Clunking through space FT OPEN

[Shlimshlam]

Year 86

The hulking colony ship drifted slowly, its large engine powered down, emitting just a faint blue glimmer. Keeping the colony ship company was its much smaller companion vessel, drifting next to the colony ship's starboard.
Over 1,300 souls resided on board the larger of the two vessels, while the smaller vessel had a crew of 20. Flaking paint on the hull of the large vessel contained red lettering PCCCP. The same red letters were painted on the hull of the smaller ship also.

The insides of the larger vessel looked run down and old, despite the best efforts of all those on board to maintain the ship to the best of their ability. Lights constantly flickered, power was unreliable, food and water was strictly rationed and only approved people could have a child as population control was vital to maintaining homeostasis. The people on board had Earthly names carried down from their ancestors who chose to leave Earth, but now those on board were thin and pale.

In the center of the ship was a large chamber known by all those on board as "the green space" which contained grass, trees and plants, the most popular space on the shit. there weren't many children due to the ban on procreation that had taken effect 6 years ago, but still the place was frequented by teenagers and adults in their free time. Elena was one of the ship's cohort of young adults born in year 60, wearing the standard ship uniform which was a blue/greyish suit similar to a Mao suit with the red letters PCCCP inscribed on the upper left side of the chest. She had long brown hair that went almost down to her waist.

It was nice, the feeling of the grass in her fingers, the Green Space air that seemed so much fresher and pure then anywhere else, even the rustling of the leaves, blowing from the ceiling filtration fans had a certain magic to it that was much nicer then the droning of machinery heard elsewhere.

Before she could get lost in her thoughts any longer some triumphant sounding music played briefly indicating an important announcement from the leader of the colony ship. A large section of the Green Space wall beamed to live to reveal a gaunt and frail looking man. Elena paid attention.

'Greetings comrades, I have an important announcement that is broadcasting across our beloved ships the Red Cosmos and the Leningrad. I wish to announce my resignation from the position of General Secretary of the Peoples Cosmic Collective Communist Party. After 16 years of being in the post, I wish to hand the position over to the next generation to lead us all to the promised land'

Elena gasped, all around her she could hear people chattering among themselves, some of them looked concerned and anxious. The elderly man continued to speak.

'Having reached my 86th birthday, I also wish to say that I have lived a long live and if the Census is to believed I am the oldest individual on board. However due to the overcrowding and overpopulation problems we are going through, it would be both irresponsible and selfish for me to prolong my life any further. It is with this that as well as my resignation I will also undergo voluntary euthanasia, to begin a new journey into the afterlife if there is such a thing. I wish you all the best for the future of our journey, may you live to see the promised land. Farewell comrades'

With that wall screen image then changed to the familiar face of the chief news reader, an attractive woman who always wore her hear up in a beehive type hairstyle.

'That was our beloved General Secretary Henry Marsh, may we wish him all the best' the news reader bowed her head as a sign of respect before looking back up with a watery sparkle in her eyes. 'Due to this new political development, the Executive have decided to hold early elections for a new General Secretary that will take Comrade Marsh's old position to lead us through the remaining term'

Elena realized her mouth was open with shock, as the news reader spoke about likely candidates all Elena wanted to do was run back home to her parents and grandmother to make sure they too had heard the news. Doubtful that anyone would of missed the announcement, there was nowhere in the ship that the PA system and wallscreens messages did not reach.

******************************************************************

Med Block, on board the Red Cosmos

Henry Marsh limped feebly to his bed, assisted by his personal doctor.

"This won't hurt will it" he asked

"Not at all, it would be as if you were falling into a deep sleep. This is a most noble sacrifice" said the doctor injecting the old man in the arm and helping him rest on his bed.

Within seconds the old man closed his eyes, shortly after his breathing stopped entirely, he was dead. The Doctor then called in some of the guards and doctors where the old General Secretaries body was to be stripped and then ejected into space from one of the Ejection tubes at the back of the ship.

Now those on board would have to elect a new General Secretary to lead the ships on the next part of the journey to the promised land.

[Stellor Planets]

Captain Samuel Issac stepped through the doors onto his bridge. "Report, Number One," he said to the officer getting up from the center seat.

"Long-range scans have detected a power source ahead," the First Officer replied, moving aside so his captain could take the chair. "We haven't been able to identify the source yet."

Issac scratched his chin. "How far away?" "2.4 light years," was the reply. He frowned, studying the stars scrolling past the viewscreen. While he always liked a good mystery, and an unknown power source counted as one in his book, they were nearly at the end of their mission, and would have to turn for home soon. His eyes wandered around the bridge, watching the crew working their stations, all anxious to return home. However, their mission WAS to explore new systems and seek new life, so why not solve one more mystery?

"Helm, set course for the source of that power signature," he ordered the helmsman. "Jump to warp factor 4 when ready."

"Eye, sir," the helmsman replied, fingers dancing over his controls. Issac leaned back in his chair, trying to ignore his First Officer's gaze. One more mission, then they could return home....

In space, the F.S.S. Valiant shifted her course and jumped to warp speed, leaving a trail of light in her wake...

[Shlimshlam]

The Red Cosmos 15th floor of Living Block A

Elena and her family huddled in the small steel shoe box of a dwelling, they called their home. With a simple meal of stewed, ship grown vegetables, her family joined hands and bowed their head for a prayer before dinner. Elena's mother gave prayer while everyone else listened with closed eyes.

"We give thanks tonight to the generations of comrades who came before, may they rest in peace. May General Secretary Marsh also join with the rest of our comrades in the afterlife, and may we all live to see the promised land. Long live communism"

Everyone opened their eyes and began slurping down their stew. Elena's grandmother finished her stew first, as if in some kind of hurry.

