Derelict

In the blankness of deep space, you can exist forever. Uninterrupted and oblivious to everything else. Just a floating speck of dust. Not a problem to anyone or anything that doesn't care. It's a simple existence if not incredibly plain and dull. There isn't much to expect. But what gorgeous views you may be given. The crisp cusp of voluminous gas giants and the beams and thunder of their unyielding storms. Scattered light showers of comets grazing by. The raw power of suns and stars. All beautiful, and all ignorant of the derelict.

Relative to the massives, the derelict is a tiny thing. An M Class Enserink-Shuzo Type 4X50. Versatile transport ships, but far out of their flight range. This thing's been drifting for a long while. Its background radiation trail seemed to stretch forever in a straight line. It was only found by accident. A passing long-haul cargo freighter detected unusual sunspot formations and someone on that cargo freighter happened to be curious enough to investigate. The odds are stupendously minuscule that anyone would've found it. Such luck was only compounded by the fact that the freighter had the resources to spare a look. A sort of miraculous fortune for any survivors.

There is no protocol as of yet for how to handle derelicts. Unless an SOS signal is broadcast, it may as well be floating scraps waiting to crash or be cannibalized for parts by scavengers. But in this case, there was neither a signal nor any signs of previous scavenging. So what reason could there be to have a small expedition besides maybe curiosity? Well, it came down to the captain. With a crew of only ten, there wasn't enough protest. The captain being a hobbyist wreck diver saw a rare opportunity. An undocumented derelict in space was just impossible to ever find. Back on Earth, he'd enjoyed exploring sunken ships several millennia old. This was a sort of extension of that.

A small team of three was dispatched. It included the captain, the engineer, and the technician. To save resources and be quick with it, the freighter remained on course as a small shuttle was sent out. This way, the freighter would still arrive at the expected destination on time and avoid incurring fees. However, this also meant that the dispatched team had but a couple of hours to explore the derelict. Any longer, and the freighter would need to slow down or stop otherwise the shuttle won't reach it. As well, only the captain's clearance could adjust the ship's flight parameters. But of course, being the hobbyist he was, he had to go explore the derelict. It was his idea after all.

Of that group, none would return. Communications are cut and the radio silence is deafening. The remaining seven in the crew become stressed. The spare resources needed have become more costly than expected. Time on the freighter's path cannot be adjusted without the captain's clearance. What to do? There is but one spare shuttle remaining and the crew have no idea what the situation is like on the derelict. Time is running out before the freighter is out of range.

Had something happened to the dispatched team? Why are their comms cut? There had been no visual signs of struggle or danger. No change in the derelict's course and no sonic activity was detected either. It's like they simply disappeared as they entered the ship. The shuttle could still be seen lodged into the starboard-side docking port of the derelict. Its lights blinking as usual. The captain hadn't given instructions on what to do if he was late to return, this idea had been very impulsive and spontaneous. Neither was there clear company protocol for these situations. Would that extra shuttle be expensed out of their pay if it's not returned?

The captain surely would be liable but it was the captain himself who was also missing. Audio logs would show the captain must be at fault here. The crew could just do their best to manage with the remaining seven until they make port in under two years. They had already worked this mono-job for the last 18 years. For most, this was to be their first and only tour. Any fears centred around losing anything from that hefty payment package. Similar mono-jobs can demand decades on a single trip or tour. For something as long as 20 years of constantly being at sea, the reward was very large. However, the company was cheap and was notorious for finding ways to use fees to skim their payments. A missing shuttle would be an easy pay cut they could justify.

With a limited amount of time left, the crew calculates they can send out the last shuttle for a quick check. Two people would go, with the second person expected to man the first shuttle so that they could bring both back to the freighter. There would barely be enough time to pull this off. If these two couldn't back the remaining five may not be able to maintain the ship for the rest of the trip. The two people selected were the pilot along with a crewman. They were the only two left who could reliably operate those outdated shuttles. Manual drivers with old-school retrofitters the ship's AI couldn't even interface with. There would be no third chance after this. They would not be searching the ship. Any survivors had to be right there or they were gone.

As they launch the second shuttle, the pilot feels a twitch in her wrist. Maybe it was the nerves, but she was also always against exploring this thing in the first place. She had refused to step one foot into the derelict and protested the captain. But he overruled her. But as long as she wasn't being forced onboard, she could tolerate it. However, things have changed. Now, the poor-sighted planning and judgment of the captain have led them to this precarious situation. Now, she is forced to approach the derelict as being one of only two left who can operate the shuttles confidently and quickly. But even with her skill and experience, she couldn't help but feel that twitch in her wrist.

The derelict grew bigger. It was a large looming silhouette all still and quiet. One by one the stars behind it were eaten by its growing shadows. The light was fainter out here. The shuttle's lights stayed on in docked mode, glowing a soft red and orange. Approaching it, they could see it was still safely clamped into the port and the airlock had not yet been disengaged. Were the captain and the rest still in their spacesuits? As she docks the shuttles onto the other shuttle's free port, the heavy airlock gates creak and groan with stress.

Air hisses out as the airlock stabilizes the gate and achieves equilibrium. The two shuttles were now safely connected, with the first shuttle now acting as an intermediary between the second and the derelict. This would let the crewman quickly go and get the first shuttle. The pilot could remain seated without needing to go inside the derelict at all. Then, whatever eerie stuff happening in there would remain in there and she would remain out here.

However, the opposite airlock struggles to open at first. It's jammed. She blames the low-quality retrofitters the company uses to justify keeping these shitty old shuttles. Using a mechanical crowbar, the crewman tries to pry open the airlock. He succeeds somewhat and creates a small opening but not large enough for him to squeak through. The mechanical crowbar cannot open it any further. He tells the pilot the situation. Sure enough, she is needed yet again. She was the only two left who could fly the shuttles. Now, she's the only one left who can fit through the jammed airlock doors.

It unsettled her. This was the opposite of what she had advocated for. Why not take the loss of the missing shuttle? Is the price really worth their lives? Why didn't the captain just listen to her? Why didn't the company give them fucking unreliable tools? All these questions course through her head as she crawls through the thin airlock gap. Adrenaline and fear kick her heart rate up but she's handling it. She needs to handle it to get the fuck out of here.