For A Reason

The soldier grabs a small tool from their pocket and holds it against a piece of your armor. the tool cuts a small circle of your suit and melts it. the soldier extracts it with some sort of syringe and analyses it for a second, "yep, hes one of us. armor made of pure Xenotium." the soldiers guide you into some sort of spaceship. as you sit down the ship takes off, pushing you into your seat. no one says a thing the entire ride. about 10 minutes later, out of nowhere a massive freighter about a mile long warps in. it is covered in large guns and cannons, and has a small opening that leads to a hangar. you and the soldiers pass through the opening and land. the hangar is filled with a variety of ships and mechanics, and as you land you are lead to the exit. when you enter the hangar the ships are much larger than you thought, and people look like ants next to them. you are lead out of the hangar and into a series of hallways. after about 20 minutes of walking through the maze of corridors, you are taken into a military barracks, filled with all these soldiers. one of the soldiers that was guiding you brings you to a table and tells you to take a seat. he sits next to you and asks some questions, "so what were you doing in the middle of that wasteland? we have been getting lots of anomalous readings in this region." you answer by saying you dont know, you just woke up there. he responds, "probably a crash landing, most likely ejected and got brain damage. well if you dont know anything, maybe i can explain some things to you and you might remember?" you nod yes and he begins, "well im ZTS-0161671, but you can call me triple one for short, you are a Z-Tech soldier, an elite army we work for the machine." you look at triple one in confusion, and he looks concerned. "do you not remember the machine? our entire existence is based on the machine? i cannot tell you what the machine exactly is, just incase you are lying, and not really Z-Tech, i believe you are but i cannot risk it. well, if you ever find the machine. Trust it. It is everything, and it is in danger. Anomalous events are threatening it, and thats why we have freighters all the way out here, in the middle of nowhere. we have been getting a ton of readings, especially on the planet we found you. if the machine dies we die. as simple as that. the machine trusts in us all to save it, so trust it, because it trusts you. well thats about all i can tell you. we better get some sleep, we have an expedition tomorrow, a temple on the planet you came from gave out a massive anomalous reading. well see you tomorrow, the sleeping quarters are over there." triple one points to a series of rooms, and tells you to go. you find an empty bed and lay down. you fall asleep but soon after a loud bang echoes through the freighter. "we are under fire!" someone says. "its the rebels!" another person says. another boom. "get to the hangar" triple one says as he taps your shoulder. you and triple 1 run through the confusing hallways, but triple one seems to know this place better than you do. you make it to the hangar and he hops into the gunner seat of a fighter. he tells you to enter the pilot seat. you have no idea what any of the buttons or switches mean in the cockpit but triple 1 tells you the basics of the important buttons. "i know the rebels plan, they weaken us, warp away, repair their ship, and come back to finish us off. our ship is stronger, but we take longer to repair. if we stop them form leaving they have no chance. we go for the thrusters, and bomb them. we have one shot at this." says triple one. you boot up the ship and it flies out of the hangar at high speeds. it is a battle field out in the void, explosions, and flaming ships. you dodge debris and gun shots as you zoom towards the opposing ship. it is a lot smaller than the Z-Tech freighter, yet it was winning the battle. you are already halfway, but a ship is trailing you. a sleek fighter, that is very hard to hit. before you even realize it, the sleek fighter opens fire on you and triple 1. triple one spins the top gun on your fighter and fights back and he hits them once, causing a crack on the cockpit of the opposing fighter. before spiraling in flames, the rebel fighter hits your engine, and you are unable to slow down. the fighter is down, but your ship is greatly damaged and is burning fuel increasingly fast. as you get closer to the thruster, the turrets on the ship rain hell, hitting one of the wings of your ship. the wing falls off, and collides with a turret creating a massive explosion. you begin to celebrate to early, and a moment later you realize what made that big explosion. it was the bomb. your only hope at defeating the rebel freighter is now gone. your one chance is gone. all hope is lost, but a you think of a new idea. an idea that you wouldn't survive. you have to crash into the thrusters. you ask triple one what his thoughts are on this, and he looks shocked at why you would ask such a question, but he begins to realize its all you have left. either you burn down with your ship, or the Z-Tech burns down, killing thousands. you know what you have to do. you direct the nose of the fighter at the larger engine. it starts to glow, the rebel freighter is about to warp. you are running out of time. 10 seconds until collision, you look back at the burning ZT freighter. 5 seconds until collision, you look at your burning fighter, or whats left of it. 3 seconds until collision, you look back at triple one, the only person you have ever known, in this lonely journey. was this why you were here? to save a ZT freighter. it doesnt seem like much of a purpose, but again, thousands of lives will be saved. did this machine, triple one talks about, bring you here to save its workers? 1 second until collision. It was a flash, and then darkness. it was darkness for a while. was this death. you are tired. you need rest. you deserve rest.