Chapter 1- Survival
This is my first time to upload a submission. Let alone write one seriously.
The story is not even complete, its about a third of the way. Its basically words over the outline atm :s
However, I want to know what people think of it so far. But mind you when I do revise it, all the repetitive third-person, and muddled up words will all be gone. All of it will be redone.
Comments will be appreciated, and enjoy this...rough draft
"Kiteas?" The young mouse turned his head to face the teacher. "Yes, Ms Farone?" He leaned his head slightly so she could see him among the other students that sat cross-legged on the carpeted floor.
"Its your turn to present." She said. The white mouse nodded enthusiastically. Stretching, he curled his back, and stood up. Stepping in between his classmates, Kiteas rushed to his desk at the other side of the room and pulled out his novel. The mouse looked down and criss-crosses his legs, as he avoids stepping on his classmates toes. He passes the teacher, and turns his back to the holo-board. He takes a small bow.
"Class," the lithe wolf called out "Lets give a round of applause to Kiteas," The class of 18 students clapped there hands. Ms. Farone waited for the classes clapping to die down "Kiteas, share with us your favorite chapter from the novel you chose."
He tugged lightly to fix the crease on his blue and white uniform before raising his book for the class to see. "The book I chose was Charlotte's Web. And my favorite chapter from the book is chapter seven. Its called 'Bad News'" He moves the book behind his back, and holds it with both his hands.
"I chose this chapter because I liked how Charlotte promised Wilbur, a pig that could talk, that she would save him. Because, b-because the owner or, o-or." Kiteas paused for a bit, "What was his name?" He whispered quietly so only Ms. Farone could hear.
"Mr. Z~" she hinted, whispering back as quietly as the mouse. The wolf tilted her head and whispered "Mr. Zu~" giving him another hint.
Kiteas's eyes darted around the room, before he gave a quick 'Aha!' "Mr Zuckerman. Mr Zuckerman was the owner of the farm. A place where they grow vegetables, animals, and fruit for food." the mouse shuffled his feet for a moment, as he tried to remember what else there was in the chapter. "The pigs name is Wilbur, and one day Mr. Zuckerman plans to kill Wilbur for food. When Wilbur hears this, he begins to cry, and he gets very sad. But he has many friends in the farm, and one of his friends named Charlotte, who is a spider. An arach-ne-e~"
"Arachnid" Ms Farone said, she then made her way to the back of the class. So her shy student couldn't ask her for any more hints.
"Charlotte saw that Wilbur was crying, and because she was so nice, she said that he would help him so he would stop crying." Kiteas brought the book back for the class to see, and opened the book to the start of chapter seven. He shows the class the picture of a pig crying, and a spider, dangling from a piece of its web to look at Wilbur. Closing the book, he sways from side to side. "I chose this chapter from 'Charlotte's Web' because I liked how Wilbur was able to find a friend. Also, because Charlotte was able to make Wilbur stop crying." He bows to signal that he is finished, and the class applauds him shortly.
Ms Farone also joins in, giving him a smiling nod. "Kids" The class turned to look at her "You can have twenty minutes of free time before we do math."
The kids gave a short 'Hoo-ray!' and sped off to different corners of the room. Ms Farone made her way to her desk at the back of the room, opposite from the open presentation area, where her students were a moment ago. Taking a seat in her leather chair, she took out her grading pad and placed it lightly atop the table. She scanned for Kiteas's name. Finding it at the bottom, she places a grade of 'B' on his row. Pursing her lips, the wolf stares apprehensively at the red symbol, and brings her stylus back down and adds a 'plus' next to the B.
Plus points to the only child in class who chose to present a human book.
The first grade teacher moved her attention to homework. She drew out a stack of small papers, squinting her eyes slightly she tried to look at what her students drew. Most were stick figures, with a long third leg, and a triangular or rectangle like heads. The homework was simple, draw your family. She sifted through pile, counting her head as she transfered the paper in her hand to her table in a neat stack. She counted 13. A little smile tugged at her lips. Her students were diligent, something that failed to never put a teacher in a good mood.
