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Co-OPed by Arengin Union, Bingellia, Europa Undivided, Khasinkonia, Tesserach and United Federation of Terrans
Welcome to Andromeda: Brave New World!
In this RP you will play as either a salvager in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi setting or one of the last survivors of a great civilisation, trapped in stasis for millennia. If you work together to fix up the FSS Dido, your crew will be in possession of the greatest warship in the galaxy. What will you do with it? Will you try to rebuild the ancient Federation? Will you try to find your way back to Earth? Or will you say ‘screw it’ and go exploring?
While this RP is part of the larger 'Andromeda' series of RPs, there is no need to know anything about the others - it is set so far in the future that events of previous threads have long since vanished from memory.
Finally, this RP is open. Wondering if it's still open since I wrote this six months ago? Yes it is. You can still app a new member of the local population, though we aren't taking any more defrosted crew members.
Prologue: The Destruction of the Dido
The Medical Bay
(Cowritten by Dyelli Beybi, Khasinkonia, Europa Undivided & Novovaritsya)
The battle was won, but lost. The AI ships were destroyed but the Dido was crippled. Power and life support were out across most of the ship. The hull was breached in numerous places. They were, for all intents and purposes, destroyed. Dead in space.
"This is Doctor Demumzieth, if you hear this, there is still power in the medical bay. This is Doctor Demumzieth, calling all crew. Make your way to the medical bay as soon as you can."
Outside the corridor was pitch black, impossible to see anything beyond the reflection of the lights of the machinery in the bay. Last time she'd checked there was still oxygen out there, though the air was getting thin. It would be getting thin in here sooner or later as well. There was at least power. She glanced across at the stasis pods; coffin-like boxes arranged in a bank along the wall. And a way to conserve their limited oxygen. Old-time kiellar prison ships had had some good ideas, it turned out.
When Sathia had first broadcast the fact they had power she had thought they might have too many people for the pods, that she'd have to stay out and face the cold, darkness of space - it would be her duty to put the other crew first, but how would she decide who got to live and who got to die? But now it seemed the opposite was true. There were pods but nobody was coming. Had nobody heard her broadcast? Or was there nobody left to hear it? A shiver ran down her spine which had nothing to do with the temperature in the room. She'd been trapped in the medical bay at Pythion VI as well. Nothing she could do but sit and wait, hoping a Federation rescue party found her before a machine did. That time their hadn't been stasis pods though. She held down the button on her console that broadcast on comms again, "This is Doctor Demumzieth, if you hear this, there are survivors in the medical bay."
She turned to the rachni she worked with, releasing the comms button, "Well Vi, looks like it's just you and me," she said, doing her best to sound composed despite the competing urges to vomit and scream.
“My experience working in this medbay with you has been generally positive,” replied Vi, as her lips contorted into an awkward frown. She gave Sathia an awkward pat on the shoulder, “If this continues, at least we will still have access to stasis pods for ourselves.”
Just as the doctor and her assistant had all but lost hope, a familiar presence stumbled into the medbay. Marshal Sharp, the First Officer of the Dido, nearly fell face-first on the floor as he tried to keep his balance in the face of concussion that he had suffered. "Don't give up yet, doc," Marshal said with that familiar humor laden tone, though it was clear that he spoke that way just to bring a tiny semblance of comfort to himself and any others that were still alive. Nevertheless, the normally composed first officer, who fluctuated between comedic and dramatic, seemed to break. "Lots of vented areas of the ship," Marshal continued as he balanced himself on one of the medbay tables. "Half of the Dido is exposed to the vacuum of space right now, and... well, there's not a lot of us left."
Then there was another. The sound of heavy footsteps echoed down the corridor, closing towards the medbay. A light can be seen from the corridor now. "Good to see you guys in this hell again," Matvey said as he walked into the medbay. He put the gun down and turned his flashlight off. Matvey's arms are shaking, showing that he is injured and was trying to hide the pain. He nodded at Marshal as soon as he spotted the first officer in the medbay. He would later move away from the door and sit on the floor, leaning his body against the wall behind him. "Where's the captain?"
“We do not know of his location or condition,” Vi said. She pointed to both Matvey and Marshall, “but I can tell you what we do know. Your best chances of survival here will be if you choose to consent to be put in stasis. That is my medical opinion.”