"Is everything alright gran?" Asked Elena putting down her half finished stew

"I... Have something I want to tell you.. It's something I've been thinking about for years.." Elena turned to her mum, who had welling tears in her eyes, then back to her grandmother who continued to speak. "I'm undertaking voluntary euthanasia..."

"Mother no" Elena's mum now had tears streaming down her face. "You can't"

"I can and I will. The ship only has capacity for 972 and enough escape pods for 920 souls. Right now over 1,300 souls live on board. The new living space redistribution policy will move a young couple in here in a matter of weeks. I'm old, at 70 I've had a good life. I'm sorry and I love you all, but I already made an appointment with the Med Bloc to undergo and I want you all to be there with me"

"But.... Bu..." Elena's mother burst into tears. Her father moved to comfort his wife, Elena turned to her grandmother with watering eyes.

"Gran..." Elena moved in and hugged her grandmother. An unknown feeling of sadness fell over Elena, she would never see her grandmother again, she would of lived and died on the ship without ever seeing the promised land, if such a place even existed. At the same time Elena knew she could not argue with her grandmother, the ship was dangerously over crowded, rations were at their lowest rate since the Ship Revolution in Year 0. She had even heard a rumor the other day that all on board who were born between years 55 and years 65 would have to undergo permanent sterilization to get population numbers back into balance. A terrible rumor had also spread that the Party leadership planned to forcefully send over 300 people out of the ejection tubes as a cold hearted, quick fix to the population problem.

The Wall Screen then blared out some triumphant music where the news reporter spoke up, with images in the background of the ship's Assembly Chamber slowly filling up with people, about to attend some gathering. 'Warm greetings dear comrades. Tonight you are all invited to the Assembly Chamber to hear the four candidates who are running for the position of General Secretary of the PCCCP. These elections are very important are will see the coming to power of a new generation of communist party leadership to fulfill the year 85-90 five year plan. Population numbers are set to be a hot election issue'

********************************************************************************

Red Cosmos, Assembly Chamber

The room filled quickly, everyone looked very similar in the PCCCP uniform. Everyone onboard who was of age were party members and so entitled to vote in the elections for a party General Secretary. Usually for five year terms, however because the ship was only one year into the five year plan, who ever wins the election will only hold the position until Year 90 in 4 years time so as not to disrupt the meticulously planned society.

As people gathered to sit, four individuals stepped up onto the front podium, beneath a large mural of some mythical communist revolution back on Old Earth with red velvet drapes and flag's bearing the sickle and hammer symbol of communism.

As the room settled the news reader seemed to be a kind of MC for the event as she stepped up to the podium microphone, her image also projected on wall screens all over the ship. "Welcome Comrades. Before us are four comrades who are the candidates for he election of General Secretary of the PCCCP for the remainder of the current five year plan. But before I begin, the body of Comrade Marsh will be lying in state in the Green Space for the next 12 hours before entering the Ejection Tube. For those of you wishing to pay your respects, you are invited to the Green Space after this event. And now let me introduce you to our candidates..."

The news reader with her painted face and beehive hair turned to the first candidate and gestured for him to stand beside her.

"Here is Comrade Klement Hlavac, who has worked in Ship Security, helping to keep the peace. He was nominated by the Security Workers Union to stand in the election. So comrade Hlavac, what is your over all message you wish to convey to all our comrades out there"

"Yes thank you Comrade Nina. I come with a message of sustainability and the fact that we are drastically overpopulated which calls for drastic party resolutions to get the ship's population to resource usage back into balance. I intend to propose an ambitious depopulation policy that will get the ship into balance by the end of the current five year plan in year 90" there were a few gasp's at this, with a few nervous looks.

Nina the news ready smiled back at the audience "Thank you comrade Hlavac. Now let me introduce you to comrade Nadiya Efimova who was nominated by the Farmers Collective to run in the election"

"Thank you comrade Nina. While I recognize that overpopulation and overcrowding is a problem that is having a detrimental effect on the ship and our overall well being and standard of living. I don't call for any short term solution, but a long sighted plan for the future. For the current five year plan to be reviewed and reformed into a fourteen year plan from this year to the year 100, which will see us enter a new century with the population in balance, using voluntary measures to get the population and resource consumption and renewal to sustainable levels"

At this the audience began to applaud, early poll's indicated that Nadiya was popular, well liked with 67% support of all party members.

"Thank you. Now I will introduce you to Luciano Aiello, who was nominated by the Knowledge Workers Union to run in the election" Luciano stepped forward and bowed at the audience and then saluted them with a raised fist.

"Thank you Comrade Nina. My message is one of peace, love and universal understanding. I propose opening up a new area of public discourse in the realm of philosophy, spirituality, religion and politics. Who knows how far we are from reaching the promised land, but during this time of solitude and introspection, we should be forming what kind of people and society we want to be here and when we arrive in the promised land what kind of communist utopia we want to create, during this time we can develop our brains and let a new era of on board intellectualism emerge"

At this the audience chatted, with mild applause. "Thank you Comrade Aiello. Now I wish to introduce Xi Lui who was nominated by by the Standing Committee" Xi stood forrward, he was revered for being a long serving member of the Bridge, at the very front of the ship and received some applause at his introduction.

"Thank you comrades. I have much experience at the front of the ship, and worked closely with General Secretary Marsh. I know that being pragmatic and resourceful will get us through the current five year plan and I promise that if I am elected as General Secretary, when new elections and a new five year plan come into effect in Year 90, we will be much better off" There was soft applaud from the audience as Xi bowed.

