- Invitation Status
- Posting Speed
- Speed of Light
- Multiple posts per day
- 1-3 posts per day
- Writing Levels
- Adept
- Preferred Character Gender
- No Preferences
- Genres
- Scifi, Modern, size difference (mainly larger females), most things involving dragons and humans
"Emergency! Hull integrity compromised. Total hull failure imminent."
The ominous voice of the Aurora's AI called out this cataclysmic announcement over the PA system amid blaring klaxon alarms and the labored groans, creaks, and tears of the huge capital ship's hull starting to fall apart.
"All hands, abandon ship! Abandon ship!"
The hatch of Luke Pearson's escape pod began to shut, the seat restraint flipping down and locking to keep him anchored safely in place. There were supposed to be two people in each pod to allow better chances for the occupants of one which became separated from the rest to survive until they could rejoin the other survivors. Though the seat across from him was empty, Luke wasn't exactly alone in the pod. His AI companion Ada, whom he had built and programmed himself and then worked with continuously for over a year, had remotely interfaced with the life pod's on-board computer even before Luke had reached the bottom of the ladder, triggering the launch sequence manually to save a few precious seconds.
"No time to wait for Anders, Chief," she said, referring to Luke's presently absent designated life pod partner, a young xenobiologist named Marcus Anders. The voice coming from the earpiece implant that contained her sounding surprisingly emotional and scared, which contrasted her normally calm, direct, plain-speaking attitude. "Hopefully he found another pod, there's plenty of extras, but we gotta go now!"
Just as the thick transparisteel roof hatch closed and sealed, flames could be seen blasting against the view port from the other side, from inside the corridor that Luke had been running through seconds before, burning hot enough that the aluminum of the ladder leading down the tube to the roof of the pod was already melting and dripping onto the view port.
"Launch in five seconds, hang onto your guts!" Ada said, now sounding impatient and quite anxious on top of the fear that was still present. It seemed that the flames were going to compromise the hatch, but before that could happen Luke was yanked up against his restraints as the life pod, riding on rails and accelerated by electromagnets like a big, short-barreled railgun, was ejected out and away from the Aurora's lower hull. That's when some of the extent of the damage she'd taken became apparent, visible through that dorsal view port.
"We're clear, deploying heat shields..." Ada said before shifting visual scanning upwards and briefly going silent in shock. "Holy shit, what the hell happened to the Aurora!?" Most of the Alterra capital ship's huge 1,280 meter-long hull looked just fine, but just forward of the amidships drive core bulge was a gaping hole that looked big enough to comfortably park a tramp freighter in, and it looked like it might go all the way through the beam of the ship. It was hard to even comprehend what could possibly be capable of inflicting such monstrous damage to a ship like Aurora, but whatever it was would have to be mind-bogglingly powerful, far beyond anything yet encountered by humans anywhere in the known galaxy.
Luke still wouldn't have the faintest clue what was going on. The Aurora was brand new, on her maiden voyage in fact, and after 13 months of travel she had nearly reached the location of her mission: the construction site of a remote phasegate to greatly streamline and hasten FTL jumps made by other ships moving out farther exploring in the Ariadne Arm of the Milky Way. Everything had been going just fine, and today they were going to be performing a simple gravity assist around the planet currently beneath them to adjust their course as well as save time and fuel, as Luke had watched the ship perform almost a hundred times by now. Then this morning the young inventor who was serving as Aurora's Technical Chief was surprised by the feeling of a massive impact, then the smell of smoke, alarms, and Captain James "Hot Dog" Hollister giving the abandon ship order. Even as life pod five was descending towards the surface of the planet they had been performing a gravity assist around, secondary explosions rippled along the Aurora's hull, tearing off large chunks of her outer hull and flinging them out away from the ship, adding to the rapidly growing debris field. Other life pods were launching, but several of them could be seen being hit by flying debris and being crushed or broken open, which could only spell certain doom for their unfortunate occupants.
Something hard hit Luke's pod as it began slowing in the atmosphere, setting off alarms and knocking the fire extinguisher and a system access panel free from the walls. Both of them bounced around dangerously inside for a few seconds, as the Aurora's ventral hull began glowing orange and burning from the friction of entering the planet's atmosphere. Then there was another impact and the last thing Luke saw was the access plate bounce off the opposite wall and shoot directly at his face.
Once again, some time later he would reawaken to alarms and smoke, but this time there was also a lot of fire in the opposite corner of the pod and he'd feel like he was the not so proud owner of the worst headache in the history of existence. Thankfully the fire extinguisher was on the floor in front of him now and looked intact, but the fact that Ada wasn't shouting anything into his ear about waking up or the fire or anything at all was more than a bit worrying. It could have been the head injury, but the pod also felt somewhat like it was gently rocking and swaying back and forth beneath Luke's feet. Save for the initial difficulty that would cause for him standing up and remaining standing, that sensation would be all but forgotten in lieu of putting out the fire before he was cooked alive and the life pod became his coffin.
