Grey eyes revealed themselves to the world as a boy no older than sixteen awoke to blaring sirens their wails drowning out any thoughts that carried over from his dreams. He pulled himself up from his bed and looked forward to the cabin of his scout ship, then just as he walked forward already in his combat ware which he had slept in a calm female voice echoed through the small vessel.
"Warning! Warning! Loading bay breach detected! Sectioning off!" The boy quickly grabbed a heat cutter which was standard issue sabre, it's blade 2.6 feet in length and it curve begins a quarter of the way up the blade. It was made out of a black steel and before he gripped it, he pressed a button and the edge of the blade turned a bright orange before it dimmed and the boy sheathed it then he attached to his hip.
He gave himself one last quick look over in the mirror just to see a boy in a captains uniform still a mess due to him sleeping in it his top button being undone which revealed a layer of black armour underneath while he tidied his dark green frock coat and grey trousers. After finishing up which only took him a couple seconds he opened his cabin door and headed out.
He walked into a white crossroad ahead of him was the engine room which looked to be operating and undamaged however he looked to his left and saw white shutters blocking the way to the storage bay the boys face turned to a annoyed and troubled frown after which he quickly turned to his left toward another door which led to the cockpit. It only took him a couple seconds to reach the door as it hissed before letting him inside.
The room was not big with it being the front of an already small ship it had a couple of display panels around the edge normally meant for a second person however the scout ship was primarily designed for solo missions as seen by the chair in the centre of the room which was surrounded by a desk filled with different buttons and hovering holographic screens with only a gap about a forty centimetre gap for him to get to the chair.
He sat down the black leather chair multiple screens blaring red with status reports flashing which he swiped away, then he gripped who handles at the side of the chair one handling thruster output and other their tilt which he glanced at a screen behind him showing a swarm scout party attempting to break open his hull to which he pushed one handle forward and the thrusters lit up with blue energy as he blasted forward.
"Locate nearest hyperdrive point and activate autopilot." The young man's voice sounded out through the cockpit, his voice was a quiet smooth voice, a voice which one wouldn't expect to hold a captain's permission in the military.
The final remnant of the swarm faded out he let out a sigh he had unknowingly been holding. 'I need to find a planet to repair, refuel and restock.' The boy sighed again before standing up and walking out of the cockpit and into his cabin and sitting back down on the bed. He was not going to lie to himself these constant swarm attacks were getting to him this is the seventh time he tried to find a hyperdrive point out of this system however the swarm would follow him and interrupt the mapping process.
He stood up once more and grabbed what looked to be a grey face mask that covered his face, it was completely blank and was an advanced tool created by the military for use in outer space and extreme environments with it being able to hold three hours worth of oxygen in a small space with this being able to be refilled with small containers each holding thirty minutes worth. It also acted as a seal for the face and stop humor fluid from boiling with genetic modifications allowing for the rest of the body to survive space. He settled his captains hat the same dark green as his uniform on his light brown hair which went down to his waist.
He walked out of the cabin in steady almost lazy pace as he took a left towards cargo. He paused at the door before speaking "Zofia, Unlock cargo please." He called out calmly and as he waited for a response he tapped the butt of his scabbard.
*Beep* "Captain Dante, - Cargo unlocking 3...2...1 - Cargo unlocked please be safe." *Beep* As the system stopped speaking Dante's thoughts drifted off as if delaying having to go in. He knew the systems for low tier ships are simply a library of pre-recorded lines instead of a real AI since after the 1st Emperor the military reduced the amount of AIs they use which ended up helping with reducing the second emperor's impact. That still won't stop him from being polite who knows what if a 3rd Emperor appears and suddenly Zofia awakens and tries to kill him maybe she will remember his kindness.
*Beep*"No lifeforms detected in - Cargo- , Repairs must performed and finished in - 5 minutes - or cargo will be closed off once again."*Beep*
Dante took a light breath before pressing forward he pressed his thump against a panel beside the door and it flashed green before a hiss could be heard as the door slid open to reveal a 7m by 7.5m room with it being 3.5 meters tall while being called cargo this is a mere storage compared to the average military ship with the cock pit being 7m by 4m which half way the sides and top become a cone that is flat at the end and the cabin and reactor room being 2m by 2m.
The so called cargo room held barely any cargo as most of it was spare uniforms, a couple small boxes of rations with about three months of fuel cells left, a half empty box of heat cutters, and a box of emergency repair kits.
