What Remains

Posted on Tue Aug 5th, 2025 @ 6:18pm by Major Jesse Moriarty

755 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Prologue
Location: Risa - Subsector 14 - Restricted Zone
Timeline: January 2389

Risa - Subsector 14 – Restricted Zone
Abandoned Clinic

There was a different kind of silence in abandoned buildings. Because they were never truly silent.

Metal shifted with decay, air groaned around corridors, wildlife moved through.

But the abandoned clinic felt dead all the same. The air was stale...dust drifted through the sunbeams that had managed to find their way through shattered windows and cracked shutters...the bones of the building were riddled with rust...the furniture throughout was scattered and broken.

Outside, a battered holoboard still flickered with the words ‘Clinic closed until further notice’. It was pretty clear that notice never came.

Major Jesse Moriarty crouched low, his boots crunching over broken plaster as he examined a twisted ventilation grate near the base of the wall. He didn't touch it, just looked at the damage. Twisted metal...water corrosion...something had tried to claw its way in or out at some point.

He moved on, stepping carefully over a half-collapsed staircase and following the corridor deeper into the hospital ruins. He loved abandoned places, both holo and real, because the death of a building showed so much about life. About what people left behind, what they chose to save and what broke them.

And there was no need for small talk.

The soldier pushed forward, his body relaxed in the climbing trousers and sleeveless vest, his dark, slightly curled hair tied back out of the way. He peered up into the dark hole where the now disintegrated staircase had once led. He narrowed his eyes, plotting a course.

Doable.

Moriarty backed up a few steps, his movements gaining rhythm and his arms lifting to swing slightly with it until he shifted course to move forward instead. He took a powerful run-up before jumping, one foot landing midway up the wall, springing him off and away to the remains of the stair rail, his other foot shoving off it to launch him upward. He grabbed the ragged edge of the second level floor, hanging from it for just a moment to still the swing of his body before he hauled himself up and over.

Jesse gave himself a moment to take in the new surroundings, breathing in the stale air as he mapped the ruins of what had once been a surgery ward. Despite the decades it had stood empty and been allowed to decay, it was easy to see the ghosts and footsteps left behind by real people.

He finally pushed himself up, exploring deeper before breaking into a run, jumping to grab a railing and swing himself across a treacherous gap in the floor. He hit the ground on the other side, rolling to regain his feet quickly. After years of urban exploring by himself, he had learnt to rely on his climbing and parkour skills. They were yet to let him down...well...apart from that one time...that had ended in a broken ankle.

After silently contemplating a few of the deteriorated surgery suites, he set about trying to find a way up to the third floor.

“Newton to Moriarty, please respond.”

Jesse came to a standstill, blinking with mild confusion. The hail was so out of place in this otherworld, it took a moment for him to realise what it was.

“Newton to Moriarty, please respond.”

Moriarty sighed heavily, genuinely considering if he could ignore it. It was his shoreleave afterall.

He finally unzipped his pocket, taking his badge out to press with an unimpressed tap. “Moriarty here, go ahead.”

“Where the hell are you, Moriarty? You’re not showing up in the resort...”

“None of your business,” Jesse replied easily, without any fire or bite, but firm all the same.

“O...kay. Well, your ride to your next assignment has arrived early. You can go aboard anytime before tomorrow 0800.”

“Of course,” Moriarty just about managed to hold his sigh back, running his hand over his sweat dampened face. “Understood, Moriarty out.”

He closed the comm before any further small talk could fill the sacrosanct quiet around him. He set his hands heavily on his hips as he glanced back the way he came, considering whether he should start to make his way out.

Jesse considered it for all of a second before looking back to the dark abyss ahead. Chuckling softly, he ran forward, his feet finding a couple of floating blocks of broken flooring to hop lightly across a chasm.

Tomorrow would take care of itself.

-------

Major Jesse Moriarty
FGF Detachment Executive Officer
USS Guinevere

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