Colony: Book One

[PeculiarChangeling]

(Apologies for minor errors, I try to avoid them but I know they crop up occasionally. If it's something that majorly effects a sentence or is a fairly big deal, let me know. If I used 'their' instead of 'they're', don't bother. Also, I'm going to get all of my references out in one chapter, so see if you can find them all. There isn't much diaper content here in this part of the story, but I promise it shows up later. Now, to start off my book in the most elegant way possible:)

Chapter 1: Touchdown.

"Fuck!"

One of the engineers, by the name of Dobson, screamed, as a hunk of superheated steel came crashing down, narrowly missing him. "Dammit, Walter, hold her steady!" he shouted into the intercom, to the pilot. There was a brief gap before he replied.

"Walter's dead. This is Tosh," replied a voice, as a young face flickered onto the screen.

"What the hell happened?"

"A loose reactor cable came loose, and when he tried to get it back in he..." he trailed off. There wasn't much else to say, and even if there was he had trouble choking it out. The singed, lifeless body on the floor made its own message.

"The forward thrusters burnt out on the entry, we can't land it!" was the shouted reply, as the enormous craft shuddered. The metal outer shell was white hot, begining to melt from the heat of re-entry. That wasn't supposed to happen, an air gap was supposed to build up and superheat instead, protecting the shell. All it took was a two degree miscalculation and a highly oxygenated air pocket, and the ship went from warm and cozy to crispy fried.

"Not my fault, we can't do anything about it from back here." There was a loud crash, and another support beam collapsed. The ship shuddered again, as they spun out of control. "Well, what CAN we do?" He shouted, over the din of the fires starting all around him.

Tosh shrugged, admitting defeat. "I don't know. We're out of options.

"Fins?" Dobson suggested, and Tosh started trying to adjust the forward maneuvering fins. He had scoffed at them before; they weren't needed for in-space flight and were practically worthless with the forward thrusters installed. Now, they could potentially save lives. Except they couldn't, because the white-hot metal had fused to the ship, rendering them unusable.

"Can you steer at all?" A head shake this time.

"Slow our decent?" Again, head shake.

"What about the escape pods?"

"Even if we got to them in time, they aren't big enough to hold everyone on the... Wait, the escape pods have their own reserve engines, right?" Tosh asked. He wasn't prepared for any of this, but he still knew the engineering of the ship.

"Yeah, so what?"

"So can we use them to slow us down?"

"That... That might just work. What's the ETA before crashdown?" he asked.

"Three minutes. Big planets mean big atmosphere, this one is at least three times the size of eart..." he stopped himself, there were more important things to do. "Let's slow this thing down."

.........................

"Fuck!"

Sarah yelled as she grabbed a needle of adrenaline and painkillers, injecting it straight into the chest of the next injured to be dragged in. It certainly wasn't the best cure for their wound, (Three missing fingers and massive burns,) but she couldn't worry about that now. They needed people back to work then, no delays, if they wanted to survive the crash. The worst cases, missing limps, comatose, brain damaged, they got to stay. But if you could walk and talk without screaming, you were declared fit to get back to work.

"How many more?" she asked her assistant, Don, grabbing a bandage gun and sealing a massive cut on someones stomach, so their intestines would stop spilling out of their gut. Poor guy, she thought, as he was lead into the room with the other criticals. Anyone with an injury that bad had no chance of surviving the crash, bandage or no. The best he could hope for was that the painkillers in the liquid bandage would work quickly, and he could spend his last few moments of life with some peace. But, in a matter of minutes the shock would kill them all, no matter how much medical attention they got.

"We have a dozen lined up, and they keep coming in," her assistant, ever faithful and diligent, replied. The structural damage was causing massive failure everywhere, and massive failure on a personnel transport ship meant massive injuries. She reached for another needle, but the shelf was empty.

"Where's all our supplies?"

"We used it all, sir," Don replied.

