Desperation

[Archduke Daynel, PhD]

Chernov opened up the intercom.
"We'll soon be landing on one of the planets in the system. I would like the crew to prepare the lab and the mining module. To all non-crew passengers, you may head to the cargo hold and retrieve whatever you may need to stay in your quarters in case of quarantine."
He then made the last preparations to folow the Restitution to the planet.

[Julo]

"MIRU, please give me an update on the jump drive."
"Core 3 is still displaced by 0,35° towards core 1 and core 2 is overheated by 105°C."
"No technical details, please I'm a doctor and not a technician. Are we able to jump another time or not?"
"Under the given circumstances yes, but only if we start the drive cold. The less systems are online, the safer the jump will be. However we won't be able to make 100% precise jumps."
"I noticed that, our last jump was 10 km away from our located position."

"Lotho, I've got the message that we will fly to that planet down there."
"Wait what? Are we already on course?"
"No, we are still in the orbit."
"Thanks, MIRU"

-=Priority message 2768 to Belavrius Lancaster=-
Supreme Commander,
as one of the lead doctors of this fleet, I have to protest against the landing on this planet down there. We don't know if we can withstand the diseases on the surface, nor if this planet was ever colonized. Even if it was colonized by us, we don't know how long we haven't been there and if the medical protocols 257c&d are still in place. So I advise you against the landing until I have finished biological tests. We just arrived in Andromeda and I do NOT want the journey to end here. It would be helpful if you would send me any available data as soon as possible. With kind regards, Dr. Lotho Keraete, medical officer and captain of the DSR-2 Britanny.
-=Priority message end=-

[DeadlyMiddie]

Captain Vladius sent a short blip of acknowledgment to Belvarius, then activated the ship intercom, "All crew except for active gunners and sensor operators may rest. Be on readiness level 3." He flipped off the intercom and settled into his captain's chair. He called to the officer on duty, "Make some coffee, please." The officer snapped a salute and set to his task.

[Professor Fenway]

-=Return message to: Lotho Karaete=-
We know the planet is habitable and has life, but we do not know anything else. We will complete orbital scans and biological analysis once we arrive before landing.

-END-

[Solar112]

((It seems I'm a bit late...))

=== SCV-M-2314568 to Kyyt ===
My scans are showing a P-Type asteroid that seems to have water in the center, ~700,000 km in the direction X-23.1 Deg, Y+37.8 Deg, Z-12.4 Deg relative to you. Requesting permission to break from the rest of the group to retrieve some spare water, and look for some M-Type asteroids.

===END===

[ACH0225]

Reply to SCV-M

We will move as a group towards the asteroid. Relaying movements to command

Kyyt

[Professor Fenway]

“Try to imagine a life without timekeeping. You probably can’t. You know the month, the year, the day of the week. There is a clock on your wall or the dashboard of your car. You have a schedule, a calendar, a time for dinner or a movie. Yet all around you, timekeeping is ignored. Birds are not late. A dog does not check its watch. Deer do not fret over passing birthdays. Man alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out.”
― Mitch Albom, The Time Keeper
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Belavrius stood at the bridge as the Restitution completed the small FTL jump to the habitable world, dubbed 'Haven's Gate' by the crew. The transparent Arconium composing the bridge was currently blank, for nothing could be seen at these speeds. Subspace scanners were online and functional, and showed nothing unusual. Apart from the odd albedo of Haven's Gate, there seemed to be no threats whatsoever to the fleet at the time. Which was good, because the fleet needed to unwind. Unrest was growing, slightly but surely.

A few minutes passed and the task group dropped out of subspace, directly hovering over the planet's equator. Belavrius took a look at the planet through the bridge window. He stepped back, with a confused look on his face. Haven's Gate was completely covered in a thick cloud layer, blindingly bright. That explained the high albedo. But it raised more questions than answers. He turned to the sensor console. "Give me an analysis of the cloud layer," he commanded, conveying his command to the computer. This ship was not equipped with an AI; commands were simply translated and forwarded to the relevant officer. After a few seconds, several reports displayed themselves on screen. Belavrius pressed a few keypads and a hologram of the planet appeared in the front of the bridge. The transparent windows became opaque as the hologram became more defined. A small section of the planet's atmosphere, the area they were over, was highlighted and a cutout of it was displayed next to the planet. It detailed the atmospheric content in neat pie graphs and charts.

He read the sections. Atmosphere 70% Nitrogen, 18% Oxygen, 10% Argon, 2% other gasses, mostly CO2. A garden world. The sensor was also displaying a very thick layer of debris in the atmosphere; ash, dust thrown off the surface. But there was too much interference to see past this layer. Belavrius sighed and opened a channel to the sensor operator. "Are we capable of getting a deep-sensor sweep of the planet?" he asked, with a hint of impatience in his voice.

"Negative Commander," the operator replied through the computer. "We can make out vague outlines of objects on the surface, but nothing definitive."

"Any possibilities?"

