Destiny Among the Stars - Scifi - LitRPG - Adventure

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

— Frank Herbert, Dune

Luca stared at the jammed hatch, his heart hammering against his ribs. So much for his freshly allocated ship skills. Fat lot of good they did when you couldn't even get the damn door open.

Danny and Joey moved up to the hatch, their power armor groaning as they braced themselves.

"Everyone, grab something!" Danny called out, voice too loud through the comms. Way too casual for what was about to happen.

Joey and Danny locked their mag boots to the floor with a metallic thunk. Luca grabbed the nearest handhold, knuckles white inside his outdated suit, praying it wouldn't rip off. Zoe floated beside him, probably showing off her legs instead of using her boots like a smart person.

The two idiots threw their weight into it, servos whining in protest. Metal squeaked against metal, then gave way with a sharp crack.

Air screamed out of the pod in a ripping, howling roar. The whole thing compressed around them like a crushed soda can.

His grip tore free. A heartbeat later, Luca was airborne, flying ass over elbows toward the far wall. Zoe crashed into him. Emily smacked the ceiling. Someone let out a yell as they all bounced around like lottery balls.

The pod equalized with a hollow boom, leaving them floating in stunned silence.

"Smooth," Ryan muttered, still locked down like a smug bastard.

Luca peeled himself off the wall, his visor sporting a fresh crack. Perfect. Just perfect. His outdated suit was already trying to kill him.

Vacuum pressed against them now. Nothing but the hiss of suit systems and the sudden, deafening quiet.

"Status check!" Ryan called.

"Good," Danny grunted.

"Alive," Zoe laughed.

"Fuck," Emily muttered.

Panic spiked through Luca's chest. He twisted toward Emily. She clutched her arm, a plating segment cracked but not breached. Close enough to make his gut twist.

Claustrophobia hit him like a sucker punch. The walls shrank around him, pressing in, squeezing what little air remained in his lungs. No gravity. No breathable air. No way back until they finished this delve.

He swallowed the rising panic and focused on Emily instead. One thing at a time. That's how you survive. One fucking thing at a time.

"You're good," he said. "Suit's holding. Just watch that arm."

She flashed a quick thumbs-up, grimacing.

Beyond the shattered hatch, the battleship loomed. Shredded decks. Gaping hull wounds. Cables floating like spiderwebs across dead corridors.

Luca floated out last, legs stiff, visor fogging with each panicked breath. Everyone else moved ahead, helmet lights cutting sharp beams through the black.

They'd breached into a habitation deck, it may have been a whole city section. The corridor stretched both ways, six meters wide and three tall.

No lights. No atmosphere. No gravity. Just the hiss of his suit cycling oxygen and the occasional flicker from someone's flashlight.

The floor tiles were scuffed but still wide enough for transport vehicles. Alcoves with metal carts and crates locked down with clamps. Pressure doors frozen mid-slide. Corridors branching deeper into the deck.

The paneling looked familiar. Matte-black composite, just like that greenhouse from the previous portal.

"You seeing the build quality on this shit?" Ryan's voice crackled through comms. "TL9 across the board. Even the wall panels are worth a fortune."

Chris drifted toward a storage nook. "I'm thinking about how many zeros that salvage tag's gonna have."

Emily groaned, still clutching her arm. "You two can split the profit when we're not bleeding out."

Joey floated beside her, injector hissing as he slipped a dose through her suit's medical port. "You'll be fine. Painkiller and a mild stim. Just don't flex too hard."

Danny pushed off down the corridor. "Come on, guys! This place is enormous. There's gotta be something incredible in here."

They spread out in small groups.

Ryan and Chris went left, sweeping what looked like crew quarters. Sliding doors hung half-open, shattered glass drifting like slow-motion glitter. Joey stayed with Emily, scanning for damage and taking sample swabs from a rusted food dispenser.

Luca drifted toward Emily, reaching out. Their gloves touched, palm to palm. He squeezed her hand, hoping to reassure her. She squeezed back, and for a moment, the crushing vacuum around them didn't matter.

Letting go, he pushed forward to join Zoe, who was already kicking toward one of the main corridors branching deeper into the deck.

