Twilight Glistening

Intro

“Oh Gawd, ick…” Brenna coughed up some oil that had fallen in her mouth and chucked a wrench to the side sliding herself out from under the small fighter.
“Son of a bitch, damn you Pepin! Just ruin my fighter why don't you!” She choked
“Oh, hey Aloysia, whats going on? Didn’t see you come in.”
“Oh nothing. Just bored…” Her voice was soft and had a hint of passion in it. Brenna watched as she trailed over to the fighter and ran a finger across it admiring the new paint job she gave it the other day.
Brenna proceeded to get up and dust herself off and throw some kitty litter under the fighter to soak up the oil spill.
“Bored? Spend a day in my shoes and you’ll be wishing you were bored.” She smirked and mopped up some oil that was creeping away; looking back up at her and wondering how in the world she could be bored. She didn’t understand her. It’s almost like she’s not sure what to say around Brenna.
“Oh, and tell that clown if he touches my fighter again he’s gonna’ wake up with an engine rod up his ass.” Brenna scoffed
“Alright, and, who in galaxy would want to spend a day in your dirty combats.” she stuck out her tongue and teased Brenna as she walked off and went to deal with Pepin.
Chapter 1
Brenna

I’m not sure why, but, Aloysia swayed her hips more then usual, as if there was a guy watching, and made her “walk” as sexy as possible. I looked around to see if there were any guys, but that was stupid considering there were only four men aboard this ship, and three of them were in the kitchen and the fourth one I’ve no idea where. Strange person Aloysia can be at times… Oh well. After finishing this up here I can get started on fixing the brake pads on our Planetary Buggy. I love that thing, reaches speeds up to 250 mph, provided you don’t hit a rock and break exiting velocity and shoot yourself into space.
I shifted gears and smashed the gas pedal racing upwards across the vast surface of Europa. It’s cold bleak icy surface gave poor traction, but I still managed. The surface was very smooth, smoothest in the solar system. I clicked on the music player, once called a radio, but now no longer used as one. Pressing a few lit up blocks on the touch pad LCD. The Unforgiven II by metallica started to play. A very old band from long ago.
“Brenna… Brenna… Brenna!” a voice coaxed at me.
I was startled and knocked over the wash pale sending a cold toxic mix of oil, fighter fluids and soap water all over.
“Eh. What?!” I said rather confused
It was just Sileh, I must of spaced out.
“Aw look what you made me do…” I said in an almost baby voice.
She giggled and asked if I’d seen Dawkins anywhere, she needed someone to move a rather large object in her room. I asked her what it was but only got silence and told her I’ve not seen him. She turned and pranced off to the intercom room.
“Ug, with all these interruptions I’ll never get anything done…”
I looked to the clock and cursed, dinner would be ready soon, and I still haven’t even started on the brake pads. Time, always against me.
After an hour or so, I was not really sure, time seems to go by so fast when your in space, I had finally finished the brake pads, I ended up needing to replace them, and was lucky the ships part synthesizer had the model number and blue prints of our buggy. I still wonder about this ships past. It has a lot of really fancy tools for just being a light cruiser.
I’ve yet to ask Aloysia where she got it. I did once ask her why it said USR on the side, and what that meant and how come she knew so much more about the past and the Twilight then I or anyone, considering the Twilight was about 100 years ago. All I got was “It’s a nation of a forgotten time, you wont understand.” All I know about the twilight, was that it happened 100 years ago and that it involved a very large war and over ¾ the Earths population died within months from the massive guns used in the warfare. Since then the Galaxy has turned to total anarchy. With no one to tell people what to do, they just kind of set up there own places thru out the galaxy and soon a new way of living was developed.

