F.O.S. Starship
The Fog
The safe zone has been anything but safe for some time now.
Damaged emergency lights strobe erratically along the bulkheads. The wounded and the exhausted huddle together in cramped clusters, panic carved into their blood-smeared faces.
The monsters... They just keep coming...
No matter how many we put down... they don't stop. They're going to break through...
His voice, barely more than a sob, echoes softly through the silent trenches.
Are we... really going to make it? Can F.O.S...
...Can F.O.S. really make it home?
Along the defensive perimeter, muzzle flashes sputter and fade as ammunition runs desperately low. Trapped in this strange stretch of the Fog, the F.O.S. starship is cut off from any hope of resupply.
When the last rounds are spent and even the Constructs are pushed past their breaking point... what options will remain?
Of course F.O.S. is making it back!
As the others fall silent, Nia lurches upright with a wince, her wounded left leg barely holding her weight.
So many instructors... so many of our classmates gave their lives here. Are we supposed to just leave them? Walk away and let them rot in this damned Fog?!
...
It's not over. We... we are not giving up!
What did F.O.S. teach us? Fight the enemy. Protect the living...
There are still people alive right now! We still have strength left... don't we?!
The instructors... and the Gray Raven Commandant are still fighting out there! So can we!
But... with what?
We're nearly out of ammo. We're down to ration bars. We've been using expired serum, and even that's almost gone.
Even the F.O.S. banner is...
He shakes his head, dejected.
No ammo... Then we use our knives.
Using her teeth, she tears through the bandages on her arm, then shreds off her uniform jacket.
Rations... I still have Instructor Elianna's storage map. We can send out search parties. Scavenge the supply bays in the Fog.
With her own blood, she paints the F.O.S. emblem, stroke by stroke, onto the blank back of her jacket.
Humanity... does not fall here.
And we... the students of F.O.S., don't break against something like this!
She picks up a rifle, its ammunition long spent, and ties the crude banner firmly to its muzzle.
Nia. First-year cadet of Command, F.O.S. Designation 074—
She raises the F.O.S. banner high and charges past the perimeter, driving it deep into the mass of fallen monsters.
For F.O.S.—!
Instructor Elianna's voice echoes in her mind. She tightens her grip on the dagger and, with an unyielding resolve, plunges it into the socket of a snarling monster.
F.O.S. Starship Deck
The Fog
Deep within the Fog, the Chimera stops.
Under the blaring red emergency lights, a blade gleams like a cold star. Alpha spins around and lands directly in the creature's path.
Nowhere to run now.
The blade sweeps through the fog like a scythe of cold light. No time to recoil. The Chimera absorbs the full, brutal force of the strike.
■▃▂■■▇▃█▂▄▇■▃█—
You...
Pain floods Alpha's M.I.N.D., breaking her stance for a heartbeat. That's all the Chimera needs. It bolts toward the top of the deck.
You... Don't go!
She darts forward in pursuit.
Grr...
Chimera stops at the center of the deck.
The sound escaping her mouth is no longer a monstrous shriek.
!!!
Who are you?!
I...
Unfathomable grief pours from the Chimera's voice. Her hands stretch toward Alpha, open and trembling, blind to the blade hanging between them. Raw and broken sobs spill out.
You...
Alpha is caught. Those grief-stricken eyes hold her fast, and without thinking, she steps closer.
Alpha!!!
Not far off, Lucia tears herself away from the enemies pouring through the rift, ready to charge toward Alpha—
But she's too late.
The Chimera wraps its arms around Alpha and plunges into the endless Fog below.