Marshal had no hesitation. "Freeze me up, then," the first officer said. He looked back at the door nervously, as if he was expecting the Captain to walk in at that very moment. "We've got barely any air left and there's no way that we can fix the drives so far from a port." He looked back at the door again. Please, be alive...
"Hell," Matvey said. He rose from his position as he said that. He folds his arms, leans on the wall, and whistles as he thinks of something. "One question though," Matvey turned to Vi, "How long are we supposed to stay inside those stasis pods?"
“As long as it takes,” Vi coldly declared as she led the Marshal to the nearest pod and began the prep sequence, “We don’t know when we will be found. The aging process will be stopped, but that is the only solace I can reasonably provide in this circumstance.”
"A week, maybe two," Sathia answer distractedly, then reached for the comms, trying them again. There had to be more out there...
Ilusha-Hegal
(written by Nachfolgia)
Ilusha-Hegal sat on the floor in horror at what she had just witnessed. In the darkness of the hallway, occasionally illuminated by the flashing warning lights, she could see what was left of the engine room. The empty void of space through the hole in the hull and the debris floating in what is now a vacuum.
It all happened so fast, one minute she was working on a panel just outside the engine room, trying to get the lights on. Next minute there was an explosion that ripped through the hull and everyone got sucked out into space. Even her coworker, a young Kiellar male, was sucked out before the airlock closed. Now Ilusha-Hegal was all alone. Who knows if anyone else survived.
Standing up slowly, on the verge of tears, Ilusha-Hegal had given up hope when she heard a call over the intercom.
" Dr. Demumzieth?" Ilusha muttered to herself.
It was her, calling from the med bay. There was still some survivors! Ilusha-Hegal wasn't alone on the ship. The lone maintenance worker would make her way towards the med bay all the way on the other side of the ship. Walking though the lone corridors, all she saw was fire and death. So many of her crew mates laid motionless on the floor. Choking on fumes, she tried her best not to look at their twisted faces as she continued on.
Ilusha-Hegal continued on until she was stopped by another airlock. Looking through the window, she saw just how damaged the ship really was. The Dido was nearly split in half, floating as nearly two separate pieces. The only way Ilusha was going to make it to the med bay was by going out there and float to the other side.
Terrified beyond belief, Ilusha donned a nearby space suit and opened the airlock. Once out into the void, she used the suits propulsion system to guide herself across. It was a terrifying experience, floating out into space. At any moment, something could happen and she'd be sent adrift to die. Ilusha tried her best to get rid of the intrusive thoughts as she pushed on.
Safely on the other side, Ilusha opened the airlock and was back in the safety of the ship. Relatively speaking of course as this part of the ship was just as bad. Nothing but more death, fire, and debris. Ilusha didn't bother taking off the space suit, wanting to get to the med bay as fast as possible.
After what seemed like ages and through many obstacles, Ilusha finally reached the med bay. Practically running through the automatic door, Ilusha stopped to catch her breath. Looking around, she realized that others had survived the ordeal. Overwhelmed by so many emotions and stimuli, Ilusha collapsed to her knees and began sobbing...
The Medical Bay
(Cowritten by Bingelly, Khasinkonia, & Dyelli Beybi)
Yet another suited figure suited figure followed into the Medbay. He first took off the helmet of his flight suit, which gave a hiss before being pulled off. Orlenn first noticed Ilusha, and moved towards the red-skinned humanoid, placing a hand on her shoulder as did. "The gods have brought you this far, and we've all lost a lot of people today. We'll mourn them when we aren't about to join them." The Kiel changed his grip to help her up. "Up. Let's get you in a pod."
Vi sprung from pod to pod as she did a quick headcount of the people available. She prepped two at once, three hands to each, moving swiftly and without hesitation, “If you consent to be frozen, you should save your life and get in!” she exclaimed.
"B-but...the stern....engine room...everyone's...gone." Ilusha said between sobs as she was slow to get up. She didn't seem to know what was going on until she was led to the stasis pods. That's when her eyes widened as if she had came to her senses, "Stasis?! What, why?!" She said, shocked and afraid. She was hesitant to climb into it, afraid of what would happen.
