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+--- Thread: Out of bounds (/showthread.php?tid=160386)
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 05-12-2018
Day 46 - Location unknown II
![[Image: UZRIpIF.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/UZRIpIF.gif)
According to the Apahanta's clock, it was the very early morning of the 46th day since the Apahanta blindjumped out of Sirius. Twelve hours had passed since the battleship left the black hole system and reached this new, unknown area. The hull breaches were fixed by placing makeshift amor plates. After hours of hard work, Ezrael returned to the bridge, playing with the thought of simply dropping the helmet he just took off, but instead he held it until he had reached the three command chairs, placing it on the seat of the counselor. That one wouldn't be used for a while anyway.
"You should get some rest, Captain," Sherry sounded, having remained at the conn for the entire time. She sat in her seat, watching Ezrael freeing himself from the EVA-suit, carefully dropping it on the floor before he sat down on the Captain's seat with a sigh of relief. "In a bed, I mean."
"I'll do that soon enough anyway. What's the status?" he asked her, sitting in the chair like a drop of water, almost laying in it, his bum barely on the edge of the seat and legs stretched out.
"We have confirmation we are most likely not in Sirius. None of the stars or nebulae detected by the long range sensors were identified. We have no data on this region of space." Moving a strand of her hair behind her ear with a finger, she continued while her eyes scanned his body. "Since the Apahanta's weapons are offline entirely, I launched the Handsome Rover to collect a few smaller ice asteroids and ordered the KSRs to process the ice into clean water. There seems to be some alien bacteria living in the ice field, but we should be able to get rid of it."
"Maybe we find some of these scrubbies here. A bit of laughing gas would be funny right now," Ezrael lamely commented. "Let's hope the alien bacteria is not related to the nomads. I remember how during my Core times someone died in the cargo bay of the Apahanta because he wanted to touch the nomadic remains. The bacteria ate him alive within the next days and we had a containment breach on that deck."
"I was also talking with Chief Engineer Isley. I think it is most wise for us to get the engines running again, since we are very likely to run out of fuel very soon. Maybe a few days, maybe a week or two, then we're dry."
"Wait, how did that happen? I thought we had enough fuel for months!?" Ezrael asked her, obviously surprised by those news.
"Not anymore. We had to increase the power output of the Apahanta in the recent days for all the preparations,
tests and manufactoring as well as for the AGS Shields and the engines to bring us into the gravity well. Additional to that, one of the fuel tanks blew up and ripped a hole into the ship, I know you saw that already."
"We covered it with one wooden plank so far, yeah," the Captain joked, looking to the side to face Sherry. "Damn, so we jumped from one problem into the next one."
"It could be worse, Captain. We haven't explored the system yet. While the Apahanta is currently barely manouverable, we can use the Handsome Rover to scout ahead. There is a likelyhood for us to find more valuable materials in space, looking at the gas giant and its moons over there. The ice field is probably a product of it or of one of the moons, as two of them are white and icy. Since there is also a volcanic moon, we might find some non-frozen asteroids we can mine. I mean, something must have turned that moon into a volcanic world in first place. Most likely a giant asteroid."
"I agree. Anything else?"
"Not yet. Shields are at 5%, so merely enough to keep radiation away. Isley will need to disconnect the AGS Shield modification so we can use the shields in a more regular way again. Generally I'd advise him to revert all changes he did to the ship as we are very unlikely to experience such a situation ever again. We can use the spare materials for other things."
Ezrael took a deep breath. "Could we build a solar array to power our ship in the meantime and to fill our batteries?"
She smirked at him. "We could technically craft solar panels, yes, but they'd be incredibly inefficient. We can't power a battleship with solar energy alone. "
"But the Handsome Rover. And with the Rover, we might be able to collect more materials," the Captain explained.
Sherry shook her head slightly. "We could do that, yes. But in the end it doesn't make a big difference at all, maybe a few minutes. We need to set priorities here, Captain. The moment the energy is out, we're dead. So we need to be as efficient as possible with the resources we have in the area we are in. I really would like to explore the system first. There are many gas clouds in the distance, a few hundred clicks away. If they contain valuable gases, we could at least produce our own fuel. Everything else isn't a problem anymore from that point. We have a water source here, we have a hydroponic garden with so many potatoes and other plants, we won't starve. We have cryo pods in the worst case. So my advise for now is to scout with the Rover, repair the engines to cruise-ability, get shields and weapons back online and then everything else. We need fuel. And protection."
He kept his head moving, yawning, shaking his head every now and then. Not in disagreement or anything but merely to stay awake. He was horribly tired. "Good, I agree with that. I'll get some bed now. All of the bed."
"By the way, Captain, before you leave," Sherry said, interrupting him from standing up to get to his room. He slowly sat down again, appropiately this time. "We might be the first people to have discovered this and the black hole system. I thought you might want to name both systems, at least for our database."
That was actually a nice idea, Ezrael thought, rubbing his left cheek with his hand. "I'll think of something nifty. Tomorrow at breakfast, okay? Think of something yourself as well."
Sherry nodded and Ezrael build up his body once more. Ignoring the fact that his EVA-suit was still on the ground, he just stepped over it and headed for his room, leaving the bridge. The Commander however remained seated, leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.
"You should get some rest, Captain," Sherry sounded, having remained at the conn for the entire time. She sat in her seat, watching Ezrael freeing himself from the EVA-suit, carefully dropping it on the floor before he sat down on the Captain's seat with a sigh of relief. "In a bed, I mean."
"I'll do that soon enough anyway. What's the status?" he asked her, sitting in the chair like a drop of water, almost laying in it, his bum barely on the edge of the seat and legs stretched out.
"We have confirmation we are most likely not in Sirius. None of the stars or nebulae detected by the long range sensors were identified. We have no data on this region of space." Moving a strand of her hair behind her ear with a finger, she continued while her eyes scanned his body. "Since the Apahanta's weapons are offline entirely, I launched the Handsome Rover to collect a few smaller ice asteroids and ordered the KSRs to process the ice into clean water. There seems to be some alien bacteria living in the ice field, but we should be able to get rid of it."
"Maybe we find some of these scrubbies here. A bit of laughing gas would be funny right now," Ezrael lamely commented. "Let's hope the alien bacteria is not related to the nomads. I remember how during my Core times someone died in the cargo bay of the Apahanta because he wanted to touch the nomadic remains. The bacteria ate him alive within the next days and we had a containment breach on that deck."
"I was also talking with Chief Engineer Isley. I think it is most wise for us to get the engines running again, since we are very likely to run out of fuel very soon. Maybe a few days, maybe a week or two, then we're dry."
"Wait, how did that happen? I thought we had enough fuel for months!?" Ezrael asked her, obviously surprised by those news.
"Not anymore. We had to increase the power output of the Apahanta in the recent days for all the preparations,
tests and manufactoring as well as for the AGS Shields and the engines to bring us into the gravity well. Additional to that, one of the fuel tanks blew up and ripped a hole into the ship, I know you saw that already."
"We covered it with one wooden plank so far, yeah," the Captain joked, looking to the side to face Sherry. "Damn, so we jumped from one problem into the next one."
"It could be worse, Captain. We haven't explored the system yet. While the Apahanta is currently barely manouverable, we can use the Handsome Rover to scout ahead. There is a likelyhood for us to find more valuable materials in space, looking at the gas giant and its moons over there. The ice field is probably a product of it or of one of the moons, as two of them are white and icy. Since there is also a volcanic moon, we might find some non-frozen asteroids we can mine. I mean, something must have turned that moon into a volcanic world in first place. Most likely a giant asteroid."
"I agree. Anything else?"
"Not yet. Shields are at 5%, so merely enough to keep radiation away. Isley will need to disconnect the AGS Shield modification so we can use the shields in a more regular way again. Generally I'd advise him to revert all changes he did to the ship as we are very unlikely to experience such a situation ever again. We can use the spare materials for other things."
Ezrael took a deep breath. "Could we build a solar array to power our ship in the meantime and to fill our batteries?"
She smirked at him. "We could technically craft solar panels, yes, but they'd be incredibly inefficient. We can't power a battleship with solar energy alone. "
"But the Handsome Rover. And with the Rover, we might be able to collect more materials," the Captain explained.
Sherry shook her head slightly. "We could do that, yes. But in the end it doesn't make a big difference at all, maybe a few minutes. We need to set priorities here, Captain. The moment the energy is out, we're dead. So we need to be as efficient as possible with the resources we have in the area we are in. I really would like to explore the system first. There are many gas clouds in the distance, a few hundred clicks away. If they contain valuable gases, we could at least produce our own fuel. Everything else isn't a problem anymore from that point. We have a water source here, we have a hydroponic garden with so many potatoes and other plants, we won't starve. We have cryo pods in the worst case. So my advise for now is to scout with the Rover, repair the engines to cruise-ability, get shields and weapons back online and then everything else. We need fuel. And protection."
He kept his head moving, yawning, shaking his head every now and then. Not in disagreement or anything but merely to stay awake. He was horribly tired. "Good, I agree with that. I'll get some bed now. All of the bed."
"By the way, Captain, before you leave," Sherry said, interrupting him from standing up to get to his room. He slowly sat down again, appropiately this time. "We might be the first people to have discovered this and the black hole system. I thought you might want to name both systems, at least for our database."
That was actually a nice idea, Ezrael thought, rubbing his left cheek with his hand. "I'll think of something nifty. Tomorrow at breakfast, okay? Think of something yourself as well."
Sherry nodded and Ezrael build up his body once more. Ignoring the fact that his EVA-suit was still on the ground, he just stepped over it and headed for his room, leaving the bridge. The Commander however remained seated, leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 05-14-2018
Day 46 - Location unknown II
![[Image: t4B4s3m.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/t4B4s3m.gif)
Having slept a few hours, Ezrael found some time to get food from the canteen. A KSR prepared a belated breakfast for the Captain, a fruit salad, a glass of milk, a glass of tea and a bun with a few toppings. And a bowl of cereals. It just so happened that in the moment Ezrael lead his glass of milk to his mouth, Leon silently entered the room.
"Ez!"
An interesting sight, Leon thought as he moved to his side, then deciding to sit down infront of him while Ezrael looked down at his body, milk splattered all over his suit. He smirked at the Captain, seeing he had had the best timing. In the meantime, Ezrael grabbed the napkins from the table, beginning to remove the milk from where it shouldn't have ended up. "Now I know how Maren must have felt," Ezrael commented, then looked up for a moment. "Did you want to pilfer some popsicles again or why are you in the canteen at this time of day?"
"You weren't here during breakfast, so I just came to take a look at you, and here you are, milk all over your body," the surferboy explained, smirking widely. "This system is beautiful."
