Odysseus: Sailing Embers. (IC Open)

by **New Babylonia** » Sun Aug 31, 2014 1:19 pm

OOC thread - Apply here.

It was the same, the sight before him through the clear windows on the command bridge. It had been the same, for as long as he had stood there. He didn't know how long, the clocks all worked yet time seemed, rather was meaningless now. Everything of the world he once knew was gone. Now only ashes left their mark of a civilization annihilated. By what... even he was not sure. Not a moment to see what was happening. There were was nothing, clam day, then all it once... hell. The calm evening air was filled with fire, smoke, and the sound of the dying. Explosions erupted everywhere, yet their source seemed to be from beyond the boundaries of space and time. Reports came in from everywhere, literally, the entire planet was being ravaged by forces unseen. Orders were given to evacuate the planet. Within minutes the entire ships crew was assembled. On his orders, all of the transport craft were left on the surface with their crews, to bring any survivors up to the ship. For the next six hours he watched the entire planet go into flames, as the ship was brought to 87% passenger capacity by survivors. Parts of it were still alive, but he knew the whole was dead. The transports were told to return to their hangars, and the pilot to get them as far away as possible as quickly as possible.

"Oh Cereis... how i miss you already..." A nearby screen began blinking, a small green dot pinging on the system map.

"Commander Dawn its... a distress signal. Kai system, sector CFI17. Orders?" Dawn walked over to his own small command post, entering a code which brought up a holographic screen before him, and scanned his credentials.

Code: Select all: Cereis Defense Force Database Name: Eternal Dawn Age: 32 Sex: M Rank: Commander Position: Commanding Officer of Grand Capital Ship Class M Mk 3 : Odysseus PERMISSION GRANTED

The screen opened into its own map, showing the results the scanners picked up of nearby surrounding systems. There wasn't much activity anywhere, strange to say the least, though normal by current event standards. And surely enough, there was the distress ping. All alone in Sector CFI 117 of the Kai system.

"Set course to respond to the signal. It might even be from those bastards..."

by **Orangi** » Sun Aug 31, 2014 5:48 pm

///SYSTEM-38C OPERATING AT 38% CAPACITY///
///DISPLAY VESSEL CLASS/// Y/N
Y SELECTED
...PROCESSING...
!!!WARNING!!!
///DATA LOGS CORRUPTED///
///DISTRESS SIGNAL OPERATING AT 50% CAPACITY///
...
...
...
///INPUT SUCCESSFUL///

MANUAL AUDIO LOG ENABLED.

///CONFIRM AUDIO LOG INPUT/// Y/N

Y SELECTED

INPUT REQUIRED IN

3

2

1

The Sergeant sighed, removed his hands from his face slowly, dragging them down with little energy.

"...Service Number 88371-66182-D-37865. Name, Marran Errus Varri, Orranian Naval Force, Thirty-Second Division, Chief Engineer aboard the Assailant Class Gunship, ONF, "Steadfast". Sergeant Grade B-2, aboard the Raft class Shuttlecraft "Drifter", shuttle two of The Steadfast. I am adrift, alone, and as far as I know, the sole survivor of the destruction of the ship of which I was stationed, The Steadfast. In accordance with Orranian Military law D-378, section 38-C, I am obligated to comply with the order of, "If in the event of survival from a particularly final event, you are adrift with no certain rescue at the time, record a pre-mortem log detailing the events of which will likely lead to your inevitable death.".

And I'll begin about the same as I assume anyone else would with that law. What a cheery and wonderful little law to have to follow. Oh gee, I'm going to die, better file some final paperwork for the boss, aye? All relevant information has been recorded and recovered. The ship's main computer has been stowed aboard this shuttle, and has been locked down so that Orranian Officials can examine the events that led to the destruction of The steadfast, its crew of thirty-four sans its current sole survivor as of recording this, myself."

Marran sighed. The mere thought of having to do such a boring action in the last hour or so of his life was insulting. While he'd not signed up to be a grunt at the front of a battle, he hoped that he'd either die doing something honorable or he'd go home and try to adjust to Civillian life again, which wouldn't be all too hard considering how the people of his world were about things. But he was bothered by something, upon thinking of home. Of Orran.

The navigational computer failed to determine where in the known Galaxy he was. He breathed firmly through his nostrils and fiddled with the RCS modules on his shuttlecraft. Other than filing reports, it's not like he had much else to do.

Aside from impending death, not a lot had changed from his day to day existence a few hours ago.