"We can't have, I had a hundred thousand CC's prepared." Sarah was growing frantic now.

"And at a thousand CC's a dose, we ran out," he explained, somehow keeping his cool. "There are three crates in the storage room, and another in the escape bay," he added. "If we need more, I can go fetch some..."

"No," Sarah said, cutting him off. "I'll get it. Track and Field, silver medal. I trust you, keep everything under control." She nodded at him, not taking the time for a handshake, and was out the door in a matter of seconds.

.......................

Dobson and Tosh both arrived at the escape pod simultaneously, hurrying to their respective locations with just a short nod. "How long before we can launch?" Tosh asked, from the helm.

"Any time, but if we want enough power to divert the ship I'll have to take some time to divert power to the engines."

"Do it, we're running out of time."

"Do you have a plan to slow us down?"

"Ramming count?"

"Fantastic."

.......................

"Sir, what are we going to do?" David asked his captain. "Sir?"

The captain, James Harrison, simply stared blankly at the screens.

"Sir!"

"We're all going to die..."

"SIR!" David yelled, trying to get the captain to snap out of it. When it became clear he couldn't, a new tactic was approached. "On behalf of the United Federation of the Human Race, I hereby relinquish you of command. Helmsman, take the deck," he said, ordering the third in command to take charge.

"Where are you going?" Asked the Helmsman, seeing David stand up.

"Getting the captain to safety. In charge or no, it's my duty to see that he survives." Making the captain get to his feet, David supported him and forced him to walk, the blank stare on James' face un-nerving everyone in a ten foot radius. They made it through the ship, equipment breaking all around them, to get to safety.

.....................

Thirty seconds later, the OSC Griffin crashed into hard, unforgiving rock. On the ship, there were no survivors.

[PeculiarChangeling]

(So, most of my chapters are going to be short, frequent installments. And, by frequent I mean semi frequent, if I can. At least 1,000 words a week, though. That is garunteed.)

Sarah woke up with a blinding headache, trying to remember what had happened. Where was she? On the ship, but not quite... Oh, the escape pod. Or was she? It was cramped, almost like a closet... Right, she was getting supplies. That had to be it. Time? Damn, she had been unconcious for a day. That explained...

Sigh... Looking down, she saw her light green uniformed stained dark around her crotch, a puddle of urine lying around her body. Not surprising, of course, if she had been out for so long. At least she hadn't soiled it with everything, though she did feel a rising pressure on her bowels, once again due to the long period of unconsciousness. She felt cold and sticky, and wanted nothing more than a hot shower, an aspirin, and a change of clothes. And a glass of water, she was really thirsty.

A moment later, she realized why the ceiling was so low: the ship had to have landed sideways. That explained why she couldn't sit up or move around much, and why the floor was at a tiny angle. Shifting a bit, she tried the door. It didn't budge. Again, pushing harder. Still nothing, there was something in the way.

"Help!" She yelled, a feeling of claustraphobia setting in. Suddenly, wet pants and thirst took a back seat, to the desire to get out. Forget dehydration, how much air do I have? She had to keep herself from breathing rapidly, slowing down her oxygen intake to make sure she didn't burn through it quickly. How much air did she have? It already smelled stale, but that could have just been the drying piss.

She screamed.

[Personalias]

NICE! Kudos on building a sense of excitement and urgency.

[PeculiarChangeling]

David woke up next, stiff, uncomfortable. Obviously, his clothes were also soaked, but he was significantly more self conscious about it, seeing as he wasn't exactly alone. There was nobody else awake, but there were several people scattered, unconcious, around him.

Namely, the captain, the co-pilot, and one of the engineers. The chief? He looked familiar, but David couldn't put his finger on it. Standing up, he looked around.

They were on the escape pod, that was definite. The windows were all sealed and blinded with a metal curtain, so you couldn't see out. Checking the pressure sealed docking exit, it wouldn't open. So, they weren't attached to the ship anymore.