"You saw it?"
"You think the crew isn't curious about where we are? I put the main screen's output on our PDAs so we know what happens out there. Commander Aguilar is currently controlling the Rover to scout, now that we have a few water supplies on the ship." The Chief Engineer smiled at his Captain, reaching over the table to grab the glass of tea, stealing it from him.
"One would assume you were too busy doing your job," Ezrael sounded while cleaning his legs, looked down most of the time.
"Oh, come on, we didn't suffer that much damage. A few hull breaches, yes, but not nearly as horrible as from VS-0074. We're almost done with the repairs, the reversion of all the modifications we made will take much more time. That will however be way easier once we are at a shipyard again." Leon took a sip of the tea. It was without sugar, literally just water with taste.
"I'll make sure we moor with the first shipyard we see here," Ezrael just returned. "You do know things are not over yet, right? You seem a lot more happy than usual."
"Well, we're not dead, right? I was expecting worse. And to be honest, the night before we jumped was awesome. I-"
"Did she finally let you-"
"... no, and that's not the topic. I wanted to say I'm very happy about this change of setting. Staring at that black hole for one and a half month was frustrating. Now we have some really nice blue clouds all around us, ice asteroids and there are planets out there. Probably all dead, and we can't make use of their resources since the Apahanta can't enter an atmosphere in the current condition, but the chances are good we find useful gas in those clouds to create fuel."
Ezrael put the napkins away. They were soaked in his milk. "You stole my tea."
Leon smirked at him, hold his glass of tea in his hands. "No. I make sure you don't spill the tea over you as well."
"No need to, I'm a grown up man,"
"You just spilled milk all over yourself, though."
"And that only because you surprised me!" Ezrael grabbed his bowl of cereals, carefully eyeing Leon, who merely smirked at his Captain. "It's nice to see you smiling again, Leon. I'm glad you're here with us."
The blonde shook his head slightly. "I guess you're really lucky, yeah. I think I'd be extremely frustrated if I would be at Curacao right now without any news about you and the Apahanta. I do wonder how Nancy is keeping up..."
"Ez!"
An interesting sight, Leon thought as he moved to his side, then deciding to sit down infront of him while Ezrael looked down at his body, milk splattered all over his suit. He smirked at the Captain, seeing he had had the best timing. In the meantime, Ezrael grabbed the napkins from the table, beginning to remove the milk from where it shouldn't have ended up. "Now I know how Maren must have felt," Ezrael commented, then looked up for a moment. "Did you want to pilfer some popsicles again or why are you in the canteen at this time of day?"
"You weren't here during breakfast, so I just came to take a look at you, and here you are, milk all over your body," the surferboy explained, smirking widely. "This system is beautiful."
"You saw it?"
"You think the crew isn't curious about where we are? I put the main screen's output on our PDAs so we know what happens out there. Commander Aguilar is currently controlling the Rover to scout, now that we have a few water supplies on the ship." The Chief Engineer smiled at his Captain, reaching over the table to grab the glass of tea, stealing it from him.
"One would assume you were too busy doing your job," Ezrael sounded while cleaning his legs, looked down most of the time.
"Oh, come on, we didn't suffer that much damage. A few hull breaches, yes, but not nearly as horrible as from VS-0074. We're almost done with the repairs, the reversion of all the modifications we made will take much more time. That will however be way easier once we are at a shipyard again." Leon took a sip of the tea. It was without sugar, literally just water with taste.
"I'll make sure we moor with the first shipyard we see here," Ezrael just returned. "You do know things are not over yet, right? You seem a lot more happy than usual."
"Well, we're not dead, right? I was expecting worse. And to be honest, the night before we jumped was awesome. I-"
"Did she finally let you-"
"... no, and that's not the topic. I wanted to say I'm very happy about this change of setting. Staring at that black hole for one and a half month was frustrating. Now we have some really nice blue clouds all around us, ice asteroids and there are planets out there. Probably all dead, and we can't make use of their resources since the Apahanta can't enter an atmosphere in the current condition, but the chances are good we find useful gas in those clouds to create fuel."
Ezrael put the napkins away. They were soaked in his milk. "You stole my tea."
Leon smirked at him, hold his glass of tea in his hands. "No. I make sure you don't spill the tea over you as well."
"No need to, I'm a grown up man,"
"You just spilled milk all over yourself, though."
"And that only because you surprised me!" Ezrael grabbed his bowl of cereals, carefully eyeing Leon, who merely smirked at his Captain. "It's nice to see you smiling again, Leon. I'm glad you're here with us."
The blonde shook his head slightly. "I guess you're really lucky, yeah. I think I'd be extremely frustrated if I would be at Curacao right now without any news about you and the Apahanta. I do wonder how Nancy is keeping up..."
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 05-14-2018
Day 46 - Location unknown II
![[Image: aZlYgJ4.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/aZlYgJ4.gif)
An hour later, Ezrael had returned to the bridge. Other than usual, Sherry was not sitting in her seat but at one of the consoles at the rear of the bridge. Moving to her side, Ezrael placed his gloved hand on her shoulder, taking a look at what she was doing. The displays infront of her were showing various bits of the Handsome Rover's camera footage. "I asked the Apahanta when you were in bed the last time. Turns out you haven't been since we are here. I thought the Commander was a bit more careful when it comes to her own body and psyche," Ezrael sounded quietly, smiling at the display.
"The Commander is fine, Captain. I took some eye drops for now and will sleep like a rock once I reach the bed," Sherry replied, pointing at the various displays. "The Rover is back and we got those nice scans. Sadly, it is not much, we'll need to analyze the data first, but the optical scans are pretty nice to look at."
"The sun is a blue giant, but the light intensity is rather weak. It should be way higher. Any explanations for this?"
"Only theories, Captain. Since the only thing between the planets and the sun are those little blue particles, I would assume they absorb light. Since we see the background stars, I would assume those particles are attracted by this sun or something else in this system. It could mean there are more things hidden here, just not visible to us. Especially the gas pockets are thick and jam the sensors of the Rover. I sent it through the cloud but the sensor efficiency was reduced to zero. Something we so far have only experienced in Omicron Minor at the destroyed nomad jump gate," Commander Aguilar explained, exhaling slightly. Thoughtful she was holding her chin with thumb and index finger.
"So you think it comes from this installation there?"
Exhaling with a voiceless giggle, Sherry threw a glance at him. He was focused on the display. Realizing he didn't joke, she followed his eyes, not being able to see what he saw. "What installation? Where?"
"Apahanta, put display five's footage part on the main screen, please." Both of them turned around and Ezrael made a few steps closer to the railing of the command stage, leaning slightly against it with his arms as he reached it while his eyes were glued to the main screen.
![[Image: SbhODLY.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/SbhODLY.gif)
"To the left of the ice moon, do you see that? That's not a cloud formation, there is something in that spot. That is not natural."
Sherry stood up as well. Was he kidding her? He sounded serious. Determined. Moving to his side, she tried to find the spot he was talking about. The interferences caused by lens flares and particles made it pretty difficult. It looked more like a blurry mess. "I don't see it, Ezrael."
"Apahanta, please hold the footage at this frame, freeze it. Add a reverted black layer with 75% intensity to the current frame."
![[Image: suLluM2.png]](https://i.imgur.com/suLluM2.png)
"Apahanta, zoom in on the central left area of the frame, please."
![[Image: HbyLOEA.png]](https://i.imgur.com/HbyLOEA.png)
"What the hell is that?" Sherry sounded, now seeing it as well, having narrowed her eyes a bit. "Apahanta, apply non-optimized zoom on the central left area of the already zoomed-in frame. Add another inverse black layer, same intensity as the last one. Increase saturation by 150%."
![[Image: giiwakm.png]](https://i.imgur.com/giiwakm.png)
Sherry turned her head to the side, facing Ezrael, who merely lowered his eyes, demotivated. Then she glanced at the picture again. "It might be inactive, Ezrael. It doesn't mean there are nomads out there."
She heard him sighing heavily as he raised his head again. "Doesn't matter. Reassign all resources we have into our defensive systems. Make sure the cloak works as soon as possible, no matter the fuel cost. I'll launch the Rover again and get closer to that thing."
"The Commander is fine, Captain. I took some eye drops for now and will sleep like a rock once I reach the bed," Sherry replied, pointing at the various displays. "The Rover is back and we got those nice scans. Sadly, it is not much, we'll need to analyze the data first, but the optical scans are pretty nice to look at."
![[+]](/forums/images/collapse_collapsed.png "[+]")
Displays![[Image: b15HS0h.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/b15HS0h.gif)
![[Image: tVybXZB.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/tVybXZB.gif)
![[Image: HQp0QgL.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/HQp0QgL.gif)
![[Image: jRVH4OD.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/jRVH4OD.gif)
"The sun is a blue giant, but the light intensity is rather weak. It should be way higher. Any explanations for this?"
"Only theories, Captain. Since the only thing between the planets and the sun are those little blue particles, I would assume they absorb light. Since we see the background stars, I would assume those particles are attracted by this sun or something else in this system. It could mean there are more things hidden here, just not visible to us. Especially the gas pockets are thick and jam the sensors of the Rover. I sent it through the cloud but the sensor efficiency was reduced to zero. Something we so far have only experienced in Omicron Minor at the destroyed nomad jump gate," Commander Aguilar explained, exhaling slightly. Thoughtful she was holding her chin with thumb and index finger.
"So you think it comes from this installation there?"
Exhaling with a voiceless giggle, Sherry threw a glance at him. He was focused on the display. Realizing he didn't joke, she followed his eyes, not being able to see what he saw. "What installation? Where?"
"Apahanta, put display five's footage part on the main screen, please." Both of them turned around and Ezrael made a few steps closer to the railing of the command stage, leaning slightly against it with his arms as he reached it while his eyes were glued to the main screen.
"To the left of the ice moon, do you see that? That's not a cloud formation, there is something in that spot. That is not natural."
Sherry stood up as well. Was he kidding her? He sounded serious. Determined. Moving to his side, she tried to find the spot he was talking about. The interferences caused by lens flares and particles made it pretty difficult. It looked more like a blurry mess. "I don't see it, Ezrael."
"Apahanta, please hold the footage at this frame, freeze it. Add a reverted black layer with 75% intensity to the current frame."
"Apahanta, zoom in on the central left area of the frame, please."
"What the hell is that?" Sherry sounded, now seeing it as well, having narrowed her eyes a bit. "Apahanta, apply non-optimized zoom on the central left area of the already zoomed-in frame. Add another inverse black layer, same intensity as the last one. Increase saturation by 150%."