"The Steadfast was called upon by the First Fleet of Orran led by High Admiral Sarro of the ONF Torren. Unknown forces were raiding a significant mining outpost in Orranian Space, and the call was urgent. Upon exiting our jump, we were immediately set upon by enemy fighters. After a five minute skirmish with a squadron of fighters and a light corvette, we were hit by a series of missiles and were forced to leave the fight lest we die. The Torren's hangars were all shut and could not open at the time. During our jump, one of our engines exploded, and the primary reactor went critical, taking most of the ship with it. Amazingly, the concussive force did little to damage the firmly secured shuttle in bay two, but the other was lost entirely. The crew died of asphyxiation and depressurization. Not particularly in that order. Afterwards I gathered what supplies I could in the still pressurized area of the ship, and recovered the primary computer in the bridge with minor EVA with the suit I'd recovered, which at the moment is stored behind me."

!!!WARNING!!!
///SHUTTLE SYSTEMS FAILING///

...REROUTING POWER...

///SUCCESS///

///AUDIO LOG ABLE TO CONTINUE RECORDING///

///QUERY: CONTINUE AUDIO LOG INPUT?/// Y/N

Y SELECTED

...PROCESSING...

!!!WARNING!!!

COMPUTER WILL SHUT DOWN AFTER AUDIO LOG IS FINISHED

BEACON OPERATING ON POWER CELL

CURRENTLY OPERATING AT 60% POWER

CONTINUE AUDIO LOG IN

3

2

1

"And here I almost didn't get to file my last bit of paperwork. If the High Admiral gets this, thanks a lot for not opening a single hangar door, you ass. If my parents get this audio log, I love you dearly and hope we'll meet again beyond. Chances are, I'll be waiting for you. If my Varn gets this..."

Marran chuckled slightly.

"Hey there little guy- who's a good boy? Sorry I couldn't see you again buddy. Hope Mom and Dad can take care of you, you deserve that much. Just don't clench your mandibles around my Grandfather's ash urn again, alright? Be a good little boy. I'll miss you."

He sighed with resignation. He'd miss his parents, his scaly friend, and he'd regret the chance to not tear Admiral Sarro a new thruster port.

"This is Marran Varri of The Steadfast, Orranian Naval Force, signing off. Probably for the last time. Arrasi Na Zarren Vor'na."

With minor hesitance, Marran pushed the button to end the audio log. The recording was a success, and the shuttle's lights went out. He was alone, in space. Drifting.

Hoping to the mother that someone would find him.

by **Aelarus** » Sun Aug 31, 2014 10:20 pm

HUNTSMAN
DEEP SPACE SECTOR D23-7523

Space was empty. That was always something that Huntsman enjoyed, the emptiness of deep space, a starry backdrop to any travel it did, though it only ever caught short catches due to slipspace being quite disorienting with the bright colors and flashes that sporadicly appeared in it. An alert of a distress beacon a short distance away from his destination pulled on its HUD. It put it aside to handle after his work was done.

Suddenly, the view screens flashed with static, an issue with power fields created by slipspace jumps that always aggravated Huntsman, and transitioned to a view of a medium sized station floating isolated in the middle of nowhere, beside it, the venting husk of a freshly cored frigate drifted silently, obviously some pirate looking to loot Huntsman's station in this sector. Small drones, they were all simple VIs in the shape of flying angular engineers, launched away from the ship and began searching for all nonessential remains. The twisted metal, plexi glass, and other wreckage Huntsman deemed safe to take all were pulled along and stored in the cargo bay.

Then after this was finished, the drones began collecting bodies and setting them inside the crippled and now stripped ship skeleton, neatly doing what DNA scans they could to arrange the decompressed bodies or in many cases pieces back in a general semblance of lying down. Huntsman never understood why organics normally held so much value in their dead, but it still took the time to gather the deceased at whatever wreck it found as a small act of kindness to them. Then, the drones all lined up on one side and gave a hard push to the craft, sending it sailing off into the distance.

Soon the drones had all returned to their places and Huntsman turned its ship to dock to its station and transferred parts and credits it had collected to the drones inside. Then it turned to face the direction of the distress beacon and rocketed towards it at cruising speed.

A short interval later Huntsman discovered the source of the beacon, a slightly battered shuttle. Huntsman's scans revealed there was one life form on board. It pulled the ship thirty meters away from the shuttle and disengaged the holding locks on the ship's control and cockpit.

A portion of the underside of the patrol vessel disconnected, a medium sized fighter with sleek angular designs matching the patrol vessel it controlled. The engines powered on and it flew up to the shuttle and shined a light into the cockpit.

OOC: I've edited to match some things Orangi has clarified.

by **Orangi** » Sun Aug 31, 2014 11:50 pm

Marran shielded his eyes from the light. He didn't completely comprehend the vessel's design- no viewport was visible. That's what bothered him the most. He swiveled the seat around, and readied his EVA suit. Sealing his helmet and tightening the harnesses, he slung his PDW over his shoulder, around his waist and pointing forward. He already ensured that the pistol would be in his holster.