Before Ilusha could make her decision, Sathia stepped forward, hugging the gorial, perhaps a little harder than was necessary though it was for her comfort as much as her colleague's. Ilusha started to cry again, hugging her back. There was pain in losing so many of the crew. It was harder for their kinds though. Others didn't understand what the herd or tribe meant. They didn't understand that in the confines of a ship like this that was what they became to each other, "When they send out a rescue ship they'll pick us up... It's like Pythion VI all over again." She was right on the verge of tears. This was terrible, but at least some others had survived. She began counting then stopped. She cocked her head to one side. She could hear a noise outside, a rhythmic metallic banging, "Is that banging from down the corridor?"
The group looked from one to another.
"One of you had a torch. Can you pass me the torch?" Sathia didn't want to go out there, but if someone else was trapped then one of them needed to. And the others had just made their way here, passing who-knows-what terrible obstacles on the way? She couldn't ask one of them to go out again... though she kinda hoped someone would volunteer.
The sobbing painfully bore into Orlenn's head, and he couldn't muster the energy to hide the frown in the circumstance. With a sigh, he turned to look at Sathia, "Doctor Demumzieth, stay here, keep people calm, and get them into those pods. Half the ship is depressurized, and gods only know how long that will last. I have a suit, and you don't. I'll check the damn corridor." He hardly waited for an answer before clicking his helmet back on and activating the seals. Hurriedly, he made his way out of the med-bay in search of the banging.
Ilusha, looking at Sathia, tears still falling down her face. She was processing what the berdikon was say and it seemed to make sense. Taking a few breaths to calm herself down, Ilusha nodded her head in agreement. She slowly took off the space suit before climbing into the pod. She would look at Sathia one last time and smile before the pod closed. Sathia smiled back. They just needed to stay here for a week or two...
Fayne & Orlenn
(Cowritten by Tesserach and Bingelly)
Fayne Freewynne could see the corridor through the grilled vent panel. The medbay, somewhere beyond. Close. She could feel the air pouring out of the vacsuit she was wearing as she pounded at the grill. The thing wasn't budging.
Not like this She thought to herself. Not after what it took to get here. She tried not to think of the tapping she'd heard on the other end of the bulkhead down near the galley. It didn't matter now. It didn't matter that she was pretty sure her hand was broken... she needed to get out of this vent.
Fayne pounded the vent one last time, feeling the pain shooting up her arm this time. "Ah!" Taking a sharp breath struggled to reposition her head in the tight confines of the vent. "We're almost there, just have to get through this..." There was no seam nothing on the inside. She tried to reposition, maybe she could use an elbow, but there was no room.
Fayne had never really been claustrophic, but in that moment she felt like there was just no room, she couldn't move, couldn't breathe...
She struck the vent again with her broken hand even knowing it would do no good, feeling the sharp sting running up her arm, bad enough this time she couldn't help the pained groan that slipped through her gritted teeth as tears welled up at the edges of her eyes. "Hello! Dr. Demumzieth! Anyone!?"
Fayne heard the heavy footfalls approach from down the corridor before coming to stop before her. "Calm down, and thank the gods we aren't in a vacuum yet." There was a small woosh before the Kiel continued, "Crawl back a bit, you sure as hells do not want to be burned right now."
Orlenn could hear a long relieved sigh from the other side of the vent. "Oh fucking shit..." Fayne exhales. "You have no idea..." She tried to back up, but found her path blocked. "I can't go any further. I've got... Specialist Wallace in here with me." She tried to look back but he'd passed out from pain back on C-deck. She only had one arm to work with because the other was trapped dragging him. "He's not moving. Just fucking do it."
"Right. I'll be careful. This will only be a minute," Orlenn answered as he started cutting through the vent. As the last bit of metal finally gave way, Orlenn unceremoniously pulled the vent cover out and let it fall to the floor with a crash. "How bad is Wallace?" he asked as he reached in to assist Fayne in extracting herself from the vents.
Fayne wriggled free of the vent, falling even more unceremoniously to the floor than the grate cover. "I don't know..." She took a moment trying to collect her breath, staring wide eyed and open mouthed at the ceiling before trying to brace with her good hand and get back to her feet. "Pretty bad." She took another deep breath. "Let's get him out."