Sherry turned her head to the side, facing Ezrael, who merely lowered his eyes, demotivated. Then she glanced at the picture again. "It might be inactive, Ezrael. It doesn't mean there are nomads out there."
She heard him sighing heavily as he raised his head again. "Doesn't matter. Reassign all resources we have into our defensive systems. Make sure the cloak works as soon as possible, no matter the fuel cost. I'll launch the Rover again and get closer to that thing."
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 05-14-2018
Day 46 - Location unknown II
![[Image: TUlat4C.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/TUlat4C.gif)
Staring at the main screen, Ezrael sat in the Captain's seat, controlling the Handsome Rover with a PDA on his lap. The main screen showed the direct footage from the little drone, and Ezrael did not seem to like the view. From one moment to the next, the system's beauty was flawed by the presence of this... whatever this was. Surely not a space casino, he thought. It was something Maren would have said, out of nowhere. With space cats.
There was silence on the bridge. Ezrael was the only human around. The consoles were crewed with Kishiro Service Robots at this point, since nobody was required to be at the bridge right now. The majority of the crew was helping Leon with the reversion of the modifications for the blind jump, while Sherry was supposed to be sleeping. To Ezrael's surprise, she entered the bridge again, still awake. Obviously.
"Are those the things Core declared as power nodes?" she asked, moving to her seat while eyeing the main screen.
"You should be in bed," Ezrael merely replied, staring at his PDA, which was showing the cockpit view of the Rover.
"We can play this game over and over again, Captain, but you will end up the same way as I do when I am in your position, so just answer my question."
Opening his mouth, Ezrael looked up and over to her. "It looks like it. I was checking my database already, we know those things from Omicron Delta, Iota and Major. Maren would kill me if she knew I still have my archive," he mumbled. "Apahanta, frame freeze, please."
![[Image: cygnJN8.png]](https://i.imgur.com/cygnJN8.png)
"Apahanta, zoom in on the artificial construct, please. Increase saturation and add an inverted black layer with 100% intensity."
![[Image: XH9dx7A.png]](https://i.imgur.com/XH9dx7A.png)
"I'd say that is what we know already. Since we don't know whether these things are merely remnants of the Daam K'vosh or constructs by the Nomads based on those remains, this either means we are in a system the Daam K'vosh used to be in, or the Nomads are here. So far we didn't see anything roaming around here. We're all alone." He looked at his PDA again. "I wouldn't mind if it'd stay this way."
"Or the Daam K'vosh are still here," Sherry added, smirking at him for a moment. "For all we know, they are no longer in Sirius. Maybe they are here, though." She leaned back in her seat, releasing a sigh while watching the main screen. "There is a gate in the center. I guess those power nodes are powering it?"
"There is no activity coming from that construct. Nothing. Admittedly, I didn't get closer to that thing. I don't want it to jump online and tell the Nomads we are here, you know."
"Would it be bad, Ezrael?"
Hesitantly, he looked up. First there was a glance at her from the corner of his eyes, then he slowly faced her. "I doubt they will come here and help us finding our way back home."
She kept staring at him, with her typical neutral countenance. Something about it was extremely uncomfortable. "No." For another few seconds, she stared at him, remaining silent, until she finally faced the main screen again. Ezrael however looked at the floor infront of him. The mood was incredibly awkward.
"You do have friends among them, Ezrael. That much I do know."
"Their definition of friendship is different from ours. Let's assume there are K'Hara out there and they find us. Yes, they might not fire upon us, that is the kind of friendship I negotiated about. We do not attack the Nomads anymore or interfere with their plans in any way, and in return, they ignore us. That is the deal. However, each time you make a deal with them, you will have to pay a very high price, Sherry."
"What price might that be, Ezrael? And do you think it is worse than the death of all of us?" Sherry asked him, giving him a lopsided look from her seat.
"All we need is material to produce fuel, that will boost our survivability by months. If we don't find anything in this system, okay, then we try to use the gate. Before that I won't get close to that thing, neither with the Rover nor with the Apahanta. Do you understand?"
She exhaled audibly. "At some point it would be nice if you would explain this all to me, Ezrael."
Looking down at his PDA again, he made the Rover take a turn. "Crew and ship are better protected if they don't know about those things. Ignorance is their best shield, and so it should be for you as well, Sherry. So don't talk about such things ever again, Commander. That is an order."
Unsatisfied, she averted her eyes from him. She had been willing to blindly trust him all the time, but even in the face of death he was not willing to share this secret with her. It was irking her. She knew already so much, merely by sitting next to him on bridge. Yet he never explained certain events...
There was silence on the bridge. Ezrael was the only human around. The consoles were crewed with Kishiro Service Robots at this point, since nobody was required to be at the bridge right now. The majority of the crew was helping Leon with the reversion of the modifications for the blind jump, while Sherry was supposed to be sleeping. To Ezrael's surprise, she entered the bridge again, still awake. Obviously.
"Are those the things Core declared as power nodes?" she asked, moving to her seat while eyeing the main screen.
"You should be in bed," Ezrael merely replied, staring at his PDA, which was showing the cockpit view of the Rover.
"We can play this game over and over again, Captain, but you will end up the same way as I do when I am in your position, so just answer my question."
Opening his mouth, Ezrael looked up and over to her. "It looks like it. I was checking my database already, we know those things from Omicron Delta, Iota and Major. Maren would kill me if she knew I still have my archive," he mumbled. "Apahanta, frame freeze, please."
"Apahanta, zoom in on the artificial construct, please. Increase saturation and add an inverted black layer with 100% intensity."
"I'd say that is what we know already. Since we don't know whether these things are merely remnants of the Daam K'vosh or constructs by the Nomads based on those remains, this either means we are in a system the Daam K'vosh used to be in, or the Nomads are here. So far we didn't see anything roaming around here. We're all alone." He looked at his PDA again. "I wouldn't mind if it'd stay this way."
"Or the Daam K'vosh are still here," Sherry added, smirking at him for a moment. "For all we know, they are no longer in Sirius. Maybe they are here, though." She leaned back in her seat, releasing a sigh while watching the main screen. "There is a gate in the center. I guess those power nodes are powering it?"
"There is no activity coming from that construct. Nothing. Admittedly, I didn't get closer to that thing. I don't want it to jump online and tell the Nomads we are here, you know."
"Would it be bad, Ezrael?"
Hesitantly, he looked up. First there was a glance at her from the corner of his eyes, then he slowly faced her. "I doubt they will come here and help us finding our way back home."
She kept staring at him, with her typical neutral countenance. Something about it was extremely uncomfortable. "No." For another few seconds, she stared at him, remaining silent, until she finally faced the main screen again. Ezrael however looked at the floor infront of him. The mood was incredibly awkward.
"You do have friends among them, Ezrael. That much I do know."
"Their definition of friendship is different from ours. Let's assume there are K'Hara out there and they find us. Yes, they might not fire upon us, that is the kind of friendship I negotiated about. We do not attack the Nomads anymore or interfere with their plans in any way, and in return, they ignore us. That is the deal. However, each time you make a deal with them, you will have to pay a very high price, Sherry."
"What price might that be, Ezrael? And do you think it is worse than the death of all of us?" Sherry asked him, giving him a lopsided look from her seat.
"All we need is material to produce fuel, that will boost our survivability by months. If we don't find anything in this system, okay, then we try to use the gate. Before that I won't get close to that thing, neither with the Rover nor with the Apahanta. Do you understand?"
She exhaled audibly. "At some point it would be nice if you would explain this all to me, Ezrael."
Looking down at his PDA again, he made the Rover take a turn. "Crew and ship are better protected if they don't know about those things. Ignorance is their best shield, and so it should be for you as well, Sherry. So don't talk about such things ever again, Commander. That is an order."
Unsatisfied, she averted her eyes from him. She had been willing to blindly trust him all the time, but even in the face of death he was not willing to share this secret with her. It was irking her. She knew already so much, merely by sitting next to him on bridge. Yet he never explained certain events...
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 05-15-2018
Day 49 - Location unknown II
![[Image: Q6zPhNn.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/Q6zPhNn.gif)
Days had passed. It was the evening of the 49th day aboard the Apahanta. The blue giant was illuminating the observation deck slightly. There were no lights on, just the sunshine from outside. It was a weird view Sherry got as she entered the observation deck with small steps. Ezrael sat there on a bench, half of his body in the sunshine, the other hidden in the shadow. Her eyes first had to get used to the strong contrast of the light values until the darkness of the room started to turn into a darkblue blur. The light of the blue giant turned less and less intensive. Inhaling deeply, Sherry looked down at herself for a moment, checking whether she was looking alright. Exhaling, she moved closer to the Captain.
Ezrael heard someone approaching, lowering his look slightly. The train of thought he had was vanishing with the sound of Sherry's boots hitting the metal floor, even with her steps being rather silent. The engine was offline. There were almost no microvibrations, no rumbling sound. A sound Ezrael loved and missed, yet now that the sound was gone, his senses were sharpened.
"We will run out of energy soon, Ezrael." No further steps. She was standing behind his bench, her hands infront of her, one holding the fingers of the other. As usual, her countenance was of neutrality, yet there was a certain melancholy to it.
Ezrael kept looking ahead. He knew she was right. He knew it himself. The Handsome Rover did not find anything they could use to produce fuel. The fuel the ship had would only suffice for a few weeks in idle mode, and very few days if they would use the cloak and the engines. It was about time Ezrael made another heavy decision. Once more it was in his hands to decide their fate. Hesitating, he stared out of the windows, opening his mouth in an attempt to say something, just to close it again as he did not find the right words. He wanted to say the right thing, but there was chaos in his head.
The silence was awkward and hard to bear. At some point, Ezrael did not try anymore and just remained quiet, keeping his mouth shut. It was only when he felt the imaginary warmth of Sherry's gloved hand on his shoulder that the silence found an end. "If you would at least talk to me, Ezrael, I would know how I can help you."
"Sit down for a moment," he said. His voice was quiet but imperative. Something she did not hear often from him. So she let go of his shoulders and moved around the bench, intending to sit down. "On my lap," he added as her rear was already aiming for the place next to him. She stopped right away, straightening up again just to eye him for a moment. He was still facing the window ahead of them, not even eyeing her for a second. It was uncomfortable, the way he acted, but she did as he said, moving infront of him to place her rear on his lap. To her surprise, he opened his legs as she moved to sit, effectively having placed her bum at his crotch, sitting infront of him instead of on his lap. She opened her mouth to ask something but remained silent as his arms started wrapping around her torso, sliding under her arms. One arm was at her belly, the other at her chest, a hand cupping one of her breasts. To her, it did not feel sexual at all, merely surprising. There was a pull from his arms, pulling her back against his upper body. She realized he was hugging her.