He didn't know what the rescue craft was, or even if it was a rescue craft... But in the event that it wasn't, he wasn't going to go down without a fight. Not after surviving that battle. Not after just barely making it out of that wreck. He held the handle of his weapon, grabbed an overhead bar, magnetized his suit's boots to the floor.

He wasn't going to get sucked into outer-space.

by **Ethirus** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 1:54 am

Francis blinked as he awoke or was it activated? he personally couldn't tell though he supposed that's why he had the engineers, they told him everything, about he looked fantastic, how he had awed and amazed the audiences of Odysseus with his charisma and news oh yes especially the news, the engineers told him exactly what to say, the best way to say and the best way to sell it.

Though, Francis wondered, what they meant by that exactly. His shoulder joints clicked as he Francis removed himself from the isolation (or was it hibernation?) pod before regarding the crew, his outfit-designers, the make up artists, Francis regarded them all with his typical blank smile, though really Francis understood what he was far better than these meat bags gave him credit for, he was neither a man nor a machine, no what he was, was a puppeteer, the ultimate authority, a god among men. That's what the engineers told him.

"Good morning Odysseus, this is Francis Valetta with the Holo-news"

And with another dolly smile, this time for the audience, Francis entered his role as the puppeteer of the masses. The wolf among sheep. His all seeing eye watching carefully for Command. Shepard of the flock.
Though really Francis wondered if he was but a sheep too.

by **Wisconsin9** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 2:36 am

It took just two words to jolt Crimson Sun out of her semi-slumbering trance. Two words that meant it was time for her to do her job, to do what she could do like no other pony, human, hybrid, or alien could.

"Set course."

"Aye, Commander," she said, a grin forming on her face as she focused fully on her workstation. "Setting course." She poked and swiped at the holo in front of her, bringing up star charts and double-checking on the most important variables. No gravitational issues... calculations complete... that was it.

"Course set, Commander."

by **Aelarus** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 10:38 am

HUNTSMAN
DEEP SPACE SECTOR D23-7527

Huntsman registered the occupant starting to prepare for EVA. It activated several interfaces and a few lights appeared on the side of the fighter, outlining a handle for the Tarassi survivor to grab on to. After this, it proceeded to initiate an all channels message to the occupant inside.

"I see you are stranded alone here. Advise you grab on to the handle on the starboard side of this craft, space is an unsuitable living place for organics to exist in. Organic body far too fragile. I will take you to my ship, there are stored oxygen supplies on board, while I do not need them I assume you do."

by **Orangi** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 2:33 pm

The voice over the intercom definitely wasn't organic. It was distorted, monotone, very clearly synthetic. There were machines like this where he came from, and seeing them operate ships alone wasn't so strange.

A store of oxygen aboard a vessel such as this however, was. Just what does a machine need oxygen for? He used his suit's radio to broadcast a reply to the other vessel. He knows synthetics, and while the ones back home wouldn't keep slicing subroutines active, he doesn't know this one. He didn't trust it, and refused to power on his ship.

"My shuttle is out of commission but I have personal effects on board. Judging by the shape and size of your ship, I'm willing to bet you've got a mothership. I request that you tow my ship back to that if at all possible. Copy?"

by **Aelarus** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 8:27 pm

HUNTSMAN
DEEP SPACE SECTOR D23-7527

Huntsman received the communication from the Tarassi and processed for a millionth of a micro second before responding.

"I am surprised you did not see the patrol attachment through your cockpit window, while the stealth systems shield its heat and scan signatures, the ship itself can still be seen by an organic's eyes. The request for the removal of the ship via tow cable is questionable. I cannot engage FTL safely with a free hanging second body attached, however, I will bring it closer for now since it appears that you harbor no explosives and all fuel cells seem safely intact."

The fighter turned and two drones jumped away and began pushing the dead shuttle after the fighter. A few moments later after having negated all relative movement, the two drones returned to their docks and the fighter ascended upwards into its own dock on the underside.

"I suggest you remove all effects from your shuttle and begin carting them onto the patrol vessel."

Just then an alert signaled the arrival of three light frigates falling out of FTL. They began circling the ship and extending binder beam emitters. Being unable to latch onto the stealth patrol vessel, they turned to face the damaged shuttle.

"Cancel last comment, hostile craft have appeared, their actions would hint to pirates. Small crews on each ship benefit this assumption. We can perform any transfers at a new location. I advise you hang on tightly, this ship does not have standard levels of inertial dampened movement, as it does not have to host organics normally. Apologies for any discomforts felt."

The patrol vessel shot out a docking beam and locked onto the shuttle, then rocketed forward as the sublight engines kicked the craft up to half cruising speed, quickly ascending in relative velocity from none to a decent 500,000kph stutteringly since it did not usually attempt slow acceleration changes so the G-force exerted on the dead shuttle did not exceed 10Gs, the attachment cable tightening as both craft jerked forward. The three frigates faltered for a brief moment before they fell into hot pursuit.

