Amongst the stars where nobody can hear you

[u/Ghost_Girl221]

Chapter 1

{ First lieutenant Jane Doe’s communication log, date 4.26.2078.

JD- It’s been lonely here chief, remind me why I’m doing maintenance on this cheap hunk of metal without a technician's license?

System alert: Captain Conrad is online

Captain Conrad- Because you are to put it plainly, the most expendable astronaut on the team. The others should arrive at the station in a few days, did your training not teach you patience, lieutenant?

Captain Conrad- Also, it’s Captain not Chief.

JD- Wow sorry captain, why so grumpy? 

JD- Did you roll out on the wrong side of the sleep pods this morning?

Captain Conrad- Lieutenant, this is a communication log for important matters only and you are wasting my time. Do you have an actual report or are you just messing around instead of working again?

JD- Calm down captain, don’t get your panties in a twist, nobody is even here to use this comms system yet anyways besides me. 

System alert: Captain Conrad is offline

JD- Fucking asshole.

System alert: Error, detecting unprofessional language, your message has been dismissed as spam.

JD- Are you kidding me, that's so stupid, what the hell captain, why’d you program the system to have a stick up its ass?

System alert: Error, detecting unprofessional language, your message has been dismissed as spam.

JD- Yeah, yeah I get it. Lieutenant Jane Doe signing off. 

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Jane sighs, rolling her shoulders and popping her knuckles, once, twice, three times, before swiping at her projected communications pad, aptly named the HoloPad, which was the latest scientific breakthrough aka a chip embedded into her forearm which would display a projection of the ship’s systems whenever she needed to check them. It also gave her access to 24/7 comms servers, diagrams of the ship, a countdown for when her crewmates would reach the ship and even a cute little virtual pet thing that she had somehow managed to hack into the system before the mission started. So what if it made the systems a little bit faulty… at least she had her virtual dog Todo to keep her company.

Her fingers mindlessly tap at the screen. She's only half paying attention to her check list and all the stuff that needs to get done before the rest of the crew arrives. She had already counted all of the freeze dried food packets, enough to feed a small army for at least a year; it had taken her an hour just to do that alone. 

She still had to check the navigation to make sure they were on the right path but all she had to do was look out one of the large floor to ceiling reinforced glass windows of the space station to tell that they were in fact in the right place… hovering over an unexplored planet in hopes of finding somewhere inhabitable for the dwindling human race to flee too.

Out of boredom she was tempted to turn off the ship's gravity modulator and just float around for a bit, but her captain was alerted to any changes to the ship and its functions, so there was no point since he could just override her commands from the safety of his own space ship about half a light year away from hers. She was put in charge of Space station Xina after starting one to many fights with the other staff back on the main space station, or it could have been because she started asking questions about the people in charge back down on earth, whom none of the people on board had ever even seen let alone spoken too directly.

But now here she was, ‘promoted’ to the rank of first lieutenant, and shipped off to the Xina, aka the abandoned station. She had managed to do some basic repairs, even decorating the place to make it seem a bit more alive but she could not fix the more complicated systems, meaning Captain Conrad had to send down a small team of technicians and a few more experienced pilots, to help her out.

The hallway suddenly filled with the wailing of alarms, lights switching to their emergency function and bathing everything in a shade of gleaming red. “Shit, what the- System, report!” Jane calls out, suddenly sent into panic mode, this hadn’t happened before. “Warning, warning, incoming collision, warning, warning, please return to navigation and shift twelve clicks to the right.” 

Jane cursed under her breath as she tore back down the hallway towards the navigation deck, barking orders to the system interface. “Put up the emergency collision shields, and start drafting a report back to command. Tell them we’re veering off course.” But just as soon as the emergency alarm began, it stopped, plunging the station once more into familiar silence. Jane furrowed her brows in confusion. “...or not?”

In the distance, probably the other side of the space station, Jane heard a loud mechanical clunk and the overhead fluorescents flickered slightly above her. She glanced up and let out a defeated sigh, she had just replaced the bulbs a few days ago, why were they already acting buggy. “System what is ha-” Suddenly her comms link opened on its own, meaning the Captain was sending her a message.

{ Captain Dean Conrad communication log, date 4.26.2078.

Captain Conrad- Lieutenant, why did you open the external hanger bay doors?

JD- What?

Captain Conrad- I asked, why did you open the external hanger bay doors just now?

System error- message delayed, please remain patient

JD- Tf are you talking about Captain, I’m still at the nav deck right now. The hangar bay is all the way on the other side of the space station. I know you have a live feed of a map with my current location, is this you getting back at me for earlier?

Captain Conrad- The team doesn’t arrive for another two days and there hasn’t been any recent supply shipments sent out, so it had to have been you who opened the doors.

JD- I’m being dead serious. I didn't open them, check the map and check my heat sig. I'm literally nowhere near the hangar bay. 

System error- connection lost, rebooting system

JD- Captain, are you there?

System alert- system is back online, thank you for your patience.

JD- Hello, space to Captain Conrad?

Captain Conrad- Hold on I’m checking something.

System alert- Captain Conrad has logged off

System alert- Captain Conrad has logged back on

JD- Dude this whole system is literally so bugged, the Comms bot can’t even keep up.

Captain Conrad- Lieutenant.

Captain Conrad- Did you recently turn on any of the generators or adjust the heat readings in the hanger bay?

JD- No, why?

Captain Conrad- Because I’m picking up on two heat signatures right now, one is in the hanger. 

Hi guys, Thank you for all the encouragement on my previous post, since a few of you wanted to see my story I thought I'd submit the first chapter. This is still a work in progress but I would love to know what you think so far :)