She threw him a mischievous look over her shoulder. "Come on, Scout Leader. Race you."

"Maybe later," he muttered. Not in the mood for games when jagged metal was as dangerous as plasma fire.

The mission briefing burned in his interface.

[Secure the battleship. Defeat AI defenses.]

So far? Not a single blinking light. Not a hum of energy. Not a whisper of resistance. He didn't like it. Not one damn bit.

They floated down a corridor lined with open crew quarters. The place had been picked clean; the lockers hung open, bunks stripped, personal belongings drifting like ghosts.

"Whole place looks looted," Chris's voice crackled.

"Or after," Joey said darkly.

Ryan found a powerless datapad in an officer's quarters. "Damn," Zoe muttered. "So much for pirate shit."

Luca tuned them out, scanning the hallway. Past a shattered window lay what looked like a recreation area. Advanced gym equipment bolted to floors, walls decorated with symbols and banners he couldn't read.

Some of it looked strangely ceremonial. Like a church for whatever alien bastards had built this place.

Zoe pushed off a wall with easy grace, floating ahead into the darkened corridor like she was born for zero-G.

"Stay close," Luca snapped over comms. "Don't fuck around."

She winked over her shoulder, then pivoted to kick off again.

From the ceiling dropped a silent nightmare of purplish-gray limbs and teeth, seizing her from behind with gnarled appendages and yanking her toward the overhead beams.

Zoe shouted, twisting, struggling. In zero-G, she had no leverage.

"Zoe!" Luca's heart stopped. He shoved off the wall hard, adrenaline flooding his system.

He adjusted midair, spinning toward them, twisting his hips, and leveling his blaster. No clean shot. She was in the way, the creature spinning her lazily like a toy.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Fuck it. He aimed high, squeezing the trigger twice.

Twin plasma bursts scorched the air. The thing shuddered, its midsection rupturing in a slow, wet bloom of floating violet gore.

It let go, twitching, drifting lifeless into the gloom.

Zoe pushed away, breathing heavy. "I'm good," she snapped, more furious at herself than anything.

He caught up, grabbing her arm to steady them both, his pulse still thundering in his ears. For a second, he'd thought—

"You dumbass," he muttered, relief making him angry. "You see a dark, empty spaceship and think it's recess?"

She smirked weakly. "Had it under control."

"Bullshit. Use your damn grav-lock boots." He shouldn't have let his guard down. Should've covered her better.

Floating gore stained the space around them, dark purple blobs stretching into twisted ribbons. Luca pivoted, scanning upward.

There, barely visible against the ceiling's black struts, more shapes crawled. Clinging tight to the structure, moving away from his light.

Luca leveraged his [Combat Predictive Modeling] on the creature.

"Nullmaw," Luca read aloud. "Creepy name for a creepy-ass thing."

Zoe pushed herself free, brushing gore off her shoulder. "Figures it came for me first."

Ryan's voice came through comms. "Multiple contacts on our side. Hostiles coming from the ceilings and walls. Heads up, everyone."

Danny cursed under his breath. Joey's voice followed: "Copy that."

Zoe flicked her blaster out, grinning fiercely despite the blood smeared across her visor. "Round two?"

Gritting his teeth, Luca raised his weapon. "Stick close this time. No hero shit."

"How many more of those things?" Zoe asked, breathing hard, weapon ready.

"Don't know," Luca muttered, eyes locked on the struts above them. "But we're not sticking around to count."

He scanned the corridor behind them. Still clear for now.

"Joey, Danny, Emily," Luca called over comms. "We're heading back to you. Keep eyes up. Hostiles in the ceiling."

Danny's voice came back through static. "Copy. We're in the mess hall. Joey's patching Emily again, the elbow joint's locking up."

"Ryan?" Luca asked, grabbing a handrail to reorient.

"Still working our way back," Ryan replied, calm but clipped. "We took one down, lost sight of the others. Don't wait."

"Back to Emily," Luca said, pushing off a ceiling brace.

His trajectory was shit again. He slammed into a wall, bounced, and grabbed a strut before he drifted upside-down like a complete dumbass.