The ship! Where was it? Running to the dashboard, he did a scan. It was the size of a medium sized town, it couldn't be easy to misplace. He only needed thirty seconds to find it, split in half, crash landed two kilometres away.

The pod hadn't fared perfectly either. It was on its side, (though as long as you were standing in the main corridors and areas, the artificial gravity made it impossible to notice,) there were broken chairs, storage units and controls scattered, and the automatic fire and crisis controls had all gone off.

Hearing a slight muffled yelp, he perked up. Someone else was awake! But where? Looking around, nobody else on the ground had moved. Where was it coming from?

Stepping around a disconnected landing chair that had broken off in impact, he approached the supply closets. There were two, side by side. The first one he tried was pressure sealed, fused shut automatically to preserve the medical supplies inside. Nobody would be in there, they'd need a medical ID, and even then they wouldn't have shut themselves in. So, the other one.

Target found. Or rather, targets: a boy and a girl, lying on their sides, (no artificial gravity in the closets,) bodies linked together. Both half naked, and clearly trying to cover it up.

"I... We..." The boy spluttered out. He was probably 19 or 20, had brown hair, askew glasses halfway off his face, and definitely wasn't authorized to be in this area.

"Um... We wanted somewhere private, and when the alarms went off we didn't know what to do." The girl couldn't have been more than 18, judging by appearance.

"How'd you even get in?" David asked, still in shock. That was simply the first thing that came to mind, and he wasn't thinking the most clearly.

The boy raised his hand, sheepishly. "I, uh, reprogrammed the authorization code to let us in," he explained.

Ah, so that's how I recognised him, David thought. "I take it you're Jessie?" The boy nodded. Jessie was the resident computer whiz, having graduated from college with a doctorate while most kids his age were taking Algebra II. David certainly was surprised, it wasn't what he expected to find in a pantry.

"Get out of there and get dressed, we have work to do."

[LilDavid]

Different sort of story! I'm liking it!

[Personalias]

Hahahahah! I like these characters already.

[PeculiarChangeling]

(One scene now, and possibly one later. By the way, if anyone wants to do a roleplay based on this, let ne know.)

"Aaaaaaaahhhh!" Sarah screamed again, banging on the pressure sealed door. Her hands were starting to bleed from the pounding, and her voice was going hoarse, but that was the least of her problems. The oxygen in the enclosed space was definitely begining to run low, she could feel her breaths growing shallower and shallower.

"Let me out!" She screamed, a futile attempt. Even if there was anyone out there, the doors were pressure sealed, soundproof, vibration proof, and nearly indestructible. Nothing could get in, nothing could get out.

The pressure on her bowels was also growing to extreme levels, but she was trying to ignore that. Her wet pants were one thing, (but even they were starting to dry,) but she would rather not be found sitting in her own waste. That wasn't on her top ten ways to die.

Then again, neither was suffocation.

"Aaaaahh! Ah! Fuck! Ah!" With each shout, she slammed the door with her palm one more time. She was losing feeling in her fingers, but she didn't care.

....................

(20 minutes later)

Oxygen levels were critical. Even the blood congealed on her hands was begining to lose its oxygen rich color. Sarah knew, she had maybe minutes before she fell unconcious, and then she would never wake up.

She found herself staring at her hands. Just a few days ago, (to her, mere hours ago since she woke up,) they were manicured to perfection. Trimmed nails, not the littlest scratch, not even a callus. Now, they were a mess. Coveted in blood, sweat, and piss from when she tried to get her communicator from her pocket, (it was dead,) her pinkie finger mangled and broken from relentless pounding, scratches, scrapes, and lacerations covering them. The nails were gnawed and torn, and if she wasn't seeing them herself, Sarah would never have guessed they would be her own hands.

Should probably clean the wound...

Her head felt light. Besides, where would she get cleaner? An antiseptic? Maybe hydrogen peroxide?

