DSS Audie Murphy
High Orbit over Braxis
Sergeant Michael Carver looked out the windows on the bridge, taking in the sight of the icy planet before him. It was one of the most inhospitable worlds in the Koprulu Sector, sixty percent covered by ice sheets, and with winds that could reach up to 150 miles per hour. It was also, at one point, the staging grounds for the UED's invasion of the sector. It was there that he, along with his comrades, were conscripted into the UED. At that point, they didn't know who the UED were, only that they were enemies of the Dominion, and that was good enough for them. After the Dominion were forced off the planet, Braxis was turned into a major military stronghold for the UED. After the UED was defeated, the planet was taken over by the Zerg, "purified" by the Protoss, then abandoned-or so it seemed.
"You sure this isn't a trap, Captain?" He said, looking over to Captain Ramirez. The old Mexican officer stared into the distance, almost as if he was studying the planet before him.
"The signal we detected is a UED distress call. Either someone's still down there..." He paused for a moment. "...or we could have walked into a trap. We'll know soon enough."
Before Michael could say anything else, the ship shook as a shot deflected off the shields. The Captain turned around, looking for the source of the attack. "What the hell was that?"
One of the bridge crew turned to face him, a panicked look on his face. "Sir, a Dominion battlecruiser just exited FTL. They're right on top of us." As soon as he spoke, another shot hit the ship. "We're picking up a large power surge- they're probably charging up their Yamato Cannon."
Of course it was a trap, thought Michael as the Captain ran back to the front of the bridge. He stopped next to the helmsman's chair. "Helmsman, get us out of here! Do a blind jump if you have to, we need to move, NOW!"
Even before he saw anything, Michael could feel that something had gone wrong.
As he looked around him, the first thing he noticed that the usual "tunnel" effect of warp travel was gone. Instead, he saw, at first, what looked like nebulas and starts. Then, he saw the strange things- mountains emerging from nowhere, a giant flower growing from a nebula. As he looked away from the windows, he could feel the ship itself rattling, as if something was crushing it. He looked to the Captain, but he was looking out the windows, seemingly just as confused.
When Michael looked out the window again, he saw what looked like a planet-but was that a sun? As he looked, he could swear he saw a small sun orbiting the planet. Everyone was still as the fire from the sun engulfed the ship. Surprisingly, he didn't feel panic as the fire washed over the ship. It made him feel safer, oddly enough. However, as he looked towards the planet, he was aware of the fact that they were free-falling towards a planet, and they weren't showing any signs of slowing down.
After hitting what looked like a stone wall, he saw the ship head into an atmosphere, and watched as it headed down lower and lower. As they headed towards what looked like a small mountainous area, Michael looked towards the Captain, who seemed oddly calm. He looked Michael in the eyes, and saluted. "It's been an honor serving with you, Sergeant."
Before he could say anything else, he was launched forwards as the ship crashed, and everything turned to black.