She gave the room a quick once-over. A group of mixed students were huddled around a toy box, preoccupying themselves with small plastic toys and blocks of Lego. She made a mental note to keep an eye on them. No one wants to see a small child choke by trying to swallow a small plastic block. She turned her eyes to a pair of students sitting next to each other, art supplies neatly splayed in front of them. Two humans were in a corner, giggling as they pointed at pages in a thick picture book.
Bringing her head back down, she returned to the task at hand. She took out a green felt tip pen. Starting with the first picture on the pile of homework, she wrote words of encouragement to each of her students. She sighed contently at the feel of the felt pen dragging along the thin pieces of paper. The holo-pads were recommended as they do practically everything. Its a touch screen organizer, you could connect to the tel net, you could even draw art on it if you had the right programs. But nothing could reanimate the feel of a pen on paper. Especially not a stylus on a sleek, thermal screen.
The wolf felt a small tug on her sleeve arm. Turning to her right, she greeted a young tiger. "Hello there, Marcus"
"Ms Farone, Can I go to~" The teacher corrected him "May I, Marcus" He gave a brief nod "Ms Farone, May I go to the bathroom?"
"Yes, you may." He scurried over to the restroom and shut the door in a hurry. She raised her eyebrows slightly before she resumed writing more encouraging words to her students. beep beep her small timer went off to remind her she had 3 minutes. "Class, who is this weeks leader?"
A human girl sprung up, and raised her hand quickly "Cecile, as this weeks class leader, could you help me clean up?"
"Yes ma'am!" The girl spun around on her heels and pointed to the group huddled around the toy box, "Play time is over" she bent down to put some of the toys in the box. The other students quickly joined in, putting away art supplies and returning books to there shelves. Ms Farone picked up the now full box of toys, and slotted it into its shelf next to the books.
She heard the restroom door close, and Marcus passed her before taking a seat behind his desk "Do you know what were doing for math today kids?" The kids quickly took there seats as the wolf walked to the front of her table. "Does anyone wanna take a guess?"
She smiled brightly as all the kids sat up straight, raised there hands and patiently waited to be called. "James?" She called on a blue drake. "A game?" he asked
"Maaaybe, we can have one before we end." Some of the kids smiled happily at each other. "Nick?" She asked a human boy. "Does is it have something to do with what we had last week, division?"
"Very close" she smiled. "Its fractions!"
The kids tilted there heads slightly "Whats that?"
"Its like division, but a little more fun"
_ "All personnel, Code Blue , Code BLUE, 10-23" _ A speaker overhead boomed. Code blue, an armed incursion.
"What does Code Blue mean?"
"I-I'm not sure." she looked back down at the student who asked it. She gave her classroom some thought. The main area was separated from the stations main corridor by a lobby. But that was still little or no protection. The holo room however had thick titanium steel and arbonite plating in order to contain the sub quantities of radiation to leak out and effect primary and vital station modules. It also was the location of the life support system.
"Class, why don't we step inside the holo room? We can watch a short film before we start math." The students made there way into the circular room, not a care in the world about a impending attack on the station.
The wolf opened the doors to the holo room, and led the kids inside.
_ "Code Blue, Code Blue, Isolation procedures are in effect" _ The speaker continued as she closed the doors.
She moved the students and motioned them to sit down on the floor, "Computer, play..." she needed something that would keep the kids occupied "Sotorlon station history, mute external sounds" The computer complied and shut out the warnings.
The room turned dark, and a three dimensional holographic began to play out in front of the kids.
"The Sotorlon station, one of the farthest outposts in Alliance space, it was created as a joint venture between all races. The creation of the station was used to challenge human engineering concepts. It was the humans who proposed the creation of a interlocking tri-hub station design to create a hyper-redundant modular design. The station is one of the cheapest stations ever to be built. Being cheap however, did not mean it was sub-standard. The station has set new standards that all new stations must compete with." The kids pretty much ignored the narrater, and focused more on the visual tour of the station. "The stations hubs were named after three moons from Jupiter. Jupiter is a large gas giant in the sol system, the humans home solar system. Named after the three largest moons from Jupiter, with the exception of the moon 'Europa' as it replaces 'lo'.