OOC: This is the Odysseus' entrance.

by **Orangi** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 10:07 pm

"Shit!" Marran said aboard his shuttle. His mag-boots held tight and his grip on the rungs true. He couldn't see a lot from where he was, but judging by the faint concussive bursts he could hear and the speed of which the towing vessel took off, it was nothing good. He begrudged that he was useless in this engagement. Even if he re-powered his ship and aimed its guns aft, he couldn't do anything to really help, as half the shuttle's systems were shot. He hoped that if he survived this event, he could get the ship repaired.

Moreso, he hoped that whoever was towing him was a benevolent individual, and not someone looking to loot him.

by **New Babylonia** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 3:12 pm

"New contact commander, appears to be from a neutral mining vessel investigating the signal." The human Tech Officer zoomed in to the solar system, navigating to where scanners indicated the two ships were.

"Is the ship automated or piloted?"

"Scanning... piloted, but not by organic life. Some sort of advanced AI seems to be in control of it."

"I doubt a ship built for a robot has the requirements to maintain organic life on it. What the hell is it looking for, then?" Dawn walked close to the holographic map infront of him, tilting his head slightly at the odd scene. "Scan for ship infrastructure." The Officer made several tapping motions, and a small yellow line brushed across the two vessels, revealing the interior configurations, the approximate size and weight of the ship, as well as the number, but not type, of its weapons.

"Looks like a tow line Commander."

"Even still, the mothership it came from would likely be incapable of housing the survivor..." The map suddenly zoomed out of its own volition, warning sirens accompanied it zooming in on three red dots.

"Hostile contacts, scanners report them as pirates. Three ships, light frigates, closing in on them fast. We're still well out from the system, Commander."

"Oh, distance is no problem Lieutenant, i can fix that easily. See, its just like this." He casually strolls over to the pilot of the ship, and calmly sets the thrust level of the engines to max, the ship immediately accelerating. He then calmly walks back to his own post, brings up a system map, and in a short couple of seconds traces the safest route in. "Now give it a minute or two and we'll be there. And make sure they have the Spear ready to fire. I want to be sure those pirates are awake." The ship by now showed its speedometer quickly climbing towards the speed of light, a colossal 1,079,252,850 km/hr, or 671 mph. The whole bridge was quiet as the ship inched closer to the massive number, the system maps frantically trying to keep up as it began running along side the many invisible rays of light in the universe. What a wonder it would be, he thought, if you could see them at this speed. The ships automated computer, seeing itself near destination, began pulling the throttle back. "As soon as we're back to a reasonable speed, fire." Everything at this point was still blurry, as the ship slowed down, the universe around them became distinguishable again, as well as the three small, moving vessels in the distance. Part of a second later, a thick blue laser erupted from lower parts of the ship, intercepting one the frigates and ripping it apart in a large explosion. "All weapon systems, lock and fire." A screen to the right showed the outlay of the ship, as well as the turrets moving, and eventually firing at the two remaining targets, who, unsurprisingly, had begun hasty and rather ill performed evasive maneuvers.

This, of course, further proven by the fact that the maneuvers brought them heading towards the Odysseus, rather than away. Though it mattered little, the contest was going to one way, no matter what.

by **Orangi** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 3:57 pm

"ZARRAN'S ANA!" Marran shouted at the top of his lungs upon seeing a massive blue light erupt from the enormous starship that zoomed into the area. His shuttle was being tossed around by the ship that was towing it, and he felt powerless- if absolutely insignificant in this situation. It's not a feeling he was terribly fond of, to be certain. He just hoped that the gigantic ship was to be his safe haven. The viewport provided a brief but clear look at the name adorning the ship.

"Odysseus"

by **Ethirus** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 9:43 pm

"This is Francis de Valetta signing off" he gave the holo-camera's one last smile before the channel was closed
He felt a headache come on as the connection to the ships sensors made itself known. He grasped his forehead with obvious pain before nodding to the camera and support staff, they left the room quietly. He idly connected to the Archives, before uploading his consciousness within his virtual library representing the Great Archives where he wouldn't feel the pain from his body. He idly sent a message to the commander to give him warning before they flew into an asteroid field before engrossing himself within the history of his planet.

In the real world Francis's body slumped forward slightly before the in built AI system guided the body to his incubation chamber quietly awaiting the return of Francis's consciousness.

by **New Babylonia** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 3:53 pm

Orangi wrote:"ZARRAN'S ANA!" Marran shouted at the top of his lungs upon seeing a massive blue light erupt from the enormous starship that zoomed into the area. His shuttle was being tossed around by the ship that was towing it, and he felt powerless- if absolutely insignificant in this situation. It's not a feeling he was terribly fond of, to be certain. He just hoped that the gigantic ship was to be his safe haven. The viewport provided a brief but clear look at the name adorning the ship.

