The Space Devil: Prologue

Even after a lifetime of travelling the Universe, the stars still look just as beautiful as the first time. To see the great nebulae of the Galaxy in person will forever change you. Even the endless expanse of nothingness has a strange sort of charm to it, it is not uncommon to find even the most experienced space fearers staring into that abyss. A calmness echoes through the ship, a reprieve from the worst humanity has to offer. A reminder of the good in the world, even as it so often falters against evil in all its forms.
I myself, have spent many a year travelling this land, god knows how many names it has been called over the years. No one even knows who named it in the first place. Some early colonist probably, or maybe an old drunkard spitting off another unlikely tale. That person is now irrelevant, only the name remains, one of the last echoes of a past age. Astraesto.
This trip has been much the same as any other, Senator Marshall is not known for his eccentric personality, because he doesn't have one. Most would describe him as stone cold, a brilliant politician surely, but a leader he is not. Still, serving in his protective detail leads to advantages. Much better pay for one, must be the only way he gets anyone to willingly protect him at all. He is a frequent traveller, the amount of planets I've seen and been too will make anyone back home jealous. And there is a relaxation in the sameness of it all.
Even in the relatively small cruiser, the hallways seem endless as I walk through them. Whoever designed these things didn't have a good grasp of beauty, just repetitive white corridor after repetitive white corridor. Must be worse for the Navy boys, don't know how they stand it. Thankfully the bridge, though relatively small, had a different design and a pretty big damn window. That's where I headed. Passing only the occasional crew member, and one of the sixteen or so marines on the ship who gave a silent nod as I passed, which I returned. Knowing the Senator, he was probably hard at work inside his room. In the 18 years I have served with Marshall, I have seen him outside that room maybe twice? The man could probably work and sleep simultaneously.
In my earlier years, the way my boots echoed across the halls always made me feel so cool, like a character from my favourite action movies. But as the years pass, the joy dissipates and what was once felt is gone, likely forever. Amazing how time changes a man.
As I arrived to the bridge, I fell uneasy, for the first time this trip. I look around, the few crew members on the bridge are hard at work. Jackson, Frank and Lloyd all finicking around with their controls and screens, while Teagan and Bell are busy fixing some sort of issue under the main computer. None of them look unsettled, which is calming, but I still feel that slight bit anxious. Which is weird, anxious isn't really an emotion I'm used to.
I look out through the window into the void. But there is something there, so far away I can barely glimpse it. I blink once, but the thing is still there, so then I blink a second time, but rather than disappear the thing, an object, seems to only be getting steadily closer. I am fixated on it now, as it seemingly glides towards us. I take a step towards the window, then another, till my hands feel the cold glass which separates us from endless space. A single object now looks like two, and even closer now than ever before, I can feel the gaze of the bridge crew on me now, but still I remain transfixed. Until the first sirens begin to blare.
At last I can see what the objects are, Jeraci ships! And for every second that passes another jumps into the empty space. Finally regaining control of myself I turn to the crew. Who now looked just as transfixed as I just was. But these were trained Navy crew, and they quickly returned to their stations, where they prepared for what would no doubt be a lopsided battle.
It took mere moments for the first missiles to reach us. Their boom echoed through the ship, as gunners valiantly attempted to shoot them down. But their attempts were futile, as dozens more followed the first volley. Rocking the ship this way and that. Men went flying through the corridors, as explosion after explosion pushed against the shield. Soldiers - Marines, ran in all directions, manning turrets, arming themselves, and preparing to repel an enemy attack.
Most of them I knew, would set up at the airlock, preparing for hostile boarding action, as they had been trained to do. It was a tactic designed to fail, all it had to do was give us time, time that was in an increasingly low supply. My mind then turned to the Senator and his immediate safety, grabbing a service pistol from a nearby armoury locker I prepared to set out when a final boom crashed against the ship, ripping throw the shielding and into the hull. I took one last look at the bridge, seeing Bell lying motionless against a nearby computer, and Jackson pressed against a chair, a piece of glass embedded in his body. The rest of the bridge crew payed them no more than the occasional glance, as they rushed to and fro, tying everything they could possibly think of. Lloyd was screaming with someone on the comm. Their fate would be the same as the ship.
I rushed through the bright white corridors, avoiding crew members as I went, there were no marines in sight. I skipped passed the senator's quarters, heading directly for the escape pods. Along the way I passed one of my men, the senator's personal security, lying on the ground dead, blunt force trauma to the head. I had only three other men, chances were they were all alongside the senator.
As I finally made it to the escape pods, I found the senator, and my men, alongside a heavily damaged escape pod. No words even had to be spoken, and the room fell into a total silence, hearing only the distant sounds of fighting far away. Marshall's faced with full with fear, and realisation as to what would happen to him.
My men and I prepared a final defence, it wouldn't take much to overwhelm us, but we had to try. Minute after minute passed, and we could hear the fighting across the rest of the ship die down. We heard their footsteps way before they reached the door. The first man to walk through was shot instantly, with the second following him. A gunfight began, and I watched as my own men fell, one after the other. With a last desperate lunge I emerged from the wall I was using as cover and fired my weapon again and again until the ammo ran out. I felt something painful push through my abdomen, with a grunt I fell to the ground, my vision blurred and in total pain. I heard them take the Senator away, but with no strength left I could do nothing. Nothing but wait.
It must have been hours later that I next heard voices, voices of concern. With every last bit of strength I could possibly muster, I pushed my arm above my head, instantly attracting attention. The voices spoke to each other, and before long I was being pushed onto a stretcher. What came next was a question, a simple one, but one which I struggled to find an answer...
"What happened to the Senator?"