He looked around and noticed some patches where the swarm pests had penetrated the walls he grabbed three emergency repair kits and walked over to the first one. The bag was ripped opened and Dante pulled out what looked to be a ball of metallic paste which using gloved hands was fully spread over the gaps making sure all of it was applied he did the same for all the other holes before calling out.
"Zofia engage emergency repairs please." The system did not respond this time as small gaps opened up in the wall with three small robots flying out and going to their assigned breaches. Dante meanwhile stood silently watching over the them his grey mask hiding his expression. One of the robots seemed to have stopped and its camera started to flash blue to which Dante walked over and taking out some extra repair putty handed it to the little robot. Taking a good look at it Dante couldn't help but muse 'I'm surprised these work that well I remember when they first introduced them they would cause more breaches than solve due to them not being tested on older ships.' Though Dante couldn't help but study them as he watched the bean shaped robot fold out four pincers and start to poke and prod at the putty shaping it and heating it in a way to increase integrity.
*Ding*"Emergency repairs will be complete soon, Please leave cargo room before pressure calibration begins."*Ding*
Dante watched as the robots retracted their arms and flew back into their compartments as he left cargo in a brisk walk.
Walking over to the cockpit he settled in the chair and relaxed as the ship drifted searching though the networks and maps attempting to find a habited system near them.
*Beep*"System found - Target Fovea 665"*Beep*
"Confirm, Begin mapping" Dante practically shouted as if to rush the system.
*Beep*"Beginning mapping estimated time - five minutes -"*Beep*
The ship came to a halt as it pointed away from the sun in the distant centre of the solar system before the sirens blared again this time he immediately silenced them and walked to the cargo bay. He came to the end and pressed a red button as the sound of air leaving the cargo hold is heard however just as quickly space silences it. He looked out as blue bugs flew toward the ship walked onto the walkway on the outside of the ship and unsheathed his blade.
The grey juvenile sting at the front rushed forward to get to Dante, who held his sword out in a Alber guard with his blade pointed done. The juvenile sting rushed forward however just as it's pincer was about to pierce Dante a sabre blocked it and before it could recover Dante swung his sabre and just as it was about to hit the juvenile sting its edge glowed a bright orange as it diagonally cleaved the sting in half.
The next sting rushed forward to capitalising on Dante putting his all into the slash as it smashed into his side while normally this would pierce a person in half Dante's uniform and armour stopped most of the damage however Dante still smashed into the ship wall however he quickly recovered and manoeuvred in zero gravity to plant his feet as his boots stuck to the ship walkway once again.
'Shit there is a True Sting in this group' Dante couldn't help but curse his luck as he countered and killed the sting when it tried to ram him again. This continued with the True Sting sending in stings to weaken Dante while he tried to spend the least amount of energy on each sting while waiting for the mapping to finish.
This continued for three minutes until Dante looked to be on his last legs the top half of his frock was ripped and the scale like armour underneath was dented, his sabre looked to be chipped with the superheated edge doing most of the cutting at this point. The swarm however was never ending, he imagined that the one true sting likely has propagated into multiple and the stings themselves are propagating.
*Beep*"Mapping finished - Commencing jump in - 30 seconds"*Beep*
Dante parried another sting and tried to counter however another sting slammed to his side to which another followed attempting to pierce his face, only to slam into the ship as Dante's sabre bisected it before he kicked the floating corpsed into the first sting and parried the second when it tried to attack again before counter attacking and slashing it in half. The first sting now backed up by another charged forward however Dante slashed both of them lengths ways as their corpses floated off into the cloud of grey, red and orange corpse fragments from their explosions.
Dante eyes widened as a True Sting appeared its acid flying towards him however he limped to the side barely avoiding it before he heard the what he had been waiting to hear.
*Beep*"Commencing jump - It is recommended all personnel get inside"*Beep*
Dante turned around and ran into the cargo however in his haste he forgot the True Sting he felt his armour dissolve from an acid blast hitting him.
"Ahhhh" *Shhhhhh* He felt his flesh dissolve as the final bit of the acid tore through his armour however he quickly shut the door as he grunted through the pain as banging could be heard he ignored Zofia's warning about outer damage as he walked to the reactor room most of the reactor itself was inbuilt into the walls however two pods shone in the monotone white room with their green interiors he stepped inside one and slid the door shut as he pressed on.
The ship lurched suddenly as the reactor powered to max and Dante closed his eyes as Zofia's voice rung out.
*Beep*"Estimated arrival - Two years - Sleep well Captain."*Beep*
Dante closed his eyes his mask, hat and uniform still on as the pod filled with freezing cold medical solution.