Zoe was already halfway down the corridor, floating like a fucking space elf. She turned mid-drift, checking behind them. "You okay?"

"Fine," Luca lied.

He was not fine.

They moved as fast as you could in vacuum and zero-G. Luca kept checking upward, expecting another ceiling bastard to drop on them. Nothing yet, but those shadows could hide anything.

Comms popped again. "Two down on our side. We're making our way back to you now," Ryan said.

Chris added, "Way forward's blocked. Some kind of collapse. No structural power readings either. Looks like we're stuck on this deck."

Great. Sealed into a haunted spaceship full of angry purple freaks. Awesome.

Ahead, Zoe kicked off a corner and drifted backward, still facing him. She touched down boots-first on the bulkhead and activated her grav-lock boots.

The mag-seal engaged with a satisfying hum, anchoring her like a cat on a windowsill.

"Alright," she said, clapping her hands once. "New plan. I walk, you ride."

Luca blinked. "What."

"I carry you. Like a blaster-wielding space bride. Come on, Scout Leader."

"No fucking way."

Luca shoved off, trying to get some momentum, but with barely any weight in this crappy suit, he just spun a half-rotation. His shoulder clipped a beam, and he cursed, flailing for a handhold.

Behind him, Zoe snorted. "You sure? You're looking real cool right now."

"I've got it," Luca muttered, snagging a cable loop. "Totally under control."

She waited a beat. Then, with a long, exaggerated sigh, she unsealed from the wall and launched forward, faster than he could dodge.

Her arms wrapped around him and before he could protest, he was cradled against her chest like a six-foot toddler in a combat diaper.

"Hey!"

She laughed over the comms. "Relax, Captain. I've got you."

"Great," Luca said. "My own personal Nullmaw."

His HUD fogged as heat rushed to his face. Zoe was warm through the suit, smaller than him, but all power and control as she moved them forward in smooth, mag-locked strides. His arms floated awkwardly, and he had no idea where to put them.

"See? Told you I've got you," Zoe said. He could hear her smile through the comms link. "Try not to drool on the inside of your visor, Luca."

Luca groaned. "Kill me now."

Ryan's voice cut in, static and smug. "Uh, anyone else hear that? Sounded like our fearless captain just got a lift."

"Please tell me it's bridal-style," Danny snorted.

"Affirmative," Zoe said sweetly.

"I hate all of you," Luca groaned as Emily's voice joined the chorus of teasing. "Just remember," Danny added, "if you die, it's going on the memorial plaque exactly like that."

Luca closed his eyes and sighed. The worst part? Being carried by Zoe wasn't nearly as terrible as it should have been.

They made it back, finally. No more creepy one-eyed purple people-eater monsters. The way 'forward' was obvious. They'd done scenarios like these before, just not at this scale. When corridors were collapsed or otherwise uncrossable, the 'System' left clues. And what better clue than a big ass tear in the ship's bulkhead near their crash pod?

"So..." Luca started. It wouldn't be him, nope, no siree. He got vertigo just thinking about it. "Anyone take a peek outside yet?"

Ryan reached the edge of the tear first, his grav-lock boots clicking as he stalked along the warped bulkhead like it was a rooftop on Earth. His helmet light panned over the jagged breach where the deck had sheared away, torn open like someone had punched through the side of the ship with a continent.

"Well," Ryan said. "That's a long way down."

"Down?" Luca echoed, floating up beside him, one hand clinging to a bent support strut.

"Or up, depends on how you look at it," Ryan said smugly. He angled his flashlight through the breach, and Luca's stomach twisted.

They were maybe fifty meters above the next structural deck. Half a football field. It may as well have been the whole thing. The exposed understructure jutted with half-melted beams, twisted walkways, and support struts sticking out at random angles.

Beyond it all, the void of space stretched endlessly. An entire armada of shattered ships drifted in slow, frozen orbit beyond the breach, hulking wrecks silhouetted against the glow of a gas giant, its orange and red bands churning in the distance.