"The objects appear to be clustered and very haphazard in nature. They could be cities, but there is no way to know for certain. They could also be mountains, or forests, or anything."

"I doubt anything is alive down there. Will a probe be able to transmit through the clouds?"

"Highly unlikely. Few wavelengths can penetrate a cloud layer such as this, and none of them are viable for communication. Subspace communications would be too garbled to read; only orbital subspace relays work, as you know."

"Dammit. Keep trying to see past the clouds." At this, he shut off the channel. He turned to the microphone to his task group and activated it. "We aren't getting anything through those clouds," he said, slightly irritated. "So we're going to have to land to discover anything past the clouds."

"With all respect commander," Lotho began, flustered. "As I said earlier, we have no indication of the planet is safe biologically."

"And we take standard decontamination protocols. We don't have any other options." Belavrius sighed. "Thomas, take your ship down to the planet and take detailed sensor sweeps and data collection of the surface. I'm sending a team of marines to accompany you on the surface as well."

"Your ship is capable of landing," Thomas replied, "and you're heavily armed. Why not you?"

"If we get attacked, and the Restitution is on the surface, there won't be anything to defend you. And we need advanced equipment on the surface; your ship has such equipment."

"And what do we know?"

"Very little, but i'll forward our sensor logs to you. Be warned that all communications will likely be cut off once you breach the clouds. If any trouble comes up, we'll drop a probe near your landing zone with a beacon. If you see it, take off immediately."

[cats]

Neda paced the deck of Slipknot. Her feet caught on worn rubberized surfaces as she stepped up to the CO's chair and lowered herself into it, gazing solemnly out of the main view into the star-streaked blackness of space. It had been three weeks since she and her crew had been awakened from stasis to find themselves millions of lightyears from home and the computer full of long-band subspace transmission recordings detailing the gradual fall of their galaxy, many were still choked with grief. The Slipknot AI, Kodiak, was nearly complete with the emergency navigation protocol. His chosen form, a Terran polar bear, flashed onto the holopad beside the CO's chair.

"Subspace distress protocol B-2 nearing completion. Sixteen hyperspace jumps remaining, however the drive manifold requires maintenance."

Ten years of continuous use had taken its toll on the ship. The head engineer had killed himself three days ago and the remaining team was running ragged.

"Cancel the remaining dives, Kodiak."

"I'll need your cancellation co--" Neda interrupted with a sigh.

"To hell with the code, just do it."

"Are you asking me to break procedure?"

"Yes."

"I'll need a code for that, too."

"Karenthanesh-N-11252." Neda's volume raised to a near-shout on the last two digits.

"Very well, commander. We are currently in the Andromeda Galaxy--"

"I know" The commander said, losing patience.

Kodiak continued, speaking above the interruption. "Fourth quadrant, third ring. There are a few known colonies within a thousand lightyears of here, but--"

"Can we send out a distress signal?"

"We have no record of interaction within the last two decades. The nearest star system is--"

"Commander," Neda's second-in-command, a human named Tiberius, spoke, "We've picked up a slight hyperspace shift, ultrahigh band."

"What is it?"

"Could be a short-range jump drive. I'm running an active scan on the immediate subspace field and." He paused while the readouts came in. "Yes, two within a few minutes of each other."

"How far away?" Neda asked, annoyance dropping from her tone.

"twenty-four point two light years." He replied with an edge of enthusiasm.

"Batiss?"

Kodiak spoke in Tiberius' stead. "Unlikely. The event that caused this was much more energetic than any slip-merge drive, and the frequency does not match known Batiss merge fingerprints."

The commander considered. "Kodiak, begin a short-range subspace audio broadcast, emergency band."

"Beginning recording, commander."

"This is Kaal Nada of the Batiss Combine Militia ship Slipknot, ISO BC-N-1125200. We're without a functioning FTL drive and require assistance if you have a technician to spare. We have food, water, and personal weapons to spare." She cut a hand through the air to stop the recording. "Repeat that every minute."

[Error]

Valkyrius shot upright in his seat as the new transmission came through the speakers. Turning to his comms officer, he barked, "Find me the point of origin on that. Put me through to Belavrius."

Turning, he pinged the Restitution. No response. He pinged again, with no response.

"*. Intrepid, you have the CAP. Contact the Restitution if you are able. Helm, as soon as comms gets you those coordinates, initiate combat jump to that location." Turning on the intercom, he snapped, "Combat stations. Combat stations. Set condition Alpha throughout the ship. Jump in thirty seconds."

The helm officer checked his readouts, nodded, and hovered his hand over the jump controls. Satisfied, he waited for the countdown, then hit the button.

Space warped, and Repulse jumped to meet the Combine vessel.

[Professor Fenway]

"Sir, the Repulse has jumped out of the system!" Belavrius looked up from his book, a 21st century copy of Foundation. He dropped it on the floor, a hollow clang resounding through the bridge, and walked over to the officer.

"What?" he angrily asked.