Chapter two
Kill

"Brenna! Get up here and have some dinner, its getting cold!" The intercom burst to life with Jakons' rough voice.
Rolling out from under the buggy I glanced at my neo-teky dark red time keeper, Aloysia said they were called "watches" at one time and I thought that was silly, why would anyone call it a watch? What do they do, watch it all day or something? How boring, but, that’s irrelevant now, I’m late. Dinner starts at 21:30:00 and its 22:30:45.
As I made my way to the kitchen I saw that Sileh was guarding the entrance to her door.
“I’m waiting for Dawkins, he said he would meet me here.” She stated without me even asking…
“I wasn’t gonna ask why…”
“Yes you were!” she cut me off with her annoying childish voice.
“No I wasn’t…”
“Well whatever… if you see him, tell him to hurry up!”
“Yeah sure.” If I see him… Humph.
“Try some of the potatoes Brenna.” Jakon’s rough voice again.
These potatoes are good, Jakon grows them from the Hydroponics Deck, he takes a lot of pride in cooking and growing food, which is a little weird considering he’s not the type you would expect to see bent over pruning vegetables, not that I look at him that way or anything.
“If you had been here on time they would have been better.” Jakon’s voice was dry and sarcastic, I didn’t like that.
“Well if some people would leave me alone while I’m down there I could get done on time…”
“Brenna, You’re never done on time.”
I just chuffed and finished my plate, pushing it aside and looking about the so called “dinning room”.
A large metal table bolted into the ships floor rose up from the center, around which wooden chairs, not real wood, fake wood, real wood was too expensive now days, and damn near extinct. The walls were a dull gray metal and rather depressing, or at least Sileh thought so. I didn’t mind much, personally, anyone who stares at a wall long enough to say its depressing has issues. Lighting came from built in LED lights that somewhat lit the room. At any given time the entire ship could be lit up like a Christmas tree, each room filled with bright lighting, no dark crevice would be saved. But that was dangerous, as that gives off a large energy signature, and we don’t want to attract attention to ourselves.
Back in my cabin, I laid down sprawled over my bed looking out the small port hole next to it, there wasn’t much to see, few stars here and there. Rolling over to look at my holographic clock I realized how late it is.
“You should be sleeping Brenna.” The clock responded to my sorrowful look at the time.
“Look who’s talking Sami…” I scorned
Great this is all I need, my perverted female clock telling me to go to bed…
“I’m downloading updates.”
“Sure you are, you just want to see if I’ll get up and change into PJ’s, stupid perverted clock.”
“And your point is?” Sami laughed and changed to a passionate red color.
“My point is this.” I said with much delight
Chucking my blanket over the clock, I walked to my dresser and began changing. “Hey, now that’s not fair…” Sami wined.
Yup, that’s my clock, Somehow Pepin reprogrammed its AI to be perverted and I don’t know how to fix it.
“Ha ha, you’ll never learn.” Giggling, well, that’s not something I’ve done in awhile. Once I was changed I sat back on my bed and stared out the porthole, removing the blanket from the clock, the time filling the space above it once again. “Oh… Pink thong tonight? That’s quite a change from your usual red and black.” Sami said with much added pleasure to her voice.
“Stuff it or I’ll unplug you.” Stupid clock.
“What’s that?” Sami said quixotically
“I thought I told you too--”
Suddenly the whole ship shook violently and the lights went out.
“Shit, what the hell was that?”
“I don’t know, why you asking me, I’m just a clock, and besides, you told me to shut up.”
GREAT! Even better, a sarcastic smart ass perverted clock. “Why you little…” My room filled with the red of emergency lights as I lunged at my clock blindly
“Hey! Don’t do---” Before she could finish I ripped her battery out.
“Ha, teach you to be smart with me.”
Suddenly the intercom was screaming and filled with many voices, but one dominated them all, Aloysia’s.