The wolf silently made her way to the metal study table in the room, settling her self in a cushioned chair. Her hands moved to clasp a security card, hung around her neck. She brought her hand up the strap, to the back of her neck, and pulled it over her head. With a quick swipe of the card on the desks reader and the single locked compartment opened. She pulled the drawer back slowly. Looking down she gazed at her small RK 6C pistol. Bringing her hand down into the compartment, she pulled out the pistol. Its small but stocky design just fit into her palm.
Pulling back the slide, she nudged her fingers against a panel inside the gun and pushed outwards. A small click sounded, and the slide came off the pistol. Reaching her hand back into the drawer, she withdrew a small metal box. Flipping the top open, three cold plasma cell units and a couple of phased bolt clips lay inside. Taking one of the cells, it slotted into a empty cell housing inside the pistol. Used as a direct power source, it was highly unstable. However, cover it in a magnetic housing, and it becomes a mini power station. Grabbing the other two that remained, she dropped it in a sealed pocket.
She glanced up at her class, all of them had their eyes fixated at the presentation. The station let out a deep shudder, the projector appeared to shut off. The kids protested, but quieted down as the projector brightened and resumed. The slide was reunited with its other half. She pulled the slide back along the length of the gun and it clicked to signal it was in position. Her finger squeezed the trigger, and flicked the safety on. She eased the pressure on the trigger and wrapped both of her hands on the grip. With both thumbs, she pressed the slide forward from behind. It shot back into place with a clack.
Looking up, she saw Kiteas looking back at her teacher with a raised eyebrow. He knew he heard something, and it was loud. His lupine teacher simply smiled at him, he returned the smile and turned back towards the holographic.
The wolf let out a hushed sigh. Loading a magazine into the pistol, she carefully slid it into place. dropping the other clips into a large pocket in her jumpsuit. Slouching down into her seat, she shoved the pistol into her thigh pocket. Glancing down to make sure it was hidden. Excusing herself from her class, she made her way to the lobby.
Reflexes saved the wolf from ramming her gut into a students desk. The station had jerked violently, the lights had flickered briefly. The classroom doors parted with a sharp hiss. Going behind the reception table, she tapped a few panels to close blast screen and doors. "WAIT!" her head shot up. Her keen ears picked up a high pitched whirring sound, followed by the sound of gargled screams. The glass doors to the main corridor opened, a wingless drake sprinted in. "Rion!" A voice screamed in pain. The drake, looked over his shoulder. He bent his left foot down as he twisted himself back towards the door, and ran out. The drake came back in dragging a raccoon with him "CLOSE THE BLAST DOOR"
The wolf tapped several commands on the screen and the blast doors mechanisms came to life. The thick air tight doors closed with a thud. First on the inside, and then the outside. The raccoon began gasping painfully. She studied the two strangers. The drake wore a padded navy blue jumpsuit, no doubt part of some kind of para-military. His matte charcoal scales, tiny scales, flowed to one another. Seemingly like smooth human skin, her eyes barely able to focus on a individual scale. His tail had a silver stripe running from the tip to his tail base. She could only assume that it extended to the base of his neck. "Where?" The wolf watched as the drake searched the raccoons body. "I-I'm not," The raccoon took a deep breathe "N-not sure" The wolf walked out from the reception table and made her way to the pair. Remembering what the Raccoon had called his companion. "Your name is Rion?"
"Its Cerrion," the drake corrected "could you help me turn him over?" She moved next to him and got down on her knees "Get his legs, I'll get his body." The drake deftly reached under the raccoon, she follows suit. Together they slowly turned the injured mammal over. Halfway through the procedure, the raccoons leg jerks wildly "Ho Shit" he exhaled painfully.