For a few seconds, nothing happened. The situation however felt less awkward now, for some reason. Not being able to see his expression, Sherry looked out of the window, seeing a blue, dark and creepy system. "Are you alright, Ezrael?"
"I would like to tell you a story," he began, his forehead slightly pressing against her back. She wished neither of them was wearing Apahanta-suits, as they always had the same temperature as their bodies, no matter the environmental influences. She wanted to feel the warmth of his body, but there was only the pressure. "I came to realization that you are already too caught in the web, Sherry. I don't doubt your loyalty to me and the ship, because there would have been plenty of moments you could have betrayed me already. You never did, although the repercussions of betraying me would have been far less dangerous than for defecting from the Core." There was a short break, and his hand at her breast was squeezing her slightly. "I realized that if you decided to leave the Apahanta one way or the other, you would most likely die anyway. So I want to tell you why. I guess you know it already anyway. I do know you did give yourself access to all security channels of the ship, except the one of my room. You're such a damn good woman."
The hand at her belly was moving down. The thick material of her suit was taking away the gentle pressure of his hands. There was nothing sensual about it to her. And she knew why he did this. "Tell me about it. All of it."
There was additional pressure on his hand at her legs as she placed hers onto his, guiding it slightly, then keeping his hand in place. "I told you the story about my reasons to join the Core, to make the Apahanta-contract with Nodtviet. Simple revenge for the death of my parents. Like in a cheesy movie. Killing the bad guys, the Nomads. Sombra didn't like it at all when I told her I would leave Curacao, but of course she tried to make it look like I was going to do something heroical. At some point, I probably believed it myself. Fighting the Nomads, bringing peace to the Omicrons and Sirius." The squeeze stopped, yet his hand was still holding her, lifting slightly what they held. "When I realized the Core was not intending to find a final solution to the Nomads, I wanted to bail out. The Core-Zoner-Conflict made it easier to find people to join me, and having slept with many women at Yaren was helpful, too, to know them better. To know who I can trust. You were one of those women. Lorena as well. But there was another women who I learned to know well. Sort of."
"Maren," Sherry said quietly, using her free hand to stroke his leg slightly. More of a gesture than an actual touch. The way he held her was slowly becoming comfortable.
"Maren was ideal to help me, as she was an outsider. A seemingly neutral one, unprofessional, slightly weird but charismatic enough to catch my attention. So she helped me getting in touch with the Lane Hackers. With Yoshida. Charming person, sadly an evil one. A magnificent bastard. As charismatic as Nodtviet, but a dozen times more clever. He helped us getting the system override software we used to keep the Core from using the Apahanta's killswitch, and in return, we had to deliver a message to the VWA, some Bundschuh sect of Rheinland. Maren did this for me. She shot down a VWA ship, as intended. A woman with neuropathic hands that never had a professional fighting training fought off a Bundschuh rebel. I should have realized she was lying to me all the time already back then. Instead, I started to fall in love with her." The pull of his arms on her was increasing, and Ezrael placed his lips on her back for a moment. Her perfume was nice. Slightly fruity, something he loved. "After three months of a happy living with her on my home ship, the Hoffnungsschimmer, we had a fatal meeting on our ship. Thallia was there, Noah Xonnel was there, Leon and Nancy were there as well. Leon and Nancy disappeared to make love for the first time with each other in the engine room, Noah started to feel sick and left for the toilet. After a while, Thallia went to look after him. Then Maren. Then I. I saw something strange happening there in the bathroom. Thallia and Noah were like frozen, laying at the bottom of a toilet stall. It was the day I learned she was somehow... altered. One of her hands was modified by a nomadic artifact. Her other hand was modified by one of her cybernetic experiments on Cambridge. Long story short, Maren knew about it. She did not tell me. I left the bathroom, trying to wrap my head around it. Maren hinted why she knew about her nomadic alteration. An artifact Thallia found on a planet in Omicron Zeta. Thanks to that artifact, she was ignored by the Nomads. They liked her, matter of factly. Maren liked her very much either. It was that day when I realized I was living with an infectee for three months. Maren, at that time already the woman I was having my longest relationship with, was the host of a nomad incubus she called Sans Valeur. Valery."
Sherry remained quiet, yet her hand at his leg stopped moving, instead she held his leg with her flat hand. Ezrael inhaled deeply and his chest slightly pushed against her back. She was able to feel him breathing. His hand between her legs moved a little bit for a second, then it stopped again. "Maren thought I was going to kill her, and god damn, I should have done it. Her incubus was weak back then, a baby. Her powers were limited. Today, she is a one-man-army with a range of twohundred meters. Telepathy, telekinesis, illusions, she has any means to kill everything she wants. At least that is what she said. But I did not kill her. We made Noah leave my ship, and Maren collapsed next to me, dropping on the floor, looking up at me. Begging me to make it quick. With watery eyes. But she never did any harm to me. She loved me, and she was fighting to keep my affection. So I told her I loved her, no matter what she is. And like this I won a second friend. Sans Valeur, which I then started to call Valery. And this was where things started to get out of my hands. Noah was telling Auxesia he suspects Maren to be infected. Auxesia told the Lane Hackers and the Bretonian Government. It was the reason why we went to their flagship for a screening. Of course with a trick. Valery temporarily left Maren's body to fix the health issues of Nancy, staying in her body for that time. This allowed us to trick Auxesia and their scanners. All they saw was Maren's cardamine-altered body. We tricked them. We tricked the chaotic lawfuls. They informed Bretonia and the Hackers. Bretonia gave me green light for moving the Apahanta in Bretonia around. Yoshida of the Hackers however was not willing to believe. He thought he was helping someone under nomadic influence to get their hand on a battleship, and he demanded a mania-interrogation of me. Nothing else would clear my reputation for them."
Once more he made a break and both of them remained silent. The palm of his hand at her chest was making little circular movements. He realized what he was doing and stopped. "Of course you knew she was infected. You knew it was her when we I rushed to the Apahanta to intercept something in Omicron Kappa. The MND snub, Unschuld, which was doing something with the Commune. You remember it, I know that. You also accessed the medical scans of every single time Maren entered the Apahanta and ended up in the decontamination chamber. The scanners there can detect incubi. You knew it all the time and tried to hide it, to remain protected. You are an incredibly smart woman, really. And I start to understand what you meant when you said you killed someone of the crew." Both of his hands were grabbing her roughly in the places they were holding her. She gasped in surprise, feeling instantly uncomfortable. "To protect the crew, you did something. I don't know how you did it, but you killed Lindsay Camillo. It took me a while to reconstruct it. You deleted the recordings of her counseling sessions with Sombra, made it look like Lindsay had deleted them. But I let the Apahanta reconstruct the audio parts based on what was audible in the adjacent rooms. Sombra did something stupid. She trusted Lindsay would stick to her oath and not use any information she received from Sombra to do something. Sombra told her about Maren being infected. Lindsay tried to play it cool but started to panic, believing her Captain was under nomadic influence. She wanted to return to Bretonia, I guess, telling everyone on the Apahanta she would just take a few days off. But she never reached Bretonia."
The way his hand squeezed her breast was more than uncomfortable. It hurt, even with the suit protecting her. His fingers were drilling into her flesh. "Yes," she admitted, not showing any signs of pain in her voice. "I took the Camara I bought from Isley, told Lindsay I wanted to come with her and then shot her little shuttle in Omega-41." She gulped, inhaling deeply. "If I had not interfered, she would have contacted Kaze Dagon or Admiral McIntyre. She would have told them about Maren, and possibly about you helping her. They would have trapped you and you would stay in prison or something, and Maren would have been killed."
She heard him breathing audibly. Adrenaline started to rush through her veins, and under the skin-tight Apahanta-suit was nothing but goosebumps. Ezrael's grip loosened slightly and he let go of her breast, raising his other hand as well, placing both loosely on her thighs, left and right. "I know. And now I wonder, Sherry. Is it loyalty to me? Or did you all of this merely because you know Maren is out there. Are you protecting me and refusing your own command because you know if I die, Maren will come and take this ship and kill everyone who is under my protection? You know you are caught in this web. You can't leave because you would be killed if you did. You can't get rid of me because if I die, Maren will clean up. That is why you never wanted this ship under your own command."
Ezrael had his eyes closed. His forehead was still leaned against her back. Sherry was not emitting the slightest sound, sitting there between his legs, with his hands on her thighs while staring unfocused out of the window. With each second of her silence, Ezrael's heart was beating faster and louder. No words, no sounds apart from heartbeating. Not only his, but also hers. Even Ezrael found it unnerving, to have her so close to him but remaining quiet. "Say something."
But she remained quiet.
"Say something, now!"
But she remained quiet.
Releasing his anger, he pushed her roughly forward, with enough force to make her reach the window. She caught herself, not falling to the floor but pushing her hands against the window. Ezrael stood up, moving towards her. Forcefully he turned her front towards himself, just to be met with Sherry's desperate eyes, watery and about to release the tears. His hand aimed for her neck, grabbing it ungently, pushing. He was furious, yet she was not defending herself. He knew she could. Why was she not!? With the sound of rage in his voice, he pushed her to the side, causing her to fall to the floor. Shaking his head, he looked out of the window. "The worst thing about this is the fact you did me a favor killing that poor woman. I can't think of a scenario we could have prevented her from leaving the ship and informing Bretonia. If I was her, I would have done the same."
There was a desperate frown on his face. He felt horrible, and then he turned towards Sherry, who lay on the floor, not moving an inch. She lay there, her face halfway covered by her hair. Her body was turned towards the floor, her head however lay on the side, a cheek against the metal grid ground. The view was incredibly uncomfortable. She just lay there, like a puppet. Ezrael exhaled annoyed, silently wondering what to do now. The anger was slowly fading as he watched her laying there on the floor, and instead he started to feel regrets. What if he was wrong? What was wrong about her actions anyway? Maren was the evil one, not her. Yet he just hurt her. He had never hurt Maren, though.
Minutes passed. She was still there, on the floor. Gasping, Ezrael finally reacted, moving over to her and dropping on his knees, grabbing her to pick her up. Wrapping his arms around her torso, he lifted her slightly onto his thighs. "Say something, please," he said quietly to her, yet she refused. Her body was relaxed, he was able to move her easily without any resistance. Making it himself more comfortable, he moved to sit on his bum, legs stretched out and Sherry's body infront of him, facing him while her legs were on the side. "Say something, Sherry."
But she remained silent.
Ezrael heard someone approaching, lowering his look slightly. The train of thought he had was vanishing with the sound of Sherry's boots hitting the metal floor, even with her steps being rather silent. The engine was offline. There were almost no microvibrations, no rumbling sound. A sound Ezrael loved and missed, yet now that the sound was gone, his senses were sharpened.