"Well there you have if, your candidates for the elections.."

[Stellor Planets]

Stars streaked past the viewscreen at the front of the bridge, while the F.S.S. Valiant flew through space a warp speed. In her engine room, the Chief Engineer wiped sweat from his forehead as he crawled out of the service duct, the reactor core humming above him. It had taken three whole days, but he finally got the anti-matter inducer properly tuned. Getting to his feet with a sigh, he glanced around the compact engineering deck. The Valiant was an old ship, a first-generation deep space explorer, and required constant maintenance to keep her running smoothly. He couldn't wait to get home, where the ship was scheduled for replacement by a newer vessel.

A high-pitch whistle broke through his thoughts. "Bridge to Engineering..." Stepping over a pile of tools, he hit the intercom panel on the wall. "McDavis here, Captain. What can I do for you?" "How long can we sustain Warp Factor Four?" McDavis sighed again, thinking carefully before replying. "At least another day, sir. I've got the anti-matter inducer purring again, but this old reactor isn't going to hold up forever. She could use some downtime." He paused for a moment. "And honestly, sir, she's ready for retirement."

Silence came from the intercom for nearly a minute. "Understood. After we check on this power anomaly, we'll head back to port. Just keep the old girl happy until then." "Understood," McDavis answered, and shut off the comm. He waved over a pair of engineers, and got back to work...

--------------------

Captain Issac leaned back in his chair, watching the other bridge officers around him. He new they, like McDavis, were all anxious to return home. Just one more quick mission, he thought, then I'll get you all back, I promise. "Time to reach the anomaly?"
"Two hours yet," replied the first officer. "And sensors still cannot give us a complete picture. But my guess would be either a rough asteroid..... or a ship of some kind." A hush went around the bridge, as Issac looked up at his first officer. "A ship, eh? Well then, perhaps this little detour will be worth it, after all..."

[Shlimshlam]

Red Cosmos, Med Block

Elena held her mother and father close as her grandmother's lifeless body slept on the hospital bed. It was sad, but Elena felt the whole process looked painless and peaceful.

"I'll give you a minute" said the doctor as he left the small sterile room.

The three of them stood over the body, weeping silently. Elena knew what would follow, her grandmothers body would then be placed in one of the ejection tubes at the rear of the ship and sucked out into the vacuum of space. It made her wonder if this ship ever intended to leave a trail of dead bodies in its wake.

After a few more minutes the doctor returned with two other hospital assistants. "It's time" said the doctor. Elena and her family were ushered out of the room. Her father held her mother as the two of them walked back to their small cabin apartment. Elena hung back, the distribution center was close by perhaps the ship had work for her.

The distribution center was similar to old super markets back on old Earth, small droids controlled by the ship's AI system stocked the shelves and scanned everyone's eyes and hand print to verify their identity and approve their ration. Towards the back were small kiosk's that acted as a kind of information center as well as the chief employment and job distribution office.

Elena stepped into the office which contained three desks, the workers behind them typing away on computer screen's built into the desk.

"Hello there comrade, how can I help?" said a cheerful looking man behind the closest desk

"I'm wondering if there are any job's around?" asked Elena

"hmmm Its been quite hard to find job's for everyone these last couple of years, but a new position just opened up with the Garbage and Sanitation Union. Quite a lot of people have turned down working in that department due to the high rate of workplace accidents and deaths, and the fact that most of those employed belong to the class of people who have spent time in the detention block. But unfortunately that is the only available job opening on the ship"

Elena was silent, I suppose it'll probably be only shot at finding some sort of excitement and adventure on this ship, she thought.

"I'll take it" she said. The man looked a bit stunned

"Really? You want to work there.... Thats... Great comrade. I'll just write up the job data and load it onto your ship ID, I'll just need your details..."

All Elena had to tell him was her cabin number, the ship database would have everything else regarding Elena and her life. Her first day on the job would be tomorrow.

************************************************************************

The ship continued its slow journey through the empty space, the small companion vessel was also close by the ship. In the Ship Security offices, the body of comrade Marsh was being transported to the detention block to be placed into the ejection tube and out into space, along with Elena's grandmother. While mostly being used as a method to dispose of dead bodies, those on death row that had been condemned to be executed were placed in Ejection Tubes while still alive. There had been times during the era's when public execution was common place for the whole process to be filmed and broadcast throughout the ship for people to see the condemned get sucked out into space.

[Stellor Planets]

Streaks of light shifted back into pinpoints of stars, as the Daedalus-class starship dropped out of warp speed. First Officer Jackson hit the comm control on the armrest of his chair. "Captain to the Bridge," he called, and switched the comm back off. "Where's the anomaly?"
The science officer was leaned over, staring into the hood covering the sensor display, face bathed in blue light. "24 degrees of the port bow, sir," he replied. "And it isn't an asteroid, the metal's too pure. Has to be a ship." The doors to the bridge slid open, as Captain Issac entered. "Report."
"We've dropped out of warp," Jackson replied, getting up from the captain's chair. "Scanning the anomaly now, but it looks like a ship of some kind."
"I'm not picking up any drive emissions," the science officer reported, "but definite power levels, heat, and life signatures. It's..." he hesitated, then looked up at the captain. "Sir! There's a second object, partially hidden behind the first one!"
"On screen!" Issac ordered, taking his chair just as the viewscreen flicked to life. A large mass stood out against the stars, with a smaller one just coming into view from behind it. "Distance?" he asked.
"70 million kilometers," the science officer replied. "It doesn't look like we've been spotted yet, and I'm not detecting any active scanning."
"Helm, hold our position," Issac ordered. "Take as many readings as you can, let's keep and eye on them for the moment..."