"jeez," Cerrion muttered as he looked at four bleeding wounds at the back of his left leg. Using a talon, he cuts into the raccoons jumpsuit. Stretching it open he was greeted by a mass of blood "Torin, your left legs shot up"
The raccoon laughingly cried "R-really? Cause I can't f-feel it," he convulsed as a wave of pain passed over him "I can't feel my l-legs." a low rumble resounds throughout the station.
"We need to bring him inside" she motions to the classroom. The drake lowers himself to look into the raccoons eyes, "You up to it?"
"Just do it quick" Torin clinched his teeth tightly. The drake rolled his charge onto his back once more before bringing his arms underneath the raccoons spine and the back of his knees. "The quicker the better!" the raccoon mumbled, grinding his teeth. Cerrion brought him into the classroom, settling him down next to the holo room. Torin lets out a pained sigh.
"May I know your name?" the drake lifted himself off from the ground.
"Anvina, Anvina Farone." she barely made eye-contact with the tall dragon.
"Where are your students?" The drake motioned to the empty desks.
"They are in the holo room. Watching a tour of the station."
"Are you armed?"
"I have a RK 6C" she promptly displayed the pistol to the drake.
_ "Brace, hull breach immanent" _
A whirring sounded from the station it self. The wolf twitched her ears, as the whirring spooled to a intense whistle.
"What is that?" the wolf yelled, attempting to talk to the drake over the interference. The drake looked backed at her and simply shrugged. The sound died suddenly, leaving them in silence.
The lights cut out, leaving them in darkness. The emergency lights slowly kicked in, illuminating the room with a low silver light. "What just happened?" The raccoon straining to look at Cerrion. "Sounded like the hub core."
Anvina made her way to the holo room. "Where are you going?"
She looked over her shoulder "I need to check on the kids."
Entering the room, the kids ran to there teacher, some clung on to her clothes, while some were content with simply being in close proximity of an adult. "Anybody here hurt?"
Many of the kids shook there heads. "Thats good, is anyone scared?" The kids simply tightened there circle around her.
Cerrion stepped into the holo room, "Anvina, did you lock the blast doors?"
She paused in thought. The wolf had helped the drake get the raccoon in, but did she lock it... "No, I was assisting you with Torin."
He turned his back to approach the lobby when a large vibration caused him to lose his footing. A massive force propelled everyone towards the far wall, then nothing.
Kestrel swam, swam through a massive lake. Taking a lungful of air he dived under the water, and swam in a random direction. Swam till his lungs craved for air before surfacing. The copper fox broke the surface of the lake, a smile on his muzzle. It felt like he never even left home, never left for duty all those months ago. He sighed contently as a powerful breeze passed over him, filling his lungs with fresh mountain air. He felt great, weightless actually.
BWAAANG
Kestrel jerked, swallowing some water. Sputtering, he tried to find the source of the sound, only to find none. What the hell? He swam for the shore, not intent on finding out what it was or who it was that made the sound. He free styled it back, constantly coughing out the water he had swallowed earlier.
BWAAANG
His entire body jerked wildly upwards, like a jolt of electricity had hit him in the heart. "Gah~rgggaha" He yelled as he ended up swallowing more water. He jumped out of the water, and wretched. Trying a maneuver he new to extricate liquids from his lungs. He tensed his chest muscles, wretched and then coughed. Water came out as he coughed continually till his throat was coarse.
BWAAANG
The fuck? Kestrel stood up, his knees shaking. His body was now freezing, his bones felt numb. But it didn't make sense, there wasn't a breeze at all. How come he was cold, it was the peak of summer. He felt a twitch of consciousness. As he returned to the real world. He tried his best to hold on, he resisted. He knew he wouldn't win, but at least he could remember what his dream was.
BWAAANG
Kestrel woke up with a gasp, he sat up in his make shift bunk. 'BWAAANG BWAAANG BWAAANG BWAAANG'
There was a failure in a critical internal system. The fox groaned as he slid him self off the bunk, only to find himself floating. Grabbing onto the edge of the maintenance cubby that he had slept in, he pushed himself off towards a engineering panel down the maintenance shaft.. He typed in the command to do a full hub diagnostic.
