1) Eyota Winterwalker: The Heat
In exothermal oxidation, a flash, fires his high oxygen interior. Combustibles desubstancing; cargos, fuels, skin, igniting in momentary torment; Gas pressure increasing, pops the exterior hull.
Expansive fissuring, an orange flame that cools, rapidly as vacuum moves in. A brief reimplosion; the debris field, crushing, space pressure, low, extruding that chalked Commander.
My own crate too, heat sinks closed as quarry discombobulates, releases. That, discharge and cooling plasma alerts, Zaleda, and from the blue bay pours Vipers; two meet a brace of missiles, my last.
I turn, accelerating to hyper-point, and help;
My "six" pursued, and close, by the Heat.
2) Frank: The Frog that Jumped Out of the Pot
That was a narrow escape. My shields had depleted but I destroyed them with my last missile. The scuffle must've got me worked up. I felt hot. I turned down my cabin temperature.
The cargo I've scooped up will be worth a bit. I'm still feeling hot. Instruments confirm my fears. The temperature's rising exponentially.
I can't take it any more. Moving my arm to lift my pistol is an effort. I pull the trigger.
The glass canopy shatters into a cloud of shards which instantly vanishes as hot air boils into space. Ahh! The cool Remlok on my face.
3) Ian Phillips: Words of Fire
Let the words that form in my mind leap forth in letters of fire higher than a man, to sear their way into the darkest recesses of your mind.
Harbingers of disruption and strife, yes, but also of release, for the message that you see will be burnt into your conscience, a brand to bear for the remainder of your life.
Bathe in the glowing warmth of your shame as we take back what is rightfully ours, wielding the flame of our righteous defiance.
I have dreamed day and night, of this moment, this time.
We
Will
Have
Our
FREEDOM
4) Yaffle: Campfire desperation
It had been a hard, bad landing. There was good news; the atmosphere was breathable. There was bad news; her ship was destroyed. Calliope had ejected too late, her escape pod skating across the frozen ground halting miles from her ship near some forest.
Night was coming, the sky slowly revealing unnamed constellations. Animals called in the distance. Collecting together all the wood she could find she sat cross legged in tears; her ancestors could light these to give warmth and protection. For all her advances in technology she could not. Night, its creatures, and cold were nearly upon her.
5) Philip Coutts: Phoenix
He spoke softly, “Fire has always held a mythical quality, some people believed in a creature called the phoenix, a raptor that could rise from the ashes of destruction, becoming stronger and more beautiful. I am the bird you tried to burn, the worthless slave too sick to work, to scrawny to sell. I survived, reborn in the flames, scarred and burnt but alive and filled with hatred, I am the Phoenix, I have become the creature of those myths. I offer you the redemption of the flames or hopefully in your case the damnation, may you burn in hell……”
6) Rog: The Waiting Room
Wrecked, drifting, a hulk. The ruined warship slowly tumbled - the battle long over.
Trapped, they awaited rescue deep in their pressurised sanctuary. Under the blue star's fiery gaze, alternate uncontrolled heating and cooling stressed the hull. The protests of the ship silenced their nervous chatter. Screaming fatigued alloys, cracking composites. But they hadn't heard a decompression for hours now.
Cold, they huddled together on the rotation induced floor. 'The other battlegroup ships would find them in time, right?'
Thunderous tearing. A mist appeared, hallmark of a sudden pressure drop.
Silence.
'The other ships would find them in time. Wouldn't they?'
7) Darkoba: Hot Head
Jengo was upset.
He'd followed Arna, his girlfriend, and Pel, his ex-best-friend to the station where Pel worked. Pel had docked four hours earlier. Jengo received no landing permission.
Pel had charmed Arna away from Jengo. Jengo wanted confrontation.
His fuse was short, his temper hot and getting hotter.
The station refused him again. His frustration blazed.
"Sod this for a lark." he said, triggering his weapons in fury.
A small fire, quickly extinguished, broke out in the landing-bay.
