[AU] I Am The Very Model of A Modern Major-General

Posted on Mon Jun 22nd, 2020 @ 5:32am by Captain Nycolas Temple
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 4:53pm

Mission: Divided We Fall
Location: Somewhere in the Pandora

A Mission Post by Captain Nycolas Temple
Mission: Divided We Fall
Location: Somewhere in the Pandora
Timeline:
Mon May 14th, 2018 @ 11:06am

'Just keep climbing.'

'Just keep going.'

'Just keep believing.'

The words rang around his head time and time again as Nyx made his way down from the Bridge to Deck Two. Every time he ran down an empty corridor, every time he passed a room with it's lights off; every time he considered the deafening silence and vast emptiness of the ship. He couldn't allow himself to think about all the people who should be there, or where they might be now. He had to keep his mind focused on the small tasks he had set for the remaining crew; little jobs and hopefully achievable missions that would stop the pressure from crashing down upon him.

'One more level'

'One more corridor'

'One more hour'

Anything he could think, or say, or make himself convincingly believe to keep out the growing darkness. It didn't help that he was surrounded by the strange and unusual reminder that his ship was dead and the crew were largely missing. So far, he had only made contact with those on the Bridge, he had no idea where anyone else could be. He had to believe that there were other survivors around, but sparsely spread out somewhere. He remembered that everyone would have been at their departments or stations, most of the crew had been on duty as per his orders while they investigated the Indigo Sky. That meant that many people apart from the Bridge crew would have been on lower decks. Only those off-duty or travelling would have been on Decks one to three.

It was all about little victories now.

Any little thing he could do.

As he released a hatchway from the jeffries tube and found himself in yet another darkened corridor, he sighed. There was still a faint hope that he would open a door and find crew, lights, and life. Like everything they had experienced was just isolated to the Bridge and they had been foolishly worrying over nothing. He would rather be embarrassed than stranded in his lifeless ship consisting of only three decks. Oh he wished Shae and Sasha were wrong about the absence of the rest of the Pandora. A part of him wanted to delay going to Deck 2 for now and find out for himself.

Instead, Nyx washed his light beacon around the dark corridor, walking briskly towards the conference room where the others were staying. Two lefts, a right, straight through for a few minutes and then.... nothing. No conference room. Without the lights or the helpful directions from the computer maps, the Captain had managed to get lost in his own ship. The Pandora was like an entirely different world in the darkness.

Nyx swore loudly in Danish. He only ever did this when he was particularly annoyed.

''Just keep moving.'

'Just keep going.'

'Just keep believing.'

Taking a breath, Nyx turned back around and headed back the way he had came. He began to realise that if the path he'd taken hadn't reached the Conference Room, he must have been on the other side of the ship he believed he was on. Finding the same jeffries tube he'd come out of before, he opened the door again and looked at the location numbers on the inside wall. He had been so determined to 'just keep going', he had forgotten to keep track of where he was going.

In this moment he pictured his wife. It was a moment of weakness, his brain wanted a distraction from the situation at hand, he wanted a piece of comfort. He had been trying to block out the sentimental, anything that caused his heart to skip a beat and his soul to fill with the sadness he was now feeling. He just wanted to hold her, kiss her, have her say that everything would be alright. He wanted to hear Katrine's laugh, her smiling face, he wanted to pick her up and tell her everything would be alright.

Leaning against the wall of the jeffries tube, Nyx turned off his beacon and silently sobbed to himself; his restrained whimpers echoing through the empty corridor. Raising his eyes to the ceiling, he begged for this crisis to be over soon, and for him to be in his quarters with his family again. He would never allow the crew to see him like this, nor would he admit to his moment of weakness to them. Shae was only just keeping it together herself. They needed him to be strong and resolved, and to lead them through this situation with all the reassurance in the universe.

So after a few moment, the Captain wiped his face, took a deep staccato breath, and carried on through the jeffries tube. He would be at the Conference Room soon, and along with Lieutenant Kaleri, return to the Bridge. They would use the escape pods to power the ship and send out the distress signal that would allow someone to find them. They would be rescued, they would be reunited with the rest of the Pandora. He would be with his family again soon.

He let his sadness give him a renewed fire; the reminder of what was at stake gave him the prompting he needed to complete the mission. He had been alone before, he had been in dire circumstances, he had fought for his life on more than a few occasions. As a Captain, he wasn't just fighting for himself now - for every crew member trapped here with him, there was a family, friends, partner, someone, who needed them to come home. This was enough to keep him going again.

''Just keep moving.'

'Just keep going.'

'Just keep believing.'

He just had to keep repeating it.