Arclight

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Tritsteel

Tritsteel

Kalise para todos!
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Posting Speed
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  3. 1-3 posts per week
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
  3. Advanced
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Primarily Prefer Male
  2. Primarily Prefer Female
  3. No Preferences
Genres
Modern, Action, Adventure, Fantasy. SCI-FI
Since the very beginning, mankind had this part of themselves that carved exploration, the discovery, the conquer of the unknown. For all his story, men and women had dared to break the established rules and walk past the horizon, sail through undiscovered seas or cross entire regions that were not mapped. But there was always a frontier that no one had ever able to cross; space. For entire centuries scientists of all places had tried again and again to no avail.

Until now. Wars are long time gone, peace reigns all over the world, and it is now the right time to take the next step. "This is NASA control, we are prep for FTL. Initiate at admiral's command." The radio chatter came from all places, making last time preparations and multiple checks in all systems of the Arclight. "Initiating FTL at admiral Abner command." Replied another voice through the comms.

Everybody on board was tight in their places. Sure they had been told they would feel nothing when the ship jumped into FTL, but still, you couldn't be able to see anyone who wasn't holding to something right now. "Order is green. Starting countdown." The voice of the second in command marked the last seconds of the ship on Mars orbit as millions of persons on earth held themselves to their seats, watching the biggest step humanity had ever dared to give. "I am so far at the edge of the seat, the chair is practically irrelevant at this point!" Exclaimed one of the men of the crew with a funny Russain accent.

"Five, four..." Everyone went silent. For a moment, it could even be sworn that the only voice talking among all humans was the second in command one. "Three, two, one..." Complete silence was made, only the mild noises of the computers and machinery could be heard, as the Commander ran his hand over the holographic panel in front of him.

The ship then disappeared from all screens, mapping systems and sights. It was nowhere to be seen, nowhere to be found. Seconds passed, but the vessel didn't reappeared in the screens. The travel was supposed to last less than a second, just a quick jump to the Earth form Mars shipyards to show its shiny hull to the press and then their journey would begin. But almost ten seconds had been passed and there was no sign of the ship.

"Arclight, this is NASA control, do you copy?" Asked a voice over the comms, receiving no response. "Arclight, are you there? Arclight? Arclight, do you copy?" All of sudden, the huge frigate appeared next to Earth, a almost three kilometer long piece of metal too close for comfort. "This is Abner. The jump failed, we are in Earth orbit, but loosing altitude rapidly." Said the commander with desperation.

"Ehhh... Stand by, Arclight, we are scrambling rescue shuttles right now..." But the operator voice was abruptly interrupted by Abner. "There's no time! Doctor Etsuke reports we've lost all power on the orbital drives." Said the admiral. "I need you to project the Arclight impact site, the in-ground situation and scramble disaster teams." Ordered the Admiral.

"I can confirm that, accord control. Loss of orbit is irreversible." Said Etsuke. "Copy that. Initial projections indicate a west-Atlantic crash zone." Announced the ground operator. "NASA control, diverse the third fleet to the west Atlantic." Ordered Abner. Besides tapping into their holographic panels like mindless robots, there was few more most of the crew could do.

"Etsuke, can we re-trigger the orbital drives?" Asked Abner as he leaned on the edge of the CIC command table in the center of the bridge, looking at all the numbers and projections that appeared in front of him. "No, the safety protocols are locking them up." Replied the doctor. "Divert all power to the jump drive. Maybe we can get out of Earth orbit." Commanded Abner. "Sir, projections are coming up... Looks to be... Tokyo. The casualties of the blast must be count to a hundred per cent." Said Accord control. "What!? That cant be..." Said Abner. "Admiral..." Tried to say the doctor. "Etsuke! Give me that jump drive. Now!" Ordered the commander. "We have to wait for them to be charged at its maximum capacity. It would be useless otherwise." Replied the doctor.

"Negative, Arclight. If you ignite that drive, there is a 95% chance the gravity well of the earth pushes the ship towards the ground. At FTL velocity no one knows what could be the damage!" Exclaimed NASA. "Ready to burn. Give me manual control." Demanded Abner. "Sir, if you do that countless people could die!" Exclaimed NASA control. "I'm well aware of that!!" Replied Abner. "Now give me control." Demanded once more the admiral. "Admiral, you have full control." Said the voice of the doctor. "Initiating jump drive in five, four..." The voice of NASA kept begging in the background. "Arclight! Abort! Abort!" Three, two... "Please, Admiral! Don't do that!" One.
 
