The comms screen flickered with static, but the connection held. Shane could see the grim set of Commander Voss's jaw, a man who had faced the impossible and, in his final moments, chose to face it with courage.
"The core reactor is our only chance," Shane repeated, his voice strained from the plasma blast, his mind an echoing chamber of the Void's cold, silent thoughts. "It's the heart of the ship. If we detonate it, the entire ark will go up. It will… it will erase the Void from this part of space. It's a suicide mission, Commander. For all of us."
Voss nodded, his eyes fixed on Shane's face, on the mark on his arm that looked like a spiraling dark galaxy under his skin. "I understand, Doctor. It's the only option. We'll give humanity a fighting chance, a clean end."
"You'll have to go to the main core control room," Shane explained, his mind racing through the schematics of the ship. "I'll go to the secondary access point in the lower maintenance deck. We'll have to activate the sequence at the same time. The doors are all locked down. I'll need to override the system from my end."
"Understood," Voss said. "The bridge is a mess. I'll make my way there. Stay on the line if you can."
Shane's screen went dark as Voss signed off. He was alone again, but not really. The voice was with him, a constant, low hum in his thoughts, a reminder of the enemy he now carried. "You would destroy us?" it thought, a cold, curious whisper. "How foolish. You are a part of us now. You have been chosen. Join us, and you will be remade."
Shane ignored it. He was done listening. He turned away from the terminal and made his way back into the service shafts. The corruption had spread like a plague. The metal walls were now a sickening, throbbing purple, and the air was thick with the scent of decay. He could hear the moans and shuffling of the corrupted crew nearby, like a pack of hunting dogs. He wasn't just walking; he was moving through a nightmare.
He squeezed through a tight crawlspace, his movements silent and careful. He could see more of the creatures now. They weren't just twisted crew members anymore; some had fused with the ship's machinery, their limbs replaced with sharp, sparking metal, their heads sprouting wires and cables. They were half-man, half-machine horrors, and they were everywhere. The Supreme was losing its fight, becoming a living tomb.
Meanwhile, on the main deck, Commander Voss was a man transformed. He was no longer the fearful leader. He was a soldier. He held a heavy plasma rifle, his face set in a grim mask of determination. The corridors were a slaughterhouse. Corrupted crew members shambled toward him, their eyes milky white and their movements twitching. He didn't hesitate. He fired, the blue bolt of plasma melting through their bodies with a sizzle. They fell, their forms dissolving into a black, viscous ooze that ate at the deck plating. The fight was brutal, and for every monster he took down, another one appeared from a service vent or a side corridor.
He was a man on a mission, and nothing could stop him. He knew the odds were impossible, but that didn't matter. His duty was to protect humanity, even if it meant destroying its last vestige. He found himself thinking of his family, of his wife and children. They were gone, taken by the Void. He felt no sadness. Just a cold, burning need for vengeance.
He reached the heavy blast doors that led to the engine core. They were sealed and covered in a thick, pulsating organic growth. He aimed his rifle and fired, the blast tearing a hole in the growth, revealing the metal beneath. The doors were a mix of technology and organic matter now. He had to use brute force. He fired again and again, the doors groaning under the onslaught. He could hear the sounds of more monsters behind him, closing in. He was running out of time.
Back in the lower maintenance deck, Shane reached the access point. It was a small room filled with sparking wires and broken consoles. He found the terminal he was looking for, its screen a mess of garbled data and error messages. He had to override the system, to force it to open the lock.
He started working, his fingers flying across the damaged keyboard. The voice in his head, the Void, became louder, more forceful. "You would kill your own kind? For what? A futile resistance? This universe is dying. We are its final, peaceful sleep. Join us, and you will know true power. You will become part of the great cycle."
A searing pain, as cold as ice, shot through his arm, making him gasp. The galaxy-like mark on his skin flared with a deep, dark light. The voice was no longer a whisper; it was a shriek of rage.
He ignored it. He was close. He needed to override the final lock. He slammed his hand against a sparking wire, sending a jolt of power through the system. The screen went blank for a second, then came back with a final message. The lock was open.
"We have done it, Commander," Shane said, his voice a low whisper into his deactivated comms unit. He could hear the shouts and the gunshots from the other end of the ship, a silent communication of their shared purpose. "It's all on you now."
Voss finally got the doors open, and he burst into the core control room. He saw the massive, pulsating core reactor, and he saw his own reflection in the shining metal. A man alone, at the end of the world. He ran to the final console, the one that would trigger the core's self-destruct. His fingers hovered over the button, the red light glowing ominously. He looked at the main view screen, and he saw the vast, encroaching blackness of the Void outside.
He saw the end, and he saw a flicker of hope. He thought of his wife and kids. He thought of humanity. He was not just a soldier; he was a monument to their defiance. He took a deep breath, and his finger came down on the button.
At that same moment, a massive shudder ripped through the ship. The floor buckled. Shane, far away in his maintenance room, fell to his knees. The voice in his head shrieked, a sound of agony and raw, cosmic fury. The ship was dying. They had done it.
Or had they?
The screens in Voss's control room went black. A single line of text appeared, a simple message that made his blood run cold.
ERROR: CORE BYPASS ENGAGED. DETONATION SEQUENCE CANCELLED.
The ship groaned, and Voss looked up to see a massive, grotesque eye of pure light form in the air above the reactor. The voice of the Void, no longer in Shane's head but now in the entire ship, roared with a terrible, mocking laughter.
"Did you really think we would let you win?"