What he saw made his jaw drop. The hub was in critical condition. He had never ever seen more then two blinking red systems, not until now. The entire screen was blinking red. He quickly assessed the situation. Shields are down, seven critical hull breaches in numerous levels, the artificial gravity well was down 'obviously', in-station communications was down. Sub structures were on the verge of breaking off the main body, main power. There were a few systems that were still green. Life support is still good, auxiliary and emergency power.
'BWAAANG BWAAANG BWAAANG BWAAANG'
The fox's keen ears twitched at the noisome alarm. Annoyed he tapped a few commands on the panel and shut the alarm off in the maintenance shaft.
One system in particular had blacked out all together Subsidiary pressure control.
It gave way to possible explosive decompression if doors were opened.
"Computer, what is my location?"
'Deck seven, maintenance access shaft, D2-A7c'
Tapping a few more panels, he hoped to access a station map. He had a good understanding off the structure and the maintenance tunnels, but it wouldn't hurt to make sure. The hopes of procuring a map however ended when the computer terminal froze. It had stopped responding completely.
He hmmed to himself. "Computer?" He prodded "Computer?" No response. The central computer was out too
He reached over for his Taver assault rifle. Human built, it was a popular projectile weapon. The TAR 23 had changed little from the original TAR 21. Aside from a more ergonomic design which integrated a omni-dexterous charging handle, a full barreled muzzle guard, it also supported a bigger 6.5mm round.
He slung the strap over his head, and right arm. Grabbing his combat vest he blinked. Dammit. He removed the bullpop and weaved his arms through the sleeves of the vest. Zipping up, he re-slung the rifle. I need to get to one of the adjacent hubs. He looked up at the ceiling to get his bearings. He looked for a set of blue or green lights. Looking, he failed to spot any. Maybe the ceiling is the other way. He looked down, but also failed to see any colored panels. Those must be damaged as well.
He looked at one end of the maintenance shaft to see a red light at the end. The other side led into darkness. He patted himself down, only to find out that he did not have a torch or flash light. Looking towards the red lit corridor, he grabbed onto a handle, and pulled himself towards it. It took a little longer then he had predicted, but he could see that the corridor led to a intersection.
His tail had curled up into a large round bush, he was freezing, each breathe he took stung his nostrils. Determined however, he made his way to the four way maintenance intersection. He batted away a few loose tools and a holo pad with a large yellow fur bent over in a rather provocative way. He moved on. The intersection was broken into four segments. Each direction had a color code on the top. The one directly above him and to the left signaled green, which lead to the main corridor of the hub he was on. Directly in front of him was yellow, which would eventually lead to the Callisto station. But that would be too far. Kestrel knew the Ganymede station was the closest, which the right should lead him too. He passed the blue lit frame, and pushed on.
The fox weaved his way around a few tool boxes, batting away a few more tools. Approaching the edge of a corner, he turned in to see that the corridor was completely linear. Or so it appeared to be. Placing his fingers on the corner, he curled himself into a spring. He then catapulted himself forward, floating past light fixtures. He took a deep breathe, and shivered as he exhaled. He floated like this for a while, turning his head to look around for any alcoves, or turns that he might have missed.
A sudden wave of heat met the tip of his black nose. Looking forward Kestrel saw a monstrous purple bubble ahead, it shifted slightly. Left, right, growing and shrinking erratically. He looked for something to stop himself from being engulfed, but he was floating in the middle of the shaft. Twisting himself perpendicular to the shaft, and kicked out his legs, and waved his arms in a hope that he would catch onto something. Then he saw a small handle to the panel of a maintenance comm array. It was coming up fast, and it was well out of his reach, unless. Unless he tried to use his rifle. He unslung his rifle rapidly, and held on to the barrel of the gun. Holding it out in front of him, he held his breathe as the handle came up. He passed the handle, he was still barraling towards the purple sphere. Swinging his rifle in a last ditch attempt, he came to a sudden stop, and bounced back. Looking down the gun, he saw that the it was the bottom of the magazine that had caught the handle. He looked back down at the sphere. His food pads were seven feet away from the edge of the sphere, and even then he could feel the heat being released from it. Staring at the bubble he saw that is shimmered slightly, and thats when he recognized it, it was a fire, it must have been an electrical fire, a big one.