Va stared at the ground, breathing deeply through her helmet. The voice over the intercom rang through her head and she closed her eyes tight. We're going to do it.. She thought. We're going to be the first.. Her thoughts were broken into when she heard of the failure. Her head popped up, her helmet glinting in the dim lights. Crash. Was the one word in her head. She held one hand tightly to the bar beside her and the other curled in a fist in her lap. She glanced around at the others. Do they feel fear? Are they proud to die? She dropped her gaze back to the ground. Please..drift into space.. She thought. "Hold on." Her light British accent mumbled to herself, inaudible to the others.

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'And today, we pay for our arrogance... May our children learn and don't commit the same mistakes their fathers did.'

Then came a sound, distant first, it grew loud in seconds, a deaf explosion so loud it could be heard deep in space. There was no cries, for a single instant, time and space were insignificant. The admiral had pressed the button, there was light, and then: nothing. It took just 1.47 seconds to return back from that ethereal plane, 1.47 seconds of un-calibrated, overpowered and unfocused jump-drive that could have virtually took the frigate anywhere in the universe, may that be just a few light years from Earth, or a million galaxies away. At least they weren't nailed to the Earth, beating that 95% chances of destroying their home-planet.

But that was the least of their problems right now, the acceleration and the proximity to Earth upon their FTL jump had ripped away the shields and pretty bad injuries in the hull and armor of the Arclight. "We... We need help! Fire on decks two to twelve!" Was the first memorable quote after the first FTL jump out of the solar system. "Damn... My head spins so hard..." Said another armored marine who vaguely stumbled over Va before he could get a hold of himself. "Engines one to... All of them! We are loosing power! Someone pop the hydrogen batteries!" That would be the voice of the chief engineer, trying to avoid running out of oxygen inside a vessel that probably had too many leaks right now. "Why aren't the nanite system already repairing the hull!? Were is a technician when you need one!?"
 
Va opened her eyes. Alive.. She released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and she stood, looking at the man who stumbled over her. She waited until her nerves and vision settled before she glanced at the chief engineer. "Technician? I have noo idea.." She didn't recognize any techie in the area and sighed, tapping the man who had spoke earlier. "Name?"
 
"Uh, name?" replied the other man, looking at Va and then at the chief engineer quickly. "Yeah, that may be me." Said the man, with the Combat Engineer ensign in his armor. Even after almost two thousand years of peace, those Combat Engineers could do marvels in the virtual training. "Then get those nanites going!" Ordered the chief as he also began to move some other people around so they could get the repairs going. "Weld those pipes! And someone go check the rest of the ship! Would be a real shame if the rest of the crew had gotten vented out the airlock!" Said the chief with his usual pirate-like tone and a grumpy chuckle at the end of that last sentence. "You!" Said the chief engineer looking at Va. "Don't just stay there! Recharge the oxygen levels on that fancy armor of yours and go check the rest of the ship!" Ordered him.
 
"Yes sir." Va replied, glancing around. She touched a small button on the side of her neck, waiting for the blue light on her visor to indicate her oxygen levels. *Click* It blinked. "Moving." She said, turning on her communications link and moving over to the door, slipping silently through it and starting to look around the ship. People, armored and not, where either stumbling around or knelt over on the floor, sick. She sighed. "It looks okay so far." she said into the communicator, unsure if it went through to the Chief.
 
The comms were filled with all kinds of chatter; people reporting in, some others asking for help, claiming having seen hull breaches the size of a bus, or mesh-liquid being pooled, dripping out from inside the armor pieces. It was a complete chaos, and to say someone was listening to Va scouting the place was for sure, now, someone paying attention? Less likely. "You! You there! You scouting the place!?" Asked someone with the office of medic written in blood stains all over him approached to Va.

"We aren't getting any communications from the bridge. It could be the inter-comm lines have been cut... Or worse..." Said the medic. "We need some order down here. Please, get to the bridge and... I don't know, get some help!" Asked the doctor as he returned to his healing and helping. The inter-comm lines weren't actually solid cables but a wireless network that allowed multiple and quality communications at long range, bearing in mind the ship was quite long, it was required.