"We will run out of energy soon, Ezrael." No further steps. She was standing behind his bench, her hands infront of her, one holding the fingers of the other. As usual, her countenance was of neutrality, yet there was a certain melancholy to it.
Ezrael kept looking ahead. He knew she was right. He knew it himself. The Handsome Rover did not find anything they could use to produce fuel. The fuel the ship had would only suffice for a few weeks in idle mode, and very few days if they would use the cloak and the engines. It was about time Ezrael made another heavy decision. Once more it was in his hands to decide their fate. Hesitating, he stared out of the windows, opening his mouth in an attempt to say something, just to close it again as he did not find the right words. He wanted to say the right thing, but there was chaos in his head.
The silence was awkward and hard to bear. At some point, Ezrael did not try anymore and just remained quiet, keeping his mouth shut. It was only when he felt the imaginary warmth of Sherry's gloved hand on his shoulder that the silence found an end. "If you would at least talk to me, Ezrael, I would know how I can help you."
"Sit down for a moment," he said. His voice was quiet but imperative. Something she did not hear often from him. So she let go of his shoulders and moved around the bench, intending to sit down. "On my lap," he added as her rear was already aiming for the place next to him. She stopped right away, straightening up again just to eye him for a moment. He was still facing the window ahead of them, not even eyeing her for a second. It was uncomfortable, the way he acted, but she did as he said, moving infront of him to place her rear on his lap. To her surprise, he opened his legs as she moved to sit, effectively having placed her bum at his crotch, sitting infront of him instead of on his lap. She opened her mouth to ask something but remained silent as his arms started wrapping around her torso, sliding under her arms. One arm was at her belly, the other at her chest, a hand cupping one of her breasts. To her, it did not feel sexual at all, merely surprising. There was a pull from his arms, pulling her back against his upper body. She realized he was hugging her.
For a few seconds, nothing happened. The situation however felt less awkward now, for some reason. Not being able to see his expression, Sherry looked out of the window, seeing a blue, dark and creepy system. "Are you alright, Ezrael?"
"I would like to tell you a story," he began, his forehead slightly pressing against her back. She wished neither of them was wearing Apahanta-suits, as they always had the same temperature as their bodies, no matter the environmental influences. She wanted to feel the warmth of his body, but there was only the pressure. "I came to realization that you are already too caught in the web, Sherry. I don't doubt your loyalty to me and the ship, because there would have been plenty of moments you could have betrayed me already. You never did, although the repercussions of betraying me would have been far less dangerous than for defecting from the Core." There was a short break, and his hand at her breast was squeezing her slightly. "I realized that if you decided to leave the Apahanta one way or the other, you would most likely die anyway. So I want to tell you why. I guess you know it already anyway. I do know you did give yourself access to all security channels of the ship, except the one of my room. You're such a damn good woman."
The hand at her belly was moving down. The thick material of her suit was taking away the gentle pressure of his hands. There was nothing sensual about it to her. And she knew why he did this. "Tell me about it. All of it."
There was additional pressure on his hand at her legs as she placed hers onto his, guiding it slightly, then keeping his hand in place. "I told you the story about my reasons to join the Core, to make the Apahanta-contract with Nodtviet. Simple revenge for the death of my parents. Like in a cheesy movie. Killing the bad guys, the Nomads. Sombra didn't like it at all when I told her I would leave Curacao, but of course she tried to make it look like I was going to do something heroical. At some point, I probably believed it myself. Fighting the Nomads, bringing peace to the Omicrons and Sirius." The squeeze stopped, yet his hand was still holding her, lifting slightly what they held. "When I realized the Core was not intending to find a final solution to the Nomads, I wanted to bail out. The Core-Zoner-Conflict made it easier to find people to join me, and having slept with many women at Yaren was helpful, too, to know them better. To know who I can trust. You were one of those women. Lorena as well. But there was another women who I learned to know well. Sort of."
"Maren," Sherry said quietly, using her free hand to stroke his leg slightly. More of a gesture than an actual touch. The way he held her was slowly becoming comfortable.
"Maren was ideal to help me, as she was an outsider. A seemingly neutral one, unprofessional, slightly weird but charismatic enough to catch my attention. So she helped me getting in touch with the Lane Hackers. With Yoshida. Charming person, sadly an evil one. A magnificent bastard. As charismatic as Nodtviet, but a dozen times more clever. He helped us getting the system override software we used to keep the Core from using the Apahanta's killswitch, and in return, we had to deliver a message to the VWA, some Bundschuh sect of Rheinland. Maren did this for me. She shot down a VWA ship, as intended. A woman with neuropathic hands that never had a professional fighting training fought off a Bundschuh rebel. I should have realized she was lying to me all the time already back then. Instead, I started to fall in love with her." The pull of his arms on her was increasing, and Ezrael placed his lips on her back for a moment. Her perfume was nice. Slightly fruity, something he loved. "After three months of a happy living with her on my home ship, the Hoffnungsschimmer, we had a fatal meeting on our ship. Thallia was there, Noah Xonnel was there, Leon and Nancy were there as well. Leon and Nancy disappeared to make love for the first time with each other in the engine room, Noah started to feel sick and left for the toilet. After a while, Thallia went to look after him. Then Maren. Then I. I saw something strange happening there in the bathroom. Thallia and Noah were like frozen, laying at the bottom of a toilet stall. It was the day I learned she was somehow... altered. One of her hands was modified by a nomadic artifact. Her other hand was modified by one of her cybernetic experiments on Cambridge. Long story short, Maren knew about it. She did not tell me. I left the bathroom, trying to wrap my head around it. Maren hinted why she knew about her nomadic alteration. An artifact Thallia found on a planet in Omicron Zeta. Thanks to that artifact, she was ignored by the Nomads. They liked her, matter of factly. Maren liked her very much either. It was that day when I realized I was living with an infectee for three months. Maren, at that time already the woman I was having my longest relationship with, was the host of a nomad incubus she called Sans Valeur. Valery."
Sherry remained quiet, yet her hand at his leg stopped moving, instead she held his leg with her flat hand. Ezrael inhaled deeply and his chest slightly pushed against her back. She was able to feel him breathing. His hand between her legs moved a little bit for a second, then it stopped again. "Maren thought I was going to kill her, and god damn, I should have done it. Her incubus was weak back then, a baby. Her powers were limited. Today, she is a one-man-army with a range of twohundred meters. Telepathy, telekinesis, illusions, she has any means to kill everything she wants. At least that is what she said. But I did not kill her. We made Noah leave my ship, and Maren collapsed next to me, dropping on the floor, looking up at me. Begging me to make it quick. With watery eyes. But she never did any harm to me. She loved me, and she was fighting to keep my affection. So I told her I loved her, no matter what she is. And like this I won a second friend. Sans Valeur, which I then started to call Valery. And this was where things started to get out of my hands. Noah was telling Auxesia he suspects Maren to be infected. Auxesia told the Lane Hackers and the Bretonian Government. It was the reason why we went to their flagship for a screening. Of course with a trick. Valery temporarily left Maren's body to fix the health issues of Nancy, staying in her body for that time. This allowed us to trick Auxesia and their scanners. All they saw was Maren's cardamine-altered body. We tricked them. We tricked the chaotic lawfuls. They informed Bretonia and the Hackers. Bretonia gave me green light for moving the Apahanta in Bretonia around. Yoshida of the Hackers however was not willing to believe. He thought he was helping someone under nomadic influence to get their hand on a battleship, and he demanded a mania-interrogation of me. Nothing else would clear my reputation for them."
Once more he made a break and both of them remained silent. The palm of his hand at her chest was making little circular movements. He realized what he was doing and stopped. "Of course you knew she was infected. You knew it was her when we I rushed to the Apahanta to intercept something in Omicron Kappa. The MND snub, Unschuld, which was doing something with the Commune. You remember it, I know that. You also accessed the medical scans of every single time Maren entered the Apahanta and ended up in the decontamination chamber. The scanners there can detect incubi. You knew it all the time and tried to hide it, to remain protected. You are an incredibly smart woman, really. And I start to understand what you meant when you said you killed someone of the crew." Both of his hands were grabbing her roughly in the places they were holding her. She gasped in surprise, feeling instantly uncomfortable. "To protect the crew, you did something. I don't know how you did it, but you killed Lindsay Camillo. It took me a while to reconstruct it. You deleted the recordings of her counseling sessions with Sombra, made it look like Lindsay had deleted them. But I let the Apahanta reconstruct the audio parts based on what was audible in the adjacent rooms. Sombra did something stupid. She trusted Lindsay would stick to her oath and not use any information she received from Sombra to do something. Sombra told her about Maren being infected. Lindsay tried to play it cool but started to panic, believing her Captain was under nomadic influence. She wanted to return to Bretonia, I guess, telling everyone on the Apahanta she would just take a few days off. But she never reached Bretonia."
The way his hand squeezed her breast was more than uncomfortable. It hurt, even with the suit protecting her. His fingers were drilling into her flesh. "Yes," she admitted, not showing any signs of pain in her voice. "I took the Camara I bought from Isley, told Lindsay I wanted to come with her and then shot her little shuttle in Omega-41." She gulped, inhaling deeply. "If I had not interfered, she would have contacted Kaze Dagon or Admiral McIntyre. She would have told them about Maren, and possibly about you helping her. They would have trapped you and you would stay in prison or something, and Maren would have been killed."
She heard him breathing audibly. Adrenaline started to rush through her veins, and under the skin-tight Apahanta-suit was nothing but goosebumps. Ezrael's grip loosened slightly and he let go of her breast, raising his other hand as well, placing both loosely on her thighs, left and right. "I know. And now I wonder, Sherry. Is it loyalty to me? Or did you all of this merely because you know Maren is out there. Are you protecting me and refusing your own command because you know if I die, Maren will come and take this ship and kill everyone who is under my protection? You know you are caught in this web. You can't leave because you would be killed if you did. You can't get rid of me because if I die, Maren will clean up. That is why you never wanted this ship under your own command."
Ezrael had his eyes closed. His forehead was still leaned against her back. Sherry was not emitting the slightest sound, sitting there between his legs, with his hands on her thighs while staring unfocused out of the window. With each second of her silence, Ezrael's heart was beating faster and louder. No words, no sounds apart from heartbeating. Not only his, but also hers. Even Ezrael found it unnerving, to have her so close to him but remaining quiet. "Say something."
But she remained quiet.
"Say something, now!"
But she remained quiet.