[Republic of New Jersey]

"Reading Sector-9." The Ship's AI spit out in its monotone voice "Are we still searching for that old Chinese ship?" A Marine Private said, obviously bored. He was playing a Rubix cube, always twisting it. "We were issued orders. You signed up to do this." His superior officer said, looking at the file of the deceased nation. "I didn't sign up to go to space. Why can't the Navy do this? In all sci-fi movies it's like "Space Navy" or something like that." The private replied. A loud beep startled the crew, getting to their stations. "We've located a ship in the shape of the object we're looking for." The AI said. "Hail them and ready weapons." The captain Said.

[United Islands of Polis]

Intergalactic Space
Sector 1-4 Status: Minimal Pirate Activity
UIPNS Ferrous, Bridge, Everest Class Super Heavy Cruiser

Captain Henry Polaris was on patrol today for the sector, normally by navy standards such classification of a ship would be in command of a fleet, but the thing was ever since the destruction of the Pirate Colony of Port Zarius, pirate activity has gone to an all time low, his ship was there purely as a show of power, sending the message "Go ahead, try it" which was also actually written right bellow the words in white paint UIPNS Ferrous on both sides.

"Attention!" a Paladin Corporal in Power Armor guarding the bridge door said as the captain entered.

"Status on unknown anomally Ensign Joseph?" he asked as he sat on the chair in the center on a slightly elevated platform.

"Unknown 1 has been in the sector for quite awhile now, HIGHCOM request that we go and investigate." the ensign replied.

"Do we have the exact coordinates?" Cpatain Henry replied.

"No sir, its too........ Low.... Tech? Is that a word for it?" the ensign asked, a faint yes came from one of the Paladin Corporals inside "Well, it's low tech, we can track it, but then it dissapears." he began to hit the console "Just like now, its fucking gone again."

The captain went to the ensign's console and gave it a kick, despite being an entirely new cruiser, a good old kick tended to work...... Sometimes.

"So it does dissapear, cloaking, probably not, make a Slipspace jump to it's last known area, expect a pirate trap of sorts, I want Tier 1-Tier 6 weapons active and ready to fire, warm up the Plasma Torpedo lines, lateral Plasma Lines warmed up. Prepare for transit to Slipspace!" as the captain said that the 2.5 km cruiser entered a Slipspace portal to get closer to the Unknown.

"Exiting Slipspace in 30 seconds, all hands to battlestations! I repeat all hands to battlestations! This is not a drill! I repeat this is not a drill!" a voice over the PA system said as crew members ram to their stations.

"Exiting Slipspcae in 5....4....3....2....1...." as the Super Heavy Cruiser came out of the portal, it was roughly 50 km away from the Unknown.

"EVASIVE MANUVERS!!" the Captain yelled, the two helmsmen were frantically yelling curses as they steered the ship to a broadside with the unknown, at this range if they were attacked they could easily desteoy them with their boradside Antimatter cannons and Plasma Topedoes, but same goes to the unknown as well.

The letters in red on the other ship read PCCCP, so they knew their vessels name, and the unjnowns knew theirs.

"Status report?"

"Weapons are ready to fire and comms are up as well."

"Send them a message."

Attention Unknown vessel, this is Captain Henry Polaris of the UIPNS Ferrous of the 72nd Defence Operations Fleet, we request that you identify yourself or be boarded, do not power up your weapons or have your escort get any closer, violation of these conditions shall result to me and my crew to take the necessary actions.

Thank you for your cooperation.

[Stellor Planets]

"Captain!" the science officer called out, "two more ships have appeared!"
Issac was on his feet in an instant. "Location!" he ordered.
"Closer to the anomaly. One is holding position about 50 kilometers from it, the other is a bit farther, but still a ways off from us."
First Officer Jackson stepped over. "Sir, respectfully suggest we increase out distance. That new ship looks massive, and if these readings are accurate, it may be powering weapons of some kind."
Issac nodded. "Agreed. Helm, move us out to 100 million kilometers distance. Slowly, so as not to appear provocative." The helmsman acknowledged, and the Valiant slowly pulled away from the other ships. "Call Yellow Alert," Issac ordered. "I want to be ready for whatever happens out there..."

[Avalon Astronautics Alliance]

Deep Space: Unknown Sector
UASC: Event Horizon Exploration & Command Dreadnought

Scans Officer: Sir, we have arrived in the next sector, & are detecting numerous power signatures from various ships, what should we do?
Commander Hawke: Move towards them, & broadcast a message of peace & exploration, in addition, deploy the Frigates & Fighter screen.

[Shlimshlam]

The Red Cosmos, Bridge.

With the death of General Secretary March, and the ship in election mode, the ship was essentially controlled by the 'standing committee' which were the first officers working at the front of the ship. Even though Xi Lui was running for the election to become the next PCCCP General Secretary, he still had a job at the bridge as acting captain, the role of captain usually held by the General Secretary.

One of the women serving behind a large monitor turned to Xi "Comrade Lui, there are many things coming towards us.... meteorites.... possibly ships...Sh..." the women seemed stunned and she hit the screens with her fist to make sure all the blip's weren't glitches

"This could be a Protocol 1 event" said Xi, Issue a special state of emergency across both the two PCCCP ships, the Red Cosmos and the Leningrad.

The Captain of the Leningrad then got into contact with Xi through a video screen, though the reception was not the greatest. "Comrade Lui, Is this is Protocol 1?"

