Nightmares

‘All hands to battlestations, this is not a drill. Marine fireteams report immediately to Starboard landing bay sections K1 through K9’ Confusion. Fear. ‘Repeat, all hands man battlestations, Marine fireteams report immediately to starboard landing bay’.

The Nightmares were often nightly occurrences. They had been ever since that fateful day, and Andrastus knew that they would likely remain so long into the future. The dreams were so vivid, he felt that he was there again, back onboard the Wandering Saint when everything went to hell and his world ended.

‘All hands, this is Admiral Noir. We have been boarded by multiple hostiles, enemy numbers are being confirmed. All marine fireteams proceed immediately to the starboard hangar deck. Boarders are to be repelled at all costs.’

The same messages and images replayed themselves again and again, the fear as potent and tangible as it had been 5 years ago. He could see so clearly the faces of his fellow Firbolg pilots as they waited in the cramped squadron ready room, confused and uncertain. Crump. The lighting in the room flickers, the power supply disrupted by whatever punishment the ship was taking. How? Where the feth had they come from? His patrol had just returned, combat had been fierce but the enemy had been driven off.... or so it seemed. Andrastus felt his gut tighten into a knot as dread washed over him. The power fluctuated again, another Crump reverberating through the ship. The intercom sounded yet again, delivering a message that would haunt his every sleeping and waking moment for years to come.

‘This is the Admiral, Sansha True Slaves have taken control of the starboard landing bay. We can confirm at least a thousand hostiles are now onboard this ship. They must be stopped. All hands report to ship’s armouries and prepare to repel boarders’.