Releasing his anger, he pushed her roughly forward, with enough force to make her reach the window. She caught herself, not falling to the floor but pushing her hands against the window. Ezrael stood up, moving towards her. Forcefully he turned her front towards himself, just to be met with Sherry's desperate eyes, watery and about to release the tears. His hand aimed for her neck, grabbing it ungently, pushing. He was furious, yet she was not defending herself. He knew she could. Why was she not!? With the sound of rage in his voice, he pushed her to the side, causing her to fall to the floor. Shaking his head, he looked out of the window. "The worst thing about this is the fact you did me a favor killing that poor woman. I can't think of a scenario we could have prevented her from leaving the ship and informing Bretonia. If I was her, I would have done the same."
There was a desperate frown on his face. He felt horrible, and then he turned towards Sherry, who lay on the floor, not moving an inch. She lay there, her face halfway covered by her hair. Her body was turned towards the floor, her head however lay on the side, a cheek against the metal grid ground. The view was incredibly uncomfortable. She just lay there, like a puppet. Ezrael exhaled annoyed, silently wondering what to do now. The anger was slowly fading as he watched her laying there on the floor, and instead he started to feel regrets. What if he was wrong? What was wrong about her actions anyway? Maren was the evil one, not her. Yet he just hurt her. He had never hurt Maren, though.
Minutes passed. She was still there, on the floor. Gasping, Ezrael finally reacted, moving over to her and dropping on his knees, grabbing her to pick her up. Wrapping his arms around her torso, he lifted her slightly onto his thighs. "Say something, please," he said quietly to her, yet she refused. Her body was relaxed, he was able to move her easily without any resistance. Making it himself more comfortable, he moved to sit on his bum, legs stretched out and Sherry's body infront of him, facing him while her legs were on the side. "Say something, Sherry."
But she remained silent.
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 05-16-2018
Day 50 - Location unknown II
![[Image: 0FQMlPk.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/0FQMlPk.gif)
Ezrael opened his eyes. His back hurt, and he realized why as he recognized where he was. It was weird to have Sherry hugging him. They were still at the observation deck, still on the metal grid floor. At some point he must have fallen asleep. How awkward. He looked down at himself. Sherry had her head at his chest, her arms were slung around his neck. Her eyes were open. "Apahanta, please tell me what time it is according to your clock."
"It is 02:04 AM, Captain," the synthethic female voice returned. Ezrael placed his head back on the floor. It was certainly uncomfortable to lay like this. With her.
"I shouldn't have hurt you, I am sorry," Ezrael said quietly, placing a hand on her back, stroking her slightly.
"My own fault," Sherry returned in a neutral manner. "I am fine, though."
The blue light from outside was calming. At least in this moment. All anger was gone, Now there was only regret. They remained like this for a few moments until Ezrael broke the silence again. "You should go to bed."
"No," she said. It was just as uncomfortable to lay there with him as for him. The observation deck was not made for people to lay on the ground. "When you accused me of all those things, I saw no way to dismiss your claims. Your logic is flawed at some points, but I had no idea how to react when you were mad at me." She looked to the side, having her cheek pressed against his chest. "I could point out the flaws now. But I think your trust in me is damaged, knowing you know about all the actions I did behind your back. Spying on Maren. Spying on the crew. Killing Lindsay, our own counselor. I deserve more pain than what you caused to me moments ago."
Able to swallow some stressed noises as she build up her body, sitting down on Ezrael's lap while he was still laying on the floor, she leaned slightly forward, looking down at his eyes. "I am loyal to you, Ezrael. Not because of fear for the consequences. That is not loyalty, that would be tyranny. You're not a tyrant. I am loyal to you because you are a good man. Because you helped me get rid of the Core. You helped us getting ignored by the Nomads. You showed me places I would never even have dreamed about visiting. I am loyal to you because you are treating your crew well. You accepted the crew with all their flaws. So did we accept our captain."
She bent over further, one hand on his torso to support her position, the other hand cupping his cheek. It irked her how he looked at her. His expression was hard to read. He merely looked up at her, then at her hand as it approached his cheek. "I wish there was a way to convince you. To prove it. Really."
"Yes, that would be good."
Disappointed, she averted her eyes for a moment. There was nothing she was able to do. Resigning, she merely lowered her upper body on his and placed her head next to his, facing him. Laying with him like that for another few moments, she remembered the initial reason she wanted to see him. "We will run out of energy soon."
"I know. And Leon prepared the cloaking device. We will leave this system today."
That came as a surprise, Sherry thought. He was hesitant to approach the gate, but now he was clear about it. "What changed your mind?"
"We can survive this or die trying," Ezrael explained, thinking it was obvious they were out of options. The only valuable resources were located on those moons, and they didn't have the equipment to reach their surfaces, neither with the Apahanta nor with the Rover. "Get some sleep, in your room. At 1200 we will start moving."
"It is 02:04 AM, Captain," the synthethic female voice returned. Ezrael placed his head back on the floor. It was certainly uncomfortable to lay like this. With her.
"I shouldn't have hurt you, I am sorry," Ezrael said quietly, placing a hand on her back, stroking her slightly.
"My own fault," Sherry returned in a neutral manner. "I am fine, though."
The blue light from outside was calming. At least in this moment. All anger was gone, Now there was only regret. They remained like this for a few moments until Ezrael broke the silence again. "You should go to bed."
"No," she said. It was just as uncomfortable to lay there with him as for him. The observation deck was not made for people to lay on the ground. "When you accused me of all those things, I saw no way to dismiss your claims. Your logic is flawed at some points, but I had no idea how to react when you were mad at me." She looked to the side, having her cheek pressed against his chest. "I could point out the flaws now. But I think your trust in me is damaged, knowing you know about all the actions I did behind your back. Spying on Maren. Spying on the crew. Killing Lindsay, our own counselor. I deserve more pain than what you caused to me moments ago."
Able to swallow some stressed noises as she build up her body, sitting down on Ezrael's lap while he was still laying on the floor, she leaned slightly forward, looking down at his eyes. "I am loyal to you, Ezrael. Not because of fear for the consequences. That is not loyalty, that would be tyranny. You're not a tyrant. I am loyal to you because you are a good man. Because you helped me get rid of the Core. You helped us getting ignored by the Nomads. You showed me places I would never even have dreamed about visiting. I am loyal to you because you are treating your crew well. You accepted the crew with all their flaws. So did we accept our captain."
She bent over further, one hand on his torso to support her position, the other hand cupping his cheek. It irked her how he looked at her. His expression was hard to read. He merely looked up at her, then at her hand as it approached his cheek. "I wish there was a way to convince you. To prove it. Really."
"Yes, that would be good."
Disappointed, she averted her eyes for a moment. There was nothing she was able to do. Resigning, she merely lowered her upper body on his and placed her head next to his, facing him. Laying with him like that for another few moments, she remembered the initial reason she wanted to see him. "We will run out of energy soon."
"I know. And Leon prepared the cloaking device. We will leave this system today."
That came as a surprise, Sherry thought. He was hesitant to approach the gate, but now he was clear about it. "What changed your mind?"
"We can survive this or die trying," Ezrael explained, thinking it was obvious they were out of options. The only valuable resources were located on those moons, and they didn't have the equipment to reach their surfaces, neither with the Apahanta nor with the Rover. "Get some sleep, in your room. At 1200 we will start moving."
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 05-16-2018
Day 50 - Location unknown II
![[Image: vfGNv5w.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/vfGNv5w.gif)
Once more the Apahanta and her crew were facing a leap of faith. The mood was tense. This was different. It was not like the jump from the black hole to this system. This time, it was not depending on luck. This time, it was depending on Nomads. And their creators. Ezrael stood at the railing of the commaning stage, his hands grabbing the rail tightly while he stared at the main screen. The Apahanta was approaching the gate construction, and other than before, it was active. Ezrael figured the presence of an APM ship could be the reason, or the jump drive, or the cruise engine. There was enough technology aboard the ship that was not originating from mankind.
This was creepy, Ezrael felt. For a moment, he looked around. Sherry sat in her seat, behind him, while two other bridge officers were present at their stations. The other three human crew members were in the engine room, doing their jobs.
"Cloak is charged, ten seconds until we are entirely invisible," Sherry sounded. The timing was well. With engine kill the Mako headed for the gate entrance, slowing down as the ship was infront of it.
Ezrael swallowed. This was not an ordinary jump gate. This thing had three power nodes connected to it.
![[Image: qhA7gEV.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/qhA7gEV.gif)
"Initiate jump gate sequence. The same way we used the nomad gates in Sirius," Ezrael ordered, his eyes glued on the shining monster ahead of them. Cloaked, all photons emitted were bent to avoid the Apahanta and then return to their normal course. The ship was invisible. Yet Ezrael knew perfectly well if Nomads were out there, they would feel the presence of humans.
The ship got closer and closer, and it felt like time was passing in slow-motion. From all they knew, those gates were many multiple times more powerful than their human equivalents. Even to this point mankind did not know where exactly Omicron Iota, Omicron Major and Omicron Psi were located. Each of those systems had unique traits uncommon to regular space. Leading experts even claimed Omicron Psi was not part of Sirius, or even of truespace.
Particles, unknown energies formed multiple rings infront of the cloaked ship.
"Fortune favors the bold, they say. I guess we'll find out about that..."
The Apahanta's speed was increasing drastically as the gate opened a rift in subspace. Was it subspace, even? It looked different than the regular jump hole tunnels. Maybe this was a fourth space, next to truespace, hyperspace and subspace.
Ezrael started to count the seconds. 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
...
Thirty seconds were passing. The Apahanta reached the end of the jump tunnel.
![[Image: r9VUAzO.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/r9VUAzO.gif)
This was creepy, Ezrael felt. For a moment, he looked around. Sherry sat in her seat, behind him, while two other bridge officers were present at their stations. The other three human crew members were in the engine room, doing their jobs.
"Cloak is charged, ten seconds until we are entirely invisible," Sherry sounded. The timing was well. With engine kill the Mako headed for the gate entrance, slowing down as the ship was infront of it.
Ezrael swallowed. This was not an ordinary jump gate. This thing had three power nodes connected to it.
"Initiate jump gate sequence. The same way we used the nomad gates in Sirius," Ezrael ordered, his eyes glued on the shining monster ahead of them. Cloaked, all photons emitted were bent to avoid the Apahanta and then return to their normal course. The ship was invisible. Yet Ezrael knew perfectly well if Nomads were out there, they would feel the presence of humans.
The ship got closer and closer, and it felt like time was passing in slow-motion. From all they knew, those gates were many multiple times more powerful than their human equivalents. Even to this point mankind did not know where exactly Omicron Iota, Omicron Major and Omicron Psi were located. Each of those systems had unique traits uncommon to regular space. Leading experts even claimed Omicron Psi was not part of Sirius, or even of truespace.
