Lira Halden

Log Entry: 3162.10.27 Situation Summary: Section D power restoration incomplete. Hull integrity failing on lower maintenance decks. One life sign remains active near coolant junctions. Identity tag: Ensign Lira Halden, Engineering Apprentice, 3rd rotation. --- Chapter VI — Ensign Lira Halden The emergency lights had long since died, leaving only the blue flicker of her datapad to cut through the dark. Lira Halden huddled beneath a bulkhead panel, clutching the flickering screen like it was holy. The cold air bit into her lungs, each breath echoing too loud. “Come on… come on,” she whispered, trying to reroute a power line. Her fingers shook too hard to make contact. “Just need… a signal. Just one.” A distant clang rang through the venting ducts. Her head snapped up. She froze, holding her breath. Another clang—closer this time, slow, rhythmic, like footsteps echoing through metal. “No,” she whispered. “There’s no one left down here.” Her datapad’s display glitched—static crawling across the screen. Then words appeared that she didn’t type: HELLO She dropped the pad. It hit the floor with a metallic clack. The sound seemed to echo forever. “Who’s there?” she asked, her voice trembling. “Is someone—someone alive?” No answer. Just the hum of coolant lines, faint and steady. She crawled backward, hitting a maintenance pipe. Her eyes darted toward the dark corridor ahead, where the emergency lights stuttered—on, off, on—each flash showing the same hallway… until the last flicker showed something different. A shape. Tall. Too thin. Watching her. The light went out.