The corridors and rooms of the USS Serendipity were empty save for the skeleton crew on watch in the control room. It was headed for the outer rim maximum security prison where it would drop its cargo of prisoners and supplies just like it had done a dozen times before. The voyage was long, spanning 89 solar days. It was late, in terms of watch and shift, so most everyone was asleep. The Prisoners were in Cryo-sleep to prevent any miss-haps. As the current watch came to an end a few crew members staggered their way into the control room to take the place of the current watch when all of a sudden the controls went dark, catching the attention of the present crew. They were silent for a moment glancing around at the controls and each other when the main ship lighting flickered and the controls came back on followed by an intensely loud siren.
”Warning, Hull integrity Compromised” Played over and over on the P.A. prompting the entire crew to stations and the captain to the control deck.
“What the hell is going on! Take evasive actions and-“
”Core Containment Breach” Began playing with the previous message.
“I WANT A SIT REP!” The captain yelled to his scrambling crew as they tried to make sense of what was happening.
“Sir, I am showing hull breaches on decks C and D, Draining atmo fast!”
“No nearby ships found on radar or visual!”
“Weapons systems are on lock down due to the overheating Core Reactor!”
“Half the ship is sealed off and I am seeing Life Pod launches from behind the seals!”
”Warning Critical Damage Sustained! Self-Destruct Override Enabled: 3 Minutes until Self-Destruct!”
The entire crew was silent looking around as if to locate the voice of the P.A. then to the Captain for orders. He Stood in disbelief as he too tried to understand what was happening to his ship.
“48 years of flying, and now this…” he sighed closing his eyes and dropping his head. Activating the P.A. he commanded “Everyone to the Life Pods. No man left behind.” With that everyone went into motion boarding the Life Pods, the captain waited until last. The ship was counting down from 60 as he boarded the last pod. “Sir,” his XO questioned. “the cargo?”
“It doesn’t matter.” He closed the Pod door and strapped in. “The Prison can miss up to two shipments before starting to run out. The prisoners were on the termination list anyway.” With that the Pod launched and set out for Centaura Beacon where they would seek refuge until later notice.
---___---<<<>>>---___---
Back on the ship the countdown continued.
”10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…”
Silence… all the lights turned off again for several seconds then came back on. All the blast doors opened and the System board showed everything was peachy! After a few monitors flashed here and there the ship made an audible sigh over the P.A.
”Well that was fun!” Came a little girl’s voice with a british accent from the P.A.
”You call that fun?” Came a male more Australian, but also slightly crazed voice. ”Let me show you fun! Just keep your mouth shut this time!
”But I don’t have a mouth…” She said somewhat confused. As she did one of the computers read cloning process strated then went back to displaying ship readouts.
“Quack!” a duck appeared in the med-bay and began waddling around.
”Yaay!”
”How do you always manage a duck!?”
