Grand Flotilla Flagship Valisura
Uran Day Of The Month Of Hirna, 7598th Era
Living on the Valisura, you never got to see a true sky. In every other respect, the interior of the massive Biodome that took up most of the ship was indistinguishable from the surface of a planet. The massive Lake Erru sat at the stern end of the Biodome, with two long rivers winding their way out towards the bow. The lake gave way to vast and lush plains of grass and equally lush forests that spread for kilometers upon kilometers, interrupted only by the sprawling cities and towns that dotted the landscape. At the stern of the gargantuan vessel lay Laisira, the "capital" city of the Flotilla, which sat on a large island caught between the confluence of the two rivers and a third smaller river that branched off in the Volyat Hills just sternwise of the city.
It truly did look like a chunk of a planet had been lifted up into space and had a ship built around it. The Biodome had its own weather patterns (though climate control systems prevented unfavorable weather), and coming in at 38 km in length and 20km in width, the Biodome supported a population upwards of six million Kortirans, most of whom resided within the 9 Stars; a nickname for the 9 largest cities scattered throughout the land. Another three million Kortirans lived inside the metal bowels of the Valisura itself, though these were mainly working-class and the poor. And while those living inside the ship had to live with metal over their heads, the residents of the Biodome got to live under a holographic sky, complete with holographic clouds (to supplement the real ones) and a holographic sun that lit up the Biodome during the "day".
But even with this hologram up, nobody could mistake it for a real sky. Just beyond the thin hologram, the stars of space were still visible, and the bulky form of the rest of the Flotilla constantly drifted past and around, somewhat destroying the illusion. Also destroying the illusion of living on a planet was that there was no horizon. The first three kilomters of the sides of the Biodome, except at the front and back, were vertical walls of metal peppered with large holographic displays to show what lay beyond. Even so, real horizions didn't flicker and turn off at night. Regardless of this, there was nowhere the Captain Aldar Kleyn preffered to be on his entire ship. The fresh air and sunlight (no matter how artificial) would always win out over the interior of any ship.
Now, however, instead of being up in the Biodome enjoying himself, Aldar found himself sitting in the tram that would take him to the bridge of the Valisura, buried deep within the ship's body to keep it safe from attack. The journey from one end of the ship to the other only took a couple minutes on the high-speed trams, but the high-speed trams hadn't exactly been designed for comfort, and so Aldar was uncomfortably standing in the center aisle, his necked craned and head bent sideways due to the low ceiling. Every so often the tram would rock to one side or the other, and Aldar made a silent vow to have whoever designed the transit system executed. Or, at least scolded.
"Now Arriving At: Bridge. This Is A Restricted Are. Please Be Ready To Present ID Upon Request"
The ever-cheerful voice of the tram's computer recited its message, and slowly the tram came to a halt. The doors on the side binged and slide apart, and Aldar had to fight every urge not to leap from the tram and kiss the floor. But, he was the captain of the most important vessel in the Flotilla, and the people expected him to be professional. So maintaining his composure, he stepped gently onto the platform, striding across the metal floor to the security checkpoint that would let him into the bridge proper.
Standing guard were at least ten soldiers and a few drones, all of them equipped with enough weaponry to bring down a city. Some would call this paranoid; but when the existence of your species literally relied on a single ship, nothing seemed too cautious or careful. Despite having walked this exact same path and passed through the exact same checkpoint a million times before, the soldiers still gave Aldar a full scan and ID check; every inch of his body was scanned and checked against a biometric record, and if even a single curve was off, it would be strip-search time. Thankfully, the powers that be decided to grant him access, and Aldar gave the soldiers a quick salute before walking onto the bridge.
One floor of it, anyways.
On a ship as large as the Valisura, the usual bridge setup wasn't enough. It took three whole stories of bridge to command the huge vessel, each of them with close to five hundred individual command stations that ranged from flight control to life support to navigation and everything inbetween. The three floors were all open at the front and edged with glass railings; they had this design so that anyone on any of the floors could see the Central Command Unit, a massive circular room that contained Aldar's control console and the bridge's central holotank, which itself was a good thirty feet high and twenty feet in width.
As Aldar approached, the holotank was displaying a map of the region of space the Flotilla was passing through, along with numerous odd lines projecting towards something just off-display. Ringed around the base of the holotank were two rows of controls, with a main terminal at the sternside, while Aldar's console sat at the bowside. Aldar paused for a moment or two to straighten his hat and jacket before walking over to the main terminal, where a few key members of the bridge crew were gathered; Chief Navigator Seja Wilhei, Chief Sensor Operator Connor Veidan, and Chief Of Ship Operations Elyra Kohler. All three saluted to Aldar, who through up a quick return salute before turning to the holotank.
"Alright. So this sounded pretty damn urgent on the phone, so what's going on?" Before Adlar had even asked, Connor had already reached down and begun manipulating the main terminal, causing the central holotank to spin and zoom out.