She sat up sharply, banging her head on the sealing. "Ow!" No. No time for pain. She had an idea... What was it? Air... Right. Looking over, she checked the racks of chemicals and medical supplies... There! Third down. Pure, undiluted hydrogen peroxide, bottled and ready for dilution to he used on minor cuts and scrapes. Grabbing it, she carelessly unscrewed the top, holding out her aching hands.

This was gonna sting like a bitch.

Pouring it out, the peroxide erupted and fizzed, the chemicals breaking up into water and oxygen as they did so. Her hands were on fire, (it wasn't meant for direct use,) but she could feel the oxygen as it began to fill the small space. It stunk, of course, but she didnt care. It was air.

But it wasnt enough. The cuts were already sterelized, and the peroxide was no longer fizzing. Not enough blood, no dirt, nothing to cause a reaction. Her victory would be short lived, if she didn't find something to sterelize soon.

"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered. Of course, that had to be the solution. God apparently had a sense of humor, and it was that of a five year old. The solution was simple: She gave into her body, and pushed.

It was harder than she thought. A lifetime of toilet training wasn't easy to overcome. But once it started, there was no way to stop. Quickly, she felt a hot mass of her own waste force its way out, expanding and leaving a disgusting bulge in her pants. Since she was stuck lying down, most of it was flattened, spreading back and forward in her one piece jumper. She was humiliated, but relieved at the same time.

Next came the hard part: reaching down with her trembling, numb hands she ripped open her jumper at the waist. Shaking, oxygen starved, she poured in the entire bottle of peroxide.

Instantly, the undiluted acid bubbled and fizzed, more and more oxygen being generated as she laid there. Her uniform actually began to balloon up as the leftover liquid ran down her legs. It didn't just attack the mess of course, getting everywhere, stinging everything it touched. (It was an acid, after all.) "Ow! OW!" she yelped, taking deep thankful breaths. It smelled like, well, shit, but it was air. It was air...

It was air.

[LilDavid]

That's really something! I certainly wasn't expecting that!

[PeculiarChangeling]

Amatuer chemistry enthusiast, I thought it was clever... (In fact, I might use it again in a mainstream story, except she stabs herself in the hand or something to get a non-sterile specimen of mass...)

[Personalias]

Dude! That's awesome!

[PeculiarChangeling]

So... I wrote this once, and my computer crashed before I could post.... So here's the re write...

Tosh and Dobson were the next few to wake up, within a couple minutes of each other. Their jumpsuits were dry, having been changed while unconcious and layed down in the foyer, next to the still-sleeping captain. The others were also dry and dressed in clean clothes, having found a supply crate of uniforms in the back.

It took a minute to fill them in, but for the most part they had already guessed everything.

"Survivors?" Tosh asked, fearing the answer.

"No signals from the ship," David answered solemnly. "There could be, but nobody near a computer."

"Can you do a scan for life forms?" Jesse interjected.

"There's a glitch, I think. It just gives me total life forms, but since we are in a forest it isn't much help."

This time, Dobson was the one to volunteer his skills. "If its a hardware problem, I can give everything a runover and make sure it is all working properly."

David agreed. He was finding that with his temporarily inherited power, taking charge suited him. "Boy wonder," he commented to Jesse. "You and Tosh work on the computers, make sure its all running the way it's supposed to. Can you do that?"

Jesse nodded, adjusting his glasses. "I think so, if I just re-route non critical functios I can purpose everything for at least land based needs, but..."

David stopped him. "I don't need the details, just do it. You, blonde," he said, moving on to the girl. She clearly wasn't the brightest. Smart enough to be impressed by Jesse, sure, but only just. "What's your name?"

"Rebecca," the girl said, a little shy. Bring found with nothing on but shoes and half a shirt can do that.

"Do an inventory check, make a list of all our supplies. There should be a pretty big storeroom in the back, give us the rundown. Clothes, food, medecine, building materials, fuel, everything we have. Got that?"