He slowly pulled himself to a safer position. The way in front of him now blocked by a large sphere of fire. He felt the air pulling him towards the sphere as it consumed oxygen, oxygen which was continually being pumped in from the life support systems.
The fox looked for a way around the fire. He looked if there was enough of a gap between the edge of the fire and the shaft wall for him to try and...shimmy his way. On a closer inspection of the fire however, the metal bulk head had charred. To melt past the silver carbonate panels needed a temperature of over seven hundred degrees Celsius. Not hot enough to melt through the metal bulk head it self, but it certainly melted off the high grade paint job. Certainly too hot for a nice a bushy tail.
Looking back down the maintenance shaft, he spied a small alcove, a service tube. Kestrel pulled himself towards it, he had no idea where it led, but it was a worth a try. He pulled his fingers over the lip of the entrance and poked his muzzle inside. It would be a tight squeeze, but it looked like it would run parallel to the main shaft. Especially the way it turned. He tossed his rifle into the tube, no use in having it press against him, and hinder him. He took a long, dragged breathe and whimpered. He stuck his hand in, reaching for a something to pull himself further in. Not finding one, he shoved his other arm into the tube. Pushing on both sides, and dragged himself forward. As he pulled his legs in, he really felt the squeeze. His torso was being constricted in the tight tube, making it hard to breathe, and he couldn't move his legs as his thighs pushed heavily on either side. He was either gonna go out the other end, or he wouldn't be getting out at all. The fox whimpered as he pulled himself forward by a couple of inches. He was nearing the turn. Passed the point of no return. He squeezed himself over the turn, stomach facing the inside of the apex. He nudged his rifle forward, It floated slowly knocking on the sides once before it stopped. The tube indeed ran parallel to the main shaft and his feet had a little more leg room thanks to the turn. He stuck wedged his legs into a scissor like position, squeezed his arms into the tube, and lunged forward. He managed to get himself pretty far into the cramped space. His left knee however, didn't seem to like the little maneuver as it was folded against his chest. Kestrel gasped for air, his chest leaping as it demanded for air, his knee choking his lungs. He tried rolling over, squeezing himself onto his back to see if his knee would come loose. After a harrowing few seconds his knee returned to its proper place, next to his right and not hugging his chest cavity. A few curse words later, a couple more nudges to his rifle and the fox had his back on the inside of the apex of the next bend. He tossed his rifle towards the exit of the tube, before he went back to squeezing himself forward inch by inch. His back however had other ideas. Hit spine thought it would be fun to use the opportunity as he pulled himself forward. Every inch was met with a solid snap as he cracked his back with a rather unorthodox method. A myriad of snaps resounded through his spine. Ohmygod that fell good. His back forced into a wide forty five degree angle. Sweet! The fox' tongue hung out of his muzzle as his back turned to mush. He struggled to pull him self forward, without giving off a sharp snap every few inches. But eventually he did it. His arms and head popped out of the other end of the tube. He looked back to see the purple bubble a few meters away from him. He smiled to himself for the massive accomplishment. His body escaped the tight squeeze with a pop. The tube however, was not gonna let the fox get away without a lasting effect. Kestrel pushed back against the bulk head opposite of the tube exit. As his arms touched the surface, they turned to jelly. His spine was not quite done enjoying its little afterglow of ecstasy. His head limply turned to his right, to look at the purple bubble. He rolled his head to the other side to see his rifle, slowly tumbling in place.
He chose to lay there for a while. Back flat on the bulkhead behind him, and his the top of his head resting on what would normally be the floor. He lay there simply allowing his spine to recover from its rather pleasurable ordeal.