"Yes Comrade, stay close to the Red Cosmos and get ready to defend us if needed"

"Comrade we are picking up some kind of message... One ship is trying to hail us, and were getting a message from the other ship, I'll put it through now"

'Attention Unknown vessel, this is Captain Henry Polaris of the UIPNS Ferrous of the 72nd Defence Operations Fleet, we request that you identify yourself or be boarded, do not power up your weapons or have your escort get any closer, violation of these conditions shall result to me and my crew to take the necessary actions.
Thank you for your cooperation.

Xi closed his eyes as if in a silent meditation before he looked back up at the woman "I must broadcast a message back" The woman began tapping away at the monitor until a small camera emerged from the ceiling like a snake, stopping in front of Xi so it could record and transmit a video message back. Xi was stunned to see that the language of the message could be understood as english, have they been travelling in space for so long that humanity had finally caught up with them... overtaken them even. It frightened Xi, but if the myths and the legends were to be believed, these humans should also be communist too?"

He gave one last silent contemplation before he spoke before the camera, to broad cast a video message back to the unknown ship.

"Greetings comrades. My name is Xi Lui. I am the acting captain of this ship. We are not a war ship or a pirate ships but a ship of peaceful human colonists looking for the promised land. We mean you no harm, but it should be noted you are the first contact we have had since our very long journey began from old Earth many, many generations ago. We apologize if we have caused any offense with our trespass, we were unaware intelligent life, let alone life that knows our language existed out here"

Xi then ended the message and the camera snaked away back into the ceiling. The ship's AI under the direction of the woman at the monitor began to transmit the message to the two hailing ships.

"Comrade another message has just been received by a third ship stating a message of peace and exploration" and the monitor also is picking up the possibility of a far off asteroid but it may also be another ship, there seems to be more of them then Protocol one anticipated"

*********************************************************************

Green Space, center of the ship

Elena made her way through the green environment to a small bunker looking doorway built into the artificial mountain, which led to a utility tunnel that ran underneath the great tree to allow access to the main garbage chute. As it was her first day, she was to be given an orientation of the garbage network as well as told the details of what was expected on the job.

Joseph Ryukov seemed like a cocky, up himself sort of guy as he spoke down to Elena like she was a small child, even though she was 26.

"So you might break a fingernail in the chute, it that alright with you comrade?" he smirked

"I'll be fine" Elena was unamused. Just then the PA system blared out. The voice of the familiar news reader, Comrade Nina began to blare out across the PA system, appearing on wall screen as a special emergency announcement.

'Hello comrades. The PCCCP Standing Committee is issuing an alert due to an unexpected cloud of micrometeorites. Due to the threat micrometeorites can pose to viewing glass, portholes and the engine itself, the blast shutters will be sealing all windows and view ports closed. All public spaces throughout the ship will also be closed so an inspection can be conducted by Ship Security for the possibility of micrometeorite contamination. As such, we ask all comrades to return to their designated dwellings and wait out the storm. All work will be halted until further notice'

"Seriously?" said Elena

"Micrometeorite contamination? I didn't even know such a thing existed"

"It probably doesn't, I wonder if this has something to do with the General Secretaries death" Elena said, she thought back to something she found in the ship's intranet during her many visits to the ship library. Something about a ship lock down.... infact the last time a ship lock down occurred, was supposedly during the ship revolution of Year 0, more than 86 years ago.

"Well, I suppose we will have to save orientation day for next time"

"Really? we can't just explore the garbage chute tunnel just a little before we have to be locked down in our cabins?"

"Elena? The garbage chute is most likely where all the micrometeorite contamination is located, now lets go" said Joseph

Elena rolled her eyes and made her way back to her dwelling, the mood at home was horrible since the death of her grandmother. Her mother seemed almost catatonic and hysterical at times while her father seemed solemn and grumpy. It made her think about how different life is going to be when the living space redistribution policy comes into effect and their home has to be shared with a young couple.

[United Islands of Polis]

Intergalactic Space
Sector 1-4 Status: Minimal Pirate Activity
UIPNS Ferrous, Bridge, Everest Class Super Heavy Cruiser

As Captain Henry walked through the bridge, in between consoles and personell, he was talking to a random ensign until Ensign Joseph spoke.

"Sir! We got a message back, video feed, pre-recorded." he yelled "Throw it through the translation software." the captain said.

"No need, it's in english sir." that gave him a new opener "Ok, play it." blast shields began to close up dim the bridge as the message played, he was astonished, Human talker, english speaking, and the interior of the bridge, if it was the bridge, looked like the ones from 200 years ago.

The message had declared that. They are not pirates, they are not a warship, they are looking for their promised land, how cliche in his opinion, they also came from old Earth, could this be that colony ship that went lost, or could this be more proof of the 'Forerunner Theory' speculated by the Ministry of Science and Technology?

"Well that was interesting, at least we know that, power down weapons of Tier 1 and 2." faint recognitions were heard as the 2 main forward mounted Particle Cannons and most of the Antimatter batteries were shut down and the main lateral Plasma Lines cooled, but they were still hot enough to send Plasma Torpedoes away, and if the colony ship had no shields, even the lowest "Burn" category could mortally wound it.

They saw Blast Shields on the PCCCP ship close Haha, looks like we scared 'em good he thought to himself.

"I have to make a report on this, I hope HIGHCOM dosen't have too much shit to do, considering the other wars." the captain said as he sank in his chair once more "Not to worry sir, I have sent the video feed, they're planning to send the local delegate of the 72nd." Ensign Joseph spoke.

"Ensign do alert me in regards to these things okay, and who is it, Foreign Relations Officer Colonel Dermon is still stuck on the Capital with his accident in the elevator." he asked.