Jengo's temper was also quickly doused as he realised his error. He watched 'The Heat’ erupt, in Vipers, from the station.
8) Majere: Gonna need some sunscreen
Commander Floyd had a fearful reputation and it was highly unusual for him to cede control of his beloved Cobra.
Her father's tall shadow fell across the quivering pilot from the adjacent seat as the ship lurched awkwardly under her control.
"Watch it you incompetent wretch!" Floyd spat, "scooping fuel is an art, mess this up and there will be hell to pay!".
She kept staring forward, ignoring her tormentor. Tears burnt her eyes, the knuckles on her scarred, bruised hands went white.
Regaining her composure and without a sound, she set the controls for the heart of the sun.
9) Darren Grey: Unfamiliar Embrace
Her body is still warm. I hug her close, her fleeting heat against me. She still feels the same, still smells alive, but a simple glance dispels that illusion.
It's getting colder now. The accident took out our generators, our insulation shields, took out... took out her. Just one hit and now she’s empty, her heat fading into the thinning air.
The back-up generator might restart, but I'll freeze before then. There's only one thing I can do... With my knife I slit her open, rip her bones apart, wrap her warm flesh around me.
Inside her I feel alive.
10) insanephoton: Hot Jump
That's the last canister salvaged, I am ready to head home.
Two new blips appear on my scanner. Ships with deployed weapons. This is not good. It can only mean pirates. Maybe they won't see me?
I switch to 'silent running' while I prepare for the hyperspace jump. I set the destination and engage the drive. Nothing more I can do. Moving might give me away. The temperature rapidly climbs towards dangerous levels. It's going to be very close. The countdown reaches five, four, three, two, one...
I can see the station. It looks like I'm going to make it.
11) psykokow: Take Aim
Fire cleanses, yes it does.
It Deals with things you just can’t clean up… horrors of the past can be wiped clean with a good fire.
Airborne contaminants obliterated by the heat from the flames.
Sins of the past… gone in a flash blaze
Protesting masses dispersed by fire and smoke
Witnesses, disappear with no trace other than a pile of carbon
Evidence of collusion… no longer a problem
Yes Fire… very useful indeed, and as I stand here with this sack over my head, I await that cleansing word one last time with a sense of great irony.
FIRE!!
12) Bikky: Picked the wrong one
Aarlert awoke with a start. Slightly disoriented memories came back to him. He’d fired on a slow Anaconda. Too late he’d realised they were Sidewinders on its hull, as they released and swarmed him, quickly disabling his ship.
Aarlert assumed his emergency jump worked.
Startup of systems and checks revealed, no major damage. Heading planetward, the cockpit starts to heat up.
‘Something must be damaged, as screens all show me heading planetward.’
The screens then blank, and words appear, “You were hacked, this is your current target – Enjoy”. The screens then show a forward view of the local Star looming.
13) Gibbonici: Cold Comfort
Silka was freezing. The deck, her skin, the breath she drew and the stasis gel that dripped off her, everything cold. She shuddered beside her pod, just one among many.
She tried to swallow away a slug of gel caught in her throat but it wouldn't move. She hawked and spat it onto the deck, her breath chasing it out in a silver cloud carried on icy air.
"Slave section 776 prepare for decontamination."
She stood ready and the others did the same. They shivered naked and obedient in the cold.
Hot decontam gas flooded the deck. Warm at last.
14) The Lone Gunman: The Heat is on
Jexwood was about to die.
Panic initially, the fire at the back of the slowly spinning ship
The heat was increasing, life-pod damaged, subsystems going crazy
Funny he thought, how when every possibility of saving your life is exhausted, calm comes to some like a comfort blanket feels to a child
a choice, the deathly ice of outside or stay in the belly of the fire?
"neither"
a shot, a hole, decompression sucking the life out of the fire
the hole sealed, voice system came back on "systems online, air integrity good"
Shame he had shot through his head first