"Odysseus"

The two remaining ships fled, the kinetic weapons of the Odysseus pursuing them. The spear fired again, angling its beam as much as it could to strike another of the frigates, shooting across the side hull and ripping it apart. With one left, all 50 kinetic turrets focused their sites, and roughly 30 seconds later, the last of the pirate firgates was torn apart by the awesome display of firepower.

"I've no idea what the automaton is up too, but we'll leave him to the job he's supposed to be doing. Activate the tractor beam and seize the disabled ship."

"Yes sir, activating tractor beam."

Small doors, or at least, small considering the size of the ship were on, opened on the bottom the Odysseus' hull. A bright blue beam quite suddenly blasted down, enveloping the disabled ship. A few moments later, it began pulling, slowed for only a moment by the towing cable before it was snapped easily. The shop was then pulled in at a calm, but not slow pace, eventually coming through the doors and brought up to one of the hangar floors of the massive vessel, where the doors below shut, and the ship was gently set. No more than 15 seconds later, medical personnel were at the ship, preparing a device to break open the doors to get in and help the pilot.

by **Orangi** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 4:29 pm

"Urrasi na! Urrasi na! Sevi nuo u wa!" marran shouted in his tongue as the doors opened, his weapon raised. He didn't know what language these men spoke but he never assumed they knew trade. If they replied in his tongue, he know he was among allies. Their hands were raised, ensuring him they meant no harm, these strange looking aliens in white suits. One of them stood out, however.

He had no fur on his face, no scales or chitin, he looked like a flat nosed and shaven Tarrasi, but more like some strange alien. But he'd seen a face like that before in archives. The few hairs on their head and their white expressive eyes, with little color to them. He knew what that was. He looked past him, and they were watching, weapons raised, pointed at him. A thought passed through his mind to lower his helmet, and as the thought passed, his helmet did indeed collapse behind his head and recede into the back of the suit. He let go of his weapon, leaving it dangling by the strap, and lazily- clumsily, stepped out of his shuttle.

Humans.

Humans. He'd heard of them. But they were just myth to him, even if evidence of them had been uncovered. Everything seems but a myth until you experience it. And here he was.

Experiencing the existence of not one, but many humans. Maybe thousands. Hundreds of thousands. Further back were all sorts of strange aliens, to large eyed quadrupeds to machines, and gangly aliens. It was nothing like he'd ever seen. He collapsed on the floor, unable to process it all at the time.

"He's fine. Stable. Scrawny but that looks normal for him. Not suffering oxygen deprivation. Anatomy appears to be very similar to that of humans..."

"Good. Keep him under surveilance. He's clearly military. Despite being stranded, he belonged to someone. Command will investigate further at a later period."

"Well what do we do with him for now?"

"There's other patients in this medical wing. Hundreds. Surely he can speak to some of them. He was muttering basic in his sleep, so we know he can understand us, and the denizens of this ship."

"Alright. Hey. Hey. You. Wake up." The man in white said, as the voices became less echoed and his vision cleared up. He was in a hospital of some sort, but where he did not know.

"...Who are you?" Marran asked.

"No, 'Where am I' questions?"

"I'm obviously in a medical section of a military installation... Your speaking isn't casual enough... How... How long was I out? Where's my ship?" Marran asked, leaning forward as much as he could, despite being lightly restrained.

"Which one? The wreck we're inspecting or the shuttle?" The doctor asked coldly.

Everything flashed back to him. His crew, his ship, all lost. All that remained was that shuttle and everything on it.

"How long was I out?" He asked.

"About four, five minutes. You weren't really out per-se, either. You were fading in and out. You're fine, past a little shock."

"...You guys work quick... So, am I stuck here or..?"

"For a little while. You'll be escorted to the nearest officer when we feel you're ready- which given your current state shouldn't be terribly long. Since we've no plans to ditch anyone we rescue, your possessions have been locked in a storage crate in residential 2, section A3. You'll be escorted there when this is all said and done. That's all I really know."

"And my shuttle?"

"Your near-casket is in the same spot we left it, undergoing inspection. We'll decide what to do with it later- I'm just a nurse here to take care of you. I intended to ask however, what made you go into shock? There's a lot of re-"

"You don't exist."

There was a still silence in the room when Marran said that. The Doctor didn't quite know how to respond.

"Come again?"

"You don't exist. Or you shouldn't... You don't, where I come from. And you're everywhere here. You people- humans. You're a myth where I come from... To see you all here, walking around like it's nothing... You aren't... You aren't survivors, are you?" He asked, sounding somewhat lost.

"I assure you, we are survivors. A cataclysm happened a week ago. But I doubt it's related to what you're talking about... Whatever that is. There's a change of clothes right there. Blue shirt, black pants, something you'll feel alright in."

"I'd feel better in my fatigues."