"Yeah," Orlenn answered, "Ready when you are."
Fayne took another deep breath, collecting herself herself before peering into the vent and reaching in with her good arm. "Come on Wallace... just a bit further to medbay." With a heave she managed to move him a few inches forward, raising the question of how she dragged him all the way down here. It took Orlenn helping to heave Wallace free of the vent, his legs sliding freely onto the floor. Fayne, set her side of Wallace to the ground, turning his faceplace towards hers to check him, and just getting a glimpse of the pale, faintly blue skin beneath. She'd seen that look enough times. "Let's just get him to medbay." Pretty much all the urgency in her voice was gone though. Orlenn probably didn't need to see what she saw to know what it meant.
"I've got him," Orlenn said, lifting the man with a grunt, "Get moving." He wasn't shocked by the dead weight of the limp body and decided not to complain. He spared a glance at Fayne's hand before he got moving, but he figured that would probably be a problem for after stasis.
Fayne held onto Wallace's arm even as Orlenn lifted him, holding onto it a moment even though it was clear her held wasn't necessary. For a moment Orlenn could see glowing eyes looking at him, like Fayne intended to say something, to protest.
I brought him this far... But then she just let her arm just fall away, and she said nothing. Heading towards sickbay. She held the button on the sickbay door for Orlenn to haul Wallace inside. Is this all there is?
The Medical Bay
(Cowritten by Dyelli Beybi & Khasinkonia)
Sathia hurried over the moment the door slid open. There was a faint outwards whoosh of air - the atmosphere in the corridor was draining away, "Help me get him on a table!" She called to Orlenn, stepping over to pick up the man's legs, grunting with exertion as they laid him out under the light of an operating table, "Hold for a sec," she said, twisting off the man's helmet before worming her fingers under the neck of his uniform to check for a pulse. Nothing... there had to be more they could do! But there was no time. Not now anyway... "Lets get him into a pod. If we can get life support systems restored by a rescue team then I can take a propper look at him," she said, refusing to admit defeat. If they could just save one more person...
Vi rushed to prepare yet another pod, and began to get several more ready for if more people began to show. “We will not have long, soon!” she exclaimed.
"I know," Sathia grunted as she struggled to put Wallace into a pod. She motioned for Fayne and Orlenn to take their own, "Can you get two ready for us?" she asked Vi, "Set the programme so that when someone activates the pods they open first with a delay on the others. If there are any medical complications with reanimation we can assist."
She gave a grunt as they deposited the crewman, paused for a moment, he was probably already dead, but she wasn't willing to concede that yet, then hit the button to close it.
Nervously, Sathia paced back to the door. How much air was left? She wasn't sure. There were too many unknowns. Was the line leaking? Was there even a line at all or were they breathing the residual air in the room? Her instinct told her it would be a good idea to put herself under sooner rather than later. If there was some when if... no, when the pods were opened then even of the rescuers weren't expecting survivors they'd still have something to breathe. At least there was power here so they weren't going to freeze. She glanced over at the pods. Press the button and seal herself in, then next thing she would know would be waking up to rescue. Or if it all went wrong, meeting the ancestors in the High Trees. One or the other. She was helpless to affect the outcome. Again. "You ready Vi?" She asked, "I don't think anyone else is coming."
“Yes. I suppose it is time. In case someone else comes, we should leave a set of simple instructions with the manual for these pods so that they might be able to freeze themselves,” Vi responded as she walked to what was to be her pod.
"Ah yes," Sayhia hadn't thought of that, but it made sense, "Yes good thinking..." she trailed off, hunting for something to write with. Pens... where the hell was a pen? She glanced up as the rachni settled into her pod, "I'll see you on the other side."
Chapter One: 1,191 Years Late
(wht some theme music... on come on you guessed it
)The Fleeting Horizon
(Cowritten by The United Federation of Terrans & Dyelli Beybi)
The Fleeting Horizon had started out its life as a heavy corvette. An oversized torpedo boat for some long ended conflict. Over the years it had changed hands and purposes until it’s current role. That of a deep space salvager.