Particles, unknown energies formed multiple rings infront of the cloaked ship.
"Fortune favors the bold, they say. I guess we'll find out about that..."
The Apahanta's speed was increasing drastically as the gate opened a rift in subspace. Was it subspace, even? It looked different than the regular jump hole tunnels. Maybe this was a fourth space, next to truespace, hyperspace and subspace.
Ezrael started to count the seconds. 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
...
Thirty seconds were passing. The Apahanta reached the end of the jump tunnel.
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 05-16-2018
Day 50 - Location unknown III
![[Image: hv0aKFw.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/hv0aKFw.gif)
"Apahanta, sun- and heat shields on maximum!"
This system was the exact opposite of the previous one. Everything was red, and it was obvious they were inside of some giant nebula. The temperature of the ship was increasing slowly. Nothing the ship was not able to handle, Ezrael thought. The main screen adjusted to the intense brightness of the system. There were planets and moons, a distant sun and many clouds. Clouds all over the place.
"Scan the system an all ranges. Any nomad activity?" The Captain was still at the railing, however turning over to Sherry who was already checking the sensor console behind their seats.
"Nothing, no nomads or anything else. We're alone here."
That was good news for once. "Disengage cloak, put energy to the shields and engines. I'd prefer to have some distance to the gate. Head for the planets of there," Ezrael said, pointing in the general direction of the sun. In the distance was a big planet that looked like it was not a barren world.
"Captain, there are faint signals. I don't know where they come from, but I am certain it was of human origin," Sherry said, sounding more enthusiastic than before. Ezrael turned around, looking at her for a moment, a smile forming on his lips.
"That either means they have Wild here or we found a trace. In any case, it is some sort of good news, I guess," the Captain mumbled, turning his face towards the main screen again. This system was interesting to look at. A bit like Cayman, but also not. "Orders remain the same, disengage cloak. We have only so much energy left. I'll prepare the Handsome Rover for a flight, maybe we find something interesting or useful."
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 05-17-2018
Day 50 - Location unknown III
![[Image: AZ5cZcj.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/AZ5cZcj.gif)
The cooling chamber was opened. Icy steam rushed through the gap in the door and the lights turned on automatically, gifting Leon with the beautiful view of many, many sealed boxed of various foods "Oh god, this feels like heaven," the surferboy sounded as his face was touched by the lack of heat in the air. "Come here, Annie. This is like an orgasm."
"Makes me wonder what kind of fetishes you have to make that comparison," Annie sounded as she entered the cooling chamber, instantly moaning when the cold air caressed her facial skin. She watched Leon move deeper into this secret sanctuary of the ship. The Apahanta had heated up because of this new system, the intense sun and the burning gases. It was not dangerously hot aboard, yet there was a noticable difference as putting more energy to the cooling systems would mean they would use up more energy.
There was a plopping noise coming halling slightly as Leon opened a box, retrieving two wrapped popsicles, throwing one blindly in Annie's direction.
"Ouch."
Leon turned around instantly, just to realize Ezrael stood there where he expected Annie to be. The wrapped popsicle fell to the floor, having hit Ezrael's belly. "Oh, uhm..."
"Pilfering our food rations, Leon?"
The Chief Engineer gulped, knowing they were currently living in desperate times. Having the crew accessing the cooling chamber without permission was actually something Ezrael did not like at all. "Look, it's horribly hot in the engine room, and we need a cool head down there, so I thought I pilfer just two, and-"
"Make it three, the heat is unbearable," Ezrael sounded, picking up the popsicle from the ground.
A few minutes later, the seven non-frozen people of the crew sat in the canteen, fondling popsicles with their tongues. It was a funny and adorable sight, Ezrael found, watching them all sitting at the table with him, slurping icy food. There was no better time to present the results of what he did for the last few hours. "I used the Handsome Rover to map the system. It is unique, to say the least, as we are entirely encircled by a red hot cloud. There are multiple suns in this giant pocket, but only one in proximity, a tiny proto-sun, a few hours away from us with cruise speed. Apahanta, please put the footage from the Handsome Rover to the canteen monitors."
And the ship did as told. The monitors at the walls were showing random bits of the Rover's exploration tour.
"Apahanta is currently processing all the data we got from this exploration, but as you see I found some things. This system contains multiple two bigger planets and a bunch of moons, all of them barren worlds, none of them useful for us in any way. Interesting to us are only two things, one of them being the alien gate I found behind the big planet closest to the sun, there," Ezrael explained, pointing with his finger at the recording showing the gate. It was small, there were no power nodes connected to it. And it was soaked in red, which was incredibly creepy, even with the sun-filter applied to it already.
"I heard we picked up some signals?" Leon sounded, quickly after it continuing to suck on his popsicle.
Ezrael lifted his index finger, shaking it once in Leon's direction. "That is the other interesting thing I found. The deeper the Rover went into the system, the more we were able to pick up. Sherry was absolutely correct, this was a signal from a human ship. A distress signal. This means we are not too far away from returning home." Smirking, he pointed at the final recording.
![[Image: fCfKs7W.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/fCfKs7W.gif)
"That is a kusarian gunboat," Sherry commented, standing up to get closer to the wall monitor, suckling slightly at the tip of her popsicle. "Ships of that size can't use jump drives. It either means it was jumped here by something else or it ended up here finding a subspace connection. The gate, I guess?"
"Likely. This is a big system, and there are many giant clouds and gas pockets out there. We could use the gate or scout around with the Handsome Rover, however there is a kusarian gunboat all alone out there and I think we can make use of it. Scrapping it, keeping it, but most importantly, checking the black box and search the little ship for fuel. It probably won't have much, but it might help us for a few extra minutes, hours or days," the Captain explained, smirking. Leon knew this smirk all too well.
"So we bring the Apahanta into that fiery gas cloud and capture the gunboat? We could attach it to the hull and carry it with us, but entering it would require one of us to leave the Apahanta in an EVA-suit. And it is pretty heated out there," Sherry said, staring at the footage.
"I'll do it myself. It's your job to ensure I stay alive, Sherry," Ezrael told her, his expression changing weirdly for a moment as he looked at her. The Commander however merely exhaled, being fully aware it was a jab into her side.
"I understand. I'll prepare everything,"
"Makes me wonder what kind of fetishes you have to make that comparison," Annie sounded as she entered the cooling chamber, instantly moaning when the cold air caressed her facial skin. She watched Leon move deeper into this secret sanctuary of the ship. The Apahanta had heated up because of this new system, the intense sun and the burning gases. It was not dangerously hot aboard, yet there was a noticable difference as putting more energy to the cooling systems would mean they would use up more energy.
There was a plopping noise coming halling slightly as Leon opened a box, retrieving two wrapped popsicles, throwing one blindly in Annie's direction.
"Ouch."
Leon turned around instantly, just to realize Ezrael stood there where he expected Annie to be. The wrapped popsicle fell to the floor, having hit Ezrael's belly. "Oh, uhm..."
"Pilfering our food rations, Leon?"
The Chief Engineer gulped, knowing they were currently living in desperate times. Having the crew accessing the cooling chamber without permission was actually something Ezrael did not like at all. "Look, it's horribly hot in the engine room, and we need a cool head down there, so I thought I pilfer just two, and-"
"Make it three, the heat is unbearable," Ezrael sounded, picking up the popsicle from the ground.
A few minutes later, the seven non-frozen people of the crew sat in the canteen, fondling popsicles with their tongues. It was a funny and adorable sight, Ezrael found, watching them all sitting at the table with him, slurping icy food. There was no better time to present the results of what he did for the last few hours. "I used the Handsome Rover to map the system. It is unique, to say the least, as we are entirely encircled by a red hot cloud. There are multiple suns in this giant pocket, but only one in proximity, a tiny proto-sun, a few hours away from us with cruise speed. Apahanta, please put the footage from the Handsome Rover to the canteen monitors."
And the ship did as told. The monitors at the walls were showing random bits of the Rover's exploration tour.
![[Image: AZn1YXG.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/AZn1YXG.gif)
![[Image: K0Ewo5K.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/K0Ewo5K.gif)
![[Image: EEzTC4E.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/EEzTC4E.gif)
![[Image: BWR5tdB.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/BWR5tdB.gif)
![[Image: ZO4CSnG.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/ZO4CSnG.gif)
![[Image: MtAIvId.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/MtAIvId.gif)
![[Image: KOMbbNI.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/KOMbbNI.gif)
![[Image: 02nL5ds.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/02nL5ds.gif)
"Apahanta is currently processing all the data we got from this exploration, but as you see I found some things. This system contains multiple two bigger planets and a bunch of moons, all of them barren worlds, none of them useful for us in any way. Interesting to us are only two things, one of them being the alien gate I found behind the big planet closest to the sun, there," Ezrael explained, pointing with his finger at the recording showing the gate. It was small, there were no power nodes connected to it. And it was soaked in red, which was incredibly creepy, even with the sun-filter applied to it already.
"I heard we picked up some signals?" Leon sounded, quickly after it continuing to suck on his popsicle.
Ezrael lifted his index finger, shaking it once in Leon's direction. "That is the other interesting thing I found. The deeper the Rover went into the system, the more we were able to pick up. Sherry was absolutely correct, this was a signal from a human ship. A distress signal. This means we are not too far away from returning home." Smirking, he pointed at the final recording.
"That is a kusarian gunboat," Sherry commented, standing up to get closer to the wall monitor, suckling slightly at the tip of her popsicle. "Ships of that size can't use jump drives. It either means it was jumped here by something else or it ended up here finding a subspace connection. The gate, I guess?"
"Likely. This is a big system, and there are many giant clouds and gas pockets out there. We could use the gate or scout around with the Handsome Rover, however there is a kusarian gunboat all alone out there and I think we can make use of it. Scrapping it, keeping it, but most importantly, checking the black box and search the little ship for fuel. It probably won't have much, but it might help us for a few extra minutes, hours or days," the Captain explained, smirking. Leon knew this smirk all too well.
"So we bring the Apahanta into that fiery gas cloud and capture the gunboat? We could attach it to the hull and carry it with us, but entering it would require one of us to leave the Apahanta in an EVA-suit. And it is pretty heated out there," Sherry said, staring at the footage.
"I'll do it myself. It's your job to ensure I stay alive, Sherry," Ezrael told her, his expression changing weirdly for a moment as he looked at her. The Commander however merely exhaled, being fully aware it was a jab into her side.
"I understand. I'll prepare everything,"
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 05-18-2018
Day 50 - Location unknown III
![[Image: yPLpIvD.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/yPLpIvD.gif)
02. July, 8xx A.S
Gunboat Naskawa-2, Unknown system.
Gunboat Naskawa-2, Unknown system.