He counted the seconds in his head, and got to two hundred before he experimentally arched his back. His back seemed to have set from its jelly like state, no longer sending shocks of pleasure through his body. The fox pushed lightly against the bulkhead behind him. Aiming his body towards his rifle, he pushed hard, propelling himself forward. Grabbing the body of his Taver, he slung it across his shoulder. Squinting down the long corridor, he saw the unmistakable cone of a torch. He blinked incredulously, "Hello?" He pulled himself towards the source. "Can you hear me?" The torch slowly turned its beam away from him, illuminating the rest of the shaft. The fox continued to move forward. "My name is Kestrel," an eerie ringing sound began to fill his ears as he got closer. "I-I'm part of a voluntary special weapons response unit," the ringing died down as long as he kept talking. Only a few meters away now, the torch shined straight into his face. He used his palm to block out the beam of light as best he could. "I'm not a mech, obviously." what a stupid thing to say. Yet, no response.
The beam of light turned away from him. His shoulders slumped in disappointment. He pulled himself next to the slowly spinning torch as it floated in the middle of an intersection.
With the torch in hand he turned off the light. Might as well keep you. It found a home in a empty pouch on his combat vest.
He turned right at the intersection, and entered a medium sized room. The fox pulled himself to the center of the room. A blue sign that read in several alliance dialects.
Europa - Ganymede
Inter-hub bridge link
Maintenance Access
The smile on Kestrels face dissipated as he saw the access door. The panel above the door was red, it was locked. The panel on the bottom followed suit, no artificial gravity. The panels on the sides were green however, the room on the either side was pressurized with an atmosphere able to support life. He could bypass the locked access door with the user interface adjacent to it. But seeing as the computer was down, he wouldn't have much of a chance.
Back at the intersection, the fox gathered his vast knowledge of the Sotorlon station. Each hub starting from decks three to nine had a web of bridges that linked all three stations together. Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. The stair well at the intersection had a red frame all round. He couldn't move decks. If he would still try to get to the inter-hub bridge, he would have no choice but to bypass through the main corridor and use the main access way to the bridge.
The last path in the intersection had green panels, it would lead him back to the main corridor. Kestrel pulled him self along the shaft, the eerie ringing noise returned to accompany him. It was highly unnerving. He passed a door on the side of the shaft, its frame unlit. He moved his paw over to the doors interface, it was still operational. He tapped a panel, and the the door slid open. He was pulled in violently into the unpressurized material room. As quickly as he was pulled in, he was stopped as the pressure equalized. Directly in front of him, he saw floating power tools, overalls, rods, and schematics. The room was unlit, taking out his torch, he pointed it out the back of the room and flicked his finger over the switch.
A dead human greeted him. "HOLY SHIT!" The fox shrieked. He kicked out in alarm, launching himself out of the room. He pressed his back against the wall, his paw came down and slapped the interface, the door slid with a Hiss and closed. With a shaky breath, the fox whimpered in fear. The sight of the bloated human, it was a horrific sight. His paws shook lightly. With paws trembling, he slowly wiped his eyes.
With his flashlight back in its pocket, he raised his rifle and gave the door a wide berth, his imagination playing with his mind. If the human turned into a zombie, he would have enough ammo to put it out. Once he was a good ten meters from the door, he continued his progress to the heart of Europa.
The shaft widened into a checkpoint. The area though was vacant, much like the rest of his journey. Kestrel made his way over to a desk, its touch screen table top muddled with old requests. He removed his security card from his left hand thigh pocket. Swiping it over the reader, he unlocked all the drawers. The fox rummaged through the items. Holo pads were plenty in the lower drawers. He found a hydraulic torque lance. It was used to force open doors that are rendered inoperable. It forces itself into the frame, and pulls the door to the side. It was large and needed a crew of two to operate. Opening the last drawer, it was filled with zip ties.
The fox sighed. He turned his head towards the door, another unlit door. The fox groaned, as he pulled himself toward it. Metal containers of all sizes converged at the door. He pushed them out of the way. Making his way to the interface, he pressed himself into the corner of the shaft. He braced himself by pressing himself against the wall, right of the door. He tapped a few panels, and door slid open. Zip ties, holo pads, and containers shot past his head. He opened his muzzle to scream as a container shot towards him.