She nodded, walking over to the storeroom.

.........

It took two hours to get everything ready. The medical closet was pressure sealed, needing captain or medical authority to open, but was well stocked. There was a bottle of peroxide and another of alcohol missing, but that was minimal losses. They had plenty if food, clothes, supplies, all the things they needed (and many they didn't.) And, best of all, the scanners were up.

"Ready to do a sweep? We can pinpoint location within a hundred feet, so it should be pretty accurate." Tosh beamed, taking pride in his work.

"Good," David commented, starting the scan. Within 20 miles, 10 humanoid lifeforms were found. "Locations?"

Tosh checked coordinates. "Nobody on the ship, sir, but it appears that three people made it on the other escape pod. They're about two clicks due Planetary North from here." Every planet, even those without magnetic poles, had assigned north and south. After all, someone had to make the maps.

"Good. And the others?"

"That's us, sir." David paused. Of course, then why... Oh.

"And number ten? Six of us here, three in the other pod... Where's the last one?" More importantly, how was she with neither group, on her own?"

That took a minute. Tosh was confused by the result, but told David, "It says that the survivor is here, on the pod."

"But that's not possible. Rebecca?" David called.

"Yes sir?" Rebecca said, appearing by his side with a clipboard. Holographic, of course.

"You looked everywhere, right? And you didn't find anyone else? Make sure you remember clearly." David was clearly not kidding around. This person could be hurt, or dying.

"No sir. Everywhere was accounted for." Rebecca was sure.

"And it isn't a glitch?" He confirmed.

Tosh wasn't sure. "It could be feedback, due to close proximity with us," he theorized. "I can try and pinpoint it, but I'm not sure."

"Check it out. Jesse, how are we doing on the medical supplies?" He asked, to the genius hacking his way through the pressure seal.

"Almost there, sir, just one... More... Done. Let's see what we got."

Opening the door, a wave of nausea inducing, highly oxygenated, booze soaked and horrible smelling air blew out. There was someone in there... Pressed against the wall? Lying down, right, no artificial gravity in the closets.

The girl stumbled out, tripping and dropping an almost empty pint bottle of rubbing alcohol, which shattered on impact with the floor. She was in a bad way, her uniform stained brown all up the back and in the crotch, legs soaked with something.

Spread eagle and face down on the floor, Sarah looked up and rolled over. "Hi there," she said, slurred, drunkenly, before passing out.

[PeculiarChangeling]

Between alcohol, oxygen starvation, oxygen overexposure, blood loss, dehydration, and exhaustion, Sarah had taken quite a beating. So, it made. Sense that she didn't wake up for almost twelve hours.

It took her a minute for her brain to wake up. Head look up a bit, eyes, ears. Nobody in the room, except somebody who's sleeping next to her. Wait, is that the captain? Next, she felt her arms wake up.

Or, at least, they tried to. They felt heavy, like lead pipes and chains were holding them down. Come to think of it, so did her legs.

Speaking of legs, what was she wearing? Her uniform was different, definitely. No rips, no stains. Just clean, blue polymer in the one-piece slipon design everyone wore. The Ziploc brand seal on the back, for easy dressing and undressing. But, something was different.

It took a few seconds to figure it out. Her usual underwear was gone, replaced by a thick damp plastic... Wait, was she wearing a diaper? Unable to sit up, she was only able to shift slightly, feeling the swollen material squish between her thighs.

"Hello?" She asked, calling out. "Is anyone there?"

A few moments later, Tosh walked in. "Hey there. Finally awake?" He asked.

"I... I can't move," she said, nervously.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that. You kept thrashing in your sleep and we couldn't get you clean, so I gave you something from the medicine cabinet to knock out your motor functions for a bit. If I read the label right, it should wear off in an hour or so. At least, you'll be able to walk. I wouldn't try any heavy lifting for a day or so."