"About ten hours ago, the Forward Obersvation Fleet sent back these readings that their sensor ships had picked up." As Connor spoke, the central holotank zoomed about to display what he was talking about, which looked pretty much just like a bunch of vaguely spiral-shaped lines, "These lines represent a massive gravitational anomaly, probably a black hole, at their center. And it's right in our path"
Aldar raised an eyebrow, giving each of the three others at the console a good stare before speaking, in his most patronizing tone possible, "So then go around it. Did you really need to call me down here for that?"
Seemingly having expected this answer, Connor shook his head and tapped the terminal, causing a large blue circle to overlay the map, "This is the black hole's region of influence. If we get within that circle, it's going to be bad news for us."
Seja then stepped forwards, briefly pausing to brush her brilliant obsidian hair out of the way, "Captain, I was looking over the star charts and such....the only realisitc way to avoid this thing is to make a jump along....", she paused to reach down and summon up a series of dots and lines that traced their way across the map, "..this route. It'll take us into unknown space, but we'll be safe from any more issues. For the time being"
At the word "jump", Aldar groaned and let his head roll back. The Flotilla had close to six hundred ships in it, and coordinating a jump was an act of almost impossible difficulty. Never mind that the Valisura had a jump-wake that size of a small galaxy, meaning that it either had to jump last, since it's wake would cripple any ships nearby. And, there was another issue.
"Have...you clear this through the Board yet?" Aldar was really hoping Seja would say no, but much to his dissapointment, she held out a DigiPad. Aldar took it, looking over its contents. It was, tragically, an authorization of action from the Board Of Admirals and the Grand Admiral himself. And once those signatures were on an order, Aldar's own wishes meant less than dirt.
Sighing deeply, Aldar gave Seja the DigiPad and then made his way over to his own control console. He sat down and began keying in the authorization code for a Flotilla-wide jump, while Seja and Connor quickly returned to their stations and began making their own preparations. The entire process took a few minutes, but once it was done, things got moving quick.
"All vessels, this is Captain Kleyn. The Board and Grand Admiral have authorized a jump to the coordinates being transmitted with this message. All vessels, you have permission to jump." Aldar spoke the words, and seconds later, he watched as the ships of the Flotilla began to vanish into tiny flashes, one by one, until only the Valisura remained. Aldar sent a ping to the "helmsman" (actually an automated AI), which responded by engaging the ship's jump drive.
Jumping a ship as large as the Valisura was no small matter. The amount of energy required to displace so much space-time was beyond comprehension, and if anyone's sensors were watching, they'd be momentarily blinded as the massive vessel vanished in a flash.
Unknown Space
In one moment, the space was empty. In the next, hundreds of ships came flashing into existence, five-hundred and ninety-nine tiny stars flickering into existence for only a second or to. And then, a massive flash as the flagship of the Flotilla jumped it, sending out a blast of emissions that would light up any sensors in the system (if it was occupied) like a fireworks display.
"All vessels, this is unknown space. Defensive Formation Echet." Aldar gave the order immediately, and the rest of the Flotilla responded in kind, forming a huge bubble around the Valisura until the mighty vessel was almost obstructed from sight by the cloud of ships around it. The defensive position was a slightly sacrificial one; if the Flotilla was attacked, the rest of the ships would take the brunt of any attack, leaving the Valisura and the Rear Fleet to jump out and survive, essentially condemning the rest of the Flotilla to death. But they did what they had to. The survival of the Kortiran species relied entirely on the Flotilla, and specifically the Valisura. If it were to be destroyed....
Kleyn shook the thought from his head, focusing on the task at hand. Standard policy in unknown space was to be as non-attention grabbing as possible, let all the ship's jump drives recharge, and then get the hell out of dodge. Of course, recharging such a huge system took a long time. If the Valisura was near a sun, she could extend special Fusion Nets that would cut the recharge time from a week to just a few days, but seeing as this system could very well be inhabited, it was best to stick to the outer edges and play it safe.
On that same note, the Forward Observation Fleet was still doing its job, despite being in defensive formation. The many vessel's powerful scanners ran over the whole system, searching for any sign of life. If they found anything, Kleyn and company would have to deal with that. But for now, he could relax. A bit.
So while the Flotilla sat there, it's inhabitants could only wonder what was going on, or what was about to happen. Such uncertainty was an inherent part of the Kortiran life. When the only thing between you and death was the metal of a ship, when you had never once stepped foot on a real planet, it bred certain paranoia and phobias. The life of the Kortirans was not an easy one. Forever wandering.
OOC: Pretty simple idea, really. The Flotilla arrives in your space, and diplomacy/angry yelling/cultural misunderstanding hijinks ensure. Not really looking for a war at this moment. TG for entry.
For reference, this is what the flotilla looks like. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NoOOFxm72g
For those who like specifics, the Valisura is 55km in length, 20km in width, and about 34km in thickness/height (from the bottom of the ship to the top of the biodome). The biodome takes up 38km of length and 20km of height.