But again, thinking it would be easy to get to the bridge it was a rookie mistake when just a few rooms ahead, the indicators next to a pressurized door indicated that there was no atmosphere in the next room. And sure it was no atmosphere. There was no next room! A pretty big chunk of ship had been ripped away and there was a gap of about 25 to 30 meter of sparkling wires, bent metal and not much more.

A man was standing at the edge of the gap, obviously with his good supply of oxygen in his suit, staring at the hole with his hands resting on his hips. "Hooooly cow..." Muttered the man. "One have to wonder how this was made and why the whole ship just didn't got... Cut in half or.. I don't know, crash into the Earth?" Wondered the man with a chuckle upon noticing Va. "Heading to the cockpit? I was told to go there, but if I recall the maps of the ship... I could swear this is the quicker route." Explained him looking at the non-existent route.
 
Va nodded, looking up confused at the man. "I need to check the cockpit..but I see that this is destroyed. Any other ways there?" She said in a deep sigh. There had to be another way there, if this was the quickest route. "I didn't get too good of a look at the map.." She scanned the gap again, whistling slightly at the pure size of it. "I just beg it didn't crash in Earth." She told the man.
 
"Yeah, yeah... Better than crashing into the Earth it is." Said the man shrugging. All of sudden mild sparks of blue and green could be seen coming out of all the edges of the hole, really slowly fixing and regenerating the materials and metals around the place. "Look! Seems like someone fixed the nanites!" Exclaimed the man cheerfully. "I was starting to wonder why weren't those tiny things fixing the hull..." Said him.

"Hmmm... Is still to slow..." Muttered the man, pointing out that the nanites would take a good amount of time to get that gap fixed. "Sure there are many more broken things that need to be fixed." Said him. "I guess we could try to go back and try going through the armory..." Said the man. "Or we could just try to jump the gap... I mean, is zero gravity, right? How hard could it be?"
 
Va rubbed the back of her neck, thinking. "Yeah, it does look that way doesn't it." She sighed, slightly relieved the nanites were back online, but he was right, they'd be too slow in repairing the ship. "I don't know..your argument seems valid.." She thought about it. "But what if you start to drift off?" She asked, looking up at him and away fromt the working nanites. "Because if you do, it would be a little hard to retrieve you at this moment.."
 
The man nodded. "Yeah, I guess through the armory it is then." Said him as he began to lead the way though the many hallways packed with people and wounded. So far no one seemed to badly injured, but the power was cut to most of the areas, and the damage seemed to get worse as they kept moving forwards. "For Pete's sake..." Said the man as they crossed a catwalk that was almost completely outside the ship, just in front of another huge breach on the hull. "I did it many times... But I never get used to this... Space walks, so to speak." Said him letting out a chuckle.

"That made me wonder..." Started to say the man. "If we did managed to jump out of Earth orbit... Then were are we?" Asked him as he looked at the void of the space, noticing no familiar stars, planets or pretty much anything that could help.
 
Va followed silently behind, nodding every once in a while to show she was listening. She stopped when he asked where they were, and looked out as well. "I..I don't know. It's all unfamiliar." she said quietly, then realized something. "Oh, I'm Va, by the way. You are?" She asked, holding out her hand for him to shake.
 
The man looked at her for an instant, and without hesitating or saying anything, he hugged her tightly, making a rather strange scene in a rather strange place. "A pleasure to met cha'!" Exclaimed him releasing Va. "My name is Colton Coleman! Col, Cole, Colt, even meet once some guy who got used to call me Col Col. Go figure!" Exclaimed the man with a chuckle. "Come on, enough star'ing'." Pun intended. "The Armory shouldn't be far from here. Maybe once we get to the cockpit we can go check the CIC and the bridge. Sure those guys can say us where we are at!"
 
She was caught completely off guard. "Uhh........hi." She said. She nodded. "Okay..Cole. Lead the way."
 
The path to the armory was far from being clear: boxes of cargo, drawers and shelves were all around, laying on the ground or even in the ceiling in the parts were the gravity engines simply didn't worked properly. Upon reaching the armory, both adventurers were meet with a jumpy scare when a suit, about six feet tall, built in some kind of dark gray muscle and shiny metallic carvings and pieces on the chest and other junctions such as knees, ankles, elbows and even little ones in the fingers. "Shiver me timbers!" Exclaimed Cole, giving a quick step back.