"And what about, uh," Sarah glanced downward.

"Oh, that. Well, you were asleep, and its not like you could make it to a bathroom even if you woke up... Here, I can have Rebecca get you changed, if you want, or..."

"Yes please," Sarah requested, blushing in spite of herself. Then, it hit her. "The crash. How many survived?"

Tosh shifted uncomfortably as he stood up. "Uh, nine. Including you, ten. But we're glad to have you... Sarah, right? It's good to have you with is." Unsure of what else to say, he walked out.

Sarah was left laying there, stunned in more ways than one. Just ten? But... So many people... It had to be a mistake. It just had too.

A blonde girl, presumably Rebecca, showed up a few minutes later. "Morning," she said casually, grabbing a thick diaper from a stack on the table, as well as a tube of baby powder. "Sorry about this, I just thought you'd prefer it to wet pants and I noticed these," she held up the diaper, "When I took inventory." Kneeling down, she raised up Sarah's legs and reached down, undoing the ziplocked seal that ran between her legs up to her belly button.

"It's fine," Sarah assured her. "You made the right choice." Rebecca smiled and nodded, reaching down and untaping the sodden diaper, tossing it in the recycler.

"Well, as soon as the drugs wear off we'll get you right out of these," Rebecca added with a smile, powdering Sarah with one hand and holding her legs up with the other. Sarah was glad she had experience with a poker face; you don't get embarassed by anything after 6 years hospital experience. She'd been through things almost as bad as this, and seen far worse. The diaper was slid underneath her, and folded on.

"How long was I out? Not overall, just since you found me." Sarah tried not to look at the diaper, to help keep from blushing or looking more embarassed.

"About 14 hours, give or take. We got you some fluids, but you're probably hungry. Right?" Sarah nodded, three and a half days of hunger catching up to her. Six small, but very strong tapes attached. Three on each side, white like the actual diaper, and slick smooth. "There you go," Rebecca announced. "Once you can get up on your own, you can just throw that away. Sound good?" She asked, re sealing her ziploc clothes and sitting her up, sliding her so her back was against the wall.

"I'll go get you some food."

[PeculiarChangeling]

A couple minutes later, Rebecca returned again with a bowl and a spoon. "Now, I..." She blushed. "I'm sorry about this, but I'm going to have to feed you unless you want to wait until you are strong enough to do it yourself."

Sarah thought about it, briefly. But, her dignity was quickly overcome by pangs of shooting hunger. "Just get it over with," she requested. Then, curiously, she asked, "How are you feeding him?" With a head gesture to the captain.

"We... Haven't. I was hoping you would be able to help with that. You've dealt with comatose patients, right?" Rebecca asked, stirring up the food (which looked like pudding. Fantastic, all they had was protien and nutrient paste for food.)

"A couple," Sarah agreed, opening her mouth wide. "So assuming we..." Spoon in her mouth. Ew, it was disgusting. The flavor reminded her if pencil shavings or overcooked vegetables. She gagged, making a face.

"Sorry again, its all we have." Rebecca was clearly apologetic, which certainly was the most endearing thing she could be doing at the moment.

"It's fine. I lived on the stuff during college, though I would usually mix in cocoa powder and sugar so it wouldn't be so gross. No chance we have that on board?" Mouth open, another spoonfull. The feeding was awkward, and she found herself getting as much on her chin as in her mouth. "But like I was saying, assuming..." Spoon, gag, swallow. "Assuming we have the medical supplies I need," Ew Ew Ew, this is disgusting, "I can hook up an IV to get the feeding done." Could she at least use a napkin or something? "Lucky, he doesn't have to eat this crap..." Don't complain, she's being very nice and helpful.

"It could be worse. A few years ago, apparently there was a problem with the protein mix and it caused a ton of internal bleeding or something."