"We're working on that. They were damaged and dirty. One last thing. At the base of your skull, we located an input device. It disconnected from your exosuit when you went out. Safety measure? Cybernetics?"

"Orranian Naval Forces Cranial Mount Cybernetic Implant Grade 2, Issue 36: Engineer package. Lets me sync up directly with ship HUDs, Helmet HUDs, and weapon displays. I've had it for five years."

"...I see. Is it wireless?"

"Not with your stuff."

"Alright. I'll leave you to it then." The doctor said as he pushed a button. The restraints loosened and whipped back into the table, which swiveled upwards roughly 70 degrees. "Feel free to roam as a security officer is contacted. We'll be with you shortly."

"...Yes sir." Marran said as the doctor left the area. Curtains re-lowered as the doctor left, and Marran got into the change of clothes. Were this an Orranian hospital, it would not have been such a concern, but he didn't know how modest humans were or weren't. When he left his spot, he surveyed the area. The same sights, but less surprising. Still awe inspiring though. He started to wander, looking for anyone else either similar or looking lost as well.

by **Aelarus** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 10:12 pm

HUNTSMAN
DEEP SPACE SECTOR D23-7527

Huntsman's HUD marked out a portion of space at the ship's 3 o'clock that was about to be filled with a ship which would be appearing out of FTL travel quickly. The scans estimated the mass to mark it as an absurdly large capitol class.

The ship appeared and Huntsman was pinged as multiple high frequency close proximity scans tore through the space around the new ship, overwhelming the active cancellation after 30 repetitions. A crude and wasteful scanning method, but quite effective. The patrol vessel's systems automatically posed scrambling interfaces and subroutines to make the ship appear on scans as a mining vessel and not as a state-of-the-art stealth recon ship Huntsman had acquired from a research station and had subsequently upgraded to its current state.

Having been compromised, Huntsman ran its own scans and deduced the ship to be some odd mix of colony and fleet command mixed into one by the name of Odysseus. It had no escorts but there were apparently large fully independent ships stored in drop areas on the underside, a rather small escort but the ship was imposing enough that it didn't seem to Huntsman like it was a severe issue, that is, before it came across any organized force wishing it dead possessing proper BVR firepower.

The ship began firing on the pirates, coring two frigates with high caliber rounds and then switching to batteries on the nose. This fire was very inaccurate which surprised Huntsman, who dropped one Starstreak missile to flip around and launch straight into the structural center of the last pirate frigate, instantly destroying the ship in a large fireball before it could escape.

A tractor beam emanated from the ship and began tugging at the shuttle, Huntsman realizing this a split second after it started disconnected the cable so as to make the job easier for the tractor beam.

Then the Geth maneuvered the ship around so it sat in a relative blind spot below the lower stern of the vessel outside of the ship's weapons field of fire and ran a comprehensive systems check that finished in less than five seconds.

Systems Damaged by Kinetic and Energy Fire
-right primary thruster critically hit.
-rear left of hull badly burned but only suffered minor penetration.
-scratched paint.
System Reboot and Repairs Required

Alert Status, Message Sent to Rewrite Cancellation Runtimes

One Missile Expended, 29 remain. Unlikely capitol ship will have up to date interceptor missiles available for use.

Tow Cable at 76% Efficiency, Advise Not Trying to Drag Ships at full Speed with It.

System Reboot Slated for Next Touchdown

Huntsman then opened a full range broadcast channel to the ship, awaiting communications.

-I.M.O.G. · by **Slorch** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 11:54 am

Ambassador Bentu sighed as he but down the paper. He had been organizing and filing paper work for the last 2...3 hours? It didn't matter much to him anymore for time had become meaningless. He was shocked out of his thoughts by a knock at the door. Smoothing his robes he stood up and opened the door. On it he saw a note that his skills were needed in medical though for what he had no idea. With nothing better to do he set off. On the way he passed by his bodyguard leader who insisted on coming with him. Having no objections he followed the Ambassador. Once, he had arrived in the correct location he was shown to a patient and told the current situation.

by **Orangi** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 5:01 pm

"I guess you're the guy they want me to talk to? I'm Marran Varri, Se-..." He said, pausing for a moment, mouth agape. "...Just Marran Varri now, I guess. Used to be active duty but... I don't know. Maybe I am maybe I'm not. Now I'm just kind of adrift." he said, studying the alien. It was somewhat gaunt, wore a strange, strange hat and had a strange dark teal face. He looked ponderous, but not daft.

"...And you are?"

-I.M.O.G. · by **Slorch** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 10:04 am

Orangi wrote:"I guess you're the guy they want me to talk to? I'm Marran Varri, Se-..." He said, pausing for a moment, mouth agape. "...Just Marran Varri now, I guess. Used to be active duty but... I don't know. Maybe I am maybe I'm not. Now I'm just kind of adrift." he said, studying the alien. It was somewhat gaunt, wore a strange, strange hat and had a strange dark teal face. He looked ponderous, but not daft.

