A tingle at the tip of the nose. A twitch of the finger. The slow rasp of a breath as if taken for the first time. A slow hissing as the chill of the air filtering from the pod escaped. Replaced with the blissfully clean scent of recycled air.
Kaden’s senses slowly began to return to her. The pane of glass in front of her began to clear as the frost began to fade from the center. The bright white rays of artificial light cascading upon her. Vision slowly focusing and flashing alternating colors.
Blinking away at the shock of the flashes. Red…. White… Red… White….
Slowly gripping her fingers into a fist. Kaden began to move. Her body as stiff as if having undergone rigor mortis. Which, if she thought about it, in a practical sense wasn’t far from the truth.
She felt around, searching… and eventually resting against the small handle on the right side of her. She pulled, and after a moment’s struggle was relieved as the handle fell inward toward her and a popping sound rewarded her.
The top of her frozen coffin was now open. Pressing against it with the only hand that had functionality returned to it, she was able to swing the lid off to the left side. Stretching her hand out in front of her, the red and white flash of light once again painting her pale skin, alternating as a somber rhythm.
As feeling began to return to her legs and left arm, she grabbed the edge of the pod pulling herself into a sitting position. Leaning heavily against the edge of the pod away from the door.
Looking to her left, she saw the racks of other pods still safely laying inside their neatly stacked shelves. Hidden away behind a door carrying the names of the various crew that lay half dead in stasis. Name plaques adorned each of them, with rank and profession...
Captain Johnathan Chambers, Commander.
Major Jeremy Kent, First Officer.
Lieutenant Cameron Seron, Lead Pilot.
These were the names closest to her... and they were still sealed. Why? Protocol dictated that either the first officer or captain should be revitalized first depending on the circumstance.
The flashing red and white caught her attention again as she looked to the klaxon lights to her right above the bulkhead that held the door separating "the morgue", as the crew cheerfully dubbed the cryostasis room.
She scanned the room further, it wasn't terribly big in terms of the overall area that she could move around in. With four other slabs running parallel to hers for revitalization. Each of them was opened.
With a sigh. Kaden lifted herself over the edge of the pod and with a light thump, her feet gained purchase on the floor. Steadying herself against the pod as her knees began to buckle. She lifted her body up and down stretching from her ankles, up to her calves, and finally to her legs as she lifted them. Rotating and waking up the muscles long left dormant from years spent in stasis.
Kaden looked over at the other pods, and could see that her initial suspicions were confirmed. The occupants were nowhere to be seen, and judging by the lack of ice, the pods had been opened well before hers.
She shuffled over to each one reading the names across the plaques.
Lieutenant Sarah Rogers, Biologist.
Lieutenant Jane Kent, Lead Engineer
Sergeant Kello Pennington, Security Officer.
Doctor Halsey Palmer, Chief Medical Officer.
Kaden paused at the last name on that list... Dr. Palmer? Why would her mentor be out of stasis so early? The older lady still had some spunk to her, but she was purely on this trip in an advisory capacity.
Lt. Kent, and Sgt Pennington made more sense. If there was trouble with the ship, the engineering team would be needed to assess the problem, and security would likely need to be involved to grant access to more sensitive areas.
Kaden didn't know Lt. Rogers. Yet, like Dr. Palmer. Why would a biologist have been released before the others?
She began to feel an uneasy feeling in her stomach as she walked back toward her pod...
Lieutenant Kaden Morales, Combat Life Saver.
At the base of the pod, below the plaque. She pressed her palm against a slight glass indentation and watched as a light white hue traced her bare palm, pausing and then turning green. With a pop, a tray slowly pushed out.
Laying in the tray was her standard issue uniform for the Alliance fleet. A black jumpsuit with white stripes running down the length of each side from top to bottom. Her last name was stitched onto the right breast pocket. On the left breast lay the emblem of the vessel she called home for the last several years. A circular badge with a blue background, and a white neutron star being circled with the fading trail of a white comet. On the left shoulder lay the white 8 point crystalized looking snowflake backed by a sword vertically thrust through the center, blade pointed down. Denoting her chosen hypocrisy of a profession as a medical combatant.
On the right shoulder lay the words, "A.E.S. Frost". Short for Alliance Exploration Ship, Frost.
She picked up the uniform and matching black combat boots and began to cover herself. With her body warming up, she noticed that her amber skin tone was finally beginning to return...
She smiled as she noticed the uniform still fit perfectly against her body. Her muscles hadn't faded nearly as much as she would have thought during her stasis.
Reaching back inside the pod, she grabbed the remaining two items assigned for her use. A belt with several pouches containing different injectors, a scanner, and other medical equipment, and a leg holster. The holster contained a standard issue Alliance Self Defense laser pistol.
She wrapped the belt around her waist with practiced ease and followed shortly after with the leg holster. Taking the pistol from the holster. She held it out in front of her. Activating as her palm was recognized by the weapon's grip. She looked down what was once called, iron sights. Before a small holographic display activated at her touch just above the trigger housing. The back of the gun displayed a ruby red bar with 15% in small print next to it. She placed the light polymer weapon back inside its holster.
That made more sense. The charge pack inside the laser pistol would surely have slowly been drained over time. Considering that thought, she had always wondered why they bothered keeping them in the lockers if most of the weapons would be dead by the time they reached their expected destination.
Red... White... Red... White...
"Fine..." Kaden sighed as she turned toward the door. Withdrawing a small transparent ear piece from one of the pouches on her belt and placing it into her left ear.
"Jack, What's the status of the Frost?"
"Unknown." Replied the synthesized voice in her ear piece.
"What do you mean unknown?" Kaden said, once again glancing reflexively toward the roof.
"It would appear I've lost the ability to connect with the sub-mind in charge of the internal sensor suite, and the external sensors appear to be offline entirely."
An artificial breath broke the sentence.
"Would you like me to try and take control of the internal sensors manually? Be warned, it may cause me to be unavailable to you for some time. My central processing seems to have also been damaged."
Kaden sighed once again. Questioning once again why she was the one chosen for this problem.
"Not yet Jack. Why was I woken up? Where are the others?"
"If by others, you mean those woken up before you? Unknown. I'm sorry Lt. Morales." A somber inflection encompassed the artificial tones in her ear. "I attempted to recall the reasoning behind the resurrection and it would seem that information is not accessible to me at this moment.... Come to think of it. I don't know why you were activated... Lt... That concerns me."
Red... White... Red... White...
Kaden scrunched her face at the remark as she started toward the door.
"Okay Jack. That's okay..." She stated almost as much to herself as the shipboard central intelligence. "If you can't tell me about why I was woken up, or what the crew before me was tasked to do. Let's try a different approach. What can you tell me?"
There was no answer as the lights continued to flash. She proceeded to approach and look through the small rectangular window set into the door. The exterior was pitch black, except for the reflection of a distant klaxon running in time with the one above her. She tried to adjust her vision in either direction, but with little effect.
"Well..." She whispered under her breath.
Her hand grasped around the door handle recessed into a circular outlet in the center of the door. Pulling out a T-Bar cross section and rotating it. Unlike her pod, this came with little resistance as the system responded. She lightly pushed as the system aided the door in lifting upward into the bulkhead.
"Fuck."
End of Chapter 1.