System AI
Time: July, 9th, 3045. (1.6 years before present day)

Warning. Electromagnetic storm detected. Attempting to redirect course...FAIL..............FAIL...........FAIL..........FAIL. Warning thruster disruption dete......ed....ed...ed....ed....ed.....ed...........ERROR......MAIN SYSTEM POWER...OFFLINE. SECONDARY POWER...OFFLINE. THRUSTERS...OFFLINE. OXYGEN GENERATOR...OFFLINE. CRYO CHAMBERS...ONLINE. EMERGENCY POWER ONLY. LIFE SUPPORT TEMPORARILY OFFLINE. CRYO SUPPORT...ONLINE. Warning. AI Now offline...........

System AI
Time: July, 14th, 3047. (Present day)

Loading.........Loading.........Loading..........SYSTEM AI ONLINE. Warning...System damage...critical....running diagnosis.....FAILED. Attempting to establish connection with main system.......FAILED. Attempting to reboot main power.......FAILED. Attempting to reboot secondary power......FAILED. Attempting to broadcast distress signal......FAILED. Plan A....FAILED. Executing Plan B.......Awakening colonists from cyrosleep.......SUCCESS. Attempting to reboot life-support....SUCCESS. Plan B complete. Phase two.....wait for colonists to repair systems to a minimal of.....72%. Attempting to deactivate alarms.....FAILED.........SYSTEM AI POWER-SAVING MODE....ACTIVE

Joe awakened from cryosleep. God, how long had he been in there? Felt like a hundred years. He hoped that it wasn't that long. He took a few moments to wake up fully, and keyed in the permutation to open up his cryopod. Slowly, it did so, and he sat up, breathing in that beautiful scent of recycled oxygen. He blinked once, then twice - he didn't feel right. Was something wrong? He unhooked himself from the cryopod, knowing that the fluids inside his veins would take their time evaporating from his bloodstream, and got out. He went through his stretches, taking about ten minutes to do so, before he began to take in his surroundings.

"We.....lc.ome......Sold....ier.....si...x....tw...o......ni..ni...ni...ne......A...KA.....Joseph Baernth.....Th...he...he...date is.....thr..ee...thou..sand....fort...y....se..ven...Shi...p..status..CRITICAL....
Mai...n....pow..er.....offli...ne.........sec....ondar.....ry...ry..ry.....power.....offline......life....suppor..t.....critical.......other....s..tatus...es......UNKNOWN......please.....fi...nd....a........cont...rol...pannel.....to lear..n....more.......Ti...me...until I.S.S Alpha reach....es.....New....Ear...th.......ERROR......Plea...se....enjoy.....yo...ur....stay..........Re..memb...er......you.....are humani....ty's.....future.........." The System AI says, glitching. "Warning...Ship hull integrity....41%! Estimated time until structure failure.......150 days......Warning..". You look around and see you are inside a metal room full of cryo pods, most of witch are destroyed and lots of the remaining ones are crushed or sealed by debris. There are alarms ringing, and there is a massive hole in the ceiling and a small destroyed window. Inside the destroyed window, there is the cryo pod control center, some of the control panels are ruined, fried or crushed. There is a door straight-ahead, there is a small window at the top witch you can barely see through. Another door is to the right. There is no window on this one, but just above the doorway, a glitching holographic sign says: E.erge..y supp..es. .V 1 CLE..AN.E RE.U..ED

Joe cocks his head, listening, and frowning. Oh my, yes, something is very wrong.

Joe: "I need to get to the armory. Nothing's any use if I get sucked into space because of a depressurized section of the hull, and I won't be doing anyone else any favors either."

He looks at the sign, curious. 'Emergency Supplies. LV 1 Clearance Required?' It certainly looked like it. We only have so much time. 500 million people aboard, he didn't know how likely it was for him to be the sole survivor but he knew it was damn near impossible. He begins moving to the armory, intending to suit up and get his weapons and ammo, as well as his knife.

You run towards the armory. The destruction getting more and more dense as you pass deeper into the ship. "Caution! Unidentified life-form in sector 6!" The system AI says. You look at the wall beside you and see a giant holographic sign that says: Sector 6. You make another turn and stop dead in your tracks. The door to the armory is locked down. You peer through the window and see the armory (or whats left of it) floating in space, disconnected with the ship.

Joe whispers to himself and goes into a low crouch.

Joe: "Goddamn, and double goddamn."

