|
SS Blue Horizon - The Missing Fiction
A fairly important piece of fiction was left off of www.secretops.com, so for your
enjoyment, here it is:
INFORMATION SEARCH/REQUEST :
PARAMETERS : VIRUS INCIDENT REPORTS ALIEN TOXICOLOGY BLUE HORIZON
-----
CLASSIFICATION R-4
----
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
Contents:
TCIS Document Number 04033201-440-332134
Incident Report: Morpheus System, Deneb Quadrant, Epsilon Sector - 2681.068
Abstract: On or about 2681.063, the passenger liner Blue Horizon was attacked and
destroyed by unknown forces, resulting in the loss of 6388 civilian lives onboard. The
Patrol Frigate Belliard picked up a distress beacon at approximately 2145 local time
and responded immediately. At 2321 the Belliard arrived to find only 112 survivors.
The following is a partial report by some of the surviving passengers and crew.
Passenger / Crew depositions:
Recorded by: Medical Officer Allison Briggs, TCS Belliard ( FF-23 Morpheus
System Security ‘Patrol Frigate’ )
Patient: Clarence Poskolovitch, Age: 54 ( Blue Horizon - Passenger #2238 )
Occupation: Retired Journalist
Status: Patient discovered unconscious with minor contusions and a developing rash
on upper extremities. Eager to give account of circumstances surrounding destruction
of Blue Horizon.
{Begin Transcription}
Are you getting all this? Okay…Christ…I hope this helps… I was in the Starlight
Casino just before things went terribly, terribly wrong. I had just lost 40,000 credits at
one of the gambling tables and was sitting at the bar consoling myself with a
Talosian-sunrise when I looked up and saw a flash of light through the domed ceiling.
I didn’t realize it a first because I wasn’t expecting it, then I recognized it as a jump
Vortex. As I watched the swirling mass of light and energy expand, I grew excited,
having always been a bit of a military buff and knowing how close we were to the
naval yards at Speardon. I had thought I might get a glimpse of a cruiser or maybe
even a carrier but what came through the jump point were definitely not Navy ships.
Their hulls seemed to almost shimmer in the fading light of the collapsing jump
vortex. As I remember, there were three or four large ships but I suppose there could
have been more. At any rate, they sat motionless for a moment as the jump point
closed, but soon they began to move, directly towards us. At the center of the group
was a large black ship. At that moment, the first officer's voice came over the
intercom requesting that all the passengers please consider returning to their cabins.
Of course, nobody did, not that they could hear the announcement over the noise of
the casino. I sat at the bar for a moment, watching the black shape grow imperceptibly
larger and larger. After a few minutes, I decided to heed the first officer's advice
and headed for the starboard lift at the edge of the domed hall. As I stepped in, I
turned and looked up in time to see a twinkle of light coming from the tips of the
center ship. The twinkles grew closer and brighter before my eyes and I really wished
the lift doors were faster. Just as the massive transparent doors closed, I watched in
horror as an alien fighter punched through the domed ceiling of the casino, instantly
vaporizing half the occupants of the room before burning through to the decks below.
The whole ship shook with the force of the impact, throwing me against the back of
the lift, knocking me unconscious. I woke up on the floor of the lift with a headache
the size of New Detroit. I stood up slowly and looked out through the doors of the lift.
The lift doors opened, and I braced for the sickening suction I thought would drag my
guts out, but I saw that emergency containment fields were active over the holes
through the decks, which made me breathe a little easier. Always weird to see
though… anyway…The casino, or what was left of it, was an empty, charred wreck.
Chunks of the fighter’s hull stuck in the walls just outside the lift. I couldn’t resist
touching the surface. It was an iridescent mother-of-pearl, and, well, moist. It felt like
a tortoise shell covered with spit. I don’t know if it was a remnant of the energy that
powered it, but it made my fingers tingle. I snapped back to reality then and looked
around for any survivors. They were all dead, every last one of them, either
incinerated or spaced. I felt a sudden wave of nausea sweep over me, I don’t know if
it was the Talosian-sunrise, the partial concussion, or watching hundreds of people die
in a fraction of a second, but I collapsed to the floor and began retching
uncontrollably. After a few moments I managed to regain my composure, stood
slowly and pressed the button for E-deck. I didn’t really expect anything to happen,
but surprisingly the lift began moving slowly. As the lift slid down the side of the
ship, I could see dark shapes swarming all around the bulbous hull. The lift came to a
stop on E-deck and the doors slid open, revealing a dark corridor, lit only by the
murky glow of the emergency lights. I could make out the panicked screams of other
passengers from somewhere down the hall. As I came to a bend in the corridor, I
tripped over something and landed face first on the deck in a pool of water. Only it
wasn’t water, it was too thick, too sticky, its taste too salty on my lips. It was
blood…I’m assuming human. I propped myself up on my hands and knees and turned
to look at what it was that I had tripped over. In the darkness I could barely make out
the body of a young man in what was left of a stewards uniform. He looked as though
he had been impaled multiple times by a large blunt object. I backed slowly away
from him, suddenly feeling a tremendous need to get as far away from his body as I
could and turned back down the corridor towards the voices. As I came to another
bend in the corridor I could begin to make out separate voices ahead. As I ran, the
voices grew clearer and I could hear someone shouting over the others. I turned
another corner and almost immediately ran into the back of a tall thin man in uniform.
