D E C E P T I O N

"This is Captain John Evans reporting to Watchtower 21090 as we are now approaching star system Gliese 1214. Over." "Message received Captain Evans. Proceed." The automated message responded, shutting down the screen. John sat back in his chair, leaning just a bit as he took in the sounds of his crewmates' playful banter and laughter. "Yo dawg. Can you believe it? We're gonna visit some freaky alien planet soon." Falon, a wild first mate with the speech of a hip-hop artist and a temper to match exclaimed as he playfully punched the arm of the head technician. "Yeah. Hopefully there's some freaky ass aliens there." Kazuki, the head technician and fellow graduate along with Falon responded as he laughed while massaging the sore arm. "And hot babes." The last statement caused the crew to laugh including the Captain. For now, the trip had been rather peaceful and smooth sailing. There were only a few star systems within the constellation Ophiuchus, and they were tasked with the simple mission of which deciding planet was inhabitable for future colonies. It was truly basic work for an astrobiologist like himself. "Alright boys, we've successfully entered star system Gliese 1214. There's only one known planet here and the guys at MEARTH suspect there might be water and an atmosphere there." Captain Evans informed his team as he kept his head buried in the multiple electronic screens in front him. "Just one planet? Then it's easy! Just pop down there, run some tests and we'll be on our way" Falon boasted, throwing his arms up in the air. "We have to search for alien life too dumb-dumb. Whether or not they'll be hostile or not is crucial to building a colony there." "Approaching planet Gliese 1214b, Captain." Kazuki quietly informed his superior, causing the latter to nod silently as he rested his chin on his palm. The crew then grew silent as we beheld the spectacle before us. A deep blue planet with white wisps scattered across the atmosphere. To the Captain, it resembled their native planet in its prime days, only with the considerable lack of land. "So, the nerds were right. It does have an atmosphere and water." "Um... Captain? Something's headed our way." "What is it Jimmy?" A sudden crash rocked the ship and control room was now filled with blinking red light and deafening sirens with messages flashing critical. "S-Sir! The main engine's been hit!" *~*~*~*~*~ I watched helplessly as the wings of the ship began to go up in flames which began our untimely crash unto the strange planet. As we were accustomed to doing, we quickly geared ourselves for the eventual crash and held unto our chairs as the temperature within the ship only unbearably increased in temperature. A second explosion sealed our fate as the ship seemed to take forever to each the surface. "Bloody hell!" The nose of the ship dragged into the foreign ground and came to an eventual stop. Not even two seconds after our crash, we heard strange voice shouting in an alien tongue as they came aboard our ship. To be honest, I don't remember much of what happened. It all passed by so quickly. Screams. Flashing lights. Blaring sirens. Blood and giant aliens. They looked frightening and one by one, they killed each one of my crewmates. One held my arm, shouting some command that I didn't understand and relying on instinct, I bit him. Hard. "Aish." The alien hissed, quickly dropping my arm and rubbing his arm. I wasted no time. I ran. I ran far and I ran fast. I heard the hoard of aliens shouting in the distance and it only fueled my adrenaline rush. Who knows if those aliens have enhanced speed like the Ioans? Like a protagonist in a bad horror movie, I fell into hole and straight into the water beneath it. It was dark and it was cold. I looked down and saw another alien, this time more feminine looking, swimming up to me with outstretched arms. "Joyonghan!" She commanded me, clamping a hand over my mouth and took off in the opposite direction of where the attackers seemed to be going. She was swimming so fast, I only saw  blurry flashes of bubbles as I struggled to hold my breath. Almost as quickly as she appeared, she disappeared leaving me in an icy cave and sealing the entrance. My heart was still beating haphazardly after that event and I worked on calming myself down. Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat. Check your vitals monitor. Apart from your heart rate, everything seems to be fine. There was just enough oxygen in this cave to keep alive for now. Thankfully, even our casual suits were outfitted with a week's worth of oxygen though I'd doubt it'd be enough. Here I was, stuck in this icy prison with no possible way of escaping the planet. Heck, I didn't even know where I was. After taking some breaths to calm myself, I brought my knees to my chest and snuggled my wet, underdressed body to possibly endure this icy prison. Later, we will come up with an escape plan.