Marine Corps Stories: Crewed

Blueness started to appear as a crescent aboard the Mahu spacecraft. Commander Marine Brigadier General Lahish Southridge sat in the seat next to pilot Colonel Marrison Verity as he guided the spacecraft.

“The commander is up there thinking she’s got us in check. What’s she doing? She’s not piloting, Marrison is.” The words seemed particularly venomous. Mission specialist Lieutenant Colonel Narissa Colerton spoke them. Her short Afro waved through the capsule with freedom. She sat in her seat and sipped water from a pouch. A droplet escaped and she stuck out her head to capture it. She was successful.

“We’re all black. Is that a coincidence? We’re all Marine senior officers. Is that a coincidence?” Colonel Warlow Sedlick pointed out. “It doesn’t matter if I'm up there thinking that. She knows she’s the boss.”

Air temperature in the spacecraft felt balmy. The instruments rivaled any other advanced system on Earth and provided the crew with ample amounts of creature comforts. The feeling of zero gravity enhanced the sense of lightheadedness they had trained for in the Corps as pilots and at NASA.

“I don’t care,” Narissa said. “I thought we sorted this back in Delaware when we got briefed before we went to Kennedy. I think this is a murder mission.”

“Don’t say that, ‘Rissa. We’re here for exploration and economic understanding. We’re studying the moon for future generations to touch the red planet.”

She didn’t feel comforted by Sedlick’s explanation.

“I don’t know. We get an African goddess name for the mission. Who’s idea was that? Were they trying to be smart?” She gazed at the blue orb floating like a can of soda on a string. That was her home. Their home.

“If we are on a murder mission, the blood will be on the president. The second black president in history and she’ll go down as the one who killed the black Marine officers,” Narissa pointed out.

“I’m trying to get this together,” he said. “I’m starting to see that what you are saying is more than a conspiracy. But then again, it could just be conspiracism. The difference is that a conspiracy theory has credibility and a conspiracism is an absolute fallacy.”

They worked on the various instruments and kept reading the temperature, moisture, and other conditions.

“I would love to know why I even signed up for this. Now I sound like a recruit. But I don’t feel good about this at all. There’s something up. Like you said, is this all just coincidence or is something nefarious afoot?” Her eyebrows met. A deep look of concern colored her face.

“I know one thing, as long as we’re back here, we’re just primed to be sucked out of the capsule’s exit port,” Sedlick observed.

“I want to go in there and see what’s going on so bad. We’re not here to aid in advancing humans in space. They’re waiting for us to be lost.” The blackness of space and the grayness of the moon streaked across the monitors and windows as well. Like a gray marble, it came into focus.

“I have to get out of here. This is a trick. I’ve flown combat missions and I didn’t get the vibes I’m getting right now.”

“Stop it,” Sedlick said.

“I’m serious! They’re trying to kill us!”

“Who is ‘us’ and who is ‘they?’” Sedlick asked with concern rising in his voice.

“We’re going to be attacked somehow. Maybe the engines will fail. There’s something up about all this,” Narissa claimed. Now, there was no view of Earth. They had passed the horizon and now prepared to land.

“Think War’. Think about it. They are the government and ‘us’ is all four of us. They're going to do us in!”

“Be thoughtful, ‘Rissa. We’re not in imminent danger. Nobody is out to get us. We’re all black senior officer Marines because we exhibited superior skills to know and to show that we could be part of this mission.”

Narissa’s heart quickened. “I’m about to be sick!”

“You don’t want to put that in this cabin. Sip more of your water. Breathe,” Sedlick instructed. She followed his command. “Better?”

“Yes. But I still think we’re being set up. No one’s going to tell me that they’re not going to make this a death mission. They’re trying to discourage young Marine officers from pursuing the space program. They’re trying to make it seem ugly and mean and awful. They want the American people to start riots in the streets.”

“Like I said, there might be some credibility in what you are saying. If the government gets rid of four top officers from the Marine Corps, there’s obviously going to be an investigation and a million more conspiracies that will arise in the wake of our deaths. We would be the first American astronauts to die in space itself or on the moon. These facts might be the change agent for dying up here.” Now, Sedlick’s own heart pounded faster as well. He looked straight ahead with a stare.

“I know. I’ll get to be the one who will rescue all of us. We’re going to explode in a million pieces. Something vicious is going to happen,” She began to unstrap the Velcro holding her to the seat. She floated to the hatch where the other two Marines worked. Sedlick blinked a few times and in just enough time, he stopped Narissa.

“Hey! You can’t go in there! You’ll upset the pressure!” She stopped just short of turning the door. She floated back to her seat with a tear in her eye.

“You don’t have to worry what is going to happen up here. It’ll be alright. Once we’re crewed up again, we’re going to keep the sanity that we had intact when we were home. We’re going to remember all of our training from the Corps to NASA. We’re going to be on our square about all of this. We’re going to keep our heads and remind ourselves of our own rationality,” Sedlick leveled with Narissa.

Narissa began to breathe deeply. She looked like a track star after a 1500 meter race. Her face seemed a few shades lighter given the trauma she was experiencing. She looked around the cabin and then finally at Sedlick.

“Are you the one who will bring down all of us? Are you going to be the one who will kill us?!”

“Please calm yourself and remember your training, Marine. We’re in this all together not to hurt each other but to take each other seriously. I’m listening to your story and I think that you might have something here. The idea about us all dying up here because of our race, rank, and branch is something you need not be worried about.”

“How can you be so sure? How do you know that we’re going to be safe from any trouble? All of this is going to be a disgrace and a disaster. I’ll never see my Jalil or Lanique.” She lowered her head.

“Sure you will. Sure you will. Look at me. Look at me!” She picked up her head.

“You are a United States Marine. A lieutenant colonel at that. You are a leader of Marines. Now, you are a NASA astronaut. You’ve got to get your head out of your cargo pocket and begin to focus on how well this mission is—” A loud tearing sound emitted from the front of the spacecraft. Red flashing lights and an alarm blared that sounded like a bleating sheep. Narissa was hysterical.

Sedlick got on the comms. “Commander Southridge, do you see me on the monitor? The monitor looked smoky and both Commander Southridge and Verity had been incapacitated. The risk of opening the hatch and depressurizing their cabin to reach the cockpit seemed to be a viable option now. Sedlick showed his face and turned the key.

The onslaught of air sucked the commander and the pilot out into the cabin. Narissa was totally out of it. Sedlick took control of the spacecraft which quickly moved faster and faster to the gray surface. He manned the artificial intelligence controls and used every bit of his aviation skills to guide the craft to the lunar landscape as safely as possible. He overrode the advanced AI technology. The emergency system engaged which allowed for physical controls to be used. He put all of his strength in trying to maneuver it.

As they propelled further and further, he pulled up again and just missed striking the moon. The spacecraft cruised upward into the black. The alert system normalized and the ship came back to regular function. Sedlick floated over to Southridge and Verity. He checked them and they still had a pulse and were breathing. Southridge woke first.

“What happened?” Sedlick asked.

“There was a technical glitch that caused the navigational system to malfunction and set us on a course for the surface.” Verity then roused from his unconsciousness.

“Is everyone alright?” he asked. Sedlick’s mind went straight to the adjoining cabin. “Narissa.”

She had knocked her head against the wall of the capsule and suffered a traumatic brain injury.

“She’s dead,” Commander Southridge announced with solemnity.

Sedlick thought he would report the grim news regarding the Mahu mission.