A small moon hung just below their ship's broken belly, cratered and pockmarked, caught in the same low orbit. Further below that, pinprick small and hauntingly green, was a planet. Lush. Too far to scan. Just close enough to remind them how empty everything between here and there really was.

"Jesus," Chris whispered, peering through the gap. "That's a hell of a view."

Zoe touched down beside Ryan, mag-sealing her boots with a familiar hum. "Okay, that's not ominous at all."

"It's beautiful," Emily said, drifting up beside Luca, her voice soft.

"So, how do we get down?" Luca asked.

"We rappel," Danny said, pointing to the loose electrical cables.

"Because that's not a deathtrap," Joey snorted.

Ryan, already at the edge, was all business. "We anchor the cables. Those with mag-boots go first to secure the line. The rest follow. It's fifty meters, exposed to vacuum and debris. It's the only way."

He stared out past the tear in the hull, toward that green speck of a planet below, wondering if it was breathable and if the scenario would even extend that far.

Ryan and Danny led the way down.

Show-offs.

The rest of them hovered near the breach, watching the two make their descent. The battleship stretched beneath them like a black canyon wall, curving away into the stars. Jagged ridges and twisted panels jutted out like teeth.

Ryan's voice crackled in. "We're about halfway. There's a break in the outer hull near what looks like a weapons bay. Power's active. Emergency lights, red indicators. Probably localized AI activity. No contact yet."

Zoe let out a long breath beside Luca. "That means guns. Big ones."

"Or loot," Chris muttered.

Joey was already grabbing the cable where it looped through a twisted strut and started to lower himself over the edge. No tether, no backup. Just bare gloves and nerve.

Because apparently gravity was a social construct now.

Luca expected him to hesitate. He didn't. Joey just nodded to himself and kicked off the edge, one gloved hand sliding down the cable, boots skimming against the hull like he'd done this a hundred times.

The bastard made it look easy.

Luca felt it then. That flicker. That dangerous thrill in the pit of his stomach. The one that always came with a dive or a boss fight or some impossible bullshit they weren't supposed to survive. It was a weird sort of excitement; the reality of what they were doing was creeping in.

The fear didn't go away.

Emily and Zoe moved next. Zoe's boots stayed sealed to the hull, walking slow and steady, guiding Emily as she floated beside her, hand over hand on the cable.

Chris was about to go next when Ryan's voice chimed in again, absolutely dripping with timing.

"Hey," Ryan said. "One of you remember to grab Luca? He's probably up there psyching himself into a panic attack."

Luca blinked. "You! I can hear you, asshole."

Chris turned to him, helmet light flashing. "Come on, I'll help you."

"I'm fine," Luca muttered.

Calm and unbothered, Chris just smiled. "Good. Then you won't mind going next."

Luca looked over the edge.

The cable stretched into the dark, disappearing along the curve of the hull. Fifty meters of straight-down nightmare. Debris drifted nearby: a twisted gun housing, a half-melted hatch, some piece of superstructure that looked way too sharp to be floating that close.

His stomach lurched. Not heights. Not in space. Not in this piece-of-shit suit.

"Maybe you should go. Just to, you know..."

Chris stepped in, pulled the cable closer, and pressed it into Luca's hands. "Nope. I'm right behind you, bud. I got you."

Luca stared at him. "You're not gonna let this go, are you?"

"Not a chance."

Luca sighed, turned toward the drop, and muttered under his breath. "Alright, alright. Just don't let me float off into the nether."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Chris said. He was probably going to check out Luca's ass. Luca just knew it.

Luca grabbed the cable with both hands. His palms were sweaty inside the gloves, heart thumping like a bastard.

And then he pushed off the edge.

The hull dropped away beneath him. The cable vibrated under his grip, every foot of descent sending his suit sensors into quiet panic.

He looked around, and the panorama stole his breath. Stars everywhere. That tiny green planet hanging beneath them. The shattered wrecks floating like bones across the void. The ghostly light of the gas giant painting everything in orange-red flame.

For a second, Luca wasn't afraid. He was flying. Suspended between worlds. Part of something vast and beautiful and terrifying.

Then reality kicked in, and he grabbed the cable for dear life, holding it tight to his chest.