"Well, it's Admiral Stanford sir, he's comming with the Executive and her escorts." the ensigm said.

"We might just give em a heart attack with that." they all laughed until the crew of the ensigns operating the Scanner consoles pipped up.

"Sir, we have detected more unknowns, they don't match allies or enemy shapes sir." they yelled.

"Damn, get me a SitRep on the time it will take for the Admiral himself to get here, warm up the lateral Plasma Lines again and all weapons are to be activated, slowly, get our fighters to the quick launch bays now, replay messsage to other unknown anomalies."

Once more the weapons were fed power once more and now hangar bay blast doors on the sides and on the bottom were opening as fighters transfered bellow were hanging vertically, ready for instantaneous launch, to those who could see from the other ship, they could see X-78 Dagger bombers in launch formations being fitted out with ordinance.

[Avalon Astronautics Alliance]

Comm Message: UASC:Event Horizon To All Unknown Vessels

[A young, 21 year old male with paleish white skin, dark brown hair, & bright green eyes in a deep blue uniform stands at a command station in the center of a large bridge.]

"Greetings unknown starships, I am Fleet Admiral Hawke of the United Avalon Star Command, my ship is the 6875 Meter long, 2200 Meter wide Exploration & Command Dreadnought known as the UASC: Event Horizon. We think it would be a good idea to have all leaders of the starships meet onboard my ship in order to learn about one another & our reasons for being hear face-to-face.

Hawke, Out"

Transmission Ends.

Hawke: Deploy the scanners, I want to know what resources are in this sector, if you find anything valuable, send out a mining hauler to bring it to us, we will be constructing a station here, & we will need all the resources we can get both to get the station up & running & most importantly, sell to the highest bidder.
XO: Why build a station here? We don't know anything about this system?
Hawke: I think we'll be here for a long time.

[Shlimshlam]

Bridge of the Red Cosmos

Xi paced about the bridge, he was tense and anxious as to this chance encounter with super advanced ship's that could potentially be human, possibly from old Earth.

"Comrade Lui, the comrades on board are now located in living bloc A and B, with only essential staff in the Security and Detention bloc. All public spaces have been closed and the ship is in lock down" said one of the assistants entering the bidge.

"Good. I want the distribution center comrades to begin dropping off the weekly food parcels to all the citizens. If something happens and a panic ensues, I don't want a run on the distribution center" said Xi

"We will conduct the food distribution in the foyers of Living Block A and B" said the assistant. Xi nodded and with that the assistant left the bridge.

The woman behind the monitor turned back to face Xi "Comrade, we have another incoming message.

"Greetings unknown starships, I am Fleet Admiral Hawke of the United Avalon Star Command, my ship is the 6875 Meter long, 2200 Meter wide Exploration & Command Dreadnought known as the UASC: Event Horizon. We think it would be a good idea to have all leaders of the starships meet onboard my ship in order to learn about one another & our reasons for being hear face-to-face.

Hawke, Out"

Xi walked to the very front of the bridge room, to the front viewing window, the only window in the ship who's blast shutters had not been drawn. Sure enough he saw it, an incredibly long ship off in the distance.

"They speak an Earth language, they want the leaders of the star ships to meet with them, on that ship"

"How shall we respond?"

"I will take one of the small shuttle ships. Comrade Natasha I leave you in control of the ship while I am away and if anything should go wrong. I will also take four of our security comrades with me"

With that Xi left the bridge and began making his way to the upper rear deck of the ship which contained a small hanger bay. In the rear hanger bay of the ship were two small shuttle ship's that were around 3.5 meters in length and were a sleek oval shape and could accommodate up to 5 passengers.

Back in the bridge Comrade Natasha broad cast a reply

"Acting Captain of the PCCCP Red Cosmos will meet on your star ship" said Natasha, sending off the message.

Xi Lui strapped himself into one of the small shuttle ships along with four security. From the front viewing screen, Xi could see the 'Marx' a larger shuttle with a capacity to hold 15 people and was just under 20 meters in length. The small shuttle ship began to hover off its docking pad and the hanger bay door's began to open.

From the outside it would of looked like a small orb ship leaving from an opening in the upper rear of the ship above the large exhaust vent at the back of the ship, which was still emitting a faint blue glow.

The small shuttle ship whizzed away from the Red Cosmos and its smaller companion ship the Leningrad and made for the large ship looming in a distance surrounding by black empty space.

Xi wondered if all the ships were from one unified human government, or alien, or if they were separate and independent of each other. He would find out soon enough.

Back on the ship, food parcels were distributed to the inhabitants of both the ship's cramped and overcrowded living blocks. On the wall screens and across the PA system, Comrade Nina the news reader spoke of ComradeXi Lui's inspection of the upper levels of the ship for micrometeorite contamination. Footage was also shown of the small ship shuttle exiting the ship, which comrade Nina spun as "Comrade Lui's inspection of micrometeorite damage to the ship exterior" There would be no mention of foreign alien ships from unknown civilizations. For now the ship's standing committee would censor this new reality altering development.

[Stellor Planets]

Captain Issac scratched at his chin. "So, what do you make of that, Commander?" he asked.
"Very interesting, sir," Jackson replied, "an open invitation for a meeting on board the unknown ship."
"How would you recommend I proceed?" Issac asked, watching the commander's eyes.
He wasn't disappointed. "I'd accept," Jackson said without hesitation. "That's why we are out here, right?"
"Correct Commander." He turned to the helmsman. "Helm, close to within transporter range, nice and slow. We don't want to appear threatening. And give me a general hail, so that everyone here can listen in."
"Eye sir," the helmsman replied, "moving to within 30,000 kilometers, one quarter impulse."
"Channel open, sir," the comm officer replied.