"Don't remind me," Sarah asked with a slight nostalgic sigh as she took another bite, "I was in training then. Believe me, you never want to change the bedpan of someone when they are losing blood out their ass. I couldn't eat anything red for six months." Rebecca gave a quick surprised 'ha!', amused.

"I'll try and avoid that," she said, finishing off the feeding. "I take it you're thirsty?"

"Yes, a little." Rebecca grabbed a glass from the table, helping Sarah drink.

"I'll check on you in an hour, call if you need anything," she said, standing up.

"Wait," Sarah asked, as she reached the door.

"Yeah?" Rebecca asked.

"Thanks," Sarah said with a thankful smile. Rebecca just nodded, smiled, and left.

[PeculiarChangeling]

(Hey, a chapter not centered around Sarah!)

"Almost... Got it!" Tosh announced, as the wires sparked. "There, we have liftoff. Or, at least, we could. She probably can't make it to space, but we've got a land cruiser at any rate. Do you have communication with the other shuttle?"

"Not quite," Jesse replied. "Getting ours up is one thing, remotely accessing their computer and turning on their com is another thing entirely."

"Well it looks like we won't need the com. We can just fly over there," he commented. "And still have just enough fuel to make it to the original landing destination. They picked it for a reason; its a great colonization space."

David nodded, saying, "Get us there. Every survivor is important, we need to get them safe as soon as possible."

"Engines spooled up?" Tosh called to Dobson, who was in the back.

"Aye aye, cap'n," came the shouted reply. "Full sails!"

"Roger roger, tangos a ready," Tosh muttered with a slight grin, pulling two levers simultaneously, as the engines flared to life. Over the centuries, years of naval terms blended together into a rather amalgam of vaguely pirate sounding noises.

It was a two minute flight to the other wrecked pod. It was in much worse shape, and half sunk into a bog by the time they reached it. Using the magnetic clamps, they docked and sealed their ships together for boarding.

"Wait," Jesse said, as David got ready to board. "What if they are agressive? Shouldn't you be armed?"

"I have a sidearm, and they couldn't possibly have guns," David replied, showing off his portable blaster, government issue to all high ranking officers. "A shot from this could stun an elephant, I think I can handle a couple hungry civilians." And with that, he exited the ship.

"Hello?" He called, looking through the dark ship. In his Mike, he said, "Jesse, the power is out in here. Would you mind getting me some light?" A couple seconds later, the emergency light strips flickered on. "Thanks."

[PeculiarChangeling]

(A quick poll, do you prefer Sarah scenes or group scenes? There's going to be both no matter what, but I can focus on one or the other.

As clarification, Sarah-centric parts will have more direct AB/DL content, though it won't be entirely that, and group scenes will have a significantly smaller AB/DL quantity, but it won't be entirely free of it either.

[BulkLover]

In my opinion it would be best if you kept balance between the two, maybe with a slight shift towards Sarah.

[PeculiarChangeling]

(Thanks!)

Searching around cautiously, David wondered where the survivors were. "Hello?" He called, looking around. "Anyone home?"

In the distance, he heard a faint call. A cry for help. Rushing to wear he heard it, he saw a man trapped under a collapsed beam, right across his waist.

"Help me..." He said in a raspy, dehydrated voice. David quickly knelt down next to him, grabbing a flask of water from his belt.

"Here, its okay," he said, holding the flask to the man's lips. "We're gonna get you help. Just hold on a minute, okay?" In the radio. "Tosh, Dobson, get in here ASAP. I need your help." To the man. "What's your name?"

"Victor. Victor Smith..." The man said, relief and fear in his voice, mixing in equal portions. Dobson and Tosh arrived, seeing the crisis.

"You lift there, I'll get here, you pull him out" David said, pointing as they circled around the beam. "One... Two... Three... Lift!"

Struggling, he and Dobson raised the beam just enough for him to be pulled out be Tosh, revealing his mangled legs.