@Soverign @The Wanderer @Ur Degaton
The ominous voice of the Aurora's AI called out this cataclysmic announcement over the PA system amid blaring klaxon alarms and the labored groans, creaks, and tears of the huge capital ship's hull starting to fall apart.
"All hands, abandon ship! Abandon ship!"
The hatch of Luke Pearson's escape pod began to shut, the seat restraint flipping down and locking to keep him anchored safely in place. There were supposed to be two people in each pod to allow better chances for the occupants of one which became separated from the rest to survive until they could rejoin the other survivors. Though the seat across from him was empty, Luke wasn't exactly alone in the pod. His AI companion Ada, whom he had built and programmed himself and then worked with continuously for over a year, had remotely interfaced with the life pod's on-board computer even before Luke had reached the bottom of the ladder, triggering the launch sequence manually to save a few precious seconds.
"No time to wait for Anders, Chief," she said, referring to Luke's presently absent designated life pod partner, a young xenobiologist named Marcus Anders. The voice coming from the earpiece implant that contained her sounding surprisingly emotional and scared, which contrasted her normally calm, direct, plain-speaking attitude. "Hopefully he found another pod, there's plenty of extras, but we gotta go now!"
Just as the thick transparisteel roof hatch closed and sealed, flames could be seen blasting against the view port from the other side, from inside the corridor that Luke had been running through seconds before, burning hot enough that the aluminum of the ladder leading down the tube to the roof of the pod was already melting and dripping onto the view port.
"Launch in five seconds, hang onto your guts!" Ada said, now sounding impatient and quite anxious on top of the fear that was still present. It seemed that the flames were going to compromise the hatch, but before that could happen Luke was yanked up against his restraints as the life pod, riding on rails and accelerated by electromagnets like a big, short-barreled railgun, was ejected out and away from the Aurora's lower hull. That's when some of the extent of the damage she'd taken became apparent, visible through that dorsal view port.
"We're clear, deploying heat shields..." Ada said before shifting visual scanning upwards and briefly going silent in shock. "Holy shit, what the hell happened to the Aurora!?" Most of the Alterra capital ship's huge 1,280 meter-long hull looked just fine, but just forward of the amidships drive core bulge was a gaping hole that looked big enough to comfortably park a tramp freighter in, and it looked like it might go all the way through the beam of the ship. It was hard to even comprehend what could possibly be capable of inflicting such monstrous damage to a ship like Aurora, but whatever it was would have to be mind-bogglingly powerful, far beyond anything yet encountered by humans anywhere in the known galaxy.
Luke still wouldn't have the faintest clue what was going on. The Aurora was brand new, on her maiden voyage in fact, and after 13 months of travel she had nearly reached the location of her mission: the construction site of a remote phasegate to greatly streamline and hasten FTL jumps made by other ships moving out farther exploring in the Ariadne Arm of the Milky Way. Everything had been going just fine, and today they were going to be performing a simple gravity assist around the planet currently beneath them to adjust their course as well as save time and fuel, as Luke had watched the ship perform almost a hundred times by now. Then this morning the young inventor who was serving as Aurora's Technical Chief was surprised by the feeling of a massive impact, then the smell of smoke, alarms, and Captain James "Hot Dog" Hollister giving the abandon ship order. Even as life pod five was descending towards the surface of the planet they had been performing a gravity assist around, secondary explosions rippled along the Aurora's hull, tearing off large chunks of her outer hull and flinging them out away from the ship, adding to the rapidly growing debris field. Other life pods were launching, but several of them could be seen being hit by flying debris and being crushed or broken open, which could only spell certain doom for their unfortunate occupants.
Something hard hit Luke's pod as it began slowing in the atmosphere, setting off alarms and knocking the fire extinguisher and a system access panel free from the walls. Both of them bounced around dangerously inside for a few seconds, as the Aurora's ventral hull began glowing orange and burning from the friction of entering the planet's atmosphere. Then there was another impact and the last thing Luke saw was the access plate bounce off the opposite wall and shoot directly at his face.
Once again, some time later he would reawaken to alarms and smoke, but this time there was also a lot of fire in the opposite corner of the pod and he'd feel like he was the not so proud owner of the worst headache in the history of existence. Thankfully the fire extinguisher was on the floor in front of him now and looked intact, but the fact that Ada wasn't shouting anything into his ear about waking up or the fire or anything at all was more than a bit worrying. It could have been the head injury, but the pod also felt somewhat like it was gently rocking and swaying back and forth beneath Luke's feet. Save for the initial difficulty that would cause for him standing up and remaining standing, that sensation would be all but forgotten in lieu of putting out the fire before he was cooked alive and the life pod became his coffin.
@Soverign @The Wanderer @Ur Degaton
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