"The Repulse has left the system," the officer replied, looking at an overlay of the subspace map. A point was highlighted on it; the Repulse.

"Do we know their destination?"

"Yes sir, I'm tracking it now."

"Any reason why they jumped?"

"No sir. There have been no communications from the rest of the fleet since we arrived in orbit."

"Traitor," Belavrius muttered. "Prepare to jump after them. Inform the fleet of our intentions."

"Yes sir." A few minutes passed, punctuated by static and beeping. The communication console displayed a prominent message, 'No Signal.'

"There's too much interference to get anything out," Belavrius said. "Very well. Prepare to jump after them. Set condition 1 through the ship, prepare for combat as soon as we exit subspace." The bridge began humming as the FTL drive charged.

Seconds later, the Restitution vanished from orbit, heading directly after the Repulse. It took nobody with them.

[Prototype]

:::LEVEL 6 SITUATION:::
>_Repulse jumped to unknown location
>_Restitution jumped to pursue
::::::

"Sir, orders?"

"Stay put, open a line to the Kyyt, work out a plan of action should neither vessel return" Eskas answered

"What should I relay to our own vessels?"

"tell them to suspend their activity and regroup, I want everyone where we can see them"


:::ORDERS:::
>_ Vespene, Solaris, and Sorceress' Beauty ordered to regroup in high orbit
>_ Opening channel to Kyyt
:::END:::


An engineer aboard the Vespene did a double take, he had been staring out one of the portholes. He could have sworn he'd just seen on of the stars vanish. He had been drinking, and feared reporting it might put him under scrutiny, he'd be in deep trouble for drinking on the job. He dismissed it as his mind playing tricks on him.

[Error]

Repulse arrived in a flash of light. Valkyrius glanced at the boards, then snapped to his comms officer, "Find me that ship. If you can, bounce a message back to the fleet and tell them to relay it to Restitution."

The ship came about, scanning space. Spotting the object of their search, the communications officer hailed the Combine ship.

"Combine vessel Slipknot, this is the Commonwealth ship Repulse. We recieved your recent hail. We have engineering and medical teams available. Do you wish us to transfer them to your ship?"

"Launch fighters in patrol formation, the-" Valkyrius paused. Fighters were still with the fleet. "Prep shuttles three and four for launch, and get recovery teams aboard."

[Professor Fenway]

The Restitution arrived just a few minutes after the Repulse entered the system, in a dramatic flash of light. It entered nearly directly next to the two ships, and trained each weapon on both the Repulse and the Slipknot. Belavrius surveyed the scene, quickly. Valkyrius had jumped without order to this ship, a Batiss Combine ship, which was not a part of the fleet. It wasn't treason then, and Belavrius relaxed. Slightly. But he kept the guns trained and opened up a broadcast channel.

"Valkyrius," he started, irritated by the course of events, "Explain in a few short sentences why you have jumped out here and abandoned your designated post!"




OOC: Be warned people. If you don't do something in a timely manner when it is necessary for the plot or story, I will treat your ship as an NPC ship and complete actions for you, which may or may not be fair or accurate of your captain's personality. While I don't want to do this, It's also unfair to put the entire RP on hold because one person isn't completing a designated action which is crucial for the RP to proceed.

[Error]

Valkyrius looked over at the comms panel in irritation. Opening the channel, he said, "Because I recieved a distress call. And you failed to respond to two seperate hails. And for bonus points, this is a Commonwealth vessel, not a NeoRoman one."

The two shuttles launched, and Repulse's shields came up.

[cats]

"Commander, jump signature registered less than two hundred thousand kilometers off port." Tiberius broke the silence that had persisted after the distress signal had been sent.

Neda stood and walked toward the main viewscreen. "What is it?"

"Looks like a Novan destroyer."

"Weapons? Hostile?"

"Should outweigh our payload, can't get any active weapon signature, though, nor have we picked up an IFF."

"We'll assume it's friendly." She walked back to the CO's chair on its platform. "Kodiak."

The AI's form appeared on the holopad. "Yes, commander?"

"Prepare to send a message to that destroyer."

Kodiak lowered his holographic head. "We're receiving one from them, sir."

"Patch it through."

Combine vessel Slipknot, this is the Commonwealth ship Repulse. We recieved your recent hail. We have engineering and medical teams available. Do you wish us to transfer them to your ship?

"Good, open a hailing channel, the same fre--"

"Commander," Tiberius interrupted Neda, "Another boat jumping in. Neoroman Battleship. Weapons hot."

"Shit. Raise full shields." She activated the shipcom and shouted into it "All hands, brace for maneuvers." She tapped on the holopad, causing Kodiak to appear. "Open another channel to the Neoroman ship, broadcast IFF on Neorome friendly bands."

"Channel open."

Neda barked, somewhat panicked, "Neoroman battleship, we have no quarrel. My ship has been in hyperspace for the last ten years, our slip-merge manifold is shot. We have minimal ship-to-ship weapons, please stand down."