He looks for a piece of metal or something else that can easily be used as a weapon, praying to whatever the hell is out there that the 'unidentified life-form' doesn't decide he looks like a tasty snack. Regardless of whether or not he finds one, he begins to move to the closest airlock, hoping that it's still functional.

"Warning.......unidentified life-form detected in sector 6, zone 4. Warning, a human entity has been detected in zone 4. Evacuate the premises, zone 4 will be locked down in.....10 minuets. All airlocks in sector 6 are now locked down. Thank you, and have a nice day" the System AI announces. You have an unnerving feeling that YOU are that human entity. There is a small holographic map on the wall, you are currently too far from it so tell what it says. You look around and find a dead guard, his esophagus torn open savagely. It seems like his body is still gurgling blood. He is still holding his Standard Issue rifle with a tight grip, his Standard Issue pistol is on the other side of the room, and a flashlight nearby, flickering lightly and still on.

Not a fan, not at all.

He goes to the guard's body, taking up his SI rifle and pistol, slinging the rifle over his back because it wouldn't be any good for close quarters like this. He picks up the flashlight and holds it in a tactical grip, the pistol held straight out. He starts walking to the map, keeping his back to the wall and his eyes trained on either side of the corridor, as well as staying away from any ventilation shafts. This guard died recently. It couldn't have gotten far. Not much of a predatory animal so much as a killer, of course, since it hadn't stayed for a meal.

Anyways. He backs up to the wall, avoiding standing under or beside any ventilation shafts, his pistol at the ready and his flashlight flicking from side to side. Once he makes it to the wall, he begins walking sideways to the map.

The map shows different sections in different colors. It shows a red dot, marking where the map is located, witch is in sector 6, zone 4, level 3. Suddenly, you hear a loud roar of something monstrous. Moments later, you hear gunfire of what you think is a Heavy Energy Pistol down the hall to the right. Next, you hear loud footsteps following smaller, human-like steps.

Too close to run. Too far to save. Compromise, Joe, compromise.

Joe: "GUARD! HAUL YOUR ASS! TOSS ANY WEIGHT! DIVE WHEN YOU COME AROUND THE CORNER!"

Joe goes to the opposite end of the hallway, dropping the pistol and unslinging the rifle, dropping into a firing position and checking how much charge the rifle's got. Doesn't matter. Out of time. Let the training take control. Just like the simulations, just like the field, just another tally. He steels himself and prepares to gun down this nightmare, this creature.

You hear a man screaming, running at top speed. You see him jump and land face first on the ground, grabbing the doorway edges with both hands. He tries to crawl towards you, but he seems to be caught on something... or being dragged. He has blood on his left arm and a huge open wound in his chest, his intestines slightly spilling out. He makes another loud scream of pain as his hands start to slip. You hear another monstrous roar right outside the door, but still out of view. The guard turns and and shoots something on the other side of the wall through the doorway. You hear a loud screech of pain from the beast. Then, the creature pulls the man, his arm holding on to the door frame is ripped off. You hear screams getting farther and farther down the hall.

Joe: "Damn. He's done for. SAI, what's your status on controlling the airlocks and bulkheads?"

System AI

"Airlock doors on lock-down in sector 6. Suggestion: evacuate sector 6, then figure out how to get out into space. Also, there are is an armory in every sector. For now, get out of zone 4, get to sector 7 and find a decent gun, and get the hell out of here."

Joe: "Acknowledged. Is that thing gonna pass the airlock?"

He begins heading out of that sector.

SAI

"Negative. It is within the ship. CAUTION! Unknown movement detected nearby!"

You hear human footsteps nearby in the medbay.

Joe doesn't round the corner to the medbay, standing still for a moment. He then looks around the corner, the rifle at the ready to paint the thing on the far wall if it isn't a human.

You see a human in the corner of the room. She seems to be hiding from something. Another human is walking around the room, ripping things open, as if searching for her. The human turns slightly towards you and makes an inhuman hiss. The humans body is ravaged with infestation. Fleshy red tendrils creep over his body, wrapping around his legs, arms, body and neck. Three long tentacles seem to have merged from his back, each curled inward like a scorpion tail, and his mouth full of small tentacles and longer teeth. The stench he emits is awful, like rotting flesh and moldy eggs.

Joe: "Oh hell no."

He tries to pop three shots off, aiming for the head.

The first shot makes a direct hit in its arm, but the other two misses. The creature shrieks and starts to lumber slowly towards you. But one of your bullets hit a ruined pipe supporting a part of the roof. The pipe creaks and collapses, along with a hunk of the roof, landing on and killing the creature. The girl in the corner screams at the sudden action.