"This is Captain Samuel Issac, of the Federation Starship Valiant. I would be happy to accept the invitation of Admiral Hawke to join him aboard his ship, and will be ready to transport over shortly. Valiant out."

After sending the message, Issac looked back at Jackson. "Commander, you have the Bridge. I'll be transporting over... alone," he added, stopping Jackson's next question. "This is still a tense situation, and I want my best people here."
"Sir," Jackson said, "respectfully Captain, I cannot allow you to beam to an alien ship without some sort of escort. At least take a single security officer with you."
"Very well," Issac agreed after a moment. "Send someone to meet me in the transporter room. Your ship, Commander." And with that, he turned and left the bridge...

[Avalon Astronautics Alliance]

Transmission To All Starships

"We thank you all for agreeing to this meeting.You may all land in bay Alpha-One, which we have transmitted directions to. Thank you once again."

[Stellor Planets]

The doors slid open, as a red-shirted lieutenant stepped into the transporter room. "Lieutenant Kendriss reporting, sir," the brunette replied, laser pistol and communicator strapped to her side. Issac nodded, and turned to the transported tech standing behind the console. "All set Chief?"
"Yes sir," the tech replied. "The last message from the other ship contained location information. I'm sending you to what appears to be a landing bay."
"Right." Placing his own communicator onto his belt, Issac stepped onto the transporter pad, waving Kendriss over. "Come on, Lieutenant. Let's go meet our new friends." She joined him on the pad, and he nodded to the tech. "Energize."
The tech reached down to grasp three slide levers, and pulled them down. The room was filled with a high-pitch noise, as the Captain and security officer were surrounded by a shimmering gold light. After a few moments, they slowly began to disappear...

--------------------

...only to slowly re-appear in the hanger bay of the Event Horizon. After a few moments, the golden light faded away leaving the two officers standing off to one side of the landing bay. "So, I suppose we just wait for the welcoming committee," he joked to Kendriss.
"Yes sir," she replied, a bit nervous to be on her first contact mission. The two officers waited...

[Avalon Astronautics Alliance]

UASC: Event Horizon Aux. Bridge near Landing Bay.

Richter: "Hawke, we've detected an unauthorized high energy, exotic matter transmission. Destination is the landing bay. What should we do??"
Hawke: "Put up the dampening fields, last time we had one of those get into the ship, we were assaulted by Prometheans teleporting in. Although there is the chance that it may be from one of the other ships, we can't take that chance."
Richter: "Alright, dampening field is up, & the transmission has been successfully blocked."
Hawke: "Everyone, carry on, but be on guard, we need to make any arrivals feel welcome here. I'm going to meet anyone who comes."


(OOC: We basically blocked the teleportation.)

[Shlimshlam]

UASC: Event Horizon Aux. Near Landing Bay.

The small oval shuttle ship made its way towards the landing bay, It looked like another ship had already arrived for this meeting.... or ambush. Xi was nervous. One of the security officials who was also a physician gave Xi some tablets designed to boost his immune system, who knows what strange diseases these beings could be carrying.

"As a precaution we should avoid all direct contact with these beings. Keep a safe enough distance from them, and upon our return to the Red Cosmos we will have to all be placed in quarantine.... We will simply tell the comrades back on board that we got micrometeorite contamination during our inspection of the ship exterior" said Xi

The small oval shuttle maneuvered onto it's landing spot. All five of the shuttle occupants put on tight fitting PCCCP. The suit's were a deep red, yellow lettering of PCCCP was on the upper chest of the suit. A small visor shield was built into the face part of the suit as well as an oxygenator and air filtration part over the mouth. These types of suits were usually used during times of disease outbreaks on board the ship.

Xi then placed his blue-grey uniform back over top of the suit. The Security officers placed their padded vests and uniform over the special quarantine suit.

"We will wait to be received. Do any of you have anything you wish to say?" said Xi

One of the security officers spoke up "I just hope all of us make it back to the Red Cosmos alive"

[United Islands of Polis]

Intergalactic Space
Sector 1-4 Status: Minimal Pirate Activity
UIPNS Ferrous, Hangar Bay 2C, Everest Class Ultra Heavy Cruiser

As soon as they recieved the message, ot was apparent that Admiral Stanford wasn't going to make it on time with the newly evolved situationnthat the Admiral had contacted Captain Henry in regardsto this, so for the time being until the Admiral isn't there he will represent his nation for awhile.

"Attention, Captain on deck!" one of the flight engineers yelled "SIR!" was the rest of the response, with a simple wave of his hand they all went back to their normal business, and soon after a Platoon of 36 Constitutional Marines all armored up began to make it's way to the rear of the corvette that had no name, only a service number, the captain had climbed in shortly after.

"Launching sequence starting, reactor online, disengaging maglocks, backup stasis generators shutting down, PT-71839 ready for launch." as soon asnthe pilot said it the 154m ship dropped from bellow the Ultra Heavy Cruiser with four escort X-51 Darthead fighters.

It took only a few minutes as the corvette had made its way to the UASC Event Horizon.

"UASC Event Horizon, this is PT-71839 requesting entrance to main hangar bay over." as soon as they got the authentication they landed inside, Captain Henry looked around as he caem out with his escort of an entire squad of Power Armored Constitutional Marines, his grey uniform was covered by a Hardplate chestpiece and an air-sealed Hardplate helmet, covered by a Hardlight shield, his escorts were more of walking tanks with air sealed Power Armor suits covered by starship grade armor, same one used by the Ferrous while each armed with a Heavy Plasma Gatling Cannon which can easily melt a tank with enough time and to seal it up it wasmcovered by an extremely strong Hardlight shield "Is there someone who's gonna meet us sir?" the Knight Private asked the captain "Not sure son, not sure."

