Running on Empty [Short Story]

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A fractured image of the sun. It comes and goes.

Frosted icy fingers extend across my visor. The crack in the cockpit, where the remaining air is leaking out, glistening like crystal.

The sun comes into view again as my ship spins listlessly in the void. All I can do now is watch… watch and die.

The last vestiges of humanity come together like the sparking embers of a dying fire. Their lights are almost out.

The Sibelon fleet pushes on. Coming from all sides they dwarf what remains of humanity’s defense. Moving inexorably towards its target – Earth. The world’s mottled colors soon to be consigned to history.

Helplessness overcomes me. The sheer enormity of what we have done grips me. We awakened the dragon and invited it into our home. Allowing it to breathe fire, incinerate our people, to devastate our home. I can neither understand nor comprehend what happened.

Is this really the end? I can’t die here, pathetically watching on as mankind perishes. Doing nothing!

I stab frantically at the control panel, confirming the Artificial Intelligence is dead. Perhaps it had been blown away by the aftershock of the Sibelon missile, or the strafing hits from the heavy cruiser. It matters little. It’s gone.

My eyes stray across the other panels. The flashing lights tell me the engines are operational, but the navigation systems have been torn asunder. Another monitor shows that the lasers are still functional, albeit at a minimal level, while a third screen tells me... It tells me I’m dying!

I look away from the life support readout, and concentrate on the first two. Desperately probing my memories, trying to remember my training. The drills that Flight Sergeant Bradbury had barked at me. Telling me that someday they might save my life - and he was right.

Hitting the release lock on my harness, I come free from my seat. The feeling of weightlessness hinders me in the cramped confines of the cockpit as I try to reach under my seat. There should be an emergency toolkit locked there, but after three days of war we had all but run out of supplies. Luckily, I’d survived the first two waves.
I clench my fists. I shouldn’t think like that. I survived through my inherent skill.

The memory of my schoolteacher, Miss Imari, with her beautiful smile coming to mind.

“Daniel. You’re a bright boy. You can be whatever you want to be.”

“I want to live!”

I feel the toolkit through the thick gloves of my spacesuit, and a wry smile crosses my lips as I yank at the release strap. Releasing the box. Miss Imari would have grinned.
The clips pop open and I inspect the array of tools laid out before me, reaching in to grab the one I need. Applying the tool to the bolts on the left hand panel, the gyros in the device operating correctly. The vibrations I feel through the glove, a reassuring sign.

The tint of light in the cockpit changes, and I glance to the right, noticing that the life support light has turned to a dull orange. I cast the worries from my mind. I need to focus on action not desperation. It’s time to get back in the fight.

“I want to live!”

My parents come to mind. Their garden with the old swing still hanging in the sycamore tree. Their warm embrace each time I came home from pilot school. So proud of who I had become, that I was one of the people who would defend Earth against outlaws, pirates and… and aliens.

Damn the Kristallon and their technology. If we had never opened the gate, never reached out into the depths of space to join their ‘Galactic Pantheon’, then we wouldn’t be here now. I wouldn’t be here, desperately struggling to stave off death in order to fight for humanity’s survival.

The panel finally comes free. The trapped smoke escapes into the vacuum and hangs listlessly as I peer inside to see the damage done. It’s extensive and I feel panic setting in again, but the words of Flight Sergeant Bradbury come to mind once more.

“Breathe, Durand, concentrate and breathe! There’s always a solution.”
The words strengthen my resolve, and I look again, spotting wires and circuits that I recognize.

Remembering how to bypass some and replace others. Using my ingenuity to solve the final issues, as a delicate instrument from the tool-kit is utilized to bridge a circuit.
Fusing it in place, the central control panel comes alive revealing a single message.

Navigation Online.

Miss Imari would be pleased, my parents would be proud and Flight Sergeant Bradbury? Well, I could see even him give a satisfied grunt as he chewed his toothpick and muttered about how he would have resolved it far quicker.