"...And you are?"

"In my native language I am Por'O Dal'yth Shovah Bentu Ko'vash, but most here just call me Ambassador Bentu," replied Bentu. He looked at this Marran Varri character and studied him. He saw a fighter some one who would fight till the end. To him this could be a good thing for the ship but at the same time he could sense the danger in it. "The...ah powers that be thought you would be more relaxed around someone who knew about your culture and your language," said the ambassador So, they sent me." Now switching over to Varri's native speech he said "I believe you are a Tarassi?"

by **Orangi** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 3:53 pm

Marran looked over at the diagnostic station behind him. His race was indeed labeled- and he remembered that it was listed on his tags... Which at the moment were not on his person. This was distressing to him.

"...Yeah. I uh... I'll be honest. I don't know why I'm on this ship, why I got here. My ship wrecked and I just floated around space for a while in my shuttle. Then I got picked up by some weird robot, we got attacked, and I was taken aboard this thing. Where in the world are we? I know the ship's name is Odysseus, whatever that means, and I know that this is a fairly large ship... But that's it." Marran said, pacing around the room slowly, examining his surroundings. The steel floor below him was exceptionally chilly- he cursed not having any shoes.

"...You wouldn't happen to know if there are any areas of the ship that loan out boots or shoes or something for a foot like this, right?" Marran said, lifting up and shaking his leg around a bit to emphasize his point.

by **Ethirus** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 10:22 pm

Francis groaned slightly at an influx of new information was deposited into the Holo-records. His body twitched slightly as Francis uploaded himself into it. "What's this?" He uttered to himself as he regarded the data set before him, it turns out the minor turbulence hadn't been anything of a asteroid sort but rather... stowaways. "What an interesting specimen" he stated as he regarded a tiger-like being through the ships many Holo-cams. "This is interesting news, I do wonder if they will tell the, we'll rather I wonder if I will be telling the populace" he chuckled to himself feeling slight excitement at seeing a new face on board. He also regarded the Ambassador... another new comer himself.

-I.M.O.G. · by **Slorch** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:59 am

Orangi wrote:Marran looked over at the diagnostic station behind him. His race was indeed labeled- and he remembered that it was listed on his tags... Which at the moment were not on his person. This was distressing to him.

"...Yeah. I uh... I'll be honest. I don't know why I'm on this ship, why I got here. My ship wrecked and I just floated around space for a while in my shuttle. Then I got picked up by some weird robot, we got attacked, and I was taken aboard this thing. Where in the world are we? I know the ship's name is Odysseus, whatever that means, and I know that this is a fairly large ship... But that's it." Marran said, pacing around the room slowly, examining his surroundings. The steel floor below him was exceptionally chilly- he cursed not having any shoes.

"...You wouldn't happen to know if there are any areas of the ship that loan out boots or shoes or something for a foot like this, right?" Marran said, lifting up and shaking his leg around a bit to emphasize his point.

"Well lets start with why your here," replied Bentu. "The Odysseus picked up the distress signal from your ship some time ago, and the captain set course for it. After fighting off some pirates we brought you aboard. The leadership aboard this ship are wary of outsiders so that's probably why you were sent here under guard with your possessions taken. Now if you'll walk with me perhaps we can see about your shoes." said the ambassador.

by **Orangi** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 12:00 pm

Slorch wrote:
Orangi wrote:Marran looked over at the diagnostic station behind him. His race was indeed labeled- and he remembered that it was listed on his tags... Which at the moment were not on his person. This was distressing to him.

"...Yeah. I uh... I'll be honest. I don't know why I'm on this ship, why I got here. My ship wrecked and I just floated around space for a while in my shuttle. Then I got picked up by some weird robot, we got attacked, and I was taken aboard this thing. Where in the world are we? I know the ship's name is Odysseus, whatever that means, and I know that this is a fairly large ship... But that's it." Marran said, pacing around the room slowly, examining his surroundings. The steel floor below him was exceptionally chilly- he cursed not having any shoes.

"...You wouldn't happen to know if there are any areas of the ship that loan out boots or shoes or something for a foot like this, right?" Marran said, lifting up and shaking his leg around a bit to emphasize his point.

"Well lets start with why your here," replied Bentu. "The Odysseus picked up the distress signal from your ship some time ago, and the captain set course for it. After fighting off some pirates we brought you aboard. The leadership aboard this ship are wary of outsiders so that's probably why you were sent here under guard with your possessions taken. Now if you'll walk with me perhaps we can see about your shoes." said the ambassador.