[Stellor Planets]

(OOC: We basically blocked the teleportation.)

OOC: So, do I have to change my post so that they DIDN'T already transport over? Why block it when you know they are coming? Seems like I time waster....

[Olimpiada]

---

Interstellar Space
FWOS Andronikos

---

The battleship had been sitting in interstellar space for a few weeks now, observing other worlds on its long range sensors for potential happenings. It was really quite boring as far as Captain Alexander Farsala was concerned. And entirely overkill. A battleship on patrol duty? He knew they were at peace, but this was quite absurd. At least it wasn't a dreadnought. It got a lot less boring when 2nd Lieutenant Constantine Akrites noticed something.

"Captain? We've got a read on the targeting scanners," said Akrites in a confused tone. Farsala was equally confused, as was anyone in earshot of this.
"You sure they don't need recalibrating?" asked Farsala. There was a sharp clacking noise as he rapped his mechanical left hand against the hard arm of his commanding chair with an impressively nice view of the stars from the large windows encompassing the bridge.
"Yes sir," came the reply. "We just had our morning recalibration. More ships are showing up." There was an edge of concern to match Akrites's ever widening eyes.
"No shit..." muttered the captain. "Perikopi, calculate a jump for us to this group, leave us a few thousand klicks out."
"Aye sir." There was an uncomfortable sensation before things returned to normal. The view was roughly the same, aside from the ships now in the way of the starscape. This just kept getting stranger. Time to meet the others.
This was going to get strange.
"Is that Russian?" asked Orestiko from his station at one of the observation telescopes. Inoi confirmed it.
Correction: This was about to get very strange. Farsala sighed. "Ready weapons, get the cloaks on standby. I'll hail the ships. Let's not make a mess of this."

TO: All Starships
FROM: FWOS Andronikos
ENCRYPTION: None

Attention unidentified vessels. This is the FWOS Andronikos, a Korestia class battleship of the Federated Worlds of Olimpiada. We wish for a peaceful exchange. However, we will open fire if you do not identify yourselves. Please respond.

[Shlimshlam]

The Bridge of the PCCCP Red Cosmos

Natasha tapped away on the large monitor opening up a message from another incoming vessel. It broadcast out into the bridge of the ship.

TO: All Starships
FROM: FWOS Andronikos
ENCRYPTION: None

Attention unidentified vessels. This is the FWOS Andronikos, a Korestia class battleship of the Federated Worlds of Olimpiada. We wish for a peaceful exchange. However, we will open fire if you do not identify yourselves. Please respond.

Natasha typed out a response and sent the message back from the incoming ship.

TO: FWOS Andronikos
FROM: PCCCP Red Cosmos

This is a peaceful multi-generational colony ship originating from the planet Earth. We are not associated with the other space vessels in the vicinity.

**********************************************
Meanwhile on board UASC: Event Horizon Aux in the hanger bay

Xi looked at the expansive interior of the hanger bay in a ship that dwarfed the Red Cosmos. He wondered, perhaps this exchange could lead to aquiring some new technology, perhaps another ship and with it more living space.... or even lead the colonists straight to their promised land....

[Avalon Astronautics Alliance]

Hangar Bay Alpha, UASC: Event Horizon

"Greetings! Xi was it? I am Fleet Admiral Hawke, I welcome you to my ship. Once everyone is here I will conduct a tour."

Suddenly, from behind Hawke, a blue, holographic hand reaches over & boops him on the nose, however, being made of light, it passes through.

"Really? Really Sparky? I guess I should introduce my personal AI, Sparky."

'Sparky' Reaches over & holds out her hand. "What's up?? I'm Sparky!! Oh look, I see some more new arrivals!! But where's there ship?? Did they teleport!?!?! But I should have blocked it!! Oh well"

Hawke groans & face-palms...

[Stellor Planets]

Noticing the Admiral greeting the other arrivals, Issac and Kendriss stepped over to the group. "Admiral Hawke," the Captain greets him, "I'm Captain Samuel Issac, commanding the Federation Starship Valiant. This is Lieutenant Sara Kendriss." He indicated the Lieutenant standing respectfully behind him. "Thank you for your invitation. I must say," he looked over the AI, "you have an impressive ship here, Admiral. Far more advanced then anything in our own StarFleet."

--------------------

TO: All Starships
FROM: FWOS Andronikos
ENCRYPTION: None

Attention unidentified vessels. This is the FWOS Andronikos, a Korestia class battleship of the Federated Worlds of Olimpiada. We wish for a peaceful exchange. However, we will open fire if you do not identify yourselves. Please respond.

Commander Jackson sat in the center chair of the Bridge, reading the message the newly arrived ship had just sent. "Interesting," he muttered. "Lieutenant, give me a hailing frequency, would you? I want to send a reply."
"Yes Commander," the comm officer said. "You're on..."

"This is Commander Mitch Jackson, currently in command of the Federation Starship Valiant, contacting the Andronikos. We are on a deep space exploration mission, and have no hostile intentions. Our captain is currently meeting with the other commanders on board the ship called the Event Horizon for a summit, and we are holding station awaiting his return."

"Should we contact the Captain?" asked the comm officer. "Let him know that another ship has arrived?"
Jackson thought for a moment. "No, let's just wait and see for now. If the new ship, or any others, starts acting hostile, then we'll call him. For the moment, the situation appears to be under control."