But the suit just remained in front of them, disturbingly quiet, not moving a single of those artificial gray muscles. "I... I think this thing may be empty!" Said Cole with a chuckle of relief, starting to notice people on the background working and doing some cleaning on a Armory that had been shaken like a milkshake. "Hey! You there!" Said someone working in all that mess. "You are not from here! Oh boy, I'm so glad to see someone outside here made it!" Exclaimed a boy who gas approaching Va and Cole. "How is it the rest of the ship? Is the oxygen supply stable? With all this hull breaches... Well, I guess we are lucky none of our weapons exploded!" Said the boy more cool with it than someone could expect him to be.
 
Va watched the suit and touched it. "I do believe it's empt-" A light flickered inside and she paused. "Maybe not.."
"Echo minor 6-2-4 startup complete." A deep voice eminated from the suit. "Oh, hey Va."
Va waved slightly. "Checking the systems?"
"Yeah..." The fingers in the arm flexed before the face lit up. "There we go." A man smiled and continued running through analyses.
Va rolled her eyes. "I need to get to the command bridge." She looked at Cole. "Who's that?"
"I can get you to the bridge, or lead you there." The man in the suit said. "Once I finish the checks."
 
Cole didn't took his glance away from the odd suit as he spoke to the boy, telling him about the status of the rest of the ship and how things were starting to look rather better than anyone else could have expected them to be in the first place. "Mmm.. Yeah, you can smell it... They activated the hydrogen batteries." Explained Cole to the boy. "It's oxygen... But I can avoid to dislike that humid smell..." Said him.

The chit chat quickly passed from the hydrogen batteries to the man in the odd suit as soon as he mentioned helping them getting to the bridge. It was in Cole's way to the cockpit, so it sure would be of help. "Well, we can sure use a gray, six feet tall, hulking machine to help us move forwards." Said Cole with a smile. "Everything seems in order in here... So far the ship seems quite good..." Said Cole. "Oh, I'm Colton Coleman..." Said Cole hesitating about offering the suited man a handshake or not, but finally refused to. "Don't want to be rude... But neither I want you to crush my hand!" Exclaimed Cole with a chuckle.
 
The man nodded slightly. "I am Alex." He said with a smile. He glanced at something on the helmet a moment. From the inside, data and analysis was pulled up on the screen. From the outside, it looked like he was just staring at the visor. "All checks complete!" He beamed, moving the suit over. "Seems to be working, and nice to meet you Colton." He added.

Va smiled slightly and crossed her arms loosely. "Okay..so are we ready to go?" she asked, looking between Cole and Alex. A box toppled over behind her, causing her to turn around. "Well..after I pick this up." she said as she began to place the contents back in the box. "Now are we ready?" She said as she put the box back.
 
"Well, we are now." Replied Cole with a smile. And so they kept moving forwards. The Arclight sure was a huge ship, and the further they went across the hallways and rooms, the more varied the people they found was and better was the shape of the ship. "Uhmm? Am I the only one... Hearing weird music?" Wondered Cole as indeed, music could be heard as they walked by one of the housing sections of the ship. Everyone they had found so far seemed busy or at least worried enough to be out of their rooms trying to help or just walking up and down trying to calm down, so hearing music coming out from one of the rooms was, at least now, unexpected.

"Hmmm... I think it's from this one." Said Cole. The door wasn't locked or anything, so it Cole assumed it was safe to open it without bothering anyone. But what they found inside was... Out of place to say the least; there was a thing energy field in the same door-frame keeping the gravity away and creatin Zero-G inside the room. But that wasn't the baffling part... The thing was... Well, there was a rather young man floating inside of it, curiously dancing at the rhythm of the music with a little mouse that was confused by the lack of gravity.

To add more oddity to the whole scene, the man was dressed in a couple of really tight jeans and a white and red leather jacket with a T in one of the front sides and in the back. Flying next to the retro-guy and the confused mouse, there was an ancient radio-cassette player and many other curious devices from a past era. Overall, it seemed like everything in there had come from the 80's, the 1980's. "Oh! hey there, you mecha-guys! Watcha' doin' in here?" Asked the 80's guy as he looked at them upside down.
 
Va stared at the man. "Uhhh...Checking the ship..what are you doing?" She asked, staying away from the zero-gravity.

Alex stood behind Cole and Va. "What the heck are you doing?" He asked the man at the same time as Va, slipping past the two and walking up to the edge of the zero gravity.

Va looked at Cole. "Well..that answers where the music come from.." she sighed. "But it brings a thousand more questions."
 
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