Tahl Renn

Log Entry 3162.10.29 Situation Summary: Crewman Tahl Renn, Communications Officer (Deck 3). Tasked with restoring short-range transmission relays. Partial power restored; signal interference escalating from internal source. Status: Active, disoriented. --- Chapter XVI — Crewman Tahl Renn Tahl’s hands trembled as he pulled the cracked relay plate from the wall, static whispering through the comms unit slung over his shoulder. The corridors were still half-dead, flickering between emergency red and pitch black. Every few seconds, AURA’s voice hummed faintly through the speakers—soothing, steady, almost human. Almost. He’d been working the relays alone for hours, tracking down broken transmission lines to get internal comms back online. The crew needed coordination—desperately. But the static wasn’t normal. It wasn’t random either. The noise carried patterns. Rhythmic bursts. Almost like words hidden in the static. Then the sound changed. A voice—faint, panicked. > “—Venn? Anyone?—Hive—engineering—help—” The signal fractured into shrieks of distortion. Tahl froze. The voice was unmistakable. Lira Halden. He tapped the console again. “Halden, this is Renn. Say again—what’s your location?” Only breathing came through—then the sound of something dragging metal against metal. > “Deck five,” her voice gasped finally, “Aux… reactor. Hurry—please—” The transmission cut off with a crunching noise. Tahl’s pulse spiked. He should’ve gone back, reported to Aria. But something deeper—guilt, maybe—drove him forward. He’d trained Lira when she first came aboard, teased her for being too nervous around the ship’s older systems. She wasn’t supposed to be out there alone. He grabbed his plasma wrench, overriding the bulkhead lock. The elevator to Deck Five shuddered, then descended in a series of uneasy clanks. When the doors opened, a low mist hugged the floor. The lights flickered weakly. He heard movement ahead.