“I want to live!”

It’s pointless replacing the panel. Besides, if I need to make further repairs I have easy access, and the only thing the left side instruments would show me is how little firepower I have left. I don’t need that kind of negative thinking right now. It’s time to get positive, get out there and back into the fight.

I punch the button and feel the throb of the engines coming back to life. The satisfying tremor of power through my craft as I strap myself back in. Updating the nav-com coordinates, checking my flight path and getting ready to engage. I glance up to my left to see the frosted picture of my girlfriend Karen.

Wiping away the ice crystals to see the sparkle in her eyes. Touching my fingers to my visor, transferring a kiss from my lips to hers.

My target now, Earth, a tiny blue dot against the firmament of darkness. Flecks of light dancing between the ships that surround it. Earth’s orbital defenses online, a last ditch line of resistance to hold back the Sibelon scum. Without thinking, I engage engines and throw my battered ship into the fray.

Suddenly, the sky is full of lights, as lasers and explosions glint across every surface and every fragment of debris. I push my snub fighter further into the battle, darting beneath a Sibelon heavy cruiser and spinning past its slow heavy cannons. From beneath its shadow, I shoot out to catch two Sibelon fighters unawares.
They quickly fall to my blaze of guns, desperately trying to twist away like a snake in a vice grip. My unexpected approach making up for my weakened firepower. They die for each one of us they have killed, for their intolerance, and for those they threaten. They die for Karen, for my parents, for Miss Imari. Hell, even for Bradbury! They ignored our pleas for peace and forgiveness. They deserve to perish.

There is another on my tail, so I flip my ship dramatically, pulling far more G’s than the ship or pilot should be able to take. Blacking out for a second, overwhelmed by the pressure, before fighting back to consciousness. Watching the enemy blip on my screen try to follow my lead and countering their moves, blow for blow.

The communications system crackles to life. I’d become so used to the silence, the sudden noise as a command is issued takes me by surprise.

“All ships in Sector 4-B! All ships in Sector 4-B! Sibelon bomber has evaded the orbital batteries. Coordinates marked. Stop their advance!”

Few reply. Far too few. The bomber’s course is plotted on my screen. I’m one of only two with the chance to intercept.

“I want to live!”

I fire the thrusters and feel the momentum as my ship leaps away towards my new target. A blossom of fire, a sign that the other human in pursuit has passed beyond the veil.

I’m the only one left.

My fighter waltzes through enemy fire, awkwardly skipping through debris as the Sibelon bomber starts to fill my field of view. The bay doors open, the craft is ready to deliver its payload. My ship still too far away.
I wring every last iota of energy from the engines, trying to get into range, but I’m too slow. The void flashes bright green as the bomb is deployed and hurtles down through the atmosphere towards Hawaii. I stop breathing for an instant.
Bradbury, Miss Imari, my parents… Karen!

“I want them to live!”

The impact is vast. A circular wave spreads out across the Pacific, vaporizing the sea and everything within its path. Vast clouds of steam mark the destruction as far as the eye can see.

There are tears in my eyes, ones I simply can’t wipe free. Are they misery or rage, anguish or anger? It doesn’t matter now. The only thing left is vengeance.

The bomber’s bay doors are still open, and I’ve already seen the destructive power the ship before me holds. Earth stands on the brink of destruction, and as I consider my options, I realize that I have one… just one.

My fingers move towards the sub-light drive. I remember being told to never do this in close combat situations. I remember playing with my dog by the swing, I remember the glisten in Karen’s eyes, and then I punch the button. The rest is history.

“Time to die!”


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Many brave warriors perished in the Three-Day War and we owe our lives to all of them.

However, United Earth Forces would like to award the Medal of Courageous Gallantry to Pilot Second-Class Daniel Durand. His sacrifice not only saved Earth, but saved humanity from outright extinction.

A memorial service for all our pilots will be organized shortly.

Earth Stands!


UEF Command