“All hands on deck, Everyone, to your battle stations!”
Without thinking and without a hitch I raced out my door in my pink thong and tight black undershirt racing to the upper decks.
“Keep that ass moving!”
Embarrassed I whirled around just in time to catch Pepin duck into the elevator snickering. Racing back to my room, I pulled on a pair of pants that were on the floor and raced back out and up to the deck, running along side me was Gailea and Gerald.
“Where have you two been?!” I asked, still running.
“Well I was in my room studying until…” Yup, that’s Gailea, always studying.
“And you Gerald?” I looked to him.
“I was busy.”
I stopped and looked at him with a cocked eyebrow as they both ran up the stairs, He also stopped
“What…?” He said confused.
I just shook my head and ran past him.
“OH! That’s disgusting Brenna, I don’t do that!” He chased after me, ha ha, sure he don’t….
“Sure you don’t.” I cackled all the way to the top, but stopped once we reached the bridge with everyone else, everyone was shouting and barking orders and the main screen was a flash of brilliant colors as our shield took a heavy beating.
“What the hell is going on Aloysia?!” I had to yell to be heard over all the gunfire.
“Brenna, no time to explain, get to the Gattling cannon!” Aloysia Barked.
Lost and somewhat confused I hopped the upper bridge railing and dropped to the lower bridge rolling and springing at a small hole just big enough for me to fly in as the doors behind me whipped shut with a hiss, barley missing my feet. Gonna have to get the timing on those doors fixed.
Once inside the small cylindrical completely white room I crawled forward a little and gripped the controls for the XMS22Z Gattling Cannon. Oh it felt so good to grip the duel joystick, so much power at my hands… Ok, come on Brenna, stay on track, radio Gailea and ask what the hell I’m supposed to be shooting at.
“Gailea, what are my targets?!” I need not yell, for the microphone boosted my voice just fine, but it was impulsive.
“Starboard left, 33 degrees.” Gailea said quickly.
I mashed a red button on the right side of the duel joystick and a 360 Degree wrap around image filled the room, graphically representing the ship, and the space around it. Honing in on a red dot starboard side I pulled the triggers and grinned almost pleasurably as I saw the ammo count begin to go down from 10,000 in increments of 50 per second.
2 hours later, 7000 rounds, 32 rockets, 10 missiles, and 6 capital torpedoes later we were taking a heavy beating and my fingers, hands and arms were becoming numb from the constant, Pull trigger, rotate, pull, flip, rotate, pull, trace, follow, pull, kill. Pull. Trace, Follow, Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.
“What the hell are these things, they just keep coming, mind you they are easy to take down, but they aren’t like any ships I’ve ever seen!” Dawkins exclaimed.
“Aloysia, We’re taking to much fire, we can’t kill them all.” a voice to muffled by static to clarify whose it was.
I just kept quiet and fired.
Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.
Finally I was starting to complain “Jeebus, they just keep coming!” Suddenly the commanding voice of Aloysia broke above all the chatter
“Everyone shut up. Ammunition check Brenna”
For once, I actually glanced at my ammo counter “Oh shit, I’ll be shooting blanks soon if we don’t get some more and we are out of rockets and missiles as well.” I stated the obvious
“Gailea, open a level 5 warp hole and get us out of here.” Aloysia barked.
I stopped firing. Level 5?! Holy crap! That’s just not safe. Everyone was silent except for Gailea.
“But, Aloysia, that’s a 25% survival rate.” Gailea was complaining in her usual whiny voice.
“I know the damn rate, just get us the hell out of here, do you want to die?!”
“No.” Gailea finally stopped complaining, the thought of death had not occurred to her probably.
“Then do it!”
“Yes.”
“Why the hell did everyone stop firing?! Keep shooting damn it!” Aloysia, more barking...
Gun fire resumed, as did I, but, I knew what was on everyone’s mind.