At the moment the Horizon prowled through the debris strewn field of some deserted system. Scanners pinging away as it’s crew enjoyed the brief downtime that came with no active job. It’s captain however still set at his post in the bridge. A lukewarm cup of coffee with a zero-gee friendly top balanced on an armrest. Absentmindedly sipping as he intently watched the still empty screens. Which wasn’t good. He had promised a break from contract work for his crew. He had worked then pretty hard the last few months. The promise of reliable pay from contracts often meant strict guidelines and timetables. However scavenger work was done on their own schedule. Which at this moment was lackadaisical. It also meant that every hour spent prowling these ancient space lanes was burning holes in the ship’s account.
Not that the Captain was in this business for the credits. But he needed credits to keep the ship running; and he did care about that. The chiming of the bridge doors opening saw Captain Ash Pyrrhus turn in his seat to survey the new arrival.
"Hey Captain," from the second Caeni opened her mouth you could tell she wanted something. Her dark eyes looked particularly excited as she strode onto the bridge, peering Ash's shoulder to check the navigation charts. She was wearing a blood-red top today and a dark, diagonally cut skirt that was far shorter on the left than the right. She'd want to change to do any salvage work...
"Do you remember when we were at that bar and there was that drunk old guy who said he'd seen a Federation Battleship floating out in the expanse and I'd traded him drinks for the coordinates?" she asked, "And then everyone told me I was searching for 'El Dorado' and I had to look that up and got confused because I thought they were talking about a Golden Age cartoon?" She looked at Ash expectantly, "Anyway, we're pretty close to the coordinates he gave me. I know its a long shot and even if there is a ship its probably a broken-down garbage scow, but would you be interested in taking a look to see if there's anything there? It's only one jump away."
Caeni was, for all her faults, actually a reasonably good judge of character. If she was suggesting making the detour, she clearly thought the man at the bar had seen something out in space.
“Only a jump away….” Ash snorted into his coffee. He pulled up a screen and brought up the ship’s internal messaging system, “A jump away is also a jump away from the route to the next port.” He stabbed his fingers at. A few options and then showed the results to Caeni. “Yasu found a signal in one of her…… projects. Now she won’t leave me alone.” The system displayed at least two dozen messages in the same amount of hours. The subject lines were along the line “Mysterious Signal, Interesting Signal, Please Investigate This Signal, Only One Jump Away.” With the final ones being denied visual requests because everyone knew the captain was a sucker for Yasu’s pleading, “We agreed on the route for a reason. I can’t keep diverting the ship every time you buy treasure maps off drunks or Yasu builds a new device that will find anything.”
The Captain wasn’t mad, just grousing as he brought up the nav plot on another screen. The estimated range on the bottom showed the Horizon would only barely make the next port. While Ash hadn’t been in the military for a while it’s influence was still noticeable. The man wore a dark grey, mottled jumpsuit that had gel armoured inserts over his vitals and limbs. It made his pale complexion look ghostly in the lighting of the bridge.
"Okay," Caeni conceded. That was far too easy for her. She was about to try another tack... she peered over Ash's shoulder at the charts again, "But can I ask where Yazu's signal is coming from? If it's the same place then we might be just a jump away from all being set for life. We could upgrade the bunks, maybe improve the water pressure in the shower!" Apparently her aspirations didn't extend as far as actually getting off the ship... "If I may, I can enter my coordinates in the chart and we'll see if it matches," she gave him one of her more winning smiles, "Come on, you must at least be a little curious."
“Here” Ash tapped one of the messages and shoved the display towards Caeni. Yasu’s message and the attached scans appearing clearly on the sturdy and slightly dinged screen. The Captain then returned to looking over the course and the empty scanners. Studiously, avoiding the conversation.
"Captain," Caeni was looking very excited now as she tried to get his attention back. You could hear the edge of it, creeping into the tone of her voice, "She is picking her signal up from where I want to go. I don't want to sound like I'm jumping at shadows but the old guy said ita a wreck adrift on the outskirts of the system, probably drawn in from somewhere in deep space. If it's an FCW ship, the tech onboard will be worth an Emperor's ransom. I know I'm pushing this more than I should, and its ultimately your decision, but if we leave it today, now its in a system, someone else will get there first and, if its a FCW ship, strip it bare. It's got to be worth a look."