[PeculiarChangeling]

(Little update, more to come later)

[PeculiarChangeling]

(Also, if anyone has critique, please let me know even if its just the littlest [non-grammar] error, I'd like to improve my writing as much as possible and its easier with critique.)

[Personalias]

Dude! Keep this story going. The little chapters give it a cool moment to moment feel, almost like quick scenes from an action sci-fi thriller! DO NOT END THIS STORY!

[PeculiarChangeling]

(Won't end it, I promise. So long as I've got one faithful reader, [in this case, you,] chapters will continue! I just kind of drifted because I accidentally lost this next chapter before it was saved or posted... Twice... This is my third time writing this chapter. Thanks for commenting though. People letting me know they read my stories is my 'hook,' so to speak.)

Back at the ship, the computer buzzed with a message from David. "Rebecca, you there?"

"Yes sir, what do you need?" Rebecca asked, prepared for orders.

"Make sure the doctors awake, we've got ourselves a patient."

Rebecca paused. "Sir, I'm not sure she's in any condition to be treating someone right..."

"Then you treat her! Ask Sarah what to do, and you do it. If nothing else, you'll be able to give him a sedative, right?"

"I think so..."

"That's all I need," David said, as Jesse and Dobson arrived, carrying a man together, each of them holding him up by one shoulder.

...........

David continued looking around, trying to find the other two survivors. Having checked around in the main bay, he decided to check the medicine cabinet, (just in case,) and then the storage room. After undoing the lock, he walked in cautiously.

"Hello?" He called, hearing no voices, but hearing a scuffling sound in the background. Walking forward, he investigated.

"Mmmm!" He heard, urgently, a muffled cry for help. Running to wear he heard it, he saw two people bound and gagged, tossed in the corner of the supply room. One, the male, was bleeding from a head injury and the girl was asleep. They were both lying in a puddle of piss, and had clearly been stuck there for days. David rushed forward, quickly undoing their bindings.

"Please, you've got to help us," the man said. "He'll come back, and then..."

"Shh, calm down," David assured. "You're safe. What's your name?"

"Don. My name is Don..."

[PamperDivison]

Wow! This is incredible, as is the setting and its integration with the action. You've got another faithful reader.

[BulkLover]

So far, so good

Just one minor things:

wear = put something on

where = indicates location

[PeculiarChangeling]

So far, so good

Just one minor things:

wear = put something on

where = indicates location

Actually, he was applying a makeup with the brand name "Hepudit" and the brand was autocorrected.

Thanks for pointing that out.

[PeculiarChangeling]

Do Tue.. um, due to a groundswell in my enthusiasm, here's some chapter!

"Okay, Don, what happened?" David asked, offering his canteen.

"I don't know... The ship was crashing, and then I saw someone swipe a security card off of my desk. My card, actually. I followed him here, and then there was a light and I blacked out. When I woke up, I was tied up next to her," he said, nodding his head toward the sleeping girl. "I never got her name, but apparently the man was trying to get away with the shuttle and her as his prisoner during the crash."

David scowled. "Was he, perhaps, mid thirties with black hair?"

"Yes, how'd you know?"

"I just let him onto my fucking ship." Grabbing his communicator, he called, "Jesse! Do not trust Victor! Get him locked up right away. I repeat, do not trust him!"

"Y... Yes sir," came the response. "He's injured, should we-"

"No. Get him isolated right now!" David shouted, before turning back to Don. "Can you walk?"

"I think so..." David helped Don to his feet, and sure enough he could stand.

"I'll carry the girl," David said, hefting and cradling her, wondering who she was. She was light, certainly, probably still a teenager.

It was a slow walk back to their shuttle, with Don shuffling slowly while he regained his strength, and David slowed down by carrying eighty pounds of female. They arrived in about ten minutes, and David opened the pressure door to his ship.

There, Victor was in a chair with David's gun pointed directly at Jesse's head.

Jesse waved. "Howdy, captain."