Comm ID: Mitsukane Tarawaya
Topic: Personal Log Entry: 56
... this is Commander Mitsukane Tarawaya. I am a gunboat commander of the Kusari Naval Forces.
... I... I am pretty sure I will die soon. I really don't want to. But I guess my fate is sealed, unlike my cockpit. If anyone here ever finds this, this is what happened.
I... the KNF every now and then sent scouting groups out into the Omicrons. Of course not for diplomatic missions or fighting hostile forces, but for the same reason anyone else sends expeditionary fleets into the Omicrons. To hunt treasures. Technologies we can use. There were those rumors about ruins of ancient civilizations on many Omicron worlds, and while xenoarchiologists were sent to those worlds to dig up sand castles and fossiles, KNF sent a little amount of pilots to the Omicrons beyond Sigma-17. To patrol, scout and secure whatever we may find. It worked for the guys in Tohoku, that is no secret, so why wouldn't it work again?
My wing arrived in Omicron Minor after avoiding the GMG patrols successfully. The orders were the same as always, better not get spotted. We would need our batteries and nanobots for the Nomads, not already in the Sigmas. Whenever we got spotted, we had to eliminate the witness. For us, it always worked.
... Ugh, my head hurts. I better hurry up...
We moved deeper and deeper into the Omicrons. Those alien gates were just working perfectly well for us, just like our own jump gates. Weird, but we didn't question it. Our job surely was not to ask questions. Maybe I should have, that would spare me this embarassing death of asphyxiation...
This time we found something big in this horrible nebula. We approached it, this giant thing, and it turned out to be a giant nest of nomads. A giant disc-shaped installation covered in some kind of mucus. We took a few pictures of it, then Naskawa-01 went in too close and must have actived it, waking up the horrors inside of the nest. They came. For us...
We tried to fight them, but they were too many. One got shot down, two new ones came. My wing consisted of two gunboats and six fighters. They demolished the Naskawa-01 instantly and we panicked, splitting up. The fighters tried their best to bait them, luring them away from us, but some of them were chasing us. So we tried our best, the gunnery firing one volley after another into the green mist behind us, hoping to hit some of the evil oni...
Heavily damaged, we survived. We, meaning just me and Tanaka. He was wounded badly but tried his best to remain in his seat. Navigation was offline, sensors useless in the nebula. It was horrible. Whenever I close my eyes... god...
There was a leak and we lost oxygen. Tanaka was about to die and I was unable to help him get into his space suit. There was just enough time for myself. I quickly put on my suit, thinking about helping Tanaka, but... my chances of survival were better if I had his oxygen tanks as well...
I left him dying there, he was yelling at me with his last few breaths...
I guess that is how I earned all of this. Slowly dying out here in this, I don't even know what this is. Maybe this is hell. It is way too hot in here and the rocks are providing a little bit of shadow. The cloud I am hiding in is... it is burning, like the rest of the system.
In this green nebula, without sensors, I merely activated the cruise engines and let the ship fly, avoiding the explosive gas pockets and the scattered rocks. I think I didn't fall asleep, but I have no idea what happened as I suddenly must have entered a jump hole. More green nebula...
Then open space... not the way to Kusari. I was hoping to find some human installation. Something. Anything...
But all I found was just another alien gate. There was debris around it, but it was working, and knowing death was approaching, I took the gate. Just to find myself in this hell. I should have returned! I should have returned to the edge nebula. Fighting till the end. Maybe even finding the way back in time!?
My nose is bleeding, my head aching. I feel weird. I can barely speak. I don't want to die...
God, I don't want to die...
Please don't let me die...
God, haha, help me!
Haha, help me...
Haha, please...
I...
... I... I am pretty sure I will die soon. I really don't want to. But I guess my fate is sealed, unlike my cockpit. If anyone here ever finds this, this is what happened.
I... the KNF every now and then sent scouting groups out into the Omicrons. Of course not for diplomatic missions or fighting hostile forces, but for the same reason anyone else sends expeditionary fleets into the Omicrons. To hunt treasures. Technologies we can use. There were those rumors about ruins of ancient civilizations on many Omicron worlds, and while xenoarchiologists were sent to those worlds to dig up sand castles and fossiles, KNF sent a little amount of pilots to the Omicrons beyond Sigma-17. To patrol, scout and secure whatever we may find. It worked for the guys in Tohoku, that is no secret, so why wouldn't it work again?
My wing arrived in Omicron Minor after avoiding the GMG patrols successfully. The orders were the same as always, better not get spotted. We would need our batteries and nanobots for the Nomads, not already in the Sigmas. Whenever we got spotted, we had to eliminate the witness. For us, it always worked.
... Ugh, my head hurts. I better hurry up...
We moved deeper and deeper into the Omicrons. Those alien gates were just working perfectly well for us, just like our own jump gates. Weird, but we didn't question it. Our job surely was not to ask questions. Maybe I should have, that would spare me this embarassing death of asphyxiation...
This time we found something big in this horrible nebula. We approached it, this giant thing, and it turned out to be a giant nest of nomads. A giant disc-shaped installation covered in some kind of mucus. We took a few pictures of it, then Naskawa-01 went in too close and must have actived it, waking up the horrors inside of the nest. They came. For us...
We tried to fight them, but they were too many. One got shot down, two new ones came. My wing consisted of two gunboats and six fighters. They demolished the Naskawa-01 instantly and we panicked, splitting up. The fighters tried their best to bait them, luring them away from us, but some of them were chasing us. So we tried our best, the gunnery firing one volley after another into the green mist behind us, hoping to hit some of the evil oni...
Heavily damaged, we survived. We, meaning just me and Tanaka. He was wounded badly but tried his best to remain in his seat. Navigation was offline, sensors useless in the nebula. It was horrible. Whenever I close my eyes... god...
There was a leak and we lost oxygen. Tanaka was about to die and I was unable to help him get into his space suit. There was just enough time for myself. I quickly put on my suit, thinking about helping Tanaka, but... my chances of survival were better if I had his oxygen tanks as well...
I left him dying there, he was yelling at me with his last few breaths...
I guess that is how I earned all of this. Slowly dying out here in this, I don't even know what this is. Maybe this is hell. It is way too hot in here and the rocks are providing a little bit of shadow. The cloud I am hiding in is... it is burning, like the rest of the system.
In this green nebula, without sensors, I merely activated the cruise engines and let the ship fly, avoiding the explosive gas pockets and the scattered rocks. I think I didn't fall asleep, but I have no idea what happened as I suddenly must have entered a jump hole. More green nebula...
Then open space... not the way to Kusari. I was hoping to find some human installation. Something. Anything...
But all I found was just another alien gate. There was debris around it, but it was working, and knowing death was approaching, I took the gate. Just to find myself in this hell. I should have returned! I should have returned to the edge nebula. Fighting till the end. Maybe even finding the way back in time!?
My nose is bleeding, my head aching. I feel weird. I can barely speak. I don't want to die...
God, I don't want to die...
Please don't let me die...
God, haha, help me!
Haha, help me...
Haha, please...
I...
Commander... Mitsuka... Tara..., sign...ing off...
Sherry pushed a button on the display, ending the replay. Then she turned around, facing Ezrael and Leon. The Captain was still wearing his EVA-suit and leaned his back against the backrest of his chair, while Leon stood next to him, his eyes lowered because of what they just listened to.
"So," Ezrael began, looking at Sherry for the moment. "I guess we should be thankful for their deaths, because otherwise we wouldn't have found this ship."
"I've used the tractor beam to attach the ship to our hull and moor it there, quote unquote. Good news is that we can carry it around this way, even jump. Bad news is it will require us to have the shields up all the time, as the shields are currently the only thing preventing the ship from breaking away from the Apahanta. Kinetic forces and such," Leon explained, folding his arms infront of his chest. "With the extra amount of fuel we got, we can do this and still have about two days extra at full capacity."
Ezrael smirked. "If what the Kusarian said is true and still accurate, we will be home in a few hours already. I believe the pilot was refering to the Sigma-17-Minor connection, which doesn't exist anymore, but it is likely that we will find a way into the Edge Nebula as soon as we enter the nomad gate behind the planet there. Maybe we'll already have neural net access over there. We could call for help in the worst case."
"If Sirius is behind that gate, we will get faint signals. If there is the Edge Nebula, it will also mean there are Nomads." Commander Aguilar glanced at Ezrael, who merely nodded.
"To sum up, we can only rely on our shields. We would need to drop the Kusari Gunboat if we want to cloak, because we can't use our shields when cloaked."
"Or we move very slowly. Like, we can't do hasty movements. The kinetic forces would be too strong for the connection otherwise. That being said, I believe we shouldn't fly around without shields, neither in this system nor when we get closer to the Edge Nebula. Radiation, bacteria, gas pockets."
"Good," Ezrael said. It was obvious he did not intend to leave the gunboat behind. "Apahanta, please set course for the smaller nomad gate. Charge cruise engines and then engine-kill as soon as we are outside of the cloud. We will return to Sirius now!"
"So," Ezrael began, looking at Sherry for the moment. "I guess we should be thankful for their deaths, because otherwise we wouldn't have found this ship."
"I've used the tractor beam to attach the ship to our hull and moor it there, quote unquote. Good news is that we can carry it around this way, even jump. Bad news is it will require us to have the shields up all the time, as the shields are currently the only thing preventing the ship from breaking away from the Apahanta. Kinetic forces and such," Leon explained, folding his arms infront of his chest. "With the extra amount of fuel we got, we can do this and still have about two days extra at full capacity."
Ezrael smirked. "If what the Kusarian said is true and still accurate, we will be home in a few hours already. I believe the pilot was refering to the Sigma-17-Minor connection, which doesn't exist anymore, but it is likely that we will find a way into the Edge Nebula as soon as we enter the nomad gate behind the planet there. Maybe we'll already have neural net access over there. We could call for help in the worst case."
"If Sirius is behind that gate, we will get faint signals. If there is the Edge Nebula, it will also mean there are Nomads." Commander Aguilar glanced at Ezrael, who merely nodded.
"To sum up, we can only rely on our shields. We would need to drop the Kusari Gunboat if we want to cloak, because we can't use our shields when cloaked."
"Or we move very slowly. Like, we can't do hasty movements. The kinetic forces would be too strong for the connection otherwise. That being said, I believe we shouldn't fly around without shields, neither in this system nor when we get closer to the Edge Nebula. Radiation, bacteria, gas pockets."
"Good," Ezrael said. It was obvious he did not intend to leave the gunboat behind. "Apahanta, please set course for the smaller nomad gate. Charge cruise engines and then engine-kill as soon as we are outside of the cloud. We will return to Sirius now!"