna be really painful, so he’s probably gonna scream. Whatever happens, keep his neck straight until he’s over my shoulder, okay?”

“Okay.”

The guard lifted him up, and, like he had predicted, Henrich screamed in pain as his body was removed from the rubble. Once he was over the shoulder of the soldier, he was hauled out of the bridge and down the hall towards the medical bay.

As Pia ran behind the guard, another shot hit the station. Lights flickered, the floor rumbled, and anything hanging on the walls fell down. A handful of crew members sprinted past them towards the escape pods, completely ignoring the three of them.

Then, they finally reached the medical bay. “Hello?!” the guard called out as he placed Henrich Duchamps on one of the medical beds. “I need some help here! Please!”

Pia ran around the bay, searching for anyone. In the supply closet, she found one of the doctors dead; from the looks of it, he had fallen into some sharp objects during one of the many blasts.

“Find anyone?”

Pia was wondering how to respond to the soldier. “Technically? Yes, but I don’t think he’ll be able to help us.” She grabbed an armful of medical supplies including bandages, alcohol, medical tape, and antibiotics. She brought the supplies back into the other room. “This should help for now.”

The guard grabbed some of the supplies from her and started doing first aid by wrapping wounds, attempting to reset bones, and giving Duchamps a healthy dose of meds including painkillers and the antibiotics that Pia had brought him.

After an hour or two of aid, Duchamps was asleep. Pia and the soldier could finally relax.

“Don’t think I actually asked your name,” the guard mused as he handed Pia a juice box from the fridge. “Would it be in poor taste to ask you now?”

Pia took a sip from her juice box, nodded, and smiled a little. “My name is Pia. Pia Seelenfreund. Yours?”

“Alexander Cappello. Most people call me Alex, though.”

“Well, it’s good to meet you, Alex.”

The two chuckled, but were interrupted by Henrich moaning in pain.

“I got him,” Alex said as he stood, reaching for some more pain meds.

“Wait,” Pia muttered. “How long has it been since we got Duchamps in here?”

Alex stopped. “I don’t know. Maybe a couple hours? Why?”

“We haven’t been shot at since we got him safe, right?”

He paused for another moment. “Holy shit,” he muttered. “You’re right. What does it mean?”

Pia shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

Henrich moaned again, reminding Alex of what he was about to do. The guard turned towards

Henrich and gave him an injection of painkillers into his IV. “There ya go, buddy,” he mumbled, mostly to himself.

Pia stared off into space, trying to listen for anything that could give her a clue.

“So what are you thinking?” Alex asked suddenly.

Pia jumped a little. “Huh?”

Alex gestured to the nothingness. “What do you think about, ya know, all of this?”

Pia shook her head. “I don’t know. I know nothing about alien culture. Just stars and
planets and,” she waved her hands in the air, trying to think of the right words. “And space rocks.”

Alex chuckled. “Stars and planets and space rocks, huh? It’s definitely more than I know
about space.”

Pia smiled at him. “So aside from the space stuff, what do you think about this whole situation?”

“Well,” Alex started. “Assuming everyone has left the station except for us, we’re gonna be stuck here until help arrives. This station was meant to house and maintain a crew of about 100 for 4 years plus another 2 or 3 of cryo. So for the two of us, we have enough food to probably last us forever if we’re smart about it.”

“You sure know a lot for a soldier.”

He shrugged. “My dad did work on the Aurora before it launched. He did nothing but talk about it. But anyway, the air filters are meant to last up to 10 years with proper maintenance, so as long as the filters aren’t busted, we should be okay.”

“You realize that you’ve just jinxed us, right?” Pia jabbed, trying to be funny. “It’s like saying ‘what could possibly go wrong?’ The answer is obviously everything.”

Alex scoffed and shrugged off his uniform jacket. “Well aren’t you just full of optimism.”

“I’m just saying, the laws of spoken word dictate that now the air filters are gonna be busted.”

“Well, yeah, maybe with that attitude,” he joked, a big smile plastered on his face.

Suddenly, the space station’s intercom chimed. “Now docking ship. Please stand by.”

Pia and Alex quickly looked at each other. “Docking?” Pia asked. “The Federation?”

Alex shook his head. “Not this soon.”