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The horror of dismissing in space [SWTOR]

It was on the way to an unknown planet that I, your host, killed my entire crew! I must confess a certain, softness in my trepidation before doing it, but then, I only meant to penalize the one for being so mopey. I would have freed you Khem Val, my ol’ buddy, if only you’d given me the option. But damned if he wasn’t a depressing kind of guy to hang around with.

I couldn’t help myself. Since you can’t summon them inside the ship, I targeted him with my selector and clicked. He always glowed a little when I did that. I opened the chat window and the characters rained down like hammer falls from Heaven itself. /__D__I__S__M__I__S__S__ . And with that keystroke he looked at his feet and disappeared.

I breathed a sigh of relief. It worked. All that was left was a red lightbulb were he had stood. Heading out into the hallway, I thought that Khem would meet us at our next stop, safe and sound. The light from the holoterminal bloomed in my eyes as I passed it. We’d be fine. In the meantime, the robot or our new-hire, some Tatooine pirate or some such, would take over responsibilities.

But there was no robot. R2-NV isn’t allowed to leave his charging point by my very orders, yet his receptacle stood empty. It looked downright eerie. The light from the red blub above gave the compartment a blood-slicked look.

This wasn’t good. Oh no, the pirate – the cockpit – manning the flight! I raced into the cockpit, tripping over the heavy metal. All three seats stood empty. Auto-pilot had been at some point engaged. I turned to where he most often stood, leaning against the rear wall.

Another red light.

Red is the color of blood and something I’ve done here is staining my ship with it. I had to get out.

I sat down at the captain’s chair and open the galaxy map to resume controls. I select ‘fleet’ where I had a room to think. The screen flashed red. I couldn’t afford the fuel cost. I ran to my room and checked my coffers and found them empty. It was then the alarm started to sound. LOW ON FUEL. LOW ON FUEL. Red warning lights flashed at me in rhythm. They were against me, the whole damn ship, it knew what I had done. Red is the color of blood and blood is the truest color of guilt.

There was no way we’d have enough fuel to make it to the next station. What was this? Did those Tattoine bastards not fully restock us?

And just like that, all the lights went out on the Fury. All of the buzzes and whirrs ceased entirely. Even the repetitious beeping of things requiring attention stopped. No more thrusters. No more ventilation. The only thing that remained was the feeling of drift as we floated through space.

I clawed my way to the cockpit and looked outside. A planet! Alderaan. Probably only a few light years away. The computer was unresponsive. I tried it, again and again, until I relented and began beating upon it in earnest. Close enough to see saving and yet too far to ever reach.

So now I sit in this empty, black shell that used to be a spacecraft and dwell. I have enough food to last me several months, and there is enough air that seeps in to prevent my suffocating. But there is very little to do in space and I fear I’ll lose my mind before rescue comes. Already, just so soon in, I feel the tendrils of darkness begin wiggle and burrow inside my mind.

Heed this message! And learn:  Don’t /Dismiss on your ships!

Seriously, it’s kinda creepy when a crew suddenly disappears mid-flight. I made Khemmy-poo sad and wanted to get rid of him. Dismissed! Then, I see the robots gone, except for a second where I could see his silhouette through the light of the holoterminal. The pirate left no trace since he just seems to be catching a ride. Reminded me of an old sci fi story by George R.R. Martin.

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