"Alright, sure- and thanks. Floor's damn cold." Marran said, walking alongside the somewhat gangly alien. His movements were ponderous and deliberate, as though each one was thought out. It didn't necessarily look like a struggle, but it was different for sure. "I don't know if we're allowed to opt for positions on this ship, but I used to be the chief engineer on my craft and kept her running pretty well. Have Zero-G combat training and experience too, but nothing fantastic like I'm sure some more specialized grunts have." Marran said as they walked past a door and into a fairly large corridor. The scale of even the hallways, was immense.

"...So what brings you to this ship? You're not the kind of guy I expect to see aboard military vessels."

by **New Babylonia** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 12:15 pm

"Hostile contacts are destroyed, stranded ship and pilot have been recovered."

"Good, now, have him interrogated immediately. In the meantime, i'm going to find a way to bring the truth to them with as little pain as possible. Until then, open all public records, families are still strewn about and disconnected, this way they'll know whether or not they should even bother searching."

"Understood, unlocking public records, sending notification to the Public Relations Officers."

"Excellent. Beam up the other ship, too, kill the robot, and we'll scrap it. If the owners have a problem with that, well -- i have enough guns to get my point across i think. Try not to steer us into trouble, set up destinations in random sectors and patrol around for anything interesting. I'll be in my quarters, should trouble rear it's ugly ass head anyway." Dawn spun around, and briskly exited the bridge without another word, while the officers scrambled to do as they were ordered.

"I'll unlock the records, you get the message to Valetta, now." The two officers nodded at this agreement, speedily doing their tasks.

Message to Francis Valetta
Subject: Public Records and Archives opened.

Under orders from Commander Dawn, all public records have been lifted from the temporary information closure ordered after the incident. All public records are now unlocked and once again may be viewed by civilians. Please notify.

In the hangar bay where the stranded pilot had just been rescued, the squad of guards dispatched had already closes the distance. As usual, armed soldiers entering the hangar when there was no emergency turned quite a number of heads, as they made their way toward the ship.

"Inspector, where is the pilot?"

"After he got out of medical, he met with that translator ambassador, whatever he is. I think Walt said they were talking about shoes or something."

"Just gotta make our jobs harder, don't they?" The squad of men quickly reversed and made their way to the faux commercial zone.

by **Ceffyltir** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:30 pm

After what seemed to be an eternity, Silver finally reached the front of the line for the public access terminal. As soon as the records were unlocked, civilians swarmed the terminals to locate their loved ones - or simply find out whether or not they were alive. She tried her best to be one of the first, but there were many others who lived closer to the computers than she did.

She had done almost nothing over the past week aside from dealing with all the paperwork and martial bullshit that came with moving into a colossal, military-run capital ship. All she wanted was the ability to search the Odysseus' database and find something or someone that could remind her of home - just like everyone else. Finally, that day had arrived.

Swiping the identification card issued to her a few days ago, she took a deep, calming breath and prepared for the worst.

CEREIS UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM
COPYRIGHT CEREIS DEFENSE FORCE
-Section C, Level 5, Cargo Hangar 2-
-Server 47-
>\ Welcome, SILVER VEIN
______________________
> Search Public Records and Archives

--> ENTER

...

>\ Public Records and Archives
__________________________
> Enter name

She paused, the end of her hoof hovering mere centimeters from the "c" key. She only had three searches to make, but... No. That one will be last.

--> IVY FROST

...

> File not found.
> Enter name

File not found. Never has such a short, cold sentence hurt that much to read. To think that her best friend's entire existence and previous life could be summed up with three words so quickly... It was almost insulting. In fact, upon considering that she devoted her life to shielding her friends from things like this, it was insulting.

She let out a pained, stalled breath and returned to the terminal's keyboard, knowing that it was getting late and the people behind her would soon become impatient.

--> VICTOR GARRICK GRAHAM

...

>File not found.

"Son of a bitch, both of them?!"

She immediately covered her mouth, hoping she suppressed that enough to keep everyone within 50 feet from hearing her. She wasn't sure why she cared about impressions at this point, but she had always restrained her language before. Old habits die hard.

Not that Victor would have cared.

She looked back at the soft glow of the terminal's display, wiping the moisture from her cheeks with her foreleg.

>Enter name

Well... here goes nothing.

--> COPPER VEIN

...

>File not found.
>Enter name

--> COPPER VEIN

...

>File not found.
>Enter name

--> COPPER VEIN COPPER VEIN COPPER VEIN COPPER VAIN COPPWR VEIN COPL

There was a startling slam as Silver pounded her hoof onto the keyboard, nearly breaking it off the terminal.

I knew it. I knew it, but I just HAD to check anyway. I just HAD to confirm the ONLY thing I didn't EVER want to know. It's as if I WANT to see myself and my family struggle. Damn it... I told you to run...

The terminal reverted to its home screen as she swiftly entered the 'logoff' command and stormed away, galloping back to the living spaces.

I should have carried you...

Odysseus: Sailing Embers. (IC Open)

Odysseus: Sailing Embers. (IC Open)

Who is online