He was the one I had heard so clearly down the corridor. He spun towards me with the
look of a man who was ready to kill and yet expecting to die before getting the
chance. In his right hand he held a rather large knife, which looked as though it had
seen recent use on something. Slowly the look on his face turned from fear and rage
to astonished horror as he looked me over. I understood why when I looked down and
noticed that I was almost completely covered in blood. I stated that the blood was not
mine and started to explain what had happened when he cut me off. He asked me
where I had come from and when I told him I had just come from the casino he
looked as though he didn’t believe me. Again, I started to explain, and again he cut
me off saying that it didn’t really matter and that if I wanted to get off this ship alive I
should shut up and get in line with the rest of the passengers. I stood motionless for a
second before he grabbed me by the shoulder and shoved me into a crowd of people.
Some of them looked as though the had just been pulled from their cabins, some from
the ballrooms and some of them looked as if they had just been pulled from the
wreckage of a burning ship. The man in uniform began yelling again, directing the
people in the crowd to stay together as we moved. The crowd shifted constantly as the
man led us through the darkened corridor. At one point I came face to face with a
young woman I had met days earlier in the casino, we had talked for hours that day,
but now her face was blank as she looked at me and there was no recognition in her
eyes. I started to say something but she turned away from me and we became
separated almost as quickly as we had met as the crowd moved on. After perhaps ten
minutes or so the corridor gave way to a huge opening, it was one of the ships shuttle
bays. The bay was partially filled with smoke… I’ve seen a lot, you know? I’ve
covered the decimation of entire colonies by Kilrathi shock troops. I was on board a
support vessel during the nightmare that was Hell’s Kitchen twenty years ago. I’ve
seen more death than most marines. I’ve just never been there while it went down in
front of my face. I’ve also been away from it for a while…You have to build up a
tolerance for this stuff. Drives me crazy that my best story comes the year after I
decide to "take it easy". Anyway, I remember that we were herded into trembling
lines, trying really hard not to trample our way onto the lifeboats that were being
prepped. There were plenty of the things left, and they were mostly automated, so it
only took about ten minutes for us to get strapped in, and ready to be launched like a
pinball from the bay. I don’t know who designed these things, but they were as
comfortable as a T’kirsa summer. We all felt our weight triple as we launched, about
half of the group passed out under the force. There were viewports all over the thing
providing us with a sickly view of what was happening. There were a couple of
Excalibur class fighters that were trying to defend us. They didn’t stand a chance. I
watched three of them burn before the lifeboat was hit by something. I don’t know if
it was a stray gunbolt, debris, or…whatever…but our boat went into a spin, the lights
went out, and I lost consciousness quickly. Then I’m here, strapped in this bed, with
an itch that won’t stop. I can’t tell you how happy I was, I thought I’d never see my
wife again, I can’t wait to tell her I’m okay. This rash is temporary, right? It feels like
poison oak, but at the same time kind of okay…I can’t explain it, but I feel pretty
good. The other doctor, um, what’s his name? He said everything should be okay in a
couple of days and that we’re going to be dropped off at that starbase. I can’t wait.
Are we done here? I really can’t think of anything else that’s important right now,
except that I need some more water…I haven’t been this thirsty in a while.
* Chief Medical Officers Note: Subject died as a result of extreme complications
caused by an unknown viral agent 14 hours after pick-up.
Patient: Sh’Kari Mueller, Age: 28 ( Blue Horizon - Passenger #1114 )
NO ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AVAILABLE AWAITING REVIEW
Records Pending
* Chief Medical Officers Note: Subject died as a result of internal bleeding due to
trauma.
Patient: Viktor Kasashi, Age: 74 ( Blue Horizon - Passenger #0032 )
NO ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AVAILABLE AWAITING REVIEW
Records Pending
* Chief Medical Officers Note: Subject died as a result of unknown biological agent.
Patient: Demson Washington, Age: 51 ( Blue Horizon - First Officer )
NO ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AVAILABLE AWAITING REVIEW
Records Pending
* Chief Medical Officers Note: Subject in deep coma.
**Note: Shortly after her rendezvous with the Blue Horizon, all contact with the
Belliard was lost. She was found adrift two days later with all hands missing.
For reasons that are as of yet unknown, the Belliard’s interior airlocks were open and
all compartments were exposed to space. It is assumed that this is
related to either the unknown viral agent reported in the CMO’s log or the forces that
attacked the Blue Horizon.
|