Ash was silent then he tilted his head; pondering evident on his harsh features, “A battleship…..” A battleship from now would be a haul. A Federation one, even a shot up one, would be more then enough to fix up the ship. Let alone keep them in the black for a few months. Plus, a Federation ship had no chance of a crew; minimal risk.
Big payday. Minimal Risk. Right in his face.
He sighed before he triggered the PA, “All hands prep for transition and make ready for EV.” He busied himself with new coordinates and vectors without glancing at Caeni. “Wipe that smirk off you face.”
"Yes Sir!" Caeni saluted, replacing the smirk with a much broader smile, "We're going on a treasure hunt!" She declared gleefully.
“Since your so eager; feel free to go first. “ He waited for her to almost leave the bridge. “Oh and make sure to take Nevets with you. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the company.”
The FSS Dido
The ship was huge. The gleaming hull was pitted in places from enemy fire. Massive blasters that could have vapourised the Fleeting Horizon in a single shot lay silent, alongside the batteries of smaller guns. As they closed it became clear that the enemy shots had breached in any number of places. Presumably what had eventually silenced it, though it wasn't torn to shreds. Well placed shots from whatever had taken it down? Either that or very good luck. There was a solar array near the bridge, presumably designed for backup power. Presumably that was why Yasu had detected a signal. All these years later, the ship was still sending out a distress call...
There was a bay at the ship's nose, presumably for fighters. It's doors hung open, yawning like a huge dark maw. An inviting place for the Fleeting Horizon to put down. Inside was pitch black, though spotlights from the scavenger craft lit up a number of unlaunched fighters and a surprisingly intact looking hull. Loose objects still floated around including a number of what looked like corpses. Well mummified by now, no doubt.
"Uurgh, gross!" Caeni complained over the comms as she disembarked, "This place is going to be fully of crispy Feds, isn't it?" She had changed into her EV suit. A somewhat scrappy looking beige affair that had had more than a few patch jobs done on it over the years. It still seemed to work though...
"Nevets," she called, without waiting for a reply from one of the others, "I'm tracking the power signature we picked up earlier, try to keep up!"
The place was a labarynth. How many people had it housed? Hundeds, she imagined. She floated through it, following the signal Yasu had first detected, trying to ignore the floating corpses. This isn't a horror movie. Just a run-of-the-mill salvage job. With the dead as company.
Finally she reached a door. It opened automatically as she entered. Still power. It looked like a medical bay, though as Caeni floated through it she realised a lot of the equipment in here was unknown to her. So much had been lost when the Federation died. Perhaps they would recover some knowledge here. She floated over to a console.
"'Restore life support systems'" she read, "Don't mind if I do." She touched the button. There was a whoosh of air and Caeni was flung to the floor by artificial gravity, "Oww!" she sat up, surprised by how quickly the system had come back online. She checked the monitor on her sleeve; oxygen levels were breathable. Experimentally, she opened the visor of her helmet, taking a breath. Breathable. Well that was nice and would prolong the life of her tank.
There were a number of coffin like pods against one of the walls. Were they stasis pods? She climbed up to her feet, wandering over to the bank. Stasis pods were worth a fortune! Mostly because nobody knew how to make them and cryo pods had some really nasty side effects. She brushed the surface of one of the pods. There was a light flashing on it... why was there a light flashing on it.
Caeni took an alarmed step backwards as the pod whooshed open. There was a pause then a dark haired woman sat up, dark eyes scanning the room, "Who are you?" she demanded, "That's not a Federation uniform."
Caeni was lost for words, her eyes agog as she stared at the woman. Eventually she managed something, "you're green!" she exclaimed unhelpfully.
"And you're the colour of sand, human?" the alien ventured, before trying, "dhasath?" Caeni nodded at the latter. The alien paused, as if expecting something from Caeni, though the dhasath had no idea what to do now. Was this a... "Where's your Captain?" the alien asked, "We don't all have suits here so when you are moving things in and out of the bay you might want to use the corridor outside as an airlock. There is a leak, but it's a slow one."
Caeni reached for her comms unit, taking a step backwards, "Captain! Umm... I think you might want to get up here. There are... survivors."