Chapter 3
Shrapnel

Blink. A flash. Light. Dark again. A face, a familiar face. Darkness again. Screaming. The shrieking grinding and crushing sound of metal. Darkness again. Sand. Sand? What the hell… I opened my eyes once more, hopefully for a lot longer then before. Looking around, I noticed I could barley move. There was a lot of yellow sand around me. Above me was what looked like the starboard wing of Twilight towering at an awkward angle burrowed into the ground. There was very little light. What light there was, came from my watch, and from sparking wires. Why am I outside the ship. Suddenly I came to my senses and panicked, jerking up quickly, but only to have my head meet a chunk of metal sticking out of a stony wall that surrounded me and this dark place. After waking again it was even darker, I estimate I was out for at least an hour. Remembering the chunk of metal sticking out of the wall that’s behind me, I slowly got up and tried my best not to panic.
“Aloysia!? Pepin?! Anyone?!” Of course calling for help did no good, from the looks of it we’ve crashed on a dark planet, and into some sort of cave.
I looked down at my legs. My pants were mostly gone, all that remained started from the end of the zipper and went to my abdomen, My pants are now a mini skirt… “Well, well, well, how do you always manage to loose some part of your clothing Brenna?” Sami spoke abruptly.
Startled by the voice I cried out somewhat.
“My god… you survived the crash… Wait a minute, I thought I tore out your battery…”
Stupid Sami. Just can’t kill her.
“You forgot my backups.” She snickered.
Sighing I began to pick myself up, amazingly I was untouched, save for a few scratches here and there along my left leg.
“What happened?”
“We crashed”
“I can see that Sami, what I mean is, I don’t remember anything. The last thing I remember is taking your batteries out.”
“I don’t know what happened either Brenna babe, My backup kicked in right before we hit the surface.”
“Please don’t call me that… You’re a girl Sami, your supposed to like guys…” “So?”
“So just don’t do it ok?” I ended.
I stood and looked around the darkened cave. I couldn’t see much, but I could see a tunnel at the far end, with ten or twelve U shaped ridges starting from the ceiling and ending at the opening, the cave seemed very old and much of the surrounding rock was already crumbling. Above me was a large hole in which moon light pierced like a dagger. The Starboard wing must of come through there at a Forty Seven Degree angle, as it was buried deep in the soft sand, much of it hidden. Sami was set into the sand somewhat covered and rather dusty. The 3D cube image above her disc shaped core is a yellowish color, deep and vibrant, signaling she’s more worried about our current situation then interested in my new mini skirt. Her core wasn’t more then 2 inches thick and was half the size of a regular Frisbee.
Absently I walked over to the wing and placed a hand on it. I jumped back as this caused it settle more in the sand.
“Careful Brenna!” Sami spoke up with a deep red colored cube picturing an exclamation mark in the center.
“Whoa, that was close, guess I shouldn’t touch things…” I said.
“You can touch me all you want babe.” Sami replied with a passionate pinkish red color.
I ignored her for now and looked around more: The was a large piece of scrap metal sticking out the side of the wall I had awoken from. I rubbed the spot on my head where I had hit it. The moonlight was getting brighter by the minute, I’m guessing this planet rotates very quickly, in that case, it should be day soon. If its even a planet. I leaned forward looking through the hole and whistled. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something glisten, and it was then I realized the entire cave was covered in brightly gleaming silver jewels. For a moment my heart fluttered and I started to run towards the wall but tripped on a piece of scrap metal and ate dirt.
“Smooth one babe.” Sami cackled with a pink color, showing she was very much amused.
I groaned and scorned Sami pulling myself up off the ground and kicking the metal roughly to the side. My heart must of sank about two light-years when I suddenly realized all the “jewels” were just shrapnel from the crash.
“Brenna…” Sami beckoned
“What?” I replied scornfully
“Pick me up please, this dust is getting into my circuits” Sami’s color being a mixed blue and passionate red.
Solemnly I walked over carefully, avoiding as much of the sharp glowing metal as possible, and scooped her up clipping her to the side of my belt, surprised I still had that much. Her 3D cube of color and images disappeared and a little LED screen on the side of the disc, facing me as I look down at it, lit up with a passionate red color.
“Thank you babe.” Sami said with a sweet, almost innocent voice.